starting FFE problem - with pirates
Toby Douglass
I've in the last day or two discovered JJFFE and then GLFFE.
(I had an Amiga, and played the Frontier back in the day, Elite before
that on the Spectrum.)
I'm having a real problem with FFE, though; namely, pirates.
I start the game, in my little tin-can of a ship.
I buy some Animal Meat, and hyperspace from where I am ("Mostly Safe")
to another, nearby, Alliance world, which is also "Mostly Safe".
I then turn on the nav computer and start heading towards a station.
Turn time acceleration up to max and I'm zipping along and -
And then the alarm siren goes off, I'm ready for it, so I turn time
acceleration down to zero (which doesn't seem to happen automatically?)
and then about two seconds later I'm blown to bits.
Last time that happened, it was a pair of Imperial Couriers and a Cobra
Mk III!
So, like, HTF do you actually GO anywhere or DO anything?
bzzzt
> Hi -
>
> I buy some Animal Meat, and hyperspace from where I am ("Mostly Safe")
> to another, nearby, Alliance world, which is also "Mostly Safe".
>
Hi Toby, I had the same problem, long, long time ago (in a galaxy far...
oops :P ). When you start with the Saker MKIII, best thing to do is to buy
the most hydrogen you can (sell this crap impulsion laser 1MW) and
directly head to Sol (0,0) from Gateway (something like 5-7 hyperspace
jumps, so be sure to have plenty of fuel to do it without having to buy
hydrogen in one of those anarchic systems), then, do some business between
the (almost) completely safe systems like Sol-Barnard Star, in order to
get a Cobra MK I or III (best is III), put a good laser in it, one (or
two) shields generator, then, you'll be safer (not totally safe, of
course, especially against Imp Courier or Imperial Explorers) exploring
all the systems you want (well, almost all).
I remembered that it took me
around 3 hours to get enough money with the saker, then I get something
a bit bigger to do business in the "safe zone", then another bigger thing,
etc.
The best choice, if you can get it, is the nice ASP Explorer, with a
class 3 (or 4? dunnot remember) hyperdrive, 4-5 shields generator, decent
weapon and systems (naval ECM for eg), and having around 20 Light Years
hyperspace capability, and enough storage left for plenty of goodies and
fuel. I always thought of the ASP Explorer as the Elite's Millenium
Falcon. Hope this'll help. Strange the time acceleration doesn't stop when
you are attacked, however. Please excuse my bad english :)
Toby Douglass
> On Mon, 09 Apr 2007 11:25:47 +0100, Toby Douglass wrote:
> > I buy some Animal Meat, and hyperspace from where I am ("Mostly Safe")
> > to another, nearby, Alliance world, which is also "Mostly Safe".
> Hi Toby, I had the same problem, long, long time ago (in a galaxy far...
> oops :P ).
[snip advice]
Thanks! I guess I was used to the original Frontier, I think you start
somewhere totally safe. Bit mean not to have that in FFE.
qwasqaws
screen to start in the places from Frontier with the same ships and stuff.
Don't know if that works in all versions.
--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/
Sabremeister Brian
MPG.208acbb43...@news-europe.giganews.com,
Toby Douglass (toby.d...@youknowwhattodo.summerblue.net) spake
thusly:
So, what, sector -3,-6 (Lave, Riedquat, Zaonce and Leesti etc) is a
totally safe starting point then?
This is obviously some new usage of the word "safe"...
--
www.sabremeister.me.uk
www.livejournal.com/users/sabremeister/
Use brian at sabremeister dot me dot uk to reply
Literary threat #19:
They say the pen is mightier than the sword -
and I'm pretty handy with both, you know...
[Jongware]
news:58d85dF...@mid.individual.net...
> In a speech called MPG.208acbb43...@news-europe.giganews.com,
> Toby Douglass (toby.d...@youknowwhattodo.summerblue.net) spake thusly:
>
>> no...@nowhere.spam.com wrote:
>>> On Mon, 09 Apr 2007 11:25:47 +0100, Toby Douglass wrote:
>>
>>>> I buy some Animal Meat, and hyperspace from where I am ("Mostly
>>>> Safe") to another, nearby, Alliance world, which is also "Mostly
>>>> Safe".
