What was your first experience with the Elite universe and what keeps you playing it today?

I played Elite way back in the day on my Amiga 500, then completely missed the memo on the Kickstarter. I randomly discovered it while browsing the Xbox Store, if I recall correctly!

Tell a quick story about your favorite moment in Elite: Dangerous.

My favorite moment was relatively recently, when I got enough Federal Rank (and cash!) to buy my Federal Corvette. Then I promptly went out to a combat zone with a chip on my shoulder, and got destroyed!

Tell the story of how you earned your callsign.

I currently do not have a callsign, but if I did, it would probably be “Pathfinder” or “Lipton”. “Pathfinder” because I like to go scouting for systems that have great mission opportunities, and “Lipton” because I spent five hours hauling 50 tons of Fujin Tea (four tons at a time) 150 light-years each load to appease engineer Broo Tarquin’s ravenous thirst. The other commanders that I was chatting with on Discord at the time kept me company and cheered me on.

Tell us about your favorite ship in the game.

I have lived in my Asp Explorer since 2017! But I now own a Corvette, Cutter, Python, Mamba, and Type-9. But I’ll always cherish my Asp for flitting around the galaxy.

What drew you to join The Fatherhood?

I joined Bravo Squadron on the Xbox after logging into the game at the end of a lengthy hiatus playing other Xbox titles. Up until that time, I had pretty much played solo, but I discovered that there were now squadrons, and a quick Inara search for large squadrons revealed the existence of the Fatherhood to me! I joined shortly thereafter.

What’s your day job, and how do you balance your home, work and gaming life (or do you)?

I’m a software tester by day, and a singer/voice actor by night. I generally balance my work and gaming life by allowing myself to have game time whenever I can. I got laid off back in September 2020, so I’d been doing a LOT more gaming since then, but I got hired at a new company a week ago, so we will see how that affects my playing! I’m in the Pacific Time Zone, in Seattle, Washington, USA

What is one thing most people don’t know about you that you wish they did?

I’m a genuinely likable person, and I built a Dalek that hates everyone.

How did you come up with the name of your Commander?

It’s a mix of a couple of franchises that I adore: Pokemon (Charmander), and Final Fantasy (Chocobo). Also, it’s the first four letters of my given name.

Any fatherly advice for new CMDRs trying to make their way in Elite: Dangerous?

Well, I can’t speak as a father, but I do encourage the Wil Wheaton rule in-game and in life: Don’t be a d**k. Also, remember to drink your water and wash your hands.

What was your first experience with the Elite universe and what keeps you playing it today?

I was actually waiting for No Mans Sky to come out as I’ve always been interested in space and the idea of exploration. A friend told me that there was a better and more realistic game out already so I decided to check it out… I still never played No Man Sky. lol

Tell a quick story about your favorite moment in Elite: Dangerous.

It would most likely be winning our first combat gold in Bravo Squadron. We were so worried someone was going to come in and steal the gold out from under us that a large group of Cmdr’s stayed up all night until the server tick fighting just to make sure that we had the win. We lost a lot of sleep but it was all worth it in the end.

Tell the story of how you earned your callsign.

Honestly, I don’t really remember as mine wasn’t voted on like callsigns are now. I did something stupid/funny while on herbal medicines and Squadron Leader Arc dubbed me Cheech on the spot. lol

Tell us about your favorite ship in the game.

My favorite ship has to be my Anaconda, The Guardian of Oa. Shes taken me everywhere from the the Formadine Rift down south, to Colonia two times, and now Beagle Point as well. Her jump range mixed with the extra space to keep all the toys necessary to fight off the space madness are exactly what I need for trips into the black.

What drew you to join The Fatherhood?

I originally joined The Fatherhood just before The Lost Souls 1 expedition. I wanted to explore a little and Cmdr Arc Stanton actually told me about The Fatherhood and their upcoming expedition. I joined that day and have been a proud member since.

What’s your day job, and how do you balance your home, work and gaming life (or do you)?

I’m a general maintenance technician working on rental houses fixing anything under a roof. I troubleshoot work all day, so it’s nice to be able to come home, escape into space, and relax with other members of Bravo Squadron. I’m a single dad so when my son’s with me its daddy-son time, but like our squadron mottos say “When the kids go to sleep, we go to space”, so as soon as he’s sleeping I’m jumping in a wing with whatever Cmdrs I can find online. Lol I’m in Ohio so I’m Eastern standard time and I’m on almost every night after 8 PM my time.

