FleetCom Update
Happy 2022! It has been a wild couple of years, but one thing is certain, VVarMachine is still here and kicking ass! So welcome to 2022! 2022 is also VVarMachine’s 9th anniversary. And we are planning on sticking around for a bit. Here to another year! ?
On a less exciting note, for now, the membership features on VVarMachine.com have been disabled and deleted. All personal information we had (email address, usernames, passwords) has been deleted. This area of the website just wasn’t being used and it didn’t make sense to keep it going. Not to mention that area had become buggy and was just slowing the site down. We still have long-term plans to integrate the security features of this site with SCNet, but that is further down the line still.
We would like to thank all those that continue to donate through Patreon or Discord Server Boosting. Our Patreon supporters: Aarius, Bushman, FallenHylian, Fracs, greg_nog, Hubok, Johnrexet, Karrth, Neb, Oni, RabbiMaxx, Razzun, ReapsD, Sivien21, Straker, TwoGreen, and Zahraphim. Your continued support is greatly appreciated and is solely used to offset the costs of the Microsoft Azure servers that host all our communication tools and SCNet website.
Discord Server Boosting gives our Discord server a little extra flair from server banners to a custom join link. Discord has recently changed the number you need to reach the different tiers and we have double what we need. If you are looking at canceling or moving one of your boosts, please post it in the #supporters text channel so that we make sure to stay at tier 3. Our Discord Server Boosters: aramova, CaptainWicky, Ech0Whiskey, FallenHylian, Farquharson, Jeffon, Lee Adama, NavyRigger, nomad_thehunter, Oni, Razzun, Yuki, and Zahraphim. Sorry, we do not have the ability to determine the number of times each person boosts, but we greatly appreciate all of your support!
Division Updates
ARMA
Human Resources Department
Oh boy, what a year 2021 has been. At the beginning of the year, we saw a significant drop in numbers and attendance. At one point, we were conducting operations with as few as 10 people. However, since then the Arma Division has shown remarkable growth, and we are seeing on average between 18 and 20 players attending operations. I would like to welcome each and every one of the new members that joined us in 2021, and I truly appreciate all of the hard work you put in to make the unit what it is today.
On the recruiting side of things, there hasn’t been a whole lot of action in the last quarter of 2021. We did have one new member join us from the Star Citizen Division, Schroder. Welcome to the shit show, sir. That said, thanks to contributions from OS1 Dotson, OP Rios, OP Walrus, and our good friend Ampers from TFT8, we now have an Arma Division recruitment video. It is CSTAFF’s hope that this will prove to be a useful tool for drawing in potential new members and helping our dysfunctional family grow even more.
ONTO PROMOTIONS! Oh, geez; Where to begin? Starting from the top, Varian has been promoted to DO (O-3). Hubok moved up to OL1 (E-9), and Curtis move up to OL2 (E-8). Khan has been promoted to OS1 (E-6). Sam and Duckett have both been promoted to OP (E-3). Lastly, we have Schroder moving up to OA (E-2).
In addition to promotions, there have been a handful of reassignments within our division within the 4th quarter. Most notably, OS1 Khan has put in a lot of work and has since been anointed as the Senior Enlisted Advisor by the CSTAFF Gods, as well as moved to the Battalion HQ as a specialist. OL2 Curtis stepped down as the MAC NCO and assumed the position of Platoon Sergeant. OS2 Lovelace assumed the position of MAC NCO. OS3 Carl has stepped up to the challenge of leadership and been anointed as VG2’s new ATL. OS1 Khan previously held the position of VG1’s ATL, but OP Donahue has since stepped up to the plate. The unit appreciates those that have volunteered their time, and sanity, to keep things running smoothly during operations. You, individuals, are greatly appreciated.
Research and Development Department
The VVarMachine R&D Division has been hard at work for the last quarter, adding and removing new mods. Some of these have been quality of life mods, some have been new maps, and some have been new additions to the mod pack. There are too many to list over the course of the past couple of months, but I will mention the most notable ones.
On the mission-making front, there have been several additions to enhance the performance and quality of life of our mission makers. Some of these mods include Advanced Development Tools, and Fire Support Plus. Another mission-making addition to the mod pack comes in the form of SCP Objects. This mod, originally added for our annual Spoopy-Op, turned out to be such an overwhelming success that we decided to keep it, and there are plans in the future to conduct a whole slew of SCP-related operations.
