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.
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!
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!
Last year on Ongoing Worlds, we hosted a role playing game show called The Simming Endeavor. The concept was simple: Bring 13 different role players together into a single game, allow them to compete each week to write the best post on a particular topic, and then have them vote each other out until there’s only one left. As host, it was tons of fun–some of my best all-time memories of role playing.
Our very own Bolak (aka Largehobbit) was one of the contestants. I’ll save you the spoiler and not tell you how he did! James “Rook” Mirtoh and James D. West both served as special guests (episodes 3 and 8, respectively). And finally, our former Director of Art, Sadie Stanton (aka Bella), created all the graphics for the show.
The purpose of this post isn’t to shameless promote our prior work. Well, at least not entirely. One of last year’s contestants, Messenger of Heaven, is looking to host and produce a second season of the show this fall. If you’re interested in serving as a contestant, please contact me on discord or through email. Believe me, it will be a unique experience you can’t recreate elsewhere.
Or if you just want to read the episodes, we’ve posted links below. We recommend starting with episode 1, obviously.
In unrelated IDF news, Captain Aurther Winters has relieved Captain Grover vonMcCormick as Commanding Officer of the USS Chuck Norris, and Captain Dick Sprague has relieved Captain Michael Meezo as Commanding Officer of the USS Wayfarer. Both turnovers are dated to September 1st.
It’s not often that we accept outside games into IDF, but Starbase 80 is one of a kind. Dating back to the 1990s, Starbase 80 is set within a region they call The Dark Frontier. It connects all sorts of different themes and concepts together in a very novel way.
That’s right, the August expansion continues with the USS Liberty‘s first post on the 15th. August is a fitting month for the latest incarnation of this historic game as the original USS Liberty launched in August 2001.
This Liberty is led by one of the most successful–if not the most successful–IDF sim Commanding Officers of all time: Captain Rhenora Kaylen. Check out this Sovereign class vessel as she defends the Federation from all threats.
Our fleet continues to grow as we launched our 6th active sim earlier this month: the USS Wayfarer. Her first post came on August 4th! If the name sounds familiar, you have a good eye. The Wayfarer tradition goes way back in IDF history.
For this version, Captain Michael Meezo leads this Intrepid-class vessel in the exploration of the unknown after the Dominion War.
The original USS Sunfire (NCC-3935) was launched in old Utopia Fleet on February 16, 2000 under the command of Commodore Jay “Robbie” Robertson. However, Robertson retired a few months later and James D. West took over. West then commanded two more versions of the Sunfire (NCC-3935-A and NCC-3001) in Utopia Fleet and as an independent sim before Independence Fleet came to be on July 4, 2001. Indeed, the crew of Sunfire was split into three to serve as the backbone for IDF’s original sims: the USS Sunfire (NCC-3001-A), USS Avalon (NCC-3002), and USS Washington (NCC-11988).
In the many years since, we’ve seen three more versions of the Sunfire (NCC-3001-B/C/D). She was awarded the 2010 Simming Prize and took home awards in both the 2011 and 2012 Tournament of Simulations. The Sunny is also where Sunfire script and the concept of open role playing developed. Dozens of future Captains began their careers there. In short, if someone were to make a list of the top five or ten sims in the history of role playing, the Sunfire would have to be on it.
That’s right, she’s back. Captain Thomas Devoe leads his crew in this continuing adventure. Join the sim where legends are born.
With Fleet Admiral West’s retirement and my move into the role of Commander-in-Chief, I’ll need to make a few shifts of fleet leadership. The following changes are to take effect immediately:
I have reluctantly accepted Rear-Admiral Sadie Stanton’s resignation as Director of Art due to her real life time constraints. We thank Rear-Admiral Stanton from the bottom of our hearts for the outstanding work she’s done to give IDF a unique look to fill our niche within the community. She was recently awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for her service.
Vice-Admiral Ken Gillis is hereby promoted to Admiral and will take on an updated title: Chief of Technology. This new rank and role reflect technology’s ever-growing importance in fleet operations. Tech is the backbone of our fleet, and it’s all been Admiral Gillis. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Medal last month.
The Chief of Fleet Operations position that I vacated will remain unfilled. Since our fleet is still small, all sims will continue to report directly to me. Rear-Admiral Bolak and Rear-Admiral James “Rook” Mirtoh will also continue to report to me.
IDF has traditionally not had an official Executive Officer (XO) position. Instead, usually a Deputy Commander-in-Chief or Chief of Fleet Operations fills the role as a de-facto fleet XO. Given the rise of technology’s importance as outlined earlier, Admiral Gillis will fill this position in his Chief of Technology role.
Captain Abe Polto officially assumed command of the USS Eminence on July 1st after Captain Caymen Greener’s resignation. We thank Captain Greener for helping us create this wonderful game and look forward to the new adventures Captain Polto will lead.
Starbase Mikia has left the fleet. Their final post was on May 1st.
In administrivia news, as of August 1st, all prior fleet bans and censures will be officially overturned. The third and ninth censures are hereby overturned immediately. While such lists served their purpose in the past, they are simply no longer needed today. Individual sim membership will be left to the sim COs.
