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As part of his never ending quest to better understand how Wing Commander works,

Unnamed Character

has shared some interesting insight into how the original games calculated damage. There's some good raw numbers here in terms of how much damage fighters and capships can take as well as how much damage different weapons do. Even more fascinating is how random factors are computed for individual component damage. Most of you may never code or mod a WC fan project, but understanding how these things work certainly enhances my enjoyment as I play!

From what I have been able to determine, the damage system differentiates between capital ships and fighter ships. Capital ships employ a simple system, once the shields and armor are gone, the ship starts taking generic ship damage. Once this damage reaches an upper limit, the ship is destroyed; the upper limit varies by ship type (see list below).

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The latest episode of ALL WINGS CONSIDERED is live now! All Wings Considered is the CIC's first ever streaming variety show which features news, conversation and gameplay relating to our favorite series. This week's Nav Points include:

• Wing Commander III 3DO - Ariel System
• Lynn Murphy's Righteous Fire missions
• Behind the Scenes of Wing Commander III

Missed the stream? The replay will be available below once it has been processed by YouTube. You can subscribe to the AWC channel for future notifications here.

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PC Winter Event: Q has returned to begin this year’s Winter Event! Compete and participate in Winter Events to earn Winter Prize vouchers that can be used to redeem the all new Fek’ihri Fe’rang Dreadnought Carrier [T6]! This year’s festivities will be integrated into our recently released Event Interface, as part of your Mission Journal. Beginning this year, Daily Progress toward earning your new starship can be obtained by participating in any of the following activities: Fastest Game on Ice Klingon Ice Fishing Tides of Ice The Fast and the Flurrious Cones of Conduct The Kramp’Ihri Go to the Winter Vendor and check out this year’s new items! Black Nanopulse Weaponry. 3 brand new Cold-Themed Bridge Officer Training Manuals. 3 brand new Winter Sweater designs. Winter Wonderland Weaponry, including an all new hand-thrown impaling device and candy-licious

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Centaurianmudpig has made some neat progress on his WC-inspired space sim, Absolute Territory. To show off the flexibility of his new mission editor, he's mocked up the famous Enyo System missions. The game isn't a copycat of Wing Commander, but there are lots of clear similarities. It's come a long way in the couple years that mudpig has been working on it and looks pretty fun! You can learn more about it and how to eventually give it a try on Steam.

Since the last update, I've been busy working on the Level Editor. The inspiration partly came from Wing Commander Academy, but I never got over how limited it was in creating missions. I wanted to make my own WC1 style missions, not just the drop some enemies and go skirmish.

To that end, I've reached another milestone. To show what the level editor is capable of, I loosely re-created the Enyo 1 and Enyo 2 missions. These where made with the in-game

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Here's one for the history books: the original four-page story premise for the tenth episode of Wing Commander Academy, "On Both Your Houses". A premise document like this was the first step in developing an episode of the show. Once it was approved by the show's producers it would be expanded into a three act outline and then a full script (which would go on to be boarded and then animated).

The final episode is very close to this initial premise although it does feature some differences, including setting Archer's robot fight at the Greenhouse lab, having Maverick ultimately be the one to shoot down the Kilrathi pilot and ending with an unused coda aboard the Tiger's Claw. You can download the PDF here; a full transcription is available in the WCPedia.

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The multi-talented elend (of Banshee model fame) has another treat for fellow fans. This one is quite a bit different, but artsy and cool nonetheless. He's vectorized the famous Wingleader logo so it can now be blown up to infinite proportions without any loss of quality. This was Wing Commander's working title between "Squadron" and the final name that we've come to know and love. The preview below is just a sample. Check out the actualize vector version in PDF form here (1.5 megs).

Hello internet friends. I vectorized the Wingleader logo for... uh... reasons. Maybe some of you have use for it.

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We Are The Mighty has put together a mock fighter squadron with their favorite aces from any and all media. Mark Hamill makes the list, but in Star Wars' Luke Skywalker form. Christopher Blair also makes the cut as the younger Freddie Prinze Jr. iteration. Not a bad combo! You can see the full list here.

All Star One-Four – Christopher Blair from "Wing Commander"

He is fresh out of flight training but clearly has some natural ability. Like Skywalker, he is best suited as a wingman for now, but has the ability to rise through the ranks.

