Elite-A Researcher

[myno]

Hi.

I have recently discovered Mark Moxon's https://www.bbcelite.com, and have been bugging him with some unanswerable questions regarding Angus Duggan's Elite-A via email. He has been most gracious in attempting to answer as much as he could.

His analysis of Elite-A indicates to me that it is definitely the height of the art for BBC Micro Elite. Ian Bell's statement that it is "A significant achievement for which respect is due," seems rather bland. (http://www.elitehomepage.org/bbc/index.htm) Don't you just love the British skill for understatement? (Ooohhh... an ironic, sarcastic rhetorical-question, followed by a self-deprecating statement... -- what audacity! (The meta is strong.)) Anyway, moving on swiftly...

I am trying to contact Mr. Angus Duggan, for to ask him some questions regarding the Anaconda's military laser and the Ghavial's missiles, and perhaps some others after that as well, if he would be so kind, but these here boards/forums/topics/threads/etc. require me to post some ... something ... first, before they allow me to compose any private messages to members. So, this seems to be the most appropriate place to start.

I trust this is in order.

Thanks.

Kind regards, sincerely and faithfully, trying to jump through the hoops, to find out something that has come to matter a great deal to me, etc.
myno

(edited: bbcelite url)

[Multiwizard]

Hi Myno,

welcome to this great Forum...


Greetings from my little Dutch Atomic Attic, Wim...

[myno]

Hi, Multiwizard

Thanks for the welcome.

I scrolled through your YouTube channels, and I must say that I am most impressed by the amount of good old, historical equipment you showcase there. Wow! Although I'm more interested in original 1980s BBC Micro Elite games/software, I do appreciate historical records in general, and I believe we need more of them -- especially in today's fast-paced life racing by, it's easy to forget where we come from (and, subsequently, to realise where we're heading...) The Internet Archive is an absolute necessity.

At least you got an extra view on the video of Pluis hiding in the autumn leaves. :3 Yes, I am a cat person.

Thanks again.

All the best.
myno

[Multiwizard]

Hi, Multiwizard

Thanks for the welcome.

I scrolled through your YouTube channels, and I must say that I am most impressed by the amount of good old, historical equipment you showcase there. Wow! Although I'm more interested in original 1980s BBC Micro Elite games/software, I do appreciate historical records in general, and I believe we need more of them -- especially in today's fast-paced life racing by, it's easy to forget where we come from (and, subsequently, to realise where we're heading...) The Internet Archive is an absolute necessity.

At least you got an extra view on the video of Pluis hiding in the autumn leaves. :3 Yes, I am a cat person.

Thanks again.

All the best.
myno

Hi,

thanks for the compliment & yes that is our adorable cat...

Perhaps (one day) I will upload a short video of our "little" dog too...

[myno]

Dear Multiwizard, and anyone else perhaps stumbling across this post

My purpose for having joined the Stardot forums is to attempt to contact Mr. Angus Duggan of Elite-A fame, because he apparently shows up on these forums from time to time as ajcduggan, and I have some technical questions about Elite-A that I would like to receive some answers to, and he seems to be to only one who might be able to assist. I have asked Mr. Mark Moxon of https://www.bbcelite.com/ fame, and he has graciously answered what he could, but there are some questions which require some direct insight into the original programmer's mind.

I have tried Mr. Duggan's email address at harlequin.com, given at the bottom of http://knackered.org/angus/beeb/elite.html, but it does not seem to be operational anymore.

I would like to send Mr. Duggan a private message, but ... "We are sorry, but you are not authorised to use this feature {compose a PM}. You may have just registered here and may need to participate more in discussions to be able to use this feature." So, now I'm trying to jump through the hoops, and build some trustworthy rep, by posting these explanations, and asking some related questions.

I am not hugely interested in the Acorn hardware and emulators themselves; my main interest is just in Elite and specifically Elite-A, at the moment. I am of the opinion that 8-bit Elite-A is the height of the art for Acorn Elite, beating even 32-bit ArcElite on the Archimedes, as far as direct player-interaction is concerned. ArcElite's non-player-centred perspective is great, but it still remains in the background -- Elite-A offers 15 different ship-types accessible to the player (effectively 15 different games in one), as well as a second, alternative, special-cargoes delivery-missions game for each of them, doubling the game-play to 30 games in one, as opposed to any other Elite's mere single game in a Cobra Mk III. Elite was already supposed to have been impossible... What shall we then say about Elite-A?... IT'S A FREAKING MIRACLE!!! \o/

So, now, after you've waded through all of my spiel here above... How do you think might I go about contacting Mr. Duggan most easily and painlessly for all parties conerned?

