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XMadMarkX
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The Tank Whore One

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Elite: Dangerous - Newsletters Nov 15, 2014 17:15:04 GMT 10

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Post by XMadMarkX on Nov 15, 2014 17:15:04 GMT 10

Welcome to Elite: Dangerous Newsletter #49!

In this week’s newsletter David Braben reflects on the whole development process and how the game has evolved from the original game outline to where we are today – and announces that there will eventually be 30 playable ships in Elite: Dangerous, 5 more than we had previously said!

We also announce Beta 3.9 is incoming next Thursday!

There are now just 8 more days to become a Beta backer:

Being a Beta backer is the only way you will be able to play Elite: Dangerous until 16th December. In addition to that and the other existing Beta benefits such as Mercenary Edition and automatic permit to visit Sol, today we are also announcing:

25% off in-game ship insurance for life to all our Beta backers
free access to one of the 5 new ships when it’s released!

as a ‘thank you’ for all their help.

If you have already pre-ordered the final game you can still become part of the Beta now and take advantage of the lasting benefits that will give you, by upgrading your account, which will cost you an additional £15. Interested? Just go to the store, put the Beta in your basket and the correct discount will be applied when you checkout.

There are also only 32 days left to pre-order the game and get The Elite: Dangerous Mercenary Edition additional content and benefit from the £4.99 discount. Available to buy now.

Finally, we have some great in-game Exploration, Trading and Interdiction experiences from our wonderful community.

Newsletter Peek of the Week

Newsletter Peek of the Week

Elite: Dangerous Development
From David Braben:

The team here have been doing an excellent job developing what is almost certainly the largest game ever created, with a framework of frequent publically released builds executed to such a high quality. It has been an amazing achievement. Their enthusiasm, professionalism and grace under pressure with which they have carried it out is to their eternal credit. I know for a fact they are spurred on in their efforts by the great reaction and enthusiasm you have shown for their work - as am I.

In addition to creating features and content, there has always been an amount of unseen, unglamorous but vital ‘work under the hood’ that has necessarily gone on as we optimize, refactor, fix and tweak to increase frame-rate, stability and general quality of experience. There is an even greater temporary emphasis on such tasks at the moment, to get the game ‘shippable’ with countless fixes, polish and tweaking and fewer features (although of course we still have some surprises left up our sleeves for you leading up to the 16th December!).

Also, as those of you have followed us from the start know, we have some grand plans for the future.

After the 16th December we will continue to update with more polish and content such as the playable ships we committed to in our Kickstarter campaign – in fact I’m delighted to be able to tell you that we are now planning to eventually have 30 playable ships in Elite: Dangerous, 5 more than we committed to in Kickstarter. And most exciting of all, we will start the work on a longer term roadmap that includes getting you up out of your pilot’s seats and out of your starships.

These additional features will come post-launch, as we have always planned. That is solely because we want to make sure it is done correctly and to a quality we are proud of and that matches the other aspects of what we plan to be an incredible experience that we will deliver on 16th December.

We will continue to fully and openly engage with you.

Continuing to grow the game past the launch date as we plan would just not be possible at all with the constraints of physical disc manufacture and distribution, and is made possible only by the online nature of Elite: Dangerous.

When we set out on this journey, our ambition was to make Elite: Dangerous as large a technical step forward today as Elite and Frontier were in their time. The way the game embraces and pushes forward the online aspects of technology has been a particularly exciting aspect of that for me.

The basic fact of being able to interact online with our community during development has been tremendous. Just as in a film, based on feedback some of the things we originally thought would work have been left ‘on the cutting room floor’. We have also added unplanned features which I think are fundamentally key to the experience, and have made the game all the better. For example shifting design emphasis towards fantastic major new features such as supercruise, outposts and multiple ship ownership, to name just a few.

We have also been able to create a connected experience which lets you play your own story whilst in a dynamic, ever unfolding galaxy that is constantly reacting to what you and every other player is doing, be that trading, combat, exploration or missions. This has become fundamental to the whole experience.

Going forwards, being online lets us constantly both curate and evolve the galaxy, with stories unfolding according to the actions of commanders. Exploration is also a key factor, too, and it is important that what a single player explores matches what other players explore whether single or multiplayer – a complex, coherent world – something we have achieved. Galaxy, story, missions, have to match, and it does mean the single player has to connect to the server from time to time, but this has the added advantage that everyone can participate in the activities that can happen in the galaxy. A fully offline experience would be unacceptably limited and static compared to the dynamic, ever unfolding experience we are delivering.

If you were able to offer me on the 3rd January 2013 what we will deliver on the 16th December 2014, I would have grabbed it with both hands. It is fantastic what the team have done, and are still doing – a phenomenal job.

I’m really looking forward to meeting those of you who are able to come to the Premiere event on 22nd November to help celebrate that achievement, and thanking you for helping to make this possible.

And more importantly, I’m looking forward to seeing you and many, many more out in space on the 16th December and for a long time afterwards.

