Temple of the Lost Addons (May 21, 2025)

Bandit LOAF

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
We received an e-mail with a question we thought was worth investigating: "I've been reading about Ultima VII: The Lost Vale and it got me thinking: were there any Wing Commander expansion disks in the works that didn't make it out? The short answer is yes, two Wing Commander addons were solicited in some capacity by Origin but very little is known beyond that. They've both been long the subject of rumor and speculation and so we thought we'd check the archives and at least prove they were technically announced!

Wing Commander II: Special Operations 3

In late 1991, Origin held a conference on CompuServe with Ellen Guon and Siobhan Beeman talking about the imminent release of Wing Commander II. One of the surprising things mentioned was that there would be THREE Special Operations disks. "Special Operations 3" was never listed for preorder and we have found very little mention of the concept over the years. Unfortunately, the original conference transcript seems to be lost to time so it has been difficult to establish the exact details (we'd appreciate it if any digital packrats would check their old files, the file name would likely be wing2.con). Luckily, we've finally discovered an echo that confirms our memories: a 1991 page from the "GIF News," a tech news outlet intended to be posted to BBSes at the time.

If you've finished Wing Commander II, do not delete the game just yet from your hard drive. Special Operations Disk #1, 2, & 3 will be released. The first one will introduce 2 new Confederation ships and 1 Kilrathi. You will be able to fly the "Crossbow" which is like a Broadsword but much more maneuverable. The storyline revolves around a mutinous group of Confederation pilots that you must fight. Future operations disks will involve "Space Pirates" as well as more Kilrathi political intrigue.
Click to expand...

This is clearly news being reported from the CompuServe chat. Beyond this proof that Special Ops 3 was discussed there's almost no information available. Given the descriptions above it seems possible that the cut story could've been about "space pirates"... or it could be a case that Special Operations 3 (wherever it was to appear in the sequence) was compressed into one of the released expansions. After all, Special Operations 1 is essentially two separate stories!





Privateer Special Operation 2

Another long-rumored cancelled expansion is a second Privateer mission disk. Many simply assumed there would be a second expansion based on the cadence of the previous games but some actually remembered it being announced. And those that remember it are correct! Origin solicited a second Privateer expansion under the dummy title "Privateer Special Op 2" and it was listed in retailer computers (and sometimes included in magazine listings like the one below from an early 1994 issue of PC Zone). By the time Righteous Fire shipped, the CD-ROM version of Privateer was already scheduled for release so it's unlikely Special Operation 2 was still being considered at that point. Nothing else is known about what the intended content might have been.




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Original update published on May 21, 2025
 
Do you have any evidence of a potential second expansion set for Strike Commander? The file naming for Tactical Operations is "TO1," which makes me wonder if they ever planned a "TO2."
 
They solicited a second addon for Strike Commander but I think it was dead before Tactical Operation (1) was even finished (might even be the case that what we got is a mix of the plan for two stories... would explain the shift in plot midway through!). If you run through the Tactical Operations installer you'll see it's still called "Tactical Operations #1" in the header!
 
No, Wing Commander I was developed with only the first Secret Missions in mind. They decided to do a second one after launch because it was so popular! (That's why it has a separate executable.)
 
I thought SM2 being separate was more of a programming issue: I recall you mentioning that most of the SM1 resources were cut from WC, whereas resources for SM2 had to be designed from scratch, including Jazz and Doomsday ("Heeeey guyyyys")
 
The original idea was that The Secret Missions would be a direct sale bonus; if you skipped the middle man and ordered Wing Commander direct from Origin you would get a 'special edition' that included the extra missions (and a ball cap!). Because they decided this during Wing Commander I's development it was all scheduled (and intended to ship) together. That's why if you have just the original game installed it has a Secret Missions button that tells you to call Origin to order a copy. (Surprise, surprise, Secret Missions ran over--so if you ordered from Origin they came three months later in an envelope!) They ended up getting so many phone calls asking to buy Secret Missions that they decided to make it a boxed title available to retailers... and to make another one!

But because they hadn't planned for a second one, they had to do extra work to get it to run alongside Wing Commander I. They updated the original code and created a new executable for the second campaign. Secret Missions 2 is essentially a totally separate game that runs on its own... but it needs the common resource files from the original one in order to play. In terms of assets, they are both intended to reuse as much existing work as possible. For the first one that was a lot more of a kludge, filling it with leftover ship sprites that were cut late from WC1 and ready to go. But there was original work there too, especially the cutscenes. SM2 had a bunch of bespoke work (the new pilots, cutscenes, Dralthi cockpit, Hhriss) but still tried to reuse what it could... so, for instance, the Snakeir is actually the cut Spikeri corvette from the original! The success of Secret Missions led to half a dozen addons for Origin games until the idea stopped being profitable and they were all built on that same 'use as much of the bison as possible' philosophy.

The other aspect of SM2 that's a little confusing is that it was started after WC2 even though it came out first, so it's an intentional prequel. And a lot of the new stuff was done by the WC2 team knowing it was relevant to both projects; so you had an artist who came up with Jazz and Doomsday for WC2... which started off with head on faces instead of the three quarter views... and the Hhriss was to train the in house aritists how to do 3D!
 
Almost! The plan was that the Hhriss would appear in both SM2 and WC2 the same way the Rapier did, so it would be brand new in SM2 and then just a regular ship in WC2. But they ended up dropping it from WC2 pretty soon after.
 
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