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Elite Dangerous: Beyond advances the ongoing player-driven narrative and introduces dozens of game-changing upgrades and enhancements, whether you prefer to trade, fight or explore. This third season of content is available FREE for all Elite Dangerous owners.

— Frontier Developments[1]

Elite Dangerous: Beyond

Elite Dangerous: Beyond is the third season of content for Elite Dangerous and a free extension of Elite Dangerous: Horizons.[2] All Beyond updates were provided free of charge to Elite Dangerous players across PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 over the course of 2018. While the updates made changes and added content to the base game, they also included some features that were exclusive to Horizons owners, such as new ships.[3]

Beyond is followed by the April Update, the first of several smaller content updates released in 2019 and 2020. The Development Plans has an overview of major updates and expansions.

Expansions[]

The main focus of this season is core gameplay, existing features, quality of life and other improvements.[4]

Chapter One - v3.0[]

Elite-Dangerous-Beyond-Chapter-One-Art

Elite Dangerous: Beyond Chapter One

Beyond planet improvements

Planet improvements

Elite-Dangerous-Beyond-Planets-Update

Planet Update

The Chapter One update was released on February 27, 2018.[5] An open beta was available to all PC Elite Dangerous and Elite Dangerous: Horizons players from January 25, 2018[6] to February 9, 2018.

Features:[6][7][8][9][10]

