With today's patch, the Christmas decoration is back! Alongside this are some other new things, like a few old dresses with new stats which will appear in the shop in the upcoming weeks.
We have also introduced heaps of new loot pets based on monsters and bosses found throughout the world of Florensia. These include:
Serbetus
Hugel
Brid
Rashif
Lanoir
Ignis
Black Wizard
Fungi
Burning One-eyed Bat
Vampire Lord Robinson
Draug Brenin
Slavefox
Last but not least, we have also increased the movement speed of loot pets by 20% to allow for faster looting.
Let’s get ready to usher in Update 9 for Elite Dangerous: Odyssey.
Elite Dangerous: Odyssey servers will be offline from approximately 09:00 UCT
Servers are expected to come back online, with the update available at around 12:00 UTC
Updates of Note:
Introducing…The Scorpion. The Scorpion, a new SRV designed specifically for supporting infantry on ground-based combat has rolled into action.
The Scorpion is fitted with 2 seats for a driver and a gunner, allowing two Commanders to operate as a team in this formidable fighting machine.
All Scorpions come fitted with two weapons:
Surge Repeater - A rapid-fire weapon that increases its fire rate and accuracy the longer it's fired for.
Aculeus Launcher (I’m not saying that on stream) - A combination dumbfire and lock-on missile launcher.
The Scorpion is only stocked at military economies.
Multi Limpet Controller Modules Multi-Limpet Controllers are now available from Outfitting. Multi-Limpet Controllers can program a limpet to perform one of a given set of tasks and will be available in multiple types which will dictate what functions it is able to program.
Mining Multi Limpet Controller module (Available in Size 3)
Operations Multi Limpet Controller module (Available in Size 3)
Rescue Multi Limpet Controller module (Available in Size 3)
Xeno Multi Limpet Controller module (Available in Size 3)
Universal Multi Limpet Controller module (Available in Size 7)
Mission Providers at Settlements. Some NPCs at settlements might now occasionally have missions they can offer to passing Commanders!
If these mission providers become critically injured while a mission is active and the mission owning Commander is present at the location where the mission was provided, the mission will be considered failed.
Mission providers will fight back if provoked.
Mission providers will reappear at the settlement once the mission is marked as complete.
Planets. Major improvements have been made to light tinting from atmospheres.
Module Management. A fix has been implemented for pre-engineered modules from community goals not being marked informatively, as such.
Pre-engineered module rewards will now have their description display the fact that they are pre-engineered, as well as have it display in the outfitting screen.
Also trying to apply modifications to pre-engineered modules which specifically cannot be modified further (very niche circumstances) will now be disallowed with a message stating why.
Optimisation. "Update 9 will see us go further, with optimisation already well underway for motion graph animation, mid-far distance planet rendering, lighting, scatter rocks, object physics, AI and character models – all of these, and many more, contributing to a better Odyssey experience for our players."
Optimisations to textmesh system
Optimisations to tubelights
Optimisations to scatter rocks and scatter rock physics
Minor optimisation to vehicle debris rendering
Optimisations to the UI rendering
Depth prepass optimisations have been implemented
Optimisations to Environment Map rendering
Optimisations to the avatar rendering system
Optimisation to planets, particularly at mid-distance view
Optimisations to energy management
Optimisations to humanoid interactions
Optimisations to compass and sensor data aggregation
Performance improvements for NavMesh tile building
Stability We’re actively continuing to help with tracking down as many continuing stability issues as possible, with your continued support in providing logs and reports where possible.
A crash to desktop has been prevented which would occur when viewing a mission invitation inbox message, such as those offered by Professor Palin, that was generated on a different version of Elite Dangerous (For example if it was generated in Horizons then you’d get the crash in Odyssey and vice versa).
A crash that could occur if a bit of dialogue is queued (in order to not play over another line) and then cancelled before it had a chance to play. (eg. in a conflict zone, the coordinator might be talking, so a suit voice gets queued, and then the player is killed before it plays.) has been addressed.
A fix has been implemented for a crash that could occur when talking with a mission giving NPC again after completing a mission for them.
