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Star*Soldier Gloss: Page 1
This is the Star*Soldier gloss for the table of contents:
CONCEPT: Magazines... have... tables of contents? There's nothing much to explain here, other than that the format for the listings (formal name/short description) is modeled after Claw Marks.
I would like to take a minute here to address a design decision that I thought would lead to a lot more criticism than it did, which is the choice to go with a 'small universe' set of references. Most Wing Commander background material does exactly the opposite, creating entirely new and sometimes seemingly contradictory background material. Since the object here was to tie Arena to the earlier games, we made a conscious choice to fill it with as many references as possible... which, as you know, turned out to be a lot of references. My thought was: if this is the last part of the Wing Commander canon ever published, what do I want to include? and it grew from there. We needed excuses to explain some questions about the old games and to show the fates of some characters... and I honestly believe it goes over the top in places, even in the context of Wing Commander's "pulp realism".
So far no one else has said so, though, so maybe I shouldn't mention it! If it bugs you, I apologize. If it doesn't, don't read what I just wrote.
REFERENCES-
Letterhead Ships - the ships which appear here are the Midway-class heavy carrier (from Wing Commander Prophecy) and the Murphy-class destroyer (from Wing Commander Secret Ops.) The connection is that they famously have the same bridge design... and were both designed by former Origin artist Sean Murphy, who has always been extremely cool to the fan community! I had actually asked for just a Murphy-style bridge as the masthead, but the artist came up with this and it was too cool not to use.
"From the Publishers of Sudden Death!" - since I stole the concept from Strike Commander, it only seemed reasonable to pay tribute to that wonderful manual. Even if you aren't an 'airplane' fan, check it out. It's Wing Commander-style fiction at its finest.
"Volume XLVII" is 47, which - if my math is correct - means that the first issue of Star*Soldier would have been printed in 2654, the year the original Wing commander (and the TV show and the Secret Missions and the movie and the movie novels) take place.
"Epsilon Sector" - I didn't choose the location, it was decided by the Wing Commander Arena team. They wanted a location on the Terran-Kilrathi border that would offer both an option to expand the fiction and that would host some familiar locales. Since Epsilon is an amalgamation of locations seen in The Secret Missions, Secret Missions 2, Special Operations 1, Wing Commander 3 and Wing Commander 4, it fit the bill! Also, the fact that it was home of the Firekkans offered the possibility of adding a third 'race'.
"Antares Quadrant" - see above! The Antares Quadrant is all that remained of Secret Missions 2's Antares Sector after the Wing Commander Prophecy Universe Map got through with it. It was decided early on that Arena would take place here.
The ship in the picture is the F-44 Rapier II Cavalier. I tried to suggest at a few points in the game that the Cavalier was the Rolls Royce of border-fighting mercenary ships.
We'll touch on the various article titles on their respective pages.
"The Antares quadrant has always been hotly contested" - from a line of dialogue in Wing Commander III's Locanda series: "Locanda's always been hotly contested."
"editor@starsoldier.tnc.media" - the style of email address is patterned after the ones seen in Victory Streak (I think it was based on Barbara Miles' address, but I don't have a copy on me to check. Her little note to Blair isn't in the Kilrathi Saga version! My guess without digging into the archive is that she's bmiles@tnc.media.)
"ReadyNet" - ReadyNet was yet another name for a Confederation computer system. It appears on one of the WCIV PSX booklet covers, with an image of Blair logging in to ReadyNet. I remember being very disappointed that that was the only piece of new continuity offered by the WC4 PSX materials after the Origin website had offered such a cool letter from Captain Eisen (I bought the game years before I actually had a PlayStation).
"keyword" - remember when commercials used to include the 'AOL keyword' for finding something? "origin.ea.com or AOL keyword ORIGIN". This is a play on that.
"hard copy, e-text and Kilrathi language" - the same formats as Claw Marks was offered in, plus Kilrathi for the more enlightened 28th century.
"Terran News Channel" and "TNC" - this was 'CNN'-style news network seen in Wing Commander III. My thought here was that they represented a media conglomerate that includes space magazines and space TV channels and the like. And that conglomerate is...
"The Rondell Corporation" - Rondell was the corporation whose agricultural planet was being blockaded by the Bronte Corporation in Privateer's Lynn Murphy series. Brownhair comes in, ruins his rep by shooting down a bunch of Demons and saves the day. I can't quite say how or why they went from being a farming concern to the News Corp of the future.
