How does this compare to FE2

[Starbug]

Frontier elite 2 was the last game in this series I played. Consider that the best game of all time. I've not tried this because there was no autopilot for docking last time I read up on this. And there was several different dlc. And it hadn't been out long, so decided to wait a while.

What gets you all the main content?

Is there auto dockings in space stations and can I still land on Mars to reap money from my fresh fruit and vegetable load?

Thanks, commanders.

[Freedom's Flame]

You can purchase an auto docking module, but that means that module space can't be used for other, more useful things. Content-wise, it's very much a "make your own stories" matter. FD has been trying to get past the whole "wide as an ocean, deep as a puddle" issue since release, and they've made a small amount of progress on that front. They overhauled the discovery system recently to make it more in-depth, and made missions have a bit more depth to them.

If you want to be able to explore all the content, I recommend starting with bounty hunting, then once you can afford a decent ship, load up for either discovery or trading. Trading will be the most profitable, but it can be a bit mind-numbing once you've pulled up some third-party resources and plotted a good route for the day.

The end-game is generally revolved around planets, so you'll need Horizon. Engineers have hideouts on planets that you visit to get some of the best modules in the game. After that, you go explore some Guardian/Thargoid ruins to collect tech and you can start fighting the bugs.

[Manwith Noname]

Originally posted by Starbug:

What gets you all the main content?

Get the base game and Horizons. You can ignore the other packs if you wish as they are just cosmetic items.

Originally posted by Starbug:

Is there auto dockings in space stations and can I still land on Mars to reap money from my fresh fruit and vegetable load?

Yes, there's a docking computer module. No, you can't land on Mars (or any atmospheric body)....yet. Maybe in the future....hopefully.

How does it compare to F:E2? It's the same vibe but different. I personally see it as a hybrid of the original Elite mixed with F:E2 and modernised.

[Kevlar]

Elite dangerous follows the same general idea of frontier . In frontier there was no "personal story", you would gather $ , get new ships, better equipment and that was it. You could get ranks and do several different activities to gather wealth. In elite dangerous the same kind of thing happens.

Like it was in FE2 The player character continues to be a "grunt" - something many players have problems to accept, Until now (notice the until now since I have the feeling this will change somewhat soon ) Very rarely you as a player is in any way instrumental to the story yet unlike FE2, you can now be a "witness grunt" , as there is a higher narrative that is not your narrative but the narrative of the galaxy itself, that chronologically evolves independently of "we" players taking part on it or not.

Having said that, it is still possible for the player character to have some influence at system level since with enough time and effort, one can flip the hierarchy of factions and start a conflict or defines who wins it.

The major differences in regards FE2 are
-Flying the space ship is more dynamic, interactive and immersive.
-There is no ability to land in atmospheric worlds
-There is multiplayer, You can avoid it by using the solo mode, but the galaxy is shared

I played FE2 ad nauseum. Right now I rack some 5000+ hours in ED according to steam, but truth be told I had some 1000+ hours before coming to steam....

If you did like Frontier : elite II , you will most likely fancy Elite Dangerous.

[Sapyx]

I'm another veteran of all the old ED games here - ED does tend to attract them.

Similarities between ED and FE2:
- Open ended sandbox. There is no grand Quest to follow, you never "win the game".
- Vast universe, only a small part of which is inhabited. Old FE2 starmap had 4 billion stars, ED has 400 billion. FE2 had about a thousand inhabited star systems, ED has about 20,000.
- Bugs. ED isn't as bug-filled as FE2, and certainly not as bug-filled as FFE (the next sequel game to FE2), but there are still many bugs that can be noticed during regular gameplay. FD are getting better at fixing them, though sometimes have a habit of adding two new bugs while attempting to fix one old one.

