Curie 2010!

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

the only X v Y strategy against 1114 and 469 that has a high probablility of keeping either team from #1 seed during qualifying is 84v2.

[/figurative language overload]

Ah, yes, you CAN have too much figurative language. Thanks Travis

So what's with Curie's obsession to prevent these teams from being #1 seed? Wouldn't you prefer to be something like 1st pick from the #1 seed?

Experienced teams know this, but #1 and #2 seeds rarely ally together. Not because they each think they can win it all 'on their own', but because they have robots that do not complement each other for that year's game.

OK, a concrete example: If you have three "front pusher bits", will that win you much? No, but an alliance with a front pusher bot, a mid kicker bot who hangs, and a defense bot who kicks across 2 zones and is fast - well, those three complement each other.

469 is too easy to defend against, once you've seen them. Oh, don't misunderstand: They are very good, and they will do well. But they don't move, and they need a second robot in their offensive zone to defend against the defender. So on the other side of the field, it's 2 on 1 against their alliance: A decent alliance will deny 469 balls and then proceed to whip their butts in 2 on 1...while they sit there.

(Of course, 469 knows this, so they are likely working to change their game. But there will always be a weakness....)