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Well folks, it looks like like 100% of people are eager for some tractor content... which I assume is representative of all 200 million Twitter users! Let's talk Wing Commander's tractors... and other deck vehicles!

First of all: what's a tractor? We aren't talking about farming here but instead the specialized vehicles carried aboard aircraft carriers that help with deck operations: towing aircraft and munitions, fighting fires, clearing wreckage, etc. Here are some real ones:

Our very first utility tractor is seen driving around in the original Wing Commander pulling a cart of missiles. It shows up during takeoff and landing:

The game stores this little guy as two separate sprites which allows it to be 'driven' heading either left or right!

Wing Commander II has a 3D rendered yellow trailer which appears in the Concordia Flight Deck and Repair Deck establishing shots. Multiple tractors really gives you

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Since social media these days is mostly just people identifying different kinds of tanks I got to thinking... I can do that, too! Here's a thread of tanks and other military ground vehicles from the Wing Commander universe.

The first tank we actually fight shows up in the ground missions in Wing Commander III. You're called to pick off these angular, quadruple-treaded Kilrathi tanks which have a dual mount laser turret.

The games' files also include a version which carries a missile launcher instead of a turret... unfortunately, NPC missile launchers were bugged and not fixed in time for the game to ship (this also killed a Confederation frigate).

The novel End Run describes an amphibious assault against the Kilrathi and mentions three fighting vehicles: the Confederation “M-77 light ground assault vehicle” (carried two to a landing craft), the Kilrathi “medium assault tank” and Confederation

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Alliance, Empire and Federation, have agreed to close down the Affiliated Counter-Terrorism unit.
A joint statement from all three superpowers stated: "ACT's primary mission to locate and destroy the Neo-Marlinist Liberation Army has been successfully accomplished."
ACT was formed in March 3307 following the Nine Martyrs attacks, when the NMLA simultaneously bombed multiple starports. The independent taskforce rapidly took the lead in investigating the terrorists, calling upon the resources of many agencies, specialists and freelance pilots.
The co-leaders of ACT have now returned to their respective security services. Captain Saskia Landau was personally awarded the Achenar Service Cross by Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval, in recognition of her key role in identifying the Lords of Restoration. Landau has now accepted overall command of Imperial Intelligence, reporting directly to the

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Klavs has put together a beautiful new wallpaper of his Rapier cruising through the sky. I really like how rich the color here is with red warning tape, colorful insignia and even orange wing patchwork just like we see on the Bearcat. Everyone is welcome to enjoy the gorgeous imagery, but modders and modelers can also buy the design at Sketchfab. As we've previously mentioned, the proceeds go to help Klavs' family with ongoing medical bills. His Dralthi and Hornet are also available!

Hi everybody, work is continuing slowly on the Rapiers!

I've made the YF-44 available on Sketchfab for a super modest fee. As always, profits will go towards our daughter's continuing medical care. As I release the other variants I'll be continuously updating the other models, so you'll always be able to go back and re-download the version you've purchased once landing gear, weapons, missiles, and cockpit become

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Electronic Arts has announced that they have stopped sales to Russia and Belarus as a result of the ongoing war in Ukraine. This is on top of their plans to cut Russian and Belarusian teams from upcoming FIFA and NHL games. As a result, this effectively means that digital Wing Commander sales (via the Origin store) are being used as wartimesanctions. It is of course not lost on us that withholding Wing Commander will not stop the tanks on the ground, but it's one small part of the larger effort to step up pressure on the Putin regime. You can find a list of ways to more directly support relief efforts in the region here.

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The WC4 Fan Remake team has been outwardly quiet these last couple months, but they've been very busy! This was revealed today in one of their biggest updates yet. The TCS Lexington has been massively overhauled with incredible new geometry, textures, detail and especially lighting, which is a new dimension for the team to play with. Things like capship turrets are now exquisitely modeled with accurate physicality and are fully destructible. The flight deck is also starting to come to life with plenty of environmental object filler. And there's even a flythrough video! As an extra cherry on top, variants of the recently revealed frigate model have also been shown off. Check out the full update at WCRespace.com here.

