IDIOT'S GUIDE TO FED2
OBJECTS AND MOBILES
ENCOUNTERING MOBILES
As you explore Federation 2 DataSpace, you are going to meet characters that are not played by real people, but are controlled by the game. These non-player characters are called mobiles.
Mobiles might be humans, aliens, droids or animals. The name suggests that they move but some of them will always be found in the same place. If they do move then they will have a movement area that they will move within at random, so if you're looking for a particular mobile you may have to hunt around for it. A mobile will only move around one planet (or in space). They may move very fast, or very slow, or somewhere in between, depending on how the planet owner has designed them.
When you meet a mobile it will show up on the end of the room description, just like objects do. You can examine a mobile to find out more about it, and the description will give you some idea of what you can do to, or with, the mobile.
One of the most important things that mobiles do is hold conversations - you can talk to them and get useful information. Not all mobiles will talk. Some will be incapable of speech, such as non-genetically-modified animals, or aliens that don't speak our language, or communicate in some esoteric way such as flashing colored lights, exchanging smells, or thought transference.
Even some humans, who you would think would be capable of speech, will have nothing to say.
The only way to find out if a particular mobile has anything to say is to try and start up a conversation. To talk to a mobile, type the name of the mobile followed by what you want to say, for example, 'Priest hello'. Or you can use the 'TELL' command which has the same effect, for example 'Tell Priest hello'. All mobiles that do talk will respond to a greeting of "Hello".
Conversations work like this: the game examines the message you type and looks for keywords that it recognizes, and then gives the appropriate response. For example, if you type "Priest is the design of the temple significant?" the game will seize on the word "temple" and the mobile will reply. So you could just type "Priest temple" and get the same response.
Here are some guidelines about what words or phrases will elicit a response from mobiles in general:
- All talking mobiles will respond to Hello. The message you get when you say hello to a mobile should also give you some hints about other things they will talk about.
- They will all talk about the planet they are on. Sometimes, they may have opinions on some of the other planets in the Solar System.
- They will all respond to Bye, which is of course the polite way to finish a conversation.
- They will talk about personal things, such as their job - try Job or Profession.
- They may talk about the location or area that they are found in - for example, the priest talks about the temple.
- They may talk about other mobiles on the same planet (once we have more mobiles in).
- They may talk about things of inter-planetary significance, such as the Galactic Administration, Ming, the Cult of Gaelaan and so on.
If you type something the mobile doesn't know about, you'll get a message telling you so, and that may give you more hints about what the mobile does know about. Read the information contained in the mobile's responses carefully - that may give you clues about other subjects the mobile will talk about. In some cases, particularly in a puzzle, information from one mobile may help you to get information from another.
Of course, not all mobiles will be chatty right away. You might have to carry out some other actions, such as buying them a drink or giving them a present, to get them in a receptive mood first.
Sometimes a mobile will do something else as a result of a conversation. Say the right thing, and he, she or it might give you an object or cause you to move somewhere else. Of course, say the wrong thing and the mobile might clam up and refuse to talk to you any more, or do something more serious.
