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[wendymaree]

Feel free to comment and discuss this game here. Also, if you have any useful tips or tricks don't hesitate to share them with the others! Thanks!

Review and Download (if available)

[BLOODUK]

You know the strange thing, i never played elite and i dont think i will this one either im all for nostalgic gameplay but the triangles and boxes dont do it for me

[Nemesis]

I downloaded this game from another website before and i really gotta tell you, it sucks! The interface are hard to get use to, the graphics are real bad, the missions are all the same.In one word,

[Borodin]

It has a high reputation, and quite a few people who have played it remember it fondly. That said, I never could get past the mechanics of a gentle, accurate planet landing. It was something of an required arcade sub-game, if I recall correctly, and I'm about as good at arcades as I am at understanding Sumerian. Which is to say, not at all. After about a dozen tries, I removed the game from my hard drive.

[Astral]

I played it on my old Amiga 600, i think for landing and any staf like dat there is an autonav system :whistle:

[punch999]

this is a great game u just dont understand it

[Borodin]

Originally posted by Astral@Jan 4 2005, 01:12 PM
I played it on my old Amiga 600, i think for landing and any staf like dat there is an autonav system* :whistle:

I played it on the PC, and there wasn't. I also just checked the documentation at HOTU, and there isn't. Perhaps I could have been clearer: the problem isn't simply the final moment of landing, but in navigating through the tunnel approaches to the space stations, let alone maneuvering into jump lanes, etc. The documentation urges the new pilot to repeatedly and carefully practice these procedures. I did so, and I never got the hang of it. Feh. Each to their own, but this was my reaction.

this is a great game u just dont understand it

There's a difference between "you don't like," and "you don't understand." The former is simply a noted difference of opinion. For the latter to be true, you have to show that the person you're discussing something with clearly doesn't grasp the essentials of the topic. I don't think you've managed the latter, here.

[Mousazz]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Borodin @ Jan 4 2005, 04:45 PM) [snapback]46069[/snapback]</div>

I played it on the PC, and there wasn't. I also just checked the documentation at HOTU, and there isn't.
[/b]

i had an autonav system. you must have confused it with elite, where there isn't. in elite +, there is. great game! however, i have a question. is it okay to destroy everyone outside the space station guard ratio and only get an offender status?

[Talkie]

Ok, well, I wanted to write down the guideline about how to settle yourself comfortably in this game when you truly suck at it, which was my case, and I am doing this because it took me time to gather the info.




First: why play Elite Plus ??

Because it's an old sandbox classic, Elite Plus being the update of a much older landmark videogame, and for many it is the best version simply because of the early 90's MCGA graphics, which are bearable (so is the Adlib sound), and because it is not a hassle to install on contemporary PC with Dosbox.



What is the goal in Elite Plus?

This is a trap. At first it looks like a trading game where the goal is to access the best success financially, by buying and reselling stuff. But one soon realize that this part becomes very repetitive and boring, and that the real goal is to become an Elite pilot in the Galcop universe, which is done through getting rids of bad people (or good people, if you decide to be a pirate, but this makes it much harder as the police is constantly looking for you), and taking some special missions to help Galcop (which ultimately makes you somewhat good even if you've opted to live a pirate life).

This said you constantly need to keep up with trading in order to advance your pilot ratings, would it be simply for the necessity of fuel.
Here are steps in how to begin and settle a comfortable playing zone
for Elite Plus, a guideline designed for players like me who really suck at it:





1 - First you will need about a week of playing (a couple hours per day) before you feel you've really started playing. I suggest reading a good
manual, like the one available at LTF Abandonware (french site but manual is in english), which is Elite Plus specific (actually, it's portion of a budget version when it was released with Wing Commander, so you will be confused about the paging).

2 - Once you have started Elite Plus, buy a lot of fuel, and get some items at the market. Press Icon 1 to go outside, and then press Esc, where you can reselect player's mode (or choose keyboard settings, etc), but more importantly, look at the flying choices: you can change orientations of flight buttons here. I always go there and press 6 each time I play so the ups and downs of my ship make more sense. The rest stays as it is: keyboard, smooth steering, smooth glide. When you are done you press Spacebar to restart. You should always go the Esc zone when you start playing.

3 - Don't go toward the planet. In Elite Plus, you can't land on planets. The stations serve as customs for them. All happens there. The white stripe in the low left corner decrease when you get too near a planet.

4 - Once you have found how to hyperspace and use the Jump button while in space, you need to go to some place where you can trade between two calm worlds. This is where you will remain for a long time, acquiring the money to get all what you need to actually start playing Elite Plus !! The best option is to trade between Diso and Leesti which offers a nice agricultural VS industrial balance. You will soon realize that you make much more profit trading one way than the other, unless you trade illegal stuff which is not recommended for a starter. Trade loss is not the issue here. You choose these planets because they are CALM.

