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Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

People are always asking me: Ben, I want to enjoy The Secret Missions, The Secret Missions 2, Super Wing Commander's extra campaign and Freedom Flight together in the most technically correct but narratively meaningless order possible...

... well if that's you then boy did I ever spend my day off making a needlessly confusing spreadsheet for you!

It also tells you when to read sections of Wing Commander I & II: The Ultimate Strategy Guide because Secret Missions 2 is the rare game that's novelized by two completely different writers!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The xeno-peace movement, which calls for communication with the Thargoids, has sought to rationalise the latest incursions.
Despite ongoing conflicts in the 42 n Persei, Chun Pindit and Tekkeitjal systems, Thargoid aggression has been attributed to defensive measures. Reports by journalists in those systems, which have focused on the increasingly aggressive Thargoid craft, have been labelled 'propaganda' endorsed by major media corporations.
The 'Thargoid Advocacy Project' - a label which many supporters of the movement use in calls to action - believes that the authorities must commit to establishing a dialogue with the aliens. Timothy Culver, a prominent activist for the xeno-peace cause, provided a statement to The Sovereign:
"The Thargoids did not invade our space. We invaded theirs. Entire nebulas and other regions have been inhabited by them for over a million years, but our leaders

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Found an ancient bug in Armada! The source for the credits reads "Music & Digital FX" but the actual game doesn't display the ampersand. (But I think we can give the team that was QAing this and Wing Commander III at the same time a pass...)

Also never noticed this cool footer on the credits! JEMM was the DOS extender and RealSpace was the 3D engine, both first developed for Strike Commander.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

While most people were getting ready to party on New Year's Eve, Mac was hard at work putting the finishing touches on his new Wing Commander lore video - a man after our own hearts! This one is a thorough profile of the A-17 Broadsword. It focuses on the elevated role of phase shielding versus torpedoes in the late 2660s but also goes all the way to the ship's exploits against the Nephilim decades later. Check it out below!

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With 2022 now firmly in the rear view mirror, our last task is to conduct the annual CIC Fan Project of the Year contest! I hesitate to frame it as a competition, since everyone who contributed to these efforts and more are really all working to improve the fan community together. Nevertheless, we like doing this to recognize a small handful of amazing endeavors that brightened the landscape over the past year. Read up on the nominees below, and then scroll down to vote!

• Challenge Coins - ZOmegaZ’s successful 2021 crowdfunding campaign resulted in these beautiful trinkets in 2022! He took fan feedback to balance the sizes of the ships in the design and the results turned out great.
• elend’s Physical Models - elend is a master craftsman and his recently completed Dralthi model is high professional grade art. It belongs in a museum!
• Emulation Technology - Whether getting DOS games to run on Linux, Mac WC

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We are sad to report the passing of a veteran Wing Commander actor. Earl Boen, who voiced two characters in the first episode of Wing Commander Academy, passed away on January 3 at age 81 after a battle with lung cancer. Mr. Boen is best known for his appearances in the first three Terminator films as psychologist Dr. Silberman who continually finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time with regards to futuristic android appearances. Gamers know him best as the voice of Ghost Pirate LeChuck through most of the storied Monkey Island series (he had retired from acting just prior to development of the recent Return to Monkey Island). He was beloved throughout the entertainment industry, appearing in dozens and dozens of roles in every medium imaginable. You can read more about his career in this Variety article.

