**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 90.12.23 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY! The staff at H-by-A have been over-indulging in Christmas Spirit and are truly hazed by alcohol! We would like to take this opportunity to apologise in advance for anything we might do while under the influence of drink. (Well, that's our excuse and we're sticking to it!) To celebrate the festive season, we've arranged for a very special person to visit Fed Data Space. Santa Claus himself has been dropping in over the last few days, and handing out extremely large presents of groats to the first person to find his hiding place. So far, the lucky recipients of his gifts have been Russ, Occy, Piemur and Jim. There's still time to claim your present. Santa will be appearing several times today (Sunday), tomorrow (Monday) and Christmas Day itself. Just to show you that it is worth making the effort to find him - his presents vary between 500K and two meg! It's certainly worth taking time off from jobbing or trading to hunt for his hiding place. To finish the Christmas period in style, we're holding a gigantic party on Wednesday December 26, from 3.00 Eastern time throughout the night. There'll be treasure hunts, games, a fancy dress competition, a Fed trivia quiz and lots of fun. Don't you dare miss it! **>> SPECIAL CHRISTMAS MENU Chez Diesel, Social Centre of the Solar System, has introduced a new range of pizzas for Christmas. The special Reindeer Pizza has proved a hit, and Diesel is very pleased with the way they have been selling. Some customers have been disturbed to find pieces of antler in their food, and one diner claims to have found a red nose! But Diesel just says that this proves she used authentic reindeer. **>> BELLA'S MISTAKE It's hard to believe, we know, but Our Illustrious Leader does occasionally make mistakes. Well, it isn't easy running the Galactic Administration, you know! Her latest little error concerns the problem of selling off unwanted companies. Blackmark decided to experiment with the command and offload his company. Sure enough, the company was sold and he was no longer a CEO. But when he checked his bank balance, he found that he hadn't been reimbursed for the shares he'd issued! He couldn't believe that the Galactic Revenue had raked off the entire amount in taxes, so he made a complaint to Bella. Bella muttered darkly, and went off the look at the code for that part of the game. And guess what she found... She found a note in the code to remind her to write the bit that paid ex-CEOs for their share money! Maybe she should have tied a knot in the game... **>> GAMBLERS ANONYMOUS Certain Poor People are thinking of starting a branch of gamblers anonymous in Fed Data Space. Since the introduction of the roulette wheel in Chez Diesel, comm units around the Solar System have been echoing with the sound of anguish as gamblers lose all their Trader Points on the turn of the wheel. Just goes to show, you should never gamble what you cannot afford to lose. **>> PROMOTIONS NEWS Congratulations to Jim, who made GM today after only two weeks of brain-curdling, insurance-increasing effort. That's no mean achievement, considering it took Piemur two months to figure out the puzzle! But then pioneers always have it tougher than those who follow in their foot (or equivalent) steps. Well done to Russ, who made Merchant, and Catman who took the trouble to mail us when he became an Adventurer a few days ago. If you'd like your promotion mentioned in our weekly News Bulletins, drop us some mail using the FEEDBACK option on the Fed menu. **>> ALL IS FORGIVEN You will, no doubt, remember from last week's news that our very own Hazed got rather peeved with Commander Leroy. Horrified to see his foolishness published for all to see, and terrified that he had made such a powerful enemy, Leroy was extremely apologetic and grovelled for forgiveness. Being a generous, magnanimous, kind and generally nice person, Hazed decided not to bear a grudge and forgave the poor Poor Person. **>> THE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO FEDERATION II Those of you who have been sensible enough to order your copy of the printed, unexpuraged version of the Guide (just type ORDER at any GEnie menu) will have noticed a reference in that august tome to the Advanced Idiot's Guide. This needs a little explanation. Way back in the mists of time, when those jolly nice H- by-A people first embarked on the project that was to become the most amazing book in the history of history itself, they decided to split their gargantuan task into two parts. The first would cover the game as it stood then, and be called The Idiot's Guide. The second volume, the Advanced Idiot's Guide, would be written once the game was completed and cover "the rest", including such subjects as running a company, building a planet, running for the senate, and being Emperor. The two volumes would then be sold as a package called the Complete Idiot's Guide. (Snappy title, isn't it?) However, since the game isn't yet finished (and probably won't be for some time), we can't write the Advanced Idiot's Guide. Whether we will, eventually, write it, or whether the original Idiot's Guide will just keep growing and growing as new information is incorporated, we'll just have to wait and see. **>>CONTACTS The following information will appear at the end of every News Bulletin, so you don't have to read it if you already know it. In the event of a problem or question, you can: * talk to Hazed, Cryptosporidium, Bella or Clem in the game * leave a message in the game log * send mail with the Federation Feedback option from the main menu You can order a copy of the unexpurgated printed Idiot's Guide to Federation II by typing ORDER at any GEnie menu. Cost - a mere $12.95. Federation II has a category in Scorpia's Games RT. To get there, type M805,1 from any menu prompt and SET category 29. The Scorpia RT also has a Federation II library in the files area, Library 22. **>> BULLETIN ENDS