News categories list

  • 02

    Dec

    20th Freelancer Anniversary with Crossfire
    The SWAT Portal will organize a special in-game event on 4th March next year on the official Crossfire server to celebrate the release date of the game 20 years ago. Depending on feedback and general interest of the players we might even prolong this event to the entire weekend. A special in-game reward will be provided to all the participants. We invite you to jump back into the cockpit and have great weekend with us. 4th March, 2023.We will provide detailed information about the anniversary ev

  • 07

    May

    Welcome to the Vega Sector! Here's the original

    star map

    sketch that became a page of Wing Commander's Claw Marks manual. The map was redone for several ports and even included as a poster in the FM Towns release (the blue one). The only problem: it's supposed to be to scale but the distances change in each version! Note that "Hell's Kitchen" becomes "Apocalypse" in the SNES version because Nintendo.

    vega_history1t.jpgvega_history2t.jpgvega_history3t.jpgvega_history4t.jpgvega_history5t.jpgvega_history6t.jpg

  • 11

    May

    The details of the negotiation that created the Alliance between the Federation, Klingon Empire, and Romulan Republic are slowly coming to life, years after the signing of the document. One very important, timed clause has no come to fruition, and the Romulan Republic will gain access to Federation and Klingon technology! As part of the constant evolving nature of Star Trek Online, we’ve decided to make a change to what ships Romulan Captains can access. Previously, Romulans could only fly Romulan ships, no matter who they were allied with. When Victory is Life launches, Romulan Captains will be able to fly the ships of their chosen allied faction! Take to the stars in the Defiant or a Bird of Prey, while still defending the honor of the Romulan Republic. This includes all allied ships except: Chimera/Manticore Heavy Destroyer (All variants) Peghqu'/Duvqu' Heavy Destroyer (All

  • 15

    May

    Greetings, First. This is Dukan’Rex, Elder First, reporting directly to our Founder, Odo. I have a special mission for you. During our last anniversary episode, Scylla and Charybdis, a fleet of Jem’Hadar ships show up with Odo to join the battle at DS9. Now see the events leading up to this battle from the perspective of an elite Jem’Hadar team. You will get a chance to outfit your ship(s), select your Bridge Officers, and prep yourself for an epic battle before heading out of the Gamma Quadrant. Turn the TIde is a Jem’Hadar only episode, required for all new Jem’Hadar characters to complete before joining a faction. It is designed for experienced players as you will start at level 60. Note: it is not a tutorial - it is not repeatable or skippable. However, you will get to conquer various enemies of the Dominion for the glory of the Founders. Remember: Victory is life! Tiffany

  • 12

    Aug

    The CIC is now officially 20 years old! Time flies when you're having fun. We opened up wcnews.com on August 10, 1998 and never would have imagined we'd still be here all these years later. We've seen this milestone approaching over the last few years, but it's kind of mind blowing that it's finally here. What makes it so impressive is everything the community continues to do. Just look at the last couple weeks of news: there's multiple innovative hacks/mods to Wing Commander 1, gorgeous creative art, newly recovered movie footage, new programming tools, discovery of easter eggs and some great fan projects. And just last month we finished out the Baen ebook series. Thanks for being here with us to enjoy it all.


    irc_wingnut_nineteenth1t.jpgcic_cake-2015t.jpg

    We're very much looking forward to the party, which will take place a week from tomorrow on Discord. Set your calendars for Saturday, August 18, 2018 at 7:00 pm EDT (4:00 pm PDT and

  • 13

    Sep

    The Alioth Independents has announced that its appeal for exotic food and drink has reached a successful conclusion, having received an overwhelming response from the galactic community. Huge quantities of Esuseku Caviar, Ceremonial Heike Tea and Live Hecate Sea Worms were delivered to Smith Landing over the past week, which will now be used to host their gala event.


    With the initiative at an end, Durien Ballas, chairman of the Alioth Independents, issued the following statement:


    "This will be an event like no other, and we are proud to be introducing Fazia Silva and Elijah Beck to the galactic stage. Along with Gibson Kincaid, I'm sure they will soon do battle in a good-natured yet robust election campaign."


    Pilots who contributed to the initiative can now collect their rewards from Smith Landing in the Amber system.

  • 17

    Oct

    Nenid opened her eyes, only to see the worried face of Centurion D’mev staring down at her. “Status report,” she said hoarsely, having taken in a lungful of smoke during the last exchange of fire. Coughing, she got to her feet with the junior officer’s assistance and took a seat in the command chair. “Preferably before the Tholians manage to find and destroy us, if you please, Centurion. “ D’mev blanched before speaking. “Commander, we are under cloak, per your orders. A Tholian fleet is massing within the Azure Nebula; it seems we encountered their vanguard during our investigation of the temporal anomalies there.” Nenid nodded as she called up tactical data to the main viewscreen. And in a moment, a mission of science becomes a mission of war, she thought silently. “Engineering,” she said as she activated her command channel. “What’s our situation? That volley from the Tholians

  • 18

    Dec

    General: Resolved an issue that would block mission progression when using a “Redshirt” or generic Security Officer in the mission, "The Power Source". Resolved an issue that prevented players from discarding some of the gear from the Mirror Escort Carrier [T6]. Resolved an issue that caused Superior Area Denial to affect some allies that weren't the player’s hangar pets. Resolved an issue when obtaining the Starship Mastery Unlock: Superior Area Denial, it would list it as “Black Alert” instead. This is a description fix only. Resolved a typo in the Winter Event Loading screen.

