Hmm... an interesting thread. Buried in here we've got a rookie clearly and confidently stating what can be done, and a veteran making a conservative estimate based upon observation of the 2006 game play, and carefully limiting his comments to the "subject to further testing" clause.
I've posted a link to this video of our 2006 robot before, but I'll do it here again just to show that a single-wheel shooter is more than capable of hitting from half-court.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jggKd...5&feature=plcp
But I'll also point out that just because you can hit the target from half-court in practice, doesn't mean that you should count on being able to do it during the game. We were resoundingly whupped by a a few teams who made it their goal to get close fast and score with every ball.
Jason
P.S. I should also point out that properly designed shooters will not damage the balls. In fact, I'd expect that to be part of the tech inspection process. Although a week or two into the '06 season I didn't believe it was possible to build a shooter that wouldn't damage the ball, it turns out I was wrong about that... our 2006 poof balls have been fired hundreds of times and are still in pretty good shape.