THE SPECTRUM GAME DATABASE



ELITE



PUBLISHER

Firebird



AUTHOR

Torus



YEAR

1985



CATEGORY

Strategy 3D Trading



DESCRIPTION

Elite is a space trading game, where you fly from planet to

planet buying and selling goods, and use the cash to upgrade your

ship.



CONTROLS

        Space Flight Controls



Anticlockwise roll          N - or joystick

Clockwise roll              M - or joystick

Dive                        S - or jotstick

Climb                       X - or joystick

Increase speed              SPACE

Decrease speed              SYMBOL SHIFT

Front view                  1

Back view                   2

Left view                   3

Right view                  4



        Space Combat Controls



Fire laser                  A - or fire button

Target missile              T

Fire missile                F

Unarm missile               U

ECM                         E

Energy bomb                 W

Energy capsule              Q

Docking computer on         C

Docking computer off        C



        Navigation Controls



Hyperspace                  H

Intergalactic jump          G then H

Distance to system          D

Cursor cross home           B

Cursor cross control        N, M, S, X (left, right, up, down) 

Galactic chart              I 

Local cluster chart         O



        Trading Controls



Launch from station         1 - only while docked

Buy cargo                   2 - only while docked

Sell cargo                  3 - only while docked

Equip ship                  4 - only while docked

Galactic chart              I

Local cluster chart         O

Data on system              P

Market prices               K

Status page                 L

Inventory                   ENTER

Find planet                 R - only while docked



        Game Controls



Torus jump drive            J

Freeze game                 CAPS SHIFT

Continue game               SPACE

Initiate save               SYMBOL SHIFT - only while docked



        Other Controls

Note: these controls can only be used when the game is frozen



Keyboard recentering toggle R

Keyboard damping toggle     D

Keyboard/joystick toggle    K

Reverse joystick            Y - Y-direction only

Reverse joystick            B - both directions

Sound effects off           Q

Sound effects on            S

Start new game              1



The keyboard recentering toggle R will disable and re-enable the

recentering in roll and dive/climb control. When recentering is

enabled, a small amount of climb (or clockwise roll) cancels any

dive (or antclockwise roll) and vice versa.



The keyboard damping toggle D will disable and re-enable the

automatic damping of a roll, dive or climb while in keyboard

control.



The B key will reverse both directions of the joystick enabling

it to be held either way around. The Y key will reverse the

Y-direction only so that pushing the joystick forward will result

in a climb and pulling it back will result in a dive; roll will

not be affected. The B and Y keys can be used in conjunction.





INSTRUCTIONS



Command your Cobra space ship in a fantastic voyage of discovery

and adventure, a supreme test of your combat, navigational and

entrepreneurial skills.



Trade between countless planets, using the proceeds to equip your

ship with heat-seeking missiles, beam lasers and other weapons

- corporate states can be approached without risk, but unruly

anarchies may be swarming with space pirates.



Black market trading can be lucrative but could result in

skirmishes with local police and a price on your head!



However you make your money, by fair means or foul, you must

blast onwards through space annihilating pirate ships and hostile

aliens as you strive to earn your reputation as one of the Elite!



YOUR RATING AS A COMBATEER

To become an elite combateer requires great skill and great

patience, because expert trading is essential before the

necessary more powerful armaments and equipment available to the

Cobra ship can be bought: beam lasers, more missiles, energy

bombs, a docking computer, galactic hyperdrive, etc.



As you sail through space between the stars, and as you trade,

you will live with your combat rating. You will begin as

HARMLESS. If you survive your first skirmish you may be

reclassified as MOSTLY HARMLESS. But on the slow climb to a

status level that reflects a growing talent for combat you

will have to engage many different ships, in many different

skirmishes, in the System Space of many different worlds. You

will then be classified as POOR, then AVERAGE, then ABOVE

AVERAGE, then COMPETENT. Then you will become DANGEROUS, then

DEADLY. And at last a few will become ELITE.



Your kills are photographed and transmitted by TS ComDirect to

the nearest GalCop Federal Law Centre. Your rating as a combateer

will increase in direct proportion.



Fly your Cobra craft wisely and carefully. Remember: other pilots

may be attempting to increase their own combat rating by

attacking either innocent traders, or police Vipers (the ships

of the GalCop Police Force). If you resort to such tactics (or

if you adopt the fast-credit routine and trade in illegal goods)

then your combat rating may rise, but your legal status: CLEAN

-> OFFENDER -> FUGITIVE, will make you Public Enemy Number One

with the Federation Crime Monitoring Authority and you will not

be left alone.



