Federation DataSpace News ------------------------- Dateline Sunday April 14 (or thereabouts) Well the news has been going through newscasters like they were going out of fashion! First Hazed had to rush off to look after a sick mum, and then Samantha, who volunteered to step into the breach, was issued with Aeron's Ultimatum - Spouse or Fed, but not both! Hopefully Hazed will back by next week, but whether Samantha will repent and choose Fed instead of her hubby, remains to be seen... Changes -------- There are a number of small changes taking place at the moment. Some of you will have already noticed, for instance, that the 'Spynet Report' command no longer gives you the specific planet a person is on - instead it gives the star system. These changes are all part of the preparation for the introduction of players' planets in the very near future. You will be able to get to other players' own planets by going through the hyperspace link at the edge of the Solar system. In order to make a hyperspace jump you will need to upgrade your spaceship's engines - a process only available to adventurers and above! You will be able to tell who owns a planet, if they are on-line, from the 'who' command which will give the name of planet they own! For instance, suppose Oxcart owned a planet (unlikely I know, but this is just an example!) called Buffalo, then he would appear on the 'who' display as Oxcart, Count of Buffalo. There are other small changes in the works, and these are to do with a Federation front end which is currently under development. As a result you will soon be given the class of a space ship when it enters your sector, as well as it's name. This will help you decide whether to attack or run! There won't be any visible major changes until after the planets are in, and planetary economies are sorted out, but after that the whole range from merchant to explorer will be up for review, with a particular look at player inter-relationships, and the use of macros... Other bits ---------- Things have been comparatively quiet this week - a combination of March GEnie bills, IRS deadlines and the first evenings of nice weather! Since Hazed has all the promotion info the promotion announcements will have to wait till next week. The Conclave disussed all the claims for lost groats following the great crash of '91. The did it in their secret hidey hole run by ObergruppenFuhereuse Occy in MPGAMES, so no one knows what basis their decisions were made on... There have already been demands for public justice next time! (Da management wish to point out at this stage that their games do -*not*- crash.) Competition prizes ------------------ As most of you are aware all the winners of of the Easter competiton are getting signed prints, rather than just one of them. We have now got the extra prints, and, hopefully, we will be getting them signed in the next ten days. Once that is done, they will be winging their way to the lucky recipients! If you haven't told us your 'real' snail mail address yet, please send it to Hazed - ID: FEDII.2 - as soon as possible. We will be running another of these competitions over Independence Day, and the prize will be especially for history buffs - a real English groat, minted in the year in which the USA gained its independence - properly mounted in a case for the lucky winner! Don't miss it - watch out for more details nearer the time. Winding up ---------- Well I guess that's about all there is for this rather inpromptu news this week! May all your trading be profitable.