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Two New Ships Coming to Elite Dangerous Beyond - Chapter Four

Frontier Developments have revealed two new ships that will be launching alongside the upcoming Elite Dangerous: Beyond - Chapter Four update later this year.

• Mamba:  Based on an unreleased racing prototype, the Mamba brings blistering speed combined with huge firepower to Elite Dangerous as part of the Beyond – Chapter Four update. Sporting one huge and two large hardpoints, the Mamba’s emphasis on power and speed allows players to hit hard and vanish before a target has had time to react.

• Krait Phantom:  Joining the Mamba in Beyond – Chapter Four is the Krait Phantom. Following on from its sister ship the Krait Mk II, the Phantom is a lighter, faster ship that features a spacious cargo hold and relatively generous quantity of hardpoints. Though it may not boast the same firepower as the Mk II, the Phantom can still hold its own against larger targets and has enough straight-line speed to outpace smaller ships.

Of course, these ships in going to be released when the final chapter in the Beyond season launches, and the largest Elite Dangerous update of the year, arrives in 2018.

This update will provide new, significant additions to exploration, mining, multiplayer and more, and some of these updates are detailed below:

Exploration

• A new Analysis Mode, with the improved Exploration Discovery Scanner and Detailed Discovery Scanner, is a game-changing, brand new way for all Commanders to explore the galaxy. After an initial scan of the system, players will then be able to tune their scanners to find stellar bodies and other phenomena. Unidentified Signal Sources and conflict zones will also appear, allowing players to easily track down interesting or important things within the system. Not only is this new system a more realistic, satisfying and engaging exploration experience, but also provides players with the freedom to make more informed decisions on where to look next, and be ultimately better rewarded for time spent exploring. Commanders will now have probes that can be arced onto planetary surfaces, and planetary rings, to map them in detail, locate points of interest and leave their mark on the galaxy in a new way.

Mining

• Asteroid belts and planetary rings are about to get very busy. New tools and mechanics will provide a fresh, exciting and lucrative mining experience for all Elite Dangerous Commanders. Using new exploration mechanics, miners can investigate rings to locate the best spots to start their mining sessions. With the right amount of skill and expertise, Commanders can create an awesome asteroid detonation before sweeping up the spoils.

Squadrons

• Squadrons is a new way of uniting like-minded Commanders in Elite Dangerous. Players will be able to take part in Community Goals together and compete for top spots, and bragging rights, in weekly leaderboards. New communication tools such as in-game chat channels and a new web portal, give players the freedom to manage their Squadron and collectively blaze their trail across the galaxy.

There’s a number of additional improvements coming to Elite Dangerous, including visual improvements, background simulation updates, and (yet to be revealed) new ships and cockpit interface changes.

And what happens after Chapter Four is released? Well, we here at XBA don’t really know, but it seems like this upcoming DLC and update are going to provide Elite Dangerous fans with even more reasons to play.