**>> SPYNET BULLETIN 
 **>> EARTHDATE 91.10.13 
 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE 
 
 
 **>> FED (UN)CONVENTION! 
 
Have you ever wondered what the Fed player you are drinking with _really_
looks like? Behind the mask of the persona, are they male or female? Young or
old? Nice or nasty, even? 
 
You could have a chance to find out next Spring, because Galauriel is trying
to organise a Fed Convention! Topic 33, Category 14 of the BBS is devoted to
the plans for the convention - and at the moment it looks like the dates will
be 14-15 March, somewhere in the Washington area. 
 
You will not only be able to meet your fellow Fedders, including the rich and
powerful from the Conclave, but Bella, Hazed and Clem will be there too.
Unfortunately, The Vile Cryptosporidium is threatening to show up too. We at
H-by-A, and the entire Federation team, are tremendously excited about the
idea of meeting you all at the Convention, and we'd like to say a big
'Thankyou' to Galauriel in advance. 
 
Pop along to the BBS and read what's happening, and contribute your own idea.
Lets make the Fed (Un)Convention something truly special. 
 
 
 **>> BELLA SLOWLY ROTATES 
 
As reported in last week's news, Our Illustrious Leader has been working on
the major changes needed to make the player planets swap in and out of the
game on a rota system. She reports that so far things are going very well. The
next stage of her work will involve making the game cope with a planet being
removed (when she tried this previously, the game threw a complete wobbly!).
If all goes smoothly, towards the end of the week she will take Avalon out of
the game for a few days. Avalon belongs to Aeron, who hasn't been seen in Fed
Data Space for quite a while. After a couple of days of testing, Avalon will
be put back in so it can take part in the rotation when that is implemented. 
 
Bella posted a message in the Fed BBS about how she intends the rotation to
actually work. We had intended to explain the method in our own style, but we
were unable to find anyone who actually understood what she was blithering on
about, so here's her message in it's entirety: 
 
"The way things are looking at the moment, this is how it looks like the 
planet rotation will be handled. The Solar sytem will always be in, and there 
will probably be eight slots for player planets. All player systems has a base 
priority of 1, at fire up the planet owners are ranked from 1 to n (where n 
is the number of planet owners) where the player who hasn't been on for the 
longest time is 1 and the player who has been on most recently is 'n'. The 
value of the ranking is then added to the base priority. The planets are then 
ranked by usage, again from 1 to 'n' with least usage as 1 and the most as 
'n', and the rank of the planet is added to its base priority. (Usage is 
defined by the last time the planet was on. Usage = 100 * player minutes 
accumulated/total player minutes in that game). The planets with the highest 
priority  ratings then get loaded into the game, and their priority is reduced 
to priority 1 for the next game. All planets that didn't get in have their 
priority increased by one for the next time. 
  Systems programmers among your may think there is something  familiar about 
this scheduling algorithm :)" 
 
Hmmmm. They may indeed. Humble H-by-A journalists, on the other hand, think
there is something truly incomprehensible about this scheduling algorithm! 
 
In preparation for when rotation is completed, a new command is now available.
<SYSTEMS> tells you which planets are currently in the game, giving both
planet and system names. It will be enhanced shortly to tell you the tech
level of the planet. 
 
As far as how the rotation affected players - other than the owners of the
planets, that is - Poor People who accept jobs from Rich People which take
them outside the Solar System should make sure they complete the job before
they log off, or they might log back on and find the destination planet gone! 
 
 
 **>> WORKTHINGS NOW WORK FASTER 
 
In a stunning defeat for the labour unions, the Galactic Administration has
changed the working practices of workthings in factories. They have been given
shorter hours, provided they work harder while they are on shift. This is
contrary to the unions' demands, who wanted shorter hours and less work
coupled with higher pay, longer tea-breaks, and company-paid vacations. 
 
This will affect factory owners in two ways. Factories now run at 40 second
intervals, instead of 60, which means the FTU has been devalued. Factory
cycles will click round much faster, meaning more goods will be produced. 
 
To balance this, the accumulation of FTUs has been slowed to one-to-one
(previously two-to-one) - in other words, for every FTU you are on the game,
the factory will be active for one FTU after you have gone. 
 
 
 **>> THE MULTI-PLAYER GAMES RT 
 
If you haven't had a look at the MPGRT recently, you should do. Since it was
switched to GEnie Basic Services (ie the BBS is free during non-prime-time)
the Fed areas are much more active. The latest new topic was started by Bella,
and gives you the space to tell us about your favorite Fed cocktails. She's
started by providing her own recipe for some disgusting Rigellian drink. 
 
You should also ensure you check the library frequently, because there are
many great files about Fed. The latest addition is a real gem - Freya has
uploaded a Fed cartoon, in MacPaint format (I understand someone is going to
convert it to GIF and re-upload it). It's very funny, and beautifully put
together. File number 634 in the main Fed library, 5. It's a "must get"! 
 
 
 **>> REZROV RETURNS 
 
Having taken a short sabatical away from Fed Data Space, Rezrov (husband of
the very lovely Catrina) is back. He's sent us the following piece: 
 
               Press Release From Quarkco Intergalactic 
 
  After much time spent in deep space, Rezrov has returned to Federation 
Data Space to claim his rightful position as CEO of Quarkco Intergalactic 
and Squire of Megalusa in the Mebeskon System. 
 
      (personally we don't think he is capable of running the 
       show and that is the reason he ran off into deep space 
       some may call it a nervous breakdown but you didn't hear 
       it from...) 
 
