Pros and Cons of Defense

[Loose Screw]

Originally Posted by IronicDeadBird

Last years pinning mechanics and robot to robot interaction while exciting was the most demoralizing things to watch for me. I remember a match where our team broadsided a robot and shoved em halfway across the field it was intense and exciting to watch. After we dropped the pressure and moved away from the robot to help scoring I noticed that robot wasn't able to move. The robot we pushed used tread and we managed to wreck the tread. Yeah it was exciting to watch but when I walked by the pit and saw how the team felt, I felt pretty bad. We had 6 weeks to design a robot to play a game and utilize the games rules to design an incredible machine. Yet a decent amount of matches threw the rule book out the window in favor of just playing "defense."
Defense is just a mixed bag for me, and I'm not about to blame the GDC for it because having just the right amount of defense in a game is hard to pull off.

/rant

2014 had the most defense in any FIRST game, while 2015 has none. Comparing these two is comparing both ends of the extremes. Both have pros and cons.

With the penalty system in 2014, a lot of matches (most in week 1) devolved into battlebots. That is something I never want to see again for the same reasons you don't. I watched the #1 alliance captain at centerline get disabled in a match because #8 had ripped off their bumpers. #1's first pick broke down in a match becuase of "defense", and then was penalized for it.

I believe safe zones are necessary when there is defense. Could you imagine 2011, 2012, or 2013 without safe zones? If they had added safe zones in 2014, maybe it wouldn't have started week 1 as battle bots.