**************************************** * * * FEDERATION DATA SPACE NEWS SERVICE * * * * from * * H-by-A * * * * October 21 1990 * * * **************************************** FAREWELL FREDDIE ---------------- Just for once, we are not forced to open this week's Bulletin with news of Piemur and/or Santiago! Our opening story is rather sad. Trader Freddie has committed suicide. We don't quite know why, but before he did he got himself in rather a mess with a factory. Lady here recounts her story of what happened prior to his tragic death... Freddie's Got a Broken Factory ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tonight I'm going to spin you the sad tale of Freddie the Trader. Once upon a time, there was a fairly new Trader in Fed Space named Freddie. We have already heard the tale of how he bought two warehouses on the same planet and begged the Conclave for a refund.... This time, our Freddie decided he was going to open a second factory with all his new shiny groats. The scene opens on Earth, with our Hero purchasing a factory to make Textiles. Yes, you heard it right, textiles. On Earth. But Freddie didn't have any textiles to begin production. He'd started the factory without the inputs. And the moment the factory came up, the planet shut down the normal textiles source. Our Hero forlornly roamed the solar system for 4 hours as near as I can figure... looking for any place to buy textiles. When I found him, wandering on Venus blathering about textiles, I told him he'd have to contact the new owner of the factory on earth or wait til it went offline. I explained how factories and natural sources work and stuff. 20 minutes later, Our Hero comes to me to confess he IS the owner of the factory and that he can't get it up. Realizing the seriousness of the problem, I suggested Freddie leave til his factory cycles ran out. It was over 400. And that as soon as the natural source came back, I'd get what he needed and keep them. Unfortunately....there was something else going wrong at the same time. What we didn't find out til hours and hours and hours later, when the factory finally went offline, was that there was a bug. And the natural source never came up. I waited for hours. Freddie would pop in, and I'd give him a quick swish and he'd leave. Bella finally reset the game for him in the wee hours... and I had JUST entered the game again, when guess who logged in and started the failing factory up again? Yes, with the luck of our hero, it was Freddie. So I told Freddie I needed some sleep. It was now 5 AM. And I'd see if I couldn't get him a wee bit of Textiles during prime time. Piemur and I found each other both trying to do the same thing in the middle of prime time, and we actually successfully grabbed 15 tons of textiles... before Guess Who showed up? That was the end of that idea. We gave him the 15 tons and believe it or not... we THOUGHT the factory started, but he'd NOT closed his Furs factory, and it grabbed the textiles first. We found this out after 25 cycles later. So I suggested we wait for Bella. Again. Bella got Piemur some textiles early in the evening. The Conclave met and had some urgent words about it. Santiago's factories were the first to shut down the night before. Then Merkin's. Then Niun's and then Piemur's. All for the lack of textiles. Had Freddie told me the instant he'd found me originally, I had 75 tons of textiles in my warehouse, but by the time he'd come clean, my factory had grabbed it, and my factory ran all night. To make a long story even longer, the Conclave decided that we couldn't wait any longer for Freddie, and Piemur started a textiles factory to get everyone started. I saved some back in a safe warehouse for Freddie. But alas, our hero did not show up. Before long, another 4 hours were gone... There was still no sign of Freddie, and factories were still closed. Sago opened up another textiles factory, and we finally figured that that would be enough to keep the factories going if Freddie got his up online. By midnight, there was no sign of Freddie, and I went to work. When I returned, Nightmask accosted me... And lo and behold, Freddie had committed suicide. Bit the dust, the big one. And cursed my name with his dying breath. I still had his textiles. And Get this... the phantom troublesome textile factory of his was still operating, even tho he'd died and was gone. And thus is the tale of Freddie written. No one knows what was on his mind, or what perfidy he thought me guilty of. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thank you, Lady. Our reporters have been unable to uncover the full story of what was going through Freddie's mind as he left us for the great Trading Exchange in the Sky. We can, of course, speculate that he was so confused and upset by the trouble with his factory that he felt unable to go on. Whatever the truth, we wish him well wherever he is, and hope we will return to us someday. However, we did look in to the problems that everyone seems to be suffering with the lack of textiles, and on consultation with Our Illustrious Leader we can state categorically that It Was Not A Bug! It is the way that trading exchanges are supposed to behave. To clarify matters: An exchange has a stockpile level of each commodity that it produces. Under normal circumstances, the exchange produces that commodity until it reaches the stockpile level and then stops producing. While the exchange is below the stockpile level, it will not sell any; once it has reached the stockpile level it will stop producing the commodity and offer for sale any surplus. If someone buys a factory producing that commodity, this will have two effects on the exchange. First, it will wipe out any stockpile of that commodity. Second, it will stop the exchange producing that commodity. Even after the owner of the factory logs off, the exchange will remain quiescent because the accumulated Factory Thingie Units will keep the factory operating. Once the factory disappears from the game, still nothing will happen straight away. Only when the next Exchange Cycle starts will the factory wake up - and that will vary depending on the number of players around. It will then start producing the commodity again, but it won't have any for sale until it has reached its stockpile level, and again that could take some time. Meanwhile, if anyone