Elite Dangerous: Horizons

Elite Dangerous: Horizons is a new season of major gameplay expansions for Elite Dangerous, beginning with Planetary Landings across the Elite Dangerous galaxy. [...] Elite Dangerous: Horizons will continue to introduce new features and gameplay as the season continues into 2016, enriching the Elite Dangerous experience with new activities and new ways to play.

— Frontier

Elite Dangerous: Horizons is the second season of expansions to Elite Dangerous that gradually introduces a variety of new features and gameplay content.

Throughout 2016 it will continue to be developed and updated, providing free improvements to the basegame for all Commanders, and headline features accessible only to Horizons owners.

From the 5th of February 2016, Horizons changes from an expansion to a DLC.

Elite Dangerous Horizons Launch Trailer

The Engineers 2.1 Trailer - Elite Dangerous Horizons

The Guardians - Elite Dangerous Horizons

The Commanders Update 2.3 - Elite Dangerous

Supported Platforms

Elite Dangerous: Horizons v2.0 was released on PC on the 15th of December 2015. Four subsequent free expansion updates - versions 2.1, and 2.2 have been released and versions 2.3 and 2.4 are currently in development.

Horizons released on the Xbox One on the 3rd of June 2016. Frontier intends further expansions to come out within a few days of the PC versions.

The Apple Mac platform will not be getting Horizons due to the current lack of high-performance Compute Shaders in the graphics API's supported by OS X.

Playstation 4 support was announced on the 8th December 2016, with release in Q2, 2017.

Note: Players on one platform cannot see players from another (except for PC/Mac). The different platforms place players in the same galaxy environment sharing a common background simulation, however direct cross-platform interaction is not possible.

Released expansions

Planetary Landings - v2.0

Main article: Planetary Landings

Planetary Landings

Released on December 15, 2015 on PC, and on June 3, 2016 on Xbox One. Players are able to land on four types of airless planets - rocky, metal, ice and rocky/metal - which make up 61% of the planet types in Elite Dangerous' Milky Way. These planets vary in size and composition, therefore having different gravity forces affecting the flight and landing dynamics.

The landings are graphically seamless with a small pause for instance loading, and the planets can be explored in low-level flight or by using a Surface Reconnaissance Vehicle. Once on the surface, players can discover constructed, as well as natural, points of interest, which can be military bases, research establishments, hideouts, starports, mining complexes, crashed ships and debris to investigate. The nature of the encounter varies depending on where the player is: the planet type and composition, and the local topography affected by geology.

Players can craft consumables using a process called synthesis, using materials looted from points of interest. SRV Fuel, Ammunition Boosters, Frame Shift Drive Boosters, and SRV Repairs can be crafted with different improvements and quality levels, based on the amount of materials used.

The Engineers - v2.1

The Engineers

Released on May 26, 2016 on PC, and June 3, 2016 on Xbox One. Introduced the titular Engineers and improvements for the mission system and NPCs. Engineers are 30 NPCs scattered across human space in remote planetary outposts who can upgrade the weapons and modules of player ships. Accessing an Engineer, each of whom specializes in a few specific modules, requires receiving an invitation from them and completing tasks to increase player reputation. Engineers are only available to Horizons owners.

In addition, the standard mission UI has been improved, and factions at a port are now represented by specific NPCs who offer missions to players. Completing missions increase player reputation with that faction as before, but as reputation increases, players will meet higher-ranking members of that faction. Faction representative NPCs, as well as all Engineers, also have character portraits made using assets from the character creator that will be available to players in the 2.3 update. NPC ships make use of Engineer upgrades. Mission UI and NPC improvements are available to all Elite Dangerous owners.

As of 2.1, Frontier Developments have achieved development parity between the PC and Xbox One versions of the game, and all future updates and expansions will be released simultaneously on both platforms.

The Guardians - v2.2

The Guardians

Released on October 25, 2016 on PC and Xbox One.

Take what comes and strike back with double. Bring a second ship to every combat encounter with Ship-Launched Fighters and defend your passengers against the deadliest threats in the galaxy.

• Features:
  • New ships: Beluga Liner, Taipan Fighter
  • Passenger transport missions (tourists and VIPs with mid-journey requests)
  • Cabin modules to carry passengers: Economy, First Class, and Luxury Suite variants (Luxury Suites are restricted to Orcas and Belugas)
  • Tourist beacons used to mark locations of interest for passenger missions can also be scanned by explorers for credits
  • Ship-Launched Fighters: the swift F63 Condor, the agile Imperial Fighter, and the durable Taipan Fighter, each with multiple pre-set loadouts to choose from
  • Fighter Bay modules capable of both repairing fighters and constructing a limited number of replacements; only the Anaconda, Beluga Liner, Federal Corvette, Federal Gunship, Imperial Cutter, Keelback, and Type-9 Heavy can accommodate Fighter Bays
  • NPC Crew members with individual backstories and rankings can be hired to pilot your ship or fighters
  • New alien artifacts and ruins on certain worlds. It is now known that the Ancient Ruins are from the titular alien race The Guardians.
  • Simple alien life in the form of fungal formations on certain worlds
  • Five additional Engineers with new module upgrades
• Enhancements:
  • New station interiors: tourism, refinery, agricultural, and high-tech.
  • New station types: capital ship docks, outpost variants utilizing assets from CQC arenas
  • The types and interiors of stations will be determined by star system type and population
  • Revamped station services UI
  • Improved faction NPC graphics
  • Improved hyperspace transit animation
  • Pre-FSD jump alerts noting the security level and star type of your destination system
  • Improved galactic map route planner that dynamically applies filters
  • Improved planet views in the system map
  • Transfer stored ships via "bulk carrier" to the station you are currently docked at; transfer wait times and fees are dependent on the type of ship being moved and the distance it must be transported
  • Sell owned ships remotely
  • Store ship modules at stations, can be transferred to a different station for a fee
  • Fines can be paid off and bounties collected remotely for a fee by using SIN Broker contacts in low security systems
  • New harvest-able geological formations on planet surfaces caused by volcanism: fumaroles, geysers
  • Improved white dwarf and neutron star graphics
  • New physics for white dwarves and neutron stars: radiation plumes that can be fuel scooped to supercharge the FSD, greatly increasing its range (beyond what Synthesis can achieve) for one jump at the risk of damaging it, but this can be difficult to do as these stars will also emit hazardous levels of radiation

