Elite Dangerous

I began playing the game Elite: Dangerous I think in late June 2015. The game certainly doesn't hold your hand in any way, and although the game manual provides an overview of the main aspects of the game, it doesn't really answer a gazillion of detail questions that pop up shortly after you begin playing.

This and other pages on this wiki attempt to organize the questions I had and their answers (as far as I have found such), together with other knowledge that I gathered about the Elite: Dangerous universe.

Wiki pages

Check out the Elite Dangerous category to see all pages on this wiki that are related to the game.

Some pointers for the main occupations in the game:

• Exploration
• Exobiology
• Mining
• Power Play
• Bounty Hunting
• Trading: Currently this wiki has no dedicated page or section for this occupation. See the ED Wiki for more.
• Colonisation

Glossary and abbreviations

ADS

This can mean two things:

• Aim Down Sight, i.e. the process of aiming with a weapon while looking through a sighting device (typically a scope).
• Advanced Discovery Scanner. A variant of the Discovery Scanner ship module which is no longer available. The ADS variant was removed in the Beyond Chapter Four update, nowadays there is just one Discovery Scanner ship module. See Discovery Scanner.

AFMU

Auto Field-Maintenance Unit

Analysis mode

One of two modes that the HUD can be in when you are flying your ship or driving your SRV. The other mode is Combat mode. Most non-combat modules and functions require Analysis mode to be active in order to use them. Examples: Discovery scanning, using the FSS or DSS.

Arg of periapsis

Abbreviation in the Elite Dangerous system map for Argument of periapsis.

Argument of periapsis

One of the six Keplerian elements that describe an orbit . The argument of periapsis is the angle between a) the direction of the ascending node within the orbital plane and b) the direction of the periapsis, also within the reference plane. The angle is measured in the orbiting body's direction of motion. The argument of periapsis defines the orientation of the ellipse formed by the orbital path within the orbital plane. See Wikipedia for more details.

Ascending node

See Orbital node.

Axial tilt

The axial tilt, also known as obliquity, is the angle between the body's own rotational axis and its orbital axis. See Wikipedia for details.

AU

Astronomical Unit. Approximately 500 ls.

AW

Ammonia world.

Barycenter

The common center of mass that two (or more) astronomical bodies are orbiting around. In a very simple case with two bodies of identical mass, the bodies might follow the same orbital path. However, the typical case is that each body of the system follows its own orbital path. This is especially true if the bodies widely differ in mass. For instance, a planet that is seen as orbiting a star, the barycenter of the planet/star system is actually inside the star's body, creating the impression that the star is at the center of the planet's orbit. See Wikipedia for more details. In Elite Dangerous, if there are planets orbiting more than one star, there's an "X" in the system map that marks the barycentre that the planets are orbiting.

Beyond

The third season of expansions of Elite: Dangerous.

BGS

Background Simulation. A part of the game that simulates the political and economical changes that take place in inhabited systems in the bubble. See the EDGeneral wiki page for a bit of additional detail.

BH

Black Hole.

CC

Command Capital, a unit used in Power Play.

CFT

? (something related to exploration).

CG

Community Goal. A "Community Goal Guide" has been published in this forum thread. Discussion about current and past community goals can be found in this sub-forum. Every CG has different rules, but it basically works like this: When you are docked at a station you can call up the "Missions" screen, then navigate to the "Community Goal" subscreen, to view information about the ongoing CG. From here you can sign up to participate. When the CG is of the variety where two or more factions are competing, you have to pick a side when you sign up. After signing up you do the activity that is required by the CG, then deliver whatever is required as the CG goal (e.g. mining commodities, combat vouchers, etc.). When the CG is over you can claim whatever reward you have earned (e.g. ship modules have to be picked up or transferred, with credits I'm not sure how the claim works, but if you don't claim them they are automatically paid out into your account after a certain time has passed).

CQC

Close Quarter Combat.

Clean

A ship's status. Also see Lawless and Wanted. If a ship shows up as clean anywhere in your HUD, this means two things: 1) You don't know about any bounties issued against the ship's commander; and 2) You are in a lawful vicinity where you will incur a bounty if you shoot at the other ship. The latter distinguishes the "clean" status from the "lawless" status.

Close binaries

Two stars that are orbiting each other (binaries) and in addition are located very close to each other.

CMDR

Commander.

Combat bond voucher

See Conflict zone. Combat bound vouchers are not bounty vouchers.

