Monday 30 March 2015

The wait for us is over

The race to Elite is over, at least for these guys. My hearty congratulations - Hard work, and hard won. Well done:
CMDR Tequila (Exploration)
CMDR Lordkee (Trading)
CMDR Fromtonrouge (Combat)
And ultimate bragging rights go to CMDR Onepercent (Triple Elite)

However, this is the opening stanza of my personal journey to Elite, in at least one category. So far I'm Scout (Exploration), Merchant (Trading) and the rather deflating Mostly Harmless (Combat) although it's a Douglas Adams Hitchhikers book title, so there's some comfort in that, at least.

Lugh, here I come. On the one hand it's the story of The Republic of Ireland, and I'm a republican by inclination, but in the other I'm totally a Fed too. Probably grind Fed rep. UPDATE: Got there, nothing doing. Back to Lave for rares - Those A class upgrades to the Asp won't buy themselves.

In non-Elite news, there's a new Borderlands Pre-Sequel DLC pack - The Claptastic Voyage! Tried it, loved it, but got totally owned.

Monday 16 March 2015

Painite? Sounds, er, painful

Greetings, fellow commanders

So, there's a new mineral, Painite. We know it exists by it's crazy 30+k prices in the commodities markets, but we have no clue where to get it, the ultimate phantom resource.

I do hope this is FD's way to make mining a worthwhile venture. In the meantime I hope you're all updating Thrudd's Trading Tools or Slopey's BPC (I don't have a good link, sorry)

I've used both, and was very impressed by what I found. Turns out Painite is a real thing: See HERE

I thought it was cobblers, turned out I was wrong. I may try my hand at mining if these are not a wild goose chase.

Rare Runs - Currently tooling around Lave/Leesti/Diso picking up 60 tons of rares so I can make my limited 60 tons of space pay for themselves. We'll see how that pans out

Spray painting my backpack. Always fun doing sprayjobs on my gear. I recently sprayed a stencil based on the Elite logo that came on my Elite logo T shirt onto my jacket. Now I plan to give my Boblbee backpack the same treatment, so I'm spraying a combination of black, red and white digital camo, over a black and red honeycomb background, with a yellow Elite Logo on one side. Should be interesting.....pictures to follow.

As ever, your humble overlord

Jimbob(CMDR Jim Backer #5224)

Sunday 15 March 2015

Widdershins/Terry Pratchett station, anyone?

Hey, back in the chair! Loving Elite:Dangerous, and finally flying my Lakon Spaceways Asp Explorer. Although it does sound a littler close to Ass Explorer, which I'm sure is probably an adult movie franchise. If not, I came up with the name and want a slice of the profits.

The Asp is a lovely ship and the first thing you notice after selling your type 6 (The White Van of Space) is that it handles so much better. Even with all the weapon slots filled and as much cargo as you can carry (80 if my memory serves) it still handles like a viper compared to the Type 6. I did like my type 6 but (a) it had a 'Shoot Me!' bumper sticker on the back and (b) you could only get it in dull white. Compare and contrast the old Ford Transit, famously the mount of British 'White Van Man' see HERE for details. The Lakon Type 6 doesn't even have a 'Trotter Independant Trading' paint job

If you get a chance, donate to wikipedia. They give you free information, and -most- of it is good. Almost all of it.
Leonard Nimoy died recently, that was sad, he seemed like a really nice chap, and seeing Bill Shatner talk so warmly about him in Frankfurt last year, I reckon he must have been a solid guy. Frontier Developments have honoured him with a station orbiting Vulcan, and rightly so. Me, I reckon Sir Terry Pratchett is also deserving of a station/world/something. I've posted on the Elite Facebook page to get a world within a 12LY radius of Wolf 359 called Widdershins in honour of Terry's book dark side of the sun, one of his few Sci-Fi books.

Talking fo the commander's chair, considering building a chair in the likeness of the Flight Chairs in the film Alien, aboard the Nostromo. Like this:

The main reason is it's cool as all hell, but it also look confortable, and I can mount the Saitek X52 Joystick control system on the ends of the armrests. I will need to go speak to the lovely people of the RPF (Replica Prop Forum) who are a practically bottomless pit of information

Anyhow, I'm being called to iron stuff for the kids (It's Mothers' day here, so I go to help the smashing mother of my smashing kids)

Be nice to your Mum, you only get one.

Fly safe, fly true!

Wednesday 4 March 2015

Back in the chair, the CMDR's chair

Hey Everybody, I'll not mention how long it's been. You can check. I've kinda missed you. Let's see. Eldest is 7, youngest will be 4 in May. I still don't play WoW. However, I am playing Elite:Dangerous. Currently rocking that most awful of ships, the Type 6 by Lakon, a huge, lumpen brick of a ship. You know when a ship is transitory when it doesn't come with paint jobs. Surprised really as I reckon Frontier Development could have made a fortune with Trotter Import Traders decals for the side. "Lave, Witchhaul, Sol, Putney."

Currently only half a million from an Asp. This does come with paint jobs. It's also a lot more shooty.
Anyhoo, new ships beckon, the Beta for Wings (Update 1.2) is out today, and images are appearing of the two new showstoppers, the Vulture (Core Systems new heavy fighter, and the Fer De Lance, Falcon DeLacy's new multipurpose beasty.



Photos courtesy of Roy van Rumpt and Mike Pearson
Shop Smart, Shop S Mart!