I want to take a moment to say thank you for sticking with Elite even through the lows. You've kept a level-headed, balanced perspective throughout everything, and I really appreciate it. It's clear you do what you do because you love it. Elite's one of my favourite games and I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds.

I still would love ship interiors, be it our own ships or not. Docking in an abandoned station or ship, walking through empty halls and haunted locations... I'd love it. There were so many story locations we could only ever see from the outside!

I think base building and real player presence in the world is what the game really needs - Right now we're pretty much just observers and the weak driving force behind the occasional GALNET article and barely-functional station markets

I hope base building is coupled with limited ship interiors, like you can use your ships as temporary construction bases to then build your actual base with

Being able to walk around my ships would be nice, and yes I believe it's possible. It will just take time. Great video

Just consider player squadrons able to explore distant locations, then build and support their own bases on them, pushing farther outside the bubble (and at the same time expanding their own political allegiances), along with a threat of rivals (as well as the occasional Thargoid interruption) that can all be resolved in-game...massive! This could be an EVE competitor, with its coordinating all levels of gameplay, as well as tantalizingly close to the all-encompassing gameplay promised by Star Citizen. - And all of it in an entire Milky Way galaxy the others don't (and can't) emulate. This would solidify the epic nature of Elite for years to come.

Would love to see base building. Maybe FDev plans to incorporate it with the Powerplay 2.0 work, where if a player has built up enough reputation/influence with a particular faction, then that faction could somehow 'sponsor' the construction of a new base. It would be very cool to see bases being established in the far-flung regions of the galaxy, not to mention the establishment of multiple bases to form colonies in specific regions (think Azura Initiative for example).

def hoping for abandoned settlements and other things being explorable, new missions, stories content around that, like the generation ships, other things along those lines.

Wasps at the UN? "notes that plan down for future use."

Am I the only one who also says "I'm cmdr buuuuuur" at the beginning of the video? 😆 Great video though, hope base building does come to the game as I think it would also give a neat level of "being out in the black" and you're the soul person surviving out in space and not just jumping around in your ship. Almost like a mission going to Mars in today's terms. Kind of gives a role playing feeling to it. Also as others have said, it would be cool if they integrated it so you can meet and see more players out there.

I hope base building *isn't* the unannounced feature, and that Elite goes back to it's *roots* by adding more gameplay to the flight element of the game. I'd still much rather see atmospheric worlds with weather and biomes, 'proper' strike missions against ground targets, procedural cities, NPC crews and ship interiors. But... it's going to be base building isn't it?

All I really want is to be able to find new alien friends, maybe picking up and industrial-era civ's radio signals, or finding an inhabited earth-like world on the edge of an expanding civilization. It might be fun IDK, probs not happening though :(

I hope for a possibility to land on more types of planets, but base building or ships interiors (for people who want to treat their ship as a mobile base) would make me happy as well. Well, we will see. I'm just glad that SOMETHING is finally happening,

Oh man, that would be awesome if Player Owned Stations would become a thing. I'd definitely set up a station out in the middle of nowhere for explorers to come to so that they could sell their data, rest, repair, and refuel.

Did you hear about the wasp nest visiting the UN? I dont know the details yet but theres been a lot of buzz.

I hope we get to visit Thargoid home territory. I expect each major Thargoid colony will contain much more of the current Thargoid assets (barnacles, spires, Titans, bustling ground structures, and all the various ships, plus more things like actual stations and cities) right across each home system with considerable backup forces and a sense of absolute permanency.

Outstanding video and very very cool possibilities. I am so stoked if you turn out to be correct. Also i really love the way you deliver information. I feel like I'm at an FDev design meeting (in the best way lol)

i think its useful and practical ship interior gameplay

I would love to see Base Building added! It would make sense to link Squadrons (or some variant of) to Base IDs, allowing Powerplay 2.0 to include a sort of Player Faction that isn't just a normal faction controlled by preexisting NPC BGS stuff. Expanding and building more Player Faction facilities would require a lot more materials so your idea of Material focused facilities would sit neatly in the new grind.

