Most Important Game Aspect of '05

[Alex Pelan]

Defense and herding are key here. I think we are overestimating the amount of teams that will be able to reliably cap multiple tetras. Think about how long some teams took to cap last year, and then add more edges/having to be perfectly aligned with the top of the goals. Thus, in many matches, especially in the earlier rounds, while some teams that did not get much driver practicing in are getting used to their robots still, there will not be much capping going on. However, herding tetras into goals will be a lot more feasible, and, if there is nothing stacked on top, you can still make tic-tac-toes with tetras in the goal for extra points. Manipulating the tetras is not going to be an easy task. As for defense, it is always integral to the game. All robots should be built hardily and should be able to effectively block other robots. Control of the center, whether it be through capping or herding, will be key here, and we should see a lot of last minute shoving matches here, where capping the center can result in many-point swings.