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Like Frontier, First Encounters features realistic Newtonian physics and the ability to land on planets. It has graphics that are an improvement over Frontier (the main difference being Gouraud shading) and, as well as employing the same open-ended gameplay of its predecessors, it also features a storyline concerning an alien race called the Thargoids.
Due to a conflict between Braben and the game’s publishers Gametek, the game was shipped early, and as a results was riddled with bugs, such as an auto pilot that crashed. Although it sold well many reviewers were quite contemptuous of the game, seeing it as only half-finished. A patch was eventually released that addressed the vast majority of the bugs, rendering the game at last fully playable and into a “finished”, and some would argue only-then-releaseable, form.
Its early release caused a lawsuit between Braben and Gametek, which was eventually settled out of court in 1999.*
Like the other two Elite games, it has been re-released as shareware and can be freely downloaded from the Elite Club site].
Being a DOS game, First Encounters has difficulty running with Windows XP or Windows 2000 machines, although the official site does offer solutions to get the game running.*
Gameplay
First Encounters plays much like its immediate predecessor Frontier: the game is a combination of trading, fighting and a variety of other activities—spying, bombing and a variety of other military activities; the combat ratings were also carried over from the previous games. In addition to these now-established tenets of the Elite series, FFE added a new element—journals that report on happenings within the known universe. These were introduced to increase the player’s sense of immersion within the game-world, and to that end the player can even be mentioned within the journals under certain circumstances.
More important than the addition of journals is the introduction of hand-coded missions that added a storyline to further increase the player’s sense of immersion within the Elite universe. Unlike the various military missions which are randomly generated, these were specifically programmed by Frontier Developments and take the player through a linear (but nonetheless interesting) series of events that starts with the “Wiccan Ware Race” and culminates in “Thargoid Missions” trilogy. Some of these missions can only be completed under specific circumstances, or with specific combat ratings. These missions take place between 3250 (the start-date of the game) and approximately 3255.
Also unique to First Encounters is the ability to earn special ships that are not available to buy. These ships are given as rewards for completing missions; the ships are the Turner-class Argent’s Quest, the Stowmaster-class fighter (which comes with the Argent’s Quest, equipped as the escape pod) and the Thargoid Warship, given to you by the Thargoids at the completion of the “Thargoid Missions”.
Press responses to First Encounters
Combat ratings in First Encounters
| Rating | Kills Required |
| “Harmless” | 0 |
| “Mostly Harmless” | 4 |
| “Poor” | 8 |
| “Below Average” | 16 |
| “Average” | 32 |
| “Above Average” | 64 |
| “Competent” | 128 |
| “Dangerous” | 1,000 |
| “Deadly” | 3,000 |
| “ELITE” | 6,000 |
System requirements (PC version)
- 386 DX-33
- 4Mb of RAM
- 5Mb hard-disk space
- 500KbKB free base memory
- MS-DOS 5.0 or higher
- Standard VGA graphics
- CD version requires CD-ROM drive
Future development of the Elite franchise
Another sequel, under the working title of Elite 4, was proposed in 1998, and development was slated to start in January 2000*, though nothing has yet been seen of the game. Many speculate that the game is another high-profile case of vaporware.
A FAQ created January 28th, 2003, exists on the Frontier Developments page that refers to Elite 4, though it is out-of-date.
External links
- Elite Club, offering free downloads for all Elite games (Currently only offering shareware versions of Frontier: Elite 2 and Frontier: First Encounters due to licensing)
"First Encounters"