TRMN:BlackSphinxCup:Foreword
Welcome from the FSL's Staff Intelligence Officer
Members of the Grand Alliance,
Welcome to the 2019 Black Sphinx Cup! The following rulebook is the accumulation of a year’s worth of data and member feedback. The changes made for the 2019 competition were directly influenced by feedback from the membership. If at any time you or your chapter has an idea to improve the Black Sphinx Cup, please contact the First Space Lord’s staff Intelligence officer at intel@1sl.trmn.org.
The biggest change for the 2019 Cup is the introduction of the Competition Point Scale. The Competition Point Scale is being implemented for several reasons, the first of which is to encourage participation by giving chapters goals to strive for. The benchmarks for each challenge are set in such a way that both smaller and larger chapters have a challenging time reaching them. Chapters can use the benchmarks as a “rallying cry” to band together and work towards reaching it. The second reason for the Competition Point Scale is to clearly define who the winner of the overall Black Sphinx Cup will be. By having a concrete scoring metric in place, the potential for selection bias is drastically reduced.
As always, new challenges have been introduced to the competition. The 1SL office is happy to introduce the Artillery, Astro Control, and Range challenges. If your fleet competes in the Artillery Challenge, you will be tasked with knocking down the most bowling pins. The winning chapter will be the one with the highest cumulative amount of knocked down pins. If your fleet chooses the Astro Control Challenge your chapter will have the challenge of earning a pair of Aerospace wings. The chapter that has the highest average of Aerospace Wings on their ship will win. Finally, if your fleet competes in the Range Challenge, you will be competing to have the highest total amount of hours spent playing board games. Black Sphinx Cup veterans will notice that some challenges are missing from this year’s rulebook. The 1SL Office has chosen to rotate some challenges out of competition so they can be examined, polished up, and sent back into the rotation. If your favorite challenge is not listed in this year’s rulebook, fear not for it may well return in the future.
The Black Sphinx Cup is a unique opportunity for The Royal Manticoran Navy because every chapter in the organization has the opportunity to interact with every other chapter regardless of location. Use this opportunity to branch out and make contact with the other ships in your fleet and the organization. Take this opportunity to make a friendly wager, build a healthy, friendly rivalry with another chapter, and create stories and memories to share with others around the organization. The interactions between chapters are what make the Black Sphinx Cup special.
In closing, the Office of the First Space Lord and I wish every member of The Royal Manticoran Navy the best of luck in their efforts in this year’s Black Sphinx Cup.
Sir Steven Rosenthal PMV, KDE, QBM
Captain Junior Grade, RMN
Intelligence Officer, First Space Lord