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March SotRS
March 3, 2014
State of the Rebel Squadrons
I. Introductions
II. The Future of the RS
III. Current Initiatives
IV. New Executive Offices + Openings
V. Closing
I. Introductions
As you all know, General Damon Lightwind stepped down from being RSFC in late January. After a short nomination and Q&A session on High Command, Admiral David “Heavy” Pasiechnyk was elected our new fleet commander. Since that time, HC has begun a series of changes to radically transform the RS from what is seen to be a dying club, to a successful organization. As it’s been about a month for things to get settled and people to acclimate to their new roles, it’s time to bring to light to you, the member, what is going on with the RS.
The RS is currently on life support. Growth and participation have grown stagnant over the past year or so with only a few exceptions. New initiatives have been lacking, and you, the member, haven’t been engaged by the RS for quite some time. On behalf of the current leadership of the RS, I wish to extend my most sincere apology to each individual member, as we were at least partially responsible for letting things get to this state. As I am not personally a fan of empty words when it comes to apologies, this particular one is backed with a concentrated effort to get the RS back on its feet. I’d like to ask that each of you carefully consider the contents of this SotRS, and what they mean to you. If you feel as if you can contribute an idea or your time to supporting the RS though what will be its most radical change yet, please let us know. Thank you.
II. The Future of the RS
As a club, we have been handicapped for quite some time. This handicap is fairly apparent if you read about what we are and what we focus on –
From our ‘Mission Statement’ in the Bylaws:
‘The Rebel Squadrons (RS) is an online club centered on the Star Wars universe…’
From our ‘About the Rebel Squadrons’ page:
‘The RS is a Star Wars Club.’
‘In essence, the RS plays Star Wars games…’
The platforms we support are likely older than some of you. X-wing Alliance, the most recent PC flight simulator that we are able to make missions for, was released Feb 28th, 1999, just over 15 years ago. We have clung onto these old games because they’re fun, and entertaining; but there is absolutely no draw for newer gamers to even consider the RS. Other more recent games have gone unsupported, or interest has died out (EAW, BF II, etc.). All in all, this has fostered a sense of growing disinterest in the RS, which has slowly shed members over the past few years.
To solve this continual problem, and get over our handicap, we are completely shifting the RS’ focus. What was once a ‘Star Wars’ club will be made into a ‘Gaming club’, with a fun Star Wars theme, and game support. We are beginning to support new games, and inviting new people to join the RS for the experience, and to have a place to meet other gamers, as opposed to simply another ‘Star Wars’ club that has little behind it. We’re not throwing away Star Wars, nor are we turning our back on it. We intend to continue to support these legacy platforms, continue with the RS storyline, and continue to generate content in the universe that brought us all together. However, we will no longer be ignoring games outside the Star Wars continuity, and will be using these platforms to generate interest in the RS.
We see the RS as a community of gamers, who happen to like Star Wars, coming together to have fun. The RS will be able to support any game that our members have interest in, and will have official sanctioned clans, events, and awards for people who are a part of our club. All the while, we will still have our rich backstory, an organized storyline, and will continue to support and highlight new Star Wars games, movies, shows, etc. as they come out. We hope to attract members in individual games, and then keep them interested with something that the rest of the Internet, and other Star Wars clubs, simply don’t have: A massive, realistic storyline set in the Star Wars universe that individual members can contribute to and change at the whim of their character.
How do we plan on doing this? Simply, we are undertaking complete rebuild and reimaging of the RS from the ground up.
III. Current Initiatives
To achieve the goals laid out above, we are undertaking a massive rebuild process that includes the following:
RS Bylaw Rewrite – We are currently rewriting all of the RS bylaws. You can expect these to be posted all at once, and a detailed E-mail laying out the changes will be sent at that time. The general idea is to remove what has been colloquially called ‘Space Lawyering’. We are a club, not the government. We don’t need to have eighty thousand rules when, really, all we’re here to do is Play Games and Have Fun. Obviously we still need to have a structure, but the current bylaws are bloated and unfitting for what the RS needs to be right now.
