So, umm... Happy New Year!

[Hedford]

I also want to wish everyboy a HAPPY NEW YEAR....and Tomas you are really good in long speeches..d*mn http://expansionfleet.sparks.priorweb.be/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Well I have to say, 2002 has been a rough year for Expansion but the site managed.
Knight has finally left this RPG, so we can now go further (without anyone demanding,accusing someone) and make this RPG the best one on the entire web!

We may not forgot the BUILDERS/Creators of this website...respectively David and JC...we are very greatfull that they started this RPG and ofcourse continued when things didn't go as planned..(You all know what I mean)
So I want to make a toast...

*Takes his glass of champane*

David and JC..I hope you will continue for many years, decades :P if possible. So we can all enjoy the band that has been formed during our play at this RPG...

CHEERS!

[Valory]

Have to say I love this place *sniffle.  Even though I was not voted best Female Member:angry4:   I should have won.  Naw just kidding.  I have been here on expansion a long time, doesnt really seem that long.  Still dont really know most of you, but hopefully you all will want to get to know me this new year.  Been lots of ups and downs.  But I have to say I wouldnt change any of it, and I hope to be here longer.  So far I have not kept one postion for long, I kinda float around I guess you could say lol.  Hopefully my characters will settle down and be promoted.  But anyway again I love yall, its almost like a family here.  Cheers.

[Tomas Goransson]

Heh

[Shakira]

Well, I'm not very original at speeches, so I'm gonna make it short: HAPPY NEW YEAR, people! I also wanted to say this first year of Expansion has been amazing.. I.. I even.. got.. *starts sobbing* I even got engaged! *shows her ring* Well.. the ring's not 100% gold,  but what else can you ask from a Göransson? *smiles* (LOL that was a joke, Tomas, don't take it seriously, it's part of 2002 now! =P)

May you have a wonderful 2003!

[Shakira]

Man, everyone's got a speech way better than mine.. I'll try to make one better, but later LOL I gotta go now hah!

[Nocturnus]

Now thats just one big lie valory. YOu dont love us. your here coz you can't resist us http://expansionfleet.sparks.priorweb.be/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Resistance is futile.. mwhahahahaha :0

bah nah http://expansionfleet.sparks.priorweb.be/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'> we love you to val and like everyone else your an important member and we'd be lost without you.

[Ryan Caldarian]

Happy new year and lets hope we can put the problems (*Cough* Britannia Fleet *Cough*) behind us and look forward some new divisons.

[Valory]

Yes Happy New Year.  I cant believe I've been here a whole year.  I love yall, and darn it wheres the liquor.

[Vorak]

Hmmm... 2003... this year started with nothing but hard labor for me.  I had to DJ on a party, started transporting everything and setting everything up as of 11am of the 31st, I played the last song around 5am on the 1st of january, and I remember that I fell in my bed at 8.10am at last.
So thats why I got up at 3pm in the afternoon :P
But it was fun anyway so it was ok http://expansionfleet.sparks.priorweb.be/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Anyway, I want to wish everyone a happy new year!

Now let me look back at the year that has passed.
It is like Tomas said it, that he had no idea how much it would affect him.  Well, it was the exact same thing for me.
Somewhere in the year 2001, me and Winterspoon (back then his main char was Brendan Man Tuil), had joined an RPG called "Delta Fleet".  Unfortunately, that RPG had only a few members and eventually died.  Yet, we had the most amazing, original and creative missions that not even Gene Roddenberry would have come up with, perhaps, and yet very realistic still. Though we always were disturbed by the few people on that rpg, I had an amazing time on that RPG.  And though Delta Fleet is lost long ago, it's owner, James Palfrey, is now even among us with the "Marines Fleet" and I am happy to work with him again.
But back to the point.  Delta Fleet died slowly, and in the end it didn't even have a board any more.  But the RPG virus had caught us, and so me and Winterspoon discussed the idea of creating a Star Trek RPG of our own.

The main reason, I think, why we came up to this decision was because of the "Corporation".  The idea of the Corporation started back in the days of Delta Fleet in 2001, who had joined a more global RPG called Starfleet Strike Force.  The Corporation had no forums of its own, it was only Brendan Man Tuil who went around from here to there, giving people some small glimpses about what the Corporation was about and stood for.  James Palfrey, I think, had never a problem with this new concept that Man Tuil implemented, but when joined Starfleet Strike Force, the problems began.   They were not open to listen to other people, to new ideas, to alternatives of Starfleet that were just different, but therefore not better or worse.  Brendan Man Tuil even had a hearing and they demanded an apology from him (no, Knight wasn't in that RPG).  So there the idea of building an RPG in where the Corporation could be allowed freely, already was born.
And when Delta Fleet went down, we decided to pick up the lead ourselves, and created Expansion Fleet, in where the Starfleet/Corporation share would be 50/50.

Ever since that, alot has happened.
First of all, we worked with a php board that crashed not long after people started using it.  It was irrepairable, so I decided to switch to Ikonboard CGI forums, which is still the same software we use for the boards today, and none of them have crashed (except for the Britannia Fleet but I have my doubts if it really crashed or if it was to destroy certain evidences...).