Combat mode

One of two modes that the HUD can be in when you are flying your ship or driving your SRV. The other mode is Analysis mode. Weapons can only be used in combat mode.

Concourse

A public area with vendors and services where players can walk around on foot. Concourses are available only in certain large structures, such as space ports, surface ports, Megaships or Fleet Carriers.

Conflict zone

A zone where two opposing factions wage war against each other. Initially when you drop into a conflict zone you are neutral to both sides, but can then decide to side with one of the factions in the "Functions" tab of the systems panel. Once you have sided with a faction you cannot switch to the other faction unless you leave and re-enter the conflict zone. When you choose a faction to side with, the other faction's ship will become hostile to you. When you destroy hostile ships you earn combat bond vouchers that you can later redeem in the "Contacts" section of the local station's services menu. The larger the ship you destroy, the more valuable the combat bond voucher that you receive. TODO: Do you lose combat bond vouchers if you are destroyed? TODO: What is the effect of shooting at ships in a conflict zone? TODO: What is the effect of redeeming combat bond vouchers?

COVAS

Cockpit Voice-Activated System. The default voice is called "Verity", but there are other voices available for free and for purchase. The COVAS to be used can be selected in the Outfitting screen in the "Livery" section.

CS

Carbon star.

CZ

Conflict Zone.

DB

David Braben.

DBE

Diamondback Explorer.

DBS

Diamondback Scout.

DBX

Diamondback Explorer.

DDA

Design Discussion Archives.

Decal

A piece of ship cosmetics that is added on top of a ship's paintjob. Common decals are those that show which rank a CMDR has achieved in one of the thre Pilots Federation ranks (combat, trade, exploration).

Descending node

See Orbital node.

DLS

Data Link Scanner. Integrated module to interact with a large variety of targets, notably data points to download information or hack into a system.

Discovery Scanner

Integrated module used to perform an initial basic scan of a star system. The process is known as "honking" because of the deep resonant sound that is emitted when the scan completes.

DSS

Detailed Surface Scanner.

ED

Elite: Dangerous. The annoying ":" is sometimes also left out, i.e. "Elite Dangerous".

ELP

Earth-like planet.

ELW

Earth-like world.

Engineering

Players can make use of the services of Engineer NPCs to modify stock ship modules and pilot equipment so they better fit their needs. See the EDEngineering wiki page for details.

FA

Flight Assist.

Faction

There are 3 major factions, sometimes also called superpowers: The Federation, the Empire and the Alliance. There are also countless minor factions. Minor factions can be affiliated with a major faction. The player has a reputation within every faction, both major and minor. The highest reputation is "Allied". Reputation attained with minor factions is permanent, while reputation attained with major factions decays if you do nothing to keep it up. The decay will stop when you are back to friendly. See the edwiki:Factions page on the ED wiki for more details.

FD

Frontier Development, the manufacturer of the game. Quite often referred to under the short name "Frontier".

FDL

Fer-de-lance.

FSD

Frameshift Drive.

FSS scanner

Full Spectrum System scanner. Integrated module used to scan a system's signals after a discovery scan has been performed. The FSS does not appear in the module list, so it could also be argued that it is not an integrated module but a built-in ship function.

HMCP

High metal content planet.

HMCW

High metal content world.

Honking, the honk

Refers to the deep, powerful, resonant sound that the discovery scanner makes when you scan a star system. Honking therefore means "performing a discovery scan".

Horizons

The second season of expansions of Elite: Dangerous.

HOTAS

Hands on throttle and stick. A designation for a certain type of joysticks that is designed for flight simulation games.

Hot Jupiter

A gas giant in a very close orbit (less than 75 ls or 0.15 AU according to Wikipedia) around its primary star.

HUD

Head-up Display. Sometimes also Heads-up Display.

Integrated module

An integrated modules is a module that does not take up a module slot and therefore cannot be managed in the Outfitting screen. An integrated module usually does not consume any noticeable power, but it is still likely to be listed in the systems panel on the "Modules" tab. Examples: Data Link scanner, Short Range Composition scanner, Cargo hatch

KWS

Kill Warrant Scanner.

Lawless

A ship's status. Also see Clean and Wanted. If a ship shows up as lawless anywhere in your HUD, this means two things: 1) You don't know about any bounties issued against the ship's commander; and 2) You are in a vicinity where no laws exist, such as in an Anarchy system or in a warzone, and where you will not incur a bounty if you shoot at the other ship. The latter distinguishes the "lawless" status from the "clean" status.

