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You might recall we recently featured a Tarsus built in Space Engineers. That one was made by Spiritplumber, who actually dug around and just found another version of the famous merchant vessel. This one was made by klingon00. Nothing against SP's model, but this new one is even more fleshed out and refined. It's got an aft compartment, adjustable lighting and even a projection window system. The exterior has some excellent geometry and there are multiple propulsion systems. It looks like it'd be awesome to take for a spin! Check it out on the Steam Workshop here.

The year is 2669. You just inherited an obsolete Tarsus merchant ship from your grandfather.What you decide to do with it an the few remaining credits that you have is up to you! Although the Tarsus is showing its age and has been discontinued, the platform still has great potential for upgrades for those who wish to strike out on

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DefianceIndustries has added a nice big toy to the growing fleet of ships in his digital TacOps game. He's deployed a Clydesdale transport so you can see how a capship looks on the board. I love the scaling here. It just makes me wish the whole thing was a real physical game - but this is the next best thing! Playtesting is getting closer, so continue to watch this space if you'd like to try things out yourself soon.

It's no small feat to just "add a ship" to the project. First, Defiance has to rebuild and customize a given model to fit right in the engine. Here's some great work in process shots generated as he put the tanker together.

Here's a quick update to the TTS version of TACOPS. There is a version on Steam for playtesting though it is currently locked down for my Steam friends only. But I'm pretty close to being ready to release the starter pack to the public. Maybe next week or two. I

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
The Affiliated Counter-Terrorism unit has acquired an encrypted message that may reveal Theta Seven's location.
ACT successfully captured most of the bomb-making engineers known as Theta Group, and has now prioritised hunting down the NMLA's de facto leader.
This latest breakthrough was explained by Captain Milo Castile:
"Theta Group managed to delete most of their data prior to capture, but we retrieved a short message that they received on the 31st of July. At this point most of Theta Group were being harboured by Neo-Marlinist sympathisers within the Marlinist Colonies, but Theta Seven and his closest aides had fled to an unknown destination."
"Unfortunately the message has been encrypted using a pre-arranged cipher key, without which its contents are unreadable. It is unclear why this wasn't transmitted via the NMLA's dark-comms network, which remains

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This week EA reconfirmed that another title in the Mass Effect series is in the works. Andromeda wasn't particularly well received in 2017, so the company took a break from the franchise for several years. But now we're excited for all the Mass Effect fans that there's more new content to look forward to.

This one image stirred a lot of speculation online, and the ship in particular drove a lot of conversation. More than a few folks observed similarities to the Excalibur, and Mac took it one step further with this tantalizing photoshop. To say again: this is just a fan mockup, but it's so nice on the eyes that we're excited to share! It might even make a good wallpaper. A Wingnut can dream...

I'm looking at the ship and I keep thinking it looks like a more advanced Excalibur from Wing Commander

I mean, I'm not the only one seeing it. Right?

You can find more of Mac's work on YouTube.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots Federation ALERT*
Successful campaigns in the Alcor and Colonia systems will result in new megaships being added to the Colonia Bridge.
Large quantities of ceramic composites, computer components and thermal cooling units were provided at either end of the route between the core systems and the distant Colonia region.
Brewer Corporation provided an update on the project:
"Once again, the galactic community has provided the vital materials required to construct dockable megaships. These additional ports should be operational by the 25th of November, making journeys to and from Colonia easier and safer."
"Pilots can now collect their rewards from Macdonald Settlement in the Alcor system and Jaques Station in the Colonia system. We shall also be awarding an engineered frame shift drive with long range and fast boot to the majority of contributors."
The top ten pilots who delivered

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
A rogue Aegis Defense force has initiated conflict with Taurus Mining Ventures in the T Tauri system.
The megaship Musashi is commanded by Aegis's chief military liaison Admiral Aden Tanner, who made this announcement:
"The Hind Mine asteroid base contains proof that Salvation's unlicensed anti-xeno weapon is intentionally designed to provoke the Thargoids, and therefore endangers us all. As Taurus Mining Ventures refuses to cooperate, we have no choice but to obtain the evidence by force."
"This may be our only opportunity to discover Salvation's true ambitions. I urge all independent pilots who have fought alongside Aegis to help us complete this vital mission."
Patience Middleton, a spokesperson for Taurus Mining Ventures, responded:
"This is an illegal attack that jeopardises the important work we are undertaking on behalf of Salvation. It is in the galactic

