How effective would it be to have a robot place tetras (either randomly or strategically) on the field to block the opposing robots. This would probably involve quite a bit of driving between the opponents side and a loading station. The tetras themselves don’t present much of an obstacle by themselves, but three/four of them in close proximity to a goal could have the potential to force the opposing teams to push/drive around the extraneous tetras.
Any thoughts?
This was sorta discussed here:
But that thread mostly deals with using tetras to block a loading zone. I’m pretty sure this was discussed elsewhere too, and it seemed like the consensus was that it may not be an effective use of time unless you can really get a lot out there to jam up the works. I’m thinking many, if not most, robots will be able to push them outta the way, or just pick them up and run away.
But who knows, we’ll have to see.
If an opposing team can place a tetra on a goal as fast as you can go back to your side and get a tetra and place it on their side, they will be far ahead of you in score before you know it. I do not think that placing tetras on the field without scoring them will be feasible for any strategy.
Why play a defensive game when this year, an offensive game would be easier and has a better chance of winning?
Even better: play defense in an offensive way. 
Think of our robot Heather in 2003. Daniel_BCR knows what I am talking about. 
Ya, if you got really fancy into programming and had a long arm, you could go for the tetra and place it on the goal and push another robot out of the way…AT THE SAME TIME!!! You might also need to have like, gyroscopes…maybe…
I don’t think a nine-pound tetra will stop a 120-pound robot. Especially since there’s plenty of room to maneuver.
The original idea behind this strategy was to distract/annoy the opposing team by forcing them to push their way through the tetras. An individual tetra by itself wouldn’t do anything, but if two or three tetras were placed next to a goal and forced against it, they could prevent a robot from easily getting to the goal.
As an added bonus, any top-heavy robots running up onto a tetra has the possibility of tipping.
Think about how much of an affect several dozen containers on the (smaller) field during every match had on the robots ability to drive around the field for the 2003 Stack Attack game. Absolutely none. And in that game, I remember seeing several robots that were shorter than the containers. They would become almost invisible as they drove around in a sea of containers. But they had no problem navigating through them, and would just leave a “wake” of displaced containers behind them. The tetras are a little bit heavier, but they are just as easy to push around when resting on the carpet. I don’t think that they will form any significant obstacles at all, even if all 40 of one color tetra end up on the field.
-dave
A mine field strategy might work… if you could clean out the auto loaders really fast and you placed the tetras so that any robot coming through got hung up, which would be hard to do with three robots disrupting you, destroying the minefield, etc.
this strategy could be useful, but only in very few situations. blocking the home zone is the only real effective use i see, but there could be others
Thats interesting. It could be very possible to block the home zone. I can imagine some of these supposed multi-tetra robots going into the opposing sides endzone area, capping, then leaving one or two tetras in the endzone keeping the other robots out.
It would be possible, if the endzone is small enough, to keep the opponent from getting the 10-point bonus at the end, which could be a critical point difference. So I can see how a minefield strategy, in a few cases, could work.
I had an idea. How about making a tetra stack and using that to block opponents? It might not be the smartest thing in the world to spend valuable time stacking five or so tetras to try to block an opponent, and it wouldn’t be cost-effective points- and time-wise, but could it be a viable strategy? The opponent would either have to go around or pick the stack up, costing them time.
Yeah Dave, but remember, how much did the boxes weight? A pound or two? Tetras weigh 8 1/2. And I think it’s much easier to push on a flat surface than an open one with just supporting bars.
I don’t think it will prove to be too much of a problem. The robots it would aggrivate are the ones using the 9" or 12" tires.
Umm, in response to dave’s post, I think that ia beetter example is looking at Raising the Bar. Those flippin little balls, plenty of robot drove up on those (us included), and they certainly didn’t take all of the feild area up. robot, coudl drive up on these quite easily… Also, this has a large part to do with my signature… But, you’ll have ot wait and see… That is, if we make a tetra spitter… But i think this is a very good strategy idea.
Look at it this way, if need be, they can shove the tetras inside of a goal. clearing the minefield around a goal or endzone. Sure itll give you like a point per tetra, but they might just pull them back out afterwards. Plus, as mentioned before, the amount of time that it takes to do that can be spent capping for a more effective scoring oppurtunity. And if it does somehow work, itll hurt your alliance as much as theirs often.