LHS 3447

My starting system.

Longitude of the ascending node

One of the six Keplerian elements that describe an orbit . The longitude of the ascending node is the angle between a) a reference direction - called the "origin of latitude" - within the reference plane and b) the direction of the ascending node, also within the reference plane. The longitude of the ascending node is one of the pieces of information that is needed to "anchor" the orbital plane in 3-dimensional space. Without this longitude, with only the orbital inclination, the orbital plane could be rotated around the vertical axis perpendicular to the reference plane. See Wikipedia for more details, especially a diagram that may be more comprehensible than the words written here ☺.

LoS

Line of Sight.

LS

Light second.

LSS

Life Support System. An essential module of every ship.

LY

Light year.

Mm

Mega metres, i.e. 1 million metres.

Navigation panel

The left-hand side panel in the ship HUD.

NS

Neutron Star

Obliquity

See Axial tilt.

OC

Orbital Cruise. A ship shifts from Super Cruise to Orbital Cruise flight mode when it drops below a certain altitude above a planet. The "Verity" COVAS calls this "Orbital Flight".

Orbit

To quote directly from Wikipedia: "In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet about a star or a natural satellite around a planet. Normally, orbit refers to a regularly repeating path around a body, although it may occasionally be used for a non recurring trajectory or a path around a point in space. To a close approximation, planets and satellites follow elliptical orbits, with the central mass being orbited at a focal point of the ellipse, as described by Kepler's laws of planetary motion."

Orbital axis

The axis around which an astronomical body rotates on its orbital path. The astronomical body's axial tilt is measured against this.

Orbital eccentricity

One of the six Keplerian elements that describe an orbit . The orbital eccentricity,or simply eccentricity, describes how much the ellipse formed by an orbital path is elongated compared to a circle. A value of 0 is a circular orbit, values between 0 and 1 form an elliptical orbit, 1 is a parabolic escape orbit, and greater than 1 is a hyperbola. See Wikipedia for more details.

Orbital Flight

Alternative name for Orbital Cruise, used by the "Verity" COVAS.

Orbital inclination

One of the six Keplerian elements that describe an orbit . The orbital inclination, or simply inclination, describes how much the orbital plane is tilted in relation to a reference plane. The inclination is an angle measured at the ascending node. See Wikipedia for more details.

Orbital node, ascending / descending node

An orbit lies within an orbital plane. The orbital plane is frequently viewed in relation to a reference plane. An astronomical body following its orbit will cross through the reference plane at two points that are collectively called "orbital nodes". Individually, the points are called the "ascending node" and the "descending node", in reference to the direction in which the orbit passes through the reference plane. Ascending = the orbit passes through the reference plane in upward direction. Descending node = ditto, but downward direction. If the orbital plane and the reference plane are identical, then the orbit has no nodes. See Wikipedia for more details.

Orbital period

The time it takes for an astronomical body to travel along its orbital path, starting from any point of origin, until it reaches again that point of origin.

Orbital plane

To quote directly from Wikipedia: "The orbital plane of an object orbiting another is the geometrical plane in which the orbit lies."

PD

Power Distributor.

Periapsis

The closest point on an orbital path to the center of orbit. If the orbit is circular then there is no periapsis because all points on the orbital path are equidistant. If the orbital path forms an ellipse, then the periapsis is at that "end" of the ellipse which is closer to the ellipse's focal point that marks the center of orbit.

PG

Procedural Generation.

POI

Point of interest. This is a general name for locations on the surface of a planet where something interesting can be found. Settlements or surface ports are not POIs, though.

PP

Power Play. Sometimes also written as a single word "Powerplay".

Primary star

In Elite Dangerous, the primary stars of a star system are those stars that are displayed in a vertical column on the left-hand side of the system map. The primary stars are the stars with the most mass in a system. All the other stars in a star system are the secondary stars.

RES

Resource Extraction Site.

Rotational axis

The axis around which an astronomical body rotates. The axial tilt of the rotational axis is measured against the orbital axis.

Rotational period

The time it takes for an astronomical body to rotate once around its rotational axis.

SC

Super Cruise.

SCO

Super Cruise Overcharge. A special Super Cruise mode that allows faster supercruise traveling at the cost of increased fuel consumption, heat production and reduced ship maneouverability. To use SCO a ship must equip a special "Frame Shift Drive (SCO)" module. This module also has increased jump range.

