BEST Robotics Polycraft 3D Printing Challenge

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Figure 1: Polycraft Island Village ready for incoming Refugees

Introduction

The sirens are sounding!

The refugees arriving at Polycraft Island have little more than the clothes on their backs, but impoverishment was not their plight even a few months ago in their homeland. Those arriving come from all parts of society, from bankers and lawyers to scientists and school teachers. At first they will be happy simply for a safe place to live, but they are also hoping to establish a new life and new home to raise their families and build a community. Dirt homes and a toilet are better than nothing, but it will take advances in your housing technology and the infrastructure of your village for the refugees to see your island as a place for a thriving community for the 21st century... instead of a pit stop on the way to superior lands...

Are you a Polycraft 3D Printing expert? See if you can uncover the secret of Polycraft Island, spanning thousands of years of mystery!

Polycraft World and your Villagers need you!

Polycraft Background

Useful Commands

Purpose	Command	Description
Get help	'/help'	This command will pop-up some guidance and information about other useful commands
Get your Coordinates	Press p	Users can press 'p' in game to pop up location and private property information on the top left of their screen.
Message your Team	Type t	Typing 't' will open chat. Typing a message in chat and pressing 'Enter' will send messages to all other users on the server. Users can also type useful commands here.
Check your Village Scores	'/village'	This command will pop-up information about how far along you are in the 3D Printing Challenge.
Teleport to your Team Property	'/teamspace' or '~tp pp'	These commands will teleport a user to the team's private property. Users must be in a private property to use this command.
Teleport to UTD	'/goto utd' or '~tp utd'	These commands will teleport a user to the center of UTD, Polycraft World's spawn point.
Teleport to a Mining Base Camp	'~tp 1000 -1000'	This command can be used to teleport from one private property to another. Base camps for mining specific Biomes are available if you teleport to the Base Camp's coordinates.

Private Team Properties

Teams will have a private property where only their team can modify the environment and other teams can not interfere with their progress.

Summary

Your team of Engineers have a tall order ahead of you. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build the best and most advanced Village possible for your Refugees to live and thrive. The more houses you build on your Village Plot and the happier the Refugees are that live there, the higher your score! Not that the score matters to a humanitarian engineer such as yourself.

Houses for your refugees must be built on the Village Plot, and start at Technology Level 1 (Dirt houses with Hay Bales for beds). As more Refugees get comfortable and happy living at a technology level, they will become ready and willing to help you advance to a higher Level with better Housing, better Beds, and better Communal Buildings. If you can reach all the way to Technology Level 8, your Refugees will be thriving in a modern community with 4-story Carbon Fiber homes, Silk and Nylon beds, Art Galleries, and more!

It all starts when you build your first Dirt House with a Hay Bale bed. Refugees will arrive on the shores of Polycraft Island every Minecraft day at 10:00am (every 20 minutes real time). Refugees will work throughout the day to help you advance your mission by mining resources from Polycraft Island, creating equipment in the Workshop, and synthesizing chemicals in the Laboratory. Every Minecraft evening at 10:00pm (every 20 minutes real time) Refugees will put the materials they have mined or made in Community Chests within the Village, which you can then collect to grow the Village even more!

Remember: Your team of Engineers have a total of 50 hours for Round 1 (October 2-31: Technology Levels 1-4) and 50 additional hours for Round 2 (November 1-21: Technology Levels 5-8) to engineer the best Village possible!

Pro Tips:

1) 3D Printing makes the impossible possible: While your Minecraft skills are not in question... a burgeoning city is made up of A LOT of blocks. The modern marvels that are 3D Printers can make the impossible possible by empowering you to build a large city in record time.

2) Your Villagers are eager to help you, if you let them: Your Villagers are just as invested in your Village as you are, it is their Home after all! They are working diligently every day to gather useful materials and make useful items. But they can only work so fast... They will produce the same amount of materials per day regardless of how many of your team of Engineers are logged into the Village. To get the most out of their production, you can have a single team member logon during off hours to collect large amounts of resources every 20 minutes! A single player logged on for 20 minutes will count 20 minutes against your 50 hour timer. A team of 5 logged on for 20 minutes will count 100 minutes against your 50 hour timer. And the Villagers will produce the same amount regardless. You do the math.

Village Plot

You have been given a specially-designated 48 block x 48 block area on Polycraft Island to build a Village for your Refugees. The Village Plot is designated by a special type of block (example image to the right). Any buildings you build that are not fully on top of the Village Plot will not be suitable for Refugees, and will not count towards your Score.

Scoring and Progressing Through the Ages!

Your score and your progress to the next technology level is determined by 1) How many Refugees live in your Village and 2) How happy they are! Every Bed gives you 1 Population, and each person has a Happiness from 0-2 based on how enjoyable their home is to live in.

