Defense for Logomotion

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by penguinfrk

I wasn't able to watch any matches with Dragonfly from 3553. How'd they do this season?

Dragonfly's defense was definitely above average in Philly with room for improvement. They clearly displayed their ability to interrupt the scoring flow of any single robot, and at times, multiple robots depending on the situation.

That being said, in it's Philly Configuration, Dragonfly was not without flaw, and one of their major flaws was exploited during their Elimination Run while Playing 103 and 56. 3553 was extremely effective at keeping 103 and 56 from leaving and entering their scoring zone to get tubes efficiently, but thanks to some good strategy on the part of 103 and 56 they found a way to work around this - 56 would pass tubes to 103, instead of attempting to score them.

What'll be Interesting, is seeing 3553's Dragonfly at the Championship Event with a consistent more practiced Driveteam and a more effective Minibot Deployment Mechanism. If they were to pair or be paired with two strong scorers (5+ tubes each) then that Alliance is going to be tough to beat.

[stuart2054]

Originally Posted by GGCO

Despite FIRST's attempts to penalize defense into obscurity, defense is definitely a huge part of Logomotion. The biggest reason is that its a mess to have three robots trying to score at once, and therefore it just makes sense to have the third robot play defense.

Grant,

I have to agree with you. Two offense robots, one defense seems to be the most effective to me. Three is definatley a crowd in this game. A good defensive robot and team can deny alot of points as well as bring a crucial tube for a LOGO to your end of the field. If tube starvation is severe it might make sense for one offense, one tube retriever and one defence but if the human players are good, I think two can stay one offense.

[BJC]

I actually thought that the #8 alliance at MSC did an amazing job with three robots scoring. Granted most alliances can't really pull it off.. but, man, #8 was crazy.

As to effective defense. One of the best things you can do is push all of the other alliances tubes into your lanes. This is killer.

Selective tube starvation is also super effective.

http://www.youtube.com/user/FIRSTinM.../1/wlvrf-RtPOE

In this finals match in Ann Arbor the red alliance steals all of blue's triangles. Blue doesn't realize it until its too late and can't make any logos. Awesome stratigy!

[ToddF]

So if the benefit of hanging a red triangle and completing a top row logo is 3+9=12 points and the cost to fetch one from the blue zone is 3 penalty points, why on earth would red leave logos unfinished? Once the red triangles are on the blue rack, they are untouchable, but if they are on the floor in a blue zone, they are usable, but come with a price. Tube starvation is pretty neat, but certainly not unbeatable by a couple fast hangers. The key is to maintain enough situational awareness to realize you are being starved.

[joeweber]

I do believe that a strong defense robot can make a difference in the game. I have seen team 3536 rank very high at Kettering district, Ann Arbor District and EMU state competition by playing defense only. The only tube they delivered was an uber tube. Unfortunately at state nobody would pick them. If some of the teams would have taken them into the finals it could have made a difference for them. The question is will they be picked in the finals because they are only a defense robot? I would think it would be a mistake not to.

I am also surprised that there were no defense robots that could throw tubes across the field to there team mates. What a help that would be.