I loaded up the new GLFFE a few days ago and had a crack at a fresh
start. I'm having a break from study so I thought I'd share this. It's
long, so consider this fair warning. I'm not going to proof read it or
really worry too much about grammar as like I said, I'm just having a
break from my studies and don't want to spend more than 10 minutes
writing it.
Hell, its not even a story, just my account of what happened when I
loaded up GLFFE the other day, my thoughts blurted out. Some real
intense fun. Unlike anything I've had the pleasure to experience on any
of today's games.
I've got a couple of serious questions at the bottom, if you can't be
bothered reading this but know a fair bit about GLFFE can you please at
least read that and respond if you know the answer? Thanks in advance! :)
========================
So I hop in my ****p and read about the Wiccan race... I can do that! At
least I remember doing that. I load up on fuel and zoom off at low
altitude to Wicca, the home town of the Wiccan race. I'm sure I broke a
few laws doing that, I can only imagine what I a spacecraft zooming by
at 12,000kmph would sound like :) I pick up the package and set my sites
for Alioth. My ****p can do the distance, but it's going to take two
jumps. Scanning for a nearby midway point I ask for permission and take
off. The race is on! I don't even wait for my skids to be up before I'm
pointing skyward at full thrust. Two uneventful jumps later I'm in
Alioth, with my target selected. The trip was surprisingly uneventful,
despite the warnings in the papers advising that the race is dangerous.
I got lucky I guess! Well, I don't guess, it must be true because upon
landing I discover I've won! Hooray 1200c! :)
In deciding what to do next I did something I don't usually do when I'm
in this position. I sold everything I could and bought a few ton's of
medicine leaving me with just enough money to pay for my next docking
fee. My target? Soholia! There's a plague in there and profits to be
had! Macabre I know, but hey, I'm still helping right?
My hyperspace trip was uneventful (as I hope it will be each and every
time), and I pick the closest landing field and set my auto pilot.
Now... I know what's going to happen here. I've got that spidey sense
that tingles when your little Saker is about to get reamed. With no way
out regardless, I set the stardreamer to maximum.
BANG! Yep, no surprise, I'm instantly surrounded by 3 ****ps ALL pumping
red and orange beams into the space around me! CRAP! I think, as I rush
to turn down my volume (does anyone else remember combat being THAT
loud?!). Anyway, I digress, back to the game.
I quickly pick a target (looks to be an Adder) and bring my trusty
little pea shooter to bare. Now, in Ansio's FFE you used to be able to
use the Numpad to move up, down, left and right. This new version
unfortunately doesn't have that kind of functionality and as a result
combat was a real challenge. Nonetheless I managed to weave my way
through the beams of fire and after a few p***** and some lucky hits the
Adder pirate is space dust!
At this point I pause the game and take a breather. I'd forgotten how
hectic combat in FFE was, and with no ****elds and a rather flimsy ****p
(they never used to be in Ansio's) even a seconds worth of contact with
the enemies fire means death.
Anyway, I digress. Onto the second target. This is one of the culprits
pumping out orange death... I've got to be extra careful here while
jousting to not get into his sites. 30 seconds later he too is space
dust, but not before we suffer a head-on collision that my computer
tells me destroyed my right and bottom thrusters. No time to worry about
that however, one pirate to go!
This little fella' (an Eagle Mk1 from the looks of it, my favourite
class of ****p) wasn't doing so well. Maybe he'd had a little too much
fun ****t side since he'd had a full few minutes to land a hit yet had
failed! Anyway he didn't last too long, I'd fallen into the "zone" by
this time and pretty soon I was cruising safely again towards my
destination ****t.
Or so I thought, again the stardreamer seems to bring the whole system
to play! Thankfully it's just one opponent this time, and some minor
hull damage later (*cough* down to 8% hull remaining) he is also surely
regretting that he ever crossed my path.
Once again I set my destination target and activate the autopilot...
