[We were unable to take good quality screenshots. However all nine game saves (AP5_FETG.ZIP) are available from 42BBS and it's web site html://www.fffnet.demon.co.uk or send a disk with stamped address envelope to the usual address. Ed]
Some of you might remember me from last time as a Lieutenant in the Frontier Academy for Advanced Pilots. Well since then the Federation and I had a little disagreement over a one way trip to the Empire's main naval base and so they dispensed with my services but thanks to a large payment for my last mission I have gone into business for myself as a tour guide. So now I have a brand new Viper full of the very latest nanotechnology money can buy sitting on the launch pad at Olympus Village. Now you are all aboard and signed all the required legal forms about me not being responsible for your safety it's off to our first planet in this tour of the stranger parts of the galaxy.
[SAVE1] Starting from Earth, the birth world of humankind and the Federation's administrative centre it's only a short jump to Arcturus in sector -2,0. Living on Discovery, the systems only Earth-like planet can be very unnerving for tourists due to the planets peculiar orbit and the constant red glow from the systems red giant. So unnerving in fact that many people go quiet mad within two weeks of landing so we better leave before then for the next world on our itinerary.
From Arcturus it's a large 34.62ly jump to the planet Capitol in the Andceeth system in sector -5,2. Andceeth was the main banking centre for the entire Federation before the Universal Bulletin Board was set up but since then it's declined in to a backwater trading planet. The only redeeming feature it has for this tour is that due to it's disputed status between the Federation and the Empire the systems many spaceports are cosmopolitan places frequented by many of the different peoples of the known galaxy from the goldskins of Bedaho to the veracious capitalists of Achenar. Pausing only to check that no property has been stolen by the locals we hyperjump the 13.23ly's to the Exlagre system.
[SAVE2] Exlagre is in sector -5,3 so it's quiet distant from Earth and sparsely populated but due to it's many stars and sub-stellar objects and especially for the high proportion of white dwarfs it has earned the rare accolade of being one of the few Sites of Special Scientific Interest that lay within most ships range. The main star is a large class F which periodically ejects large masses of plasma matter into the surrounding space which is then accelerated and bent around a complex orbit by the intense gravitational and magnetic fields generated by the systems three white dwarfs. These energetic blobs of matter after traversing billions of kilometres finally fall into the huge accretion disks that feed the dwarfs at close to two thirds the speed of light. A skilled pilot with a fuel scoop can trail behind these blobs and collect a cargo bay full of hydrogen in a matter of milliseconds which makes this star system a popular refueling stop for passing deep space survey vessels before they leave the core systems.
25.24ly's away from Exlagre lies the Andbephi system. Andbephi is a pretty nondescript sextuple star system except that it's the first in a chain of systems dominated by large white primaries interspersed with mining colonies. From there it's a 21.63ly jump to Mizar, another system dominated by a large white star and then less then 0.5ly's to Alcor. Mizar and Alcor are very similar to each other, both of which are binary systems consisting of a large whitish primary and a white dwarf secondary star also both are good systems for asteroid mining. It's been proposed that all four stars were once part of the same system hundreds of millions of years ago but now have drifted apart due to gravitational interactions.
[SAVE3] From Alcor it's less then a 6ly jump to the Alioth system in sector 0,4. Although Alioth is officially a disputed system it has a permanent petition to become a Federation protectorate because of the atrocious way the population were treated while the Empire were terraforming the main colony of New California. Alioth is particularly interesting for tourists and traders alike because the central giant star is one of the most spectacular for light years around with it's iridescent clouds of ionised hydrogen and beryllium floating in it's upper atmosphere and thanks to the number of gas giants there's a huge and highly advanced plastics industry based in this system which makes it an excellent centre for trade.
