Elite / Frontier Frontier: First Encounters - or: how I learned to stop worrying and shove the Mouse

[Arioch]

My Cobra’s military drives, with 27ly max jump range, allowed me to mooch across to the target system in about 3 weeks - the system transit turned out to be fairly tasty with an Imp Courier (who seemingly had a fondness for ramming tactics), a wing of 4 Harris fighters, and a brace of Kraits, which equalled four deaths+reloads

I landed on the legal academy’s planet to allow my sole passenger, not-saboteur Alice, to disembark. She’s apparently bought the Frontier Feet expansion and is going to remove the power core from the target settlement or something, before I swoop in with a bit of missile rain. She’s got exactly a month to get the job done, which is handy because I spotted the academy on the way in, and it’s on the other side of the planet

I’ve now got a month to kill, admiring the local sights which are surely described as “a charming mix of the Olde Worlde and the daring avant-garde architecture of the New” in the local tourist brochures and “looks a bit like my Mum’s wok” in the R.I.G. Holiday Reviews, but probably I’ll go off and do some killin’ in the meantime.

 

[Arioch]

Right then, time to load up with a few missiles seeing as this mission didn’t provide a complimentary nuke:

What the? Ah, looks like I’ll have to go elsewhere to get stocked up with anti-lawyer missiles.

After searching the GalMap, it turned out the nearest place that actually had human habitation was about 40ly away! That was going to be close, even with my month’s lead time. Thankfully I got there and back again with four days to spare, though I had to sacrifice a shield generator for my missile load and still keep enough space for fuel. I had a quick look over the recent editions of the news, and lo and behold Rockforth Legal Academy is all over them! Turns out they’re not a very nice group, so I’m not going to feel too bad about delivering 4 Smart Missiles through their boardroom

My first attempt ended in disaster while still hundreds of km’s from my target - swarmed with 2 Imp Couriers and a host of smaller fighters.

Change of tactics - drop down to the planet’s surface while still 1000km away and hug the surface until reaching the target, travelling at 2.5km/s - worked fine until around 200km from the target, at which point I crested a ridge and suddenly found myself at nearly 20km altitude

I was a sitting duck up there so I dove for the deck - but an Eagle managed to intercept me on the way down...

I took a few hits but finally managed to take them out - then it was a low-level high-speed run for the target:

Stay on target! Stay on target!

Missiles away!
...aaaand they apparently just impacted on the surface instead of going into the thermal exhaust port boss’ window. As I did a fly-over, there were no columns of flame (which the internet tells me I should see) and the mission description hadn’t changed

Then, just as I was just passing the academy and getting incoming fire from some Couriers, I experienced a sudden deceleration and the sound of my shields being hit. After a few moments I sped up again.

Checking my mission page - I now had “DONE” at the end of the mission text.

Seems that my shield bubble had succeeded in smashing all their windows where my missiles had failed

Now it was just a case of dodging multiple beam lasers and reaching jump altitude - at 12km I was outa there!

 

[Arioch]

On my way back to claim my mission reward, I noticed some unusual kit listed in a Shipyard - things that aren’t mentioned in the FFE manual:

Assault Missiles!? I’d only fitted Smart Missiles for my bombing run on the academy, so perhaps I just didn’t have enough oomph to destroy it?
I reverted my save and tried again with a new load of MV2’s - but without success I found the low-level approach & pop-up attack to work best - all missiles appeared to hit the target - but the only time I got a DONE mission suffix was when either I or an enemy ship smacked into Rockforth Academy with our shields.
Oh well, onto other things!
I jumped back to the mission giver’s location to report their legal troubles were over, and immediately got a success message on entering the system. The newsfeeds had all updated so a quick read over them gave me my next objective - R.I.G. reported a lonely dolphin!

When I docked, a quick check of the BBS showed a related mission:

I still had my passenger cabin fitted from transporting Alice the not-saboteur, so flooding it and getting Junior a pal? Not a problem!

Actually, I really should’ve checked the dates, because by the time I arrived I was a day late and received the terse message:

“You’re late, we had to get someone else to transport Junior’s friend”

So, with a bit of foreknowledge and a smidgeon of time travel, I reverted my save to when I got the success message from the previous mission. Fortunately I had enough extra Military fuel at that point to immediately jump to New California - the dolphin mission was listed on the BBS there as well and I now had three days in hand compared to my previous attempt.
For some reason the Mission page was now bugged, not showing the Dolphin mission but the Rockforth Academy one instead. Still, I had the required info from the newsfeed, so off I went to the planet Tracy in Fawaol.
After landing, I couldn’t understand why the mission wasn’t completing - perhaps the bugged Mission page was preventing it? Ah no, that’s just me landing at the wrong starport

