**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 92.12.28 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> HAPPY HOLIDAYS! As this is the last news of the year, it seems appropriate to wish you all happy holidays, and say a big Thank You for your support during 1992. We're looking forward to an exciting 1993 - with the new multi-media terminal about to be released, the prospect of the first Emperor sometime in the next few months, and a lot of exciting events lined up. **>> DAMN THOSE NEWSDROIDS It cannot have escaped your attention that the news is a day late this week. Blame the festive season for the delay - those damn newsdroids had an excess of brandy butter at the H-by-A Christmas Party (not to mention eating an enormous quantity of Diesel's special Turkey Pizza) and they were totally unfit to produce readable news yesterday. A few of them still haven't recovered - and half a ton of metal droid with a thumping hangover is not a pretty sight! **>> SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO FED Some of you have been lucky enough to be in Fed Data Space when Santa Claus has visited this year, giving presents to the good little boys and girls. He's also got two free days' play to give away, and now (at last) we are going to tell you how you can win one of these days. Santa will be hosting a trivia contest on Saturday January 2 at 3.00 eastern. The questions will be about a variety of subjects - Federation, space, science fiction, and a few general questions thrown in to liven things up. There will be special bonus questions for specific ranks, and the two people who score the most points will each win a free day in Fed. If you want a chance to win a prize, don't be late - if you miss the start of the contest you won't be able to join in later. **>> WINTER IS HERE The planet Winter is an icy world, dedicated to exploiting the commercial side of Christmas. It's been linked to the game for the holiday season (until Twelfth Night) so you've still got plenty of time to explore. The time machine in the department store actually works - use it and you can go back in time, then take a train journey into the wilderness to discover Santa's Grotto. There are plenty of objects and mobiles for you to match up, and the planet is completely safe - the only way to die would be to starve to death! **>> FEDTERM IS (ALMOST) HERE FedTerm is the new multi-media front-end terminal for Federation, providing many features to enhance your play. We were hoping to have FedTerm released before Christmas, but it took just a little longer than anticipated to wring the neck of the last bug - by which time everyone at GEnie HQ had gone for the holidays! We have just had confirmation from Bella that the program is now ready. She will spend today uploading it to the new Federation library (option 6 on the main Fed page) and putting together some associated sound and picture files, and it will be released to the public tomorrow morning. You can configure FedTerm to display the pictures and sounds of your choice when specific words are received from the game. A selection of pictures and sounds will be uploaded into the library to get you going, but we look forward to you uploading your own files - pictures of your pesona, digitised sound of you saying "Hi", or whatever. Hazed has uploaded the manual for FedTerm to the MPGames BBS (Cat 13, Top 13) just to whet your appetite. You can use this topic for comments and questions about FedTerm, and to tell people when you have uploaded files to the library. **>> TEAMWORK! Neutarus, Khan's planet, has been completely redesigned and revamped and is now a very attractive world to visit - and safer and less dangerous! Niun helped Khan a great deal with the changes. Bella copied Khan's workbench files over so Niun could edit them directly, and he tidied up the spelling and movement tables. Thank you to Niun for being so helpful. We can now wholeheartedly recommend that you visit Neutarus! **>> PLANETS AND DUCHIES The planet Winter has provided an extra world for Traders to exploit, if they can stand the phoney Christmas cheer and excess of tinsel. Aeron has returned to the game after an absence of nearly a year, and her planet Avalon will be back in a few days. Trista has returned - she has been absent for a few months. This increases Hazed's planets to four. Krell has picked up one more planet, so Jim's Crime isn't totally alone any more. Russ has joined the duchy of Gotham. Occy continues his bid for universal domination - Chameleon has signed up with him. **>> SPYNET REVIEW There's been a rush of new blood into the game - just what we needed. This is evident by the enormous number of promotions at low levels this week. Congratulations, and welcome, to all the new Captains: Kutolusa, Rynait, Abdulah, Blackbush, Mr, Dakhwon, Reno, Zeus, Scott, Sandi, Kritz, Talon, Boss, Ace, Jarpa, and Spacey. This week's new Adventurers are: Scrope, Kutolusa, Rynait, Abdulah, Dakhwon, Reno, Blackbush, Mr, Zeus, Velvet, Jarpa and Ace. Wolfman, Zeus and Kharis were promoted to Trader Total solved the awesome JP puzzle and was promoted to Journeyman. Now he can tackle the truly fiendish GM puzzle! **>>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