Frontier: Elite II

Frontier: Elite II is, of course, the sequel to Elite and it continues in much the same way. You have a ship and limited funds, and nowhere to go but out into space. Trade, fight, hunt criminals, work for the various governments, anything goes in Frontier. Play Frontier: Elite II online!

There are few, if any, limits on what you can do or where you can go. And Frontier’s universe (with approx. 100,000,000,000 planets and moons) is so big you’ll never see the end of it.

Frontier: Elite II game description

Whilst no plot emerges during gameplay there is a plot present in the manual which sets the premise of the game. Fresh from victory in the Thargoid War during the original game humanity finds itself in crisis. With the Thargoids retreated to their own territory humanity has fallen into a cold war between the militaristic Federation and the slave owners of the Imperial Fleet. After a short war a tense ceasefire is in effect made worse by new anarchic systems taking advantage of the fear of military action by operating without law. You enter the world as always with 100 credits and a ship as the original protagonists grandchild, with no alliances to the factions and a chance to carve your own path in the world.

Changes from Elite

Whilst Elite restricted you to one ship, Frontier: Elite II encouraged purchase of new ships to suit your style of play. Military vessels ranged from light fighter crafts to mammoth naval style crafts with trading crafts offering larger cargo space and mining crafts coming with specific mining lasers. Graphics are understandably improved with texture mapping and curved polygons moving the series from the simplistic wireframe style of the original.

Factions

The game has two primary factions which players may join. The Federation based on Earth and The Empire based in the Achenar system. Progress through both involved completing missions given at bases which allowed for promotions. The reality was that there was little gameplay difference between the two aside from the location of the base and how that would affect trade routes. The Empire was more permissive of slavery allowing for new trading opportunities whilst slavery was an arrestable offence in Federation territories. Certain ships were also designated as being independent, Federation or Empire ensuring they were out of bounds to those in an opposing faction. Finally upon joining a faction it locked off the enemies portion of space due to enemies becoming hostile upon spotting you.

Play Frontier: Elite II online

You can play Frontier: Elite II online here, in web browser for free!