Elite / Frontier Re-Inspiring My Interest In FFE

[Alien]

OK, a question to you all : How do I re-inspire my interest in FFE?
Here is the problem ... I've played FFE a lot. I flown all the ships I wanted to.
I've played FE2 and used the jettison bug to expand a Falcon's cargo hold, bought a Class 7 Hyperdrive, equipped it out, done the military missions up to photographing buildings (which incidentally is funny when you hang there in a Falcon with lots of shields and lots of ships flying around you crashing everywhere).
With that Falcon, I've jumped to the centre of the galaxy.

I've replayed FFE, this time I hacked the game thanks to George Hooper's explanation of how to hack FFE with a hex editor (apologies, I've forgotten the site, so no link). Now I use Buffet and the game is literally too easy now.

I am bored, I need inspiration, I need to find a reason to play FFE again.
Anyone have any ideas?

 

[shrapnel]

I re-found my interest mainly by going back to square one. After I found myself with so much money and the resources to do whatever I liked, I found it kind of fun to go back to the start with c100 and no autopilot, etc.

I also derived some fun from working out how to do more with manual flight control than I had the first time around. Where before I had always erred on the side of caution, this time I've been winging it a lot more.

 

[nats]

Nvere ceases to amaze me how much time some people have. I think I played FFE up to getting a Harrier ship thing and probably 10-15 missions maybe? I must be the only Frontier fan who never saw the Thargoids! I am rubbish at these games, but I enjoy them all the same.

 

[shrapnel]

No Thargoids for me either in FE2 or FFE, I played sporadically for stints over the last (eek!) 18 years, never really sustained for long enough to get to the "meat".

 

[Alien]

The only reason I've seen Thargoid ships in FFE is when I hacked the game to make my ship the various Thargoid ships, never seen them in proper game play (No I didn't complete the final mission, but I have been to the sector)

I have seen Thargoid ships in proper gameplay in the orginal Elite ... twice
First time was way back in 1985 on my C64 when I got pulled into witchspace and destroy one of two Thargoid ships (and the little thargons)
The other time was the other day playing the emulated version from Synchromesh's site, I jumped to Diso and was getting attacked from everywhere and one of the ships attacking me was a Thargoid!!!

 

[shrapnel]

Me and my brothers used to play the first Elite as a "team" on the BBC micro back in the day. The first time Thargoids were seen there was a noted commotion in the household, it was like a life-changing event!

 

[Sir.Tj]

Only time iv'e seen them is on the Vaccine mission in FFE.

And flying/Docking one without a Autopilot is fun.

Alwayswondered why all hell didn't break loose when you flew into the Sol system in a Thargoid ship!!!

 

[Ende]

Anyone have any ideas?

The best way to re-inspire yourself to play FFE again is to roleplay...

i expect photos on this site of u sat at your PC in ski goggles, heavy duty rubber gloves, mechanics overalls with Elite emblem crudely sewed onto the chest with a colinder (or similiar) on your head... we expect u to play the whole game through acting out every detail of the game in true Jameson character!!!

 

[PaoloMariani]

I tend to lose interest in FFE after the Thargoid missions, because it gets so repetitive. Don't think I ever got up to Elite, even when I had a Thargoid ship with infinity cargo space and hundreds of shields (at which point you don't need to slow down to bomb or take pictures of military installations - the ship hits the ground hard and just bounces back). And then, the only thing that works is to start from the beginning again in the old Saker, which suddenly seems very fragile. So I guess I'll +1 Shrapnels suggestion.

 

[PB-DK]

i always hated the thargoids since elite and never bothered with doing any of the missions related to them in ffe, practically ignored them completely, never flew a thagoid ship, never wanted to, never want to see them again either, i would prefere some more interesting and realistic xenoforms... heck i would settle with interesting and semi realistic, but extra dimentional beings? no thanks

 

[nOmArch]

Didn't know they were an 'extra-galactic' species, from reading the wiki entry it certainly looks like at least one writer on Star Trek: Voyager was an Elite fan.

 

[DraQ]

Actually, once you've exhausted the game, there is little to do apart from sightseeing and doing all manners of freaky stuff with orbital mechanics and whatnot.

