What's so great about defense?

[archiver]

Posted by Chris Orimoto at 04/20/2001 8:55 PM EST


Student on team #368, Kika Mana, from McKinley High School and Nasa Ames/Hawaiian Electric/Weinberg Foundation.


In Reply to: What's so great about defense?
Posted by Kevin Sevcik on 04/20/2001 12:17 AM EST:



A quote I once heard:
"Offense wins games...defense wins championships"
Although that is some sort of sport-cliche, I believe that defense is a GREAT aspect to any competitive game. It adds a dimension of variability that you may or may not be ready for. That is one of the big differences between 2000 and 2001. In 2000, we had to strategize with the assumption that another robot would NOT employ a defensive tactic on us. We were mainly concerned with scoring points...any defensive strategies were employed at spur-of-the-moment situations during the heat of the action.

In 2001, it was much easier to prepare for the types of matches you'd encounter...because most robots, though uniquely individual, can be classified into categories after a while. This removes the exciting quick-decisions of drivers during matches, which is what people "pay to watch for".

For example, our 2000 robot was 2-wheel-drive and did not have very much traction. We played one qualifying match against 255 (future national champions) and 463. Our entire strategy was to "park" in front of them while they loaded from the alliance station. Our alliance partner loaded 11 ponits (1 black ball and 6 yellow balls from alliance station) points into our goal, and their alliance partner loaded 2 black balls (10 points from the field) into their goal. Our alliance partner drove on the ramp and prevented their partner from getting on. We won that match 16-10 (giving us 30 QP's YAY!). Through a quick addition of the possibilities and a lucky assumption on the other alliance's strategy, this match was strategically set up to be primarilly defensive. No robots were harmed...and it was definitely a sight to see.

All in all, bring back scoring like 2000 and defense will be perfectly fine. When you get three times your opponent's score, you'll think twice about HAMMERING them into a wall.

Just my personal thoughts...

Chris, #368