Activate the autopilot... turn on damn you! Ok... so I ask for a ****p
status re****t, hrmm most of those systems seem to be red. Ok, ALL of
them are. But that's ok, my interplanetary drive still works (mostly)
and my 3 tons of medicine is still intact! Huge profits await (not to
mention some medicine for poor little johnny!) Right? Well, maybe... If
I can get there :/
Ok, so sure its been a long time (at least 4 years) since I've actually
flown 7AU's manually in system and landed, but surely its got to be like
riding a bike. Right? Briefly I contemplate doing it on the 4th
Stardreamer setting, but even at this speed the trip would take far too
long subjectively. So I err in the side of caution, I set my speed at a
reasonable 1000kms and coast in at my stardreamers maximum setting. The
distance ticks down and soon I'm at 1AU... 400,000KM... down down. My
speed is soon at a meagre 300kms, but some things wrong. The planet and
station are moving AWAY from me. Damnit the orbital rotation of the
planets around the Sun is outpacing me! No problems I say as I turn my
****p to the left. Only to find myself coasting gracefully past the
entire planet and station.
Oh that's right, I've lost half my ****ps thrusters. My brain reels as I
try to work out how to get to the damn station without being able to go
in a particular direction. But wait! You're in space moron, you can just
rotate you ****p to use the left thrusters!
So (after quickly working out that [] are the roll keys) I being my slow
gentle tumble towards the station. I could only imagine what it would
look like, a sleek little fighter rolling constantly on its axis, its
left hand thrusters blazing occasionally as the ****ps computer struggles
to align the ****p to my chosen course.
Some 10 minutes (my time) and some tricky manoeuvring later the safety
of the station looms ahead of me. With the docking request granted I
slowly coast in, once again continuing my gentle roll as the station
entrance does its best to get away from me.
A few sweaty seconds later I'm in! The docking clamps grab on and pull
me in. I have NEVER, EVER in the years since Frontier and then FFE were
released had a more satisfying landing. I realise I was on the edge of
my seat the entire time. All it would've taken was a slight brush
against the station to rip my ****p apart.
I quickly rush to check the bulletin board and find what I'm looking
for. These people must really need medicine as the news had indicated,
someone is willing to take my cargo for a tremendous 3600c per ton!
That's nearly 3000c profit per ton! All of a sudden I've gone from being
flat broke, to having a healthy account of nearly 10,000 credits!
Realising that my ****p needed some TL&C I went to the station ****pyard.
The damage, both physical and monetary was extensive. I also needed a
new hyper drive, autopilot, atmospheric ****elding plus a host of other
systems but despite that, I'd still made a trip of a life time. Hell I
even splurged out and got myself some missiles once all the
repairs/replacements were complete.
Hoping to cash in on the unfortunate cir***stances of the Sohalian's yet
again I quickly loaded up with the systems prime ex****t, robots and set
sights for the nearby system of Gateway.
All is going well and I've transitioned without issue into the safe
space of my home town. As I target my home town and set the stardreamer
I have to admit I'm mildly surprised when I hear the combat alarm go
off. Pirates? Here? Well, no matter I'll make short work of them if my
last battle was anything to go on. Plus now I've got some powerful Naval
missiles to to boot, these pirates are in for a BIG surprise!
....
And there my story ends, as a white beam of blinding fire strafes over
my ****p the split second I un-paused my game.
Bugger, why oh why didn't I save? :(
========================
Best moment ever (despite the insta-death :)). I don't remember FFE
being quite so hard. It really is just a case of instant death in so
many situations. If one of the pirates launches a missile you're also
doomed. In Ansiso's you used to be able to launch homing missiles to
counter other missiles, does this still work in the latest GL FFE
version? Anyone know?
Also does anyone know how to remap and or add extra thruster directions?
Being able to move in all directions made combat in small ****ps much
more feasible.
And last but not least, I also found my keyboard getting VERY
unresponsive while playing GLFFE. It's debilitating and unusual. I've
never encountered it before and it was ONLY in GL FFE. If I quit or even
Alt Tabbed out the keyboard was fine again. But in the game keys either
wouldn't get counted as being pressed, or would take 1-2 seconds to
register a response. Very odd, maybe a caching issue somewhere?
--
Ceo
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