This week we’re sitting down in holopresense with Psykit, the undisputed Pink Empress of the battlegrounds. When that pink corvette jumps in, the pirates turn tail and run. “OH NO ITS PSYKIT! RUN!!!”. I watched her the other day take down every single interdiction she got the other day, about 15 before she got to a station. When Psykit comes into an area, you better believe she means business. Or forgot her limpets. Psykit has really taken the center stage in Elite with Flight Assist Podcast, and finally getting that very well-deserved purple checkmark. Psykit recently stepped up into a new squadron and already has taken over a system for her group. What system? You’ll have to tune into her stream to find out!
SB: Psykit thanks for taking the time to do this interview. First thing’s first. Tea. What’s your favorite?
Psykit: English Breakfast, white
SB: Good choice, nice strong tea! Alright, let’s get into Elite. On the topic of limpets, you have a hilarious sound command for limpets. How did that come about?
Psykit: It’s Warlord383’s little girl, Crewman Amber. He made a full voicepack with her on his channel and he got her to record it for me as a surprise and I’ve used it ever since.
SB: How did you get into this rabbit hole we call Elite: Dangerous?
Psykit: My husband and best friend were playing together and I was bored of feeling like a third wheel, so I bought it when it was on sale on steam, and haven’t really looked back since.
SB: A lot of people I talk to have similar stories, “So and so played it, I wanted to know what it was all about, and voila I’m in!” So when did this all start, when did you start playing?
Psykit: I started playing in December 2016.
SB: Five years this year! So you have a podcast, called Flight Assist. It’s a fantastic discussion with some fantastic pilots. Lets talk about that for a bit. How did you come up with this concept?
Psykit: Mal and I decided that we wanted to work on a project that was outside each of our channels. It didn’t take too long to decide on something podcast like, and it went through a fair few iterations before we simplified it to what it is today. We really like talking to people, so we focused on that.
SB: You’ve done nearly 70 as of this writing, I believe. No I’m kidding, but as if this article you’ve done 36, the most recent being The Pilot. What was your favorite interview?
Psykit: I really don’t have one – I loved the season one finale, as it felt a little like therapy after a super tough year.
SB: I would do that little confetti thing you do in-stream, but alas this is a written interview, which means we can’t. That’s a pretty good number though, and you’ve had a lot of fantastic streamers on there, most of which I follow or have followed via your podcast. What would be your dream interview?
Psykit: Braben is up there, I’d love to have him on for a chat. There’s also a CMDR by the name of Isinona that has come up a few times in interviews but has disappeared off the face of the planet, they were one of the original Elite content creators, and they’re my white whale at the moment.
SB: You read it here, Isinona, if you’re out there reading this Commander, Flight Assist needs you. So you have a lot of fantastic commanders on your podcast, pretty much a dream team lineup. I for one can’t think of anyone better than you have. How do you come up with who gets on the podcast, is there a process, do you hand-pick?
Psykit: A couple of ways, we have a list that includes CMDRs who have emailed us asking to be on the show – which is honestly the easiest way to get added to that, if anyone is interested (info@flightassistpodcast.com). We also have a list of people that we’d like to talk to as well. So I spend a couple of days reaching out to loads of folk and then it’s just a case of hoping and praying that the scheduling gods align and we can get something lined up. I’ve gotten very good at knowing time zones on the fly and Daylight Savings is an absolute pain.
SB: I wish they’d get rid of DST personally, but maybe by 3307 they already have. I imagine they have some sort of universal time or something. But anyway! Let’s talk about you a little bit before getting back into Elite. What are some activities you enjoy outside Elite or gaming in general?
Psykit: When my pain isn’t too bad I really enjoy getting outside for walks with the hubby and the pup.
SB: We see, and hear, Artie a lot on stream. How many pets do you have?
Psykit: Three – Pete and Claudia the cats and Artie the Cockapoo
SB: Artie is the cutest. I love seeing him on stream, a big bundle of fur. How about your username, Psykit, what’s the story behind that?
Psykit: It’s a portmanteau of the words psycho and kitten which was my old username, I chose to shorten it when I was having an account created for me in Counter-Strike, and my then-boyfriend told me I needed a username.
SB: So you play Counter-Strike, or did, what about other games? What are some things you enjoy playing off-stream, or on if the mood is right?
Psykit: A lot of FPS and puzzle games on PC, and a hell of a lot of Dungeons and Dragons as both a player and DM.
SB: I have a great story someday about being told I can never write D&D campaigns again. So you’ve been streaming for awhile I feel, what got you into streaming?
Psykit: I’m honestly not sure. I dabbled back in 2017 – 2018 when my fibro was really bad as a way to pass the time, it wasn’t great production quality and I mostly just chilled out playing random games with friends. Back in December 2018 I did a 24 hour stream for Epilepsy Action and it was fantastic, but a couple of days later I couldn’t physically move. As I started to improve over the coming 8/9 months, I realized that life was too short, and to enjoy doing what you could when you could, so in August 2019 after a long chat with my incredibly supportive husband, decided to give the old streaming malarkey a go full time so that I could manage my pain and take breaks as and when I needed, rather than the alternative of being stood behind the counter in a shop, which I honestly didn’t believe and still don’t believe my shoddy back would be capable of. I’m incredibly grateful to the community for allowing me to be able to contribute to the home and I will be forever grateful for their encouragement and support. If I can also go some way to help raise awareness of Chronic Pain conditions and help encourage those that are struggling that Chronic pain doesn’t have to be the boss of you, then I’ll be very happy.
