Is defense Key?

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Ellery

I would think you would need to balance both offense with defense if you truly want a solid alliance. One example I can give is just our finals match against our sister team 1126/229/1367 alliance at the FingerLakes. They decided to go all out offense so we, as the # 2 seeded alliance went with and all out defensive strategy with our partners 250/211. We were considered the underdogs all the way through but we were able to hold there scoring spree down compared to the rest of the teams there. So in that respect I definitely say having a strong defensive partner is a key factor and I'm sure most teams will agree to that.

As for the Championships at this point Thomas H is correct that the larger divisions and varied experience levels of alliance partners can make or break a historically strong team. Thats' why overall points and records will not tell you the whole story. Without good scouting, you may easily discount a solid performing team as an option in a large competition like this with limited matches.

Ellery

You mean 1567.
The championship has shown alot more effective defense than the regionals that's for sure. Now highly effective scorers are finding that defensive teams will just chase them all match long if they have to to neutralize them. But in the playoffs having equally effective partners will make life easier for them. You can't defense everybody.

[Unglued]

You can't defense everybody.

I dissagree, at curie Q83 865, 842, and 650 were against 65 180 and 1511
no one on our alliance is particularly great, our dumper wasn't working, but we have an awesome drivetrain. none of our alliance parters were high scorers, but we could all climb the ramp.

we defended against 65, 180, and nus the score was1511 effectivly, there were no points scored in autonomouse, before the ramp bonus the score was 2-9 in our opponents favor.

However we got all three robots on our ramp, they got two robots on theirs.

the score would have been 27-19 in our favor, but i beleive 842 for a 10 point oenalty, makinf the final score 17-19

although we lost, it is a great example of how a solid defense combined with ramp climbing abilities can over even the greatest shooters.
I'm not saying a full defense alliance will be champions, but rather at least one defensive robot makes a great alliance. At times we were holding two robots back, so one great defensive robot and two shooters is the ideal alliance.