Category: Preview

Odyssey: Starport Tour

At 7pm on the 25th March 2021 Frontier showed a video featuring a tour of some of the starport, featuring mission givers, interactive screens and ship hangars. You can see the video below with details being added to the Odyssey: Full Breakdown page in due course. All footage is pre-Alpha which is due on Monday 29th March. You can read about that, here.

> Screenshots

Click the arrows to run through the images.

The Road to Odyssey : Part 1 – The Giant Leap

At 1.50pm on the 18th August 2020 Frontier published the first Development Diary of the upcoming Odyssey release. Later this evening on their Twitch channel there will be a Discovery Scanner special where they will go into more details – which will appear on this blog here.

You can find all other Odyssey information in the Odyssey: Overview section.

“The first in a series of Elite Dangerous: Odyssey dev diaries One Giant Leap explores how commanders can experience light atmospheres and break new ground with exploration on foot for the first time.

“Stay tuned for future episodes set to dive-in to combat, missions, environments and co-operative play over the coming months.

“Tonight, we will be streaming a Discovery Scanner episode at 18:00 (UTC) on the Elite Dangerous Official Twitch Channel, to take a deeper look into the dev diary with CEO David Braben, and Senior Designer Derin Halil.”

Fleet Carriers: Patch Update #4

On the 3rd August (originally scheduled for 29th July) Frontier relieased patch number 4 for the Fleet Carrier update. You can find the patch notes below, on the official site here, or on the patch notes section of this website.

Mining

  • Fixed an issue whereby surface deposits created after cracking a motherlode would flag themselves as depleted
  • Fixed issues related to diminishing returns for commodities in overlapping hotspots

Crashes and Stability

  • Fixed an issue where loading into an instance in a system with a large amount of Fleet Carriers would cause very long load times (potentially long enough to cause a disconnect)

Fleet Carriers

  • Fixed an issue which stopped Fighters being restocked from a Fleet Carrier
  • Fixed a number of issues related to Fleet Carrier positioning:
    • Better enforcement of the 16 carrier limit per body
    • Preventing departing Fleet Carriers from taking up one of the 16 slots from the body they’ve just left
    • Further work to ensure Carriers are positioned away from other nearby body sites, such as other Fleet Carriers

Known Issues

Fleet Carriers

  • When opening the Fleet Carrier naming pop up in the Livery, an additional unwanted character will be added to the start and end of the name. These characters will need to be manually deleted to prevent them being included.

Please note that the above notes are liable to change as adjustments are made and changes are added or removed. Tweaks may be made up until the time of launch.

Thanks as always for your continued feedback!

Odyssey – Concept Art

Further concept artwork for what has been described as an Exopod, has been added to the Odyssey section of the website courtesy of Frontier and Ignatious Hango. See the images below or head over to the Odyssey page for full details. For more artwork from the game head over to here.

Concept Art – Ignatius Hango
Concept Art – Ignatius Hango
Concept Art – Ignatius Hango

Odyssey – No VR at launch, no base building

At 3:43pm on the 4th June Frontier posted on the official forums to say the following:

Is Elite Dangerous: Odyssey coming to VR?
Currently, Elite Dangerous: Odyssey will not be VR-compatible at launch. We’re big fans of VR and we are truly proud of the amazing experience that we currently offer in Elite Dangerous. However, the new gameplay, mechanics and features that will be introduced with Elite Dangerous: Odyssey means that we had to re-examine if we could deliver that same experience without compromise, which, for launch, means Odyssey will not be VR-compatible.

Will there be Base Building in Elite Dangerous: Odyssey?
Base building is not currently on the roadmap for Elite Dangerous, however we have plenty of new features planned instead such as on-foot exploration, new planetary tech, social hubs, combat as well as more to be shared later on! We’re looking to put our best foot forward with Odyssey and if you’d like an overview of what to expect, you can check out the website or Steam page.

Will Elite Dangerous: Odyssey be included in my Lifetime Expansion Pass?
While Elite Dangerous: Odyssey is a paid expansion, we’re happy to confirm that yes, this expansion will absolutely be included in the Lifetime Expansion Pass for free.

Elite: Dangerous – Odyssey Announcement Trailer

At 3:14pm on the 3rd June 2020 Frontier announced Elite: Dangerous Odyssey. Read about it below and here on the 4.0: Odyssey – An Overview page. Wondering what all the fuss is about? Then read up on the history of ‘Space Legs’ here.

