Deck 5 · Arcade · Homage
Docking
At twelve I finally got Elite. A whole universe made of a few lines, on a C64. And the hardest part was not fighting pirates but docking with the station. Here you can try it yourself.
Controls
| SPACE | Start, new approach |
| ↑ ↓ | Nose up, nose down |
| ← → | Roll |
| W · S | Faster, slower |
| C | Docking computer. With music, as is only proper. |
How to do it
First fly in front of the station, to the side with the slot. Point your nose straight at its centre until “axis” turns green. The station is spinning: roll with it until “roll” is green too. Then slowly in, below speed 40.
If you do not make it, you are in good company. Back then there was a docking computer for this, and it played a waltz while docking. This is a homage of its own, not a remake: our own station, our own rules, computed live from a few lines of vector maths.
More in my timeline. Elite is a game by David Braben and Ian Bell.