SCREEN DISPLAY

Front shields      Status (Green, all safe; Yellow,            

Aft shields        possible danger; Red, immediate             

Fuel level         danger; Flashing, critical.)                

Cabin temperature  Compass (Centres on planet or       

Laser temperature  space station; when dot is not      

Altitude           solid, object is behind you.)       

Missile status     ECM detector - ECM activity near           



EQUIPMENT



Item                Tech Level      Price/CR



Fuel                 Always           Varies

Missile              Always             30

Large Cargo Bay      Always            400

ECM System              2              600

Pulse Laser             3              400

Beam Laser              4             1000

Fuel Scoops             5              525

Escape Capsule          6             1000

Energy Bomb             7              900

Extra Energy Unit       8             1500

Docking Computers       9             1500

Galactic Hyperdrive    10             5000

Mining Lasers          10              800

Military Lasers        10             6000





HINTS AND TIPS

* Agricultural worlds need specialist food and raw materials, but

mostly basic machinery and spare parts. If they are rich, they

need luxuries and high tech industrial machines. They produce

food in quantity, raw materials and specialised 'organic' items,

like some textiles.

* Industrial worlds need agricultural produce, raw materials (for 

refining), resource exploitation machinery, and (if rich) high

tech goods. They produce basic items of need for civilised

worlds: beds, seals and gaskets, power storage units, basic

weapons, mass produced fertiliser, mass produced medicines, etc.

* Trade in illegal goods (Slaves, Narcotics and Firearms) is the

most profitable, but may harm your Legal Status.

* Destroying pirate vessels earns a bounty, but attacking

innocent traders may harm your Legal Status.

* Once your Cobra is within automatic-docking and protective

range of the Coriolis space station, the scan console will

display an S next to the compass.

* Asteroids (and spacecraft!) can be mined with the appropriate

lasers, and the debris collected in fuel scoops.

* Thargoid (alien) battle-cruisers may 'hover' in Witch-Space

(hyperspace) and attack through-coming craft.

* Using an Escape Capsule effectively resets your legal status

to Clean.





DOCKING PROCEDURE

Docking with a Coriolis space station is never easy, unless the

ship is equipped with an automatic docking computer (in which

case C will activate it). The Navy Training Manual recommends the

following approach and dock sequence.



Locate the Coriolis station and approach it. The entrance tunnels

to all these stations face the mother planet. Fly near to the

station and then on towards the planet (monitoring altitude

carefully). By turning a half circle you will now find your ship

orientated towards the entrance.



Approach the final moments of docking at DEAD SLOW SPEED. Failure

to dock cleanly can be fatal but may simply result in your

scraping the sides of the aperture, with consequent loss of

defensive shield(s) and quite possibly your cargo. Manually

control the Cobra's roll motion to match the rotation of the

Coriolis station. The entry port must be nearly as horizontal as

possible.



If docking is successful, the protective field across the station

entrance is penetrated, and a break pattern appears on the

screen. Berthing is handled automatically.





CHEATS

As soon as the game loads, and you're given the option to LOAD

a new commander, press "Y", then save your position.  Go back to

the game, and hey presto.  Not much easier than that...



If you are having trouble docking you can try this cheat.  Once

you have launched, pick new destination, and fly towards the

planet a bit. Spin around (and you'll still be dead straight with

the station entrance) and fly towards the station and hit H for

hyperspace. If you docked before the countdown ended you docked

at the new station!

  

There was also a cheat so that you always launched into Witch

Space.  Pause the game.  Press 'f' - you'll hear a beep. 

Un-pause the game, and hyperspace, as normal.  You'll now appear

in Witchspace, and will continue to do so until you pause and

press 'f' again.  You *will* use a full journey's worth of fuel

though, even though your location (on the Short-range chart) is

halfway between the planets, so make sure you choose a planet

that's nearer than 3.5 light years, or you'll be stuck! The same

sequence gets you out again (assuming the Thargoids don't frag

you before you can jump!)



There is a way to stay in Witchspace forever, or at least until

you have 35 tonnes of alien items.  If your fuel scoops are

active when you enter witchspace they stay active and your fuel

just keeps going up and up.



