Celebrating 35 years of Elite!

Stephen Benedetti

Community Manager
Greetings Commanders,

Over the years, the Elite series of games has grown and evolved, starting all the way from the first Elite (published on this very day in 1984) to the Elite Dangerous we have today!

For the 35th anniversary of Elite 1984, we want to look back and celebrate each and every Commander who has shared this incredible ride with us.

Haven't had the chance to earn your wings in the iconic Elite? Claim your free copy on the Frontier Store for PC and Mac here.

As a gift for every Commander, head over to the in-game store, and you will be able to claim your own Retro Thargoid Bobblehead, available until 27 September (16:00 UTC) for 1 ARX.


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But that's not all! Alongside this octagonal interloper, we've got 35 Cobra MK III Classic Wireframe Paint Jobs to give away. To be in with the chance to win one of these Paint Jobs, all you need to do is reply to this thread, telling us about your favourite memory playing one of the Elite games. Don't forget to include your Commander Name to be eligible to win!

The competition will run from now until 23 September (11:00 UTC) and winners will be contacted by 25 September (11:00 UTC). With the aid of the Elite Dangerous development team, our top 35 favourite comments will be rewarded with the Paint Job.

You can also get involved over on Steam, Twitter and Facebook! Please find all of the Terms and Conditions below.


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Whether you've only just donned your flight suit, or you've been with us over the last 35 years, thank you for all of your passion and support!

Fly safe.



TERMS AND CONDITIONS (FORUM/STEAM)
  • Prize: One (1) Cobra MK III Classic Wireframe Paint Job. (35 per platform – Frontier Forums, Steam, Facebook and Twitter)
  • One submission per person (per platform).
  • You only officially enter the competition when you reply, with your favourite Elite Dangerous memory, to the relevant competition thread/post.
  • Be sure to include your Commander Name in your reply to be eligible to win.
  • The competition closes on Monday 23 September (2019) at 11:00 UTC.
  • The winners will be announced by Wednesday 25 September (2019) and prizes will be credited directly to the winner's account.
  • The winners will be chosen by a panel of Elite Dangerous developers.
  • Objectionable or offensive content will be disqualified.
  • No submission should violate the Elite Dangerous EULA and TOS.
  • Frontier Developments has the right to remove any entry at their sole discretion
  • Frontier Developments employees are excluded from participating in the event.
  • Frontier Developments reserve the right to exchange any prize for a prize of similar value.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS (FACEBOOK/TWITTER)
  • Prize: One (1) Cobra MK III Classic Wireframe Paint Job. (35 per platform – Frontier Forums, Steam, Facebook and Twitter)
  • One submission per person (per platform).
  • You only officially enter the competition when you reply, with your favourite Elite Dangerous memory, to the relevant competition thread/post.
  • Be sure to include your Commander Name in your reply to be eligible to win.
  • The winners will be contacted by the Frontier Community Team via Facebook DM, Twitter DM or Forum DM. Please ensure you are following @EliteDangerous on Twitter to allow us to contact you.
  • The winners have 7 days to respond and claim the prize; if no response has been received after 7 days, you forfeit your prize.
  • The competition closes on Monday 23 September (2019) at 11:00 UTC.
  • The winners will be announced by Wednesday 25 September (2019) and prizes will be credited directly to the winner's account.
  • The winners will be chosen by a panel of Elite Dangerous developers.
  • Objectionable or offensive content will be disqualified.
  • No submission should violate the Elite Dangerous EULA and TOS.
  • Frontier Developments has the right to remove any entry at their sole discretion
  • Frontier Developments employees are excluded from participating in the event.
  • Frontier Developments reserve the right to exchange any prize for a prize of similar value.
 
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Cpt. James Flint

Cpt. James Flint
Wooo! Alright, best memory:

Had to land on the outskirts of a settlement and drive my way into town and scan for some illegal data. Once I reached the datapoint and scanned, my ship had launched itself into orbit. The authorities were alerted to my trespassing and hacking of their datapoint, so I began taking fire and pursued by skimmers and the like, racing my way out of town, zipping around corners and structures. Finally making it outside their security zone which had been jamming my communications to my ship, I finally managed to recall it to the surface. By the time it had landed and I was safely underneath, I was down to 7% hull. The thrill and exhilaration of barely making it out with that data was the most engaging and immersive gameplay I think I've ever experienced!! Truly felt like a lost episode of Firefly.

