Elite Dangerous: Beyond - Season 3 Roadmap

Q1 Release - 3.0 Update [LIVE]

3.0 Patch Notes:

• 3.0 Beta 1 - Forums / Reddit (25 Jan)
• 3.0 Beta 2 - Forums / Reddit (30 Jan)
• 3.0 Beta 3 - Forums / Reddit (6 Feb)
• 3.0.1 Live - Forums / Reddit (27 Feb)
• 3.0.2 Live - Forums / Reddit (6 Mar)
• 3.0.3 Live - Forums / Reddit (19 Mar)

• Narrative
  
  • Commander Chronicles (Cinematic Shorts):
    • Retaliation (Sept 2017)
    • Devastation (Dec 2017)
    • The Deal (Feb 2018)
  • The narrative of The Guardians:
    • 27 Feb - Ram Tah Searching for New Guardian Sites - Ram Tah requests help in locating undiscovered sites from the ancient alien race.
    • 7 Mar - Ram Tah Announces New Discoveries - Data that leads to blueprints for new weaponry and power-plant systems based on Guardian designs.
    • 10 Mar - Fresh Knowledge From New Guardian Sites - Ram Tah creates decryption algorithm that translates the codices at Guardian sites.
    • [More events in the Forum Roadmap]
  • The narrative of The Thargoids:
    • 16 Feb - The Bulwark Project - The Federation launches an initiative to develop autonomous military hardware with which to fight the Thargoids.
    • 2 Mar - Arming & Protecting Colonia - The initiative was a direct response to the ongoing Thargoid hostility.
    • 4 Mar - New Type of Thargoid vessel encountered: Thargoid Scout Marauder - Improved model from the old Elite games. Vulnerable to non-AX weapons.
      • Images: 1984 Original, Image 1, Image 2
    • [More events in the Forum Roadmap]
• Engineering Improvements (Source: 3.0 Launch Summary - Livestream Timestamp - Livestream Recap)
  
  • Crafting Upgrades - We removed any potential for the crafting process to result in an upgrade that is worse than what is currently fitted. All penalties in blueprints are fixed and only applied once per rank. You need to maximize benefits from an upgrade before we can start applying higher rank versions to a module.
    • If you have a higher reputation with an Engineer, the number of rolls you need to progress through lower grades will be lower. This means you will be able to roll the highest grade much more quickly if you have a higher reputation with an Engineer. (Beta 2)
  • Secondary Effects - Secondary hidden statistical variables have been removed. We'll try to ensure that each module has a set of experimental effects that allow you to tweak your module in a variety of ways.
  • Pinned Blueprints - You are now able to craft pinned blueprints at any starport that has outfitting. You can pin a blueprint per engineer.
    • When pinning a blueprint, it will now pin all grades rather than just one. (Beta 2)
  • Experimental Effects - These will no longer have a chance to occur during the upgrade process. Instead, each experimental effect will simply have a materials cost that you can pay to have it fitted to an appropriate module. This means that there is no way you can lose reputation ranks with an Engineer.
  • Material & Data Storage - There's a per material/data storage cap, with different caps for different tiers: Tier 1 - 300, Tier 2 - 250, Tier 3 - 200, Tier 4 - 150, Tier 5 - 100.
  • UI Improvement - There have been added quality and quantity indicators for materials in the game world, so you’ll be able to see at a glance how much you have of a material without having to check your inventory.
  • Collecting Materials - We've added an ignore function for materials (and commodities, incidentally), allowing you to mine and collect more efficiently by preventing collector limpets from picking up ignored items and auto-venting refineries.
  • Grandfathering - Existing engineered modules have been grandfathered. This means you can still use them, their statistics and effects won’t be changed. However, if you want to apply further upgrades to them, they will have to be converted. Conversion will place them at the top of the previous rank (so a rank 4 upgrade would become maxed rank 3 upgrade) and would change all statistics and effects to represent the new blueprint.
    • We will try to make sure that the new blueprints can max out slightly better than the old system (we want to encourage conversion).
• Materials Trader (Source: Livestream Timestamp - Livestream Recap)
  
