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.
Happy 23rd anniversary, Independence Fleet! For anyone new and not aware or simply not wanting to do the math, this club was founded all the way back on July 4, 2001. Continuing a tradition we began a few years ago, here is a message from a special guest:
What else do we have for this year? You might remember the 20th Anniversary Almanac that we published three years ago. Well, we got the cover page signed by none other than Star Trek legend William Shatner:
In case you were wondering, the cover photo at the top is indeed based on the greatest Star Trek selfie ever taken by LeVar Burton. Thank you to Captain Misaki for creating our header image two years in a row.
I almost forgot, we have a second message this year too:
And yet another year of IDF is in the books with our 22nd Anniversary today. To remind you of how old we really are, here’s a quote from last year’s anniversary post:
“On our 22nd Anniversary, we will be further removed from the premiere of the 2009 Star Trek film (May 8, 2009) than IDF’s launch was from the premiere of The Next Generation (September 28, 1987): 14 years, 1 month, 26 days vs. 13 years, 9 months, 6 days.”
Well, here we are! For this year’s celebration, each of our 12 sims created a movie poster to capture their unique essence and feel. We are also very fortunate to have Amanda Rose from RPG Writing, NX-1701-G from Zodiac Fleet, and Beth from Sim Central to judge the entries in three categories: overall image quality, how much does it look like an actual movie poster, and general creativity/originality. Before we get to the posters themselves, we first have an announcement from a special guest:
“I’m impressed by the technical skill and originality that went into this poster.”
“If you’re familiar with Anime movie posters, this is spot on.”
“Having anime Trek characters in the mirror universe with the crack showing the Federation and Terran emblems on different sides was brilliant.”
“Of all the posters shared this was the one that actually made me want to join the game in question.”
“Image expertly merged the dinosaur imagery with clear Trek imagery without making them appear distinct.”
“This poster screamed movie poster. I would expect to see this on the wall in some theater. A starship with dinosaurs and big lettering. Well done!”
“I’m not typically a fan of the starship and character posters, but this one spoke to me.”
“I kept wanting to rate this poster higher in my rankings. There’s a lot to like with the faded facial imagery and ship…
…[including] ‘Coming Never,’ which was mildly amusing.”
Congratulations to all three winners, and a special thanks to our judges! However, to quote Kirk from Star Trek III, we’re not finished yet! Here are superlative awards for our other nine games:
Best poster for Seinfeld/Trek crossover USS Albion CO: Captain Dick Sprague Poster by: Akeno Misaki
Some bold judges not to pick this one! USS Chuck Norris CO: Captain Aurther Winters Poster by: Bonnie Durnell
Best poster for past meeting the future USS Churchill CO: Captain James Stewart Poster by: Akeno Misaki
Best poster if you actually watch Picard USS Eminence CO: Captain Alex Shepard Poster by: Akeno Misaki
Best poster for a random trailing light USS Ganymede CO: Captain Dyllon McMahon Poster by: Akeno Misaki
Best poster for a low Earth orbit view USS Liberty CO: Captain Kaylia Strenvale Poster by: Akeno Misaki
Best poster for the IMAX experience USS Montana CO: Captain Jackson Adams Poster by: Bonnie Durnell
Best poster for “Aft torpedoes, fire!!!” USS Washington CO: Captain Shran dh’Klar Poster by: Akeno Misaki
Best poster that could double for Dune Starbase 80 CO: Captain Kathleen O’Shea Poster by: Bonnie Durnell
While we’re on the topic of movies, we are now further removed from our July 4, 2001 founding than it was from the premiere of the first Star Trek film Star Trek: The Motion Picture (December 6, 1979): 22 years vs. 21 years, 6 months, 28 days. Feel old yet?
Continuing last year’s tradition, we again have a second video message:
Congratulations to those who won some real prizes at our annual gift drawing earlier this month. Here’s the first group to place their names on the big wheel for next year…
Best Post (Single Author)
Commander Samantha Howard Chief Medical Officer USS Washington
Writing for doctors can be difficult, without constantly employing a deus ex machina to solve a problem. Spending time writing about the thinking process and coming up with a creative solution is sometimes the best kind of medical post. Love this one!
