Elite-A, Play it again Syd

[sydney]

Back in August 2021 I began documenting my progress with Elite-A in my ‘Elite-A, the new quest’ thread which followed my ‘Quest to become Elite’ posts from way back in 2016. I didn’t get very far for a few reasons:
1 Elite-A is not easy.
2 I wanted to play on real hardware.
3 Elite-A is hard
4 Too much overtime available at work.
5 Elite-A is challenging.
6 Real life got pretty complicated.
7 Elite-A is difficult.

The stars seem to have aligned and I feel I have the time, energy and desire to give it another go.
I’ve decided to use an emulator as I don’t have space for a permanent setup and don’t want to set up and pack away for each session. That solves problem 2.
Overtime dried up at work so problem 4 is gone.
Real life looks pretty comfortable, at least for the next 6 months, so problem 6 is gone for a while.
That leaves 1,3,5 and 7. Well, it turns out Elite-A isn’t that difficult you just have to adjust your expectations and accept that every now and then your gonna bite the dust. Rather than taking death as the end of the adventure I’m going to keep track of how many times I have to be reincarnated.

I’ve been playing for a few days and keeping track of my jumps, trades and fights so my next posts will detail what I’ve done so far.

[sydney]

As with standard Elite I’m starting at Lave but this time with a lowly unarmed Adder with only 8TC of cargo and equipment space. Rubbish! Luckily I’ve got 500 Credits so that should help start the ball rolling.
I decided not to buy any weapons straight away. Space is a dangerous place but Pulse lasers really don’t cut the mustard and would be a waste of 200 Credits and 1 Tonne of cargo space. Beam lasers are where it’s at for a start on the death dealing ladder but at 450 Credits are out of my price range right now.
I check the short range chart for a nearby safe Industrial system and decide to run some Furs to Leesti. 8 tonnes of Furs at 52.4 Credits a tonne leaves me with only 80.8 Credits in my account. Hope I don’t get ambushed.
I arrive at Leesti and head straight for the planet. Within minutes the space station appears and I begin my docking run. It seems lasers more uses than just blasting pirates; I have no sights to help guide me into the welcoming open doors of the station so I’ll just have to eyeball it. It’s close but I manage to land with only minor damage to the paintwork.
I quickly sell my stock of furs and refuel. I’ve now got 745CR, enough for ten tonnes of computers - if only the hold was big enough! I fill up with computers and head straight back to Lave, this is easy!
Arriving in the Lave system I line up with the planet and jump onward. Only I don’t. Boooooop! Mass locked! I check my scanner and four ominous blobs have appeared high to my ten o’clock. I sit bolt upright, turn to face the aggressors and prepare to fire my lasers… Damn!
I turn to run but this Adder is no match for whatever is chasing me. A brief cascade of fire on my aft shields and it’s all over. So much for easy, I’m dead.
Time for my first reincarnation.

[SteveF]

Good luck! Good to see this fresh attempt, I know how it can be - my own (technically not abandoned) effort to visit every star system in Elite has rather ground to a halt. I enjoyed your first write up anyway.

[sydney]

Jump 2 - Leesti to Diso.
After my failure at Lave I decided to buy a Beam laser and stay away from Lave.
745 - 450 left me with 295CR, only enough for a paltry 4 tonnes of computers. I set off for Diso ready for a fight and… nothing! Straight into the station without so much as an asteroid. Sold my computers and with furs looking very expensive I filled my hold with 7 tonnes of liquor and wine.

Jump 3 - Diso to Leesti
I had some cash left after buying the wine so I treated myself to a missile, just incase.
I arrive in Leesti and head for the planet. My choice of Beam lasers is soon put to the test when a group of 3 pirates close on me. They open fire and I take one of them out straight away, overheating my lasers and splitting up the two remaining hostiles. By the time I’ve spun round and got a missile lock on one ship the other has opened up on my rear end. I launch my missile and look for the third bad guy. He’s making a run for it but I get lasers on him in a flash and he’s done for. I slow down and take stock. 3 kills with the accompanying bounty for the price of a missile, I’ve probably got a profit in there somewhere. While I wait for my lasers to cool and my shields to recharge another three ships appear on the scanner. I’m taking no chances so close in and open fire. They put up very little resistance so I check my legal status. I’m a fugitive! They must have been innocent traders.
The rest of the journey passes without incident.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

The rest of this post is rather dull!

