Celebrating 35 years of Elite!

[RexIII]

Lots of great memories of the original Elite for C64. Hours upon hours exploring trading stations and writing down the local prices on pages and pages of notes to try and make a credit. Sweat forming on your forehead while in an intense 30 minute dogfight with a local pirate (or two). Scraping together enough credits to put an upgraded module on my Cobra so that I could take on a bigger pirate without having to run away. Jumping out of my seat at 2AM on the first encounter with a screeching Thagoid. Best Game/Best Memories EVER! Need to find more time for the new Elite. I think I'll look at a VR rig to throw me back into the virtual world of Elite.

Rex Hunter
Rex III (RexIII?)

 

[Austinfinity]

CMDR Austinfinity here o7

I was introduced to the franchise via Elite Dangerous, and it's hard to pick out a single favorite moment across the thousands of hours logged since. Meeting commanders in the most unlikely places out in the middle of nowhere, playing CQC with Ed, getting a screenshot in the newsletter, or outside of the game, meeting Sandro at PAX East. Or even just going to Sol for the first time, the moment I really got hooked. But if I had to share a fond and unique memory...

Jump back about 4 years to 3301. The Hutton Mug CG, the first time I really saw and felt how uniquely exciting Elite could be, and how enthusiastic the community was, too. I'd (unknowingly of course) made the mistake of visiting Hutton once before, but I had a totally different feeling approaching the outpost this time. I was still pretty green and hanging around in a Asp, so I took as much junk as I could fit over their for my first run...only to find that the sole medium pad was being occupied by someone being a little inconsiderate. Maybe they didn't know better, maybe it was trolling, or they were AFK; after enough time, myself and other people loitering around the pad decided to just switch over to solo to dock and do our business.

This gave me idea. A 34th century problem that demanded a 34th century solution.

I returned to Sol to swap back into my Vulture, my only other ship that I really couldn't afford but didn't know any better at the time, and made no room for scrap. I returned to Hutton, this time, with a cargo scanner and hardpoints deployed and one objective in mind: keep the medium pad moving, by force if necessary. And by some miracle combo of a lot of global text chat, ship lights, loitering right on the pad, and of course the cooperation and a little roleplaying from many total strangers, I actually managed to play the part of Hutton's air traffic controller in assuredly its greatest time of need. At least for a few hours, anyway, announcing incoming CMDRs and their cargo like it really was my job, and corralling them into a more-or-less straight queue for docking, limiting each person's time on the pad, and later on taking out an active griefer (who later even had the heart to journey back to apologize!) And for the cherry on top, the great folks of the Hutton Truckers sent me the original, genuine Hutton mug, which is now a staple part any time I hop onto ED.

This still stands as probably my most distinctive experience in Elite, and really in any game. In my mind, it was Elite at its best: no concern for progress or credits. Just blazing your own trail and inventing your own fun in functionally infinite space, even if that meant loitering on a docking pad for a few hours. Thanks for all the good times, FDev and CMDRs o7

(See here for an image, myself in the Vulture on the far left, courtesy u/zipperseven CMDR WhiskeyTangent on r/EliteDangerous.)

 

[frood42]

I remember playing Elite on our ZX Spectrum with my brother. I sat on the sofa with a joystick 'stuck' to a piece of wood from an old kitchen unit.
He sat in front of me on the floor with the Spectrum, I would shout commands like "target missile..........and fire!"
One of the rare times we co-operated when playing together
I also remember going through at least 3 snapped joysticks trying to get a tighter turn out of our MK III.

 

[Sonic Song]

Well... My favorite memory in Elite was actually plaing E (No i didn't play Elite from 1984 cause I even don't live then.) and been able to see lot of star's and land on planet's but my really faverite memory was flying to VY Canis Majoris. Even if game have bug's I still enjoy plaing it no matter what. Sometime it need just to restart the game and everything is going back to normal. Good work at there FDEV do your best

CMDR Sonic Song

 

[Han Zulu]

My best memories from Elite is in Elite Dangerous when I joined Dead End Circumnavigation Expedition. Having to plot single star jumps with boosts to get to the outer points on the galaxy arms. All black void space in one direction, and the whole galaxy on the other side. And doing it in VR was just beyond amazing. So far from humanity. So far from the daily sweat and toil. Just alone and serene. A beautiful, almost spiritual experience. I will never forget it.

 

[AndyJ]

Well, that sucks. In my primary account, I'm too far away in deep space to get to a station to earn arx and I have zero right now, also, buying arx didn't work. Internal server error 500, and money gone, but still no arx...

Submitted a ticket.

