**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 92.05.05 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> BELLA BACK ON THE JOB Our Illustrious Leader has been spending the last few weeks tidying up the Fed code, making minor alterations that result in no visible change. However, she has interrupted her Spring Cleaning to put in a few little tweaks and changes. She's reformatted the display you get when you type so the entry for player-planets appears on one line instead of two. This makes it slightly less unwieldy, although with over 20 player-planets in the game most of the time it still has a tendency to scroll off the top of the screen before you can read it! The command now checks to see if you have a ship. We weren't aware of this (and we suspect most people weren't since no-one would be stupid enough to ask for details of a non-existent ship) but apparently if you were ship-less and typed you used to be given details of your old ship. Well now you don't! The command lets you leave messages for players who are not on the game at the same time as you; they receive them when they next log on. It was initially provided as an experiment, and has turned out to be a great success. Bella's going to keep it in for the time being, she's even made a few modifications to it. When you log on you can be a bit overwhelmed by all the information you receive: a list of players in the game, details of factory transfers, who and what is in your current location, and if you are in a bar the messages on the noticeboard! It's easy to lose track of messages sent to you by other players - and there is no way to recall them once you have received them. To make it easier to sort out this muddle, messages from players are now separated out by lines. Much better! You can now messages to planets, although quite what you would want to say to a planet we are not sure. We're sure they can be very interesting things but, lets face it, they don't have a reputation for being great conversationalists. Oh, it says here that the message goes to the planet owner, not to the lump of rock itself! Ah. In that case, if you wish to contact the owner of a particular lump of rock but don't know who it is, you can send them a message with , but only when the planet in question is in the game. Clear? Good! Bella would like to apologise for the lack of reset last Wednesday: she managed to blow up her computer kit, or something, so couldn't get on to reset the game. Her machines are all better now, thankyouforasking. **>> IS THIS WISE? We're shocked. Quite frankly, we can't imagine what has come over those people who run the MPGames area. You'll never guess what they have been and gone and done! They've only made Oxcart Member of the Month, that's what. They have! OXCART! The most perverted person in Fed, whose reputation could not sink any lower, who sullies everyone and everything he touches, who is renowned for having relationships with strange appliances and farmyard animals... we shudder to think of his depravity! The Member of the Month topic in the MPGames bulletin board is Cat 1, Topic 16. There you can see for youself how Oxcart will wreak havoc on the unsuspecting players of all the other games on GEnie. Oxcart's biography has been uploaded into the Member's Library: File 1601 in Lib 17. To give you an idea what you are letting yourself in for, the keywords to the file include Reginald, Bessy, Valvoline and Rubbermaid! Obviously not a file to be downloaded in the presence of those of a sensitive disposition. We always knew Oxcart was a Member of some kind, but this is not what we had in mind! **>> TRANSCRIPT OF TRADING RTC NOW IN LIBRARY The transcript of last week's RTC about Trading is now in the Fed Library: file 1590. Not a lot more to say about that, really! **>> ONE OF OUR PLANETS IS MISSING Davidge's planet, Maya, is scheduled to be out of the game for the next few months. It should - if all goes well - be on tomorrow (Monday) so if you own factories on Maya, make sure you sell them or you won't be able to access them until the planet returns. **>> LIES, DAMN LIES, AND NEWS REPORTS Apparently we printed something quite scurrilous about Satriani in a recent news bulletin (No! Would we?) We're far too lazy to dig back through the archives and look up exactly what we claimed he was supposed to have done, but whatever it is, he denies it categorically. **>> PROMOTIONS NEWS Congratulations to Kooshman, who has paid off his loan and become a Captain. He nearly didn't get a mention because his first letter to us about his promotion failed to mention his persona name! The Amazing Dane and Bochiman Show, which kept Rich People entertained for weeks, has sadly come to an end. The duo were collaborating to solve the fiendish GM puzzle, and at times seemed to be very slow to take hints (even when beaten about the head repeatedly) but have finally made it, and are now Explorers. Their promotions almost broke the Insurance Broker's heart! **>>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 or Bella in the game * leave a message in the game log * a message to Hazed or Bella * 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. (New edition will be available shortly!) Federation has several category in the new MPGames RT. To get there, type M1045,1 from any menu prompt and SET category 13 (for information, instructions, questions and answers) or 14 (for general chat and discussions). The Federation Leader in the bulletin board is Krell (Mail ID: K.HILLYER). There are also private categories for Explorers, run by Krell, and for the Conclave run by Oddball (Mail ID: D.STALZLE). The MPGames RT also has a Federation library in the files area, Library 5. Library 18 holds the Federation News Archives. **>> BULLETIN ENDS