SB: Everyone should take note of that and what she just said a fantastic statement. I’ve seen you struggle on stream a few times, and that’s one of many reasons I have a ton of respect for you, the things you do, even when you’re not having a good day. You’re a trooper, and I greatly appreciate the content you provide us.
Let’s get back to Elite again. Why don’t we talk about some of your early days in Elite? I asked Mal if you could go back and change one thing when you were starting in Elite, what would you pick? So same question to you, if you could tell 2016 Psykit to do something different, what would it be?
Psykit: While you will meet awesome people playing elite, there is so much more to it than just the one-player faction. Get to know the community quicker.
SB: What made you sit back in Elite and go “Wow. I love this game.”
Psykit: Learning that your actions have a direct consequence, and then learning how to manipulate that. The game had me interested but the BGS had me gripped. It’s one of my favorite activities (manipulating BG’s) as well as Engineering ships.
SB: You say manipulating BGs (background simulations, the backbone to Elite, the faction wars, influence, etc., are all BGs) is one of your favorite activities. What sets this apart from the rest of the things you do in Elite?
Psykit: Seeing your actions have a real affect in the galaxy is very interesting and satisfying. I recently left the squadron that I adopted and our new squadron is currently in a state of limbo waiting to be established as a Faction in game. I really can’t wait to be able to work from the ground up to get us established. Engineering is really satisfying when you get used to it, and being able to make your ship the best it can be for the activity that you intend for it is very cool.
SB: Do you get to go out and explore much?
Psykit: Occasionally on a whim I’ll go out and do some exploration, normally not too far from the bubble, and then I’ll come back in 4 weeks, I get mad fomo if I stay away for too long.
SB: What’s the furthest you’ve been out exploring?
Psykit: Sag A and Colonia
SB: Lot of sights to see on the way up there. What were some of your favorite sights?
Psykit: Lots and lots of neutron stars, normally if I’m heading to Colonia or Sag A it’s for a buckyball challenge or I just want to get there as soon as possible.
SB: What kind of ship did you take up there?
Psykit: I’ve done the Colonia run in a Conda, Krait Mk II, a DBX and a python when I was migrating an account over there.
SB: So out of all the things you’ve done in Elite, what is the best thing, the most impressive thing you’ve seen in the game?
Psykit: Nothing blew me away quite as much as activating a guardian beacon for the first time.
SB: That is quite the sight to behold, I gotta say. I took a few friends out there to try to sort of force them to like the game, which worked, and it was just…indescribable. So what about group activities? Plenty to do, what’s something you enjoy in a group?
Psykit: We did the pomeche ridge challenge as a race on my stream when we launched season two of flight assist and it was actually hilarious. There’s also CMDR Ascorbius’s Type 9 race in Pomeche too. I really enjoy community driven events like that, and the Buckyball Races tend to also be a lot of fun. I can’t wait to see the levels of player driven content we get to see in Odyssey.
SB: Gonna start to wrap things up here, got three more questions for you. I mentioned you’re the undisputed Pink Empress of combat, what got you into it?
Psykit: It’s just part of the game. And a lot of the CGs and things that work best while in a wing are pretty limited to combat, and the corvette excels at it. I also don’t play an awful lot when I’m not streaming so I tend to focus on activities that allow me to engage with chat a lot, and because the ‘vette excels at it so much (almost all of my ships are fully engineered) I tend to be able to keep up with chat while I’m doing some combat. It’s a decent stream activity.
SB: How about your favorite combat ships, small, medium, and large? I know one is going to be the corvette.
PsyKit: I have a fully engineered sidey with rails that I like to take out occasionally, I learned to fight in a FAS so it’ll always have a special place in my heart but the Frag Mamba is too fun for words, and while the Corvette is my favorite ship, the T10 with beams and packhounds is a ridiculous joy.
SB: A sidewinder with rails. That has to be interesting to fight with. Finally, I asked you a few weeks ago when Alpha first came out what your thoughts were. Your answer was you were looking forward to seeing what happened in the future. Have your opinions changed since then?
Psykit: I’m impressed, I feel like there’s definitely work to do, but as an Alpha I’ve been genuinely surprised by the quality. Also the communication has been really good.
SB: I agree that the communication has been fantastic, even leading to the removal of a controversial tool’s mini-game we won’t get into. But that’s all the questions for today. But as you know, I like to throw in a surprise at the end of every space blend, and this week is no different. First, as I mentioned, Psykit recently made partner, and a whole lot of names got together and gave her a wonderful tribute, put together by Mal, who we interviewed in Space Blend 2.
But I didn’t want to leave with just this, because Psy has already seen this. So it wasn’t too much of a surprise. So we went one step further. I reached out to Mal, and I got my hands on an exclusive never-before-seen video clip for you, Psykit. I present to you, the next video on MalForTheWin’s raid video series:
Welcome aboard, Commander Artie. o7
Psykit can be found on Twitch streaming, her schedule is:
Monday: 5AM PST/8AM EST to 10AM PST/1PM EST
Tuesday: 5AM PST/8AM EST to 8AM PST/12PM EST
Thursday and Friday: 5AM PST/8AMEST to 10AM PST/1PM EST
You can find her on Twitter at: