Bandcamp Holds Juneteenth Fundraiser

The music website Bandcamp is holding a special event on June 17 to donate their share of album sales to causes that promote racial justice efforts. This commemorates the Juneteenth national holiday in the United States, which celebrates a major milestone on the path to ending slavery. Wingnuts looking for a way to support this are in luck! Earlier this year, The Fat Man released an ultimate MT-32 Archival Edition of his legendary WC1 soundtrack. The album is available to listen to for free on YouTube, but it's only $10 to own a portable copy of your own via Bandcamp. It's a pretty cheap way to help a good cause and get your Wing Commander fix at the same time!

Way back in 2007, George put out a fantastic album of WC1 music known as Wing One, and it's been on our highly recommended list ever since. This new edition scrubs Fat's archives for a complete reckoning of all the music in the game. Today's release clocks in with 55 tracks and 85 minutes of audio - compared to 27 tracks and 34 minutes in the original release fifteen years ago.

BREAKING NEWS: Enhanced & Extended Wing Commander 1 Sound Track Released!

You can stream the entire album below or listen to all of the individual tracks at the publisher Xeen's YouTube Channel. I'm listening right now and it's wonderful! You can also buy a digital copy for $10 at Bandcamp to get access to high quality downloadable files - or just thank the team for their continuing commitment to Wing Commander! When you check out, there's a little field to "include a message to The Fat Man and Team Fat." Why not let them know that you'd like a physical CD or vinyl release in the future?!

Howdy, Fat Rangers!

Here's a sweet listening surprise--An archival release of the best version of the Wing Commander I music, hot off the press.

ABOUT THIS RELEASE

This "archival" release is the result of my finally yielding to many years of Andrew Harrington's relentless hounding. It was entirely his vision to put out a thorough and complete "once-and-for-all" release of every single MIDI file from the game, with as much documentation as could be mustered. And my hat is off to him and I am grateful, for he has brought us all, me kicking and screaming, to a very pleasant, very listenable, and very final-feeling version of the music for Wing Commander. Thank you, Andrew, this is your baby.

Similarly, I was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the massively talented artist Xiao Zheng in Shanghai, who insisted on mocking up album covers for all my the games I composed for, even before he knew I was releasing music.

Come to think of it, my early journey with Dave Govett was much the same. An enthusiastic guy, calling me to ask if he could come over to see what kind of gear I was using. I had him write a couple of tunes for me, and he was the first member of Team Fat (besides me) before I even knew he liked orchestral movie music. When I handed him the assignment to do the demo for Wing Commander, I was met with the surprise of a lifetime.

Hey, World, take this hard-won advice down: Collaborate. And here's how. When you find somebody enthusiastic, who makes you feel good about who you are when you're around them, find out if they have talent and skill. If they do, turn them loose and get out of the way. It's like riding a wild horse--you don't know exactly where you'll end up, but it will be one wild ride. credits

released January 14, 2022

Music produced by The Fat Man, George Alistair Sanger
Composed by Dave Govett and George Sanger

New Freelancer Project Imports Beautiful WC Fighters

So, after a Discord discussion that involved talking about Privateer, I kinda got the modding itch once again for Freelancer, but this time, I managed to get in touch with FL modders, who were nice enough to share with me their wonderful, wonderful tools (the kind of which I'm jealous as a HW modder). Long story short, I got told that the models designed by DI, Klavs and others are way too detailed for the game engine, which is probably a wise conclusion, but since I'm very unwise, I tinkered a bit and managed to achieve a pretty nice proof of concept with DI's F-107 Dragon/Lance:

The tech demo is available upon request on Discord (keep in mind it's really limited, just a replacement of one of the game's fighters with the F-107, without a dedicated collision box, for example). Don't hesitate to ask for specific fighters that you'd like to see receiving this treatment if you wanna go for a run of this great old game with a specific craft. :)

And on the matter of progress, it's going pretty quickly. Importing the Hellcat now, and once the Razor and Excalibur are in, the first part of the game will be properly turned in Privateer-lite. Long story short, it's just as I dreamed it could be, if not even better. Freelancer is one hell of a game.

Flight Decks Get Major Makeover

...I've been busy. Firstly doing work for Pedro's WC4 remaster project. I've sent over some fighters but for the first mission we also needed Bluepoint/Orlando. It still needs some details but it's coming along nicely.

The next item is something of a pet project. The Yorktown vs. The Lexington type carriers. In WC4 the Concordia-class fleet carrier is supposed to be a larger and different ship (even though the model is a redress of the Yorktown). The stats state that the Concordia is 80M longer than the Yorktown but also carries double the number of fighters. In the franchise, it's not really an issue as the only time we see the Yorktown (TCS Victory) is in the FMV movies you never see them side by side. But I wanted to do both models and make them contemporaries, but give them a certain level of visual distinctness, while trying to keep them as close to the FMV and in-game shots as I can get.

