**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 95.04.02 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS It never rains but it pours... Hot on the heels (or equivalent) of the troubles last weekend, networking problems which were entirely beyond our control meant that Fed was unavailable on Tuesday all day, and on Wednesday all day and for a few hours in the evening. It really does seem as though everything has been going wrong recently! We are taking steps to ensure that problems we can control (such as crashing) don't happen in the future, and that problems that we can't control (such as networking problems, hardware failures and so on) are dealt with in a much more efficent manner by the host system. Meanwhile... well, we know you find all these problems as much of a pain as we do, not least because time spent sorting out problems is time we can't spend adding new features to the game! We hope that things will settle down a bit now, and life in Fed DataSpace can go back to being as normal as it ever is. **>> WORKTHING CONSUMPTION Bella has changed the commodities that workthings consume following her review of the ways resources are used in various functions in the game. The consumption works in the same was as previously; all that has changed is the actually commodities. To refresh your memories... The number of tons of each commodity consumed varies: from between 1 and 1/40th of the population of each of the goods (i.e. for a population of 2000 they will consume between 1 and 50 tons). Workthings pay market rates for the goods they consume. The consumption happens at the end of each exchange cycle, after investment production has been added to the stocks. The goods are taken from your stocks and the payment added to your treasury. Here are the new commodities eaten by those greedy workthings: Agricultural: Tools, PowerPacks, Controllers, Pharms, Propellants, Rads, Gold, Games Mining: Petros, Cereals, Textiles, Meat, Fruit, Soya, Katydidics, Musiks, Holos Industrial: Electros, MechParts, Hides, Textiles, Meat, Fruit, Stock, Crystals, SensAmps, Holos, Univators, Sims Techno: Polymers, Petros, Nitros, Munitions, MechParts, Cereals, Woods, Hides, Meat, Spices, Fruit, Soya, Gold, Studios, Libraries Leisure: Synths, Pharms, RNA, Cereals, Woods, Hides, Spices, Furs, Crystals, Gold, Hypnotapes, SensAmps There will be a command available soon so you can see what is being consumed by your planet, but not immediately. **>> CHECKING PLANETS A few weeks back, we announced that we were going to put in code to make you take your planet offline before you made any changes to it. Because of the various problems, that code hasn't made it into the game yet: but despite that, could you PLEASE take your planets offline if you plan to edit the files. As an interim measure, we have changed the game so that it will run the housekeeping, which runs all the planets through the checker, every time it fires up. This should help to prevent incorrect data being loaded into the game. But this is not fool-proof - if someone is editing a planet while the game is firing up, errors could get loaded in anyway. So: PLEASE TAKE YOUR PLANETS OFFLINE before making any changes. And another thing: DO NOT change the location number of those three important places, the Trading Exchange, Landing Pad and Orbit. Once you have linked your planet into the game, those locations are hardcoded into a file which you can't change again. **>> RE-INSURE, YOU FOOL! In order to make quite sure that people who die remember to reinsure, and that people who log into the game uninsured see the notice telling them so, the techdroids converted those discrete little messages into CAPITAL LETTERS which (they thought) nobody could possible miss. How wrong they were. The very day the new OBTRUSIVE messages were put in, Explorer Jeb had a little accident... He was being his usual rebellious self, trying to shoot up the Emperor's custom forces - possibly attempting to soften them up in a prelude to a coup d'etat. But he completely failed to notice the new LOUD messages, which appear in large, friendly letters, and forgot to reinsure after dying. In response, the techdroids have put in another piece of code, to make your terminal program beep at you if you don't get insured! If this isn't enough, we will have to make arrangements to send someone round to your house to tell you in person to reinsure. **>> PAUSE... Having put in the changes mentioned above, there will now be a pause before any further modifications are made to the game code. The techdroids want to leave it for about ten days, to make sure no other problems rear their ugly heads (or equivalents) before doing anything at all. This includes making any changes to personas. Those planet-owners who have put in claims should have had their losses added back. Any further claims received will not be dealt with immediately. **>> COMING SOON... We are going to be resurrecting the old idea of Training Schools in Fed. No, this isn't some strange sexual practice, you don't need us to organise that for you! It's a way for experienced players to hand the flaming torch of knowledge onto newbods, and for greenhorns to lap up the pearls of wisdom that drip from the mouths (or equivalents) of the old hands. We plan to hold Schools in subjects