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We are cruising right through January, which means our annual Fan Project of the Year contest is moving quickly towards its conclusion. If you missed voting initially, you can still get your ballot in before the winners are called! Here are the nominees once again. Scroll down below to vote!

• Challenge Coins - ZOmegaZ’s successful 2021 crowdfunding campaign resulted in these beautiful trinkets in 2022! He took fan feedback to balance the sizes of the ships in the design and the results turned out great.
• elend’s Physical Models - elend is a master craftsman and his recently completed Dralthi model is high professional grade art. It belongs in a museum!
• Emulation Technology - Whether getting DOS games to run on Linux, Mac WC games running on PC or Xbox games going on PCs, this has been another great year of technological advancement in emulation.
• Gemini Sector RPG - One of the longest running and

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Origin: Wing Commander IV taught us what the price of freedom was... but where does the quote originate? It is commonly but incorrectly attributed to American founding father Thomas Jefferson. While the line sounds like something Jefferson might have written, it does not appear in any contemporary reporting or in his extant writing. It brings to mind another of his actual famous quotes that "the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants" but is in fact a fundamentaly different idea. The quote actually derives from an 1790 speech by Irish lawyer John Philpot Curran: "It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." Countless

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Mac's upcoming End Run lore video is still in the cooker, but he's released this glorious wallpaper to help tide fans over in the mean time. It features one of Klavs' Rapiers screaming towards a planetary target. Top notch wallpapering!

The Wing Commander End Run video is being pushed to January. It needs to be done right, which requires more time. In the meantime I will see about uploading something smaller to appease the Youtube algorithm for this month. So here's a still shot.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
New Federal and Imperial capital ships have arrived in HIP 22460 as Azimuth Biotech's operation nears its conclusion.
The following message was provided to all newsfeeds for public broadcast:
"This is Salvation. The Proteus Wave's core mechanism will be fully constructed one week from today. We will then begin integration with the surface site on HIP 22460 10b, using designs of mine which are unique to the superweapon's operation."
"As anticipated, the Thargoid presence in the HIP 22460 system has escalated considerably. Providing the sufficient majority of their fleet is within range of the Proteus Wave, the casualties will be devastating enough to drive the Thargoids out of the core systems forever."
"I urge all superpower-affiliated and independent ships to hold the line. Only through determination and sacrifice will we finish our crucial work."
In HIP 22460, the

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
The HIP 22460 system will be the stage for a decisive strike against the Thargoids by Azimuth Biotech and the superpowers.
The following message was broadcast across all public channels:
"This is Salvation. Construction of the Proteus Wave has officially commenced. This version of my anti-xeno superweapon has been designed to bring absolute victory against our adversaries."
"HIP 22460 will serve as the final battlefield in the Thargoid war. As with previous superweapons, we anticipate that the Guardian-based technology incorporated within the Proteus Wave will once again attract the Thargoids. However, this time it will eradicate the alien threat not just from the system, but from the entire galaxy."
"Everyone who wishes to see this hostile species defeated once and for all should view this project as a call to arms. This is not a time for politics or debate. It is

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

A look at the rivalry between Aegis and Salvation during the escalating war against the Thargoids.
Salvation's success in purging the Thargoid presence from the Cornsar system had many repercussions, not least from the aliens themselves. Several inhabited nebulas were suddenly overrun with Thargoid vessels, leading some to believe they were reacting aggressively to the Guardian-based nature of the anti-xeno superweapon.
Aegis's hands were tied by the ongoing public inquiry, but its chief military liaison Admiral Aden Tanner was convinced that the superweapon was designed to attract Thargoids as well as repel them. Claiming that evidence for this could be found at Hind Mine in the T Tauri system, he commanded the megaship Musashi to launch an assault.
This was a battle that Taurus Mining Ventures won with much support from independent pilots, showing how much faith was now placed in Salvation.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots Federation ALERT*
A distress call has led independent pilots to locate an abandoned settlement in the Snake Sector GW-W c1-1 system.
The SOS was initially detected by one of the megaships that form the Colonia Bridge, inspiring many ships to search nearby systems. The source was eventually identified as Holloway Bioscience Research Facility 15 on the moon Snake Sector GW-W c1-1 AB 5 b.
Pilots unearthed a series of mission logs recorded in the year 3255 by a freelance military unit named Excalibur Troop. As yet, the contents of these logs have not been made available to newsfeeds.
Aanya Gupta, CEO of the Holloway Bioscience Institute, gave a statement to the press:
"Research Facility 15 was one of the first wave of planetary survey laboratories established by our founder, the esteemed scientist Lord Roland Holloway. Our records of these settlements are patchy, so we are grateful that

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LOAF stumbled across an interesting album cover here. It's the 1978 Voyage (A Journey Into Discoid Funk) by Brian Bennett and it features a pretty stellar - and familiar - space ship. Something about the six nacelles, narrow central neck and orange/red/silver color scheme makes me think Prince Thrakhath would have found this to be a perfectly adequate flagship in the 2660s.

