I'm going to try to calculate the physical max score capacity assuming no ball limits, and then work from there.
Scoring Methods:
- Defenses: Assuming that defenses are crossed 3 times in autonomous, they can be crossed an additional 7 times in teleop for a total of 35 points.
- Tower Capture: All 3 robots will climb for 45 points.
- Autonomous: All 3 robots will cross (30 points total) and shoot for the high goal (30 points total).
- Boulders: Assuming all 3 robots are able to pass through the low bar and just run back and forth shooting for the high goal at the minimum distance, an absolute minimum of 12 second cycle times per robot seems acceptable (accounting for motion back and forth, with acceleration). This means each robot can score a max of 10 boulders in the high goal, so 150 points for boulders total.
This gives us a total of 290 points.
Now, let's consider a much more reasonable distribution - in other words, what we can expect to see at regional level eliminations towards the later weeks.
Starting with autonomous this time, every robot should certainly be able to reach the defense for 3x2 points. It's possible that there's a robot that can autonomously navigate one of the easier obstacles (I doubt there will be more than a handful in the world that handle the more complex obstacles autonomously), so let's go as far as saying a single robot will do the 10 point autonomous instead of the 2 point, for a total of 14 points. It's also unlikely that many robots will shoot.
Now for defenses. There are a *lot* of points at stake here, significantly more than are reasonable to achieve with just shooting boulders (that is, assuming each defense nets 5 points and not 10). A grand total of 50, not including any from autonomous. The easier of the obstacles will take just a few seconds to navigate, while some of the more complex ones may require up to 15-20 seconds. With a concerted effort from a good alliance, it's possible to score all 50 points. Given the RP at stake here as well, this feels like an avenue that many teams will go down, so let's assume all 50 points get awarded here.
Now the tower. Let's assume we've scored enough boulders to get points here. Given the number of climbers in Ultimate Ascent and Breakaway, something like 1 robot climber per alliance on average seems reasonable. Assuming the other two robots just get the 5 points, and one robot climbs, we're looking at 25 points here, as well as an RP.
Finally, the boulders. Given the amount of points the defenses are worth, I'd venture to say that we'll see relatively little boulder shooting. Unlike previous years, you have to shoot the boulders from the final zone, and they need to be transferred from almost the entire field as opposed to half way (like in Breakaway). On average, we're probably going to see 2 robots pushing into the low goal and a single robot getting a couple shots into the high goal, for a total of 6x2 and 2x5 points, or 22.
So, we arrive at a total of 14 + 50 + 25 + 22, or 111. This still seems quite high. In our calculations above, we assumed that alliances are both going to be able to traverse the defenses AND get enough points to try to capture the tower. That's probably not actually doable. Let's try again, lowering our predictions even further.
Autonomous -- we'll see just the 3x touch points, for a total of 6.
Defenses -- since this is harder than pushing balls around, and all defenses aren't created equal, I think we'll see the easier few defenses traversed, leaving the harder one alone. Since all the defenses won't be traversed, points won't be awarded the second time (I think?), so we'll see an average closer to 15 - 20 points.
Tower -- assuming that either no one climbs or only one person climbs and the rest just rush up to the base, we'll get 15 points here. Alliances probably won't sacrifice this as it's a free RP for just getting 8 balls through.
Boulders -- I think we'll see quite a bit of pushing in the low goal, with maybe a single high shot. Assuming 8 balls get scored, with 1 high, 19 points will be awarded here.
Now we see that we're at a more equal distribution of points, totaling 55 - 60. I think this is a much more realistic prediction of the points we'll see as the game matures.
Note that I made very many assumptions here. I'd love to see people argue with my logic, as that's the only way to learn.