Jump 4 - Leesti to Diso
Bought 5 tonnes of computers.
Attacked by one pirate. Easy kill.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 5 - Diso to Leesti
Bought 7 tonnes of furs.
No problems on journey.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 6 - Leesti to Diso
Bought 7 tonnes of computers.
Attacked by one pirate. Easy kill.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 7 - Diso to Leesti
Bought 7 tonnes of furs.
No problems on journey.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 8 - Leesti to Diso
Bought 7 tonnes of computers.
No problems on journey.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 9 - Diso to Leesti
Bought 7 tonnes of liquor.
No problems on journey.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 10 - Leesti to Diso
Bought 7 tonnes of computers.
No problems on journey.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 11 - Diso to Leesti
Bought 7 tonnes of furs.
Bought 9kg of platinum.
Bought 6 kg of gold.
No problems on journey.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 12 - Leesti to Diso
Not paying attention and didn’t record my purchases
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 13 - Diso to Leesti
Bought 7 tonnes of liquor.
No problems on journey.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

[sydney]

Jump 14 - Leesti to Diso
Bit of a change here. I’d been looking for a more lucrative commodity to trade in and since I’m a fugitive anyway I figured a little bit of illicit drug dealing wasn’t going to hurt anyone. Well, not me at least so why not?
Bought 7 tonnes of narcotics.
No problems on journey.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 15 - Diso to Leesti
Bought 7 tonnes of furs.
Bought 8 kg of platinum.
Bought 3 kg of gold.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 16 - Leesti to Diso
Bought 7 tonnes of computers.
No problems on journey.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 17 - Diso to Leesti
Bought 7 tonnes of liquor.
No problems on journey.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 18 - Leesti to Diso
Bought 7 tonnes of computers.
Barely managing to keep myself awake on my dull trading route I arrive at Diso and line up with the planet. One jump nearer the planet 4 dots appear on my scanner. Woohoo! Action at last. I close in as fast as my Adder would let me and open fire on the lead ship. It’s a Python! I’ve heard they are pretty tough and can take a hell of beating. I keep firing and the Python keeps coming. I can make out the second ship now - another Python. Then a third Python and now a fourth! The first one is still stubbornly refusing to explode. Then silence. My lasers have overheated and I’m a sitting duck. I fly straight through the pack of ships and they all simultaneously tear into me with their lasers. Seconds later my shields fail and my ship explodes around me.
Dead again - 2nd reincarnation.

Back at Leesti.
Bought 7 tonnes of computers.
No problems on journey.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 19 - Diso to Leesti
Bought 7 tonnes of liquor.
1 trader, I attack it, 1 kill
3 hostiles attack me, 3 kills - 2 with lasers 1 with missile
No problems on journey.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 20- Leesti to Diso
Bought 7 tonnes of computers.
Back to the scene of my last failure and again I’m attacked. 3 pirates close on me as soon as I enter the system. I kill one quickly but the second is a tough old Python. I burn of my lasers on his shields and his turns and runs, firing a missile as he goes. I fire a lone shot at the missile but miss and they overheat again. The python fire a second missile - I’m not going to survive this. The first missile smashes into my hull, collapsing the front shields. The second slowly but surely finds it way to the exact spot the first missile hit.
Dead again - 3rd reincarnation.

Back at Leesti.
1 pirate, 1 kill.
No problems on journey.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.

Jump 21- Diso to Leesti
Bought 7 tonnes of liquor.
No problems on journey.
Land, sell, refuel, rearm.
Sold Beam laser + 225CR
Bought Military Laser! -2300CR

That’s me up to date with my current progress.
Reincarnations: 3
Credits: 649.2
Rating: Poor
Legal Status: Fugitive
Kills: 29

I think most of my 29 kills have been asteroids, escape capsules or fragments of destroyed ships.

