**>> SPYNET BULLETIN 
 **>> EARTHDATE 94.06.12 
 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE 
 
 **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids 
 **>> <SEND HAZED> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! 
 
 
 **>> IT'S FREE! 
 
Yes, in case you haven't noticed (how could you miss it?) Fed is FREE this
weekend, and will continue to be free until Monday June 13 at 8.00pm
eastern. 
 
Our free weekends have two purposes. They are a special treat for our
regular players, but more importantly, they give people who haven't played
Fed before a chance to have a look at the game and see if they like it. 
 
So, welcome to all the new players who have started this weekend.  
 
You should make sure you read the QuickStart Guide, which gives you the
very basic information you need to get started in the game, and takes less
than 10 seconds to display. Once you are in the game, you can ask for help
from the other players. 
 
Thanks to our regular players who have been helping the NewBods get
started. 
 
 
 **>> ALL ABOUT US! 
 
What you are reading is the weekly Federation news bulletin, which we write
and upload every Sunday. It tells you about new features and commands in
the game, explains if anything has changed, and talk about things coming up
in the future. 
 
The news also tells you what the players have been doing - and to whom! In 
other words, scandal and gossip. So if you have any information about other

players, please send it to us! We pay groats for anything we print, and we
do protect our sources - you can remain anonymous if you prefer. Yes, it
pays to grass up your friends to a passing newsdroid. 
 
The Federation team is made up of the following: 
 
Alan Lenton is the creator, designer and programmer of Fed. In the game, he

plays Bella, a Rigellian woman with green hair and a rather large bottom. 
 
Clem Chambers runs the business and marketing side of things. In the game,
he prefers to be anonymous, skulking under a number of pseudonyms. 
 
Fi Craig is responsible for the documentation, the weekly news, and general

customer satisfaction. In the game, she is the delectable demi-goddess
Hazed. 
 
We have four Party Hosts whose role in Fed is to help new players and throw
impromptu parties, generally making sure you have a good time. They are
Freya (a new appointee - welcome to the party, Freya!), Emmi, Tellurian and
Tellurain. 
 
 
 **>> EXTRA SOLAR WORLDS 
 
In order to accommodate the vast number of new players joining during the
free weekend, some of the planets owned by players have been removed from
the game. Normally there are about 25 of them. We split them up and had the
first batch in for Friday and Saturday, and the second batch Sunday and
Monday morning. The second batch includes all the full planets, giving new
players who have reached the rank of Adventurer plenty of places to
explore. 
 
Apart from that, the game you are playing this weekend is the full version
of the game that is available all the time. 
 
 
 **>> PLAYING ON A BUDGET 
 
In an ideal universe, Fed would be free all the time so you could play as
long as you wanted without having to worry about your real-life bank
balance. Since the universe in which we live is far from ideal, we know
that many of you have to ration your time in Fed to keep the irate bank
manager off your back (or equivalent). Here's a few hints and tips to help
you keep track of your playing time and prevent your credit card from
melting. 
 
First, you need to set yourself a few rules to ensure you don't overspend.
Work out in advance how much time you can afford to spend in Fed DataSpace
each week, then decide how you want to use that time. For example, if you
can afford ten hours each week, you could decide to spend one hour each
night in the game, and the extra at weekends. Or you might prefer to keep
out of the game during the week and blow all your time on mega-sessions at
the weekend. However you choose, try to stick to your plan. 
 
Decide what you want to achieve in each session. Are you going to spend
your hour chatting with your friends, or hauling cargo to get that next
promotion, or chasing stat items? Read the game documents thoroughly so you
are familiar with the commands. If your time in Fed DataSpace is limited,
make the most of it and don't dither around wondering what to do next. 
 
In the game, there are a number of commands to help you keep track of your
play. <TIME> tells you the date and time (in eastern) and tells you how
long you've been in the game this session. You can set your personal alarm
to go off after a specified number of minutes to remind you when your time
is up - the command is <ALARM minutes>. 
 
 
 **>> GAME MANAGEMENT 
 
Federation is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a...
well, you get the idea. But for technical reasons, the game is taken down
from time to time. This is called a reset. 
 
Once a day, the game is reset in order to peform daily house-keeping tasks,
such as deleting dead or out-of-date personas, and backing up the files. A
reset generally takes about 20-30 minutes. Before a reset, Bella or Hazed
will usually pop into the game and warn you it's about to happen, asking
you to log off. If you don't log off, you will get a message saying
"Federation Shutdown". 
 
During the week, the house-keeping reset is done in the afternoon,
generally about 5.00pm (eastern). At weekends, it is done in the morning
around 8.00am. 
 
There may be other times that Federation is shut down. Occasionally GEnie's
operators may need to shut the game down for technical reasons. Those of
you who tried to get onto the game last night will know that it was
unavailable for about two hours, and this was because the Ops took it
down - we don't know why! 
 
