As most of you already know, but now to formally enter it into the record:
Captain Michael Murphy relieved Captain Jackson Adams as Commanding Officer of the USS Montana on November 1, 2024.
We would like to thank Captain Adams for his 33 outstanding months in command of the Montana. As Captain John Wells, he also commanded the USS Eminence for 8 months. We wish him Godspeed in all his future endeavors! Captain Michael Murphy is no stranger to the Montana, having previously served as the longtime Executive Officer there. We have no doubt that Captain Murphy will continue to build and develop the sim based on the strong foundation that Captain Adams has laid.
We have a few personnel and structural changes to announce:
Captain Mira Rodale will relieve Captain Michael Intermeezo as Commanding Officer of the USS Chuck Norris on April 1, 2024. We want to personally thank Captain Intermeezo for the outstanding job he did during his seven months in command, which includes three posting titles so far. His superior commitment to both sim and fleet is very much appreciated! We also look forward to the bright future of this sim as we have no doubt that Captain Rodale will lead the Chuck Norris to even greater heights.
The following three sims will be officially decommissioned, with their final day in the fleet coming on March 31, 2024. We humbly thank their respective Commanding Officers and crews for their loyal service to the fleet. They will always be a part of our history and family.
USS Ganymede, commanded by Captain Dyllon McMahon since her launch in March 2020; the Ganymede won a Star Trek Gameplay award at the 2020 Tournament of Simulations (ToS)
Starbase 80, commanded by Captain Kathleen O’Shea since she joined the fleet in September 2020; Starbase 80 also won a Star Trek Gameplay award at the 2020 ToS
USS Eclipse, commanded by Captain Aven LaCroix since her launch in January 2023
We also would like to wish a happy 93rd birthday to the one and only William Shatner!
It’s been more than a year since we last launched a new sim or welcomed an existing one into the fleet. However, that changes now: I am very proud to announce that the USS Firebird joined us earlier this month with their first official post as a member of IDF coming on February 1, 2024. The Firebird is set in the year 2396, but does not include the Picard television series timeline as the sim began before that tv show. Captain Malcom Llwyedd is the Commanding Officer.
As of today, Captain Michael Intermeezo has relieved Captain Aurther Winters as Commanding Officer of the USS Chuck Norris. Captain Winters concludes 36 months in command. However, his history with the Chuck Norris goes back much further. As a Lieutenant, he officially joined the sim on June 26, 2012 as Chief Engineer, and then sent his first post on June 28th. He picked up his first award, an MVP, in November of that year. He later became Executive Officer in 2014, and then Commanding Officer in 2020. Along the way, he snagged 12.5 total awards, including 4 MVPs and 3.5 Genesis awards, good for 8th place all-time. He also chaired the 2021 SciWorld Online Convention, for which he was awarded an Ongoing World Community Honor. If there’s one thing that stands out, it’s been Aurther’s loyalty to both the fleet and his sim! Aurther, best of luck with everything and we hope you don’t wander too far!
Captain Intermeezo, welcome to the command team! We know that you have what it takes to lead this wonderful and historical sim to even greater heights.
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!
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.
It’s hard to believe that this is our first sim change of command since February, which I think is a real testament to the stability of our fleet. My, have we come a long way since our early days of the 2000s! Anyway, one official change to announce:
Captain Kaylia Strenvale relieved Captain Sandy “Ghost” Shannon as Commanding Officer of the USS Liberty on November 1st. A very special thank you to Captain Shannon for her outstanding leadership commanding the USS Liberty since June 2021. You might remember that she also commanded the USS Sunfire in May 2021 and was more than a good sport about the Sunfire-Liberty sim swap. Best of luck with your future simming, Captain Shannon; and welcome to the team, Captain Strenvale!
Captain Emmalyn Marcus has resigned as Commanding Officer of the USS Montana and will be replaced by Captain Jackson Adams. We thank Captain Marcus for all of the hard work and great simming since April 2021.
As a result, Captain Adams’s other character, Captain John Wells, will be resigning as Commanding Officer of the USS Eminence and will be replaced by Captain Alex Shepard. We thank Captain Wells for all the hard work and great simming since June 2021.
Captain Adams and Captain Shepard will both assume command on February 1st. Congratulations and best of luck, Captains!
We know this is crazy, but basically the crews are trading ships: USS Sunfire CO Captain Sandy “Ghost” Shannon & crew and USS Liberty CO Captain Rhenora Kaylen & crew are permanently swapping ships.
Wait, what?
Over the last week, each crewmember added their character to the other sim. Then today, the two Captains published joint genesis posts on each sim: Here’s the Sunfire’s & here’s the Liberty’s. Crewmembers are free to participate on both sims for the remainder of the missions, which will be wrapped up before the end of the month. At that time, legacy Liberty members will have their characters deactivated as they continue on the Sunfire, and legacy Sunfire members will have their characters deactivated as they continue on the Liberty.
Why do this?
Both sims have tremendous histories here at IDF. In fact, IDF was born out of the original Sunfire, and it was one of our three launch sims back in July 2001. Shortly thereafter, the Liberty was our first expansion sim on August 1, 2001. The current registry numbers hark back to those early days. When we relaunched both sims last year, circumstances led to the Liberty crew largely consisting of players from the last incarnation of the Sunfire. They’re simply going home now. And fortunately, the crew of the Sunfire are good enough sports to play along.
How will these joint missions turn out?
I have no idea, but they’re sure to be wild as we’ve never attempted anything like this before!
With that said, as of today, Captain Rhenora Kaylen is now the Commanding Officer of the USS Sunfire, and Captain Sandy “Ghost” Shannon is now the Commanding Officer of the USS Liberty. Congratulations, Captains! May you continue to lead your sims to new heights!
All, here are three command news items to keep everyone up to date:
An audit of our blog revealed that we never announced both of these October 1, 2020 changes of command in this forum: Captain Akeno Misaki of the USS Wayfarer and Captain T’Brei Sheridan of the USS Sunfire.
Captain Sandy “Ghost” Shannon assumed command of the USS Sunfire on May 1, 2021. A special thanks to Captain Sheridan for leading the Sunfire for seven months.
Captain John Wells will assume command of the USS Eminence on June 1, 2021. A special thanks to Captain Polto for leading the Eminence over the last 11 months.