>>
>>> Hi Toby, I had the same problem, long, long time ago (in a galaxy
>>> far... oops :P ).
>>
>> [snip advice]
>>
>> Thanks! I guess I was used to the original Frontier, I think you
>> start somewhere totally safe. Bit mean not to have that in FFE.
>
> So, what, sector -3,-6 (Lave, Riedquat, Zaonce and Leesti etc) is a
> totally safe starting point then?
> This is obviously some new usage of the word "safe"...
Options 1,2,3 are Ross 154, Mars and Lave. Ross 154 is somewhat dangerous,
Lave is deadly, but Mars is rural, the recommendation for noobs. You'll have
to trade froot and veggies between cities and space stations for about a
decade before you can buy the interstellar yacht of your dreams, but that's
life innit.
[Jongware]
Simon Challands
"[Jongware]" <sorry@no_spam.plz> wrote:
>
> Options 1,2,3 are Ross 154, Mars and Lave. Ross 154 is somewhat dangerous,
> Lave is deadly, but Mars is rural, the recommendation for noobs. You'll have
> to trade froot and veggies between cities and space stations for about a
> decade before you can buy the interstellar yacht of your dreams, but that's
> life innit.
That's something I've never bothered checking - does the game actually
model in-system prices, instead of having simply a bit of random variation?
I.e. even in an agricultural system the price of fruit and veg will be
higher on uninhabitable mining planets? Or do you have to just fly around
Sol until the random variations give you a profit?
--
Simon Challands
[Jongware]
news:84638ad4...@helvellyn.plus.com...
Unfortunately, the latter. The upper and lower bounds are calculated per star
system.
I used to think you might worm your way out if you could buy, for example, just
a *few* Robots in the Sol system, and then wait for an Urgently Needed ad. But
it seems the ads are always the mathematical opposite of the stock market, and
even computers (a minor Sol import) are hard to find.
Odd, as in my hay-days I hauled megatonnes of those damned Robots to Sol...
(*where* do they all go?)
Which somehow reminds me of the 1,000 tonnes of medicines Daniel Sevo dumped on
London. "One would think that the people would have been happy, but noooo.. I
was fined about a zillion bucks instead!"
Would there be any chance of more lasting effects of your trading in E4?
[Jw]
Patric Mueller
> "Simon Challands" <simon_...@helvellyn.plus.com> wrote in message
> news:84638ad4...@helvellyn.plus.com...
>> In message <462345b8$0$329$e4fe...@news.xs4all.nl>
>> "[Jongware]" <sorry@no_spam.plz> wrote:
>> >
>> > Options 1,2,3 are Ross 154, Mars and Lave. Ross 154 is somewhat dangerous,
>> > Lave is deadly, but Mars is rural, the recommendation for noobs. You'll have
>> > to trade froot and veggies between cities and space stations for about a
>> > decade before you can buy the interstellar yacht of your dreams, but that's
>> > life innit.
I wouldn't bother to start at Mars to be safe from pirates.
Starting at Ross 154 you are within two or three jumps of Sol.
> I used to think you might worm your way out if you could buy, for example, just
> a *few* Robots in the Sol system, and then wait for an Urgently Needed ad. But
> it seems the ads are always the mathematical opposite of the stock market, and
> even computers (a minor Sol import) are hard to find.
> Odd, as in my hay-days I hauled megatonnes of those damned Robots to Sol...
> (*where* do they all go?)
Like today. The japanese get all the good ones. ;-)
> Which somehow reminds me of the 1,000 tonnes of medicines Daniel Sevo dumped on
> London. "One would think that the people would have been happy, but noooo.. I
> was fined about a zillion bucks instead!"
LOL
> Would there be any chance of more lasting effects of your trading in E4?
Nowadays it has to. Eve Online has a quite elaborate trading system.