Right on, Commanders.

Last Edit: Dec 15, 2014 9:54:13 GMT 10 by XMadMarkX

KABLE
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The Boat Whore One

Posts: 501

Elite: Dangerous - Newsletters Nov 20, 2014 7:04:12 GMT 10

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Post by KABLE on Nov 20, 2014 7:04:12 GMT 10

News Letter #50

We announced in the last newsletter that Beta 3.9 would be arriving tomorrow.

Beta 3.9 is the last Beta build, with Gamma 1.0 to be released on Saturday 22 November and, of course, Elite: Dangerous 1.0 goes live on 16 Dec.

Beta 3.9 is a stepping stone to Gamma and represents a very large amount of ongoing under the hood work, as well as new features.

There will be some significant additions on Saturday for Gamma 1.0, too. The Gamma phase itself will then be about polish, fixes and optimization rather than major new features.

The 16th December release of Elite: Dangerous will see the Federation, Empire and Alliance start their machinations in earnest, adding a new depth to your experiences in the galaxy. The design team are being tight-lipped about this. All we have heard is that “Hengist Duval is sick”. More on 22 November.

Here’s a quick overview of what to expect from Beta 3.9, above and beyond the countless fixes, tweaks, improvements and optimizations that have been going in.

Top of the list is the exciting news there are now multiple ways to reach the rank of Elite! You now progress to that exalted status via Trading and/or Exploration and/or Combat, rather than Combat alone.

You can also now gain ranks with both the Federation and/or Empire as you work on their behalf.

There is a further step forward in the ongoing changes to the mission system in preparation for the 16th December, generally increasing the richness of what you are able to do. This includes an associated significant overhaul of Unidentified Signal Sources, giving increased variety and added mission related context. USS are now well worth checking out.

You can now barter with other players in deep space, by transferring non-stolen goods to them.

Ship outfitting and Galaxy map have both had major overhauls.

Last but not least for this brief summary, open-mic voice communications between up to 6 players in a group has been added.

Elite: Dangerous Offline Mode - Q&A

From David Braben:

Each of the “Elite” games pushed the boundaries of the technology available. With Elite: Dangerous a major new feature is playing online, and we are pushing that hard now. Offline support was not one of our original aims, though we did believe we could support it at the start of the project. We do a great deal of processing in the cloud, and this benefits everyone playing. We had considered that an online connection is a reasonable pre-requisite for a game delivered online. I am really sorry this has upset people, but we have a strong, consistent vision that we do not want to compromise.

Below we have collected common questions from backers and the press and our answers so we can be clear about the situation.

Can I still play in single player mode?

Yes. Some people have thought that dropping 100% offline play means there wouldn’t be a single-player mode - to be clear, the single-player game is already there, but it requires a low bandwidth online connection for the reasons we explained.

I’ve even played on a laptop using a tethered connection on the train.

When was the offline mode dropped?

The decision was made recently, and was not made lightly as we have been looking for ways to satisfy everyone. We announced shortly after we concluded that it wasn’t possible to create an offline mode without unacceptably compromising the game.

Offline-only support was a requested feature during the Kickstarter – why was it dropped?

Back during the Kickstarter, we were clear about the vision, to make a phenomenal new sequel to Elite in an online world, which we believe we are about to deliver. At the time we believed we could also offer a good single player experience, and base an acceptable offline-only experience off that. As development has progressed, it has become clear that this last assumption is not the case.

Why wait so long to announce this?

In retrospect we should have shared the fact that we were struggling with this aspect with the community, but we were still trying to find a solution. As features were implemented, for the best results we chose to prioritise delivery of the online single and multiplayer experiences, with a view to providing the offline version later in development. We had to make a decision for the good of the game, and that is what we did.

What would you lose in offline mode?

We have developed a multi-player game with an unfolding story involving the players, and groups collaborating with specific objectives and taking account of all player’s behaviour. This is what the game is about. Without this it would not be the rich gaming experience that we will deliver, and would be a great disappointment to all players.

Any offline experience would be fundamentally empty. We could write a separate mission system to allow a limited series of fixed missions, but that would still not be a compelling game, and is just the first step in the mountain of work that would be required.

Do you now consider Elite: Dangerous to be an MMO?

Technically, it has always been. There are already over 100,000 people playing in the same world. We believe that always-online entertainment is already a reality for the majority. We are delivering a truly huge game using the best technology and designed to stand the test of time, played for many years to come and still be relevant.

What do you say to people who backed Elite with an offline experience in mind?

Many of the conversations we have had during development focussed on backers wanting to play the game without the downside of online – griefing especially – ie a single player experience. We considered this to be the main issue and focussed on making sure we had a great single player offering. We have also ensured that the solo play mode has a minimal network requirement(about 10 kbps).

Are you confident the servers will be stable come launch day?

Yes, as confident as we can be, because we have been testing our servers throughout the development process, and continue to do so. Our servers are the same ones that Amazon uses, and can (and have) scaled up quickly to deal with demand when needed.

