[EricH]

Originally Posted by gbrettmiller

This is my first year, so I'm not sure how scoring/ranking has worked in the past, but this caught my eye as a bit unusual:

9.3.5 All teams on the winning ALLIANCE will receive ... ranking points equal to the un-penalized score ... of the losing ALLIANCE. All teams on the losing ALLIANCE will receive ... ranking points equal to their final score.

Which is clarified a bit in the note to 9.3.8:

Note: because your ranking score is derived directly from the MATCH scores of your opponent ALLIANCES, it is in your interest that both your ALLIANCE and the ALLIANCES you "defeat" obtain a high score. The most valuable "WIN" results from a close, high-score MATCH.

BUT...the team seeding is based primarily on the qualification score, which is based on wins (2 points), losses (0 points), or ties (1 point). So it makes sense (obviously) to go for the win.

I guess the question is "how do you incorporate the need for your opponent to have a high score, but not too high, into a strategy based on winning the match?"

Scoring and ranking this year is identical to past years.

You can, if you so desire, allow your opponents to score, or score for them. You do run a risk, however. Penalties. Yes, those little ten-point (or 20-point) penalties can ruin a close match.