stonewall Official magazine of the stonewall gaming networktimes Issue 39 | SUMMER 2020
#Pride20
CONTENTS
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Return to risa Risa accolade map Risa artifact guide Bears san diego pride2020 Donation drive Trek through trek trivia Halloween contest Learn Klingon Nagh’red logs The first editor Flying high New fc A Model career caterprise Cod warzone Retrogaming Stellaris mod Fortnite shoutouts Recipe corner Crossword solution
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TEN-FOREWORD
P Editorial team Editor-in-chief Cal Layout Callex Cover artwork derived from @clockenfrau proofreading @IM_TRICK Contributors @capnbranflakes @clockenfrau @deepsky579 @GXV3 @hippiepunk @insanefuture79 @jimmyjoe1a @jkester77 @kierix @nikolunus @Praetor Shinzon @solarbear @TLara/tedhembach @voleron @Zoxesyr
ride season! What a great event that was Pride20 and a huge thanks to all who came and hopefully enjoyed themselves as well as to the organisers and volunteers who planned, hosted and executed all week long!
We’ve put some memories of Pride right here in our cover story—let us know which was your favourite! Also in this edition, we showcase some interviews with our members, Fleet Captain Steve’s passion for flight sims, our newest Combat Ops Fleet Captain Jay says hello, and our first ever Times’ Editor-inChief returns to give us an update on what he’s been up to. If you’re hungry, we’ve got not one but two recipes for you to try out—post your pics of you cooking them! Fleet Captain Kiki (Kierix) talks about his forays into battle royales as well as his newfound model hobby. Our very own Vaultmaster, Gareth, has an important message for everyone in the community too to help make Pride 21 and future events a continued success.
As always don’t forget to check out our home at home on SGN, and on issuu.com as another channel for you to read at your convenience. From all of the team here, please enjoy this Summer edition of your Times!
Cheers,
Cal
Social Media @StonewallGN Website stonewallgaming.net Star Trek & related properties are trademarks and ©CBS Studios Inc. Star Trek Online (STO) & related properties are ©Cryptic Studios Inc. Star Wars & related properties are trademarks and ©Lucasfilm Ltd. Star Wars: The Old Republic & related properties are ©EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd. Guild Wars 2 (GW2) & related marks are ©ArenaNet Inc and NCSOFT Europe Ltd. Overwatch is a trademark of Blizzard Entertainment Inc. Pokémon go ©Niantic Inc. © Pokémon. ©Nintendo / Creatures Inc. / GAME FREAK inc. Pokémon and Pokémon character names are trademarks of Nintendo.
Recent previous editions of the Stonewall Times are available online at https://sites.google.com/site/stonewalltimes/home
No infringement of these rights is intended. Stonewall Times is a voluntary, community-made, non-profit production.
Made from recycled photonics a TACTICAL INITIATIVE
MMXX
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SUMMERTIME
Lohlunatfest is back Earn your new Risian ship now! And use our handy Accolade & Artifact guides overleaf made by @hippiepunk & @Tlara
https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/i1rk5f/risian_weather_control_ship_gallery/
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INTERVIEW
Bears San Diego An interview with @solarbear
Written, and interview conducted, by Tom, the hippiepunk
No money to buy food due to jobloss because of Coronavirus? There is help - it's in your community, at least in San Diego.
What do you do if you have no money to buy food because you just lost your job due to the Coronavirus crisis? For those living in San Diego there‘s help. There is a food drive that supports San Diego's LGBT community. Let's find out how this is linked to our community and the Stonewall Gaming Network. In Stonewall Fleet there is a member called @Solarbear1. His real name is Jeff Breeze, and he is a member of the Bears San Diego. We had a talk with him to learn about himself, the Bears, and their projects. Tom: You told me in fleet chat that you helped organizing and managing the food project to distribute food to people in need. How does that work? Jeff: We're currently supporting a food drive for San Diego's LGBT community in cooperation with Auntie Helen's Thrift Store. We are taking food as well as monetary donations. Anything is welcomed, although we are giving priority to high protein items such as tuna fish and peanut butter.
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Tom: So if I want to help too, how can I do that? Jeff: If you would like to assist, we are taking food as well as monetary donations. Any checks or gift cards can be sent to: Bears San Diego, PO Box 3151 San Diego CA 92163.
Tom: Please tell me more about the Bears. What is the bear community? Jeff: The bear community/movement got its start in the late 80s and early 90s as something of a pushback to most media portrayals of gay men as with perfect bodies, hairdos, waxed and plucked with .5% body fat. After AIDS ravaged most gay communities in the 80s, gay men began looking for alternative ways to connect with each other, and so bear social clubs arose from this. The group I primarily work with, Bears San Diego, is a social group that also raises money for charity. Tom: How long do the Bears San Diego exist? Jeff: Our group recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, you can check out our website at www.bearssd.org. We usually have several events every month.
Tom: I've noticed the bears flag has a kind of color-code. Is that right? Jeff: The Bear flag colors symbolizes the different colors of fur you find in bears (the four legged kind) all over the world, with the paw print as something of a symbol for unification.
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INTERVIEW
Tom: Let's talk about you. If I want to reach out to you in the Stonewall Gaming Network, how can I find you? Jeff: In the SGN-forum my profile name is @Jeffdabear1, in Star Trek Online you can message some of my toons: Ult (my main toon), S'Laren (my Romulan) or my newest one, 5 of 11, an xB, my handle is @Solarbear1. I play both STO and SWTOR, although outside gaming I'm something of a fixture in San Diego's LGBT community, holding multiple titles. Tom: Titles? Which titles? Please tell us more! Jeff: Over the years I have served as Mr So Cal Bear 2009, Mr Bear San Diego 2016 to 2018, Royal Bear de San Diego 2018, been inducted into Mama's Family as Mama's San Diego Papa Bear and have been given by my peers a title of Sir and dubbed the Majestic Golden Bear Crown Prince by the Imperial Court of San Diego.
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Tom: The Imperial Court of San Diego? What is it? Jeff: The Imperial Court of San Diego is one of the oldest gay nonprofit organization of its kind, being almost 50 years old. It‘s part of what's known as the International Court System, with chapters spread across the US, Mexico, and Canada. Last year as a sign of recognition for my almost two decades in service to San Diego's LGBT community, I was awarded the title of Crown Prince.
