David Braben released Frontier Elite II in 1993. David did an amazing job with only 400 KB of assembly language code. Everything within the game came on one floppy disk drive. For those of you who do not remember or know; It would take approximately 3,263 floppy disks to store the same amount of data that can be stored on one DVD.
The genesis of this wall of words are the many active discussion threads in the forums about adding crew members. Just to be sure everyone knows where I stand; I believe AI crew members should already be part of the core game.
I found a copy of the original Frontier Elite II (FE2) manual online. I read through it and will admit that I cherry picked things that I believe should be part of Elite Dangerous (ED).
While there are a lot of things that need improved; I believe Frontier Development should be working on adding these original core features back in. I believe this work should be completed before we start working on adding new things like human crew members.
Viewing Angles
FE2 has the following screen views:
Front
Rear (With the addition of a sight should a weapon be equipped on the back of the ship.)
Outside
Turret (Can be switched between available turrets.)
ED has these screen views:
Front
Secret Outside (Solo Only)
Autopilot
FE2 had the Robocruise automatic navigation system. Select your target and engage the autopilot. Please note that anything that could be targeted, could also be used as an autopilot target. Autopilot could be used anywhere within a system. Just like cruise control, it could not avoid collisions. It will also automatically request docking permission and dock the ship. This could also be used to target and/or follow other ships as well.
ED has Autopilot that only functions for docking when very close to a station.
Inventory Screens
FE2 Had the following additional inventory screens:
Crew Roster
Passenger Roster
Mining Installations (for your MB4 mining machine, see below)
Communications In Flight
FE2 had the ability to contact the police and settle any outstanding fines by remote payment.
I would like to add that for human crews to work, we will need a much more robust way for players to communicate within ED.
Time Control
FE2 had the options to control time. Settings included Real time, Stardreamer Time Control which increase the passage of time by 10 to 10,000. This also included pause. While pause is impossible to implement, accelerating time passage on long runs would be most appreciated.
Surface Landing
FE2 has landing available on planets with and without atmospheres.
ED added landing at the start of year 2 with Horizons expansion. This is only for planets without atmospheres.
Weapons
FE2 has the following extras:
Laser Cooling Boosters
Energy Bomb
Naval ECM System
Hull Damage
FE2 included an automatic Hull Sealing and in flight Hull Repair but only for larger ships.
Taking on Crew Members
FE2 required you to hire extra crew to fly larger ships.. Without them it will not be able to take off. Please note that these crew members were AI, not other players.
ED doesn’t require a crew to fly larger ships. Crew members are promised within season two, but must be other players, not AI.
Bulletin Board
FE2 included jobs to Carrying Passengers. People may place adds requesting passage for themselves or a group to a stated destination. You need sufficient cabin space installed on your ship to perform these. I'll take this one step further and believe players should be able to request passage from other players in ED.
Mining
FE2 included the standard manual mining of asteroids but did not have limpets. It also included a Surface Mining “MB4” mining machine.
ED has manual mining of asteroids and planetary rings. Collection limpets were added to aid in the collection. Surface mining is performed from an SRV where we drive around using a metal detector looking for rocks.
Trade Items
FE2 included the following additional items; Liquid Oxygen, Water, and live animals.
The first thing I thought of when I saw live animals was the television show “Serenity”.
I believe water should also be mineable from ice rings and planets. I believe there are a lot of mission possibilities that could be built out around water.
Ship Outfitting
FE2 used the gross tonnage method for equipping each ship. There is only so much space in the hull and out of this, room has to be made for the engine, guns, fuel, cabins, cargo and so on. The proportion that these items take up depends on your needs, for example a fast courier ship’s engine will dominate the hull.
Alternatively, if you are interested in having a more deadly ship than a fast one, engine size can be sacrificed for weapons.
All items are rated for weight which is equivalent to the space they occupy, any space left can be used for cargo.
Slaves and live animals required Cargo Bay Life Support. If some items were ejected, they would become meat, fertilizer or rubbish.
ED uses a different method for equipping ships. Space is divided into specific sized compartments and only certain compartments can contain certain items. Left over space is lost instead of being converted into use for cargo.
In conclusion; David accomplished much within 400 KB of code. Why can’t it be done today? Why are we making this harder than it needs to be? We only need enough to make it believable. My imagination filled in what was missing in FE2 and will do just fine in ED.