Site Redesign – Our IO is currently hard at work completely revamping our site to give us a new look, update us to modern coding standards, and make the RS site easier to navigate and understand. This will likely occur in phases, with the forum updates that Admiral Hawkins (Josh) has undertaken being the first step down a long road. As we get more updates, we’ll be sure to keep the club informed.
Playing Games – This is the most fun of the current initiatives. We’ve already begun supporting new games!
Star Citizen – While this is still in its beta stage, we’ve already got an RS presence here, and are working on how we intend to support the game once it is fully released. This effort is currently being spearheaded by Commodore Kirghy Lommax. Personally, I haven’t been exposed to much of this, as I have been neck deep in another of our new initiatives, but if you are interested in Star Citizen I recommend checking out their website at https://robertsspaceindustries.com/ and contacting Kirghy if you’d like to join the RS Corporation!
Warframe – Also in its beta stages, Warframe can best be summed up in two words: Space Ninjas. Now that everyone is suddenly interested, I’m glad to say that the RS has a growing presence in this game as well. We have an expanding clan, many of us tend to form groups to tackle harder content and we are working to complete unique research for those who are in the clan. This clan is currently being run by Fleet Admiral Kaz Falcion (KFalcion in game), so please contact him in game if you’re interested. You can also contact myself or Markus (RS_Raven and RS_Markus in game) if you’d like an invitation. Warframe is currently a free game in open beta, and is supported by ‘Platinum’ purchases, but these are NOT necessary to play the game. The RS is working on supporting Warframe by opening a new Forum for members to talk about the game, and will be expanding into organized clan events and RS awards for players in the near future.
X-wing Miniatures – We are currently working on ways to support the new X-wing miniatures game, which seems to be a lot like popular tabletop games such as WH40k, etc. More information will be brought forth on this soon, but I wanted to give it an honorable mention as it is something we are actively working on.
Star Wars Attack Squadrons – While this has received mixed reviews (trending negative), we still plan on at least having some support for Disney’s first foray into the Star Wars universe. If anyone is particularly interested in this game, please contact either myself or Heavy, as we are looking for people to help figure out exactly how to integrate this with the RS as a whole.
Star Wars Stuff – As I stated earlier, we are NOT abandoning Star Wars. In fact, we plan on making the environment rich to create our own path in the SW universe. We are currently working on an acceleration of the RS storyline to about 15 ABY, in an era where our section of the galaxy is fairly quiet. We’re doing this primarily so that we can do what we want – the area of space we’re in is completely quiet during this time period, and allows us to add to established canon without violating it. More details will be brought forth in the coming days, but I can say confidently that it will be quite a titanic campaign. ;)
Minecraft – The RS has a minecraft server! We currently run a custom mudpack, the details of which can be found here:
http://wiki.rebelsquadrons.org/index.php/Installing_the_RS_Mod_Pack
We are currently expanding our primary base, and individuals are starting to branch out to create their own homes/mining areas. Eventually, it is planned to create a massive Imperial base, to use as a minecraft ITOD with traps/enemies/etc. As this is completed, pictures and other fun stuff will be posted! This effort is led by Admiral Joshua Hawkins as the Mod Master, and Commodore Lamin Zykara , so if you’re interested in being whitelisted on the Server, please contact one of them.
IV. New Executive Offices + Openings
The old executive offices have been completely shut down. As part of the rebuild, we have changed the executive layout to be more efficient and remove some of the extraneous offices that have cropped up over the years. Each one of these offices currently has openings, so if you see something you’re interested in, contact the Executive Leader in question, myself or Heavy to apply!
Social/Outreach – Led by Admiral Danny “David Lee Japan” Qatar, this executive office is in charge of the RS Social Media presence on the internet, including Twitter, Youtube, etc. This office is the mastermind behind the RS public presence and outreach to the internet as a whole. If you are personable, and think you can come up with fun RS content for Youtube or another platform, please contact Cody! He’s currently looking for a few individuals to support his efforts.
Internet – The real power behind the RS, the Internet office controls all aspects of the RS’ site, online support, and expansion. Currently consisting of Admiral Licah Fox, Admiral Joshua Hawkins, and Vice Admiral Patrick Blastfire, the Internet Office is the frame with which our gaming engine will sit. They are all awesome people, and we would not be here without them. They also control the site. Be nice to them. They are awesome. We are not worthy.
