Elite Dangerous Australian Community Thread

[Zplintz]

New Zealand friends are ALWAYS welcome with open arms. I go to New Zealand almost every year (South Island) to do my adventure stuff. I love it there ! Quite scary a month ago when I was there in the avalanche zone.....well....trapped there anyway..........

I haven't been to the South of NZ but I have stayed in the North. It was beautifully green (like UK but better weather) and lots of squished possums.

Kirk: Does it ever get really cold here?
Steve: Aaa sheet yeah. We had frost one year

@JohnH - ironically I remember driving down the river (Waykatu?) on a Saturday afternoon in a motorboat for 3 hours, saw no other people at all and I thought 'what a great place to write a book'.

 

[LordOrome]

Another Australian Elite fan

Hello,

Another Victorian here. From Ballarat

 

[Commander Mick]

My god, even though I'm surrounded by other Australian & New Zealand backers.

I'm the only Banana-Bender here.

I feel so alone.

I do actually have local friends who used to come round to my house nearly every weekend back in 1987 -1988 to take turns playing Classic - Elite on my C64.

I had contacted all of them via Facebook to tell them of this project a few months earlier and again last weekend when I finally backed it myself.

Though, I guess they have moved on......

Of the nine that I had contacted. More than the few that used to visit me only to play the original game. Only three replied....

My Cousin who only replied to me with.......

Good one, Mick.

A random close friend who was one of the other few who had never even heard of the game let alone mine. He is very big on the Classic Star-Wars Trilogy and may have shown interest in this.

He did ask me for the official rundown. So I sent him some more links, one of which goes to a official wiki.

He said what he did get from it was a bit of Star-Gate mixed with Farscape.

Surely, not this travesty of asci-fi series and then I realised maybe he got Pilot.....

.....confused with a Thargoid and with all his little repair-bots that may also get incorrectly confused with Thargons.

It's a long shot.

He has yet to reply again.

The third was a old girlfriend of one of my other friends who is now married to someone else. We used to share a house, but we were never close if that's what your thinking. She happens to be a gamer with a Steam account and a Wii.

She was surprised at me spending almost $2000 on just a game and told she had no money to spare herself and would like to know more once I have played the game myself.

Although, she was another friend, one of the other few who never heard of Classic Elite.

In fact, I'm not even sure she likes that type of immersive game.

So yes, I am a lone Banana-Bender.

I's not for lack of friends, I just for lack of organising them.

I really wanted to fork out and buy them each their own copy of the regular boxed edition of the game.

Though, I was struggling to pay what I actually wanted for myself as a reward.

 

[Thargoid]

Waikato river. They suck a lot of power out of that one. Every year someone wants to make a dam and then everyone goes up in arms about it. and it gets canned in resource consent.

 

[Styggron]

@Commander Mick: You really spent $2000 on ED ? My goodness how many T shirts and mugs and copies did you buy ?

@Thargoid: This is one thing Iadore about NZ, it's environmental policies. I think the South Island is amazing as is the North. I loved seeing Craters of the Moon and I still need to do The Lost World http://www.waitomo.co.nz/
and yes........I need to do the 7 hour "EPIC" version !

 

[Commander Mick]

@Commander Mick: You really spent $2000 on ED ? My goodness how many T shirts and mugs and copies did you buy ?

@Thargoid: This is one thing Iadore about NZ, it's environmental policies. I think the South Island is amazing as is the North. I loved seeing Craters of the Moon and I still need to do The Lost World http://www.waitomo.co.nz/
and yes........I need to do the 7 hour "EPIC" version !

You should know about currency conversion between British Pounds and Australian Dollars. 500 Pounds is suddenly about $890 and originally wanted to back the reward of Commander Jameson Name, which is 1500 Pounds converted to $2532 Australian was but downgraded it to Space Station Name $500 converted to $890 and I spent more money on a Coffee Mug, a Digital copy of the Dark Wheel Sequel, Soundtrack CD, Ship I.D. Chart, Four Concept Art Prints and the regular model of the Cobra Mark Three.

That model alone cost me another 500 Pounds which converts to another $890 Australian so that's 1000 Pounds converted $1780 Australian.

