Elite Dangerous Powerplay Update 1.3 Enters Beta Today

After a few delays and pushbacks, the new Powerplay update for Elite Dangerous has gone to beta today and is available for all beta backers. As usual, the beta version is a separate install handled through the normal Elite launcher. The beta universe is distinct from the normal play universe, but they start you out with more cash than normal to encourage players to buy new equipment and experiment with the new features the update has to offer.

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=147485

Powerplay refers to the new faction and reputation system. The game will now consist of several, ever changing "minor" factions that players can have impact on. Missions in general have been overhauled in an attempt to make them interesting to more than just the beginning players (in normal ED progression, most players pretty quickly abandon the missions in favor of far more lucrative play options once they reach a certain point).

They have also added two new ships, as well as a slew of drones that can now scan asteroids for composition (previously impossible), collect minierals/cargo, and transfer fuel between ships (allowing Wings to extend their practical range).

Here are a few other points of interest that caught my eye:

Mining sites now have high and low intensity designations like conflict zones. The more dangerous the resource extraction site, the higher the potential rewards. Similarly, if you troll these sites for pirates and don't actually do any mining, now it should be easier to figure out which are the best sites to patrol.

Any internal component slot can be used to hold a fuel tank module. While the larger, multipurpose ships tend to have very large tanks the smaller fighters do not, even when you get to the higher tiered ships and it's painful to have to stop to refuel/fuel scoop every couple of jumps. Now you can turn your fighter into a flying gas tank to migrate to faraway systems.

Here's one that -really- caught my eye, though, and not in a good way:

"Bounties cannot be paid off (Pilot's Fed contact is gone!), but expire after 7 days."

W-T-F?

One of the biggest pains in the ass about pirate hunting in populated areas is accidentally clipping a security ship and getting a bounty, which then forces you to flee the area to go pay it off so you can get back to business. Now, that's no longer an option. That might be cool, or it might be a huge pain in the ass. Only time will tell. They also said that they have relaxed friendly fire values, so hopefully now you'll only be likely to get a bounty if you intentionally commit a crime.

Full update notes are below (minus bug fixes, which are a mile long).

-Byshop

New Content/Features:

• Powerplay added
  Playable ship Imperial Courier added
  • Power map views added to galaxy map
  • Added power information and action screens
  • Power specific ship modules added
  • Power specific ambient traffic added
  • Spawn AI to hunt player if they defect
  • Power specific goods and actions added
• Playable ship Imperial Courier added
• Playable ship Diamondback added
• Cargo/Mining chunk collection drones added
• Fuel transfer drones added
• Prospector drones added
• Mission system overhaul
  
  • Inbox integration for branching missions
  • Missions scaling up based on rank
  • Missions scaling up based on reputation with mission giver
  • Mission targets can be generated in supercruise rather than USSs
  • Spawned AI difficulty determined by mission (if spawned by mission)
  • Missions requiring only mineable materials added
  • Revamped military progression missions
  • Added Founders and Elite ranked missions
  • More mission variants added
  • Chatter tables updated
• Updated bounty system
  Add select nav target functionality to system map
  • Bounties cannot be paid off (Pilot's Fed contact is gone!), but expire after 7 days.
  • Major factions don't record crimes anymore, only minor factions. (You may have major faction stuff in your saves left over from the previous system).
  • Fines now take 7 days to expire, but never coexist with bounties (bounties absorb fines and dormant bounties with the same faction).
  • Expiry only actually happens when you login, hyperspace or resurrect. (This stops cases of "I attacked a wanted ship that had no bounty a few seconds ago")
  • Friendly fire values relaxed
• Add mining bonus for mining operations within extraction sites
• Added Painite as a minable commodity
• Added osmium as a minable commodity
• Added low and high intensity resource extraction site scenarios
• Loan ceiling scales based on player's highest Elite rank
• Founder decal now gold
• Added crimes for reckless flying (collisions) within starport no fire zones:
  Allow any general purpose slot on any ship to contain a fuel tank module
  • Shields only collisions above speed limit is a fine
  • Hull damage only above speed limit is a larger fine
  • Ship destruction within short window after collision above speed limit is a bounty
  • Respects 'Report crimes against me' setting
• Show progress to next PF rank
• NPC chatter works in supercruise
• Added rank up messages and animations to inbox

will probably pick up both new ships for lulz, since they're so cheap

In the Beta, they didn't do a "reset" but they appear to have taken a state copy of where you were in the normal game at some point in time recently and that's your starting point in the beta instead of giving you a Sidewinder in the starting system with a boatload of cash as they've done before. I don't know what the final price of the two new ships is, but in the beta they've dropped the price of all ships and outfitting to a tiny percent of its normal price. Just for the hell of it, I bought an Anaconda and fully loaded it for like 7 mil total just to give it a shot. I also got the Courier although I haven't put much time in with it (it has a cool cockpit, though).

Some of these tweaks will be interesting. I love the Fuel Tank change but I'm wary of not being able to pay off bounties anymore. I can't even tell you how many times I got a bounty because I clipped a cop or because I shot before finishing my scan even though the other guy was wanted.

-Byshop

Both of the new ships kind of suck, lol. The game needed them, though, because there was a pretty big gap between a Cobra and the next available ships for purchase. They are decent for their price range, but experienced players will get no value from them.

Another interesting wrinkle: shields no longer seem to auto-recharge by jumping into frame shift.

Edit: Yup. There it was in the notes. Shields persist in Supercruise.

-Byshop

With all these new ships, I think FD needs to specialize them. The whole modularity mechanic makes ships only important in how much cargo they carry and how well you can arm them.

They are specialized by class. Fighters can always be fitted out better than comparable (and even larger in a lot of cases) multipurpose ships. Cargo haulers can carry massive ammounts of cargo but have very limited guns. I loaded the crap out of an Asp with 30 mil worth of fitting to test it in combat versus a cheaper Vulture, but the Vulture still trumps the Asp by a long shot (but at the cost of jump range, fuel capacity, and a -very- limited power plant).

-Byshop

Also 28/05 they are supposed to be releasing Steam keys to purchasers that bought the game on their site. I'm looking forward to the planet exploration, although they are taking their sweet time.

Yeah, that's also supposed to be tomorrow.

(Me in 2004): What?!? I have to download this fucking "Steam" service just to play Half Life 2? Why can't I just buy it in a store!?!?

(Me in 2015): What?!? Why the hell isn't this game on Steam? I have to buy it from a store or use a different online service?! What bullshit!!

-Byshop

hehe, that was me as well. I remember all the controversy when people were told that you had to install a "Steam service" to play. There was so much raging going on. Now I don't know what I would do without my Steam.

I really want to pick this up but have been holding off on it until one of the VR headsets come out and so I can get a new HOTAS joystick. The wait is killing me :p

Update: The beta has ended and the Powerplay update is now live. Happy Hunting!

-Byshop