[EricH]

Originally Posted by who716

i would only do it if your robot is completely dead and is impossible to fix before the next round.. this is in the sense of gracious professionalism

I don't think we're talking about reasons for the 9th seed to decline other than strategy.

This is a limited scenario: You are seeded #9, you are picked, and maybe you think you can build a better alliance from the #8 slot should you get there. Do you accept, which has obvious strategic implications, or do you decline, which is a risky gamble due to relying on inter-top-8 selection?

For this scenario, which does happen from time to time, we are assuming that your robot is functional or fixable (you can do a LOT of fixing by postponing lunch until after your first QF match or taking lunch in shifts, as well as tapping alliance partners' supplies of manpower and tools and parts, so there are very few impossible fixes). Gracious Professionalism, while it has a place in how you accept or decline, should not affect your decision either direction--we're talking strategy, and as declining from any position is not forbidden, it is therefore allowed--and therefore, GP does not come into play. (Your team may see this differently than I do.)



As for whether or not I would decline, or call for a decline, that is highly dependent on situation. If I knew that I was the best robot at doing X hard-to-beat strategy, and there were a lot of decent or good complementary teams to that strategy out there (> 9), I would probably consider doing just that, particularly if there was another robot that used my strategy (though not as well, or with a weakness that I didn't have) within the top 8. On the other hand, if I've got a defensive specialist... I'm taking the offer of alliance. Defenders don't go in the first round unless they're REALLY good at what they do.