With all those extras I got, that comes to almost $2000 Australian and think it was after I purchased the remaining three concept art prints which were my last purchases. It might have even gone over $2000 Australian.

I know that's a lot.

I also wanted the cutaway variant model of the Cobra Mark Three as well. That was another 700 Pounds converted to about $1200 Australian, but that would have taken another month of savings and they are suppose to have closed all access to physical rewards at around about this time now.

 

[Zplintz]

Waikato river. They suck a lot of power out of that one. Every year someone wants to make a dam and then everyone goes up in arms about it. and it gets canned in resource consent.

Waikato - that was it. I remember turning around at a dam. Name of a rather weak (by EU standards) beer as well? It's a beautiful country with far too few people per sq km to be fair on the rest of us.

Climbed up.... Lets see if you can get this one... Mount Monganui (sorry this was many years ago). There was a thick white layer of sea shells right near the top - something that must have puzzled geologists of old.

Haven't been to Aus yet though. Just waiting for my youngest to be old enough to appreciate (and remember) it. But it's on the list.

 

[Jack Booted Thug]

I'm an aussie expat currently residing in the USA.

I was born and raised in Canberra and played Elite on the Commodore 64 probably around 1986 or so. I got to Dangerous status and I think I got to galaxy four after completing the Constrictor and Navy Drive Thargoid mission.

I also bought and dabbled in Frontier Elite 2 but not as much as the first Elite as I did not own a PC and thus played it over at a friends place.

 

[Sparticus]

I'm an aussie expat currently residing in the USA.

I was born and raised in Canberra and played Elite on the Commodore 64 probably around 1986 or so. I got to Dangerous status and I think I got to galaxy four after completing the Constrictor and Navy Drive Thargoid mission.

I also bought and dabbled in Frontier Elite 2 but not as much as the first Elite as I did not own a PC and thus played it over at a friends place.

When I used to play the C64 Elite back in the day - I was nearly your neighbor - living in the Southern Highlands NSW - in Bowral

 

[Sparticus]

You should know about currency conversion between British Pounds and Australian Dollars. 500 Pounds is suddenly about $890 and originally wanted to back the reward of Commander Jameson Name, which is 1500 Pounds converted to $2532 Australian was but downgraded it to Space Station Name $500 converted to $890 and I spent more money on a Coffee Mug, a Digital copy of the Dark Wheel Sequel, Soundtrack CD, Ship I.D. Chart, Four Concept Art Prints and the regular model of the Cobra Mark Three.

That model alone cost me another 500 Pounds which converts to another $890 Australian so that's 1000 Pounds converted $1780 Australian.

With all those extras I got, that comes to almost $2000 Australian and think it was after I purchased the remaining three concept art prints which were my last purchases. It might have even gone over $2000 Australian.

I know that's a lot.

I also wanted the cutaway variant model of the Cobra Mark Three as well. That was another 700 Pounds converted to about $1200 Australian, but that would have taken another month of savings and they are suppose to have closed all access to physical rewards at around about this time now.

I wanted all of those - but I stopped at 2 Cups and a Tee Shirt, Alpha + Beta Testing, Founding Member, Name in Game, so to Date I have pledged about AUD 635. As I will need some $$$ to replace my 2008 Model HP computer so that I can play the game

 

[Styggron]

You should know about currency conversion between British Pounds and Australian Dollars. 500 Pounds is suddenly about $890 and originally wanted to back the reward of Commander Jameson Name, which is 1500 Pounds converted to $2532 Australian was but downgraded it to Space Station Name $500 converted to $890 and I spent more money on a Coffee Mug, a Digital copy of the Dark Wheel Sequel, Soundtrack CD, Ship I.D. Chart, Four Concept Art Prints and the regular model of the Cobra Mark Three.

That model alone cost me another 500 Pounds which converts to another $890 Australian so that's 1000 Pounds converted $1780 Australian.

With all those extras I got, that comes to almost $2000 Australian and think it was after I purchased the remaining three concept art prints which were my last purchases. It might have even gone over $2000 Australian.

I know that's a lot.

I also wanted the cutaway variant model of the Cobra Mark Three as well. That was another 700 Pounds converted to about $1200 Australian, but that would have taken another month of savings and they are suppose to have closed all access to physical rewards at around about this time now.