Best Post (Joint Post)
Capt. Rhenora Kaylen & Lt. Cmdr. Dean House & Lt. Ashlesha 4827/A & Ens. Kitiuas Thenis CO / 2O / COO / SO USS Sunfire
This is a very interesting subject, not seen often in Trek posts, which kept me engaged. Well written, seamless even though multiple folks contributed, and just the right mix of personal interactions with technical jargon. Well done!
Funniest Post
Lieutenant Nerex Flight Control Chief USS Eminence
Unexpected, yes, and a perfect way to get the crew going.
MVP
Lieutenant JG Luna Eclipse of the House of Martok Flight Control Officer USS Wayfarer
Lt. jg. Luna has really developed her character in a short amount of time. She expertly writes the clash of the Human/Klingon slides while easily incorporating it into the mission with the rest of the crew. A great teammate!
Most Posts
Lieutenant Anna Thesia Chief Medical Officer USS Sunfire
For writing 10 posts.
Most Improved
Lieutenant Ashlesha 4827/A Chief Operations Officer USS Sunfire
Still relatively new to the Sunfire, Lt. Ashlesha continues to involve herself in all matters of the mission and consistently offers great ideas and well written posts. She is also super easy to work with, which is always a plus.
Rookie of the Month
None this month
Recruitment
None this month
It’s hard to believe this crazy group we call IDF has now been around for 21 whole years. Here’s to 21 more!
It’s going to be near impossible to top last year’s Day of Trivia, Webcast, and special edition Message & Almanac. And that’s for good reason: 20th anniversaries are a big deal in role playing! But 21st birthdays are important too. Indeed, if Independence Fleet (IDF) was a humanoid (living in the United States), the 21st would be even more important. I’m quickly getting off track…
What did we decide to do? For our 21 years together, here are 21 facts about IDF, Star Trek and/or other topics that might change your perception of time. Modeled after two articles from Buzzfeed (here and here), we hope you enjoy the list.
But before we do that, here is a special message for this year’s anniversary:
IDF’s launch (July 4, 2001) was closer to the release of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (June 4, 1982) than it is to today: 19 years, 1 month vs. 21 years.
Ditto for the North America release of the Nintendo Entertainment System (October 18, 1985): 15 years, 8 months, 16 days.
And for the release of Windows 1.0 (November 20, 1985): 15 years, 7 months, 14 days.
And also for the release of the world’s very first website (December 20, 1990): 10 years, 6 months, 14 days.
The time from IDF’s launch on Angelfire to the registry of its first URL (July 4, 2001 – February 26, 2005) was longer than the entire run of Star Trek: The Original Series (September 8, 1966 – June 3, 1969): 3 years, 7 months, 22 days vs. 2 years, 8 months, 26 days.
The time from the registry of IDF’s first URL to officially moving to its current URL (February 26, 2005 – February 29, 2020) was longer than the entire run of the TNG/DSN/VOY television series era from the premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation to the finale of Star Trek: Voyager (September 8, 1987 – May 23, 2001): 15 years, 3 days vs. 13 years, 7 months, 25 days.
The time from moving to IDF’s current URL to today (2 years, 4 months, 5 days) is shorter than all but three periods between Star Trek movies: The Wrath of Khan to The Search for Spock (1 year, 11 months, 28 days), Generations to First Contact (2 years, 4 days), and First Contact to Insurrection (2 years, 19 days).
However, it’s longer than the time from Utopia Fleet’s founding (April 7, 1999) to IDF’s founding: 2 years, 2 months, 27 days.
Utopia Fleet’s founding was closer to the North America release of the Atari 2600 (September 11, 1977) than it is to today: 21 years, 6 months, 27 days vs. 23 years, 2 months, 27 days.
Ditto for the release of the original Star Wars movie (May 25, 1977): 21 years, 10 months, 13 days.
