It promises to be the biggest and most exciting update for Elite Dangerous yet and today Frontier Developments have announced full details, and the arrival date, for Elite Dangerous: Beyond – Chapter Four.
Arriving on December 11th 2018 will be the biggest Elite Dangerous update of the year, rounding off the Beyond season of updates in style. Chapter Four will be packed with content, coming for free to all those commanders who call Elite Dangerous home on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
Headlined by two new ships, a new discovery system that is ripe for exploration, advanced mining techniques, additional multiplayer options, and a whole ton more, all of the features that will be found in Chapter Four can be viewed in the trailer below.
Or, if you prefer to do a little reading, broken down as follows:
- Exploration – A new Analysis Mode, with the improved Exploration Discovery Scanner and Detailed Discovery Scanner, is a game-changing new way for all Commanders to explore the galaxy. After an initial scan of the system, players will then be able to tune their scanners to find stellar bodies and other phenomena. Not only is this new system a more realistic, satisfying and engaging exploration experience, but also provides players with the freedom to make more informed decisions on where to look next, and be ultimately better rewarded for time spent exploring. Additionally, Commanders will have probes that can be arced onto planetary surfaces, and planetary rings, to map them in detail, locate points of interest and leave their mark on the galaxy in a new way.
- Mining – New mining tools and mechanics provide a fresh, potentially lucrative mining experience for all Elite Dangerous Commanders. Miners can investigate rings to locate the best spots to start their mining sessions and identify mineral deposits within individual asteroids. Then, with the right amount of skill, can coordinate a detonation.
- Squadrons – Squadrons is a new in-game way of uniting like-minded Commanders to support factions of their choice, take part in Community Goals together and compete for top spots in weekly leaderboards. Squadrons also feature new communication tools, including in-game chat channels, to coordinate activities across the galaxy.
- More – Additionally, Beyond – Chapter Four also features a new lighting engine, numerous visual improvements, background simulation updates, and a number of cockpit interface changes to improve the flying experience of players.
Elite Dangerous allows you the chance to pilot your own starship through a hostile galaxy that keeps on evolving. How you play things out is completely up to you, but in order to take your small ship and few credits, and turn them in to something much bigger will take skill, commitment and guile.
If you wish to know more about Elite Dangerous, our full review is right here.