Scenario

A scenario is an event that can occur when you investigate a USS, enter a conflict zone, approach a megaship, etc.. It might involve a mission or set up a goal for you if you accept to play along. A scenario essentially provides more guidance from the game and requires less "in-the-mind-only" roleplay on the player's behalf to play through an event. Scenarios were added in 3.3.

Semi-major axis

One of the six Keplerian elements that describe an orbit . Usually the orbital path of an astronomical body forms an ellipse. The major axis of that ellipse is its longest diameter. The semi-major axis is one half of the major axis. See Wikipedia for more details.

Ship integrity

A property of every ship, measured in percent. You can see the current ship integrity value only when you are docked at a station and have called up the repair facility. Ship integrity starts at 100% when you buy a new ship, then slowly decays when you fly long stretches in supercruise. When ship integrity reaches 0% nothing happens. Ship integrity is used whenever the ship takes damage. A high integrity value will protect the ship better from the damage, while a low integrity value causes more damage to get through to hull, canopy and other modules. Ship integrity can be repaired only at a station's repair facility (i.e. not by an AFMU). See this forum post for slightly more information.

Solar mass

A unit commonly used in Elite Dangerous to measure the mass of stars.

Solar radius

A unit commonly used in Elite Dangerous to measure the size of stars. 1 solar radius = 2.23 light-seconds. I calculated this from values provided by Wikipedia: The Sun's equatorial radius is 695'700 km (see Sun). One light-second is 299'792'458 metres (see Light-second). 1 solar radius expressed in light seconds therefore is 695700 / 299792.458 = 2.320605410293543808897287202602.

SRC scanner

Short Range Composition scanner. Integrated module used for interacting with organic or geological features in space or on planetary surfaces.

SRV

Surface Reconnaissance Vehicle. Used for driving around on planetary surfaces.

SSS

Strong Signal Source.

Tidally locked

An astronomical body is said to be tidally locked if during the orbit around its parent body the same hemisphere constantly faces the parent body. For this to occur the orbiting body's orbital period and rotational period must be in synchronization. Wikipedia has all the physics details how this synchronization can happen. In Elite Dangerous you can see whether an astronomical body is tidally locked in the system map: The value shown under "Rotational period" is annotated with "tidally locked" if tidal locking is in effect.

Timeline

The year 3300 in the EDD universe corresponds to the real world year 2014.

True anomaly

One of the six Keplerian elements that describe an orbit . The true anomaly is the angle between a) the direction of periapsis in the orbital plane, and b) the direction from the orbital focus point to the orbiting body's current position along the orbital path. The true anomaly defines the position of the orbiting body at a specific time. See Wikipedia for more details.

USS

Unidentified Signal Source.

Wanted

A ship's status. Also see Clean and Lawless. If a ship shows up as wanted anywhere in your HUD, this means two things: 1) The ship's commander has at least one bounty on his head; and 2) You know about those bounties. If a ship's commander has a bounty issued by the jurisdiction that you are currently in, the ship's status will automatically show up as "wanted", presumably because the local authorities have notified everyone in the vicinity of all bounties that they issued. If a ship's commander has a bounty issued by another than the local jurisdiction, the ship's status will show up as "clean" because you were not automatically informed about the bounty, presumably because the local authorities do not know or care about bounties issued by another jurisdiction. When you scan a ship with a Kill Warrant Scanner you will find out about any bounties that were issued by another than the local jurisdiction. If there are indeed any such bounties, the ship's status will change from "clean" to "wanted" after the scan. When you kill a wanted commander, all bounties issued against him and that you know about will be awarded to you. Also, the local jurisdiction (if there is any) will not issue a bounty against you when you kill a wanted commander (as opposed to when you kill a clean commander).

WD

White Dwarf.

WRS

Wolf-Rayet star.

WSS

Weak Signal Source.

WW

Water world.

WZ

War zone.

Game development

The information in this section is coming from and the individual season wiki pages linked from there. Version numbers and release dates since 4.0.11 () are derived from Frontier's Update Notes page.

Notes for reading the following table:

• Releases of Elite Dangerous are grouped into "seasons". Each season consists of several "expansions" or versions.
• The list of features is non-exhaustive. Things that seem minor or not interesting (e.g. all sorts of weapon changes) to me are omitted.

