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General FAQ

What is Elite Dangerous?

Elite Dangerous is the definitive massively multiplayer space epic. It's the 4th instalment in the legendary Elite series of games, which includes mass-multiplayer as an integral part, while still allowing online single player. It will also be the first in the series that will be expanded with walking around.

The subtitle "Dangerous" refers to the 3rd best Elite Rating you could achieve during combat in the Elite games. In the new game it has been expanded to include more than combat. The origin of the series is Elite, the genre defining open world sandbox, space adventure, trading and combat simulator first released in 1984. It spawned two sequels Frontier: Elite II in 1993 and Frontier: First Encounters (Elite III) in 1995, which already attempted to simulate a realistic Milky Way galaxy with realistic star systems and seamless freeform interplanetary and atmospheric flight and landing on moving planets, with realistic orbits and day/night cycles. The developers have gone to great lengths to map and electronically recreate the Milky Way to scale to make the game as realistic as possible.

The original Elite (1984) is a true classic and revolutionary at the time and inspired the creation of many space games new game genres and the creation of the "Grand Theft Auto (GTA)" series.

The Elite Dangerous page on this wiki has more information.

File:Elite Dangerous Gameplay Demo - IGN Live Gamescom 2014

Thumbnail for The Future of Elite Dangerous

Official Pages:

Community Pages:

Elite - 1984
Frontier: Elite II - 1993
Frontier: First Encounters (Elite III) - 1995
Elite Dangerous - 2014

What are the main features of Elite Dangerous?

An immersive, evolving galaxy with dynamic society, economy and stories]], allowing pilots to join each other and together change the story of the Milky Way.
Pilots will be breaking blockades, battling pirates, attacking enemy positions and installations, and more, leaving their mark wherever they go.
All actions will change history of human kind.
Free-form play allows everyone to choose their own path, becoming an angry pirate, a spy, a peaceful trader, an explorer, a soldier, or a mix between these roles.
There are no classes or skill levels, strength is decided by ship equipment and player skill.
More than 30 different and customizable ships.
Surface vehicles such as the Scarab to explore planets and moons.
The vast, scientifically accurate 1:1 scale of the seamless Milky Way galaxy is created using a mix of procedural generation and artist direction.
- Around 400 billion star systems according to current scientific theories of star system formation with planets and moons that orbit and rotate.
- Cosmic phenomena like black holes, supernovas, active binary stars etc.
- Specially handcrafted overrides for 160,000 known stars in the night sky and planetary objects that we know and love. For example, our solar system Sol with Earth, Moon and Mars, other systems with recently discovered planets, etc.
- 141 nebula in the Milky Way galaxy.
- Star Clusters with rich survey data opportunities.
- 32 other galaxies are visible from the Milky Way.
Newtonian space combat (ships will continue to move unless intervened but without orbital mechanics)
Freeform (manual yaw/pitch/roll) interplanetary flight allows to fly freely through star systems in realistic scale to get to a destination. Players can choose to travel wherever they want, including vista points to see Earth rise on the moon, the sun appearing behind Mars, or they could choose to explore the vast expanse of space and discover new points of interest in star systems.
There are several sentient species in the Milky Way galaxy. The most notable are Humans, Thargoids and Guardians.

The game will be expanded with ambitious features such as atmospheric flight and landings and on-foot and out-of-ship activities (such as FPS combat, walking around and boarding ships, walking in stations and walking and driving vehicles on entire 1:1 scale populated living planets), multi-player crew and possibly player executive controlled capital ships.

More detailed information on a lot of the planned features can be found in the Design Discussion Archive.

File:Elite Dangerous Gameplay Demo - IGN Live Gamescom 2014
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The Future of Elite Dangerous

Elite - 1984
Frontier: Elite II - 1993
Frontier: First Encounters (Elite III) - 1995
Elite Dangerous - 2014

On what platforms is and will "Elite Dangerous" be released on?

Elite Dangerous has been released for:

Microsoft Windows on 16 December 2014. It is currently sold in version 2.0 ("Horizons")
Apple Mac OS X on 12 May 2015. It is currently sold in version 1.5 ("Season 1")
Xbox One on 6 October 2015. It is currently sold in version 1.5 ("Season 1")

And is planned to be released for:

Sony PlayStation 4 on 27 June 2017.^[1]

Where can I buy Elite Dangerous?

Elite Dangerous can be purchased on the Frontier Developments Official Store, Steam, and on Microsoft Store for Xbox One. It's also available in the store for the Oculus Rift.

What are the system requirements to run Elite Dangerous?

While the full release of Elite Dangerous is available on both Windows PC and Apple Mac computers. Everyone who bought Elite Dangerous, will be able to download the game for Windows and/or Mac computers once it is available, at no extra charge.

