[FF]: Upcoming Potential Changes--Season Long

[EricH]

I've been turning over some things in my head for a bit in regards to ways to improve Season Long Fantasy FIRST. I figured out that the FRC season is getting to be too many events to handle under our current leadership structure. Incidentally, that leadership structure is two people recruiting a bunch of others to fill in holes--trust me, I'm one of them, and I initially stepped in to fill some holes when it was just Koko Ed running the Season Long league.

So, I have a proposal. Take some time to think about it and let everybody know what you think. There are multiple parts; some could be put into place without others.

1) Deputy Commissioners (or District Commissioners--whatever the title is that you'd prefer--hereafter referred to as "DC" ). The idea here is that one person takes responsibility for running any given area with a district system. Currently, that's Michigan and MAR, with New England and California actively looking to put some district events in play. That person needs to make sure the area has its drafts run and scored, but does not necessarily need to do all the work himself (that's right, DCs can recruit minions and henchmen to do the work).

Note: From here on out, "DC" refers to "whoever is running a draft area, whether it's Ed or someone else".

2) Flexible district scheduling. To go along with the DC idea, when the main schedule was released, areas with district systems get slots that could go to any of their events. The DCs (if any) can pick which event goes in which slot based on how full it is, or any other factor they like to use. And DCs could potentially trade district spots to fit schedules better.

3) Flexible draft scheduling. Instead of a straight 7 PM EST draft time, the DCs would have the ability to flex start times by up to an hour in either direction to better accommodate their schedules or time zones, with proper notice given of course. To date, this has only been done in emergency situations.

4) Block lists (district areas only). Instead of having to submit a list for every draft in a district area, players could submit lists of teams for the entire area--say, 67, 217, 51, 245 for MI--and have those teams lead off that player's random list for any event the teams are at unless a list was actually submitted for that event. I actually did this late last draft season--I told Ed that if I didn't submit a list or make a pick, I wanted random rookies, then random teams, no matter which event was drafting.

This list doesn't really affect anything in terms of drafting, but it has the potential to ease the load on the folks running the game quite a bit. Comments are welcomed on any or all of the suggestions.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by EricH

I've been turning over some things in my head for a bit in regards to ways to improve Season Long Fantasy FIRST. I figured out that the FRC season is getting to be too many events to handle under our current leadership structure. Incidentally, that leadership structure is two people recruiting a bunch of others to fill in holes--trust me, I'm one of them, and I initially stepped in to fill some holes when it was just Koko Ed running the Season Long league.

So, I have a proposal. Take some time to think about it and let everybody know what you think. There are multiple parts; some could be put into place without others.

1) Deputy Commissioners (or District Commissioners--whatever the title is that you'd prefer--hereafter referred to as "DC" ). The idea here is that one person takes responsibility for running any given area with a district system. Currently, that's Michigan and MAR, with New England and California actively looking to put some district events in play. That person needs to make sure the area has its drafts run and scored, but does not necessarily need to do all the work himself (that's right, DCs can recruit minions and henchmen to do the work).

Note: From here on out, "DC" refers to "whoever is running a draft area, whether it's Ed or someone else".

2) Flexible district scheduling. To go along with the DC idea, when the main schedule was released, areas with district systems get slots that could go to any of their events. The DCs (if any) can pick which event goes in which slot based on how full it is, or any other factor they like to use. And DCs could potentially trade district spots to fit schedules better.

3) Flexible draft scheduling. Instead of a straight 7 PM EST draft time, the DCs would have the ability to flex start times by up to an hour in either direction to better accommodate their schedules or time zones, with proper notice given of course. To date, this has only been done in emergency situations.

4) Block lists (district areas only). Instead of having to submit a list for every draft in a district area, players could submit lists of teams for the entire area--say, 67, 217, 51, 245 for MI--and have those teams lead off that player's random list for any event the teams are at unless a list was actually submitted for that event. I actually did this late last draft season--I told Ed that if I didn't submit a list or make a pick, I wanted random rookies, then random teams, no matter which event was drafting.

This list doesn't really affect anything in terms of drafting, but it has the potential to ease the load on the folks running the game quite a bit. Comments are welcomed on any or all of the suggestions.

We could test them out during the season to see if they feel alright (we gotta do something. There are more and more events every year and the same amount of time to do them. I am seriously considering starting the draft on Novermber 1st). IF they don't work out we move on.

