They came complete with a bit of notification spam. 
If you were around in mid-2017 or earlier, you may remember Tag Points, a system we used for years to reward players for their positive contributions to the community.
I’m very excited to announce that they’re back, in the form of our new Forum Badges!
There are 5 ranking groups, from low to high:
- Planetary
- Solar
- Galactic
- Universal
- Imperial
Each of these group has 9 ranks within, from low to high:
- Defender
- Fighter
- Warrior
- Commander
- Conqueror
- Lord
- King
- Emperor
- Legend
Combining these gives us 45 possible ranks. So far, only 21 of them have been reached. 
Badge = Forum Title
Any badge you earn can also be used as a forum title next to your name. To do so, follow these steps:
- Click on any badge from your personal badge list.
- Click the section that says “You can use this badge as a title”
- Select which badge you want to use as your forum title.
The Scale
1 post like = 1 point. The scale is the same as the latest revision from 2012, which means you can get your very first Planetary Defender badge by getting a single like on any of your posts. On the other end, the highest title of Imperial Legend requires 1,035 points.
So far, the highest title available is Galactic Warrior for 231 points. We’ll add in the other levels as people reach them.
Many players do have points from their accounts on the old forums. We’ll be looking to merge these in when we import the old data.
Alternate Titles
The “Legend” rank at the top of each group has a corresponding alternate variant. These are:
- Space-Junk Dealer (Planetary Legend)
- Used-Spaceship Salesman (Solar Legend)
- Trans-Cosmic Proctologist (Galactic Legend)
- Sub-Ethereal Talk Show Host (Universal Legend)
- Imperial-Conflict Enthusiast (Imperial Legend)
Once you reach these levels, you can request the alternate title if you’d like.
Additionally, if you prefer a different gendered version (Queen instead of King), you can request that too.
Enjoy, and congrats to everybody who received their badges today. 