PC (Minimum System Requirements)^[2]

DirectX 10 hardware GPU with 1GB video RAM
Quad Core CPU (4 x 2Ghz is a reasonable minimum)
4 GB System RAM (more is always better).
For Elite Dangerous Horizons: 6GB RAM
Nvidia GTX 260 / ATI 4870HD (DirectX 10 hardware GPU with 1GB video RAM),
For Elite Dangerous Horizons: Nvidia GTX 470 or AMD R7 240 (Direct X 11 functionality required)
Internet Connection
For Elite Dangerous Horizons: Network Broadband Internet Connection
Hard Drive: 8 GB available space

Recommended PC Requirements for Elite Dangerous: Horizons^[3]

OS: Windows 7/8/10 64 bit
Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K Quad Core CPU or better / AMD FX 4350 Quad Core CPU or better
Memory: 8GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 770 / AMD Radeon R9 280X or better
Network Broadband Internet Connection
Hard Drive: 8 GB available space

Mac OS X (Minimum System Requirements)^[4]

2.3Ghz quad-core Intel Core i5 CPU
4GB System RAM
NVIDIA GT 650M 1GB or equivalent (found in Early 2013, Macbook Pro Retina 15")
Internet Connection
A non case-sensitive file system
Mac OS X 10.11.x "El Capitan" (10.10.03 or higher recommended), Latest version of Mono (will be installed on first run of the launcher)

Are there plans for other platforms to be supported?

Frontier Developments have confirmed that the game will be released as a timed-exclusive on Xbox One in the Summer of 2015 and a PlayStation 4 release on June 27, 2017. There might be a Linux desktop version. The initial release was Windows only with Mac OS X planned a few months later.

Does Elite Dangerous support Physically Based Rendering (PBR)?

Yes according to an interview with a graphics programmer dated August-29-2013.

My specialism for this project has mostly been full-scene things, like updating our lighting model to a “physically based” system.

And according to the executive producer.

Short answer: yes it does.
Elite Dangerous adopted a physically-based rendering (PBR) model right from the start - we want it to look as good as possible under a variety of lighting conditions (and space certainly gives you that!). We expect the visual quality of Elite Dangerous will continue to improve as we progress through development.
It's worth mentioning though that PBR isn't a one-size-fits-all solution as much as it's the start of a discussion that could probably occupy someone for their entire career - kind of like the way "High Dynamic Range" was quickly adopted by everyone years ago but people are still arguing over the fine details!

File:DockedViper.jpg

Does Elite Dangerous have positional damage?

Yes, the modules all have a position in or on the ship, and some calculations are done based on your armour to decide if there's any penetration at all (which gets more likely as your armour gets beaten up), then how far it's likely to penetrate and which modules are along the path of that penetration and might take damage (there's several more subtle rules, but that's the broad strokes).

Damage is also visually represented.

How can we travel those vast distances in such a huge galaxy?

There are two modes of super luminal (faster than light) travel to cover those vast 1:1 scale distances.

Supercruise, formerly known as frame shifting, is used for freeform (manual pitch/yaw/roll) travel within star systems. The maximum speed varies based on proximity to celestial bodies, up to 2001 times the speed of light (2001C) that rarely gets reached, to be able handle the most extreme spatial distances. It consumes a small amount of fuel and you can also see other ships that are super-cruising within a star system from a long distance away visually and with long range sensors and also do combat manoeuvring to perform interdictions.
Hyperspace drives are used to travel from anywhere between star systems. Hyperdrives with different ranges, charge up times and fuel consumption parameters are available, and so your particular model of hyperdrive governs your specific ability to move around the galaxy. The game ensures that you will get grouped with other ships near the star with the largest mass during hyperspace exit.

How are players going to meet each other in such a huge galaxy?

Most of the action will take place within the human populated core systems of the major factions and because of the way interstellar hyperspace travel works, the game will ensure that you will get grouped with other ships near the star with the largest mass during hyperspace exit. You will also be able to find other ships that are super-cruising within a star system from a long distance away visually and with long range sensors. There will also be ways to follow each other's hyperspace trail.

Multicrew is a feature introduced in 2.3. Multicrew adds the ability to join a seat of another commander's ship or let others join your ship, which can be done by being in a Wing. You can only have up to 3 people in a ship which has enough seats. A crew of 3 people in a Multicrew set-up performs similarly to a wing of 3 ships.

Players won't be able to just take off and disappear into uncharted areas of the galaxy without a huge amount of preparation and logistical equipment, and even when they do start doing that, a big reason for exploring is to find rich systems with lots of resources, so you can make more money by trading or selling information about the location of the resources, which leads them back to the core systems yet again. And if new interesting places with rich resources are found, then one of the major factions may claim the system leading to it becoming part of the core and space stations being built in those systems. But of course, you can also just go sightseeing.