  • New Ship: Alliance Chieftain. Elite Dangerous: Horizons Commanders will be able to take to the stars in the new Alliance Chieftain, designed not only to dish out punishment, but to avoid it. Manufactured by Lakon Spaceways, the Chieftain is more maneuverable than ships of similar size and weight, and its combat profile means it can more than hold its own in a fight.
  • Wing Missions and Mission improvements. Chapter 1 of Beyond will give you the chance to take on wing missions with your fellow Commanders, sharing both the efforts and rewards.
    • A CMDR can select a Wing Mission on the Mission Board, then share it with Wingmates to invite them to participate. Wingmates will see the invite on their Transaction panel, and can accept or reject it. CMDRs that are not in a Wing can still select and complete Wing Missions on their own.
    • There is no limit to how many Wing Missions can be accepted by a CMDR at the same time, but a CMDR can only share 1 Wing Mission with their Wingmates at once. In a full Wing of 4 CMDRs, this means each CMDR can share 1 Wing Mission and accept 3 invites to their Wingmates' shared missions, for a total of 4 active shared missions across the group.[11]
    • Wings Missions can be turned in for a partial completion at a certain threshold by the CMDR who originally selected them. The mission will be considered a success, but CMDRs will receive reduced rewards. In trading missions, CMDRs holding any undelivered mission-only items will be fined.
    • Missions will now offer three different reward packages upon completion: Credits (larger amount of Credits plus Reputation and Influence), Reputation (larger amount of Reputation plus small Credit amount and Influence), or Materials/Commodities (Materials/Commodities plus moderate amount of Credits and Influence). In Wing Missions, each Wing member can select a different reward.
    • New Mission Depot menu at the Mission Board. CMDRs can view individual mission progress, and in the case of trading missions, they can buy the necessary Commodities directly through the Mission Depot if they are available and make multiple delivery runs to fulfill the mission's requirements.
  • Revised Trade Data. Commanders will now be able to access trade data from systems they have previously visited, in order to make more informed decisions when shipping goods across the Milky Way.
    • In the Commodities Market, the level of supply and demand for a commodity is signified by pips. Three pips indicates high demand or supply, one indicates low demand or supply.
    • The "Galactic Average Price" parameter can be changed to "By Market", allowing CMDRs to check prices at specific markets. CMDRs can search a database of all systems and stations they have visited. As CMDRs dock at stations or scan Nav Beacons, they acquire the trade data for those locations.
    • New galaxy map overlay, "By Commodity". Systems marked with a blue diamond indicate where a commodity is imported, systems with a green triangle indicate where a commodity is supplied. Buy and sell values for that commodity are shown.
    • Trade route data revised. Galaxy map now displays "trending trade data" for the previous 24 hours, including both Background Simulation trading and trading done by CMDRs. CMDRs can purchase this data for a small fee to see it.
  • Planetary Visual Improvements. Chapter 1 also includes the first of the planetary visual improvements coming as part of the Beyond series of updates. More surface level improvements are coming later in the year. It brings a new vibrancy to the Elite Dangerous galaxy and encourages wanderlust explorers to discover far systems and planets.[12]
    • Frontier has overhauled the surface material system for the rocky, high metal content and metal rich planets. Pushed the system to get a lot more out of it, but this is just the first step towards further major planetary system improvements. The contrast and variation across and between bodies is much improved.[12]
    • The colouration of the surfaces now more clearly telegraphs the chemical makeup and volcanic activity of the worlds. In addition, binary rocky/metallic planets more accurately simulate having similar colourations from shared formation materials where appropriate.[12]
    • Greater ranges of coloration depending a rocky planet's composition and volcanism activity. Surface coloration is intended to directly indicate a planet's composition at a glance to inform what materials can be found there.[12]
  • Crime & Punishment changes
    • Crimes are now attached to ships rather than CMDRs. Landing at a station with a wanted ship in a system where that ship is wanted will restrict certain services because the ship is forced to use "Anonymous Access Protocol". Modules in a wanted ship are "hot" and cannot be installed in a clean ship, and clean modules become "hot" once installed in a wanted ship. Wanted ships also cannot be transferred into systems where they are wanted.
    • Bounties will always remain active and no longer become dormant. The "Dormant Bounty" function will be removed. Bounties can still be paid off using an Interstellar Factor.
    • Bounties and rebuy costs are recalculated in cases of murder. Murderers pay ten percent per point of Notoriety of the difference between their rebuy cost and their victim's rebuy cost. If a murderer's rebuy cost is less than the victims, this value will be zero, but in cases where the murderer has an extreme advantage (such as a combat-optimized Anaconda vs. a Hauler), nearly the entire rebuy cost of the murderer's ship will be added to the bounty.[13] Meanwhile, victims' rebuy costs are reduced by a fraction of the attacker's rebuy cost.
    • Notoriety statistic. Increases every time a ship is used for murder and amplifies its rebuy costs. As Notoriety increases, the rebuy costs of victims are further reduced, and an increasing fraction of the murderer's ship's rebuy cost is added to bounties gained. Notoriety is attached to CMDRs, not ships. While the stat gradually decays on its own, it is also reduced when a CMDR is defeated and sent to a Detention Centre.
    • Advanced Tactical Response (ATR). ATR ships are much more powerful than typical system security and will be deployed to eliminate highly Notorious ships. Each superpower has its own ATR unit (Void Runners in the Federation, Omega Company in the Empire, Blue Epaulets in Independent systems and a fourth in Alliance systems).
    • Detention Centres. When defeated by authorities, CMDRs with bounties will be forced to pay their rebuy costs, fines, and bounties in full; CMDRs with insufficient funds will go bankrupt and be forced to accept a loaned Sidewinder MkI. They will then redeploy at a Detention Centre Megaship in a system near where they were defeated. Detention Centres lack Shipyard and Outfitting facilities, and will spawn CMDRs in Solo instances to protect them from spawn-camping until they jump to Supercruise or another system.
  • Engineering mechanics and accessibility changes
    • Modification grades are unlocked on a per module basis. Every module must be modified incrementally through each of the five grades.
    • Modification rolls in the same grade have static negative effects that do not increase or decrease as successive same-grade mods are applied to a module. Successive same-grade modifications always increase positive effects, and once the positive effects have been maxed out for a grade, then the next grade for that modification is unlocked for that specific module. Higher grades have differing negative effects, but greater overall positive effects.
    • Experimental effects can now be selected individually and purchased with Materials separately from modification rolls. One experimental effect can be purchased per module.
    • Remote Workshops for Engineering. Pinned blueprints can be used to modify modules when not at an Engineer's workshop, but experimental effects are inaccessible and any modifications created this way do not increase reputation with that Engineer.
    • Grade 5 modifications obtained before the update to the new system will be preserved but re-designated as Grade 4. Stats will remain the same, but can be surpassed by Grade 5 mods in the new system, which has a higher overall stat ceiling.
  • Material Trader
    • Material Traders are dealers in rare materials. They offer to exchange a small amount of rarer materials for a larger amount of common materials, and vice-versa.
    • There are three types of Material Trader, each of whom offers a different selection of materials: Raw, Manufactured, and Encoded.
  • Additional interactions with Bulk Cruiser Megaships
    • Bulk Cruisers are now equipped with Automated Defence Turrets, Cargo Bays, Hackable Data Transmitters, and Comms Arrays in addition to the original comms log data points. Data Link Scanners can be used to scan entire Megaships and highlight these points of interest.
    • Data materials can be obtained from scanning Comms Arrays.
    • Cargo Bays can be scanned by Manifest Scanners, then "interrogated" by Recon Limpets and opened with Hatch Breaker Limpets to steal rare materials. The latter action will earn a bounty, summon system security, and turn the Bulk Cruiser hostile.
    • Bulk Cruiser improvements will also eventually be added to Installations.
  • GalNet Audio
    • GalNet reports can be read aloud by a text-to-speech system that is available in all languages in which Elite Dangerous is localized. Reports can be listened to during normal gameplay, without needing to access and view GalNet itself.
    • Reports can be added to a queue that the system will progress through automatically.
  • Other changes
    • COVAS. "Victor", a male voice, will be added as an option alongside the original "Verity" female voice, and more options will be made available in the future. Voice options can be individually selected for any ships, fighters, and SRVs the player owns.
    • Two new options for ship callsigns as spoken by station traffic controllers. Players can now choose between using their CMDR name, ship name, or ship ID as their callsign in the audio settings.
    • Material storage is increased. The general cap is replaced by an individual caps for each material. Common materials will have a higher cap than rare ones: 300 for each G1 material, 250 for G2, 200 for G3, 150 for G4, and 100 for G5. Materials also note whether or not they have been previously discovered when targeted, and can be added to an "ignore list" to simplify resource collecting.
    • Module storage is increased from 60 to 120.
    • A second pilot seat will be added to the Keelback, making the ship Multicrew-compatible.
    • When the player's ship is destroyed and the player has no fines or bounties, they will now redeploy at a station that is closest to the location where they died, rather than the station where they last docked.