So off we did trot on a sub-orbital hop - landing at Edmunds Starport this time, and a 2k pay-day

Good luck, Junior & pal; my cetacean is a bit rusty (from The Ballad of Halo Jones), but “kititikti-ritititik, tiktitri-kitit ikit-iktirik” (“so long, and I hope you enjoy all the fish”)

 

[Zieman]

Assault Missiles!? I’d only fitted Smart Missiles for my bombing run on the academy, so perhaps I just didn’t have enough oomph to destroy it?
I reverted my save and tried again with a new load of MV2’s - but without success I found the low-level approach & pop-up attack to work best - all missiles appeared to hit the target - but the only time I got a DONE mission suffix was when either I or an enemy ship smacked into Rockforth Academy with our shields.

Cool, you found a way to do complete the mission in (mostly) real time!
IIRC back then, DOS 6.22 on my P133, I had to shoot the missiles from far away, hit second largest time acceleration and get DONE right away.

 

[Arioch]

Cool, you found a way to do complete the mission in (mostly) real time!
IIRC back then, DOS 6.22 on my P133, I had to shoot the missiles from far away, hit second largest time acceleration and get DONE right away.

From the few FFE fan sites I’ve read, that seems to be the accepted way to do it - fire from long range and kick in the StarDreamer to allow the game to “skip to the end.”

Even though there are a lot of enemy ships, I found flying at sub-200m height was survivable - because you’re forced into combat mode, the top speed you can maintain is about 2700 km/h - so keeping a few km’s between me and the base I was able to circle it until one of the vessels launching from there did the dirty deed for me. Looked pretty cool too, with beam lasers chewing up the ground in front of me and the occasional missile exploding

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

I don't think I ever did much missions in FE2. Never seemed worth it much. Especially didn't do much combat. Probably I had no idea how to handle 12.9*10^22 m/s speeds. And how much I'd need to brake to match with target "Austronaut". The whole thing never worked out for me and it wasn't the newtonics - it was the transfer speeds. At lower speeds the newtonic model is actually quite fun.

 

[Arioch]

News of my Rockforth Academy attack has hit the feeds, but it seems I wasn’t the only CMDR involved:

So another eight strikes were sent against them? Are they sure it wasn’t just me and all my reload attempts?

In other news, the head honcho who employed the services of the Legal lot has apparently suffered a Hitman style elimination - I wonder if the “technician” was bald with a barcode on the back of his head?

I’m fairly Competent at combat now - in Elite rating and skill - such that I’m trying to stick to my “only save at stations” play style from the previous two games, from now on. I’ve had a few sweary reloads, but I think it’s worth it for the limping-into-port feeling of relief or the difficult manual approaches when certain thrusters have been shot out.

 

[Steve]

News of my Rockforth Academy attack has hit the feeds, but it seems I wasn’t the only CMDR involved:
View attachment 212157
So another eight strikes were sent against them? Are they sure it wasn’t just me and all my reload attempts?

In other news, the head honcho who employed the services of the Legal lot has apparently suffered a Hitman style elimination - I wonder if the “technician” was bald with a barcode on the back of his head?
View attachment 212156
I’m fairly Competent at combat now - in Elite rating and skill - such that I’m trying to stick to my “only save at stations” play style from the previous two games, from now on. I’ve had a few sweary reloads, but I think it’s worth it for the limping-into-port feeling of relief or the difficult manual approaches when certain thrusters have been shot out.

I always loved the newspaper articles in FFE, especially when you make the news yourself! A simple but effective way of making the player feel involved

 

[Arioch]

During a Military delivery-boy mission run to Ross 154, a bit of deep-space pondering has occurred - what’s going on with Merlin?

Back in 3200 we can see the gas giant Aster hanging above the iconic purple skies and fluffy clouds around Sirocco Station:

...with the domed cities suggesting an atmosphere that is not human-friendly.
Fast forward 50 years and the skies have dramatically changed - as has the moon itself:

Although wind can still be heard, the skies now appear barren and the world in the grip of a deep, deep cold with the look of an ice world - an atmosphere is still visible when at altitude, but it is now more tenuous than before, perhaps the result of some kind of giant atmospheric processors...

Fast forward another 50-odd years and we see Merlin has once again drastically changed - as has Aster:

Oceans & clouds - all the hallmarks of an Earth-like world - suggest that some extreme terraforming has taken place some time in the previous half-century. Aster’s rings have apparently disappeared - could they have been used to bombard Merlin, increasing its temperature and melting the deep freeze? Perhaps even adding masses of much-needed water as well?

