**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 94.04.24 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> MAY FAIRE FUN Next month GEnie will be holding a May Faire, where users can find out about the various products availble online. We'll be taking a booth to tell people about the fun they can have playing Fed, and we'd like some volunteers to come help us out. The May Faire is on May 14 from 8.00pm to 11.00pm eastern, in the national RTC. There will be no charge for people who visit the Faire. We're going to have six different topics of discussion, about different aspects of Fed that potential new players might want to know about - the topics haven't been finalised yet, but examples are Making Money, Making Friends, Designing a Planet, and so on. If you have ideas about other topics that could be discussed, or if you'd like to volunteer to help us out for all or part of the three hour Faire, speak up! The "Promotions and Special Events" topic in Cat 13 of the MPGames BBS is where Hazed will be coordinating things. Last time GEnie held one of these Faires, Fed had a booth for the whole three hours and it was great fun. We're sure this year it will be even better! **>> SURF'S UP! This week, two new planets were linked into the game. First in was Surfer's planet Surfside, in the system Surf. As the name suggests - and as anyone who has ever talked to Surfer will guess - this planet is a surfing paradise. Hot sun, soft sandy beaches, magnificent waves, gorgeous people... it's a dream world. This is a planet where trading is the last thing on anyone's mind! Should you need them, the usual services are clustered around the landing pad, including a shipyard where the ships come in just one shape - surfboard shaped. The Tequila Sunrise bar, to the east of the spaceport, serves excellent drinks - and the cute waitdroids had this newsdroid panting from more than just the heat! The Exchange is South, should you wish to ignore the call of the waves and do some work instead. Forgetting about such mundane things as making groats, the westward road leads to the beach, past the Hospital and the Insurance Office (which are unlikely to be needed since as far as we know there's nothing dangerous on Surfside). Keep following the road (trying to avoid the attentions of a pesky sea-gull) and you find yourself at the beach. A beachbar lets you drink or dance, or you can walk north along the beach to the fun of the pier, casino, funhouse and carousel. Southwards, the beach leads to... the waves, and your chance to try your hand at surfing. Sadly, this newsdroid proved unable to stay on the board and was dragged under for an entertaining visit to an undersea city. Surfside is a fun planet to visit. The location descriptions are excellently written, and there's quite a few chuckles along the way. Our only quibble is that parts of the planet are too linear. You're swept along from one location to the next, with no choice about what to do or where to go - for example, from the moment you step onto the surfboard there is no return, and you travel through 16 locations to get back to the beach. This is fun the first time you do it, but it means you don't need to think at all when exploring the planet, it won't take long to see everything, and there's no incentive to return again and again. Not a good idea if you want to gain player minutes on the clock. Still, do visit Surfside, it is fun - just watch out for that sea-gull! **>> TEMPEST IN A TEACUP The second of the week's new planets was Tempest, in the system Qushmarrah, owned by Squire Dirge. This is a horse of a different kettle of fish! Tempest is detailed, atmospheric, intriguing and it has a terrific puzzle. It's also pretty dangerous if you don't watch your step. Everyone on the planet has unpronouncable names, and the Emperor K'Lyuran is no exception. He's very ill, and his malaise has depressed the population, affected the weather, and quite probably spells destruction for the entire planet. Solemn stuff, eh? Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to cure the Emperor of his illness and restore peace and harmony to the planet. This news bulletin will self-destruct in 5 seconds. Oh alright, it won't really! The first thing you notice when you land on Tempest is that the weather is awful! After the wonderful sun of Surfside, this was not a pleasant change. Equipped with galoshes and a large umbrella, we checked out all the usual services around the pad and then proceeded into the Customs Authority, the gateway to the main planet. Here we were forced to sign a waiver that in the event of our death, we wouldn't lodge any complaints. Ominous stuff! Thus warned, we proceeded with caution onto a boulevard, off which lay the hospital (apparently much used), a store, an alehouse and other attractions. To the south was the Royal Palace, with its very impressive throne room. We tried to get in to see the Emperor, but the guards wouldn't admit us. We did take a close look at the Royal Gallery, where some surprisingly life- like paintings of other worlds or other times merited extremely close attention... Tempest is an excellent planet. From the moment you land, the location descriptions sweep you up into the atmosphere of a world in mourning for a dying ruler. Little clues to the puzzle are found in many seemingly ordinary locations. Once you enter the main puzzle locations (there are four of them, and how you reach them is in itself a puzzle), you need your wits about you because one mis-step leads to a horrible death. Of course, sometimes death yields up valuable clues too, so you have to take the plunge into a dangerous situation even knowing it may kill you. Dirge is to be congratulated on a planet that really grips the imagination and makes you go back for yet another go at the puzzle. We have no hesitation in bestowing on him the coveted H-by-A Walrus of Merit. **>> DEATH-TRAP PLANETS It started with Tantras' Vertigo. In two parts of his most excellent puzzle, death awaits those who fail. Then Tellurain's death-trap Bree came in and the death-toll was astronomical. Now Dirge's Tempest offers many different and gruesome ways to be parted from your life. It seems that if they offer large rewards for solving puzzles, the new breed of planet-owners demands that the penalties should be high too. And many players are only too willing to take up the challenge, risk their insurance premiums, and try for the jackpot. Blackadder has been so obsessed with Tellurain's puzzle that he's got Mosquito really angry with him, because he thinks about it even when he's with her. Tantras died 17 times trying to solve Tempest's puzzle - and succeeded, gaining a 40 meg reward. There's 10 meg on offer to the second person to solve the puzzle. Tantras assures us than only 5 or 6 deaths are actually necessary... but he doesn't tell us which ones!! Sadly, there have been more fatalities, even after our dire warnings in last week's news. We don't want to be unsympathetic - we know how terrible it is to go dead-dead and lose a persona after months, years even, of work - but we cannot emphasise enough that exploring a player-planet when you are uninsured is just stupid! You wouldn't wander through the Martian ruins for the first time with no insurance (or at least you shouldn't) so why assume that player-planets are all sweetness and light? There's a technical reason not to go to new planets without insurance, too. Even if they don't have death locations on them, when they first go into the game they may have movement errors which leave you trapped somewhere with no way out. The only way to leave might be to suicide out. If you don't have insurance this exit isn't available to you, so you're stuck until the error gets fixed. Most player-planets have the insurance office right in the hospital, or in an adjacent location, so there's really no excuse for re-insuring after you die. If you don't have the money to re-insure, yell for help! Someone will always lend you money to insure. **>> THE BOOK OF GLURG When the masses of Fed grew larger, and more puzzle solutions became known unto them, the Fedders saw that solutions could be handed to others, for political or personal gains. Then Lord Pegasus said, "My Spirit will not contend with Fedders forever, for they will be mortal. The stupid shall fall prey to the devious." Pegasus saw how complacent Fed DataSpace had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart were only evil all the time. Fedders were engaging in marriage. They were frolicking joyfully, and reproducing. They were whispering that about Snark which they had no right to whisper. Pegasus was grieved, and his heart was filled with pain. So Pegasus said, "I will wipe the stupid, the slow, the dimwitted, from the face of Fed DataSpace--players and objects, and mobiles that move along the ground, and mobiles that fly in space--for I am grieved that they exist in sin." But Glurg found favor in the eyes of his father, Lord Pegasus. This is the account of Glurg. Glurg was a self-righteous man, guilty among the people of his time, and he walked with Pegasus. Glurg had one sister, Emmi. Now Fed DataSpace was corrupt in Pegasus' sight and was full of good will and lovey-dovey sickness. Pegasus saw how corrupt the solar system had become, for all the players had corrupted their ways. So Pegasus said to Glurg, "I am going to put an