Chapter Two - v3.1[]

Thargoid Scouts 3

New Thargoid Scouts in Elite Dangerous: Beyond Chapter Two

Chapter Two is the first of two smaller updates released between the Q1 and Q4 expansions. It was released on June 28, 2018.[14]

Features:[15]

  • New Ships
    • Alliance Challenger: A modified version of the Alliance Chieftain, the Alliance Challenger has been envisaged as a frontline combat vessel. With a generous complement of hardpoints, the Challenger can more than hold its own in a fight, and although it weighs more than its sister ship, it has retained the Chieftain's characteristic agility. It also has stronger armour than the Chieftain, allowing it to soak up a significant amount of punishment.
    • Krait MkII: The Krait MkII is a reimagining of the Krait Lightspeeder, which was originally manufactured by Faulcon DeLacy in the 3100s. Although the new ship is larger than the original, it possesses many of the same characteristics, emphasizing speed, manoeuvrability and firepower over defensive capability. The ship also boasts a fighter bay and space for up to two crew members, making it a good option for those seeking a medium-weight, multipurpose vessel.
  • Wing Mining Missions. First introduced in Chapter One, Wing Missions will be expanded with a Mining-related type.
  • Additional interactions with Installations. The new scanning and hacking interactions added to Megaships in Chapter One will be applied to Installations.
  • Additional interactions with Megaships. Escape Hatches will be added to damaged Bulk Cruisers. These can be scanned and hacked to release escape pods for Search and Rescue Agents.
  • Other changes
    • New Installations and Megaships added across the Core Systems, Pleiades Nebula, and Colonia.
    • Improvements to Notoriety. Notoriety will now decay when a player is docked at a station. Furthermore, players with outstanding bounties and zero Notoriety will have the option to turn themselves in at station Security Contacts, which will let them pay off the bounties and deport them to the nearest Detention Centre.

