Elite: Dangerous Update #92

Hello, Commander,

Welcome to Elite Dangerous Newsletter #92.

It’s a big news week!

Today at the EGX gaming show in Birmingham, UK, we revealed some of the key features we're excited to be creating for the Elite Dangerous: Horizons new season of expansions. You can take a look ahead at the new season in this week's very special Peek Of The Week.

All weekend you'll find Frontier at EGX where we're getting strapped in for SteamVR with the HTC Vive. You'll find details below, along with Comms Chatter and the latest GalNet news.

As always, you can read the latest news and updates directly from the development team on our Forums, Twitter, Facebook, Community Homepage, and right here in the newsletter every week, and we're always eager to hear your feedback.

Pre-order links:
Elite Dangerous: Horizons
Elite Dangerous: Horizons Beta

Contents This Week

• Peek Of The Week: EGX Special
• Bobbleheads Are Back
• SteamVR comes to Elite Dangerous
• Store Spotlight
• Comms Chatter
• GalNet

Peek Of The Week: EGX Special

Today we took to the stage at EGX 2015 to announce some of the standout features you’ll get as part of the Elite Dangerous: Horizons season of expansions.

You’ve probably already seen the brief teaser trailer we debuted at Gamescom giving an all-too-brief glimpse of Planetary Landings – we’ll be showing much, much more of it in the coming weeks!

Planetary Landings itself is just the first part of the full season of Elite Dangerous: Horizons expansions.

If you missed us at EGX you can watch the archived stream at EGX's YouTube channel, We hope you enjoy this peek ahead at some of the season’s exclusive features.

On planetary and lunar surfaces you'll find new activities, new enemies and whole new ways to experience Elite Dangerous.

Real 1:1 scale worlds of staggering variety and beauty offer endless new gameplay possibilities.

Ship-Launched Fighters can be docked in your ship's hold to give you a far greater range of options to tackle any situation in which you find yourself. Deploy your fighter under AI control or take the stick yourself and fly into battle while your mothership lies in wait.

Multi-Crew lets you fly in the same ship with friends, which will up the intensity and camaraderie levels of a joint mission even further! You’ll be able to share and alternate control of weapons systems, turrets and flight duties to multiply your effectiveness. Even to the extent of piloting a ship-launched fighter and working in combination with the mothership. It’ll be especially useful in some of the very large trading ships coming in season two.

The all-new Commander Creator brings your in-game presence to life for the first time, and lets you identify friends with a quick glance across your ship's bridge. Its the first step in the longer term plans we have for you, Commander…

There are features that are trickier to illustrate but still very significant, like the extensions to the mission system with new military missions and rank progression, Powerplay missions and chained missions which will deliver an even richer gameplay experience. And as already announced, season two will introduce a new loot and crafting system, letting you create unique equipment.

And there's more to come later this year for all players. The launch of the CQC expansion is just a few weeks away, and the ‘Ships’ expansion (Elite Dangerous 1.5) later this year will introduce a number of new spacecraft to the galaxy, including the awesome new Viper Mk IV.

We're happy to announce that, as promised, every player who backed our original Kickstarter at Beta level or above will find a Viper Mk IV docked at a starport for free in ‘Ships’.

The Viper Mk IV

Planetary Landings, Multi-Crew, Ship-Launched Fighters, the Commander Creator, new missions, and a new loot and crafting system are just some of the headline features you’ll find in Elite Dangerous: Horizons new season of expansions. We’re looking forward to having you join us when Elite Dangerous: Horizons lands later this year.

Back to Contents

Bobbleheads Are Back

We had a special surprise for the crowd at EGX. That's right: Bobbleheads Are Back!

Early backers will remember the Toku Bobblehead from the Elite Dangerous Alpha and Beta, and we're excited to announce a whole new collection of Bobbleheads will be available starting with Elite Dangerous 1.5: Ships.

To celebrate, we're offering the flightsuited Commander Braben Bobblehead for a limited time only at the Frontier Store. Pre-order now and you'll find Elite's co-creator ready to sit upon your ship's dashboard this Holiday season.