I can’t speak to the music but this is an EXTREMELY handsome spaceship.

Here's a handful of other Rigakh sightings to compare: from WC2, Last Line of Defense, Klavs' Models and Standoff.

Oh, and what did A Discoid Funk sound like? Here's a sample! I could totally imagine this playing in the Concordia rec room.

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Today we have a third entry in a recent string of articles dug up by the X-Wing Game Series Twitter account. This is another "state of the space sim genre" type of spread, which was a recurring theme at the time. It's interesting to see what they had to say at this point in time while the franchise was really still in its early days. Most of these types of pieces would hit on the usual suspects: Wing Commander, X-Wing and Elite plus a few of the newer novel entrants. Although this actually predates Wing Commander 3, even the original few WC games were known for their cinematic qualities. The caption to the WC image is "Wing Commander brought the movies to your PC." Also, what's up with the weird three-pip Picard on top?!

Far more exciting than Epic ever was was Wing Commander, designed by Chris Roberts and released by Origin in 1990. This was a pure all-action combat simulation which abandoned

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots Federation ALERT*
An initiative by the Kumo Crew syndicate to construct new starports for increasing trade has ended successfully.
Pilots delivered large quantities of ceramic composites, semiconductors, polymers and water purifiers to Gabriel Enterprise in the Harma system. Bounty vouchers were also offered to protect the shipments during transit.
The Kumo Council has announced that rewards for both traders and bounty hunters are now available from Gabriel Enterprise via its loyal intermediaries, The Razor Whips.
Kavanagh Spaceframes Ltd will now fulfil its contract and construct new Orbis starports. These will be in place on the 29th of April 3307 at the following locations:
Pegasi sector PN-T C3-14, near the Harma system
HIP 18390, near the California Nebula
HIP 10792, near the Sothis system
HIP 62154, in the Coalsack Nebula
Eol Prou PC-K c9-91, in the Colonia region
A statement

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

The Infinity Lock Box, containing prizes from nearly all previously-retired Lock Boxes, will be available again for an appearance on PC. During this time, enemies defeated on both Ground and Space maps will have a small chance of dropping one of these prize-filled packages. This run of the Infinity Lock Box will feature the addition of the Ferengi Quark Marauder [T6] and the Kelvin Divergence Lockbox contents! Continue reading further on for the full details on these new offerings. Updated Prize Lists! Along with the Ferengi Quark Marauder and all of the prizes offered in previous appearances of the Infinity Lock Box, additional prizes originally seen in the Kelvin Divergence Lock Box have been added to the rewards! They now include all of the following: Kelvin Heavy Destroyer [T6] (FED only) Kelvin Timeline D7 Heavy Destroyer [T6] (KDF only) Console - Universal - Hull Image

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Li Huang of Improbable Cadence has a musical treat for us today. He's put together a digital fan reorchestration of the original Wing Commander theme by Dave Govett/Team Fat. It uses the Roland MT-32 MIDI as a source of inspiration. The track's a faithful reproduction that really amps up the tone throughout! Listen below or grab the high quality mp3 here (5 megs).

I recently finished a rendition of the WC1 theme.

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

General: Updated Memorial plaque to include Kevin Conway Resolved an issue that would sometimes cause the proper FX to not play when using Feign Disintegration power. Resolved an issue where the playing cards in the player's hand could occasionally persist after the emote has ended. Resolved graphical issues with Screen Space Ambient Occlusion on Dranuur Colony. Content: Reduced the damage output of all enemies (including the mini-boss) during the first mini-boss fight of the final ground act of "Measure of Morality, Pt 2". TNG Enterprise NPC’s updated to use the correct costumes. Updated and added more lines of dialogue in the episode, “Measure of Morality”. Ships: Minor visual updates to the DSC Constitution. Adjusted the firing nodes on the Kelvin Constitution Beyond Refit so that phasers in the 5th node fire from the correct spot

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OliverInk has put together another gorgeous wallpaper image, and this one features the distinguished Banshee light fighter. It's titled "Cry of the Banshee," and you can almost imagine it screaming over the surface of a cold icy world in this setting. Of particular note is the highly detailed source model for the ship. It's not a creation I'm immediately familiar with, and may be a new fan design - perhaps by an artist named Black Chilla? It's very cool, nonetheless. Either image would make a fantastic wallpaper!

