 This is a Witchspace News special report, I'm CMDR Buur. With the trailer release, the announcement from Frontier and some previously unseen concept art appearing, there was a lot to take in yesterday so we're just going into a breakdown now of what we know, what we think we can see and what all this might mean. If you enjoy this video consider subscribing to the channel and click the little bell icon and also please do give the video a thumbs up as that stuff really helps our smaller channels. Frontier dropped a bomb yesterday then with the announcement of the Odyssey expansion and some small details on what it will actually contain. If you don't know already, the addition of first person gameplay out of the chair away from the ship is the headline feature. That's right people, we can finally say Spacelegs confirmed with some small degree of authority. That wasn't the only thing though, whilst it hasn't been explicitly stated we can say with a fair degree of confidence that the world that the newly befooted, befeated, recently legged, commanders are walking on appears to have a thin atmosphere. During the descent phase for the Cobra there's a very visible thin blue layer of well atmosphere. Now before you get too excited this doesn't yet mean earth like worlds but this is almost certainly the start of the atmospheric landing phase of elite's life. Earth like worlds are an entirely different proposition and would likely require an expansion all of their own however do get excited cause you know, atmospherics are coming, we're on the path. It's important to stress as well that the trailer was taken from pre alpha in engine footage. The reason it's important to stress that is that it's clear the engine has had some significant work done on it since elite was first launched some 6 years ago. The planetary textures on the surface of the rocky world are way more detailed than we're used to seeing in elite and that becomes all the more apparent when the trailer gets into the first of its many money shots as two commanders are seen walking away from the recently landed cobra. The environment suits that we see on the walking commanders are nicely detailed and subtly different from each other leaving us to believe, no big surprises, that you'll be able to customise your appearance almost certainly via arcs payments on the frontier store. Both commanders are sporting rifles, again two different weapons. The male characters weapon appears to be scope enabled, a sniper rifle or railgun maybe and the female characters looks to be more like a futuristic assault rifle. In the opening shots both characters are sporting what appear to be side arms attached to their right thigh, it doesn't look like there's a holster, it appears that the gun is attached to the thigh plate itself. And on the left side the male character has what appears to be some sort of ancillary equipment or device and the female character appears to have a large bag or pouch attached to her. As they continue to walk the camera switches to a profile view and we're treated to a view of the anaconda passing directly over head and then from a view over the shoulder of the characters as the anaconda moves into the distance. One of the things we were really looking forward to getting from what we now know as Odyssey is the sense of scale in the ships, Frontier are clearly aware of this and they don't disappoint in that regard. As the ship lands in the distance at a base of a type we haven't seen previously we see characters using jetpacks on their back, it's hard to tell precisely but at a guess from the implied movement I'd say that looks like a short hop jetpack rather than an activation and fly for miles and miles kind of affair. One point that was raised in this here very household is that whilst we see commanders walking on a planet here in this teaser that doesn't mean that we'll also be getting zero G activities inside our ships or indeed outside our ships in this expansion. I'm sure going forward Frontier will continue to set some expectations for what is next but we did see concept art at the beginning of the year in the 24 hour charity livestream that appeared to show a ship interior space that we've not seen before. Really importantly I'd need to thank Commander Emgram for pointing us to these amazing concept images that were sent to the more mainstream press as part of the announcement. Here you can clearly see buildings and installations of a type we've not previously seen and really importantly interiors with presumably NPCs that look upon closer inspection to be perhaps mission givers or cargo drop off and pick up vendors. I've linked to the images below if you want to take a closer look at them there's loads of tiny details in those images that are worthy of much closer inspection for example the screens appear to show what looks like a terraforming station there's a bar there one image appears to show cargo being dropped off at a travel agent or a cargo shipper and there's what look to be armed NPC guards patrolling the exterior of these installations and hand carts with cargo crates in them hand carts are we going to be able to move cargo by hand so many details go take a look and let us know what you see in the comments below. Along with the teaser video Frontier posted to the forums with some tentative information about some of the wider concepts that Odyssey will be pitching to us. There's a confirmation in there that the planetary surfaces at the very least are being driven by new technology to a leak dangerous it also specifically mentions discovering outposts and installations and in the same breath mentions exploring with unrestricted freedom the direct implication I take from that is that after you've discovered an installation you can go inside it that is perhaps an obvious extension of having your character able to leave the ship but I'm trying really hard to not make any assumptions here the post continues take on a wide variety of contracts and play your way from diplomacy and commerce to lethal stealth and all-out combat diverse settings objectives and NPCs offer endless mission variety and a near infinite amount of content to enjoy it does seem from that that we'll potentially be talking to NPCs to perhaps receive missions and cargo and should you choose you'll also have the option and it's important to stress have the option to engage NPCs in covert and more over combat all these details are mentioned in the section entitled quote for your own path unquote as is always the case with elite the option to engage in this gameplay is there but it's your choice if fps style gameplay is not your thing you'll likely not be forced to participate the announcement then goes on to discuss what it calls social hubs that are spread throughout the galaxy these social hubs will enable commanders to quote form alliances and procure services unquote and engage with engineers procure weapons and equipment and upgrade those weapons and equipment to suit your play style not a huge surprise but I guess I'd say we'll be unlocking new engineers that deal with personal equipment specifically that will likely mean new and different materials to acquire but where will those materials come from will that also be first-person gameplay looting the bodies of dead adversaries taking their stuff or perhaps surface prospecting maybe this whole section by the way comes under the heading in the announcement of quote assemble your crew unquote will we be hiring crew to finally populate the colossal bridges of our huge ships that beluga must have a football stadium of a bridge for some reason the final section of the announcement has me very intrigued as well just listen to this the sphere of combat experience intense first-person combat kit out your character with an array of weapons and gear and coordinate with teammates to master a multi-layered deep tactical environment where commanders srvs and starships converge what the flip does that mean honestly right now it's quite hard to coordinate other players in the game to all be in the same place at the same time in just starships let alone on foot in vehicles and with starships as well so how will that be achieved i wonder are we looking at perhaps instance encounters to bring all this together at the same time in the current framework of the game it's tough to imagine all those things being player driven and just being in the right place at the right time for something like that to happen so will there be some kind of in-game infrastructure to bring all this together just as we were about to render this video tim smith from frontier took to the forums to clarify a point that had been causing a degree of anxiety in the community and the news is not good the subject of vr support had been missing from the expansions listing on steam and tim has posted the following quote currently elite dangerous odyssey will not be vr compatible at launch we're big fans of vr and we are truly proud of the amazing experience that we currently offer in elite dangerous however the new gameplay mechanics and features that will be introduced with elite dangerous odyssey means that we had to re-examine if we could deliver the same vr experience without compromise which for launch means odyssey will not be vr compatible tim also clarified that the much rumored feature of base building is not in the current elite dangerous roadmap so with that said back to yesterday's forum post the final line of the announcement has me honestly just as excited as the main body of the text however frontier promising to share quote more information developer diaries and trailers unquote before the launch early next year let's be honest for a moment for whatever the reason it's been a tough time to be an elite dangerous fan over the last year or two while we waited for the stars to align to get us to this point for whatever reason frontier have been a little on the quiet side with regard to details and proper meaningful engagement here at the pit we've definitely seen a small change in that direction however and they are starting to peel back the layers somewhat between themselves and the community and the prospect of things like developer diaries and trailers happening alongside the release of solid information has me really excited since the surprise announcement yesterday there has been an incredible buzz around the community that has been missing for some significant time people are excited again and there's a heavy expectation for what we now know is coming for sure early next year let the odyssey begin 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 we very much look forward to seeing you next time