Previously: seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 (plus How large are squadrons?)
On each graph, points are on the Y-axis, and squadron position on the leaderboard is on the X-axis. Both scales are logarithmic. The light grey line (diamond marker) is the numbers for the previous season, the dark grey line (triangle marker) is the numbers for the same season last year (season 3), and all stats are PC only. As in previous seasons, the approximate power-law distribution continues, allowing estimates of total activity to be made without spending too long reading the boards.
(Political is excluded, because there are well-known exploits to allow very high scores, and because it's not clear even without the exploits what it's supposed to be measuring: the in-game description of "large and happy faction" is clearly wrong - possibly this will change if they ever implement BGS happiness properly)
Anti Xeno (119 pages)
Winners: Winged Hussars with ~45% of all points. AXI and Vampyr Ponies take the other trophies.
A slight rise in overall activity from last season, driven almost entirely by Winged Hussars handing in a record number of AX bonds, narrowly beating AXI's Season 5 record. Two AX regular squadrons taking the other two places.
Combat (1509 pages)
Winners: Brazilian League of Pilots with ~1% of all points. Earth Defence Fleet and Lavigny's Legion take the other trophies.
Very similar to last season, with Earth Defence Fleet replacing New Pilots Initiative for the Silver. Total activity is slightly down, but only just.
CQC (130 pages)
Winners: The Winged Hussars with ~12% of all points. CQC Discord and Artemis Corporation take the other trophies
The "queue from main game" feature continues to help CQC - while pages and points are down a bit on last season, it's still the second-highest ever. Usual two squadrons, then a first trophy for Artemis Squadron.
Exploration (1775 pages)
Winners: Explorers Nation with ~4% of all points. IGAU and Perseus Reach Expedition take the other trophies.
A fairly normal exploration season, and now that the effects of Distant Worlds are gone from the graphs you can see it in comparison to other normal seasons. Some very strong performances from the top four squadrons, however.
Powerplay (74 pages)
Winners: Federal Liberal Command with ~10% of all points. Aisling Wing Command and Lavigny's Legion take the other trophies.
As with most boards, a slight decrease in activity from last season. While Federal Liberal Command take another Gold, this is the first season since Season 4 that it's been 2 Imperials rather than 2 Federals in the top 3.
Trade (1650 pages)
Winners: Dark Immortals with ~1% of all points. Dark Enterprise and Erion Corp take the other trophies.
Unsurprisingly with the mining rebalancing, the trade rebalancing, and perhaps most importantly everyone using their new Fleet Carriers rather than raising billions to obtain them, the totals for this season are back down to a more normal level, though still up on all of the first nine seasons (compare with "last year" - Season 5 - on the graphs)
There doesn't appear to be general carrier-exploitation of the trade boards, looking at the graphs, so I'm going to continue with it for now as it still gives useful information.
Other comments
Big congratulations to the Winged Hussars, who become the first PC squadron to win gold trophies (or, indeed, any sort of trophy) in six separate categories. As they aren't eligible for Powerplay trophies, this completes their set.
Total active squadron numbers do continue to rise very slightly, surprisingly - while seasons 10 and 11 saw big jumps, people are still making new squadrons and joining in, with season 12 about where you'd expect from the pre-10 trend. It'll be very interesting to see what happens next time.
On each graph, points are on the Y-axis, and squadron position on the leaderboard is on the X-axis. Both scales are logarithmic. The light grey line (diamond marker) is the numbers for the previous season, the dark grey line (triangle marker) is the numbers for the same season last year (season 3), and all stats are PC only. As in previous seasons, the approximate power-law distribution continues, allowing estimates of total activity to be made without spending too long reading the boards.
(Political is excluded, because there are well-known exploits to allow very high scores, and because it's not clear even without the exploits what it's supposed to be measuring: the in-game description of "large and happy faction" is clearly wrong - possibly this will change if they ever implement BGS happiness properly)
Anti Xeno (119 pages)
Winners: Winged Hussars with ~45% of all points. AXI and Vampyr Ponies take the other trophies.
A slight rise in overall activity from last season, driven almost entirely by Winged Hussars handing in a record number of AX bonds, narrowly beating AXI's Season 5 record. Two AX regular squadrons taking the other two places.
Combat (1509 pages)
Winners: Brazilian League of Pilots with ~1% of all points. Earth Defence Fleet and Lavigny's Legion take the other trophies.
Very similar to last season, with Earth Defence Fleet replacing New Pilots Initiative for the Silver. Total activity is slightly down, but only just.
CQC (130 pages)
Winners: The Winged Hussars with ~12% of all points. CQC Discord and Artemis Corporation take the other trophies
The "queue from main game" feature continues to help CQC - while pages and points are down a bit on last season, it's still the second-highest ever. Usual two squadrons, then a first trophy for Artemis Squadron.
Exploration (1775 pages)
Winners: Explorers Nation with ~4% of all points. IGAU and Perseus Reach Expedition take the other trophies.
A fairly normal exploration season, and now that the effects of Distant Worlds are gone from the graphs you can see it in comparison to other normal seasons. Some very strong performances from the top four squadrons, however.
Powerplay (74 pages)
Winners: Federal Liberal Command with ~10% of all points. Aisling Wing Command and Lavigny's Legion take the other trophies.
As with most boards, a slight decrease in activity from last season. While Federal Liberal Command take another Gold, this is the first season since Season 4 that it's been 2 Imperials rather than 2 Federals in the top 3.
Trade (1650 pages)
Winners: Dark Immortals with ~1% of all points. Dark Enterprise and Erion Corp take the other trophies.
Unsurprisingly with the mining rebalancing, the trade rebalancing, and perhaps most importantly everyone using their new Fleet Carriers rather than raising billions to obtain them, the totals for this season are back down to a more normal level, though still up on all of the first nine seasons (compare with "last year" - Season 5 - on the graphs)
There doesn't appear to be general carrier-exploitation of the trade boards, looking at the graphs, so I'm going to continue with it for now as it still gives useful information.
Other comments
Big congratulations to the Winged Hussars, who become the first PC squadron to win gold trophies (or, indeed, any sort of trophy) in six separate categories. As they aren't eligible for Powerplay trophies, this completes their set.
Total active squadron numbers do continue to rise very slightly, surprisingly - while seasons 10 and 11 saw big jumps, people are still making new squadrons and joining in, with season 12 about where you'd expect from the pre-10 trend. It'll be very interesting to see what happens next time.
