I’ve always wanted to take part in one of the Buckyball races! I’d heard loads about them on Lave Radio and I thought it might be really cool to enter one and have a go. Well, this year a series of 8 Buckyball races are being organised and the first one, called “Back To Pareco” I decided to have a go at.

It’s held, as the name suggests, at the Pareco system. A lonely Tauri star orbited by an invisible comet which is itself orbited by six stations. The challenge lies in visiting as many stations as you can, in a certain order within a time limit of twenty minutes. Sounds simple no? I consider myself quite adept at flying with ease through the slot of a starport, quickly locating the landing pad (unless its directly below the slot – which is a right pain in the goolies) and settling on it, all within a minute. The problem, of course, is that two of the stations one must land at are outposts.

Now I’ve been working with horses for ten years, ever since my youngest autistic son (adult now) suddenly clicked with horse riding. Before I knew it we had loaned a horse and it was time to learn how to put all the bits on. The saddle was fine, reasonably straightforward but the bridle? It just looked to me like leather spaghetti!

Now I can take ’em all apart, clean ’em, and fix ’em back together in my sleep.

But outposts are the bloody same aren’t they? Lots of bits and lengths and boxes all randomly welded together to make an incoherent puzzle that flummoxes the poor Commander as it looks like a totally different shape depending on which direction you approach it from. There are different types with landing pads on different parts of the station, and when you ask for permission to land you’re given, say, landing pad 2 and you have no idea on which of the dozens of facets of the outpost that pad might be.

And so I began my challenge. I fly to Pareco in the Wormwood’s Bane (Miss Wormwood is an elderly kindergarten teacher nearing retirement. She teaches a class of six year olds and one of them causes her no end of trouble. A little boy with such a vivid imagination he thinks his cuddly tiger, Hobbes, is real, and his best friend. That boy’s name is Calvin, and he is Miss Wormwood’s bane). I land at the starting station, Garden Ring, which happens to be an outpost. It takes me a while to find the landing pad, but find it I do and I land, wait for the UTC clock to reach an appropriate time and then launch, selecting the next station, Crown Orbital, which, thankfully, is a starport.

Easy! Boost towards starport, request permission to dock, speed to half way as you pull up to face the slot, quickly glide through no matter which way up, little moment of panic as you try and locate your assigned pad, shoot toward it, slow down at the last minute, deploy landing gear, lower down and land.

Then launch, select next station in the navigation panel as the pad is rotated back to face the slot, up thrusters, retract landing gear, boost out the slot, supercruise to the next station. Which is Asire Dock, which is another outpost. Bugger.

I ask permission to dock, and am given landing pad 2. I know the one directly in front of me is the single medium pad, but I want one of the small ones. Where are they? And which one is landing pad 2? After what seems lake an age, but is probably about thirty seconds or so, poking around nooks and crannies of the station, I find landing pad 2, but it’s in a really awkward place, the wrong way around and it seems it needs to be approached though a wall. I try one of those “fly in, flip around and land” manoeuvres and find myself belly flopping on the wall.

I loose my shields and a fair portion of my hull. I re-orientate myself, land, repair, and carry on. Somehow, after having several more of these experiences when returning to these outposts, plus one when my assigned starport pad was directly underneath the slot, and over a dozen “Reckless Flying” fines, AND a couple of insurance claims for destroyed ships, I manage 9 stations. I call it a practice run and have several more before I take my official run. The official run doesn’t go all that much better. Some of the most panicked, bizarre landings I have ever performed, but I manage a total of 11 stations.

And there I am! Number 21 on the leaderboard. I could go and spend a while inspecting these outposts, getting to know every inch so I can fly straight to any pad and land like a boss. But the Rush Fleet calls, and I have the La Villa Stangiato waiting at Robigo Mines ready to take an endless stream of criminals who will pay millions of credits to stare at an unremarkable tourist beacon at an unremarkable Earth Like World about sixty light years away for about 10 seconds. But you should all have a go if you already haven’t. Push me off the leaderboard – I dare ya! Just click Back To Pareco, follow the directions and go for it! It’s damn good fun! Oh, and you have until the end of Sunday to do it.

Look out for more Buckyball racing during the rest of the year! See you there!

