LINE NOISE News from Chez Diesel 13 November 1998 I'm very disappointed. I really did want to congratulate Pegasus on being the first to reach Journeyperson - but he STILL hasn't managed it! For those who haven't logged on for a while, I'd better explain. Once a Merchant has a dex of 75 he should go and kill Monty, and he will be given instructions. Following these instructions leads to some more insttructions, which lead to yet MORE instructions! The culmination of which is an assignment to restart the power system in the Martian Ruins. Hawk was the first to reach this stage, and flushed with his success at being well ahead of the rest of the field, he was confident that he would make JP well in advance of everyone else. But he was stymied on this part of the puzzle and couldn't work out what to do next. Pegasus and Pugwash, meanwhile, were aghast at the thought of somebody else beating The Cartel to anything! They pooled their resources - both groats and brainpower - to get one of them started on the puzzle. I've heard rumours that there was a bitter argument about which one of them should actually do the work, but Pegasus obviously won this and wrestled the cash from Pugwash. He got his dex up, killed Monty, and raced through the early stages of the puzzle (thanks to Pugwash's superior brainpower). This put him in the same position as Hawk, with both of them trying to work out how to get the power system connected correctly. A bitter fued between them developed as they both battled to beat the other to the solution. Our Illustrious Leader has been giving absolutely no clues at all, except to say that certain players of certain ranks have to hold certain objects and stand in certain locations in the ruins while the would-be JP manipulates certain OTHER objects (for which they need a strength of 40). Cryptic, eh? The snag is that if anyone is in the wrong place, or has the wrong object, the ruins blow up! Taking with them anyone who happened to be in the vicinity. Hawk hasn't blown up the ruins at all yet - although whether this means he is a long way from the answer, or is very very close he isn't saying. Pegasus has managed to destroy them 5 times, which seems a little excessive, and is doing serious structural damage to my place. Following an explosion, the ruins are replaced by a huge smoking crater which remains until the game restarts. So there is only one chance per session, and obviously Hawk and Pegasus are desperately trying to make sure that they get there before the other! Pegasus is starting to run out of people who will help him since their insurance premiums are rocketing up phenomenally. But he is confident that he will get it right the next time he tries. But then that's what he said the last time... and the time before that... Bella is certainly enjoying herself, watching everyone running around like crazy over this puzzle. It is certainly the most difficult part of the game so far, and it beats the puzzles in any other multi-user games that I've come across. All this head-scratching will be worth it in the end because the Journeyman privileges are certainly excellent. For starters, you will be able to buy goods from exchanges in 20 ton lots. This alone will double any possible profits. Also, at last, JPs will be able to offer jobs to other players. They'll be able to buy, sell and store goods, and check the warehouses, from anywhere. I'm sure this will mean a lot more custom for me - I may have to build an extension especially for remote trading! The JP will negotiate the details of a job with a specific player, then set the job up. Goods will come from a warehouse on one planet and will automatically be sold at the other end when unloaded. Payment will be made to the Poor Person on delivery, and the usual fines and bonuses will apply. But the JP must be logged on when the goods are delivered otherwise the cargo gets nicked. The quantities will only be from one bay of the warehouse - ie 20 tons - but I am sure a pretty good profit can be made! We just have to hope there are some Journeypersons soon to take advantage of all this! The Alliance has been rather quiet lately. Snoopy was certainly worried last week when he got killed and didn't have enough groats to reinsure - his premiums are well over 500K now. He had to do a lot of trading very quickly to get more insurance before he suffered a mishap. He kept very quiet about this, afraid that Pegasus would not be able to resist the chance to kill him off completely! But Pegasus assures me that he would never kill anyone dead-dead (except for annoying new players) and I'm sure Snoopy might have been safer if he'd asked Pugwash for a loan! The Alliance, in turn, missed a golden opportunity to go after Pegasus. In his race to put his dex up, Pegs sold his large well-armoured ship and was running around in a very wimpish vessel. Had the Alliance decided to go after him then they would have had no trouble at all in polishing him off! But they were obviously too wary of the fearsome Pegasus reputation! Of course, he has now replaced his armour and weapons so they missed their chance. Advance news on further ranks - the requirements for Guildmaster are likely to be 75 stamina, and it will involve a puzzle even more fiendish than the JP problem. Benefits will be minimal at this rank, because it will only be a stepping stone to the next one - Explorer - which is where you can start designing your own planets! This is where the game will start to get really interesting... but perhaps I should insist on a branch of Chez Diesel on every planet... You've played the game. You've read the on-line version. You've downloaded the SEQ files. You've been to the meets... now you can hold it in your hot sweaty palm! Yes, the printed version of the Idiot's Guide is here! Much expanded, with pretty pictures and maps, and free mapping paper, over 70 pages of indispensible advice and personal comments about other Fedders. Pugwash will have a sample copy for display at the show next weekend on all 3 days. Watch this space for more details - and start saving your groats! Fed Meet Details: Saturday 19 November, Commodore Show, Novotel, Hammersmith. Meet at 5.00 in the bar and then move on at around 6.00 to Pizza Hut, 100 King Street, Hammersmith. See you all there!