Captains! A new kind of captain has come to the Spice Hall - come on, you'll want to meet this one, maybe you'll want to try out these spurs yourself! Update #389 delivers the new Doctor Profession, 2 new officer annex medical component options, and 2 new stealth-focused boarding assault components for your ship. We're excited to keep expanding the already insane replayability of Star Traders: Frontiers, so thanks for your support, badges and reviews.

Cyber Knights is coming to end of Early Access!

[previewyoutube=5cumHBWrUGE;full][/previewyoutube] If you havent checked it out in a bit, our new game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is rapidly coming up on the end of its Early Access period with over 230 Updates under its belt. We've recently released the first major Retirement story arc and are on the verge of release the strategy-focused Face class which will round out the game's very unique underworld strategy layer. We hope you wishlist the game so you can check it out a launch! All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Profession: Doctor!

WIth Update #369, we've once again expanded the already lengthy list of possible starting professions for your captain. Profession is such an important option as it sets your base class, grants you unique skills and in this case, changes one of your starting officers. The Doctor is a leadership and healing focused captain, who gains a Combat Medic as an officer (as you usually get a Ship's Doctor in that officer slot) and can play may roles in the void, but a pacifist, explorer or hunter of scientific intel all come to the front of mind. Enjoy a new run, captains!

New Medical Components

To match with the new Doctor profession, some new and exciting officer annexes have been added to the options for your medical-focused ships. The new large slot Hospital and Advanced Hospital double as an Officer Cabin (+1 officer) and grant big bonuses to Medical Rating, at +10 and +12 each.

New Stealth Assault Boarding Components

The starports across the galaxy are now offering boarding assault systems matched with stealth cloaking. These might be for pirates who prefers to pick their own targets while Blockading instead of random chances in the void or for captains who seek to avoid conflict altogether but if forced into it, would prefer to close and board. These 2 new small slot components can fit into a wide variety of builds and give new ways to buff your cloaking to avoid ship encounters while focusing on your ship combat strategy as well.

v3.4.33 - #369: Healing Gift - 4/8/2025

- New Profession: Doctor (New Traits, Combat Medic First Officer) - New Ship Component: Hospital (+1 Officer, 10 Medical) - New Ship Component: Advanced Hospital (+1 Officer, 12 Medical) - New Ship Component: Cloaked Boarding Assault 3 (10% Cloaking, +25 Boarding) - New Ship Component: Cloaked Boarding Assault 4 (12% Cloaking, +30 Boarding)

[ 2025-04-09 02:18:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

Captains! Come down to the spice hall, where we've got it all. Pass the plate, listen to the music and perhaps shop for a new set of spacer clothes. You might like this new bold space armor? Well, Update #368 has your new digs - 2 new outfits, adjustments to the maximum repair cost for high-cost components, fixes to some weapon sets that had extremely high repair times and some tweaks and fixes for the story arcs based on a wonderful "anonymous" modders assistance. Thanks to everyone checking out the game and leaving a review!

Cyber Knights is on sale too!

If you havent checked it out in a bit, our new game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is rapidly coming up on the end of its Early Access period with over 220 Update under its belt. We've recenty released the first major Retirement story arc, 3 new proc-gen objectives to bring the total map and objective combinations up over 200, and are working on the Face's class tree now with the community. All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

2 New Outfits

We're excited to be embarking on another run of art for Star Traders: Frontiers. After launching 7 years ago? Impossible! you might say. Inconceivable! you might say. But you can't stop it, it is too late, the art and the outfits are coming. Thanks for all the support, the badges, and for checking out our next game. For you - we do updates.

Repair Cost and Time Maximums

We completed an analysis of the ship component set and have put in some maximums and dampening curves for the repair cost and time per 1% of damage for all components. Some weapon sets - specifically high level missiles and gravcannons could take insanely long to repair. Other components like Large Fuel Tanks had way out of band costs to repair. The adjustments help keep everything within some expected ranges, while still allowing for a wide range of high and low points. We look forward to hearing your feedback! Generally, your ships are going to be a little cheaper and faster to repair, but you'll only really feel it if you had some of the wild components installed.

Story Cleanup

With the help of a modder on Discord (who has anonymous in their name, so I'll leave it at that), we've been making some cleanups to the game's data, effect linking, typos in quest logs and tweaking some of the timing in the game's story events. We really appreciate the dedication and are happy to reward it with the first update with a lot of their suggested changes integrated.

v3.4.31 - #368: Armored Space

- Added 2 new outfits to the game - armored in space! - Improved curves for repair cost for the most expensive ship components - Reduced outsized repair times for Level 8 and 9 Gravcannon and Missile Launchers - Improved timer structure for Pit Fighter V storyline - Fixed mislinked effects that could show incorrect name when looking at buffs - Fixed typos and incorrect names in objective logs

[ 2025-03-18 14:58:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Traders - captains of the void - here we are again, kicking off another run of updates for Star Traders: Frontiers. Update #367 includes a new Contact type, new salvage gear, new rare Relic weapon, 2 new Explorer cards and a rebalance of how Trait mutation works out of Salvage and Explorer cards. We're excited to be welcoming new captains to the void and to Star Traders: Frontiers with a 50% off sale this week - so we hope you'll share the game with a friend or with your review to help us get the word out about this epic space captain RPG.

Our new turn-based tactics RPG is 20% off

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, is in its final stages of Early Access now and hitting its own Update #220 as we battle to wrap up the ambitious roadmap before launch. We've just release a major end game story that offers a retirement options for your Cyber Knight (if you want to take it). We learned a lot from the things that players always wanted in Star Traders: Frontiers but we couldn't add, and like Retirement, those improvements have landed in Cyber Knights in a big way! If you're looking for a story rich, squad-based RPG, take a minute to follow, wishlist or try Cyber Knights! All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Contact: Trobairitz

This new Contact type, the Trobaritz, is a Faction troubadour or bard. They are fixtures in both courts and spice halls, they offer buffs to Spice Services, can recruit Blade Dancers and can in zones with sufficient Spice Rating or Government rating. If you get enough Reputation with one, perhaps someday they will sing a song about your captain (if you RP it)!

New Gear and Weapon

Update #367Some new powerful gear added, including a very high penetration off blade, the Ki-Karat Siashal. A rare, relic grade weapon that can be discovered during Salvage operations.

New Explorer Card

Update #367 also adds two new Explorer cards that deal with Trait mutation - with both a positive and negative card that can cause new pathways of mutations for your adventurous, exploratory crew. The new Trait Mutation cards for Explorer are similar to the Trait Mutation cards present in Orbital; however, they are considerably rarer and more powerful. Be careful of the -5 Negative Trait card, it can shift the Traits of a single Crew member substantially. As a result of the analysis that went into building these cards, we've revised the Trait Mutation flows within Orbital Ops and Explorer mechanics. The rebalancing will result in a better flow of new Traits to the crew and a better rate of being able to mutate with the cards instead of gaining the XP bonus with no mutation. This balance change also affects the rates at which the cards appear, so you'll want to use efficient play - focusing on specialists with card game Talents and picking your locations wisely - to achieve the best results with Trait mutation.

v3.4.29 - #367: Songs in the Spice Hall - 3/8/2025

- New Contact Type: "Trobairitz" - New Gear: XL Hurricane Ammo - New Rare Relic Weapon: Ki-Karat Siashal (2nd Hand Blade) - New Explorer Card: Positive Trait Mutation - New Explorer Card: Negative Trait Mutation - Reworked trait mutation flows in Explorer and Orbital to smooth mutation rate

[ 2025-03-08 20:43:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Captains, welcome to the spice hall! Come, sit a while and let me tell you about the latest Star Traders: Frontiers update. This update features new salvage items and a heaping pile of ship components for boarders, pirates and raiders - 4 new Boarding Assault Systems and 3 new Reinforced Boarding Assault Systems. Thanks for your ongoing support, reviews and sending in suggestions and feedback on how we can keep improving STF.

New Year, New Meme Community Event

Be sure to join us for the ongoing and hilarious New Year, New Meme event. New Years might feel like distance history, but like the spice, the memes always flow. Come and share a new meme, an old meme or just laugh to someone else's hilarity in the void. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/335620/view/512946415975007132

New Salvage Gear

We're continuing the press to expand the salvage tables when running Orbital Salvage ops and hitting cards for Relic Armor, Weapon or Gear. With Update #366, we've rolled out two new pieces of Level 6 gear - the Orbital Defender and Darkscale Underplate, each boasting a powerful set of Attribute improvements. In addition, the Orbital Defender adds a +15% Penetration bonus and the Darkscale Underplate brings a double buff: +20% Evasion and +15% Deflection.

New Reinforced Assault Systems

For those pirates and scoundrels who prefer to board enemy ships, doing the bloody work up close and personal, a new range of Reinforced Assault Systems have been released. Each new Assault component features bonuses to your ship Armor, a penalty to Jump fuel cost and powerful Boarding bonuses to boot. If you're heading in close, taking shots along the way, it never hurts to have the extra soak, matey!

New Late Era Boarding Assault Systems

In the late Eras of the game, past the Consolidation or Dissension Era, a new set of Boarding Assault Systems from level 5 to 8 will become available in the starports as the technology of space warfare continues to advance. This new progression of Assault Systems grant the very best bonuses but are only for the boarders who have proved they can earn them, for they don't come cheap.

v3.4.27 - #366: Darkscale - 2/18/2025

- New Gear: Orbital Defender, Drakescale Underplate - New End-Game Components: Boarding Assault System 5 to 8 - New Components: Reinforced Assault System 2 to 4

[ 2025-02-19 02:33:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Traders and captains, another update has sailed into port. We've continued with the addition of new Contact types, increasing the variety of gear in Salvage and added a new high level defensive ship component. We've also been working to keep with report bugs and fix typos. Thanks for your support and thanks to those choosing to show your appreciation by "badging up" with the Supporter's Badge as we climb up toward venerable Update #400! To celebrate that final march to Update #400, we're going to get on a binge of new outfits here - so stay tuned for that.

New Contact: Antiquities Hunter

Be sure you're ready when you consider working for the new Antiquities Hunter. This dangerous schemer will be sure to send you salvaging at dangerous sites across the galaxy, will sell you Rumors, offers Scavenger recruits and offers a pathway to the Black Market if their Traits align with it.

New Salvage Gear

Both the XK Cyclone Ammo and Tarbark Wireset come with nice Initiative bonuses (+1 and +2) as well as other Defensive Bonuses. The XK Cyclone Ammo presents a unique advantage to both ranged Accuracy as well as Defensive dice. Happy hunting, Salvagers!

New Ship Component

The top of the line Duranium Coating IV comes with best-in-class Armor and Shield and matches the other Duranium Coating's reduction of ship damage during orbital operations. In addition, the DC IV adds Void and Radiation Resistance and Craft Defense - so for a captain looking to combine the orbital operations capabilities with more combat oriented ship, the added cost of DC IV will be worth a look. January has been a cold, slow one - so let's look forward to richer skies ahead!

v3.4.25 - #365 - Antiquities - 1/25/2025

- New Contact Type: Antiquities Hunter -- A dangerous schemer with an unexplained hunger for relics - New Gear: XK Cyclone Ammo, Tarbark Wireset - New Ship Component: Duranium Coating IV - Fixed some reported bugs

[ 2025-01-25 17:18:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to the New Year, captains. The year of Star Traders (again)! Pull up a chair in the spice tent and let's sit down over another update for your favorite space captain simulator. We hope you had a good holiday break and found some fun new games during the Steam Winter sale. As for Star Traders: Frontiers, updates are resuming for 2025! With Update #364, we've added a new contact type, 5 new relic armor and weapons, adjusted the rules for cloaking and Xeno Artifacts (you can't hide from the xeno!), improved the maintenance cost of mid-level Interdictors and reduced drop rate for the Uncover Contact Network card in Explorer. Thanks to every captain playing and leaving feedback and reviews!

Actually It's the Year of Cyber Knights!

So many of our updates for Star Traders are based on feedback from you all. But there are limits to what we can do in a game 6 years after its release. Our new tactical heist RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, is evolving fast in Early Access and will be releasing later in 2025. It still has plenty of room for content ideas and shifts in gameplay based on what you, our very best players, are finding fun. Join us to make this game another one youll be enjoying for years to come. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Admirable Retired Consul

This update adds a new type of Contact that can appear in your faction zones. The Retired Consul is an influential new Contact type that prefers high Government and Economy zones and offers Missions, Sells Rumors and provides high quality Recruits.

Added 5 New Relic Armors and Weapons

Based on player feedback and insatiable demand for moar gear, we've expanded the armor and weapon catalog to include some fan-requested variations. There are 3 new Armor with very high Hardness values, and two new blades that counter them with high Penetration. Good luck finding them, Relic Hunters!

Cloaking and Artifacts

We're keeping a very close eye on the new cloaking rules and the awesome impacts they are having on the ship meta. A lot of new ship designs have spawned out of these new components. However, we have found that they are too powerful for certain types of smuggler builds and playstyles. Be ware - ship encounter rate reduction no longer have any impact on the penalty for carrying Xeno Artifacts in your ship's cargo hold. The clarion call of these cursed things cannot be disguised and the Xeno ships will not be fooled by cloaking. The effects of cloaking still apply to all regular ships, to regular chances to meet xeno in the void, but simply do not protect you if your hull is full to bursting with Artifa cts. As another note, the cloaking reduction still does apply to the increase chance in meeting Military and Bounty Hunter ships that you can gain for carrying Xeno Artifacts.

Small Craft Maintenance

Some maintenance costs for Small Craft (the actual fights, and some launch bays) have been adjusted to be more linear in growth. This should make some high end small craft setups more expensive while making introductory small craft slightly more efficient to own early in the game.

Contact Network Drop

The Contact Network card you could draw in Explorer is very powerful for that operation, and we've reduced its rates of appearance to ensure it stays rare enough to play.

v3.4.23 - #364 - 1/9/2025

- New Contact Type: "Retired Consul" (Influential, Court Missions, Sells Rumors) - New Gear: 3 new high-Hardness Armors and 2 new high-Penetration Weapons - New Salvage Relic Weapon: Slazah Warblade (Main Blade) - New Rare Relic Weapon: Ki-Karat Siazah (2nd Hand Blade) - New Rare Relic Armors: Cryoseal Mesh + Warden Stalker - New Salvage Relic Armor: Voidshard Carapace - Cloaking no longer reduces encounter penalty from Xeno Artifact transport - Balanced maintenance costs for Interdictor (Class 4-8) Small Craft - Reduced drop rate of "Uncover Contact Network" (+5 Explorer Card) - Improved processing efficiency in political simulator, better performance - Fixed Reported Bugs

[ 2025-01-09 16:48:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, Captains. Its time for another STF Community Event. We are forgoing a traditional challenge and are doing something completely different this time: creating new STF memes for 2025. It's a New Year, New Meme if you will. steamhappy
STF has a long history of many excellent memes, both from us at the studio and from the community, and what could be better than making new ones to add to the vault?!? We want to fly into 2025 with a new outlook on [strike]life[/strike] memes.
Unlike our challenges, there really aren't any "requirements" for this one. We just want to see some new bespoke memes that we can all enjoy over the next years of traversing the galaxy. Anything goes - still images, gifs, comic panels, etc.
Some ideas for what wed love to see (this list is a meme all on its own):

• Memes
• Meme Gifs
• More Memes
• EVEN MORE MEMES

As usual, we have created a post here on Steam where you can post your memes and you can also check out the #new_year_new_meme channel on our Discord. As always, at the end of the event, we will share some of your memes in our wrap up post! Have fun, Captains and may the memes be with you!

[ 2025-01-06 17:49:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy holidays and winter sale to you, Star Traders! It is cold out there, so step into the spice hall and warm yourself by the fire of another update and the burning hot discount of 60% off on your favorite star captain RPG simulator. With Update #363, we've added a new type of combat-focused Prow, the Dagger Prow, added a new ultra-heavy Relic Armor, increased Relic drop rates in Salvage, released new high-level components to the AI ship builder, and fixed some minor text displays for maximum Cloaking bonus. Thanks to all of our captains playing, posting and reviewing as always!

Cyber Knights is 34% off and getting big updates too!

If you havent checked it out in a bit, our new game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint coming into its final stretch of Early Access. During November, we added the Gunslinger class (more boom-boom!) and we're hitting our goal of releasing a new mission map every week for 9 weeks running. Now, the latest update to start the Winter Sale added Contact Power Play storylines that can change what your contacts are able to offer/sell in big ways, continuing to push on the dynamically evolving underworld of New Boston. All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Dagger Prow 1-3 Components

The Dagger Prows are built for fast boarding ships with a captain who has one hand on the escape lever and the other on the board-them-to-death button. The Dagger Prows add to the ship pools you need at either end of the Range spectrum - both Escape dice and Boarding dice. In addition, they help provide defense against craft if you are trying to close to boarding range. Made for pirates and small, fast combat ships these Dagger Prows fit better into an Electronics-heavy build and come with significant armor to help soak damage if you do decide to close or can't immediately escape.

New Ultra Heavy Armor + Relic Drop Rates

Only a few other heavy armors can rival the new Stalker Heavy Ops Relic for its sheer ability to soak up punishing damage and only the Exemplar Command can match its 196 Hardness rating. It pays a heavy price in Dodge and Initiative penalty for the extreme nature of its defensive stats, but it is a contender for a main armor for any character who wants to tank on sheer damage soak. We've improved the relic drop rates for two types of Salvage Rumor - the Abandoned Military Base and Derelict Space Hive, giving each a more focused set of drops and better chances to drop a high-level relic.

Enemy Ship Builder Improvements

As new components continue to filter into the game with updates, we give each of them some time to be tested out by players and the enemy ship captains in our dev builds before releasing them for public circulation. With Update #363, we are now allowing enemy ship builder to create ships using the powerful defensive components Hull Plating 6, Armored Bulkheads 6, and Reinforced Structures 6, all of which will make an enemy ship harder to take down.

Cloaking Bonus Fixes

With this update, we've fixed several places throughout the system where the Cloaking Bonus for ships was not displayed at its full value and accidentally still capped at 25% in the text. This fix now straightens it out on every screen where it is listed.

v3.4.21 - #363 - Dagger Prow Strikes - 12/28/2024

- New Component Type: Dagger Prow (variant of Battle Prow) - Dagger Prow Components 1-3 now available for installation (player only) - New Salvage Loot: "Stalker Heavy Ops" Ultra Heavy Armor - Increased Relic drop rate for "Abandoned Military Orbital" - Improved Relic drop tables for "Derelict Space Hive" - AI now uses Hull Plating 6, Armored Bulkheads 6 and Reinforced Structures 6 - Some fixes to how Cloaking bonuses are displayed - Trying to fix the reported bugs & typos

[ 2024-12-28 22:28:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Traders! We are back once again with yet another fantastic update for everyone's favorite space trading game that is called Star Traders. With Update #362, we've added some new art, finished up the arc of work on Cloaking components and chased down bugs and QoL issues reported by the community. Thanks to every captain for playing and sharing the game with a review!

Want to help shape our next game?

So many of our updates for Star Traders are based on feedback from you all. But there are limits to what we can do in a game 6 years after its release. Our new tactical heist RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, is evolving fast in Early Access, with plenty of room for content ideas and shifts in gameplay based on what early players are finding fun. Join us to make this game another one youll be enjoying for years to come. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Contact Art

We're always loving the chance to roll out some new artwork, so we dug deep in the archives and found these 4 Contacts who have been waiting to roll their dice and see if they can climb to the top of the grav heap. Welcome 4 new contact faces!

Further Work on Cloaking

This week we found and fixed several bugs we created last week with our changes to the cloaking system. We've updated all of the effected code, and now cloaking bonuses and rolls are correctly applied across the entire spectrum of ship encounters. Xenos, Jyeeta, Bounty Hunters, mysterious Voidships, etc -- they're all now correctly effected by cloaking. We have also increased by maximum Cloaking to 65% -- stacking those components is hard and we want to give a strong, but balanced, result. This is only a 5% total change and based on our current evaluation, we don't expect it to rise gain.

Mutiny Weight Reduction

With further analysis, we've followed up our previous reduction in Mutiny weights by reducing it again by 3%. This is the wrap up for a fix we started a few weeks ago and helps manage the Mutiny rates. We all know it is "fun" to have a Mutiny, but it is not fun to have 4 while you are turning to get to a nearby port :D

Initiative rebalance

We have recently introduced some new components that add Ship Combat Initiative, which is responsible for determining which attacks and weapons go first. Some bugs crept in related to player builds with very high (more than +10) Initiative. If you were seeing the opposite effect for very high Initiative builds - that you're suddenly going last!?!? - we have a fix for you!

Contact Network's Bonus

Fixed an issue where Contact Network card was only introducing the main Contact with a Reputation Bonus, instead of giving a Rep bonus to the entire network. This is a boon to the card as you will now learn about multiple Contacts and have a head start with some of them. While testing this out, we also found a very rare case in which the Contact's links were all remote and would not be introduced correctly. That is now fixed too!

v3.4.19 - #362: Cloaking Arc Wrap

- Added 4 new Contact faces - New Component: Cloaked Launch Bay - Increased maximum Cloaking effect to 65% - Fixed Cloaking interactions with Era-specific encounter tables - Reduced chance of Mutiny during Low Morale events by additional 3% - Fixed bugs caused by large Ship Combat Initiative Scores - Buffed and fixed "Uncover Contact Network" (+5 Explorer Card)

[ 2024-12-06 21:46:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Traders! Many welcomes to our esteemed Captains, old and new. Whether you are an experienced Star Trader or new to plying the Void we at Trese Brothers appreciate you playing our game. This week's update is a mix of good and bad news. First, the good news: we've added new exciting components for Cloaking builds and ... we've finished testing the latest Terrox Xeno ship. Let's dig in as we keep balancing out the new cloaking rules, improved rules for transporting xeno artifacts and more. If you're enjoying the continued stream of updates, improvements and more please take a moment to leave a review!

Want to help shape our next game?

So many of our updates for Star Traders are based on feedback from you all. But there are limits to what we can do in a game 6 years after its release. Our new tactical heist RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, is evolving fast in Early Access, with plenty of room for content ideas and shifts in gameplay based on what early players are finding fun. Join us to make this game another one youll be enjoying for years to come. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Cargo Holds and More Cloaking Options

We have added new large slot Cargo Holds that are competitive with standard cargo holds and provide cloaking and Escape bonuses for ship encounters and combat. These new holds are very useful for Merchants attempting to avoid interdiction, or Smugglers looking to avoid everyone and help provide new paths for your ship to achieve high cloaking without sacrificing all your smaller slots. Based on player feedback we've also buffed a few more components by adding Cloaking capabilities. This update rebalanced two Goltha Scanners which are unlocked by the Goltha Tech storyline.
Finally, we've improved the display of Cloaking in the ship status screen so that your rates of cloaking / ship encounter evasion are easier to spot and know.

Dangerous Cargo

Our analysis of the results of recent Cloaking upgrades and player feedback pointed us towards a necessary shift some of othe other encounter rate rules. This week we're releasing a balancing update that further increases the Xeno encounter rate boost when your ship's cargo hold caontains Xeno Artifacts. Shipper beware - it is as if these artifacts have a way of drawing the xeno from the void. Carrying large numbers of Xeno artifacts is now more dangerous than ever before.