People may think that the lighting doesn’t match what was in the FMV; however this isn’t quite the case. We captured a number of scenes from the Lexington hangar and what we

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

President Zachary Hudson has made a public broadcast regarding his proposal to remove the single-term limit of the Federal presidency.
Speaking from the White House on Mars, he directly addressed the anxiety that citizens have expressed about the Hudson Contravention:
"If Congress agrees to temporarily suspend the 77th amendment of the Federal Accord, it will mean that I become eligible to stand for election again in 3309. It does not guarantee that I – or any future president – can remain in office indefinitely."
"Furthermore, the Republican Party will be able to field other electoral nominees, as will the Liberal Party and any independent candidates. As always, the votes of the people will determine who forms our government."
"I strongly believe that our constitution is robust enough to accommodate changes such as this, especially during these trying times. The Federation remains a place of

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The Wing Commander Gemini Sector crew continues to keep a busy schedule! The crew has added Friday night sessions that kick off at 10 pm Eastern time. They role play through a variety of social situations that the crew of a Confed warship might actually engage in on their downtime. There's also still plenty of Wing Commander action - here's a couple of their recent mission briefings! Join the fun via their Discord server.

The crew is exiting the Nitir system. They will try to give the civilians and ISS a fighting chance to survive.

Behind veils, the Kilrathi plot on their next move, as the crew of the TCS Majestic engage a task force threatening the planet Nitir.

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I usually try to shake things up a bit more, but we've been on kind of a roll this week with unboxing videos. Dare I share a third one in a row? I will! Yesterday we saw one of the big box/film can versions of Wing Commander 3 opened up, and today we have its exotic cousin - the German big box film can WC3 special edition! You can find a photo of its contents in Dennis Mull's collection here. Or watch CometMatti open his below! It's in German, but the excitement is clear in any language!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Delivery campaigns in the Alcor and Colonia systems will complete the six starports along the Colonia Bridge.
Months of work on developing the transportation infrastructure between the core systems and the Colonia region are now coming to an end. Brewer Corporation's latest press release specified the requirements:
"For this final week, we are asking pilots to deliver auto-fabricators, micro controllers and resonating separators to Macdonald Settlement in the Alcor system and Jaques Station in the Colonia system. These will allow us to install outfitting, shipyard and tech broker services, as we bring the starports to full operational status. There is also another opportunity to install Pioneer Supplies at Promium Relay, the bridge starport nearest to Colonia."
"Brewer Corporation is grateful to independent pilots for their dedication to constructing the Colonia

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Yesterday's WC1 unboxing kind of hit the spot, so we dug a little deeper and found a similar clip for the elaborate special edition for Wing Commander 3. I also have to kind of laugh at the intro, "Greetings internet, Mickey P here. With the world plunged into darkness by the absolute f*cking bullsh*t of politics, I think it's a perfectly good time to hide in '90s DOS game nostalgia." This clip was posted in November 2016. Oh boy, Mickey, it's been a hell of a half decade, huh? Still as good a time as ever to dive into Wing Commander, though!

Darkness falls across the land, but 90s PC game nostalgia may help sooth the wounds. Check out an elaborate package for what was at the time quite an elaborate game. Oh my god this is like the second FMV game I've looked at here.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The leaders of Aegis have formally petitioned the Alliance, Empire and Federation to reform the anti-xeno organisation.
Although all three superpowers are in the process of building their own taskforces to replace Aegis, they have been unable to assist against a recent surge of Thargoid incursions.
Chief Administrator Carter Armstrong gave a statement to the press:
"Surviving members of the leadership council have submitted an appeal to reverse the decision to disband Aegis. The essence of our case is that the superpowers are currently distracted by various internal situations, but the Thargoids care nothing for our politics and must be met with a unified show of force."
"Aegis support ships have recently been repurposed by other crews in several regions, including the Dan, HIP 12314 and Nauni systems. But they could have been operated officially by our trained personnel, if only we were

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Sometimes when things get stressful, it's relaxing to kick back with an old school unboxing video. Here's one by GreekRetroMan that takes a look at the Amiga edition of Wing Commander 1. I never get tired of Claw Marks or the fighter blueprints, and it's also nice to see the Amiga version in action once in a while. Although it doesn't support as many colors as its PC counterpart, many people swear by this edition!

Quote from No Man

Hello everyone,

Thank you to everyone playing the Sentinel Update, especially those taking the time to report any issues they encounter via Zendesk or console crash reporting.

We are listening closely to your feedback, and have identified and resolved a number of issues. These fixes are included in patch 3.84, which will be live on all platforms soon.

