Base Showcase By Bonker
The Legion Of Terra
Who is your base designer and who are your supergroup leaders? I am the base designer and one of the leaders. My name is Agent Kendt. I took over the supergroup when Gratis-Molgavin, our founder, left to battle evil and never returned. I promoted Algae to leader after I thought it would be good to have someone else shoulder some of the responsibilities. Which server is your base on, and is it a hero or villain SG? We are a Liberty based hero supergroup. When was your supergroup established? Approximately 2.5 years ago. How many players are in your supergroup? We have quite a few players but a lot aren’t very active, although we do have 5 active players. What is the approximate value of your base? 15.7 million prestige. How much time do you spend working on your base? How much time have you invested so far? Over the years LoT’s base has had many makeovers. When I started doing design work and LoT was still on the smallest plot with very little money, I had designed a windy maze in the abandoned sewer network. When we got more prestige I moved us into an orbital space station in a geo-synchronous orbit above Paragon City. The design for the base is thanks to my love of the Alien films. I wanted to make a dark claustrophobic base reminiscent of the Nostromo. What I got was a cross between that and the Sulaco from the second film. What is your favorite base item? Least favorite? The Sewer winch is my favorite and was real hard to find a useful place for one. You can find ours in docking bay near the LB chaser. As far as least favorite, I don’t really have one. What is your favorite thing about base editing? Least favorite? My favorite thing is the infinite possibilities that you can design. My least favorite thing would have to be trying to move an entire room. It never works out too well thanks to raid pathing. What is the highest thing on your wish-list for new base items? Sewer Catwalks. If you could give just one piece of advice to a new base editor, what would it be? When you have limited room for teleporters I would do it in a functional way. That is make it easier for newer characters to move around by including one yellow line TP (Atlas Park is good because you can pay base upkeep), one green line TP (Talos Island for ferries and the arena), and then put in the hazard zones since they are the biggest pain to access. [/color]

Market Watch
The View on Blue The Lucky Lowbie Lottery By peterpeter
When I was writing my first column, I had no idea if anyone would actually read it. As you may recall, I shared a tip for new players in that first column: You can sell the big inspirations you get from the tutorial for good money, especially with a little patience. Before committing to any numbers, I spent more than a week buying and selling inspirations, to test the price points. I felt pretty comfortable about the numbers I posted in that first column. Since then, the supply of large green inspirations has gone up by quite a bit, and prices have dropped. Did I do that? I mean, did you, my faithful readers, do that? The market is an ever changing beast, and it's possible that prices would have fallen whether I wrote that column or not. I can't help but wonder whether or not the column had an effect, though. It wasn't a permanent change. Prices seem to have crept back up in the last few days, so maybe it was just a random fluctuation. At any rate, I wanted to remind you that advice I give may be accurate at the moment I give it, but there is no reason to think it will remain good advice for any length of time. As for myself, I will be more wary about the effect this column might have on the market itself. This week's focus is on low level characters. Once upon a time (March 3rd, 2008, a little before midnight EST to be exact) 0th_Power decided to buy a piece of low level, low value tech salvage for the outrageous price of 1,000,000 influence. He was chatting on the global channel TheMarket at the time, and received plenty of encouragement from other players. He went onto the forums, in the market section, and posted a new thread declaring his intentions. CoTCaveHater offered to do the same thing on the villain market. Nethergoat suggested that such purchases should become a regular weekly event, and volunteered to take the next shift. It was Catwhoorg who dubbed the it the Lucky Lowbie Lottery.	If you scroll through that thread, you will find screenshot after screenshot of people paying 1,000,000 inf or more for computer viruses, circuit boards, carbon rods, and other worthless clutter. See for yourself! Those greedy, selfish monsters in the Market forum were giving away influence like it was Monopoly money! Here is a (hopefully complete) list of philanthropists so far: 0th_Power, CoT_CaveHater, Brawlnstein, Lavitae, Iskel, 8_Ball, SwellGuy, Nethergoat, RagManX_CoH, Zyn, Miraja, Plasma, Peterpeter, Catwhoorg, Squez, Ian_Of_Moore, Abigail_Frost, and Mister_Weekly. Every one of them gave away at least a million influence or infamy, oftentimes both, and sometimes several million of each. As I write this column, it looks like the Lottery may be drawing to a close. Who knows? Perhaps this column will rejuvenate it. Maybe a new wave of people will be inspired to contribute to the Lucky Lowbie Lottery. You should come on down to the market, just in case. If you normally sell all of your drops to the vendor, or just ignore them completely, then take a chance: Try selling something on the market for a change. Maybe you'll get lucky. On the other hand, maybe you don't need to get lucky. Once you set foot in Wentworth's, you have taken your first step towards becoming a millionaire, no luck required. There is a lot of influence in the market, just waiting for someone to grab it. We'll look at some ways to do that in future columns. In the meantime, I hear one of the local gangs is having their own lottery. The winning prize is a luck charm, and no purchase is necessary to enter. Just go, hunt, kill helions!

