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Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

The Infinity Lock Box, containing prizes from nearly all previously-retired Lock Boxes, will be available again for an appearance beginning on PC on April 11th and on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 soon after. During this time, enemies defeated on both Ground and Space maps will have a small chance of dropping one of these prize-filled packages. When the Infinity Lock Box returns, we’re making some changes to make it easier than ever to acquire a Lock Box! Starting April 11th on PC, you’ll be able to get the current lock box – in this case, both the Emperor’s Lock Box and the Infinity Lock Box – for free in the Dilithium Store. We’re also adding a bundle of twenty of each box, also for free, in the C-store! Due to its popularity among players, we will not be following our usual pattern of retiring the Emperor Lock Box, when the Infinity Lock Box begins this run. Instead, both will continue

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

AD, who is ever the finder of things, found an awesome Thai Wing Commander article today. We don't see many WC items in this language, so this is a nice treat! This issue is described as a "technique edition," and it includes strategy guide-style overviews of things like the game's guns. Very cool!

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Starting July 18th, four new ships are being made available on the C-Store. These new vessels will be available in both Non-Fleet and Fleet variants, and additionally will be a part of the first-ever bundle with ships from four different factions! Special Introductory Pricing Discount! From July 18th at 8am PT to July 22nd at 10am PT, you can get these ships for 2400 ZEN each when purchased individually, or in a bundle with all four ships and a 50% off T6 Ship Coupon for the price of 6400 ZEN! Thereafter, they will return to their normal pricing at 3000 ZEN when purchased individually, or 8000 ZEN for the Bundle. Fleet versions of each of these starships will unlock upon completing your Fleet Starbase’s Tier 2 Shipyard. The standard Fleet Module discounts apply if you have purchased the ships from the C-Store. For the first time ever, non-Romulan characters will be able to fly the Warbird

.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Thargoid vessels are interdicting human ships travelling through systems that have been occupied by their fleets.
The Thargoids' ability to force craft to drop out of hyperspace is well documented. Over the past couple of weeks, pilots have reported that the interdiction ability used by human ships in supercruise is also being utilised by the alien forces.
Colonel Bris Dekker, an engineer who specialises in frame shift drive technology, submitted his analysis to The Federal Times:
"Being intercepted by the Thargoids mid-way through an interstellar journey is certainly a disturbing experience, but not necessarily a fatal one. Many ships have survived such encounters, unless they happen to be carrying Guardian or Thargoid artefacts. By contrast, these more recent incidents are uniformly acts of aggression, with ships being wrenched out of supercruise and immediately fired upon."
"We don't know

Quote from Freelancer News-Bot

Chris Roberts announced Freelancer in 1997 once he was done with his saga Wing Commander. First scheduled for 2000, then reported to 2001, it was finally sold to Microsoft Game Studios who took control of its development because Chris Roberts was unable to finish what he started (Isn't that right, Star Citizen in development since 2012?) and released it in 2003 after having been waited for 6 years. Then Microsoft Game Studios started developing a sequel...

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Massimiliano Di Monda

, the co-founder and CEO of

Raylight Games

, has posted a neat

article

on the history of Wing Commander Prophecy for the Gameboy Advance. The company was founded in 2000, and the GBA port of WCP was a big deal in their initial portfolio. Thanks to their success in these early days, they are still active today and just recently announced several Nintendo Switch titles, among other products. They also continue to maintain an active

Wing Commander page

on their website and

credit it

as a major achievement in the company's history. For an extended look back at what Prophecy Advance meant to the WC community, also check out the CIC's 10 year retrospective

here

.

Wing Commander Prophecy - The story of Raylight Games

Massimiliano Di Monda
CEO at Raylight Games

Beginning in 2002 Raylight Games developed a demo on the GameBoy Advance based on the first Wing Commander, named Star Giants. The

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

A new product being manufactured by the Kumo Crew could be a version of onionhead, the controversial recreational drug.
Dr Himari Grey, an independent healthcare analyst, published this review on Vox Galactica:
"Little is yet known about 'helix', but the persistent rumour that it is derived from onionhead has sparked keen interest from physicians, politicians and narcotics users alike."
"Onionhead's active ingredient is extracted from plant seeds found only on Panem in the Kappa Fornacis system. Its psychotropic and hallucinogenic qualities are well documented, but there is conflicting evidence regarding addictive strength and toxicology."
"This didn't stop it being banned in the Federation in 3300 by former President Jasmina Halsey, who was concerned about its popularity among youth culture. Political fireworks followed when Fleet Admiral Vincent bombed onionhead crops against her orders,

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

I’m concerned about what happens to all other human religions and cultures between now and 2634.

