Elite / Frontier Easy combat in FE

[turwhitt]

I used to be a huge frontier/FFE buff, taking my guy to Imperial Baron and Deadly in both, and have recently decided to go on a nostalgic trip back to FE to see if it can inspire the same kind of excitement.

I remember that (at least in Frontier) you could get past those boring, routine encounters by selecting the enemy, clicking on autopilot and letting the AP do the hard work while you sit there and blast away. I'm not suggesting that this would be an honourable way to fight, but sometimes it was neccesary!
Now, i don't seem to be able to do this in FE. When i try, the autopilot just heads towards the last port i had selected. Is this a difference between Frontier and FE? Or am i doing something wrong? No more autopilot combat?

Thanks

 

[DraQ]

Works for me, but come on, compared to FFE AI pilots, the ones in Frontier couldn't hit the the proverbial broad side of coriolis station with their weapons.

(Which sucks, as I slightly prefer FE2 over FFE).

 

[Steve]

the autopilot just heads towards the last port i had selected. Is this a difference between Frontier and FE? Or am i doing something wrong? No more autopilot combat?

Sure you're selecting the nav target rather than the battle target (green instead of red)? That's all I can think of

 

[DraQ]

Ah, you mean FFE?

See Steve's post. Besides, I wouldn't bother, the reaction time of autopilot in FFE seems to be increased, so it's useless now, as it can't keep a moving target lined up anyway.

 

[turwhitt]

Sure you're selecting the nav target rather than the battle target (green instead of red)? That's all I can think of

I wasn't aware there were different types. Perhaps this is a new thing with GLFFE, or maybe i just don't remember properly.

So it should definitely be possible to use the autopilot to keep your enemy sighted?

Another thing:

I've tried a couple of the starter hand coded missions, ones i never managed to do back in the days, and they still seem impossible.

1) The invaluable artwork: Even taking the mission straight away and hyperspacing to Achenar, you appear 50au away from the port, and it always takes too long to get there.

2) The Wiccan Ware: Starting off with a class 2 mili drive, Alioth is only one jump away, but the Ghandi station is a good 25au from the entry point, meaning that i don't make it on time. I tried the old trick of manually setting the speed very high until close to the station, and then sticking the autopilot on for docking, but this doesn't seem to work any more. Instead (as logically it should do) it catapaults me way past the station and i then have to slow and make my way back again. This trick always used to work in the old days - has GLFFE got a more realistic physics engine that stops you doing this?

 

[DraQ]

I wasn't aware there were different types. Perhaps this is a new thing with GLFFE, or maybe i just don't remember properly.

So it should definitely be possible to use the autopilot to keep your enemy sighted?

See my post above. Autopilot updates target position very rarely in FFE (at least it's how it works in JJFFE), so it's useless in combat (which is good).

Another thing:

I've tried a couple of the starter hand coded missions, ones i never managed to do back in the days, and they still seem impossible.

1) The invaluable artwork: Even taking the mission straight away and hyperspacing to Achenar, you appear 50au away from the port, and it always takes too long to get there.

2) The Wiccan Ware: Starting off with a class 2 mili drive, Alioth is only one jump away, but the Ghandi station is a good 25au from the entry point, meaning that i don't make it on time. I tried the old trick of manually setting the speed very high until close to the station, and then sticking the autopilot on for docking, but this doesn't seem to work any more. Instead (as logically it should do) it catapaults me way past the station and i then have to slow and make my way back again. This trick always used to work in the old days - has GLFFE got a more realistic physics engine that stops you doing this?

Try flying without using tricks maybe? Use autopilot to align your target, set engines to full manual ('engines off'), remember the distance, then accelerate on full burn half of the way, turn the time compression (stardreamer) off, flip your ship so that your aft faces your destiation, decelerate on full burn all the remaining distance, then, either make final adjustments and land manualy, or allow your autopilot to do it for you.

 

[Geraldine]

Try flying without using tricks maybe? Use autopilot to align your target, set engines to full manual ('engines off'), remember the distance, then accelerate on full burn half of the way, turn the time compression (stardreamer) off, flip your ship so that your aft faces your destiation, decelerate on full burn all the remaining distance, then, either make final adjustments and land manualy, or allow your autopilot to do it for you.

Yea, that's what I do all the time, essential for those long distant deliveries. And yes I noticed that the combat is harder in FFE, but I was always "autopilot off" anyways when in combat.

 

[Glyndo]

I've tried a couple of the starter hand coded missions, ones i never managed to do back in the days, and they still seem impossible.

1) The invaluable artwork: Even taking the mission straight away and hyperspacing to Achenar, you appear 50au away from the port, and it always takes too long to get there.

I can't remember ever doing that one so can't really help; have you tried getting the Class 2 MD and going that way? Or using the start location "cheat" to begin in a closer star system?

2) The Wiccan Ware: Starting off with a class 2 mili drive, Alioth is only one jump away, but the Ghandi station is a good 25au from the entry point, meaning that i don't make it on time. I tried the old trick of manually setting the speed very high until close to the station, and then sticking the autopilot on for docking, but this doesn't seem to work any more. Instead (as logically it should do) it catapaults me way past the station and i then have to slow and make my way back again. This trick always used to work in the old days - has GLFFE got a more realistic physics engine that stops you doing this?

Is that the music thing? From Old Curie in Gateway to Alioth? If it is, I've managed to do that by hyperspacing to Soholia (spl?) - the place with the medical outbreak - and then from there to Alioth. It worked most of the time for me.