Fashion

Costume Additions By Hex Girl Issue 12 is sure to have a lot of great additions, from Villain Epic Archetypes to a new Roman themed zone. These, along with others, are major content upgrades, but, for some of us, what's new for character creation is just as important. If you haven't made it to the Training Room to mess around in the character creator to view the new patterns, no worries, I've thrown a couple examples together of our four new patterns for you. Take a look at what you will be able to use on your costumes when i12 hits live. Arctic This pattern offers those chilly heroes or villains the chance to show off their power pride. It's been a long time coming. Fire has been holding that over ice's head for far too long. Perplex A little on the techie side, this pattern, even though simple and light, will be a great addition to that armor suit that just needed a little something extra.

Thorn Not to be confused with the 'Thorns' top available to female characters, this pattern has sharp edges and clean lines. It looks great on just about everything, including as a tattoo on a sexy male hero or villains chest. Rawr! Vandal I cannot put into words how great this pattern is. It has crisp lines and three different shades attached to the secondary color. The only way to do it justice is to play around with the colors yourself to see what I mean. On top of these patterns we have also been given an English Monocle and a bunch of predefined costume sets that are leaps and bounds better than what you get from clicking random.

On the Warpath By Hostile_V The mighty forces of Arachnos are on the march. Totally different than the Peacebringers and Warshades, these troops are trained in munitions, close quarters combat and defense. But to be perfectly honest, Arachnos is scraping the bottom of the barrel. Letting almost everyone join has put a big crimp in their training. Luckily, I've received some letters and bits of info from people struggling through Wolf Spider training, so I'd like to share what it's like to be a part of Arachnos. "An astounding amount of new recruits manage to wear their helmets upside down. We're afraid to distribute their arms." "Turns out water shorts out Bane Spider Stealth Packs. But it was worth trying to sneak into the female barracks. Stupid sprinklers." "There's no 'I' in 'Arachnos', but there is an 'I' in 'Spider'. This confuses a lot of us." "Doctor's Note: Excuse Pvt. Michaels from exercises. Attempted to consume eggs cooked by Bane Spider Mace. Pvt. is in critical condition." "Who needs an alarm clock when your commander is nearsighted, paranoid and has an itchy trigger finger?" "You can't spell 'Spider' without 'Pie'? This Jenkins guy can't train us for beans." "Doctor's Note: Stop 'huffing' Venom grenades." "Never chew gum while wearing helmet. I can't see a dang thing anymore after I blew that bubble." "Manual Amendment: Arachnobots are for reinforcements only. They are not intended to 'pull us into the heat of battle like medieval warhorses' or 'be leashed to a toboggan and used like a chariot'." "A Mace is not a back-scratcher, Crab Spider packs aren't for juggling and rifle bayonets are not for 'extreme tag'." "A commander is not authorized to give hugs, read bedtime stories, kiss 'boo-boos' or do his soldier's laundry. Any attempts to do so will result in a long and painful death." Wow... This is, well, disconcerting. I may be a freelance villain, not an Arachnos soldier, but this makes me think twice about these guys. I'd even say LORD RECLUSE IS A JUST RULER AND WILL LEAD US TO VICTORY OVER THE HERO SCUM! HAIL LORD RECLUSE! with a Doberman Pinscher. I leave you with that profane and explicit thought. Remember, never trust authority.

The Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo! By Acanous_Quietus As some of you may know, the weekend of April 26 and 27 was the Comic and Entertainment expo in Calgary, Alberta. There was a large collection of artists, writers, gamers and even a few celebrities. Sadly, the Top Cow booth had problems with their supplies mysteriously vanishing (a Nemesis plot, I'm sure), but they managed to soldier on with the materials they had brought in their briefcase. Commission lines were long all around the artist's gallery, most notably near Bruce Timm, who had a line that streaked into the Comic corner, and over at the Udon Studios booth. Feeling adventurous, my cohorts Zinhald and Xalaqia (who had a merchant's pass) and I decided to brave the dangers of leaving our collective houses, venture into the instanced-map of the Con, and try to collect some "1337 5w4g", as the Freakshow would say. The turnout was marvelous. People came dressed in all sorts of costumes. There were TWO Slave Girl Leia cosplayers (both of which spent some time choking or stepping on Zinhald), as well as the Storm Troopers, at least one Tie fighter pilot, Boba and Jango Fett, Rogue and Jubilee from the X-Men, the Joker, various KISS costumes, Wonder Woman, Supergirl and even anime characters like Rukia from Bleach. Of course, the REAL reason I wanted to go so badly in the first place was the webcomic representation. The Devil's Panties, Weregeek, and Goblins had booths, and even the reclusive Irony-Chan from Get Medieval was making rounds. (She gave me a cookie!) Despite the massive, unbelievable amount of interesting people and things there, it was all very well organized. All in all, a very well run show. Worth the $20 admission price. The Cruel Battle of Elements by syrusb