Tom: If you say awarded, I guess there is some kind of a contest, right? Jeff: Most of my titles I have won in contests in my community. Its kinda like the Miss America pageant where you have to go through an interview, and then comes the swimsuit and evening gown portion LOL, only instead of a swimsuit you usually see a lot more leather jock straps, and kilts are pretty common, and the person who wins the title is the person who the judges feel is the best representative of their community. I've had the honor of representing my community in local, regional and also international title competition. Tom: Thank you Jeff for this talk. I hope you and the Bears will prosper in the future. Jeff: Thanks for having me.
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COVER STORY
#Pride20 12 stonewallgaming.net
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Pride SGN’s flagship event The cover picture on the preceding page was beautifully captured by @clockenfrau showing a wonderful moment during the Stonewall Fleet Pride Parade. Whether in the humungous Universe-class, or a petite Defiant, a convoy of fleeties began travelling as one through system (Nick!) sector space in game and of course letting off fireworks. The Pride event is the flagship event of the SGN calendar that requires the efforts of the entire leadership team working together - through planning and execution, both on the stage and behind the scenes. For the first time ever in 2020, SGN held events across a number of games with team ups in World of Warships, The Old Republic, Guild Wars 2, Dead by Daylight and Fortnite in the week leading up to the main Pride weekend. All this in addition to forum-based ones too! For a consecutive year, the Pride Raffle beat all expectations and amassed the largest ever Energy Credit prize pool of over EC2.2 billion, doubling 2019’s already huge total, once again showing the generosity and kindness of the members of the fleet. Let the record also state that a number of individuals made gifts of EC to benefit others by buying raffle tickets, with one member donating virtually their entire EC balance to the pool. This generosity continues to inspire all of us and embodies the spirit of our community—that of helping others and each other. We continue to need your help too - please see a request from our Master of the Vaults, GXV3, in his call for donations to help make future events just as, if not even more successful! 14 stonewallgaming.net
Kiki’s memories of pride So many happy memories to choose from! I loved the run up to pride week! It was so fun playing all the other games that we play together other than STO! Marine Monday, TOR Tuesday, War Wednesday, Terror Thursday, and Fortnite Friday were so much fun!!! I loved discovering new games especially finding our fellow fleeties or well guild hearts that play GW2 and that taught me a thing or two, thank you Micah, Ashe & Peter and everyone else I’ve played with since! I really enjoyed being able to help out with Combat Operation’s TFO runs in T1 ships! Isn’t it so fun to finally have a real challenge in STO? And did you all enjoy Tosk the game? You were so good at hiding! I couldn’t find you all! Check out the video on our YouTube page which features highlights from the whole week!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X511orm9-x8
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Happy PRIDE everyone! Our celebrations this year were spectacular, amazing, stunning, glitterish, fun and happinessloaded joy! We had over 50 fleeties and guests attending our parties and events in those two days, with lots of prizes and goodies to win and give away. Here are the results and reports of our glorious and honorable activities (just to make the Klingons happy too). See you all next year!
Round 1 Jspectre - 4 swc Sellinodan - 3 swc robertjaneway - 2 swc TLara - 1 swc Gravity - 1 swc Round 2 barnsiepoo - 4 swc NikoLunus - 3 swc kemaiku - 2 swc clockenfrau - 1 swc Rasilek - 1 swc
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Winner ‐ Sej 2nd place ‐ Milmar 3rd place ‐ Chipz416
1st ‐ hippiepunk ‐ 4 SWC 2nd ‐ Chipz416 ‐ 3 SWC 3rd ‐ NeoGabi ‐ 2 SWC 4th ‐ Voleron ‐ 1 SWC 5th ‐ smearcampaign ‐ 1 SWC 6th ‐ clockenfrau ‐ 1 SWC 7th ‐ Traull ‐ 1 SWC 8th ‐ gladiatorpope ‐ 1 SWC 9th ‐ Xaltha ‐ 1 SWC
This years Tosk the Game was a great success. We played nine rounds in total, with DanaDark as our Champion Hunter. Stonewall Credits were also awarded to: callumjw jmccomb1979 lerandor perseus75 robertjaneway psyche1701 chipz416 Akrilon 20 stonewallgaming.net
Winners ‐ Team Beta ‐ 5 SWC's each Milmar smearcampaign IMTrick NikoLunus NicholasJohn16 2nd place ‐ Team Delta & Team Epsilon ‐ 4 SWC's each 3rd place ‐ Team Gamma ‐ 3 SWC's each 4th Place ‐ Team Alpha ‐ 2 SWC's each
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Fleet Donation Drive For the past 11 years, Stonewall Fleet has always maintained our regular events throughout each year. During these events members compete for prizes big and small, from ships to phasers. These prizes came from the gracious donations of fleet members throughout the years. On May 12th 2016, we set up the Stonewall Credit Store (credits.stonewallfleet.com), where we list all of our available prizes that members can pick from, instead of having a default prize picked for them by the event organizer. We award credits called "Stonewall Credits" (SWC for short) each time you partake in any Stonewall event, be it in game or on our forums. This store makes it easier for you to get what you've wanted, and it's completely free! All it costs is for you to just.. play STO with your fellow fleet mates during our events or keep checking back on these forums for forum based events which will be popping up more. So it’s super easy to gain SWCs.. you just have to have fun! As you’ve read in this issue, each year we lay on our biggest flagship event "Stonewall Pride," which lasts a whole weekend and is extremely popular. This year we had a record number of attendees and dished out a whopping 110 SWCs, as well as putting on the biggest raffle ever which gave away over 2 billion EC worth of prizes. It's a win-win for everyone! But sadly not so for our Prize vault as we are now running very low on our big ticket items such as T6 ships, lock box keys and ship upgrade modules. For future events and prizes for members to pick from, we would love to have the store look tempting, so that people will have a hard time choosing what to spend their SWC on. Alas, we have nearly depleted our range of ships on offer. It takes a lot of volunteered time and effort putting on the events in Stonewall for the benefit of the membership, and one way you can help to give back to the community is through a kind donation no matter how big or small! 22 stonewallgaming.net
To that end, If you are feeling particularly generous and have any big ticket items such as T6 ships or lock box keys, and don't know what to do with them, it would be of massive help to the fleet if you would donate them. It would be of great help to us to keep on putting on the events with a vault full of amazing prizes. Here is a list of what we really need: T6 ships Lock box keys Fleet modules Starship upgrade tokens Another way you can help if you don't have the needed donations listed above, is to donate some EC to any of our Stonewall Fleet banks under the "Consumables” tab (Stonewall Fleet, Deep Space Stonewall, Nagh’reD, Legion). That way we can use some of the fleets combined EC to help restock the prize vault. Please note we still have a great range of old T5 ships, so if you have any of those to donate, you could sell them and bank the EC instead as above. Take a look at our store credits.stonewallfleet.com to see what we are running low on, and whether you can help us out! All donations won't go amiss and I make it my duty to show your name off for being so generous, and in turn sprinkle some SWCs into your account wallet.
