Defense by parking Who is pinning who

[cpapplefamily]

Like many of you I too have been watching matches today. An effective method of defense seems to be parking at the middle cargo ship bay. When the offensive robot is trying to place a game piece and contact is started many of the referees are starting the pin count. Who is pinned? The defensive bot? That doesn’t make any sense but anyhow the refs seem to cancel the pin count when contact is complete and not when the Offensive robot clears the 6 foot rule. I watched a lot of matches last year referees calling a pin fowl when the 6 foot rule is not satisfied. This rule is so hard to keep constant but:

If the defensive bot is getting the pin countdown by parking these offensive Robots need to retain their attempt to score and draw the penalty. The parking robot needs to try to get out of the way to avoid the penalty. *This option will help soften the Defense will ruin the game

If the Offensive Robot is getting the pin count down then they need to clear out and make it back to their HAB zone to satisfy the 6 foot rule. There is not enough room between the Cargo Ship and side of the field to get the 6.
*This option will support Defense will ruin the game

IMO the pining robot is a defensive move. There can only ever be one defensive robot on the opponents side so the park robot is the offending robot getting the countdown and responsible for clearing 6 feet away to not draw a penalty.

[BClarke]

I would support a rule change to be along the lines of what you propose. It seems way too easy for a defending robot to shut down all offensive scoring on the rocket and cargo ship (especially hatch panels). I’m alright with the lack of a Null Territory ala 2018 but I think there needs to be some provision assisting offensive robots attempting to score.

What if a rule was put in place that forbid contacting a robot’s side closest to the rocket while they were attempting to score? This would still allow defense from the side and behind but would immediately kill the “park in front of the rocket” strategy. If something like this were put in place I think it would be easy for an offensive robot to bring in fouls in their favor by forcing a pin on a defending robot against the rocket. I think that’s fair because the defense would have to be much more strategic and careful and not just a matter of parking for a whole match.