**>> SPYNET BULLETIN
 **>> EARTHDATE 94.11.20
 **>> 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!


 **>> PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS!

Apologies for the game being unavailable for a while yesterday morning.
The problem was due to errors in planet data which were not picked up by
the planet checker.

First, someone made some changes to their objects, and something they
did caused an error with an object which slipped through the checker.
We'll be tightening up the checker so it can pick this up in future.

Then a player (who shall remain nameless) rewrote his planet and changed
the location number of the trading exchange. It is VERY IMPORTANT that
the numbers of the exchange, landing pad and orbit do NOT change once
your planet has linked into the game.

We have also had a few problems with people making changes in the
workbench while the game is being reset. Although the reset now only
takes a minute or so, bad timing meant that a change was made to the
planet (and an error introduced) between the time the checker examined
the files, and the time the files were actually loaded. To avoid this
happening in the future, please ensure that you do NOT make changes in
the workbench between 7.30 and 8.30 in the morning (eastern time). We
would also suggest that if you intend to make any changes more than just
minor corrections, you take your planet offline until you have finished
the rewrite.

And another reminder... this time about the size of your balances.
Company balances and Duke's slush funds can still not cope with enormous
sums, so please make sure you only keep a reasonable amount here. The
absolute limit is 2 gig - if your balance goes over 2 gig you will
probably end up with a very large negative balance! Err on the side of
caution, because your balance might increase while you are offline...
one planet-owner recently made a large cash transfer, and the Duke's
rake-off was enough to tip the balance of his slush fund over
unexpectedly.


 **>> NEW BITS

There have been a few small changes in the past few days.

A new entry on the unit display shows the unit's exposure. This is a
percentage indicating the risk that the unit will be exposed by enemy
security forces if you use it. This percentage is zeroed when the game
fires up, and then increases every time you use the unit.

A new entry on the planet display shows owners the size of their
merchant fleet. This is the number of ships registered to that planet.
The figure is calculated when the game fires up, so if someone has just
bought a ship from your planet, it won't show up immediately.

In future, if your planet fails the checker and is not loaded into the
game, you will be sent a message via sendmail to tell you whether the
problem is with locations, objects or events.


 **>> INVENTING A VOTING SYSTEM

Bella has been putting some thought to how the voting system for Emperor
should work.

Her initial thought was that Dukes would cast all the votes. They would
have a varying number of votes to cast depending on the planets they
controlled: an agricultural world would be worth 25 votes, mining 35
votes, and so on. In addition, they would have 1 vote for every ship
registered to a planet in their duchy.

However, a couple of players have suggested that planet-owners should be
able to cast votes as well, so now Bella is thinking about splitting the
vote up, so that Dukes cast the votes according to the level of planets
in their duchies, but planet-owners cast the votes for ships registered
to them.

We would like to hear your thoughts on this. Please drop Hazed some
sendmail if you have any ideas about how you'd like the voting to work.


 **>> REMOVABLE BASES

It has often been suggested that Dukes and Senators should be able to
take their naval bases offline, in the same way that planet-owners can
take their worlds out of the game. If they could do, it would prevent
them from losing all their facilities to deterioration when they go on
holiday!

But it's not as simple as that. As with many suggestions, there are
complexities that have to be thought about. Now that the Secret Senator
commands to allow infiltration and sabotage of other players' bases are
imminent, there are several things to take into consideration.

Can your base be attacked if you have taken it offline? If it can't,
what is to stop people taking their bases offline whenever they think
they might be attacked? They would be able to make themselves fairly
invulnerable. If it can be attacked when it's offline, how will they
defend themselves?

All these questions have to be answered before a seemingly simple change
can be made.


 **>> GIVING THANKS

Once again, Thanksgiving looms upon us, and we'll be having a special
planet for you to explore, written by the Party Hosts.

As the holiday is a traditional family time, the planet will take a look
at some of the traditional families in Fed - how do they spend their
Thanksgiving? Do you -*really*- want to know?

The planet will be linked into the game on Thursday morning, and will
remain over the holiday weekend until Monday morning.

