September 2026 Dev Log | Law & Disorder First Details & Anaconda Mk II Revealed

Greetings Commanders,

Welcome to September’s Dev Log. Today we’re excited to introduce the feature re-work planned for later this year and explore some of the ideas driving its development. We’ll then turn our attention to the new vessel joining the roster this October, taking a look at its design and how the team approached evolving one of the games most iconic vessels.

-- Dev Log Team

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Law & Disorder

Arriving this December, Elite Dangerous enters a new chapter with its next major free update, Law & Disorder.

Throughout the black, Commanders forge their own paths. Law & Disorder aims to refresh and revisit existing gameplay areas for Commanders operating on both sides of the law, making crime a more viable credit-earning path while introducing deeper consequences, clearer systems and a more dynamic relationship between outlaws and authorities.

Whether you are seeking a profit through piracy, smuggling contraband through hostile territory, tracking down high-value targets or simply protecting your own interests, Law & Disorder introduces new ways to engage with the galaxy and fellow Commanders.

When the team first started to ideate on this feature, a key goal was building upon and better connecting the existing crime and punishment systems. Law & Disorder provided an opportunity to revisit them and create a more connected, engaging and intuitive experience for players.

For criminals, the team has re-evaluated piracy and smuggling gameplay, creating more meaningful impact on the world around you for those seeking to live a life of crime, and increasing risk.

Meanwhile PvP and PvE interactions will have different systems, weighing your actions and considering the visibility which they have. Take out the sole remaining occupant of a settlement, and your crimes will remain unreported and your identity unknown. Commit repeated visible crimes in the same ship and face the prospect of increased attention from authorities. Unless you can find a broker willing to make you disappear again... PvP crimes will now fall under the jurisdiction of the Pilot's Federation and be handled separately, which is something we'll explore next month.

On the other side, bounty hunters, authorities, and other interested parties will all have roles to play within the wider Law & Disorder ecosystem.

The team also made it a priority to reduce friction around minor infractions, with changes to incidental crimes and other areas designed to ensure that the punishment feels appropriate to the actions committed. Law & Disorder will offer Commanders a clear understanding of your crime level, including where you are considered a criminal, and offer more accessible options to clear fines and bounties based on the severity of the crime.

Additionally, changes will be made in order to mitigate Anarchy system extinction, with a fundamental change in how forces in these systems behave. The galaxy will once again have pockets of space which can be home to those with more nefarious schemes, and safe harbour for pirates.

Our goal with the feature is to create lawful and unlawful opportunities that feel more rewarding, more understandable, and more interconnected.

Piers Jackson, Game Director

“Re-evaluating the crime system in Elite has been high on our priority list for a while now, but we wanted to ensure that the changes we made were meaningful with supporting systems that were more streamlined, less frustrating and easier to both understand and interact with. We wanted crime to be a valid career path where a cunning commander could actually get away with crime rather than it always being reported whilst making authority response commensurate with any actions that have been logged. Likewise, we know that it’s currently very easy to accidentally end up with fines that can escalate, so simplifying actions into those with levels of consequence is something which will look to resolve those frustrations.”

Gauthier Verquerre, Executive Producer

“Law and Disorder adds more chances for Commanders to tell their own stories as they play, we can’t wait to see how these unfold as your actions impact the world around you. Whether you choose a life of crime, smuggling high-value goods and evading the authorities in pursuit of increasing riches, or you’re enforcing the law by hunting down high-value targets, the team are working on some changes which will give players even more options out in the black.”

Today's reveal is just the beginning, and we can’t wait to share more information with you in future Dev Logs where we will cover more details such as New Modules, Clearing Crimes, Changes to Anarchy Systems, Jurisdiction, Tiers of Criminality, and more. 

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Your first look at the Anaconda MK II

A true icon of Elite Dangerous for many players, Faulcon DeLacy’s Anaconda is a ship which every player strives to add to their collection. Versatile and powerful, the Anaconda is a ship which each Commander makes their own. Now sporting a fresh new look and SCO compatibility, the Anaconda Mk II seeks to re-establish Faulcon DeLacy’s dominance of the shipyards.

