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Unread 19-10-2016, 11:41
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Re: Discussion: Release Team Field Drawings Early

Quote:
Originally Posted by 346CADmen View Post
I'll second this idea. Would be a huge plus in many ways, including budgeting of both $ and time.

I would also speak to those holding kickoff events and the "not much of an advantage" thought. Not much of an advantage is knowing the game name.
Having field elements day of kickoff, that is an advantage. On our team, we have joked about Ri3D comparing it to Fi3D (field in 3 days).

Perhaps those that host might be inclined to allow teams attending to take some of those elements with them after kickoff? then some other teams would have "not much of an advantage". Just a thought.

And as a team that has hosted a kickoff event since, well, the first one ever, I would love to answer that. There are, as usual, plenty of misconceptions about the supposed advantages, and especially about how much work goes into it.

Those field elements don't just appear by magic. The final drawings are usually released 7-10 days (faulty memory could be a factor here) before kickoff. And you know all of those missing dimensions and poor drawings? They're even worse before the KO hosts start looking at them and asking questions. So while Team B is doing some final training or, more importantly, just resting and preparing for the season, Kickoff Host Team A is scrambling to build field elements. Interestingly, the size of the "advantage" is proportional to the amount of work. Some years there are fewer elements but it takes less time (for everybody) to build them. Last year was a killer. I would even allege that the advantage went to teams that could target what they wanted to prototype against first (i.e. rock wall vs. hanging bar) and build the other elements while that work was going on in parallel. KO hosts had to try to build all of them in a short time.

Let's not forget that the only reason Team A is building field elements is that they're also doing all the work that it takes to host Team B (and Teams C though AZ) at their Kickoff... KOP pickup, speakers, seminars/workshops, college fairs. But I suppose some would call that an advantage as well. After all, Team A didn't have to actually travel as far to attend the all-day rookie chassis build that they put on.

30 minutes after the video, Team B is back on the road with their KOP to begin their strategy and design talks. Meanwhile, Team A is doing cleanup and teardown and paperwork and all the other things that it takes to wrap up a kickoff event, including waiting 4 or 5 hours for teams Y and Z who were late, and the rules say if they don't pick up their KOP by the event close you can just send them back to HQ, but who's going to do that?

All for the "advantage" of having field elements sit in a closet for a month. Outside of the top 1% of teams (and frankly I'm not concerned with them, they'll be fine) the truth is that most teams have no use for field elements before week 3 anyway (with the occasional exception of bumps and obstacles where a drivetrain is a good enough prototype device).

So I'd love to come attend your local kickoff event. I promise I'll show up on time and I won't even ask to take your field elements with me when I leave. I'll get to take the month of December off and I'll have field elements built during Week 1 while strategy is being discussed anyway.
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