Greetings Commanders,

In anticipation of the exciting new gameplay features Commanders will first experience during the Alpha phase, we have released a new video showing an Odyssey mission playthrough, which features gameplay captured from a raid mission.



The video shows a team of three Commanders plunge into a daring on-foot raid of a military outpost. Their objective: to disable the power centre and ultimately render the opposing faction powerless!

All three Commanders in the incursion team are specially equipped for their assigned role, selected from the wide range of space suits, weapons and equipment available in Elite Dangerous: Odyssey. Their tactical gear grants them an edge in their assigned tasks, whether it is to infiltrate the base avoiding detection, lay down covering fire if the alarm is raised, hacking, or quickly extract their teammates from a tight spot if enemy forces overwhelm them.

And in case you missed it in the video we are also excited to announce that the Elite Dangerous: Odyssey Alpha will be available for PC from 29 March!

Stay tuned for more Elite Dangerous: Odyssey news soon!


o7

Greetings Commanders!


We're back again this week with more answers for you on Elite Dangerous: Odyssey. This week we're taking a look at your questions regarding on foot weaponry.


Q: Will anti-vehicle weapons be available?
All weapons can be used against ships, however some are far more effective, such as explosive weapons like rocket launchers and grenades.

Q: Will players be equipped with a weapon immediately upon launch?
Just as you will always have a Sidewinder available as a ship, all players will have a side arm to help them in combat

Q: Will there be melee weapons?
Players will be able to attack with melee when close but there are no specific melee weapons.

Q: What kinds of explosives are there?Only grenades and rocket launcher are planned for launch

Q: Will the aiming reticule always remain on-screen?
The reticule is used to interact with objects as well as for combat, so will always be on-screen. Firing from the hip will still use the same reticule for general direction, but will be less accurate.

Q. Which weapons allow you to look down the sights?
All weapons will have this function, however different scopes are available for each through Engineering.

Q. Could players throw grenades at ships an expect to deal significant damage if it's unshielded?
Yes and we look forward to watching it happen!

Q. What types of weapons will there be?
There's a wide variety of weapons from pistols, rifles and SMGs, to shotguns and rocket launchers. More details will be revealed on these later.

Q: Will players be able to upgrade their weapons with attachments?
You can choose from several attachments for your weapons. However, a modified weapon cannot be reverted, so think carefully. You can own multiple copies of a weapon for different situations, but can only carry a limited number of them at a time, depending on your suit type.

Q: Can you drop items for your friends to use?
Yes - other players can pick up and use your dropped items.

Keep an eye out for more Elite Dangerous: Odyssey information soon!

o7

Greetings Commanders!



Last week, we were joined on stream by the fantastic Dr Kay Ross to answer some of your questions regarding planetary tech and the changes coming in Elite Dangerous: Odyssey! If you missed it, you can watch the entire stream on YouTube - but we're also going to give you a refined recap of the answers given by Dr Kay right here! As Arthur mentioned last week, we were unable to answer every question, so we've sprinkled in a few extra answers in this post.

For those who might be unfamiliar with Dr Kay Ross, she's a Lead Render Programmer here at Frontier, and is one of the brilliant minds behind the Stellar Forge, the tool used to create the Elite Dangerous galaxy.

Without further ado, the questions and answers:


Q: What is the Stellar Forge?
The Stellar Forge is the framework in which we input data and get out the space stuff that we want! We build this framework with what raw data we have on our Milky Way to hand to feed it, and knowing what we need out of it in the end - it then procedurally and deterministically offers a physically plausible series of star systems which represent our Milky Way! Examples of the Milky Way data included are: layout, mass distribution, age regions and lots more!

Q: Can you describe something funny that's happened with the Stellar Forge?
For sure! We've had to deal with something called the 'Hairy ball theorem' - if you have a sphere (or an object) and it's got hair pointing out all around it - you can't. There's going to be a seam somewhere, that's mathematically the case in an object like that. However, in generating the surfaces of the planets through Horizons, Beyond and Odyssey, things can be sensitive when inputting data! If something gets inputted wrong, what we have ended up with is essentially a very hairy planet to show the very frustrating Hairy ball theorem! There are tiny spikes everywhere and it looks really fuzzy - it's a very expensive way of rendering fur and we don't recommend it!

Q: So you've built the galaxy, how do you go about the finer details?So, the last time we did a talk on this, I went into how planets start not as spheres but as cubes, with square patches that make up the cubes. Everything then becomes a sphere and an offset is generated to represent terrain. For Horizons, that terrain is generated entirely mathematically. There was a lot of effort put into representing the kind of shapes a hill or canyon makes, just using maths.

