Elite Timeline

The original Elite logo

The following is the official fictional timeline of the first three Elite games (Elite, Frontier: Elite II, Frontier: First Encounters). The Elite Dangerous timeline differs from the prequels.

20th century

1950s

First man in space, controlled nuclear ﬁssion, transistor, start of the nuclear arms race;

1960s

First man sets foot on Earth's moon (Luna);
Commercial ﬁssion power is achieved;
First integrated circuits;
First computers are built;

1970s

Probes are sent across the Sol system;

1980s

End of the ﬁrst nuclear arms race;

1990s

First serious environmental problems on Earth appear;
Controlled nuclear fusion achieved;

21st century

2000s

First (minor) armed conﬂict between a nation and a "multi-national" corporation takes place;

2010s

First serious population problems on Earth appear;

2020s

First international environmental protection enforcement agency is founded;
First commercial space station is built;

2030s

Major energy crisis takes place;
Fossil fuel restrictions are imposed;
Religious unrest appears across the planet;
First baby is born off Earth;

2040s

World War III takes place;
Huge technological advancements are made;
Huge loss of life, dreadful environmental damage;

2050s

War is gradually abandoned due to popular rebellions;

Commercial fusion power is achieved;

2060s

Period of rebuilding after WW3 begins;

Dominance of corporations is increased;

2070s

First man on Mars;

First permanent Moon base;

2080s

Manned exploration of the Sol system;

Orbital cities are built around Earth;

First interstellar probes are launched;

2090s

First permanent Mars base;

Earth's Moon (Luna) is heavily industrialized;

22nd century

2100s

Discovery of fossils on Mars base;

Hyperspace is discovered;

Humans spread throughout the Sol system;

2110s

Arrival of message from ﬁrst interstellar probe to Alpha Centauri system. First pictures taken of an extra-solar planet in the Lagrange point on the two main stars;

2120s

Presence of life on Tau Ceti 3 is detected;

First armed conﬂict in space over rights in the asteroid belt;

2130s

Hyperspace capable probes are sent to all nearby systems;

2140s

Manned spacecraft sent to Tau Ceti;

2150s

Colony established on Tau Ceti 3;

Major corporations sending ﬁrst private colony ships;

2160s

The race for the stars begins;

Enormous production eﬀort to produce ships;
A mass exodus from the Sol system begins;

2170s

First attempt at terraforming Mars begins;

2180s

Life on Delta Parvonis is discovered and made extinct in same year from bacteriological infection;

2190s

Discovery of life on Beta Hydri 4, Altair 5;

Human colonials are spreading out of control;

23rd century

2200s

Earth environmental recovery program started;

The terraforming of Mars is abandoned;

2220s

Extinctions on Tau Ceti 3 are increasing;

Earth threatens to send a police force if the colonists do not cease their killing of indigenous life;

2230s

The ultimatum sent by Earth is ignored;

2240s

First interstellar battle takes place;

Founding of the Galactic Federation, founder members: Sol (Earth), Tau Ceti, Delta Pavonis, Altair, Beta Hydri;

2260s

Spread of Federation inﬂuence;

2270s

Second attempt to terraform Mars begins;

2280s

Discovery of ﬁrst non-human relic in space. Origin still unknown in 3200;

First man "outside" on Mars (i.e. breathing unaided) on completion of terraforming;

24th century

2300s

Remaining indigenous life on Tau Ceti 3 preserved in special enclosures;

2310s

News of elimination of a reputedly sentient race on Achenar 6d by private colonists causes outrage in the Federation.

Achenar refuses to join the Federation, many terraforming projects started;

2320s

Federation sends war ﬂeet to Achenar. Resulting enormous space battle won by Achenar;
The Empire of Achenar is founded;

2330s

Spread of the Empire from Achenar to surrounding worlds.
The Empire and the Federation go to war;
The ﬁrst Space Dredgers are built as a means of providing heavy industrial capability on the front lines of the war;

2340s

The Federation and the Empire continue hostilities towards each other;

2350s

Sirius Corporation founded, which quickly increases its financial status as a result of supplying the war ﬂeets;

2380s

A Peace Treaty is signed between Empire and Federation.
The Empire-Federation Cold War begins;

25th century

2401 - 2409

The Galactic Cooperative of Worlds is formed as an arbitrating body to maintain the peace between the Federation and Empire as well as the independent systems. It is given a very large budget through equal contributions from the Federation and Empire as well as contributions from other multi-world political entities. This budget is used primarily to produce adequate police forces and a well-armed navy which would come to the aid of any system threatened with invasion by another system.