Fan Fiction Spotlight Presented by Mr_Grey The Chronicles of the Templars of the Abbey By Diamond_ Sometimes the events one goes through in-game inspire a player to write a story based upon them. With all that goes on in the Virtue server, one would think we would see more of these kinds of stories. Instead, Diamond_ has been one of few to ante up, and the author has forked over not just one, but three chronicles. These Are the Moments Frankly, there's nothing I can say that will be better than Diamond_'s own description: "Bits and drabbles of daily life and what not from my character and a few Templars." The stories you find here are more... personal. These are heroes with their home lives, what they do to kill time and the decadent calm that they so violently defend. Sometimes it's good for a laugh, other times it's good for a pluck at the heart strings. From the Shard This one's still on it's first page. Diamond_ only started posting recently, and it's been amazingly prolific writing. Oddly enough, it's also not nearly half bad (meaning it's pretty good). From the Shard is a chronicle of Kara and her adventures in the (you guessed it) Shadow Shard. While it may be a dry and barren wasteland in terms of gameplay, the story behind it is such remarkably fertile soil in which you can plant pages and wind up with books months later. Diamond_ is apparently trying that right now and I'm a little ashamed to say that I was beaten to the punch. The Coming of Storms Here, Diamond_ presents the Templars of the Abbey and their response to the Rikti threat. We don't wind up with God King avatar clones punching holes in interdimensional warships, or skinny punks single-handedly saving the day with plucky canine sidekicks and convoluted inane super-super-powers. Instead, we get salt-of-the-Earth, man-the-front-lines, we're-not-the-[dreck]-but-we-can-help soldier heroes. Nobody in this story is trying to be Top Dog, nobody's hogging the glory. Instead, they're all looking out for each other and trying to make sure everyone they care about is making the right decisions, whether they fight or not. It's all very touching storytelling. If you're looking for a general mix of everything, I recommend these three. Troll's Health by imagesbyalex

Letter from the Editor By Snow Globe Hi there folks! One of the questions I get asked a lot is "How can I join the Scoop?", or at least a variation of it. Well, first off you have to be able to communicate. I know that personally I respond better to a well written PM than to chat-speak. A lot of posting happens behind the scenes from scheduling to coming up with fresh ideas. We generally want people to come up with an article every other week. If you feel like doing more than that, we will not stop you. By articles I would like anywhere between a quarter page to a full (Scoop) page. This roughly translates to 4-6 paragraphs to a dozen. Two positions that we need are event reporters and puzzle editors. Event reporters should be able to go to events on various servers, and it's even better if they can go as either a hero or a villain. Puzzle editors tend to have a problem. Seeing that I was responsible for puzzles for so long I tend to have a somewhat high expectation for the quality of the finished puzzles, particularly the Sudokus and Crosswords. I expect puzzles to be mostly tied to the game in some way. I do not mean that slapping a random puzzle type (like a number cross puzzle) with a game background. Crosswords: I don't expect ultra-tight crosswords, but I do expect them to follow conventional crosswords. I do sort of expect the crosswords to be visually enhanced. See the past issues of the crosswords to see what I mean. Sudokus: I expect that Sudokus have a proper legend and with number references as well as pictures. We have received complaints in the past that I don't want to deal with again. If you don't feel interested in those spots then you have to come up with a solid series of articles you want to do. I would ask that you would plan to do the series longer that just a few issues. Any of these articles can be done in or out of character. If you want to submit just an article or two while not being on the staff, that is good too. Write something up (between 400-800 words), and submit it. I can't promise all submissions will be put into the Scoop, but we will try our best. One word of warning: We have a two week deadline, so if you submit something, do not expect it to appear in the same week. If you have gotten to this point I would suggest that you write up a few test articles, and submit them to one of the Editors in Chief. We will then share with the rest of the staff and decide if we would like your articles on a regular basis. If you want to do one of the behind the scenes jobs at the Scoop like layout, then submit a series of websites you have done, and I will discuss them with Mantid. Mantid has done an outstanding job at doing the layout for most of our issues. I'm a long time coder and a web designer student while I know a bit less than Mantid, I do know intimately what is involved as far as coding the Scoop is concerned. Between us we will be able to judge if you have the skills to do the layout job. The layout person's responsibilities are done mainly Tuesdays (when they have the proofed articles available)-Thursdays (the Scoop comes out Friday, and has to be done by Friday morning). If there are any problems... being able to fix it on Fridays would be an asset. So there you have it. What we need from you to start at the Scoop.

