If you enjoyed previous versions of Elite, you’ll be happy with the base game. Horizons opens more possibilities by being able to land on and drive around the surface of planets and moons that have no atmosphere so you’ll need that to get the most bang for your buck. All other DLC doesn’t really do anything other than add cosmetic options for your ship and avatar.
BTW: deluxe edition (game + Horizons + one cosmetic pack) is $34.79 during the Steam Summer Sale.
Crap. Got a week and a half left and still 13K ly from Colonia. Not gonna make it.
At least I found a few ELWs with no name on 'em.
Heh. My passenger jumped ship about 8400 ly from civilization.
I just stated playing Elite Dangerous VR a few days ago. I’m the proud owner of a Viper MKIII. I know it isn’t a great ship but for me, early in the game, I love it! Four hardpoints is awesome and lets me tear up anybody who tries to keep me from delivering my haulage (I’m mainly doing courier missions). I was very hesitant to pick up Elite Dangerous, but I’m very glad I did. I’m totally hooked. Now if you’ll excuse me, there’s a pair of packages that need to be delivered to Dahan and I don’t want them to be late. 
The only thing I don’t like about the game is the microtransactions. I don’t mind microtransactions to some degree when you’re getting something meaningful that took some effort, but USD$1.75 for a weapon color? PER color!?! That took their art guy 3 seconds to do.
How is the VR? VR is probably the next upgrade I’ll do for my computer.
I was worried when I bought the Oculus Rift that it would just sit around collecting dust. And at CDN$900 (roughly), that’s a lot of money for something to gather dust.
But I have to say, I’m blown away by it. There’s a lot of really fun games for the Rift and it is a very immersive experience. I routinely try to put the controllers down on a virtual surface, I’ve not dropped them yet, but I’m sure I will.
I’ve even tried to put my feet up on a virtual surface and there was a moment of surprise when my feet hit the floor. And yes after that moment of shock I felt quite dumb. 
So with respect to Elite Dangerous, I’ve no idea how it compares to the non-VR but in the VR it is amazing. The views are spectacular. Everything just feels so real. People able to look around so freely, it just works. I absolutely feel like I’m a starship/fighter pilot.
I do have some quibbles about the game, but they’re not related to VR. For example, it shouldn’t be such a pain to Request Docking. Also, if I’m headed somewhere I should be able to target something without losing my destination. Like they need a “secondary” target. I want to look at the USS and see if it is something I want to detour for or not. It is a pain re-opening the target panel, and re-locking my original destination. Even a “Previous Target” command would help a lot.
Just ran my first ever mission.
It took me an hour to jump to a relatively close star system and dock with a station… Maybe even an hour and a half.
I like it, just a bit of a learning curve. I imagine my first battle will be magnificent(ly short)!
I got a shiny new Viper MKIV. I’ve kitted it out to support my courier business. Extra cargo space, long range FSD (well long range for a Viper MKIV). I also fitted it with a passenger cabin but after several courier runs and not a single passenger job that I could do, I dropped that for an FSD inhibitor so I can take Pirate Lord assassination missions on the side. I have this funny vision of the FedEx delivery guy periodically stopping to blow away a bank robber while delivering packages. Still digging the game. And on that note, I have two shipments to Ross 150 to make and I don’t want them to be late.
You’re in luck. Oculus is on sale now for $399 including the touch controllers (not too long ago that would have cost you $700).
HTC Vive has not responded to Oculus price cuts with price cuts of their own but I would be surprised if, at this price, HTC isn’t forced to come down too.
I have about 7 million credits. I was thinking of getting a Keelback or Asp Explorer. I generally do cargo missions with the occasional combat. I was also thinking of picking up a Dolphin and start doing passenger missions.
Any viewpoints on what ship I should get next?
Any ship can be fitted with passenger cabins. You only need a Dolphin (or Orca or Beluga) if you plan to install a Luxury cabin, those cabins will not go in any other ship.
BTW: don’t forget to leave some room for cargo. You will have a tourist demand a couple units of cargo at some point.
What happens if you don’t satisfy the demand? Will they leave? Or is it more of a bonus?
I guess really I can google that.
You’ll make them unhappy. They’ll leave if they get too unhappy.
IIRC, there is a small bonus for delivering the tourist and their cargo. Haven’t had one in a while.
Thanks. I’m very heavily leaning towards the Asp Explorer. I did a build of it online and I like it!
Welcome to BKB’s FTL Courier & Cargo Service, “We’ll break the laws of physics for you! Now with larger haulage capacity! Will hunt pirates!”
Here’s my AspX. Size 6 First Class cabin holds 12 people.
Very nice. All A-rated internals. I cannot afford those yet.
I’ve been running mainly D or C-rated as I work my way up to bigger ships. The C-rated in particular seems to give pretty good functionality for the cost. I think I have a B-rated shield generator because I like not dying.
You don’t necessarily need to A rate your ships - indeed, sometimes you don’t want to. The ratings aren’t direct “each stage is better”, but each stage focuses on a different stat:
E - Basic
D - Lowest mass - a generally D rated ship with an A rated FSD will have a longer range than a full A rated ship.*
C - Good all round performance for the price
B - Most mass
A - Best all round.
An A rated ship isn’t a bad target, but just bear in mind there’s a huge premium on A rated modules, and they aren’t necessarily the best for what you want.