E4 must have a system at least as good.
Bye
Patric
Graham Thurlwell
<snip>
> I wouldn't bother to start at Mars to be safe from pirates.
>
> Starting at Ross 154 you are within two or three jumps of Sol.
IIRC I usually found Ross 154 to be quiet, with the occasional
engagement but nothing particularly hazardous. Getting a landing slot
tended to be more challenging, however. ;-)
--
Jades' First Encounters Site - http://www.jades.org/ffe.htm
The best Frontier: First Encounters site on the Web.
nos...@jades.org /is/ a real email address!
bzzzt
>
> [snip advice]
>
> Thanks! I guess I was used to the original Frontier, I think you start
> somewhere totally safe. Bit mean not to have that in FFE.
I'm happy that it helped you :)
That was the main difference between original Frontier Elite 2 (which I
played (and still play) on my beloved Amiga, and Frontier First Encounters
aka Frontier Elite 3 : in FFE you started in a quite hazardous area, where
in Frontier Elite 2 (FE2 or Frontier) you had the choice : suicidal one
(Lave :D) , easier one (Mars), and a somewhat average choice, Ross 154
(which is a good place to trade between Sol, barnard Star and Ross 154),
it was kind of a .... mmmhhh, dunnot remember the word... Milky run ? or
something like that... (soz for my english).
There is many good way to make money in Frontier Elite series, but the
best choice is to stick to a (quite) secure one, in order to get a correct
ship (or an enormous cargo to make LOADS of money in one trip)...
the best one is to seek for what is wanted in a system, compare to what is
sell in your actual location, and always try to get the best "ratio"
between "What is sell here at lowest prices" and "what they want where i
go" :)) For examples robots from sol(0,0) to Ross154 (-1,-1 ?? so long I
wait for a mac version of JJFFE) and alcohol or something like that in
the other way, a fast and quite easy way to get enough money to get a good
ol' python cruiser... Aaaah if only someone had the time, and knowledge,
to make a running version of FrontierGL or JJFFE on PPC Macs... I'm ready
to pay for that !! :) So long I bother with a crap DOSBox thingy to play
FE2 in a crap window, and painly slow (even on an XBox running Damn Small
Linux and xDOSBox, so sloow... well, it runs, but in low/medium details,
and in 320x200 at something like...mmhhh between 10 and 20 FPS, d'oh, and
my ol'A1200 is now almost dead - but it is another story which has
nothing to do in this newsgroup)
Again, please excuse my bad english, have fun all, it is nice to see that
i'm not the only guy left on earth luving what seems to me the best game
ever made!!!
Have fun :)
(and if you can, just have a thought for me when getting down this damn
Dentara Rast guy ;) I did it in a Sidewinder the first time, long long
time ago (thanks to the little 1MW beam laser that just left me 2 tons of
hydrogen :p )
Steve
> On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 13:30:31 +0100, Toby Douglass wrote:
>
>>
>> [snip advice]
>>
>> Thanks! I guess I was used to the original Frontier, I think you
>> start somewhere totally safe. Bit mean not to have that in FFE.
>
> I'm happy that it helped you :)
> That was the main difference between original Frontier Elite 2 (which
> I played (and still play) on my beloved Amiga, and Frontier First
> Encounters aka Frontier Elite 3 : in FFE you started in a quite
> hazardous area, where in Frontier Elite 2 (FE2 or Frontier) you had
> the choice : suicidal one (Lave :D) , easier one (Mars), and a
> somewhat average choice, Ross 154 (which is a good place to trade
> between Sol, barnard Star and Ross 154), it was kind of a ....
> mmmhhh, dunnot remember the word... Milky run ? or something like
> that... (soz for my english).
>
Sorry, I don't understand the confusion here. In *all* versions of FFE
(JJFFE, GLFFE etc), on the demo screen, press "1" for the Ross 154 starting
position, "2" for the Mars position and "3" for the Lave starting position.
Clicking the mouse will land you in the Gateway starting position.
Steve
--
www.frontierastro.co.uk
FrontierAstro - Dedicated to Elite, Frontier and Astronomy
Simon Challands
"Steve" <dfs...@dfsdfa.net> wrote:
>
> Sorry, I don't understand the confusion here. In *all* versions of FFE
> (JJFFE, GLFFE etc), on the demo screen, press "1" for the Ross 154 starting
> position, "2" for the Mars position and "3" for the Lave starting position.
> Clicking the mouse will land you in the Gateway starting position.
So always press "3", don't allow yourself to downgrade from the Cobra unless
you have absolutely no choice, and back to the start if you die. Anything
else is too easy.
I rarely survive long doing this, but it makes it a decent challenge.
--
Simon Challands
Manfred Wagner
The learning curve in Frontier and FFE is pretty steep. Period.
It takes a little practise and patience. Pediod.
Now for some details:
So... first of all, while you still own a small ship and cannot carry
any shield generators (or only very few), you should avoid dangerous
systems and stick to "Safe" or "Mostly Safe" systems. (See my post in
the thread "FFE Systems with No Pirates".) Furthermore, you should
avoid remarkably profitable missions (when clients say "I believe
someone is following me" or "I've got assassins on my tail"), as these
missions usually entail tough and well-armed hostiles that will come
after YOU (and say hello like "You'll regret working for ..."). However,
you can't evade trouble forever.
When the combat alert goes off, STOP the timer. You can do it with the
mouse, but the fastest and safest way to do it is pressing ESCAPE twice.
(Once to open the menu, which will stop the timer, and once again to
exit the menu, with the game still paused.) Use the external view (F1)
and your scanner (mandatory equipment!) to locate the enemy. Enter
combat mode (F5 will switch between navigation mode and combat mode) and
click the hostile ship to target it (red square). If you engage multiple
ships, pick the greatest threat first. You might also want to switch to
nav mode and select a second hostile as your nav target (green target).
Situational awareness is very important! (Real-life pilots know that.)
Once you made yourself familiar with the situation and are ready to
fight (make sure you're in combat mode), press 6 (above T and Y, *not*
on the numpad) to unpause the game (Stardreamer Level 1). Now, things
happen very fast. Don't lose your nerve. When you lose your nerve, you
start making mistakes. When you make mistakes, you die.
Missiles can blow a small, unprotected vessel in an instant. At the
beginning of the game, you happen to have a small, unprotected vessel,
so you should consider fitting an E.C.M. / Naval E.C.M. system as soon
as affordable. And consider carrying effective missiles yourself. They
might be expensive, but to survive is priceless!
Fighting with pulse lasers requires skills and discipline, and at the
beginning of the game, learning to survive is hard enough. Don't leave
the "Safe" systems unless you have at least a 1MW beam laser.
JJFFE allows you to control all thrusters of your ship, not just the
main and retro thrusters. Use them! Evading enemy fire is essential
for surviving a fight.
Be sure to have a look at the Combat Techniques & Equipment section at
http://www.alioth.net/ajn/index.html
And don't hesitate to ask any questions that bother you. We space pilots
folk are always glad to help! :D
Enjoy the game, and good hunting!
--
Manni
Sylph
> always press "3", don't allow yourself to downgrade from the Cobra unless
> you have absolutely no choice, and back to the start if you die. Anything
> else is too easy.
>
> I rarely survive long doing this, but it makes it a decent challenge.
This is interesting. I've been playing FFE 'hardcore' for a few days now.
I've still been using savegames but only in case I get hit by a wierd
hyperspace bug (crashes to desktop when hyperspacing), and I've never
'cheated', even when I've lost pilots to a mis-jump.
Furthest I've got in my brief spell was all the way to an 'average' elite
rating, an imperial courier, and all the way out at about 60 AU's away from
Vequess, and out of fuel. My automatic pilot got destroyed (for about the
third time on this commander), and I ran out of fuel manually navigating. :(
Seeing that another player plays the game in a 'hardcore' setting, I'm
tempted to suggest some form of 'goal' to aim for - getting the *spoily*
vessel? Getting a high combat rating? Getting a high military rank?
