[GaryVoshol]

Your immediate task following kickoff will be to focus on game strategy. What will be the most important thing you can do in the game? Will you be able to design a robot to do that, or do you need to begin making compromises? What kind of payoff will you get from what you design? Is the payoff from auto mode (whatever we get this year) worth the effort of programming it? Do you go for the highest point scoring mechanism, or is a lower-scoring robot what you will be making?

You might come up with a good solid design that can get a consistent number of points. Or an iffy design that if it works will get you a lot of points, but if it doesn't work instead of a slick robot you'll have a very expensive boat anchor on your hands.