Avito from [Intergate](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://intergate.dyndns.com/) has just released his source code for the Fusion GS System. All you Linux fools can now start partying. You can get it at [https://intergate.dyndns.com/cgi-bin/fusion.cgi](https://web.archive.org/web/20000000000000*/https://intergate.dyndns.com/cgi-bin/fusion.cgi)

**Trade Wars 2002 Bugs** **Door/TWGS Version** Version 3.11.19 -- Decloak a player...Log on as the player you want to decloak, enter the desired game, type "T" to enter that game, either view the logs or skip them, and when it asks for a password, enter nothing!, just drop carrier. This also works to eject players from a citadel. Version 3.11.18 -- Get a complete list of all class 0 ports, stardock, ferengal home sector and more info about the game on a TWGS. Log on as the player, enter the desired game, on the game prompt, type "*" instead of the normal "t" to get all the information. Get two accounts, we'll call them the Master and Dupe. Have the Dupe take all the Master's credits, then have the Master take it back. Have the Dupe DROP CARRIER (just end the game, don't try and exit normally). Relog with the Dupe, and have the Master take the Dupe's credits again. You'll find the Master account taking money the Dupe doesn't actually have! Have the Dupe take the Master's money, then the Master take the Dupe's and drop carrier.. repeat. Note that the accounts must be taking the money from each other, if you try and give it to each other the bug will not work. Version 3.11.All (MBBS Mode) The MegaRob is a bug that works by allowing you to rob many more credits than your experience would normally allow for. This is caused by a byte overrun, and robbing in the range from 3,376,800 and 6,553,500 is about 90% safe regardless of your experience. Version 3.08 You can log into one account twice to have twice as much. Start two connections to a TWGS game and log into it with the same account and password. Slowly, prompt by prompt, move through the daily logs, computer messages ect. with both connections, alternating between the two until you are one prompt from entering the game with both connects. Then, as fast as you can, press enter in both. This suddenly creates two of the same player in identical ships, in which you can cause an array of damage. Version 3.05 Check in your version if you got any 65k exp aliens. They have 65,000 corbo on them. Capture the ship and sell it for 60 million...OR..get yourself blown up and gain up to 30,000 experience points. Bug posted by Pestilence at the TW Forum. Updated and verified by Micro. Version 3.01-3.04 This bug allows you to sell fighters on a ship that no longer exist. Go to Stardock with a fully-loaded ship (preferrably a IC, CF or ISS), have a corp member lock on the fighters and prepare for a transfer, stopping just short of pressing the final "enter". Land on the Stardock, sell the ship and start to buy a new one. Right before you press "c" or "p" to claim the new ship corp or personal, have your corpmate press that last enter. Now he has all the fighters from the original ship and you still have all the money from the sale. POP bug. Land on you planet and leave *512* holds of colonists. Regardless of what you have in your holds, this will work (3.04) Bugs posted by Bradley Hazelton at the TW Forum. Verified by both Micro and Bradley. **Major BBS Version** I do not claim to know all the bugs existing for Tradewars. I am not a big fan of bugs, but I also believe that if they are out there then everyone has a right to know what they are. Hardworking players are often defeated by some idiot with a secret. Here is your chance to know if you're playing in a game with bugs. If you know any bugs that I don't, email me. ALL VERSIONS The MegaRob is a bug that works by allowing you to rob many more credits than your experience would normally allow for. This is caused by a byte overrun, and robbing somewhere in the range from 3,500,000 and 6,500,000. Specific specs are not yet available. Version 2.03 (updated) This version of TW will often forget which ports you have upgraded. It is quite discouraging to spend millions on upgrading ports only to see it get 100% at 3000 units instead of the 32000 units you spent credits for. Attacking unmanned ships at Stardock can cause the TW database to become damaged beyond repair. It is highly recommended that the sysop or gameop makes a rule against this. This bug is due to a player who may be selling a ship at the same time another player attacks it. Version 2.03 I studied a way which is ALMOST safe to do the 2.03 bug.. you must ....go into the sector, get all the figs, land on a planet (in that sect), raise, deploy the fighter and type -=PW. Should work this way, otherwise you might crash the database (and subsequently the game and BBS). Double your fighters. Deploy all your fighters, access the global to change your password (from within the game of course) and watch your line crash. When you relog your ship will still have