Elite
Galaxy and system seeds:
- System Name
- Species (either Human Colonials, or an alien species that consists of up to three adjectives and a species name):
- Adjective 1: Large, Fierce, Small
- Adjective 2: Green, Red, Yellow, Blue, Black, Harmless
- Adjective 3: Slimy, Bug-Eyed, Horned, Bony, Fat, Furry
- Noun: Rodents, Frogs, Lizards, Lobsters, Birds, Humanoids, Felines, Insects
- Description ("Goat Soup")
- Economy: Rich Industrial, Average Industrial, Poor Industrial, Mainly Industrial, Mainly Agricultural, Rich Agricultural, Average Agricultural, Poor Agricultural
- Government: Anarchy, Feudal, Multi-Government, Dictatorship, Communist, Confederacy, Democracy, Corporate State
- If the Government is Anarchy or Feudal, the Economy can't be Rich.
- Tech Level, Population, Gross Productivity and Average Radius are derived from Economy and Government.
- X/Y Coordinates
- Planet/Sun Position
A sense of scale:
Our ship is always at the center of the Elite universe, the planet and the sun actually move relative to us in the opposite direction to our flight path while our ship stays at the origin. Similarly, our ship's speed gets subtracted from the z-coordinates of all other ships in the bubble, thus effectively moving our ship forwards by pushing everything else back.
- System: 16,777,214 cube
- Ship size (max): 510 cube
- Local bubble: radius 57,344 sphere
- Planet: radius 24,576 sphere, distance from station 65,536
- Sun: radius 24,576 sphere, distance from planet 65,536 to 458,752 range (based on seed)
- In-system jump: 65,536
- Speed: Units covered per game-code loop
- The space station safe zone
Equipment
| Fuel |
140.0 Cr (full tank)
|
| Missile |
30.0 Cr
|
| Large Cargo Bay |
400.0 Cr
|
| E.C.M. System |
600.0 Cr
|
| Extra Pulse Lasers |
400.0 Cr
|
| Extra Beam Lasers |
1000.0 Cr
|
| Fuel Scoops |
525.0 Cr
|
| Escape Pod |
1000.0 Cr
|
| Energy Bomb |
900.0 Cr
|
| Energy Unit |
1500.0 Cr
|
| Docking Computer |
1000.0 Cr
|
| Galactic Hyperspace |
5000.0 Cr
|
| Extra Military Lasers |
6000.0 Cr
|
| Extra Mining Lasers |
800.0 Cr
|
Market items
| Item |
Price (base) |
Economic factor |
Quantity (base) |
Fluctuation
|
| 0 (Food) |
19 |
-2 |
6 |
0-1
|
| 1 (Textiles) |
20 |
-1 |
10 |
0-3
|
| 2 (Radioactives) |
65 |
-3 |
2 |
0-7
|
| 3 (Slaves) |
40 |
-5 |
226 |
0-31
|
| 4 (Liquor/Wines) |
83 |
-5 |
251 |
0-15
|
| 5 (Luxuries) |
196 |
8 |
54 |
0-3
|
| 6 (Narcotics) |
235 |
29 |
8 |
0-120 (steps of 8)
|
| 7 (Computers) |
154 |
14 |
56 |
0-3
|
| 8 (Machinery) |
117 |
6 |
40 |
0-15
|
| 9 (Alloys) |
78 |
1 |
17 |
0-31
|
| 10 (Firearms) |
124 |
13 |
29 |
0-7
|
| 11 (Furs) |
176 |
-9 |
220 |
0-63
|
| 12 (Minerals) |
32 |
-1 |
53 |
0-3
|
| 13 (Gold) |
97 |
-1 |
66 |
0-7
|
| 14 (Platinum) |
171 |
-2 |
55 |
0-31
|
| 15 (Gem-Stones) |
45 |
-1 |
250 |
0-15
|
| 16 (Alien items) |
53 |
15 |
192 |
0-7
|
Cargo Scooping
| Cargo canister |
Random (0-6)
|
| Escape pod |
Slaves (3)
|
| Alloy plate |
Alloys (9)
|
| Splinter |
Minerals (12)
|
| Thargon |
Alien items (16)
|
Fuel Scooping
| Temp. |
Condition
|
| 30° |
Ambient
|
| >224° |
Fuel scoop
|
| >255° |
Die
|
Flying at a higher speed = faster fuel scoop rate
Bounty Status
| 0 |
Clean
|
| 1-49 |
Offender
|
| 50+ |
Fugitive
|
Bounty Mechanics
| Slaves/Narcotics |
+2 per ton
|
| Firearms |
+1 per ton
|
| Killing cops |
+64
|
| Hyperspace |
Halves bounty
|
| Galactic Hyperspace |
Resets to 0
|
| Escape Pod |
Resets to 0
|
Bounty Hunters and Cops go after Fugitives
WITCHSPACE:
- 0.78% chance of misjumping
- Fuel is spent prior to misjump
- Can only escape via hyperspace (or escape pod in Disc version)
- In-system jumps and escape pod (in 6502 versions) are disabled
- No planet/sun/space station, reduced stardust particles (max. 3)
VERSION DISCREPANCIES:
| Case |
Cassette |
Disc |
6502 |
Later
|
| Escape Pod in Witchspace |
Death |
Yes |
Disabled |
Disabled
|
| Energy Bomb kills Thargoids |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No
|
| Energy Bomb vs. Constrictor |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No
|
| Cougar Cloaking Device |
- |
- |
No |
Yes
|
| Kill Count by Ship Type |
No |
No |
No |
Yes
|
| Kill Count for Non-Ships |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes
|
Design Principles
"The code is more what you'd call guidelines, than actual rules." - Captain Barbossa
- Bushnell's Law
- Intrinsic Motivation
- Tactile/Kinaesthetic Satisfaction
- Flow state/the zone
- Elegance
- Modularity/Sandbox Design
- Gameplay Density
- Mechanical (skill-based) Progression
- Unlocks should help guide the player without overwhelming them (clarity/comprehension-gating), the dopamine hit of progression is just the cherry on top. Inverting this relationship to focus on the dopamine hit is gambling design.
- Punish Inattention, not Ineptitude
- Threat-Reward Inversion
- That which you chase, becomes that which chases you, and vice-versa, on-and-on, like a snake eating its own tail
