Elite / Frontier Frontier: Elite 2 - but flying more like Elite / Elite: Dangerous

[Arioch]

I’ve had another go at fuel scooping from a gas giant, to see if I could get past the really-high-0m bug by using Engines On.

First attempt saw the autopilot slam me into Uszaa 6 at about 150km/s however the 0m bug miraculously saved me and just decided to get on with some scooping Second approach saw me dropping to a few hundred km/s once my target distance stopped being measured in AU’s and using StarDreamer x3 to put myself here:

Then it was a case of aiming for the horizon until I could see the upper atmosphere:

Unfortunately the 0m bug also affects Manual Control, so it was just a case of nose down & power to the engines until the 0m altitude indication disappeared. As I’d headed for the day side, I waited for the sky colour to change before dropping my speed to the equivalent of Glide (9000km/h or 2.5km/s like in ED). This gives you enough reaction time once the altimeter kicks in at 60km.

Once the height indicator kicks in, it’s time to find a nice camera angle

I once again landed, and there my problems began...the other day I’d never actually tried taking off again - today I discovered that gas giant surfaces are composed mostly of Evo-stik contact adhesive

Next time I’ll be figuring out how to get back into space!

 

[Arioch]

The “up” thrusters just don’t want to play! I’ve found two successful methods to get back into space: one involves the near-instantaneous chemical degradation of my Cobra into a rapidly expanding gas cloud, the other utilises what I call EXtreme Power Lift-Off Including The Stardreamer - the Zilman field and ultrasonic waves used in the StarDreamer must counteract the gas giant’s sticky properties

Source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6eiA721g8ak

Messing around travelling to the gas giants has also gained me my next “Right On Commander!” which I think now puts me on under 2000 kills to go.
A curious bit of info (which I still need to confirm in more systems) - Medium and Large gas giants seem to have their “surface” layer at just over 61,000 km from their core, Small gas giants have theirs at half that: 30,500 km.
I need to check more to see if there’s a link with how many Earth Masses they have (the info on the System Map) but this could make things a lot easier for fuel scooping. If stars have a similar one-surface-fits-all approach, star scooping might actually be a possibility. I think many Cobras will die to bring us this information

 

[Arioch]

Hmmm, at first glance stars don’t seem to have the same surface distance as each other - after 4 deaths I was finally able to skim scoop the surface of Orerve:

...which is a type G star with 292832.96 Earth Masses. I tried to do the same with Riedquat, another type G star, but passed through the 1.29m km distance measurement and finally impacted the surface somewhere around 1.26m km from the core. This is a bit odd as Riedquat has a mass of 334670.16 Earths, so should be bigger than Orerve

The distance measurement isn’t the most accurate of things either, usually “sticking” on a reading and then suddenly decreasing in 1000km blocks or so Not ideal when the altimeter only kicks in at about 55km height!

 

[gunbladelad]

I just had a thought - didn't the Frontierverse / sharoma site have a save file from someone who'd landed on a gas giant as well?

 

[Arioch]

I just had a thought - didn't the Frontierverse / sharoma site have a save file from someone who'd landed on a gas giant as well?

There are some intriguing sounding save games there - might be something to mention to @drew when he resumes retro streaming; that David Braben save from 1992 might be of interest

 

[Arioch]

Chalk up another “Right On Commander!”

I’ve had a few close calls during the last few sessions, including a planetary landing with my right thrusters shot out and a pack of Eagles with naval missiles that my ECM couldn’t touch, and one unfortunate incident with a Cobra Mk1 when just as its beam laser was licking at my shields, my French Bulldog decided it was time to leap on me and start licking at my face

I won the dogfight with the dog but lost it to the Cobra - I had just enough time to think, “oh, at least the Escape Pod worked” before the Cobra smashed into it, reducing my Cmdr to a spinning headstone.

