Elite FAQ
Ian Bell Autumn 1999
Contents
Where can I get a copy of PC Elite?
What are you working on now?
Who wrote what in the original Elite?
How many kills for each rating?
Exactly where, when, and how are the missions triggered?
How do I force a mis-jump/entry to "witch space"?
How do I escape from "witch space"?
How do you get rid of the Trumbles/Squeakies?
Why can't I get scooping up cargo cannisters to work?
How do I launch from space station when emulating BBC Elite?
How do I save my position?
Where are the Space Dredgers and Generation Ships?
Why don't you and David Braben settle your differences and write a proper sequel?
Dum De Dum De Dum... Frontier:Elite 2 / Frontier First Encounters.
Will you send me the source code for Elite?
How old were you when you wrote Elite?
What language was Elite written in?
Where can I get a copy of the manual for such-and-such a version?
What happened to the CIX site?
Is there a Mac version?
What Space-based SciFi do you like and which do you consider to be most like "Elite"?
How can I thank you for my childhood pleasure/the influence "Elite" had on my life?
What is the final Elite mission?
What is are the criteria/specifics of the missions in a specific version?

 1. Where can I get a copy of PC Elite?

   Right Here. For recent hobbyist versions see links page.

 2. What are you working on now?

    I am working on a new computer game but i am keeping the details secret for the moment.

 3. Who wrote what in the original Elite?

   
Elite Programing
Ian BellDavid Braben
Sun & planet plottingShip plotting
3D movement, ship rotationsTrading screens
Stars/Dust Particles,ExplosionsEquip ship screen
Hyperspace effect, Weapon EffectsNavigational charts
Solar system maintainanceGalaxy generation
"Goat Soup" string"Furry Felines" string
Scanner codingScanner concept
Graphics primitivesSound effects
Enemy tactics, Docking, MissilesDial bars
Secret Missions,Trumbles


Elite Ship Design
Ian BellDavid Braben
Adder, Anaconda, Asp, Boa, Boulder,Cobra I,
Cougar,Fer-de-Lance,Gecko, Krait, Moray,
Orbit shuttle, Tharglet, Transporter,
Worm,Dodecahedral Station
Asteroid, Cobra III, Constrictor, Mamba,
Missile,Python, Sidewinder, Thargoid,
Viper,Coriolis Station

 4. How many kills for each rating?

   
6502 kill thresholds (in hex):
Arc kill thresholds (in decimal):
BBC,C64,AppleIINES
  • 0x0000 - Harmless
  • 0x0008 - Mostly Harmless
  • 0x0010 - Poor
  • 0x0020 - Average
  • 0x0040 - Above Average
  • 0x0080 - Competent
  • 0x0200 - Dangerous
  • 0x0A00 - Deadly
  • 0x1900 - Elite
  • 0x0000 - Harmless
  • 0x0002 - Mostly Harmless
  • 0x0008 - Poor
  • 0x0018 - Average
  • 0x002C - Above Average
  • 0x0082 - Competent
  • 0x0200 - Dangerous
  • 0x0A00 - Deadly
  • 0x1900 - Elite
  • 0000 - Harmless
  • 0049 - Mostly Harmless
  • 0401 - Poor
  • 1009 - Average
  • 1501 - Above Average
  • 2501 - Competent
  • 4501 - Dangerous
  • 3000 - Deadly
  • 8000 - Very Deadly
  • 9801 - Elite
     
     All ships constituted 1.0 kills in BBC Elite.
In C64 Elite, a third ("fractional") byte
was added to the kill total, and each ship
had a seperate kill value one third that in
the table below.
This data taken from Jades' FFE site.