An era of peace begins to settle over human inhabited space, though there is still much tension between the Federation and the Empire.

27th century

2650

TerraCorp is founded on Earth and specialized in producing various manufactured goods used in the frontier expansions;

2700

Python class star cruiser is produced by Whatt and Pritney Ship Construct of Inera;

28th century

2752

First Coriolis Station around Lave;

2762

Viper class heavy ﬁghter is produced by Faulcon Manspace of Reorte and becomes the standard GalCop Police ship. The design is sent to all shipyards on medium to high technology worlds for immediate mass production;

29th century

2850

Space Dredger TerraCorp One suffers a drive coil failure during a hyperspace transit, vanishing from known space;

2852

Gecko is produced by the Ace & Faber HullWorks of Lerelace;

2855

Cobra MkI, produced by Paynou, Prosett, and Salem shipyards of Zaonce, introduces revolutionary Prosett drive which alters the course of ship engine design all over the known galaxy;

2856

Anaconda class freighter is produced by RimLiner Galactic of Barnard's Star. It is hailed as the largest freighter class built to date and remains so until the late 3100s;

Orbit Shuttle is produced by Saud-Kruger Astro Design of Achenar. It steadily begins phasing out the old Transporter as the standard surface-to-orbit cargo and passenger carrier;

2878

Asp MkII is produced by GalCop Shipworks, Eta Cassiopeia and becomes the standard GalCop Navy patrol and combat craft;

2900

After a series of peace talks, the Empire and the Federation decide to form a special joint task force whose oﬃcial purpose is research and development of spacecraft and space living technology. It is given the name "Intergalactic Naval Research Arm", or INRA for short;

30th century

2914

The Adder is produced by illicit Outworld Workshop. Actually, the ship was an INRA design, but this information was considered Top Secret until 3290;

2982

Sidewinder scout ship designed by Faulcon deLacy Shipworks and produced by Spalder and Starblaze corporation of Eta Cassiopeia to satisfy GalCop Navy's need for a fast and manoeuvrable forward reconnaissance craft. The design immediately becomes very popular within space piracy;

31st century

3017

The Boa class star cruiser is produced by Gerege Federation SpaceWorks, Gerege;

3027

Krait class ﬁghter is produced by Faulcon deLacy Shipworks, ININES;

3028

Moray Star Boat is produced by Marine Trench, Co., Earth;

3050

First reported contact with insectoid alien race known as the Thargoids ends in hostility;

3055

The Thargoid invasion oﬃcially begins. Massive ﬂeets of Thargoid warships carrying remote controlled ﬁghters ruthlessly cut a swathe into occupied human territory, encroaching on a cluster of stars centered around Alioth.

GalCop Navy is mobilized to respond;

3100

Cobra MkIII is produced by Cowell & McGrath Shipyards of Lave;

Fer de Lance Lightspeeder is produced by Zorgon Patterson Group. It becomes a favorite with bounty hunters, but becomes outlawed in the late 3100s due to its overuse by pirates;

The GalCop Navy manages to repel the Thargoid invasion, defining a frontline, centered on sector 9,9.

The Thargoids begin sending small reconnaissance ﬂeets behind the battle line and deep into Human territory to survey various systems for later conquest and to raid commercial shipping;

32nd century

3101

Worm class landing craft is produced by Sirius Corporation of Sol to provide a means for larger ships to oﬀ-load passengers and cargo without the need of an orbital station;

3110

Mamba class ﬁghter designed as a racing craft by the illicit Reorte Ship Federation. The design is standardized and mass produced by Radlett and Rayburn Shipyards of Reorte and is later outlawed by the GalCop due to its lack of sufficient safety features;

3123

Galactic Cooperative is reduced in its power to that of an interstellar police force due to its failure to fully defeat the Thargoid invasion.