I’m going to score that one in favour of the capsule, so the scores so far:

Escape automático 2 - Muerte 1

 

[Arioch]

It’s taken a year, a month, a fortnight (in-game) and 18 hours (real time) but I’ve finally got my credit balance back to pre-Cobra loss levels (cue fizzy alcohol sounds & “ting!” of delicate glass drink container)

I’ve had to start doing a few Lave/Leesti runs because I’d done 2 runs to Riedquat without any pirates at all showing up to the party. Whaaat? Are they all on their summer hols or something?

I’m also pretty sure I’ve confirmed a bug - when an assassin turns up (“You’re going to regret dealing with Namey McName!”) they always shoot and thruster burn in the opposite direction to me, almost like they’re targeting a point a few kilometres in front of my ship. I have to continually burn towards them if I stand a chance of destroying them.

 

[Arioch]

I've been smashing out the bounty hunting runs since the New Year and if I've counted correctly, I've now got less than a thousand kills to go before "Elite"

There have been quite a few close calls combat-wise mostly due to me messing up manoeuvres when trying to avoid beam lasers*, but my one actual death in the past week was one of those particularly FE2 situations where you can see the end far in advance and there's stuff-all you can do about it - Inevitable Lithobraking

I was approaching Waterloo in the Riedquat system, just on the cusp of when AU's turn to KM's, when I was intercepted by a pirate. After dealing with them I usually kick the autopilot in and then 5x StarDreamer - finger trouble and brain fart meant that this time I accelerated time to maximum without going autopilot first...only for a second or two before I realised the error, but my fate was sealed. A few moments later the autopilot dropped me at the usual distance of 150,000km - but instead of the expected 112km/s I was still barrelling along at over 500km/s I tried desperately to adjust my heading with full-burn on the main engines but the trajectory indicator moved too slowly. I was given plenty of in-game time to watch the planet surface approach before quite literally meeting my Waterloo (cue ABBA) at a few hundred km/s.

On a plus note - the Escape Pod functioned automatically upon impact, just long enough for me to glimpse it before it too succumbed to physics.

On a slightly later trip, the autopilot tried doing its straight-to-target trick and drive me through the star Orerve on my way to the innermost planet, Davies. Thankfully this time I reacted just in time ("Eh? That star's looking a bit bigger than usual") and slammed the engines to maximum on a 90 degree burn away from my initial heading - I still skimmed the photosphere but not actually close enough to scoop some free fuel

*at one point I had my main engines shot out which meant I had to execute a glider-style approach to the Station - I was successful, but as I was sat at the repair screen:

...I wondered if I would've been able to carry out a docking with just my reverse thrusters. Time to slap on the beep-beep reversing horn and try it out!

Source: https://youtu.be/WVKDpaBMstw

 

[Arioch]

Only two more “Right On Commander!” messages to go now - less than 500 kills - if I’ve been counting correctly

Twice in the past week I’ve had my vertical thrusters shot out which made docking a bit interesting - any vertical drift when the Station docking override assist locks on at a few hundred metres from the entrance keeps the ship drifting with no means of compensating, and it’s impossible to quickly roll to use the working thrusters. I had to swiftly abort several approaches until I’d managed to get a drift-free one.

I’ve also had a no-scanner transit of Riedquat after a Cobra Mk3 decided to ram me, taking out 3/4 of my hull and the scanner to boot. Thankfully (sorta) most of the pirates were sporting beam lasers so I was able to locate my attackers fairly easily.

We’ve got another score result for the Escape Pod Automatic Function courtesy of an Imp Courier with a 20MW beam laser - the briefest of brief flashes of a white beam of doom before my shields collapsed, my hull boiled away and not even a glimpse of the Escape Pod - Team ☠ pulling back to even the scores:

Pod Automatics 2 - Death 2

 

[Arioch]

The final corner has been turned (I think!) - just got my penultimate ROC flying into Orerve, which I celebrated by getting my reverse thrusters shot out with 6AU’s distance still to go

Autopilot and Manual Control just fly you to destruction without them, so I had to do a reverse-view Engines Off approach using the “space dust” to gauge heading, while still engaging several pirates along the way.

