Elite Dangerous

Fleet Carriers entered the live galaxy on June 9, 2020, giving Elite Dangerous mobile bases that could jump up to 500 light-years with Tritium. The free Horizons update followed in October, while the Odyssey Alpha opened on PC in March 2021 with the game’s first on-foot gameplay.

• Fleet Carrier launch: Commanders purchased customizable carriers for 5 billion credits and outfitted them with shipyards, outfitting, Universal Cartographics, markets, Tritium Depots, and other services. Carriers supported 16 landing pads, crew management, docking permissions, visitor tariffs, and deep-space exploration.
• Horizons became free: Elite Dangerous folded Horizons into the base game, adding planetary landings, the Scarab SRV, multicrew, ship-launched fighters, and Engineer weapon crafting for all players. Existing Horizons owners received the Azure ship paint job.
• Odyssey Alpha: The alpha opened on PC with on-foot exploration in the Adityan system, Apex Interstellar travel, local missions, salvage and delivery activities, faction conflicts, and new suits including the Remlok Maverick, Supratech Artemis, and Manticore Dominator. Players also used Takada and Kinematic weapon sets, the Genetic Sampler, and Frontline Solutions.
• Planetary technology: Odyssey introduced new planetary surface generation with improved distant detail, enhanced lighting, more varied rock placement through the scatter system, distinct rocky-ice terrain, volcanic features, atmospheric weather, and “geomes” that created varied biomes.
• Fleet Carrier balance: Repeated tuning reduced carrier running and service costs, shortened jump preparation and cooldowns, cut Tritium consumption by roughly half, expanded the debt threshold to ten weeks, and added full decommissioning refunds. Low Temperature Diamond hotspots and overlapping hotspot rewards also received major reductions and rebalancing.

The September Update rebuilt Elite Dangerous’s onboarding with a fully voiced tutorial, a protected Beginner’s Zone, and new training simulations, while ARX replaced Frontier Points for cosmetic purchases. The January Update then expanded planetary scanning and the Background Simulation with new site-likelihood signals and six faction states, giving explorers and BGS players substantial new tools.

• September Update: The new starter experience taught flight, navigation, combat, hyperspace travel, scanning, and docking through training simulations led by Pilots Federation instructor Theo Acosta. New Commanders also received access to the Beginner’s Zone until they earned their first Elite rank.
• ARX and Livery Store: ARX replaced Frontier Points for Game Extras, with gameplay earnings capped at 400 ARX per week. The revamped Livery Store added detailed previews, direct cosmetic purchases, and access from the main menu rather than only while docked.
• January Update: Planet scanning began indicating the likelihood of geological and biological sites. The Background Simulation gained the Blight, Natural Disaster, Infrastructure Failure, Drought, Terrorist Attack, and Public Holiday faction states.
• Interstellar Initiatives: The Scourge launched a campaign against agricultural blight, while The Golconda focused on aiding the generation ship’s residents through competing Federation and Empire initiatives. The Forester’s Choice outpost opened in Upaniklis, alongside related Community Goals and the rare good Apa Vietii.
• Flight and outfitting tools: Supercruise Assist automated speed and approach during supercruise, while the Advanced Docking Computer handled automatic docking and undocking. Small ships also received two additional size-one Optional Internal slots, with medium and large ships receiving one.

Elite Dangerous: Beyond – Chapter Four launched on December 11, 2018, as the period’s biggest content drop. It overhauled exploration and mining, added Squadrons, introduced the Krait Phantom and Mamba, and expanded the galaxy’s faction systems; Beyond – Chapter Three had also landed in August with new ships, Guardian technology, and wing activities.

