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Brewer Corporation's much-anticipated system colonisation module and claim management process is now available.
While colonisation technology has existed for over a millennium, a formal claim and colony establishment process for individuals, communities and minor factions has not previously been available. Analysts consider this a moment of historical significance, as viable colony targets will not be dictated by large corporations or superpower governments.
CEO Madelyn Teague shared her enthusiasm at a gala event in Minerva, covered by Vox Galactica:
"The sheer potential of this process is staggering. I'm delighted that the move towards widespread, community-led expansion was so eagerly endorsed by all three superpowers. System colonisation contacts will be available on starports to facilitate the initial work on a claimed system."
"This is an exciting time, and I can't wait to see how the

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Early in Secret Missions 2, Shotglass informs Blair that he has seen a suspicious story about the Kilrathi withdrawing from the Deneb Sector on "Jerry Rivers on the Galaxy Network News". Who, exactly, is Jerry Rivers?

From Blair's reaction ("that show will rot your brain") and the name alone, players at the time would infer that Jerry Rivers is Wing Commander's pastiche of a '90s tabloid television presenter inspired by Jerry Springer and Geraldo Rivera.

But there's more to the story! Like many elements of Secret Missions 2, the mention of Jerry Rivers is intended to preface an appearance in Wing Commander II. Jerry Rivers was ultimately cut from the game but his intended story was pretty interesting! The idea was that Jerry Rivers would replace the 'Meanwhile…' clips from Wing Commander I which informed the player what was going on in the war beyond the Tiger's Claw. In Wing Commander II, players would

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This month's analysis of the influence held by key figures in the core systems has arrived, courtesy of Conrad Sterling of Vox Galactica.
His latest survey of system populations suggests the following five powers enjoy the largest sphere of influence:
Rank 1: Edmund Mahon – 1,431 systems
Rank 2: Aisling Duval – 1,410 systems
Rank 3: Arissa Lavigny-Duval – 1,328 systems
Rank 4: Yuri Grom – 1,020 systems
Rank 5: Li Yong-Rui – 801 systems
The largest increase in system influence belonged to Li Yong-Rui, who can claim an additional 77 systems as supporters.
Vox Galactica will provide another update on the state of the powers next month.

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The Wing Commander movie club has sailed the Atlantic with the Titanic and now it's time to get back home… to space! This week's movie is a true classic with some deep ties to Wing Commander: Alien. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Alien needs no introduction, but just in case: Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi/horror film is about a group of interstellar truckers who must battle a relentless monster in close quarters aboard their starship. From the gritty, realistic environs of the Nostromo to the biomechanical alien itself, the spectacular film earned a level of respect that far outstripped the standards of its genres. Countless aspects of Alien are deeply rooted in most any science fiction film made since.

Wing Commander is, of course, no exception. From the chairs in the spacecraft in the original games through to the characters of the movie itself (with a little creative crossover

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This is a reminder that there's still a little time left to get your vote in for the annual Fan Project of the Year tally as well as our new poll that asks about the best undertakings of all time. The nominees and voting buttons are below!

• Fan Project of the Year 2024
• Confederation - This past year brought numerous widescreen art updates for this enhancement mod to WC1 by AllTinker. We also got previews of new features, including some highly anticipated slowdown improvements.
• Mac's Lore/Art - Mac delivered both a treasure of slick wallpapers and multiple lore videos jam packed with Wing Commander knowledge in 2024.
• Originator - Originator is a phenomenal hacking and extraction tool that significantly streamlines the process of analyzing Wing Commander assets. AllTinker released more than half of a dozen updates to the program this past year that added support/features for everything from the mainline

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Here's December 1991 issue of Computer Games Strategy Plus's review of Wing Commander II (plus Speech Accessory Pack.) At first glance, this is a usual contemporary review of the game... but there's a twist: the screenshot of Prince Thrakhath. Does anything seem unusual about it?