  • 03

    Apr

  • 05

    Jun

    The Gamma Vanguard Pack and the Gamma Starter Pack are two of the most exciting parts of jumping on board Victory is Life. And while tons of you have already preordered the pack (and picked it up today) from the official Arc website, a lot of you have been asking when these packs will be available on the in-game C-store. The answer is, of course, right this minute. If you head to the C-store right now you can get a jump on Victory is Life with the Gamma Starter Pack for 2000 Zen, and the Gamma Vanguard Pack for the introductory price of 13,000 Zen. That price won’t last forever, so if Zen is the way you want to get the pack, jump on it now and get eight Tier 6 Starships, new uniforms, items, and the Vanguard Jem’Hadar race, all unlocking immediately. We hope you’re enjoying Victory is Life, and we hope you enjoy these packs, Captains! .share-footer a { margin: 20px 10px 10px 0;

  • 11

    Jun

    Every week, designers, engineers and other developers from our five offices around the world answer backer questions submitted on SPECTRUM and voted on by YOU. This week, we address questions regarding the use of escape pods and get the final answer about “Agent Smithing” in the persistent universe.

    You can submit your questions for consideration in future episodes of Calling All Devs here.

    And for info on becoming a subscriber, go to: Subscriptions - Roberts Space Industries | Follow the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42

  • 26

    Aug

    NinjaLA found a neat interview at

    Trekyards

    with the Cushman brothers, who created all those awesome Star Trek cutaway posters back in the day. It's an interesting discussion that provides insight into the design process and what goes into creating magnificent pieces of art like this.

    These clips are entirely focused on the Star Trek work, but it's also important to note than Michael Cushman was the creator of Wing Commander's own awesome Tiger's Claw cutaway poster tie in to the Wing Commander Movie. It was fully designed but never released, and the

    Cushmans helped

    bring this long lost gem to fans. It's been a few years since we've mentioned it in the news, but it's absolutely not to be missed, so here it is again:

    FINTigerClaw2tt.jpg

  • 01

    Jun

    Vintage PC Ads

    has unearthed a really cool Privateer advertisement that we may not have seen before, but it has some striking similarities to a couple of other contemporary ads that were launched about the same time. The text starts off "In 2670..." which is a

    common

    issue

    dating back to some point before they cemented the game in 2669. Confed and the Kilrathi are "still at war" here, whereas "the war rages on" in

    other

    publications. We've seen "death, slavery or dishonor" elsewhere, but this text changes "a chance to make a quick buck" to "chance to make a fat living." Fascinating!

    privateer_stillatwart.jpg

  • 27

    Jun

    From June 27th at 10am PT to June 28th at 10am PT, we are running a promotion that will provide an additional bonus when opening a Research and Development Pack. During this promotion, all R&D packs will be 30% off! When you purchase a Research and Development Pack from the C-Store and open it, you will receive either 10 Lobi Crystals or a Special Requisition Choice Pack - Tier 6 Promotional Ship Choice Pack in addition to the Research and Development Pack. The player fortunate enough to win this ship pack will be presented with a choice of claiming a package containing any one of the following ships: Krenim Annorax Science Dreadnought [T6] Elachi Sheshar Intel Dreadnought Cruiser [T6] Elachi Sheshar Command Dreadnought Cruiser [T6] Jem'Hadar Strike Ship [T6] Jem’Hadar Recon Ship [T6] Special Requisition Pack - 23rd Century Tier 6 Ship The Special Requisition Pack - 23rd

  • 29

    Jun

  • 27

    Jul

  • 12

    Nov

  • 02

    May

    Captains! We're happy to announce that you'll be able to enjoy 20% off all Duty Officer Packs! Captains can select from the following Duty Officer Packs for 20% from Thursday, May 2nd at 8AM PT to Monday, May 6th at 10am PT. Gamma Quadrant Duty Officer Cadre Reinforcements Duty Officer Pack Fleet Support Duty Officer Pack Romulan Survivor Duty Officer Pack Delta Alliance Duty Officer Pack Delta Pack Federation Pack Klingon Pack In addition to this sale, purchasing and opening any of the above packs (except the Fedeation and Klingon Packs) during this promotion will provide an extra bonus prize, on top of all the Duty Officer packs’ existing contents! Opening any of them will be guaranteed to provide either 10 Lobi Crystals or a Special Requisition Choice Pack, which contains one of the Tier 6 Starships featured in previous similar promotions. The Special Requisition Choice Pack will

  • 23

    Jul