Imperial Storm, the TIE Corps annual exercise kicks off at 00:01 UTC which is in about three hours time from this post. This year as highlighted in the earlier post the enemy at the gate is the First Order - we as the EH will be attempting to take control of a fueling depot to aid our onward journey into the unknown regions...

As with the past installments of Imperial Storm, the game is a map based - over the next 2-3 weeks each battlegroup will advance up a rectangular map depicting the approach to the Gasriese System. Each battlegroup has a targeted to square to be at for a weekend battle that lasts 48 hours, but between those battles can roam the map looking for enemy vessels to attack and destroy or capture. Once they reach the end of the map, the three TIE Corps battlegroups will join forces to make the final assault of the First Order fueling depot and it's defenders.

We will be kicking off THIS weekend with a initial confrontation, fictional elements will be posted to discord in two channels -

• imperial-news-network is staffed by volunteer reporters who will bring you news from the front
• imperial-storm-hub will contain game specific updates

Battles in this years Imperial Storm are fairly simple, each battlegroup has a quartet of FREE missions they can fly, one from each of the following platforms (TIE Fighter, X-Wing vs TIE Fighter, X-Wing Alliance, TIE Fighter Total Conversion). How well you score against the existing High Score will feed into some math to determine the damage your battlegroup will do. This is also added to a percentage of all Legions of Combat and Legions of Skirmish earned over the weekend.

Damage to the First Order is made up of the following:

• An automatic 10% of fleet attack rating
• 10% of LoC score x fleet attack rating
• 5% of LoS score x fleet attack rating
• 5% of the total summed HS% x fleet attack rating for each of the SP platforms.
• Weekday battles will see a 10% bump to all TC scores as we all work or study!

Damage to the TIE Corps will be determined by the EHXO and WO based on the forces involved and overall performance by the TIE Corps.

So, without further ado please find assignments for this weekend at the links below courtesy of some FA Pickled Yoda wizardry!

• Battlegroup I: https://tc.emperorshammer.org/competitions.php?id=7943&view=scores&round=1
• Battlegroup II: https://tc.emperorshammer.org/competitions.php?id=7943&view=scores&round=2
• Battlegroup III: https://tc.emperorshammer.org/competitions.php?id=7943&view=scores&round=3

I have heard back from my sources around the Fleet, and it seems what General Master found out there is some sort of Imperial Remnant! This could be huge. Are we about to find a hither to unknown group of allies in our fight to bring order to the Galaxy?

True, they did scramble fighters at the sight of Master's reconnaissance patrol, but as they we are Infiltrator Wing craft, and therefore look like Rebel craft, this isn't too surprisingly or concerning.

I also hear that the Command Staff will be sending out a Corps wide broadcast soon so we hopefully will soon know more of what is to come.

Battlegroup III has been in good hands with VA Locke Setzer at the helm. With his long history of service to the ISDII Challenge, appointing him to the BGCOM role felt like a natural fit and it's been playing out exactly like I hoped it would. I've gotten to speak with him directly more than just about anyone else since he's been a consistent participant in my CMDR+ meetings, which has been great and given me a lot of insight into things we're doing well and things we could be doing better. He's surpassed my expectations of a Vice Admiral and I'm proud to promote him to full Admiral.

Congratulations, AD Locke Setzer!

RA fr0Zen has been doing excellent work for Battlegroup II as its BGCOM, leading by example and going to great lengths to make sure that the pilots under his command have everything they need. I enjoy the opportunities that I get to chat with him and I'm sorry that there haven't been more; his questions and comments have consistently been keenly perceptive and pleasantly accommodating which make him a joy to work with. I'm pleased that the ISDII Warrior has been cared for so well especially since it's been my home for the past long while. fr0Zen's promotion to Vice Admiral is well-earned and I look forward to seeing what VA fr0Zen has in store for us.

Congratulations!

RA Genie demonstrates the dedication he has for the pilots under his command every time we discuss something happening in Battlegroup I. We haven't always seen eye to eye in those discussions, but I admire Genie's determination to find solutions that address all concerns. I feel like I have things to learn from Genie, even after all this time, about seeing things from other points of view and when to read between the lines to go beyond surface-level interpretations of what's going on. Today I want to recognize RA Genie's long and continuing service as the commander of BGI by promoting him to Vice Admiral.

Congratulations, VA Genie!

In his time as an Admiral, AD Phoenix Berkana served with distinction as the Commodore of the ISDII Hammer, became one of the first wave of Battlegroup Commanders when that position was brought back, went above and beyond the call of duty in the Simulations Officer position until it was reworked into the Warfare Officer role, and has been an insightful contributor as part of the TIE Corps Command Staff. Having him take on event and competition management has been a great help to me and a boon for the Corps overall. His promotion to Fleet Admiral comes after years of dedicated service, throughout which he's been a pleasure to work with and I hope that we can keep that going.