5 - How to dock: First, each time you finish a trade in the market, save your game. This will mean you can restart the hyperspace and dock where you last failed, and this will happen often at first. Trick is this: follow the grey spot on the bottom right of your command centre to find the darn station (just gowing toward the planet is not enough to find a station), then, as you see it appear on your screen, move towards it, and take off all speed as you are near its edges. Than, turn toward the planet and advance, and than do a 180 degree to front the station. What you will do next is advance fast near the station door, than stop all speed, than turn 180 and go back toward the centre of the planet and back to the station again, until you feel you are approximately at the center of the station entrance. HOW TO ENTER: actually that is very simple. Advance fast and stop all speed as you are near the station entrance. Than, try to concentrate on the fact that the station is orbiting, but that you want to enter when the entrance is the most horizontal possible. What is important to remember here is that, the horizontal doesn't have to be exact, and so isn't the angle of your ship toward the entrance. What you want is to get your yellow cross (in your screen) inside the orange entrance zone while it is in an acceptable horizontal range. So when the station spins right near horizontal, and you feel you get a fair middle range, press acceleration to maximum and zoom into the entry really fast.
You will realize that with practice this becomes easier, though you will still need a docking computer to avoid future stupid crash happening later right after you've ended an important battle. Next step is: getting the docking computer.

6 - Always save at market to prevent a bad dock, did I say that already? Allright. Next is you take notes on paper of all the prices offered at Diso and then Leesti. You will see that way which items gives you the most profit where. Start by selling your missiles and maybe even your laser. You won't need them that much. Then trade, trade, trade, until you get above 600 credits. Than, buy a Cargo Bay Extension (whatever equipment you buy, keep a minimum of 100 credits. Below 50 credits is almost impossible to sustain in trading because of the loss in fuel expenses). When you get the cargo, trade, trade, trade to max profits until you get enough money to finally buy the darn docking computer. The device will seem slow at first, but it will take you a lot of stress off later in the game.

7 - You will notice that when you use Jump in space, some ships shoot you about once or twice: they are simply scared or alerted by your presence, than move on. Occasionally, a pirate might try to kill you. Fighting back at this point is unnecessary if you suck at it like I was.
Your ship is fast, so just go on at max speed and you will finally escape the pirate. Sometimes, jumping from hyperspace, many Thargoids attack you by surprise. You can't survive them at this point, so that is why you must save after every trade so if you are killed by Thargoids, you can go back to a save. Only expert could get out of this situation by themselves, but this guide is for people who suck.

8 - Keep trading, trading, trading until you get above 9000 credits (!).
This process is very slow. Do a 1000 credits at a time and come back another time to do an extra. The more credits you have, the more you can buy and the more profit you make, but along the way when you feel
like it, start buying these very important items: 4 missiles, ECM system, Fuel Scoops, Beam Laser at the Back (fore), and finally, the ultimate gift,
the expensive military lasers at the front (use the Pulse Laser, that you have to sell and rebuy, as a side laser). Try to avoid selling illegal stuff,
or do it only once in a while. You will realize that the profit you make is
mostly one way, using this itineray. On a sidenote, but quite important, please be prepared that the first of about 8 special missions in Elite Plus will appear once you reach near 6000 credits. Refuse To Take It !!! Or, what you could do is say YES than save the result as ANOTHER game, than come back to the previous save, and say NO the second time, to pursue your game. The thing is you might try to want to know where getting a cute Tribble would lead you, but here it would mean a huge waste of time. Maybe the mission comes back each time you get about 6000 credits, so you can also wait for a later occurence in the same game (I am not sure about this). But for the moment, you only want your military laser, ECM, and Fuel coops. That is because you suck at Elite Plus.

9 - Voila ! Once you have all the equipment above, you are ready to start playing Elite Plus !!! You can start trade in more dangerous places, getting pirate and thargoid loot for better income, and augmenting your rating by getting rid of enemies (or becoming a skilled pirate, if you chosse to be an offender). Note that Energy Bombs are useful for those who suck at tracing and shooting a bunch of ships. They can only be used once, but once you are expert in trading, getting a little 900 credits is not too offensive.

10 - After adventuring for a while, you start getting some of the missions. This is what Elite Plus is really about, because you mainly get the high ratings when going through those. They are 7 more missions to the ridiculous first one mentioned above.


After all this you might still wonder: Why play Elite Plus ?


This is where you go back to the beginning of this guideline.


Cheers,

Talkie

[xoopx]

i played elite plus on amiga, i think you need to buy the auto-docking module thing, until then you have to crash a lot, like in the original elite. so annoying.