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Zorgon Peterson has announced the limited release of the Caspian Explorer, a large vessel purpose-built for deep space and planetary exploration.
Designed from the keel up as an exploration platform, the Caspian Explorer forgoes the "jack of all trades" compromise of many large ship options. Zorgon Peterson claims the Caspian Explorer is an elite choice for deep space voyages: "a dedicated large explorer that outpaces competitors in exploration performance, manoeuvrability and planetary operations while offering jump capability to match the needs of far-reaching expeditions."
Key features setting the Caspian Explorer apart include new Mk II exploration modules, improved landing thrusters that halve gravity influence on high-G worlds, and advanced thermal shielding for faster, steeper atmospheric entries. The ship also comes with a Mk II SCO-enabled frame shift drive that increases neutron jump

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's a great story from Privateer 2: The Darkening screenwriter Diane Duane. She posted the entry below as a reply on her Tumblr back in 2013 in response to a social media post about a man being obnoxious about women that play video games. If you aren't familiar with Diane Duane's incredible body of work, she's written for properties ranging from Star Trek (extensively!) to Marvel, Doctor Who, My Little Pony, Gargoyles, X-COM, seaQuest DSV and many others... all in addition to her own original properties like the ongoing Young Wizards. There's a good bet you have something she worked on in your collection right now! Her story has a timeless message and it manages to share some interesting behind-the-screens trivia about our favorite Privateer sequel:

I had to do this once with Privateer II: The Darkening. It gained a bit when he said "I bet you didn't play it through, I bet somebody just told you

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Cpt. Streets is back to kick off another cool Wing Commander 3D print project... and this time it's everyone's favorite heavy gun slug, the CF-105 Scimitar! The model is 11.5cm (4.52") long and Streets promises to share more as painting and detailing happens. We're looking forward to it! You can also see their impressive Hornet here.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Zulu was a more interesting film than we expected; certainly closer to Lawrence of Arabia than The Dambusters. The production values are spectacular, the story isn't a familiar one to Americans in 2025 and the acting is great. It's a big, bold movie that suffers less because it's a boring war movie and more because it's about the sort of war we no longer find familiar. Wing Commander movie club member bob was the person that found the Zulu reference in Action Stations in the first place and he noted that it's one of his favorite movies. We asked him if he wanted to say a few words about the film... and here they are!:

It's fitting that the line "because we're here" was the impetus to watch Zulu: it sums up the entirety of the film. William Forstchen may have reused it but the contexts could not have been more different. The pilots in Action Stations are fighting for not only their own lives but those

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 are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Westworld (1973) and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start at 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States and so the Wing Commander CIC team would like to wish everyone a happy holiday. Thanksgiving is a time to stop and remember what we're grateful for and in these trying times, that is more and more the love and support of the Wing Commander community. Whether you're posting to the forums or watching movies with us on Discord or chatting back and forth on social media, our old group is still a bright light in my life. Thank you all!

Of course, a big part of Thanksgiving is... Pilgrims! With that in mind, we're reprinting the Confederation Handbook's history of the Pilgrim War, complete with the original illustrations. Did you know that the Pilgrims (or should we say McDanielites?) had this much backstory?

| query "pilgrim war, history" media=encyc, level=UNCLASSIFIED sort=bestmatch | return=1

(Excerpts from The Student's Encyclopedia, 123rd Edition, HarperCollins,

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Exobiological data delivered to Exogene Sciences in HIP 87621 have confirmed that a new species of flora with unique properties has been discovered on several bodies.
Allied, Imperial, Federal and Independent Powers have now deployed fleets to secure control of the enclave surrounding HIP 87621 following the discovery of Radicoida unica, with reports of the rival powers clashing in open combat across the region.
Speculation has ignited over why this flora, which has rumoured to exhibit unique bio-chemical properties during analysis, has inspired such aggressive action by all Powers. Political analysts have noted that this is the most significant military mobilisation since the Second Thargoid War.
A spokesperson for Denton Patreus stated: "Imperial interests cannot allow rivals to dictate the future of HIP 87621. Order must be maintained, and only Imperial governance has the authority to do

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

CountvonSchnaps is back with even more thrilling takes on classic Wing Commander ships! This time they've updated the A-14 Raptor from Wing Commander I and the F-107 Lance (aka Dragon) from Wing Commander IV in their distinctive, wonderful style. Check 'em out!

