I had the Federal pirate’s ship hulls down to 20%. The death of the ship and all its cargo was certain. My own shields were down but I had plenty of armour plating left in my hull (about 85%) so I knew victory was at hand.

Then the unthinkable occurred. In a last desperate attempt to shake me off the Federal Dropship boosted away and turned around to face me. I was still so assured of myself – in ten seconds my lasers would rip through the enemy’s hull and the ship would be reduced to floating space debris.

How could I have known he was aiming for my canopy, the only thing separating me from space?

Then it happened. The enemy had one sure fire blast from his arsenal and the industrial plexi-glass shattered, blasting my helmet with fragments from the presence of speed and gravity.

It was then I realised I had ten minutes left to live.

The top right corner of my helmet HUD had displayed words that chilled me to the core – “Oxygen depletion in 10 minutes”

Suddenly the certainty of claiming my bounty in the system of Salimandali was erased from my consciousness and all I could think about was my survival. I boosted away from my enemy and initiated super cruise in order to make it back to port before my oxygen ran out…

This is an example of just how improved Elite: Dangerous has become, particularly on the Xbox One version. The latest patch brings the Xbox One version up to 2.02 and it seems the massive world has just become that much more interesting. The AI of the enemy ships appears to have gotten so much better, although it could also be because I am hunting pirate ships more frequently than I have done in the past.

Space stations are much more varied now too. In my recent travels I have seen much more variety in the type of space stations you can dock at now.

In terms of a fighter class ship the Vulture is so far my favourite. Upgrading this ship and adding twin large pulse lasers helps go a long way to defeating many opponents. The manoeuvrability of this ship is just amazing.

Flying in a wing is great fun too. Getting even splits of any “Wanted” ships goes a long way to helping out players who are just starting out. It also gives you the added layer of protection as you know someone is watching your back.

Any doubts I had of the developers not continuing to support this game, and indeed the Xbox One version, have disappeared after this latest 1.2gb patch. Elite: Dangerous has become infinitely more fun again. I just can’t wait now for the announcement when the Xbox One version will see Horizons.