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Originally Posted by Petey
For instance, in one match our team was involved in, Team 88 was retreating back to their end zone as time ran out. As the buzzer rang, their robot finished rolling with its arm barely touching the lowest tetra on the central back row. This discounted not only that tetra and all above it, but (if I remember correctly), two tic-tac-toes. They were in no way supporting it--just touching it!
...The fact is, it is difficult for teams to modify their style of play when the most basic requirements of successful play often result in such serious penalties.
--Petey
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Touching the tetras isn't a penalty, instead it violate the basic definition of a scored tetra. The situation you describe sounds like dumb luck, not an excessive penalty.
My other observation is that none of the penalties must be violated to accomplish any part of the game as you implied. They are all easily avoidable with skilled drivers and decent strategies. If this means a shift to an all offense game as some have implied, penalties will become less significant because the scores will certainly increase. I don't see this shift in game play. All offense suggests that teams will have the full time period to score freely, and this was not the case in nearly every match.
The only result that can come from penalties is better drivers and robots from good teams, and low scores from reckless teams. They will separate the teams with the most finesse from the rest of teams. The increase in scores in the regionals to come (there always is an increase) will render penalties less decisive than they are now.
Another thought that comes to mind is that if you know a team has received a massive penalty, let them score. There's no need to cap on their goals if you know you have a 30 point advantage over them.