  • Added a new contact called a Materials Trader to give players the ability to hand in materials in exchange for others at set exchange rates based on grade and material type.
  • This will allow players to trade for rarer items or items obtained by gameplay they do not want to take part in (E.G. killing trade ships) as well as converting stockpiles of unwanted materials to ones that the player needs.
  • This is not intended to replace material gathering completely, but be a useful tool to help shorten the gameplay loops around gathering materials, making engineering and unlocking items at the tech broker more accessible.
  • Allow players to trade one material of another in a single trade.
  • Only one trade at a time can be completed.
  • Material traders operate on a true barter system. There are no credits involved.
  • Traders are split into types – Raw, Manufactured and Encoded.
  • Each trader type only trades in their type of materials and can be found in different economy types. Locations material traders can be found are:
    • Raw Materials Trader - Found at extraction and refinery economies, only trades in raw material found on planet surfaces and planetary rings.
    • Manufactured Materials Trader - Found at industrial economies, only trades in manufactured materials.
    • Encoded Materials Trader - Found at High Tech and Military economies, only trades in encoded materials.
    • Systems also need to be mid to high security systems and have populations between 1,000,000 and 22,000,000.
  • Materials Traders will not show up in lawless and anarchy systems.
  • Materials Traders will not show up at stations that are currently controlled by a criminal faction.
  • Materials Traders will be unavailable when a station is damaged, under repair or put on lockdown.
  • Horizons is required to use Material traders.
  • Material traders can be found using the new By Service map view (Image) configuration option. This has a 40ly range and only shows traders that you have discovered.
  • Material traders will also be shown on the system map in the station services list.
  • Material traders will appear in the Human Bubble, Colonia and Pleiades regions at economies types listed above.
• Crime&Punishment (Source: 3.0 Launch Summary - Livestream Timestamp - Livestream Recap)
  
  • Bounties and Fines
    • Bounties and fine are applied to the ship you're in.
    • Fines never mature into bounties.
    • Bounties never become dormant.
    • Bounties never expire.
    • Fines can be paid off at security contacts
    • Bounties can be cleared by Interstellar Factors when your Notoriety is 0
    • Claimed bounties for the jurisdiction you died in must be paid when you re-spawn at detention centres. (!) These changes aim to simplify crimes. You will now have more control over your criminal status risk and reward. You can store a ship with bounties on (a hot ship), hiding your criminality, but at the cost of not using the ship. Bounties are now more significant as you must use Interstellar Factors to clear them, which can be expensive.
  • Notoriety and Murder
    
    • Commanders gain a Notoriety rating, a value between zero and ten.
    • Notoriety increases by one whenever a Commander commits a murder crime.
    • Notoriety decays one unit every 2 hours of time when you’re logged in the game back down to zero.
    • For each level of notoriety, murder bounty values are increased by a fraction of the perpetrator's rebuy cost - the higher the notoriety, the bigger the fraction.
    • If the victim is a Commander (a player rather than an NPC) then you pay 10% percent per point of notoriety of the difference between your base rebuy cost, factoring in engineering, and the victim’s rebuy cost. If your cost is less than your victim’s, this will be zero. This is to de-incentivise destroying smaller ships than your own. This number, as well as others in the Beyond update, will be revisited and tweaked after launch to make sure the game is as balanced and enjoyable as possible.
    • In addition, Commanders that are destroyed have their rebuy cost reduced based on the notoriety level of their murderer - the more notorious the assassin, the bigger the discount on rebuy cost for the victim.
    • Notoriety is linked directly to the Commander, regardless of which ship they fly in.
    • Any Notoriety means the interstellar factors cannot clear your fines or bounties.
    • Around starports, any death that results from collisions will not apply to the notoriety penalties nor will it increase Notoriety. This is to prevent small ships being destroyed by excessive ramming. Ramming and combat logging are two examples of other things that we’re giving specific care and attention to – keep an eye on the forums and on social media for any news relating to these topics.
      
      • Notoriety exemption for murder by ramming now applies everywhere, not just near stations. (Update 3.0.2)
      (!) These changes ensure that Commanders can't completely shed their criminal status by swapping to clean ships. It also addresses the seriousness of the murder crime, especially against other Commanders, as well stopping people from attacking smaller ships unnecessarily.
      
