Cambridge, UK — September 19, 2014 — Frontier Developments plc (AIM: FDEV) today announced the release date of Elite: Dangerous ‘Beta 2’ as September 30.
Elite: Dangerous ‘Beta 2’ is a major gameplay upgrade to the Beta:
- Combat ratings from ‘Harmless’ all the way up to ‘Elite’.
- Reputations per system and galaxy-wide that influence attitudes and prices offered to you.
- Ability to discover and explore and scan new systems and sell the data on them.
- Detailed system maps.
- Around 500 additional star systems to explore.
- Lakon Asp Explorer ships added.
- Much greater variety of upgradable Life Support modules, Engines, Hyperdrives, Power Distributors, Sensors, Shield Generators and Cargo Racks for all ships.
- Ships are subject to gradual ‘wear and tear’.
- New weapons including mines and a new non-lethal missile-deployed cargo hatch disruptor for piracy.
- Outposts (small, exposed ‘roadside café’ stations in remote locations)
- Occelus starports, a version of which can move around for early civilization of new systems and space tourism.
- Visibility of other ships in supercruise, and track others through supercruise and hyperspace.
- Newsfeeds about events from the rest of the galaxy and player activity in your local system.
- All backers names (from the appropriate crowd-funding reward tiers) have been added to the NPC naming database.
Beta 2 also includes a host of other improvements and optimizations including additional rock, ice and metal planetary ring types, a lot more music and some optional ‘simulator’ tutorials.
SLI/Crossfire support allows play in 4K ultra-high definition (with appropriate hardware).
David Braben, CEO of Frontier said:
“We are excited for people to start playing Beta 2 on 30 September – its another major step forward in development, and the team continues to work hard towards the full release later this year.”
Elite: Dangerous will be released in Q4 2014.
As part of the 30th Anniversary celebrations of the release of the original BBC Micro Elite in 1984, Frontier is offering free copies of the original game on their store along with a PC BBC Micro emulator and there will be 10 days of reporting by Galnet, the Pilots Federation’s news network, from Elite: Dangerous in the year 3300 of the escalating tensions between the Federation and the Eranin system as Eranin celebrates its 30 year anniversary of independence from the Federation.
Players can also buy a wireframe paint job for their Elite: Dangerous Cobra Mk III until September 30 from the Elite: Dangerous store.
Beta Access:
The Elite: Dangerous multiplayer Beta is available to play immediately (Beta 1) for £50 ($75 and €60) through Frontier’s online store https://store.zaonce.net.
A discount for existing backers of the full game is automatically applied on checkout so only the difference between the two prices is paid to upgrade.
The Elite: Dangerous Mercenary Pack, which includes the Eagle fighter, paint jobs, a day one decal and other digital goodies, is available to pre-order before the full launch of the game for £35.00 ($50 and €40). Those who pre-order the Mercenary Pack can upgrade to immediate Beta access at any time for £15.
About Frontier Developments
Frontier Developments plc is a leading independent game developer founded in 1994 by David Braben, co-author of the seminal ‘Elite’ game. Based in Cambridge, UK and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Frontier uses its proprietary ‘Cobra’ game development technology to create innovative games across videogame consoles, computers, smartphones and tablets.
Elite: Dangerous, to be released on PC and Mac, was initially crowd-funded via a successful Kickstarter campaign and Frontier’s own website. Previous Frontier titles include RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, Thrillville, LostWinds, Kinectimals, Kinect Disneyland Adventures. The studio recently announced ‘Screamride’ for Microsoft’s new Xbox One console and is also working on other original IP titles with publishing partners.
