Elite Dangerous Vanguard’s Patch 3 introduces an automated system to manage inactive squadron leaders by transferring leadership to active members or marking squadrons as inactive, improving squadron activity and management. Additionally, the patch fixes various bugs related to fleet carrier jumps, squadron browser filtering, and squadron creation, enhancing overall game stability and quality of life.
In the latest update for Elite Dangerous, Vanguard’s Patch 3 was released during scheduled maintenance on September 11th. The patch notes arrived later than usual, but they brought some important changes, particularly regarding squadron leadership management. Frontier has introduced an automated system to address inactive squadron leaders, aiming to keep squadrons active and better managed.
The new system automatically checks squadron leaders during weekly maintenance to see if they have logged in within the past 90 days. If a leader has been inactive, an in-game message is sent to active members one rank below the leader, informing them that the current leader has until the next maintenance to log in. If the leader logs in during this period, the process is canceled; if not, the system looks for active members further down the ranks to potentially transfer leadership.
If no active members are found in the immediate next rank below the leader, the system continues to check lower ranks until it finds eligible members. However, the lowest ranks are excluded from leadership eligibility to prevent inactive or new members from being promoted. If no suitable active members are found at all, the squadron is marked as inactive, helping to clear out stagnant groups from the game.
Once a new leader is appointed, they are chosen randomly from the members who received the notification. This new leader can freely transfer leadership if they prefer not to keep the position or if the original leader returns to the game. This process is designed to streamline squadron management and reduce frustration caused by inactive leaders holding onto control indefinitely.
In addition to this leadership update, the patch includes several bug fixes. These address issues such as crashes occurring after jumping a fleet carrier, errors when filtering the squadron browser by certain power play characters, and problems with squadron creation when the motto, mission statement, and application requirements are left blank. Overall, Patch 3 brings quality-of-life improvements and stability enhancements to the Elite Dangerous Vanguard experience.