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Elite Dangerous has a great new ship, but with a real money catch

From Starfield to Star Citizen, there's a wealth of the best space games out there to satisfy your craving for the great beyond. There's the comprehensive breadth of No Man's Sky, and the exhilarating battles of Everspace 2. But perhaps the most satisfying among them is Elite Dangerous, the latest entry in one of the oldest space series around, dating back to 1984. Now nine years old, an Elite Dangerous update has just rolled out that introduces a new ship type packed with cargo space.


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New Elite Dangerous spaceship is advertised as a space trucker's dream, but it'll cost ya

Spaceship likers, come hither. Long-running space sim Elite Dangerous has just unloaded a new interstellar vessel into its universe, and she's a beaut. The new Type-8 Transporter is a medium freighter capable of hauling a maximum of 406 tons of cargo. It's got a default jump range of 17.55 light years and two big prongs sticking out of its face like a sci-fi forklift. Cool. The catch is that this ship can only be bought with real money for now, say the developers. This is part of Frontier's new strategy of having paid-for ships in the game. I don't really play Elite Dangerous anymore, so I don't have strong feelings about that. But I do have strong feelings about the space trucker advertisement the developer has put together for the new ship. Come watch it with me.


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Elite Dangerous | Type-8 and new pre-built ships

Update 18.08 is now available for Elite Dangerous, bringing with it the brand new Type-8 ship which is available for early access via Arx!

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The Type-8 early access bundles are available in the following formats:

Type-8 Standard - 16,520 Arx

Deliver in style with the Type-8, Lakon's latest addition to their trading fleet - equipped with enhanced Supercruise Overcharge capabilities.

Includes:
  • Type-8 Ship
  • Type-8 Shipyard Unlock


Type-8 Stellar - 33,000 Arx


Own the trading market with the Stellar edition of the Type-8, Lakon's latest addition to their trading fleet. - equipped with a higher carrying capacity across it's 6 cargo racks.

Includes:
  • Type-8 Ship
  • Specialised Cargo Transport Loadout.
  • Haulage Stripe Red Paint job
  • Aero Ship Kit
  • Type-8 Shipyard Unlock


[h2]New Pre-Built Ships[/h2]

In addition to the Type-8 early access the following pre-built ships are also available in store:

Passenger Jumpstart – Beluga Liner - 25,500 Arx)

Beluga Liner outfitted for luxury long range passenger transportation. Equipped with an increased ranged SCO capable FSD and Luxury Cabins.

Includes:
  • Beluga Liner Passenger Ship
  • Specialised Passenger Transport Loadout
  • Grade 5 Engineered FSD (SCO)
  • United Marine Blue Paint Job
  • 16-Piece Ship Kit


Bounty Hunter Jumpstart - Vulture - 25,500 Arx)

Vulture outfitted for high spec bounty hunting combat. Equipped with Grade 1 and 2 Engineered weaponry alongside Grade 2 Engineered Core Internals.

Includes:
  • Vulture Ship
  • Specialised Bounty Hunting Loadout
  • Crossfire Green Paint Job
  • 16-Piece Ship Kit


[h2]Engineering Rebalancing[/h2]
It's not just new ships which have been added with Update 18.08, we also have made some major changes to Engineering!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Materials
We’re increasing the number of materials you’re getting across the board from various sources. We’ve increased Material availability at Grade 4/5 farming locations by increasing the number of sources of materials and in some cases payout per source.
In the past, you’d be get between 3-6 fragments of microresources in total per site, but now we’ve increased the number of items to 30-100 microresources.

Mission Rewards
We’ve increased the engineering mats you’ll get across the board from missions. So now depending on the mission or material limit, you could get up to 24 of some materials.

Engineering Blueprints
1) Engineering is no longer random when you spin for the blueprint. If you’re at grade 5 rank with the Engineer, it will be 1 roll for a Grade 1 blueprint, 2 for a Grade 2, and so on. If you’re less than a Grade 5, it will be more spins, but it will no longer be random.

2) We’ve changed the unlock requirements on some blueprints, so you can get to work much quicker.

Odyssey Engineering Changes
The recipes for Odyssey engineering have had their material amounts reduced, combined with getting more rewards for missions and needing to spend less. Another thing that should make it easier is the rebalancing of suit carry capacity, we’ve increased capacity across all suits, with the Maverick suit seeing the biggest upgrade. For a more in depth breakdown please check out the Update 18.08 update notes.

Thargoid War Changes
As we get closer and closer to the potential end of the war, we’re making some adjustments to give you even more Engineering rewards for engaging. Contributing to taking over a Thargoid controlled, or invasion system will now reward engineering materials upon system completion.

All Grade 4 Raw & Grade 5 Encoded/Manufactured engineering materials are eligible as rewards, which you can trade down to whatever materials you need at a material trader. A full break down can be found in our Update Notes.

Elite Dangerous | Type-8 Update (18.08) | Wednesday 7th August 2024

Greetings Commanders,

A new update will be available for Elite Dangerous on Wednesday 7th August.



Release Schedule (All times are in BST)

6AM - In game messages commence
8AM - Elite Dangerous Live/4.0 servers offline to deploy changes
2PM - Elite Dangerous Live/4.0 servers back online and Update 18.08 available to download.

*Please note that these times are estimates and are subject to change.

18.08 ]Update Notes
Features of Note:
  • Added Lakon Type-8 Transporter for early access
    • In world holo-screen adverts now present for Type-8 Transporter
  • Added new pre-built ships: to the store:
    • Type-8 Transporter Stellar (33,000 Arx)
    • Type-8 Transporter Standard (16,520 Arx)
    • Passenger Jumpstart - Beluga Liner (25,500 Arx)
    • Bounty Hunter Jumpstart - Vulture (25,500 Arx)

  • Python MkII now included in the general Shipyard stock for Odyssey players.
Engineering Changes
Alterations made to the engineering ruleset and systems:

Update 18.07 | Friday 5th July 2024

Greetings Commanders,

A new update will be available for Elite Dangerous Live/4.0 on Friday 5th July. This update focuses on improvements to the Thargoid War experience.

Release Schedule - Friday 5th July 2024
7AM UTC/8AM BST - Servers offline
11AM UTC/12PM BST - Servers back online

Please be aware that these are approximate timings and as such are subject to change.

Features of Note:
  • Ram Tah has been hard at work continuing his investigations of the Anti-Guardian Zone deployed by Thargoids. His most recent breakthrough now allows all Guardian Modules to have the Anti-Guardian Zone Resistance modification applied to them, without penalty.
    • The reduction to Guardian weapon damage has been removed
      • All weapons previously modified with the damage reducing modification have automatically received the improved modification
      • The AX Chieftain prebuilt ship is now delivered with the improved modification


Titan Multiplayer Improvements
  • A number of improvements to Titan instance stability & improvements to the Titan venting cycle
  • Reduced maximum number of Thargoid Ships within Titan instances