The Existence of the INRA is oﬃcially announced by the Federation and Empire and the INRA Attack Wing is created. Citizens of both superpowers are encouraged to enlist to help stave oﬀ the invasion. GalCop becomes known as the Interpol and it ﬁnds itself under much scrutiny by the Federation and Empire.

3127

The Federation and the Empire oﬃcially reject authority of the Interpol and form their own police forces. The Interpol is relegated to policing non-aligned systems and smaller confederacies;

3145

The Imperial Courier is produced by the Gutamaya Corporation of Achenar;

3147

The Imperial Trader is produced by the Gutamaya Corporation of Achenar;

The Osprey attack ﬁghter is produced by the Imperial Shipyards at Vequess;

3166

The Tiger class heavy trader is produced by the Core Industrial Corporation of Sol;

3171

Maximillian Weaver is born in Schuller's Landing on Lave to tree farmers Robert and Marsha Weaver;

3179

The Puma class clipper is produced by the Gupta Industrial Corporation of Alpha Centauri;

3182

The Lion class heavy trader is produced by the Gupta Industrial Corporation of Alpha Centauri;

3185

The Panther class clipper is produced by the Gupta Industrial Corporation of Alpha Centauri. It is the largest privately-owned freighter ever produced to date and remains so until the release of the Quest class ship;

3189

The Constrictor medium trader is produced by the Vega Line Corporation;

3190

Maximillian Weaver graduates from the Starpilot Academy with his pilot's license and departs his home planet for the ﬁrst time in his life to seek his fortune;

3191

Maximillian Weaver decides to join the INRA in the ﬁght against the Thargoids. He meets Ronald Dreyfuss, son of wealthy mining company executive on Boston Base, Barnard's Star and convinces him to join the crusade;

3193

Thargoid invasion halted by INRA's introduction of a Mycoid virus into the Thargoids' living machinery. Thargoids vanish from human space entirely and Humanity begins a period of re-colonization and revitalization;

3194

Maximillian Weaver leaves the INRA under suspicious circumstances;

3195

The Eagle Long Range Fighter is produced by Faulcon deLacy Shipyards, Reorte;

Weaver re-designs the Sirius Corporation's MB3 Mining machine, making it even smaller and more eﬃcient. He calls it the MB4 and earns an enormous amount of money by selling the design to the Dreyfuss Mining Company of Barnard's Star;

3199

The Eagle MkII is produced by the Federal Military Shipyards at Eta Cassiopeia;

The Eagle Mk. III is produced by the Gutamaya Corporation of Achenar a few months after the MkII is released, ultimately ﬁxing problems caused by the MkII;

Ronald Dreyfuss inherits the Dreyfuss Mining Company due to his father's death. The company becomes Weaver-Dreyfuss Mining with Max Weaver and Ron Dreyfuss becoming co-owners. The company specializes in Frontier system mining and production of the MB4 mining machine, though they have licensed other corporations to produce the MB4 as well;

3200

Elite 2: Frontier begins;

33rd century

3219

The Tiercel class light freighter is produced by the Core Industrial Corporation of Sol;

Mark Jameson Pritchard is born in New York, Earth, Sol;

3228

The Skeet class star cruiser is produced by Whatt and Pritney Ship Construct of Inera;

3229

Weaver, Baker, Dreyfuss, and Stone Mining Corporation formed as the result of a merger between Weaver-Dreyfuss Mining, Baker Technologies, and Stone Limited;

3230

Alioth uprising. The system, which had been subjected to many battles between the Empire and Federation, was freed in a massed insurrection against both sets of invaders. The Alliance of Independent Systems is formed. Oltiqu is renamed Gateway as it joins the new Alliance;

Argent Amalgamated Aerodynamics (Inc.) is formed by Meredith Argent and Mic Turner and based on the newly-renamed world of Argent's Claim. The company immediately announces its position as "The Oﬃcial Alliance Shipbuilder." Construction begins on the soon-to-be-famous New Rossyth shipyards;

3231

The AAAI's New Rossyth shipyards are completed. The new facility utilizes state-of-the-art technology and immediately begins producing its own ships;