In all these cases, the game being down should have no effect on your
persona. You won't lose any groats or stats because before the game shuts
down it saves everything safely. 
 
Very occasionally, the game crashes - it goes down unexpectedly, without
saving the files properly. If this does happen, we always reimburse players
with lost groats. 
 
Speaking of resets, here is one player's view of a recent reset... 
 
 
 *>> AN ODD DANCE 
 
Imagine you're a JP who spent quite some time and effort gathering objects
and assistants to open Snark. As you are about to complete the puzzle to
promote to GM you suddenly black out and drop out of Fed Dataspace! You try
to re-enter with no luck. Finally after an hour you log back on. You find
yourself back where you started, with Snark closed and the objects you need
scattered back to their original places. 
 
What happened? Did some Duke's time machine go crazy and send everyone back
in time a part of a day? Did the "Rip in Space" effect go unstable and blow
up the galaxy? Did Bella in a drunken stupor make a small error? 
 
No... it was the dreaded Reset! It usually strikes without warning,
knocking all the players out of the game and losing any objects they've
collected. Though their earnings and stat raises are saved, the Reset
itself can't be prevented. 
 
Or can it? One being did prevent a Reset (or thinks she did) - the
Demi-Goddess herself. When Alucard was going for GM, Hazed heard a certain
party who shall remain nameless (an Explorer who should know better) dare
to tempt Fate by mentioning the possibility of a Reset. Our heroine
immediately made a sign to ward off evil. Then she began to dance. She held
her nose and hopped on one leg while she coaked like a chicken! 
 
It seems the dance worked - the Game didn't reset; Alucard got his chance
for GM (he lost), the other players were spared from the effects of a
Reset, and the Explorer with the big mouth was saved from the disgrace of
being exiled to the feared prison world of Chaos! 
 
So if you have a feeling the Reset will come, and you're gullible enough to
make a fool of yourself, do Hazed's Chicken Crash Dance! 
 
     Reported by Explorer Perseus 
 
 
 **>> BIRTHS AND MARRIAGES 
 
Late on Friday night, the long-awaited child of Azure and Altasren was
born. The cry, "It's a girl!" went out over the comm waves, followed by the
cry of little Alianora as she took her first breath. 
 
The elven couple retired to the cottage on Eire for the happy event. A
party was then thrown on Kama to celebrate and get the tiny elfling used to
loud and obnoxious people early on. 
 
Azure's confinement was the longest pregnancy known to Fed. Usually,
expectant mothers get the whole thing over with in just a few days. In the
case of Lizzie, she spawned just two days after conceiving, and when
Tantras and Tellurain got married, their offspring appeared almost
immediately! But we probably don't want to go into that. 
 
Aunt Mosquito attended the birth, and was seen later at the party beaming
proudly and showing everyone holovids of the birth. 
 
Earlier... Darling Tellurina, one of that ever-expanding ne Galdur clan,
was married to Darkknight in a touching ceremony presided over by brother
Tellurain. But that all ended in tears, because... 
 
 
 **>> OBITUARY 
 
I am saddened to announce that my beloved sister, Tellurina ne Galdur, has
taken her own life and brought her soul into the realm of the dead-dead. I
had the fortune to talk with her moments before her death - she said that
the vile and disgusting things that her new husband, Darkknight, had done
to her made her feel unclean. Especially the parts about the earwax. So,
she has offered herself up to St. Pegasus and when she has been cleansed,
may return. 
 
Tellurina was a wonderful, kind, caring soul. (Well, except when she'd
steal my stuff and hide it. I hated when she did that.) Her figure was
without flaw (if you could ignore that horrible botched boob job - one was
bigger than the other! And they'd deflate on a regular basis! Sheesh!) and
she wore it proudly. (Didn't stop her from wearing MY CLOTHES PROUDLY TOO.)

 
Tellurina was kind, gentle... all right, she also slept with our brother
Tellurain, and she was a graceless slut who deserved to be married to
Darkknight, all right? Geez, I give up. I can't lie about her non-existant
charms anymore, all right? It's just not worth... 
 
THAT much more to finish it? Really? 
 
 
 
As I was saying, Tellurina was a sweet darling and we all loved her dearly.
Tellurina's two brothers (Senator Tellurian of Nemesis and Squire Tellurain
of Neemeesis), sister (Adventureuse Tellurani), and siblings-in-law
(Industrialist Gemini of Ssenmaerd and Thane Tantras of Vertigo) mourn her
passing. 
 
     Adventureuse Tellurani ne Galdur 
 
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that her very-brief husband Darkknight took
himself dead-dead in shame and horror when his vile crimes were discovered.
Kicker, ain't it? He came back as a Wraith which quickly disentigrated, and
it's rumored that his tortured soul walks FedSpace as a solitary figure. 
 
 
 **>> CAT FIGHT! 
 
Blood was drawn last night when Freya and Mira came face to face for the
first time. 
 
