Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Independent observers have reported unusual activity in systems surrounding HIP 87621, intensifying rumours of covert operations in the region.
Multiple reports indicate that megaships have been spotted operating near the permit-locked system over the past week. Though no Power has formally acknowledged involvement, analysts believe this early mobilisation suggests a push for influence around HIP 87621.
Access to the system itself remains under permit lock. All independent colonisation requests for the surrounding area continue to be denied with no reasons cited. Conrad Sterling, a political correspondent for Vox Galactica, noted:
"Typically, when you see megaships mobilising on this scale it usually precedes territorial stakes being claimed. None of the Powers have formally announced such plans but pilots continue to report receiving private messages from their pledged Power representatives

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

There's great news for fans of the Wing Commander III and IV enhancement patches: creator Mash has updated both of them! This version overhauls ship rotation and adds higher precision movement, which fixes some existing bugs. The default frame rate is now 60 fps and LODs are now locked to the highest level of detail. In our testing, it's the smoothest Wing Commander III and IV experience yet! You can download updated versions at the patches' respective Githubs:

• Wing Commander III Enhancement Patch
• Wing Commander IV Enhancement Patch

Wing Commander III:

Ship rotations upgrades:

• higher precision rotation.
• updated the precision of axis movement for joysticks from the original range of (-16 to 16) to (-256 to 256).
• enhanced rotation matrix calculations for all ships, player and non-player.
• added a separate matrix for the player for even greater precision. Enabled by default, this can be disabled in

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Back in 2023, we reported on a very cool 3D printed Tarsus made by Cpt. Streets. At the time he promised that a Hornet was up next... and here it is! This is truly spectacular work, complete with a cool base with a printed deck crew. This is one of the coolest printed Wing Commander ships I've seen so far!

It´s a 3D Print an about 9cm (3,5") long...Scale is 1:160 or "Spur N" (for miniature train builders)And it is resin. The file is a mash-up from several (I think 2) Hornets found somewhere in the web.Some parts are modified and other parts are added after print from several vintage spare plastic model kits (most of the details)I add the plastic parts und painted it. But I did not make or print the 3D resin model. This was done by a friend.

And here are some shots of it under construction, including what it looked like before painting and further customization. Actually, the transparent red is pretty

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We aren't going to sugarcoat it for you: it turns out that Ishtar was not a good movie. Nevertheless, the Wing Commander movie club marches on! We decided to vote for a science fiction film specifically and after a big tie and a second round our choice for next week was Sphere (1998), one of the newest movies in the pool. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Sphere is the second of three movies we will be looking at that was explicitly referenced in the Wing Commander movie's famous introduction sequence. The first was 1492: Conquest of Paradise, which we watched earlier this month. The after action report contains a thorough look at the paintings used to create the introduction. Sphere had its own clear impact on the style of the intro and especially the flashes of Kilrathi art; we'll take a closer look on Friday!

Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?

Sphere is

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

AD has come upon a pretty fascinating vintage article that had not been in our community consciousness. It's a preview of Origin's product lineup from the April 1991 issue of The One, an Amiga-focused computer outlet. It includes a very early description of Wing Commander II and some rendered images of ships in progress… including one we've never seen before!

We asked Wing Commander II director Siobhan Beeman about the unknown ship and she was kind enough to think back so far to figure it out:

Vaguely. Early drafts of the story had more capital ship engagements, which is why torpedoes were introduced and why the Concordia is a strike carrier with a spinal-mount weapon. I believe this art is for a frigate or destroyer class that would have shown up with multiple names.

Awesome! You can certainly see how a frigate with this design would fit right alongside the Gilgamesh destroyer and Waterloo cruiser in

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut event happening on Discord this morning! Join us at noon EST/9 AM PST for a fun filled morning of television... that all connect to Wing Commander somehow! We'll enjoy two episodes of MST3k that have deep connections to Wing Commander III, specifically. You can find details on the shows included as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. Be sure to download the episodes so they're ready to play with the group!