Throw back thread how did you make money in Elite II and III, what other activities did you do?

[Zak Gordon]

Just some random tips:

1. Never just set auto-pilot to 'max' speed and leave it till you arrive at a destination. The game obviously lets this happen but it can ruin some amazing in-space 'immersion', it also can sometimes kill you out right with the in-famous auto-pilot error!

a. When arriving in a system after the jump set auto-pilot to one down from max setting (or leave it at max if in a huge system).
b. When about half way to your target throttle down the speed settings to half your previous setting.
c. As you get closer (and after dealing with any pirates etc) keep checking the distance and adjust the speed setting for the time compression. The 'ideal' is to smooth out the transition so you arrive in good time (your real world time) at your destination but you get to actually see that destination arrive, slowly growing from a nav point to the full object (be it a planet or space station). As you come in to land/dock you will be in real time (slowest time setting).

d. It is a real shame there was not an in-game setting for this kind of view when using the star-dreamer, but i suppose it does make you 'pilot' your ship in space a bit, rather than just setting the auto-pilot (crossing your fingers) and arriving in a blur and a 'bing' for when you are docked.

2. The above method can also stop the auto-pilot crash bug, because things are happening in real time (slow time) by the time you are near to docking so you notice the bug as it happens. For planet landing this usually takes place around 200 feet from touch down with the ship suddenly flipping about ultimately with you upside down as you hit the deck. With Space stations you tend to rotate inside the dock and crash into a side. Still in normal speed the best option is to switch off Auto-pilot just before landing and manually take her down/in the last couple hundred feet.

This whole process to travelling around the Frontier and FFE galaxy adds much needed immersion, you will actually feel like your piloting your ship more often, and you get to see the systems and objects in them in a more detailed aspect and with more appreciation for the incredible size of the galaxy on offer

 

[Muzz UK]

In II, I mostly made my money by flying passenger missions (whilst learning to avoid any that sent me to Alpha Centauri), missions for the Federal Navy &-once I felt confident enough-the odd Assassination Mission .

Is it me or did passenger missions feel a bit more alive in EII and EIII.

I seem to remember getting hunted down more by enemies and having passenger communicate a bit more.

 

[Vardaugas]

In Frontier there was some Empire system that sold precious metals and some other commodity at negative credits. So I got money from buying them and then got more money from selling them a system over. More efficient than the Sol/Barnad's Star thing.

I also did a lot of military courier missions with a Viper. Plug a military drive in it and it goes almost 30ly. Loved the versatility of the Viper. Then there was the Asp Explorer and Imperial Courier. Could do anything with those. Never really enjoyed the really big ships, simply because it was a pain to fill the crew. Waiting a day at a time to flip the board hoping to get another crew member and then do that to fill like 15 for a Clipper. Yeah, nah.

 

[redstar1]

In Frontier there was some Empire system that sold precious metals and some other commodity at negative credits. So I got money from buying them and then got more money from selling them a system over. More efficient than the Sol/Barnad's Star thing.

Cemeiss I think.

 

[Jenner]

I pretty much did the initial trading routes in Frontier: Elite 2, moving on to Imperial space when I could and getting the Courier. I never really had much of a goal.

 

[Jex =TE=]

LOL repped for the awesome thread idea

I think I started the same, doing fruit and veg but then I found a system in imperial space that bought platinum for something like 20,000 - it's still there to this day and close in the bubble maybe near Barnards Star? Anyway when I found that making money was easy then and add to that the little bug where you could hit the docking autopilot at max speed meant your journey times were massively cut down.

 

[Luniticisi]

When it comes to Frontier Elite 2 and Frontier First Encounters, While I appreciated the amazing feat pulled of by Frontier ... I hated those games. so I didn't make all that much.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

I didn’t. Never knew Elite existed back then, which is probably one of the reasons I dislike the Cobra 3, no nostalgiac attachment.

Truth told though, back then I wasn’t much in to PC gaming. Most of what gaming I did was RPGs or FPS, or good old Scorched Earth (scorch.exe). Otherwise I was chasing skirts or keeping out of enemy fire (Desert Storm). Wasn’t until the early 2000’s that I picked up PC gaming regularly.

 

[CMDRBuxton]

The best way to make money in FFE was to do the thargoid missions and get the bugged thargoid ship. Instead of about 120t of space it had about 65536t and the thargoids filled the hold with alien items worth about 100k each.

