Amiga Format CD 8/amigaformatcd08.iso/readerstuff/andrew_edmonds/frontierguide.txt

Text File | 1995-08-31 | 20KB | 515 lines

SUPER GUIDE TO FRONTIER ELITE II - Written by Andrew Edmonds Aged 14
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* CONTENTS:

- INTRODUCTION
- COMBAT RATING
- FIXING YOUR SHIP
- COMBAT
- MINING
- REPUTATIONS
- TRADING
- FUEL
- JETTISONING
- LANDING
- BRIBING
- EMPLOYING CREW
- SHIP EQUIPMENT
- WHICH SHIPS TO BUY
- WHERE NOT TO GO
- WHERE WILL I NEVER BE ATTACKED?
- DOING MISSIONS
- IMPERIAL NAVY
- TRADING IN ILLEGAL GOODS
- DOING ASSASSINATION
- FORCED MISS JUMPS
- HOW TO FLY IN SPACE
- HOW TO GET A MASSIVE SHIP FREE!
- LEGAL RATING
- WHERE CAN I GET ALL GOODIES FOR MY SHIP?
- HOW TO PICK UP AN MB4 MINING MACHINE



* INTRODUCTION:


Frontier is a complicated game, there are so many areas of play to
list cheats and tips on.  Frontier is easily the best game ever made!
Hopefully after reading this guide you will find the game a lot
easier.  This guide explains every aspect of the game in detail, it
gives you ideas on how to make money and how to stay alive.  You
could say it was fairly comprehensive as it is a 3713 word document.


* COMBAT RATING:


A good way to increase your rating is to fly out of a space station
and wait about 3 seconds and then stop.  Turn around and then fire,
you will be attacked but if you continually fire then you will not
be hit.  It will take time but your rating will go up slowly, all it
will cost you is about £15000 in fines.  I recommend that you use a
laser that is equipped with a cooling booster other wise you will
find that you cannot fire when you need to.  A navel ECM is also
really needed because some police ships will get by your fire and
manage to fire some missles at you.

Combat rating is an important part of Frontier later, but it is better
left until you understand how to control your ship well enough.


* FIXING YOUR SHIP:


Don't take any notice of the repair shop, do servicing at least twice
a year as the hyper drives can fail more often sometimes than
others.  One annoying thing about having a large ship is that I find
that the autopilot crashes the ship into the sides of the docking bay
of space stations, this causes costly repairs.  There are three
solutions to this problem.

A- Manually dock your ship (it's quite easy)
B- Fit about 10 shields
C- Fit an auto repair system

I also advise that you don't speed up the time control too much, so
if the computer does hit the side you can revert quickly back to
manual contols and get in line again.

Obviously you could just land on planets but this requires
atmospheric shielding which your ship may not have.


* COMBAT:


Forget about the big weapons, the best way to kill ships is to buy
about 10 shield generators.  Now when in combat pause the game and
use the external view and when you see the ship select it and use
autopilot to fly into it!  You will suffer no damage, this saves a
great amount of time and saves you money from costly lasers.  I would
seriously recommend buying a radar mapper to check how many shields
your enemy has, it also can get you some nice money from blowing up
ships which are wanted by the police.  It will say "Bounty.." when
you use the radar mapper.

Missiles are a quick way to destroy ships, save them for bigger ships,
don't waste them on small ships as they are costly.

In combat it is always important to try and keep the target in sight.
Once he is behind you he will have a clear shot.  If he is in front of
you his missiles will also take longer to reach you so you will have
time to use you ECM (if you have fitted one).


* MINING:


Generally mining is a waste of time, never bother deploying the MB4
on human inhabited planets, all you will get is water.  Note that
you cannot deploy the MB4 while on a landing pad! Asteroid mining can
be more helpful, it can in some cases improve your elite rating!
Although material from them could end up just being rubbish.
Mining is better really to be left to later in the game where you
have a big ship and plenty of money, as it does not make you masses
of money but it can be fun.  There is sometimes a really big
asteroid between Earth and Mars, so slowing down the time controler
is a good idea.

Mining is often illegal, so if you do just remember not to hang
around!


* REPUTATIONS:


Never lie to some one about missing persons, your record will be
noted.  If you do plenty of mission for the Federal Military or the
Imperial Navy then people will pay you 10% more, just click on "I
want more money" and they will give you more.  This in the long run
makes you money, mostly with the more expensive jobs.  You will
never get any more money from the Federal Military or the Imperial
Navy, due to their policy but they will probably have more missions
available for you.