Many of you quickly connected the dots and guessed the ship was the Anaconda MK II following the teaser last week, and today we're excited to finally pull back the curtain. To explain how this iconic vessel came to be, we spoke with Art Director Chris Gregory about the inspirations behind Elite's latest ship design.

"Part of the fun of working on Elite has been re-imagining ships from the classic version of the game. Taking those simple yet elegantly defined shapes and filling in between the lines. We did this with the Anaconda when we first brought it into Elite, and it proved to be incredibly popular with Commanders. We felt it was time to revisit the ship in the same way we refreshed the Cobra a few years ago. The goal was to take the spirit of the vessel, but refresh the aesthetic and update the fit and finish."

Like previous redesigns the team started by returning to the source material. "The starting point was to go back to the original mesh from the 80's and combine elements from that with cues from the Elite Dangerous version. The ship has a very wide rear section that I wanted to retain, so we filled that space with large, chunky engines complete with vectoring engine flaps seen on most Faulcon DeLacy ships."

The silhouette better suits the modern game while still maintaining the unmistakable identity of the original. "That deep, dart-like shape was flattened slightly and lengthened to better fit the MK II's role and proportions. We wanted Commanders to recognise it but also see that it's something new." 

One of the teams biggest priorities was also ensuring that the new vessel wasn't simply a visual update. "We were keen that the MK II wasn't just a redress of the MK I and wanted it to have some unique elements of its own. Visibility became a major consideration. We wanted to retain the long nose of the original but improve the pilots view from the cockpit. To achieve that, we elevated the cockpit above the main hull. This conning tower-like positions isn't something we've tried before, but it really suits the scale of the ship. It gives the vessel the feel of a battleship or deep-space tanker." 

Improving the ship's visibility led to some of the most striking new features. "We added a trench running down the centre of the upper hull and cut away parts of the nose, creating the fang-like prongs at the front of the ship."

This also helped the team when it came to the design considerations.

"It can be tricky fitting large hard points into ships without them dominating the silhouette when deployed. The nose cut-out provided the perfect location, allowing us to house the hard point within the volume of the hull and position it directly on the centre line."

To support this design, the team created a new deployment mechanism. "We actually designed a new forward-deploying large hard point specifically for the ship. It allowed us to keep the weapons integrated into the vessel rather than hanging beneath it."

Anaconda pilots know they are flying one of the most imposing vessels, and communicating that scale was a key focus for the team. "Whilst it's not the biggest ship in the game, the Anaconda is certainly not small. To sell that scale we know it needed a huge amount of detail." This meant extensive panel work, decals, and surface features across the hull. "These are the little details that catch your eye from a distance and help make the vessel feel enormous. Without them, ships of this size can sometimes lose their sense of scale."

For Chris and the team, the Anaconda MK II is a celebration of Elite's history and an opportunity to push the visual language of the game forward. "It's been fun revisiting a ship we designed more than ten years ago, we hope Commanders enjoy our new take on an Elite legend."

The Anaconda MK II will launch in ARX Early Access next month. For all the latest news on Elite Dangerous make sure to follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also subscribe to our regular emails for news straight to your inbox, or explore guides and upcoming content via our website.

Make sure to tune in as the Elite Partner Program get hands on with the Anaconda Mk II soon... 

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Other News

Galnet Recap

It's been a busy month of Galactic news.

• 17 September 3312 - Prison Ship Reported Missing After Failing Scheduled Transit
  • The Independent Detention Foundation confirmed yesterday that Riker-class Reformatory EVE-597 had failed to report in following its scheduled jump.
• 17 September 3312 - SRV and Surface Mining Trials Deemed Resounding Success
  • Vodel confirmed in a joint press statement with Wreaken Mining that recent early release trials of the new Rhino SRV had been a huge success.
• 14 September 3312 - Increased Traffic Near Prison Ships Sparks Concern
  • Governing authorities of several star systems have reported unusually high traffic around prison reformatories during recent inmate transfers.
• 11 September 3312 - Federation Condemns Ongoing October Accords Exclusion
  • President Felicia Winters held a conference today condemning the continued exclusion of the Federation from ongoing research into Radicoida unica.

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