[JosephC]

Let me put it this way in FRC terms. #4 seed talking to #5 seed. #5 seed - "We'll give you our picklist if you skip over picking team X so we can have them instead"

That's basically whats happening here. Helping one team is one thing. You wanna give them a pick list? Sure. There's no advantage for anyone, its the same as if they made their own picklist. Trading that picklist for a better team? It's advantageous vs other teams not involved. There's nothing the other teams can do about it.

You can't apply it to FRC the same way. Sure, help someone build their robot for your alliance, its the same as if you just picked a better team or they had a better robot. Teams can combat this by building a better robot for themselves, there is counterplay, its doesn't really give someone a large advantage over anyone else.

What can I do to combat your 3 first picks? pick better teams? thats reliant on my pick position, I can't force myself to get more #1 picks.