The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: January 1, 2008

Special Bulletin 4

Another year over, and what have you done? I can't believe a whole year has passed since I was last stuck in the Fed2 Star office while everybody else was out celebrating. At least now I have some real news to report, and I don't have to make up stories about poor lost droids taking shelter from the cold in a Temple of Gaelaan, or impoverished navy cadets helping an old women with her fuel sticks through the snow, or the mysterious aliens knocking on the door who is asked to stay to dinner!

Speaking of the new year, Hazed has asked me to wish all of you a Happy New Year from everyone at ibgames, and to hope that the coming year brings you everything you would wish for.


THE TAXMAN'S LITTLE NEW YEAR'S PRESENT

The promised cap on company balances has now gone in, and the taxman has already raided eight companies and removed their excess profits. You can see who got hit by checking the SpyNet Financial.

The cap will only affect your company at reset. You can build up as much cash as you want in the company balance, but anything over 1 gig will be stolen by the taxman at reset. So it's definitely a case of use it or lose it!


NEW BUILDS FOR THE NEW RANK

Two new builds have been added for the Technocrat rank, which is currently being tested by the ever-diligent test team. They are telephones and airlanes. You can find out what they do on the web site by clicking the links.


HALL OF FAME

The recent rush to promote and avoid the touch of the taxman's greedy claws on company balances threw up two new records: the largest dividend ever issued, and the highest payout to shareholders. You can read about these achievements in the Hall of Fame (and Shame).


HOW MANY DID YOU FIND?

Remember I threw out a challenge to you: how many places in Sol could you find that had Christmas decorations, and how many bits of fruitcake were lying around waiting to be stumbled over? Well, if you want to know whether you found them all, there's the list.

You will find decorations in the following places:

Earth - Armstrong Cuthbert, Exchange, Trading Guild (examine the bust), Lucky 7, the Meeting Point and of course Santa's Grotto
Mars - Chez Diesel (with free food and drink), Roof Garden
Venus - Urban Spaceman's Bar, Musuem (examine Pegasus)
Titan - General Store, Research Lab, Maintenance, Species Resources
Phobos - Help Desk (both the location and Tracey herself)
Doris - Reception (you can buy a mince pie and some mulled wine here)
Space - Earth orbit

There's fruitcake here:

Earth - Exchange, Armstrong Cuthbert, Chambers, Lucky 7
Mars - Chez Diesel, Empty Shop, Armstrong Cuthbert
Venus - Fogg's, Hobbs End Office
Mercury - Hydrargyrum Hotel, Solarium
Moon - Viewing Lounge, Labor Office
Castillo - Fedruckers
Phobos - Flanario's Room
TItan - Small Park, Top of Black Run

Did you find them all? There's still time for you to go and check them out - the decorations will stay up until the weekend.


NEW YEAR FIREWORKS

Finally, returning to real life for a moment, as the New Year swept across the globe timezone by timezone, celebrations and fireworks rang out. The BBC has put together a great video showing the fireworks from Sydney to New York. Go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7165810.stm and click on the link to watch the video.

And speaking of timezones, Fed players were celebrating the new year from A to Z - with the player in the earliest timezone being Arlene, and in the latest being Zardoz. Just one of those weird coincidences!


That's the end of this bulletin. Not long now until the whole crew come back to the office - remember, the Fed2 Star proper will be publishing again on Sunday, and I'll have to find another reason to spend all of my time aware from Hazed's bad temper.


Fed2 Star index Fed 2 home page