Featured CMDR Bonquiqui

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

I honestly cannot remember much about playing Elite for the first time in December 2017. I remember feeling very aimless and quitting very quickly after starting. When COVID hit a little over two years later, I found myself with a lot of time on my hands and wanting to give it another shot. Reddit actually helped me a lot with showing me a path forward and even lead me to The Fatherhood after a while. That’s when the game really started for me. Before joining the Fatherhood, I was focused on grinds. After joining was when the fun started.

So I would say my first “real” experience playing Elite as a game rather than just a grind was winging up constantly in our favourite combat system when it was still new to us. It was my first time doing combat, making real credits, and having a blast while doing it.

The camaraderie and the pure joy from messing around with your squad mates, trying to fit four Corvettes into a tightly packed battlefield in the middle of an asteroid belt, constantly bumping into each other and loving every second of it…those were some of the best memories I’ve ever had playing a game. And that feeling continues to this day.

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

Not to sound like a broken record, but soon after combat was buffed! Everyone was ready to take a break from constantly mining, to finally earning big money doing something exciting in a wing for a change! The hype during those days was through the roof, with someone else getting a FC almost every other day. Maybe I’m just remembering it with rose-coloured glasses because it was all so new to me, but that time still seems magical.

Tell us about your favorite ship in the game.

The DBX. I don’t know why exactly it’s my favourite – other than it’s the ship that’s been with me from almost the very beginning. It’s small and nimble enough I never have to wrestle it into position, or struggle to find a place to land – it goes where I want it to go with little to no effort at all. And it looks great doing it!

What drew you to join The Fatherhood?

I had started thinking about joining a squad and the topic came up on reddit. HunterMemnoch happened to be in the same post as me and suggested I check out TF. Being as large as it was and as a father myself, it was a pretty easy decision to join and it became home very quickly. Suddenly I was surrounded by a group of people who were just in it to have fun together, while letting life come first.

What’s your day job?

I’m an Elf! Well, that’s what my kids told people when they were younger. You know all the huge stuffed animals and prizes you win at carnivals and amusements parks? I help design them, communicate with our factories in China to get them made according to our specifications, and then do all the groundwork to bring them across the ocean.

We all wear several hats in our small business, but I’m basically the guy who makes sure it all runs smoothly – from import, bookkeeping, logistics to talking with customers. If you’ve gone to an amusement park or carnival in Western Canada/US – chances are you’ve seen my work.

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

I’m pretty good with languages – although a ton of people are in this squad it seems. I spoke fluent German while completing my Abitur in Germany (although I’m fairly rusty now), conversational in French and have a basic understanding of Italian.

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

It’s stupid but here’s the backstory. I was reading an article a long time ago which dove into why Facebook’s policy at the time permitting only one name change per lifetime was problematic. An example they gave was some poor teen, who left his Facebook profile logged in, and his friend changed his name to Bonquiqui Shiquavius – leaving him stuck with it for life.

I thought that was the most ridiculous problem I’ve ever read about, but as I also needed an anonymous name for Slashdot, etc, I took it for my own. I used it for Elite because I figured I would never really be playing with anyone else – I had zero desire to play multiplayer at the time. By the time I started to regret not choosing a cooler name, it was too late – everyone knew me already as Bonquiqui. So Bonk/Bonq/BonBon I stay.

Are there any activities in Elite Dangerous that you have yet to try? If so, what are they and what’s keeping you?

AX combat and core mining.

I actually managed to kill one single Thargoid interceptor in a wing with CMDR Michael A Corleone, but died in the caustic cloud. He got the kill shot so there’s no record of that on Inara either. Never got around to trying again. Maybe after LS3 though…

Core mining – well, I got burnt out on mining during the Painite rush. No interest really in picking it up again. On the other hand, core mining always seemed like something I should know how to do at least. Maybe someday…

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

Wing up as soon as and as often as you can. Don’t worry about not being good enough, or having a great ship. Just join and have fun with us. You’ll get better much faster AND have a ton more fun doing it than slogging through the game on your own.