Where are they now?

[Old Duck]

One of my favorite exploration pastimes is to find undiscovered systems and planets close to the Bubble. Of course this means finding many already discovered systems while looking for that needle in the haystack. Thing is, I don't recognize any of these "early pioneers". Every once in awhile I find a system that was discovered by a name I recognize from the Forum (Agony Aunt was the last one), but the vast majority are unknown to me.

I'm relatively new (started playing Elite last June), so I don't know the early players from kickstarter days unless they are still active in the forums currently. Where are these "pioneers" now? Are there many of you who have forum names different from your CMDR names, or are there really that many people who once passionately explored the galaxy who have since moved on to other things?

I actually enjoy encountering systems discovered by people I know from the forums or contacts made in-game, but it's so incredibly rare that this happens. Too rare...

 

[Nick Sticks]

Funny, I think Agony Aunt was the last one I came across that I knew from the forums although there have been the occasional other name I recognised.

Of all the thousands/millions/billions? of systems I think it's a miracle that you do come across a system with a name you recognise.

What do you consider close to the bubble, for me it's less than 1000ly.

 

[Old Duck]

Funny, I think Agony Aunt was the last one I came across that I knew from the forums although there have been the occasional other name I recognised.

Of all the thousands/millions/billions? of systems I think it's a miracle that you do come across a system with a name you recognise.

What do you consider close to the bubble, for me it's less than 1000ly.

My closest discovery is about 24ly from the Bubble. I tend to start close and work my way out. I've not found anything exotic like an ELW that close, but I have found entire undiscovered secondary solar systems at real stars (HIPs) which greatly surprised me, as I expected these would have been all snatched up by now.

 

[ZeroAi]

One of my favorite exploration pastimes is to find undiscovered systems and planets close to the Bubble. Of course this means finding many already discovered systems while looking for that needle in the haystack. Thing is, I don't recognize any of these "early pioneers". Every once in awhile I find a system that was discovered by a name I recognize from the Forum (Agony Aunt was the last one), but the vast majority are unknown to me.

I'm relatively new (started playing Elite last June), so I don't know the early players from kickstarter days unless they are still active in the forums currently. Where are these "pioneers" now? Are there many of you who have forum names different from your CMDR names, or are there really that many people who once passionately explored the galaxy who have since moved on to other things?

I actually enjoy encountering systems discovered by people I know from the forums or contacts made in-game, but it's so incredibly rare that this happens. Too rare...

I've often wondered the same thing!

So many great names that you never see here...

 

[Redfox]

Thing is, I don't recognize any of these "early pioneers".

Post them here - we might have some collective memory of some.

 

[marx]

One of my favorite exploration pastimes is to find undiscovered systems and planets close to the Bubble. Of course this means finding many already discovered systems while looking for that needle in the haystack. Thing is, I don't recognize any of these "early pioneers". Every once in awhile I find a system that was discovered by a name I recognize from the Forum (Agony Aunt was the last one), but the vast majority are unknown to me.

I'm relatively new (started playing Elite last June), so I don't know the early players from kickstarter days unless they are still active in the forums currently. Where are these "pioneers" now? Are there many of you who have forum names different from your CMDR names, or are there really that many people who once passionately explored the galaxy who have since moved on to other things?

Alpha backer here. When we (the players at the time) were let out of "the pill" and exploration started in earnest, pretty much everyone who played at the time would go out and give exploration a try. It was The New Thing, after all. Then they would unwittingly tag everything they pinged(!), as first discovery tags were only introduced later, retroactively. As such, a lot of people got tags on close-by sytems, but didn't go on to passionately explore the rest of the galaxy. Especially since at the time, the route plotter had a maximum range of 100 ly (not a typo, it was increased to a thousand in the 1.1 update), so most players wouldn't go to thousand of lightyears. As for how many of those who did go on to explore stayed with the game... well, that's a good question. I don't claim to know everyone from that time.

However, in my experience, those who've spent the majority of their time exploring tend to stay longer with the game than those who don't. (PowerPlay is quite similar in this aspect, but that came later.) There are also those players who don't actively play, but keep an eye on the game regardless, waiting for updates - mostly the Q4 one.

 

[Old Duck]

Alpha backer here. When we (the players at the time) were let out of "the pill" and exploration started in earnest, pretty much everyone who played at the time would go out and give exploration a try. It was The New Thing, after all. Then they would unwittingly tag everything they pinged(!), as first discovery tags were only introduced later, retroactively. As such, a lot of people got tags on close-by sytems, but didn't go on to passionately explore the rest of the galaxy....

Let me make sure I understand - in the 'old days' just a honk would give a person first discovery of the entire system (or however far their scanners would reach)? If so, that radically changes things. I was thinking all this time, "My goodness this person has tagged every single planet in this system of 60+ planets, they must be a serious explorer!" Now it sounds like the exact opposite is the case.

