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Your Elite: Dangerous recap is back in a new monthly format: “The Outpost #116”!
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Summary:

Frontier News

Elite: Dangerous Status

Next month is the fifth anniversary of Elite: Dangerous!
This December 14th will be a birthday where we will look at the past, to learn from mistakes, and propose a new era for Elite: Dangerous in 2020.

A lot has happened since the game came out, with its ups and downs, but my love for the game remains unchanged: Elite: Dangerous is a landmark game in my life, and I put it close to my heart, near Age of Empires II, World of Warcraft, Star Wars: The Old Republic and Guild Wars 2 as my best social MMORPG experiences.

The game offers a lot when you start: a huge galaxy on a scale of 1:1 where you are a simple pilot blazing your trails among the stars. As a Commander of your ship, you don’t really have a goal, no one will hold your hand and it’s up to you to set your goals: Explore, become Elite in Combat, a Trading expert, conduct in-game experiments as a scientist, manage your own economic faction, support your Power’s politics as an affiliated pilot, enhance your ships to perfect them with Engineers, become a racing pilot, hack planetary bases and megaships transmissions, raid other pilots, protect the galaxy from these rats… Elite: Dangerous is a sandbox as we know few and a real social experience.

The updates are regular, between three to four per year, but their contents are very irregular and often cursed with bugs; causing the community’s ire.
The Stories – Formerly very dynamic, exciting and anchored into the game – have been abandonned for nearly two years now, with only a few bits of news here and there thanks to Galnet, the Galaxy’s newspapers. Moreover, Galnet has been stopped mid-2019 because the story didn’t live up to its previous high standard, and it seemed that the editorial team – if Frontier Development still has one – did not really know where to go.

Tendance d’activitĂ© de joueurs ED via Steam, non reprĂ©sentatif de la quantitĂ© de joueurs globale

Vanilla in 2014 and 2015 was the first brick of the excellent story with the Thargoids, with the famous Thargoid Sensor we used to call Unknown Artifact. The game was chilled and one of the best Space simulation games, little known at the time. Its success was impressive with the number of players growing rapidly and securing large profits for Frontier Developments just after the launch of their project via KickStarter.
Vanilla relied on social experience and hard-earned credits with updates offering goals to accomplish for the community with the Community Goals, a group system called Wings, another social and engaging feature called Powerplay, new ships, missions enhancements and even the CQC Close Quarter Combat Championship.

With Horizons, the emphasis was then put on more Stories, as the game has a very large and developed Lore thanks to its previous Elite titles. It was made possible for pilots to land on airless planets, representing 63.5% of the planets in-game, in order to explore and collect materials for the next feature called The Engineers, improving our ships with these new materials. Then came a new and extinct civilization: the Guardians and their ancient sites, as well as their links with humanity and the Thargoids. We discovered more and more Thargoids artifacts, and even wrecks of their ships before finally meeting them under their Interceptors variants. They don’t seem hostile and only scan the surroundings by temporarily disabling our ships. We also discovered large Thargoids Structures on the surface, as well as very interesting stories about the Guardians; We led a rebellion with a former senator of the Empire: Kahina Tijani Loren alias SalomĂ© and took part in the famous For SalomĂ© event gathering more than 3,000 pilots to support or chase her. We also discovered the controversial past actions of the INRA, and other exciting discoveries.

The game enjoyed its golden age between March 2015 and August 2017, but Elite: Dangerous already seems to run out of steam at around half of its first DLC Horizons. Updates are becoming more and more “empty” and/or scattered throughout the year, endless stories that often make little to no sense in-game, many bugs are staining the game and FDev no longer seems to understand its community.
They seem to start a new approach, easier to adopt for beginners: the credits are acquired quickly and even the biggest ships are purchased within the first hours of gameplay. Around November 2018, we were given the choice between attacking the Thargoids or not attacking them in order to possibly follow a different story for those who remain peaceful. A new metric appears in-game counting the number of Thargoids killed, and it keeps us in suspense for nearly 4 months between Friends of the Thargoids and Anti-Xenos fighters. In the end, only the AX Combat advocated. To remain pacific was not worth anything, except to cut off the Combat AX content.

