During a recent competition, we were allied with a low cap focused bot against one that could score high caps. Our alliance member decided to play defensive in order to deter the high cap scoring bot, while following the 5 second trapping and pinning rule. However, the referee called out this team and stated that they should play offensively and try to score points rather than pinning, and even stated that they could be disqualified as a result. Would this actually be a clear basis on the grounds of disqualification?
tldr; Can a robot play defensive legally during an entire match?
Yes, you can play defensively for an entire match, as long as you aren’t breaking any rules like <G12>. Referees can not disqualify you for not playing offensively enough.
Just be prepared to be complained at vigorously by teams that don’t understand this. Hopefully the referees are prepared, too. I spent a lot of refereeing time at ITZ tournaments explaining that yes, defense is allowed, as long as it doesn’t break certain rules. This year might not be as bad as last year, though, as last year was a year after a divided game (Starstruck) where robot interaction wasn’t really a thing and a lot of teams were surprised and upset about a factor they had overlooked.
Yep, that’s definitely the reaction received from the other alliance, and it might have just been a case of the referee wanting that robot to be offensive during the match in the spirit of the game.