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Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Some fifty Wingnuts have now pledged towards the Deluxe vinyl pressing of the WING COMMANDER score, and that's brought the total up past $5300. There's still a few weeks left to get in on this special collectible, but if you're planning to jump in, there's no time like the present! The album takes advantage of George Oldziey's Wing Commander 3/4/Prophecy music that was rerecorded by a live orchestra several years ago. You can watch a short documentary on the making of this great WC music below. And contribute to the crowdfunding campaign to make this new album happen here!

Supercade Press is offering three new editions of the soundtrack:

• Deluxe Edition Gatefold with 180g Starfield Splatter Vinyl
• Special Edition with 180g Marbled Bi-color Vinyl (new colors may be issued)
• Standard Edition with 180g Classic Black Vinyl

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Exploration of the inner regions of the Maelstroms has revealed the existence of colossal Thargoid constructs.
Alba Tesreau, head of Aegis, published a summary on behalf of the tri-superpower initiative:
"Our pathfinder missions have verified reports by the first manned ships that used the Thargoid pulse neutraliser. We know that the core environments of all eight Maelstroms are consistent in layout and extremely dangerous."
"Once past the energy wave, the initial hazard is an asteroid field that must be navigated. We cannot theorise an obvious reason why the asteroids have been gathered here. Thargoid vessels also patrol this region. Some reports indicate a previously unencountered class of Thargoid combat vessel accompanying interceptors and scouts."
"Beyond these, at the centre of each Maelstrom, is a gargantuan Thargoid structure. They dwarf any singular

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We’re kicking things off this week with a new Lego fighter by John Nelson. The design is most commonly know as the Talon from Privateer. I can see some diversion in the shape of the wings, but overall a solid effort given the pieces at his disposal. And with a new Lego store (third party brick exchange stores are a thing now??), we’re likely to see more designs soon! You can see a recent photo of the rest of his fleet here. As a reminder, there are five “Talons” in the WC universe: 1: Unknown Ship (Privateer 2), 2: Reuse of the model for the Gratha (Super Wing Commander), 3: Church of Man Talon (Privateer), 4: Militia Talon (Privateer), 5: Pirate Talon (Privateer).

Well here’s what was probably my quickest build for a non Kilrathi fighter that can fit a mini figure. I found a new Lego store south of me and made a Militia Talon.

Pliers (would) say, "Just about every two bit hood or cash strapped

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Today we have a couple of unfinished/test animations by Mac. It's possible that portions of what you see here could wind up in a future lore video, and certain elements might just be for practice. Despite these being just tiny little shorts, there's some amazingly talented animation going on, and I certainly can't wait for more!

This weekend I learned how to animate with MMD.

I titled this one: "My last functioning braincell after a video is finished." pic.twitter.com/uqei7W0msh

— Mac's Lore (@MacsLore) April 24, 2023

This weekend I learned how to animate with MMD. I titled this one: "My last functioning braincell after a video is finished."

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
A new type of Thargoid vessel, first encountered within the Maelstroms, is interdicting ships in Thargoid controlled systems.
Aegis highlighted the threat as part of its research into the Thargoid capital ships. Commodore Emil Varga, the Allied military liaison, gave this statement:
"The first explorers to breach the Maelstroms' inner regions encountered a previously unseen Thargoid vessel, larger than a scout but smaller than an interceptor. These medium-sized craft have been categorised as hunters, with this specific class designated the 'Glaive' due to its blade-like protrusions."
"The Glaives operated close to the motherships, so it was initially believed they acted as sentries. But in recent days they have appeared within systems under Thargoid control. Pilots lucky enough to survive these encounters report being forced out of supercruise by Glaives and

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What connects the Terran Confederation and the Tri-System? A love of Duck Dodgers, of course!

