Coopertition - Not As Easy As It Looks!

[Bongle]

Say my team has the choice to cooperate and we choose not to (or we sabotage attempts by the other members of our alliance). By doing so, we not only keep the opposing alliance from gaining ranking but we potentially hurt our own ranking possibilities. So... why should I sabotage my own ranking ?

It may be something unique to Ontario, where regional results are very predictable despite the high quality of local robots.

In Ontario, there is a widely held belief (including being held by myself) that if either 1114 or 2056 seed on top, one picks the other and the competition is effectively over once alliance selection concludes**. As Looking Forward pointed out in his week 2 predictions, these two teams haven't lost a regional in Ontario since 2005 (and 2056 hasn't lost a regional ever).

If you're playing to win the regional, then there's an argument to be made that your seed doesn't matter if 1114 or 2056 are going to end up on top.

Put another way, if you hold certain axioms:
a) 1114 or 2056 on top implies you lose the regional, unless you're their lucky 3rd robot (which I've been once )
b) 1114 and 2056 split up means you have a better chance of winning
c) You're aiming to win the regional, not just seed high
d) Your team will likely be drafted in eliminations before the 24th pick (that is, you don't expect to be the final bot on 1114/2046's team)

Then it makes sense to try to deny 1114 and 2056 CP points, even at the expensive of your own seeding position, since your winning chances go from 0% (or near-0%) up to something nonzero*. I'm not sure how common this dynamic of the same two teams winning over and over is across the other regions, so I don't know how often teams will be doing this kind of CP-strategizing. The strategy is further motivated by the fact that Waterloo and GTR-east are both small regionals where teams have a >50% chance of getting drafted, so seeding low doesn't perturb a team with a decently-functional robot since they can be confident of getting drafted anyway. They lose a little control over their destiny, but since their destiny in one scenario is a near-guaranteed loss and in the other scenario is a mostly-guaranteed loss, I'd think it would be rational to choose the slightly higher chance of victory.

*Though nobody knows for sure, since I don't believe the two teams have ever been split at a regional that they both attended.
**This year will prove an interesting test of that theory, since both 1114 and 2056 are attending all 3 Ontario regionals. GTR-east came down to the last match seeding-wise, so perhaps Waterloo or GTR-west will have them split.

Disclaimer: Though I support strategies using the CP bridge to affect tournament seeding, if someone on your alliance wants the CP bridge for their own strategies (maybe they think they can form a solid alliance or make a run for #1 seed, or they simply consider seeding high to be good enough for them), then you should let them, or at least have a decision made pre-match. Don't coerce people, don't try to unbalance CP bridge, and don't throw matches (that really shouldn't have to be said).