**************************************** * * * FEDERATION DATA SPACE NEWS SERVICE * * * * from * * H-by-A * * * * 13 August 1990 * * * **************************************** TUESDAY NIGHT IS PARTY NIGHT! ----------------------------- The Amiga Starship group are taking over Federation Data Space on Tuesday night for a party. The party will be held in the Starship tavern, a new location near the space port on Earth. All rounds will be free for the whole night - not just in the tavern, but everywhere in the Solar System. There'll be great games and competitions with fabulous prizes, including: Best Clothes - prize: fifteen dollars free GEnie connect time. Best Ship Description - prize: fifteen dollars free GEnie connect time. Best Federation II Slogan - prize: twenty dollars free GEnie connect time. Best description of an obscure object, mobile or trading commodity - prize: a free spybeam. Best Fed Limerick - prize: a free copy of the English version of the Idiot's Guide to Federation II. Treasure Hunts with groats as prizes. And lots more! All are welcome. For full details look in the Fed category of Scorpia's games BBS - Page 805, Category 29. CHANGES TO THE GAME ------------------- Our Illustrious Leader has been slaving over a hot keyboard the last few weeks, putting back into GEnie's version of Fed the features that were removed during the port from the English version. These include things that you've probably noticed if you've been playing with your brain in gear, such as being told which direction someone goes in when they leave your location, and when they enter their ships, as well as seeing when they pick up or drop objects or give them to other people. Also returned is the command. This will be of no use whatsoever to Poor People, but Merchants and above whose warehouses are bursting at the seams will be able to use it to combine the contents of the bays. The syntax is which will scrunch together whatever is in the two numbered bays. If you leave out the planet, iy defaults to the planet where your ship is berthed. However, the bays in your warehouse are not constructed out of elastic; you can only up to a maximum of 60 tons. And since mixing commodites like antimatter and explosives can be extremely hazardous, the Galactic Administration has decreed that the bays must hold the same commodity. The command now shows you the maximum values for hull strength and fuel, as well as the current. Whether this will reduce the number of people running out of fuel in the Interplanetary Wastes remains to be seen. The command has been enhanced. As you all know, to talk to anyone in the same location as your good self, you use , <"> or <'>. You do know that, don't you? Good. Using this command results in the following: >Newbod says, "Hello." No doubt you knew that, as well. However, you may not know that if you use either the single or double quotes you can change that boring old "says" to something a little more suited to your mood. For example, the command <"/sings merrily/Hello> will result in: >Newbod sings merrily, "Hello" It will also make everyone reach for the earplugs! In other words, whatever you want to replace the "says" goes between two slashes. The first slash must be directly after the single or double quote. As with the command, you will see exactly what everyone else sees, so you will know if you have made a complete pigs ear of it. New in the game today are Job Channels. This should cut down the whinging about the jobs being too fast when there are lots of people on! When you enter Federation Data Space you will be allocated at random to one of the four job channels. If you use the command you will be told which channel you are on. To change to a different channel, use where x is the channel number to which you want to switch. There's no way of finding out which channels other people are on, other than asking them! THE HAZARDS OF SPACE -------------------- It seems that the activities of Monty Pirate and Pegasus have been getting a little too violent of late. The Galactic Administration has received a number of complaints. They have looked into this matter and made some modifications to the equipment on Pegasus' ship, slowing down his responses. This will help to curb his irritating little habit of leaping to join in fights. He is not pleased! If you still find yourself being set upon by Monty, there are a number of steps you can take to prevent the damage being excessive. There is an object which will stop Pegasus joining in the fun; and if you keep your ship computer on you will be moved out of trouble after only one shot has been fired. For those of you who wish to get your own back, it has been made a little easier to snuff the mobiles; they do not regenerate quite so fast when they run away - keep chasing them and you will eventually prevail. HINTS AND TIPS -------------- Once you've found your way around the Solar System don't forget that the command will turn off the full descriptions. This will speed up moving around and help you get to those jobs quicker. If you get lost or want to do some more mapping, you can turn the descriptions back on by typing . Before you do any mapping at all, BUY YOURSELF A TORCH! How do you expect to be able to draw accurate maps if you are running around in the pitch black getting lost? Goodness knows what nasty things you might find lurking in the dark! Torches are on sale in most of the general stores. Some of you seem a little confused by the shuttle in the Cargon subway system. There are four stops on the subway, forming a loop: Cargon City, West Mines, Nisrick Mines and East Mines. The shuttle wends its weary way around the loop, stopping briefly at each of the stations. You can speed up the movement of the shuttle by typing , at which point it will move on to the next stop. Once it has arrived you type to get into it and or to leave it. The command makes the shuttle move no matter where you are. As you advance up the ranks, it's worth remembering that the amount of groats you receive for objects increases with your rank. So they can still be a useful supplement to your income even when you become a Trader. The SpyNet Organisation offers several very useful services. The truly indispensable costs a mere 25 groats. For this pittance you will told every time someone enters or leaves Federation Data Space, until you leave yourself. As well as their name you will be told their rank. will give a report on the player of your choice. You'll be told their networth (very handy if you are trying to climb up The Conclave), the size of their ship, and its current whereabouts. The cost of this service varies, depending on the rank of the player you ask about. Note that SpyNet can't always supply the networth on the first time of asking; it can take several tries before this information is forthcoming. will give you information about the economy of the named planet; its development level, population, tax level etc, as well as the factories currently in operation. This is very useful for people who are thinking of building factories of their own. On the subject of factories, the first factories have started to appear. Our Illustrious Leader has decided that being creator and ruler of Fed Data Space doesn't provide her with enough groats; she now has a side-line producing soya. So if any of you are in desperate need to the stuff, you know to whom to turn. WEDDING OF THE WEEK ------------------- It's old news by now, but there'd be trouble if we didn't mention it. Felice and Prospero got married. GOSSIP NEEDED ------------- As well as bringing you full details of new features in Federation II, we want to report on the gossip and scandal in Fed Data Space. So if you spot anything going on that you feel should be disseminated to a wider audience, mail us on FEDII.2. Groats will be given for anything we use and your confidentiality will be respected if you wish.