Bloodfang Blasts Black (Gate)

The most famous Wing Commander "in joke" of all time is located in Ultima VII. It's actually built into a minor quest--if you search a wheat field due east of Britain you will find... a Kilrathi Bloodfang-class fighter! Clicking on the fighter even plays the Kilrathi theme (Ultima version available here)!

When you talk to the farm's owner, Mack, you learn that not only did he see the ship land but he also stabbed and ate the Kilrathi who emerged from it. A unique solution to the furball threat if ever there was one. Here's the complete conversation:

You see a farmer with wild eyes widened in excitement.
"Avatar! Thou hast returned!" exclaims Mack.
Name: "I am Mack."
Job: "I am a farmer, though most folks just call me a lunatic."
Farmer: "On my farm I raise chickens and grow vegetables. If thou dost need work, talk to me!"
Lunatic: "Thou dost also think so, eh? But I tell thee what I say is true! There are creatures visiting us from another place in the stars! I have seen them!"
Creatures: "They are big mean ugly liontigers! Or is that tigerlions? They are ferocious and they want to eat us!"
Another Place: "All I can say is that there are certainly no such creatures in this world! Nor is their ship like any that has ever been seen anywhere in Britannia."
Seen Them: "With mine own eyes I have seen a star creature and the inexplicable conveyance which enabled it to travel to Britannia! I swear to thee! I am completely sane! I have proof!"
Proof (#1): "Go and look behind my farm in the middle of the field. Take a look for thyself and thou shalt see my proof."
Proof (#2): "I told thee I was not a looney! Didst thou see the proof?"
No: "Thou must go and look at what is in my field! Then come back here, for I must talk about this with someone who knows that I am not a looney!"
Yes: "Did I not tell thee that I am no loonie? Still, my story of how I did come across this thing is beyond belief."
Story (#1): "I like to stay up late. Sometimes I see bright lights flash across the sky. No one else ever pays them any mind. But one night I see this bright light come crashing down and it lands in my field."
Bright Lights: "I always watch for moving bright lights in the night sky. That is part of why people in the town say I am a loonie. But is what I do so different from what they do in the orrery?"
Lands: "After the explosion and crash I ran out to my field. There I saw the strange machine that thou hast seen, only it was glowing hot. I was terrified. But then the top of the machine started to open."
Machine: "It resembled a bird, but it was not a bird!"
Open: "I could not move from the spot as I saw the strange ship open. From out of the top came the vicious tigerlion. There was a savage hunger in its eyes."
Hunger: "In other words, it looked like it might eat me!"
Tigerlion: "It came at me like a predator comes after prey. It was so fast that I could not even move. I thought I was going to be killed for certain. It reached me in a second. It looked into mine eyes, and then it died."
Died: "What it and I had failed to notice was that I was holding mine hoe. It had once been accidentally enchanted by a passing mage, and it works wondrously in the fields. I use it for everything! The tigerlion had run itself through upon it. As it died, the thing spoke."
Spoke: "It said two words. "Kill Wrathy." I do not know who this Wrathy person is, or why the tigerlion wanted me to kill him. But I do know I sure get worried now whenever I see moving lights in the night sky."
Hoe: "I am sure thou dost know about the plague of looniness that has come to afflict all of the mages in the world. It was several years ago that I brought my broken hoe to a mage called Mumb. Fixing things was all he was good for anymore. There was also some fighter who wanted Mumb to enchant his sword, turning it into "The Sword of Death". It appears poor Mumb got confused and that fighter came back and killed him because the man wound up with a sword that was only good for cutting weeds. I could never figure out exactly what happened. It appears that old Mumb made mine hoe into the Hoe of Destruction! Unfortunately, the hoe is lost."
Lost: "Well, 'tis not really lost. It is locked up in my shed. It is the key to the shed that is lost! I think I might have accidentally used it as a fishhook when I was fishing on the banks of Lock Lake. So now I cannot get into my shed. One would think I -am- a looney!"
Kill Wrathy: "I am quite certain that was it, or something like that. Anyway the tigerlion itself proved to be quite delicious."
Story (#2): "I have been looking every night for another sign of those things but I have not seen any since that last time I told thee about it."
It's too bad the Avatar didn't try and fly the fighter; he is, after all, a qualified space ace... and one imagines it would have made short work of The Guardian.
--
Update published on . 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.

WC2 Video Playback Technique Developed
2014-01-05 -- The ingenious hacking of WC1/2 continues! HCl's latest achievement is understanding how the video sequences play in the WC2 engine. Items such as the games' intro movies and landing clips are a type of FMV scripted into the game.

Prophecy OEM Upgrade Package Ready For Testing
2014-01-04 -- Last August we covered the hard-to-find Prophecy OEM release that came bundled with the Real3D Starfighter graphics card. The Starfighter was an i740 (Intel) based graphics card for Pentium (PCI) or Pentium II (AGP) systems that supported Direct3D and OpenGL. Included in the package was the first of three Prophecy CD's, complete with cinematics.