“Disembark, Commander, and leave your mark on the galaxy in Elite Dangerous: Odyssey. Explore distant worlds on foot and expand the frontier of known space. Be the first to step out onto countless unique planets as you discover land untouched since time began. Elite Dangerous: Odyssey invites you to
become a true pioneer.”

“Explore distant worlds on foot, expand the frontier of known space and leave your mark on the galaxy as you become the first person in history to explore lands untouched since time began.

“So you’ve disembarked, you’re standing for the first time on an unexplored planet. What can you do next? Here’s an overview of what you can look forward to in Elite Dangerous: Odyssey.

One Giant Leap

“See the galaxy like never before. Touch down on breathtaking planets powered by stunning new tech, soak in suns rising over unforgettable vistas, discover outposts and settlements, and explore with unrestricted freedom.

Forge Your Own Path

“Take on a wide variety of contracts and play your way, from diplomacy and commerce to lethal stealth and all-out combat. Diverse settings, objectives, and NPCs offer endless mission variety and a near infinite amount of content to enjoy.

Assemble Your Crew

“Social hubs spread throughout the galaxy give Commanders the ideal place to plan their next move. Form alliances, procure services, and even find expert support in highly coveted Engineers. These public outposts also help you acquire and upgrade weapons and gear to perfect your playing style.

The Sphere of Combat

“Experience intense first-person combat, kit out your character with an array of weapons and gear, and coordinate with teammates to master a multi-layered, deep, tactical environment where Commanders, SRVs and Starships converge.

“From now until launch, we’ll be sharing more information, developer diaries and trailers as we get ready to embark on this exciting new adventure!”

Fleet Carriers: Beta #2 – Patch Notes

At 11am on the 11th May 2020 Frontier released the patch notes for the #Beta 2 version of Fleet Carrier which has gone live today. You can see them on the official site here, or below. You can find the Beta #2 discussion and feedback forum on the ifficial site, here.

You can find the full lowdown on Fleet Carriers, here.

Greetings Commanders,

As a reminder, the Fleet Carriers Update Beta 2 will be going live today at 11:00 (UTC), for PC, and PlayStation 4 Commanders. Due to unexpected issues found with the Xbox version of the beta, we will be unable to start the beta on Xbox today. To find out more please go here.

We will publish more information to a dedicated Beta section on how you can participate and what to look out for, when the Beta goes live. We would also like to remind everyone that if you participated in the first Beta, that you will not carry over any progress to the second Beta, (what happens in the Beta stays in the Beta).

Fleet Carriers updated features

  • Upkeep cost for all additional services has been reduced by 80-90%.
  • The core running costs have been reduced by 50%.
  • The Debt Threshold has been updated in line with the upkeep changes (This means with all services installed, a carrier can go 10 weeks (up from 4) without paying upkeep before being issued a final warning).
  • The total upfront activation costs of some of the more expensive services have been reduced by 35-45%.
  • The time between jumps has been decreased to 15 minutes for jump preparation and 5 minutes to cool-down.
  • Added Universal Cartographics as an optional service on Fleet Carriers.
  • Fleet Carrier owners can now store their ships and modules aboard their Fleet Carrier by default.
  • When decommissioning a carrier you will now receive a full refund.
  • Voluntary decommissioning will incur a fee equivalent to 50% of the Debt Threshold.
  • When cancelling the decommissioning of your Fleet Carrier, you will now receive an inbox message to confirm the cancellation.
  • Reduced the amount of Tritium consumed with each jump by around half.
  • Added a better indication of arriving and decommissioned states for Fleet Carriers on the Cockpit Navigation Panel.
  • Fleet Carrier Services menu now displays the name of the owner.
  • The trade screen in Fleet Carrier Management, now reports the number of imported and exported commodity types separately rather than in a total for both.