The City Scoop
OPEN CASTING CALL FOR SPECIFIC COSTUME SETS! Have you ever wanted one of your characters to make an appearance in one of the Official or Player Created Videos or Comics? If so, here is your chance! We will be hosting an open casting call for the following sets on Friday Evening from 8:00-11:00 PM EST and Saturday afternoon from 12:00-3:00 PM EST on the Pocket D main floor. If you want to strut your stuff, capture some thematic content for your own creations or just hang out, come on over to the Test Server on Friday night or Saturday afternoon. The following sets costumes have been requested: Archetype Sets As most Archetypes have a new primary and secondary. We'd like to have group shots of characters illustrating that new Archetype powerset. We'd be looking for name & appearance combinations that best reflect the archetypes, primary, and secondary combined. Soldiers of Arachnos We need groups of Soldiers of Arachnos (6-8 characters) shown together. We'd like to highlight the wide variety of appearance customization options available under just the basic SoA costume sets. The focus is on a diverse selection while still being aesthetically unique. There are lots of opportunities to be seen as a team or even as an individual leader in upcoming productions. Midnighters of the 30's With flashback to the Midnight Squadrons of the '30's, there's room for costumed heroes appropriate for that era. Candidates should be representative of the era, costumed or "civilian" appearance. Only the best dressed will be selected as these representative costumes will be featured briefly. Midnighters of the 60's The lore on the Midnighters indicates that the Midnighters wore "tights and masks" in the 60's and 70's. We are looking for a few great images of magic-themed "tights" heroes and heroines from this era. Candidates should reflect the style of that era's heroes. Roman-Themed Costumes When in Cimerora do as the... We want to see what awesome "Roman Type" costumes you can come up with featuring the new costume sets released in Issue 12. Variety is the Spice... If you have an awesome costume and you think it is a sight to behold, copy your character to the test server and come show off your stuff. Come on over to the test server test server and join the fun, if you are into media production or an artist please feel free to come along as well.	Vol. 1, Issue 47 May 9th, 2008 This Issue: By Popular Request Fan Fiction Spotlight Letter from the Editor On the Warpath The Calgary Comic Expo Fashion Market Watch Base Showcase: The Legion Of Terra Architect Spotlight Behind the Mask Classifieds Upcoming Events: May: Follow the White Rabbit! May 15th: Infinity: Virgil Tarikoss SF May 17th: Infinity: Silver Mantis SF The Showdown by Aerones
By Popular Request By Bowfling This is the fourteenth in a series of By Popular Request articles, which reviews commonly requested player suggestions that have strong positive support, and reviews the implications and considerations that would need to be considered if these suggestions were to be implemented. This week’s subject: Player Generated Content With the 4th anniversary of the "City of" franchise, Positron mentioned something players have asked for off and on for the better part of the franchise’s existence: player generated content. You can read the announcement here. What this means for players is that they will be able to create missions and story arcs that can then be uploaded for all players to participate in. Players can then rate that content, and highly rated content will provide the creator with some fame. Whether that fame is simple good word of mouth or something more tangible is as yet unknown, but there is no doubt that the creative juices of players will finally have an outlet. A future article will be run to discuss the technical aspects of such an addition. So, start writing your story lines today, plan out your mission design, and add directly to the content of the franchise. Incidentally, the ability to use mission designer tools may also provide insight into the nuts and bolts of why certain missions are the way they are. This insight might show what possibilities are there, and also what limitations there may be and allow players to better understand the constraints the developers work within when generating content.

[ QUOTE ]
Please use this thread to discuss the below announcement.


Have you ever wanted one of your characters to make an appearance in one of the Official or Player Created Videos or Comics?

If so, here is your chance!

We will be hosting an open casting call on the Training Room Test Server for the following sets on Friday, May 9th from 8:00-11:00 PM EST and Saturday, May 10th from 12:00-3:00 PM EST. For both casting call, we will be on the Pocket D main floor.

If you want to strut your stuff, capture some thematic content for your own creations, or just hang out, come on over to the Test Server on this coming Friday night or Saturday afternoon! Click here for instructions on connecting to the Training Room or copying a character over from a Live Server.

The following sets costumes have been requested:<ul type="square">[*] Archetype Sets
As most Archetypes have a new primary and secondary. We'd like to have group shots of characters illustrating that new Archetype powerset. We'd be looking for name &amp; appearance combinations that best reflect the archetypes, primary, and secondary combined.
[*] Soldiers of Arachnos
We need groups of Soldiers of Arachnos (6-8 characters) shown together. We'd like to highlight the wide variety of appearance customization options available under just the basic SoA costume sets. The focus is on a diverse selection while still being aesthetically unique. There are lots of opportunities to be seen as a team or even as an individual leader in upcoming productions.
[*] Midnighters of the 30's
With flashback to the Midnight Squadrons of the '30's, there's room for costumed heroes appropriate for that era. Candidates should be representative of the era, costumed or "civilian" appearance. Only the best dressed will be selected as these representative costumes will be featured briefly.

[*] Midnighters of the 60's
The lore on the Midnighters indicates that the Midnighters wore "tights and masks" in the 60's and 70's. We are looking for a few great images of magic-themed "tights" heroes and heroines from this era. Candidates should reflect the style of that era's heroes.
[*] Roman-Themed Costumes
When in Cimerora do as the... We want to see what awesome "Roman Type" costumes you can come up with featuring the new costume sets released in Issue 12.
[*] Variety is the Spice...
If you have an awesome costume and you think it is a sight to behold, copy your character to the test server and come show off your stuff.[/list]
Come on over to the Training Room test server and join the fun, if you are into media production or an artist please feel free to come along as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

Tonight:

8-11 PM EST
7-10 PM CST
6-9 PM MST
5-8 PM PST

Tomorrow:

12:00-3:00 PM EST
11 AM-2PM CST
10 AM-1PM MST
9 AM-Noon PST

All film editors, artists, comic book creators, and other types are welcome to come capture some concepts.

Test Server, Pocket D main floor!

Be there and be willing to listen in on the Request Channel for specific sets and groups!

Regards,

Ex

[ QUOTE ]
Still working on transcription, haven't forgotten about it. It's not going quickly, especially with my usual responsibilities. Hoping to be done with it sometime tomorrow.

Thanks for your patience. :-)

[/ QUOTE ]

Viv,

You rock!

Transcribed Interview

Regards,

Ex

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Archetype Sets
As most Archetypes have a new primary and secondary. We'd like to have group shots of characters illustrating that new Archetype powerset. We'd be looking for name &amp; appearance combinations that best reflect the archetypes, primary, and secondary combined.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you mean the character has to be both the New Primary AND New Secondary?(Such as it HAS to be an Earth/Electric Dominator)

Or can it be only one of the new ones with an old one? (Like a Gravity/Electric Dominator)?

[/ QUOTE ]

Lighthouse? Anyone? Help? =(

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe the general idea is someone that embodies the primary/secondary power sets best in thematic costume.

