Elite / Frontier Your Elite Memories

Dragonstar

Dragonstar
My memories are foggy with time...

I started Elite watching my friend play on his Commodore 64. When I could afford it, I went out and bought a Commodore 128 and the first game I picked up was Elite. Truly amazing. I later bought a Commodore Amiga and again I picked up Elite and later Elite II: Frontier.

Now comes the foggy part... Was I playing Elite or Frontier...

I remember taking a chance and jumping into a system filled with piracy. I piloted with all my knowledge and skill. I defended myself bravely and fought my way to the space station. This took a large chunk of time (it felt like hours but maybe it was only minutes) Barely alive with massive damage I set my sights on the docking port of the space station and proceded to click on my docking computer to calmly take me to safety... But something was wrong, the station was looming closer and the docking computer was not doing anything! I scramble and find out that I had lost my docking computer in some earlier battle!!! Oh no! I haven't docked on my own in ages! Sweating profusely, I twisted and turned and dropped massive g's to slow down and align myself with the spaceport. I did not want to waste all that fine battling I spent getting here to explode on the side of the spaceport. But the familiar docking procedure took place and I was successful. I quickly saved the game and had to retire for the night after a long cool shower. I felt truly alive with the miraculous docking after the dangerous journey. It felt so real.

This memory I have always carried with me and I shall forever love Elite because of it! I can't wait for the future of Elite IV. BRING IT ON!!!
 

buellpilot

buellpilot
C64 Elite competition info...

All this looking back at Elite ended up with me going to the attic to dig out my Commodore 64. It still works, Elite still loads and my Elite save tape still worked!! Commander Wolf frozen in time;
Rating: --- ELITE ---
Legal Status: Fugitive

I also found a folder full of competition related letters, my gold Elite badge and framed Order of Elite award.

August 1985: Letter telling me I had won for that month
http://lephlq.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pzTcxhk0LBsWhfgo9poXK7E3AZ2d1WocPwLv4QFIfg-mZ_VxVJNy9HWCLX3qdqdrnuehYCq1gCMy91TWQWaa8Yg/Elite%20Competition%20Aug%2085.jpg

November 1985: The list of all of the UK finalists
http://lephlq.bay.livefilestore.com/y1ptc2kCBTWHVQ-VoWpkKgkKItiFGUr8Yt7eJjOY7AUVMLT9OxSotN8hazUYbQ2QVHRpj2R6pvUwp_icNcVeBLA6g/Elite%20Competion%20Score%20Table%20Nov%2085.jpg

March 1986: Congratulations letter after winning the UK playoffs
http://lephlq.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pv6_4RHSXv8vkd5VpGWxWgnvp6ZwGZzvNX9m2ed_jGE1a2iUIu2i9jx-XEhDDUIevDiT9u-m6UprHuNmrA51PdQ/Elite%20UK%20Winner%20March%2086.jpg

September 1987: Press cutting from Micro User about Elite World Championship
http://lephlq.bay.livefilestore.com/y1pRk11fS_kKO4-83H6S7KfGn8nVOfP4NVSqB2s3EeceTMgoQIbwrukmVZAljJVZLWZGldFWPPcqceMc6fGSS64Sg/Elite%20World%20Champion%20Sept%2087.jpg

Happy Days... :D
 

rgmarett

rgmarett
I'm jealous for the Elite badge. I bet you can't find them on eBay.

EDIT: nope - not on eBay.
 
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gingerz

G
I was 11 when I got the tape version and played it for days and nights on end in the summer holidays. The excitment of getting a "right on commander!" was awesome, making cash selling computers and food on isinor and qutiri so I could get beam lasers was great fun. One of the most frustrating things was playing it on tape when there were constant references to the disk version in all the instructions that came with it and in the ship identification chart I had on my bedroom wall. I really liked the book by Robert Holdstock that came with it and bought another one of his books recently when I saw it by chance in a bookshop whilst looking for something else.

It got me really interested in computers and I have since run Elite in emulators on almost every pc I have had. About 5 years ago after loading it onto a new pc my girlfriend came downstairs to find me playing it at 4am and said "what the **** are you doing?" I hadn't played it for ages and once I got it loaded I just couldn't resist, especially as it was the disk version ROM that I had found.

An utter classic.
 
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buellpilot

buellpilot
rgmarett said:
I'm jealous for the Elite badge. I bet you can't find them on eBay.

EDIT: nope - not on eBay.
Click to expand...

rgmarett jealousy is such a terrible thing... ;) but I will let you
have a sneak peek anyway... :D

Elite Insigna Medal and accompanying GalCop 'telegram'
http://lephlq.bay.livefilestore.com/y1p36YNu-gdEwsIeeIFXM00CIDysHdZYgx4YuvWQ8DSfnJ2jwZH7shO_cdmvCLsEkuYrtAJ0zRKhH-R682Ynm6DpuV14G6b8TZm/Elite%20Badge.jpg

Of course after reading the Elite Badge thread I am jealous of the other two types of badge that I don't have...
 