Having such a large quantity of star systems permits the game to have many major discoveries and many more minor ones, enough for hundreds of thousands of players to experience the opportunity of unique finds without the feeling of tripping over the Ark of the Covenant every two minutes.

Is there an extensive dynamic economy?

Yes, Elite: Dangerous involves a dynamic Background Simulation, reflecting the evolution of the known galaxy with ever changing power and system influence of factions in response to player behaviour. Every station has its own demands and supply that dynamically change.

Elite: Dangerous features a complex background simulation which drives a dynamic system of ever changing power and influence. Struggles between minor factions are commonplace throughout the galaxy and are led by the actions of player commanders both inadvertently and intentionally through the mission system and other activities. Many players enjoy actively supporting a chosen faction indefinitely; helping to win their battles, defending territory and expanding the faction's operations into nearby star systems - ultimately building a small empire in their chosen sector of space. Playing the game this way offers an almost strategic, board game like experience and it can be immensely satisfying when your goals and objectives are met. Player actions can turn a small faction into an interstellar operation. It is important to note that while altering the local politics of a star system can be done by a lone commander, it will be far easier in groups of people all working towards a common goal, particularly as the faction grows. Where there is unity, there is victory. ^[5]

Faction Warfare: How the Galaxy will Evolve Over Time - Dev Diary
Dynamic Economy: Trading - Dev Diary
Faction System with Dynamic Society, Economy, Events and Stories
Newsletter about Trading and Economy
Background Simulation and Economy (2013)
Trading (2013)
Faction Causes and Dynamic Story Generation (2013)
Design Discussion Archive (2014)

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Trade Routes in Elite Dangerous
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Elite Dangerous Trading Dev Diary
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Elite Dangerous Dev Diary 2- How the Galaxy will Evolve Over Time

Are there any missions or quests?

Yes, missions fall into several types, the ones that you find en route and the ones that will have you actively engage in through a contract. These can earn you both credits and status within the faction you are working for, whether it is a disreputable criminal group or the Federation or Empire themselves.

Are there any roleplaying elements?

Just like in all the previous Elite games, you are not fixed to a specific role like in a traditional roleplaying game, there are also no skillpoints that directly affect the way your avatar performs. Instead you will always be directly in control of your avatar so your own skill will determine the outcome of your interactions.

File:'Elite Dangerous' Beta v2.04 - Opportunist (Flight Assist Off)

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That said there are extensive ratings and reputation systems that affect how NPC's and players perceive you, even going so far as taking ship appearance (age/damage) into consideration. There is also an extensive customization option for the ships.

Will I be able to smuggle illegal goods?

Yes

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'Elite Dangerous' Beta v1.03 - Smuggler (Flight Assist Off)
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'Elite Dangerous' Beta v1.03 - Pirate (Flight Assist Off)

Is there any mining?

Yes, just like the last two Elite games, there is mining. First Mineral Bodies (Asteroids), Frozen Liquid Bodies (Comets), Gas/Dust Clouds and Salvaging, but planetary mining machines are to come.

File:Metal asteroids.jpg

I have heard that the Elite series have no actual storyline. Is that true?

No. Elite Dangerous features a shared narrative which is influenced by players on all different platforms. This occurs with community events like Salomé, community goals and Powerplay activities. All of the meta data for the galaxy is shared between players. It's not traditional storytelling, rather an interactive, overarching narrative. Players have influenced and changed the course of events. The story unfolds in real time, in which players decide the outcomes and can be the stars. See the Elite Dangerous Timeline for a chronological list of events.

While the original Elite and Frontier: Elite 2 didn't have an in-game story, the 3rd Elite game, Frontier: First Encounters did have an in-game storyline centered around the Thargoids alien encounter that you could follow if you chose to do so. The story wasn't explicitly told with traditional cut-scenes, but unfolded from a first person perspective with the help of news events and corresponding missions. Elite: Dangerous continues with that style of storytelling and is set 45 years after the events of Frontier: First Encounters, in the year 3300 and the Thargoids will make a return. It features more dynamic events, available from newsfeeds within the game or outside, based on both developer injected, dynamic procedural stories , player-caused events and missions. The game will also have more than 13 official book tie-ins to tell different stories about Elite universe, with lots of places, events and people referenced in the game.

File:Elite Dangerous Gameplay Demo - IGN Live Gamescom 2014

Thumbnail for Elite Dangerous Dev Diary 2- How the Galaxy will Evolve Over Time

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In addition to this the Elite universe does have an extensive background history which is covered in many different sources, like In the official novellas - The Dark Wheel from Elite, Stories of Life on the Frontier Life On The Frontier and The Gazetteer from Frontier: Elite 2, and Further Stories of Life on the Frontier from Frontier: First Encounters which can all be found in the following links [1] [2] [3] . In addition to this there is also Fan Fiction.

