As development continues on Elite Dangerous Frontier launch the next phase of testing called Alpha 4.
This week Frontier reach a new milestone in their testing schedule with the launch of Alpha 4 which brings new features for backers to explore. Players will now be able to check out five start systems that make up the Boötes constellation which include gas giants and the “400 billion system ‘night sky’”.
This is only a fraction of what will be in the final game and players can now take part in hunting down pirates and start getting involved with the tensions between Federation and Independent systems.
Premium Beta players can still get involved even if it is to a lesser extent with the single player combat and it’s only teo weeks until beta players can start testing the alpha content too.
Here’s a few new shots of Alpha 4…
Finally, they’ve also released a few more Q&A’s from the community.
Will there be Generation Ships?
It would be fun to have them, certainly!
What is the smallest detail of the procedural content that is being considered? and will we be able to customize it or will it be engine controlled?
Dust particles are probably as small as it goes – or perhaps details on procedural textures. Alpha backers will already have flown over ring systems at super-luminal speeds and then looked down and seen the billions of individual rocks hurtling by below, perhaps heading down in to them.
What benefits can we expect to see from becoming an explorer?
The excitement of discovering something unusual – and perhaps even staking a claim (though this has to be registered). Finding a metal-rich system that is untouched for example would be a great find – and lucrative too.
Why did you pick the Sidewinder for the basic starting ship?
It is to give us more headroom in the ship progression. The Sidewinder is much smaller than say, the Cobra. For much the same reason the Eagle was the default starting ship in Frontier: Elite 2.
