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Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Sirius Corporation has gathered resources in the Leesti system to help improve the Alliance's anti-xeno defences.
The campaign's conclusion was announced by Captain Delfina Dominguez, commanding officer of the Chariot of Rhea megaship:
"Many pilots docked with us over the past week to deliver shipments of energy grid assemblies, magnetic emitter coils, power transfer buses and titanium. On behalf of Sirius Corporation and the Allied Defence Force, I thank you for such encouraging support."
"I am informed that these will be sufficient to outfit 2 sentry megaships, each armed with experimental AX weaponry. These will be placed in key systems across the Alliance, ready to respond to potential Thargoid incursions."
"Admiral Glass has outlined his long-term plans to senior officers in the Sirius Navy. It's clear that these are exciting times for the Alliance Defence

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Thargoids' resistance to the Proteus Wave in HIP 22460 has prompted discussion among academics in the field of xenology.
Professor Shamus Madigan of Olympus Village University published a paper in the scientific journal The Empirical, which included this extract:
"The Thargoids newly observed defence against a man-made superweapon, and their subsequent aggression, suggests a direct response to our tactics. Not only have they upgraded their technology, but also their behaviour has altered. Humanity is now a problem that must be dealt with."
The Imperial Science Academy's director of xenological studies, Ivano Colombera, responded to a press query with:
"My hypothesis is that the Thargoids' ability to disrupt Guardian technology was first conceived millions of years ago during the Guardian/Thargoid conflict, and only now have they sought to redeploy it against our hybrid modules.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

AD found some new examples of the MIYOO-Mini V2 in action playing Wing Commander games. The first clip is PSX WC3 (23:25) and then SNES SM1 (21:23). We've shown off screenshots before, but here are live videos of the games in motion. Neither of the clips below is especially long, but it's just super satisfying to watch these in motion on such a small and different piece of hardware. I love hearing the WC3 missile lock tone in this context. It's so very cool to see (and hear)!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Newsfeeds have published their reactions as the Thargoid Maelstroms launch fleets to overpower multiple inhabited systems.
Sol Today: "Be in no doubt: we are in a war for survival! Dark days are upon us. No more ridiculous ideas of peace with the aliens. No more time for politics or debate. The Thargoids have come to wipe us out unless we stand up and fight."
Old Worlds Gazette: "This is the most severe Thargoid attack ever recorded. Hundreds of thousands slaughtered. Millions more fleeing their homes. Stations and planetary ports bombarded, entire star systems conquered… all in a few days. Many fear that nowhere will be safe if these savage onslaughts cannot be halted."
Citizens' Chronicle: "The speed with which our navy responded to defend Imperial citizens against the Thargoids must be applauded. However, it is becoming harder to ignore the screams from less fortunate systems. Might their

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Admiral Aden Tanner has formally resigned his commission with the Federal Navy, mere weeks after a presidential pardon overturned his court martial.
He had returned to naval service following an executive order from President Zachary Hudson. But this unexpected resignation means he is no longer a member of the military, although he retains the honorific of 'admiral'.
Admiral Tanner released a personal statement, which was published by The Federal Times:
"I must begin by expressing my gratitude to President Hudson, and thank all those who supported my actions in the T Tauri system. History has proven that Salvation was willing to sacrifice millions of lives in his personal vendetta against the Thargoids, and we are suffering the after-effects of that obsession today."
"The Federal Navy was once my home, but my disillusionment has grown over recent years. Politics and commercial influences hold

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

AllTinker has a brand new exciting fan project to share with fellow fans. For quite a while now, he's been working on reverse engineering some of the original Wing Commander games in a new engine he's dubbed 'Confederation'. There's a lot of ambitious stuff he's got planned, and you can visit the CIC Forums to read up on all the details. One of the most eye-catching is the potential for enabling a proper widescreen mode. He's mocked up some terrific concept art of how that would look aboard the Tiger's Claw. It might only be a handful of pixels on the sides, but I really like what he's done here! Click on each of the thumbnails for an animation that compares the original to his new design:

Confederation is essentially a custom cross-platform engine which reads original data files from the Wing Commander (and Privateer) series - based on some of my own ("clean room") reverse engineering, but also

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Torval Mining Ltd has announced that sufficient quantities of mined resources were delivered to its subsidiary faction.
The Aristocrats of Cuacocha, who control the LHS 3872 system, received the shipments of mined lithium hydroxide, painite, praseodymium and tritium. They have confirmed that all participating pilots can now collect their rewards at Curbeam Hub.
Constantia Torval, the corporation's recently appointed CEO, gave a statement:
"With this successful event, Torval Mining Ltd advances toward even greater prestige and profitability. I offer sincere thanks to our partners and contributors."
The campaign's background was discussed by Gwendolyn Nash, Empire correspondent for Vox Galactica:
"Senator Zemina Torval handing Torval Mining Ltd to her oldest daughter is the latest of several curious developments in recent years. She established the company by branching