"Why not Confederation Day?" Joshua said slowly. "It'd be the logical time to really nail us. Half the crews will have the weekendoff."

"Maybe, but I wonder if the Cats would be that crazy. Do that and it'd really get our blood up. It'd be an act sure to arouse our rage. That's the biggest holiday of the year outside of Christmas.'

In spite of this, let me simp hard for Action Stations: it is so much fun. It’s an in-universe Wing Commander prequel where the author literally just rewrites At Dawn We Slept but in space. You can’t read it without imagining F4F Wildcats and Zeroes and square jawed navy heroes. (Despite the cover of the ebook, it is not at all from Wing Commander V, the new release.)

Which is something that happened a couple times. Have you ever wondered what the weird paintings that showed up in

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Wing Commander Academy displays a little spinning ship on the selection screen. But take a look at the Crossbow bomber! Well, it's... er... it’s green.

The actual bomber sprites in Special Operations 1 are blue and white which is also how it looks if you fly it in Academy. The game uses different sprites for the spinning ship in the menu! But where did the change come from?

Turns out the mesh was originally built for Wing Commander II to be a human corvette also called the Crossbow. It was cut to save space and the Special Operations team retextured it to look smaller. Here are the specs from a work-in-progress Wing Commander II doc:

Turns out the SO1 artists didn’t back up the new textures though... so when the Academy team went to render the turnaround a year later they had the corvette instead! Here’s what the source model looks like, you can see it’s intended to be much larger than a bomber:

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Anybody play Secret Ops when it was released episodically? Each one ended with a password based on your performance which changed the fiction on the website. All the codes were nerdy references: here TALOS IV is the planet from The Cage, ACHERON is the moon from Alien.

Episode 2 is two 2001: A Space Odyssey nods. AE-35 is the Discovery's antenna that doesn't need to be repaired and TMA-1 is the formal name for the Monolith on the moon (Tycho Magnetic Anomaly One).

Episode 3: this is the one I don't know! LAUMER is most likely SF author Keith Laumer... but I do not know CAIDEN! Anyone have an idea? [Chris: Maybe a misspelling of author Martin Caidin?]

Episode 4: LEONOV for cosmonaut Alexei Leonov (or the Soviet ship from 2010!) and KASPAROV for chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov.

Episode 5: BISSETTE and VEITCH are Stephen Bissette and Rick Veitch, horror comic creators (and frequent collaborators).

And

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

This Tuesday, October 30th come and watch some of the Star Trek Online development team form a crew and explore the galaxy, in a live stream play of Modiphius’ new Star Trek Adventures tabletop roleplaying game. The stream will take place at 7:00 pm PT (instead of the usual 4:00 for Ten Forward Weekly), and will follow the story of the U.S.S. Pathfinder and her crew on a mission of science, exploration, and probably some phasers. What: Members of the STO Dev Team play Star Trek Adventures! When: 7:00 PM PST LINKS TO WATCH: The Cryptic Studios Twitch Channel or The Star Trek Online Facebook Page We'll be starting a new story in this episode, but if you want to watch past episodes, you can find them here. MEET THE SHIP The U.S.S. Pathfinder (NCC-97600) was developed as part of Starfleet’s “Four Quadrant Strategy,” (4QS) which was designed to help them explore and defend the

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

As Alliance engineers delve into Hur’q technologies to better understand them and how to best adapt their technology to ours, one specialized team has been hard at work adapting their starships for incorporation into the Alliance’s fleets to help replace the vessels lost in many recent conflicts. The following starships will become available with the release of the Swarm Lock Box, scheduled to arrive on PC starting with the release of Age of Discovery on October 9th, 2018. Hur’q Assembly Multi-Mission Science Vessel [T6] The Assembly appears to have originated as a long-range scout, with strong sensor suites and auxiliary systems designed for support roles and scientific endeavors, but highly adaptable to more offensive pursuits since the Hur’q transitioned into a ravening swarm. Despite a relatively civilian design (when seen through the unique lens of Hur'q society), these vessels

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Starting with the release of Age of Discovery this Tuesday, October 9th, new Battlecruiser-class vessels are being made available on the C-Store for Federation characters, and its allied members among the Romulan and Dominion factions. This new vessel will be available in both Non-Fleet and Fleet variants. Special Introductory Pricing Discount! From release until Monday, October 15th you can get this ship for 20% off. Thereafter, it will return to their normal pricing at 3000 ZEN when. Fleet versions of this Battlecruiser will unlock upon completing your Fleet Starbase’s Tier 5 Shipyard. The standard Fleet Module discounts apply if you have purchased the ship from the C-Store. Europa-class Heavy Battlecruiser [T6] The Europa-class Heavy Battlecruiser is well-suited to the frontiers of the Federation, whether the mission is one of exploration or defense efforts. It is named after the U.S.S.