Congratulations, FA Phoenix Berkana!

RA Colo Delste has been weathering the ever-shifting multiplayer landscape for us, altering the submission requirements as needed while leading the team of reviewers that keep the Legions flowing and creating multiplayer events to bring pilots together. Many of the Corps' competitions and events rely on the work of RA Delste and his assistants, and having someone so reliable and determined in the COO role has been critical to the Corps' ongoing success. To properly recognize him for exceeding the expectations we have for a Rear Admiral, I'm proud to promote him to Vice Admiral.

Congratulations, VA Colo Delste!

There is a Storm brewing out there pilots of the TIE Corps, and warriors of the Emperor’s Hammer as a whole. My sources aboard the MC90 Renegade reported to me that they witnessed General Master return from a recent scouting mission visibly out of sorts. They even reported that he had a frown on his face! This is troubling news indeed if he found something to trouble his affable soul.

And even more concerning, after he filled his initial report with Major Drosa, he was almost immediately placed on a shuttle, and I am told, taken to report directly to Grand Admiral Rapier. If whatever he saw wiped his ever-present smile off his face AND caused the Grand Admiral to actually want to risk having HIM aboard the Grand Admiral’s ship, we know that a Storm of momentous size is about to strike us all!

But we here on the Challenge know all about how to weather a Storm for we are on "The Storm's Eye" and "Storm is our business, destruction is our target, fear is our ally."

Be sure to have a glance at the latest Warfare Officer Report for news on Imperial Storm!

For earning a first set of Legions of Skirmish in Helldivers 2, SL Myky_92 of Spear Squadron has been promoted to full Lieutenant.

Congratulations, LT Myky_92!

In an collaborative effort featuring Delta & Scorpion Squadrons from GN Jarek La’an:

Performing consistently and to a high standard since joining Scorpion, in their 2 months with the squad they earned back to back Bronze Stars before electing to take on a Flight Leader role in Delta squadron where they will continue to perform admirably. Having met the requirement of TCCORE and a merit medal under their new role as a FL, I'm pleased to recommend promotion to LCM. Well done!

Congratulations, LCM Prot Azar!

From Scorpion Squadron CMDR GN Jarek La’an:

I'm very pleased to highlight Evil_Edgar's solid activity since joining Scorpion and their playing a real part in the success of a small and newly formed squadron very much finding it's identity. Following two months of merit awards and having completed TCCORE almost as soon as they were assigned, Evil_Edgar has surpassed the requirements for promotion to LCM. Well done!

Congratulations, LCM Evil_Edgar!

Season 10 of the 3PO League is currently taking registrations for teams.

3PO League is a 3v3 Fleet Battles League, with 3-6 pilots per team doing best of 2 matchups organised by the teams based on 1 game per week. A pilot is only locked to a roster when they fly their first game.
3PO uses a modified rule set of the base game, to ensure that games are fast and furious action.

A Combat Event will be made when dates are finalised. As with previous seasons, EH pilots will earn ORAs for every win recorded in the Combat Event, and pilots who win the league's round robin stage (if enough teams sign up for divisions, winning the division is sufficient) will earn Distinguished Flying Crosses. If multiple EH teams sign up, further awards may apply, based on internal competition.

If you are interested in starting or joining a team, head on to #3po-league and start the conversation.

The Emperor’s Hammer is looking to add to our web development team within the Internet Office. This position plays a key role in a small all-volunteer group that implements features on the Emperor’s Hammer web site and APIs, and provides functionality that the membership interacts with on a daily basis.

Required skills include:

• Experience in web development using the Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP (LAMP) stack with an emphasis in PHP 7/8 development. Experience using HTML, CSS, and occasionally basic JavaScript to implement front-end interfaces. Experience using a PHP editing environment of choice (Visual Studio Code/PHP Intelephense recommended, which is used by the rest of the team).
• Working knowledge of relational database design principles in MySQL.
• Experience using Git/GitHub in the development process (branches, issues, pull requests, etc).
• The ability to participate in the entire development lifecycle, including assisting in requirements gathering, design, implementation, testing, and deployment.
• Experience in setting up and configuring a local development environment of choice (Docker, LAMP/WAMP stack, etc).

Preferred skills include experience and general familiarity with Emperor’s Hammer processes and functions.

A successful applicant will be recognized as a PHP Developer for the Emperor’s Hammer, Inc. (our corporate entity), and appointed within the club as an Internet Office Assistant (IOA). Applicants will be subject to validation of identification and suitability screening before appointment.