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Star Trek Online has been privileged to have a great history of executive producers through its lifetime. Over the past three and a half years I’ve been humbled at the opportunity to shepherd this game forward, interact with this amazing community and lead this team of dedicated developers. When I initially took the big chair, after half a decade of working on the game already, it was as intimidating as it was exhilarating. In that first month my whiteboard filled with ideas, hopes and goals for future updates, as my calendar filled with endless meetings, forward-looking planning sessions and constant evaluation of the live game. Many of those ideas and hopes made it into the game, with some looser goals eventually taking shape as the PvEvP system and the Admiralty System. Some of my riskier plans actually came to fruition as well, such as going truly serialized with our story, releasing an

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Attention! We’ve doubled our efforts to give Captains the necessary experience to deal with threats to the Galaxy. From Thursday, December 27th at 8AM PT, to Monday, December 31st at 10AM PT, players will be able to enjoy twice the experience! During the event, content that provides skill points and expertise will reward a 100% (2x) Bonus above normal amounts – this bonus will be available for all content that rewards skill points and expertise. .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: opacity .3s; } .share-footer .TI { background-position: 0 20%; } .share-footer .YT { background-position: 0 40%; } .share-footer .YT {

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Event: Pahvo Dissension Featured Task Force Operation Pahvo Dissension is an all new Featured Task Force Operation, where five Alliance captains will deal with the aftermath of the recent events at Pahvo. Help the planet purify the crystals that have been corrupted by Terran agonizers. This event will last for 3 weeks and Captains can earn an all new reward! Complete the TFO on 14 different days to earn the Crystal Prism Universal Kit Module in addition to marks, dilithium, and three Featured TFO Reward Boxes. This box gives your choice of an Enhanced Universal Tech Upgrade or a Captain Specialization Point Box. Crystal Prism Universal Kit Module The Crystal Prism Universal Kit Module is a new reward for completing Pahvo Dissension on 14 different days. This Prism will attack nearby enemies and will link together with nearby Prisms to increase each Prism’s damage. The

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's a fascinating look at Origin's product plan as of 1989, just before Wing Commander changed things. It's amazing what could have been (a Star Wars RPG by Richard Garriott!) and also how far in advance they planned for projects like Ultima Underworld.

• Bad Blood: released
• Ultima 6: released
• Dinosaur Valley: became Ultima Savage Empire
• Squadron: became Wing Commander
• Time Travel: became Ultima Martian Dreams (?)
• Super Heroes: didn't happen
• Ultima 5 NES: released
• Ultima Gameboy: became Runes of Virtue
• Ultima 7: released
• Car Wars: didn't happen
• Ultima 6: became Ultima 6 SNES
• Star Wars: didn't happen
• The Underground: became Ultima Underworld
• Ultima adventure game: didn't happen
• Ultima 7 Spinoff: became Serpent Isle
• Ultima 8: happened (two years later)
• Blood & Fog: didn't happen
• Ultima 7 Spinoff: went into development as Arthurian Legends, ultimately cancelled

After we initially

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Carson's Spring, the megaship transporting Professor Ishmael Palin from the Maia system, has successfully completed its journey, having endured a number of attacks by Thargoid craft.

Admiral Aden Tanner provided this update on behalf of Aegis Research:

"With support from many independent combat pilots, the Thargoid assaults on Carson's Spring have been successfully repelled."

"The megaship has now arrived in the Arque system with Professor Palin and his staff."

Palin currently remains aboard Carson's Spring. Efforts are underway to establish a new permanent home at Abel Laboratory on Arque 4 E, from where Palin's previously offered engineering services can resume.

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Just before the holiday break, our good friends at Priority One: a Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast, sat down with a plethora of STO guests to talk about the year in review. First, they sat down with Content Designer John Hegner and Lead Producer Jarrod Fisher. Then, they were joined by Executive Producer Andre Emerson and Community Manager Mike Fatum. If you'd like to hear our thoughts on the past year, plus some hints at what's to come, this is the place to do it. Here's how Priority One described the episode: This week on Priority One --- things are already beginning to shake up with Star Trek Picard; Tarantino starts to put some distance between himself and Star Trek; and Paramount places bets on VR. In Gaming News, the mobile game Fleet Command is getting a huge update; then, we wrap our year with TWO interviews with Cryptic Studios to discuss 2019 milestones and take a glimpse into 2020….

