In 3310, with the help of the Pilots Trade Network, I achieved:

• Three Elite ranks (Combat, Mercenary, and Trade) to add to the Exploration and Exobiology ranks I already had. Of those, Trade is Elite V - the highest rank you can get!
• Eight months of huge wins in faction work
• Bombing runs on two Thargoid titans
• A dozen highly engineered ships for every niche
• Over 25 billion credits in gained assets and wealth
• My first, and so far only, carrier, the NAC Solar Mooncastle

As 3310 comes to a close I find myself once again drawn to the Black. My trusty Mandalay is rigged for exploration, my Artemis suit is fully spec'd out to find exobiological samples in hard-to-reach places, and 99%+ of the Milky Way Galaxy remains unexplored.

3311 is going to be about the journey to Colonia, to the Center of the Galaxy, to the Farthest End of the Galaxy, and, in a roundabout way, back Home again.

"It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark... and we're wearing sunglasses." - Elwood Blues

"Hit it." - Jake Blues

This month was my first Booze Cruise, and by many accounts it was a particularly hectic one. I hitched a ride to Rackham's Peak with a Python built to carry 272 tons of cargo plus a decent shield, with the goal in mind of making 5 billion credits in profits and reaching the rank of Elite V.

I won't get into the details of why I think this cruise was a bit hectic and cramped, although the popularity of this particular cruise had to be a factor. I would estimate that we had 200+ Commanders in system, each of them hauling 200+ tons of wine per trip. A carrier will hold about 23,000 tons of wine at most. It is simply impossible that every commander in system is going to be able to get a load of wine from every carrier. As you can guess, this meant that when a carrier opened its wine cellar, the wine moved out very quickly. And so the main difficulty for a Booze Cruiser is getting to the carrier fast enough to collect a load of wine. This isn't an easy task and a lot of Commanders failed several times in a row to get a single load of wine from a carrier.

What really made this cruise hectic is that, for some reason or another, carriers simply weren't opening their wine cellars very quickly. At a guess, it was 15-30 minutes between carriers full of wine. That's 15-30 minutes of mostly waiting for a carrier to open, followed by a mad scramble to get to that carrier in the 4-5 minutes before all the wine was gone.

In my estimation, if I had stuck to my goal of 5 billion in profits and the rank of Elite V, I would have found the experience very frustrating and tiring. So instead, I adjusted my goals downward. I shot for 1 billion in the first 24 hours and made that goal handily, achieving the Trader rank of Elite I. For the second day, I scanned down the system (it's worth about 1.8 million credits in exploration, by the way), collected engineering materials, hunted some pirates, and did a couple more runs to get a head start on Elite II before hitching a ride back to the Bubble.

So, bottom line: Would I recommend the Booze Cruise to an experienced pilot? Yes, absolutely. The fun, comraderie, and of course, profits of a Booze Cruise are one of the great experiences of Elite Dangerous, and not to be missed by anyone.

Would I recommend trying to go from Penniless to Elite in a Booze Cruise? Yes, with one reservation. If you're not an experienced pilot used to working around supercruise's speed limits, you're going to have a hard time getting to carriers quickly, and therefore, you will have a hard time getting loads of wine, and a hard time making your first billion in trade.

Would I recommend trying to get from Elite to Elite V in one Booze Cruise? No, definitely not. In my estimation that's the kind of grind that makes the game less fun. However, it's very realistic to make a quick billion credits in a Booze Cruise, and within reason to make two billion. Meaning that you could get from penniless to Elite V with three Cruises, over roughly two and a half months. That's not bad, folks.

For more information on Booze Cruises, get in touch with the Pilots Trade Network - https://pilotstradenetwork.com/

ADDENDUM: Remember how I scanned down the system? Apparently I am the first one to do so completely. Either that or someone at Universal Cartographics made a mistake.

Today the Pilot's Federation awarded me the rank of Elite Trader. That gives me three Elite ranks (with the other two being Exploration and Exobiology.)

This isn't the same trio that is considered "triple Elite," and to earn that I need to work on combat rank. I figure that will probably take me the rest of 3310.

I owe my Elite Trade rank to the Pilots' Trade Network. In addition to regular "milk run" trades, they also run Booze Cruises where a Commander can make FAT cash. They seem to have a mature and helpful community too. Recommended.

It took me about five days to earn the ranks of Rear Admiral and Duke. Running courier missions and donating to the cause really is the fastest way to do it. Combat might be fun, but even a Reputation++ job will only yield you as much reputation increase with the Federation or Imperium as a couple of courier jobs.

Next stop: Guardian modules grind. Unless a good trade run shows up.

I've learned some valuable lessons while wrapping up the work of becoming a Rear Admiral in the Federation's Naval Reserves.

One of these: do not accept missions in Alpha Centauri.

Alpha Centauri is very very big, and the missions are spaced out accordingly.

Well, anyway, I've earned my Corvette. Now time to get a Sirius pass.

After spending some time running errands and fighting pirates for old time's sake, I have decided that I deserve a vacation. I'm parked at Stokes Station in Hirarimpt to celebrate Christmas and the New Year with old friends.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

I left Heart Sector IR-V b2-0 on 11/23/2023.

141 jumps, 300+ scanned planets, 70M in astronomical data, 1.6B in biological data, and a few "thank goodness for my shields" later, I arrived at my new home - Jameson Memorial.

Exploration was a lot of fun, but I think I want to spend the next six to twelve months in The Bubble doing some grinds. There's an Imperial Clipper and a Federal Corvette out there that will have my name on it soon enough, and I'd like for all my ships to fly the Triple Elite badge.

Once that's done, it's time to see more of the Galaxy.

Did you know there's two biological signals at the second moon of the fifth planet of the home system of the Heart Sector's Farsight Expedition Base?

Others knew this, but I was the first one to actually collect data from those biological signals.

An easy 10 million credits might not seem like much, but they add up.

This afternoon I sold data from my transit through the Elysian Shores to sector EAFOTS. Made quite a pretty penny, and it got me to Elite status for both Exobiology and Exploration and 33% of the way to Elite I in both.

I think I'll come back here eventually with a fleet carrier; but first, I have some unfinished business in the Bubble.

Next steps: head to Jameson Memorial, pick up a few more ships, and then mine and fight my way to Triple Elite.

After that: take some trips to Colonia, Sag A and Beagle Point before parking a Fleet Carrier somewhere with a lot of undiscovered systems.