Elite Dangerous News

Elite Dangerous: Odyssey's settlements can be raided, new engineers being added

Elite Dangerous: Odyssey is coming soon, and the devs are sharing some of the finer details. In the first of a series of Q'n'A sessions, developer Frontier Developments runs through the settlements coming to the space game, and what it'll take to raid them.

To get the obvious out of the way: yes, you can kill everyone in any given outpost, but given each belongs to one of the in-game factions, it wouldn't be the best idea. "Outposts will send for reinforcements that will become progressively tougher, however these are not infinite," Paul Crowther, the community manager, writes on the official forum. "It would be possibly to kill everyone and then loot the outpost, however the consequences thereafter would be severe."

Outposts and ports will have missions from a number of factions, some accessible through a mission board, others from NPCs. You probably won't find many other wanderers in the wilderness, but places of interests are likely to have other characters floating around. Settlements will gradually repopulate from an attack, and they'll have nine different statuses: active, abandoned, war, damaged, online, online damaged, offline, offline damaged, and conflict zone.

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Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Q&A - Settlements

Greetings Commanders!

Prior to the winter holiday break we asked you to share your questions on Odyssey with us so we could bring them to our developers and get the answers to you. Well you delivered, whoo boy did you deliver! We've had so many questions answered that we've had to break them down into categories to share with you and we'll be doing so over the next few weeks!

To kick things off we got together with Developer Gareth Hughes and we've all the answers to your Settlement questions here:

Q: If I go to an outpost and wipe everyone out, do they all respawn eventually, or is that town now a ghost town?

Outposts will send for reinforcements that will become progressively tougher, however these are not infinite. It would be possible to kill everyone and then loot the outpost, however the consequences there after would be severe…

Q. You have said in one of the Dev Diaries that the people you encounter in stations and outposts are related to the faction in control. How will we get missions from other factions in the station?

There will also be mission boards on terminals available in ports and outposts that can support on-foot missions from all factions in the system. Mission Givers in ports and outposts can also be from a variety of factions.

Q. Do NPCs spawn only at these new Settlement Outposts or do they appear anywhere on a planet like those parked NPC ships that pop up in random places?

NPC’s will not spawn randomly in the ‘wilderness’, however they may stumble across you at a place of interest.

Q. What permanent states can the new Settlement outposts have, like conquered or destroyed etc.

The states are as follows: Active, abandoned, war, damaged, Online, Online Damaged, Offline, Offline Damaged and Conflict Zone

Q: If I eliminate everyone in a Settlement, do they respawn or will it remain empty?

Settlements won't stay empty forever. They will repopulate over time.

Q: Will there be Engineers for your weapons and suits?

Yes, the original cast of engineers will remain, and they will be joined by a new group – all of whom you will be able to meet in person for the first time.

Q. Are there destructible items in bases e.g. exploding barrels that can be used for tactical purposes?

Yes, you’ll be able to take advantage of certain environmental elements for a tactical advantage. If you want to stand next to big red barrels feel free to…

Q. Can we hack weapon emplacements to turn them on defenders, or switch off station power to disable weapon emplacements?

Yes, you will be able to bring down settlement defences, allowing others to enter the combat zones in vehicles. Powering down a settlement will also allow you to access restricted areas.

Q: Within Odyssey, thinking of the open air combat zones, what's to stop me from using an Orca, equipped with mines, to carpet bomb a settlement?

Settlement defences are quite potent, without shutting them off first you may find yourself suddenly without that ORCA...

Q: What's going to be able to stop an SLF with Shard cannons?

Outside of the settlement defences which we have already stated are not to be taken lightly – some hand held weapons can be very effective.

Keep an eye on our channels for the next set of answers next week!

o7

Elite Dangerous: Odyssey expansion is delayed

Frontier Developments have been cooking up a new expansion for big space MMO Elite Dangerous but hold up, it hasn’t been cleared to disembark just yet. Elite Dangerous: Odyssey had been planned for early in 2021 but that window is getting bumped back thanks to our constant companion Covid-19. Odyssey is now expected in late spring for PC players, Frontier say in a new announcement.

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Elite Dangerous: Odyssey gets short delay on PC

Frontier has made the call to delay the Elite Dangerous: Odyssey release date and alpha due to the pandemic's influence on development. You can now expect the alpha to arrive on PC in early spring 2021, and a full launch later in the season.

"The ongoing impact of the pandemic, however, including the renewed lockdowns in 2021, continues to put added pressure on our teams and ultimately our development timeline," Frontier says. "We have, therefore, had to make the difficult decision to make some adjustments and changes to our existing development roadmap. Our PC plans have only been affected by a small amount, however, our plans for the console release will, unfortunately, see a larger development shift. Please do know that these difficult decisions have been made with a focus on making Odyssey as incredible as it can possibly be for all our Commanders regardless of their platform, while also respecting realistic project deadlines for our teams during this difficult global situation."

Frontier reaffirms that Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Deluxe Alpha and Lifetime Expansion Pass holders will get access to the alpha, and that more details will be made available closer to release.

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Odyssey 2021 Update

Greetings Commanders,

We wanted to share an update with you regarding the ongoing development of Elite Dangerous: Odyssey.

2020 was a difficult year for many, but in spite of those challenges we are pleased with our progress towards what is a truly ambitious new era for the game. We’ve been delighted with the excitement and positive response to our development diaries, interviews, streams and trailers and want to thank all of you for your continued support.

The ongoing impact of the pandemic however, including the renewed lockdowns in 2021, continues to put added pressure on our teams and ultimately our development timeline. We have therefore had to make the difficult decision to make some adjustments and changes to our existing development roadmap.

Our PC plans have only been affected by a small amount, however our plans for the console release will unfortunately see a larger development shift. Please do know that these difficult decisions have been made with a focus on making Odyssey as incredible as it can possibly be for all our Commanders regardless of their platform, while also respecting realistic project deadlines for our teams during this difficult global situation.

We would like to sincerely apologise to all of our community. We know you have been waiting patiently and how disappointing and frustrating this must be. With that in mind, we would like to share with you our latest roadmap so that you are fully aware of our plans.

Alpha – early spring 2021
We are continuing with plans to bring Alpha access to our PC players and get boots on the ground. This will now be a little later than originally planned, in early spring.

Much like our original Elite Dangerous release, we will be taking a phased approach to our Alpha, bringing new features and systems online throughout the period. This will allow us to focus and best consider our community feedback while also providing vital user testing on key areas of the game. We will be sharing further information including details of feature drops and Alpha plans as we get closer to release.

Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Deluxe Alpha and Lifetime Expansion Pass holders will get access to this release.

PC release – late spring 2021
Following the completion of our Alpha phase we are targeting a full launch on PC in late spring.

As with every era in Elite Dangerous’ history, we will be closely engaging with our community and continuing to react to feedback refining Odyssey through to the console launch.
Elite Dangerous: Odyssey pre orders will be able to access the game with this release.

Console release – autumn 2021
After continued feedback, iterations and balancing, we are targeting our release on PlayStation®4 and Xbox One in the autumn of this year.

We understand that for many, this additional delay will be frustrating. Once again, we would like to apologise wholeheartedly to our community, especially our console Commanders. However, as mentioned previously, we feel it is vital to ensure that the content being released on consoles meets the highest standards and this will require this additional extension to our roadmap.

Throughout this time we will continue to bring more news, videos and content of the development in progress. We would like to thank you all for the ongoing support and we are very excited to bring in this new era to the game with you. Your feedback, support and involvement is a vital part of this process and we are looking forward to a shared Alpha experience, which will be touching down very soon.

o7 Commanders