Obviously you can work outside those parameters by doing an old/new combo, but if this video or comic is to be featured about Issue 12, you can see that some sets pulling together the perfect feel is going to be more likely to be selected.

Hope that helps to clarify.

Ex

OP has been updated.

Ex

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
can someone post the main points of the interview?

[/ QUOTE ]

Here are the main standout quotes that struck me from part 1. I'll get to part 2 after lunch.

On the subject of stalker PvE love:
"Funny, we actually just got out of a meeting discussing that exact topic. We've got some great ideas, I can't really talk about them here since we haven't even tested them yet, but we've definitely got some things that should probably be showing up on the training room fairly soon I hope [after issue 12 goes live]."

On the subject of continuing powerset proliferation:
"The first batch that we did is going to be the largest single batch that we do, but it's going to be an ongoing sort of process."
"It'll never be two issues in a row where we didn't proliferate something."

On the subject of empathy and villains:
"Villains, you know, we have a solution for them and their empathy problem that'll be coming in the next issue, but let's just say that the word 'empathy' is far, far, far away from that set."

On the subject of new IOs:
"IOs are like proliferated powersets; there may be an issue that goes by where we don't do any, but there won't be two issues in a row where there are none."

On the subject of plans to add purple sets to categories lacking them:
"Specific plans, right now, no. But there definitely is an opening there for us to add them, and it's a logical place for us to add more purple sets, so I wouldn't be very surprised if that's what ended up happening."

On player-created content:
"I actually can't say anything about it right now, but I have a feeling that at some point this summer I'll be able to talk all about it."

On the subject of how not to get the bug hunter badge:
"I've actually had to deny the bug hunter badge to a few people, simply because, you know, the bug they found was great, and when we did the logs we saw, wow, you tested that 800 times over two weeks and *then* you reported it."

On the subject of more SFs and the agony of Positron:
"I'm debating whether we should do more strike forces for the villains or we should fix the Positron task force first, so that's still up in the air. (DJ Jules: I've run that task force maybe three times, and I've been playing for three years. Positron: Wow, I didn't even run it three times when I was testing it.)[...] That task force was actually supposed to be two separate story arcs, and I was basically implementing it off of a story line, or two story lines that was written for the game, and, you know, just breaking down the story line into missions [...] and then it was like, oh, we can't actually put two different story lines on this one contact, you're going to have to make it one giant one. So, that's what I did, and now you all have to live with it. For now."

[/ QUOTE ]


Wow thank you Wonderslug! That's a nice recap so far.

I just want to publicly thank DJ Jules and Split Infinity Radio for making themselves available to host this show on our schedule. There are some people I have learned I can count on and Jules is one of those folks.

I hope Castle and Positron were on their most Gentleman like behavior, and I hope the Community likes what they are hearing for the future.

Regards,

Ex

One hour to show time!

See OP for more details to listen in to a live interview with Castle and Positron.

Ex

[ QUOTE ]
Can anyone post a transcript of this podcast?

Deaf player here....

[/ QUOTE ]

Good Feedback, Gulver, I'll contact COHPodcast to see if anything can be transcribed, I'm certain our EU language players would also like to enjoy the shared content.

Ex

Thread marked to save.

Ex

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Is it time to rescrub the list?

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably. Though I believe most of whats come in has been additions more than repetition...

[/ QUOTE ]

then perhaps it's time to expand the list?

though with I12 about to hit Open, what's the rush?


In the mean time, have you seen the Issues list in the Dominator forum? They have a good setup with a mostly read-only list and spinoff threads for discussion. Doing something like that may keep the main list up to date, and may help organize those big threads of ideas.

[/ QUOTE ]

With Open Beta for Issue 12, that means that some folks on this end are moving on to future projects.

I never like to set expectations that I can't back 100 percent but I am here because I believe there is good reason to line up the ducks.

Ex

[ QUOTE ]
Says forum not found when I click on the city link you have Ex.

[/ QUOTE ]

Fixed

Ex

Thread marked as saved!

Ex

Edition 46 of "The City Scoop” a publication for Supers by Supers!

The City Scoop continues to deliver! Nearing one year this group has continued to create new content on a weekly basis. I know I look forward to Fridays!

Thanks go out to everyone involved in this publication.

If you have concerns regarding the content of the Scoop please direct your comments via PM to Lighthouse or Ex Libris.

If you would like to do a feature article, have an event covered, or join "The City Scoop" team please PMSnow_Globe or Pants_Stealer

If you or someone you know should be considered for ‘Behind the Mask’ Teldon or ‘Encounters’ please contact MrsAlphaOne

If you need some “Advice” contact Lady_Athyna or would like to “Ask The X” contact LiquidX

Finally if you have a Classified Ad you would like included please contact: LadyK


Discussion on the latest edition is located here:

Edition 46 of "The City Scoop!" a publication for Supers by Supers!

The City Scoop continues to deliver! Nearing one year this group has continued to create new content on a weekly basis. I know I look forward to Fridays!

Thanks go out to everyone involved in this publication.

If you have concerns regarding the content of the Scoop please direct your comments via PM to Lighthouse or Ex Libris.

