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Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Federal authorities have requested help in hunting down a notorious pirate gang in the Gliese 868 system.
The call to arms was broadcast by the faction Gliese 868 Services:
"Recently, most Federal security services have been focused on dealing with political protests. This provided opportunities for criminals to cause havoc, by raiding trade convoys and committing piracy against ships throughout the region."
"With the aid of Congressional funding, we have initiated a campaign to destroy all wanted vessels operating within our system. Independent pilots are requested to help us eliminate the threat that these criminals pose and claim the bounties placed on them."
In a statement to the newsfeed, Secretary of State Lana Berkovich said:
"Public interest in the Hudson Contravention is intense, with feelings running high on both sides. But it is regrettable that this has

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval has outlined a plan for the Marlinist Colonies to be officially reconnected with the Empire.
The Marlin Standard published an exclusive report from Prime Consul Kayode Tau, after he attended a diplomatic meeting on Capitol:
"The essence of Emperor Arissa's proposal is a pledge to grant the status of Imperial protectorate to the Marlinist Colonies, in return for swearing allegiance to the throne."
"In practice, local government would remain autonomous but the Imperial Navy and security agencies would have a permanent presence. There would be investment in trade, with Empire-based companies as preferred partners. New channels of transportation and communication would be opened between Marlinist and Imperial systems."
"Emperor Arissa and I discussed the issues at length. Following her experience with the Lords of Restoration, Her Majesty now accepts that most

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The journalist Jade Sanderlyn of Vox Galactica was recently invited to conduct rare public interviews with admirals of the three superpowers.
This excerpt is from a conversation with Admiral Henry Paul Atherton of the Empire.
Jade Sanderlyn: This is Jade Sanderlyn reporting for Vox Galactica. I am sitting with Admiral Henry Paul Atherton of the Imperial Navy. Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Admiral.
Henry Paul Atherton: Oh, please. Call me Henry.
JS: I'd be delighted to. This is a very impressive ship, Henry.
HPA: Some might say Majestic. [laughs] Yes, the Succession is a wonderful vessel.
JS: How long have you commanded her?
HPA: Several years now. It has been an honour to have my name listed on the Succession's exemplary service record.
JS: You were promoted to admiral only three years ago. Does that change the personal dynamic with your crew at all?
HPA: Well, they salute a

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Liberal Party has published a detailed political manifesto in advance of the Federation's presidential election in June.
Shadow President Felicia Winters summarised her party's plans during a campaign rally on Rhea 3:
"The freedoms and privileges of Federal citizens have been abused or ignored by the Hudson administration. Our vision for governance focuses on restoring the Federation's core values, offering every individual the opportunities they deserve."
"As your democratically elected president, I will take great pleasure in dismantling the Proactive Detection Bureau on day one. The mass-monitoring of private communications is a violation of civil rights that must end immediately."
"For those concerned about security, especially the Thargoid threat, I assure you that there will be no reduction in military spending. In fact, our aim is to extend naval and humanitarian assistance to

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

... how did it take me 26 years to realize that John Hurt's character in Privateer 2 was named after his Alien role?! Turns out I am not actually the world's second greatest Wing Commander detective. He's just "JOE THE BARTENDER" in the shooting script, so it's possible this was just quietly slipped into the in-game database.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Let's start the week off by DARKENING the day! Thanks to AD, we've extracted all of the background plates for Privateer 2's gameflow screens. Let's take a tour of the Tri-System. Here's the starting planet HERMES and the SINNERS INN tavern (home of Joe the Bartender)!

CRIUS, the medical planet! It has a record-setting four plates: one for the landing area, one for the SURGEON'S BLUNDER BAR and then two related to the story (CRIUS HOSPITAL and SHERNIKOV MEDICAL EQUIPMENT).

ANHUR, the first planet in the system to be settled. We've got the spaceport and the SHADOW PLAY BAR plus INTERPLANETARY AID from the storyline.

BEX, the center of the system's beer-themed religion. These aren't cathedrals, it's a spaceport and the BLESSED BREW BAR!

Here's HEPHAESTUS with the RAMPANT ROBOT BAR *and* the GALACTIC GOURMET HOTEL/BAR. I bet one of these was originally intended for Janus IV!