Time for the last 250 - OhBoyOhBoyOhBoy, here I go killin’ again!

 

[Arioch]

Just when I thought it'd be a sprint over the final 200 metres, the game has decided to make it into a 200 metre hurdles instead

Flying into Riedquat I was intercepted by a Constrictor who managed to set off their Energy Bomb before I destroyed them - usually this just knocks down my shields and deals less than 2% hull damage. This time I got the message "Drive Destroyed" - when I checked my status screen:

Oh heck, my 18ly Military Drive was now 20t of Rubbish on my Cargo screen

Things got worse once I docked at La Soeur du Dan Ham station - the equipment available from the shipyard:

The class 1 hyperdrive gave my Cobra a massive range of two whole lightyears!

The slight problem being that the nearest system, Diso, was 3.24ly away.

The solution was unfortunately a harsh one: I'd have to part-ex my beloved Cobra Mk3 for something in the local shipyard that would hopefully come fitted with a drive that would allow me to leave the system. Hence my current ship:

Into a Sidey! How very Elite Dangerous rebuy screen

The limited equipment available meant I'd be shieldless, scannerless and without ECM, but at least I could make my way to Zaonce (which has everything).

I had a mission drop-off in Orverve that I wanted to complete so I wouldn't take a rep hit, and with the possibility of getting a scanner along the way I plotted a course Orerve-Leesti-Lave-Zaonce. Of course none of those shipyards had scanners or any other useful gear () so I ended up doing incredibly tense dogfights across the systems, including the successful evasion of 3 missiles (they last 60sec before self-destructing) - the Sidey has 23G/12G fwd/rvs thrusters making it a bit nippier than the Cobra and better at missile-dodging extreme manoeuvres.

At Zaonce there were no Cobra Mk3's available, but at least I was able to fit the Sidey to be a bit more survivable - no spare cargo slots but at least I'll make some credits from bounties:

The choice I have now - do I search out a Cobra Mk3 and endure another scannerless voyage back to Zaonce, or get my remaining kills in the little red devil?

Edit: having just taken a single hit from a 5MW pulse laser - losing all shields, damaging the Autopilot, and leaving me with only 7.5% hull - I think I’ll slip back into a Cobra Mk3

 

[Arioch]

Flying into Riedquat, took out a few pirates and I felt sure this was they day! The day I’d finally achieve the ultimate rating. As if Fate had heard me, my very next kill gave me “Right On Commander!”

I couldn’t believe it. After all these years! 16 in-game years and over a year of actual playing - I’ve actually managed to make:

...a counting error
Hahahahahahaha what an idiot!
I don’t know where I’ve gone wrong, Deadly should be at 3000 kills and Elite should be 12 ROC messages later, at 6000 kills (according to online sources*). I could’ve sworn I was keeping count diligently - oh well, once more round the track!

*Edit: I’ve just had a re-read of Sharoma’s FE2 website - apparently Deadly is achieved between the 11th & 12th ROCs and Elite after the 23rd - so I have counted correctly, just that the rating doesn’t appear exactly on the ROC message. I might be able to get there today after all

 

[Arioch]

Crack open the Leestian Evil Juice and slap Beethoven’s Ode to Joy on the SoundBlaster Pro - I’ve done it!

Source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D4Fg6EGMSvY


Now I wouldn’t say I’m underwhelmed by the ranking-up (had to provide my own music) but I’m quite far from whelmed At least on ZX Spectrum Elite there were four dashes each side and nicely spaced letters - with FE2 it looks like the T and E are stuck together Could’ve had a special message from the Elite Federation of Pilots, surely!

