Frontier - Elite 2
             The Virtues Of Kit, by James Judge

Hello there my fellow Elitists. Well, I hope you are all Elitists
'cos if you're not you're going to be bored solid by loads of
techie terms that you don't understand (ahem).

This file is just for the beginner, looking at all of the pieces
of equipment that you can bolt onto your ship and whether you
really need to give up valuable cargo space for these 'mod-cons'.
If you want to discuss technicalities, trading runs or anything
else Frontiery with me, write to me (address in my review).

First a small hint. Get your gazetteer, collection of stories and
disk 2 that was supplied with the game and discard them with gay
abandon. The two books will just install false hopes with you as
to what you can actually do in the game (such as rob planetary
banks etc.) and the disk is, well, just a disk. It DOES have a few
saved locations on it but they are only a day or so into the game
and are meant to put you into 'stunning' fly-by situations or
deadly fighting scenes. In other words they are useless (another
œ5 that Gametek has squeezed out of us for no particular reason).

Right, vented your frustrations on the books and disk? Good, now
let's get down to business.

First on the agenda is offensive weapons. The main weapon that
will be of real interest is the lasers.

You start off with a 1MW pulse laser. Get rid of it as soon as
possible and upgrade to a 5MW pulse laser. This way you will have
a better chance of surviving the all important small battles that
you will face. At the moment you shouldn't really try and stroll
into a anarchy system, or take a package for someone who has got
an enemy on his tail. Instead it should be just friendly errand
running and safe trading. If you do keep to the straight and
narrow you shouldn't have many problems with pirates as you are
just small fry not worth 90 credits for a missile.  When you get a
bigger ship (larger than 50 tonnes) you should progress to a 1MW
beam laser. This is far better and far more damaging and should
reflect your greater need for protection. You still shouldn't need
to use the laser too much to require a laser cooler, that can
wait.

At this point I made a large jump in size of ships from just 80
tonnes to a whopping 400 tonnes (great fun, took me ages though).
Between those two sizes I can't really see the need to upgrade
your laser as the 1MW beam is still pretty good.

When you do start to get into the 300+ tonne ship you should
invest in a 4MW beam laser which is very devastating but it also
overheats very fast. There also seems to be a bug on my version
that if the laser overheats in certain situations (mainly in
battle) all of the fuel that is in my engine is dumped. Humph! So,
to stop embarrassing laser burnt out or fuel dumping invest in an
ACME Laser Cooling Booster.

When you do go to larger ships (800+ for a 20MW, 1500+ for a
100MW) always remember to invest in new lasers as you present, in
your larger form, richer pickings. When you do start to use the
Pantha or Puma (which is very unlikely unless you are just a
trader) you can start to invest in the ultimate piece of offensive
kit, the plasma accelerator. Dunno what they do but they are, from
what I've heard, really good!

The next main pieces of offensive weaponry are the missile and
mine. I never bother with mine as they are a hit and miss weapon
(I've never had one work for me yet. Had plenty work against me
though) so forget about them. Instead just stock up on missiles.
Forget about the fact that sometimes your quarry will evade or ECM
them, they are a great deterrent. If you are being accosted by,
say, an IMP Courier and you have a lowly Viper Defence Craft there
is little chance that you will survive the IMP's favourite form of
attack - to plough straight through you! The best way to handle
these beasties (and any beastie that is giving you problems) is to
just launch a number of missiles at them - four for a white blob
on your scanner, and down to one for the really piddly ones. This
will give you a little time to either find somewhere safe to
hyperspace to or time to line up your laser.

There are, as you know, three types of missile and I'd only really
bother with the navy grade unless you really are in need of
missiles and then get the smart missile. Never opt for a homing
missile out of choice, they are rubbish - they won't damage a ship
that has got shields and barely scratch the larger ships (and if
they are packing an ECM...).

Another small piece of attacking weaponry is the Energy Bomb.
Great fun if you are being chased by the police, but not really
worth the hassle unless you are a pirate. You will only be
carrying the weapon when you have got room to spare (ie 400+
tonnes) and by then you should be able to handle yourself with
enough skill not to need to use a bomb on the smaller craft. As it
does barely any damage to the larger ships (IMPs, Cobras) you
will only be using it for the smaller ships and they only appear
in sufficient numbers to cause problems when you are being chased
by the police. Anyway, it is nice to just have it there 'just in
case'.