What is Frontier's plan for when the servers shut down?

We do not plan to shut the servers down, but understand it is a reasonable question. We are at the beginning of the game not the end and are focused on creating a game that we hope will be played for many years in the future. We do plan to take regular archives of the game and the servers, to preserve the game for the future.

Could the server code be released publicly some day when the servers are shut down?

Yes. This is something we would do if for whatever reason we cannot keep the game going.

Will offline mode ever be implemented? Why not create a second "offline galaxy" with different secrets than the online one?

It is not out of the question we will create a cut-down game that is offline only, but this is not currently in our plan. It would still be a big undertaking to do well.

Will you give people refunds?

We have started responding to requests where there is a clear outcome:

- Those who have pre-ordered an Elite: Dangerous release version from our online store and have therefore not yet played the game are eligible for a refund.

- Those who have already been playing the game online in the Alpha and/or Beta phases, regardless of whether they backed the project via Kickstarter or purchased access to Alpha and/or Beta through our online store, are not eligible for a refund.

We want to make sure we treat each person's situation with the thoroughness it deserves, and have contacted each of them to ask that they bear with us over the next few working days if their circumstances do not fit either criteria above as we look into individual requests.

Is offline mode an impossible problem, or just unfeasible?

It is a creative decision, not wanting to produce an empty game. It is technically possible, but it would be a largely separate game development.

Why not delay the decisions and put extra resources on this after the release?

We will review the decision after release, but our priority is moving the game forwards for the great majority of players, and are wary of producing a sub-standard game.

Was this because offline players are less likely to get involved in microtransactions? Is this just about the money?

No. We have been clear and consistent. This is about the game experience. I have always been against ‘pay to win’ – in a game like Elite: Dangerous there are a great many opportunities we could have taken already that would have amounted to ‘pay to win’ but we have chosen not to.

This whole issue comes down to what the vision is of the game we are making, and whether people trust us to make the right decisions. We made this decision with heavy hearts but for the right reasons.

David Braben

For non-German speakers, the images speak for themselves.

Marcus Carra sent us the design for his Board game. The instructions are all in German, but it certainly got us excited to sit down and play – “I built this board game just for my own pleasure and played it with friends who pushed me to talk to publisher throughout Germany. It is said to be way too complex for the German market. The rules are tight to the original game ELITE by David Braben and Ian Bell from 1984, this is a prototype designed by me and some enthusiasts of the Oolite community (new drawings of the old ELITE concept ships).”

Titus Balls bids a fond farewell to the Beta with episode 6 of his Wonders of the Galaxy series.

Gnepcoyi on Youtube put this humorous video together about your first ever docking experience: expectations versus reality.

That’s it for newsletter #50 - thank you for reading and supporting the development of Elite: Dangerous.

If you are new to the newsletters you can read all our previous newsletters here.

As always if there is anything in particular that you’d like to hear more about, or you'd like to ask a question, then please contact us at elite-newsletter@frontier.co.uk.

The Frontier Team

Last Edit: Nov 20, 2014 11:40:05 GMT 10 by XMadMarkX

KABLE
Administrator

The Boat Whore One

Posts: 501

Elite: Dangerous - Newsletters Nov 27, 2014 7:45:37 GMT 10

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Post by KABLE on Nov 27, 2014 7:45:37 GMT 10

Elite: Dangerous Newsletter #51!

It has been an exciting week for us - meeting so many people at the Elite: Dangerous Premiere has given the team a real boost as we move towards 16 December. In this week’s newsletter we take a look at the event.

Beta is now closed, and all early access and crowd-funding backers can now download and play in the 400 billion star systems of the Gamma release! Gamma 1.02 was released today.

Elite: Dangerous 1.0 will be released on 16th December. The game’s ever unfolding story starts on the 16 December launch with players participating in a vicious power struggle between the potential heirs to the recently-deceased Emperor, as the Federation and Alliance – the Empire’s rival galactic superpowers – attempt to manipulate the succession battle for their own advantage. Like every story in Elite: Dangerous’ shared galaxy, players will influence the outcome.

There are also only 19 days left to pre-order the game and get The Elite: Dangerous Mercenary Edition additional content and benefit from the £4.99 discount. Available to buy now.

Everyone who has already pre-ordered the game, or does so from today until the 16 December, can immediately download and play a Single Player Combat Training Demo!

We also announce a time-limited ‘Black Friday’ paint job offer, and a new boxed edition of the game.

Finally, we announce our intention to start an affiliate programme. This is intended to reward all those who have helped us evangelise the game on YouTube, Twitch and different forums by giving a a percentage of game purchases made to those who send buyers of the game to our store

Contents this week (Click subject to jump forward):

Newsletter Peek of the Week

Gamma Available Now!

