Fed II Star newsletter - masthead The weekly newsletter for the Fed II game by ibgames

EARTHDATE: March 12, 2006

OFFICIAL NEWS
Page 2

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SELECT YOUR CHARM

There has been a big change to the way keyring accessories are displayed when you examine another player. Don't panic if it looks like your charms have all vanished - they haven't! Read on to find out what's going on.

The change is intended to solve a problem that has been getting worse over time. When we first came up with the idea of the TenBrane keyring, and the charms you can buy to hang from it, it seemed logical that all the charms should be listed when you look at somebody else. After all, why would you bother to buy charms if you couldn't show them off? But as we kept adding new charms each month, as well as the special charms for holidays such as Christmas and Halloween, anyone who bought them all was soon trailing a long list, which meant that if you wanted to check what they were wearing, you had to scroll back or you'd miss their actual description. Take me, for example:

> ex me
Examine Founder Hazed
Hazed is only wearing black because they haven't invented anything darker.
Hazed is carrying a multi-dimensional keyring made by the prestigious TenBrane Corp. If you look carefully you can see the glow of the macro-superstring logo. It has on it:
An executive washroom key. The ornate key is a much sought after key to the Galactic Administration executive washroom, and is genetically coded to its owner.
A 2005 valentine heart. You can see a small red valentine heart with the number 2005 etched into it.
A croquet mallet. You can see a miniature croquet mallet cunningly carved so that it also appears to be a tiny pink flamingo.
A silver shamrock. The shamrock is an exquisitely wrought silver keyring accessory.
A 2005 jester. You can see a square cut Venusian diamond. At its heart a tiny holo of a jester juggles balls, turns cartwheels and performs fire eating tricks for your entertainment. In tiny letters on the edge of the plinth on which he is performing is the number '2005'.
A 2005 maypole. The maypole is a marvel of miniature engineering. Tiny figures holding the ribbons dance round it as you watch. Power is supplied by the keyring, and etched into the pole, just visible, is the number 2005.
A 2005 tarot card. The tiny tarot card is made of burnished gunmetal depicting a highly stylized sun on the obverse. The reverse side is an art deco geometric design with the number 2005 in the center.
A 2005 liberty bell. The tiny replica of the Liberty Bell is made of bronze. If you look carefully you can see that it even has a crack down one side - just like the original. Stamped on the rim is the number 2005.
A 2005 magellan ship. This keyring accessory is a silver replica of Magellan's ship, the Victoria. Engraved on the sails are the numbers 1522 and 2005.
A 2005 jack o lantern. The jack o lantern grins evilly at you. The light inside is powered by the keyring, and has been set to pulse in an odd, and rather unsettling, arrhythmic fashion. The number 2005 is imprinted on the back.
A 2005 firework. As you touch it the firework emits a shower of multi-colored sparks which crackle and flash as they float away. The legend Diwali 2005 has been embossed into the side of the firework.
A 2005 turkey. You inadvertently squeeze the tiny rubber turkey, a 2005 special, and it immediately makes a farting noise the volume of which completely belies the size of the charm!
A 2005 cracker. You examine the TenBrane Corp reverse-entropy Christmas cracker. There is a *BANG!* as it comes apart, and then, before your very eyes, the exploded parts drift back together to form a whole. On the side is an ornate number, 2005.
A 2005 staff star. The tiny star glitters with an intense blue-white light. It reminds you of Rigel seen from its fourth planet. Squinting slightly, and donning a pair of Raybans, you can make out lettering deep in the heart of the star - 'Fed2 staff 2005'.
A 2006 music box. It starts to play Auld Lang Syne and a hologram appears with the numbers 2006. Suddenly they vanish and are replaced by a shadowy figure - it is the ex-Emperor Ming! He laughs maniacally, shouts "I'll be back" and then fades away.
A 2006 camera. This is one of the new 53 tera-quantel 'Box Brownie 2006' holo cameras. At the touch of a button the tiny camera expands to operating size, making it easy to use both camera and projector modes.
A 2006 rose. This Valentine rose is perfectly formed, with deep red petals that will never fade, droop or fall off. In the centre of the bloom, a small holo flashes the number '2006'.
A 2006 prism. This four-dimensional glass prism gathers in light and disperses it, sending rainbows spreading out in all directions. Every so often, the number '2006' flashes in amongst the seven bright colors.

Phew! The whole charm thing has got much too unwieldy.

The long-term solution will be to give planet owners a way to take off some of their charms and display them in a trophy cabinet on their worlds, but there's a lot of coding involved in that, so it's going to have to wait until Alan can schedule it.

So as an interim measure, the way charms are listed has changed. Now, only one charm shows up when you examine a player - the charm they are wearing.

> ex hazed
Examine Founder Hazed
Hazed is only wearing black because they haven't invented anything darker.
A 2006 prism. This four-dimensional glass prism gathers in light and disperses it, sending rainbows spreading out in all directions. Every so often, the number '2006' flashes in amongst the seven bright colors.

You can still see all of your own charms with the command 'EXAMINE ME', so you can decide which of your collection you want to display. The command is 'WEAR charmname' - the name of the charm is the bit at the beginning of the charm description, after the "A" and before the period - 'wear 2006 prism' or 'wear 2005 magellan ship', for example.

You can check what other people see when they look at you by using 'EXAMINE yourname'.

You can change the charm you display as often as you like - simply wear a different one to match your clothes.

For the time being, medallions are not showing up in the description at all - they are still there, you haven't lost them, but Alan needs to decide how best to display them.


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