Life on the Frontier

The Careers

Pirate

The main requiremnt to becoming a succesful pirate is to have a Hyperspace Cloud Analyser fitted to your craft. If you target a hyperspace re-entry cloud with it (i.e. target it in combat mode and click it on the panel) it will give you details of what it is and when it is comming through the wormhole. You can 'chase' a ship through hyperspace if you target an orange cloud, your analyser will tell you where and when the ship is due. You can also find wormhole openings on the sytem maps of the system you are currently in as little blue dots with no label.
Whichever way you find your re-entry cloud, you will need to target it and wait for the prey to drop back into normal space. So, target it for navigation and set the auto-pilot to work for you. You may reach the cloud before your prey re-enters, or you may not - it depends how far away you are from it. You can tell if the prey has re-entered if you have a analyserbecause the cloud details will disappear. If you haven't got an analyser then the target for the autopilot will swing round, and align with a planet in the distance - i.e. where the prey is going.
Now is where the fun starts. The prey will still be targetted for navigation, so click on the communications panel, and talk to the ship (i.e. not send a message to all in range). I normally don't bother with the chit-chat of asking what he's up to, and just straight down to 'Surrender or Die'. The prey always reply with 'Ha Ha', and change course to intercept you. Put the Stardreamer up to full and wait. In a few moments the prey will begin to attack (the Stardreamer will automatically go to normal speed once you are attacked, and the auotpilot will turn its self off). Becuase your prey is just a trader, they never really have anything more powerful than a 1MW bean laser (although occasionly they have more powerful weapons), and never have shields. Quickly dispatch your foe and wait for any cargo which they leave behind. Scoop up anything that looks good (you can even pick up the odd canister of Gem Stones, Nerve Gas, or even Alien Artifacts).
Now, depending on how much damage you sustained (probably none) you may want to go back to the star port and sell off you booty, make repairs, upgrade etc; or you may just want to find another cloud using the system map and do it all over again.

Although this description is a bit long-winded, it is quite easy to do in the game, and it starts to become quite natural after a while - even if you aren't striclty acting as a pirate. Keep it up and there can be a lot of money to be made in this. It wont be long before you can upgrade ships etc.

Essential Equipment:

Hyperspace Cloud Analyser
Cargo Scoop (idealy a tractor beam)

Suggested Equipment:

Beam Laser (any size)
1 Shield Generator (to prevent continual repairs of 1% damage per fight etc)
Radar Mapper

Ideal Setup:

An Asp Explorer with a class 3 military drive, 5 shield units + energy booster, 4mw beam laser + cooling booster, tractor beam cargo scoop, hyperspace cloud analyser, radar mapper. This is a very good setup for all combat careers, a fairly large ship but not big enough to make it a sitting duck.

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Trader

Trade Routes

Trading is a safe way to make big money, but can get boring, especially in a safe route. The idea is to find ports (they needn't be in different systems) where you can sell a product for more than you paid for it. Idealy, you want ports where you can buy and sell at each, so you are making money on every journey. Here is an example: Buy Luxury Goods in Sol, sell in Barnards Star then buy Robots, and sell those in Sol, where you then buy Luxuries and bo back to Barnards Star and so on. As I'm sure you can see, this can become rather tedious!
If you do decided to trade (and all of us have to at one point) then always keep a look out for people on the BBS who want to buy goods at over the standard prices (These people will only advertise if there are none of the goods they want available in the stockexchange). A good example of this is Robots at Sol - there are never any in stock, and people are willing to pay about C1700 per tonne, and you only brought them for C500 per tonne back in Barnards Star. Not a bad little profit huh? If you are in a safe set of sytems, and you want an even bigger profit then strip your ship down, i.e. remove all equipment except your automatic-pilot and navigation computer. That way you can completley fill you ship with goods (imagine a Transit van with a machine gun post and and 2-inch armour plating filling up the back of the van - not very useful if you are just moving fruit & veg across town really is it?).
If you have engouh money to upgrade to a bigger ship (and still have enough money to buy goods afterward), then do so but check that there is crew available before hand of you are going to need them - there is nothing more annoying then buying a new ship, filling it up with goods, prep for take off, and then realise that you need another crew member and there aren't any looking for work.

Equipment:

Nothing really, except a ship :)

Ideal Setup:

You are going to want to carry as much cargo as possible here so a Puma Clipper or a Griffin is ideal. If you are trading in a fairly violent area, add about 40-50 shield units and 4mw beam lasers to the top and bottom turrets. You wont be able to dog fight with such a huge ship so you need all of those shield units! Also, Hull auto repair would be useful, as would an energy bomb and plenty of missiles.

