I miss FFE

[dunnst]

Sometimes I really miss the old FFE. The midi-based classical music, much less subtile, more energetic. The alarm sound, when the ship was attacked, so loud, that one might jumped right from the chair, especially during night. Actual military missions like nuking enemy satellite or photographing enemy base in a system no one really knows. Why do I have a feeling, that FFE had in some ways more content, than ED? Probably just nostalgia Anyway, anybody else missing the old days?

 

[Vandaahl]

Just download and play it again.

 

[Sir.Tj]

Try FFE3D as well Andyj one of our forum members has done some great work with it.

 

[krylite]

ED has similar missions now. Search zones for outposts no one else really knows, and taking out guarded generators or goliaths. Sometimes when I miss the midi music by that midi quartet, I play FFE in a small window next to my ED window. You can also download the CD sized .avi files collection of the station npc live actors. Interesting and hilarious to see now.

http://www.ffeartpage.com/ffed3d.htm
(click - on the face of the guy with the orange cap )

 

[Navigare Necesse Est]

It's got a save game feature, too. Noone is going to bother you screwing up the instance. No engineers. Remotely accessible station prices. Built-in external cam. Colours.

Sounds like a good idea.

 

[CMDR Heisenberg B. Damned]

ED has similar missions now. Search zones for outposts no one else really knows, and taking out guarded generators or goliaths. Sometimes when I miss the midi music by that midi quartet, I play FFE in a small window next to my ED window. You can also download the CD sized .avi files collection of the station npc live actors. Interesting and hilarious to see now.

http://www.ffeartpage.com/ffed3d.htm
(click - on the face of the guy with the orange cap )

Try FFE3D as well Andyj one of our forum members has done some great work with it.

Thanks both - how have I managed to miss this!

 

[dunnst]

I played the augmented 3D version a few years before ED and got to it agan some months ago. I was very surprised how smooth everything was. Galaxy map insta on the screen Hyperspace jump took some 2 seconds. On the other hand, I have to say thad Frontier really made things way better with 2.3 update.

 

[[VR] Marrs]

I agree, it did a few things better. I like the job board better than the current factions missions board/ passengers board concept. There was the orrery which we don't have now. Naval progression was far superior and actually felt like a career. Also didn't postive rep with the Federation mean negative rep with the Empire? I still don't understand why they didn't implement that in ED. Oh and FFE had the Puma and Panther Clipper

I loved the nuke the base missions too. Imagine those in ED - launching a nuke from orbit and seeing a mushroom cloud as a hundred naval ships scream up to intercept you.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I agree, it did a few things better. I like the job board better than the current factions missions board/ passengers board concept. There was the orrery which we don't have now. Naval progression was far superior and actually felt like a career. Also didn't postive rep with the Federation mean negative rep with the Empire? I still don't understand why they didn't implement that in ED. Oh and FFE had the Puma and Panther Clipper

I loved the nuke the base missions too. Imagine those in ED - launching a nuke from orbit and seeing a mushroom cloud as a hundred naval ships scream up to intercept you.

Because it means consequences for your choices. As much as people like complaining about The Grind, in the end its what people want: easy stuff leading to everything. "You participated, well done! You can now call yourself King for no reason, and you get every ship in the whooooole galaxy!"

 

[Mole HD]

Because it means consequences for your choices. As much as people like complaining about The Grind, in the end its what people want: easy stuff leading to everything. "You participated, well done! You can now call yourself King for no reason, and you get every ship in the whooooole galaxy!"

I'd rather have it not so...but there you go, game development for the unwashed masses

 

[Iskariot]

Sometimes I really miss the old FFE. The midi-based classical music, much less subtile, more energetic. The alarm sound, when the ship was attacked, so loud, that one might jumped right from the chair, especially during night. Actual military missions like nuking enemy satellite or photographing enemy base in a system no one really knows. Why do I have a feeling, that FFE had in some ways more content, than ED? Probably just nostalgia Anyway, anybody else missing the old days?

I would love it if FD added an optional alarm sound when attacked.
And true original military missions would be awesome too.
I'd also love to do espionage photography missions.
I have been proposing that kind of stuff several times.

 

[Han_Zen]

Sometimes I really miss the old FFE. The midi-based classical music, much less subtile, more energetic. The alarm sound, when the ship was attacked, so loud, that one might jumped right from the chair, especially during night. Actual military missions like nuking enemy satellite or photographing enemy base in a system no one really knows. Why do I have a feeling, that FFE had in some ways more content, than ED? Probably just nostalgia Anyway, anybody else missing the old days?

FFE was great, but it did not have more content.

