CT Sideways, Chief News Editor
Monday, February 4th, 2019

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     The week begins with another newsletter from the 501st Legion. Contents include the start of the Galactic Campaign with Hailstorm’s Third Platoon and an interesting look into a public training with the ARC detachment. Additionally, a feature story of an alternative campaign hosted by Lieutenant Machete. Clue in for more information about what’s going on within the unit, starting with the long awaited persistent campaign.

     This week in the Galactic Campaign, the opening moves have been played and Third platoon, A Company has secured a MSR [Main Supply Route] crossing west to east of a settlement called Midgard. Clone Tactical Enforcers covered the roads crossing to east where the other elements will begin their attack. Mention of light resistance, that wasn’t prepared composed primarily of scattered droid infantry and light armor. A possible factory that could be the source of deadly B2 battle droids equipped with personal energy shields was located, but not engaged due to lack of intel. Third platoon’s acting sergeant major, Sergeant Coward indicated that the structures could be a strongpoint in the next set of tactical movements that Hailstorm Battalion decides to take, although the enemy was very willing to give up the east with minimal resistance. One native Negevi was located and taken for processing.

     Due to some issues regarding Steam, the next movements from the battalion have been delayed until next week and Third platoon will be participating in a field training exercise while the rest of the battalion continues the initial advance.
   

     Unrelated to the campaign, on this last Friday, the 501st Legion’s advanced recon commando detachment, Onyx, offered a public training on the topic of close quarters combat (CQC) tactics and high value target/very important person (HVT/VIP) procedures for all members of the 501st. The training was about three hours long and was focused on practical training of procedures regarding protecting a single target along with a player vs. player portion, or referred to as “Combat Survivability” by the ARC members present, was meant to further test the present close combat skills of the trainees and help them understand how to obtain new skills to be used all across the battlefield.

     Sergeant George stated that “The purpose of this training was to make Onyx seem more open and approachable, to show people that they can come to us with questions. This training was the beginning of many and I hope to do many more in the future.”

   

    In other news, Lieutenant Machete has been running several campaigns on his own dedicated server, including a large bi-weekly World War I campaign, titled All American, that will be running again this upcoming weekend. This campaign has a persistent story and follows the 82nd Infantry Division through the European Theater of the First World War. It is different than most other campaigns in that it allows anyone to hold any position without their normal qualifications in the 501st. Anyone could be a pilot or a tank driver for the campaign without having the qualifications for the standard fun-operations. Another notable feature is that after a couple player deaths, rank and progress for that individual soldier is reset to ensure a realistic approach to operations and a sense of self-preservation. The Lieutenant would like to remind players that neglecting 501st duties will cause removal from the campaign. Check with Lieutenant Machete about joining his discord to participate in this campaign and others like it.



    We here at the news team look forward to the continuation of the Galactic Campaign and we’ll be back next week to inform you what has transpired. We would like to thank Onyx and CC Machete for allowing us to feature them in this week’s article and let the reader know that they’re open for any questions you may have about them. See you next time from the 501st!

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Promotions and News:

Avalanche 1 -

Blade (CT to Corporal)
“Excited for the campaign, ready to kick ass take names.” - CS Point

Avalanche 2 -

Second Platoon’s Platoon Sergeant drank out of a toilet bowl today.

“G*dd*mn f**kin’ Eden editor bulls**t” - CC Player

Avalanche 3 -
Cyber (CT to Corporal)
“We, believe it or not, are still doing good.” - CC Ewik

Avalanche 4 -
“Sorensic and I would like to congratulate CP Drifter on becoming the new 4-1 Squad leader.” - CS Crisis

Acklay -
Nobear (CT to CP)
“Acklay is utilising the extra time this week to prepare. It’s always important to be cautious!” - CC Lava

Razor -
Casidy (CX-X to CX-P)
“Boarding procedures changed. the campaign started, that's exciting. Razor's pretty decent; sometimes they piss me off, but most of the time I like them.” - CX-S Nocturnal

Medical -
Bronson (CM-C to CM)

Zeta -
“Section 4 is officially open and we are looking for leadership. Direct message Section Commander CW Archon and acting Section Subordinate CT Mimir for more details.” - CS Verax

From the News Team -
I’d like to welcome CT Gonzo, CT Sense and CT Karrazim to the news writing team. We’re currently looking for members ranked trooper and above in order to help maintain the weekly newsletter and find interesting things to share. Even if you don’t want to contribute to the weekly role, or you’re not a trooper, we’re always looking for interesting content to be featured in the newsletters. We love screenshots and if you send them in, we might feature them on the next weekly issue!
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DID YOU KNOW?

