Q3 2021 Update

FleetCom Update

So, I have to apologize. I (Razzun) dropped the ball for the Q2 update! But a lot has been going on in VVarMachine, from great turnouts in ARMA and PlanetSide, to some great ops in Star Citizen. As always we thank you all for continuing to make VVarMachine the success it is!

We are also testing out some new functionality on Discord that allows members to create ad-hoc channels that get deleted once everyone leaves them. Feel free to try it out by click on the voice channel ‘Hub – Join to create’ under the Main category in Discord. Let us know what you think of it.

We would like to thank all those that continue to donate through Patreon or Discord Server Boosting. Our Patreon supporters: Aarius, AnJoy, Bushman, Ech0Whiskey, Hubok, Johnrexet, Karrth, Krono, RabbiMaxx, Razzun, Sheamus-V, 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. Our Discord Server Boosters: CaptainWicky, Ech0Whiskey, FallenHylian, Farquharson, Greg_nog, Hubok, JeffonGaming, Lee Adama, NavyRigger, Oni, Razzun, ReapszD, Sheamus-V, Sivien21, 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 Division

Oh boy, it has been a busy three months for the VVarMachine Human Resources division.  OL2 Hubok has been hard at work refining and improving our human resources processes.  Let’s kick things off by announcing our newest members for the second quarter of 2021.

Our newest applicants are AP Rob, AP Carl, AP Proby, and AP Rios.  VVarMachine would also like to welcome back a returning and prior PALCOM member, OP Lovelace.  

In the promotions category, we have several new promotions to announce.  Proby and Carl have been promoted to OA. Walrus, Khan, and Silver have all been promoted to OP.  Hubok has been promoted from OL3 to OL2, and OS1 Curtis has been promoted to OL3.  There have also been promotions and changes in leadership of the unit.  DF Douglas has been promoted to DO.  OL1 Varian received a unanimous vote from the VVarMachine office community and has been promoted to DF and takes over as the VVAR Platoon leader.

Lastly, there has been a joint effort between OL2 Hubok and OL3 Curtis to add some spit and polish to the unit.  As of the middle of June, we have rolled out new, custom rank insignias for everyone in the unit.  These new ranks have been added to permission in our TeamSpeak, as well as added to our discord as emojis.  The current WIP project within the Human Resources department is the design, implementation, and release of a semi-custom awards system for the unit.

Research and Development Division

It has been another busy quarter for the VVAR R&D team.  With the release of the Global Mobilization and SOG Prairie Fire DLC’s from Arma, we have adopted both into our standard mod pack and enjoyed a couple of weeks of some intense Vietnam-era combat.  Aside from the good times the new DLC’s gave us, the content within the DLC’s themselves have some really great content and add some new layers into the game that we weren’t able to experience previously.

There have been several mods added and removed from our mod pack as deemed necessary by the R&D Team, too many to mention in this newsletter.  However, there are some notable changes to be mentioned.  

On the heels of the release of the new rank symbols, CN Ferris has modified berets to include the new rank symbols on them.  These new berets are in-game now and look pretty great.  

MAC says goodbye to the F/A-18 Super Hornet, the AH-64 SimPache, and the clickable H-60’s, but says hello to the new Legacy Hornet’s mod, new helo’s from the

H-60 project mod, the AH-96 Coyote, and the V-22 Osprey by DEGA.  Additionally, Ferris has modified the F-4 Phantom from the SOG DLC for modern operations and is currently in the process of tweaking our current F-16 Viper flight model.  

On the ground side of the unit, our operators can now enjoy new G3 retextures, new babyfaces to choose from, additional shades and even cigars, and a new CRAM Phalanx system.  Our Markman and sniper players are happy to see the addition of new mods that introduce the M110-A1 and L115A3 rifles into our arsenal.  

Thanks to efforts put forth by CN Ferris, with contributions from OL3 Curtis and OS1 Dotson, VVarMachine is enjoying a newly polished and improved Invictus Training Facility, complete with an Officer’s/Enlisted club, and new CQB course, and a new MOUT Course.

Last, but certainly not least, OS1 Aramius made wonderful use of the new Grenades in Tank Hatches mod as he rushed and disabled a T-14 with the help of Vanguard One.  Well done!

Marketing Division

The VVarMachine Security Services goes to great lengths to document and get plenty of pictures of the unit during operations.  There have certainly been plenty of great and amazing screenshots to come out of the Marketing Department, but anyone can submit a screenshot for consideration to be put on social media.  If you feel you caught a great screenshot, do not hesitate to send them to OS1 “Canvas” Curtis to edit and sharpen.  Even if your screenshot is not selected to be submitted to our social media platforms, chances are it will get cleaned and dressed up and posted into the #Arma-Images channel in discord and you will be recognized for your submission. 

Currently, we are seeking someone with experience and the capability to do video recording and editing for the Marketing Division.  It is our goal to create a recruitment video to attach to our recruitment posts on various social media outlets.  If this is something that interests you, please reach out to OS1 Curtis or CN Ferris for details.

Training Division

With the influx of new members, the Training Division is starting to see a pick-up in activity. 

OP Khan has completed his EOD and RTO PQS courses.  Additionally, Khan completed his assessment for CLS instructor and has now been added as an instructor for the PQS course.  

OA Proby and OA Carl completed their basic and rifleman training as well as the CLS PQS.

OP Mustang passed Fixed Wing PQS and has been qualified as a CAS pilot with the callsign ‘COOTS’.

