Keeping the discussion on the forum is fine by me...perhaps specific issuses with one or two individuals are better done through email, but we'll see.
As this is beginning as an SE4 newsletter, I agree that the content of the first, if not first few, editions should be limited to that subject alone. I think we agree there's more than enough material.
However, were we to, in the near future, branch out, I think we should also hammer out a definition, an angle if you will, for this newsletter. A publication which lacks a definition as to its niche is open to go anywhere. Perhaps that is something to keep in the back of our minds, but still, two suggestions might be--Space Strategy or 4x games...as that is what has brought us all together.
However, SE4 is the topic at hand, and I might as well begin.
Previously on this thread I posted my email:
menschenfresser@rcn.com
For those who want their mods reviewed, please send word of them to this address. Please do not include the mod, but tell me where I can find it and send a little synopsis (ie, what you were trying to accomplish, how you think it adds to the game, how you see it being played, where you got the idea, etc...basically whatever you want me and the world (our world) to know). I may quote you.
Don't worry, I won't be mean. Nothing will be judged along generalized "positive"/"negative" lines, but rather issues such as originality, balance issues, AI capabilites, additions to the game, complexity, etc. Never will I say such things as, "This mod sucks," or "Who thought up this crap?" Honestly, I haven't ever read of a mod on here that didn't interest me. Like everyone else, the problems are, picking those that sound the best...because there are too many to try them all.
That's where this column comes in.
I was considering a write up on the big mods first (TDM, Proportions, P&N, etc), but then I decided not to jump on this right out of the gate. I might include one with the first few editions along with a few reviews of smaller, newer, more obscure mods.
I ask that you send finished work. Well, it doesn't have to be perfect. It can be in beta. But it's more advantageous if what I review is as close as can be to what will be distributed.
Send your mods today! Old! New! Updates! Whatever!