03
Jan
Happy New Year! ATV thunders into 2949.
News categories list
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04
Jan
…Preparations are underway for the second Distant Worlds expedition, which will see a community of explorers cross the galaxy.
Science correspondent Leon Banerjee provided an overview for the Vox Galactica media outlet:
"The first Distant Worlds mission, in 3302, was the largest fleet expedition in history, and saw over a thousand ships travel to Beagle Point and back."
"Distant Worlds II has even loftier ambitions, involving an impressive voyage through the heart of the galaxy, mapping unexplored regions and making new scientific discoveries. It will also involve the construction of a starport dedicated to the study of Sagittarius A*."
"Project leaders Erimus Kamzel and Dr Kaii report that nearly four thousand courageous Commanders will take part, despite the risks involved, in a journey of over 200,000 light years."
Distant Worlds II is scheduled to launch in January 3305, with the complete
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05
Jan
…As the calendar crosses over into another new year, we took a look back and were once again amazed at all of the happenings in the world of Wing Commander. You guys were busy! And so were we - here's a look back at some of the highlights of 2018.
WC Toolbox
One of the more surprising things to me was how much happened with WC1/2. UnnamedCharacter'sopened the door to some pretty fun stuff. In conjunction with Goliath and Howard Day, they're working on amazing
model upgrade tests. Sheppard developed
Wing Hardto adjust game difficulty. Rehsin is
adding charactersand creating
campaigns. Some of this is bleeding into WC2 and Privateer 2, and it was pretty neat to see a WC2
arcade cabinetat Britizencon. We continue to learn a lot about these games even after 28+ years, including the recent discovery of multiple
easter eggsburied in WC1. And it's neat to still see WC easter eggs pop up elsewhere in
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05
Jan
…Here are this week's main stories.
The theft of a spectacular work of art has soured New Year festivities for thousands of Federal citizens. A colossal holo-sculpture, inspired by the Federal insignia, was due to be unveiled to mark the start of 3305. But upon activation, the image that materialised was a gigantic cat's face, winking repeatedly.
Meanwhile, Professor Katrien Rook has admitted that her company's nanomedicines are of Utopian origin, and revealed that the original material was sold to Vitadyne Labs by independent pilots. She offered to return the original cargo to Utopia while insisting that Vitadyne be allowed to continue the manufacture of its derived nanomedicines. Simguru Pranav Antal has insisted that production cease, however.
In other news, preparations are underway for the second Distant Worlds expedition, which will see a community of explorers cross the galaxy. The
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05
Jan
Display MoreThe isolationist group Nova Imperium is reported to be assembling its forces in the Paresa system.
Senator Denton Patreus made this statement:
"We have evidence that this seditious organisation is amassing an armada in its home system. It consists of ships crewed by Imperator Mordanticus's ex-Navy followers, as well as the private vessels of many misguided citizens."
"As Admiral of the Fleet, I order Nova Imperium to disperse its forces immediately or face the consequences."
The Imperial Herald's Cassia Carvalho commented:
"Widespread support for Hadrian Duval has led to Nova Imperium amassing its fleet in a very short time. The challenge for the Imperial Navy is to quash this threat without it being seen as a massacre of Imperial citizens, which can only fuel further rebellion."
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06
Jan
Here's a crazy Spanish article that LOAF recently found. It comes from the now-defunct magazine PC Manía. On the surface it looks fairly typical - like hundreds of other printed reviews of WC3 at the time. But boy is that box art weird looking! They've
photoshoppedit to change the look of the characters and even the ships. Maybe this was intended to Spanish-ize the cast? What an odd thing to do!
What the heck is going on with the Wing Commander III cover art in this Spanish magazine article?
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07
Jan
There are many members of the Wing Commander community that are talented artists, but this one comes from even closer to home! Check out this nifty Thrakhath sketch drawn by none other than LOAF's wife, Alexis!
* Prince of Kilrah
* Fang of Sivar
* Destroyer of Worlds! -
08
Jan
…AircPirateNinseiis building a real life flying Hornet model! He scaled and hand built the fighter with lightweight foamboard, and the design is pretty spot on. There's a six inch propeller in the rear and all of the associated battery and electronics are contained in the cockpit area. At this point, the version you see here is pretty much ready for its first test flight. After the basic aerodynamics are validated, AircPirateNinsei is planning to add the ship's iconic laser cannons. You can follow along for updates at the
Flite Test Forum. Thanks to st3lt3k for the tip!
