Pilots, man your planes!

Wing Commander Saga: The Darkest Dawn concludes a forty-year galactic struggle between the Terran Confederation and the Kilrathi Empire, an imperialistic, xenophopic alien race. Victory and survival for humanity can only be bought at a terrible cost. Gather your wingmen and face the enemy. Make your mark as the Confederation faces its darkest dawn. Learn More

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  • We have finally brought you Wing Commander Saga’s mission editor. Along with giving players the ability to create new missions for the game, the kit comes with an autopilot template. Read More
  • As an extra for all of you, we’ve got just what you need if you can't get enough of the game - we have decided to release the original music of Wing Commander Saga: The Darkest Dawn. Read More
  • It’s been a ten days since the Saga's release and we wanted to share details on what we’re working on. Our SDK is shaping up nicely. It should make the process of modding possible. Read More
  • After ten years in development, Wing Commander Saga: The Darkest Dawn has been released! It features 55 missions in two campaigns, over 70 cutscenes and over 11,000 lines of voice work. Read More
  • Our release was met with such extraordinary demand that our website was unavailable at first due to server flooding. These numbers are a solid indication that space sims are still alive and well! Read More
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Ship ordnance is categorised into two types - energy guns and missiles. Guns include all multiple-fire blasters that draw energy from a ship's reserves to function. Missiles, on the other hand, include all single-shot munitions, both dumb-mechanism warheads and those equipped with targeting systems.

Ionic Pulse Cannon


 

Ion

 

Name Ionic Pulse Cannon
Penetration 30 du
Energy 30 nJ
Range 4500 k
Refire Delay 0.35 sec

Found mainly on fighters and also used as an anti-fighter gun, the ion cannon imparts energy and radiation damage to targets. Charged atomic particles are magnetically accelerated to high speeds, then discharged in pulses. This cannon delivers more damage than a laser and can cause severe pilot injuries. However, the ion cannon has higher energy consumption and a slower retire rate than the laser.

Laser Cannon


 

Laser
Name Laser Cannon
Penetration 18 du
Energy 10 nJ
Range 5000 k
Refire Delay 0.25 sec

The laser is the backbone of today's energy guns. Consistently improved upon and perfected over the last half-century, the laser provides the standard against which most other blasters are judged. Low maintenance and a low energy cost make it standard armament for almost every ship in existence. The laser is ideally suited to deep-space combat (in atmospheric conditions, rays refract and lose their effectiveness), and has no effect against shields on larger ships.

Mass Driver Cannon

Mass Driver
Name Mass Driver Cannon
Penetration 35 du
Energy 12 nJ
Range 2000 k
Refire Delay 0.30 sec

A solid gun in either case, the mass driver cannon is common on both fighters and light defender ships in the fleet. It uses a linear accelerator to fire projectiles of metallic mass at a target. The mass driver is a staple in the Terran arsenal and has even been used against planets and asteroids. A long-range gun, it requires less energy per shot than most blasters and has a relatively fast retire rate.

Meson Blaster

Meson
Name Meson Blaster
Penetration 35 du
Energy 8 nJ
Range 4500 k
Refire Delay 0.40 sec

The meson blaster is a unique, powerful gun that utilises subatomic particles with a short half-life. These particles, called mesons, are accelerated and flung toward a target. The most damage occurs once the particles decay inside the target - they cause internal explosions and give off radiation. Energised shields can stop these particles, and atmospheric conditions render this gun ineffective.

Neutron Gun

Neutron
Name Neutron Gun
Penetration 40 du
Energy 20 nJ
Range 2500 k
Refire Delay 0.40 sec

The neutron gun was specifically created as a weapon for medium and heavy fighters when the war first began. It releases energized blasts of charged neutrons, drawing more power then the mass driver or the laser. For the majority of the past two decades, no other energy blaster was able to provide an equivalent level of destructive capability. The down side is that neutron guns heat up rapidly and eat up power at an alarming rate. The neutron gun's lack of range has led many foolhardy and underskilled pilots into close-quarter combat for which they were ill-prepared; some never made it home.

Recently Terran scientists have been able to come up with new energy weapons with more hitting power, longer range and less power drain, in effect making neutron guns all but obsolete. As of right now, Confed is in the process of now retiring all neutron guns in service and replacing them with particle cannons.

Particle Cannon

Particle
Name Particle Cannon
Penetration 43 du
Energy 22 nJ
Range 4200 k
Refire Delay 0.35 sec

The particle cannon is perhaps the most significant energy technology we possess. Prototypes were first developed three years into the war, when a similar cannon was extracted from a captured Kilrathi fighter. Engineers built a comparable version capable of hurling minute nuclear particles at high speeds. Any impact results in a small nuclear explosion that gives off blast, heat and radiation damage. This gun is useless, however, in atmospheric conditions.