Electron

E
Christmas present

I asked for, and somehow miraculously received, an Acorn Electron with Elite for Christmas in 1984. A friend at school had described Elite to me, and as an 11-year old boy, it sounded like the most amazing thing in existence.

I can still remember loading it up, having a cursory look at the keyboard controls, leaving Lave space station and accelerating towards the planet looking for somewhere to land. Of course, my friend had been exaggerating the features, and I soon crashed in to Lave, wondering what was going on.

Time to read the manual!

Soon after doing that I was hooked. Lord knows how many hours (weeks) I spent playing this game.

My other main memory is of when my dad figured out docking. It was a hit and miss affair until he realised that the docking port always faces the planet. So, flying straight between the two, looking out of your side view, stopping and turning when the space station came in to view, you could always make sure that you were straight on. Once my skills in aligning the port and rotating to match spin on approach were good, I often docked at full speed. So immersive was Elite that I did think of those poor space station workers who scarpered as my Cobra Mk III came tearing into the dock! They must have had some good tractor beams to slow me before hitting the back wall.

My only request for Elite 4 would be to forsake true physics in combat, and recreate the dogfight style feel of the original. I tried Frontier and FFE, and though amazed by the scale and scope, always felt that combat felt awful, and detracted from the game.
 

peteuplink

peteuplink
I first played Elite on the BBC back at school in 1986-87, me and a couple of friends would ask Mr. Duggie Smith (Science teacher, top bloke!) if we could come and play it at lunch time. If he wasn't busy he'd normally say yes.

I never actually owned a version of the game until I found the Amiga version in a bargain bin in 1994 (I actually owned Frontier - Elite II before I owned Elite).
 

DraQ

D
I have little memories regarding original Elite. My knowledge of English language was nonexistant, and virtually all games in my country were bootlegs at the time (the local laws didn't even acknowledge that computer programs were intellectual property then), so there was no manual either. Given that the game is about as old as I am, I was a little kid when I tried to play it several years after it's release on my c64, so even though I was stunned by it's evident scope and scale, even though I was thrilled by the concept of 3D graphics, and even though I eventually managed to undock, make a jump, find out throttle controls on the keyboard ('space' and '?' IIRC), then get shot to bits by someone I didn't really know how to play it. I didn't know that it's sequel came out in 1993 either.

My proper adventure with Elite series begun on this side of 2000, so my memories are relatively untainted by nostalgia. It begun with Frontier Elite 2 which, as I quickly learned, accomplished what I thought to be impossible - being a 'proper' spacesim. I was surprised by how suggestive the graphics was, despite it's age - all those flat-shaded curves and polygons were used to their fullest potential painting vivid image of a spaceport with adjacent domed city sitting among icy wasteland of an alien moon. Above the scenery, lit red by it's faint sun, was the layer of clouds (the first actually 3D coluds I have ever seen in a computer game) and above it all, shocking when I grasped the depth of the perspective that game's ancient engine had to handle, a ringed giant with darker bands of clouds. After some fiddling around and (I think) restarting the game once or twice, I realized how intuitive and friendly the interface was (completely unexpected given the number of awkward monsters created in the same era when programmers rarely knew how a good interface should look like) and was ready for my first actual flight. I asked for permission this time, and took off in a cloud dust. After brief panic, I managed to lift ship's nose and set engines to some sensible speed, and started to ascend. Now I had time to familiarize myself with numerous screens and views ship offered - I was a bit afraid at first, but remembered the distances involved and eased myself, reassured that I can't possibly hit anything even if I spent next few hours looking at various screens. After I finished looking around the ship, the sky was black and the spaceport with it's cloud cover was barely discernible spot on the surface of the moon below.

My first battles, later on, were fairly awkward experiences, but it improved when I learned how much of a misnomer "engines off" was. :D

Today, I'm still quite amazed by both Frontier games, and I sincerely hope Elite 4 will build and expand on such magnificent foundation rather than trying to copycat those that ultimately were mere imitations of it's own prequels and precursors.

Electron said:
combat felt awful, and detracted from the game.
Click to expand...
Combat in FE2/FFE is certainly doable and the games have very good controls, so so the only possible culprits are the actual design of the combat and learning curve. The problem is, you can't really make informed comments about the design of the combat before you learn it - how good are you at it? Because if you can't hit anything, see the nenmy as tiny speck most of the time and get invariably shot down four seconds into battle, then it is fully understandable that it feels awful - though it's hardly a fault of the combat itself.

Believe me, I, along with probably every single fan of those games, was frustrated at first too, but now, that the Newtonian flight feels about as intuitive as breathing to me, I can't even imagine coming back. It's not realism at the expense of gameplay, it's realism in service of the gameplay, the only drawback being that you have to spend a while getting the hang of it all. Then again, arcade space shooters are dime a dozen, why bother buying E4 if it's just more of the same? On the other hand, physically and astronomically correct freelance space games alone are few and far in between, and games that combine unparalleled scope, meticulous realism, and accessibility of Frontier games? - none present.

