Elite Dangerous Update #123

Welcome to the Elite Dangerous Newsletter #123

This week, we're celebrating the launch of The Engineers 2.1 beta, hearing from David Braben about the beta process, learning some fascinating details about the Galactic Simulation, unveiling some new paint jobs in the store, catching up with the latest GalNet news and much more.

As always, you can hear 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.

Pick up the Elite Dangerous: Horizons Season Pass today for £24.99, €33.99 or $37.99.

Contents This Week

• Letter from David Braben
• Upgrade to the Engineers 2.1 Beta Now
• Horizons Highlights - The Engineers Beta
• The Galactic Simulation
• New Paint Job Packs in Store Now
• 2.1 The Engineers Tutorial Livestream
• GalNet Focus
• Arena CQC Livestream: Episode 14 - Marked Man
• Mailslot Sardines Subreddit Challenge
• Reddit AMA Series
• Community Goals Update
• Comms Chatter

Letter from David Braben

As I write this, the beta of The Engineers is about to go live. The team have done a great job, pulling together so many different elements that make the game richer, deeper, better in so many ways. It is a Beta, so there may be things that are broken or unbalanced and we’d love your feedback. For this beta in particular, what will be most useful is to test the balancing of the new weapons and modules, when used in all sorts of different ways, on different ships.

There are so many new things beyond the roughly half a million unique human characters we have added so I won’t list them here, but look out for Michael Brookes’ change list on our forums for more details. See you in the beta - I’m CMDR BRABEN. I fully expect to see myself destroyed on YouTube (again) – but you never know, I might even have one or two of the new weapon upgrades on some huge beam lasers!


RIGHT ON COMMANDER!

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Upgrade to the Elite Dangerous: Horizons Beta Access Now

We’re very pleased to announce that the 1.6 and The Engineers (2.1) beta is now live! The Engineers 2.1 includes a host of new features for Horizons owners to enjoy, and 1.6 enriches the core gameplay experience for all Elite Dangerous players.

The Engineers 2.1 update brings headline features such as Loot and Crafting and mission updates. In addition to this, we have a jaw-dropping amount of other changes coming too, be sure to check out our extensive change log for all the details. The development team have been working incredibly hard and we’re really excited to begin the beta and have some fun over the coming weeks!

If you don’t already have beta access, Horizons owners can upgrade by visiting the Frontier store for only $9.99, €9.49, £6.99 or 562 Rubles.

The beta is an important and fun part of the development process. Come and join us – and get early hands-on with the new content and help find anything that’s not quite right - reporting any feedback in our beta feedback forum and bugs in our beta bug forum.

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Horizons Highlights - The Engineers Beta

The Engineers 2.1 beta has only been available for 24 hours, but already people are experimenting with the countless tweaks and new mechanics in the beta build. Here’s a small sample of the highlights we’ve noticed since we went live yesterday.

Obsidian Ant has already uploaded his first video about The Engineers 2.1 beta, flying over two of the Engineers bases, and making some intriguing discoveries.

CMDR Welles was impressed by the improved look of the planet surfaces, and left some tracks when posting this image on Reddit.

CMDR Rathour of the Elite Racers posted this Gif of himself hitting over 600m/s in an Eagle, using drives enhanced by the engineers. One of our designers, Michael Evans has told us that this isn't nearly the fastest speed you can reach...

CMDR DekiTzar was greeted in an interesting way when he decided to engage silent running on approach to a station.

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The Galactic Simulation

In this week's The Engineers 2.1 feature we will focus on the underlying galactic simulation; the layers of activity beneath the surface of Elite Dangerous.

Throughout the human bubble in the Elite Dangerous Galaxy, there is a vast network of interlinked trade routes. These can be seen on the Galactic Map – showing the movement of all sorts of goods from Onion Head to Palladium, between systems. This traffic represents hundreds of thousands of ships moving these goods around the Galaxy behind the scenes.

All players affect this commodity market with each trade they make, but player trading makes the most difference in markets in systems with the lowest populations. These are the wilder outposts, not well served by regular deliveries. There is more risk in these outer reaches. But, where there is risk, there is reward!

The Factions controlling systems outside of the superpowers of the Federation, Empire and Alliance, range from benign governments that simply get on with running their local economies, to militaristic and often corrupt or even criminal regimes. They are much more strongly influenced by player actions. The local populations do not tend to be as politically active in these systems and just go with the current regime. So it is player influence alone that can push them into the different, more extreme, states – subject only to the political inertia of the faction – something that happens quite a lot!

