The BEACON scale was created by Guilherme Rollard and Aernir Ridley with inspiration from the United States of America's DEFCON (Defense Readiness Condition) scale. It signals our current readiness condition, and how prepared we must be for conflict.
This usually comes in the form of a deployment. Expect lower activity at home, and more fleets to be forming at a forward staging.
We or our allies are under attack. Expect degraded safety at home as hostiles attempt to harass us.
Things are calm. Expect varied fleets and more casual content. Make some ISK, have some fun in Standing, and keep an eye out for content fleets.
We're in the process of changing stagings. The vast majority of fleets will likely be move-ops until the move is completed. Join move-ops, get yourself moved, and help others if you can.
Shit's going down that requires everyone's attention. All focus will be on the crisis until it's dealt with.
Operations at minimal frequency and/or intensity. No active campaign at this time. Expect few if any Stratops. Almost all fleets are likely for skirmish or content purposes.
Operations at low frequency and/or intensity. If there is a campaign ongoing, it's likely in a lull. Expect a small handful of Stratops per week. Most fleets are still likely for skirmish or content purposes.
Operations at medium frequency and/or intensity. There's likely a campaign in-progress. Expect Stratops on a roughly daily basis, which may interfere with some casual fleets.
Operations at high frequency and/or intensity. An active campaign is ongoing. Expect 2 - 3 Stratops per day, and possibly the occasional CTA. Expect casual fleets to be actively de-prioritized.