* TRADING:


Basically the less of something available the more people are
prepared to pay for it so looking around for places where an item is
readily available and taking it to the planet where it is not will
make you money.

Trading is the best way to begin with to make money, there are many
safe trading routes that you will never be attacked.  I recommend
that you start at Ross 154 and sell all the parts of ship except the
auto pilot, unless you want to fly manually.  Remember to keep some
fuel though!  Also for the minute keep your atmospheric shielding so
you can fly out of the atmosphere. Then fly to Bernards Star and land
in Boston Base (orbiting Birmingham World).  You can now sell your
atmospheric shielding. Then fill your ship with robots (if you don't
have any money then just leave it) and fly to Sol, you must land in
one of the space stations because you will have no atmospheric
shielding.  Then look on the bulletin board and see if there is a
request for Robots, if there is then you are lucky and you will make
loads of dosh!  If not then sell it on the stock market, you will
still make a nice profit. After selling the robots buy as many luxury
goods as you can and fly back to Bernards star and sell your luxury
goods.  You will never be attacked while doing these trips.  When you
have more money get a bigger ship, then you can make profit a lot
quicker.

Later in the game when you have a bigger ship get a permit to Van
Maanens Star, here because it it a religious area a lot of things will
be illegal.  If you don't know how to get a permit then all you have
to do is look for a request on the bulletin board for a fast ship to
Van Maanens star then ask "Do I need a permit, and if so can I have
one?"  You will then be given a permit if you complete the trip.  You
can make a lot of money from trading illegal goods and in Van Maanens
Star you hardly ever get found out.  One tip though, if you are found
don't bother bribing these people because you just end up having to
pay more.


* FUEL:


Always take twice as much fuel as you need, then in case of an
emergency you can get back.  When travelling at the fastest time rate
possible never fire your gun, this drains away fuel rapidly.  Use
Hyper Drives not Military Drives as these cost more in the long run,
unless you illegally dispose of the radioactives.  If you ever go to
take off from a space station and you have no fuel you will be stuck
but fear not, just press F4 and ask for clearance to land.  Reverse
slightly and then you can buy your fuel.


* JETTISONING:


Travel at high speeds when jettisoning things other wise your ship
will get damaged.  If you do not wish to be found out then do a
hyper space jump then do it, that way the police will not pick it up.
One good use of jettisoning is when you are being chased by a ship
that you have no chance of beating then drop off some thing and some
times the ship will stop chasing you are pick up the goods.


* LANDING:


Landing at space stations is straight forward, just make sure you
are not going too fast and keep in the middle.

Landing on planets is tricky though, good practice will in the long
run bring success.  To begin with use auto pilot to fly you to a base
but switch to manual just after you ship has entered the atmosphere.
Then use the external view and move the view so it is looking
straight down, then position the ship over the landing area.  Switch
your engines off, when you get a warning to leave the area straight
away ask for permission then or you may run out of time.  Remember to
put your under carriage down and when you are told what number to
land at revert back to normal view and when you are low enough look
carefully for the number.  I have found that on some planets there
may be mountains that block the view of some landing bays so do look
hard.  When you have found it use the external view again and
position the ship over the bay.  Go back to the normal view and set
your nose to about 60 degrees.  Then if you are descending too fast
just dab on some thrust to slow you down, keep looking at the
external view now and again just to make sure you are still in line.
There is no point trying to land the ships like a plane, travelling
along while landing, it will never work and
you will just be destroyed.

Entering a planet where there is no bases is very hard and can take up
to half an hour, I seriously advise that you regularly save the game
so if it fails you do not have to start all over again.  Use auto
pilot to select the planet you want to fly to and when it stops just
by the planet use you thrust to position your self about a quarter of
the way down the planet, using x2 time is a good idea.  Now thrust
towards the top of the planet, don't go too fast.  As soon as the
altitude display gives a reading pull up and switch off your engines.
It is important that you take your time entering the atmosphere, go
in at a very low angle.  Then use the method shown above to land.  In
practice this is not some thing that I do regularly but to say you
have "Done it" is worth it all!


* BRIBING:


Most police men will fine you an even greater sum for attempting to
bribe them but I have found that the police in Tokyo will accept a
£200 pound bribe but don't bother trying to give them any thing but
that!


