Elite / Frontier Elite - Amiga Version - Detail questions

Fangrim · Jan 13, 2013

I am currently at about 155.000 points (Dangerous), about 85.000 credits, 1 day 3 hours playtime, and I never left Galaxy 1.

For a while, I have been repeatedly jumping between 2 systems, 0.8 ly apart, thus doing 8 jumps before needing to refuel. I have done this 16 times so far, adding up to 96 jumps. I have no idea how many jumps I've made before these "powerjumps".

No mission has triggered for me - yet.

Castaway · Jan 13, 2013

Stardust said:
If you have been at galaxy 2 for about half of the game, that would be about 5 hours, and I think it would be safe to assume that you made approximately 32 hyper jumps in these 5 hours, right?! (I know, it's impossible to count in retrospect, but take an educated guess ). So 32 hyper jumps in galaxy 2 including 1 gal jump to trigger the Constrictor mission (and say > 5000 Cr). Sounds reasonable?! 5 hours = 300 minutes, makes 9 minutes and 15 seconds per hyper jump. Hmm... Ok, maybe 32 is too low. But I think 64 hyperjumps are too many. Maybe somewhere in between.

32 jumps in galaxy 2 does seem a bit low, but not impossible. My playing style is the usual hauling of Narcotics/Computers/Medicine to and Furs/Liquor/Slaves back, and shooting anything that gets in my way while approaching planets (including those pesky peaceful traders who cause me to be mass locked.) So basically I go from jump to jump as quickly as possible.

I tend to choose the agricultural planet from the anarchy/feudal category if possible, just to get more things to shoot at. That of course causes some delay between jumps. Time really flies when shooting down some 15+ ships per jump (on Competent). I've tried to pause the game in the emulator while taking breaks, so that 10h should be quite accurate with minimal idle time.

Knowing what I know now, I'll try to keep track of the number of hyperjumps the next time I start a new game. Perhaps trying to get to galaxy 2 as soon as possible, and start counting.

Fangrim · Jan 14, 2013

I can confirm that after exactly 63 hyperjumps in Galaxy 2, the mission pops up.

Playing stats same as above post of mine.

Edit:
Confirmed: Competent, 34420 Points, 55000-ish Credits, 63 Hyperjumps in Galaxy 2 spawns Constrictor Mission.

Confirmed: Competent, 34490 Points, 4362 Credits, 63 Hyperjumps in Galaxy 2 spawns Constrictor Mission. No Galactic Hyperdrive installed on ship.

So it seems that the trigger is 63 Hyperjumps in Galaxy 2, money for Galactic Hyperdrive isn't a factor.

Castaway · Jan 14, 2013

Fangrim said:
So it seems that the trigger is 63 Hyperjumps in Galaxy 2, money for Galactic Hyperdrive isn't a factor.

Thank you for finding this out!

Fangrim · Jan 14, 2013

Found another "feature".

When making a hyperjump, you select your target planet. Press "H" and hyperspace commences. Your target cursor now disappears. Nothing new...

But! You can save fuel:
1) Select planet close to you, e.g. 0.8 ly from your current position.
2) Move your cursor over another planet.
3) Press "H", then F6. Your target will now be the new planet. You will jump as normal, but only use the fuel needed for your selected target.

If you press F6 multiple times after activating hyperspace, you can actually jump to the other end of the galaxy, hardly using any fuel.

Fangrim · Jan 14, 2013

Hrmph...

Just completed the Constrictor mission. Reward: 10.000 Credits (of which I spent 5.000 for the Galactic Hyperdrive).

I thought I got a Military Energy Unit? Or is that another mission?

Stardust · Jan 14, 2013

First: Fangrim: AWESOME! Thanks, man!

I'll edit my first post to reflect your findings...

The rewards can be seen in the hex file of the game (more or less at least):

"Warning - the sun is [sic!] this system is going Supernova. You are advised to leave as soon as possible. Please help us! Everyone else has fled"... and so on. So, mission supernova exists, as a reward, the code tells me "Please accept a selection of precious Zanxian gem stones as a token of our appreciation." but I also find (directly after the previous sentence): "Thank you - you will be well rewarded by our government."