[sydney]

Good luck! Good to see this fresh attempt, I know how it can be - my own (technically not abandoned) effort to visit every star system in Elite has rather ground to a halt. I enjoyed your first write up anyway.

Thanks.
Visiting every planet sounds interesting and huge! I'm pretty sure there is a planet in one of the galaxies that is more than 7ly from it's nearest neighbor and can't be reached. I could be wrong though.

[sydney]

Diso to Leesti
Nothing happened on the flight.
bought escape capsule, launched immediately and used it to reset my legal status in the hopes of reducing the amount of unwanted attention.

Leesti to Lave
Nothing happened on the flight.
Looked at special cargos and it might be worth tooling up and trying this instead of trading, I’d need plenty cash first though.

Lave to Zaonce
Lets see whats down this part of the galaxy.
nothing happened.

Zaonce to Isinor
Jumped once and a lone ship appears on the scanner. I engage him in combat and win easily, these military spec lasers cut through small craft like a knife through butter. He must have been a trader as I’m a fugitive again!
Once docked I looked at the local map and there is not much round here except dangerous places - gonna try Qutiri next.

Isinor to Qutiri
Jumped twice and was then attacked by a group of three pirates. I quickly despatch two of them and the third makes a run for it. I let him go as my front shield took a battering and a rogue missile would take me out.
Next jump I’m quite close to the station and I’m jumped again by a lone craft, my friend from earlier perhaps? My font shields were just over three quarters charged when his last gasp missile hit me. Shields gone and energy half way down the last bar I survive to fight another day.

Reincarnations: 3
Credits: 1317.9
Rating: Average
Legal Status: Fugitive
Kills: 47

[sydney]

Qutiri to Isinor
Flight was eventful!
One jump to planet - 4 asteroids followed by 4 asteroids and 1 pirate.
One jump to planet - 5 pirates and 2 asteroids followed by 1 asteroid followed by 4 asteroids.
One jump to planet - 4 asteroids followed by 1 asteroid.

The first pirate was dead before he was much more than a blip on my view screen. The 5 pirates may not have been pirates as I didn’t give them a chance to start the attack. Two were gone within seconds and the other three didn’t take much longer though my front shield took a hammering and my aft shield suffered a direct missile hit.

Reincarnations: 3
Credits: 1643.1
Rating: Above Average
Legal Status: Fugitive
Kills: 73


This looks like a good time to express my early thoughts on Eilte-A and compare it to Elite.

First let me state the following sounds pretty negative but I’m really enjoying playing so make of that what you will!

It feels more difficult than Elite though I’m not sure it is. If you stick to safe systems you should be OK until you can afford good kit. This is true for Elite too but I think it’s more difficult in systems that perhaps shouldn’t be that dangerous. Or maybe not. Certainly Lave ‘feels’ safer in Elite than in Elite-A.

Trading feels more difficult due to the tiny hold of your initial ship. This means it’s going to take a long time to upgrade your ship and you will spend a very long time trading possibly making it a bit boring.
Perhaps this is actually a good thing as in Elite it is easy to become rich. Once you have 35 tonnes of space you basically have a license to print money making all the equipment available to you.

Combat feels harder possibly due to an Adder being a soft target compared to a Cobra mkIII. Certainly in Elite I had no problems taking on four pirates with only a beam laser and I’d not fancy my chances in Elite-A.
To become a pirate or focus on special cargo you’d need at minimum 6 items of equipment:

Military laser
Escape pod/Hyperspace unit
Fuels scoops
Energy Unit
E.C.M.
I.F.F.

leaving only 2 tonnes of cargo space - not much use to a pirate.
My notes make this around 4000 credits worth of kit meaning probably 50 trips trading before you can afford to start something more interesting.

Asteroids. There are just too many. I currently have 73 kills and around 70% of them are probably asteroids.