First of all, the screenshot is using the earlier painted background seen in the CES demo. Here's how the two compare:

But what's particularly odd is the line: "My ships have destroyed the Tiger's Claw, Emperor." That doesn't match the demo ("The pride of the Terran Navy, the Tiger's Claw, has been destroyed and soon my stealth fighters will demolish the rest of the human fleet.") or the final version of the scene ("The Terran carrier, Tiger's Claw, tried to attack us here at K'Tithrak Mang. But my stealth fighters destroyed it!"). This is either a bullshot or a build of the game that existed somewhere between the initial set

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There's sad news today: the Wing Commander universe has lost another commander. We've learned that prolific character actor Peter Jason has passed away. Wing Commander fans best know him as Daniel (Eugene) Wilford, a Terran Confederation Captain and a Border Worlds Vice Admiral. Jason's Wilford first appeared in Wing Commander IV where he played the Border Worlds admiral giving orders to Colonel Blair and the Intrepid. Much like Ricardo Montalbán in Star Trek II, Jason never actually shared a set with the rest of the cast: his orders arrived via viewscreen. In Wing Commander Prophecy, Jason stepped in following Jason Bernard's untimely passing and played the Wilford character as the captain of the Confederation's new Midway megacarrier. There he worked more directly with the cast, giving briefings and either praising or chewing out the player based on their gameplay.

To call Mr. Jason in-demand would

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Greetings WingNuts,

I'm sad to report that we didn't think much of Judge Dredd! It's such a weird mess of a movie... the cool British sci-fi world and the world class SFX just weren't enough to balance out a confusing, disengaged plot and some actors... chief among them the bizarre choice of Sylvester Stallone and Rob Schneider as the leads. The setup is too offputting and doesn't spend enough time engaging you... you just don't ever feel like rooting for anyone. Incredible props, visual effects and sets, though! The happiest surprise of the night was the discovery of the after credits song, the bespoke "Dredd Song" provided by... The Cure?! What was going on with this movie?

... but we DID find our Wing Commander tank pretty readily! The police vehicles show up throughout the film but are especially visible during the opening riot scene and then at the very end of the film when everything has been

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This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Titanic (1997) which provided Wing Commander's incredible production designer, Peter Lamont! You can find details on that as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 6 PM PST/9 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

PLEASE NOTE that the movie will start an hour earlier than previous weeks. This is temporary to account for Titanic's longer run time.

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Here's a great listen: the The Retro Hour podcast has posted an in-depth interview with game development legend Harvey Smith. He's best known as the lead designed for the Deus Ex series and more recent titles from Arkane... but like many in the industry, he got his start at Origin Systems! He tells great stories about his time in the military in the early 1990s and then how he joined Origin (first as a member of the softball team before actually being hired!). And there's one fantastic story about QA'ing Super Wing Commander and running into stealth fighters!

I'll tell you a 3DO story though that you might like. You know one of the games in [Super Wing Commander] and that it was all the... it was the Secret Missions packaged with Wing I and II I think, and it was like a good bundle if you were a Wing Commander fan, right. And this was like while Chris Roberts and his team were working on Wing III, so

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Brewer Corporation has issued a request for deliveries to Starlace Station in the Minerva system.
Brewer COO Mark Rennik is overseeing the second open request by the corporation in a month, following calls for system survey data earlier this month. Rennik's press release, published through most major news feeds, offered an update on Brewer's broader colonisation plans.
An excerpt highlighted by Vox Galactica:
"A key feature of independent colonisation plans is the beacon and suite module used to establish a successful claim. Our secure manufacturing facilities across several systems have been producing considerable stocks of these devices ready to supply outfitters."
"This morning, we held talks with representatives of minor factions on the fringes of populated space. It was suggested – and we agreed - that the initial colonisation efforts carried out with Brewer

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

A recent survey initiative organised by Brewer Corporation has been hailed as a success by CEO Madelyn Teague.
High quantities of exploration data were handed in at the Trailblazer Echo megaship in the HIP 90578 system. The data will now be analysed by Universal Cartographics to assess the prime locations in each system for permanent human structures.
Teague made the following announcement:
"We are pleased that so many explorers have contributed to this initiative. The latest wave of survey data will be processed through a recently updated software algorithm for the next phase of preparation, in pursuit of a widespread expansion campaign. That campaign will be led by factions and communities across the core systems."
Interest in the survey campaign has been met with enthusiasm by many displaced communities resulting by the Thargoid War, who see talk of a 'new frontier' as a chance at a fresh

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GOG has another new sale going this week in honor of Valentine's Day. Their Love at First Pixel deal marks the Wing Commander series down by 60%, which is actually 1% more than the recent Lunar New Year discount. Each package is $2.39 rather than $2.45. And there's one outlier: Privateer 2 is a whole 75% off. That's just $1.49!

