ELITE I - questions and observations
Gary Bradley
Hello. The talk about Elite II in this group made me dig out and play
Elite I on my Amiga. I loved this game on the ZX Spectrum (don't laugh,
I've still got it), but never really played my Amiga version until now.
Now I am in galaxy 2 of the Amiga version, rating Competent, a score of
about 58000 and 20,000 credits. Some questions and observations for
Elite fans follow...
The Amiga version seems much easier than the Speccy to me...too easy
in fact. Anyone agree? It is of course better to look at and has more
ships (though the explosions on the Speccy version were better than any
other port of this game I have seen!).
In the Speccy version, the Fer de Lance ships were the most deady, in
the Amiga version these are the least deadly and the Thargoids pose the
greatest threat. Why this change? Also, Cobras were quite hard on the
Speccy too, but are extremely easy to fight with an Amiga. Of course,
these are ships that I have illegally attacked; I have never been
attacked by a Fer de Lance or a Cobra. Do the bounty hunters make any
difference?
Do rock hermits (Asteroids with small fleets of ships inside) ever
appear in the Amiga port? They used to be all over the Speccy version,
but I haven't seen one yet after 12 hours play on my Amiga. Would a
mining laser make any difference? What about Dredgers and Generation
ships do they feature in the Amiga version??
When can I expect a mission? I have never seen one in either port of
Elite (though on the Speccy I never left Galaxy 1). How is it presented?
When?????
I am at the point where the Amiga version is aimless and boring,
because I have 4 Military lasers, retros and over 20,000 credits (and I
didn't cheat!!). No enemies can really challenge me except the Thargoids
in WitchSpace. Will it get any harder when my rating boosts again?
How to I fire an Energy Bomb in the Amiga version? It was 'w' on the
Speccy, but I've tried every key on my Amiga and the bomb won't fire.
Basically, I am concluding that the Spectrum version is actually
better (except graphically), and may soon give up on the Amiga version.
Can someone please talk me out of this by answering some of these
questions?! Thanks!
+---------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Gary Bradley | "You receive a love letter from me and |
| ORACLE Corp, UK | you're f*cked forever!" |
| Edinburgh, SCOTLAND | - Frank Booth ("Blue Velvet") |
+---------------------+------------------------------------------+
| "God damn the censor man" |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
Eric Eaton
>
> Do rock hermits (Asteroids with small fleets of ships inside) ever
>appear in the Amiga port? They used to be all over the Speccy version,
>but I haven't seen one yet after 12 hours play on my Amiga. Would a
>mining laser make any difference? What about Dredgers and Generation
>ships do they feature in the Amiga version??
I've been playing the Amiga version for a while. I've completed the first
mission. I've never seen a "rock hermit".
>
> When can I expect a mission? I have never seen one in either port of
>Elite (though on the Speccy I never left Galaxy 1). How is it presented?
>When?????
It took a LONG time to get my first mission. I was rated competent and had
received about 2 ROCs after that. I was in the 3rd galaxy (I think.)
When you dock in a spaceport, you will get the mission.
>
> I am at the point where the Amiga version is aimless and boring,
>because I have 4 Military lasers, retros and over 20,000 credits (and I
>didn't cheat!!). No enemies can really challenge me except the Thargoids
>in WitchSpace. Will it get any harder when my rating boosts again?
Doesn't seem to. The climax fight of the first mission is kind of tough.
How did you get 4 Military lasers? I only have 1 on the front.
>
> How to I fire an Energy Bomb in the Amiga version? It was 'w' on the
>Speccy, but I've tried every key on my Amiga and the bomb won't fire.
TAB key.
-Eric Eaton
gon...@menor.cc.purdue.edu
Gary Bradley
gon...@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Eric Eaton) writes...
> Doesn't seem to. The climax fight of the first mission is kind of tough.
> How did you get 4 Military lasers? I only have 1 on the front.
I don't understand the question! I bought them! Do you mean how did I
get enough credits to have 4? If so, I don't know. My strategy is
simple: take furs or slaves from Agr worlds to Ind worlds; take
computers and firearms the other way (or Narcotics/medicines if they are
cheap enough). Nothing else is really worth the trouble! If there is no
suitable world nearby to do this, I just buy nothing and go to the most
dangerous world around and pirate from every ship I encounter till the
cargo hold is filled.
Kjetil Dimmen
>
> Hello. The talk about Elite II in this group made me dig out and play
> Elite I on my Amiga. I loved this game on the ZX Spectrum (don't laugh,
> I've still got it), but never really played my Amiga version until now.
> Now I am in galaxy 2 of the Amiga version, rating Competent, a score of
> about 58000 and 20,000 credits. Some questions and observations for
> Elite fans follow...
