 Update 14.02 landed in the game this week, bringing with it new ways to interact with the Thargoid war that don't involve combat. In this video I'm breaking down everything we've learned about the update so far and detailing just what those new options are. If you enjoy our videos please do give us a thumbs up, subscribe and ping that bell to see all our future content. You can also directly support us through Patreon, links to that and everything else you need are below. After a short delay update 14.02 arrived in the game on Tuesday bringing with it some fixes, a sprinkling of stability, some tweaks and a healthy smattering of new features. When it comes to the fixes that went into the update of particular note are what Frontier are calling improvements towards AX conflict zones occasionally getting stuck progressing to the next stage and improvements to invisible Thargoids being seen in multiplayer instances of AX conflict zones. Both of these issues had been particular bugbears of many commanders since update 14 dropped last year but the wording on both issues in the full patch notes that you'll find linked below by the way seems to imply that the changes Frontier have made should improve the situation but perhaps not yet entirely fix them. This seems to be particularly true of the invisible Thargoid issue where the patch notes go on to explicitly state that work to further improve that situation is still ongoing. It wasn't all sunshine and roses however as a planned fix for a hard lock that can occur at some Thargoid barnacle sites didn't work as the devs had intended as a result investigations into that are still ongoing at Frontier and it does seem that whilst it didn't get a mention in the patch notes payouts for straight Thargoid kills got nerfed whilst the payouts and engineering material rewards for missions that require Thargoid kills got increased. This has obviously caused a lot of discussion in the community as to whether this was an intentional nerf and buff, an unexpected side effect or an error and the player base is currently waiting on clarification from Frontier in any event. As we hear anything we'll of course report it here on this very channel. Away from fixes and tweaks however as I've mentioned there was a bunch of stuff added to the game that very much makes 14.02 much more akin to a mini update and not just a regular common old garden bug fix or patch. As they alluded to on a recent frameshift live livestream Frontier seemed keen to make the war gameplay more accessible to commanders that might not have a huge amount of game time available to them and those commanders who are not more embedded within community discords, factions or squadrons etc. As a result the galaxy map now contains more information on it to better direct players to where they might make a difference in the war effort also telling them what they can do when they get there. The Thargoid war information view on the left hand side of the galaxy map now contains the list of systems in alert, invasion or controlled status that are closer to their victory thresholds so that players can very quickly tell where they can spend their valuable game time to stand the highest probability of making a difference. On the right hand side of the galaxy map when you now query the war status of a given system the game will now provide much more granular descriptions of what actions players can take in a system to help affect positive change. It can sometimes be an issue with Elite Dangerous gameplay that if you don't have a long time to play then it can take just as long to work out what you want to do in the game as it can actually doing the thing once you find it. Certainly as far as the war effort is concerned that is less of a problem now. Using the additions I've just mentioned it should be a simple matter to work out where you're needed and what options are available to you when you get there. On the subject of options for actions to take those have also been significantly added to with the arrival of update 14.02. It's been fairly clear I think since the war arrived that Fdev were keen to make Thargoid combat more accessible whilst also ensuring they provide options to those commanders that don't wish to engage with Thargoid combat to still contribute to the war effort. Since the start of the war players have always been able to participate in evacuation, passenger missions and haulage missions. With the drop of update 14.02 however those options are being expanded. Salvage of occupied escape pods and black box flight recorders is now being included as a viable positive progress tool for the systems they are recovered in if they are handed into a rescue megaship. Likewise Thargoid tissue samples can now be handed in at those same rescue ships to positively affect progress in the system where the sample was taken and there are now new signal sources as well as conflict zones being generated in the Thargoid controlled front line systems specifically that simulate humanity pushing back against the Thargoid advance. Odyssey settlement restore missions are now available to bring the power back online at surface settlements. If all the settlements in a system are restored in this manner it can knock a week off of the systems recovery time. Whilst at first sight it might not seem so this is actually quite important for two reasons. As I mentioned in our last video this is the first time that Odyssey content has been introduced as a mechanic to be used in the Thargoid war but also and we just discovered this today the restore missions are available to be picked up whilst still in your ship's cockpit. Prior to 1402 you would have had to leave your cockpit head out on foot and use the mission boards and then head back to your ship. This is the first time we've started to see Odyssey and horizons crossover and mesh in such a way. The two previously always very much mostly existing almost as two separate layers. It was in fact one of the complaints leveled at Odyssey and it's encouraging to see that situation might be changing. Have you tried the restore missions in recovering systems yet? How else would you like to see horizons and Odyssey interconnect more in the future? And what are your thoughts on the apparent nerfs and buffs to Thargoid payouts? Let us know in the comments below. That's it for now. Thanks very much for watching. If you enjoyed this video consider subscribing to the channel and maybe take a look at one of our other videos linked on screen right now.