Ok, first of all we indeed had the whole USC thing.  But in fact, I don't even remember exactly all those things that happened back in the times of the USC.  I remember parts of it, yes, but not enough as I wish I could remember.
Either way, it caused the RPG to reset, but ever since it kept growing, and growing strong enough to face another assault; because if he meant it like that or not, it is what Knight did, just in a different way, after the USC.
The way things are looking now, it has become so strong that it's even impossible to fall back on a RPG reset.  Expansion has grown, and much more than I expected it would when we first created the RPG.

I had hoped, in the beginning, to get at least 10 - 15 people together, and run a few missions on a few ships, spread over Starfleet and the Corporation.  And look what Expansion presents us today.  I would not ever have dared hoping for this.

And yes of course we had our share of problems, fights, discussions, things going wrong... but 2002 a bad year?  No, I don't think so.
The good side of problems, is that it can also bring people closer together.  And it is certainly the case here, if you ask me.  Look at what kind of team we all have become.  A year ago, I had no idea who the person called "Tomas Goransson", or "Valory", or "Zach Schmidt" was.  We all have got to know each other pretty well in this past year, and somehow, we are not only a team in the RPG's missions, but also in real life.
There have been players in the RPG that came and went, but there is this vast core that remained true, and who are still here today, making this RPG possible as it is now.

Because, after all, me and Winterspoon have built this RPG and managed it, but without you, the people, we would still be standing nowhere now.
I want to thank you all for remaining true to Expansion, through good and bad times, and for being part of this great team.

I must say I find it a bit sad that we had to ban Knight.  He would have been a good player, if only he would be willing to listen to others and learn from his mistakes. If he had done that, he could have been part of our team as well.  But, despite all the chances I have given him, he chose for grabbing power and domination time after time again, and so it must be that even before the end of the year he needed to be banned.

I think, the biggest step that Expansion has taken this year, is to go to the new system of divisions and multiple boards.  While other RPG's working with divisions isn't a new concept, they are almost always PBEM rpg's, while we apply this system on a forum-based RPG.  I admit, it took awhile for everyone to get used to it, and it seemed more complicated than before, but now a few months later, everyone seems to handle this system pretty well and once they're used to it, they begin to see the advantages of this multiple board system.

What's in it for the upcoming year?
Well, we never know what awaits us in the future, but I think it very likely that we will (finally) have less fights and discussions turning ackward, now that Knight is gone.  Now things will be discussed among people who are who they are and not make up a lie about it, or threathen with court over something they don't even know a thing about.
But don't let us look back at the "Knight Time" as a dark time; though Knight himself did not, I hope that all of us have learned something of importance out of all these fights, that can benefit us in making this RPG more realistic, and more fun to be at.
Further plans I am working on for this upcoming year are not really complete, but I can tell that I am working on a strong partnership with another large website. I will tell more when everything is set and done.
Also, I believe that we will most likely keep gaining new members on a frequent base, if we keep promoting Expansion the way we do, and voting in the topsites as often as possible to keep our site on top.

I think I will end this "speech" here now before it gets REALLY too long (though it already is I suppose lol) but I thought that, as part-owner of Expansion, it would be nice to say a word to everyone http://expansionfleet.sparks.priorweb.be/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

[mahGNUs]

Even though I was working when all you other peeps was running amok on the streets, celebrating, and feel abit bitter about that.. I suppose someone needs to keep the internet safe..

Thank you to T'Hain for getting me hooked.
Thank you everyone! For being you, kicking ass and making the story go on!

A happy new year to everyone!.. And...

I WANT MORE BUTT IN MY YEARS OF SERVICE!

//Magnus

(Edited by mahGNUs at 1:53 pm on Jan. 2, 2003)

[Tomas Goransson]

Yes, happy new year! And I am, good at looong spechies, so I gives it a go.

When I first got here, for a year ago, the 27th december 2001, I had no idea about how much this would affect me this year. First, I was a Lt. CMDR on the Corp ship of Hogun (trust me, I have not forgot! http://expansionfleet.sparks.priorweb.be/ikonboard/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'>), and then, I was promoted to full commander, then it was fun. And after the restart thanks to the USC, I found my way to the USS Skytoucher, there I now am captain! But we goes way ahead now. First time I "met" Shakira I was in the CC and was about to board the Hogun, then it was just a Hi, and Bye, but now, we are engaged, or, atleast we are supposed to be, if my stupid div commanders could do something to relocate her to Skytouchers bar. =P

Well, There have been tears and there have been smiles, mostly both, actually, but in the end I think we have had a good time the entre year. And if u ask me, 2002 sucked. It was just trubble trubble trubble almost all the time, even if there have been good moments as well.

My expectiations from 2003? Well, to finish the booooooooooring 9th degree and to astart on the Gymnasium with new powers! And that my /in)famous brothers shall try to grow up and stop fighting every second! And that I shall get more money, and that.... Hello? Are u already sleaping? Oh, well, ok....

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL IN EXPANSIONFLEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Edited by Tomas Goransson at 11:48 am on Jan. 1, 2003)

[Zach Schmidt]

When I came here, I was Tactical chief on the USS Evolution and a LT. Cmdr.. I was promoted to COmmander and still had the same position. I was also made an Senior Admiral. I was then promoted to XO of the Evolution and for a while was CO of the Academy.
My Admiral took that job.

So right now, I am in a good spot with my jobs: XO of the Evolution, Vice-Admiral and Co of the Academy.

I hope 2003 will be better that 2002(Without all the crap like USC and Knight and Soviets and Satan:)).  

[Tomas Goransson]

And netfirms sucks. Amen!! =P