1.5k hours but no ship interior when out in the dark made me quit. All I wanted was a generic room with a bunk and table so when landed I could go in, sit or sleep.

One of your best videos, I personally think you nailed everything! I too believe this is what Fdev are working on and it makes sense for the longevity of the game, tying the gameplay loops together, giving more meaning to the experience and expanding the scope of the game in new ways. This could be Fdev's masterpiece gameplay mechanic that we know they are capable of. o7 and bring it on!

I hope people who like Thargoids get to keep them. I hope that for the rest of us, it is to be at the edge of an unpopular part of the bubble. Preferably a bit off, like it used to be.

I'm going to get back into this...

Love that you record and publish your videos in 21:9 - just got a new display and love it when videos utilize it :)

Wow. Great analysis, and wonderful ideas. I hope at the very least that they’re considering things like this. Such a holistic consideration of the game, the situation, and some *very cool* pitches on how to extend the endgame in a potentially satisfying and rewarding way. Hearing these theories and conjecture really makes me hopeful for the future of the game. It’s really surprising how much potential is left in a game this old, and it’s hard not to imagine a future where that potential is fulfilled. You make it difficult to temper my expectations!

Thanks Burr Pit. I've never left the game since release. There may have been lull periods where I didn't play as hard as other times but I've always kept ED alive in my games rotations. This year so far has just completely re-energised my passion for the game, so thank you to the dev team at FDev and your Burr Pit updates are key and to the point of whats happened and what's coming. Thank you for your efforts making the news, they are direct and to the point. No waffle. Cheers.

Thanks for your ongoing Elite support. To me Elite is so much more than a game, it’s an extension to reality. After a day of work, sit down and travel 3-4 hours through the galaxy is just a perfect ending for a day, in real life. That is the strength of this game, it’s just like flying through space. The rest is up to you. PS: consider buying a pre-build. It’s also good support for the developers. I am playing Elite since the 1980ies. So it’s not much they ask for really. Compared to Bethesda or EA for example it’s a bargain.

Talk of meaningful PvP I find concerning. I have not appreciated Thargoids being pressed on me. I most definitely don't want to be forced or at least funnelled into PvP. Playing in Open in all but CG systems, I enjoy meeting friendly pilots. It is accepted that some player might be arse enough to want to engage me in non consensual combat (and then get added to my block list). I never engage in combat with Players and do not want to. Pushing PvP combat on me would be very unwelcome.

Crikey Burr, you're pushing the envelope with this one. Love your work. Good luck with the 4 July

Ship interiors, ship interiors, ship interiors. There, I've said it three times. It should appear soon 😅

Salute to FDev for still putting out new updates and new content for this 10 year old game.

This is the _exact_ form of base building I'd like to see in the game, and it would give both end game players something more to do that would have meaningful impact on the world around them, and help address some of the material collecting woes of engineering. Add in the ability for players to put those engineering materials that bases generate up for sale to other players, and I think it would be an excellent addition to the game. Plus, I can imagine a number of player initiatives that would spring up to keep far flung bases built up and active.

got back into ED this year. After taking a 1.5 year break from the downfall of it i'm so glad this gem of a game is pushing on and being supported to this level again

God I hope it's base building. It would make the galaxy feel so much more personally meaningful. I'd love to find a planet to call home

If base building were ever added to Elite there are a few things I really hope are taken into account and hope to see from it. 1. Being an explorer setting up an outpost in deep space far away from politics and civilisation 2. It should be manageable for a solo player to at least maintain a small base like the fleet carrier is still maintainable solo. 3. With the player owned factions applications closed, I hope large squadrons will have the ability to influence systems that are not populated by building multiple bases throughout a system to claim said system for a squadron. It would give more purpose to squadrons working together and might introduce PvP between squadrons fighting over a system. But this is far fetched

Base Building doesn't appeals to me. After seeing what has been done in No Man's Sky, or all those games with base buildings that start to look the same, I'd rather see a way to build "power play outposts" with a clear geopolitical goal of conquest like in Eve Online (Build player bases, defend/attack them, conquer a system, benefits from it), than everyone having its own little home on moons and such, with the same services we could find in a station.