I'm pretty sure I'll have more to say on this in the future.
Does anyone know of discussion around Elite-A anywhere on the internet? There is very little discussion on stardot but perhaps it was talked about more on newsgroups back in the day before stardot even existed.

[SteveF]

Qutiri to Isinor
Flight was eventful!
One jump to planet - 4 asteroids followed by 4 asteroids and 1 pirate.
One jump to planet - 5 pirates and 2 asteroids followed by 1 asteroid followed by 4 asteroids.
One jump to planet - 4 asteroids followed by 1 asteroid.

Quite the trip! I haven't played Elite-A but this reminds me of my desperate attempts to dock at Ararus (on the M128 enhanced version, FWIW) and tick it off my list of planets visited. Every time I went there I'd just get wave after wave of pirates attacking me. I could survive the first wave or two without too much difficulty, but they just never seemed to stop coming and ultimately I'd die or be forced to hyperspace out or use my escape pod. Maybe I'm just really crappy at Elite though.

Trading feels more difficult due to the tiny hold of your initial ship. This means it’s going to take a long time to upgrade your ship and you will spend a very long time trading possibly making it a bit boring.
Perhaps this is actually a good thing as in Elite it is easy to become rich. Once you have 35 tonnes of space you basically have a license to print money making all the equipment available to you.

I can see both sides here, especially if Elite-A is harder than standard Elite. It's definitely true that after you can dock without dying, it doesn't take too much of a grind to get a fully equipped ship in standard Elite and money is mostly not a problem after that. (I never got to the point where I felt I could use galactic hyperdrives on a whim, though.) But maybe playing Elite-A completely honestly is going to involve a very long grind to get a half-decent ship. I suppose the option to "cheat" and start with something slightly better exists, so at least you have options. And if you do get through the grind there's probably a sense of accomplishment from it.

Asteroids. There are just too many. I currently have 73 kills and around 70% of them are probably asteroids.

Perhaps making up for their virtual absence in at least one of the standard disc versions? I don't think I ever saw an asteroid when playing BITD, encountering one would have been almost as cool as spotting a space dredger.

Does anyone know of discussion around Elite-A anywhere on the internet? There is very little discussion on stardot but perhaps it was talked about more on newsgroups back in the day before stardot even existed.

I had some vague idea there was some talk on the bbc-micro mailing list but a quick search suggests maybe there wasn't. I tried Google Groups to search old newsgroup posts but I am not sure it's a full archive any more - I found a few mentions, but there was nothing much except a link to an old thread which was a broken link to GG.

I'm not saying I'm typical, but I never saw or even heard of Elite-A BITD. I was only a kid and I didn't know many people IRL with a Beeb so the chances of getting a copy handed to me were low, and I suspect it was just "(software) pirate-ish" enough that it wasn't discussed in the commercial magazines I was reading. I probably heard about it for the first time somewhere online when I was at university in the mid 90s, but I'm not sure I actually got my hands on a copy (or particularly tried to) even then - I was more into the RISC OS machines at that point.

[aidanthegasman]

I really admire your dedication to play Elite-A all the way through.

I came across a copy of it once at University. I simply couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was Elite--but with a LOT more knobs on, and I spent hours browsing the Encyclopedia Galactica (which, for those who don't know) lets you see every possible ship in the game. Well, nearly all of them; I seem to remember there's another secret ship out there.

I hadn't even known it was Elite-A until after I discovered the Internet.

Anyway, you may or may not know this already, but (as if it wasn't brilliant enough), Elite-A is optimised for the Tube. If you're playing it on an emulator you might as well get the very best of it. This is a quote from Angus Duggan's own website (http://knackered.org/angus/beeb/elite.html):

A 6502 second processor version of Elite-A is also included on the disc. If a second processor is detected during boot-up, then this version is loaded. It is slightly faster than the single-processor version, because the screen handling is done by the I/O processor, and the calculation by the second processor. This version does not need to access the disc when docking, or looking at the encyclopedia. The ships encountered in this version are the same as the standard version, but the combinations in which they appear are more varied.

Unlike the vanilla version of Tube Elite, it doesn't add more colours to the display, however.