Our newest sim, the USS Albion launched earlier this week on February 16th. If that date looks familiar, you have a good eye! The original USS Sunfire opened in Utopia Fleet on that date all the way back in the year 2000. The rest, as they say, is history! Speaking of history, this is Captain Dick Sprague’s 10th command in Independence Fleet, by far the most all-time.
While continuing the tradition and legacy of IDF’s USS Avalon series of sims, the Albion seeks to capture the original theme and feel of that original USS Sunfire. As such, this is an open role playing game that uses script format. All potential players are highly encouraged to read the Albion’s Sim page before joining to ensure they know exactly what they’re getting into. It may be different, but it’s a lot of fun.
I hope your new year is off to a good start! And if it’s not, I trust simming with us here in IDF is giving you a good creative outlet.
If you remember from last month’s announcement, we are now presenting two Best Post awards, one for a single author post and one for a joint author post.
Without further ado, here are your January award winners:
Best Post (Single Author)
Chief Petty Officer Remal Kajun Counselor USS Liberty
Fine piece of writing here! Quiet and introspective, a solid juxtaposition to the excitement of life aboard a starship.
Best Post (Joint Post)
Capt. Rhenora Kaylen & Crewman Ronson Mitchell & Cmdr. Savar cha’Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Lt. Dean House & Lt. Aurora Vali CO / Yeoman / XO / ASTO / CC USS Liberty
Great opening with a cliffhanger of an ending. Well done!
MVP
Cmdr. Savar cha’Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen Executive Officer USS Liberty
What an exceptional month of role playing! He not only led the fleet in posting, but also crafted a fabulous idea for the Liberty’s new mission and encouraged some new players as they got their footing.
Most Posts
Cmdr. Savar cha’Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen Executive Officer USS Liberty
For writing 30 posts.
Most Improved
Lt. Michael Stonebridge Chief Intelligence Officer USS Washington
His posting consistently pulled the crew in and kept the story moving and fresh. He also worked behind the scenes on several collaborations.
Rookie of the Month
Lt. Dean House Assistant Security/Tactical Officer USS Liberty
Lt. House jumped into the Liberty’s plot with gusto, with an impressive 12 posts in only two weeks. He also helped organize the Liberty’s discord and became a main character in the current series of posts.
Recruitment
Lt. Cmdr. Emmalyn Marcus Executive Officer USS Montana
The XO recruited one new player and continues to give the Montana a good presence elsewhere on the web.
Congratulations to all of our winners! Congratulations is also due to our very own Charles Star and former Director of Art Sadie Stanton as they won the prestigious Simming Prize due to their work producing The Simming Endeavor game show back on 2019. Well done to all!
What a great way to close out a dreadful year: with monthly awards! Before we reveal the winners, I want to announce a change for next month’s awards:
Starting in January, we will be awarding two Best Posts each month: One for a single author post and one for a joint post. Sim Commanding Officers will be eligible for the joint post version. This is a result of your feedback and several discussions over the last few months. We heard you!
Now, on to the the December winners:
Best Post
Lt. Cmdr. Tyroh Vantic Chief Security/Tactical Officer USS Liberty
While there were multiple excellent submissions for Best Post this month, it’s clear that this writer is very familiar with the post’s subject matter: martial arts. It’s one of those rare posts that truly develops a character, providing a great baseline to be used in future missions.
Funniest Post
Lt. Anna Thesia & Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell Chief Medical Officer / Computer Systems Specialist USS Liberty
The Liberty’s intrepid Doctor built upon her Rookie award last month and has engaged every player onboard for a joint post, drawing the already tight crew even closer together. She is motivating, engaging, and a lovely person to write with.
Lt. Cmdr. Tyroh Vantic Chief Security/Tactical Officer USS Liberty
Vantic returned from a leave of absence with a delightful 4 posts, jumping straight into the organic and detailed storyline without hesitation. A seasoned player from the old days of IDF, it is an honor to have him back onboard.
Rookie of the Month
Lieutenant JG Steven Wright Encryption Specialist USS Chuck Norris
Joining at the beginning of December, Wright made a great impression with both Captain and crew through his posts and shows great promise for future growth.
