Frontier - Playing tips

      By Roy Sims (Based on the PC AND Amiga versions)

I've found that to make progress in Frontier you have to avoid
trying to mix the type of missions you undertake. Instead,
concentrate just on one aspect for a while until it has improved
and then move on to another, selling different equipment and
installing new ones as and when they are required.

For example, firstly try to improve the amount of money you own by
using the useful tip Janice Charnley revealed in issue 29 (buying
Robots from Barnard's Star and selling them at Earth, then buying
Luxury Goods from Earth and selling those back to Barnard's Star).

You will have to make this journey dozens and dozens of times to
earn enough money to buy a better ship. Once you have around
200,000 credits you should try buying a Cobra Mk III. Continue
trading as before but now you can make a bigger profit each run.
To be comfortable you should have a spare 150,000 - 200,000
credits on board by the time you decide to change your strategy
again.

Don't be tempted to buy equipment you aren't likely to use
profitably straight away. I planned to improve my Elite status as
soon as I had a reasonably fast and well equipped ship and some
spare cash. One thing about the 'robot run' between Barnard's Star
and Earth is that it's a very safe route. You're not likely to be
attacked en route. Now that you've got a nippy, well equipped (but
still small) ship you should buy a few combat related equipment
upgrades (an E.C.M System, A Shield Generator (or two), a 1MW Beam
Laser and a Radar Mapper) as well as a few cabins so that you can
ferry passengers. There's no guarantee that you will be attacked
in any system, but the chances are improved if you are carrying
wanted cargo or hunted passengers.

Combat is something you either take to or you don't. The most
common enemies are easily dealt with by using the auto-pilot
function. If you are interrupted en route, disengage the
auto-pilot and swing the ship around so that the enemy is in front
of you.  Turning on the planet names option helps as this will
label the approaching ship with its registration number, making
it easier to locate. Select this ship and then increase your speed
to fly away from it. Once the enemy is about 10-12 kms away,
engage the auto-pilot and you will swing around to face it. From
about 6 kms or less start firing with your Beam Laser. If you
aren't hitting the enemy by the time you are just 2 kms away (or
the enemy has started firing back at you), disengage the
auto-pilot and fly away and try the same process again. The radar
mapper should be selected to identify the type of ship and its
armament (as well as any possible bounty payments made on its
destruction). You can then tell exactly how many hits you need to
make to defeat it.

(One thing I never bother with is the rear gun mounting. Almost
all of my battles have been successful thanks to the auto-pilot
feature, but this doesn't work if you are firing from the rear gun
position. Don't bother spending money on a rear gun as you will
probably never use it).

The more wanted the cargo or passenger, the more ships that will
try and stop you from reaching your destination. Taking on these
missions should increase your Elite rating given time, and allow
you to get much needed combat practice. It shouldn't take too much
to be up to the Elite status of "Above Average" before too long.

Once you have improved your Elite status, it's time to try and
improve your Federal Rank. This is achieved by accepting Federal
Missions. You will notice that most of the missions on offer are
menial tasks and the dates they have to be completed by are more
often than not either very tight or completely impossible to
achieve. Seeing that you are going to solely concentrate on these
missions for a while, you don't need to worry about cabins or
other unnecessary equipment. Some of the Federal Missions can be
completed quite easily within the time limits if you have the
correct Hyperdrive engine installed. Instead of the Class 2 unit,
sell it off and go for a Class 3. It takes up 20t more space but
you can sacrifice that cargo space because you aren't going to do
any trading for a while. Just ensure you still have enough space
to carry the necessary amount of fuel needed by the hyperdrive.

Going up the ranks is quite easy. Just save before you take on a
mission, in case you can't complete it or fail to do it within the
allocated time. A class 3 Hyperdrive allows you to jump 18 light
years in one go, (in a Cobra Mk III) and this can make previously
impossible missions easy. As you complete more missions, your rank
will improve. More dangerous missions become available if your
Elite status is high enough.

I haven't touched on Assassination missions because I've never yet
succeeded when I've agreed to take one on. Equipment that you
might need includes a Hyperspace Cloud Analyser just in case your
target jumps before you can destroy it. I'd suggest carrying lots
of smart missiles and try to take off just before your target is
due to leave, (a minute or two at the most). These missions can
make you a lot of money very quickly (e.g 18,000 credits) but they
are particularly difficult to complete. I suggest that you play
the game on the lowest level of detail (in the 3D system) to give
you the best chance of succeeding.

I found that after a while the money aspect didn't interest me as
much. I haven't yet tried to buy a really large ship because they
are slow and can't travel very far in single jumps. They have lots
of places to install weapons but their slow nature and large cargo
spaces are geared more towards the type of player who is content
to trade their days away. You also have to hire and pay extra crew
members on bigger ships and that sounds too much like hard work! I
recently moved up from the Cobra Mk III to an Asp Explorer. I can
always sell my Class 3 drive and down grade to a Class 2 and do a
bit of trading along the 'robot run' if my cash reserve dips a
little.

Following these tips you should be able to get to the same level I
am right now. I have an Elite status of 'Competent' and a Federal
Rank of 'Corporal'. I was also awarded a 'Certificate of Valour'
by the Federation after completing a slightly dangerous mission.
I'm playing reasonably safe at the moment in regards to my Legal
Status as I am 'clean' on all counts. I also don't yet have a
Federal Criminal Record to talk about, and I intend to keep it
that way. A good reputation allows you to ask for more money when
completing missions. A bad reputation can make it increasingly
difficult to take on missions at all!

In the early stages in and around sector 0,0 you will come across
some Federal Military missions requiring a journey into the Alpha
Centauri system. Be warned that this is a HUGE system which can
take weeks and weeks to cross if you have a small drive. The
completion dates might seem okay when you read the BBS, but you
will fail to deliver the items on time if you have a low spec
hyperdrive engine. You can be demoted if you deliver late, or at
the least it will be marked on your record (although what effect
that has on future missions is unclear).

One last thing. Sometimes it is possible to crash and die whilst
using the auto-pilot to dock at a station or a planet based port.
To avoid this, switch the star dream time accelerator to a much
faster setting during the automatic docking process and you will
instantaneously dock and avoid the crash problem (which I believe
is a bug).
                              - o -