**>> SPYNET BULLETIN 
 **>> EARTHDATE 94.05.29 
 **>> AN H-by-A SERVICE 
 
 **>> Compiled by Hazed plus a team of specialist newsdroids 
 **>> <SEND HAZED> your news and gossip and get paid good groats! 
 
 
 **>> HOLIDAY TIME! 
 
Tomorrow (Monday) is a GEnie holiday, so you can play Fed all day for the
standard connect charge - no prime-time surcharges will apply. Have a fun
Memorial Day! 
 
 
 **>> THE SITUATION 
 
There is still unrest in Fed DataSpace over "The Situation", but we are
continuing to work towards a resolution. We are confident that it won't be
long until the matter is concluded in a satisfactory manner. 
 
[This announcement was brought to you by a very vague spokesdroid for the
Galactic Administration.] 
 
Meanwhile, many of the planet-owners who had taken their planets offline as
a protest have brought them back, since they do not wish to inconvenience
the factory owners any further. 
 
 
 **>> COMING SOON 
 
Speaking of vague spokesthings, we received the following communication
from the Galactic Administration: 
 
     It is not inconceivable that over the course of the next  
     month we might be thinking about the possibility of holding  
     another of our very popular free weekends. Maybe. 
 
How probable this vague possibility is, you will just have to wait and see!

 
 
 **>> PARTY HOSTS 
 
Wouldn't it be nice if newbods knew there was someone online that would
offer help when they start playing? 
 
And wouldn't it be nice if someone organised lots of fun events and threw
impromptu parties? 
 
And wouldn't it be nice if someone kept rewriting their planet to give you
somewhere new to explore? 
 
Well we thought it would be nice, so we've decided to create an official
role for some players to do just those things. We are going to have some
Fed Party Hosts. 
 
Look out for our announcement next week giving more details. 
 
 
 **>> HAVE YOU GOT VERTIGO? 
 
Tantras has rewritten his mini-planet Vertigo to show you some of the
events that happened last weekend at the third Federation UnCon in
Washington. It's still a mini-planet, but he's managed to pack into the six
locations all the strange things that happened. Talk to one of the
attendees at the UnCon if you want the in-jokes explained! 
 
 
 **>> PLANETS AND DUCHIES 
 
What a change from a few weeks ago!! There's two new planets, a new duchy,
several planet advancements, and the return of a lot of absent planets. 
 
The two new planets are Rakshasa's Utopia and Chance's Chaos. See below for
our newsdroid's report on these two worlds. 
 
The new duchy is Roissy, run by Duchesse Marcia. Her elevation has not
created any new Senators, because Bella increased the number of Duke slots
after the last Duke was promoted, but the next time someone solves the
puzzle there will be a new Senator. 
 
Rtyui, owned by Tao, made a double-jump from mining straight to technical,
and Maxwell's Dawn is also now a technical world. Blackadder clawed his way
back up the ranks following his unfortunate demise, and TerraIncognito is
back. 
 
So, here's what the duchies currently look like: 
 
Kimos' Starship and Neuromancer's Paradigm remain Independent. 
 
Plantking's duchy of Canna can only boss around Oxcart's Jinx. 
 
Loony's Insanity is much reduced, with only Riccardo's Links and Surfer's
Surf. 
 
Marcia's new duchy of Roissy has attracted Akiko's Mirai, Tao's Rtyui,
Ciaran's Ulster and Rakshasa's Utopia - all previously in Nightfall. 
 
Ramius' Ausland controls Maxwell's Dawn, Gemini's Aytes, Tantras' Vertigo,
Mosquito's Sutra, Dirge's Qushmarrah and Blackadder's Hyperion. 
 
Nightstalker's Nightfall has relinquished several planets to the new
Duchesse. He is left with Zagmar's Valaria, Chainsaw's Nautilus, Rai's
Seppuku and Chance's excellent new world Chaos. 
 
Barberousse's Source is far smaller than it used to be, with just Silk's
Fortymile, Sean's Eire and Budwarp's Epini. 
 
Absent planets that we know about are Talisan's new Shelter (offline
because she had to go away for a few weeks), Zan's Paradise (gone because
he suicided), Amigan's Athens (we're not sure if it is offline until "the
situation" is resolved or if Amigan is just absent), Emmi's Oac (waiting
for resolution) and Tellurain's Bree (ditto). 
 