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Woah, it's December, and that means 2020 is quickly coming to an end. And while this year has been objectively dreadful is so many ways, dedicated Wingnuts have continued to create great things. It's a positive creative outlet for them, but it also helps spread Wing Commander cheer across the community. Each year we do a poll to help recognize a small handful of the fan projects that had some of the biggest impact. If you have some thoughts on which endeavors those might be, send them in to news@wcnews.com and let us know! And check out the list below for some of the fantastic projects that took top honors in years past.

2019	Prophecy & Secret Ops Model Upgrade Pack	WC4 Fan Remake / Wing Leader
2018	Flat Universe	Secret Ops Model Upgrade Pack / WC1 Sprite Refresh
2017	Secret Ops Model Upgrade Pack	Homeworld Remastered / Flat Universe
2016	Flat Universe	Homeworld Remastered / Secret Ops MUP / Enhanced

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ShinyMan0 has created a set of cute little Wing Commander caricature portraits. They remind me a lot of Bitmoji style creations, but for the cast of Wing Commanders 1 and 2. It's impressive that they're pretty in line with the Bitmoji style while simultaneously being accurate to the original WC art. He even nails the uniforms. A while back, he made some impressive similar scenes out of Lego under the name MrLee. You can find more, including for franchises like Space Quest, over at his DeviantArt page.

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MW Art has put together an awesome time lapse of what it takes to build a Kilrathi warrior. He's meticulously sculpted everything in Zbrush. Even though the clock is sped up, I'm amazed to see how fast the head comes together. It's also interesting to see how items like the claws get so much attention. The texture/coloring seems like it should take a long time as well (and I'm sure it did!), but Martijn makes it look like a breeze!

Space is a very scary place, so why not make it even more scary by adding some Tigers in there! Big fan of Wing Commander games and the Kilrathi Antagonists, I still think they should appear in Star Citizen, I tried to make a concept of what they would look like in a modern game, Hope you like it!

Check out my artstation for some Hi-Res Renders.

For more, follow me on
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Artstation

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots Federation ALERT*
Onionhead gamma strain is now available in selected industrial anarchy systems.
Following the Kumo Council's initiative, enough product was manufactured to supply approximately 10% of all industrial-based markets controlled by anarchic factions. Unlike previous versions of onionhead, this variant is not listed as a rare commodity.
Adalyn Cross, a journalist for Vox Galactica, reported:
"Onionhead gamma strain is being marketed to the public for medicinal use, but most customers are under no illusions regarding its real benefits. The Coalition for Legalisation claims that it is 'no more harmful or addictive than alcohol or coffee, with potential psychological and palliative benefits'."
"This has not prevented many authorities, especially in the Federation, from demanding that it remain universally outlawed. It is currently illegal in all but anarchy jurisdictions.

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Here's a little goodie that came in the mail this week. Many years ago we posted about the March 1998 review of Wing Commander Prophecy in PC Gamer. What we didn't show off at the time was that issue's nifty cover disc featuring the WCP demo. As far as WC-themed promotional discs go, it's pretty slick with a prominent Panther fighter and a Tiamat coming through the wormhole on the sleeve. Although it says "Not to be sold without magazine," I'm happy that someone broke the rules so that I could have one of my very own after all these years! And if you weren't aware, this isn't a tiny gauntlet. The full blown Prophecy demo includes four in-plot missions that weren't included in the game! You can download them (and many other awesome WC demos) here!

Sure, you've played Prophecy... but did you ever play the demo? If not, you're missing out on a special little chunk of the game. Unlike most game

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The Gemini Sector RPG has had a fun summer adventuring through the Nitir Sector. We've previously highlighted their exciting space battles and ground combat. Rear Admiral Tarsus has done an excellent job spicing things up with things like ship animations and mission briefings to add a visual component to the RPG action. Check a few of them out below! You can find out more and join the fun at their website or Discord too.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The anonymous 'man of science' Salvation has claimed responsibility for the Thargoids' unexplained departure from the Cornsar system.
Salvation had predicted their attack, but his claim was discounted by Aegis and other authorities. After a few days the Thargoid vessels fled abruptly, leaving behind wreckages across the system.
The following message was transmitted on public channels:
"This is Salvation. The Thargoid invasion of Cornsar has now been repulsed, thanks to prototype anti-xeno weaponry that I have been developing for some time. I have achieved what Aegis could not – an effective deterrent against the alien threat."
"Refinement of this weapon is at a critical stage, so I cannot reveal any details. I only regret that my warning was not heeded in time to save everyone on the two starports."
"This triumph was only possible thanks to those loyal pilots who answered my call. Rewards will