Differences where ED is better:
- Graphics, sound.
- The universe is actually three-dimensional. The FE2 starmap was a hundred thousand LYs across but only a few LY thick at most. In ED, the galaxy is much more realistically modelled, with full 3-D motion.
- Every star you see in the sky is an actual in-game star you can visit - the game calculates what the sky should look like every time you jump into a new system.
- Multiple ship ownership. You now don't need to sell your cargo carrier if you want to go out and blow stuff up.
- Exploration. In FE2, you could theoretically "explore" unknown systems, but it was all role-play - there wasn't any actual gameplay implemented to reward you for doing so. In ED, there is.
- Dynamic political simulation - in FE2, the politics of everywhere was constant. A system might be in CIvil War, but it was always in Civil War and you could never help one side or the other "win". Now, witht he "background simulation", you can. For many players, the BGS is the "end game" activity they get involved in once they own all the ships and have all the credits.
- Dynamic economies. In FE2, once you found the optimal-profits trade route (Sol-Barnards was common) you could just exploit that indefinitely for max profits. Now, you need to be smarter - a profitable trade route will eventually become unprofitable if it's exploited too much by too many people. You also have mixed economy systems, so a single star system might have an agricultural planet, a couple of mining bases and a military outpost down on one of the moons.

Differences where FE2 is better:
- In ED you can currently land only on airless planets. So landing on Earth, Mars or other atmospheric planets is yet to be given to us. We assume we're waiting until they figure out how to get things like weather, water, lifeforms etc good enough.
- There is no "reload save game". It's a shared universe, even if you play in solo mode. That means there is no pause, no fast-forwarding and no "scumsaving". Everything happens in real time.
- Flight model. Many fans of FE2 are disappointed to see the old "true Newtonian" flight model has been superceded, with combat much more resembling "WWII dogfights". The new flight model is still good, just different.
- Crew. FE2 had a nicely fleshed out crew system; ships needed crew to fly. In ED, every ship can be flown with a minimum crew of 1. You can hire one NPC fighter escort, and you can have other players join you temporarily on your ship as "multicrew", but so far, that's it.
- Military career. FE2 had a clear "progression" where the higher your rank, the more difficult missions they gave you. ED has "military ranks", but doesn't really have any kind of military mission system.

[kubuś]

nice

[Steve]

Obviously ED looks and sounds infinitely better than FE2, however when it comes to gameplay and missions, I find FE2 more enjoyable to play.

[Wylie28]

You seem to be forgetting FA Off exists. It is the newtonian flight model. Unless you think accelerating without a force is part of newtonian physics. Last time i checked if your engines shut down at a certain velocity, you wouldn't have a way of going beyond that velocity. But im not a physics major i admit.

[Starbug]

Thanks to all. Sounds great but I will probably look on from a far until you can land on atmospheric planets. Then I'll revisit this. Appreciate the info!

[Agonarch]

In the meanwhile, don't forget Frontier: First Encounters if you're waiting for the atmospheric flight to open up! :D

It's got a few graphical upgrades to FE2 which really utilised the extra power of the 486!

(also check out the FrontierAstro remake project http://www.frontierastro.co.uk/Hires/hiresffe.html which I haven't used in a while but from memory used its own models with original game files to just give an engine-updated version of the game you loved)

[Agony_Aunt]

Originally posted by Starbug:

And there was several different dlc.

There is only 1 DLC, Horizons. There is the Commanders pack which gets you some cosmetics on top, but that's it really.

[Agony_Aunt]

Originally posted by Agonarch:

In the meanwhile, don't forget Frontier: First Encounters if you're waiting for the atmospheric flight to open up! :D

It's got a few graphical upgrades to FE2 which really utilised the extra power of the 486!

(also check out the FrontierAstro remake project http://www.frontierastro.co.uk/Hires/hiresffe.html which I haven't used in a while but from memory used its own models with original game files to just give an engine-updated version of the game you loved)

AndyJ hangs out on the official forums as well.

[Starbug]

Originally posted by Agonarch:

In the meanwhile, don't forget Frontier: First Encounters if you're waiting for the atmospheric flight to open up! :D

It's got a few graphical upgrades to FE2 which really utilised the extra power of the 486!

(also check out the FrontierAstro remake project http://www.frontierastro.co.uk/Hires/hiresffe.html which I haven't used in a while but from memory used its own models with original game files to just give an engine-updated version of the game you loved)

Totally forgot about first encounters. I did play that too but for some reason didn't enjoy it as much. The rendering of planets was totally different and they looked, well, crap.

Many thanks for the other links. Going to check out the astro rework!

[Lord Haart]

The atmosphere is still here in spades.

Learned to dock in '84 and never looked back.