MAC assets got a large overhaul in the form of new weapon systems and platforms. Ferris worked long and hard on an in-house mod called VVarMachine Air Weapons, which allows multiple platforms to equip a set of mod-agnostic weapons designed to fill critical mission requirements for MAC platforms; even if the platform is not of NATO orientation. This brings us to our two newest air assets, the Mi-35 Super Hind, and the Mi-17 Hipp. Both of these aircraft received custom weapon suits, as well as a fancy new paint job, and have become staple assets of MAC. Air side also has access to a fully upgraded and fleshed out F-4 Phantom II, complete with a modern weapons suite in addition to its Vietnam-era loadout that came with the SOG DLC. There have been a bucket-load of equipment additions, including the NiArms Fish Gun mod, various OCP uniforms, and we can’t forget the addition and modification of the highly effective Ronin helms that have been added to the modpack. Last but not least, based off of a recent poll in the workspace discord, R&D is deciding to move forward with making the Western Sahara DLC a requirement for the server. There are just too many new goodies in the DLC to pass up, including an ATGM and mortar variant of our Badger. The DLC also adds new and interesting targets for us to shoot at toys for the enemy to play with.
Marketing Department
With the increase of members streaming Friday night operations, the Marketing Division has had more content than ever before to work with. Curtis, Dotson, Duckett, Rios, and Walrus have all been significant contributors towards capturing footage of our operations to be cut and clipped for submission to social media. Thank you, gentlemen, your commitment is greatly appreciated. It is due in large part to you that we now have a recruiting video for the division.
There has been a steady creation of different bits and clips of Twitch footage that is being compiled for Douglas to start up our new unit TikTok account. The aim of these videos is not just to catch people’s attention, but to demonstrate how we, as VVSS, perform and operate during operations. Now granted, VVSS isn’t for everyone, and not everyone is for VVSS, but the hopes of these videos will be that people will see the videos and be entertained by them enough to be interested in checking out the unit.
In addition to the new footage, we still have Bis and Walrus pumping out top-notch screenshots from our operations that are making their way to our different social media outlets. Keep it up fellas, you are doing the Emperor’s work.
Training Department
The 3rd Quarter of 2021 and an influx of new members revealed a gap in our training program. There was a point where we had new members joining us that were eager to learn and do more within the unit. The problem was when we lost personnel at the beginning of the year, we also lost a handful of the instructors that ran our training program. CSTAFF and several individuals worked hard to fix this issue in the 4th Quarter.
Since the 3rd Quarter, we have seen a number of individuals volunteering for instructor duty to fill the training gaps we had. Ferris and Bian have become Autorifle instructor-qualified. Dotson, Carl, and Khan have become Basic Rifleman Course instructor-qualified. Curtis and Carl have assumed the role of AT instructors.
A special shoutout goes to Bian for the work he has been putting in behind the scenes for the Training Department. Quietly and diligently he has made it his mission to go back and rewrite most of our PQS training documents, bringing them up to speed to meet more modern operational requirements. In addition to the rewrites, he has been editing and developing old and new SOP’s for the unit including, but not limited to, Convoy operations and Armored Column operations. Further on down the line, he will be developing the Pathfinder and Heavy Weapons specialist PQS’s. I know we don’t say it enough, Bian, but we appreciate all the hard work you are putting into everything.
With a new arsenal of instructors at the beginning of the 4th quarter, we also saw an increase in the amount of training that took place within the unit. There are too many to list by personnel, so instead, I will list by PQS. Since the beginning of the 4th Quarter, we have had 4 guests and/or new members complete basic rifleman training. 6 personnel completed the Auto Rifle PQS course. 2 personnel have completed the Marksman PQS course. Combat Life Saver, Anti-Tank, and Mission-Maker PQS courses also qualified one personnel each.
As our unit continues to grow and evolve, so too will the demand for training. At its core, the Training Department might not be the busiest, but it is certainly one of the most essential and lays the groundwork for the future success of our players and for our unit.
Production Department
Spooky Yuki’s, Mutiny, and Taliban 2021, oh my! In the 4th Quarter, we saw the Production Department step out of their comfort zone. Yuki made one hell of a Spoopy Op for our enjoyment on Halloween. I am sure I am not the only one who still wakes up in the middle of the night sweating profusely and hearing that creepy voice saying “Come play with me,”… right?… Guys? Ahem, right, moving on then. The end of the Spoopy Op marked the beginning of a well-earned and much-needed break for our benevolent chairman, Ferris. As such, our CSTAFF opted to do what any self-respecting PMC group would do when left unsupervised…
… We started a mutiny of the company. For the course of 3 weeks, VVarMachine Security Services became known as VarianDouggie Security Services. It was pitched as DouggieVarian Security Services, but to quote Douggie himself, “The initials spelled out VD, and that made me giggle.” Over the course of those three weeks, we captured the Pegasus from Bravo Company, raided and captured our own distillery, and even did a mass asset capture for a wealthy weapons collector looking to add some Soviet-era toys to his collection. All of which turned out to be a fevered dream that the Spoopy Op SCP had put us under. We awoke to find Ferris alive and well standing over us, basically accusing us of being a bunch of tree-hugging mushroom munchers.
