**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 91.10.06 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> FACTORIES NUKED! As promised (or warned, or threatened, or whatever) the limit on the number of factories you can own is now in place. You can't operate more than 12 factories. (The limit was going to be 8 but Bella decided to be generous.) You were all given plenty of warning about the proposed limit, so no-one should have been caught out. If, however, you didn't sell up before the limit was introduced, all is not lost! When you display your company, it will give details of the first 12 of your factories - because 12 is the most you can run. If you sell one of the 12 factories, log off, then back on again, one of the missing factories will have reappeared in the list. Following the long discussion in the Fed BBS about factories and planetary economies, Our Illustrious Leader has not totally ruled out the possibility of a "sliding scale" dependant on rank - the more exalted you are, the more factories you can own - but she's undecided as yet. **>> GOVERNORS' CARTEL FORMING Speaking of the way factories interface with planetary economies, the Governors are keen to keep tight control over what factories are built on their planets. They are publishing lists in the Fed BBS of the commodities they would like you to produce on their worlds, and in some cases they are offering large cash incentives to encourage - setting up Enterprise Zones! They take a very dim view of anyone who builds on their planets without first consulting the owners, and are threatening to kill anyone who produces inappropriate commodities. We believe Gonzul has been targetted by several Governors for flagrantly ignoring their "rules". The Galactic Administration's Monopolies and Mergers commission is keeping a watchful eye on their behaviour, but as yet does not have enough evidence to make a case for restrictive practices. We have been asked to point out that you can build anything you like on the planets in the Solar System! There are also no limitations whatsoever on Scratchwood Service Station (although the price of property on this desirable world is rather high). **>> CHECK THAT PLANET! The Planetary Checker in the Explorer's Workbench has been enhanced to show details of Objects/Mobiles and Events. This will prove a real boon to those working on planets, and might highlight potential problems before the planets are actually linked into the game, saving problems for everyone. We hacked into Hazed's files this morning and ran Scratchwood through the checker. Not surprisingly, there were no errors of any kind. Those who are not yet able to use the Workbench might be interested to see what kind of information the checker shows: --* Federation II Explorer's Workbench V1.14 *-- What would you like to work on: [C]heck files [E]vents [L]ocations [O]bjects/mobiles [Q]uit C (I'd like to check the files, please, Oh Workbench, if you'd be so very kind.) Highest location number is 58 Highest event number is 8 There are 7 objects Checking locations... Checking location 1 ............. Checking location 2 ............. Checking location 3 ............. (it proceeds to check each location in turn) Checking location 57 ............. Checking location 58 ............. Lockable locs None! (a lockable location is one that you can't enter without carrying a certain object) Unlit locs 38 Arcade 41 Cold Storage Room 42 Cellar 45 Moose 4 location(s) (most of Scratchwood is very well illuminated) Space locs 1 Interstellar Link 2 Scratchwood Service Station 3 Orbital Space Bypass (and so on) 19 location(s) Death locs None! (Scratchwood is a very safe place) Vacuum locs None! (with a very good atmosphere) Trading exchange 36 Trading Exchange 1 location(s) Intersellar link 1 Interstellar Link 1 location(s) (now it lists all the locations that have any flags set, so you can check you only have 1 Trading Exchange, and that you haven't forgotten to put a bar on the planet) Locations calling events Event 7 called on wrong move in loc 36 - Trading Exchange Event 6 called on wrong move in loc 38 - Arcade (and so on...) No errors found in location file! Checking events... Checking event number 1 (yes, it checks them all in turn) No errors found in events file! Checking objects: gum ...... magazine ...... mushroom ...... skivvy .......... hippy .......... children .......... albatross ........... (don't forget that for the purposes of the Workbench, Objects and Mobiles are the same thing) No errors found in objects file! Fascintating, isn't it? We have it on good authority that Zippy, the somewhat chaotic world built by Occy, is now more-or-less bug-free. At least, it seems to be possible to get off the planet safely without having to sell the ship and use the command! **>> HEY, MY FACTORY ISN'T WORKING! A few people have been caught by a "feature" that means their factories won't work, no matter how long they hang around prodding the workthings. The problem occurs when you buy a factory before you purchase a warehouse on the planet. When you buy a factory, the workthings wake up and look around lazily to see if they can find the warehouse they will be using. If they can't, they go back to sleep and never bothers to look again, even if you buy the warehouse straight away. To avoid this happening, make sure you buy the warehouse first. When the game is next reset, the problem will fix itself, and thereafter the factory will run normally. If you are too impatient to wait for the next reset, you can fix it yourself in the following manner: set the factory to stop production when you leave the game, with the command, log off, then back on again. The factory will put itself neatly back in its box when you log off, then spring back into life when you reappear, and at this point it will look for the warehouse again. **>> THE HEAVENLY BODIES ROTATE IN THE SKY Our Illustrious Leader is slaving over her hot keyboard to implement planetary rotation (we mean this in terms of a rota system, rather than turning on their axis). She expects to have it ready in about ten days to two weeks. We don't know yet how many planets will be in the game at once, although logic suggests it will be the number that are currently in. Every time the game is reset, it will calculate which planets to load in, based on how recently the owner was in the game, and how