**>> SPYNET BULLETIN
 **>> EARTHDATE 95.09.03
 **>> 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!


 **>> THE DAY DAWNED...

The new version of Fed was put into the game on Wednesday, containing
all the changes and new features listed in last week's news. (For those
that missed reading it, you can download a document called CHANGES.TXT
which details all the new stuff.)

The new version was not without its problems, although considering the
scale of the changes it would have been a sheer miracle if everything
had worked right first time!

Wednesday saw a problem which meant that anyone selling or buying a ship
either made the game crash, or made the game lose their persona.
Trafalgar was the first to find his persona gone missing (he got it back
the next day). Warnings were posted everywhere to tell people not to
sell their ships... of course, some players managed to completely
disregard them and sold their ships anyway!

Thursday and Friday saw the game throwing a complete wobbly every time
it tried to save out information about duchies, and crashing every 45
minutes. Eeep! Sendmail of the Week award goes to Oxcart, for the
following report on the crashes:

     From Oxcart: The crashes have become quite regular now at 
     around 45 minutes. Has the game gone and drank the whoosh 
     somehow?

But by Saturday the major problems were fixed. Thank you all for your
patience over the past few days while the bugs were hammered out.


 **>> NEW DOCUMENTATION

New versions of the following manuals have been uploaded to the
library/database on GEnie and Delphi:

     - Newbod's Guide to Federation
     - Intermediate Guide to Federation
     - QuickStart Guide to Federation
     - Commands List
     - Frequently Asked Questions

The Advanced Guide will not be updated until more of the changes that
affect the high ranks of the game have been implemented. Meanwhile, keep
reading the news to keep up to date with changes.


 **>> WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Now that the huge new version with a million changes is in and has
settled down, you will see new code going in fairly frequently - we're
going back to the old method of putting changes in a few at a time,
because that way it's easier to make sure nothing goes wrong.

There are a few outstanding changes to be made to locations. The TWF
office on Mercury has been subject to a takeover bid, and when the new
owners redecorate the office will become the planet shop. This location
an already be used to access the explorers' workbench - just go <WEST>
or <IN>.

There will be some new mobiles in Arena Space, to provide target
practice for those who wish to hone their fighting skills. They will be
non-agressive mobiles - they won't shoot at you unless you fire first!

The GM puzzle will become available later this week. The requirements
for the puzzle are to have a dexterity of 75. Then, you kill Monty and
you will be given further instructions. Many of you will find this
sounds familiar... Current JPs will not have to do this stage of the
puzzle again, but should go to the DNI and get their assignment.

You no longer need the assistance of your colleagues to complete the GM
puzzle, and there is no longer a burst of speed required which can be
upset by network delays.

Players will also be able to promote to Explorer later this week, but
they won't be given access to the workbench until we've put in the new
planet purchasing and link building. Any current Explorers will be able
to link planets into the game if they wish.

Sometime this week or early next week, all planets and workbench files
will have their numbering changed. Every location will move up 8 places,
so that the first location will be number 9. Teleporting types will be
advised to take great care until they get used to the new numbers! We
will post a message on the bar board the day before this change is made,
so you have some warning.


 **>> SENATORIAL LIMBO

If you type <RANKS> you will see that the highest rank mentioned is now
Duke. Senator does not appear on the list because it is no longer a
playing rank. Dukes will not promote to become Senators, they will
retire to the Senate and take no further part in the economy of the
game. They will have no money, but they won't need it because they will
able to get everything they need for free.

At the moment, Senators are in a state of limbo. Their money has been
taken away, but they don't get their freebies... except for drinks! They
also don't yet have any of the perks of their exalted state.

Any of the existing Senators can choose to move back down to become a
Duke. If you'd like to do that, send Hazed your logon ID and she will
set up workbench access for you. You'll have to put in a planet, then
you will be made into a Duke and have a duchy set up. Or if you prefer,
you can go back to being a planet-owner - we'll put you down to Explorer
and you can link in a new planet as normal.

