Elite Harmful’ replace 15 will open a brand new section within the yearslong conflict in opposition to the Thargoids. Frontier Developments informed Polygon it’s including new player-owned tech to the sport alongside a brand new alien fight ship. There will even be a brand new ground-based mission sort at planetary settlements.
Thargoids are an alien species that had been launched to the fashionable incarnation of Elite in 2017. Whereas it’s true that humanity shot first, issues escalated considerably in 2022 when the Thargoids started an enormous and lethal invasion with the potential to eradicate humanity. A collection of poisonous clouds referred to as Maelstroms had been step one. As soon as in place, they disgorged further Thargoid forces into the Milky Manner galaxy’s retro Western spiral arm. Following the lack of many billions of human lives, issues nonetheless aren’t going significantly effectively for gamers who’ve been taking pictures down aggressors and rescuing refugees as shortly as they’ll for months now.
Replace 15 will add a brand new Thargoid pulse neutralizer — teased in-game on May 2 — that can permit gamers to achieve the middle of those Maelstroms for the primary time. What they’ll discover in there’s anybody’s guess, however hopefully it’s a method to sluggish the aliens’ relentless advance into human-occupied area.
Thargoid hunter-class vessels are additionally coming to the sport, and builders stated these extraordinarily energetic ships can stop commanders from escaping fight as soon as engaged. The Glaive — a small, quick, and closely armored new ship — is simply the primary of those hunter-class vessels and may run circles round all however essentially the most high-end builds within the recreation.
![A player in Elite Dangerous takes aim at a Thargoid ground vehicle, which is projecting a yellow light out in front of it.](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aHG4HjhX5acPP935hwlsJI99l0o=/0x0:6400x3600/1200x0/filters:focal(0x0:6400x3600):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24633666/ThargoidSkimmers_03_copy.jpg)
Picture: Frontier Developments
There will even be a brand new on-foot mission sort that can require gamers to stealthily infiltrate knocked-out planetary settlements — interactive planetary floor areas which had been added to the sport in 2020. Gamers should attempt to flip the facility again on with out getting vaporized. A press-only preview video confirmed a wholly silent settlement on the darkish facet of a planet, with gamers dodging Thargoid Revenants — comparatively tiny flying automobiles in regards to the measurement of a planetary rover. These automobiles prolong vibrant yellow imaginative and prescient cones onto the bottom in entrance of them. Stumble into these cones, and a firefight will shortly escape because the Revenants convey of their pals to complete the struggle.
Replace 15 will likely be free for house owners of Elite Harmful who play on PC utilizing the 4.0 codebase.