Elite Dangerous 2.1: Engineers

By Atlas on April 16, 2016 in Daily News, Space

Elite Dangerous developer Frontier Games is poised to release its second major content update to Horizons, in the form of a Beta, as early as the first week of May. The core additions coming with Engineers consists of looting, crafting, and improvements to the way players can upgrade their ships and components.

From the developer:

The Engineers are individuals that are mavericks in some way. Each has some sort of expertise from their pasts that they have made into a business – tuning all sorts of aspects of your ship to improve them. They do this using exotic and often hard-to-find components. Most Engineers are very secretive, working behind the scenes for the military or other shady organisations, and so you need an introduction, and need to find out how to find them. Missions can lead to introductions to Engineers, and some Engineers will introduce you to others, providing a more directed path for those that want that sort of approach. There is progression with each Engineer too, as you build up your relationship with them by doing missions and earning their trust.

While some elements of the game’s looting and crafting system are already in the game, as of 2.0, Engineers represents a substantial leap forward in the way Horizons will handle player progression.

The content update will provide players with access to:

More customization for ships, weapons, and modules.
- Differently colored lasers with different secondary effects.
- Visual weapon variety.
Unique craftable content
The ability to loot some locations in the universe (planet surface areas, wrecked vessels).
Varied progression oppoturnities for all player types.
The Engineers, themselves, who assist players with crafting.
- Engineers have their own set of specializations, loyalties, and characteristics.

For a look at more Engineers changes, as well as a look at Elite’s extended content plans, check this post at over at Reddit.

Elite Dangerous 1.6 Update

Horizons players aren’t the only ones enjoying some good news. ALL players will be able to download update 1.6 which will change some of the game’s systems, as well as providing tweaks and improvements to the overall game universe.

While not much is known about 1.6 just yet, the update will go into closed Beta and release alongside the Engineers expansion. The update will bring with it “significant changes” to the mission system and other core gameplay, but it’s still fuzzy just how big, and what impact, these changes will bring to the overall community.

Check back with SimHQ in the coming weeks as we take a closer look at the changes coming in Engineers.