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FRONTIER HELP - YOUR CAREER


1. Trader
2. Military
3. Bounty Hunter
4. Miner


Being a Trader

The Trader is what almost everyone starts out aiming at. The typical Trader plies "safe" trading runs, like the extremely profitable Sol - Barnards Star run, and flies a large but unmanouverable trading ship, like the Imperial Trader, Anaconda, Puma, or even a gigantic Panther Clipper. The advantages of being a Trader are obvious - you make large amounts of money, and so can afford a big ship with big guns, banks of shield generators, and every optional accessory there is, as well as huge amounts of space to carry cargo and make even more money.

However, there are disadvantages to living life as a Trader. Your ELITE rating will not advance at anything like that of a bounty hunter or assassin, and your game will quickly become deeply boring - just flying between two systems and never having to fight a pirate is extremely dull. However, if all you care about is earning money to buy a big ship, this is the life for you!


Working for the Military

Working for the Military is unlikely to make you rich, unless you have another job on the side, but it is an end in itself - when you get promoted, you get a tremendous amount of satisfaction. To start with, Military work is likely to be a little sideline - taking any courier missions that present themselves on your regular trading run from Vequess to Facece - but when you get promoted to Squire or Sgt. Major, things start to get a bit trickier.

Unless you're very careful, an Assassination mission is much more likely to lose money than earn it, especially if you consider the amount of money you could have made trading when instead you're stuck in a starport waiting for some guy to arrive so you can kill him. Photography missions are even worse - they're the hardest thing in the game, and the amount of money you get is ridiculously small. When deciding wether to accept a Photography mission, it is vital that you check how long you have to complete the mission - most pilots, by the time they've reached the rank of Lord (or Major) have earned enough through trading to buy themselves a reasonable ship like an Imperial Trader or an Anaconda, and the weight of these ships makes them extremely slow when they're going through Hyperspace.If you want to do Photography misssions, you'll have to downgrade your ship to a Viper or Cobra, and fit a class 3 military drive to make it fast.


Being a Bounty Hunter

Bounty Hunters make their money by getting bounties from kiling pirates. Bounties are earned whern the Radar Mapper identifies a known criminal, so this is an essential piece of equipment. Bounty Hunting is the most exciting way to play Frontier, and your ELITE combat rating should reflect this. Bounty Hunters generally hang around in two or three of the most violet systems, just going from one to the other - and woe betide any pirate that tries to attack the,m. Although Bounty Hunting isn't the best way to make money, it is definitely an enjoyable way to play Frontier.


Being a Miner

Mining needs a significant outlay of cash, and doesn't really yield any results. Asteroid mining needs you to fire at asteroids with a 30MW mining laser, which most people put on the rear mounting of their ship, and then you use a fuel scoop with a cargo scoop converter to pick up the pieces, usually of minerals or metal alloys, that come off. Surface mining involves deploying the expensive MB4 mining machine on the surface of a planet, and coming back several weeks later to pick up its load. However, unless you strike it lucky and come accross a supply of Gemstones or Precious Metals, you are likely to be lumbered with a shipload of Metal Alloys, Minerals, or even Water - not a good payoff for all your work.


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