else has any factories operating that need that commodity, it is quite likely that as soon the exchange does produce something, it will be grabbed by one of the factories before anyone has a chance to buy some. In this case, Freddie didn't make sure he had the textiles that were needed by his factory before he bought it - and as soon as he bought the factory, he made it impossible for him to buy any textiles! Lady and Piemur weren't able to help him, because he kept logging on again, which shut down the native production of textiles. There are two morals to this story. The first is that if you intend to buy a factory that uses what it produces as an input, make sure you have some in stock before buying the factory! Or build it on a planet that doesn't produce the commodity. The second is that Earth is getting very over-crowded. Since Earth is the cheapest place to buy factories, everyone has been putting their factories there, producing agricultural goods, which all use similar inputs. Consequently there is a shortage of popular inputs like textiles. So when you are considering where to put a factory - particularly if it is your second or third plant - think about the inputs you need, and the factories already operating. Try to choose something that uses inputs that are not in short supply, and consider building on a planet other than Earth. You could also form alliances with other players so that your factories produce input that they need, and vice versa. There is also starting to be a labour shortage on Titan. There are now four monopoles factories in operation on Titan. Monopoles is a very profitable commodity to produce, but it is labour- intensive. Each factory demands 300 workthings. Titan has 1000 workthings. As with all planets, 10% of those have skills for the level above the planet, and 10% below. This leaves 800 workthings with the skills necessary to run resource, or mining plants. And four monopoles factories need 1200 workthings! In the next week or so, the command will finally be implemented, so anyone who is having real difficulty running their factory will be able to flog it and buy another one elsewhere. In the meantime, you'll just have to cope with the cut and thrust of the world of interplanetary commerce! WELCOME BACK, GONZUL! --------------------- Following the sad news of Freddie's untimely death, we are very pleased to see that Gonzul has returned! He managed to kill himself off while attempting the JP puzzle (yes, he was the first, before Sago and Pie) and unfortunately had neglected to get himself insured. Some players called for him to be reinstated at his previous rank, but the Galactic Administration has a strict policy against this unless the death is caused by a bug. He has managed to haul himself from GroundHog to Trader in a very short space of time. We asked him to tell us what had happened, and he sent us this report: Gonzul's Story ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I was dead for a long time. I don't know how, but I was sure of that. I remember the Martian ruins. A globe flickering with strange energies. A klystron. Terrible searing pain, and a last thought: "at least I'm insured." But I wasn't. Now, inexplicably, I opened my eyes. I was flat on my back on top of a bed. The room was a woman's, that much was certain. There was too much pink, and a certain nice smell. There was also a disturbing amount of leather trim where there should have been lace and frills. Standing up felt strange. I found a mirror and saw why. There wasn't much of me left. Half a face, maybe. A hand. Much of my chest. Bits and pieces. The rest was burnished black metal, warm to the touch and flexible, like the hood of a car after a long drive. Shiny glass eyeballs looked back at me from out of the mirror. Aside from the coldness there, the face was a marvel. My expression was just what it would have been, had I still been alive. I was wondering what the hell was going on. I don't know how long I stood like that, staring, lost and uncertain, when a door opened behind me and she walked in. She gave a start, clearly expecting me to still be on the bed. She touched something on her wrist. I woke up on the bed again, and this time I knew what was happening, and why. I got to work. First a license, then a ship. With uncanny precision that I never could have matched or sustained, I fulfilled job after job. In a single night I was a captain, an adventurer, a trader. I didn't have to think, it was as if I could program myself and run on automatic. That gave me plenty of time to think. Afterward I realized that I had ignored messages from people who had been friends and acquantences, before. I wasn't the same. They would soon see. Advancing through the next steps will be a little harder. I'm resting now, planning, preparing. Programming myself for the next steps. I need to be a merchant again, and then a journeyman, finally. You see, it will take lots of money for what I need to do next. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A chilling tale, Gonzul. We are forced to wonder just what it is you need to do next! We are sure we will find out... but doubt we will like it! TAPIOCA PUDDING --------------- Erm... we seem to have something wrong with our News writing software. That headline should read "SAGO AND PIE". We'd better get a repair droid in. There's not much to report on the two this week. Piemur has told us that his deal with Santiago over the GM puzzle is now off. Pie was getting annoyed that Sago was making him take all the risks, and contributing nothing to the partnership himself. We haven't heard Sago's side of the story yet! There has been no breakthrough in their attempt to solve the puzzle. We understand Pie is waiting for some vital information to arrive that should enable him to unravel the clues. More news as we get it. However, Piemur's deposition from his position as the Head of the Conclave last week hasn't stopped his raging ego from becoming a bit of a problem. He is now declaiming himself to be "Lord of the Conclave, Soon to be GM, Agent of the Imperial Navy and Star of Federation II". Someone should teach this boy a lesson! HELPING HAND PART ONE --------------------- Think back to your first moments in Fed Data Space. You'd read the quikstart guide (if you'd had any sense), you'd downloaded and skimmed through the