Frontier: Elite II - Collection of Tips & Cheats Taken from the Internet A DEBUG editor cheat -------------------- Enter the FRONTIER directory and type ... DEBUG NEL2M12.OVL L E 107F 72 05 E 29ED 72 05 E 2B00 72 05 W Q This will keep your cash balance from going down and can be raised by buying then selling goods. So keep buying then selling to get your cash to an adequate level so as you can by a better craft, weapons etc..... A tip for beginners ------------------- On the bulletin board, avoid taking on the missions that make you more money unless you're an experienced pilot. This is because they demand a lot more skill and judgement than those that are less well paid, and beginners will find them too challenging! Another tip ----------- Getting a bad reputation is better for your gameplay! Piracy and murder are good places to start, then progress onto the likes of drug smuggling, theft and contraband. Watch that you don't try and trade with the wrong people or at the wrong system !! General tips ------------ The best configuration for a ship I find is an Asp Explorer or Imperial Courier with shield (10 for the Asp and up to 20 for the Courier) 30MW Mining laser (it may be slow but it destroyed an Imperial Courier with 16 shields in two shots!) this only weighs 10 tons which is a bonus, Auto pilot (obviously!), Radar mapper (to check out prey and attacking ships), Naval ECM, Energy Booster, with a Asp Explorer I replace the class 3 engine with a class 3 miltary drive to save more space and if I have space, two or three cabins. (This configuration I find is the best for exploration, and bounty hunting, with the money cheat I don't bother with trading it's too boring), if you have jumped into an uninhabited system you can check to see if there are any pirates about, go to the system map, zoom out until you can see all the planets, then rotate the map around, You will see a black dot (looks black cos I've got a mono monitor so it might not be black on a colour) this is usually you, keep rotating and any other dots you see are other ships, you can target these with your autopilot and see what type of ships they are, (this tip will of course work in inhabited systems but not all of the ships you might see are dangerous.) Want to jump 656 light years with a class 2 or better drive? All you have to do is to scroll the galactic map for about 656 light years away from your position and you will suddenly that you can jump into systems, this also works at multiples of 656 light years eg 656*2=1312 light years although why you would want to I don't know since I have been as far as the Perseus arm but not found any inhabited systems, although at around 12000 light years out I find a group of explored systems, but no stations, maybe there is a group of inhabited systems nearby (unfortunately these inhabited systems could be up to 600 light years from the explored system you are looking at so it's a bit difficult to find out). Jumps can take as little as 2 tons of fuel so it's easy to jump in, explore then return to inhabited systems via the same way as you arrived (takes time to scroll through the map though), don't be complacent though and think that just because you are 656 + light years away from humanity that you can't be attacked by raiders, they can jump into the system the same way you did (but it's less likely). Oh if you haven't heard about the money cheat here goes, start at Mars and sell everything on your ship then buy two cabins and go to the bulletin board, find the add placed by Sean Singh (I think that's the name) he wants to go to Lalande 2118 in a pronto, except his offer, and go to the ship yard then try to part exchange your ship for a lifter class craft until you have the amount of dosh you want (a tip here is to get enough money to buy a class 1 or 2 military drive, then return to the ship yard and repeat the process, this speeds things up, the price in the Part exchange is based on the ship and the drive in your ship, every thing else is ignored so it's best to sell everything except the engine before selling your ship). When you have the money you want go to the bulletin board and look for the ad that is offering œ80 for information on Sean Singh, say he's in your cabins, that gets rid of him and then you can sell the ship and buy whatever you want. Some Frequently Asked Questions Overview EQUIPMENT ------------------ Equipment Mass XB13 Dummy Mine 1 XB74 Prox. Mine 1 KL760 Homing Missile 1 LV111 Smart Missile 1 NN500 Naval Missile 1 Auto Refueller 1 Atmos. Shielding 1 Laser Cooling Booster 1 Cargo Bay Life Support 1 Scanner 1 Radar Mapper 1 ECM 2 Auto Pilot 1 Extra Passenger Cabin 5 Hyper-Space Cloud Anal. 1 Shield Generator 4 5MW Pulse Laser 3 Fuel Scoop 6 Cargo Scoop Converter 2 Interplanetary Drive 4 MB4 Mining Laser 30 1MW Beam Laser 5 Class 1 Hyperdrive 10 Energy Booster Unit 5 30MW Mining Laser 10 4MW Beam Laser 20 Naval ECM 2 Hull Repair system 40 E-Bomb 4 Escape Capsule 5 20MW Beam Laser 75 Class 2 Hyperdrive 25 100MW Beam Laser 200 Class 3 Hyperdrive 45 Class 1 Military Drive 6 Class 4 Hyperdrive 80 Class 2 Military Drive 12 Class 5 Hyperdrive 150 Small Plasma Accelerator 500 Class 3 Military Drive 24 Class 6 Hyperdrive 250 Large Plasma Accelerator 900 Class 7 Hyperdrive 400 Class 8 Hyperdrive 600 Class 4 Military Drive ??? Fighter Launcher ??? Hints for Frontier ------------------ How can I make more use of the outside view ? You can rotate