Elite: Dangerous shows off impressive dev build of planet landings

A video recently published by David Braben showcases the basics of the upcoming planetary landings in Elite for the Horizons expansion. Even though it’s s rough cut put together from a dev build of the game, it’s still rather impressive. The short clips shows off the potential scope of the planetary landings for the player.

In other news, details were released about new equipment known as “Skimmers”. These new items are remote controlled security drones that defend areas of terrain on the surface of planets. The player will have to overcome these and other challenges to explore the surface of a planet.

They are designed to be hard to engage with ships, so the SRV, with its rapid fire guns is the best way to tackle them. Be warned that while most rely on their armour, some more advanced skimmers may have shields.

They are remotely controlled and will usually have a command and control centre or signal relay nearby. These define the area in which thee skimmers linked to that system can operate. They are specifically designed for surface operations on planets and are very manoeuvrable, especially when close to the ground.

The Skimmers will come at the player in various makes from different manufacturers as well. So expect a variety of challenges from the various types of drones on the surface.

This and more is all covered in the latest Frontier Newsletter