Blog » Elite Dangerous » I have never written a blog before..

Posted by DHLF on Wednesday 28th January, 2015   ·   5 comments

Normally I do not like the idea of posting my personal view in the public.
But elite:dangerous is eating my spare time like no other game before.
Therefore I will give it a try for this..

So what am I expected to do with a blog?

Maybe I should "talk" about my first contact with ELITE in the last CENTURY ^^
Games for home-computers were sold on tapes. Yuck!
The game box contempts:
-a PRINTED manual
-a pretty A3 sized poster with the ship types(filled, not wireframed Smile )
-the tape itself
and a strange plastic lense.

Because of the possibility to copy tapes easily from one to the other they decided to sell the tape with a special "lense" which you had to put on your TV-screen.
There was a strange marking shown which was only readable through those lense.
Different sized tv sets needed an "alignment" so you finally could type in the code.
Without the proper code the game did not run(surprise:lol)

The copy-protection was called "lens-lock" or so.

Bad people build strange devices to interrupt the running game and.. to save the memory to tape. You get it? Yes..

If someone is out there and load a so "cracked" Elite game on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum..
you could get plenty missiles(255!), money and DANGEROUS state if you save the new game at once instead of starting a new one LOL

Elite was BETTER than Elite:Dangerous because:
-no internet connection needed
-no lags in systems crowded with other players
-collecting .. "free" cargo was not forbidden
-the mining laser was amazing against other ships(slow.. but powerful)
-there was a military laser Smile
-you were able to get an ecm system and an ecm JAMMER..
-you could save an entire coriolis station from a supernova
-there were 7 (or 8?) galaxies (instead of only ONE in E:D)
-lower hardware requirement (48k RAM was enough!)
-you got a Cobra MK-III at the beginning of the game
-it was sold for only 15BP
-it was ready to play from the time it was sold(no gamma needed)
-loading time(from tape) seems to be equal like in E:D
-you started at LAVE not LHS 3447
-the jump drive was.. easier to use
-you could visit THARGOID invasion ships whenever you liked Wink
-all missiles were NOT dumb(except if enemy got ECM)
-bounties were paid at once
-landing computer.. were MUCH faster (while a station in range=instant docking)
-needed NO F*** upgrade, you could have played whenever you wanted
-we got a BACK "window" in our Cobra!!

But back to my first contact with Elite:Dangerous
At first I nearly got crazy about the plenty configuration and keyboard commands.
Spend some hours to "learn" the most important keys while I was lurking for finally PLAYING the game.
Spend more time to get my joystick working (TM HOTAS-X).
A very helpful configuration is explained here https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=16140.
The Thrustmaster Hotas-X is cheap (around 30 EUR) and will do.
But.. even if someone assign up to 4 "commands" to a button (4 shift-buttons) I needed MORE buttons..
Switching accidently to silent mode in combat is a very BAD idea..

So I gave those "TM Hotas Warthog" a try.. a very expensive device.
Really it took me some DAYS to get a clue how to "program" those thing and set it to work as I want with E:D.

The postives about this Hotas Warthog:
+ powerful.
+ looks nice.
+ it is amazing.
+ it is very solid.(iron?!) total weight above 6kg!!
+ add keyboard commands to any trigger! (put "fire4" to chaff key command Big grin )
+ you can add macros(sequence keyboard commands) like equal system power and max the weapons..
+ FIRE1 button got two states: simple press=Fire1, max press= full power to weapons ^^
+ add other commands which are send if you RELEASE the buttons.. (like power equal or to thrusters..)

but: try it if you can.. before you spend soo much money.
- you are left alone.. YOU have to figure out for yourself how things work -.-
- You have to run a TARGET progam any time you want to play
- The device "forget" its programs every shutdown -.-
- lacks one axis so you are left with:
..rolling your ship with one thruster Bash the wall
..Believe me THAT is confusing. Or you get additional pedals.. but.. well.
- Windows cant see all 52 Buttons -.- You must link some buttons to keayboard controls
- configurate this devices takes HOURS

I spend one week to get things running until I decided to reset my account due the high illegal err.. activity I had done (accidently, believe me!).

Now I am exploring the galaxy with my Cobra until I get more money for those ASP.

Big mistakes I made so far:
Cargo scans may not hurt you, if you collected NON-illegal material.
Well.. that is not true. A dozen security ships scanned my cargo and I felt safe.
But.. then someone took a closer view and.. I was suddenly "guilty" -.-

Exploring unexplored star systems.. with cargo in your hold.
BAD idea.. as NPCs will gather to take it from you..

Having not needed those insurance for a week I thought I was able to fly,
put proudly a screenshot(see comments) up here and crashed 5 minutes later into
HAIPENG PORT@ETA Serpentis Bash the wall

While exploring an unidentified signal source I found an Anaconda..
Just seconds later..:
Hell, one hit and my shilds were gone.. AND 75% of the hull.
Again I could barely escape..
Ever got a thruster malfunction AFTER a fight due to damage to the power plant? Eek

When I got enough credits to buy a Cobra I handed my brilliant Adder in..
and got NO money left for upgrading the FSD or weapons or power plant or..
This is because larger ships needs.. higher classes and more expensive devices.
The best FSD (type A class 2) costs 160.224CR
The best FSD (type A class 3) costs 507.901CR
You will get bad mood if you see the costs for the best FSD of an ASP..

With this Cobra I got a better view outside but.. not enough power for my weapons Cry

Playing alone might be dangerous..
Until yesterday(January,27th) I have been attacked only once by a human player.
So I never expected the following situation:
-> thanks to those 6 guys @Eta Serpentis who decided to ram my ship and suddenly attacked me.
Hence.. I switched reverse thruster to avoid collision and forgot to release that switch Undecided
I managed it to get away with my pants dropped(less than 25% left) for repairs.
After that I decided to wipe them out of existence but alas! They left those place.
Because: I have finally enough power for all weapons Evil

[edit(again)]
In comparison to other online games the players in E:D seems much more friendly.
But to avoid such situations in the future I will move to the unexplored areas.

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