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Here are this week's main stories.

Princess Aisling Duval, patron of the anti-slavery charity Unchain, has criticised activist group Autonomy for freeing thousands of slaves on Eotienses A 3. While sympathising with leader Garrett Kline's motives, Duval condemned the lack of proper care or long-term consideration for the newly emancipated individuals.

A leader of the notorious Red Family drug cartel, Jan Sandoval, has handed herself in to the Federal Intelligence Agency. Reports suggest she plans to testify against all prominent cartel members, including kingpin Oberon Church. Sandoval has been placed into protective custody, and Executive Agent Viola Trask has been assigned ownership of the case.

And those are the main stories this week.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Phil's Computer Lab is a great YouTube channel focused on reviewing older tech. A while back he made a handful of tweak guides for Wing Commanders 1-3 and Privateer. In the clips below, he's also set up a series of reference videos to demonstrate how the original Wing Commander would be expected to run on actual 386 hardware: SX25, DX25, DX33 and DX40 machines. He lays out the other major components and BIOS settings and then lets them go!

These would have been common mid to higher end systems when the game was new, so prospective players can get a sense of what the developers' intended performance levels were. Unlike most of the series, the original WC did not come with a frame rate limiter that normalized play as computers got faster. A great many slowdown utilities and emulators have been implemented since, but they don't all work perfectly. It can sometimes be tricky to calibrate the right

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We'd like to wish Wing Commander 4 actress

Elizabeth Barondes

a happy birthday! Today is her 55th. She

shares

the occasion with Elon Musk, Mel Brooks and Felicia Day. Ms Barondes played popular Border Worlds Lieutenant Colonel

Tamara Farnsworth

. After WC4 she went on to star in numerous TV movies and shows, although it appears she's mostly retired from acting today. The only credit on her resume in the past decade was a role in

Bad Ass 2: Bad Asses

in 2014. Thanks to E. Lee Zimmerman for the

tip

!

Display More

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Jan Sandoval, a known founder of the infamous Red Family drug cartel, has unexpectedly handed herself in to the Federal Intelligence Agency.

Executive Agent Viola Trask gave a summary of this development:

"It's not unheard of for criminals to present themselves at FIA headquarters in Olympus Village, but Sandoval is by far the most notorious individual to do so."

"Sandoval has stated that she is willing to testify against all prominent members of the cartel, an action that would effectively dismantle it. She has been placed in protective custody, and I will be personally handling her case."

The Red Family is a well-established syndicate that supplies illegal narcotics across multiple systems. Within its hierarchy, Sandoval is believed to be second only to kingpin Oberon Church, who is among the most wanted criminals in the Federation.

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Temporal Anomalies have opened a hole to an alternate universe, one with a fantastic sale, Captains. But this Flash Sale will only be available for a limited time – from 12pm PT today, 6/29, to 12pm PT tomorrow, 6/30. Hurry and grab yourself some items at a one of our largest discounts ever, before the portal shuts and it’s all lost. Today’s Flash Sale is: 30% off R&D Packs – which can open into the new Discovery Era Enterprise and D7! Don’t wait! The Flash Sale Anomaly can be gone before you know it! .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

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No

ALL WINGS CONSIDERED

this week due to internet difficulties, but a neat discovery this morning: a promo shot of Privateer 2's Heretic dated October 1995, over a year before the game shipped. Compare it to the box art (with invasion stripes) and the in-game model (blue and yellow)!

Bonus Heretic content: the original concept sketch, a 3.5' study model built by the development team and screenshots from an early build where it's named the Deathshead Mk. II!

ALL WINGS CONSIDERED

will be back next week!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Fantastic updates to

Howard Day

's

revamped WC engine

have been dropping at a dizzying pace. There are some impressive shield and particle effects as well as more elements from the UI now in place. Although the VDUs are still in the process of being implemented, Howard has already started to think about what they'll look like when they get cracked and destroyed. He's also clarified that he's not strictly trying to remake the original Wing Commander. Rather, this will be a flexible framework that everyone will be able to use to make their own custom campaigns. Sounds awesome! You can see the latest live demo running in a browser

here

.

Here's some late progress - better cockpit art, some better color grading on the explosions. Also showing off the Disable/ram hit from the first person. It's a bit much right now, and happens too often (feels a bit like bumpercars!) so I'll have to figure out a way

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Anti-slavery charity Unchain has criticised the radical activist group Autonomy for liberating 4,000 Imperial slaves on Eotienses A 3.

Princess Aisling Duval, the charity's patron, told the media:

"I fully appreciate Garrett Kline's desire to free slaves, which I'm sure comes from a place of genuine empathy, but I feel I must condemn his methods. Autonomy's reckless actions have left thousands stranded in Port Isabelle without employment or protection."