1. Would it be frowned upon if another member of these forums were to contact Mr. Duggan (ajcduggan) on my behalf, requesting that he sends me a private message, to which I could then -- hopefully -- reply, if the system would allow me to do so?

2. ...Or should I just simply post my questions publicly in the "8-bit acorn software: classic games" forum, and hope that he stumbles upon them, and answers them there, or privately?

3. ...Or how else can I jump through the hoops, so that I might finally be "authorised" to send Mr. Duggan a PM, if there is nothing else that I feel that I could contribute to these forums?

My questions, at the moment, concern the reasons for, and the stories behind:

1. The Anaconda's military-laser power
2. Not-for-sale ships' hull-configuration data
3. The Gecko's hull-configuration data
4. The Ghavial's number of missiles
5. The Python's maximum energy
6. The Fer-de-Lance's energy recharge-rate

How else can I convince this community that my intentions (if somewhat annoying, I suppose) are (nevertheless) sincere? Whatever I am, annoying, or not, Elite(-A) has come to mean a great deal to me over the last more-than-a-decade, and I endeavour to pursue any and all channels to find the answers that I feel necessary.

"OK, myno... So, let's say you get your answers. What then? What will you do with them?"

At the moment, I am busy compiling notes, trying to consolidate all the ambiguities, inconsistencies, discrepancies, paradoxes, contradictions and other things that don't seem to make any sense regarding Elite into a single, logically-consistent lore. I work on this daily. I don't think I'm halfway yet. It's been almost thirteen and a half years now already. Hopefully, one day, I'll be done, and I'll share the final result with the Oolite community over at https://bb.oolite.space/.

So, there you have it. This is my secret. Hopefully you'll forget it soon enough, so that the surprise will be as pleasantly enjoyable as it can be when you finally discover it.

Kind regards
myno

[Cybershark]

I would like to send Mr. Duggan a private message, but ... "We are sorry, but you are not authorised to use this feature {compose a PM}. You may have just registered here and may need to participate more in discussions to be able to use this feature." So, now I'm trying to jump through the hoops, and build some trustworthy rep, by posting these explanations, and asking some related questions.

The forum interaction restriction is only in place to prevent bot activity. Of course it's something of a catch-22, as (I presume) you can't PM an admin to circumvent it Have sent danielj a message on your behalf, to hopefully save on the hoop-jumping at your end

[flaxcottage]

Welcome, myno.

[BigEd]

(I sent a PM to ajcduggan on Friday alerting him to this thread. If that’s a good way to contact him, rest assured it has now been tried. It may be that he doesn’t visit often, or is indisposed, or doesn’t wish to engage. In the first instance I’d recommend patience. )

[myno]

Thank you, Cybershark. Your communications to danielj regarding the hastening of my freedom from this necessary, temporary, digital confinement is much appreciated.

Thanks, flaxcottage! I'm happy to receive such a friendly welcoming.

BigEd, that's really big of you to alert Mr. Duggan regarding my proposed pestering -- even before I asked! FWIW, I've just remembered another question I would like to ask him regarding missiles on a Coriolis station.

Thank you, everyone, for your kind communications. I really appreciate being informed of how things work around here. Now that I know, my patience settings have been engaged. It is really heartening to be welcomed to such friendly forums that entertain some information and interest in Elite(-A), even if it is strictly-speaking only tangential.

Much thanks, again, and kindest regards to all
myno

[Lardo Boffin]

Welcome!

I played Elite to death BITD but only really came across Elite A relatively recently. It certainly looks to be a serious technical achievement. Is that the fascination?

[tricky]

Welcome, it looks like you have already been partly helped
I think you could also quote them with the " button and they would receive a notification if they have them enabled.

[daveejhitchins]

Welcome to the Forum, myno . . . Enjoy . . .

Dave H.

[myno]

Hi, Lardo Boffin, tricky and daveejhitchins

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Welcome!

I played Elite to death BITD but only really came across Elite A relatively recently. It certainly looks to be a serious technical achievement. Is that the fascination?

Although the technical achievement is certainly amazingly fascinating (what little I can grasp of it), my main interest is in the in-game lore that might be derived from Elite-A, and which might help to consolidate the rest of the muchly ambiguous and paradoxical Elite lore in general.

*

tricky! You clever person, you! Why'd'I'nae think'o'tha'?! Will try it shortly, and see where it goes...

*

Thanks, Dave H. Everybody sure is friendly around heres...