If you would like to do a feature article, have an event covered, or join "The City Scoop" team please PMSnow_Globe or Pants_Stealer

If you or someone you know should be considered for ‘Behind the Mask’ Teldon or ‘Encounters’ please contact

If you need some “Advice” contact Lady_Athyna or would like to “Ask The X” contact LiquidX

Finally if you have a Classified Ad you would like included please contact: LadyK

Discussion on the latest edition of "The City Scoop" is located here.

By LadyK

The City Scoop Staff Editors-in-Chief Pants_Stealer Snow_Globe Assistant Editors-in-Chiefs LadyK Teldon Editors Bowfling - By Popular Request, Point/Counter Point Teldon - Behind the Mask LadyK - Food and Restaurant, Classifieds Puzzles - Need correspondent Plater - Content Watch Rastafari_Man- Top Ten Lists HexGirl - Fashion editor StormyOne - Art Editor Copy Editors Markets Pants_Stealer SpaceNut peterpeter - Wentworth's Spmurphy - Black Market Food Fan Fiction ~Mistress Noire~ LadyK Sooner Mr_Grey Advice Bases Lady Athyna LiquidX Bonker Staff Recruiter Event Reporter Marcian Tobay White_Gravel More needed! Apply today! PvP Correspondents Layout Neuronia Acanous_Quietus Mantid - Lead layout Snow_Globe - Assistant Additional Staff Hostile_V - Humor Evitron The City Scoop is always seeking comments, suggestions, and articles from our readers. Just send them to the corresponding department or one of our Editors-in-Chief.

Classifieds

Do you have an event coming up? Are you going to attend an upcoming event? Do you want to see or even write an article for The City Scoop? Drop a line to LadyK a week in advance, and you too could be a guest writer for The City Scoop. Want to be part of the VEAT Army? Yes we are an offshoot branch of the FUSION Empire in the Protector dimension loyal only to Ghost Widow. We are destined for greatness. Ghost Widow has ordered my organization to form a new sect in support of special operations. I will recruit within our ranks as well as go outside of our known coalition. These chosen members will go to an academy for training as various Arachnos soldiers. While I do not like to be told how to run FUSION, Widow assures me that I will be rewarded for forming this group. My first order of business is to choose villains among my organization that display some of the following qualities: Mind control, knowledge of poisons, stealth, acrobatics, weapons fighting, and most importantly, do not display fear and is willing to die if I ordered them to do such. I have at least 20 in mind from my 150 Villain organization that fit this criteria. Over the next few weeks, I will begin listing them in preparation for training. This training will consist of a series of trials and strike forces ordered by Ghost Widow. More to follow soon. Want to know more? Please come to the VEAT Army Project Hiram Giovanni's Deli and Pizzeria Food, Fence and Forgery "Everything's Kosher" War Phoenix: LVL 28 TANK LFT

WANTED: Fan Artist to draw my character. I cannot offer much compensation other than any of the wares I would otherwise sell on the Auction House. If you are interested, please contact Hakuro de Killer on the Virtue Server Help Wanted: Writers for The City Scoop. Please contact Snow_Globe, Pants_Stealer, or Marcian_Tobay for submission details. "Lost: One sense of humor. If found, please return to Agent Omega. Lost: Paradigm Shift Device. Contact Demented Cynic at Portal Corp. by Friday. Remember to bring Hawaiian shirt. Head of the Thug Security Task force is looking for new pryo techo thung. IQ required, and Tank like urges removed (Or supply your own self rez). Thanks Mal Boneface Lost: Hub of the Wheel of Destruction. If found, please contact Azuria. P.S. Please do not use to construct deadly wheel of Destruction. Thanks. -Azuria Lost: One Zinc Oxide bottle, last seen on the beach of Independence Port last Sunday when I rushed to a costume Contest. Burnt LifeGuard Need to sell something? Post it in The City Scoop Classifieds. Send PM to LadyK. o_o *poke* Buh! - Pepsiman

Salads

Strawberry Spinach Salad [*] 2 tablespoons sesame seeds [*] 1 tablespoon poppy seeds [*] 1/2 cup white sugar [*] 1/2 cup olive oil [*] 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar [*] 1/4 teaspoon paprika [/list] [*] 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce [*] 1 tablespoon minced onion [*] 10 ounces fresh spinach - rinsed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces [*] 1 quart strawberries - cleaned, hulled and sliced [*] 1/4 cup almonds, blanched and slivered [/list] In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and onion. Cover, and chill for one hour. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds. Pour dressing over salad, and toss. Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Steak Salad [*] 1 1/2 pounds beef sirloin steak [*] 8 cups romaine lettuce, torn into bite-size pieces [*] 6 roma (plum) tomatoes, sliced [*] 1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms [*] 3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese [*] 1/4 cup walnuts [*] 1/3 cup vegetable oil [/list] [*] 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar [*] 2 tablespoons lemon juice [*] 1/2 teaspoon salt [*] 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper [*] 3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce [*] 1/8 teaspoon liquid smoke flavoring [/list] Preheat oven on broiler setting. Broil steaks for 3 to 5 minutes per side, or to desired doneness. Allow to cool, then slice into bite-size pieces. On chilled plates, arrange lettuce, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Sprinkle with blue cheese and walnuts. Top with steak slices. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and smoke flavoring. Drizzle over salad. Spring Salad [*] 12 slices bacon [*] 2 heads fresh broccoli, florets only [*] 1 cup chopped celery [*] 1/2 cup chopped green onions [*] 1 cup seedless green grapes [*] 1 cup seedless red grapes [/list] [*] 1/2 cup raisins [*] 1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds [*] 1 cup mayonnaise [*] 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar [*] 1/4 cup white sugar [/list] Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside. In a large salad bowl, toss together the bacon, broccoli, celery, green onions, green grapes, red grapes, raisins and almonds. Whisk together the mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar. Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat. Refrigerate until ready to serve. See you next week for a special treat! ~Mistress Noire

