Previously: Season 1, Season 2, Season 3, Season 4, Season 5 and Season 6 (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 grey line is the numbers for the previous season, 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.
Anti Xeno (88 pages)
Winners: Deep Space Resistance with ~18% of all points. Anti-Xeno Initiative and Vampyr Ponys take the other trophies.
All things must come to an end, and finally AXI's unbroken run of Golds did, with Deep Space Resistance taking a late lead. Activity in general marginally down on last season, with the continuing lack of aggressive Thargoid threat perhaps contributing to it all being quieter than seasons 4 and 5.
Combat (994 pages)
Winners: Azgharie with ~1% of all points. EG Pilots and Lavigny's Legion take the other trophies.
Combat continues to increase the number of participating squadrons, and Azgharie and Lavigny's Legion pick up their first trophies. Total activity is probably slightly down on the previous season mainly due to a slightly flatter top 5, but it's close.
CQC (73 pages)
Winners: The Winged Hussars (3nd time) with ~15% of all points. CQC Discord and The Morgue take the other trophies
Settling into a pattern now with TWH and CQCD putting in "you must be this tall to get a trophy" lines, but a new entrant from The Morgue becoming the first squadron (on any PC leaderboard) to win a trophy while only having one member (and no alt accounts either). Overall activity is roughly stable.
Exploration (1113 pages)
Winners: Long-er Route Home 3305 with ~8% of all points. Distant Worlds and Explorer on Tour take the other trophies.
A return in Season 7 to Distant Worlds squadrons getting trophy places, with the "Long-er Route Home" return expedition finally getting back to cash in, and the members of the "Distant Worlds" squadron getting a fairly high score just from their own trips. Activity in the top 10 is down in general, but fairly stable outside of it. The number of exploration-active squadrons continues to grow.
Powerplay (46 pages)
Winners: Federal Republic Command with ~11% of all points. Federal Liberal Command and Aisling Wing Command take the other trophies.
The same top 3 as last season, but Federal Republic Command this time get their first Gold trophy - presumably this reflects some change in the Federal strategic position, if anyone with more knowledge of Powerplay would like to comment? - and a marginal increase in the overall activity levels.
Trade (1060 pages)
Winners: Dark Enterprise (3rd time) with ~2% of all points. Winged Hussars and Intergalactic Mining Union take the other trophies.
After the trade busyness of Season 6, Season 7 is back towards more conventional levels, though still busier than any of the first five. Dark Enterprise get a third gold, Winged Hussars pick up their second trade trophy, and the Intergalactic Mining Union get their first trophy and show that mining is a good way to make money. It'll be interesting to see - mainly in Season 9 onwards - if and how the supply/demand rebalance planned for core gems affects this board in future.
Other comments
Season 7 - because of the half-length Season 2 - marks the end of the first year of the Squadron leaderboards. The general pattern has been fluctuating activity on the specialist leaderboards, and increasing activity (in terms of number of squadrons, at least) on the generalist leaderboards.
Frontier's recent news post tells us that there were 20,919 squadrons created in that year - and the exploration board shows that over 11,000 of them were at least somewhat active on PC in the last eight weeks. With PC making up approximately 75% of squadron activity, that suggests that around 2/3 of squadrons - more, depending on how many have been disbanded entirely - are at least somewhat active.
Based on the squadron size survey, this probably means around 150,000 players have joined a squadron - a substantial fraction but not yet (judging by checking squadron IDs in supercruise) a majority of active players.
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 grey line is the numbers for the previous season, 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.
Anti Xeno (88 pages)
Winners: Deep Space Resistance with ~18% of all points. Anti-Xeno Initiative and Vampyr Ponys take the other trophies.
All things must come to an end, and finally AXI's unbroken run of Golds did, with Deep Space Resistance taking a late lead. Activity in general marginally down on last season, with the continuing lack of aggressive Thargoid threat perhaps contributing to it all being quieter than seasons 4 and 5.
Combat (994 pages)
Winners: Azgharie with ~1% of all points. EG Pilots and Lavigny's Legion take the other trophies.
Combat continues to increase the number of participating squadrons, and Azgharie and Lavigny's Legion pick up their first trophies. Total activity is probably slightly down on the previous season mainly due to a slightly flatter top 5, but it's close.
CQC (73 pages)
Winners: The Winged Hussars (3nd time) with ~15% of all points. CQC Discord and The Morgue take the other trophies
Settling into a pattern now with TWH and CQCD putting in "you must be this tall to get a trophy" lines, but a new entrant from The Morgue becoming the first squadron (on any PC leaderboard) to win a trophy while only having one member (and no alt accounts either). Overall activity is roughly stable.
Exploration (1113 pages)
Winners: Long-er Route Home 3305 with ~8% of all points. Distant Worlds and Explorer on Tour take the other trophies.
A return in Season 7 to Distant Worlds squadrons getting trophy places, with the "Long-er Route Home" return expedition finally getting back to cash in, and the members of the "Distant Worlds" squadron getting a fairly high score just from their own trips. Activity in the top 10 is down in general, but fairly stable outside of it. The number of exploration-active squadrons continues to grow.
Powerplay (46 pages)
Winners: Federal Republic Command with ~11% of all points. Federal Liberal Command and Aisling Wing Command take the other trophies.
The same top 3 as last season, but Federal Republic Command this time get their first Gold trophy - presumably this reflects some change in the Federal strategic position, if anyone with more knowledge of Powerplay would like to comment? - and a marginal increase in the overall activity levels.
Trade (1060 pages)
Winners: Dark Enterprise (3rd time) with ~2% of all points. Winged Hussars and Intergalactic Mining Union take the other trophies.
After the trade busyness of Season 6, Season 7 is back towards more conventional levels, though still busier than any of the first five. Dark Enterprise get a third gold, Winged Hussars pick up their second trade trophy, and the Intergalactic Mining Union get their first trophy and show that mining is a good way to make money. It'll be interesting to see - mainly in Season 9 onwards - if and how the supply/demand rebalance planned for core gems affects this board in future.
Other comments
Season 7 - because of the half-length Season 2 - marks the end of the first year of the Squadron leaderboards. The general pattern has been fluctuating activity on the specialist leaderboards, and increasing activity (in terms of number of squadrons, at least) on the generalist leaderboards.
Frontier's recent news post tells us that there were 20,919 squadrons created in that year - and the exploration board shows that over 11,000 of them were at least somewhat active on PC in the last eight weeks. With PC making up approximately 75% of squadron activity, that suggests that around 2/3 of squadrons - more, depending on how many have been disbanded entirely - are at least somewhat active.
Based on the squadron size survey, this probably means around 150,000 players have joined a squadron - a substantial fraction but not yet (judging by checking squadron IDs in supercruise) a majority of active players.