Scoring Formula: Your score for every technology level is based on the formula: # Population x Average Happiness x Technology Level. So, if you have a single bed at Level 1 (Dirt houses) with a Happiness of 1.0, your Tech Level 1 Score = 1. If you have a single bed at Level 2 (Wood) with a Happiness of 1.0, your Tech Level 2 Score = 2. And so on and so forth.

Advancing to the Next Level: To unlock the next technology level your Village has to reach the Threshold Score for your current level. Generally speaking, reaching this score requires filling up ~50% of the Village Plot if your Villagers have a Happiness of 1.0. If you invest in more amenities to get the average Happiness up to 2.0, you can advance to the next level faster with a smaller Village because your Refugees will be happier and more motivated! For specific scores needed to advance to the next technology level, see Progressing Through the Ages.

3D Printing

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Technology Levels, Houses, and Beds

Technology Levels:

The capabilities of your Village are all based on your current Technology Level. Each technology level unlocks a new type of Housing Material that your 3D Printer can use, a new level of Bed to go in those homes, and a new Communal Building for your Refugees to use. As you progress to more and more advanced technologies, the stronger materials and better 3D Printers can support larger and larger structures.

Tech Level	Required Construction Material	Required Bed Type
1	Dirt	Hay Bale Bed
2	Wood or Wood Composite	Acrylic Wool Bed
3	Stone or Stone Composite (not cobblestone)	Olefin Wool Bed
4	Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA; a.k.a. Plexiglass) or PMMA Composite	Polyester Wool Bed (Beginner)
5	Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS; a.k.a. LEGO Blocks) or ABS Composite	Polyester Wool Bed (Intermediate)
6	Bronze or Bronze Composite	Nylon Wool Bed (Beginner)
7	Stainless Steel or Stainless Steel Composite	Nylon Wool Bed (Intermediate)
8	Carbon Fiber or Carbon Fiber Composite	Nylon Silk Bed (Advanced)

Houses and Beds

Houses need a few basic things to be livable: 1) They shouldn't be open to the outside world. That's just not safe. 2) They need a Door to enter. 3) They need a Bed of the matching Technology Level. 4) They need to be structurally sound.

Once your house meets the basic requirements above, the Technology Level of your house will be determined by if it is constructed with the correct materials and if it has the right type of bed. As you advance through the ages, the construction materials become stronger and able to support larger structures, which in turn allows you to place more beds and increase the density of your population. Another benefit of advanced materials is that stronger materials need to make up less and less of a structure's walls, allowing you to be more creative with adding windows and using other aesthetically pleasing materials in your buildings.

For the exact requirements needed for a house to qualify for a given Technology Level, see the table below:

Tech Level	Required Construction Material	Required Bed Type	Maximum Structure Footprint (including walls)	Allowable Height of Doors (# of blocks above the Village Plot Blocks)	% of Walls that Must be Construction Material (not including corners/floor/ceiling)
1	Dirt	Hay Bale Bed	25 sq. meters (e.g., 5x5 blocks)	2 blocks (~1 story)	>= 85%
2	Wood or Wood Composite	Acrylic Wool Bed	40 sq. meters (e.g., 5x8 blocks)	2 blocks (~1 story)	>= 75%
3	Stone or Stone Composite (not cobblestone)	Olefin Wool Bed	55 sq. meters (e.g., 5x11 blocks)	8 blocks (~2 stories)	>= 65%
4	Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA; a.k.a. Plexiglass) or PMMA Composite	Polyester Wool Bed (Beginner)	70 sq. meters (e.g., 5x14 blocks)	8 blocks (~2 stories)	>= 55%
5	Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS; a.k.a. LEGO Blocks) or ABS Composite	Polyester Wool Bed (Intermediate)	85 sq. meters (e.g., 5x17 blocks)	16 blocks (~3 stories)	>= 50%
6	Bronze or Bronze Composite	Nylon Wool Bed (Beginner)	100 sq. meters (e.g., 5x20 blocks)	16 blocks (~3 stories)	>= 45%
7	Stainless Steel or Stainless Steel Composite	Nylon Wool Bed (Intermediate)	115 sq. meters (e.g., 5x23 blocks)	26 blocks (~4 stories)	>= 40%
8	Carbon Fiber or Carbon Fiber Composite	Nylon Silk Bed (Advanced)	130 sq. meters (e.g., 5x26 blocks)	26 blocks (~4 stories)	>= 35%

Composites XXX

Beds: Every Bed in a House counts as 1 Population for your Village. Similar to the construction material upgrades, every Technology Level upgrades the quality of the Beds your Villagers will sleep in. To count towards your score, any Bed must match the Technology Level of the House it is in.

