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Q: Will we ever see the Krait in game?, was always my favourite ship.

A: Sadly it is not on our current list. That's not to say it couldn't be added in the future. I liked it too, even though it is quite a simple shape.

Q: What was the hardest part of getting this game to where it is now?

A: When developing a game there are endless decisions to be made. The current "Offline" issues are a case in point. We make these decisions to get the best end result - frequently leaving ideas on the proverbial cutting room floor. Sometimes these decisions are hard ones.

Q: How much of a technical challenge do you think planetary landings will be, in comparison to the technical challenges of the game so far developed?

A: The landings themselves are not the technical issue, it is the vast size of planets, and the prodigious amount of content required to make them interesting. We can generate the landscapes procedurally, but you need interesting things there to make them compelling.

Q: Will be there major changes between GAMMA and Final, or Gamma will be an "add features - testing - stability" excercise until Final arrives?

A: Gamma will mostly (!) be about stability, compatibility and performance, not features, but there are more features to come from now...

Q: Would you like to explain in some detail why the decision to pull offline mode was only announced a few days ago, and what the reasons for doing so were. Many people are under the impression this was done to enforce DRM and in game advertising.

A: Back during the Kickstarter, we were clear about the vision, to make a phenomenal new sequel to Elite in an online world, which we believe we are about to deliver. At the time we believed we could also offer a good single player experience, and base an acceptable offline-only experience off that. As development has progressed, it has become clear that this last assumption is not the case. That experience would be empty at best, and even that would take a lot of extra work. It is not to enforce DRM or advertising as you suggest. We will be judged on quality, and the quality of that game experience would be poor, and we don't want to deliver a poor game. To make a richer offline single player experience has always been possible (and still is) but would be a separate game with its own story content. A huge slice of separate work. We have developed a multi-player game with an unfolding story involving the players, and groups collaborating with specific objectives and taking account of all players behaviour. This is what the game is about. Without this it would not be the rich gaming experience that we will deliver, and would be a great disappointment to all players. I don't pretend it was an easy decision, but it was done to benefit the game as a whole. One thing we have looked at carefully is our requirements of the network connection. For the single player game they are pretty light. I myself have played the game fine on the train using a laptop on a tethered connection over my phone. Given that this is a game which is only available online, this was the decision we took. I am sorry that people are so upset about it, but it was the right decision.

Q: I appear to have been sold a game you now can't deliver - can you please confirm an unequivocal full refund will be forthcoming due to the lack of offline mode?

A: I'm sorry you're upset. We do have a refunds policy, so you should get in touch. Please consider that we have been backed to make the game we were backed to make as best we could. This includes hard decisions (and many easy ones too), but those hard ones are inevitably balancing one thing with another. For me, quality wins, and that is what happened with this decision. Not everyone may agree with every decision. Have you played the game? Why is the offline (as opposed to single player, which I understand) mode so important to you?

Q: Did the ED team uncover any amusing or amazing 'bugs' or outcomes in the creation and processing of Stellar Forge? Any examples? Do the team try and keep the output of Stellar Forge as close to known reality as possible, or do the team stretch the parameters/bounderies somewhat to generate greater ranges of interesting environments etc?

A: We stuck with reality, but the reality is pretty amazing. The frequency of binary planets was one thing that surprised me.

Q: I like to play the old Elite games from time to time, and I was hoping I could do the same with ED for years to come even after eventually the servers go down by whatever reason. Even if FD could make a statement promising to release the server code (or even a binary) to the public in the event of the servers going down indefinitely for any reason, that would be good enough for many of us! Is that even worth hoping for?

A: We have no intention of taking the servers down, but I understand what you are getting at. We plan to archive the game from time to time (ie matching client and servers and game world state), and would release such an archive if the servers were to come down. That would also address the issue of how you preserve an online game for the future, from the whole 'retro' perspective.

Q: Early on it was communicated that one of the aspects of Elite Dangerous that would be executed would be the instant familiarity and recognize ability of each system (02:30). When entering a system we will instantly know where we are. From the color of the sun, the ambiance coming from the host planet itself, obviously there is the stations' design which is modular and should contribute to the uniqueness of every system according to the video. There are different types of thrusters that also look different when installed making ships even of the same type different from the next in the video (04:12). The damage model where you can see the insides of ships through holes in the hull looks very very immersive (04:17). Also scavenging in space graveyards looks very exciting in this video!!!! These things are still in right? or have they ended up on the cutting room floor? How many of the features from the DDF percentage wise have been implemented?

A: The features you mention are there - modular station design, different engines, coming across shipwrecks. Being able to fly massively damaged ships only really applied to the bigger ships, but it is still planned (though may be post release). PS Are you the Serek Dmart that did Battlecruiser 3000AD?

Q: As Offline mode is out (thank god!), does this mean we will see more co-op features deployed into the game?

A: Yes. Absolutely.

