[ASmith1675]

I'm having a tough time reading how this game is going to play out defensively. In 2014 it was clear defense was going to be a critical part of the game as only 1 game element per alliance ostensibly forced 2/3rds of all the robots on the field into playing defense (since there wasn't much else to do).

This year a highly effective defender might be able to partially shut down scoring in the tower, since it is a relatively small area to defend. At the same time, I think an offensive blitz strategy can and will easily overwhelm the forced single defender. In my opinion the most effective defenders will be the ones that can force turnovers and deposit boulders in the passage. This will make the opposing alliance "waste" cycles going back through the defenses to grab more boulders.