Frontier News Issue 18

  Amidst the biggest scandal to hit the Democratic Republican government, the man at the centre of the controversy has resigned. Jose Davis, the MP for Gateway Region 7, was charged less than two weeks ago with the murder of his party political rival, Michelle Barbers.

  In a news conference given on Wednesday, Davis told journalists, "I have decided to resign so that I can concentrate full time on clearing my good name. I am absolutely innocent and will vigorously defend myself. Whilst this is happening, I don't believe I can give the Treasury the attention it deserves, so with great sadness I tendered my resignation to President Stonecipher yesterday".

  Davis has hired the renowned defence lawyer, Pat Minson, to defend himself from the charges brought by the Gateway Prosecution Service. On Friday, the first court session - to decide whether Davis should be allowed continued bail - will be held. It is likely that Davis will be allowed on bail, with the condition that he does not leave the planet Hope in the Gateway system. The main trial is set to begin in four weeks time, allowing both the defence and the prosecution to prepare their cases.

  The Old Curie police department, which made the arrest, issued a statement today about the case. Police Chief Robert O'Brien told the News, "For legal reasons, we can't reveal much right now, but the prosecution has a very strong case. We need to allow the courts to judge whether Jose Davis is guilty or not".

  Ironically, Ted Barbers, the 54-year old brother of the murder victim is to be moved to the treasury post to replace Davis.

  A renewed call for a galaxy-wide ban on the production and sale of energy bombs has been made, following a pirate attack last week against the police at Solo Base, Sigma Draconis (-1, 2). Seven police Vipers were destroyed, and a further twelve were written off by the attack by a well-heeled pirate in an Imperial Explorer. The pirate's ship was subsequently destroyed by the remaining police.

  Galactic Safe Space Concern, an organization that has long campaigned for the ban on the weapon immediately renewed pressure on the Alliance, Federal and Imperial governments to institute a ban. As usual, a vigorous debate has been ignited between various groups that are for and against the availability of potent energy bombs.

  Charles Heston, the president of the Alliance Trade Association said in a news conference, "The GSSC is not a spaceborne organization despite their name. Groundlings will never understand what it's like to be an interstellar trader. The energy bomb is an essential piece of last-line defence for a trader with a large ship. It has saved many traders lives. Where would the GSSC be if there was no trade?"

  The GSSC replied that this was nonsense, and energy bombs were killing people indiscriminately. Heston heatedly responded that "energy bombs don't kill people, people kill people".

  The Frontier News contacted James Winston, commander of the Turner Combat Space Academy, and survivor of an energy bombing and asked for his opinion. He told the News, "I was energy bombed by a slaver once. However, energy bombs are typically not used as an offensive weapon - they are too expensive. Typically they are used as a last-ditch defence. Many traders have saved themselves from pirates and slavers by using this device. Even though I've been attacked with one, I'm very much against a ban".

  The statistics tend to bear both Cdr. Winston's and the ATA's view. This recent attack is the only one recorded this year where the weapon was used offensively. There have been scores of cases where traders in unmanoeverable ships such as the Panther Clipper have found the device very useful - in fact, it has acted as a deterrent against piracy in many cases. The ATA's sentiments were echoed by their sister organization, the Federal Trade and Merchants Guild.

Frontier News BBS

  In a message on alt.fan.elite, and subsequently posted on the Frontier News BBS, Andrew Gillett has hinted at new ideas for the eventual re-release of FFE under the Elite Club banner.

  In a response to Simon Challands, who was speculating that Frontier Developments weren't going to do any alterations on the FFE source code themselves, Gillett responded that this was affirmative - but that he would act as an intermediary between people working on a unified project [a bit like Linus Torvalds and Linux in the early Linux days, except Linus also wrote code ...Ed]. Gillett also said the freeware/shareware version of FFE should be released "by Autumn" (for those of you not in the Earth's northern hemisphere, that would be around September).

  Gillett also said that the release of the first version of FFE Plus depends on how quickly people get to grips with the source code - it is a daunting mass of code. However, John Jordan got to grips with a much nastier version of the source code to produce JJFFE, so it may not be that long afterwards that enhancements to FFE occur.

Frontier Developments

Frontier News Issue 18

  Frontier Developments has now officially acknowledged Elite 4 on its website - and puts out a very tentitive date of approximately 1.5 to 2 years timescale on its release. A short FAQ at the site details some of the main Elite-fan enquiries. Most significantly, the controversial flight control debate has been addressed to an extent - the FAQ says that Newtonian flight physics is still in (a very good thing in the opinion of all at AliothNet), but "the flight behaviour will be more like Elite than FFE". Hopefully this means that combat will be more Elite-like, but general space travel will remain Newtonian, so you can orbit planets in a realistic sense. There is even a strong possibility that E4 will run on Linux and Macintosh platforms.

  The other game that FDL have been working on is Infestation. There is very little information available at the Frontier Developments website, other than a few screenshots showing what could either be an RPG, tank simulation, or some sort of first-person shooter. It is soon to be previewed by Ubisoft, and is due for release on Windows PCs and the Sony Playstation some time during the Earth's northern hemisphere summer.

  Frontier Developments is based in Cambridge, Earth, Sol (0,0).

Frontierverse News

  It has been reported that a group known as the FCIA/FCFIA (Frontier Commission for Internal Affairs) has been filling up people's guestbooks (although they apparently haven't visited Alioth.Net). Their stated aims are "to maintain a watch over websites [related to Elite et al.] ... keep a watch over the development or use of graphics ... and promote a better understanding among users and those who promote such material ... to urge individuals to keep up the high quality of their work".

  The quality of work point is interesting - failure to maintain the "quality of work" would result in "postings, such as that send (sic) against Commander Michael K. Healey". Robin Sharrock on the Frontierverse speculates that the sender, a Theodore Fortesque, is a false name and that the whole thing is an elaborate hoax by 'someone we know well'.

  The Frontier News is very interested in any leads that other commanders out there may have on this matter. To see the full text of the FCIA's email, go to the Frontierverse's news section.

Frontierverse Fiction

Aftermath

Elite - The New Kind

  Brad "Wolfsheart" Chacos has been at work again, and the latest chapter in the saga of Johnathan Bush is now online in the Frontierverse's fiction section. Chapter 27 of "Why Did The Groigan Dance?" reveals some disturbing goings on somewhere in the vicinity of Lave...Go to the Frontierverse and find out why a fierce scowl marrs the smooth features of the Emperor's face.

  That's not all on the new fiction front. Simon Challands' "Aftermath" has another chapter. Chapter 11 of this excellent story sees the group try and pull off an escape. It remains to be seen whether they will be successful. It is the Frontier News editor's belief that there is more trouble afoot for the group as the saga of the Constrictor continues.

  Outside of the fiction world, Christian Pinder has been working hard on "Elite - The New Kind", a re-engineered version of the 'classic' BBC Elite. The new version is more configurable, and some features such as rotating space stations have been implemented. You can go to his site and download the binary image - it is promising work.

  Not directly Elite-related, a games company called distantREALMS based in England, Earth (Sol - 0,0) suggested that it was time for a new game incorporating elements of Elite and first-person shooters such as Doom or Duke Nukem. See the Frontierverse's news section for more information plus a poll on the matter.