 

[RolloTreadway]

Luxury goods from Tau Ceti to Van Maanen's Star. The fines, when they happened, were comically small in comparison to the profit. And precious metals on the return journey, if I remember correctly.

I've never been to Van Maanen's Star in ED. I imagine it has little of that fun smuggling action.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Is it me or did passenger missions feel a bit more alive in EII and EIII.

I seem to remember getting hunted down more by enemies and having passenger communicate a bit more.

In ED people complain though when they get hunted down doing passenger missions.

 

[Valorin]

I remember making a lot of credits by trading with, I think, an Anaconda, the Tiger Trader and Panther Clipper. And when I was rich enough I switched to Asp and then to Imperial Courier/Trader which where very different from the other ships in game and kinda the only reason for me to visit the imperial systems. I also remember having shields that strong I would just target enemies, speed up and hit the fast forward button to ram everything to death. I remember times without supercruise. I mean, fast forward, yeah, but often flying to stations took much longer than in ED.
Hm. I also remember lasers that strong I would just point at other ships with some white beams of death and done. No dog fighting at all, just plain physics at work. It was overpowered and very boring, but somehow it was cool.

I am not sure how much time I spend on Frontier and First Encounters, but it was a lot. I also always returned to that awesome 3D modded version of FFE after I tried playing other space games, like the X series. I wanted that free galaxy simulation back and the astronomy in the game. It may have looked much less realistic than X back then, but it really didn't feel that way. Also a reason why ED is really the only one for me. Got fancy jump gates, crowded planets full of interesting stuff and creatures? Space legs and fancy looking ships with alien designs? Nope. Not for me. I need my galaxy, my astronomy, my sim.

 

[Arindor]

I loved Elite II when I discovered the 650LY bug purely by accident while looking at the galaxy map. So I purchased a Panther Clipper, kitted it out with the best drive it could have and a fuel scoop. I then filled its cargo space with fuel tanks and an auto-refueller. I didn't manage to traverse to the far side of the galaxy, but I did manage to get to Cygnus X-1. However, this system was bugged and crashed out the game.

 

[ChrisF0001]

I remember...

...Dropping off the mining machine somewhere in a Python, almost forgetting about it, then managing to find it again, somehow.
...That the Python had really, really strange landing gear.
...Spending *all* my money on an Anaconda and a fuel scoop, then working back from insolvency by filling the entire hull with scooped fuel and selling it off.
...Not being able to deal with combat at all - until I figured out that in actual engagements there *was* no flight model, the relative velocities were just too great. So I just mapped flight control straight to the mouse. See an enemy blip? Mouse over it, hold down the button, it dies. Then I got good, as it were.
...And I remember the CD-Rom first version of FFE that crashed after thirty seconds no matter what you did. People complaining about bugs these days don't know they're born, I tell ya...

There's also a story a friend of mine told me about upgrading the drives in an Imperial Courier, but that's not my anecdote to share.

 

[MickyG1982]

Simple and easy was deliveries of (just about any) goods to van manaans star. Get a small delivery mission, ask for a permit, fill up with "legal" goods at any other world and deliver them for four times as much.

Got to the biggest ships so fast!

 

[MickyG1982]

I remember...

...Dropping off the mining machine somewhere in a Python, almost forgetting about it, then managing to find it again, somehow.
...That the Python had really, really strange landing gear.
...Spending *all* my money on an Anaconda and a fuel scoop, then working back from insolvency by filling the entire hull with scooped fuel and selling it off.
...Not being able to deal with combat at all - until I figured out that in actual engagements there *was* no flight model, the relative velocities were just too great. So I just mapped flight control straight to the mouse. See an enemy blip? Mouse over it, hold down the button, it dies. Then I got good, as it were.
...And I remember the CD-Rom first version of FFE that crashed after thirty seconds no matter what you did. People complaining about bugs these days don't know they're born, I tell ya...

There's also a story a friend of mine told me about upgrading the drives in an Imperial Courier, but that's not my anecdote to share.

CD ROM? You posh one!

I had FFE on floppy disks...

 

[Patrick_68000]

I was playing FE2.

To make money I was trading goods, and also I made many assassination missions.

But one day I found the planet Cemiess.

On this planet, we were paid to take the diamonds. I took tons of diamonds and was paid to take them !

And I sold them to the neighboring system again.

I made a lot of money with Cemiess. And I made a lot of trips between Cemiess and the neighboring system.

I never knew if it was a bug in the game.