>
> The Amiga version seems much easier than the Speccy to me...too easy
> in fact. Anyone agree? It is of course better to look at and has more
> ships (though the explosions on the Speccy version were better than any
> other port of this game I have seen!).
It *is* easy. Why? The Amiga version is a game, not a simulator. When on
low combat rating (harmless etc), there is only *one* ship attacking you
each time. Then, as you get better (higher rated) there's two, then
three, and four. It stays at for for a long time. (I'm Dangerous, and
it's still four...) From the formation the four ships make, I suspect
there will be five or six ships simultaneously when you get to deadly or
ELITE. All in all the Amiga ver is shitty compared to the '64 ver I used
to play. (But it takes hard work to get a game that great to be really
bad, and they haven't worked *that* hard...)
>
> In the Speccy version, the Fer de Lance ships were the most deady, in
> the Amiga version these are the least deadly and the Thargoids pose the
> greatest threat. Why this change? Also, Cobras were quite hard on the
> Speccy too, but are extremely easy to fight with an Amiga. Of course,
> these are ships that I have illegally attacked; I have never been
> attacked by a Fer de Lance or a Cobra. Do the bounty hunters make any
> difference?
Ferde's ain't dangerous at all, they never attack unless attacked, as with
all 'yellow' ships. (Another major flaw with the Am ver.) And some ships
who were deadly enemies in the '64 ver (Sidewinders & Mambas esp) are just
taget practise here. (A Sidewd or Mamb takes 4 hits w/a Mil. laser to
destroy, compared to an asteeroids 6...)
>
> Do rock hermits (Asteroids with small fleets of ships inside) ever
> appear in the Amiga port? They used to be all over the Speccy version,
> but I haven't seen one yet after 12 hours play on my Amiga. Would a
> mining laser make any difference? What about Dredgers and Generation
> ships do they feature in the Amiga version??
>
I never saw any rock hermits in the '64 ver either. Dredgers and Gen
Ships are not included. (I know, cause I wrote and asked, while airing
a lot of the other complaints I write here. And of course lots of real
nifty things I would like to see if they made a new version of the game.
I really hope Braben got a copy of that letter...)
> When can I expect a mission? I have never seen one in either port of
> Elite (though on the Speccy I never left Galaxy 1). How is it presented?
> When?????
That's a tricky one. I got miss1 after the flight in which I passed
300K of points. But a friend of a friend has completed (all?) five miss's
with a score of 160K+ or something. I have found out that the missions are
64 JUMPS apart, once you get to the first one, and suspect there's a certain
no of jumps to perform to get to the first as well. So jump as much as you
can 3-4-5 jumps between each docking, and the mission will probably be there
soon...
>
> I am at the point where the Amiga version is aimless and boring,
> because I have 4 Military lasers, retros and over 20,000 credits (and I
> didn't cheat!!). No enemies can really challenge me except the Thargoids
> in WitchSpace. Will it get any harder when my rating boosts again?
>
See note on no of ships above.
> How to I fire an Energy Bomb in the Amiga version? It was 'w' on the
> Speccy, but I've tried every key on my Amiga and the bomb won't fire.
>
That info can be found in the manual, you know...
>
> Basically, I am concluding that the Spectrum version is actually
> better (except graphically), and may soon give up on the Amiga version.
That goes for '64 ver as well. (I only play Am ver to get through the miss's
and instead wait for EII. Which has been delayed... P'haps someone gave my
letter to Braben two weeks ago....(?) (It was sent ca october '91, but you
know how slow some adm folk are...))
> Can someone please talk me out of this by answering some of these
> questions?! Thanks!
>
> +---------------------+------------------------------------------+
> | Gary Bradley | "You receive a love letter from me and |
> | ORACLE Corp, UK | you're f*cked forever!" |
> | Edinburgh, SCOTLAND | - Frank Booth ("Blue Velvet") |
> +---------------------+------------------------------------------+
> | "God damn the censor man" |
> +----------------------------------------------------------------+
Shorten your sig.
--
Some people say I have a too high self-esteem.
They may be right, but at least I have good reason to.
Eric Eaton
>
> gon...@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (Eric Eaton) writes...
>
>> Doesn't seem to. The climax fight of the first mission is kind of tough.
>> How did you get 4 Military lasers? I only have 1 on the front.
>
> I don't understand the question! I bought them! Do you mean how did I
>get enough credits to have 4? If so, I don't know. My strategy is
>simple: take furs or slaves from Agr worlds to Ind worlds; take
>computers and firearms the other way (or Narcotics/medicines if they are
>cheap enough). Nothing else is really worth the trouble! If there is no
>suitable world nearby to do this, I just buy nothing and go to the most
>dangerous world around and pirate from every ship I encounter till the
>cargo hold is filled.
