Elite: Dangerous - updates!

A nice free update!

Beginner’s Zone

A new collection of systems has been added for newly-created Commanders, and can only be accessed by pilots until they earn their first Elite rank. In addition, the authorities here will provide simpler missions that even the smallest of Sidewinders can complete.

Across the galaxy, new Commanders will also have a reduced rebuy until they gain their first Combat, Trade or Exploration rank, a step in the path towards greatness!

New Modules

Advanced Docking Computer

We’re adding an upgraded version of the original Docking Computer, a module designed to allow Commanders to relax, let go of their flight sticks and automatically dock in stations to the serene strings of Johann Strauss II .​

The Advanced Docking Computer will not only allow you to dock, but also allow you to automatically undock from a station without anxiously worrying about getting stuck inside the mail slot. Let’s face it, it will also help with those embarrassing Type-10 spoiler moments!​

This module will also come as standard in all newly-purchased small ships. If you’re starting up a new account, you will find the Advanced Docking Computer in your ship from the get-go - making it easier for you to embark and disembark from your favourite stations without colliding with the walls, landing pads or your fellow Commanders.​

Supercruise Assist

Available at your nearest starship department store (i.e. Outfitting) comes the new Supercruise Assist module. While in Supercruise, you’ll be able to target a destination and activate Supercruise Assist, putting your safety in the reassuring hands of a machine. In this mode, your ship will automatically maintain the correct speed and approach to your target destination, and break out of Supercruise at the optimum time. You’ll still have to align with the correct location, but you will no longer have to worry about doing a loop of shame !​

With the the Supercruise Assist, you will also be able to enter into orbit around a body - allowing you to launch discovery probes and take screenshots without the fear of face-planting the dusty, rocky ground.​

This module will also come as standard in all newly-purchased ships.​

Free module slots for everyone!

With the introduction of these new modules, small ships will be outfitted with two additional size one Optional Internal slots, while medium and large ships will also receive one additional Optional Internal slot. This will automatically and retroactively apply to all relevant ships.

Navigation Panel

In Beyond - Chapter Four, the cockpit was completely revamped, and with the April Update, come even more improvements! The latest area to feel the love is the Navigation Panel where, in places, we have added icons for a tighter, more visually appealing layout.

A new column has been added to this panel, denoting activities in an area, mission targets, plotted routes, Wanted status and if the threat level of some areas is too high. The Navigation popup expands on this information, providing more details about the location, such as faction details, star class, information of resources and more!

Two of these may sound new to you - so allow us to explain!

  • Activities - Every location in the Elite galaxy, offers different activities, be it collecting Combat Bonds in a Combat Zone, or mining asteroids at a Resource Extraction Site. Icons and links to the Pilots’ Handbook (see below) have been added to help you easily identify what activities are available at a given location.
  • Threat Level - Threat Level is something that already exists in the game (previously only seen at Unidentified Signal Sources), but this new marker will now appear in all systems. If a location has a threat level too high for your current combat rank, a ‘danger’ icon will be displayed, warning you that the location might be too dangerous.

Pilot’s Handbook

Like the Codex, the Player’s Handbook is a treasure trove of information, providing details on the many activities available to you in Elite Dangerous. Whether you’re a veteran, or you’ve only just graduated from flight school, these articles will help you discover what opportunities are out there - and what is required to get involved in them. With links from the cockpit straight to the Pilot’s Handbook, sourcing information is easier than ever before!

Trading Screen Improvements

When you’re an interstellar trader, every minute is a potential sale… so to help you avoid being badgered by a strange man trying to sell you the ‘deal of a lifetime’ (500 tonnes of bio-waste is not always a good deal, by the way!), a number of improvements have been made to the user interface of the Commodities Market.

You will find two panels in the Commodities Market, Buy and Sell . Each new panel will provide you with important information:

  • Commodities relevant to any active missions you’re currently undertaking
  • Icons that provide feedback of profits and supplies.
  • Trade data on nearby local systems per commodity
  • Buy and sell commodities pop-up with much more info than before - helpful even to the seasoned trader!
  • Select markets or goods and view their trade data in the Galaxy Map.

All these improvements have been introduced to make the Commodities Market easier to understand at a glance, ensuring every Commander can become a wolf of the interstellar Wall Street.

Interstellar Initiatives

Our name for the previously announced ‘Community Events’. These are series of in-game events that play out over the course of around a month. Each one features several phases that will alter as the narrative progresses, and may end with lasting effects on the galaxy. We’ll be delving deeper into these in just a couple of weeks.

…and there’s more!

