how i started in Elite and grew to love it

first I am not an '84er,' I first heard about Elite through the Steam launch sale. at the time I was a backer for SC - lifetime insurance to give you an idea about timeline. I was frustrated with the lack of meaningful progress on the spaceship game I backed (I don't want this to become a SC vs ED discussion) Roberts had just announced another new feature that had nothing to do with spaceships so I was disheartened. I then did research on what elite was and is and decided to take the "plunge". after purchasing and doing the horrible tutorials and failing miserably I decided to just try the game.

and there I was facing three choices
OPEN
PRIVATE GROUP
SOLO

well to me OPEN seemed like a quick death at the hands of merciless punks who have no social skills. Private was out of the question because I had no Elite friends, and then there was SOLO. I of course jumped right in and played solo... the first time I undocked from a station I missed the letter boxed and bounced all around in there like a pinball, when I finally got out and jumped to a new system I ruined a decent pair of underpants when I thought I screwed up and exited FS right in front of a STAR. (thankfully my wife and kids were asleep or that could have been embarrassing)

Docking was a Disaster... im not sure how I did it but my lateral thrust on my HOTAS was off in calibration thus acting like it was boosting right all the time. I LOVED IT ALL -- THE LACK OF KNOWLEDGE -- THE FEAR -- THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE.

the next day every free moment I had I was learning about ELITE, reading the WIKI, I was reading reviews, I watched youtube how too's.. OBSIDIAN ANT you singlehandedly taught me this game. I devoured Elite like it was a buffet and I was the only one who showed up for lunch. I didn't fly in open until I found Charlois station and then I learned I was alone out there. my first shot at PVP came at a combat CG against the Emp Dawn and I got owned. well owned isn't the word CODE made me look like a noob - and I was- I LOVED IT, I loved that even though I could wreck an elite ananconda (NPC) in a Res or CZ a player wrecked my face.

does that mean the onboarding process for elite is perfect? NO! I say all this to point out that in any game PvP is always the weak getting preyed on by the strong and if you are not good enough for the fight then you should be ready for the disaster... or learn in solo.
 
You...you literally just described my first day. 18 months gone. That's how I felt then, and still do now +1

For some reason there is this weird idea that there should be no consequences for making mistakes... I don't understand how people can moan about a game not holding your hand, when the game says it won't.
 
I played in solo at first because I couldn't land let alone fight. Now when I play in solo it is usually because my internet is crap is my 9 year old is flying.
The only time I feel it is OPEN only is when I am doing power play stuff or helping out Adel's Armada with eravate.
Ps power play in solo is Wrong!
 
+rep for this... Similar feeling diving into the original back in '84. So by my nonexistent authority as the self-appointed high pooh-bah of ancient gamers I hereby dub you an honorary 84-er
 
My experience was similar, except I played through the tutorials first, and I joined Open instead of Solo.

I'd read complaints of ganking in this game, some of which were right there in the Steam reviews, and that was off-putting, but I also wanted to be able to encounter other players. So I figured that if there was a best time to try the Open waters, it was as a new CMDR, because if I got ganked it wouldn't be a big deal. At the very worst I might have to remake my pilot, which would not be so bad at such an early stage.

It turned out that player aggression was absolutely a non issue. I only got interdicted by another player once, and they ended up running away without firing a shot. The other CMDRs I've encountered all seemed friendly. So either I got lucky, or ganking is unlikely except at specific hot-zone systems, like Robigo.
 
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+rep for this... Similar feeling diving into the original back in '84. So by my nonexistent authority as the self-appointed high pooh-bah of ancient gamers I hereby dub you an honorary 84-er

I accept this, with appreciation and admiration.

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My experience was similar, except I played through the tutorials first, and I joined Open instead of Solo.

I'd read complaints of ganking in this game, some of which were right there in the Steam reviews, and that was off-putting, but I also wanted to be able to encounter other players. So I figured that if there was a best time to try the Open waters, it was as a new CMDR, because if I got ganked it either wouldn't be a big deal. At the very worst I might have to remake my pilot, which would not be a big deal at such an early stage.

It turned out that player aggression was absolutely a non issue. I only got interdicted by another player once, and they ended up running away without firing a shot. The other CMDRs I've encountered all seemed friendly. So either I got lucky, or ganking is unlikely except at specific hot-zone systems, like Robigo.

that's awesome, 90% of the time player interaction is genuinely positive---- then there is 10% of the time... admittedly I hunt Eravate for noob hunters so I should have a higher % of Poo Faced fools. but even the noob hunters don't typically grief so credit should be given to them there. I think that very much like real life there is a small very vocal (their behavior is loud in this case not their words) minority of people who don't deserve the time they take to deal with... im looking at you mail slot rammers.
 
If you want some buddies we have a small group drop me a PM and I will send you the group name. We pretty much help each other and show off our new ships.
 
all those deaths are very much my fault... and when I PVP now and get slaughtered I don't even come on the forum and beg that something gets nerfed...
I would like to hire NPC wing mates though:x
 
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