I've got to say, it's really rejuvenated my fulfilment from playing FFE
(enough to warrant my first post here, no less!) It's also improved many of
my skills, and many of the things I've learned might help Patrick with his
question...
- Safe systems (achenar and facece, I'm sure there are many others. This
makes things rather boring!)
- When facing an opponent with a yellow or blue laser, pause the game, go to
the external camera, pan around until you can see the target, target them,
and fire a naval missile at them. When you fire the missile they will
immediattely stop firing, giving you a chance to fry them. This is the
reason, in my opinion, that the imperial courier is better than the asp - 6
missile pilons mean you'll always have enough. 1 missile pilon isn't enough.
- It seems that mis-jumps decrease the likelihood of being attacked by
pirates. I've not got the figures to verify this, so it's just a 'seems to'
thing so far.
- Whatever your reactions, ECMs are never quick enough when you're hugging
the rear engines of a large vessel. Holding your finger on the ECM key
whether there's a missile flying around or not is the best answer for
missile immunity.
- There's no such thing as too much fuel. :)
Take care anyway,
~Sylph
Simon Challands
> "Simon Challands" <simon_...@helvellyn.plus.com> wrote in message
> news:edaa88d6...@helvellyn.plus.com...
> > always press "3", don't allow yourself to downgrade from the Cobra unless
> > you have absolutely no choice, and back to the start if you die. Anything
> > else is too easy.
> >
> > I rarely survive long doing this, but it makes it a decent challenge.
>
> This is interesting. I've been playing FFE 'hardcore' for a few days now.
> I've still been using savegames but only in case I get hit by a wierd
> hyperspace bug (crashes to desktop when hyperspacing), and I've never
> 'cheated', even when I've lost pilots to a mis-jump.
That's one of my exceptions. Sometimes even a new drive will mis-jump with
"drive destroyed". If you force a mis-jump then it's your fault, or haven't
serviced your drive, then tough, but otherwise it's the game throwing a
deliberate random "Game over, nyah nyah" at you, which IMO is unfair and
downright bad game design, so I allow myself a reload for that. I suppose
you could argue the same about the stardreamer stopping and you getting
instantly vapourised by an Imp Explorer with an LPA with absolutely no time
to react, but I put up with that one (in reality I'd expect to come out of
Stardreamer whilst the enemy was still out of range).
> Furthest I've got in my brief spell was all the way to an 'average' elite
> rating, an imperial courier, and all the way out at about 60 AU's away from
> Vequess, and out of fuel.
If you've got an Imp Courier I imagine you're starting somewhere easier than
Lave :)
>
> - When facing an opponent with a yellow or blue laser, pause the game, go to
> the external camera, pan around until you can see the target, target them,
> and fire a naval missile at them. When you fire the missile they will
> immediattely stop firing, giving you a chance to fry them. This is the
> reason, in my opinion, that the imperial courier is better than the asp - 6
> missile pilons mean you'll always have enough. 1 missile pilon isn't enough.
That's cheating too IMO! The Courier only needs all those missiles because
it's too sluggish to outfly them. A well-flown Asp with a Naval ECM and a
few shields is more than enough for any missiles that get thrown at you.
>
> - Whatever your reactions, ECMs are never quick enough when you're hugging
> the rear engines of a large vessel. Holding your finger on the ECM key
> whether there's a missile flying around or not is the best answer for
> missile immunity.
A few shield generators should handle most missiles. The AI never seems to
launch an instantly unavoidable salvo (the odd one or two can be, at close
range, which is deadly when starting).
> - There's no such thing as too much fuel. :)
Seconded!
--
Simon Challands
Sylph
> Sometimes even a new drive will mis-jump with
> "drive destroyed". If you force a mis-jump then it's your fault, or
> haven't
> serviced your drive, then tough, but otherwise it's the game throwing a
> deliberate random "Game over, nyah nyah" at you, which IMO is unfair and
> downright bad game design, so I allow myself a reload for that.
