FAQs and similar info
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Company-Conventions-Stores-Ideas: About the Company:
Medals, Ribbons, and Honor Bars:
FAQs and similar info
Somebody asked me to compile a list of the most rare medals (which apparently makes them the most cool medals). I don't really have time to do that, but somebody else can do it and somebody else can check it.
Here are a few notables, however, and I'm not guaranteeing that this list is mistake-free.
Master awards: Each is unique (so far) so they're individually ultra-rare and collectively very-rare.
Klingon Orders: Five people have six orders from four different categories (SVC, LMC, SPP, and Mike Sparks each have one. Jean Sexton has a double award which became a triple award in June 2011).
Intel Star in Silver (one): Jean Sexton.
Intel Star in Bronze (one): Charles Chapel.
30 year medal (two): SVC and LMC.
Order of Judgement First Class (two): SPP and Joe Butler.
First contact (three): Jean, Mike Sparks, Paul Franz. Another was awarded later to an outstanding ambassador.
Distinguished Service (six): SVC, LMC, SPP, Lou Zocchi, Owen Riley, and Joe Butler.
Gold Star: Five people have a total of 18 of the "highest" award.
Fleet Captain: 19 people have 33 of these (plus Gregg Dieckhaus, not yet added to list).
As many of you know, the Wall of Honor is an ongoing project. No only will we have another bag of ribbons to add in November, but we're going back and picking up a lot of ribbons as far back as 1993.
We started passing out ribbons and medals back in CL#11, but "staff pages" didn't exist until many years later. At the time, I did them for all current staff members, but didn't do the ones for non-staffers and retired staffers. Only when the Wall project began earlier this year were these done, and doing them has been a haphazard rather than systematic process. Now, we're trying to do it systematically, going back to the earliest lists and adding those who never got on the wall before, having been gone for a decade or two.
Of course, medals were not issued pre-doomsday, so the guys who worked on the game and kept it going in the pre-doomsday chaos never got medals, and we're not sure they ever will, since records dont exist other than names listed in products with no ranking about who did the most or least work. I can pretty much guess that Felix Hack and Scot McConnachie deserve gold stars, but everything else is a blur. What I am doing is adding a "veteran warrior honor bar" to anyone I remember (and later, to anyone I can find records for) being on the staff pre-doomsday (e.g., Frank Crull, Felix Hack, Ray Olsen, and some others). That unique award will have to stand for now and until we can establish some system for medals for those "old warriors".
Another thing is that the concept of giving a "blank" to anyone named in the product who didn't get a diamond, star, or cross ribbon is a relatively new concept, and only started a year or so ago, so lots and lots of people listed in products done years and years ago have yet to be issued ribbons. That will get done over a period of time.
The concept of having pages that list 14-20 people who have a few ribbons and a medal or two is also a very recent concept, but it drives me crazy since every time I do an old product or the medals list in an old CapLog, we end up reshuffling all of the pages. Adding a fourth ribbon to someone means his block is now twice as wide, which means whoever was the last person on that page moved to the next page (and the last person on EVERY page moves to the next page, and all of the pages have to have the file names changed). But i feel it needs to be done.
Another issue is that this work doesn't pay the bills, and it is fun for me, so I have to carefully limit it to a few minutes per day, often as a reward for finishing something else.
The Medals Board has authorized an "honor bar" for military veterans.
If you served honorably in the US Armed Forces, email me and this will be added to your listing. (If you served honorably in a non-US armed force, email me and we'll talk.)
If you have been "overseas to a war zone" while on active military service, include this information, including the number of tours (you get a star for each tour). A brief overnight stop in a war zone doesn't get a star; a six-month or longer tour does count. Service on a warship that is "sailing in harm's way" will get a star, but service on a warship driving around in the open ocean doesn't count as "war" service. Overseas in Korea, Germany, Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, or Timbuktu is not "war" service, but is service.
If you have been "shot at and/or shot back" while overseas in a war zone, I need to know that too. Details are not required, just that you qualified for this on which of your tours. In such cases, it's a different star. Being on a ship or aircraft or other combat vehicle which was "shot at and/or shot back” counts.
Example: Fred did two tours in Iraq (one in combat) and one in Afghanistan (one in combat). So fred gets the US flag, with one five-pointed star and two eight-pointed stars.
You don't get a ribbon for a scenario or ship in Communique, only when that scenario or ship ends up in a real product. The only ribbon for communique is for the guys who proofread 12 issues (and get one ribbon for doing a year's work).