I like to think that the reason we’ve not seen the megaship dredgers for ages is that they were all chewing up Aster’s rings to aid with the conversion of Merlin

Maybe one day we’ll be able to see if the inhabitants of Sirocco Station still have to live under domes...

 

[Nothoria Infama]

Continue on your route, Dear Commander @Arioch

Posteriority will thank you for your extremely well told and documented journey.

Many of those who are not yet travelled there by themselves, will be much more eager to see all that you saw...

 

[Nothoria Infama]

General Note (Off-topic)

This sector of the net is the Last stand line for all of Pre-Dangerous Elites with their rusty Cobra MKIII's (and what ever they may have acquired in some versions). The site should accept the fact and encourage it all means available within these clusters of 'G1'. This is not even an opinion piece, it is the fact when it comes to living community of classical Elites, and Frontier (+). We all need secured space to float with our age old debris, and that need should be actively promoted by the Site's "GALCOP".

Founding fathers should acknowledge the fact (Elite Plus Archangel Sawyer included), and show their support, and ensure the star cluster won't be closed because of economic, short term reasons. This all is already gone far beyond a phase of exo-archaelogy (led by Commanders of 30-40 years of Xeno-biology, geology, information science, AI, and folk lore). The site-prompted guidance and promotion for this part of forums should be an integral part of the future of the game.

Apologies for the interruption. We all need to keep a meaning of "Elite" clear, and Thargoids' intentions in the Witch Space shouldn't ever appear unclear.

Right on Commanders! o7

ADD: Note/'the world of 1.35 promilles. That said it doesn't prevent playing Elite. (Forgive me @Arioch )

 

[Arioch]

Cheers for the words - I’m not sure what that music video was, but I reckon it’d make a good backstory for a CMDR in a Dangerous universe

I’m happy there’s this corner of the forums for the old games - and that I’m not the only one playing them Playing FFE and reading the newsfeeds - especially Universal Scientist - has given me a new appreciation of the Thargoids. Lots of juicy, juicy lore!

I think I’ve another in-game year before I get to those missions, but the journey is proving enjoyable (against my expectations - having fairly disliked my experience with the bugged early release back in the day).

Good luck achieving your goals

 

[Nothoria Infama]

Imagine all those Elite-A, ArcElite, Oolite (vanilla), etc. who can only build a Wiki.

What we (us all) need, is exactly we are doing. When doing it we defend the glory of badges of those all who fly out there at a graphically more interesting, modern (pay to win) universe. We old school Elites laugh. Its refreshing. Damn refreshing.

We play in the universes where it really means something.

No, no, no! This is NOT 'political' opinion-piece. This is just a comment from the EP commander who knows best how the ELITEs are made at my sweet, sweet home Riedquat.

 

[Arioch]

Seeing as I’ve almost a year before the next set of story missions kick in (I admit I’ve read some spoilers ) I thought it might be time to work on my Federal military rank - I’ve done a few recon missions, some standard delivery stuff and been promoted to Sergeant. A tip-off from an anonymous source (FrontierAstro ) tells me that the Fed naval system of Eta Cassiopeia is the place to be:

It’s a good job I checked the trading screen before I set off - one of the Major Imports was military fuel. This usually means low or no supply, so I stocked up on a bit extra before jumping in.

After docking at JFK starport in orbit around Trojan, I was justified in my precaution - no stock at all and someone on the BBS offering double the price. Also on the boards - just a few missions to a neighbouring star:

This should bump up the rank a bit!

The journey to my destination was hampered by getting my reverse thrusters shot out again, and having to do another bottom-first manual flight. I couldn’t afford to do a slow and safe approach due to the time constraints - that superconducting wire is needed by midnight on the 8th, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let them down

Some flip’n’burns later (and a couple of whooo-phew moments with the StarDreamer) I slipped into dock just in time for din-dins and, like, hours spare for the first delivery

 

[Arioch]

In the previous game, it took roughly 8 in-game years for me to reach the rank of Sergeant-Major - in FFE (courtesy of Eta Cassiopeia) I’ve managed the same level in a quarter of the time - with most of my promotion “points” coming in the last 2 months

Being able to stack up to 17 missions at a time, and a there-and-back-again time of only 10 days has worked wonders for my Federal standing. They haven’t even been bothered by me smuggling out the occasional Top Secret weapon document for the Imps or the odd spy as well - well, with 10k paydays it’s hard to resist

 

[gunbladelad]

Teh Eta-Cass military run makes it great for "Deep space deliveries" due to how long the notifications take. Essentially if you pick up passengers (or a delivery) for the return leg (or another stop further off) and launch while the military's sending you all those "Thank you" messages one at a time, just wait until the last one comes through and hyperspace - as soon as you arrive anything due for the system you've arrived in will exit your ship in-space for a full payday.
I keep intending to do this for some of the delivery missions to binary systems - instant delivery upon arrival rather than spending 3-4 weeks in deep-space and getting a "You're late - we ain't paying a cent" message.