Then came the free extension Beyond, starting in 2018 with a very solo content where nothing really has any value. Enhancements for the game were proposed: a better Trading system, new punishements and laws, better visuals and also simple Scenarios unfortunately not enough present in-game, as well as other small steps for the optimization of the game. Four updates quite uninteresting for the community overall, that was used to great stories and social interactions in the past. The 4th update was a big boost with major improvements for Mining and Exploration while bringing several other positive points for the players groups, boosting the activity. Sadly, Beta tests disappear, bugs pile up, the quality of life of the game and the stories’ quality decrease sharply.
In 2019, we finally obtained the promise from Frontier to repair the game’s problems while proposing 4 updates: two for beginners and two for veterans, and each of them would bring their big batch of bug fixes. None of these updates convince the community whose activity is declining month after month.

The icing on the cake, Frontier Developments keeps delaying features and updates like the new icy planets or the Fleet Carriers, and even lie to the community by promising fixes that never happen or enhancements that are not, if not under new name for something that already existed like the Interstellar Initiatives vs. Community Events.
Worse, with these last two sad years empty from interesting and fresh content, an update called ARX offers a shop to buy cosmetic items more easily and diretly in-game. This was absolutely not the priority and the community continues to be disappointed with the company’s choices.

Behind the scenes, many teams reorganizations are happening with almost complete new community, marketing and design teams. New authors/official narrators are also hired (to be confirmed).
Multiple roles are open; I saw an opportunity with the aim of creating and enhancing the artificial intelligence, especially on the surface. I have also seen vehicles and weapons/armour designs opportunities on the FDev Careers website. Several concepts are leaked but I will avoid talking about it. On every mouths, two words: “Space Legs?”.

It is only since mid-2019 that Frontier Developments and the Elite: Dangerous teams have begun to understand their dev mistakes. Too many features have been proposed, but none of them were really polished. Although some of them such as the Engineers, Trading or more recently the Exploration and Mining have been improved, there is still too much work to do in the gigantic game that is Elite: Dangerous, and it would be tough to propose a new experience worthy of the title.

So, a difficult choice is therefore made, for the game and for its community: to hold the development of Elite: Dangerous for a moment, in order to propose only bug fixes and improvements to existing features, while waiting for the new era of the game in 2020. One goal: to restore the game’s reputation before the next major content update.

Do not get me wrong: Elite: Dangerous is a GREAT game, and even critics of ED will agree with me on that point.
There are lots to do in this universe, and I think it is now that everything will be played for the future of the game.

  • Beta-tests are back, as soon as December 2019;
  • Large Bug Fixes Updates will be proposed every ~3 months;
  • Enhancements to Social features should be back by mid-2020;
  • The Lore should make a big comeback gradually from mid-2020;
  • And finally, a seemingly gigantic Paid DLC will be proposed in late 2020, a kind of ED 2.0, with a large amount of new and improved features. A “new era” for Elite: Dangerous, as Zac Antonaci, head of ED’s Community and Marketing team said.

So let’s hold tight, pilots, the worst is behind us now. In six months maximum, we will start to see much more clearly.
I will keep you informed of the changes. See you soon 🙂

Back to Summary

 

Update#1 2020

This said: The Beta-Tests are back, in order to get cleaner release in the future!
  â–ș The next Beta will take place between November 27 and December 2 for PC players, in order to test the upcoming Bug Fixes – January 2020.
Frontier would like to propose these beta on consoles later.

The Dev Teams announced that their first and foremost priority is to ensure that everyone is able to have a seamless experience when playing Elite Dangerous, so their focus will be on aiming to resolve game breaking bugs and stability issues that cause disconnects, softlocks and crashes. By working internally with Customer Support, QA and Development teams, alongside the feedback we shared with them here and via the Bug Tracker, Frontier has identified and are addressing a number of issues in the January Update.