Q: if we can buy multiple ships - will there be any possibility of crewing those ships with computer generated people so you could send ships out to trade on their own. Additionally, if you have enough money, any chance you could actually build a base, buy ships for police duties and such?

A: This is the sort of thing we will look at down the line. WE want to avoid the game feeling like 'playing a spreadsheet' though, but these features are certainly on our radar.

Q: As I remember the Panther Clipper from Elite Frontiers and so enjoyed it's use; how will the new version of the Panther Clipper measure up compared to old version and when will it be available. We've heard little about it and I do wonder which roleplay it would cover best.

A: The Panther Clipper is coming. It is a big trading ship - a bit like the Lakon Type 9's big brother.

Q: From Gamma/Preview onwards will the locations of ship equipment stay random in Stations or will they be fixed ?

A: High Tech systems will always be the best place to get the top-end ships, with particular systems specialising in particular ship types.

Q: Do you intend to do anything to improve the tutorials-which are not currently very welcoming/user friendly, lacking as they do a lot of essential information for newbies, like basic control keys, for example! Newbies should not have to search the internet to find out this information.

A: We are improving them all the time, but I appreciate we are still not there..

Q: I am worried about multiplayer, will I be able to connect to a server and find my friends in the same server every time?

A: It should be much better in Beta 3.9.

Q: (Question about modding and how taking offline away killed that potential).

A: Community/modding content is an interesting point - something I'd like to embrace, but within the game itself. There is a danger of the game branching otherwise.

Q: I am often becoming wanted because of a player or NPC getting in my line of Fire (sometimes intentionally to attack me in the case of players)... Is there any plans to incorporate a friendly ACCIDENTAL fire solution (such as small shield percentage but no hull or major dmg)?

A: Yes - this is a tuning issue we need to look at. Thanks.

Q: Hi David, I pirated the original Elite. I wasn't even a teenager but still, do you forgive me?

A: I think more pirated it than bought it! But yes, I forgive you (but please buy Elite: Dangerous! )

Q: Will we ever be able to fly the federal fighter at some point? it looks like a fun ship to own.

A: Yes, that will come with time (even though it is not hyperspace-capable).

Q: How will you (or will you) keep the E: D galaxy synced with our rapidly expanding knowledge of what real star systems are actually like? What if a star systems at release has not been studied and so has several procedurally generated planets but a few years later it is discovered that it has no detectable planets?

A: No detectable planets does not mean no planets... The main methods for detection at the moment are Doppler movements of the parent star and occultation. Both of these fail if a system is 'flat on' to us - ie if the planets orbit in a plane perpendicular to our viewing direction. So in that case we would be OK leaving them (though we may have to tweak the system axis...). Less flippantly we will look at each one as it is discovered. I hope the discoveries will already be there, in which case we just make an addition to the text box, but in others it may mean adjusting an orbit.

Q: Could you please tell us if military missions and ranks (Federal Military etc) like previous elite titles (First Encounters and Frontier II) are in game ?

A: Yes... soon.

Q: Have you seen Hello Games' No Mans Sky yet, it's clear there's influence there from the Elite series - do you ever stop and think about your influence on the games industry with your games?

A: I haven't seen No Man's Sky 'in the flesh', but know one of the people involved. I have also (of course) kept an eye on Star Citizen and know Chris Roberts reasonably well. I love science fiction, and I think it is a good thing it is coming back to gaming. If anything it is pretty shocking that it left, so I wish them luck. For players of course, it is a good thing too as competition keeps us all on our toes!

Q: How much more detail can the Cobra engine deliver Graphically? i.e. if I have the GPU(s) to handle it could it deliver 8k/16k images with the level of clarity required? (I'm just about to upgrade to a 4k Monitor)

A: In theory, yes. But the GPUs don't yet exist that can handle 16K - or at least I haven't seen one...

Q: My biggest question, sorry if it's been asked already: What prompted the decision to release the game now? Many feel/felt it's too early and panicked thinking this is the "end". Can we have some idea of the continued developement of ED in the future? Like, are there plans to continue aggressive development past the Dec. release?

A: We planned the release date long ago, and have been working towards it. Development will continue past the December release. Currently the plan is to continue indefinitely - a game like this is never 'finished' - there is always something we can add or improve, but this date is a reasonable measure of what we think will be a great game.

Q: Are you still feeling that three months after the PC release looks realistic for a Mac release? And as far as the Mac beta is concerned, do you have any idea yet as to how closely that might follow on the heels of the PC release?

A: Our plan is to look at this in detail after we have shipped PC, so I'm afraid I don't have any dates for you. Why are you against Bootcamp? I use it all the time on my laptop.

Q: Do you play the game often and do you plan to play often once released? How will I know if I meet you out there in space, Whats your Commander name?

A: Yes I do. I am Comander Braben. I have seen myself on Youtube a few times...

Q: Will there be a new way to find about commodity prices at a target location in addition to actually go there (as it is now)?

A: Yes - this is something we have been looking at.