Just an update to say the next ships are purchased and outfitted and some engineering done. But I was expecting the latest cg reward of the double engineered FSD’s to be ready by now! I can’t see the point in wasting materials on stock FSD’s when a ready done one is waiting to replace it. So, as soon as those FSD’s are available, I’ll put them in my ships, fly them, take screenshots and the next album will be finished! Until then…hold tight!

Firstly, I must apologise for not updating for so long. I have been finding it difficult to find time to write. It is not a pastime encouraged by those I live with. As soon as I pick up my laptop to write I am assaulted by a slew of tuts and disparaging complaints. So I write when I can, it now eats into my Elite time in the early hours of the morning when everyone else is in bed. Hopefully the next part of the Fuel Rat Diaries will be ready towards the beginning of next week, as will the next two Rush Fleet ships for the 12th album.

I’ve never taken part in a Community Goal before. No particular reason for it, it just never occurred to me to sign up to any. I was always way too focused on something else to be distracted by them. This one, however, piqued my interest. I’d heard of the previous Colonia Bridge projects offering a 6a double engineered FSD and I really wanted one, but the target was reached, and the goal discontinued before I could get a chance to join in. The expansion of my Rush Fleet means that the less engineering I have to do the better. The offer of not only a 6a FSD, but both a 5a and a 4a too, all double engineered, was far too tempting to pass up! When the project began once more last Thursday, I finally had a chance to get involved. What’s more, my Imperial Cutter, the Big Money, was ready to begin hauling.

I decided to just go for it and play in open. A big risk. Gankers are always flocking to delivery systems eager to create mayhem and misery. The loss of a cutter full of cargo would be a bitter pill to swallow. I’ve nothing against gankers personally. Not any more. I used to loathe them but have come to realise they’re part of the game and create more danger and excitement than there would be otherwise. I’m glad they’re there and if I’m not in the mood to risk a gank then I’ll just hide in solo mode briefly. It’s no big deal. I usually don’t want to be disturbed by anyone, even friendly players when I use solo. Most of the time I can be found in open. It feels more dynamic. Less of a game, more of an experience. I would be playing on my PS account too, so much less chance of being ganked anyway. I called up the Big Money from storage, plotted a route to Macdonald Settlement in the Alcor system, and launched from Oleskiw City.

Suffice to say, I really enjoyed myself. I only hauled for a couple of hours and still managed to get myself into the top 75% of contributors. It was really, really rewarding being a small part of a much bigger community drive – a feeling I wasn’t prepared for. I was making about 18 million per trip too but the best thing was, even on PS, even at the quietest time of the day (around 05.00-08.00 OST) I managed to meet someone. As I was making what was to be my next to last drop I flew in through the slot only to see another Imperial Cutter lifting off from her pad. It’s almost unheard of to see an NPC cutter so it had to be another player and a quick glance at my scanner told me I was right – an empty square. We said hello to each other and became friends and bumped into each other a couple of times more until it was time for me to log off for the day. Now, this happens in all MMO’s but somehow, in Elite, it’s different.

Cut to two days later. I decide to continue contributing to the Goal. I’ve just returned from a small LRR (Long Range Rescue – in this case about 3000ly) and before I start I check the CG status board. I’m still in the top 75% but for how long? So I continue hauling those thermal cooling units, making around 19 million credits per trip. On my second return to MacDonald’s Settlement I found the space around her full of Cutters and Type 9’s all of whom are happily chatting to each other as they dock. I decide to turn on my docking computer and watch as everyone jostles for space to fly through the slot. The Blue Danube kicks in, and I’m treated to the beautiful balletic movements of several massive ships dancing around as they fly in and out of the station. It was such an enthralling moment. Plus, not only did I reach the top 50% but achieved Trader Elite too! Add to this that I’m also spending time with the Fuel Rats on their Ratchat IRC channel via my laptop, generally messing around and having a fun time (you’d be amazed at the shenanigans Rats can get up to on a lowly IRC channel).

