%PROGRAM      : Elite
%COPYRIGHT    : British Telcommunications plc (Firebird), 1985
%AUTHORS      : R.J.M. Pinto, D.M.N. Prior, M. Wighton, P. Mochan
%INSTRUCTIONS :

Command your Cobra space ship in a fantastic voyage of discovery and
adventure, a supreme test of your combat, navigational and entrepreneurial
skills.

Trade between countless planets, using the proceeds to equip your ship with
heat-seeking missiles, beam lasers and other weapons - corporate states can
be approached without risk, but unruly anarchies may be swarming with space
pirates.

Black market trading can be lucrative but could result in skirmishes with
local police and a price on your head!

However you make your money, by fair means or foul, you must blast onwards
through space annihilating pirate ships and hostile aliens as you strive to
earn your reputation as one of the Elite!


YOUR RATING AS A COMBATEER

To become an elite combateer requires great skill and great patience,
because expert trading is essential before the necessary more powerful
armaments and equipment available to the Cobra ship can be bought: beam
lasers, more missiles, energy bombs, a docking computer, galactic
hyperdrive, etc.

As you sail through space between the stars, and as you trade, you will
live with your combat rating. You will begin as HARMLESS. If you survive
your first skirmish you may be reclassified as MOSTLY HARMLESS. But on the
slow climb to a status level that reflects a growing talent for combat you
will have to engage many different ships, in many different skirmishes, in
the System Space of many different worlds. You will then be classified as
POOR, then AVERAGE, then ABOVE AVERAGE, then COMPETENT. Then you will
become DANGEROUS, then DEADLY. And at last a few will become ELITE.

Your kills are photographed and transmitted by TS ComDirect to the nearest
GalCop Federal Law Centre. Your rating as a combateer will increase in
direct proportion.

Fly your Cobra craft wisely and carefully. Remember: other pilots may be
attempting to increase their own combat rating by attacking either innocent
traders, or police Vipers (the ships of the GalCop Police Force). If you
resort to such tactics (or if you adopt the fast-credit routine and trade
in illegal goods) then your combat rating may rise, but your legal status:
CLEAN -> OFFENDER -> FUGITIVE, will make you Public Enemy Number One with
the Federation Crime Monitoring Authority and you will not be left alone.


CONSOLE READINGS

+----+------------+-------------------------------------+------------+----+
| FS | |||||||||| |  __         ___________         __  | |||||||||| | SP |
| AS | |||||||||| | /  \   __---           ---__   /* \ |     ||     | RL |
| FU | ||         | \__/  /                     \  \__/ |    ||      | DC |
| CT | ||         |      <  FLIGHT GRID SCANNER  >      | |||||||||| | 1  |
| LT |            |       \__                 __/       | |||||||||| | 2  |
| AL | |||||||||| |  E       ---___________---          | |||||||||| | 3  |
| -> |        |   |                                     | |||||||||| | 4  |
+----+------------+-------------------------------------+------------+----+

Front shields      Status (Green, all safe; Yellow,                   Speed
Aft shields        possible danger; Red, immediate                     Roll
Fuel level         danger; Flashing, critical.)                  Dive/Climb
Cabin temperature         Compass (Centres on planet or       Energy bank 1
Laser temperature         space station; when dot is not      Energy bank 2
Altitude                  solid, object is behind you.)       Energy bank 3
Missile status     ECM detector - ECM activity near           Energy bank 4


EQUIPMENT

Item                Tech Level      Price/CR

Fuel                 Always           Varies
Missile              Always             30
Large Cargo Bay      Always            400
ECM System              2              600
Pulse Laser             3              400
Beam Laser              4             1000
Fuel Scoops             5              525
Escape Capsule          6             1000
Energy Bomb             7              900
Extra Energy Unit       8             1500
Docking Computers       9             1500
Galactic Hyperdrive    10             5000
Mining Lasers          10              800
Military Lasers        10             6000


