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Originally Posted by Eric Bareiss
In AZ team 60 was scoring 100+ points per match on their own. Team 1011 had a simple swerve drive robot. 1011 stuck on 60 the whole match, they kept them from hearding, they kept them from capping and they kept them hanging. Could 1011 have outscored 60? NO WAY! but they stopped them from scoring a ton of points, and showed other teams that they had the ability to stop big scorers (they got picked by the second alliance).
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I have to completely agree with Eric and John in the sense that you have to pick your battles wisely. There are always going to be bots out there that are designed efficiently, run like a dream, dominate every match in their sight, etc. For some teams, if they aren't big scorers or very reliable (or even if they just think it's within their best interests), defense could possibly be the way to go. Especially if you have a reliable partner who could score... what would be stopping you? Fear of not having an entertaining match for the audience?
Or what about teams that show off what they can do in the qualifications at the expense of the match? The '2x the loser's score' rule was disregarded at times so that teams could show their stuff... go out there and show how effectively they could block or do what they did best. A lot of times, capabilities can't be assumed - strut your stuff and don't let rankings matter.
There is no 'better' way to go. This argument, in some ways, is a bit out of hand and a bit offensive. Every match isn't determinable by simply offense or defense by any means - it's a combination of factors. Reliability of robots, skill of drivers, limitations of robots, timing, partners, opposing teams, etc. etc. etc. The list goes on and on. You can attempt to simplify matches into black and white, but offense will get you nowhere if an arm falls off while capping; defense won't win the game if you aren't very good at it.
Strategy is strategy. That's why it exists, and that's why it's used match after match. Play the game for what it is, don't oversimplify it.