**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 92.09.07 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> HOT SUMMER DAYS EXTENDED TILL CHRISTMAS Genie Hot Summer Days has been such a success that they are extended the scheme. From now until December 31, 1992 GEnie's prime time hourly connect charge has been reduced from $18.00 per hour to $12.50 per hour (in Canada reduction is from $25.00 per hour to $12.50 per hour). So you can play Fed during the day for a considerable saving on the old price. Log in to check on your factories or planet, to grab those special objects you need - or fo that extra push before a major promotion. For full details of the Hot Summer Days promotion, go to page 100 and selec option 7. **>> NEWS FROM OUR ILLUSTRIOUS LEADER There have been no visible changes to Fed in the last few weeks, but there' been plenty of action behind the scenes. Bella is doing a lot of background work on the game to make things run more smoothly. In particular, she is changing the way warehouse and factory data is held. This will have one maj benefit as far as the players are concerned - it will mean you can sell you factories even if the planet on which you built them is out of the game! It'll take her a few weeks to get this work finished, and we'll give you fu details when the change is implemented. As part of this work, Bella put in a new version of the game early last wee and a very subtle bug manifested, which caused the game to crash whenever anyone died dead-dead! As an immediate, temporary fix she changed the code ensure that nobody died dead-dead - so anyone trying to suicide deliberatel that night would have been out of luck! The problem is fixed now, of course For new players who might be confused by the term, dying dead-dead means dy completely, so your persona is wiped out, which happens if you do not have insurance. If you have insurance, death means you are cloned and you wake u the nearest hospital - but you must remember to buy more insurance because only lasts for one death. The other main news from Bella is that Fed will shortly be going live in France, on the Minitel system. This will make Fed the only multi-lingual mu player game in the world (as far as we know). The text for the game has bee translated into French, and you should be warned that Bella is threatening put the French version up for you to play for a special occasion! It would certainly be interesting (and maybe even educational) to see how s of the more obscure terms were translated. What is the French for Chez Dies **>> ON THAT NOTE... We received the following telegram in the office: ----------------------------------------------------- | Tao, and the Interstellar Siblinghood of Teamsters | | send warmest regards to the Fed Organization on the | | opening of FedFrance. Just in time for Les Bordez! | ----------------------------------------------------- We note that Tao's ship, the Solidarity, is registered on Rhylannor. Could new planet be a hotbed of Unionism? **>> SPECIAL NEWS ITEM FROM GALAURIEL Galauriel should clean her galley a little more often. While disposing of various 'science experiments', one of them spoke! It was none other than Th Vile One! *GASP* What does one do when an amorphous blob comes to visit? Why, sic a five-ye old on it, of course. After the young expert in psychological abuse drove i the wall (you should see the slime trails!), it was decided that a little m torture was in order to insure a timely retreat. The Vile One thought it had the upper hand when it visited Cincinnati's mos diabolically disguised torture chamber...a water-slide park. It oozed down various tunnels with ease, completely unaware that a sinister force was at on it...the sun. Have you ever seen a bright red amorphous blob? Not a pre sight. After that, it was relatively harmless, and Galauriel was able to persuade it to help her solve the fiendish GM puzzle and then make Explorer Galauriel and all of Cincinnati are safe once again...for now. But it is rumored that she is seeking relocation under the Federal witness protection program. **>> A FEUD IS BREWING Fed hasn't had a good feud for a long time, which is a pity because it make such good news copy. For example, we wrote screenfulls of text, week after week, when Russ putting an enormous bounty on Occy's head. We are lucky little newsdroids now, because things are starting to get acrimonious between a Rich Person (a very very RP) and a Poor Person (who u to be moderately rich). It all started when JP Tether, uninsured and forgetting to reinsure, decide give Captain Archer a tour through Nisrick Mines on Venus - where Tether me his untimely and very permanent end. Yes, he died dead-dead. (Archer lived, the way, but he's not important to this story). The unfortunate (and rather foolish) Tether bravely started again and was having great fun doing jobs, when he got hit by a stray twin laser. Oddball been hunting Pegasus, and Tether had got in the way. Tether died (not dead- dead, this time, thankfully), but Oddball was so busy chasing the winged ho around that he didn't even notice he'd hit an innocent bystander! Now, this kind of thing does happen when Rich People get obsessed by huntin the mobiles, but it's usually no big deal. The victim