Viewed in Tournament
Teams tipped an opposing alliance's balance beam over (which held Alliance Goals with rings on them).
Question
Regardless of rings falling off the posts or out of the base, is this considered 'forcefully manipulating an Alliance Mobile Goal such that rings can become removed' or simply just removing the opposing alliance's goal from the platform?
First, thank you for quoting the relevant rule in your post, because it is important to note that the verbiage in the rule is slightly different than the verbiage used in the question. The relevant point of SG6 is the following:
Examples of “intentional strategies” could include, but are not limited to:
[...]
• “Knocking over” or otherwise forcefully manipulating an Alliance Mobile Goal such that Rings become removed.
With regard to this bullet point example, the question of "were Rings removed from the opposing Alliance Mobile Goal" is a key factor. The rule states "such that Rings become removed", not "such that Rings can become removed".
The intent of SG6 is to prohibit Robots from removing Rings from an opposing Alliance Mobile Goal, and to make manipulating an opposing Alliance Mobile Goal a risky endeavour. The intent is not to penalize every interaction involving opposing Alliance Mobile Goals. With this in mind, your hypothetical scenario is a good example of why Match context is important when evaluating these situations.
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Given that the Mobile Goal was Elevated on Platform, it is unlikely that the primary intended strategy was to remove the Rings. The primary intended strategy was more likely to un-Elevate or un-Balance the Platform.
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If Rings were not removed from the Mobile Goal during the interaction, it should be considered a warning for future reference.
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If the interaction did result in Rings being removed from the Mobile Goal, it should be considered a violation of SG6.
