Greetings to all,
Although this is my first post, I have been wandering around for a while now.
I have been a crossfire player since I first heard of crossfire 1.7, but being a SP player only,
I never really felt comfortable to introduce myself here seeing there are mainly MP players, knowing i'd never see them online
(which is a pretty lame excuse I must admit LOL).
Still, there is something unforgivable I have done, that I must see repared:
I just wanted to deeply thank SWAT_OP-R8R for coming up with this magnificent freelancer mod.
I remember reading on the boards the troubles he came up building Crossfire 1.8, seeming desperate at times,
even on the verge of giving up at others, feeling lonely, and the fear of spending years of work for a lost cause
(unless I have read the boards wrong?)
But you did not give up... and the result is just incredible (and I trully hope you find yourself it was worthy in the end).
Now it seems to me I do have to say a (edit: errr... a long long long) word about myself (but you can skip if bored! 
)
I have been playing Crossfire in SP mode since 2006, enjoying the exploration and the challenge (even if by then, it
meant "cursing at my computer"). I am not a very good player with only basic technic combat skills, but still the vanilla game
campain was ended shortly and i quickly found myself turning in cercles afterwards. Wandering on the net a while after, I came upon
this "Crossfire mod" and decided to give it a try in Open SP to see if it could raise up my interest into Freelancer.
It was hard!
I was expecting challenge, but the NPCs shield and hull regeneration rate seemed too much for me at first. Everything was expensive, and doing missions
to gain credits took hours, even if I eventually found out prisons helped a lot in the process. I trully wondered how I could progress enough to be tough enough
to dare venture new areas. I searched for a decent ship for a low level, wondering where all those new ships were hidden! Most of the ones I found cost hell and had
level restrictions. I ended up laying my hand on a Walkyrie (those where in my range), somehow a bit disapointed: Would I ever get something new?
I did not give up though, and missions were doable now at least (even if it still took me a long time to face 3-4 NPCs).Slowly I gathered upgrades from all over vanilla areas,
and thought it was time for me to start fully enjoying this mod. I started the quests, and I must admit I had fun trying to find clues while exploring new systems. I eventually ended
up trying a whole bunch of new starships, landing on Earth (very exciting moment!), losing myself in the numerous nomad words, saying a quick "Hi" to DKs (not daring going too far though), and last but not least, merging back to the Starlancer environment (I still play that game too!), which i think is a great way to honor it! To my opinion, the vanilla game lacked references to Starlancer even though it was supposed to be the sequel (just a vague allusion during the intro).
After months of exploring (always with wide eyes!), I come across a different problem. I still have many areas to discover, but I feel I have reached what I can reasonably do by myself,
and come to a fatal conclusion: either I am not skilled enough, either my equipment is too limited (even though I picked up all I could find, going from the lvl10 shield to DKa guns), but I keep dying trying to go deeper into new spaces.
This is why i am now considering trying to play MP (even if it means starting all over again). I have made a few shots but my ping isn't really great (around 140), and the lag makes it hard.
But... I am not giving up...
So hopefully, maybe I'll finally get the chance to meet you all some time, at the corner of a bar...
Till then, fly straight!
<bow>
-Faaby-
P-S: Thank you again SWAT_OP-R8R for the joy you brought and still bring to me playing Freelancer! 
P-P-S: Sorry for that long thread!
Trying and failing then trying harder then doing quests then having a hard time again, but its all ok cause this mod is the hardest one.... By small bits, step by step, you managed to build up a char and explore the universe. Now you feel the need for help to push further your explorations and the CF community will certainly respond and give you the support you need.
Spiky 'converted' now 