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots Federation ALERT*
A distress call has led independent pilots to locate an abandoned settlement in the Snake Sector GW-W c1-1 system.
The SOS was initially detected by one of the megaships that form the Colonia Bridge, inspiring many ships to search nearby systems. The source was eventually identified as Holloway Bioscience Research Facility 15 on the moon Snake Sector GW-W c1-1 AB 5 b.
Pilots unearthed a series of mission logs recorded in the year 3255 by a freelance military unit named Excalibur Troop. As yet, the contents of these logs have not been made available to newsfeeds.
Aanya Gupta, CEO of the Holloway Bioscience Institute, gave a statement to the press:
"Research Facility 15 was one of the first wave of planetary survey laboratories established by our founder, the esteemed scientist Lord Roland Holloway. Our records of these settlements are patchy, so we are grateful that

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Privateer 2 developer Paul Hughes managed to do a little digging and come up with three cool concept posters for the game. These are pretty early works and predate The Darkening becoming a Privateer title, which sometimes means material from this era can be harder to come by. Check out those taglines: "The City of Lights" is kind of odd, but "In the Darkness Lies the Truth" is a really good one. We also get an excellent look at that prototype Heretic that pops up from time to time!

Digging around on some backup drives, I found some old unused concept art for Privateer 2 from Paul Chapman...

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ObscureArtifacts on Instagram has posted a phenomenal photograph of the animatronic Melek costume from Wing Commander 4. It was taken by one of the prop masters behind the creation of the suit and other artifacts used in the game. WC4 Melek doesn't get a whole lot of love, but in recent years I've come to appreciate the look much more. In retrospect, I find the design less bug-eyed than my teenage memories recall. It's starting to feel like a more natural evolution of the look in Wing Commander 3. He's also highly variable. Under harsh lighting, some of the more artificial elements become pronounced, but the warmly lit Melek depicted below looks pretty smooth!

Wing Commander 4: The Price of Freedom (1995)- My studio was hired to create the external design for the games solo Kilrathi character, Melek (Chris Bergschneider) by the animatronics superivsor Bud McGrew. It was a great responsibility and

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The nomadic Scriveners Clan continues to resist Orion University's attempts to take possession of their dredger.
Freelance reporter Casey Kilpatrick published an update from the Oochost PC-C c29-0 system:
"Orion University's claim that the vessel is their property has been countered by Advocacy's reminder of laws preventing cultural contamination. So the question now is: who actually owns the dredger? Is it the families that have lived there for generations, or the organisation which originally built it?"
"Various solutions have been proposed to resolve this stand-off. These include an offer from Canonn Interstellar Research Group to purchase the dredger from Orion University, gift it to the Scriveners Clan then publicly share the contents of their mysterious Knowledge Core."
"However, two centuries of isolation have instilled this academia-focused society with a pathological need to protect

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Today we have another look at DefianceIndustries' gorgeous digital interpretation of the tabletop fan game TacOps. It's got a more purpose-built table now, and a variety of amenities are being implemented to make the game function and flow better. There's also two exciting additions: the Sartha and Ferret. The picture of them below looks almost real. With more quality of life improvements in place, Defiance is planning to start some playtesting soon. Sounds like fun!

To quote Gold Leader: "Almost there...." I revamped the game using the Chimera table which made more ergonomic sense. Currently it's set up for 2 players (with an option for 4, though the table seats 6 so you could go nuts)

I added a bowl of pegs so you can track the status on the ship cards easier, added a copy of the rules for each side, as well as all the missile tiles (DF, HS, IMREC, FoF, Torp). It's about 90% there for some

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The creators of the NMLA's caustic enzyme bombs have been arrested, although the terrorist figurehead Theta Seven remains at large.
Theta Group is directly responsible for 17 starport bombings conducted by the NMLA across the core systems. These attacks resulted in a combined death toll of almost 800,000 people, with twice as many suffering serious injury.
Senior Agent Tanya Ramirez, one of the Affiliated Counter-Terrorism unit's co-leaders, told the media:
"We have finally tracked down the NMLA's bomb-making engineers, and a joint task force made the arrest with minimal casualties. Large quantities of Thargoid corrosives and explosive components were also seized."
"This achievement was only possible due to intercepting Theta Group's communications with Neo-Marlinist sympathisers. We are unsure why the NMLA's dark-comms network was not used in that instance."
"As our intel predicted, the

Quote from Mass Effect News-Bot

The galaxy-spanning exploits of the Reaper-punching, planet-probing, and alien-bedding Commander Shepard were finally brought to modern platforms in Mass Effect Legendary Edition. However, the all-encompassing remaster was unfortunately cut short by the exclusion of Pinnacle Station, a DLC that first graced the original Mass Effect back in 2009. While this undoubtedly put a small damper on the collection, a new mod has now brought the content back in all its Legendary glory.

