Best sources on Elite game design

[AndyHill]

Hello world

I'm writing an article on Elite and I'm looking for any kind of (preferably of the highest quality, though) sources on the original Elite. Mostly about the different versions and especially in-depth, detailed game design stuff such as how the AI works, the ratio of durability and firepower between the player ship and the AI ships and stuff like that. I've played the original quite a lot and I know it from my own experience, but I would like to confirm some facts and figure out as much of the interesting details as I can.

This isn't technically Oolite-specific stuff, but somehow I have a hunch that I will find some subject matter experts on this board.

[Cody]

Frontier Astro has basic stuff on the different versions of Elite - there were quite a few.

[Dr Beeb]

In addition there is a lot of information on the different versions archived at  AFE FAQ.
For some information on the A.I. used in the Classic version see entry on  Classic's entity states.

[Amah]

Maybe Ian Bell's site is also worth a look.
http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/

[AndyHill]

Thanks guys these links are exactly what I'm looking for. Keep 'em coming!

[phkb]

This article (http://www.filfre.net/2013/12/elite/) does a good job of covering the history and goes into some of the technology used. It also has links to a few other sources that might be useful.

[Dr Beeb]

nice article, but it mentions the planet Arse, which is not in the released BBC Disk version. You can do a search on the list at  Classic Elite planets. The digrams AR, SE, could occur in the planet descriptions but not in the main  planet names.

Some trivia, did you know the Moray is flying backwards in many versions? In the original manual it was mistakenly drawn flipped, the 'window' is meant to be the exhaust port, and the 'little feet' are supposed to be torpedo tubes. In addition a bug in the BBC Disk version prevented the Moray from every appearing.

[Cody]

nice article, but it mentions the planet Arse, which is not in the released BBC Disk version.

<chortles> The planet Rear is scourged by evil disease!

[Dr Beeb]

Soleuser This planet is most fabled for its inhabitants' ingrained shyness but cursed by dreadful solar activity.
Anyway, back to the original request, a  page with info on Classic Elite ship fire power.

[AndyHill]

Thanks again for the links, this thread has already been very helpful.