Congrats on 35 years, and thanks for all you guys do!

o7
 

100.rub

100.rub
My favourite memory playing Elite: Dangerous is when I first discovered that just playing the game will get you nowhere fast and you have to do the gold-rush-of-the-week to progress at any reasonable pace. Its been over 2 years since CMDR 100.RUB began doing AX combat and still pays like garbage.

Nah, thats too salty even for me. Gonna try to remember something positive.
 
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LuckyLuigi

LuckyLuigi
It is a difficult choice between escaping from a pirate chasing my slow ship by manually atmosphere diving a nearby gas giant and using the gravity assist to out-turn and outrun the pirate, starting my lifelong love with Elite, and using manually piloting to 'make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs' only to run out of fuel a couple of ten thousand kms from my destination, a planetary base, uncontrollably slowly sailing just a few hundred kilometers over it, and then heading off into the Deep Black of interstellar space with no hope of rescue...
 

Lav89

Lav89
CMDR name: Laverine

Not sure if I can call it my favourite memory but it's a memory that will be stuck in my head forever...

I had been griding credits to buy the ship I've wanted for a while.
A ship that will make me the the best pilot in the galaxy and loved by all my passengers.
My own space bus.
The Dolphin.

I finally got enough credits for it.
I bought it.
I loved it!

5min later I took some passenger missions and went for the first station.
And this is where what's not suppose to happen, happened.

I got stuck.
Couldn't move at all.
On the comms they told me to leave or I would get shot.
But I couldn't move!
The panic.
Especially when I realized that I don't have enough credits for a insurance...

BOOM.

80 million credits gone...

I was angry.
Alt-F4
I didn't play the game for weeks...

Moral of this story:
Never buy a ship if you don't have enought credits to pay the insurance at least one time...
 

CMDRBuxton

CMDRBuxton
I remember playing elite on my acorn electron. It wasn't exactly the best version of the game but it was great nonetheless. I never did get to elite in that version of the game, or elite on the amiga, frontier on the amiga, or FFE on the PC (although I did get the thargoid ship).

It was only playing ED that I got to elite.

Buxton.
 

Athan

Athan
Cmdr Athanasius

I first played Elite on my ZX Spectrum 48k (yes, with the rubber keys) back in 1985. It took a little while to get to grips with the game, but in the end I made it all the way to Elite, mostly by beating up Thargoids in Witch Space, using the 'pause' method to get in there at will. But that's not what I'm using as my memory for this....

I once took part in a small psychology study whilst at The University of Birmingham which utilised the BBC version of Elite. They were doing research into optimal cockpit layouts for combat helicopters, using the game as a proxy for actually being in battle. We were in 2-person teams with our own monitor each, one piloting without the instruments available (paper covering those parts of the screen), the other only having those instruments (paper covering inverted) and advising where threats were and anything else we needed to know. The various layouts included
  1. The two of us sat side by side, which made it too tempting to look at the other monitor.
  2. Facing each other on opposite sides of a table.
  3. In an 'L' configuration.
  4. In separate rooms with mic+headset for voice communication.
We had to fly a pre-defined route around a set of stars, and this being the original game that entailed fighting our way to refuel, and then to a station at the end.

I think in the end my partner and I (you around here, James?) concluded that the separate rooms was best, closely followed by the 'L', as it best enabled us to concentrate on our own role without being distracted by the other in close proximity/line of sight.
 
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Rapman21

Rapman21
CMMDR NAME: Randal Waide

I don’t remember exactly how I managed to do It but I purchased a cargo from a seller that escaped into my ship and like tribbles soon began to reproduce, eventually, I couldn’t see out of my view screen. I remember cussing loudly at my old Commodore 64 as I attempted to reach the station. I don’t remember how I solved it, if I self destructed, dropped all my cargo or managed to get close enough to the station to auto-dock. (Was there an autodock then?) I really only remember cussing the guy who sold me the creatures.
I kept thinking what a dirty trick it was to dangle such a profitable cargo in front of a greedy Commander, knowing it would end badly.
Needless to say, I looked very carefully at every “special” cargo offer I got after that.

Well played Frontier, well played.:)
 
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