I know there have been threads about wallbots and the like, but I’m interested in a more general discussion of defensive strategies in general. I feel that playing defense with normal offensive robots can have more nuance than “hey, go run into that robot over there, then back off for a bit”, especially in a game like this where strategy will be a big factor.
I fell like robots will play zone defense, where they will defend a strategic point on the field. Wrapping a bot around a goal zone is also a good way to stop other robots from accessing it.
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There’s always the pinning strategy that gets over looked. If you have the offensive advantage, you must pin the opponent. I don’t understand why most teams don’t do this, it’s always a tactic used in higher level competitions. You are allowed to pin the opponent for up to 5 seconds, and in a game that’s two minutes long, 5 seconds is a life time.
Defensive strategy should always be nested into the main offensive objective. That’s what differentiates the good teams from the great ones. Look at the TP round robin matches for reference (particularly 169a and 8059a did a really good job at this).
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I think the main “zone” that will be defended is the area around the center line of goals, because this would allow an alliance to restrict their opponents to one side of the field. That would have the effect of a wallbot (if both teams played defense after scoring).
On a side note, what do you mean by “wrapping”?
I think the main defense will happen offensively for teams to protect their goals (rather than obstructing other teams). The diagonal goals will be a hot spot (especially center) since your opponents can’t score goals if you control 1 diagonal.
This is true most of the time, but if you have an extreme advantage it can be worth it to let your opponents score a little in order to gain more SP.
62A in ITZ was also a great example of blending offense and defense.
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What I would like to see early season is a half scoring half wallbot robot that completes its home row in auton, while deploying small wall in each of those corner zones, to mostly protect those two valuable points. Think about it, with those two points covered, they can only score 2 different rows.
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I had this idea where one bot just hoards the other alliances balls in a corner and a wallbot just sits in the corner defending the hoard of balls in a corner. Would this be legal?
No this will break the possession limit.
The Robot is blocking the opposing Robot’s access to Balls that are located between Goals along the field perimeter. Blocking access to Balls is considered Possessing those Balls only if the opposing Robot is attempting to make contact with those Balls from close range and those Balls are at least partially within the width of the Goals between the Goals. Robots on the same Alliance working in tandem to block access to Balls would share the Possession of the Balls. See possession limits.
Technically, it is possible to hoard 6 of your opponent’s balls. there can be three balls scored in the goal, and since they are not possessed, you can hoard 3 more on the ground or in your robot. Although, it would probably be more beneficial to have 2 of your opponent’s balls in the goal and one of yours on top, so you own the goal (and one less point for your opponent).
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If they aren’t between the goals, however, you’re fine…