So in order to achieve this here goes:

The Lexington is a blockier design the conning tower (bridge) isn't as swept and while the overall lines are the same, the Concordia has fewer nautical lines about it. Additionally, the Concordia has a lot of additional exterior trussing and fewer windows. The blockier shape is required for (in my mind anyway) the additional fighter storage and crew requirements. The Yorktown by comparison is a smoother shape, the look is slightly more "aerodynamic" and the trussing and hull framing are assumed to be internal. Additionally the Yorktown three decks visible between the upper and lower armor panels.

Hangar Decks - while we see a number of different interiors, the hangar decks differ significantly in the details. The Yorktown for instance is roughly 3 decks tall but has two entrances on the flight deck (visible to me at least), the staircase leading down from the ready room, and the doorway onto the flight deck from the briefing room (where we see ol' Blair come out and slap on his helmet - incidentally I haven't added that particular detail yet) The Concordia by contrast has a simpler layout. It's roughly 3 decks tall as well by my reckoning, but only has a single entrance onto the flight deck, the interior stairs leading down from the ready room. (my own second set of fighter cubicles aft not withstanding) the Concordia layout is actually simpler.

Yorktown:

Concordia:

Ok this is maybe a bit nerdy even for me, but I wanted to create two models that when you see them side by side you can easily point and say "oh that's a Concordia" by looking at the ship not the paint job. :)

Maniac & Paladin Visit London Film & Comic Con

If you're able to get there I'd recommend getting your virtual ticket for both as early as possible. Both were were busy throughout the day signing when not doing photo shoots, although Tom in particular had a crazy and probably the busiest queue throughout the day by my reckoning due to the huge Back to the Future interest -- he was sitting alongside Christopher Lloyd and they did a bunch of joint photo shoots. I picked up my virtual ticket just before 11:00 for Tom and only got see him for an autograph shortly after 17:00.

Both him and John were signing like troopers all day pretty much right up to closing just before 18:00. I can only imagine the mental and physical exhaustion these cons must put on them, having to greet and chat with so many fans in an often conveyor-belt fashion. That said, I have to say that both were true gents and extremely courteous. I was the 360th signing of Tom's yesterday when I saw him and there was still a long queue behind me. While he signed my Wing Commander 3 box I just asked him if he had more Youtube videos in the pipeline and he said that we was planning more. If his signing queue hadn't been so busy I would have asked him about his comedy and some WC questions so I just thanked him after that and shook his hand. Great guy!

John's queue wasn't as constrained as Tom's and John was really gregarious and giving with his time, asking questions to each fan and regaling all with anecdotes from his range of work. Just before I was up to see him a member of Showmasters event team went up to him and said that some press wanted to interview him. John's response was that he would be happy to but not while there was a line of fans waiting to see him and they were welcome to wait in the line. What a gentleman! Both seemed pleased to be signing something other than Gimli or Biff photos too. John briefly talked about his Star Citizen work as well.

Anyway, I was able to get them both to sign my Wing Commander 3 box and to say I'm a chuffed Wingnut is an understatement; I'm still beaming!

If you're close by I'd definitely try and get there!

Happy First Contact Day!... Maybe

It's March 15th and as everyone knows that means it is the pre-anniversary of the 2629 destruction of the TCS Iason, mankind's official first contact with the Kilrathi! Or was that March 16th? Or was it April 15th? Or was it in August and ten years later? There's no one answer... so it's time to run through everything we know about the event!

The Iason story originates in Claw Marks, the initial Wing Commander manual written by Aaron Allston. Mr. Allston would later go on to fame as an author of Star Wars novels and also wrote a series bible during the development of an aborted Privateer television series in 1995. Claw Marks introduces the history of the war in a series of sidebars, with the first ('25 Years Ago') covering the discovery of the Kilrathi. Here's the text:

25 Years Ago

Exploration and colonization ships of the Terran Confederation increase their penetration into Vega Sector.

On 2629.105 (3/15/2629 Terran reckoning), the exploration ship Iason encounters a spacecraft of unknown origin. Iason commander Jedora Andropolos beams the standard wideband non-verbal greeting designed by the Committee for Interaction with Alien Intelligences. Captain Andropolos keeps Iason motionless for twenty-two minutes standard while the alien vessel waits. Finally, the alien vessel opens up with all guns, utterly destroying Iason and all hands.

The first problem with this is potentially Wing Commander's earliest continuity error: it clearly states March 15th, 2629 'Terran reckoning'... but 2629.105 is a month off: the 105th day of the year is APRIL 15th. As we will see, both numbers will be repeated several times in the future, compounding what was surely a small math error.

