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Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Renowned war correspondent Jade Sanderlyn provides her regular summary of the latest news regarding the Thargoid conflict.
"It is now a whole year since the Thargoid Titans arrived and unleashed their fleets upon us. It's pleasing to report that humanity's resistance remains strong. New invasions are rare, and Thargoid vessels are being driven out of occupied systems. Nobody is under any illusions that this war might end soon, and it remains to be seen how the Thargoids adapt to the current situation. But among independent pilots and anti-xeno squadrons, morale is high – as it absolutely deserves to be."
"The Thargoid spire sites have also brought cause for cautious optimism. Having received huge volumes of samples for testing, Ishmael Palin proved that spire compounds and Titan hull fragments share genetic commonalities. Whatever these eerie alien growths are, evidence is growing that their

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
A series of public events to celebrate the forthcoming presidential election are being held in the Sol system.
Congress approved a request by President Zachary Hudson to finance a range of festivities, concerts and shows across the home system of the Federation.
Billions of people are expected to attend, leading to a request for supplies of Crystalline Spheres, Gerasian Gueuze Beer, Indi Bourbon, LTT Hyper Sweet and Pantaa Prayer Sticks to be delivered to Li Qing Jao starport in orbit over planet Earth. Congress also agreed to authorise a temporary two-week permit for all Pilots' Federation members to access the Sol system.
President Hudson announced the events across all Federal news channels, where he said:
"Now we approach the time, as determined centuries ago by the Federal Accord, of our civilisation's most profound tradition: the peaceful transfer of power. I

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Rare goods delivered to Xi Wangda helped ensure that Azimuth Biotech's arms convention was a success.
CEO Torben Rademaker confirmed the initiative's completion:
"From today, the Overcharged Gimballed AX Multi-Cannon with Auto Loader is available at all rescue megaships, as well as Azimuth Biotech's core markets. I am confident that this will prove useful those brave pilots who enter combat with Thargoid ships. Once again, my company has proved that its ingenuity and experience in developing anti-xeno weaponry cannot be surpassed."
"I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to all of the corporate, financial and military representatives who attended the convention. Many fascinating proposals were discussed, most of which must remain commercially confidential for now. Suffice to say, the future for Azimuth Biotech and our partners looks bright."
"Finally, the event

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here at the CIC, we used to keep pretty close tabs on Ultima Online. As a product that was developed alongside contemporaries such as Wing Commander Prophecy at the famous Austin studio, it was a big deal to see EA continue the MMO long after Origin's closure. When Electronic Arts finally did decide that they were done with it in 2014, that could have very easily been the end, but the game has somehow continued to thrive for another decade under Broadsword. So I was really happy to see this recent PC Gamer blurb about high turnout for the game's summer barbecue event. The game has been continuously running for more than 25 years now, so the fact that it exists at all is impressive - but all the more so that they're still having fun events in their tight knit community! You can skim through a few recorded streams below to see what the game's like in 2023:

Ultima Online still boasts an active

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Privateer 2 is great and you can't tell me it's not. I love the weird aesthetic and the novels worth of bizarre world building in all the booth and mission text.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We remember it taking FOREVER for each new Wing Commander game to come out... but how long did it actually take to develop them? It's pretty crazy compared to how long it takes to make a AAA game today!

This is production to release only, though, so it's not the full story. For instance, Chris Roberts spent several months developing the technology behind the original Wing Commander on his own before it became a budgeted Origin project. Similarly, Wing Commander Arena signed off months before it was released and it sat in a crowded XBox Live Arcade release queue. For further comparison, Strike Commander's famously endless delays meant that it spent... 18 months in production! That's nothing today.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

A warning about entering the Maelstroms has been offered by Seo Jin-ae, whose unique cortical implant offers glimpses into the Thargoid hive mind.
Aden Tanner, who is currently working with Aegis, released a personal statement:
"Seo Jin-ae approached me in a state of distress shortly after the first tests of the Thargoid pulse neutraliser. She claimed that, as the probes passed through Taranis's energy wave, she perceived a change among the Thargoid voices. 'Like being woken up by insect bites,' was how she described the sensation."
"'The Thargoids aren't as oblivious to our tests as it sometimes seems,' she told me. I pressed her for more details, but there was only one thing she was convinced about: 'They understand we've found a way to push deeper into the Maelstrom. They know we're coming.'"
"Now, this might mean nothing at all, and it's not verifiable data. But it prompted Professor

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We're going to start this week off with a new Kilrathi Lego creation by John Nelson. You can see from the sweep of the wings that this is clearly the Dralthi IV variant, which puts it right in line with the Darket and Strakha he put together earlier. He's started to incorporate a larger mix of brown panels in an attempt to better mimic the WC3 color scheme. It makes me want a Lego Excalibur to start tearing them up!