One final offensive weapon to cover and that is the mining laser.
Don't get it unless you are really into mining and remember that
you will need a fuel scoop and cargo scoop conversion if you want
to reap the profits of your asteroids shooting. With all of this
extra equipment just to get some minerals you will only be using
it on larger ships so no need to worry about it at the moment. A
little hint for when you are piloting a larger ship, though, and
hoping to get a mining laser - put the laser on a rear or turret
mounting. That way you will still be able to use a beam laser for
combat and mine at your own pace.

That's it for offensive weapons. Now we move onto, guess what (he
says in a Playschool, patronising, sarcastic voice)?, yes, that's
right, defensive equipment and where are they? Yes, through the
round window...

First up are the ECMs. These are really useful as you will often
see the warning that a missile has been fired at you. I didn't get
one of these until I was piloting my Python, but you could fit
them in whenever - they are really good. If possible get the Naval
ECM as it will destroy all of the missiles that are fired upon you
(I've never had a Naval grade missile fired upon me). If you are
really rolling in cash and extra cargo space also buy the standard
ECM so that if one unit gets blown up or fails you've got a
back-up.

Next there are scanners. If you have played Elite these will be
familiar to you. If not, get used to reading them as it should
become second nature by the time you really need to find where an
enemy is descending upon you (or where that damn cargo canister
went to). If you can't fit a scanner to your ship there is a
little cheat that will allow you to get by without one, but it
does become a hassle to use it. What you do is that when you start
to hear the enemy firing his laser, pause the game. Flick to the
outside view and pan out until you can just about make out the
shape of your ship. Now rotate the view until you see either the
enemy or the beam of his laser. If you see his laser follow it and
when you find him target him, loose a missile if you want, select
autopilot and the front view and then play the game at normal
speed. Good eh?

Radar Mappers are essential items if you own a 50+ tonne ship as
they allow you to gain more info on the opposition and also they
enable you to receive bounties. Veterans from Elite will remember
that this was an integral part of the ol' Cobra #3 but this time
around you must pay for the privilege. Sniff. They are also useful
on keeping tags on how well your enemy is shaping up and whether
they will be able to track you if you hyperspace or if they are
packing an energy bomb (you only survive bombs if you have got a
lot of shielding on small ships, otherwise it is KABLOOIE).

Then there is the hyperspace cloud analyser. This is, really, an
offensive weapon as it allows you to track your prey on assassin
missions. Only fit one of these units if you have (a) got the
spare cash and space or (b) are mad on assassinations. Either way
you will get some use out of it. To save time on analysing the
cloud pause the game and then analyse it - gives you a couple of
minutes leeway and always make sure your info is accurate. Plonker
Judge has arrived at the wrong system more than once...

Shielding is a must on larger ships (100+ tonnes). If you have got
adequate shielding (ten or more units) you will be able to plough
through large craft (Cobra #1) without suffering any damage and
missiles won't be so dangerous. If you have got a lot of units and
you lead quite a hectic life also invest in a Booster unit which
will quicken the pace at which the shields regenerate. If your
shields have been brought down really low (60% or less) and you
know that you will be attacked as soon as you click on the highest
stardreamer setting click on the second setting (the one with two
arrows). Your shields will regenerate at twice the speed and you
won't be attacked - I promise!

Atmospheric shielding is a must if you are going to land or take
off from a planet. Otherwise your ship will just explode. You are
supplied with one at the start of the game so don't throw it away
- you never know when you will have to land at a ground base.
Hull auto-repair systems are great for larger ships but not really
for the beginners as they take up 40 tonnes in the cargo area.
When you get more than 800+ tonnes you should consider getting one
- you never know, it may save your life.

The other pieces of equipment are quite self-explanatory. If you
want to deal in live animals or slaves make sure you get a cargo
life support - if you don't plan in dealing in either of these
items don't bother with getting one.

NOTE -

If there are any of you out their who would like to chat about
either Elite or Frontier why don't you get in contact with me?
We'll be able to share hints, tips and cheats. I've got a bundle
of Amiga cheats (which don't work on the ST - don't know about the
PC) and a lot to say on other aspects of the game. You can contact
me at 33 Chidley Cross Road, East Peckham, Near Tonbridge, Kent,
TN12 5BX. I'd like to get in contact with a PC Elitist if
possible!



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