Could someone explain:

[Askan Nightbringer]

The Elite guys did randomly create their map. But they stored the 'seed' used to randomly create the map so when you loaded up a game you always got the same result.

This is because random numbers on computers aren't really random. There is just a huge lookup table full of numbers and each one comes out in order. The 'seed' is what is used to work out where you start in that table.

If you use the same 'seed' you'll always get the same numbers in the same order.

ie. If seed = 24
First 5 random numbers is
4 11 3 6 3

So I don't have to store 4,11,3,6,3 all I have to store is the seed (24 in this case).

The original Elite universe was stored in something like 4 bytes of data (which is 32 1's or 0's ). They just had table to look up desriptions based on verbs and nouns. (I guess its the lookup tables that took up all the space)

ie. The Gelbars are known for their fanatical love of sitcoms.

Well thats my bit of completely useless trivia for the week.

Askan