In our December issue we reviewed Elite, Acornsoftís space trading simulation (I personally think itís an insult to call this a game), which has already sold over 50,000 copies and become their best seller to date. Since we reviewed the program we have tracked down one of the few traders who has managed to obtain ELITE status and also become one of the first trading millionaires.

David Glew of West Wickham, Kent has been an avid games player since he bought his BBC Model B over two years ago. His collection of games software for the Beeb is second to none and you would be hard pressed to find a game that he hasnít tried his hand at. You will regularly find him on a Friday night at Orpington Computer Club showing off his latest software purchase.

Last year David, who works for an Australian insurance company in Croydon, had clocked up four weeksí holiday which he had to take. He didnít have any plans on how to spend the time apart from visiting the PCW show during his first week. Little did he know at the outset how busy he would be.

A&B What was your first impression of Elite?
GLEW As soon as I saw Elite being demonstrated on the Acorn stand at the Show I knew it was no ordinary game. Despite the cost of the package you get a lot for your money and a truly sensational game. The graphics are out of this world and the actual game is highly addictive with a lot to offer both arcade and trader games players.

A&B Once you had bought your disc version of Elite how did you get started?
GLEW When I first opened the package I went straight for the 64 page Space Traderís Flight Training Manual. My initial reaction was that of horror - so much knowledge seemed to be required to play the game.
Usually I plunge straight into the games I buy with little attention to the instructions, and learn my lessons the hard way. However, it was obvious that this method would be foolhardy with Elite. After reading about 20 pages of the manual I began to realise that although there are extensive and important details to be understood and remembered, there is also a huge amount of padding intended to set the scene and stimulate the playerís imagination. By skipping over most of the irrelevant details, the actual amount to understand shrinks considerably. Many details regarding various weapons, types of planets and their status can be learned or looked up when needed during the game, especially as there is a ďGame Freeze” facility which I used extensively at first.

A&B The manual suggests that you practise docking with the Coriolis space station orbiting Lave before proceeding any further. Is this good advice?
GLEW Yes, it is essential for the player to master this very difficult manoeuvre at least a couple of times, because unless you can dock you wonít get anywhere.

A&B Did you use keyboard or joystick to control your Cobra MkIII?
GLEW I decided to use a joystick. This was an unusual decision for me as I usually prefer to use keys because I am more at home with them and the response is usually better. Eliteís joystick response seemed to be very fast and accurate. I certainly found it easier to match the rotation of the space stations with the joystick.

A&B What tactics did you use at the beginning of the game?
GLEW Initially I wanted to raise enough credits to improve my shipís equipment. I already appreciated the need for purchasing a Docking Computer as soon as possible. I decided to stock up with goods and textiles which were cheap and were being sold on Lave well below the average price. I then sought a planet that was predominantly industrial, as food and textiles would sell there hopefully at a higher than average price and I would make an early profit. On industrial planets I tried to buy commodities like minerals if the price was low enough and occasionally a computer.
One thing I did find very helpful during this very early stage of the game was to write out details of various planets buying and selling prices. This was useful as it helped me to get acquainted with the market prices I could expect to find on different categories of planets.

A&B Did you find that you were building up your credits quickly?
GLEW At the beginning of the game I didnít make much progress and docking was tediously slow - oh for that docking computer. I decided to take a few risks and purchase narcotics that were being sold for well under 10 credits per tonne. This type of cargo can be very profitable because many planets such as rich agriculturalists often pay around 90 credits per tonne. With a full cargo and one successful trading I managed to make a profit of 1760 credits. Enough to buy that docking computer.
Actually getting the narcotics to the desired planet however was not easy for, on buying them, my legal status became that of offender. This meant that pirates and police vipers took a particular interest and, as I had only recently started the game, I had little protection and fire power for dealing with sustained attacks. However I did find that if I only purchased the narcotics when my status was clean I was very seldom attacked, provided I did not attack any spaceships myself. The one disadvantage of this ploy was that when I came out of Hyperdrive I was not usually able to Skip as close to the planet as usual because of the proximity of interested ships. Not daring to attack them I had to wait on many occasions for 10+ minutes before I was finally able to dock.

A&B Now that you were building up your credits through illegal trading, what equipment purchases did you make?
GLEW I initially bought a docking computer and a large cargo bay. This enabled me to speed up my trading between planets considerably and with the larger cargo bay I was able to increase my profits more quickly. During this period I was forced to take on and destroy various enemy ships that fired at me. Because my Cobra was weak on fire power and I was inexperienced at destroying enemy ships I was blown to pieces many times and forced to reload my last saved position.