Ctrl + Shift clicking on the map allows you to create perfectly straight lines.

501st Trivia

The 501st used to have a Kamino map, a VR training map, and a PVP arena collection. One day, Lieutenant Euler accidentally cleared his hard drive and now they’re gone forever.

501st Legion Discord

501st Legion Patreon

501st Donation Page

^{501st News opinion doesn’t necessarily reflect the opinion of the entire community. If you’d like to help the news team, you can in many ways, including but not limited to, signing up for the news team, submitting an article, posting a piece of media or getting publicity for an event. For those interested, please contact either CT Sideways or CI-C Daedalus for more information. Your voice matters, let it be heard. We’re currently looking for journalists to collect stories, media and content and story writers to write articles. Also please consider donating to the 501st to help pay for server costs and help keep this community alive and well maintained. Photo credits: CS Crisis, CT Sideways, CW-O Lindsey and CC Lava. Campaign video credits: CS Rexi}

^{Chief News Editor: CT Sideways}

^{News Editor: CI-C Daedalus}

^{Story Writers and Journalists: CT Gonzo, CT Karrazim and CT Sense.}

CT Sideways, Chief News Editor
Monday, January 28th, 2019

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     Welcome back again, clones! This week’s issue of the 501st newsletter continues to bring you the up-to-date information from the front. Gather around and listen close for the latest in Republic news. This week’s article will contain information regarding the upcoming Galactic Campaign hosted by Hailstorm Battalion and the 501st Legion.

     The Galactic Campaign is approaching fast and will be the next step into making an interactive and creative experience for everyone in GARC. It is a long term commitment that the 501st will be deployed into for the foreseeable future. The foundation and principal ideas for a large scale campaign, spanning across many worlds with variable objectives and consequences has always been a goal for the 501st, but it was not until CS Verax, the current section lead for campaign management, and Hailstorm command decided to expand on the idea and dedicate the resources towards fulfilling this goal. Recently, Coward’s campaign was an example at what a planned campaign could achieve when all the elements participate. As of today, the unit has been doing similar random adventures that have been varied every week and field training exercises that focus on improving specific skills within the battalion alongside the odd campaign thrown in the mix. There was an issue with these missions, some felt as if there was nothing at stake and no real consequences and that there was no real difference between a well made field training exercise and a well made campaign mission, other than the fact that campaigns had a tendency to stretch over a longer period of time. After some time organizing and the end of winter stand-down, the 501st has presented the refined idea of a procedural and persistent Galactic Campaign. Now there is a galaxy at large and a continuous story to invest in. People can now look forward towards new operations, putting the skills they’ve learned to the test and possibly have the opportunity for victory or failure in dynamic and important missions.

     This Grand Galactic Campaign is similar to a Total War style galactic map that consists of 63 sectors, with each sector having 7 to 32 planets each. Battalion HQ will decide what actions to take on the sector level, while standard troops will only experience the fight planetside. Every action will be felt by the unit with battles affecting the outcome of sectors and the sectors affecting their local region. These regions, which are composed of two to four sectors, can contain multiple factions and could take anywhere from six months to a year to complete, with individual sectors taking anywhere from one to four months. This requires the constant attention of all the C-shops, who will need to continually maintain it and if they do, this could potentially last the entire lifetime of the unit. This campaign also needs intelligent and dedicated people to help flesh it out with managers and story writers who will give depth and focus to our galaxy. Every action matters and no battle is pointless as they will be remembered by the consequences that follow. Other GARC units could potentially join this campaign further down the road to assist the 501st in the fight with real players representing the Confederacy’s command who will be trying to beat the Republic and remove their control from the galaxy.

      “I think the payoff for the campaign could be very large” states CS Coward, who is the Lead Story Writer for the Galactic Campaign.