Multi-story Houses: As your construction material advances (starting at Technology Level 3), you can start to 3D Print multi-story structures and build your Village vertically! While this gives you increased opportunities to skyrocket your Population, the Refugees must still be able to safely enter each home. For any Door to valid that is more than 2 blocks above the Village Blocks, it must have a ladder nearby that extends safely to the ground.

Images of valid Multi-story Houses:

Happiness

Imagine living in a dark room with no flowers, no paintings, and the nearest toilet 100 yards away! That's no way to live. Would you feel very motivated to make materials for the next Tech Level? I think not.

Each of your Refugees will have a 'Happiness' level that can range from 0.0-2.0. You can read about the nitty gritty details of how Happiness is calculated here, but a simple rule is that if the house is something you would want to live in, you'll be doing just fine.

Up to 1.0 points of Happiness can come from how nice their house is (Housing Amenity). Up to 1.0 additional points of Happiness can come from how close they are to the Community Buildings in your Village, such as Toilets (Communal Amenity). Take care of your Refugees, and they will take care of you.

Community Buildings

A thriving community has more than bedrooms and houses. The first thing your Refugees will want access to, naturally, is a Toilet. And as the Village becomes more and more advanced they will be delighted to have access to buildings that help them meet their neighbors, utilize their professional skills, and take care of their families. How close your Refugees are to Communal Buildings has a big impact on their Happiness.

Refugee Contributions

Your Refugee are very skilled individuals, and the better their Village becomes the more motivated they will be to contribute valuable items to your mission.

To start, Refugees will be able to go out into the Polycraft world and mine items that will aid you, such as Iron, Copper, Redstone, and even Nether Stars. As Refugees gain access to advanced machinery in Community Buildings, such as the Injection Molder in the Workshop or the Chemical Processor in the Laboratory, they will be able to make more and more powerful items. While your team of ~1-10 Engineers focuses on 3D Printing and community planning, your dozens to hundreds of Refugees can produce a truly impressive amount of the construction, bedding, and other materials needed to construct an ever-larger Villager.

For a full list of the specific items your Refugees will contribute, see Refugee Contributions.

Extras

Power Tools

Building a large Village can be sped up with a 3D Printer, but demolition of a large Village can be a cumbersome process. Power Tools are special pieces of equipment that mightily speed up this process, but they can only be acquired by the cunning problem solvers...

Polycraft Recycling and Waste Scavenger Hunt

Description

Team Scoring

Teams Scores will be based on progress increasing the Population, Happiness, and Technology Level of your Village. Major score bonuses will be provided when you advance to the next Technology Level. There will be 4 Technology Levels in Round 1 and 4 additional Technology Levels in the Championship Round.

Round 1 Scoring

Round 2 Scoring

You can monitor your score and time remaining here

BEST Robotics Polycraft 3D Printing Challenge Scoring Round 1

Date Range: October 2 - October 31, 2021. Time Limit: Your Team's Score will only be counted during the first 50 hours of cumulative Team gameplay. After 50 hours, your Team can continue playing but your Round 1 Score can no longer increase.

Scoring:

BEST Robotics Polycraft 3D Printing Challenge Scoring Round 2

Date Range: November 1 - November 21, 2021. Time Limit: Your Team's Score will have an additional 50 hours of cumulative Team gameplay for Round 2. After 50 additional hours, your Team can continue playing but your Round 2 Score can no longer increase.

Scoring:

Item Page Links

• 3D Printer
• 3D Scanner
• Structure Validator
• Power Tools
• Beds
• Toilets
• Composites

Signing Up

• Register as a Student with BEST Robotics
• Download and Install the Challenge Launcher here. Running Mac/Linux? Grab the MultiMC Package instead! Learn more about MultiMC here.
• Sign in on the Launcher with your Minecraft: Java Edition Mojang account
• Hit PCW Update
• Hit Play Polycraft World

More Detailed Set-Up Instructions and Installation FAQs

Troubleshooting and Gameplay FAQs

Troubleshooting

• Problems with your Team's Private Property? Have your entire team log out from the server. Wait for 60 seconds, then try logging in again.
• Problems with starting Round 2? Make sure to click 'PCW Update' on the launcher before joining the server for Round 2.

Gameplay FAQs

How much time do I have left? and What's my team's score?
You can monitor your score and time remaining here. Numbers are updated every day around 4pm Central Time.

Must the 50 hours be played consecutively?
Your team's fifty hours will be based on the timestamp of actions taken in-game. Our scoring analytics will log all of your team's actions on our servers that accrue points (see scoring) and the first fifty hours of actions across all team members will be counted towards your round score.

How do we 'submit' when we are done?
No submissions are necessary! The scoring analytics is logging your actions so we will know when you've successfully completed a task. You can also use '/village' to see your statistics and score.

