The Outpost #120: Your Elite: Dangerous news recap!
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I’m creating a few articles, but it will take some time:

• Elite, Federation, Empire, Alliance Lore – January
• Highlight of a great  ED tool of disabled players: EDTaupeEye – End of January
• How to prepare for Odyssey – February

Follow us on Twitter @RemlokEN, and join the community on Discord.
Or you can also directly follow me on Twitter @NicouLenny.

 

Summary:

• Frontier News
  • Happy Holidays!
  • Game Balancing – Credits
  • Elite Dangerous: Odyssey
  • Great Expedition 3306
• Lore & Powerplay
• Pictures – In the heart of the action
• Videos – The Unmissables

Frontier News

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to all of you!

It’s been a tough year for everyone, but fortunately the Elite Dangerous content continues to progress in-game: with the multiple Bugs & Fleet Carriers fixes, Credits Rebalancing, Galnet’s Return, which we dubbed in French Galnet Audio FR, the Dev Diaries and other information about the next game expansion named Odyssey (Official Videos) which you can learn EVERYTHING of here.
Also note that since October 27th, the base game Elite: Dangerous has merged with the Horizons expansion, giving you access to thousands of hours of gameplay for €25!

I hope this year 2021 will be a great year for everyone, thanks for reading & supporting us in 2020!
We will continue to be there for you with Elite Dangerous, to bring new guides, news and other content about the game in 2021; hopefully this time with FDev supporting our community projects again.

► Mini gift from the player Teal, this excellent site called EDSA, allowing you to know the anatomies and module locations of all the ships!

 

For all the recent pilots, the Elite Dangerous adventure offers almost infinite content with an extremely detailed story and a wealth of things to discover.
For the more veterans players who have been supporting the game for a few years, the game no longer offers the content that was previously available: stories to discover, mysteries to decipher, research accompanied by gameplay and a balance of credits leading to a slower progression of ships & modules; which better reflects the game experience and the richness of a player. A player piloting an Asp Explorer was a feat in itself, one of the first and most interesting medium ships for its versatility.

Without pointing fingers at anyone, for all teams, whether ir is Design, Community or others; I’m afraid Frontier Developments now has a very different vision of what the game was all about: A story with content to be done in groups, and researches to be done.
Coming from the world of MMOs, I’ve always expected Elite Dangerous to offer content centered around guilds (Squadrons) progressions, with progressions to be made and rewards to be earned. Player-to-player trading is also an essential component of a multi-player game in this near Open World (three game modes), with an already well-thought-out combat that Elite is offering.

In my eyes, the perfect Elite Dangerous would offer:

