Issue #1

Why have I /received this/ newsletter?

We thought you might wonder. Well, the thing is that S2HQ.com, UFOAftermath.co.uk and X-Com.co.uk are merging into a new site called StrategyCore.co.uk. Since you are a member of one or more of these sites you're also automatically a member of our brand new site. If you do not wish to be, there will be instructions on how to end your membership below and we apologies for the email.

We do hope you'll stay however!

As already mentioned StrategyCore is the merging of 3 major fan-sites into one unit. There are several reasons we do this:

- Ease of administration
- Advantage of a huge community
- For the sake of growth
- To make the core site more general, thus letting us post news on any strategy / tactical game
- To breathe new life into the communities
- To have more members supporting us when we go into battle for the resurrection of X-Com!

There are also several other reasons for doing this that we'll not get into. Point is that we hope the advantages of this merging will benefit everyone, and that you'll have a better resource for your favourite game(s) as a result.

Now we'll split this newsletter into sections for each franchise. Just skip the parts that are of no interest to you, or go straight to the bottom if you do not want any of it.


1: Silent Storm (S2) and Silent Storm: Sentinels (S3)
2: UFO:Aftermath (AM) and UFO:Aftershock (AS)
3: The X-Com games and fan-projects
4: More about StrategyCore, like how to leave ;)
5: How to contact us



1: Silent Storm (S2) and Silent Storm: Sentinels (S3)

1.1: News
1.2: Mods
1.3: The future


1.1: News

Silent Storm reviews:
Silent Storm received loads of good reviews. It wasn't without faults, but in general the gaming press agreed it's one solid turn-based game. You can find a list of several reviews over at GameRankings:
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/557924.asp


Silent Storm: Sentinels reviews:
The only review we know of so far online is the one at ActionTrip. S3 receives an "Editors Choice" award as it deserves, and you can find the glorious review here (and a less friendly one at GameShark that GameRankings doesn't count):

http://www.actiontrip.com/reviews/silentstormsentinels.phtml
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/919255.asp

If you know of any other reviews of the game online, please tell us.


Silent Storm and Silent Storm: Sentinels patches (UK and GER):
Silent Storm has been patched to version 1.2, and the same goes for it's editor. Silent Storm: Sentinels have been patched to version 1.1. You can find the patches at these locations (amongst others):

http://www.3dgamers.com/games/silentstorm/downloads/
http://www.gamershell.com/download_patch.shtml


Silent Storm and Silent Storm: Sentinels demos:
Both S2 and S3 had nice demos released to show off their neat gameplay. As with most demos these days they are large downloads, but if you have the bandwidth and are still not sure about buying, you can find them here:

http://www.3dgamers.com/games/silentstorm/downloads/
http://www.gamershell.com/download_demo.shtml


Nival and JoWooD IRC chat:
Some time ago we had an official chat with representatives from Nival (developers of S2 and S3) and JoWooD (publishers for S2 and S3), and you can find the resulting chat transcript here.


Buy Silent Storm Gold (Silent Storm and the expansion Silent Storm: Sentinels):
Quite a few of you are probably not aware of it, but the expansion to Silent Storm HAS been released. You can get it from these locations (and no, it is not available as a stand alone product):

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=PC&title=181348 (Europe)
http://www.gogamer.com/cgi-bin/GoGamer.storefront/SESSIONID/Product/View/001SILSG (US)



1.2: Mods

It will take some time until we have a full index of mods available for these great games to offer you and this will soon be a part of StrategyCore along with the latest mods out there, but you'll have to give us some time on that one. If you see a mod missing from the list please don't hesitate to contact us!



1.3: The future

As we have already mentioned, all the content of S2HQ will soon be part of StrategyCore. Thanks to Biggles for making this greatest of all Silent Storm sites, and expect to hear from him at StrategyCore in the future. If you have any suggestions for new content that should be added to the site please tell us, and besides that we hope you'll join the community. We need active people to keep these games alive long after their release.

