Featured CMDR Rebel “Boomerang” Yankee

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

My first exposure with Elite: Dangerous was through a couple different YouTubers I watched several years back and was immediately hooked. Since I only had a console then and there wasn’t console support at the time, I was relegated to just watching.

As for what keeps me playing it’s partially that there’s always something to do. Even if that something to do is nothing at all.

The other part that keeps me around are the people of The Fatherhood — a group of people who welcomed me into their fold while I was figuring out my space legs and were willing to show me the ropes. That definitely did a lot for my relationship with Elite.

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

My favorite moment in Elite happens to be the reason I joined The Fatherhood. I managed to get a bounty on me that I ended up forgetting about when I got the news that I could access the solar system. I made my way as quickly as possible and began playing tourist when I got interdicted in my Cobra over Mars by an Anaconda who happened to be a Fatherhood member. I thought he was friendly since he didn’t immediately open fire and we danced our ships in a friendly manner. It wasn’t until he backed up and sent a torpedo at me that I noticed the little, red text saying “WANTED” in my bottom right HUD. I somehow evaded a couple more torpedoes and got out of a couple more interdictions from him and docked. We shared a bit of sporting banter with eachother before winging up. Through him, I learned a lot about combat, bounties and more importantly The Fatherhood. I signed up that night all because I was too young and dumb in-game.

Tell the story of how you earned your callsign.

This callsign came to me because I… was clumsy. I pushed the wrong buttons and accidentally vented myself out of the Discord airlock. I came back in to discover in my horror that some of my fellow commanders were dying… of laughter… at me. Naturally, the razzing started and before I knew it, I was “Boomerang”. I didn’t like it at first, but it’s come around to me.

Tell us about your favorite ship in the game.

Chieftain, hands down. The way she sounds, looks, and handles is just so satisfying to me.

Currently, the only Chieftain I have is named “Miss Chief” because wherever I go, “Miss Chief” follows. The way I build most of my ships is kinda a Jack-of-all-trades and that’s the best setup to do all kinds of shenanigans.

What drew you to join The Fatherhood? What squadron did you join: Bravo

I think I’ve thoroughly answered this question in some of the others above. To summarize, The Fatherhood is a bunch of great and friendly people who helped me out in my early Elite days and made me feel welcomed immediately. That and the casualness helps a lot since they don’t really expect me to do much. That said, how I got to be Wing Council before I was even a Veteran in the squadron is beyond me.

What’s your day job, and how do you balance your home, work and gaming life (or do you)?

My work as of writing this is a 3D printing tech but I’ll be moving soon so that is gonna change.

As for balancing life and gaming, like our motto says, life comes first. I haven’t touched any video games in the past year because life’s been busy and it will be the same for a bit after I move. And because of the uncertainty of the future, my availability is a bit of mystery even to me, but discord is always open to reach out.

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

I came up with my Xbox gamertag of Rebel Yankee because it’s a bit of a play on words and a history based oxymoron that’s every bit American as I am.

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

For those starting out in Elite, I recommend doing some trading without a docking computer first to get the hang of flying and landing manually. If you do use a docking computer, never take your hands off the controls. The AI is useful but not perfect.

Also, if you’re trapped in a station because a Beluga is stuck in the slot whilst you’re trying to leave, reload the game. That should help.