The Commanders - v2.3

The Commanders

Released on April 11, 2017 for PC and Xbox One.

Team up and stand together. Forge your own identity with the new Commander Creator, then share your bridge with Multi-Crew and fly with friends.

• Features:
  • Multi-Crew: Players can serve as crew members on each others' ships, instantly transferring to a secondary bridge position via drop-in, drop-out matchmaking. Accessible via an option on the Comms panel. Automatically activates voice-chat when in use. Three player roles:
    • Captain - the host of a Multi-Crew session. Controls flight, target selection, power distribution, module power, synthesis, and any station interactions.
    • Gunner - controls any turreted weapons, launcher weapons, limpets, and utility modules on the main ship via a third-person camera.
    • Fighter Pilot - controls any fighters equipped on the main ship. Allows up to two fighters (one AI and one player, or two players) to be deployed simultaneously.
  • Holo-Me (Commander customization): Players can customize their in-game avatars, from their physical appearance to the suits that they wear, at any time through a new option in their ship's systems panel.
  • An upgraded camera suite that replaces the "classified camera".
  • The ability to name ships and choose ID codes for them in the Livery menu. Ship names and IDs are seen in the HUD when a ship is scanned, and can also be displayed on the ship's hull by purchasing universal name templates from the Frontier Store.
  • New ship: Dolphin
  • Megaships: Station-sized non-playable ships with usable docking facilities. Includes Fisher's Rest.
  • Asteroid Bases
  • Various unspecified additions related to alien species
• Enhancements:
  • Changes to the Comms panel to improve message legibility and display player and NPC character portraits, and to accommodate Multi-Crew options.
  • History tab in the Comms panel that tracks recent players encountered in Multi-crew. Includes an option to block players from Multi-Crew.
  • Players in a Wing receive any bounty rewards earned by any member of that Wing.
  • Turreted variants of Mining Lasers.
  • Reductions in hull mass for the Beluga Liner, Diamondback Explorer, and Orca.
  • The TRAPPIST-1 system is added to the game.

Upcoming expansions

See also: On-going Development Of Horizons

There's one remaining expansion planned for Season 2 of Elite Dangerous. In addition to Horizons-exclusive features, all expansions include gameplay additions and improvements that are accessible to all players.

Full list of confirmed gameplay additions & improvements in Season 2 (on Reddit, fully sourced).

The Return - v2.4

Scheduled for Q3 2017. The Thargoids Return!

Frontier said this update will be slightly different to previous ones - content will be revealed over time rather than all being available on day one. Additional pieces of exciting content will surface over the coming months as the narrative progresses.

After visiting the Frontier offices Obsidian Ant reported "There's been some worry that 2.4 is going to be a small patch, I think that concern came from the announcement that 2.4 is going to be released in sections. From what I saw, it appeared that 2.4 is going to be at least as big as all the other patches, and it certainly isn't the end of the main development of the game."

• Features:
  • New Thargoid interactions
  • Search and Rescue contact: turn in any found salvageable wreckage and cryopods at stations
  • Hull repair Limpets
  • New anti-Thargoid weapon modules
  • New Synthesis recipes, including Limpet Synthesis

• Enhancements:
  • Improvements to player inbox UI
  • Crime and punishment changes: when committing a crime, the most expensive rebuy cost for the ship used during the crime will be added as a penalty, negating the prior benefits of switching to a cheaper ship to clear accrued bounties; if you attack another player, you gain a Pilots Federation Bounty, which is in effect across all systems, in addition to a normal local bounty.
  • Rebuy costs and fines can be paid by selling any of your ships in storage

Vehicles

Ground Vehicles

• Skimmers
  • S4 ‘sentry’ skimmer
  • S5LM ‘guardian’ skimmer
  • Stinger-2 attack skimmer
  • S9 ‘goliath’ skimmer
• Surface Recon Vehicles
  • Scarab

Spacecraft

• Ships
  • Beluga Liner
  • Cobra MkIV (limited-time offer)
  • Dolphin
• Fighters
  • Taipan Fighter
• Megaships

Gallery

Concept art of Scarab entering a city, as seen in Newsletter #95

Planetary Approach Preview from Newsletter #96

Concept Art of planetary chases

Elite Dangerous - On the Horizon Episode 4 - Q&A with David Braben

Horizons Cobra Landing

Horizons EGX Art

Horizons Concept Art 2

Horizons Concept Art 1

2.2 Geyser

The Guardians

The Engineers

Elite Dangerous Horizons official art

The Commanders