Chapter Three - v3.2[]

Beyond Chapter Three art

Elite Dangerous: Beyond Chapter Three

Chapter Three was the second of two smaller updates released between the Q1 and Q4 expansions. It was released on August 28, 2018.[17]

Features:[18][19]

  • New Ships
    • Alliance Crusader: a midpoint between the Chieftain and Challenger, the Crusader has been modified to support a fighter bay and an additional crew seat, allowing it to field two Ship-Launched Fighters in addition to its regular weaponry, though it sacrifices some of its own firepower, maneuverability, and durability to do so. At a relatively modest 25 million credits, the Crusader is also the cheapest combat-dedicated craft capable of fielding SLFs.
    • Hybrid Fighters: Ram Tah has discovered how to hybridize Human and Guardian technology for entire small craft, leading to the creation of the XG7 Trident, XG8 Javelin, and XG9 Lance Ship-Launched Fighters. Armed with powerful Guardian-based weapons, these fighters are another potential - and potent - weapon in the fight against the Thargoids.
  • Planetary Wing Missions. Wing Missions will be expanded with SRV-focused mission types.
  • New Settlements
    • The Thargoids continue attacking Settlements. Newly-attacked sites include Far God cult compounds in the Etain system.
  • Other changes
    • 25 new Holo-Screen Adverts from the "Design A Holo-Screen Advert" contest will be added.[20][21]
    • A fourth variant of the Thargoid Interceptor, the Hydra, can be encountered in new Threat Level 9 Non-Human Signal Sources.
    • The Mission Depot, previously exclusive to Wing Missions, is now also available for solo missions.
    • As of November 29, 2018, "UA Bombing" functionality is removed. Thargoid Sensors and other previously illegal Thargoid commodities no longer cause any damage to stations and can be sold legally at markets.[22]

Chapter Four - v3.3[]

Beyond Chapter Four splash

Elite Dangerous: Beyond Chapter Four

Elite-Dangerous-Beyond-Chapter-4-Schedule

Beyond Chapter Four Beta Schedule

Chapter Four is the fourth and final content update of Elite Dangerous: Beyond, as well as the largest content update for Elite Dangerous yet. A beta for Chapter Four ran from October 30, 2018 to December 3, 2018.[23][24] Chapter Four was released on December 11, 2018.[25]

Features:[7][26][27]

