00:00There's been a lot happening around Elite Dangerous lately. A new free ship is now
00:04available for everyone and I'll show you how to get it in a minute. Operations has been delayed
00:09and speaking of which, we've learned that this very feature might completely change how we play
00:14the game. Let's get started. So, on April 28th, Frontier Development have released a brand new
00:24ship called the Zorgern Purchasing Lynx. This ship is a medium-sized dedicated passenger ship,
00:29although you can always do other things with it, which means you can just land just about
00:34everywhere with it. It is designed to accommodate up to 225 passengers if you strip down everything
00:40and fully outfit it with passenger cabins. The ship was made free for everyone as a way to apologize
00:47for the delay of operations which was scheduled to launch at the end of last year and then at the
00:53end of the month of April this year. It seems that operation has been further delayed and this is
00:58why Frontier decided to make it free for everyone as a show of goodwill towards the community.
01:04You cannot buy the ship for credits at shipyards just yet, but you don't have to spend any real
01:10money either, you just need to go to the Frontier online store and acquire it for zero ARX, which is
01:16what I did. Of course, if you acquire the ship for free, you will get the base ship, but you
01:22can easily
01:22equip it with the best components in the game, including the new Mark II passenger cabins.
01:28I even did that in one of my colonies in the Lagoon Nebula and my ship can now accommodate 174
01:34passengers
01:35because I added some business class of Mark II cabins instead of a full economy build.
01:41So, how does the ship fly? It's remarkably swift and maneuverable. It's a real pleasure to fly,
01:47especially if you upgrade your components, you can easily reach speeds above 500 meters per second.
01:53I decided to go for a shieldless, weaponless build and thanks to its speed, I was never even threatened
02:00by pirates who tried to interdict me. The interior looks cramped for sure, it's definitely not a high-end
02:06ship but that's okay, I really enjoy the rugged and more utilitarian style in spaceships here and it's
02:13been a lot of fun optimizing routes and scheduling space flights for passengers.
02:19So, next, we were given more information about the upcoming operations and it seems that they are
02:24going to completely change how we are going to play Elite Dangerous.
02:28Operations in Elite Dangerous are a new multi-stage activity designed for quad-based gameplay.
02:35Up to 4 commanders can work together to complete structured objectives across a range of scenarios
02:40with increasing difficulty and rewards as they progress.
02:45These operations are accessed through mission boards while docked at starports,
02:50fleet carriers or squadron carriers which is awesome because it means that you are not going to have
02:54to go to stations to get them. There are two available modes, Mercenary mode that is the default option
03:01and has no connection to Powerplay making it accessible to any commander who meets the requirements.
03:07Powerplay mode introduces an additional layer allowing squads to undermine a selected power
03:13depending on the squad's leader alignment and location. Commanders who are not aligned with the
03:18power can still participate but they will not receive merits. Players can either form their own squad
03:25or use matchmaking to join others. Squad members do not need to be in the same system as they will
03:31be
03:31transported to the same location once the operation begins which is similar to how players teleport to
03:36other ships in groups. However, this also kind of reminds me of how other games work when you
03:42join a server and take part of the fight. In a sense, this is going to make Elite Dangerous feel
03:48more
03:48like a traditional combat game. After selecting a scenario, a squad is deployed to a central hub known
03:56as the Operation Runner. This specialized ship acts as an entry point, respawn location and extraction
04:03point for the mission. If a commander is defeated during any stage, they return to the runner where
04:09their ship is automatically repaired, refueled and rearmed before being sent back into the action.
04:15Each operation takes place in a separate environment and is divided into multiple stages
04:20with different objectives and difficulty levels. At launch, scenarios include missions such as
04:26counterattacks on megaships, station rescue operations, pirate hunts and surface evacuations.
04:33More scenarios are planned to be added over time though.
04:37To join or host an operation, commanders must be docked. Squad leaders can invite others directly,
04:43while players can also browse open squads through the matchmaking system .
04:49If a player selects a squad while not docked, their spot will be reserved until they are able to join.
04:57So, completing operations provide several types of rewards. Those include credits, materials and
05:03in powerplay mode, merits. A new currency called Mercoin is also introduced. Mercoin is earned by
05:11successfully completing operations and through weekly bonuses for certain activities. It can be used to
05:17purchase ship modules and engineering blueprints and it cannot be bought with ARX. The amount and quality
05:25of rewards depend on the difficulty of the operation with more challenging missions offering higher returns.
05:32So, operations almost sounds like a game within a game. What I hope is that it expands a little more
05:38on what we can do with Odyssey. It would be great if for example we could have friendly NPCs fighting
05:44alongside us as some of these operations seem to be of a rather grand scale. I do have one concern,
05:50however they seem to be disconnected from the actual game simulation and seem to be instances of their
05:56own. Meaning that it doesn't look like we could randomly pop into such battle or randomly interfere
06:01to help a group participating in an operation which to me highlights the limitation of the game. I think
06:07that it's about time Elite Dangerous gets past the limitation of 4 players. But let me know in the
06:12comment section down below. Are you excited for these operations? Have you taken the links? Let me know what
06:17you think of the ship also in the comment section. That is all for this video. Thank you so much
06:22for
06:22watching guys. As always if you enjoyed the content please make sure to give it a like. Don't forget
06:27to subscribe for more videos. I've been the Eradicator and I'll see you guys in the next one.
