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Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Jan Sandoval, a founder of the Red Family cartel, has revealed why she surrendered to the Federal Intelligence Agency.

According to Executive Agent Viola Trask, Sandoval has provided proof that the Red Family has developed a new designer narcotic, genetically engineered to be far more addictive than all other substances traded on the black market.

"It's clear that such a narcotic would ruin billions of lives throughout Federal space," said Trask. "Sandoval sees herself as a businesswoman, not a mass murderer. Such an operation is incompatible with her principles."

"Sandoval also explained that she failed to prevent cartel kingpin Oberon Church from manufacturing the new product, leaving her with no choice but to request help from the proper authorities. For this, I commend her."

"Using additional details contained within this testimony, FIA field agents are already engaged in disrupting Red

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Jan Sandoval, co-founder of the Red Family cartel, has died while in the custody of the Federal Intelligence Agency.

Executive Agent Viola Trask made the following statement:

"I regret to announce that Jan Sandoval has been found dead in the safe house where she was being held. An autopsy revealed traces of a highly sophisticated neurotoxin that our security measures were unable to detect."

"We have yet to determine how the neurotoxin was administered, or how the individual responsible accessed the safe house. Internal investigations are underway, but we suspect that the assassin has already fled the Sol system."

It is believed that surviving elements of the Red Family arranged this second, successful attempt on Sandoval's life in response to her cooperation with the Federal Intelligence Agency. The FIA's operation against the cartel will continue, but the loss of its primary intelligence

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

StarvingPilot shared this nice catch from a recent watch of Die Hard 2. A techie console from the film appears to be a perfect match to a console aboard the TCS Midway. It's the one that Lance Casey taps on after his missions. There's probably a ton of things like this out there! Companies like Modern Props widely supply futuristic machinery and gizmos to all manner of movies, television shows and game shoots. If anyone spots any other crossovers like this, let us know!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Klavs has produced a glorious sequel to his recent Bearcat wallpaper. This one features three Hellcats zooming through the air - of both the old and new variety. It's the culmination of a model we've seen Klavs working on for over the past year. Although the Hellcat doesn't strike me as the most aerodynamic design, there's just something about how it hangs in the air that looks really good. And while it's not the most powerful offensive force, a few of them can put down some solid firepower!

DefianceIndustries: Are those rivets done via texture or physically modeled?

Klavs: I do both nowadays, if they're flush they get bumped, if they're proud they're modeled. The rivets on the Hornet are all flush except in a couple specific cases. The panel lines are likewise modeled.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

A series of high-magnitude earthquakes on the planet Rhea 3 have caused widespread devastation and millions of casualties.
Massive seismic activity across the northern continent has effectively shattered dozens of towns and cities, including the capital New Greenacre. The intense tremors also triggered tsunamis in the surrounding oceans, which have wrecked coastal regions on other land masses.
Local journalist Len Kennelly published a summary for Vox Galactica:
"The only disaster on this scale that we've seen in Rhea was when NMLA terrorists bombed Ito Orbital. This time, however, the death toll could run into tens of millions. Urban skylines have crumbled like sandcastles, with vast jagged pits opening up to swallow entire neighbourhoods."
"Federal Liberal Command has declared the highest state of emergency, calling for volunteers to help rescue trapped citizens. We're seeing direct support

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

As you may have heard last week, the first season of All Wings Considered is now complete! In all, LOAF, Dundradal and the gang produced 34 action-packed episodes comprising more than 100 hours of Wing Commander goodness. If you haven't kept up with the series, a few of our favorite episodes are embedded below. All the way back in February, the pilot kicked things off and set the tone for the rest of the year. In August, a bunch of us got together to fully livestream the annual CIC Birthday for the very first time. Everyone also got dressed up for the special Halloween episode in October, and things finally wrapped up last week in the final show of 2019. After a well deserved break, the team will be back bigger than ever next month for season two! You can find more episodes and subscribe on YouTube here.

Pilot episode:

Birthday livestream spectacular:

Spooky Halloween episode (The Blair Watch

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

I listened to the full 90 minute episode of this week's MK Podquest, which was all about the Mortal Kombat/Wing Commander Academy crossover involving the Warrior King. Hearing all that Wing Commander banter made me think about the CIC's own streaming web show, All Wings Considered. Although production has been suspended due to the pandemic, all 37 episodes of LOAF and Dundradal's epic tribute to Wing Commander are still available online. That's over a hundred hours of prime WC content! Everything is available on Youtube, but a few choice selections are available below. If you missed these during their first run, you're in for a treat!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Shot97 has completed his absolutely massive hourlong review of Wing Commander 2. As you might imagine, it's a rather exhaustive look at many different aspects of the game, its expansions, gameplay, story, development and more. Fortunately, if you pop out the clip in a proper YouTube window, the video description has a full index that lets you jump around if there are certain elements that strike your fancy more than others. This allows you to cut straight to different magazine perspectives, character analysis or a peek at the SNES edition. So if you want to learn all the ins and outs there are to know about WC2 and you've got an hour to spare, fire up the full vid below. Alternately there's a written version with tons of great screenshots here. You can also find Shot's comparable video review of WC1 on the Amiga here.

