Table of Contents
Message from Leadership All-Hands Summary 2015 Community Fundraiser StarCraft II Update
In The Scope Interviews Natural Selection 2 EU BBQ Vanguard Update Smite Update Upcoming Event Operation Support Updates
A Message from Leadership The TAW 2015 Community Fundraiser is underway! As we delve into our month-long fundraiser for our community it’s a great time to share some ins and outs of the operation of our beloved community. TAW, as you know, doesn't require a membership fee. This is something we stand proud of. Many divisions require servers to play their games on and those divisions pay for those servers to keep their games going, but what does it cost to actually run the “mothership”? Well, about US $500 a month. We maintain servers for our website and TeamSpeak. In addition, there are some fees for our treasury software to keep the coin organized. We also are incorporated and yes, have to have your taxes prepared. As TAW grows, so do our needs to keep this mothership in the air. The 2015 Community Fundraiser is the shot in the arm so we can fuel up the mothership for the next year or so and keep her in the air. For more information, refer to the 2015 Community Fundraiser section of the newsletter. Thank you for your support! Bravehardt, Doc, Stealth, Cherry and SuperTreky
Treasury Update Treasury is pleased to announce that the new accounting software Xero is now up and running. All members who are CO and above will need a login. For this to be processed, please email treas@taw.net in the following format:
Call Sign (e.g., Domnator)
Position (e.g., [CC TSLC])
Email address (e.g., domnator@taw.net)
Once the request has been received, there will be an email from Xero saying that you have been invited to view the accounts. Please note that all pre-filled fields should not be changed. Domanator [CC TSLC]
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Annual All-Hands Meeting Summary The annual all-hands meeting took place on the TeamSpeak server on 17 May 2015 and put the fragile nature of the server to a well-expected stress test, as a record for people on TAW’s TeamSpeak was set at 450 members in a single channel. Within minutes after the starting point of the meeting, if you had to restart your computer for any reason, the entrance to TAW's TeamSpeak would be firmly blocked. It took between four and 40 reconnects for some of the less fortunate to get in. After some words of welcome by Bravehardt and Doc, the corps—and in some cases— individual divisions had the opportunity to name highlights, give out promotions and pin some very shiny digital medals onto deserving people. Out of the many promotions and commendations, two examples stood out: A well-deserved Medal of Resilience was given to RedAkula for being an outstanding DO in War Thunder even though his home country (Yemen) is in an ongoing chaotic state of internal conflicts and external war. The importance of RedAkula's work was put forward by his DC, LordNyves. Another Medal of Resilience went out to Currahee, CO of the EU Battalion for Company of Heroes 2. The university student from Austria did not only help to expand the battalion from 20 to 95 members in less than four months, he also invests two to three hours daily for administrative work and stays up late frequently to organize his battalion. All this while being at a heavy disadvantage compared to most people: Currahee has no arms or hands. He controls his units on the battlefield and the numbers in onboarding with his feet. Given the fact that a lot of people are not able perfom better even with hands and arms, Currahee's dedication and efforts are exceptional beyond measure. Wardy, 1st Corps Lt. Commander, was making very sure this
medal ceremony received the importance it deserved. Then it was time for the non-gaming divisions to step up and deliver. And there were some nice surprises in store. Right off the bat, DEVOP DC PrimeStick showed the audience a glimpse into the future: TAW 3.0 is currently in development, even though backend coder Azaphael had to drop out recently due to personal reasons. His replacement, Zaith, materialized out of thin air just in time to take over. Right now, the guys in DEVOP are working on implementing functionality to the site that is already up and running on a private server, but not open to the public yet. Expect more information on the new TAW website in upcoming newsletters! It was up to Support Commander Cherry to announce the news that our very own support lioness Kinare is looking for a European, cat-loving member to share her workload with. If you are from Europe, like cats, are well organized and want to help by contributing to the TAW wikis among other things, have a look at this link. Domanator from Treasury was happy to announce that the new accounting software Xero is up and running, and not happy to announce that the transition from the old software had been a bit of hard work for him and Jedi. Treasury 3.0 is managing two bank accounts and the TAW Paypal. In order to spend some money, it has to be in the bank account, of course. And that's where the final words of the meeting were aimed at. Bravehardt and Doc pointed out that there are prizes to be won, but also servers to be paid for. All with donations.
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2015 Community Fundraiser Effective immediately, TAW has launched the 2015 Community Fundraiser. This four week event will end on Sunday, 14 June 2015. The goal this year is to raise US $4,000 (ahead of any prize costs) to support TAW’s community fund and ongoing activities. Donation Details
Donations must be made to the community fund as a one-time or recurring donation.