Pre-Order and Play now - Single Player Combat Training Demo

Elite: Dangerous Boxed Edition

'Black Friday' Paint Job Offer

Elite: Dangerous iOS Companion App

Elite: Dangerous Affiliate Program

The Elite: Dangerous Premiere Event

Comms Chatter

Newsletter Peek of the Week

Gamma Available Now!
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The Gamma build was released to all our backers on 22 November. The Gamma phase is the final stepping stone en route to Elite: Dangerous 1.0 and is open to everyone who helped crowd-fund development via Kickstarter or Frontier’s own website prior to mid-December 2013, as well as all those who took part in Alpha, Premium Beta and Beta.

The Gamma release implements backer’s ‘starting positions’ that were part of the reward tiers, and opens the full 400 Billion star systems of the most advanced virtual representation of the Milky Way galaxy ever created for a videogame.

Pre-Order and Play now - Single Player Combat Training Demo

We announced on Saturday at the Elite: Dangerous Premiere that as well as the discount and all the extra’s in the Elite: Dangerous Mercenary Edition, everyone who pre-orders Elite: Dangerous will, from today, be able practice their flying skills before getting access to the whole game.

The Single Player Combat Training Demo contains seven different scenarios for new Pilots to play now and hone their combat and flying skills before the release of the full game on December 16th.

If you have pre-order the game, to get the Single Player Combat Training Demo login to your account on the store, where there is a download link.

Here is the first of our Pilot Training videos where you will learn the following;

- How to use the scanner

- How to target ships

- How to divert power around systems in your ship

- Basic flight maneuvers including turn rates

Elite: Dangerous Boxed Edition

We have added a boxed edition of Elite: Dangerous to our store

Anyone who is already playing Gamma or has pre-ordered the digital version of the game can upgrade to receive a boxed copy of Elite: Dangerous on DVD.

There is also a Full Boxed version of the game for new customers to pre-order.

Black Friday' Paint Job Offer

This weekend we have some special offers on paint jobs!

From today until Monday all paintjobs will be half price on the store including a new Premium Gold Viper paint job.

We also have a new Cobra pack containing 6 new paint jobs that will be available to all customers free of charge until Monday December 1st.

Elite: Dangerous iOS Companion App

The Elite: Dangerous iOS companion app is available now as a free download from iTunes. Android and Windows Phone versions will also be made available, with release dates yet to be announced but expected before the end of the year.

The app provided more background information on Elite: Dangerous and gives all Commanders access to starport services, using their game login, where they can look at market data, ship configuration options and access other features and services which will be added over time.

Elite: Dangerous Affiliate Program

We are pleased to be introducing an Elite: Dangerous affiliate program.

If you have a website or streaming channel and are interested in linking to our store and being rewarded for any resulting direct sales please email us for more information at: affiliates@elitedangerous.com

Last Edit: Nov 27, 2014 7:46:36 GMT 10 by KABLE

KABLE
Administrator

The Boat Whore One

Posts: 501

Elite: Dangerous - Newsletters Dec 6, 2014 10:37:13 GMT 10

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Post by KABLE on Dec 6, 2014 10:37:13 GMT 10

Welcome to Elite: Dangerous Newsletter #52!

Welcome to Elite: Dangerous Newsletter #52!
The Gamma phase is well underway, with frequent updates as evidence of the team’s rapid progress. As of today we are on Gamma 1.05.
This week we have a Peek Of The Week that is a little out of the ordinary.
We start to take a look at the power struggle to succeed the frail Emperor that you’ll begin to experience on 16 December in Elite: Dangerous 1.0.
And we have a free version of BBC Elite (1984) for all you Mac owners out there.
There are also only 12 days left to pre-order the game and get the Elite: Dangerous Mercenary Edition goodies such as free Eagle spaceship docked in a secondary location in-game, digital concept art book, exclusive pack of ship paint jobs and a ‘day one’ ship decal with a £4.99 discount. Available to buy now.
Pre-ordering the game also gives you immediate access to the Single Player Combat Demo to start practicing your piloting skills.

Newsletter Peek of the Week
Something slightly different this week.
Our trailer for Elite: Dangerous is due to be finished very soon now, and it will hit a computer screen near you next week.
We are excited about it, so naturally we wanted to whet your appetite:

v.cdn.vine.co/r/videos/0965FFFF1E1152703846746038272_32099a8a29b.1.1.12511219930735316314.mp4?versionId=bpdMfL.DUMKbX7el6rz.3gYLp5IZtlzt

The Emperor Is A Sick Man:

Arguably the most powerful person in the galaxy, Emperor Hengist Duval, is sick.
He has ruled the Empire now for 67 years since his coronation in 3233 following the death of his father, Hesketh Duval.
Emperor Hengist is only 118, born only a week before the death of his grandfather, Hender Saik Duval. Some say Hender’s spirit had already transferred to Hengist at that time.
The Duval Imperial line has been unbroken for almost a thousand years. There have been power struggles in the past, but the usurpers have been successfully dealt with behind closed doors.