Any big ticket donations, please contact @GXV3 of the Resources Department, on the website, in game or on our SGN Discord.
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An idea forms!
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A line forms!
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Following the Conga line leader around the Fleet Starbase
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Just how many fleeties can fit in a Fleet Starbase turbolift?
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ARTICLE
A look back at Pride: Trek Trivia By @voleron Stonewall’s 2020 Pride celebrations marked the 22nd edition of our Trek Trivia event and if you were one of the 23 participants or countless other spectators who joined us, you know what a blast we had both on Discord and in our text chat. Our trivia event as we now know it, has evolved from humble beginnings in 2012 as a text only event, held in fleet chat with a humble group of seven participants in our fleet’s embassy, to a full audio show with more than three times the number of participants and observers as of our latest event. Trek Trivia was initially just a small and informal impromptu event that I thought I’d throw together for fun for the community, whenever I had time to put 50 questions together. The first event went well, so a month later I put together another, invited everyone to the mess hall of my boyfriend Julien’s Defiant class ship, and held our second trivia event. We more than doubled our attendance from the first time and had such a great time hanging out together that my ambition started to grow. I decided that I wanted to create something beyond just a bunch of text based questions but I wasn’t immediately sure what that was going to look like.
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I thought it would be neat to try to emulate an actual game show with an audio component, which meant taking to our TeamSpeak server, and by our sixth event, I’d started including a very basic audio component to the game, including some sound basic sound effects for countdowns, and buzzers. Back then, voice chat wasn’t nearly as popular in the community as it has become with the advent of Discord, however, so in expanding the event to include audio, I wanted to make sure that it remained accessible to those who didn’t want to join TeamSpeak and for those members who were hearing impaired. This meant coordinating audio on TeamSpeak with the questions and answers being posted in text channels and I’m very proud of the fact that as the event has grown over the last eight years that this still holds true today, with it remaining accessible to everyone in our community.
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Basic audio was fine, but when the positive feedback started rolling in, I set my sights and ambitions higher yet. I wanted Stonewall’s trivia experience to become something epic that could be a unique addition to our community for years to come. In searching for inspiration, I looked to some other trivia games that I really enjoyed, including: Buzz! (PS3) and Star Trek: Scene It, but most importantly: You Don’t Know Jack! If you’ve played in one of our Trek Trivia events, you’ve probably noticed elements of all three games honored and represented in our creation. What drew me to the YDKJ and Buzz! models was their sarcastic and rude game show hosts, and it’s a comedic style that I knew I wanted to replicate. I needed a rambunctious host for this amazing game and in drawing from the season one sarcasm of the EMH in Voyager and “Cookie” from YDKJ, I created the emergency game show host hologram that you’ve all come to love (or hate), Voleron (Mark II). Bittered by the abduction of the Mark I version of his program by various fleet departments or villainous organizations over the years, he’d bring amusement to observers by way of his sarcastic treatment of the contestants as they navigated the trivia event.
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By our seventh event, I hired a voice over artist to voice the hologram and drafted a script for him that would become the template for every subsequent trivia event that’s been held to this day. As time went on, we added to the variety of special questions, random events and spontaneous challenges that were designed to give every contestant a fair shot at the coveted top three placements, regardless of typing speed and to that end, I think we’ve been quasi-successful. By 2014, we added voiceovers to theme our trivia event to the annual Feast of Blood and Blade that’d been held by the Klingon Affairs Department and in 2016, the voice script was expanded to provide a thematic experience for our annual Halloween Fright Night. We have such a big voice over collection now that it’s possible to program our Emergency Gameshow Host Hologram for wide variety of themed occasions. Participants and contestants may not wonder what the event looks like behind the scenes, so I will tell you: it’s pure chaos, every time.
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The event takes two of us full-time to run it and we’re busy for the entire 1.5 to 2 hour duration of the game. I handle posting the questions, sorting through the stream of answers in chat, picking out the winners and awarding points in under 30 seconds, while simultaneously, Julien manages the entire audio component of the show on our soundboard, which since our humble beginnings, has become quite involved. With over three pages of audio clips, it makes for busy work. Over the years, we’ve automated things as much as possible. Our question/answer spreadsheet automatically calculates points, determines who is in what place at any given time during the event and auto-populates the text that I copy and paste into chat. In spite of the automation, there are tense moments as we try to keep the game moving along as quickly and smoothly as possible with as little down-time between questions as possible. Then there’s the real world component: being emergency service workers and always on-call, the both of us take a vacation day any time we run trivia so that the game doesn’t get unexpectedly cut short, but with 22 Trek Trivia events behind us, it’s become a pretty well-oiled machine and the Emergency Gameshow Host Hologram is just hitting his stride! You’re guaranteed to see the EGHH Voleron Mark II at least twice a year; once for Pride and once for our annual Halloween event, and sometimes, he makes a few more appearances depending on the fleet events that are planned. Join the EGHH next for Halloween Fright Fest on Saturday, October 31st for our terrifying Halloween themed show! Save the date!