What is one thing most people don’t know about you that you wish they did?

How proud of our Wing and Squadron I am. Every time I think we’ve had our best night, fought our best war, or had our hardest laughs there’s always so many more to be had around the corner. There’s members of this wing that are like family at this point, so meeting up and killing some pirates, or just BS-ing while running engineering or something like that makes this game a little less grindy and a lot more entertaining. Lol

How did you come up with the name of your Commander?

Ugh, lol. When I turned 18 I decided to take up a bit of a career in hip hop and stage performance. Shysty was my stage name for close to 10 years. Picked the name when I was like 25 and it’s just stuck for over a decade now. Lol

Any fatherly advice for new CMDRs trying to make their way in Elite: Dangerous?

The key is making friends, and listening and learning from the Veteran Cmdrs when they’re offering their advice. I feel the best part about Bravo Squadron is our community and how much we communicate almost daily. Dont be afraid to ask questions and above all dont be nervous about joining us in a wing or party chat. Were only here to help and have fun, no matter how new you are theres always room in our party for ya. Dont be a stranger.

What was your first experience with the Elite universe and what keeps you playing it today?

My first experience would have been when I was around fourteen and played it on a ZX Spectrum. It got me hooked on space sims.

The sheer scale of Elite and freedom of exploration, for me, it has all the elements of a perfect space sim.

Tell a quick story about your favorite moment in Elite: Dangerous.

Probably the most memorable was crossing the Xibalba sector to see the Gyer trees. After numerous attempts and epic fails it was quite an achievement for me. I had to make many planetary landings to gather materials for jumponium. There were many occasions I didn’t think I would be able to complete the journey, or worse, become stranded. The journey home was not so fun!

Tell the story of how you earned your callsign.

I’m not 100% sure, but it’s maybe because I like to take the odd screenshot.

Tell us about your favorite ship in the game.

That’s a tough one as all my ships are special to me, but as I’m primarily an explorer it would have to be my beluga TFS Scylla. It’s stylish, it’s big, and I can bring everything I need for long distance expeditions.

I like to bring an SLF with me. Not only are they fun to fly, but they also make for some great screen shots. The Guardian Trident takes especially good screenshots. The cockpit and view are amazing defiantly one of the best. It also runs so hot I can cook my breakfast on the dash.

What drew you to join The Fatherhood?

I first joined up after hearing about The Lost Souls expedition in 2018 and it has to be one of the best decisions I’ve made in Elite. I’m quite the loner so it was great to finally meet people, shout out to Cmdrs VvshystyVv and A furry teddy.

And I joined the Bravo Squadron (Xbox).

What is one thing most people don’t know about you that you wish they did?

I’m a musician. I play the bass guitar and have played in original and cover bands: funk, punk, metal, rock for over 25 years. No fame and fortune, but good solid kick ass fun.

How did you come up with the name of your Commander?

My name is taken from a character in the classic Sergio Leone spaghetti western, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”.

Any fatherly advice for new CMDRs trying to make their way in Elite: Dangerous?

Join The Fatherhood, Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Take your time and don’t rush it. Don’t grind credits, materials, or the biggest ships. Enjoy the experience. Elite is beautiful.

“It’s like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.”

Bruce Lee

O7

What was your first experience with the Elite universe and what keeps you playing it today?

My good buddy Ogre got me into Elite about a year ago. We started playing and neither of us really knew we were doing. After about a week of fumbling through space Ogre went back to his Destiny 2 life and I ultimately gave up. About a month or so went by, and the thought that a flight simulator had bested me was eating away at me. I started back to it, started researching videos on YouTube and, eventually, through a rather hilarious interaction with MRRUBBERBULLETS, I was led to The Fatherhood and was shown the way.

Tell a quick story about your favorite moment in Elite: Dangerous.

That’s a tough one. I think my favorite Elite moment would have to be when Reaper hit pranjajoe at the gyser site. I’ve never seen a ship collide in mid-air with an SRV before, and boy let me tell ya…that SRV was launched about 20km away going about 500m/s and than POOF. I havent laughed that hard in a while.

Tell the story of how you earned your callsign.

