Offensive vs Defensive robot

[Redstone]

Hi i am a part of a first year team this year and we are considering doing a defensive robot this year. What do you guys think are some of the pros and cons of offensive and defensive robots?

[CompSciGeek]

Offensive Robot

Pros:
Can shoot(I'm assuming ), which is helpful to winning, you know?
Funner to build
If it's really effective at shooting, easiily will be chosen for elimination

Cons:
1. Must sacrifice a little low center of mass and time and might not be able to balance

2. Probably will be overused a lot, might not be good if you're trying to get chosen for elimination rounds.

3. Less time to perfect, you have lots of precision things to get right(programming and mechanical)

4. Might not be able to actually score because of opponents' defensive robots.


Defensive Robot

Pros:
1. Easily chosen if effective because it can essentially allow ur own team to score while they can't

2. Easy to build, more time to perfect

3. Will probably be easier to balance on bridges

Cons:
1. Can't shoot, which can lead you to quite a problem if everyone on your team is defensive/balancing only and you guys don't score while the opponent does. Even if you manage to balance with the opponent, they have still technically WON the match.

2. Boring to drive and stuff

3. hard to find the right drive. You want to be effective at blocking yet be able to cross the bridges/bumps to get to the other side

[Katie_UPS]

I have recently compiled my thoughts (and created a thread about it).

Go for offense. If you fail at offense, you can always play defense (provided you can drive). You are more likely to get picked if you build an offensive robot. Its not hard to make a fairly competitive offensive robot if you understand and build within your means.

[waialua359]

So much threads on offense vs. defense.
What about offense vs feeders?

[Mr. Pockets]

Feeders > Defense this year.

Keep in mind it's easy to play defense mediocrely. If you're going for defense, you have to find a way to rise above the fact that quite frankly any bot can do your job okay. The only way you will suceed is if you are able to excell, to the point that you aren't just a filler on an alliance.

[mlantry]

i would say for a first year team to make a defensive bot that has a kicking devise to clear out the other teams balls just make it really easy to drive and use then make sure to avoid penalty zones