Competition: Your Fondest Frontier Memory!

[Papillon]

It's actually fairly recent: I was participating in the 3.3 beta, and the first thing I did was put my Asp in storage and bought & kitted out a Cobra MKlll. It's without a doubt, my favorite ship in the game. I hadn't flown one for a very long time and I had so much fun getting back in and joyriding around the station, then off to test out the new features. It really felt like coming home.
So, I broke down, bought a 2nd account, and while I'll be flying my main in DW2, I'll be keeping this new pilot in my favorite Elite ship.

 

[Razordw]

Honestly I think my favorite memory is what got me interested in Elite Dangerous in the first place. My news feed knew I enjoyed space and video games so when the first Hyperdictions started occurring it suggested one of the You Tube videos showing it. I sat down and watched it thought it was quite amazing. After that I started reading and i just fascinated me more that Frontier had implemented without warning this new game mechanic and new alien ship. I then kept an eye on Elite and would keep coming back and debating, to buy or not. Finally during a sale on the Xbox I pulled the trigger and haven't regretted it since. Playing ED has made me wish I could have played the original Elite, but alas I was far to young (a toddler to be precise) when it released. Also got to say that I grew up with Wing Commander and have always loved space games (pretty much any kind, though last well loved was X3) so i was amazed that I somehow made it without ever hearing of Elite before watching that video.

 

[UNST3RBLICH]

My fondest memory in ED is undoubtedly learning how to Bounty Hunt in a Haz Rez, and spending hours that first night winged up with friends. I learned the intricacies of taking down larger targets in a Vulture, had a lot of laughs, and made a lot of credits. It was thrilling, and something I make a point to keep doing with friends even today.

 

[x Harlon Nayl x]

I saw Elite for the first time 22 years ago. It was a mind blowing experience then, watching my brothers trying to navigate the virtual realm created. When I first saw the Elite Dangerous on xbox I was intimidated, then I found the map and zoomed out. That was me hook line and sinker. Now I'm 34 and play on my own or with friends made on the game as my brothers have moved on . For me it's a reminder of fonder times and an escape into the Galaxy I so wish to explore. As an Amatuer Astronomer I spend long ours looking through my telescope imaging the skies with a longing to reach out and touch the stars. Elite Dangerous let's me do that.

You have my thanks.[SUB][/SUB]

 

[Infidel Deity]

Well...
The first time I flew a ship in Elite Dangerous - the Sidewinder, of course - was pretty fun.
Chaotic and awesome.
All those crappy landings.
The fear of not finding the right landing pad in time, when landing in one of the big space stations.
My first Cobra Mk III, the joy of it's speed.
Lot's of happy moments.

But the moment I want to put out as really special, was when I first entered Sol.
That was really great.
After finally getting the permit to enter, being able to fly in our own system, made an impression.
It was almost as the moment was Holy.
Sacred.

Another funny moment was when I told the neighbours kid that I was remotely flying a real spaceship and was about to land it outside our house.
The seconds it took for him to understand I was messing with him, still makes me smile.
He punched me in the shoulder and we laughed a lot.

 

[el-ricardo]

Only reason I bought Elite Dangerous originally was I remember as a child playing Elite on the Commodore 64 and losing a hell of a lot of sleep over a few months! Parents eventually didn't like me spending soooo much time on a computer that my time got restricted but they never realised I would still get up late at night and carry on... little bit obsessive at the time with Elite I guess, haha. Makes me old but they were genuinely fond memories. New version is a hell of a lot different, in a good way... where has all that time gone?!?!?! LOL

 

[Overlord7987]

Honestly, I have had so many amazing experiences in ED but none are beaten by simply waiting for DW2 today. Chatting with commanders in local while ships are landing and taking off is great, but it's the community atmosphere around an event like this that is unparalleled in other games that is truly great. Everyone in this community is amazing and the support that frontier show for events like this really highlights how excellent they are. The fact that fdev would even implement features for this event is amazing. I cannot explain how excited I am for the future of ED and the community. (Can I also put the sound design in there, it is pretty epic after all.)