Next week we will bring you an analysis of how the spread of planets will
affect the forthcoming campaigning for Emperor. 
 
 
 **>> TAKE A CHANCE ON CHAOS 
 
It was with some trepidation that our newsdroid prepared to explore
Chance's new planet, Chaos. It had heard rumours that the world was a
violent place, full of rough characters out to do violence to poor,
innocent newsdroids. 
 
Chaos is a prison planet. Here, the Galactic Administration has been
sending those criminals it wishes to remove from society. In return for a
pardon, they have been sent to colonise the world known as Chaos. A barren
and inhospitable hunk of rock, you can be sure the only way anyone would
choose to live on Chaos was if the alternative was incarceration or death! 
 
The spaceport area of Chaos is relatively safe, since it's patrolled by the
CISF (Chaos Internal Security Force). The landing pad is surrounded by the
usual services, but even these have a sinister feel to them, and appear to
be run by the shadiest characters our reporter had ever seen! In
particular, Voyeuristic Tendencies (the electronic shop) caters for some
very seedy clientele, and Shifty's Insurance Emporium makes you hang onto
your wallet, even when tempted by their Frequent Die-er scheme. 
 
West of the pad is the Aces High Bar and Grill, a welcome haven from the
sinister atmosphere of the rest of the planet. Our newsdroid stopped here
for a while, imbibing several drinks to brace it for the excursion into the
main part of the planet. 
 
A road leads south from the spaceport area into Lo-Town. The main road in
Lo-Town is a semi-circle, leading from the spaceport at one end to a prison
at the other... yes, this prison colony has a prison of its own! Off the
road are numerous buildings, some of which our newsdroid entered with
trepidation, such as the No-Tell Hotel, the Sink the Pink bar, and the
Hidden Pickle. 
 
A visit to Charlotte's, with the motto "It's Our Business Doing Pleasure
With You", proved more pleasurable, but fear was instilled into the
newsdroids heart (or equivalent) once again when a sidetrip down an
alleyway led to a bloody discovery. 
 
And so to the prison. The first attempt to enter the prison was
unsuccesful, leading to the droid being tossed out on its metal derriere. A
little thought showed the way to get past the guards, but its explorations
soon came to an unexpected end when it accidentally fell down a disposal
shoot. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valour, it refused to
return again. 
 
Chaos is an excellent planet. The concept is original - no-one has ever
done a prison planet in Fed before. Chance's location descriptions show the
brutal and unpleasant nature of his world very well, and some of them are
truly spine-chilling and gruesome. 
 
The parts of the puzzle we saw were very well thought out and, although not
too difficult, were entertaining. Even the death was fun, and we do intend
to go back and explore the rest of that dangerous prison. 
 
The planet held our attention, and made us want to keep exploring it, and
keep seeing more. That's the mark of a superior world, and Chance
deservedly wins our very coveted Walrus of Merit. Well done, Squire Chance!

 
 
 **>> SOME KIND OF UTOPIA 
 
Rakshasa's Utopia has a theme: it is modelled on the world depicted in
Aldous Huxley's classic novel, Brave New World. But it has less than 40
locations, and has the feel of a planet rushed over. Whether Rakshasa plans
to go back and fill in the gaps at a later date, we don't know. 
 
It's also got a serious problem in space - if you leave the link/orbit
location, there is no way to get back. Is this a movement table error, or
is a deliberate trap? Only Rakshasa knows. But our advise is: DON'T go out
into space. 
 
 
 **>> PUZZLES AND REWARDS 
 
Many of the agricultural planets currently in the game have puzzles on them
and the owners are offering large rewards to those who solve the puzzles.
Chance was offering 30 meg to the first person who solved the Chaos
puzzle - we don't know if that still stands, but it would be worth asking. 
 
Dirge has 10 meg ready to pay to the next person who solves the difficult
and dangerous puzzle on Tempest. 
 
If anyone else wishes to advertise their puzzle in the news, drop Hazed a
note via sendmail. 
 