Additionally, many have compared this short history to Larry Niven's 1966 short story The Warriors which details humanities first enounter with another feline species: the Kzinti. At the time Claw Marks was written, The Warriors had recently been republished as part of the first 'Man-Kzin Wars' short story collection (from Baen, of all places, who would go on to print the first line of Wing Commander novels less than two years later.) The two stories have a similar setup, but the endings are vastly different: in Niven's story, clever humans turn their comm laser into a weapon and defeat the Kzinti, whereas Claw Marks destroys the human explorer ship with all hands. For his part, Chris Roberts has noted that the look of the Kilrathi was a placeholder carried through development of the game rather than a concerted effort to create a race of cat aliens. If there's a connection, it's most likely an intentional nod (such as the 'Niven Sector' in Wing Commander II.) Sadly, Mr. Allston passed away several years ago, so we will never know for sure.

The Iason story immediately became a touchstone for Wing Commander fans, with plenty of fanfic and speculation arising out of 'first contact' scenario. In 1993, Mark Minasi's unofficial Secrets of the Wing Commander Universe included an extended version with more details. The account was non-canon and several details have been changed by later official sources (for example, he has Captain Jedora Andropolos' as a woman)... but that expanded telling still lives in the hearts of Wing Commander fans.

The Iason story was not officially updated until 1994, when versions appeared in the timelines for Wing Commander Armada and Wing Commander III. Each adds unique information. VOices of War, the Armada manual, tells the story from the perspective of both sides:

Orbit 151, Sun Year 5105
While establishing footholds in the recently explored Krat’na Sector, the destroyer K’rath’kan detects an intruder. Leader Brath’kar nar Caxki reports that the unidentified ship is attempting to neutralize his shields with wide-band radiation. When the enemy fails to leave the area of trespass after three-eighths of an hour, the destroyer opens its guns to eliminate the threatening vessel.

2629.105
The Terran Confederation expands exploration and colonization efforts and penetrates Vega Sector. On 2629.105 (March 16, 2629 Terran time) the Iason encounters a spacecraft of unknown origin. Commander Jedora Andropolos transmits an international wideband, non-verbal greeting designed by the Committee for Interaction with Alien Intelligences.

Andropolos keeps Iason’s guns off-line for the TCN-recommended 20 minutes and awaits a response from the alien vessel. Finally, without warning, the unidentified ship opens fire with full lasers, utterly destroying Iason and all hands.

The rewrite of the Claw Marks story introduces one more problem: it lists 2629.105 as March 16 rather than March 15 (as previous) or April 15 (as correct.) That aside, it's an interesting expansion of the story, with unique details especially from the Kilrathi telling.

Victory Streak, the Wing Commander III manual, does not introduce any continuity errors. It removes the 'Terran reckoning' reference and now lists only 2629.105 (April 15.) It expands the story in an interesting way, though: by revealing that the classic Wing Commander timeline was written by 'TCN military analyst' Guthrig Andropolos, the son of Commander Jedora Andropolos of the Iason. He talks a little about his father in the intro:

Updated 2669.098 by Guthrig Andropolos, TCN military analyst

This month, the war between Terran and Kilrathi forces turns four decades old. It’s no cause for celebration – millions of lives on both sides have been lost, and deep space is filling with debris faster than our recovery crews can tractor it up.
Most of you on board TCN fleet ships aren’t old enough to remember 2629.105, when the first Kilrathi scout ship attacked the patrol vessel Iason. In fact, most of you probably only know half the story this war has to tell. You’re about to be exposed to some sobering facts. While all of us have personal reasons for this war – including revenge, glory and honor – many of us know little about its history. As dismal as this may seem, we all need to remember.

My father, Commander Jedora Andropolos, became one of the first casualties of the war. He can’t be brought back and I can’t spend my career trying to avenge his death. Yet we still have much to learn in our ongoing pursuit of victory. Perhaps, in some small way, this history can help you do your part.

2629.105

Iason encounters a spacecraft of unknown origin. Commander Jedora Andropolos on board Iason transmits a wide-band, nonverbal grgeting and waits for a response. Less than twenty minutes later, the stillunidentified ship opens fire with full lasers, completely destroying Iason and its crew. Although the identity of the attacking ship is never definitively established, Confederation deep space tracking computers point to a possible point of origin from a previously unexplored planet, soon to be known by its native name, Kilrah.

