Greetings Commanders.
This Thursday, we'll be celebrating the 6 year anniversary of Elite Dangerous with a special
anniversary stream! It's going to be an exciting stream and a bit bigger than our usual Thursday affair.
As a result of this bumper edition Thursday stream, we won't be able to do our weekly AMA with you today. Fear not though, we've sneakily been collecting all your Odyssey questions from the last few AMA sessions and have been gathering as many answers as we can from our development team! Here is a selection of some of the questions and answers we've been able to bring you!
- Will powerplay see any changes in Odyssey?
Powerplay will be discussed at a later date
- Will there be a helmet HUD in odyssey?
Yes please see our post here for more detailed information.
- Will you have some kind of holographic personal display to read information when you are on foot?
Yes your suit will have similar functions to your ship – more on this in the future
- Will our avatars in Odyssey be more sophisticated than we have at present, in order to facilitate height and weight differences, so that we don't all appear the same ‘size’?
There will be a vast amount of ways Commanders can customise their avatars in game to give themselves a truly unique experience. However height and weight are currently not customisable.
- With regards to Odyssey, can you tease more if any BGS changes, e.g. uniforms for player factions on NPC's, custom logos on stations, or some other benefits that supports of a faction may take advantage of.
BGS is always present in Elite and this will be evident in Odyssey with various planets and settlement appearing differently dependent on their current state.
- In Odyssey, will our helmets have night vision mode same as the SRV and ship?
Suits will have various functions player will be able to unlock and upgrade them with. Night vision is one of those functions.
- Can the new terrain system generate overhangs?
Unfortunately not, however we think you will enjoy the vistas that our planetary tech will provide!
- What are the plans for networking in Odyssey? Will it be p2p or will it be server based for FPS gameplay?
The underlying network structure is the same as the rest of ED i.e. p2p so that the experience is seamless for players
- Could you elaborate on how high, low or lack of gravity will be handled by spacelegs on the ground or in stations)?
We have an upper cap on high gravity worlds where it would not be safe for Commanders to deploy.
For outposts, whilst we’re in Zero-G, we use magnetised boots to keep the player on the floor.
On planets, gravity affects how high you can jump and particularly how effective your jump pack is – on Low-G planets you can get quite a lot of distance! Grenades also follow trajectories based on gravity which creates some interesting gameplay!
- With Odyssey and with it new gear incoming in mind: Are there plans to increase the storage limit for modules?
No plans for this at the moment.
- Quick question about the lighting changes in the Odyssey Update: Is it going to be a sweeping change to all or most light sources, including ships interiors/exteriors and system stars? Or will it be limited to stations and the atmospheric planets?
We’re revamping the lighting for the entire game!
- Will there be a possibility of mining on the surface of planets in Odyssey?
Whilst we are not looking at mining on foot at this time, you will be able to visit small mining settlements.
- Will Fleet Carriers get interiors in Odyssey?
We have nothing to add on this at this moment in time.
- Can you tell us if Elite has had a large code refresh/overhaul in preparation for Odyssey?
There is a lot of new code and systems being implemented/refreshed for Odyssey.
- Are there to be any significant changes to the camera suite for Odyssey, on-foot or off?
The original camera suite will be available in Odyssey. We are also in the process of adding the vanity cam for the on foot character. We are very excited to see what our community come up with at launch.
- Will Odyssey have the same graphic impact as the current engine in terms of performance or will you need to upgrade your video card?
Odyssey will be optimised to run on your current setting for Elite Dangerous.
- How does Odyssey deal with ship kits in regards to hit boxes? Will a raider ship kit’s spikes provide additional cover for example?
Hit boxes for ships will accurately reflect their design in Odyssey, including any ship kits players have attached.
- Will we be able to fly other CMDRs' ships in Odyssey? Whether if it's by multicrew or stealing?
No, only the Commander that owns that ship can fly their ship. However, players will be able to deploy in that Commander’s SRV or SLF with physical multicrew.
- Will we be able to hire NPCs in places normally reserved for multi-crew?
No this will not be a feature in Odyssey.
- What level of customization will players have over their FPS weapons in Odyssey? Will we be able to change/add sights, scopes, attachments, skins, etc.?
Weapons will be able to be customised in a variety of ways both internally and externally, from sights and suppressors that suit the players playstyle to weapon skins that are purely aesthetic. More on this in the future.
- Will we have the possibility to have our CMDR Names marked on planets in the style of: "First landed on by CMDR X"?
Yes, we will log first footfall on a per CMDR basis
- Will a Horizons user on a SRV be able to meet an Odyssey user on foot on a planet with no atmosphere?
We are looking at this at the moment - more to follow soon.
- Will Odyssey space suits get kits?
The flight suit is the base suit, on top of which Commanders will be able chose how they will want to specialise.
- In Odyssey, when transitioning from ships to (breathable?) space stations, will my character be in the selected outfit I bought from Holo-Me or in one of the new suits?
Whichever you chose to equip both are viable
- Will Odyssey bring more mysteries and codes similar to that of the Thargoid Probe Spectrogram?
Narrative is a big part of the Elite Dangerous galaxy – we expect to continue this in the future.
- Will we be able to use our current clothing in Odyssey?
Yes, everything you own is usable in Odyssey.
- If a player isn't into FPS combat will that part of the expansion be optional?
Elite Dangerous has always been about allowing you to blaze your own trail, this will continue in Odyssey. Combat will always be optional for Commanders.
- Any plans to introduce improved anti aliasing in Odyssey?
We are not changing this engine, we are however looking at any issues and fixing them ready for launch.
We'll be taking a break from the AMA's over the festive period so we can spend more time with our turkey...I mean family. We'll be back with more in the new year!
Join us 17 December 12:00 UTC on
www.twitch.tv/elitedangerous and
www.youtube.com/elitedangerous/live for our Anniversary stream. We'll have activities, Twitch drops and Developer Gareth Hughes will be answering your Elite Dangerous: Odyssey combat questions!
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