Copyrights are still around in 2701? Sorry, Slashdot.
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Update published on August 13, 2008. View all news from that day.
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Official news, fan projects and topics of particular interest to Wing Commander fans.
- Some Ship Viewer Sample Shots Shown
- 2012-05-24 -- BoH_Havoc is continuing to move forward with his online ship viewer based on feedback he's received so far. Here are some new prototype images with the TCS Concordia rendered in the program. Pretty neat!
- Destroyer Destined for Guard Duty
- 2012-05-23 -- Kevin Caccamo's Ralari has taken a huge leap since the last time we saw it. The model has been plated with nice metallic textures that don't overdo the look. Running lights, windows, powered engines and intake glow all add significantly to the presentation here too.
- GOG Talks Space Sims
- 2012-05-22 -- centaurianmudpig spotted a new PlaySF interview with the folks at GOG.com. They discuss the state of the space combat genre and the possibility of releasing expansion packs for Wing Commander games.
- Enigma Mod Measures Out Confed Fleet
- 2012-05-21 -- Here's a new Confed showcase of capships for the Enigma 2666 mod. Each ship's length and scale is still subject to some potential tweaking to sync better with fighters, but the current lineup is displayed below. The TCS Concordia is very far along the design path, as is the Gilgamesh.
- "Sir, if we spot this Fralthi, should we engage?"
- 2012-05-20 -- Now we go from Fralthra to Fralthi WIP images. CMDBob's latest design is a classic Kilrathi light carrier/cruiser. His model has real clean lines and an animated WC1-style set of textures.
- Fearsome Fralthra Filling In Fast
- 2012-05-19 -- Red Baron has started to texture Cybot's Fralthra, and it's quickly turning into quite a work of art. The color scheme already does a great job of evoking Wing Commander 2. He's also scaled a Jalkehi as a point of reference and imagined what the entire fighter complement of the ship might look like.
- Wing Commander Saga Download Reminder
- 2012-05-18 -- If you haven't yet downloaded the long-awaited fan game, now is as good a time as any to get your hands on a copy! The Windows installer weighs in at a hefty 3.4 gigabytes, so we recommend some kind of download manager that can resume paused or failed transfers.
- New RPG Kicks Off
- 2012-05-17 -- The TCS Phoenix has launched and the game has begun in the Wing Commander: From the Ashes forum-based RPG. Some of the first characters have already been defined, and action in the Pentonville System is now in motion. There is also an out-of-character area where new players can ask questions and get situated before they begin role playing.
- Vega Sector Reinforcements Inbound
- 2012-05-16 -- Here's a preview of new designs that Klavs is working to bring to the Shapeways model factory. If all goes according to plan, this foursome may be available in a future bundle pack together. It's an interesting assortment of ships - Rapier, Super Wing Commander Rapier, Scimitar and Dralthi - and they all look fantastic!
- Academy Just Two Weeks Away!
- 2012-05-15 -- Wingnuts now have less than 14 days to prepare for the release of Wing Commander Academy on DVD! All thirteen episodes of the television series will be available in this set starting on May 29, 2012. Barnes & Noble and Deep Discount have some of the lowest prices, and there's still time to order from Amazon.
- Scimitar Prepares to Slice Up a Dralthi
- 2012-05-15 -- And to further get you in the Academy mood, here's another beautiful NinjaLA sketch. The CF-105 Scimitar was the workhorse of the cadets flying off the Tiger's Claw, and soon you'll get to watch them again in the new high quality release!
- Exotic Designs Hit the Spacelanes
- 2012-05-14 -- ScoobyDoo has put together several more concept renders inspired by a variety of sources. The first is a medium size capship with fighter-carrying ability, and it's followed by a beefier looking take on the Bearcat. The last design is a more unique idea that mixes Wing Commander elements with a Freespace ship.
- Fleets Increase Presence in Enigma
- 2012-05-13 -- Here's a big update for the Enigma 2666 mod. A handful of new pictures show off where the game is at today. Four different capship classes are pictured near a large Confed base, and all the fighters sport updated textures.
- Echo Sector Reopens
- 2012-05-13 -- The world's biggest website dedicated to the Crusader series, Echo Sector, has gotten a big revamp. New features include a streamlined menu interface and increased security. Not all of the links work yet, but more features will come online soon.
- Va ka Garga ka naru ha Garga
- 2012-05-12 -- NinjaLA has sketched a new fearsome Kilrathi. With his latest warrior, Ninja has done a good job of introducing menacing facial features, and this sinister look goes beyond just drawing a humanoid tiger. The armor is inspired by the classic WC2 style with a WC Movie headpiece.