the same amount of fighters that you had just deployed, thus doubling them. Bug might work with other globals, but I have not tested it. Before version P Two players (corpmate or not, doesn't matter) sit in the same sector. One player with no fighters presses "F" then "0" (zero), but not enter... The other player dumps all his fighters into the sector, then the first player finally presses enter. This will allow the first player to pick all the fighters in the sector, his or not, and no matter how many there are. If the first player has a scout, and the second player has a fully loaded ISS, then you would have a scout with 50,000 fighters as a result. Version P and all previous versions This is about the same as the one above, except this will allow you to pick up someone else's fighters regardless if they want you to or not. Two corpmates sit in sector A. The first player does the "F","0", but again doesn't press enter. The other player, preferably an ISS, locks his tow onto the first player. Then proceeds to fire a photon missle into sector B (where the enemie's fighters are located) and tow the first player in. Once in sector B, the first player presses enter and now has another player's fighters in his possession. This also works for Ferrengal fighters as well, and is especially nice if the ferrengi have some 1 billion of them. More Version P and prior bugs Trade a port until it's almost zero then upgrade the products you want to retrade. Attack the port with 10 fighters and it will be back to 100% in the categories you upgraded. (Nice on those 14+day regeneration cycles) This bug allows you to sell fighters on a ship that no longer exist. Go to Stardock with a fully-loaded ship (preferrably a IC, CF or ISS), have a corp member lock on the fighters and prepare for a transfer, stopping just short of pressing the final "enter". Land on the Stardock, sell the ship and start to buy a new one. Right before you press "c" or "p" to claim the new ship corp or personal, have your corpmate press that last enter. Now he has all the fighters from the original ship and you still have all the money from the sale. Deploy genesis torps, mines and fighters in fedspace. Simply start a deployment or launch, and right before you press the last enter have someone tow you in fedspace. Now press enter to deploy. Get instant upgrades on ports. When a new port is created and there is no ship registered as having ever docked, you can upgrade and get instant gratification. If the new, undocked port is at 100%, upgrade it and now you will have 100% of the new amount. Example 100% of 1000 becomes 100% of 32,000 after upgrade. Special Thanks to The Hippy Slayer for testing the bugs. It's greatly appreciated. **WARNING** if you exit the game with an overloaded ship, when you reenter the game will FIX your ship for you, removing all excess fighters. Yet More Version P and prior bugs Required two players. One ports at a normal port and pulls up the attack menu. The second tow's him to the sdock sector. Player one then attacks, and BOOM its gone. I only post this as many fixes for free can be downloaded from the web. Thanks to the post by Hosem on the TW Forums. Version 2.01 1st lock on to attack of a lesser port (perhaps one right outside of stardock or the class 0) the port defense rating will be lets say 100 (which is high) 2nd have a corpie lock his tractor beam onto your ship 3rd have your corpie tow you into stardock or the class 0 port 4th complete your attack (thus you are attackin g a port with a defence rating of 100 (or whatever the original ports defense rating) instead of the 999 that stardock and class 0's carry 5th stardock or class 0 ports go boom Version 2.01a This is called the Havoc bug. Go to Stardock, buy a havoc with a Type-1 transwarp drive, then go to the ship yards and sell it. The shipyards will pay you for a type-2 transwarp drive, and you will make 20,000 credits from the deal. This takes no turns and is a limitless supply of money. The SSRet Versions prior to 2.02 This is sort of a funny subject. This really isn't a bug, but more of a way to take advantage of the game's programming. Simply put, this is better than the SST. Here is how you use it. Find two ports buying equipment that are next to each other. Have a friend deploy fighters in both sectors, preferrably 1 on toll. Then get in a coltrans, sell, steal, EXIT THE GAME, reenter and retreat. And repeat. This will allow you to bump between two ports using only 4 turns per cycle rather than 6 as with the SST. Try it out. I have a script for the SSRet, available upon request ONLY! Running over Interdictors (all versions known) I don't know if this is really a bug or not, but it seems that level 6 planets have trouble holding any ship when there is a photon being used. Fire a photon, and move into the sector with your ship, then move right on over it and into the next sector. You need quite a long photon duration for this. Special thanks to Crazyboy for the bug shown above, and to Temujin for revising it.

