**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 91.08.25 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> FREE FED! It cannot have escaped your attention that as part of GEnie's Hot Summer Nights, Fed is free all this weekend. Welcome to all the new players, who are taking the opportunity to explore the wonderful world of Fed Data Space for the first time. We do recommend that you take the time to download and read the manual to the game, the truly terrific Idiot's Guide to Federation II. Then you won't feel quite so lost! And welcome back to the familiar faces who visited us the last time Fed was free. To those who have never read one of these bulletins before, the Federation II team provide a weekly news bulletin, telling you what's new in the game, what's been changed or improved, who's been promoted, gossip and scandal, who's been doing what to whom, that kind of stuff. Last night, Fed was completely full for much of the night (there's a limit of 45 people on at one time). The game ran for 9 hours at full capacity, and didn't suffer any loss of speed. When Bella (the head honcho, programmer, owner, creator, divinity, Our Illustrious Leader, etc etc etc) reset the game this morning, there was room for just four new personas to be created! Quote of the day runs as follows: Sheila: "How do I repay my loan?" Vlad: "Slowly, very slowly!" If any of you new players have questions or comments about Federation II, you can contact us by using the FEEDBACK TO FEDERATION option on the main menu. **>> A BATH FULL OF BLOOD Thursday night's Bloodbath was a great success. More than 35 people packed into the game to unleash their homicidal mania on each other, without risking life, limb or permanent persona. 31 people took part in the first contest. It went extremely well to start with, the lame ducks being eliminated fairly quickly, but it dragged a lot towards the end as people ran out of fuel, or lost the power to run their weapons. Finally, when the outcome didn't look like being easily resolved, Bella declared Oxcart, James, Radegast and Lonestar the joint winners. She will decide next week how to divide up the prize between them. In the second contest, Nation was declared the outright winner. Bella did manage to leave in one loophole which was discovered by Piemur: she forgot to remove the command, and since you got the ships for free, you could sell them, pocket the proceeds, then get another free ship! Rest assured, this loophole will be firmly plugged before we hold another Bloodbath. The Bloodbath topic in the Fed BBS is being kept open so you can make suggestions about how you would like to see future Bloodbaths run. Hazed has uploaded a list of things that she and Bella have already thought of; go and add your comments! **>> ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE This week's Advertisement Feature is brought to you by Oddball. INVERSITY - PLANET OF THE RICH (THOSE WHO WANT TO BE) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ODD'S SHIPYARD Ever know you really needed a better ship but couldn't afford it? Well now you can, while Odd is on, you can get a 50% reduction in the already low selling price for new ships on Inversity. For those of you who flunked math, a 1,000,000 ship would only really cost you 500,000. Call Odd before you make your purchase tho! ODD'S COMMUNICATION EMPORIUM Specials are run here almost constantly. You see Odd has a special deal he made with Monty. When you see Monty flying away from the link, it means he's made another delivery to Inversity. Monty makes his "real" money by stealing spybeams and spyscreens from Bella and delivering them free of charge to Inversity. As a result, Odd is in a position to offer you special discounts on VERY expensive equipment that you could otherwise probably not afford. Spybeams------1 mega Spyscreens----25 mega Make sure you talk to Odd before you make your purchase. THE PUZZLES OF INVERSITY-SPECIAL PROMOTION To date, only 1 player (the master puzzle solver, RINGO) has successfully solved the puzzles of Inversity. So, in order to whet your appetites, I am offering a special solver's reward. To any explorer and below who can solve the infamous "Puzzles of Inversity", will go an extra 1 mega reward..this is on top of the already outrageously high rewards you will recieve for solving them. Simply match the correct items with the correct mobiles and call Odd, Easy enuf........ SPECIAL FEATURE Ever wanna be alone with that special someone?...Well now you can and not be bothered by anyone else on Inversity. All you and that special someone have to do is gain access to the Madam's House. If you are both successful, no one else can gain entry. ATTENTION HUNTERS To date, no one has successfully killed Elliptica. This is the ONLY mobile in the universe whose reputation remains unblemished. Now I can think of only 1 reason this has happened, there are no real hunters in the galaxy! So, in a effort to make life easier on you "wannabee" hunters, Odd has made Inversity space a safer place to hunt. The sun is no longer a death spot (what a ridiculous concept). For a short time, you can try your hand at Elliptica without running the risk of sunspots of leathal proportions. As an added bonus, to the first person to successfully kill "ELLY", Odd will double the reward. NB: Odd must be there to verify the kill. ATTENTION TRADERS As those who have been trading know, the markets of Inversity are by far the most prolific known to man/woman/beast. You can make more by trading here. Items for sale in vast quantities include:Gaschips, Weapons, Controllers, Generators, Lubs, Pharms, Petros, Explosives, Nitros, Cereals, Woods, Meat, Spices, Soya, Furs, Rads, Nickel, Xmetals, Crystals, Alloys, Gold, and Monopoles. If you are using one of the Invsell macros, call Odd before you run them. If he can, he will open up the vast stockpiles for you and insure a maximal profit. ATTENTION WANNABEE FACTORY OWNERS As a result of a quirk of nature and excellent managerial skills, Odd's planetary property managers have noted many excellent opportunities for fledgling entrepreeurs. Opportunities are too numerous to mention here, so contact Odd for details on the many manufacturing opportunites on Inversity. Also, for a short time only, Odd will help you get started. Factories purchased on Inversity are already the most profitable in the universe, however, Odd will reduce the selling price of factories on Inversity by 20%. He can do this only because he negotiated a better contract with the labor unions who want to remain employed. ATTENTION UP & COMING ADVENTURERS Need another warehouse? See ODD. VERSION NOTES As you enter Inversity Space, your computer will note the IGC#. When you see IGC# 0004-xxxxxxxx-v5 (version 5), you will know that the problems caused by running into the sun no longer exist. And for those of you like Occy, who can find the planet, it's southeast of the link to Inversity Orbit and northwest from the orbit to the link. And lastly, for those who have never explored Inversity and its many charms, Odd is happy to lead guided tours. There is no charge for this service and he is quite happy to do it. It's one way of exploring the many wonders of Inversity (the hedonist planet) and finding your way around easier. By the way, there is a planet history and map in the FED library download them at your convenience for quick reference. THIS AD BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE FRIENDLY PEOPLES OF INVERSITY. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ **>> WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT? Well, not a lot, actually. For the past few weeks, Bella was working her large green behind off to get things ready for the Bloodbath. She's going away for a few days this week (what? another holiday?) and will spend the rest of the week working on bits of the game that you don't actually see (something to do with her memory getting too fragmented - and we thought it was just her natural vagueness!). At the end of the week, two new planets will go in: Rezrov's world has actually been ready for a week or so, but Bella hasn't been able to add it to the game yet; and Exel has just about completed his planet. Once those planets are in, Bella will get back to working on the planetary economies. **>> WHAT AN UNFORTUNATE NAME! A new player called Chainsaw appeared in Fed Data Space a few weeks ago. But for some reason, he kept getting shot at! Why? He wasn't unpleasant or rude; he hadn't done anything to annoy people; he was not an aggressive fighter. So why did people keep shooting him? Because he had named his ship Pegesus. Need we say more? NOTE FOR NEW READERS: Pegasus is one of the more vicious space mobiles, with a very large bounty on his head. **>> PROMOTIONS NEWS Sabre finally made Adventurer, after what seemed like eons poodling around as a Captain. Well done, what kept you? A clutch of new Merchants: Gandolf, Sheffield and Maxis have all been promoted. Well done, guys. Ringo made JP, but he didn't want to be mentioned in the news, so we won't tell you about it. Davidge became an Explorer, and has been given access to the Planetary Construction tools. Don't forget to mail us if you would like your promotion to be mentioned in a future edition of the weekly news bulletin. **>>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