So it comes to the final day of the effort. I can’t contribute any further. The noise on twitter is almost deafening as the community nears its goal. I’m desperate to be part of the final push but I am far too busy IRL. My time is not my own, unless I steal time from sleep. Either I loose sleep or I loose sanity. I’d rather loose sleep. The goal is reached. There is a cacophony of celebration on twitter. My heart bleeds to be a part of it. The following morning I get up at 05.00 to check my contribution – it’s still top 50%! I cheer up somewhat, I was part of it. I helped everyone reach the goal. I head back home to Oleskiw City, purchase the next two ships for the Fleet and outfit them ready for engineering. Then I hear the creak from upstairs and realise my time is already over, and the servers will be down soon anyway.

But there will always be tomorrow morning! I live for tomorrow morning!

So you can see – Elite Dangerous is more than just a game for me. Far more. It is an escape. It is my social life. It allows me to achieve things as a team. It staves off the black dog that forever nips at my heels. No other game or pastime comes close to doing this for me. And I don’t think I am alone.

Welcome Commanders and Rush fans! And if you are both a Commander and a Rush fan then twice welcome! I hope you all had a wonderful Yuletide. Being autistic I find this time of year a struggle. And this year it has been a bigger struggle than ever. If it wasn’t for Elite Dangerous I don’t think I’d handle things as stoically as I seem to manage. It’s a lifeline for me. Thankfully the season is almost at an end. Spring will be here soon and the days are getting longer again. I would just like to thank the great people at Frontier Developments for this game. It guides me through the mire.

So! Twenty ships purchased. Only eighteen to go! The light may not be at the end of the tunnel yet, but I can smell the fresh air! Mind you it’s a pretty fun tunnel to be in as tunnels go. Those last two ships were an absolute blast to fly, so much so that I purchased them both in my PC account too! Exploring tenuous atmospheric planets in a chrome covered Imperial Courier is a joy that defies description. It is such a beautiful ship! The way the starlight gleams of the chrome hull! I could gaze at her for hours. The only thing I find a bit disconcerting is the view from the cockpit. And that’s because I’m not playing in VR. That’s how that particular cockpit is meant to be viewed. I would love to play Elite Dangerous in VR. It’s a dream of mine. But persuading Wifeborger of the benefits of splashing out on a pricey VR setup is another matter. Especially after splashing out on a 3000 series gpu pc.

I’ve been reading Reclamation by Drew Wagar. He describes the Courier as, “a dream of spaceflight rendered into art” – such a beautiful way to sum up its image. Flying around in it is such immense fun. That, I find, is one of the joys of Elite Dangerous. You don’t really have to be achieving anything in order to have fun. You don’t have to keep progressing all the time. Just muck about, experiment, do things you’ve never done before. Canyon running, for example, or circumnavigating a small moon in an SRV. Get as close as you can to a neuron star or get caught in the exclusion zone of a black hole. But I’m getting away from the point. I really enjoyed reading Reclamation and am eagerly looking forward to reading his other books. Well, listening to anyway. I don’t have any time to read on top of playing Elite and writing this blog. So I listen to audiobooks while I’m busy with some of the dozens of daily duties I am bound to. So if you are a Commander and have never heard of Drew then I cannot recommend his writing enough. And if you are a Rush fan and enjoy a bit of gripping sci-fi then he has written lots of other books as well! So check him out.

Also my site has passed one thousand views! Never imagined it would get that many this quickly! I just want to say a huge thank you to every one of you for donating your time to have a butchers at my humble website.

Lots of things planned to be added in the very near future. A piece on Rush virtuoso guitarist Alex Lifeson to come very soon, as well as a couple more PC ships. Also, it shouldn’t be too much longer until I buy the next two ships to accompany the next Rush album and then, by the end of next week, I ought to have published the next episode in my Fuel Rat Diaries! So toodle pip all you lovely Rush fans and ED Commanders! Have an awesome rest of the week and a very, very Happy New Year! o/

So I’ve been hauling. And hauling. And hauling. And in between that I’ve been ratting. So the PS5 hauling away in the Subdivisions, flying from station to station, looking for the best profits I can find from her huge cargo racks, whilst also keeping my PC account on the galaxy map ready for a client to call for help. It’s been a really, really relaxing experience (interspersed with bouts of excitement when an emergency call comes in to the Fuel Rats’ IRC and I call jumps). It reminded me strongly of playing the original game back in 1984/’85.

