Update 1.4 for the PC version of Elite: Dangerous, dubbed the ‘CQC Championship,’ will be released “weeks” after the Xbox One version according to the latest Frontier newsletter. That’s actually an improvement on the initial estimate of CQC taking “months” to come to PC.
Producer Michael Brookes writes that version 1.4 for PC will be “released within as short a window as possible after the Xbox release.”
As well as adding this arena-ish PvP mode (which you can read more about in this prior news piece about CQC,) the next PC update for Elite: Dangerous will introduce the Imperial Eagle as a new ship. This is described as “more of an interceptor than the original Eagle,” and has a better straight line speed but less overall agility. It also comes with a medium hardpoint and two small ones.
In addition, the Anaconda’s powerplant will be a little harder to hit. Apparently this was something of a vulnerability on the vessel.
Brookes adds that the team are “working on” the way player-sponsored minor powers can rise to rule through the recently introduced Powerplay mechanics. More details about this are coming next week.
The newsletter also includes a lengthy section about NASA’s Pluto fly-by, and how this new information will affect Pluto and Charon in Elite: Dangerous. It’s a pretty hefty chunk of text to summarise, but for those interested in space exploration developments and the use of real life data in the game, it’s worth a read.
Finally, for a look at CQC in action (albeit on an Xbox One rather than a PC,) Frontier archived a recent hour-long stream in which you can see the mode being played. Things start happening around 2.30 into the stream.