Back to Contents

SteamVR Comes to Elite Dangerous

We're very excited to announce that Vive support is coming as a free update to Elite Dangerous this Holiday season. The HTC Vive will be the first virtual reality headset available to consumers, and Elite Dangerous will support Vive on the PC via a future free-to-all-players update.

SteamVR and HTC's Vive’s high-resolution OLED display make for a truly stunning VR experience. SteamVR support has been up and running at the studio for a while, and Valve's own Chet Faliszek commented on Twitter this week: 'This was my most anticipated game to "test" - lots of "testing".'

High resolution VR has always been important to Elite Dangerous and to Frontier's team – we designed-in the concept from day one. We're working to make sure Elite Dangerous remains the world's best virtual reality gaming experience from the moment players are able to don VR headsets.

If you're coming to EGX this weekend, we’re offering Elite Dangerous Vive demonstrations on the Elite Dangerous and HTC stands. So make sure you come and see us and tell us the newsletter sent you!

Back to Contents

Offer of the Week

In the newsletter every week we’ll tell people a day, a time and a social media channel they should keep an eye on, to get access to a limited-use discount code.

This week's code will get you 50 percent off a hardback copy of Elite: Legacy by Executive Producer Michael Brookes. All you have to do is keep an eye on our official Facebook page on Saturday September 26 between 5PM and 6PM BST to see the posted code, and be one of the first 30 people to redeem it. Good luck!

Back to Contents

Comms Chatter

CMDR MackTheHunter discovered that sometimes the current tech of today is still great to use in the 33rd century. His discovery is shown off in this .gif he posted on Reddit.

Issue 10 of Fangs is inspired by a Johnny Cash song and is as atmospheric as ever.

Dave Hughes, the writer of the upcoming Elite Encounters RPG, raised an incredible £2,130 last week during his 24-hour livestream. Community Manager Edward Lewis joined him on the stream for an RPG session with senior artist Tjaart Kruger, and they both had a lot of fun. You can see Dave's Twitch page here, and watch highlights from the stream on the recent broadcasts page.

And finally, CMDR Newlen wrote this brilliant story about his activities with the Elysium Corp.

Back to Contents

As Senator Denton Patreus prepared to enter the Senate to continue the deliberations over the succession, he issued an angry demand for a full senate investigation into the reported links between Emperor’s Dawn and Princess Aisling Duval’s office. “While I sympathise with the princesses’ situation, having experienced a similar shock, I cannot allow that sympathy to influence my judgement. When a member of my household committed the most heinous of deeds, I submitted myself to the security services and gave them every access they needed.

At the start of the day’s deliberations, Chancellor Anders Blaine declared that a Senate investigation into the claimed connection between Princess Aisling Duval’s office and the insurgent group Emperor’s Dawn was to be undertaken. The investigation will begin immediately, despite the Senate being in closed session until the succession is decided.

Alfred Jeffress, the reclusive philanthropist, has released an intriguing statement. In a press release, the eccentric billionaire announced his intention to initiate a galaxy-wide treasure hunt – and to give a share of his vast fortune to the winner. This is the first public statement from Jeffress in several years, as the humanitarian – who made his fortune trading rare and exotic goods – has spent much of the past decade on an extended galactic tour.

Princess Aisling Duval has issued a statement praising the efforts of relief workers in the Munshin system. "War is a plague on our galactic society, and like all disease it most affects the poor, the hungry, and the downtrodden. It is therefore with great pride that I look to the Munshin system. There one sees true examples of Imperial citizenship, and true heroes. Any person can fire a laser, but only a true Imperial can see the humanity in another person. I extend my gratitude to the people of the Munshin system, and to the Libertas Cooperative, who are working so hard for the victims of the Pegasi Pirate War. The tireless commanders ferrying medicines to Ocrinox's Orbiter are likewise to be commended."

Back to Contents

That’s it for Newsletter #92. As always, if there's anything in particular that you’d like to hear more about, or if you'd like to ask a question, then please contact us at elite-newsletter@frontier.co.uk.

Click for the latest Game Manual, Quickstart Guide and Pilot Training Videos. Visit our Support team here and read our previous newsletters here.

Until next time, fly safe and Right On, Commander.

The Frontier Team