end to all unattended macros, for the space is filled with peace because of them. I am surely going to destroy all who have become complacent. So make yourself a ship of titanium; make it large and coat it with armour inside and out. This is how you are to build it: The ship is to be 1400 tons, 42 hulls, and 20 shields. Make a computer for it, and outfit the ship with twin lasers, 18 inches from the top. Put a door in the spaceship and make lower, middle and upper decks. I am going to bring vengeance into Fed to destroy all who cannot think for themselves. Every weak and trusting person will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ship--you and your sister, and your partner, Tellurian. You are to bring into the ship clone cells of all mobiles, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two test tubes of every kind of space mobile, of every kind of ground mobile, and of every kind of object that lies in Fed DataSpace. You are to take the rolypoly and the sandwich and store them away as food for you and for them." Glurg did everything just as Pegasus commanded him. Pegasus then said to Glurg, "Go into your ship, you, your family, and your friends, because I have found you self-righteous in this generation of players. Take with you seven copies of the TDX, for the test of true stupidity is not whether a player dies once with an unknown object, but whether you can kill him a multiple of ways using the same object. Take with you maps of the ruins, for therein lie many treacherous traps. Take with you a distorted map of the solar system, to give to anybody too lazy to look at the one in the Quickstart guide, for thine is to lead them into the Sun, at all opportunities. And Glurg did all that the Lord Pegasus commanded him. And he did more, far more than Pegasus dreamed possible. Glurg was an Industrialist when the flood of whingers came upon Fed DataSpace. And Glurg and his sister and his good buddy entered the spaceship to escape from the incessant whining. All sorts of dangerous objects, vengeful mobiles, and cunning events entered his spaceship, as Pegasus had commanded Glurg. And after the seven resets, the whingers came upon the open comms. "I need money!" "Who will pay off my loan?" "How do I turn jobs off?" "How do I turn comms off?" "How do I turn comms on?" "I need jobs." "Will somebody give me money?" "How do I get to Mercury?" Pegasus' wrath was swift. He blessed Glurg with The Holy Spybeam, by which Glurg could follow the movements of the whingers. He blessed the Nastydugreen's lasers, so that they might find the heart of those who disturbed the calm of the comms, swiftly and with vengeful justice. For 40 days and 40 nights, the whingers kept Glurg busy. Glurg realized that the whingers were too numerous for one man to handle alone, so he taught the secrets of his trade to his apprentice assassin, Tellurian, who in turn taught the trade to other apprentices. The graduates of the Pegasus School of Assassins are many, but the known names are few, so that they may be effective. None of his pupils disappointed him, but instead pleased him with their cunning plans. In one swift act of massive manslaughter, his star pupil killed 12 Fedders in one fell swoop. Another invented the idea of flashing lasers to attract the attention of landing crews in distant worlds. Many of the victims of the PSA never realized what had happened to them. In their blind folly, they succumbed to many deaths before wisdom finally dawned. Pegasus saw that these players became smarter, more aware of their surroundings. And he was pleased. For no more shall players wander around ignorantly, believing all to be good and sweet. His job done, Pegasus called Glurg up to Snark, where the twain remain to this day. They continue causing mishaps to those who would blow Snark to smithereens. Praise Pegasus! Amen! ~ P/~ **>> PLANETS AND DUCHIES With two new planets appearing, it's time to review the alliances and report on who's in which duchy. There are no Independent player-planets at the moment. Everyone seems very sure where their loyalties lie! Plantking's Duchy of Canna has two planets: Oxcart's Jinx and Zan's Paradise. Plantking has granted Nightfall favored status, but with only a 1% reduction in tax from the standard rate of 7% it doesn't make a great deal of difference. Looney's Insanity is much reduced from its former splendour. Now it only has four planets: Jade's Dunnottar, Riccardo's Links, Amigan's Mycenae and Surfer's new planet, Surfside. There's no favored status, and the tax is set at a standard 10%. Ramius's Ausland has six worlds: Maxwell's Dawn, Gemini's Aytes, Tantras' Vertigo, Mosquito's Sutra and the new (and unpronounceable) Qushmarrah