Elite: Lore

11 Apr 2018, 4:52pm
Or as much as he is "The workds greatest Rock Star" as he claims...
11 Apr 2018, 10:32pm
I think I read somewhere in game, maybe it was the text when I ranked up, that it is your rank in the Navy Auxiliary. And I feel like our role is pretty consistent with how wikipedia describes Auxiliaries at least.

"An auxiliary force is an organized group supplementing but not directly incorporated in a regular military or police entity. It may comprise either civilian volunteers undertaking support functions or additional personnel directly performing military or police duties, usually on a part-time basis.

Historically the designation "auxiliary" has also been given to foreign or allied troops in the service of a nation at war.[1] In the context of colonial armies locally recruited irregulars were often described as auxiliaries."
15 Apr 2018, 9:21am
You have about as much chance being a duke as Luke has of being honest with his RP intentions.
15 Apr 2018, 10:47pm
GaaveraHello all Gaav here with a question that has always interested me lol like a lot of things in the Elite universe: Now i understand the Pilot Fed ranks such as Elite, Dangerous and so forth, but what really interests me are the ranks for the Empire, and Federation. As we all know, being a Duke is a very high landed noble title and Real Admiral, everyone knows that has a LOT of authority. What i want to know is are these titles, in Elite lore, just for bragging rights, or are they something else entirely? This subject has interested me for as long as i have been playing Elite, so please go all out in your descriptions lol


As someone who scribbles Elite fanfic as a hobby, I can testify that the superpower ranks are one of several gamey features that are best left unmentioned if you want a universe that makes any kind of sense.


Last edit: 15 Apr 2018, 11:15pm
16 Apr 2018, 4:22am
The ranks are akin to being appointed a Colonel in the state of Kentucky. Like Colonel Harlan Sanders of KFC. He was a Kentucky colonel. You don't get anything out of it other than a certificate you can frame, and the privilege of saying "I'm a Kentucky colonel". Wikipedia doesn't work where I'm at right now, but if I remember correctly the appointment is of a Colonel in the Kentucky state militia, a non-existent organization in modern times given the status of permanent standing armies and police forces. Therefore, it confers no pay or actual authority, it's just used as a method of recognizing good community service to the state. That's how I head canon the superpower ranks.

Or how the Queen of the United Kingdom knights people like "Sir" Anthony Hopkins for an outstanding achievements. She's not granting the person estates to rule, they don't gain any taxes or hold fiefdom over anyone. It's purely an honorary title used for recognition.
16 Apr 2018, 7:13am
Brynhild Hervorsdottir
Or how the Queen of the United Kingdom knights people like "Sir" Anthony Hopkins for an outstanding achievements. She's not granting the person estates to rule, they don't gain any taxes or hold fiefdom over anyone. It's purely an honorary title used for recognition.


Eeee, it's not like it were when I were a lad.
17 Apr 2018, 3:42pm
To me, superpower ranks are plausible as level of recognition within the respective superpower. They already serve sort of administrative role, as for example the better rank in Federation, the more restricted stuff you fly - yet here I always thought it is done through dedicated supruls acquisition office. The ships infocards themselves additionally suggest that most of the ship accessed in-game are their civilian versions, like Anaconda and ASP Explorer's descriptions suggest.
18 Apr 2018, 1:32am
Superpower ranks are largely irrelevant and only serve to lock certain ships behind arbitrary requirements.
18 Apr 2018, 6:14am
I also lump the superpower ranks into the "because videogame" category.
18 Apr 2018, 12:52pm
The explanation given by David Braben is that the ranks are little more than ceremonial titles, ranks are for upper government/sudo-military, as a show of how much the superpower trusts you. Since there is no system in place for official citizenship in the game, these serve are a sudo-citizenship. That's it.

But that's the lore reason for "because video games". <-- That's essentially it. They needed a way to express progress with the superpowers.

"What about being friendly/allied with the superpower, hmmmm?"

Ah, yes. Well that's your overall reputation with the superpower and it's citizens.
24 Apr 2018, 11:22pm
It's too bad since I would enjoy being addressed as The Right Honorable, the Lord Ensign Commander Garlana of... whatever system I did empire rank in. mostly kidding
27 Apr 2018, 8:53pm
Is there any lore explanation of why we can hear solar activity inside our ship? Sound doesn't carry in a vacuum, so we shouldn't hear it at all. Or is it just the Star Wars "for dramatic purposes" reasoning?
27 Apr 2018, 8:59pm
Audio feedback from your ship. Same goes for the weaponfire and engine sounds of other ships.
27 Apr 2018, 10:31pm
I like to think the solar activity specifically is the energy/errant plasma interacting your ship's shields or hull rather than the audio recreation for everything else; after all why would someone program the voices to say "Kill President Hudson" over and over again when I scoop fuel?
28 Apr 2018, 3:42am
Rebecca HailAudio feedback from your ship. Same goes for the weaponfire and engine sounds of other ships.


I figgered it'd be something along those lines.

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