**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 91.05.26 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> AN EVENTFUL WEEK! If Our Illustrious Leader wasn't bald by the time the first player-written planet was added to Fed Data Space, she certainly is now. I don't think anyone was expecting that the process of adding whole new areas to the game would be totally trouble-free, and over the week a number of problems have shown up. Bella has been dealing with these as they rear their ugly heads. Some of the problems have had quite bizarre consequences. The most startling was Friday night, when all the descriptions in the game seemed to be out of sync - it appeared that Diesel was floating around in space, for example. (Whether she was wearing a vac suit we haven't been told). This made it fairly impossible for anyone to function normally in Fed Data Space, and it certainly seemed as if something quite horrendous had happened. But the reason turned out to be quite simple... Russ had made a minor error on one of his planet locations - he'd missed out the short description. It's an easy enough mistake to make when you are writing around 80 room descriptions! Unfortunately, Bella's code proved totally unable to cope with this. When Russ travelled through the location in brief mode, the game didn't know what to tell him about his whereabouts! Bella is now hard at work teaching the game what to do if this happens in the future. Earlier in the week, the game seemed to be lurching along at an incredibly slow pace. We all know that the GEnie system suffers slow-downs occasionally, and these can affect Fed - but this was the mother of all slow-downs! Moving, talking, trading... doing anyone at all was painfully slow. Why was this, you ask? Pointing a finger very firmly at Bella and saying "Nyah nyah nyah" we explain that prior to putting in a new version of the game, she had been testing that her additions and amendments worked as they should, and had been logging every message sent by the game to disk. She forgot to turn the logging off when she moved the new version out of test into the "real world". So the game was dutifully recording everything that everyone saw on their screens... no wonder it slowed down! We would like to take this opportunity to categorically deny that our staff of newsdroids have been spending the past few days sifting through the log for any juicy gossip. However, it could account for the smirk on Bella's face... Russ and Piemur continued to refine their planets, fixing problems with puzzles that didn't work as they should. Russ was perturbed to find that nobody could pick up one of his objects - the book. It turned out that Piemur also had a book on his planet, and the game couldn't cope with duplicate names! Russ has renamed his book; it's now a logbook. For the time being, planet designers must come up with unique names for their objects and mobiles. And finally, in this truly eventful week, Aeron's planet Avalon in the Regulus system, and Oddball's planet Inversity in the system of the same name, are now available for Adventurers and over. Find the Interstellar Link (West three times from Titan) and type JUMP followed by the name of the system you wish to visit. And have fun! **>> CH-CH-CH-CH-CHANGES How does she do it? Not only has she linked two new planets into the game, and fixed the problems mentioned above, but Our Illustrious Leader has found the time to make enhancements and improvements to the quality of life in Fed Data Space. The amount of stamina knocked off when you use the Interstellar Links to move between systems has been reduced to 5. The command has been enhanced. If you type you will buy everyone a pint of guinness. on its own just buys a round of drinks, as previously. Everyone has been having great fun with this command, inventing the wildest and wackiest cocktails to buy each other! Of course, you are not limited to beverages; you can use this to buy anything you like. Two changes that will benefit new players and make life as a GroundHog much simpler: Firstly, new players no longer start in that cold, unfriendly place, The Transfer Centre. Their entry point is now the Starship Cantina on Earth. This is a much more welcoming environment, and they are almost guaranteed to find someone there who will help them find their feet (or equivalent). Secondly, to save time when purchasing their first ship, GroundHogs can choose the salesdroid's recommendation. Typing will automatically sell them a standard Class B ship. As before, typing on its own allows them to custom-build the ship of their choice. The Federation II team are continually improving and enhancing the features available in the game. If you have any ideas or suggestions, tell us about them. We might not use them, but we will always listen. You can either leave a message about your suggestions in the Fed BBS, so that other players can comment on them; or you can leave a TYPO message while you are playing Fed; or you can send us mail by selecting the FEEDBACK option on the Fed menu. **>> ADVERTISEMENT PAGES This is a new section of the weekly News Bulletin. From this issue, we will be publishing advertisements from players. If you have an ad you would like included in a future issue, contact Explorer Hazed for the details. This week, we have two advertisements: ------------------------------------------------------------ HEAR YE! HEAR YE! LAND FOR SALE! WE ARE MAKING A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY AVAILABLE TO THE CITIZENS OF THE GALACTIC FEDERATION. STARTING IMMEDIATELY, CHOICE PLOTS OF LAND ARE GOING ON SALE. THESE PLOTS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE NEWLY EXPLORED PLANET OF SERENDIPITY. THIS IS THE IDEAL OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO OWN AT VERY REASONABLE PRICES YOUR VERY OWN ISLAND, ESTATE, SECRET UNDERGROUND BASE, LOVE NEST, WHATEVER YOU CAN IMAGINE. WE EXPECT THESE PLOTS TO GO FAST, SO GET YOUR ORDERS IN EARLY CONTACT MERKIN ANYTIME IN FED FOR MORE INFO OR EMAIL HIM AT FDITIZIO (cr) Serendipity Development Corp. All rights reserved. ------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- Here's a friendly message from the Union of Govenors, Planet- builders, and affiliated Scum... Turnover Tax or Satanic Followers Within The Galactic Administration 1. What is a Turnover Tax? The turnover tax is a tariff or fee you pay during each transaction where Groats are exchanged. Examples: Buying or Selling commodities, Buying weapons/spybeams/spy screens, Getting CUREd or CHANGEd in a Hospital, Repairing damage to your ship, Earnings from Factories when they Sell their output to you or the exchange/or when they buy inputs from you or the exchange, Buying factories and warehouses. 2. Why should I care? At the moment, the turnover tax is 10%, though its not yet active except for monetary transactions between players, imagine losing 100,000 iG for each 1 mG you make. Not a very nice thing to think about, eh? 3. Are there any 'deductions' we can use like Income Tax? (READ: How can I cheat and not get caught?) There isn't any way to avoid it once its in except to travel to those ::Wonderful:: worlds beyond Sol. 4. Why should I, is there a difference? Why of course there is, silly! On those magical and mysterious planets, there will be a smaller Turnover Tax! The money you've smartly saved can be considered a bonus that you've earned for being such a shrewed trader! And those nice Govenors will charge you less to build factories on their worlds as well, imagine the savings! So come on down to your local interstellar link, and type JUMP to see a list of the utopia's that exist beyond the putrid, horrible Sol system. Then type JUMP and you'll escape into an incredible new solar system, just ripe for exploration or making billliyuns and billliyuns of Groats from! (NOTE: Turnover Tax and Incentives for people building factories on players planets hasn't yet been implimented. Only those at Adventurer and above can use the interstellar links. Objects cannot be taken outside of their home systems. It is not a good idea to build a factory on a player's planet until Planet Controls/Incentives are in. If you mock a player's planet, massive battlecruisers will kill you and your little doggy, too.) Piemur, not affiliated in any way with the UoG,P,&aS, really! And they didn't pay me to post this either argh....damn lighting.... -------------------------------------------------------------- Please note that advertisements in this Bulletin do not reflect the views of H-by-A, Our Illustrious Leader, or the Galactic Administration. **>> THE GENTLE ART OF SELF-DEFENCE We received a complaint from a player that two Rich People were ganging up on him and making his life miserable by killing him every time he ventured into space. We're not convinced that this is strictly the whole truth, so we are not actually reporting the story. However, it seemed like a good excuse to print some hints and tips on staying out of trouble. Firstly, we must point out that it is actually quite difficult to kill another player in space unless they sit still and wait for the missiles. And there is no reason at all to sit still in space! There are two ways to fly around space; automatically, using the commands, and manually, by typing in the directions. One of the perils of using is that if another player crosses your path the navigation computer gets confused and you will grind to a halt. If that player is bent on mischief, they can shoot you before you know what is happening. So, if you think someone is out to get you, navigate manually. Don't hang about in space; move swiftly from one planetary orbit to another. You cannot be shot at in orbit. If you get lost in space, type several times, until you find yourself orbitting a planet. And keep an eye on your fuel level. Top up the tank every time you touch down. Running out of fuel leaves you vulnerable to attack! If these measures don't work, and your Enemy is managing to shoot at you - and hit you - invest in a little extra armour. Basic ships come with 10 points of armour. Adding an extra 10 keeps you alive longer, giving you more time to run away. Finally, if you do think that someone is picking on you unfairly, appeal to the higher level players. They may be willing to provide protection. **>> PROMOTIONS NEWS Strike and Ziggette both made Captain. Kleist and Morgan attained the rank of Trader. Logan was also promoted to Trader, thus losing his status as Richest Adventurer Ever. He didn't stay a Trader long - 45 seconds later he was a Merchant! What does he do for an encore? Davidge and Neuromancer both made JP. Congratulations. Davidge says "thanks" to everyone who helped him. Gonzul made GM, only two weeks since he was promoted to Trader! A truly astonishing feat. Aeron and Oddball became Squires, as their planets were made available to visitors. **>>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, 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 the new MPGames RT. To get there, type M1045,1 from any menu prompt and SET category 14. The Federation II Leader in the bulletin board is Occy (Mail ID: OCPAC). Topic 1 of the Fed category contains the Federation II policy statement. The MPGames RT also has a Federation II library in the files area, Library 5. **>> BULLETIN ENDS