In The Engineers and Elite Dangerous 1.6, Factions have become more significant, losing their ‘minor’ status. Missions are now grouped by faction, and your reputation and your progress with that faction is now much clearer and central to your opportunities. It is your reputation and progress that unlocks further missions, and how the successful completion of that mission will affect your relationship with the Faction. This factional status is important as it is the key to get an invitation to certain engineers, and of course factions are an integral part of the galactic simulation.

As well as states (such as famine, war, retreat, or boom) having more of a noticeable impact on the markets, the security rating for the system will affect prices of legal and illegal goods on the markets. Lockdowns will also have a greater impact, with many station services no longer being available while the lockdown is in effect. This channels any local Commanders’ efforts into the crime reduction operations needed to end the lockdown.

If a faction attempts to expand, but fails – typically because there isn’t a suitable target star system within range - then the faction will now enter an investment state, where they increase the local development level to prepare for another expansion attempt. During this phase they value exploration data more, and selling them this data will have an increased impact on that faction’s influence. This added investment will allow them to extend their range when trying their next expansion.

GalNet have improved their coverage when reporting conditions within individuals star systems, providing more information on what’s happening and any changes. Commanders will also now receive messages when their reputation level changes with any faction.

The galactic simulation is at the heart of so much in the Elite Dangerous galaxy, and these changes in 1.6 and 2.1 make it an even more dynamic, player-driven space to be part of, for all Commanders.

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New Paint Jobs in the Store Now

The Squadron Paint Job packs are now available in the Frontier Store.

As well as the Eagle and Cobra, you can also pick up the Squadron pack for the Asp, Viper MK IV, Sidewinder, Type 9, Python and Anaconda.

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2.1 The Engineers Tutorial Livestream

Join us on our official YouTube channel on Tuesday May 10th at 7PM BST while we take you through the features in The Engineers 2.1 beta, cover any areas you might be unsure about, and take questions live from chat about the update. We'll create a questions thread on Monday afternoon, so head over to the forums to ask your question in advance.

Make sure you join us at 7PM BST on May 10th on our official YouTube channel.

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Welcome to our weekly roundup of news stories and events in the Elite Dangerous galaxy.

The galaxy’s most famous travelling starport, Jaques Station, is to make an ambitious long-distance leap all the way from Gliese 1269 to Beagle Point. But moving a starport such a considerable distance requires a significant amount of fuel, which is why Jaques has turned to celebrated search-and-rescue organisation the Fuel Rats for help. The Fuel Rats, in turn, have issued an appeal to their many members and supporters to contribute to the operation by delivering hydrogen fuel to Jaques Station.

The office of Jasmina Halsey has announced that the former president’s appeal for exploration data has reached a successful conclusion. Although Halsey’s claims of transcendent experiences have been dismissed by much of the political elite, the wider galactic community was more receptive, with hundreds of independent pilots taking to their ships to gather exploration data for Halsey’s appeal. The data will now be analysed to determine if it contains evidence of the beings reportedly seen by President Halsey.

The Wyrd Raiders may not be widely known outside the Wyrd system, but for several years it has been one of the most successful commercial enterprises in its region of space, enjoying profitable relationships with an array of partners. Now, the organisation has issued an appeal to the galactic community for help in compiling an order of tantalum for an unnamed party. A spokesperson for the organisation was asked to address rumours that the tantalum was in fact intended for a group of independent engineers, but she refused to be drawn on the subject.

The Spinward Marches Alliance Concern has announced that its campaign to bring relief to the people of the Morrina system has been enthusiastically received by the galactic community, resulting in a deluge of deliveries to Beaumont Dock. The medicines, water purifiers and power generators delivered to the station will now be distributed to those affected by the system’s recent conflicts.

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Arena CQC Livestream: Episode 14 - Marked Man

After a (short) break from the CQC action, we're back on Thursday May 12th with Senior Programmer Mark Allen. Mark, who answered your questions on the recent road to beta livestream, can't wait to set up his X55 and take you all on in some fast-paced Arena combat.

Make sure you join us on our official YouTube channel on May 12th at 7PM BST.

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Mailslot Sardines Subreddit Challenge

The Elite Dangerous subreddit announce their first in a long series of difficult challenges, "Mailbox Sardines", with the simple goal of cramming as many ships as possible into a Station's mailslot.

Visit the subreddit thread to take part and submit your videos, with fame and a Community Prize Pack up for grabs!