Elite POKEs:-

43071-43074    3    Big lasers

43078          1    Lg cargo bay

43079          1    ECM

43082          1    Fuel Scoops

43083          1    Escape pod

43084          1    Energy bomb

43085          1    Energy unit

43086          1    Docking computer

43049          200  Lotsa dough

43122          192  ECM & *cloaking device*

43087          192  Chance to save refugees 'mission'

43053-43069    x    Cargo bay 

43077          4    Missiles

42428          0    Infinite Energy (useful for cloak)

42870          0    Infinite missiles

37482          0    Inf. energy bomb

42897          0    Inf. escape pods

54682          0    Inf. Galactic hyperspaces





SEQUELS/PREQUELS

There are several versions of Elite on the Spectrum, most notable

a 48K and 128K version, although there is very little difference

between the two.



Elite was followed up with Frontier (written by Elite's original

author David Braben), although not on the Spectrum.  There was 

also the *original* ELITE Tuner, which was written by the same 

bloke who wrote the WHAM Music Box.  I forget his name though. 



Elite Tuner had some superb 2-channel music - Waltz of the Blue 

Danube. (funnily enough!)





SCORES RECEIVED

It received a Sinclair User Classic award.





GENERAL FACTS

These are the number of kills needed to reach each particular

status:



           0-8          Harmless

           9-16         Mostly harmless

          17-32         Poor

          33-64         Average

          65-128        Above average

         129-767        Competent

         768-2815       Dangerous

        2816-6655       Deadly

        6656+           ELITE

  

If you reached 65535 kills, your rating reverted to 0 - Harmless,

which is a useless but interesting fact, 8-bit register fans.



ELITE is possibly the most well-known computer game ever.  When

it made it's appearence on the Spectrum, it was thanks to

Firebird Gold - the full-price range of their software, and

programmed by a team called TORUS (who also coded the Amstrad

version, hence why apart from added colour, the two look & play

the same.)  All the space trading tactics were faithfully

translated from the BBC original, and there were new missions for

the format - SuperNova, Cloaking Device & Thargoid Invasion, and

many of the spacecraft made it to the 'humble' Spectrum.  Many

of the rumours also made it across - there was, alas, no space

dredger in the ZX ELITE...



ELITE was also one of the first games to be found not compatible

with the brand new 128k Spectrum.  A patched version was released

almost immediatly, although it was rather sad that with all the

extra memory, nothing new was added to the enhanced machine.



Are the Save games compatible throughout all of the different

versions? If you saved to tape in the 48k version, could I load

it back into the 128 one? Yes.  That may have been one of the

reasons that the 128K version was essentially the same as the 48K

- so all flags that needed to be set for missions could be

preserved, etc.

 

Another oddity for ELITE - it used the LensLok protection device.

Lenslok was a plastic prism, which when viewed through, made a

jumble on the screen turn into a password.  LensLok never caught

on, and was only used in a few games, including Tomahawk.  It was

notoriously difficult to use.



ELITE is still a protected program - ie:  It is not freely

distributable in any type of snapshot image.



When Elite was first released, it was part of a competition to

see who the first person was to become elite.  The winner was 

supposed to get some prize or other. This was to do with all the

secret  missions and what have you. In fact, this may even have

been from the original Beeb release, but I think it was for the

Spectrum.  Anyway, the  publishers got cold feet about it because

it was alleged that people had hacked in and found it out the 

'easy' way, so it was cancelled and anyone who entered was fobbed

off with a badge or something. It caused quite a bit of

controversy at the time as I recall.



Does the Speccy version include any of the secret missions, such

as destroying the secret ship, the rogue space-station, etc? 

Yes.  The first mission, is 'Nova' and requires you (to manouvre

down this trench...  sorry - wrong game!) rescue the crew of a

Space Station whose sun is about to explode.  When you arrive in

the system, the screen is red, not white, you get a 'Fuel Leak!'

warning (A cunning way of making sure you don't chicken out, and

witchspace outta there,) and you only have a short time to get

to the space station.  Your reward is 100g of gems, and to

trigger the mission you need to be ranked competent or above, and

have purchased a galactic hyperspace - When you activate your

space drive, (presumably) the radiation from the Nova bumps you

into the next Galaxy.



Mission 2 involves a bunch of ships that flicker in and out of

vision.  They're quite easy to kill though.  Eventually, you'll

come up against a single ASP II, which when (finally) destroyed

will release a single cargo canister, as opposed to the 2 alloys

normally released as debris.  Scoop this cargo, and you'll find

yourself automagically cloak-capable.  Pressing "Y" will activate

the cloak - your screen goes blue, and all other ships

float/drift, power-down, including Thargoids.  The Cloak has a

pretty hefty drain on the energy units though...



