Squadron News
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- The times, they are a changin'. The big news this week (most likely the big news for several weeks to come) is still the Emperor's Hammer Battle Launcher (EHBL) software. For sometime now, AD Proton has been leading a "grass roots" campaign to get the old .ZIP files restored, since the EHBL was obviously not ready to go live and many, many pilots cannot fly. In his crusade, he has been corresponding directly with the Fleet Commander, and it would seem that members of the EHBL design team took offense at this action. Meanwhile, there is a disturbing amount of pilots who are still unable to perform the most basic function of being in the TIE Corps : flying.
Proton has done his best to set forth the concerns of everyone aboard the Sov, but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears. It's time to just accept it ... the EHBL is here to stay, for better or for worse, and we are just going to have to learn to live with it. I don't like it any more than you do. See the orders section below for more.
- COL Ixion Deathbringer once again defended Omega's red uniforms after yet another OPS tried to tell us that red uniforms are not allowed. Ixion handled this situation fantastically, and was able to convince RA Alex Foley that, yes, we are supposed to have red uniforms. Nicely done, Ix. You ever have one of those weeks when it feels like the whole command staff is taking pot-shots at you?
- Congratulations to COL Brian, who recently celebrated his 8th anniversary as a member of the Emperor's Hammer! Glad to still have you with us, Brian. In other news, Brian's unofficial new callsign is, "The Old Man".
- More congratulations are in order for COL Ixion Deathbringer, who recently celebrated his 4th anniversary! Here's to 4 more years, Ix! Since I believe in symmetry, you may now call Ixion by his new unofficial callsign : "The Italian Stallion".
- It's a little off-topic, but it's so cool I figured I'd throw it into the report this week : Be sure to check out Brian's newest acquisition, a Lego "technic" TIE Interceptor : http://www.brian1.net/gallery/random/legotie01.jpg
Having priced these babies on Ebay, I can tell you that Brian must have spent quite a pretty penny on that ship ...
- From the "its a darn shame" dept. : Looks like FA "CCK" Kramer's long-standing email address (shadowblen@aol.com) has finally given up the ghost. As far as I know, CCK has been out of contact for some time now, although my sources tell me that he has been spotted on SWG's Intrepid server. I have only the best of respect for Kramer, both as a person and as a an officer of the EH, so I hope this is only a temporary situation. Let's all raise a glass of Sprite in remembrance ... ;-)
- Due to the decreasing number of pilots in Wing V (for which I feel partially responsible), and in no small part due to the far-too-early release of the EHBL software, Wing V's COL Gen Es'mith has retired into the TC Reserves. With only 11 pilots left, Wing V has been deactivated, bringing the Sov down to only 4 active wings out of a possible 7. A sad day indeed.
- High scores! Needless to say, these were flown before the EHBL came into our lives. Congrats go out to LC Brandon, who now holds the top spot for FREE-XWA's # 28, 30, 42, and 46!
- There was a bit of a scare this week when FA Cyric announced formalized guidelines for the promotion of members of an elite squadron. However, Cyric has assured us that promo's to COL will still be possible. We have enough to worry about in my opinion, so if Cyric says that promo's still work the same way, that's good enough for me.
Squadron Orders
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Mandatory Orders : See, you can tell I'm serious because I underlined it! All foolishness aside, I don't like to toss around terms like "mandatory orders", but these are not exactly calm times to be in the TC. My primary concern is to get every member of this squadron flying again with the EHBL software. In the old days, CMDRs were responsible for getting trainees acquainted with how to fly TIE battles ... so maybe I'm old fashioned, but if any of you guys are still unable to fly, I feel like I need to be helping SOMEHOW.
For a few weeks now, we've held our breath and crossed our fingers, hoping that the .ZIPs were going to be given back to us. Well, it's just not going to happen, folks. Right decision, wrong decision, it doesn't matter ... all we have now are .EHM files. Period. We have to learn to use them.
And guess what? It's time for the Science and the Tac Offices to try to support this beast. Here is the official word from AD Proton :
Sov flags, please instruct all pilots with EHBL problems to scour the TC
news pages and the TC message boards for answers to EHBL problems; if
they can't get it working after that, they should e-mail the TAC at
tac@emperorshammer.org and the Science Office at sco@emperorshammer.org.
So there you go. Your primary orders this week are to make every honest attempt to get the EHBL software working on your computer. If you still can't fly and you are out of ideas, then it's time to call in the "pros" and let them instruct us poor little pilots on how to make this thing function.
To start, I want a status report from EACH and EVERY one of you -- just tell me if you can get the EHBL software working or not. Those of you that can -- good work. Those of you that cannot -- I plan to work with all of you to get these issues resolved, up to and including contacting the officers above. This doesn't stop until 100% of this squadron is able to fly.
If you are unable to fly because you don't have the time (or even if you don't have the motivation), that's one thing. But if you cannot fly because you are unable, that's unacceptable. Let's get to work.
Remember ... even if you don't fly a mission, I still want you to install the EHBL and just see if you can make it work. Then fire off an email to me and let me know what's going on.
Those of you that have already reported problems on the mailing list (Tod, Yoman, etc) -- go ahead and email me with a list of everything you've tried, what the problem is, and what your current status is.
- Imperial Storm IV is still active, but has stalled for the moment. First of all, the EHBL software would make it difficult to simply assign a mission right now, since a lot of people couldn't fly it anyway. Second, AD Pel, the War Officer, seems to have strangely gone MIA. Hopefully, Pel will resurface soon.
Activity Reports (10.05.03 -- 10.14.03)
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CMDR/GN Sasquatch
No Activity
FM/GN Compton
No Activity
FM/COL Ixion Deathbringer
10.13.03 - Created uniform for GN Sasquatch
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FL/COL Brian
No Activity
FM/LC Yoman
No Activity
FM/MAJ Manijak
No Activity
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FL/LC Brandon
No Activity
FM/LC Todbringer
No Activity
FM/MAJ Artyis
No Activity
Misc.
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- I'm not going to say anything about activity this week. Obviously, I can't hold it against you if you are unable to fly. Let's work to make things better!
- I don't know about you guys, but it's weeks like this that make me need a good laugh. I encourage anyone else in need of a dose of humor to stop by www.homestarrunner.com and watch some of Strong Bad's email replies : http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail.html. Be sure to watch "Dragon" ... that one is always funny, no matter how many times you watch it. Trogdor, the Burninator!!!
Alright, that's gonna wrap it up for this week. Got a spare minute? Then let me know how the EHBL software is working for you. You have one week before I start pestering the people that haven't updated me on their progress ...
Fly high and watch your six!
CMDR/GN Sasquatch / Omega / SSSD Sovereign
[GS] [SS] [BSx5] [PCx12] [ISMx11] [MoT-GH] [IS-2BW-BR-GW-GR-2PW] [CoLx2] [CoB] [LoAx2] [OV-5E]
[IWATS] [CBX] [GFX] [IIC/1] [M/1] [SM/1] [TM] [TT]
T/G 'Silhouette II'
Omega Squadron -- Sentinels of the Fleet Commander
"We Bring Death!"
Shameless Omega Squadron Merchandise - http://www.cafeshops.com/omegasquadron