Hmm... I thought an escape capsule was capable of getting out of that
situation, but I'm probably wrong.
I've never had a drive destroyed from a not-forced mis-jump yet, so I
guessI've yet to experience it. I've been out of fuel after a misjump yet,
and of course I don't think reloading after that is fair.
> I suppose
> you could argue the same about the stardreamer stopping and you getting
> instantly vapourised by an Imp Explorer with an LPA with absolutely no
> time
> to react, but I put up with that one (in reality I'd expect to come out of
> Stardreamer whilst the enemy was still out of range).
I've not yet had this happen to me, in my limited experience of hardcore
FFE, I've always had a half second or so after the stardreamer stops before
the enemy starts shooting.
>
>> Furthest I've got in my brief spell was all the way to an 'average' elite
>> rating, an imperial courier, and all the way out at about 60 AU's away
>> from
>> Vequess, and out of fuel.
>
> If you've got an Imp Courier I imagine you're starting somewhere easier
> than
> Lave :)
Indeed, it's only after I read your post that I started on the lave games,
but I guess after only 1 trade you could fly to a 'safe' system. I'd love to
find a mod to remove the safe factor from the systems, because I normally
like to go there to take part in military missions.
>> - When facing an opponent with a yellow or blue laser, pause the game, go
>> to
>> the external camera, pan around until you can see the target, target
>> them,
>> and fire a naval missile at them. When you fire the missile they will
>> immediattely stop firing, giving you a chance to fry them. This is the
>> reason, in my opinion, that the imperial courier is better than the asp -
>> 6
>> missile pilons mean you'll always have enough. 1 missile pilon isn't
>> enough.
>
> That's cheating too IMO! The Courier only needs all those missiles because
> it's too sluggish to outfly them. A well-flown Asp with a Naval ECM and a
> few shields is more than enough for any missiles that get thrown at you.
Hmm... Without it I find little point of even using missiles at all. I can
see how it makes things so much easier, but not using more competitive
combat strategies seems to defy the point of playing hardcore at all. My
take on hardcore gaming is that use you every non-bug trick to survive
against an exceptionally hostile environment.
>> - Whatever your reactions, ECMs are never quick enough when you're
>> hugging
>> the rear engines of a large vessel. Holding your finger on the ECM key
>> whether there's a missile flying around or not is the best answer for
>> missile immunity.
>
> A few shield generators should handle most missiles. The AI never seems to
> launch an instantly unavoidable salvo (the odd one or two can be, at close
> range, which is deadly when starting).
I was using the standard saker 3 start, and 1 close-range missile is enough
to destroy you with no chance to react, so I hold my finger on the ECM to
get around it.
Sylph
"Sylph" <Syl...@ntlworld.co.uk> wrote in message
news:hulYh.2740$5O4...@newsfe1-gui.ntli.net...
Ah, I just realised the 'snag' with the Lave start that prevents you from
getting to a 'safe' sector so soon. A $70,000 fugitive rating! Excellent. :)
Simon Challands
"Sylph" <Syl...@ntlworld.co.uk> wrote:
> Ah, I just realised the 'snag' with the Lave start that prevents you from
> getting to a 'safe' sector so soon. A $70,000 fugitive rating! Excellent. :)
Yes, does make it rather fun. You could fill up with fuel and head off to
Alioth, but where's the fun in that?
--
Simon Challands
John Jordan
>
> I've not yet had this happen to me, in my limited experience of hardcore
> FFE, I've always had a half second or so after the stardreamer stops before
> the enemy starts shooting.
The enemies start at a random orientation and will start shooting
immediately if you're within their acceptable firing arc. You will
occasionally get combats where you're hit before you can even depress
the acceleration key. Sometimes these hits will be from 20MW lasers.
--
John Jordan
Sylph
Well, you couldn't afford enough fuel to get to alioth without a few hostile
encounters around lave, and even then alioth is, if I remember correctly,
the only safe system in the alliance, so you'd still have to put yourself in
danger for at least half of the systems you entered even if you stuck around
alioth for the rest of the game. (or until you got that big fine paid off).
