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Pilots' Federation ALERT
The continued project to provide enhanced AX weaponry for all ships has announced its latest progress update.
Independent pilots have been tasked with establishing a manufacturing base at select locations in the core systems. Thanks to these focused efforts, the following weapons are now available for purchase:
Enhanced AX Multi-cannon (Turreted)
Enhanced AX Missile Rack (Turreted)
Enhanced AX Multi-cannon (Fixed)
These modules are offered at all rescue megaships, which can be found using the Galaxy Map filter. Ships looking to engage Thargoid forces are advised to equip these weapons, particularly in Maelstrom systems where Guardian-based technology has proven ineffective.
Work continues on the other enhanced weapons, based on designs by the engineers Liz Ryder and Zacariah Nemo which improve the original Aegis models. A further update will be provided next Thursday,

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*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Sandra Corrs, CEO of the largest manufacturer of children's toys in the core systems, has requested help this holiday season.
Many parents will be familiar with Sandra's Workshop, recognising the company logo stamped across countless datapads, interactive suites and tactile play sets designed for youngsters. But the joy of this year's festive season is at risk, with the recent Thargoid invasion impacting the Workshop's distribution chain.
In an interview with Vox Galactica, Corrs explained:
"We typically use a fleet of transports provided by our partner company, Dolph's Routes, to deliver presents to good children all across the bubble. But those transports have been assigned to provide evacuation support to 63 Tauri. Entirely understandable, and I applaud the company for its brave work. But it does leave many presents without a sleigh, as my grandfather used to

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Aggressive Wing Commander pilots continue to shave minutes and seconds off their best Wing Commander times! When we first started reporting on the competitive sport of SNES speedrunning some five years ago, players were completing the game in the 41-46 minute range. Over the years, players perfected the route to Hubble's Star and Rostov. You can eject through the early part of the game, win a few key missions and then eject through Venice and still get the winning endgame. At the beginning of this year, the best runs were down to about 23 minutes, and now players are hitting times as low as 15:40, which is amazing! You can read about the specific choices that ShesChardcore made to accomplish the run below here:

This submission is for the SNES version of Wing Commander, a space/flight sim about a war between the Terrans (humans) and Kilrathi (cats.) This showcases the fastest route through the SNES

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*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
A further 13 systems have fallen under Thargoid control as the last of the Maelstroms materialise.
The three rogue signal sources – designated Thor, Raijin and Hadad – entered human-occupied space yesterday. As with the previous five anomalies, they manifested as colossal clouds of corrosive gas over 100 kilometres in diameter.
Pilots who attempt to investigate the Maelstroms have been warned that the highly caustic nature of the clouds can disable and destroy ships. Xenologists have speculated that the cloud is a defensive asset, maintained by the huge numbers of caustic generators clustered within.
All eight Maelstroms are now established at their destinations, positioned in a broad semi-circle along the fringe of the core systems. Each of these entities has become the centre of an expanding Thargoid sphere of influence. Populated systems in the surrounding

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Oh man I never noticed how obvious it was that the Axius corridors were the Lexington set relit.

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This 27th century press release was made for the Kilrathi Saga manual. It used the original concept sketches of the Strakha made for Wing Commander II… and they forgot to edit out the artist’s note identifying “meaningless pods”!

Also what a baller non-explanation for why the design changes so significantly between Wing Commander II and III. Up there with Worf not discussing it with outsiders.

Does the press release match the mission in the game (K’tithrak Mang B)? Yes, nine Strakha. Does it match the official guide’s in universe history? No, you shoot down seven of the Strakha and not six there.

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Deadline reports that Matthew Lillard, who starred as Maniac in the Wing Commander Movie, will soon have a role in the film conversion of Five Nights at Freddy's. Although Lillard has seen huge success in roles relating to Scooby Doo and the Good Girls TV show, he's also got quite a horror following thanks to his time in Scream and movies like Thir13en Ghosts. When he's not acting, Lillard also has a company that focuses on tabletop gaming. Last year they did a really great joke Wing Commander box set for April Fool's Day. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how the Freddy's movie turns out!

The characters they are playing are not being specified. Production on the film is set to begin in February in New Orleans.

Lillard recently starred on the NBC hit Good Girls opposite Christina Hendricks, Retta and Mae Whitman. He has appeared on great shows such as Bosch, Billions, Halt and Catch Fire,

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Thargoid vessels are interdicting human ships travelling through systems that have been occupied by their fleets.
The Thargoids' ability to force craft to drop out of hyperspace is well documented. Over the past couple of weeks, pilots have reported that the interdiction ability used by human ships in supercruise is also being utilised by the alien forces.
Colonel Bris Dekker, an engineer who specialises in frame shift drive technology, submitted his analysis to The Federal Times:
"Being intercepted by the Thargoids mid-way through an interstellar journey is certainly a disturbing experience, but not necessarily a fatal one. Many ships have survived such encounters, unless they happen to be carrying Guardian or Thargoid artefacts. By contrast, these more recent incidents are uniformly acts of aggression, with ships being wrenched out of supercruise and immediately fired upon."
"We don't know

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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.

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One for the never noticed/can't unsee file: the destroyer that flies towards the screen in the Wing Commander Academy intro is traveling BACKWARDS!