Defiant Few Episode 4 Released
2014-01-03 -- The long-awaited fourth chapter of Wing Commander: A Defiant Few has been released! It continues the epic Confed fight for survival against the insectoid hordes. The action starts immediately with our heroes fully engaged in an exciting battle full of intense dog fighting, authentic Wing Commander sound effects and very creepy Nephilim taunts.

Now Focus on the Future
2014-01-02 -- The new year also means it's time to run our traditional January poll. Based on what's happened lately and what you think about the year ahead, how do you think 2014 will be for Wing Commander?The last poll asked which fighters everyone considered their favorite in Armada.

Happy New Year! (A Look Back at 2013)
2014-01-01 -- Happy New Year Wingnuts! It's been another big year for Wing Commander fans, and 2014 should be even better. The biggest news stories often arrive out of nowhere, so it's exciting to think about what might happen next.

SCRIOS: Space Combat Tabletop Gaming
2013-12-31 -- Longtime Wing Commander fan Richard H has spent the last couple of years quietly working on a new tabletop RPG. SCRIOS focuses on spaceship combat in 3D space, using the classic 20-sided dice. To make the game accessible and fun to play, the mathematics behind 3D combat and maneuvering is kept simple through a number of game aids.

Sketching Out A Bearcat
2013-12-30 -- TurboTim is still working on the Bearcat model that reported on back in October. The latest update adds a rough cockpit design and maneuvering thrusters. Despite only making a brief appearance in the series, the Bearcat is incredibly popular with players and fan projects alike.

Engineers Making Wing Commander Ships Space-Worthy
2013-12-29 -- Kefeinzel over at the RSI forums has been spending time making Wing Commander ships for Space Engineers. Space Engineers, available on "Steam Early Access" is described as a "sandbox game about engineering, construction and maintenance of space works" in which players build space ships and stations, and pilot ships, among other tasks. Here is the dralthi and hornet I made in space engineer, both fly properly and are fast and fun :DLastly, as kind of a teaser, here is the flightdeck for the bengal I'm working on now.

Last Minute GOG Sale Puts Wing Commander 75% Off Again!
2013-12-28 -- The mega GOG holiday sale ends this weekend, and they're going out with a bang. Wing Commander's 75% off sale is being rerun one more time. We know that you most likely took advantage of this already, but the deal can be gifted to your friends!

RSI Hits Mega $35 Million Milestone
2013-12-28 -- Roberts Space Industries hit yet another crowd funding peak this week. December hasn't been quite up to November's unbelievable $7.8 million haul, but it has been enough to bring the Cloud Imperium Games' total up to a whopping $35 million.

Wing Commander Works on DOSBox for Android
2013-12-27 -- Forums member danr recently got an Asus tablet and was able to get Privateer running by installing DOSBox for Android:I was delighted to find it worked first time!...but disappointed to report that despite the smooth playing of the cutscenes, the spaceflight is far too laggy to make playing worthwhile. It could well be that a beefier tablet device could handle the heavy DosBox shell much better, my Acer is somewhat low-end at only 1.

GOG WC4 Video Patch Updated
2013-12-26 -- A few weeks ago we reported on a rare glitch in the GOG WC4 release where movie sequences have sound but no picture. HCl has been working with affected players to diagnose and solve this issue and a new version of his patch is now available. Here are HCl's complete instructions:This package (wc4gog_1.

Merry Christmas!
2013-12-25 -- The entire CIC Staff would like to wish Wingnuts around the world a Merry Christmas! To help us celebrate, Marc has continued with his amazingly creative artistic tradition. This year his Ferret Rudolph sits on the deck with presents while a Christmas Yorktown carrier hangs in the background.

Merry Christmas Again!
2013-12-25 -- This year we're lucky enough to have holiday commemorations from two talented artists from the Wing Commander community! Klavs put together this picture that features his WC1 lineup of ships as reindeer and the Tiger's Claw as their sleigh. Great job, and thanks for keeping Wingnuts in your thoughts at this time of year!

Graphics of Christmas Past
2013-12-25 -- Every year after seeing Marc's new image, we have to go back and check out all his past ones again. So we've made that process easier by putting them all together here. Enjoy!

A Christmas Party - Richard Garriott Style!
2013-12-24 -- Wing Commander fans are well aware that Origin founder Richard Garriott de Cayeux is an outspoken supporter of space exploration. His trip to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz has been well documented, but it's a lesser known fact that he's actually worked directly with NASA in a consulting role. They wouldn't hire him as an astronaut decades ago, but he was a perfect fit for the Education and Public Outreach Committee of the NASA Advisory Council.

