YMMV / Elite Dangerous

• Awesome Music: The game's music, composed by Erasmus Talbot, has some of the most beautiful melodies and tunes crafted, entirely appropriate for exploring the void of space. For a few examples, try the Main Theme, the Menu Theme, or one of the Frame-Shift suites.
• Broken Base: Like EVE Online, there's a division among the fanbase over PvP and PvE; though the 1.3 "Powerplay" update as well as the already in-place Bounty system have made this division less noticeable. Still, if you ask the playerbase on the forums about their opinion about PvP, you won't get a straight answer on top of a Flame War.
  • Also, ask players about their opinion on Engineering. The issue was only amplified by the fact that early on it was entirely randomized (this was later changed), and that Commanders used to be divided into "haves" and "have-nots" based on whether or not they had Horizons and thus could access the Engineers, since they all work exclusively at 'groundside' facilities which you need to be running the client in Horizons "mode" to access. It might be slightly less divisive now that Odyssey has made Horizons free for all players, but you can bet it's still a sore topic for many.
• Complacent Gaming Syndrome: Due to low risk and high reward, many players opt for mining as their main source of income. Borann used to be a system preferred by many players for mining thanks to the high rate of finding valuable minerals such as void opals and low temperature diamonds in that system, but the addition of Tritium to mining loot caused a galaxy-wide reroll of all ring systems that altered Borann's hotspots. (Plus some are convinced that Frontier used the update to intentionally target Borann.)
• Fandom Rivalry: With Star Citizen. David Braben and Chris Roberts both have tried to discourage this; with the both of them backing each others' games. No Man's Sky also counts, but Dangerous' fandom considers them an Unknown Rival.
  • As time went on the rivalries inverted — No Man's Sky received frequent free updates that eventually overcame its initial reputation to bring it on par with Elite, while Star Citizen's repeated delays and missed deadlines eventually eclipsed the game itself in the public consciousness.
• Fan Nickname:
  • "Fdev" or "FDev" are sometimes used as shorthand for Frontier Developments (the game's developers).
  • "Space Toyota" for the Adder.^note As it's fairly cheap and reliable for its type.
  • "Space truckin'" for one of the primary activities and money-makers in the game, which is buying cargo from one station and hauling it to another one to sell it for a profit.
  • "Space Whale" for the Type-9 Heavy.^note Because it's big, heavy, and slow, managing to have the worst maneuverability of any ship in the game.
    • The Type-10, naturally, inherits this and is even called a "superwhale" or "blue whale" sometimes.^note The Type-10 is a modified 9, being even wider and heavier to accommodate the veritable armory you can strap to the thing.
  • "The Beefy Chiefy" for the Alliance Chieftain.^note Because, being intended as a front-line combat ship, it's quite durable and has a lot of weapon hardpoints. Though it's also surprisingly agile.
  • Players will occasionally refer to Federation forces as "the Federales".
  • "iCourier" and "iEagle" for the Imperial Courier and Imperial Eagle respectively, no doubt due to the Empire's Everything Is an iPod in the Future aesthetic.
  • "The Bubble" is a term used to refer to human-settled space, a roughly spherical shape around Sol.
  • Ascended version: "Colonia" was originally a fan nickname for the rather less cromulent Eol Prou RS-T d3-94 system, but the name was promoted to canonicity after the events of the Jacques Station emergency aid convoy lead to long-term human habitation in the area.
  • "Space Legs", a term for the idea of the player character being able to move about on foot and not simply pilot a ship or SRV. This mode of play was long speculated upon by the player base and was finally introduced in the Odyssey expansion.
  • The "Loop of Shame": what a player has to do when they overshoot their destination in supercruise; turn their ship around and approach again, because they didn't decelerate and drop out of supercruise at the correct moment.
• Friendly Fandoms: With Star Citizen. There was also one with No Man's Sky, with David Braben and Star Citizen's creator, Chris Roberts, encouraged this initial attitude with Sean Murray's basing No Man's Sky on Elite helped in that alley; however, given that game's infamous reputation at launch...
  • This trope may be back in effect again with No Man's Sky, given its far improved reputation after years of updates.