I'd love for something to be implemented that gives CMDRs the ability to remove the damage nerf on human weapons vs thargoids. This would be a good way to explain a major tide shift in the war, and finally being able to use my favorite weapons against thargoids would be really cool, and ships meant for pvp or pve could then be used in the war and remove the need to specialize for AX, and make it harder for gankers who prey on AX ships

I don't want base building. I want more reasons to explore gallaxy.

Let us land on earth-like worlds and water world. I want to go cave exploring while being chase by a giant alien spider.

Hmmm, you have a veeery interesting theory, it sounds really cool. Imagine if they would go as far as to have clan battles and clan (squadron) owned space ! Just like the bubble, have another area of space for "clan wars" where players can build and maintain these bases/outposts on suitable planets, maybe even buy, build or rent an orbital station/capital ships(for combat), and dispute territories and have wars with eachother, just like the powerplay factions do!

Here's my theory that ties all the things we know into account. Consider these facts: 1. FDEV is filling the gaps they see in the fleet of ships available with 4 new ships. 2. FDEV has released the Thargoid War using some new PowerPlay systems and enabling players to attack physical locations after doing some preliminary work. 3. FDEV Promises PowerPlay 2.0 in September. 4. FDEV says "something new we have never seen before" is coming. Given these points, I believe that FDEV's long term plan is to provide players with player or squadron owned outposts or stations and that those elements will be assaultable by other players using the new PowerPlay mechanics and the new ships they're adding. I believe that players will be able to exploit systems or areas of player-owned areas, or allied player groups, and ultimately, player owned installations might be attackable using those systems. We must assume that the picture that FDEV sees on what's missing must be aligned to some purpose. They aren't just randomly filling in ship roles with their 4 new ships, they're filling those roles with intention. They want to make sure the process is working, so they are testing it using the Thargoid War system we see now. This will morph into at least part of the PP2.0 in September and I believe players will ultimately use their new ships and new game systems to ultimately attack and control player owned structures, installations, or outposts. Just my thoughts.

amazing shots Rhee!!! And Buur how dare you get me all excited for the secret update!!! I am trying to stay zen and "expect nothing just play the game" and am now planning to take over the bubble with my genital shaped bases!!!! Fingers crossed for some meaningful edge to base building, am sure I will love it anyway but lets not get too excited!!!!!!!

Brilliant, an excellent well informed and presented overview of what the near future may hold for ED. Thank you.

If fdev enabled EVAs and salvage it could finally tie the isolated on-foot game with our beloved space ship sim. Then ship internals could actually be used in salvage and boarding/combat actions. Not so sure about base building. But any of the above could be tied together and provide the means for more ground combat, salvage exploration in bases, inhabiting working bases, etc.. Sounds like a lot of potential!

BGS PMFs should be able to defend themselves in the same way powerplay factions do for open only. If it is base building. Part of them should be able to be shut down or affected by other players in some way. Like other BGS bases. If I decide to build a base in mobius or psykits area. They surely wouldn't like me being there right? So people should be able to affect one another. Game balance around players needs to be addressed on every front. Not just powerplay. Player accountability needs to be a thing. It needs to mean something. And for some reason people are against being held accountable from the people they are affecting themselves. Awfully weird scenario people claiming to be victims when defended against. So if it is base building it needs to be balanced.

The potential for all these Space Sims is always huge.

I've played long enough to not expect specific things, rather i prefer to wait and enjoy what is provided by Fdev. They might not be good delivering what we wish for but they're good delivering their stuff. What i'm saying is, don't give me hope, Mr. Buur..

Nice forecast! Now I want thargoid on foot and the return of the guardians! Dream until your dream comes true hehehehe.

Basebuilding sounds as it could fit really well. I would love it! Still there's one feature I would also love to see: Walking around in ships, board other ships and take them over (instead of destroy), combined with a lot of small minigames around Materials, Open World, Ship boarding, maybe some sort of hacking, ...

OHHHHhhh... Now you've gone and kicked the hornets nest. Brining up the ghost of the future Goid Queen. Rings of Kerrigan!

Open-only play is meaningless if it's consider the default. With Block functionality, truckers would simply work with a list of the opposing side CMDRs to block, effectively changing nothing. Current status quo is better. What FDEV could do is provide a bonus for open-play based on your percentage in open.

I agree it will be base building. The assets already exist in game, making it an easier process than if it were something requiring the assets to be designed from scratch etc.

Ill be honest, i would really love to see a line of actions that players could take to develop a relationship with the thargoids.

Standard features: walk around ships and interact; VR in Odyssey; and enhanced; less grind; MMO servers

Base building seems most likely, it has a great business model for the company in terms of selling cosmetics and doubles down on their management sim strategy. One thing missed in the video is future paid DLC based on new planet types, they have struggled to sell DLC previously with a perception of poor value for money with the hand crafted assets and gameplay loops that they managed to produce which is obviously very development intensive for billions of 1:1 scale planets in the game. I think base building will help here as the incentive to buy access to a new planet type to be able to build a base for unique resources or just to have a base there in a unique landscape will be incentive enough with minimal extra development required.

If we get base building, we'll need a good economics model to justify where they are located and what their function is, such as tourism, extraction, industry, miilitary, or research, and what is needed to keep them viable.

yes base building, it would really open up a huge area of new gameplay Loops and objectives. Imagine player factions creating their own bubbles and bases over time and establishing player runned economies

it is hard for me to find the motivation to start the game. i played years, i remember alot of events and start playing a few months after release. i was on Beagle Point 5 times and did alot of exploring on the way, a great game and i spent also a good amount of money on cosmetics to support Frontier. But i really can´t find the motivation anymore to start the game.

Looking forward to seeing what the updated version of power play will entail. As with all things FDev though, seeing is believing and I will wait to see before committing to any assumptions.

Imagine if we got a Thargoid group led by Seo and a Guardian group led by SalvAI AND humans finally allowed to build settlements for our PMF out in the void but have to watch out for Guardian and Thargoid controlled sectors in a kind of forever war.... You been reading my diary sir

Yes. Base building and maybe some new level of atmospheric landable planets. Oceans/lakes/rivers with foliage. Maybe that’s too much but the base building would. Be a great thing to actually spend credits on. And hopefully get some new elements/buildings that could amend the current Odyssey bases. Creative outlets abound! And finally get real use of those “building schematics”.

Before base building on planets I'd see building of outposts/stations in space more realistic, as the engine should have more features already implemented for doing so (like the carrier persistance system.... etc.). Building on planets would require bigger efforts for the planet engine. That may come with a complete new major version, I think. Just a feeling. 😎

Love the idea we are heading back towards OPEN being the predominant mode. I miss OPEN so much.

I hate to be negative but I'm usually correct when it comes to ED... but making powerplay open only would kill it. Base building could be cool though.

I'd love to have a transition to a player based economy like in EVE. With player bases you could have the perfect way to reward manual labor but provide a passive fallback to keep the economy alive when you don't have the time to farm stuff manually.

I think FDEV would first introduce player owned space stations and settlements using the game's existing assets before they would develop entirely new base building assets for the game.

I would love to see some major push back from the thargoids, like they destroy a earth-like planet or invade Sol and end up destroying mars or something. Deorbit stations and make them be a huge crash sites to salvage, one can dream haha.

Wow…. I love your ideas for base building. I really hope you are right.