     The 501st will be starting on the southern side of the galaxy in the sector Sujimis. The neighboring regions include the Naboo Pike and the Outlands, which holds such systems as Kamino, Ryloth and Christophis. The sector that the 501st is currently deployed in is home to the Kazaraki who were recently thrown out of power in the local region due to a natural catastrophe and temporary loss of communication to the Republic Senate. This event allowed the Republic allied Pantorans to seize political control of the region and all its planets. The Pantorans, who are very ambitious, have been seeking control of the region for some time to extend their support received from the Republic. The Kazaraki on the other hand, who were known to be a very noble and proud people and were very well received by almost all the other powers in the region. With the loss of all of their former political power, their long lasted control of the region and a recent strike from Pantoran forces, which killed a high profile Kazaraki Baron, the Kazaraki people have devolved into a completely warlike state and began to participate in barbaric matters such as the slave trade. They then retaliated and called for the assistance of the Confederacy to remove Pantoran control of the region and seceded from the Republic. Along with asking for CIS support, many of the neutral worlds, most of which despise the Republic and the Pantorans, are willing to rally to support the Kazaraki and ultimately seek that the Pantorans relinquish their control of the system. The 501st has been deployed to stabilize the region and defend Pantoran control and assets.

     In the most recent events Hailstorm Battalion has broken away from the Republic supply chain in the sector and began its invasion of the contested planet of Negev with two Acclamators, the RSS Harbinger and RSS Phantom. The RSS Harbinger was lost and considered derelict during the initial battle over the planet leaving the RSS Phantom the lone Republic cruiser in the battle. If Republic forces lose this sector, it will open access for the CIS and Karazaki invasion and control of all the local regions. The campaign begins February 1st with 3rd Platoon’s operation and will continue through with the other platoon operations for the foreseeable future.

    With the beginning of the Galactic Campaign coming around the corner, every element is preparing for the coming fight with renewed vigor. The campaign team needs intelligent and dedicated people to fill the roles that are required to maintain such a large undertaking and as always, the community needs your support to keep growing. Projects such as this and everything else in the community are all made by members who take the time out of their lives to present a deep and engaging experience. Battalion expects a smooth run with the new campaign thanks to the new server box, sitting comfortably in a datacenter, which has been acquired thanks to support and donations from the community. With the continued development of such projects as the Grand Campaign, or The Clone Wars mod, the 501st experience has only just begun to reach its potential...

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Promotions and News:

Battalion HQ -

"This week, remember. Don't drink and drive. Drive and drink. And use your brains." - BC Jay

Avalanche 1 -

“Ready to kick ass and take names in the campaign” - CS Point

Avalanche 2 -

Stuka (CT to Sr. CT), Parrot (CT to Sr. CT), Gull to (CR-C to CT)

Avalanche 3 -

Muzzer (CT to Sr. CT), Slooshi (CR-C to CT)

"We still doing good." - CC Ewik

Avalanche 4 -

Pro (CT to Sr. CT)

Acklay -

Needles (CT to CP)
“Acklay is training hard to prepare for the campaign. Excited as always to fight alongside everyone.” - CC Lava

Onyx -

This upcoming Wednesday, the 30th, Onyx will be hosting a public training session at 5:30pm EST on whatever server is available. The Topic(s): CQC Procedures, and HVT/VIP Procedures.

Razor -

If anyone intends on being a pilot they should be part of the next two Initial Evaluation and Assessment classes. Razor in its current state is almost full. Check the first pin in the razor channel on discord for information.

Discord link to Razor's IEA

Medical -
Welcoming the newest Medics: CM-C Tom and CM-C Jericho. Bronson (CM-C to CM)

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DID YOU KNOW?

You can Alt+click on map icons to move them around!

501st Legion Discord

501st Patreon

^{501st News opinion doesn’t necessarily reflect the opinion of the entire community. If you’d like to help the news team, you can in many ways, including but not limited to, signing up for the news team, submitting an article, posting a piece of media or getting publicity for an event. For those interested, please contact either CT Sideways or CI-C Daedalus for more information. Your voice matters, let it be heard. We’re currently looking for journalists to collect stories, media and content and story writers to write articles. Also please consider donating to the 501st to help pay for server costs and help keep this community alive and well maintained. Photo credits: CI Rathian, CX-C Sazi, CC Ewik}

^{Chief News Editor: CT Sideways
News Editor: CI-C Daedalus}

CT Sideways, Chief News Editor
Monday, January 21st, 2019

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     Welcome back, clones! This is the beginning of the weekly newsletter! With the new year coming around it’s important for you to keep up-to-date with all the latest news from within your community. We’re dedicated to finding the trending topics and upcoming events that are planned within the 501st and keeping tabs on everything that you need. Keep coming to the website to check all the latest articles and posts that affect the ever-changing unit.

