FEDERATION 2 MANUALS
CHANGES - HOW FED2 DIFFERS FROM THE OLD VERSION
Here's a list for players of classic Fed, of the things that are different in Fed2.
Persona Setup
Gender - you can now choose to be male, female or neuter.
Race - you can now specify a race.
Clothes
Introducing our new sartorial technology, the nano-chameleon clothing. This suit can be reconfigured to change your clothes to anything you please - wherever you are! No more hanging around in clothes shops, being measured and fitted in drafty changing rooms. Now you can alter your look at the touch of a button - no mess, no fuss. The command is 'CHANGE CLOTHES description' where 'description' is what you want people to see when they examine you.
Moods
Moods are only saved until the game resets. You can check out another player's mood with 'GLANCE playername', or the moods of everyone in the room with 'GLANCE ALL'.
The Solar System
The Sol planets have been remodelled, reflecting the fact that Fed2 is set about 200 years later than classic Fed. Sol space remains the same so the planets haven't moved, but on the ground, although the roads and corridors are more or less the same, the buildings and other locations have changed. There are also some new locations in various places.
There are also some new planets - moons of existing planets, and asteroids. The Solar System Map will show you where they are.
Bars
Buying drinks and pizzas for your friends - If you don't have enough money, you will still buy the round, but your bank balance will go into the red - which will upset your bank manager!
You can now customise pizzas, as well as drinks.
The game no longer inserts an 'a' or 'an' before your chosen pizza or drink, which makes it possible to 'buy round several glasses of Jack Daniels'.
Comms Channels
Comms channels have names, not numbers, and they are not fixed - they are created when they are needed, and vanish again when no one is using them. 'DI CHANNEL' lists all the channels, and tells you who is tuned to which one. 'DI CHANNEL channelname' just gives you the details for the named channels. To tune to a channel, use 'JOIN channelname' - this will join you to an existing channel, or create a new one. You will use the 'XT' command to send a message to the channel you are tuned to.
Electronic Notice Board
You can now read and post from anywhere, using your comm unit. You don't have to be in a bar. There's no limit to the number of posts the board can hold. The 'READ' command now lets you choose how many messages you want to read. 'READ' on its own will display the last ten posts. 'READ #' will display the last # posts. 'READ 0' will display all the posts on the board. The board is still wiped when the game resets. Posts are no longer restricted to one per player. 'UNPOST' will remove all posts you have made to the board.
Ships
The command to buy a ship is 'BUY SHIP'. You need to get a permit first, by visiting the Galactic Administration's headquarters building, finding the permit office, and persuading the clerk to speed up your application. And no, it's not the same command...
Ships no longer land on planets, instead they stay in orbit, and you use a shuttle to get to and from the planets. The command is 'BOARD SHUTTLE' - same command both ways. Your ship doesn't have any other locations, except the command center, so you don't have to climb in and out of the airlock.
When you want to trade your ship in for a new one, you don't have to sell the ship first. Instead, Jarrow will take your ship in part exchange for a new one. This means that once you promote from GroundHog you will always have a spaceship, so it is no longer possible to travel between planets on an Interstellar liner.
If you use the 'ACT' command in space, then your spaceship performs the act.
If you attempt to fly your spaceship in a direction which has no exit, then you will use up fuel, just as if the move had been successful.
SpyNet
SpyNet Notice now only lasts for your current game session - you have to turn it on each time you log on.
SpyNet Report now works on people who are not in the game as well as those who are present. It gives more information than it used to, including the person's gender, which should save a lot of confusion!
SpyNet are offering two new services: 'SPYNET REVIEW' gives details of notable events in the current game session, such as births and promotions. 'SPYNET FINANCIAL' gives information about companies.
Cargo Jobs for Commanders and Captains
Jobs are now posted to the workboard in batches, whenever there are less than ten on the board. If you have the job notification turned on, you will now be told that there is work available, but not given the actual job details - you have to type 'WORK' for that.
To find out the status of a job you have accepted, check your ship's status using 'ST' - the job details will be tacked onto the end.
To pick up and deliver a cargo, you now have to visit the Armstrong Cuthbert office on the planet. The commands are 'COLLECT' and 'DELIVER'.
Akaturi Jobs for Adventurers
Adventurers cannot do cargo jobs, instead they do something brand new: carry small valuable items for Armstrong Cuthbert's Akaturi division. Go to any AC office and type 'AK' and you will be assigned a job to pick a package up in a specific location on one of the Sol planets. Go to that location, and type 'PICKUP'. You will then be told where to deliver the package. When you get to the right place, type 'DROPOFF'. Successful delivery will get you some groats, plus 1 Akaturi credit - you will need those to promote to the next rank. 'DI AK' reminds you of the details of the job. You can void an Akaturi job but the penalty is severe!
Ranks
The names of the two ranks which follow Adventurer have been swapped over, so it is now Adventurer, Merchant, Trader.
Merchants do what Traders used to do - buy goods from an exchange and sell them to other exchanges. The Idiot's Guide explains how this works in Fed2.
Traders do something completely new - trade on the futures market. How this works is also in the manual.
The next rank is now called Industrialist (formerly JP) and your task at this rank is to run companies and factories. As you would expect, companies and factories work a little differently, so you will need to check the manual.
The rest of the ranks also have different names, and work very differently, too.
Insurance
The Sol insurance office has moved, and now sells insurance from the hospital ward. The command to get insurance is 'INSURE'. If you are not insured, your score will tell you how much it will cost to remedy that situation.
Money
You can give money to other players, but there is a limit of 1,000 IG on how much a player can receive each day. So it's no longer possible to bankroll a new player and help them to zoom up the ranks.
There are limits on how much you can have in your bank account, and when you log on or promote to a new rank the taxman will tax any excess groats. The limits are different for each rank, and are listed in the Idiot's Guide.
Ignoring Players
A brand new command: you can now block messages from players who annoy you, using the command 'BLOCK playername'. To take the block off, use 'UNBLOCK'.
Objects
Objects do not work the same in Fed2 as they did in classic Fed. You will seldom find objects just lying around waiting for you to pick them up; instead, objects will appear when you do something. Instead of there being one of each particular object, objects are now generated as needed, which means no more queues waiting for something to recycle.
You do not lose objects when you log off - they remain in your inventory. Some objects will vanish at reset, but most you get to keep. At reset, any generated objects lying on the ground will vanish. Objects which cannot be picked up will remain.
You have a ship storage locker which you can put object into, so you don't have to carry all of your belongings around with you all of the time.
Details of how objects work in Fed2 are in the manual.
Mobiles
Mobile do not actually move yet (that will come later). You no longer give objects to mobile, instead mobiles have another purpose - you can talk to them and learn all kinds of useful and entertaining stuff. You can read the details about how to talk to mobiles in the manual.