Game development

Version	Release date	Name	Features
Game launch
1.0	16 December 2014	Game launch
Season 1: Post-launch
1.1	?	-	Community Goals.
1.2	?	-	Wings.
1.3	?	-	Powerplay.
1.4	?	-	CQC.
1.5	?	-	New ships.
1.6	?	-	New mission types, Module storage, Beautiful station interiors, New navigation filters, Ship transfer.
Season 2: Horizons
2.0	15 December 2015	Planetary landings	Planetary landings on four types of planets without an atmosphere: Rocky, metal, ice and rocky/metal. Driving around the planet surface with an SRV and discovering constructed, as well as natural, points of interest. Collecting materials and synthesizing consumables from those materials.
2.1	26 May 2016	The Engineers	Engineering. Mission system overhaul (factions are now represented by NPCs).
2.2	25 October 2016	The Guardians	New ships (Beluga Liner, Taipan Fighter). Passenger missions (with cabin modules). Tourist beacons. Ship-launched fighters (fighter bay modules, NPC crew members). New alien artifacts and ruins on certain worlds. Fungal life forms on certain worlds. Five additional engineers. Ship modules can be stored and transferred. New geological formations (fumaroles, geysers). Neutron Stars and White Dwarves can be used to supercharge the FSD, greatly increasing jump ranges.
2.3	11 April 2017	The Commanders	Multi-crew. Holo-Me (commander customization). Completely revamped camera suite. Ship naming and ship IDs. New ship (Dolphin). Asteroid bases. Dockable megaships. TRAPPIST-1 is added to the game. First hints at Thargoids (Unknown ship encounters, Thargoid surface sites).
2.4	26 September 2017	The Return	Thargoids. New limpet types (Repair, Research, and Decontamination). New Synthesis recipes (Limpets, Heat Sinks, Chaff, Life Support oxygen). Increased punishment for murder crime. New Galaxy map route plotter (routes up to 20k ly, including Neutron Star boosts). Search and rescue contact at stations. New ship (Type-10 Defender). Chained missions. New megaships (some of which can move to different systems each week).
Season 3: Beyond
3.0	27 February 2018	Chapter One	New ship (Alliance Chieftain). Wing Missions. Mission Depot menu (view mission progress, buy commodities). Revised trade data system (access trade data from systems previously visited). Planetary visual improvements. Crime & Punishment changes (crimes are attached to ships instead of CMDRs, bounties no longer go dormant, notoriety associated with CMDR). Engineering changes (modification grades per module, experimental effects can be purchased with Materials separately from modification rolls, remote Engineering workshops). Material Trader. Technology Broker. Additional interactions with Megaships. GalNet Audio. Spoken callsigns. Increased material storage. Increased module storage. Keelback is now multi-crew capable. Respawn at nearest station instead of at station last docked. COVAS.
3.1	28 June 2018	Chapter Two	New ships (Alliance Challenger, Krait MkII). Wing Mining Missions. Additional interactions with Installations. Additional interactions with Megaships. New Technology Broker modules. New Thargoid content. New Installations and Megaships. Notoriety improvements (decay while docked, CMDRs can turn themselves in).
3.2	18 August 2018	Chapter Three	New ships (Alliance Crusader, hybrid ship-launched fighters). Planetary Wing Missions. 4 new Engineers in the Colonia region. New Guardian content. New settlements. New weapons and Technology Broker modules. Mission Depot is now available for solo missions. Thargoid commodities can be sold legally and no longer cause damage to stations.
3.3	11 December 2018	Chapter Four	New ships (Krait Phantom, Mamba). Squadrons. Mining gameplay improvements. Exploration gameplay improvements (codex, new stellar phenomena, discovery and surface scanner changes). Night Vision. New module: Short Range Composition Scanner. Mission system now has dedicated server. New mission type (Scenario Missions). Large number of new Installations and Megaships (megaships move, installations can be assigned to a faction). New Incursion state for systems under attack by Thargoids. New type of conflict zone (AX conflict zone). Improved Lighting Model. Triple Elite ship decal. Orrery option in system map. Five new COVAS voices. Increased ship storage.
Between Season 3 and 4: The 2019-2020 Updates
3.4	23 April 2019	April Update	New beginning players' zone (aka "The Pilots' Federation District"). New modules (Advanced Docking Computer, Supercruise assist). An additional ship module slot. Nav panel improvements. Pilot's Handbook. New panels "Buy" and "Sell" in Commodities Market screen. Interstellar initiatives (which are an upgraded form of Community Goals).
