Six years have passed — six long years since the stars last called us forth. But now, the wait is over! It's time to brush the dust off those cherished DW1 and DW2 decals, breathe life back into your trusty old rust buckets that once took you to Beagle and back, and ready yourself for a journey of cosmic proportions.
For the seasoned voyagers, destiny beckons you once more. And for those yet to embark on a Distant Worlds adventure — prepare to join us on an odyssey unlike anything you've ever imagined! The galaxy awaits — will you answer the call?
Distant Worlds 3 - Organizers progress so far, upcoming events, and an early roadmap for the year ahead
A big thanks to everyone for your interest in Distant Worlds 3! We’re thrilled to officially confirm that the expedition is a go, and it's shaping up to be our most ambitious and comprehensive event to date, offering players an experience unlike anything we've done before!
Distant Worlds 3 is set to deliver an expansive gameplay experience, featuring Exploration & Discovery, Scientific Investigation, Industry, Logistics, Trade, an Inter-fleet Transportation System, and an engaging Narrative. Participants can also look forward to a variety of Quests and Missions that will shape their journey.
This will be our most ambitious project yet — surpassing anything we've achieved with the previous two Distant Worlds events!
We're aiming for a January 2026 launch for the main expedition, aligning with the 10th anniversary of DW1. However, the adventure begins much sooner, this very month! — March 30th marks the start of our exciting Trailblazers precursor event, with the goal to build a satellite colony beyond bubble borders in a location with a visually stunning backdrop! Once completed, this will serve as our main launch site for DW3 and all future Distant Worlds related events.
There's a brief synopsis of what this entails included later in this post, but next week we'll share full details on what this will involve with a dedicated presentation thread, including its objectives and how you can take part. This will be the first of at least three major DW3 events scheduled for the coming year — all building toward the full expedition launch in early 2026.
When do the fleet roster sign-ups begin?
The sign-up process for the DW3 expedition begins in May 2025.
Choosing your fleet roles on the roster is important as it provides insight into players' preferred activities (aside from exploration), helping us determine which events to prioritize.
We plan to publish a comprehensive Distant Worlds Website and the Fleet Roster Sign-Up process at the same time. A dedicated thread detailing these, with a synopsis of what roles are available, will be posted in the Elite Dangerous exploration forum, and will be announced on social media and the Fleetcomm discord at the time.
A roadmap for the year ahead (all dates are estimates)
March & April 2025
- Event! Announcing a Colonization Event: "The Shoulder Of Orion" – a foundational step for DW3! This is an opportunity for explorers to contribute to the creation of a science and exploration-based colony site beyond bubble borders, which will serve as the departure point for the upcoming Distant Worlds 3 expedition, and all future DW-related events and activities.
May 2025
- Publication of the Distant Worlds Website & Opening of the Fleet Roster sign-ups!
- Introducing the Official Distant Worlds Carriers, and what roles they’ll undertake during the expedition.
- Re-introducing Distant Radio, and announcing the revival of the Distant Worlds ‘Dangerous Cosmology’ Podcast with Astrophysicist Dr. Sarah Bosman.
June 2025
- Reveal and video demonstration of a key DW3 project that will link everything together during the main expeditionary event.
July 2025
- Event! Announcing another pre-DW3 event, based in the bubble and local area. An opportunity for the community to help us test aspects of key DW3 projects. More details on this soon!
August 2025
- In-depth thread detailing the Science Project.
- Details revealed of complementary projects and events.
September 2025
- A summary introducing the Distant Worlds narrative.
October 2025
- Main DW3 thread published - a thorough detailing of what to expect; structure of the route details, project & event details, mission & quest details, launch dates and times, and much more!
December 2025
- Event! Launch of another pre-DW3 event; “Engineering your ship for the journey ahead” - a series of events that will be hosted by a dedicated engineering team and geared toward helping new players prepare for DW3.
January 2026
- The DW3 Expedition begins with a major launch event from its Colony site!
The DW3 Colonization Event - a precursor to the main event
As a lead up to the main expeditionary event, which launches next January, we plan on holding at least 3 precursor events throughout 2025. The first of which begins later this month, and this involves building a colony from which the DW3 fleet will officially launch from.
On March 30th we’ll begin an ambitious plan to daisy chain outposts out toward the Orion Nebula Complex, and to choose a system along the way that will become the official launch site for DW3 and all future DW-related events.
We’re inviting commanders - whether you plan on taking part in the expeditionary aspect of DW3 or not - to join this effort, which will be hosted on the Fleetcomm discord. This is your chance to take part in a major undertaking and help build a satellite colony in one of the most beautiful areas of the galaxy.
On March 17th, we'll publish a thread dedicated to this event, with more in-depth details of what the goals are, and how we plan to achieve them, along with the background lore.
To get involved in this effort, please join Fleetcomm Discord today, here : Link.
A brief glimpse into one of DW3’s core expeditionary projects
For the actual expeditionary phase of DW3 next year, we plan to incorporate at least three core projects, along with numerous peripheral events, details of all will be revealed throughout 2025. And for this month, here’s a very quick insight into…
The Discovery & Science Project
During DW3, we want ‘exploration’ to be more than sightseeing, tagging planets, and racking up credits.