     Winter stand-down is officially coming to a close and the battalion is returning to full combat strength. With this metabolism comes great change, operations are running larger and larger thanks to the server box moving to a data center, which is currently going through testing right now. This could not have been done without the generous donations and support that the community has given to the unit along the time and dedication of all the members. The unit has come further and further from the original vision, which has expanded beyond the horizon to unimaginable heights and will continue to grow into a truly unique experience that can't be found anywhere else.

    Official work has started on the Galactic Campaign, which is similar to Pandemic’s Star Wars: Battlefront II Galactic Conquest gamemode, featuring space and interplanetary battles and a player-driven sustained logistic management system that will keep track of progress and losses as the 501st carries its battles across the galaxy. A full fledged star map of the galaxy is being constructed to give tension and stakes to the player-made campaigns of the future with real consequences for those who fight.

     The Clone Wars Mod is currently in its Alpha stages of development and available for public testing on the Steam Workshop. Already featured on the most popular mods page, the Clone Wars Mod team is working diligently on the future versions of the mod. They count on your support to keep them going as this is a non-profit project made by Clone Wars fans for pure entertainment. To keep better assets and gameplay experiences coming, the Clone Wars team appreciates any help it can receive and has worked with many prominent members from all around the gaming and modding communities. As progress grows, so does the scope, width, and depth of the experience, rivaling that of even some of the most expensive contemporary AAA titles that share the Star Wars name.

    Alternative military operations have always been a popular attraction for certain members within the unit. Recently we’ve been graced by some notable campaigns, including two notable World War II campaigns hosted by CW Lindsey and CP Tyler. For Clone Wars campaigns, several are still ongoing and hosted by a single zeus who want to cover entire islands over the course of multiple individual missions, one of which is CS Crisis’s Altis campaign that has been ongoing for the course of SEVEN months and still the fight is not over. Dates and times are often posted for these events and more information can be found on the Legion discord.

    Zeta company officially started as of November 24th. This company will help find time for people to enjoy the unit without being overly active. Captain Klein and First Lieutenant Machete came up with an organization of reserves that serves as a stepping stone to bolster the ranks for everyone. It serves as a global check-in for all new and returning members, where one is assigned a squad with a goal to play one Zeta operation to serve as a quality check. The total capacity is 16 squads of 11 people, currently sitting at 12 filled squads. The creation of Zeta serves multiple roles, including that of a training and penal company. Training includes the current cadet corps to assign people, but also corrects behavior of troops who may need a reminder. Ultimately, Zeta will serve the Republic and those who also want to, but otherwise couldn’t. Currently headed by CS Verax, Zeta promises a future in the Legion for all those willing.

     Keep checking in here for more news on what’s happening in the 501st Legion. After a long winter, it’s time to charge your blaster packs and load that tibanna gas. There’s still plenty of new droids to destroy and another year awaits the 501st in it’s long march to victory.
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Promotions and News:

• Avalanche 3
   Snoopy (CR-C to CT)
  “We’re doing good.” - CC Ewik
  
  
• RTO
  Benjamin (CI-C to CI, 4-Romeo)
  “Bingnut.” - CI-S Roadboy

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DID YOU KNOW?
You can help your buddies dig trenches with ACE interactions!

501st Legion Discord

501st Legion Patreon

<sup>501st News opinion doesn’t necessarily reflect the opinion of the entire community. If you’d like to help, by signing up for the news team, submitting an article or posting a piece of media, please, contact CT Sideways, CI-C Daedalus or any other member of the News team. Your voice matters, let it be heard. Also please consider donating to the 501st to help pay for server costs, keep this community alive and well maintained. Photo credits: CX-W Flog, Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (EA 2005), CP Tyler and CS Legia.

