Quote:
Originally Posted by Swampdude
Why is defense hard? in at least 75% of the field, opponents bots are fair game, and for the remaining 25% it only matters if they are about to hurdle. Which means you can hassle an opponent for at least 80-85% of the time. Just don't go backwards or hit them outside the bumper zone (unless its gripper gripper contact) and you're good.[...]
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So long as the offensive team was smart enough with their bumper placement, that's not true at all. Moving laterally or slowing down in front of an approaching bot is impeding. Using virtually any field element to the defenders advantage is pinning/impeding. You can't force them into penalties by pushing them across lines. When you cross a line, you can't return to defend previous areas.
So long as they have acceptable bumper configurations to "Signal to Pass", best you can do it push them laterally while they move forward, try and turn the while they acquire the ball, or try and delay them for six seconds. Granted, six seconds is not a negligible amount of time (in fact, some top-tier lap bots clock their open-field laps to be approximately six seconds), it not likely to take away more than one hurdle from a hurdler, even if you're doing it every lap.
More effective defense would seem to be possible on the game pieces themselves, but their massive size and unwieldiness, your inability to possess opposing game-pieces, as well as the limited direction of play, makes it very difficult to keep them away from the opponent without incurring penalties...especially for a "box-on-wheels".