"Unchain has run similar operations to give illegal slaves their freedom, but licensed Imperial slaves require more care. The manumission process must be managed legally by a registered organisation, and each individual's wellbeing ensured. You cannot simply set huge numbers of people loose as if they were zoo animals being released into the wild."

"My dream is that one day the Empire will abolish the indentured servitude system, and that every

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Hailing all Captains! We are pleased to announce a sale on Lifetime Subscriptions from now June 27th at 8am PT to August 1st at 10am PT, bringing the price down by $100 to $199.99! Now is the perfect time to pick up a Lifetime Subscription to STO! Enjoy all the rewards that come with being a Lifetime Subscriber. With exclusive species unlocks like playable Talaxian Species, instant access to all Lifetime Rewards, to Priority Login, there are dozens of reasons to become a lifetime subscriber today! You will even get 500 ZEN a month to spend on all the new gear and ships that come out in Star Trek Online. For more information on all the great rewards that come with being a subscriber, check out our blog here. For information on how to claim and use your Lifetime Rewards, click here. Retail inclusion effective September 23, 2010. Lifetime subscription covers your subscription fee for as long as

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Content: Resolved a crash that could sometimes occur when attempting to use the T6 Ship Coupon. Resolved an issue that could possibly allow a player to get stuck inside of the shuttle during “Impossibility of Reason”. Updated Mission Transwarp prompts if transwarp is unavailable. If the player is on the destination map and transwarp is unavailable, the player will automatically start auto-navigating to their destination UI: The range of energy credits or GPL that can be bet at Dabo has been increased to be between 100 and 1 million Systems: Resolved an issue that prevented the Cleave ship from decloaking as it spawned in when activating the "Render Visible" universal console. Resolved an issue that caused the Rank 2 version of Bio-Molecular Shield Generator to give a lower shield resistance buff than the base version. Resolved an issue that caused Advanced Phaser Beam Arrays

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Retro Rat

has put together an awesome diorama of a classic Wing Commander scene. He's posted a

whole bunch

of really clever video game settings where he's taken cardboard, foam or other materials and created a virtual 3D effect. In this case, he's highlighted a Hornet firing its guns at a Dralthi. The cockpit VDUs and windscreen have some wonderful depth and even the laser bolts cast a shadow. It makes me want to make one! You can find more of his innovative creations on

Instagram

or

Facebook

.

Wing Commander PC version diorama. One of my favourite PC games. I remember playing till the early hours of the morning with my buddies from school. #wingcommander #dosgames #pcgaming #oldschool #retrogaming #nostalgia #pixelart #pixel #papercraft #shadowboxart #spaceflight #spaceflightsimulator #tigersclaw #kilrathi

Quote from Mass Effect News-Bot

Have you ever been deep into a campaign of D&D with your friends when you thought things could be made so much better with space? Luckily, you are not alone as a new homebrew for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition brings BioWare’s Mass Effect to the action.

“The Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game is about storytelling in worlds of swords and sorcery and Mass Effect 5e takes that storytelling to the stars,” reads the description. “Both shares elements with childhood games of make-believe. Like those games, D&D is driven by imagination. It’s about picturing the alien landscape beneath the two-sunned sky and imagining how an N7 soldier might react to the challenges that scene presents.”

Instead of a Dungeon Master running the campaign, this role will be known as the Galaxy Master in Mass Effect 5e. ” The GM creates missions for the characters, who navigate its hazards and decide which paths to explore,” reads

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DefianceIndustries

has switched over from his recent streak of big flashy stations and capships to put together something from the other end of the spectrum. This is his take on the stealth Hellcats that we see pop up in the Wing Commander 4 novel. He's managed to pull off a neat hull effect that blends the standard gray durasteel with some kind of low profile coating. The result is pretty neat and helps make the case for the Hellcat remaining in service with the Black Lance into the 2670s.

After the war, the boys over in R&D and Special Projects started slapping a cloaking device on anything with wings. They were obsessed with trying to close the gap between us and the fur balls; even after their disarmament at Torgo they still had a big lead on us in cloaking technology. So when we heard Douglas was shipping us a new model of Hellcat to test out we were a bit...skeptical is probably the best word

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Howard Day

has made incredible progress this past week on his Unity

WC Remake

project. He's implemented AI piloting and made great strides on the interaction of weapons, damage and explosions. The animations below show off the impressive progression of the engine. Definitely don't take the static thumbnail at face value - you have to see everything in motion to appreciate to appreciate it all! To that end, there's also a nifty

web demo

which is super cool as well.