Donations that exceed US $5 (or equivalent local currency) will qualify to be a part of a raffle.
Donators can elect to not participate in the raffle by including a comment when submitting payment.
Donators will be credited by name unless they wish to remain anonymous.
Prizes
A donation of any value will earn a member a participation tab.
For every US $5 (or equivalent local currency) will earn a raffle ticket.
At the conclusion of the fundraiser, prizes will be drawn for the following: First Prize (One Drawing): GTX 980 Graphics Card Second Prize (Three Drawings): Steam Game up to a value of US $50 Third Prize (Five Drawings): Merchandise from the TAW Store up to a value of US $20 Fourth Prize (Five Drawings): Custom avatar / signature pack from the Graphics team
Any member that subscribes to donating US $5 or more that is active 1 for intervals of three months, six months or one year will get additional recognition for being a Bronze, Silver, or Gold “Community Subscriber.” They will also be recognized in the newsletter and through a special Community Subscriber tab. 1
If a member opts out of their subscription, they will be ineligible to receive these prizes.
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StarCraft II: State of the Division and Game The StarCraft (SC) division is currently 135 members strong split into European (EU) and North American (NA) battalions. The NA battalion is currently engaged with an internal league, which spans over five weeks. The final of this league will be played on 2 June 2015. They also have a team playing in the Chobo team league in which they aim to reach the playoff stages. The NA battalion has had some officer changes recently, which resulted in Torkk accepting the Commanding Officer position, Mstaken the Executive Officer position and Madmonk the Staff Officer position. The EU battalion is currently engaged on the ESL Clanwar ladder. The squad has recently had a seven win streak that placed them in the top 10 of the ladder. In addition, on 30 May 2015, the EU battalion will face off in an open, singleelimination tournament with the Facebook group Swedisch Starcraft via trollpick.se. For more details, refer to the Upcoming Events section of the newsletter. Blizzard has started the closed multiplayer beta for the Legacy of the Void (LotV) expansion. There are many new changes to the LotV expansion, including the early-game strategies and dynamics due as a result of an increased number of harvesters. However, each base location also has substantially less resources. There will also be many changes to the current units, as well as additional units added to the game. Both newly-designed and old classic units are being introduced, causing a major shift in the strategies each race can employ. Currently, Blizzard has not given a release date for the LotV expansion. Chaosgame [SC DC]
In The Scope: MaximusSC 1.
2.
Describe yourself in five words.
started as a recruit and have worked my way
49-year old StarCraft player. In more than five
up, and am now Platoon Leader for the EU
words, see here.
Clanwar Platoon.
Tell us about your history in TAW.
3.
What was your initial impression of TAW?
It all started when I made a post in a StarCraft
The members in the StarCraft division were
forum. One TAW member, RedSword, contact-
very helpful and humble, regardless of how
ed me and invited me into TAW. As everyone I
good they were at the game.
5
In The Scope: MaximusSC (continued) 4.
Tell us about your current division, and what you do there. I am in the SC division and responsible for arranging clanwars and streaming the games.
5.
What would you like someone considering joining TAW to know? That TAW is very organized and has a lot of events for the players. When you get on TeamSpeak, there is always someone you can talk to and play with.
6.
Do you have any special hobbies or activities outside of TAW? I am learning German at an adult school five hours per week.
7. If you could change one thing about TAW, what would it be? I would like to see TAW continue to be more welcoming of recruits so they feel they are a part of a big, happy family. 8. What's your favorite thing about TAW? That I always just can get on TeamSpeak when I feel bored and want to play, and there always are some you can have a blast with. 9.
How does TAW affect your offline life? I have planned to meet in person with some of the guys my battalion for a BarCraft event from 1619 July. It’s going to be a blast.
10. What might our readers be surprised to know about you? Life took a hard turn when a car accident paralyzed me from the waist down at 18 years old, and I now sit in a wheelchair. 11. If you could choose any TAW member to be stranded on a desert island with, who would it be and why? I rather not say. That will be a secret. But I know a few that I trust and happily would be alone with on a desert island. 12. Who do you believe is going to be the most influential figure in gaming in the next three years? I don’t know and I don’t care, as long as there will be peace in the world.
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In The Scope: Vaikyuko 1.
When and why did you join TAW? And, what
good stuff comes along, it really shines. Mark
does your call sign mean?