In my opinion, FFE didn't realy shine until JJs reverse engineered version.

It's was still kind of limited. I finished the hand coded missions and became Elite in just three days, once I knew what to do.

 

[Saool]

I miss that fact that the Alliance had a big role to play in it.

I am rather hoping FDEv are planning to recycle parts of that into the new ED timeline, and that is what all the California Nebular bases are part of.

 

[Mengy]

Yeah, FFE was a great game. In some ways better than ED, but man the modern graphical look of ED goes a long way too. I hope that in time Frontier can develop the mechanics of ED to the point where there is no comparison, and ED will vastly outclass FFE in every way.

 

[Red Anders]

Because it means consequences for your choices. As much as people like complaining about The Grind, in the end its what people want: easy stuff leading to everything. "You participated, well done! You can now call yourself King for no reason, and you get every ship in the whooooole galaxy!"

True that, it's nuts that we have two galactic superpowers locked in a cold war which has got considerably warmer recently and yet I can devote all my time to running missions for one of them without my reputation with the other taking any kind of hit. It's got to be six months since I did a mission for a Fed faction anywhere, I've gone up four ranks with the Empire in that time (currently at 88% of Earl) and my Fed rep has remained at 75% 'Friendly' throughout.

 

[prd]

Well I often play ED with the old Privateer MIDIs, guess you could do the same with FFE musics. Also I like to play Universal Combat every once in a while for a game that has that retro feel but isn't so old as to be unbearable yet.

 

[Patrick_68000]

Sometimes I really miss the old FFE. The midi-based classical music, much less subtile, more energetic. The alarm sound, when the ship was attacked, so loud, that one might jumped right from the chair, especially during night. Actual military missions like nuking enemy satellite or photographing enemy base in a system no one really knows. Why do I have a feeling, that FFE had in some ways more content, than ED? Probably just nostalgia Anyway, anybody else missing the old days?

The first love always has a special flavor

 

[Stryka Choon]

Try FFE3D as well Andyj one of our forum members has done some great work with it.

Tried installing this the other day, but it didn't like a 64-bit Win10 system and wouldn't run. There's no XP Mode in Win 10, and DosBox is too much of a faff. Shame.

 

[AndyJ]

The original FFED3D should run on 64bit, but on Windows 10 it's likely that you are missing the DirectX 9.0c runtime libraries that it requires.
(https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109)

I first found FFED3D after backing the ED kickstarter and joining the forum, thought that it was a real shame that it got abandoned ... so I decided to try to complete the effort! Take a look here if interested: The FFED3DAJ Thread and feel free to ask for any help with it there...

Naval progression was far superior and actually felt like a career. Also didn't postive rep with the Federation mean negative rep with the Empire?

Yes, in FFE gaining mission points (rank) with the enemy counts against you when deciding which missions will be made available as well as how the station greets you upon arrival.

 

[Bounder]

FFE's bulletin board system is so much more realistic, and thus immersive and compelling to play, than ED's "duh, missions!" board... and now its "passenger lounge". There's none of the forced hammy neuroticisms of passenger 'likes and dislikes', or "sourcing and returning x for the glory of y" - i browse the available missions in ED and am totally put off by every single one of them; they're all weirdly over-particular, over-familiar and uncomfortably 'personal' what with the relationship management tripe and "Greetings Commander x, blah blah rhubarb rhubarb" inanities; having spent a lifetime working in the transport sector, FE2/FFE are convincingly realistic - it's just an impersonal list of random jobs - some passengers or cargo need to get from a to b, with a deadline of t, and will pay x: precisely how this work is handled in real life.

Plus FE2/FFE have space ships, moving through space, whereas ED has submarines crawling through overly-thick custard. There's no restrictions on yawing, and no space speed limits - 'faster' ships simply accelerate or decelerate faster, and with Andy J's FFED3D you can map a HOTAS precisely the same way as in ED, and so fly the same way, just without these game-destroying constraints on freedom of movement. Rolling, pitching and yawing, at equal rates. Launch from ground to orbit in one fell swoop, seamlessly accelerating up to whatever speed or altitude you like, just like a real spaceship launch but without its fuel restrictions.

Proper orbital mechanics - none of this limited hard-coded rubbish you get in ED - orbits can be as eliptical as you like, so you can perform proper white-knuckle high dives, the ultimate extreme sport. No clunky artificial "orbital cruise" and "glide mode" interrupting the fun. Slamming into a thick atmosphere at Mach 50, skimming mountain tops as your hull starts to boil away. Leading a pack of attacking pirates down into a giant crater to pick them off or force them to crash.

That's Elite, to me, and FFED3D nails it, while ED misses the mark by a country mile.