The Hornet is a light fighter for the Terran Confederation during the Terran-Kilrathi War in the game "Wing Commander". Maybe some of you played this game in the nineties. Wing Commander is the eponymous first game in Chris Roberts' science fiction space flight simulation. The game was first released for MS-DOS in the year 1990.
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08
Jan
The British
synthwaveband
GUNSHIPhas a new song titled "The Video Game Champion." The track's official lyric video features footage from a wide variety of '80s and '90s video games and movies. There's a lot of vintage arcade and SNES in there, but DMJC spotted Wing Commander in the mix as well. You can see a Hornet walloping a Dralthi at 3:43 in the clip. It doesn't stay up for long, but if you want your classic video games video to have any credibility, it's got to have Wing Commander in there somewhere!
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07
Jan
…The Crystalline Entity is back and stronger than ever. After the success of the updated Crystalline Cataclysm Event last year, we’re bringing those changes to the regular Crystalline Catastrophe Task Force Operation. The Crystalline Catastrophe Task Force Operation has undergone some improvements! Our goal was to provide a deeper experience when taking on the Entity. The mechanics in place had the potential to do this, but weren’t able to shine. The following are some of the bigger changes: There is now a 30 second mission briefing time before the queue begins. This allows players time to join the queue and read the briefing if necessary, before taking on the Entity. The Entity shards that it deploys are now immune to control effects, this allows the feature more room to breathe as the queue progresses. Small Shards will no longer buff the Entity’s damage for the entire queue. Instead,
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08
Jan
Example of the new cutscenes. This is the prototypes with subtitles.
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08
Jan
…In late 2018, we kicked off a Foundry Challenge to celebrate the release of Victory is Life, and now it's time to announce the results! We had a lot of entries from very, very talented people, and we were blown away by the stories you tell in the Star Trek universe. The requirement was to tell a story for a Jem'Hadar or Cardassian Captain, and our winner has done that to a T. So without further ado, congratulations to XR-377, and their winning mission, "Flowers of War, Thorns of Peace." XR-377 was kind enough to make the mission twice, once for Federation Captains and their allies, and once for Klingon Defense Force Captains and their allies, so all of your characters should be able to play it. In addition to winning a T6 R&D Promotion ship of their choice, the mission is joining our roster of spotlit missions. Thanks again to everyone who entered! .share-footer a { margin: 20px 10px
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08
Jan
…With the release of our 9th Anniversary Update for Star Trek Online, we will be rolling out a new account-wide progression system for Captains to enjoy, Personal Endeavors! Inspired by the positive feedback we received from the current Endeavor system, Personal Endeavors bring new Endeavors, Account-wide progression, and increased opportunities for daily rewards. All high level Captains (level 60 or higher) will now be able to unlock account-wide stat increases by completing daily tasks. Every day you will be given three Personal Endeavor tasks of varying difficulties (Easy, Medium and Hard). These tasks are shared account-wide and unique to every account, and are granted in addition to the existing server-wide Endeavors (which we are re-branding as “Universal Endeavors” for clarity). Completing your Personal Endeavors will grant experience within this system, as well as other rewards
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08
Jan
…Hello everyone,
Welcome to 2949! We hope that you all enjoyed the holiday season. We celebrated in the ‘verse with not one, but two holiday themed contests. We were taken aback by the incredible submissions that came through for our screenshot and greetings card contests. If you havn’t seen the submissions or winners, make sure to check them out on Spectrum.
And with that, let’s see what’s going on this week:
As we mentioned before the holiday break, there will be no new episodes of Calling All Devs this month. We’re taking some time to evaluate the best ways to provide all of you with awesome content. We’ve received a lot of feedback in 2948 about our various shows, and we’re taking some time to evaluate the best ways to provide you with the best possible content. To that end, we’ll likely be making some tweaks throughout the new year.
Tuesday is lore day! Galactic Guide will take us to
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08
Jan
…Squadron 42 Monthly Report: December 2018
This is a cross-post of the report that was recently sent out via the monthly Squadron 42 newsletter. We’re publishing this a second time as a Comm-Link to make it easier for the community to reference back to, and plan on following this process for future Squadron 42 Monthly Reports.