Photon Cannon


 

Photon

 

Name Photon Cannon
Penetration 32 du
Energy 30 nJ
Range 4500 k
Refire Delay 0.45 sec

When Terran forces first went to war, the photon cannon was the most popular gun next to the standard laser. It emits laser pulses and solicits similar effects upon impact. However, the photon cannon drains more energy and has a slower refire rate. This gun requires little maintenance - the mirror robotics are the only adjustable component - and functions best in deep-space combat.

Plasma Gun

Plasma
Name Plasma Gun
Penetration 67 du
Energy 44 nJ
Range 3000 k
Refire Delay 0.50 sec

The plasma gun was originally developed to attack heavy fighters and corvettes with light armor. It uses electrically charged hydrogen molecules that are in a state of near-fusion. These molecules are similar to those found in the inner plasma of most young stars. Upon impact, plasma projectiles cause radiation, blast and heat damage.

Reaper Cannon


Reaper
Name Reaper Cannon
Penetration 35 du
Energy 17 nJ
Range 4500 k
Refire Delay 0.30 sec

The reaper cannon evolved from the standard ion cannon, and its refire rate is slightly faster. This gun delivers high-speed pulses of charged atomic particles that give off energy and radiation damage. Fighters find this gun especially useful against ships with shields that regenerate quickly, and any ship with slow shield generation is sure to take damage.

Tachyon Cannon

Tachyon
Name Tachyon Cannon
Penetration 70 du
Energy 40 nJ
Range 3200 k
Refire Delay 0.35 sec

A power-hungry blaster, the tachyon gun is the most devastating energy gun found on Terran fighters. It slows down tachyon particles, which naturally travel faster than the speed of light. Once these particles ore decelerated and forced into streams, their potential damage increases monumentally. In several documented cases, the powerful tachyon gun has been used to attack the shields of capital ships.

Anti-Ship Missile


Torpedo

 

Name Torpedo
Speed 1000 k/s
Maneuverability 20 dps
Duration 14 sec
Lock Time 12 sec
Penetration 8000

A mainstay in both Terran and Kilrathi fleets, the torpedo is a large, maneuverable warhead used against capital ships and bases. It has a built-in image-recognition system that locks onto the target, and even laser turrets can't shoot it down. Although the lock time is longer than that of any other missile, the torpedo is the only fighter weapon that can easily destroy carriers.

Dumb-Fire (DF) Missile


Dumbfire

 

Name Dart
Speed 3000 k/s
Maneuverability 0 dps
Duration 3 sec
Lock Time 0 sec
Penetration 800

A simple weapon, the Dart dumbfire (DF) missile is a point-and-shoot weapon carried on almost every fighter in the Terran fleet. It is unjammable due to the absence of guidance systems, and costs less than any other missile type. The dumbfire doesn't require any type of lock and has no homing capability. Pilots find it most useful against targets with predictable reactions - at close range, a single dumbfire can diminish shields enough to plant a few devastating shots from an energy gun.

Heat-Seeking (HS) Missile


Heartseeker
Name Javelin
Speed 2000 k/s
Maneuverability 80 dps
Duration 5 sec
Lock Time 2 sec
Penetration 400

The Javelin heat-seeker (HS) is an inexpensive, simple weapon that has served in various armed forces since the late 1900s. The engines of fighters and capital ships generate significant heat, a fact that the HS uses to its advantage. The operation is simple - the missile tracks down the thermal signature of the target's engines. This requires the lock to be acquired from the rear. Heat-seekers, along with dumbfire missiles, are the most common missile carried on fighters.

Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) Missile


IFF
Name Pilum
Speed 1200 k/s
Maneuverability 80 dps
Duration 20 sec
Lock Time 0 sec
Penetration 250

The Pilum friend-or-foe (FF) missile was developed once ship systems were able to distinguish between friendly and enemy ships. Capable of identifying the distinctive Confederation ship signal, it makes a beeline for the nearest ship that isn't broadcasting that signal. This has resulted in the destruction of several Terran ships whose communications systems were damaged. In spite of this inherent danger, both sides continue to use the FF as standard armament for medium and heavy fighters. This missile doesn't require a lock, and it will acquire a new target if the current one is destroyed before detonation.

Image Recognition (IR) Missile


Spiculum
Name Spiculum
Speed 1600 k/s
Maneuverability 80 dps
Duration 15 sec
Lock Time 1 sec
Penetration 350

The Spiculum image-recognition (IR) missile uses computer imaging to identify and "memorise" a targeted ship. Once a fighter gains a lock and launches the IR, electronic and visual signatures specific to that target are copied to the missile's AI program. It's difficult to evade.

Testimonials

The reception for Wing Commander Saga has been enthusiastic. We experienced about 50,000 downloads in the first 24 hours after the release of the game. Check out what some of the reviewers have to say about The Darkest Dawn. Learn more