Lavecon panel - new info on the upcoming changes to Elite: Dangerous
Frontier held a conference during Lavecon 2018 and we got some new info about the upcoming changes planned for the last quarter of the year…
Mining improvement
- new in-ring scanner that tells you which type of asteroids are in your vicinity. There will be new ways of mining depending on the location of the ore. For example - if the ore is on the surface of the asteroid, the regular mining drill would just destroy it, so the new equipment will come into play to extract the ore safely.
- prospecting limpets will get new functionalities as well
- wings and multicrew will be supported and rewards will be in place for multicrew members (placing blasting charges, prospecting, gathering ore...)
- mining will be a dangerous activity - either by simply getting damaged by explosion or asteroid debris, or encountering various effects like corrosion or sensor dampening from the dust
- asteroids are getting an updated look and new models to reflect the upcoming activities
Exploration improvements
- detailed surface scanner is getting updated
- you will be able to launch sensor probes directly in supercruise
- the probes will follow a partial guided orbit
- as they come closer to the surface they will uncover additional surface data
- launching probes will require skill to perfectly probe a planet (ex. slingshotting around the gravity) – unexperienced players will need to launch multiple probes to compensate
- multicrew will support launching probes
- apart from discovering planet structure data, probing will discover all local points of interests like outposts, stations, guardian locations, Thargoid bases etc...
- the galaxy will get updated with so called "discoveries" that will come in multiple categories (geological, biological, phenomena...)
- discoveries may come with various interactions
- the galaxy will get divided into regions to make exploration and orientation easier - this ties in with the CODEX
Visual improvements
- improvements to ice planets (new ice shader)
- improvements to game lighting (adaptive lighting, color grades...)
Chapter 2
- Installations are getting an overhaul similar to the megaship interactions (scanning will reveal tactical locations)
- New interaction for existing and damaged megaships (escape hatches revealing escape pods you can then deliver back to the station)
- new large Guardian weapons (plasma charger and cannons)
- new settlements to find (with new Thargoid interactions)
- 2 new ships announced (the Challenger is one of them, the Krait most probably is the other judging by the Q2 update reveal trailer)
- the Challenger will have better manoeuvrability, more armor and more hardpoints than the Chieftan
The archived stream is available on Twitch if you still like to watch it yourself.
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