For Odyssey, there's an entirely different approach for making these offsets. It takes the view of starting big and refining small. A planet has all sorts of Stellar Forge data associated with it. Things like the gravitational stress its crust goes under, the proportion of its depth which is crust or magma or core, the stresses its under, how cratered it would be, if it's tidally locked, and more. From those, and the general knowledge of what the planet is made up of, we decide its top layer information. That is describing general shapes and regions of interest across the entire surface and the general types of formations which will be there. Things might make the terrain more chaotic, make more flat plains or basins and things like that. From stochastically sampling that information, the next layer of information goes down - we're talking up 100km worth of terrain for example, which are now generated offline into terrain shapes that we know are formed.

We have resources that represent the shapes and the types of features that we'd want to generate in the first place. Then we've got some stochastic sampling and blending to put those together, not only in the right places across a planet, but now also rotated correctly so they flow into each other in the right direction - which makes quite a difference in the visual quality of a vista.

Q: Would you say your approach for Odyssey is more accurate?
Yes, we've got the layers going from the top level down. We're trying to get the detail in all the way in, and represent it from a distance, so you can see the detail from further out which makes a lot of difference. The system we made for Horizons was good for Horizons, I'm very proud of what the team did and the results you can get from it. I still from this day enjoy looking at screenshots on Twitter and lurking in streams! But to look forward to whatever comes next for Odyssey, I wanted a system that was robust enough to handle things without having to do another remake of any of the tech, that's why it's changed and we have all that detail.

Q: What type of planet is this new tech going to be applied to?
Every planet you could land on before, and the new ones opening up, will be using this approach. The old surfaces can't be represented in this new approach and you're going to get a larger variety using this new tech.

Q: Are non-landable planets seeing changes too?
No, the planetary tech is focused on the planets you can land on to see the detail up close.

Q: Will console users see the changes at the same time as PC users?
No, console players who purchase the expansion will experience the planetary tech changes upon the release of Odyssey on their platform.

Q: Does it make you sad that players might not see the perfect alignments of planets and stars before moving on, missing out on some stunning views?
There's a range of feeling regarding that! There's the "can we test every single possible combination in the galaxy?", "what does the lighting here look like in 2 years time?" - we don't get to see that, but we do get to see your screenshots on Reddit, Twitter etc. I do spend a lot of time lurking, not to stroke one's ego but to see the joy of players when discovering sights in the galaxy.

Q: How comparable are the changes you are making to Odyssey to those you made for Horizons?
It's the same but different, we've talked a lot about the planets, but the second half of what my team does is the lighting, which is another thing that's changed a lot for Odyssey. Horizons was a fantastic and heavy undertaking to introduce full scale planets, which people don't tend to do because planets are hard! When it comes to Odyssey, we've got a framework there of how to make a planet and surface, but the process in which the shape of the surface is decided, how the resources are streamed in and out, and combined, that's also a large undertaking! It hasn't just been a weekend or two's work!

Q: Were you excited by the challenge?
We felt it was a great opportunity to make those changes I was thinking of before, to make this expandable to more and more afterwards. I was excited to see what could happen with the code and art side working together to create these assets which are blended for planets.

Q: What can players look forward to in regards to lighting in Odyssey?
I want to give good credit to the render people that I've worked with over the years to provide the visuals going forward. Not only that, but provide a consistency in how lighting behaviour works. We've made quite a few changes on the rendering side, to list a few examples: We now have some per-pixel lit particles, we have more shadowed spotlights working together, and we also finally have physically based materials that have information about how rough they are and how they should respond to light. If we then feed in these realistic lighting values that we have now, things work right, together, and consistently. That's part of the reason why the new planets are looking very nice now, it's a combination of lighting from the atmosphere, the star, and any lights around your body.

The lighting on a world with an atmosphere is different to that of a world without. You don't have the atmospheric contribution as much, it's a slightly starker look - and I love that we're able to see that now in our engine. Not only are we generating the Milky Way as accurately as we can, we're also getting the looks down.

