Elite / Frontier Favourite Frontier: Elite II ship

[caol]

What is your preferred method of getting around?

I've grouped the ships roughly by size since I couldn't have 29 poll options (max 10) so post if you want to be more specific.

My overall favourite ship is without a doubt the Viper Defence Craft. It's ubiquitous, fast, has a great jump range with a class 3 drive and enough cargo space for a decent amount of equipment and/or trade goods. Also I like the way it looks.

I have to say I really like the Eagle Long Range Fighter too for its speed and simplicity and the challenge of facing shielded pirates wielding 20MW beam lasers. It has everything you need for a "no frills" approach to life!

 

[Steve O B Have]

Asp undoubtedly - fast, enough room for decent assassin weaponry and shields.

 

[bananascope]

interplanetery shuttle.
nah not really! i vote imp courier, thou i do wish it was a little faster

 

[Geraldine]

Sidewinder every time. That fuel scoop ability, useful speed and good range add up to a potent little ship in the right hands. Who needs missiles?

 

[OneoftheLost]

Im a traditionalist. Since the days of Oolite, that trusty Cobra MkIII has never let me down. A jack-of-all-trades if there ever was one. Good for just about anything a spacer could want to do.

 

[Steve]

Yep, Cobra 3 is just the iconic Frontier ship. Having said that, I'm causing trouble with an Imperial Trader in D3D at the moment

 

[Sir.Tj]

Still my favourite for some reason is the Panther Clipper. It's not the best ship by a long way, seem to have a bit of a blind spot where it's concerned even though its a massive flying brick

 

[rgmarett]

Asp for me. Really like the shape of it.

 

[DraQ]

Asp. If I had to pick up something heavy, I'd probably go with a Boa - stylish and relatively fast for its size. If I needed to pick something I could park in a garage, I'd go with Falcon or Osprey.

I think Braben should think about the results of this poll a bit - there is too little to do and too little awesome stuff about superfreighters to compensate for their sluggishness and make them actually enjoyable in FE2/FFE. Making them more of actual capships, less of very large fighters in terms of commanding them, with multiple battlestations and giving your crew orders would help.

 

[DrBaggy]

Cobra for me too, for old times sake. Though the courier was good too.
Is it just me, or have any actual developments from Frontier gone very quiet lately?

 

[Steve O B Have]

They're on a really big push for the Kinectimals product for the XBOX 360 Kinect unit. Was watching people play on it in Selfridges - very clever stuff. Entirely uninspirational from an adult perspective but from a potential in gaming interaction - brilliant.

It's only a matter of time before someone converts the Kinect to a PC interface as well. How fun would it be to be able to play elite on your 42"+ HD TV and use gestures as an interface for your ships deck and also head tracking for walking around and interacting with NPCs.

 

[turwhitt]

Python.

I'm a battleship guy more than a fighter guy. If i could have a little fighter to launch from my Boa though, it'd be a Viper Mk 2. Surely the fastest production ship in the galaxy, and enough room for a few shields and a pretty good laser.
Also the fact it must be an ex-police ship makes me imagine myself as a futuristic Blues Brother.

 

[DraQ]

They're on a really big push for the Kinectimals product for the XBOX 360 Kinect unit. Was watching people play on it in Selfridges - very clever stuff. Entirely uninspirational from an adult perspective but from a potential in gaming interaction - brilliant.

It's only a matter of time before someone converts the Kinect to a PC interface as well. How fun would it be to be able to play elite on your 42"+ HD TV and use gestures as an interface for your ships deck and also head tracking for walking around and interacting with NPCs.

And then you have the terms of service - 1984 anyone?

[EDITED by Styggron. Corrected the URL]

 

[Steve O B Have]

And then you have the terms of service - 1984 anyone?

Damn - good spotting - don't like that story... especially when playing games in my pants I wonder if some poor Microsoft chap gets to check out my extremely manly countenance ensconced on my sofa

 

[DrBaggy]

They're on a really big push for the Kinectimals product for the XBOX 360 Kinect unit. Was watching people play on it in Selfridges - very clever stuff. Entirely uninspirational from an adult perspective but from a potential in gaming interaction - brilliant.

It's only a matter of time before someone converts the Kinect to a PC interface as well. How fun would it be to be able to play elite on your 42"+ HD TV and use gestures as an interface for your ships deck and also head tracking for walking around and interacting with NPCs.

Thanks Steve for that info. The Outsider and other projects were always said to be stepping stones to develop the technology needed for E4. I don't quite see that for Kinectimals (please g*d no!!!) apart maybe from being able to make even cuter Tribbles.
Still, I hope it makes them lots of money!

 

[cyningstan]

I'm rather enjoying flying the Viper. I went from Eagle to Adder to Viper. The upgrade to Adder was a disappointment as I didn't properly understand the stats I was reading and overestimated the amount of space I'd have!

 

[DraQ]

I'm rather enjoying flying the Viper. I went from Eagle to Adder to Viper. The upgrade to Adder was a disappointment as I didn't properly understand the stats I was reading and overestimated the amount of space I'd have!

Yes, shame they only inform you of the capacity of an empty ship, and drive can take up a major chunk of that.

Still, I have been pretty fond of Adder. It might be an obsolete bucket of bolts, with underwhelming thruster performance, no missile pylons, and limited space, but it jumps far, is small enough to avoid getting hit even with the engines it has and is still an upgrade from the Eagle LRF in terms of cargo capacity. I have killed my first Imperial Explorer with an Adder sporting 5MW pulse laser and no defensive equipment whatsoever.

 

[cyningstan]

It might be an obsolete bucket of bolts, with underwhelming thruster performance, no missile pylons, and limited space, but it jumps far, is small enough to avoid getting hit even with the engines it has and is still an upgrade from the Eagle LRF in terms of cargo capacity.

I must admit to being a bit of a wuss so far. Being a bit unwell, I've stuck to trading between Sol and Barnard's star. After a while trading with no trouble I had the idea of getting rid of all the weapons systems from the Eagle to maximise cargo space. Did the same with the Adder and only now I have a Viper have I rearmed. I've still yet to take on any "interesting" jobs though.

 

[deej]

Sadly, I've only ever owned & played Elite (on the C64) so I can't really vote.

 

[DraQ]

Sadly, I've only ever owned & played Elite (on the C64) so I can't really vote.

You can get the game here. You will also need DOSBox to emulate DOS environment, but it's easily googlable.

Don't let the counterintuitiveness of Newtonian flight mechanics discourage you at first - once you get it you won't want to come back. It gives the spaceflight in this game a gist of authenticity almost all other spacesims sorely lack.