what to do if the other alliance reneges on coop

[JesseK]

Definitely go to the source to get an understanding of what went on: only the coach and/or drivers really know what happened. Here's some insight from our experience in Pittsburgh.

Coop this year is so sticky. It shouldn't even be discussed until after autonomous for both sides has been figured out for all 6 robots. There are multiple possibilities for where yellow totes end up after autonomous. Then the alliances need to figure out which teams work best at HP loading or field loading the totes as they're planned to be for coop. At that point, the inter-alliance Coop discussion should happen.

If anything goes out of order with this discussion, it seems like a coin toss has better odds of getting Coop. Even with a solid plan though, RNG has a lot do do with it. If anything like HP loading goes wrong, RC's get knocked over next to the yellow tote, the landfill gets messed up, the wrong noodle goes into the wrong place, or the intended coop robot's drive train or mechanism doesn't respond as-intended, then coop may not even be attempted. It could also be that the robot who's trying Coop has never HP loaded before since they're landfill-centric - and when the first chute tote falls over they abandon coop altogether.

Scouts can't tell a team any of this. I don't think it means the team is scratched off a list - especially if it's early in the event. Our scouts evaluate a team for its performance and potential all the way to the end of Quals, unless I tell them I can't work with another coach for specific reasons.