Elite Dangerous’ long-delayed Fleet Carriers finally arrive later this year. The massive ships were originally supposed to launch during Elite Dangerous’ third season in 2018, but were ultimately pushed back. Fleet Carriers function as a base of operations for up to 16 ships, with players being able to set permissions to control who’s allowed to dock. You can get a first glimpse of the new Fleet Carriers, below.

　　Here’s a few more key details about Fleet Carriers:

　　Capacity

　　Fleet Carriers have a total of 16 Landing Pads, composed of: 8 Large, 4 Medium, 4 SmallSet permissions to allow others to dock at your Fleet Carrier.Operations

　　All Fleet Carriers feature rearm, refuel and repair services.

　　Commanders can choose a number of loadouts for their Fleet Carrier, governing services/module and ship availability to support a number of different activities, such as:

　　Bounty HunterMercenaryPirateTraderSmugglerMinerExplorerSearch and RescueTravel

　　500 LY jump range (per jump)Schedule jumps from the Galaxy Map when you want and from wherever you are in the galaxy.Commanders require a unique resource to fuel the Fleet Carrier in order for it to jump.Fleet Carriers will be added to Elite Dangerous this December. Before that, another update will be dropping in September – here’s a quick recap of what that will include:

　　This year's updates are focused on improving the starter experience for new commanders. We're adding a fully-voiced, in-game, in-ship tutorial, covering the basics of space flight, combat, traveling and scanning. Also, this experience is available in all of our in-game supported languages! Speaking of you veterans, you'll be able to access this from your right-hand panel at any time so you won't even need to wipe your save!In addition, we'll be reworking and rebranding what some of you might know as Frontier Points, introducing them as Arx. These Arx will be purchasable and used to buy Game Extras such as Paint Jobs, Ship Kits, Bobbleheads and more. What's great about Arx is that you will be able to earn them in-game by... simply playing the game!Elite Dangerous Season 3 wrapped up in December of last year, and Season 4 isn’t scheduled to launch until 2020. In the meantime, Frontier has been keeping things shipshape with a series of updates throughout 2019.

　　Elite Dangerous is available on PC, Xbox One, and PS4.