[petek]

I had the best seat in the house to witness one example of this tactic: I was standing 6 ft away when 84 trapped their opponent's trackball against the robocoach fence and 103 successfully took it away - eventually. 84 did not possess or fully control the position of the ball at any time; they simply pushed it against the fence and made it difficult for 103 to get to it. Given the capabilities of those two machines, I feel this was the best tactic 84 could play. They certainly wouldn't have been able to harry a flying 103 on the run! But playing this game slowed their opponent down considerably, allowing their partners to close the gap with their faster-shooting opponents.

I feel that this is not a loophole or underhanded in any way, at least the way these teams played it. It was simply the best way that this robot could help their alliance partners. I believe that if the GDC had wanted this to be an offensive-only game, they would have put six trackballs on the overpass.

I'm pretty sure that 341 was overjoyed to find that 84 was still there for them to pick for their alliance, knowing how well they play alliance strategy and that they can be depended upon to play fair. They did win Philly together last year using much the same strategy, after all.