Elite: Dangerous enters its second beta phase as the Kickstarter-sponsored space adventure trading game heads towards full release.
Here are some of the new features available in the game:
• New progression, with combat ratings from ‘Harmless’ up to ‘Elite’.
• Reputations per system and per faction that influence attitudes and prices offered to players.
• 570 star systems and 381,033 cubic light years to explore.
• Discovery, exploration and charting of new systems and the option to trade gathered data.
• Detailed system maps.
• New Outposts (small, exposed ‘roadside café’ stations in remote systems).
• New Ocellus starport.
• Further upgradeable Life Support modules, Engines, Hyperdrives, Power Distributors, Sensors, Shield Generators and Cargo Racks for all ships.
• New weapons, including mines and a Cargo Hatch Limpet built for non-lethal piracy.
• Visibility of other ships in supercruise, and the ability to track pilots through supercruise and hyperspace.
• In-game GalNet newsfeed, reporting story events from around the galaxy and each system.
• Gradual ‘wear and tear’ on ships.
• New Lakon Asp Explorer ship.
• All backers names from the appropriate crowd-funding reward tiers have been added to the NPC naming database.
Beta 3 will be released on October 28th and the final release is expected before the end of the year.
Elite: Dangerous’ online Beta is available to play now for £50 ($75, €60) through Frontier’s online store. A discount for existing backers of the full game is applied on checkout, making upgrading easy.
The pre-order exclusive Elite: Dangerous Mercenary Edition includes the full game, an additional Eagle fighter, ship liveries, Day One decal and other digital goodies for £35.00 ($50, €40) Pre-orders receive a £4.99 discount on the final release price of £39.99 ($59.99, €49.99).
Players who pre-order the Mercenary Pack can upgrade to immediate Beta access at any time for £15.
All backers who have purchased Beta access or higher will receive the Mercenary Pack – including the final game – upon release in calendar year 2014.