Constrictor: "A prototype model of the new top-secret military ship, the CONSTRICTOR has been stolen by unknown agents from the navy research base at XXX", etc.
Reward: 10,000 Cr (plus the bounty for destroying the Constrictor)

Thargoid plans: "The navy has managed to obtain rare blueprints of a Thargoid battle ship giving details of the drive and weapon systems." ...
Reward: Latest naval energy unit "which will recharge your energy banks at twice the normal rate"

Space station: "The Galactic Intelligence Agency reports that a nearby system has been invaded by Thargoid ships and that the space station has been captured." ...
Reward: "A new device was salvaged from one of the Thargoid ships" (ECM Jammer)

Cloaked Ship: "Warning to all Traders: Reports having been coming in from Traders in this sector of an unknown ship with awesome capabilities." ...
There's nothing of a reward mentioned in this case (at least not in this place), but I seem to recall that one of the cargo canisters, which the destroyed ship deploys, contains the cloaking device.

Fangrim · Jan 14, 2013

Ah yes, the Naval Energy Unit - that's it - thanks!

So... Now we have to figure out what triggers the next missions

I'll keep a log from now on, noting jumps etc.

Fangrim · Jan 16, 2013

Just got Mission 2, Thargoid Documents.

Galaxy 6 (About 32-ish jumps done there), Competent, 41.466 Credits, 53620 points.

BTW: Had to restart from old save, as my Dangerous saves were corrupt. The corruption shows when you die or reset game, it will not restart but crash with an error "Trap #03" or "Trap #04". If this happens, the game will also crash when getting a mission.

Stardust · Jan 17, 2013

Kudos, Fangrim! You're really helping this thread to gain valuable information!

I didn't have time to play Elite for the last five days

. But hopefully, this week-end will be better.

As for missions: The supernova mission, afaik, should (!) be triggered in galaxy 3 if you're equipped with an intergalactic hyperdrive. So, I suppose, you need to buy one, and then hyperjump to at least one other (probably more) space systems in galaxy 3 before actually using the intergal. hyperdrive.

Fangrim · Jan 17, 2013

*sigh*

Just found out that if your game gets corrupted (normally happens to me after Witchspace), using the in-game save option to save the game on the Elite disk (not the WinUAE Load/Save state), rebooting the Amiga, and reloading that save will fix it.

Too bad I deleted my Dangerous save... oh well, back to the grind

ratdeath · Jan 19, 2013

Ouch!
I keep 3 saves in the disk and two save states in UAE (it's a bit of a cheat as you can save in space). Maybe I should make a copy of the savedisk too

Also started to use wordpress for keeping a journal/log over my Elite adventure on my way (hopefully) to be among one of the elite

(and other games).

https://grimsqueekers.net/~ratdeath ( the warnings is because I use my own ssl-cert, nothing to worry about )

Stardust · Jan 19, 2013

Back to playing for me --- and I finally got the Constrictor mission!! (Just short of 200K points -- but as we know, points have nothing to do with it).

Actually, Fangrim, you were right on target: 63 jumps in galaxy 2 and the mission is triggered.
More specifically: In the SARA-Cheat, there is byte A3. The initial value of A3 is 40 when you start off in Lave (40 is hexadecimal for 64). The value will decrease after each hyperjump _but only_ after you performed an intergalactic hyper jump, first. And indeed, once it reaches 0, the constrictor mission is triggered.

But that's not the _only_ requirement that has to be met: I created a new commander, cheated myself to everything and used an intergalactic hyperjump (on my first jump in the game) to go to galaxy 2. As expected, the value for A3 was 3F then -- 63 jumps to go. Great, I thought, and reduced the value to 00 (by editing it directly, while still in space). Upon docking, however, I was _not_ presented with the mission.

