With yet another July, it is again my great privilege to formally announce the newest members of the Independence Fleet Hall of Fame. Induction is the highest honor this club offers–reserved for those with exemplary service or extraordinary contributions to the fleet, according to the Hall of Fame Charter (pdf). Without further ado, your Hall of Fame Class of 2023 is as follows:
Inducted by Election:
Colonel Steven MayTa Death
of the USS Sanctuary
The longtime Commanding Officer of the Sanctuary, Steven MayTa Death was the fleet’s all-time leader in command months with 89 when he and his sim transferred to sister club UCIP in 2020. He also managed 17 posting titles during his IDF career. Finding his niche by leading offbeat missions, his crew enjoyed their Marine-centric and action-packed storylines. There will never be another MayTa!
Lt. Cmdr. Maryam Syed
of the USS Sunfire
A mainstay of the renaissance era Sunfire, Maryam Syed was an integral part of helping lead the fleet back to its earlier glory days. Her outstanding contributions in-story, affable nature, and excellent recruiting also ensured the Sunfire remained great for many years. Showing superb breadth, she won six total awards, including Rookie of the Month, Best Post, MVP, and the Recruitment award.
Lieutenant Spaardra Tamis
of the USS Sunfire
A first-rate team player, Spaardra Tamis was an indispensable member of both the Sunfire and the fleet. As IDF was reestablishing itself during the renaissance era, her superior posting quantity and wide recruiting efforts were exactly what was needed at the time to jumpstart operations. Of her five total awards, two were for Recruitment and three were for Most Posts.
Inducted by the Veterans Committee:
None this year.
Congratulations to our three 2023 inductees! Thank you for providing a timeless example for us still role playing today to emulate. You will hereby forever be remembered for your extraordinary service to Independence Fleet. Well done! There are now 41 total members of this most exclusive club.
That’s two more inductees from the Sunfire, and our first from the Sanctuary.
It’s been more than a year since the last major awards were presented. Here is our fourth Special Commendation Medal, which is awarded for achievement above and beyond the call of duty at the crewmember level.
Special Commendation Medal
Awarded to Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T’ghann-Travis (previously known as Shoniara T’ghann Dex before her marriage in-story) of the USS Washington for sustained superior role playing. Using her encyclopedic knowledge of Trek, she effortlessly writes detailed posts and collaborates with others to tell truly immersive stories within the canon. In the nearly two years since her first post on August 19, 2021, she has tallied 9.33 total awards, good for 13th place all-time, which includes one MVP and five Most Posts.
As many of you already know, the 30th anniversary of the premiere episode of Star Trek: Deep Space happened earlier this year. “Emissary” introduced us all to an entire new style and world of Trek. However, today is also a fairly important day in the history of DS9, and we have a special guest to fill you in:
If you visited our website yesterday, you probably noticed that it looked like it was straight out of 2002 (or 2001?). And you would be right! Using records from the Internet Archive, we reconstructed our Angelfire site from the days of yore using the current fleet line up, creating a mash up of then and now. The simming world was quite different back then–and so were our web development capabilities! In case you missed it, we’ve archived the 2023 retro site here.
But why now? Fast forward to April 14-16, 2011–it was exactly 12 years ago that IDF hosted the first modern SciWorld Online Convention, which incidentally was 12 years after the original SciWorld in 1999. In early 2011, the Simming League was largely dead and the community had drifted apart over the previous few years: Clubs rarely interacted with each other anymore. SciWorld 2011 changed all of that by serving as the genesis for a new era of cooperation and celebration. In addition to SciWorld, we also now also have FallFest, Khitomer, and Babel. SciWorld renewed interest in the Tournament of Simulations and the Simming Prize as well.
On a related note, a few of you have pointed out that we missed our typical April Fools’ Day joke this year. While we can’t go back in time to fix that, we hope this blast from our past was still fun nonetheless. Until next year…
Less than a month later and we already have another new sim joining us: the USS Eclipse officially launched on January 16, 2023. This is a brand new sim focusing on science and exploration that takes place in a post-Nemesis timeline. Take a look and consider joining today!
With 2022 in the books, it’s high time we checked in with the latest version of the IDF Record Book over on our About page. As it turns out, we have a new all-time leader in monthly awards. Lieutenant Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell of the USS Sunfire now has a grand total of 29.83 awards, passing the previous leader, Jenna Ramthorne (of a prior version of the Sunfire), who has 24.83. What’s even more incredible, is that both characters are played by the same person!
Best Post
Funniest Post
Genesis
MVP
Most Posts
Most Improved
Recruitment
Total
Durnell
5.05
5.78
4
14
1
29.83
Ramthorne
4
.83
4
15
1
24.83
Prolific across multiple award categories, the two stat lines seem to mirror each other. However, the difference is clearly Durnell’s five plus Funniest Post awards to Ramthorne’s zero. See what adding humor to your game can do! Congratulations to Lieutenant Durnell on this incredible accomplishment!