 

[JJSterlingAdventurer]

Today my PS4 arrived with Elite Dangerous and I will crew onboard my good friends ship for the 20 week missison. Now desperately learning all the controls for the game. A baptism of fire!!! The last time I played this was in the 90’s so wish me well and I’m glad to be back! Wow 25 years how time flies!!!

 

[howardtay]

I have been playing Elite Dangerous for about 4 years (I will be 70 in June, I played Elite in the 80's on a BBC model B) Elite Dangerous has a very steep learning curve but eventually you can get the hang of it with practice. Not being good at combat I did mainly trading and mining and only fought when I had to, never played in open, solo only. It has taken a long time and at one point I nearly had every ship in the game, but I sold them all and all I have now are an Asp Explorer (my Taxi), 1 x Anaconda and 2 x Federal Corvettes (my favourite ship) all are fully Engineered, my best moments were reaching Trade Elite, Combat Elite, King and Admiral I'm still working on exploration (currently at Ranger 58%) you get a real sense of achievement when you finally reach any of these mile stones, it took me about 2 years, so I continue to play and will until I achieve all the goals I have set myself, thanks Frontier.

 

[Traveller_GG]

As a student sitting in a mate's room with a group of us playing the original Elite on his BBC micro (I really am that old). Looking back now, it seems the oddest thing: a group of Computer nerds (doing a computing Degree at Poly... yup a Polytechnic) gathered around one machine joining in with the guy actually flying the ship and jumping from Galaxy to Galaxy.

The big thing then was to clock Elite. You'd get the Elite rank and keep going - eventually you'd accumulate so many kills you'd go back to Harmless again! That and the fear of being wrenched out of witch space when jumping and face a Thargoid - we always thought you'd be more likely to if you refuelled at a Star rather than a station. I've never forgotten the thrill of kicking off a new game and seeing the opening banner page. A whole different style then, so reliant on your own imagination to fill in the gaps. Loved that game.

 

[Crank Larson]

My fondest memory of Elite goes back to the 1984 version on the Acorn Electron. The Electron was my second computer (first being the ZX81), and I learned pretty much everything about it down to the 6502 assembler. When I first got the machine, I had to load everything from tape. Within a year or two, though, the first 3.5" drives were released and I managed to get hold of one for the Electron. I then commenced to copy every game I had onto disk so that they would load quicker (and I could also fit lots of games on a single floppy disk). I learned a lot during this process, and was able to crack every game I found... Until I tried Elite.

I spent days trying to work out what the Elite loader was doing. To get it working on the Electron, various features (e.g. missions!) had to be removed from the BBC version. Everything that remained appeared to be highly compressed and possibly encrypted. I never figured out my way past this - I seemed to be going in loops around the code for hours, but just never got a handle on it. In the end, someone else beat me to it and I got my disk copy that way.

Ever since then, Elite has held a special place in my heart. There is very little code that has ever beaten me (and none that has ever stuck in my mind), so I take my hat off to David Braben and Ian Bell - they are exceptionally talented.

And today I find it amazing that I can fire up my Oculus and jump into my spaceship - and it's pretty much what I saw in my head when I played the original.

 

[Menosalpha]

My best moment in elite dangerous was when I had my first flight in a cutter and while docking, I got stuck (because of a small eagle blocking the entry, which I didn't see, I should learn later on.) My cutter exploded and I desperately wrote to the support team a letter in RPG mode, explaining that I, poor trader, crashed suddenly and not knowing why?

The response was awesome. They answered in RPG mode back explaining the situation and refunding the costs of my big ship. Not the fact that I got replaced the money for my ship, but how they reacted, having time for one player to write back was so amazing and since then I was totally caught by this game and the people behind it. Frontier, you really have the best support team I ever saw! You rock.
(Unfortunately, I lost the mails with the support team at that time. They probably would have helped others to understand how awesome these guys are!)

 

[Kaimei Kokoro]

Original Elite (CPC and Amiga) getting into a Coriolis station with zero damage!

