This is going to be a basic breakdown of the different point values of the objects in Skyrise, and hopefully will draw out some meaningful strategies from the mix before just watching it play out in a match.
I cast Wall of Text!
Number of scoring objects
There are 22 cubes available to each team, but since 2 cubes are on the far side of the field, and the pyramid is going to be a big mess, let’s assume that you’d only really get 18 to work with in a real match. Remember, the fewer cubes there are on the ground, the more likely you’ll have to go a long distance to pick up the next one to score.
Number of goals
There are supposedly 10 normal goals around the field. 4 23" goals that hold 1 cube, 4 39" goals holding 3 each, and 2 47" goals holding 4. Each goal can hold one extra cube that can be descored. However, you can never reach one of the short goals because it is behind the opponents’ starting tiles. If you can score on all goal heights, there is space for 23(32) cubes. If you can’t reach 47", that’s reduced to 15(22) cube spaces reachable by your team.
Floor goals
I’m sorry, but if you’re scoring on the floor, you probably should spend some time making your robot taller. If your goal scoring space is limited by the height of your robot and their cubes occupy some spaces, then you’re almost certainly going to lose. It’s a 2:1, 3:1, or 4:1 floor goal cube to scored cube point ratio, and it’s a serious problem if you have enough cubes left on the ground to make up any differences.
Skyrise points
I’m not going to assume all teams can reach the max height of 60", because that’s pretty crazy from what I can see right now (that might change). Below is a listing of some information at each point in the skyrise build.
A: Skyrise sections placed
B: Skyrise cube capacity (no descoring, since they can’t touch it)
C: Height in inches to score next cube/section
D: Points for full Skyrise
Comparing scoring
Firstly, if you can’t build a skyrise to at least past the low goal height, you lose. 28 points is worth 10-14 cubes, on 0-8 owned goals. Since the other guys will also be scoring on normal goals, and they’ve only used 4 cubes on the skyrise, there will be no contest because they have cubes all over the place to be used.
Next, let’s say you can score one more skyrise than your opponents. Say they reach 40" and score 5 skyrise sections with 6 cubes, with access to medium goals. Yours reaches 48 or something and and gets 6 sections, 7 cubes. Difference is 8 points, but also some other bonuses. They have to run around to score 3 cubes to own 2 goals, or just 4 cubes, driving around the field to pick up and score around, which is a lot of time. You are 2-3 cubes ahead for unscored objects, meaning the next one is that much closer. Scoring on the skyrise is uncontested, and much closer and easier to get to.
Finally, super skyrise stacker vs normal 40" reach bot. The super stacker gets 60 points on the skyrise, against the normal 44 points. 16 point difference, which can’t be beaten unless your robot is just taller than it is. 16 points is enough to counter an autonomous loss and 2-3 cubes on the goals, or just 5-8 cubes on goals. Never mind that its autonomous is probably to score a ton of skyrise sections and dump cubes on it for mad points. Looks like a slightly slower robot capable of going for the max height is worth it over a less capable, more efficient robot.
Misc
Cheater tubes are back! If you don’t mind having a cube in the way before scoring the first skyrise section, you can do the Round Up thing and start with the cube over the goal before driving away in auton for 4 easy points.
The scoring dynamic on the normal goals should be similar to Gateway, in the number of objects on the ground and spaces to be scored in. Obviously you want to fill them up first so that they have no place to score the rest of their cubes in, unless they can reach the high goals, at which point there is about enough space for everything.
This is the starting point of making a strategy for any game, figuring out the high priority goals and weighing the points. This is the basics, really, but understanding the game dynamic before it gets there helps inform robot design through knowing what you want it to do beforehand.