• A progression unlocking scenarios to be done solo or in a group, developing the story and the context of the game. I would like a start as a Federal, Imperial, Alliance or Independent pilot. Some cinematics and a much slower progression of credits & ships/modules gains than currently. Special missions and their rewards in credits/reputation as well as a few modules before going more the « Elite path », where you are just one pilot among others. At the end of these scenario chapters, you choose a career of your choice among the main gameplay axes and you get a ship adapted to the major faction/career selected. This would give a much greater sense of belonging to a group and help in understanding the game world.
  • A seasonal ranking for the Squadrons is good, but FDev has to eliminate all the current exploits & stacking before they can re-implement it. According to our rank (top 25), we would gain materials, crafting items, modules, credits, gain squadron influence with the power we support for other rewards, etc…
• This way, we start our career and are free to play as we wish. It is here that Crafting would begin to develop. No limit, it is possible to build each of your careers but it takes a lot of time so most players will limit themselves to one or two specialties because the tools, ships, modules and other rewards from these careers are unlocked by activities, levels, reputations over the long term.
  • Administrator: Fancy developing a Squadron? It’s a whole career as guilds are a core feature for the game. Propose Missions to your group, link up with a free minor faction (main group) or act as a supporter of a minor faction that already has an assigned squadron. There would be weekly adventures to achieve, daily adventures and their rewards in Credits/Reputations/Influences/Modules, … Squadrons achievements, Squadron missions and other social features…
  • Bounty Hunter: Access to specific tools to craft yourself or to unlock via a Reputation system so you can farm modules & ships for the task. Ability to track NPC targets or players previously marked with an item, bounty system, special radars, …
    • Sub-specializations for AX Combat, Conflict / Combat Zones
  • Trader: Although all players can trade, these specialists have special access to markets and can open shops on a location they rent (station, base, …) or their own place (Fleet Carrier, squadron faction base, …). Ships & modules, whether they are stocked or modded by the traders or even their squadron, materials, weapons, suits: all items & commodities can be sold & bought or even put up for sale at an auctioneer available in each of the major factions’ HQ systems (Alioth, Sol, Achenar, Colonia), … Larger transport ships can be unlocked more easily here with this spec.
  • Explorer: Same vibe, with special tools and bonuses to exploration, long range scanners to detect at 10,000 ls instead of the standard 1,000 ls and find other signals to study in the system whether it’s other players, encrypted messages to decode leading to scenarios/rewards, debris to recover, a lost gate to activate leading temporarily to destinations to discover, … Scavenger tools included, with laser cutter, tractor beam, probes to deploy on systems, etc…
  • Fighter: CQC only, with seasons, rewards in influence with a PvP faction for special things (ships, modules, items, …), battle arenas in solo matchmaking (DPS), trio (DPS/DPS/Heal) or quintet (DPS, DPS, Tank, Heal) in various locations with a much larger choice of equipments, including regenerative laser beams & repair drones for the player who has a support role and reinforcements for the tank. We’d have this arena but also the Flag Capture mode which is very interesting. I’d also like a 10v10 map with objectives to accomplish for each sides and other types of battlefields.
  • Criminal: Access to black markets if you are also a Merchant. You would have access to special piracy tools, special items, illegal or experimental modules and items, …
  • Guardian: Better influence with the Powers, special Powerplay tools, daily and weekly missions as well.
  • Engineer: Up to grade IV maximum out of the V available. Each of the mods/effects/modules would have to be unlocked by carrying out missions for ranks I, then group scenarios for ranks II and III and types of raids for ranks IV. Rank V could in the end be extremely rare for a very low % of players?
  • Miner: Tools that are currently in-game, but blocked for this career to help with specializations. Better tools & the ability to scan with the Explorer spec to find specific rings and types of minerals/metals in surrounding systems using advanced probes/scanners.
  • Taxi would be something interesting to earn credits and make contacts during the trip.
  • And of course Manufacturer of Modules & Weapons, Ships, Suits, … with items to be gathered to be able to start production and sell/equip your creations.
  • And other careers, the goal is to make all the careers have a dynamic together. Very practical for Squadrons too, a kind of character with a class so that everyone has a role to play. All our actions need to bring rewards other than a few credits.
• I’d also like to slightly decrease the FSD jump ranges, and introduce jump gates that players must use to make longer jumps to important destinations. The points are secure but can be attacked and taken out of service temporarily. You should wait for them to be passively repaired or repair them with your squadron to speed things up. Why not craft gates if your squadron is influential and powerful enough; Could be upgraded to increase the jump range.
• Create several characters on the same account.
• Regular missions at our Major Powers’ & Powers’ HQ systems, to gain Reputation and rewards.
• Dungeons: Scenarios to join in squadron only in order to accomplish objectives, shoot down the bosses presented and gain Reputation, Credits, Items/Modules according to a loot table. It is necessary to be prepared according to the difficulty of the scenario with different ships. Stories to discover according to the progression of the season.
• Raids: Large Scenarios with 10 players with bigger rewards. Stories to discover according to the progression of the season.

In brief:

1. Things are far too easily accessible and that makes the game & its world meaningless.
2. There is a huge lack of rewards for all activities done in groups.
3. Scenarios are under-exploited and almost non-existent.
4. Trading is essential between players.
5. Solo and Private Groups modes should not exist, or they should have a reduced effect on multiplayer features (Background Simulation, Powerplay, less rewards, …).
6. If only one Open game mode, we need much better Authority Ships with a real security level and presence: powerful & fast response immediately on the spot in a few seconds with a real penalty for criminals: destruction + very expensive bounty on the player (or rather a fine because bounties could be exploited? But we loose some Bounty Hunting gameplay) according to the security levels. You have to feel the security levels but also the danger of systems that don’t have it.

