Everyone needs to watch the IndianaFIRST District Championship this weekend. It is by far the best field in Indiana History. Strategy will be more important that ever with such a deep middle part of the field. The best teams won’t just be able to play their straight game without strong tactics if they hope to seed well.
Will anyone catch up to 1747’s cycling power? Will they add a climber? If anyone can catch up who says they won’t be even faster and will they need a climb with 12+ level 3 bots at the event.
Will the best all-around bot 868 be able to avoid reliability problems?
Will this be 4272’s breakout year?
Will the suPURDUEper rookies 7457 continue their winning ways? With the fastest climber at the event will their cargo ship game be as effective in such a deep field?
Can 461 break their curse with their best robot in years?
Will 3940 flip the field?
Will 135 have better luck? Their results don’t show it but their stats show a top 5 robot.
Will 234, 829, 1501 and 1720 improve on their games that have kept them close to the front runners and get over the top?
Can the fast cycling bot 5010 finally catch a break?
It really feels like anyone’s game. I don’t think anybody has emerged as the obvious favorites with a game that can be won in so many ways.
Climbing started off huge, but with so many level 3 climbers at one event, that advantage may have worn off. It will come down to fast cycles and the ability to withstand the defense that will surely be brought hard.
Will we see a slew of unicorns, or will defense bots hunt them down and keep them rare? Indiana has lots of firepower.
You’re seeing defense more in Indiana this year because of its impact in a match. The past few years defense didn’t always deny a ton of points - you’d still get dunked on in Steamworks or the time-based mechanics of Power Up still meant Indiana robots putting up some crazy scores. The choke points and bottlenecks in this game are unreal and a good defensive bot can easily clog up half of the field.
Teams have had a few weeks to practice getting around this though, so it may be less effective. Alliances will need to be flexible on where they score. I know our team has talked about this a lot and have practiced swapping where we score at the drop of a hat.
I’d argue this field of 32 teams will be the most competitive, concentrated event of the season. The floor is insanely high, no matches are guaranteed. Get the popcorn ready it’s going to be one heck of a show.
You know, you can prepare for everything and still have the FMS goof you over. We’re going to to the best we can and pray to the FMS gods that they bless us with an alliance member capable of climbing to Hab 3.
Odds are growing in your favor. With 12/32 robots at the event able to climb, the odds of one or more of your alliance members able to climb is 63% each match (if it were completely random each round, which its not but the percent should still be close).