2024 Address

			Member Resources

State of the Federation Address StarBase 118 Group History 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2009 2008 2004 2003 2002 2001 Edit this nav 2024 State of the Federation Address Welcome, everyone, to our annual review of the previous year and our look ahead to the coming year: the State of the Federation Address! It’s been an exciting year in the world of Star Trek, since 2023 brought us the second season of Strange New Worlds, the fourth season of Lower Decks, and the third and final season of Picard. We’ve also nearly caught up with the latter’s onscreen events, as our current year, 2401, has finally brought us into the twenty-fifth century! If you’ve simmed with SB118 for more than a year, you’ll probably notice right away that this year’s SotFA looks a little different. We’ve slimmed down SotFA down to provide all our simmers and the group staff alike with what’s most interesting and useful. You’ll still find a focus on individual ships and bases, big fleet goals, and a glance through some of the whole fleet’s stats – and we hope that you enjoy this new SotFA! Warmth and happiness from this year’s SotFA committee, -- Tony, aka Commodore Ossa V’Airu/Commander Lia Rouiancet -- Amanda, aka Commander Alora DeVeau/Lieutenant Commander Katsim Peri -- Danny, aka Commander Wil Ukinix A Look Back at 2023 Please read on as we explore the trials, tribulations, successes, and adventures of each ship and installation across the SB118 fleet. Below that, you’ll find some key statistics from the year, including simming numbers across the fleet and graduation rates from our Academy program. Finally, take a look through our fleetwide goals for 2024, many of which are already in motion as we head into spring. We’ll wrap things up with a list of SB118’s active task forces and ships. Starbase 118 Ops provided by Commodore Sal Taybrim The notable things that occurred on Ops in 2023 are: Alora DeVeau was promoted to Commander Gogigobo Fairhug joined Ops as First Officer and started working towards Commander We received an unprecedented large class of new ensigns, most of which stayed extremely active and are working towards rank advancement and leadership roles. Amity Outpost provided by Commander Wil Ukinix We started the year with a mission based on the Hirogen, and Ambassador Vataix’s want to establish a treaty with them. This made for a fantastic story as the Hirogen Alpha and Betas, all from different tribes, had differing views on the proposal - none more so than Alpha Ravarj who wanted to abandon their holo-stations and go back to the “old ways”. The mission resulted in two wargame exercises alongside the Hirogen, the second involving an invented OOC dice game by our genius CO. Ravarj will be an ongoing antagonist for Amity. Lots of fun. Given Amity is a Federation Diplomatic Corps facility, we explored the diplomatic and political aspects of Amity- such as questions by many in the Delta Quadrant of the Federation’s permanent presence and intent, some fearing hegemony or imperialism. We are fortunate enough to be able to leverage canonical Delta Quadrant species and expand on their stories. We’ve also introduced new species, 2023’s memorable ones being the Paak, a newly warp capable species deep in the Barossa nebula, where the UT didn’t quite work with their entire language - causing First Contact miscommunication and political fallout. We also had a fun and epic Mirror Universe mission “Dark Roses”, which established a prominent Betazoid presence in the Mirror DQ. It established the small but tough Betazoid Empire was at constant war with the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. The Houses of Betazed in the MU are known as “Wings” and are ruled by a single Matriarch. It allowed for some of our characters to meet their dark mirror selves in the aftermath of the fall of the Terran Empire, where Betazoids were not so kind and luvvy duvvy. Thank you to the crew of Amity past and present for their world building of our little upmarket city in a solar nebula on the edge of the beautiful Barossa Nebula, and beyond! A mix of alpha canon and new Delta Quadrant canon has led to wonderful character driven story lines and interesting and intriguing potential for the crew, for much more fun in the years to come. Denali Station provided by Commodore Oddas Aria The biggest highlight of the year for us is, without a doubt, the Denali Invitational, which ran from September to November and had participants