A string of personal struggles has hindered my ability to test battles, but that will soon change. In the mean time, I have begun work on the updated EHBL. This new EHBL will eliminate the need for a separate EH Ship Patcher, use unencrypted missions, and will work for all versions of each game (floppy, CD, 95, and GoG; including X-Wing) and for each of the 3 major operating system families (Windows, Mac, and Linux). When it is completed, I will need testers to verify the Mac functionality, but it should work just the same as on Linux. The codebase is written in Python 3.4.3 due to a job I intend on pursuing. And to insure that any future revisions will not have to be done from the ground up like this one, the source code will be published on the TAC site as well as my personal GitHub account once completed. And now, for all of you drooling at the thought of this new development, here's a preview of the new UI:

Of course this is still a non-functional pre-alpha as I build the various backup, patching, and launching routines for each game and version. The text on each button will show the battle type and number on the first line and the title on the second and, if needed, third line. There are options to have both DOS and Win95 versions of TIE Fighter and X-Wing configured and the ability to swap between them with a simple selection within the options.

I'm hoping to have this project finished before the end of the year, but this will obviously be contingent on my personal schedule. Currently UI and backups are all that have been completed. Those were the easy parts. Now I have to cipher out Darkhill and Ender's patching system and create the launch system that will call on all the other routines.


In non-EHBL news, the TAC roster has been trimmed. We're now down to 5 members including myself. There were a few members that had gone AWOL in their other positions or had no time to spare for TAC duties and I hadn't noticed during the lull in testing. So now the TAC roster consists of 4 of our most skilled mission creators and Dunta Polo, who has written some of the most detailed bug reports on the TC database.

Competitions

Ace of the TIE Corps

Every Single Player mission flown wins a point, whoever has most points at the end of the month wins.
Each mission only counts once for the year, but missions flown in previous years can be reflown. The Kill Board statistics on the TC website are final.
IS-GW/SW/BW for top 3 monthly, at the end of the year the top 4 pilots win IS-PW/GW/SW/BW.

February Winners (listed in TAC Report #5 as January, oops!)
IS-GW: AD Mark Schueler
IS-SW: GN Coranel Both
IS-BW: LT Milo Antu

March Winners
IS-GW: GN Coranel Both
IS-SW: HA Anahorn Dempsey
IS-BW: GN Golbez Harvey

April Winners
IS-GW: GN Golbez Harvey
IS-SW: HA Anahorn Dempsey
IS-BW: FA Elwood the Brave

May Winners
IS-GW: LT Flavius Aetius
IS-SW: LT Michael LeRoy
IS-BW: LT Rathe Alima

June Winners
IS-GW: HA Anahorn Dempsey
IS-SW: GN Pickled Yoda
IS-BW: AD Mark Schueler

July Winners
IS-GW: HA Anahorn Dempsey
IS-SW: CM Zeke Freeman
IS-BW: COL John T. Clark

The Seven Year Glitch
It has been 7 years since the TIE version of "CDNG: Paper Round" was submitted to the TAC Office. Now, seven days after their release, member of the TIE Corps can compete for the top seven scores in a competition lasting seven weeks.

Until March 21st, simply fly both of the newly released TIE-CD 1 and TIE-CD 2, and submit your pilot files as usual. Winners will be determined by their combined score across both battles.

The top laserless score earns an IS-GW, second earns an IS-SW, third through seventh will receive an IS-BW.

1st IS-GW: AD Plif
2nd IS-SW: GN Coranel Both
3rd IS-BW: HA Anahorn Dempsey
4th IS-BW: AD Mark Schueler