Hi guys, first post on the forums! Had to post this up, as it's probably one of the most memorable moments I've had so far in Elite outside my first look at Azeban City when I first logged into the beta 
I'm running bounty missions between Gidzenko Ring and Chamunda-A in Chamunda (go figure), harvesting unidentified signal sources - my usual source of credits. Somewhere between the station and the primary I drop out of Frameshift on top of an Anaconda and an Asp - serious hardware, given I'm in a slightly upgraded Freagle. Scanning both of them reveals two things:-
1. They're both Masters.
2. They're both Wanted.
I immediately start twitching at the possibilities - I can't take on the Anaconda, but the Asp I'm willing to risk, and a Master should have a pretty serious bounty on them. They're pretty far apart, so I come around on the "smaller" ship (says the gnat-sized space fighter, amirite?) and open up with lasers. In the meantime, the Anaconda continues on its way.
I twist and turn and wrangle with the Asp for a couple of minutes, but I manage to stay on its six and top whilst gnawing through its armour. It takes a couple of minutes but he doesn't Frameshift and his guns are fixed-forwards, so I finally managed to take him out with my shields still intact. 31k bounty voucher drops into my Transactions tab, and I do a little dance inside. One less rogue Asp haunting the spaceways, one more step towards my Cobra.
Then I notice the Anaconda is still there, and so are three Federal Security Vipers.
While I've been tussling with the Asp, a security wing has arrived to help me out, and they've pounced on the Anaconda. I can see laser and cannon fire lancing back and forth in the distance, so I shunt power to engines and high-tail it towards the fight. Leaving the boys in gold and white to fight a ship that size without support would look really bad. I'm trying to maintain a facade of respectability as a bounty hunter after all. As I close into range I lock on, and I see the Anaconda's shields are failing fast.
Could we actually do it? Could we take the behemoth down?
What followed was several minutes of the most amazing firefight I've seen so far in Elite. My ship and the Vipers are like a pack of wolves, tearing across the Anaconda's bow and stern in savage strafing runs, rolling past its turret fire and coming about as it tries to change targets to engage another of our comrades. The big ship twists and turns, but it can't maneuver and it can't escape the barrage of fire we're pouring into it. It's hull begins to drop steadily - 60%, 50%, 40% - and there's no Frameshift warning. My eyes turn huge as I roll out the path of a plasma accelerator shot and strafe along its prow, the promise of an Anaconda-sized bounty looms large and shining. We're going to make it!
Then, without warning, at 32% hull the Anaconda explodes. No warning, no cause that I can discern. My computer calmly informs me that the target has been destroyed. No bounty, no kill. Just...gone.
Was it a bug? Did the pilot self-destruct? I do not know. As I turn for space and set my Frameshift for home, I can't help but smile through the disappointment.
That was the best dogfight I've ever been in.
They might have all been AI ships, but it doesn't matter. The circumstances and sequence of events conspired to make for one heck of a memorable random encounter. I might have lost out on a huge bounty, but I got to see Elite, through a series of random events, tell a tiny, awesome, cinematic story, and that alone was worth the price of admission.
I'm running bounty missions between Gidzenko Ring and Chamunda-A in Chamunda (go figure), harvesting unidentified signal sources - my usual source of credits. Somewhere between the station and the primary I drop out of Frameshift on top of an Anaconda and an Asp - serious hardware, given I'm in a slightly upgraded Freagle. Scanning both of them reveals two things:-
1. They're both Masters.
2. They're both Wanted.
I immediately start twitching at the possibilities - I can't take on the Anaconda, but the Asp I'm willing to risk, and a Master should have a pretty serious bounty on them. They're pretty far apart, so I come around on the "smaller" ship (says the gnat-sized space fighter, amirite?) and open up with lasers. In the meantime, the Anaconda continues on its way.
I twist and turn and wrangle with the Asp for a couple of minutes, but I manage to stay on its six and top whilst gnawing through its armour. It takes a couple of minutes but he doesn't Frameshift and his guns are fixed-forwards, so I finally managed to take him out with my shields still intact. 31k bounty voucher drops into my Transactions tab, and I do a little dance inside. One less rogue Asp haunting the spaceways, one more step towards my Cobra.
Then I notice the Anaconda is still there, and so are three Federal Security Vipers.
While I've been tussling with the Asp, a security wing has arrived to help me out, and they've pounced on the Anaconda. I can see laser and cannon fire lancing back and forth in the distance, so I shunt power to engines and high-tail it towards the fight. Leaving the boys in gold and white to fight a ship that size without support would look really bad. I'm trying to maintain a facade of respectability as a bounty hunter after all. As I close into range I lock on, and I see the Anaconda's shields are failing fast.
Could we actually do it? Could we take the behemoth down?
What followed was several minutes of the most amazing firefight I've seen so far in Elite. My ship and the Vipers are like a pack of wolves, tearing across the Anaconda's bow and stern in savage strafing runs, rolling past its turret fire and coming about as it tries to change targets to engage another of our comrades. The big ship twists and turns, but it can't maneuver and it can't escape the barrage of fire we're pouring into it. It's hull begins to drop steadily - 60%, 50%, 40% - and there's no Frameshift warning. My eyes turn huge as I roll out the path of a plasma accelerator shot and strafe along its prow, the promise of an Anaconda-sized bounty looms large and shining. We're going to make it!
Then, without warning, at 32% hull the Anaconda explodes. No warning, no cause that I can discern. My computer calmly informs me that the target has been destroyed. No bounty, no kill. Just...gone.
Was it a bug? Did the pilot self-destruct? I do not know. As I turn for space and set my Frameshift for home, I can't help but smile through the disappointment.
That was the best dogfight I've ever been in.
They might have all been AI ships, but it doesn't matter. The circumstances and sequence of events conspired to make for one heck of a memorable random encounter. I might have lost out on a huge bounty, but I got to see Elite, through a series of random events, tell a tiny, awesome, cinematic story, and that alone was worth the price of admission.