Recruitment
None this month!
Thanks again for another great month, and don’t forget about the change with Best Post for January. You can read more about all of the awards here.
Let’s give a warm welcome to Captain RS Harrison and our newest game, the USS Montana, which launched yesterday on January 8, 2021. The Montana is our only sim set in the TOS movie era, something that many of our players have been asking for for quite some time. Well, here it is, folk. Enjoy!
Although brand new to the Liberty, Dr. Thesia threw herself into the current mission and established a fantastic report with the crew. She has posted both solo and joint posts and is very active on Discord.
Most Posts
Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell Computer Systems Specialist USS Liberty
For writing 18 posts.
Most Improved
Lt. Cmdr. Balen Pibb Chief Security/Tactical Officer USS Chuck Norris
After having communication issues with others, Pibb came back into the fray with increasing post quantity and quality.
Dr. Thesia came onboard the Liberty with a bang, throwing herself into the mix with an amazing 8 posts within her first 10 days. She is an amazingly talented writer who motivates and encourages others to participate.
Recruitment
Lt. J’goss Yass G’odoss Chief Flight Control Officer USS Chuck Norris
He recruited two new crewmembers to the ship in November, and continues to put the good name of the Chuck Norris out there on the Interwebs.
Congratulations to everyone again and have a great holiday season.
It’s awards time again! Congratulations to all of our October winners below:
Best Post
Lt. Cmdr. Shylow Vitari Chief Intelligence Officer USS Liberty
For “Like a Glove” With strangely compelling imagery, this is a nicely written post describing things and spaces on a starship I’ve never seen before. Well done!
Funniest Post
Cmdr. Samantha Howard Chief Medical Officer USS Washington
For “The War” A blood curdling scream and an undignified string of something. This one has funny written all over it.
Lt. Cmdr. Ech’am G’ginloss Chief Engineering Officer USS Chuck Norris
Leading his ship in total posts, G’ginloss continued to keep things interesting with some excellent ones about trying to keep the USS Chuck Norris together while in the heat of battle. Great writing, a nice amount of joint posts, and star for the crew.
Most Posts
Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell Computer Systems Specialist USS Liberty
For writing 13 posts.
Most Improved
Lt. T’Strella Drake Chief Diplomatic Officer USS Liberty
T’Strella increased her post count from 3 to 8, played a major role in the current storyline, and threw an interesting curve ball to boot. All in all, a massive leap in overall participation.
Rookie of the Month
Lt. J’goss Yass G’odoss Chief Flight Control Officer USS Chuck Norris
G’odoss took the initiative to create new plot lines, joint posts, and multiple interesting takes in addition to tying for the sim lead in totals posts. His performance continues to increase.
Recruitment
Savar cha’Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen Executive Officer USS Liberty
The Commander recruited to the sim one new player, who has already begun making solid contributions to the game.
In other news, our fleet XO Admiral Ken Gillis was awarded the Ongoing Worlds Community Honor for his efforts with FallFest. Congratulations, Admiral, and thank you to everyone who had a role in putting on an outstanding FallFest.
That’s right–join us tomorrow at 11:00 am Eastern for the FallFest X opening ceremonies. Our fleet XO Ken Gillis and friends AlexM & Amethyst from Pegasus Fleet have put together an absolutely fantastic schedule of events with an outstanding panel of hosts. It’ll be 8+ hours of simming and role playing fun!
Everything will happen in chat rooms in theFallFest Discord Server–be sure to sign up early so you don’t miss anything. And, of course, don’t forget about my Star Trek Trivia and Star Trek/Role Playing Family Feud games. These are must attends!
FallFest is a unique event, open to all simmers and online role players, regardless of rank or club affiliation. It’s where we all come together as a community to share ideas, energy, and fun! Independence Fleet and the Simming League held the first FallFest back in 2011. Originally intended to be a mini-SciWorld more friendly to European time zones, it has since grown into much, much more. OngoingWorlds has been the caretaker since 2012, although TNU Project will be taking the lead for organizing in 2021 and beyond.