As for how we're to keep the games alive, mods are without doubt the most important part. And even though there are quite a few mods for the games out there, we need more. So we hope that everyone interested in making mods for the games will join in and conspire with us at our site. There's even been mention of an X-Com mod a few times... ;)

If you're one of the many wondering what Nival is doing, they are not working on the sequel to Silent Storm. I know many think that's a shame, but do not despair. They are working on a brand new game called Nightwatch, and it looks neat! For those of you that are familiar with the P&P RPG called World of Darkness, it is somewhat like that. Vampires, Werewolves, modern mages and so on taken from the books of Sergei Lukyanenko (Russian writer). The first screenshots are available here:

http://www.worthplaying.com/article.php?sid=22317
http://www.nival.com/nightwatch_ru



2: UFO:Aftermath (AM) and UFO:Aftershock (AS)

2.1: News
2.2: Mods
2.3: Fan-fiction
2.4: The future



2.1: News

UFO:Aftermath patch 1.4 released:
The fourth and final patch has been released for UFO:Aftermath. There are only small bug-fixes from the previous version, but then again bugs are very annoying. The previous patches also add some nice features to the game, so it's well worth the download. You can find it in these locations:

http://www.3dgamers.com/games/ufoaftermath/downloads/
http://www.gamershell.com/download_patch.shtml
http://www.cenega.com/index.php?link=download


UFO:Aftermath reviews:
UFO:Aftermath got a lot of reviews, and some were more positive that others. But in general it was positive, and you can find lists in these locations:

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/913875.asp
http://www.ufo-aftermath.com/pages/press.html


UFO:Aftershock information:
As most of you are probably aware, the sequel to UFO:Aftermath called UFO:Aftershock is in development. It is slated for release in Q3 2005, and we sure look forward to that. The best sources for information in our opinion are these:

This is PlacidDragon's UFO:Aftershock FAQ. Excellent read!
http://home.online.no/~oand-a/UFO_AS_FAQ.txt
http://home.online.no/~oand-a/UFO_AS_FAQ.doc

This is the best interview out there about UFO:Aftershock. Very extensive, do not miss it!
http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/575/575027p1.html

Our impression after visiting ALTAR and having a look at UFO:Aftershock:
http://forum.ufo-aftermath.com/index.php?showtopic=474

This is the transcript from the chat we had with the people from ALTAR.

All forum posts made by Martin Klima, lead on Aftershock:
http://forum.ufo-aftermath.com/index.php?act=Search...search_in=posts&result_type=posts


Buy UFO:Aftermath:
UFO:Aftermath can now be bought for very little money. Take a look here for instance:

http://toysandgames.kelkoo.co.uk/...&title=ufo+aftermath&machine=PC&maxprice=&x=0&y=0



2.2: Mods

Combo-Mod:
The most extensive mod available for UFO:Aftermath is probably the Combo-Mod. It's an expansion of Aralez's Rebalance mod, and it includes loads of new weapons, enemies, rebalanced weapons and more. This is a must for everyone that wants a different experience with Aftermath. But since our UFO:Aftermath site is down while we add it to StrategCore, we have to direct you to

Gamer's Hell to get it for now (thanks for hosting it!). The latest version is available here:
http://www.gamershell.com/download_7252.shtml


Other mods:
As the Aftermath site is currently down I can't point you to the other mods for the game. But rest assured, as soon as it's up again we'll inform you. Of the other mods there's pretty much everything from an X-Com music mod to a first person view mod, not to mention model converter tools :)



2.3: Fan-fiction

We have a very nice fan-fiction forum running for UFO:Aftermath. So if you like fiction written by fans you can enjoy some really good stuff here:
http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/index.php?showforum=27



2.4: The future

As I have mentioned before, all the content of UFOAftermath.co.uk will soon be transferred to StrategyCore. Hopefully we'll have most of it done by the end of next week. No promises though, as it's quite a bit of work.

As for ALTAR, they are working hard on UFO:Aftershock. It's coming along fine as we saw when we visited them, and as previously mentioned it's slated for release around Q3 (autumn) 2005.



3: The X-Com games and fan-projects

3.1: News
3.2: Mods
3.3: Fan-fiction
3.4: Fan-projects
3.5: The battle for X-Com's resurrection!



3.1: News

Well, we don't really have much new to report about the X-Com at the moment. The games are as fun to play as ever, and run well on Windows XP if you use the Collectors Edition with f0dder's patch:
http://f0dder.schwump.net/ (the misc section)

We hope to bring you more news in future about the various editors that are being worked on at the moment - some from our hard-working forum memebrs themselves, so keep your eyes peeled for that in future editions.



