18
Mar
Hey folks, watch me doing the trader mission for IGN at GDC:
Definitely need more practice on gamepad controls
News categories list
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09
Mar
…Well folks, it looks like like 100% of people are eager for some tractor content... which I assume is representative of all 200 million Twitter users! Let's talk Wing Commander's tractors... and other deck vehicles!
First of all: what's a tractor? We aren't talking about farming here but instead the specialized vehicles carried aboard aircraft carriers that help with deck operations: towing aircraft and munitions, fighting fires, clearing wreckage, etc. Here are some real ones:
Our very first utility tractor is seen driving around in the original Wing Commander pulling a cart of missiles. It shows up during takeoff and landing:
The game stores this little guy as two separate sprites which allows it to be 'driven' heading either left or right!
Wing Commander II has a 3D rendered yellow trailer which appears in the Concordia Flight Deck and Repair Deck establishing shots. Multiple tractors really gives you -
12
Mar
…Artist Alan Gutierrez has posted two more of the paintings that he created for the 1995 Wing Commander Collectible Trading Card Game. These two 'Luck' cards represent two of the fifteen paintings Mr. Gutierrez created for the game. You can learn more about his fantastic work on the card game here.
First up is Kilrathi Capture Pilot which was a Confederation Luck card that allowed the human player to take an enemy pilot from a destroyed fighter.
From the card game "Wing Commander", commissioned and published by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, 1995
This Kilrathi is none too happy at being captured, and is one of 4 "Luck" cards I did, showing 2 of each adversary.
Gouache on masonite.The second painting is its counterpart, Kilrathi Recovery Pilot, which was a Kilrathi card that allowed the alien player to recover a pilot from a destroyed ship.
From the card game "Wing Commander" commissioned and published
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13
Aug
Our thoughts are with Salman Rushdie this afternoon. Did you know that he was the basis for the character Hunter Toth in Wing Commander: Privateer? Toth’s VDU image was even taken directly from the dust jacket of The Satanic Verses!
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22
Apr
As a special birthday treat, LOAF's wife Alexis made these custom ink prints based on WC2 Thrakhath. One is a framed portrait and the other is a nifty canvas tote. Very very cool!
Look what Ali made for me!
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03
Sep
…*Pilots Federation ALERT*
A new starport has become operational in the LTT 198 system, following Senator Zemina Torval's mining initiative.
Torval Orbital will serve as the administrative headquarters for Torval-Mastopolos Mining. The company successfully competed against Wreaken Corporation to establish a presence within LTT 198.
Marlon Royce, business analyst for Vox Galactica, observed:
"Mastopolos Mining should be boasting about the positive start for its new subsidiary. Instead, its reaction has only confirmed the widening rift between the Mastopolos family and their corporation's majority shareholder, Zemina Torval."
"CEO Gabriella Mastopolos officially distanced herself from the offshoot company, claiming it 'hijacked our name with the intention of luring our clients'. And speaking to Imperial media, both Adrian and Elena Mastopolos criticised Constantia Torval's suitability to act as -
13
Apr
…*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Fierce combat in the Tavgi system has resulted in Torval Mining Ltd overcoming Caine-Massey's partner Tavgi Blue Life Inc.
The conflict was triggered by the murder of Caine-Massey's former CEO Johann Fleischer. The assassin was tracked from Mars to the Torval Mining megaship Orchestral Falcon. Circumstantial evidence suggested he was an undercover Imperial agent.
Senator Zemina Torval, whose family owns the company, declared:
"Loyal defenders of the Empire have helped to bring hostilities to an end and can now collect their rewards from the Orchestral Falcon. This accusation from Caine-Massey is baseless – I am not in the habit of assassinating my business rivals. Our security teams have detained the interloper from Federal space who was using false ID as an Imperial mining prospector, and handed him over to the authorities."
Shortly after, a statement was released -
21
Oct
…*Pilots Federation ALERT*
Senator Zemina Torval's new corporation requires deliveries of commodities to its megaship in the EGM 559 system.