from 6 ships/stations plus Denali itself. Eight player lead teams joined from across the fleet for a combination of rules and narrative driven fun - along with several other writers who participated in non-race adventures, including the aftermath of crashes, saboteurs and more. The race has also raised the (IC) population and profile of the station - so we'll have much more of a fully working city with all the fun and headaches that comes with in the new year. USS Arrow provided by Captain Randal Shayne Notable events from the Arrow in 2023 included: Captain Niac's assignment to command and promotion (we're very proud of him). The addition of the Ronin to the Alpha Isles campaign region. The declaration of open warfare between the Lattice Alliance and the rest of the quadrant, for all intents and purposes. The introduction of Deep Space 33 to our campaign region. Blossoming relationships among the crew (squee). USS Artemis-A provided by Captain Addison MacKenzie The launch of the Artemis is by far the biggest highlight! The ship's staff started preparing to migrate the crew of the Excalibur to the Artemis in late January, and by the middle of February, we were up and flying. I'm really proud of how well each member of the crew worked to make the transition seamless - it required 100% buy-in, and everyone was super supportive and excited about the change. Another thing I'm really proud of is how we have been using a familiar antagonist to pay homage to the crew's lineage... One of our staff members created an antagonist for a mission back when we were on the Resolution together. That antagonist made an appearance for a mission on the Excalibur, and now we've got him on the Artemis. For those who have been around since those early days, the appearance of this antagonist resonates in a deep way that pays tribute to our history over the last few years together, and our newer members get the excitement of discovering this character for the first time! Creating threads and relationships like these over the longevity of our time together is one of the things I love most about what we do. USS Astraeus provided by Captain Mei’konda Picking up where the Chin'toka left off, the Astraeus, on her first mission since being recommissioned, provided extensive medical and engineering aid to the Lanaxa system in the Par'tha Expanse after the close passage of a neutron star badly disrupted the system's infrastructure. As a silver lining, Lanaxa being pushed to the breaking point resulted in the system's working class pushing for, and finally receiving better civil rights from the government, who for a very long time had held a near total monopoly on the system's economy. The Astraeus entered the Jenatris Cloud, a highly dangerous nebula in the Par'tha Expanse, on a mission to rescue the USS Aldrin, a Nova class starship. This ship had disappeared during its task to study the newest of several star stations constructed by the Chon, Outpost Ceti, otherwise known as The Menagerie, a station created over 13,000 years ago to preserve life forms in danger of extinction. The Chon were an ancient race which has long since disappeared but for occasional artifacts discovered drifting in space or long forgotten on planets. The Aldrin was found, but her shields had failed, exposing her crew to the hallucinogenic radiation produced by the nebula. This resulted in violent incidents aboard the Aldrin, as well as the ejection of her warp core. The Astraeus traced back the Aldrin's course to Outpost Ceti, where most of the Aldrin's crew was beamed in order to keep them safe from the Cloud's radiation while they awaited rescue. The Astraeus' arrival triggers an automated defense drone, known as the Warden, whose task it is to prevent any life forms from being removed from the Menagerie - including the Aldrin's crew. Through the perseverance of the Astraeus fighting a delaying action against the drone and an away beam transported to The Menagerie, the Aldrin's crew and the Aldrin herself are rescued, the latter being towed back to Federation space. On what appears to be a routine exploration mission, the Astraeus is pulled through a wormhole and into an alternate reality in which the Hobus Supernova never occurred, resulting in a powerful and aggressive Romulan Empire which was well on its way to its goal of conquering the Alpha and Beta quadrants. Contacting that universe's version of Starfleet Command, the Astraeus, lost in action several years earlier, manages to convince