Improvements made to the general stability of the tutorial scenario.
General Improvements and Fixes:
AI
AI in dropships will take explosive damage if the dropship is destroyed before deployment.
The player that destroyed the ship will be given credit for the damage caused to the AI.
A fix has been implemented for Supercruise assist not disengaging correctly when approaching stations inside ring systems.
AI will no longer become suspicious of you if you run out of suit energy near them.
Audio SRV related improvements
Improved responsiveness and mix of the Scarab tire surface noises, including skids.
Improved the Scarab mix at different distances and perspectives.
Scarab will now sound clearer further out, for example.
Fixed the odd echo quality on Scarab sounds at distance.
Improvements made to audio Level of Definition optimisations on the Scarab that were incorrectly set up.
Fixed annoying high pitched tone in the SRV tire on rock sounds.
Fix implemented for audio not being affected sufficiently when obstructed by objects.
Fix for SRV turret movement sounds not always being audible.
Rebalanced the Scarab Wavescanner sounds.
Some were quite loud (eg. the crystal one). They should be more consistent compared to each other now.
Rebalanced SRV audio perspectives:
SRV Cockpit should have less sharp “crunch” of the surface/tires compared to before (as you are in a canopy).
Turret/Gunner should have clearer surface crunch and less bassy engines.
Camera Suite, when activated, will have less fizzy surface noise come through at distance compared to before, but more surface detail does come in if you get the camera close to the wheels.
Optimisations to the Scarab wheel audio emitters have been made.
Reduced volume of overloud planetary exploration music.
Fixes for Emote body movement sounds sometimes being silent have been made.
Fix added for settlement terminal boot-up-ident sounds being too loud.
Fixed the firegroup toggle sound sometimes being silent if you rapidly change it.
Fix implemented for TK Aphelion gunshots dropping out when manually triggering individual shots rapidly.
Fix implemented for missing Engineer voice lines in the non-English languages when discussing the quiet footsteps modification.
Added small delay to various Engineer voice lines to stop missing words happening at the start of a phrase, when transitioning between menus.
Fix implemented for drive assist off and on COVAS lines occurring on disembarking and boarding your SRV when drive assist is on.
A 30 second cooldown has been added to the drive assist on and off COVAS lines to reduce the “spammy quality” for players who switch drive assist on and off frequently.
Camera Suite
An issue has been fixed whereby certain parts of the ship UI became visible when using the Camera Suite, particularly in the Type 10.
You were able to see the comms panel, team status and info panel, for example.
Custom ship paintjobs were not showing up in the 3rd person camera when in virtual multicrew. This has now been resolved.
Conflict Zones
A fix has been implemented for the Commander’s current reputation with a faction being highlighted in a Combat Zone showing red, despite being friendly or neutral.
An update has been made to Combat Zone control points to allow them to be visible in Ships and SRVs.
Improved player messaging has been implemented for when you can't recall your ship from an SRV due to being in a Conflict Zone.
An issue has been resolved whereby the Combat Zone objectives UI persisted on the SRV info panel following the end of a CZ.
A fix has been implemented for a Combat Zone sometimes no longer progressing if a Ship Launched Fighter is killed.
Commodity Trading Black markets now offer the full market value for Illegal goods
Characters Fix implemented for broken lip sync on Dylan, at the end of the tutorial.
Fleet Carriers When accessing information about a Fleet Carrier via the system map, certain vital information was missing - e.g: Access Type and Owner. This has now been addressed.
Interactions
Fix implemented for destroyed limpets not having collision.
Fix implemented for missing turret schematics.
Fixed implemented for the Thargoid shutdown field not affecting ships.
Thargoid Interceptors EMP blast did not disable Commander ships in Combat/AX Zones.
Fixed an issue which prevented the galaxy map button on the Vista Genomics vendor from functioning.
Lighting & VFX
VFX for the engineered Multicannon weapon have been re-balanced.
VFX for the seeker missiles have been rebalanced.
Fix implemented for water geyser VFX being visible through rock.
Fix implemented for missing ripple effect on shields.
Megaships Megaship Cargo and Escape Pod canisters would often become stuck inside Megaships, rendering them irretrievable.