 
 **>> STRANGE... 
 
We received a letter last week asking us to print the following apology in
the news. Trouble is, we don't know the persona of the person who sent it!
Still, here it is: 
 
     Athena, I am sorry for my behavior with you the other day. 
     As I already told you, My thoughts sometime get the best of 
     my judgement. It seems now that I am being ostracized by the 
     rest of the FED II community. Whenever I logged on these past 
     days and said Hi, absolutely no one responded to me. I have a  
     feeling that if I rasked to build a factory anywhere, I would 
     be turned down. I am someone who has lived a solitary life and  
     as such my social skills are not what they should be. Perhaps, I  
     am wrong and I am misreading as to why no one seems to want to  
     say hello to me. Perhaps this apology will create more trouble  
     for me. I do not know. Right now, it is depressing for me when  
     I log on and am ignored. Although you have accepted my apology,  
     I do not know if the others present in Sam's at the time know of 
     it. That is the reason for this. As I mentioned earlier, I am 
     depressed over what I perceive as an ostracisism directing at me. 
     Please forgive me for my terrible behavior. 
 
Well, whoever you are, we hope this helps. 
 
 
 **>> DON'T PAY BACK - PAY FORWARD 
 
It has become customary for Rich People to help Poor People out with the
loan or gift of groats to help pay off shiploans, or to help with the last
few stats needed for a particular promotion. Sometimes the Poor People are
not sure whether the groats are intended as a gift or a loan, and they
later ask if they are supposed to pay back the money. 
 
In most cases, the Rich People do not want the money paid back, but they
would be happy to see it paid forward. This means that the now moderately
wealthy Poor Person uses the money to help out an even Poorer Person, who
will then help out another newbod, and so on. 
 
It also means that Rich People don't have to try to keep track of who owes
them what! 
 
 
 **>> GALACTIC ADMINISTRATION'S FASHION STATEMENT 
 
Can it be true? Rumour has it that the Galactic Administration has plans to
declare Mood Spandex(tm) illegal because of the excessive honesty it
induces. We understand some of their spokesthings sometimes have to make
statements that are... erm... economical with the truth, and their clothing
has been giving them away! 
 
 
 **>> A PRICKLY SITUATION 
 
Topper has his eyes on that throne. Yes, he wants to be the first Emperor.
He's declared that when (not if, when - this boy has confidence!) he is
crowned Emperor of the Galaxy, he will appoint Mira to be his official
Imperial Porcupine. We're not so sure this is such a good idea, because
surely the spiny bits will dig into him when she... 
 
Wait a moment... 
 
Drat that faulty newdroid! It wasn't porcupine at all. It was... hmmm, what
does it say? 
 
Concussion, that's it! Mira will give Topper concussion. We always knew she
was a real knock-out. 
 
 
 **>> THE RETURN OF... 
 
Fedders were appalled to realise that the long respite they had enjoyed
from the presence of The Vile One, Cryptosporidium, was over. Yes, the
amorphous blob with the baaaaad attitude is back. 
 
It's interesting to note that he is billed on the <WHO> display as the
Senator of . Obviously nowhere in the Galaxy will claim him! 
 
 
 **>> SPYNET REVIEW 
 
As promised, here is a bumper two-week's worth of promotions news. 
 
The new Captains were Formic, Shadowdemon, Firestorm, Blow, Rudy, Oisine
and Elessar. 
 
Formic, Widowmaker, Vyper, Cobalt, Techo, Trill, Dun, Oisine and Kassandra
made it to Adventurer or Adventureuse. 
 
The Traders Guild admitted Bi, Formic, Corinthus, Widowmaker, Yajyu, Dun,
Reece, Trill, Techo and Shauna. 
 
Sukotto, Shadow and Formic were promoted to Merchant. 
 
The awesome JP puzzle was cracked by Alucard, Byterunner, Turbo, Sukotto
and Blackadder. 
 
Kainaw, Blackadder and Formic solved the fiendish GM puzzle. 
 
Kainaw and Blackadder went on to become Explorers. 
 
Rakshasa and Chance became Squires when their planets were linked into the
game, and Blackadder returned to the position of Squire after his brush
with death. 
 
Tao advanced his planet twice in a row, and is now a Technocrat. Maxwell
also became a Technocrat when Dawn advanced. 
 
Marcia solved the devilish Duke puzzle, saved the galaxy from A Fate Worse
Than Death, and became a Duchesse. 
 
Sadly, Industrialist Zan suicided dead-dead a few days ago. He will be
missed by all his friends. 
 
Adventureuse Athena died for reasons unknown, as did Merchant Locutus. 
 
 
 **>> 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 
 
 * <SEND> 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