Elite: Dangerous #HG | Odyssey

Collectibles (Materials)
-A precursor to the crafting system, but not the actual crafting system. They're elements which you can discover and collect, initially on the planets' surfaces. You can store them, a whole bunch of them. You find them with the SRV and its special sensors.
-In the long term they will be part of crafting. For 2.0 they will be available for something new: 'Synthesis'. This allows commanders, in situ, to synthesise materials to create effects. IE you're taking a lot of module damage, and your auto-repair unit is out of resources, you can combine materials to make more resources. No need to go back to starport etc.
-There's a new module coming called the Munitions Fabricator. This allows you to fabricate ammo, and probably missiles, while in space.
-Frameshift drives can be boosted with the correct set of materials.
-There are plausible connections between the minerals you collect and the effect you get.
-Different quality levels. Additional temporary enhancements with high quality materials. Ammunition resupply could have a damage bonus.
-Can't sell produced ammo etc.
-Applies to SRV as well. New fuels for example, for extended runs. Could overfeed the shields (this will wear off over time).
-There are about 6 'things' [materials?] in total at the moment. They intend to expand over time.
-Hull can be be made more resistant to damage by feeding high quality materials into auto repair module.
-The process of Synthesis isn't limited to Horizons, but at first will only be available to Horizons users as Materials only on planets.
-Canopy repair? Initially no, but being discussed.
-Q: Can limpets be repaired by Materials? A: Very excited about plans for more types of limpets, but not saying anything yet.
-Q: Are there any materials that can be found on the other sides of the galaxy? A: Possiblyyy. There will be lots of places to find materials, of different quality levels and different rarities.
-Q: How do we scan for these materials from Space? New scanners or do we need to surface scan again? A: Materials, you won't be able to spot them from space, you will need the SRV.

General Q&A
-Q: Will Horizons bring new exploration tasks such as surface mapping, taking rock samples, finding ancient ruins, relics, fossils and life? A: Hopefully, yes. I'm not going to say that all the stuff is going to be there in 2.0... We have been discussing things specifically like... planetary surface mapping... I'm not sure when exactly it's going to come in... but that's kinda on point of the things that we want yes.
-Q: Are there future plans to include an in game discovery log for us explorers to record our findings across the galaxy? A: It is something again that we have been discussing. We're not afraid to make changes to the interface or the game mechanics. I'm not sure exactly what form it's going to take. It's on our list. I personally think it's very important, the concept that you're telling your own story.
-Q: What is the largest ship that can be stored as a fighter? A: The largest fighter that can be launched is... the fighters. We're not going to have a Russian dolls syndrome... I'm not going to rule it out totally.
-Q: Will there be new weapons in 1.5 and Horizons? A: At the risk of getting in trouble, hopefully yes. Fairly confident won't be 2.0. More weapons, especially in the large hard point scale. Huge, maybe...
-Q: Will we be able to mine and mineral survey planets? A: Yes, and going forward, more yes. There's stuff you can do on the planet, and it does involve minerals. I don't want to say any more.
-Q: Will NPC wingmen for hire be available before season 3? A: Hopef... I don't know. The timing on that I've no idea. It's definitely something that I'm all over. We've got multi crew coming.. and as part of that it only makes sense that we look at NPCs at the same time. It's certainly something that we'd like to do.
-Q: Will passenger missions be added during season 2 or later? A: Yes. The plan is to get passenger missions... passenger gameplay, in Season 2. We're going to do it. We have multiple ships which are passenger ships, it would be weird if we didn't do it. It's just a matter of timing. It's definitely going to happen, there's no doubt about that.
-Q: How will we store the loot we find? A: I don't want to go too much into loot at the moment... The concept for things that you collect is that they are slightly different from normal commodities in that you have personal storage that's always available to you, so even if you die you don't lose it. That's not to say that commodities won't be useful in crafting. You have a maximum amount that you can carry.
-Q: Will you introduce in season 2 more galaxy map tools, such as the possibility of creating routes by using waypoints, saving routes, etc...? A: No idea sorry.
-Q: If we have the room for it, will we be able to store more than one fighter in our ship? A: Yes!
-Q: When can we expect to get Alliance ranks and ships? A: Dunnoo. We do want it, but don't know.
-Q: Will there be new modules to customize our ships for planetary exploration? A: There will be in Season 2, a bunch of stuff to do with modules... I can't say more than that.
-Q: Will loot only be natural stuff or will there be unnatural (alien) loot to find as well? A: There will be a mixture of natural stuff and processed materials as well.
-Q: Will there ever be an option to select which star in a multi star system to jump to? A: That's really interesting, I don't know is the honest answer. But from a personal point of view it's something that I've always wanted... I don't see any downside, other than, it takes time to do.
-Q: Will player crew mates count as wing members? Or will wings be count ships instead of players? (i.e. six player wing, with 3 ships)? A: The current plan is that crew members will be wing members.
-Q: Why aren't instances gathering friendly players by default ? In a near future, will we be able to chose which instance to join? A: It does try to do that. It can't always do it. I don't think we'd want to go to a chose-your-own-instance scenario. But I don't know.
-Q [From Ed]: What are you most excited for? A: Pretty much all of it... I think it's worth noting this is... a beginning not an end. When it goes live that's the start of a whole new season, there's so much stuff ... and that's not to denigrate, hopefully, some of the cool features that we'll get in for the core game anyway, such as, I would hope, during season 2 we'll get in the ability to have your ships delivered to your location. There's just a load of cool stuff, and we want to get through as much of it as possible.

Ships
-Asp Scout: Stripped down, more lightweight, more affordable version of Asp Explorer. Still got a great jump range. Fewer weapons, same hard similar hardpoints to viper (2 small, 2 medium), but it's faster than Explorer.
-Cobra MK4: Reward ship for owners of core Elite game & Horizons. Better hardpoint positions, directly above cockpit and on centreline, with bonus little one. Good arc for gimballed weapons when chasing up. Not quite as fast or manoeuvrable.
-Viper MK4: Tougher, bigger, stronger. Better power plant, and better FSD. Slower. Same hardpoints.
-Keelback: A trader that leans towards combat. Approx the same size as Type 6. but has 2 mediums and 2 small hard points. Still reasonably manoeuvrable. Better internals, more armour. Does lose some cargo capacity, closer to around 70t in the default loadout. Better power plant. Chunky bits on the side move as you come into dock. Jump range still quite reasonable, not much worse.
-Corvette: 2 Huge hardpoints set centrally behind bridge. Very similar in size to Anaconda, a little bit more streamlined. 2 small, 2 medium, 1 large, 2 huge hard points. Little bit more manoeuvrable than the 'Conda. Slightly less space / internals. Doesn't know ranking requirement.
-Cutter: Might be a bit taller than the 'Conda. It's faster than the 'Conda and the Corvette. It's pretty fast for its size. 2 mediums, 2 large, a single huge. Slight upgrade to the 'Conda in firepower. Not very manoeuvrable. Boom and zoom. More multi-role than the Corvette, less than the 'Conda.