3.5	18 September 2019	September Update	New "In Ship" Starter Experience (pilot training for new players). Improved Livery System and Store ARX Currency (previously "Frontier Points" only in use by console players). Increased spawn rate of High Grade Emissions (HGE) and Non-Human Signal Sources.
3.6	14 January 2020	January Update	No substantial new content, instead the update prioritizes resolving significant bugs and stability issues. Five new Background Simulation faction states: Drought, Infrastructure Failure, Natural Disaster, Public Holiday, and Terrorist Attack.
3.7	09 June 2020	Fleet Carriers Update	Fleet Carriers (specifically the Drake-Class Carrier). When using the Supercruise Assist module and dropping into normal space at a destination, the ship's thrusters will now automatically throttle down and bring the ship to a halt.
Season 4: Odyssey
?	19 May 2021	Odyssey	On-foot gameplay on planetary surfaces and inside bases. Pilot equipment: Spacesuit, Consumables, Handheld Weapons, Tools. Landing on planets with tenuous atmospheres. New ship module: Advanced Planetary Approach Suite (replaces the previous module "Planetary Approach Suite"). Introduces "first footfall" tag (which is recorded immediately when disembarking), but only on planets with population 0. First-person shooter. Biologicals. Stellar Forge improvements related to terrains and terrains materials. A vastly improved surface composition and rendering. Stars have new lights due to a new rendering system. Two new ranking systems: Mercenary + Exobiologist. Docking computers can now land on planet surfaces. Redesign for Mission Board, Galaxy Map, System Map, Shipyard and Redeployment interfaces. New Thargoid ships, drones and other formations. Detailed Surface Scanner has new filters for isolating geological and biological features. New Engineers, and new modifications for Suits and Handheld Weapons. A new post-Elite rank "Elite Star" is added to each rank ladder. Many new settlements and surface ports.
?	27 May 2021 - 29 July 2021	Odyssey Updates 1-6	Odyssey fixes. Update 5 also adds Shared Missions.
?	22 September 2021	Odyssey Update 7	Apex Interstellar Transport shuttles can be redirected mid-flight to return to the departure point or divert to another destination if there is sufficient fuel. Module storage limit is increased from 120 to 200. Galaxy Map bookmark limit is increased from 100 to 200.
?	27 October 2021	Odyssey Update 8	Some ships gain a 4th pilot seat. 4 new Engineers with Pilot Equipment modifications are added to the Colonia Region. Emotes for on-foot players.
?	09 December 2021	Odyssey Update 9	Added the Scorpion SRV. Five new Multi Limpet Controller modules, which combine multiple Limpet Controller types into one module, but at the cost of overall efficiency compared to high-rated individual Limpet Controllers. Cargo capacity of the Scarab SRV is increased from 2 tonnes to 4 tonnes.
?	25 January 2022	Odyssey Update 10	Odyssey fixes. Changes to minor faction behavior and faction state behavior.
4.0.11	15 March 2022	Odyssey Update 11	Concourses are added to Fleet Carriers.
4.0.12	07 June 2022	Odyssey Update 12	Stability and optimization changes.
?	09 August 2022	Odyssey Update 13	Stability and optimization changes. Scenarios and features added to reflect the finale of the Azimuth Saga in game.
?	15 September 2022	4.0 Engine	4.0 engine will become the "Live" mode in which all new content and events will be introduced, 3.8 engine including console becomes "legacy" mode.
4.0.14.0 (shown as 4.0.13.0)	29 November 2022	Odyssey Update 14	Stability changes. Next major narrative phase.
?	09 May 2023	Odyssey Update 15	Focus on the Thargoid War.
4.0.16.0	01 August 2023	Odyssey Update 16	Focus on the Thargoid War.
4.0.17.0	16 October 2023	Odyssey Update 17	Focus on the Thargoid War.
4.0.18.02	09 April 2024	Odyssey Update 18.02	Frame Shift Drive (SCO) - supercruise overcharge cuts travel time in a star system by more than half.
4.0.18.04	07 May 2024	Odyssey Update 18.04	New ship: Python Mk II.
4.0.18.08	06 August 2024	Type-8 Update	Pre-Built Ships: Ship bundles can be purchased with real money, allowing players to skip the grind. New ship: Type-8 Transporter. Engineering rebalance: Increased material availability. Predictable engineering (i.e. no more randomness in engineering upgrades). Lower costs for some blueprint. Seriously buffed HGE materials quantities. Vastly reduced requirements from engineers themselves.
4.0.19.0	22 October 2024	Ascendancy	Rework of Powerplay (aka "Powerplay 2.0"). New ship: Mandalay.
4.0.19.03	12 December 2024	Cobra Mk V Update	Module storage increased from 200 to 600. New ship: Cobra Mk V. Next (final?) stage of the Thargoid War.
4.1.0.0	26 February 2025	Trailblazers	System Colonisation BGS economy ties in with Powerplay 2.
4.1.0.0	08 April 2025	Gutamaya Corsair Update	New ship: Gutamaya Corsair.