Don't forget that Thursday and Friday are GEnie holidays, so our players
who log on through GEnie can play all day without prime-time connect
charges.


 **>> FEDERATION SECRETS

Want to know the inside information about how you can be really
successful? Want to get hints and tips from the mouths of the rich and
famous? You do?

Then take a look at two new files that have been uploaded to the
Federation official library on page 220 on GEnie. Files #186 and 187 are
GIFs that will help you to become one of the rich and famous yourself.
Take a look!


 **>> NAME THAT PERSONA

New players: beware when choosing a name for your persona. You may have
to live with your choice for a very long time! In a combat game, there
might be an advantage to choosing a long name that is difficult to type,
so no-one can shoot at you. In Fed, it will just mean no-one sends you
private messages, or gives you a kiss!

The latest to recognise this problem is Arenanaug (or whatever it is!).
He has begged and pleaded with Our Illustrious Leader and she has
consented to truncate this name. He is now known as Aren. This, of
course, is the point that he finds out whether the reason nobody kissed
him was because of his impossibly long name or because of his bad
breath!!

(Only kidding, Aren.)

Given that many people are lazy typists, perhaps we should disallow any
names that are over 2 characters long. That would make things a lot
easier. Of course, we'd be in trouble when the 677th person tried to set
up a persona... but perhaps at that point we could add a qualifying
digit, so that people would be called ZX3 and NO1.

Well, maybe not!


 **>> MILK MAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (OR MORE!)

The randy rover from hills of clover Devon, seen milking the maids o're
dairy, has been seen pouring over gigabytes, if not googleplexytes, of
electronic pages. Curious as to the contents of these pages from his
"encyclopedia", our newsdroid disguised itself as a communications unit
and strapped itself around Devon's waist. Hours of footage show Devon
making entries into his Little Black CD; entries including Tabby
(height, color, tale length...), Kathy, Redqueen, Galena, and many many
more. Practically every female this rogue encountered was listed in the
pages. We know he hits on any maiden, so we can only guess that it is a
"Hit List" (apropos with his current running list of deceased wives).

How suitable this list name is, we were yet to discover. Whenever Devon
relaxed on his entries and fastened the CD back to his belt, our
newsdroid would make immediate connect currents with the encyclopedia.
For hours the staff at H-by-A poured (Old Peculiar, after Old Peculiar,
after Old Peculiar...) over listings of names. Among these names were
Janel, Zarnaf, and Kara; we know these to be the names of his previously
alive wives. But what really stumped us here was a list that extended
beyond that; names like: Hypatia, Apple, Galaxus, Gemini, Trippin, Noe
(who was really yes!), and Vixen. Even the names of his three truly
ex-wives were included. Delving deeper we discovered names such as:
Cassiopeia, Nicole, Zara, Shyla (presumably not Kathy's cat, although
there -may- be a connection here), and the infamous Spacey! Perplexed,
the newsdroids set aside the data waiting for a piece to the puzzle so
everything would fit. We didn't have to wait long!

One of the newsdroids assigned to follow Aren (formerly Arenanaug) came
across a secret room quite by accident. In its attempts to break into
the secret room, it broke something and exposed a secret panel. Of
course the newsdroid is programmed to find secrets (it abandoned
Arenanaug to the DNI computer) so it promptly snapped the rest of the
panel off to expose the afore mentioned secret room. Our newdroids
reeled (literally!) over the sight that was before its sensory-intakers.
In the large storeroom were crates, boxes, and bags full with milk
cartons! We won't go into how it smelled, but we will say that the
contents of the containers would have insured that Glurg won at a
volleyball game. But that wasn't the amazing part; upon the milk cartons
were the pictures of all the missing or presumed dead females ever to
grace Federation Data Space. Faces of females like: Trista and Buskirk,
once alleged spouses of Mirth, Sheba (recorded as missing), Flamin,
Amber, Zara, Astra, Heechee (even though we suspected her as being a
spirit to begin with), Shekinah, and Shauna. Shocked, our newsdroid
opened up the sealed crates to expose even more cartons, with the
pictures of Jewel, Kittycat(!), Felice, Tyiez, Taliana and Panther.
Circuits almost fried when upon one carton was the beloved face of
Pugwash herself!!