This time is different.
Hengist has been not involved himself in politics for a long time, relying on his Chancellor, Senator Blaine and has taken a laissez faire attitude towards a handful of increasingly powerful and ambitious Senators whilst Harold, the current heir, quickly made a name for himself as a feckless playboy.

The warlike Senator Denton Patreus, last seen trying to destabilise the Eranin system during the conflict surrounding its 30th Anniversary of Independence from the Federation, continues his manipulative power-broking in the galaxy at large.

The preposterously rich Senator Zemina Torval is using her slaver corporation supporters and personal fleet of Majestic-class Interdictors to suppress revolts and to further her ambitions.
Commentators expect others to show their hand, too.
Much like in Imperial Rome on ancient Earth, Senators determine the tax rates of their supporters and both Patreus and Torval have become hugely popular back home as they have each used their huge wealth to lower taxation to zero.
There is a real prospect of the next Emperor not being a Duval. And the bitter fight for succession is about to spill out into the open.
Meanwhile, the Federation and Alliance of Independent Systems are watching with keen interest.
On 16 December, the first shockwaves from this battle for the Imperial succession will finally hit the galaxy at large.
How you choose to respond will have a direct bearing on the ultimate outcome.

A Free Elite (1984) Download For Mac Owners:
With all the excitement of Elite: Dangerous 1.0 releasing on 16 December on the PC, we don’t want Mac owners to feel left out.
We are delighted to announce that we are now able to give a free copy of BBC Micro Elite for Mac to everyone as a download from our online store, bundled with the BeebEm BBC Micro and Master 128 Emulator for Mac.
To get your copy just go to the store, where it is listed as a product, put it in your basket and check out - it will appear free of charge. If you don’t already have an account with us, to get the free game please set one up HERE. Feel free to get it even if you already have the PC version.
Thanks go to Mike Wyatt and Jon Welch for allowing us to distribute Jon’s Mac version of Mike’s BeebEm from our site – Jon is happy to help anyone using BeebEm via this website.

Comms Chatter:
We have a great video with comments from people who attended the Elite: Dangerous Premiere event.

CMDR Poy on Reddit didn't need to leave the station to find beautiful views.

Isinona's Flight Assist off series continues in the Gamma, with Freebooter.

TommyTTK on Twitter show how he explores inside the city with Flight Assist Off

That’s it for newsletter #52 - thank you for reading and supporting the development of Elite: Dangerous.
If you are new to the newsletters you can read all our previous newsletters here.
As always if there is anything in particular that you’d like to hear more about, or you'd like to ask a question, then please contact us at elite-newsletter@frontier.co.uk.
The Frontier Team

Last Edit: Dec 6, 2014 10:38:22 GMT 10 by KABLE

KABLE
Administrator

The Boat Whore One

Posts: 501

Elite: Dangerous - Newsletters Dec 21, 2014 11:21:39 GMT 10

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Post by KABLE on Dec 21, 2014 11:21:39 GMT 10

Contents this week:

Elite: Dangerous Launch
Elite: Dangerous 1.03
Onionhead and the Slaves of Sorbago
Thank You to Chris Roberts
Race to Elite
Backers Update
Comms Chatter

Elite: Dangerous Launch

When we set out to make Elite: Dangerous, we of course wanted to retain the true mercenary spirit and open freedom of the Elite games.
We also wanted to make a game that allowed a new audience to discover the immersive thrill of taking control of their own starship in a cut throat galaxy.
And we planned to exploit today’s technology in order to make a similar impact as the original Elite did in its day.
Elite: Dangerous 1.00 released at midday GMT on Tuesday 16 December.

Obviously it is for you and others to form you own opinions on how we did, but for our part we are proud of how we delivered it, proud of what we delivered, and excited about what the future has in store.

For those of you who have been with us at the different stages of development, we again have to thank you for your support and invaluable
help – we hope you enjoyed seeing how we put the game together, from early stage feature releases that hit key project risks early via our
Alpha phase, increasing scope and optimization throughout our Beta phase, and a final Gamma phase to bug fix, polish and balance.

What we released has to be the biggest play space ever in a videogame. Our 1:1 scale recreation of our Milky Way galaxy is based on sophisticated ‘hard’
science algorithms that go far beyond random procedural generation to offer incredible scientific insights that are backed up by astronomical observation,
and result in 400 billion star systems where every star, planet, moon and asteroid feels hand-crafted and relevant to the Elite: Dangerous experience.

Every single one of the stars in the real night sky is present in the virtual one, their planetary systems and moons are there just waiting to be explored.

As well as being entirely realistic and looking as good as only true natural beauty can, there are also significant gameplay implications -
which stars will be easier to scoop fuel from? Which asteroids will contain the most valuable resources to mine? What is the economy of a given system based on?

This is a dynamic galaxy, too - it responds to every trade and action of every player, offering a rich, ever unfolding experience in which to blaze your own trail.