Senators who move back down to a lower rank will be given back their
bulging wallets. You won't get back your company balances or slush
funds, though. As an extra perk, if you are moved down to Explorer you
still keep your teleporter.


 **>> CAPITAL PLANETS IN TRANSITION

Dukes' planets, the capital of the duchy, are in an inbetween state
right now. It is intended that capital planets will have no exchange and
no economy of their own, but right now Dukes still have access to a
number of the commands planet-owners use to tamper with their economies,
even if they don't do anything useful. There are also some anomalies
about taxes Dukes can set. All these will be cleared up as we add the
code to make capital planets into proper bureaucracies.


 **>> SOME ADDITIONAL CHANGES

As well as fixing the big problems with the new version, a few more
minor changes have gone in.

We've been tightening up on things that can give you a negative bank
balance. Previously, there were a number of things you could purchase
even if you didn't have enough money, which would send you into the red.
Now you cannot use the <TRAVEL> command to move between planets without
a ship unless you have the right fare, you cannot buy fuel unless you
have the right money, and you cannot gamble unless you pay the groats up
front.

In fact, just about the only thing you can do if you don't have any
money is buy drinks! Bars are much more forgiving, and don't check your
credit rating before serving you.

In order to make it even easier for people to keep track of whether they
are insured or not, the QSC display now includes that information. Of
course, it won't stop careless people from forgetting to re-insure!

If you are sulking, it's no good to just hug and kiss yourself. That's
not a good way to get out of a sulk. You have to kiss and make up,
instead.

Once a JP embarks on the new GM puzzle, he, she or it becomes completely
spyproof to all ranks.

The limit on firing weapons which used to mean they would only work at
1-second intervals has been removed (see below). However, mobiles now
fire their weapons twice as fast.


 **>> WORKBENCH TWEAKS

The *I command, used to insert lines of text into a description, has
been taken out. It never worked as it was supposed to, it did strange
things to the text, and ended up corrupting the location hopelessly. 

There's a new flag in the workbench which you can set on locations: a
teleport-shield. This, obviously, stops anyone from teleporting into the
location. At the moment, any location with an IN event on it is teleport
shielded, but eventually we will lift that restriction, and instead
planet-owners will be able to choose which locations to shield and use
the flag to set it.

Another new flag lets you designate a mobile as a cleaner, just like the
new cleaner in Sol. Cleaning mobiles pick up and recycle any objects
that are outside their normal recycling range. Apart from that, they act
just like any mobile! This flag will make its appearance very shortly
(if it hasn't already).

The LIQUID flag for objects will be coming back shortly, too, so you can
have objects that are drinkable.


 **>> THE SPEED OF EXCHANGES

We have made some changes to the way planetary exchanges work, in order
to make their movements easier to predict. We've also increased the
advantage that players who are in the game have over those that are not.
Right now, it appears that exchanges in general are running slowly, and
we will be tweaking this until we get the balance right.


 **>> COMMAND SPEED

Since Fed was first written, back in the days of 1200/75 modems,
technology has made vast leaps in the speed of communication. There is
now a wide variety of modem speeds, and it has become clear that those
who connect at high speeds have a huge advantage in Fed over those who
can only access the game at low speeds, particularly if macros are
involved.

We have optimzed the game code so that commands are now processed at a
speed which is designed for a very fast typist, and all players giving
commands are processed in turn. This provides a level playing field for
all players, no matter what kind of modem they use.

The limit on firing weapons was originally put into the game for just
this reason - to prevent someone with a fast modem having an unfair
advantage. This limit has now been removed, because the new way of
processing commands makes it unncessary. In fact, fighting will now be
easier because not only did the old limit slow down fighting even more,
it also just threw away the extra <FIRE> commands!


 **>> GETTING DRESSED AND EATING RIGHT

Two of the changes to Fed mean that the game has to remember things
about you that it didn't know about before. It has to know whether you
are properly dressed, so the bouncers will let you into CDs, and it has
to know if you've done the four stat puzzles, so you can buy additional
stats.

