Is that art by Vincent Di Fate?
Looks to be in the same style.
Looks to be in the same style.
What inspired YOUR playstyle?
- Thread starter Herlev
- Start date
What inspires my playstyle?
Ultimately it comes to receiving a box for Christmas when I was eleven, containing the Basic D&D rulebook, the module Keep on the Borderlands, a set of dice, and a crayon to fill in the numbers.
A few years later I picked up Star Frontiers, so by the time Elite came out for the C64, my playstyle had pretty much solidified as "create a character, and play the game as if I was them, living in their setting."
Granted, 35 years later, my roleplaying has matured into playing characters very different from myself.
Ultimately it comes to receiving a box for Christmas when I was eleven, containing the Basic D&D rulebook, the module Keep on the Borderlands, a set of dice, and a crayon to fill in the numbers.
A few years later I picked up Star Frontiers, so by the time Elite came out for the C64, my playstyle had pretty much solidified as "create a character, and play the game as if I was them, living in their setting."Granted, 35 years later, my roleplaying has matured into playing characters very different from myself.
Thank you for sharing this. New content to plow through? Cheers!
What happened 7 months ago, though?
Back when I first played an Elite game, being FE2 on Amiga (which had a way better intro than on other systems!), I pottered around tripping over myself (pretty sure I was still single-digit aged)... I was doing a few missions with the Feds when I got up to Assassination missions with them... slow but steady progress. I spent a good deal of my time shipping Computers and Robotics from Barnard's Star to Sol, then fruit and veg + meat on the way back, picking up courier/military missions along the way. Also discovered running Liquor illegally to Ross 128 was also pretty profitable.
Eventually my ship and rank got big enough to do Assassination missions, and one sent me down towards the Empire areas (which at the time, I didn't even realise were in the game). After doing the job, I had to dock up for fuel, so I lucked out and stopped at Facece. There, being the Naval Headquarters I discovered heaps of military missions going to Vequess and Sohoa... slaves also traded for much better profit in that loop, and of course, the proper Imperial Courier (second biggest ship in the game) was here.
So, I ditched my Federal origins and decided to hang out here. Very quickly, I ranked up to do Assassination and Reconnaisance missions with the Imperial Navy, and eventually, bombing missions. I stuck with a Viper w/ Military Drive for a long time, before eventually upgrading to an Asp X w/ 4MW Beam Laser which melted most targets, and had the room to fit shields to protect from #Q$%^#W$$^% ENERGY BOMBS that a lot of assassination targets had (tl;dr AOE weapon which instantly destroyed most smaller ships).
Really got into this, ranking up with the Empire, getting new titles, medals and watching that Elite rank roll up. What was also good was being reminded of my extensive criminal record in Sol every time I went back there
I'd eventually cap out with these activities and get a bit bored, so I stuck outside a Federal station with my Courier and 20MW beam plowing through cops to get my rank up, or going to a recon/bombing mission and deliberately flying close to spawn more enemies and let off my own Energy Bomb to rake in a bunch of kills for the same reasons. While doing this, and plowing through federal forces at the same time, I thought "Man, it would be great if the Empire could actually conquer some of these systems. But that's as far as it went.
...
Fast forward to today, and we've got the BGS, which includes, amongst other things, expansion and war mechanics. I could live without the expansion mechanics (in fact, I'd put up an argument to remove them, but I digress..), but the War mechanics meant I could drive an Imperial agenda and do that thing that was always lacking (and probably, not feasible) in FE2. So I picked an Imperial system which matched a bunch of criteria I'd set, and was surrounded by non-imperial systems, and away I went. And here we are today.
Eventually my ship and rank got big enough to do Assassination missions, and one sent me down towards the Empire areas (which at the time, I didn't even realise were in the game). After doing the job, I had to dock up for fuel, so I lucked out and stopped at Facece. There, being the Naval Headquarters I discovered heaps of military missions going to Vequess and Sohoa... slaves also traded for much better profit in that loop, and of course, the proper Imperial Courier (second biggest ship in the game) was here.
So, I ditched my Federal origins and decided to hang out here. Very quickly, I ranked up to do Assassination and Reconnaisance missions with the Imperial Navy, and eventually, bombing missions. I stuck with a Viper w/ Military Drive for a long time, before eventually upgrading to an Asp X w/ 4MW Beam Laser which melted most targets, and had the room to fit shields to protect from #Q$%^#W$$^% ENERGY BOMBS that a lot of assassination targets had (tl;dr AOE weapon which instantly destroyed most smaller ships).