Voleron (Dave) SGN Public Relations Officer
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NAGH’RED LOGS
Personal Log, Starbase Strength By NicoLunus House of Nagh'reD Personal Log, Starbase Strength Captain Cheshian Shir Rira I have lived among the Klingons now for some times. By my peoples progression of time, it would be the sum of four solar cycles. I have maintained my rank among their military force through constant shows of physical combat. The Klingon's love of martial combat still parplexes me, though at the urging of a man that has come to be a father to me; I did take up learning several of the Klingon Martial Arts. The Batleth has proven unweildy, difficult and overall one of the least effective weapons. There is though a thrill in mastering it and defeating a challenging foe using it. I am coming to understand why the Klingons hold the weapon above all others among their peoples useage of arms. The skill needed to survive with it in combat it nothing to scoff at. In the recent months I have been given a position in the rotation of Captains that tend to the Starbase. Not the most ideal assignment, the lighting is horrid, the smell something unfathonable somedays. I managed to find the most well lit and cleanest space in the station to use as my personal office. A medical room that from the onset seemed to have never been used much. 44 stonewallgaming.net
House of Nagh'reD Personal Log, Starbase Strength Captain Cheshian Shir Rira I have lived among the Klingons now for some time. By my people's progression of time, it would be the sum of four solar cycles. I have maintained my rank among their military force through constant shows of physical combat. The Klingons' love of martial combat still perplexes me, though, at the urging of a man that has come to be a father to me, I did take up learning several of the Klingon Martial Arts. The Bat'leth has proven unwieldy, difficult and overall one of the least effective weapons. There is, though, a thrill in mastering it and defeating a challenging foe using it. I am coming to understand why the Klingons hold the weapon above all others among their people's usage of arms. The skill needed to survive with it in combat is nothing to scoff at. In the recent months I have been given a position in the rotation of Captains that tend to the Starbase. Not the most ideal assignment; the lighting is horrid, the smell something unfathomable some days. I managed to find the most well lit and cleanest space in the station to use as my personal office: a medical room that from the onset seemed to have never been used much. It is quiet and allows me to focus on my duties. I have started to grow a personal distaste of targs. The majority of the smells in the station that leave me offset come from these particular animals. The remaining are the varied mixed smells of bloodwine, blood, and the leathers used for uniforms. My feline sense of smell is far stronger than that of the Klingons'. I have managed to strike up a kinship in this minor suffering with some of the Gorn officers and crew manning the station. I understand now why they keep their areas of habitation filled with sulfate-based incenses. I am finding my time around many of the Orions stationed here difficult; my experiences with them had not been pleasant in the past. Though learning to live with your fellow officers and commanding them equally is still my duty. During my first week on watch I had to manage several disputes between the Nausicans and Klingons; a few of the Gorn crewmembers where pulled into this disruption of the starbase as well. I think the medical bays finally saw some full use in the aftermath. With the approve of the stations Admiral, we have begun monthly Starbase Melee Competitions. In several of these I stood as champion, taking the advice of the Admiral to establish myself as a peer among the varied Warriors has proven useful. I was fairly amused to see one Gorn officer wield a Bat'leth in such a manner that left several Klingon challengers swatted away; I see promise in him as a good officer in the future. In our last competition the battles where much more fierce; several Warriors wished to regain face after sound defeats in prior battles. Some achieved this, others learned a little humility and the knowledge that they must better their skills as warriors of the Empire. In the coming month, though, I have been asked to bring many of our better fighters to Risa for a separate type of competition; one that I am not fully comfortable with but willing still to participate in. A Ferengi diplomat with ties to many larger shipping firms wishes to see us combat, in as I understand it an unarmored, unarmed form of competition. From my understanding, if this diplomat is pleased with the spectacle that we present to him, than a new steady supply of fresh food and bloodwine will be provided to the Starbase at a greater discount compared with our current arrangements. While many of the other races here are skeptical of this, the Klingons are brimming with a new confidence to achieve this victory. I am perplexed though as to why the few humans stationed here snicker at this, one of them offering advice on swimwear appropriate for the competition ahead of us.
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INTERVIEW
In the beginning... An interview with @capnbranflakes For our readers, Brandon was the first ever Editor of the Times (at its very humble beginnings as a newsletter for the STO fleet) and Stonewall’s Admiral of Intelligence at STO’s launch. He also worked for Cryptic from 2011-14 as Star Trek Online’s Community Manager.
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SWT: Hi Brandon! Welcome back to the SWT office on this hot summer’s day for your exclusive interview! So how are you doing?
Brandon: Thank you, it’s great to be back! Though, I wish I could say it’s hot here in Dublin… we’ve had a dreadful start to August weather wise. Of course we had amazing weather when we were all in lockdown, and now that we’re out, it’s shite xD I’m doing very well, all things considered! Hope everyone reading this is also well and keeping safe. Strange times, aye?
SWT: How’s the situation where you are, what with the lockdown? Brandon: Right now, as of the time I’m writing this, Ireland is doing fairly good with keeping new cases to a minimum. That said, over the last week, there has been a slight uptick, but hopefully that subsides. I’m thankful and fortunate to say that none of my family or friends here in Ireland or back in California have gotten COVID.
SWT: So can you tell us a bit about yourself? Brandon: These questions are always so hard! But, let me try… I’m Brandon, 33 years old, big gaymer, originally from Southern California and now living (escaped to) Ireland for the past almost-4 years. I part-own a retro-arcade restaurant/bar here called Token (www.tokendublin.ie) and also work full time for tech giant Indeed. I live with my partner of over 2.5 years in Dublin city centre and when I’m not working, I enjoy gaming (PC, PS4, Switch, mobile), reading, watching TV series & movies, traveling, and eating all the foods.
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SWT: How’d you find Stonewall Fleet in the first place? Brandon: In late 2009, I literally did a Google search for “gay star trek online guild” -- and the rest is history!
SWT: What were the early days like back then as one of the “first ones?” Brandon: Everyday was an adventure. Pre-launch, we were giddy at the news articles that were coming out each day with info about what the game would be like. We were truly about to boldly go where no one has gone before, and somewhere all of us dreamed about going. And then at launch, it was really like venturing out to the final frontier. Experiencing every aspect of the game for the first time was magical, especially getting to the old endgame experience and having to learn the strategies for completing the Special Task Forces (now called TFOs, but back then they were raid-like and you didn’t have many mission prompts telling you what you had to do - you had to figure out the strategies on your own with your team, and that was so fun).
SWT: What can you tell us of Nick’s dirty or even filthier secrets?? Brandon: So many tales to tell; but, sadly, they’ve all been REDACTED ;)
SWT: What do you think of SGN now? Brandon: It is amazing to see the growth! From the humble beginnings of a small fleet in a single game to a multi-game network with 1000s of members, it’s really provided an inclusive and fun space for LGBTA gamers around the world. I’m proud to be a part of it.
SWT: And how did the Stonewall Times come to be? What or who inspired you to be its creator? [bonus points if you heard that in probe Ilia’s voice] Brandon: Ha! Funny story, actually: I pitched the idea to Nick, he actually wasn’t a big fan of it, but because I seemed passionate about it, he let me put it to the Fleet to get their thoughts. There was interest, we assembled a very small crew to launch the first issue, and well here you are :).
SWT: How did you find being an editor in chief? Brandon: It was great, especially because I always loved writing and project management -- so being EiC really got to marry those two skills.
