**>> SPYNET BULLETIN **>> EARTHDATE 94.05.15 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids **>> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! **>> NO NEWS IS BAD NEWS You may have noticed that there was no news bulletin last week. You may also have noticed that currently, there's a lot of planets absent from the game. These two facts are not unrelated. There's currently a "situation" in Fed DataSpace that we are trying to resolve in a satisfactory manner. It should be sorted out early next week, at which point we hope the owners of the missing planets will bring them back. If you think this is a very vague report, well yes it is. Sorry, but until the situation is sorted out one way or the other, we can't tell you what is going on. Well, we could tell you, but then we'd have to kill you. All we can say is that we hope normal service will be resumed as soon as possible! **>> NEW POLICY DOCUMENT We've had an official Fed policy for some time, which serves as a guide to you about what is considered acceptable behaviour in Fed DataSpace. The policy has always been fairly vague, leaving it to your common sense to apply the policy to specific actions or events. To help those of you who were unclear about what exactly is allowed and what isn't, we've now added to the policy some examples of things that break the policy. The whole document is now our terms and conditions of play. Our intention is not to limit your enjoyment of the game, but simply to clarify the policy and to make it easier for you. As before, the whole policy boils down to just one premise: you should behave in a responsible, adult fashion while in Fed DataSpace. The examples we give have always been against the policy, but now we are actually spelling them out for you. The policy is now file #105 in the Federation Official Library on page 220. Please download and read this file, because you are bound by our terms and conditions when you play the game. If you've got any questions about the policy, just ask! Incidentally, we get queries from time to time about the phrase we use about Federation: adult space fantasy. In this context, adult does not mean "no kids allowed", nor does it have anything to do with the kind of magazines usually known euphemistically as "adult". We mean that Federation is about more adult themes than other multi-player games. Instead of collecting treasure and killing things, in Fed you are concerned with economics and politics. There is no age limit, and children are allowed to play. It's just that we feel the game appeals more to mature adult gamers. **>> ALSO IN THE LIBRARY... There are two new files in the Federation Official library for use with FedTerm, the graphic and sound front-end for the PC and the Amiga. File #104 is ALUCARD.GIF - a black and white picture of Alucard, uploaded by R.HOFFMASTER. File #106 is SHELTER/TALIMAKA - a GIF picture of Talimaka and Talisan outside the Talimaka Ranch, uploaded by S.MAHONEY. Both of these pictures can be converted to PC FedTerm format using the GIF2FED utility, or to IFF format to use with Amiga FedTerm. **>> THE REST OF THE OFFICIAL STUFF Bella tells us she will be turning base deterioration back on tomorrow (Monday). It had been switched off to give Dukes a chance to catch up following the technical problems a few weeks ago. Kainaw found a bug that made him very, very rich! He behaved responsibly and reported the details to Bella straight away, and as a reward he was able to keep some of his new-found wealth. Just goes to show that being honest does pay. Thanks to those of you who helped Hazed run the Federation Booth at last night's GEnie Faire. For three hours, they discussed various aspects of Fed and persuaded complete strangers to give the game a try. Despite being asleep over the keyboard by the end, Hazed declared the evening a success! Next weekend is the third official Federation UnConvention. It's being held in the Washington DC area. Hazed and Cryptosporidium will both be attending (and Reginald, who is still wearing his outfit from last year's UnCon in LA!) and around 20 Fedders have promised to turn up. There are details in the "Getting Together" topic in the MPGames BBS if you'd like to join the fun. Because of the UnCon, next week's news will be a bit sketchy. Hangovers permitting, Hazed will rope in all the attendants to help her compile the news. Whether this will produce anything printable, you'll have to wait and see! **>> PLANETS AND DUCHIES Given the absence of over half the player planets, it's not worth giving you a run-down of the duchies this week. There are three new planets for you to play on: Blackadder's TerraIncognita, in the Hyperion system; Ciaran's Ulster, and Talisan's Shelter, in the Skan system. We sent newsdroids to TerraIncognita and Hyperion, and their reports are below. Talisan is going to be away from the game for a few weeks, so Shelter will be offline. We'll do a full report on the planet when it comes back. Next week, there are two planets lined up to go into the game. Rakshasa's Utopia will link on Monday, and Chance's Chaos on Thursday. Meanwhile, Tantras' Vertigo has gone mini. **>> PLANET IN DISGUISE Remember TerraNova? After Blackadder's sudden and unexpected death, citizens of the ex-planet had nowhere to go. Now that BA's got back up to the planet-owning levels, he has provided them a new home: TerraIncognita. The planet is fairly disorganised, faced as it is with the flood of refugees. The streets are crowded and all the services (clustered as usual around the landing pad) are busy - chaotic, even. The main city lies to the north of the landing pad, and here you find St. Baldrick's Hospital. There's also Castle Blackadder, with its exquisite garden, full of portraits of the owner with Mosquito and their friends, a museum and a cathedral. But wandering the streets, you become aware of apparitions that seem to be trying to tell you something important. South