To make me play every day I would need:

• Daily objectives giving rewards according to our careers (accomplish x missions for y, kill x criminals, find x items and bring them to y, …)
• Reputations to build on the long term, giving access to various ships, modules, rewards (useful & cosmetic)
• A more developed social / squadron feature with a sense of belonging and squadron objectives
• Scenario-based dungeons and raids for organized players with a loot table & rewards
• Crafting, things to craft and a Career to farm (And more Careers if I have more time).
• And a story by Expansion with multiple chapters allowing us to live the progress made. Cinematics after the important scenarios.

Nicou why do you bother, it will never be in game.
Hey! It’s Christmas, let me dream of a World of Guild Star Dangerous Online! Can you hear me Father Braben?

All of this to say that FDev seems to make things too accessible, too simple, while they continue to move forward without developing the current features that would really need more.
I will play Odyssey of course, but I expect a lot from this expansion, both for the game and from the company.

Follow us on Twitter @RemlokEN, and join the community on Discord to chat with other pilots!
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Game Balancing – Credits

Frontier Developments continues to rebalance credit gains. Their goal is to bring all activities back to the Credits per Hours level of Mining (as of November 2020).

All players will now earn way more Credits so that they can progress more quickly.
The Dev team is therefore pulling everything up, but without touching the ships & modules’ costs.

• Mining, Minerals prices and buff of Core Mining
• Bounty Hunting and Solo Combat Missions
• AX Combat AX (Anti-Xeno) and ZC Combat (Conflict Zones)

FDev want to continue the balance overhaul to further improve Powerplay, PvP bounties, they will also think about the three game modes and other rebalancing in 2021.

For Mining, we continue to earn between 100M and 150M per hour and now ZC Combat, AX Combat and Bounty Hunting quite earn the same.

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Elite Dangerous: Odyssey

The Elite Dangerous: Odyssey expansion will be released « early 2021″, with a possible date leaked for April 21 2021. If you have not followed our news, you can find all the information via our [Odyssey] tag on the website. Feel free to also have a look at our FAQ Everything about Odyssey.

 

Odyssey is available for €46.99 Digital Deluxe Alpha and for €34.99 Digital.
You got it right, FDev want to propose the Alpha & Beta as playable dev versions for players buying the €47 pack, but we don’t have more details at the moment.

The expansion will not be mandatory to play the game, but of course you won’t be able to enjoy the new content. This said, you will still have access to the updates & fixes.

As a quick recap:

• Elite Dangerous: Odyssey marks the birth of a highly anticipated new era for the long running definitive space simulation, allowing players to touch down on countless new planets powered by stunning new tech, and explore with unrestricted freedom from a first-person, feet-on-the-ground perspective. Elite Dangerous: Odyssey’s emergent gameplay will let players forge their own path through a wide variety of missions, ranging from diplomacy and commerce to lethal stealth and all-out combat. Coordinating with your teammates and selecting the right equipment for the mission at hand will be key to master a multi-layered, tactical sphere of group combat where Commanders, SRVs and starships converge.
• We will have four specialized suits with their tools & specificities for different gameplay.
• Different weapons and modules to be modded with new engineers.
• Social Hubs in the stations which will be of three sizes: small, medium, large. We will find various services and missions with negotiable rewards.
• Among the services: taxi, mission point, equipment purchases/sales, ship purchases/sales, special scenario point, sale of genetic data for the new Xenobiology Rank, Commodities Depot and Black Market.

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Great Expedition 3306

The Great Expedition 3306 will end early January, and many explorers have already completed the tour!

The GE3306 is a long Exploration trip organised every year by the Remlok Community.
This year, we have planned to start from Pangluya for a course of 83.8k LY! As always, the GE will offer a Red Line story to follow and various activities throughout the Expedition to support our pilots!
It is sadly less developed than the previous years, because I had a lot of work and less time to expand on it.