Food & Recipes

Rogue Isles Repast Noodle Row: Nerva Archipelago By LadyK Greetings Villains and Vigilantes, Heroes and other assorted pains in my neck; it’s your old pal Jenna Seidle. I was hanging out in Thorn Island the other day when one of my henchmen started to complain that he was hungry. The only thing worse than a hungry henchman is one who deals with fire and thinks he’s a Brute! Well, I asked Archie what he wanted to eat, and he said he wanted some home cooking. I wasn’t gonna cook. I really don’t know how. He said no, he wanted some Asian food, ‘cause he’s half Japanese-American and half Chinese-American. He said the best Asian food was there in Nerva on “Noodle Row.” When we got there, I knew what he meant. Right behind the hard nosed Arbiter Fredrick is Akudaikan Noodle House and a Ramen shop, named “Ramen.” A rice bowl used to be under the yellow awning, but it went out of business when the Lost moved into the neighborhood. We actually ate at Akubaikan. It was just Archie and me, but what a feast, and it was kind of cheap, too. In the epitome of Asian hospitality, we were not allowed to eat off the menu and we were served by the owner, Sukithai. We started out with a cucumber salad Archie called sunomono, kind of like a Japanese pickle. Mine had little shrimp in it and Archie got octopus or squid or something. This is really the traditional meat for the light salad, but I can’t stand anything with suckers. Next, we were given what Archie called a “Thai style noodle bowl.” I’ve mentioned before that Archie has burned out all his taste buds on super hot food, and this noodle bowl was no exception. The noodles kind of absorbed some of the heat, but man, my tongue was hating me! The next “course” was a sweet and savory chicken dish that reminded me of a Chinese Stir Fry. Sukithai said it was a teriyaki sauce, but it just seemed to thin to me. He said that it was because it was a Traditional teriyaki sauce made with soy sauce, sweet wine, ginger, garlic and a bit of pineapple, no high fructose corn syrup or modified food starch. This was actually very good and proved that I still had one or two taste buds left. For dessert, we were given red bean ice cream and red bean cakes. The thought of eating beans for dessert blew my mind but these were very good. “All of the sweetness,” Sukithai said, “comes from the beans themselves.” He went on the say that the Japanese had been making sugar from these red beans for centuries. The red bean cake was kind of like a gelatin “Jiggler” in texture. Sunomono [*] 2 cucumbers[*] ¼ cup of soy sauce[*] ½ cup ice water[*] ½ cup rice wine vinegar [/list] [*] 1 teaspoon of sugar[*] ½ teaspoon of fresh grated ginger (or ¼ teaspoon of powdered)[*] 1 can of salad shrimp [/list] Peel the cucumbers and cut in half lengthwise, and with a spoon, scoop out the seeds. Slice the cucumber very thin. Place in a medium bowl. On top of the cucumbers add the soy sauce, water, sugar and ginger. Drain and rinse the shrimp and add. Mix well and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Serves up to 8. Sukothai's Thai Noodles 8 ounces linguine or other noodles 1/3 cup chili sauce 3 tablespoons soy sauce 2 tablespoons lime juice 5 tablespoons Tabasco sauce 1 chopped red chili 1 chopped green chili 1 chopped hot pepper 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro Prepare noodles as instructed on package. Do not strain the water, and just throw everything in as recipe indicates. If it's too spicy, you made it perfectly! Serves one for all rushed battles. Japanese style Chicken Stir Fry [*] 2-4 Chicken breasts[*] 1 cup of soy sauce[*] 1 clove of garlic[*] 1 teaspoon of fresh grated ginger or ½ teaspoon of dehydrated ground ginger or 1 slice of candied ginger [/list] [*] ¼ cup of sweet sherry (you can skip this if you can’t buy alcohol)[*] ¼ pineapple juice[*] 1 6 oz can of pineapple chunks, drained (for the juice)[*] 2 tablespoons of oil [/list] Slice the chicken breasts into thin strips along the wide side. Mince or grate the garlic. In a medium bowl mix the soy sauce, garlic, and ginger, wine and pineapple juice. Add the chicken and marinate for at least 1 hour but no more than 4, as the acid from the pineapple will change the texture of the chicken. In a large skillet over medium high heat, heat 2 tablespoons of oil until the oil shimmers. Drain the chicken, reserving ¼ cup of the marinade. Cook the chicken until done, constantly stirring. Remove the chicken then add the marinade and the pineapple chunks to the pan, when the pineapple is heated through pour over top of the chicken and serve.