  • Hot Ships and Modules
    
    • A ship with bounties on it is hot.
    • A hot ship cannot be transferred to a port in a jurisdiction where the hot ship is wanted.
    • Elsewhere - ship transfer costs are increased for the hot ship.
    • Modules taken from a hot ship are hot modules.
    • Hot ships can be cleaned using Interstellar Factors, at a cost.
    • Hot modules can be cleaned in storage for a price based on the module's value.
    • Hot modules cannot be placed in a clean ship.
    • Hot ships and modules can be sold at a mark down. (!) These changes mean there are more consequences for criminals, to close off potential "laundering" exploits.
  • Friendly Fire and Reckless Weapons Discharge
    
    • The tolerance for friendly fire has been increased - you can deal more damage before you gain the assault crime.
    • A new crime has been added "Reckless weapons discharge", which triggers at the old friendly fire threshold, and is only a fine. (!) These changes reflect the potential increased consequence for a bounty, allowing more leeway before one is issued.
  • Anonymous Access Protocols
    
    • When in a hot ship, port services are restricted in jurisdictions where the ship is wanted - your ship logs in anonymously.
    • Fines prevent access to all services except missions in progress, security contact, Interstellar Factors and black markets
    • Bounties prevent access to all services except missions in progress, Interstellar Factors and black markets. (!) This helps to make sure there are consequences for your crimes.
  • Power Bounties
    
    • Crimes committed between Powerplay pledged Commanders generate power bounties instead of normal bounties.
    • Power bounties can only be detected and claimed by Commanders pledged to the power that issued them.
    • Commanders destroyed for their Power bounty are not processed as criminals and do not pay any additional costs during respawning. (!) Authority ships will no longer get involved with Powerplay. For example, A Hudson Commander can still attack a Patreus Commander with impunity in a system controlled or exploited by Hudson. However when the Patreus player fights back they will get a Power bounty and no authority ships will be summoned.
  • Advanced Tactical Response - Image 1, Image 2
    
    • Authorities now have access to new security vessels: ATR (Advanced Tactical Responders)
    • ATR ships are kitted out with top tier hardware, in exclusive, customised configurations. They are extremely competent pilots.
    • ATR ships can be summoned once a Commander has committed enough crimes in a jurisdiction.
    • The security of the system determines the level of crime before they are summoned
    • ATR ships arrive with full knowledge of their target and are pre cleared to arrive "weapons hot".
    • Once ATR ships respond to crimes, they will continue to respond until the Commander leaves the system. (!) Another piece of the crime consequences puzzle, ATR should also help mitigate Commanders attempting to exert excessive influence in the background simulation.
  • Crime and Ship Destruction
    
    • Attacking Wanted ships (player or NPC) is now legal even if the player does not know they are Wanted.
    • When a hot ship is destroyed where it is wanted the Commander will respawn at the nearest Detention Centre.
    • There are lots of Detention Centres in human space.
    • When respawning at a Detention Centre, a Commander must pay off their bounty or fine for the jurisdiction where they were destroyed and any bounties detected by a Kill Warrant scan, in addition to their rebuy cost - all other bounties and fines remain attached to the ship.
    • When a ship is destroyed where it is not wanted it will respawn at a starport owned by the jurisdiction’s controlling faction.
      • If there are no appropriate starports, it will respawn at the last port it was last docked at.
    • When a ship is destroyed where it is not wanted but hostile to the jurisdiction’s controlling faction, it will be deported and respawn at the nearest Detention Centre. (!) This change makes the crime flow more consistent and plausible and ensure you will not be trapped by re-spawning in a station you are hostile.
  • Kill Warrant Scanner
    
    • The Kill Warrant Scanner detects all bounties issued by system factions in every system. The Kill Warrant Scanner grants a license to kill if at least one detected bounty is issued by a faction that is aligned to the same superpower as the current jurisdiction.
    • When used, the Kill Warrant Scanner prevents reputation loss for destroying ships, except criminally aligned vessels. (Coming Soon: Source)
    • NPC ships can have bounties for factions not present in the current system, favouring nearby systems where possible.
    • (!) Making this change involves a significant amount of under the hood changes to the way bounties are generated, which increases the robustness of the whole bounty system. This has meant that this Kill Warrant Scanner update will deploy a little after Chapter One’s launch.
  • Superpower Bounties
    
    • When you gain five or more bounties for factions aligned to the same superpower, a superpower bounty is issued against you.
    • Superpower bounties are valid for every jurisdiction aligned to the superpower.
    • Superpower bounties are detected by a basic scan.
    • When a superpower bounty is detected, all bounties issued by factions aligned with the superpower are also detected.
    • Superpower bounties grant credit rewards and reputation for the superpower.
    • We’ve looked at all of the feedback concerning bounties, background simulation and the Kill Warrant Scanner, and these rules are the result. Because they are changing from our original interpretation, they will be deployed along with the update to the Kill Warrant Scanner and ship destruction rules tweaks.
    • (!) Superpower bounties add consequence to those who commit crime sprees across multiple systems. They also help define clear boundaries between Empire, Federation and Allied space.
• Trade Data Changes (Source: Livestream Timestamp - Livestream Recap)
  