Terrox Deathspear

And back to the bad news: we've finished testing on the newest Terrox Xeno ship, the Terrox Deathspear. This ship was previously very rare but is now ready to go and has been bumped up in the mix to be more common. It is still at around 50% of the occurrence rate of the other standard Terrox ships, so it is still a bit more rare but no longer vanishingly so.

v3.4.17 - #361: Full Circle - 11/20/2024

- Warning: Xeno Encounter Rate Boost from Xeno Artifacts Increased! - New Components: Cloaked Cargo Holds, Comp Level 4 to 8 added - Refactors and adds Cloaking to Quad-Goltha Scanner, Redlight Goltha Scanner - Fixes Ship Counters / Cloaking Displays in Ship Status - Balance adjustments for newest Xeno ship, increased encounter rate

[ 2024-11-20 21:12:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Traders! First let's send out a welcome to all the new captains who have joined during this 50% off sale and second let's celebrate with an awesome update. Here we are, hitting Update #360 on your favorite space trading and political simulation game, Star Traders: Frontiers. This update focuses on some big changes to the Cloaking system which allows you to reduce ship encounters, upgrades and adds new ship components related to cloaking and a new variation of the Goltha tech that can be unlocked through the Goltha Development story vignette. We've also tweaked some ship builds and prices from the startport and tweaked the chance of Mutiny when Morale is low.

Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?

We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, were telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG where we've just released the new Gunslinger class and snag it on 34% off or wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Cloaking Tech

Update #360 update centers around changing the limits in place in the ship cloaking system available to any captain today. The goal of these changes is to expand the options for your captain's ship builds and to make to make Cloaking more competitive with Skip Off the Void and high Escape bonus builds. To achieve this end, we've raised the limit on Cloaking up to 60% (which is a direct percentage of reduction on all ship encounters), from a 25% limit previously. To provide more build options on how to get your cloaking so high, we have reworked all of the Sig Dampeners and Signal Veil components to provide more Cloaking. Also, we have added 4 new Signal Void Field components that take a medium slot to give additional options to pile on the cloaking abilities. If you have completed the Goltha Development story vignette, then a new Redlance Goltha Veil is available in Rychart starports across the galaxy. While the Goltha tech isn't all about Cloaking, it is a side benefit so this was a good time to introduce an additional option. Ships with maximum Cloaking feel very different to operate now and we're excited to hear your feedback about these changes and make further adjustments over the coming weeks. Our goal is to position cloaking components such that they're viable for both early and late game builds.

Venerable Heavylift

Our last release added a new (ancient) ship design to Star Traders: Frontiers - the Degla Heavylift. our captains have had a chance to look it over and we've received some helpful messages and feedback on our Discord. Update #360 update pushes the best of those ideas into the game and revises the weapon and component loadout of the ship with a focus on making it a highly survival large cargo carrier.

Political Simulator

In not-as-exciting-but-still-great news we did some optimization on the political simulator (Conflicts, Rumors, Contact actions, Contact Link Events, etc) and speeding it up means we can run it slightly more often without negatively impacting ship travel on the map. This will provide even more procedurally generated drama for players to exploit for profit.

Mutiny Chances

We recently completed an analysis of Mutiny events in Star Traders games and noticed that a surprising percentage of mutiny events occur when the player is very close to the planet for a resupply. We have adjusted the chance of mutiny down by 10% in the crew simulator -- meaning they will tolerate low morale slightly longer before declaring an actual mutiny. Hopefully this patch lets you land in time to avoid any unpleasantness with your crew. Good luck!

v3.4.13 - Cloaking Tech - 11/12/2024

- Improved effects of Cloaking, increased maximum Cloaking effect to 60% (from 25%) - Increased amount of Cloaking provided by Sig Dampeners and Signal Veil - New Component: Signal Void Field, Levels 1-4 now available - New Vignette Component, Redlance Goltha Veil - Replaced Degla Heavylift weapon loadout based on feedback - Increased ship sale price for Wolfpack Interceptor + Voracious Class - New optimization of political simulator allows it to run 25% more often - Chance of Mutiny during Low Morale events reduced by 10%

[ 2024-11-13 18:16:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, Captains. Its time for another STF challenge. This is the Really BIG map challenge! Back in August, we asked how will you play on the smallest of maps with the least sectors? This time around we are offering up a 70 quadrant, standard density map for you to tackle. Some of the quadrants require many, many jumps to reach. Just like the August challenge, this challenge only has one "rule:" that you play on the specific map seed for this challenge. Otherwise, you can play whatever professions, ships, rules, and styles you would like. Our Discord community suggested that this challenge could be good giving some of the newer fast ships a go! The map seed for this challenge is: st-v02-70-6-94116976
Some ideas for what wed love to see:

• Screenshots of your ship, your crew
• Descriptions of your strategies approaching a huge map with significant distance between some quadrants and how they are different from your 'normal' strategies
• Tell us about the challenges your faced
• Any other creative ways you want to share to tell us about your adventures: memes, interpretive dance, gifs, etc

No matter what you choose to share, please include one screenshot of your journey!
Weve opened up a discussion here on Steam in the General Discussion forum for aIl of your posts. If you post on the discord, post in the #big_map_challenge channel found in the STF category.
Good luck and have fun, Captains!

[ 2024-11-04 18:33:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Traders! What you say? Another update? No, impossible. Not from these lazy bones. We'll its true - your favorite 2D space trading RPG has done it again - Update #359 has arrived with new fun things for Captains of any vintage, old and new, to explore. Update #359 includes a new Mass 9000 ship, a new Armored Cargo Hold 3, boosts to some Explorer cards appearance rates, and a sweeping set of fixes on components from community reports.

Want to help shape our next game?

So many of our updates for Star Traders are based on feedback from you all. But there are limits to what we can do in a game 6 years after its release. Our new tactical heist RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, is roaring along in the second half of its Early Access but we are using the same formula to listen, discuss and improve the game straight from community feedback. There is still plenty of room for content ideas and shifts in gameplay based on what early players are finding fun. For example, we're actively soliciting Talent ideas for the new Gunslinger class that is coming and some of the best are going straight into the game. We hope you'll join us to make this game another one youll be enjoying for years to come. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Degla Heavylift

With Update #359, we have word of a brand new super-massive hull that is being constructed in De Valtos starports across the galaxy. The Degla Megalift is the ship for all your cargo hauling needs. Equipped with a massive fuel tank and an even larger cargo hold the Degla Heavylift is a big brother of the Degla Megalift. Boasting 12 small, 11 medium and 7 large slots, the Degla is a new super-massive class ship to configure, trick out and see how it compares to your other super-massive hulls. We can't wait to see how you kit out your Heavylift. Both Degla architecture ships have a long and storied history, first appearing in Star Traders classic in 2014. Now both the Megalift and Heavylift have recurred in Star Traders: Frontiers in the years 2018 and 2024.

New Armored Cargo Hold 3

The new Armored Cargo Hoid 3 fills a gap in the progression and helps build out your heavily defended cargo transports.

Zendu Relic Boost

Based on our stats, the Zendu Relic cards were not appearing often enough so we have further increased the weighting chance that they will appear in a hand of Explorer cards. Good luck, relic hunters - the way is dangerous and road is long, but if you survive the rewards are sweet. We've also increased the drop rate for Contact Network (which uncovered a Contact and all of their positive and negatively linked Contacts).

Component Improvements and Rebalance

We've made some component and ship fixes based on your excellent feedback. We've improved Battle Prow 8 to add +3 Ship Weapon Initiative to help you get the first shots. We 've also adjusted the Armored Bulkheads 6 stats to ensure that they fit within the progression. We've corrected the loadouts on the Allistar Huntress (which had too many starting officer cabins). And we've also resolved a number of odd bugs with Large Hangers, including one that granted over 240 Medical Rating for some of these components (!??!).

v3.4.11 - #359: Venerable Heavylift - 10/26/2024

- New Ship: "Degla Heavylift" (9000M Heavy Transport) - New Component: Armored Cargo Hold 3 - Further increased drop rate for "Zendu Relic" Explorer card - Increased drop rate for Uncover Contact Network (1 Contact + All Links) - Battle Prow 8 now adds +3 Ship Weapon Initiative - Further fixes for logging issues with ship component damage - Fixes for "Alistar Huntress" component loadouts - Fixes for Large Hanger and high Medical Ratings - Fixes for Large Hanger ship combat buffs - Fixes for Armored Bulkheads 6

[ 2024-10-26 19:48:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Traders, captains and travelers of the void - we are back again with another Star Traders: Frontiers update. This one took a while to finish -- more complicated than it sounds fixing some of the weirder bugs that were reported this week. Ahhh, STF, the gift (that you paid for) that keeps on giving (us more and more bugs.) We're excited to keep this update train rolling and wanted to extend a hearty Thank you! to everyone who has posted a review or "badged up" to the Supporter Badge. You help us keep developing this lovely void simulation RPG ;)

Ultra Carrier 9000M

Update #358 sees a new ultra carrier hull being constructed at Moklumnue starports around the quadrants, the Alistar Huntress. The Huntress joins the rare 9000 Mass category, bringing the number of these ships to 5. We are planning to release two more soon -- a 9000M heavy hauler transport, and a 9000M high durability battlecruiser to provide a foil for one of the all-time most popular ships, the Sword Battlecruiser. The Alistar Huntress stands out within the super heavy category with the best in class Armor, middle of the road base Shields, Hull Points second only to the Cautela Titan, matched for best in class Base Fuel, 7 officers, 42 crew, 6 max craft and a component allocation of 16 small, 9 medium and 7 large.

3 New Defensive Components

Update #358 also includes significant component expansions for ship components that can round out a defensive ship build, adding more options for Radiation and Void resistance as well as Armor and Shielding. These categories haven't seen expansions in some time, so these are considered prototypes and will likely see some balancing buffs or nerfs in the coming patches. For now, and until we complete the balance passes, the Enemy Ship Architect is prohibited from using these new components in hostile ship builds until they are verified.

New Explorer Card: Contact Network

We have added a new card to the Explorer game, and fixed some existing ones. The new card is a +5 draw that, if picked, provides a Reputation-positive introduction to a Contact -- and all of that Contact's Links. This card has proven to be pretty powerful, as it can establish an entire mission and RTG network in a single pull. In addition, we fixed some bugs with how Experience was allocated on the Zendu Revelations card and increased the drop rates on the Zendu Relic cards, which were not appearing in hands at the rate we intended due to some unexpected math oddities.

Other Bug Fixes!

In ship combat, you all reported some issues where the wrong component could be listed in the log -- this applied to both damage and repair talents and some small craft combat log messages. The error was strictly in the display code, but still glad to see it fixed. It explains occasional reports that a component was listed as damaged during battle but then later would be found undamaged.

Enemy Ship Warning!

We also gave the enemy shpip builder 2 new ships. Big ones. With lots of guns. Enjoy! While rare the Bounty Hunter enemies may now come after you in the Alistar Huntress and the Military Office enemies may be at the helm of a Shizari Huntress.

v3.4.9 - #358: Huntress Grand - 10/11/2024

- New Ship: "Alistar Huntress" (9000M Heavy Carrier) - New Component: Hull Plating 6 (Void + Rad) - New Component: Armored Bulkheads 6 (Armor + Void) - New Component: Reinforced Structures 6 (Shield + Rad) - Increased drop rate for "Zendu Relic" Explorer card - New Explorer Card: Uncover Contact Network (1 Contact + All Links) - Fixes for Ship Combat Buffs that Repair Components, Improved Logging - Fixed some issues with Ship Component sort in Starport - Fixed some logging issues for Victory Talents that damage Ship Components - Warning: Bounty Hunter AI can (rare) proc "Alistar Huntress" - Warning: Military AI can (rare) proc "Shizari Huntress" - Fixed Reported Bugs

[ 2024-10-17 13:28:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Traders - welcome all new captains to the void! We've been pushing new art updates in thanks for all the captains who jumped on the Supporter's Badge DLC recently. Unfortunately, one of the types of new artwork - Contact faces - is one we haven't done in a long time and we botched it just a little bit. In a small fraction of games, you could end up with a hung Contact list.We decided the only want to fix this was with more artwork! Thanks to everyone who has joined us on this crazy journey, and enjoy this small, art-heavy update!

+4 Contact Faces

We're excited to add 4 more Contact faces to the game, matching yesterday's +4 for a big +8 in variety. These interesting, odd, and fashionable gravs live their lives on the known worlds of the void. They are power players, criminals, princes and more. It is always exciting to come back to this catalog and add more depth!

Fixed 2 Bugs

We fixed a bug that could cause your Contact list to refuse to open (thanks Update #356!) and also an old bug that could cause some variations of the Plague Era storyline to hang.

Battle Prow Prices

The 3 new Battle Prows from #356 also had a minor issue of their price being the same regardless of level. This is now resolved with this patch. It is a short one, but we hope the artwork sweetened it!

v3.4.7 - #357: Faces of the Void - 10/6/2024

- New Art! Added art for 4 new Contact characters - Fixed bug that could prevent contact list from opening - Fixed bug with dialog in Plague Era that could crash at end of Era mission - Fixed same price for Battle Prow 6, 7, 8

[ 2024-10-06 13:05:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome all new Turn-based RPG Fest captains! The void, the spice hall, and great adventure waits. Also the xeno are waiting. So let's get updating before they catch up to us. Update #56 includes new artwork, new Battle Prow ship components, improvements to Hangar Bays and an important fix for xeno ship encounters as well as balance changes to the Terrox Deathspear.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is in Turn-based RPG Fest too!

If you havent checked it out in a bit, our new game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is evolving fast in Early Access with Update #150 recently going live. For Turn-based RPG Fest, we released a batch of stories that are filling out the Treaty '31 Era (you know Eras, Star Traders!!!) in which a new megacorporation joins the New Boston charter and "comes to town". All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Contact and Planet Artwork!

We wanted to send out special thanks to all of our amazing captains who have "badged up" and purchased the Supporter Badge DLC with some new and exciting artwork. We already released some new planetary environments in the last update, but this time we've come back to hit Zenrin Prime with a special city background as well as add a cool "underwater wreck" artboard for oceanic wild zones. Also, we've added 4 new classic looks for your grav Contacts. We're excited to come back to expanding this catalog a bit after such a long break - it is also fun to see such new and interesting faces as you land across the quadrants and meet its power players.

Beastly Battle Prow 6, 7 and 8

Rolling off the line in true beast mode, these Battle Prows boast major bonuses to boarding operations and craft defense as well as major Armor bonuses. These advanced versions of the less Battle Prows sell for a major penny, so they'll often be late career upgrades for boarding heavy, close range combat ships.

Hangar Bay Improvements

We've continued to adjust and buff the meta around Hangar bays as a useful part of your ship stats in addition to holding craft. Stronger hangar bays - of which you need a couple - make larger carriers more powerful and more viable. With this update we've improved the Large Hangar Bay as well as its Shielded and Reinforced variations to grant additional defense bonus, bonuses against attack enemy craft and heightened armor. The Alta Mesa Warhawk Hangar Bay joins in the boost with its own bonuses to Craft Defense and ship defense as well. The variations in hangar bays can help you puzzle together the right results you want out of the stats from these bays as you build out a ship that might have to dedicate 4+ component slots to them in order to support your fleet.

Xeno Ship Crashes / Fails

For all those players hitting issues where a xeno ship would be encountered and then the Fight button in the ship encounter screen would lead to a black screen or a crash, we've resolve the issue now! Apologies for the bug and you can fight xeno again.

Deathspear Xeno Balance

The Terrox Deathspear has received some balance changes to ensure it is different and exciting enough of a combatant in ship. With Update #356, we have reduced its Ship Hull by 10% (300 pts) and increased its base Armor by +2. You can carve through the Deathspear a little faster now assuming you can reduce or work around the armor!

v3.4.5 - #356: Hall of Memories - 10/4/2024

- New Art! New planetary image added -- new Zenrin Prime specific art, Hall of Memories - New Art! New planetary image added -- new Oceanic wild zone shows crashed ship - New Art! Added art for 4 new Contact characters - New Ship Components: Battle Prow 6-8; optimized for close range boarding and cover for craft - Buffs for Large Hangar Bay (Normal, Shielded, Reinforced) now grants Ship Defense, Craft Attack, Armor - Warhawk Hangar Bay now grants Craft Defense, Craft Offense and Ship Defense - Fixed issue with xeno ship fights ending in black screen or crash - Reduced Terrox Deathspear Xeno Ship Hull Points by 10% (-300) - Increased Terrox Deathspear Base Armor by +2

[ 2024-10-04 17:04:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Summer of Star Traders is coming to a close but fear not - this begins the long, cold, dark of winter. Expect the worst -- freezing blasts of content, new ships flying like icy daggers, a veritable blizzard of new stuff for Star Traders. So, take the captains' chair, buckle up, get a warm space suit and let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Whatever Autumn, move over for the Winter of Star Traders!

Supporter's Badge DLC ($5)

First up, let us extra a huge THANK YOU to all the captains who have "badged up" to the new Supporters Badge DLC. We knew you liked the updates, but wow! Let's keep it rolling. Since it is our first and only DLC for Star Traders: Frontiers, we're going to keep talking about it in the next few updates so that players who didn't see the original post can catch the news - we've added a $5 DLC to Star Traders: Frontiers. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3198060/Star_Traders_Frontiers_Supporter_Badge/ This DLC contains no additional game content, it only supports the many years of free content and features added to the base game since release. The Supporter DLC adds a small Supporter's Badge graphic to your main menu and ship status screen; no in-game effects, locked content or features, it's purely a way to support our studio and the future of Star Traders if you desire to do so. Since Star Traders: Frontiers full launch in 2018, weve been thrilled to keep the game growing with an ongoing stream of free content updates, more than 250 of them over 6 years (not counting the 90 updates in EA). Weve often been asked about expansions or paid DLC content, but we believed making content available for free to everyone who bought the game is the better way to do it. Now, with the game having more than twice (in some areas three times) as much content as it did at launch, some have suggested that we raise the price, but we dont think that makes sense for keeping the Star Traders community growing.

New Planetary Artwork

First, the exciting stuff -- thanks to everyone who is carrying a Supporter Badge -- this update includes new artwork for planetary landings. This update brings 3 new custom-made art boards to add variety to Jungle outposts, Molten Urban and Desert wilds. These art boards will show up for all players immediately when installing v3.4.3, no map regeneration is required. Trese Brothers -- always backwards compatible!

Zendu Relics in Exploration

Second, a new rare card that drops unique (one per game) S-tier relic gear. This new card appears in the Explorer game deck, most often on high danger worlds. This card, if drawn, will grant Experience, Traits and of course, a piece of Relic Gear. There are two groups with 4 unique pieces of gear each. Each of the 8 gear pieces will ever only appear once per Captain. While we were adding these new pieces of gear, we discovered a rounding error that was causing a meaningful % of Relics to never drop in most saved games. While adding the new card we also fixed the existing Explorer card that grants Relics so that the entire range of intended rewards is available. This adds about 20 relics that were not dropping back into the catalogs. Enjoy!

Ship Crippling Effects

This patch rolls up a number of balance adjustments we've been testing in ship combat for the past few weeks. All together they adjust Crippling Effects to increase their variation from each other and to make them each more impactful on ship combat. Be warned -- these more deadly effects can hit both your opponents and your own ship equally. Double check that your crew is ready with enough ship combat effect purging Talents to clear these if you get them. This is the first of several balance adjustments for ship combat aimed at adding more variety to some elements that were too similar to others. For example, Electrical Fires and Hull Venting are now substantially different when compared. Depending on if you're trying to cook crew or burn out weapons, one or the other will be a better choice. So get out there Captain and enjoy the last rays of this year's summer sun. Grab a cup of hot spice, take in some new planetary vistas and go relic hunting in the latest Star Traders: Frontiers update.

v3.4.3 - #355: Jungle Moon, Zendu Relic - 9/19/2024

- New Art! 3 New planetary images added -- new Jungle Moon, Molten City and Desert Waste - New ultra-rare, ultra-powerful "Zendu Relic" Explorer card and 8 new pieces of unique gear - Revised Crippling Effects -- 'Bomb' can now cause Secondary Explosions, 'Rocket' can now trigger cause Engine Failure - Secondary Explosions (caused by Bomb and Missile) crippling effect received a damage boost - System Blackout (caused by Energy Weapons) crippling effect now reduces Reactor Points by -2 (-1 previously) - Crew Panic (caused by Mass Drivers) crippling effect now includes -10 Escape penalty - Electrical Fires now cause +25% more component damage over time, and -10% less crew damage - Venting Hull now causes +25% more crew damage over time, and -10% less component damage - Fixed issue preventing certain types of gear (about 20) from dropping as relics

[ 2024-09-19 16:50:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Captains, welcome back from the void. Come sit a while in the spice hall and listen to the stories we have today - of Exo-Scouts and explorers, salvagers and supporters of the grand factions. With Update #354, we've added the all new Exo-Scout profession to the game. And after 6 years, we're releasing our first ever DLC - a totally-optional, no-content-gated $5 Supporter's Badge.

Supporter's Badge DLC ($5)

This DLC contains no additional game content, it only supports the many years of free content and features added to the base game since release. The Supporter DLC adds a small Supporter's Badge graphic to your main menu and ship status screen; no in-game effects, locked content or features, it's purely a way to support our studio and the future of Star Traders if you desire to do so. Since Star Traders: Frontiers full launch in 2018, weve been thrilled to keep the game growing with an ongoing stream of free content updates, more than 250 of them over 6 years (not counting the 90 updates in EA). Weve often been asked about expansions or paid DLC content, but we believed making content available for free to everyone who bought the game is the better way to do it. Now, with the game having more than twice (in some areas three times) as much content as it did at launch, some have suggested that we raise the price, but we dont think that makes sense for keeping the Star Traders community growing. Instead, were launching this Supporters DLC to give those who want to support our studio a way to do so, if you find it worth it for all the extra content thats been added to the game since full launch:

• RELIC Expansion - all new Orbital Salvage Op and the Scavenger Job and Profession
• TERROX Expansion - new xeno ships, components, and crew jobs
• INTERDICTION Expansion - added carrier ship types, 3 types of craft and matching Wing Jobs
• HIGHFALL Expansion - late game Era determines the direction of the coalition with Dissension or Consolidation story arcs
• BROOD Expansion - all new late game Era with new and terrifying Jyeeta alien species
• CATALYST Expansion - all new Scientific Intel system, Scientist Job and Profession
• TEMPLAR Expansion - crossover storyline with unique NPCs and weapons added
• CARTOGRAPHER Expansion - map seed v2 improving all map generation, allowing for larger and smaller maps, new default map
• MODS Expansion - added official mod support for the game, including all-unlocks mod version & Steam Workshop support
• Many more new ships, gear, crew jobs, cosmetics, professions, traits, ship components, story vignettes, planet art, modding support, and more across hundreds of other updates.

^and this was last updated in January 2023; we've just kept adding since then lol. If you like the way we do things here at Trese Brothers, and want to support the future of the Star Traders series, this DLC offers a way to show that support. Whether you're a new captain or you've ridden out 300+ updates since Early Access with us on this crazy journey, thank you for your support in all of its many forms - hanging out with us in Discord, posting on reddit or in the Steam forums, sending in bug reports and new suggestions or leaving a review. We're looking forward to bringing you more Star Traders. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3198060/Star_Traders_Frontiers_Supporter_Badge/

Exo-Scout Profession

We are thrilled to roll out a new profession - the Exo-Scout who boasts an ancient Star Traders charter, hailing from the days when the quadrants were yet to be founded and the Templar were signing charters themselves to bring more Star Traders into the space-faring fold. The Exo-Scout is a great profession for their focus and two-fold versatility: they can be kitted out to be a very adaptable crew combatant or a leader in Exploration-heavy career. Or both. Or stand toe-to-toe with xeno. Or die horribly standing on the toes of the xeno ... It all depends on how you do it, captain.
Adding new professions opens up totally new paths to play for both systems and role-playing purposes and we can't wait to see what you do with the Exo-Scout - tell us your stories!

