The other day in my competition the opposing robot sat in my 5 point zone and prevented me from scoring a mobile goal with 6 cones on it for the last 30 seconds of a match, in the last 5 seconds as they were blocking me from scoring the mobile goal the movement of their robot caused all 6 cones on the mobile goal to be descored. The referee did not rule it match affecting even though if they had not partaken in that purely defensive strategy that would have allowed me to score many more points in that match on top of all the points from the mobile goal+6 cones being scored. What is the best thing to do in this situation and do you think the ref ruled the situation correctly.
Match affecting depends on the scores. If you were winning 100-10 it wouldn’t be match affecting. If you were losing 10-100, it would again not be match affecting. What were the scores?
Also, there is nothing against purely defensive strategies, but in the case of a rule breaking, the judges should rule in favor of the offensive team.
Regardless, did they touch the mobile goal, or did the collision of the robots cause the cones to fall? If it was just the collision, they did nothing wrong. If they purposefully grabbed the goal, or lifted cones, it would definitely be intentional, and a warning or dq against them.
Being in the way is not wrong. Especially if they were only in the 5 point zone, not touching the 10 point bar.
Basically, for us to give advice or opinion please give some more details, right now it’s hard to tell if the refs made a mistake or not.
Actually, based on the most recent relevant Q&A answer, if you were to simply push your way through trying to score and while the defensive robot was making contact, you were descored, it would be a violation against the defending robot .
https://vexforum.com/t/answered-5-point-zone-defensive-actions/44335/1
My recommendation would be to get very aggressive with the defensive robot while holding a stack of cones. Either they will get out of the way and you can score, or they won’t and risk descoring. I would attempt to put down the mogo right where the robot is in the way. It increases the likelihood and speed of an outcome that is good for you.
I would not spend a lot of time on it. Make sure you score as many other points as possible.
Another option is to set a mogo down with a stack right against the defending robot in your scoring zone making it difficult for them to move without descoring and then go get more to score.
There is no rule against the defending robot being there and playing defense so the amount of time you spent dealing with the other robot does not matter. The delay is only an issue while the defending robot is in violation of the rule (like touching your 10 point zone or touching you while you are touching the starting bar or the 10 or 20 point zone.
At a recent competition we faced a team that would tell its alliance to do this because they could singlehandedly score 50-70 and win because their alliance kept us from scoring any mobile goals. In qualification the officials didn’t call a violation on these robots even when they hit our 10 pT bar. In the quarterfinals we faced them and we parked in their 5 pT zone. Unfortunately for us, they pushed us into the bar, and we were called for a violation, DQed and lost a tourney match. Ultimately, you must be cautious at all times when trying to play defense in a high scoring game, and the officials calls may vary depending on the situation.
That was not the correct call. Contacting your opponents starting bar is entirely legal. https://vexforum.com/t/answered-playing-defense-and-sg10/43902/1
Thanks for clearing that up!
Just a clarification, the starting bar is in the 5 pt. Zone. The bar between the 10 pt zone and 20 pt zone would be the 10 Point bar. If you are hitting that bar, then you are in violation because, most likely you are in their 10 pt zone.
The score was about 50-90 but how would you rule that match affecting or not. I could have very well put that stack in the 20 and then swung the high stack bonus in my favor with the 6 cones that were on top. And yes part of their robot was touching the 10 point zone and if they hadnt been in that position my team could have very well scored the amount of points needed to win the match. All of the opponents mobile goals were already scored so there was no reason for them to be in that position as there was no objective that could be played from that postition,
I remember at a previous tournament the head ref told me that I was allowed to play defense as much as I wanted as long as I was still playing the objective at the same time.
There was no objective that they could have played therefore it was a solely defensive strategy.
And yes they were touching the mobile goal, their robot had latched onto the underside with a piece of structure and then the movement of their robot shaked the mobile goal so much that they caused all 6 cones to fall off.
You are allowed to have a solely defensive strategy, the rules say it is an offensive game but you can just try to defend. However, if they were touching your 10 point zone that is illegal. And definitely that could have been match affecting, warranting a DQ.
Okay so I as I was trying to score the mobile goals one of their wheels touched the ten point zone because I was pushing against them, should they have been DQ’d in that situation?
If the offense forced you into their 10 bar while you were playing defense and close to it, who would it be called on?
If the offensive team was trying to score a mobile goal and pushed the defensive team into the 10 point zone then they should call it on the defensive team
Also im assuming you meant the 10 point zone and not the bar because the 10 point bar is the bigger bar and if they are all the way back there the ref should defintely call them out.