You don't get a ribbon for a tactics note, term paper, command note, or so forth. You do get a term paper pin (well, a picture of one on your medal page, if you have enough stuff to get your own page, we may or may not ever have time to put such pins on the multiple-people pages.
You don't get a ribbon for attending Origins. You get one for working for ADB at Origins.
I’ll Show You My Medals if...
Many years ago, we began awarding medals, ribbons, and other “decorations” to staffers and others who contributed to each product, and some other projects. These awards not only recognize those who contributed to the various projects, but encouraged others to begin making their contributions to future projects.
Military awards are at least three thousand years old; Egyptian tomb records cite generals who were “awarded the King’s gold before the entire Army”. Napoleon is recorded as having been amazed at what a soldier will do in exchange for a “bit of ribbon on his uniform”. Career officers in real military forces often compete to see who can obtain the coolest or most unusual awards, and of course, the most prestigious awards are cooler than the “everybody who was there got one of these” awards.
Understanding the concept of medalology (if that’s a word, and Jean says it’s not) is like understanding art, not baseball stats. Medals have no point value; ten cheap ones are not equal to one cool one. To be “cool” you need not only some really good medals, but also a lot of the common ones and a few of the unusual and rare ones. While some players don’t pay much attention, or even think SFU medals are a little silly, others note the seriousness with which ADB, Inc., treats them, and find it “cool” to see their own medal page posted on the website.
While staffers get most of the medals (since they do most of the work), and getting picked to join the staff takes a year or more of working on projects, here are some pointers for non-staffers to start or add to their collection of awards.
1. Every award is honorable. None are given just for showing up. Even the lowest-ranking “blanks” for BBS discussions only go to those who actually contribute multiple worthy comments to the product, review rules and ships, etc.
2. There are some medals you can earn without getting onto a project team. Intelligence medals go to the first person to find a website hosting illegal copies of our products. Combat Action Ribbons are given for doing demos of our products in your local store (but check for the requirements for these demos to be recognized). Origins ribbons go to those who serve on the staff of the events (not those who just show up to play).
3. Playtesting is the best way to collect ribbons, and non-staffers who collect enough ribbons eventually get a General Commendation Medal. Playtesting, however, is a skill not a hobby. Asking for the playtest stuff, reading it, and sending in a few comments gets a “blank”. To get a serious ribbon requires actually playing the stuff against a live opponent and trying not just to win, but every combination of to see if the rules break. Each product line has its own color; lots of different colors is cool.
4. If you have ever earned an award, check to see where your awards are posted (a medal page, a multiple ribbon page, or the honor scroll). Correct any errors you find.
5. Make sure you got the medals you earned. Check all of your Captain’s Logs to be sure every award you were given made it onto your listing. When a project that you helped with is finished, check the awards listing to be sure you are on it, and contact the project leader if you were not. (It’s almost impossible to recover a “forgotten” award more than a few months later.) If you don’t understand why you got one award rather than another (higher) one, ask the project leader so you know for the next project how to get the highest awards. Lots of “blanks” (ribbons with nothing in the center) are given out by “blanket lists” (e.g., “everybody whose name is in the product”) so be sure if you’re listed that you got the ribbon on your listing.
6. If you did something (fiction, art, scenario, ship) which was in one project and was repeated in another project that you did no work on, you still get a “blank” for the project in which your creation was reused. However, if you tested a GURPS product you don’t get a free ribbon for the corresponding PD20M book.
MORE ABOUT MEDALS
7. If you wrote a term paper or tactical note, you get the small round “pin” award for that, not a ribbon for the Captain’s Log. To get a ribbon for the Captain’s Log you have to write something or review something or otherwise do something.
8. Over the years, some of the rules on who gets what medal have changed or evolved. That doesn’t mean that you get to claim an award on an old project under of the new rules. We didn’t even give out ribbons or medals until post-Doomsday.
9. If you find yourself listed with two awards for one project, that doesn’t mean you get two of them; it means we goofed. You get the higher one. Let us know so we can correct the records.
10. If a medal got onto your medal page or other listing that you didn’t actually earn, it will eventually get removed when somebody notices and reports it. You don’t get to keep it, so go ahead and report it so we can clean up the records.
11. If you think you did something that merits some kind of award, then email us and ask. We’ll send it to the review board and see if, maybe, we agree. It has to be tough to get significant awards or they don’t mean anything.
