I Suppose They Will Jetlag.Us All

It's In the Cards

While it was released in the wake of Wing Commander III, the CCG isn't all 'Heart of the Tiger' references! Here's some exciting points you can use to dazzle your friends at dinner parties:

• "Maniac Solution" (Terran Maneuver) comes from the Wing Commander I & II Ultimate Strategy Guide -- it's the chapter heading on page 119 and refers to Lt. Col. LaFong's plan to use Maniac to fly special solo missions.
• "Mr. Kat" (Terran Luck) comes from Voices of War, the Wing Commander: Armada manual. Mr. Kat was a stuffed cat doll the young son of a TCS Lexington pilot sent him for good luck.
• Three of the four Wing Commander I squadrons appear in the CCG! "Killer Bee Squadron" flies Hellcat Vs instead of Hornets, "Blue Devil Squadron" flies Arrow Vs instead of Scimitars... and "Black Lion Squadron" and is an elite unit flying Hellcat Vs instead of Rapiers or Rapier IIs (their motto, "Pride of the Vegan Sector", refers to the events of Wing Commander I). Star Slayer Squadron, the Raptor unit, does not appear.
• The names of the Kilrathi capital ships are steeped in Wing Commander lore. "Destroyer Bordrav" is named after the Bordrav Feeding Colony from Voices of War, "Dreadnaught Vengeance of Vukar Tag" is named after the Imperial planet attacked in End Run and Cruiser Shalk'Kuz Mang continues a naming tradition from Wing Commander II (K'Tithrak Mang).
• The "TCS Agincourt" (Terran Modifier) is named after the Waterloo-class Cruiser that assists the Concordia in Wing Commander II.
• The Kilrathi "Transport" modifier may look out of place to you... it's the model used in the 3DO port of Wing Commander III. It later appears in a Wing Commander IV cutscene and was also present in the very first WC3 screenshots ever released by Origin.
• The "Red Rangers" squadron is from Voices of War -- they're the squadron which issues a TrainSim challenge to the crew of the TCS Lexington. Here they fly Hellcat Vs.
• "Too Much Vak'qu" (Terran Luck) is a reference to the Kilrathi alcohol introduced in Fleet Action. The Terran equivalent, "Too Much Fire Liquor" comes from Freedom Flight.
• "Blooms of the Birha Tree" and "Crimson Birha Squadron" are references to Freedom Flight, which created the red-leaved Kilrathi tree native to Ghorah Khar.
• The four Terran pilot awards cards are the same medals awarded to pilots in Wing Commander I. They are: "Bronze Star", "Silver Star", "Gold Star" and "Pewter Planet". There is no Golden Sun card.
• The four Excalibur squadrons are patterned after the Arthurian callsigns used by Blair's Gold Squadron for the final attack on Kilrah in the Heart of the Tiger novelization - particularly "Lancelot Squadron", to the book's Lacelot Flight.
• "Imperial Security" (Kilrathi Luck) comes from Freedom Flight. The organization functions as both the Empire's internal security and intelligence departments.
• The CCG is one of the few Wing Commander spinoffs to remember that the Kilrathi deity Sivar is female, as introduced by Fleet Action! Many Kilrathi squadron cards make reference to 'the goddess'.
• "Zu'kara" (Terran Luck) was first introduced in Fleet Action. It is the Kilrathi ritual suicide.
• Six of the eight noble clans appear in the CCG. The clans were first introduced in Secret Missions 2: Crusade and their structure was established in Super Wing Commander and Fleet Action. The two which do not appear in the CCG are the nar Sutaghi and the nar Qarg. In addition to the six noble clans, the CCG uses the famous Hhallas name in creating "Kukubno nar Hhallas".