(Little while later I developed the - line up/boost/stop method. Now, I'm lazy and have a docking computer - sorry.)

Best recent experience is how nice people can be to other players - incredible!

 

[Jananton]

There are quite a few fond moments I have with several Frontier titles, but the most fond memory originates from long ago.
It must have been 1984 or '85, in the cassette recorder attached to my Acorn BBC-b I dropped a tape called Elite from Acornsoft.
Needles to say commander Jameson and me became very close friends in no time and lots of days and evenings until the tiny hours where spend to cross the huge universe 32K could provide.
I can understand that these days people can't imagine how vector graphics can be so compelling, but in those days it was as if a new world opened up to you.

Great stuff, and eh, happy birthday Frontier.

 

[DazzGrimReaper]

My fondest memory of elite is playing it in the 80s (yes I’m old) on the BBC computer at the after school computer club, we weren’t supposed to play games. My friend and I would spend hours jumping from system to system trading commodities in the quest to become elite, we never made it, but it was fun trying. He was better at fighting the thargoids while I would number crunch trading opportunities. One day the teacher caught us, and after a...little chat....about picking the lock on the filing cabinet containing the games disks and wasting time playing games when we should be using our time to learn about computing, teacher became the navigator working out the best routes to trade along.

 

[Dirty Harry]

Many years ago when i was in school one of my friends asked me to come back to his house after school because he wanted to show me this game he had bought. Turned out to be the original Elite game and we played it all afternoon on his BBC home computer. It was so different to anything else i had ever played. We were glued to what would now seem a tiny monitor and had this printed card that fitted over the keyboard showing which keys did what. So much fun. Been hooked ever since!

 

[Cmdr. Peluso 2.4]

Wow, my first post on this forum and direct with the chance to win something!
Well, my best Frontier-memory is probably the first time I managed to land my sidewinder again. I had no idea of what I was doing and tried it on a planetary base. Took me more than an hour... but the feeling of succsess and the view were great!
So my advice to all of those who are new to Elite Dangerous: play the tutorials first!

 

[Rockstep]

My first contact with Elite universe was on Amiga 500 when i was about 12y - at that time, the game was breathtaking; unlike i.e. Star Wars, the 3D models were not only wireframes, but had actual surfaces!! Of course the docking sequence with the Danube Waltz was also fine, especially as i am from Vienna. I also liked th "open world" approach, which at that time ws a total novelty.

BUT: the funniest memory about it is playing with friends and rolling on the floor laughing about the species names that inhabited the systems, which developed into some sort of insider joke, to the extent that we considered calling our first band "Furry Fat Felines" a few years later.

Thinking of it now, it would still be an awesome band name

 

[Bitt_Player]

Seeing a neutron star for the first time in Elite: Dangerous. I was in hyperspace, idly considering the fact that I'd never seen the star class my ship's computer said I was jumping to, when WHAM! Blue sphere of beautiful doom!
I mean, maybe not that much doom unless I let my ship go straight into it, but still.

 

[Arundel Tempest]

Back in 2015 when I started playing (this version of) Elite, my friends and I were in a wing, heading out to do some bounty hunting. My friends had been original backers and had pretty suped up ships whereas I was only in my little starter Sidewinder. Of course I couldn't really help much and in fact got into trouble fairly quickly and obliterated by a pirate. Respawning back at my start point with a new Sidewinder, I proceeded to return to join them again, however, en route I was interdicted. I couldn't tell my wingmates I was in trouble as I was fighting for my life and my comms were not working. Dodging and ducking, trying to find a scant moment to drop a beacon so they could come and help. I then heard them on the voice chat which had sparked back into life. They had seen I was in trouble and were on their way, I only had to hold on. Hull down to 9%, canopy cracking, they suddenly appeared and saved the day. I limped back to the nearest station to repair, breathing a sigh of relief. Oh, and because I had managed to get a shot in on the fiendish pirate, I received a share of the bounty! I felt so rich with my 3,460 credits.