Playing journal

This section contains a journal of what I've roughly been doing in the game. I started the journal in 2025, after I took up the game again with enthusiasm after a 4 year break. Earlier dates were reconstructed from old notes and evidence gathered from various sources.

Playing journal

Date	Event or activity	Journey name	Notes
13-May-2015 to 30-Mar-2016 (almost 11 months)
13-May-2015	First login to Frontier Store to buy the game.
?	Sometime around here I must have made my first journey, of which this post in my personal blog is telling.	Dipping my toes	The blog post has the date 26-Aug-2015, but the journey must have taken place earlier because of clearly established dates of activities that I know I did later.
Next 6 weeks	I tried out Powerplay, then still in its version version. I wrote another blog post about this.		The blog post again has the date 26-Aug-2015. See previous note.
?	Second exploration journey. I still fondly remember this one, not the least because of the blog post I wrote. This journey lasted for just about one week, so I could be back in the bubble to collect my final Power Play salary.	Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion
19-Aug-2015	Bought the Elite Dangerous: Lifetime Expansion Pass.
20-Aug-2015	First post on the forum.
22-Aug-2015	Started journey to Sagittarius A*.	The Sagittarius A* Jaunt
25-Aug-2015	"First impressions" blog post on www.herzbube.ch
02-Sep-2015	Created category "Elite Dangerous" on this wiki (a link can be found at the bottom of this page). This marks the time I started to keep extended notes about the game.
09-Sep-2015	Ship inexplicably destroyed while exploring 10'000 light years away from Sol. The probable cause is several hours of unattended supercruise flight at minimal velocity 30 km/s, slowly carrying the ship into the system's main star.		This unfortunate event brought to my attention that the ship, when in supercruise, is not at rest.
11-Sep-2015	Restart of journey to Sagittarius A*.	The Sagittarius A* Jaunt - Reloaded
06-Nov-2015	Reached Sagittarius A* with Asp Explorer "Romancing the Stars". Added myself to the Sagittarius A* Visitor List (v3.0).
11-Nov-2015	Registered for Distant Worlds as number 30 on the fleet roster (out of 1054).
19-Dec-2015	Back in the bubble from the Sagittarius A* jaunt. A hilarious account of my return can be found in this forum post.
Early January 2016	Installed the tool EDDiscovery (EDD) for the first time.		I find this a memorable thing because on my exploration journeys EDD has played an essential role. Also EDD provides me with an unbroken history of all of my in-game activities since I started to use the tool. At the time of writing this (June 2025), the EDD database is taking up nearly 10 GB of disk space.
14-Janu-2016	Start of Distant Worlds and journey 4. Almost got myself killed on expedition launch by continuously colliding with the planet surface because of reverse-thrust being on.	Distant Worlds
27-Feb-2016	Ship destroyed. Reason: While trying to land on a planet for prospecting I slammed into the planet surface, because I didn't pay attention to my ship's position and speed while I was doing something else.
28-Feb-2016	Relaunch.
30-Mar-2016	End of Distant Worlds.
08-Oct-2016 to 14-Sep-2017 (11 months)
08-Oct-2016	Start journey back home from Beagle Point via the Carinii arm.	The Return via Carinii (as part of the Sagittarius-Carina Mission)
06-Apr-2017	Return to the bubble from journey 4.
07-Apr-2017	Promotion to "Elite" in Exploration.		Search for "Promotion" in EDD journal.
13-May-2017	Promotion to Empire rank "Duke". Bought the Imperial Cutter.		The first promotion in Empire ranks (to "Lord") occurred on 26-Apr-2017, so it took me roughly 2.5 weeks of playing time to reach "Duke".
	TODO: What did I do until 14-Sep-2017?
10-Apr-2019 to 09-Dec-2019 (10 days)
	TODO: What did I do from 10-Apr-2019 to 03-May-2019?
