As far as i can tell there is no rule preventing a bot from sitting directly in front of the opposing teams subwoofer and denying scoring abiltiy to any robots that need to be up againsts the subwoofer to score. It seems really strong against some bots but i dont know if its legal.
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It’s not illegal, just hard to do. Robots will have just done a full field cycle and will be going VERY fast at you, so they have much more momentum.
This could be a definite strategy against some of the not as advanced teams. I’m assuming that a lot of more advanced teams will have pivoting shooters so they can shoot from many different distances paired with a limelight to have perfect shots no matter where they are in their wing. It may slow those teams down because bumping against the subwoofer would definitely be faster than all the lining up you’d have to do otherwise.
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Reminder that low center of gravity robots are the meta. Shooters will likely be low, even if they are adjustable in elevation (larger target to shoot at because of the shape of the speaker goal).
Pool noodle shields are lightweight.
QED
Going over pool noodle shields while low
(Look at 971 in 2016 as a way to stay low and shoot high, although there are only a handful of teams that can pull this off)
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It will be very difficult to pull off a static defense like this, since even the kitbot can shoot into the speaker on an angle. No robot is big enough to cover the front and both side angles of the subwoofer. You could try to sit sideways to the front of the subwoofer and then move to whichever side the shooter was using, but that’s unlikely to be very effective.
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There is a rule that directly outlaws removing access to major game elements G421 it does say with 2 robots though. You can probably get pushed into the protected zone of the source though and get penalties
Also a robot blocking the subwoofer will probably be really prone to violating G422 it applies either directly or transitively. Which based on my understanding of transitively could be through another of the opposing alliances robots.
Edit: Transitively is only through a note.
The blue box does explicitly say a single robot blocking access does not violate this rule.
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Transitively is limited to through a NOTE in G422.
To get pushed to the source while playing defense at the subwoofer for a penalty is quite the accomplishment. Personally I would be more worried about the amp but that’s just me.
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They probably meant to say the amp, but even if you do get pushed to the source zone while playing defense on the subwoofer, it wouldn’t be a penalty (for you anyways) since its your alliance’s source zone.
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I may be wrong in this assumption but I feel like any team with a pool noodle shield would be a more low level team and would probably have tank drive. If you have swerve, I bet it would be pretty easy to get around them and go to one of the other subwoofer edges.
It is legal, but defense will be interesting to see this year. Other alliance robots can freely enter your wing after auton as long as they don’t interact with you in the small protected zones. I don’t know for sure if any team will design with speaker defense specifically in mind, but doable.
Yes, but there are 3 edges to the speaker where you can shoot into it from, and you can shoot into the speaker from further than just point blank. There’s also the possibility of getting pushed into the protected amp zone that you’d want to be prepped for. I feel a better defense strategy would be defending around the opposing team’s pickup zone at that choke point.
Anyone try to deflect a note with a giant fan yet? 
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a lot of teams that may have issues designing reliable scoring mechs will have swerve.
The community pressure is too great. If have the budget (which is a bit but not tons) you will be trying swerve. A lot of adoption last year, there will be even more teams cumulatively that have it this year.
There will be bots that their best contribution is swerve and a good driver + gamepiece shield.
Just my 2 cents anyway.
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I think you’re correct, but also: who needs to design a reliable scoring mechanism in 2024? The Kitbot superstructure is almost simple enough that you could slap it on a drivetrain during a lunch break with some prep. Certainly doable on a regional practice day, fair chance on a district load-in night.
Also remember the scenario: if you defend their subwoofer, you’re defending from 50 feet away, with two stages in the way of your view, not particularly far from the opposing Podium and Amp zone (and late, Stage zone). Your opponents, meanwhile, have a front-row seat to the action.
In short, I think subwoofer defense is a bad idea for most teams.
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Sure, but there are always teams that try, there will almost always be 1 or 2 at an event that for whatever reason go for this. Maybe they will be good at it even.
If they have fun, communicate intentions and aren’t rude I see no problem with this tbh. They paid to play the game like everyone else and they have a certain level of control over their strategy (even if it negatively impacts your team, please don’t have main character syndrome).
You missed a key aspect: discussing it with their alliance partners. If they go into business for themselves and wreck our match with fouls, that’s not “a certain level of control over their strategy”.
We had a team in 2023 that tried to get on the charge station after we’d gotten the double (and our other partner had done the auto balance, so the ranking point was sewn up). We advised them to back off, they backed off, then they went for it again and blew the engage–and thus, the RP–for our alliance. Needless to say, both us and the other partner were pretty livid with the team. And justifiably so–it cost both of us a rank in quals, and the auto-balancing robot playing with us was in an alliance captain bubble spot.
When I did my Kickoff presentation on Saturday, one section was dedicated to some insight on winning as a second-round pick which my teams have this knack for. Some of it boiled down to the right game for a less-effective robot, but the two main things a team needs to be successful in that domain: game sense behind the glass, and a general sense of being “worth the gamble”. I would be very skeptical of the game sense of most teams trying to defend at the subwoofer when midfield will be an incrementally better sight line and with far fewer foul hazards.
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