Choose My Adventure: Gleeful space truckin’ through Elite Dangerous

This is, for all intents and purposes, going to be a very simple, laid back, and perhaps obnoxiously serene edition of Choose My Adventure. That’s because the polls actually said that I should be a space trucker in Elite Dangerous this time around, and good gravy that is what I absolutely did: I hopped into my Type-7, found some routes, and put EVO 2024 on my second monitor while I raked in the cash.

About the only thing missing was my functional head tracker and a nice, stiff drink. This was, in a word, idyllic.

I think I’ve mentioned before that when it comes to sandbox games, I tend to get drawn into the more pastoral pursuits, like farming, animal husbandry, crafting, or logistics. I’ve got dozens and dozens of games that cast me as a world-saving, sword-swinging demigod. I don’t get enough opportunities to be Uncle Owen. And Uncle Owen I was indeed. Or at least Truckin’ Owen.

My love of internet spaceships is also extremely profound, you see, no matter what kind of flight model or control scheme I’m given. Naval command, slow frigate steering, in-cockpit direct flying; it doesn’t matter. I love it all. Flying internet spaceships is one of my favorite things in gaming and one I relish doing in an MMO. So combine this desire to be left to my own generally peaceful devices with the sublime sensation of flying in E:D, and I was in heaven.

I’m basically spending a lot of digital ink trying to explain why flying around in circles is interesting, I know, but it’s something that I feel like I need to qualify. It’s wanted and desired grind. It’s a zen activity. It’s not completely braindead, either; I still have to be careful and watch traffic while taking off and landing. And it’s just steadily lucrative. The hours just sort of fade away, and the money slowly piles up.

It’s like reading a good book and realizing time melted. Or doing nothing more than lying back and mellowing out. It’s meditative. An active nap. And considering the nonsense that I’m facing on a micro and macro level, this was necessary.

That’s not to suggest that literally every run I was making was completely chilled out. As a matter of fact, there were a surprising number of times when I had to actually change my route and find something new to do because the commodities I was moving from one station had completely dried up. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that happen before, but in one session it happened twice.

So…. yes, that’s kind of what I did. I flew my big ship, made money, and watched some outstanding fighting game players clash once in a while.

Those who are regular pilots in this game know that my love at the Type-7 is probably misplaced, at least if I’m the sort of person who wants to take this kind of thing really seriously. But there’s just something about this ship – its size, its shape, its basic maneuvering – that makes it OK for me to not be making as much money as I could be doing this work. I’m raking in some fat piles of credits. I’m pleased.

And yet… there is something to possibly be said for taking this whole thing to the next level – namely, picking up a Type-9.

I’ve read plenty of player opinions about this ship. It’s ponderously slow, it’s hard to steer if you’re interdicted, and it maneuvers like a wider, fatter Type-7. But I actually find that strangely appealing. And that’s because the sensation of mastering a spacecraft is another reason why internet spaceship MMOs appeal to me. And it’s not as if I don’t have the money to burn on this new ship and kit it out pretty well.

But then, do I really need to? Yes, I could potentially move 700 tons of goods, but is that missing the point of just trucking around in E:D’s galaxy? Is that ignoring the sensation of flight for the pure focus of profit and paring things down to over-simplicity? Wouldn’t this be the meta choice that I generally despise making?

If any of my fellow space truckers are out there reading (or if you’ve got your ears on, to borrow film CB radio parlance), let me know if I should invest.

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Now before anyone frets, I’m not going to be writing about being a space trucker for a second time in a row in this column. I’d be pretty much repeating myself anyway, and I’m pretty sure not too many care about these feelings the first time around. So I am going to be switching gears to a different activity for the next run of CMA; it’s just a question of what activity that will be. So, yes, I’m basically asking last week’s question again.

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As always, the polls will be closing at 1:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, July 26th. For the meantime, I think I’ll just… well, keep on truckin’. I’m perfectly pleased with just doing nothing more than hauling goods between two star systems and so that’s what I’m going to do. And maybe this time around I’ll have that beverage I was referencing before nearby too.

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.