[FRC Blog] FIRST Choice - Update for 2015

[Siri]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

I find that a bit odd, I guess it will come down to how they do quantity limits and what items end up in high demand. If they had speed controllers again, lets say 200, and they did a cap at 2 per team, then only the first 100 teams that asked for them would get them. This seems like an odd system instead of having the first 200 teams all get one.

I agree. It also seems awkward for Foster's case of requesting 6 weeks for a 6wd, and ending up with 5. It seems like anything you want a full count of needs to be high on your list (even higher than how much you actually want it, unless you're willing to accept, e.g., a technology-push 5wd). Conversely, as you describe, items that are useful individually aren't distributed fully by the system.

Complicated problem we've got here. I'm glad they're taking steps towards handling it, even if it does have some odd consequences.

[Foster]

Mr V posted what he thought a sample input would be

1. Widget
2. Widget
3. Widget
4. Widget
5. Turbo Encabulator
6. Turbo Encabulator


I changed that in my mind to
1. AM Spider Man Wheels
2. AM Spider Man Wheels
3. AM Spider Man Wheels
4. AM Spider Man Wheels
5. AM Spider Man Wheels
6. AM Spider Man Wheels
7. Turbo Encabulator
8. Turbo Encabulator

And realized that I'd need to be successful for 6 rounds to get my 6 wheels. By six rounds I'd be with people saying "hey I missed out on the expensive stuff, might as well ask for wheels"

My original proposal had a user order quantity level in it. FC would set a cap on the quantity of a given item you could order at one time. So if the order cap for AM Spider Man Wheels was 8, and a cap on Turbo Encabulaors of 1 then I'd have a order that looked like:

1. AM Spider Man Wheels - Quantity 6
2. Turbo Encabulator - Quantity 1
3. Turbo Encabulator - Quantity 1

And I posted away!!

But it appears that I'm the first of the 2015 season to get a Siri Smack(tm) for not actually carefully reading the directions / rules / documentation.

I will cop to missing the "Does Team have sufficient credits for the item(s). So assuming that means I can order more than one of a single item per round, then I can put my request for AM Spider Man Wheels in and have some hope of getting 6. Still, it means there is a possibility that I could only get 5 (or 1).

AllenGregoryIV does pose an interesting question on how / if they will put a cap on items. I'd guess that wheels will have a higher cap than 3D printers.

The flowchart does not show an item cap, other than what's created by the team budget. I'll need to wait for version 2 of the flowchart and carefully read it.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Foster

Mr V posted what he thought a sample input would be

1. Widget
2. Widget
3. Widget
4. Widget
5. Turbo Encabulator
6. Turbo Encabulator


I changed that in my mind to
1. AM Spider Man Wheels
2. AM Spider Man Wheels
3. AM Spider Man Wheels
4. AM Spider Man Wheels
5. AM Spider Man Wheels
6. AM Spider Man Wheels
7. Turbo Encabulator
8. Turbo Encabulator

And realized that I'd need to be successful for 6 rounds to get my 6 wheels. By six rounds I'd be with people saying "hey I missed out on the expensive stuff, might as well ask for wheels"

My original proposal had a user order quantity level in it. FC would set a cap on the quantity of a given item you could order at one time. So if the order cap for AM Spider Man Wheels was 8, and a cap on Turbo Encabulaors of 1 then I'd have a order that looked like:

1. AM Spider Man Wheels - Quantity 6
2. Turbo Encabulator - Quantity 1
3. Turbo Encabulator - Quantity 1

And I posted away!!

But it appears that I'm the first of the 2015 season to get a Siri Smack(tm) for not actually carefully reading the directions / rules / documentation.

I will cop to missing the "Does Team have sufficient credits for the item(s). So assuming that means I can order more than one of a single item per round, then I can put my request for AM Spider Man Wheels in and have some hope of getting 6. Still, it means there is a possibility that I could only get 5 (or 1).

AllenGregoryIV does pose an interesting question on how / if they will put a cap on items. I'd guess that wheels will have a higher cap than 3D printers.

The flowchart does not show an item cap, other than what's created by the team budget. I'll need to wait for version 2 of the flowchart and carefully read it.

My interpretation of item(s) is that some items are sold as a quantity of one and some items are sold in quantities of more than one. For example if I remember correctly one of the items available in previous years was a two pack of batteries. I can also see something that you need more than one of to be useful/useable, like wheels being sold as a set of 6. So you would have one part number that would be for more than one item. Again I could be wrong, that is just how I read it.

[ratdude747]

Possibly ignorant question/comment:

Under the new system, I take it teams will get advance notification on what window shopping items they actually received?

In such a case, say you wanted 6 wheels but only were able to get 5, so what, beats getting 0 (that's only 1 wheel not 6 that needs bought). Sure, lead times and shipping delays make this a pain, but if we assume similar COTS rules going into 2015 (as per AA R13), knowing what you didn't get, you could order said part(s) ahead of time and not have to worry about shipping delays and lead times during the season (unless there was a very severe part shortage or the like).

Just a thought.

[Aren Siekmeier]

Originally Posted by ratdude747

Under the new system, I take it teams will get advance notification on what window shopping items they actually received?

See the original blog post:

Originally Posted by FRC Blog

• 12/05/14 AndyMark notifies each Team of their draft results