Here, take this primer, it may very well give Frontier games on your computer their second youth. Feel free to pester me via PM if you have any additional questions. ;)
 

Electron

E
DraQ said:
Combat in FE2/FFE is certainly doable and the games have very good controls, so so the only possible culprits are the actual design of the combat and learning curve. The problem is, you can't really make informed comments about the design of the combat before you learn it - how good are you at it? Because if you can't hit anything, see the nenmy as tiny speck most of the time and get invariably shot down four seconds into battle, then it is fully understandable that it feels awful - though it's hardly a fault of the combat itself.
Click to expand...

I do understand what you mean, but coming from an original Elite background, most of the fun was the dogfighting. It seemed more skillful than the hit and miss affairs in FE2 and FFE, where your inital velocity in a combat situation could have a lot to do with the outcome. Realistic, I know, but the original made for a much more fun and, in my opinion, better game.
 

DraQ

D
Electron said:
I do understand what you mean, but coming from an original Elite background, most of the fun was the dogfighting. It seemed more skillful than the hit and miss affairs in FE2 and FFE, where your inital velocity in a combat situation could have a lot to do with the outcome. Realistic, I know, but the original made for a much more fun and, in my opinion, better game.
Click to expand...
You missed the point. Dogfighting is perfectly possible in FE2/FFE, at least if you don't fly some huge sluggish freighter. Your velocity relative to anything in the system is meaningless in deep space, as it's the velocity relative to your enemies that matters and this is usually close to null when they intercept you. Once you learn the finer aspects of controlling your craft, your momentum will no longer repeatedly throw you many km past your enemies, there will be no "jousts". A skilled pilot can easily keep close enough to read the numbers on the less agile craft, or see how many and what missiles it has on the pylons - for the entire combat. Plinking at enemy fighter 5km away with 1MW pulse while making wild and uncontrolled loops is indeed a jarring experience, that's why you'll want to hone your dogfighting skills ASAP, and that's why some commanders stick with their Cobras and Asps even if they would easily be able to afford Panthers fitted with huge amounts of shield generators, LPAs and 20MWs on turrets.
 

pgm2b2

P
I have many great memories of Elite, where to start:rolleyes:

I heard about it at school as somebody had it on the BBC micro. Myself I had a ZX Spectrum and the conversion came out fairly soon after a fabulous review in computer magazine.
Lenslock system anyone, lol
Great book great manual and that was me hooked for a few years of amazing gameplay.
I actually had a cupboard in my room which I converted to my Cobra Cockpit.
I made it to Elite but I still played about an hour every day until it came out on the Amiga. Naturally I played even more Elite on this machine with lovely graphics until Frontier came along.

If ever i am asked what is the best ever game to be produced then without a shadow of doubt this gets my vote every time.
This game redefined what games could be and this i feel we see in todays market.
Elites next step is to take it too the MMO stage of developement as this is gonna be where the game really deserves to be.
 

DrBaggy

DrBaggy
Welcome to the forum pgm2b2:)
The Russian version is now stable and pretty if you want to rekindle the memories. But MMO? Please no for all the reasons discussed previously here!
 

Geraldine

Geraldine
Running away

I have loads of memories of Elite from first playing it on a Speccy and then later the Amiga, but one of the enduring memories I have are with Frontier Elite 2. I was up to no good in the Sol system and got into a huge fight. My ship was pretty shot up and I was out of fuel for a system jump, however I did have a fuel scoop and headed for Jupiter, chased all the way by hordes of angry Vipers.

My conventional drive was almost out of fuel as well and so I hoped I would make it to the gas giant, I wouldn't have enough fuel to slow before getting there I guessed and thought all was lost.

However, thinking back to a movie called 2010, I remembered about "aerobraking" and with the very last of my fuel used up into manoeuvring the ship to skim Jupiter's atmosphere I hoped I would grab enough fuel before I crashed. It worked! And as an added bonus the following Vipers impacted into Jupiter.

Happy Days! :D
 

DraQ

D
That's just beautiful (especially for a fan of 2010). If you have any other stories, do share! :D

Welcome and have fun.
 

Sterlino

Sterlino
Thank you for this great thread.

Elite for me it means the best time of my life, when i was a child and dreaming was so easy.
The first thing i remember is this:
889ece33c99754e9d6d172163b603056e1620f04_m.jpg

i saw that on an italian magazine named 'videogiochi' (videogames) probably in the late 1983.
I wasn't able to sleep that night.. complitely drowned by dreams about the space travelling simulation..
And i was surprised a lot when all of those incredibly dreams about it were respected !
For that i am, i will be forever, grateful to Braben and Bell for what they made.
Btw the very first time i played elite was in the 1986 and i didn't enjoy the game very well since the 1989 when it comes out with the commodore amiga's version.

Later, with Frontier, in the 1992 was the same when i read a Braben interview showing a couple of images that immediately pushed me again to new dreams and hopes that were totally satisfied when the game was released.

For me D.Braben is the God of the video games, no doubts about it.
 
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