Last month, Frontier Developments decided to drop a surprise in the laps of Elite: Dangerous players by finally announcing the all-new space colonization system that will let players establish and maintain new colonies outside of established civilized space (aka the bubble). This month brought the team back for another studio-wide livestream to talk about this new mechanic, and though it spoke in broad terms, the features showcased are likely extremely exciting for fans of the sandbox.
The devs talked about the overall steps to establishing a new space colony, which starts by speaking with an NPC to purchase a claim on a system, specify what system to own, and then travel there to use a beacon within 24 hours to finalize the claim. Once players have deployed the beacon, a colonization ship will arrive and open itself up for a materials shopping list that other players can ferry over in order to build the system’s new space station, the type of which is determined by the system claimant; this process is also on a timer, presumably to stop players from squatting on stars.
Once materials have arrived, the new starport will deploy in an under construction state and will not fully activate until the weekly game-wide galaxy progress tick. At this point players can buy another star claim or continue to build up their chosen star system by placing different landing locations on planetary surfaces, complete with wanted landing types and rotational placement, and determining where to put extra space landing areas.
In both cases, a construction vessel will once more arrive and a needed materials list that other players can fulfill will open, and both will require smaller infrastructure sites to support larger ones. Players will also have to consider what to build in order to ensure the system’s economy hums.
In terms of faction-related matters, that will also be determined by players, at least on a powerplay level; newly established colonies will have a minor faction powered by the background simulation move in immediately, but superpower influence will be determined by the efforts of players.
Finally, the devs confirmed that this colonization feature will have to be delayed from the end of this year to sometime early next year. Before then, players can look forward to public beta testing to ensure this complex new feature hits the right quality marks.
The broadcast also granted a closer look at E:D’s fourth upcoming ship, the Cobra Mk V. As stated before, this ship will be an all-rounder, with weapon and internal fittings that try to keep options open for players who want to determine a specialization or remain jacks-of-all-trades, as well as native supercruise overcharge functionality. The ship is also confirmed to be capable of fitting on small landing pads, yet it can seat a total of three players for multi-crew gaming.
Paid early access of the Cobra Mk V is arriving on Tuesday, December 10th; prices weren’t provided by FDev in the stream, but the price structure of previous cash shop ships of this sort will likely apply for this newer, sharper cheese wedge of a spacecraft.