Constantia Torval, the senator's daughter and operations director of the company, provided details of the initiative:
"Now that we are a fully independent business, additional resources are urgently needed to continue providing services to the Empire. My goal is to ensure that the Torval name remains synonymous with efficiency and dedication."
"Shipments of geological equipment, microbial furnaces and mineral extractors can be delivered to the megaship Pride of Bitterwood in the EGM 559 system. From there, they will be transferred to our headquarters at Torval Orbital in LTT 198."
The Pride of Bitterwood is part of a corporate fleet recently purchased by Torval Mining Ltd. Most are currently in the LTT 198 system being outfitted for mining and transport -
11
Jan
…The company owned by Senator Zemina Torval is attempting to acquire a mining contract previously awarded to the Caine-Massey corporation.
The agreement affects multiple corporations on the fringes of Federal space around the Dulos system, who for the last decade have purchased mined ore and other raw materials directly from Caine-Massey. With the contract up for renewal, Torval Mining Ltd has made an official bid.
An announcement was made by Constantia Torval, the company's operations director and daughter of Zemina Torval:
"We have enjoyed enormous success in a short space of time by providing services to the Empire. This is an opportunity to reach a broader customer base, and convince them that they too can benefit from Torval Mining's expertise."
Johann Fleischer, the vice president of Caine-Massey, remarked:
"Our corporation is proud of its origins within the Federation, and we have -
16
Nov
…*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
A mining initiative is being held in the LHS 3872 system, as Torval Mining Ltd welcomes its new CEO.
Senator Zemina Torval, owner of the Imperial company until recently, has formally transferred her controlling shares to her eldest daughter. Constantia Torval was already director of operations, but will now oversee all corporate decision making from the highest chair.
From the press suite on Curbeam Hub starport, Ms Torval gave an announcement from the megaship Zetian's Recall:
"My mother's tireless efforts to build a corporation worthy of our family name have brought enormous success and esteem to the Torval portfolio. It is my honour to continue supplying vital resources to the great industries that drive our Empire."
"To mark the occasion, Torval Mining Ltd offers generous payments for newly mined quantities of lithium hydroxide, painite, praseodymium and tritium. -
01
Oct
…Senator Zemina Torval has relinquished her long-held position as Mastopolos Mining's majority shareholder.
Official reports confirmed that the board of directors passed a resolution to remove Zemina Torval from their number. Over half of her shares were then sold, thereby drastically reducing her personal influence on the corporation.
An anonymous insider gave a statement to The Imperial Herald:
"Gabriella Mastopolos made it crystal clear to the other shareholders that it was time to topple Zemina Torval from her perch. But what surprised them was Torval's lack of resistance to this pressure… almost as if she had been planning to step down all along."
"I've heard that every credit made by selling the shares went straight into the subsidiary that her daughter is running. So maybe all her eggs are going into that basket?"
In related news Constantia Torval, operations director for -
26
Jul
AD has found another Argentinian magazine that celebrates a classic Wing Commander release. This one is from the Top Kids Club magazine, number 24. The copy seems dominated by Mortal Kombat stuff, but Wing Commander 4 gets a lengthy review as well. It earns a whopping 95% rating, which is great no matter where you're from. Although the spread is well endowed with flashy WC4 pics, there are also some curious WC3 Arrow press images that sneak in too. If you find the review amazing and just have to own a copy, it's for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $250. I'll probably pass, so I wanted to let you know!
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06
Nov
…Spacedockis back with a new video on the top five carriers of all science fiction. Wing Commander manages to snag TWO of the slots with the Bengal class strike carrier at #3 and Vesuvius heavy carrier at #1. As we've previously mentioned, Daniel from Spacedock covers a wide array of sci-fi content on his channel and happens to be very well versed in the WC franchise. For this reason, we get a real thorough discussion on the merits of these two models compared with other WC favorites like the Yorktown or Midway as well as other series' efforts. His videos have really surged in popularity over the past year or two, and this clip is currently over 84,000 views on its way to 100K+ likely soon. That's a lot of folks out there learning about the finer points of WC lore!
Spacedock breaks down five sci-fi carrier designs.
