View Full Version : Were you Elite?
So, who's old enough to be able to claim this prestigious title?
I managed it, on the BBC disk edition (that had the two special missions!) - without cheating!
It was a long time ago...
Uncle Nick
24-10-2005, 10:21
Well the Speccy version was quite easy... Start new commander (Jameson, wasn't it?) --> Save to tape --> Load from tape --> You are Elite.
You didn't even need to leave the first station :lol:
I got to Deadly on the beeb master edition. That one had the two special missions, the first of which was I think to collect a cloaking device. The problem was that I tracked down the ship that carried the device, managed to blow it up, but when I tried to catch the pod that had the device in I bumped into it and it blew my ship up. For some reason my saved game thought I'd not completed the mission, but still destroyed the cloaked ship, so it was impossible to go any further.
I'm still bitter about it. ;)
unrealnils
24-10-2005, 10:27
got around deadily i always though elite was a mith :nuts: such a tough game
I always loved the HHG reference with the first two rankings.
6400 kills required to get Elite, according to Google.
I got to Elite on the BBC Disk version too - took bloody ages mind!
I remember when I got to deadly I kept saving at any point I could so i wouldn't lose any kills if I got thrown into witch-space! - Damn those thargoids were hard!
i got to deadly on the original....eventually!
I figure if people still believe Elvis lives, it ain't too bad for me to continue hoping that the next Elite will solidify from Vapourware to reality!
could this game be Elite for the PC generation
anyone heard anything about it?
Gameplay (http://www.thedvdforums.com/jump.php?url=http://playgames.at/thedvdforums^QS^DURL=http%3A//shop.gameplay.co.uk/webstore/productpage.asp%3Fproductcode%3DRM02154%26title%3Dx3_-_reunion_+_free_x_book)
I got to Elite on the BBC version, what a game it was, nirvana was being able to afford a docking computer, fun was blasting the station and taking on all the police...ohhh happy days.
But even the docking computer screwed up from time to time...
mikegray
24-10-2005, 12:00
Not only was I Elite, a fanclub I ran for Frontier got a mention in the First Encounters manual. :dork:
vast_girth
24-10-2005, 12:10
very much the freeform elite type thing..
http://www.thedvdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=394513
Violator
24-10-2005, 12:12
Achieved E L I T E status on the spectrum version :). Loved all the secret missions (sun going supernova was good).
We need a remake on the PC with todays specs in mind, now THAT would rock :thumbs:
Jazzatola
24-10-2005, 13:08
I remember playing it on the spectrum but can't remember what rank I achieved. I seemed to spend most of my time staring through that little plastic thing to get past the copy protection.
Nowadays, I think the closest you can get to that Elite experience is Eve-Online (http://www.eve-online.com).
Ah the wonders of the LensLok.(sp ?)
I seem to recall that it was pretty hard to read the characters on tv's bigger than a portable, but I played the game so often I could tell what characters were on the screen without the Lens bit anyways, I seem to recall that it was also used on a Speccy paint package and a couple of others .........
UKBoy.
Unrelated but managed to win a pub quiz recently by being the only person there who knew a Fer-de-Lance was a type of snake....
...didnt have the heart to tell them I only knew that cos it was a type of spaceship in Elite and they were all named after snakes.
Who says playing computer games gets you no-where ;)
Deadly on the BBC model B TAPE version.
20 minute load times...then were the days.
I remember when all this were PEEKs and POKES etc. :D
For those that haven't a Scooby what we are on about, Peeks and most specifically Pokes were ways in which you could cheat (infinite lives, no collision detection etc) by entering a code before loading the games from cassette tapes (yep, in the good old days) we used to have to wait anything from 2 mins to upwards of ten for the games to load into 48k Spectrum home computers from the same type of tapes that people used to use to copy music off of the radio charts on Sunday evenings.
The majority of games could be loaded (on the Spectrum at least) by typing load "", despite the inlay telling you you had to type in the name of the game in between the quotation marks.
As much as I love emulators, they just dont compare to playing the games on the original machines, rubber keys and all ......... :thumbs:
UKBoy.