  • Revamped main menu layout, including featuring GalNet news and other important information.
  • Training Missions and Challenge Scenarios will now be accessible via the cockpit, allowing you to brush up your skills right from the seat of your ship.
  • Loading screen tips.
  • Bug fixes.
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Now if we can get auto pilot for those jumps that would be great.

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I wonder (and hope!) that this means we will be accessing the CQC game from within the main game as well in the future. That’d be fun.

Hmmm. I wonder if this will be the beginning of unlocking some of the more mysterious permit-locked sectors.

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Interesting Weapon’s damage analysis- for the spreadsheet lovers!

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Patch!

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Just in case anyone was still waiting for them…
Fleet carriers.
Yes, mannable. :slight_smile:

Can’t imagine what prizmatics are going to cost that those :wink:

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The reveal plus some nice details!

https://youtu.be/lNNj97HznUU

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New Features

New Starter Experience

  • Added a curated experience for new players that will guide them through the basics of ship control, combat, travel and docking
  • The experience has localised voiceover in all supported languages
  • Certain UI elements are highlighted at key points during the flow
  • Players are given a mission once the flow has been completed, that introduces them to the mission board (with voiceover)
  • Added the experience to the ‘Training Simulations’ list, accessible from the internal cockpit panel
  • Updated the throttle UI to better show the players current direction of travel (the rectangular blocks are now chevrons, and added a subtle pulse animation)
  • Pre-flight checklist is now off by default when starting a new game (it can be turned back on)

Supercruise

  • Added new option to the Flight Assist tab to allow the Supercruise Assist module to control the throttle automatically
  • Supercruise ’ Safe to Disengage ’ message has been updated to include the binding that will disengage Supercruise

ARX

  • ARX is the new currency that takes over from Frontier Points and real money transactions across all platforms
  • Players purchase a pack containing a number of ARX that are then used to purchase in-game cosmetic items (Game Extras) for their ship, SRV, fighter or Holo-Me
  • Players can purchase ARX from in-game links that direct either to an external Frontier Store or site
  • Any outstanding Frontier Points will be converted to ARX the first time the player logs into the game after the update

Rewarding ARX

  • Players can earn ARX through standard gameplay (up to a 400 weekly cap) based on in-game activities within Combat, Trade and Exploration and more!
  • Players are notified of their previous session earnings on the main menu

Livery Update

  • Refreshed livery layout
    • Icons denote the different categories (general, decals, cockpit decorations, etc.)
    • Updated vessel selection screen
    • Separate UI for ship name and ID
    • Preview mode that reduces the amount of on-screen UI, giving a clearer view of the chosen item
  • Players now purchase items, with ARX, directly from livery, without being redirected to an external store
  • Players can now access livery from the main menu

Holo-Me

  • Players can now purchase items, with ARX directly from the Holo-Me section, without being redirected to an external store

New Store

  • Added a new customisation store
  • Players can browse the entire catalog of customisation items for any available ship
  • Preview Mode allows players to see any cosmetic items on a vanilla version of any ship, as well as use camera controls to view it from different angles
  • The store is accessible from either the main menu or major starports in-game
  • Players purchase cosmetic items directly from the store, without being redirected to an external site

Bug Fixes

Codex

  • Fixed being unable to scroll through Tourist Beacon text in the archive section if it was longer than one page
  • Fixed an issue where HOTAS users couldn’t scroll through the right hand side of the archive section

Crashes/Stability

  • Fixed a crash that could occur when logging into the game
  • Fixed an issue where players were getting stuck on the loading screen, due to being close to an asteroid ring
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when looking at the Powerplay screen during a hyperspace jump

Decals

  • Fixed some issues with incorrectly reversed decals

Diamond Explorer

  • Fixed an issue where the outfitting camera was clipping into the hangar floor

Exploration

  • Fixed an issue where body data wouldn’t show up first time when using the Full Spectrum Scanner (FSS)
  • Fixed an issue where the blue scan visual effect can appear on a nearby planet that you’re not trying to scan
  • Fixed an issue where players couldn’t scroll through the right-hand side panel when selling Exploration Data
  • Fixed an issue where the word ‘next’ was partially cut off in the Navigation Tab of the External Panel

Fighters

  • Added a cooldown when using hotkeys to give fighters orders, and prevented allowing players to repeat an order that has already been given to the fighter (multiple orders were creating network lag, resulting in an exploit during combat)

General

  • The correct Elite rank will now show when targeting your own ship from your SRV
  • Fixed an issue where a player’s ship name/ID plates was being incorrectly censored when on the main menu
  • Fixed a restock issue for vessels when the player has multiple bays fitted

Interdiction

  • Fixed an issue that could cause the AI ship not to appear after they interdicted a player

Krait Phantom

  • Fixed holes in one of the Ship Kit pieces

Localisation

  • Fixed missing Cyrillic letters in Squadron Creation and Rank Names
  • Corrected spelling of ‘nonhuman’ in the Knowledge Base

Mamba

  • Fixed landing gear still appearing to be deployed even after the player had retracted it

Mines

  • Decreased mine rearm time from 5 seconds to 2 seconds. The increase in time was an attempt to fix an issue where long ships were being hit by their own mines. However, the updated arming time was too long, making them ineffective. This new arming time should balance it.

