This is my story with Elite so far.

I've been documenting my adventures in Elite since 13.08.2018, and have been playing since 22.03.2018. I used EDSM first, but when I uncovered the immense possibilities of Inara it wasn't long before I moved here.

At first I wasn't convinced to the game. Too complicated, too time-consuming, I thought. Also it reminded me of EVE, which I heard to be exceptionally intricate and demanding, and with a very steep progression curve, and honestly I didn't want to grind and compete with others just to enjoy some spaceship-flying-sim. So I tried Everspace, and really enjoyed it - the action was fast, the goal clear, even though it still lacked a campaign at the time I played it, was only a pre-release. But it had only 3 ships, and I wanted more... so much more...

So along came Elite. I was deeply attracted by the accuracy (presumed, at least) of the representation of the Milky Way and our neighbouring star systems, also by the multitude of ships, availability of solo-mode (I'm not an enthusiast of MMO) and, well, the looks... beautiful stars, a variety of planets, nebulas, and shooting ranges of ships big and small, entwined in a colorful, flickering dance of laser beams and flying missiles. Such indescribable beauty. I was hooked in an instant.

As every other Commander, however, I started with a little Sidewinder (which, to be honest, didn't really feel little at all at the time). I read the guides on "how to make money", "which ships to choose", what is what and which is which. I slowly immersed myself in the astronomically intricate world of frameshift-drives, supercruise, wakes, surface prospecting, engineering, hardpoints, maneuvers and all that Elite is - a masterfully crafted, multirole space-sim with a great community, living-and-breathing environment and further unending development of new and fascinating content.

From Sidewinder to Hauler, I made my first credits doing trade runs and courier missions. Then came the Bounty Hunting in my Cobra Mk III. And a bit of exploration and surface prospecting with the amazing almost-40-ly Dolphin. I was already set up on EDSM and equipped with EDDiscovery to track my progress, for which I am thankful to this day.

Somewhere along the way came the idea to name all my ships in a concise manner. I'm no expert in medieval warfare, but the names and variety of "premodern combat weapons" that I found on Wikipedia instantly appealed to me, and so it was settled. Combined with the role-designating acronyms and ship-specific IDs, a splendid roster was born. For example: Cobra Mk III - Bounty-Hunter SpaceShip - BHSS "Falchion" - ShipID [CM3-02] (02 as it was the 2nd ship that I bought after the Sidewinder, and also it was numbered this way by EDSM). And, among others:

• Type-7 Transporter - Trader SpaceShip - TSS "Roundhead" [T7T-07] (I mean, just look at that canopy! "Roundhead" - it's perfect!)
• Python - Passenger-Carrier SpaceShip - PSCC "Morning Star" [PYT-13] (A must-have name combining the renowned Morgenstern and astronomical context, also an invaluable money-maker)
• Federal Gunship - Heavy Fighter SpaceShip - HFSS "Flamberge" [FGS-19] (it turns like a cow covered in bulletproof armour, and it basically is one, but it's extraordinarily pretty and sturdy, was my first ship to equip Ship-Launched Fighters - in actual combat, that is, not like the Keelback - and it also has that Federal vibe to it)
• Type-9 Heavy - Miner SpaceShip - MSS "Sledgehammer" [T9H-21] (Because if you mine, you got to mine in style... Largest possible cargo hold filled to the brim with limpets, and long hours of scraping them rocks with mining lasers - at least before the advent of deep-core mining... also, "Sledgehammer", another fitting name, for a bulky, cumbersome flying space anvil)
• Imperial Eagle - Racer SpaceShip - RSS "Gladius" [IEA-22] (I scored 2nd on SPVFA with it once! Storming the canyons, raising ash clouds from planet's surface, this ship is a true speed demon)
• Alliance Chieftain - Guardian Research SpaceShip - GRSS "Katzbalger" [ACT-24] (When they released the Alliance ships along with the Guardian ship-launched fighters, I knew I couldn't get one without the other. And so the hulking "Katzbalger" stood atop many a Guardian ruin, earning me 100M with Ram Tah and an Elite in exploration)
• Keelback - Scavenger SpaceShip - SSS "Sickle" [KBK-25] (I read so much hate for the Keelback online, and I must admit the rotating side engines look really nasty during maneuvers, but hey - it's a neat Guardian SLF carrier and a fine USS scavenger)
• Beluga Liner - Distant Worlds SpaceShip - DWSS "Sarissa" [7KT-DW] (Till the last second I couldn't decide between the universally acclaimed long-range Anaconda and the overheating worse-scooping Beluga, but eventually I couldn't resist the breathtaking canopy view, and it turned out that a large fuel tank also had its benefits and was quite comfortable to fly even with the 6A fuel scoop)
• Federal Corvette - Ultimate Heavy Fighter Spaceship - UHFSS "Zweihander" [FCR-36] (Now that's some serious firepower! Also, I couldn't resist the name, considering it's the only ship with two huge hardpoints. It's destructive potential is incomparable to anything I've witnessed before)
• Krait Phantom - Colonia eXplorer SpaceShip - CXSS "Scimitar" [KPH-39] (Tried it during the beta of Beyond, didn't like the repetitive exhaust pattern. Then I saw more and more pictures of Phantom in front of things, and realised it's a gorgeous, sleek and elegant ship, which I couldn't wait to try out once I got to Colonia. It flies like a charm, the view is spectacular even if slightly obstructed on the sides, the cockpit has a fierce red colour, and I'm really going to miss it back in the Bubble)
• Imperial Cutter - Thargoid Hunter SpaceShip - THSS "Claymore" [HELENA] (Named after my newborn daughter, it was a reward I bought myself after killing my first Cyclops and earning the Interceptor Bobblehead. So far it didn't fight a single Thargoid - it still needs to earn it's worth mining Painite... intensively...)

