Post by ganondorf on Apr 11, 2014 6:45:24 GMT -8
I think it's time for us to have a little chat...
I'm proud to have had the privilege to have been your fleet leader for these 18-or-so months, but I'm afraid I must bring some news (that I think most of you by now know)
The fleet has hit a wall that I'm not sure we can get over with our current membership. The recent fleet credit contest revealed that contributions are somewhat less than 10% what they were when we leapt over the wall from Tier 1 to Tier 2. The hurdle to get from Tier 2 to Tier 3 is significantly larger. The numbers just aren't there. I feel personally responsible for this, and I feel it's my duty to do something about it, but I'd really like your input before I make a move that will absolutely impact your experience within this fleet.
The way I see it, we have 4 options, which I'm putting up in the form of a poll which will close next Saturday night, the 19th. I'll go over what I see as the pros and cons of each option so you can consider each.
1. We could continue the status quo, and perhaps recruit here and there. If we do this, the fleet will perhaps reach Tier 3 by the end of the year, and will likely never reach Tier 4, in all honesty. But that may be OK - we'd still have our small group, whose internal culture would remain intact. We could possibly bolster recruitment by posting to the STO Forum searching for new members, and by actively searching at Earth Spacedock, K7, Drozana, DS9, the Sirius Block, and other such places. I can tell you though that recruitment is going to be hard. We are "only" a Tier 2 fleet in a game that is awash in much more enticing Tier 5 fleets. We simply can't offer much to a prospective new member, compared with our competition.
2. We could merge with a smaller fleet. I recently attempted this on my own with a fleet known as "The Phoenix Rising". Their membership turned the proposal I had made them down in a vote when it came down to it. My terms for smaller fleet merging would be generous. I'd offer a full Admiralcy to the Fleet Leader of their group, and promotions to all of their members (including to the ranks of Captain and Vice Admiral) at the discretion of the oncoming Fleet Leader, assuming they meet our requirements for fleet credit donations within their own fleet. What that means is that as long as they've donated more than 100,000 FC to their own fleet, they could be promoted as high as Vice Admiral within our fleet. That means that many of these "new" members would be leaping over some of our "legacy" Triforce members in rank. This is a necessity in order to promote unity with the new group, and to show goodwill to our new allies. We could seek our mergers in the same way we might seek recruitment - through the STO Forum and through advertising in Zone chat at stations, and in sector space. The downside to this would of course be the dilution of our fleet culture - which is something to be considered.
3. We could merge with a larger fleet. We could use our remaining numbers to attempt to secure a good deal in joining a larger fleet as a block group. This could earn us easier promotions, and quicker access to elite provisions, but would of course necessitate the dissolution of this fleet. We could keep the chat channel open, and even this forum, if we wish, but the fleet would be no more. For those of you who want the strong fleet gear, this seems like the surest path to getting it. We could shop around for large fleets - invite their leadership to our starbase to make their case before us so we can choose as a group which fleet we'd like to join. I would not conduct these negotiations on my own - I would only consider a merger with a large fleet if the majority of our members elect to do so.
4. Finally, we could "simply" disband. I put that in quotes because it won't really be that simple. We'll have to figure out how to divide up the assets in the bank, and what to do about the fleet's provisions. In this scenario, the Sacred Realm chat would remain open, and the fleet itself would remain technically in existence, although I would hand it off to Erin's account, and projects would no longer be slated for it.
This is a tough call, I know. I'm sorry to have to make it, but I'd very much welcome your input on this. What do you think??
I'm proud to have had the privilege to have been your fleet leader for these 18-or-so months, but I'm afraid I must bring some news (that I think most of you by now know)
The fleet has hit a wall that I'm not sure we can get over with our current membership. The recent fleet credit contest revealed that contributions are somewhat less than 10% what they were when we leapt over the wall from Tier 1 to Tier 2. The hurdle to get from Tier 2 to Tier 3 is significantly larger. The numbers just aren't there. I feel personally responsible for this, and I feel it's my duty to do something about it, but I'd really like your input before I make a move that will absolutely impact your experience within this fleet.
The way I see it, we have 4 options, which I'm putting up in the form of a poll which will close next Saturday night, the 19th. I'll go over what I see as the pros and cons of each option so you can consider each.
1. We could continue the status quo, and perhaps recruit here and there. If we do this, the fleet will perhaps reach Tier 3 by the end of the year, and will likely never reach Tier 4, in all honesty. But that may be OK - we'd still have our small group, whose internal culture would remain intact. We could possibly bolster recruitment by posting to the STO Forum searching for new members, and by actively searching at Earth Spacedock, K7, Drozana, DS9, the Sirius Block, and other such places. I can tell you though that recruitment is going to be hard. We are "only" a Tier 2 fleet in a game that is awash in much more enticing Tier 5 fleets. We simply can't offer much to a prospective new member, compared with our competition.
2. We could merge with a smaller fleet. I recently attempted this on my own with a fleet known as "The Phoenix Rising". Their membership turned the proposal I had made them down in a vote when it came down to it. My terms for smaller fleet merging would be generous. I'd offer a full Admiralcy to the Fleet Leader of their group, and promotions to all of their members (including to the ranks of Captain and Vice Admiral) at the discretion of the oncoming Fleet Leader, assuming they meet our requirements for fleet credit donations within their own fleet. What that means is that as long as they've donated more than 100,000 FC to their own fleet, they could be promoted as high as Vice Admiral within our fleet. That means that many of these "new" members would be leaping over some of our "legacy" Triforce members in rank. This is a necessity in order to promote unity with the new group, and to show goodwill to our new allies. We could seek our mergers in the same way we might seek recruitment - through the STO Forum and through advertising in Zone chat at stations, and in sector space. The downside to this would of course be the dilution of our fleet culture - which is something to be considered.
3. We could merge with a larger fleet. We could use our remaining numbers to attempt to secure a good deal in joining a larger fleet as a block group. This could earn us easier promotions, and quicker access to elite provisions, but would of course necessitate the dissolution of this fleet. We could keep the chat channel open, and even this forum, if we wish, but the fleet would be no more. For those of you who want the strong fleet gear, this seems like the surest path to getting it. We could shop around for large fleets - invite their leadership to our starbase to make their case before us so we can choose as a group which fleet we'd like to join. I would not conduct these negotiations on my own - I would only consider a merger with a large fleet if the majority of our members elect to do so.
4. Finally, we could "simply" disband. I put that in quotes because it won't really be that simple. We'll have to figure out how to divide up the assets in the bank, and what to do about the fleet's provisions. In this scenario, the Sacred Realm chat would remain open, and the fleet itself would remain technically in existence, although I would hand it off to Erin's account, and projects would no longer be slated for it.
This is a tough call, I know. I'm sorry to have to make it, but I'd very much welcome your input on this. What do you think??
. feel terrible for missing it too.