Wing Commander I - A14 Raptor (DeviantArt)

As a request made for Shoguneagle depicting a lesser known Wing Commander fighter the A14 Raptor heavy fighter.

Armed with 2x Neutron Cannons, 2x Mass Driver guns and up to 6 hardpoints the Raptor was the mainstay for Confederation Space Forces during the early to middle part of the Terran-Kilrathi War.

After the war many of the fighters were sold to Landreich and even to the civilian market.

A fun design, which I rarely have seen so tried to stay close to the main layout and feel of the designs but making it a bit more in line of previous designs.

Wing Commander IV: F107 Lance (DeviantArt)

Another Wing

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

It's already been a big month for sales, and Wing Commander discounts are back with GOG's Black Friday Sale. The WC series is once again a familiar 50% off to help ring in the holiday season. Make your gift-buying experience easier with Wing Commander for everyone!

Additionally, Wing Commander Academy is the latest addition to GOG's preservation program of classic games. Here's the update:

What improvements we made to this game:

1.01 GOG v2 changelog (25 November 2025)

• Optimized the DOSBox configuration for better performance.
• Enabled Cloud Saves support.
• Fixed a crash that occurred when starting a non-gauntlet game.
• Stability validated.
• Fully compatible with Windows 10 and 11.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The Wing Commander movie club reports that Zulu was a pretty interesting movie. It seemed like a fair treatment of history that most of us weren't particularly familiar with and it was certainly a lush production. More Lawrence of Arabia than Dam Busters, in our final analysis! For this week's movie we asked members to pick from a list of possible robots and they unexpectedly chose Yul Brynner. Which means that this week's movie is Michael Crichton's Westworld (1973), a famous science fiction scenario that also served as a kind of prototype for Jurassic Park. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

We're watching Westworld over a bit of a technicality! As we've mentioned before, the Wing Commander Universe map included in Wing Commander Prophecy filled out the Enigma Sector of space with star systems named after formative science fiction & fantasy writers. There are also a couple of

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We thought it would be fun to catalog where uniform wings appear in the Wing Commander games. In the real military, wings, which are formally called aircrew badges, are not awarded only to pilots. Instead, they are worn by many different positions that operate aircraft. Astronaut wings are awarded to anyone that has flown in space. United States Army and United States Air Force aircrew badges are silver while the Navy equivalent is famously gold. In Wing Commander it's not totally clear… as we'll see below! In the original Wing Commander, pilots have wings on their service uniforms above the ribbons. The wings are silver and seem to feature a heart. Only active pilots are seen wearing them although Colonel Halcyon wears a similar pair of wings on his cap.

Wing Commander II is not 100% clear. The dress uniforms worn by Blair and Jazz have wings in the same place as the original game's service uniforms

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Last year we reported that Apple's new app store rules had finally opened up an entire world of emulation to iPhones and iPads, including access to great classics like Wing Commander/SM1 on the SNES and Prophecy on the Game Boy Advance. Programs like the Delta emulator have only gotten better, and new apps like ArcEmu have arrived on the scene. One particular noteworthy feature of the ArcEmu is that it has an Apple Watch interface! This means you can now play your favorite Game Boy games on your wrist. I wouldn't necessarily say this is the best way to play, but in my testing here, it's surprising decent and very impressive that they managed to fit the controls into the tiny screen. There's an easy video tutorial below on how to get it started, or you can find more info here. The program is $2, but that's well worth it for the novelty alone.

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Everyone in the Wing Commander movie club agrees: Contact is a great film! It was especially nice to introduce it to one of our younger members so we could make sure it wasn't just our increasingly-old-man memories playing tricks on us. But it turns out it still has a message that resonates today… and we were more than a little sad seeing such a well done representation of a world that at least considers investing in science.