[SAVE4] With a hyperjump of 13.39ly's we arrive at the Phekda system. Phekda has something for everyone with the tourists flocking to the many exotic bars and nightclubs where anything can be had for the right price due to the systems lax laws. This then attracts space pirates from light years around who after paying a fee to the planets governors are left alone to prey on the cruise liners. With all this lawlessness bounty hunters soon arrive on the scene relishing the opportunity to improve their combat ranking and make a quick profit, the best of which are often hired by tour companies to ride 'shot-gun' for liners. Periodically mini-wars escalate between the pirates and bounty hunters which clear the entire system out of combatants in a blaze of violence and then it starts all over again. During these instabilities the only true winners are the permanent inhabitants of this system who collect a fortune in 'taxes' from pirate and tourist alike which is then reinvested in many small industries which are common here but illegal in other systems for being too polluting.
From Phekda we head to Merak in sector 3,5. This mining system has little of interest for us except that it is the last in the chain of large white star systems. Jumping 10.25ly's from Merak we reach Capella in sector 4,4. Capella is a lightly populated system dominated by a red giant star but there's enough hydrocarbons in the many gaseous planets to keep the permanent mining settlements on the rocky moons of Capella 1 going for the foreseeable future. A quick hyperjump later and we are in the extremely dangerous Liaedin system which truly lives up to it's disputed status due mainly to the fact that the two ruling families are continually in a state of civil war with each other, with one family supported by the Federation and the other by the Empire. Despite this and the added problems of pirates this system is a excellent place to purchase gems and precious metals due to the novel extraction techniques used.
Quickly passing through the Pollux star system we come to Castor which are both members of the constellation Gemini (The Twins). Castor in sector 5,2 is a sextuple system made up from a collection of white, yellow and white dwarf stars in a complex system of concentrically orbiting binaries. Castor's only claim to fame is a large carbon dioxide gas cloud which every 15 years when the stars reach certain positions in their orbits radiates the ultraviolet light falling on it from the systems three white dwarfs as a coherent pulse of longer wavelength radiation much like a laser.
[SAVE5] From Castor we jump 22.76ly's to the binary system Regulus in sector 5,-1 to refuel at one of the two very large gas giants and then onto Sophilia. The Sophilia system in sector 3,-1 may look insubstantial at first sight but it is in fact the main trading centre for all the nearby systems. As such the spaceports are very busy places with many ships from distant parts of the Federation, Empire and the Independent Worlds coming to trade here. After a week of relaxation in the Sophilia system we start on our first return journey back to the core systems with a 26.37ly jump to Beta Hydri. Beta Hydri is one of the founding members of the Federation and so is one of the oldest inhabited systems outside Sol. The worlds of the Beta Hydri system are the model of a perfectly democratically run civilisation with a thriving trade in luxury goods where many pieces of beautiful metalwork and jewellery can be purchased for reasonable prices.
[SAVE6] Heading out of the core systems again we arrive at Wolf 630. This sextuple system is of interest to agrobiologist and astrophysicists alike because Landfall, the only planet in the system is situated in such a position as to be in continual light from one or another of the six stars. Which is a good thing because Landfall is an agricultural community and the near constant light is perfect for rapid plant growth. Leaving Wolf 630 it's only a 14.89ly jump to the Cemiess system on the edge of the Empire. Cemiess is a curious system partly due to the lack of gas giants which were thought to be stripped away many thousands of years ago by a close encounter with another star. Another curious feature of Cemiess is that it is the only Imperial system where slavery is illegal and gems are sold on the black market for a minus value.
[SAVE7] After buying a cargo bay full of jewellery for an healthy profit we move on to the Ackcanphi system in sector -4,-4, 26.81ly's from Cemiess. Although classed as a disputed system there is very little violence and only the odd pirate raid, some say this is because once a person sees the many works of art housed in the system all thoughts of violence leaves their minds. Other sites to look out for are the Shan-Hooper Institute for Extraterrestrial Medicine on the water world of Biggs and the artists colony on Taylor's Claim.
The next star system on our tour is Leesti in sector -3,-6. Even though Leesti is surprisingly distant from Earth it is one of the oldest inhabited systems. This is because while the Federation was still colonising the nearby systems a group of rich industrialists bought a fleet of transport vessels and set out to find habitable systems far from the Federation's borders where they were able to set up settlements without complying with the strict Federal laws. Leesti and the nearby systems are commonly known as the Old Worlds because all were settled at roughly the same time in an area which grew up into what we know as the Independent Worlds. The Leesti system has since grown into the local trading centre supplying worlds across a dozen light years with essential mining and farming machinery.