Fleet Carrier Bug fixes

  • The all time profit now correctly updates on the Fleet Carrier budget screen.
  • Fixed a crash that occurred if you were in an instance with an arriving Fleet Carrier.
  • Fixed a crash that would happen when replotting a cancelled Fleet Carrier jump.
  • Fleet Carriers can now be filtered in the Galaxy Map regardless of whether the player is docked or not.
  • Fixed the way that Fleet Carrier owner names are displayed in the targeting panel.
  • Fixed a bug which would allow players to target destinations for their Fleet Carriers which shouldn’t have been allowed (e.g. starports, asteroid belts).
  • Limpets can now be restocked at Fleet Carriers.
  • Fixed an issue which made it look like restocking wasn’t working via the quick action on the Docking Menu.
  • The target reticule will now properly indicate when a selected Fleet Carrier is on the other side of a body.
  • Stopped the Fleet Carrier destination icon from displaying on all Fleet Carriers in the System Map.

Mining

  • Sub-Surface Mining Deposits can now eject multiple Resource Chunks from one successful hit.

Codex

  • Fixed a bug which caused focus to jump to the top of the grid after exiting out of any section within Knowledge Base or Pilots Handbook.

Missions

  • Megaship Turret Missions will now indicate system distance on the Mission Board.
  • If the player has an active Delivery mission, then the mission commodity will no longer have the mission required icon next to it on the Commodities Market.

CQC

  • CQC matchmaking from in-game will now require the usual delay before exiting the game if you are in danger.

Thargoids

  • Fixed Caustic damage not being removed by overheating your ship.

Ships

  • Fixed a bug which caused Landing Gear/Cargo Hatch to visibly clip into the cockpit.

Player Journal

  • Added an event for when a Fleet Carrier is renamed.
  • Fixed a bug where RefuelAll and RepairAll events were written with a null string as the event name.
  • EngineerProgress event is now correctly written when ranking up with an Engineer.
  • Bounty events now include localised ship names.
  • “latlong” flag now set when in a station.
  • Fixed status flags for HUD in analysis and Low Fuel when in SRV.
  • Fixed loadout data written after launching a Ship Launched Fighter.
  • We no longer write a value for ReservePercent to the Journal if total balance is zero or negative.
  • We now include the body name in CarrierJumpRequest.
  • Added Fleet Carrier docking restrictions to market.json file.
  • Added an event for cancelling a Fleet Carrier jump.

Please note that these Patch Notes are for the Fleet Carriers Update – Beta 2, and not reflective of the final Fleet Carriers Update Patch Notes.

Fleet Carriers: Beta #2 Changes

At 2pm on the 7th May 2020 Frontier announced the changes to Fleect Carriers following the first Beta and subsequent feedback. These can be seen below, or on the official forum, here.

The Fleet Carriers page with a full rundown of information has been changed to refelct the below.

“Greetings Commanders!

“We know that many of you are eagerly awaiting the second Fleet Carrier Beta that starts next week, so ahead of that, we wanted to share some of the changes you can expect to see when you jump in to help us test them!

“So, let’s start with a quick reminder: the next Fleet Carriers Beta begins on 11 May and runs until 26 May. Commanders on PC, PlayStation and Xbox One will be able to jump into this one, and to find out more on how to take part, click here.

“Thanks to all the feedback provided to us in the first Fleet Carriers Beta, we wanted to highlight some of the changes you can expect to see in next week’s Beta:

  • Fleet Carriers will now have Universal Cartographics available as an optional service.

After the feedback from the first Fleet Carriers Beta, we reexamined how Fleet Carriers could be utilised by different play styles. We feel that with the inclusion of Universal Cartographics, explorers out in the black will be able to break new boundaries and launch exciting new expeditions.

  • Decommissioning a Fleet Carrier will now refund the full cost of a Carrier, with the only reductions either being unpaid debt when automated or a static fee for voluntary decommissioning.

“There has been a lot of conversation and feedback around this, so thank you to all the Commanders who shared their thoughts with us! Fleet Carriers affect Elite Dangerous in a way the game hasn’t seen before; they are persistent objects accessible across all platforms and controlled by player Commanders. Due to this, Fleet Carriers require these new systems in order to facilitate them in the galaxy. While Elite Dangerous can sustain as many Fleet Carriers as the community could wish for, there is a finite number of objects that can orbit a single body. Left unchecked, this could become a problem if Fleet Carriers are left in key locations like popular capital systems or near to carrier construction facilities, especially when a recent buyer wants to pick up their new Fleet Carrier. Decommissioning acts as an inactivity system that refunds the initial investment while preventing unused Fleet Carriers adrift in the galaxy. By adjusting the refund amount, we think this will be more in line with your expectations.