After our fevered dream, Khan took up the mantle of mission maker for his PQS, and took us on a wonderfully crafted and planned mechanized adventure around the island of Malden, dealing with a rogue militant and his cronies. The use of the Weasels for this series of operations certainly added a whole new layer of tactical flexibility in terms of firepower and scouting potential. The Weasels proved to be somewhat lacking at first, but thanks to our R&D department, we got them upgraded and they are now a force to be reckoned with. Utilizing a mixed mechanized force, including MBT’s, IFV’s and Weasels, we were successfully able to deal with the rogue militant leader, and break most of his toys in the process.
Now Carl has assumed the mantle of mission maker, and with Khan’s help, has recently been putting us through a series of operations against the Taliban 2021 forces. This, on top of the operation that Ferris did for the benefit of our veterans and active-duty members, has been quite therapeutic. I might just be speaking for myself, but being able to go back into the desert and give the Taliban the ass-kicking they deserved leaves the real-life event leaving not such a bad taste in my mouth. Thus far Carl and Khan’s operations have not only been fun and challenging but very well put together and executed on the mission maker’s side of the coin. I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that we are looking forward to seeing more from Carl with his formal PQS course in the coming weeks.
To see this in document form, please follow this link.
Written by: OL2 ‘Canvas’ Curtis
Approved for release by: CN ‘Fix-it’ Ferris
PlanetSide 2
2021 ended strong for us with December Operations being a good time all around. Our scaled-back Ops schedule has continued throughout January on account of division leadership being very busy. Due to the vast improvement our squad has shown over the last year and our training becoming more robust and well-rounded (further improvements are upcoming of course), we intend to shift our priorities towards recruitment efforts and an expansion to leadership this year, starting in late February. We are also currently running our Biannual Feedback Survey, which will start impacting the division and our process in late February as well. Here’s to 2022 being just as great as 2021 was for the Division, if not better.
Star Citizen
It’s been a busy summer for our StarCitizen division. Since the last update, we’ve engaged in 4 Joint Operations with our allies in UEEPF and EE, and we’ve maintained a packed schedule of 3 Happy new years everyone! We hope you all had a great holiday season. 2022 marks the 8th anniversary of our organization in Star Citizen, and the 9th Anniversary for the VVarMachine Gaming Community!
2021 Holiday Break
Looking forward, version Alpha 3.15 has been released to Evocati as of 9/24. This patch will bring some major additions and changes to the game, most notably the introduction of the first Throughout the month of December and into early January, the SC Public Universe was busy with many instances of dynamic events including the Ninetails Lockdown, and Jumptown (drug lab) events. Our fleet was highly active and participated in these events on a daily basis, successfully utilizing them as a means to hone our skills as individuals, and as a collective group of units. These events also provided a great opportunity for our fleet to attract new players, of which we took full advantage – recruiting nearly 20 new members into our ranks. For you new folks, it’s been a pleasure having you aboard!
Additionally, our Officer Corps was working overtime behind the scenes during the holiday break to refine our standards and practices for ongoing training development into the new year. Across the Fleet, unit commanders have established a detailed list of Mission Essential Tasks (METs) for each of their units, to be trained on going forward in a standardized way. This system will provide a guiding foundation to allow for regular weekly training of units and their personnel beyond what we already have in our certifications system.
2952 Daymar Rally
VVarMachine was contracted to provide security for one of the 13 servers hosting the annual Daymar Rally this year. 10 of our players were sortied for a grueling 7-hour session in which we established and maintained an aerial security cordon for the racers in the buggy division. Fortunately, our server met no resistance from pirates and griefers, and we came out of this event with no casualties. Griefing issues did impact the racing on a couple of other servers, where other organizations were tasked with security.
This event was a huge success for our organization on many fronts. It required a high degree of planning and coordination in the weeks leading up to the event, and our officers gained some great experience in this regard. Along with the other security orgs, VVarMachine was showcased in front of thousands of viewers on Twitch, and earned a spot in the official lore of Star Citizen for our services rendered. We have been invited back for next year, and we’re looking forward to participating there again!
Heading into 2022
With lots of new faces around here, many important upcoming features being added to the game, and a renewed sense of focus from our leadership, I’m excited about what this new year will bring for our Star Citizen division. Keep your eye on the #sc-transmissions and #sc-operations channels in Discord to stay up to date on our complex events schedule, and important announcements about our Fleet. Thank you all for your continued efforts to grow and develop this division, and we’ll see you in the ‘verse!
Final Thoughts
It has been a great start to the year so far. VVarMachine is doing amazing!
See you online and see you around!