Here are the three planets that

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We're quickly cruising through the year here, so it's time for us to officially announce the next CIC Birthday Party! It's a big one this time as it will commemorate 25 years at wcnews.com! Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 19. The official event kicks off at 7:00 pm EDT (4:00 pm PDT and 11:00 pm GMT) on that night, but there will be plenty of people hanging out well before and after. You can join the fun in Discord #Wingnut. Feel free to stop by any time beforehand to get acquainted with how everything works. We'll see you there!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Aegis aims to provide an update to the pulse wave xeno scanner that can locate captive humans on Thargoid Titans.
Dr Maximo Fonseca, the Alliance's scientific liaison to Aegis, informed the media about the project:
"Information provided by Seo Jin-ae suggests that people abducted by the Thargoids are being kept alive aboard the Titan motherships inside 'pods'. This theory makes sense - since Thargoid atmospheres are toxic to humans, any captives are surely sealed in an environment that meets their respiratory and nutritional needs."
"The pulse wave xeno scanner has been modified by Allied, Federal and Imperial technicians, working in concert using Aegis's communications protocols. The module's electromagnetic pulse technology aims to identify these pods by detecting several key markers generated by living humans."
"A broader effort to prepare for humanitarian rescue

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Due to popular demand, Mac has rendered out his recent preview animation as a glorious 4K wallpaper. This is the one absolutely chock-full of destroyers, cruisers, carriers, transporters and more. Klavs' iconic Concordia also forms the core of this mega fleet. It must be a challenge to figure out which ship you're supposed to land your fighter on!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Mac's highly anticipated lore video on the TCS Concordia has been released! The clip has been teased in a variety of forms over the past month, and now you can enjoy the entire episode. It details the extensive history of the vessel from its commissioning in the wake of The Secret Missions 2 through the exploits of WC2 and the Special Operations and finally with her heroic efforts from the WC novels. The thorough narration is complemented by more than twenty minutes of gorgeous fleet footage. It's very informative and visually striking. Don't miss it!

The Rockstar of Confed's Carrier Fleet.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

You: there are 10 visually distinct types of bases in Privateer
Me, a genius: there are 27 visually distinct types of bases in Privateer

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Lots of cool chatter about the bold, risky and nearly perfect choices for the Ultima 7 and 8 box art today. So let me add some background on another very interesting Origin box art decision, Wing Commander IV!

For the WCIV marketing campaign, Chris Roberts wanted to focus on a broader audiences. Gamers would play the new Wing Commander… so the spend focused on selling the interactive movie experience to a wider audience. This meant stuff like radio and TV spots, trailers in movie theaters and advertising in non-traditional places like in-flight magazines.

Game advertising was in transition in 1995 anyway but you can see the Wing Commander IV stuff is VERY distinct from previous titles.

So for the box, Chris wanted something similarly distinct. What they came up with was this, a quasi in-universe design with only the mysterious enemy logo (teased throughout the print campaign)… all in totally

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

There's a new version of Originator out now that helps extra models from RealSpace engine games like Strike Commander, WC3, WC4 and Armada. AllTinker has built a little animator within the model viewer, which makes it easy to see animated textures like the explosion below. Pretty cool! You can grab the latest version here.

Version 0.2.06 - mostly improvements to the existing RealSpace model support, including:

• Support for TXMV (inbuilt shape) and TXMK (external PAK shapes) textures.
• Added TXM texture support for terrain, both standalone (WC4) and in PAKs (Strike Commander).
• Added support for sprites along with loading/viewing untextured models.
• Added a tool in the model viewer to select the current frame for animated textures.

I think all 3D models from Armada, WC3 and WC4 should be viewable/exportable - let me know if not! There are some objects (specifically the LASR and BEAM types) which aren't

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

How about some super adventures for your Sunday? Today we're sharing a pair of lengthy overviews from the Super Adventures in Gaming blog. It's really refreshing to see such an old school website operating in 2024, and I'm not just talking about their focus on classic games of the past. Their site itself is still styled after websites of old, not drastically unlike the CIC. They're also still dedicated to the art of long form text articles, which you don't see so often anymore (and if you do, you then need to weed out the AI cruft!). You can find pieces on both Wing Commander II and Wing Commander III at their site (plus Wing Commander I, which we reported on years ago). Both earn the honorable "Not Crap, Would Play Again" award. Don't let my comments about text scare you away, each article is chock full of gorgeous images from each game as well!