just has to squawk, a they get paid generous compensation. But Tether decided to take this attack personally, and started hurling abuse at Oddball via the comm unit. At this point events get a little confused. We've had differing reports fro different people. Some say that Tether and Davidge decided to take Oddball and declared war. Others say that Oddball got tired of Tether badmouthing h and decided to teach him a lesson. But either way, Tether died, several tim at the hands of Oddball - or at his twin laser, any way. Of course, each time he died, Tether got madder and madder, and despite oth Rich People trying to cool him down he kept on and on and on and on, saying that he wanted to remove Oddball as Head of the Conclave (or maybe he wante remove Oddball's head?) Things are shaping up nicely into a proper feud, with Tether dragging peopl on his side, other players taking Oddball's side, and our newsdroids loving every minute of it. If anyone has any fuel they wish to add to this fire, please send it to Haz for the usual remuneration (ie, whatever she feels like giving at the time) **>> NEWS FROM THE DARK SIDE Before his untimely death, Tether was actively recruiting for the Dark Side soliciting new members for the "subversive" group. This, despite the fact t he isn't actually a member of the organisation himself! We have been wondering, actually... if every action has an equal and opposi reaction... is there a Light Side? **>> WEDDING HELLS At last, Mojo has found someone to marry him (or her). The strange person w has agreed to be the bride (or groom) is Bart. We are completely unsure abo who will be having a sex-change prior to the nuptial ceremonies - or if thi will be a same-sex marriage, and if so, what sex! The wedding takes place today (Sunday) at 6.00 eastern time, on Silversteel planet Rhylannor. Elvis is said to be very upset. Dyars has also been considering matrimony. He was seen (via that indispensa newsdroid tool - the SpyBeam) to ask for Seriamarias' hand in marriage. Unfortunately, our peeping-tom informant failed to see what the lovely lady response was! Actually, we rather hope she turned him down. Can you imagine the trouble t Officiator at the wedding will have when he, she or it has has to pronounce that name? Cooter is apparently looking for a woman. He says any woman will do, but Ox has agreed to vet possible candidates for him so he isn't bothered by anyon totally unsuitable). Rezrov was recently seen "involved" with a female GroundHog in the Cantina. then made Captain almost immediately, under very suspicious circumstances. **>> SORDID AND SALACIOUS We newsdroids just revel in the more salacious side of the news - it's so m more interesting that reporting on promotions, new features, that kind of thing. The more filth we can dig up, the happier we are. We were convinced we were onto a really hot story when we repeatedly found Freya and Kimos in Sam's bar on Castillo, but neither of them would drop an hints about what was going on - and as soon as a newsdroid slithered into t bar, however unobtrusively, they'd start talking about coffee and mountains other innocent things. So we posted a notice on the electronic bar boards, saying that a reward wo be paid for any news on Freya's nocturnal activities. Freya really wished w hadn't done that! Not because she was afraid we'd ferret out her guilty sec but because she was pestered all night long by Poor People who wanted to ge the information and claim the reward! However, despite our incentives, we were unable to ascertain just what has going on. However, she's been spending so much time in Sam's (forsaking her drinking place, Chez Diesel, and even avoiding her own planet) that we can assume Kimos has her chained to the bar! **>> SPARE A THOUGHT... Rich People are so inconsiderate. Just when you get all twelve of your factories working well and making a tidy profit, they upgrade their planets ruin everything! Please, RPs, warn your factory-owners before you promote. Poor People can be just as thoughtless. They all wander around with descriptions on, making it really difficult for people spying on them! Plea PPs, type and avoid confusing poor nosy newsdroids. **>>CONTACTS The following information will appear at the end of every News Bulletin, so don't have to read it if you already know it. In the event of a problem or question, you can: * talk to Hazed or Bella in the game * leave a message in the game log * a message to Hazed or Bella * send GEnie mail with the Federation Feedback option from the main menu You can order a copy of the unexpurgated printed Idiot's Guide to Federatio typing ORDER at any GEnie menu. Cost - a mere $12.95. (New edition will be available shortly!) Federation has several categories in the new MPGames RT. To get there, type M1045,1 from any menu prompt and SET category 13 (for information, instructions, questions and answers) or 14 (for general chat and discussion The Federation Leader in the bulletin board is Krell (Mail ID: K.HILLYER). There are also private categories for Explorers, run by Krell, and for the Conclave run by Oddball (Mail ID: D.STALZLE). The MPGames RT also has a Federation library in the files area, Library 5. Library 18 holds the Federation News Archives. **>> BULLETIN ENDS