As recently posted to Nexus Mods, Pinnacle Station and all of its activities are indeed operational again through the availability of a new mod. Simply called the ‘Pinnacle Station DLC’ mod, modding group ME3Tweaks essentially ported and remastered the original DLC to once again work with the Legendary Edition. In addition to a wealth of visual and audio upgrades, a number of long-standing bug fixes were also applied to meet

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Following the immensely well-received release of the remastered Legendary Edition trilogy, BioWare looks to have plenty of Mass Effect plans waiting in the wings, including an all-new adventure connecting back to the original Commander Shepard-led adventures. While exactly how this might be possible is still veiled in the realm of dark space, the community’s recent celebration of N7 Day has teased the journey that fans will have ahead of them.

As revealed in a new post on social media, BioWare rolled out a surprise peek at the next Mass Effect in the form of a spectacular official poster. Highlighted with the tease that “Mass Effect will continue,” the artwork features what appears to be the same spacecraft featured in that glorious teaser trailer shown at last year’s Game Awards, presumably joined by a returning Liara T’Soni and her crew as they investigate a significantly sized crater.

Even in the

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It's been quite a while since we checked in with EmuMusicFan's graphical novel project, but he's continued to make steady progress all the while. He's crafted a variety of new Kilrathi characters to populate his universe, and they look quite nice. While the care and attention paid to each person's facial detail is obvious, I'm also intrigued by their outfits. In some cases they're just cursory gowns and outlines of armor, but there's some real potential to build up some hypothetical Kilrathi fashion here. Let him know what you think at the CIC Forums.

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It's now been a month since the launch of ZOmegaZ's Kickstarter campaign to make a set of Wing Commander challenge coins. The project is now up to about $16,000 compared to a $5,000 goal, so it appears to have easily met the viability threshold. As stretch goals have been achieved, additional designs for Cobra Kai and Battlestar Galactica have been added. The most popular items appear to be based around Star Trek and Firefly, but Wing Commander fans pledged for a few dozen Vega Sector coins on just the first day. If you'd like to get in before the campaign ends, each WC coin is $11 plus shipping. You have until December 4. Find more details here.

This is a very straightforward project. The artwork for all seven coins is done, quotes have been obtained for manufacture. All we need is enough backers to cover the costs of production and shipping, and we can place the orders. Once I receive the

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Ever wonder why Righteous Fire had such an elaborate rendered intro focused on a mech you never see again? It was leftover content that was originally cut from the base Privateer game!

The scene was created as a losing endgame which would play if you landed with a negative credit balance. To save space, the design was tweaked to make that case impossible. RF’s writer wrote a new script for the existing footage explaining your Steltek gun was stolen!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Admiral Aden Tanner has called for Aegis to reject the public inquiry's shutdown and take direct action against Salvation.
The Musashi, an Aegis Defense megaship under his command, has entered the T Tauri system to challenge Taurus Mining Ventures. The corporation has performed activities on Salvation's behalf, including preparation for the anti-xeno weapon used to eliminate all Thargoids from the Cornsar system.
Admiral Tanner transmitted this message to media outlets:
"Salvation's unlicensed weapons technology is deliberately designed to provoke the Thargoids, risking millions of lives. My sources tell me that Hind Mine asteroid base contains evidence of this. I therefore demand that Taurus Mining Ventures allows us access so we can determine the truth."
Patience Middleton of Taurus Mining Ventures responded:
"We are a legitimate business under contract to a private citizen, whose activities

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots Federation ALERT*
Brewer Corporation requests deliveries in the Alcor and Colonia systems for the next phase of the Colonia Bridge project.
A successful initiative in October resulted in the placement of 30 dockable megaships at intervals of several hundred light years, providing services such as refuelling and repairs. The second phase seeks to establish this support for the full route between the core systems and the Colonia region.
A press release from Brewer Corporation stated:
"We are now ready to continue work on the Colonia Bridge, by constructing additional megaships to fill the middle of the planned route. As before, we require shipments of ceramic composites, computer components and thermal cooling units at Macdonald Settlement in the Alcor system or Jaques Station in the Colonia system."
"Should deliveries reach sufficient levels, the top 75% of contributors will be awarded

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When it rains, it pours! We've got a second exciting tabletop style fan project to share today. Throughout 2019, we reported on various aspects of Adm_Maverick's tabletop WC game. It was coming along quite well until the coronavirus interrupted his plans. He's now in the process of tweaking the ruleset to work better in a virtual online environment. There's some neat preview images - and a video! - below to give you a taste. Stay tuned for more news when he's ready for some test runs. In the mean time, you can learn more about the project here.

When the pandemic started, I was just moving into serious playtesting of the Star Fighter tabletop game. And that curb-stomped my playtesting efforts. So with all of that, I put work on the game on the shelf for the time being. So with a little looking, I'm gonna use Tabletop Simulator to facilitate playtesting and development. Once I do some review and