>
No, credits isn't the problem. The computer won't let me do it.
Odd. Maybe I have a different version or something...
-Eric Eaton
Si Owen
>Elite I on my Amiga. I loved this game on the ZX Spectrum (don't laugh,
>I've still got it), but never really played my Amiga version until now.
Me too - still a fan of both versions *8-)
>Now I am in galaxy 2 of the Amiga version, rating Competent, a score of
>about 58000 and 20,000 credits. Some questions and observations for
>Elite fans follow...
>
> The Amiga version seems much easier than the Speccy to me...too easy
>in fact. Anyone agree? It is of course better to look at and has more
>ships (though the explosions on the Speccy version were better than any
>other port of this game I have seen!).
>
Better explosions on the Speccy version?! They were just a quick flash of
a red circle! It's much more satisfying to see a ship shatter into many
pieces at the end of a battle.
> In the Speccy version, the Fer de Lance ships were the most deady, in
>the Amiga version these are the least deadly and the Thargoids pose the
>greatest threat. Why this change?
I always thought that the Thargoids were the deadliest on the Speccy, but
the Fer-de-Lance ships weren't too far behind (and you tended to get more
of then in normal space-flight). I don't remember being attacked by many
hostile FdL in the Amiga version though.
> Also, Cobras were quite hard on the
>Speccy too, but are extremely easy to fight with an Amiga. Of course,
>these are ships that I have illegally attacked; I have never been
>attacked by a Fer de Lance or a Cobra. Do the bounty hunters make any
>difference?
>
> Do rock hermits (Asteroids with small fleets of ships inside) ever
>appear in the Amiga port? They used to be all over the Speccy version,
>but I haven't seen one yet after 12 hours play on my Amiga. Would a
>mining laser make any difference? What about Dredgers and Generation
>ships do they feature in the Amiga version??
>
I don't remember seeing any either, shooting them with normal lasers on
the Speccy version caused ships to be launched from them to attack you,
so i doubt a mining laser would make much difference.
I seem to remember hearing about huge Dredger ships on the Speccy, but i
never heard it being proven - was it just a rumour?
> When can I expect a mission? I have never seen one in either port of
>Elite (though on the Speccy I never left Galaxy 1). How is it presented?
>When?????
>
It's quite a long wait, but quite satisfying when you finally get to it.
> I am at the point where the Amiga version is aimless and boring,
>because I have 4 Military lasers, retros and over 20,000 credits (and I
>didn't cheat!!). No enemies can really challenge me except the Thargoids
>in WitchSpace. Will it get any harder when my rating boosts again?
>
Yeah, you'll get them in much bigger clumps - 4 will be the average number of
ships that attacks in a 'clump'.
> How to I fire an Energy Bomb in the Amiga version? It was 'w' on the
>Speccy, but I've tried every key on my Amiga and the bomb won't fire.
>
It's TAB - have you checked the manual? *8-)
>
> Basically, I am concluding that the Spectrum version is actually
>better (except graphically), and may soon give up on the Amiga version.
>Can someone please talk me out of this by answering some of these
>questions?! Thanks!
>
Going back to the Speccy version, having now played the Amiga version, i think
i have to prefer the Amiga. In it's time, the Speccy Elite was excellent, but
is now starting to look a bit more dated. One notable thing i still prefer on
the Spectrum, was the targetting of ships... they appeared much smaller on the
Speccy, and required more skill. When distant ships appear on the Amiga, they
appear as a small circle, which isn't that difficult to target. The animation
on the Amiga is smoother too (not surprisingly tho!), and filled graphics have
to beat wire-frame (even if it was hidden line).
Si (Dangerous - Amiga, Elite - Speccy)
Gary Bradley
> Better explosions on the Speccy version?! They were just a quick flash of
> a red circle! It's much more satisfying to see a ship shatter into many
> pieces at the end of a battle.
Oh well, tastes differ. I much prefered the sudden flash of red
explosion on the Speccy. It seemed more....well real; even though I must
confess I have never seen a spaceship exploding in space!! :-)
> Yeah, you'll get them in much bigger clumps - 4 will be the average number of
> ships that attacks in a 'clump'.
I'm getting 4 at the moment. Usually this is 1 nasty ship accompanied
by 2 easy fighters and a cruiser of some sort (usually a Boa). I find a
formation such as this no real challenge. The hardest I have had to
fight so far (discounting multiple Thargoids in WitchSpace which is VERY
hard without Retro rockets) is 1 Thargoid, 2 Wolves and an Adder. I
can't understand why the Thargoids are hanging around with the
humans...that didn't happen on my Speccy. Did it????
