This game goes much deeper than many think.
Every time I see another match video, I keep coming back to one thing. Not Triple Play anymore, but FIRST Frenzy! That year, you could win if you had an amazing small ball bot with a dynamic human player who could score most of their shots. 10 balls in the stationary goal at 5 points a piece was 50 points, a decent score in that game. But that wasn't the only way to win. A hanging robot for 50 points was a good shot at a win, but if the other alliance hung as well, the +50 lead is now negated. The same could be said for the 2x ball, which could easily negate up to two hanging robots, but could also be descored by the opposing alliance.
This year's game is much the same. A ramp bot can win some matches, but if they are also a defensive bot, then in the 30 seconds at the end of the match the other alliance is now relatively free to score on the rack. A tube scorer, if able to out maneuver defense, can easily negate a defense bot if they are in the upper echelon of teams, or if the entire alliance of tube scorers works together.
Ramp bots on each alliance can negate other ramp bots on the opposing alliance. If each alliance has no tubes scored from heavy defense, but each also has 2@12", then those points are well pointless, because now you have a tie. It's the same as one hanging robot from each alliance in 2004: the net point change is still 0. (A tie is still better than a loss, but it's not a win.)
What you want in this year's game is a net change of +points. Defense can do this, if your alliance has a way of accumulating points (whether through tubes or through end zone bonus'). But if your alliance cannot reliably score points in some fashion and only relies upon defense, you cannot win. The best you can do is tie.
So it actually takes offense for defense to win. Who wuddathunkit?