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The Wing Commander movie club has met the law and... the law won. Judge Dredd wasn't as fun as we'd hoped so we're turning to a certified classic with an interesting Wing Commander connection: Titanic! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along. PLEASE NOTE that because Titanic is a long movie we will be starting one hour early at 9 PM EST (6 PM PST.)

Titanic is James Cameron's famous love story set against an ultra-detailed telling of the final hours of the doomed Titanic passenger liner. Initially derided for its enormous budged, Titanic proved naysers wrong when it shattered box office records on release in December 1997. If you're of the same vintage as Wing Commander, it's a sure bet you remember Titanic!

Titanic's big connection to Wing Commander is a pretty famous one: Titanic's famed production designer Peter Lamont followed that film by taking the same role on Wing Commander...

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We're running a bit later than usual, but we're finally kicking off our annual vote to determine Fan Project of the Year! We have a strong list of contenders this year, and there were even more that were on the cusp but excluded to keep the list tight and manageable. Additionally, we've conducting a special Hall of Fame vote where you'll be able to cast a vote for your favorite from the last ~30 years. Without further delay, here's the nominees!

• Confederation - This past year brought numerous widescreen art updates for this enhancement mod to WC1 by AllTinker. We also got previews of new features, including some highly anticipated slowdown improvements.
• Mac's Lore/Art - Mac delivered both a treasure of slick wallpapers and multiple lore videos jam packed with Wing Commander knowledge in 2024.
• Originator - Originator is a phenomenal hacking and extraction tool that significantly streamlines the

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Here's a wonderful 3D rendered Hornet by Algi, based on the original blueprints included with Wing Commander I. It's a good bet the original mesh used to render the Hornet bitmaps looked something like this! Here's the original link on Tumblr. Crazy how close it looks to the rarely seen Kilrathi Saga intro version, too! On BlueSky the artist mentioned that they're just getting started with 3D art... but we'd say they're well on their way!

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Greetings WingNuts,

Let it be said of Battle of Britain (1969) that it ws no An American Werewolf in Paris. We joke a lot in this series about boring war movies and... boy was that a boring war movie. The thrilling air battles that enchanted us as children aren't quite as spectacular today and Battle of Britain's 'character adjacent' war story seems pretty plodding. But you can see the bones of why it enchanted so many once upon a time: the air battles, a mix of real vintage aircraft and exceptional model work, are impressive and the entirety of the very long production is full of impressive quality sets and costumes. It's a great culmination of the kind of movie The Dam Busters kicked off fifteen years earlier... but it sure seemed slow as we got through the second hour!The obvious connections to Wing Commander were also a little tough to pick out. The biggest influence on the movie must have been the

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Judge Dredd (1995) which provided two ex-military vehicles to the 1999 Wing Commander moie! You can find details on that as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

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It's a long standing claim that Chris Roberts' Strike Commander was originally intended to have quite a few more playable aircraft. In the end, the game focuses heavily on simulating the flight model of an F-16 Falcon and only allows the player a second aircraft, the prototype F-22 Raptor, very briefly at the end of the game. But early descriptions of the game mention everything from World War I biplanes to Harrier jump jets. What can we find out?

The earliest surviving marketing material for Strike Commander is this press release announcing the game and providing details on the plans and the extremely qualified development team. It was published in May 1991 alongside a sales sheet with additional details. The sales sheet tells us that the game will allow you to "pilot six different aircraft" and it specifically mentions that there will be NPC's flying World War I biplanes. This is the only mention of

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Last year, we reported on some wonderful 3D renderings of the TCS Victory created by AEdwardBaker. Today we're following up and sharing a number of other Wing Commander pieces he's created! These three pieces are, respectively, Angry Hornets, Homecoming and Sisters. Very cool to see the Victory and the Tiger's Claw together!

They also have two new renders of the Victory, seen both fore and aft.

... and those renders are actually from a pretty cool fan film that they've created featuring the Victory!

Lastly, there's even a phone wallpaper!

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