• Genius Bonus: The sheer amount of astronomical data included in the descriptions of various celestial objects in the System Map view is staggering - what game, for example, has data that includes an object's Argument of periapsis?
• Low-Tier Letdown:
  • The Cobra Mk IV — the reward for players who preordered Horizons before 2016 — is highly unpopular among most members of the community, in large part because it does not excel at any particular niche and is arguably worse than its highly popular predecessor in most functions. Most complaints centre on the fact that it is a much slower, more cumbersome evolution of the classic Cobra Mk III for nearly twice the price, which puts it in an awkward price bracket. In exchange for these sacrifices, it features slightly better shields than its predecessor and an extra Small Hardpoint, which are just not worth it. It does have the highest cargo capacity of any small ship currently in-game which on paper, could make it a good cargo runner and miner, and all whilst still being capable of landing on small landing pads; in practice, most ships will do either function just as well or better at a slightly higher price point. The Type-6 Transporter for instance, will transport half again as much cargo and features generally better performance, with its only downsides being its somewhat higher cost, weaker armament, and its medium size.^note That said, the cost difference is less than the gap between the Cobra Mk III and Cobra Mk IV, and the larger dimensions do not prevent it from landing at outposts.
  • The Asp Scout is eschewed by many players for its rather lackluster qualities. While it has a fairly long jump range, it is thoroughly lacking in all other respects. It is poorly armed and rather slow, with a large glass canopy that offers a great view but is easily shattered by damage. This stands in contrast its larger sibling, the Asp Explorer, which is regarded as a true Jack of All Trades: similar in appearance (with the same glass canopy) but much faster, more heavily armed and armored, and one of the longest jump ranges of any ship in the game, all the while being able to land on the same landing pads as its little brother. It is also thoroughly outclassed in most respects by the Keelback, which is cheaper but has generally similar performance specs with much greater durability and cargo capacity; additionally, it can also carry a fighter to make up for its relatively modest firepower. Even the Asp Scout's one possible counterpart, the Diamondback Scout, has immense utility as a smuggler, stealth fighter, railgun sniper, or plasma artillery platform due to its great heat management.
• Memetic Mutation
  • "Friendship Drive charging."^note  Mondegreens of the ship's onboard AI are fairly popular among fans, this one (of "Frame-Shift Drive charging") being the most popular. Others include "Landing gear attractive" ("Landing gear retracted") and "Target shields are fine" ("Target shields offline"). It's more noticeable with the stock female "Verity" COVAS, as the stock "Victor" COVAS is a bit clearer.
  • "If Frontier confirms x then I'll eat a sock."^note When Frontier said something big was going to be annouced at Gamescom 2015, Reddit user tfaddy jokingly said that he'd eat a sock if the announcement turned out to be planetary landings. Come Gamescom and the Elite: Dangerous - Horizons announcement trailer and the statement became synonymous with Tempting Fate in the fandom. (And tfaddy hasn't heard the end of it...)
  • "I made it to Hutton Orbital!" ^note As noted elsewhere, Hutton Orbital in the Alpha Centauri system is considered to be the worst offender of That One Level in the game, since it orbits the planet Eden, which orbits Proxima Centauri, which is considered part of the Alpha Centauri system for Lore reasons. The end result is that transit to Hutton Orbital takes up to an hour-and-a-half real time (which sucks as the station has two rare commodities that can be bought there). Getting there is considered a rite of passage for many Traders, and Frontier eventually made it an Ascended Meme with the community-created Hutton Mugs rare commodity.
  • "The Fuel Rats - we have fuel, you don't. Any questions?"^note The slogan for the much-beloved player group known as the Fuel Rats, who help other players who would otherwise be stranded in space without fuel free of charge. Frontier eventually gave them their own Minor Faction in the game called "The Fuel Rats Mischief", based out of the entirely appropriate Fuelum System.
  • "I WANT TO SELL ILLEGAL GOODS."^note All of the game's in-game text interfaces are written in all-caps, resulting in the interpretation that the Player Character has No Indoor Voice when accessing the Black Market - which is supposed to be discreet. Possibly now intentionally referenced in Odyssey, as mission-givers on Station Concourses will very loudly talk about the illegal work they want you to do. Minding that some two-dozen people could overhear the conversation.