Hamill and Michael Ironside are two voice ac-
I joined TAW in the middle of summer 2012. I
tors that have inspired me.
remember wanting to join
As for qualities? Humility in any
initially due to looking for
acting or creative field is a must.
more camaraderie and com-
Being able to take criticism is the
munication in videogames.
only way a performer becomes
My first official round with
better. Being able to take direction
TAW, I topped the scoreboard
and being willing to take risks both
in BF3 and seemingly im-
are excellent traits.
pressed everyone, and they thought enough of me to ask
3.
What is it about TAW that
me to lead a squad. From there I was hooked.
appeals to you and how does it differ from
As for my call sign, it stems from a very old
other gaming communities?
fanfiction I wrote when I was still in middle
The thing that appeals to me is the same thing
school, the name of a villain—he was the usual
that separates us: Humility and respect. TAW
type of generic fanfic character, overly powerful
isn't out to seek glory, or mock others when
and representing the author's personal traits.
we're playing on a superior level. The militarystyle hierarchy allows us leeway to have friend-
2.
I heard you do some voice acting, or you’re
ships as well as direction, and organize faster
trying to get into the field and/or just doing
and more efficiently than most groups. Couple
it for fun. What is it about voice acting that
that with supporting numerous games and al-
inspires you? What qualities does someone
ways being fair and unbiased in disputes and
need to have to be a good voice actor?
judgments, and TAW has always felt more like
I've been known to do impressions and have a
a family than a group of friends to me.
fairly good vocal range. I've wanted for some time to get into it but haven't ever had the op-
4.
If there’s one thing you’d like to see im-
portunity. Few know it about me, but I've been
proved in TAW, what would it be?
trained as a thespian and have done stage per-
Were I to choose something to improve, I'd say
formance, but I prefer to do line reading and
a mentorship program to help develop leader-
voice work because I'm not physically seen: I
ship qualities in newer or younger participants
have a bit of stage fright and don't like to
in TAW would be important. I’d like to see new-
memorize.
er faces get involved in the leadership.
As for inspiration, it may sound cliché, but it's
5. What aspects of today’s gaming world do
all the great work I've seen other actors do in
you like and dislike. Explain why.
videogames and cartoons, regardless of origin
I love the emphasis on multiplatform titles and
or type. There's always an abundance of bad
the seeming death of the exclusive game in
acting no matter where you go, so when the
today's world. Exclusives are just a way to push
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In The Scope: Vaikyuko (continued) a specific platform's sales, and now that the
also has given me a great deal of a confidence
vast majority of stuff is multiplatform, it allows
boost and made me more of a personable and
people to play on whatever platform they want.
pleasant type overall. It's also let me expand
There will always be exclusives, though.
into all kinds of games I wouldn't necessarily otherwise play for fear of being publicly
As for things I dislike? Primarily microtransac-
judged, because, well, if I'm going to be judged
tions and poorly done free to play games. Mi-
anyway, I might as well watch and play things I
crotransactions go hand in hand with it, and
enjoy regardless of the intended audience,
most games which involve them often have
right?
stripped down features or worse, full chunks of the game yanked out in order to have a DLC
TAW's openness and supportive nature is very
drop on the first few days or even as day one
reassuring and welcoming for people like my-
DLC. There's no excuse for that, given it exists
self, who aren't often accepted out and about,
just to garner more money out of the same
even by other LGBT persons.
player base. 7. Who are your biggest role models (in life, in 6. What is one thing people do not know
gaming or in TAW) and how have they
about you?
shaped who you are today?
It's known a bit through TAW but not overall
This might sound a bit trite, but my biggest
and that's the fact I'm a transgender gamer,
role model is probably my mother. She raised
identifying female. To most, I'm just a name on
my brother and I virtually solo for much of our
the ‘net, and to those in TAW, I'm a name and a
lives, and encouraged me to succeed academi-
voice, but not anything else per se. I think only
cally and in life, and always insisted I push my-
a small handful have ever seen a picture of me.
self to the next level in lieu of taking the easy
But because of this, there has been some mis-
way out.
understandings. It's unfortunate, but it happens.
