Quarter 3 2024 Update

Below is our quarterly update. Not much from the Flag Officers, so let’s get into it.

Like we do at every community meeting, and in each quarterly updated, we would like to thank all those that continue to donate through Patreon or Discord Server Boosting. Our Patreon supporters: Aarius, Bushman, greg_nog, Oni, Razzun, Sivien21, Straker, 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: Ech0Whiskey, FallenHylian, Jeffon, MantisOlthoi, NeddieSeagoon, Razzun, Scrub, Sivien21, Xondor, and Zahraphim. Your continued support is greatly appreciated in boosting our server and giving us the many cool features such as the custom join URL and more additional emojis!

Division Updates

Before we get into the meat of this quarterly update, I’d like to address the results of the last PS2 Division Feedback Survey. I implied that those results would be discussed here at the end of the last quarterly newsletter, and the results were sparse. Sparse is the best word I can come up with to describe it, since this Feedback Survey received the lowest number of responses to date. The feedback was of good quality and the needs of the division are clear: Increase attendance, and a little more objective clarity. However, I think the lack of responses says the most about the current state of both the division and PlanetSide 2 at large. People are spending time elsewhere, and that’s okay. With all of this in mind, Q2 was still quite successful and we have some major plans for Q3 to discuss. We are not slowing down by any means. If anything, we’re just getting started this year. Let’s talk about it:

Q2 was successful despite the state of Connery. Our Ops have maintained average attendance and we have maintained a high level of performance throughout. Towards the end of Q2, we started transitioning towards Operations that are centered around fireteam gameplay objectives, such as Colossus Ops or executing on old squad setups, instead of Outfit Resource objectives due to how inconsistent these are to achieve due to the state of Connery. There will be a mix of gameplay and resource focused Operations going forward.

Construction Training was also a success, split into two parts in order to cover the large wealth of knowledge we have to share. Special thanks to Newson and Cutl4ss for assisting in both the creation and execution of this training. Speaking of which, Cutl4ss has been promoted to NCO for his continued work in Construction and Logistics within the division. His efforts are always felt during every Op he attends, and we happily welcome him into the NCO ranks.

Q3 is going to be very busy for the PS2 Division, and I’ll be detailing each month below:

July

VVarMachine is participating in the 11th run of PlanetSide 2 Community Smash. The event is being held July 27th, at 19:00 UTC (3pm EST, 12pm PST) for charity. For those unaware of what this is, we will be competing with and against many outfits and players from across all of Planeside’s servers split between two teams. There will likely be over 1000 players in attendance. We have entered with a squad of 7, and we’ll be working with many new faces from all over the world, as well as our old allies in BRAC (Bloodraven Clan) as part of Team 2 (Name Pending).

This means a few things for us. First, there will be a number of trainings throughout July. This is partly because it’s about that time to run some again, and partly to refresh ourselves before Comm Smash arrives. Second, we’ll be running Ops in preparation for Comm Smash. Ops will be running at a slightly higher intensity level than some may be used to in July as speed and efficiency on our end are going to be crucial for this event. I intend to make sure we are competitive with the other outfits present, but our overall goal will be to enjoy ourselves, since events like these are getting rare nowadays. There will also be at least a few extra meetings to discuss the event and our plans as more information about our role as an org becomes available. We’re going to need everyone’s support, whether you’re on the roster or not, to help us prepare for Comm Smash. I hope everyone’s ready.

The Sunderer Update is looming, especially since the PTS has been open for the update for a while. Even with all our Prep Work for Comm Smash, the Sunderer Rework could drop at any time and change both our internal plans, and the strategies we employ for Comm Smash. Whenever the update does drop, we will spend at least a week of our operations getting familiar with the new changes.

August

We have hit a wall with the improvement of our skill as a unit. I attribute this to the lack of attendance. With more people around, there would be fresh ideas and new opportunities for the unit as a whole. I can only report that we are operating at peak performance for so long before it is time to raise the bar. Recruitment has always been one of my weaker points as a leader of this division, in part because I never give it my full attention when there are so many other things to manage. That’s on me. What this means is August will be dedicated to recruitment. We will all be putting recruitment first, meaning most Ops in August will use in-game comms and be open to the public. We’ve had a little bit of success with recruitment so far this year, but it’s time we all bring recruitment to the forefront and see how far we can get with new and old methods alike.

September

September will be focused on whatever the summer brings us. If a straight month of recruitment leads to an influx of new recruits, September will be focused on Training and Promotions to make sure we can retain and manage a higher attendance number for our Ops. If August doesn’t bring in too many new folks, then recruitment efforts with the same level of dedication will continue. Even with new Operations being introduced currently, September will also be about time for creating entirely new Ops ideas. I would like to bring everyone into these discussions rather than creating them alone, so expect more news on this front in September.

Conclusion

Compared to 2023 and its record highs, we have seen a sharp decline in active members so far this year. However, our active members that are still active have been showing up very regularly despite this drop. I want to thank everyone for their continued support of this division. You are both the reason we can be as successful as we have been, the reason we will continue being successful and having fun, and the reason I keep organizing these Ops and events. It is always about all of you.

Let’s get to work; Until next time!

– Cannon, PS2 Division Flag Officer, Written July 02, 2024

Star Citizen Quart 3 Update: Something New

Hello Everyone. 3.23 has arrived, 3.24 is on the horizon and 4.0 hopefully not too far beyond that. It seems that CIG is truly living up to their promise of giving us all of the content that they showed us at 2953’s CitizenCon. With Personal Hangers, Freight Elevators, Storage Access, Hover Trollys, and cargo mission updates, there is a lot of upcoming content for us to explore over the next few months. In terms of how 3.24 looks to change the game, it will fundamentally change just about everything. Gone are the days of a planetwide inventory. Soon we will have item banks, the need to load each individual SCU of cargo onto ships from the freight elevator, and much more with the rollout of instanced hangers.

In terms of the Fleet, we are going to be moving forward this quarter with a focus on recruiting and bringing normal activity back to the org. With a need for fresh blood, we will look to increase our overall presence within the verse and bring a higher level of activity back. The officer corps has brought most of our certs back online, with the last few being actively worked on, and officers having restarted training of their members.

With 4.0 and a possible reveal of Squadron 42 at this years CItizencon, there is a lot to look forward to in terms of the near future of Star Citizens gameplay. Pyro System, its faction system, and a star system 3x as large, we will have a lot to explore in a very hostile system. In order to bring law to the lawless, we need the numbers.

As Fleetcom works to finalize a path for this next three months, we look forward to the group coming together to enjoy the new content that CIG hopes to bring us in the next few months. Thank you all for your support of VVarMachine, and it’s Star Citizen community.

– FallenHylian, SC Division Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Written June 28, 2024

Final Thoughts

Our community continues to evolve and thrive, thanks to the active engagement and collaboration of its members. As the weather starts changing, remember to stay safe out in the real world.

See you online and see you around!