Q: Are some of the planet types getting some more love?
The planet classes are the things you see in the galaxy and system map, how it categorises them. There are somewhat arbitrary dividers between what fits into each 'box'. In Horizons, the landable classifications were rocky, metal-rich, high-metal content, rocky-ice, and icy. However, there were two main noise graphs (collection of nodes that we put together using that old maths to generate the shape of the terrain) used and rocky-ice ended up using the icy graph. Due to that, the rocky-ice worlds were somewhat not distinct from icy worlds, however in this new system where we are deciding which resources for generating terrain go to which planets depending on their parameters, the rocky-ice worlds are going to have a much more distinct look. They'll have specific terrains and materials on them, they'll be firmly represented, which warms my heart a little!

Q: Will large worlds feature tall mountains or geological features?
This is an interesting question! There is a reason why the features are shallower on larger planets. With the increased gravitational strains you can't maintain as tall a natural feature with the strength the material is made out of. so you'll end up with shallower features. I'm afraid it's just how the maths drops out for those, there's a good range of planets but the tiny ones tend to be able to support the more extreme terrain because the large things aren't being destroyed by the gravity pulling it down.

Q: Does the planetary tech upgrade allow for new land features such as caves in the future?
Caves aren't currently part of the plan for Odyssey, the focus instead is on planet-wide improvement.

Q: How may rock scatter be different in Odyssey and how is it determined?
Scatter has changed quite a bit! With Horizons and Beyond, small rocks are placed around the player as they go along - there's not too much logic driving it, it was a CPU based placement. For Odyssey, we have what we call the 'scatter system'. This is sending data through another noise graph, and we have essentially different collections of things that are expected on different areas of different types of planets - so you get a wider range of things being put down in different patterns and densities, depending on what should be there. This is going to make the surface more visually interesting to drive and walk around!

Q: Will atmospheric worlds feature weather effects such as wind and dust?
Yes, there'll be some effects visible on the surface.

Q: Will the changes include a multi-source lighting system to reflect the presence of multiple stars in systems that have them?
As we're aiming for similar specs to base game for Odyssey, we won't be including a multi-source lighting system, for performance and art reasons.

Q: How will the new planetary tech affect volcanism and the integration of volcanic features into the terrain?
We will be using the scatter system to ensure that the volcanic regions are placed in the correct areas of volcanic worlds.

Q: How does the Stellar Forge place planetary bases and installations?
There are various ways that we place settlements on planet surfaces. The outposts and the ports use a simple radial flattening of an area where we know a port or outpost is going to be - or a little bit of a deviation if they're a crater port. For things like the Guardian sites, we use 'stamps'. We have an authored resource of what the terrain should look like underneath this point, and we can tailor what goes where and decide how it blends in. With Odyssey, we've expanded this a little bit, so that across a 'stamp' there can be variations of the height it's calibrated to, which leads to more interesting levels.

Q: Will atmospheric planets have visible poles with different biomes?
After internal debate, we've ended up using the term 'geomes'! There are geomes across the planet, there are polar caps where there should be, plains, mountain forming regions, and all of the nice stuff!

Q: Will aurora be visible on some atmospheric planets?
Whilst planets with atmosphere will look different, there are no plans for visible aurora at the moment.

Q: More of a personal question, do you feel more fear about space the more you learn about it?
What I've found at university, is that things start becoming larger and larger, and you start using scales which don't make sense to humans anymore, in particle physics for example. One can start dissociating the universe in your mind in these models, and it's somehow so far removed from ourselves and our tactile interactions with it. It's less scary, and more 'indescribable'.


Those are all the answers from the amazing Dr Kay Ross! Once again, we'd like to thank her for her time, and imparting some incredible behind the scenes knowledge of how the Elite Dangerous galaxy is made. We'll be back with more information soon, so stay tuned Commanders.


o7

Greetings Commanders,

Some of you have expressed concerns over suspicions of bot usage in Elite Dangerous. Frontier is committed to offering the best gaming experience to all of our players and we actively monitor and act on any developments that might unbalance the Elite Dangerous Universe, or offer any unfair advantage to some players.

We take any form of cheating or hacking in Elite Dangerous seriously. This includes the use of bots and third party software, which directly infringe on our Terms of Use that every player agrees to before accessing the game.

Our investigation teams constantly monitor and will ban any players found to be cheating in game - the use of bots is no exception. We take care to ensure that the tools and methods used to detect the use of bots remain discrete in order to prevent malicious users finding ways to avoid them.

We are extremely grateful to players who have voiced their concerns over the use of bots in game, and encourage them to keep reporting any and all infractions they are aware of to our Customer Service team. Frontier wants to reassure everyone that we are committed to addressing these types of issue now and in the future.