Ah, the infamous crystal spike incident. I was out in a mat-farming site gathering Yttrium. It was a low-G planet…so naturally, I became impatient waiting for the crystalline fragments to hit the ground and was boosting to catch them in mid air when I suddenly became impaled on one of the crystal spires… I was stuck. Not like regular stuck—but stuck! There was a crystal spike going pretty much through the center of my SRV. So with a little patience and a few… well, a lot of laughs, Shysty came to my aid and assisted me off the spike.

Thus how i gained the callsign “Olaf” The loveable idiot snowman from the Disney movie Frozen who gets impaled by an ice spike. HA HA guys…

Tell us about your favorite ship in the game.

My favorite ship would have to be the Anaconda. Her name is the Rocinante. I have an affinity for the larger ships in Elite. They command a certain presence on the battlefield and are just so much fun with all the firepower they pack.

What drew you to join The Fatherhood?

Well… I was out at Farseer Inc when I noticed CMDR MRRUBBERBULLETS in the Contacts tab. It was just me, him, and the port. So, I messaged him on Xbox chat and asked if he was planning to destroy me as soon as I took off. Which he was because I had a bounty. So, he took pity on my “Mostly Harmless” ass and told me to pay off the bounty and he would stop hunting me. After paying off my fine I responded back to thank him for not annihilating me and to let him know that I had paid off my bounty. That’s when he told me about The Fatherhood, how to join and get setup with Bravo squadron.

What’s your day job, and how do you balance your home, work and gaming life (or do you)?

My day job is being a Father, actually. I balance my gaming life with family time by literally living the Squadron motto…”When the kids go to bed…I go to space.” I’m in Eastern Standard Timezone and I’m normally on every night between 7-9 to about 12am or 1am.

What is one thing most people don’t know about you that you wish they did?

I played Counter-Strike semi professionally at the age of 15 till i was about 17 back in early 2000’s. Made a decent profit from playing in local 5v5 tournaments.

How did you come up with the name of your Commander?

I’ve used this handle for almost 15 years now. Its a marijuana reference being an idealroach is neither too big or too small… just the right size…roach. 😁

Any fatherly advice for new CMDRs trying to make their way in Elite: Dangerous?

If you get stuck or frustrated with the game: don’t quit.

The hardest part about this game is the flight mechanics (in my opinion) but reach out for help. The Elite community is probably one of the best communities in any game I’ve ever played. Yes, of course, there’s always going to be toxicity amongst a gaming community, but the number of good far outweights the bad. I’ve never met such a friendly bunch so willing to spend time to teach someone from the ground up in such an in-depth game. They do it because they love this game and they love to see their community grow. So, if you’re ever in need of help, just ask for it.

What was your first experience with the Elite universe and what keeps you playing it today?

I had finished the storyline in No Man’s Sky, so I was seeking another space sim. This one came up, so I gave it a shot. I read nothing nor watched any videos on how to play, just got in and did the tutorials. Launched and tried to figure out how to enter a Coriolis Port; did it way wrong! I keep playing because it is so freaking deep and immersive.

Tell a quick story about your favorite moment in Elite: Dangerous.

Recently was in a High Intensity CZ with 13 other Greens at the same time. What a light show that was! Space Rave! Cleared several resets in mere minutes.

Tell the story of how you earned your callsign.

Weellll….What had happened waasss…LOL! We were on the Colonia Cruise and stopped off at the Planet of Death. We had a group photo op planned, so I left my SRV on the planet and stayed logged in. UTC-9 can be problematic when winging up and I didn’t want to miss the chance. Went AFK for dinner and when I got back, I was welcomed by the rebuy screen. Apparently, when your SRV runs outta fuel, it explodes. Then with my DBX in orbit, it also ran out of fuel and crashed where the SRV blew up. Good thing my fellow Greens were there to capture both events!

Tell us about your favorite ship in the game.

Don’t have one, yet. Each chassis can do so many different things, it’s hard to have only one.

What drew you to join The Fatherhood?

I’m hoping that because of the number of CMDRs in The Fatherhood, I would be able to wing up more often. That has worked well. Greens, baby!

What’s your day job, and how do you balance your home, work and gaming life (or do you)?

I am a trophy husband, former Diesel Mechanic, Industrial Engineering Tech, Machinist and Soldier. Balance is what I say it is! LOL! My TZ is Alaska.

What is one thing most people don’t know about you that you wish they did?

