The Highest Levels of Play

[Lil' Lavery]

Obviously, every game is different, but I would put a lot of caution into intentionally designing as a "niche" or "support" robot in a district structure. Generally speaking, you're taking away your ability to "control your own destiny" when it comes to district ranking and reach the district CMP and subsequently the CMP. In some areas, a large enough portion of the population will reach DCMP that you may be willing take that risk and hope you end up on a successful DCMP alliance. In others, you may end up watching from home.

Sometimes a niche/support robot won't even be viable/useful at lower levels of play. There were teams who's only real utility was grabbing center cans that went undrafted at district events this year, because at those events, simply putting up points was more valuable than getting additional cans that weren't likely to be utilized. Keep in mind that alliance captains will often have goals other than winning the entire tournament in the district structure, as a semi-finals or finals run is worth more than a boom-or-bust run that loses in the quarters.

Other times, a quality niche/support robot will curse itself to the "valley of doom." Frequently, the top notch support robots will be selected at the end of the first round or early part of the second round of alliance selection, ending up on one of the lower ranking alliances as a result. Prior to 2015, that meant a QF tango with some of the top ranked teams at the event, not a favorable scenario to be in. Each team will need to do that math to determine if a couple ~8 point selections and QF exits will be enough points for them to reach their DCMP, as it will vary based on district size.