-=Bows in supplication=-
All Hail the IO.
In all seriousness, I’d like to take a quick minute to thank the three of them. Due to the financial, server space, and coding support that these three contribute to the RS we are still here and are able to have the opportunity to grow again. Thank you all for your continued support.
Operations – Led by Jedi Master and Admiral Sienn “The Rot” Sconn, Esquire, Deputy Headmaster of the Great Temple of Adhe Zion (And you thought the rest of the titles were long…), the Operations Office has taken on the roles of many of the old Executives. This office is now responsible for actually creating ITOD missions, dealing with our massive medals database, giving out promotions/awards, organizing competitions (when we recover a bit) and generally DOING the things that need to be done to keep the RS going. This office needs help! While Sconn is, per his title, awesome, he can’t do all of this on his own, and is looking for a few dedicated individuals who want to rip apart a whole bunch of old systems and traditions and replace them with something new and fun!
Storyline – This office, led by Fleet Admiral Michael Raven (hey that’s me), is responsible for all of the ‘IC’ stuff that happens within the RS. Currently, I am working on updating our entire planetary DB, OOB, and writing the framework for the new RS storyline so that we can begin moving forward fictionally. This office is currently looking for someone with some photoshop skills who can modify a few Star Wars Maps to add what we’ve created so far, and is also looking for a few individuals with Wiki skills and some time on their hands to begin updating the massively out-of-date RS wiki. If you’re interested, drop me a line! The Operations and Storyline offices will be working closely together in the near future to develop activities involving the new storyline.
V. Closing
None of us wants to see the RS die. As you can see, we are aggressively moving forward to remake the RS, and turn it into something that can sustain itself in our constantly evolving gaming environment. I’d like to thank all of you who took the time to read this, and thank you for your continuing support of the RS. We’re all looking forward to moving past this rut, and getting to a point where the RS can be a thriving community again.
Well, enough of that.
GO PLAY SOME GAMES!
-Fleet Admiral Michael Raven
-Rebel Squadrons Executive Officer
State of the Rebel Squadrons
I. Introductions
II. The Future of the RS
III. Current Initiatives
IV. New Executive Offices + Openings
V. Closing
I. Introductions
As you all know, General Damon Lightwind stepped down from being RSFC in late January. After a short nomination and Q&A session on High Command, Admiral David “Heavy” Pasiechnyk was elected our new fleet commander. Since that time, HC has begun a series of changes to radically transform the RS from what is seen to be a dying club, to a successful organization. As it’s been about a month for things to get settled and people to acclimate to their new roles, it’s time to bring to light to you, the member, what is going on with the RS.
The RS is currently on life support. Growth and participation have grown stagnant over the past year or so with only a few exceptions. New initiatives have been lacking, and you, the member, haven’t been engaged by the RS for quite some time. On behalf of the current leadership of the RS, I wish to extend my most sincere apology to each individual member, as we were at least partially responsible for letting things get to this state. As I am not personally a fan of empty words when it comes to apologies, this particular one is backed with a concentrated effort to get the RS back on its feet. I’d like to ask that each of you carefully consider the contents of this SotRS, and what they mean to you. If you feel as if you can contribute an idea or your time to supporting the RS though what will be its most radical change yet, please let us know. Thank you.
II. The Future of the RS
As a club, we have been handicapped for quite some time. This handicap is fairly apparent if you read about what we are and what we focus on –
From our ‘Mission Statement’ in the Bylaws:
‘The Rebel Squadrons (RS) is an online club centered on the Star Wars universe…’
From our ‘About the Rebel Squadrons’ page:
‘The RS is a Star Wars Club.’
‘In essence, the RS plays Star Wars games…’
The platforms we support are likely older than some of you. X-wing Alliance, the most recent PC flight simulator that we are able to make missions for, was released Feb 28th, 1999, just over 15 years ago. We have clung onto these old games because they’re fun, and entertaining; but there is absolutely no draw for newer gamers to even consider the RS. Other more recent games have gone unsupported, or interest has died out (EAW, BF II, etc.). All in all, this has fostered a sense of growing disinterest in the RS, which has slowly shed members over the past few years.