I don’t use a real-life profile pic because I am so freaking good looking that jealousy sets in, and it causes problems. So, it’s better all around when I mix with the general population to not have them awed by my magnificence…

Any fatherly advice for new CMDRs trying to make their way in Elite: Dangerous?

Use “Block” on gankers as often as possible. Gibb to your hearts content. Play how you want.

What was your first experience with the Elite universe and what keeps you playing it today?

I picked it up after a friend of mine, SavageSalad, introduced it to me on Xbox back in 2017. I started off flying in his fighters and eventually got the hang of flight enough to fly on my own. As for what keeps me flying, I would say it is this group. Most everyone else I’ve known has moved off to greener pastures. If it were not for The Fatherhood, my Xbox and PC accounts would be covered in dust.

Tell a quick story about your favorite moment in Elite: Dangerous.

One of my favorite moments, I was flying with a slew of Green squad. I was… well into my drinks at that point. Watching one of my brethren coming into the port, I noticed his Anaconda’s gear was extending and I said, “Hey man you’ve got fiiiive landing pad arms!” Hilarity ensued and thus my second callsign, “LPA” was born.

Note: don’t drink and fly, y’all.

How did you come up with the name of your Commander?

For my Xbox account, Power Pro Bro it is my gamertag. On PC, TJ Bahsen, I used my initials and changed some things. 😉

Tell the story of how you earned your callsign.

My original callsign was granted after I burped on party chat enough and those burps would reverb consistently through ARC’s headset. Thus, ECHO, “Everybody Can Hear the Onomatopoeia”

Tell us about your favorite ship in the game.

Python is best ship. You cannot change my mind.

What drew you to join The Fatherhood?

If I recall correctly, I had seen some advert from Frontier and was kind of looking for a group outside my friend or two to play with. Little did I know that The Fatherhood would be with me for quite some time. Being able to call a group home and not have to worry about consistent effort due to my job and it’s demands was a boon in and of itself.

What’s your day job, and how do you balance your home, work and gaming life (or do you)?

I am a Technical Sergeant in the United States Air Force. I maintain and operate the backup power generators and aircraft arresting systems. It’s a good job, but sometimes it pulls me away from family and gaming. Oddly enough, playing Elite and balancing time came naturally with military life. Since joining (leaving and rejoining again) The Fatherhood I have moved three times. From the US to Europe and now Japan, balancing my time has come naturally.

What is one thing most people don’t know about you that you wish they did?

☕️

What was your first experience with the Elite universe and what keeps you playing it today?

I got into this on a lark. Somewhere, at some point, I had heard about Elite: Dangerous…probably ran across a YouTube Video on it. Whatever it was, I was taking a vacation week, and was looking for a new game to play. I saw Elite: Dangerous, and having heard about it — without knowing anything about it other than it was some sort of space sim — I decided to try it out. I got hooked immediately, and played it for about 8-hours a day while on vacation, and pretty much every night after that.

To be honest, I don’t know what’s compelling about it. Maybe it’s the freedom of just doing whatever I want to do at any given time. I’m not sure why anyone plays it, really. A few weeks ago, several of us were out in Witch Head, killing Thargoids while trying to make wing beacons work by recycling them, and dropping into the wrong instances every third time. Everybody was complaining about how FDev should fix this or that, and how inconvenient and kludgy everything was. Everybody complained about the game for 2 hours, but the last thing everybody said before signing off for the night was, “I’ll be back on tomorrow.”

The game did get stale for me after a while, but after joining the squadron and starting to play with other squadron mates, I am back into it hard core. Honestly, I enjoy hanging out with everyone more than the game itself. It’s become a social thing, which has opened a new dimension to the game.

And I’ll be back on tomorrow.

How did you come up with the name of your Commander?

I ran a moderately popular motorcycle blog a few years back, and used Motoblogger as my XBox ID because my real name was taken. It doesn’t have any special significance or anything. The blog is gone, but I’m too lazy to exert the minimal effort that would be required to change the name. No doubt there’s some character-building lesson I could learn there.

Tell a quick story about your favorite moment in Elite: Dangerous.

I was streaming on Twitch one night on some little planet with lots of geysers, and a couple of my buddies were watching the stream. I was just driving my SRV around, gathering materials, when one of them said, “what happens if you drive over those geysers?” I said “I dunno”, and did it. I got jetted into the sky at supersonic speed. My exact words were, “Wheeee…umm…that might have been a mistake.” I just kept going straight up, while everyone but me laughed and laughed.

