[mathking]

Here is my take, based on an admittedly small sample set of one practice competition. But also on a bunch of simulated games using remotely controlled Lego Mindstorm robots. Defense in the courtyard is very effective one on one. Not nearly as effective when the offensive robots cooperate. If a robot can either score from the protection of still being in the defense or it can score from the batter then good cooperative tactics can cut down on the effectiveness of defense in the courtyard. I think that during qualification matches, particularly in the first few weeks, defenders will have more of an advantage. But once teams figure out how to block and pick and roll it will be tougher.

I think simply blocking one of the defenses may be the most effective way to slow opponents down. Particularly since I see a lot of alliances with 1-3 defenses they can't cross in qualifications. In our simulated games slowing opponents as they come out of your courtyard and again as they try to cross back in was just about as effective as defense inside the courtyard. (Caveat: We were playing with a bunch of bots that had a "race to the batter and score" offensive strategy, so once they got around a courtyard defender they were hard to stop.) This will be one of the games where it will be hard for the great robots to dominate on their own. I think effective scouting is going to be absolutely imperative. You need to select the defenses that will most inconvenience your opponents and then use a strategy that takes advantage of your selections.