Stanley Kaminski
In a previous article, gbra...@uks197.Berkeley.EDU (Gary Bradley) says:
> I'm getting 4 at the moment. Usually this is 1 nasty ship accompanied
>by 2 easy fighters and a cruiser of some sort (usually a Boa). I find a
>formation such as this no real challenge. The hardest I have had to
>fight so far (discounting multiple Thargoids in WitchSpace which is VERY
>hard without Retro rockets) is 1 Thargoid, 2 Wolves and an Adder. I
>can't understand why the Thargoids are hanging around with the
>humans...that didn't happen on my Speccy. Did it????
That HAS to be the singular most idiotic "feature" of the amiga ver-
sion...Thargoids and humans teaming up to attack you.
Do ANY versions of Elite I feature the rock hermits, generation ships
and space dredgers alluded to in the docs? I never could find them
while playing the game on either the c64 or the amiga.
--
ai...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu / "I think all right-thinking people in this
ac...@yfn.ysu.edu / country are SICK_AND_TIRED of being told that
GEnie: S.KAMINSKI / ordinary decent people are fed up in this coun-
/ try with being sick and tired!" -- Monty Python
Simon Oke
| Do ANY versions of Elite I feature the rock hermits, generation ships
| and space dredgers alluded to in the docs? I never could find them
| while playing the game on either the c64 or the amiga.
|
asteroid takes more shots to destroy than usual, you get a 'no bounty'
message on your screen and you suddenly find that you are a fugitive. This
happened to me on the '64 version, and I think I may hae had it happen on my
ST but it's been such a long time since I played that I really can't remember.
--
This signature is copyright 12/6/1992 Simon Oke. All rights reserved. If you
like it and keep a copy for your own use, you owe me $20. Please pass it on
to your friends with all documentation. Email ok...@essex.ac.uk.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Live long and prosper.
Gary Bradley
> Do ANY versions of Elite I feature the rock hermits, generation ships
> and space dredgers alluded to in the docs? I never could find them
> while playing the game on either the c64 or the amiga.
Yes! As I mentioned, the Rock Hermits were reasonably common on the
ZX Spectrum version! You would shoot what appeared to be a normal
asteroid only to find half a dozen ships pouring out of it to attack
you! The asteroid itseld was also very hard to destroy and seemed to be
powered in some way allowing it to move about like an extremely large ship!
ez00...@hamlet.ucdavis.edu
Can anyone recommend a good basketball game? I know of TV Sports
Basketball, but I'm looking for something with alittle bit better
playability.
Thanks.
-ss
Mark Newton
> Do ANY versions of Elite I feature the rock hermits, generation ships
> and space dredgers alluded to in the docs? I never could find them
> while playing the game on either the c64 or the amiga.
The Amstrad CPC version (remember those machines? :-) had Rock Hermits.
It didn't have the other things you're asking about, though.
- mark
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Waiter, there's no fly in my soup!" new...@monty.apana.org.au
- Kermit the Frog Mark Newton
--------------------------------------------------------------------
ec...@pooky.engr.washington.edu
>Cinemaware was working on TVSB II before the probs, I know somebody must've
>picked up the project.
>
>Something with NBA or NCAA teams would be nice.
>
>KSG
TVSports Basketball is rad! Hey, is there anywhere we can send our suggestions
for TVSB II?
My suggestions:
* NBA, NCAA teams
* Have white guys as well as black guys, or other...
It's really kind of wierd to play with Danny Ainge, and he's black..
* Have white uniforms for home teams, away teams wear their color
No confusion, more realistic
* Maybe configure Weight.
IT's wierd to play Stanley Roberts and Manute Bol with the same
picture...
* Maybe have close-ups when you dunk, like NES double dribble
* have special moves for certain people, like Genesis Lakers vs Celts
* Configure the player. (bald, long hair, skin color, etc..)
What are YOUR suggestions? let's hear them, and maybe we can send them somewhere so this game can be improved...
Kang Su Gatlin
For reals. I love TVS Basketball, but I'm ready to move on. I heard that
DAVID ZAVELSON
I have to agree with everyone on TV Sports Basketball. I love this
game. I just played NCAA Basketball for SNES the other day and
really liked the rotating screen. I wish someone would port that
to Amiga, but if not Ill settle for TVSBII. TVSBII should have
real players and you should also be able to play a season without
having to play the full 12 minute quarters. Ive never had time
to sit down and play that many games for that long. Well thats
my too cents.
Dave Zavelson
Andrew Lee
I have the data files for TVS Basketball with real NBA players (1992) I found
on a local BBS. If anyone's interested email me. The game was much more fun
with real names...
Andy
--
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Andrew Lee
<as...@juts.ccc.amdahl.com>
(408)945-2905
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