This was a fun one to build years ago in a simpler state, but with the new colors and brick types this guy is far more accurate - albeit with my little tweaks and touches. This is the second model that I needed technic parts to complete.

Pliers (would) say, "Dralthis are pretty pathetic, but don’t turn your back on them. Their particle cannons can fire continuously and will bring down anything from a carrier to an interceptor."

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Preliminary motions on the forthcoming Hudson Contravention vote have begun in Federal Congress.
The proposal, named after President Zachary Hudson's call to suspend the 77th amendment to the Federal Accord, is a point of significant contention. If approved, Hudson would be eligible to run for another term in this year's presidential elections, breaking with centuries of constitutional law.
Supporters of the proposal, led by Hudson's cabinet, point to the ongoing conflict with the Thargoids as a primary reason to vote in favour. With the significant escalation in Thargoid aggression and the loss of hundreds of systems, it has been argued that a change of leadership could weaken the Federation's ability to defend itself.
Opponents have called the move a 'dictatorial' tactic which uses the fear of alien attack to influence public opinion. Felicia Winters, the Liberal candidate and current

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Nightball06 has a new set of Hellcat renders to share, and they've certainly come a very long way since his original 2D sketches. He tried commissioning another artist to take his designs to the next dimension, but now he's learned techniques to work with the model himself. There are a few liberties taken with specific elements, but the overarching space frame is pretty sharp. The textures are slick too. Now that this exist in virtual form, Nightball has plans to try his hand at animation next.

Thanks to the help from Mac, who gave me step-by-step instructions, I was finally able to render my "legacy"-images.

Looks pretty nice I think...So thanks again to all who helped me ... Next stop: Animation

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Happy New Year all! Today we've got our annual January 1 poll that asks Wingnuts for their expectations for the year ahead. As we saw in yesterday's news post, 2022 was a busy year, and we've got every reason to believe 2023 will be just as exciting! What do you think? Whatever happens, we're looking forward to sharing it with you!

The old poll was a Halloween-themed choice between ghostly named fighters. The powerful Vampire took the top spot, but the spooky Jincilla Skull was close behind. WC4's Banshee and the Wraith also did quite well. Sadly, almost no one likes the Phantom.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This week EA reconfirmed that another title in the Mass Effect series is in the works. Andromeda wasn't particularly well received in 2017, so the company took a break from the franchise for several years. But now we're excited for all the Mass Effect fans that there's more new content to look forward to.

This one image stirred a lot of speculation online, and the ship in particular drove a lot of conversation. More than a few folks observed similarities to the Excalibur, and Mac took it one step further with this tantalizing photoshop. To say again: this is just a fan mockup, but it's so nice on the eyes that we're excited to share! It might even make a good wallpaper. A Wingnut can dream...

I'm looking at the ship and I keep thinking it looks like a more advanced Excalibur from Wing Commander

I mean, I'm not the only one seeing it. Right?

You can find more of Mac's work on YouTube.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Goku has put together a new automation that enhances the experience of getting Wing Commander Prophecy to run. The game can occasionally have some compatibility quirks on modern Windows, which could put off some folks who might be trying for a Linux install. It's possible to get a nice smooth setup running though, and this script does so by properly configuring Prophecy and Secret Ops. Then it adds in the enhancement pack, OpenGL patch, FPS tool and even high quality movies. We don't have a test rig here to try it, so we're anxious to hear from more folks with first hand experience. If this helped you or there are additional questions, hit the discuss link and let Keen Bean know! You can find the program here - click "Show unpublished installers" to expand the relevant section.