Missions

  • Fixed missing ‘mission target’ tags from certain ships, meaning Massacre and Assassination missions should now have appropriate target ships for the players to attack
  • Fixed missing text in some VIP Passenger missions

Narrative

  • Corrected the date of Atticus Obellan Duval’s ascension to the throne in its Tourist Beacon

Network

  • Correctly display which network adapter is being used by the game in the network options, as well as preferring a wired network connection over a wireless one if both are found
  • Fixed edge cases where players were being placed in the same instance as players they had blocked
  • Added unique error codes to disconnections, for players to use when reporting issues

Player Journal

SPOILER

Server

  • Fixed Companion API authentication for players with linked Steam accounts

Sidewinder

  • Fixed some level of detail issues with its Ship Kit

SRV

  • Fixed an issue where the SRVs weapon were firing slightly offset when used from the driver’s seat

Trading

  • Fixed an issue with the demand icon overlapping when demand is high
  • Fixed an issue with the displayed price at a Black Market for contraband goods
  • When a player is comparing market to buy/sell at, changes have been made to ensure that a selected marker is included in the “consumed by” list (if applicable), even if another market in the same system offers a better price

Training Simulations

  • Fixed an issue with the Mining Simulation where players could fire the Mining Laser at nothing and the tutorial would play incorrect voiceover
  • Fixed an issue with the Advanced Combat Training Simulation, where players could cycle fire groups too early in the flow of the simulation

Unidentified Signal Sources (USS)

  • Increased the spawn rate of High Grade Emissions
  • Increased the spawn rate for Non-Human Signal Sources

Viper MkIII

  • Fixed some level of detail issues with its Ship Kit
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If there’s anyone on the fence about ED, it’s currently 70% off on the Steam Store for the Frontier 25th Anniversary sale.

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Also, the newest update included the tutorial mode to introduce new players to the game, and from what I’ve read so far, it’s very, very good. May be well worth a look for those who were feeling intimidated by getting into the game.

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PSA: There’s been a number of (for some) game breaking bugs- with this latest update.
Some (me) prefer to wait until an update will be released, in the following days!

This puzzles me a bit :crazy_face: Are these new tutorials to those already present in the game?

I did a couple of tutorials when I got the ED few weeks back.

I need to check what’s up :slightly_smiling_face:

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Yup, tutorials are the (basically) only thing not broken and can be accessed by everyone- not just a new player.
Infor here…
http://email.elitedangerous.com/q/13VchfBY0cA3G4L2IRP9t/wv

OMG SUPER CARRIERS INBOUND!

Elite: Dangerous will finally be getting its Fleet Carriers, massive new starships capable of holding other large ships and traveling between star systems under their own power. Fleet carriers will enter beta testing April 7 on PC, with a second beta phase on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 beginning in May.

“The most expensive investment to date and costing 5,000,000,000 credits, Fleet Carriers are individually owned and contain 16 landing pads of varying sizes for other players to dock their starships in, with a galaxy-spanning jump range of 500 light years,” Frontier announced in a news release.

GRID VIEW

Image: Frontier Developments

That kind of range will dramatically change how players travel the stars in Elite . A player-led expedition to Beagle Point, on the far side of the Milky Way Galaxy, took me four real-world months each way with a jump range of just over 50 light years. The same trip could theoretically take a fraction of the time with a Fleet Carrier.

Frontier says a new power source called Tritium will be required to move the ships, and how that will play into long range travel is unknown.

Frontier adds that Fleet Carriers will be customizable, with repair docks, refueling stations, shipyards and more. They can also set tariffs on trade goods, further fleshing out the game’s complex economic systems.

More information will be announced during a Frontier livestream on April 2 at 1:00 p.m. EST.

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Time to start mining again.

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was just about to say that… :smile:

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Good lord. I don’t even have my first billion yet, and I’ve been playing this thing on and off since 2013.

I’m close-ish to Colonia now though, so maybe when I make it back to the bubble, my exploration data will put me over the top there.

I stopped playing after I reached 1b.

I wished that the carriers would be an incentive to use the small ships. You would have one rich sugar daddy and 15 casual players with vipers, cobras, adders and so on…