Elite / Frontier Frontier on a Mac

[negativeneutron]

Just joined the forum.
I've been looking for a way to play Frontier on my MacBook.
Been playing Oolite for a few years and have really enjoyed it but really wish i could be playing Frontier instead.

Can anyone help?

C:/NN/

 

[DraQ]

Way the first.

 

[negativeneutron]

ta very much my man.

C.

 

[Neo1967]

Retrogaming

DosBox is great. I installed it together with the d-fend frontend years ago so I could play Frontier again. This week I installed the latest version and succeeded in installing (and playing) another great sci-fi classic game "UFO Enemy unknown".

 

[Steve]

The latest version (0.73) does seem to be a lot more successful in running old games. Even First Encounters works now!

 

[negativeneutron]

Yeah, it's great, been having great fun with Frontier again already.

Not sure how long it's going to take to get back to where i was with it the last time i played it when i was 15. If i remember rightly i had a panther clipper with pretty much everything you could buy from the shipyard on it, i invested some serious time back then i remember.

 

[DraQ]

The latest version (0.73) does seem to be a lot more successful in running old games. Even First Encounters works now!

Though, why would anyone want to play original FFE rather than improved and less buggy JJFFE (let alone 3DFFE) is an open question.

Not sure how long it's going to take to get back to where i was with it the last time i played it when i was 15. If i remember rightly i had a panther clipper with pretty much everything you could buy from the shipyard on it, i invested some serious time back then i remember.

I never really liked large freighters. I got to the point where I could buy any ship and equipment in my Asp, made separate save, played a bit with various large ships, then decided it just doesn't cut it (maybe except Boa, but in FE2 it has broken turret) - fast and agile Asp is so much better than some flying mountain of steel.

 

[negativeneutron]

I do know what you mean, i flew an asp for quite a while in the game as i remember, mainly doing assassinations and navy missions.

I know the Panther is a big clumsy lump but i really loved the idea of being in charge of something that massive at the time, particularly when it came to deliberately annoying the police, takes a lot of vipers to take you down in one of those big boys!

Remains to be seen what i end up with this time, only just started playing again and i'm just struggling to get back to grips with the whole combat thing.

still loving it tho.

C.

 

[DraQ]

I know the Panther is a big clumsy lump but i really loved the idea of being in charge of something that massive at the time

Well, for me Panther never succeeded at big ship feel. It was clumsy and could fit a lot of stuff, but that's it. Large ships in E4 should have much more to them than Panther - loads of different weapons and other useful systems, big crew actually doing something, maybe even tactical command station where you could precise orders what weapon stations should fire at and where the crew member currently piloting it should fly - something like Nexus: The Jupiter Incident, but observed from the inside.

Remains to be seen what i end up with this time, only just started playing again and i'm just struggling to get back to grips with the whole combat thing.

FFE or FE2?

In FE2 it's relatively simple, you just have to remember to flip engines to off mode (unless you fight near the planetary surface).

In FFE there is little advice I can give you apart from "grit your teeth and keep trying" - it's just that hard when you're not used to it.

In any case, read this:
http://www.alioth.net/
(scroll down)

 

[Steve]

Though, why would anyone want to play original FFE rather than improved and less buggy JJFFE (let alone 3DFFE) is an open question.

One reason would be that original FFE was released in several languages whereas everything from JJFFE onwards is in English. So anyone who has the game in their local language can now play it (bugs and all).

 

[DraQ]

One reason would be that original FFE was released in several languages whereas everything from JJFFE onwards is in English. So anyone who has the game in their local language can now play it (bugs and all).

Well, I'd rather have game, than translation.

 

[bananascope]

DosBox is great. I installed it together with the d-fend frontend years ago so I could play Frontier again. This week I installed the latest version and succeeded in installing (and playing) another great sci-fi classic game "UFO Enemy unknown".

where did you find ufo? did u download it from somewhere or did u already have the original? if u did download it could u point me in the right direction? i'd love to play that again

 

[turwhitt]

It's abandonware and free for download here:

[Link removed - Michael]

Great game, until the aliens start using psionic attacks regularly, then becomes a bit frustrating!

 

[Michael Brookes]

We can't allow links to abandonware on our forums I'm afraid, as it's a bit of a legal minefiled.

Thanks

Michael

 

[turwhitt]

Sorry about that, thought it was legal.

 

[Michael Brookes]

No worries, we just have to be careful.

Michael

 

[Geraldine]

Batty Boa

I never really liked large freighters. I got to the point where I could buy any ship and equipment in my Asp, made separate save, played a bit with various large ships, then decided it just doesn't cut it (maybe except Boa, but in FE2 it has broken turret) - fast and agile Asp is so much better than some flying mountain of steel.

Yea, I hear you!
One thing I used to do was use the big Boa as a bat to swat attacking ships. Trying to target fast moving kraits or sidewinders was hard when using such a unwieldy ship. It was so much easier just to ram them. Needed quite a few shield generators though!

 

[DraQ]

Yea, I hear you!
One thing I used to do was use the big Boa as a bat to swat attacking ships. Trying to target fast moving kraits or sidewinders was hard when using such a unwieldy ship. It was so much easier just to ram them. Needed quite a few shield generators though!

I usually just reset the autopilot, so it continued flying towards destination, then swatted pirates with turret-mounted 4-20MW beams. It did, however, get somewhat hectic if they had 4MW beams and downright panicky if they were armed with 20MW or better.

Like I said, I prefer Asp - you can do more than screaming "OH SHI*!" for whole 200ms after meeting LPA armed IE when flying this ship it.

 

[Geraldine]

X-Com Games

where did you find ufo? did u download it from somewhere or did u already have the original? if u did download it could u point me in the right direction? i'd love to play that again

Hi There
If you want this game, you can download it legally from Steam. Its only £2.99. And if you want the other X-Com games along with it, you can get the complete pack for £8.99. This pack has X-Com UFO Defence (same as UFO Enemy Unknown as it was known in UK), Terror From The Deep (the follow up), X-Com Enforcer, X-Com Interceptor and X-Com Apocalypse.

Here is a link

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/964/

Hope that helps!

P.S The games have been fixed to run on modern PCs, so no need for DosBox. I have them and they all run fine.

PPS. I have also found (thanks to Darkone on the SSC forum) a freeware X-Com-alike: UFO Alien Invasion, which is being developed, be advised though, its a massive download! Here is the link

http://ufoai.sourceforge.net/

 

[Paul Roberts]

Though, why would anyone want to play original FFE rather than improved and less buggy JJFFE (let alone 3DFFE) is an open question.

I've just released a port of JJFFE to Mac OS X. Requires an Intel processor, runs in a window, and doesn't support music yet. It's a start

MacJJFFE