Are there any 'due dates' for when these tasks are due?
The rounds ends on Sunday, October 31st at 11:59PM Central Time (Round 1) and Sunday, November 21st at 11:59PM Central Time (Round 2). Any actions taken towards Round 1 or Round 2 objectives after these times will not be counted towards your round score. Please see the scoring page for details on what actions count towards your Team's Score.

Have more questions? Send them our way at support@polycraftworld.com

Patches and Bug Fixes

Nothing to see here folks!

Technology Levels, Houses, and Beds

Technology Levels:

The capabilities of your Village are all based on your current Technology Level. Each technology level unlocks a new type of Housing Material that your 3D Printer can use, a new level of Bed to go in those homes, and a new Communal Building for your Refugees to use. As you progress to more and more advanced technologies, the stronger materials and better 3D Printers can support larger and larger structures.

Tech Level	Required Construction Material	Required Bed Type
1	Dirt	Hay Bale Bed
2	Wood or Wood Composite	Acrylic Wool Bed
3	Stone or Stone Composite (not cobblestone)	Olefin Wool Bed
4	Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA; a.k.a. Plexiglass) or PMMA Composite	Polyester Wool Bed (Beginner)
5	Acrylonitrile-Butadiene-Styrene (ABS; a.k.a. LEGO Blocks) or ABS Composite	Polyester Wool Bed (Intermediate)
6	Bronze or Bronze Composite	Nylon Wool Bed (Beginner)
7	Stainless Steel or Stainless Steel Composite	Nylon Wool Bed (Intermediate)
8	Carbon Fiber or Carbon Fiber Composite	Nylon Silk Bed (Advanced)

Houses and Beds

Houses need a few basic things to be livable: 1) They shouldn't be open to the outside world. That's just not safe. 2) They need a Door to enter. 3) They need a Bed of the matching Technology Level. 4) They need to be structurally sound.

Once your house meets the basic requirements above, the Technology Level of your house will be determined by if it is constructed with the correct materials and if it has the right type of bed. As you advance through the ages, the construction materials become stronger and able to support larger structures, which in turn allows you to place more beds and increase the density of your population. Another benefit of advanced materials is that stronger materials need to make up less and less of a structure's walls, allowing you to be more creative with adding windows and using other aesthetically pleasing materials in your buildings.

For the exact requirements needed for a house to qualify for a given Technology Level, see the table below:

Tech Level	Required Construction Material	Maximum Structure Footprint (including walls)	Allowable Height of Doors	% of Walls that Must be Construction Material
1	Dirt	25 sq. meters (e.g., 5x5 blocks)	2 blocks above the Village Plot Blocks (~1 story)	>= 85% of the walls (not including corners/floor/ceiling)
2	Wood	40 sq. meters (e.g., 5x8 blocks)	2 blocks above the Village Plot Blocks (~1 story)	>= 75% of the walls (not including corners/floor/ceiling)
3	Stone	55 sq. meters (e.g., 5x11 blocks)	8 blocks above the Village Plot Blocks (~2 stories)	>= 65% of the walls (not including corners/floor/ceiling)
4	Plexiglass	70 sq. meters (e.g., 5x14 blocks)	8 blocks above the Village Plot Blocks (~2 stories)	>= 55% of the walls (not including corners/floor/ceiling)
5	LEGO Blocks	85 sq. meters (e.g., 5x17 blocks)	16 blocks above the Village Plot Blocks (~3 stories)	>= 50% of the walls (not including corners/floor/ceiling)
6	Bronze	100 sq. meters (e.g., 5x20 blocks)	16 blocks above the Village Plot Blocks (~3 stories)	>= 45% of the walls (not including corners/floor/ceiling)
7	Stainless Steel	115 sq. meters (e.g., 5x23 blocks)	26 blocks above the Village Plot Blocks (~4 stories)	>= 40% of the walls (not including corners/floor/ceiling)
8	Carbon Fiber	130 sq. meters (e.g., 5x26 blocks)	26 blocks above the Village Plot Blocks (~4 stories)	>= 35% of the walls (not including corners/floor/ceiling)

Beds: Every Bed in a House counts as 1 Population for your Village. Similar to the construction material upgrades, every Technology Level upgrades the quality of the Beds your Villagers will sleep in. To count towards your score, any Bed must match the Technology Level of the House it is in.

Multi-story Houses: As your construction material advances (starting at Technology Level 3), you can start to 3D Print multi-story structures and build your Village vertically! While this gives you increased opportunities to skyrocket your Population, the Refugees must still be able to safely enter each home. For any Door to valid that is more than 2 blocks above the Village Blocks, it must have a ladder nearby that extends safely to the ground.

Images of valid Multi-story Houses: