Zone or Man Defense?

[Canon reeves]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

I disagree here.

Most shooters I've seen are ri3d style and shoot from a 3' height. A 5' robot in front of them can effectively block that shot, and with a little structure, won't have to worry about damage.

... And as far as man vs zone defense ... I believe that while most will play some sort of zone defense, the most effective defenders will be playing man defense and attempting to lock the ball inside a poor performing robot.

Blocking a robot with a shooter that is 3' high would be even easier if you have that blocker extend 20" into over their robot? We are using just pvc and some door hinges to bracket and haven't had any problems yet, as long as we are slowing the ball's trajectory we are happy, we want the ball to go as far away as possible then keep them from getting the ball.
I almost feel like ball defense might be very successful, meaning basically whoever has the ball you defend and slow progress down as much as possible. You would expect the opposing alliance to focus on you. Causing your two members to advance down the field?
Imagine what a match with 3 good shooting robots, against three basically box on wheels robots? the 3 box on wheels robots actually have a good chance to slow down the other alliance quite a bit! I can imagine we will see several matches that are just major clogs most of the time. Then to get out of this one robot would pass the ball in the air causing everyone to go after it. Basically being one big mess, that would definitely be interesting!