Is there detailed ship management and avionics?

Yes, see the following links:

File:'Elite Dangerous' Beta v2.04 - Opportunist (Flight Assist Off)
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'Elite Dangerous' Beta v1.03 - Smuggler (Flight Assist Off)
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Older build

Will I be able to hire crew for my ship?

Yes, as with previous Elite games you will be able to hire NPC crews and player crews for the larger multi-crew ships in future updates.

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The Future of Elite Dangerous
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Can I hire wingmen?

Yes, you can hire wingmen and escorts, but you won't be able to own them. Their loyalty will depend on their morality and faction connections, so they will be able to betray you, or simply refuse to engage in certain criminal acts. You can however hire players to be in your wing.

Will it be possible to manually land on planets?

Yes, just like the previous two Elite games you will be able to seamlessly freeform (manual pitch/yaw/roll) enter and fly through entire 1:1 scale populated planet atmospheres with living cities and wildlife enabling extra-vehicular activities as part of expansions.

The scope for Elite is huge, so a sensible strategy is used to add to the game in stages.

Keep in mind that the game has been well planned and designed from the start with all these features in mind (it is not an afterthought) and Frontier Developments already has the technology for this.

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Elite Dangerous Development Plan
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The Future of Elite Dangerous

Elite - 1984
Frontier: Elite II - 1993
Frontier: First Encounters (Elite III) - 1995
Elite: Dangerous - 2014

Will landing and docking be seamless in Elite: Dangerous?

Yes, just like in all the previous Elite games you are able to manually dock with space stations seamlessly. Future expansions will also add the possibility to seamlessly freeform land on planets. Landing and docking will be doable either using auto pilot, or manually.

Elite - 1984
Frontier: Elite II - 1993
Frontier: First Encounters (Elite III) - 1995
Elite: Dangerous - 2014

Will gas giants be realistically represented?

Yes, there are gassy and cloudy gas giants.

Can I walk around the ship, planets and space stations?

Space Legs refers to gameplay where players can walk around with extravehicular activity (EVA). This is a highly anticipated feature. It's unclear when space legs will be added to Elite Dangerous. Horizons was ruled out, so many people hope it will come during season 3. Multicrew and Holo-Me form the foundation for space legs features.

It's always been a core vision of David Braben that the player is a person in a real futuristic setting, not just a ship. Braben confirmed that Frontier is working on walking about features "Yes. We have ongoing work on planets, including atmospheres, planetary life, walking about and lots of other very exciting things for the future."^[6]

You will be able to walk around the ship interiors, operate ships with multiple players, board and steal other ships with Zero-G FPS combat, walk around and do FPS combat in space stations, do space walks to repair your ship, operate land and underwater vehicles and walk on entire 1:1 scale populated planets with NPCs in living cities, forests and be able to big-game hunt wildlife, like chasing big dinosaurs around as part of expansions.

The scope for Elite is huge, so a sensible strategy is used to add to the game in stages. Keep in mind that the game has been well planned and designed from the start with all these features in mind (it is not an afterthought). See this Planet Coaster - Dev Diary for a glimpse of the technology that Frontier Developments have for this.

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Elite Dangerous Development Plan
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The Future of Elite Dangerous
File:00overall2.jpg

Elite - 1984
Frontier: Elite II - 1993
Frontier: First Encounters (Elite III) - 1995
Elite: Dangerous - 2014

How big are planets and star systems?

Elite: Dangerous has a scientifically accurate 1:1 scale, fully seamless Milky Way galaxy, created from scientific first principles where stars and planets will be accurately positioned relative to your view. And just like the last two Elite games the planets and stars are on a 1:1 scale realistically sized with vast distances between them. The detail in Elite ranges from the macroscopic to microscopic scale.

Do planets rotate and orbit around stars?

Yes, just like in the last two Elite games, Frontier: Elite 2 and Frontier: First Encounters (Elite 3), planets and moons orbits and rotates in 1:1 scale real-time and tilt will affect their seasons. Full orbital periods are noticeable in-game.

Can I create my own Character?

Yes, Holo-Me is the name of the character customization feature for the player's commander. It allows deep character customization. For example, players can change their suit, many head and facial features, gender and other cosmetics. Players can customize their character at any time. Holo-Me requires the Elite Dangerous: Horizons expansion.

Are there alien life forms?

Alien life is common, but sentient alien life is rare. There are three known sentient species: Humans, Guardians and Thargoids. The Thargoids are a mysterious insectoid species which appeared in the original Elite and had an extensive story arc in Frontier: First Encounters (Elite 3) and they will make a return in Elite: Dangerous. The Guardians are an extinct alien humanoid species. There's other kinds of alien life such as Fungal Life.