Attention Recruits,
What you are about to read is the latest information on the continuing development of Squadron 42.
Read on for pertinent details from our planet-wide operations on Squadron 42-related work over the last month, as well as intel on an exciting new dispatch. The information contained in this communication is extremely sensitive and it is of paramount importance that it does not fall into the wrong hands. Purge all records after reading.
Over and out,
UEE Naval High Command
The Road to Glory
Today sees the unveiling of our Squadron 42 roadmap, a useful
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10
Jan
We've solved a small Wing Commander mystery! This
unidentified shipappeared in a single act of an episode of Wing Commander Academy ("Invisible Enemy.") It wasn't an obvious match for a fighter from the games and it was only seen the once. Well we’ve tracked down the original script for the episode and discovered that it was meant to be... a FERRET!
For reference, this is the P-64C Ferret (and P-64D Super Ferret!) patrol fighter as introduced in Wing Commander II:
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09
Jan
…General: Resolved an issue that was causing the Discovery Klingons to not use modern torpedoes. Resolved an issue that was causing the Type 7 Shuttle to not appear in the reclaim store. The Borg engine attachment is now properly seated on the nacelle for the Dinaes Warbird Destroyer (T6) Resolved an issue that was causing the Male Caitian Ears to clip through the Vedek Hood. Resolved an issue that was causing the Duty Officer weekend to display on the Calendar. Content: Captains can now access and begin playing the first episode in any story arc. The Crystalline Entity TFO has been updated with various changes to match the Event version: There is now a 30 second Mission Briefing time before the TFO begins. This allows players time to join the TFO and read the briefing if necessary, before taking on the Entity. The Entity shards that it deploys are now immune to
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09
Jan
…Still striving to get the greatest performance out of your equipment? This weekend will be the perfect time to apply Tech Upgrades to your gear, as we’re doubling the amount of Technology Points earned from each one applied! From Thursday, January 10th at 8AM PST to January 14th at 10AM PST, every Tech Upgrade used will apply twice as many Technology Points toward your next Upgrade! This in turn reduces the amount of Dilithium that must be spent to reach each Upgrade threshold, allowing Captains additional chances to attain both Mark and Rarity increases on their favored load outs. .share-footer a { margin: 20px 10px 10px 0; background: url(d7afaaa14e96d0d973f76157ae31ec5b1466398539.png) no-repeat 0 0; opacity: .5; display: inline-block; height: 60px; width: 60px; padding: 0; border: 1px solid transparent; -webkit-transition: opacity .3s; transition:
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09
Jan
…Computer- Start recording. Captain’s log, supplemental. Commander Jacob Trask of the transport Beowulf, in charge of convoy 72478, currently en route to the Maxia Zeta Sector; so tired, so tired- but we have to keep moving and keep vigilant. Those damned raiders in their red ships! The stories I heard from Lieutenant Singh, of our well-meaning (but, I fear, under–gunned) Federation escort, are that the raiders just appear out of nowhere, scan the ships and either disappear as fast as they came, or start firing- no quarter given. My first thoughts were that it must be Romulan or Klingon raiders, cloaking in and out, but red ships? Singh has assured me that Starfleet will be on Red Alert should any of the raiders show their faces. If I had the confidence he had, I wouldn’t be updating this log and my will. It’s been a few days since we’ve heard of the raiders hitting any convoys, and I feel
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09
Jan
…Nearly four centuries ago the Vulcan people visited the planet Pahvo in the Beta Quadrant and made first contact with the living planet’s unified species. The Pahvans, as they came to be known, showed a singular tranquility that was the envy of the Vulcan people. The logic of the Vulcans concluded that much could be learned from the Pahvans, if only communication could be established. A century later the U.S.S. Discovery came to Pahvo in the hopes of utilizing the planet’s resonating song to aid them in their war with the Klingon Empire. The Pahvans, knowing only peace, sought to aid their galactic brothers and sisters by inviting the Klingons to join them and find peace. For their efforts the Pahvans were nearly destroyed. An understanding began to form, albeit on troubling foundations. Now, a century and a half later, the Vulcan Science Academy has lost contact with our researchers on Pahvo.