  • Module and ship storage will now always be available for the Fleet Carrier owner. Shipyard and outfitting services will still need to be purchased to enable visitors to use them and to buy stock for the owner.

“After seeing the feedback from players, we agreed that Fleet Carriers should come with these services by default! However, for others to use these services, owners will still need to activate the additional service to provide functionality to visitors as well as just the owner.

  • Tritium consumption per lightyear has been reduced by approximately half.

“This will directly make Fleet Carrier movement 2x more efficient in the beta. We want to keep monitoring the use of carriers and Tritium during the second beta, but this is our initial step to finding that sweet spot.

  • BETA BLOWOUT!

“Towards the end of the beta, join us for a BETA BLOWOUT, where Fleet Carriers will be available to almost anyone who has not yet had the opportunity to test them for themselves!

“In order to get feedback on Fleet Carriers in an environment that is as close to the live servers as possible, Fleet Carriers will remain at the price of 5bn CR. This is important to make sure we can get as accurate feedback as possible. However, during the Beta Blowout period, Fleet Carriers will be purchasable for 1m CR. We’re doing this so that as many people as possible can help try them out and give us feedback, but still enable us during the first week to see how they behave in an environment closer to what the live one will look like.

“We’re looking forward to seeing what you will do with them (and how many you’ll make!).

“We’ll also be creating a dedicated section on the forums to give a home to feedback, instructions, guides and all things related to the second Fleet Carriers Beta, so please continue to share your feedback with us!

“Fly safe and see you in the beta next week Commanders! o7”

Fleet Carriers: Beta 1 – Feedback Changes

At 12:31pm on the 15th April 2020 Frontier announced the changes following the release of the Beta for Fleet Carriers. They can be found below, or here. The full breakdown on all the content can be found here.

Greetings Commanders!

Thank you for testing the prototype Drake-Class Fleet Carriers brought to you by the Brewer Corporation. Since the beta’s launch, we’ve been carefully reading and discussing your feedback and are ready to share the upcoming changes. We look forward to hearing more of what you think for the remainder of Beta 1 and in Beta 2 coming next month. All changes are subject to further balancing based on future feedback.

Here are the changes coming this week:

  • The upkeep cost for all additional services will be reduced by 80-90%.
  • Core running costs will be reduced by 50%

Fleet Carriers represent a big investment, with a lot of crew and resources involved. After hearing your concerns, we’ve reduced the upkeep to a more sustainable level. The total running costs for a Fleet Carrier with all services active will be reduced by a total of 85.5%.

  • The debt threshold has been updated in line with the upkeep changes. This means with all services installed, a carrier can go 10 weeks (up from 4) without paying upkeep before being issued a final warning.

This is designed to relieve the pressure of carrier management, leaving more time for focus on other activities. While the debt threshold will be lower, Fleet Carrier owners will have more time to maintain the upkeep costs.

  • The total upfront activation costs of some of the more expensive services will be reduced by 35-45%.

Along with the upkeep changes, this reduces the overall outfitting and maintenance costs of Fleet Carriers.

  • The time between jumps will be dramatically decreased by only requiring 15 minutes for jump preparation and 5 minutes to cool-down.

More frequent jumps will increase the utility of Fleet Carriers overall, allowing them to enhance the owner and visitors’ game-play more easily.

The two changes below will come in the second beta. Additional changes can be expected as more feedback comes in:

  • Universal Cartographics will become available as an optional service.

Similar to Bounty Vouchers, a cut of 25% which will be split 50/50 between the Fleet Carrier’s bank and the service, will be taken from any data sold on the Fleet Carrier. This means owners will effectively only be charged a fee of 12.5% on their own Fleet Carrier. This service will otherwise be the same as Universal Cartographics services found on stations.

  • Tritium will be made at least 2x more effective as a fuel.

In combination with a reduced preparation and cool-down time, this should improve long distance Fleet Carrier travel.

We’re excited to hear what you think of these changes and seeing them in action for the remainder of Beta 1. Thank you for all of your valuable feedback which has helped shape these changes and will drive the rest of the changes made throughout the rest of the beta period. As mentioned above, this next beta will take place in May, and will be available to Xbox and PlayStation as well as PC players.