Interested members should contact HA Turtle Jerrar for additional information, or to submit their application. No formal resume is required, however you should be prepared to discuss your abilities and experience.

The Emperor’s Hammer stack uses:

• PHP 7.4 with a planned migration to PHP 8.
• The Smarty 4 templating engine.
• MySQL and the Propel ORM library for object-based database access and manipulation.
• The Bulma CSS framework and SCSS/Sass.

Coming Soon : March 1st through 31st

For giving us a first insight into his Character through the INPR, SL Mack Udar of Spear Squadron has been promoted to full Lieutenant.

Congratulations, LT Mack Udar!

As part of a wider advertisement of Battlefront 2, bonus modifiers will apply to PvP and PvE game submissions will be in effect from 00:00UTC 21/2/25 until 23:59UTC 23/2/25.

In addition, pilots are invited to submit screenshots to LT Steelfor the following catgeories:

PvP: Their highest kill count for a match
PvE: Highest game score.

For both of these, the following will be awarded:
1st - IS-SW
2nd - IS- BW
3rd - IS-CW

This is in addition to the existing Weekend Shootout Combat Event.

Following LC Alexandre Morgan's retirement from the Reconnaissance Officer position with exemplary service in that role, he became eligible for the rank of full Colonel (COL) in the TIE Corps and has accepted that promotion. Congratulations, COL Alexandre Morgan!

Missing some (or all) of the classic Star Wars games? You can pick up a bundle on sale for about $8 here: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/star-wars-classics-collection. The collection includes:

• STAR WARS™ - X-Wing Special Edition
• STAR WARS™: TIE Fighter Special Edition
• STAR WARS™ - X-Wing Alliance™
• STAR WARS™ X-Wing vs TIE Fighter - Balance of Power Campaigns™
• STAR WARS™ Rebellion
• STAR WARS™ Galactic Battlegrounds Saga
• STAR WARS™: Rebel Assault I + II
• STAR WARS™: Rogue Squadron 3D

(Information courtesy of WAR TheBlackxRanger and D Surgo)

One of my priorities as we have continued to modernize our online presence has been safeguarding, and as practical restoring, key elements of our historical record. I'm please to announce that with today's maintenance update we have bulk restored the majority of historical award records (TC and EH main fleet). This brings in over 39k historical awards for members who currently had no records in the database, i.e. those where a manual profile restoration had not yet been performed. We've also populated join dates, dates of rank, and callsigns where this data was currently blank for historical members.

While this does not have a direct impact for most of our currently active members, it streamlines the process for returning members who have been gone for a while and provides a more complete picture of awards over time on our Medal Board.

On a different bit of more practical news, several small site updates have recently been made (details in the changelog). Among these is a "EH Link" option when using the Markdown editor to help you quickly create links to members, battles, game patches, and competitions in the multiple areas of the site that use the editor. This is especially helpful when using functions that also sync to Discord. Simply click the "Insert EH Link" option to gain access to selectors that will help you quickly search for and insert these links. Enjoy!

For earning Legions of Combat and Skirmish in Star Wars Battlefront II, SL Yuria Vanagandr of Firebird Squadron has been promoted to full Lieutenant.

Congratulations, LT Yuria Vanagandr!

From Spear Squadron CMDR MAJ Sid_amos:

Since his promotion on October 7th, 2024, CM Sam Arsio has impressively organized four competitions and actively participated in eight. His dedication is further demonstrated by earning 20 LoCs and 233 LoSs, and receiving a merit medal every month since his last promotion.
Moreover, he has taken on the role of Flight Leader in Spear Squadron, leading by example and inspiring his peers.
Given his unwavering commitment and exemplary leadership, I highly recommend CM Sam Arsio for promotion to the rank of Captain, with all the rights and privileges that come with this esteemed rank.

Congratulations, CPT Sam Arsio!

LT Prot Azar, formerly a Flight Member in Scorpion Squadron, has been appointed to the Flight Leader position in Delta Squadron. Congratulations and good luck in your new role!

After a long time of hemming and hawing about it, I'm appointing a TIE Corps Commander Assistant (TCCOMA) to run the uniform approval queue. I know that the TCCOMA title may give the impression that they'll be involved in everything I do, but I want to be clear with them and all of you that this is just about making sure that uniforms are processed in a timely manner and there's no other access being granted for this version of the TCCOMA role. A description of the position, the current uniform approval guidelines, and the steps I want the TCCOMA to take have been published on https://wiki.emperorshammer.org/TCCOM:TIE_Corps_Commander_Assistant.

The first uniform-approval-specific TCCOMA will be an officer that's been our self-appointed and much appreciated tailor for many years now, the keenest advocate for making our pilots look sharp even if it's just images on profiles. Please join me in thanking COL TheBlackxRanger for taking on this responsibility as we finally make his side hustle official!

