I've seen several new threads in recent weeks from players returning after extended breaks. I did so myself recently after a 6-month hiatus. One intrepid CMDR even deleted his previous main and started from scratch. I'd never have the stones to start over, I've invested way, way too much time. The thought of all the gameplay and grinding I've done being lost makes me sick to my stomach; I'd probably throw up if it happened. At the same time, though, I am in many ways envious of him and look back with such fondness to my first few weeks of ignorant bliss with Elite.
I have only been playing a year and still believe that the early days were the best. I positively HATE having games spoiled, so I didn't read or watch a thing before jumping in. In hindsight, I was so totally, ridiculously out of my depth and had no idea what I was doing. I nearly quit 50 times as I grew frustrated by constantly having to alt-tab out to a browser to learn how to do something. And that was before I even started with engineering or Guardians or any more advanced stuff. Here are some REAL things I did. Really:
I started in the Borann LTD bonanza, but I didn't understand what that was. The first time I tried mining, I outfitted my Sidewinder with a single mining laser and headed to the nearest asteroid cluster in the system I was in. I just approached rocks at random and fired my laser at them. No prospector limpets to see what they contained and no collector limpets to pick fragments up. Just cargo scooping whatever came out, which was essentially worthless. It took me an hour and I think I sold my cargo for like 35,000cr.
When I first tried hauling, I used in-game tools to discover that I could buy Commodity X for 2,500cr here and sell it for 4,000cr only 7 jumps away! There's another cool 12,000cr in my coffers and this time it took LESS than an hour!
When I first tried combat, I chose fixed lasers because they did the most damage. But, of course, I was new and couldn't fly for sh*t and seldom got my lasers on-target. I was destroyed by countless NPCs. "Man, those Fleur-De-Lis ships or whatever they're called are tough!"
When I gave exploration a go, I chose a random star 500 light years away and headed out. But I didn't realize what a fuel scoop was. I thought to refuel I had to land at a station every time. So I'd jump to a star, fly 1,700Ls to a station and fuel up, then jump the next and 933Ls to fuel up, rinse and repeat. If I jumped to a system with no stations, I'd jump back to the previous one, refuel, then try a different destination star. I didn't know what a Fuel Rat was and wouldn't have known how to contact them anyway. There were many - and I do mean MANY - self-destructions.
But you know what? It was a blast. And through it all, I persevered and kept working my butt off, though the constant re-buys and minor ship upgrades made saving credits a daunting task. But i had to because "Man does that Cobra Mk III in the shipyard look sweet! Look at all those compartments!" I finally saved up enough credits and bought it, and it might have been the pinnacle of joy I've experienced in Elite. I couldn't fathom how other players owned Anacondas ("must have taken them YEARS!"), but I was thrilled. Anything worth having is worth working for, and this was HARD work, but I endured and overcome. I was proud of myself, if that can be said in context of a video game without seeming too trite and silly. In retrospect, I had progressed so little but I felt like a champion. It was awesome.
And then one day, the YouTube sidebar recommended a "How to have the best start in Elite Dangerous!" video. I caved and watched it and in that very moment, part of the magic died. A day or two later, I had my Anaconda. I also had a mining Python, combat Fer-de-Lance, explorer DBX and AspX, hauler Type 9 and a passenger Beluga Liner, all kitted out to the extreme. I felt a bit cheated, made worse by the knowledge that I had cheated MYSELF. Hundreds of hours later, I've had so much fun with Elite, building rank, building wealth and flying with my son in our 2-man squadron Ice Nine. But I've never since bought another ship. Elite is still one of my 5 favorite games ever, but much of the joy for me came from the anticipation of buying that new ship. When a dozen trips to Borann in a mining Python enabled me to buy every ship in the game multiple times over, I no longer felt compelled to. Instead, I was strangely reminded of the final line in Stand By Me: "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
Elite is a journey, not a destination. Don't rush.
I have only been playing a year and still believe that the early days were the best. I positively HATE having games spoiled, so I didn't read or watch a thing before jumping in. In hindsight, I was so totally, ridiculously out of my depth and had no idea what I was doing. I nearly quit 50 times as I grew frustrated by constantly having to alt-tab out to a browser to learn how to do something. And that was before I even started with engineering or Guardians or any more advanced stuff. Here are some REAL things I did. Really:
I started in the Borann LTD bonanza, but I didn't understand what that was. The first time I tried mining, I outfitted my Sidewinder with a single mining laser and headed to the nearest asteroid cluster in the system I was in. I just approached rocks at random and fired my laser at them. No prospector limpets to see what they contained and no collector limpets to pick fragments up. Just cargo scooping whatever came out, which was essentially worthless. It took me an hour and I think I sold my cargo for like 35,000cr.
When I first tried hauling, I used in-game tools to discover that I could buy Commodity X for 2,500cr here and sell it for 4,000cr only 7 jumps away! There's another cool 12,000cr in my coffers and this time it took LESS than an hour!
When I first tried combat, I chose fixed lasers because they did the most damage. But, of course, I was new and couldn't fly for sh*t and seldom got my lasers on-target. I was destroyed by countless NPCs. "Man, those Fleur-De-Lis ships or whatever they're called are tough!"
When I gave exploration a go, I chose a random star 500 light years away and headed out. But I didn't realize what a fuel scoop was. I thought to refuel I had to land at a station every time. So I'd jump to a star, fly 1,700Ls to a station and fuel up, then jump the next and 933Ls to fuel up, rinse and repeat. If I jumped to a system with no stations, I'd jump back to the previous one, refuel, then try a different destination star. I didn't know what a Fuel Rat was and wouldn't have known how to contact them anyway. There were many - and I do mean MANY - self-destructions.
But you know what? It was a blast. And through it all, I persevered and kept working my butt off, though the constant re-buys and minor ship upgrades made saving credits a daunting task. But i had to because "Man does that Cobra Mk III in the shipyard look sweet! Look at all those compartments!" I finally saved up enough credits and bought it, and it might have been the pinnacle of joy I've experienced in Elite. I couldn't fathom how other players owned Anacondas ("must have taken them YEARS!"), but I was thrilled. Anything worth having is worth working for, and this was HARD work, but I endured and overcome. I was proud of myself, if that can be said in context of a video game without seeming too trite and silly. In retrospect, I had progressed so little but I felt like a champion. It was awesome.
And then one day, the YouTube sidebar recommended a "How to have the best start in Elite Dangerous!" video. I caved and watched it and in that very moment, part of the magic died. A day or two later, I had my Anaconda. I also had a mining Python, combat Fer-de-Lance, explorer DBX and AspX, hauler Type 9 and a passenger Beluga Liner, all kitted out to the extreme. I felt a bit cheated, made worse by the knowledge that I had cheated MYSELF. Hundreds of hours later, I've had so much fun with Elite, building rank, building wealth and flying with my son in our 2-man squadron Ice Nine. But I've never since bought another ship. Elite is still one of my 5 favorite games ever, but much of the joy for me came from the anticipation of buying that new ship. When a dozen trips to Borann in a mining Python enabled me to buy every ship in the game multiple times over, I no longer felt compelled to. Instead, I was strangely reminded of the final line in Stand By Me: "I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?"
Elite is a journey, not a destination. Don't rush.
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