Frontier Developments’ monthly livestream once again provided some big news for Elite: Dangerous players, particularly those who have been in the game for a long time, as the devs officially announced some major revamps coming to engineering that will apply across the board in the space sandbox on Tuesday, August 7th.
For those who are unfamiliar, engineering is effectively a way to apply specific enhancements to ships, weapons, and space suits that often grant major improvements and deeper customization, but getting to these improvements represented a significant time sink thanks to the scarcity of needed materials along with some RNG that determines how far players progress to successive grades. FDev confirmed in the livestream that much of that grind and RNG is being thrown out of the window thanks to changes “across the board.”
In broad strokes, materials gained will be increased significantly from activities, particularly those needed for Grade 4 and Grade 5 modules; the sources of materials are being expanded; missions will be paying out more materials; and engineering grade progression will become much more predictable.
In more granular detail, materials gathered from farming locations will ramp up from between three to six items to about 30 to 100 (with each item still yielding three mats each), missions will grant up to 24 materials (instead of three to five), and those who engage in the Thargoid War will be getting Grade 4 and Grade 5 materials based on a tiered reward system not unlike those handed out for engaging in community goals, with goodies granted to the bottom 25% (18 mats), top 75% (60 mats), and top 25% (120 mats). Furthermore, these materials can be traded down to lower-grade items at material traders if needed.
As for engineering grade progression, that will now no longer require random “spins” to push forward into each of the five tiers and will be on a firm sliding scale based on earned engineer rank, while players will know precisely their chances to move forward and know how many materials are needed. Odyssey engineer unlock requirements for suits and weapons will also be reduced, as will blueprint material needs. Finally, suit storage capacity is being improved, particularly for the Maverick suit.
On top of these major engineering tweaks, the August 7th patch will also bring the Type-8 cargo hauler into paid-for “early access” via two ship bundles like the Python MkII before it, along with two new pre-built ship packages, while the Python MkII will become available for in-game credits purchase on that date as well.
The full broadcast with all of the complete details from FDev awaits below, which is set to play right as the E:D talk begins, along with a summary video from YouTube channel The Buur Pit.