There's also a handful of
merchandiseitems you can get based on the subjects that
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26
Mar
…The WC Toolbox has been enhanced once again with more extraction support for Wing Commander 3. UnnamedCharacter has been able to pull out images for things like characters that overlay on top of the background scenes, but he's also found some interesting composite sets. What this means is that certain rooms were made in one pass, and then the game adds much of the interior look over that. Check out the images below to see the bar and crew quarters without all the tables, chairs and lockers! You can read all about the new update and how to use it at the CIC Forums. Grab the latest tools here.
Here's a few shots that show how the color palette changes based on the game's built in gamma correction.
Added more extraction support for WC3; this time something we can actually see. This update includes support for extracting an image representation of a palette; this is actually a little trickier than it
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13
Sep
Howdy!
Accolade complete: this webserver has killed its 3rd HDD
Thanks to the people that gave me a notice earlier today via email and moddb.
The damaged HDD meanwhile is replaced and backups seem to be working. It will take some time for the server to rebuild the cache for all the pages so it will be a bit slow in the next few hours.
If any chars got banned due to the failed CF updates I will unban tomorrow in the morning after the daily updates ran through.
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16
Jan
…Chancellor J’mpok watched as the last Klingon shuffled out of the High Council Chamber. He waited three heart beats before moving to the throne and slumping heavily unto it, his fingers curled and he wrapped a knuckle against his furrowed brow. Lies. The council chamber still echoed with them. He could almost smell the betrayal hanging in the air like the stink of a wet targ. Betrayal that the phantom, J’Ula, had roused from the hearts of cowards that hid among the council. Cowards that could very well splinter the empire, or split it in half. The chamber guards shifted minutely, but audibly, alerting J’mpok to the arrival of someone in the council chambers. He stood, eyes peering into the darkness to make out the face of an old friend. “Kortaj.” “Chancellor. J’mpok. My old friend. I bring news and glory.” Friends, what did that word even mean these days? Could anyone be trusted
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02
Dec
…The star system Hyades Sector FB-N B7-6, which contains Thargoid Titan Taranis, has been surrounded by human forces.
Aden Tanner, special advisor to Aegis, provided the following update:
"Our pilots appear to have pushed Thargoids out of all systems in Titan Taranis's area of control. It's taken a huge effort, one which should rightly be recognised as outstanding. We don't know for certain what will happen next. But for now, the region is back in humanity's control."
"I strongly urge pilots to keep fighting the Thargoid fleet wherever it is encountered. We must not become complacent - the Thargoids have surprised us before, and have demonstrated the ability to respond when defeat seems inevitable. Those who fought in the HIP 22460 campaign and witnessed the Proteus Wave event will testify to the dangers of assuming the war is won."
Systems in the immediate vicinity, such as Hupang, Swahku and -
12
Mar
The recent destruction of Titan Taranis has yielded a significant amount of data that scientists across the galaxy have begun interrogating.
Science correspondent Leon Banerjee summarised for Vox Galactica:
"Research on Titans has been ongoing since their first appearance, and understanding how they function has been considered crucial to humanity's survival in the Thargoid war."
"I have spent time with everyone from the smallest private research bodies to the largest corporations in the past few years, and the common anxiety amongst the scientific community is still how little we truly understand about the Titans."
"What answers does the caustic remnant of Taranis contain? What might have survived the destruction? When the wreckage is safe enough to enter, the additional data to be found there will doubtless benefit humanity in some form." -
23
Oct
…Thousands of people rescued from captivity within the Thargoid motherships remain isolated under strict medical and security protocols.
Professor Alba Tesreau, head of Aegis, spoke at a press conference:
"I'm relieved to see that the sub-surface extraction missiles are proving effective, especially considering how quickly they went into production. Many pilots are using them to excavate bio-storage capsules from beneath the hulls of the Thargoid Titans."
"Each resuscitated individual has undergone an exhaustive range of physical scans and psychological evaluations. Some are being treated for stress-related conditions and mental trauma, but otherwise they appear to be unharmed. With no clear evidence that these people have been infected or influenced by the Thargoids in some manner, Aegis has sent a number of proposals to superpower governments as they consider the next steps."
Despite this -
21
Apr
Want to witness the gigantic Thargoid mothership end? ...