HINTS AND TIPS

* Agricultural worlds need specialist food and raw materials, but mostly
  basic machinery and spare parts. If they are rich, they need luxuries
  and high tech industrial machines. They produce food in quantity, raw
  materials and specialised 'organic' items, like some textiles.
* Industrial worlds need agricultural produce, raw materials (for
  refining), resource exploitation machinery, and (if rich) high tech
  goods. They produce basic items of need for civilised worlds: beds, seals
  and gaskets, power storage units, basic weapons, mass produced
  fertiliser, mass produced medicines, etc.
* Trade in illegal goods (Slaves, Narcotics and Firearms) is the most
  profitable, but may harm your Legal Status.
* Destroying pirate vessels earns a bounty, but attacking innocent traders
  may harm your Legal Status.
* Once your Cobra is within automatic-docking and protective range of the
  Coriolis space station, the scan console will display an S next to the
  compass.
* Asteroids (and spacecraft!) can be mined with the appropriate lasers, and
  the debris collected in fuel scoops.
* Thargoid (alien) battle-cruisers may 'hover' in Witch-Space (hyperspace)
  and attack through-coming craft.
* Using an Escape Capsule effectively resets your legal status to Clean.


DOCKING PROCEDURE

Docking with a Coriolis space station is never easy, unless the ship is
equipped with an automatic docking computer (in which case C will activate
it). The Navy Training Manual recommends the following approach and dock
sequence.

Locate the Coriolis station and approach it. The entrance tunnels to all
these stations face the mother planet. Fly near to the station and then on
towards the planet (monitoring altitude carefully). By turning a half
circle you will now find your ship orientated towards the entrance.

Approach the final moments of docking at DEAD SLOW SPEED. Failure to dock
cleanly can be fatal but may simply result in your scraping the sides of
the aperture, with consequent loss of defensive shield(s) and quite
possibly your cargo. Manually control the Cobra's roll motion to match the
rotation of the Coriolis station. The entry port must be nearly as
horizontal as possible.

If docking is successful, the protective field across the station entrance
is penetrated, and a break pattern appears on the screen. Berthing is
handled automatically.


QUICK KEY CONTROL GUIDE

        Space Flight Controls

Anticlockwise roll          N - or joystick
Clockwise roll              M - or joystick
Dive                        S - or jotstick
Climb                       X - or joystick
Increase speed              SPACE
Decrease speed              SYMBOL SHIFT
Front view                  1
Back view                   2
Left view                   3
Right view                  4

        Space Combat Controls

Fire laser                  A - or fire button
Target missile              T
Fire missile                F
Unarm missile               U
ECM                         E
Energy bomb                 W
Energy capsule              Q
Docking computer on         C
Docking computer off        C

        Navigation Controls

Hyperspace                  H
Intergalactic jump          G then H
Distance to system          D
Cursor cross home           B
Cursor cross control        N, M, S, X (left, right, up, down) 
Galactic chart              I 
Local cluster chart         O

        Trading Controls

Launch from station         1 - only while docked
Buy cargo                   2 - only while docked
Sell cargo                  3 - only while docked
Equip ship                  4 - only while docked
Galactic chart              I
Local cluster chart         O
Data on system              P
Market prices               K
Status page                 L
Inventory                   ENTER
Find planet                 R - only while docked

        Game Controls

Torus jump drive            J
Freeze game                 CAPS SHIFT
Continue game               SPACE
Initiate save               SYMBOL SHIFT - only while docked

        Other Controls
Note: these controls can only be used when the game is frozen

Keyboard recentering toggle R
Keyboard damping toggle     D
Keyboard/joystick toggle    K
Reverse joystick            Y - Y-direction only
Reverse joystick            B - both directions
Sound effects off           Q
Sound effects on            S
Start new game              1

The keyboard recentering toggle R will disable and re-enable the
recentering in roll and dive/climb control. When recentering is enabled, a
small amount of climb (or clockwise roll) cancels any dive (or
antclockwise roll) and vice versa.

The keyboard damping toggle D will disable and re-enable the automatic
damping of a roll, dive or climb while in keyboard control.

The B key will reverse both directions of the joystick enabling it to be
held either way around. The Y key will reverse the Y-direction only so that
pushing the joystick forward will result in a climb and pulling it back
will result in a dive; roll will not be affected. The B and Y keys can be
used in conjunction.

%REVIEWS      :

%COMMENTS     :

%MISC         : Instructions edited and written by Bob Tinsley

%CREDITS      : Coverdale Page
-- 
-- Bob Tinsley    (mauqx@csv.warwick.ac.uk)