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Reddit AMA Series

The Elite Dangerous and Elite Xbox One subreddits continue their joint AMA series this week with a few new guests coming along for you to ask them anything.

Friday 6th at 6pm GMT/UTC on /r/EliteDangerous:

• HCS VOICEPACKS - Official Elite Dangerous response packs for VoiceAttack, some professionally voiced by SciFi legends: William Shatner, Tom Baker, Brent Spiner, Paul Darrow, Norman Lovett, Brian Blessed, and Hatty Hayridge. All voice packs have 1000+ command responses, some have additional educational information in the form of the "GalaXapediA, Constellations & Quantum Theory" facts.

• CANONN SCIENCE (XBOX DIVISION) - Are you an Xbox commander and a budding scientist? The Canonn are a scientific research group within Elite Dangerous and they are looking for Xbox commanders to fill their ranks!
• MERCS OF MIKUNN - Eliminating Space Bugs, so others don't have to. Help make the Milkyway bug free! Targeted Civil Wars, Expansions, and testing the Galactic Diplomacy systems to their limits.

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Community Goals Update

Greetings Commanders, and welcome to this week’s community goals blog. If you’re looking for a goal, the breakdown below should help:

Jaques’ Big Jump:
Jaques Station, Gliese 1269 – Deliver Hydrogen Fuel to Jaques Station in the Gliese 1269 system to help the Fuel Rats’ efforts to get Jaques to Beagle Point.

Tantalum for the Wyrd Raiders:
Gareth Edwards Park, Wyrd – Deliver Tantalum to Gareth Edwards Park in the Wyrd system to help the Wyrd Raiders meet their mysterious order.

The Wyrd Raiders may not be widely known outside the Wyrd system, but for several years it has been one of the most successful commercial enterprises in its region of space, enjoying profitable relationships with an array of partners. Now the organisation has issued an appeal to the galactic community for help in compiling an order of tantalum for an unnamed party. A spokesperson for the organisation released a brief statement to the media:

“Ordinarily we would have no difficulty meeting an order of this kind, but given the relative urgency of the request we have decided to place an open order for the necessary materials. Naturally we will generously reward those who lend us their support.”

The spokesperson was asked to address rumours that the tantalum was in fact intended for a group of independent engineers, but she refused to be drawn on the subject:

“Our partners usually prefer to keep their identities private, since their transactions are often of a commercially sensitive nature.”

The Wyrd Raiders has promised to reward pilots who deliver tantalum to Gareth Edwards Park in the Wyrd system.

Farther away from civilisation, Jaques Station is noted for being the galaxy’s only travelling starport. Owned and operated by a cyborg known as ‘Jaques’, the Orbis station has been roaming the galaxy for over 40 years, and in that time it has become something of a cultural icon. Now, after more than four decades of travel, Jaques is about to embark on his most ambitious expedition yet – a long-distance jump from Gliese 1269 to Beagle Point. In a statement, Jaques explained the thinking behind the venture.

“Well I’ve been wandering the galaxy for over forty years now, and the truth is that after a while, travel starts to lose its allure. You’ve got to remember I’ve been alive for several centuries. The things that used to excite you just sort of...lose their spark. I thought a long-distance leap might rekindle my enthusiasm.”

Naturally, moving a starport such a considerable distance requires a significant amount of fuel, which is why Jaques has turned to celebrated search-and-rescue organisation the Fuel Rats for help. The Fuel Rats, in turn, have issued an appeal to their many members and supporters to contribute fuel to Jaques’s operation. The Fuel Rats Mischief, which is coordinating the operation, has promised to generously reward those who support the operation.

Both campaigns are scheduled to begin on the 5th of May 3302 and will run for one week. If the final targets for a campaign are met earlier than planned, that campaign will end immediately.

It’s dangerous out there so fly safe, Commanders!

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Comms Chatter

CMDR Rathour on /r/EliteDangerous shared his rather rare star find!

We love a good time-lapse and CMDR Rustic has a brilliant one for us! He recorded this while approaching a station without using supercruise.

Commander Kabu from our forums posted that his trip to the Cat’s Eye Nebula was a failure... granted, he didn’t make it to said nebula, but did take some amazing pictures along the way!

That’s it for Newsletter #123. Please don't reply to this email; this address is not monitored. Instead you can get in touch with us at community@frontier.co.uk with any questions about the newsletter. Please use our support page: http://support.frontier.co.uk if you have any support-related queries.

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

The Frontier Team