Tradewar.org's Stories Attached are three txt files containing the poetic trilogy of the saga of Valhalya ala Willie. It is the story of three games in which a fellow by the name of Willie was battled by a team of older players on The Canton Connection BBS's galacticom version of Tradewars 2002. I submit these for posting in your stories section. (These games took place in the first half of 1996.) The Ballad of [Valhalya](mailto:dmorgan@cannet.com) ala Willie 'Twas the eve of the Eve Of the Day of St. Pat, When the great conflagration Killed Willie the gnat. Will said they were warriors... Turned out more like fleas... Slick Willie found out Old farts sting like bees. The moths they went flitting To most certain doom, Yet opened the sector To be Willie's tomb. His cannon proved useless, His fighters a wreck, One crazed Navigator Was the PAIN in Will's neck. He'd already suffered The bite of our snake, So we gave him a Wedgie To seal his heartbreak. The finale came slowly As that shithead Buck Evicted Will's ships And shot them like ducks. His planet now wasted, His warriors not safe, Not even Newt Gingrich Would care for this waif. All that was left Was to mine the remains So Medusa and $^%)(8^$^~!` Could build their domains. 'Tis a story made sadder Because it is true: Will's impulsiveness brought This day he would rue. I tell you, brave traders, Take it slow and do scans, Or you, like dead Willie, Will just sit on your hands! [ Part 3: "Attached Text" ] The Ballad of Valhalya ala Willie The Sequel Game Two began Much like Game One, Only Willie made sure Irish joined his fun. Two more Will recruited To second-class station: Good enough for Will's bidding But could not join his nation. Willie used these two -- Arctic and DJay To do Will's dirt By night and by day. Too bad they had not Enough nerve to stop it. But one cannot expect more Of merely a puppet. Soon clone after clone Appeared in Will's sky. He was right now certain Old Farts would die. Willie had a plan He had bragged one day. And he was THE MAN, In every way. The Old Farts, now stronger, Awaited this scourge Knowing full well Willie danced their dirge. They watched in amazement And with open eye As Will and the clones Astro-bated in the sky. Some clones got a warning Of danger impending: Accounts would be frozen; Their fun would be ending. So will changed his tactics, And placed all his assets In accounts that he paid for --- His own Easter baskets. Then came the attacks That sent Old farts reeling. Will shouted he'd killed them And bounced off his ceiling! Indeed, it looked dismal For more than a week As Old Farts gazed out Somewhat dazed and most bleak. Will next took Alliance And gave them a fright. O'er all of the sky Will appeared like a blight. Still, the Old Farts knew It would only take time Before Will and the clones Crossed over that line. The "step" it would take Would be one too far. Will's fatal errors Would end this war. Will thought his foes Had shot their wad, So made his password UPYOURS, by God! But once again That shithead Buck Relied on thinking More than luck. Buck bribed a Trader, Grimy and old, To get Will's word And act swift and bold. Buck ran his idea Past C.E.O. Luke Who said he thought sure Little Willie would puke. Karlovy and Minnie would wait Right outside While only two real folks Turned Willie's tide. Buck joined Will's corp And took Will's stuff. Then he and Hajduk Called Will's bluff. Willie fumed and fussed And called them all cheats, But the marks on Will's back Came from Irish cleats. For lo, his partner Had done Will in. Another stupid move Brought Will down again. Little boys with brains Smaller than their balls Wrote things they shouldn't On underground walls. "It won't happen." Willie once had said. "Never take my planet," Stated Will....now dead. Old Farts took his planets --- Not just one, but three --- And laughed at Will As he began his pleas: "Make sure we reset On May first Or even sooner Before I get the worst." It's funny how Just the day before Willie moved his stuff Though, he said, 'twas a bore. Said he'd lost all interest In the present game. He claimed he'd won, Master was his name. He got a reminder Of revelry premature When those Old Farts Took it ALL....fersure! Young Willie and clones Had moved fast and each hour. They'd come on strong Never thinking they'd sour. The Old Farts moved slower And took several hits, But their staying power Really gave Willie fits. And so, brave traders, This truth still rings: It ain't close to over 'Til the fat lady sings! Part III: The Ballad of Valhalya ala Willie Completion of the Trilogy Game Three was no game Just merely a lark To bring light to Will Get him out of the dark. You see, he'd been making Four million a day Astro-bating with Irish Every step of the way. Unlimited funds were the way He would beat them. He played a bug..... To win, he would cheat them! Will lied to his buds, Said he didn't make money, Just did it for points, Though most thought it