Even if they are just place holders for content to be fleshed out in the future, please give us what Frontier Elite II originally had within the game. This should include AI crew members at the very least. AI wingmen with their own ships should be added as well.
The genesis of this wall of words are the many active discussion threads in the forums about adding crew members. Just to be sure everyone knows where I stand; I believe AI crew members should already be part of the core game.
I found a copy of the original Frontier Elite II (FE2) manual online. I read through it and will admit that I cherry picked things that I believe should be part of Elite Dangerous (ED).
While there are a lot of things that need improved; I believe Frontier Development should be working on adding these original core features back in. I believe this work should be completed before we start working on adding new things like human crew members.
Viewing Angles
FE2 has the following screen views:
Front
Rear (With the addition of a sight should a weapon be equipped on the back of the ship.)
Outside
Turret (Can be switched between available turrets.)
ED has these screen views:
Front
Secret Outside (Solo Only)
Autopilot
FE2 had the Robocruise automatic navigation system. Select your target and engage the autopilot. Please note that anything that could be targeted, could also be used as an autopilot target. Autopilot could be used anywhere within a system. Just like cruise control, it could not avoid collisions. It will also automatically request docking permission and dock the ship. This could also be used to target and/or follow other ships as well.
ED has Autopilot that only functions for docking when very close to a station.
Inventory Screens
FE2 Had the following additional inventory screens:
Crew Roster
Passenger Roster
Mining Installations (for your MB4 mining machine, see below)
Communications In Flight
FE2 had the ability to contact the police and settle any outstanding fines by remote payment.
I would like to add that for human crews to work, we will need a much more robust way for players to communicate within ED.
Time Control
FE2 had the options to control time. Settings included Real time, Stardreamer Time Control which increase the passage of time by 10 to 10,000. This also included pause. While pause is impossible to implement, accelerating time passage on long runs would be most appreciated.
Surface Landing
FE2 has landing available on planets with and without atmospheres.
ED added landing at the start of year 2 with Horizons expansion. This is only for planets without atmospheres.
Weapons
FE2 has the following extras:
Laser Cooling Boosters
Energy Bomb
Naval ECM System
Hull Damage
FE2 included an automatic Hull Sealing and in flight Hull Repair but only for larger ships.
Taking on Crew Members
FE2 required you to hire extra crew to fly larger ships.. Without them it will not be able to take off. Please note that these crew members were AI, not other players.
ED doesn’t require a crew to fly larger ships. Crew members are promised within season two, but must be other players, not AI.
Bulletin Board
FE2 included jobs to Carrying Passengers. People may place adds requesting passage for themselves or a group to a stated destination. You need sufficient cabin space installed on your ship to perform these. I'll take this one step further and believe players should be able to request passage from other players in ED.
Mining
FE2 included the standard manual mining of asteroids but did not have limpets. It also included a Surface Mining “MB4” mining machine.
ED has manual mining of asteroids and planetary rings. Collection limpets were added to aid in the collection. Surface mining is performed from an SRV where we drive around using a metal detector looking for rocks.
Trade Items
FE2 included the following additional items; Liquid Oxygen, Water, and live animals.
The first thing I thought of when I saw live animals was the television show “Serenity”.
I believe water should also be mineable from ice rings and planets. I believe there are a lot of mission possibilities that could be built out around water.
Ship Outfitting
FE2 used the gross tonnage method for equipping each ship. There is only so much space in the hull and out of this, room has to be made for the engine, guns, fuel, cabins, cargo and so on. The proportion that these items take up depends on your needs, for example a fast courier ship’s engine will dominate the hull.
Alternatively, if you are interested in having a more deadly ship than a fast one, engine size can be sacrificed for weapons.
All items are rated for weight which is equivalent to the space they occupy, any space left can be used for cargo.
Slaves and live animals required Cargo Bay Life Support. If some items were ejected, they would become meat, fertilizer or rubbish.
ED uses a different method for equipping ships. Space is divided into specific sized compartments and only certain compartments can contain certain items. Left over space is lost instead of being converted into use for cargo.
In conclusion; David accomplished much within 400 KB of code. Why can’t it be done today? Why are we making this harder than it needs to be? We only need enough to make it believable. My imagination filled in what was missing in FE2 and will do just fine in ED.
Even if they are just place holders for content to be fleshed out in the future, please give us what Frontier Elite II originally had within the game. This should include AI crew members at the very least. AI wingmen with their own ships should be added as well.