owned by Dirge. The standard tax rate is 10%, and the favored status is for Nightfall... but the favored tax is set at a whopping great 50%! More like a disfavored status. Nightstalker's Duchy of Nightfall also has six: Zagmar's Valaria, Marcia's Roissy, Akiko's Mirai, Tao's Rtyui, Chainsaw's Nautilus and Rai's Seppuku. Unlike the shifting alliances of the other duchies, these planets have stuck with the same Duke for some time. The standard tax is 7%, and the favored duchy of Canna is reduced right down to 2%. This should make trading between the two duchies very worthwhile. Finally, Barberousse's Source has six planets too: Neuromancer's Paradigm, Emmi's Addis, Silk's Fortymile, Sean's Eire, Budwarp's Epini, and Tellurain's Bree. This duchy has the same tax as Ausland - standard 10% but 50% for Nightfall. It seems high taxes have replaced embargoes as the favorite way to show displeasure with another duchy. So who's going to be the first Emperor? Your guess is as good as ours! **>> EARLY PROMOTION There are current eight agricultural worlds, more than there have ever been before at the same time. Eight full planets, stocked with a full complement of objects and mobiles, means that memory is starting to get tight. There's one new planet waiting to go in, and a whole heap of people building in the workbench. Examination of the treasuries and accumulated minutes showed that no-one was getting really close to promotion to mining. So in order to ease the situation, Hazed tapped a couple of planet owners on the shoulder (or equivalent) and made them an offer they couldn't refuse. The "oldest" agricultural planet was Rai's Seppuku, so she asked Rai if he would consider, as a favor, turning his planet mini. In return, he could promote to mining early at a reduced promotion cost, even though he didn't have the usual minute requirement. Rai agreed to this, and his planet will promote and go mini on Tuesday. Factory owners, remember to change your output to the warehouse before then. The second oldest agri world is Sean's Eire, and he has been made a similar offer. Hazed and Sean are still working out the details. Rai's impending mini-ness gives room for a new planet, so Blackadder's TerraIncognita will be going in on Wednesday. If this is anything like his last planet, TerraNova, it will be yet another good one! It's possible in the future that it will be necessary to hurry along a conversion to mini, because we don't like having to make people wait to have their planets put in. However, although the deal with Rai has set a precedent, Hazed will deal with each case separately as it arises. **>> SPYNET REVIEW The Poor People are promoting in droves... just look at all these new Captains! Joebob, Kainaw, Iskra, Hacker, Darkknight (back from the dead), Mira, Vizen, Tellurani (back from the dead), Reece, Powerranger, Amethyst, Chester, Serg, Techo, Marquis, Angus and Shauna. The new Adventurers were Locutus, Wilhelm, Kainaw, Iskra, Dale, Dylan, Tellurani and Mira. Wilhelm, Kainaw, Alucard and Locutus all joined the Traders Guild. New Merchants were Deric and Wilhelm. Longshot, Perseus, Chance and Rakshasa solved the fiendish GM puzzle. Chance and Rakshasa went on to become Explorers. We have two new Squires: Surfer and Dirge were promoted when their planets were linked into the game. Once again, there have been a number of deaths. Trader Djet and JP Tim snuffed it in Sol for reasons unknown. Adventurer Darkknight and Adventureuse Tellurani died on Bree. We don't normally mention the deaths of very very Poor People, but there are two that caught our eye (or equivelent)... Captain Sheba died four times on Bree, the last death being fatal. Just what was a Captain doing on such a dangerous planet? She must have sold her ship and travelled there! Finally, Commander Baldrick died in Sol - did Blackadder have anything to do with this? **>> 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 * a message to Hazed * send GEnie mail with the Mail about Federation option from the main menu A front-end terminal program is available for Federation, for the PC and Amiga. You can download a copy of FedTerm from the Federation official libraries (option 3 on the main Fed page). The third edition of the unexpurgated printed Idiot's Guide to Federation is now available, price $15.95. Type ORDER from any GEnie main menu and buy one. Or more! Federation has several categories in the 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 Oxcart (Mail ID: J.LONG29). There are also private categories for Explorers and the Sentate, run by Krell (Mail ID: K.HILLYER). The MPGames RT has a Federation player library in the files area, Lib 5. **>> BULLETIN ENDS