I’ve not updated my blog recently as I’ve been busy with family and work and have been rather tired. I’ve played Elite dangerous quite often but in short sessions and Arena Commander only a couple of times. Not nearly enough to do a comparison.

I have played enough to offer a tale of caution for you CMDRs out there, the ED universe can be a harsh place with with tangible loss! I have had a taste of that loss, there were some beta related factors but still, a similar loss will be possible in the finished game…….

After a number of trade runs and a case of generous cannister dropping I’d made enough to fit  a couple of gimbled pulse lasers. I stopped trading and was trying my hand at the combat areas, honestly a single fixed pulse is not worth attempting combat even against NPCs, some of which are pretty good.

It was good fun going to Unidentified Signal Sources and Extraction areas (henceforth called POIs) even in the Anarchy system and I was making some good money with the occasional loot as well.

There were the usual Beta issues of CTD’s, one time causing me to loose the registration of 3 CMDR kills! One good piece of advice I’ve read but need to do is to save quit often, even when in a battle zone so you don’t loose your kills, loot or credits.

I’d now made enough to load out with two gimbled beam lasers, which I knew from previous Alphas would make me more dangerous. Money was very tight though but not a problem I thought; a bit of NPC farming and I’ll have enough for multiple insurance premiums.

What I’d failed to notice in the known bug list was that some weapons (read beam lasers) weren’t working properly, if at all.

So out in to space on my first engagement I started to notice that firing at NPC Cobras wasn’t having much affect. I saved and quit hoping this would ‘refresh’ it into working; it did not.

I then saw in my scanner the marker that raises the pulse and starts up the adrenaline in any combat pilot: the red hollow triangle!

Red Marker is self-explanatory: hostile! Whether though initiated combat or being on the other faction.

Hollow Marker is: CMDR, another human character.

My best advice? You see that scanner marker, drop everything straight away and either run or engage.

I thought I had a pretty good load out for a sidewinder and I’d been victorious in a number of recent dog fights so I engaged and got the first shots in (which usually means success). The CMDR was also in a sidewinder and a good pilot, I could tell he was turning FA on and off, trying to get a tighter turn on me and succeeding a number of times. I was using all I knew, FA on/off, vector thrusters, reverse thrust, to get the turn on him and avoid him getting on my 6.

For me it was a great dog fight, neither of us had got the jump on each other, wearing the opponent’s shields to nothing before they had time to line up a shot. So we had begun our deadly dance around each other!

TBH if I was using twin pulse like him I do not know who would have won the fight, no doubt it would have been very close! Unfortunately for me the fight was cut short, two NPCs on the opposing faction decided to help their colleague. Despite me putting full pips to the engines and trying to boost away for my escape as soon as they joined I was quickly dispatched with the CMDR getting the final shot and the registered kill.

My woes didn’t stop there for I had not being able to get any NPC bounties due to the weapon bug! I did not have enough for my insurance premium and I am now back to a sidewinder with a loaned fixed class 1 pulse laser!

My trading grind in safe space has begun! 🙂