  • New ships[28]
    • Krait Phantom: With a spacious cargo hold and a relatively generous quantity of hardpoints, the Krait Phantom is a versatile ship suited to a range of roles. It has enough firepower to hold its own against larger targets, and enough straight-line speed to outpace smaller targets. The ship also offers eight internal compartments, allowing the pilot to tailor the ship to their requirements. And while it lacks the firepower and fighter bay of its sister ship, the Krait Mk II, it is both faster and lighter.
    • Mamba: Based on an unreleased racing prototype, the Mamba is one of the fastest ships in production. It can also deliver a lot of punishment, boasting one huge and two large hardpoints. This emphasis on firepower and speed means the ship can hit hard and fast, vanishing before the target has a chance to react. Comparisons to the Fer-de-Lance, also produced by Zorgon Peterson, will be inevitable, but the Mamba is in fact faster in a straight line, while being slightly less maneuverable.
  • Squadrons. New in-game organizational structure for player groups. It adds tools to manage group membership and hierarchy.
  • Mining gameplay improvements
    • Clusters of asteroids can be scanned to determine which asteroids are more lucrative. Some asteroids will have obvious mineral formations on the surface. Some asteroids will need to be cracked open and broken into pieces to access their materials.
    • Hazards, such as toxic dust and volatile formations, will add elements of risk to mining.
    • New mining modules that can be used alongside the original Mining Laser to extract new types of deposits (none of these modules require owning Elite Dangerous: Horizons as of update 3.3.02):
  • Exploration gameplay improvements[29]
    • New Codex to log personal discoveries and provide encyclopedia-style information about topics.
    • New Notable Stellar Phenomena to discover in deep space.
    • Combat and scanning functions are separated into two new HUD modes: Combat Mode and Analysis Mode.
    • Discovery Scanner functionality changes:
      • The previous three types of Discovery Scanners (Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced) are condensed into a single, infinite-range scanner called "Discovery Scanner". It is an integrated module that is installed by default on all ships.
      • Module continues to reward credits when used to scan a system, but only reveals the main star on the system map.
      • Using the module activates the integrated Full Spectrum System Scanner that displays the electromagnetic signatures of objects around the reticle. Rocky clusters will have emissions on the low end of the scale, hot gas giants will have emissions on the high end. Emissions can overlap, however, so players must interpret them. Sensors can be tuned to focus on a particular point in the scale, which clarifies emissions at that point but obscures others. Once the origin point for a set of emissions is identified, the player can attempt to reconstruct an image of it; if the player's aim is accurate, then the object is successfully discovered.
      • Discovery Scanners are usable in Multicrew. Credit for discoveries is shared among the crew or wing.
    • Detailed Surface Scanner functionality changes:
      • Module is usable only in Supercruise.
      • Module gains infinite cache of micro sensor probes that can be launched at astronomical objects within a system in Analysis Mode. These probes can be used to map a planet's surface and rings to find points of interest. Depending on how a probe is aimed, the size of the scanned area can vary, and as the player learns how to angle probes, they can reduce the number used to fully map a planet.
      • Players who map a planet to 100% and sell the data at a station will be credited with the "First Mapped By" tag on that planet in the system map. This tag is separate from "First Discovered By", so a planet can be both "Discovered" and "Mapped".
      • Detailed Surface Scanners are usable in Multicrew. Credit for mapped discoveries is shared among the crew or wing.
    • Unidentified Signal Sources spawn throughout a system when the player first enters it. Nav Beacons can still be scanned to find specific USS locations, such as for missions. USS decay timers have been increased to allow more time to locate and investigate them. The decay timer is also displayed when the USS is targeted.
    • A new Short Range Composition Scanner is automatically added to all ships and SRVs.
    • All ships and SRVs can activate Night Vision to increase visibility in dark environments.
  • Mission and Background Simulation improvements[30]
    • The mission system will be moved to its own dedicated server. This will reduce overall instability caused by the previous practice of including missions on a shared server with other elements of the game, prevent players from being disconnected when missions are unavailable, and make missions consistent across Game Modes.
      • This change will also significantly reduce or eliminate the benefits of "board flipping". While board flipping was never an intended use of the mission system and was only practiced by a minority of daily online players, to encourage players to use the mission system properly, all mission credit payouts will be increased by 10%.
    • Scenario Missions provide a new narrative experience and objectives at Signal Sources. Scenarios include assisting NPC pilots, attacking or defending Megaships and Installations, and engaging in combat with multiple objectives in Conflict Zones. Over 3,000 new fully voiced lines have been added for the purposes of fleshing out ambient chatter and for the new scenarios.[31]
    • Changes to Faction States. In particular, Wars now last seven days, and one minor faction spread across multiple systems can fight multiple Wars at once. Minor factions at war with each other will battle in various Conflict Zones, where both sides fight to gain points and the minor faction with the most points when the battle completes is victorious and gains influence. The minor faction with the most influence at the end of a War is the winner.
  • New Megaships and Installations
    • A vast number of new Megaships and Installations will be added with new interactions. The megaships have set routes and move on the weekly tick. Installations can be assigned to factions and fought over during conflict states.[32]
  • New Thargoid content
    • Systems under attack by Thargoids will now enter the Incursion state if not sufficiently defended. Systems experiencing an Incursion will suffer damage to Starports and Megaships indefinitely, and AX Conflict Zones will be present. Incursions can only be prevented or ended by destroying a large enough quantity of Thargoid vessels within the affected system.
  • Other changes
    • Improved Lighting Model - lighting adjustments, colour grading, improved fog effects, shadows in fog volumes. This will benefit planetary tech as well as space.[33]
    • A new Triple Elite ship decal will be obtainable for players who have the Elite rank in Combat, Trading, and Exploration.[34]
    • The System Map gains an "Orrery" option, allowing astronomical objects within star systems to be viewed in their relative positions in an orbital model.
    • Restrictions will be removed from the restricted module slots on the Beluga Liner, Dolphin, and Orca, allowing them to equip modules other than Passenger Cabins in those slots.[35]
    • Repair Limpets gain the ability to extinguish and seal Hull Breaches on damaged Megaships.
    • Five new localized COVAS packs, all available for free. The new sets are Amélie (French), Gerhard (German), Luciana (Spanish), Maksim (Russian), and Vitória (Brazilian Portuguese).
    • Opening the Galaxy Map from a mission now auto-centers the reticle on the mission's target system.
    • Ship storage capacity at Shipyards is expanded from 35 to 40.