The Harrier class medium ﬁghter is produced by the Perez Corporation of UV Ceti;

3234

The Gyr class medium ﬁghter is produced by the Core Industrial Corporation of Sol;

3236

Alioth system economy stabilizes due to business interests taking up residence on the system's three terraformed worlds. The New Rossyth Shipyards reach an incredible production record, which is unsurpassed by any other shipyard in the known galaxy;

James K. Winston is born in Newtown, Nirvana, Phekda;

3237

The Mantis class transport is produced by the AAAI of Alioth;

The Harris class heavy ﬁghter is produced by the Perez Corporation of UV Ceti;

The Wyvern class light explorer is produced by the AAAI of Alioth;

Mark Pritchard joins the Federal Military;

3240

The Lanner class heavy trader is produced by the Core Industrial Corporation of Sol;

3244

Pritchard, after serving through the mandatory waiting period, is transferred from the Federal Army to the Navy with an Ensign's commission;

3245

The Griffin Carrier is produced by the AAAI of Alioth;

3247

The Lanner MkII heavy trader is produced by the Core Industrial Corporation of Sol;

The Merlin class medium ﬁghter is produced by the Perez Corporation of UV Ceti;

The Spar class medium ﬁghter is produced by the Perez Corporation of UV Ceti;

The "Incident at Delta Pavonis" in which Mark Pritchard is involved. An attempt at a show of force by the Federation through the performance of large-scale manoeuvres close to Imperial space turns into one of the greatest military disasters to date. Thousands of lives are lost both by the Imperial and Federal armed forces and nobody is ever completely certain of which side ﬁred the ﬁrst shot;

Mark Pritchard officially resigns his commission from the Federal Navy and becomes a lone-wolf trader;

3248

The Imperial Explorer is produced by Gutamaya Corporation of Achenar;

The Viper Mk. II is produced by Faulcon deLacy of Inera;

3250

Frontier: First Encounters begins;

The Osprey-X attack ﬁghter is produced by the Gutamaya Corporation of Achenar;

Maximillian Weaver, while living on Boston Base, Barnard's Star, is saved by Mark Pritchard from an INRA assassination attempt;

Scientists at New Rossyth Shipyards, backed by WBD&S and the Sirius Corporation, design and build the revolutionary Class 4 Military Drive. It is determined that the new engine is so powerful that it can only be installed in ships of Python size or larger;

Valhalla Liberation Army commander Dentara Rast is assassinated;

New Rossyth Shipyards secretly builds the Crimson Arrow.It is ﬁrst new Python class star cruiser in over two hundred years and is outﬁtted with the new Class 4 Military Drive.The addition of this new drive, plus the use of some new, lighter, and more durable hull materials gives the new ship the designation Python MkII. The ship blasts its way out of its hidden orbital hangar to avoid destruction by a surprise attack by the INRA and then engages its experimental hyperdrive and disappears;

Mic Turner of AAAI fame completes his design of a brand new type of starship called the Quest class. New Rossyth Shipyards begin laying the groundwork for this new vessel;

V.I.P. Maximillian Weaver is declared officially missing;

3251

Max Weaver returns to Alioth in time to celebrate his 80th Birthday;

New Rossyth rebuilds prototype Class 4 Military Drive and mounts it on the prototype Quest class ship, the Turner's Quest. The Quest class starship is officially announced and becomes the largest privately owned vessel ever produced;

3252

The second Quest class ship, named Argent's Quest is laid down at New Rossyth Shipyards;

Another INRA attack on a secret asteroid base in the Alioth system results in the theft of a vaccine to the Mycoid Virus with which the Thargoids were infected in order to bring about a victory for Humankind over the Thargoid invasion;

3253

An oﬃcial peace between Independent Alliance and Thargoids is established when the captured vaccine to the INRA's mycoid virus is stolen from a secret INRA research base and delivered by the crew of the Argent's Quest to the Thargoid home system of Miacke;

The ﬁrst Thargoid warship ever to be ﬂown by a human arrives in Alliance space;

3255

Relations between Thargoids and Humanity become more amicable as both species begin exchanges of technological and cultural ideas;

Winston pulls off a foolhardy assassination of one of Phekda's maﬁa at Boston Base, Barnard's Star, starting his infamous bounty hunting career;