• Beyond – Chapter Four: Exploration received the Full Spectrum System Scanner, Analysis Mode, Detailed Surface Scanner probes, the Codex, and Orrery View.
  • Mining: The Abrasion Blaster, Sub-surface Displacement Missile, Seismic Charge Launcher, Pulse Wave Analyser, and asteroid hotspots created a deeper prospecting loop.
  • Ships and locations: The Krait Phantom and Mamba joined the fleet, while new Megaships and Installations moved through the galaxy.
  • Recognition: The First Mapped By tag rewarded commanders who fully mapped stellar bodies, alongside increased First Discovered bonuses.
• Beyond – Chapter Three: The Alliance Crusader joined the Alliance Chieftain and Krait Mk II, while Guardian Beacons, Guardian sites, new Guardian weapons, and the Trident, Javelin, and Lance fighters expanded the technology hunt.
  • Wing activities: Planetary settlement hack and disable missions, Wing Mining Missions, and new high-threat USS encounters added cooperative objectives.
  • Thargoids: New Thargoid Scouts improved the alien combat threat, and new planetary sites included audio logs.
• Squadrons and the Background Simulation: Squadrons added faction and Power allegiance, group communications, activity feeds, and leaderboards. The Background Simulation gained multiple faction states, a revised Expansion mechanic, weekly conflict resolution, communal exploration discoveries, and clearer economic and security tracking.
• Balance and reliability: March’s conflict changes altered influence equations, daily conflict scoring, War and Civil War contributions, and the conditions that triggered conflicts. Chapter Four also shipped more than 2,000 bug fixes, including fixes for crashes during mining, Supercruise, Multicrew, Galaxy Map access, and wing-mission hand-ins.

Elite Dangerous: Beyond - Chapter One beta launched on January 25, 2018, marking the window’s main player-facing addition. Steam access and broader participation rules made the beta available to more Elite Dangerous players, while the remaining changes focused on protecting live-game progress and collecting feedback.

• Beyond - Chapter One beta: The beta opened for Elite Dangerous on PC and Mac, and participation was free regardless of Horizons Season Pass ownership.
• Steam access: Elite Dangerous players accessed the beta through Steam for the first time.
• Beta progression: Existing Elite Dangerous saves were duplicated for beta use, while progress made in the beta was wiped and kept separate from the main game.
• Beta feedback: A dedicated Elite Dangerous forum opened for reporting bugs found during the Beyond - Chapter One beta.

Multicrew and Commander Creator delivered Elite Dangerous’ biggest new gameplay package: Commanders shared a ship through Helm, Gunner, and Fighter Con roles, switched roles dynamically, and created visible avatars. Ship-launched fighters and the Beluga Liner also expanded combat and passenger play, while Engineers turned scavenged materials into deeper ship customization.

• Multicrew: The feature added crew formation, a “looking for ship” option, dynamic role switching, shared bounties and vouchers, individual power-distributor pips, and shared crime penalties. Commander Creator added customizable avatars and a camera system for viewing Commanders and their crews in real time.
• Passengers and fighters: The Beluga Liner, passenger modules, Passenger Lounge, VIP requirements, and passenger-safety mechanics established passenger careers. Ship-Launched Fighters added the F-63 Condor, Imperial Fighter, and Taipan, along with Fighter Bays, fighter loadouts, NPC pilots, the Crew Lounge, and orders for fighters and motherships.
• Engineers and surface gameplay: Loot and Crafting introduced physical and encoded materials, mining-derived resources, scavenged wreckage, and Engineer module modifications with experimental effects. New Engineer bases, unlock flows, surface salvage, fumeroles, geysers, biological entities, NPC patrols, and the ancient-ruins investigation mission expanded Horizons activities; the Module Reinforcement Pack also joined the equipment pool.
• Exploration and fleet management: Trappist 1 arrived as a seven-terrestrial-planet system, supported by new Stellar Forge data. Module Storage System, Vessel Transfer, hundreds of exploration and tourist sites, new space installations, Interstellar Factors, and the SIN Broker broadened travel and fleet administration.
• Combat and progression tuning: Engineers upgrades were removed from almost all NPCs, while Incendiary ammo multicannons, cannons, railguns, frag cannons, fighter weapons, and combat blueprints received balance passes. Material spawn rates and yields increased, low-level blueprint results improved, and players gained more control over weapon upgrade selection.