For earning a first few Legions of Skirmish on different game platforms, SL Davern Carvely of Lambda Squadron has been promoted to full Lieutenant.

Congratulations, LT Davern Carvely!

After a swift round of applications, the MAA has selected two new Magistrates, one for each House into the office.
Please congratulate, with me, both JUG Andrew and JUG Therj'en'nuruodo!
They will be assigned task independently and will work alongside me and Preator Legion Ordo to tackle the growing responsibilities of my office.

From Battlegroup III BGCOM VA Locke Setzer:

Over the past eight months as a Captain in the TIE Corps, CPT Jagged Fell III has, by the numbers, completed over 1200 SP missions, earned 38 mission high scores, earned 40 battle high scores, earned 57 LoCs, earned 144 LoSs, submitted 240 battle reviews, completed 31 IU courses, submitted 6 TFTC battles and 2 TFTC frees (that have been released, with more submitted and on the way), as well as created the TIE Fighter Total Conversion Mission Design course. Those are the numbers, and they are extraordinary, but they also paint an incomplete picture.

In addition to being one of the most active members in Battlegroup III and the TIE Corps at large, CPT Jagged Fell III has also been an excellent leadership figure within Typhoon Squadron, as its executive officer and now as its squadron commander. He regularly goes above and beyond to assist other members of the squadron with technical issues they may have, as well as encourage activity at all times. He's a key reason why Typhoon is one of the best squadrons in Battlegroup III and the fleet at large.

Furthermore, he has been a tremendous advocate for the TFTC platform, doing an incredible amount of work to not only produce exceptional content for the platform (which not only has included missions, but audio, custom graphical elements like emblems, ship skins, celestial objects, and in-game medals), but also gone out of his way to help document and demystify the platform, with additional documentation on the EH wiki, his IU course creation, and across numerous conversations on Discord and direct messages.

Without question, CPT Jagged Fell III has been an extraordinary Captain for Typhoon Squadron, Battlegroup III, and the TIE Corps. I have suspicion he'll somehow manage to make an even more incredible Major.

Therefore, I recommend CPT Jagged Fell III be promoted to the rank of Major, forthwith!

Congratulations, MAJ Jagged Fell III!

Greetings all,

The Star Wars Hunters PvE mode - Grandstand - is now live and can have matches submitted for it through the "report a winning PvE match" link on the Management page.

Requirements for an LoS are the same as for the PvP version of the game.

But get in quick, this seems to be a limited time game mode!

Happy hunting!

From Typhoon Squadron CMDR CPT Jagged Fell III:

Lieutenant JKast first joined the TIE Corps over two decades ago but drifted away after a time. He recently rejoined our forces back at the end of October 2024 and after a bit to gather himself has come in like a wrecking ball. For the last two months he has earned our highest monthly activity medal, the Silver Star of the Empire. Over the last two months he has flown 38 Single Player missions, came out victorious in 222 PvP matches, defeated the enemy beside companions in 30 PvE matches, and has been voraciously consuming the Imperial University courses having passed 28 of them earning Certificates in Flight Operations, Force Application, Force History, Galactic History, and Naval Doctrine. Also, he has chosen to take on a more active role in Typhoon Squadron by accepting the role of Flight Leader recently. I am just in awe of the sheer numbers he has been putting up these last few weeks and am proud to recommend Lieutenant JKast for the richly deserved promotion to Lieutenant Commander.

Congratulations, LCM JKast!

From Typhoon Squadron CMDR CPT Jagged Fell III:

Lieutenant ScottyTheGeo joined the TIE Corps back in September 2023. He has been a steady presence in Typhoon Squadron. He was a strong contributor during Imperial Storm 6, earning the most points of anyone in Battlegroup 3 for the final battle of the campaign. He has earned two Imperial Security Medals in his months since his last promotion and therefore it is my pleasure to recommend Lieutenant ScottyTheGeo for promotion to Lieutenant Commander.

Congratulations, LCM ScottyTheGeo!

From Typhoon Squadron CMDR CPT Jagged Fell III:

Lieutenant Alun Tringad first joined the TIE Corps over 24 years ago but drifted away after a time. He recently rejoined our forces back at the beginning of December 2024 and has been contributing steadily ever since. He has passed 11 Imperial University courses, earning a Certificate in Flight Operations, has been a consistent competitor in the Trivia for the Challenged competitions, and has earned an Imperial Security Medal for both months since their return. Therefore, it is my pleasure to recommend Lieutenant Alun Tringad for promotion to Lieutenant Commander.

Congratulations, LCM Alun Tringad!