funny..... That day after day Will and Irish had at it --- Two buggers at play, Never thinking we'd get it. Meanwhile in the sky, The game opened to Kat, Scarcely more than Will's clone If she even was that. Kat flew around blind Just killing off fighters. In forums she raved! It was fun to ignite her. She could not imagine How her boys could be beat. Do you think she knew They did nothing but cheat? NurseNancy or Sunshine, Whatever her name, Confused the boys As they searched the game..... Trying to find her, Though she wasn't there. She just sat at the menu And got in their hair. Most of the folks Were tiring of Will. Even Chaos the Sysop Had told him to chill. But Will kept it up..... Gosh, what a man! He just played with Irish And then washed his hand. Will thought he'd catch Old Farts Sooner or later. Instead he showed he was TWar's great Astro-bater. Two boys and the sidekick named Kat.....Oh WOW! They also had lawyers --- Dewey, Cheetam, and Howe. Will threatened a lawsuit If given limited play. Some offered Will money If HE'd go away. Poor Willie was doomed When he cheated to win. In the game TWar Rummy, T C C just said "Gin!" The bug has been fixed And the rules make it plain..... No buggers allowed. Will can't do it again. Now he'll have to play If he has the nerve. While Will Astro-bated, Others sharpened their verve. Remember, brave traders, It's only a game. Have fun, and enjoy, For to cheat is your shame! David dmorgan@cannet.com

The Conquest of Fament By: Lord Chaos Throughout history, conquerors have been the chroniclers. As the only literate person on the Black Knights, it has fallen to me to put finger to keyboard and generate electronic representations of letters, or more colloquially, to put cyber-pen to cyber-paper. The following is a true account of the Black Knight’s rise to dominance. NOT SO LONG AGO, ON A BBS FAR, FAR AWAY!!! On the far off desert planet of Maverooine, a lone farm boy was contemplating vaperators, and joining the Academy to become a fighter pilot like the father who had abandoned him so many years ago, one Captain Zyrain. His name was Maverick, and his one trustworthy companion and friend on that planet was none other than Artemis, who some considered a vile peddler of smut, but who was actually a simple hedonist supporting a porn addiction. Hiring a seedy smuggler named Captncaveman, a mutant with enormous tufts of hair and a gift for foul-language, the duo escaped their desolation and set off on a journey that would lead them to high adventure. Unbeknownst to this small group, on another planet, at the other side of the Galaxy were a trio of people who were idealists at heart but wore the mask of cynicism. They were members of a secret, covert, clandestine operation (shhhh…) meant to overthrow the reigning corporate structures, a vile conglomeration known as the Killbillies and Cementpond. This small strike force had managed to steal plans to an awesome battlestation these two corps, commonly known as Conglomerate, were constructing in low orbit around a moon that circled a planet in a system whose sector numbers cannot be posted due to ethical and legal difficulties. These brave souls held the names Dax the Hammer (known for his dancing abilities), Dstorm the Hauler (able to lift large things by the single pound), and Lord Chaos the Stealer (who later changed his name to escape a large bounty placed on his head by the deceitful Bajja the Ttuh but then changed it back because of peer pressure). All they needed was the manpower and dedication to make use of the hard-earned data. That these two seeming disparate groups of people would join together in an attempt to free the universe seemed to be an impossible dream. Yea, and soon after combining their meager resources, the evil, rash, ill-tempered, sadistic, genocidal, patricidal, fratricidal, take-the-last-freezie-pop-sort- a-people…well, mean Conglomerate launched an offensive, scattering the newly formed Black Knights to the stellar winds. Not soon after, the aggressive Captncaveman met his doom in a battle against some thirty other people, 29 of whom he dispatched before succumbing. Was there no hope? Could there be a New Hope? Keeping these questions at the forefront of their minds, our brave heroes persevered, suffering scheduling difficulties, alignment difficulties, personality difficulties, non-appreciative CEO difficulties…until they met a young man who, while a child on the far flung planet of Dangit, had heard about the glorious feats the Black Knights had accomplished, and chose to take their name, honoring them with his very being. Thus it was that Black Knight one dark and seemingly dismal day fulfilled a life-long dream and joined the valiant corporation. And yea the merchant freighters began to stream in, supporting the superhuman stealing efforts of Maverick, Artemis, and Lord Chaos, now called Goose but only temporarily. The word was money and the money was good. But did our saintly, nigh-perfect twarriors