Starfleet of their identities and conducts several hit and run attacks on Romulan assets in order to both assist the Federation and find a way home. These included saving a freighter full of Federation refugees in the Arachnid Nebula, and then attacking a Romulan wormhole facility in the Chin'toka system. Though damaged and having taken casualties, the Astraeus manages to hold off Romulan forces long enough for an away team to alter the destination of the wormhole and plant explosives in the facility, allowing the Astraeus to retrieve them on their way through the wormhole and back to its native universe. As far as the crew of the Astraeus knows, the explosives destroyed the wormhole facility after they left, possibly depriving the Romulan Empire of one of their greatest advantages against that universe's Federation. USS Constitution-B provided by Commodore Jalana Rajel The Constitution has continued efforts to make the Marchlands a bit safer. The uprising of Orion Syndicate Pirates lead to several missions over the years in which we squashed their efforts. This year was no exception and we managed to interrupt one of the supply lines of a newly developed drug. Also eliminated were various members with more dangerous skillsets such as mind control. The Constitution also encountered a group of imposters from Iota prime, who seemingly were not able to find their own careers in Starfleet - as it is possible these days - and decided to pose as the Crew of the USS Enterprise under Captain Kirk. They were brought to the authorities where they are made an example of what happens to those impersonating Historical figures. A special shoutout goes to Juliette aka Laria Herren. Since she came on board she has been helping behind the scenes, engaging players, working on wiki updates and the like. During the year she was added to staff where she shines as mentor, helps planning missions and keeping them going as well as helping with other behind the scenes work. Due to that dedication and great help she has been she was instated as Second Officer. And of course last but not least, I would like to thank the whole crew for making the Constitution the ship it is. Everyone has shown their enthusiasm, shared their ideas in our missions and gave us amazing stories to read. Despite struggles in real life everyone has come through and made this time special for us. We have had chances to build whole worlds together and seeing all this creativity come together is pure joy. USS Gorkon provided by Admiral Quinn Reynolds We'd like to give the following highlights and shoutouts for this year's SOFTA: A massive thank you to Torvi Ylvor and Jo Marshall for our Halloween avatars last year. When we realised we'd picked the same theme as another ship, they were able to pivot and create an entirely new set of images at very short notice, and they were both fun and fantastic! A shout out to Doz Finch and Tahna Meru for being enthusiastic champions of the crew. They consistently lift morale in a number of ways: posting sims in the appreciations forums; keep us smiling with the ship's Quote of the Month; sharing fun observations and links in Discord; and more! And to the whole crew of the Gorkon for their evergreen enthusiasm and creativity as we head into the ship's ninth year in the fleet! USS Oumuamua/USS Octavia E. Butler provided by Commodore Ossa V’Airu/Commander Lia Rouiancet We had an incredibly successful year of simming, storytelling, and collaboration, one particular highlight of which was the transitions from the ‘Oumuamua to the Octavia E. Butler in early February 2024. The ship community built the ship – SB118’s first Sagan-class ship, and the first SB118 ship to be sourced from the modern era of Trek TV series – from scratch, from deciding on the ship class to full EC review, over many months leading up to 2024. Our mission slate over the past year consisted entirely of missions written by simmers who, at least at the time, weren’t yet members of the ship staff, and so were very much based in what our rank-and-file simmers wanted to see. Those missions provided a huge variety in space and time, from our regular exploration of the former Dominion sphere of influence in the Gamma Quadrant all the way to Earth and back in time to a mission spent aboard a class Constitution-class ship. We had great consistency in ship staffing, too, and the command team continues to champion our excellent staff and up-and-coming simmers. Our one big change this year in the