 

[Arioch]

Teh Eta-Cass military run makes it great for "Deep space deliveries" due to how long the notifications take. Essentially if you pick up passengers (or a delivery) for the return leg (or another stop further off) and launch while the military's sending you all those "Thank you" messages one at a time, just wait until the last one comes through and hyperspace - as soon as you arrive anything due for the system you've arrived in will exit your ship in-space for a full payday.
I keep intending to do this for some of the delivery missions to binary systems - instant delivery upon arrival rather than spending 3-4 weeks in deep-space and getting a "You're late - we ain't paying a cent" message.

Hmmm, arriving in-system and just hurling everything towards the nearest starport? Sounds just a little bit...exploit-y to me

Interesting to know about, but something I’ll be avoiding for my playthrough, as per my plays of the previous two games.

 

[Arioch]

The newsfeeds are all full of The Five Furies statue being rediscovered in Imperial space - so, hoping that it’s not a typo and not actually a statue of a group kink, I set off for the planet Emerald.

I came in for my usual manual approach and - uh oh - gravity is more than my keel thrusters can manage:

Source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0_N2WrFahms

I was dropping twice as fast as my undercarriage could handle

Thankfully, I now save just before each docking (due to the occasional bug causing unavoidable explosions) so I was able to test various approaches. Autopilot plus StarDreamer x5 worked (as always) as it “skips to the end” - but I like to be a little more hands-on. After several attempts, I found a carrier-style landing to be the one that worked - vertical drop rate was only 20 - 30km/h while flying along at just over 500km/h, so I had to approach at that speed and cut forward thrust at the very last moment.

It’s a bumpy landing, but hey, only shield damage

Unfortunately it appears I’ve arrived too early for the Story - looks like I’ll have to jaunt off somewhere else to get the mission when it finally appears on the BBS, then come back for another landing extravaganza

 

[Gully Foyle]

I think I’ve inhaled some passive smoke from the RoboBong 2000™ in the Cobra’s cabin - I’ve decided it’d be a great idea to get the original BBS videos working on my Android tablet

My reasoning is thus: if I’m going for a true warts-and-all consuming of FFE, I might as well gobble it all like a pet linglang munching on the Emperor’s bezzie mate (various news sources, May 3250)

Source: https://youtu.be/JlXqrlXtlMA


Awesome pixelated Am-Dram

If anyone is interested on how I got them working:

Spoiler

I was unsuccessful getting the DATA folder (where all the video files are) to work with the freeware version of FFE, so I ended up getting Magic DOSbox to use two folders on my tablet as C: (harddrive) and D: (CD-ROM), copying the original CD contents into the D: folder, going into a DOS environment on the tablet and installing the game to C: then running the sound setup. After that, I got the 1.06 patch, copied that into the C: folder, then installed it from a DOS environment. On completion I deleted all the patch files. I then transferred my savegame into the correct Firstenc folder. End result: fully working cringe!

Loving this thread my Lord of Chaos,
Your pal Elric 🗡

 

[Arioch]

The Stars My Destination - actually, the first star I got to, Arcturus, was just far enough away that fresh news popped up and the BBS had some interesting sounding missions:

I don’t know, you wait (in-game) months for a Story mission to appear, and two pop up at once
The hitchhiker, Jan Thikka, is reported in the Imperial Herald as being a Fed spy group leader and is euphemistically helping the Imps with their inquiries. They don’t need extraction for a while yet, so the statue mission was next on the agenda.

The mission description looks to have a typo:

I think that should be “collected by 13 Jul 3252” otherwise there won’t be enough time to meet the delivery date.
Too posh for the cargo hold, the statue requires a Passenger Cabin fitted - and the Federal Times has this to say:
“Those not familiar with this art form are advised to book several days leave to enjoy the true depths of the Fury and its aftermath (an extra course of Therapy may also be advisable)”

Are they sure it’s not “The 5 Furries” after all?

Launching from the station, I was greeted by one of those views that the Elite series does so well, evoking the stark beauty of Space:

Then after a brief moment of contemplation, it was back off to Emerald and its feisty gravity:

Only 2 bounces (and 75% shield loss) and I was down
The statue was loaded instantly upon touchdown, so they must want it gone pretty badly - I think my theory about its naming mix-up is proving more believable