i haven't got too far into the SP missions on FL, but i think the photo/bombing missions in Frontier would of worked in FL, also package delivery would have been good, these wouldn't have changed much, but at the moment its all "kill this person here"

there are plenty of mission ideas running around my head, that weren't in Frontier or Freelancer... for example...

picking up a someone and taking them somewhere, not escorting mission, more of ferrying around people missions

i am still a big fan or frontier, and FL seems a bit small (universe size), but i guess like most people i only stuck to the core systems anyway, because there was no real reason to explore...

...i think that most people regard Frontier as "the be all and end all" because you could travel into our own solar system, you could associate with the game in a small way...

but i guess i have yet to discover alot of things

Actually it would be rather nice if there where somekind of a transportation system in the game besides owning your own ship!

You could be a dependent merchant owning not your own ship, but travelling by the public means of transportation. Maybe buying cargo space on the transportation vehicles.

That would be a kewl feature imo.

In the end this is a personal issue. So personally i think frontier kicks freelancers ass any day of the week My main problem with FL is that, compared to frontier, it is too consoley. Very user friendly but at the expense of depth.

Things that should definitely be in FL from frontier :

- The combat radar.
- The Elite/Military ranking system.
- Ship/equipment flexibility i.e. ECMs etc, + your shields were determined by how many shield generators you bought. Any given hull could be theoretically used for trading or combat depending on how you kitted it out
- Risk factor with trading illegal goods i.e. when you go to sell it can be a police trap. Tho in frontier you never got scanned so FL has the edge there.
- Planets as 3D bodies, not decoration.
- Greater variety of missions.
- Loads more little things like transporting people for cash, mining planets, need to buy/scoop fuel, getting paid to dump toxic waste/rubbish, chance to double cash on rare good via bulletin board.......

Having said all that i do really enjoy FL and there are plenty of features it has the edge over frontier such as many more factions, more secrets and the existence of a storyline. Rumours of elite 4 persist but i think david braben has ruined his rep with First Encounters. Surely microsoft, when they were buying privateer, could have throw a few bucks brabens way? It will be a real shame if First Enc is the last incarnation of elite. Freelancer 2 : privateer 4 : elite 4 would be the game of all time

I agree with all of you. And I think that FL is a Elite 2/3 (Frontier and First Encounters) wannabe. But FL is better in several aspects, like exploration. I find Frontier very dificult because of the real flight dynamics. The Privateer and the FL systems are easier. It would be just perfect if FL were a Frontier version, using the mouse control and the sounds (music too) from FL. Imagine playing Frontier on-line... to see another real person in a vast universe... that would require hundreds of players! FL works better right now. But in the future, like 5 years from now, FL 2 would need to be like Frontier because that would be possible, and everybody here would just love to play it!

Imagine: FL 2 - Frontier with top graphics, huge universe, full of stuff to discover, full 3D universe (spherical gameplay, no general up or down, only relative ones), hundreds of systems, thousands of planets, the ability to fly from space down to atmosphere and land on a base, real orbits (planets are moving around stars, bases are orbiting planets or stars, asteroids have their own movement)...

If everything goes right (even with delays) we may see all of this in Elite 4. Frontier Developments (http://www.frontier.co.uk/games/elite4/faq.html) says that they are working on it.

That Elite 4 FAQ is 3 years old now, but hopefully we will still see the game...

I would like to see more missions not based around killing things in FL... plus a larger more open universe (everything seems quite close together in FL, the planets are very close to each other).

Frontier etc. was great because it felt like there was a point to trading, you were travelling millions of miles to deliver vital stuff etc.

Of course, FL rules aswell, I love it, but due to system problems haven't played it much yet (thankfully I should have my system problems sorted soon ).

Also, I still play FFE sometimes, so it's not like I can't experience the Elite universe from time to time...

Although I have not played Freelancer I've played the demo a fair bit and have read lots of feedback about it and this is what I think it needs.

More open and larger solar system.
Your trading goods can effect the growth, size and positioning of colonies.
The ability to hire people to help you and establish you own bases,factions and companies.
More mission varieties like escorts, being hired to smuggle a certain item, cargo runs, ferrying VIPs, defending a base and such.
Also if there is not already more than one campaign maybe there should be ones like plots associated with criminal activities which you have to accomplish by yourself and not with the help of another faction, maybe this could be where hiring wingman would be uselful.

I shall think of more soon but I have something to say about the idea of having no relative up or down.
This is a 50/50 thing, since in the orbit of stars everthing is on the same orbit path maybe just at greater distances from the centre of gravity.
Maybe in places where there is no natural centre of gravity, if there is such a place in the game, there should be more or less no up or down?

Josh

SHIFT[_the future