Blocking 2 ball autons

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Abhishek R

Well, it's possible that you start with no ball, grab the ball the two-baller intends to take, then score that ball by crossing over the nearest defense and shooting. The risk you run in that case is "are you fast enough to grab the ball before the other team does?" Because if you don't get the ball, you won't score any balls in auto.

Oh man, not this again. At least it's optional this time and not as likely to end with two robots semi-permanently attached...

Seriously, though, it seems like everyone is dropping a ball off by the wall. Instead of a drag race, it seems like you would be better off outtaking your own ball at the dropped ball to disrupt its position and cause a hiccup that way.

I actually think this is the only viable option, since it's really unlikely you can successfully start between the midline and your opponent's secret passage. Here's what the auto would look like:
Setup: In front of defense 1 lined up to intake ball 2 (one down the line from the one you opponent's intaking).
1.Rotate to face your opponent's dropped ball, outtake at high speed.
2.Rotate straight, intake mid-line ball.
3.Cross defense in front of you.
4.Score ball in auto.

Super simplified, of course. You can skip 2 and 4 if you're already not scoring a ball in auto, though. I think it'd be doable, the question is whether you can hit the dropped ball accurately enough and hard enough to disrupt things. And whether you'll get a foul for using a boulder to make a defense harder if one or both carom into the low-bar and jam things up there.