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Everything Old is New Again, and that’s certainly the case for starships. The Age of Discovery Operations Pack, out soon, features exciting new starships based on 23rd century designs, but brought up to speed on modern combat capabilities. Federation-aligned captains will gain access to the following starships: Shran Light Pilot Escort [T6] Gagarin Miracle Worker Battlecruiser [T6] Walker-class Prototype Light Exploration Cruiser Klingon-aligned officers will be able to obtain: M'Chla Pilot Bird of Prey [T6] Qugh Miracle Worker Battlecruiser [T6] This ships in this bundle continue the recent experimentation into scaling starships that can be used as soon as you complete the tutorial!* We hope you share in our excitement as we continue exploring the concept of scaling starships, and see how this may shape the way you fly ships in the future of Star Trek Online at all levels.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Does the British monarchy still exist in Wing Commander's 27th Century? It's not directly stated but it is implied by the "sir" in Admiral Tolwyn's formal title. As seen on office doors in Wing Commander II:

Tolwyn's knighthood isn't mentioned very often but the novel Action Stations calls him "Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn, VC, MOH, DSC, KCB" which means that he's a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath.

The VC stands for Victoria Cross, which would also suggest Britain still exists in 2673. It's the nation's highest military honor.

As for England itself, Fleet Action has Tolwyn stopping to fret about England CONSTANTLY!

He thought for a moment of a distant ancestor of long ago, who, when contemplating the invasion and destruction of England,announced that even if England fell, the Empire, and with it the fleet, would still continue the fight. England. No, he didn't want tothink of that now. ...

But it was

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Wing Commander veteran Paul Hughes has posted a shot of some fabulous wall art he's had made. They're Photobox canvas prints designed to commemorate Starlancer, Elite and Privateer 2. The '90s space sims are based on the straight European box art while the Elite cover comes from the fancy Acornsoft release. Modern print-on-demand services make cool projects like these relatively easy, and the results are super sweet!

Final home office canvases. Really chuffed how well they came out. Space games and I have a bit of a history. So many tales to tell... It was a fun project.

We were lucky; the cover art and manuals were done in house by a member of the Dev team - Mr Paul Chapman. The Elite one is a Photoshop retouch of the artwork that I did, the other two come from the original hires artwork and were all printed on Canvas by Photobox.

Loved Wing Commander (especially WC3) I was a tad star struck when

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

LOAF followed the Bricks with Wings instructions that we posted about last year, and I'm in love with the results. I don't actually see the plans available on the BWW site anymore, but fortunately LOAF was able to source all of the necessary pieces and make a tiny squadron of Confed fighters from the WC1 Vega Sector fleet.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Thargoid victory in the HIP 22460 system has raised many questions which neither Azimuth Biotech nor the superpowers have officially responded to.
Ernesto Rios, field correspondent for Vox Galactica, published a report summarising the latest developments:
"Two days have passed since the massacre in HIP 22460, which left many thousands dead. There have been no updates from the Alliance Defence Force or the Federal or Imperial navies. All press outlets have banned their journalists from entering the system, due to the extreme risk of Thargoid attack. We still lack specifics as to why the Proteus Wave failed. As the echoes of these horrific events fade, the authorities' silence is deafening."
"Azimuth Biotech's surviving megaships, the Glorious Prospect and the Musashi, remain in the nearby Pleiades Sector CW-U B3-2 system alongside Sirius Corporation's vessel El Centinela Cadejo. These are

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The date of Princess Aisling Duval's wedding to Federal Ambassador Jordan Rochester has passed without comment from either party.

Entertainment journalist Solomon Helios discussed the situation:

"Public reaction to the cancelled wedding has ranged from outrage to delight. Jasmina Halsey expressed regret at a 'lost opportunity for long-term peace', while Senator Zemina Torval called it 'the mercy killing of a catastrophically bad idea'."

"With no word from the Imperial Palace or the White House, it's easy to imagine both Emperor Arissa and President Hudson breathing sighs of relief. But the silence from Aisling Duval and Jordan Rochester rings loudest. What might they be feeling? Was their relationship terminated against their wishes? Did it ever really exist?"

"Naturally I invited the princess to tell her story, but her previous openness is apparently a thing of the past. The Rochester family