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Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

This normally wasn’t Lieutenant Whetu’s job, but today she was happy to do it. She stood ramrod-straight, hands clasped behind her back, waiting. She realized after a momentthat she had adopted the stance a little too early, as it was still a few minutes before she heard the soft “thunk” of the inspection pod docking with NX-96400’s hull. Finally, the airlock in front of her hissed as it pressurized. A telltale light flashed from red to green, and the hatch slid open. Beyond it was a tall Andorian zhen in a crisp Starfleet service uniform sporting captain’s pips. The yoke of the uniform was gray instead of captain’s white, as this ship was not hers to command… not yet, anyway. She turned to the shorter Deltan officer beside her. “Thank you, Ensign. This is my first time as a plankowner and my first time to command a brand new ship. The hull was as clean as fresh snow drifts on

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

J’Ula beheld the odd, vicious human blade in her hands for a moment before setting it upon the desk in her quarters. It was a prize, presented to her by the leader of her personal guard, taken from the hand of a dead Starfleet security officer. Kukri, the humans called the blade. It was truly a warrior’s weapon. The officer who once wielded it killed eight Klingons in close combat before finally succumbing to his wounds. But he was a fool, this human. He fought alone against overwhelming odds, trapped in the belly of his ship after all of his comrades had died or surrendered. He fought in a burning house, she mused. He suffered the fate of all fools. Her vessel streaked through space at high warp. Valuable information was gleaned from Starfleet prisoners, and from captured data files taken from the “burning house” so bravely defended by the human with the vicious blade. She’d learned of a

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

DefianceIndustries

is hard at work cranking out the most plentiful peashooter of the Gemini Sector, the F-38 Talon. Unfortunately, they're mostly up to no good on behalf of the Retros or pirates, but occasionally the Confed Militia will trot a few out as well. The Talon might be a bland workhorse in Privateer, but these updated renders are gorgeous!

I finally finished up my F-38 Talon. These things litter the Gemini sector and everybody has at least ten. From the Retros, to pirates, to in-system security - you can't throw a rock and not hit one; even the Kilrathi have a few. But I currently only did two paint schemes. By far the most famous - and obnoxious:

DIE BY THE VERY WEAPONS YOU ADORE!!!!!

And to counteract the crazies - here's a Confed ISS version: Best not be carrying any contraband around these guys - oh, who am I kidding, they're made entirely of tissue paper. Anyway - enjoy!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

LOAF was looking for a project the other night, and what better than an exploration of the history of the Dorkir transport?! There's probably more to it than you think! Read on for a full rundown:

It's your 1 AM meandering thread about the Kilrathi freighter with the absolute best name: the DORKIR! Dorkir appear throughout Wing Commander I configured as transports, tankers, command staff ships and troopships. Concept art:

A rare element cut (for space) from Wing Commander I is that there were originally separate 'sport and tanker versions of the Dorkir (which is why the briefings always clarify which is expected). The boxier 'freighter' version was reused for Secret Missions as the Lumbari.

The Drayman and the Diligent are the same story, reversed. Comparing the sprite sheets and you can see it's a common cab with a modular container that would change depending on role.

So things get a little weird when

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Paul Stamets stepped through the automatic doors and into the dimly lit Corridor Seven, a bar with a reputation of being raucous, free-wheeling, and loud enough to allow for a nice, private conversation in a public place. He dodged to one side as a young Starfleet ensign, complete with casually undone collar, stumbled toward the exit. Of all the Academy-adjacent bars in San Francisco, his new friend had chosen to meet in this one. Paul nervously adjusted the mobile emitter on his shoulder and searched the room for the man he’d come to see. He found the atmosphere, the clothing, the people in this place distracting. In his time, things were… different. His world was more low key and practical. Uniforms came in shades of bronze, silver, and gold. Klingons wouldn’t be caught dead celebrating with Tellarites in a shady bar on Earth. It was a lot to process, and he was still working through the

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Paul Stamets stepped through the automatic doors and into the dimly lit Corridor Seven, a bar with a reputation of being raucous, free-wheeling, and loud enough to allow for a nice, private conversation in a public place. He dodged to one side as a young Starfleet ensign, complete with casually undone collar, stumbled toward the exit. Of all the Academy-adjacent bars in San Francisco, his new friend had chosen to meet in this one. Paul nervously adjusted the mobile emitter on his shoulder and searched the room for the man he’d come to see. He found the atmosphere, the clothing, the people in this place distracting. In his time, things were… different. His world was more low key and practical. Uniforms came in shades of bronze, silver, and gold. Klingons wouldn’t be caught dead celebrating with Tellarites in a shady bar on Earth. It was a lot to process, and he was still working through the