If anyone's on Linux and would like to test out my Lutris script for Prophecy, please head here. You will have to click

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Sarekh dropped us a line to share an awesome creation he's been building in Space Engineers. He's carefully constructed a life size replica of the BWS Intrepid from Wing Commander 4. There are a handful of liberties taken to fill in all of the unknowns, but the results look great so far. A few similar attempts have been made over the years, but this is one of the furthest along that I've seen. I wish more people would build things like this! You can follow the project in the Steam Workshop here!

Dear folks at wcnews.com!

I've worked for roughly a week on this and it's not completely done, but I created a 1:1 model of the Intrepid and some of her planes in "Space Engineers" - I don't know if this is noteworthy but I basically raided your website nonstop for reference material and I could not have done it without you, so thanks!

I tried to create a complete interior, that is (obviously) not nearly

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Artist Denis Loubet has put together a thoroughly badass video biography that covers the numerous highlights of his storied career. His latest venture is to help with a crowdfunded vampire film called Captive. The movie wouldn't have ordinarily caught my attention, but Denis' video is so great that I had to give it a look. And it looks pretty cool! If you'd like to check it out, there's a few days left on its Kickstarter campaign. No matter what, check out Mr. Loubet's clip below!

Denis Loubet is most prominently known for his work on the Ultima franchise, as well as Wing Commander, but he artist presence extends into the world of comics, table top rpgs, and more.

Denis was kind enough to lend his considerable talents to the crowdfunding efforts of Captive - an upcoming vampire film. In addition to designing the art of the campaign, he has also contributed two unique perks.

• A custom credit card

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's a cool connection that we recently made on Discord and shared on the most recent All Wings Considered. It's a neat observation, so we wanted to share it with you here as well. This cool pre release shot of New Constantinople is actually a farther out crop of the final base that we see in the game. At a quick glance, it might just appear that the first screenshot below is a Constantinople-like base with a real cool skybridge, but compare them side by side and you can see that the in-game setting is a close crop from above the lower building area. It's pretty cool to think that this is all the same rendered environment from a slightly different angle! The wide shot appears in some of the print advertisements for the game as well as some of the concept art we've seen before. Like most of the locations in Privateer, it's just a beautiful place loaded with atmosphere!

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

The Discovery Era Enterprise and D7 were thought lost - stricken from the record and unable to be obtained again. But temporal physics are a funny thing, and both ships will be returning, along with all of their R&D Promo brethren, for the next 24 hours! You'll be able to purchase these promotional Research and Development packs on PC for 30% off, one of our biggest discounts ever, and get a chance at any of the following ships: Discovery Era Constitution Miracle Worker Flight Deck Cruiser [T6] Discovery Era D7 Miracle Worker Flight Deck Cruiser [T6] 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 Century Tier 6

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The latest episode of ALL WINGS CONSIDERED is live now! All Wings Considered is the CIC's first ever streaming variety show which features news, conversation and gameplay relating to our favorite series. This week's Nav Points include:

• Privateer! We explore the Ferris Quadrant and save up for a Centurion.
• There are HOW MANY Cobalt 60 albums?
• The EPIC CONCLUSION of Fleet Action Book Club
• Privateer 2 ship of the week: the Faldari

Missed the stream? The replay will be available below once it has been processed by YouTube. You can subscribe to the AWC channel for future notifications here.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Distant Worlds II expedition has gathered resources for a megaship and installation to be constructed in the Galactic Centre.

Contributors delivered huge amounts of materials to the Stuemeae FG-Y d7561 system. Deep Space Surveys also defended miners by placing a kill order on all wanted ships.

Commander Michael Darkmoor of the Rock Rats stated:

"The newly built astrophysics station will enable us to observe high-detail changes to the gravimetric field surrounding Sagittarius A*. We hope to better understand the deeper relationships between extreme gravity and multi-dimensional space."

The Distant Worlds II exploration fleet will continue its journey across the galaxy, towards Beagle Point.

Those who took part in the campaign can now collect their rewards from Explorer's Anchorage in the Stuemeae FG-Y d7561 system.

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Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Today we've got an awesome new animation by Mac. You can see quite a few of Klavs' famous models throughout from the large Snakeir carrier to the sleek patrol Ferret. He says he started work on it over a year ago, so he's excited to finally be able to share with everyone. I really can't fathom how much effort it takes to put something like this together, but I definitely enjoy the results!

Well, I got that out of my system. Full-on animation is totally doable, but time-consuming af. Which is why I dont do it often. But I like it nonetheless.