Mining An issue has been fixed whereby raw materials and even some refinable fragments became “stuck” inside the mineable rock instead of being released, even though they show up in contacts they cannot be collected.
Missions
Fix implemented for some Delivery Missions failing to progress upon interacting with the mission contact.
Fix implemented for Recovery and Scavenge Missions sometimes being unable to fail if the mission is abandoned or the mission owning commander is critically injured.
Fix implemented for Combat Aftermath USS: When Commanders are given the option of taking the "Scan" objective, they could scan the onboard data link before accepting the objective which would cause the USS to break and would prevent progression. This has now been fixed.
Fix implemented for unlocalised objective text in Delivery and Collect Missions.
Fix implemented for unlocalised "Talk" prompt attached to mission contacts.
Added additional mission rationales to Smuggling missions.
Outfitting Ship/SRV/Fighter Outfitting
Updates made to the visual effect of the Thermal Conduit experimental effect. The colour will now reflect how much of an impact on the module's damage the ship's heat level is applying. Damage will also be correct.
Commander Outfitting Fix implemented for an issue experienced with backpack capacity miscalculations, for suits fitted with the Extra Backpack Space modification.
Rendering
A fix has been implemented to ensure the correct directional shadow profile is selected for interior environments.
The shadow will be cast accurate to the light source.
Fix implemented for in-game ship HUD occasionally appearing on player avatar beards.
Fix implemented for vehicle debris culling when still in view.
Fix implemented for artefacts that could appear on vehicle schematics.
Fix implemented for shield VFX rendering when there is no shield active.
Rebalance made to the "Bloom" setting on low and medium graphics settings.
Fix implemented for avatar skin not utilizing ambient occlusion correctly. “In 3D computer graphics, modeling, and animation, ambient occlusion is a shading and rendering technique used to calculate how exposed each point in a scene is to ambient lighting”
Fix implemented for incorrect proportion of dark nebulae rendering in the galaxy.
Fix implemented for cracked glass effects and condensation effects not displaying on the Python.
City lights effects on non-landable planets have been re-balanced – they’re visible again now!
Fix implemented for some weapon scopes not displaying paintjob textures correctly.
Improvements and fixes have been made to impact decals (again, any kind of visual effect on a surface that’s caused by impact, like from a weapon).
Fix implemented for ship schematic displaying in the FSS Scanner view.
Fix implemented for planetary rings not displaying as exoected in the FSS Scanner view.
Fix implemented for the exclusion zone of White Dwarfs not being drawn.
Server
A server error has been fixed which players were experiencing when editing a bookmark of a Fleet Carrier that has since been decommissioned.
Selling cargo will no longer result in a Yellow Adder server error.
Settlements (Odyssey)
Fix implemented for Restricted Area inconsistencies.
Commanders were experiencing the following kind of situation: “Warned for trespassing when on the 1st floor but only when walking over the power room below.” “The power building has a level 2 security access but does not warn you for trespassing unless you enter the power room that has a level 3 restricted security access or go upstairs and walk over the power room.”
Fix implemented for floating objects found in a variety of settlement types.
Fix implemented to an offset hitcheck on a particular radar dish.
Fix implemented to a gap in the roof of an Agricultural building.
Fix implemented for z-fighting/mad flickering of wall or floor textures seen in some station social spaces
Around 150 fixes and improvements have been made to the look and feel of props and buildings at settlement locations.
Settlements (Horizons) Fix implemented to hologram that would display incorrectly in ship HUD for some planet ports when targeted.
Ships/SRV
Cockpit dirt & scratches have been re-balanced to look more in line with real aesthetic.
Fix implemented for emissive scaling on Crypsis paintjobs - these should match Horizons versions of this paint type more closely now.
Fix implemented for missing hitcheck on the Corvette landing gear.
Improvements made to the hitchek of the Beluga Liner and Orca to prevent players from being able to get stuck when underneath them.
Fix implemented for the Krait MKII having misaligned canopy ice effects.
Fix implemented for the Type 10, which could hover above the ground until the SRV was deployed.
