About Elite Dangerous now
Elite Dangerous is Frontier Developments' space game set in the Milky Way. It runs as two galaxies: Live, on PC only, with Odyssey's on-foot play and every new feature, colonization, Operations and new ships among them; and Legacy, frozen, with its own commander profile, where console players are and where PC players can also play.
Colonization lets commanders claim a system and build in it: a new claim gives you four weeks to finish its primary port, and anyone can haul commodities to a construction site, whose depot shows what's still missing. A Coriolis or asteroid base usually needs 55,000-65,000 t, an Orbis, Ocellus or planetary port 200,000-270,000 t.
The Pilots Federation ranks Combat, Trade, Exploration, CQC, Mercenary and Exobiology each end at Elite, then Elite I to Elite V. Elite in any field brings the permit to Shinrarta Dezhra, where Jameson Memorial sells every ship and module, and Elite in Combat, Trade and Exploration makes Triple Elite. The Federal and Imperial navies have 14 ranks each: Rear Admiral and Duke are rank 12.
Engineers improve modules up to grade 5 with experimental effects: 25 ship engineers, 21 in the Bubble and 4 in Colonia, 22,000 ly away, plus on-foot engineers for Odyssey suits and hand weapons. Guardian modules, weapons and fighters are unlocked once at a technology broker and then bought in outfitting as often as you like. A Drake-class fleet carrier costs 5 billion credits, jumps 500 ly and costs at least 5 million a week to keep.