 

[Philip Coutts]

One thing to note is some folk have different commander names to their forum name.

I don't because I lack the imagination to come up with a commander name...

I also found a system first discovered by Agony Aunt, it made me go and take a shower...

 

[marx]

Let me make sure I understand - in the 'old days' just a honk would give a person first discovery of the entire system (or however far their scanners would reach)? If so, that radically changes things. I was thinking all this time, "My goodness this person has tagged every single planet in this system of 60+ planets, they must be a serious explorer!" Now it sounds like the exact opposite is the case.

Yup. Mind you, we didn't even know at the time that tags are going to be a thing. Also, I think it only worked with the ADS, not the lesser ones? Can't quite remember, but there certainly was a time when you got credited for stuff that you pinged. When the tags were applied, FD also posted a database export detailing who tagged what: see this thread, which includes a handy online search tool.

 

[Col Frost]

Yup. Mind you, we didn't even know at the time that tags are going to be a thing. Also, I think it only worked with the ADS, not the lesser ones? Can't quite remember, but there certainly was a time when you got credited for stuff that you pinged. When the tags were applied, FD also posted a database export detailing who tagged what: see this thread, which includes a handy online search tool.

Marx, thanks for the link.

My Commander (Johnny Frost) has been around since Beta, and I've often wondered if my tags were in the bubble anywhere (though I've never found any till now).
Using that great search tool my tags are in 88 systems in the bubble!!

 

[SpacialKatana]

One of my favorite exploration pastimes is to find undiscovered systems and planets close to the Bubble. Of course this means finding many already discovered systems while looking for that needle in the haystack. Thing is, I don't recognize any of these "early pioneers". Every once in awhile I find a system that was discovered by a name I recognize from the Forum (Agony Aunt was the last one), but the vast majority are unknown to me.

I'm relatively new (started playing Elite last June), so I don't know the early players from kickstarter days unless they are still active in the forums currently. Where are these "pioneers" now? Are there many of you who have forum names different from your CMDR names, or are there really that many people who once passionately explored the galaxy who have since moved on to other things?

I actually enjoy encountering systems discovered by people I know from the forums or contacts made in-game, but it's so incredibly rare that this happens. Too rare...

Well I was 10th to Sag A* & 64th to BP, not as famous as some of the better known explorers but I had my day. KS backer etc,etc.

Still hang around reading threads on this forum, mainly for amusement these days. Game didn't really pan-out as I hoped it would, play for about 2 hours each major patch just to see what's new. Back then I was chattin' regularly to the more famous explorers (Emirus, Andargor, Zulu Romeo), swapping stories in threads on stuff we'd found.

End of the year patch will dictate whether or not ED stays on my hard drive. Can but hope.

Peace.

 

[Jackie Silver]

Where have all the ancients gone?
Long time passing...
Where have all those relics gone?
Long time ago...
Where have all the 'splorers gone?
They're off to Beagle every one,
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

 

[SpacialKatana]

Where have all the ancients gone?
Long time passing...
Where have all those relics gone?
Long time ago...
Where have all the 'splorers gone?
They're off to Beagle every one,
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Lol, at least you're still doin' your thing. Take care JS

 

[Zenith]

A fair number are still around just not as active.
Names I know off the top of my head...

Zulu Romeo, Erimus Kamzel, Allitnil, Anuranium, Wishblend, Rukmerot, Agony Aunt, Jackie Silver, Corbin Moran, Satsuma... and a fair number of others. You'll usually find them in FleetComm private group and the associated Discord.

 

[ITZC0ATL]

Alpha backer here. When we (the players at the time) were let out of "the pill" and exploration started in earnest, pretty much everyone who played at the time would go out and give exploration a try. It was The New Thing, after all. Then they would unwittingly tag everything they pinged(!), as first discovery tags were only introduced later, retroactively. As such, a lot of people got tags on close-by sytems, but didn't go on to passionately explore the rest of the galaxy. Especially since at the time, the route plotter had a maximum range of 100 ly (not a typo, it was increased to a thousand in the 1.1 update), so most players wouldn't go to thousand of lightyears. As for how many of those who did go on to explore stayed with the game... well, that's a good question. I don't claim to know everyone from that time.

However, in my experience, those who've spent the majority of their time exploring tend to stay longer with the game than those who don't. (PowerPlay is quite similar in this aspect, but that came later.) There are also those players who don't actively play, but keep an eye on the game regardless, waiting for updates - mostly the Q4 one.

As another fairly new player, it's great to hear about the early days of Elite and learn its history.

 

[Kzak]

I'm still around, though I haven't done exploring for a year or two now. Been busy as of late helping with repairing the damaged space stations out in the Pleiades.

I'm not famous as such, but I have been fairly active. #30 to Sagittarius A*, discovered an Earth-like world around a carbon star (one of two found to date AFAIK), et cetera. Exploring is nice and relaxing, but it is also time-consuming if you're going out to scan planets and look for undiscovered Earth-likes, which can limit people from undertaking long journeys due to RL.

