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Re: Defensive robots
How effective will a good defensive robot be?
It depends on what the robot is trying to defend. A cycling bot that specializes in going under the low bar, taking boulders from the secret passage and shooting from a specific sweet spot will be easy to shut down - the defender really just has to plant itself in the scoring bot's path the tremendously shut down its scoring capacity.
An offensive bot that can shoot accurately from multiple locations on the courtyard becomes more challenging to defend. If said robot can fire very quickly upon arriving at one of several different shooting locations should be able to score despite the best efforts of a good defender. If that offensive robot can also cross multiple defenses will be nearly impossible to stop.
In lower level competitions, yes a good defender will often be of extreme value. However, as the competition gets stronger, the value of defense - and therefore the tactics - much change. I suspect that the best defenders at higher levels of play will primarily focus on taking boulders away from the offense: Picking up missed shots and returning them to the other courtyard (or scoring them); stealing boulders from the secret passage; etc.)
I don't see a tall-lumbering defensive specialist with minimal scoring ability doing well past district level competitions...I anticipate that the ideal defensive bot at Champs will be a quick low-bar cycler with a fantastic intake that can run interference on defense and win races to loose boulders.
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