The Zone (first issue from the point of view of the player)

[chuck_starchaser]

Editor's Blurb
It's been a few months since our previous issue, and it falls upon me, as editor, to apollogize.
I need not make any excuses. Our intelligent readership usually understand those words we cannot write. Suffice it to say that we are never too sure as to what we can or cannot say, or how far our next issue will "circulate", if the term makes any sense.
We have tried to present our position in a fair, open and honest way, but the fact cannot be expected to elicit appreciation from every party, every agency and bureau. We are not here to expose, nor to awaken, nor to take a position with regards to government policy towards "The Zone", but rather to give a voice to our peoples.
We ARE "here". And this is a fact the world has to deal with. We are NOT "different". We are *people*. We have jobs to do; we have families to feed.
Most people in the "official" side of the world either know nothing of our existence, or barely suspect it. Few actually know it from personal experience. Rumors circulate there about our world being chaotic or law-less...

Nothing could be further from the truth: We have no militias, no written law, no central authority... this much is true. But it is by necessity that we educe and invent ourselves and our culture. If we were to take a census of acts of violence, I am convinced we'd come out as the "more peaceful" of the two sides of the world. Our laws may not be written anywhere, but they exist in our hearts. We may not have militias, but we have citizens in abundance who are willing to take action to defend what they consider theirs. We have no need for government or taxes or bureaucracies. And there's much we can be proud of, much the "real world" can learn from us, if they dare look into The Gray Zone.


Conversations
(The following discussion took place somewhere, sometime, between two well known commentators perhaps you'll recognize (we don't))
.............................................................................................
Nameless A.
... was of the opinion that current policy discourages exploration...
Nameless B.
Just a moment, there's a distinction between exploration and development; I would agree there's a potential threat to development, but I don't see your point..
A.
Sure, it is development that drives exploration, where do you see a contradiction?
B.
I don't see a contradiction except that you are speaking as if of a direct cause-consequence relationship..
A.
You're just..
B.
No, I'm not, I'm simply pointing out that where there IS a direct cause-consequence link, it should be considered first, and here there IS, and that *direct* cause is the high demand, and low availability, of exploration equipment; --particularly of jump-point mapping computers. It used to be that there were "ways" to obtain them that were... much less "extreme", shall we say, than the present ways; and I don't want to get started on that...
A.
Well, don't. It's over anyhow. The ES no longer puts that equipment on ships; they have their hired hands return to their base for jump-point analysis, so the equipment never leaves the base...
B.
I was talking about other "extreme ways", but never mind. The equipment is getting harder to find all the time, is what matters.
A.
Couldn't we just say that IS part of what we would call "policy"?
B.
Not really; we're not speaking same agency, or even same branch of government...
A.
Who cares?
B.
Fine; I did not want to change subjects; just to make a point. But I don't see how exactly you see a mere consideration or discussing a possibility, as constituting "policy".
A.
Thank you.
I was merely paraphrasing our representative. I'm sure he meant "attitude" or "discussion" rather than "policy" but he did use the word "policy".
B.
Would you say he meant anything beyond the discussions?
A.
No, I do not believe so.
The problem with discussing retroactive taxation is that it constitutes a financial "risk" that is tangible and present. Lenders are starting to inquire on our developers' preparedness for such an eventuality; and the fact is, most aren't prepared at all, and this is driving up lending rates.
B.
That much I know, but don't you think there may be a bit of pretense on the part of lenders? Sure, at one time the ES was a believable agency, and they could take one of our systems and say "we just discovered it", mines, factories, shipyards and all. But who would believe a word of that now? I mean, what was the last time you've seen a GZ system changing status and being moved into the official maps?
A.
It does not matter whether there is an element of pretense, if the end result is higher interest...
B.
I'll tell you when: That was Pentonville. Big deal! A mining base everybody knew already. That was almost 10 years ago. Out of more than a hundred systems directly connected to the official map, one was made official in almost ten years. That would put the probabilities at 0.1% per year of any of our systems bordering the official map being "officialized", not to speak of the deeper zone. And they still call Pentonville a "Pirate Base", by the way.
A.
Well it is, in a way...
B.
Have you ever been to a real pirate base?
A.
I know what you mean, but from their point of view, where illegal commodities are...
B.
My point is that they decided to do what they did and then regretted it. And they'll probably never do it again.
A.
Okay, I'll give you that; but we were talking about interest rates. It does not matter whether..
B.
Yes it does! You, me, and my grandmother know there won't be any new officializations for the forseeable future, no taxes, and therefore no "retroactive" taxes either; and so do the lenders, and so do the borrowers, and yet rates go up as if everyone would see it the opposite way... Don't you think that's odd?
A.
... What are you driving at?
B.
What am I driving at? Let me ask you: Who are the lenders?
A.
There are many...
B.
No, I mean who are the lenders behind the lenders? Whom do the minor lenders borrow from?
A.
...
B.
And who are the "policy makers" talking about all this "retroactive" crap?
A.
How does that contradict our representative's statement on policy?
B.
Because a "trick" is a "trick", not a "policy"! Our representative's words are 'careful' almost to the point of misleading us! Naivety has never been the way of The Zone!
......................................................................................