As for TAW role models, I have three, for virtually the same reasons: Icarus, Mercenary and
I've also received a great deal of support, and a
DoctorKajita. Each of the three people I just
number of my TAW brethren have made a
mentioned are examples of TAW's standard
point to be very respectful and refer to me by
taken to the next level, with humility, grace,
feminine pronouns; even if someone doesn't,
and virtue. From Icarus, primarily humility and
it's not a big deal, because most in TAW have
leadership in action; from Mercenary, opti-
not gone out of their way to make me feel un-
mism, humor, and good natured mediation;
comfortable.
and from DoctorKajita, professionalism and honesty, all vital aspects of what I personally
It's made me more sensitive to certain things,
strive toward in my own endeavors.
primarily trying to be a voice of reason and mediation when it comes to disputes, but it
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Natural Selection 2 European BBQ Like meeting an old friend you have never seen
with them twice, thrice or more each single week. But still I have never seen them, never breathed the Where do seven spreadsheets, hours of online re- same air with them, never heard them unfiltered. search and phone calls, 16 packs of cookies and a How would they be like? fiery spark of an idea lead to? Exactly: The NS2Division Barbecue. When I met them I was struck: They look like this!? The surprise was huge, but also quickly fading away. Hearing their voices together with seeing their faces, promptly turned wonderment into perfect memory about who was who (thanks TeamSpeak!). One after another they arrived in our house, all full of anticipation. People, knowing each other for years, introduced themselves. Quickly the room was filled with laughter, loud conversations and On a slightly rainy and gray Friday morning, I surprised shouts. A big smile was frozen on my face picked up my buddy for a road trip across Germa- for five hours straight. ny. I am not going into the details of our journey, except for the fact, that the clouds left and made All that people—somehow—were familiar and new. room for the warm late-summer sun. That before-mentioned wall completely crumbled and we happily walked in its debris. The interesting part is, that there were many others on their way as well. People from England, Belgium, We spent the first evening just being amazed and Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Nor- eventually did some groceries to prepare supper: A way left their homes and computers. They sat be- huge bowl of spaghetti. People celebrated and hind steering wheels, checked departure times on talked until deep into the night, although all of train stations, waited at security controls in airports them had hours of traveling behind them. or even watched their home country diminishing on the horizon from a ferry boat. In total, it was 16 On Saturday morning, the weather was perfect and people with the same background and destination: we started to prepare what gave this whole event They were all members of the Natural Selection 2 its name: The Barbecue. We played in the garden division in TAW and were looking forward to meet- and clinked glasses in the sun. Meat sizzled over ing each other in a stylish, small house in Neuen- the flames and food was prepared. At last we had burg, Germany. to brace ourselves for an excursion to Hamburg. But there was enough time for a few group pictures I still remember the first time I received a text on my phone from another player. It appeared to me: In Hamburg, we had more drinks and food, and Things just got real! There was a first crack in a even saw beautiful fireworks. We sat there brought mental wall, which separated my real life from any together from all over Europe by such an unlikely thing as a computer game. TAW connected us so TAW activities. deeply beforehand, that the whole situation felt When we drove from the “TAW house” to the sta- intimately normal. The weekly gaming made playtion to pick up the first batch of people, I was excit- ers to fellows, fellows to friends and friends to famed like a singer with stage fright. I had known all of ily. them for nearly a year now. Playing, talking, joking
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NS2 EU BBQ cont. Sunday came way too quickly. For this day we had some rounds of Lasertag on the program. Needless to say, that the whole thing went very smooth and was immense fun. All we had to do was applying our normal mandatory procedures! Unfortunately, in front of the Lasertag hall, it was time to say goodbye to some people already. Others participated in a pizza inferno and stayed until Monday morning, before going on their journey back home. 48 hours earlier, people were formally shaking hands. Now, they dearly hugged each other goodbye. Invitations had been given to each other and visits promised (and kept!), as we bid farewell. We felt that it will be a long time until we see each other again, while knowing that it would be only two to three days until we would hear each other again (and in fact it did not even take that long). I am still too confused about what happened in those three days. It was way too easy to make friends with you! Actually this is not strictly true: We were friends the whole time. We just never met before.
From left to right: Onos, Fades and Lerks (on the bottom you see the rare species of a dedicated Gorge player—bellyslide!). tudy [NS2 CO]
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Vanguard Command Update So far this month in Vanguard, four games have entered Vanguard. They are GTA V, Payday 2, World of Warships and Elite Dangerous. If you are playing any of these games, feel free to come up to the Vanguard channels; the spin-up leaders will appreciate the support.
tice. Unfortunately, we had to shut down our OC unit as the game doesn't cater well to the region. However, I'd like to shout out to our EU guys as they are making a come back! They have struggled since the beginning and are now starting to really pick up steam!
Vanguard also had to say farewell Ffaen as the Vanguard Division Officer this month. He has decided to return to Minecraft. Vanguard wishes him all the best. He was a valuable member of the team.