Every ship handles well, handles differently. You can customize them to your hearts content to make them relevant to what you want to do,
and you can build a fleet of them. You can experience the vastness of space with the rest of the community of players, with your own friends group, or alone.

Every flight you make is different – you have full freedom to do what you want to do, so the final ingredient comes from you and your own imagination.
What path will you carve out for yourself? Whether you want to go it alone, or throw yourself into influencing the ever-unfolding machinations of the Empire,
Federation and Alliance, above all this is an experience of which YOU are in control.

THAT is what Elite: Dangerous means to us, and we look forward to continuing to evolve the experience based on your feedback.

Right On, Commanders - see you in space!

Elite: Dangerous 1.03

The development team has been able to issue daily updates – things are working very well in the game, the servers are performing
reliably and we have been able to focus on addressing the few rare issues which are unavoidable in such a diverse eco-system as PC.

Today sees Elite: Dangerous 1.03 released, and we have been able to make our first addition based on your feedback – from 1.03,
you have the option to turn off orbital line plots in Supercruise. People have asked for this so they can further immerse themselves
in the experience of piloting their own spaceship at incredible speeds in the real Milky Way.

We’ve also added control binding icons for some of the more popular control devices; Xbox 360 pad, Saitek X52 and X52 Pro.
We are delighted to react to your feedback, and look forward to continuing the dialogue with you as we go forward.

Onionhead and the Slaves of Sorbago

Although we focused on the Empire’s succession story in the lead up to 16 December, the Federation also got in on the day one act.

16 December 3300 was the day President Halsey declared the Onionhead narcotic illegal in Federal systems.

The outrage amongst the Farmer’s Cooperative may be tempered by the fact that her edict doesn’t seem to have had much
effect on Commander’s activity, quite the oppostite in fact, with Kappa Fornacis’ finest produce being eagerly distributed to the
black market throughout the galaxy, and especially within Federal systems.

We’ve heard a whisper that Madame President’s dismay at this may lead her to start flexing her metaphorical muscles.

Meanwhile Senator Torval is looking to shore up her powerbase in the deadly game of Imperial succession that is being played out. Her wealth is
built on slavery, and from the 26 million credits claimed by Commanders willing offer Sorbago’s slaves the ‘opportunity’ of a better class of slavery
in the Empire via Mastopolos Mining Inc’s links with the Senator it looks like she is gaining traction.

Senator Denton Patreus, meanwhile, is engaged in a more even fight. Ever the one to manipulate strife to his own ends whilst disguising his intentions
with grandiose sentiments, Patreus has thrown his considerable resources behind the Jera Nationalists. The incumbent Jera Social Democrats are
currently managing to hold their own in the battle for control in the system, with Commanders support evenly split.

To remind yourself of your own story in Elite: Dangerous, use the statistics section of the Status menu on the right hand control screen, shown below.

To keep up with the galactic goings-on, you can see the Galnet latest newsfeeds whenever you are safely docked in a Starport.

Thank You to Chris Roberts

By David Braben

I want to take this opportunity to highlight the gracious message posted on the Roberts Space Industries website by Chris Roberts.

I wholeheartedly agree with this – I am delighted by the grass roots driven rise in space sims. I backed Star Citizen and am looking
forward to playing it as I’m sure many of you are. The same goes for No Man's Sky.

Greetings Citizens

I would like to congratulate David Braben and the entire team at Frontier Developments on this week’s launch of Elite: Dangerous. I have been a supporter of the Elite reboot since day one, and am thrilled to see it become a reality. I’m looking forward to taking a little bit of time off of Star Citizen during the holidays and firing up the finished version of E:D.

I know that many Star Citizen backers imagine there to be an intense competition between our game and Elite, but nothing could be further from the truth. David and I promoted each other’s projects during our respective crowd funding periods because we both believe that the world is better off with more PC games and even better off with more space games. In the nineties there was plenty of room for multiple Space Sims and there is no reason that still can’t be the case now! I’ve always maintained that we aren’t a success if we just make a game; part of the reason that I came back from film was to build a game in a genre I loved and hopefully remind people how amazing it is to lose yourself in another universe, adventuring amongst the stars. So rather than be worried about Elite or No Man’s Sky, I welcome them. It’s been a long time coming but Space Sims are finally getting the love they deserve. And what’s been more amazing is that it’s been a grass roots movement. It hasn’t been driven by a big publisher seeking to pad their profits but by gamers and developers that love the genre and wanted to return to the kind of games that captured their imagination when they were younger.

Star Citizen is taking a different path from Elite, and I strongly believe each game will have a distinct feel… and both can exist and flourish… but I’d like to think that both projects have benefited from each other’s public development! I would encourage anyone who loves space sims to take a look at Elite: Dangerous. The team at Frontier has done incredible work, and there’s a fascinating universe for pilots to explore. I have fond memories of playing the original Elite on my BBC Micro many years ago… and I’m very pleased that a new generation of gamers will get to have exactly that experience today.

— Chris Roberts

Click on the above image to link to the piece or read the full version below.

