Quote:
Originally Posted by slickvic2252
What won in 2013 I believe it was 3 shooting robots....
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3 shooters, but remember that 1477 went to shut down 469 whenever they got into position for full-court... This same concept applies this year. This game can be played in so many ways that it is impossible to say "2 offense- 1 defense is always superior to 3 offense" or vice versa. It is entirely dependent on who you are against. There's no reason to have a defender if you're against an alliance you can't defend against. I've gone through a few examples of viable alliance setups below, and included my thoughts on effective counterplay against these alliances:
1) The breach boogaloo: 3 dedicated breachers with low goal capabilities. This is by far the safest alliance; there is little to no legal defensive maneuvers to take against this alliance. However, without any high goal abilities, their points potential is very low, and the focus on breaching leaves lots of balls open for your use. Ignore defensive strategies, just outscore them.
2) The capture cluster: 3 dedicated shooters that can cross B/D defenses. Counterplay with this alliance may seem easy at first, but it is actually pretty complicated. If they are performing at a high level, this alliance could easily take care of the group C defense while cycling. With the terrain to serve as an equalizer, there will likely be multiple shooters taking shots in the courtyard at any given time, leaving the defense bot to try to block two or more robots, which is pretty difficult to do. However, without any breach potential, this alliance could absolutely be outscored. Defense in the courtyard is not ideal because of the number of shots that need to be blocked. Instead, defend choke points on the field, near the secret passages and wherever a robot is trying to collect.
3) Specialists: B/D defense/inbounder, Breach specialist, Shooting specialist. By far the easiest alliance to counter, but also has crazy high points potential at higher levels of play. Inbounder and breacher immediately take care of C defense while shooter scores a couple from the center line. Then, inbounder takes position inbounding balls through the low bar or B/D defense for the shooter. Meanwhile, the breach specialist finishes the breach and dumps a few in the low goal. There's really nothing to be done against the breacher, so the easiest way to shut down this alliance is with a blocker in the courtyard. With only one shooter to defend against, it's easy to beat this alliance, especially at low to medium levels of play.
4) Double Hybrids: 2 hybrid breach/shooters and a B/D/lowbar inbounder. This alliance is extremely strong. Two shooters in the courtyard makes defense difficult, and an inbounder keeping the courtyard full means their job is made that much easier. 3 bots that can all contribute to a breach will make it easy, especially when one's sole purpose involves crossing defenses to get balls staged for shooters. The best way to stop this alliance is to have multiple robots contribute in some way to defense. Whenever it's possible, shooters should do their best to prevent the inbounder from getting balls, and breachers and inbounders should try to stop shots in the courtyard. There's few ways to outscore this alliance, so attacking from all fronts will help reduce their potential most effectively.
5) The very happy shooter: 2 inbound/breachers and a shooter. This shooter will be very happy with two robots feeding it, and the two breachers can handle the collaborative C defense without interrupting the shooter. With a consistent, fast shooter, this alliance could be insanely strong. However, a decent courtyard defender could easily shut down that shooter, with no robot constantly nearby to help it. This is the only alliance that I can way, with 100% certainty, you will always need a blocker. Stopping that shooter leaves this alliance with extremely limited points, so shutting it down is extremely important.