Who is Guthrig Andropolos? If you aren't familiar, the answer will surprise you! In addition to being a "TCN military analyst" he's also a doctor of psychology who served on the Tiger's Claw! Wing Commander Academy introduces a character referred to only as Guthrig on-screen (mockingly called the 'doctor who needs a doctor')... but the series' press kit confirms he's the same man:

Guthrig Andropolos -- A civilian analyst employed by the fleet, Guthrig is the much-despised medic in charge of the psychological evaluation of the cadets. And although cold and unemotional, he is ironically subject to a variety of phobias.

Guthrig has a happy ending, though: Wing Commander Arena's Star*Soldier manual references that the expanded 27th century timeline is excerpted from his "seminal Official Terran Confederation Navy History." (The manual re-uses the Victory Streak version of the story word-for-word.)

Then, there was the movie! The Wing Commander movie has two connections to the Iason. First, the finished film includes a voiceover segment in the introduction that's intended to serve as a reference to the first contact with the Kilrathi. On screen, a model Snakeir superdreadnaught is shown over a map of the Vega Sector and the following conversation is played:

PILOT: Coming up on the far side... Looks like maybe three or four kilometers long.

CONTROL: Copy that, Sparrow. Proceed.

PILOT: It's like nothing I've ever seen before. Wait. Something's going on here. [Radio static]

There are no real specifics, but the implication seems to be that the "destroyer K’rath’kan" looks like a larger Snakeir (the version in the movie is said to be 915 meters long, not 3-4 km) and that the Iason had a smaller craft flown by 'Sparrow' who was the first casualty. No date or other background is given.

There's a much more confusing story about the Iason, though! In the version of the movie initially shot, the Iason is mentioned by name... with the claim that Paladin was a survivor of the ship. Early in the movie, Blair is supposed to notice that Paladin has an unusual tattoo. As they arrive on the Tiger's Claw, Paladin explains he was a member of the Iason's crew and that it marks him as a prisoner of war:

BLAIR
So what about the tattoo?

PALADIN
You know what it is?

BLAIR
It's a Kilrathi marker. You were a prisoner of war.

PALADIN
That's right. I was on the Iason when they took her.

BLAIR
The Iason. That was the first ship to have contact with the Kilrathi. There weren't any survivors.

PALADIN
I guess not.

Elevator doors open. PALADIN steps in.

BLAIR
Why don't you have it removed?

PALADIN
Let's just say, it helps me not forget.

BLAIR
Not forget what?

PALADIN
Why I fight.

Doors start to close.

MANIAC
So what exactly do the Kilrathi look like?

PALADIN
...They're ugly.
(directly to Blair)
Good luck.

The scene was ultimately removed from the movie, but it's impact is still felt. Making it 'canon,' it also appears in the novelization by Peter Telep. Since Mr. Telep was familiar with Wing Commander I, he addresses the continuity error head on, noting there were not supposed to be any survivors of the Iason:

Blair hurried after the captain. "Marshall? I'll meet you back here." He didn't wait for the expected reply and finally caught up with Taggart.

"Before you go, tell me about your tattoo."

"You know what it is?" Taggart asked, lifting his voice over the collective whine of power tools.

"I think I got it figured out. It's a Kilrathi marker. You were a prisoner of war."

"I was on the lason when they took her."

That caught Blair off guard. "The lason? She was the first ship to have contact with the Kilrathi. You served under Commander Andropolos?"

Taggart nodded. "We encountered a spacecraft of unknown origin, transmitted a wideband, nonverbal greeting, and waited. Four hours later

she fired upon us with all batteries. But you know the story."

"Yeah. And I know there weren't supposed to be any survivors from the lason."

"I guess not."

They reached the lift doors, which slid apart. Taggart stepped inside and turned around.

"Why don't you have it removed?" Blair asked, staring at the captain's neck, the tattoo partially exposed.

"Let's just say it helps me remember."

"Remember what?"

"Why I fight."

The doors began to close.

Blair stepped forward. "Wait. I've seen photos and holos, but what do the Kilrathi look like? I mean, in the flesh?"

"They're ugly. Good luck."

The doors sealed.

The Wing Commander Confederation Handbook, by Chris McCubbin, is essentially the 'manual' for the movie. It expands everything mentioned in the shooting script (it was written before the final cut that removed the traitor and scenes like the one quoted above) and it goes into a LOT of detail about the Iason. Unfortunately, it's a new version of the story moved forward in time to 'allow' for a Pilgrim War to take place and for Paladin's character to be younger. The new Iason story and the explanation of Paladin's connection is given several pages (since the movie's intro was not done or scripted when this was written, it does not include "Sparrow.")

Is it possible for both stories to co-exist? Yes, but it's a stretch. The story printed above notes that the Iason was refitted in 2633 for a different role... you could claim that the ship was scrapped by the Kilrathi, recovered and repaired and that the incident mentioned by Paladin in the novel and detailed in the book is simply it's ultimate destruction at the hands of a then-known enemy years later. Easy, right?