Chief News Editor: CT Sideways
Editor: CI-C Daedalus</sup>

CS Sideways, News Editor-in-chief
Sunday, October 28, 2018

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     Brothers! The 101st Doom Company has joined the Grand Army of the Republic Council (GARC) and made its first steps into the community. Joining the ranks of the GARC means they will fight side by side and bolster the forces of the 501st Legion and the 212th Attack Battalion. Utilizing their signature green and yellow armor, the 101st readies themselves for battle against anyone who would threaten the Republic. Our allies continue to grow everyday and the support for our endeavors grows with lighting speed and the realization shines brightly upon us, that our community will continue to grow readily.

CT Verax, News Editor
Saturday May 19th, 2018

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ANNIVERSARY - Today marks the one year anniversary for the inception of the 501st Legion Starism Unit. Major reformations have taken place within the past year that has fundamentally changed the unit. Currently, the 501st Legion stands as the most popular unit in all starisms within Arma 3 alone with a rough estimate of over 2,300 members, according to the Arma 3 Starism page. The 501st unit alone has broken several astonishing records in not only longevity, but in maintenance of the thousands of clone troopers under an extremely efficient command structure. The unit started a year ago as one platoon (roughly 30 troops) to evolve to battalion status (roughly more than 350 troops). We sought more information and interviewed the new Battalion Commander, Major Jay, about the one year anniversary and how the unit has progressed, “Starting from the beginning as one platoon with one and a half squads with when we officially started, we have grown to up to roughly battalion level and we achieved almost what any unit could of achieved.” During our interview we asked Major Jay about the size of the unit within Arma 3, he responded excitedly “We have a somewhat well rounded community, we are the single largest unit in Arma 3 alone, apart from Star Wars Sims alone.” We also asked about where he envisions the unit going in the next year, he replied “Our battalion movement will good, we should have the next company (Blizzard) up to a 80-90% capacity to see how well they are doing. Apart from that in the meantime, we can expand outside of Arma with new avenues to become a massive conglomerate that is headed by this unit’s leadership. We being able to branch out and establish our own dominion and really start conquering the community with other games is a great long term goal.”

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BATTALION CREATION - On Wednesday May 16th, a leadership lead by the Avalanche HQ was held at 1500 PM EST. After the meeting it was announced that the 501st Legion would be expanding to a battalion level, with BC Jay (formerly CC Jay) CC Bondoer, and CC Cruise elevating to battalion command. Captain Jay was promoted to major with his primary billet now at battalion commander and Lieutenant Bondoer was promoted to captain with his primary billet now at battalion executive officer and finally Lieutenant Cruise’s primary billet is now battalion shop commander. One of first great decisions made by battalion command was the selection of leadership in Avalanche HQ, CC Klein was elevated to the company commander position and CP Jan (after applying for the position) was made Avalanche Company Adjutant on Sunday May 13th. In the platoon section of Avalanche HQ, CC Sparrow (formerly CS-M Sparrow) was promoted to second lieutenant and was elevated to 1st platoon commander (which was formerly held by CC Klein).

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BLIZZARD COMPANY - During the leadership meeting on May 16th, Blizzard Company was announced with its leadership already set at an excellent start. CC Angel and CC Whiskers (formerly CS-M Whiskers) were both elevated from Acklay platoon leadership to Blizzard Company HQ leadership. Blizzard has three platoons under its command, with Acklay acting as a 3rd platoon but still referred as "Acklay 1." Though the former Acklay leadership was elevated, they left it in good hands with CC Lava (formerly Sr. CS Lava) to take the reins as platoon commander, CT Walrusking as platoon RT, CM Navo appointed to platoon medic, and with the expansion of a 4th squad in Acklay. Hopes run very high with Blizzard Company as the battalion command shows exuberant confidence in Blizzard’s newfounded leadership, including Blizzard HQ decisions to appoint CP Earthknite as company RT and CM-P Calo as company medic. This solid foundation of leadership is assured to help Blizzard HQ expand with ease within the near future. Great decisions were immediately made to help Blizzard 1 with the appointment of CM Shoe as platoon medic and CT Fry as platoon RT.

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DEDICATIONS: The News Team wishes everyone a Happy 1 Year to the 501st Legion and a personal thank you directly from BC Jay: “I want to thank the leadership and the community as a whole for helping us grow and we look forward to our unit growing even more in the future.”

With the new Starwars Opposition Mod update comes the arrival of new operations! This current set of operations will take place during the "Battle of Aargonar"