The next year of Elite Dangerous now finds the galaxy in a much more troubling state thanks to the recent spate of Thargoid attacks on stations in the Pleiades. How that translates down the road we’ll eventually see but it isn’t stopping Frontier Developments from continuing to update the game.

Over the last week the team have revealed the first round of updates coming in Chapter One of the “Beyond” update, of which further chapters will roll out over the course of the year.

The first Livestream focuses on updates to Crime and Punishment and the new Wing Missions. In terms of crimes it sounds like it’s really only going to punish those players who make a habit of murder and aims to prevent them from finding ways to escape retribution. The Wing Missions will push teams to more closely work together as they will all have to contribute more to completing objectives (such as carrying a portion of cargo).

A summary of the first video can be found here via the Frontier Forums.

The second Livestream looks at improvements to how planets are rendered so that they better reflect their chemical characteristics whilst also improving the palette of colours used to show it. A new ship called the Chieftain is also on show giving players another combat option that isn’t hamstrung by ranks to get access (got the money, it’s yours). Enhancements to the trade system will go a long way in helping players set up their favourite routes for making credits.

A summary of second video can be found here via the Frontier Forums.

The final Livestream lets you see what’s in store for players in relation to the Engineers, GalNet Audio, an alternative ship voice and more. If you’ve ever been frustrated with the dice rolls you make during engineer upgrades the new system that’s coming will hopefully give you more consistent results. After all if you’ve gone to the effort to source what you need for these upgrades the last thing you want to happen is some random modifier neutering your systems.

To me it sounds like the aim of this chapter of updates is to get in some quality of life changes that will once again make aspects of the game less frustrating and/or intimidating. The audio improvements seem superfluous but as a player who mostly ignores the GalNet feed, having local news piped into my ship is likely to make me curious. And if something interesting comes up I’m going to want to check it out and that’s great for breaking up my regular routine.

Elite Dangerous is out now for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The beta of the Beyond update begins from January 25 and is for PC players only.

[UPDATE] Current patch notes for the beta can be found here.