The Science Project brings together all the cool discovery-based gameplay—like exobiology, geology, planetary mapping, NSP discovery, and identifying unique worlds—into a bigger scientific mission. Since the game’s mechanics don’t naturally link these things together, we’re creating a system that makes them all become part of something bigger. That way, every little discovery you make actually means something in the grander scheme of the galaxy.
We’ll dive into the mechanics of how this works later this year (that’ll need a whole thread on its own!), but the main idea is to produce a bi-weekly Scientific Paper packed with charts, graphs, photos, and writeups. Everything players contribute will help shape the final results. At the end of it all, we’ll put together a downloadable Scientific Journal—something you can look back on and say, "I helped make that happen.". It’ll be a lasting memento of your journey through the galaxy.
This is just one way in which we’re attempting to turn the expedition into something bigger than just sightseeing—giving real meaning to exploration and teamwork as we travel the stars together!
DW3 Fleet Carriers
We're deploying four fleet carriers for DW3, and during the journey they'll play key roles in events, projects, and the narrative. These carriers will be deployed out at the launch site colony once it's been completed - more details on them will be announced when the website and roster go live in May.
DW3 participants are highly encouraged to adopt one of them as your homebase for the journey ahead.
At its core, DW3 remains a ship-based expedition, so we’re respectfully asking you not to bring your personal carriers on the expeditionary aspect of DW3 when it launches next January—they’re not needed, and too many will slow things down. As we’ve all seen, Carriers en-mass mean server strain, longer jump timers, and a worse experience for everyone.
In addition, this journey far exceeds any Tritium reserves, so save yourself the hassle and stress of managing a carrier over several months of travel and instead just enjoy the adventure! You’ll still get all the benefits by using an official DW3 carrier as your homebase to store spare ships, equipment, and to hitch a ride on when your gametime is short.
Apart from my main exploration ship, should I bring anything else along on DW3?
Yes. Certain events during DW3 will be exclusive to specific ships.
To take part in those particular events you’ll need to bring;
- A Sidewinder - Engineered for jump-range (this is for an optional one-off event covering thousands of light-years, so it’s not for the faint of heart!).
- The Hauler - With a maximum of 8 tonnes cargo rack fitted, for a one-off event. Engineering is optional.
- An Adder - To use as an interfleet passenger service in association with an on-going narrative-linked event. Engineer it for range!
At the time of this posting, there's at least 3 different racing events planned, each will be ship specific, so if you want to take part in all three events, you'll need to bring all three types of ship;
- A Viper Mk III (Viper Races)
- An Imperial Eagle (Eagle Races)
- A Cobra Mk III (Cobra Mk III Races)
Additionally to help with Official DW3 Carrier fleet operations;
- Ships rigged out for mining, refining, and haulage.
We’re working on additional events that may also be tailored to specific ships. Once we get a look at the new ships arriving in 2025, we’ll share more details later this year.
A brief word about the Route
For DW3, we’re completely revamping the traditional routes we've used in the past.
While a journey through the Abyss, visiting Beagle Point, Semotus Beacon/Ishum’s Reach, and looking back at the galaxy from the far outer rim have been key highlights on previous Distant Worlds expeditions—and may still play a minor role—they will no longer be the central focus, or end goal.
Instead, the DW3 route will be divided into four phases, two of which are designed to offer a different experience from each other while still serving an overarching goal.
We’ll share more details in the main DW3 thread this October, but the key takeaway is that DW3 will take a different path than DW1 and DW2 in terms of both the journey itself, and our final destination (and for those that asked, no, this will not be a circumnavigation event either!).
Will there be Console or Legacy versions of DW3?
We reviewed community feedback and found that responses from console-only players were minimal, and very little from legacy players too, and due to time and resource constraints, we’re unable to run multi-client versions of DW3. Additionally, many of the events and projects central to the expedition are designed specifically for the PC version of Elite Dangerous: Odyssey.
That said, console and legacy players are welcome to organize their own version of DW3 and align their activities as closely as possible with the PC event. While we won’t be able to provide direct support, we’ll offer the opportunity to register on the official DW3 roster (once it's live). There’ll be an option for console and legacy players to join and be recognized as part of the DW3 fleet, running parallel events alongside the main PC expedition.
And naturally we’ll provide Fleetcomm discord channels for any console or legacy client players who want to collaborate amongst themselves and give creating their own versions of DW3 a go.
Where do I find more info and keep up to date with DW3’s progress?
- Fleetcomm Discord is where both the launch site Colony project, and DW3 itself, will be hosted. There you can chat to fellow participants, org team members, and join groups taking on roles during DW3. (Link).
- The DW3 Website is our central hub for all things relating to Distant Worlds 3, its projects, events, route maps (when made available), event progress, historical archives etc. This will be your comprehensive DW3 companion - please bookmark it! [The website will go live in May 2025].
- The Frontier Exploration Forum will be used to post important one-off threads that outline the expedition, its projects, the weekly Route Map, and any other relevant information. But for up to date announcements (major and minor), Fleetcomm and/or the Distant Worlds Website are your places to go.
A recap on key upcoming events and dates
- March 17th - Announcing the DW3 Colonization Project (with a presentation to be posted on the Frontier Exploration Forum).
- March 30th - Beginning of the Colonization Project (to be hosted on Fleetcomm Discord).
- May 2025 - Publication of the DW3 Website and opening of the Fleet Roster Sign-Ups!
Logo's by Qohen Leth
Science Project logo by Doctor Drebin
Video Teaser by Arcanic
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