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Cabbie

There are always people who don't have a ship handy who are willing to pay you to fly them to the next system. Sometimes they need to get away from someone chasing them (and so you may get attacked on the way), or their ship has just broken down and they need to get somewhere in a hurry.
The amount of people you take is limited only by the number of passenger cabins you have fitted (you can't just chuck 'em in the cargo hold, mate!), but keep in mind that groups tend to adhere to a maximun number of 7 people, but that doesn't mean you can't take more than one group at a time - just make sure you get them to their destinations within a reasonable amount of time, so don't take a on group and then decided to stop off for a short holiday at that star you passed a week ago before you drop them off - they wont appreciate it!
An important thing to watch out for is their destination. Sometimes you will need to ask for a permit, or you'll end up with a hefty fine and a criminal record. Also, ask 'why so much money' - if you don't like the sound of it then walk away.
Loads of money can be made this way - for example in the downloads section - there are a few saved games there where you've just taken on misions for over C11000 and C17000 each! That's more than you earned in a month in the early days. Remember to always ask for more money - more often than not (if you have a good reputaion that is) they'll give you more, but 10% is the limit to their generosity.

Essential Equipment:

Passenger Cabins
Weapons etc (a suprising amount of people are running from someone)

Suggested Equipment:

Sheild Generator(s)
Beam Laser (4MW Max)
ECM (Naval ECM is better)
Hull Auto-Repair (If you have a large ship, e.g. a Tiger etc)

Ideal Setup:

A Tiger is a good ship for this - big but with a relativly large hyperspace range. Add 10 shield units, hull auto repair, a 4mw beam laser, scanner, and loads of missiles. Its best to have at least 7 passenger cabins; and make sure you hve enough room for lots of fuel - speed is everything here, wasting time making a detour to refuel is not a good idea!

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Bounty Hunter

Proably my favourite job in FFE. Imagine your self in the shoes of Boba Fett's good brother. You fly into dangerous systems, and kill any and every pirate you find. Its a dangerous job, but a fun one, and your Elite rating benefits too.
The way it works is this. You fit a Radar Mapper to your ship. When you target a ship, the Radar Mapper does its thing and gives you some useful information. Not only does it tell you the type of ship, drive, hull, shielding level, and anyother special equipment, it will also tell you if there is a bounty on that ship. If there is, and you destroy it, the Elite Federation of Pilots will pay you that bounty - pretty cool huh? Bounty ranges from paltry amounts like C50, to C450 and C500. On their own, these values look pretty puny, but remember that you are likely to meet many ships per system, and if just 5 ships have a bounty of C500, thats 2 and a half grand you just got, not bad really is it? Also, any thing left of their ship you collect can be sold off, making you even more cash. Its a bit like pirating, but without the ethical problems :) And if times are hard, then you can simply cross the line and become the scum you were just hunting while the pirate populations recover from your efficient work. No matter what career I have chosen, I almost always have a Radar Mapper fitted - it pays for the fuel at least.
To be a Bounty Hunter you are going to need to be quite proficient with your laser and dodging missiles. If you're not, then your going to end up pretty dead pretty quickly, especially as you tend to be attacked by gangs of anything up to 6 ships at a time (That's when the Scanner comes in handy), and when they've all got beam lasers, it can get quite hairy! Here is how I normally deal with them. I fly away from them as quickly as I can, taking evasive manoeuvres. Soon (very soon if they are powerful) their lasers will overheat, and you can fly back and pick them off one by one whilst they can't shoot you. I have an autotargetter too, so all I have to do is hit 'T' and wait 'till I get the target near a ship and it automatically locks on, meaning I don't have to stop to clcik on it. Make sure you watch out for missiles too. I normally keep a finger hovering over the 'E' button just incase. Incase the missile is impervious to my ECM, I usually have a few cheap missiles on my pylons which can be launched at the incomming missile and hopefully intercept it before it reaches my ship - you could use this instead of ECM whilst you don't have enough money to afford proper protection.

Essential Equipment:

Radar Mapper
Beam Laser
Shield Generator(s)
Scanner
Some form of missile defence

Suggested Equipment:

Tractor Beam cargo scoop
Naval ECM

Ideal Setup:

An Asp Explorer with a class 3 military drive, 5 shield units + energy booster, 4mw beam laser + cooling booster, tractor beam cargo scoop, hyperspace cloud analyser, radar mapper. This is a very good setup for all combat careers, a fairly large ship but not big enough to make it a sitting duck. Yes, this is the same setup as the Pirate's Ideal setup.

