Empire and Federation
David Braben

Zdřejmě každého z nás, kdo jsme kdy hrály Frontiera, nebo FFE, jednoho dne napadlo, jakže to vlastně s tím impériem a federací je. Snad jste i v této záležitosti sami pátraly v rozličných buletinech, co jich ve hře je, ale pokud vám články z těchto více, či méně propagandistických plátků k vytvoření úplného a přesvědčivého názoru na věc nestačily, snad by vám pomohlo pár vět od toho nejpovolanějšího - Davida Brabena - které se 22. prosince 1998 objevily na oficiálním diskusním serveru Elite, alt.fan.elite: Subject: Empire & Federation PJ wrote:

"Federation: The Federation is a democratic system much like the United States who's leders are voted into power. Many Imperials have criticized that the Federation is stable and loose, but the Federation offers more rights and benefits to the individual person, while in reality the Empire judges people's worth by useful they are to it. Empire: In the beginning, the Empire colonized Achenar and developed it's own form of government based on ancient Egyptian monarchistic idealism. To an observer, the Empire has a more/less stable government, but is very strict, and it places order, rule and prestige over individual rights, (Now where have I seen this before...). Political corruption is tighter and more secret in the Empire worlds, but many times the Empire's schemes have been considerably more sinister than the Federations'. Braben, if you care to add anything here please do. ;-)"

The reasoning behind the Federation is that seems a likely way for our western civilisation to go. ie numerous different interests start to colonise space as soon and as fast as the technology allows, and then fight over who controls the good bits afterwards. Later still, they form an initially uneasy federation (otherwise trade is tricky) that mellows with time, not entirely dissimilar with the formation of the USA. The idea with the Empire is a separate group of basically Fascists set up a long way from anywhere (before the formation of the Federation), and then as the two powers grow they start to impinge on each other's borders, causing local wars. I had a combination of Nazi Germany and the Roman Empire in mind as a model for the Frontier Empire; ie initially racist, eugenic slavers, but mellowed a little - much like the later years of the Roman Empire; still fascist slavers, but an eclectic racial mix. These were set up this way to maximise the potential interest for an individual. The trouble with a high tech all out war is that this would be conducted through a military hierarchy and is notoriously difficult to make enjoyable in a computer game unless you are a top bod in the military. Cold War (as in Frontier) is much more fun, as spying and intrigue are more significant. I had intended to put in a great deal more detail in this direction, but the flow of the game's development carried me elsewhere (no - not the fault of any publisher). But suffice it to say this will be revived in Elite IV. David Braben