[BrennanB]

This is a hard thing to talk about with an alliance, and I think that this mentality of "we have to show off our robot's new functionality" has been in FIRST games for a long time.

There are plenty of examples (probably for every regional) where teams compromise the total alliance strategy for the ability to show off a function that was not previously working, and might still not work.

There is a significant advantage to showing a mechanism working in a match, and certainly there is something to be said for a mechanism that works on the field during a match, than just a mechanism that works while you are in a controlled environment. The alternative is a much less satisfactory demonstration a robot's capability is demonstrating in the pits/practice field, because matches are played on the competition field, not the pits/practice field. Just because you show this function, doesn't mean that you will get picked. Just because you try to do it during the match, doesn't mean that it will actually work.

Just be aware of the reputation that you give to these teams that you essentially decide to not work with. Even if these other two teams aren't in a picking position for this regional, maybe they will be next regional. Perhaps it's not even this year that they are going to pick you, but next year, or the year after. Stories spread, people remember. (You can even see it in this thread, all the examples of "that one team that") Reputations stay for a long time, even if you may have the best intentions later. If it comes down to you and another team in the scouting meeting, you can probably bet that they will be picking the other team.

Just be very careful about doing something for a somewhat small gain, that could affect your team's image for several years to come.