Of course I know about exchange rates etc
Been buying from the UK for more than 20 years. It was really bad when $1 = .33 pence.

Also you definitely are Mr Moneybags to be able to spend that much. Good on you too. I would never be able to.

 

[Styggron]

I'm an aussie expat currently residing in the USA.

I was born and raised in Canberra and played Elite on the Commodore 64 probably around 1986 or so. I got to Dangerous status and I think I got to galaxy four after completing the Constrictor and Navy Drive Thargoid mission.

I also bought and dabbled in Frontier Elite 2 but not as much as the first Elite as I did not own a PC and thus played it over at a friends place.

Well.that might just make it a tad difficult to attend a local Elite Meet. BUT.......if you know enough people there you might be able to have US one.

 

[Thargoid]

Waikato - that was it. I remember turning around at a dam. Name of a rather weak (by EU standards) beer as well? It's a beautiful country with far too few people per sq km to be fair on the rest of us.

Climbed up.... Lets see if you can get this one... Mount Monganui (sorry this was many years ago). There was a thick white layer of sea shells right near the top - something that must have puzzled geologists of old.

Haven't been to Aus yet though. Just waiting for my youngest to be old enough to appreciate (and remember) it. But it's on the list.

Mt Maunganui. In Tauranga, colloquially refered to as 'the mount'. You were closer that time!

Yes there is a Waikato Draft, only available in the Waikato district. I quite like it but it def isn't a 'strong' beer. An easy drop though.

My brother in law shouted me a Melbourne Bitter(?) the poor cousin of the VB. I quite liked that as well.

 

[Commander Mick]

I wanted all of those - but I stopped at 2 Cups and a Tee Shirt, Alpha + Beta Testing, Founding Member, Name in Game, so to Date I have pledged about AUD 635. As I will need some $$$ to replace my 2008 Model HP computer so that I can play the game

I spent £1165.00 exactly converted to $1968.50 AUD all up, so it didn't go past $2000 after all. All I know is that I have between $200 and $300 left in my bank account.

I will also be funding Star - Citizen for nearly $900 when I have the money in another months time and perhaps some more money if it's funding next year when I will have all the money I need for it.

Then I have the save more money for a brand new computer, joystick, Occulus-Rift and what else is needed to properly play this game and increase the immersion.

For all those people living in New South Wales and especially Sydney I was living in and around the city of the Sydney and it's outer-suburbs from 2002 -2005 before moving back to Ipswich in Queensland.

I really miss the place, it's fantastic night life and beaches.

Ipswich is dullsville.

 

[Styggron]

@CommanderMick

I wish I had your job as it clearly pays amazingly well.

 

[Sparticus]

Well.that might just make it a tad difficult to attend a local Elite Meet. BUT.......if you know enough people there you might be able to have US one.

Or Jack Booted Thug could sent a relative by proxy ?

 

[Styggron]

ok, I know this is all early days still and it depends a great deal on numbers etc but...................

If there WAS to be something in your state........what kind of event would you like to see ?

- Gathering at a restaurant / bar for informal drinks ?
- Something a little more structured like LaveCon ?
- A small hired function room at a bar etc ?

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[Commander Mick]

@CommanderMick

I wish I had your job as it clearly pays amazingly well.

I get about just over $800 AUD a fortnight and I only save about $500 AUD out of that. As about $300 AUD goes towards bills, food, electricity, water, internet and cable television.

So, I make about $1000 AUD each month and it took me almost two months to save the money I needed to back this.

 

[Sparticus]

I get about just over $800 AUD a fortnight and I only save about $500 AUD out of that. As about $300 AUD goes towards bills, food, electricity, water, internet and cable television.

So, I make about $1000 AUD each month and it took me almost two months to save the money I needed to back this.

I feel your pain.

My bank account is currently the lowest it has been for yrs - not a comfy feeling.

 

[Styggron]

Well, the recent ELITE meet was a complete success........


From the general tally VIC and NSW have enough meeting for a little group at a central restaurant but that's about it. I believe the original Lavecon had just over 30 people when it first ran in Cheltnam Spa (UK) 2013.