2017 Kickoff - STEAMworks on CD - READ ME NOW
 

As you know, the 2017 FRC game STEAMworks is moments away from being released. This is your guide to CD across the day before Kickoff and for the 6 critical days after kickoff. The few points listed here will make your and more importantly my life all of our lives here on CD much better.

The first week is hectic. Lots going on, lots of swirl, lots of activity. Chief Delphi can be a great resource. But like any power tool if you gum it up with swarf and debris it grinds to a stop and isn't useful. Remember, you are not the only one using CD, many of us use CD. So here are some things to keep CD going:

1) Right now, go download the virtual Kit of Parts. Make sure you have the latest National Instruments software in your robotRio and your programming laptops. (*) If you haven't done it yet, get the Downloadable Content Pack 1 and Downloadable Content Pack 2 along with Downloadable Content Pack 3 from FIRST

2) When it's announced (watch for a Hallry post) go to the FIRST FRC site and download the encrypted game manual. His post is here for 2017 There will also be a test file, to see if you can do the decryption process. Test this out. Then do those two steps (download and test) with all the other members of your team. In the past, FIRST has asked us to NOT rehost the manual on our own servers, so just pass around their links.

3) At Kickoff FIRST will release the password to the game: "$T3Mn0itis$t34mW0rks". There are two dozen people poised to be the first to post the password. Don't be one of them, just wait a few seconds after you see it on the kickoff video. Like in most years someone will fumble the password entry. Don't reply "Help it does not work for me!!" In the time it takes you to do that the poster has gone back to fix the post, the right password is now there.

4) Unlock your copy and your team member's copy of the rules and read them. Slowly, carefully, word by word, taking your time as if it was the last corndog of the summer. Read the rules front to back. And when you are done with the first pass read it again. Slowly. Maybe read it out loud as a group, with one person reading each rule and moving around the room. Or read it to the cat. Once you are done with the second full pass, think about what you have read. If you completed both reads in under 20 minutes, consider reading the rules in backwards order.

Remember the rules are "An overview of the game", "How to score points", "things you can use to build the robot" and "some of the things you can't use on the robot". It does not cover how you are going to play the game (aka strategy) and what the robot will look like (aka design). Karthik and 1114 have posted great strategy and design videos, this brief time before kickoff would be a great time to watch. Get your whole team to watch them

At this point you have many questions. "Can we use sharks with lasers?" Time to break out your number one tool, that 64 oz can of "Common Sense". So, NO, this is not the year of the water game, the sharks will die. If drinking the can of "Common Sense" didn't get you that answer don't post your question on CD, go ask a team mate that has read the manual. Have them use their can of "Common Sense" and their DEEP READING OF THE RULES. Did you come up with the answer? No? Try a 3rd team member.

4) OK, so maybe a legit question. Next step is to check CD. Look at the top of the screen. See the orange bar with Portal, User CP ...? See where it says Search. Click Search, see the box to put key words in. Try 2017 Sharks Lasers. No hits? Reword: 2017 R26 Lasers. No hits? (There is one, I just tried it. Did you spell shark correctly?) R26 Lasers won't be enough, since this question got asked in 2016 and 2017, the rules change year to year, make sure you have the right year.

It could be that it's a really weird question. Next scan the recent posts list to see if someone has posted something that may be about your question. Look at the posts and see. If there is a thread, consider replying to it, if not maybe a new thread.

5) Think about what you are about to write. Think about four things:
-- How can I ask my question so it's clear what I'm looking for
-- What part of the rules triggered my question, get that rule number and maybe the exact words ready
-- Where did I look for the answer and did I find something close
-- Did I really read all the rules carefully? Is now a good time to go back one more time?

6) Posting time!

Write your post. Be complete with your question, what rule, what other answers you found that may be close, etc. Use Capital Letters when needed. All sentences need nouns and verbs. You are a high school roboteer you should be able to write four to six sentences without dropping into leetspeek.

Remember your post will be seen my thousands, best foot forward. We all want to help you, so as much detail as you can give helps us help you.

Pick a good subject line. -"Help Stuck" very poor. "Stuck on R23 Help" poor. "Sharks and Lasers in R23" better. "R23 - Are sharks with lasers allowed to be attached to the blimp?", much better.

And you'll have much better responses if you word your question like, "Rule R47 says .... does that mean we have to use a blobbermasher on our robot this year?"

Don't ask, "I haven't had time to look, but someone on our team says a blobbermasher is required. Anyone know?

Remember, the rules are searchable too! (**)

6) Check spelling, grammar, etc. Submit. Now go do something else. Do not sit and refresh CD over and over. Do not post after an hour a reply "Hey, need help here!". Other people are busy, they may be researching the question, looking at CAD drawings of the blimp to see how big of a shark can be attached, etc. Give them some time. Maybe go back and read the rules again?

7) If this is truly blocking you from progress, the look at answering other threads while you wait. Do you KNOW the answer? Can you cite something that will make your answer better. YAY! Then read all the posts in the thread. Do the current set of posts cover the answer? Will you adding your post really add value? If so, post your answer. Be complete, be detailed, cite why you think this is the answer. "If you check R26 you will see that the blimp is flying, there is no water, the shark will die. And if you check R123 about the additional two human players, you'll see that sharks would not be included in the criteria. " Remember to check Capitalization, use of nouns and verbs, etc. Questions that look like they came from a smart person get answered quickly.