Really got into this, ranking up with the Empire, getting new titles, medals and watching that Elite rank roll up. What was also good was being reminded of my extensive criminal record in Sol every time I went back there
I'd eventually cap out with these activities and get a bit bored, so I stuck outside a Federal station with my Courier and 20MW beam plowing through cops to get my rank up, or going to a recon/bombing mission and deliberately flying close to spawn more enemies and let off my own Energy Bomb to rake in a bunch of kills for the same reasons. While doing this, and plowing through federal forces at the same time, I thought "Man, it would be great if the Empire could actually conquer some of these systems. But that's as far as it went.
...
Fast forward to today, and we've got the BGS, which includes, amongst other things, expansion and war mechanics. I could live without the expansion mechanics (in fact, I'd put up an argument to remove them, but I digress..), but the War mechanics meant I could drive an Imperial agenda and do that thing that was always lacking (and probably, not feasible) in FE2. So I picked an Imperial system which matched a bunch of criteria I'd set, and was surrounded by non-imperial systems, and away I went. And here we are today.
Some here will think my playing style is kind of childish or 'not in the true meaning of the game' but whatever, I have been called worse!
When I first started playing ED I had just completed the first of what I consider a very good SciFi book series, the Omega Force by Joshua Dalzella. Hence my character is named Jason Burke (the central character in the novels) and my first ship was named the Phoenix. Now all my ships are named Phoenix Something, and I my own head cannon has Lucky, Crusher, Doc, Twingo and even Kage (Jason's crew in the series) off doing their own things.
So that is why in the game I play as a loner, an Independent Contractor, doing what I want to do whilst trying to keep under the radar of those in authority (both on the legal and illegal side of the fence). And so far I have kept to that mantra in how I play, although I haven't got as involved as the Omega Force in galactic affairs (in ED terms, the BGS and PP) but that is a personal choice because I refuse to pander to or even interact with those I don't think are worthy of my time nor effort.
So yeah, I set out to play a character who sometimes flirts close to the line of the law but rarely crosses it, who is willing to take credits from whomever as long as the missions don't swing the moral compass too far and basically doesn't give a rats about the rest of the reprobates he sees.
When I first started playing ED I had just completed the first of what I consider a very good SciFi book series, the Omega Force by Joshua Dalzella. Hence my character is named Jason Burke (the central character in the novels) and my first ship was named the Phoenix. Now all my ships are named Phoenix Something, and I my own head cannon has Lucky, Crusher, Doc, Twingo and even Kage (Jason's crew in the series) off doing their own things.
So that is why in the game I play as a loner, an Independent Contractor, doing what I want to do whilst trying to keep under the radar of those in authority (both on the legal and illegal side of the fence). And so far I have kept to that mantra in how I play, although I haven't got as involved as the Omega Force in galactic affairs (in ED terms, the BGS and PP) but that is a personal choice because I refuse to pander to or even interact with those I don't think are worthy of my time nor effort.
So yeah, I set out to play a character who sometimes flirts close to the line of the law but rarely crosses it, who is willing to take credits from whomever as long as the missions don't swing the moral compass too far and basically doesn't give a rats about the rest of the reprobates he sees.
My playstyle was in the style of a vagabond. I did whatever and wherever I wanted to do something on that day. Usually it started with a goal, but most times I ended up somewhere or with something different. I build and engineered a nice fleet (twice), toured the Guardian ruins, saw all the abandoned settlements, went exploring and found wonders, fought Thargoids, helped out repairing stations, and many other things. I did that until I met the famous used spaceship salesman from Carcosa in the Witch Head. The sales pitch was to intriguing and a few weeks later I packed my bags and was on my way to Colonia. After a fun welcome party I settled down in a rock close to a lava world on the outskirts of the Colonia region. I still do the things I want and like to do, but it's all a little bit more focused and with friends around there is never a dull day out here. Plus I'm doing a lot more pew-pew, which is nice.
Moving to Colonia and meeting my squadron, best decision ever. No more Vagabond life for me.
Moving to Colonia and meeting my squadron, best decision ever. No more Vagabond life for me.
I long for this game to be like FE2. The missions actually meant something.
I think it's a poor show that a game that is 27 years old runs circles around this.
I can't wait to do a clear save and start my first trading mission from Sirocco Station in Ed, but I'm not holding my breath!
Books by Hugh Walters, Andre Norton, Robert A Heinlein, EE Doc Smith and many many others, then in 1985 the release of the original game on the ZX Spectrum and at last I could fly a spaceship and be a free trader.
Nowadays I do bits of everything except piracy and politics, I only do missions to earn rank to acquire ships and even them won't touch massacre or assassination work, the only passengers I take on board are being evacuated from a burning station (and even in that short trip they whine), I don't remember being a fan of missions even in FEII it felt too much like having a boss and a job.