This would probably be the safest bet, but it'd still be wrought with danger
for at least the first 3 hours or so of playing time, and after that you can
always get bitten by the odd freak occurance.
>
> --
> Simon Challands
[Jongware]
news:59f19uF...@mid.individual.net...
I had a thought that is due to the game's idea of "enemies". They're assumed to
be friendly (even when pushing >20g straight towards your current location) just
right to the moment they're inside the 5 km range and firing at you.
I guess it would be doable to patch the game and issue the warning for anything
within 20km range or so. The game _does_ know who is acting hostile and who
isn't.
[Jongware]
Manfred Wagner
> The enemies start at a random orientation and will start shooting
> immediately if you're within their acceptable firing arc. You will
> occasionally get combats where you're hit before you can even depress
> the acceleration key. Sometimes these hits will be from 20MW lasers.
That's not neccessarily the case. If you run the stardreamer at maximum
you'll usually see the enemy only once the combat alert launches, which
sets the stardreamer to normal time. The enemy will in this case usually
be within 10km, and its orientation, though it seems random, is a result
of calculations made in big intervalls (due to time compression used).
If you travel at stardreamer level 3 or 4, these intervalls are smaller
and FFE's calculations become more accurate.
When travelling at these levels, you can actually watch enemy ships
closing in. You'll occasionally see dots passing by. (They also appear
on the scanner.) Often these are asteroids which you pass by as you
approach your destination, and from the pilot's perspective, they appear
in front of your ship, pass by and disappear behind you. But every now
and then, there's one of these dots coming from behind you. (I usually
notice them when they overshoot me.) Turn the stardreamer off to target
them, then you are able to track them. They will slow down (you'll see
the distance reading increasing less and less until it freezes), and
home in on you again. Enable stardreamer level 2 or 3 until they are
100 to 50 km away, then revert to normal time.
The result of this method is that you and your opponent approach face to
face. This way, you can avoid falling out of stardreamer 5 with an enemy
ship at your six ready to open fire, and you have a chance to evade a
frontal assault. You are also in a much better position for launching a
missile.
If the 'maximum stardreamer waking me last minute' thing bugs you,
consider this strategy and give it a try. You should however have some
experience in manoeuvering your ship at the various stardreamer levels,
although you can use autopilot to approach the targeted ship.
--
Manni
John Jordan
> John Jordan schrieb:
>
>> The enemies start at a random orientation and will start shooting
>> immediately if you're within their acceptable firing arc. You will
>> occasionally get combats where you're hit before you can even depress
>> the acceleration key. Sometimes these hits will be from 20MW lasers.
>
>
> That's not neccessarily the case. If you run the stardreamer at maximum
> you'll usually see the enemy only once the combat alert launches, which
> sets the stardreamer to normal time. The enemy will in this case usually
> be within 10km, and its orientation, though it seems random, is a result
> of calculations made in big intervalls (due to time compression used).
Close. In fact, on high stardreamer, the enemies actually teleport to
your position (plus the autopilot offset) using the same code as the
player uses to teleport to starports and stations. The autopilot offset
is stored as a 16-bit vector at 0x102 in the object struct.
In the case of pirates, this is usually determined by the AI state 0x5
function (F749 in JJFFE code). This sets the x and y positions using a
random angle and a fixed distance, and the z position with a smaller
random offset. Note that the resulting distance range is very small -
1-1.5km or so. The player-relative orientation is effectively random
because of the randomised direction of the autopilot offset.
For groups of multiple pirates, only the leader's autopilot offset is
randomly determined. The rest are teleported to specific offsets around
the leader.
> If you travel at stardreamer level 3 or 4, these intervalls are smaller
> and FFE's calculations become more accurate.
Yes, but the main result is that it prevents pirates from teleporting.
In fact, if you're in a weak but fast ship, you can avoid most combat
entirely by using lower stardreamer settings.
--
John Jordan