NEW VERSION OF FEDTERM ADDS LOTS OF EXTRA FEATURES

We are putting the final touches to a new version of the FedTerm front-end for Fed II, and we hope to release it on Monday or Tuesday. This will be a compulsory upgrade, which means that once the new version is released, you won't be able to use older versions of FedTerm to log into the game - you will have to download and install the new version. You can still use other front-ends, including the old Fed2Term or third party front-ends.

The reason this upgrade to FedTerm is compulsory is because the new version contains a feature that allows you to display private conversations with players in a separate window on your screen. In order to make this work, the way the game sends TB message info to FedTerm has changed, making it incompatible with previous versions of FedTerm.

Here are the details of some of the other new features in FedTerm:

Friends

Bringing back a feature that was in the old front-ends for classic Fed, Friends lets you set up a list of players who are your friends. If one of the people on your friends list logs into the game, FedTerm will put a message on the screen, and if you choose play a sound.

You can also set it to alert you when anybody of a certain rank logs on - so if you are desperate to talk to another Trader to pick their brains about futures contracts, or if you're on duty to help new players, you can use the Friends feature to alert you.

The player list can now be switched to just showing the people logged on who are on your friends list.

Stats Panel

A new panel to the left of the main output panel shows some of the information from your score - the four stats, your bank balance, and the level of whatever points are relevant to your rank. It also shows your picture - more about pictures in a moment. A bar indicates the relative level of your stamina, adding a visual reminder of when you need to eat - the bar changes color as your stam drops, going to yellow and then red. You can switch the bar so it shows the level of any of the stats.

You can switch the panel to showing your ship's stats, and the bar shows your fuel tank. Again, it can be switched to showing any of the other ship's stats, which will be useful once ship fighting is implemented.

When you go into space and land on the ground, the panel will automatically switch to showing the relevant display. You can turn the whole panel off if you prefer not to sacrifice space for the output window.

Private Messages

This is the feature that forces you to upgrade to the new version of FedTerm, but it is worth it, I promise!

When you highlight a player in the player list and right-click, the menu that comes up has a new option: Tight Beam. This opens a separate window which you use to send private messages to the selected player. You don't have to type 'TELL HAZED' - the front-end takes care of that for you - you just type in the message you want to send, and hit return. When the player replies, their message will be added to the box, so your conversation with that player stays on display, separate from all the other stuff the game is sending you.

You can still send private messages to other players using the normal 'TELL' command.

The tight beam window also displays the picture of the player you are having a private conversation with, if you have one - more about pictures below.

Pictures

The new version of FedTerm displays pictures of you, and anyone you are having a private conversation of. You can create your own picture, and swap it with your friends so they can display your picture. Already players are anticipating this and are setting up web sites to store all the players' pictures - see the next article for details of one of them. We will include some pictures with the FedTerm download - Bella, Hazed and Freya, for example - and we will also put some pictures up on the web site which you can use for your own picture, if you can't find anything yourself.

If you want to get a head start on creating a picture to use in FedTerm, then here's the technical details: the pictures are in .bmp format and should be given your character name (for example, hazed.bmp or newbod.bmp). The size is 80 x 96 (that's 80 pixels wide by 96 pixels high). That's fairly small so you may find a head-and-shoulders pic works better than a full body pic.

Bug fixes

The new version also fixes a couple of bugs, including the annoying habit FedTerm has of eating your current map if you get unexpectedly disconnected from the game!

Look out for an announcement on Monday or Tuesday, telling you when the new version is available. Meanwhile, to whet your appetite you can look at some screenshots at http://www.ibgames.net/fed2/fedterm/new.html.

Play Federation II
IBgames - We Build Worlds
http://www.ibgames.net/fed2/index.html

PICTURE STORAGE WEB SITE

PICTURE STORAGE WEB SITE
by Desertwolf

A new version of FedTerm will be released soon that includes some great new features. One of those features being the ability to include a picture of your character. Along with this is a special Tight Beam comms box that not only lets you carry on a private conversation with another player but also displays the other player's picture (but you will need that picture first).

In an attempt to avoid a rash of e-mail addys flying across the comms and possibly compromising player security, I have set up a web site with the sole purpose of storing your character's picture for anyone to view and download without the need to swap e-mails. This will allow you to look at and download a character's picture without the need for them to be online to send it to you.

You can access the site at http://www.freewebs.com/fed2storage.

If you have a character picture you would like to use and want me to include on this site, you can send it to desertwolf_kcrk@yahoo.com.

Play Federation II
IBgames - We Build Worlds
http://www.ibgames.net/fed2/index.html