Notice:

  • Elite Dangerous will cease to support Mac with Chapter Four (3.3). Players will no longer be able to play or access Elite Dangerous through the Mac OS. Mac support is being deprecated due to technical barriers. Mac players with Elite Dangerous accounts can still log into their accounts on PC, or via Bootcamp.[36]

Changes to Beyond and future content[]

On August 31, 2018, Frontier's Head of Communications Zac Antonacci addressed changes to the Chapter Four update of Elite Dangerous: Beyond as well as plans for future premium content and expansions.[37]

The following content that was planned for Chapter Four of Beyond was delayed to future updates or expansions:[38]

  • Fleet Carriers - Fleet Carriers Update
  • Improved planetary environments for ice planets - Elite Dangerous: Odyssey
  • Improvements to the variety of sizes and scales used in the scatter rocks system - Elite Dangerous: Odyssey
  • Improved ambient effects for fog and vapour, planetary phenomena, and volumetric effects - Elite Dangerous: Odyssey
  • Premium content - TBD

Vehicles[]

Spacecraft[]

Videos[]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Elite Dangerous: Beyond
  2. Twitch: Frontier Expo 2017 Live at 1:35:30
  3. Frontier: Elite Dangerous: Beyond – Chapter One Available Today
  4. Frontier Forums: Elite: Dangerous 2.4 and beyond
  5. YouTube: Beyond - Chapter One - Release Date Announcement
  6. 6.0 6.1 Frontier Forums: Elite Dangerous: Beyond - Chapter One Beta Announcement
  7. 7.0 7.1 reddit: New Features and QoL Improvements shown @ Frontier Expo 2017
  8. YouTube: Beyond - Chapter One Content Livestream - Part 1
  9. YouTube: Beyond - Chapter One Content Livestream - Part 2
  10. YouTube: Beyond - Chapter One Content Livestream - Part 3
  11. Frontier Forums: Only 4 Wing Missions? (Comment #7)
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Frontier Forums: Content Recap - Beyond Chapter One Livestream (18.01.2018) - Part 2 Recap
  13. Frontier Forums: Crime System Changes
  14. Frontier Forums: Elite Dangerous: Beyond - Chapter Two Release Date
  15. Frontier Forums: Elite Dangerous: Beyond - Chapter Two 3.1
  16. YouTube: Krait Expectations
  17. YouTube: Beyond - Chapter Three - Release Date Announcement
  18. Frontier Forums: Update 3.2
  19. reddit: [SPOILERS] Leaked presentation footage from Frontier's Gamescom Community Meet
  20. YouTube: Design A Holo-Screen Advert Winners
  21. Frontier Forums: Design A Holo-Screen Advert - Winners - 19 July 2018
  22. Frontier Forums: Removal of 'UA Bombing'
  23. Frontier Forums: Beyond - Chapter Four - Beta Announcement
  24. Frontier Forums: 3.3 - Chapter Four - Beta End Date
  25. Frontier Forums: Beyond - Chapter Four - Release Date Announcement
  26. Frontier Forums: Frontier Expo 2017 Recap
  27. reddit: Lavecon Panel: Beyond Q4 Sneak Peeks + Q&A ~ Quick Notes
  28. @EliteDangerous: "Two new ships will be coming to Elite Dangerous with the Beyond - Chapter Four update. Find out more on Thursday 8 November at 19:00 UTC!"
  29. Frontier Forums: Chapter Four - Exploration Reveal
  30. Frontier Forums: Implementation of a dedicated mission server
  31. PCGamesN: Elite Dangerous: Beyond’s scenario missions and simulation bring new life to the vacuum
  32. Frontier Forums: Content Recap: Beyond - Chapter Four Livestream - Background Simulation and Scenarios
  33. Frontier Forums: 3.3 console content page 2
  34. Frontier Forums: Triple Elite Decal?
  35. Frontier Forums: Beyond - Chapter Four - Beta 1, post #191
  36. Frontier Forums: Important Mac announcement
  37. Frontier Forums: Important Community Update
  38. Frontier Forums: Important Community Update post #116
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