around the ship with the cursor-keys (using the mouse will change the course of the ship) and the +/- Keys on the keypad for zooming in and out. How do I jump to a FAR system ? There is a bug in Frontier called "Short Wormhole". Just scroll the map out very (!) far (eg. 650 ly). Now you will notice that the sign "Out of Range" changes to "Fuel required: 1t" or something (this exactly happens after 655.35 lys). Then it takes only a very short time to jump, too. This is not of much use, is it ? It IS ! Try this: You want to go from Sol to Achenar. Now jump to 83;-1. From there you can easily access Achenar. How do I scoll FAST in the galactic map ? Hold down the right shift. How do I zoom FAST in the system map ? Choose a destination as usual and double click on the "Zoom In" - Icon. Do you hate those boring days of interplanetary flights ? How do I land FAST ? Use the autopilot to turn you towards the destination. Switch to highest speed. Now turn the autopilot off and accelerate by hand (using the "Engines Off"-state) until you have reached about 20.000 km/s or about 1AU distance to the target. At about 1AU distance to target (or earlier) switch on the autopilot and you will be there. Seek&Enjoy. The landing sequence (orbit->site or outside->inside station) is slow. Just turn to highest speed. But _NOT_ if you are in a hurry. There seems to be a bug which can cost you several days using this! HELP ! I cannot launch ! This seems to be another bug. If you are lost (doing anything will result in a crash), select a destination for a hyperjump and force a missjump with . When I use the autopilot to go to a planet (and do not intend to land), the end-speed is too high. I always crash into the planet. Note that your main engines are more powerful then the retros. If you need a fast stop, turn your ship around and use the main engines to slow down. How do I fit a different hyperdrive to an imperial ship (courier or trader) ? Buy 20 shields, several (30-50) E-bombs and use them on a world with atmosphere (eg. Anchenar/Capitol or Sol/Earth). Then they'll begin to shoot you. Wait until they have destroyed your hyperdrive (use the E-bombs to slow the progress of being shot together :-). Maybe this takes a while. Then you can fit another hyperdive. What do I have to notice if I carry passengers ? Passengers get angry if the jorney takes more than one month. So if you need four jumps to get there, forget it or use the Short Wormhole technique. If the passengers got angry, they'll tell you. They will leave you at the next stop. They won't pay you but more important: future passengers will REFUSE to fly with you ! If they do, just ask them several times in the bulletin board. What happens if I fail in a military mission ? If you fail, the number of successful missions is decreased by one. How do I solve military missions ? Not all offered mission _can_ be solved by you ! You need a good knowledge of your ship and how far and fast it can travel. Also note that you need much time of travel in a system with many suns. So calculate the time you have for the mission with the circumstances. How do I get a camera ? If you have solved several military mission, you will be offered "photograph missions". They will install you a camera then. The camera hides the mining icon ! You can use the mining nonetheless. Just click on the icon, when you are near a mining station. Frontier will know that you don't want to take a photograph of the station. How do I get permits for a system ? You have to transport someone/something who/that wants to get there. When I start Frontier from WB, it hangs after some time. Frontier is very nice to the OS. You have to remove all screen and mouse blankers for a smooth gameplay. When I buy a big ship, there is not enough crew available. Any proposals ? There are several ways to get enough crew. 1: Buy ships that need a bit more crew then the current until you have reached your aim. This way, you only need 1-2 new crew members which are easy to find. 2: Wait. Every week, the bulletin board is refreshed. This way, you can collect your crew, but it is expensive (you must pay the tax every day) and anoying (you must restart every day and look into the BB, scroll, etc.). Do I have problems after firing someone from the crew ? Yes. You will not find crew again. If you do this several times, it will take YEARS (no joke !), to collect 10 crew members ! How much should I pay to the crew ? 20c/week. There is no point in beeing mean there. If you need much crew (as in the Panther Clipper), you can earn 5-600.000 c/flight or even more. The crew is only 500c then. So who cares? My autopilot runs into anything in its way ! Yes, this is a severe problem with this dumb thing. The autopilot will by no means avoid anything in its way. Solutions: Buy 30 shields and a Hull Repair System or make sure no planets, suns, space stations and ships are between you and your target AND that your target is on the side of the planet that is TOWARDS you. The autopilot sometimes takes shortcuts through a planet to reach a position on the other side (eg. fly from New York to London). Pirate attacks always kill me ! Did you know that you can pause the game, target the pirate and fire a missile after him ? What is the best ship ? Depends. What do you want to do ? If you want to trade, get a Panther Clipper. It is the most expensive but also the biggest ship around. You can stuff all equipment in it (even