Previously: seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9,10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 (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 (280 pages)
Winners: Erion Corp with ~16% of all points. Marauders Vanguard and Lavigny's Legion take the other trophies.
AX activity down a little this season compared with last - perhaps due to reduced Thargoid activity overall - and new entrys at Gold and Silver with Erion Corp adding to earlier trade and combat trophies, and Marauders Vanguard picking up their first trophy of any sort. As the Legion take the third place, for the first time ever, AXI don't pick up any of the AX trophies.
Combat (2237 pages)
Winners: New Pilots Initiative with ~1% of all points. Stellanebula Project and Fatherhood Echo take the other trophies.
New Pilots Initiative take their third consecutive Gold here, and two new entries take the other places. Activity is a little quieter in most of the top 10, but otherwise much the same as last season - the effects of the increased payouts on activity seem to be largely permanent.
CQC (180 pages)
Winners: We Rock You Roll with ~15% of all points. Ed's 38 and CQC Discord take the other places.
Another Gold for We Rock You Roll, and a new entry at Silver for Ed's 38 showing the power of tea and biscuits for high-end combat. CQC Discord keep marking the Bronze spot.
Exploration (2486 pages)
Winners: Canonn with ~1% of all points. New Pilots Initiative and Enigma Dyson Syndicate take the other trophies.
Exploration totals are slightly down again, though still much higher than the trough following the start of the Distant Worlds expedition, and all three winners are picking up at least their second trophy in this category.
Powerplay (112 pages)
Winners: Federal Liberal Command with ~15% of all points. Lavigny's Legion and Kumo Crew take the other trophies.
After last season's big spike in Powerplay activity, the totals are down again this time, though still the second highest by a good margin. Federal Liberal Command return to the top of the board for Winters ... and the Kumo Crew pick up the Bronze to be the first Archon Delaine supporters to win a trophy here.
Trade (2272 pages)
Winners: Winged Hussars with ~3% of all points. Pilots Trade Network Squadron and Wild Priest Corps take the other trophies.
The Winged Hussars return to the leaderboard business after a short break, to take a second Trade Gold by a clear margin. The other two winners pick up their first trophies, in a season of relatively average activity.
Other comments
Season 16 didn't quite break the 2,500 page barrier - 25,000 active squadrons - but it came pretty close at 2,486. There's no sign at all of a slowing of the trend, so it looks pretty certain for next time.
While the squadron counts continue to rise, estimated activity was slightly down across the board compared with last time - though still remaining very healthy.
The coming season will of course see the release of Odyssey about a third of the way in, which will add many new activities ... relatively few of which are likely to count towards these leaderboards directly. For a bit of fun, here's my predictions - make your own and we'll see if anyone was right in a couple of months:
AX: Really depends if there's Thargoids walking about on day 1 and how much you get paid for shooting them. Probably up if so, down otherwise as people focus on the newer activities.
Combat: A lot of the new Odyssey activities do grant combat rank one way or another, and that plus the increase in player activity more generally could give this board a big boost - I wouldn't be surprised to see it set a new record.
CQC: The increase in general player activity will lead to more CQC matches, so a slight rise here just from that.
Exploration: If Exobiology points also go onto this leaderboard, there's likely to be a significant increase. If not, then probably still a small increase as everyone goes to look at the new planets, plants, etc.
Powerplay: As with CQC, maybe a slight rise from overall player activity increasing, but nothing special.
Trade: Very little in the new Odyssey activities helps with trade rank, and nor does it appear to need vast stacks of credits to fund, so this one I'd expect to be somewhat down.
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 (280 pages)
Winners: Erion Corp with ~16% of all points. Marauders Vanguard and Lavigny's Legion take the other trophies.
AX activity down a little this season compared with last - perhaps due to reduced Thargoid activity overall - and new entrys at Gold and Silver with Erion Corp adding to earlier trade and combat trophies, and Marauders Vanguard picking up their first trophy of any sort. As the Legion take the third place, for the first time ever, AXI don't pick up any of the AX trophies.
Combat (2237 pages)
Winners: New Pilots Initiative with ~1% of all points. Stellanebula Project and Fatherhood Echo take the other trophies.
New Pilots Initiative take their third consecutive Gold here, and two new entries take the other places. Activity is a little quieter in most of the top 10, but otherwise much the same as last season - the effects of the increased payouts on activity seem to be largely permanent.
CQC (180 pages)
Winners: We Rock You Roll with ~15% of all points. Ed's 38 and CQC Discord take the other places.
Another Gold for We Rock You Roll, and a new entry at Silver for Ed's 38 showing the power of tea and biscuits for high-end combat. CQC Discord keep marking the Bronze spot.
Exploration (2486 pages)
Winners: Canonn with ~1% of all points. New Pilots Initiative and Enigma Dyson Syndicate take the other trophies.
Exploration totals are slightly down again, though still much higher than the trough following the start of the Distant Worlds expedition, and all three winners are picking up at least their second trophy in this category.
Powerplay (112 pages)
Winners: Federal Liberal Command with ~15% of all points. Lavigny's Legion and Kumo Crew take the other trophies.
After last season's big spike in Powerplay activity, the totals are down again this time, though still the second highest by a good margin. Federal Liberal Command return to the top of the board for Winters ... and the Kumo Crew pick up the Bronze to be the first Archon Delaine supporters to win a trophy here.
Trade (2272 pages)
Winners: Winged Hussars with ~3% of all points. Pilots Trade Network Squadron and Wild Priest Corps take the other trophies.
The Winged Hussars return to the leaderboard business after a short break, to take a second Trade Gold by a clear margin. The other two winners pick up their first trophies, in a season of relatively average activity.
Other comments
Season 16 didn't quite break the 2,500 page barrier - 25,000 active squadrons - but it came pretty close at 2,486. There's no sign at all of a slowing of the trend, so it looks pretty certain for next time.
While the squadron counts continue to rise, estimated activity was slightly down across the board compared with last time - though still remaining very healthy.
The coming season will of course see the release of Odyssey about a third of the way in, which will add many new activities ... relatively few of which are likely to count towards these leaderboards directly. For a bit of fun, here's my predictions - make your own and we'll see if anyone was right in a couple of months:
AX: Really depends if there's Thargoids walking about on day 1 and how much you get paid for shooting them. Probably up if so, down otherwise as people focus on the newer activities.
Combat: A lot of the new Odyssey activities do grant combat rank one way or another, and that plus the increase in player activity more generally could give this board a big boost - I wouldn't be surprised to see it set a new record.
CQC: The increase in general player activity will lead to more CQC matches, so a slight rise here just from that.
Exploration: If Exobiology points also go onto this leaderboard, there's likely to be a significant increase. If not, then probably still a small increase as everyone goes to look at the new planets, plants, etc.
Powerplay: As with CQC, maybe a slight rise from overall player activity increasing, but nothing special.
Trade: Very little in the new Odyssey activities helps with trade rank, and nor does it appear to need vast stacks of credits to fund, so this one I'd expect to be somewhat down.