Pre-build list

[ChuckDickerson]

This thread is now for the discussion of the lack of a pre-build list this year.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Maybe there's nothing on the playing field.

[Peter Matteson]

I believe it came out on Thursday for the last 3 years. Just enough time to get the materials for kickoff but not quite long enough to absolutely infuriate you thin king of what you could possibly build.
Pete

Edit: in 2004 they made some last minute changes the night before kickoff so none of the remote kick-off fields were accurate. They may be working these issues out before sending the list.

[Joel J]

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

Maybe there's nothing on the playing field.

I actually seriously thought that.. But I also notice the encrypted manuals aren't up. Maybe the FIRST staff has just returned from their christmas break, and these things will show up tommorow?

[EHaskins]

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

Maybe there's nothing on the playing field.

That would be an interesting game.

[DanDon]

Originally Posted by EHaskins

That would be an interesting game.

ROBOT TAG!!!

[Mark McLeod]

"This season, each team's decision regarding building field mockups may be a bit more complex than normal. The Game Design Committee feels
that an advance Bill of Materials (BOM) list might be misleading and cause some teams to buy more materials than they will likely use.

Please wait for a full set of field drawings and their lower cost equivalents to be released immediately following Kickoff. Knowing the nature of this year's challenge, you can more logically decide what to buy and build."

---**FIRST EMAIL**/2007 FRC Manual Decryption and Bill of Materials Information

[EHaskins]

Originally Posted by dhoizner

ROBOT TAG!!!

Robot Wars.

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

"This season, each team's decision regarding building field mockups may be a bit more complex than normal. The Game Design Committee feels
that an advance Bill of Materials (BOM) list might be misleading and cause some teams to buy more materials than they will likely use.

Please wait for a full set of field drawings and their lower cost equivalents to be released immediately following Kickoff. Knowing the nature of this year's challenge, you can more logically decide what to buy and build."

---**FIRST EMAIL**/2007 FRC Manual Decryption and Bill of Materials Information

Sounds like we may reuse substantial items from previous years or have many of the same item on the field negating the need to necessarily build all of them.

[ChuckDickerson]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

"This season, each team's decision regarding building field mockups may be a bit more complex than normal.

This scares me!

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by DeepWater

This scares me!

I'm not completely freaked out yet--they only said the decision was harder, not the actual construction.

That said, I don't know how they expect me to do my workshop at the Palmetto kickoff--they know good and well that us folks on teams will have this lodged in our heads all the way up to the reveal!

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

"This season, each team's decision regarding building field mockups may be a bit more complex than normal.

Ok teams, will you be using the field behind door number 1, door number 2 or door number 3?

Seriously though, this has me worried. Doesn't sound like an empty field to me...doens't sound like it's going to be a static field either....

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by Joel J.

But I also notice the encrypted manuals aren't up.

"The 2007 manual will be available to teams on our website in the form of '.pdf' files at 5 PM EST today, January 3, 2007"

getting close, eh?

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by Nuttyman54

Ok teams, will you be using the field behind door number 1, door number 2 or door number 3?

Seriously though, this has me worried. Doesn't sound like an empty field to me...doens't sound like it's going to be a static field either....

Think 2005, you really only needed one goal and one tetra to minimally practice that year.

[BrianR]

Originally Posted by Peter Matteson

Think 2005, you really only needed one goal and one tetra to minimally practice that year.

I agree that this would cause you to buy excess amounts of materials if you only planned on building one set... but how is that a complex decision?

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

"This season, each team's decision regarding building field mockups may be a bit more complex than normal.

When I see that line, I think it indicates that there will be a couple different tasks that you can choose to focus on, and they are mutually exclusive. Thus, if you choose scoring method A, you never do scoring method B.
Therefore, you wouldn't need to build anything for B if you didn't want to.

I think that the Bill of Materials will be classified by these different tasks, so they don't want to release it now, as you would buy stuff for all of the tasks. Obviously after the Kickoff, you know the competition and you can decide which stuff to buy based on the tasks you are focusing on.