I see a few different view points. You're right, depending on how you program, you are definitly walking a very thin line. It truly depends on your partner and how they will react, but here is my take on the issue.
While it's a decent defensive strategy, I don't recommend it for the autonomous mode. First of all, you have no control over what your robot does if something happens, like two robots become intertwined and have a huge issue. Such a collision could disable both you and your alliance or your opponent's robot, and could result in penalty, and is most importantly not GP.
Another issue is the interest of time. Will you really have time to run effective defense across field, and will that extra tetra really help? It seems more logical to be able to control your robot during a defensive or offensive situation, instead of hoping that the code will work every single time.
The last thing that you may want to consider is whether or not you want to salvage that extra 15 seconds of defense in lieu of points. Points are good, and the race for them will be tight in the 2005 game. Getting an extra 10 at the beginning may be more effective for you than trying to do too much at once.
With that said, here are a couple suggestions:
Your idea to be an offensive robot is good early in the game. Stick with your idea of maybe getting closer to the other side to work with robots and tetras there, but focus less on the defense part and more on positioning yourself so that you'll be in a good position to react quickly at the beginning of controllable mode.
Just my $.02, and thank you for asking for community advice.
- Genia