* EMPLOYING CREW:


It is a good idea to employ expensive staff, never get ones who only
want £5 or £10.  If you have bought a large ship but cannot find
enough people on the bulletin board then use the fastest time mode and
about every five days a new person will be advertising on the
bulletin board for a place on your ship.


* SHIP EQUIPMENT:


- MINES:
Not worth buying.

- MISSILES:
Only use Navy Grade Missiles, the others can be destroyed.

- GUNS:
The beam lasers are best as they are more constant.  Don't rush out
to buy a large plasma gun, they are not all that they are cracked up
to be.  A 100MW Beam laser is a good choice.

- ECM SYSTEMS:
Buy both as the other can be used as a backup.

- CARGO BAY LIFE SUPPORT:
You need this for transporting slaves or live animals, a must for
illegal tradors.  Worth having.

- EXTRA PASSENGER CABIN:
This is a good choice as there is a lot of money that can be made
from doing a taxi service.  Aim for about 5 cabins if you have the
space.

- AUTOPILOT:
A must, you don't have a ship if you don't have this.

- AUTO REFUELLER:
Not a must, but is very useful, fit it if you have money to spare.
Useful in battles.

- SCANNER:
Very useful in combat, you could survive without this if money is
tight though.

- RADAR MAPPER:
Very useful as you can get money by killing wanted people, also
useful for seeing if a missile would kill your opponent.

- HYPER SPACE CLOUD ANALYSER:
Quite useful, mostly if you are on a assassination mission and your
target gets away.  Only useful if you have a fast ship other wise your
target will arrive long before you do.

- SHIELD(s):
As soon as you can afford it add about ten of these and then you are
almost invincible, you need thses if you are a assasin.

- ENERGY BOOSTER:
If you are in a lot of battles then this is a good buy.  It makes
your gun fire more often, but note that it has no affect on large or
small plasma guns.

- ESCAPE CAPSULE:
A waste of money because your insurance only provides you with a
Eagle, you might as well spend your money on defensive measures.

- ATMOSPHERIC SHIELDING:
A must, although you can always use space stations.

- HULL AUTO REPAIR SYSTEM:
If you can afford it and have a big ship then buy it.  Can save you a
lot of money in the long run, it will repair your hull slowly.  Will
not fix things like broken engines though.

- DRIVES:
Only buy hyper drives, a small ship only needs a small one but a large
ship needs a large one because of its weight.  A class eight hyper
drive is available from Sol.  Buy it if you can!

- FUEL SCOOP:
Only useful if combined with a cargo scope conversion.  Note that
small ships do not always have a position for it.

- CARGO SCOOP CONVERSION:
This is needed for asteroid mining, is also useful for collecting
debris from ships.

- MB4 MINING MACHINE:
A waste of money and time, can be fun though.


* THE BEST SHIPS TO BUY:


The Lion is a good choice, it has a good ratio of speed to space.  Has
a nice lot of missile pylons as well.  The Asp Explorer is also a
good ship.  I find the Panther too slow, the Tiger Trader can hold
400 tons and is not too slow.  Basically have the smallest ship that
fits your requirements, there is no point having a large ship just
for the sake of it as bigger ships ared slower and need more fuel.


* WHERE NOT TO GO:


If you are not very experienced in combat then I wouldn't recommend
going to places where things like slaves and narcotics are available
from the open stock market, here you are likely to be attacked a lot
because there are a lot of criminals in these areas.  You can check to
see what is available in each system by looking on the information
section on the map screen (F2).


* WHERE WILL I NEVER BE ATTACKED?


I have never been attacked in the systems Sol and Bernard's Star.
So if you are not very good at combat then those are the places to
trade between!


* DOING MISSIONS:


Doing missions for the federal military or the imperial navy is
generally a good idea.  If you do this then you will increase in
ranking but you will also get a better reputation, then people will
pay you more for doing missions.  It is better to work for the
military for one year then do a year in the navy, if you do both
regularly then your rating will take longer to go up.  Look for the
"Passage to..." requests that pay about £10000, these are usually
from people who are being chased.  Always ask for half the money now,
if they say "I can't pay right now" then don't bother taking them
because they will never pay you.  Doing these expensive trips is easy
if you have a fast ship, usually you will make it without even being
attacked.  You can make good money from doing these missions.  When
your rank increases you get to do things like assassinating important
people or delivering high command message.  These pay very well.