Noteworthily:

  • Repairing Thargoid-attacked stations: not all delivery numbers counted
  • High resolution screenshots create tiling artifacts in bright objects
  • Galaxy Map won’t select systems I search for
  • Various audio issues
  • FSS: Long delay when scanning planets with geological sites
  • Conflict Zones have no contents
  • The Invincible Interceptors Hearts
  • Instance splitting when fighting Thargoid Interceptor
  • Thargoid Interceptor – Heart cycle reset

The fixes seem ready to go for the Beta in less than a week now, and the teams are already working on the next pack of bug fixes, including:

  • Two major issues with light from the local star (so-called “tinting”)
  • Thargoid Interceptor – Shutdown pulses without warning
  • Core mining fragments glitch inside the asteroid
  • Wing Mining – Seismic Charges malfunction
  • Chat icon displays “1” while no message is there
  • Black screen after respawn in CQC / Game crashing
  • Massive rubber banding of npcs and player around stations and sometimes in other instances.
  • Crystalline Clusters Disintegrate Without Producing Materials

Since the implementation of the Bug Tracker 7 months ago, the FDev teams have fixed 130 bugs, about 18.5 bugs per month.
3 432 remain to be confirmed.
145 are confirmed and will be fixed in the future. Hopefully, they will work hard to get a clean game by the end of 2020.

Here is how you can help: A new beta section forum will be set up with details on how to take part and how to submit bug reports, but here are the main details on how you can help us in the upcoming beta:

  • The beta begins on the 27 November and will run until the 2 December.
  • The beta will be only be accessible on PC. We are looking into expanding this for console players in the future.
  • To take part in the beta, all you’ll need to do is load up the launcher and select (and update) the following product: Elite Dangerous: January Update (Beta) from the 27 November. Once that has been completed, you’ll then have access to the January Update beta. If this doesn’t appear, please restart your launcher.
  • We’ll be updating the Issue Tracker with a January Update (Update 3.6) Beta section, and FD encourage all those who are taking part in this beta to report any encountered bugs or issues through it. In addition, they will also be adding links from inside the game that will take you directly to the Issue Tracker site.

The Patch Notes will be available next week.

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Player Group Remlok Industries

Remlok Industries is a French player group known for its tenacity and its skills in Transport, Systems Administration and Sciences. Our operations also lead us to Exploration, Mining, Combat and other activities depending on the needs of the corporation and our stories. Located at the heart of the Alliance, halfway between the Old Worlds near Lave and the headquarters of Edmund Mahon in Gateway, Remlok Industries thrives on a dozen systems as the first French speaking Alliance group.

We choose Quality over Quantity, which means that we have no more than 50 active members and more than 10 systems.
Each of our members are called Associates, performing various tasks to balance our company, but also to support ot interests in and outside of the Sol Bubble. Diplomacy is also one of our core strength, so we travel regularly in order to discuss with local authorities.
Each of  our systems are specialized with dedicated stations as HQ of our activities. Governors are managing each of our systems where our population and employees live, while supporting Remlok Industries and our interests.
Our Veterans and Specialists manage the global administration of the corporation with Governors and Associates.
We produce the renown Remlok Suits and Helmets used by every pilots in the galaxy, as well as a complete MultiTools Boxes and more recently a RIComs wristband and a light armour suit called Squad.

→ In December 2019, we will launch an Intro to our 2020 stories.
→ As soon as January 2020, we will revisit the Elite: Dangerous Lore, coupled with many new stories for the community, by the community!
→ Unfortunately, the group is open only to French Speaking players on PC.

â–ș Discover the Players Group Remlok Industries and our stories in 10 Chapters!

Join now the Discord server Remlok Community:

  • An administrated and moderated server, allowing every users to access a place where the atmosphere is great and safe;
  • Elite: Dangerous. As the main game, we are offering FR and/or EN channels including:
    • News
    • Players events & collaborations
    • Written & vocal channels + images/videos/medias
    • Refueling, limpets and repair services, and even an escort for when you’re back from long expeditions to help you protect your data (FR only for now)
    • Bug Reports
    • Galnet Audio FR, each Galnet news dubbed in French. If you want to dub it in English, let me know!
    • EDRPG-RI, a Roleplay space under the official rules of Elite: Dangerous Roleplay Game (FR only for now)
  • Community. So we can chat about everyday’s life, cooking, painting and topics that matter to us.
  • And more! We have around 800 active members, including a hundred of English folks! Feel free to join us and play together: https://discord.gg/M4HYAdA

Back to Summary, yellow summary

Lore & Powerplay

Powerplay, continues to operate in game and the powers compete on a variety of military, economic and political fronts to gain new territory and expand their influence on the human world.

