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Welcome to my forty-eighth public report as a Science Officer, incredibly late (*cough*, sorry… as a trade-off I'll post a few in a row, this is #3 >:)). Onwards to the news:

Science Office News:

1. The Fleet Manual has been seeing a lot of work, with the new databased (php) version already having more entries then the old (html) one. The new FM has all craft stats included besides more graphics, backgrounds and basic data. The main URL of the Fleet Manual will remain the same, but if you have any links towards craft profiles or anything within the Fleet Manual you will need to update those.
2. With the port the Fleet Manual has been updated as well: Many new craft were added (25), about all these craft now have graphics that show them from all angles, all craft have their full XWA statistics added, all patches are linked up etc. This does not mean this version of the Fleet Manual is finished. More craft and graphics will be added soon, as will more complete reference lists etc.
3. All participate in the Craft Essay Competition (Start Date: 10/1/2004, End Date: 11/1/2004)!
   The Medals to be Awarded are an IS-GR for first place, an IS-SR for second place or an IS-BR for third place - or equalivalent SG medal:
   Write an essay about your favorite Star Wars ship: Why was it designed? What are its main uses? Its History? Its strengths and shortcomings?
   Essays need to be from "inside" the Star Wars universe, and from an Emperor's Hammer point of view is encouraged (but not required).
   DO research on your craft of choice, your essay cannot conflict with official sources. If you use sources, list these at the end. (This means a fairly unknown or EH craft gives you more freedom then one that is well documented. but also that you will need use your own logic and imagination more.)
   Essays can be any lengths, if you want to write about the entire history of the "Millenium Falcon" you're free to do so, but a short but effective story about the TUG has just as much chance to win.
   Essays need to be in .txt, .rtf, .html or .doc format and zipped. Send your submission to sco@emperorshammer.org with "Craft Essay Competition" as subject.
   The best entries may be included in the Fleet Manual, a seperate additional ISM (or equalivalent) will be rewarded for those.
4. Imperial Alliance has had good progress with its mission editor Imped having been all updated. The game now also has Star Wars style hypering in and out, thanks to Den Darkhill and Spearhawk.
5. I've been focussing on making the missions (tie, xvt, xwa) for the DB competition 'Rite of Supremacy' and the creation of a X-Wing (Series) Mission Creation Course, which is about half way.
6. The Dreadnaught Mk.I has been released for XWA, the Dreadnaught Mk.II has been released for TIE, XvT and BoP. As they are completely different ships they also have their own Fleet Manual entries. The DREADs in our Order of Battle will be decided by type upon the main platform of their connected wing or subgroup.

Science Office Status:

CA:SCO: Admiral Darkhill has finished a better and more easily usable version of the Imperial Alliance mission editor - Imped.

SCOA: CPT Tim has been UV mapping more craft and generally debugging them for Imperial Alliance.

Site: The Science Office site can be found at http://sco.minos.net or via the redirect http://scienceoffice.isCool.net. The mirror can for now still be found at http://www.gimmie.tudelft.nl/homes/blok10b/ender/sco. Fleet Manual has been replaced by a php/databased vversion with far more entries and data.

Command Staff Objectives:

Continued patch development and platform resource: The Dreadnaught Mk.I has been released for XWA, the Dreadnaught Mk.II for TIE, XvT and BoP.

Get a release candidate version of Imperial Alliance released: Made hypering more starwars-esque, the editor has been improved.

Upgrade and add to the Fleet Manual: Entire reworking of the Fleet Manual to php/database completed. Many new craft added, including a lot of different graphics and additional craft stats.

Science Office Projects:

Imperial Alliance: With the release of the freely available source code of FS2, we have started on making a Star Wars game out of it. We can freely distribute a finished game as long as we have all our own data files (graphics, sounds, models etc). About all craft from X-Wing have been added and most of the interface has been replaced. Working on getting to 100% replacement of the data fles so we can start distributing a beta that doesn't require FS2.

Finishing up:

I think that's it - If I've forgotten anything or if you have comments, suggestions or corrections, let me know via email or look us up at #sco. Don't forget that all the projects are described in more detail on the SCO site.

(use only mindb_ender@hotmail.com for official SCO mails.) or ICQ (9706474). Preferably do not mail large files to me, but DCC them via IRC I’m practically always online at #science_office, #emperor’s_hammer and #tiecorps using the nick MindB_ndr (or variations.)
 
All my SCO reports are available online as well: you can reach them on the SCO site but they are on the TIE Corps site, CS reports, as well.

Until next time, good luck and have fun!