If you haven't bought new clothes, or done the stat puzzles, since
Wednesday you will have to do them again so the game can record that
information.


 **>> HELLO, OLD FRIEND

It's been a real blast from the past, as planets we all thought we'd
never see again have spun back into Fed DataSpace. The mechanism that
stops planets from loading if their owners are absent for more than a
week has been removed, bringing back many old friends.

There's another batch waiting to spin back in too, only being kept out
because they used to belong to a duchy which is no more. Once the
Techdroid tells the game what to do with them, they'll all return.

The reason planets used to spin out was because we were so short of
memory. That's not an issue now, so now the only time a planet will spin
out is if the owner deliberately takes it offline. Or if the owner dies,
of course, or gets deleted from the persona file because they haven't
shown their face (or equivalent) for six months!


 **>> TRIVIA TRIVIA TRIVIA... TONIGHT

It's trivia time in Federation, your chance to demonstrate your
knowledge of all things Fed-related, as our Trivia Maitreuse taxes your
brain and teases out those obscure little factoids. Join us tonight at
9.00pm eastern in CDs!


 **>> BE A CHAMPION FIGHTER

We all know that Fed is not a violent game. It's not about fighting,
it's about trading. But sometimes, it does the soul good just to have a
blast!

Every second Sunday of the month its your chance to show off your
fighting prowess and display the might of your powerful twin lasers in
a fighting championship in Arena Space. If you've never fired a mag gun
or a laser, come along and pick up some tips from the masters and
mistresses of space warfare; if you think you've got what it takes to
show the old hands a thing or two, issue a challenge and show us what
you're made of!

Join us on Sunday, September 10th, at 9.00pm eastern in Arena Space for
the fighting championships!


 **>> BATTERED PIANO

Now that Chez Diesel has gone upmarket and been redecorated, everyone is
wondering just why the battered honky-tonk piano hasn't been replaced by
something a little grander.

Diesel is reluctant to do so because she can't help feeling that the old
spaceport brawls that used to take place regularly in the bar will
return. The piano is battered because it kept getting thrown out of the
window onto the street by rowdy drunks!

She has nailed the piano firmly to the floor, so that might stop it
getting any more damaged. Meanwhile, the four-armed pianist seems quite
happy tinkling on his instrument!


 **>> ER AT CDs!

Last Monday, after a Binge of Pizza, Admiral's life seemed at an end. ER
specialists from all over Fed rushed to his aid. Drspock ran in, black
bag in hand asking where the victim was and Admiral bravely raised his
hand. With the aid of Wildstar and Trafalgar, Drspock decided to take
out Admiral's appendix to be on the safe side.

After asking for an anestetic, Trafalgar administed a blunt club to
Admiral's head.

Our intrepid newsdroid quotes the participants as follows:

Trafalgar whacks Admiral 

'Out cold.', smiles Trafalgar.

Admiral says, 'Wooo...lookie all birdies go bye bye,'

Grannie holds Admiral's nose and pours in half a pint of Everclear. 

Admiral passes out. 

Operating with a hunting knife from Wildstar and Trafalgar's claws, they
successfully removed an organ. No one was sure what organ but something.
Trafalgar decided this was the perfect time to do a little exploratory
surgery on Admiral's head. At this point, Amy entered the scene and took
over. After stitching Admiral's abdomen up with a lovely red cross
stitch pattern, she then inserted a peanut in the patient's brain, sewed
up his cranium and then inflated Adiral's ego with an air pump hose
inserted in his ear.

The patient staggered to his feet, seemingly on the road to recovery
when Trafalgar applied more anesthesia. After congratulations went round
for saving the life of the unfortunate Admiral, Drspock packed up his
black bag and left to tend to the ills of his workthings.