If you believe you have encountered a player using bot or cheating software please reach out to our Support Team who will take the information and investigate. As always, please avoid attempting to name and shame any suspects on the forum as this can hinder the investigation process and lead to innocent players being harassed.


o7

Greetings Commanders!



We’re back this week to answer more of your burning questions on Elite Dangerous: Odyssey! This week we’re focusing on the brand new ‘First footfall’ system.


Q: Will I be able to disembark on every planet I can land on?
Odyssey will allow players for the first time to disembark their ships and SRVs and explore the galaxy on foot. The ability to disembark however is subject to the survivability of the environment, with temperature and gravity both playing a part in the length of time you can survive. In extreme conditions the ability to disembark will be blocked completely.

Q: Is First Footfall available to be claimed for every planet?
The galaxy of Elite Dangerous isn’t new, the year is 3307 and humans have been exploring space for more than 1,300 years. Planets and moons in human occupied systems, along with particular bodies of historical significance will have First Footfall already claimed.

Q: How does Odyssey affect the number of landable planets in game?
The number of planets that will be landable for the first time in Odyssey will be in the billions but to give you a more tangible reference point, based on regions we’ve tested so far Odyssey will have around 20% more landable planets than the base game.

Q: If I join after launch will I still be able to experience First Footfall?
Elite Dangerous is a huge and expansive galaxy containing more than 400 billion star systems. To date our players have traversed just 201 million of these systems which equates to around 0.05%. In the same way that new Commanders continue to join the world of Elite and make their own, personal discoveries, we have no doubt that commanders will have the opportunity to make their own discoveries for many years to come.

Q: How quickly will First Footfall accolades be claimed?
Your achievement will be displayed alongside the names of those who first discovered and landed on the planet, which you can find in the system map.

Q: Is there a limit to the number of places I can get feet first on in a set amount of time?
We won’t be imposing any limits here but it will be naturally limited by the speed at which you can travel between planets.

Q: Can First Footfall achievements be disputed?
In the same way we monitor ‘firsts’ in the live game today our anti-cheat team will be monitoring the system and will not hesitate to revoke First Footfall if obtained by illegitimate means.

Q: Are there new discoveries (Wrecks etc.) that I can get the First Footfall for?
First Footfall is recognised and recorded at a planetary level and not for individual points of interest.

Q: If I change my name will the First Footfall change with it?
Similarly to records of other achievements First Footfall is treated as a historical record and will be recorded with the Commander’s name at the time of exploration – this will not change with any name changes.

Q: What happens if two people land first at the same time?
In the same way that Buzz Aldrin made way for Neil Armstrong to be the first man on the moon, the control to disembark is for an individual commander and there will always be someone first down the ladder, this accolade will not be shared between commanders.


Keep an eye out on here and our social channels for more exciting news and updates on Elite Dangerous: Odyssey!



o7

Greetings Commanders!



We have a fresh selection of answers to your Elite Dangerous: Odyssey questions! This week Gareth Hughes has graciously shared the answers you gave us on Ships and Vehicles!


Q: Can a ship and SRV damage a player if I run over them?
Absolutely! An SRV can damage or kill a player if they are not fast enough to get out of the way. This goes the same for AI, though they will do their best to evade you if they see you coming!



Q: Will there be updates to ship and SRV combat, as well as ground combat?
Ship combat and SRV combat is in a healthy place right now, our focus is on ground combat for Odyssey, and ensuring that it is balanced well against vehicles. We will be looking closely at balancing in the upcoming Alpha.



Q: Do player shields affect ships like other ships do?
Players will not be able to ‘ram’ a ship whilst on foot no, though it would be fun to watch someone try.



Q: How will you balance night vision on ships with on foot players?
Night vision will work as it does currently; providing ship Commanders improved vision in low light environments. It is worth noting that ‘on foot’ players will be very small targets for Commanders in ships, and too small for ship weapons to lock on to. However, Commanders in ships will be very big targets for players on foot, with some handheld weapons being able to lock on to them.



Q: Will the ship launched fighter be used in ground combat?
Yes, all deployable vehicles can be used. A player can choose to deploy in a fighter if they want, with all the benefits and drawbacks that will provide.



Q. Will we be getting an addition to the ship HUD? As seen in the gameplay reveal, we will have a compass. Surely to make things easier to communicate between players on foot and in ship/SRV a North directional indicator should appear on your radar when in orbit around a planet, or in atmosphere.
The current HUD for ships in Elite Dangerous provides all the relevant information that Commanders will need in Odyssey.



