Elite / Frontier Why Is This Game (FFE) So Hard?

[ClayWall]

I've know of this game for a long time now and have recently started playing. I've read everything about playing the game (Flying ...). I've also practiced for a while too, but every single time I hyperspace to Titican (as it's the closest) and head for the closest planet so that I'm not to far out of the system I get ambushed by like 4 or 5 pirates. Now I've made it once or twice, but how can you accumulate any money like this?

I have read that people remember playing as a kid and I remember my cousin playing when he was young. I have searched Google over and over and no one has mentioned it being a hard game. Don't get me wrong I love hard games, but I like being able to play for more then 2 minutes and then restarting.

I have tried out running the enemies when the alarm goes off I increase my speed extremely high not caring about over shooting my target location, but despite traveling at close over a couple thousand kilometers a second, they seem to swing around and catch up really fast. I even sold my Auto-Pilot and Scanner for a Shield Generator thinking "Well it will be a pain to fly solo, but at least I might be able to beat 1 or 2 pirates and Shields regenerate anyways right?". Sure enough I jumped to Titican again only to be shot down before I could even target the opponent.

I must be doing something wrong, but I don't know. I read on this site about targeting a location and flying the other way might confuse the enemy, but then you can't auto-pilot. I can fight one on one and win some of the time which is okay, but I keep getting overwhelmed by teams of pirates and Imperial Couriers.

Any help would greatly be appreciated and if you have read this far that's great I'm just trying to answer all questions that may arise.

 

[corinoco]

Research your destination

I'm at the office, so I can't open Frontier to look at the stats for your destination...

It is worth reading the listing for your destination - the gov. type, and criminal acitivity for a particular system are shown there. Jump into a lightly policed anarchy without being prepared for a fight is always going to end in tears.

I found a larger ship (Imp Courier FTW) with multiple 5mw sheilds and a 10mw laser could get me through most situations, but even then you could get overwhelmed.

Some hints were to ALWAYS turn off autopilot and assisted flight modes when fighting - use manual fore-aft thrust to increase/decrease closing rates. Always try to increase closing rate if you're on their tail, decrease closing rate if they are chasing you.

When you engage a small flotilla, pause the game and identify your targets - always take out the biggest ships first, they will pack heavier weapons and be the biggest threat. Save missiles for small ships that wil likely lack ECM, and launch at close range with the lowest closure rates possible. Forget mines, there are no roads in space.

If you're just starting out, I would recommend staying on the 'easy' spacelanes - say the Sol-Barnard trade route until you have enough credits to afford better kit or a bigger ship. Take any extra missions you want, but be cautious of anything that looks suspicious, eg people on the run, or transferring any sensitive military items. Some of the simple military missions (eg, take spool of wire, blank datacards to...) are easy bonus money earners when also carrying a profitable cargo, and boost your military rank and reputation with that particular government.

Also be careful of what you trade - flying around with a hold full of luxuries or weapons is a fairly easy way to attract all sorts of trouble.

Lastly - save, save, save! Save every time you dock - sometimes FFE just rolls the dice bad and you get an Imp. Courier ambushing you on your first jump to Alioth with the Wiccan Ware race!

 

[corinoco]

Its actually rather fun, too

As for FFE being hard; I suppose it is, in a way.

However you get a real sense of acheivement when you reach goals in FFE. Buying your first Cobra Mk3 is great, you suddenly have this enormous ship (well, compared to an Eagle) to fill full of stuff. Getting hold of an Imp. Courier or Trader is even better.

The original Elite had quite a learning curve; I remember my brother gave up after a few minutes as he found it too hard to dock. Once I got my character cashed up enough to afford docking computers he played it a bit more, but I found DCs too slow, so I always docked manually. At full speed. From just about any angle, it was all just a matter of timing!

 

[zmurf]

Because David Braben had become so good at the game when he developed it that he didn't notice how hard it was

 

[turwhitt]

Then start by travelling to a safer system. The more valuable cargo you have, the higher chance of being attacked.

If you want to make it really easy, immediately stock up on fuel and jump all the way to Sol. You hardly ever get attacked there. You can make a lot of money there running robots and computers to Barnard's Star.

Once you have enough money you buy a better ship, better laser and a few shield generators, you'll be more equipped to take on multiple bogeys. Even then, though, there is a fair bit of loading and saving in FFE. I like that though. In these days where games are usually scaled to your skill and experience, it's good to play one where you are just chucked head-first into a hostile world.

 

[Sir.Tj]

This is how I start a new game.

I strip the ship down to bare minimum, leaving just the Autopilot and Nav Comp and load up with Medicines, and hyperspace to Soholia from Gateway, If you get through look on the B/Board and you can usually sell them for a nice profit to someone wantng Medical Supplies. you can either keep doing that until the message goes or fill your tank with Hydrogen fuel and warp your way to Sol or Barnards Star, you can then trade beween the two with Medicines, Luxury Goods, Computers and Robots, Until you've gained enough money to upgrade your ship and Weapons.

 

[DraQ]

I've know of this game for a long time now and have recently started playing. I've read everything about playing the game (Flying ...). I've also practiced for a while too, but every single time I hyperspace to Titican (as it's the closest) and head for the closest planet so that I'm not to far out of the system I get ambushed by like 4 or 5 pirates. Now I've made it once or twice, but how can you accumulate any money like this?

There are two problems here:

1) Like every single person who has just began your adventure with FFE, you suck at it. That's not a big deal - I don't think there is even a single person on this forum who hasn't experienced extreme frustration at FFE.

