Hello Bravo Fleet!

It has been a few weeks since the close of Sundered Wings. At the conclusion of the Fleet Action, we jumped right back into many of the projects that were started before the FA and put on hold. One of those is something that I mentioned in my 2022 Roadmap that was released at the rollover into the new year. That project is a new map for Bravo Fleet.

New Bravo Fleet Map

The map we’ve used up until now has been great and works perfectly fine for us. The problem with it is the nature of the beast: it’s a graphical .psd file that takes a lot of energy for regular upkeep, doesn’t really display a bunch of information, and oftentimes just gets completely remade on almost a yearly basis. I wanted something with more staying power. Something that we could easily update, move things, and shift things around as needed. More than that, we were looking for something interactive. A map that could tie into the wiki. Provide information. Do more than just look pretty.

I’m happy to say that after many months of off-and-on work among a small number of people, that map is now ready to launch. I present to you, the new Official Bravo Fleet Map. You can scroll around the map, zoom in and out, and click on items for more information. Entries with information will also have links to either Memory Alpha or (preferably) the Bravo Fleet Wiki where you can read more about it. Entries without information have built-in buttons that will allow you to search for that item directly on MA or the BF Wiki. Originally we had almost 200 items on the map. In order to launch sometime in this century, I decided to pare it down significantly. My hope is that through just general Bravo Fleetness, competitions, and additions to the wiki we can add countless entries in the future. My other hope is that this map will encourage people to use, and add to, the BF Wiki more often!

I also want to personally thank JonM, Emily, David, Cath, MJ, and all the TFCOs (especially McGig!) for their assistance in making this project possible in whatever way they helped!

Fleet Position Applications

In the weeks since the end of the Fleet Action we’ve filled several positions in the fleet including:

• Captain Tharia sh’Elas as the new Task Force 72 Executive Officer
• Commander R’Tor as the new Staff Officer: Graphics (Fleet Graphics Director)
• Lieutenant Commander Peter Crawford as the new Staff Assistant: Social Media
• Commander Jackson Porter as the new Staff Assistant: Gaming
• Cadet Senior Grade Allison Venganza as the new Staff Assistant: Gaming

But we still have some critical positions open. Right now we’re still accepting applications for Staff Assistants in multiple departments. You can see which ones and apply if interested here!

The Magistrate’s Office is also looking to fill one of its term positions that are not often open: the Appeals Panel. If you’re interested in helping out the Magistrate’s Office, you can read the announcement that includes more details, and if interested apply here.

Bravo Fleet Summer Survey

Yet again this year we are also collecting information and opinions you guys have on the fleet, how its run, etc. If you’re interested in giving your opinion on how things are going from your perspective, we welcome you to fill out the BF Summer Survey here. These can be as anonymous as you want them to be. Just know that we do read these, we do take what you say into account when it comes to planning the future of Bravo Fleet, and we do often act on your responses! Sometimes leadership gets so tied up in the forest that we can’t see the trees, and these surveys help us do exactly that! Speaking of…

Bravo Fleet RPGs

One of the things often cited in the surveys are RPGs, or at least some form of collaborative writing. There are ways to collaboratively write through the normal fiction channels in BFMS, but it is a bit difficult. We recognize that, and Emily is working on adjusting that for a future release. In the meantime, there has been a decent amount of feedback about RPGs. I just want to say from the start here that it has never been our intention to kill them or treat them as second class citizens within the fleet. In fact, if we could have a bajillion of them floating around for people to join, we would welcome that.

The issue for Bravo Fleet has largely become that since we’ve started to offer other ways of writing, the desire for many people to run a RPG has dropped to essentially zero. We have plenty of people who want to join one, but almost no one who wants to run one or be the GM. Interest has increased since everything became integrated into BFMS and there are fewer hurdles to get a RPG going (no need to set up a website or learn how to code, for instance), but its really not at a level we’d like it to be. On the flip side, we’re also trying to avoid that dreaded word… simcest. The thing that usually leads to huge amounts of burnout and massive collapses within groups. We’re going to be looking at things over the next month or two to see what we can do to help promote the RPG activities in Bravo Fleet without also causing large amounts of simcest. Stay tuned!