All of that said: did we really first encounter the Kilrathi in 2629? The answer is... no. Wing Commander: Action Stations (now available as an ebook) details a series of 'unofficial' contacts between border worlds and the Kilrathi. This isn't a continuity error, though: the book has Landreich President Blucher note that "... we knew about the Cats a full year before any of your official histories will ever acknowledge it." That would be 2628... but there's an even earlier connection!

The copy protection for the Secret Missions disk was simple: a series of 'facts' about the background of the expansion that you would look up to unlock the game. One of those facts, for Secret Missions 2, is that a man named Dr. Kohl was executed by the Kilrathi in 2621 after being captured observing the Sivar-Eshrad ceremony on Ghorah Khar. Presumably, Dr. Kohl's fate did not make it back to the Confederation... perhaps the notes were not recovered until Ghorah Khar rebelled in the mid 2650s!

All information in this article was compiled from the notes of anthropologist Dr. C.L. Kohl who was captured and executed by the Kilrathi priestesses in 2621 while secretly observing the Sivar-Eshrad ceremony on Ghorah Khar.

Sketching Out A Bearcat

So I went on and decided to include an actual cockpit to the model. There's no instrument panel yet, and the joystick is pretty ugly. I'm also not entirely happy with the throttle. But at least they're there! :) Also, there's ejection handles in front of the seat. Also finally added maneuvering thrusters around the fuselage.

Still haven't learned how to do proper textures yet, have a lot of school work and things going on keeping me busy. Anyway, I'm actually using Sketchup for making this model, so it's easy yet sometimes hard to use. Easy for me because it's point-and-click and it's been 8 years since my high school drafting class so I've pretty much forgotten how to use AutoCAD and all of that. Hard because sometimes I have to do incredibly redundant steps and workarounds just to get the shapes and angles that I want.

The current textures on the model are "materials" available within Sketchup. Eventually, I'll be able to give it proper textures. I have squadron paint scheme in mind for this baby. Once I get around to it, I'd like to also figure out how to add panel lines to it so it doesn't look like one solid block of metal. But for now, this is what I have. As before, any feedback or advice is appreciated.

Freelancer Mod Brings Belated Birthday Blessings

Here's a project that didn't quite make it into Saturday's birthday slate of updates but was submitted with the event in mind. Bob McDob and Charlie Perkins have put together P2Ever, a Freelancer mod that simulates the Tri-System environment made famous in Privateer 2. Eight familiar planets and nine P2 ships are included in the game. It's basically a fun sandbox sim. The current version doesn't have missions or a campaign, but there have been tweaks to make the combat more engaging and pay for ship upgrades. Each pirate kill nets the player 500 credits, a ten-fold increase from The Darkening's original bounty. Ships also have a small cargo hold, so some trading can be done with classic P2 commodities like pleasure borgs, Bex Beer and fluffy rodents. Installation instructions are below, and more information can be found here. Hit the comments link below to let them know what you think!

Privateer2Ever takes you back to the eight planets of the Tri-System. The CIS, gendarmes of the Interplanetary Government, and the Kindred, an enigmatic, brutal criminal syndicate, wage an unending war, while pirate clans prey on ordinary civilians looking to make a profit.

The models and sounds used in this mod are from a development archive provided by Privateer 2 designer Paul Hughes. They are taken directly from the game itself, and credit for them goes to the team who produced The Darkening. NinjaLA made the birthday cake graphic.

INSTALLATION:

1. Create a clean install of Freelancer. Do NOT install the 1.1 patch; this is provided with the mod and installing it may lead to undesirable effects.
2. Download and install version 1.31 of the Freelancer Mod Manager (1 meg exe). Do NOT download newer versions; they are known to be buggy and may corrupt your install.
3. Double-clicking on the mod file (17.7 meg .flmod file) after downloading will then automatically install it. To play, launch Freelancer Mod Manager and activate the mod, then launch the game.
4. If the game crashes on launch, go into the Tools menu and delete the autosave.

WARNING: 64-bit Windows editions have a known bug where rundll32.exe will continue to run after the game is closed. This will lead to errors during mod deactivation. At worst, this will leave mod files in your game folder. This may not have adverse effects - but then again, it might. To be safe, it is recommended to either back up your original installation or run the game from a seperate install.

Privateer Day: How it Got Made

If you are interested in knowing more about Privateer's development process, from how an Origin game went from the spark of an idea to a box on the shelf, it is used as a case study in The Magic of Interactive Entertainment:

The main goals in the design of Privateer were to create a commerce trading system within the Wing Commander universe. Another goal was to provide a game with random missions that players could play over and over again. That freshness ensures the game never ends.

