It’s another slow news week as the crew talk about everything that’s happened in the last two weeks.

Links:
Elite Dangerous Lore Explorer – https://elitedangereuse.github.io/LoreExplorer/
Frontier Astro – FrontierAstro.co.uk
The Making of Type 7th Heaven – https://youtu.be/ov_ByQGnrJ4
ToCoSo patreon – https://www.patreon.com/c/tocosomusic/home
“Elite Dangerous / Distant World Legacy Tour” by Juseppe’s World – https://youtu.be/Sv01soS7lm0
“Elite Dangerous in VR Did Something I Didn’t Expect” by Midnite Black – https://youtu.be/ZTcrrGayyiI
“Elite Dangerous: They always know” by The High Wake – https://youtu.be/1e5Y0309AN0
“Honoring the Commanders Who Shaped the LLM Ship Computer” by Sudo Krondor – https://youtu.be/nZMS1du6OB8
“Gomu Gomu no Bakiboru!” by Homborger – https://edrushfleet.co.uk/2026/04/21/gomu-gomu-no-bakiboru/
“Elite Dangerous: Now THIS is DW3 pod racing!” by Alec Turner – https://youtu.be/lwCv_IJfh9I

The crew talk about the CG and play the waiting game for any more information about operations, no seriously, any more. Please.

Community Corner
“The Rise and Fall of the Guardians” by Xpeigh - https://youtu.be/9uq2h1rSBXI
“The CAMERA SUITE | Elite Dangerous: How We Film Stuff” by The Buur Pit - https://youtu.be/oFiW5EnF1So
“How to Make Exobiology Faster and More Profitable” by Mile13 Gaming - https://youtu.be/0ZBS2DzQz-o
“Distant Worlds 3 Interview with Karnath & Andrew Gaspurr” by Digmbot -
https://youtu.be/xhgKQK2dTsM
“Starship Racing! Bucky Ball Prison Circuit Qualifying Sumiton Elite Dangerous in a Flight Simulator” by Project SimStarr - https://youtu.be/18iqO32mNow
“Prison Circuit” Buckyball Race results
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-buckyball-racing-club-presents-prison-circuit-20th-30th-march-3312.646130/page-4#post-10804045

The crew talk about what is going on with “Big Bill” and make their predictions, around some topical tangents.

Community Corner:

The Buckyball Racing Club presents: Prison Circuit (20th – 30th March 3312) – https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-buckyball-racing-club-presents-prison-circuit-20th-30th-march-3312.646130/

u/SonOfASeaGherkin has built a sidewinder and an eagle at 1:1 scale in Minecraft – https://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraftbuilds/comments/1s20grh/i_built_the_sidewinder_a_ship_from_elite/ https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/1s2jayn/i_built_the_eagle_at_11_scale_in_minecraft/

u/Modemus asked for help transporting a Player 27kly and with the help of reddit succeeded – https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/1s18r3j/advice_needed_player_stuck_at_sag_a_with_mining/ https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/1s2nqqm/mission_success_27_thousand_lightyears_with_a/

Midnite Black – “The 7 Levels of Elite Dangerous Players (Most Get Stuck at 3)” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RMm5vA0Ffo

CMDR Exorcist – “My First Bounty Hunts with Frag Cannons…” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zq28JmXq1E

The crew get together to discuss your predictions for the feature reboot later this year.

Community Corner:
“ALONE - Deep in the Black Episode 17” by Commander Meek - https://youtu.be/pybq_QKH8ic
"DISTANT WORLDS 3 - #7 - The Guardian of the Twins” by Lolof Gaming - https://youtu.be/NmrlcTO-MpE
“DW3 Rendezvous Rally 8” by Alexandre - https://youtu.be/SdH0erDXDiw
“Elite: Dangerous - Resilience” by Crimson Kaim -
https://youtu.be/5ixpIuDni5w
“MK2 Modules: Where is the line?” by Nicey -
https://niceygy.net/2026/mk2-modules-where-is-the-line/
“Elite Dangerous | What System Is FDev Reworking?” by Digmbot - https://youtu.be/WRIci2gK3bg
“Elite Dangerous | What System Is FDev Reworking?” by Digmbot -
https://youtu.be/WRIci2gK3bg
Squadron Members tool at the elitedangereuse.fr website - https://elitedangereuse.fr/en/outils/escadron.php
“LARGE Player Instances made EASY in Elite Dangerous” by SiegfriedOrigin - https://youtu.be/mwUawYZSdxg
"ED Wing Helper" - https://github.com/Siegfried-Origin/EDWingHelper
“The Buckyball Racing Club presents: Prison Circuit (20th - 30th March 3312)” - https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/the-buckyball-racing-club-presents-prison-circuit-20th-30th-march-3312.646130/
GeForceNow - https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/well-i-managed-it-horizons-live-4-0-working-on-my-xbox-via-geforce-now.615950/

In a very speculative show, the crew discuss bobbleheads and the potential for Mk II modules.

Community Corner:
“Elite Dangerous – Kestrel Mk2 PVP Build” by Nug – https://youtu.be/yV-MpfpN-LM
“ELITE DANGEROUS – DISTANT WORLDS 3 – #6 – Veil’s Ember” by Lolof Gaming – https://youtu.be/G7LkWNoWefI
“Mind The Gap Time Trial – DW3” by Chimes – https://youtu.be/UG1VoN-mrtw
ECM – https://elitecommunitymeet.info

With a bit of a quiet news week, we speculate on vessels, and Colin learns what happens if you play with it too much.