Last Minute GOG Sale Puts Wing Commander 75% Off!
2013-12-23 -- It's coming down to the wire - have you finished your Christmas shopping? If not, GOG is giving Wingnuts one more opportunity to download Wing Commander at a discount, and this one's a killer deal! Virtually the entire series: ten games and six expansion packs plus numerous bonus features are just $11.

Wing Commander Contest: Foundry Flair for Fans!
2013-12-23 -- To celebrate the addition of Erin Roberts' team, Foundry 42, to the Cloud Imperium Games fold, Roberts Space Industries is running a contest for some amazing Wing Commander merchandise! The top prize is Chris Roberts' original leather crew jacket from the development of Wing Commander 3. There's also an incredible 3.

It's Nomination Time Again
2013-12-22 -- Incredibly, this year is already winding down and a new one is nearly upon us! That means it's also time for our fifteenth annual Wing Commander Web Site/Fan Project of the Year awards. The CIC doesn't rely on original content to keep the news page full - it's the daily activities of thousands of Wingnuts, dozens of active projects and a network of other dedicated websites that keeps everything going.

Lord Vader Texts Admiral Tolywn
2013-12-21 -- Wulf tipped us off about a series of new Sprint commercials featuring none other than James Earl Jones and Malcolm McDowell. These two sci-fi greats have been paired together to honor the important things people do with their cell phones. There's oven a dozen you can find on the Sprint YouTube channel.

Time For Some Gemini Shore Leave
2013-12-20 -- Wing Commander From the Ashes has kicked off a new chapter. Silent Hunter reports that the forum-based WC RPG has zeroed in on the Jolson pleasure planet in XXN-1927 for its latest activities. If you enjoy the Gemini Sector but always wanted to fly there on behalf of the Confederation, this one's for you!

Scooby Sharpens His Blade
2013-12-19 -- ScoobyDoo has extended his lead as the most prolific modeler of Privateer 2 ships. His latest addition is the Blade, a fearsome Kindred ship. Its heavy weaponry and unique design made it a scary sight in the Tri-System.

GOG Adds Armada to Mac Compatible Lineup
2013-12-18 -- Good Old Games has upgraded several of its Origin games with Macintosh OS X compatibility! In theory, it's possible to take any of the games' files and get things running with DOSBox, but not all players are interesting in going through the effort to set it up just right. We've previously passed word back that people really like the ease and convenience of the Mac installers, and GOG has responded that it can be tricky to come up with a customized solution that runs well automatically on the vast majority of machines.

Super Wing Commander Crew All Lined Up
2013-12-17 -- Hopefully this attractive cast of characters is familiar to you - they're the faces of Tiger's Claw heroes in Super Wing Commander! We've mentioned this Mac/3DO port many times over the years, so even if most Wingnuts haven't played it, they recognize the general look and feel. Some have questioned why the Asian characters look so white, why Shotglass is suddenly black and even why Paladin is sporting an eye patch...

Raiders Resort to Assaulting Rapier Under Repair
2013-12-16 -- AAN's latest miniature model mockup features one of Klavs' fantastic Rapier 3D prints anchoring a Confed base under attack from the Kilrathi. The poor Terran soldiers are caught off guard by a kat onslaught. AAN's unpainted models start life at the Dream Foundry and the colored Rapier is made at Terran Fleet Supply.

GOG Bundles Prophecy in Space Sim Pack
2013-12-16 -- Fans who still need a copy of Wing Commander Prophecy & Secret Ops have a short window of opportunity to grab them for 66% off. Both games are a part of the Space Sim Succession pack for just $1.99 total!

WCWorkShop Develops WC1 Cutscene Generation Technique
2013-12-15 -- delMar has continued to make excellent progress over at WCWorkShop.net. Some of the recent additions relate to programming methodology and savegame generation for the original Wing Commander.

Lunar Rover Lands, SotA Preview Released, Busy Weekend!
2013-12-15 -- The first new lander and rover vehicle since 1976 successfully set down on the moon and began exploring this weekend. China now joins the USA, Russia and Origin founder Richard Garriott as the owners of such equipment on our natural satellite. While the outspoken space exploration promoter is no doubt excited at the news, Mr.

Let's Watch Wing Commander: The Secret Missions
2013-12-14 -- centaurianmudpig has kicked off a series of video walkthroughs for Wing Commander: The Secret Missions. Each mission in the game has been recorded in 'long play' format with complete commentary. Keeping the audio track in a documentary such as this from being overly repetitive is no easy task, but Mr.

GOG Sale Slashes Wing Commander Prices In Half
2013-12-13 -- Good Old Games has kicked off their annual holiday mega sale, and there are some great savings out there! For starters, almost their entire catalog is 50% off, including all eight Wing Commander releases. Each is just $3 now - less than $25 for the entire DOS/Windows series!

Follow or Contact Us

Forums: Recent Posts

    Current Poll

    Where to Buy

    WCPedia: Recent Contributions

      Site Staff