Radio F Software

Radio F Software (RFS)

Rank	Old World Veteran
Political Stance	Innovationalist, Informationalist, Forum Master, Manipulator
Grudge / Ally Status
Fear Rating	30/100
Respect Rating	70/100
Trivia
> Wrote a book called Nintendon't.
Memorable Quote
"Post thumperized."

Radio F Software, frequently abbreviated as RFS and now known as Dracophile, is a (former-)former member of the Robot Arena 2 community and one of the most influential personalities in the history of the game's aftermarket AI development. He is credited with the eponymous RFS AI Pack which expanded upon the stock AI limitations and allowed for AI teams of six robots. More recently, RFS is known for entering jokebots into various community tournaments.

Additionally, RFS is also known for being the first (and last) AceUplink staff member to be fired from their position. His community rank, "Ex-AceUplink Moderator", is a nod to this tumultuous period of time. Similarly, he was also a moderator at Technex's Forums and was eventually banned there for disagreeing with Technex's style of management and methods of advertising.

More notably, he was the webmaster of RFSHQ, a website whose four year run outlived nearly every other Robot Arena 2 community on the Internet.

RFS quietly left the Robot Arena 2 community some time in 2004 to pursue personal interests. Beginning in 2014 he returned to the GameTechMods forum after a near-decade hiatus.

History

AceUplink

Radio F Software, 2003

During his time spent on AceUplink RFS learned the Python language through trial-and-error and created all of his game mods during this period of time. He was also well known for writing tutorials on how to code AI, edit components, how to beat stock AI robots, and various other topics; his efforts earned him the custom community rank "The Tutorial Man". He was one of a very few members to have a custom title.

In December 2003 JFranco, webmaster of AceUplink, appointed RFS to work on the AceUplink Robot Database, a comprehensive online encyclopedia of robotics information. RFS and JFranco had a disagreement over the direction and content of the project which resulted in a large public dispute and the removal of his FTP permissions. RFS was unceremoniously fired from AceUplink's staff and was permabanned days later. His suspension coincided with his departure from the Robot Arena 2 community.

RFSHQ

RFSHQ's first incarnation launched February 12th, 2004. The date was significant in that it was the day when AceUplink's domain went up for renewal; the original intent of RFSHQ was to "beat out" AceUplink and the site's February 12th opening was meant to be an intimidating move. The first version of RFSHQ was used as an outlet to host all of RFS' creations for Robot Arena 2 since they had been removed from AceUplink's servers. Shortly after the establishment of RFSHQ, RFS partnered with TheDisturbedOne to create a variety of unique game-altering mods; their joint-effort production name was "Radio F Disturbedware".

When the Robot Arena 2 community began to falter RFS quickly changed the format of RFSHQ to stay afloat. RFSHQ "reopened" on May 9th, 2004 as a comedy/satire website. The first article posted was a sarcastic review of The Adventures of Bayou Billy on the Nintendo NES. From May 2004 through July 2008 RFS was the content supervisor of the website which at the time grew to a community of over 12,000 users and featured several "guest writers".

Post-RFSHQ

In July 2008 RFS (then under the pseudonym "Dracophile") retired from his position as RFSHQ's lead writer. In his departure post he expressed regret for the manner in which he chose to handle himself during conflicts with other communities and their members over the years.

Starting sporadically in 2009 and lasting throughout 2011 he was a columnist at GatorAIDS, a comedy website similar to RFSHQ. His work in the field of video games was occasionally showcased on the industry blogs Bitmob and VentureBeat.

In February 2014, RFS was the host of the Alamo South Super-Regional FIRST Tech Challenge.

Presently, RFS maintains a relatively low profile online. He now lives in San Antonio, TX and works in the IT industry. He is currently the webmaster of "Nintendo Powerless", a nostalgia/comedy blog that focuses on old issues of Nintendo Power.

Notable Game Contributions

The RFS AI Pack

The RFS AI Pack was originally slated as an upgrade featuring various non-stock components. This idea was scrapped in favor of an all-stock AI pack showcasing creative, modern, and realistic designs that could be taken out of the Robot Arena 2 game and built in real life. The inaugural installment featured the standard fare of 45 robots and was otherwise unmentionable. Through some creative code-editing with the help of TheDisturbedOne two add-on packs were released that expanded the limits of the original AI from 3 bots per team to 6 and 15 teams to 30 resulting in a final tally of 180 AI-controlled robots.