Quince in sector -1,-5 is deep within the Empire 17.24ly's from Leesti. We must be very careful during our stay in this system because this is where the Empire gets it's best troops and the local population are very suspicious of anybody not from the Empire. So much so that even looking at a local for too long can be taken as a serious insult which is very easy to do because the inhabitants of Quince take the Empire's policies of genetic manipulation to heart. From Quince we make our way to the very heart of the Empire to Facece it's main naval base. Aswell as being home to most of the Empire's fleets and main training centre for it's troops, Facece has also got a thriving tourist industry with many museums and art galleries to visit. Even so tourists must be careful because with so many military complexs in the one system the laws and security are the most strict in the entire Empire.
[SAVE8] With only a small 5.42ly jump we arrive at Achenar, the Imperial capital. Out of all the worlds that circle the central massive blue star only the moons of the sixth planet are inhabited and two of them have been terraformed. The system was founded by Marlin Duval, unhappy with the Earth administration and authorities she invested a large amount of her fortune into a fleet of colony ships and equipment and set out to build a world of her own far from the borders of the Federation. The democratic government ended with her death in an air crash organised by her brother Henson. From then on it became one of strict Imperial rule and has been ever since ruled over by the male members of the Duval family. Tourists from the Federation are not really welcomed to the Achenar system unless money can be made from them but if a person can get beyond this then many things can be bought what are illegal in the Federation if the price can be met.
Leaving the Achenar system we pass through the Intiol system. Although Intiol has a number of rocky planets it has never been successfully colonised even at this late date due to a curious phenomenon where the gravity of the systems 5 stars have combined in such a way as to distort space-time so that all the planets and most of the stars are almost phased out of normal existence which makes landing on them impossible without the proper equipment. From Intiol we travel 8.65ly's to the Ollaex system in sector 2,-3. Ollaex is a pretty average mining system but because of it's proximity to the Federation the Imperial navy uses the rocky outer worlds to base their surveillance operations. The planet what has met with the most success is Ollaex 6 due partly to it's extraordinary density only heavy-lift vehicles can even approach it without being pulled to their destruction in the intense gravity well.
Our next stop is the corporate ice world of Stevenson in the Phiagre system. Phiagre is home to many of the biological products used in terraforming the most famous of which is the Verrix. Verrix are 6 six legged omnivores about the size of 3 Earth elephants and since their discovery on Stevenson they have been used throughout the known worlds as the ultimate beast of burden. Phiagre doesn't have a large tourist industry but it is still a very busy system, often with dozens of ships heading from the jump point near the Phiagre A/B binary pair out to the populated worlds circling the distant Phiagre C. What tourists that do visit Phiagre are pleased to know that the O'Hanlon orbital station above Stevenson has a number of first class hotels aswell as excellent ship repair facilities.
[SAVE9] Heading back to the core systems for the second time we arrive at the Alpha Centauri system in sector 0,0. Alpha Centauri is a ternary system comprising of a central binary pair of stars similar to our sun with Proxima Centauri a red dwarf orbiting a distant 960AU's away. Eden the only Earth-like planet in the system circles Proxima and when it was first discovered it was thought to be a twin of Earth but after closer observation by deep space probes it was discovered that although it has a surface of liquid water and primitive life the atmosphere is far too corrosive to sustain a colony. The only habitation in the system is a small research station in low orbit around Eden and it's this what contains the tourists facilities which comprises of a small museum featuring the history of the system.
Before we finally head back to Earth it's time for a treat. Recently a stable wormhole has been discovered leading to a Earth-like planet in the Edenve system which is in sector 254,0 over 2000ly's away. Since then a small settlement has been built on this planet which is now called New Australia so before this tour comes to an end let us have a quick look at this growing colony. This is only one of the many new colonies that have been set up at the other end of wormholes, I leave it to you to discover where they are.