egr10 on the forums pointed out that ESK stands for Earth Shattering Kaboom and I feel like such an doofus because I hadn't figured that out in 32+ years.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We're going to wind down this week with another set of Spanish Pcmania scans from Maxi de Sokar. These compromise their preview, review and advertisement for Wing Commander 4. I like how their blue formatting matches the game's Confed uniform tones, but overall it's a lot less flashy than some of the magazine layouts from earlier in the decade. We've added translations again for folks who are curious about what they say, which is generally pretty positive with a 91% final score. You can also compare these to their WC3 article here.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The Digital Antiquarian has completed his long-awaited analysis of Wing Commander 4. He started digging into the series way back in 2017 and covered the first couple of games in a series of articles. His WC3 review dropped in 2021 and now he's dug into WC4. It's a long article that's far more thorough than most overviews in print, although it doubles down quite a bit on the somewhat overplayed criticism than too much money went into the film shoots compared to the spaceflight engine. I would argue that there was little more to iterate gameplay-wise given the very short production time. WC4 was slated to arrive just one year following WC3 - right after Origin had spent a considerable amount of time (starting with Strike Commander and then forking into Armada) making the leap into proper 3D. Until the arrival of 3D accelerator hardware later in the '90s, there just wasn't much more they were going

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Electronic Arts' Origin store may finally be no more, but EA is still selling a select sampling of Wing Commander games directly through their website. There are a few differences between these and the digital copies available from GOG.com, however. For starters, only Wing Commanders 1-4 and Privateer are available, and WC1/2 are split up into two separate packages. Each game is $4.99 rather than $5.99, but they go on sale much less often (and WC1/2 is $10 rather than $6). These are also designed to run via the EA launcher for Windows, whereas WC1-3/P1 for GOG are designed to load on Mac as well. But if you happen to have an EA library on your PC, this new sale can't be beat. It's very rare for the frequent GOG sales to exceed 75% off, and this 90% discount is from the lower $4.99 retail price. That means Wing Commander games for LESS THAN FIFTY CENTS GUYS! It looks like you might have until

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It's time for us to swap out front page polls, and the new one is a logical choice. We're asking what your favorite Kilrathi design recreated for the Academy television show was. The were five (or six) fighter/bombers and two capships that made the jump, and they all look pretty sweet, so take a moment to consider which looks best to you. The Strakha is a bit of a questionable once since it's more of a "stealth Sartha" in this case. We did exclude the Carrier/Destroyer/Blockade Runner/Transport, since it's a unique design that simply borrows some design elements from familiar WC3 ships.

The old poll asked about the Confed ships that appeared in WCA. For some reason, the Hellcat was massively popular with double the votes of the second place winner. It's kind of funny because the ship only appears in the simulated combat from the pilot episode. Oh well, people like what they like!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Professor Alba Tesreau has broadcast a formal statement discussing the past, present and future of Aegis.
Independent journalist Allan Mantle reported on the declaration for Vox Galactica:
"The tremendous escalation of the Thargoid war makes Aegis more open to scrutiny than ever. By delivering a personal message to the public, Professor Tesreau exhibits the transparency and accountability that the agency previously lacked. Indeed, it's to her credit that the mistakes of the past are not glossed over."
"Some will also consider it noble that Tesreau avoids mentioning how she opposed the superpowers shutting down Aegis in favour of working with Azimuth Biotech. Others will recognise her moral high ground as mere politics. The Allied, Federal and Imperial coordinators for Aegis are all duly applauded, a tip of the hat to those who helped her resurrect the organisation."
"Recent Thargoid

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Jerome Archer, Felicia Winters and Zachary Rackham are lobbying for public support as the Federation prepares to elect a new president in August.
Political correspondent Sofia Trevino covered the race for The Federal Times:
"With Zachary Hudson's eight-year term approaching its end, citizens must decide who will be the president of the Federation by the year's end. The electoral machines for all three candidates are in full swing, with campaign slogans appearing at all Federal starports."
"The Republican Party has pinned its hopes on current Vice President Jerome Archer, who hopes to reassure Hudson loyalists with his similar leadership style and focus on interstellar security. Shadow President Felicia Winters, head of the Liberal Party, is promising a more humanitarian approach to government policy. And the wild card is independent candidate Zachary Rackham, whose wealth and notoriety afford

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The aptly named Tiger Claw TV YouTube channel has done a review of an interesting bootleg "100 in 1" SNES cartridge from AliExpress. It contains the ROMS of a hundred Super Nintendo games, including Wing Commander: The Secret Missions. It looks like this dates back to 2021 and just includes the standalone expansion sequel. We don't necessarily encourage piracy, but we do like finding Wing Commander in crazy places! You can jump to 4:35 for the SM part.