command team was the LOA of Jacob, Lt. Col. Greaves, whose position as XO was graciously filled by Mikey, Capt./Comm. Etan for the latter half of 2023. USS Ronin provided by Captain Karrod Niac Although the Ronin has only been around since September 20th of last year we've already had a wild first mission and equally memorable shoreleave. As we work our way into Act 2 of our second mission here are a few things I think stand out from the rest: In the space of one and a half missions our runabouts have already seen a lot of abuse but the Volga class 'Rhine' has quickly become an unlikely favorite having thus far survived; two crash landings, one exploding space station, several aggrieved and heavily armed Sheliak and one brief cataclysmic fire. The same runabout was briefly stolen and may have equally briefly fallen through a crack in the space time continuum. While our crew has several exotic members it is their accumulated pets which have captured hearts and/or tennis balls amongst the crew - we've got a telepathic owl named Seiuri along with our resident Pyrenean Mastiff therapy dog Cheesecake Wanatabe to name just a few. Our first mission introduced the Lattice Alliance, a powerful and dangerous partnership between the Sheliak and the Tholians. We've already seen incredible writing and very amusing names from V'iolet, B'hab, V't'r'us B'ek and of course, F'red. Fleet Simming Rates Project Aria continues to be an integral part of keeping track of our community’s activity. Thanks to this gateway, developed by our very own Nick, aka Commodore Oddas Aria, it is far easier to measure our simming rates. As you can see, in 2020, our average rate was a healthy 208 sims per month. In 2020, we began with a strong average of 208 but had a few hiccups during the year. In 2021, that rate dropped to an average of 184 sims and 2022 was similar with an average of 183. It’s possible, even likely, that the drop correlated to restrictions from the pandemic easing and people’s lives getting busier. Below, the chart, provided by Matt, aka Captain Addison MacKenzie, gives a great visual of the pattern of simming over the last 15 years. While there have been highs and lows, overall, SB118 has remained fairly stable for the last several years save for a spike during the height of the pandemic. Monthly ship sims vary widely, but overall, no ship dipped below 100 sims per month with one exception due to the new launch. Overall, our simming rate looks to be healthy and stable. Reports from the Academy & Fleet Growth Every month, the Academy staff works to compile the statistics about our recruiting and training for the fleet’s informational purposes. Thanks to Jim, aka Commander Serala, we can take a look at how we did as a fleet in 2023. This first graph depicts the number of applications that the fleet has received each month this year. The following chart shows how our members found us, according to their application: The next graph shows how many people graduated from the Academy each month in 2023. Of the 157 new applications submitted this year, 72 cadets graduated and were placed out in the ships and installations of the SB118 fleet. This year’s annual graduation rate dropped to the lowest on record (46%) following a steady decline in graduation rates over the last three years. The fleet concluded the year with a 46% average pass rate, which unfortunately falls below the standard Academy goal of a 60% yearly pass rate. Pennants Pennants are given to recognize the unified efforts of ships and to foster pride through recognition of dedicated participation. Evaluated on a yearly basis, pennants are awarded and removed in accordance with the performance of an active installation over the course of the previous year for quantitative success in fields related to simming. To receive pennants, captains must file forms to request those pennants that have been earned. COs may enlist the help of crewmembers to compile meaningful data from the released statistics, who will then present findings to COs to examine and eventually act upon. Excellence in Duty Pennant Awarded to ships whose crew has earned two or more Duty Post Awards in the previous ceremony. Denali Station Starbase 118 Ops USS Astraeus USS Artemis-A Excellency Pennant Awarded to ships whose submissions to the appreciations thread on the forums total or exceed twenty five (25) individual sims. Denali Station Starbase 118 Ops USS Arrow USS Artemis-A USS Gorkon USS Oumuamua/USS Octavia E. Butler Fleet Excellency