[JesseK]

With a wide orientation, we determined that there was no difference between 4, 6 & 8 wheels for robots that did not traverse the bump, so we went with 4 wheels. At competition we realized that there was an additional tradeoff we hadn't accounted for: we couldn't be either outside bot on a triple balance.

The purpose of our drive train was to be incredibly simple and sprint from bridge to key. It used a custom frame with 4 CIMs/CIMple boxes through moderate gearing for a top speed of ~9.5 ft/s. It weighed ~21lbs. It was designed by the end of day 1 and the design only had minor modifications as we further specified what the 2-sided intake would do. The drive train was built by the end of week 1. That simplicity allowed us to focus on a shooter for more time, thus getting us further than ever in a build season. We also made it further than ever at champs (SF's). Would we have benefited from additional wheels to be able to hang off or cross the bump? The magic 8-ball is still unclear on that one.

So one cannot put "6WD vs 8WD" up for debate without debating orientation and context. 4WD wide-drive is just as effective as either as long as one accepts the tradeoffs.