BATTLEGROUP III REPORT #8

September 1, 2024
VA Locke Setzer

Introduction

Greetings, pilots of Battlegroup III and welcome to Raise the Flag 2024! Let's begin!

TIE Corps News and Competitions

Competition Alert: Raise the Flag 2024

It is that time again! As of this moment, Raise the Flag 2024 has begun!

The score tracker is now live at http://rtf.tsaunders.net/. You'll notice we have a bit of a head start on the other battlegroups! As the smallest battlegroup, we've been awarded some bonus points to help make up the difference in size. Fair warning though: that head start will evaporate quickly!

For SP missions, points are awarded as follows...

• 2 points for each TIE mission
• 3 points for each XvT/BoP mission
• 3 points for each XWA mission
• 5 points for each X-Wing mission
• 5 points for each TFTC mission
• 10 points for every mission high score
• 10 points x # of missions in the battle for every battle high score

• 1 point - Star Conflict
• 2 points - X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter / Balance of Power
• 2 points - X-Wing Alliance
• 2 points - TFTC
• 2 points - Empire at War
• 5 points - EA Battlefront 1
• 5 points - EA Battlefront 2
• 4 points - Star Wars: Squadrons
• 3 points - Elite Dangerous
• 5 points - Star Wars: The Old Republic
• 6 points - Destiny 2 (Lost Sectors not allowed)

• 8 points - Star Conflict
• 5 points - X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter / Balance of Power
• 5 points - X-Wing Alliance
• 5 points - TFTC
• 5 points - Empire at War
• 12 points - Classic Battlefronts (1 & 2)
• 12 points - EA Battlefront 1
• 10 points - EA Battlefront 2 (Ewok Hunt not allowed)
• 10 points - Star Wars: Squadrons
• 6.5 points - Elite Dangerous
• 8 points - Star Wars: The Old Republic
• 10 points - Destiny 2
• 4 points - Star Wars: Hunters

For memes, submissions must be sent to tccom@emperorshammer.org. They can be awarded anywhere between 0 - 10 points, based on the grading criteria. The goal is for each meme to be memorable, creative, and to be EH-specific. For more information, I recommend viewing the grading criteria on the meme-specific competition listing. Remember - you only get 20 meme submissions for this competition!

Points will be awarded for fiction and graphics based on ranking, although participation in each provides 200 points, so it's worth attempting something even if this isn't a particular skill of yours! Word count for fiction must be between 1000 and 4000 words and cannot be AI derived. Ranking is based on how the submission fits the prompt, a description of how it was created (particularly for art submissions), and evidence of the creation process (screenshots of the art being created). All submissions must be sent to the Warfare Officer (phoenixberkana@gmaill.com). The first round for fiction and art is now live and goes from now until September 14th, 23:59 UTC. The first round prompt involves launching operations to liberate the Tkon Rift once and for all! For more information, view the first round art competition listing and the first round fiction competition listing.

For more competition details, check out the competition listing. I'll be posting updates throughout the competition on Discord, so I highly recommend keeping an eye on our channels this month!

Good luck to everyone and have fun out there!

Battlegroup News and Competitions

Competition Update - Brief Hiatus for Trivia for the Challenged

With RtF raging on, Trivia for the Challenged will be taking a brief hiatus. We can look forward to Trivia for the Challenged resuming in October! Thanks!

Competition Results - Battlegroup III Summer Games

August saw the conclusion of the Battlegroup III Summer Games! The results for the final event, Event #5 - Star Conflict PvE Score Challenge, came down to...

• In first place with a score of 5100, the IS-GW goes to VA Locke Setzer!
• In second place with a score of 4095, the IS-SW goes to MAJ Prost Varsis!
• In third place with a score of 2536, the IS-BW goes to GN Master!
• In fourth place with a score of 1843, the IS-CW goes to CM Kieran Yoyo!