3.2: Mods

There are several mods and utilities out there for the X-Com games. Since our site(s) are down for the moment, we'll point you to a few other essential resources in the meantime:

http://xcomutil.scotttjones.com/
http://www.xcomufo.com/



3.3: Fan-fiction

We have a nice little fan-fiction forum for X-Com set up. You can add your own fan-fiction or read some of the nice stories from other fans. The forum is located here:
http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/index.php?showforum=20



3.4: Fan-projects

UFO2000:
This is a very exciting project. It adds multiplayer to the good old X-Com games UFO:Enemy Unknown and X-Com: Terror From The Deep.

The project has been going on for years and they've developed an online server for players to meet up, so you should really take a look. You can find it here:
http://ufo2000.sourceforge.net/


UFO:Extraterrestrials:
No, it is not another sequel to UFO:Aftermath. It is however a game in development that should be right down any X-Com fan's alley. Head over to the official site for more information:
http://www.ufo-extraterrestrials.com/


X-Force: Fight For Destiny:
This is a neat little fan made remake of the beloved X-Com games. If you haven't downloaded and tested it already, go do so!

Official site can be found here:
http://www.xforce-online.de/index.php


UFO:Alien Invasion:
That's right, the fan-made game named UFO:Alien Invasion is also coming along just fine. You can download the demo and see screens at the official site here:
http://www.ufoai.net/


Project Xenocide:
Even though they haven't released a playable version of their game yet, they are surely not sleeping. See awesome screenshots and videos over at the official site of this fan-made game:
http://www.projectxenocide.com/


3.5: The battle for X-Com's resurrection

Most of the members of these boards are probably X-Com fans. And as you all know there hasn't been any information to be had about the X-Com license in years. Sure there have been rumours, but all of it is just that, rumours. This has to change! Therefore we will soon initiate a campaign to get the games in the spotlight again. And when time comes to take action, we trust that you'll be there to support us. Along with our friends at http://www.xcomufo.com and the other X-Com fan-sites we will hopefully get the attention of Atari - the curent license owners.

As for how we are to get the attention of the publisher currently owning the X-Com license, there are many ways. First of all we need to get in touch with people higher up in the publisher system. We're working on that right now, and will inform you once we see the result.

The second thing we'll do is to start YET ANOTHER petition. We know what you're thinking, it will not work. Well, you're probably right, but it's still worth a try. And there's another ingredient that has to be in place.

A common site where all the "rebels" working for the X-Com license can work from. We'll try to get such a site set up shortly, where we'll have a common forum to discuss tactics and progress in as well as all related information gathered in one place.

So with a little luck we'll get someone in Atari to watch us as we grow. The support site for X-Com's resurrection will grow, and so will the petition. In the end we can hopefully grow so big that Atari will have to listen. It's a long shot, but we'll never get anywhere if we don't try!

More information on this will be made available in the coming months. Stay with us and prepare for battle! :)



4: More about StrategyCore, like how to leave ;)

4.1: About StrategyCore
4.2: New staff
4.3: How to leave


4.1: About StrategyCore

StrategyCore will have extensive information on Silent Storm and it's expansion Silent Storm: Sentinels, UFO:Aftermath and it's sequel UFO:Aftershock and all the games in the X-Com series. We will try to gather all mods, fan-fiction, cheats, utilities, patches, reviews and anything else related on the games in one place. And we'll not start from scratch as all the information from S2HQ.com (thanks Biggles!), UFOAftermath.co.uk and X-Com.co.uk will be gathered there. We may also add other games as we see fit, and suggestions are of course welcome.

Aside from this, we'll post news on strategy and tactical games in general, and have a large and vibrant community in the forums. That's the plan at any rate ;). We are of course dependent on YOU to make this happen, so please grace us with your presence!


4.2: New staff

We require quite a few people to run a site like the one we're starting, at least if it is to run smooth. Some people from the Aftermath and X-Com communities have been recruited already, but there's always need for more help. We are very short on people for the Silent Storm sections, so any offer is welcome there. We do however require you to show your dedication as a nice and helpful forum member before adding you to our staff, so that is your best application. And be advised, this is just an expanded fan-site, so the chances of ever being paid is slim to none. This is free work you do to help the community of the game(s) you love.

As for who the new staff are, we'll announce that in the next newsletter. We just need some time to get organized first.

Thanks to all of you!



5: How to contact us

If you would like any more information about the new site and what it has to offer, a more detailed page with some of the features we hope to add can be found at http://www.strategycore.co.uk

If you would like to give us feedback about this newsletter or the features mentioned on the page above, please get in touch.