C64 Elite Ship Specs
ShipSizeEnergySpeedMax
Missiles
Carried
Max
Loot
Bounty
CR
NES Kill
Value
(Hex)
CORIOLIS STN160240  0 6m0t0.00.00
DODEC STATION   180240  0 0m0t0.00.00
MISSILE 40  2 44 0m0t0.01.C0
THARGLET 40 20 30 0m0t5.00.64
 Space Junk
ESCAPE CAPSULE 16 17  8 0m0t0.00.32
PLATELET 10 16 16 0m0t0.00.20
CARGO CANNISTER 20 17 15 0m0t0.00.1F
BOULDER 30 20 30 0m0t0.10.14
ASTROID 80 60 30 0m0t0.50.19
ROCK SPLINTER 16 20 10 0m0t0.00.1E
SHUTTLE50 32  8 0m15t0.00.32
TRANSPORTER50 32 10 0m0t0.00.33
ROCK HERMIT 80180 30 2m7t0.01.00
 Police
VIPER 75140 32 1m0t0.00.50
 Traders
COBRA III 95150 28 3m3t0.02.C0
PYTHON 80250 20 3m5t0.02.00
BOA 70250 24 4m5t0.02.80
ANACON100252 14 7m7t0.03.00
 Pack Hunters
SIDEWND 65 70 37 0m0t5.01.00
MAMBA 70 90 30 2m1t15.01.80
TIKRAIT 60 80 30 0m1t10.01.00
ADDER 50 85 24 0m0t4.01.10
GECKO 99 70 30 0m0t5.51.00
COBRA I 99 90 26 2m3t7.52.00
WORM 99 30 23 0m0t0.00.96
 Lone Wolves
COBRA III 95150 28 2m1t17.53.80
ASP II 60150 40 1m0t20.03.40
PYTHON 80250 20 3m2t20.03.80
FER DE LANCE40160 30 2m0t0.03.C0
MORAY 30100 25 0m1t5.02.40
THARGOID 99240 39 6m0t50.08.00
CONSTRICTOR65252 36 4m3t0.010.00
COUGAR70252 40 4m3t0.010.00

 5. Exactly where, when, and how are the missions triggered?

   6502 Elite Secret Missions MSX Elite Secret Missions

 6. How do I force a mis-jump/entry to "witch space"?

    On 6502 versions, this is achieved by engaging maximum "climb" as the hyperspace countdown times out. On the BBC version, you may have to pause the game, press CTRL_X, and then resume to enable this.

 7. How do I escape from "witch space"?

    Mis-jumps take the ammount of fuel required for the intended jump. If the remaining fuel is adequate you can hyperspace again. This will always be possible if the intended jump was less than 3.5 LY on a full tank. If you don't have enough fuel for another jump, you are doomed unless you have an escape capsule which IIRC does still work (though strictly speaking it shoudn't).

 8. How do you get rid of the Trumbles/Squeakies?

    By sunskimming - if your Commander is ruthless enough.
     The Trumbles mission was a somewhat prankful addition to the C64 version to add something new over the BBC version.
    The Trumbles Count is an ethics score (deciKirks) for the competant Commander .
    In hindsight, i should have decreased the breeding rate of unfed Trumbles so that maintaining a small population would not require quite so much cooking.

 9. Why can't I get scooping up cargo cannisters to work?

   You need to buy a fuel scoop. Ram the object keeping it in the lower half of the Front View display.   There must be room in the cargo bay

10. How do I launch from space station when emulating BBC Elite?

   BBC Elite used the f0 key for launch. Since PC keyboards lack F0, emulator programs have to mimic f0 with a different key. Try NUMPAD_0 and if that fails, consult the emulator docs for key assignments.

11. How do I save my position?

   On the BBC and related versions, via the "@" key (under emulation this mey be a different key, consult emulator docs for key assignments).

12. Where are the Space Dredgers and Generation Ships?

    Where indeed.

