Frontier Developments has released a free update to Elite: Dangerous, called "Powerplay", the largest update to date, with new ships, new features, and a new strategic layer to the Elite: Dangerous galaxy. You'll be able to pledge allegiance to one of a number of galactic Powers and guide your faction's strategy, take on special objectives to advance your cause, and work with other members in the faction to dominate Elite: Dangerous's full-scale Milky Way galaxy.
Rewards include valuable perks, reputation bonuses, and unique equipment, and every action you take will have a direct and visible impact on the balance of galactic power. The new strategic layer connects with and enhances every aspect of the Elite: Dangerous experience, and headlines an immense free update containing hundreds of upgrades and new features, including:
- An enhanced mission system with new objectives and new ways to play.
- Three new ships: the Lakon Diamondback Scout, Lakon Diamondback Explorer and the Imperial Courier.
- Drones for cargo collection, fuel trading and prospecting.
- A new illustrated GalNet newsfeed, accessible directly in players’ ship UI.
- High and low intensity mining sites, adding risk to mining and increasing potential rewards.
- New minable commodities.
- An updated bounty system.
- Upgraded UI and animated emblems for ranking up.
- Numerous other improvements to gameplay and performance.
From the official description of Elite: Dangerous:
Some may know you as an ally; others will call you a pirate, a bounty hunter, a smuggler, an explorer, an assassin, a hero… Fly alone or with friends, fight for a cause or go it alone; your actions change the galaxy around you in an ever unfolding story.
Start with a small starship and a few credits, and do whatever it takes to get the skill, knowledge, wealth and power to stand among the ranks of the Elite.
400 Billion Star Systems. Infinite Freedom. Blaze Your Own Trail.
Elite: Dangerous is the critically acclaimed third sequel to the genre-defining Elite, created in 1984 by David Braben and Ian Bell. Elite: Dangerous brings gaming’s original open world adventure into the modern generation with a connected galaxy, evolving narrative and the entirety of the Milky Way re-created at its full galactic proportions.