Contact is one of several movies that was used to 'temp track' developing cuts of the 1999 Wing Commander movie. We covered the track itself in the intro post so I thought it would be fun to run through one of Wing Commander's famous 'first contact' scenarios. No, not the Kilrathi; we've already covered the "Iason incident" pretty extensively. No, I'm talking about the Double Helix, a race often discussed but never actually seen. The original Claw Marks' Comm Relay section

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 are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Zulu (1964) and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start at 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

In late 1994, PC Games magazine commissioned famed UK comic artist Simon Bisley to create six covers for their magazine. The February 1995 issue featured Wing Commander III in honor of the magazine's review of the game. We've taken a look at the issue itself to get a closer look!

Wing Commander III is the cover story and the artwork is reprinted several times…

... including in a nice clear full page just before the review itself! Neat.

The 'team talk' section also has the magazine's crew praising Wing Commander III. And the issue included a cover disc that had both the Wing Commander III demo and a copy of the Behind the Screens program!

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Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Hard? Cor! Is a techno dance commune which performed a Tribal Rainforest Chip-Shop Alkali Soul set which incorporates local cultures. It was fronted by singer Wok-Eyes, who is known for his laid back, disinterested personality. The band has been described as "techno wizards" and "calcium-challenged bleep gods" and their music as "electic." They became popular with young people around 2790; fans called themselves the "Universe crew". They signed a three-album deal with Zak Skintight's Startled Productions that year. Wok-eyes commented "yeah, it's alright I suppose. Zak's a nice bloke, and we'll get to go to some really good parties. Can I go now?"

Also in 2790, Hard? Cor! hosted a series of three-day "be ins" on planets around the Tri-System including Janus IV which offered music, dancing, ethnic education and spiritual exploration. These were very popular among Hard? Cor!'s young audience but they

Quote from Freelancer News-Bot

Plan of release of mod Freelancer The Nomad Legacy

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Speculation continues to mount around Radicoida unica, the rare exobiological discovered in HIP 87621.
Though scientific data remains tightly controlled, fragments of research are circulating among the scientific community opposed to the system's military lockdown. The source of these research fragments is currently unconfirmed.
The source suggests that Radicoida unica can remain dormant for centuries and contains an unusually complex bio-chemical compound which may have pharmaceutical applications.
Critics argue that military control of the enclave is less about protecting a fragile discovery, and more about ensuring exclusive access to what could become the most potent biological discovery in centuries. Since the leaked reports of its unusual bio-chemical make-up, analysts note that military mobilisation has increased across the enclave with some suggesting the region could soon become a

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Zakariah Skintight has been called the galaxy's most famous musician and one of the most remarkable success stories of the 28th century. He performs as lead singer and Nuclear Banjo player with his band, The Buttock Men. He is known for his laid back attitude, typically commenting only that "it's a bit of a larf, innit" when his antics cause a disaster. He was born Zakariah Frump on Janus IV in 2740 or 2761, the son of a Bex farmer. He was poorly educated and had a SIQ of 90; nevertheless, he took to rock music naturally. He moved to Anhur in 2778 and by 2782 had become famous on the planet for his outrageous exploits and musical ability.

By 2790, he owned a mansion on Hermes. Skintight owns Startled Productions which publishes his music and in 2790 signed a three-album deal with Hard? Cor!. In 2790, the studio released the band's long-waited album No Butts. It included hit songs Show me your scars,

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

No surprise this week: everyone in the club still loves Contact (and greatly misses a world that would've allowed such a story to be believable). This time around we decided to choose another war movie. We watched a LOT of war movies early on because they were things Chris Roberts or others specifically cited when talking about Wing Commander. Our options now are a little more obscure! We voted to go with the 1964 epic historical drama Zulu which tells the story of the 1879 Battle of Rorke's Drift. If we're being honest, we're getting The Dambusters vibes already! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Our most direct Wing Commander connection going into the movie is that Dr. Forstchen borrowed/quoted a famous exchange of dialogue from the movie in Wing Commander: Action Stations. In his version, it's Confederation fighter pilots at McAuliffe preparing to fly to their nearly certain