Archimedes Elite
Archimedes Elite - or ArcElite as it's commonly known - is an implementation of Elite for the Acorn Archimedes platform. It was developed by and based roughly on Elite-A, although it contains a number of alterations and additions from the original Elite series so that many people don't consider it part of classical Elite canon. It is, however, widely regarded as one of the best implementations of Elite.
ArcElite is perhaps most famous for being the first non-player-centric version - meaning that the AI would fight amongst itself and pursue its own interest. The player was no longer the centre of the universe. It was also the first to use very brightly coloured polygons for its ships, although some consider the colours of ArcElite to be far too bright.
To quote from Mark Rowan:
"Archimedes Élite for the Acorn range of computers is probably the best conversion of the original BBC Elite ever seen. It has full-colour solid 3D graphics, excellent sound effects, and gripping gameplay. There are many different types of spaceships - lots of pirates, traders, bounty hunters and, of course, police in their powerful Viper ships - all with their own different characteristics. Game play is enhanced in many ways over the original BBC Micro version, for example pirates and police have their own skirmishes in the distance which you are welcome to join in, rather than your ship constantly being the centre of attention as it is in the BBC version!
"There are several different combat ratings, ranging from 'Harmless' through to 'Elite', and these are not only increased by kills, but by doing brave or helpful tasks, for instance killing pirates that are attacking other innocent ships or completing the missions set by GalFam and other official organisations."
You can find more information (including technical information) relating to ArcElite at Jason Togneri's site, Gold Edition - the technical information is kept in archives at this location.
Other sites hosting useful information on ArcElite include Simon Challands' Acorn Elite Pages, and Mark Rowan's Elite Pages. Sadly the AFE FAQ is no longer available on Rob Pfeifer's site, but a copy of it can be found here