Some initial ideas never quite made it into the final game. One such idea involved player finances. The game initially enabled players to get loans from banks or other (less reputable) characters. In this scenario, you might run into debt, and be pursued by creditors or bounty hunters which were after the price on your head. Privateer took about a year and a half to make, and so during this period, many such ideas were dropped while others were developed and added to the game.

Article Details the Magic of Privateer Development

The Development Process

Game development at Origin Systems follows a fairly structured and organized approach. When a designer comes up with an idea for a game, the designer submits his idea to a review board. The review board evaluates the idea and decides whether or not it is worth investigating. If a game design is approved, the designer gets a software engineer (programmer) to help develop the idea further. What follows is a period of research and development where the designer and programmer work closely together to build the basic framework of the game.

After a period of time, the designer and programmer take their results back to the review board. At this point, if the game still looks like a winner, more funding is provided and a development timetable is set. Artists and more programmers begin working on the project. Programmers and designers work hand-in-hand to get the artwork and data merged together into a workable game.

--------------------------------------

Gameplay Design

The main goals in the design of Privateer were to create a commerce trading system within the Wing Commander universe. Another goal was to provide a game with random missions that players could play over and over again. That freshness ensures the game never ends.

Some initial ideas never quite made it into the final game. One such idea involved player finances. The game initially enabled players to get loans from banks or other (less reputable) characters. In this scenario, you might run into debt, and be pursued by creditors or bounty hunters which were after the price on your head. Privateer took about a year and a half to make, and so during this period, many such ideas were dropped while others were developed and added to the game.

--------------------------------------

Music and Sound Effects

Music and sound effects have become just as important to video games as they are to motion pictures. You would hardly expect to see a new feature film without a soundtrack and spoken dialog. Likewise, all computer games today have either a sound track, digital sound effects, or both.

4000 Days of Wing Commander News

By our reckoning, today is the 4000th day that we've updated the CIC front page! In twelve years of operation, we've been around for some 4400 days. At first glance, that looks like a 90% update rate, but we haven't missed a day since 2003! Who would have thought we'd still have daily material to report on in 2010? We used to wonder if the well would dry up, but there doesn't seem to be any end in sight. The only limitation seems to be time to sift through what everyone's doing and organize it into neat packages. You're a very active community that gives us plenty to report on. Thanks all, and keep it up!

Warhammer Live Expansion Announced

Electronic Arts has announced an expansion to Warhammer Online, the massively multiplayer PC game released last September. The Call to Arms live "expansion" will be available for free beginning in March via a creative phased approach. The rollout centers around three major online events which will occur in the spring. Participation in the first event opens up new careers and a new scenario. Other expanded elements, quests and lands will become available via participation in major events being staged in April and May. New additions being presented in this manner are a great way to keep the game fresh. Warhammer was created by Mythic Entertainment, which currently maintains Ultima Online and is the storehouse for Origin's archived material. They recently faced a round of EA-wide layoffs but development continues in their Virginia/DC studio.

The Call to Arms live expansion, set to roll out for free in early March and running through the beginning of June, will also include three in-game live events, a new Realm vs. Realm™ (RvR) Scenario, added functionality to the Realm Wars section of the WAR website, the opening of the official WAR Forums, and a new free trial version of the game.

“The launch of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning was only the first step in our ongoing quest to make a great MMORPG that players will enjoy for years to come. Over the next few months, we are going to be treating our players to the first of our ‘live expansions’ planned for the game,” said Mark Jacobs, VP and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. “With the addition of new careers and a huge Tomb Kings dungeon that is the spiritual successor to the Dark Age of Camelot™ dungeon, Darkness Falls, Call to Arms is an outstanding example of the massive amount of free content we are committed to delivering to WAR players now and in the future.”

Life During War-Time

It sounds like our friends at Mythic Entertainment can finally rest - their years-in-the-making masterpiece, Warhammer Online, goes live today! Warhammer is a major MMO which has garnered much praise during its development. Congratulations to all involved in the project... and here's hoping the game is a smash hit! Wing Commander fans may remember that Mythic recently allowed us to archive a massive collection of Origin's relics - so we can say with some authority that they have a great team which deserves all possible success! Here's the press release, courtesy of Business Wire:

FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LET THE WORLDWIDE WAAAGH! BEGIN! Mythic Entertainment, an Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) studio, today launched the highly anticipated MMORPG, Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™ (WAR), in North America, Europe and the Oceanic territories. With the game’s servers now officially live, all players are invited to enter WAR’s grim fantasy world, swear allegiance to the armies of Order or Destruction, and experience the glory of Realm vs. Realm™ combat.