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

A trio of chirps stole Lieutenant Commander Amna Patel’s attention away from a pair of senior security officers and her own data pad. She excused herself and stepped out of the busy shuttle bay where hundreds of Starfleet Security personnel were mustered and boarding shuttlecraft bound for the Conestoga-class transports. Patel removed her communicator and, with a flick of the wrist, initiated contact with the person on the other end of the transmission. “Buran to Lieutenant Commander Patel, situation report.” Her communicator crackled noisily; there was always so much cross traffic during a major operation like this, and it usually took its toll on the comms network. Despite this, Amna smiled at the voice of Commander Ellen Landry on the other end. For a moment her thoughts drifted to happier futures than the one looming in the immediate. The communicator crackled again. “Patel, this is

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This is a charming but unusual bit of fan art. Grandweasel has painted the epic Excalibur escape from Wing Commander 3 in water color. It's not a medium that you often see digitally represented on the internet, but his take on this scene is very recognizable and nails the intent. He's got a few self-critiques, but given the limitations of the format, I'd say this was a job well done!

A watercolour representation of a scene from Wing Commander 3, specifically the final strike on the Kilrathi homeworld. The background didn't come out as well as I'd hoped and the Excalibur looks a bit funny in places, but it still works. Somehow.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Barbarian_bros has posted a great set of sharp photos from the French edition of Prophecy. These aren't particularly rare items, but this is one of the best scan jobs I've seen. Most people are well acquainted with the universe map depicted here, but they may not have experienced it in another language before. You can see all the familiar system and quadrant names ('Reid', 'Lesnick' and others are still the same) but major title text is updated. All of the peripheral text is also in French. This is one of the coolest box goodies of the whole series, so it's wonderful that it was available in multiple languages!

While we're on the subject of maps, here's links to some of our favorites: prototype universe map, movie map, Japanese Super Famicon Claw Marks and Terran Confederational Handbook.

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

The Palanquin’s bridge shook as panels sparked and instruments exploded, tossing her crew like ragdolls. The vorta First Officer, Adiss 5, had run the bridge efficiently and with a mastery of motivating the Jem’Hadar crew, but the Hur’q attacks had sent the ship listing hard to port, and Adiss went along with it. She would command this crew with her last breath, but, given her injuries, that didn’t seem all that far away. The Founder called Nuno entered the bridge with purpose, flanked by Jem’Hadar marines and with Adiss 6 in tow. By virtue of being a Founder, Nuno was afforded unquestioned command of the Palanquin, but he had come to think of his crew as a family over the long years of exploring together. He gave Adiss 6 a nod, and the vorta clone ran to her predecessor’s side and helped her up, brushed her off, and began to assist her to the medical bay. Nuno lifted his hands, formed

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

A moist wind blew across the multicolored Mycelial plain, and Amna Patel experienced it in a way she never had before. She sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking a broad basin, the sky brilliant and full of spores, some communicating, some reproducing, some simply traveling from place to place. She had experienced a lot in her life, not the least of which was rebirth as a being made of blood, bones, and animal flesh, and moments like this gave her a deeper understanding of how strange it must be to travel here from the humans’ dimension. The humidity was almost uncomfortable against her recently acquired skin, and the spores in the air scoured her throat when she breathed. While the jahSepp knew she was of their kind, and thus didn’t seek to poison her or chase her away, she had to admit that the only world she knew felt strange and uninviting. She took this form to communicate with the humans

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

A moist wind blew across the multicolored Mycelial plain, and Amna Patel experienced it in a way she never had before. She sat on the edge of a cliff overlooking a broad basin, the sky brilliant and full of spores, some communicating, some reproducing, some simply traveling from place to place. She had experienced a lot in her life, not the least of which was rebirth as a being made of blood, bones, and animal flesh, and moments like this gave her a deeper understanding of how strange it must be to travel here from the humans’ dimension. The humidity was almost uncomfortable against her recently acquired skin, and the spores in the air scoured her throat when she breathed. While the jahSepp knew she was of their kind, and thus didn’t seek to poison her or chase her away, she had to admit that the only world she knew felt strange and uninviting. She took this form to communicate with the humans

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Public debate around the Battle of HIP 22460 has seen the emergence of a grassroots movement that promotes communication with the Thargoids.
As militaries prepare for a protracted anti-xeno conflict, this alternative viewpoint has gained traction on social channels in multiple systems. Proponents believe that their governments should focus on finding ways to open a dialogue with the Thargoid species, and end hostilities using diplomatic means.
On Interstellar Communal Experience (ICE) platforms, some influential names have amplified the xeno-peace concept. In a recent ICE-cast, leading caster Joy Senne openly discussed the topic with her viewers:
"How do you end a war? Is it by fighting harder, building bigger weapons, wiping out everyone you can? No! Well, sometimes, I guess. But I guess Salvation blew that one, right? We shouldn't just accept what our leaders are telling us – that the only