As it turns out, we have quite a few current or recent members who have moved up leader board since we brought the Awards back for March 2020:
Active Member — received an award within the last year or confirmed to currently be on a sim Hall of Famer
All characters with five or more total monthly awards
In addition to all those who’ve won awards, I also want to thank each of our sim Commanding Officers for submitting nominations month-in and month-out and to Rear Admiral James “Rook” Mirtoh for running the program and selecting winners. Without their tireless efforts, the awards simply wouldn’t be possible.
I’ve long been of the opinion that the monthly awards are one of the absolute best features of this fleet, and they’re a key bonus that really distinguishes us from other groups out there. The numbers speak for themselves: Through the end of 2022, we have 969 total documented awards presented to 506 different individuals through 1,226 different award records. Each one is permanently part of our continuing history, starting all the way back with the five original awards presented for our very first month of July 2001 going up through today and beyond.
We don’t often have outside sims join our fleet. However, I am very proud to announce that the USS Churchill joined us last month with their first official post as a member of IDF coming on December 23, 2022. Captain James Stewart is the Commanding Officer.
“For its noteworthy contributions to the greater simming community. Unprecedented for an individual sim, the USS Chuck Norris hosted the 2012 Simulation Cup to keep the recently returned Tournament of Simulation from again becoming a relic of history, and to date it is still the only game to sponsor a tournament. Furthermore, when host club Independence Fleet’s website went offline in 2019, the Chuck Norris crew continued to sim over email until a new fleet website came online in early 2020. Without their action, their mother fleet like so many from the earlier eras would almost certainly belong to the ages today. In addition, they won the Creativity award in the 2014 Tournament of Simulations.“
For those well versed in Independence Fleet history, you might know that January 2nd is an important day for the USS Chuck Norris. For those who don’t, we have a special guest who can fill you in:
The Importance of Fleet Management in Today’s Business World
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Needless to say, I think it missed the mark! It might be due to the bot’s inability to actually visit our website. Next I asked: Can you write a scene for a new Star Trek movie?
Could this be a post? Maybe!
The scene opens on the bridge of the USS Enterprise, as the ship speeds through deep space on a mission to explore a mysterious new planet. Captain Kirk is standing at the helm, gazing out at the stars.
Suddenly, the ship is jolted by a violent explosion. The alarms start blaring and the lights flash red.
“Report!” Kirk shouts, as the crew rushes to their stations.
“We’ve been hit by an energy weapon, Captain,” says Spock, who is working at the science console. “It’s of a type we’ve never seen before.”
“Where did it come from?” Kirk demands.
“I’m not sure, sir,” Spock replies. “It seems to be coming from the planet we’re approaching.”
Kirk takes a deep breath and makes a quick decision. “Helm, take us into orbit. Mr. Sulu, arm the phasers. Mr. Chekov, scan for any other ships or weapons in the area.”
The Enterprise enters orbit around the planet and begins to scan for any signs of danger. As they search, they pick up faint readings of a highly advanced alien civilization.
Kirk looks over at Spock. “What do you make of it, Spock?”
Spock’s eyebrows lift in surprise. “It appears to be a civilization far more technologically advanced than anything we’ve ever encountered. But there are no signs of hostile intent.”
Kirk nods. “We’ll approach with caution. Mr. Sulu, set a course for the nearest city. Let’s see if we can make contact and learn more about these aliens.”
The Enterprise heads towards the city, and as they get closer, they are amazed by the towering spires and gleaming structures that stretch up into the sky. It is clear that this civilization is highly advanced and technologically sophisticated.
As they approach the city, a bright beam of light shoots out from the planet’s surface and envelops the Enterprise. Kirk and the crew brace themselves, but instead of an attack, they find themselves transported to the surface of the planet.
They are greeted by a group of friendly aliens, who introduce themselves as the Q’tahli. The Q’tahli welcome the Enterprise crew and invite them to explore their city and learn about their civilization.
Kirk and the crew are amazed by the Q’tahli’s advanced technology and benevolent nature. They spend several days learning about the Q’tahli and their way of life, and even manage to help resolve a minor crisis that had been plaguing the Q’tahli’s society.
As the Enterprise prepares to leave, Kirk thanks the Q’tahli for their hospitality and friendship. “We’ll be sure to visit again,” he says, as the Enterprise sets course for its next adventure.
While this was a fun little exercise, I think it’s safe to say that ChatGPT has a ways to go before it can start role playing! You can read more about the backstory of ChatGPT here. You can also see a similar article to this one over at Ongoing Worlds.