Letters to the Editor
"The Steltek: Theory or Fact?" by E. Sandoval
Stories of "green ships" abound. Professor Monkhause has been a regular visitor to The Zone. His search for Steltek evidence being his constant preocupation. But is he going in the right directions? We conducted a survey of pirate bases throughout the Grey Zone for relics on sale. Of the 687 pieces we found, 117 seemed to match Dr Monkhouse's description of Steltek writings. Of those 117, 92 were found North of Palan, and 25 South of it. Monkhouse's excursions often go deep, but slightly South from Palan, in the direction of the galactic core. We believe he's neglected to take proper motions of stars into account. In the timeframe he puts the Steltek as having occupied this region of the galaxy, most of the stars in our sector were rotated such that the galactic core was in a more northerly direction.
We believe the Steltek were and are real. Not that we think this has any economic implications of any kind; but our corporation is always interested in hiring privateers with the right gear, to continue our quest for the Steltek, for the advancement of Science.
E. Sandoval is a Field Geologist working for Bronte Corporation, New Detroit

[spiritplumber]

I'm sold. What I will try to do is implement sub-tabs in the News section, for now, and make them callable by phyton (so that we have "news news2 news3...." etc.)

How many do you need? (One is already there, GNN/generic bulletins)

[spiritplumber]

I'm sold. What I will try to do is implement sub-tabs in the News section, for now, and make them callable by phyton (so that we have "news news2 news3...." etc.)

How many do you need? (One is already there, GNN/generic bulletins)

[chuck_starchaser]

I'm sold. What I will try to do is implement sub-tabs in the News section, for now, and make them callable by phyton (so that we have "news news2 news3...." etc.)
How many do you need? (One is already there, GNN/generic bulletins)

Allright! Well, there's about 9 or 10 magazines, and the issues might start at some random number, like 1234, say. So, "once a month" (actually determined by whether the player has got to particular points in the story) a new issue of a magazine appears in stores.
Check my conversations with dandandaman in the Magazine poll thread.
My last suggestion to him, which was almost identical to his last suggestion, would be a button between News and Info: Mags.
So, you click on Mags and you see whether there are any new issues of any mags, and if there are, and you want to buy them you buy them.
Problem is, if you already "have" a magazine, you don't want to buy it again, so dan was talking about making a little personal inventory. I think this would be a good feature, with many other possible uses.
Anyhow, when you'd have un-bought mags on the left in green, bought mags on the right, representing your inventory.
Now click on a mag in the inventory and it opens another screen, like the news screen, where you can scroll through the whole mag.
Of course, we'll need a screen of like a magazine store, and another of like a roll of some kind of white paper or plastic to put the text on top. I'll do those.

[klauss]

@spirit: best way to do the tabs, is to derive them from the headline: just like cargo categories: everything before a slash is the "folder", and everything after is the actual headline. When there's no slash, it's all headline. Like:

Privateer helps the cause in Troy... <- normal headline
The Zone/Issue 1 <- headline="Issue 1", tag="The Zone"

Simple as hell, and you don't have to change the python interface.