6 wheel wide chassis - is there any advantage over just 4 wide?

[CrashTestPilot]

Is there any advantage to using 6 wheels in a wide tank drive configuation? Assiming you can fit 3 wheels on each short side. Would you even consider 6 wheel with center dropped in a wide configration? Sounds to me that the very short "wheelbase" created by the 4 wheels that are in contact with the ground would make the robot very tippy.

So what about turning effort in a wide chassis. If all wheels are in the same plane, would there be any difference in amount of scrubbing and turning effort between 4 wheel wide and 6 wheel wide. Assume wheel size to be the same.

[VKP]

A wider chassis would definitely be easier to turn, but in this year's game, balance is very important when getting over the barrier and the ramps, and a wide robot would be more susceptible of falling over backwards or forwards over those field elements.

[Marc S.]

The reason for building a 6wd is so the bot can turn better. So i ask you, how do you make a 4wd turn better?

(the answer is: By adding center wheels(effectively making it a 6wd).)

In 09 a lot of teams went wide and thought that because they are wide turning with 4 wheels will be just as easy as a long 6wd. Yet with a trailer and a lot of heavy defense, wide bots with either swerve drive or 6wd triumphed in turning capabilities and escaping defense.