FROM THE OFFICE OF THE COO

FROM: COO/RA Hawkins DATE SUBMITTED: 2nd October 2015

TALES FROM THE AGGRESSOR

The figures were staggering. The Emperor's Hammer was officially at 'peace', with a major conflict with the Republic only recently brought to a decisive resolution. However, the reports piled before Hawkins told a very different story. A full scale war was going on, hidden behind a thin veil of non-standard Imperial Navy procedures. Many TIE Corps pilots were slipping out of their Defenders, Missile Boats and Scimitars, boarding a host of non-regulation craft and battling all manner of enemies. An entire covert war was being fought across the sector, on almost every front. Whilst the official position of the Emperor's Hammer was maintained as a bringer of peace and security, it was this unrelenting conflict that held that face in position. Hawkins sat, and began to sift through this mass of data. It was time to take control of this war.

The State of the MP Address

As I begin my time as COO, I felt that it would be as good a time as any to take stock of the state of Mulitplayer activity as it stands in the TC. As COOA, I was party to the volume of submissions being made, and a few folk over on the Telegram have suffered a running commentary as I sat and processed hundreds of screens! However, I felt it would be worthwhile, at this changing of the guard, to look at exactly where the TC is, and where it is going, in the realm of multiplayer. The Present On September 28th 2015, I worked out the total number of missions recorded on the Kill Board, Multiplayer Kill Board, and the Multiplayer Co-op Kill Board. The results were as follows: SP Kill Board Total: 381 Missions Submitted MP Kill Board Total: 740 Missions Submitted MP Co-op Kill Board Total: 847 Missions Submitted Combined MP Kill Board Total: 1587 Missions Submitted These figures show that Multiplayer isn't just an active part of the TC experience, it is the leading TC experience. The popularity of Star Conflict has lead to a participation rate over four times that of single player opportunities. The monthly MP competitions, overseen and managed by the COO and COOA via the on-line submission and processing systems have meant participation in MP competitions is always high. As you can see by the numbers, it is also a big job! Due to real life commitements for Crsepe, most of those 1587 screens were processed by myself, with only the occasional error, thankfully! It will be an urgent priority to get a new COOA in position as soon as possible! Star Wars based multiplayer continues to be low, due to the challenge of finding opponents. Time zone differences make frequent XvT/XWA gaming very difficult, and there are very few open servers available. The Future Where do we go from here? With the upcoming Episodes 7-9 awakening a renewed interest in Star Wars, we can hope to encourage more new members to get involved with both our single player and multiplayer activities. Already, teh new Battlefront game will be offering us a Starfighter game mode - "Fighter Squadrons" - that we aim to make an official platform as soon as we can confirm it is indeed 'starfighter exclusive'. Combined with the recruitment within the Hammer's Fist for the standard game modes, we can hope to bring more MP gamers to the EH, who hopefully will cross over to both the TC and HF. In addition, we can hope that older members will be tempted back by nostalgia brought on by watching Imperial Pilots battle the latest resistance against Imperial rule, as displayed on the big screen. I continue to hope that more computer games appropriate to the TC will be inspired by the new films. I can't imagine there will be no SC-like game for the Star Wars universe over the next few years. The grand hope is for a new X-Wing Series title with a built in multiplayer option, but there is no news of such a game as of yet. In an ideal universe, SC would be suplanted by a Star Wars game that would equally, or even more, popular amongst the TC membership - we will just have to see what comes our way! And so, what is the plan? Where DO we go frome here? Here are my current suggestions, open to discussion, addition and alteration(!): Competitions - Continue the monthly SC competitons, exploring a range of in-game activities (capturing objectives, highest assists, etc) Avenger Squadron - Consult with the TC Pilots on the best use of Avenger Squadron. Currently, membership is an honorary position with limited use. Explore options for enhancing reward for achieving membership, or improving how it is acknowledged. Explore how the Squadron could formalise its activities. New Games - quickly identify new space-based MP gaming opportunites as they arise, and add as official platforms as appropriate. Old Games - encourage participation in XvT and XWA through compeitions and/or combat events, mission creation with an MP focus - Open to ideas! Combat Center - Make the Combat Center a more useful MP resource, such as adding a feature that will let players identify members close to their timezones so they can find MP matches more easily. COO Office - Work with Crsepe to ensure a smooth handover. Appoint a new COOA to support the processing of screens, and working colaboratively to develop and enhance the TC's multiplayer offer. So - will be looking for help with both admin and inspiration! Reports - Reports will be published weekly, in line with other Admiralty reports. Weekly reports will be shorter, end of month reports more detailed. These are just my initial musings - open to change and new ideas! Please email me any applications for COOA, ideas for improving MP in the TC. My metaphorical door will always be open! Thanks for reading! Respectfully submitted RA Hawkins COO/RA Hawkins/TC-4/VSDII Aggressor SS/PCx3/ISMx7/IS-7SW-18BW-2GR-2SR-15BR/MoI/MoT-4rh-4gh/LoC-CS-Rx4/LoS-CSx9-Rx3/MoC-1goc-1soc-5boc/CoLx2/CoS/CoB/OV-16E [PLDN] [Marksman 3rd] {IWATS-BFM-MCBS-SFW-SGBMC-TM/1/3-TT-XWAC-XWAI}