How many ships are flyable by player in Elite: Dangerous?

There are 33 flyable ships and there are plans for more ships with major updates. Both new, modified, and improved models from the previous Elite games.

Can I own multiple ships?

Yes, there is no limit to the amount of ships you can own, but you can only fly one at a time.

Multiple Ship Ownership

Can I own and control capital ships?

There are capital ships in the game, but initially you won't be able to control or own them. There will be player controlled capital ships in a future expansion or major update.

In The Commanders Livestream, a viewer asked "any chance of playing capital ships in the future?", David Braben answered: "it's on the list, but a long way down it, because there's a lot of gameplay to make it work. The issue is what we call the difference between direct control and executive control. Where rather than flying by the seat of your pants you're giving orders to a giant ship. Because you can't expect it to change course very rapidly and that sort of thing. So it's certainly a long-term possibility, but it's long-term."^[7]

You can own and fly large multi-crew ships like the Anaconda and soon to come, the Panther Clipper and Beluga Liner. Some ships, like the Anaconda, can carry smaller ships, so you’d be able to launch a small fighter from it, which is more nimble.

Can I build an empire and own space stations and fleets?

You will be able to own small inflatable asteroid stations as depicted here as part of an update, but you can't fully own large stations, build empires or own fleets, since that would change the nature of the game. However, David Braben stated that they will add this type of functionality to some degree in the future.

Question: "Will it be possible to own a fleet of ships, staffed by NPCs and given orders to follow so that they trade or scout or mine ore etc?" David Braben answered: "With time we will add this sort of functionality to some degree, but we don't want it to be the be all, end all of the game."^[8]

For example, why would you pilot space ships yourself, when the most efficient way to make money and progress in a game is to sit back in an office and hand out commands? It's also problematic from a lore and immersion standpoint, since the game is simulating realistic societies, social structures and time scales, so building an empire would involve a lot of resources and politics that only big nations can afford and would stretch over months or years, even building a large space station can take a month or more.

So as an Elite federation pilot, you will initially only be able to aid in building empires and large space stations through Community Goals, by taking missions to transport resources and defend them, but you are too low on the social ladder (not important enough) to be able to command or own these kind of things. When they add this type of features to "some degree" it would need to strike a balance between realism and gameplay.

That said, you will be able to hire NPC wingmen and escorts and give them simple commands, but you won't be able to own or remote control them directly.

Q&A about Development Plan

Why are the ships simpler in design compared to other games?

Because Elite: Dangerous is set in a realistic galaxy where there is no artificial gravity and atmospheric capable ships are engineered to be symmetrical and aerodynamically streamlined, therefore they carry their weapons inboard within a bay to be able to believably skim, enter and freeform (manual pitch/yaw/roll) fly through planet atmospheres at hypersonic speeds.

The ships in Elite: Dangerous have airlocks, proper mass distribution with no off-centre main thrusters and separate tessellated cargo holds.

However, just like the ships in the previous Elite games, there will be a lot of variety in designs with each manufacturer having its own unique style, which can customized into numerous configurations.

Ships

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Designing the Future - The Ships of Elite Dangerous
File:DockedViper.jpg
File:Clipper landed1.jpg
File:Screenshot 0090.jpg

Can I use other Vehicles?

Yes, there is a surface vehicle called the Scarab. It's a Surface Recon Vehicle that allows pilots to drive around planetary surfaces in the Horizons expansion. Combat-wise it is outfitted with a shield and a plasma repeater turret. Additional vehicles are planned for future updates.

Can I make Cinematic Videos?

Yes, the Camera Suite is a fully functional third-person camera suite. It lets players take sophisticated screenshots, make cinematic videos and fly ships in third person. It succeeds the old Debug Camera and is part of update 2.3 The Commanders. In the revamped version you can move around much quicker and further away from your ship. There's a UI legend of shortcuts which can be hidden, and it features a zoom slider. You can lock the camera to your ship and are able to control the ship in a third-person perspective. The camera can ignore rotation so it has the same orientation.

Why is yaw so slow?

There is an inherent flaw with the premise of close combat space flight, leading to endless turreting and circle-strafing especially in PVP multiplayer, due to the lack of terrain features in mid space, compound that with the fact that Elite also features lightspeed pulse and beam lasers making this issue even more apparent. A fly-by-wire layer is applied on top of the Newtonian physics and it limits the yaw speed.

Elite: Dangerous deals with this by limiting the yaw rate and enforce an optimum corner speed by way of thruster placement and limits in the flight control computer, forcing to roll and then pitch to get the most efficient turn rate (less efficient, but most comfortable for a human pilot), in addition there is a G-LOC system, a preliminary version can be seen here.

Are there Newtonian physics?