of the landing pad, things are much more sinister. A forest path leads to a darkened tower that should be avoided by all but the bravest. Continuing on, the path splits, one fork going to the beach, and the other to the Hanged Man Inn on the the cliff top. Blackadder is a veteran planet writer now - this is the fourth world he has been involved in, and it shows. The location descriptions of TerraIncognito are very good. You are really drawn into the strange but absorbing world where magic and technology mix. There's a detailed puzzle for you to solve, and as you wander around you will find clues pointing you in the right direction. TerraIncognita is excellent, and well worth visiting. **>> THE OLD COUNTRY Ciaran's planet, Ulster, is also extremely well written. This is a world where mystical things can happen. Orbitted by the twin derelict moons, Londonderry and Belfast, the emerald planet looks very attractive from space. On Ulster the old mixes with the new; modern warehouses lie next to stone buildings. One location, to the south of the landing pad, serves all your needs, selling everything you could want including ships and repair facilities, and acting as trading exchange. The Highland Tavern east of the pad looks very welcoming, and the healer may seem primitive but is able to offer just as good a service as any modern hospital. Heading northwest of the landing pad, a path leads to a tower on a high cliff. With care, you can descend down a steep path to a beach, where a boat will take you to an island inhabited only by a large stone monolith. As you explore the planet, you will find several similar stones. Our newsdroid was unable to find out whether they were significant. In the other direction from the pad, the path leads to a rather unplesant marshy area, where one of our droids became lost after being distracted by some twinkling lights. We eventually had to abandon it as it sank slowly in the peat bog. A warning to explorers: stay on the path, no matter what you see. The southerly part of the planet contains an experience our newsdroid wishes it had not had. It was transmogrified into a hound-like beast, and force to join the Wild Hunt, chasing after and finally killing an innocent winged horse. There is no detailed puzzle on Ulster, but Ciaran is offering a 30 meg bonus to the first person to correctly find the main object/mobile match. The quality of planets going into the game these days is so good, it's hard to find new words to describe them! Once again, Ulster is atmospheric and very well written. It's fun to explore and has some real surprises. **>> WEDDED BLISS Two weeks ago, two of Fed DataSpace's players found themselves married - and with children! Tantras, Thane of Vertigo (who was married for a short time to Otoole, Baron of Brewski) announced that through the sacred Vertigo Chest Hair Ritual (the newsdroids were too afraid to ask just WHAT that entailed), he had a new bride, who was none other than... Tellurain ne Galdur, Squire of Neemeesis! The happy couple wore matching moods - Tantras had "the proud groom", Tellurain "the blushing bride". Then, admidst the reception on Tempest, Tellurain suddenly gave birth to their child Tanrain! People oohed and ahhed over Tanrain's cute twelve little toes, and the three hands that waved gleefully. But then, as Tellurain was holding Tanrain, a sudden hunger spasm came over him - and Tellurain ATE Tanrain. All was not lost, however - the two quickly had another child, and when Tellras clawed her way out of Tellurain's stomach, the not-yet-digested Tanrain popped back out. (Tellurain had to be bandaged with duct tape after giving birth.) The happy couple are now showing off their children to all of FedSpace - Tellurain is carting around Tanrain, Tantras with Tellras. The happy couple says that belated wedding shower gifts, wedding gifts, or baby shower gifts will cheerfully be accepted. **>> SPYNET REVIEW Here's a double ration of promotions news, covering the last two weeks. The new Captains were Kirok, Sukotto, Jason, Darkknight, Darienne, Craig, Telluwhat, Paralt, Bi, Raven, Widowmaker, Rexbo, Nimrod, Trill, Djmayhem, Mita, Appolo, Jadzia, Doc, Kenshin, Cobalt, Dragonwarrior, Sambucca, Widowmaker (again) and Vyper. The Adventurers and Adventureuses were Erebus, Slider, Sukotto, Darkknight, Kirok, Reece, Raven, Widowmaker, Dragonwarrior, Tracer, Chester, Shauna, Bi and Mara. Golgatha, Raven, Darkknight, Sukotto and Chester have been admitted to the Traders Guild. Kainaw, Formic, Locutus and Samantha made it to Merchant. Wilhelm, Kainaw, Formic, Cryptoson and Lonehawk solved the awesome JP puzzle. Perseus and Longshot became Explorers. There are three new planet owners, which means three new Squires: Blackadder, Ciaran and Talisan. Mosquito was promoted to Thane, and Marcia became a Baroness, as their planets advanced. There were three dead-deads during the fortnight. Trader Sagen went dead- dead in the Bree system, yet another victim of the most dangerous planet the game has ever seen. Adventurer Widowmaker died on Ciaran's new planet, Ulster. JP Formic snuffed it in Sol, for reasons unknown. **>> 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 * a message to Hazed * send GEnie mail with the Mail about Federation option from the main menu A front-end terminal program is available for Federation, for the PC and Amiga. You can download a copy of FedTerm from the Federation official libraries (option 3 on the main Fed page). The third edition of the unexpurgated printed Idiot's Guide to Federation is now available, price $15.95. Type ORDER from any GEnie main menu and buy one. Or more! Federation has several categories in the 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 Oxcart (Mail ID: J.LONG29). There are also private categories for Explorers and the Sentate, run by Krell (Mail ID: K.HILLYER). The MPGames RT has a Federation player library in the files area, Lib 5. **>> BULLETIN ENDS