Now I’ve finished my (mostly) Cobra Mk3 climb to Elite I’m going to try out some bigger ships, probably carry on with my Military rank to get access to the photo/bombing missions and also go to see some of the sights outside of human space - the supergiant Betelgeuse, for example. Then, Cmdr Arioch, grandson of Cmdr Arioch (Speccy), will retire and the adventures of their offspring (Cmdr Arioch) will start in a Saker Mk3 in the year 3250.

 

[Arioch]

I’ve decided upon a visit to Betelgeuse - long distance travel in FE2 is no easy undertaking due to the approximately year long limit before equipment & drives start malfunctioning due to lack of maintenance.

To have any hope of making it there and back again I’ll need to reach the supermassive star within 6 months game time. Each full distance jump takes 7 days and system transits to scoop fuel from stars or gas giants will eat up another 2 or 3.

First difficult decision: what ship? The big ships have oodles of cargo space but awful jump ranges. The Viper & Cobra Mk1 have 20+ ly ranges with Class 3 engines fitted, but stuff-all room for fuel. The Moray Starboat has just over 20ly, but I finally decided to stick with my Cobra Mk3 (18ly range) as I’m much happier with the acceleration & braking rates - with the amount of fuel scooping I’ll be doing I’ll need to have a firm grasp of those as the autopilot is far too fond of smacking straight into scooping targets

Next up, I had to find a system on the edge of the “bubble” of human space so I could do the final maintenance routine and strip off any extraneous equipment - after lots of scrolling around the Galaxy map I found:

It’s about 106ly from Sol and was a bit of a pain to reach - flying through many Anarchy systems with a need to fuel scoop meant many pirate interceptions, which in turn meant I needed an “iron ‘rear’” fitted Cobra. I could do a full jump + a third before needing to refuel, and it took roughly 2 months in-game time to reach. Once there, I stripped everything from the Cobra apart from the minimum required for fuel scooping, which gave me enough cargo space for 3 full jumps:

Hopefully I’ll not meet any pirates in deep space
So here it is: my destination, this star:

...and this is where I’m starting from, just above the “L” in Sol:

It’s going to be tight - that’s roughly 21 full-distance jumps and a fuelling stop every 3.

Onwards and outwards!

 

[gunbladelad]

Just don't make 3 trips there or you'll end up with Michael Keaton as a permanent passenger on your ship who'll refuse to disembark (even following you in the escape capsule), lol.

 

[Arioch]

Remember all the way back to yesterday when I wrote:

Hopefully I’ll not meet any pirates in deep space

...well, haha, my first fuelling stop (third actual jump) saw me intercepted by a Cobra Mk1 - with no means of attack and unable to flee, I found myself back at Ethceda rethinking my life.

I fitted a scanner and 1MW Pulse Laser and set out once more.

Considering the amount of interceptions I’ve had on the way to Betelgeuse there must be an awful lot of very angry (and persistent) relatives of the 6000+ kills that got me to Elite Only 2 of my fuelling stops passed without getting shot at Hundreds of light years into the deep of the dark, and they’re all, “You took everything from me! Prepare to die!” and I’m giving it my best Thanos: “I don’t even know who you are”

Still - I made it to the big beasty:

...over 10AU away and it’s still huge on the screen!
There is a slight problem though - it’s taken around 7 months to get here. Fitting the Scanner & Laser cut into my jump capability. Will I be able to make it back to human space before my jump drives give out?

 

[Kayvan]

Oh wow, what a journey! Best of luck with the return trip, but iirc the FE2 ships are very particular about their service intervals.
However you could check for a shortcut -- remember how in FE2 the nav computer finds a jump solution every couple hundred lightyears? One of those should get you back on schedule. ^^

Also, may I ask why you didn't pick an Asp Explorer for your journey? It can fit a class 4 Hyperdrive which, iirc, gives it over 20 ly jumprange and plenty of fuel.