Mr. Boen guest starred in the first episode of Wing Commander Academy, "Red and Blue",

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's one you might never notice: Privateer has four different gameflow backgrounds for the ship dealers! New Constantinople (stripe), Oxford (wood floor), New Detroit (darker wall) and everything else!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Trillionaire entrepreneur Zachary Rackham has launched his campaign to be elected as Federal president in the forthcoming election.
He outlined several policies during a press event in the tropospheric suite of Rackham's Spire on the planet Homeland:
"As I see it, the job of president is to help ordinary, hard-working people from humble backgrounds – just like me. So I pledge to reduce all civil taxes and public service fees, and boost government funding for business grants and commercial opportunities. Let's make everyone rich and successful – just like me!"
Mr Rackham is running for the position of Federal president as an independent candidate and claims support from several corporate interests including Rackham Capital Investments. His manifesto has triggered a surge in popularity, with several high-profile celebrities promoting his campaign slogan: 'Just Like Me'.
However, economists have

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Marlinist Colonies are struggling to survive the harsh realities of independence while preparing for the impact of the Thargoid war.
An editorial in The Marlin Standard summarised their situation:
"In recent months, our noble goal of building a Marlinist Republic has been harshly curtailed. Many of the original eight colony systems, among them the capital Concordia, are now dominated by outsiders including Federal and Sirius-aligned corporations. We have survived persecution, civil war and terrorism, only to find our people exploited by the opportunism of neighbouring factions."
In the Empire, the prevalent viewpoint is that the Marlinists are suffering the consequences of their own actions. As Senator Arturo Durant remarked: "They voted to reject the Emperor's offer to become an Imperial protectorate, so now they must pay the price."
Compounding this is the increasing danger posed by the

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

I *NEVER* do these, but what the hey! 1 like = 1 answer

The ESK rating for the Dart DF missile is... 11,000 ESK! What is ESK? The blueprints list it as the 'strength' rating for the missile and the numbers roughly correspond to the game's explosive force stat. In Secret Missions 2, Maniac proposes (suicidally) arming missiles with "a double load of ESK-5 explosives". So maybe its like TNT?

The max range of the Mass Driver Cannon is 3,000 mrrs... later listed as simply 3,000 kilometers! *plonk* *plonk* *plonk*

The ESK rating for the Pilum FF is... 9,500! Note also the Duck Dodgers reference on all the blueprint missile breakouts!

The velocity of the Dart DF is... 900 kilometers per second! That means you'll need afterburners to outrun one... or you can just move out of the way.

Oh, here's the rest of the answers!

1. What is the ESK rating for the Dart DF missile? 11000
2. What is the max range of the mass driver

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Republican Party has nominated Vice President Jerome Archer as its candidate in the upcoming Federal election.
Jerome Archer was formerly the secretary of security in President Zachary Hudson's cabinet. He was promoted to vice president when his predecessor died during the Nine Martyrs attacks in 3307. He immediately proposed the Domestic Counter-Terrorism Act, which authorised the Proactive Detection Bureau to monitor all civilian communications in the Federation to detect future terrorist activity.
Vice President Archer began his election campaign at a political rally on Nanomam 2, where he announced:
"Throughout my career, my priority has always been the same: keeping people safe. From my days as a cop on the streets of Nueva Vista to director of the Federal Intelligence Agency, I have worked hard to increase security for all citizens. I pledge to work even harder and achieve far more

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Back in February, we reported on a teaser post from Supercade announcing an upcoming crowd funding campaign to release an LP (vinyl record) of George Oldziey's Wing Commander Orchestral Recording Project. The good news today is that the campaign is still happening and it sounds like it's launching soon. Supercade founder Van Burnahm tweeted in response to a question that it was launching in just four days, on May 1st!

It’s launching May 1st!!!

— Van Burnham (@supercade71) April 27, 2023

Obviously these sorts of things are never fully set in stone... and who knows more about slipping release dates than Wing Commander fans... but we're crossing our fingers and hoping to bring you more on Monday!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Today we've got a very thorough retrospective by Space Cadet Rewind. He set out to create an elaborate analysis of all the ins and outs of the original Wing Commander, and the resulting video came out to almost two hours! He covers a wide variety of topics including the history of the genre, mechanics of the game, mission rundowns, wingmen profiles, tips for each ship, info on the expansions/ports and more. I'm still going through it myself! If you've got a couple hours to wrap yourself in a thick WC1 blanket, give the clip below a watch!