indulge in decadence and depravity with their newfound wealth? Of course they did, but they also kept their sights on the goal. Victory, and freedom for all! Yet still the setbacks came like a dam bursting forth. A sinister, amoral, make-comments-about-a-person’s-mother- type corporation, with members named for planets discovered early in man’s flight to the stars, continually pummeled the non-self-aggrandizing Black Knights, harassing other innocent corporations, forcing a once proud group known as the Jamrock Posse to seek shelter under the Conglomerate’s leathery wing. These rogues, thank The Everly Brothers and/or the Right Brothers (whichever one wrote "You Lost That Loving Feeling"), mercifully did not limit their onslaught to the brave resistance fighters, and equally disrupted the Conglomerate’s normal operations until one day…they just disappeared. Where did they go? Some say they had made enough money to buy a planet at the Galaxy’s edge, and now live the lives of quiet farmers, tending to livestock and feeding horses. We may never know. A lull seemed to suddenly settle over the Galaxy, and attention was then paid to the various warring alien factions, the Gorn, the Arachnid, and the forever-annoying Ferrengi. Stardock itself changed hands. Traders did well to keep to their bubbles, not straying too far outside their known space. Among those who survived these trying and desperate times was the infamous, yet disturbingly non-aggressive Zoobar, from the nomadic tribe the Rogue Nation, and Adomma, fearless leader of a rag tag group of…well, you know that story. The Black Knights took this time to marshal their forces, waiting for the right time to strike. And then the day came… The Black Knights received word that Grannie herself would be stepping foot on the battlestation, and that a well planned, if horribly executed, strike may well end the Conglomerate’s hold over the universe forever. The Black Knights assembled. Their faces were grave with knowledge of this all or nothing effort they were about to put forth. Unafraid, they dove into the fray. At first it was just Red Squadron, then Black Knight arrived, as though plucked exactly from "Sorry-I-Over-Slept," a little known area of hyperspace. Taking losses equivalent to what they expected, indeed, what they planned for, the former underdogs managed to rip a hole down the body of the Conglomerate. And inside the carcass, they found the twisted remains of the Jamrock Posse, whom they quickly and compassionately disposed of with post-haste and speed. Ascendancy was at hand. Now our group only need reestablish order among the few remaining groups left to secure a balance, to restore order, to bring freedom to a once oppressed universe. Zoobar remained as the one and only hold-out, seeking to subvert glory and good-taste by resisting the Black Knights, taunting them with his very presence. What were our heroes to do? Their resources low, spirits spent, they managed to reach down and grasp that very last bit of motivation and strength, and, indeed, rallied to eliminate the last and only threat. Zoobar was dead. A silly ewok song played across cyberspace. Digest Version, Compiled from the Chaos History, XXMNXMNIIIVII Just kidding, folks. A great game, and we Black Knights bow humbly to Cruncher, Jake, Macahan, Queen, Hobbs, Renegade, Talara, Jfk, Jason, Bob Hovey, Havok, Bladerunner, Taipan, Snakey, Zoobar, and everyone else in the game. That was a lot of fun! Any resemblance or similarities with any productions associated with Lucas Arts, or Lucas Art’s productions is purely coincidental. The names and characters of those involved have not been changed because the families involved probably won’t read this.

The Real Saluki: "here's the team for TW2000, me, (darkhawk), mana knight, EleqTrizi'T. God of programming, god of bandwidth, god of news, self-proclaimed god of tw" Eleq: "I once got a blow job while playing TW. That has to rank in the top 5 for sure!" Barnhill: "IP MASK ARMED" Theguru: "The Early dupe gets the worm." The Real Saluki: "Just when you thought ren was the biggest asshole, here comes Nik." Eleq's Ego: "check out this quote from one of the link pages.....Home Sector - Home Of TW2002 Legend EleqTrizi'T" Eleq: "I read an earlier post about Evolution being in Canada. So I guess the name is sort of ridiculous." EleqTrizi'T: "WHAT FRAMES?!?! YOU?!?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA" Micro: "hey, i didn't know you moved *smile*" Hekate: "ohohoh.....Gypsy stole my title!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm gonna SUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Snake: "I GOT CODINE AND IT ROCKS" Nik: "HVS suxs, Microsoft suxs, and Attac suxs" Hosem: "If Roy Rogers is dead, who will make my hamburger?" Gypsy to EleqTrizi'T: "You should master an easy program language first....like, ummmm...HTML." Gypsy to EleqTrizi'T: "is that how you come up with those sucky ass grafix, drink another beer till it looks good?"