 

Find a few recent photos taken by our explorers, as well as our first Mass Jump!

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Lore & Powerplay

Powerplay, continues to operate in game and the powers compete on a variety of military, economic and political fronts to gain new territory and expand their influence on the human world.

 

Witch Head Nebula‘s systems are still fully affiliated with the Alliance.
California as well.
Coalsack is now colonized by the Alliance to study the new Thargoids Barnacles we recently found here.

Galnet.fr proposes the latest news from the galaxy!

• Galnet.fr/en – Galnet News
• GalnetAudioFR – Dubbed Galnet, in French. Let me know if you would like to do this in English! Here are the examples in French.

 

17 Dec 3306 – The effectiveness of engineers’ upgrading for ship modules will be boosted until the 7th of January 3307. During this time, engineered weapons and modules will receive increased augmentation for the same amount of materials. This will apply to every workshop in Alliance, Imperial, Federal and independent space.

Lori Jameson, an engineer based in the Shinrarta Dezhra system, provided details to Vox Galactica on how this collaboration came about:

“After the Eurybia incident, some of us contacted Liz Ryder and offered our support. It was horrifying how her expertise had been abused by the NMLA, leaving her unfairly maligned as a terrorist supporter. There were concerns that her situation might reflect badly on engineers in general. We soon established communication links between every workshop, and agreed to offer a universal boost to upgrades. Hopefully this will remind pilots how much we value their custom, and that we remain a trustworthy resource.”

Mel Brandon, one of four engineers in the Colonia Region, commented:

“It’s about time that we all started talking to each other. Our services are valuable to the whole galaxy. We deserve better protection. Maybe we have to start protecting ourselves.”

 

17 Dec 3306 – Sirius Corporation has successfully gathered materials to construct new independent settlements for Marlinist emigrants. Both the Empire and the Federation accepted the proposal from Sirius Corporation to establish colonies for the political refugees, who have been the cause of increased tension between the superpowers.

CEO Li Yong-Rui made this announcement:

“As always, the galactic community’s immense contribution has made this achievement possible. The shipments of atmospheric processors, auto-fabricators, structural regulators and water purifiers will be used to construct new outposts and settlements in 8 uninhabited systems.”

The Omega Merchant Command is now offering rewards at Ellis Gateway in the Bd+05 1146 system to all pilots who delivered commodities.
Aaron Whyte, a community leader among the refugees, commented on Vox Galactica:

“I suppose we should be grateful that these colonies give us a chance of survival. But none of us wanted to set up our own kingdoms – only to remove the kings. And one day, we will.”

The Marlinist population is expected to be transferred from Federal space to the new colonies in early 3307.

 

17 Dec 3306 – Multi-billionaire Zachary Rackham’s new orbital outpost at the galactic zenith is now operational. Rackham’s Peak is situated in the HIP 58832 system, one of the highest practical locations above the galactic plane. Its construction was funded by Rackham Capital Investments, in conjunction with Universal Cartographics and other scientific research companies.

Traders have been welcomed, although the increased distances between stars at the galaxy’s fringes mean that vessels with a high jump range are recommended. Rackham’s Peak is currently offering high prices for deliveries of beer, liquor, wine, Bast Snake Gin, Centauri Mega Gin, Chateau De Aegaeon, Eranin Pearl Whisky, Gerasian Gueuze Beer, Harma Silver Sea Rum, Indi Bourbon, Kongga Ale, Lavian Brandy, Leestian Evil Juice, Saxon Wine, Thrutis Cream and Wuthielo Ku Froth.

Mr Rackham officiated at the outpost’s opening ceremony, which was followed by an extravagant press party for media representatives and attending celebrities. He gave this statement:

“The top of the galaxy is now open for business! Rackham’s Peak is a free port where everyone is welcome, a place where explorers and entrepreneurs can enjoy drinks while overlooking the entire Milky Way. Aim high, Commanders!”

