Interview conducted by FL/LT Mini Minkus/Teth/Wing IV/SSSD Sovereign/ISMx2/[HUSS]/[IWATS CORE mIRC1]
What is your ID Line?
Full TIE Corps ID Line? Brace yourself, here it comes:
TCCOM-FO/AD Kyle Kessler/CS-4/SSSD Sovereign
GoE/GSx2/SSx3/BSx7/PCx2/ISMx9/MoI-PC/ISx3/LoC-PS x31/OV-2E[DRAG]
[IWATS][SM][M2][TT][XTT][IIC/3][XA-A][ASF:TDA]
How much of a challenge do you find your responsibilities as the FO?
The actual day to day things, like managing the Roster database, approving promotions, transfers, roster changes etc... that's relatively easy, if time consuming. The tough part of the job is doing the stuff that can't be automated, like settling disputes, disciplining people before they get into trouble with the HCI, trying to make sure that we have the right people in Command Positions, making sure CMDRs and up are doing their jobs properly. I also get a LOT of email which really should be sent to other people first, but I try to answer it all, and make sure the people concerned get it right in future. It is a very busy job, but I'm still enjoying it.
Do you think that the system of the Platform Deadalus could be improved in anyway? If so How?
A very popular question. I'm sure there are ways in which the current system could be improved, but I've yet to hear one suggestion that would justify the effort involved in making it work. The Daedalus system works, and it was introduced because CMDRs were sick of getting new pilots who were as good as AWOL. The current Daedalus system almost totally prevents that, and it ensures that you get people in your Squadrons who WANT to be there, because they had to work to earn their Squadron positions. If you have to assign someone to the Daedalus to force people to play a game that they bought themselves, you're not going to get the kind of pilots you need in your Squads as an end result.
Do you regard the IWATS course as an important part of a pilot's training?
Yes, actually, I do. It's very similar to the Naval General Knowledge exam in the Royal Navy. It doesn't make people an overnight expert on the EH, but it does give them enough knowledge so that when they make it into a Squadron they aren't totally confused by all the terms that we use without even thinking about it. We forget how bewildering the TIE Corps can be to new people. IWATS Core helps overcome this initial confusion.
You have spoken about going on Recruitment drives, how exactly do you do this? Where do you post the TIE Corps information?
First piece of advice is to stay away from Newsgroups. You'll be regarded as a spammer and if you're lucky, you'll only get ignored. I was a regular on alt.fan.starwars for three years before I mentioned the TIE Corps, and I know I managed to recruit about a dozen or so people through that, but I'd have been flamed for mentioning the TIE Corps if the people on the group hadn't known and trusted me first.
A good place to recruit is at the Zone. It's not a good idea to go around shouting "JOIN THE EH!" That only gets us a bad name. It's better to be polite and friendly when you play others and simply mention that we're looking for recruits and give them our URL. Host a game called "EH Recruiting" and introduce yourself to anyone who shows up. Most people won't believe you when you tell them we have over 900 members and will usually visit www.tiecorps.org to see the figures for themselves. This is usually enough to get them hooked. We are, after all, an extremely well-organised club.
The most high profile way of getting the club publicity to submit our name to magazines, online or otherwise. We still get a lot of new pilots who quote magazine articles as the way they heard about the Corps. And of course, we get a lot of people who were simply recruited by their friends. Almost everything works, just be polite, and don't let your efforts to recruit get to the point where you're spamming people.
In one of your Flight Reports you speak about pilots going AWOL if there not in active sqaudrons, and other squadrons havring good communication links, but how will those sqaudrons with not many pilots ever improve, or hope to achieve anything if the are not given pilots? You can't develop good communication with a sqaudron if there are next to no members, and no new pilots are ever put into that sqaudron, how will it ever improve?
First of all, it doesn't take a large flight roster to have good communication going in a Squadron. It's actually easier to keep email threads going if the squadron's smaller. Smaller squadrons have a more close-knit atmosphere, something that's difficult to get in a large squadron unless *everyone's* very talkative (Hello Rho Squadron!) If you have a large squadron, you might want to consider adding all of your pilots to a mailing list. I know this works very well in Typhoon Squadron (It took me WEEKS to get myself removed from the list :P)
As for new pilots, let me explain how pilot assignments work. The first thing I do is respect the wishes of the Cadet. If the cadet wants for example, Aylin Squadron, he or she gets Aylin Squadron. Some Cadets just specify a ship or Wing they wish to be assigned to. n this case, I send them to the Squadron in that Wing which needs the pilots the most. If a Cadet doesn't specify ANY preference, I apply the same selection process, but I have to restrict it to making sure that they get assigned to a Squadron that supports their game platform. So if your Squadron has only 3 pilots and you know other Squadrons around you are getting them, but you still have fewer pilots than they do; it's simply because these pilots are *asking* to go to those Squadrons. The only way around this problem is to RECRUIT. Visit the Training Message Board and be helpful to Cadets in training. Mail them and offer to help them out, show them what your squadron has to offer, but relying on the Flight Office to send you new pilots means you could be waiting for a LONG time.
