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I'm surprised FIRST would even give a ruling on this.
Pre-match strategy (of any type) has always been a part of this competiton (especially since '99). Why would they limit such a strategy? Especially one that promotes collaboration and cooperation between alliances.
Personally, I don't feel many such strategies will occur. While I hesitate to speak without having played the game, as a coach, I would be reluctant to engage in such a strategy. I feel that either I would be robbing points from a superior alliance that could have beat me fair and square, or taking points away from myself where I could have won.
This competition is a... competition. The only gentleman's agreements I can see coming about, are if two alliances are so evenly matched they know they are going to "Stalemate". If this occurs it might be beneficial to say something like "you stack in your zone, we'll stack in ours, no knocking them over until 15 seconds left."
I dont think even this will happen that often.
We might see some of:
"We can beat you to the ramp. We can outpush you. If you spend your time attacking us, you will just be wasting your time. We've done our HW, and we know what all robots involved are capable of. This is what we're going to do......... you can't stop us, but you can try to out score us. Anything else really is wasting time, and points. Good luck."
Would FIRST consider this form of "collaboration" against the spirit of Gracious Profesionalism? I certainly don't believe it is.
Coaching is like playing chess in real-time. It is a test of robots, but also of minds. When I coach our robot, and our alliance, it is my mind vs. the mind of those across the field. This is where I feel the true thrill of the competition comes from. Defeating a superior robot by out thinking it. I've done it before, and I hope to do it again. I'll take the fair loss, over the "rigged" (I use this for lack of a better word) tie any day.
Plus, I'd feel pretty stupid if I agreed to a tie, didn't play the match the way I normally would have, then got double crossed and lost anyways.
My feelings: Beware of ties, play to win.
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In the interest of full disclosure: I work for VEX Robotics a subsidiary of Innovation First International (IFI) Crown Supplier & Proud Supporter of FIRST
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