  • How trade data works in Beyond Chapter One:
    • Commanders will be able to select the trade data column header to enter the trade data overlay. From there, you can select specific markets by typing in the system name or finding the system using the galaxy map.
    • Important note: only systems you have docked in or scanned the 'Nav Beacon' at will display a result when entered, so the more systems you visit in the greater the amount of trade data you will have to use when looking for a potential profit.
    • Once a system is selected, as long as you have the trade data, a tab will appear.
    • Using this you can select which market in the system you want to display the trade data for.
    • You can now select whether you want to show export profits (the money you would make when exporting to the system) or input profits (the money you would make from importing goods from the system to your current market).
    • Once the parameters have been chosen, you can hit the OK button to display the data for the selected market on the commodity market screen allowing you to see what profits you could make on any commodities.
    • Important note: profit given is accurate at the time of being displayed and can fluctuate when travelling to the chosen market.
    • The commodities market interface has also had a makeover with more information about potential markets displayed in the right hand panel. Supply and demand is now shown as pips instead of high (now 3 pips), medium (now 2 pips) and low (now 1 pip).
    • When you select a commodity, a confirmation overlay will open, allowing you to select how many of the item you want to buy or sell and then you'll be able to confirm the trade
  • Using the galaxy map for trade data:
    • You can use the same interface to access and use the galaxy map to select a target market. This is also available straight from the galaxy map tab in the left cockpit panel.
    • With the galaxy map open you can use some new configuration options to display trade data, find trades and select a market to compare with your current location.
    • New options are stored in the Map option under 'Map View Configuration.'
    • There is a new entry in this drop down called 'By Commodity'.
    • This will open up the new commodity search options
    • You will be able to select the commodity type and commodity that you are interested in.
    • If you already have a commodity in your ships inventory it will be highlighted with an icon, allowing you to see at a glance what you have onboard.
    • With a commodity chosen the galaxy map will display trade heat map icons within a 40 light year radius of your current position to indicate star systems that import or export that commodity.
    • Important note: you can search for and look at trade data for systems further than 40ly, it’s just that the heat map has a set range so the icons will only show up within that range of your current location.
    • A Blue Diamond is a system that imports the item and Green Triangle is a system that exports the item.
    • Under the commodity selection on the left hand panel are also three new filters allowing you to set the icons to show:
      • Best import and export prices
      • Import prices only
      • Export prices only
    • With the By Commodity map mode selected, you can move your cursor over a system and select it.
    • As mentioned before, if you have previously docked in the system or scanned the 'Nav Beacon' there then an expanded overlay will display trade data. But for systems that you have not visited, a message will be displayed telling you that the system's data is unavailable and how you can unlock it.
    • When you select a system, you will be able to scroll through each market in the system and see the per unit price of your chosen commodity on the system selection overlay. This will allow you to quickly work out the best locations to trade at (based on price).
    • Below 'import/export price' there is a new selection of filters. Using these filters you can find the best location with the best price to suit your ship and cargo. These filters are as are:
      • Landing pad size – This allows you to see what landing pad sizes are available at the Starport.
      • Planetary Market - This allows you to show or hide markets that are on a planets
      • Distance from star – This allows you to filter between market a short, medium or long range from the main system star.
    • We have also added another new button on the system selection overlay: mark market for comparison. This allows you to show the trade data from your selected commodity market to the commodity market at your current location (instead of displaying the galactic average.)
  • Trending trade route data
    • We have also updated the trade data routes in the galaxy map to now show trending trade routes used by commanders and commercial pilots. Using these filters can, alongside the various commodity filters, help commanders get a clear view of who is trading what and where in the systems near to you.
• Wing Missions (Source: 3.0 Launch Summary - Livestream Timestamp - Livestream Recap)
  