To solve this continual problem, and get over our handicap, we are completely shifting the RS’ focus. What was once a ‘Star Wars’ club will be made into a ‘Gaming club’, with a fun Star Wars theme, and game support. We are beginning to support new games, and inviting new people to join the RS for the experience, and to have a place to meet other gamers, as opposed to simply another ‘Star Wars’ club that has little behind it. We’re not throwing away Star Wars, nor are we turning our back on it. We intend to continue to support these legacy platforms, continue with the RS storyline, and continue to generate content in the universe that brought us all together. However, we will no longer be ignoring games outside the Star Wars continuity, and will be using these platforms to generate interest in the RS.
We see the RS as a community of gamers, who happen to like Star Wars, coming together to have fun. The RS will be able to support any game that our members have interest in, and will have official sanctioned clans, events, and awards for people who are a part of our club. All the while, we will still have our rich backstory, an organized storyline, and will continue to support and highlight new Star Wars games, movies, shows, etc. as they come out. We hope to attract members in individual games, and then keep them interested with something that the rest of the Internet, and other Star Wars clubs, simply don’t have: A massive, realistic storyline set in the Star Wars universe that individual members can contribute to and change at the whim of their character.
How do we plan on doing this? Simply, we are undertaking complete rebuild and reimaging of the RS from the ground up.
III. Current Initiatives
To achieve the goals laid out above, we are undertaking a massive rebuild process that includes the following:
RS Bylaw Rewrite – We are currently rewriting all of the RS bylaws. You can expect these to be posted all at once, and a detailed E-mail laying out the changes will be sent at that time. The general idea is to remove what has been colloquially called ‘Space Lawyering’. We are a club, not the government. We don’t need to have eighty thousand rules when, really, all we’re here to do is Play Games and Have Fun. Obviously we still need to have a structure, but the current bylaws are bloated and unfitting for what the RS needs to be right now.
Site Redesign – Our IO is currently hard at work completely revamping our site to give us a new look, update us to modern coding standards, and make the RS site easier to navigate and understand. This will likely occur in phases, with the forum updates that Admiral Hawkins (Josh) has undertaken being the first step down a long road. As we get more updates, we’ll be sure to keep the club informed.
Playing Games – This is the most fun of the current initiatives. We’ve already begun supporting new games!
Star Citizen – While this is still in its beta stage, we’ve already got an RS presence here, and are working on how we intend to support the game once it is fully released. This effort is currently being spearheaded by Commodore Kirghy Lommax. Personally, I haven’t been exposed to much of this, as I have been neck deep in another of our new initiatives, but if you are interested in Star Citizen I recommend checking out their website at https://robertsspaceindustries.com/ and contacting Kirghy if you’d like to join the RS Corporation!
Warframe – Also in its beta stages, Warframe can best be summed up in two words: Space Ninjas. Now that everyone is suddenly interested, I’m glad to say that the RS has a growing presence in this game as well. We have an expanding clan, many of us tend to form groups to tackle harder content and we are working to complete unique research for those who are in the clan. This clan is currently being run by Fleet Admiral Kaz Falcion (KFalcion in game), so please contact him in game if you’re interested. You can also contact myself or Markus (RS_Raven and RS_Markus in game) if you’d like an invitation. Warframe is currently a free game in open beta, and is supported by ‘Platinum’ purchases, but these are NOT necessary to play the game. The RS is working on supporting Warframe by opening a new Forum for members to talk about the game, and will be expanding into organized clan events and RS awards for players in the near future.
X-wing Miniatures – We are currently working on ways to support the new X-wing miniatures game, which seems to be a lot like popular tabletop games such as WH40k, etc. More information will be brought forth on this soon, but I wanted to give it an honorable mention as it is something we are actively working on.
Star Wars Attack Squadrons – While this has received mixed reviews (trending negative), we still plan on at least having some support for Disney’s first foray into the Star Wars universe. If anyone is particularly interested in this game, please contact either myself or Heavy, as we are looking for people to help figure out exactly how to integrate this with the RS as a whole.