Fixed ships jerking to the side when released from the pad while undocking with flight assist off in a rotating station: As Commanders would potentially undock from one of the large spinning stations in FA off, the station would shift away from underneath them causing quite the disturbance and occasionally resulting in them crashing into things.
Malfunctioning cargo hatches no longer prevent hyperspace jumps. Issue of this type included: “Can’t use FSD after deploying SLF and enemy hatch breaking your cargo hatch”.
Ship engine smoke trails no longer appear ahead of the ship after exiting Supercruise.
Condensation and ice effects have been fixed to be more accurate.
Tutorial Ship-focused tutorials no longer allow on-foot actions such as disembarking.
UI
Conflict Zone capture point icons are now be visible when in SRVs and Ships.
SRV Radar signatures will now no longer float in the air when at, for example, Barnacle Site.
An icon has been added to the Conflict Zone browser to show if players are wanted in the target system.
An issue has been fixed whereby the transfer popup would softlock/freeze up in some kind of way when attempting to make an item transfer from storage to backpack whilst in Ship.
Fix implemented for orbit lines being visible during loadout management UI when in Supercruise.
Several issues have been fixed with scrolling of comms panel social tab. Notably, this one used to happen: “On the Social tab of the on foot Comms Panel, the page does not scroll down accordingly when the arrow/WASD keys or mouse scroll wheel are used to select UI elements on the page - you can select and move down the menu via these keys just fine, but upon reaching the displayed bottom of the page the UI selection will then continue off-screen as the page does not automatically scroll down to keep these elements in view. As such, the only way to currently scroll down the page is to manually drag the scroll bar on the right which will then keep selected UI elements in view.”
Fixes have been made to incorrect text being shown in vehicle rolepanel displays.
Bookmarks can now be successfully made via the system map.
Codex Fix implemented for the "distance travelled on foot" stat sometimes recording twice the actual distance travelled.
Controls Key binds preset will no longer reset when you open Horizons after Odyssey.
VR: Fixed Holo-Me character disappearing in VR when in close-up views
Weapons: Fix implemented for railguns not firing in slots on the Beluga, Type 9, Krait, Type 10 & Fer De Lance.
Stations: Fix implemented for Stations (and Fleet Carriers in several instances) not spawning immediately when dropping out of Supercruise manually.
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As always, Commanders, we appreciate you and your incredible passion for the game and improvements toward its development further.
Really hope Update 9 brings some fun and excitement ahead of the Holidays.
Elite Dangerous: Horizons servers for both PC and Console Commanders will be offline from approximately 09:00 UCT Servers are expected to come back online, with the update available at around 12:00 UTC.
Updates of Note
Multi Limpet Controller Modules. Multi-Limpet Controllers are now available from Outfitting. Multi-Limpet Controllers can program a limpet to perform one of a given set of tasks and will be available in multiple types which will dictate what functions it is able to program.
Mining Multi Limpet Controller module (Available in Size 3)
Operations Multi Limpet Controller module (Available in Size 3)
Rescue Multi Limpet Controller module (Available in Size 3)
Xeno Multi Limpet Controller module (Available in Size 3)
Universal Multi Limpet Controller module (Available in Size 7)
Module Management. A fix has been implemented for pre-engineered modules from community goals not being marked informatively, as such.
Pre-engineered module rewards will now have their description display the fact that they are pre-engineered, as well as have it display in the outfitting screen.
Also trying to apply modifications to pre-engineered modules which specifically cannot be modified further (very niche circumstances) will now be disallowed with a message stating why.
Stability. We’re actively continuing to help with tracking down as many continuing stability issues as possible, with your continued support in providing logs and reports where possible.
A crash could occur when selecting telepresence crew member fighters to deploy. This has now been addressed. Player example:
“Once you have joined a ship via Telepresence, attempting to select an onboard fighter from the bottom screen will cause the game to immediately crash. This will only crash the second player (passenger) as they attempt to board fighter. Helm player one is unaffected at time of crash.”
General Fixes.
Fix implemented whereby Megaship Cargo and Escape Pod canisters could become stuck inside the ships.