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SWT: What are your best/worst memories of being Editor? Brandon: Best: Proving Nick Wrong :P Worst: Deadlines! The Times is a labour of love, so it was sometimes hard to get in content from the volunteers by the time we needed it.
SWT: Which is your favourite issue? Brandon: All of the issues that recap Pride weekend or the Vegas Con meetup!
SWT: And what do you think of the Times now? Brandon: I am so proud to see it still going, and it looks better than ever.
SWT: So are you tempted to get back into the chair? ;) Brandon: No, don’t worry ;) I really enjoy being a fan and seeing things from the other side.
SWT: You’ve been to the LV meet ups - what are they like? Brandon: They are really incredible experiences. Not only do you get to meet some of the friends that you spend the most amount of time with outside of your IRL family, friends, and colleagues, but you get to enjoy something together that you’re all so passionate about. I could not recommend it enough and I hope to go again.
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SWT: What are you working on right now? Brandon: After having been approached by Indeed in 2018 to join a special team within the org, I spend my working days there as a full-time Executive Briefing Manager -- I look after the briefings we host for our largest clients around EMEA. Token is doing its thing in the background and is run by an amazing management team, so I really get to enjoy being an owner of a restaurant without any of the day-to-day responsibilities. It’s because they are so amazing that I didn’t have much to do on a day-today basis from an ownership perspective thus allowing me to work on the Indeed venture.
SWT: Can we talk about your star career with Cryptic and what led you to becoming STO’s Community Manager? Brandon: Sure, and to be honest, I wouldn’t have been there if it were not for Stonewall, my fleetmates, and the opportunity to gain valuable community management/ leadership experience as an Admiral, so I am forever thankful to all involved in my journey. This might be boring, but here’s the timeline of events:
2009: Joined Stonewall Fleet + became Admiral of Intelligence 2010.1: Game launch + two fleetmates asked me to be part of their STO podcast, “The Neutral Zone” 2010.2: Another fleetmate (Sparkiemark) and I started Priority One Podcast (which is still going today, and I’m so proud of that) 2011.1: I became a columnist for Massively.com covering STO + I started running in-game, semisanctioned community events 2011.2: I joined the STO team after applying for the role of Community Manager 2014.1: I was promoted to Team Lead, and started managing all of the Community Managers for all of Cryptic/PWE’s titles 2014.2: I gave up my dream and moved back to SoCal to be closer to family for personal reasons
Pre-Dublin, working on STO made up the best time of my life. It was hard work, but incredibly rewarding. I look back with so many great memories and friendships made, but also know that all of that led me to where I am today. It’s truly been an adventure.
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What’s in your manbag?
My phone, my sunglasses, my AirPods, a book, my Switch, and a battery pack.
Shoe size?
UK 12/ US 13
Fave work wear
Well, now that I only see colleagues and clients on Zoom, it’s business on top and party on bottom xD.
Fave lounge wear
Basketball shorts and a sleeveless-T.
Fave gaming wear Same as my lounging! Fave music
Ahhhh! So many fav genres it’s hard to choose. Indie, pop, and musicals are probably in my top 3.
Fave Trek series
I’m a Voyager boy. <3 Janeway.
Fave food
Cheese!
Fave drink
Gin and Tonic (specifically Nordes Atlantic Galician Gin with Fever-Tree Indian Tonic Water and a peel of orange).
Most used app
Instagram.
Apple or Android? Apple, iPhone 11 Pro Max How many inches? 6.5 inches (you’re asking about the phone screen size, right?...)
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SWT: Is there a Mrs BranFlakes? Brandon: As I alluded to above, there sure is! My partner Damien (aka Damo) and I are not far off from celebrating our 3-year anniversary. He also loves to game (though mostly on the PS4), and while he prefers Star Wars, he does watch all the new Trek with me as it comes out. We live together in an apartment in the area of Dublin known as Ringsend.
SWT: Any hopes and dreams? Brandon: COVID and lockdown forced Damo and I to stay in, and we were used to going out quite a bit, which has resulted in us saving more than we thought we could. So we’re going to keep up that trend and work towards what that might look like in terms of home-ownership together. We’d both like children someday. And a dog… hopefully sooner than later! We’d also both love to travel the world more.
SWT: What’s your greatest achievement to date? Brandon: I would have to say it’s moving to Ireland and living out my dream. I came here with a 90-day tourist visa and my entire life packed into two suitcases. I had a drive to make it work, and when I put my mind to something, I make it happen. It was the best decision I’ve ever made, and I’ve never been happier. Oh, and losing almost 100 pounds (45kg/7 stone) from my heaviest weight.
SWT: Anyone who answered “where do you see yourself in 5 years” in 2015 was woefully wrong. But where do you see yourself in 2045? :) Brandon: Well, I’d be 58, and I’d love to be retired by then with kids having just gone off to college. I’d like to see Token still doing well, maybe another expansion of it after our recent one last year, and possibly some of my other business ideas will have come to life by then. And I will have seen more of the world!
SWT: Will we see you more regularly now? Brandon: Yes! It was a long four years, but I finally feel settled in life to where I can jump back into a persistent, online gaming experience, and it feels great :)
SWT: Well, thanks so much for your time Bran in doing what is for us a special interview — without you the Times would never be here today! We look forward to seeing you in game and on Discord! Brandon: The pleasure is all mine! Hope to see all of you out among the stars \\//_ Bx
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FLIGHT SIMS
Dreams Aloft Flying high with @DeepSky579 Most of you have probably seen me by now on the
with a custom livery made for X-Plane’s Boeing
SGN Discord frequently streaming my journeys
737-800. Designed and painted by our very own
through the virtual skies of X-Plane 11. Today, it
Cal, I’ve dubbed this inaugural aircraft of ours as
has a long standing of being the most-preferred
the “Spirit”, for it showcases our collective love for
“game” among flight simulation enthusiasts and
Star Trek, GLBTQIA Pride, and characters from
even real-world pilots. Developed by Laminar
other games played in our community such as
Research, X-Plane 11 has been my own personal
Gareth the Fortnite muscle
return to the flight simulation hobby after a long
flexing upon the tail of
hiatus that began once I started playing MMO’s in
our aircraft.
kitty
2007. Before then, I spent a good part of my younger years roaming Planet Earth from above in multiple versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator. But before I dive in further here, I want to start my first contribution to the Stonewall Times and express my gratitude. While I have always wanted to write a piece for the Times, I also never imagined that I would have the honor of flying for Stonewall Galactic, SGN’s very own virtual jetliner
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Never in my days of piloting virtual airplanes was
I
ever able achieve a custom livery, so to be able to take the SGN community above the clouds is certainly an honor, and what I hope to be the start of a new adventure as we enter a new generation of flight simulation.