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The Origin art piece destined for Through the Moongate, from Wing Commander and Ultima VII to Portalarium continues to come together. Manda, the painter, has posted these step-by-step illustrations to show how the Kilrathi face and Dralthi fighter have been added. As this is a KF-100 fighter, it's greenish tinged as it soars by. Project backers who supported the book, but not the higher art tiers, have an option to add a cloth version of this painting for €30 by contacting author Andrea Contato.

Science fiction and fantasy painters benefit from painting wildlife. The Kilrathi are a cat-inspired race of aliens. I’ll be better able to paint fantasy felines if I’ve made a few real ones along the way. GrrAWWRRR!!! The asymmetry is very deliberate. This one is a bad guy. I want them in the mean and angry and crazed side of things.

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There might not be a new episode of All Wings Considered this week, but you can still get your Privateer streaming fix thanks to a retro review from Event Horizon. They cover all kinds of diverse games, but the author says Privateer holds a special place in his gaming library. The vid clocks in at about 24 minutes and does a good job recapping the major features and what makes the game magical. It confirms that many players find Privateer quite playable even after more than 26 years, so if you've got a friend looking for something to do, Privateer is a great gateway drug into the Wing Commander universe. This review says a joystick is practically a must-have, but I've always found the gameplay to be a little bit slower and quite conducive to keyboard flying. The Tarsus cockpit is even anchored around a keyboard rather than stick or yoke of any kind!

My review of the 1993 classic, Wing Commander

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Attention flying pancake fans! Today's all about the Dralthi. First up,

Howard Day

has started building the interior cockpit for the Dralthi in

Wing Leader

. The preview below compares it to the peek we got in Secret Missions 2. It's off to a wonderful start!

Additionally,

Goliath

has taken Howard's updated Dralthi model and incorporated it into the

Sprite Refresh

, which is another cool WC1-centric project. Whereas Howie is recoding the engine from the ground up, Goliath is finding clever ways to incorporate higher quality assets into the original engine. And it's just fantastic to see how far both projects can go when they work together!

Finally, here's some sprite spinners of the new Dralthi model that we missed posting originally. There's both a standard and ace variant, which is pretty sweet!

Dralthi update for the #WingCommander #Pixelart #Remake! More details, markings. Done before I got

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Star Trek Online is running a special weekend event where you can earn bonus Dilithium Ore by playing content throughout the game! It’s time to hit the drills, Captains! The Dilithium Ore event runs from 8AM PT Thursday, August 1st to 10AM PT Monday, August 5th. During the event, bonus Dilithium Ore will be provided for the following content: Vlugta Asteroid Field: 100% Bonus Dilithium Ore for Daily Mining Missions 100% Bonus to all Rich Dilithium Claims Fleet Dilithium Mine: 100% Bonus Dilithium Ore for Daily Mining Missions Everywhere else in the game 50% Bonus Dilithium Ore Dilithium rewards from completing Event Reputation Projects no longer receive a bonus. This excludes Event Reputation Projects Please note: The Dilithium Weekend does not effect rewards from the Endeavor system. We hope you enjoy this special event and we’ll see you in-game!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The head of personnel at Rackham Capital Investments has died in an accident, becoming the second senior-level employee to have died in recent weeks.

Journalist Bryanna Blanco commented in The Federal Times:

"Senior executive Derrin O'Shea was killed when his personal limousine malfunctioned and crashed. The incident has not been ruled as suspicious. O'Shea's position was filled within hours by a supporter of Taja Gavaris, however. Gavaris herself inherited the CFO role in a similar fashion following her predecessor's recent death."

"With two close allies gone, CEO Zachary Rackham must feel under threat. This corporate power struggle increasingly resembles two pirate captains fighting to become overall leader."

"The authorities have again declined to begin a formal investigations into Gavaris and Rackham, claiming a lack of evidence. How many more casualties must occur before this conflict is

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Think you own a copy of pretty much every Wing Commander book out there? The truth may shock you! LOAF is on a mission to acquire a copy of every book in existence, including all those crazy, unofficial German guides. More than eighty books have been added to the

Background

section, covering both novels and game guides (official and unofficial) and their translations into

Czech

,

German

and

Russian

. We've even included some unrealized projects (did you know that author Andrew Keith had planned to pitch a pair of follow-up novels to

False Colors

?) and some interesting odds and ends, like the

Polish Honor Harrington

novel that reuses the cover art from End Run. Please get in touch if you own something we've overlooked, or if you have a copy of that elusive

Italian guide

and would be able to provide us with a scan or additional information.

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