REPORTING OFFICER: High Admiral Mordechi Wolfe
DATE SUBMITTED: 8 November  2021

Raise the Flag

Well the dust of Raise the Flag has finally settled and the final scores are in:

1. Challenge - 37216
2. Hammer - 33473
3. Warrior - 15070

The Pilots of the Challenge deserve every bit of praise for their outstanding efforts during RtF leading to such a huge score. For comparison, the Warrior won RtF 2020 with a score of 18764 - not too far off our own tally for this year. But this demonstrates just how much both the Hammer and Challenge leaned into the competition this time. And pilots across the Fleet displayed some phenomenal individual efforts, putting up numbers that are frankly superhuman.

From the Warrior, particular recognisation is owed to Sin and Theta Squadrons for finishing in 5th and 6th places, to Sin and Kappa for 100% Pilot participation, and to GN Pickled Yoda, CPT Wreckage MAJ Robert Hogan and  on their individual contributions. The final standings can be found at the RtF site.

The Next Steps

RtF has thrown up a number of comments and potential issues for both the Ship and the wider TC to tackle. At first glance, the most obvious one may seem to be the Ship's overall performance in comparison to the other two Wings. I think this is a red herring - as already mentioned, our total score was not far off our previous year's. I think we were simply outshone by the sheer volume of contributions from those on the other Ships. That's not to say that the Warrior can't do better - I know we can, but chasing points is not my priority.

The first item myself and the CMDRs will be tackling is our Inactive pilots. RtF has definitely shone a light on some folks who had zero participation and have a trend of little to no activity within the Club. My bar for activity - and therefore remaining on the active duty list, is actually very low - keeping in contact with your chain of command (email or Discord), participating in a few comps or taking IU courses. Nothing too onerous. Unfortunately, some have not managed this - for whatever reason, and Real Life absolutely must always come first. But one of the very reasons for being in the TIE Corps is to be part of a community with a shared love of both Stars Wars and gaming, and to participate in activities within this construct. If this is not doable, then transferring to the Reserves should be the course of action until such time as time itself allows participation. 

To that end, the CMDRs will be actively challenging those with multiple months of zero activity with either a transfer to the Reserves or an AWOL request to the TCCOM. Nobody wants to see droves of Pilots moved off the Ship for inactivity - it can be a hit to morale. But I would rather have 30 pilots with at least some activity, than 60 with half doing nothing and causing CMDRs to expend a huge amount of effort for zero return. Tightening up our Wing will also set us a good baseline to build on for future competitions including a shot at taking back the RtF title next year

In terms of RtF itself, one common complaint is that folks are tired of 'spam' style competitions. And after ReMob, ImpStorm and RtF coming so close together, I fully agree - they cause burnout, focus on quantity over quality and promote a 'min/max' attitude which is counter-productive towards the Club's ethos of fun and inclusiveness. The TC Admiralty broadly agrees and I believe that RtF will remain the single 'spam' style competition once a year. In the meantime, myself and the other COMs are working on developing a new form of activity - Operations, which see the Ships undertaken action against a 'PvE enemy' with multiple activities and opportunities for Pilots to earn rewards both for participating and for high achievement in the Operations. More to follow.

Here’s some fleet-wide competitions currently going on:

Every Single Player mission flown earns the pilot a point on the Kill Board and the top three pilots at the end of the month earn medals. Yearly, the top four pilots earn medals.

Each mission only counts once for the year, but missions flown in previous years can be reflown for points on the Kill Board (but not additional FCHG points). The Kill Board statistics on the TIE Corps website are final. IS-GW/SW/BW for top 3 monthly, at the end of the year the top 4 pilots win IS-PW/GW/SW/BW. The top pilot at the end of the year also receives the title of SP Ace of the TIE Corps 2021.

A lot to reflect on following a month of high tempo activity across the Fleet. I strongly encourage anyone with any comments, concerns or ideas to get in touch, either via Discord or email. There is an opportunity now, during reset, to critically consider how the Ship conducts business, both in terms of routine activities and competition opportunities and I would welcome your thoughts.

Someone outside of the Ship made a comment that the Warrior would now need to change its banner following the RtF results. This won't be happening - we should be proud of our achievements in the past, whilst looking to the future to achieve even more.