Why?
Two possibilities come to mind, and I have to test them both:

1. I should have reduced the number to 01 and actually perform 1 "real" hyperjump in galaxy 2.
2. A rating of harmless is just too low to be send on any mission. Maybe I'll have to experiment with different ratings (there is a byte in sara to control the rating; but the mission triggers might still include a score threshhold; so I'll have to try "hacking" both ways).

I'll keep you posted...

Oh, and out of curiosity: In my real game, for complete mission briefing in my Constrictor mission, I have to go to "Ramaan" ---- the system on the far lower right corner of the galaxy. Is the system random or always the same?

Fangrim · Jan 19, 2013

I also had Ramaan. Restarted mission three times, same result.

Please try doing the 01-trick. I can only guess, but if I was the programmer, the check would go something like this:

IF JumpCount=0 THEN ContinueGame

JumpCount=JumpCount-1
IF JumpCount=0 THEN TriggerMission ELSE ContinueGame

Stardust · Jan 20, 2013

Yeah, my thoughts exactly... I'll try that (not today, though, too tired now

).

From Ramaan, first jump I had to do was to Galaxy 3, which took me to Geusdi. From there, I was asked to go to Begeorer and from there to Orqulela -- and that's where I'm headed now...

Are the systems the same for you?

Also interesting: At least for now (while mission 1 is active), the count in byte A3 is fixed at 40. It isn't decreasing... (And it was reset immediately after mission 1 started). I will monitor this byte closely now; maybe it will predict the start the following missions, too...

Castaway · Jan 20, 2013

Stardust said:
Oh, and out of curiosity: In my real game, for complete mission briefing in my Constrictor mission, I have to go to "Ramaan" ---- the system on the far lower right corner of the galaxy. Is the system random or always the same?

It was Riardi for me, in the lower-left corner. I somewhere in the middle of the galaxy at the time, perhaps slightly to the right of the center.

Stardust · Jan 20, 2013

Ok, setting byte A3 to 01 and then actually jumping once is enough to trigger the mission, IF in galaxy 2. By cheating, I triggered mission 1 with a harmless rating and no kills

I jumped to galaxy 2 by intergalactic hyperjump; it might suffice to set the seed to galaxy 2, set byte A3 to 01 and then jump once...

I tried the same in galaxy 1 and found that byte A3 was not reduced to zero, hence I think it's safe to say that the Constrictor mission will not be triggered in galaxy 1 -- unless of course, byte A3 will be reduced by one, once you inter gal jumped; so you might as well jump to galaxy 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, then back to 1 and get the mission there; but this will have to be analyzed....

In galaxy 2, I set byte 15 to 38 (decimal 56), which is Soinuste, and just one jump away from Ramaan -- I then jumped to Ramaan and received the first mission ----- telling me to report to Eraronqu, the _top left_ system in galaxy 2 --- 108.0 light years away from Ramaan...

So, I am guessing that the one corner star that is furthest away from your current location is picked as the secret military base.

Fangrim · Jan 20, 2013

I'm going to quit playing for now... Just too boring

I'm at Dangerous again, about 160.000 points - got more money than I know what to do with...

Just can't see me shooting stuff for days until I reach 655360 points, and that's just for Deadly! Even in Witchspace I can only make about 15.000 points/hour.

Castaway · Jan 20, 2013

Fangrim said:
Just can't see me shooting stuff for days until I reach 655360 points, and that's just for Deadly! Even in Witchspace I can only make about 15.000 points/hour.

Is that really the score for Deadly? I'd have guessed it'd be another power of two, just like the rankings below it. How about the required score for Elite?

Stardust · Jan 20, 2013

@Castaway: I'm working on determining the scores

. AFAIK, however, Fangrim's scores are correct. I think Dangerous is the last power of two --- but I'll give you the details when I know them.

@Fangrim: I know the feeling! But this time, I am far too eager to find out all those technical details -- that makes it interesting

. But yeah: After a while it's the same old routine over and over again; but that's just how we become Elite!

--- And. I. Will.