I would love to see PowerPlay 2.0 used as a chance to add some more modules to the game. Adding Jerome (while keeping Hudson on the roster) with an enhanced HRP a la Prismos (some steps would need to be taken to reduce their effectiveness with shields, something like an interference value). Numbers like a 700% hull boost for C5 seem to give good numbers, given you have to sacrifice your shields (or at least most of them). Salvation with a Guardian FSD, boasting 300% increased optimized mass but with increased heat and boot time plus half the max fuel. It would also be incompatible with the booster, incurring a roughly 50% increase to jump range on a stripped Anaconda while freeing up a C5 slot from the booster and greatly increasing total range on a tank (nearly triple). Seo Jin could get a tractor beam like the Thargoids use, slower and less capable than a limpet controller with less range and a collection arc but removing the need to have limpets. Halving the speed for limpets (both single target and multi target, going from 200m/s and 60m/s to 100 and 30 respectively) with both turret and gimbaled (turret would give a full 180° arc but have less range and more power draw while gimbal has a 90° cone from the hatch). I image they would drain SYS while active and be bound to a fire group, single target would incur much higher SYS draw but have more than 3x the speed. Reel speed is relative to the ship so a beam can’t be broken by moving out of range. It could also be used against ships, though shields would lessen the effect and it wouldn’t be very powerful. More an emergency thing to stop a tumbling ship that has no thrusters.

I haven't been playing for 3 years, I'd definitely come back if they implemented base building in the game.

I love those shots of your T10 turret boat. What a beautiful ship!

Colonization of deep space would be the next step from Odyssey for Elite in my opinion, but I expect that to become a new expansion. With the temporary defeat of the Thargoids, and the conclusion of the war being "they will keep coming back" (thus we having a seasonal Titan to defeat every now and then), humanity decides that the best step for survival is to scatter and hope to either find a better way of dealing with the them, or simply try to survive in pockets small enough to not call their attention. Thus, Brewer Corporation starts partnering with nearly anyone who wants to create a deep space colony, provided they produce the funds (and/or resources) for it. We get to find systems with suitable locations, establish claims (either allowing other CMDRs to also colonize the system, only through request, or not at all, with different prices/costs dependent on the choice of claim), foot the bill and supply the colony with the use of carriers (and/or putting up nice trading opportunities for independent pilots), and eventually, the colony becomes self-sustainable, providing whatever it does (credits, materials, goods for trading, etc). That's why I think base building is too grandiose of a system to be implemented for free, and not on an expansion. Plus, it would have both a part on-foot for Odyssey owners (maybe with unique installations for commanders on foot) and for non-Odyssey owners (trading and any related activity to the colony, even piracy against it, or simply using colonies as mid-way points during exploration). It's still on my wishlist exploration on foot of megaships, maybe even megaship invasions (that could come with Powerplay and those new ones). Still, that would be an Odyssey-only activity, and given how FDev is still wary of giving Odyssey too much focus, I don't see that happening so soon or even being given so much importance. Whatever comes, I got enough proof from FDev that it will be a nice addition to the game anyway.

Base building would be even better if it was joined with being able to design in a ship interior space where you can place production components, furniture and technology upgrades.

An interesting analysis. Unfortunately the 'brand new feature' will probably be just an 'opportunity' to buy things with real cash.

I would love to see some form of enhanced crafting mechanic that you can perform while flying to some remote system. Meaning, let auto-pilot take the helm, get up and walk to a ship specified crafting location on your ship. Make passing the time less tedious. There are some great examples of what you could do on-board of a ship in Warframe. Of course that would be new implementations. I wouldn't complain about a 3rd person ship view during dog fights but I'll take what I can get.

Although a LOT 0o work, I would like to see a player run economy. As you were saying that these bases could be plants to manufacture from raw. We could even take contracts to build weapon systems or brakes even. I think that would definitely make this a forever game. Base building without some purpose is just that, just buy a carrier. Also I would really like to see outposts or small starports get fitted with a docking clamp for big ships, or let us land a SLF. A lot of missions come from these small outposts. o7

The *whole* Thargoid story arc has left me completely cold. I much preferred the old school hyperdictions. Ditto 'Risk in Space' (PP). More ships and atmospheric planets with floral and fauna would be my wish. And yet more ships, more SRVs and hula girl bobbleheads. Obviously!

I hope the new feature is something that works for VR users that have stuck with the game, and is not just a new 'on foot' feature. There's plenty of things that could benefit all of us. I've never got the whole ship interiors thing. For all the effort of creating it, unless they create gameplay that requires you to be on foot in your ship, it would become boring very quickly.