2) There is really no way to survive, other than getting better, and no way to get better other than surviving - self improvement may take a while, I remember dying as soon as I registered the alarms going off again and again in FFE.

Still, I can give you some pointers.

1. Learn to fly - read the tutorials, if you haven't already, practice using saves included, try playing FE2 a bit. You will still die a lot at the beginning, but this time you'll have the mental apparatus allowing you to understand what exactly is happening and make decisions on the fly rather than fumbling around blindly.

2. Buy a better ship and hardware ASAP (you might still have to do a few Soholia runs first to afford it). Sure, every seasoned FFE veteran will tell you that they can take on an Imperial Explorer escorted by several heavy fighters fitted with 4MW beams with starting ship. Some may even tell you that dodging missiles is easy and they can outmanoeuvre both the attacking craft and up to five missiles simultaneously (seen it, can't explain it). The problem is that people who are stuck with starting ship don't possess this kind of skills and desperately need something more capable of combat than the tin-can provided.

I have read that people remember playing as a kid and I remember my cousin playing when he was young. I have searched Google over and over and no one has mentioned it being a hard game. Don't get me wrong I love hard games, but I like being able to play for more then 2 minutes and then restarting.

Well, the games of old were typically much more hardcore and so were the gamers.

 

[ClayWall]

First off I appreciate the amount of replies I've received, you don't find many forums with such speedy and in depth replies.

Yes I realized shortly after posting that I could jump all the way to Sol and the only reason for doing it was to see the system (I never tried any trading, but I did make it to a planet without being attacked), but now that it has been mentioned that it's a good place to start I'll try your suggestions.

turwhitt: Even then, though, there is a fair bit of loading and saving in FFE. I like that though. In these days where games are usually scaled to your skill and experience, it's good to play one where you are just chucked head-first into a hostile world.

Oh no doubt, it's ridiculous how easy games are these days, you click on a mission and the game will hold your hand the whole way! (Not good ole games like this one, if you're to lazy to save your own game why are you even playing eh? Hahaha!)

I want it to be challenging, and even though having to reload 75% of the things you do in the game (or whatever percent it is), is frustrating, it's the only way to feel you have accomplished anything, my problem was I had to reload 100% of the time and didn't even have a guess as to which way to head, but thanks to all your replies I will give it another shot!

 

[turwhitt]

You die a lot at first. When you get a better ship and some shields, you'll find you're not dying nearly as much.

 

[Sir.Tj]

You can alwasy keet a extra tonne or so of Hydrogen Fuel so you can hyperspace with your tail between your legs.

 

[DraQ]

You die a lot at first. When you get a better ship and some shields, you'll find you're not dying nearly as much.

Skills are a lot more important, though.

Skilled pilot will fight his way out of most situations with basic ship equipped only with scanner and 1MW pulse.
A noob caught in an iron-ass, state of the art combat craft will still die, only about five seconds later.

 

[ClayWall]

T.j: You can alwasy keet a extra tonne or so of Hydrogen Fuel so you can hyperspace with your tail between your legs.

It only works if there are no enemies in that system.

DraQ: Skilled pilot will fight his way out of most situations with basic ship equipped only with scanner and 1MW pulse.

When I meet 1 or 2 enemies I can sometimes take them, and you can always get better, it's just when I have cargo and am planning on going to a specific system and I get jumped and no matter how often I reload the same guys are there it gets frustrating having to go back a couple load states, but that takes time like you guys have already said.

 

[DraQ]

I get jumped and no matter how often I reload the same guys are there

No amount of reloading will change anything once you're in the system.

The only times the game generates anything is when you jump into a system, so, once you're there, it's state is pretty much set, and since the enemies are already there and physically intercept* your craft rather than spawning out of thin, uh, vacuum right before you, reloading won't help.


*) The game helps them a bit at the end if you have the stardreamer on, but that's because the caluculations get increasingly sketchy as the time compression rate increases and you would have never met otherwise. Same with you docking on autopilot. The AI is perfectly capable of intercepting a craft without this assistance though, I tested it in FE2 by parking my ship in orbit around a gas giant in Phekda system and observing incoming ships on system map. The pirates managed to fine-tune their approach even though I deactivated the stardreamer during the last part of the intercept. I could even observe them visually from over a thousand km on.

 

[Sir.Tj]

No amount of reloading will change anything once you're in the system.

The only times the game generates anything is when you jump into a system, so, once you're there, it's state is pretty much set, and since the enemies are already there and physically intercept* your craft rather than spawning out of thin, uh, vacuum right before you, reloading won't help.


*) The game helps them a bit at the end if you have the stardreamer on, but that's because the caluculations get increasingly sketchy as the time compression rate increases and you would have never met otherwise. Same with you docking on autopilot. The AI is perfectly capable of intercepting a craft without this assistance though, I tested it in FE2 by parking my ship in orbit around a gas giant in Phekda system and observing incoming ships on system map. The pirates managed to fine-tune their approach even though I deactivated the stardreamer during the last part of the intercept. I could even observe them visually from over a thousand km on.

And this is from a game well over a decade old!

 

[Steve]

And this is from a game well over a decade old!

As far as Frontier: Elite 2 is concerned, 15 years
For Frontier: First Encounters 13 years

 

[Sir.Tj]

As far as Frontier: Elite 2 is concerned, 15 years
For Frontier: First Encounters 13 years

My god! I was young then....well youngish

Just goes to prove how good these games are though, nothing has come along to surpass them.