Yes, the flight model of Elite Dangerous has Newtonian physics with a fly-by-wire layer applied over the top to make the combat feel visceral and seat-of-the-pants, rather than Frontier's jousting at huge distances.

Just like in the last two Elite games, the flight physics are Newtonian[4]. While this time the forces are fed to a proper rigid body, (so rotation is properly taken into account) instead of a simple point mass (where only linear dynamics matters), the fly-by-wire system (flight control computer) in Elite: Dangerous constrains the ship's angular and linear velocity relative to a common reference frame during regular local flight, to induce interesting tactical dogfights at close range and this flight assist can be partially disabled to be able to skid more freely. Also unlike the last two Elite games, only the Super-Cruise mode (Work In Progress) takes planet interaction into account (subject to change).

Here some quotes from the creator David Braben:

"David Braben I think in many respects it's more comparable to Frontier in terms of the way the galaxy works, that sort of thing. But in terms of the way you fly it's much closer to Elite. We're going to have Newtonian physics. But the way that we apply the fly-by-wire layer over the top of makes the combat feel really visceral and seat-of-the-pants, rather than [as in Frontier] jousting at huge distances"[5]

"David Braben Most of the ‘brutal realism’ of Frontier will continue. The real galaxy and so on. For the combat model we are doing more fly-by-wire than in Frontier, but this is to improve the feel of the game; the realism is still there. Don’t forget there was fly-by-wire in Frontier too."[6]

So there is a fly-by-wire system that keeps the ship within flight parameters, with a flight assist mode that is on by default, that helps you maintain your turns and dampen the angular momentum when rolling, pitching and yawing by automatically calculating the thruster forces needed to stabilize the ship and reduce the skidding. You can turn flight assist off, so you will have have to manually adjust the thruster forces to control the skidding and counteract the angular momentum, the fly-by-wire however will always be partially active to keep your ship constrained within the specified limits. Cargo mass will also affect the manoeuvrability of your ship.

Can I manually fire thrusters in every direction?

Yes the game allows for full 6DOF motion.

Is Elite Dangerous an MMO?

Yes, Elite Dangerous is an MMO, but with the important addition, that you can choose if you want to meet other players.

Players can choose between the following game modes: Solo (single player), Private Group (only with friends and invited people) or Open Play (multiplayer, play with everyone). In open play, you may encounter any other player who is also in Open, instancing and matching players occurs via a complex system. Players on different platforms cannot directly play with each other. However, every player on every platform affects the same shared galaxy, star systems, factions and the dynamic Background Simulation.

The game features a shared persistent galaxy, where macro effects and events such as economy, society and war status etc. are recorded and shared across all the different platforms. So all players influence the same shared galaxy.

The are no multi-player lobbies. The server transparently creates free roaming sessions (instances) when meeting other players and NPCs within that galaxy based on a perception bubble around you, that is defined by your scanner/visual range. That means that those instances are not a fixed location in space as in most other MMOs, but they dynamically move around.

The effects of those instances are then stored on the central galaxy server and shared by everybody.

Because the game features very high speed twitch combat and very detailed damage models, this is the most reliable way to do it, also keep in mind there can be many sessions within a star system and those sessions can dynamically move around, also because this game uses a 1:1 scale Milky Way galaxy, sessions will typically be spread out much further away (although most of the action will be within the core systems) and it wouldn't be immersion breaking as opposed to a space game in a smaller area.

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Elite Dangerous Dev Diary 2- How the Galaxy will Evolve Over Time
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Elite Dangerous Trading Dev Diary
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Elite Dangerous Standard Beta 3.9 Searfoss Plant on release night
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Elite Dangerous - Fleet Hyperlight Jump
File:Elite Dangerous Gameplay Demo - IGN Live Gamescom 2014

How does singleplayer work? Will I need to connect to a server to play?

Yes. The online galaxy of Elite Dangerous is a shared universe maintained by a central server. All of the meta data for the galaxy is shared between players. This includes the galaxy itself as well as transient information like economies. The aim here is that a player's actions will influence the development of the galaxy, without necessarily having to play multiplayer.

The other important aspect for the developers is that they can seed the galaxy with events, often these events will be triggered by player actions. With a living breathing galaxy players can discover new and interesting things long after they have started playing.

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Elite Dangerous Dev Diary 2- How the Galaxy will Evolve Over Time
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Elite Dangerous Trading Dev Diary
File:Elite Dangerous Gameplay Demo - IGN Live Gamescom 2014

Does Elite: Dangerous have a monthly subscription fee?

No. Elite: Dangerous has a fixed box price, without hidden costs. However, you will pay one-time fees for major additional expansions.

What are the expansions?

The expansions include significant new features such as seamless freeform (manual pitch/yaw/roll) atmospheric flight and landings and on-foot and out-of-ship activities (such as FPS combat, walking around and boarding ships, walking in stations and walking and driving vehicles on entire 1:1 scale populated living planets), multi-player crew and probably player executive controlled capital ships.