13. Why don't you and David Braben settle your differences and write a proper sequel?

   David Braben developed (with some assistance from me) "Frontier: Elite 2",and then (with no assistance from me) the notorious "Frontier: First Encounters". I stated my opinions on his conduct regarding these titles in an interview for gamesdomain [Aug 1995].
    I subsequently received a letter from Braben's solicitors objecting to three points in the interview including a statement the intended meaning of which was that I understood Chris Sawyer receieved no royalties on "Frontier:First Encounters" but which could be potentially misconstrued to imply that Braben had ceased paying Sawyer his royalties on sales of the PC version of "Frontier:Elite 2".
    The letter demanded a "full apology" and "your proposal for compensation and/or exemplary damages".
    I immediately requested Games Domain to add a clarification of the intended meaning of the Chris Sawyer remark to the interview. They promptly did so and it remained online till 2002.
    Despite the clarification, Braben still attempted to sue me for libel (High Court of Justice Queens Bench, Writ 1995 -B No 2536, 24 Nov 1995). This is indicative of his post-Elite attitude.

14. Dum De Dum De Dum... Frontier:Elite 2 / Frontier First Encounters.

    Those titles are not my responsibility. I cannot provide copies, patches, or assistance getting them to work.   See   Jades' FFE Page for help with those.

15. Will you send me the source code for Elite?

    The BBC Cassette Elite 6502 sources are now available on this site.

16. How old were you when you wrote Elite?

    See personal details.

17. What language was Elite written in?

    As regards the original 6502 Elites, assembly language. Initially using the tremendously powerful BBC BASIC assembler.

18. Where can I get a copy of the manual for such-and-such a version?

    These are hard to come by. I personally do not have any surplus.

19. What happened to the CIX site?

    See David Braben's Legal Threat to the Elite Home Page.

20. Is there a Mac version?

   Not officially. But see links page.

21. What Space-based SciFi do you like and which do you consider to be most like "Elite"?

   "Farscape", which i enjoy, is the most in keeping with Elite as i perceive it. I quite liked "Babylon 5"'s political intrigues for a while but its way too broad-canvas for Elite. "Blake's 7" was fun in its day. "ST:Voyager" is only occasionally interesting but has very nice title graphics. "ST:Next Generation" is pretty lame most of the time. "ST:DS9" is bellyup dire.     "ST:Enterprise" has only two good points, both to be found on the chest of the science officer.

22. How can I thank you for my childhood pleasure/the influence "Elite" had on my life?

    You can consider making a Paypal donation or visit my Amazon wish list

23. What is the final Elite mission?

   
    At an obscure Multi-Government/Coorporate State planet in the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of Galaxy 23, Data_On_System reveals:
    This fabulous hoopy planet is allowing pirates to destroy the biosphere. Your mission is protect the planet from the pirates.
    Good Luck, Commander.

24. What is are the criteria/specifics of the missions in a specific version?

   
    I did start collating mission specifics for each version, and you can find some such info on other sites, but i decided i risked killing the romance. These are, after all, secret missions in that they were originally intended to be a complete surprise to the player just as they were beginning to think they had seen all the game had to offer and rekindle their involvement. With regard to the conversions done by others, the brief was basically to do their own thing missionwise and have fun with it. I wanted converters to be creatively involved in their labours and apply their own slant to an open formula rather than impliment further missions of my own devising. Partly to manipulate them into doing a better job and so make me more money, of course, but for other nobler reasons too. The only thing more rewarding than personal creativity is facilitating the creativity of others.
    The resultant lack of uniformity adds to the mythos and ruthless documentation would, i suggest, be a mistake. The "Long and Boring Waffle with Little Relief" on the "Princes of the Universe" site (see
links page provides some of the best analysis of what Elite _EMPHASISE(is) (AFAIAC) that I am aware of.
    So i'm not going to tell you the answer to your mission question even if i knew it, which i probably don't. You'll have to keep on trading and shooting, Commander. Or start hanging out in seedy space rangers' bars and learn to tell the veterans from the braggarts.

Back to Elite Home Page

Back to Ian Bell's home page