Thank you GDC

[GKrotkov]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I really think this is the worst year for not-top teams in recent memory. Not just the bottom, but the middle tier too. It's a function of the scoring, the 3x stack height for RCs in particular, and the near-worthlessness of one without the other. Forces teams to try to do everything, or accept mediocrity all season.

It's still possible to specialize and do well*. You can focus on capping stacks, get picked by a powerhouse, and go far. You can focus on the co-op points and rank high, relying on superior scouting to make a run in eliminations. You will be outclassed by teams that can "do it all", but is that any different from other years?

Along that line, this year, there are basically two ways to play the game, right? Each robot works on its own and builds its own stacks, or an alliance works together to build a few capped stacks. One shows two powerhouses working independently, and the other shows three specialists working on separate parts of the stacks. As of now, the individual strategy is winning, but it's pretty comparable to last year at this time (at least in MAR) - last year at this time, 3 assist cycles were losing to 2-assist cycles as I remember. SCH 2014 was won by a two-assist cycle. SCH 2015 was won by individual stackers. Eventually, three assist cycles came out ahead of 2 assist cycles, and I could see that happening again this year.


* It's still a massive engineering challenge and that is an element of this game that really has an impact on lower tier teams, but what I'm saying is that even in this game, you don't need to do it all to do well.