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Happy Birthday to DropShip Command!
January 28, 2003
by crowfoot
Five years ago, a little site burst onto the scene called DropShipCommand. Headed by PaleRider, the site
was designed to provide up-to-date news on the highly anticipated game MechCommander from FASA Interactive.
The site was expanded to cover MechWarrior 3, the MechWarrior 4 series, MechCommander 2, and most recently,
MechAssault for the XBox. During those 5 years we saw FASA Interactive change hands and eventually become part
of Microsoft Games. The DSC community has grown fairly large representing a diverse cross-section of players and
varied opinions on the games based on the BattleTech universe.
Over the next year, DSC will be greatly expanded. The domains battletech.net, mechwarrior.net, and mechwarrior.ws
will be absorbed into the DSC website. A conversion of the old DSC material will be done over time so it can mesh
with the new design.
In celebration of the site's 5 year anniversary, and as a thank you to the players that have supported the franchise
and the website,
we will have several nice giveaways for our readers. Stay tuned as we unveil several contests over the coming month.
Contests & Giveaways
(1) MechAssault T-shirt Giveaway! (ended 02.02.2003)
For this giveaway you need to have a copy of MechAssault. Open that manual up and find the contract memorandum. Open
up your email browser and shoot an email
with the WolfNet Transmission Code from that memorandum. Winners will be randomly selected from the emails received. If your email is chosen,
you get a black MechAssault T-shirt (size L only, sorry). This is not the same as the white T-shirt that was given
away by Gamestop. This shirt has the MechAssault logo on the front and the Cougar (from the cover) on the back.
winners: Matt "diomedes" Day (Australia) & James "Abaddon Ace" Wysocki (United States)
(2) Mercenaries Poster Giveaway! (ended 02.02.2003)
Up for grabs is a large (24" x 34") poster of the Mercenaries cover art. To acquire this poster, open up your manual for Mercenaries
and find the HPG transmission from the Mercenary Review and Bonding Commission (MRBC). Then open up your email browser
and send an email with
the "applicant number" you were assigned.
winner: Jeff "Propane" Hitchcock (Canada)
(3) MechWarrior: Dark Age Novel "Ghost War" Giveaway! (ended 02.18.2003)
Send in your name and callsign for a chance to grab a copy of the first novel released for the MechWarrior: Dark Age
timeline. This first book in the new timeline was written by Michael A. Stackpole and starts the groundwork
for many novels to come. If you still haven't convinced yourself to read a BattleTech novel, here's a chance to
get hooked. Send an email to be put into the drawing.
winners: Jason "Lord Kheops" Platten (Australia) & Lance "Crescent_Hawk0" Dunkelberger (United States)
(4) MechWarrior: Dark Age Zeus Giveaway! (ended 02.18.2003)
A Limited Edition Dark Age figure was made available when you preordered MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries through GameStop
or EBGames. If you missed that chance, here's another to grab a very useful piece in the Dark Age game. This Zeus-X
is piloted by Nikol Brahe who is a member of the Kell Hounds. The figure boasts Heavy Armor and Camouflage with
starting stats of Attack 10, Speed 6, and Defense 21. I have several of these up for grabs so send an email
with your name and callsign.
winners: Matt "diomedes" Day (Australia), Jeff "Avalanche" Bonin (United States),
and Dave "Napalm" Hodio (United States)
(5) Instant BattleTech Novel Collection! (ended 03.07.2003)
Send your name and callsign to be entered into a contest that will instantly fill your bookshelves with
a small BattleTech novel collection. This group of books includes both new books and used out of print material that
you cannot get at the bookstores. The collection includes: Star Lord, Black Dragon, Binding Force, Path of Glory,
The Dying Time, Illusions of Victory, Imminent Crisis, Dagger Point, Initiation to War, Patriots and Tyrants, and
Storms of Fate. Also included is five (5) autographed novels by auhthor Blaine Lee Pardoe that were signed specifically
for this event. Those books are Highlander Gambit, Roar of Honor, Measure of a Hero, Call of Duty, and
Operation Audacity.
winner: Jason "Gildashard" Capriotti (United States)
(6) K'nex MechWarrior Cauldron-Born & Owens Set! (ended 03.24.2003)
You can check out what this prize by visiting the fine K'nex website and it's MechWarrior section.
This is a kit that will build a Ghost Bear Cauldron-Born and a Federated Suns Owens Send
an email to crowfoot@dropshipcommand.com with your name and callsign.
winner: Martin "Raingod" Monette (Canada)
(7) BattleTech Inner Sphere Map! (ended 03.24.2003)
This is a large poster (35" wide x 23" high) of the Inner Sphere in the BattleTech universe.
The map represents the territories owned by all factions as of the year 3059, just after the demise
of Clan Smoke Jaguar and the Star League had retaken the Jaguar's occupation zone.
Send an email to crowfoot@dropshipcommand.com with your name and callsign.
winner: David "Eracer" Burke (United States)
(8) Classic Novel Autographed by Pardoe! (ended 03.24.2003)
Yet another chance to pick up a novel signed by the talented Blaine Lee Pardoe. These were signed
specifically for this event. I have two of these to give away and I'll be drawing two winners. Each person
takes home a book! Up for grabs is Call of Duty and the 2nd to last book in the series,
Operation Audacity.
Send an email to crowfoot@dropshipcommand.com with your name and callsign.
winners:
Operation Audacity: Tyler "Ghost" Chilcote
Call of Duty: Justin "Champion" Moore (United States)
Thanks to
The DropShip Community for supporting this site for 5 great years. That includes readers, contributors, and past
and present staff and forum moderators. Microsoft and FASA Studio for keeping BattleTech alive on the PC.
Andre at XBox Live, Jon and Wiebke at AEG, and author Blaine Lee Pardoe for their help with prizes.
A number of these prizes came out of my personal BattleTech collection, so I hope they find a happy home in your
own BattleTech collection or have put you on the road to building one.
Special thanks to PaleRider.
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