As had many of us older kids-at-heart, growing up playing video games on the original Nintendo (NES) was where it all began with my gaming life. It still amazes me how those pixelated 8-bit games always had a way of getting you hooked while adventuring to strange and beautiful places. For me, in the early 90’s gaming started to get even better once I was introduced to the PC world. On one boring summer’s day, a neighborhood friend from down the street and I were riding our bicycles around when he asked, “Do want to play ‘Flight?’” I was puzzled by his question, not really understanding what he was talking about. I thought he meant like pretending we were airplanes or something during our bike ride around the neighborhood…”Sure?” I said. “Come on, let’s go back,” he said. We rode back to his house and went inside where he asked his dad if we could play ‘Flight’. “Okay…” his dad approved, “Not long though I need to use the computer soon.” A computer?? Cool!, I thought. I was fascinated with computers back then but had limited exposure to them since they were still largely considered a novelty in the American household at the time. The Internet still had about 5 years then before it started becoming a thing.
All Aboard the Spirit, Stonewall Gaming Network's very own 737-800 jet in X-Plane 11
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His system was an IBM 386 personal computer, a pizza-box desktop with a 14” CRT monitor sitting on top of it. Attached was a large, clicking keyboard that today’s mechanical keyboards pay a certain homage to, and a traditional 2-button corded ball-mouse with no scroll wheel. After a loud buzz from the floppy disk drive followed by a couple beeps, the computer booted up. My friend typed in a command at the DOS prompt, which in-itself was foreign to 13-year-old me who maybe used a computer once or twice prior at school. My friend’s command launched Microsoft Flight Simulator 3.0. He sat me down and showed me the keyboard commands as the game launched. I would be using the mouse as the controls.
Screenshot of Microsoft Flight Simulator version 3, Released in 1988
There it was: my very first virtual cockpit of a Cessna 152. All of the aircraft’s instruments were shown and functional on the lower half of the screen, and a window in the upper half that showed your first or 3rd-person view (or even both if you wanted!). My friend and I would both would take turns taking off and flying around, and then laughing hysterically at each other when trying to land the plane…and failing miserably every time. It was tough to control with just a mouse and keyboard, but great fun nonetheless trying to line back up with the runway and approach it. Once more, I was hooked, intrigued even once I found out you could fly just about anywhere you wanted. In 1993, my own father bought a 486 IBM-compatible PC for the house, just as household personal computers were becoming more popular. About a year after that first experience on my friend’s PC flying around those crude drawn blocks of iconic landmarks, my dad had also bought me MS Flight Simulator 5.0 for my birthday that year. It was on two 3.5” floppy disks and came with a 285-page Pilot’s Handbook. It was also the first version to feature textures in the graphics. I was floored at the difference when first launching the game compared to the 3.0 version my friend had. 60 stonewallgaming.net
Flight Simulator 5.0 box art
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Screenshot: LearJet 45 Cockpit, MS Flight Simulator v5.0
Born in the early computing era of the 1970’s by a software engineer named Bruce Artwick, Flight Simulator grew from a labor of love in early 3D-rendering technology to one that would garner the attention of his peers. As more people got word of its existence, it became popular enough to where he continued its development and eventually founded his own company. SubLogic Corporation went on to develop and sell the first 3 incarnations of the game made to run on Apple II, Commodore 64 and other computing platforms of the early to mid 80’s. In the years that followed, Microsoft eventually obtained the license and went on to develop 10 succeeding versions of Flight Simulator for IBM and Apple PC’s for nearly two decades. Overall, I must have logged thousands of hours across 7 versions of Microsoft’s franchise which, resultantly, had fueled my interest in real world aviation. It even helped with my lessons when I was a teenager who had been given the opportunity to learn to fly a real Cessna 150 prop plane. As I got older and learned more about computers, I eventually learned to build my own. I always had the next version of Flight Simulator in mind when building a new PC, for each new version became more advanced and more realistic with modern software tech and increasingly higherresolution graphics. Microsoft’s aim was always for realism and that, of course, meant higher PC requirements. So, I just had to be ready for it.
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Screenshot ‐ MS Flight Simulator 2004
And as that passion grew, so did the community while the Internet really began to blossom in the late 90’s. Microsoft was also making each version of Flight Simulator as an increasingly more open platform. As such, enthusiasts and real-world pilots alike began developing their own content for it, from custom scenery to hundreds of different kinds of aircraft based on their reallife counterparts. Many would achieve astonishing levels of detail. That tradition continues even today in the X-Plane community where X-Plane.org hosts a majority of downloadable 3rd-party content for the sim, both free and paid. It is not unheard of for people to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on mods, aircraft, and custom scenery to load into the game to make it how they want it to look and behave; to make it as realistic as possible. In getting my own installation of X-Plane looking and “feeling” more realistic, I downloaded free satellite imagery that can replace the otherwise dull stock geography that comes with the game. These images can take hours or even days to process before they can be loaded, and can easily take up hundreds of gigabytes on your drive. The results, nonetheless, speak for themselves.
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Boeing 737-800 Descending over Oahu, Hawaii (Top) and cruising over the Cascade Mountain Range, Pacific NW United States (Bottom), X-Plane 11 with Satellite Imagery.