• WC1
• WC2
• WC3

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

General: Resolved an issue that caused some Bridge Officers to be generated with an incomplete costume. Visiting the tailor should resolve affected Bridge Officers. Resolved an issue that was causing the, “Into the Breach” Welcome screen to be inaccessible when first logging in. Removed the disclaimer on the Cyborg Miracle Worker Bridge Officer that you cannot reclaim them for free after purchase. Made the Reman Liberated Borg Bridge Officers purchased from the Zen store tradable. Resolved an issue that would sometimes prevent the Plasma Plumes from being visible during the “Into the Breach” Task Force Operation. Systems: Resolved an issue that was causing certain choice-based rewards to lump items that should always be rewarded, in with the choices that players are asked to make. This change should revert all such behavior to how it is intended to work, and

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

We're launching two great sales this weekend, and this weekend only, Captains! First, the Discovery Enterprise, D7, and the rest of the ships of the Infinity R&D Promotion are returning from 12pm PT on September 20th until 12pm PT on September 22nd. Purchase an R&D Pack during that time, and you could receive a Tier 6 Ship, including the Tier 6 Consitution Class! Best of all, during this brief return, R&D Packs are 30% off! This is a sale you'll want to take advantage of to get your hands on that ship you've always wanted. But that's not all. If you're craving even more rewards, our Lifetime Subscription is 33% off during these 48 hours as well! Get your hands on new ships, playable races, a special in game area just for you, and much much more! You can follow the link below to see the benefits, and to purchase your subscription! For information on how to claim and use your Lifetime Rewards, click

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Klavs has produced a glorious sequel to his recent Bearcat wallpaper. This one features three Hellcats zooming through the air - of both the old and new variety. It's the culmination of a model we've seen Klavs working on for over the past year. Although the Hellcat doesn't strike me as the most aerodynamic design, there's just something about how it hangs in the air that looks really good. And while it's not the most powerful offensive force, a few of them can put down some solid firepower!

DefianceIndustries: Are those rivets done via texture or physically modeled?

Klavs: I do both nowadays, if they're flush they get bumped, if they're proud they're modeled. The rivets on the Hornet are all flush except in a couple specific cases. The panel lines are likewise modeled.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
The Reorte Pro-Alliance League's success over the Reorte Mining Coalition means the system will stay in the Alliance.
A greater quantity of advanced medicines, skimmer components and building fabricators were delivered to the Trobairitz megaship than to the opposing faction. As a result, Reorte will remain an Allied system.
Pilots who contributed to the Reorte Pro-Alliance League's initiative can now collect their rewards at the Trobairitz, along with the additional pre-engineered heat sink modules provided by Sirius Corporation.
Chief Administrator Louisa Leblanc proclaimed:
"I am deeply grateful to all those who helped convince our people that Reorte's future is more secure with the Alliance. We look forward to working alongside Sirius Corporation on increasing defences against the Thargoids."
The Reorte Mining Coalition's CEO Fergus Cassidy expressed his regret

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

John Nelson has a new Lego creation, and it's another beauty! His first Kilrathi design is this small and angular Darket. I'm once again super impressed by what he was able to accomplish given a limited number of pieces on hand. He mentions that he would have preferred to use more brown parts, but I think the orange is actually pretty accurate. If you look at the 'Fireclaw' Kilrathi ace model from WC3, it's covered in special red, yellow and orange accents.

As an experiment I built my first Kilrathi model and went with the Darket. I wasn’t planning on doing Kilrathi fighters but I went for it, going for not accommodating mini figures to save time space and parts. I really like the results. I’ll get some more brownish colors in the future so that this and other models won’t have such a Heinz ketchup and mustard color scheme.

Pliers (would) say, "The Darket is like a bug. Small and annoying on its

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Aegis's new module will allow ships to penetrate the energy wave protecting the central regions of the Maelstroms.
Deliveries of cobalt, ion distributors and power converters were made to Clement Orbital in the YZ Ceti system. These allowed Aegis to build a manufacturing and distribution centre for Thargoid pulse neutralisers, which can now be purchased from technology brokers on rescue megaships.
Professor Alba Tesreau released a statement regarding Aegis's next steps:
"Combined with our caustic sink launcher, the Thargoid pulse neutraliser will enable explorers to travel through the Maelstroms' corrosive clouds and into their cores. A small number of Aegis researchers will be among the first wave of pioneers. Their mission is to identify the source of these mysterious objects and gather data about its nature."
"I am conscious that, once again, independent pilots