Frontier:Elite 2 - More Playing Tips

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

One aspect of Frontier that I've had absolutely no success with
yet is the gathering of information relating to missing people.
Quite often you will see messages posted on a station's BBS asking
for information on the whereabouts of a person and offering a
financial reward. At the start of the game I thought the best
option would be to write down the name of any characters on the
BBS and where they were so I could refer to the list later.
Unfortunately this list grew to epic proportions very quickly and
to date I still haven't had a name crop up that I know anything
about, despite the sheer volume of names scribbled down on my
list! Therefore my tip relating to this kind of mission is...don't
bother! The financial rewards are quite small anyway and the
chances of you having met a wanted person seem to be incredibly
remote!

There are a number of background variables that can affect your
reputation in the galaxy. For starters, late delivery of packages
can give you a bad reputation very quickly. One month is the
unstated length of time allowed for the delivery of a package for
a client. If you have lots of spare cash (and if you have followed
my tips in the previous instalment then you should be rolling in
it by now), why not give some away to the various charities on
offer?  These do have an effect on your reputation.

There isn't a direct reputation status shown on screen during the
game, but you will begin to find that taking on missions
advertised on BBSs will be harder if your reputation is poor.
Don't try and convince someone that you know the whereabouts of a
person if you don't.  This can also lower your reputation. As I
mentioned last time, your federal rank can lower if you deliver
late and this can in turn affect your general reputation in the
galaxy.

(Don't forget that when you take on a mission, always ask for more
money. If you have a good reputation then you can start getting an
extra 10% added to the payment. If your reputation is high enough,
you can also get all payment made in advance. Just don't be late
making the delivery!)

As in real life, there's no easy way of dismissing a crew member.
Sometimes you might want to get rid of someone because you think
you can hire someone cheaper. Unfortunately, if your ship only
needs 1 additional crew member you have to dismiss them first
before you can discover if another candidate will accept lower
wages. No matter what the reason for the dismissal, the person in
question will NOT be pleased and will threaten you for dismissing
them ("You're going to regret dismissing me!" etc). So far this
has been an empty threat, I just hope it remains that way! If you
exchange your ship that does need a crew to one that doesn't, then
you have to dismiss them before you are allowed to leave the
station or port. If you own a large ship you could have four or
more crew members out to get you at one time!

There seems to be little point in sending messages to ships.
Asking a ship for its destination always elicits the response
"None of your business". Threatening an attacking ship by telling
the pilot to surrender or die will just get you a "Ha Ha!". Even
asking for help when your ship has run out of fuel or broken down
seems to do nothing. (Somehow I get the feeling that this part of
the game was originally supposed to do something but has ended up
being nothing more than cosmetic at best).

If you send a "Surrender or die" message to a close space station,
the local police will have you up for piracy and murder. (I'm not
sure why the murder charge is included). The police will also send
out some ships to deal with you and you have no choice but to
fight them, then you still have to pay a hefty fine (100,000
credits when I tried this tactic).  Even after you have paid the
fine, the offence remains on your Federal legal record.

Don't worry about taking on missions ferrying people or items that
prove police corruption. You will at some point have to engage
police ships in combat but seeing that they are corrupt officers
of the law, your legal status will not be affected in any way.

If you want a lot of combat then try visiting any solar systems
that are in a state of anarchy. This (like ferrying wanted people
or items) will guarantee combat takes place and will help you
boost your Elite rating over time - as long as you survive! Whilst
on the subject of combat, I've noticed that Imperial Couriers
always employ the same tactics when fighting you. They always come
head on at a slow pace and seem reluctant to fire on you. With a
beam laser you can get lots of hits on the ship at a range of
3-2km distance in a short period of time. The courier should
explode about a second before it would have collided with you
(check the radar mapper and watch its shield % whittle down as
you hit it with the laser). It will feel much closer, and you
might feel like chickening out but keep firing and you will
destroy it in one pass.





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