I've got a WebGL build up and running that plays itself via the new AI. It's quite fun to just watch. I've implemented laser collision, damage tracking and death/respawns! Watch 'em blow up! Most of the fighting basics are in there - Now I need to add the UI - Radar, shield and fuel displays, targeting, etc. I'm pretty happy with this.

Protip: Never afterburn your already damaged Hornet light fighter into the oncoming fire of 3 Dralthis.

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

It is time again for Risa’s annual Lohlunat Festival, and with it some much needed R&R for Captains from all corners of the Milky Way. From July 2nd to August 15th, the residents of Suraya Bay and the Lobi Crystal Consortium have once again partnered to bring festival participants the highest quality wares. This year’s celebration will launch simultaneously on PC, Xbox and PS4, allowing players of Star Trek Online to get into the summertime spirit regardless of their platform of choice. This year’s celebration includes the chance to exchange Lohlunat Prize Vouchers (2019) for the updated Risian corvette [T6]! A detailed Dev Blog containing full stats and description for this speedy starship will be published separately, which will also include a brand new ship-related feature that we’re excited to reveal. Don’t blink or you might miss it! As for other Risa activities, all of your old

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As a precursor to the impending launch of

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw

, the original Rebel Galaxy is now available for

free from the Epic Games Store

. This is one we overlooked when it first came out in 2015, but there's a lot to like here. The focus is on capship combat with a good mix of Privateer-style elements throughout. One of its two main developers, Travis Baldree, has been a

longtime

Wingnut

, so there's some positive influence there that results in a very solid space sim. The upcoming

Outlaw

prequel improves on a number of aspects, including traditional action-packed 3D fighter combat, but this is a great opportunity to get a taste of what to expect! The IGN review below gives a nice recap:

Rebel Galaxy is a game of action-packed combat, exploration, discovery, trade, and “negotiation” with the outlandish denizens at the edge of the known universe.

You’ll battle pirates, explore anomalies,

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Here are this week's main stories.

The role of President of the Alliance has been abolished following a majority vote in the Alliance Assembly. Prime Minister Mahon stated that the move was intended to prevent any further abuse of power, given Gibson Kincaid's recently uncovered crimes. The same assembly session also named Admiral Tahir West as the newest member of the Council of Admirals.

4,000 former Imperial slaves have poured into Port Isabelle, the capital of Eotienses A 3, after being forcibly freed by activist group Autonomy. The emancipated individuals have made camp in a number of public buildings, begging for food and credits. There have also been reports of clashes with local residents.

In other news, an appeal for materials from Evangeline's Elite Expeditionary Force has concluded successfully. A new megaship, EFS Archangel, has finished construction and is now operational in orbit

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Howard Day

was recently showing off all the amazing new space debris, explosions, cockpit and so on in his new

WC remake project

, and he caught the attention of WC1/2 designer/director

Siobhan Beeman

. On the subject of junk in space, she had an amazing

revelation

: that the developers considered an in-universe explanation for the density of everything that we encounter! In a nutshell, the same phenomenon that leads to jump points also attracts everything else, so you'll naturally see more stuff in the strategic areas that we fight over.

Heh... there's a canon explanation for that, actually. Fights take place at and around jump points, and jump points lie at the intersections of isolines of graviton flux. Debris collects to and flows along these like plastic in the ocean.

So every battle takes place in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, essentially. It's the same reason our asteroid fields are so

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Four thousand Imperial slaves have been left stranded on Eotienses A 3 after being forcibly freed by emancipation group Autonomy.

Independent journalist Gwendolyn Nash reported for Vox Galactica:

"Since being set free outside Port Isabelle, the former slaves have been without food, shelter or income. Many complain that they cannot return home without completing their indentured servitude to pay off debts or fulfil contracts."

"In desperation, thousands of newly homeless have poured into the city. Many public buildings, such as the Imperial Museum of Culture, have been turned into makeshift camps, with large numbers also begging on the streets."

"Police and support services are struggling to cope with the unexpected influx of immigrants. Already there have been several clashes between citizens and the emancipated, and such incidents are likely to escalate until a solution is found."

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Alliance Assembly has permanently dissolved the role of President of the Alliance, following the recent revelations about Gibson Kincaid's multiple crimes.

Summarising the vote, Prime Minister Edmund Mahon said:

"Recent events have made it clear that the presidential position is open to misuse, which places the integrity of the Alliance at risk. Following a thorough debate on the matter, this Assembly has voted – by an overwhelming majority – to remove the role from our constitution."

"The defunct Office of the Alliance President will now be restructured. Many emissaries will be retained to serve as the non-political ambassadors they were intended to be. Councillor Elijah Beck has volunteered to resign in order to oversee the new department."

"We hope that this unfortunate chapter of Alliance history has now been brought to an end."

An earlier vote held during the same session has selected