Better Trait Generators

Traits are generated for characters based on their homeworld, faction and job. We've improved the options that can be rolled up for Exo-Scouts and Blade Masters with Update #354, giving them a few more options to pull from which can make them more exciting recruits or additions to the crew.

Conflict-Linked Mission Expirations

Missions linked to Conflicts always have the risk that the Conflict expires. In some cases, the game has not been handling the expiration of the Conflict with the best grace, and instead of printing a message about "intel from ERROR" which wasn't very helpful. We've cleaned up a number of these misprints with a more helpful message.

Double Landing UI Bug

We fixed one series of clicks or keystrokes you could make that would result in you getting hit (or maybe you think of it as a bonus?) with a double Landing on a planet. Once you've landed, you're counted as landed and do not get another landing event unless you move or play a round of an Orbital Op. This bug could cause a landing event without either of these circumstances being true.

v3.4.1 - 9/17/2024

- New Profession: Exo-Scout (Leads exploration and crew combat from the back line) - Updated starting Trait generators to support Blade Master & Exo Scout - Fixed several issues with Conflict-linked Missions after the Conflict expired - Fixed a UI issue that could cause a double landing - Fixed typos for the Blade Master profession's Traits

[ 2024-09-17 18:22:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Summer of Star Traders isn't over yet! This is our 9th update since we opened the doors for the Summer event and we're excited to say - it's been so much fun, we're going to keep on rolling into the Autumn of Star Traders. While Update #353 is a Bomber-focused rebalance and bug fix, we've got some exciting things coming up so stay tuned.

Our new game is more than halfway through Early Access!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, launched into Steam Early Access in late 2023 and has received over 135 updates! Does that sound familiar to any other (space captain) game you love? Cyber Knight's features even more in-depth character builds, turn-based stealth & combat, and a major evolution on the Star Trader's story engine that selects storylines and weaves different members of your squad and contacts into them in dynamic ways that we never achieved with STF. We hope you'll come check it out or wishlist it to give it another look when the game launches! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Bomber Meta Rebalance

We've rebalanced many of the ranges in Bomber damage, straightening out some odd bends and crooks in the progression. We've widened up the range of the damage dice rolled for bombs, pushing for more impact from buffing Talents in order to get the most optimal bombing runs. Some later game bombers have also had their Radiation Damage buffed.

Scraping off the bugs

A big thanks goes out to players continuing to report bugs here on Steam and through other channels. Star Traders: Frontiers continues to draw new captains to the void and with each new play through, we can still find little things that can improved or fixed.
This update fixes some ship combat logs that were sometimes showed giant negative numbers (-135810933181) instead of the actual dice rolls (22 Strong Dice) which could occur if the enemy captain or officers used Talents like Blood Game. We've fixed a possible crash in the defeat screen if the enemy Captain tried to use a Prize Ship talent to claim your ship in the case of your captain's death or defeat. We also fixed a few mixed up values and hovers in the craft screen - either purchasing or reviewing them - where the Radiation and Void Damage hovers could flip or where the minimum Rank shown for craft purchases could just end up being the wrong value in longer craft lists. Thanks to all of our players, we've got more coming in the Summer of Star Traders!

v3.3.121 - 9/13/2024

- Rebalanced Small Craft Bomber Damage, Damage Ranges, Radiation Damage Ratios (human+xeno) - Fixed Radiation and Void Dmg hovers showing incorrect rules in craft list - Fixed AI ship boarding messages and rolls when AI uses boarding Talents like Blood Game - Fixes defeat screen crash where the AI would attempt to seize a player's ship as a prize ship - Fixes issues with Minimum Rank and Small Craft Purchases (Display & Rules now match) - Fixed reported bugs and crashes

[ 2024-09-13 19:02:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

From the wastes we have returned, Star Traders! Some late summer vacation put a pause on Star Traders: Frontiers updates for a minute but we're back in the spice hall and let's keep this ride going. Let's check out what we've got in Update #352!

Updates for All!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, launched into Steam Early Access and how is marching to Update #132 and a major milestone MAGNITUDE v2 today as it battles through its ambitious public roadmap. In celebration of the big milestone hit, the entire Steam catalog including Star Traders: Frontiers and Cyber Knights: Flashpoint are on sale this week. If you're looking for a story rich, squad-based RPG, take a minute to follow, wishlist or try Cyber Knights! All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Dragoon Missile Launcher

With Update #325, we've released a new Dragoon is small slot level 9 missile launcher. As the highest level small slot missile around, it has a solid 80 Radiation Damage and a big boost for regular ship damage that lets it beat out both the Valkri and Gargoyle missiles for sheer crushing power.

Improved Crew Dmg / Morale Dmg during Travel & Landing

With this update, we've completed a full review of travel and landing saves for Ship Ops, Electronics and other Skills that are used. We found a few places where the math - which is taking into account a lot of factors like crew size, component complexity, Rumors, etc - could get extremely spikey and produce unfairly large damage results for both health and Morale. These issues were especially caused by bad Rumors. Bad, bad Rumors :D We've smoothed these over to reduce sudden spikes. In other advice, be sure to have enough Saving Talents, ensure that you have highly skilled crew to work your specialized ships (keep your Skill Saves well above 100%!) and where possible keep all soft skills (Doctor, Command, Intimidate) above the head count of crew on board.

New AI Ships in the Mix

We've also finished testing the AI ship builder capabilities for a number of new hulls - including the Vengeance Class Mk3, Wolfpack Interceptor, Paladin Crusader and Voracious. While it is nice that you can now use Prize Ship to capture these ships as your own, it is important to be wary of enemy captains who are flying these recently released hulls as they are doing pretty interesting things with them. Finally, we've added a new AI variation for the Terrox Deathspear which can help the AI turn it into an even more deadly boat.

Re-balanced 2 Railguns

We tweaked the balance on the Seraphim Railgun and the Daystar Railgun to ensure that they fit into the mold of the weapon class and are appropriate in stats for the small and medium slots. Be sure to check them out as you consider your next ship build. v3.3.119 - 8/26/2024 - New Ship Weapon: Dragoon Missile Launcher (medium slot) - Improved rules for Crew Damage and Crew Morale Damage as a result of Rumor, Travel or Landing tests - New enemy AI for "Vengeance Class Mk3" + "Wolfpack Interceptor" + "Paladin Crusader" + "Voracious Class" + "Terrox Deathspear" - Reworked "Daystar Railgun" Ship Weapon (small slot) - Buffed Seraphim Railgun Array (medium slot) - Fixed reported bugs and crashes

[ 2024-08-26 21:11:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Captains, come sit at the spice hall and hear a tale of powerful carrier ships, highly trained wing crew and large hangar bays worth their weight in credits. It's another update in the Summer of Star Traders series which introduces 3 new Hangar Bays and fixes an issue with the recently released Large Hangar Bay and further improves Alta Mesa's position as the best-in-class when it comes to craft. Thanks to everyone who has supported our efforts on Star Traders: Frontiers these six years! Yes, six years of updates, we launched in August of 2018 steamhappy

Large Hangars Redux

In the last update we made a mistake with the Large Hangar bay. Sometimes when you work on a sprawling game for 6 years, you can forget the limits in certain subsystems. Currently, Hangar bays are limited to 1 craft only, and so our release of Large Hangar bay taking more than 1 craft was not supported under the game's current rules and UI.

Hangar Bay Annexes

Annexes are types of components that offer regular bonuses for that component type as well as an additional cabin for an officer. Now you have option to pack in an officer cabin into a large slot. The Shielded and Reinforced Hangar Bays offering these annexes are massive bulwarks, offering powerful Shield or Armor ratings as well as the living quarters for the Wing officer (we assume!) and their craft.

Alta Mesa Warhawk Large Hangar

Not to be outdone when it comes to hangars, Alta Mesa's large slot Warhawk Hangar Bay offers the super-annex option, including space for 2 Officers and 1 Craft. If your carrier can spare 2 large slots to the Warhawk series, you're S-tier all the way with Alta Mesa.

Alta Mesa Improvement

Not to be outdone when it comes to craft, we've increased the bonuses across the board for the Alta Mesa Warhawk Launch Bay, ensuring that it is one of the best launch bay options you can find. We've also fixed reported typos and other text errors - thanks to everyone for their attention to detail when reporting bugs.

v3.3.117 - 8/12/2024

- Revised 'Large Hanger Bay' to hold 1 Officer, 1 Craft and Fuel - New Ship Component: Large Shielded Hangar Bay (1 Officer + 1 Craft + Armor) - New Ship Component: Large Reinforced Hangar Bay (1 Officer + 1 Craft + Shields) - New Ship Component: Warhawk Hangar Bay (2 Officers + 1 Craft, Alta Mesa Only) - Buffed Alta Mesa only Warhawk Launch Bay (Increased Bonuses) - Fixed typos and text errors

[ 2024-08-15 15:24:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

Many welcomes, Star Traders! Come in, come in, the spice hall awaits you.. Pull up a seat, grab a spice plate and recline a while as we share the latest and greatest news from the Frontiers. Today's update continues the Summer of Star Traders update series and is focused on carriers, small craft and ship components -- with the usual mix of fixes for your reported bugs and typos that have still, to this day, somehow evaded detection. In additional to these changes, we've made a sweep with this release to push all the new ship components that have been added in previous updates into the hands of the enemy captain and ship builder, so keep an eye out for some adjusted or more powerful ship builds, especially at the high level.

Added New Carrier Components

First up, we have two new components that were suggested by players. We're also working on a new starting ship, and in the process of getting it to work we've had to add a new new components. Some of those are going out for testing in this release, some will go out in the next release and the last set will go out in the release after that.
The Reinforced Micro Launch Bay provides a size 1 launching point for your small craft and some additional armor points. This component appears on the new small starting ship and is particularly useful for sub-carriers that are using Shuttles for boarding instead of a mix of craft types. The 'Large Hanger Bay' was suggested over email and provides a way to store craft in the largest components. Specifically intended for large carriers, the Large Hanger Bay can single handedly manage an entire fighter wing of small craft - 3 craft total.

Small Craft Adjustments

Thanks to eagle-eyed Steam user 'Crim' we've got a bunch of balance adjustments to a number of small craft. Some buffs had been applied inconsistently during a previous balancing pass, and that put a few of the craft's stats pretty far outside the expected progression. For Faulker D5 and Frostburn VX6 we've increased their speed to match the progression for their type. To bring the Cresent Chaser, Gold Paentra and Feralight MX8 into balance with their level and cost, we've increased their accuracy and agility. This brings a number of craft that were underpowered for their level into alignment. Thanks, Crim!

Better Armored Salvage Bay 5

To ensure the Armored Salvage Bay 5 is still worth the upgrade, we've increased both its cargo and fuel bonuses for the price it requires.

Voracious Class for a Steal

The Voracious Class was criminally underpriced due to an error in our ship designer which was pointed out on the Steam forum and we fixed that one today. The price tag has jumped up to $950K+ v3.3.115 - New Ship Component: 'Reinforced Micro Launch Bay' - New Ship Component: 'Large Hangar Bay' (Large Slot, holds 3 Craft as requested) - Increased Speed for 'Faulker D5' and 'Frostburn VX6' Craft - Increased Accuracy and Agility for Cresent Chaser, Gold Paentra Mk2, Feralight MX8 - Repriced Ship, "Voracious Class" now sold for between 950k and 1.045M - Increased Cargo and Fuel Bonus for 'Armored Salvage Bay 5' - Added three new components to enemy Ship builder - Fixed text issues and reported bugs

[ 2024-08-03 19:12:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, Captains. Its time for another STF challenge. This is the mini-map challenge! How will you play on the smallest of maps with the least sectors? Is it very different from your standard style of play? What choices will you make and why? This challenge really only has one "rule." That you play on the specific map seed for this challenge. Otherwise, you can play whatever professions, ships, rules, and styles you would like. The map seed for this challenge is: st-v02-12-2-99475829 It is a 12 sector very small map. Chillbear who suggested it says that it has a very strong starting position for Steelsong.
Some ideas for what wed love to see:

• Screenshots of your ship, your crew
• Descriptions of your strategies approaching such a small map and how they are different from your 'normal' strategies
• Tell us about the challenges your faced, particularly those around it being a small map or interesting things that happened
• Any other creative ways you want to share to tell us about life in so few sectors: memes, interpretive dance, gifs, etc

No matter what you choose to share, please include one screenshot of your journey! Weve opened up a discussion here on Steam in the General Discussion forum for aIl of your posts. If you post on the discord, post in the #mini_map_challenge channel found in the STF category.
Good luck and have fun, Captains!

[ 2024-08-02 23:12:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

A priority signal is beaming in from the void, captain. It's another update. They say it is update #349. There must be some mistake ... With this update we've improved the Blade Master Trait balance, circled back to improve the first Early Access profession, Bounty Hunter, added 2 new ship weapons and completed some minor improvements for the Paladin Crusader and Wolfpack Interceptor. If you're enjoying your first-class, front-row seat on the update train here at Star Traders HQ, please be sure to leave a review, share the game and tell a friend!

Want to help shape our next game?

So many of our updates for Star Traders are based on feedback from you all. But there are limits to what we can do in a game 5 years after its release. Our new tactical heist RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, is evolving fast in Early Access, with plenty of room for content ideas and shifts in gameplay based on what early players are finding fun. Join us to make this game another one youll be enjoying for years to come. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Blade Master Trait Updates

Thanks to the community for the outpouring of excitement and feedback about the new Blade Master profession! We've included a set of adjustments the Blade Master's Traits to balance them out. With your help, they are in a much better spot now. The Blade Master's Blood Ritual Trait has been upgraded to be much more focused on combat engagements with bonus to Fortitude, Melee Damage and a very powerful Debuff Resist.

Bounty Hunter Profession Buffs!

However, all this discussion of Profession balancing has highlighted the unfortunate fact that some of the first professions added to the game during the Early Access phase have been left behind a bit by the power curve. We'll be taking some time this month to make some adjustments and try to bring things back into balance. This patch includes some improvements to the Bounty Hunter profession.

New Ship Weapons!

Two terrifying new ship weapons are now available, the DSX Plasma Battery and the Vanguard Gravcannon. The new DSX Plasma Battery is a medium slot level 9 weapon and the Vanguard Gravcannon can punch a hole through anything at large slot, level 9. These are both based on requests from the community, so please keep your ideas and posts coming! They are fuel for the Star Traders reactor.

Improved Component Labeling

An awesome community member brought to our attention how easily confused the Defense Pattern Matrix and the Pilot Assist Module are when looking at ship status screenshots. To make this less confusing and make screenshots more readable, we've changed the icon for Defense Pattern Matrix from Pilot Booster to Defense Booster. This better matches what the component does and is visually more clear. Win-win!

On-Going Tweaks to Paladin Crusader and Wolfpack Interceptor

With so many new captains taking the bridge of the Paladin Crusader and Wolfpack Interceptor, we've heard a lot of feedback about how to tune these ships up to be just right. A big thanks to everyone sending this in and helping us improve. We've done some component swaps and tweaks and these are flying off the starport launch pad better than ever.

v3.3.113 - 7/27/2024

- Further revised Blade Master Profession Traits - Improved Bounty Hunter Profession Traits - New Ship Weapon: DSX Plasma Battery (Size 2, Level 9) - New Ship Weapon: Vanguard Gravcannon (Size 3, Level 9) - Components adjustments for "Paladin Crusader" and "Wolfpack Interceptor" - Changed ship component icon for "Defense Pattern Matrix" to increase clarity - Fixed bugs and reported crashes

[ 2024-07-27 16:36:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome back to the void, Captains, and let's say hello to another mid-summer update in our Summer of Star Traders event! You may have purchased this game 5 years ago, but we're still here making it better with Update #348. We've rolled out a brand-new Profession for Blade Master, Voracious Class ship design and a redesign of the Paladin Cruiser and finally a nasty new Terrox ship to battle. Thanks to everyone for playing, posting a leaving a review!

Cyber Knights is getting lots of updates too!

If you havent checked it out in a bit, our new game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is evolving fast in Early Access. Just in the month of July we've added the NanoFab crafting system to create and customize your own weapons, armor, and equipment as well as the infamous Head Hunters system, the big bad bounty hunters are coming for you! We're excited to be a part of the on-going Tacticon festival with a great sale, so come join us in the New Boston zone. All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Blade Master Profession

Available immediately to all players this unlocked Captain Profession for Blade Master lets you start as a member of the ancient sect of melee warriors and entertainers. This new profession grants the Blade Dancer job and has 2 unique Traits. Blade Master captain is useful in both crew combat, boarding ship operations and during missions.
If you haven't tried a new career or run at the stars in a while, come join us again in the void with this exciting new profession!

New Ship: Voracious Class

This update also includes a new ship, the Voracious Class which is a hybrid battlecruiser-carrier using micro carrier components to provide a berth for a boarding shuttle. Popular with Steel Song (and Blade Master Captains haha) this ship is a modern redesign of one of the ships added to the game in 2017, the Raptor.

Redesigned Paladin Crusader

Based on player feedback we've redesigned the Paladin Crusader completely. If you purchased the old design on 3.3.107, congrats, you have a one-of-a-kind relic. The new v3.3.109 design is more expensive, but considerably more tuned to its role as an alternative to the Paladin Defender. We hope you like the changes!

Terrox Deathspear

Lastly we've added a new ship, the Terrox Deathspear and we're sorry to announce that it is hostile to all life in the galaxy. It is a medium size ship, with a good engine. We will be monitoring how well it does over the next few weeks. If you have any feedback after encountering a Deathspear, please let us know. This new Xeno ship isn't more powerful than other existing Xeno ships, but it is pretty different in how the AI tries to use it. Beware! We also fixed a bunch of bugs, performance issues. blah blah the usual stuff. Thanks for playing!

v3.3.109 - 7/21/2024

- New Profession: Blade Master (Blade Dancer Job) - New Ship, "Voracious Class" (Modern take on Raptor Class, 6000M) - New Xeno Ship, "Terrox Deathspear" (Good Luck!) - Complete redesign of Paladin Crusader based on player feedback - Fixed component category missing for Large Size Passenger and Prison Cell - Performance improvements, fixed reported typos & crashes

[ 2024-07-22 03:42:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome back to the spice hall again, captain. Come, sit a while and let me tell you a story of another update for everyone's favorite Star Traders game, Star Traders: Frontiers. Did you know its the Summer of Star Traders? This update brings a new ship, new Explorer and Salvage cards and some rebalancing of the Explorer's probability tables. The Black Market "New Trait" card has also been adjusted, so let's dig in! If you're enjoying the summer of updates, please let us know, post up things you'd like to see included and be sure to tell a friend and leave a review!

Our new game has started Early Access!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, just launched into Steam Early Access! Featuring in-depth character builds, turn-based stealth & combat, and an all-new story engine that selects storylines and weaves different members of your squad and contacts into them based on how youve played. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Ship: Paladin Crusader

Update #347 adds a new ship design that was provided by a Captain with extremely high Reputation, Dr. Spendlove. We did our best to lovingly translate his design into the starports around the galaxy. The Paladin Crusader is an upgraded take on the Paladin Defender, a common ship for early game Star Trader Captains. The Paladin Crusader is unique among the 5000 Mass ships, featuring a 6th Officer slot and an additional small compartment tucked below the Void Reactor's cooling fin array. While the Crusader is more expensive than the Defender, it will offer more flexibility and a better path to a high Mass late game, if the Captain can afford the Crusader's premium price.

New Explorer Cards

Update #347 adds 2 new cards which are the start of a series of additional Reward and Risk cards that have been designed and are scheduled to be added to the game throughout the Summer of Star Traders. The cards in this new series will be hybrids -- combining two previously distinct Reward cards into one blended and connected card. Hybrid cards, both Rewards and Risks, will be considerably more rare than normal cards but add fun variety. The "Stash of Secrets" card leads the Captain to sealed vault from the early days of the Founding. The card generates Intel Records based on the early days of the Quadrant's colonization, bonus Experience for the Crew and the chance of rolling a cool new Trait for one of your Crew. The "Uncover Rumors" Explorer card leads the Captain to a connected web of Rumors, spread across the Galaxy. Sniffing at the web of secrets and rumors that link Contacts and Factions, the Captain is able piece together clues and discover two or more Rumors. The Captain and Crew receive an Experience bonus based on the number of linked Rumors discovered. Rumors recently purchased by a Contact will be the most likely to discover with this card. The new "Influence Bust" Salvage card (a -5 Risk card) fuses two fun mechanics -- Influence loss and Rumor degradation -- into a single thematic event. A disaster of a card that can only appear in Orbital Construction Salvage decks, this one can get Contacts killed, end Conflicts, or send the Orbital Construction project to salvage and end the Rumor all together.

Trait Black Market Cards

We received some helpful feedback that the list of Traits in Black Market's trait card was a little too similar to the ones granted by other game's Trait cards. After some analysis, we agree -- this could be better. The Traits granted from Black Market are now more thematically aligned with the Crew's intimidation of the local FDF and fearless flaunting of standard Faction protocols. We are in the process of making a set of updates to the Explorer game's card weight list that will help increase the variety of hands, provide more differentiation between high and low risk zones and respond to Rumors more dramatically. This update includes some early work on this project, and rebalances dozens of card weights in the Reward and Risk decks. Explorer already feels better!

More AI Ship Types

We also gave the AI some new ships and are still testing our new Xeno Ship. It came out of the egg a wee bit too stronk, so we're trying to reign it in a little bit before it escapes into the Quadrants.

v3.3.107 - 7/10/2024

- New Ship, "Paladin Crusader" (6 officer, 30 Crew, 5000 Mass) - New "Stash of Secrets" Explorer Card - New "Uncover Rumors" Explorer Card - New "Influence Bust" Salvage Card (Orbital Construction) - Improved "New Trait" card in Black Market - Rebalanced card weights for Explorer decks - We gave the AI some new ships to play with (new Xeno ship next update, brace yourselves)

[ 2024-07-10 18:35:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome, Star Trader. Join us, pass the plate and share a tale of adventure among the stars. Or just pull up a seat, kick back and bask in the warm glow of the summer (of Star Traders). We were hard at work this week incorporating recent feedback, adjusting systems and planning for the months ahead. Lots to look forward to for fans of Star Traders: Frontiers. Tell a friend! We are looking forward to hearing your feedback, on Discord or Steam, about what you'd like to see next. If you're liking the updates as we cruise up to #350, please do take a moment to leave a review.

Cyber Knights is getting lots of updates too!

If you havent checked it out in a bit, our new game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is evolving fast in Early Access. In June we smashed 5 major milestones - including the new Agent EX character class, a new character creation experience for new game, dynamic evolution among Contact Traits and Services (inspired by, yes, Star Traders: Frontiers). Now, in July we're motoring toward Crafting and Head Hunters to round out a very update-hot summer. All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New LIght-Class Wolfpack Interceptor

This update brings a new ship that was specifically requested by some players. The new "Wolfpack Interceptor" (not yet used by the AI) is a bare bones 3400 mass ship modeled after its bigger, and much more expensive sibling, the Wolf Vector. The "Wolfpack Interceptor" is a ready-to-customize ship built at starports across the galaxy. At only 20% of the cost of a Wolf Vector, your Captain can fly around in a ship that looks almost as good.