 

[Mika]

Here is my simple answer:

As long as the game's and your goals, are based on "winning", you will always (given enough skill) achieve it, and thus the motivation is gone.

The only potential infinite motivation of playing a game or doing something, is enjoyment of doing said act. To translate this to game: Just "living" in the gameworld being the motivation, instead of reaching any "goal".

Heck, the mere idea of a "goal" implies an "end", instead of a "process".

This also is, why so many games and especially MMO's, rely so heavily on power-inflation.... by their "motivation" being based on reaching some goal, ever higher goals have to be created - but this, game-content wise, is expensive - so the only thing that ever is changed, is numbers..... reach number X - go! Reached X? Kay, now reach pointless number Y. Reached Y? Kay, now reach pointless number Z!

A game that is fun, immersive and variable enough to play, does not need "goals" except for people (robots?) who want to be told what to do, because they don't know what they want to do.

 

[Redstorm]

FFE Saved Games

I just had a look at the saved games for FFE

2001 file date can't believe its been 11 years since i played elite.

If anyone wants to fly the Thargoid warship and also with the Argents Quest ship... i can put the game saves up somewhere.

The Argents saves are before visiting the Thargoids so you could complete those missions if you missed out..

 

[Warbler]

How to re-inspire your interest Alien... it looks like you need to make the game harder & play without exploits. FE2/FFE can be as challenging as you like. Have you tried these ideas?

1. Try getting to Elite without ever dying. If you die, start again.

2. Always carry enough fuel to recover from mis-jumps (where possible).

3. Always carry an escape capsule. If you end up loosing your ship & cargo, so be it.

 

[shrapnel]

How to re-inspire your interest Alien... it looks like you need to make the game harder & play without exploits. FE2/FFE can be as challenging as you like. Have you tried these ideas?

1. Try getting to Elite without ever dying. If you die, start again.

2. Always carry enough fuel to recover from mis-jumps (where possible).

3. Always carry an escape capsule. If you end up loosing your ship & cargo, so be it.

Recently, in nostalgia mode, I've started new games in both FFE and FE2 along these lines. If I die i have to start again, and it introduces a whole new level of caution to proceedings, especially when you're in a stripped out, rubbish ship at the beginning and trying to make some cash. Initially I banned myself from an Autopilot too, that made for a lot of concentration!

The autopilot in FE2 tries to kill me half the time anyway.

 

[Sir.Tj]

A couple of things I do to keep myself amused.

Try to get to 1,000,000 within a year.

Do the missions mentioned on the BBS, deliver the statue, rescue the hitchhikers etc.

Go back to the Thargoids base after the mission has ended and cause a bit of mayhem.

Head out in one direction and see how far you can get before your drive fails.

Turn into a out and out naughty person and get every criminal record in every system.

Try some sun diving.

Land on the moon and watch a earth rise.

 

[Alien]

A couple of things I do to keep myself amused.

Try to get to 1,000,000 within a year.

Do the missions mentioned on the BBS, deliver the statue, rescue the hitchhikers etc.

Go back to the Thargoids base after the mission has ended and cause a bit of mayhem.

Head out in one direction and see how far you can get before your drive fails.

Turn into a out and out naughty person and get every criminal record in every system.

Try some sun diving.

Land on the moon and watch a earth rise.

Making money ... not hard
Doing the missions ... done that (except for the very last one)
Return to the Thargoid base ... not done that
Head out in one direction ... I've been to center of the galaxy (but I did cheat to do it)
Become a fugitive ... not for me
Sun Diving ... I've done fuel scooping
Land on the moon and watch the Earth rise ...

Shouldn't it be ... bigger?

 

[Sir.Tj]

Making money ... not hard
Doing the missions ... done that (except for the very last one)
Return to the Thargoid base ... not done that
Head out in one direction ... I've been to center of the galaxy (but I did cheat to do it)
Become a fugitive ... not for me
Sun Diving ... I've done fuel scooping
Land on the moon and watch the Earth rise ...

Your right Alien, It should be bigger.

That's the problem we've all got been playing the game for so many years it's hard to find something new to do.

If only Frontier would release a new Elite.............

 

[cassius]

Shouldn't it be ... bigger?

Typical woman, nothing's ever big enough