In a busy office far far away...
1. TAC suffering from some connection problems
I was offlined for most of the last week thanks to the incompetence of my network administrators, things should be OK now, and work resumed here in my office. Remaining BSFs and other stuff should be processed before tonight.
2. TCC:XvT on leave, CA takes over
TCC:XvT Drako has some computer problems which prevent him to deal with his TCC:XvT duties. My Command Attaché is filling the position for the time being.
3. New TCS/TCT for XvT/BoP sought
New TCS and TCT for X-Wing vs TIE Fighter are sought, read the Tactical Manual to know more about the job and contact Vice Admiral Marcin Szydlowski if you are interested.
4. New XvT battle and missions
Some XvT stuff has been released this week, among them the last XvT/BoP IW Battle created by former IWTAC Neo, "The Adventures of the Warspite".
5. Audits - Pilot files
Some CMDR+ don't seem to be aware they are to keep any pilot file they receive and BSF. Occasional audits may occur, in case of high scores when the pilot file has not been uploaded, in case of some problem with the pilot file, or simply randomly. I remind you that if a BSF is audited, you have one week to reply to the audit with the (zipped for XvT/BoP/XWA) pilot file attached.
6. Tactical Manual
While we are at it, I remind you we have a thing called Tactical Manual which should extensively answer your question about custom missions, BSFs etc and a lot more.
7. Subgroup battles
Unless a subgroup has expressed a restriction on the creation of battles going to be part of their battle category (ie for example TIE-DB, XvT-IW etc), any member is free to create and submit to the Tactical Office a battle involving/about a subgroup; any TC member could create a BHG battle for example. Anyway, it would be wiser to contact the concerned SGCOM or any SG Command Staff member in charge of custom levels (IWTAC for IW, SHW for DB etc) to get their approval. This is not compulsory unless SGCOM/"SGTAC" ask me to, but it remains strongly encouraged; right now, only the Dark Brotherhood requires you to send your battle/mission to the SHW first, which means from now any DB Battle must go through the SHW Office to be accepted by the Tactical Office. The Tactical Office remains the only competent office to officially release new battles though.
8. Tactical Office feedback results
Several points have been reported:
- More X-Wing stuff: well, I have nothing about more X-Wing battles, but I guess creating more would be a bit a waste of time. Creating custom levels for a game which is ten years old is somewhat frustrating considering the technical limitations, and you won't have many people going to fly your creation. Just look at the "times completed" figures of the XW Battles available in the Battle Center. Anyway, feel free to submit XW stuff if you want. A X-Wing Free Mission has been approved but is not yet avaiable to download due to some technical problems in the database preventing me from adding new battle categories right now. It should have to wait for the database to be moved.
- Time taken to release new missions: many improvements have been made since September, with the average time between submission and release being a couple of months (compared to more than a year sometimes in the past). Anyway, it looks like a couple of missions or battles weren't lucky and are still waiting for release though being submitted in year..2000. These isolated cases should be processed as soon as possible; Release of battles is not quite a FIFO system, depends mostly on the quality of the battle and the number of other battles submitted.
- Reply to submission: I am used to sending a reply to any battle/mission submission once I have given a quick look at it and forwarded it to the Tactical Staff. It looks like I forgot to send replies for a wave or two of submissions in December, sorry for that. Submissions are generally processed once per week during week-ends, so bug me if you don't hear from me within two weeks (state clearly the NAME of your battle/mission when you ask me).
- List of battles being tested etc: TCC:TIE Absolut Vodka is currently working on a small database in order to put online the status of TIE battles/missions submitted (on queue, being tested, being corrected etc). If the thing works, it may be extended in the future to all battles/missions. I'll post a listing on the Mission Creation Board later this week.
That's it for today !
TAC-PROF/FA Striker/CS-3/SSSD Sovereign