- Kilrathi Destroyer Continues to Take Shape
- 2012-05-11 -- Kevin Caccamo is once again working on a Ralari model. Since we last saw the ship, additional detail has been added to the window areas and secondary structure. It appears to conform to the Claw Marks schematic quite well.
- Wing Commander Stories From The Fatman
- 2012-05-10 -- In recent weeks, Armchair Arcade has been conducting a series of interviews with famous videogame composer George Sanger. The newest issue talks about his and Dave Govett's work on the soundtrack for the original Wing Commander. Well worth a listen!
- Super Rapier Models Ready To Go
- 2012-05-09 -- Klavs has completed design and prototyping of another physical model. His Super Wing Commander Rapier is now available for fellow Wingnuts in 1/600 scale from Shapeways. The image below reveals that, although tiny, the ship packs some incredible detail - very distinctive hull markings and guns!
- WC Saga Soundtrack Released
- 2012-05-08 -- The WC Saga team has released the soundtrack to their Freespace mod. They are also working on a spinoff album based on George Oldziey's tunes from Wing Commander 3. You can grab the Darkest Dawn OST here (187 meg zip).
- Garriott DVD Drops May 15
- 2012-05-08 -- Richard Garriott's Man on a Mission documentary will be released on DVD next Tuesday! This charming film captures Lord British's successful dream to become the world's first second-generation astronaut. Most reviews have been quite positive and the documentary has come highly recommended.
- Paradigm Deployed to Enigma Sector
- 2012-05-07
- New WC Ship Viewer In Development
- 2012-05-06 -- BOC_Havoc has put together a very sharp 3D ship viewer. The program is still in the prototype stages, but you can try out the current build here. The unity web player plugin is needed to see the model.
- Still Worthy of an Honorable Mention
- 2012-05-05 -- There aren't as many gaming sites name dropping Wing Commander as there were a decade ago, but they still pop up all over if you look. Here's a couple from just this week: HotHardware ran a feature on gaming clichés. The story decries the linear nature of modern games that screech to a halt if any losing conditions are met.
- Warren Spector Revisits Origin Memories
- 2012-05-05 -- Yet another Wing Commander mention this week came from an interview with Warren Spector. Metro.co.
- A Trip to the WC Universe is Right
- 2012-05-04 -- PlaySF magazine has put together a wacky article on Wing Commander and Christopher Blair. From the perspective of an inter-dimensional time traveler, the author jumps back in time to the year AD 2700 within the Wing Commander universe. Once there, he encounters James Taggart and the TCS Midway.
- Everything's Ship Shape!
- 2012-05-03 -- In recent days WCPedia contributor Iceblade has worked on finalizing a layout for the ship articles on the project. After experimenting with the Broadsword article, and creating a great layout in the process, he's started to implement that layout across the Confederation fighters category. Currently, the F-36 Hornet article is the most complete.
- HUDdle Up and Check Out New Cockpit Displays
- 2012-05-02 -- Aginor is working on a new Wing Commander mod, and this game will be played from the Kilrathi perspective. Although there won't be full dashboard cockpit graphics, each ship will have a unique heads up display. Most games use the same targeting crosshairs and reticle for all ships, but here are some examples of how Wing Commander 4 differentiated its craft.
- Don't Miss an Infoburst!
- 2012-05-02 -- Are you linked up to get the latest Wing Commander news right as it happens? In addition to the main website and CIC Forums, dedicated Wingnuts can follow the CIC on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and with RSS to stay in the loop as news breaks. In addition to hot stories, followers also see occasional special features and behind-the-scenes updates.
- Glance at Mod's Gwynedd Mission
- 2012-05-01 -- Here's some new shots from the Enigma 2666 mod that show off a fighter launch, autopilot fly-by and ship size comparison. Sharp players will quickly recognize the familiar Broadsword/Ferret pairing from the Fralthra Strike at the beginning of WC2 - a very fun mission, if you can keep the Broadswords alive! Here I used the Confederation Class from Klavs and the converted Broadsword from Standoff.
- Rapier Prepped for Production
- 2012-04-30 -- Klavs has finished his Super Wing Commander Rapier, and the result is gorgeous. These ships are now off to a trial at Shapeways 'rapid prototyping' lab. If the design pans out, small physical resin copies may be available to order soon.
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