Welcome to the 6th ED Newsletter. With a second reshuffle of desks taking place in the office we now officially have an entire floor dedicated to the development of Elite: Dangerous, meaning that everyone at the Cambridge office that is involved in the project is now within shouting distance of each other! This newsletter can be best described as an opportunity to confirm a few classics. But instead of a lengthy introduction, how about I just let you look at the topics we have in store for you!

Whilst not every ship from the older Elite games will be present at launch in Elite: Dangerous, we hope to bring back as many of the classics as possible. Today we’re happy to share with you one such classic that will be returning, and that is the Eagle!

The image above shows an early work-in-progress render of the Eagle. This particular model is still untextured and uses the various colours you can see to communicate where different materials will be used.



Like the other ships that will be returning, it was important to the team that this new version retained the shape of its ancestors as much as possible. As we haven’t shown you the earlier steps of the design process, like we did with the Sidewinder, here is a selection of concept art from the earlier phases of the new Eagle.

The most recent stage to be complete was of course to begin modelling the ship for use in the final game. We have already shown you a hawk-eye view of this stage, but you can also see the Eagle model from a variety of other angles below.

A long range variant of the Eagle is also something that we are currently exploring and the paintover below is an early proposal representing how this might differentiate from the standard build.

The next stage of the Eagle’s development will be further refinement of the model, before going on to texturing. From the artwork you can see the dark, predatory look that the team wants to shoot for and we will make sure to update you once the Eagle has completed this step.

With the Eagle making a comeback in Elite: Dangerous we may as well go ahead and confirm another ship that you’ll soon be able to have a long overdue reunion with, and that is the Adder!

Whilst the Adder is not at the same stage of development as the Eagle, a model is already underway and will be using the above piece of concept art as its main source. The Adder underwent a concept phase similar to the other ships that we have shared with you; however a single rendition was agreed upon much more easily than with some of the others. Here are a few early examples of this concept phase.





Once a shape was agreed upon in principle, the art team then did some additional work to factor in some functional considerations that would be required to proceed into the modelling phase. Some of these changes can be seen in the image below.

Overall the team are happy that the Adder is on the right track and that the new design retains the same feel as the original ship. There is still a long way to go until the Adder will be game-ready but hopefully we can bring you more updates on this process in the future.

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They say all good things come in threes, so let’s complete this trinity of classic ships by also confirming the Asp for Elite: Dangerous!



Whilst development of the Asp is still in relatively early stages, much like the Adder, the development that has been done already by experimenting with the classic shape has been extremely positive. The image below is the most accurate indication of where the design of the Asp is currently, with images 4 and 5 being the most favoured designs to be carried forward for elaboration. We will make sure to update you on its progress in future episodes.

Chop & Change: Proposed Changes to Freighter 3

In the last newsletter we shared with you the early design of one of Elite: Dangerous’ new freighters. Since then our concept artists have been working on expanding and modifying that initial design, to take into consideration some of the early feedback they received from the rest of the team.

The most notable change is the location of the cockpit, which has now been moved closer to the base of the ship, providing a larger cargo space on the top side of the ship. The hull has also been bulked out and split into more modular sections, as the smooth, singular aesthetic from the earlier hull didn’t fit in as well with the utilitarian look and function that the ship is aiming for.



At this stage Freighter 3 is still very much in the concept phase and the final design will more than likely take inspiration from both of the concept pieces we have shown you so far. We will make sure to keep you updated once a final design has been decided upon.

Elite Fiction: Death to Slavers

This week’s drabble comes from one of the Elite Anthology writers, Darren Grey. Be sure to check out Darren’s and all of our other writers' fantastic stories when they come out later next year!

Death to Slavers by Darren Grey

Mama used to take me to market. People there were nice! But some gave mean looks. “Death to Slavers,” they whispered.



Once a scary man came with us. “Don’t worry,” said Mama. “We paid good money for him. Daddy’s a Patron now; we need protection.”



But when the bangs started he just fell down, and people pulled Mama away. “Death to Slavers!” they shouted.



They say Mama’s gone now. I hope she comes back. I try being good, but if I don’t work hard they hit me.



“Death to Slavers,” they still say. I don’t even know who Slavers is.

Tumblr page and the second is the unofficial Elite: Dangerous Reddit page, both of which provide links to the most recent updates from the project; perfect for those of you that don’t have time to take part in the forums. As usual if you have any feedback or requests in regards to these newsletters then please don’t hesitate to get in contact with me at abarley@frontier.co.uk . Thanks again for reading our newsletter. If like many of our backers you do not have time to keep up to date with every development from Elite: Dangerous then I’d like to point you to two places that may help. The first is our newand the second is the unofficialpage, both of which provide links to the most recent updates from the project; perfect for those of you that don’t have time to take part in the forums. As usual if you have any feedback or requests in regards to these newsletters then please don’t hesitate to get in contact with me at

Thanks, Ashley













