Elite Dangerous Interlude 1

Real Life got in the way of game time so Maya’s adventures took a pause last night. Once I finish this and get it posted I will hopefully log in and try out the new Viper Mk IV.

My plans for both my second ED account, and a return to blogging after a very long absence are somewhat vague and unformed.  I had wanted the second account so I can set off exploring yet still have access to the activities back in the bubble. CMDR Cryptography, my first account, has a lifetime subscription to Elite Dangerous so gets access to all the new expansions for as long as Frontier keep making them. CMDR Maya Ulniian has only the deluxe edition, so thats the base game plus the horizons season. If my enthusiasm for the game is still high I’ll likely extend beyond that.

For now I’ll document each and every play session where I log in as Maya in a first person diary narrative. At some point progress will slow down so a blog post about her adventures may well cover several play sessions. 
I had a loose goal of grinding a modest 4 to 8 million budget, buying a DiamondBack Explorer then launching off on a 10k LY exploration trip in the local galactic neighbourhood.
A build like this:

http://coriolis.io/outfit/diamondback_explorer/03A4D5A3D3D3D5C---0202020232v4B42i2f.Iw1-kA==.Aw1-kA==

adds up to nearly  13 million but some cost cutting could be made to drop it closer to 8 mil. A 4 mil budget might be better suited for a Hauler without an SRV hangar.
There are plenty of exploration builds listed out on the internet but a lot are pre- Horizons. Also at this price point I’m likely to forgo an Auto Field Repair Unit so extra long trips may be an issue.

CMDR Cryptography has close to 100m at this time so I could sell some ships and head off into the black in a decent ASP Explorer – or I can knuckle down, get some faction grinding done and experience more of what the bubble has to offer.  Decisions decisions! Which CMDR stays and which goes into the void?  At the moment it’s still likely Maya who travels, at least for my first decent length trip.

The choice of Commander may also influence my blogging. I think I need the discipline of a daily post to overcome inertia and I’m not sure that an exploration trip would provide enough fodder for a regular posting schedule. After a time every system starts to blur into one another and the routine of jump, scoop, scan doesn’t make for compelling reading.

I also have other games to play, so Elite Dangerous will not be the only thing competing for fairly limited gaming time. The blogging too takes time away from, well, generating content.

In order to balance all these competing interests here is a loose plan:

• 2-3 posts from “Maya” describing a noob’s rise to an experienced pilot both as guide and in-character fiction.
• 1 post from either pilot, or just a general Elite Dangerous informational post.
• 1-2 posts of general gaming – probably SWTOR mostly at the moment, though perhaps WoW as we get closer to Legion release date.

No posts on the weekend, unless I miss one mid week.  Hopefully that keeps me focussed on task as I am a notorious altaholic and routinely jump between 2-3 different games in an evening’s play session. My kids, though usually asleep by the time I hit the keyboard, are a frequent distraction as well.
Time to finish a couple of chores then get back to Maya’s adventure!