such as Fighting, Trading and Designing a Planet. If you have any ideas for Schools you'd find useful, or if you'd like to teach a School, drop Hazed a line. Whoever it was that suggest a Babe Hunting 101 class should be ashamed! **>> AN UNCONVENTIONAL CONVENTION It's getting to be time for the Famous Fed UnCon. Normally, we plan, cancel those arrangements, plan, cancel and then just scramble together someplace. This year is going to be different. Really. But, in order to plan a successful UnCon, we have to have some feedback from the most important people there... Hazed. ::thwap!:: OUCH! I mean... you, the players. ::rubs a tender spot:: There are two options on which the Federation team would like to get your feedback, and we'd like to know your preferences. Currently we are anticipating holding the UnCon sometime during June. This gives enough time to warn the innkeepers and for you to get your IRS refund so you can purchase really cheap airline tickets. There are two location options for the June UnCon that we are considering. So, before we make an actual announcement of when and where the UnCon will be held, please consider the following two options and let us know which you prefer. Send your thoughts to the Fed team at the usual mail IDs (at the end of this Bulletin) or post them: on GEnie, Category 14, Topic 33 on Page 1405; on Delphi or Cris, in the Fed Forums. Option 1 -- Toronto, Canada ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Several players live in Toronto, and we've never had a Canada-Con. We've been told it is drivable from Chicago, Montreal, and New York, so access is relatively easy for people from the Midwest as well as the East coast. Airfares are reasonable as are hotel prices (and the $1.25 to $1.00 exchange rate doesn't hurt, either!). Drawback is that it -*will*- run some $250-300 (at least) if you're flying in. Lodging can be had for $45 to $75US per night, per room (one of the Toronto players may be able to offer crash space). Some of the hotels allow up to 5 people in a room (sounds good! party!). We'll have more more information about lodging next week. Suggestions happily accepted. Option 2 - Holding at Freya's Farmhouse ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Freya has offered to hold the UnCon at her place, near Liberty, NY. It's about a 2.5 hour drive northish from NYC. Bring sleeping bags and air mattresses. Bring a dish, we'll have pot luck dinner. Advantage is a less expensive Con; disadvantage, you may be exposed to Emmi's cooking, or worse, that grey stuff she calls coffee. **>> ANNOUNCING THE FIRST ANNUAL FED AWARDS! by Asrianna It has become apparent that the Emperor elections aren't coming anytime soon, so to relieve that voting itch and to give our worthy candidates a breather from campaigning so hard, we are now accepting nominations for the First Annual Fed Awards. You may nominate as many players as you wish in each category, but let's be realistic and keep the lists down to a reasonable size. Don't feel like you have to nominate someone in every category - this is just a free-for-all right now. If you're shy about nominating yourself, don't worry, I don't know most of your user-names. :) Any ideas for additional categories will be gladly accepted. Any new categories will be posted in the news next week; if there are no new categories, the 3 or 4 players with the most nominations in each category will be put on the final ballot next week. A line or two saying why you nominated a particular person would be welcome, it will save me from trying to think of something interesting to say about players later. Have fun! Please e-mail your nominations for the following catagories to: 1. Biggest flirt, male 2. Biggest flirt, female 3. Hottest couple, married (or engaged) 4. Hottest couple, unmarried 5. Biggest attention-hound 6. Best planet 7. Most profitable trading exchange 8. Best drinking buddy or the most entertaining player 9. Player most dedicated to making the game-owners rich 10. Most dangerous player to annoy 11. Most romantic, male (We'll leave the interpretation to you) 12. Most romantic, female 13. Nosiest player, aka the Busybody of Fed 14. Best planet-owner for players with factories 15. Most likely to over-throw the new emperor 16. Biggest gossip Send them to the usual contact addresses at the end of this news Bulletin. Note: the judges promise to be fair, impartial, and completely unsusceptible to bribery. Yeah, right! **>> MISPLACED AFFECTION Poor Snookums. She's attracting all kinds of attention, but it seems to be the wrong kind! She's nervous and doesn't know quite what to do. As tokens of affection, people keep putting prices on her head! While she loves affection, this is not the type she craves. She is -*not*- that kind of girl. Guys: if you love someone, pick a slightly less eccentric way of showing it, ok? **>> TRUE LURVE: REVISITED Two old players have returned recently: Trista and Mirth, who made a lovely couple in the early days of Fed, then dropped out of sight. Now they are back, and their romance seems to be blossoming again... but with a difference this time! We received the following information from Trista: "Please note that I am staying a couple of ranks ahead of my former Fed-lover Mirth, and I intend to always be able to spy him, rather than let him