In related news, Rackham Capital Investments has agreed to pay a repairs bill from Universal Cartographics for the outpost’s sensor array control systems, which suffered fluid-related damage during the party.

 

21 Dec 3306 – As independent colonies are set up for Marlinist refugees, there has been a lull in terrorist strikes from the Neo-Marlinist Liberation Army (NMLA). In recent months, the paramilitary group launched multiple attacks across the Empire. Starports and administrative buildings were bombed and dozens of individuals assassinated, including Prince Harold and more distant members of the Duval family.

However, the number of incidents has fallen drastically following successful operations by the Imperial Internal Security Service:

“After the Federal Security Service identified NMLA members aboard the emigrants’ megaships, these were transferred to us for interrogation. We obtained information that enabled us to shut down many terrorist cells, although there is evidence that the NMLA’s network remains widespread.”

In related news, hundreds of thousands of Marlinist refugees are preparing to occupy new colony systems established by the Sirius Corporation. Mass transportation will take place early next year, overseen by Safeguard Interstellar. The Empire, Federation and Sirius Gov have all agreed that the settlements will remain fully independent.

The refugee population has already begun to determine its future social structure, based on the principles of Marlinism. A transitional parliament has been formed by community leaders such as Dr Jenna Fairfax, Aaron Whyte and Amrita Ross. Democratic elections for a representative government will take place once the Marlinist Colonies are operational.

 

22 Dec 3306 – A coalition of Lakon Spaceways shareholders has voted to replace several members of the company’s board of directors with new management. At an emergency general meeting, investors put forward a resolution to remove selected directors, in accordance with Lakon’s articles of association. The majority vote was in favour of this resolution.

New appointees to the board have already stated that the rejected bid by Federal shipbuilder Core Dynamics will be reappraised. Jupiter Rochester, the corporation’s CEO, has welcomed the opportunity for fresh discussions.

Chairperson Naomi Landseer, who is one of the directors being replaced, told Vox Galactica:

“It’s no coincidence that the board members being voted out are the same ones who were against Core Dynamics owning the company. I am convinced that Rochester’s people are bribing or threatening our shareholders to make sure this hostile takeover goes through.”

Lakon Spaceways is currently offering a 30% discount on sales of Asp Scouts, Diamondback Scouts, Keelbacks, Type-7 Transporters and Type-10 Defenders.
Core Dynamics has applied a 30% markdown to sales of the Eagle MkII and the Vulture, with a 20% discount for Federal Assault Ships, Federal Dropships and Federal Gunships.

 

24 Dec 3306 – Tens of thousands of Marlinist refugees have claimed sanctuary in Alliance space, after emigrating from the Empire to avoid political persecution. In recent weeks, there has been a steady stream of ex-Imperial citizens arriving at Alliance systems, mostly travelling aboard small private vessels or in the holds of cargo ships.

The humanitarian aid organisation Safeguard Interstellar reported that accommodation and basic necessities are being provided. Alliance Interpol is running stringent security checks for evidence that members of the NMLA terrorist group are present. The initial wave of refugees, which fled to the Federation, are currently preparing to populate a number of independent colonies established by the Sirius Corporation. However, these systems cannot yet provide harbour to the continuing exodus of Marlinists from the Empire.

Prime Minister Edmund Mahon publicly welcomed the refugees, but there has been some dissent in the Alliance Assembly. Councillor Nakato Kaine, who is expected to be Mahon’s main rival in next year’s election, received widespread support for her views:

“Naturally, we must provide these poor people with emergency aid, but there are practical limits to our resources. It is not our responsibility to solve the Empire’s domestic issues, and we have seen the Federation pay the price for sheltering terrorists. The Alliance cannot end up as the dumping ground for other superpowers’ problems.”

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Images – At the heart of the action

Feel free to send me your prettiest images and videos via Twitter, Discord or directly in the comments.
Excellent creations as always, plus a few gingerbreads for the festivities!

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Videos – The Unmissables

Enjoy these videos from the community!
Thank you to:

Eikoop

BlackMaze

Eagle131

Parabolus

 

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