  • These are missions designed to be shared by up to four players.
  • In order to accept the mission, one member of the wing needs to access the mission board and select a wing mission, which are denoted by a special icon.
  • Once accepted, the player who took the mission can share it by clicking the share button on the mission’s entry, located in the 'Transactions' panel. Doing so sends the player's wingmates an inbox message and adds the mission to their own Transactions panel.
  • The wingmates can choose to then either accept or decline the mission invite in the Transactions panel.
  • Important to note: each player can only share one mission at a time, this means that with a maximum of four players in a wing, players can be part of up to a maximum of four active wing missions at any given time.
  • Mission Depots
    • In the case of a wing delivery mission, players will be charged with transporting large quantities of goods from point A to point B. previously, when taking a delivery mission, all the cargo would be placed into the player’s hold for them to deliver. However, as we are now dealing with larger quantities and missions involving multiple players, this added a new development challenge; we needed to add a way for players to collect and deliver part of the mission’s total required cargo. In order to facilitate this, we introduced the 'mission depot,' which allows members of a wing to collect and deliver any amount of cargo that they require for the mission.
    • The mission is completed when all the cargo has been delivered and each member of the wing is then able to collect their rewards.
    • All players who are members of the wing at the point that the mission is completed are eligible for the mission rewards.
    • Once all cargo has been collect and a set amount of cargo has been delivered to a mission depot the owner of the mission has the option to partially complete it. In this instance all wing members will receive a credit only reward proportional to the amount of cargo delivered. For example if 75% of the cargo is delivered all wing members will receive a credit reward equal to 75% of the mission’s promised reward.
    • If a player has collected cargo, which has not been delivered when a mission is completed, they will receive a fine based on the cargo’s value.
  • Mission Rewards
    • The new mission reward system, which provides players with three different, and roughly equivalent, reward packages allowing each player to choose which set of rewards they wish to claim. One of these reward packages will always be a credit based reward package.
• Megaship Interactions (Source: Livestream Timestamp - Livestream Recap)
  
  • Another change coming to this chapter of Beyond is the additional gameplay interactions that will be available at the various megaships found across the galaxy. As well as the simple data links and NPC ship scenarios we have added a new flow for scanning these and (in later Beyond updates) other large space objects.
  • Initiating Interactions:
    1. Megaships will now need to be scanned with the data scanner before any of the interaction objects become interactive. - Video
    2. Doing so will release a scan pulse which highlights all interaction objects attached to the ship.
    3. Interaction objects are added to the ships contacts panel and can now be targeted and interrogated to discover how to interact with them.
    4. Some of interactions will utilise limpets of various types to allow you to activate, deactivate, damage, hack or simply operate an item. While others can be shot or scanned to interact.
  • One thing to note is that all current interactions are considered illegal, tying in with the changes to Crime and Punishment. These interactions provide criminal pilots new gameplay options as well as giving lawful players new locations to find wanted pilots.
  • In addition to the aforementioned interactions, we have tweaked the scenarios around the megaships to include a greater variety of criminal and lawful pilots, as well as crime responders such as police ships which we feel will add a bit more spice to these locations.
  • We have plans to add other interaction types and locations in later updates, so there will be more to come in this area.
• Tech Broker (Source: Livestream Timestamp - Livestream Recap)
  
  • Technology Brokers are dealers in new and rare technologies and items. These contacts appear in various stations across known human space and can generally be found in highly populated systems with a high security level. Visit tech brokers to see what items they currently have available and complete set requests to unlock these items by handing in the required commodities and materials. The addition of Technology Brokers allows pilots to acquire new items based on their personal narrative giving even more ways to play elite your way.
• Planetary Tech (Source: Livestream Timestamp - Livestream Recap)
  
  • We have overhauled the surface material system for the rocky, high metal content and metal rich planets. We have pushed the system to get a lot more out of it, but this is just the first step towards further major planetary system improvements. The contrast and variation across and between bodies is much improved. We also hope that these planetary visual improvements (with more surface level improvements coming later in the year) will also bring a new vibrancy to the Elite Dangerous galaxy, encouraging wanderlust explorers to discover far systems and planets. The colouration of the surfaces now more clearly telegraphs the chemical makeup and volcanic activity of the worlds. In addition, binary rocky/metallic planets more accurately simulate having similar colourations from shared formation materials where appropriate.
    • Images: 4k Screenshot, Frontier Expo 2017, 2.4 vs 3.0 Update
• GalNet Audio (Source: Livestream Timestamp - Livestream Recap)
  