This was the puzzle piece that the H-by-A newsdroids were looking for.
Each name on the CD list matched (or closely enough!) perfectly with the
faces on the cartons. A few straggling extra names were matched with
miscellaneous faces and anything left over was thrown away, concluding
that Devon, in fact, has been married before and is the sole cause of
all the females dying in Federation Data Space. Women of Fed; be warned
not to let Devon get his hands on your milk jugs or it will be a sour
cream!


 **>> FAST HANDS... ER... HANDFASTING...

Last week we reported that Windman and Cheri got married. They have
asked us to point out that they didn't get married, they got handfasted,
which is not the same thing at all. We have also found a rather late
report of their ceremony, which we are delighted to print for you.

Recently, Windman and Cheri were handfasted in a private and brief, but
lovely ceremony on Storm. Sean officiated the handfasting, solemnly
(translation slowly...Wind had difficulty waiting!), binding Cheri and
Windman together with a ribbon decorated with the 4-armed MerGoddess,
made from the hair of the Merbeings of Aise. Windman and Cheri swore to
cherish, protect and honor each other for so long as each did breathe.

Afterwards, the participants celebrated the happy occassion on Aise with
plenty of dancing and drinking. Cheri and Wind led the waltzing (as
well, Cheri does a very admirable shimmie and twist). Sean kept the
bartender busy (ably assisted by Alfrescoe and Arenanaug). There was a
quiet moment when Maxwell arrived and Brain feared Max would kill him
for dancing so close to Emmi... but as everyone knows, Max is a "kinder,
gentler" vampire, foregoing bloodsports in favor of wowwing everyone
with a wild tango.


 **>> A WEDDING, SHOTGUN OPTIONAL

What would one think if one were to walk into a room, and discover
Ciaran, Industrialist of Ulster, glaring icily at Nightstalker, Duke of
Nightfall? One would probably think that Ciaran had a death-wish. Or
that Nightstalker had insulted one of Ciaran's clan.

Well, that's basically what seemed to be the problem. Nocturne had shown
up on Ciaran's doorstep, crying on her cousin's shoulder, just terribly
distraught that Nightstalker was treating her like dirt. She claimed
that she did everything that she could to please him, she considered
dressing as a commodity (which one, she didn't specify) to attract his
eye; she even considered seducing him on the trading exchange floor!

Ciaran doesn't take kindly to anyone, not even Duke Nightstalker,
treating his cousine badly, so he had a little "talk" with him. He even
offered to buy Nocturne's freedom from Nightstalker (he had won her in
a poker game, the details of which are probably best not looked at too
closely!). Nightstalker was properly taken aback, not realizing that he
was presenting such an attitude to Nocturne. He went off in search of
her, finding her on Belfast, one of the moons of Ulster, in Marcia's
office. Apparently Nocturne was looking to get some advice from her
cousine, as well.

Things didn't start well for Nightstalker. Everytime he tried to say
something to Nocturne, she would run off. Nightstalker pursued her, a
combination of actually walking, and teleporting. Finally, when he
managed to get her to stop and listen to him, their conversation was
full of, "I had no idea..." and "But you always..." sorts of things.

When Nightstalker declared that he wanted her heart and soul, Ciaran
decided that constituted a proposal, and promptly showed up, Marcia
trailing with the ring. Details were sorted out, Nocturne's freedom was
obtained, she was free to accept the proper proposal he offered her, and
arrangements were made to have the ceremony immediately.

With Mira, Chance and Marcia in attendance, Ciaran joined Nightstalker
and Nocturne in a brief, but very moving ceremony on Ulster.

Don't you just love happy endings?


 **>> PLANETS AND DUCHIES

There's been little movement between duchies over the past week. Raven
made it back to Squire and his planet, Dichotomy, returned to the game.
He signed up (predictably enough) with Nightstalker's Nightfall. We
review his planet below.

