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WC vs. Crusader: We Like the Moon
We ran all of the notable Wing Commander/Crusader references back on Crusader Day just two months ago. Instead of repeating those updates, we've opted to put together a spinoff of the "WC vs. History" series. Since one of the most notable aspects of No Regret is that it takes place on the moon, we decided to 'mash up' Wing Commander and Crusader's fictional histories for that locale. The Crusader material provided is provided by the real expert: Keenan Weaver of Echo Sector!
Lunar activity played a vital role in the prosperity of the World Economic Consortium (WEC) from the late twenty-first century to the late twenty-second century. Though space resources were discovered prior to the establishment of the WEC in 2150, it was not until the WEC that such assets were utilized in a beneficial way. The discovery of the most important energy source, Di-Correalium, occurred in the 20th century during the United States’ Apollo moon landings. Despite its discovery, any further investigation into the substance was ceased and left to the Soviets. The Soviet scientist Dr. Brindel Krycheiv was the first to examine Di-Cor and realize its potentiality as an energy source. The fall of the Soviet Empire, however, left Krycheiv’s work unknown to the world. One hundred years later, following the re-discovery of Krycheiv’s work and space colonization becoming more achievable, the dwelling of the moon resulted in a surge of outer-planet activity.
The moon as a source of super conductor material became realized in the late twenty-first century. Though Di-Cor had been found in other off-world locations such as large asteroids, the moon was the most viable location from which to mine the element. Darkside, the first moonbase, was established in Mare Nubium by several multi-national corporations. The base allowed for a steady extraction of raw materials for orbital space platforms—an ever-increasing asset for the production of super conductor material. Deposits of Di-Cor were eventually found on the moon, and immediately entered the interests of the people. However, a combination of technological hurdles with social backlash prevented Di-Cor to be mined. Exposure to pure Di-Cor was fatal; those exposed to the material were expected to be dead within three days. Mining unions on the moon were readily aware of the dangers of Di-Cor and lobbied for exorbitant wages and benefits for their workers.
By the founding of the WEC, however, the mining bases which housed the unions—along with the entire Earth—came under the authority of the world government. As per the WEC’s foundation of representation of super corporate cartels rather than people, the mining bases united under the Lunar Mining Cartel (LMC). The LMC proceeded to mine Di-Cor with federal inmates of the WEC. Di-Cor had finally entered the economic and political sphere as a profitable entity in both arenas.
The placement of Di-Cor in the importance of WEC society cannot be overestimated; it was the single most important commodity in the running of the world. For what was Di-Cor used? Electricity, heat, manufacturing, sanitation, recreation, among many others. The moon’s colonization played a critical role in the politics and society of the mid twenty-second century. It is reflected in that government’s history that such a place could be used as a commodity.
But as the WEC's reliance on Di-Cor grew, bases on the moon became a more valuable target for the resistance...
By the middle of the 22nd century, mankind had established Luna Station, a space station on the moon. Though it was one of only a few space stations in the Sol System not built for expansion, Luna nevertheless contributed to scientific progress. In 2167, the facility supported the development of Olympia Station on Mars, the United Nations' first permanent off-world settlement. In 2189, Luna researcher Dr. Synatschk published the first paper indicating Space Syndrome Mutation, Mutations: Occurrences and Causes. Synatschk's research, which claimed that lower gravity stress and a lack of trace minerals heightened pre-birth defects, would still be referenced in 27th century studies of Space Syndrome. In 2219, tragedy struck: the first Great Pandemic hit Earth and resulted in the destruction of Luna Station. For the next two hundred years, the outer colonies enforced a strict quarantine: humans living on Earth could not travel past the moon's orbit. In 2462, a heavily armed Pilgrim Alliance sloship arrived at the moon to force a summit. The resulting Treaty of Luna barred humans from settling worlds within fifty years sloship travel of Earth, effectively ending Terran expansion until the development of the Akwende Propulsion System ("Jump Drive".)
