**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 92.10.18 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING THIS WEEK? Bella has been putting in parts of the forthcoming major new feature, smuggling. This week, Dukes have been given tools to determine the customs duty that will be payable on goods brought into their duchy, and set up trade embargoes preventing goods from specific planets to be imported. Although only Oddball can use the commands so far, we will list them here for reference, since we hope it won't be long until he has some real competition. The command to set the customs duty is where rate is the percentage payable, between zero and 50. The value is calculated on the base price of the goods. At the moment, the duty is not actually being deducted, but when you jump you are told how much would be payable if it was enforced. The duty applies only to goods imported into the duchy. When you jump between planets in the same duchy, no duty is payable. The Solar System duty is set at 10%. Independent planets do not have customs posts, so no duty is payable (that's one of the advantages of remaining independent). If you take goods out of a duchy, then jump back into it, you will pay the duty both ways. A Duke can decide to set a separate tax rate for an individual planet, called the most favoured planet. To specify which planet is the most favoured, the command is . does the obvious. To set the tax rate for the favoured world, use . Dukes can prevent goods being imported into the duchy from a certain planet by setting up a trade embargo. When you jump into a duchy, you will be told if you are carrying any embargoed goods. Eventually, you will be turned back at the border and will have to smuggle them in. sets the embargo, and clears it. Only one planet can be embargoed at a time, and judging by the SpyNet Review, Oddball clearly had a great deal of difficulty making up his mind which world he most wanted to boycott - Brewski, Zippy or Hell! A planet can only be embargoed (or given most favoured status) if it is online. If a Duke forgets any of the details set for the duchy, he or she should use the command for one of the worlds in the duchy. This will show the customs rate, the most favoured planet, the favoured duty rate, and the embargoed planet. Traders should use the same command when wondering what to buy, or where to sell. Check on one planet in each of the duchies and you will see whether the planet you are buying from has been embargoed. Smuggling will be fully in place in around 10 to 14 days. When it is fully implented, Barons who can teleport will be unable to teleport while they have cargo in their ships - otherwise they would be able to sneak past customs without paying the duty! **>> SHORTAGES MEAN HIGH PRICES As promised (or warned!) last week, Bella has removed the floor on negative stocks. If your planet's population uses more of something than it produces, the deficit will keep on getting bigger - and the bigger the deficit, the higher the price the exchange will pay for the commodity. (Apologies for the bug which was turning some of the prices negative. The programming droid responsible has been severely chastised.) Bella has turned production in the Solar System back on (it was originally turned off when player planets first went in), so there is no shortage of goods to fill the needs of the outer planets. She has kept some floor to the negative stockpiles on Sol planets, but is still tampering with the exact level; she doesn't want truly enormous deficits to build up in Sol. Meanwhile, traders should keep an eye on the Sol exchanges, because there are some huge profits to be made. Earlier this afternoon, we despatched a newsdroid to some of the trading exchanges and it reported that Earth had built enormous stocks of soya and textiles - over 1000 tons. It noted a shortage of radiocatives, gold, pharmaceuticals and bio-chips, with monopoles being so scarce that Earth was offering over 2900 groats per ton. The Moon was paying well over 3500 for furs, and also had excellent prices for meat, spices, crystals, furs and lanzarik. Traders will have to use their judgement to decide when to sell to planets with large deficits. If they wait, the price may rise even further - but they risk allowing someone else to get in before them and sell enough to temporarily plug the gap. Certainly there is scope for huge profits if you put some thought into deciding what and where to trade. **>> PAINT YOUR WAY TO A FREE WEEKEND IN FED As we announced last week, we're running a competition for artists, with a prize of a free weekend in Fed. We need 52 drawings of the trading commodities, to be used as icons in the new Fed front end, FedTerm. If you are interested, please mail Bella (GEnie ID: FEDERATIONII) and ask for the technical details (they have been refined a little since our report in last week's news). **>> A SLIGHT TECHNICAL PROBLEM We've been talking to the shadowy figure that runs Samantha's bar on Castillo, and have learned that the spybeam screen has started to play up. Apparently it is not as reliable as it used to be, and Samantha cannot afford to have it repaired. She gloomily expects it to pack up completely in the near future. **>> A CUT ABOVE THE REST Whenever a new planet is put in the game, we despatch a newsdroid to explore. The droid will wander around the space port area, and perhaps venture further afield, before deciding whether the planet is worth further investigation. If it isn't - either because it has mistakes in the descriptions or the movement table, or because it's boring and mediocre - we will simply mention in the news that the planet has been linked into the game. However, if the descriptions evoke an atmosphere, if they encourage the casual visitor to venture away from the trading exchange, then the droid will explore further. Truly abysmal planets are very rare, but outstanding worlds