Frontier releases free updates roughly each month that enhance the game. Expansions that include significant new features and content will have to be purchased.

For example, the roadmap is to add these features over the following expansions (in no particular order): [7]

The scope for Elite is huge, so a sensible strategy is used to add to the game in stages.

Keep in mind that the game has been well planned and designed from the start with all these features in mind (it is not an afterthought) and Frontier Developments already has the technology for this.

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Elite Dangerous Development Plan
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The Future of Elite Dangerous
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Elite - 1984
Frontier: Elite II - 1993
Frontier: First Encounters (Elite III) - 1995
Elite: Dangerous - 2014

What are the Future Development Plans?

Elite Dangerous has a truly huge scope and Frontier has ambitious development plans. During an interview at Lavecon 2015, Frontier stated to have a clear intention of a 10 year development plan. ^[9] This includes small free updates and paid major updates. Frontier uses an iterative approach which means gradually build upon features to expand and improve them. Check the Features in the Expansions page for a rough overview of planned additions for ED.

Does Elite Dangerous support HTC Vive or Oculus Rift?

Yes, Elite: Dangerous officially supports both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.

Where can I follow development news about Elite: Dangerous?

Differences with Other Space Games

What are differences between Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen?

The differences are predominantly in issues surrounding scale, complexity of background simulations, adherence to recognized science of the universe and release schedule.

Heritage:

Elite: Dangerous is the 4th instalment in the legendary Elite series dating back to 1984.

Star Citizen has some commonality with other games like Wing Commander / Privateer / Starlancer / Freelancer series dating back to 1990. However, it's a new and separate franchise. It's not a continuation of those previous games.

Release Schedule:

Elite: Dangerous was released on December 16, 2014.

Star Citizen is projected for a general release in late 2016. However, it has been postponed many times. In mid 2017 it's not a full-game yet.

Story:

Elite: Dangerous has and Star Citizen will have an on-going background story which will be influenced by the players and augmented with developer injected events. Elite Dangerous takes place much further into the future (34th century). As such the technology is more advanced with a more futuristic science fiction setting. The universe of Elite is generally grittier and more realistic in the sense that there are no clear Hollywood style good and bad guys.

Star Citizen comes with a single-player focused cinematic scripted campaign called Squadron 42 and is projected for general episodic releases starting from late 2016, followed by two DLC sequels in the future

Ship Design and landing on planets:

In Elite: Dangerous, the ships are relatively larger for their class, and atmospheric capable ones are modeled to be aerodynamically streamlined and symmetrical, and therefore carry their weapons within a bay. This provides ships with hulls that are able to enter and freeform (manual pitch/yaw/roll) fly through planet atmospheres at hypersonic speeds. Capital ships are in the 2 km range

In Star Citizen the ships are less aerodynamically streamlined and carry their weapons outboard, some are asymmetrical. Players can own capital ships up to 345m in length, and can persistently capture & control ships up to 1KM in length The largest ship in the game is 3KM long

Landing on populated planets in Star Citizen will use virtually guided paths to point you to a dedicated landing zone. Unpopulated planets, or planets with no landing zone, will allow for freeform flight and unrestricted landing.

Methods of Travel:

Elite: Dangerous has freeform (manual pitch/yaw/roll) interplanetary fast travel; aka Super Cruise. Due to the realistic 1:1 scale galaxy with proper distances, it necessitates faster than light speeds, specifically up to 2001 times the speed of light (2001c). These high speeds make travel times practical with very long range sensors and combat interaction. Players are able to seamlessly enter hyperspace to travel from anywhere in a system to another star.

Star Citizen's interplanetary fast travel - Quantum Drive - allows for speeds up to 0.2c (20% the speed of light) across a solar system. This limit is for realism reasons, as there is no lore explanation for radiation shielding beyond 0.25c. Due to this, distances between planets are scaled down in order to make travel times practical. QDrive allows for freeform travel within a solar system, althoughonly in a straight line. Travel between solar systems requires wormhole-like jump points (which will allow some interactivity) at fixed locations

Galaxy:

In Elite: Dangerous the galaxy is scientifically accurate and includes around a 100 billion star systems (around 400 billion stars considering most systems contain multiple stars). The Elite Universe is modeled on current galactic charts. Planets and moons will rotate and orbit in 1:1 scale real-time, therefore constantly changing a system's environment. As such Elite Dangerous is more hard science fiction than Star Citizen.

Star Citizen's galaxy will have 120 star systems at launch, and an unknown number of explorable, procedurally generated systems. Time is compressed to 2 hours for each day (1:12 scale time). Due to QDrive speed limits, distances between planets are scaled down to around 1/100th scale. Gravity & Orbits will be simulated where practical.

