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Originally Posted by tkwetzel
Someone talked to me about this and thought that stacking two tetras sideways would effectively score the goal for you and give you possession of that goal. They thought that they would use this strategy to win matches. However, I do believe that it would be a waste of time to stack two tetras sideways. First of all, the robot has to be able to carry two tetras, and they have to be sideways at that. Many robots have one tetra on their manipulator and it just swings around, how are you going to balance a second one in the side opening of the first on one their? Most teams will be unable to do this. Next, you will be placing two tetras, but only scoring one. And a lot of matches are decided by only a few points. It is easier to defend against a sideways double stack also. And my last point will be that to make this move worth while, you will have to do this to at least 3-4 goals, which will take a little bit of time. 3-4 goals means 6-8 tetras, which most teams can't even accomplish in a single match putting them on straight, much less a sideways double stack. I only see this happening by accident again and I do not think that any team will start stacking like this to use to their advantage.
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We considered this a possible strategy at one point, because we could do it. We figured that even if both were not scored, it would have at least been an effective way of locking down the home row. In fact, for us to convince ourselves that this could even come anywhere close to legal (or at least near the spirit of the game), both tetras could not count; that would allow the opposing alliance to dismount the tetras in an attempt to score.
We successfully did it at PNW during a practice match. I wasn't present at the time, but I am told by one of our drive team that she asked a referee for clarification on whether it would be scored. The head ref returned to her and said that it will be disallowed and asked us not to do it again (or face DQ), because it prevents opposing robots from scoring. We decided not to push the matter after.
In short, it is possible, I don't think it was intended in the game design, it didn't seem to be ruled out by the rules (unless I missed something), it is bordering on being un-GP, and it was disallowed by one regional's referees.