Predictions Championship 2009: Lunacy for Lunacy

[Chris is me]

Defense is absolutely going to matter.

When the opposing alliance can beat your alliance in sheer volume of dumps (say you're facing down Winnovation), there's a net gain in sacrificing a whole robot to keep them held down in a corner, even if that robot would otherwise be making dumps. A weaker alliance's best shot is to use their third pick to harass and annoy the biggest scorer, preferably setting up pins on them for the offensive robots on the field.

The scores will probably be in the 60-90 range for the whole event. Robots that advance are good enough to not easily be scored on, and the only reliable way to get points will be through cunning driving setting up favorable situations. For example, following a robot as it drives toward a wall is a very favorable action for the robot doing the following. Scoring is going to be a game of "who screws up first", and defensive pin robots are invaluable in making this happen.