Greetings Citizens

I would like to congratulate David Braben and the entire team at Frontier Developments on this week’s launch of Elite: Dangerous. I have been a supporter of the Elite reboot since day one, and am thrilled to see it become a reality. I’m looking forward to taking a little bit of time off of Star Citizen during the holidays and firing up the finished version of E:D.

I know that many Star Citizen backers imagine there to be an intense competition between our game and Elite, but nothing could be further from the truth. David and I promoted each other’s projects during our respective crowd funding periods because we both believe that the world is better off with more PC games and even better off with more space games. In the nineties there was plenty of room for multiple Space Sims and there is no reason that still can’t be the case now! I’ve always maintained that we aren’t a success if we just make a game; part of the reason that I came back from film was to build a game in a genre I loved and hopefully remind people how amazing it is to lose yourself in another universe, adventuring amongst the stars. So rather than be worried about Elite or No Man’s Sky, I welcome them. It’s been a long time coming but Space Sims are finally getting the love they deserve. And what’s been more amazing is that it’s been a grass roots movement. It hasn’t been driven by a big publisher seeking to pad their profits but by gamers and developers that love the genre and wanted to return to the kind of games that captured their imagination when they were younger.

Star Citizen is taking a different path from Elite, and I strongly believe each game will have a distinct feel… and both can exist and flourish… but I’d like to think that both projects have benefited from each other’s public development! I would encourage anyone who loves space sims to take a look at Elite: Dangerous. The team at Frontier has done incredible work, and there’s a fascinating universe for pilots to explore. I have fond memories of playing the original Elite on my BBC Micro many years ago… and I’m very pleased that a new generation of gamers will get to have exactly that experience today.

— Chris Roberts
Click on the above image to link to the piece or read the full version below.

Greetings Citizens

I would like to congratulate David Braben and the entire team at Frontier Developments on this week’s launch of Elite: Dangerous. I have been a supporter of the Elite reboot since day one, and am thrilled to see it become a reality. I’m looking forward to taking a little bit of time off of Star Citizen during the holidays and firing up the finished version of E:D.

I know that many Star Citizen backers imagine there to be an intense competition between our game and Elite, but nothing could be further from the truth. David and I promoted each other’s projects during our respective crowd funding periods because we both believe that the world is better off with more PC games and even better off with more space games. In the nineties there was plenty of room for multiple Space Sims and there is no reason that still can’t be the case now! I’ve always maintained that we aren’t a success if we just make a game; part of the reason that I came back from film was to build a game in a genre I loved and hopefully remind people how amazing it is to lose yourself in another universe, adventuring amongst the stars. So rather than be worried about Elite or No Man’s Sky, I welcome them. It’s been a long time coming but Space Sims are finally getting the love they deserve. And what’s been more amazing is that it’s been a grass roots movement. It hasn’t been driven by a big publisher seeking to pad their profits but by gamers and developers that love the genre and wanted to return to the kind of games that captured their imagination when they were younger.

Star Citizen is taking a different path from Elite, and I strongly believe each game will have a distinct feel… and both can exist and flourish… but I’d like to think that both projects have benefited from each other’s public development! I would encourage anyone who loves space sims to take a look at Elite: Dangerous. The team at Frontier has done incredible work, and there’s a fascinating universe for pilots to explore. I have fond memories of playing the original Elite on my BBC Micro many years ago… and I’m very pleased that a new generation of gamers will get to have exactly that experience today.

— Chris Roberts

Race to Elite

To celebrate launch we are offering a separate cash prize to the first player who attains Elite status for each of combat, trading and exploration, and a further cash prize for the
first player to attain the coveted Triple Elite status for total mastery of all three.

This is a skill-based competition to provide, in true Elite fashion, a little mercenary fun over the festive period for you. There are the following prizes for the first person to reach:

1. Elite in combat - £1,000 or $1,500 or €1,200*
2. Elite in exploration - £1,000 or $1,500 or €1,200*
3. Elite in trading - £1,000 or $1,500 or €1,200*
4. Elite in all three - £10,000 or $15,000 or €12,000*

Players choosing to claim one of the £1,000 cash prizes will make them ineligible for the ‘triple’ prize, though one player could get more than one of the £1,000 prizes.

Please see our forums for more competition details and Terms and Conditions.

* currency as applicable

Backers Update

We want to thank you for your patience as we start to fulfill all the pledge items that many of you are due to receive.

Our focus up to 16th December was on delivering the game but now we can turn our attentions to ensuring we deliver all the additional kickstarter, backer and pre-order items.

All in-game digital rewards are already in the game, so additional ships, decals, Commander names, planet names, MPC names and starting points plus founder’s world access have been attributed to your accounts.

For anyone who backed to receive a digital version of the game if you have not yet done so, you can access them through the account which was set up for you here.

Your account will have been set up with the email address you registered your support with at the time, it should be the one you are receiving this email through.

