Elite Dangerous: Odyssey alpha now lets you play with your main game ships and characters
Alpha also extended into May.
Elite Dangerous: Odyssey's alpha has entered its fourth and final phase, meaning players now have access to all their hard-earned toys from the main game - and will continue to do so until the alpha wraps up on its new, later end date of 5th May.
More specifically, phase four of the Odyssey alpha integrates a recent snapshot of Elite Dangerous' base game - taken on 23rd April - so that participants can make use of any Commanders, ships, ship customisations, fighters, SRVs, and so on acquired up to that point. And to ensure players are able to spend more time doing space stuff and less time waiting for their belongings to worm their way from wherever in the galaxy they were left in the main game, Frontier is reducing transportation times and transportation costs for the alpha.
Additionally, a number of core gameplay features not previously available in the alpha are now live and accessible in phase four, meaning players will get the clearest indication yet of just how impactful Odyssey's additions - primarily focussed on on-foot traversal and first-person gunplay - might be on the existing space sim experience.
As of today, 28th April, alpha participants can take advantage of Wing Missions, Powerplay, Tech Brokers, Search and Rescue contacts, plus Research Station services contacts. Frontier reminds players, however, that any progress made in the alpha will NOT be carried back over to the main build when Odyssey launches proper.
Speaking of which, Elite Dangerous' Odyssey expansion comes to PC on 19th May, with a PlayStation and Xbox release currently expected to arrive some time this autumn.