Featured CMDR Vv Shysty vV “Cheech”

16 Apr 2021

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.