I'm a recovering Falconholic, and while I wait for the holy grail of 1.08, I also like to play space sims. The Wing Commander series is a great deal of fun, and while I own the first Freespace and Independence War, I have not tried them out yet.

I am a big X-Wing Alliance player however. Although being a space simmer is kind of heresy at this site (notice the sparseness of posts in Space categories), I am interested in learning about mods for Alliance. Does anyone have any info on how to change ship appearance or how to fly the normally computer only ships? Additionally, does anyone know how to utilize the NCA patch to run the new missions created by folks like Ms. Talon? I'd be interested in learning information from anybody, and I'd also be interested in setting up a multiplayer game.

Glad to hear of a fellow XWA nut at Combatsim. Use xwingalliance.com as the site for all the links/mods you need. You can get files that will let you fly ANY ship in XWA from a Zero-G Stormtrooper to an Assault Transport to a Super Star Destroyer. You can get files to add new ships - the ones from Wing Commander and Battlestar Galactica to name but a few, and there is even a project well underway to convert XWA to atmospheric combat a la Rogue Squadron 3D. Many of these ships are IMO superior in execution to the Lucasarts' ones.

Speaking of which, a new project has started to replace the poorer ship models in the game (the X-Wing for example). With months of practice behind them, the guys doing this seem to be doing an OUTSTANDING job. Have a look at the X-Wing pics on the site www.outpostd34.com/xwed/xwaupgrade and drool.