Woodie, Dean, and the FIRST crew did a wonderful job at Manchester this year. It was unfortunate that Jim Utaski wasn’t able to speak that day, but the rest of the speakers really got through to us with their speeches. I thought they did a great job explaining the game, making sure that even rookie teams understand some of the important part of the game. Demonstrations of the goal tracking and ball shooting devices were pretty cool to watch. That’s something new this year, encouraging people to think outside the box, especially with the new custom electronics board teams are allow to play with this year. FIRST also let loose some of the rules that didn’t work out last year, so that proves FIRST really do listen to teams. And I want to thank them for an exciting game this year (and I really did went up and shake Dean, Woodie, and Eric’s hand to say thank you).
I can safely assume that everyone took apart the game/field down to every inch, and can write out the game rules backward without even a peek at the binder, so there’s no need to spell out the rule in here. For those who are still interested, check out this thread:
Help an over sleeper – what is the game about?
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1437
(still confused? Take a look at “scoring key-2002” and the game simulator inside whitepaper:
http://64.119.166.94/forums/papers.php?s= )
Field objects picture can be found here:
http://www.geocities.com/cbteam234/2002field.html
http://64.119.166.94/forums/pictures...DESC&sort=date
All the Web cast of kickoff and different workshops can be found here, which I really recommend for those of you who didn’t watch it live at Manchester, remote kickoffs, or NASA TV:
http://explorer.arc.nasa.gov/webcast.html
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Content: I. Thoughts on the game
II. Rule discussion
III. Field object discussion
IV. General information
V. Threads that can use more attention
VI. Unanswered questions
VII. Good for a laugh
VIII. Some sort of ending for this letter
---------------------------------------------------------------
I. Thoughts on the game
The forum won’t be complete without thoughts on this year’s game… so during the first week, there were a lot of talks about how people feel about the game. In general, most people like “Zone Zeal”, how it brought back head to head competition and how the scoring is simple. In a recent poll, 50 people think “it’s great”, about 15 said “it’s ok”, and only 4 who don’t really like the game. So, all you readers out there, if you want your voice heard about this, cast a vote in the poll right under the following quotes…
“In my opinion, this game puts FIRST back on track. The game is going to be VERY good. I am sure that it will get A LOT of TV coverage.” –Joe J.
“I personaly like the game, I think F.I.R.S.T. has finaly realized the need for SIMPLE. Also F.I.R.S.T. has given the game a little excitement as far as contact is concerned.” –Nick Reynolds
“Strategy plays an incredible role this year, and I think that many matches will be decided in the final 10 to 20 seconds, which will make for a great deal of exitement.” And “I think that this year there is a great deal of potential to see more smoking, burning, and otherwise ill motors than in the past couple of years.” -tysonwormus
“I really like the fact that the 2v2 was reintroduced. I was kind of disappointed that there weren't as many things to "do" as last year. Like last year...” –FIRSTAE2004
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1472
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1460 Poll!
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1492
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1446
Not everyone is happy with this game, however. Some even thought that this year’s game won’t be as exciting as expected… What do you think?
“but i'm under the impression that everyone will take the easy way out and build a box with wheels and possible some grabbing device” -techknights
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1787
II. Rules discussion- speculation and thoughts of some of the rules inside that 7000 pages+ rule book
Most of the rules this year are the same as previous years, but not all. There is a new rule this year that says "every team on the alliance must play in every round of the elimination tourney", and there are some interesting speculations about how that rule will affect the game. Basically this rule means that both alliances during a final round will have to substitute their third robot out for one of the three matches, so we can expect some change of dynamics during the finals because of this substitute…
“The big question is, do you put your best pair out in the first round OR do you put your second best pair out first?” –Joe J.
“This rule will force the issue and ALL of the teams in an alliance will have to prove their mettle in eliminations. A great idea” –Brian C
“Well, not that people will cheat, but I think the rules clearly say that a team does NOT have to compete if it is imobolized.” –bigqueue
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1491
I remember “Three times opponent’s score” of qualifying rounds sparked some interesting discussion back at 2000 when it first came out. After seeing it implemented at regionals and National, most people came to accept the rule, however. Some even liked it a lot.
“I personally don't mind that rule. I understand that it can be annoying at times, but I think it really just adds more strategy to the game.” –Chris_C
“I happen to love the idea, because it really adds a whole new flavor and dimension to the game.” –bigueue
“I HATED the method when it was first introduced in 2000… but I have to say that in the end, the ranking was no worse than in other year and (imho) probably one of the better methods in actual practice.” –Joe J.
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1464
One coach rule, the rule that only let one adult coach onto the arena during matches.
Seems like this is a pretty emotional topic among the posters… And I don’t feel that I have good enough writing skills to summarize how strongly some of the people feel about this… So you should go ahead and read the thread yourself when you have time…
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...pagenum ber=1
Poll:
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1620
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...&threadid=1486
III. Field Object discussion- posts about scoring objects
A lot of people talked about the soccer balls… after all, there are 60 of them on the arena, which can mean a total of 60 points for your alliance, double what three goals can offer. Someone asked, how many balls do you think a goal can hold? Well, maybe a better question is, how many balls can you control?
“They didn't give an exact number but said that it should be over 40” –Matt Leese
“It matters very much for strategy. For instance, if our alliance can only control one goal, what is our maximum score possible?” –Chris Hibner
“Initially, you'd only have access to 50, but since the balls are 'neutral', you'd have access to the additional 10 balls when the opposing alliance decides to put them into play - if they decide to put them into play.” -MichaelKrass
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1513
Here are some posts of specs and stores for the soccer balls.
“I purchased 20 balls (orange of course ) and they were exact units. $15 plus shipping at "Soccer World".” And “Please remember that while they may be a size 5 they are not the same as the balls (Puma) that FIRST is using. That may cause you a problem because of the ball surface.” –Mike Matrus
“Last night while looking for the Puma ball that FIRST uses, I found that the cheapest price on the net was $14.99 (or very close to that) per ball....” –Clark Gilbert
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1448
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1565
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1613
The goals are the major factors in this year’s game, so I posted a question about how hard is it to turn the goals… after all, no balls would count if the goal holding them aren’t in your goal/ball zone…
“There are several things that you need to consider to make a "goal pulling" experiment somewhat accurate. First of all, the position of the casters is important when you start to move the goal…” –Patrick Wang
“We measured the force (straight pull) it takes to move the goal on the carpet from a resting state using a fancy strain gage. It averaged out at around 32-35 lbs.” –Ed Sparks
“the fun part will be pulling other robots and still pull all three goals.” –Mike Norton
“so far my team has broken numerous wood mock ups from them snapping while pulling the goals.” -Caroline
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1563
http://64.119.166.94/forums/showthre...&threadid=1790