For those that haven't a Scooby what we are on about, Peeks and most specifically Pokes were ways in which you could cheat (infinite lives, no collision detection etc) by entering a code before loading the games from cassette tapes (yep, in the good old days) we used to have to wait anything from 2 mins to upwards of ten for the games to load into 48k Spectrum home computers from the same type of tapes that people used to use to copy music off of the radio charts on Sunday evenings.
Lawks a lordy, this takes me back....and people complain about the loading times on the PS2 putting them off. i remember loading games level by level for 5-10 minutes. If it worked, that was. Many's the time you'd have to start again and carefully readjust the volume...
(deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewurp Pause [i think its ok this time, lets put the kettle on again] deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewarpburblewarp etc. )
For those that haven't a Scooby what we are on about, Peeks and most specifically Pokes were ways in which you could cheat (infinite lives, no collision detection etc) by entering a code before loading the games from cassette tapes (yep, in the good old days) we used to have to wait anything from 2 mins to upwards of ten for the games to load into 48k Spectrum home computers from the same type of tapes that people used to use to copy music off of the radio charts on Sunday evenings.
The majority of games could be loaded (on the Spectrum at least) by typing load "", despite the inlay telling you you had to type in the name of the game in between the quotation marks.
As much as I love emulators, they just dont compare to playing the games on the original machines, rubber keys and all ......... :thumbs:
UKBoy.
Says you, Speccy boy! I had a BBC Master with disk drive. Proper floppy drive and better keyboard than I'm using at the moment on my PC. Those were the days :D
Mind you - the only games worth playing on it were Eilte and Defender (actually, I think it was called something else...Planetoid?). But who needed anything else?
Says you, Speccy boy! I had a BBC Master with disk drive. Proper floppy drive and better keyboard than I'm using at the moment on my PC. Those were the days :D
Mind you - the only games worth playing on it were Eilte and Defender (actually, I think it was called something else...Planetoid?). But who needed anything else?
What about Daredevil Denis ?, that wasnt a bad game for a so called educational computer (BBC B).
UKBoy.
DarthPearce
24-10-2005, 17:25
I managed to make it to Elite staus - I have a poor degree result to prove it!
Made it do Deadly on the BBC B Disk version - there was a "glitch" you could exploit that allowed you to force a jump into witch space, and if you were tooled up enough you could take out the big Thargoids, and pick up the baby ones as cargo.
So you got kills and cash. I never used the docking computer - it had a habit of taking your shields down against the walls, and took forever anyway.
Space Rangers is by all accounts superb, so might check it out.
Any versions of Elite that can be emulated on the PSP? That could be fun.
Deadly on the Spectrum - this thread has brought back some good memories. Also can recommend Eve if you fancy something in a similar vein.
Ahhh what a game. Oh, excuse me, way of life.
Got to Elite on BBC, Spectrum 128, Atari ST and PC... and was always partial to mining lasers rather than military ones.
Edit - and I've got an Elite badge to prove it...
SlayerSyd
24-10-2005, 18:33
Made it to dangerous on the Electron, got one the second mission I think where you have to deliver some documents about the Thargoids, problem was I missed what planet/system I had to deliver them too, you can imagine that with 8 or so galaxies, and how many hundreds of planets in each I had my work cut out for me. Especially since as soon as you jumped to a new system, pressed 'J' (I think) to fly nearer the system quicker, you would get attacked by 4 Thargoids at once, and upto 5/6 flights of them before you got near a planet. Sure I got the S come up one time to be able to dock, but no Vipers came to my aid when I was attacked. That was a damned hard mission.
Managed to get to dangerous on the Amiga as well, kept getting the "Well Done Commander" messages, but the rank never went up. :suspect:
Did anyone ever get a NPC ship to surrender on Frontier? Used to take the sheilds out, and leave them with .7 hull integrity, you say "surrender or die", and they laugh at you! :nuts: :dork:
Looking forward to X3 mind :)
The Beeb version was always the best though, (Elite on tape version, Deadly on disk) I played the Amiga version and the ECM sound was soooo weak and poxy, and the whole game just felt too slow (I found a PDA version the other month and went straight to wireframe mode :D ). I really was :dork:y as I had a book which I drew Cobra Mk III's and Krate's from all angles. My fave trick was to see how long I could last after attacking a Dodo station. I think my record was about 2 hours.
