**************************************** * * * FEDERATION DATA SPACE NEWS SERVICE * * * * from * * H-by-A * * * * September 3 1990 * * * **************************************** THE HUNT -------- In last week's issue, we gave you a progress report on Merchant Gonzul's progress towards becoming GEnie's first JP. We have no further news on his progress, but a number of you have expressed concern at learning that the commencement of the puzzle involves killing Monty. If the idea of pitting yourself against the vicous Pirate fills you with dread, you obviously need training in How To Fight. And, by a strange coincidence, the Galactic Administration is going to provide that very thing! Next Sunday, 9th September, lessons will be held to teach you all about mindless violence, followed by a blood-thirsty expedition against the ship mobiles. The details will be uploaded in the BBS (SCORPIA cat 29, topic 15) over the coming week. Be there! NO CHANGE --------- There's been nothing new from Our Illustrious Leader over the last week, as expected. But there will be only one more week with no changes to the game, and then you can expect to see modifications and additions as usual. The first thing you will notice is that some of the more obscure objects and mobiles, such as the UCAT, the Meteorologist, the Net, and others based on in-jokes, will be taken out. Eventually they will be replaced by in-jokes more suitable to GEnie. You will also see many of the typos in the mobile and object descriptions disappearing as Bella tidies things up. No doubt new ones will creep in to replace them... PERSONAL COMBAT --------------- Ever since Federation Data Space first came into being, Our Illustrious Leader has planned to introduce personal, or hand-to- hand combat. But, unsure of the best way to implement it, she has kept putting it off in favour of more important things such as Companies and Factories. However, she is now thinking about how it could be made to work, and we should be seeing it soon. Bella reassures us that it will mostly be based around combat with the mobiles. There will be absolutely no danger from nasty players creeping up behind you, hitting you over the head with a longsword, and killing you with one blow! It is too soon to give any definite details, nor have we any idea just how long we will have to wait for personal combat to be introduced. Past experience shows that by this time in 1997 we may still be waiting! COMPETITIONS CLOSED ------------------- The two competitions extended from the Starship Party are now closed. Judging is taking place in secret (bribes will be considered) and the results will be announced in the next few days and posted in the BBS. DID YOU KNOW... --------------- That you can slide down the banisters in the mansion on Earth - stand on the stairs (NE of the hallway) and type . That there is a public spybeam anyone can use to snoop on other players - you just have to find it, though... That you can be Emperor for 10 seconds by using the command. That you can find out who the top scorers of each level are by typing . That the Conclave shows the top six richest Fedders - displays the list. That we cannot think of anything else to put into the Did You Know column this week. WHAT A FOOLISH BOY! ------------------- As always, we are keen to report on other people's stupidities. And this week we cannot resist telling you about a player who couldn't seem to keep this bank balance in the black. We shan't name him, we're not quite that mean (although we might be persuaded to divulge his name if enough drinks are bought...) but we have no qualms about describing his behaviour. This unfortunate new player was very proud to be the owner of a ship, and decided to explore the Solar System. But he kept getting lost, and his fuel tank got empty, so he filled it up. In space. Paying five times the price he would have on the ground. And eventually, he ended up 1730 groats in the red. He had a few tons of fuel left, but no way of topping up his tank again. Fortunately he was on the ground at the time, and a kind, generous, lovable, warm, friendly person (all right, yes, it was Hazed) helped him out by giving him enough money to pay off his overdraft and buy some more fuel. Overcome with gratitude, the chap leapt into his ship, orbitted - and then bought more fuel. In space. Not long after that, a plaintive cry came over the comm unit - "I've run out of fuel and I've got no money to buy any more!" And this time he was in space, so no-one could help him. He just had to and start again. And has he learnt his lesson now? We'll just have to wait and see...