I do not enjoy AX content at all. I'm ready for them to bring something else into focus.

I wish they would chuck all the thargoids in the bin. Splitting the combat systems between ax and non-ax has effectively shut me out of half the game. It sucks

Base building .... Take my money !!!

I'd love to see base building being a feature, if it would allow me to set this base in an uninhabited system outside the bubble. A few ideas of what I'd think would be nice are forming inside my head, but I don't want to create a wall of text here.

What I hope for: In-game trade info (and related stuff) Why: Elite Dangerous is a sick game. It relies heavily on third-party sites such as Inara (and earlier EDDB) to provide players with what they want and need to get some reasonably non-painful gameplay. But if one such site (EDDB disappeared about a year ago, for example) goes away for whatever reason, the player perception of the game is harmed, and thereby the game itself. Basically, the lack of in-game game-supporting features that gave rise to third-party sites and services may be regarded as a potential threat to the game. Consider the hypothetical scenario that Inara goes out of action. What would players do then? (Replacing EDDB was/is? attempted, but seems to take time.) That potential threat is, I suspect, something Frontier needs to face, and mitigate. One way would be to add the corresponding functionality directly to the game itself.

Number 4th sounds really good, except nobody needs so many materials :/ I have all-full for more than a year now. But it sounds reasonable. Especially if other players can buy materials. Mats for the suits are in high demand still.

The base building alone could cost 50++ billion, without even considering the monthly payment. Providing material, without giving too much credit, could be all it takes.

Unless they are fully automated (and empty) bases, we'd also need 3D recruitable NPCs... Except we've been begging for them since 2015 and FDev always has ignored that request...

Base Building would favor Org Gameplay mostly as it would mean the acquisition of territory that a Clan / Org would control and administer. Solo and group play WITHIN a Clan or Org Controlled system would probably play out much the same as it does in the rest of the game. Everyone becomes a winner in some form or other.

I hope they don't do anything "pvp only" game play wise. They should never limit people like that. I know lots of others feel different.

Oh come on!!! I joined back in 84 i knew this game was not going away then and at the time i longed to be able to fly the other ships. And fully expected that at some point landing on atmospheric planets, with herds of Wildebeest majestically running across the plains or dinosaurs roaming. And of course since ive had VR i have tried on numerous occasions to walk through my Ships the best i got was sitting on the wing of my ship looking through to the tail end via cracks in the walls " by heck there is something back there"

i really dont like the idea of making powerplay open only, primarily because the main argument that i see in favor of doing that takes into account that obviously solo and group players can affect open play without having to take on any of the risk that open players do, but fails to take into account that it's not one sided. yeah, solo/group players can affect open play, but they're affecting it on all sides. it's not like all solo players play for the federation or something. the distribution of allegiances is probably basically the same as it is on open. so therefore the solo/group players are evenly affecting the powerplay game. i think that it's fair as it is, and it doesnt incentivize or disincentivize open play, which is honestly how it should be, because some of us just want to play with our friends and dont have any interest in dealing with other players outside of that, and its a little unfair of the most likely smaller pvp community to try and force us to play their game, rather than the one that we actually want to play, just to be able to interact with a large part of the simulation that we paid money for too. making the two run on separate servers is honestly even worse than just having solo/group be unable to influence powerplay, because a big selling point of the game is the simulation to me, the fact that this huge galaxy is affected by player action and various other things and is persistent across all gamemodes. no matter what you're doing you're still in the same galaxy as everyone else. having open be separate would kinda ruin that sense of immersion and continuity when switching between modes for me. it'd also fragment the community between open and solo, with the two servers having wildly different looking galaxies. i dont think there's any reasonable way to do what people want done here, without screwing over solo/group players in some way. and honestly in my personal opinion the arugments i see in favor of locking powerplay to open only really do come across as people being upset that there isnt as many people playing open as they'd like, and wanting to push people over to that mode. and i really dont like that mentality. the best argument i've seen in favor of it is that powerplay is explicitly designed to be a PVP thing, and thats great, it makes sense. but i fail to see how people engaging in it through solo and group arent in a roundabout/by proxy way still participating in that PVP. i mean think about it, they're still taking and losing territory from other players, the only difference is they're taking and losing it through PVE combat. take this hypothetical situation; you have one group of PVE players working to expand their factions influence in x territory, and then another group of PVE players goes and contests that territory. the two groups of players are effectively still fighting eachother, just through the proxy of PVE. i really dont see the issue there other than that some people are mad basically from the angle of 'well I play in PVP so THEY should have to as well!', basically just complaining that something isn't fair because the PVE players arent choosing to do the optional thing that PVP players again CHOSE to do.