12. We don’t look for excuses to issue awards, but for real and valid reasons. Jean, Paul Franz, and Mike Sparks got the First Contact Medal for actual productive projects, not because we wanted to find some reason to give one to someone.
13. Military veterans who have other awards get a special honor bar added to their awards sheets, and a slightly fancier version if they actually served in combat.
14. Remember that “coolness” comes from having a combination of medals, ribbons (the more different colors, the better), honor bars, and other “special” awards.
Categories of awards:
Campaign ribbons: for working on projects, most of which are products.
Honor Bars: For events and such (e.g., Origins) but also include demonstrations (Combat Action), TerrorWerks, conventions that ADB went to, spambot defense, etc. (These used to be called ribbons, and sometimes still are.)
Pins: for rated ace and term papers. There are also special pins for Gibbs-smacking (administered by SVC in Amarillo or at Origins) and pistol shooting (administered by personal exam with Steve Petrick and only in Amarillo since Origins doesn't have a firing range). Wound badge for working for ADB when injured.
Masters: Unique lifetime achievement awards, sort of like nobel prizes, but higher and more prestigious because they're unique.
Federation Orders: Interregnum (keeping hope alive in the dark years), Enterprise challenge (winning the city of Amarillo grant for small businesses), judgement (certified tournament judges), moderation (PBEM).
Klingon Orders: Klingon awards for lifetime service, given so far only to actual employees.
MEDALS, these have sub-categories.
Valor (gold star, silver star, bronze star, commendation) Staffers get one each year. Only one was awarded otherwise.
Service (Distinguished service cross for lifetime achievement, Distinguished service medal for creating a new product line, Meritorious service medal for lesser but still noteworthy service)
Command: Fleet captain, leadership of major or minor products.
Special: First contact.
Years of service: 5, 10, 20, and 30.
GIA intelligence: finding copyright violations. You get a commendation for one, bronze for 10, silver for 25, and gold for 50.
The WALL OF HONOR is now open for public viewing.
http://starfleetgames.com/ArtGallery/Wall%20of%20Honor.shtml
See notes above when reporting errors or requesting updates. Any questions, post here.
Joel will get links posted to the site indexes tomorrow.
What is the round blue item with the gold Starfleet symbol on it?
I do not see it on the medal key page.
That is the newest addition to the Star Fleet honors -- the badge of a diplomat.
Question - I could have sworn I remembered reading somewhere...a BBS post or a Captain's Log note or something...that the 'Wall of Honor' pin for 'term papers' included credits for Battlegroup submissions ever since the Battlegroup articles expanded to include substantial tactics discussion.
Unfortunately, I can't find that reference offhand. Which makes me wonder...was I crazy, and imagined that? The CL#38 Supplemental File definitely makes the observation that the Battlegroup section has been moved under the 'Tactics' umbrella, but that doesn't seem to be as specific as I remember the comment being.
Am I nuts? Or was that really said, some time?
I checked the records and there is no one listed who ever got a term paper point for a battlegroup article.
What you may be remembering is that sometimes we list battlegroup authors by their CURRENT term paper rank.
There is not going to be a battle group pin. You get a ribbon for participating in Captain's Log, and you do not get two awards for one action.
Annoyingly, I suspect that the update I just finished does not include the term papers from CL43. and the time allocated for the wall of honor has expired, so I won't be "going back to fix those" as I must move on to other things. The Wall of Honor is not a perfect system, and we have to seriously limit the amount of time I spend working on it as that time is not going into a product.
The current update is a sparse one as there were relatively few products. Since the way it works is that we update it with what was in the previous captain's logs, the bushel basket of ribbons not yet awarded for the products that came out after CL43 is going to make the recent update obsolete almost instantly.
I have a question on the Wound Badges.
SVC & SPP have red backgrounds.
Jessica & Jean have grey backgrounds.
The example has a yellow background.
Is there a meaning to the different backgrounds?
Yes, there are. 
I asked a while back.
Red is the "Worked while wounded" sort of thing. I think SVC mentionted that Petrick had worked an entire con while he had a sprained ankle.
The grey background is a more serious situation. Mine was for continuing to do "Jean stuff" while I was recovering from surgery when I had doctor's orders to rest.
Question about the medal page; on Evelyn Thomas' medal page there is an action bar in light blue with 2 interlaced circles, what bar is that?
That's obvious based on who else has them. (married couples who both do things for ADB)