IO Report # 4 (2021-05-02)

This report was submitted by IO/FA Turtle Jerrar/CS-4/VSD Stalwart


Internet Officer Report #4

1 May, 2021

In this report, I have the honor of being able to announce the hard work and subsequent recognitions for several Internet Office members and contributors. The collective work of this fine group of officers continues to improve the Emperor's Hammer as an organization. Thanks for everything that you to support this club; it is a pleasure working with you.

Internet Office Activity

TIE Corps Tailoring Tool 3 (TTT3) Released

The Internet Office TTT3 Team is pleased to release the TIE Corps Tailoring Tool 3! TTT3 is the next-generation utility for generating Emperor's Hammer and TIE Corps dress and duty uniforms, as well as pilot helmets.

TTT3 supports live updates from the Emperor's Hammer database. When you launch the application, it will retrieve the current fleet structure, uniform parameters, and unit (squadron) patches and cache this information locally.

Special thanks to the following members that assisted in the development of TTT3:

  • LT Braz Ile for development of new 3D assets including lightsabers, blasters, and misc. accoutrements.
  • CPT Robert Hogan for the development of various ribbon designs and updated ribbon devices.
  • SA Maverick, COL Stryker, and CPT Robert Hogan for volunteering to serve on the beta test group, and contributing bug reports and feature suggestions.
  • AD Jedi Eclipse and COL Silwar Naiilo for assistance in alpha testing and feature development.
  • And last, but absolutely not least, LCM SkyShadow, whose personal initiative led to the project being established in the first place, and who completed the vast majority of coding in support of the effort. Special recognition for his efforts will shortly follow this posting.

Major highlights of TTT3 include:

  • Implements the new TIE Corps awards including the Imperial Achievement Ribbon (IAR), Iron Star - Copper Wings and Copper Ribbon, TIE Corps Commander's Unit Award (TUA), and TIE Corps Meritorious Unit Award (MUA).
  • Implements the Legion of Skirmish and Letter of Achievement as wearable awards, as well as 21st Echelon Flight Wings and Order of the Vanguard up to 39th echelon.
  • Additional lightsaber models, as well as blasters for display on the duty uniform.
  • Implements several new visual options rendering options.

For full details on all changes and additions, please see the TTT3 Changelog. Changes to display of uniform elements/awards as generated in TTT3 and documented in the Changelog are authorized effective 1 May 2021.

Get it: Download your copy of TTT3 to get started: TTT3-3.0.0.zip.

Reporting issues: Although TTT3 has been tested in both alpha and beta stages, bugs are an inevitable part of software development. Please report any issues encountered at the IO issues incoming queue.

Known issues: Upon launching the application for the first time, Windows 10 users may receive a blue Windows Defender SmartScreen warning. This does not mean that the program is malicious, only that it has not yet established enough reputation with Microsoft to avoid the message. Because we are effectively a small independent software publisher, it takes some time for our application to gain reputation and be viewed as trusted by Microsoft’s algorithms. Clicking “More Info” and then “Run anyway” will allow you to launch the application.

Internet Office Announcements

  • The Internet Office is happy to officially welcome LCM SkyShadow to the IO team as an Internet Office Assistant. While SkyShadow has been working with the Internet Office staff for several months during the development of TTT3, he has recently been formally assigned as an IOA. LCM SkyShadow will be continuing to maintain TTT3, as well as working on potential future projects integrating local application functionality with the Emperor's Hammer site.

  • For his extensive work in the development of TTT3, I am proud to announce that LCM SkyShadow has been recognized with the Grand Order of the Emperor (GOE):

    'Presented in recognition of LCM SkyShadow’s efforts in development of the TIE Corps Tailoring Tool 3 (TTT3), a modern platform for generating Emperor’s Hammer member uniforms.

    While TTT2 and the efforts of LC Tempest have served the Emperor’s Hammer well for many years, certain elements of the aging application have also constrained efforts to update aspects of our awards and recognitions. The development of TTT3 builds upon Tempest’s work, and has provided a modern system for generating Emperor’s Hammer uniforms.

    Although a team effort, it was only through LCM SkyShadow’s initiative that the project was started in the first place. LCM SkyShadow served as the lead coder on the project, ultimately responsible for more than 95% of the coding within the application. Before coding could even take place, he performed significant analysis and reverse-engineering of the uniform system to determine how it could be re-implemented in the new code. Along the way, SkyShadow’s willingness to accept and implement feedback and suggestions has resulted in a tool superior to its predecessor.

    While intentionally visually similar to TTT2 at a glance, the efforts that have gone into making this application a useful tool now and into the future cannot be overstated. From an easily extensible system for defining medals and ribbons, to the implementation of Emperor’s Hammer API functionality to automatically update fleet structure and unit patches, these improvements have resulted in a tool which is easier to maintain and use. LCM SkyShadow’s use of freely available languages and libraries, with full source code maintained in the Emperor’s Hammer Internet Office-maintained code repository, provides for a means of maintaining this application into the future.