Pennant Awarded to ships whose submissions to the annual awards ceremony total or exceed fifty (50) individual nominations. Amity Outpost Denali Station Starbase 118 Ops USS Astraeus USS Gorkon USS Oumuamua/USS Octavia E. Butler Fleet Readiness Pennant Awarded to ships wherein eighty percent (80%) of the crew have reached full time simming rates for 11 out of 12 months of the year. USS Gorkon Historian Pennant Awarded to ships whose character biographies are complete relative to the expectations of their rank (based on achievement standards), and whose mission archive pages are updated to the most recent mission under the current commanding officer. Denali Station Starbase 118 Ops USS Arrow USS Artemis-A USS Astraeus USS Constitution-B USS Gorkon USS Oumuamua/USS Octavia E. Butler USS Ronin Strategic Collaboration Pennant Awarded to ships who participated in a joint mission in which two or more ships/installations complete a mission together. Amity Outpost Denali Station Starbase 118 Ops USS Arrow USS Artemis-A USS Oumuamua/USS Octavia E. Butler Goals and Aims for 2024 Executive Council Goals One of the most important goals for the EC is setting the Academy up for sustainability. Currently, there are 23 active training officers, and the goal is to increase that and retain at least 27, an average of just under 3 people per ship in order to help spread the burden which will significantly lighten the load of training new simmers while also simming full-time on their own ships and bases. Other goals include the following: Annual check-ins with commanding officers and investigations into avenues for more flexibility in the command role. This system has been put into place with newer commanding officers, but has not been extended to veterans, though there are plans to do so. The EC plans to continue developing educational materials and opportunities such as an annual convention for both commanding officers as well as ship staff to review best administrative practices. Thus far, a command support discord channel has been created, and a fleetwide staff document and template library was put into place by Brian, aka Commander Karrod Niac. The EC hopes to continue to work toward further opportunities, such as a staff convention. In addition, the EC is investigating opportunities to open constitutionally mandated council positions to more fleet staff members. This culminated in changing the “Captain at Large” position to “Captains Council Member At Large” to allow commanders with at least one year of tenure on the CC to serve in the position. The member voted to serve for 2024 was Captain Addison MacKenzie. One of the issues that has arisen over the last couple of years was an inordinate length of time between candidates submissions of written exams and receiving their grades. In order to address this issue, rotating graders have been implemented for both exams (written and practical) with deadlines for results. New grading rubrics have also been created to support graders and keep a standard. With Discord more prominently used now than ever, the EC felt it necessary to create official policies on acceptable Discord use for council business of both the Executive and Captains Councils. However, this is still currently under review and has yet to be implemented. The EC has discussed the launch and operation of a recruitment team in order to draw more people to our community, but this is currently still in the works. With the current number of ships and bases, the EC hopes to explore and investigate the role of ship staff and what, if any, minimums might be established both for requirements of and staffing size of ships. Lastly, the EC hopes to formalize policies regarding commanding officer vacation procedures in order to allow COs the opportunity to put aside their duties and focus on their enjoyment during times while keeping their ship or station stable during their departure. All Group Taskforces Federation News Service (FNS) Facilitators: Jo Marshall, Samira Neathler Member Count: 15 Community News Team (Newsies) Facilitators: Alora DeVeau, Gogigobo Fairhug Member Count: 5 Training Team Commandant: Quinn Reynolds Assistant Commandants: Kalianna Nicholotti, Oddas Aria, Jo Marshall Statisticians: Addison MacKenzie, Serala, Samira Neathler Member Count: 24 Image Collective Facilitators: Jalana Rajel, Jo Marshall Member Count: 11 Chat Team Facilitator: Serala Member Count: 5 Advanced Starship Design Bureau (ASDB) Facilitators: Roshanara Rahman, Oddas