a Large Plasma Accelerator) and still have space left for cargo. When I fly it, I have this equipment: 2 Mines, 6 Naval Missiles, Auto Refueller, Atmos. Shield, Laser Cooling Booster, Scanner, Radar Mapper, Auto Pilot, 10 Cabins, 20 Shield Generators, Energy Booster Unit, Naval ECM, Hull Repair and 2 100MW Beam Lasers in the top and bottom turret. The Class 8 hyperdrive is built in. You need 12 crew, but the ship is indestructible. You will survive almost any crash and have plenty of time to shoot pirates. And then, one or two shots will kill them. When you fly in a system, switch to the turrets and don't disable the autopilot if you are beeing attacked. There is really no point doing it since the pirate will be dead after the first few shots and the work to readjust the autopilot is not worth it. Big but slow. The next best ship is the Imperial Courier. It is slick and fast and needs only one crew (you) ! It has enough space to fit everything necessary but you cannot fit a fuel scoop. Not very fast. Then comes the ASP Explorer and the Constrictor. They are faster, have some space and need not much extras (eg. crew). Third choice, anyway. For all the veterans of Elite, the choice is of course the Cobra MkIII. Small but nice. It is the remnant of another time. Everyone must have flown it at least once and smelt the past. The time of fierce fights, the struggle and victories returns. The ship for the real (wo)man ! I need a really fast ship ! No you don't. But if you really want one, the fastest ships are: Falcon Attack Fighter, Osprey Attack Fighter, Hawk Airfighter. But don't even think of any extras (not even a laser) ! The ship with the biggest hyperspace range is the Sidewinder. How do I do assassinations ? Head Hunting is not a simple task. The least problem is that most of the time you will have to break several laws (lowering your legal state and your money bag). Save your game before you ACCEPT the misison. You must reach the destination several days BEFORE the time. Save again. Now wait and see what the victim does. Often, he refuses to leave the safety of the station (he knows why ;-). Then some just turn around and land before you can kill them (NOTE: Killing someone near a station is a crime and you will be punished !). Others jump as soon as they have left the station. The last case is the best. You can simply analyse the cloud and follow him (you need a faster ship then he has for succeeding here). The second case is a bit more difficult. Note the exact time of exit and reload the last saved game. Now wait until the noted time arrives. He will pop out and turn. If you are fast, you can shoot him before he is able to do anything (which is a serious crime and the fine is high). The other method is to buy some shields. Shields repulse each other. Just use your ship as a bat to push him into the station (like in Ping Pong). He won't survive that and you have just broken a little law which costs only about 600 c for penetrating the landing zone. But what to do if he won't leave ? Check your scanner. Sometimes, there is no one in the station (all ships IN the station do appear on the radar !). This way you can also see when he begins to leave. But sometimes the station is just empty. In this situation nothing can possibly leave (obvious, eh ?) and therefore the mission failed. Load the first saved game again and forget about this mission. Exploring beyond the "Frontiers" -------------------------------- Here is a little tip I picked up while doing what everybody does when they're getting really bored with a game. That is: Trying the most stupid things that will undoubtedly lead to the quickest of ends, just for a little fun. Well, I was trying to go out to the most distant planets when I found out that on the 'Galactic Grid Map' at a range of about 660 L.Y. you will find galactic systems that would normally be "out-of-this-world" for your normal ship will, in fact, be very accesible to you without even losing more fuel than you'd use up on a normal 'hyperspace leap'. You'll also find that not only can you do this at 660 L.Y. but also at multiples of this number (so, 1320, 1980 .....) So, as you will see, if you understand this and can get it all to work, the whole galaxy will be yours to travel in just as though it were the nearest planets. Another selection of hints and cheats ------------------------------------- Here's a good trading route - Find Cemiess and locate its bulletin board. You will see an ad for goods bought & sold and someone is willing to pay 3000 to anyone willing to take some precious metals off their hands. Stock up on as many of these metals as possible, then sell at Tivea. Once you've enough money, buy as many robots and take them back to Cemiess to sell. To cheat follow this simple method of buying and selling :- Buy loads of extra passenger cabins for your ship and fill them to slavery point with people seeking transport to other worlds. Use the Bulletin Board to lure them to your ship. Then go to the "New or Reconditioned Ships" section and buy the worst ship on the menu - one without any room for your new cabins. The computer will inform you that you can't complete the purchase (because you have no rooms for cabins etc...) but you will find your bank balance credited with the part-exchange price of the ship you just tried to buy. Repeat this procedure until you have loads of dosh, enough to keep you happy for a while, anyhow !!! - o -