Back when, the AspX was the perfect ship for me, and the sleek FE2 model was also a lot prettier than the ugly ED clump.
However I think I played FE2 only up to "Dangerous". I had the most fun with J's version where you can control the translation thrusters manually. ^^

 

[Arioch]

Oh wow, what a journey! Best of luck with the return trip, but iirc the FE2 ships are very particular about their service intervals.
However you could check for a shortcut -- remember how in FE2 the nav computer finds a jump solution every couple hundred lightyears? One of those should get you back on schedule. ^^

Also, may I ask why you didn't pick an Asp Explorer for your journey? It can fit a class 4 Hyperdrive which, iirc, gives it over 20 ly jumprange and plenty of fuel.

Back when, the AspX was the perfect ship for me, and the sleek FE2 model was also a lot prettier than the ugly ED clump.
However I think I played FE2 only up to "Dangerous". I had the most fun with J's version where you can control the translation thrusters manually. ^^

The version of the game I’m playing has the “Wormhole” bug fixed, and I’m doing an exploit-free playthrough as best I can, so no 655.36 ly shortcuts for me

As for why I didn’t choose an AspX...very good question! Um, not sure Possibly there wasn’t one in the shipyard when I was looking, but I thought I’d looked at one and discounted it Possible brain-fart and I was looking at the wrong jump range or something?

What I am going to do though is go back to my setting-off savefile and see about taking an AspX out to Betelgeuse as a parallel-time race thing - thanks for the prompt!

 

[Kayvan]

Meh. I just ran the numbers on an AspX with both Class 3 and class 4 drive. The disappointing result is, neither will get you to B faster than your Cobra. With a class 3 it has 12ly range per jump (albeit 8 jumps endurance), meaning it would already some 35 weeks one way without fuel stops.
With a class 4 it has 21.33ly range but only fuel for 2 jumps at a time, so on the whole I guess you'd rather lose out.

A surprising result, I must say -- I would have expected the AspX to be better on long distances than the Cobra or possibly any other ship. :6

 

[Arioch]

Meh. I just ran the numbers on an AspX with both Class 3 and class 4 drive. The disappointing result is, neither will get you to B faster than your Cobra. With a class 3 it has 12ly range per jump (albeit 8 jumps endurance), meaning it would already some 35 weeks one way without fuel stops.
With a class 4 it has 21.33ly range but only fuel for 2 jumps at a time, so on the whole I guess you'd rather lose out.

A surprising result, I must say -- I would have expected the AspX to be better on long distances than the Cobra or possibly any other ship. :6

Ah - I hope that’s why I discounted the AspX, though I honestly can’t remember
———
Over the past 2.5 hours I’ve managed to get back to Ethceda from Betelgeuse - but not without problems! My “exploit free” game play has had to take a tea break while I engaged in Doctor Strange’s “out of 14 million possible outcomes, there’s only one in which we succeed” - or save-scumming as it’s more popularly known

In-game, equipment started failing around mid-November (I’d set off at the start of January) - as I didn’t have much kit fitted then any failure meant a reload from the previous star system. At the start of December I got to one system where the game seemed to not want me to go any further without at least one equipment failing - after about a dozen reloads I took the hit on the Autopilot (the only item I could manage without).

Mid-January, and just over a year after I set out into the dark, here I was conducting my last fuel scoop before my final jump of the journey:

With great relief, my engines held out - though I was greeted with Equipment Failure notices due to lack of maintenance - my Scanner and Fuel Scoop joined the autopilot on the u/s list...after looking at the system map, the Scanner loss was felt a little bit more keenly:

Pirates inbound from Valhalla and Experiment - as I was determined to ride shiny and chrome into Valhalla, they’d be joining my previous 6000 kills though not before taking me to the edge - a Viper managed to hit me with a missile which took out my jump drives and a hefty slice of my hull. By the time I’d disposed of my attackers and began limping towards Valhalla’s local station my Cobra was looking a bit worse for wear:

Still, the journey was at an end and I’d soon be able to relax and enjoy recounting my adventures over a Lavian Brandy or three:

WHAT THE ACTUAL—————-?