  • At the simple click of a button, you’ll now be able to listen to GalNet audio whilst flying your ship.
  • All you have to do is select the play button at the bottom of the right-hand system panel in your cockpit to play through the headline news stories.
  • If you’re looking for a specific story, or you want to curate your own playlist of handpicked news, you can do so by opening up GalNet news from the same panel and select the stories individually.
  • GalNet news will fade in and out depending on the situation, and stop altogether in some key situations. In some cases, such as counting down to hyperspace jumps, the news will pause and then resume once the countdown is complete. The story, or playlist, will continue from where you left off. - YouTube
• COVAS Customisation (Source: Livestream Timestamp - Livestream Recap)
  
  • Changing your COVAS (Cockpit Voice Assistant) is a new addition to Elite Dangerous and the first of these will be Victor, ready at the launch of Chapter One of Beyond. Commanders will be able to change their COVAS at the Starport Services livery customisation section.
  • It'll be possible to also change the COVAS for your SRV too, you'll need to head over to the SRV customisation bay to change your preference.
  • And... if you miss Verity, you'll be able to change the COVAS back.
  • Frontier is working in partnership with HCS to bring you new COVAS packs in the future.
  • These voices are intended to bring a new flavour to commanders out in the black, however, it's important to note at the current time we do not intend to introduce celebrity voice packs.
• Ships:
  
  • The Chieftain (Source: Livestream Timestamp - Livestream Recap)
    • The Alliance Chieftain is a medium-sized ship that has been designed not only to dish out punishment, but to avoid it. Manufactured by Lakon Spaceways, the Chieftain is more manoeuvrable than ships of similar size and weight, and its combat profile means it can more than hold its own in a fight. The ship also boasts three internal military compartments, allowing the pilot to equip a shield cell bank, hull reinforcements and module reinforcements.
    • Specifications: Medium pad. Hardpoints: 2 Large - 1 Medium - 3 Small. Not locked behind a rank requirement.
    • Videos: Frontier Expo 2017
  • The Keelback received a 2nd seat, making it a multi-crew ship.
  • The Type 7 received some buffs - Source
  • The Type 9 received an extra size 8 slot.
  • There are plans for improving the Asp Scout in a future update. - Source
• Misc Changes
  
  • FSD Synthesis received changes - Source
  • New High Value supercruise targets for pirates to raid - Image
  • Module Storage has been increased from 60 to 120.
  • Option added so players can choose how flight controllers address them (Commander Name, Ship Name or Ship ID) when approaching a station - Image
  • Journal Documentation (API) for 3.0 - Source

2 x Content Updates

• New ships
  
  • The Krait - Medium ship from the original 1984 Elite.
    • Images: 1984 Original, Image 1, Image 2, Image 3
    • Videos: Frontier Expo 2017
    • Release: Not officially confirmed which update will have the ship.
• New missions
  
• New scenarios
  
• Progressing the narrative
  

Q4 Release

• Squadrons - New organizational structure for player groups. We'll be able to create our own squadrons. We'll have tools to manage the membership and hierarchy in them. Squadrons will feature enhanced communication options. - Image
  • Discussion with the community planned for the Beyond Series Focus Feedback forum at the end of Q1/start of Q2 - Source
• Fleet Carriers - Squadrons will be able to purchase their own fleet carriers. These are large, mobile, dockable vessels that will act as a base of operations for squadrons. We'll be able to refuel, rearm and respawn at them.
  
• Exploration - More activities and tools focused on how we find stuff in the galaxy. This affects missions, commodities, other resources. New phenomenons, new anomalies for us to find in the galaxy.
  
• The Codex - An archive that logs our exploration achievements and acts as a repository for game lore. It will log our discoveries and will also act as an encyclopedia, giving more depth and context to the things we find. And also possibly hinting at other things that we might be able to find out there.
  
• Mining - Improvements to the way we detect and extract resources. A miner's toolkit of modules and capabilities, for more options, variety and choice when we're in deep space. Trying to invoke the feeling of Wild West prospecting through jeopardy (crises, unforseen challenges to get the rewards) or through the concept of hitting the motherlode (deep core blasting, an entire special asteroid for big rewards). Trying to make mining a fully fledged career - Image
  
• Planetary Tech - Improvements to the scatter rocks system, by adding a bigger variety of sizes and scales to them. Improving ambient effects, planetary phenomena, volumetric effects and vapour.
  
• Improved Ice Planets - Concept Art Target
  
• Improved Lighting Model - Will benefit the planetary tech as well as the game's look from space.