Elite Dangerous will finally support in-game groups with Squadrons

The latest reveal stream for Elite Dangerous: Beyond - Chapter Four has wrapped up, offering a detailed look at what’s coming with mining and Squadrons. Digging for space minerals is about to get a lot easier and more lucrative, and Squadrons will give players a much more convenient way of banding together to explore the galaxy as a unit. Creating a Squadron costs 10 million credits, and the commander who makes it will automatically become Squadron Leader. At creation, you can set your Squadron’s name, a four-character ID tag, and affiliation among the superpowers, powers, and factions. You can set tags to help prospective players find your group - specific examples include ‘PvP,’ ‘German Language,’ ‘Open,’ ‘Explorers,’ ‘Weekends,’ and ‘Li Yong-RUI.’ Each Squadron can have up to 500 members, which are split among five ranks: Leader, Senior Officer, Officer, Agent, and Rookie. Those are just a baseline, as the Squadron Leader can change the names of the ranks and adjust their privileges. Those privileges are pretty standard for online moderation, including options like kicking players, sending invites, setting statements, and deciding who has access to the officer chat channel.