As I mentioned, X-plane 11 to-date has been widely considered the simulator of choice since Microsoft had ceased development of their beloved franchise after 2007 once its popularity in the gaming world had fallen. Today, MS Flight Simulator X (FSX) is still sold on Steam and has been kept in a running state by Dovetail Games. Lockheed-Martin had also adopted the codebase for FSX, but their aim with the simulator is geared toward developing a more realistic and advanced software called Prepar3D that is licensed and certified for use as a training tool for real world pilots, both civilian and military. For years now I had believed that X-Plane was all that would be left of my late-childhood hobby after the now-aged FSX. That all changed last year to the sheer surprise of everyone who either once enjoyed or still enjoys flying virtual airplanes. At E3 in 2019, Microsoft made a huge splash with a completely unexpected and groundbreaking gameplay trailer to unveil the return of Microsoft Flight Simulator in 2020. After 14 years, they have built a completely new game with utterly breathtaking graphics, advanced flight modeling, and weather rendering that simply appears no different from the real thing. The scenery is built using Microsoftâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Azure cloud technology that streams satellite imagery from Bing maps to your PC as you fly. Mostly-accurate photometric buildings are overlaid on top, along with either real world or custom weather conditions. I will no longer need to download and process stupid amounts of imagery to store on my PC, now Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll just have it streamed in as I fly. What you get out of the box will, for the most part, represent the real world down to the individual tree, street or building. It will be very much possible to spot your own house! 64 stonewallgaming.net
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The new Microsoft Flight Simulator, Releasing on August 18, 2020
To say I am excited for this brand-new release is a massive understatement. It is also being introduced as an open platform just like its predecessors, and the community is already hard at work creating content including but certainly not limited to new (and more advanced) aircraft that arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t already in the game. Rest assured that the Stonewall Galactic livery will be brought over as well onto new and different aircraft. How about a 787-10 Dreamliner? Simply put, it is the dawn of a new age of flight simulation. Every time I have watched the preorder trailer for FS2020, I simply cannot help but get a bit emotional. When I was a kid, MSFS 5.0 got me through very some tough times after my father passed away. I would dream of a life above the clouds, above the Earth. Life is different in the air. Back then, I could only imagine what the future held for the game, and it has always gotten better and better. Now, after a long hiatus it looks like it is all about to come full-circle. For all the insanity that has been 2020, it is of great comfort to me to see that the dream of flight is alive and well. This time around, I am both excited and grateful to be able to share it with all of you. On Tuesday, August 18th, join me for a stream in our Discord to celebrate the launch of Flight Simulator 2020. Fair skies. Now boarding. ~Ras.
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CAPTAIN’S CHAIR
Combat Ops New FC A hello from @startrekfan101#5945 Howdy Fleeties! My name is Jason Kester (aka Enterprise Jay or @startrekfan101#5945.) I am the newest Captain in the Combat Ops Department. I just wanted express my joy over the last six months in this fleet and in Star Trek Online. Some of you might now know, I used to be a teacher and now I get to do what I love in this Fleet on a daily basis. I love to share knowledge and it gives me great joy to watch my fellow Fleeties get much better in the game and start to understand how the game mechanics work. My first Fleet event as a Captain was during the 10 vs 1 Carrier PVP event during our Pride Event. I was so nervous leading up to the event! I was wondering Did I make a good enough carrier build? Are my fellow Fleeties going to have fun? And will it be a success? Even though I did get blown up a lot, LOL, I believe everyone enjoyed themselves. During this crazy time in history, it has been a comfort that I have all of you to escape the real world from and have some Star Trek themed fun. So I want to thank all of you for being there; making me laugh, cry and pass the time with fun and friendship. Being a combat veteran in Star Trek Online, I want to give out some basic advice. First, try different things in the game and find a ship and build on either ground or space that you have the most fun with. What is the point of playing the game if you aren't having fun? Theme builds are fun and so are the Meta builds, you just got to find what you enjoy. The great thing about this game, is that you can make just about everything work with the right build and piloting. Second, try to upgrade your equipment to level XV as soon as possible. You don't have to worry about getting your gear to epic, it isn't that important until you are ready to finish your build and wanting to get just a little more DPS and effectiveness out of it. Third, Critical Chance and Critical Severity are vital in this game. Try to build up your Critical Chance and Critical Severity up whenever possible. By the way, did you know heals also have the ability to Critically Heal? Fourth, if you don't understand something or need help look for help and advice from your Fleeties, especially from your officers in the Combat Ops Department. Myself, Milmar and our Admiral Trick are always happy to help and we have resources on Stonewall's website as well. Take advantage of the resources from your Fleet. That is what we are here for! Lastly, have fun. I know it seems simple, but at the end of the day it is just a game, so don't stress and try to have as much fun as possible. It isn't that serious and thankfully for that because the real world is already stressful enough. Again, I want to thank all of you for welcoming me into this Fleet with open arms and love. It gives me great joy to be here and share my knowledge and love for the game with all of you. Look forward to bigger and better things and events from your Combat Department. We are in the process of developing more events and tools to assist you in the game and to help you maximize your fun in the game. Again, if you need anything please feel free to contact me. Live Long and Prosper!!! stonewallgaming.net 67
HOBBYCRAFT
A model career Star Trek Modelling with @kierix For a while now I have known the lovely Margali, and I had heard and seen stories of all her model kits, and I never really understood the fascination of it all till I tried it myself with the Enterprise D, and let me tell you that was a big D! Painting these ships are so relaxing! I love the model ships because it’s like playing STO in real life, and I get to paint it myself. Mar was able to help me and talk me through some of the stages and we even got to have a Discord paint club at one time or another! I’m still very much learning but I’m addicted, I bought mine second hand off someone on Facebook who was having a declutter, it’s really good to save some money as well as it gives me the chance to turn them into a restoration project and that really excites me even more. My current collection has amounted to: 1 Enterprise D, 2 Vorcha’s, 2 U.S.S. Voyagers (They’re 20” long!!!), 2 K’Tinga’s, 1 Mini Enterprise B, 1 Mini Enterprise C, 1 Mini Enterprise E. Gonna have to build my own space dock soon… 68 stonewallgaming.net
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MEMBER ART
Does anyone remember the 1970's cartoon "The Secret Life of Waldo Kitty"? This is my take on the ship in episode 5 - "Cat Trek" aka the "Secondprize" Picture by @Zoxesyr 74 stonewallgaming.net
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GAMING
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Kiki Tries COD: Warzone By @kierix So I recently retried Call of Duty: Warzone, the Free to play battle royale on the battle.net launcher, just because while still stuck on furlough I’m needing more things to keep myself busy, and let me tell you this is a flashback. It reminds me back in the day when 13 year old me was playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 on the Xbox 360 (Just a year or so before I joined Stonewall, I know, baby right?). A hybrid between Fortnite and Apex Legends, I feel it’s fun to play FPS again but gosh darn it I don’t miss being called names by other children
on voice chat. There’s no character customisation without paying for it I think unless I’m just being blind which is sad but I guess as FPS it won’t matter as much as the weapon customisation I think you can unlock without paying money. I’d really love to try it out with more fleeties so hit me up if anyone wants to! Add me on battle.net at Kieran1845#2574 if you want to join me!
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RETROGAMING
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Classic Trek Gaming By @insanefuture79
Lately I’ve been replaying some classic Trek games, thanks to finding www.myabandonware.com, and have to ask do they stand the test of time? Setting aside graphics because a game 20+ years old will not look as good as one today, are story and game play are still good?
