[Donut]

How about either? To me it appears the best alliance must have at least one of each robot; a hurdler to potentially go for 12 point bonuses at the end and more effectively remove the balls, but also a quick herder robot that is capable of scoring effectively without a ball (remember, only two balls, but 3 robots).

Whether the "optimal" alliance is two hurdlers and one herder, or two herders one hurdler, I'm not sure of yet. It will probably depend on how good the available herders are vs. the available hurdlers at each regional.

I think that if you put your resources into hurdling, you'd better make it work, because throwing on two sticks and saying "we're a herder now" because you couldn't get your arm working is not going to cut it. Look at video from 2004 of robots that just try to herd using little sticks that poke off the robot and you'll see numerous robots riding up over the balls, having the balls just roll around them, etc. (at least that's what happened at AZ), and I see this year's balls way more difficult to control around corners.