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Good news, Captains! We're extending the R&D Promotion for one extra day - until November 1st at 10am PT. You still have a final chance to purchase and open R&D Packs for the chance at any of our Infinity R&D Ships, including the Discovery Constitution and D7, the original T6 Consitution, and the brand new U.S.S. Franklin! But that's not all - during these last 24 hours, we're putting R&D packs on sale for 30% off! It's the best possible time to take command of the ship of your dreams. .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: opacity .3s; } .share-footer .TI { background-position: 0 20%; } .share-footer .YT {

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Since everyone is now an expert on space patches I thought it might be fun to share a thread of the prop ones made for Wing Commander! This first one is used on all of the uniforms in Wing Commander III:

It’s called the ‘combined forces’ emblem because it was worn during the war by all branches of the Confederation military: marines, army, space navy and, yes, space force. It also had a blink-and-you-miss it cameo in the Wing Commander movie!

Wing Commander IV updates this to the post-war ‘Unified Space Command’ patch. They also designed new patches for the Union of Border Worlds and the Black Lance which appear as loyalties shift!

Wing Comnander Prophecy continues to use the USC patch and adds these unit emblems for the Midway’s fighter wings. These only appear on the leather bomber jackets that are occasionally worn between missions.

Three unit patches (Tiger Claw, Concordia and Pegasus) and a general

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's another glorious pair of scans that LOAF just made. It's the advertising slick from Japan. This sell sheet would have been circulated to stores and other outlets in mid 1996 to promote the Japanese language conversion of the game for Playstation. It was apparently scheduled for a September 13 release (compared with March 27 for the English version). There's some absolutely gorgeous Excalibur art here along with plenty of text highlights. This would have certainly hyped me up for the game!

The live image Google Translator on this is pretty wild:

A huge story that takes place in space. A dogfight fighter that flies in galaxies. Bring your life to life with SFX Creatures that show strange movements... If only I was able to participate...

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Fleet Admiral Lucas Vincent, one of the Federal Navy chiefs of staff, has been arrested on charges related to the destruction of Starship One.
The trial of Chief Technician Rory Webster was halted by a plea bargain to reveal who ordered him to sabotage Starship One's hyperdrive in 3301.
An update on proceedings was delivered by Milandu Okoro of the Federal Attorney's Office:
"Mr Webster provided evidence that Fleet Admiral Vincent directly commanded him to arrange for Starship One to suffer the same fate as the Highliner Antares. The orders were allegedly provided on a private channel, accompanied by threats discouraging Mr Webster's refusal."
"The trial concluded with the judge summarily convicting the defendant of aiding and abetting mass murder. Chief Technician Webster received a lenient sentence of 20 years in prison, in acknowledgement that he performed criminal acts under duress."
"The

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Stinger has provided a hypothetical roadmap for the future of wcdx. The program is a massive compatibility patch for Wing Commander Kilrathi Saga, but it doesn't just make the game playable on modern iterations of Windows. The patch fixes a variety of bugs and goes back and adds in features that were present in the original DOS version but broken in Windows 95. While GOG and DOSBox emulation have allowed a new generation of fans easy access to the classic WC games, wcdx is gradually shaping Kilrathi Saga into a definitive way to play. Fans of the program have asked what's next, and Stinger's response is below. Note that he's only one man, so some of the ideas below have a very long time horizon. If something on the list sounds like something you might be able to help with, let him know that you can lend a hand! You can grab the current version 2.2 here. It was recently updated to help improve

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Mac from Mac's Lore has created a new YouTube channel dedicated to explaining the deep backstory behind less famous sci-fi franchises. This style of exposition has gotten popular for series like Star Wars, Halo, Destiny and other AAA titles, so it's great to see it trickle down a little bit further to our neck of the woods lately. Mac's prior videos have been about the Starsiege universe, but he's kicked off the first in a lineup of videos about Wing Commander. Part 1 is all about the False Armistice as presented in Fleet Action. He's done a good job digging up an appropriate collage of images to fit the narrative as he retells the story, which makes it a fun watch as well as a good listen. We're looking forward to part 2!

The events of The False Armistice are a key point in the Terran-Kilrathi War depicted in the Wing Commander series. Humanity is lulled into a false sense of security by an

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

AD happened to run across a pair of new (to us) interviews with composer Mark Knight. Mr. Knight has had a long and extensive career in game audio, but the Amiga port of Wing Commander was basically his first entry. The unique Amiga tracks have a popular following among Wingnuts, so it's an interesting story to hear about how he got started in the industry. From Talkin' Games:

Talkin' Games: Let’s move back deeper into history again. 1992 was an important milestone for you as a musician. You were hired by a big and successful studio that developed games across many platforms. You are also known to arrange music for the Amiga port of Wing Commander, which had an excellent original soundtrack that I can easily backtrack in my memories. Perhaps even because of the fact I gave the game another complete playthrough not long ago. Was this the very first game you worked on?

Mark Knight: It was the first