The time from the launch of the original USS Sunfire NCC-3935 (February 16, 2000) to IDF’s launch was longer than the entire run of Star Trek: The Animated Series (September 8, 1973 – October 12, 1974): 1 year, 4 months, 18 days vs. 1 year, 1 month, 4 days
The launch of the award-winning USS Sunfire NCC-3001-D (October 10, 2010) was closer to IDF’s founding than it is to today: 9 years, 3 months, 6 days vs. 11 years, 8 months, 24 days.
The launch of the USS Chuck Norris NCC-4005 (January 2, 2012) was closer to the first Chuck Norris facts appearing on the Internet (sometime in early 2005) than it is to today: ~7 years vs. 10 years, 6 months, 2 days.
IDF is older than the iPod (October 23, 2001),
Facebook (February 4, 2004),
YouTube (February 14, 2005),
the Microsoft Xbox (November 15, 2001),
commercially available Blu-ray Discs (June 20, 2006),
and NBA All-Star LaMelo Ball (August 22, 2001).
At IDF’s launch, Tom Brady had zero Super Bowl rings. In fact, he had only completed 1 NFL pass.
The time from IDF’s launch to today is longer than the time from The Original Series finale to The Next Generation premiere (June 3, 1969 – September 28, 1987): 21 years vs. 18 years, 3 months, 25 days.
And for a bonus, something to look forward to next year: On our 22nd Anniversary, we will be further removed from the premiere of the 2009 Star Trek film (May 8, 2009) than IDF’s launch was from the premiere of The Next Generation (September 28, 1987): 14 years, 1 month, 26 days vs. 13 years, 9 months, 6 days.
Until then, let’s keep role playing!
Oh, I almost forgot: We have another video message for this year:
First, thank you to our very own Ken Gillis for hosting the anniversary webcast yesterday. An outstanding show, just like last year! He introduced our Hall of Fame class of 2022 and played two special videos. Unfortunately, those who missed it will have to wait until our official anniversary blog post tomorrow. However, we can now share who the winners of our annual prize drawing were. Here’s how it worked:
Everyone who won a monthly award over the last year had their name added to the big wheel. 1 award = 1 entry. All award fractions were rounded up. Then time to spin the wheel!
In order, they will have their choice from among the following three prizes:
From left to right: Runabout from Deep Space Nine, Horga’hn (3D print by Admiral Gillis), Phaser from The Next Generation
Congratulations to all three! Should anyone not be able to provide a US mailing address, they will be given a gift certificate for their country of residence and we’ll draw a replacement winner.
In case you were wondering, WarGames was simply a one-time rebranding of the annual Tournament of Simulations, which we have had a lot of success at over the years.
Excellent Star Trek:
Great Star Trek:
Star Trek Gameplay:
I can’t wait to see who wins for 2022. Until then, keep up all the great role playing!
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!
Happy new year! As we close out 2021, I think of all the many great things that happened in this fleet over the last 12 months. There’s not enough room here for it all! But we do have room for our final batch of 2021 award winners…
Best Post (Single Author)
Lieutenant Aiko Kato Flight Control Officer USS Washington
Lt. Kato wins for an incredible third month in a row with an excellent character introspective that distills information into direction for the rest of the crew. Well done!
Best Post (Joint Post)
Lt. Callie Raven-Grayson & Cmdr. Jonathan Grayson & Lt. Shoniara T’ghann Dex CC / XO / ACMO USS Washington
Commander Jenna Ramthorne Chief Flight Control Officer USS Sunfire
Cmdr. Ramthorne returns to action! She’s a brilliant writer and an incredible asset to the ship and fleet, always willing to lend a hand or an ear to whoever needs it.
Most Posts
Lieutenant Shoniara T’ghann Dex Assistant Chief Medical Officer USS Washington
For writing 22 posts.
Most Improved
Lieutenant Brakon Ryal Executive Officer USS Eminence
Lt. Ryal really stepped up his game, driving the story forward and helping organize posts.
The W’s new security officer jumped aboard with phasers blazing. He showed an ability to adapt quickly and push the story forward, all while developing his own character and working with others.