Tradewars.org Stories - Murphy's Law Introduction: This story basically proves the point that no matter how crafty you are, Murphy's law can STILL screw you over. BackGround: This was the last game I played with Snake, and consiquently, the last BBS TW game I played. This was between two corps, Snake and I as #1, and Road Runner, Cyan Dragon, Hulk, and someone else (Xerces I think) as #2. We had beaten this corp before, even though they had twice the manpower. The Story: Fairly normal settings. We basically went around looking for a good base at first. Lo and Behold, A six sector dead end was found! (Back in the day, these were rare, and bubbles wern’t widely used.) At the end our last game, Snake figured out how to colonize Volcanic classes without losing a large chunk of the populaton in the process. Armed with this ability, there would now be none that would stand before us! Or so we thought. We quickly started two volcanics at the end of the dead-end. Then, I got the great Idea of filling the tunnel up with Nav-haz so that anyone attempting to get through would have to pay dearly for it. So 5 sectors were filled with 100% navhaz, 250 mines, and a few fighters to keep those pesky E-probes out. Every once in a while, Hulk would start heading down the tunnel, but turned back half-way through. Most Likely because he ran out of shields and fighters. So how was Corp #2 doing? While I was out making money, Snake was colonizing and scouting for their bases. Time and Time again, we caught them as they were getting their planets set up. Usually, just as they had finished their Level 1's, or right before the Level 2's finished, setting them back the few days that we needed. Finally, we had gotten somewhere! We had three planets going strong in our tunnel. 1 M class at level 2, and 2 volcanics at level 4 and 3. Unfortunatelly, Murphy's Law struck the first blow to us. I stayed on one of the planets overnight with one of Road Runner's (Roady for short) limpets on me! DOH! Roady swept through our tunnel to get a look at our planets, (The Official quote from Roady was, "Nav-haz, mines, and more damn Nav-haz!" :) but he didn't make an attack off hand. Checking the V screen, we concluded that between three planets, they could easily take one. We then consolidated into the M class and the Level 4 Volcanic and got rid of the third planet. We moved them to a quick hide-away, a small 2 sector tunnel. Murphy's Law then again decided to hit for a double header! Snake blind transwarped accidentaly and lost about 40k fighters! With this loss, we knew we couldn't hold even 1 planets against corp 2. We consolidated more, and destroyed the M class. To top it off, Snake had done some expeimenting with planetary trading. The problem was that I had only started to come up with the idea of upgrading ports. As a result, there was almost no fuel ore on the planet. Roady found our now level 5 but-no-fuel-ore planet, and promptly invaded. SOMEHOW, Snake convinced Roady to destroy the planet instead of taking it. How he did It, I have no idea... But the battle was not yet over for our heros. Taking a well known strategy from WarCraft 2, we decided to start building planets again in our OLD 6 sector tunnel! Instead of re-building the nav-haz in the tunnel, we decided to leave it as it was so that they wouldn't think we were still there. It worked for a while, Hulk came in a few times only to leave half way through the tunnel. But Roady eventually came through the entire tunnel and blew up our planets. Thus, our heros were finally defeated, and the Snake Saga came to a close. Overall, this was the most enjoyable game I ever played, and stands out the most in my mind. The point of this story is that Murphy's Law always finds a way to screw everyone over sooner or later. :)

**Inductee #1: Librarian, Majornet Moderator** What was Happening: Majornet, an interBBS network for MBBS systems, was always a place where players could talk about diffrent strategies, new games, or Tradewars in general. Many players chose this network over the Tradewars Forum. Franz (A.K.A. Librarian) was one of the two forum Moderators left for Majornet. What the Hell Went Wrong? While there are no doubt that there will always be arguments, one person in particular (Who will remain anonymous) did nothing but flame people in the forum and call them various names. When Jake brought this person to Librarian's attention, he didn't ban him from Majornet as one might think. Instead, Librarian started spamming the tradewars forum with the Marjornet rules. (It seems that Libraian didn't even read the tradewars forum before the incident.) Many people made posts responding to Librarian asking him to stop spamming, but Librarian singled out Kurt's Spirit (Who was posting from Fament) for unknown reasons and asked Jake to