“The Day of Reckoning is finally at hand and I am pleased to invite players to take their first steps into the Warhammer Fantasy universe,” said Mark Jacobs, co-founder and general manager of Mythic Entertainment. “The stage is set and the combatants are ready - it’s time to go to WAR!”

WAR offers a number of subscription options for eager recruits:

• Monthly Subscription: $14.99 USD
• 3-Month Subscription: $41.97 ($13.99 per month) USD
• 6-Month Subscription: $77.94 ($12.99 per month) USD
• Players entering the Age of Reckoning can look forward to invading enemy lands, assaulting imposing fortresses, and sacking sprawling capital cities for the glory of your Realm. They will wield devastating magic and deadly weapons, battle monstrous creatures, and join their brothers-in-arms in epic Public Quests™. Players can climb the Bastion Stair, carry their Guild Banner into battle, and unlock the infinite secrets of the Tome of Knowledge as they travel the world. The wait is over - the Age of Reckoning has begun and war is everywhere!

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is now in stores everywhere at an MSRP of $49.99. Available for PC, WAR is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. Prepaid Game Time™ cards are also available at most game retailers. For more information, visit http://www.warhammeronline.com/.

About Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning™

Experience the glory of Realm vs. Realm! Declare your allegiance and join thousands of mighty heroes on the battlefields of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, the new MMORPG from Mythic Entertainment, the creators of Dark Age of Camelot™. Enter a grim world of perpetual conflict to fight for the Realms of Order (Dwarfs, High Elves, and Empire) or Destruction (Greenskins, Dark Elves, and Chaos). Invade enemy lands, besiege imposing fortresses, and sack sprawling capital cities for the glory of your Realm. Wield devastating magic and deadly weapons, battle monstrous creatures, and join your brothers-in-arms in epic Public Quests™. Climb the Bastion Stair, carry your Guild Banner into battle, and unlock the infinite secrets of the Tome of Knowledge as you travel the world. So sharpen your blade and unleash your inner mutation. The Age of Reckoning has begun and WAR IS EVERYWHERE!

Fastidiously Fixing Fralthra

Here is the mostly complete Fralthra model. I have not added one thing that was not already present in some aspect of the WCII models (in fact, excluding the running lights, everything used is from the original Fralthra model). The textures are rather bright, but this appears to be an unavoidable consequence of exporting to .obj from .max. [At least, in this version. Presumably Autodesk has fixed this in their newest versions.] I had tried to export to .3ds, but problems emerged during the export process that I lacked the energy to solve.

This is not a replication; it is a reconstruction. The model, aside from the rear segment, which remains missing, is complete and the textures are the original ones; all that was necessary was to apply them (and thankfully, the mapping coordinates for them have remained intact.) I have done my best to repair this model, but quite frankly very little needed to be done, and were I perhaps more experienced, had tools closer to the original, I could have had an easier time of it; nevertheless, at this time, this is probably close to the best that can be hoped for this fine ship.

Any errors that may eventually appear will, of course, be my own. Thanks be to Origin for designing and building this, and all the other, models.

Didn't The Sivar Weapon Crush This?

EXCLUSIVE GAMES WORKSHOP MINIATURE - GRUMLOK AND GAZBAG
From the Age of Reckoning to your tabletop battle! Based on original characters from the MMORPG and designed by Games Workshop specifically for the Collector's Edition, this official Warhammer metal miniature depicts the Greenskin warboss, GRUMLOK, and his shaman, GAZBAG, in rich detail. (Assembly and painting required.)

ORIGINAL GRAPHIC NOVEL - WARHAMMER ONLINE: PRELUDE TO WAR
The forces of Order and Destruction collide under the red Chaos moon! Commissioned exclusively for the Collector's Edition, WARHAMMER ONLINE: PRELUDE TO WAR is a full-color, 128-page hardcover graphic novel that sets the stage for the start of the game. Written by acclaimed Games Workshop writer Graham McNeill, the oversized book is richly illustrated by Chad Hardin, Joe Abraham, Rahsan Ekedal, Tony Parker, and Kevin Hopgood. Each of the graphic novel's six chapters tells a unique story about the armies in the game, and together they detail the events leading up to the Age of Reckoning:

ART BOOK - THE ART OF WARHAMMER ONLINE
A stunning collection of art that gave birth to the Age of Reckoning. THE ART OF WARHAMMER ONLINE is a 224-page hardcover collection of original art from the game. Each of the glossy, full-color pages showcases the talented work of our concept artists and offers a glimpse at a world in the making.

BONUS IN-GAME ITEM - THE LIBRAMS OF INSIGHT
Wisdom is its own reward. Readers of the Librams of Insight are granted special insight into their own actions and earn experience at a higher rate for a limited time. (XP-gain modifier for 60 minutes, 3 uses, 90 minute reuse timer.)