Devon's new planet, Tanarith, appeared a few days ago. We sent a
NewsDroid to explore, but it came back a few moments later... Tanarith
is just a mini-planet at the moment, although by the time you read this
it might have grown. We'll send the Droid back again next week to take
another look. Devon joined Sean's Duchy of Eire.

Jade advanced her planet, Dunnottar, to technical.

There are now only a few mini-planets left in Fed. Most of the planet-
owners have re-written their worlds back to full size - some have
returned the planets to their former glory, others have come up with
something completely new.

Although we don't get time to re-explore all the planets, if you want us
to mention your revamped world send us some details and we will include
them in the news. Skurge did, and a report on his planet Vanittel
appears below.


 **>> DILEMMA ON DICHOTOMY

Something is rotten in the world of Dichotomy. The instant you step off
your ship you realise that all is not well on this space station.

Dichotomy is the home of Ravenheart Enterprises Research and
Development. Whatever it is they are developing, it is obviously highly
secret... or highly dangerous, because there are armed guards
everywhere. As you explore, you hear whispers of a dangerous virus being
developed; could there be a puzzle here? Does this explain why the
station doesn't exactly welcome visitors with open arms? Maybe if you
can find your way into the scientists' labs you'll find out what's going
on.

But there is a lighter side to Dichotomy, if you happen to like dancing
to loud music. A corridor caters for all kinds of musical tastes...
whatever your era, there's a club for you here. Even a country and
western club!

Dichotomy is a very well-written planet, and as you explore you get a
very good sense of story. Raven has done well in evoking the atmosphere
of the station. It's well worth exploring, and we highly recommend it.


 **>> BE WARY YE FOOLS!

This warning should be heeded upon visiting Skurge's new Vannitel which
employs the old saying "A fool and his money are soon parted." We also
add to this, "A fool and his head are soon parted!". We lost many
newsdroids exploring this haunting planet, and many shortly after they
discovered Renee's, a delightful french cafe just off of the LP.

Vannitel offers many secrets to its explorers, although nothing is
secret or well hidden in the streets, bars, and hotel surrounding the
LP. Those who have groats to spare and are looking for a good show, look
no further! This is one knock-em-down, take-it-off, show-it-all planet. 

The REAL secrets lie deep in Vannitel's puzzle that takes you far from
the technology we have grown to be lazy by and far from the time in
which we live. Pitfalls and obliettes darken around shrouded paths that
may lead you through forests, abondoned buildings, or even to the depths
of the sew


 **>> SPYNET REVIEW

Congratulations to everyone who promoted during the week.

The new Captains were Madhatter, Jeb, Mastermind, Knightfall, Cassandre,
Napi, Jeff, Noidea, Galena (back from the dead), Havok and Steele.

Mastermind, Napi, Bob, Jeff, Steele and Galena made it to
Adventurer/euse.

The Traders Guild admitted Lazarus, Mastermind, Galena and Jeff.

Slider and Galena reached Merchant.

The awesome JP puzzle was cracked by Nocturne, Page, Raven and Galena.

Devon, Raven and Galena solved the fiendish GM puzzle, then went on to
make Explorer.

Raven became a Squire and his planet, Dichotomy, returned. Devon's new
planet came in, which made him a Squire too.

Jade promoted to Technocrat when her planet advanced.

Sadly, JP Killa went d-d by her own hand. Squire Galena also snuffed it,
but she returned and will regain her rightful place shortly.


 **>> 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.

The current Federation Party Hosts are: Mira, Redqueen, Caterpillar,
Lyrynna and Varina. Their function is to answer questions, help new
players get started, and make fun things happen.

In the event of a problem or question, you can:

 * talk to Hazed or one of the Party Hosts in the game

 * <SEND> a message to Hazed

 * send mail on your host system to the Federation team:
   on GEnie, mail FEDII.2 or use the option on the main Fed page
   on Delphi, mail FEDERATION2
   on Cris, mail FEDERATION2


 **>> BULLETIN ENDS