When available I was fairly obsessive about taking part in every CG or II that I could reach in or near the bubble now I am being more relaxed or even lazy
Nowadays I do bits of everything except piracy and politics, I only do missions to earn rank to acquire ships and even them won't touch massacre or assassination work, the only passengers I take on board are being evacuated from a burning station (and even in that short trip they whine), I don't remember being a fan of missions even in FEII it felt too much like having a boss and a job.
When available I was fairly obsessive about taking part in every CG or II that I could reach in or near the bubble now I am being more relaxed or even lazy
With my Klingon head ridges on, a 6 pack of kestrel super and a semi-clean pair of underpants, i am inspired by.. Spock, obviously. Being all logical in my Viper Mk4 while inebriated and tired.
Old WoW veteran here too.That's pretty interesting, I actually played for 2 years as a loner, pushing the grind of earning credits and unlocking all the engineers... I can agree that this game has a heavy grind, then again... I come from games like Eve Online and World of Warcraft.
Compared to those, Elite Dangerous is a cake walk
What I miss in Elite vs WoW is End Game. Something to work towards.
My play style is pretty much hoard credits. Have a wealthy life, buy if you feel like it, Credits are not an issue, I don't have to ask how much something costs, because I can just buy it.
I will still hunt for the 10 or 15% discount, because why spend the cash if I could save it?
Still, happy hoarding.
I was Elite Trader faster than I realised. Passenger missions to the core for 50m and 47m? Yep, off we went. Twice.
Taking my first passenger to a 6k LY away rock? Sure. Paid a handsome some to afford an upgrade to an Asp I think.
WoW's endgame was wonderfully improved over time. Slowly, we were freed from simple gear grinds, whether that was in the arena, or by running the same raids over and over again, or in the bad old days of LBRS/UBRS dungeon running. They kept adding a multitude of little things to do. I spent so many hours chasing rare mounts, catching magical carp to unlock a simple spawnable fishing chair, collecting cosmetic items, achievement exploration, pet and title collecting... my god, the sheer volume of weird little things they crammed into that game over the years is absurd. I genuinely don't think anyone has ever built an online theme park quite like it. EVE comes close. EQ is still technically a thing. I believe DAoC is too. But no one did it better than Blizzard.
Hell yes. The huge variety of activities one could do is something I do miss.
Of course, that is based on the fact that some things can drop or did drop, which made the "grind" rewarding, other than just getting past another hurdle.
Collecting cosmetic items was always a big thing for me. ED has a shop for that. Throw a coin to your
Pet Battles in Wow were huge for me. That's as close to Pokemon I ever got to play without playing Pokemon, before PoGo came along. I doubt we would get minigames like that in ED, but who knows?
In all fairness, WoW is 15 years old, ED is only 5 years old, but after 5 years, WoW was 2 (paid) expansions in, ED is one in so far.
I just kept setting challenges for myself, getting to the next ship, the next rank, go see significant the thing - its been a great five years; recently finally got my second elite stamp with some exploration between the bubble and Colonia, have the ship of my dreams in the anaconda though now working towards the Corvette, got taken out of hyperspace by a thargoid back we've they showed up, (though never taken down a full thargoid, that's still something for the goals list). Just keep aiming over the horizon, and when I get there, aim for the next horizon.
Character wise, I would describe my character as a space bum, mostly because I don't focus on one thing in this game for long, achieve something then move on to another goal all the time.
Character wise, I would describe my character as a space bum, mostly because I don't focus on one thing in this game for long, achieve something then move on to another goal all the time.
They've kinda messed it up now. Imagine only being able to do X amount of missions, gather X amount of credits and X amount of materials pr. day/week. I hope Elite never introduces time gating, cuz then I'm outta here ;p
A total disregard for tactics, appraisal of enemy strength, or even basic risk reward scales, my playstyle was (hell still is basically) "have ship, will travel. reads the card of a man" bonus points for picking the movie references
Fun fact.
I read the book. Many years later watched the film. Didn't made a connection to the book, tho it felt somewhat familiar. Many years later re-read teh book as I've found it on the shelf, among others. Still didn't get the reference, tho this time it felt awfully familiar. Some time later I got the faceplam moment and finally connected the dots...
AS for the play style - yesterday I have logged in, made 6 jumps to my home station, bought handful of paintjobs and spent the rest of the evening cycling through my fleet and applying paints. I wish I could sit and admire my fleet instead of having bowse-o-tron wire-frame holo.
Sometimes I spend more time watching at my fleet than actually playing the game. Collector's syndromme?