A longform review/analysis of Wing Commander, the original space sim.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Requests for tissue samples obtained from the Thargoid Titans have been made by Aegis and Azimuth Biotech.
Leon Banerjee, science correspondent for Vox Galactica, reported on the rival initiatives:
"The Titans offer a tremendous opportunity for xenological research, but carry equally significant risks. These involve passing through the Maelstroms' caustic clouds and energy barriers, avoiding Thargoid patrols, and escaping with tissue samples intact. Only the most determined pilots would undertake such missions, and the two leading anti-xeno organisations seek to attract these individuals with considerable payouts."
"There are numerous unique materials identified so far. In this campaign, both Aegis and Azimuth Biotech are looking to acquire a large stock of tissue samples. These are recovered using research limpets at various points on the Titan's architecture,

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Aegis has requested materials to construct sub-surface extraction missiles that recover imprisoned humans from the Titans.
Professor Alba Tesreau, head of Aegis, announced:
"Using blueprints provided by Sirius Corporation, engineering teams have worked around the clock to modify sub-surface displacement munitions. These adaptations enable the projectiles to breach sections of the Titans' hulls and jettison the bio-storage capsules embedded within."
"We could spend the next few months in a testing cycle, and ideally that would be the case – but lives are at risk and we can't be sure how much time our missing have. Therefore, we have approved mass production of these sub-surface extraction missiles. Industrial materials are urgently needed to establish assembly centres, so that we can distribute them as rapidly as possible."
Princess Aisling Duval, who is coordinating

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This week I learned that there was a fully localized South Korean release of Wing Commander 3! Which means you’re all going to have the option to play WC3 in Korean soon. French, German and Japanese are well documented but this one stayed hidden until now. Here's a quick sample!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Privateer 2's spaceflight has an interesting design where each ship model has just one set of textures... but they are designed to change their appearance based on which of ten or so palettes are selected.

The odd thing is that it's barely used! Each faction has a distinct livery that it uses this to display... but the game itself never actually changes them so you end up only ever seeing each ship with just one look.

I'm not sure why it works this way at all, but it sure is cool to go back and see familiar ships in other colors!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation Alert*
Titan Leigong is under siege. This is an urgent call to all independent pilots to aid in the complete defeat of a second Titan.
The key modules for the assault continue to be readily available at all Rescue Megaships:
• Thargoid Pulse Neutraliser – To break through the maelstrom defence wave.
• Caustic Sink Launchers – To protect your ship from caustic effects of the maelstrom.
• Guardian Nanite Torpedo Pylon – To hamper the Titan's vents and make it vulnerable to damage.
Rewards have been requisitioned for all Commanders able to participate in ending the Titan threat.
Good luck, Commanders.

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Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Cybot078 has returned with several new environments for Privateer fans. He's recreated Perry, New Constantinople and Oxford. Each one has been filled out with more scenery and photographed from a wider point of view. They're pretty imaginative pieces of art and help you appreciate the original scenes even more. I never really noticed the cloud-like bulges in the Perry ceiling or thought about how large the Constantinople space might be. The first image in each set is the original. Take a look below!

Perry Naval Base:

New Constantinople:

Oxford:

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Let's compare the Wing Commander 3 ship selection screen across ports! Here's the PC/Mac, 3DO (two screens instead of one) and PlayStation versions of the Arrow...

Three Hellcats V, primed, prepped, etc.

Thunderbolt!

The Longbow is largely cut from the 3DO version; it only appears as an option very rarely! (I found it in Delius 3, will have to chart it all out someday soon.)

And the mighty Excalibur:

There's an Easter egg in the PC version: if you hit ALT-S at this screen then it'll display specifications over the ships. None of the lore mentioned here matches anything else!

One discovery from the 3DO version is that the Hellcat, Thunderbolt and the Excalibur get six mines per hardpoint! But the mostly absent Longbow doesn't. The Thunderbolt mine loadout is the default for the Torgo 2 minelaying mission even though you don't actually use them.

The PC version assigns you a custom Longbow loadout for Torgo 2