  1. edmund-mahon Edmund Mahon
  2. Arissa Lavigny-Duval
  3. li-yong-rui Li Yong-Rui
  4. aisling-duval Aisling Duval
  5. zachary-hudson Zachary Hudson
  6. felicia-winters Felicia Winters
  7. denton-patreus Denton Patreus
  8. pranav-antal Pranav Antal
  9. yuri-grom Yuri Grom // Turmoil
  10. archon-delaine Archon Delaine
  11. zemina-torval Zemina Torval

 

 

Cycle 233. Currently, cycle 234.

 

Galnet.fr proposes the latest news from the galaxy!

  • Galnet.fr/en – Galnet News
  • GalnetAudioFR – Dubbed Galnet, in French. Let me know if you would like to do this in English!

We missed a few details since the last The Outpost, let’s recap:

  • The Alliance no longer has a president, only the Prime Minister Edmund Mahon now holds the Alliance with the Council of Admirals;
  • We have discovered large quantities of Meta-Alloys in the Witch Head Nebula and we are settling there, of course;
  • The Thargoids withdrew from the Sol bubble, which explains the end of the attacks, to protect Witch Head and their Barnacles;
  • Professor Palin settles on Arque, after the mysterious attack of his planetary base on Maia, by the Thargoids. Discovery of the strange Thargoid Interceptor , variant “Orthrus”;
  • The Alliance had a big party with plenty of food and who gives a damn about it. There was even a gala in Tionisla so you can imagine the importance of that event…;
  • Besides, we ate so much that we created a famine in the old syst… no it’s not that. A company has released a virus on agricultural crops, unintentionally, so now a new BGS state named “Blight” may appear and it must be treated by selling Agronomic Treatment to the targeted station, otherwise it will fall into Famine. But falling into Famine is good because it’s been a long time since we had any Famine State in the bubble, and the latter allows us to collect the materials “Pharmaceutical Insulators” in space.
  • Otherwise we discovered a Generation Ship thanks to the scanners created to point at Blight systems… but it pointed at the Generation Ship instead (?). This Generation Ship still has a living population from the XXII century, it’s the first time this happens! The Empire and the Federation seek the favours of these citizens… and the Alliance is eating glue in the meantime.
  • If you read that far, you are a curious mind, I like you. Did you know you could sort your Stored Modules? Here is a tip to reward you: How to. It even works on consoles.

 

â–Č 11 November 3305 – The Golconda Generation

The culture of the generation ship Golconda has been examined by Professor Elizabeth Perez, head of anthropology at Orion Independent University.

“Little is known about the Golconda’s origins. There are no intact records of its launch, and the lack of archived blueprints suggests a privately funded colonisation attempt. But there’s no doubt this microcosm of 22nd Century society will have diverged over the past thousand years. The inhabitants’ language is entirely comprehensible, however, and their social structure is recognisable. Rigid security measures are in evidence, as one would expect from an isolationist culture. We also know there is a custodian tasked with ensuring the community’s wellbeing, and a chaplain who provides spiritual guidance. All signs point to contentment with – maybe even an addiction to – their spacefaring existence.”

While audio messages recorded by the Golconda crew are available to the galactic community, only a select handful of individuals representing Upaniklis Vision Incorporated have been permitted to dock with the Golconda. Professor Perez travelled to Upaniklis to speak with them as part of her study.

“Interviews with those who delivered supplies were fascinating. As one pilot put it: ‘The loading procedures were done at top speed, hardly any comms chatter at all. Nobody on the Golconda entered the cargo bays before we left. I got the impression they were scared stiff of us.’ History shows that isolated cultures can be irrevocably damaged by contact with outsiders. We must ensure that efforts to support the Golconda community do not destroy this unique bubble-colony.”

 

â–Č 14 November – Golconda receives vital aid

The initiative in the Upaniklis system to provide the generation ship Golconda with essential supplies has concluded successfully.

A statement was provided by Itsuko Harada of Upaniklis Vision Incorporated:

“Sincere thanks to all traders who delivered medicines and emergency supplies, and also to the brave pilots who protected these shipments against pirate raids. Transfer of the goods to the Golconda has concluded, and I understand they were accepted gratefully.”

The medical supplies were accompanied by representatives of the Interstellar Health Organisation, who advised the colonists on their use. Team leader Dr Ivan Johansen commented:

“Our antiviral agents are far more advanced than those on the Golconda, and early indications suggest patients are responding well to treatment. Hopefully we have halted the outbreak of what the colony calls ‘the wasting kiss’.”

