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Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The spacefaring tribe that lives aboard an ancient dredger has refused to allow Orion University to take possession of the vessel.
Vox Galactica published an eye-witness account by freelance reporter Casey Kilpatrick from the Oochost PC-C c29-0 system:
"Once the Scriveners Clan was found, it wasn't long before Orion University arrived. Their megaship, Scientia Aeterna, remotely disabled the dredger's hyperdrive using a series of override codes. These had been unearthed from the university's archives, along with evidence that the ship – commissioned in 3088 as Dredger J-403 – legally belongs to them."
"Despite being unable to escape, the Scriveners have made a stand. All requests to communicate were roundly ignored. I've watched several craft try to dock with the dredger, only to be met with sealed airlocks and an electrified hull."
"It's clear that these people are unwilling to give up their

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

GOG.com has kicked off their big winter sale, so we've once again entered a prime window for discounted Wing Commander. At 75% off, the entire DOS and Windows lineup can be yours for under $12. We've mentioned this deal every time it's come up, and it's just such a steal that we'll continue to do so in the future. Don't forget that these include plenty of bonuses like expansion packs, official guides and more. There are lots of other deals on the service as well: Star Wars games are similarly about 75% off, including WC contemporaries like X-Wing.

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

General: Added automatic acquiring of admiralty ships from Zen-Store purchased ships. Not all ships will automatically acquire admiralty ships including: Steamrunner-class Blockade Runner Escort Steamrunner-class Blockade Runner Escort Retrofit Odyssey-class Tactical Cruiser Odyssey-class Science Cruiser Odyssey-class Operations cruiser Vesta-class Multi-Mission Surveillance Explorer Esquiline Multi-Mission Strategic Explorer Aventine-class Multi-Mission Reconnaissance Explorer Bortasqu'-class War Cruiser Bortasqu'-class Tactical Cruiser Bortasqu'-class Command Cruiser Cardassian Galor Cruiser Jem'Hadar Heavy Strike Wing Escort (T5) Jem'Hadar Dreadnought Carrier (T5) Scorpion-class Fighter Content: Resolved an issue that allowed low level players to play the Advanced and Elite versions of some Borg TFO’s. Resolved an issue

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

General: Resolved an issue that caused some Bridge Officers to be generated with an incomplete costume. Visiting the tailor should resolve affected Bridge Officers. Resolved an issue that was causing the, “Into the Breach” Welcome screen to be inaccessible when first logging in. Removed the disclaimer on the Cyborg Miracle Worker Bridge Officer that you cannot reclaim them for free after purchase. Made the Reman Liberated Borg Bridge Officers purchased from the Zen store tradable. Resolved an issue that would sometimes prevent the Plasma Plumes from being visible during the “Into the Breach” Task Force Operation. Systems: Resolved an issue that was causing certain choice-based rewards to lump items that should always be rewarded, in with the choices that players are asked to make. This change should revert all such behavior to how it is intended to work, and

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Eggs are in the news right now and we thought we'd investigate one thing that's driving up the prices. That's right, it's the Dioscurian Ovizard! These adorable twelve-legged lizards show up in "Lords of the Sky" when the cadets first enter the atmosphere of Dioscuri-2. The ovizard eats the egg and is then startled by the Scimitars' thrusters, prompting it to change color and dart away. That's a lot of biology in a few frames!

Here's their home, from the mission briefing earlier in the episode. Note the Easter eggs in this screenshot, references to Forbidden Planet, Alien and Star Trek!

Their name was introduced in Star*Soldier in a classified ad intended to be from a scientist studying on Dioscuri-2:

Free to Good Home: litter of Dioscurian Ovizards. Stealthy, eggchomping space weirdos are allthe rage in Sol!
Contact creid@dioscuri.science

One question remains: what made the nest and the egg in the first

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Star Wars (1977), a movie that needs no introduction. You can find details on that as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. Note that we are watching the "de-specialized" version of the movie which is available for download online. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Only just noticed how much the Super Wing Commander spacesuits owe The Last Starfighter…

Of course, that wasn’t the first thing Wing Commander… borrowed… from The Last Starfighter. (The Porcupine mine dropper standing in for the Death Blossom is not a coincidence!)

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's a quick peek at several different versions of the Hit Squad edition of Wing Commander 1 that come from Dennis Mull's extensive collection. Hit Squad was a budget published that was responsible for a wide range of translations and rereleases for the original game. It's exactly the type of variation that both delights and drives collectors mad!

LOAF: They covered the UK, France, Germany and Italy. Gotta be at least a dozen versions for the patient collector! (I bet Dennis Mull has a bunch.)

Dennis: Yes, I have a few, but there are more out there.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Thanks for the background, friends. Of course, I was curious for Wing Commander-related reasons. Specifically, I was fascinated to see the names of the Kray twins because... of Privateer 2's Bray twins:

Reggie Bray is the guy who is selling Uncle Kashumai's religious artifact. For that mission you have to look up their bio in the database and then find their business partner.

There's also a Joe scene where he warns you to look out for the Brays. And you kind of have to wonder: why, since Reggie isn't any particular threat in the auction scene. And heck, why are there two of them anyway? Is it just for the (unknown to me until last night!) joke?

In fact, it's a case of cut content! In the shooting script we see that the Brays were supposed to be the enemies in the Tamessa Ames cinematic mission and that Ronnie (the muscle, as in real life apparently!) was then supposed to continue trying to hunt you down.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Has anyone ever noticed how many versions there are of the Strike Commander art? They seem to derive from two separate renderings. The one with painted flames on the F-16 is the older of the two.

