  We recently proposed a new approach to high energy nuclear scattering, which
treats the initial stage of heavy ion collisions in a sophisticated way.
  We are able to calculate macroscopic quantities like energy density and
velocity flow at the end of this initial stage, after the two nuclei having
penetrated each other.
  In other words, we provide the initial conditions for a macroscopic treatment
of the second stage of the collision.
  We address in particular the question of how to incorporate the soft
component properly. We find almost perfect "Bjorken scaling": the rapidity
coincides with the space-time rapidity, whereas the transverse flow is
practically zero. The distribution of the energy density in the transverse
plane shows typically a very "bumpy" structure.