In particular, congratulations to Major Prost Varsis, who managed to medal in four of the five events! Without question, the greatest Olympian competitor in the 2024 BG3 Summer Games! With that level of performance, it's no wonder that Typhoon Squadron had the most medals in this year's summer games...

Thanks again to all who participate in the summer games!

Infiltrator Wing 29th Anniversary Microfiction Results

To celebrate the 29th Anniversary of the Infiltrator Wing, all IW pilots were invited to submit a microfiction (of 29 words or less). I'd like to take this space to share the winning stories!

First place goes to MAJ SirCaleb with...
Hosted a lightsaber duel party. Note to self, lightsabers plus Corellian Ale and Coruscant Whiskey is now a banned combination. On the other hand... there is no other hand.

Second place goes to GN Master with...
The Empire whispers, the Rebel's scream, Galactic chaos, fractured dream. Gods collide, cowards flee, War reigns, eternally. Heroes will rise, illusions fall, In the void, we heed the call.

Third place goes to GN La'an with...
Scorpion cleared the objective quickly, "liberating" the coaxium with minimal effort. The fuel would ease fleet logistics through the Chaos. Enemy reinforcements intervened, antiques. Hilarity ensued. No friendly losses.

Thanks to all who submitted an entry (or, in GN Master's case, a dozen entries...) Once again, happy anniversary to the Infiltrator Wing!

New Flight Leader for Scorpion Squadron

As posted on the Discord, website, and elsewhere, a new flight leader has been appointed for Scorpion Squadron! Congrats to new arrival LT Gilifreid Lightbringer, who takes on the responsibility of being Scorpion's first flight leader!

Battlegroup III Awards and Stats for August 2024

Battlegroup III Monthly Awards for August 2024

For the Battlegroup III monthly awards, congrats to the following:

• For Battlegroup III Squadron of the Month for August 2024, congrats to Typhoon Squadron! Typhoon walked away with the most medals for the BG3 Summer Games, earned by having a constant presence with participants in just about every event. Congrats to Typhoon!
• For Battlegroup III Pilot of the Month for August 2024, congrats to Typhoon Squadron's CPT Jagged Fell III! I could make an argument to award Jagged our Pilot of the Month award just about every month! Between outstanding activity, terrific custom battle creations for TFTC, and, lately, some pretty killer art creations, Jagged is a clear winner for this month's Pilot of the Month award. Congrats!
• For Battlegroup III Leader of the Month for August 2024, congrats to Firebird Squadron's GN Master! This was a tough call this month, but I'm going to give to GN Master, who's continuing to do terrific work in Firebird!

Battlegroup III Monthly Stats for August 2024

Stats of the Month:

• Even split between PvP and PvE this month on number of participants for most popular activity type, although PvP had more total activity
• Aligning with the above, there was a tie between Star Wars: Hunters and Star Conflict on most unique players, although Hunters had more total activity.
• Platforms used this month (from most unique pilots to least) included Star Wars: Hunters, TIE Fighter Total Conversion, Star Conflict, Star Wars Squadrons, Destiny 2, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, EA Battlefront II, The Old Republic, TIE Fighter, and classic Battlefront 2.

Conclusion

That's it for this month! Keep an eye on the Discord during the month for all the latest news about Raise the Flag! And as always, I highly encourage you to feel free to reach out if you have any questions about RtF, things going on in Battlegroup III, the TIE Corps, or anything else. My email is locke.f.setzer@gmail.com and my Discord name is LockeSetzer. Please use whichever is most convenient for you. My door is always open!

In Service,

BGCOM-CAPT-TOA/VA Locke Setzer/Battlegroup III
GS/SSx7/BSx11/PCx7/ISMx6/IAR/MoT-8rh-12gh-16bh/MoI/MoS/MoC-poc-goc-soc-8boc/MUA/IS-2GW-18SW-23BW-29CW-2PR-6GR-9SR-11BR-2CR/ORA-2C/LoC-RS/LoS-RS/DFC/CoS/CoLx2/CoB/LoAx9/OV-24E