Choose My Adventure: Slipping back in to the simple pleasures of Elite Dangerous

Last week’s original Choose My Adventure plans took a backseat to my Soapbox on Dawntrail, so thank you for bearing with me on that, but I would also be lying if I didn’t also admit that I felt a bit of trepidation going back in to Elite: Dangerous, which I’ve done this week.

As I wrote previously, most of the support system I had in terms of others to play with in Elite has evaporated in the last couple of years, and I don’t really fault them, considering how rickety and under-developed the game was looking for quite some time after Odyssey’s release. So, yes, I kind of sat on my hands a bit, hemming and hawing about whether I would be able to really get back into things. Finally, though, I just kicked my own ass and leaped in by doing what I’m familiar with.

You’ll all probably be happy to read that I didn’t spend nearly as much time reconfiguring controls or settings or visuals, primarily because those options were still saved to several data files that I had squirreled away. I’m also rather happy to report that muscle memory was mostly preserved as well. I pretty much knew precisely what every button on my HOTAS did when I hopped back in to my ship.

I still did need a few moments to make sure things were functioning, but that was mostly done by walking around the station that my character had been plopped on to – some space station in the Agartha system. I genuinely don’t recall where I was the last time I played, but I do believe it was aboard a fleet carrier that I’m sure has since been lost to debt.

So, I’m starting from square one again – albeit with five different ships and over 200M credits to my name.

Considering things were basically reset for me in a manner of speaking – a semi-soft reset considering my assets – I decided to lean into the newness of it all and approach things from some small steps. That meant walking around the station, recalling what services were available, being reminded how daunting upgrading my weapons and armors appears to be, and of course, going to the kiosks for some missions.

My memories of playing E:D continued to serve me well here, as I recalled what icons meant what and that threat levels are generally a bald-faced lie for someone playing solo. And though I had some urges to get into some combat, I beat them back in order to continue making small steps and instead decided to pick up a courier mission within the local star system.

This actually wound up being a boon since it reminded me of a few things that I had forgotten about. For instance, I accidentally took a ship that was too plump for the landing zones of the base I was directed toward. But I was also gleefully seeing muscle memory return in terms of landing nearby, using lights and radar to better see the ground, and even making sure that when I was on foot that I waited to be properly scanned at security.

There was a brief second when I seized up because I wasn’t sure exactly how to find my contact to get the parcel I was meant to deliver, but then I remembered prior on-foot missions where I had to access a terminal to highlight a location. Yes, this worked for personnel as well, and within moments I was face to face with the NPC I was sent to see. A quick jump and landing later, the mission was complete, and I felt satisfied.

I appreciate how all of that sounds really, really basic on paper, and I will allow that it is, but all of these little measures reminded me of just how nice it was to be in this sandbox again. There really is something very basic yet satisfying about all of the little things associated with playing Odyssey or E:D in general – namely, flying, plotting course, taking off, and landing. Even this many months away, landing never stops making me feel good.

The good sensations continued when I decided to get back to my all-time favorite E:D activity: space trucking. Once again memory served me well, as I got back to a route planner, hopped back into my beloved Type-7 hauler, and started on a loop of moving commodities from one star system to another. I even remembered how to effectively fuel scoop. Again, basic yet satisfying, particularly since I am a space trucker at heart in this game.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that the loop I was on was extremely profitable. I was making 2M credits every round trip for a route that took only three jumps total back and forth.

As I got back to what I knew, the trepidation and worry and stress that I was piling on top of myself started to melt away, replaced by the simple and soothing sensations that got me into E:D in the first place. I don’t really want to be some space jockey, I’m pretty sure combat isn’t my main forte, and I don’t know that I have the sense of adventure or direction to be a deep space explorer. I’m perfectly happy just flying for Space FedEx. Or more specifically flying as my own logistics company.

But I digress. I’ve stopped being a worry wart and have gotten back into being a commander, and so I don’t raise the annoyance of anyone else, I’m ready to dive into this one whole hog once again. And while I’m going to miss out on a few major things like anti-xeno, the Thargoid War, or even most engineered and guardian-related things, I still have a few options on what to generally focus on available to me. After all, E:D is nothing if not a series of long-form grinds.

So. Where do we begin?

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Polling will close up at the usual 1:00 p.m. EDT time on Friday, July 19th. And I’ll make sure this one tries to run longer than usual since I’ve been so tardy. My apologies if I was delaying needlessly, even if that didn’t feel needless at the interim. But it is good to be back in this groove again.

Welcome to Choose My Adventure, the column in which you join Chris each week as he journeys through mystical lands on fantastic adventures – and you get to decide his fate. Which is good because he can often be a pretty indecisive person unless he’s ordering a burger.