There's also this version from the GOG release which... I think they made out of stock photos for some reason? Note that Strike Commander currently happens to be on sale for $1.49 for the rest of this weekend.

Tactical Operations variants go hard, too!

I need there to be a Strike Commander version of me that I can hand this responsibility off to...

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This weekend is the last chance to grab the Wing Commander games on sale via GOG's 15th Anniversary Sale. Coincidentally, this timed perfectly to overlap with the Wing Commander series' birthday earlier this week. It's also a slightly higher discount than we've seen recently with a full 75% off each title in the franchise. Grab them below!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Van Burnham has posted an update on the next phase of the campaign to produce a Deluxe vinyl pressing of the WING COMMANDER score. While the initial Indiegogo effort didn’t hit the funding goals necessary to kick off production, Van is working the numbers and determining what it will take to move forward from here. The album was initially projected for next year, so there's still time to work through options and figure out how to close the gap and make this a reality. Of course, Wing Commander fans are nothing if not patient. Stay tuned for future updates!

Hi everybody... thank you so much for supporting this project. I'm incredibly excited to make the Wing Commander orchestral score on deluxe vinyl a reality. That said, it goes without saying that I'm disappointed the campaign did not reach it's minimum funding goal and am in the process of sorting out some issues with this platform as a result. I

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Liberal Party has published a detailed political manifesto in advance of the Federation's presidential election in June.
Shadow President Felicia Winters summarised her party's plans during a campaign rally on Rhea 3:
"The freedoms and privileges of Federal citizens have been abused or ignored by the Hudson administration. Our vision for governance focuses on restoring the Federation's core values, offering every individual the opportunities they deserve."
"As your democratically elected president, I will take great pleasure in dismantling the Proactive Detection Bureau on day one. The mass-monitoring of private communications is a violation of civil rights that must end immediately."
"For those concerned about security, especially the Thargoid threat, I assure you that there will be no reduction in military spending. In fact, our aim is to extend naval and humanitarian assistance to

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

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 Wing Commander News-Bot

When it rains, it pours! We've got a second exciting tabletop style fan project to share today. Throughout 2019, we reported on various aspects of Adm_Maverick's tabletop WC game. It was coming along quite well until the coronavirus interrupted his plans. He's now in the process of tweaking the ruleset to work better in a virtual online environment. There's some neat preview images - and a video! - below to give you a taste. Stay tuned for more news when he's ready for some test runs. In the mean time, you can learn more about the project here.

When the pandemic started, I was just moving into serious playtesting of the Star Fighter tabletop game. And that curb-stomped my playtesting efforts. So with all of that, I put work on the game on the shelf for the time being. So with a little looking, I'm gonna use Tabletop Simulator to facilitate playtesting and development. Once I do some review and

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Freespace 2 shipped on September 30, 1999, so GOG is having a big space game party to celebrate the game's twentieth birthday. Their Interstellar Sale discounts games like Space Quest, Wing Commander, System Shock, Homeworld, Masters of Orion, the X series and more by up to 85% off. As an extra bonus, Freespace 2 itself is FREE for the next 36 hours, so jump on that quick! While it's no Wing Commander, FS2 got good reviews and continues to have a following after all this time. Also something about beam weapons. Plus there's a handful of Wing Commander mods, not the least of which is the technically impressive WC Saga project. If you haven't given the game a try for one reason or another, the price is right this time! Thanks to FredDude for the tip!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Soo... either the grocery store changed up the preservative on the shells or the dye crayons got cheap this year, so you can't really make out our Wing Commander themed easter eggs. At least these eggs don't shoot Steltek guns at you!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

A new planetary survey initiative has been announced by Brewer Corporation, calling for pilots to scan locations around the core systems.
Following the recent deployment of the megaship Trailblazer Echo, CEO Madelyn Teague made the following announcement from the megaship's bridge:
"Recent events have accelerated plans to explore a new age of system colonisation efforts. Brewer Corporation has proudly supported ambitious projects such as the Colonia Bridge, and worked with other corporations to improve and increase starports across the galaxy. Now we take another step forward in the continued march across the stars."
"Universal Cartographics has partnered with us to collect, analyse and process the very latest exploration data, to help calibrate our metrics for optimal colonisation targets."
Brewer Corporation, which constructs Coriolis and Orbis starports, has supported localised expansion

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Last week we reported on the new Wing Commander II and Wing Commander Academy albums from Xeen Music. The albums are absolutely wonderful, including newly uncovered versions of tracks that no one has heard in almost 35 years! We've noticed some confusion about the different albums and versions currently available, so we've put together a quick cheat sheet and a master index to purchase or stream each version where available. Here's a quick cheat sheet:

Wing One - Music from Wing Commander I (27 tracks): This is The Fatman's 2016 release of the Wing Commander I music recorded from an authentic MT-32. This is NOT the release put together by Xeen Music.

Wing Commander I - Complete Original Soundtrack - MT-32 Archival Edition (55 tracks): This is the 2022 Xeen Music release of the Wing Commander I score. It is offered by The Fatman directly on some services. Every release listed below has the same music.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's a short but fascinating followup to our article on the partnership between Origin and Intel: st3lt3k added that an Internet Archive contributor named Star Raider has uploaded beautiful scans of all five of the 1994 CES posters! Origin wasn't promoting Wing Commander at the time but these is artwork worth studying nonetheless...