**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 95.03.19 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> LAZY NEWSDROIDS It's a bit of a skimpy news this week, because Our Beloved Editrix Hazed is slightly under the weather with a cold. Without someone to drive us on into our usual copy-writing frenzy, we newsdroids just coast along on half power... Next week, we hope to bring you the final interview with a candidate, as Bahba puts Elex to the question. **>> BUG-HUNTING! The Fed techdroids have been having a busy time recently. They've been looking at the bug that meant other people's factories would show up in your company display. They have put in a fix so that if the game detects anything going amiss, it will remove all your factories from the display. If this happens to you - don't panic! Just log off then on again and your factories will reappear on your display. We use the term "techdroids" because Our Illustrious Leader, Bella, is no longer alone in her fight against creepy crawlies in the code. She has been joined by Pegasus, the WonderHorse, complete with flit-gun. Together, they have pledged to rid Fed DataSpace of bugs, stamping out all forms of programming insectitude. This means that it may not be Bella who deals with problems as they crop us, so it's important that any bug reports or queries go to Hazed, not Bella. The demi-Goddess will ensure they are passed to the correct techdroid. **>> COMMODITIES: REQUIREMENTS AND CONSUMPTION Following the receipt of some extremely useful data from Plantking and Sean, Bella is taking a look at all the requirements for commodities and will make some changes during the week. She will reduce the amount that workthings consume, and change the actual commodities they eat. She will also take a look at the overall requirements for Infrastructure and other planetary enhancements. **>> ST. PATRICK'S DAY CELEBRATIONS We hope you all had a fun St. Patrick's Day, and that you took the opportunity to explore Anamford, the planet written for us by Devon. It will remain linked in for a few more days so you still have a chance to take a look. There's a puzzle to solve with groats as prizes. Patty O'Furniture the leprechaun has been popping in and out, tempting people with his pot of gold... did you manage to find him and claim the gold? You may be lucky tonight. **>> MISSING HORSE This is terrible! Our favorite homicidal horse, Pegasus, has been kidnapped! A note arrived on the doorstep of the H-by-A offices a few days ago, stating that our beloved horse had been taken captive. We passed the note to the Federation Bureau of Investigation, who have started a search of all known space (and a bit of unknown space, at great expense to tax-payers) for the culprit. As yet, no word has been received of the kidnapper's demands. When asked how Pegasus could be held prisoner while still making appearances at Chez Diesel on a regular basis, the FBI replied, 'The kidnapper is very clever.' For more information on the crime of the century, watch out for Kainaw's April Fool planet, coming to Fed DataSpace soon! **>> TRIVIAL FED Starting soon: regular Fed trivia contests will be held on the first Sunday of each month! The first one is scheduled for Sunday April 2 at 7.00pm eastern in Chez Diesel. Lyrynna is organising the contests. The results will be published in the news, and a league table will show who is the overall Fed Trivia Champion for the Year. **>> FEDERATION NEWS ARCHIVE Tantras (what a nice boy!) has been busily uploading old issues of the Weekly Fed News Bulletin into the Federation Official Library on GEnie, and his aim is to finish the job Hazed started by bringing the archives completely up-to-date. So far, he has uploaded the remainder of the files for 1992, into library 17, and all of 1993 into library 18. 1994 will follow. There are far too many files for us to list the file numbers here: just go into the library and you can't miss them! Once the archives have caught up, we'll see about uploading them onto Delphi too. **>> IT'S OFF! Last week we announced the engagement of Kate and Varian. This week, we are told by Kate that the wedding is off. We don't know why, and we didn't like to press for details... yes, newsdroids can be compassionate sometimes! **>> PLANETS AND DUCHIES Well done, Budwarp! He's made his way back to Duke at last, and has started to re-recruit the planets who used to make up the Duchy of Epini. Other than that, there's been little movement: no new planets, no new Dukes, no new Senators. Ceinwen's Forest is now a mining planet, and Brain's Hedon is industrial. Silk's duchy deserves a mention for its embargo: Duchy of Fortymile (Silk) - Customs 5% Embargo on Fed_crashes We'll drink to that! **>> SPYNET REVIEW Congratulations to everyone was was promoted during the week. The new Captains were Lordfoul, Midnight, Benzar, Pookie, Dale, Relkin, Styyx, Honkytonk (who then went and died), Dracula, Jack, Dan, Baal, Dajudge and Gemini. Styyx, Trista, Dracula, Dajudge, Dan and Lordfoul were promoted to Adventurer or Adventureuse. The Traders Guild admitted Kate, Styyx and Dracula. Admiral, Greybeard and Dracula reached Merchant. The awesome JP puzzle was cracked by Ukla, Rosinante, Wildstar and Finn. Helena and Luv solved the fiendish GM puzzle. Helena, Gabriel and Luv became Explorers. We look forward to seeing planets from them soon! Ceinwen is now a Thane, having advanced his planet. Brain promoted to Industrialist as his planet advanced. **>> 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. The current Federation Game Hosts are: Freya, Phoenix, Chrysalis, Lyrynna, Gazoo and Grannie. Their function is to answer questions, help new players get started, and make fun things happen. In the event of a problem or question, you can: * talk to Hazed or one of the Game Hosts in the game * a message to Hazed * send mail on your host system to the Federation team: on GEnie, mail FEDII.2 or use the option on the main Fed page on Delphi, mail FED2 or use the option on the main Fed page on Cris, mail FEDERATION2 You can buy a copy of the very excellent Idiot's Guide to Federation for the paltry sum of $15.95. On GEnie, type ORDER from any main menu page. On Delphi and Cris, send a check for $15.95 to: Leah Parker, 4543 La Crescenta Avenue, La Crescenta, CA 91214-2912. **>> BULLETIN ENDS