spy me." The tables have turned! Meanwhile: A famous Fed femme was asked recently "How many husbands have you had?" To which she replied, "You mean, apart from my own?" And following our reportage of Helena's denouncement of the male species, she has asked us to clarify: apparently, men do not disgust her; she accepts that they are all deceivers and loves them for what they are. So, there you have it! **>> SATURNIAN SECOND STRIKE! Oh no! The dread Saturnians have struck again! Readers of the news last week will no doubt remember the dread Saturnians's evil plan to steal Earth and make it for their own! Their plans foiled and Earth moved back to its proper place, they swore revenge! Revenge came on Saturday, when Spacesinger was preparing to attempt the Guild Master puzzle. He was all ready, helpers in place... and then, the ruins exploded! What happened? The Saturnians, that's what! In the wink of an eye, Spacesinger and his helpers were atomized. Zzzax, speaker for the Saturnians, had this to say. "Ze Martian Ruinz are a zign zat Fedlingz have forgotten ze power of ze Zaturnianz! Zey shall pay! Ze Martian Ruinz waz zestroyed to show ze might of ze Zaturnianz! Ze Zaturnianz are ze dreaded evil of ze Zolar Zyztem! Tremble and fear uz!" Ze Zena... er, the Senate gave no comment in response. **>> UNDERGROUND CURRENTS Yes, there is speculation about the working of the Godfather and his underlings. Reports have filtered back that there still is a movement. Events and frustration have heated up since the announcement of Freya's marriage to Prospero. Titles have been issued to the underlings as an incentive. The godfather is trying every motivation tactic available. If he is threatening anyone's life or killing off anyone, authorities have yet to find any bodies! **>> UP THE RANKS! Chance braved the daring Duke's puzzle with at least eight people backing him up. It was a virtual party back in Horsell and everyone enjoyed the prices of ale at one groat a pint. Upon Chance's promotion, Chainsaw became a part of the Senate. If this wasn't enough promoting for one night, Spacesinger solved the GM puzzle after a couple of attempts. The ceiling of CD's was quite hot after his first attempt of the night. Also to promote was Trista after hours of slaving! Good work all!! **>> SPYNET REVIEW We have no new planets to report on this week. Fastjack tells us that he has completely rewritten his planet, Morpher, and we'll take a look at it and tell you about it next week. While we don't have an enormous number of new planets to review, we will spend the time taking another look at existing planets, so if any of you planet-owners have re-modelled your worlds, drop Hazed a line and she'll send an ExplorerDroid along to take a look around. Fed DataSpace has a new Duke! Chance foiled those dastardly Martians and in doing so became our newest Duke, ruling over the Duchy of Chaos. His promotion pushed Chainsaw up into the Senate. Meanwhile, Aren's Naug is now an Industrialist, and China's Satin moved on up to become a Leisure world. Here's a quick run-down of the current state of the duchies. Akiko's Mirai is the only Independent world. Silk's Fortymile has five worlds: Maxwell's Dawn, Surfer's Surf, Aren's Nuag, Devon's Tanarith and Thomas' Haven. Zagmar's Valaria has three: Rakshasa's Utopia, Sukotto's Polaris and Bgg's Cafe. Nightstalker's Nightfall also has three: Byterunner's Parabit, Galena's Mallavia and Kainaw's Tisnar. Sean's Eire has four: Skurge's Vannitel, Cheri's Aise, Windman's Storm and Primetime's Esquire. Amigan's Athens is the current monster-duchy, with eight worlds: Neuromancer's Paradigm, Mosquito's Sutra, Talisan's Skan, Brawn's Outpost, DrSpock's Corono, Romana's Brittany, Corinthus' Laconia and Scrooge's Hermitage. The Noo Dook, Chance, has just one world so far: Silas' Silo. Aja's Sphinx has five: Tantras' Vertigo, Dirge's Qushmarrah, Sorak's Tyr, Ceinwen's Greenvale and Fastjack's Shadows. Finally, Budwarp's Epini has seven: Dierdre's Cove, Tellurani's Citadel, China's Satin, Astrin's Ymris, Brandy Nexus, Satriani's Opera and Brain's Hedonist. **>> SPYNET REVIEW Congratulations to everyone who was promoted during the week. The new Captains were Tavo, Zolak, Niceguy, Gallahad, Mirth, Pheonix and Jeb (back from the dead). Tiberius, Deth, Satori, Mirth, Gallahad, Snookums and Jeb were promoted to Adventurer or Adventureuse. The Traders Guild admitted Caleb, Trista, Hodar and Deth to its ranks. All four went on to make Merchant. Spacesinger solved the fiendist GM puzzle, and then was promoted to Explorer. Aren became an Industrialist, and China a Technocrat and then a Baron, as their planets advanced. Chance solved the devilish Duke puzzle, saved the galaxy from A Fate Worse Than Death, and was promoted to Duke. As a result, Chainsaw became a Senator. It was a week for high-level deaths... Senator Plantking and Squire Alfresco both died by their own hands, and are moving on to pastures new. Explorer Jeb died accidentally, the victim of a rogue macro, and is making his way back up the ranks. Finally, name of the week goes to Captain. That was his name, not his rank! Sadly, he didn't stay long enough to become Captain Captain, but died while he was Commander Captain. Are you confused yet? **>> 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