03-May-2019	Started journey 5, with the goal to test my newly engineered Anaconda with 70 ly jump range, and to make my first steps with the new FSS.	The Billion Credit Trip	I retroactively gave the journey the name "The Billion Credit Trip" because I made almost a billion credits profit from exploration in that trip.
04-Jul-2020 to 02-Sep-2020 (2 months)
28-Mar-2021	Return to the bubble from journey 5.
27-Apr-2021	Promotion to Federation rank "Rear Admiral".		The first promotion in Federation ranks (to "Warrant Officer") occurred on 18-Apr-2021, so it took me 11 days of playing time to reach "Rear Admiral".
28-Apr-2021	Bought Federal Corvette.
13-May-2021	Started journey 6 with Imperial Clipper "Caffe Latte". The goal is to visit Colonia to obtain access to grade 5 of the Engineering blueprint "Misc Leightweight".
16-May-2021	Ship destroyed in system Lagoon Sector NI-S B4-10, by an NPC in a Krait II (rank Master). Ship destruction resulted in complete loss of data.
02-Apr-2025 to present
07-Apr-2025	Login for the first time since almost 4 years. The game forces me to play through the Odyssey on-foot tutorial. I'm confused at first because I don't realise it's only a tutorial.
11-Apr-2025	Touchdown at Ray Gateway in Diaguandri. Buy an initial set of suits and weapons. I notice for the first time that the Advanced Planetary Approach Suite (for landing on planets with tenuous atmospheres) is already installed on the ship - the original Planetary Approach Suite was automatically replaced.
17-Apr-2025 to 21-Apr-2025	Acquire 5 Titan Drive Component and buy 5 pre-engineered SCO FSD modules, classes 3-7.
25-Apr-2025	Starting to take on on-foot missions in earnest with the goal to fully engineer an Artemis suit for Exobiology.
7-May-2025 to 14-May-2025	Sell a total of 1525t of Platinum during the mining CG. These were acquired during 3 sessions of laser mining with a Cutter with 512t of cargo space. Playing time roughly 2 hours per session, for a total of 6 hours playing time. Each ton of Platinum sold for 8 times the normal value during this CG, i.e. for 444'040 Cr. I earned almost 1 BCr for my efforts: 677'161'000 Cr for the Platinum sales, and another 250 MCr for being in the top 25% of commanders participating in the CG.
14-May-2025	Achieved Elite status in Trading profession (search for event "Promotion" in EDD)
21-May-2025	Completed first batch of on-foot engineering.		2 Artemis suits, 2 Maverick suits, 1 Dominator suit, 1 Manticore Executioner, 1 Manticore Tormentor (not silenced!), 1 Karma L-6.
23-May-2025	Haul a couple of thousand tons of stuff to help a CMDR complete their initial Colonization outpost in Shui Wei Sector UJ-Q b5-7.		My first contact with Colonization.
23-May-2025 to 24-May-2025	Participate in CG and haul 5'480 tons of Semiconductors. I earned around 450 MCr for my efforts: Around 300 MCr for the Semiconductors sales, and another 145 MCr for being in the top 75% commanders participating in the CG.
25-May-2025	Pledge to Pranav Antal and do the initial 5 Powerplay assignments so I can start earning merits.
26-May-2025 to 01-Jun-2025	Go to Colonia and back to the bubble, for gaining grade 5 access to Etienne Dorn so that from now on I can engineer Life Support modules (via Remote Workshop).
02-Jun-2025 - 19-Jun-2025	Rank up in Powerplay 2.0, to rank 94, because that is the rank where Pranav Antal grants the maximum bonus of 30% on Exobiology data sales.
TODO	Go on an Exobiology tour to collect data that I can then hand in in Pranav Antal systems, for the added 30% sales bonus. Goal: Earn enough funds to buy and long-term maintain a Fleet Carrier, which will then help me with Colonization.
TODO	Buy Fleet Carrier.
TODO	Start Colonization.
TODO	Do a bit of BGS manipulation to help the Buurian Protectorate.
TODO	Leave for another exploration journey.
2.1	26 May 2016	The Engineers	Engineering. Mission system overhaul (factions are now represented by NPCs).