Featured CMDR: “Hawk” Mellophone6

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

I’m a bit of a newcomer – Elite Dangerous is my first experience with this universe. I started playing in March of 2019. I definitely gravitate toward games where you can make and achieve your own goals, so it’s certainly easy to see why I love Elite so much. However, the main reason I still play today is the Background Simulation. The idea of expanding the squadron’s reach in-game is so intriguing to me, and being trusted enough to get promoted to BGS Ranger has only deepened my appreciation for this aspect of the game.

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

As a PS4 CMDR, my name is tied directly to my PSN ID. I played the mellophone in high school marching band, and there were 6 of us my senior year. Super creative, I know.

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

I think the most fun I’ve ever had in this game has to be the trip out to Colonia on our Lost Souls 2 expedition. The meetups for mass jumps were an absolute gas; stunt-jumping SRVs over ships with Phantom_rw, Crzyrazr, ClutchNixon, and Revyn_Hunter will always be good times. And the cherry on top was discovering and mapping twin Earth-like worlds orbiting each other in Blua Hypue SZ-N D7-548.

What made you decide to join The Fatherhood?

I’m a little embarrassed about it, but I initially joined to get a PSN trophy. A month after I started playing, I was browsing Inara, looking for a squadron. Even though I don’t have children, the landing page for the squadron was welcoming of “busy career professionals”, and with my job having spurts of multiple 12-14 hour days in the field, it seemed like the right fit where I wouldn’t be judged if I couldn’t log on for a couple days. Little did I know I was making the best decision I could possibly make when it came to this game. These men and women are my family now.

Tell the story of how you earned your callsign.

I’ll let Azzbo27 explain it:

“Blue Command have decided to take the step of bestowing a callsign upon Mellophone6 in honour of his services to the Squadron. Henceforth he shall be known as “Hawk”. A Hawk is intelligent, has a keen awareness of what’s going on around them and is ruthless when they need to be – all qualities I’m sure you’ll agree our comrade has shown in helping us deliver 4 separate Leaderboard trophies.”

Basically, I was a try-hard who did a lot of in-game testing of Leaderboard mechanics and was an annoying gnat about keeping Blue Squadron focused toward the end of the Leaderboard season. I’m lucky I didn’t get “Gnat”.

Tell us about your favorite ship in the game.

My favorite ship is, hands-down, my Federal Corvette, Mjölnir. Definitely a popular pick for a lot of CMDRs, but come on, look at it! It’s combat prowess notwithstanding, I’m a sucker for hard lines and aggressively industrial space ships. A close second would be the Federal Gunship, for the exact same reasons.