Reports from Upaniklis government insiders indicate that communication with the Golconda has become more frequent, particularly in regards to technological advancements. Local media coverage has fuelled public speculation that the colonists should abandon their ancient vessel and establish a new home in the system.

 

â–Č 18 November – Superpowers compete over Golconda’s Future

During the aid appeal by Upaniklis Vision Incorporated, engineering experts confirmed that the ancient vessel can no longer meet the colony’s needs. While the Golconda was designed for long-term habitation, it lacks adequate facilities for the current population levels. After lengthy discussion, the Golconda’s leaders have reluctantly decided to abandon the vessel. But the ship’s captain, Jonathon Forester, has insisted that its population remain together in one location.

The Empire has vowed to help the colonists complete the ship’s original mission by establishing a planetside home. Senator Ava Cornelius summarised the campaign:

“After generations in an artificial environment, we want to reward these travellers with a world to call their own, fulfilling their destiny after a millennium of adventure. Contemporary agricultural techniques will enable them to become a self-sustaining colony with full Imperial support.”

The Federation has taken a different approach, offering to create an outpost where the Golconda’s spacefaring traditions can continue. This was outlined by Congressman Harlan Turk:

“These people have the inalienable right to continue their current way of life. A modern outpost will offer vastly superior amenities while allowing their culture to remain intact, with facilities for new trade relationships within Federal market guidelines.”

 

The Powers on Reddit

Check out the Powers on Reddit, take part in the strategies and help your Power reach #1!

Alliance

→ Edmund Mahon

Federation

→ Felicia Winters // Zachary Hudson

Empire

→ Arissa Lavigny-Duval // Aisling Duval // Zemina Torval // Denton Patreus

Independents

→ Archon Delaine // Li Yong-Rui // Pranav Antal

Back to Summary

Interstellar Initiatives

Community Goals allow the community to work together on an ongoing project. Fight, trade, smuggle, explore and help the factions and super powers to achieve their goals.
There is no good or bad sides, write your stories in Elite: Dangerous while earning credits!

◘ Imperial Drive for Golconda Port (Transport) – Now finished, Emp lost

  • Location: The Lucent Embrace | Upaniklis
  • Objective: Deliver Polymers, CMM Composites, Titanium, Beryllium and Thallium
  • Rewards: CrĂ©dits
  • Progress: 4/8
  • Until: 26 November
  • Stories: Senator Ava Cornelius summarised the campaign:​ “After generations in an artificial environment, we want to reward these travellers with a world to call their own, fulfilling their destiny after a millennium of adventure. Contemporary agricultural techniques will enable them to become a self-sustaining colony with full Imperial support.”

◘ Federal Initiative for Golconda Outpost (Transport) – Now finished, Feds won

  • Location: Keller’s Resolve | Upaniklis
  • Objective: Deliver Polymers, CMM Composites, Titanium, Beryllium and Thallium
  • Rewards: Credits
  • Progress: 8/8
  • Until: 26 November
  • Stories: This was outlined by Congressman Harlan Turk: “These people have the inalienable right to continue their current way of life. A modern outpost will offer vastly superior amenities while allowing their culture to remain intact, with facilities for new trade relationships within Federal market guidelines.”

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Pictures – At the heart of action

Feel free to send me your prettiest images and videos via Twitter, Discord or directly here in the comments!
Check out the wonderful pictures from Korver, Malhurian, Picard, Photoniq, Exorcist, Madaxo, AndyH340, Felix R, Bradillac, Arzopix, Miranda Jade and her Imperial Carrack creation, Gamycyn, BeetleJude and KahnIndustries !
Do you want more? Follow these CMDRs on Twitter: Madaxo, Placyde, BeetleJude, Phoebia, DasExorcist, SirTJ.

First of all: two great Comics from the French Swaatche : Au-delĂ  des FrontiĂšres (Beyond the Frontiers) + the Tome III FANGS, by the excellent Lee and David.
For the more curious, Qohen Leth created these superb Cartoon Ship Vectors 😉

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Videos – The unmissables

Enjoy, commanders!
Thank you to: David Cooper, Phoebia and MuQuuu.

And if you never saw and heard a Thargon from up close: click here (I promise this is not another Never Gonna Give You Up!)

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