Frontier Developments recently revealed the delay of Elite Dangerous Odyssey on consoles, where the expansion is now scheduled to hit in the Fall season, as well as the smaller delay on PC where Odyssey will now be released in 'late Spring'.

　　Yesterday, though, the developers also shared the answers of a community Q&A focused on the Settlements feature, which sounds more intricate than originally anticipated.

　　Q: If I go to an outpost and wipe everyone out, do they all respawn eventually, or is that town now a ghost town?

　　Outposts will send for reinforcements that will become progressively tougher, however these are not infinite. It would be possible to kill everyone and then loot the outpost, however the consequences there after would be severe…

　　Q: You have said in one of the Dev Diaries that the people you encounter in stations and outposts are related to the faction in control. How will we get missions from other factions in the station?

　　There will also be mission boards on terminals available in ports and outposts that can support on-foot missions from all factions in the system. Mission Givers in ports and outposts can also be from a variety of factions.

　　Q: Do NPCs spawn only at these new Settlement Outposts or do they appear anywhere on a planet like those parked NPC ships that pop up in random places?

　　NPC’s will not spawn randomly in the ‘wilderness’, however they may stumble across you at a place of interest.

　　Q: What permanent states can the new Settlement outposts have, like conquered or destroyed etc.

　　The states are as follows: Active, abandoned, war, damaged, Online, Online Damaged, Offline, Offline Damaged and Conflict Zone

　　Q: If I eliminate everyone in a Settlement, do they respawn or will it remain empty?

　　Settlements won't stay empty forever. They will repopulate over time.

　　Q: Will there be Engineers for your weapons and suits?

　　Yes, the original cast of engineers will remain, and they will be joined by a new group – all of whom you will be able to meet in person for the first time.

　　Q: Are there destructible items in bases e.g. exploding barrels that can be used for tactical purposes?

　　Yes, you’ll be able to take advantage of certain environmental elements for a tactical advantage. If you want to stand next to big red barrels feel free to…

　　Q: Can we hack weapon emplacements to turn them on defenders, or switch off station power to disable weapon emplacements?

　　Yes, you will be able to bring down settlement defences, allowing others to enter the combat zones in vehicles. Powering down a settlement will also allow you to access restricted areas.

　　Q: Within Odyssey, thinking of the open air combat zones, what's to stop me from using an Orca, equipped with mines, to carpet bomb a settlement?

　　Settlement defences are quite potent, without shutting them off first you may find yourself suddenly without that ORCA...

　　Q: What's going to be able to stop an SLF with Shard cannons?

　　Outside of the settlement defences which we have already stated are not to be taken lightly – some hand held weapons can be very effective.