Originally Posted by Koko Ed (Post 1621752)

Teams still abuse it and sneak in and then I gottta go play bad cop....

Originally Posted by Justin Montois (Post 1621546)

Somebody has to be the Drone Pilot ;)

Originally Posted by Koko Ed (Post 1621764)

Something similar to this perhaps?

Originally Posted by Koko Ed (Post 1621778)

Or maybe a variation on this!

Originally Posted by jaunvie (Post 1621815)

Everyone's 4th drive team member sits on a Dunk tank ledge. At the end of the match the loosing team gets dunked. :eek: WATER GAME! :D

Originally Posted by SenorZ (Post 1621801)

We've been discussing the possibility of a flying drone as low, UNLESS it is attached to some sort of large inflatable that slows its movement, and makes it easy to spot...

Originally Posted by Jpatterson1710 (Post 1621719)

Yeah, the "Christmas Tree" is primarily why FIRST has updated the radio. The old D-Link radios failed to implement proper WiFi protocols, nor could they enforce bandwidth caps. Basically, WiFi protocol says that when packets are being dropped, the rate at which those packets are sent must be reduced, and the rate at which they are backed off must be random. The issue with the D-Link was that the rate at which they backed off was hard-coded as a set number. Therefore when the network got crowded and packets were dropped, all the radios on the field backed off and then tried to re-send packets at the same time. If you can imagine, that is exactly why the rate should be random, and thats why we saw the "Christmas Tree". Among other things, one of the major improvements with our new radio is that it does in fact back off at a random rate, following proper WiFi protocol. That said, the "Christmas Tree" is not impossible with the new radios, but it would be a very surprising. I personally don't know of a single occurrence it last year, and adding six feeds really shouldn't have much effect on the likely hood of a "Christmas Tree" type of occurrence.

Had we not updated radios, I would totally agree with you. Six additional feeds with the D-Link would absolutely increase the occurrence of the "Christmas Tree" among other things.

If anyone has more questions about what the "Christmas Tree" is(symptoms, causes, fixes) or if you'd like to hear why the recent changes are fixing this issue, feel free to PM me or quote/reply. I'd be happy to answer your questions!

Originally Posted by ctt956 (Post 1621574)

...maybe a train

Originally Posted by chrisrin (Post 1622073)

Ever since I heard the train whistle ring tone that was part of the first downloadable content pack, I've been thinking there could be, in addition to the usual custom bot, some sort of simple bots on rails that at part of the field like trains or perhaps elevated zeppelins that travel back and forth across the course on a cable. One for each team, and there would need to be an operator for each team... and thus the need for an extra drive team member. We'll find out soon enough ::safety:: :cool: :D

Originally Posted by Ringo5tarr (Post 1622468)

Overdrive style mini/end game confirmed?

Originally Posted by Vyrotek (Post 1622467)

Agreed. Especially after seeing this wheel voucher.

http://www2.bwc.com/firstvoucher