Frontier Developments announced a delay and upcoming improvements to the Elite Dangerous Type 11 Prospector mining ship after player feedback highlighted underwhelming performance and distracting cockpit effects. The updates will enhance mining speed, limpets, audio, and flight model to ensure the ship meets expectations before its full release next week.
Frontier Developments recently announced upcoming changes to the Lakeon Type 11 Prospector, the latest ship to enter Elite Dangerous. The Type 11 is the seventh in Frontier’s next-generation lineup of ships, which have generally excelled in their specialized roles. Examples include the Manderlay for long-range exploration, the Type 8 for medium-class hauling, the Corsair for piracy, the Panther Clipper M2 for bulk cargo, and the Mark 5 Cobra for quick settlement raids. These ships also benefit from enhanced super cruise stability, making them stand out in their respective categories.
The Type 11 Prospector is clearly designed as a mining vessel, featuring a unique mining tool and the game’s first mining-only optional compartments, which only support mining equipment. Frontier pitched it as the best medium miner available, but early feedback from the preview server revealed that the ship’s mining performance was only on par with some older, non-specialized ships. This underwhelming performance, combined with issues related to accessibility and visual distractions like flashing cockpit lights, left many players disappointed.
In response to this feedback, Frontier quickly acknowledged the concerns and announced a delay in the Type 11’s full release to early next week. This delay will allow them time to implement and thoroughly test a series of improvements aimed at addressing the ship’s shortcomings. These planned changes include increasing the mining fragments per second and the speed of limpets, removing the distracting flashing light in the cockpit during mining volley repeater use, rebalancing audio for the repeater, tweaking the flight model, and making other unspecified fixes.
The proposed updates appear promising and are expected to significantly enhance the Type 11’s mining capabilities and overall user experience. Frontier emphasized that this delay is intended to ensure the Prospector delivers a mining performance worthy of Lacon’s latest innovation. However, the true measure of success will come once players have the chance to test the improved ship and see how it performs in practice.
The video concludes by inviting the community to share their thoughts on the upcoming changes and whether the proposed improvements have changed their opinion of the Type 11. Viewers are also encouraged to subscribe for more updates and to support the channel via Patreon. The creators promise to provide further reports once the ship becomes available for retesting and full release.