SNES Multicart from AliExpress

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Today we've got a new test render to show off what Mac is doing with Klavs' Concordia model. Everything about this scene is impressively intense: the model geometry, the textures, the lighting. Look closely and you'll even catch a couple bonus Sabres taking off!

The Concordia is a pretty slick model still, well worth learning how to texture 3d models for lmao. I've actually been slowly going back to texturing her lately, since I made a lot of mistakes with how I went about things the first time out. Especially in terms of how well it was optimized.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Deliveries to the Rabh system will help mass-produce a pulse wave xeno scanner which can analyse Thargoid Titans.
Dr Maximo Fonseca, the Allied scientific liaison to Aegis, outlined the initiative:
"The Thargoid capital ships, now designated as Titans, are the top priority for both military and scientific study. Reaching these gargantuan objects is hazardous since it involves travelling through the Maelstroms' corrosive environment, avoiding hostile Thargoid vessels along the way. But even at close range, ship sensors have been unable to obtain meaningful data on their composition."
"In response, Aegis has fast-tracked a project to modify the xeno scanner originally developed by Professor Ishmael Palin. This adaption utilises the electromagnetic technology found in pulse wave analysers, casting the scanner's range over a much broader area."
"Simulated tests show that

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Drooling over these photos of Wing Commander III's costume shop. I wish we had high resolution images of all those Kilrathi sketches!

Massive kudos to Dundradal for figuring out that one of their references is the PLANET OF THE APES SOUNDTRACK!

Thought I found one in the prop book but it turns out it's Melek who is not in the photos!

Here's one! From the digital assets used for the Kilrathi Saga calendar. Sadly not in color.

Low resolution versions of two extracted from the Wing Commander III Behind the Screens CD. Someone who isn't as dumb as I am should science the color from the little one into the monochrome big version.

Here's one of the sketches! It was reused as the drawing of Sivar on the wall of the temple seen in the Prophecy intro... and was included with the Electronic Press Kit!

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Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The month of May is blazing by, and that means the campaign to create a Deluxe vinyl pressing of the WING COMMANDER score has just a week left to go! Pledges have dropped off a little bit in the later half of this month, but Supercade Van is using the "flexible goal" model where all proceeds are collected no matter what the final number is so that the funds can be put towards still making the project a reality. You can still put in for a $35 contribution which nets you a dedication in the liner notes and the standard edition of the vinyl album. More deluxe editions are available at $50 and $75, and there are some bonus categories above that for extra swag. You can learn more about the campaign here!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's a little detail you might miss in Wing Commander IV: Colonel Blair and Seether have the same three ribbons on their uniform but they wear them in reverse order!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's a neat translation of the Privateer 2 cheats that LOAF found in a Chinese game guide. Did you know that Privateer 2 even had cheats? Here's what each of them do. To enter the codes, open the navigation screen by pressing Alt-N. Then press F and type one of the following. Press enter to initiate:

• NO TALENT (Invincibility)
• REP ME UP (Repairs armor and shields)
• NAPALM (Unlimited nukes)
• PETY PETY (Full afterburners)
• CHILL OUT (Lasers produce less heat)

Privateer 2 cheats from a Chinese game book!

You can find more codes for Wing Commander games here!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Vox Galactica's Jade Sanderlyn reports on the discovery of the Titans, and new Thargoid craft both in space and on occupied worlds.
"The true scale of the challenge facing humanity became evident this month, when we finally learned what was within the Maelstroms. It has long been theorised that the Thargoids have 'motherships' of some kind. But few were prepared for the shocking reality of the Titans, squatting at the centre of the corrosive clouds like bloated spiders in their webs. I can't be the only one whose guts knotted with fear when I first saw those floating monstrosities."
"The Maelstroms also revealed a new type of Thargoid vessel, the aggressive Glaive-class hunter. Resembling multi-bladed throwing knives, these quickly drew blood as they hurled viciously into our midst. There are reports of Glaives sighted within systems that have fallen to the Thargoid invasion fleets,