Bug fixes

• Added an option to the Quick Menu to toggle the Minotaur AI Pilot.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the reconstructed drone to block the spawning of patrol drones.
• Fixed an issue that caused Freighter bases to be broken after being reset.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the Minotaur to become distorted when fighting biological horrors.
• Fixed an issue that could prevent Sentinels from spawning around buildings.
• Fixed an issue that caused Plasma Grenades to recharge infinitely.
• Fixed an issue that caused Exocraft weapon upgrades to decrease the fire rate of the main

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

There's a little error in the intro to Super Wing Commander. Paladin reports that his wing is "approaching Fralthi target" when what they're actually attacking what immediately turns out to be a Snakeir carrier.

You can watch the full intro here. An even dorkier continuity error is that the intro can't happen BEFORE WC1 because the Rapiers, Fralthi and Snakeir are the (only) specific ships that are introduced as being brand new during the game.

So wondering if there was a story here, I went back to access the 3D models used to render Super Wing Commander's ships. SNAKEIR.OBJ is the carrier (later reused by Armada as the Shiraak) but FRALTHI.OBJ is... this:

I forgive you if you don't know the Super Wing Commander Fralthi redesign by heart, so here it is from the manual:

Is it just a case of giving up on one concept and switching to another for the actual game? Well, I found another piece of the puzzle:

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Prolific model maker Klavs doesn't just build Wing Commander models. He's also well known for his military aviation and space creations. We're not sure if the Ghost of Kyiv is real, but the concept has gone viral this week. Their MiG-29 has become an inspiration to Ukraine's defenders. Klavs has put together this design as a tribute. He's also donating profits from his web store relief efforts in the region. Great job to everyone doing their part!

Here at Hangar B we usually try to stay away from modern political discourse and let the airplanes and historical documents speak for themselves. Recent tragic and horrific events in Ukraine, have moved us off the sidelines.

Inspired by the story of "The Ghost of Kyiv," we present this image without watermarks in the hope that it will be shared freely in order to bring some small comfort, and perhaps inspiration to the people of that embattled nation in

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Game developers are starting to step up and support the humanitarian needs emerging in Ukraine. I just learned about a very cool looking space strategy game called Slipways being developed out of Poland. Their team is currently donating 100% of profits to the Polish Red Cross, which is gearing up to support an influx of refugees. GOG.com, also based in Poland and the primary purveyor of digital Wing Commander, has already donated a quarter million dollars to local aid agencies assisting with the crisis. This is in addition to a other high profile support drives set up by 11 bit studios (This War of Mine) and Bungie. Supporting these efforts may not fully relieve the pervasive feelings of helplessness out there, but small efforts do add up!

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The news of Russian's invasion of Ukraine has been a big distraction today, so our previously scheduled Wing Commander news is momentarily on hold. We recognize how lucky we are that it's only a distraction for us and not a life-or-death struggle as it is for people on the ground on Eastern Europe. We have friends and know Wingnuts in both countries, and we hope all remain safe. If you're looking for fellow WC fans to discuss the situation with, feel free to visit the #Wingnut Discord. With that being said, consider that it may be less stressful to focus on topics other than the war!

I am at least encouraged to see that Russian citizens have already started to speak out against the violence - even at their own personal peril. The more we realize our shared interests and how much we have in common, the sooner peace and stability can be restored. As such, here's a set of Russian videos about the WC

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Alliance Assembly has delivered an official rebuke to its prime minister following the recent skirmish in the Reorte system.
There have been heated debates following the conflict between Reorte Mining Coalition and Sirius Corporation. This was triggered by the megacorp's unpopular attempt to establish a presence in the system as an anti-xeno defence partner.
Councillor Nakato Kaine led a motion to censure against Prime Minister Edmund Mahon, which successfully passed with a plurality of votes after some abstentions. The strongly-worded reprimand focused on 'disregarding the Alliance's principles by unilaterally forcing cooperation with Sirius Corporation'.
After Mahon formally accepted the reprimand, Councillor Kaine addressed the Assembly:
"This body does not have the right to govern its member systems without their consent. The strategic defence pact must become civil legislation rather

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Last month we reported on capi's slick Morningstar model made in Kerbal Space Program. He was also putting together a cute video to introduce the craft, and we're happy to share it now! It's presented in the style of a classic mission briefing starring the Kerbs. We also get to see some pretty acrobatic flying. The landing is a bit rough, but you know what they say about any landing you can walk away from!

Featuring the F-95 Morningstar, we fight like it's 1992.