FRC Blog - Team Banners, History Patches, and Achievement Streamers for 2017

[cgmv123]

http://www.firstinspires.org/robotic...ment-streamers

Team Banners
Veteran Teams will remember last season we introduced the concept of ‘Team Standards’, which were intended to help teams to show their colors and pride right on the field itself while they were playing. These seemed to be popular, with many teams taking advantage of this option. So, they’re coming back for the 2017 FIRST STEAMWORKS season!

This term ‘Standards’ was used last season to keep us in line with the Medieval theme. For 2017, we’re moving to the more neutral term ‘Banner’.

Once again, these Team Banners would be flown over the player stations on the field during matches. And, good news, the specifications are the same as last season, so if you feel it’s appropriate you can use what you created last year.

Just as like last season:

• Creating a Team Banner is completely optional, and not required for gameplay
• If you don’t create a banner, no big. There will just be an empty spot over your player station during your matches where your banner would have otherwise been displayed.
• If you do create a banner, please consider making it two-sided for folks who may be watching from behind the player station
• Team Banners are not inspection items. However, they will be located right over the player station, so banners that are too large or otherwise don’t meet requirements may need to be removed, as they could interfere with gameplay. Refs and other field personnel will be keeping an eye out.

Team Banner location (no change from last season):

Team Banner example, over player station. Please note, image is purely illustrative and any other game specific field elements are hidden for the purposes of this pre-Kickoff image.

And Team Banner specifications (once again no change from last season).

This is something for the 2017 season your team can get started on now!

History Patches
We won’t be providing history patches to teams at events in 2017 like we did last season. They didn’t show up too often on the Team Standards as we had intended, while at the same time we understand they, and the generic FIRST STRONGHOLD logo patches available through the FIRST Marketplace, were popular with some individual team members and in other ways. So, while we won’t be providing any patches directly, team members will be able to purchase the generic FIRST STEAMWORKS logo patch through the FIRST Marketplace. They aren’t available yet, but should be before competition season starts.

We would have liked to provide FIRST STEAMWORKS logo patches to every team, but any reasonable per-team quantity would have led to a significant $ investment, and, as always, we are working very hard to keep an eye on the budget.

Achievement Streamers
Achievement Streamers from last season, which were colored ribbons intended to be hung on Team Standards to show various team accomplishments during the year, rarely showed up on those standards at events. They were either:

1. A complete failure or;
2. An idea so far ahead of its time that its brilliance could not possibly be recognized.

You pick. Anyway, we’re getting rid of them for the 2017 season. Or, more precisely, putting them, carefully labeled and preserved, in the FIRST HQ vaults deep underground.

Frank

Kind of surprised Frank didn't say "$ignificant inve$tment".

[zcohen]

Great to hear the banners are coming back. They did look really cool over the field.
I can understand the patches, they were hard to see, but at least in the Chesapeake District it seemed like every team who got a streamer put it on their banner and it looked really really cool on the field. Its a shame to see them getting rid of those.

[frcguy]

Well, happy we didn't throw our standard, er, banner out yet.

[GeeTwo]

Hmm.. it states that the banner placement will be the same as last year. This appears to rule out an "over the alliance wall" goal similar to the high goals in 2013 (Ultimate Ascent) and 2014 (Aerial Assist).

Also glad to see the banners return!

[AlexanderLuke]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

Hmm.. it states that the banner placement will be the same as last year. This appears to rule out an "over the alliance wall" goal similar to the high goals in 2013 (Ultimate Ascent) and 2014 (Aerial Assist).

Someone was thinking what I was thinking...

Of course, we could be proven wrong in some way when we actually get to see the game.

[bearbot]

So happy to see the banners and that their location abovedriver station will not change .Could only imagine that the game would have some important part up against part of the driver station but what will have to wait a til kickoff to know what it is

[FrankJ]

Streamer idea safely stored away.

[SenorZ]

Originally Posted by AlexanderLuke

Someone was thinking what I was thinking...

Of course, we could be proven wrong in some way when we actually get to see the game.

Could still have a single goal where the tower was! AIM HIGH

[Liam Fay]

I'm sad to see these go, so I hope they bring them back. I'm also surprised by their assessment of the streamers; one would think they'd give it at least one more year, especially considering most (statistically) teams don't have one to display yet anyways.

[Taylor]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

Kind of surprised Frank didn't say "$ignificant inve$tment".

And that made me think of "payload 5p3c1a11$+"

[bigbeezy]

Taking away the patches makes sense. Getting them at the event required someone to take the time to add it to the standard. We sewed them on so we wouldn't worry about them falling off and getting lost. So we were always 1 event behind.

I really liked the streamers though. Was a cool way to identify team's accomplishments throughout the season. Especially at champs when lots of teams have them. Regionals they were hardly seen (understandably).