Happy Halloween, WingNuts! Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Happy Halloween from the Wing Commander Combat Information Center team! Can you identify all the spooky ships in this festive seasonal collage?

... and of course, if you have kiddos out trick-or-treating tonight you should make sure to check their candy. Some sicko might put a Razor in it:

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Nightlife Highlights on Crius Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Things you find in the Privateer 2 surgery fetish bar that *just make sense*:
The Crian demimonde is notorious for its obsession with cosmetic surgery, and this bar is the favoured watering hole of the surgery fetishists. Attracting a hard-core crowd of wilfully mutilated patrons, this is not a suitable venue for the faint hearted, as it really can get rather gruesome of an evening.
Cobalt Blue drinks served in Erlenmeyer flasks with dry ice: The mouth bar complete with uvula: Dancers with exposed circulatory systems: Jurgen Prochnow: The owner, Stumpy (in the red jacket): Teenage girls with tremendous goggles: Nurses and people wearing colorful radar dishes betting on a slowly rotating glowing blue torso:
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Just Between You, Me and the Border Worlds Outpost Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

This Border Worlds outpost is present in Wing Commander IV's files and complete with damage states... but it doesn't appear in the game and it's not clear what it might've been intended for!

Wing Commander IV features a lot of bases -- in fact, it has more space stations than the original game had fighters. What it doesn't have is a Border Worlds base... even when you're ordered to rescue the biochemist from the Border Worlds, you do it by landing marines on a Confederation space lab. It looks like they had originally planned to rectify that, though -- with the Union of Border Worlds Outpost.
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Luxuriate in the WC1 Box for a Few Minutes Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Boxography has posted a fun video where they go through and unbox the contents of the original Wing Commander. We've seen a few of these pop up in recent years, and this one is great because the narrator lovingly examines each piece with such care. He mentions that he's actually a relatively new fan of the series, but the whole clip just highlights what a timeless classic the game is. Check it out below!
Ship specs, blueprints, an in-universe military magazine, some lore sidebars, and more. Origin went all-out on the contents in this box.
You can also follow Boxography on Instagram.

New Confederation Fan Mod Features and WC1 Slowdown Patch in the Works Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

AllTinker was recently asked how the Confederation project to modify and enhance the original Wing Commander was coming along. As we know, he has a lot of irons in the fire and is working on incredible WC series reverse engineering and exploration on many fronts. Despite these competing demands, he's very close to an updated release for WC1. Here's some more tantalizing information:
I've been working away on a bunch of cool stuff - I'm close to being finished with my first pass at the 3D cockpits, and some further experimentation with 3D ships (from a voxel workflow, but trying to produce non-blocky models). I'm hoping my next update will show some or all of that in actual gameplay, with the first release not far behind.

I've been working on some non-Confederation (and non-Originator) stuff too... Which brings me to: So for years before Confederation, and in the meantime since, I've made numerous attempts at patching the original DOS Wing Commander - first and foremost to fix the speed limiting. Well, recently I made a huge breakthrough as my understanding of the EXE hit a critical mass. So hopefully within the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be releasing a pretty huge fan patch which fixes the lack of speed limiting - and a bunch of other things besides. :)

It's been a distraction from Confederation, but it hasn't made me any less excited to continue it - there's obviously only so much that can be done with the DOS version (or Kilrathi Saga for that matter), but I'm looking forward to finally having a fix out there that I've wanted for 30-something years. :D

Pardon My French Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

The much, much cooler French poster (featuring a Rapier and a menacing phantom Kilrathi) was designed by Digital Anvil and rejected by FOX (presumably for its lack of Freddie Prinze Jr. face).
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That’s Why They Call It a Pelican and Not a Pelican't Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Wing Commander Prophecy’s C-9 Pelican transport, from proposal to sketch up to cinematic model to game mesh! Too bad we didn’t get the TRANS CO sign on the tower in the final version! The cine version has some nice detailed cargo pods, too.

The Pelican has a cameo in Wing Commander Arena, too! The Boneyard map has a derelict Pelican (with Centurions spilling out of it!).
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Busted Ships Provide a Tantalizing Glimpse Into the 28th Century Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

While taking apart Wing Commander Arena I discovered that there are four different wrecked fighter models in the Boneyard map!

Charon System — The Boneyard

Welcome to hell! The Boneyard is the largest debris field in the sector. It began in 2655 when the Tiger’s Claw squadron fought a hard retreat through the area, riddling the asteroid belt with military debris. Since that time, it has come to encompass thousands of derelict ships and millions of asteroids. The Boneyard is for expert pilots only: success here requires that a pilot navigate between rocks and through the channels and tunnels that riddle larger planetoids. It’s also an excellent chance to turn a profit as the field is littered with useful salvage and even the rocks themselves are overflowing with priceless Gotherian crystals.

Analysis: In an example of galactic irony the home of the hellish boneyard is also the location of the largest Kilrathi pleasure world ever established. The notorious warpalaces on Charon III have been quenching warriors’ thirsts for generations. Humans are advised to visit with caution, as Kilrathi customs are often distinctly different than their own. Still, the chance to experience a live k’g’harg ceremony is worth the price of admission.

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Shack Up with These Vintage Catalog Ads Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Awesome resource via Dennie Edwards! I found Wing Commander III in the 1996 catalog. And Strike Commander in 1993, which was the result of a boots-on-the-ground sales campaign from Origin that got massive preorder numbers for Strike (on the back of WC1's smash hit status) from Radio Shack and Walmart.
RadioShackCatalogs is an excellent resource for nostalgia-craving tech fans! The site offers high quality scans of 66 years worth of Radio Shack catalog. We've done the hard work for you, though, and have located the one listing for a Wing Commander game: Wing Commander III in the 1996 catalog! Chris Roberts' Strike Commander appears in the 1993 catalog, which was at the time an especially important new distribution deal for Origin.
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