Behind the Mask By Teldon

Bourke Protector Server Where do you live? Suburb of Chicago, by O'Hare Airport. Your age and gender? 48 (49 soon!) and male. What do you do for a living? I'm the Network Operations for a school district. I design, configure, install and manage the servers and internet connection for 6,700 children and 870 (or so) staff. Have you found anything interesting in the severs? Nothing living, but an old high school friend works at the company that designs the chips. So you've never found any naughty email sent back and forth between teachers? I have found that my people are rather silly. They love to pass on chain letters, and they don't trim off the previous address, so it could be 4 or 5 pages of addresses before the actual message. Are you currently seeing anyone special? I have several lady friends that I see regularly, and their husbands, and their kids... but not romantically. Any children of the two or four legged variety? I occasionally dog-sit for my mother, but not really... at least no one has come forward. Do you have any hobbies? As the district tech, I play around with the tech on their dime. Databases, Excel, web pages and such. I just started making podcasts, and City of Heroes. What type of podcasts? We are making some instructional audio casts for common tech used with in the district. My personal one is just me sitting and rambling on. What was the most interesting or favorite place to visit? I went out to Idaho to meet up with some former Reincarnated Elite people, then went out to Washington to see a Puma that the Protector server sponsors. I spent 13 years in the military, so even closets are interesting now. What type of music do you enjoy listening to? I have an eclectic collection. Sinatra, Beastie Boys, some opera from my uncle... What TV or radio shows do you watch/listen to on a regular basis? CNN, news and weather, local cable, and I just re-started watching CSI.

Read any good books lately? I listened to the entire Potter series, and I can't remember the name off the top of my head, but they made a bad Tom Hanks movie out of it. I am re-reading Chalker's Well World Series. What would you say is your favorite pop culture quote? "Don't go there." How did you get drawn to the game? Every year, since I was 20 or so, I would buy myself a birthday gift. I saw it on the shelf, and remembered playing so I started playing. And how did you end up picking your home server? When I started, it was the one at the top, so I picked it and I've been here ever since. What would you say your playstyle is like? As a scrapper, I go in and taunt via my feet - not reckless, but pretty aggressive. As others, cautiously. What side of the game do you prefer? I prefer the hero side, but I have a couple villains. I picked up CoV mainly for the base editing and because I was in beta for CoV. What type of characters do you enjoy playing? I have 2 scrappers, 3 defenders, 2 controllers, a blaster, a brute and a mastermind, so it's not what I enjoy, but what I don't enjoy. I have a hard time with tanks. I love tanks when I'm not playing them, but we'll see with I12. What is your favorite zone in game? The Shadow Shard is my favorite place to mission. Galaxy City is my favorite starting point. What is your favorite story arc in the game? Anything with Nemesis. What is your favorite feature of the game? I would have to say the community. What are you looking forward to in the upcoming issue? More zones, more missions, more badges - more more more! I'm going to try a fire/fire scrapper and probably a plant/psi or plant/sonic controller. Any advice for new players? The forums are a good resource. Don't be afraid to ask silly sounding questions, and have fun. Any closing comments? The 4 years here have been a blast, and I think it will only continue to get better.

Base Showcase By Bonker
Statesman's Watch
Who is your base designer, and who are your supergroup leaders? Leaders: Branche (exec director and base designer), Beeks (personnel director), Shaman Elder (mission director) Which server is your base on, and is it a Hero or Villain SG/VG? Currently number 29 on Infinity, Heroside. When was your supergroup established? June 8, 2006 How many players are in your supergroup? Approximately ten to fifteen very active, and approximately thirty moderately active. But it’s not fair not to mention our awesome coalitions! We team with our coalies quite often: Children of the Gods, Hands of Destiny, Children of Data, the Underground Syndicate, Paragon Broadcasting Service, The New Knights of Avalon, and the Big Red Machine. GREAT people, GREAT groups, GREAT fun! One giant happy family! What is the approximate value of your base? 16x20 plot with total base value at approximately 36 mil prestige. How much time do you spend working on your base? How much time have you invested so far? I spend many, many hours on the base. Usually about half an hour a day just detailing and being picky over coffee. In total, the current SW main base took me about ten good days to create. Not to mention the almost 40 mil prestige earned by our awesome members in the two years of our existence! It's a smaller, no frills base compared to the old one but has everything except an IOP (boo). The old 20x24 took me almost a month to get right but had some buggy issues with over 7500 decorative items. What is your favorite base item? Least favorite? Little brown shelves the most versatile item in the inventory..Least faves ? I don’t really have one. I like everything. What is your favorite thing about base editing? Least favorite? I enjoy the creativity of base editing. Making great things with very little. Least fave would have to be the time it takes to place some items. What is the highest thing on your wish-list for new base items? NPCs would be great. Water and sky textures and effects, fountains and water base level, windows, and anything that would encourage SG members to actually use and congregate in the base. SG missions and TFs, more items that SG members could actually use like the Ouroboros portal, autodoc and combat logs. Perhaps a laptop lab with access to WW, an in-base tailor, and a telephone that we could use to ring contacts. I would also love to see portals to coalition bases and perhaps multiple levels to bases. If you could give just one piece of advice to a new base editor, what would it be? Just do it. Keep in mind that there is no depreciation associated with playing with the base editor. So go for it and have fun. Anything else you'd like to add about your SG, your base or the base system in general? Statesman's Watch started like many others, just a small group of players that teamed often. Most of us are older than your average gamer, some are younger (like 7 hehe). But all of us are great players and really enjoy the COX experience as well as other online games such as Tabula Rasa. I am particularly proud of SW, its members and coalies for being such damn cool people!