Mira is Topper's Love Slave, but over the past week he has been playing
around with Freya too. Despite concerned third parties warning Freya that
she was poaching Mira's Master, Freya carried on flirting with the man.
Mira, normally quiet, meek and mild, cracked last night and flew at Freya,
drawing blood with her razor-sharp fingernails. A knock-down, drag-out cat-
fight ensued, during which both participants lost most of their clothing,
much to the delight of the cheering onlookers. 
 
Neither came out on top - or on Topper - and they retired, hurt, to lick
their wounds, although there were many volunteers to lick the wounds for
them. 
 
Meanwhile, Freya is doubly playing with fire. Not only is she upsetting
Mira by her activities, she is risking the wrath of the Godfather, who has
on previous occasions made it quite clear he does not appreciate his
mistress dallying with other men. 
 
For that matter, does Topper know what he's getting in to? He may have a
mood reading El Presidente, but is he ready to challenge Fed's top crime
boss? 
 
Whatever happens, it's bound to make excellent copy, so we'll be bringing
you more exciting, titillating stories about this bizarre love-triangle. 
 
 
 **>> GOSSIP, SCANDAL, SLANDER, LIES, BLASPHEMY, INFAMY 
 
Yes, we cover it all in the weekly Federation News Bulletin! 
 
Federation has a new Mr. Sex. Paladin was stunned (literally!) yesterday
when he logged on to find himself beset from all sides by Fed DataSpace's
most nubile females, all begging for the chance to get intimate with him.
He had to beat them off with Diesel's baseball bat before they'd let him do
any work. He's not sure if his new aftershave is to blame, or if sunspots
have fried all the women's braincells! 
 
Last week, our stupid newsdroids made a mistake when reporting Alucard's
search for love. We would like to take this opportunity to put the record
straight. Alucard is searching for a Single WHITE Vampire. Not a Single
MALE Vampire. Sorry if this disappoints anyone. 
 
Company name of the week: Sex Toys R Us. If anyone wants to claim ownership
of this sordid outfit, we might reward them for making us chuckle. Or we
might not. 
 
Dierdre has developed a taste for rough trade... she's been spending her
time screwing Diesel's stablehands. Maybe that's why she smells of horse
all the time - and we thought she'd got a new perfume. 
 
Shadow went beserk after eating a pizza bought from an establishment that
was not CDs (let that be a warning to you not to frequent such dives!). The
mould on the pizza, which was well past its sell-by date, contained an
obscure hallucinogen that made Shadow imagine that every woman he saw was
his mother, and every man he saw was his father. After repeatedly trying to
screw all the females and kill all the males, he finally tore his eyes out
(one by one) and threw himself on the mercy of the Galactic
Administration's Psychiatry Department. He has been referred for tests. 
 
 
 **>> PLANETS AND DUCHIES 
 
There is no point reporting on the duchies this weekend, because only the
agricultural planets are in the game. 
 
Mosquito's Kama Sutra went mini during the week (and contrary to rumour,
there are NO spy-proof rooms on the planet! At least, not now.). 
 
Tantras' Vertigo has gone back to normal, following the period it spent
doubling as the UnCon planet. 
 
Sharp's new planet, Acme, will link into the game either Monday or Tuesday.
We will despatch a newsdroid to report on the planet for next week's news. 
 
On Wednesday, Bella is going away for a few weeks, so there won't be any
more new planets in the game until the beginning of July. In her absence,
the game will be left in the oh-so-capable hands of the Demi-Goddess Hazed.

 
 
 **>> SPYNET REVIEW 
 
You can tell it's a free weekend by all the people getting promoted to
Captain! Congratulations to everyone who gained rank. 
 
The week's new Captains were Heather, Lessa, Zona, Tara, Sharla, Bob, Spot,
One, Harold, Sirius, Joni, Spaceyii, Charlemagne, David, Docholiday,
Galena, Ferdelance, Benjamin, Data, Riv, Telda, Beethoven, Marlboroman,
Metallica, Covenant, Kreetyn, Devon, Omino, Trashcanman, Bishop, Razor and
James. (Phew!) 
 
The Adventurers and -euses were Jonharmon, Spot, Static, One, Firestorm,
Ferdelance, David, Tana and Sharla. 
 
Jainzar, Fara, Scott, Sharla, Djmayhem, Spot, Erebus, Eeyore and Jonharmon
became members of the Traders Guild. 
 
Siobhan and Axfire solved the awesome JP puzzle. Alucard cracked the
fiendist GM puzzle, and then went on to make Explorer. 
 
Alas, we lost the following people to dead-death: Trader Darkknight and
Captain Tellurina (see previous story) and Adventurer Blaize. GroundHog
Killme also died - sounds like someone obliged! 
 
 
 **>> 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, Emmi, Freya, Tellurian or Tellurain in the game 
 
 * <SEND> 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