TO: All Naval Officers
SUBJECT: Fleet Report: February 2005
As sent out directly to ALL Naval Officers...!
==========
Introduction
==========
Medical teams have been put on standby on all decks to take care of any officers who suffered from shock from reading the "subject" field of this transmission. Yes, you're reading right - it's a fleet report. I know there's going to be a lot of surprised faces. Maybe some weeping with joy. Possibly some cursing over how long this is and how much it's filling up your inbox. Well - grab something to drink (preferably coffee, but depending on my writing, you may need something else), and get reading.
This report has the format of one of my regular reports, but not the content necessarily. For a lot of things, too much time has passed to keep track of everything and still have the e-mail readable or less than 50 000 pages. So in items like that, I'll just be general about things and the next report (which is unlikely to be as late as 2007::04) you'll see a lot more actual data.
Enjoy!
==========
News
==========
Here's where I give you a recap of recent important news pertaining to the Navy or its members.
1) Empire at War Support
No doubt many of you have kept a watch on the advent of Star Wars: Empire at War - a real-time strategy game by Lucasarts, and one of the most anticipated games of the year. Many of you have also had an opportunity to try the demo of the game released earlier this year. Imperial High Command has been doing so as well and has spent a significant amount of time evaluating the game.
As a result, Empire at War is the first Naval platform from Lucasarts since 1999! Returning from a long stint in the reserves, to the rank of Commander, is Former NavyFC, NavyTC, and Striker Captain - Aarkon Syrtaras! Syrtaras has an extensive and well-known service history within the Empire. Indeed, he is supremely qualified for the job on just about every level. It is a great day for the Empire to see him back in service!
We look forward to lots of recruiting for Empire at War - this is a new platform that presents us with huge opportunities. By supporting it early on, we make it possible for us to capitalize on those very opportunities. *Now* is the time for a serious EaW recruiting campaign. I wish you all good luck in searching for recruits.
2) Major Manual Update
The Imperial Officers' Manual has been updated to Revision 1.60! A large number of pages have been modified - it is in your interest to read over them as soon as possible... It is *required* reading for *all* Imperial Officers!
There were many content updates to bring information up to date to Empire Reborn information... And there was also the addition of Empire at War Information, since we now *fully* support it!
3) Emperor's Court Trial Completed
Ensign Dmitry Semm has been found guilty of forging no fewer than twenty-six (26) pilot files. As a result, all pilot files have been stricken from the record, and a Medal of Merit for his piloting performance was removed. Making the offence even worse, is the fact that Mr. Semm forged the files in such a way as to give himself a number of High Scores. Just as the pilot files were removed, so too were the high scores.
In addition to this. Mr. Semm was sentenced to official incarceration for one month. That is, from February 17 until March 17, Mr. Semm is banned from *all* contact with the Empire. If any officer has contact with him in any form, that is clearly a breach of his sentence and should be *immediately* reported to your Division Commander and the Supreme Commander. During that time Mr. Semm is marked as an inactive, and will be only able to return to active service following that sentence.
Please note that Ensign Itelia Semm is a separate and distinct officer and is NOT affected by the terms and conditions of the Emperor's Court Verdict. Despite the similarity in name, she remains a full and active officer of the Empire.
Cheaters will be prosecuted to the FULL extent of Imperial Law. Let this be a warning to all officers out there - cheating NEVER pays.
4) Free Worlds Modification
Unfortunately, the Free Worlds project has not gone as well as had been hoped. Our only FW Squadron, Zeta, is not doing well at all. As such, there will be a change in the Navy. Zeta squadron is moving to X-Wing Alliance platform, and FW will no longer be a signup platform, but is still officially endorsed by the Empire.
Consider it like the Civil Sector was when the GE actively participated in Star Wars Galaxies. The platform is officially endorsed and supported by the Empire, but it is done as a side project to one's main Imperial Service.
It is unfortunate that this is the result of Free Worlds, but it is the nature of the universe: Some games catch on and some do not.
==========
Promotions
==========
This section is exactly what it sounds like - a listing of all recent promotions in the Navy. There have been far too many for me to list here over the course of the past year, but this section will be filled in next report.
==========
Flight Performance Reports
==========
Normally here I would talk about FPRs completed between this report and its predecessor. I expect you understand why I don't do that this time.
Let's just say: Good work to everybody listed on the Outer Sectors Scorechart. As for the rest of you - I hope you've got a good excuse. "My dog died" does not count for a year-long competition.
==========
Tactical Achievements
==========
Here I congratulate everybody in the Navy who's tricked Commodore Vortagh into approving their mission(s) recently.
1) Admiral Fel (yours truly) - about 50 times. Outer Sectors has lead to a lot of mission production, that's for sure.
2) CL La Forge - ERS150. Nice work on our first non-OS mission in literally *years*. And our first non-OS XWA mission.
==========
Multiplayer Participations
==========
Here's where recognition comes for people who have recently received pins for their Imperial Star. Generally they come from ICTEs or Free Worlds territorial engagements. Like the other sections, there's too much here to talk about here.
==========
Medal Awards
==========
There have been way too many to name. But congratulations if you're one of the people with newfound shiny chests. Keep going. Try to collect them all.
If you get enough, we can pave the hallways with them, like they used to do on the Striker, as I understand it. This is also how the Striker Sunglasses were invented - to protect your eyes from the glare from Pavz's medal display.