[MARS_James]

May I comment on scoring:

I feel Chairman's is under valued.

Now here me out:

With the way current scoring goes if you lose all your matches in qualifications and win Chairman's you receive 42 points.
Now if you do the same and win the competition you also receive 42 points, this is due to 12 points in winning quaters, semi and finals then the 30 points for winning it all. Maybe this was by design but I feel if Chairman's is supposed to be more important then winning, why is it worth the same points?

Minor tweaks:
With Coopertition Award potentially gone I recommend Judges award going up to 10 points and Gracious Professionalism becoming the new 5 pointer.

With the way the rules are currently written the Quality Award is not considered a robot based award, This should be changed next year since it obviously is.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by MARS_James

May I comment on scoring:

I feel Chairman's is under valued.

Now here me out:

With the way current scoring goes if you lose all your matches in qualifications and win Chairman's you receive 42 points.
Now if you do the same and win the competition you also receive 42 points, this is due to 12 points in winning quaters, semi and finals then the 30 points for winning it all. Maybe this was by design but I feel if Chairman's is supposed to be more important then winning, why is it worth the same points?

I've been thinking this a bit. And here's the real answer:

It wasn't always this way. Use to be, back the first couple of years, if you lost a match, you lost 2 points. Sometime around the third year, someone realized scoring would be easier if losses were just zero, but no other points changed to reflect this. Hmmm... Say, RCA 50, Regional EI 42, starting next year? Or add elimination losses back into the scoring (so if you're out in 2 in QFs, you get nothing due to the 4 for QF, but if you win even one match in eliminations you get at least a couple of points out of it net).

Minor tweaks:
With Coopertition Award potentially gone I recommend Judges award going up to 10 points and Gracious Professionalism becoming the new 5 pointer.

Or just eliminate Coopertition Award the same way it was added.

With the way the rules are currently written the Quality Award is not considered a robot based award, This should be changed next year since it obviously is.

Pretty sure it's counted as robot-based--that's how I always scored it. But I agree.

[Koko Ed]

Should we try a District tweak to the scoring and give points to an alalince based on Alliance Captain, first and second pick or is that just addin gfar too much complexity to the scoring?

[EricH]

I think that's too much complexity--if FIRST tracked that, it wouldn't be too hard to implement, but FIRST doesn't officially track it. See FiM and MAR having to just about beg for it every year even though it's key in their rankings.

If it was implemented at all, I'd say 3-2-1 for being AC, 1st pick, 2nd pick, backups get no points if used. Or the AC points only apply if you're not 1st seed, and increase 1st seed points by the amount of the AC points (because that's the only guaranteed alliance captain position).

[Akash Rastogi]

I kinda like leaving it how it is now.

[Koko Ed]

Then we shall leave it alone.

[MARS_James]

Originally Posted by EricH

Pretty sure it's counted as robot-based--that's how I always scored it. But I agree.

When you look at the scoring rules it says robot based awards are Delphi, Xerox, GM, and Rockwell. No motorola

[EricH]

Originally Posted by MARS_James

When you look at the scoring rules it says robot based awards are Delphi, Xerox, GM, and Rockwell. No motorola

Ah. Yeah. I'll take care of that before next season. *goes off to find the master copy and make that particular change* Someone remind me to put out an updated rule set or something like that before we really get going.

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by EricH

Ah. Yeah. I'll take care of that before next season. *goes off to find the master copy and make that particular change* Someone remind me to put out an updated rule set or something like that before we really get going.

Also make sure to change MSC rules to MSC+MAR, and change the "National Awards" to "Championship Awards."

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Gregor

Also make sure to change MSC rules to MSC+MAR, and change the "National Awards" to "Championship Awards."

Done. (Actually, I seem to have changed "MSC Rules" to "Area Championship Rules" last year, but not published the revision for some reason.)

[Brandon_L]

Area Championship Events: This event has special rules, namely that it is scored like a regional/district, but drafted like the Championship Event, in order of current ranking.

Is this by overall ranking, or by ranking in that district? If overall, may I suggest district rankings?

[PVCpirate]

Originally Posted by Brandon_L

Is this by overall ranking, or by ranking in that district? If overall, may I suggest district rankings?

I think we did district rankings to determine MSC and MAR Champs draft orders last year.

[bam-bam]

EDIT: Please go here- I could not find the correct thread.