Download the episode directly from here.

Development News – what have the devs said this week?

1. Arf and Bruce go thargoid hunting and are quite successful (Unlike Stephen and Will).
2. Bruce and Stephen on the Tuesday Stream where they weren’t.

In-Game Events – what’s happened this week?

1. Imperials Declare Victory in the CG. They have declared martial law in Marlist systems, leading to several systems worth of Imperial Citizens fleeing to the Federation.
2. Systems in the Witch-head Nebula have come under thargoid attack. There is a CG in progress to defend the Systems against Thargoid Attack.
   1. Colin discovered a new Thargoid encounter. Waves of thargoid scouts were defending a probe. Not just the standard scouts, the special variants were involved as well.
3. Support for President Hudson has had a crash in popularity rating due to his association with Admiral Lucas Vincent.

Main discussion

• How does mission availability vary through the game?
  • The missions available from contacts and boards in the social hubs and settlements will depend on the BGS status, this means you will find different missions in different locations in the same way as you do in Elite Dangerous today.
    
    Some missions given by vendors will ask Commanders to visit a certain location, retrieve a specific item, or even kill an NPC. However, you don’t need a mission to go to a settlement; you can go wherever you want, when you want – creating your own story. This includes the ability to, if you decide, perform nefarious acts like looting or killing NPCs. Just remember your actions could have a negative effect on the controlling faction, which will in turn affect your reputation with them and the BGS.
• How will NPCs react to players and each other?
  • Odyssey’s NPCs will react to players and other NPCs based on a number of factors, from obvious status elements like having a weapon drawn right through to their current BGS affiliations. NPCs have a variety of professionally voice acted dialogue which really adds to the immersion of the galaxy. If you are on good terms with a faction they will be kind to you, if you are not in good terms… start ducking, as they might start firing on sight!
• Can you give some examples of the suits that will be available?
  • Commanders will be able to purchase and switch between multiple suits to help them with different mission types. Outside of the Flight Suit (currently in-game) you will also be able to equip the Exploration Suit, the Combat Suit and the Scavenger Suit. You will also be able to purchase multiples of each suit and give them different loadouts, dependent on your particular playstyle/mission.
    
    The suits we mention above will be geared towards different mission activities. You do not need to own that suit type to take on a specific activity, however doing so will certainly make life easier. Suits can be upgraded in a variety of ways to help improve their capabilities. We will be announcing more on the different suit types and upgrades in the future – stay tuned!
• Will suits have shields? If so, how is this managed?
  • All suits will have shields installed, and they will use up your battery supply. You’ll have to make sure you manage your power outlet and distribution between your shields and oxygen (similar to managing the pips in your ship).
• Will I have an on foot inventory?
  • Yes, players will have an on foot inventory and Odyssey will introduce some new materials, which you will be able to gather on foot. This includes organic samples you’ve collected using the Field Sampler tool for the new Exo-Biologist rank.
• Does the Apex Interstellar service now mean that it is viable to travel between systems by way of taxi flights, whilst theoretically never flying your own ship?
  • Yes exactly, you can now choose to play Elite Dangerous without a ship! Commanders will be able to use their ships, or the Apex Interstellar service, or even both, to move about the galaxy. That being said, there will be areas Interstellar will not take you.

Community Corner

• Cmdr PLɅCYDE BEYOND – Elite Dangerous Music Video As Featured on FD’s live stream.
• TDW Update
• Update from Ty of Loose Screws: Taking a break.
  
  I’d rather not go into a lot of details. I tried to record something but just didn’t have it in me. I decided to post something here so people would know what’s happening.
  
  I’m going to be taking a break from Elite to handle some personal issues. A longer break. Because I’m not going to be in Elite I don’t think it’s responsible that I podcast about Elite until I’m playing again. I’m not sure how long it will be but once I get my head on straight I will be back.
  
  I want to thank jnTracks, Chig, nlHate, Dubbs, Nergal, and everyone else that’s been doing the podcast and supporting things while I’ve been out.
• Top Shift Short – Brian Blessed Motivational Speaker.

Any Other Business

1. SW:Squadrons updated to v1.2. Myself and Ben suffered our first encounter of Squadron Rage where a pick up player will not play as part of the team. I.E. IF YOU ARE IN AN A-WING DO NOT FUCKING ATTACK THE STAR DESTROYER, YOUR JOB IS TO PROTECT YOUR Y-WINGS WHICH ARE!! Not that it’s got to me!

Shoutouts

1. Our sister station, Hutton Orbital Radio, Broadcasts on Thursdays from 20:30. You can tune in at tv.forthemug.com/ or, for just the audio, at radio.forthemug.com/.
2. For the discerning Commander who likes a bit of CQC action, check out the CQC Discord at “discord.me/elitedangerouscqc”.
3. Following this we have an update from the Galnet News Digest as provided by Cmdr Wotherspoon, who you can also hear on the Guard Frequency this week!
4. Thanks to those who have chipped in on Twitch chat and in-game commanders.