Despite coming out just a year after the original in 1991 and featuring the

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Hardcore Gaming 101 has produced the third chapter in its in-depth exploration of the Wing Commander series. After diving into the history of WC1&2, this time they're focusing on 1992 when Strike Commander development was in high gear. Author AB Silvera describes Strike as a "missing link" that bridges the gap from WC2 to WC3, which is an interesting take. It pioneered the 3D RealSpace engine, which Heart of the Tiger pushed to the extreme (although Armada used it first!). If you haven't paid much mind to Strike Commander over the years because it wasn't quite a Wing Commander game, this is a good overview. At first I was going to call it a close cousin to the WC games, but a direct sibling is probably more accurate. You can check out the full article here, and if that's got you excited to give the game a go, you can pick it up on GOG.

As mentioned earlier, Chris Roberts’s attention was

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

John Rairdin at Nintendo World Report TV has produced a fantastic video on the "History of Wing Commander and Nintendo." It's a wonderful subject for so many reasons: Most people might have first experienced WC1 on PC, but a decidedly sizable chunk of fans found their way to the franchise via the Super Nintendo. More than just a straight port, there were a handful of arbitrary Nintendo-dictated tweaks as well as impressive technical changes made to accommodate the transition. The Secret Missions was also ported to the SNES, and it even has a couple minor additions. Longtime Wingnuts will also know about Wing Commander 2, which was made but never released. Last, but not least, Prophecy was an enormous achievement in its own myriad ways. This overview covers all of that with some nice visual comparisons to boot. Check it out below!

Nintendo and Wing Commander aren't exactly synonymous but the two

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Dominus of Exult has been working on building out his Wing Commander musical album collection (check out that snazzy tape!), so he recently asked LOAF for a recap on what's out there. We've come a long, long way since we thought eight or ten CDs was all there was. Below is an exhaustive list of what LOAF has discovered and collected... so far!

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These first three are the Origin Audio CDs, Vol 1 & 3. Volume 3 has US and EU pressings. Text at the bottom of the disc identifies them.

“Signature Sounds” is a 1993 EA promo CD that includes tracks from Super Wing Commander and Privateer (and a few other Origin games.) Music from the Wing Commander Universe was a 1998 promo CD from George Oldziey. It includes some Ultima music, too! More recently, George Kickstarted these two additional Wing Commander albums.

Immortal 4 is a two CD set of Amiga-related music that includes The Fatman’s WC theme. Water

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Howard Day has been putting together lots of pretty ships for his Wing Leader project. We've seen them in action in some slick videos, but here's a different way to view them. As most are aware, the original Wing Commander used a series of rotating sprites to imitation three dimensions. Howard has prepped the sprite sheets below to show off his 3D models can be cut up similarly to great effect. The Grikath view is his re-render of the WC2 assets, which still look so darn good after 30 years!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Aegis's initiative in the Duamta system has kick-started production of a ship module designed for caustic environments.
Shipments of advanced catalysers, heatsink interlinks and palladium were delivered following a request from Professor Alba Tesreau. Pilots also provided tissue samples extracted from the caustic generators inside each Maelstrom, which are a vital component of these modules. Manufacturing bases have now been established, allowing stocks of the caustic sink launcher to reach the public market.
Dr Maximo Fonseca, head of xenological research at Gateway Laboratories, published a statement on behalf of Aegis:
"The Thargoids have developed powerful defences to prevent their enemies reaching the heart of the Maelstroms. The dangerously caustic gas clouds are an effective deterrent, and have sadly claimed the lives of many intrepid pilots."
"So, the

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's a couple of Kilrathi sketches to brighten your day. EmuMusicFan has created B'shras nar Caxki as a a dishonored and brooding noble. On the other hand, Uza nar Ki'ra is an intellectual - complete with small round glasses. The coloration really does wonders to complete the look here!