Q. Will spaceships be able to deploy anti-personnel/vehicle bombs/missiles?
We have no plans to add specific anti-personnel ship weapons. We’ve put a huge amount of work into ensuring the combat triangle remains balanced and fair. Ships will however have creative opportunities to use their existing arsenal…



Q: Will we be able to drop in from our ships or do we have to leave and exit the ship like normal during combat situations?
In order to deploy from your ship Commanders will need to land first.



Q. Can we engineer our SRVs?
There will be extensive engineering options for suits and weapons in Odyssey, however there are no plans to engineer SRVs.



Q. When doing a multiple vehicle assault, is it possible for player crew members to drive SRVs from the ship, they are not owning? Similar way to launching a SLV is now?
Absolutely! For instance, there would be nothing to stop a Commander in an Alliance Crusader have their 2 multi-crew teammates deploying in a Ship Launched Fighter, before landing, deploying an SRV and heading in on foot themselves.

We are very excited to see how Commanders team up to complete missions in Odyssey!



That's it for this week. Keep an eye out for more Elite Dangerous: Odyssey news in future!

o7

Edit: To clarify - in order to deploy the SRV the ship will need to be landed. Sorry for any confusion this caused.

Greetings Commanders!



We’re back with a brand new selection of answers from developer Gareth Hughes to your Elite Dangerous: Odyssey questions.

This week we’ll be covering the topics of Interface changes and NPCs.




Q: Will night vision, or a light be available on the HUD?
You will be able to upgrade suits in many ways, night vision and lights are just two of the upgrades available. More on this in the future. All suits have a torch by default though so you’ll always have some way to see.



Q: Does the player’s radar show players and NPCs before combat? If so, do they change to indicate relationship?
Yes, much like in space the RADAR displays information regarding players around them and their current state.



Q: Can we officially call the 2nd icon in on the display "Tigger mode"?
Yes! *Bounces away*



Q: Will the HUD be customisable? (I.e. different colours for the visually impaired)
The interface won’t be customisable for Elite Dangerous: Odyssey though we will of course be taking feedback on board regarding accessibility.



Q: Can players turn parts, or all of their HUD off?
No, the HUD whilst on foot, will be as essential to getting around as it is in space.



Q: Can we hide from other players' radars?
We are still in the process of reviewing how PVP and the HUD will work so we can’t confirm an answer on that just yet.




Q: Will we be able to use NPCs as a team in Combat? Or just other players?
Combat zones will be a mix of both computer AI characters and players on both sides.



Q. Do on foot NPCs spawn per instance or is there some sort of permanence, if so is it timed like space POIs or permanent?
Settlement AI is spawned based on the settlement theme and state. Star system factors will also affect the AI difficulty, so the BGS can also have an effect.



Q. Does oxygen level impact combat ability and does this apply to NPCs as well?
If your suit loses power, its life support will shut down causing the suits emergency air supply to be used. If the emergency air is fully depleted then you will start to asphyxiate, making aiming and locomotion more difficult. Loss of suit power will also stop you from using your assisted jump and your audio will change, lowering awareness of what is happening around you.
This does not affect AI as they will use consumable batteries to recharge their suit when required.



Q. How does energy level impact combat ability, is it just about your shield generator and do NPCs have the same energy constraint too?
Energy levels are critical to combat as this powers your shields. This supply is not infinite so know when and where to activate your shields will be key.



Q. Can NPCs get into NPC vehicles or ships for combat or are those treated separately?
On-foot NPCs do not get into vehicles. They can deploy from dropships.



Q. Do on foot NPCs chase you?
Yes, if given reason NPCs will pursue you!



Q. Is combat AI scripted for the new settlements or is the AI clever enough to adapt itself to open terrain or other obstacles?
AI will actively investigate areas, report findings, use cover and communicate to call reinforcements.



Q. Any information on the scope of line of sight for the AI?
AI line of sight will be governed the same way the player's is.



Q: Will NPC's engage in combat without player input?
If you are wanted – NPCs may engage you without provocation.



Q: Will Oxygen levels affect NPCs?
AI will not be affected by Oxygen levels the same way a player is.



Q: Will NPCs have different states depending on the time of combat (i.e. Will they be asleep if a player attacks at night)?
NPCs won’t have time of day states, so they’ll be ready to fight back no matter what time of day.



Q. Will we see ground combat between NPC factions like we do in Conflict Zones?
Yes, conflict zones will be a mix of AI and players.



