THE MONTH IN BRIEF
Messrs Trumble, Cruikshank & Bone started to offer their very popular remote price check service, allowing you to get prices without having to get off your barstool and plod along to the exchange.
The 'DI ACCOUNTS' command was changed so it gave five cycles' worth of figures. This was in preparation for the Financier rank, who need to be able to see the past performance of companies when making decisions about where to invest their groats. Yes, Bella actually made some decisions about what that rank would entail - owning shares in other players' companies.
Trading exchanges started to show some continuity; their details were no longer put back to a starting position at every reset, but instead carried on where they left off.
The brokers started to charge a fee on all share transactions. Typical behavior for big businesses, particularly those that enjoy a monopoly - they offer their services for free until everyone is hooked, and then suddenly start to charge once they have a captive market. That's capitalism!
A new bar game took Fed DataSpace by storm: Lucky Louie, a guessing game involving numbers which can be played in any bar.
The cubical asteroid Cube appeared in the asteroid belt, and the Binary space station close to Jupiter.
The Imperial Navy added extra navigational beacons to the cleared routes through the asteroid belt, to make it easier for ships to find their way through the floating rocks.
We added some "verbal" maps to the web site to help blind or partially-sighted players who use speech synthesizers. The Verbal Maps are a description, in words, of what the Solar System space, asteroid belt and starter planet maps look like.
ASTEROID BELT ROUTES CLARIFIED
As more asteroids are cleared for general visitors, and the routes through the rocky area that the Imperial Navy keep clear get more complex, there have been complaints that navigation between asteroids is getting more difficult. Those without the most up-to-date visual map display have been confused by the lack of clear information about which directions they are authorized to use. They have been forced to attempt to move in a likely direction, only to find their way blocked by an impenetrable field of rocky debris - a waste of both their time and their fuel, as well as a potential hazard.
In response to this growing concern, the Imperial Navy has updated the beacons which mark the cleared routes through the belt, and you will now find the routes labelled so you always know which directions you can move in. This should aid haulers and traders of all kinds in getting to and from asteroids much faster and with less worry. Well done, the Imperial Navy!
HELP FOR NON-ENGLISH-SPEAKING NEWBODS
I was just sent the following log by a player who wanted to help a groundhog:
You say, "Hello."
You say, "Welcome to Fed."
Luckstarr says, "thanks"
Luckstarr frowns, "I dont speak english :("
Well, he seemed to be doing OK so far... but we are getting a scattering of new players from countries around the world where English is not their first language. Obviously, they need to be able to speak some English or they wouldn't have a hope of playing a text game, but many of them just have "school-book" level English so are by no means fluent, or confident. There are two things you can do to help them:
1) Please be patient if new players seem slow to understand what's happening. If a player tells you they don't speak very good English, use simple, plain language when answering their questions. Often players are hoping to improve their command of English by playing the game, so they are willing to learn - they just need a bit more time and a bit more help.
2) Do you speak a foreign language? If you do, we could use your help. We'd like to be able to provide the Fed II QuickStart Guide in other languages, to help foreign players to get over the immediate learning curve and ease them into the game. If you can help, please email feedback@ibgames.com.
REAL LIFE NEWS: HOW TO DEAL WITH AN ANNOYING HUBBY
Husbands are handy when it comes to mowing the lawn, putting up shelves and heavy lifting, but they do tend to take over a home and get in the way. While you can put up with their presence evenings and weekends, once retirement day rolls around and they are at home all the time, they can be a real nuisance. But now there's a way to deal with annoying husbands, thanks to a Japanese company's new product. They suggest you lock your husband into a soundproof wooden box.
Yamaha has come up with MyRoom, a 2.5sqm den than can stand in the corner of the average-sized living room and become a study, a shed, a home cinema... whatever the husband in question wishes it to be. It is completely soundproof, so hubby's hobby won't disturb the rest of the household, and the only window is a strip of frosted glass, so whatever mess he makes inside won't be visible from outside.
Yamaha came up with the idea after working for 20 years on soundproofing rooms for those who want to practice the piano without annoying everyone else in the house. It's a timely invention, because next year, the first wave of baby-boomers in Japan will turn 60 and a whole generation will start retiring.
The My Room comes in three colors, and there's also a tatami-matted version for the traditional Japanese feel. It has a range of options, and can be rigged up with a desk, a surround-sound speaker system or a low workbench suitable for model trains. It will cost about $7,000. A very reasonable price to pay for some peace and quiet!
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