A&B I presume you had improved your rating by now?
GLEW Yes, my rating changed first to MOSTLY HARMLESS and then to POOR. My trading habits also changed, I could now afford to buy full cargoes of computers at rich or mainly industrial planets for approximately 63 credits each and sell them to rich or mainly agricultural planets for 90-100 credits, a profit of just over 1,000 credits each trip. I would return with furs, liquors and wines - cheap on agricultural planets but highly valued by rich industrialists. I found two close planets of these types and travelled back and forwards between them, still at this stage not looking for too many fights as credit building to buy armaments was now the order of the day.

A&B Profits were soon rolling in then?
GLEW Yes, I had soon gained about 5,000 credits this way and picked up an E.C.M. and an Energy Unit which proved to be vital when I turned my attention to fighting, because it replenished my shipís energy and shields twice as fast as before.

A&B How long was it before you reached COMPETENT status?
GLEW After about seven days of playing for eight to ten hours a day.

A&B How did your tactics change during this period?
GLEW After my credits rose to 5,000 I started to increase my armaments by purchasing Energy bombs. These destroy all ships in the surrounding area, but they are rather expensive at 900 credits each. Although I continued to trade in computers and furs I visited feudal and anarchic planets where there were many pirates and occasionally Thargoids just itching for a fight. I soon became quite proficient at destroying their ships and my rating increased to first AVERAGE and then ABOVE AVERAGE with my credits increasing to about 12,000.
I then realised I was wasting my credits on Energy bombs to get out of critical situations caused mostly by the relative ineffectiveness of my pulse lasers. So I purchased a more powerful Beam laser to replace my front pulse laser, which I moved to the rear of the ship. Whilst the Beam laser was a big improvement, I found it almost impossible to get used to the rear laser, because lining up my laser sights on an enemy ship required joystick movements to be exactly opposite to those needed for the front laser.
It was very shortly after this that I decided to do my final front laser upgrade and purchase the very expensive Military Laser (6,000 credits). This however very quickly paid for itself as I was not only able to increase my kill ratio in between each planetary docking, but I also got through more often with valuable illegal cargoes such as firearms and narcotics.
Once I had built up my credits to a comfortable 50,000 I felt it was time to go on full attack and concentrate on improving my rating. I sought out a cluster of closely grouped planets with a concentration of anarchic and feudal governments where I would find plenty of pickings. I started to get kills much faster but I also got wiped out myself on many occasions and had to reload my last saved position. Also on occasions I had various pieces of equipment or cargo destroyed. If the loss was too great, such as a docking computer or several items of equipment in one go, I usually decided to reload rather than pay out again for replacements. By doing this I did have to accept the loss of all of my kills since I had left the last planet.

A&B How did you feel on reaching COMPETENT status?
GLEW It almost took me by surprise as I was beginning to think I would never reach it. My delight in attaining the rating kept me very happy for a couple of days.

A&B What happened then?
GLEW Well I had been playing over 25 hours without any rating improvement and I was beginning to realise the magnitude of my mission, after all I still had to get to DANGEROUS and DEADLY before I could even begin to consider ELITE. I was getting fed up and despondent and even thinking of giving up when suddenly, after docking for the nth time, my screen reported ďINCOMING MESSAGE...”.

A&B That must have related to one of the missions that are only available on the disc version?
GLEW Thatís right. The message was from the GalCop and they told me of a brand new craft they had developed, with extra armour and a new type of military laser, which had been stolen. They asked me if I would accept the mission of destroying it. They also advised me where it was last sighted and showed me what it looked like.
I decided to seek this strange new craft and used the FIND button to locate the planet they mentioned. It turned out I could not reach it in one go so I was forced to dock at a planet in between to refuel. On docking at this planet I was informed that the craft had just left using its Galactic Hyperdrive. I took the hint and promptly purchased a hyperdrive. Thank goodness I had previously built up my credits as this cost me 5,000 credits.
As soon as I had launched from the docking station I operated the Galactic Hyperdrive and quickly found myself in the second Galaxy. I headed for a planet close by where I expected to get further details of the stolen vessel.
Upon docking I was distressed to find no message waiting for me - I couldnít believe it. Here I was in the next Galaxy not knowing where to go and I had lost my quarry.
With a strong feeling of being cheated I decided to take up my previous tactics of destroying every ship I came across. This continued for about half-an-hour, during which I docked at several planets.
Eventually, I received a further message telling me that the stolen ship had been sighted once again. I raced there immediately and found it. The ship turned on me and promptly blew me to pieces so I had to reload again. The second time I kept hitting it with my powerful Military lasers, but to no avail - it just would not destruct and like before it turned on me and I was destroyed. This happened three more times and I was wondering just what to do with it.
GalCop had told me it had an E.C.M. so using my missiles was pointless, and my most powerful weapon seemed to make no impact. On my sixth attempt I caught the ship and fired off a blistering salvo which would have destroyed any other space vessel twice over, but not this one. It fired on me yet again and wiped out my front shields as it raced past me. This time I gambled and slowed dramatically as this enabled me to do a 180 degree turn much faster than if my speed was flat out. It worked. I found myself facing the back of the fast disappearing ship. I increased my speed to flat out and fired my lasers and still it wouldnít die. It tried to lose me but I followed it like a limpet firing all the time. My lasers kept overheating but I hung on doggedly.
An explosion occurred. I had finally succeeded in destroying the ship. I was elated. A message came on the screen ďRIGHT ON COMMANDER”. I looked at my current rating to see whether the destruction of the ship was the magic formula to attain DANGEROUS - horror, I was still only competent - what do I have to do, I wondered.
On docking at the nearby planet I received another message from the GalCop thanking me for my help and advising that my assistance would be remembered and they would probably contact me again in the near future.
Then my current status appeared which happens after every docking. By this time a further change had occurred - I was now classified DANGEROUS. I was in seventh heaven, it was now three oíclock am, and three days of intensive fighting since I achieved my COMPETENT rating. I went to bed a very happy person with my interest and keenness rejuvenated - nothing is more fulfilling than success in this game.

