A salute to Elite this is: I managed to play it on the BBC Micro, C64 and Atari ST and it was always engrossing. I seem to remember that:

I spent a  lot of time trading Food and Furs between Leesti and Diso.

You had to buy a docking computer because otherwise it was really hard to land. Then it was easy.

Fuel scoops were a waste of time. Beam lasers overheated to fast and it was only worth having the Military ones.

I've no idea how you ended up in Witch Space, or how you got out of it.

I did a galactic hyperjump and couldn't figure out why.

I never completed a single special mission (IIRC).

There wasn't actually that much to do.

Happy days. We need another Elite.