In the coming weeks… in the coming wee… HAH!
Here they are, the announcements about Elite: Dangerous Chapter 4. The beta will be available to all PC players « Horizons » on Tuesday, October 30. The beta will be divided into several phases of tests spread over a month.
Keep calm, and follow the white rabbit.
Chapter 4 Beta
The different test phases should be updated every Tuesday, each time with different content to be specifically tested.
Of course, this is an opportunity to discover the new content, on which I will create many articles while updating the existing guides. It’s also a good moment to raise your feedback to the developers via the official forums and social medias. This will be very important in order to refine the final details and make the gaming experience smoother.
We have already raised many points with the content creators that were invited to Frontier Developments recently. They have kindly invited me with 16 other influencers to discover the Chapter 4 and get our sentiment & feedback, except for the story which is well hidden and will surely not be available in beta either. I have good hopes for the next stories to be added in Chapter 4, thanks to the many new features!
I still can’t provide you with more details right now, but the Elite: Dangerous Community Team has planned several Livestreams presenting the content. I’ll recap each of them if you can’t attend, no worries!
Livestreams, 7pm London
- 18 October – Exploration 2.0, Codex, Visual enhancements
- 25 October – Background Simulation and Scenarios
- 1er November – Mining 2.0, Squadrons
- 8 November – New Ships
Exploration
The Analysis Mode with the improved Exploration Discovery Scanner and Detailed Discovery Scanner, is a game-changing, brand new way for all Commanders to explore the Milky Way galaxy. After the initial scan of the system, you will then be able to tune your scanners to find stellar bodies and other phenomena. Unidentified Signal Sources and conflict zones will also appear as dotted lines within this mode, allowing you to easily track down interesting or important things within the system.
All of the above, in addition to the new in-game codex where Commanders will see a new way of recording their findings in both a collaborative and individual way, are just a few things coming with the changes to exploration. We’re barely scratching the surface here with the changes to exploration, so make sure to tune in to the livestream on 18 October, to find out more.
Mining
Asteroid belts and planetary rings are about to get very busy.
New tools and mechanics will provide a fresh, exciting and lucrative mining experience for all Elite Dangerous Commanders. Using new exploration mechanics, miners can investigate rings to locate the best spots to start their mining sessions, and then the best specific asteroids to probe and excavate for rewards. With the right amount of skill and expertise, the new Abrasion blaster, Sub-surface displacement missile, and Seismic charge launcher, will provide some exciting and explosive results.
And all the rest…
- The content you knew before these details were around a quarter of the upcoming content for Chapter 4
- Mining 2.0,
- Exploration 2.0,
- Squadron,
- Codex,
- Visual Enhancements.
- With the beta, you should know around three quarters of Chapter 4’s content
- Improved Background Simulation,
- New Scenarios,
- New Ships,
- As well as a host of improvements here and there + new unannounced features – yet,
- There are also changes on the cockpits’ interfaces.
- We should have the last quarter to discover together
- The Lore of Chapter 4, new stories
- Other enhancements, changes, fixes… a LOT of them.
Squadrons is also a new in-game way of uniting like-minded Commanders to support factions of their choice, take part in Community Goals together and compete for top spots in seasonal leader boards. New communication tools, including in-game chat channels, will help you blaze trails together, and leave your Squadron’s mark on the galaxy.
See you soon pilots!