Also, ever since mining became unimaginably profitable I've assembled quite a collection of deep-core miners:

• Imperial Clipper - Miner SpaceShip - MSS "Ranseur" [ICL-27] (perfect internals, beautiful canopy view, and at that point I just couldn't bear not having the Abrasion Blaster, Seismic Charge Launcher, Sub-surface Displacement Missile and Mining Laser... or two...)
• Federal Dropship - Miner SpaceShip - MSS "Ulfberht" [FDS-28] (One for the Empire, one for the Feds. It wasn't as good as the Clipper, but I desperately wanted a role for this ship, and also it was less likely to blow up after accidentally hitting an asteroid, as happened to me once with the Clipper... loaded with 100T of Opals... such a loss.)
• Python - Miner SpaceShip - MSS "Menaulion" [PYT-29] (Just as I started to get the hang of it, finding 1,6M/t Void Opal buying stations, I noticed that the more blasters, the more chunks sometimes appear...)
• ASP Explorer - Miner SpaceShip - MSS "Falcata" [ASX-30] (Who'd have thought ASPX would make such a great miner! Five neatly converging blasters allowed to extract up to 5 chunks out of every surface deposit and 25 tonnes out of a single rock... At least until it got nerfed. But the cargo hold was really small, and I couldn't spare neither the collector limpets nor the docking computer)
• Type-10 Defender - Ultimate Super-Heavy SpaceShip - USHSS "Warhammer" [T10-32] (Didn't fly it much before leaving for DW2 but I hope it will prove a worthy successor to the "Sledgehammer", and although I eventually didn't try out the 8 converging blasters in multicrew before the nerf-hammer hit, I still hope it'll be a decent extreme miner or Thargoid fighter)
• Adder - Deep-Space Miner SpaceShip - DSMSS "Rockhammer" [ADD-40] and Type-7 - DSMSS "Clubhammer [T7T-41] (I wanted so much to take them to ExpAnch for the Community Goal, one for cracking the rocks and one for grinding the materials, but with no Shipyard it all was futile... So now I'm hoping to bring these beauties to the Bubble and give them a second chance here, closer to home)

Basically every ship of mine has its own story and purpose - I don't do refitting and multi-purpose ships, not with such a great variety to test out. The Python might me an outstanding mid-sized all-rounder, with biggest cargo, best weapons and so on, but - tough luck! Once you begin taking them Robigo passengers out to see the "fascinating" Sirius Atmospherics, there's no turning back... I did buy another one for the mining, though.

I know there's still plenty to come for me in the world of Elite. Quite a lot has happened recently, though.

• First I've been to the Bubble Nebula to unlock Professor Palin, taking in the views on my first far-out trip into the black, and making a quick stop at the Heart and Soul nebulae on my way back.
• I've purchased a Fer-de-Lance to do some serious bounty-hunting in HazRES and Compromised Nav Beacons.
• Then, thanks to the billion credits from deep-core mining, I treated myself with a Type-10 (yet to be used), Corvette (what a beast!), Anaconda (ultimate explorer, but a slow turner at that) and a Beluga (my final choice for Distant Worlds 2 expedition), all at once, yet without a chance to truly feel them.
• Then, in January, I departed, together with the rest of the over-10 000-CMDRs-strong fleet, on the DW2 expedition. Over 3 months later we arrived at the galactic core and contributed to the construction of Explorers Anchorage, the furthest galactic outpost with a fantastic view of Sagittarius A*. I waited a bit for the megaship and installation to appear, but when after 2 weeks they still didn't, and ExpAnch turned out to be lacking a proper shipyard to recall my precious ships, I decided that my journey was over and it was time to return to the Bubble.
• Having returned to the Bubble, I was greeted with "The Enclave" Interstellar Initiative. I killed lots of Scouts, two Interceptors, and rescued enough passengers to earn myself the imperial rank of Duke... and bought myself a Cutter soon after, naturally. So I now own all of the "Big 3", along with the Type-10, the role of which I still can't decide... but I killed a Cyclops with it equipped with 4x AX MCs and 3x Flachettes... though what a long and tiring battle it was...
• After the news hit about double-painite-hotspot-mining profits exceeding that of Void Opals deep-core mining, I decided to give it a try... and was pleasantly surprised. Steady 200M/hr, just jumping from rock to rock, no need to poke my eyes out searching for those pesky Vopal motherlodes... Also standard lasers seem fun, and maybe I'll even hang on to Zemina Torval for long enough to earn the Mining Lance and try some long-distance mining.
• I'm also doing this side-project of capturing the prettiest BOSCH-themed stations, to use them as a screensaver at work. Man, there are so many... and it's hard to get the lighting and alignment right.

That said, I won't be leaving Elite anytime soon. The galaxy awaits, and I am up to the challenge!
o7 CMDRs!