This month we have had a lot going on with our competitive teams. The current season is almost over and both of our teams are doing very well. Team 1 is competing in division 2 and have had some very challenging matches, but have either tied or came out as the victor! Team 2 is in division 4 and have made short work of their competitors and are expected to move to division 3 next season. Follow our teams on theDGL.org.
Unit Updates Evolve The Evolve division is alive and playing in the weekly ESL tournaments. Any TAW member who is interested in joining us either as a division to call your home, or simply for casual play you are more than welcome at the Sunday tournaments. This month the game developer for Evolve released 2 new maps, made some changes to the selectable perks, and did some minor balancing of various characters. They also announced that the 5th monster has been completed, however there has not yet been any information released on the monster. Finally, I would like to thank Sixthgear, Alas, iVertigo, and InsomniaGamer for their service and wish them well in their new divisions. Their hard work made our division grow strong, and have unfortunately had to step down. Fortunately, we still have a strong core of members who have stepped up to the challenge and the Evolve division in running smoothly. MMOHealer [EV1 XO]
Nem [INS SUL] Guild Wars 2 At the moment in Guild Wars, we are working hard at recruiting and bringing in new members. We are also looking into making an EU unit on the NA servers, enabling us to reach more regions. Nightshaper [VG DC] Homeworld
Insurgency
Homeworld is starting to take an upward turn. We TAW’s Insurgency division is still going strong. This are now on Update 1.26. In the HW game lobby, we are getting increasingly busy as all the old players month we placed JesterOTG as the NA CO and picked up a couple more servers for in-house prac- are now starting to come back to the game. All the
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races for the remastered collection have been balanced so that there are equal advantages and disadvantages when playing.
In division news, we are pleased to announce the promotion of our new Exploration Squad Leader, Kavarin! His area of expertise will be finding and navigating jump points as well as the overall coordination of our Exploration missions. We are still very much looking forward to the FPS module, which should be coming out in the upcoming weeks.
There are new mods coming out and old ones being updating and remastered. They are Battlestar Galactica, Mass Effect and Star Wars. We don't know as of yet when they will be released.
Zoloft [SCZ SUL] World of Warships The spin-up meeting for World of Warships had a good show, and we are now getting up and running. Initially we will have three battalions: North American, European, and Oceanic. BombaHawk, the former CO from the World of Tanks Oceanic Battal-
TAW is now playing against other clans in Homeworld. We are also working on organizing a tournament for Homeworld. More information will be available for the next update as we are still in the planning stage. PWRR [HW SUL]
ion, has already transferred and will lead our Oceanic team. ShmeeCow will lead the North American Star Citizen battalion for the time being. We are also in the process of selecting a European member to transfer, Things are coming right along in Star Citizen. Patch who will then lead the European battalion. 1.1.2 just launched, which features many substantial bug fixes and an Arena Commander Tutorial to Once staff are in place, we look forward to recruithelp folks just getting started with flying their ing and building the WWS team. Feel free to join us ships. for games in the WWS channels in TeamSpeak under the Vanguard Horizon Division. The times for The RSI website also got a revamp, and it's easier our mandatory events are 10:00 p.m. Eastern time than ever to access relevant content and stay on every Sunday for the North American battalion, and the cutting edge of what is going on in the Star 8:00 p.m. GMT+10 every Wednesday for our OceCitizen Universe. This month also featured the Hull anic battalion. European times will be selected Series concept sale which introduced us to five new soon. Transport-oriented ships of varying sizes, as well as a sneak peak of the cargo and item manipulation ShmeeCow [VG SUL] designs.