Let’s start with Star Trek: The Game Show. This game show hosted by Q and is a classic trivia game for up to 3 players. There is a decent selection of character races to play and you can name them anything you like. Game play is simple: you are given a buzzer key -- each player a different key on the keyboard -- and you select the letter of the answer.
The clips are low quality and the interface is basic but the game is still fun! If you can find a copy and get it to work, that is. Sadly, it would freeze on me after 15-20 minutes at most and there was nothing I could do. I recommend giving it a try if you enjoy trivia! I’d rate it 4/10; while it’s enjoyable, the questions are repetitive and after 1-2 play throughs you’ll get all the same questions in the same order.
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Next I’ve been playing Star Trek Armada. This was a favorite of mine back when it was released. You play a story in 5 parts with 4 chapters for each. You begin with the Federation then the story continues into a Klingon adventure, Romulan, and then the Borg. In the end it all comes together to stop the Borg with an alliance of Federation, Klingons, and Romulans. It becomes a familiar plot device after years of playing STO. You build your base and ships, mine resources and wipe out enemy ships and defenses in the sector you’re in. Other missions you have to capture objectives or evade enemies as you cross the board. The game is fun however I find it hard to play long term, managing just one or two levels at a time before I have to stop and pick it up again later. The eye strain is real in this game after a while as well. Hopefully the sequel Armada part two proves to be less problematic but we’ll find out soon! I am enjoying playing still despite the eye strain and would say if you can deal with it you should also! I’d give this one 7/10
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GAMING
Stellaris STNH Mod Article by Praetor Shinzon Are you a Star Trek fan? Do you love gaming? Have you played Star Trek Online and other games but it still feels like something is missing? Ever wanted a Star Trek game that would allow you to control not just a single ship but the whole Federation from the founding to the future? Then search no further, for that game is here: Star Trek New Horizons. Star Trek New Horizons (STNH) Is a 4X Free Total conversion mod for Paradox's Stellaris on the Steam workshop. Years of painstaking work and detail have gone into the making of this mod, which currently stands at 3.8gigs. It has everything you could want. You can form the United Federation of Planets. You can be the Romulan Star Empire with their Tal'Shiar. You can fight for the Glory of the Klingon Empire, the Cardassians, Ferengi, the Dominion and Borg and anyone else you can think of.
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If you want to be the Xindi then be the Xindi, the Voth, why not the Bajoran? Sure. The cold hearted Breen? Chill, you can! The mighty and evil Terran Empire? Sure! Long Live The Empire! You can be almost anything you can think of, with full event chains and special events, many custom maps, and custom ship sets all specially made for this epic mod. Personally I find it hard to even call it a mod because it's bigger than the original game, and to be honest the only leftover from the original game is the engine. This game is the spiritual successor to the vaunted Birth of the Federation game from the 90's and there is even an event map for that as well.
The things needed to get and play this game. 1: You have to buy the base game by Paradox called Stellaris 2: Download the Mod from the Steam Workshop (link below) 3: Turn on the mod in the easy to use game launcher 4: Sit back and enjoy this epic work of art 5: Have some time because you will lose yourself in it; it never plays the same way twice https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=688086068&searchtext=st
Game on fellow gamers and Trekkie friends! Stay happy, healthy and safe out there. Live Long and Prosper.
PS: If you love Star Wars as well there will be a coming soon a Star Wars mod just like the STNH coming out soon called Star Wars Fallen Republic.
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CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations to our latest Fortnite players, who have all achieved their very first Victory Royale #1s in the game! Here’s to many more!
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@clockenfrau @insanefuture79 @jmccomb79 @caledones
RECIPE CORNER Aunt Mary’s Spaghetti Gravy and Meatballs An heirloom recipe from @jimmyjoe1a This is my grandmother's, or as I called her Nonna’s, gravy and meatball recipe. She learned it from my great grandmother. Both women came from the La Marche region of Italy. Of course it has been modified through the generations as things are now more convenient with the advent of canned tomatoes. When available we do use fresh. My grandmother was known as Aunt Mary to all her neighbors and friends, hence the name I used for the recipe. This recipe is simple, and rustic. It is a bit time consuming, so you will need a full day to make it, but I can assure you it is well worth it. Meatballs 2 pounds lean ground beef 1 cup of plain breadcrumbs ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese 3 eggs ¾ cup milk 1 bunch of fresh finely chopped parsley ½ tsp of garlic powder Combine all ingredients until well incorporated together. Roll into 1 ½ inch balls Bake at 375 degrees for 30 mins Drain on paper towels. Gravy 3-4 table spoon Extra virgin olive oil 1 large onion, finely chopped 4 cloves of fresh garlic finely chopped 2 28 oz. cans of diced tomatoes 4 28 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes 1 4 oz. can of tomato paste 4 leaves of fresh basil leaves 1 tbsp of ground cloves In a 10 quart pot, sauté your onion and garlic, until the onion is clarified, be careful not to scorch your garlic. Add the diced tomato, and reduce by half (takes about 30-45 min). Add your crushed tomato, and fresh basil and simmer for about 3 hours. Add your tomato paste and ground cloves and simmer another hour. Add your meatballs, and continue to simmer for another 2 hour. Cook off your favorite pasta, and serve. This recipe will make enough gravy and meatballs for several meals, so separate out what you will be using that evening, and put the rest into freezer safe containers, and freeze until you are ready for spaghetti again.
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From: h ps://joesterlee.mypor olio.com/posters‐design‐with‐type‐digital‐pain ng‐graphics
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RECIPE CORNER
Crock Pot Crack Dip A recipe from @jkester77 -1lb of beef -1lb of dry shredded cheese (mexi-blend) -16oz of Salsa (spice level is your choice) -1 packet of taco seasoning -1 can of refried beans -1 bag of scoop tortilla chips
*Just double the amount of ingredients for a bigger batch Cook and brown beef in a skillet. Don't drain the grease from the beef! Mix in the taco seasoning. Make sure you use a big skillet, you will need the room. Add the refried beans then add the shredded cheese. Make sure the cheese melts before you add the salsa. It will be very thick at this point. Then lastly, add the salsa! This will even out the thickness. Then put the dip in a crock-pot on warm. I recommend to let sit for an hour or two before you serve. Keep covered. Portion in small bowls and dip to your delight. Easy and very addictive. You will not want to stop eating it. You can also substitute some of the ingredients with vegetarian substitutes.
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