==========
New Cadets
==========
Here is where I talk about all the new people who joined the Empire recently. Fortunately for us... there have been lots.
==========
Reports
==========
This is the section where I acknowledge receipt of your official reports and make note of when you last turned one in. Consider this fair warning if you are a LT+ officer who is supposed to turn them in.
Recently I've just had informal status report chats with captains, but let's formalize things some more. Your reports don't have to be super detailed or 20 pages long or even HTML. But they do have to be there.
I expect to see at least one, but 2 or 3 is better, before the end of March.
==========
Competitions
==========
Outer Sectors
Host: Admiral Fel
Status: Ongoing
Hopefully there isn't much I can tell you about Outer Sectors that you don't already know. The campaign is in its final stages, and now is the time when your actions choose the fate of the Empire!
Ladders
Host: The GE
Status: Closed Pending Reset
The ladders are an (almost) always ongoing way to be active in the Empire. Pilots and ground troops face off against one another, and everyone who wins and and everyone who plays gets points. The winner at the end, and perhaps some 2nd or 3rd place officers, if there is enough activity, earn medals! Full details at: http://empirereborn.net/ladders.php?page=root
Once the ladders are reset by FA Polanski and medals awarded, they'll be open for business once again!
ICTE
Host: #outerrim on Undernet
Status Ongoing
Hosted by our allies, the ICTE, or Inter-Club Training Event, is a fun way to get together and play some multiplayer outside of the ladders. ICTEs take place every Saturday night, and your participation will earn you a pin for your Imperial Star! Full details and rules at: http://icte.starwarsalliance.com/
ISD Nemesis Competition
Host: LT Branet
Status: Finished
Mr. Branet was hosting a single-player competition aboard the ISD Nemesis to encourage flying. It's over and there have been several notable medal awards for it. In recognition of his hard work in hosting, LT Branet received a Medal of Merit.
==========
Sith of the Month
==========
Every month there's that one person crafty, clever, or just plain cool enough to earn the award of Sith of the Month.
Who else is cool enough for this title, but... Commander Syrtaras. His cool action to earn him this? Coming back from the reserves to lead our Empire at War unit. We are always happy to see old officers return, especially those with illustrious careers such as Syrtaras.
If you're a reserve reading this, you should do the same. We'd love to have you back.
==========
Gungan of the Month
==========
Since the Sith of the Month is so amazing, the universe must compensate to bring everything back into balance. Hence, there is a Gungan of the Month.
And it is who else but... La Forge! Psst! La Forge! Testing out the exams with both Firefox AND Internet Explorer is a good idea.
To give you an idea of the story, the Imperial Academy often receives exams where the submitter has failed to put in his or her ID-line and e-mail address, so it's impossible for RA Zwibble to give credit to the officer who did it.
To solve this problem, we decided upon a Javascript validation that does not let you submit the form unless you've filled in your ID-line and e-mail. If you try to turn it in without, it pops up a friendly reminder message. La Forge was placed in charge of implementing it.
Except he implemented it incorrectly, and the resultant HTML was very, very broken. Firefox handled it okay, but in Internet Explorer, the exam page would be just pure black.
Needless to say, our Gungan of the Month has been told that nothing leaves the sandbox until it has been thoroughly tested.
==========
Personal Section
==========
Here's where I report to all of you what I've been doing recently, so you don't all just sit and wonder.
- Outer Sectors
- Major Manual Update (Revision 1.60)
- Implementation of Empire at War Support
- Playing Empire at War (a lot
)- MB Admin Duties
- Online via AIM/MSN/IRC like always
- Wrote this very report, yes, the one you are reading right now.
==========
Orders
==========
1. Be in contact
There are loads of ways to be in contact, and e-mail is just one of them. Many officers are available on AOL Instant Messenger, and some even on MSN Messenger, both of which are free downloads. Some people are also on IRC(Internet Relay Chat) all the time, so please do come by! #galactic_empire on the Undernet network. We're friendly (as long as you're well behaved) and would be very glad to have you join us.
2. Recruit
The Empire is always in need of new officers, so if you know somebody who'd like to join, or if you just want to go out on IRC or the MSN Gaming zone and find people, that's very much encouraged... Especially for Empire at War!
3. Fly
I'd really like to see lots of people flying, whether on the ladders, single player, or on the Free Worlds server. It doesn't have to take much time, and it's a lot of fun, which leads me to my next point:
4. Have Fun!
That's the most important part of the whole thing. What you'll remember ten years down the road is not the name of that dashingly handsome admiral who wrote the never-ending reports that came on an irregular schedule, but how much fun you had while you were a part of the organization.
==========
Closing
==========
So? Questions? Comments? *sounds of crickets* Hey! Wake up! Ah, a question from the back.
Q: Why did this take a whole year to write? I could write a novel in a year, and this is just a short report!
A: Short answer: Outer Sectors.
Long answer: Fel has only so much time for things and Outer Sectors has taken priority. However, OS is wrapping up soon and it's time to get back in the swing of things.
Comedy Answer: Because my previous, novel-length, superlatively detailed, interesting, witty and funny report was destroyed by a Herr Kaffee robot since it contained instructions for how to avoid them.
Q: Empire at War is the best game ever. How do I sign up to play it?
A: Just send me a mail and prove your ownership of the game. You'll be aboard a Frigate in no time.
Any other questions? No? If there are - send them to me by e-mail.
Until next report!
