Frontier Developments have announced that the latest round of updates for Elite Dangerous is now live for all players! The patch notes can be found here via the forums which also include bug fixes but for those only wanting to know what’s new just head on below. The big changes for this update center around the player experience with a revised introduction for new players, easier ways to manage cosmetic items/liveries and the new ARX currency system being employed across all platforms.

Obsidian Ant posted a good rundown of the update so far (see video below) and I’m sure a lot of players will be voicing their own opinions over the coming days too. This is about as good a chance as any for the game to bring in a larger audience so hopefully I can see for myself how this tutorial has turned out. It’ll be good if a couple more patches slip in quickly as well to deal with the know issues too. Still… I’ll be checking it out and running a few jobs to see how it’s all going. 🙂

New Features

New Starter Experience

• Added a curated experience for new players that will guide them through the basics of ship control, combat, travel and docking
• The experience has localised voiceover in all supported languages
• Certain UI elements are highlighted at key points during the flow
• Players are given a mission once the flow has been completed, that introduces them to the mission board (with voiceover)
• Added the experience to the ‘Training Simulations’ list, accessible from the internal cockpit panel
• Updated the throttle UI to better show the players current direction of travel (the rectangular blocks are now chevrons, and added a subtle pulse animation)
• Pre-flight checklist is now off by default when starting a new game (it can be turned back on)

Supercruise

• Added new option to the Flight Assist tab to allow the Supercruise Assist module to control the throttle automatically
• Supercruise ‘Safe to Disengage‘ message has been updated to include the binding that will disengage Supercruise

ARX

• ARX is the new currency that takes over from Frontier Points and real money transactions across all platforms
• Players purchase a pack containing a number of ARX that are then used to purchase in-game cosmetic items (Game Extras) for their ship, SRV, fighter or Holo-Me
• Players can purchase ARX from in-game links that direct either to an external Frontier Store or site
• Any outstanding Frontier Points will be converted to ARX the first time the player logs into the game after the update

Rewarding ARX

• Players can earn ARX through standard gameplay (up to a 400 weekly cap) based on in-game activities within Combat, Trade and Exploration and more!
• Players are notified of their previous session earnings on the main menu

Livery Update

• Refreshed livery layoutIcons denote the different categories (general, decals, cockpit decorations, etc.)
• Updated vessel selection screen
• Separate UI for ship name and ID
• Preview mode that reduces the amount of on-screen UI, giving a clearer view of the chosen item
• Players now purchase items, with ARX, directly from livery, without being redirected to an external store
• Players can now access livery from the main menu

Holo-Me

• Players can now purchase items, with ARX directly from the Holo-Me section, without being redirected to an external store

New Store

• Added a new customisation store
• Players can browse the entire catalog of customisation items for any available ship
• Preview Mode allows players to see any cosmetic items on a vanilla version of any ship, as well as use camera controls to view it from different angles
• The store is accessible from either the main menu or major starports in-game
• Players purchase cosmetic items directly from the store, without being redirected to an external site

Elite Dangerous is out now for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.