AI Ship Access

Update #346 handed the AI a few new ships and recently added components. Look out for your opponents sporting upgraded weapons and new hull types. One thing that has been requested by several players who specialize in Xeno hunting is some additional variety among the worst opponents in the game. With that somewhat questionable goal in mind, we've been testing some new varieties of Xeno ships. They're not yet ready to release, but they're waiting in the wings.

Black Market and Rumors

Update #346 This update makes several substantial adjustments to the rules around Black Market and Rumor interactions making it much easier for the player to successfully trade under several rumor conditions. First, the Rumors Spice Festival, Civil Unrest and UCF Riots temporarily, but completely, block the Faction's capacity to confiscate illegal cargo from the Captain. The Jyeeta Xeno Rumors also received a substantial reduction in faction capacity to confiscate cargo (they will take 50% less units) but an increased risk of combat with the FDF. As all Quadrant, Planet and Zone Rumors can stack, these changes allow for more fun, exploitable conditions in the Black Market caused by a confluence of Rumor events.

Bug Fixes - thanks for your posts!

We appreciate everyone who alerted us to defects and issues this week while they were playing. Most of those are fixed in this update and we're pushing a new update to the Wiki to include all the new content and components.

v3.3.105 - 7/1/2024

- New Ship, "Wolfpack Interceptor" (bare bones 3400 early game ship) - Black Market: Spice Festival, Civil Unrest, UCF Riots block Faction capacity to confiscate cargo - Jyeeta Rumors now have substantial impact on Black Market odds - During Mercenaries Rumors, Black Market may proc high-level crew combats - We gave the AI some new ships to play with (and we're testing a new Xeno ship) - Fixed issues with "Vengeance Class Mk3" - Fixed issues with "Mortifor Carrier"

[ 2024-07-01 18:13:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome back, Star Traders! We have not forgotten about our captains plying the void, tirelessly seeking their fame, riches or the glint of a xeno ship in the dark of space. Don't drink the Water-Fuel, we've got updates! We're excited to announce "The Summer of Star Traders" which intends to return to form on updates and expansions over the upcoming summer months. The team here at Trese Brothers has been mighty busy with Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, where came up with a self-imposed challenge to complete 7 major roadmap milestones in the month of June. We just wrapped up #5 (steamhappysteamhappysteamhappy) so we'll count that as a win, and we thought why not doing it again? So the gauntlet is thrown - let's go for an awesome Summer of Star Traders updates. We are looking forward to hearing your feedback, on Steam or on Discord, about what you'd like to see added to the game's arsenal of equipment, ships, missions and mini-games. The Summer of Star Traders won't have any specific focus besides "more Star Traders" because we plan to add a few exciting things to as many different systems as possible. Oh and some new artwork for both characters and ships will be coming! To get things going, today we've got posted Update #345!

Vengeance Class Mk3

First, a new Ship design for players -- the Vengeance Class Mk3! A rearchitected version of the classic Mk1 hull, this 7000 Mass ship is an excellent platform for customization. Suitable for both combat and orbital operations, the Mk3 offers a high number of Small and Large components allowing for more weapons and more large utility. This ship is not yet in the hands of the AI. If you fly it, please let us know what you think.

Salvage and Exploration

We also made progress connecting even more types of Rumors to Exploration and Salvage -- this update brings some of those as well. In this update we're adding some risky reward type boosts. These Rumors already impact the nature and severity of the Risk deck, but now they also boost some pretty good Reward cards. Exploring Xeno infested planets is dangerous, but it can also lead to unexpected treasure. These new connections stack with other Rumor conditions -- so a Xeno Spores Rumor on the Planet and a Resource Rush Rumor on the Zone can both exist simultaneously and provide double benefits.

Issue Clean up

We also fixed some reported issues with the ships "Acheron Battlecarrier" and "Mortifor Carrier" and "Dreadnought Battlecarrier" which will apply to any of those ships purchased in games after v3.3.103 is deployed. For backwards compatibility reasons, the legacy versions of these ships will remain unchanged. Finally, we completed some ship component clean-up, notably fixing the "Flamebreak" Torpedo. Any ships with this weapon will be fixed by this update.

v3.3.103 - 6/28/2024

- New Ship, "Vengeance Class Mk3" ("Return of the Revengeance") - When exploring on planets plagued by Pirates, the chance of a valuable stash is doubled - When exploring on planets plagued by Xeno, the chance of XP rewards is doubled - Fixed Ship Weapon: "Flamebreak Torpedo" (Size 1, 2RP) - Fixed Ship Design bugs in "Acheron Battlecarrier" and "Mortifor Carrier" and "Dreadnought Battlecarrier"

[ 2024-06-28 15:26:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

With Update #344, we're welcoming Endless Replay Fest to the void with what might be dubbed endless updates! We're excited to be adding a new high-end capital ship weapon, a new Bodyguard job Talent at rank 15, fixing a bug that made it hard to find medium slot Passenger Cabins and Prison cells and resolving other reported oddities with ship enemy AI rules and ship builds. Thanks for your support captains! With a 50% off deal right now, help us share the game by telling a friend or leaving a review!

Our next endlessly replayable RPG just hit a big milestone!

If you're a fan of games like XCOM 2, Shadowrun, or Invisible Inc., be sure to check out our new squad tactics heist RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint. Now halfway through Early Access, we just added the game's final core feature -- safehouse base building -- and have a huge pipeline of new content coming to an already sizeable mix of dynamic story and procedurally-generated missions. Cyber Knights uses a new custom-built story engine called the "Casting Director." As your playthrough progresses, it chooses from a pool of available storylines and selects which of your squad members and NPCs to feature in them based on their character traits and how you've engaged with them throughout the game. As we add more content, the result will be highly dynamic tabletop-RPG-like stories that feel responsive to your choices and fresh across multiple playthroughs. Take a look and see how far Cyber Knights has already come: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Flamebreak Small Slot Torp

You can never have enough TORP, and so the Flamebreak is a new small slot torpedo option once the UCF has ushered the higher tier weapons into the faction's arsenal. It is a big step up from the Firewave and able to pack a more significant punch from its Range 5 small slot.

Rank 15: Praetorian Guard

We've continued to fill in new rank 15 Talents for each job, and Bodyguard has just received their addition. The Praetorian Guard Talent is superior to the lower level Honor Guard Talent in many ways, but with its higher Initiative cost to use, it may be worth keeping both on the Talent roster and using each at the right time.

Finding Prison Cells and Cabins

We fixed the issue with the last update where the medium slot Prison Cells and Passenger Cabins required some special steps to make them visible. Now there are regular categories for each type visible in the list in the medium slot.

v3.3.101 - 5/13/2024

- New Rank 15 Bodyguard Talent: Praetorian Guard - New Ship Weapon: "Flamebreak Torpedo" (Size 1, 2RP) - Fixed component category missing for Medium Size Passenger and Prison Cell - Fixed issue with "Shizari Huntress" that could hide a Fighter inside a Sensor Array - Fixed issue where high level AI Captains sometimes spawned with no Talents

[ 2024-05-14 03:52:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Captains, welcome to the bridge. Please take the chair and get ready for Update #343. Not a typo, that's really 3-4-3. With this update we've got new 3 new high-level ship weapons, the amazing Esteemed Guest Cabin, upgraded enemy ship builder options and the on-going community challenge for Bounty Hunters. If you're enjoying the years of support and updates, please take a moment to leave a review and check out our other games like Cyber Knights: Flashpoint.

Calling the Bounty Hunters

The community Bounty Hunter challenge has really heated up in the last weeks - get in now to sail the stars and mete our your justice and RP as your favorite famous hunter. https://steamcommunity.com/games/335620/announcements/detail/4114672134621189282?snr=2___

Esteemed Guest Cabin

This update includes a new ship component suggested by a member of our Discord server. Designed specifically for small ships with mission-centric Captains, we are introducing the humorously named "Esteemed Guest Cabins" which provide a hybrid prison cell - passenger cabin that can hold one Prisoner and 1 Passenger simultaneously. Don't worry -- the quarters are separated by security and thick walls and feature completely different entrances so your high-valued passenger never needs to know they are housed next to some of the galaxy's most wanted.

New Weapons (thanks Twitch team!)

During our Friday Star Traders: Frontiers dev chat on Twitch (join us this Friday, March 29th at 11 AM EST for more fun!) we worked on brainstorming and implementing new weapons based on community input. We added the new ship weapon, Chimera Missile Battery, which has moderate damage but a high chance to inflict devastating crippling effects on your enemy's ship. It is a terrific weapon for opening battles and gaining an advantage at long and medium range. Also suggested, and named by our captains on Twitch, the new ship weapon Seraphim Railgun Array brings the power of a Medium sized railgun array to Captains who prefer to use 3RP weapons. The design of the Seraphim trades base damage for an increased rate of critical hits. When it scores one, the Seraphim will deliver top-tier damage by stacking high damage dice and massive void damage.
And finally, we've added a new small slot railgun, the Daystar Railgun. The Daystar Railgun provides a high level damage source for small components and is very accurate against both ships and craft. Depending on your ship's build and size, this new railgun array might be perfect for your medium range engagements.

Enemy Ship Builder Upgrades

As new ship components are added to the game, we keep an eye on them and then release them out to the enemy ship builder. Update #343 includes a new batch of high powered ship components released to the enemy ship builder, so beware that your enemies can now use so of these higher end strategies and weapons that have appeared in the last run of updates. The viewers on Twitch were less excited about this development task, but Cory yelled something about "Crew Dog scum!" and kept Morale high by introducting the run of 3 new mighty ship weapons mentioned above.

Repriced Cabins

While we were adding the Esteemed Guest Cabin, we noticed some balance issues and repriced some similar components, specifically the Reinforced Passenger Cabin and Shielded Passenger Cabin. We also fix some incorrect component levels for Passenger Cabins and Prison Cells to make the shipyard sorting better.

Our new turn-based tactics RPG!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, launched into Steam Early Access and how is marching to Update #65 as it battles through its ambitious public roadmap. We've just completed the sixth major roadmap milestone on the roadmap with the new Scourge class and the MAGNITUDE update adding 13 new proc-gen objective and map combinations to the the game in one massive swing. If you're looking for a story rich, squad-based RPG, take a minute to follow, wishlist or try Cyber Knights! All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.3.99 - 3/28/2024

- New Ship Component: Esteemed Guest Cabins (1 Prisoner, 1 Passenger) - New Ship Weapon: Chimera Missile Battery - New Ship Weapon: Daystar Railgun (Size Small) - New Ship Weapon: Seraphim Railgun Array (Size Medium) - Added some new components to enemy Ship builder - Repriced Reinforced Passenger Cabin and Shielded Passenger Cabin - Fixed Ship Component levels for Passenger Cabins and Prison Cells

[ 2024-03-28 16:29:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to the Steam Spring Sale! Along with the 50% discount, we've got Update #342 with new ship components, fixes for prize ships scoring and pricing, improved distribution of the loot drops in Salvage Relic cards and a pile of fixes suggested by the community. Thanks to everyone who has supported us on this epic journey to #342 updates and beyond! We hope you'll share the game with a friend and leave a review.

Cyber Knights is getting lots of updates too!

If you havent checked it out in a bit, our new game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is evolving fast in Early Access. In February we added the all new Scourge class to the game, unleashing the power of th chem-hive to poison, distract or trick the enemy security forces. And now, at the start of the Spring Sale we just dropped the MAGNITUDE update which simply blows up the variety in proc-gen missions for the game with a total of 10 new mission objective and mission map combos. Come check it out! All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Bounty Hunter Community Challenge

We've recently kicked off the latest Star Traders: Frontiers community challenge - the Bounty Hunter themed role-playing challenge. Base your to captain, officers, and playstyle around a famous bounty hunter from a movie, book or comic. Try to style your appearance, names and roles to match the famous character and their crew - and then take on the biggest bounties in the galaxy. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/335620/view/4114672134621189281

+3 New Large Fuel Tanks

By popular demand, we've added in the final 3 Large Fuel Tanks with levels 5 to 8. At the top end, this can grant a whopping 450 Fuel. If you're in a larger ship and want to install a few of these, you can now guzzle over 1000 Water-Fuel at the starports quite easily. Watch your price-per-unit now, as that can get expensive fast!

Better Salvage Artifact Distribution

We've smoothed out some bumps and issues within the artifact loot tables for Salvage, including both weapons, armor and gear. This should help prevent certain types of results from being repeated too often and increase the chances to draw high-end salvage artifacts if the gear card has a high score.

Tally Those Prize Ships!

If you are gaining new ships through your Prize Ship Talents, the now count toward your ships owend score in your captain's overall score. This path to ownership had been missed in the stats, so thanks to the captains who pointed it out for a quick fix. We've also fixed a bug that could result in $0 prize ships and another reported issue with prize ships ending up at indie zones which generally isn't right.

Randomize On!

We had some reports that randomizing your crew from within the roster could lead to crashes. We clicked enough times to make it happen too :D and then fixed it! Now you can randomize to your hearts content. We're looking at adding new elements to the randomization so that you can get a hat or eyewear swapping too. The feature is oddly so fun, it deserves more.

v3.3.97 - 3/17/2024

- By popular demand, added Large Fuel Tank 5-8 (maxing out at 450 Water-Fuel) - During Radiation Storm Rumors, Crew Mutiny is more likely - Prize Ships now generate "Owned Ships" Score - Updated Salvage Artifacts loot tables for better distribution - Fixed crash that could happen when randomizing appearance in crew roster - Fixes issue with $0 Prize Ships - Fixes issue with Indie Prize Courts - Fixed weak Edgebane Tincture gear - Fixed weak Hogobloxin Balm gear

[ 2024-03-17 18:00:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, Captains. Its time for another STF challenge. This challenge is a bit different as it is more of an RP challenge - to theme your captain, officers, and playstyle around being a bounty hunter. Shout out to Fchsingeist for giving us the idea with their themed playthrough.
As always there are a few requirements for this challenge, although they are more guidelines and starting points, rather than hard requirements. For this challenge:

• Your captain must be a bounty hunter
• Feel free to theme your run around fictional bounty hunters (Spike and Jet, Han Solo, the Mandalorian, Boba Fett) if you want or create your own original bounty hunter and their team

That's it! Some ideas for what wed love to see:

• Screenshots of your bounty hunters and their officers
• Description of your theme
• Tell us about your highest bounty and the story behind it
• Any other creative ways you want to share to tell us about the bounty hunter life: memes, interpretive dance, gifs, etc

No matter what you choose to share, please include one screenshot of your captain! Weve opened up a discussion here on Steam in the General Discussion forum for aIl of your posts. If you post on the discord, post in the #bounty_hunter_challenge channel found in the STF category.
Good luck and have fun, Captains!

[ 2024-03-01 19:09:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome Star Traders and exiled Cyber Knights to another exciting update post for your favorite Star Traders game, Star Traders: Frontiers. If you haven't already seen, all of the Trese Brothers games and bundles are 33% to 80%-off for the next several days! This includes the Android and iOS versions of Star Traders and our other games, and we just released a new "Best of Trese Brothers" Steam bundle for a bonus discount on any games you don't already own -- top-down turn-based tactics RPG Templar Battleforce (set in the same universe as Star Traders!), our new squad tactics heist RPG Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, and old-school fantasy tactics in our party-based RPG Heroes of Steel. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/37813/Best_of_Trese_Brothers/

On to the ST:F update! New Talents!

This update brings two new Rank 15 Talents, one for Spy and one for Quartermaster. The new Quartermaster "Combat Debrief" talent provides a catch-up mechanic for Crew Experience and provides a strong Morale heal following Crew Combat. Depending on how popular this Talent is, we might be releasing a twin brother Talent that provides the same result but for Ship Combat. The Spy gains "Asset Forfeiture" which is a Prize Ship talent capable of seizing ships during Conflicts, if the Captain holds and Edict and can pay the tithe. Chasing prize ships is a favorite activity for many late game Star Trader: Frontiers players and adding this talent to the Spy has been a popular request. Our hope is that this will open up more Officer builds for players hunting Prize Ships.
We love hearing your ideas for new Rank 15 Talents, even when they are a little bit OP. Keep 'em coming!

New Ship Components

By popular request, we've added "Fuel Tank 8" and "Fuel Tank 9" to hold previously unheard of quantities of fuel. Useful for players building ships with the capacity for many hyperwarp jumps without refueling and available for installation on small and medium sized ships. They are expensive to install, but not particularly expensive to maintain. For an upcoming patch we are testing additional Large Fuel Tank upgrades for players who are building dreadnought-sized behemoths with a terrible thirst for fuel.

Exploration & Salvage Linked

In an effort to provide even more variety and seekable scenarios, and make Salvage Rumors more valuable for more types of builds, we've added some new rules about how Salvage Ops and Explorer interact. The Explorer deck now includes additional reward, and some risks, when a Salvage Rumor is active overhead. During an Orbital Disaster there are increased risk of Ship Damage, but also the possibility of finding valuable components and cargo that was ferried down to the planet from the dying Orbital. Orbital Construction Rumors also modified the Explorer deck increasing the potential to strike it big when Exploring. We have reworked the very dangerous "Meteor Storm" -5 orbital Risk card to include Navigation or Command in the avoidance save. However, the rule that 25% of the time no save is permitted is still in place -- so watch out for this card. As this card was only included in the deck for a single Rumor, we've also expanded it to be present in all Salvage Operations, albeit at a very low percent. In keeping with the theme of running a rescue operation during Orbital Disasters, we've added an additional large Reputation Bonus reward card to that Salvage Operations deck. This should help balance out some of the additional risk cards that have been added during the v3.3.x series of updates.

Shipyard Accountants Strike Back

The v3.3.x series of updates has included a large number of fixes, new components and price adjustments, both for install value and maintenance cost. As a result, some of the ship prices have started to drift outside of the expected bands. The accountants at the largest Rychart shipyard have teamed up with a Javat price to push for updated pricing, and here we are. Four ships got more expensive, one ship got a lot cheaper. Several ships received patches and adjustments to fix issues and replace some incorrect components.

First new class added to our new RPG!

Cyber Knights has just received a huge update with the new Scourge class, and we wanted to thank all of our players who have helped support all of our games through Early Access and beyond. It makes a big difference to the final quality of the game. All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.3.95 - 2/22/2024

- New Rank 15 Spy Talent: Asset Forfeiture (Prize Ship w/ Edict) - New Rank 15 Quartermaster Talent: Combat Debrief (Bonus XP, Morale Recovery) - New Ship Components: Fuel Tank 8, Fuel Tank 9 - "Meteor Storm" orbital card can now be reduced with Navigation or Command check - Salvage Ops can now draw "Meteor Storm" card (very low base chance) - Successful Salvage Ops can now generate Rep Bonus during Orbital Disasters - Explore operations have additional cards for Orbital Disasters and Orbital Construction Rumors - Increased the price of "Rim Exocruiser" by 200K credits - Increased the price of "Basalt Carrier" by 200K credits - Reduced price of updated "Vark Carrier" by 1M credits - Increased the price of "Horizon Highliner" by 175K credits - Increased the price of "Horizon Cruiser" by 175K credits - Components adjustments for "Obsidian Carrier" and "Larimar Battlecruiser"

[ 2024-02-22 18:37:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome Captains, to the next episode of This Old Star Traders Update. We sincerely hope that you enjoy the twists and turns of 3.3.91. Let's dig into what's changed! If you're enjoying the continued support and updates for Star Trader: Frontiers, we hope you'll take a moment to review the game, check out Cyber Knights: Flashpoint or tell a friend about our work.

Outfit / Name Randomization

First, by popular request we've ported the outfit and name randomizer out of the appearance screen and promoted them to the Crew details screen of the Roster. This intends to increase the number of players who can see and use this feature, as well as making it easier to re-randomize large parts of your Crew by using Next + Randomize. Be aware, Captain, that changing the appearance and name of your Crew will do nothing to dissuade or confuse Legendry Bounty Hunters, like "Draiv Solregard" who also get a sneaky little buff in v3.3.91

Improved AI Ship Builder

This update also expands the ship component catalog with new components and integrates previously released components into the AI ship architect. With each update, as we release new ship components first they head out to the player base where we can get feedback and observe their balance. Then, after a period of testing, they are released to the AI ship builder.

Water-Fuel Reclamation 6

New for players this time around are two structural components and a new type of Plasma Cannon. First, the new Water-Fuel Reclamation 6 component will help Captains with smaller fuel tanks maintain longer operational cycles by reducing fuel use and offering a rebate on used fuel. This component can also serve a powerful function in ship combat, as attacks that normally would hit the Ship's Engine can be soaked by a Reclamation plant.

Armored Salvage Bay 6

The Armored Salvage Bay 6 provides another upgrade for ships built to Salvage and Explore. The Armored Salvage Bay 6 provides substantially advantages in Salvage while also increasing ship survivability by providing a large amount of Ship's armor. The originally armored salvage bay upgrades were added due to player requests for more Salvage-Combat hybrid components. Salvage operations are always dangerous -- the richest prizes bring all the predators out -- and as a result Ships engaged in Salvage operations are far more likely than Patrol or Spy operators to encounter hostile forces. The Armored Salvage Bay provides enhanced survivability and other minor combat benefits.

New Obliterator Plasma Cannon

Ok and now for the good stuff -- new weapons! The new Obliterator PKX-5 Plasma Cannon will absolutely obliterate your opponents if you can fit it on your ship. Do not attempt to install two of these monsters, that just wouldn't be fair. As a size 3 Plasma Cannon, the Obliterator PKX-5 is now the most devastating mid-range weapon in the game. Previous iterations of the Obliterator line, such as the PKX-3 and Obliterator PKX-1 are size 3 but require a full 4RP to fire, making them difficult to field on all but the largest battleships. The advanced PKX-5 design allows for increased efficiency and plasma coil cooling which means it can be fired for 25% less overall energy while still packing the same devastating punch.

And Your Fixes!

We also fixed some small issues players found and reported. We fixed a rare and specific path through the UI that would allow players to pay landing costs twice for the same zone. We changed the rate of Mutiny generation during Xeno Fleet Rumors, without reducing the Morale loss from the Rumor. Crew are less likely to start internal fights when surrounded by Xeno ships. While less common, Mutiny during Xeno Fleet is far from impossible given the difficulty of passing through such sectors.

v3.3.91 - 2/5/2024

- Added randomize name and outfit to crew screen from roster - New Ship Component: Water-Fuel Reclamation 6 - New Ship Component: Armored Salvage Bay 6 - New Ship Weapon: Obliterator PKX-5 (RP3 Plasma Cannon) - Fixed re-landing issue where hitting space or clicking would count as a new landing - Added components from the v3.3.x updates to the AI ship designer - During Xeno Fleet Rumors, Crew Mutiny is less likely

[ 2024-02-05 19:22:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #339 continues the additions to small ships with new Scout Bridges, adds new Cargo Hold options for ships with large slots dedicated to cargo, as well as new and improved Trait mutation paths for Explorer crews, and a big retraining of the enemy human AI on How to Effectively Use Carriers (TM). If you're loving the updates, improvements and new content please share the game with a friend and leave a review!

