**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 93.03.14 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> A FEW CHANGES Bella has returned from her trip, looking extremely jet-lagged and even vaguer than usual (if that is possible!) She's been thinking about the way that planets put jobs into Transportation, and has upped the number of available slots on the Transportation display from 15 to 20. She has also decided to put a limit on the number of jobs that a planet can have up at one time. The limit will probably be six, and it will go in shortly. She also intends to increase the fines for voiding a job to make them commensurate with your level. It will no longer be economical for Rich People to accept a job then void it, so that Transportation will deliver the goods instantly! **>> APRIL FOOL! To celebrate April Fool's Day on April 1st, Our Illustrious Leader has persuaded Oxcart to write a special April Fool's planet. Those that explored the original Jinx will probably know what to expect. The planet will be put into the game on April 1st, which is a Thursday, and remain over the weekend till Monday 5th, giving you all plenty of time to have fun exploring. This will be the third time a planet has been written by a player for a special occasion - Krell provided a Halloween planet and a Christmas world. It's a tradition we would like to continue, so if any of you would like to write a special planet for a particular event, talk to Bella or Hazed about it. Talking of which... we've just heard that Bella has commissioned Jade to write a romance planet for Hot Summer Nights (which will be held in August as usual). More news on this nearer the event! **>> FEDTERM NEWS The Amiga version of FedTerm is just about ready to be released. We've got a few loose-ends to tie up about the structure of the libraries; once they have been sorted out, the program will be made available. We'll make sure you realise when it's ready, with a message in the FedTerm topic in MPGames, and a note on the Fed main menu. Work is being started on the Mac version of the FedTerm front end. It's in the initial design stage at the moment, and we'd like feedback from all our Mac using players - we need to know what Mac system you are using, and what kind of things you'd like to see in a terminal. Category 13 Topic 14 is the place to go. Meanwhile, there is a new picture in the FedTerm library for you to download. File 62 is EARTH.GIF, uploaded by R.ELLIOTT1 (who are you in Fed, Mr or Ms Elliott?). **>> RTC NEWS Krell is continuing to run the twice-monthly RTCs in the MPGames conference area. Usually the first one each month is a general RTC, where you can talk about any aspect of Fed - for new players, it's a good opportunity to ask questions, and for people who've been playing for some time, you can gossip about everyone who doesn't turn up. The second RTC of the month is on a topic decided in advance, and the next one, in two week's time, will be a chance to "Ask Bella" (or "Ask Hazed" if you would prefer). They will both be available to answer all the questions you've never dared to ask before. So if you've always wanted to know just why Bella has such a fat arse, now's your chance! **>> A REMINDER... You can now sell factories that are housed on planets not in the game. The command will list all the factories you own, reminding you of their factory numbers. You can then sell them with the usual command, . If the factory is on an ex-planet, you will only receive a pittance for it, but at least it will free up a slot for you to build a factory in a more useful location. **>> ANOTHER REMINDER Would-be Dukes who are building facilities on their planet in their effort to create a time machine have to kickstart the building each time the game is reset, by issuing a new command. This gives you a chance to halt building if you wish, or switch the building to another facility. **>> ADVERT KORNER We received the following message from Condor: Rookery has been redesigned! The new puzzle is more devious than ever before, the rewards are higher than ever before, and the planet is better written than ever before! For my steady customers, there have been few changes to the commercial areas...everything is still where it used to be; and for those who have never visited or only briefly dropped in on the old Rookery, the new planet is worth looking over! For those who enjoy a challenging puzzle, take a look at this one! The rewards are worthwhile...I'm giving 25 Meg to the first person to solve it, and 15 Meg to each person thereafter. I also pay well for any typos or other errors that you can find...5 Meg for serious errors such as movement problems, and 2 Meg for typos and other minor problems. Please visit Rookery...I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Rookery is a pleasant, blue-green world home to thousands of birds, as well as a few other small creatures. Thick clouds obscure the planetary surface much of the time, keeping the air cool and the light from Regulus, a giant blue/white star to acceptable levels. The planet sports such entertainment facilities as public aerocraft, a chapel devoted specifically to player weddings, and a large forest