 **>> SUNDAY NIGHT'S BAR CRAWL

With Goblin, Clovis, Amano, and Fallon in tow, Grannie started off the
Bar Crawl with a visit to the VERY adult bars on Vannitel. The first bar
they descended on was Sinful Delights, one sure to entertain the males
of Fed for quite some time. The tribal tones, the strip tease artist on
the stage... what more could a man want?

Typical reactions were:

Fallon blushes 

Your comms unit crackles with a message from Goblin, 'Grannie brought me
to an Adult Themed Bar !'

Grannie fans herself for a moment 

'Do you think they serve rootbeer floats here?', asks Fallon

The slightly embarassed group then trouped across the street to Tickles,
where the Galactic Cowboy, Christian, bumps and grinds for the ladies.
Inspired by the scene before him, Goblin called on the gods and morphed
into an Arnold look-alike and strutted his stuff for one and all.

After watching the shows, everyone headed off for a final visit to
Samatha's on Castillo. Dierdre mourned the passing of an era and Grannie
shuddered about the Fedrucker's chain about to descend on an
unsuspecting Fed DataSpace. Joined by Pegasus, Oxcart and Budwarp, the
descussion returned to Vannitel where everyone headed back to show the
latecomers what they'd missed. Dee and Bud walked around arm in arm,
covering each other eyes where appropriate. Oxcart fainted and came to
muttering something about crisply folded 10 groat bills.

After spending a few moments exploring the earthy delights of Vannitel,
the troupes headed out to Snafu which is literally covered with bars!
First a visit to Freya's Hideaway, a nice spot of peace and tranquility,
then on to Hannah's Hot Tub in the Sky. Everyone sat around soaking in
the heat and relaxing, people wandered in and out, exploring the wonders
of Snafu, engaging in philosophical debates:

'when you have one of those nose thingies.. what happens if you get a
really nasty cold?', asks Emmi.


 **>> GOSSIP, SCANDAL AND LIES

There is very little dirt for us to dish this week. Prior to the new
code going in on Wednesday, the Galaxy held its breath, waiting in
hushed expectation. After the code went in, the Galaxy was coping with
the crashes and learning their way around all the new bits. Obviously no
time there for anything salacious!

In two weeks, Fed will be celebrating Dierdre and Budwarp's first
wedding anniversary. We hope they will have finalised the details of
their party by next week so we can tell you about it in the news.

Aja and Oxcart are still supposed to be getting married, but they just
don't seem to be able to get around to setting the date! This could turn
out to be the longest engagement in Fed.

Amy was severely threatened by Technocrat Wildstar, for presuming to
tell him how he should be running his planet. Ooooh, presumptuous!

By some sort of divine intervention Anais has been restored to her
beloved husband Clovis. She's not exactly the woman she was, the Gods
didn't see fit to restore her rank, but she is alive and well. This is
all much to the benefit of Clovis' sanity!


 **>> SPYNET REVIEW

Poor Trader Big snuffed it, but he came right back and has started to
climb back up the ranks.

Technocrat Gallahad also went d-d, for reasons unknown.

Congratulations to all those who were promoted during the week. The new
Captains were Skua, Sagan, Realm, Jaxom, Big (back from the dead),
Nickdanger, Apocalypse, Spiff, Anais and Skyslyder.

Skua, Big and Robert made it to Adventurer.

Big joined the Traders Guild.

Master was promoted to JP.

Gallahad advanced his planet, Camelot, to technical level and was
promoted to Technocrat... then promptly went d-d!


 **>> 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 Game Hosts are: Freya, Porcupine, Lyrynna,
Grannie, Sparky, Zzzax, Geezer, Magneto, Syfari and Goblin. 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 Game 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 FED2 or use the option on the main Fed page
   on Cris, mail FEDERATION2

You can buy a copy of the very excellent Idiot's Guide to Federation for
the paltry sum of $15.95. On GEnie, type ORDER from any main menu page.
On Delphi and Cris, send a check for $15.95 to: Leah Parker, 4543 La
Crescenta Avenue, La Crescenta, CA 91214-2912.

 **>> BULLETIN ENDS