BONUS IN-GAME CONTENT - QUESTS, REWARDS, AND TITLES
New adventures and just rewards await players on the battlefields of WAR! Purchasers of the Collector's Edition will begin their adventures in the Age of Reckoning with twelve (12) bonus quests awaiting them in their Tome of Knowledge. Each quest offers an exciting in-game reward, as well as a unique character title, to those that complete the challenges before them.

BONUS IN-GAME CONTENT - CHARACTER HEADS
Stand out in a crowd with a look unlike anyone else's! The WAR Collector's Edition includes twelve (12) bonus heads for additional character customization options. Each race gets a truly distinctive look (with male and female versions) that is sure to turn heads on the battlefields and be the envy of everyone in the army.

As an added bonus, players who pre-order the Collector's Edition will receive two exclusive in-game items, guaranteed access to the Open Beta, and special early access to the live game.

Annual Awards Kick Off Soon

This is a reminder that our annual Fan Project & Web Site of the Year contest begins soon. Email vote@wcnews.com to recommend the Wing Commander web sites, game mods or original projects that helped make 2006 a great year for fans. You can find a list of the past winners here.

Hornet Day Continues

There's something about the Hornet that keeps drawing people back. Maybe it has to do with it being the first craft that many of us flew in the original Wing Commander. Previously we posted high res scans of the WC1 Blueprints for those that could use another detailed look at them. Howie's classic model is also available here. Using that same model, Tim Peel created a fantastic wallpaper a while back, and SabreAce made one too. Alpha 1-1 even built a Hornet out of balsa wood. A super stylized version appeared in this ad for the SNES Secret Missions. The trusty little fighter also made appearances in screenshots for a number of fan projects over the years.

EA Mythic Personnel Helping Out With UO

These are exciting days for MMORPG fans here at EA. With the acquisition of Mythic, the UO team will be working with the creative folks who brought us Dark Age of Camelot and are hard at work on the spectacular-looking Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. I’m thrilled that the UO team and Mythic will work together to forge Britannia’s future.

There is much to talk about with our new partners, and it will take some time to review and finalize our plans. Because we need to take that time, we are postponing the announcement that we were going to make this week. The in-game fiction cycle will take a break for a bit and will return soon.

See you in Britannia,
Darkscribe

Playtesters Guided to Privateer: The Reckoning

Wonder what's going on with Privateer: The Reckoning? Well, Bob McDob was kind enough to send us a status report! The word is good: a lot of progress has been made turning Freelancer into Privateer... and now they need playtesters! Do you love Freelancer? Will they have to pry your dead carcass off of the mouse? Then I 'Reckon you should give them a hand!

After a long hiatus due to hardware problems, and a slight diversion to the WCFL project, the Privateer: The Reckoning mod for Freelancer is back on. Most of the work has been completed, with code tightened up and new features added. All that's left now is the work of playtesting the thing till the bugs are dead, dead, dead. That's where you come in. We need beta testers to inform us exactly where the problems are in the mod, since one person with a day job programming the mod in his spare time can't possibly find them all. If you've played Reckoning before, you'll find new ships (the Bearcat, Panther and Hades) and weapons (Stormfire and Dragonfly). If you haven't, give it a try!

If you're interested, contact warzog@netmdc.com. With work shifting to the Epsilon Sector. mod, this will very likely be the among the final versions of Reckoning set in Gemini. Now may be your last chance to be part of the greatest Wing Commander Privateer Total Conversion for Freelancer ever!

New Wing Commander FL Sets Stage For Next Phase

I've run through the missions with most of the ships. The lightest one was the Arrow, and that was a real bear! The 4th mission tears up the lighter ships really fast, so save, save, save! All of the gates out of New York are open after mission 2, so Privateering is easier, as is finding that favorite ship. Besides the Drayman (small transport), Hades (the Osiris) and the Panther (a new Bounty-Hunter ship), a new version of the Bearcat (the Order's ship) has been added.

Similar to Privateer: The Reckoning, the WCFL-Epsilon mod will take place in the Epsilon Sector and will be a Privateer-like mod. Epsilon was chosen because of the ratio of Confed-Border Worlds-Kilrathi systems, which I'm hoping will give a new challenge to the mod. The ships are all ready, and most of the bases are too. I've got a few DLL's to update and the "Border Worlds" to create before I dive into making the entire sector. Asteroids will be all over the place. A few mine fields and lots of remote outposts are in the plans. I've already added the Reaper and Steltek guns, and I'm looking into adding some other weapon systems as well.

BTW, I've received several requests from people who'd like to start servers for the WCFL mods. My answer is always "The More, the Merrier!"