3258

The Crimson Arrow, manned by most of her original crew, as well as a Federation and Thargoid scientist, sets out into deep space on a special reconnaissance mission;

3261

The Veliaze crisis. The Empire sends out a massive invasion ﬂeet to take Veliaze, just south of the Alliance system, Gateway. This causes widespread panic in the Federation and the Alliance. The Alliance quickly retroﬁts a number of Long Range Cruisers as capital battleships (the Valiant class), and the Alliance Joint Navy is formed under the command of Adm. Rafe Wilson;

AJN's training academy, the Turner Space Combat Academy, is opened at Dublin Citadel (Gateway);

3262

Veliaze joins the AIS, much to Hengist Duval's annoyance;

INRA tries to prevent Veliaze from joining the AIS. The AJN Bounty is dispatched to protect the new Alliance member. Although its mission was successful, it received such heavy battle damage that it was scrapped the same year;

3265

James Winston and his crew of fourteen bounty hunters smash the notorious "Sirius Templar" organized piracy ring;

3268

Winston joins the AJN's security division - the AJNIB, after an unorthodox recruitment method is used on him;

3269

The AJN Eastwood is destroyed after a collision with Phekda 6. The entire crew abandoned ship successfully when it was apparent the collision was unavoidable;

3270

The new AJN battle cruiser, the Victor class, is unveiled. The ﬁrst ship of its class, the AJN Hood, is launched;

3272

The AJN ﬂagship, the Valiant-class AJN Fearless is replaced by a Victor class ship of the same name. The ship is commanded by James K. Winston;

3276

A strange object of unknown origin is discovered in the vicinity of Liazeda (-12,3). Named the LRA (Liazeda Radio Anomaly), the Alliance research ship, the Lion, is sent to investigate. The LRA and the ship disappears and its fate is still unknown in 3296. Only a handful of crew, who were deploying probes from two Explorer-class vessels return;

3280

Winston is promoted to Fleet Admiral of the AJN;

3284

Federation Democratic Council ratiﬁes the Interstellar Crisis Management Act which allows for "rapid access to any and all available resources to deal with any crisis which eﬀects an entire system or systems. This can be anything from the threat of supernova, medical emergencies, and similar incidents;"

3288

First fatigue problems found in the AJN's Valiant-class battleships. The AJN Enterprise is scrapped after unusually high fatigue damage is discovered. The ship is replaced by a new Victor class, the AJN Ark Royal;

3289

Battle of Biggs Colony.

74,000 Imperial Soldiers killed by under-estimated rebel forces on the planet of Biggs Colony in the system of Altair;

3294

Winston steps down as Fleet Admiral, and becomes the commander of the Turner Space Combat Academy;

The Cause is started by a group of anarchists dedicated to "bringing the concept of justice to populated space" through direct action against mega corporations and governments;

3296

A Phekdan government is formed, and the system joins the AIS. The Federation and Empire try and take Phekda when it is discovered that the system is ripe for military fuel production. Skillful diplomacy and a show of force by the AJN repels the attack with little bloodshed;

James Winston is captured by Federation forces and held in prison on Boston Base, Barnard's Star. This creates a massive protest by Alliance citizens and the military. Winston's nephew ﬁnds himself harassed by the Federals due to his presence on the station at the time of his uncle's capture;

Membership in 'The Cause' increases exponentially as a result of Winston's alleged kidnapping by the Federation and imprisonment;

'The Cause' makes its oﬃcial base on Davies Earth in the Quator system and aquires the Long Range Cruiser Azure;

Deep space probes return with news that the star, Betelgeuse, went supernova. The Alliance Science Council dispatches hundreds of deep space probes to study the nova. Meanwhile, a second LRA-object is discovered. Considerably more caution is taken examining this object. It still yields few secrets, and eventually disappears with a number of deep space probes attached to it.

Notes

As this timeline covers events from all four Elite games as well as novels there may be discrepancies between events listed and their representation in the fourth and current game, Elite: Dangerous.

Also note that this is a fictional timeline and as such some listed events do not correspond to actual historical events such as if, when, and where they occurred in actual history.