remove his Majornet access. Jake refused, and Librarian took away Fament's feed to Majornet for 30 days. Later, Gypsy posted his views about the ordeal from azi.com, and Azi also lost their access for 30 days. Banning someone for voicing their opinions against the moderator? Looks like your doing a great job librarian. Keep up the Red Star work. While both Azi and Fament now have their access back, the Tradewars majornet Forum has taken a heavy toll for it. Unfortunatelly, the Traffic in the Majornet TW forum has dropped, and I doubt it will regain it's former popularity anytime soon. **Inductee #2: High Velocity Software** What was supposed to Happen: At this point in time, the internet was just starting to take over, and more and more local BBSes were shutting down in favor of ISPs and the larger multi-node MBBS Systems. Since the Door version of TW didn't support Multi-player, Martech was looking for someone willing to make a port of Tradewars that had Multi-player support, and worked with MBBS, which almost all multi-node BBSes were running. HVS was eventually given this job, and it looked like Tradewars was about to enter a new era. What the Hell Went Wrong? This should have been a no-brainer for HVS. One has to wonder if they had a special department who's only job was to figure out (As Next Generation puts it) how to steal Defeat from the Jaws of Victory. As most of you have played the MBBS version of Tradewars, you're probably very aware of the problems. Almost every release (If not EVERY Release) had at least one bug which could screw up the entire game if only one or two people used it. The Bugs ranged from Infinite Credits, to an easy way to destroy StarDock. My personal take on this, I have to wonder if HVS ever even did slight testing for bugs. In one version of MBBS TW, when selling a ship with a TWARP-1, the computer automaticaly assumed that it was a TWARP-2 instead, and allow you to make infinate credits. How hard would it be to spot that bug?!?!? The main reason HVS was chosen for this port was because they had an extensive background in MBBS Software Development. Martech didn't have any. This gives no excuse, not that there is ever an excuse, to have constant buggy releases. HVS also waisted their time with features nobody ever asked for such as the ability to turn SST off. Add a questionable cost, (Although in their defence, the price would be justified if we didn't get half-a**ed releases.) there's little doubt that more than a few people have left Tradewars after losing months of work to a bug user. Now that TWGS is out, we can finally expect some great releases to look forward to. **Former Inductee: Rippers BBS** What was supposed to Happen: or a Year or two, Rippers had fallen out of the TW BBS race. Larry Drum's BBS had Turned more into a local ISP and as a result, less of Larry's time was dedicated to TW. But, Rippers was sold off to another ISP, and with a lot of freeded up time, Larry was ready to Rumble. With Stardock having been down for more than a year, it was ripe for another Free TW BBS to come into the scene, and was even asked to join the TW WebRing. hat the Hell Went Wrong? ote: (2/2/99) Rippers has reorganized itself and made some changes, so it is no longer an "official" Hall of Shame inductee," but it will remain here as a reminder of what to be carefull of when appointing a staff for a bbs. Help them out in rebuilding their tradewars games! Unfortunatelly, During the First game, one of Ripper's Game Moderators was found using T-Edit to create funds for his Corporation. After this information came to light, Rippers was removed from the TW Web Ring. While some will argue that this was an honest mistake, another Rippers sysop was found cheating AGAIN, in the next Tradewars game! The First Sysop cheating should have told Larry that the Rippers staff needed some reorganization. However, it looks like Ripper's reputation may be tarnished beyond repair.

If you're in need of a team for VDM, please e-mail Babsy, the main coordinator of the VDM. She will be putting all the singles together into teams for the tournament.

After some light testing at home, I have so far reched this conclusion as to why it is harder to steal in the door compared to the MBBS version. The door apparently requires you to divide your experience by 30 to find the amount of holds you can safely steal, rather than 20 like the MBBS version. This leads me to believe that while it may take longer to get the required experience, the amount of money you will make will be greater since the number of busts overall will be lower.

A new helper called BattleBridge has been released! While this new helper doesn't have many features yet, it is currently only *8k*! An OS/2 Version (Whoo-hoo!) of BattleBridge is available upon requent. BattleBridge Homepage