[TEntwistle]

A few comments - if the lexan piece were to hold or act as a hanger for game pieces, there is no reason for the holes that have been placed in it. These look like they are designed to attach it to something in a permanent fashion

In my brief experience with FIRST, and in reading about the older games, I feel that the GDC goes into exsquisite detail as they plan for every year. I think that they make game design and rules not only to change the format every year, but also to level the playing field. With Overdrive, blocking an opponent was forbidden, but has not been in many other years. With Overdrive, blocking would have made the game too easy for a defensive strategy to dominate. With Lunacy, not allowing expansion of the robot outside of the basic configuration limited the efficacy of scoring and prevented blocking shots on your trailer.

Therefore, the methods of scoring and allowance (or disallowance) of de-scoring will be based more on what it will take to have a multi-facted game - one in which multiple game strategies and thus robot designs can flourish. Otherwise, everyone will make the same robot, drive it the same way, and be bored to tears.