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

One of the many exciting fan projects that legendary artist and programmer Howard Day has created over the years is Wing Leader, a modern WC1 remake in the Unity engine. During the 2019-2021 time period, Howie shared a lot of awesome concept material, art and engine demonstrator content, but priorities got in the way and development has significantly slowed these past few years. In order to potentially kick start community development and make sure the source content is available to fans in the future, Howie has now publicly released the project's assets on GitHub. Although he hopes to continue making improvements at some point, other Wingnuts are free (and encouraged!) to take the reigns and see what they can do with what's been developed so far. You can find out more here!

I figure I should do this, since I don't know when I'll get back to it. I've made the project public. Adam's passing has

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

AD found a neat beer being served at The Quakerhouse in Darlington, UK. Apparently they have an in-house microbrewery dubbed Mad Scientist, operated by Brian (The Scientist) Dourish and Rob (Egor) Brunton. Wing Commander is one of their creations. It's listed as a "spiced/herbed beer" and the little table card pictured below says it's a 4% ABV made with ginger. If anyone's nearby and able to check this out, definitely let us know how it is!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Classified audio-visual footage from the Battle of HIP 22460 has been anonymously submitted to several mainstream newsfeeds.
The Alliance Tribune, The Federal Times, The Imperial Herald, The Sovereign and Vox Galactica all received databanks salvaged from various wreckages in the HIP 22460 system. Most were obtained from naval vessels, along with a handful recovered from independent ship's logs.
Superpower-based newsfeeds elected not to publish any information related to their own militaries, citing security guidelines. But enough material has reached the public domain to portray the sequence of events of August 9th: the activation of the Proteus Wave, the Thargoid counter-attack, and the subsequent destruction of huge numbers of ships.
These files include audio recordings of a broadcast of unknown origin that occurred throughout HIP 22460. They match previously unverified descriptions of a

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

An independent journalist has suggested that some survivors of the Battle of HIP 22460 heard a strange alien sound of unknown origin.
Flint 'Firemaker' Lafosse published his theories via the Rewired network:
"Only a handful of crewmembers rescued from HIP 22460 managed to give garbled first-hand accounts before being placed under military quarantine. Naturally, most talked about how those damn bugs wiped out almost everyone. But a few mentioned something bizarre heard shortly after the Thargoid counter-attack."
"These witnesses described it in various ways: 'ghastly', 'overwhelming', 'monstrous' to name a few. Jade Sanderlyn, Vox Galactica's hotshot reporter, said it was 'a noise which shook our bodies, screeching through our skulls'. Now, there are no audio recordings in the public domain to share, but there's definitely a pattern if you study the reports closely."
"Both ship and suit audio

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Cybot is back with some fancy Wing Commander kitbashes. Back in the day, he was well known for experimenting with quirky designs based on familiar WC influences. He's got several new objects to share now, and these are largely based around Privateer-themed elements. This includes Steltek ships and Gemini Sector bases. You can check them out and grab the .objs for yourself at the CIC Forums!

Just some 3d model bashing mostly

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Seo Jin-ae, special advisor to the Aegis initiative, has suffered a 'significant medical emergency' according to reports from the Duamta system.
A leak from within the Aegis medical facility reached media outlets early yesterday evening, claiming that Seo had suddenly fallen ill. The source also claimed that Seo was registering incredibly high brain activity while unconscious.
The intense speculation resulted in a surprise response from Head of Aegis, Alba Tesreau, only hours later.
Her brief statement was delivered by a spokesperson outside the facility to gathered journalists:
"While it is unfortunate that a member of our staff decided to leak this information, the news is true. I have chosen to confirm the claims myself, rather than let speculation and falsehoods grow about Seo's condition."
"Approximately sixteen hours ago, Seo experienced a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. The

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

UnnamedCharacter

has discovered another nifty developer trick in the code of Wing Commander. By observing what gets loaded into active memory while playing the game, he noticed how certain palette colors become blanked out and then revert back to magenta/red as the ship takes damage. This is how parts of the cockpit flicker when taking damage! Here he is to walked through the details:

Shades of Magenta

The following images are two different representation of the game palette. The first image represents the colors as extracted from the GAME.PAL file and the second represents the colors as extracted from game memory. Notice how several of the magenta colors have been blacked out when loaded into memory.

At first I found that curious: Does the game not use those colors? Often time magenta is used to indicate a transparent color, but several of them? Then I remembered what seemed like an oddity of the