Handing in multiple bounty vouchers at a terminal in quick succession could cause the text string containing the credit number to cascade to the next bounty voucher on the list, prefixing the text that indicates how much that bounty voucher is worth. This issue has now been fixed.
Core mining fragments should no longer become trapped inside asteroids. The team have been heavily investigating and attempting to reproduce cases of this happening and will keep the checks in mind as we're aware this issue has quite the tendency to bounce back.
Handing in multiple bounty vouchers at a terminal in quick succession could cause the text string containing the credit number to cascade to the next bounty voucher on the list, prefixing the text that indicates how much that bounty voucher is worth. This issue has now been fixed.
Fix implemented for being unable to switch tabs on comms panel when looking with headlook.
What's New in 1.0.4 - fixed a crash bug during Tori's route when Sasha asks: What did she say? Did you ask about the dead witches? and you pick "No, I didn't ask her (lie)"
Easily the biggest, strongest, and meanest fighter in all the underworlds, Mollog the Mighty can hammer all comers with his fearsome club! Joining him are a mob of the bizarre denizens that once dwelt in his beloved cave beneath the dunes of the Desert of Bones.
Mollog had to abandon his mushroom-littered cavern after an infestation of Skaven, and has wandered into the ruins of Shadespire. This means YOU can now take control of the powerful Troggoth, an incredibly fast Bat Squig, a self-detonating Spiteshroom and an immovable Stalagsquig!
The latest update not only introduces Mollog's Mob into the online fray, but also allows you to access three new Challenge paths for Garrek's Reavers, Eyes of the Nine, and of course, Mollog's Mob.
Winning a Challenge unlocks the subsequent Challenge. If you score enough Glory you earn a new portrait for that warband (this can be added to your deck for online play). Score enough Glory across all the Challenges and you'll unlock a special skin for that warband too!
Not only that, but even if you don't own the DLC associated with that warband Challenge, you'll still be able to play the first two Challenges. A great way to try out a warband that you don't own!
Note: You should see 1.8.0 in-game once you have the most recent update. As always be sure to verify the integrity of your files through Steam if you get any weird crashes, hangs or invisible fighters.
We are back with some more news about the Tribute to the Liberation of Italy expansion. Like the busy bees we are, our much-appreciated Strike Team is currently hard at work testing and helping us fine-tune our latest offering. We can’t tell you - yet - when the expansion will launch (read the full reason at the bottom of this post… *wink*).
Instead, today we take to the sky with the two new Aces featured in our upcoming expansion. Rather uniquely, we have our high-scoring pilots squaring off from the same nation. These daring flyboys fought for two different sides during the war: Mussolini’s Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (ANR, or National Republican Air Force) and the Allied Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (ACI, or Italian Co-belligerent Air Force).
Let’s welcome to the stage ANR’s Tenente Ugo Drago and ACI’s Sergente Maggiore Teresio Martinoli.
If you want to read more about the airpower included in the Tribute to the Liberation of Italy expansion, check out this detailed DevBlog here.
Ugo Drago
Lieutenant (Tenente) Ugo Drago is our first Ace, fighting for the Axis ANR. He started as a biplane pilot on the CR.42 Falco, scoring his first confirmed kill during the Greek-Italian War where he shot down a Greek biplane fighter. Three weeks after this feat, he single-handedly fought off five enemy biplanes, escaping by the skin of his teeth.
Transferring to a Macchi C.200 and deployed in North Africa in 1941, by the end of the year he had flown 150 missions. When the Armistice was signed in 1943, he didn’t directly join the RSI. Instead, he tried to contact his family but was arrested by the Germans, who pressured him hard to fly in the Luftwaffe. He refused, and as a result, was shipped to a prison camp in Germany. On the way, he escaped. When hearing of Mussolini’s air force, the ANR, he reappeared. Immediately reinstated as a pilot officer, he flew first on the G.55 Centauro before transferring to a German Me-109.
He ended his World War II career with 17 claimed kills, 4 of which he achieved by flying biplanes.
In Steel Division 2, Ugo Drago is featured with the G.55 Centauro.
