Elite : Dangerous Beta 2 Starts On September The 30th

As of the 30th of September, Elite: Dangerous will have entered the second beta phase of testing on its road to release bringing a plethora of new features. Many of which will bring a warm glow of familiarity to the hearts of many.

The full list of new features are as follows.

• Combat ratings from ‘Harmless’ all the way up to ‘Elite’.
• Reputations per system and galaxy-wide that influence attitudes and prices offered to you.
• Ability to discover and explore and scan new systems and sell the data on them.
• Detailed system maps.
• Around 500 additional star systems to explore.
• Lakon Asp Explorer ships added.
• Much greater variety of upgradable Life Support modules, Engines, Hyperdrives, Power Distributors, Sensors, Shield Generators and Cargo Racks for all ships.
• Ships are subject to gradual ‘wear and tear’.
• New weapons including mines and a new non-lethal missile-deployed cargo hatch disruptor for piracy.
• Outposts (small, exposed ‘roadside café’ stations in remote locations)
• Occelus starports, a version of which can move around for early civilization of new systems and space tourism.
• Visibility of other ships in supercruise, and track others through supercruise and hyperspace.
• Newsfeeds about events from the rest of the galaxy and player activity in your local system.
• All backers names (from the appropriate crowd-funding reward tiers) have been added to the NPC naming database.

In addition, this update brings orbital rings, more music, and support for SLI / 4K gameplay for those lucky enough to have the hardware, 

Elite: Dangerous multiplayer beta is available to play immediately for £50 through the Frontier Developments online store and a discount for existing backers of the full game is automatically applied on checkout. The Elite: Dangerous Mercenary Pack including Eagle fighter, paint jobs, day one decal and other digital goodies is available to  pre-order before the full launch for £35.00 and anyone who pre-orders the Mercenary Pack can upgrade to immediate Beta access at any time for an additional £15.