New Scout Bridge 6 and 7

Two new Scout Bridges have rolled out with Update #339. Available only to ships that have small slot bridges, these improved Scout Bridges are powerful additions to the small ship meta. Each is faction and era locked, so they aren't always available or available immediately in the game. Scout Bridge 6 is developed by Cadar at the time of the start of the Second Founding Era while Scout Bridge 7 is developed by Thulun at the start of the Plague Era. While they offer a host of advantages, these Scout Bridges are also well suited for light carrier builds that utilize Shuttles for boarding. In addition to the new Scout Bridges, we're introducing the new Level 6 gear: Trifax Interlink, designed to boost craft defense for piloting a shuttle and provide combat buffs for boarding combat.

New Cargo Holds

Both of the new Cargo Hold options -- Cargo Hold 8 for maximum storage and fuel capacity and Armored Cargo Hold 6 for a hybrid of Armor and cargo space -- are developed near the start of the Plague Era. While they are not faction-locked, both are expensive top tier components to consider installing into your high-end ship to squeeze out a few more points, fuel and cargo capacity.

Exploration Trait Mutation

With Update #339, we've improved the variety of possible Trait mutations that can come from Exploring with 5 new positive and negative routes. As you do any activity - from sailing, to spicing to Exploring - you have a constant low percentage chance that your crew will gain Trait mutations. Over time, the types of activities you repeat and repeat shape your crew. Exploration has new Trait options that will bake in over your career. We've also updated the way in which Trait mutations are displayed during Exploration to be sure that they are always displayed clearly.

Enemy and the Skylift Carrier

With this update, we've retrained the enemy ship builder on the Skylift Carrier to help it provide more threatening and efficient builds. This will result in some new and exciting directions that the enemy ship builder can take the Skylift. It is a big and powerful ship, so it's exciting to see it be more threatening when it appears in your ship encounter.

Enemy (Human) Carriers Rebalance

Carriers are especially important to get right, as the enemy ship builder needs to consider a few extra things. Perhaps the most important is the ratio of Bomber, Interdictor and Shuttles, but to be effective this needs to closely align with the ship's capital weapon strategy as well as their crew and combat crew. For Update #339, we've improved the decision tree for the enemy ship builder to approach the rules and order of decisions that the enemy ship builder will make when putting together an enemy carrier. This update focuses specifically on human carrier enemies, so let us know what you think if you're facing off with these captains in the void. Think deep thoughts, enemy ship builder!

Reported Crashes

Thanks for all the typos and reported crashes! We're constantly tuning and tweaking to improve performance, stability and to stamp out the remaining typos in the game. We appreciate your attention to detail - every bit helps! We're hanging out on the Trese Brothers community Discord, waiting to hear your thoughts on these updates, so join us there or on the forums!

Our new turn-based tactics RPG!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, launched into Steam Early Access and how is marching to Update #30 as it battles through its ambitious public roadmap. We've just completed the three major roadmap milestone with the Hacker's Nest, Proc-Gen Missions for endless play, and Custom Difficulty (and the ability to change difficulty during play). If you're looking for a story rich, squad-based RPG, take a minute to follow, wishlist or try Cyber Knights! All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.3.89 - 1/26/2024

- New Ship Component: Cargo Hold 8 - New Ship Component: Armored Cargo Hold 6 - New Ship Component: Scout Bridge 6 and 7 - New Level 6 Wing Specialist Gear: Trifax Interlink - Improved the way Trait mutation reports during Explorer - Added 5 new positive and 5 new negative Trait events for Explorer - Updated AI for the Skylift Carrier - Retrained non-Xeno AI small craft strategy with new improvements - Minor performance improvements, fixed reported typos & crashes

[ 2024-01-26 18:05:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #338 unleashes a completely unique and powerful small-ship Hyperwarp Drive that includes +1 Officer Cabin, 2 new high-level ship components that will only appear after the Second Founding story Era starts, more connections and impacts for Rumors, and finally also tips the scales back a bit toward the enemy with an upgraded Legendary Bounty Hunter template and finally unleashing the 3.3.x components into the enemy ship builder pool. If you like to see a game like Star Traders: Frontiers continued to get updates for free, 6 years after its release date, please hit up the review button and check out ...

Our new game has started Early Access!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, just launched into Steam Early Access! Featuring in-depth character builds, turn-based stealth & combat, and an all-new story engine that selects storylines and weaves different members of your squad and contacts into them based on how youve played. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Ancient Bounty Hunters

We've upgraded the ship blueprint used by the adversary "Draiv Solregard", a Legendary Bounty Hunter. His ship's components now upgrade more effectively for combat and make him a more unique encounter compared to other normal Bounty Hunters. He is one of the oldest and most feared hunters in the void, so beware this near-ghost of an earlier era.

Traveler Hyperwarp matches Annex

We've added a unique new component for small and medium sized ships, the "Traveler" class of Hyperwarp Drive. These upgrades are expensive for a Hyperwarp drive but include a critically useful +1 Officer Cabin and are available for the 2400, 3400, 5000 Mass hulls. With the addition of the Traveler drive and the use of Annex components, many ship builds can completely eliminate dedicated officer cabins completely at 3400 mass and below. Our testing showed that these opened up new options for early game ship builds and so we've made them available immediately at the start of the game.

+2 New High-Level Components

We are also releasing several new, late game ship components as the story Era's advance. First, providing state of the art targeting data for ship weapons is the Interlocking Sensor Matrix 7. Additionally we've added Ferrochromium Plating II to increase ship survivability in extreme survey and patrol conditions. Both of these powerful new components are sold in starports only after Second Founding Era starts.

Enemy Ships Getting Latest Components

The current barrage of updates, called the v3.3.x series, has included a ton of new ship components, component rebalances and weapon additions. We've started the process of finalizing v3.3.x and have begun testing and cycling these new components into the ship building AI. This means in late games you may start to see some of the new components and new weapons used by hostile AI. As always, the game remains fully symmetrical so you won't see the enemy using any components that cannot purchase.

Black Markets and Rumors

In preparation for the next onslaught on Star Traders: Frontiers updates, v3.4.x, we've deployed another raft of Black Market and Rumor integrations. Pirate Fleet Rumors increase chance of Crew Combat results in Black Market, rendering this rumor a Risk and Reward booster for the Black Market. With the zone in chaos, the Xeno Fleet Rumor will now increase chance of access in Black Market, making it easier to trade in dangerous places. And finally, the recruit-madness of the Mercenary Rumor, and all the off-world information and war stories it brings to the zone, increases the value of Intel cards in Black Market by 5x.

v3.3.87 - 1/21/2024

- Upgraded "Draiv Solregard", Legendary Bounty Hunter - New "Traveler" class of Hyperwarp Drive Component, includes +1 Officer Cabin (2400, 3400, 5000 Mass) - New Component: Interlocking Sensor Matrix 7, Ferrochromium Plating II available after Second Founding Era - Added components from the v3.3.x updates to the AI ship designer - Pirate Fleet Rumors increase chance of Crew Combat in Black Market - Xeno Fleet Rumors increase chance of access in Black Market - Mercenary Rumor increases the value of Intel cards in Black Market

[ 2024-01-21 20:07:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #337 swings back around to the Rumor system to deepen their impacts into multiple systems and the Contact simulation. With this update we've improved the results for Artifact Find, Merchant Fleet, Starport Closed and Mercenaries. Rumors are a key system in Star Traders: Frontiers that cause variation, reasons to travel, dynamic and short term goals and help shake up the Contacts in the simulation, so the more numbered and powerful their effects the more interesting they become. If updates make you happy, and you know it, leave a review!

Artifact Find Expansions

The Quadrant Rumor Artifact Find has a wide impact across Explorer and encountering Smuggler ships. There are Artifacts to be found, and while previously the Rumor mostly impacted the direct results of Explorer, now the Rumor also expands the value and size of any Stashes discovered during Explorer. In the case where you find some clue that reveals another smuggler or pirate's stash, it is a stash that was bloated in value by the Artifact Find Rumor and the value and type of cargo in that stash will be better for it. Also, we've further increased the value of bonus cargo being carried by Smugglers across the Quadrant with Artifact Find Rumor active. If you're a pirate, there is even more incentive to flock to the quadrant for valuable pickings now. Speaking of which ...

Gone Lootin'

The Pirate's Talent "Looter's Instinct" which adds a bonus cargo to a Merchant encountered while Blockading now has Rumor hooks as well. The type of bonus cargo and the count allocated to the bonus is now larger when the Quadrant Rumors Merchant Fleet or Artifact Find are active. If you plan to truly capitalize on the value of Rumors, be sure to build out a crew to help you find them and then use Talents to reap the rewards.

Stardock Closed Blocks Escapes

Stardock Closed Rumor already has a wealthy of unfortunate consequences. First, you can't fuel, repair, upgrade or access dry docked ships at this landing zone and any local Contacts are at risk of Influence loss. We've punched up the risk to Contacts to represent their inability to flee in the case of trouble. If a Contact suffers an assassination attempt from another Contact while such a Rumor is active, it is 25% less likely that they will survive. Considering that a Contact may have used their action to drop this harmful Rumor on an enemy Contact's zone, they are basically setting up their enemy for a possible death blow on their next action in the simulation.

Mercenaries Jam Black Market

While a Mercenaries Rumor is affecting a zone, the Black Market can be a little more dangerous. In response to these often-troublesome off-worlders clogging the starport, spice hall and surrounding district, the local forces have doubled down on their patrols to keep the peace. Which makes sneaking your illegal cargo to the Black Market more difficulty. Where there are Merc Rumors, security patrol cards are more likely now in the Black Market.

Are you Modding?

A fan favorite - the No More Mass Reducers mod removes all Mass Reducers from the game - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2492139496 Merchant Marine mod tones down the crew size aiming to give a more Firefly-esque style of play - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2856946970 Want 24 new heads for your characters in the game - download Playable Contacts today - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2936075922&searchtext= Everyone loves new ship components - so check out the ever-popular Dave's New Ship Components mod - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2560635932 Always wanted to have a zendu on board to dole out justice - install the Arbiter job mod - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2824645849

v3.3.85 - 1/16/2024

- 'Artifact Find' Rumor now causes increased found Stash value in Explorer - Increased value of cargo found in Smuggler's holds during 'Artifact Find' - Boosted power of Pirate Talent 'Looter's Instinct' when Merchant or Artifact rumors active - Updated 'Artifact Find' Rumor makes it easier to access the Black Market when active - The 'Stardock Closed' rumor now harms Contact influence, makes it 25% harder to escape assassins - The 'Mercenaries' rumor now increases the chance of combat patrols in Black Market

[ 2024-01-16 16:01:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #336 rolls out with another bristling set of level 8 and 9 capital ship weapons, rebalanced enemy ship builders to improve the short-ranged Lance builds, pricing and ship weapon rebalances, new rules for Spice Hall Trait mutation and extra burning for Molten Worlds. A huge thanks goes out to everyone playing, posting and sharing Star Traders: Frontiers! As we keep climbing toward the 350th update milestone, remember to leave a review and --

Spread the word about our new game to keep our studio going strong?

We love continuing to add to Star Traders: Frontiers, but increasingly its sales of Cyber Knights that keep our studio going. Help us out by spreading the word? Give the game a shout-out, or recommend it to any of your Steam friends that like games similar to Cyber Knights? https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New GUR-18 Gravcannon

The first medium slot Gravcannon above level 6, the GUR-18 weighs in at level 8, costing 3 AP to fire and smacking with a massive 360-450 Dmg. While it can't boast best in class for its other weapon statistics, it is still a smaller, faster Gravcannon (is there such a thing?) that can still shatter enemy hulls and may fit better into your ship configuration than one of the larger high level GCs.

New Quad-Arc Lance, Lances Win Ties, AI Gets Lancey

The new Thunderstrike Quad-Arc has been called by some the Lance of the Gods. The level 9 small size lance can pack a powerful punch with 55% Crippling Hit and solid 40 Radiation Damage. Used as a battery, firing multiple at a time for 2 AP, these high-powered Lances can cripple and cook a ship effectively at 2 Range. Lances have seen a nice rebalance to be now classified with Autocannons and Gravcannons that in the case of a tie between the attacker and the defender, the attacking Lance wins, where with all other weapon types (non AC, GC, or Lance) the defender wins ties. Ties are most common when the dice pools are small -- in early game ships or when both ships are burning, so it isn't a huge impact, but something to keep in mind if you're fighting evenly matched opponents. We've also spent some time with the AI ship builder to make sure it is pairing its Lance builds with the right other set of ship components to get the best results in short-range, barrage fire type builds.

Torp Rebalance

Both the Torpedo Mk3-Delta and Torpedo Mk4-Ultra have both had their Crippling Effect % revised downward to prevent them from being too OP within the class.

On-Going Price Rebalance

With Update #336, we've continued the press on updating the price balance across the 700+ ship components in Star Traders: Frontiers. The Duranium Coating II and III have both had their price increased as well as all Autocannons, Lances and Gravcannons above Level 6. This helps increase their rarity among AI captains as well and makes them a bit harder to purchase or jump up to as you upgrade your ships.

Spice Hall Traits

We've started to dig in the trait mutations sections of the game, looking for exciting ways to add new context and different flavors to how and when mutations happen today. The first tweak in this area is to adjust Spice Hall Trait mutations to increase the chance of gaining Spice Addict if you're crew members are injured and low on HP.

Molten Worlds Burn Ya

If you're out exploring molten worlds, we've pushed the chance for Crew Damage cards, and especially the most damaging cards in the set, to the max. These types of worlds are dangerous and can really scorch a crew if you're not careful.

v3.3.83 - 1/10/2024

- Added new "GUR-18 Gravcannon" (Level 8, Size 2) - Added new "Thunderstrike Quad-Arc" (Level 9, Size 1) - Rebalanced Lance Ship Weapons, now classified like Autocannons, Gravcannons - Minor balance adjustments for Torpedo Mk3-Delta, Torpedo Mk4-Ultra - Retrained AI Lance strategy with new improvements - Spice Hall with low HP now increases the chance of Spice Addict Trait rolling - Increased Price Duranium Coating II, Duranium Coating III and made them more rare - Increased Price of Level 6+ Autocannons, GravCannons and Lances and made them more rare - Exploration on Molten Worlds has higher chance of generating Crew damage

[ 2024-01-10 17:07:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy New Year, captains! It's going to be another eventful one in the void as we cruise past the #335 Update mark. Update #335 brings new medium sized torpedo weapons, more exciting rules for Engine Damage for aggressive attack strategies, improved rules for Morale Damage when hits target Bridge and Engine, big updates to how enemy ship captains pick their ship weapons in combat and a big sweep of price raising for late game components. If you've enjoyed just a few free updates or hundreds of updates over the years, we hope you'll consider leaving a review and sharing Star Traders: Frontiers with a friend!

Torp Power

With Update #335, we've rolled out three new medium slot Torpedoes that all pack a massive punch. These high-level medium slot torps make torpedo boats with a wider variety of designs viable into the late game as you finally have options at level 7, 8 and 9 for your medium slots. Get more Void Shielding because these torps can hit very hard and beware that late-game enemy captains may also employ the Mk3-Gamma, Torpedo Mk3-Delta and Torpedo Mk4-Ultra.

Early Engine Dmg Rule Rebalance

In a small but important change for some strategies, we've revised the special rules around Engine Damage in the first 3 Turns of ship combat. There has always been a protection for the player's engine against becoming immediately disabled before Turn 3. Some of these protections were extended to the AI ships as well in ways that made certain hyper-aggressive strategies (ALL the Gravity Cannons, Turn 1!) less effective. We've adjusted the rules on the AI's side without touching the player side rules to allow for these cases and don't punish hyper-aggressive strategies or force them to wait until Turn 3 to truly unleash their power. A big thanks to the players posting feedback and sharing data on these strategies that helped us craft this fix.

Bridge and Engine Hits Morale

If a ship or crafts weapon attack hits the Bridge or Engine, there is now up to a 30% increase in damage to the crew's Morale. Taking hits to these critical components shakes up the crew as they know the ship is in direct danger of failing to function and therefore losing to the enemy. This change can help accelerate and make more meaningful the ship combat defeat rule that can cause an enemy ship to surrender by Morale loss.

Ship Captain AI Improved

We've updated a number of important AI templates, rules and decision points as they relate to ship weapons. We updated some of the rules and decisions for torpedoes as to what other components to pair them with the for the maximum effect. For those enemies you find hanging at long range and trying to rain torp-hell down on you, be sure to pick your fights, close, or take them out fast with your own long range fire or craft. We've also helped the enemy ship builder balance better between Torpedoes and Missiles to ensure they have good coverage at a wide set of ranges. Finally, the enemy ship builder was not making great choices about when and where to attach Gravity Cannons to their ships, and we've improved the entire set of thinking. These highly devastating weapons can punch a hole in your hull if you're not careful, so keep an eye out for newly configured enemy mid to large class ships. With so many weapon's related changes, we also touched on one ship class specifically to make sure the AI ship builder would be making the best decisions -- Broadsword Class. If you see an enemy captain swinging around the edge of a moon in one of these, just be sure you're on your best behavior.

Component Repricing

With over 700 components and steadily growing, sometimes prices slide out of band and we need to come back through and revise some things. With Update #335, we've completed a necessary price raise for a number of components, better matching price to performance. The prices for the M115 Twin Autocannon, Fuel Tank 5+, Cargo Hold 6 and Armored Cargo Hold 6 have all been directly increased. In addition, the all high level Coatings have had their prices increased to better achieve the progression into such high power defensive components.

Want to help shape our next game?

So many of our updates for Star Traders are based on feedback from you all. But there are limits to what we can do in a game 5 years after its release. Our new tactical heist RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, is evolving fast in Early Access, with plenty of room for content ideas and shifts in gameplay based on what early players are finding fun. Join us to make this game another one youll be enjoying for years to come. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.3.81 - 1/2/2024

- Three new size 2 torpedoes Torpedo Mk3-Gamma, Torpedo Mk3-Delta, Torpedo Mk4-Ultra - Increased the Morale damage from direct Bridge Hits by 30% - Direct hits to Engine can now cause Morale damage for effected crew - Revised engine damage rules for early combat, to make aggressive attack strategies more viable - Post-boarding Bridge hits are now more effective vs all AI, Xeno included - Updated AI for the Broadsword Class - Retrained AI torpedo strategy with new improvements - Improved AI ship architect's weapon selection logic for missiles and torpedoes - Fixed issues with AI not correctly using Grav Cannons - Increased the price of M115 Twin Autocannon, Fuel Tank 5+, Cargo Hold 6 - Armored Cargo Hold 6 - Completely repriced high level Coatings

[ 2024-01-02 17:04:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #334 continues to expand the sweep of core components for fuel extenders, rebalances how fuel extenders play out in the armored ship meta, improves Shocktrooper's Deepstrike Detonator to target ship's weapons and makes a key negative Salvage card even worse (watch the engine, ye dogs!) We also have the best price of the year going on with 50% off during Winter Sale! So tell a friend and leave a review!

Cyber Knights is getting lots of updates too!

If you havent checked it out in a bit, our new game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is evolving fast in Early Access. In December, we added proc-gen missions and custom difficulty options that let you control everything from the economy to any time pressure. Now, the latest update has added 6 new cool hairstyles and new types of military gear your corrupt cop allies are willing to "fall off the back of the truck" for you, for a price. All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Water-Fuel Rebalancing

All ship components that provide bonuses to Water-Fuel are no longer considered armored components. That means they will no longer have the increased soaking in cascading damage (even when over 60%) to other components. These types of fuel extenders were masquerading as armored/protection components and getting too much of a boost out of it. Also, we've repriced the Large Fuel Tank ship component to make it more competitive within its progression.

New Fuel Tank 7 and Water-Fuel Reclamation 5

With Update #334, two new core components have been released to the high-end starports of the world. Those boasting 8 Starport and 8 Economy can now sell Fuel Tank 7 and Water-Fuel Reclamation 5. Note that neither the new Fuel Tank nor Water-Fuel Reclamation count as armored components any longer, as noted above.

Deepstrike Detonator

The Shocktrooper's Deepstrike Detonator has been rebalanced with this update to be more targeted, specifically focusing on destroying the enemy ship's weapons instead of regular components. This plays to the aggressive and all-out-attack style of the shocktrooper, sent in to destroy the enemy's offensive capabilities.

Salvage Risks

The risks for your ship's engine when Salvaging have just gotten worse. While the card cannot take your ship's Engine out entirely, it now has more power to significantly damage it. Salvaging is always a high risk and high reward opportunity, but now if you are in unfriendly territory without a good starport nearby, it can be even more dangerous. Consider which cards to knock out with your Talents carefully, captain. We've also fixed some incorrect card art for exploring ice world wild zones. Thanks to everyone reporting bugs and crashes! v3.3.79 - 12/30/2023 - Ship Combat: Components that carry Water-Fuel no longer count as Armored - New Ship Components: Fuel Tank 7, Water-Fuel Reclamation 5 - Repriced 'Large Fuel Tank' Ship Components - Revised Deepstrike Detonator to target ship's weapons - Increased severity of "Reactor Accident" Salvage Card (-5) - Fixed an issue in an ice world wild zone art board - Fixed reports typos and crashes

[ 2023-12-29 16:59:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy Holidays everyone! The Steam Winter Sale is in full swing, and all of our games are at their best deals of the year. Star Traders celebrated its 5 year anniversary this year and is 50%-off, a great gift for any fellow sci-fi fans in your life. Templar Battleforce, our 93% turn-based tactics game set in the same universe as Star Traders is too! And our new game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, is now two months in to Early Access with over 30 updates expanding and improving it. https://store.steampowered.com/app/370020/Templar_Battleforce/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Spreading the word is a great gift to us!

It has been a tough year for game studios as you may have seen. We're definitely trying to make the most of this Steam sale, and get the word out about our games! Anything you can do to help is a great gift to us.

• Write a review on Steam, and rate which other reviews are helpful.
• Gift a friend one of our games.
• Give us a shout-out on social media, or share one of our own posts on twitter or Facebook.

We're super-thankful to have so many wonderful fans, and know a lot of you have already done all of the above early and often. Thank you again, and know that it's you we're thinking of when we add update number ::checks notes:: 334 to Star Traders.

Lastly, a shout-out for our bundles of indie friends.

Because of the way Steam "complete the set" bundles work, if you already own games in a bundle you're purchasing, you're just paying for the games you don't already have -- with both the bundle discount and any sale discount the individual game has! It makes for some incredible deals, and ours are full of great indies worth supporting. The Endless Adventures - Deep & Replayable RPGs bundle contains Star Traders and two equally deep RPGs, our friends Wildermyth and Vagrus. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/33786/Endless_Adventures__Deep__Replayable_RPGs/ The Turn-Based Tactical Bundle has our game Templar Battleforce, plus three other gems each with a very different flavor; quirky fun Chroma Squad, epic fantasy Warbanners, and fast-paced gothic Golden Krone Hotel. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/18428/TurnBased_Tactical_Bundle/ Old School Fantasy RPGs has Heroes of Steel (our first game on Steam!), and a variety of fantasy RPGs from open-world cRPG Balrum to isometric action RPG Exiled Kingdoms to a classic gridder dungeon crawler, The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/18982/Old_School_Fantasy_RPGs_Bundle/ Hope that gives you some options for any Steam gift cards you may have gotten or any day-of Christmas gifting you're doing! Enjoy the season; cheers!