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Just in time for Wing Commander's 31st birthday, Christian Klein has constructed a wonderfully detailed Lego Epee. It's got everything: each wing and control surface, engine intake/nozzle and particle cannon is there. The colors are also wonderfully done, which is an extra challenge when working within the limitations of Lego bricks. Green and red accents are in the right places and the cockpit canopy is tinted purplish. Even the interior cockpit is well outfitted! I could never pull something like this off, so I bow to his talent. Follow Christian on Twitter for more Wing Commander and retro goodies.

Wohoo! It's finally done! This is my very first (own created) Wing Commander LEGO spaceship [639 parts]. The F-54C Epee. The design has changed a bit. I hope you like it

Here's a few shots of the lovely Epee for comparison purposes:

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DefianceIndustries shared this fun new model with us today. Everyone loves a good Midway megacarrier, but the Flight IIA are much less represented in fan projects. As the story goes, the TCS Port Broughton that we see in Arena was scuttled, abandoned and them brought back to life as a floating outpost by militia forces, so it's very much past its prime. For this particular take on the ship, Defiance sought to imagine what it looked like in its heyday before enduring a decade of hard fighting the Nephilim. It looks super tough!

Got a bit of time today (for a change) and did some more detailing on the Arena Midway. I wanted to do a version of the "flight 2" Midways as they would've appeared in service. As you can see, it has less structure between the hulls, the engine pods are smaller etc. The original is a peace time design where as the arena version was designed to counter Nephilim swarms.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Brewer Corporation's project to improve travel between the core systems and Colonia region has successfully concluded.
The final batch of service installations wraps up construction work on the six starports. The following services will be available at Canonn Complex, Helgrind Gateway, Venatores Hub, Vladmir McDoogle's Triumph and Zerreiss Station:
Universal Cartographics \ Vista Genomics
Pioneer Supplies \ Bartender
Crew Lounge \ Search and Rescue
Material Trader \ Human Tech Broker
Outfitting \ Shipyard
The following services will be available at Promium Relay:
Universal Cartographics \ Vista Genomics
Pioneer Supplies \ Bartender
Material Trader \ Human Tech Broker
Outfitting \ Shipyard
Material traders of all types will be represented across the starports.
Newsfeeds were expecting one final press release from Brewer Corporation, but instead received a rare

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We're happy to announce that today officially marks 24 years of operation here at WCNews.com! We first opened our doors in the summer of 1998, and it's been an action-packed thrill ride ever since! Through the highs and the lows, we've been here together for well over two decades now. Sure, despite all odds, we somehow manage to post Wing Commander news here every day, but the point of the site is more than that. It isn't even just about building a massive archive or tribute to a series we like. LOAF summed it up best here:

The point of a fandom is not to build a cathedral to a brand but to provide a shared starting point from which you connect with others, expand your thinking and grow to become better people.

Hopefully each day (all 8,766 of them!) we further those ends a tiny bit more. One way that we do that is to host an epic party around our anniversary every year. It's coming this

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Dennis Mull is restoring items after a recent move, and he's hung some fantastic Wing Commander collectibles! One poster I particularly love is his framed Academy key art. He's also got a cool Privateer ad print as well as a Mike Winterbauer WC1 SNES canvas reproduction.

I’m just putting up my pictures after moving and one of them is an original Academy promotional poster.

Dennis has a wonderful collection - here are a few more shelves full of goodness!

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Today we've got a tiny 1992 video review from the British television show GamesMaster. Non-print reviews are quite rare from this era since we were still a couple years before magazines starting including multimedia cover discs. Wing Commander 2 is one of my favorite games, so I was anxious to see what they had to say. And boy, they did not like it! Both reviewers say the game just has graphics going for it and award it a failing 59% score. I'm honestly pretty shocked at that assessment. The graphics were only minimally refined over WC1, but there were some wonderful advances in terms of storytelling, sound/speech and gameplay mechanics (torpedo bombing, turrets, tractor beams, jump points, etc). Ah well, check out this thirty year old clip below! Thanks to Oli for archiving this.