Fleet Carriers: Live Beta & Patch Notes

Updated: 7th April at 10:05pm

The Beta for Fleet Carriers is now live and will run until the 20th April 2020. The Beta patch notes can be found below, ir on the Frontier website. You can participate in the Fleet Carriers Beta feedback by visiting the Frontier forum, here.

For additional information, please check the following:

> New Features

Fleet Carriers

  • Fleet Carriers are massive ships used as a mobile base of operations, offering multiple landing pads and various services.
  • Fleet Carriers cost 5 billion credits.
  • Players can purchase a Fleet Carrier from starports with a Carrier Vendor contact.
  • Fleet Carriers come with 16 landing pads, 8 large, 4 medium and 4 small.
  • Fleet Carrier owners can manage docking permissions to determine who can land on their Fleet Carrier.
  • Fleet Carriers can jump up to 500ly.
  • Fleet Carriers use the new commodity, Tritium, to perform a jump.
  • Owners can install a variety of services on a Fleet Carrier to support their play style.
  • Fleet Carriers have a weekly upkeep cost which must be maintained to keep the carrier running.
  • Fleet Carriers have player controlled commodity markets which the owner can use to buy and sell goods.
  • Fleet Carrier owners can also set tariffs on some of the services they offer to help pay their running costs.
  • Fleet Carriers can be customised, similar to regular ships, with items bought with ARX.

> Bug Fixes

ARX

  • Players will now receive ARX for killing scavengers.

Audio

  • The Discovery Scanners full system scan SFX no longer triggers in the store.
  • Fixed the issue which would cause the damage alarm in Guardian Fighters to get stuck on a loop.
  • Fixed the missing sound on a Large AX Multicannon.
  • Fixed some missing voice over when requesting to dock.

Cosmetics

  • The Beluga Liner and Cobra Mk IV can no longer be selected in the Livery unless the player has the Horizons DLC.
  • Fixed the “Tail 4” part of the Federal Gunship Ship Kit so that it aligns with the ship.
  • Fixed the worn paint on the Diamondback Explorer Ship Kit pieces.
  • Fixed the Krait Phantom Thruster that was being obstructed by Ship Kit piece, Tail 1.

Crashes/Stability

  • Fixed a crash which could sometimes occur when entering Multicrew.
  • Fixed an occasional crash that would happen after the Multicrew report screen.
  • Fixed a disconnect issue that could occur when attempting to accept two Multicrew invites.
  • Fixed a crash triggered by accessing the Power Play interface while in Hyperspace.
  • Fixed a crash that happened when the Role Switch Panel was accessed in CQC.
  • Fixed a crash which could occur in the Livery after using a Fighter.
  • Visited stars cache data will no longer be lost if the game crashes.
  • Fixed an issue which could cause the game to stutter in areas of the galaxy with a high density of stars.
  • Improved network performance of NPC Fighters and ships to reduce network lag.
  • Fixed a disconnect issue that occurred when attempting to load back into an AX Conflict Zones in close proximity to an Asteroid Belt.

Background Simulation and Galaxy

  • Added the Gamescom Prize to rename “Wregoe WF-F d11-30” to “Cheltojo System GC19”.
  • Corrected data for HIP83701 to show its population in the Galaxy Map.
  • Fixed an issue that caused System Authority ships to be found in Supercruise in anarchy systems.

Conflict Zoness

  • Fixed an issue which could cause Conflict Zones to end abruptly.
  • Fixed the bug that occasionally wouldn’t register your choice when picking a side.
  • Fixed the issue where objectives were missing when dropping into Conflict Zones.

Crew

  • Fixed the issue where the NPC Crew could stop responding to orders in Anti-Xeno Conflict Zones.
  • Fixed a bug which sometimes stopped NPC Fighters being deployed.

Exploration

  • Locations discovered using the DSS will now be listed in the System Map correctly after returning to a system.
  • Fixed an issue which could cause discoveries in the Codex to show the wrong image.
  • Fixed a problem which could cause Surface Data to generate in the background at such a low priority that it would stop.