In the ensuing centuries, the moon became a highly developed center of industry. When Earth first went to war with the Kilrathi, the moon was orbited by six Concordia-class carriers in varying stages of construction, shut down for lack of funding during peacetime. At Lunar Orbital Base Five, naval aviators went through Wildcat fighter orientation--a group that would have included newly minted Ensign Geoffrey Tolwyn had he not been reassigned to a covert operation at the last minute. As the war intensified, moon-based industry militarized at a steady pace, with the satellite becoming home to major naval facilities and their supporting communities. By 2668, it was one of the largest administrative centers in the Confederation, with one of the heaviest concentrations of computing power in the known universe.
A Concordia-class carrier, in construction in lunar orbit.
Shipyards on the moon's surface included full drydock facilities capable of servicing five fleet carriers at once, along with dozens of smaller ships. Workers on the moon rushed to make these ships available during the Battle of Earth, successfully launching the TCS Ark Royal and TCS Lexington despite their jump engines having been pulled for realignments and their core reactors dumped. Fleet Yard Five, in lunar orbit, was one of the key mothball yards during the false peace. Five CVEs and four fleet carriers were retired to moon orbit during those months, with fighters and spare parts being stored on the moon itself. The CVEs stored at the moon, Iwo, Wake, Crete, Tarawa and Normandy, were sold to the Landreich as part of a convert operations; three transports of fighters and supplies also attempted to leave lunar orbit but were blocked by the government. One iconic off-base locale was the Vacuum Breather bar, near the central military base. Owned by Gallagher, a thirty year Naval veteran with a famous love for the service, the Vacuum Breather famously catered to military personnel. The bar was famous for awarding those who had survived the hulling of their ships an honorary silver mug from which to serve a free beer when they visited. Honorees killed in action would have their mugs' handles gilded and left on display.
In addition to drydocks for the carrier fleet, shipyards on the moon built many Confederation capital ships. Assembly plants on the moon produced matter-antimatter, necessary for both capital ship engines and a range of heavy weaponry. In the final days of the false peace, the Confederation published a false communiqué claiming that the largest of these plants had been destroyed in an accident. Intercepted Kilrathi messages referenced the destruction of "target 2778A on the moon of Nak'tara," confirming that their target was Earth itself. The 2668 Kilrathi attack on Earth took a heavy toll on the moon. During the engagement, Kilrathi warships slipped past the battle and bombarded the moon with antimatter weapons. Military bases and factories alike were completely destroyed, including three fleet carriers still in their drydocks.
Tycho Crater, future home of a major Terran Confederation moonbase.
In spite of the damage suffered in the attack, life on the moon continued. In a matter of months, before the end of the war, Tycho Moonbase was an active Confederation port. Captain Jason Bondarevsky, the "First to Kilrah," first learned of the destruction of Kilrah while at the base. Peace impacted Tycho hard, with its staff reduced to a quarter the wartime levels within ten months, but reclamation of the moon soon began in earnest. Mining operations on Luna were active by the early 2670s producing specialty ores. Railguns on Luna shot raw materials to L5 where it was used to produce alloys for the first Vesuvius-class supercarriers. Other materials for the project were reclaimed from the wreckage left by the Kilrathi attack. Air defense on the moon was also reestablished during the reclamation. By 2673, the moon boasted a traffic control base. During the BWS Intrepid's final run to Earth, Captain Eisen warned Colonel Blair that he would face significant lunar-based defenses during his attempt to reach the senate; he ultimately encountered only a limited number of Arrows.
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Update published on November 22, 2011. View all news from that day.
Wing Commander CIC - Visit the front page
Official news, fan projects and topics of particular interest to Wing Commander fans.
- Technically It's Called The 'Lance'
- 2012-05-25 -- It's been a great week for fan-made pictures of Wing Commander ships, but it's been even better for real space ship action! The SpaceX Dragon capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station today. It launched into space on Tuesday and conducted a variety of practice maneuvers before becoming the first spacecraft launched by a private company to dock with the ISS.
- 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.
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