You say that the CMDR's should encourage their pilots to do other things apart from fly battles, but apart from creating battles, how often do things created by pilots get used, things such as graphics and stories? Many people will have joined, not thinking yeah I can draw pictures, but Hey I can fly some new battles.
Another good question, and the answer is: Things created by pilots get used at least once a month. Or they SHOULD be. Anything your pilots create can be submitted to Vice Admiral Ricaud (valricaud@aol.com) for inclusion in the TIE Corps section of the EH Newsletter. Every pilot who submits something earns a Letter of Achievement. If you write a story, create a picture, anything - SEND IT TO YOUR CMDR. It's all activity, and it's all stuff that he or she can (and should) write about you in their Squadron Report. Remember that these reports are read when assessing your suitability for promotion, so send your CMDR everything you do. It all comes back down to communication - if you don't tell your CMDR what you're doing, he'll assume you're inactive. If your CMDR doesn't include what you've done in the Squadron Report - everyone else will assume you're inactive, SO TALK TO EACH OTHER.
There are often a lot of Cadets on the Deadulaus who have done the IWATS course but not the pilot file, but you think this may be related to the fact that TIE Fighter is now an old game, and so may not be on these people's hard drives, and they have to fly it all over again?
Heh, no I don't think so. The simple reason is that they're playing through TIE Fighter and take the IWATS Core Test halfway through as a break from flying. TIE Fighter is still a very popular game, as evidenced by the Daedalus Roster figures - we get more people joining Alpha (TIE) Company than all three other Training Companies put together. There are lots of people out there who don't have Mega-Ninja PC's and simply can't play XVT or XWA, but they can still extend the useful life of TIE Fighter by joining the TIE Corps.
What are the rewards for being a good pilot, you could fly say 10 battles, and in each one get within 10 points of the high score, and another person could fly the same 10 battles but no get within miles of the high score, yet what is to differntiate between the pilots?
Well that's the price you pay for not being the best. The Fleet Commander's Honour Guard (FCHG) ranking system is what rewards you. As you know, your pilot profile is updated by your CMDR every time you submit them a tfr or plt file. The Database keeps track of how many missions you've flown and automatically upgrades your FCHG rank as you qualify for each new rank. It recalculates your points every time you gain or lose a High Score. These are the tangible benefits of flying lots of battles, but the long term benefits are that your CMDR loves you! Every CMDR loves a pilot who flies missions like crazy, the Squadron earns citations and the CMDR gets to brag about their new hotshot pilot. And guess who the CMDR will think of first when it comes to promotion time?
How would you like to see the TIE Corps expanded, would you like more on-line interaction between the Emperor's Hammer, and other on-line Star Wars Organisations
The first kind of expansion I'd like to see would be to get all of our Wings at at least 80% capacity and get the inactive Wings opened up. After that I'd like to see our inactive ships reopened, like the ISD Warrior. Inter-club activities really aren't my department however, they're the responsibilty of the Combat Operations Officer, Admiral Darkov, but I wouldn't have any objections to people orgainisng these kind of events. The ISD Relentless recently took on and slaughtered another online club in a TIE Contest, and we have some tentative plans to include the Rebel Squadrons in some strategy games, but these things are all co-ordinated by the COO, not the FO.
A Minor Point, why as a Pilot of the TIE Corps, do I have to respect the leaders of the other parts of the EH, e.g the Grand Moff Nothing personal to them, but thy are not in charge of me, and I'm a pilot in the Imperial Navy, and so what do I have to do with them?
Another good question, and the answer's pretty simple. If you take a close look at the ID Lines of, for example, the Grand Moff, you'll see that his ID line is actually GMF/AD Armus. Yes, that's right, he's an Admiral. It's the same for every other member of the Subgroups, with the exception of the Senate. They're all military, so they all deserve our respect. It's the same as a Sergeant in the Army saluting a Commander in the Navy.
What in your opinion is the best feature of the TIE Corps and The Emperor's Hammer?
You save the toughest question for the last, huh? It's probably differnet for everyone, but in my opinion, it's making friendships regardless of race, colour, language or religion. The first and longest friendship I made in the TIE Corps was with a fellow pilot in Nun Squadron/Wing V when I first signed up. he's actually from Croatia and didn't even have a copy of TIE Fighter at the time. I send him a copy I bought on budget, and we've either been in the same squadrons or keeping in touch via email ever since. I hope to meet him one day. That's the best thing for me.
Thank you for your time Admiral Kessler
You're welcome!