STF

Office of the President - Edict #5

Posted Sept. 13, 2020, 3:44 p.m. by Captain Matt Evans (FComm, Infinite Fleet) (Matt Evans)

Posted by Captain Matt Evans (FComm, Infinite Fleet) in Office of the President - Edict #5

Posted by Captain Katy Darrah (AFComm, Meridian Fleet) in Office of the President - Edict #5

Posted by Amanda Mercer in Office of the President - Edict #5
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Edict #5
September 12, 2020

Some of you may have noticed that we have three ships in one fleet, six ships in another fleet, and some other number in the rest. Recent commissionings of new RP areas and decommissioning of old ones have left the fleets unbalanced and not allowed us to use our volunteers as effectively as possible with the limited time we all have available to contribute to the club’s government. With this in mind,

The USS Chimera is hereby relocated from the Infinite Fleet to the Pioneer Fleet.
The USS Viking is hereby relocated from the Infinite Fleet to the Meridian Fleet.
The USS Constellation is hereby relocated from the Infinite Fleet to the Black Fleet.

The Infinite Fleet is hereby decommissioned.

This brings the totals to a consistent six ships per fleet.

This will be effective immediately OOC, but in order to allow the COs time to notify their crews, TECH, please plan to complete these moves in approximately a week (on or around September 20, 2020).

Sarah
President

I believe this is a poor ideea, and certainly a poor one to not discuss before implementing. The guidelines Daniel wrote that are linked on the Command MOTD suggest that we should talk about cutting a fleet before doing it. Why didn’t we here?

I had questioned in Command why the latest ship we created was placed in the Foremost Fleet and not the Infinite Fleet. I eventually figured out that was done to set up this move and I figured my question wasn’t answered because no one wanted to admit that a problem of imbalance was intentionally being created so that it could be solved later.

This move is a repeat of one you did in 2007. Only in 2007, from what I could tell, there was a reason for it. Now it’s been clearly indicated in Command that we have a lot more people wanting to be FComm than we have spots for that, and we have more people wanting to be AFComm than spots for that.

While I’m sure it’s possible for an FComm to oversee six ships, I’d think they could all do a better job if they don’t have 20% added to their load. If we didn’t have enough qualified volunteers to run the fleets, I would understand doing this. But I believe we actually do.

I don’t get why we’re doing this and I’m not a fan of how we’re doing this.

Adam W.

I believe it’s because there’s (soon to be) 3 different Alt-RPGs being added to fleets. Having 3 of those in one fleet would make it seem like Infinite Fleet was “the Alt-Fleet” so a rebalancing was needed. Plus, we lost SB Magellan, and I think another ship, last term, which dropped Inf Fleet to 3 ships. It’s easier to rebalance than to continue providing an FComm and AFComm for a fleet of 3 ships. Plus, we’re currently (still, I believe) having issues with member retention, which means that…do we really need 5 fleets, one of which is 6 ships, 3 are 5 ships, and one is…3 ships, 2 of which are/will be Alt-RPGs.

Each fleet needs to have at least one standard ship, which would still be the case in the Infinite Fleet. The imbalance problem you’re talking about was created by putting the Leviathan in the Foremost Fleet instead of the Infinite Fleet. The problem was created so it could be solved by this edict. Better would be to have four fleets with five ships and one fleet with four ships. As it is, what happens if we decide to add one more ship? I don’t think that’s very unlikely. And then we either would need to have seven ships in one fleet or undo this edict.

I don’t think this is a problem, tbh, until we either get a huge surge in membership and need to recommission a fleet, or we run into any issues with FComms managing the new numbers, which we need time to see.

Katy

I will echo Adam’s position in that I think this something that should have been discussed prior. Eliminating an entire fleet is a drastic move, and cuts back on FComm positions which we already have more interest in than we have spots.

This is a heavy-handed action that really should have been discussed prior. Especially after all of the past talk around rebuilding ‘fleet identity’.