Q. Will you consider adding Superpower navy armours for ground combat (i.e. NPCs wearing imperial/federal uniforms/armour, or such armour being available to players)? It could prove to be a very potent world-building tool.
We are always looking at what customisation option players would like to see in game.



Q: Will there also be some kind of on-foot System Authorities?
Yes – OMNIPOL – they are often kitted out with the best gear, so if they turn up make sure it’s not for you!



That’s it for this week. We’ll be back next week with a new set of answers for your Odyssey questions!

o7

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

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

Greetings Commanders,

Last week we celebrated the sixth anniversary of Elite Dangerous with a bumper stream full of news, races, screenshots and Twitch Drops! First of all we'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who joined us on stream and watched along, we definitely couldn't have done it without your support!

You can catch up on each part of the stream here:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3


2020 has been a unique year in more ways than one, but even throughout trying times, the incredible Elite Dangerous community have provided plenty of highlights for us to choose from (too many for us to talk about in the show)! From Hutton Truckers' Operation HOTMess and a virtual Lavecon, to various amazing charity streams from Commanders like CrispyTaytortot, it's been a truly memorable year. If you haven't already, head over to our stream and watch our recap of 2020 for a short overview of some of the main events of this year.

We'd also like to say a massive thank you to the brilliant development team, who are working tirelessly to make Odyssey the best experience possible. The team have also been working hard to implement important game balancing changes to improve Elite Dangerous for everyone. Looking further back on the year, it's easy to see the hard work they've put in: The beginning of 2020 saw the Fleet Carriers Beta and release, with many Commanders taking the opportunity to have a home away from home. Along with the Odyssey announcement, Elite Dangerous also welcomed an influx of new Commanders from the Epic Games Store, as well as the Horizons expansion becoming accessible to all!

September saw the return of GalNet and Community Goals, which wouldn't be possible without the development team dedicating time and resources on a regular basis, and since then we've been hard at work producing dev diaries for Odyssey, so Commanders can get a glimpse into the future of Elite Dangerous.

Finally, we want to say a special thanks to you, Commander. It's been a difficult year for everyone, and the entire team at Frontier appreciate the support and patience you've shown during our transition to safely working from home. We look forward to a brighter 2021, where things can hopefully return to normal and enjoy the future of Elite together!

Now to talk about last week's stream!



The Community Team were lucky enough to take part in some fantastic races last week, first of which was the Buckyball Race around Napier Installation!
This was helmed by CMDR Alec Turner from the Buckyball Racing Club & CMDR BlackMaze from EliteRacers (Join their Discord server here), so a special thank you to them. If you'd like to give this type of racing a try, there's plenty of videos online to get you started, and you can check out the race from CMDR Blackmaze's POV here:



Who knew canyon racing Type-9's could be so much fun? CMDR Ascorbius certainly did. We'd like to say another big thank you to him for organising a spot of Cow Racing during last week's stream, and if you'd like to see more Type-9 racing, check out this video from The Buur Pit:





After a brief and unexpected news report from the O7 News Team, we shared the next part of our Road to Odyssey series, this time focusing on ground combat.



Within this part, we really wanted to highlight how getting out of your ship forces you to change your mindset and approach to the game. There'll be plenty of environments to fight in, both indoors and outdoors, and making use of SRV's and ships will certainly be important in tactical combat. We also heard from the fantastic audio team on how they are bringing the weapons of Odyssey to life, and helps to support you with vital information during combat.

There will be a variety of weapon types in Odyssey, and each one has been designed to feel different, not only in their impact, but how they affect you when you wield them.

After the Dev Diary, Community Manager Arthur sat down with Lead Designer Gareth Hughes to answer some of the most-asked questions regarding Odyssey. In case you missed it, we also posted some answers to frequently asked questions on the forum early last week. That's not all though! The Dev team are going to be answering even more questions - so we'll have another forum post for you soon.



The anniversary stream also saw 10 of the finest screenshots of the year inducted into the SPVFA Hall of Fame! We'd like to thank CMDR's OrangePheonix & Exorcist for joining us on the show to discuss their selections, as well as the fine art of photography in Elite Dangerous - and a big thank you to the rest of the SPVFA judging panel!

Congratulations to all the Commanders featured in the Hall of Fame, and thank you to everyone who entered an image into #StellarScreenshots this year! Here are the stunning top 3 images from last week's show:





You'll be able to check out the full top 10 on our Instagram!

Once again, thank you all for a great year, and we can't wait to share more about Elite Dangerous: Odyssey in 2021.