Teresio Martinoli
Much like his Axis counterpart, Sergeant Major (Sergente Maggiore) Teresio Martinoli started as a biplane pilot for the Regia Aeronautica, once more in the cockpit of a CR.42 Falco fighter. He claimed his first three victories at the beginning of Italy’s entry into World War II in 1940, including a French bomber over Tunisia. He followed his first kill by shooting down an RAF Gloster Gladiator later in the year over Egypt.
He too transferred to the Macchi C.200, flying fighter sweeps over Malta, during which he claimed four British planes in just two months. He claimed a further four in 1942 before rotating back to North Africa, where he shot down four more. Defending Sicily during the Allied invasion in 1943, after the Armistice he joined the Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (ACI). He flew missions against the Luftwaffe over the Balkan, where he fought and shot down at least one more plane.
Martinoli’s total of 22 kills painted on his plane included four different nations, from both sides: France, UK, USA and Germany. During the war, Martinoli shot down an eclectic array of planes, from Gloster Gladiators to Hawker Hurricanes, Spitfires, P-38 Lightning, a B-17 Flying Fortress, and even a Junkers Ju 52. On August 23rd, 1944, he died in an accidental crash while converting on P-39 Airacobra.
In Steel Division 2, Teresio Martinoli is featured with the C.205V Veltro.
Other news
In case you missed it, we have recently released two new free Reinforcement Packs: the new Kostriza map and Lucky 13, bringing two free divisions to our game.
That’s it for this week. We know you might be clamoring for more details about our upcoming Tribute to the Liberation of Italy expansion and the Nemesis: Raid on Drvar DLC, but you need to hang on tight a little bit longer.
What we can do is lift the tip of the veil on something else though. We have been hard at work on our secret project, and we are getting ready for a big call to arms in the very near future! Things are moving fast, so keep a very close eye on our Steam forums and Eugen forums, or check our Facebook and Twitter channels. Looking for an online game in the meantime? Visit the kick-ass Discord server or Reddit page.
New battlefields lie around the corner, commander. Get ready!
The 8 Sins: New Hell Order - Piotr Sowa Omegan's Domain
Envy: - refreshing the graphics; - increasing the Brain and Overmind initiative from 20 to 70 points;
Lust: - increasing the Dildo, Iron Maiden and Double Dildo initiative from 20 to 70 points;
Pride: - increasing the initiative of the Flutist and Flute Master from 20 to 70 points;
Sloth: - increasing the initiative of Stinker and Monstrous Stinker from 20 to 70 and 75 points;
Wrath: - increasing the Howler and Dreadful Howler initiative from 20 to 70 points; - Creepy Howler - upgrade cost changed from 0 to 80 Blood; - Beak and Battering Ram (warriors of wrath) have been moved with the unlocking of the upgrade to level 2; - The cost of unlocking these upgrades is 200 blood instead of 800; - The cost of upgrading Brawler to Boxer and Battering Ram has been reduced from 75 to 50; - Maniac advances to level 3 as the maximum level without advancing indefinitely; - Horrifying Horned - character level improved from to 2; - Fixed an issue where the wrestler's artwork was mixed up with the Battering Ram;
Battlefield: - Defensive stance: preparation and steadfastness do not increase the parameters indefinitely; - Passing a turn disables the execution mode; - AI is already executing on weakened targets;
Campaign: - loading the game or continuing further conquest with a large nation, does not affect that these provinces cannot be conquered during the new campaign; - loading the game in the central province is now correct; - Autosave and Autosave-start are performed simultaneously after entering a new province; - Autosave-start makes the correct save, where the player does not have to click the end of the turn to go to him; - provinces around the central: - have the threat level set from 2 to 3; - have a revised list of neighbouring provinces; - Enclosure province: the list of neighbouring provinces has been corrected; - Tremors province: the list of neighbouring provinces has been corrected; - Bloody Gate province: visually improved; - Debris province: improved for troops and facilities; - Lab province: fixed for troops - Wrath: The campaign level 3 fortification is now available at level 7 promotion; - Nations: The requirements for the promotion of the capital city to level 8 have been increased from 14 to 16 prestige points;