James Sinclair

Someone who hasn’t commented on here to this point asked me about the possibility of EGO vetoing this - which isn’t something EGO can do. There’s opposition to this move, which hasn’t had a chance to have a voice. I suggest putting a hold on this until we can determine it’s the best course of action.

I do want to acknowledge that when I suggested my question about the Leviathan being placed in the Foremost Fleet because we didn’t want to admit what was going to happen that it doesn’t necessarily mean that is the only explanation for the lack of a response.

Adam W.

I concur with James and Adam about this edict. In your election, you actively voiced a great concern and desire for people to take on more roles in STF and ways you were going to try and accomplish this. By eliminating a fleet you decreased the opportunities for individuals to participate in the club. I am unsure how this edicit will get more active interest in the management side of the club.

I also have been reading about the command discussion in the summer of 2019 from a year ago where there was a huge discussion on fleet identity and how important that was. By systematically wiping out a fleet it does make a statement about the importance of fleet identity.

Kate O’Neill

As the former Infinite Fleet FCOMM who has been dealing with a lot of the issues I do find this off. There has been tons of chances to balance the fleet that have been outright ignored from the past administration and it feels in this one as well.

As stated, we have the ships and we have the staff to keep the fleet running. The Leviathan certainly had a chance to balance the fleet and like others said it creates an imbalance that is unneeded.

As a club, as long as we have the people to keep the fleet viable, and we seem to have more than ever, this should not be done so lightly without at least trying to talk it over.

~Steven S

I’d also like to echo some of these concerns and also question, since you mention Tech delaying the move by a week so that the relevant CO’s can inform their crews, how much advanced warning was given to the people this move would affect before it was actually made?

I can’t comment on any of the current Infinite Fleet ships, but when I was CO of the Viking and XO of the Magellan, the unique positioning of the Infinite Fleet, isolated from Starfleet command by both the Klingon and Romulan Empires, played a huge part in the identity of those environments and the stories we were trying to tell. If I’d found my ship/base moved to a completely different area of the quadrant overnight then that would have had a massively destabilising effect on our current storylines.

On a more personal note, I also believe that the Fleet’s unique positioning in the quadrant offered the club something completely different in terms of storytelling (if CO’s chose to use it) that would be a real shame to lose when perhaps just a little bit of ship rebalancing in favour of the fleet rather than against it could have helped?

  • Sharon

I wanna know why Sarah never meantioned this to me since my ship was one to be moved?

Amanda

I can see the problem with adding more ships. I agree, that does cause an issue with this. I do question why COs were not informed ahead of time–or why they even bothered to wait, if this was a plan all along (as I’m apt to believe).

If this was the plan, to decomm Inf Fleet and throw ships everywhere, why wait. Why not come out and say something? Why not email COs (or DM them on discord, or some other way contact them) and inform them of the decision?

Katy

An email was sent out to everyone on the 31st of August by myself to each of the COs of Infinite Fleet and including Silke as she is my AFComm, detailing the plan, the fact that it had been an idea bounced around since last term, and which fleets each ship was planned to be going to. I can forward the email to you again if you had not received it for some reason.

Matt

For the sake of transparency I will just copy my email and put it here.

“Hello everybody,

First order of business is fleet reports. I would like everyone to have their reports submitted by the 6th. Please pass this on to your XOs and GMs as well. The Constellation is currently without a GM so that is obviously not needed. Likewise the Viking has a new XO so James will be exempt.

As for the other fleet news: I’m not sure who is aware but the plan of the currently sitting President was to decommission Infinite Fleet. I and Silke were thinking that it would have been quite a bit sooner than now, but this has given us the time to lay the groundwork for an easier transition for your ships and the receiving FComms. As the plan stands now: the Viking will be going to Meridian Fleet, the Constellation will be going to Pioneer Fleet, and the Chimera will be going to Black Fleet. This is subject to change but I don’t think it will. It has been an honor to be your Fleet Commander for the last month and I thank you all for your cooperation. I truly hope for the success of you and your ships for years to come.

Matt Evans, FComm Infinite”


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