I used a rule question as my example. Rules questions are normally the first few days. Remember "The Posts On CD are Opinions Only". If you have a real rules question, ask in the official FIRST forums. (And ask yourself what the reason is they don't take questions in the first days?" Did you read the manual?!?)

Technical Questions.
First thing with tech questions is the same search process in step 5. What is the problem, where did you look, what did you find, are things close that you can use to do what you want?

But first:

If you post a technical question, you will get many answers back. You should look at the answer given to see if it makes sense. "Yup, we use the wires we cut off of discarded lamps to wire our robot, go for that". Yikes!!! :eek:

If you answer a technical question make sure you are giving out complete and current information and in within the current constraints (rules change every year). While you may have tons of experience in coding Java for web based e-commerce solutions, programming a robot in Java is a little different. Be helpful, don't add to the problem. If you are kibitzing, maybe wait a day and see if someone answers that really has an answer. If not you can try "Well I've never used 'GlacticStick Glue' (tm) on a shark, but I did stick a flashlight on my brother with it and it was on there all day"

AND if you ask a question and find an answer through a means other than the thread you started, do us all a favor and come back to the thread and post the solution.

Nothing worse than finding a thread that describes the same problem you are having only to get to the end of thousand posts to find "Thanks, got it fixed" as the last post. (***) Tell us what you did/found out, remember the goal of CD is to help someone else out.

That's it, just a few things to make your CD experience across the next few weeks great. Help us out helping you out by helping us out!

Now go read the rules!!

TL;DR: Read the rules over and over, your answer is there. Really.

(*) Thanks Connor Ryan
(**)Thanks GaryVoshel
(***) Thanks rsisk

Re: 2017 Kickoff - STEAMworks on CD - READ ME NOW
 

Great post! Is there anyway for us to encourage people to read it before posting?

Re: 2017 Kickoff - STEAMworks on CD - READ ME NOW
 

Before we all try to copy and paste the "password" into our downloaded Game manuals on the off chance that maybe . . . just maybe it works, I can confirm it doesn't. No manual leaks here!

Re: 2017 Kickoff - STEAMworks on CD - READ ME NOW
 

Thank you for taking the time to say all this it will most likely really help out the rookies and underclassmen who don't exactly know how crazy it gets and how fast it gets there.

Re: 2017 Kickoff - STEAMworks on CD - READ ME NOW
 

Another handy tip is to"snip" large pieces of quoted text( if people want to read it they can go to the original) to avoid pages becoming a little clogged and also to reduce the size of images/pictures posted posted in threads. :)

Re: 2017 Kickoff - STEAMworks on CD - READ ME NOW
 

I think part of your problem is that you're searching for R26 but it's actually R23 that talks about lasers ;)

Thanks Foster! Great post.

Re: 2017 Kickoff - STEAMworks on CD - READ ME NOW
 

Will some admin or moderator please sticky this thread or at least the first post on the portal announcements page for the next 2 weeks?

Re: 2017 Kickoff - STEAMworks on CD - READ ME NOW
 

There are also other ways to get answers aside from CD (and searching the manual, Q&A, team blogs, etc): A bunch of teams big teams have launched First Help Now for instance, which might be better for really specific quick questions than a general CD discussion.

Re: 2017 Kickoff - STEAMworks on CD - READ ME NOW
 

Nice, there is a prime example of attention to detail. ;) I missed that in the edits, I'll fix it for next years post. I bet your team reads the rules out loud on kickoff day.

Put the word out to your team to read it. You have an amazing team communications system put it to work. We don't need to sticky it, since my experience is people don't read the stickies. Just need people like you to say "Hey, read this link" to everyone on your team.

Peak user count on CD is always right after kickoff. Peak nonsense posts is also during this time. I'm trying to help increase the signal to noise ratio.

Re: 2017 Kickoff - STEAMworks on CD - READ ME NOW
 

Also apparently there's a minimum character length for post count.

Fantastic post! Mods, can we get a sticky for this until the end of the first week?

Re: 2017 Kickoff - STEAMworks on CD - READ ME NOW
 

Use a low-grade LART. If Amazon can't deliver in time, you should have good luck at your local toy stores for something similar.

Re: 2017 Kickoff - STEAMworks on CD - READ ME NOW
 

That would be a safety issue. Two teams have produced things to do after kickoff around safety and general smart things like eating. Very cool that more and more teams are taking lessons learned and preparing them for the next 6 weeks.

Re: 2017 Kickoff - STEAMworks on CD - READ ME NOW
 

Let me add to this that with the kickoff closure in many states there are going to be lots of questions about the Kit of Parts and what the small package is.

Just wait a few minutes for it to be announced, there will be people posting what it looks like, you don't need to ask over and over. Many of you want to be "first poster!!" and you are up against seasoned pro's like Ryan, just give it a second so we don't get 200 posts.

Likewise the Kit of Parts list is part of the encrypted files (you did download them already?) so you'll be able to see it seconds after the password gets released. So wait to ask "Hey is the new VEX Pro smufagator in this years kit?"

Finally, while CD is a community meeting place, if you are in a weather challenged area, don't do all your posts to team members here. You have other methods, you can text, call, etc.

Good luck, remember to stay calm and organized. Quality teams tell me they spend less than 5,000 roboteer/mentor hours on the robot. So unless there is only 5 of you on the team you have lots of calendar time.

Re: 2017 Kickoff - STEAMworks on CD - READ ME NOW
 

I'll start my finger stretching exercises now.

I just sticky-ed it. I think.