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Smite Division Update Smite is a MOBA-style game where players control gods and other mythological figures from lore and sagas of old times. What sets it apart from other games of the genre is the unique 3 rd person perspective. Officially released for PC on 25 March 2014, the game is available to play for free, but in-game purchases are possible. In the prolonged beta phase that preceded the release and began in 2012, players were able to buy a pack with all available gods and the possibility to automatically unlock every god released later on. Smite is rapidly growing as a spectator sport just like DotA2 and League of Legends already have become. The first Smite world championship, held in January 2015 in Atlanta (USA) was dominated by “Cognitive Prime“ from NA who took the title and a US $1.3 million cash prize from a total prize pool of about $US 2.6 million. Smite became a favorite with TAW once it went to open beta in early 2013 and was an instant hit, even surpassing 100 active members in 2014. Things have settled down a little bit by now, 72 active members at the time of writing are still representing TAW on the worldwide servers. The NA side, being the battalion with the most members, even runs a platoon with two competitive ladder teams. The latest news from Smite is that on 23 April 2015, 3rd Corps Lieutenant Commander (and stand-in DO for Smite) Andrewki founded a battalion for the Oceanic region. With a current total of seven players, they are still looking for new members. Currently, the division is conducting a recruitment drive. For more information, click here. Mandatory practices and events for the NA battalion happen on Sunday, Monday and Thursday with a staff meeting for the officers on Wednesday. The EU battalion meets for mandatory events on Sundays, with optional practices on Tuesday and Thursday. OC battalion has an all-hands meeting every Friday. Drop by in the TeamSpeak channel if you have problems on your solo lane playing an ancient god, and the members of Smite division will be happy to help you. Click the following links to get to the Smite public discussion forum and to the internal member forum. The TAW Smite Wiki is right this way. Semtext [NEWS]
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Upcoming Event TAWsome Trollpick Starcraft Open Tournament TAWsome Trollpick Starcraft Open is a collaborative StarCraft II Heart of the Swarm (HOTS) tournament occurring at 1 p.m. Central European time on 30 May 2015. It is organized by TAW, Starcraft Sweden and Trollpick.se and is open to all players. Brackets will be announced on 22 May. The first round will be best of three (depending on turnout, first round may be a single elimination match) and the playoffs will be best of five. TAW will stream and cast as much as possible. Maps to be played will be from Season 2. See Appendix 1 for all the rules. Players are required to show up during the course of the entire tournament. First, second and third prizes will include amazing StarCraft canvas illustrations by Kristloff and Trollpick.se. To sign up, contact Chaosgame at chaosgame@taw.net. If the tournament is successful, TAW will try to run this event monthly.
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Updates From Operation Support TAW YouTube Channel TAW’s YouTube is back in action and always looking for new videos. After a few months of inactivity, it is back stronger than before with new series and entertaining videos like Battle Royale where we pit TAW members against each other and TAW vs. the World where we send groups into the wilds of random matches as a group. To contribute, you need to email content to your PIO or DC for approval, who will forward to SOCOP’s Video Development team. Once approved, send a title for the video. You do not need the TAW seal or logo visible at all times during the video but here are some things you do need:
Introduce yourself and anyone else you are recording with. Say what division you are from and what you will be doing in the video Have a closing statement that summarizes the video and what viewers can look forward to in the future. Follow TAW’s Code of Ethics Have fun
Friend on Facebook
TAW Steam Group
Follow on Twitter
TAW TV
TAW on Youtube
A more detailed guide to come in the near future. Now that you know what is needed, you may ask what if multiple people want to record the same game? The answer is simple: You can do it as long as you sync the videos so what that means is basically if the game has an in-game timer / clock, you're fine. If not, type something in chat so everyone recording can see it. How do you record videos without any fancy software? Similar to streaming, you can record with an open broadcaster software (e.g., Xsplit), but just make sure you record with a bitrate of around 2,200 as that is 720p. If your computer can’t handle that, use a bitrate of 1800 (480p). Also 30 frames per second (fps) is the most common fps to record at. For more information, contact Magnus. Magnus [SOCOP]
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Updates From Operation Support New Master Tier Introduced, Updates Made for Qualification Badges Effective immediately, TAW has created a fourth tier for qualification badges that can be awarded to members demonstrating exceptional knowledge and skill in 30 categories. The new Master tier is the highest-level of qualification badge that can be awarded, trumping Expert tier and was created to recognize the most skilled members dedicated to their gaming craft. Master tier badges are distinguished by four stars and a red, black and grey ribbon, with one thick central light grey stripe. To accommodate the addition of the Master tier, TAW has reclassified some of the assignment codes as follows: Tier
Old Assignment Code Classification
New Assignment Code Classification
Individual
5000
5000
Basic
5300
5100
Advanced
5200
5200
Expert
5100
5300
Master
N/A
5400
In addition, the following changes have been made:

With the introduction of the Rotary Pilot badge and Fixed-Wing Pilot badge two years ago, the Pilot's Wings badge became obsolete. It has been removed from the list of awardable badges.  Various typos and dead links in the Information Wiki have been fixed. TAW encourages all members to contact Support Operations (SUP) if any additional errors are found. SUP would like to give a special thank you to the TAW Graphics team, who were responsible for making all the new badges. Kinare [SUP DC]
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North American Graphics Team Is Recruiting
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