Previously: seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9,10 and 11, 12, 13 (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 (250 pages)
Winners: Lavigny's Legion with ~18% of all points. AXI and Black Birds Squadron take the other trophies.
The increase in Thargoid rewards and Thargoid-related events combine to move this leaderboard from its previous record of 150 pages last season to a new record of 250 pages this season. With scores here based on the credits value of the bonds, its tough to tell how much actual AX action was taking place, but the total bond value was over 10 times last season's.
Combat (1967 pages)
Winners: New Pilot's Initiative with ~1% of all points. Brazilian League of Pilots and Civitas Dei take the other trophies.
A record-breaking amount of combat points this season, over twice that of a typical season and considerably up even on last time. Unlike AX, the rebalancing doesn't directly affect the points gain here, so this is all just more people getting involved in combat.
CQC (199 pages)
Winners: We Rock You Roll with ~13% of all points. Dark Enterprise and CQC Discord
A strong showing from Dark Enterprise gets them a Silver trophy, coming above the "you must be at least this tall" marker of CQC Discord, but the uncontested winner is We Rock You Roll with 4.7 million points and an all-time season record. Lower down the table, there's a significant increase in the size of the table, with almost 200 pages of squadrons participating this time.
Exploration (2222 pages)
Winners: Hutton Orbital Truckers with ~5% of all points. Canonn and Brazilian League of Pilots take the other trophies.
Wow, 2222 pages of active squadrons. More on that later. Big congratulations to Hutton and their return to the leaderboard business, with the BLP also diversifying considerably to take one of their four trophies this season here. The total exploration volume this season is a new record by a clear margin - almost 75% higher than the exploration rate during Distant Worlds 2.
Powerplay (108 pages)
Winners: The Eyes of Leshak with ~7% of all points. Federal Liberal Command and Lavigny's Legion take the other trophies.
Squadron count continues to rise here, finally breaking through 100 pages, as a new entrant takes the Gold for the glory of Yuri Grom.
Trade (2045 pages)
Winners: Azgharie with ~1% of all points. Dark Enterprise and Brazilian League of Pilots take the other trophies.
A return too to the leaderboards for Azgharie, last seen taking a Silver Exploration trophy in season 10. Dark Enterprise pick up their regular Silver, and BLP round off their season's set. Looking at the boards as a whole, total volume is very slightly down on season 13 as a result of the trade rebalancing, but is still basically identical to season 12. I wouldn't be surprised to see a slight rise again next season as people get the hang of the current trade balance a bit better.
Other comments
So, I keep predicting that active squadron numbers are going to start levelling off at some point, and it just doesn't happen - on the long-term trend we'd expect to have just about broken 2000 active squadrons in exploration this season ... and we got 2222 and record numbers in all the other leaderboards too, as well as record volumes in everything except Trade. Will this trend continue in season 15 - with the free Epic rush somewhat over, but Odyssey still some distance away? I have absolutely no idea, tune in next time.
Big congratulations to the Brazilian League of Pilots, who pick up trophies in Combat, Exploration, Political and Trade to become only the second PC squadron to win four trophies in a single season, as well as all the new breakthrough winners showing that the old guard are always vulnerable.
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 (250 pages)
Winners: Lavigny's Legion with ~18% of all points. AXI and Black Birds Squadron take the other trophies.
The increase in Thargoid rewards and Thargoid-related events combine to move this leaderboard from its previous record of 150 pages last season to a new record of 250 pages this season. With scores here based on the credits value of the bonds, its tough to tell how much actual AX action was taking place, but the total bond value was over 10 times last season's.
Combat (1967 pages)
Winners: New Pilot's Initiative with ~1% of all points. Brazilian League of Pilots and Civitas Dei take the other trophies.
A record-breaking amount of combat points this season, over twice that of a typical season and considerably up even on last time. Unlike AX, the rebalancing doesn't directly affect the points gain here, so this is all just more people getting involved in combat.
CQC (199 pages)
Winners: We Rock You Roll with ~13% of all points. Dark Enterprise and CQC Discord
A strong showing from Dark Enterprise gets them a Silver trophy, coming above the "you must be at least this tall" marker of CQC Discord, but the uncontested winner is We Rock You Roll with 4.7 million points and an all-time season record. Lower down the table, there's a significant increase in the size of the table, with almost 200 pages of squadrons participating this time.
Exploration (2222 pages)
Winners: Hutton Orbital Truckers with ~5% of all points. Canonn and Brazilian League of Pilots take the other trophies.
Wow, 2222 pages of active squadrons. More on that later. Big congratulations to Hutton and their return to the leaderboard business, with the BLP also diversifying considerably to take one of their four trophies this season here. The total exploration volume this season is a new record by a clear margin - almost 75% higher than the exploration rate during Distant Worlds 2.
Powerplay (108 pages)
Winners: The Eyes of Leshak with ~7% of all points. Federal Liberal Command and Lavigny's Legion take the other trophies.
Squadron count continues to rise here, finally breaking through 100 pages, as a new entrant takes the Gold for the glory of Yuri Grom.
Trade (2045 pages)
Winners: Azgharie with ~1% of all points. Dark Enterprise and Brazilian League of Pilots take the other trophies.
A return too to the leaderboards for Azgharie, last seen taking a Silver Exploration trophy in season 10. Dark Enterprise pick up their regular Silver, and BLP round off their season's set. Looking at the boards as a whole, total volume is very slightly down on season 13 as a result of the trade rebalancing, but is still basically identical to season 12. I wouldn't be surprised to see a slight rise again next season as people get the hang of the current trade balance a bit better.
Other comments
So, I keep predicting that active squadron numbers are going to start levelling off at some point, and it just doesn't happen - on the long-term trend we'd expect to have just about broken 2000 active squadrons in exploration this season ... and we got 2222 and record numbers in all the other leaderboards too, as well as record volumes in everything except Trade. Will this trend continue in season 15 - with the free Epic rush somewhat over, but Odyssey still some distance away? I have absolutely no idea, tune in next time.
Big congratulations to the Brazilian League of Pilots, who pick up trophies in Combat, Exploration, Political and Trade to become only the second PC squadron to win four trophies in a single season, as well as all the new breakthrough winners showing that the old guard are always vulnerable.