[ 2023-12-25 17:42:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to the Steam Winter Sale and the best sales of the year! The bridge is decorated, break out the bottles of lux, let's celebrate with 50% off and welcome all the new captains with an update. Update #333 adds a new rank 15 talent for Shocktrooper, improves the balance of post-boarding ship damaging talents and revisits cargo allocation to for enemy captains. If all of these on-going free content updates are working for you, we hope you'll leave a review to help us keep it going. Update #333 welcomes you to the holiday season like the Shocktrooper likes to say hello -

New Rank 15 Shocktrooper Talent

The Shocktroopers brutal new post-boarding victory talent, Deepstrike Detonator, can absolutely cripple an opponents offensive capabilities with a single boarding action. Deepstrike Detonator depends on the enemy ship having some existing damage, or active damage over time effects, when it goes off to maximize the destruction it can inflict. We had fun testing and balancing this new Talent -- which feels like a great capstone Talent -- a very high-risk, high-reward option for a high-risk, high-reward combat job.

Victory Talent Damage Levels

While adding Deepstrike Detonator we had an opportunity to review and rebalance other similar talents that damage weapons and components in post-boarding victory. These Talents have been updated, particularly around the weighting for the number of weapons or components hit. After these changes, higher rank talents will hit more components and maximize the talent owners skill points.

Improved Cargo Allocations

This is the first of a set of updates that we will be deploying over the coming weeks that improve the allocation of Cargo to enemy ships. In this update, we have revised the cargo generation for Smuggler Ships, focusing on RTG selection and quantity. You should see Smuggler ships carrying more appropriate RTG in more appropriate quantities near RTG sources, and during rumors that encourage smuggling. In a similar vein, we have started modeling some cargo allocations against the active Era, giving Military Officers valuable weapon cargo to transport during the Consolidation periods. We are excited to release several waves of cargo allocation improvements in the coming weeks, so if you have ideas or feedback about the cargo on the ships you loot dont hesitate to reach out to us.

Contact Simulator Improvements

This update continues to add small incremental improvements to the Contact and Faction simulator. Last update added some events that allow Contacts to act immediately as a reaction to an event, and this update works to provide Contacts a more filtered list of options, and improves the weighting of those options to give the agents a better chance of selecting an action that is likely to have nearby effects. This will help make Contacts effects felt more in their local sectors than distant ones. If you see any evidence of this causing misbehavior within your game (especially on very small maps) please let us know.

Duranium Coatings & Minor Fixes

Some players demonstrated some Duranium coating builds that boarded on unfair so we fixed the error that was allowing stacking to get out of control. It is still pretty OP, but at least now it follows the rules. Weve also improved the cargo spawning (similar to the Smuggler rules) for Molten and Radiation worlds, and added Kraesline Shards to the cargo generation table they use.

Our new turn-based tactics RPG!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, launched into Steam Early Access and how is marching to Update #30 as it battles through its ambitious public roadmap. We've just completed the three major roadmap milestone with the Hacker's Nest, Proc-Gen Missions for endless play, and Custom Difficulty (and the ability to change difficulty during play). If you're looking for a story rich, squad-based RPG, take a minute to follow, wishlist or try Cyber Knights! All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.3.77 - 12/21/2023

- New Rank 15 Shocktrooper Talent: Deepstrike Detonator - Rebalanced Combat Victory Talent's Weapon Damaging Rules - During Consolidation Era, Military Officer ships carry valuable military cargo - Improved RTG allocation in enemy Smuggler Ships - Kraesline Shards now spawn on Molten and Radiation Worlds - Improved math in Faction simulator, making Contact's actions more likely to be nearby - Increased duration of Sniper's "Vanishing Act" Talent

[ 2023-12-22 00:19:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #332 hits across the game's systems with new crew armor, new ship components, new dangerous enemy captains in powerful ships, and even more excitement around the Black Market. If you're enjoying the pace of on-going, free updates to the game we hope you'll leave a review!

New Crew Armor

Powerful new salvage crew armor has dropped with Update #332, boasting a straight +4 Initiative buff. This level 8 armor is rare and hard to find but it wastes no time, go straight for speed over protection.

Duranium Coating

The gleam of Duranium coating never looked better, with 2 new Coatings now available. At Duranium Coating II and III, are capable of reducing ship damage during orbital operations - Patrol, Salvage, Spy and Blockade - by up to 40%, Now adding extra points of Armor and Shielding each, as well as 5% or 7% Void or Radiation Res, these are now some of the most all-arounder defensive components you can purchase. They do not come cheap and demand a medium slot but are powerful additions to your ship's protection as well as orbital activities. Along with their price, all components that are made out of rare and excotic metals, such as - Duranium, Ferrochronmium, Iridlaentine - all now demand higher Starport ratings (6, 7 or 8) to match the types of worlds where such things can be processed.

Acheron Sighted - Beware!

High level enemy who are flying for a faction military may now appear in the Acheron Battlecarrier, kitted with craft and all of its bristling weaponry and defenses. Beware, a new powerful super-carrier is on the lose in the void to give your high level captains a run for their spice.

Leo Upgrade

As one of the flagships of the Thulun navy, we've upgraded the starting components of the Leo Battlecruiser to use even more Thulun specific components. As the component list continues to expand, there are more and more components specifically from their faction to round out an entire ship. The Leo Battlecruiser, the pride of the Thulun naval shipyards.

Black Market Power Center

Black Markets have gained a number of useful boosts in Update #332.

• Charisma now has an even bigger effect on access cards in the Black Market, increasing the impact of the Attribute by 50% and is particularly effective at reducing the chance of the worst cards in the Market
• We're continuing to further connect Black Market to Rumors so have again boosted and improved its card set during UCF Riots, Pirates, Ion Storms and Spice Festivals Rumors. Such Rumors can basically guarantee that there are excellent Access cards in every hand.
• Finally, if a Contact is granted additional Influence due to a Black Market card, there is now a special simulation rule that may allow them to take an immediate Contact action. This can help further empower the Contacts through which you are reaching the Black Market as they may assassinate an enemy, purchase a powerful Rumor, spread that Influence out to their allies or more

Our new turn-based tactics RPG!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, launched into Steam Early Access and how is marching to Update #30 as it battles through its ambitious public roadmap. We've just completed the three major roadmap milestone with the Hacker's Nest, Proc-Gen Missions for endless play, and Custom Difficulty (and the ability to change difficulty during play). If you're looking for a story rich, squad-based RPG, take a minute to follow, wishlist or try Cyber Knights! All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.3.75 - 12/15/2023

- New Crew Armor: Chaos Weave (Level 8, +4 Init) - New Ship Components: Duranium Coating II, Duranium Coating III - Faction Military Officer Captains can now appear in the Acheron Battlecarrier - Updated Leo Battlecruiser to use even more Thulun-specific components - Black Market Access is substantially easier during UCF Riots, Pirates, Ion Storms and Spice Festivals - Increased the effect of Captain Charisma on Black Market cards by 50% - Allow Contacts to take immediate action (buy Rumors, assassinate enemies) on some Black Market Influence gains - Fixed Duranium, Ferrochronmium, Iridlaentine to all require high Starport Rating - Fixed reports typos and crashes, fixed 2 performance issues for Intel GPU

[ 2023-12-16 17:06:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome Update #331, where we are continuing the drive to add more high powered ship components to the game to help you design the perfect ship for whatever profession you chose in a wide range of mass categories. We've also added a new rare Salvage Armor type, the Wolf Eight-Plate and fixed a number of bugs and community reported QoL. If you're enjoying the on-going free updates to the game years after launch, we hope you'll consider leaving a review!

Our new turn-based tactics RPG!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, launched into Steam Early Access and how is marching to Update #30 as it battles through its ambitious public roadmap. We've just completed the first major roadmap milestone with the Hacker's Nest and are preparing to complete the second milestone with Proc-Gen Missions and Custom Difficulty (even better than STFs!) If you're looking for a story rich, squad-based RPG, take a minute to follow, wishlist or try Cyber Knights! All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Cargo Holds

We're still not done expanding the scope of ship design options and components for our Captains, and this update adds another top-end option for cargo haulers, Cargo Hold 7. This oversized large component can individually hold 70 units of cargo, making it the largest hold to date. As we press towards Rank 10 Cargo Holds, ship architects are warned that our designer's ability to cram even more Water-Fuel storage into these spaces has hit a upper limit. For Captains that demand more fuel storage and longer range for their cargo haulers, look to the upcoming large size fuel tanks instead of Cargo Hold 7 and beyond.

Advanced Hangar Bay & Rename Thulun's Hangar

Update #331 also rolls out the new Advanced Hangar Bay, a medium sized component capable of holding 1 craft, boasting the best Electronics boost among Hangars (+2), the highest Fuel Boost (+20) but also the highest HW Jump Cost (+10). Also, we've renamed the Thulun-specific hangar bay to 'Fidelis Hangar' so the Faction ownership is more clear.

Storied Wolf Eight-Plate

This new armor set provides superior protection and mobility, ensuring your team is ready to face any challenge in the galaxy. Keep an eye out when you're salvaging for this rare drop!

Bug Fixes: Thanks community!

Last but not least, we've implemented additional bug fixes and gameplay adjustments. We've resolved an issue causing seized AI ships to incorrectly display zero available cargo space, and fixed a bug that sometimes led to the unexpected drop of Templar Exemplar Command armor as loot. Also, we've added +1 Armor to the Jyeeta Cargo Hold II, enhancing the Jyeeta's resilience and make this terrifying race of "space slugs" even worse! We've also caught up to a long running bug that could result in seized AI ships having 0 available cargo space.

v3.3.73 - 12/7/2023

- New Ship Component: Cargo Hold 7 - New Ship Component: Armored Cargo Hold 5 - New Ship Component: Advanced Hangar Bay - Renamed Thulun specific hangar bay to 'Fidelis Hangar' - New Crew Armor: Wolf's Eight-Plate - Fixed issue that could cause seized AI ships to have 0 available cargo space - Added +1 Armor to Jyeeta Cargo Hold II, making upgrade Jyeeta slightly stronger

[ 2023-12-08 20:00:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

If you'd like to nominate Star Traders: Frontiers for a Steam award, we're a labor of love. With Update #330 just out, the labor continues, and it does so do to love of the game. Thanks for all your support, reviews and shares! Andrew & Cory & the whole Team

[ 2023-11-23 16:37:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #330 arrives with some new Trait changes, new Trait mutation opportunities, new gear for your characters, and improvements to both new game and mutiny options. A huge thanks to everyone who has helped us get to 330 updates and continually improve the game with new features, balance and content. If you're enjoying the continued free updates, please remember to leave a review and share the game with a friend!

Save 20% On our newest game in Early Access!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, launched into Steam Early Access last month! With Update #20 already out, we're doing it in a style you'll recognize from Star Traders: Frontiers. Fast, relentless improvement and expaions! We've just completed the first major roadmap milestone with the Hacker's Nest and are preparing to add a new Story Era (sound familiar, Star Traders?) and proc-gen missions to the new title. If you're looking for a story rich, squad-based RPG, take a minute to follow, wishlist or try Cyber Knights! All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Self-Taught Trait

We've pushed the longtime Trait, Self-Taught into more exciting territory with Update #330. First we've increased its chance to grant double XP to 15%, allowing it to compete more directly with other powerful Traits like Brilliant. With Update #330, we've also added Self-Taught to more Trait rule sets, allowing it to proc in recruits from the clans, low Economy zones and other places where it is impossible that Brilliant will proc. While the Brilliant character may gain additional XP due to their sheer intelligence, a Self-Taught character gains extra XP from necessity to survive and excel (or whatever other motivation you'd like to RP!)

Further Mutiny Tweaks

We've spent a few weeks working on Mutiny as one of the focus areas and with this update we've buttoned up a few final issues. We've ironed out a few of the Traits that should or shouldn't allow Talents and fixed some bugs where the total amount of money required for Large Pay Raise was miscalculated.

Starting Contacts

While in most situations, starting contacts are well spread around, there are still map seeds that could result in them ending up in a pile. With this update, we've further improved the situation even in those odd maps seeds to make this more optimal, more of the time.

v3.3.71 - 11/21/2023

- Buffed "Self-Taught" Trait to 15% chance of Double XP - Independent Recruits have increased chance to have "Self-Taught" Trait - Added new chance of "Self-Taught" Recruits for Clans and low Economy Zones - Increased chance of "Self-Taught" where "Brilliant" can't proc - New Gear: St. Leena's Bangles - Fixed Dread Legacy description, buffed XP and Rep Bonus - Fixed text issues with "Large Pay Raise" option during Mutiny - Fixed issues with some mutinous crew Talents being available - Fixed issue with "local" starting Contacts all being placed in a single zone - Fixed ship pricing display bugs during Starport Expansion rumors

[ 2023-11-22 00:35:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #326 follows-up on a number of awesome community requests for improvements - new Talent cooldown visibility, new medium slot Fuel Tanks, new HUD details about paying your crew and more. A huge thanks to everyone posting and sharing to help improve the game! If you're enjoying the on-going support for your favorite space captain RPG, please take a minute to leave a review and share the game with a friend!

Our new game has started Early Access!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, launched into Steam Early Access last month! We've just completed the first major roadmap milestone with the Hacker's Nest and are preparing to add a new Story Era (sound familiar, Star Traders?) and proc-gen missions to the new title. If you're looking for a story rich, squad-based RPG, take a minute to follow, wishlist or try Cyber Knights! All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Talent Cooldown Displays

With Update #329 we've made the cooldowin details for all ops Talents -- Exploring, Spying, Patrolling, Blockading and Salvage -- visible when hovering over a Talent before use. For these Talents especially, as you're often trying to plan out a certain sequence of Talents to ensure you come off cooldown quickly enough to never have to play without a talent -- this is highly valuable! Thanks for the great suggestion @rzwicaksono!
Since we were adding it for the ops Talents, we've also included cooldown details for Talents in ship combat. As these Talents go onto cooldown for extended periods of time, you can make quicker decisions about using them, especially if you have some idea of the level of risk you can currently take or the chances of another ship fight just around the next star.

New Fuel Tanks 5 & 6

Update #329 has added 2 new medium slot Fuel Tanks to the mix. While neither of the new tanks adds any additional Skill Pool to your ship, they do add sizeable chunk of Fuel in total for the trade of cost, at 105 Fuel and 130 Fuel respectively.

Crew Payment HUD

We've added details about how many crew need to be paid to the hover over the alert bar at the top of the HUD. While crew payment doesn't have enough priority to demand its own icon up on this bar, the information is just always available if you hover. This can provide a quick way to know if you can level your crew, or use the Traits that rely on paying crew to your advantage.

And Bug Fixes

With Update #329, we also fixed a problematic pricing issue with the Wolf Vector's and reports bugs and issues from the forums. Thanks to everyone reporting bugs and issues!

v3.3.67 - 11/15/2023

- Improved Talent Displays: Added Cooldown to Explore, Orbit, Ship Combat - Improved Ship Alerts: Now shows count of Crew waiting on payment - New Components: Fuel Tank 5, Fuel Tank 6 - Fixed displays of some Small Craft Crew buffs from Gear - Fixed: Wolf Vector price bug - Fixed bugs and rendering issues

[ 2023-11-16 03:29:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #328 adds the new Cargo Hold 6, improves a Zendu Trait and also adds another set of deepening simulation connections between game systems and Rumors - Rumors and Black Market, Rumors and Rare Trade Goods

New Cargo Hold

Cargo Hold 6 is a beast - the top of the line large cargo hold for your merchant's cargo long hauler. The expansive fuel capacity pairs well with the recently updated Longhaul Engines. So whether your running Salvage or Explorer with a Javat mining rig, or just hauling cargo for credits, this is the upgrade for you. Load up on expensive Permit-only goods or seeking out even more difficult to obtain Rare Trade Goods, the Cargo Hold 6 is a big investment but helps keep those merchanting margins high.

Improved Black Market

Overall, we've pushed the chances of drawing access cards - which are the success cards int he Black Market - about 5% higher with a bit of a bias toward higher level access cards. In the case of Rumors like Spice Festival and Civil Unrest we've made the Black Market access cards - in which you reach the market - twice as likely to be drawing in to the hand of 5 cards. Also, access cards with higher level of access are now more prevalent.

Rumor + RTG Intersection

We're expanding Rumors effects by allowing them to interact with the Rare Trade Good generation and economy. This is another exciting intertwining of important systems and we're excited to continue to make changes in this regard that deepen their relationship. For example, Shortage Rumors on the planets responsible for Rare Trade Good supplies will trigger spikes in prices for the goods as the news travels. We've mapped out some more cool ideas for Rumor interaction like with Civil Unrest and Xenos driving supply and pricing changes as well.

Contact Simulation

To help protect high powered Contacts, we've added some new rules that prevent low Influence Contacts from actually making an attempt at killing them. This helps strengthen the simulation and improve the chances for higher Influence Contacts to outlive their peers.

Zendu Lineage

This Zendu Trait has gained a full point of +1 Initiative. The memories of your lineage's past, regardless of how fragment give you nearly preternatural reaction time, now for a total of +3 Initiative.

v3.3.65 - 11/10/2023

- New Ship Component: Cargo Hold 6 (yw, merchants) - Reduced rate of low-influence Contacts attempting to assassinate high-influence rivals - Rumors on RTG origin world can now cause market and pricing changes (more soon) - Balance Change: Black Market overall +5% Success Rate - Double Success Rate for Black Market Under Spice Festival, Civil Unrest - Contact Influence spent on Rumor duration is return to Contacts if the Rumor ends early - Buffed: Zendu Lineage Gains +1 Init for +3 Total - Nerfed: Relic Deathward looses -5% Bleed Res

[ 2023-11-11 05:42:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

The update train continues with Update #327: Longhaul It! This one adds a new level 10 ship weapon, new rare gear, improves all Longhaul engines regardless of Mass, improves starting Contact balance and fixed the fix for the Acheron Battlecarrier. If you're enjoying the game and the updates, please leave a review and share the game with a friend!

Our new game has started Early Access!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, just launched into Steam Early Access! Featuring in-depth character builds, turn-based stealth & combat, and an all-new story engine that selects storylines and weaves different members of your squad and contacts into them based on how youve played. All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

First New Level 10 Weapon

The new M115 Twin Autocannon breaches the level 10 weapon barrier! Exciting, highly expensive and highly powerful, the M115 offers intensely high (90%!) chance to hit enemy craft as well as best-in-class accuracy against enemy capital ships (+14). Like other higher level weapons, it is unlocked alongside Level 9 weapons by the grand sweep of story and Eras. We've also made fixes to the M101 Tracker Cannon which had some odd values set for its level, price and the minimum zone stats required to buy it.

Longhaul Fuel Boosts

All Longhaul type Void Engines have gained a new and key boost -- extra fuel! Ranging from +25 to +55 depending on the Mass of the engine, these Longhauls now directly help your ship live up to its name, even beyond the regular Engine Speed's effect. This helps them stand out in the set of engines for their purpose. To the benefit of small ships interested in using Longhauls, the lower Mass Traveller and Longhaul Engines now come with Armor, which can help take pressure off other components in an already small ship.

New Rare Hogobloxin Balm

Another rare piece of gear you made need to salvage high level wrecks to find, the new Hogobloxin Balm adds +3 to Wisdom, Resilience and Charisma as well as adding +25 Debuff Resistance. Speaking of ultra rare loot, we've rebalanced the newly added Deathward down to +21 Resilience (from +24) and tweaked its loot drop rules so that it is even less likely to appear early in your career.

Contact Balances

With Update #327, we've adjusted the starting Influence of Retired Blademaster, Naval Doctor, Spice Presser Contacts. Mosty to their benefit, these new starting Influence values can be especially helpfulf or new starting contacts who may or may not be your allies. This lets them be more active in the simulation and protects them a bit from early and sudden death.

v3.3.63 - 11/8/2023

- New Ship Weapon: M115 Twin Autocannon (Level 10! What?) - New Rare Loot Gear: Hogobloxin Balm - All Longhaul pattern engines now offer additional fuel storage, from 25 to 55 depending on mass - Low mass Traveller and Longhaul Engines now have Armor points, are Armored components - Reworked 'Kiret Karat' Relic 2nd Hand Blade (low damage, high accuracy) - Contact Influence has much larger impact on duration of Rumors purchased by Contacts - Increased range of Zone Rumors `Court Scientist` Contact can attempt to purchase - Increased Starting Influence for: Retired Blademaster, Naval Doctor, Spice Presser Contacts - Relic Deathward reduced from +24 to +21 Resilience - Fixed reported problems with 'Acheron Battlecarrier' - Fixed issues with M101 Tracker Cannon (Level, Availability, Cost)

[ 2023-11-09 05:39:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome back to the update train with Update #326! We had to take a break recently (reasons explained below) from updates but we're excited to get back to the priority list for Star Traders: Frontiers. We've still got some exciting things in store, so let's get busy -- If you're enjoying the game and the updates, please leave a review and share the game with a friend!

Our new game has started Early Access!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, just launched into Steam Early Access! Featuring in-depth character builds, turn-based stealth & combat, and an all-new story engine that selects storylines and weaves different members of your squad and contacts into them based on how youve played. All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope youll check it out and spread the word! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Relic

The ultra-rare Relic Deathward will not be an easy find. Salvaging medical wrecks, exploring the most dangerous and desolate places, you might come across this ancient and forgotten tech. But taking it in hand, you'll gain +30 Bleed Res (goodbye Bleeds!) and a near unimaginable +24 Resilience.

Mutiny Improvements

After the good changes in Update #325 that fixed how Captain's Talents were selected during a Mutiny (they can now be used even if Captain is low Morale) we've returned to Mutiny again to do further improvements and house-cleaning. Any crew member who has the "Loyal" or "Revere's Authority" Trait will also correctly offer their Talents during a Mutiny, even if their Morale is below the line. This matches the rule exception for the Captain and further helps those stalwart supporters in your crew make a difference at this critical time. To help stave off the repeat Mutiny issue, a new offer of "Large Pay Raise" has been added which can trade even more promise of future credits in for +50 Morale instead of the normal +20. While more expensive, this option is one that will put the Mutiny to bed for a while and can be really helpful in open space, or if there are no ports of good harbor and high Spice nearby to help you improve your Morale in other ways. Cutting against you, we now consider the levels of the mutinous crew when determining how much damage they could cause if they are met in battle. The damage numbers goes up if you allow higher level crew to reach a point of Mutiny (which, to be clear, is very rare).