Lave Radio vs Loose Screws:

Catch up on the show – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glzkpGsurj0&t=2627s

Donate to Special Effect here – https://tilt.fyi/GJSMaYpi86

Development News:

Frontier Bluesky – https://bsky.app/profile/frontierdev.bsky.social

Community News:

“What could a BGS update contain?” by Nicey – https://niceygy.net/2026/what-could-a-bgs-update-contain/

“The Update That Could Change Elite Forever” by Indigo – https://youtu.be/9JriB9p5Lfw

“Ring Surfer 2 – Elite Dangerous @ DW3” by DangerPencil – https://youtu.be/xUt3wUbUy8U

“These Gankers have been following us (DW3) across the galaxy. Somebody had to teach them a lesson ;)” by VRFlorian – https://youtu.be/ury2_UZO408

“Neutron Stars” by NoFoolLikeOne – https://canonn.science/codex/neutron-stars/

ECM – https://www.elitecommunitymeet.info/

Any Other Business:

Clare’s Lovely Chat with Alex Kane – https://youtu.be/0d2UO7XV9VI

The Kestrel has been released, we have a debut of a track from ToCoSo for Gameblast, and we talk about the update!

Development News:
Kestrel Mk II promo video – https://youtu.be/6070dkRUKMg
Patch notes – https://www.elitedangerous.com/update-notes

GAMEBLAST:
Lave Radio vs Loose Screws tiltify link – https://tilt.fyi/GJSMaYpi86
Special Effect Website – https://www.specialeffect.org.uk
Bluesky – https://bsky.app/profile/specialeffect.org.uk
Discord – https://discord.com/invite/69dQEmkxX2

Community News:
MetaElite in PC Gamers – https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/metaelite-interview-elite-dangerous/
Raven Colonial – https://ravencolonial.com/
EDCoPTER – https://edcopter.net/
“Kestrel MkII: comparison to FDL, Cobra MkV. Performance tests.” by Alswulf – https://youtu.be/jy2w0hLfJcI
“KESTREL MKII REVIEW : Everything You Need to Know” by The Buur Pit –https://youtu.be/jY3_Ld6avrE?si=JDedKoM4rgjV65oK
“Kestrel Mk II Review – Medium-Ship Firepower in a Small Frame” by Mile 13 Gaming – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNYo_yRsSws
“Galnet Test Drive: The Kestrel – Redefining Combat” by Galnet News Digest – https://youtu.be/sxowDsCgNSs?si=95Xqpjf25EVKZ0LI
“Combat in the Kestrel MKII – Is it any good?” by Ricardos Gaming –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIJqn_kUA0g
“Kestrel mkII First Impressions” by Slamscape-x – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0zWfCiJs1U
“Elite Dangeorus | Thoughts On The Kestrel Mk II: Nothing Will Be the Same” by Digmbot Gaming – https://youtu.be/iPxayrdubIc?si=CKCGm2_c4fEcWTC_
“EARLY ACCESS First FIGHT with the Kestrel Mk2” by CMDR Exorcist – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnIrHDe7AZE
“The brand new ship – Kestrel Mk II – Is it worth it?” by psykit – https://youtube.com/shorts/nHJlkYKEb8Q?si=20I2YhZeZOpCnMC5
“KESTREL MK II FIRST LOOK” by psykit –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktGCeOlQr_g
“Taking the new Kestrel Mk 2 for a spin and the usual nonsense” by Kaytee Khaos – https://youtu.be/dMAFiBPb6PM?si=Esru6-CeXrzP0CE5
“Kestrel MK2 First flight and TLDR” by RainmanGames – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpkf1yX-GwI&t=1s
“We put MK2 Thrusters on whatever would take them” by RainmanGames – https://youtu.be/WRZeCj5ho3o
“I Tried Living a Normal Life in Elite Dangerous…” by MT Major – https://youtu.be/mquYdztGlM8
“The DW3 Eictach Eliminator : 4-up” by Alec Turner – https://youtu.be/6taweX9w1Tk
“SRV Rally at Waypoint 4 – Distant Worlds 3” by Radioactive – https://youtu.be/UQFVBjV_yrs

Freelancer: https://www.moddb.com/mods/freelancer-nomad-legacy/downloads or at https://freelancer2.space/en/

We’re had access to the Kestrel Mk II as part of the partner program, and we have feelings about it. We also discuss the Devlog and everything that is coming this year.

Community News
Register to be a surveyed CMDR – https://forms.gle/ChB1xbGyDdcRqAZ76
“DevLog Decompiled 02/26 – HOW many ships?” – by Nicey – https://niceygy.net/2026/02/17/devlog-decompiled-02-26/
The Federal Times –
https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteArcher/comments/1r3ycbe/cyber_alert_federation_empire_both_rocked_by/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
“Caspian Explorer Review – Long-Range King or Overkill?” by Mile 13 Gaming – https://youtu.be/CQ6peeepIHY
“The Radicoida Unica plants on Hip 87621” by BeetleJude – https://youtu.be/8BGLovIv0SA
“Is It Time To Rework Exploration Payouts?” by Digmbot Gaming – https://youtu.be/y6wBJgRzBZ8
“Distant Worlds 3 : Mass Jump Beagle Point” by SiegfriedOrigin –
https://youtu.be/VJlTETJagUY