**************************************** * * * FEDERATION DATA SPACE NEWS SERVICE * * * * from * * H-by-A * * * * 20 August 1990 * * * **************************************** TUESDAY NIGHT *WAS* PARTY NIGHT! -------------------------------- The Amiga Starship Party last Tuesday was a great success. Hordes of Newbods and Oldhands thronged into Federation Data Space to participate and (they hoped) win one of the many fabulous prizes on offer. The party was based in the *Starship* Cantina, a new bar built especially for the occasion near the space port on Earth. This location will remain - have you any idea of the cost of builders? You think we're gonna knock it down after only one night? The host and hostess with the most and mostest were Traders Lady and Robinson, who were present throughout the night to run the competitions, help the new players, and ensure that everyone's glass remained full. To help the party go with a swing, drinks were free in all the bars. There were quite a few hungover Captains trying to do jobs the next day! The competitions were great fun - if a little chaotic - with a game of "hide and seek" starting off the evening. Robinson secreted himself in an obscure place and the partygoers had to search for him. Clapbane won this one and dragged him back the the *Starship* Cantina to receive the prize of an unbelievable quantity of groats. Several Treasure Hunts were held, with valuable objects scattered the length and breadth of the Solar System. Winners of these were Santiago, Gonzul, Ginja, Stupid and Fox, who all received even more groats. And in a competition to bring in the most valuable objects, Fox won again with Santiago a close second and Bob third. Not everyone fared so well on the hunts - some of the competitors managed to get themselves lost! Penni, Occy and Fox all had to be rescued from deserted areas of the Solar System during the evening. The party goers were encouraged to dress up for the occasion, and Santiago won the competition for the best dressed person. Stupid's ship was judged the best painted. Both these lucky, lucky people won some free GEnie connect time. You can see their winning entries next time you bump into them in Fed. There were no entries in the limerick competition and the "describe an obscure item" competition so these are being held open until the end of the month. The details are in the BBS (SCORPIA, CAT 29) and some extremely groan-making limericks have already been entered. Go and upload your entries, and you could win a free spybeam, or a copy of THE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO FEDERATION II. Not everyone joined in the party spirit, of course - there are always a few unsociable people. Niun didn't realise there was a party going on: every time he logged on he saw the number of people present and assumed they would be competing for the jobs. He logged off too quickly for anyone to assure him that the jobs were all his! And because all the objects had been gathered up and hidden for the treasure hunts, some miserable party poopers got annoyed that they couldn't hand them to mobiles and make groats. Let's hope they join in the fun next time! Yes, there will be a next time. The party was such a success that we have decided to hold another one soon. Watch this space for the details! And a big THANK YOU to Lady and Robinson, who wore themselves out helping people get dressed, holding the paint tins for budding ship artists, guiding Newbods around, organising the treasure hunts... is it any wonder they kept trying to hide? GOTO ARRIVES ------------ Anyone who has read THE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO FEDERATION II will have noticed that it describes a method of zooming between the planets using the command. At least, they will have if they were paying attention. This command is one of the things that failed to make it into the GEnie version of the game, much to everyone's disappointment. But Our Illustrious Leader has promised me that it will be put back in some time this week. (If you've known OIL as long as I have, you'll be sceptical about promises of this nature...) not only speeds up moving between planets, it also keeps you safe from those nasty bullying mobiles on the way. You type and in the twinkling of an eye your ship will wend its way through the Interplanetary Wastes to Mars. The command only works from planetary orbit, and before you can use it you have to program the navigational computer by visiting each of the planets. Be warned that it might not take you the fastest route between the planets! And if you encounter another player's ship en route you will grind to a halt and have to continue the journey manually. But at least you will be safe from Monty and Pegasus! TIME FOR A REST --------------- Once the command has been put into the game, there will be no further changes for a couple of weeks while Our Illustrious Leader takes a well-earned break. She'll still be popping into Fed Data Space from time to time, to listen to your suggestions/ complaints/whinges, so you mustn't feel abandoned. NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS -------------------- Since H-by-A have started providing this excellent news service on the main menu, Our Illustrious Leader has been unable to compete. Well, you must admit it would be difficult to top this, now wouldn't it. We don't want to be big-headed, but in all honesty, we know quality when we see it. Modesty forbids us from saying any more... >TWHOK< ! So the [N]ews item from the game shell (that's the menu that says Play, Read, Quit etc etc) is being removed. And old issues of this news service will be archived in the BBS in a separate topic, so you will be able to read our deathless prose far into the future. Well, one has to do one's bit for posterity, doesn't one? THE WEDDING OF LAST WEEK ------------------------ It has come to our attention that the happy couple whose wedding was reported in last week's news were announced as "Mr and Mrs Felice". I don't think Prospero was too happy about this! GOSSIP AND SCANDAL ------------------ A news service would be incomplete without a bit of muck-raking, so don't forget to send in your contributions, no matter how libellous, to FEDII.2. There's nothing like reporting on how dumb some people can be... Speaking of which: Trader Robinson, one of organisers of the excellent *Starship* Party last week, wasn't always the intelligent, hard-working, reliable chap we know today. When he was a lowly Commander he was persuaded to purchase some clothing for himself. He managed to find his way to the clothes market with only a little prompting. He got the syntax of the command right first time. He even remembered to start his description with something sensible like "You see" rather than just listing his clothes. Unfortunately, he got his name wrong. He started off with "RobERTson is wearing". So he wins the Wooden Spoon for Gross Stupidy. Unless you know better...