Boarding is no longer "No Action

We fixed a bug that was popping a confirmation when you attempted to board and do nothing else during a ship combat turn. Apologies about that, boarders!

v3.3.61 - 11/3/2023

- New Ultra-rare Gear: Relic Deathward - Improved Mutiny results display for Bribes and Payments - Added new additional "Large Pay Raise" option to grant +50 Morale instead of the normal +20 - Now "Loyal" and "Reverse Authority" Crew will now even offer Mutiny Talents, even if morale too low - Talents that prevent Morale loss now work to player's benefit during Mutiny - While rare, Mutiny with high level Crew is now more dangerous (higher damage numbers) - Fixed SFX for Rank 15 Combat Medic Talent: Flechette Rounds - Fixed issue where confirmation dialog for no action would appear in ship combat even if boarding

[ 2023-11-04 19:50:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Captains, you've seen it in the Star Traders updates for a long time now, and it's finally arrived! Cyber Knights: Flashpoint - our squad tactics heist RPG - launched on Steam today! It's our first 3D game and a big step up for our studio; we'd love for you to check it out. Like Star Traders: Frontiers, Cyber Knights is an in-depth RPG with a ton of replayability, endless character build possibilities, and a contact system that expands even further on the traits, reputation, and living web of influence and relationships that you can impact. Come take a look and see if Cyber Knights' smart turn-based tactics, heist strategy layer, and unique 23rd-century cyberpunk looks fun to you. If it's not your style of game, no worries, even just spreading the word about it helps support us and the possibilities for Star Traders' future.
We're looking forward to a great Early Access where player ideas and feedback shape the game every bit as much as they did Star Traders. And don't worry, we might be fully-focused on Cyber Knights' launch right now, but we'll be back with more for Star Traders: Frontiers too. You've lived long sailing the stars with us. Now come live fast and die young running these cyberpunk streets. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

[ 2023-10-18 00:08:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's Update #325 for Star Traders: Frontiers with some new QoL features requested by the community! This week, we've added new quick randomization options to new game to help you find your perfect Captain persona, added a confirmation button to ending the turn without any action in Ship Combat, saved Mutinied captains from themselves and fixed a number of hot-topic reported bugs. If you like the pace of updates, please take a minute to leave a review, share the game or just post some feedback! Feedback goes straight into updates :D

New Game Randomize

With Update #325, you can now rapidly randomize your Captain's name and appearance. The randomization will keep to regular outfits (without mix-and-match legs and torso) and currently does not add any accessories. Personally, I'm loving this new addition as a way to find a cool looking and sounding new captain with some speed clicking. Let us know how it works for you! Should we add it to the main roster as well?

Skipped Turn Confirmation

In ship combat, if you happen to hit End Turn without putting in any orders -- no Talents used, no weapons fired, no craft launched and no move orders issued -- you'll get a once per combat confirmation dialog to ensure you really want to skip out. If you do choose to continue anyway, we'll leave you alone and not ask again. If you want to correct a mistake, then the confirmation will reappear if the mistake is made again. Thanks to the community for always pressing us to improve the game!

Captain Mutiny Talents

There was a bug with Captain Mutiny Talents that was counting Captains out of using their own Talents to quell mutinies if their Morale was very low. That is a lot less fun for Pirate captains and the like! This is now resolved and your Captain will always be able to use their anti-Mutiny Talents regardless of their low Morale. A captain never joins against themselves in a Mutiny ... and if they do, they've got bigger problems.

Nine Blade Cut Debuff

There was an issue where Nine Blade Cut's debuff was getting cleared by Talents that remove Buffs. This is now resolved. We also fixed a bug with Disarming Sabotage not finding weapons in some cases.

v3.3.59 - 8/27/2023

- Added button to randomize captain name in new game - Added button to randomize captain outfit in new game - Added confirmation dialog if you take now action (talent, weapons, craft, move order) in ship combat (confirm only once) - Fixed bug that would prevent a low Morale Captain from using Talents during Mutiny - Fixed bug allowing Nine Blade Cut debuff from being removed from enemy - Fixed issue with Disarming Sabotage always reporting that there are no enemy weapons

[ 2023-08-27 17:42:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's Update #324! Not quite an orbital disaster but it sounds pretty cool. We've got some awesome improvements, tuning and fixes in this update as well as a reminder about the 5 year anniversary stream too. So -- if you like the pace of updates, please tell a friend, post some feedback and be sure to leave a review!

5 Year Celebration Reminder!

Time flies like a starship, Captains. This month we're celebrating 5 years of Star Traders: Frontiers! Mark your calendars for TONIGHT, August 10th, 9pm EDT. We'll be live on Twitch with the Trese Brothers (including a special appearance from youngest brother Martin!) for a community hang-out and celebration stream on Twitch: https://twitch.tv/TreseBrothers

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Throughout the last year, weve been running Cyber Knights: Flashpoints private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same tried-and-true process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. Now, with a live demo up on the Steam page, we're cranking up to finishing pace and were marching toward the Q4 launch pad to release to Steam Early Access, so make sure youve wishlisted (and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Orbital Disaster

When different types of Salvage Rumors start on a system, the local Contacts can gain or lose Influence. Orbital Salvage Rumors that can cause Influence bonuses include those like Orbital Constructions, Abandoned Military Station and others. We have now pushed Orbital Disaster Salvage Rumor correctly into the camp that harm local Contact Influence - a good change to help keep the simulation fair and clear, especially as this is a Rumor that can be bought by aggressive Contacts on their action.

Early UCF Rumors Peace

We have added a rule change to the simulation to further improve the dynamics of the interstellar Rumors during the Early Coalition Era when Contacts attempt to create damaging Rumors. In the simulation in general -- when taking their action, Contacts can attempt to purchase damaging Rumors against other Contacts they hate (example -- Aetaan Char is in the simulation attempting to Civil Unrest the Faen homeworld due to her extreme hatred). During the Early Coalition Era, there is now a voting mechanism where other Contacts may deny the Rumor action after it has already been paid for. This results in the Rumor not being created and the aggressive Contact losing the Influence they put on the table for the action in the first place. This helps create a relative but fragile time of peace during the Early Coalition Era.

Gear Buffs

Two sets of combat gear -- the Paladin's Chain and Watchdog Whisper -- both have gained buffs to their stats to help push them more into the forefront of their respective categories. In addition, we've added to the respective Attribute bonuses for the Wing gear GAATSO Interlink and Vrax Harness, as it always helps for your Wing pilots to have slightly sharper Attributes along with their Wing-focused traits, gear and Talents.

More Xeno Protections

We're on a bit of a rip making sure xeno don't slaughter early game captains unfairly. We've added another round of protections to prevent xeno rumors from being generated in certain ways that were letting them slip past the existing filter. Even less xeno Rumors should escape the lab in the early game but they are really hard to keep locked up -- so you might still see some!

Other Fixes

We've adjusted the weighting in enemy captain ship designer to reduce the likelihood of Caliga Vindex and Shizari Huntress ships appearing as they were both a little overweight for fairness and pushing other ships into the margins. Finally, thanks for reporting bugs, typos and all the rest!

v3.3.55 - 8/9/2023

- Orbital Disaster rumors now damage Contact Influence rather than increase it - Contact AI purchasing Rumors during UCF Era revised to use simulated votes (hurts aggressive Contacts) - Buffed Paladin's Chain and Watchdog Whisper (Crew combat gear) - Buffed Attribute bonuses for GAATSO Interlink and Vrax Harness (Fighter Pilot gear) - Reduced chances of Xeno Rumors occurring early in the game - Reduced rate of enemy Caliga Vindex and Shizari Huntress spawning - Minor performance support patches, fixed reported crash & text bugs

[ 2023-08-10 18:46:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

We've joined forces with two other indie studios to offer a new Steam bundle for players who love to dive deep into a game: Endless Adventures - Deep & Replayable RPGs.
In the now 5 years since Star Traders: Frontiers' release, we've heard from so many of you that ours is a game you enjoy coming back to time and time again, creating new captains, outfitting entirely different ships, trying playthroughs with new goals or creative challenges. To this day we continue to update the game with new content, and opened up a new frontier of possibilities for player-created content with modding support added last year.
Wildermyth is another highly-replayable game we've admired since its release for its innovative procedural generation storytelling system, storybook-come-to-life style, and character legacies. Our shared tabletop RPG inspirations couldn't be more clear, and their many clever systems for creating unique characters and stories on every playthrough are very well executed.
Vagrus: The Riven Realms is another game we've been impressed by; this time for the sheer amount of hand-crafted content in its vast, dark-fantasy setting. Star Traders players will find lots of similarities in Vagrus' caravan premise, from the many options for who you recruit to travel alongside you, to the total freedom you have in how you choose to make your way in its detailed world.
If you're a bargain-hunter, you should know:

• With this bundle, you'll only pay for the games you don't already own.
• The bundle discount stacks with individual game sale discounts, so you'll often be able to find this bundle at a great price.

Hope you'll enjoy checking out these award-winning RPGs! Please spread the word: if you're a player who loves getting lost in a game vast worlds, extensive character build variety, tons of ways to play these three RPGs are for you. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/33786/

[ 2023-08-08 17:06:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Time flies like a starship, Captains. This month we're celebrating 5 years of Star Traders: Frontiers! Mark your calendars for August 10th, 9pm EDT. We'll be live on Twitch with the Trese Brothers (including a special appearance from youngest brother Martin!) for a community hang-out and celebration stream on Twitch: https://twitch.tv/TreseBrothers Last year, we asked you to share a favorite moment or memory, and used them as part of our commemorative 4-year anniversary image. This year, we want to hear about (and see screenshots of!) your favorite captain and your greatest achievement in game with them! A legendary set of salvage gear? A stash of horded Vudka the size of a small moon? A black market trade route that puts the Kessel Run to shame? Whatever your best achievement may be, share your captain screenshots and stories in the Trese Brothers Discord #stf_5_year_celebration channel by August 8th for a chance to be featured in a special way in the 5-year anniversary celebrations. Thank you all for the fun, the support, the reviews, the memes and the memories. I know we're talking a lot about our next game these days, but we're looking forward to the new possibilities it will bring for Star Traders as well. And with all the new players that keep coming to Star Traders: Frontiers, it's still got more life (and updates!) ahead. Join us on the 10th for a fun celebration!

[ 2023-08-02 21:02:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome all new captains to the latest Star Traders: Frontiers update. With some fixes to the newly added Talents, new sources of Era-driven Rumors, a rebalance for early game Explorers and a platform-specific fix that brings music and SFX back to mac OS, it's big #323. A huge thanks goes out to everyone leaving a review, posting feedback and sharing the game with friends!

Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?

We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, were telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Rumor Sources

Rumors filter into the simulation by the actions of Contacts, thrown off from Conflicts and Eras, and even caused by the ripple of other Rumors ending. With Update #323, we've adjusted these Rumors flows during 3 Eras of the game to further push certain types of Rumors that fit the Era's storyline and feeling. For early traders and merchants, in the moment of prosperity that is the start of 212 AE, new Surplus Rumors have been seeded into the game. During the founding of the UCF, intergalactic instability and worry causes a flush of new Shortage Rumors to appear and finally, during the 3rd Century as military power continues to build up without an outlet, more and more Mercenary Rumors are occurring.

Early Game Explorers

Reports trickle back slow to the spice hall, stories of warning, danger and death. New Explorers who have sometimes never set foot on a wilderness touch down and take their away team out, searching for riches and ancient sites. Some never return, ripped apart by Terrox or Shalun help them, Jyeeta. We've made some adjustments to help balance the life of new game Explorers a bit. There are no xeno lurking in the Exchange or the shipping lanes in the first few years of the game, so Explorers -- who could draw multiple xeno cards in a single hand !! -- we're facing an unfair uphill battle at the start of their career. We've now limited Xeno cards from appearing in early game Exploration to avoid this unfair disadvantage to their career.

Talent Fixes

Both of the Swordsman Talents released in last week's update regrettably had issues and could cause crashes when used in crew combat. With this update, we've redone their testing and fixed the Talents to work as well in production as they did during development! En garde, let's fight!

v3.3.53 - 8/2/2023

- Balance Change: Xeno Cards No Longer Appear in early Turn Explorer Hands - Early game now contains more Surplus Rumors - UCF Founding now triggers widespread shortages during trade disruptions - Increased the number of Mercenary rumors that are created for 3rd Century - Fixed issues with Secrets of Steel - Fixed issues with Nine Bladed Cut - Fixed crashes and freezes in Crew Combat - Card title formatting adjustments in Salvage - Fixed missing music and SFX for Mac OS

[ 2023-08-02 20:46:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #322 continues the push to fill out the high level Talents for crew combatants, bringing 2 new Talents to Swordsman and adjusting the AI talent selections based on all the new adds, fixing Bodyguard selections and making xeno even more dangerous in their Talent picks. We've also added a bit more balance to the latest Soldier Talent additional, Still Standing, and fixed issues with the AI ship builder that could result in enemy ships have the wrong Hyperwarp Drive occasionally. A huge thanks to everyone posting feedback, sharing the game and leaving a review!

Stealth Fest Demo!

Calling all ninjas, shadows, and ghosts in the machine -- Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is waiting to see just how stealthy you can be in our freshly-updated free demo for Steam Stealth Fest this week. The first rule should probably be, "Don't talk about Stealth Fest", so just roll up your Vanguard, lock-and-load your shock mines and power up your Chameleon suit - it's time to kill quietly, move as a shadow, become one with the patrol routes. Blades and silent pistols are your weapons, speed and silence your friends. We're excited to share this demo that takes you to the very start of your Cyber Knight's career: the night of your cyber surgery. In the underworld of New Boston, nothing goes down easy and everyone has an agenda. Can you keep your head up in these dangerous waters? https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Swordsman Coming Around!

Each major crew combat class with missing rank 15 Talents is getting its day - and now it's time for Swordsman to get the treatment. With Update #322, the Swordsman has gained a new rank 11 and new rank 15 Talent to complement their already powerful set. The new rank 11 Talent, Secrets of Steel is a companion to the venerable Strength of Steel and not related to our other games at all. Secrets of Steel can help a Swordsman who has been knocked back - or retreated of their own will - rapidly recover and get back into the fight and offers some powerful synergy for blade wielders who are willing to exercise additional mobility or fight with an offhand pistol. Nine Blade Cut is a powerful stunning attack targeted at the front row which can be especially useful if any ranged weapon fighters are brought into the front, as it will further dent their accuracy. Combining Stun with an immediate Initiative penalty, Nine Blade Cut is a great way to slow down and trip enemy combatants and may be - for some strategies - especially useful against xeno.

High-Level Talent Rebalance

As we add a number of new high level crew combat Talents to the game, rebalances are sure to be required. With this update, we've reduced the duration of the Soldier's Still Standing Talent by 1 Turn.

AI Talent Selection

With this update, we've completed another review of the AI Talent selection logic across different enemy types and jobs. We found some issues where enemy Bodyguards would incorrectly purchase Talents from any other job, often beyond the rules of multi-jobbing. Second, we've updated the logic for how enemy xeno pick their Talents to make them more synergistic as a group. We're sorry in advance. Be sure to buff your armor, sharpen your blades and prepare for the worst if you're high level and tangling with Terrox or Jyeeta.

Underwhelming HW Drives

We fixed an issue for some AI ships which were built with incorrectly sized Hyperwarp drives. Unable to actually send the mass of the ship through a Hyperwarp gate, these could become quite the burden to a captain who captured them with Prize Ship and require a significant retrofit before they could really become useful.

v3.3.51 - 7/26/2023

- New Rank 11 Swordsman Talent: Secrets of Steel - New Rank 15 Swordsman Talent: Nine Bladed Cut - Reduced 'Still Standing' Duration by 1 turn - Fixed issue with AI Bodyguards buying Talents from all Jobs - Improved Xeno Talent selection logic (sorry!) - Fixed issue that could cause seized AI ships to have undersized HW drives

[ 2023-07-27 02:57:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #321 continues the Summer Sale 50% savings and brings two new powerful rank 15 Talents to core jobs on your ship. Along with the recent Talent upgrades, we've upgraded the AI's weighting and decision tables when planning its own Talent strategy for ship captain and officers. We've also highlighted a few awesome mods from the workshop with Update #321 and fixed all reported typos and crashes. A big thanks goes out to the community who helps us keep improving Star Traders: Frontiers. If you like the pace of free updates, be sure to drop a review!

Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?

We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, were telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Rank 15 Talents

With Update #321, we've added to new rank 15 Talents to round out the Pilot and Soldier Jobs. The new Soldier rank 15 Talent "Still Standing" is a powerful turtle buff, capable of giving a Soldier a last-stand chance against deadly enemies. Granting massive defensive bonuses in trade for the majority of their Turn's Initiative, Last Standing can be used to make Soldier a defensive bulwark or to desperately try to hold until a Combat Medic can apply healing. Pilot's rank 15 Talent "Engage Fighters" trades accuracy and Damage against capital ship in order to significantly buff both offensive and defensive capabilities against fighters. If you're facing an overwhelming Jyeeta swarm or just pesky boarding shuttles you can't allow to close, Engage Fighters may be able to give you a quick turn-around to gun down the incoming. Engage Fighters obviously works best when paired with weapons ready for the job, like Autocannons.

Updated Enemy Officer Talent Selection

As more and more Talents and strategies are added to the game the enemy ship and crew builder has a evolving task of trying to pick the best Talent set for its captain and officers. We've updated the rules and weights to pick Talents in order to take into account some of the new Talents as well as adjusting meta conditions. In addition to being more interested in picking up recently added Talents, the AI has 3 new options to try to for different Talent strategies which we believe can lead to more dynamic ship enemies - both in ship combat and if you attempt to board.

Workshop Highlight

We're always very pleased to see how the Steam Workshop -- which was a very late addition!! -- for Star Traders: Frontiers has continued to grow and how many players are using and trying out the variety of mods available. We wanted to take a minute in this Steam Summer Sale update to highlight a few! The Spy Pack 1 features a bevy of new spy features -- a new spy focus ship, new faster engines, buffed Diplomats and Spies and most notably an all new Spy-focused storyline. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2578776840&searchtext= If you're looking for more face variety, the Playable Contacts Head Pack brings 24 of the Contact heads into the game as playable heads, letting you pick from some of the coolest and favorite Contact heads for your captain, crew and officers. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2936075922&searchtext= The most popular mod, @davea's No More Mass Reducers component adjusts how Mass is calculated in the game to remove it as a consideration when designing ships, as well as all titular Mass Reducer components from the starports. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2492139496 If you haven't checked out these or other cool workshop items, take a look!

v3.3.49 - 7/10/2023

- New Rank 15 Pilot Talent: Engage Fighters - New Rank 15 Soldier Talent: Still Standing - Improve Enemy Officer & Captain Talent Selection Logic - Fixed reports typos and crashes

[ 2023-07-10 22:59:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #320 comes along with the Steam Summer Sale and the best discount of the year. Save 50% to step onto the bridge of your own Star Trader's vessel and ply the void, to serve the factions, seek your fortune or plot your own course. With this latest update, we've added 2 new rank 15 Talents for the esteemed medical jobs - Combat Medic and Doctor. We've also tuned up the rule set around anti-weapon ship boarding Talents, fixed some bugs with character cosmetics and some issues that could occur in 2 of the 5 branches of the Pit Fighter V storyline. If you're enjoying the updates, be sure to tell a friend and leave a review!

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Throughout the last year, weve been running Cyber Knights: Flashpoints private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same tried-and-true process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. With a demo posted up for Steam Next Fest still freely available to play, development is continuing at a high pace and we are layering on polish as we marching to the launch pad to release to Steam Early Access, so make sure youve wishlisted (and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Rank 15 Medical Professions

Improved Anti-Weapon Boarding

We've improved the rules for boarding victory Talents that specifically target and disable enemy ship weapons. If these Talents are unable to target at least one weapon to destroy -- usually because the ship's weapons are already offline -- then they will refuse to active, won't go on cooldown and will not consume one of your 2 boarding talent slots.

Pit Fighter V Storyline Fix

Thanks to everyone reporting errant issues within the game's many storylines. With this Update, we've fixed a bug in one of the five possible branches you can hit in the Pit Fighter V storyline -- all depending on who hates you the most -- which could lead to early expiration of the rest of the missions. If it was Char's agents, then you might end up in a horrible unfair rush to reach the fourth and final round. In a follow-up to last update's new character outfits, we've fixed some issues with hats and helmets not interacting with other choices correctly.

v3.3.47 - 7/2/2023

- New Rank 15 Doctor Talent: Medical Reset - New Rank 15 Combat Medic Talent: Flechette Rounds - Fixed issue with "Disarming Sabotage" and "Behind Enemy Lines" firing without functioning enemy weapons to target - Fixed issues with most recently added flight helmet and full helmet - Fixed bug in Pit Fighter V storyline if attacked by Char's agents, could expire too early

[ 2023-07-02 21:13:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

It is Update #319! We've got 2 new character outfits and have completed some important work to make it easy to access the 15th small ship component on your Acheron Battlecarrier (or any ship that a modder adds who has 14+ small ship components!). As always -- huge thanks goes out to everyone playing, posting feedback and especially leaving a review!

Have You Played Cyber Knights Demo?

Our next title will be out later this year and we're excited to share a demo in Steam Next Fest this year - we hope you'll check it out, wishlist and follow. All the same deep systems, extreme replay and maniac update styles you've come to expect and love! Explore the dark future of 2231 as you run your crew of underworld mercenaries, pulling off high-stakes heists you choose from faction power players to survive. Cyber Knights wraps a world full of consequential story choices and character development around an extensive core of classic and new tactical RPG mechanics. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Added 2 New Outfits

It's always a joy to find some art time to sit down and work on new outfits for Star Traders: Frontiers. I'm very excited to have finished this pairing - both dapper, cool and stylish looks. Is this a space diplomat or a soldier who just knows how to dress? And of course, you can mix and match these outfits to great effect with all of the other outfits in the game.

The 15th Component

With the release of the 9000 Mass Acheron Battlecarrier, we introduced the first ship into the game that had 15 small ship components. While this worked nicely in ship upgrading and if you use the tabular style of viewing components in ship status, it was not visible in the grid mode. We've now ensured that component is visible, just scroll down! The ability to now scroll the main ship status also helps with a few other overflow issues that have cropped up throughout the game. Those ships with lots of special effects from their ship components could possibly have that content run off the bottom of the screen and that is now resolved. This also means that modders now have the ability to add beyond 14 small components (up to 28 should work steamhappy) to the game now.

Ship Prices

As ship component prices shift through rebalances, we're always keeping an eye on ship prices and working to keep the buy and sell economy working nicely, even including all the discounts you can earn from contacts and talents. We've adjusted and raised a few ship prices to help keep these prices in line with the rules.

v3.3.45 - 6/25/2023

- Added 2 new outfits - Allow scrolling of main ship status screen to view any overflow of ship effects, components - Fixed small component display for Acheron Battlecarrier to show 15th small component correctly - Adjusted/raised some ship prices to avoid resell possible loops - Fixed reports typos and crashes

[ 2023-06-25 23:24:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to Update #318! News from the starports is that the Acheron Battlecarrier was over Mass 9000 and needed its design tweaked a bit to fit the proper Hyperwarp drive. We've also redesigned the Wolf Vector, the sleek and deadly 3400 Mass ship and raised its officer cap to an amazing 6. Spy Wars have more impact on Contact services, the Zendu Deathward is even harder to find, and we fixed the Mac OS fullscreen / resize window issues

Demo Our Upcoming Sci-Fi Game

Captains, we are thrilled to announce that our next sci-fi game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, will be including the upcoming Steam Next Fest, the free online demo festival running from June 19th - 26th. We hope you'll take a break from your ship's bridge to plug in and join us in New Boston, 2231 for an RPG experience offering a mix of stealth, combat and hacking. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Mac OS Fixes

We've been battling the latest mac OS update Ventura which caused some havoc to our aging game engine (sometimes hard to believe, 318 updates = game published in 2017!) and its ability to fully support mac OS. With Update #318, we're aiminng to put those issues behind us. Internally on our test sets of hardware, this patch fixes all of the reported issues. :fingerscrossed: we'll be waiting to hear from you!

Acheron Hyperwarp

The Acheron Battlecarrier had a issue with the wrong hyperwarp drive plus being over Mass if it had the right one. We have now reconfigured any new Acheron you purchase at the starport to be all setup correctly. We are still pending the fix to allow you to view and modify the 15th component without switching to the list view. If you want to upgrade the 15th small component for now, you just need to swap over to list view.

