 This is Witch-Based News for Friday the 22nd of July 2022 I'm CMDR Buur In a bumper Elite Dangerous News this week Hutton kicks off the second hot mess initiative and everyone is invited We have an update around the battle to defend the Proteus device in HIP 22460 We break down last weekend's LaveCon event and FDev livestream nuggets And there's important news about LaveCon's future and more To make sure you don't miss any of our videos hit like and subscribe And remember to click the little bell icon and select all notifications And if you'd like to help directly support this channel you can also join our Patreon via the link in the video description For the first time in a hot age the Arcs store got, wait for it, seven new ship kits today In the form of the hazard packs for the Anaconda Cobra Mark III, Crate Mark II, Type 9, Python, Type 6 and Aspix Blora The kits feature up to four new industrial style pieces and each comes with six paint jobs to complement Not only that, but the ships also have new functioning spotlights as part of the kit New lighting is not something we've seen before in a cosmetic item But the community team have assured that they are just spotlights and don't enhance the functionality of the ship The kits are very much themed around a mining, hauling or more working vessel aesthetic And are markedly different from the more spoilers and wings approach that we've seen before Frontiers seem to be stepping up their cosmetic item game somewhat of late, a very welcome change And one we hope continues going forward As if that wasn't enough, there is currently a one week sale on the store discounting selected paint jobs, engine and weapon colours by 30% And certain of the older ship kits discounted by 20% In 2020, the player group known as the Hutton Orbital Truckers initiated a community wide effort to set about delivering a Hutton mug to every single commodity market in the galaxy At the time, that was well over 50,000 locations, a goal that the community achieved after a colossal group effort The launch of Odyssey brought with it a whole new swathe of surface installations Most of which have a commodity market making the total number of commodity markets well in excess of 130,000 The Hutton effort to deliver a mug to every station in the galaxy is being resurrected by the loons at Hutton At this point, you may think you know what's coming You don't Just bear with me Not content with just adding the extra number of commodity markets on top of the original delivery target The new hot mess initiative calls for one ton of hot mugs and one ton of Centauri Mega Gin to be delivered to every single commodity market in the galaxy That's all of the original 50 plus thousand again and then the extra Odyssey markets as well All 130,000 plus starports, stations and settlements The Hutton truckers are keen that squadrons and in-game factions pitch in to take care of their patch of the galaxy But you're free to jump in and get involved wherever you want and there will be leaderboards to be topped As well as real life Hutton mugs to be won and swag from spider mine games is also up for grabs First deliveries will kick off next week on the 4th of August And as before the truckers own Hutton Helper app will track the deliveries made and update the website that tracks overall progress across the entire elite community Suffice to say all of this you'll find linked in the description below this video What many are now referring to as the battle of HIP 22460 continued to bubble away this week As more federal and imperial capital ships arrived in the system to help commanders attempting to keep the Thargoid threat at bay Whilst Salvation's Proteus device simultaneously draws more and more bugs into the system As we record this video there are still two community goals linked to the build up running One asking for the final instalment of Guardian bits and bobs needed to power the wave That will end on Tuesday next week The second asking for Thargoid combat bonds to be handed in is scheduled to end on Thargoid Tick next Thursday 28th of July A new item on Galnet stated yesterday, Thursday 21st of July That the Proteus device would be fully constructed in one week That places its completion at Thursday 28th It's been our perception that Salvation tends to waggle his salad smacker on Tuesdays And also major patches tend to arrive on Tuesdays Whilst Frontier haven't specifically stated the schedule yet We think early next week is a moderately safe bet for whatever is next to drop on us It seems unlikely that F-Dev would attempt to keep the cycle of delivery and Thargoid whacking CGs going for much longer There should be a Frontier livestream next Thursday so we could know more then Whatever comes next is anybody's guess at this point and there are plenty of guesses in the community right now As we mentioned in our midweek video the instances in HIP 22460 Whilst still attention grabbing stuff are very much the nursery slopes of Thargoid combat When compared to the rest of the Pleiades There has never been a better time to try out taking down one of the larger Thargoid And if that still has no appeal then just the spectacle of what is happening in the system at the moment Makes it well worth a visit This is a period that is likely to go down in elite history for some significant time to come So make sure you get to be part of it in a way that works for you Commander Grimscrub posted this excellent map of the activity in HIP 22460's battle zones right now If you're looking to head there for violence or sightseeing as always I've linked to that below Whilst we're on the subject of the HIP instances What was thought to be a tricky and somewhat irritating bug came to the fore since they arrived NPC capital ships in the system are capable of claiming the killing blow on an attacking raucous rosebud And in doing so deny commanders access to their rightful payouts and combat bonds Regardless of how many hearts the commanders themselves have taken If capital ship AI gets the last hit then it's no money for us puny flesh bags Community manager Sally has posted to the forums saying that this is a feature by design To mitigate AFK farming exploits and whilst there are currently no plans to address the feature The team are taking the feedback on board I've linked below to a forum thread about the subject This has been building for such a long time It's going to be a fascinating week