Star Wars Stuff – As I stated earlier, we are NOT abandoning Star Wars. In fact, we plan on making the environment rich to create our own path in the SW universe. We are currently working on an acceleration of the RS storyline to about 15 ABY, in an era where our section of the galaxy is fairly quiet. We’re doing this primarily so that we can do what we want – the area of space we’re in is completely quiet during this time period, and allows us to add to established canon without violating it. More details will be brought forth in the coming days, but I can say confidently that it will be quite a titanic campaign. ;)
Minecraft – The RS has a minecraft server! We currently run a custom mudpack, the details of which can be found here:
http://wiki.rebelsquadrons.org/index.php/Installing_the_RS_Mod_Pack
We are currently expanding our primary base, and individuals are starting to branch out to create their own homes/mining areas. Eventually, it is planned to create a massive Imperial base, to use as a minecraft ITOD with traps/enemies/etc. As this is completed, pictures and other fun stuff will be posted! This effort is led by Admiral Joshua Hawkins as the Mod Master, and Commodore Lamin Zykara , so if you’re interested in being whitelisted on the Server, please contact one of them.
IV. New Executive Offices + Openings
The old executive offices have been completely shut down. As part of the rebuild, we have changed the executive layout to be more efficient and remove some of the extraneous offices that have cropped up over the years. Each one of these offices currently has openings, so if you see something you’re interested in, contact the Executive Leader in question, myself or Heavy to apply!
Social/Outreach – Led by Admiral Danny “David Lee Japan” Qatar, this executive office is in charge of the RS Social Media presence on the internet, including Twitter, Youtube, etc. This office is the mastermind behind the RS public presence and outreach to the internet as a whole. If you are personable, and think you can come up with fun RS content for Youtube or another platform, please contact Cody! He’s currently looking for a few individuals to support his efforts.
Internet – The real power behind the RS, the Internet office controls all aspects of the RS’ site, online support, and expansion. Currently consisting of Admiral Licah Fox, Admiral Joshua Hawkins, and Vice Admiral Patrick Blastfire, the Internet Office is the frame with which our gaming engine will sit. They are all awesome people, and we would not be here without them. They also control the site. Be nice to them. They are awesome. We are not worthy.
-=Bows in supplication=-
All Hail the IO.
In all seriousness, I’d like to take a quick minute to thank the three of them. Due to the financial, server space, and coding support that these three contribute to the RS we are still here and are able to have the opportunity to grow again. Thank you all for your continued support.
Operations – Led by Jedi Master and Admiral Sienn “The Rot” Sconn, Esquire, Deputy Headmaster of the Great Temple of Adhe Zion (And you thought the rest of the titles were long…), the Operations Office has taken on the roles of many of the old Executives. This office is now responsible for actually creating ITOD missions, dealing with our massive medals database, giving out promotions/awards, organizing competitions (when we recover a bit) and generally DOING the things that need to be done to keep the RS going. This office needs help! While Sconn is, per his title, awesome, he can’t do all of this on his own, and is looking for a few dedicated individuals who want to rip apart a whole bunch of old systems and traditions and replace them with something new and fun!
Storyline – This office, led by Fleet Admiral Michael Raven (hey that’s me), is responsible for all of the ‘IC’ stuff that happens within the RS. Currently, I am working on updating our entire planetary DB, OOB, and writing the framework for the new RS storyline so that we can begin moving forward fictionally. This office is currently looking for someone with some photoshop skills who can modify a few Star Wars Maps to add what we’ve created so far, and is also looking for a few individuals with Wiki skills and some time on their hands to begin updating the massively out-of-date RS wiki. If you’re interested, drop me a line! The Operations and Storyline offices will be working closely together in the near future to develop activities involving the new storyline.
V. Closing
None of us wants to see the RS die. As you can see, we are aggressively moving forward to remake the RS, and turn it into something that can sustain itself in our constantly evolving gaming environment. I’d like to thank all of you who took the time to read this, and thank you for your continuing support of the RS. We’re all looking forward to moving past this rut, and getting to a point where the RS can be a thriving community again.
Well, enough of that.
GO PLAY SOME GAMES!
-Fleet Admiral Michael Raven
-Rebel Squadrons Executive Officer