I didn’t die when I came down, so no harm done. I did learn to be more careful round the geysers, though.

What made you decide to join The Fatherhood?

I ran into a fellow playing in open, and he was a total noob. So we winged up and I showed him a few things, helped him get some bounties in a low-rez site, did a planetary landing, etc. I had a lot of fun playing with someone for the first time, so I decided to look up squadrons and see if there was one that interested me. The Fatherhood seemed like a place where I wouldn’t have to deal with a lot of 14 year-olds getting salty and describing their intimate relationship with my mother. Turns out that I’ve met some neat people.

Tell the story of how you earned your callsign.

I was doing 1v1s with Behmski and Redneck Fletch, but I was using the XBox controller instead of my HOTAS. I kept trying to boost, and hitting D-Pad up instead of D-Pad left and opening my fuel scoop instead. So, I’m wondering why my Challenger is tooling along at 100m/s instead of boosting, while Behmski is pounding me with his FDL, or Fletch is wrecking me with his Chieftain. I look, and sure enough, my fuel scoop is open. I guess I did that about 5 times. I did win one of those matches, though. So, there’s that.

Tell us about your favorite ship in the game.

Don’t have one. Got lotsa ships I love…for specific things. I guess if I could only have one ship, it’d be the Python. It’s not the best at anything, but it’s the second best ship for everything. The one ship I want to love is the Imperial Clipper. I really want to use it, because it’s fast and beautiful. I simply can’t figure how to use it for anything because some psychopath designed it with insane optional module sizes. Then they stuck two of the hardpoints on the bottom, in the back of the ship, where you can basically shoot only stuff below the cockpit that you can’t see. I guess you could stick some turrets down there and let them run wild.

Any advice for new CMDRs trying to make their way in Elite: Dangerous?

Learn about Inara, EDSM, Coriolis/EDSY, EDTools, and EDDB, because nothing you want to know is conveniently available in game. It’s the only game I’ve ever played where I need to have an auxiliary computer running with 4 browser tabs open while I play it. The amount of information produced by the game–and required to understand it–is mind-numbing without the proper tools to organize it.

I was playing once and my wife asked, “Are you playing the game or are you on your computer?”

“Playing the game. Why?”

“All you’ve done is look at web sites for the last half-hour.”

Well….yes. I’m playing the game.

What was your first experience with the Elite universe and what keeps you playing it today?

My first contact with Elite was the original green wireframe on black game on an Amstrad CPC 464 computer, back in the eighties. I didn’t get very far back then, but still have fond memories of the apparent vastness of the playground that it already provided.

Some years ago I got an Xbox, and bought Elite: Dangerous right away. I failed miserably at landing training and shelved it. Then somehow, early 2019, I retried and really got into the groove.

What keeps me playing ever since, is the vastness and diversity and non-story-drivenness – making me playing it, on my pace, always enjoyable.

How did you come up with the name of your Commander?

My commander name and gamertag is actually an old nickname that was given to me by friends back in university days, being an allusion to my fondness of certain Monty Python movies and movie scenes. Find The Fish!

Tell a quick story about your favorite moment in Elite: Dangerous.

Oh, hmm… funny what popped up in my mind for this question is actually a quite non-consequential element, gameplay wise, which nevertheless impressed me. I was visiting Jameson’s Cobra for the first time, gathering data mats, and on leaving the site, noticed that in the same system there was another human signal source, on a different moon. I went there and discovered (for me…) one of the old INRA sites, which you can drive around in an SRV and read some interesting data link stories about on site.

Very atmospheric.

What made you decide to join The Fatherhood?

After a few months of playing and using Inara, I realized that squadrons were a thing in the first place, and for a few weeks, looked around their presentations there on Inara. The Fatherhood stood clearly out for its “when kids go to bed” motto and general approach to casual, at your own pace gameplay. So that’s why, and I never ever regretted the choice.

Tell us about your favorite ship in the game.

My favorite, although I haven’t played it for a while, is my Chieftain, the TFS Ethic Compromise. It was the first ship I engineered with some direction and purpose, learning from the great guys in #ship-crafting, and using it when starting to participate in our BGS efforts by running CZ support. It is the ship that made me enjoy PvE combat.