to get lost in. I've spent a lot of time planning this one...I consider it much better than the old Rookery...enjoy! Stop press... Rookery is open for exploration...there are a few bugs in it still, which should be corrected by mid-week. Due to said bugs, I will not be able to honor any puzzle rewards until they are fixed. There is only one error which can be potentially life-threatening: for this reason, I must request that you do not explore the Space areas around the planet until it is fixed. I will not be held responsible for any death or injury incurred while wandering around this planets...areas are dangerous, but they are quite obviously so...therefore, heed all warnings. I look forward to any and all who visit this world...enjoy! **>> PARTY ON, DUDE! There was a party last Wednesday at which everyone had so much fun they've all forgotten what they did! Which is no use at all as far as we hard-working newsdroids are concerned. These impromptu get-togethers are useless - if we don't know in advance, how can we bug the premises to make a permanent record of what went on? Freya is planning another party for the Ides of March (that's Monday the 15th, for those who have no education) in Chez Diesel, Social Centre of the Solar System, starting at 9.00 eastern time, and finishing when the last person slides under the table in a drunken stupor. Given this notice, we can make sure that our bugs in CDs are working (of course, given the nature of CDs we generally bug it every night, just on the offchance that something exciting will happen. Just as we keep tight surveillance on the goings-on in Samanth's Bar - you might think it's private because it has a spybeam shield, but we newsdroids have our methods...) **>> WELCOME BACK... (OR IS IT?) New kid on the block, Mongo, seems to be creating a lot of speculation. Players are wondering if this is the long-lost Logan returning incognito. Certainly Mongo shares many of Logan's characteristics: he's wild and irresponsible, he loves to fight, and he enjoys being killed by beautiful women. Another new kid on the block is Glurg, and he's been brandishing a rusty old eggbeater and bemoaning the fact that the sewers of Gotham can no longer be his home. Could this be Aackverdi back again? **>> NOBODY LOVES A SMARTARSE Freya's big mouth is really going to get her in trouble one of these days. Doesn't she realise that if she keeps on insulting Hazed she could wake up to find herself a GroundHog? Our advice: never insult someone with connections in the Galactic Administration. **>> LEADER OF THE PACK Mojo plans to start a motorcycle gang, and is looking for sexy women to wear lots of leather and wrap their legs around his throbbing machine. He never gives up, does he? **>> PLANETS AND DUCHIES Two planets were advanced to a higher level during the week. Oasis, owned by Topper, became a Mining planet, and Destiny's Xixax turned Industrial. The only change to the structure of the Duchies was Topper's decision to leave the Duchy of Zippy and become Independent. We asked him why he had done this, and he said that he and Occy had differing views on the use of embargos. Topper has no plans to join another Duchy at the moment. We asked if he thought any of the other Zippy planets would follow his lead. He replied that although many of the planet owners were unhappy with the embargos that Occy sets up, they saw a bigger threat in the dumping tactics used by other planet owners. It will be interesting to see if Occy can hold onto his empire when more Dukes start coming up. Meanwhile, there are four Barons building for Duke: Freya, Niun, Zippo and Khan are all at various stages of construction. Planet owners, CEOs and Traders should all be doing extremely well with the huge amount of commodities the four planets are sucking up! **>> SPYNET REVIEW We're continuing to get a lot of new players, which means a large number of lower level promotions. Welcome to all of you, and congratulations to everyone who got promoted during the week. This week's new Captains are Ishmee, Morgan, Ices, Circe, Anias, Kayn, Bizarro, Josh, Sorpal, Steven, Featherscale, Familyman, Glurg and Pete. Morgan, Azura and Ishmee were promoted to Adventurer or Adventureuse. Tao joined the Trader's Guild. We thought he'd decided to stay at Adventurer permanently - either he changed his mind, or he made a mistake and did too many jobs (or accumulated too large a pile of groats). Cq, racing up the ranks after his untimely death, became a Merchant and started his company - he's now CEO of Aristrocrats r us. Noe and Wolfman both solved the awesome JP puzzle, and presumably will start beating their heads against the wall that is the fiendish GM puzzle very shortly. Topper advanced his planet a level, and became the Thane of Oasis, and Destiny became an Industrialist when Xixax advanced. There were two deaths during the week: Jammur and Wizard. Jammur's looks like self-inflicted, but we don't have any information on Wizard. **>> 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 FedTerm, the multimedia front-end program for the game, can be downloaded from the Federation library (option 6 on 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