recently the planet was last available. This means that planets belonging to people who are not currently playing will rarely be seen in the Galaxy, and planets owned by current players will take it more-or-less in turns. Obviously, this will affect other players. If you log off while on a player- planet which is not available when you log on again, you will find yourself at the Sol Interstellar Link. (Hopefully in your ship!) Factories on "missing" planets won't run, and you won't be able to check their details. You will be able to check the contents of your warehouses, but you won't be able to get at them (for obvious reasons). Before you ask, we have absolutely no idea what effect the rotation will have on the planetary economies themselves! **>> OOOOOOOOOPS! A little error in the data files (Bella hangs her head in shame) means that anyone who has bought an Antimatter factory is having to provide Vidicasters in order to get it to run! The inputs should be Monopoles and Gas chips, but the workthings seem to have decided they can do without Monopoles, but must be able to watch their favorite daytime soap on the Vidicasters. This problem will be fixed shortly for new factories, but anyone who has already bought an Antimatter factory is stuck with it. But since Vidicasters are a lot cheaper than Monopoles, they shouldn't really complain. **>> FED BBS GOES BASIC! The Multi Player Games RT, which has several areas to cater for Fed Folk, has gone basic! That means that you can use the bulletin board part absolutely free. The Libraries and Real Time Conferences are still charged at the standard rate of $6 an hour. There's a lot of information relevant to Fed players in MPGRT. The main Fed category is 14. It contains some "official" Fed information, like our Policy Statement, the instructions for running a company, planetary construction instructions, and so on. It is also a place where new players can ask questions and get help about any aspect of the game, any player can make suggestions about changes and new features to the game, and you can just have a good old gossip. (This category is getting a bit full, so will be split into two categories soon - more details in next week's news.) In addition, there are two private categories about Fed, one dedicated to Explorers and above, where you can get help with constructing a planet, and talk about planetary economies, and one for the Conclave to discuss their important and highly secret business. If you have never visited the MPGRT before, why not take the opportunity to have a look at the Fed information now that you can do so for free. The Fed parts of the MPGRT are administered by Occy (ID: OCPAC) so you know who to ask if you have any problems with using the BBS. Whils on the subject of the MPGRT area, Freya has promised to upload some Fed cartoons in the Library. They will be in GIF and MacPaint format. We look forward to downloading them! **>> PLEASE CAN I HAVE MY PERSONA BACK? One of the main functions of the Conclave, since its invention back in the Dark Ages, has been to say "No" in a very loud voice when people ask to have their personas restored. We've had people flying into the sun and claiming it was a bug. People forgetting to re-insure and claiming it was a bug. Even people starving to death and claiming it was a bug! And they all wanted their personas restored. But now we've heard everything. You remember Baysidian, who in a fit of despair got Gandolf to shoot him dead-dead recently? Well, he's decided he made a mistake, he does want to carry on playing Fed, and he wants his persona back. We're not saying ANYTHING! **>> A PLEA FROM RICH PEOPLE (PIEMUR, TO BE PRECISE) Could Poor People please be more considerate of those who are spying on them, and turn their descriptions to BRIEF when moving around? You cannot imagine the screenfuls of garbage that one has to sift through in order to collect the juicy gossip. It gives one severe eyestrain, really it does! Thank you. **>> SCANDAL, GOSSIP AND LIES Krell has asked us to point out that she is NOT marrying Maxis. Honest! There's no truth in the rumour, they are just good friends. All her other lovers can put away their handkerchiefs and cheer up. Just what is going on between Freya and Logan? We've heard all kinds of rumours about sex lessons, and there's been mention of certain strange little toys. Can anyone give us more details? A source, who would like to go under the alias of DEEP THROAT, has passed vital information to us that seems to indicate that Taliana was murdered and her poor, mutilated body buried deep in the heart of the mysterious and dangerous Martian Ruins. Again, does anyone know anything more? There must be a reason why Piemur keeps putting rewards on himself. Or has he just gone completely insane? Finally, it cannot be true! But we have the evidence in front of our eyes (or equivalent) so we can't deny it. Some crazy, sick, deranged person has admitted, in cold blood, IN WRITING, to preferring the way Cryptosporidium does the news to the way Hazed does it. We've passed this letter to the Galactic Administration's Mental Health Department, and they have sent out a huge army of men in white coats to capture this lunatic before he, she or it becomes a danger to themselves or others. **>> PROMOTIONS NEWS It's been another slow week for promotions. Moburg mailed us to crow about his elevation to Captain, and would like to say a big thanks to Zero for help, and to Freya for groats. Slew was promoted to Trader, and can finally turn JOBSOFF for good. We also received a complaint from Primus. Seems that we have managed to ignore his promotions to Captain, Adventurer and Trader, even though he notified us, and we then have the gall to moan about no-one telling us they've been promoted! What can we say, Primus? The office dog must have eaten your letters. Yeah, that's right! **>>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 by typing ORDER at any GEnie menu. Cost - a mere $12.95. Federation has a category in the new MPGames RT. To get there, type M1045,1 from any menu prompt and SET category 14. The Federation Leader in the bulletin board is Occy (Mail ID: OCPAC). Topic 1 of the Fed category contains the Federation policy statement. The MPGames RT also has a Federation library in the files area, Library 5. Library 18 holds the Federation News Archives. **>> BULLETIN ENDS