**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 92.10.25 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> JUST A QUICKIE... Apologies for the fact that this news if quite short, but there are power problems at the H-by-A offices which are affecting the newsdroids efficiency. **>> A WOBBLE IN THE MARKETS This week's main news concerns the drastic effect a small change by Bella had on the trading exchanges. Formerly there had been a "floor" on the size of stock deficits on the player planets. This had been put on right at the beginning, when there were only a few player planets, but now that the Galactic economy was thriving Bella deciding to remove this artificial constraint and let market forces rule the day. Warning was given that the floor was being removed, but no-one expected the change to have quite such consequences! As soon as the change was made, stock levels plunged deep into the red as planetary consumption was no longer suppressed. As the negative balances got larger, the prices their exchanges were paying for the goods they needed shot up to astronomical levels. This caused a bonanza for traders, who lost no time in moving goods to the place that was paying the most! Planet owners were horrified as they saw their planetary bank balances sinking fast. Some frantically tried to plug the holes in their production by selling to their own exchanges; others took advantage of the high prices to sell to the planets owned by their enemies, attempting to drive them into bankruptcy. Throughout the week, Bella continued to make minor changes to try to stabilise the economy. Her aim was to balance things so that planets which were left unattended would not lose or gain money; for a planet to advance, the owner would have to manage it well. Among the tweaks she made: the Sol planets have had their production turned back on, but they still have a floor on their deficits of 100. When the game fires up, it will check the deficits on player planets, and if any are over 450 tons in the red they will be reduced to 450. The frequency of milkrun jobs has doubled, the maximum size has increased from 200 to 250 tons, and the amount of jobs displayed by Transportation Central has been increased to 15. When goods are sold to the exchanges, if the commodity is in deficit the whole amount will be added to the stock. The amount will only be halved if the stock balance is positive. Today, it appears that the markets have settled down. No-one is losing vast fortunes. She will continue to monitor the economy and will make further changes if necessary. **>> NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD! Next Saturday, October 31, is Halloween. A night when traditionally all manner of supernatural creatures walk abroad. You might think that a futuristic space trading game was immune from such things, but not so! The Galactic Administration has discovered a planet by the name of Endor, in the system Phobos, where terror rules, and they will be opening up the system's interstellar link to the general public, for you to explore... if you dare! Since Endor's spookiness disrupts normal trading routes, the scientists will have to close links to all the player planets while Endor is in place. However, it being Halloween, they have managed to resurrect from the dead the original Inversity (Oddball's planet, which was destroyed when the sun went nova). Scratchwood will also be in for the duration. These planets will be in the game from 4.00pm (eastern) on Saturday, to 8.00am (eastern) on Sunday. Welcome to our nightmare... **>> CH-CH-CH-CH-CHANGES As well as mucking about with the exchanges, Bella has at last fixed that annoying space in the "Hazed has given you a passionate kiss" message. About time! Now that the exchanges seem to be working without giving anyone heart attacks, Bella will return to working on smuggling. She hopes it will be fully in place in about a week. Read the electronic notice board in the bars for details of any changes she makes each day. Incidentally, when we asked Bella about the problems the change to the exchanges caused, she was heard to mutter, "Well only half the players are unhappy!" **>> PLANET CHANGES During the exchange crisis, many of the planet owners took their worlds offline until they could be sure they wouldn't lose groats. We understand that most, if not all, are now back. Khan's planet has been linked into the game: Neutarus. Judging by the number of people who seem to have died their, it doesn't sound like a very safe place at the moment! **>> PROMOTIONS NEWS This week's new Captains are Scycon, Spiff, Morgan and Bushmill. Bushmill then moved swiftly on to become an Adventurer. Killian was promoted to Trader. Topper became a Merchant, and then solved the awesome JP puzzle. Other new JourneyPersons are Zagmar and Seramarias. Khan became a Squire when his new planet was put in. Destiny's planet advanced to mining, so he's now a Thane, and Niun is a Technocrat. Three new companies were formed last week. Topper became CEO of Illusion Inc., Gabriel has started Halo Enterprises, and Riccardo (back from the dead) has formed TTR Systems Inc. There have been a few changes to the duchies. Phoenix seceded from Scratchwood - obviously Piemur didn't like having to worship Hazed. To make up for it, Xixax joined up with Scratchwood, and Bayside signed a treaty with Inversity. **>>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 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 Federation by 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 discussions). 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