General

  • Fixed an issue that occurred when accessing the Codex while in the Shipyard, input would still be passed through causing players to accidentally sell ships.
  • Fixed a softlock where it was possible to select two contacts in your Contacts List when using a gamepad and keyboard.
  • Fixed an issue that stopped some Multicrew messages from being deleted from the inbox.
  • Fixed the issue where occasionally the player could lose access to the Main Menu Chat Panel.
  • Added the targeting schematics for Imperial Capital ships.
  • Combat Aftermath scenarios now have a variety of ships, not always an Anaconda.
  • Agronomic Treatment is now shown under the Chemicals section of the Galaxy Map.
  • Fixed an issue where the inbox would incorrectly display 1 unread message even if they had all been read.
  • Fixed a bug where players would drop out of Supercruise too close to starports.

Localisation/Text

  • Added the missing text at the Technology Broker unlock screen for the Thargoid Interceptor Bobblehead.
  • Fixed an overlapping text issue on the Mission board in Russian.
  • System State names now wrap onto a second line to avoid localised text being cut off.
  • Fixed localisation of Tourist Beacon text in Portuguese.
  • Fixed a grammar issue in Reputation Change inbox message.
  • Updated titles for NPCs.
  • Fixed an unlocalised “Signals Detected” message that was displayed when scanning bodies.
  • Fixed a cut off string in the Kick Player pop-up.
  • Added missing text for damaged Megaships in the Navigation Panel.
  • Crime Victim Data is now localised in the Player Journal

Mining

  • Added a fix for Crystalline Clusters falling through the floor.
  • Implemented a fix that will stop Core Mining Fragments from penetrating into Asteroids.

Missions

  • The ‘Total Units Needed’ will now update in the Commodity Market as Collect Missions progress.
  • Delivery Mission Cargo is now marked as ‘Mission Specific’ to prevent the Commodity Market showing the commodity as mission required.
  • Added a MissionAccepted event in the Player Journal for missions obtained outside of the Mission Board (eg Palin’s mission).
  • Corrected some misleading mission text which implied that Retreat Missions would help a Faction leave a system, which was the exact opposite of what was happening. These now indicate that Retreat Missions might prevent a retreat.
  • Added depot support to Solo mining missions.

Multicrew

  • Fixed the issue which caused the Gunner Role to lose control of Weapon Turrets after entering or exiting a location.
  • Fixed an issue which meant subsequent Mulitcrew invites would not work, and would incorrectly show if a player did not have the Horizons DLC.
  • Fixed a bug which prevented Conflict Zones spawning ships if a Multicrew player was present.
  • Added in a fix for Multicrew players being disconnected after dropping out of Supercruise.

Networking

  • Increased the chance of players meeting previously encountered players when revisiting systems in a session.
  • Players can now block any player, not just friends or pending friends.

New Player Experience

  • Players won’t be asked to target an enemy ship if they already have it targeted.
  • Fixed the issue which incorrectly told players they were leaving the test area when they weren’t.
  • Fixed an issue where System Authority Ships could jump into the combat tutorial.
  • Fixed the Intro Tutorial’s Sidewinder sometimes displaying 119/120 cargo capacity.
  • Fixed a graphical issue on the tunnel section in the intro tutorial.
  • Fixed a bug in the SRV tutorial which could cause the player to get stuck if they land too quickly.
  • Fixed a bug where the game didn’t always register when players flew through the first check point.

Outfitting

  • Reduced mass of the size 1 Meta Alloy Hull Reinforcement Package.
  • Fixed an issue where after applying synthesis on the Advanced Multicannon, the synthesis would be removed when you used the Advanced Maintenance to restock any other Modules (Mines/AFMU etc.).

Rendering

  • Added a fix to stop starport interiors from picking up light from stars.
  • Fixed the visible line in the Millky Way.

Ships

  • Fixed a small graphical error on exterior of the Beluga Liner.
  • Fixed an issue on the Viper MK IV which meant the paint work could never be fully repaired.
  • Fixed a small graphical error on the exterior of the Orca.

Squadrons

  • Added a fix for Squadron applications that were still showing after being accepted/declined.

Terrain

  • Fixed a broken terrain issue at some Thargoid Ruins sites.

Thargoids

  • Fixed Thargoid Interceptors not using their special weapons when near a Planet’s Surface.
  • Fixed an issue that would sometimes stop players being credited correctly for participating in a Thargoid Interceptor kill.

Please note that these Patch Notes are for the Fleet Carriers Update Beta 1, and not reflective of the final Fleet Carriers Update Patch Notes.