As of June 24th, 2021, the Squad Marksman PQS has been designated by Arma CSTAFF as an official VVarMachine PQS course for those interested in that role.  

The Squad Marksman focuses on a mix of shooting competency and filling the role of a squad marksman.  To those interested, this is not a sniper course.  Sniping is generally a solo playstyle and not really what VVarMachine is about.  Although, from time to time, CSTAFF will approve the use of an anti-material rifle for certain members, but only on special occasions. 

The role of a Marksman within a squad is to act as point man and be the eyes for your team leader and being able to communicate back what you are seeing to your team.  Additionally, using a designated marksman rifle gives you the ability to eliminate high threat targets from long distances where they pose less of a threat to yourself and other members of your squad.  

If Squad Marksman is a role that interests you as something you would like to do, please reach out to OL3 Curtis to attend the PQS course and be certified as a Marksman!

Production Division

As always, the VVarMachine Production Division has been working hard dreaming up, creating, and publishing unique and interesting operations for all the VVarMachine members to enjoy.   

At the start of the new quarter, OL3 Curtis took us on the pursuit of the notorious Escorpion.  As the campaign played out, it became clear that this Escoprion arms dealer, and those that worked for him, wanted nothing more than to see VVarMachine destroyed, apparently because we were bad for his business.  

The campaign started out with a falsified radio transmission that drew us to a secluded town, where we were promptly ambushed by Escorpion’s forces.  Using the ambush as a delaying action, Escorpion sent a small army to our headquarters on Sugar Lake and caused all kinds of trouble.  We took off the gloves and pressed his forces out of our home.  With a bloody lip, we stared down our sights at his own headquarters and unleashed armored and mechanized hell on Escorpion’s base of operations.  At the conclusion of the final operation for that campaign, we nuked his base, just to be sure we got the fucker.  

Yuki’s follow on campaign took us back in time to the Russo-Afgan War.  VVarMachine members got to play as PALCOM members and use era-specific gear, which added to the difficulty of the operations.  We were seeking out Escorpion’s father, a ruthless arms dealer selling to both the Russians and the Afghans and getting rich in the process.

The operations were a huge success and quite a challenge not being able to use our normal weapons, equipment, and gear that we are used to.  Ferris got to implement the first operational use of the improved F-4 Phantom in the operation.  

Between those operations, VVarMachine did a night of Mike Force in lieu of a planned operation.  In the jungles of Vietnam, it was a whole different ball game, but it was a ton of fun and we took several high-value towns before the night was up.

To see this in document form, please follow this link.

PlanetSide 2

For the past few months of operations have gone consistently well for the most part. Most operations have been run, to some degree, as combined arms operations as we continue to work towards a more seamless combined-arms presence. The updates that have been made to Esamir have created an enjoyable, new space for our Blue Ops. Due to some real-life circumstances, much of the back-end work on Training and New Operations hasn’t come to fruition until very recently. This just means July and August are going to be much more eventful with change than they may have been previously. As we crest past the halfway point of 2021, there are bright things ahead for the division as we work towards our goals of greater operation quality.

Star Citizen

Starting first with an update of noteworthy operations, Q2 featured another match-up between VVAR and our allies in the UEE Pathfinders. This battle occurred in and around a new fly-in cave complex on microTech. VVAR forces entrenched in the cave fought off assaults from the UEEPF over the course of nearly 3 hours. We were blessed with the good performance of the game and servers, and the event became a great experience for everyone involved. VVAR fielded just shy of 20 members for the event, and we bolstered our forces with some additional personnel from UEEPF to bring the total on both teams to 25 players each, a full server. We’re eagerly awaiting the next opportunity to engage in another large-scale exercise against the UEEPF – more details on that below!

Q2 also brought us the 2nd annual Invictus Launch Week, a mid-year event featuring sales of virtually all ships, and in-game demonstrations by the UEE Navy featuring a Bengal Carrier fly-by, and a live tour of a Javelin Destroyer. During this time, VVAR was heavily focused on recruitment efforts during the corresponding free-fly event. As a result, we picked up quite a few new members into the fleet over the past few months, and it’s been a pleasure having you all aboard!

At the time of writing this update, 3.14 has been released to Evocati, and a PTU build is expected very soon. This “pi patch” brings us some long-awaited features and changes to the game, including the re-built Crusader planet and Orison landing zone, planetary volumetric clouds, missile operator mode, vehicle power management v2 (and accompanying weapon balance changes), improvements to the law system, and more! As we look forward to the release of 3.14, we’re continuing to plan joint operations with our allies including UEE Pathfinders, the Unified Federation, and other alliance member organizations to occur within the month of July and beyond. Be sure to keep an eye on the SCNet operations center to grab a slot in one of these events!

Finally, the VVarMachine Gaming Community added a new officer to its ranks within the SC Division in Q2, that being 2ndLt Anjoy, who completed his Officer-in-Training program and was commissioned to the role of Platoon Leader within our Marine Combat Team 1. Congratulations!

Screenshot Contest

We have started a Star Citizen screenshot. The first-place prize is 100,000 aUEC and the second place is 40,000 aUEC. You can view our past winners by checking out our Screenshot Contest page. Some changes are coming soon, so keep an eye on #sc-screenshot-contest in Discord. If you want to know more about the contest, please reach out to ReapszD. Some contests have different rewards, so check out the channel in Discord.

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Final Thoughts

See you online and see you around!