Weapons:

Elite: Dangerous has lightspeed pulse and beam lasers on all ships fitted with energy weapons, along with missiles, railguns, cannons, and other weapon types

Star Citizen has a mix of slow-firing lasers (akin to Star Wars), missiles, gatling guns, railguns and ballistic weapons available

Artificial Gravity:

In Elite: Dangerous there is no artificial gravity, so space stations are designed to rotate In Star Citizen, space stations and ships use artificial gravity.

Flight and Combat Models:

The flight model of Elite Dangerous has Newtonian physics with a fly-by-wire layer applied over the top to make the combat feel visceral and seat-of-the-pants, rather than Frontier's jousting at huge distances.^[10]

There are major differences in how each game handles close combat flight (as you can see from this video). There is an inherent flaw with the premise of close combat space flight, leading to endless turreting and circle-strafing especially in PVP multiplayer due to the lack of terrain features in mid space, compound that with the fact that Elite also features lightspeed pulse and beam lasers making this issue even more apparent.

Elite: Dangerous deals with this by limiting the yaw rate and enforce an optimum corner speed by way of thruster placement and limits in the flight control computer, forcing to roll and then pitch to get the most efficient turn rate, in addition there is a G-LOC system, a preliminary version can be seen here.

In Star Citizen ships can be pointed more intuitively in a fashion akin to FPS, requiring a strong yaw. It deals with turreting by having a G-LOC system as seen here, but this alone doesn't alleviate the problems completely, and it's up to the pilot's skill to deal with it correctly. Star Citizen features a fully simulated IFCS that translates pilot input to thruster/gyro activation on the ship.

Multiplayer:

Multiplayer is handled with a grouping system in Elite: Dangerous and a PVP-PVE slider which doesn't completely control engagements in Star Citizen. [sentence needs clarification]

Additional Links:

What are differences between Elite: Dangerous and EVE Online?

Elite: Dangerous is pay once and play, therefore does not have a periodic subscription like EVE Online. Although Elite: Dangerous does offer paid "season passes" these behave more like paid DLC and the more traditional major expansion pack, in that not purchasing them does not prevent the base game from being played, whereas failure to pay for a periodic subscription prevents the base game from being played.

Another major difference is that in EVE everybody within a star system is in one big instance and when there are too many people within it they slow down the update rate of the game.

Elite: Dangerous features dynamically created free roaming multiplayer instances, based on perception bubble, that are decoupled from the star systems themselves (but you can also play solo).

Due to a lot less network traffic, this allows Elite: Dangerous to have twitch based action instead of classic MMO click 'n' roll (where actual world updates are comparatively slow depending on server load and all attacks are calculated on servers using modified D&D system) which is used in EVE. That means that Elite: Dangerous combat is twitch skill based.

An important difference is that EVE's economy is totally player driven - so to have ships and weapons in the game have to be manufactured by players themselves, by collecting resources and providing them to factories. Elite: Dangerous uses an economic model that drives NPCs to simulate the flow of products, which also have all player trades as input to the shared universe.

Another important difference is that EVE has a lot of empire building and RTS elements, while Elite is what it would be like to be a spacefarer in a galaxy from a first person’s perspective. PVP also has some differences.

The Elite: Dangerous galaxy is based on the real Milky Way planets will rotate and orbit their stars, thus constantly changing a system's landscape and adding lot of depth - and it has around 400 billion star systems, as opposed to EVE where the planets are static and don't move.

Elite: Dangerous has freeform (manual pitch/yaw/roll) interplanetary fast travel up to 2000 times the speed of light (2000C) and you are able to seamlessly enter from anywhere to another star. EVE on the other hand has point & click travel and you must fly to a jump gate to enter another star system.

A major feature that Elite: Dangerous will have is freeform (manual pitch/yaw/roll) atmospheric flight and seamless landing on planets and walking on living planets with cities and wildlife as part of expansions.

References

[1] ttps://blog.us.playstation.com/2017/05/16/elite-dangerous-touches-down-on-ps4-june-27/

[2] ttps://support.frontier.co.uk/kb/faq.php?id=74

[3] ttps://support.frontier.co.uk/kb/faq.php?id=227

[4] ttps://support.frontier.co.uk/kb/faq.php?id=85

[5] ttp://8thdragonsquadron.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/BGS-Guide.pdf

[6] Ask Him Anything: David Braben, co-creator of Elite, co-founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, and Frontier's head honcho

[7] Elite Dangerous 2.3 - The Commanders Release Livestream

[8] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-bEn2aLJ7U&t=0s

[9] ttps://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/165775-Lavecon-News

[:0-10] Elite: Dangerous will have 100 billion star systems, plus Thargoids — Braben reveals what's next

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