Does anyone else remember when someone tried to trade-in his Mk III for a Viper in Acorn User's classified ads? :lol:
Ravenger
24-10-2005, 21:27
Sixth person to get to elite status on the C64. :D
I know because I rang Firebird to tell them I'd got to Elite status, and they told me that only 5 people previously had beaten me to it.
I also narrowly missed winning a C64 disk-drive in a competition at a computer show to get the most credits in 2 dockings. I won a copy of Elite on tape.
Looking forward to X3 mind :)
i'll wait to see what you guys think of it first!
there have been too many "new Elite"s for my liking over the years but always disappoint in some way...
SlayerSyd
24-10-2005, 21:37
;) i'll wait to see what you guys think of it first!
there have been too many "new Elite"s for my liking over the years but always disappoint in some way...
I'll be waiting for the reviews before I buy my copy. ;)
i'll wait to see what you guys think of it first!
there have been too many "new Elite"s for my liking over the years but always disappoint in some way...
I agree wholeheartedly, there has been "New Elite for the 90's/00's (delete as appropriate)" every year and none has done it for me. That said Frontier was still one of the biggest programming achievements ever. Less than 700k (less if you Powerpacked it) for a fully working galaxy with cities and the kind of detail that Distant Suns is still trying to pull off with each yearly update.
Frontier would have been even better if David Braben and Ian Bell hadn't fallen out, and AFAIK they're still not on speaking terms - remember when Braben threatened cix and had Ian Bell's website taken down?
Made it to dangerous on the Electron, got one the second mission I think where you have to deliver some documents about the Thargoids, problem was I missed what planet/system I had to deliver them too, you can imagine that with 8 or so galaxies, and how many hundreds of planets in each I had my work cut out for me. Especially since as soon as you jumped to a new system, pressed 'J' (I think) to fly nearer the system quicker, you would get attacked by 4 Thargoids at once, and upto 5/6 flights of them before you got near a planet. Sure I got the S come up one time to be able to dock, but no Vipers came to my aid when I was attacked. That was a damned hard mission.
Managed to get to dangerous on the Amiga as well, kept getting the "Well Done Commander" messages, but the rank never went up. :suspect:
Did anyone ever get a NPC ship to surrender on Frontier? Used to take the sheilds out, and leave them with .7 hull integrity, you say "surrender or die", and they laugh at you! :nuts: :dork:
Looking forward to X3 mind :)
As I recall there were no thargoids or missions on the Electron version. I remember looking through the manual and the descriptions of all the ships featured and being disappointed that only about five ships were included on this version:( Still a great game though.
I think I got to dangerous on both the Electron and C64 versions.
they fell out part way through writing the next game didn't they and hence it evaporated? or so i seem to recall....
And whats Braben up to at the moment you ask? (well go on, ask) Releasing Wallace and Gromit games. OH the shame :oh-hum:
Lunchpod
25-10-2005, 11:22
eve online for the win
Vendetta Online, which is in constant development, is quite promising and runs quite nicely on lower-specced PCs and Macs. The only problem is the combat which is quite difficult at first and certainly not as graceful as it was in Elite.
got to Deadly on the Electron. (seem to recall the thargoids and missions?)
what a game, they don't make em like they used to (and all that!)
kjmacphee
25-10-2005, 14:46
Elite on BBC B Tape. Took about 6 months mind you. From memory Deadly to Elite took 10 times more kills than start to Deadly.
I used to go to bed, shut my eyes and see spaceships drifting gracefully. Can't be good for you!
Just found this:-
http://oolite.aegidian.org/
it's a version of Elite for Max OSX and it looks pretty decent. The latest version only works with 10.3+ but you can find an older version on their forum that works on 10.2. There are also ports for Windows and Linux.
Time to relive the good old days :)
GCfreako
25-10-2005, 16:50
I have the NES version of the game for sale if anyone's interested. Collector's item :)
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