Can you land on a planet and drive around gathering mats for an hour or two? I earned some Arx doing that the other day...

 

[dawud]

My Favourite memory is when my friend helped me, in his fighter, get the guardian materials!
It was creepy seeing those sentinels glow at night.
Cmdr Wud signing off, see you in the black void
over&out
o7

 

[CMDR Emmet Brown]

My most memorable Elite-Moment was my first takeoff from Formalhaut i think, where my ship ascended from the planetary surface through the clouds into the depths of space. My gaming rig was a Commodore Amiga 500 and i was used to minimalistic polygon graphics as in F/A 18 Interceptor - Elite II hit me like a bullet train wiht this awesomness.

Fly safe, y'all! o7

CMDR Emmet Brown [GPL]

 

[6bucks]

Making my first million credits mining. It was huge for me since I get hit by pirates nearly every time I'd enter a ring to mine.
It was a real grind but worth it until my buddy told me he had billions. Oh great. Well, back into the black.....

 

[William H. Bonney]

Oldest memory was with Frontier Elite 2 on the Amiga 1200 where i realised game trainers were bad, having a panther clipper with 12,000 cargo was fun for half an hour and it probably stopped me wanting to cheat at every game since

 

[babelfisch]

My favourite memory?
When Frontier listened to the community and removed the blue shop icon from the stations menu.
CMDR Thrust from Bradford

Where is my paintjob?

 

[Spillz]

ZuluFx11
Favorite memory.... My first takeoff, station exit, and jump.

 

[planthe]

Best memory:

We were playing Elite on my friend's Commodore C64 (actually an SX-64, the "portable" variant). It was soo much fun but it felt like progress was really slow. It felt like it took ages until we could afford a military laser. But wow, those had ooomph! Were previously we had to strafe enemy ships repeatedly, they suddenly just popped after a few seconds of exposure!
Almost at the same time, we progressed - I think - from "harmless" to "mostly harmless".
That was the moment we realised we must be playing this game right.

 

[Maltloaf]

Cmdr maltloafdf

My favourite memory is when I first started and the feeling of manually docking successfully was a flash back to doing it after many failed attempts on the original Elite on the BBC model B that my mum and dad got me for educational purposes but was 99% used for gaming. Her favourite, JCB Digger !

 

[Badwillad2018]

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 23 September (16:00 UTC) for 1 ARX.

View attachment 143682

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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.

My favorite memory is flying so close to the SOL system for the first time by taking up residence in the Eravate system which is still an unattaniable light years distance away by today's standards, but in Elite Dangerous it was such an amazing feeling to be 1 or 2 frameshift jumps away from our home Star System in 3305 A.D.!

 

[DaftMule]

Has to be to docking wiggle on auto docking in the original Elite on my C64. That 8 bit docking musac in your ear, the entrance to the station somewhere below you off the bottom of the view screen. Your ship virtually stops, does a line up jiggle up and down, jiggle, jiggle, jiggle - dee dum, dee dum, dee daah, dee dum, dee dum, dee dah... then nose down, catch the rotation and gun it! Cue spiders web and static noise! Awesome.

CMDR DaftMule

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Oooo close one Elite 3 FFE making peace with the thargoids and flying away in my very own shiny thargoid war ship

(Either that or Elite 2 Frontier watching that intro live on my Amiga (eagles chasing an imperial clipper) for the very 1st time in the full game after looking at the early demo video for what seemed years.)

CMDR Mad Mike

 

[Organic]

Being killed by a player for the first time was one of my best memories. No ones fault but mine and you live and learn from such experiences.

I'm traveling the next few weeks so sadly the The Retro Thargoid Bobblehead (available in the in-game store (for 1 ARX) until 23 September) will not be available to me. Could you kindly extend the availability?

 

[GoochDog]

Cmdr goochdog

My favourite memory was of opening the Elite for my Spectrum and being overwhelmed by the amount of stuff in the box . A novel an overlay for the keyboard , a big instruction book and poster of the different ship . I had to read the novel and study everything else before I excitedly put the cassette on for the first time for what was the best game of its generation . It was a way of life

 

[BackOfTheNet]

CMDR ElevenDragoon (playing on Xbox 1)

Playing on my BBC micro, and trying to dock before I could afford to get a docking computer. I was there, tongue sticking out, trying to perfect the movement of our analogue joystick, trying desperately to line up with the spinning wireframe rectangle. I knew that just inside was the money from my full cargo of Furs that was going to get me that precious docking computer, and hoping against hope that I didn't mess up. The relief and joy when I finally made it inside was incredible.

Loved this game then, love it now. Keep up the great work all