Which matches so far do you think will be most similar to playoffs at world champs?

[Rangel(kf7fdb)]

Originally Posted by Ginger Power

Could it be that this triple offense strategy worked because the field at the district championships was more level? Will there be enough offensive depth at champs for there to be enough value in an offensive third robot? Will an alliance pairing of 2056 and 118 for example have any need for an offensive partner?

I personally think the triple offense strategies will be employed by the 6, 7, 8 alliances, and maybe the 4, and 5 as well. The top 3 alliances on a division will be better served by having a more open courtyard and letting their elite machines go to work. They won't have any trouble putting 15-20 boulders in the tower especially if they are undefended. The lower alliances will need all 3 robots scoring to keep up. The interesting dynamic is whether or not they're able to do so with 4 robots in the courtyard, one of which is wreaking havoc.

I don't believe the district championships played a lot like the playoffs will at champs. There will be greater disparity in the field with the top robots being far superior, and the 24th best robot being worse. I think this scenario will lead to less triple offense strategies.

Depends. If no one is playing defense, a blockable third robot can contribute quite a bit of boulders to the top alliances. There are actually quite a bit of high goal shooters that are pretty good but only become less effective as a result of defense. If you got two really strong outerworks shooters and one close up shooter, the defense will mostly have their hands full with the third robot. If the defending third robot used all its time to play heavy defense on the close up shooter third robot, then the shooting robot won because they contributed more points.Realistically if the close up shooter can score 6 undefended, the defending robot needs to stop or slow down the opposing alliance by 6 boulders worth just to break even.