Previously: seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9,10, 11, 12, 13, 14 (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 (286 pages)
Winners: Explorers of the Anarchy with ~13% of all points. AXI and Turkish Galactic Empire take the other trophies.
This is the first full season with the new AX payouts, so numbers are about 40% up on last time overall, and another new participation record. Explorers of the Anarchy win their first AX Gold to add to a Season 6 Bronze, and Turkish Galactic Empire make a first leaderboard appearance. So far the Thargoids have been quiet for a while, so it'll be interesting to see how that affects next season.
Combat (2216 pages)
Winners: New Pilots Initiative with ~1% of all points. Fatherhood Delta and Lavigny's Legion take the other trophies.
Combat continues to be popular, with a rise in points across the board compared with last time, for a new season record. New Pilots Initiative get a second Gold, Lavigny's Legion a seventh Bronze, and Fatherhood Delta slot in between for their first trophy. A lot more shooting is clearly going on - just on the PC leaderboards alone, this is probably representing around 100 million ships destroyed each week.
CQC (190 pages)
Winners: We Rock You Roll with ~15% of all points. CQC Discord and Dark Enterprise take the other places.
A very similar season to the last one, both in terms of participations and overall scores, very slightly quieter ... except at the very top, where CQC Discord retake second place from Dark Enterprise, and set a personal best of 3.686 million points (just over 1 Elite rank) ... and We Rock You Roll beat the all-time record with 5.96 million points to conclusively take another Gold.
Exploration (2362 pages)
Winners: New Pilots Initiative with ~1% of all points. IGAU and Canonn take the other trophies.
Total exploration volume is down on last season's record - which may have been artificially boosted quite a bit by the high payouts at and after the CG - but nevertheless remains the second highest season by total volume and the third highest (because of the short season 2) by weekly rate, so there's still more exploration going on right now than there was at the height of Distant Worlds 2 - a sign of just how many more explorers there are in general nowadays.
Powerplay (111 pages)
Winners: Lavigny's Legion with ~8% of all points. Federal Liberal Command and Aislings Angels take the other trophies.
Squadron count is stable, and some familiar names in the top 3 this season as Lavigny's Legion get their first Powerplay Gold. While the participation numbers are relatively stable, however, the activity is noticeably higher, making this the busiest Powerplay season overall by a significant margin.
Trade (2151 pages)
Winners: Tesco Carrier Group with ~1% of all points. Ukrainian Pilots Federation and Elite Traders take the other trophies.
A bit of novelty on the Trade leaderboard today, with all three top squadrons picking up their first ever trophy. An interesting pattern compared with last season where the top 10 are noticeably higher than last time, the top 100 are a bit lower, and the top 1000 are slightly lower. Possibly with more ways to earn money - and both AXI and general Combat up - only the real trade specialists are focusing on maximising trade income now.
Other comments
The increase in total active squadron numbers continues post-Epic, with an increase of approximately 120 matching the long-term trend. Will Season 16 see it break through 2500? It'll probably be pretty close.
The general increase in activity from the Epic release is also there and mostly sustained - looks like a lot of them did stick around. It'll be interesting to see if there's a similar effect with Odyssey (these being PC leaderboards, I obviously can't tell if the recent XBox release has made a difference...)
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 (286 pages)
Winners: Explorers of the Anarchy with ~13% of all points. AXI and Turkish Galactic Empire take the other trophies.
This is the first full season with the new AX payouts, so numbers are about 40% up on last time overall, and another new participation record. Explorers of the Anarchy win their first AX Gold to add to a Season 6 Bronze, and Turkish Galactic Empire make a first leaderboard appearance. So far the Thargoids have been quiet for a while, so it'll be interesting to see how that affects next season.
Combat (2216 pages)
Winners: New Pilots Initiative with ~1% of all points. Fatherhood Delta and Lavigny's Legion take the other trophies.
Combat continues to be popular, with a rise in points across the board compared with last time, for a new season record. New Pilots Initiative get a second Gold, Lavigny's Legion a seventh Bronze, and Fatherhood Delta slot in between for their first trophy. A lot more shooting is clearly going on - just on the PC leaderboards alone, this is probably representing around 100 million ships destroyed each week.
CQC (190 pages)
Winners: We Rock You Roll with ~15% of all points. CQC Discord and Dark Enterprise take the other places.
A very similar season to the last one, both in terms of participations and overall scores, very slightly quieter ... except at the very top, where CQC Discord retake second place from Dark Enterprise, and set a personal best of 3.686 million points (just over 1 Elite rank) ... and We Rock You Roll beat the all-time record with 5.96 million points to conclusively take another Gold.
Exploration (2362 pages)
Winners: New Pilots Initiative with ~1% of all points. IGAU and Canonn take the other trophies.
Total exploration volume is down on last season's record - which may have been artificially boosted quite a bit by the high payouts at and after the CG - but nevertheless remains the second highest season by total volume and the third highest (because of the short season 2) by weekly rate, so there's still more exploration going on right now than there was at the height of Distant Worlds 2 - a sign of just how many more explorers there are in general nowadays.
Powerplay (111 pages)
Winners: Lavigny's Legion with ~8% of all points. Federal Liberal Command and Aislings Angels take the other trophies.
Squadron count is stable, and some familiar names in the top 3 this season as Lavigny's Legion get their first Powerplay Gold. While the participation numbers are relatively stable, however, the activity is noticeably higher, making this the busiest Powerplay season overall by a significant margin.
Trade (2151 pages)
Winners: Tesco Carrier Group with ~1% of all points. Ukrainian Pilots Federation and Elite Traders take the other trophies.
A bit of novelty on the Trade leaderboard today, with all three top squadrons picking up their first ever trophy. An interesting pattern compared with last season where the top 10 are noticeably higher than last time, the top 100 are a bit lower, and the top 1000 are slightly lower. Possibly with more ways to earn money - and both AXI and general Combat up - only the real trade specialists are focusing on maximising trade income now.
Other comments
The increase in total active squadron numbers continues post-Epic, with an increase of approximately 120 matching the long-term trend. Will Season 16 see it break through 2500? It'll probably be pretty close.
The general increase in activity from the Epic release is also there and mostly sustained - looks like a lot of them did stick around. It'll be interesting to see if there's a similar effect with Odyssey (these being PC leaderboards, I obviously can't tell if the recent XBox release has made a difference...)
