Ya'rrr Space Pirate Xerin here to tell ye some tales of my adventures in Elite: Dangerous. I sat down and had the hardest time with purchasing the game, because you get the game as part of the expansion which releases soon, but at the same time I just kind of want to play right now and boy howdy was it something amazing. Being a space pirate has been a ton of fun with lots of wacky, insane adventures, and I've only had the game a few days now. From nearly running out of fuel and discovering the joys of a fuel scoop, to answering a signal source and it being a group of incompetent pirates who I'm able to take out, but not without first having my ship basically have to tow itself back to the space station on fire.

I was rather impressed by a game without much to do having a lot of interesting things to do in it. There is no breadcrumbs, no instruction manual, or any single player storyline. You have a rather shoddy ship, some weapons, a small cargo hold, and the title "CMDR" ready and willing to go out into a giant, huge, large world and do stuff. Basically, it's Pirates! in space, with good graphics, great combat, and good flight controls.

My favorite part is the smuggling, taking a high risk high reward attitude to make credits fast. Within my first hour of the game, with no clue how to fly, fight, or trade I was at 300,000+ credits, in a new ship, outfitted with some upgrades, and ready for more by running smuggling missions. Which, by the way, aren't specifically easy. Doing my first one for 120,000 credits was nerve wrecking. I had to get 35LY away with my default equipment, 1,000 credits, and no clue how to play the game beyond doing a few tutorial maps. Leaving the ship, I started making jump after jump.

At some point, the NPCs caught wind of me smuggling goods, and began trying to jump me as I entered new systems. Interdicted once, I was able to escape and make it to my next destination. However, I was out of fuel and didn't have a fuel scoop yet, so I had to land at two different outposts between here and there with my goods on my ship. Biting my nails, I was able to get by without much hassle, barely avoiding NPC confrontation until the final destination, where my cargo hold was scanned right as I entering the station. Luckily, I had made it inside and got a fine of 1,000 credits which was laughable compared to the bounty waiting for me inside.

With that cash I was able to upgrade my ship, get some new gear, extend my FSD range, and take on more smuggling missions. With a fuel scoop, I could hang around a star for a few seconds to refuel without having to worry about stopping anywhere and with my new FSD drive, I could skip many, many nodes between here and there. Making another two runs for 100k+ credits, I was then flush with cash, without having to worry about any issues because even if I was caught or destroyed, I was now so far ahead of where I was at the very start, that it wasn't that big of a deal. At any point I could go legit too, stop my space pirate and smuggling ways, and move on to be a space trader or space mercenary - the kind of freedom that's sort of exhilarating.

Of course, being that it is Elite Dangerous, there isn't a major city hub to sit and be proud of my newbie accomplishments. While I did see and hear other players talking while flying around, I at no point in my space pirate ways thought to parlay with them, for I was on a mission to deliver alcohol where alcohol didn't belong. This resulted in a really, really fun experience, all the while I'm sitting around grinning at the thought that I'm basically a space pirate.

Anyway, I figured I'd share my joy. This is by no way a review of the game, of which I barely have enough experience to speak about, but it was fun what I've played so far and hop to jump in after some of the big launches coming up (SWTOR anyone?).


To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Elite: Dangerous Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Get in the bush with David "Xerin" Piner as he leverages his spectacular insanity to ask the serious questions such as is Master Yi and Illidan the same person? What's for dinner? What are ways to elevate your gaming experience? David's column, Respawn, is updated near daily with some of the coolest things you'll read online, while David tackles ways to improve the game experience across the board with various hype guides to cool games.

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