ahead of us whatever happens Last weekend saw the first face to face lave con elite fan convention that has taken place for some many years For obvious reasons and to say the gathered throng of commanders was excited by the prospect was an understatement Due to some localized scheduling conflicts rather than the regular venue of Sedgebrook Hall in Northampton The mass instancing event this year took place at Kent's Hill Park in Milton Keynes This was the first lave con that Reanie and myself managed to get to and for us I think this fantastic event was best described as impactful, noisy, funny, exhausting And occasionally overwhelming and emotional It was also the hottest weekend of the year so far with temperatures soaring across the UK Hot was also a word that came up a lot very very hot If you've never had the pleasure of attending a lave con then at the event As well as wall to wall commanders you'll find gaming rooms with tabletop RPGs and board games being played A dedicated Artemis bridge simulator room, displays of models and artwork Not only from elite but also stretching right across sci-fi and fantasy A stunning retro gaming suite full of working examples from the dawn of video gaming All the way to more contemporary machines There's also book launches and representation from companies like HES voice packs As well as hosted panels, live podcasts and talks Frontier themselves were also very well represented with Arthur, Sally, Zach and Bruce From the community team walking the floor all weekend Along with numerous representatives from the development team All of them more than willing to sit down and chat all things elite with the assembled commanders Which was greatly appreciated Last week's frameshift live scheduled live stream was also bumped a couple of days forward From its regular Thursday slot and took place at lave con in front of the packed assemblage in the main convention hall You'll find a link in the description below this video if you missed the stream live But unsurprisingly the show took a slightly different format to usual The entirety of the Frontier staff at the event were present And whilst Frontier Odyssey branded merch was dished out to the commanders in the room Arthur ably hosted proceedings running through a light version of the additions to the game Since the last in-person lave con had taken place With the development team pitching in amusing anecdotes from their collective memories on the project Highlights included guns that fire showers of confetti or the planetary surface geyser effect Tales of physics test levels full of cargo containers and an initial implementation of the SRV Being pulled up into the air by visiting Thargoid that exerted such force It smashed the unfortunate vehicle to smithereens The stream also featured a run through of stellar screenshots And a game of elite dangerous themed Pictionary with the audience Whilst Frontier had stated well in advance that they wouldn't be announcing anything at the event Or giving away any information There were two points in the live stream that seemed to set tin foil hats rippling I've linked to the pertinent clips below When the dev team are discussing an image of a guardian pylon Arthur asks the devs for any anecdotes around the development of the guardian site specifically But prefaces it by saying don't give too much away, don't say anything you shouldn't say This was an odd thing to say As far as the player base is concerned there is nothing to give away around the guardian site They're dead and the guardians and their terminator like AI constructs are Save for a few largely ineffectual sentinels also dead The second comment came about 30 minutes later when the team were discussing AI in the game And how potentially destructive it could be if taken off the leash Principal programmer on Elite Dangerous Dominic Corner mentions that we've already seen how destructive AI can be As it was their own AI constructs that wiped out the guardians and they're not here anymore Arthur then says rather poignantly they are not, they are not Now this is Elite Dangerous and it's important that I set a reasonable expectation We've seen this before time and time again A developer or a community manager gives an ITIC or an inflection on a specific word And the community implodes in a shower of tin foil This is in all likelihood one such ITIC But as so many people outside of this house had also made mention of the comments during the live stream We felt on a bound to bring it to your attention here As I mentioned they're both clipped and linked below this video so take a listen and make your own mind up At the end of the weekend's proceedings there was a closing address from Alan Stroud from HWS Events One of the organisers behind Lavecon At the end of the address he announced that after 10 Lavecons this year would be their last And that they had no current plans to organise Lavecon 2023 Whilst that might at first seem like a somewhat apocalyptic announcement The reality of this situation is quite different Lavecon is a hugely popular well attended and annually much anticipated regular community calendar event And not to put too fine a point on it, nature abhors a vacuum If someone isn't organising an annual Elite Dangerous Convention then someone will organise an annual Elite Dangerous Convention Within just a couple of days of the announcement starting to circulate Lave Radio, the stalwart Omnipresent podcast and primary presenters of the Lavecon event itself Tweeted that Lavecon will in fact return and that they themselves are investigating taking over the running of the event Overall, Lavecon 2022 was an experience that Rene and I will never forget A lot gets packed into the two days and it wasn't nearly enough time to meet everyone and see everything that we wanted to do If there was another one next week, we'd go at the drop of a hat I'm sure most of the attendees would agree with that sentiment as well Perhaps this time with just a degree or two more of air conditioning How was your Lavecon experience? Are you delivering mugs and gin for the Hutton Truckers? Will you be picking up one of the new hazard ship kits? Let us know in the comments below That's it for now, thanks very much for watching We'll be back later this week with more videos until then 07 Commanders, follow the Greens on the way out and do keep clear of the toast rack We very much look forward to seeing you next time