"Hey you can't come in here" 
 
"Yes I can you geeks.  I left my company to you to run and you all didn't 
do anything. You're all sacked!" 
 
Sorry about that interruption - Rezrov here to say that it was not a 
"Nervous Breakdown" for my leaving - it was a visa meltdown and the only 
financing I could find was out of this galaxy... 
 
Anyway back to the announcement now that my incompetent managers have been 
sacked. 
 
I have set Megalusa back on track and will have a good selection of goods 
to offer and buy so come over and see what I can do for you. After having 
my planet run by the above mentioned geeks - I am going to need the help of 
all you traders, merchants, jps, gms and explorers to catch the big three. 
That of course is Piemur, Russ and Oddball (sorry Hazed - right now they are 
the close ones but watch out one day it will be your turn. :-) ). 
 
So come on over and do some trading at Megalusa - the route is easy and here 
to explain it are my PR people who had better do a better job than my 
managers did... 
 
"Oh thank you, your kind and noble majesty..." 
 
The route is easy, take Highway 390 to the Pluto off ramp zip past Neptune 
and do three loop d'loops and fly through Jupiters red spot. Then merge 
into the asteroid belt and take off ramp 82734 to Newark as you... 
 
"Excuse me again - Rezrov here - my EX PR people are now looking for a job 
as tourist guides - any offers please refer to the local trash bin." 
 
The actual route is goto to any local link and <jump mebeskon> 
From there it is <down> and <land>. 
The exchange is <east> of landing pad and Deserter's Bar and Grill (DBG) 
is <southeast> of the landing pad or <south> of the exchange. 
 
Once again - jump mebeskon - land - o - o - o - e and to eat se or s. 
 
Also I - Rezrov - would like to know who owns factories and what they 
are - just so as to keep track of those that are contributing to my 
planet. So far most factories on the planet are okay - but please talk to 
before building. Just so I can help you maximize your factory and it's run 
time. 
 
I am also looking at starting a topic in the BB for Megalusa on problems 
and/or suggestions. - I have heard of some problems and working hard in 
correcting them - so if you have seen something amiss or just want to 
comment please do. :) 
 
I am friendly - HONESTLY - just because I have killed 302 players before 
doesn't mean I will kill you... Honestly they only happened to smnile at me 
and my trigger finger twitched and they were gone. I really didn't mean to 
pull the <sob> trigger - they just happened to be in the wrong place when... 
 
"Come along Rez...Didn't the shrink tell you about talking about such 
painful and embarrassing things with the public..." 
 
In now way is the people of the system of Mebeskon responsible for the 
actions and/or results of Rez's mental lapse - OOPs I mean Visa Meltdown 
Come see us...We are friendly... :) 
 
 
 **>> PROMOTIONS NEWS 
 
We've had a lot of people telling us about their promotions this week, well
done! Keep on keeping us informed, please. If we haven't mentioned your
advancement, congratulations anyway. 
 
Kaight made Captain, and would like to thank Freya and Maxis for their
assistance. 
 
Puma became an Adventurer. Now he can leave Sol space and explore all the
other exciting planets. 
 
Wix and Maidez made Trader, and Simms became a Merchant. Well done chaps. 
 
Aackverdi and Galauriel have both been promoted to JP. Gal sends thanks to
Spiff, Gandolf, Slew and Fear, and also to Treato and Russ for their guidance.
(This is beginning to sound like an Oscars ceremony!) 
 
And finally, we received a mailbox this week from someone who says they became
an Adventurer during the week that Cryptosporidium did the news, and weren't
mentioned. Typical inefficiency on Crypto's part, although the fact that the
new Adventurer neglected to sign their missive might have had something to do
with it... It later turned out to be Vlad. Someone else also made Trader, but
didn't tell us who they were. Come on guys! We're not telepathic! 
 
 
**>> GOSSIP, SCANDAL AND LIES 
 
Maxis wants your help. He's obviously in desperate need of the attention of a
very expensive psychiatrist. His behaviour recently has bordered on complete
insanity! The poor, mad fool has actually fallen in love with The Vile
Cryptosporidium. He even wants to marry her! 
 
We asked for a comment from the amorphous blob, and she was not impressed. "I
don't need to get married", she said, "I reproduce by fission." 
 
Freya has been piqueing the curiosity of many people with her mood, which
reads "Released from her vow of silence". What we all want to know is a) why
she was under a vow in the first place, and b) who released her and why? If
you know why, tell us, and we'll pay you a vast amount of groats. If you don't
know why, make up a reason and if it's good enough to print, we'll pay you
even more! 
 
Flatliner was adamant that he didn't want his name mentioned in the news.
That's ok, he never does anything interesting anyway. 
 
 
 **>>CONTACTS 
 
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, Bella or Clem in the game 
 
 * leave a <TYPO> message in the game log 
 
 * send mail with the Federation Feedback option from the main menu 
 
You can order a copy of the unexpurgated printed Idiot's Guide to 
Federation by typing ORDER at any GEnie menu. Cost - a mere $12.95. 
 
Federation has a category in the new MPGames RT. To get there, type M1045,1 
from any menu prompt and SET category 14. The Federation Leader in the 
bulletin board is Occy (Mail ID: OCPAC). Topic 1 of the Fed category contains 
the Federation policy statement. 
 
The MPGames RT also has a Federation library in the files area, Library 5.
Library 18 holds the Federation News Archives. 
 
 **>> BULLETIN ENDS