 

[Gen-Han-Solo]

Very sadly Old Duck because we are all getting very pore support from FRONIER DEVELOPMENTS most or a great deal of the early players now called the FORGOTTEN because we saved FRONTIER from going brook and they want to try and FORGET US.
You may be able to find a few system still with my TAG but because it was very boring finding lots and lots of systems with just lots of planets that all looked the same i.e all beige I reset. My Cmdr names that can be traced are Cmdr -Han_Solo- & Cmdr Ray_OK and Cmdr Orphius.WhiteStar. my last account is still secret and is going to stay that way because when I play witch is not much any more because of as I said very poor support I always play in open play.

We have now proven many many many times the more you paid to help frontier and support the game the less support frontier will give you because they have worked out spending more that one thousands pounds means you are very unlikely to spend any more money, so most of their support is aimed at giving any one who has only spent twenty five or thirty pounds in the hope you will happily spend a few more hundred pounds and continue to play most of the time.

As always I do support the DEV's and all the Volunteers and all those that know how to do their jobs, but because of all the extra bugs they always add with every update looks like some of them need a great deal of HELP.

One of my favorite exploration pastimes is to find undiscovered systems and planets close to the Bubble. Of course this means finding many already discovered systems while looking for that needle in the haystack. Thing is, I don't recognize any of these "early pioneers". Every once in awhile I find a system that was discovered by a name I recognize from the Forum (Agony Aunt was the last one), but the vast majority are unknown to me.

I'm relatively new (started playing Elite last June), so I don't know the early players from kickstarter days unless they are still active in the forums currently. Where are these "pioneers" now? Are there many of you who have forum names different from your CMDR names, or are there really that many people who once passionately explored the galaxy who have since moved on to other things?

I actually enjoy encountering systems discovered by people I know from the forums or contacts made in-game, but it's so incredibly rare that this happens. Too rare...

 

[marx]

I'm still around, though I haven't done exploring for a year or two now. Been busy as of late helping with repairing the damaged space stations out in the Pleiades.

I'm not famous as such, but I have been fairly active. #30 to Sagittarius A*, discovered an Earth-like world around a carbon star (one of two found to date AFAIK), et cetera. Exploring is nice and relaxing, but it is also time-consuming if you're going out to scan planets and look for undiscovered Earth-likes, which can limit people from undertaking long journeys due to RL.

Minor note: while very rare, there have been at least 12 ELWs orbiting carbon stars. There are probably a few more somewhere in EDSM's data, these are just the ones on the ELW list.

More importantly, I think there might be plenty of people who have put exploration on the back-burner for now, and waiting for the Q4 update to revamp the mechanics of it (finally). See dev comments here and here.
Then there's the new stuff happening as well. Some of it might have to do with exploration (hints at distant Guardian structures being important, and barnacles as well), but so far, those look to be a needle-in-the-haystack situation, which obviously won't motivate a lot of people.

 

[Jackie Silver]

As another fairly new player, it's great to hear about the early days of Elite and learn its history.

If I remember the evolution of versions correctly, it went something like this: the first iteration with multiple star systems had only around half a dozen around Eranin.
(Eranin, Asellus Primus, LP 98-132 which was notoriously unruly, I Bootis, Dahan which was weirdly laggy, Styx and Aulin, I think, not certain - think it started with five and added the others later?). Stations at the time didn't have any external guns or law enforcement, and the selection of ships was very limited - if I remember rightly it was Sidewinder, Cobra Mk III, Anaconda, then introducing the Viper, Hauler, AspX... *shrugs*. Something like that!

The next major iteration expanded the area to around fifty systems in a small bubble - the first Bubble, again around Eranin. People of course tried to get out by supercruising but I don't think anyone succeeded. The first races were run jumping around this little Bubble.

The next iteration opened up the area to a cylindrical Pill, extending out "westwards", with its roof at about the level of Alioth. I don't think you could get to Alioth, and you certainly couldn't get to Sol or any Imperial systems. During this phase there was at least one major revamp of the galaxy generation. I heard that someone managed to break out of the Pill and go exploring, but that may be apocryphal.

Then with the Gamma release (I think it was then) the whole galaxy was opened up, and the full release followed after a couple of months.
I remember predicting that someone would be at Sadge within a week, in practice I think it was considerably longer until ZR made it and got the enormous payout and instant-Elite rank - at that time Sadge was worth far more than it is now.

My memory is hazy, so I expect I've got things muddled...

 

[Kris]

I remember Erimus (or was it Erimus?) getting stuck other side of the galaxy christmas time (buggy systems etc). And since it was christmas time, had to wait a few days (or even more) before they fixed it. Was it around the release time or later? I remember reading about it at that time (and hoping they would find a solution).