Every other appearance has the conning tower in the back and the round... pod... in the front.

Another good backwards ship is the Vaktoth used on the Wing Commander card game packaging!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

On the Empire's homeworld Capitol, fears over imminent Thargoid invasion sparked a public gathering outside the Imperial Palace.
Cassia Carvalho, political journalist for The Imperial Herald, reported from the scene:
"The arrival of the Thargoid Maelstroms has triggered protests on many Allied, Federal and independent worlds. The Empire is rarely troubled by such disruption, so the spontaneous march by tens of thousands of citizens through Capitol's streets caught the media and security services by surprise."
"Chancellor Anders Blaine addressed the crowd, his image projected above us all. He spoke of the Imperial Navy's swift response to the Thargoid threat, making assurances that our systems were protected and we were all safe."
"But this wasn't enough to quell the increasingly strident demands that more should be done. I saw anger, frustration and fear etched into those shouting faces. The

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MALF! You know, the common human expression that exists in plenty of other contexts all the time, “malf”.

The meta-malf of the MALF! cards is that their art is cropped so close that you can’t tell what ships they are. Thanks to the original art, it’s clearly an Arrow and a Darket!

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Today we’ve got a set of video reviews by the Best Computergames channel. They’re going through and cataloging the top titles of the early ‘90s with extensive overviews of each game. As they’ve gotten more experience, the clips have gotten more elaborate. Privateer clocks in at 8 minutes, WC3 at 22 and WC4 is nearly a half hour long. Each piece discusses the highlights of the story, gameplay, technology and how everything comes together. Although these are in German, YouTube’s auto translate feature does work here, so everyone can turn captions on for their preferred language in order to follow along.

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There's very exciting news in the Crusader community today. Crusader was another Origin series that was played as a top down isometric shooter. There were only two main games released, but they've now found and archived a version that may have been a precursor to an unreleased sequel - or perhaps an unreleased console port! You can download a copy for yourself and stay up to date with all of the latest Crusader news at EchoSector.com.

Crusader 2 PSX Pre-Pre Alpha recovered and released

It’s a wonderful day for Crusader history, as I am proud to announce the recovery and preservation of a pre-pre-alpha build of Crusader 2 for the Sony Playstation. It has been uploaded online for all to enjoy.

Following the departure of Tony Zurovec from Origin Systems in late 1996, there was a bit of a scramble to keep Crusader going as both No Remorse and No Regret were financial successes for the company. You can

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Emil Pagliarulo, the lead designer of Bethesda's upcoming space RPG Starfield, has posted a thread about the inspirations that help shape the direction of the his current project. There are several classic Origin games on his list, including 2400 AD, Space Rogue and Privateer. Starfield is due out next year and looks very promising, and it's nice to see how Wing Commander games continue to influence the industry! You can see the full list with other great space sims on it here.

Time to talk about other (more) deserving folks. It's been impossible for me to work on Starfield for so long without constantly thinking about the devs and games that have served as so much personal inspiration, for so many reasons. Long, and long overdue post incoming.

Origin Systems' 1988 gem 2400 AD. My God, I lost an entire summer to this game. One of the first real sci-fi computer RPGs I ever played. It informed a lot of

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Merry Christmas and a happy CIC holidays to all of you Wingnuts out there! We would like to wish you peace and safety from our little corner of the internet. Join us in #Wingnut if you'd like to share in the holiday cheer. It helps keep us grounded in these crazy times!

This year EmuMusicFan put together this wonderful sketch. There are a couple of inspirations behind it. The art style is reminiscent of the classic blue and white scheme from Claw Marks. It's also a spiritual successor to Denis Loubet's Christmas card from a few years back where Hobbes receives endless balls of gift wrapped yarn. This time he gets a (timely because of the World Cup?) soccer ball instead!

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If you're up late Christmas Eve and still scrambling to complete your list - we've all been there, and the CIC is here to help! Give the gift of Wing Commander. The entire series is discounted to $12 as part of their winter sale. There are also great digital options that can virtually deliver the movie, music albums and ebooks. Whether you're done shopping or not, if the holiday stress has been too much to handle, head over to Discord #Wingnut and decompress with your fellow fans!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Shadow President Felicia Winters has called for the Federal Navy to help defend independent systems being invaded by the Thargoids.
She outlined her viewpoint during an interview with the Federal Free Press:
"The Thargoid fleets emerging from the Maelstroms have inflicted anguish and loss on millions. Our military forces have responded magnificently, and continue to fight hard against appalling odds. But while they are saving lives in Federal-aligned systems, independent systems are left to suffer."
"Surely this cannot be right? These are our neighbours, our trading partners, our historic cousins. Their populations cry out for help, and the mighty Federal Navy chooses to ignore them, claiming orders to prioritise saving our own. Is that who we are now? No better than the Empire?"
"I have argued in Congress that we have a duty of responsibility to protect any independent systems lacking the

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Mac has a special gift for Wingnuts this week. It's a new preview of his upcoming End Run lore video. The clip is chock full of new cuts and scenes that will be used to highlight the epic battles from the Vukar Tag campaign. There's some absolutely majestic fleet action depicted and very explosive combat in store. Check it out below!

The past month has been an utter journey of making 3d scenes for the upcoming End Run video, and learning new skills for use in said video along the way.