After playing X2, X3, and a fair bit of X4, I left for EDO because I'd had enough of asset management as I now prefer a 'singular' gaming experience. However, I'm struggling to rationalise all this when we have Open and Solo sessions, I mean, how can it work unless Fdev makes the game Open only? Another great vid by the way.

Seems like bases would be good for extra storage. Odyssey materials particularly. Beyond that, I'd like to see planetary mining and hydroponic and other forms of manufacturing goods. Bases should require upkeep in the form of energy, oxygen and food/water production for the people living and working within them.

I think either one or two titans will be become indestructible, or they open up a region of permit locked Thargoid space where titans and spires etc., will still be available to engage in. Like Burr said, no way they are throwing it all out. I still also think that the rescued humans from the Titans will play a part in this. Maybe they 'activate' and become another faction in powerplay. I'm personally hoping the entirely new feature is planetary surface mining and some small degree of building assets to support that - mining rigs and hand mining. Would not want to see unrealistic (and framerate melting) cathedral building by cmdrs with magic hand waving like NMS or Minecraft.

In my opinion the silence about the future content must be connecting to future narrative, hence the secrecy. Sooo yeah the future update could be related to war between human superpowers. Maybe epic battles between capital ships: maybe against Thargoids. Maybe Thargoid planet killers. Could be on-foot thargoid encounters too! We forgot about it right? I think the least possible option is the fan favourite: base building. Solely bc I think the new feature will be connected to either upcoming PP v2 or the last phase of the Thargoid war. Or both!

I feel spoilt watching this. Gorgeous visuals 😍 And some wonderful theories. Simply awesome upload 😎👊

Ship interiors. They have ship blueprints that were designed to accommodate the internal components. We first got 1st person models, then 4 player crew seats, then carrier interiors, it's a natural progression and it would put Elite ahead of every other space sim out there. It would also open up endless potential play mechanics with just the ability to move around on a ship. Having interiors is much more practical and it flows from there to building more naturally, if building at all. I hope it's interiors. I wouldn't want Elite's universe and performance wrecked by 100s of abandoned bases - it would cheapen the aesthetic and experience if not pulled off incredibly well and to do that in a pre-existing world environment that wasn't designed with that in mind, I think, would be more of a challenge.

I always thought a separate game building mode would be a good idea. Start of with building functionality and tben add things like being able to make stories and missions. Frontier would really be making use of their best skills. Imagine if they actually did it as a separate game. That could sale pretty well and give them another revenue as they release building packs.

I don't know ... I mean, in one respect I can see how base building would fit in, but I'd really like them to expand on the things you can do on foot, too. Something that involves actual civilisation rather than wandering over endless deserts or fighting over the 32nd century equivalent of, frankly, one-horse towns. Where are my cyberpunk dark alleys, seedy bars or evil corporate headquarters buildings?

Base building would be a great addition to game play, somewhere you can create your own space within the game and possibly build micro economies around the base that is built.

I can see all of this happening but with 1 major difference: Capital ships. Looking at the whole picture from technical limiations, cost, whats already available to the players and so forth; it would make alot more sense and be alot more fun if players got to own/ attack/ defend/ loot/ launch/ command/ run around/ engage in combat on their own/ other CMDR's capital class battlecruisers.