* THE IMPERIAL NAVY:


The imperial planets are situated down and right from the area
around Ross 154 and Sol, these areas often have many things like
slaves on the open market so money can be made.


* TRADING IN ILLEGAL GOODS:


This can make you good money and there is no need to be worried
about being found out, it only carries small fine which is easily
paid off in massive profits.  The bulletin boards can sometimes
really be the police, these can often be bribed in this situation
though.  If there is two of these then always choose the bottom one
the top one is usually the police one.  Slaves make a lot of money,
remember to have cargo bay life support though.


* DOING ASSASSINATIONS:


When you have got a elite rating of above average or more then you are
able to take up a contract from someone advertising on the bulletin
boards.  It is a lot easier to do them when the ship is coming out
of a space station, all you have to do is stop a little way away from
the station and stay there until the correct time.  Don't arrive too
early or you will be attacked while you are waiting outside. Planets
are harder, I find the best way is to wait on the ground a little way
away from the base and the take off when needed.  Note that if you
are too close you will be told to leave the area.  To do
assassinations you really need a fast ship, otherwise the target will
escape.  Also having a Hyper space Cloud Analyser is a good idea just
in case the target manages to skip the system.  Pressing F10 for text
helps, you can see if the target has taken off from a longer distance.

IMPORTANT:  I HAVE FOUND THAT UNLESS YOU CLICK ON "GO BACK..." AFTER
            YOU HAVE SAID THAT YOU WILL TAKE UP THE CONTRACT YOUR
            TARGET WILL NOT BE THERE.


* FORCED MISS JUMPS:


If you only have a class 3 hyperdrive or below it is not worth is as
you will probably be out of range.  If you have a class 8 hyperdrive
then there is a chance that you can just jump back again.  Only do
this as a last resort, usually ships will not follow you if you do a
normal hyper space jump.


* FLYING IN SPACE:


Some people may find it hard to get the facing vector the same as the
thrust vector.  The easy way to do it is to slow down your engines,
almost totally and then SLOWLY turn around then when the to cross
hairs are over each other then thrust off again.  This makes landing
and travelling manually a lot easier.   This is easier to do on the
slowest time mode.


* GETTING A MASSIVE SHIP FREE!
                         ----

There is quite a useful bug in Frontier.  All you do is put one ton
of rubbish into your ship, available from all stock markets then take
off and do a hyper space jump.  Now go to the jettisoning screen and
click JUST UNDER the button for rubbish.  Make sure that you are
travelling fast or your ship will become damaged.  You will notice
that your cargo space will of increased but you will still have the
rubbish!  The display may go strange, the space used may go into
minuses but don't worry about this.  Repeat this about 200 times for
a big ship!!  I recommends that you do this on an eagle so you will
have a fast ship which can hold as much as you want.  Save up then
buy a class 8 hyperdrive engine from earth.  Now you can travel from
one side of the map to another without using much fuel!  Because of
the speed of your ship you can get from Sol to Bernards star in less
than a day!  This tip makes reaching the deadlines for missions a
lot easier.  Another interesting thing about this bug is when you
click just under the button it jettisons water!  So if you do this 100
times the turn around there are 100 tons of water floating around in
space, if you are equiped with a scoop then you can pick it up.  Wierd
or what?!  That is really "Something Out of Nothing!"


* LEGAL RATING:


As long as you pay you fine it will not matter, I have a massive
criminal record but it doesn't affect my future missions at all.


* WHERE CAN I GET ALL THE GOODIES FOR MY SHIP?


Sol is actually quite a good area for getting upgrades for your
ship, you cn get a class 8 hyperdrive there for example.

On the map look around until you find the system that is a
Federal/Imperial capital or military area.  These usually have a
good supply of upgrades for your ship.


* PICKING UP AN MB4 MINING MACHINE:


This may be harder than you expect but I find the easiest way is to
use the autopilot to fly just by it, but be careful because the
autopilot actually flies directly towards it i.e into the ground.
When you are near it switch to manual power and straighten up your
nose.  Now fly towards it until you can actually see the detail on it
and then switch off your engines a slowly float down.  Please read
the section on landing for more detail.




COMMING SOON!  -  SUPER GUIDE TO THEME PARK