Mission 3 you get to destroy a Space Station!  The Space navy

equips you with an ECM Jammer, which replaces your standard ECM

unit, and off you go to have a bish at a Space Station over-run

by Thargoids.  You can make a fortune on this mission by blasting

Thargoids, and scooping Tharglets.

  

ZX Elite only has the one type of energy unit.  The reason for

the Military Energy unit was from BBC Elite, where a mission was

to hunt a new type of ship - The Constrictor - which was equipped

with the Military Energy unit, and was thusly impervious to

anything less that Military lasers.  Constrictor mission isn't

present in ZX Elite, so no Military Energy unit.

  

The following are approximate shapes drawn based on the cards 

supplied with the Archimedes version (Darren Salt):



Adder           Anaconda      Asp                   Boa

  __________         /\              _______            /\

 |  ______  |       //\\            /       \          /  \

 | |______| |       //\\          //         \\        /  \

 |          |      //__\\       //             \\     / /\ \

 |__________|     / /  \ \    /_/_             _\_\   / /\ \

||          ||    //    \\    \ \ ----_____---- / /  / /  \ \

||   /||\   ||   / /    \ \    \ \     /|\     / /   / /  \ \

||   \||/   ||  / /      \ \    \\   /  |  \   //   /________\

||__________||  \_/______\_/     \\/____|____\//    |________|



Cobra Mk I     Cobra Mk 3   Fer-de-Lance        Gecko

  ______       __                  /\               _____

 /__==  \     |  \                /  \             /     \

|        \    |\-_ \             /    \           //     \\

|         \   | \ --_\          /      \         //  | |  \\

|          \  |  \   --\       /  /  \  \       / /  | |  \ \

|        _- | |   \   _- \    /  /|  |\  \     / /  /| |\  \ \

|      _- ||| |    \_-   |   /  / |  | \  \   /  /  /| |\  \  \

|       -_||| |    / -_  |  /  /  |  |  \  \ /  /   /| |\   \ \

|         -_| |   /    - / /  /___|  |___\  \ \_/___________\_/

|          /  |  /  _--/  /___            ___\

|         /   | /_-- /    \   ---______---   /

|___     /    |/-  /       \   __--  --__   /

 \__==__/     |__/          \==__________==/



Krait                   Mamba                   Moray

.        .        .         /\                 ________

|       /|\       |        //\\               /        \

|      / | \      |       //  \\            / /        \ \

|    /   |   \    |      / /[]\ \          / /          \ \

|   /    |    \   |     / /    \ \       /   /          \   \

| /      |      \ |    /  /    \  \     /___/____________\___\

|/       |       \|   /  /      \  \     ---____      ____---

 --__    |    __--   /___/______\___\          ---__---

     --__|__--

         -



Orbit Shuttle   Python   .              Sidewinder

    ____                /|\                  _________

 _==----==_            / | \                /\        /\

|    /\    |          /  |  \              /  \      /  \

|    /\    |         /   |   \            /    \    /    \

|   /  \   |        /    |    \          /      \  /      \

|   /  \   |       /     |     \        /________\/________\

|  /    \  |      /     _|_     \

|  /    \  |     /  __--   --__  \      Thargon

| /      \ |    /_==___________==_\       ___

| /      \ |    \                 /      |   |

|/        \|     \\             //       |   |

|/________\|      \ \         / /       | |_| |

                   \__\     /__/        | |_| |

                      --\_/--           --___--



Thargoid                    Transpoter         Viper (Police)

       ________                ___                  /\

     / \      / \          __--\ /--__             //\\

   /    \____/    \      ==_____V_____==          //  \\

 /_    /      \    _\   |       |       |        / /  \ \

|  --/          \--  |  |       |  /|\  |       / / /\ \ \

|   |            |   |  | ====  |       |      /  //  \\  \

|   |            |   |  |  ___  |   .   |     /  //    \\  \

|__--\          /--__|  |  \|/  |  /_\  |    /   /      \   \

 \     \ ____ /     /   |       |       |     --/________\--

   \    /    \    /     |_______|_______|

     \ /______\ /



Worm

    _____

   /|/_\|\

  | |   | |

  | |   | |

 | |     | |

 | |     | |

 | |     | |

|  |     |  |

| |       | |

--|_______|--





 



NOTES

Thats about everything!