Aria Member Count: 9 Community History Team Facilitators: Addison MacKenzie, Cadfael Peters Member Count: 5 Social Media Team Facilitator: Kalianna Nicholotti Member Count: 5 Census Team Facilitator: Roshanara Rahman Member Count: 9 Poll of the Month - Not Currently Active Facilitator: Genkos Adea Member Count: 3 Fleet Stats At present, the fleet consists of the following vessels: Amity Outpost and USS Independence-B, Defiant Class Starship: Ambassador Rivi Vataix (formerly Commodore Roshanara Rahman) Denali Station and USS Juneau, Juneau Class Starship: Commodore Oddas Aria Starbase 118 Ops and USS Narendra, Ambassador Class Starship: Commodore Sal Taybrim Denali Station, Federation Base: Fleet Captain Oddas Aria StarBase 118 Ops, Trojan-II Class Starbase: Commodore Sal Taybrim USS Arrow, Saber Class Starship: Captain Randal Shayne USS Artemis-A, Luna Class Starship: Captain Addison MacKenzie USS Astraeus, Galaxy Class Starship: Captain Mei'konda USS Constitution-B, Galaxy Class Starship: Commodore Jalana Rajel USS Gorkon, Sovereign Class Starship: Admiral Quinn Reynolds USS Octavia E Butler, Sagan Class Starship: Commander Lia Rouiancet (formerly Commodore Ossa V'Airu) USS Ronin, Akira Class Starship: Captain Karrod Niac The Executive Council Admiral Quinn Reynolds Commodore Lia Rouiancet Commodore Sal Taybrim Rear Admiral Rivi Vataix (Roshanara Rahman), Executive Council Magistrate Fleet Admiral Tristan Wolf Fleet Captain Addison MacKenzie, Captains Council Member-at-Large The Captains Council Captains, Commanding Officers, and Above Members of the Executive Council, Flag Officers, Captains, and Commanders acting as Commanding Officers hold full discussion rights and 1 vote each. They may put motions to vote before the Council and second such motions. Full voting rights CC members are listed below in alphabetical order by by surname as OOC rank beyond captain has no bearing on council privileges. Ch'Nilmani Fairhug MacKenzie Mei'konda Niac Nicholotti Oddas Rajel Reynolds Rouiancet Serala Shayne Taybrim Vataix Whittaker Wolf Captain Diz'mim Ch'Nilmani (Nugra), First Officer of USS Constitution Commander Gogigobo Fairhug, Commanding Officer of Starbase 118 Ops Fleet Captain Addison MacKenzie, Commanding Officer of USS Artemis-A Commodore Mei'konda, Commanding Officer of USS Astraeus Captain Karrod Niac, Captains Council Magistrate, Commanding Officer of USS Ronin Commodore Kali Nicholotti Commodore Oddas Aria, Commanding Officer of the Denali Station Commodore Jalana Rajel, Commanding Officer of USS Constitution-B Admiral Quinn Reynolds, Commanding Officer of USS Gorkon Commodore Lia Rouiancet, Commanding Officer of USS Octavia E Butler Commander Serala, Commanding Officer of USS Chin'toka Captain Randal Shayne, Commanding Officer of the USS Arrow Commodore Sal Taybrim, First Officer of Starbase 118 Ops Rear Admiral Rivi Vataix (Roshanara Rahman), Commanding Officer of Amity Outpost Captain Theo Whittaker Fleet Admiral Tristan Wolf Commanders Any officer who is not acting as the Commanding Officer of a vessel, but has officially been recognized as a Commander, has full discussion rights and will have 1 vote on the council except in votes of the following matters: discipline of officers; nominations for, or promotions to the rank of full commander; creation, alteration or amendment of the requirements for advancement to the rank of full commander. They may put motions to vote before the Council and second such motions. Adea DeVeau Falt Marshall Raga Ukinix Park Commander Genkos Adea Commander Alora DeVeau Commander Tomas Falt, First Officer of Denali Station Commander Jocelyn Marshall Commander Eleanor Park Commander Toryn Raga, First Officer of USS Ronin Commander Wil Ukinix, First Officer of Amity Outpost First Officers Any officer who is acting in the official, out-of-character capacity as First Officer of a vessel, as recognized by the ship’s official Commanding Officer, has full discussion rights. They may not put motions to vote before the Council, but they may second such motions. Dakora Hobart Neathler Promontory Sherlock Rosek-Skyfire Lt. Cmdr. Talos Dakora, First Officer of USS Artemis-A Lt. Cmdr. Nolen Hobart, First Officer of USS Khitomer Lt. Cmdr. Samira Neathler, First Officer of USS Gorkon Lt. Cmdr. Avander Promontory, First Officer of USS Octavia E Butler Lt. Cmdr. Aine Sherlock, First Officer of USS Chin'toka Lt. Cmdr. Lael Rosek-Skyfire, First Officer of USS Astraeus

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