By today’s standards of course it looks awful. But back then it was the very best a humble 48k ZX Spectrum could push out. On Xmas day I excitedly looked in my pillow case (we had pillow cases rather than stockings) and there it was! It took around five minutes to load up from cassette. It came with a card keyboard overlay that showed you which keys did what, which was amazing because no game had used quite that many controls before. It also came with a novella – The Dark Wheel, and you played the commander featured in the story – a certain Commander John Jameson. A legend in the Elite canon. More about him in a later article. I was hooked immediately of course. It took me a long time to learn how to dock with the spinning Coriolis stations, but once I’d mastered that the whole universe was my oyster. The process of having a massive sandbox type game where you could trade, fight or mine your way to riches to afford more powerful upgrades to your ship as you gradually worked your way to the rank of Elite had never been done before. I was hooked. I was no longer a schoolboy. I was an intergalactic commander, trying to make his own way in a dangerous universe, Of course I spent the vast bulk of the time flying between the systems, looking for the biggest profits.

Long before Elite Dangerous was even a concept I used to dream of what Elite could be as personal computers became more and more advanced. The first I heard of it was on the BBC News programme “Click” where it was showed off to Spencer Kelly by David Braben (one of the programmers of the original Elite) I thought to myself “I MUST have that game.” but my financial circumstances at the time prevented me from investing in a powerful enough PC to run it. A few years ago though that changed. I bought it. Downloaded it. Installed it. Played it.

It was heaven!

It’s taking me a while though, this hauling. But it should only be a couple more weeks of hauling, and mining, and some more material gathering, before I’m ready to buy the next two ships to accompany the next album in Rush’s career. Until then, please enjoy the beginning of a new page featuring my PC ships and a piece on the vocalist and bassist and keyboardist AND bass pedalist (gasp) – the awesome Geddy Lee! The Fuel Rat diaries should be ready next week.

Finally I have caught up to where I actually am in the game. Progress with Albums/Ships will be a lot slower now. I have a lot more engineers to unlock which requires me to mine so much stuff and trade at so many markets and so on. I am also going to start the Imperial rank grind which will give everyone a big clue as what four ships are coming next! But which songs will be allocated to them? Keep checking back to see! To fill the gaps between the slower Rush Fleet ship updates I will be posting some pages on my PC ships AND I will be publishing my Fuel Rat Diaries. Please leave feedback in the comments if you’re visiting. How do my opinions of Rush’s music compare with yours? How do my views on the ships differ? It will be great to hear from people! So, o7 Commanders! Fly safe! And visit regularly! Please? o/

I was thinking of paying tribute to Neil Peart on 7 January 2023 (next year will be too soon to organise this) – the anniversary of his death from a glioblastoma. I plan to engineer a hauler, call it the Rocinante, put 4t of tobacco in it, take it to V1357 Cygni and crash it into the black hole of Cygni X-1. I hope to make it a charity event with any money raised going to The Glioblastoma Foundation. I have no streaming experience, and no streaming equipment. I’m hoping as many in the Elite Dangerous community can join me as possible. Maybe there’s someone who could wing up with me and stream it from their point of view? Anyway, it’s just an idea for now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

So the site is now up and running. A massive thank you to everyone who has visited so far! Especially interest from some really special people (you know who you are)! Second album is now ready too. There’s so much more I want to do with this blog, such as an article I originally wanted to send to Sagittarius Eye before they paused indefinitely (thanks guys – sheesh! ;-)) namely the “Fuel Rat Diaries” (yes, I’m a Rat too) and a Great Expedition picture diary on which I shall soon set off in my RatConda on my PC Odyssey account. Keep checking in for updates! I shall post them as soon as I can.

Well, my blog will soon be launched. Please be patient though. This is the first time I’ve ever built a website or published a blog. I’m a bit of an old duffer too so getting to grips with the site building software is taking me a lot longer than it ought. The site is really rather ropey and unimaginative at the moment but the more I add and the more I fiddle around and learn the nicer it’s going to look.

I hope.

If you’re a fan of both Rush and Elite Dangerous please feel free to comment on what ships should marry to what songs. Bear in mind, however, that I have chosen all the ships already right up until studio album number 11 (Power Windows), but after that I’m really not sure which ships should go with which songs. If you’re not a fan of either then thanks a mil for stopping by and I hope you don’t find the info terribly dull. I wouldn’t blame you if you did though to be honest.