are also, sadly, few and far between. Krell and Oxcart both produced planets that were interesting and fun to explore. Plantking's planet is written to a theme and you get a real sense of being on a different world. And Condor's Rookery (in the Regulus system), which went in earlier this week, does the same. The first thing to strike a visitor is the enourmous statues of famous Fed personages which have been erected all over the commercial district. But the really exciting feature of the planet is the airplane ride through the clouds. The descriptions are excellently written, and it is well worth experiencing! **>> OOPS! When Bella links a planet into the game, she specifies the level of the planet using the numbers 1 to 5. Usually she sets a planet at 1, for agricultural. But when she first put in Rookery, she mistyped it as a level 31 planet! Anyone asking for a display of the new planet would therefore have been told it was a planet of the level "has just left going east!" Luckily she spotted this and fixed it immediately. When Bella was writing the code for the command, she intended the command to be - until Hazed pointed out that there was a planet with the name of Links! The two spent some time paging through the thesaurus before coming up with "routes" as an alternative. **>> WHO'S IN, WHO'S OUT? The status of the two duchies remains relatively unchanged since last week, with both picking up one planet. Chameleon has joined Inversity, and the new Rookery has joined Scratchwood (this can't possibly have anything to do with the very nice things we said about the planet... can it?) Planet owners should note that Dukes demand homage from their minions on a regular basis. Yet another reason to stay independent! **>> A SHORT NOTE... Oddball and Otoole have declared a cessation of hostilities. **>> FORCES OF WHO? Yet another secret underground movement has appeared to overthrow the ruling classes. We were approached by a contact (who wishes to remain anonymous) and given the following information: "The Forces of LIGHT are starting an underground movement against Oddball and everyone in the Inversity duchy. Fleets of ships from Adventurer to Thane (their names are not to be mentioned) are already working on a way of retaliating against the ban on trading on Brewski. The main body of the group is 3 Thanes, 1 Industrialist and 3 Squires. "The retribution will take the form of an intense smuggling ring. Thanes will provide capable ships for everyone. Anyone who attempts to trade legally on any of the planets in Inversity will be shot down on the spot - no questions asked." We asked the spokesthing what LIGHT stood for, and were told "We fight for truth, justice and the Federation way. The dark side of Fed is our enemy". We feel this shows that LIGHT is rather confused, since the Dark Side is nothing to do with Oddball! It has certainly confused us. We await further developments with enormous curiosity. **>> THE NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT Spongybugman has been truncated. His name is now Spongy. This will make it a lot easier for people to kiss him, and possibly a little less distasteful. **>> CAN IT BE LOVE? They say there's a fine line between love and hate, and we think that Krell and Bochiman have crossed it. There's definitely something between these two, and we've noticed recently that they are often present in Fed Data Space when no- one else is around. We think their sniping at each other on the BBS is just a cover for their true feelings. Our readers deserve to know the truth behind their relationship! So come clean, Krell and Bochiman, tell us if it is really love. **>> PROMOTIONS NEWS This week's new Captains are Doogie, Gamesmaster, Aahz, Starstruck, Giskard, Rogue and Sharp. The promotions to adventurer or -euse are Riccardo and Giskard. New Traders are Topper, Darkman and Giskard (hmmm... this one is certainly zooming through the ranks!) Condor has reached the rank of Squire. There are no other planet-level promotions - but it's worth mentioning that Krell has played 2000 games! Congratulations to all of you. There have been a number of casualties over the last week. As we reported in last week's news, Riccardo went dead-dead. We have been told he suicided because he fancied a change!! He's started again and is climbing back up the ranks. Just too late to make it in the news, Bart also suicided. He was all too aware that his reputation left a lot to be desired, so he's starting again with a clean slate, under a different name. Thalek went dead-dead. We don't know why, but we suspect Tao might have had something to do with it. We've also lost Doogie, who only started this week, but we understand he has reincarnated. **>> BLATANT PLUG TIME As well as designing and programming Federation, Alan Lenton wrote a very successful strategy wargame called Frontline. You can now download this game from GEnie if you join the Software Club. Frontline puts you in control of squads of five or ten men, either artillery or infantry units. You have a choice of four scenarios from World War II to re- enact, plus two training missions. The graphics are very attractive, control of the game is easy using the mouse (with keyboard option for the PC) and the game play lets you try different strategies for both sides in the battles. Frontline is available for PC, Amiga and ST gamers. The Software Club is a membership service allowing you to download commercial games from GEnie. It costs $10 for a year's membership, and after that all you pay is the normal GEnie connect charge while you are downloading the games (usually $6 per hour in non-prime time). Softclub is on page 1115. For more information, mail FEDII.2 (yes, that's Hazed, wearing a different head!) **>>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 GEnie 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 categories 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