If you have never logged into the account you will need to reset your password using the Forgot Your Password.
Once into your account you will be able to click on the download button and receive the pre-order mercenary pack which includes some additional digital goodies.

Pre-order Mercenary Pack decals and extra ships have already been added to your accounts and the Elite: Dangerous art-team are now working on completing the Digital Art Book which will be sent out to you in January. If you ordered the Mercenary Pack and you are unsure where to download the game, go to your account and download the game from here.

Physical Rewards such as boxed copies of the game, the official book and the Premium box set, Star and Ship charts, the Elite: Dangerous music CD and any remaining T-shirts and mugs will be delivered to you by the end of January.

Those of you who pledged to receive models of the ships will be contact directly to confirm when you can expect to receive your models.

Finally, if you pledged to receive additional copies of the game and have not yet received them please let us know at community@frontier.co.uk

Comms Chatter

Our Community Countdown Launch Livestreams were a huge success, with thousands of people watching the Twitch streams we arranged over the five days before launch.

We smashed our target and raised an amazing £1,300.34 for Games Aid - thank you so much to anybody who visited the page and donated.

We asked our social media followers to send us their favourite screenshots from the game. We received hundreds of amazing pictures and here's three of the many that stood out to us.

ObsidianAnt on Reddit made a casually-paced video guide that could give you a good idea of where to start in Elite: Dangerous.

Isinona is hunted through space by a knowledgeable bounty hunter, in the latest of his Flight Assist Off series.

Ken Hanson on Imgur created a nice-looking infographic about exporting and importing goods.

Lucasbytegenius on Reddit pointed out that Santa has been very bad this year.

Over the next two weeks, the author of Elite: Mostly Harmless, Kate Russell, will be streaming Elite: Dangerous every night on her Twitch channel. Kate will be flying the book's character, Angel Rose, back to her home planet of Slough.

Kate will be playing clips from her audio book, giving away some Elite: Dangerous goodies and raising money for gaming charity Special Effect.

A reporter on the front line, known as Hypothermia on the forums, put together a video report about the Sorbago slave uprising,
Edwin Stowe on YouTube created a moody cinematic video called 'Slave to the Empire'.

That’s it for newsletter #54 - thank you for reading and supporting the development of Elite: Dangerous.

If you are new to the newsletters you can read all our previous newsletters here.

As always if there is anything in particular that you’d like to hear more about, or you'd like to ask a question, then please contact us at elite-newsletter@frontier.co.uk.

The Frontier Team

Last Edit: Dec 21, 2014 14:19:58 GMT 10 by KABLE

Quick Reply

Shoutbox

Welcome to BattleLeague shout box. This is for Members & Guests to chat.

KABLE: we have moved to a new site & forums. please check the "new site" tab above to get there. cheers Jan 19, 2015 9:36:32 GMT 10

Ripstaa: Howdy Dec 29, 2014 6:57:30 GMT 10

KABLE: Hello Seven Dec 20, 2014 10:39:10 GMT 10

Sevenhunter: Giggety giggety Dec 19, 2014 22:59:09 GMT 10

KABLE: mark you need to find and add the new elite ship images to your thread Dec 15, 2014 8:39:40 GMT 10

XMadMarkX: Hi Kable the Google bots here again Nov 25, 2014 10:53:43 GMT 10

Martycan: WHAT IS THIS FELLARS Nov 18, 2014 20:26:35 GMT 10

KABLE: Yes no worries Nov 11, 2014 22:58:49 GMT 10

XMadMarkX: Hi Kable i'm in TS if you can come in. Nov 11, 2014 18:11:56 GMT 10

Ripstaa: Here's Johnny. Nov 9, 2014 13:54:28 GMT 10

XMadMarkX: ha NASA come into TS m8 Nov 8, 2014 16:22:32 GMT 10

XMadMarkX: Or is it joew whatever have a bit of a chat with us. Nov 8, 2014 15:17:01 GMT 10

XMadMarkX: Hi arin-google I see your from the US have a chat! Nov 8, 2014 15:13:27 GMT 10

XMadMarkX: Can any of the guests that purchase stuff through the Freebies & Bargains section give us some feed back to let us know what you think. Nov 7, 2014 20:30:52 GMT 10

KABLE: i am back see you monday night Sept 28, 2014 12:56:53 GMT 10

KABLE: last night here i Aus for 10 days...will not be able to update bargains...

Sept 16, 2014 21:07:42 GMT 10

TaiLander: hellllooooooooooo! Sept 16, 2014 1:09:18 GMT 10

XMadMarkX: Hi Guests say hello! Sept 12, 2014 20:11:59 GMT 10

KABLE: Check out the post on the new Samsung VR headset - wow i want one of those and the Galaxy Note 4 Edge phone too Sept 5, 2014 8:38:51 GMT 10

KABLE: Wow did you see the 6tb HDD for sale at amazon...check the post in our Bargains and Freebies section for more details! Aug 25, 2014 12:18:35 GMT 10 *