If you haven’t already heard, we will be hosting FallFest this year with our friends from over at Pegasus Fleet. Please join us in three weeks on November 14th in this discord server for a full day of engaging discussions, interactive trivia games, and live chat role plays. All simmers and online role players are welcome regardless of rank or club affiliation.
AlexM of Pegasus Fleet and our very own Ken Gillis are serving as the co-chairs to put on the event. Here’s where to go:
So first, we hope to see you there. Second, invite all your friends to attend too. And third, email me at star [dot] idf [at] gmail [dot] com if you would like to host a one-hour event during the festival.
The first FallFest was held back in 2011, and Independence Fleet was the original host. Let’s help keep the tradition going with all of our partners in the greater role playing community!
What a month September was with so many great posts and performances throughout the fleet. Unfortunately, we simply aren’t able to recognize them all. Without any further ado, here are your September award winners:
Captain Rhenora Kaylen Commanding Officer USS Liberty
For “Diplomatic Masquerade“ Interesting Genesis post told from the other side. Well done!
MVP
Cmdr. Savar cha’Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen Executive Officer USS Liberty
Savar stepped up from 2O to XO, moved the storyline forward significantly, and wrote some amazing character posts. He has been invaluable in the day-to-day running of the game.
Most Posts
Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell Computer Systems Specialist USS Liberty
For writing 23 posts.
Most Improved
Lt. Bonnie “Bon-Bon” Durnell Computer Systems Specialist USS Liberty
Durnell did an exceptional job bringing an old returning character onboard while still keeping in play a wonderful subplot with many humorous twists. An outstanding player!
Brand new to simming, Lee jumped right into it with two joint post posts and immediately got the hang of what we’re doing; a great addition to the crew!
Recruitment
No one again this month! Where’s the recruiting?
Keep writing and keep the great posts coming… And somebody seriously win the Recruitment award for October!
Over the last month, we’ve received quite a few inquiries about being a sim Commanding Officer (CO) in Independence Fleet. So, what are we looking for in sim COs? Before I answer, I’d like to tell the story of two:
Jimmy Rogers
Hall of Famer Jimmy Rogers joined his first sim in December 2010: the USS Liberty, which we were just relaunching. It all clicked. He ran away with the MVP award that month, and became CO of the Liberty on January 1, 2011 after only a single month of simming. Yes, you read that right: one month of simming.
The rest, as they say, is history! Rogers commanded the Liberty for 19 months, winning 2.33 Genesis awards, capturing 3 posting titles, and leading the ship to an incredible 315-post month in September 2011, which is still tied for 9th all-time. Beyond the numbers, he led amazing stories and mentored dozens of role players.
Aurther Winters
Aurther Winters began simming in 2003 after seeing an ad on a college message board. As James Sullivan, he slowly rose from Ensign to Commander on the USS Dragon in a Hall of Fame career that ended with seven monthly awards, still good for a tie at 11th place all-time. Then life happened and he drifted away from simming.
He returned to role playing on the USS Chuck Norris in 2012 as Aurther Winters. Winters picked up his 10th monthly award in August–one of only four people in IDF history to hit double digits. As with Sullivan before, Winter rose through the engineering ranks to eventually become XO of the Chuck Norris under two different Captains. He was the type of XO who just made the Captain’s job easy. Winters became CO of the Chuck Norris this month.
That’s right–James Sullivan/Aurther Winter simmed for the first time about 17 years before he became a CO, while Jimmy Rogers simmed for one month before becoming a CO. Both are in the Hall of Fame, and both are incredible Captains. Every career is different, and every route to CO is different.
Show Me the Money!
One of the most basic principles of good wring is show, don’t tell. Let the reader experience the story through thoughts, actions, feelings, dialog, etc. instead of saying what happened. The same with being a sim CO: Telling us you want to be a CO is great, but you know what’s even better? Showing us you want to be a CO! How do you do that? Like this:
Do you have what it takes to be a sim CO in IDF? Show us! Make the ship you’re already on great. Make your crew great. Make your Captain look great! It’s not necessarily easy, but then again command isn’t for everyone.
