Strategies Update & Why the Depot Could be a Sneaky Advantage:

I'd like to update on what 135 strategies look like for this season… currently.

Lemme give you a quick backstory. Reefscape was personally my second season in Robotics, and during the first few weeks, I was lost with what strategies teams might have. Now, yes, scoring more means you’ll probably win, but what about cycling or what to prioritize? I sorta understood the best strategies of winning in REEFSCAPE from the first week, just “super-cycle” by scoring a coral and then algae. But there was one KEY detail I had missed, and so did almost every team, OTHER THAN THOSE IN EINSTEIN’S. Trees.

Almost every team in Einsteins, or overall top-ranked teams in the world, utilized the trees is Auto to earn more points, not just faster points. Therefore, that brings me to this:

Auto & Setting the tone for the Shifts:

My key takeaway from Reefscape (specifically Worlds) was that there is some type of element in the game that might be “overlooked” or just not prioritized. This year, I think the Transition Shift + Depot will be key factors in high-stakes matches. 

Now, yes, you can argue, just because these elements of REBUILT are not necessarily prioritized does not mean that they are key factors, just because other seasons have been. 

Let's assume your alliance just won the auto, and now your hub is about to be inactive. Let's also assume that your robot hung at L1 for auto as well. You now have a good chunk of time to get down safely, but with a 10 SECOND TRANSITION where BOTH hubs are still active, it's valuable time your robot can score more fuel. With a 20 second Auto this year, a robot can use the last 7 to collect as much fuel as possible and hang. With this, the robot has fuel to start the transition and score during valuable time.

This creates a time where alliances can immediately capitalize while others are still repositioning. In close, high-stakes matches, those few extra cycles during the transition can make a pretty big difference, especially when margins are tight. By treating the transition as a SCORING opportunity rather than dead time, alliances that optimize fuel collection and timing could gain an advantage.

As for the hang, a Level 1 hang in Auto is a necessity for that Traversal RP. Getting that early climb logged allows your alliance to focus entirely on high-throughput Fuel cycles during the match. Even further would be a hang that allows you to continue scoring while hanging, which is why our team is currently against a flip climb. It’s time you aren’t supercycling. 

TeleOP:

TeleOp this year is defined by the rhythm of the game clock. Since the Hubs cycle between active and inactive states based on the live Game Data, successful teams must adopt a "Shift-Aware, automatic" mindset to avoid wasted movement. 

During ACTIVE Shifts, the priority is a pure “offensive blitz.” For our robot, we are prioritizing two turreted shooters to maintain a constant stream of Fuel into the Hub while the drivetrain stays in motion toward the next pickup point. This eliminates the time lost to alignment and keeps the cycle times tight. 

Now, during INACTIVE hubs, this is where I feel a little lost. To me, it seems more beneficial to have 2 robots during this time, grabbing as much fuel and just POACHING it on their alliance while the third robot plays defense?

I'm always interested in hearing others' thoughts. 

These 25-second windows are perfect for clearing the Depot or herding Fuel from the Neutral Zone into protected scoring alleys. By buffering inventory during the downtime, you ensure that the moment the Hub reactivates, you are already in position to dump a full hopper and maximize the scoring window.

Endgame:

For the Endgame, I think it's fairly straightforward to just climb as high as you can. (We are aiming for level 3) However, I would expect a lot of teams to try “middle” rather than “side” hang, so having a side hang would probably eliminate the traffic concerns.