extremely amusing and information manual provided by those jolly nice H-by-A people (we hope you had!) but you still didn't quite know what was going on. Confusing, wasn't it? You may have been one of the lucky ones who received a helping hand from another player. Someone who taught you how to use your communicator, guided you through getting a ship's permit, advised you what size ship to get, pointed you in the right direction. Comforting, wasn't it? We try our best to help new players when they start, but we are not there all the time. Wouldn't it be easier, we thought, if we could gather all the new players in one place at one time and help them all together? So that's what we are going to do. We'll be holding an Introductory Night every month, where new players will be guaranteed to find someone to get them started. The first Helping Hand Night will be held on Saturday 17 November. What We Want You To Do Is... tell all your friends about it. It will be the ideal time for you to introduce them to the strange and wonderful world of Fed Data Space. You will get groats for introducing new players, and if you feel like giving us a hand with getting them started, you will be well rewarded. We'll give you more details of this event in the coming weeks. But in the mean time, if you see a GroundHog enter the game, why not ask them if they need some help? "Wait a minute", we hear you cry, "Why should I take time out from my busy schedule to shepherd a newbod around, when I could be earning groats?" That's a very good question. We're glad you asked. Some of you have already realised that the art of Fed is the art of influence. As you advance up the ranks, it pays to have lower level players supporting you. You will need help for many aspects of the game, and the later ranks become very political - grassroots support will be vital. Don't forget that the position of Emperor is elected - so helping people when they first start the game will bring long-term gains. You could make a friend for life! HELPING HAND PART TWO --------------------- One of the things that will make life a teeny bit easier for Newbods is that GroundHogs will start the game already insured, and when they die (or when anyone dies for that matter) they (or you) will get a message reminding them (or you) to go and get reinsured immediately. This will be going in sometime in the next week (ish). WHERE HAVE ALL THE POOR PEOPLE GONE? ------------------------------------ There seems to be a distinct lack of Commanders and Captains at the moment. The introduction of the new job system has meant that it is possible to get your trader ratings to 1400 in just a few days, doing milk-run jobs, which only leaves the small problem of getting enough groats to bump your networth up to 1 meg. The two JPs have been increasing the rates they pay to Poor People to carry their goods, until the Commanders and Captains now expect tremendous rewards. The result is that there are suddenly a whole new batch of Traders. It's obviously a fine line between being nice to people, and helping them so much they start competing with you! Unfortunately, these new Traders don't really know what they are doing. If they only took a few days to be promoted, they didn't really have time to get to grips with the basics of the game, and trading seems a complete mystery to them! And the markets have been described by one person as "like roller-coasters" due to the sheer number of people trading - or attempting to trade. Real Soon Now, we will be running a Trading School to help them come to grips with the vagaries of the exchanges - but it won't be for a month or two, and probably not till after Christmas. Meanwhile, if any of you are stuck and would like some hints and tips on trading, don't hesitate to ask! SHOMETHING SHTRANGE... ---------------------- Polarbearak thought he'd discovered a secret location this morning. He was on Earth, by the Deserted Gates, and he typed "IN" - and found himself in a Bank Manager's Office! He was tremendously excited. Was it a hidden tunnel to a new set of locations? Had he found something to do with one of the puzzles? Was it the entrance to a completely new set of locations? No, it wasn't any of those things. It was, in fact, a bug! (No Bella, it's no use squirming and making excuses, it was not a feature, you can't pretend you left it there deliberately, it was very definitely a BUG!) As it happens, there used to be a bank in Fed. It was situated on Earth, where the Building Site and Deserted Gates are now. It served no useful purpose whatsoever, apart from being the resting place of one of the objects. But new players found it rather confusing. They thought they had to visit the bank to arrange a loan before they could buy their ship. So Bella took the locations out. But she didn't actually take them out completely... she re-wrote two of them, to make the Building Site and the Deserted Gates, and just changed the movement tables so that the others were inaccessible. But somewhere along the line, one of the movements crept back in, allowing people to get into the Bank Manager's Office. It's still serves no useful purpose whatsoever, except turning Bella's green face red! FIGHTING SCHOOL --------------- As you will have seen if you paid attention to the banner on your way to reading this news, the time for the Fighting School next Saturday has now been fixed at 3.00 pm EDT. The persona file will be put on hold, so nothing you do for the duration of the Hunt for End October will be permanent - you can spend as much money as you like on big powerful ships and lethal weapons, and blow each other to tiny little pieces! Groats will be scattered freely amongst you to ensure you have enough money to spend. The event will end with a BLOODBATH in which you will be encouraged to shoot at anything that moves! THE BORING STUFF AT THE END --------------------------- 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. In the event of a problem or question, you can: * talk to Hazed, Cryptosporidium, Bella or Clem in the game * leave a message in the game log * send mail with the Federation Feedback option from the main menu Federation II has a category in Scorpia's Games RT. To get there, type M805,1 from any menu prompt and SET category 29. The Scorpia RT also has a Federation II library in the files area - it's Library 22.