[BenHildy]

I would agree wholeheartedly that the defense played by 1405 was necessary in the finals against a team with as much offensive power as the Carver winners. My reasoning is this:

1) The effective use of defense more or less shut down 120 in their attempts to shoot high goals. Furthermore, 330 preferred shooting from or near the batter, which is much easier (and safer) to defend against than 2481's consistent outerworks shot, but is deadly if left alone.

2) The offensive capability of OP and Orbit was certainly enough to go shot-for-shot with the opposing three robots while they were inhibited by defense, so the alliance wasn't losing much offensive power to a member playing defense.

3) The most important thing to do against that Carver alliance was to slow them down, which was done well by 1405. When left alone, I noticed that 2481 was winning nearly every neutral zone "Boulder battle" that they entered, and Carver could've quickly beat out Tesla using a choke strategy. However, since 330 was taking a few extra seconds to shoot every time they cycled, this gave OP and Orbit the time they needed to grab the balls before 330 and 2481 could get to them.

Overall, while defensive penalties proved to be their eventual downfall, I believe that the strategy Tesla took was certainly appropriate for the opposing one. Frankly, I was just relieved to see defense being played on Einstein at all, because I noticed that many of the alliances ended up being three high-goal shooting robots. No offense to these alliances by the way, I just prefer to see a varied strategy on an alliance. Good job to all and special regards to the Carver Division Alliance!