• Sacred Cow: Don't attack the Fuel Rats. EVER. Attacking a Fuel Rat on duty is a pretty quick way to earn the ire of anyone who finds out you did it. Even some gankers, the scum of the universe, will shun you, and it's also the quickest way to get blacklisted from their services and those of their partner organizations. Oh, and you'll also probably aggro the faction of whoever that Rat was trying to help. Assaulting a Fuel Rat is the best way to unite almost every Commander in the galaxy against you.
• Scrappy Mechanic: Traveling within a system in Supercruise comes with a host of annoying hangups. While the simulation of gravitational effects on your ship is impressive, the arrival timer never takes it into account, so if you skim too close to a massive gas giant then you'll find your trip taking a lot longer than if you curve out and back in again to get a better approach angle (though savvy Commanders can exploit this as a sort of inverse "slingshot" maneuver, using the gravity well to 'catch' their ship and rapidly decelerate from an approach that would otherwise be too fast). Then there's the matter of safely exiting Supercruise near your intended target; in addition to having only a tiny distance margin, you also have to decelerate, which if done too late will result in overshooting your target, and if too early will slow you to a crawl. What makes this particularly aggravating is that there is no way to upgrade the margin for a safe exit, despite every other system you can upgrade.
  • While veteran players have found a way to make the arrival timer work for them as a way to check their rate of deceleration on final approach,^note most recommending to reduce throttle until it gets down to the 6-8 second range, and the easiest way is to just set your throttle to 75% for the entire trip - which the game allows with a single keypress via throttle control options. the window to do so is still narrow enough that getting distracted for a few seconds at the wrong time can still lead to overshooting.
  • This was addressed in the April, 2019 update with the introduction of the Supercruise Assist module and the addition of at least 1 Size 1 compartment for all ships. Now players can install this module and it will regulate speed on approach to a target (and addressing another Scrappy Mechanic, autostop your ship when dropping from Hyperspace). You still need to navigate around hazards however, as it's not a full autopilot.
• Tear Jerker: Participating in rescue operations is partly difficult because of the fact that everything inside is exploding and that your ship will constantly overheat, but also difficult in the fact that it's hard seeing the inside of a space station completely ravaged by the Thargoids. Keep in mind that before this, watching someone attack a station was a source of black comedy, as defenses would completely obliterate even an Anaconda in seconds. Now, the sanctity of the station is gone completely, instead transforming into a literal hellscape. If Galnet is to be believed, it's only getting worse from here.
  • What turned it around into awesome territory however, were the players. As the stations normally lack any form of Traffic Control, several players took it upon themselves to act as a controller to ensure prompt and easy docking and departure for the rescue ships. These players did so, not to get paid or recognized, but because it was needed. That's not to forget the countless player ships that patrolled the space with Anti-Thargoid weapons ready to repel another attack, and those looking to stop pro-Thargoid players from attacking the rescue vessels. It may just be a computer game, but this shows just what humanity is capable of.
• That One Level: A lot of wide-orbiting binary, trinary, or multiple-star systems get this treatment, as there are often starports in orbit of planets that orbit such systems' 'B', 'C', 'D', etc. stars and thus can be anywhere from 15,000 to 500,000 Light-Seconds away from the jump-in point - a distance travelled in supercruise, not hyperspace, meaning you could sometimes be sitting there for ten to fifteen minutes just closing the distance; however, it's Hutton Orbital in Alpha Centauri that presents the greatest example, thanks to being the most remote starport in all of human space - not by distance from Earth, mind you, since it orbits Proxima Centauri which is a little over 4 Light-Years from Sol, but rather by distance from the jump-in point, being .22 Light-Years from Alpha Centauri A, or about six million Light-Seconds; again, a distance that has to be traversed in supercruise, rather than hyperspace. However, Fleet Carriers can directly jump into a system near any celestial body. Catching a ride means you can undock and be only a few light-seconds away from your destination, but the carrier will have to pay its jump fee and spend some tritium fuel.