Despite the simplistic and often whimsical designs the massive expansion marked a turning point in the customization of the game's AI allowing future AI pack creators (notably Starcore and the DSL Team) to further explore and cultivate the new found "territory".

Personalized Components

Lacking the required modeling software, RFS has never made an original render of a component. Despite this, he was the first to take requests on "personalized" components. After copying the GMF for the standard Ram Plate RFS turned it into a decorative license plate. Users at AceUplink were able to request one plate with the following customizable features:

• The state
• A slogan
• Up to 10 characters in the center for a message

An example of the license plate component is included in the RFS "Component Pack" and is modeled after a Texas plate with "BORN 2 BOT" as the lettering.

Notable Robots

• Tha Thumperizer: A heavyweight robot with dual vertical tribar spinners. The term "Thumperized" achieved fad status on AceUplink when RFS would lock or edit out posts replacing them with "POST/THREAD THUMPERIZED". The robot was named after a Lego Mindstorms model built in 2001. Its memorable name, design, and paint job have kept its legacy alive. As of 2014, Tha Thumperizer is still an active robot in RFS' roster.
• Rock 'N' Roller: A heavyweight robot that consisted of two middleweight robots described as one of the first multibot robots. It required a team match to be set up with both middleweights on the same team against one heavyweight.

Tournament Entries

.	Antweight	Lightweight	Middleweight	Heavyweight	Super Heavyweight	Other
AceUplink Tournament #2			Digital Dragon II
AceUplink Tournament #3			hack.exe
AceUplink Tournament #4			Box of BS*
AceUplink Onslaught #1	It Puts The Lotion On
RFSHQ Tournament #1						Credit Card Shredder (BW)
RFSHQ DSL Tournament #1		Vote 5	Mal De Ojo			Blast Cannister (BW)
BattleBots 9		Jeremy Clarkson	The Legend of Bryce Genesis	Thumperizer XIV	Crush Fetish
Minor Inconveniences		Racecar & Racecar Backwards

An asterisk denotes a robot that was disqualified from a tournament.

Robot Combat Creations

Spanning several years in the early 00's RFS was involved with real-life robot combat both in the form of novelty scrapped remote controlled cars and "serious" competitions. His robots were entered under the team name Newfac Robotics although today his classic team name of Twilight Foundry Robotics is used to encompass all of his creations.

Originally, creations from the team were noted as various species of dragon on their website; the joke species names are listed below with the robot descriptions. (NOTE: Only robots from official RFL weight classes are listed.)

Euro Antweights

• Keep Back 500 Meters: A smaller version of Keep Back 500 Feet. Featured a clamp-based weapon and in a later version the robot had anti-flip side spikes. (Draco clampus-minus)
• Five-O: An invertible four wheel drive wedge robot with a titanium front end. The robot featured a police car paintjob and miniature working police lights. (Draco enforsus)

Antweights

• Keep Back 500 Feet: The team's first creation. Keep Back 500 Feet utilized servos for drive and while slow was capable of pushing Beetleweights around. The robot had two interchangeable weapons: a lifting arm created from galvanized steel, and a 12-tooth stainless steel clamping arm that was never used. (Draco clampus)
• Super Turbo Baby Puncher: A thwackbot which held the RFL record for largest wheels on an Antweight robot (4.5" diameter). Super Turbo Baby Puncher was a jokebot made from an R/C BattleBots toy. Its weapon was a ball and chain weapon taken from a ceiling fan. (Draco bashus)

Beetleweights

• Fatal Contraption: A broken Nintendo NES was used as the chassis for this plowbot. Early information of the robot listed it as having razor blades for weapons. It was for show only and never competed. (Draco electronicus)
• Kill Swtich: A giant tank-tracked wedge robot impervious to knock-outs resulting from damage. Was formerly the #3 seed in its class at the North Texas SWARC tournament and utilized a custom armor made of layered components named "Kill Switch Skin". (Draco magnus)
• Detonator: A high-speed thwack robot that was painted to look like a dragon's face. The weapon, a spiked tongue, was dubbed The French Kiss of Death. Detonator was prone to overheating problems and was promptly destroyed in combat. (Draco carnivorous)
• Earth Quake: A 4 wheel drive plow machine designed after riot control vehicles. Created using twice as many motors as Kill Switch, the robot was so heavy that it had virtually no armor. In its only tournament it won 2nd place, the only Twilight Foundry Robotics creation to place at an RFL event. (Draco super-magnus)

As of 2013, all of Twilight Foundry Robotics creations are retired.

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