B'shras nar Caxki is the Baron of Caxki from Star*Soldier. For lack of more specific background, I have added some myself: Because of their early out in the Civil War, nar Caxki Clan's status is now very low. Baron B'shras always feels boring in the meetings now.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

It's been a quarter century since Mag Force 7 announced that they had acquired a license to create and distribute a collectible card game based on Wing Commander III. Even if you have no desire to play the game, you may still want to collect the cards for the fabulous artwork that was commissioned by Mag Force 7 from talented artists like Alan Gutierrez and Barclay Shaw. You can still find starter decks and booster packs for sale on auction websites, but a better way to get those missing rare and uncommon cards is to trade with other collectors. A few Forums posters have used the extra spare time they have of late to list the cards they need, and what duplicate cards they could part with. It's a hassle to organize your collection and mail things out, but it should be more effective (and cheaper) than scouring auction sites only to end up with another seven McGoos. If you've been sitting on an

Quote from Star Trek Online News

April 5th is the anniversary of First Contact Day, when Humans and Vulcans first met on Earth! To celebrate the anniversary of First Contact Day, the Zefram Cochrane Memorial and Historical Museum is holding a special re-enactment event from April 5th at 8am PT to April 12th at 10am PT, on all three platforms!. Participants are invited to visit to Bozeman, Montana—the site of Cochrane’s launch of the first Human warp-capable ship, the Phoenix—and engage in the construction of their own replica Phoenix! Captains who participate will search the area for useful parts, just like Cochrane scavenged the pieces for the Phoenix. Using these parts in conjunction with a basic hull assembly, captains will make their own model of the Phoenix by combining engines, hull, and stabilizer parts found in various bits and pieces scattered about the re-creation of the historical settlement. Under the shadow of Zefram

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

April 5th is the anniversary of First Contact Day, when Humans and Vulcans first met on Earth! To celebrate the anniversary of First Contact Day, the Zefram Cochrane Memorial and Historical Museum is holding a special re-enactment event from April 4th at 8am PT to April 11th at 10am PT on PC, and April 11th at 8am PT to April 18th at 10am PT on Xbox One and Playstation 4! Participants are invited to visit Bozeman, Montana—the site of Cochrane’s launch of the first Human warp-capable ship, the Phoenix—and engage in the construction of their own replica Phoenix! Captains who participate will search the area for useful parts, just like Cochrane scavenged the pieces for the Phoenix. Using these parts in conjunction with a basic hull assembly, captains will make their own model of the Phoenix by combining engines, hull, and stabilizer parts found in various bits and pieces scattered about the

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

It’s almost time for our Ninth Anniversary celebration! While we’ll have more details later today on the brand new episode you can experience, and the brand new ship you can earn, we know you want details on how you can get involved with the party. From January 23rd to February 11th, you can take part in our annual anniversary festivities! Here’s how they work: Omega Molecule Stabilization Game Q is up to his annual shenanigans. You’ll be required to stabilize Omega Particles found in various social zones in Star Trek Online. Talk to Q to get the mission “Omega Stabilization (Daily)” and you will be given three zones to visit where you must stabilize an Omega Particle by playing a minigame. The minigame is simple - Omega molecules will fall in from the left in one of four channels. Captains will use either the keyboard or the mouse to move the capture device into the correct channel

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
A series of public events to celebrate the forthcoming presidential election are being held in the Sol system.
Congress approved a request by President Zachary Hudson to finance a range of festivities, concerts and shows across the home system of the Federation.
Billions of people are expected to attend, leading to a request for supplies of Crystalline Spheres, Gerasian Gueuze Beer, Indi Bourbon, LTT Hyper Sweet and Pantaa Prayer Sticks to be delivered to Li Qing Jao starport in orbit over planet Earth. Congress also agreed to authorise a temporary two-week permit for all Pilots' Federation members to access the Sol system.
President Hudson announced the events across all Federal news channels, where he said:
"Now we approach the time, as determined centuries ago by the Federal Accord, of our civilisation's most profound tradition: the peaceful transfer of power. I

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The actor Consuela Knight, who recently vanished from her private yacht along with its crew, has been located at a luxury retreat.

An anonymous reporter told independent newsfeed The Sovereign:

"Consuela Knight was spotted alive and well at the Skyglow Havens on the Rhea Archipelago, where she had been living under a false identity."

"When challenged, Ms Knight admitted that her disappearance was in fact an elaborate hoax. Fearing that her career was fading, she arranged her 'mysterious' disappearance to enhance her fame, paying her crew enormous sums to follow suit."

"Ms Knight has now fled Rhea and is presumably living in seclusion elsewhere."

Many of Knight's fans have disputed this account, claiming that such elaborate deception is out of character for the actor. Authorities have accepted the explanation, however, and the investigation has been officially closed.

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