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Assassin

Another exciting carreer choice. Not exactly what my Careers Advisor had in mind, but who cares?!
As an assassin, you are payed to kill people. Not a pleasant job, but as the song goes, someone's gotta do it. That someone, it appears, is you. Basically, you cruise the BBS system, looking for adverts from generous people wanting to give their boss/wife/stalker/evil-twin an 'extended holiday'. How very kind. Not only are they paying for the holiday, they are paying you to make sure that everything goes smoothly. You wouldn't want to dissapoint them now would you? So what do you need to do? Well, find an advert that pays well (or not so well if your Elite rating is bad; sometime they refuse you all together!) and get the details. Should you accept the mission, you will be given further, more detailed information which goes into your computer in your ship. Cycle through the screens untill you get to the contract screen. You should see your contract you just agreed to there. You are told where you accepted the mission (because you've gotta get back there to get your dough), where and when you must complete the mission, what the ship is, and how much you are going to be paid for your troubles. All you have to do now is do it!
Due to bugs in the game, there is a 1 in about 100 chance of an assassination at an orbital port actually working (the prey never leaves the station), so check to see if the assassination is at a planet bound port before you accept. Once you know where you are going, go there. You should reach where you're are going well before you need to be. Land at the port and make any adjustments to your ship (upgrading, refueling etc). Now, request launch clearence a few days before the mission's climax, and move about a kilometer away and make a rough landing facing the port (if you wait on the pad untill the prey leave, you wont get clearence, you'll have to leave without it, and incur a fine). Target the prey's ship and use the Stardreamer to get forward to a few seconds before the prey is due to leave the port (Do Not destroy the ship even 1 second before it is due to leave, because if you do, the target of the assassination (i.e. the geezer you are killing - not the ship) won't be on board yet, and you wont get your cash). Saving the game now may be a good move. Take off and hover where you are. Wait for the prey to take off, and follow. You can either attack the prey then and get loads of fines and Police Vipers chasing you, or you can wait for the prey to jump and follow them (if you have a Hyperspace Cloud Analyser), and then kill them in deep space.
Either way, once you have killed them go to the contracts screen again. It should say 'DONE' next to the contract. If it doesn't, you've mucked it up. Reload and try again - maybe trying an attack there and then if you let them jump that time (bugs you see...). When it does say 'DONE' head back to where you took the mission (it will tell you in the contract screen if you've forgotten). Once you land at the port, you'll get a message from the deceased's benefactor expressing their 'grief' - and your cash in used notes left in a brown leather briefcase next to the phone-booth in the local Bar... ;-)
There can be a lot of money made in assassinations. You can get paid up to C50000 for a single assassination (check out the scenarios section in the download page). Just make sure you have a good ship :)

Essential Equipment:

Radar Mapper
Beam Laser
Scanner
Hyperspace Cloud Analyser (incase they get away)

Suggested Equipment:

Missiles
Shield Generator(s)

Ideal Setup:

A Viper Mk II, 2 Shield units + energy booster, class 2 military drive, 1mw beam laser, scanner, radar mapper, hyperspace clound analyser, atmosphereic shielding, and as many missiles as you can fit!

An alternative method has been suggested by Anthony Winters (phobos2@hotmail.com). Here is his method:

Have a great big ship with plenty of shields. An Imp-Explorer will do fine. Hover above your intended victim just before he takes off. When he does, he runs straight into you and does himself in. The police don't care because it was (ahem) 'accidental'. Obviously if you have an Imp-Ex you don't need the money from assassinations, but it would work if you had a bigger ship than the victim almost always.

You'll have to make sure you're not hovering over the target for too long or you start to be threatened by the Police, so watch it sunshine!

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Mercenary

Military Rank - what you need

Working for one of the two Superpowers in FFE is a bit dull, in the beginning anyway. Initially you start with no rank at all. After you complete your first mission, you will get promoted to a Private/Serf. You keep on doing missions that require you to carry something or other to a nearby star, e.g. 'Take these files to Sol', or 'Transport this super-conducting wire to Ross 128'. You are given a date by which the mission must be completed - if you don't complete it then you get a good ticking-off from GHQ, and it goes on your record. Slowly, you will get promoted up through the ranks 'till you start to get 'proper' missions - i.e. photgraph enemy bases, assassinate a double-agent, bomb a rebel base somewhere etc. This is where the better money comes in - initially you are only likely to get paid about C200 per mission, but you can take multiple missions at once - just make sure you can complete them in time.
Try to find a system where there is always a lot of missions. There is a system in both teritories that always has about 10 missions going there - I'll leave you to find them yourself ;). Once you have found them, you can advance through the ranks quite quickly.
Watch out as there are likely to be pirates wanting to attack you whilst you are on a mission. Also watch out for 'Classified missions' - one where you need a Military Class Hyperdrive to be eligble for the mission.

If you take a mission where you need to take some snaps then you can press D to activate the camera, or click on the icon - either way it makes a satisfying clunk. The transmission jammer works automatically. If you are about to take a on a mission where you are going to be given a special missile, make sure you have a spare missile pylon, otherwise you wont get it and you'll fail your mission. If after taking a mission where you were supposed to blow up a satellite, but you didn't, you will be attacked constantly pretty much where ever you are - even the other side of the galaxy!

Essential Equipment:

Laser

Suggested Equipment:

Military Drive

Ideal Setup:

To begin with you are mainly going to be taking messages and paper work back & forth so anything will do basically. I suggest something like a Cobra Mk I with a class 2 military drive, 1 shield unit, 1mw beam laser, scanner and radar mapper. When you start getting the bigger misions I suggest using the Pirate's or Bounty Hunter's Ideal Setup.