[asid61]

To be fair, many of the 3rd picks at competitions may want to scale for the extra points (the first 2 robots will be scoring the most anyway), and if you've already finished your main goals, why not start prototyping now? There are plenty of ways to start on a climber while the drivers get practice, and you can always add it at your competition (providing you stay under the withholding allowance).

For our team at least, if it came down to a 3rd robot breaker and a 3rd robot that breaks a little slower but climbs, I would take the second option. Because the first 2 robots may be making cycles to shoot, they will naturally break several of the defenses anyway, leaving only one or two tricky defenses like the drawbridge to deal with. A 3rd bot can break those quickly before moving to play defense (or just play defense until the endgame).

Ultimately it depends on what you think others' strategies will be.