A&B Were you contacted again?
GLEW Yes, it was after five days prolonged fighting and with battle fatigue setting in fast. I had already moved into Galaxy 4 and pushed up my credits to 186,000. This time I was told to report to a particular planet for further instructions. The planet turned out to be in the current Galaxy but at the opposite end to where I was, and I took some time reaching it. Upon my arrival I was told by the GalCop that they had found the dreaded Thargoids home planet and they wanted me to take the plans to one of the GalCop headquarters. This just happened to be at the other end of the Galaxy, in fact only a short distance from where I was when I received the message to report to this planet - how infuriating.
After much battling I reached my destination expecting to be praised and upgraded. Instead I was given an Energy Unit - big deal I thought. I looked at my rating. It was still DANGEROUS. Surely, I thought, I donít have to take on two missions this time?
I didnít have to, after another 10 hours of zapping pirates and trading, my credits rose to about 200,000 and my rating changed quietly and without warning to DEADLY.

A&B How long had you been playing to get to this stage?
GLEW I had now been playing for about 17 days, almost non stop from morning to night. Thank goodness I was on leave from my office for four weeks, otherwise it would have taken months instead of weeks to get this far.

A&B Are there any more hints or tips that helped you through the last part of your ordeal?
GLEW Rather belatedly I discovered that I could carry more than 35 tonnes of cargo, provided it was in gold, platinum or gem stones, as these were allowed to be carried in my shipís cabin. One thing you do have to be careful about is not to store up too much of these items because they can cause the bottom to fall out of the market and instead of selling platinum for around 75 credits you would only get eight.
It also dawned on me how to increase my kill ratio many times over each hour. Up until now I had added to my kills in between each docking by going to dangerous and unstable worlds. Many times however, I only came across a couple of enemy ships before docking and the docking procedure is very time consuming. The trick I used was to Hyperdrive to a new planet as usual but, after having killed all pirates found in the vicinity instead of entering the planetís Safe zone and docking, I turned the ship around in the opposite direction and used the skip button to speed away from the planet until I approached another ship looking for a fight. By skipping to and from the planet in this manner (only choosing to drift in space when I needed a little time for damaged shields to be restored) I was able to increase my kill ratio to 25-35 kills in between each docking. It was by using this tactic I managed to achieve the ELITE rating in about the same time it took me to get from DANGEROUS to DEADLY, about five days.

A&B What was it like to actually attain ELITE?
GLEW Ecstasy, and what a relief. I never believed I could get such exhilaration from a game, but after 22 days of playing it had become an obsession. I had stopped thinking of ELITE as a mere game but a real adventure with me, Commander Glew, in charge of a ruthless fighting machine.

A&B Did you then sit back and rest?
GLEW No. I had decided to enter Acornsoftís October competition and as it was only 7th October I thought I would try and boost my credits as this was obviously going to be the deciding factor. I set myself the target of 1,000,000. This meant I would have to average about 36,000 credits per day if I was going to increase my current 235,000 to the magical million by the end of the month.

A&B Did you make it?
GLEW Somehow after many long nights I did. I finally ended up with a little over 1,058,000 credits by 26th October with a couple of days to spare.

We have had a word with Acornsoft and they tell us that David did not win. There were over 400 entries for the competition in October. Of these only 50 attained Elite and just nine with more than a million credits. Bad luck Dave.