    The result of hundreds of hours of labor, this tool is likely to be touched by nearly every Emperor’s Hammer command and TIE Corps member. Given the fleet-wide impact of his extensive work building this modern platform to generate Emperor’s Hammer uniforms, it seems only fitting that LCM SkyShadow be recognized with award of the Grand Order of the Emperor, with all the rights and privileges associated with such recognition, including display of the ceremonial dagger on his Emperor’s Hammer uniform.'

    Recommended by IO/FA Turtle Jerrar and approved by verbal order of the Fleet Commander, FC/GA Rapier, 25 April 2021.

  • The Fleet Commander has approved updated duty descriptions for the Internet Officer and Communications Officer. The new position descriptions have been posted to the respective articles on the Emperor's Hammer Wiki.

  • The Communications Officer, FA La'an, has completed his review/revision of the Emperor's Hammer Code of Conduct (CoC) and the updated CoC has been approved by the Fleet Commander effective 1 May 2021. Additional information can be found in the forthcoming Communications Officer report. All members are encouraged to review the updated CoC.

Commendation of Excellence Awards

The Commendation of Excellence may be awarded to any member for consistent support, maintenance, or creation of official Emperor’s Hammer web pages/sites and internet-enabled applications.

  • COL Silwar Naiilo: 'Presented in recognition of your development and continued maintenance of the Gonk web site which incorporates Emperor’s Hammer API-provided data to provide clear analysis of member activity. In developing this utility, you leveraged your experience as a Squadron Commander to identify a shortfall in member activity tracking, and seized the initiative to develop a tool to fill the void. This tool has proven to be a valuable asset to our unit Commanders, aiding them in the efficient completion of their duties and ultimately improving the experience of line pilots. Your accomplishments reflect great credit upon yourself, Tempest Squadron, Wing X of the ISDII Challenge, and the Emperor’s Hammer TIE Corps.' 04/28/2021

  • LCM SkyShadow: 'Presented in recognition of your development of the Emperor’s Hammer API-enabled functionality in TIE Corps Tailoring Tool 3 (TTT3). The incorporation of functionality that imports fleet structure information, unit-specific uniform data, and squadron patches provides for a uniform creation utility that is consistently up to date and easier to use by the member. These efforts reflect great credit upon yourself, Sin Squadron, Wing II of the ISDII Warrior, and the Emperor’s Hammer TIE Corps.' 05/01/2021

Internet Office Activity

  • Fixed problems in processing Imperial University course exams and posting Wiki articles. These occurred as a result of provider-level security setting changes beyond our direct control. If you continue to experience Internal Server Errors on any Emperor's Hammer-owned sites/domains, please report the problem.
  • Implemented the public Internet Office issues queue on GitHub. Please use this area to report bugs or recommend feature enhancements for any Internet Office-managed project. This facilitates the efficient tracking of these requests by our staff, and issues can be triaged by specific project.
  • Implemented bug fixes and small maintenance updates to the existing production site code on tc.emperorshammer.org. A public changelog for the production site is available at https://tc.emperorshammer.org/CHANGELOG.md.txt.
  • Ongoing development in support of Project Minos Relevancy.
  • Completed profile restorations and searches of archived materials.
  • Fleet Commander GA Rapier has seen fit to promote both myself and Pickled Yoda to the rank of Fleet Admiral. My congratulations to TAC-IOA/FA Pickled Yoda, and thanks to the boss for the recognition.

Other

  • Competed in the Chalquilla Cup as a member of the Theta Squadron team, along with team members FA Pickled Yoda, LCM Wodi Untok, and AD Miles Prower. We achieved second place!
  • Competed on the Emperor's Hammer team in the Squadrons Premier League (SPL) where we won well-fought victories against Savrip and the Murder Hornets.
  • Competed as a member of Avenger Squadron (Command Detachment) in the Squadron (Re)Mobilization 3 competition.
  • Completed work in support of TTT3.
  • Completed graphics work for assorted projects.

Internet Office Priorities and Lines of Effort

Current/Ongoing

  • Project Minos Relevancy, a project to modernize the Emperor's Hammer web presence, and unify the EH/TC/DB web sites and databases.
  • Conduct review of Emperor's Hammer web properties to identify broken links, outdated material, and problems with functionality. Internet Officer command intent: The Emperor's Hammer presents a uniform web presence that is as easy and intuitive as possible for new members to navigate.
  • Assess restoration of archived club news, history, profile records, etc.
  • Assess and implement optimizations to improve search engine visibility, and other avenues of web/social media presence, in coordination with applicable Command Staff offices.
  • Improve automation procedures to promote confidentiality, availability, and integrity of club web sites and databases.

Internet Office Staff

Closing

I can be reached as needed by way of e-mail (linked from my TIE Corps profile), or Discord at turtlexiv#5752.

TURTLE JERRAR
Fleet Admiral, Emperor's Hammer
Internet Officer
IO/FA Turtle Jerrar/CS-4/VSD Stalwart
GOE/GS/BSx3/PCx2/ISMx8/MoI/MoC-7boc/IS-2SW-7BW-1CW-1PR-4GR-3SR-3BR/LoC-RSx2-CSx4/LoS- CSx2-Rx3/DFC-Rx1/CoE/CoLx4/CoB/LoAx9/OV-24E

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