Previously: seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9,10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 (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 17), 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 (287 pages)
Winners: Plague with ~6% of all points. AXI and The Wing of Destiny take the other trophies.
A third trophy and first Gold for the Plague squadron, while AXI returns to the top spots for the first time since season 20. Overall activity, despite the intense fighting over Salvation's Guardian artefact collection, is very slightly down on the previous record-breaking season, but this is mainly because of the significant reduction in the activity of the Marauder's Vanguard, who end their eight-season trophy streak by coming fifth this time - as you can see from the graph, activity outside the top 10 is significantly up as the Thargoid conflict escalates.
Plague, incidentally, are being extremely consistent: their score of 120,176,000,000 is exactly the same as they got in both seasons 22 and 23. If anyone from the squadron - only two members, too! - wants to talk about how and why they're doing that, it's an interesting achievement.
Combat (2639 pages)
Winners: Talon Order with ~1% of all points. Stellanebula Project and Kisel's Squadron take the other trophies.
A new entrant on the leaderboards with Talon Order taking their first Gold, and a return for Kisel's Squadron after a few seasons away. Overall, activity is down across the board, making this the quietest season since the combat rebalance, and slightly less than the busiest pre-rebalance season 11.
CQC (65 pages)
Winners: We Rock You Roll with ~20% of all points. Deep Space Intruders and CQC Discord.
Deep Space Intruders take the Silver in this season, which falls to yet another record low - a seventh of the peak in season 15 - with not just the instancing split to contend with, the last three weeks of the season have been heavily affected by bug 50903 which causes extremely frequent crashes for everyone, making it virtually impossible to score at all.
Frontier say they are aware of the bug, but if we have to wait for update 13 for a fix, there's a good chance that next season will be even lower still.
Exploration (2874 pages)
Winners: Winged Hussars with ~4% of all points, Hutton Orbital Truckers and Explorers of the Anarchy take the other trophies.
Winged Hussars return to the exploration board having previously taken the Gold in season 6, and Hutton return from season 14, while the Bronze is taken by a new-to-exploration squadron (though their third trophy, having won AX trophies in seasons 6 and 15). Overall activity, however, falls to a record low - the total squadron count is very marginally up, but less is being scanned.
Powerplay (82 pages)
Winners: Madmen of the Mogonjo with ~12% of all points. Lavigny's Legion and Federal Republican Command take the other trophies.
Powerplay down a bit on last season, but still fairly busy, as Madmen of the Mogonjo take their first Gold. The Federation returns to the trophies too, as Hudson's supporters get their first trophy since season 11.
Trade (2446 pages)
Winners: Canonn with ~1% of all points. Kisel's Squadron and Marauders Vanguard take the other trophies.
Canonn get their first Gold and second trade trophy, and here's where Marauders Vanguard have been taking time off AX work. Overall activity, going very much against the trend, is substantially up - this is the busiest post-Odyssey season and the third highest all-time, with scores as you can see from the graph up at all ranks. The Golconda Tritium CG with its extremely large available trade profits likely contributed a lot to this jump, so a good chance that season 25 will revert to more normal levels.
Other comments
A very quiet season overall - CQC, Combat and Exploration all at historic lows, and participation counts remaining mostly flat. AX and Trade are remaining high due to plot events, so we may see more dominance of those in activity in future too ... equally, CQC's further decline is mainly due to a serious bug: perhaps next season there'll be a bug where it's impossible to gain Combat rank.
The "last year" comparison is with season 17, the one during which Odyssey was released, so next report will be comparing with 18 - the first full Odyssey season.
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 17), 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 (287 pages)
Winners: Plague with ~6% of all points. AXI and The Wing of Destiny take the other trophies.
A third trophy and first Gold for the Plague squadron, while AXI returns to the top spots for the first time since season 20. Overall activity, despite the intense fighting over Salvation's Guardian artefact collection, is very slightly down on the previous record-breaking season, but this is mainly because of the significant reduction in the activity of the Marauder's Vanguard, who end their eight-season trophy streak by coming fifth this time - as you can see from the graph, activity outside the top 10 is significantly up as the Thargoid conflict escalates.
Plague, incidentally, are being extremely consistent: their score of 120,176,000,000 is exactly the same as they got in both seasons 22 and 23. If anyone from the squadron - only two members, too! - wants to talk about how and why they're doing that, it's an interesting achievement.
Combat (2639 pages)
Winners: Talon Order with ~1% of all points. Stellanebula Project and Kisel's Squadron take the other trophies.
A new entrant on the leaderboards with Talon Order taking their first Gold, and a return for Kisel's Squadron after a few seasons away. Overall, activity is down across the board, making this the quietest season since the combat rebalance, and slightly less than the busiest pre-rebalance season 11.
CQC (65 pages)
Winners: We Rock You Roll with ~20% of all points. Deep Space Intruders and CQC Discord.
Deep Space Intruders take the Silver in this season, which falls to yet another record low - a seventh of the peak in season 15 - with not just the instancing split to contend with, the last three weeks of the season have been heavily affected by bug 50903 which causes extremely frequent crashes for everyone, making it virtually impossible to score at all.
Frontier say they are aware of the bug, but if we have to wait for update 13 for a fix, there's a good chance that next season will be even lower still.
Exploration (2874 pages)
Winners: Winged Hussars with ~4% of all points, Hutton Orbital Truckers and Explorers of the Anarchy take the other trophies.
Winged Hussars return to the exploration board having previously taken the Gold in season 6, and Hutton return from season 14, while the Bronze is taken by a new-to-exploration squadron (though their third trophy, having won AX trophies in seasons 6 and 15). Overall activity, however, falls to a record low - the total squadron count is very marginally up, but less is being scanned.
Powerplay (82 pages)
Winners: Madmen of the Mogonjo with ~12% of all points. Lavigny's Legion and Federal Republican Command take the other trophies.
Powerplay down a bit on last season, but still fairly busy, as Madmen of the Mogonjo take their first Gold. The Federation returns to the trophies too, as Hudson's supporters get their first trophy since season 11.
Trade (2446 pages)
Winners: Canonn with ~1% of all points. Kisel's Squadron and Marauders Vanguard take the other trophies.
Canonn get their first Gold and second trade trophy, and here's where Marauders Vanguard have been taking time off AX work. Overall activity, going very much against the trend, is substantially up - this is the busiest post-Odyssey season and the third highest all-time, with scores as you can see from the graph up at all ranks. The Golconda Tritium CG with its extremely large available trade profits likely contributed a lot to this jump, so a good chance that season 25 will revert to more normal levels.
Other comments
A very quiet season overall - CQC, Combat and Exploration all at historic lows, and participation counts remaining mostly flat. AX and Trade are remaining high due to plot events, so we may see more dominance of those in activity in future too ... equally, CQC's further decline is mainly due to a serious bug: perhaps next season there'll be a bug where it's impossible to gain Combat rank.
The "last year" comparison is with season 17, the one during which Odyssey was released, so next report will be comparing with 18 - the first full Odyssey season.