Wolf Vector Joins S-Tier

With a new redesign, the Wolf Vector has joined the S-tier of ships as the sole Mass 3400 ship to offer a full set of 6 officers. Any new purchase of a Wolf Vector will offer this sleek new configuration, boasting a new engine, major upgrade to its components and a price tag boost to almost $2,000,000. If you've bought a Wolf Vector before it is unaffected by the changes. We wary if you bump into an enemy captain flying a Wolf Vector, they also get these changes! You might be surprised by just what type of punch the 3400 class ship can throw!

Spy Wars

We're always looking for new ways to interconnect systems. The more recently added Contact service to sell Rumors is a powerful angle for certain types of captains. Now, if the contact's faction are involved in a Spy War, there is a discount on all sales of rumors.

v3.3.43 - 6/8/2023

- Redesigned "Wolf Vector" 3400 Mass (now S-tier, 6 officer) - Contacts receive discounts on Rumor purchases during Spy Wars - Fixes Hyperwarp Drive on "Acheron Battlecarrier" - Rare Relic, Zendu Deathward (Level 10) is even more rare - Performance improvements and rendering fixes - Fixes a data synchronization bug when hyperwarp gates were very close to planets - Fixes fullscreen and resize window bugs in Mac OS X builds

[ 2023-06-08 15:25:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Captains, we're excited to announce Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be included in the upcoming Steam Next Fest, an online demo festival running June 19th - 26th. This will be the first new demo we've offered for the game in over a year, and it's the first big milestone on our road to release later in 2023. All of the game-shaping feedback our alpha players have given us, all of the new design & UX work to make this our best-looking game yet, and several features even our alpha players haven't seen yet are all waiting for you to try.

The demo will offer:

• Your first big heist to pull off! Find out how our turn-based squad tactics plays. See if you have the skills to use creative stealth, a variety of weapons, and the turn order itself to accomplish objectives in each map and get your crew out alive.
• Six squad members in your roster; each brings a unique set of talents to your crew. In the full game you'll have opportunities to recruit new members, as well as access to multi-classing, extensive skill trees, weapon modding, cybernetics -- everything you need to build out the perfect squads for your playstyle and the needs of the jobs you're taking on.
• A glimpse of your main character's origins as a Cyber Knight. These elites of our dark future's underworld are rare and highly sought after. Knights have capabilities no one else in this world does -- but it comes at a cost.
• A first look at your safehouse; in the full game you'll have access to base-building features to expand this underground hideout, providing more opportunities to upgrade your team and expand your capabilities to take on bigger jobs as you make a name for yourself.
• A preview of the choices you'll need to make in this shadowy world of mercenaries, secrets, and cyberpunks. How far will you go for a chance at a better life? What are you willing to risk for the extra credits or knowledge that could make a big difference for your crew? Who will you stay loyal to? Who can you trust?

Don't miss it!

We'll be sharing some lore, extras, and maybe even some dev streams over the next couple of weeks. Join our Discord or follow @CyberKnightsRPG on twitter to stay in the loop. We can't wait to show how far the game has come. While we're still hard at work fine-tuning and polishing the full game ahead of our Early Access release, it's already a thrill to offer the best-looking and most advanced set of tactical combat capabilities we've ever featured in a Trese Brothers game. Especially if you're new to our games, as you try the demo we want you to know we are listening to feedback! We're active every day in the Steam forums and in our Discord, and we love making improvements and additions based on player feedback. This demo isn't just an opportunity for us to show the game off; it's your opportunity to make a mark on it. We'll see you on June 19th! If you haven't already, wishlist & follow Cyber Knights of course! <3 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

[ 2023-06-07 03:11:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's Update #317 with a new Mass 9000 ship, autocannon rebalances, new Oribtal Salvage card (watch out!) and more. Starports all across the galaxy have started on hulls for the new Acheron Battlecarrier, so start saving, captains. A huge thanks goes out to all of the community members posting on the forum, helping new players, and sharing their thoughts in reviews. We're excited to keep Star Traders: Frontiers growing with new content and additions, so you're loving the 300+ free updates be sure to drop a review and tell a friend.

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Throughout the last year, weve been running Cyber Knights: Flashpoints private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same tried-and-true process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. With 1,000 in the game now, development pace has picked up and were marching to the launch pad to release to Steam Early Access, so make sure youve wishlisted (and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New 9000 Mass Battlecarrier

The Acheron Battlecarrier is a sprawling ship weighing in at 9000 Mass and kitted out as a battle-hardened carrier perfect for taking on Jyeeta xeno carriers head-to-head. It boasts best-in-class maximum craft defense at 78% and a unusual slot configuration that preferences Small (15) and Large (8) sized slots over medium (8). With 7 officers and 42 crew, it can sustain 5 craft and is a new contender in the most expensive and largest weight class for ships. We'll keep the Acheron in player's only hands for a bit and shake out any balance issues before considering letting high level captains on high difficulty take this thing for a spin!

M101 Autocannon Update & Xeno Autocannon

We've applied a fix to bring the venerable M101 Tracker Cannon up to the level it needs to be to stay competitive with other autocannons, granting it a +3% Craft Defense. On the enemy's side, the L2 Terrox Xeno Autocannon has also gained a +3% Craft Defense, making their close-in short range ships more challenging to fight with carriers. The miasmatic death haze that floats close to the hull of the Terrox Spines makes it hellish for any wing pilot to come that close to the hull!

New Salvage Card and Updated Weights

A new "Reactor Accident" card has been added to Orbital Salvage with a nasty -5 weighting. Take your time considering if you want to prioritize knocking this card out of the hand because it can leave your engine in a bad way, which can both cause heightened combat risk as you limp back for repairs and a hefty repair bill to boot. We've increased the weight of the "Web of Conspiracy" card, fully doubling it, as the card has so many cool permutations and after-effects that are great in the galactic simulation.

AI Captain + Crew Build Improvements

With Update #317, we've tweaked the appearance rates for the Caliga Vindex and Shizari Huntress to make them less common opponents. We've also fixed a longstanding bug that was allowing the AI to promote too many officers on the Caliga Vindex for an unfair advantage.

v3.3.41 - 5/13/2023

- New 9000 Mass Battlecarrier, the Acheron - Balanced "M101 Tracker Cannon" adding +7% Craft Defense - L2 Xeno Autocannon adds "Miasmatic Death Haze" granting +3% Craft Defense - Added a new "Reactor Accident" Salvage Result Card (-5) - The "Web of Conspiracy" Card is now twice as common (because it is fun) - Reduced chance of Caliga Vindex and Shizari Huntress enemies spawning - Fixed too many enemy officers spawning on Caliga Vindex - Fixed performance issues on huge maps with large numbers of living Contacts

[ 2023-05-14 04:53:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, Captains. Its time for another STF challenge. Loyalty is important and in this challenge you will be fiercely loyal to two contacts of your choice. How will you help them meet their goals? How will you crush their enemies and those who work against them?
As always there are a few requirements for this challenge, including for the first time in a Community Challenge a specific map seed to use for your playthrough. The requirements for this challenge are:

• When you pick your two contacts to champion, Faen cannot be one of them.
• Drive your reputation to -100 of lower with all other contacts. It may not be possible to fully meet this requirement due to faction politics, but the goal is to get all other contact reps as low as possible.
• This specific map seed must be used: st-v02-28-12-95189000

Some ideas for what wed love to see:

• Screenshots of your chosen contacts, your reputation screens
• Stories of how you built up your chosen contacts and the challenges of having (and making) so many people very angry at you
• Your strategies for hitting the reputation requirements, choosing your particular contacts
• Any other creative ways you want to share to tell us about the risks and rewards of being fiercely loyal: memes, interpretive dance, gifs, etc

No matter what you choose to share, please include one screenshot of your reputation screen showingn your chosen contacts and all of the people you've made very, very unhappy.
Weve opened up a discussion here on Steam in the General Discussion forum for aIl of your posts. If you post on the discord, post in the #faction_champion_challenge channel found in the STF category. Good luck, Captains! Choose your friends wisely!

[ 2023-05-10 18:27:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's Update #316 with some new deadly enemy captain + ship combos, a new round of variations to how Xeno will build their ships, new gear and even better Contact death logs. The pre-Summer scramble has dragged our usual update schedule a bit, but we're excited to be getting back to the update roadmap here! If you are enjoying the pace of updates and new free content, be sure to drop a review and post some feedback! We're always here and listening.

Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?

We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, were telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New AI Captains in Dangerous Ships

Newly trained captain AI have taken command of some powerful ships -- the Dreadnought Battlecruiser and the Shizari Huntress. These new enemy challengers will show up in the later stages of the game and their captain's have new upgrade plans for them to ensure they are as threatening as they sound. If you encounter such a ship in the void, be sure to check your scopes, consider your options and choose wisely.

Xeno Variety

In this update, we've spent some hours digging into the rules and decisions by which Terrox and Jyeeta Xeno build their ships. It was a good opportunity to check the systems against current human AI as well as the latest technologies available to you, the human Star Traders. This review has led to some exciting improvements that should help create a wider variety of xeno ships including a better mix of weaponry and defensive components.

New Gear, More Available Deathward

With Update #316, we've added 2 new high level pieces of gear - the Edgebane Tincture and the Bexian Synthserum. Respectively at level 8 and 9, these are not likely to be easy to find and will require multiple runs into high risk Orbital Salvage operations to turn them up. Also, the Zendu Deathward has bee reduced in level from 10 to 8 in order to make it appear more frequently in Salvage loot drops.

Contact Death Rules and Logs

Some new rules have been added to extend Contact's lifespans on worlds with either high Spice rating or high Military Rating. For those on high Spice rating worlds, the natural lifespan has been extended even farther. For those on high military worlds, they have gained a higher chance to be able to resist an attempt by an enemy Contact to have them killed by assassins. In addition, we've increased the variety and clarity of the death reasons that are included in Contact's death log, specifically if they were killed by some kind of violence or faction violence. We hope you enjoy these tidbits of information which can offer glimpses into the game's simulation as well as provide key details to your story as you sail the galaxy.

v3.3.39 - 5/8/2023

- Newly trained AIs using Dreadnought Battlecarrier, Caliga Vindex and Shizari Huntress - Reduced 'Zendu Deathward' Gear from Level 10 to Level 8 (more frequent drops) - New level 8 Gear 'Edgebane Tincture' - New level 9 Gear 'Bexian Synthserum' - Revised some aspects of Xeno Ship Combat AI to add variety - Contacts on zones with higher Spice Rating live even longer - Contacts on zones with higher Military Rating more resistant to Assassins - Added more descriptive "death reason" to Logs for Contacts that died in Faction violence - Fixed a bunch of reported crashes, thanks for sending those

[ 2023-05-08 14:24:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #315 rolls out a list of community-driven enhancements. A huge thanks to everyone posting their feedback, frustrations and questions to the Steam forums and to Discord to help us keep improving. This update has an especially helpful update to Mission icons as well as a key refinement of the ship comparison report that was throwing many players and selling them on their engine superiority when it might not really be the case. Here's Update #315, let's check it out! I'm sure when we get to Update #400, you'll know that we're serious about this game :P

Keep this game growing!

After five years of updates, Star Traders has received a lot of love, long past release. To keep it going, Andrew & I rely on two things: reviews for this game, and wishlists for our next! Reviews for Star Traders keep the game visible on Steam, please write a few words for us if you have a minute. Meanwhile, wishlists for our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG help us plan for the studios future (which includes future Star Traders games ). If turn-based squad tactics, creative stealth & hacking, and a unique 23rd-century dark future world sound like your thing, add to your wishlist today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Cargo and Stash Icons

Cargo and Stash Missions now display the required cargo icon above the mission step! This is a huge help for everyone doing these types of missions as you can both skim the mission with overall less reading but you're less likely to accidentally buy the wrong cargo as well. Thanks to everyone making these great suggestions in the community!

Engine Comparison

The ship encounter report about the enemy ship mistakenly used the regular math (that which is appropriate for big dice pools like Attack and Defense) when discussing your Engine's Agility and Speed stats. We've now made significant improvements to the comparison of Engine stats so that the displayed bonuses are very specific and match the game rules exactly as you'd find them on the wiki. This should be a big help in understanding how your Engine stats affect your outcomes and when you truly outclass an enemy or not.

Sneaky Enemy Craft Pilots

With the help of some sharp players, we discovered a rare issue where enemy craft pilots on a Flight Plan could be forced into boarding crew combat defending their ship. This case where they were in 2 places at once is unfair and problematic -- because after the combat they are dead but ... flying a craft? The fix is simple - to remove them from the list of viable defenders during a boarding operation!

Talent Fixes

There were some inconsistencies in post-combat Talents being overly available during post-boarding -- where Macabre Harvest and Genetic Sequencing could appear unfairly even if the character who owned them was not in the boarding party and the boarding did not occur at range 1. We have now fixed Post Boarding Talents to ensure that the list is always accurate to who was in the party, reducing these unfair advantages. Your Scientist and Xeno Hunter are going to have to work harder for their Intel and Artifacts! At the same time we also resolved an issue where the Scientist's Genetic Sequencing might not always create Scientific Intel after xeno battle. And finally, we have added a missing SFX to Shock Trooper's "Stand Strong" Talent -- that's nice.

v3.3.35 - 3/29/2023

- Cargo and Stash Missions now display the required cargo icon above the mission step - Improved Ship Encounter comparison of Engine stats (Speed/Agility) to be very specific about game bonuses - Added missing SFX for Shock Trooper's "Stand Strong" Talent - Fixed rare issue where enemy craft pilots on a Flight Plan could be forced into boarding crew combat - Fixed issue with Genetic Sequencing not always creating Scientific Intel after xeno battle - Fixed Post Boarding Talent inconsistencies where Macabre Harvest and Genetic Sequencing could appear incorrectly

[ 2023-03-29 19:49:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #313 rounds out some of the orbital Salvage loot tables, improves one of the heroic allies you can get in the game, adds a new rare Zendu relic and fixes some pesky numbers (wrong numbers, not right numbers) in the recently updated Contact Death captain's log entries. Thanks to everyone posting feedback and suggestions, from the big to the small!

Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?

We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, were telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Templar Buffing

If you reach the rare air of the late era epic boss battles and find yourself side by side with a Templar Leviathan, know that its armor is stronger with higher Hardness and Ballistic % to help is soak up Damage and live up to its place in the lore.

Mid-level Medical Relics

To further balance out the loot tables within the orbital Salvage operation, we've added 3 new defensive mid-level gear. These are more common to find with regular Salvage Gear cards, making the Dermlink Weave, Orgin Plate, Inkscale Mesh all pretty good options to perhaps replace expensive gear you might have instead purchased at from a Contact.

Rare Deathward

The Zendu Deathward is a rare find when Salvaging but its powerful bonuses will help any who bear it stave off deaths and pass those cursed Death Saves.

Contact Death Logs

Some of the Contact Death logs were including some really weird numbers. Some were really big, some were really small, all of them were wrong. We've fixed it! Thanks to everyone report this issue.

v3.3.33 - 3/7/2023

- Buffed Templar Leviathan's armor (Exemplar Command) Hardness, Ballistic - Added Medical Relics (Level 4) Dermlink Weave, Orgin Plate, Inkscale Mesh - Added Ultra Rare Relic, Zendu Deathward (Level 10) - Clarified Contact Death Log Entries - Data handling performance improvements, fixed reported typos & crashes

[ 2023-03-09 04:38:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #313 ... released on 3/1/23. Ignore the 2. We've spent a decade planning this! Update #313 breathes some life back into an ancient feud with a new story event. The rumor-mongers are jawing in the spice hall, Aetaan Char's dynasty has released new ship component technology with hard-to-believe properties. On top of that, there are new and powerful level 6 military relics to hunt in Salvage, improvements to the repair times for high level Mass Reducers and Dampeners, fixed Talents for consistency and better captain's log entries. If you're enjoying the continued updates to the game, please leave a review and tell a friend!

Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?

We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, were telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Char Technology

It's an exciting moment to light the spark that starts an arc. News has flashed out across the galaxy of an shiny new ship technology offered at the starports of the Char faction. The new Adv Mass Dampener 5 and 6 both boast extreme Mass offsets (-460 and -520), already defying modern expectations of science before discussing the deflective field (+Shield) that they are able to produce. Everyone is interested in these new secrets. Will the Faen respond in kind? With Update #313, these new ship components are dynamically linked to the faction of Aetaan Char which is determined at the beginning of the game by your starting faction and the specifics of your map and starting quadrant. Every game may have a slightly different result here, which is very cool dynamic. If Mass Dampeners aren't your jam, it won't be the last tech from the research labs of the Char, so buckle up. If they are your kind of tech, the repair times for high level Dampeners and Reducers has been cut down by 15%.

Military Relics

For those salvagers picking over old military relics and hulks, there are new powerful level 6 relics in your loot tables. Look for those Relic cards and hope to see the new Crysplate Weave, Drak Ops Heavy and Dusk Stalker. It's always best to find a high Danger salvage spot if you can, just to give yourself that extra edge.

Ship Combat Adjustments

With Update #313, we've made an important balance adjustment and fix to ship combat. First, while we granted the player's officers the ability to add bonus Electronics, Ship Ops, Nav and Pilot from their bonus Skills some time ago, the AI had not received this feature. In the early game, it has no impact but over time but over time it should help keep some enemy ship types -- based on the captain's officer selection -- more (fairly) dangerous or at least competitive. Second, there was a bug with how debuffed Escape dice were applied that were not giving the correct advantage to player or enemy ship. Now, correctly -- if you are attempting to Escape, you get your Escape dice whether they are positive or negative. If you are attempting to resist an Escape, you get no Escape dice whether positive or negative. Therefore, if you want to prevent your enemies from Escaping, debuff them with either -Escape or -Move Change. If you are trying to Escape yourself, you can debuff your enemy's Move Chance.

Talent Fixes

We've caught Garner Favor up so that it now has the same improved rules when buying goods at the Exchange as it does when selling. We've improved the rules for Healer's Intuition and Perceptive Boss Talents to match their Talent description, ensuring that they get only Skill + 20% where they were getting a Skill + 30% before.

Log Clarity

Thanks to the players posting feedback daily! We've improved the captain's log to make a clear difference between trades made at $5,000 to $500,000 and then trades made over $500,000. If you see other issues in the captains log or any part of the game, please share! We fix :D

v3.3.31 - 3/1/2023

- New story event - Aetaan Char's scientist release new Adv Mass Dampeners 5 and 6 with mysterious tech - Added Military Relics (level 6) Crysplate Weave, Drak Ops Heavy, Dusk Stalker - Fixes nasty crash in Salvage - Synchronized Garner Favor Talent effect between buying / selling - Enemy ship officers now gain the correct bonuses for their officers with bonus Electronics, Pilot, Nav or Ship Ops in ship combat - Reduced repair time of some Mass Reducers and Mass Dampeners - Fixed bugs with Escape debuffs incorrectly applied when resisting other ship Escaping - Fixed issues with Healer's Intuition and Perceptive Boss rolling 20% + Skill instead of 30% + Skill - Fixed captain's log scores and stats to clarify $50,000 and $500,000 trade counts

[ 2023-03-01 16:38:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome new captains to the void -- everything is on sale right now and the updates, well they're free. They're always free. Here's #312 - new Salvage Relic armor, more colorful hints in the captain's log, new Black Market card, improved Salvage Shipyard Parts and new impact for high Spice zones on Contact longevity. If you're new to the void and have questions, the community forum our Discord are great places to get help. If you're enjoying the pace of updates, please consider telling a friend and leaving a review!

Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?

We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, were telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Pentaweave Armor and More

Salvaging Armor has received some major improvements with Update #312, adding both 3 new types of high-level armor that can be found via the Relic card as well as improving the overall progression of armor salvage cards - including Relic - to include fewer duplicates and present a better progression of loot chance.

Contact Life & Death

... "killed by faction assassins" ... "killed in a suspicious accident" -- the Captain's log entries detailing the death of a Contact now include colorful descriptions giving some clues to the Contact actions and direct causes that might be behind their demise -- faction infighting, questionable accidents and outright assassinations! For those lucky Contacts who reside on zones where the Spice Rating is high, such opportunity to access such a rich spice flow can increase their longevity and help them live longer natural lives.

Backroom Deals - Traits!

The new Backroom Deals card that can appear in the Black Market has the opportunity to add new sneaky and conniving Traits to your criminal records, helping further develop your crew based on your actions. Traits like Discreet, Fearless and Menacing are some of the possible results from this card.

Shipyard Parts Salvage

If you hit the Shipyard Parts card during Salvage, the resulting stashes are larger and with more varied results between capital ship components, weaponry and small craft components which will make your life as a merchant perhaps more interesting but also more profitable if you can find the right outlets to sell.

v3.3.27 - 2/15/2023

- New Relic Armor (Level 9) : Pentaweave Mesh, Ranger Nine-Plate, Razorbright Stealth - Improved behavior of Armor Relic Salvage Card (better filter, less duplicates) - Improved Stash generation logic for "Shipyard Parts" salvage card (larger, more interesting stashes) - New Black Market card that generates sneaky Traits (Discreet, Fearless, Menacing) - Contacts on zones with higher Spice Rating live longer - Added colorful "death reason" to Logs for Contacts that died in Faction violence

[ 2023-02-15 22:29:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, Captains. We are going to do something a little bit different from the standard STF Community Challenges. We want to give you a chance to show off your captains and their first mates in our Captain Showcase. As always, you can participate here on Steam or on our Discord!
These showcases can take whatever form you would like. There are no required screenshots or similar like the challenges have. But here are some ideas for things you could share:

• Screenshots of your captain and first mate, showing off their outfits, traits, and stats
• Stories of their exploits in battle
• Tell us how your first mate became your captains number one
• Any other creative ways you want showcase your captain and first mate

Weve opened up a discussion here on Steam in the General Discussion forum for aIl of your posts. If you post on the discord, post in the #captain_showcase channel found in the STF category. We look forward to hearing all about your captains and their first mates!

[ 2023-02-06 17:00:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Trade, credits, money! Trade must flow across the galaxy, even when the local Princes think they can stop it. Trade must flow even when the local law forbids it. Here, come this way -- the Black Market awaits! Update #311 is dedicated to the crossing of Rumors and the Black Market. And a new piece of +Init gear to boot! If you like the on-going free updates to a game original shipped in 2017 or if you just think the number 311 is crazy, please take a minute to leave a review of tell a friend about our studio.

Our upcoming heist RPG is on the way!

Right now ~1,000 of the Kickstarter backers for Cyber Knights: Flashpoint have access to the games private alpha and are giving us great feedback as the game gets closer to Early Access. We also have some public demos on our roadmap for events coming up this fall. Make sure youve wishlisted and followed Cyber Knights for news and a special discount when its released! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Black Market X Rumors

The Black Market is now much better connected and influenced by local zone, system and event quadrant Rumors.
During rumors where illegal trade would naturally spike -- such as Pirates harassing shipping lanes or Xeno running amok in the quadrant -- Black Market confiscation of goods is reduced by 50%, making it easier to get your illegal goods to the market. For Rumors where Trade Law and all types of law would be lax -- such as Spice Festival and during the scourge of local system Xeno Rumors -- the odds of reaching the Black Market and reaching it with a high level of access are greatly increased.

Other Card Improvements

In the Black Market, we've also reduced the chance of the "Deadly Encounter" card being pulled, it was simply too heavily weighted for the mini-game. And in Salvage where the Trait Conditioning card appears, we've further increased the XP bonus if there is no character who has a Trait that can be conditioned.

New Init Gear

For those intrepid captains willing to risk salvage operations in the void, there is a new gear results possible on military salvage. The Hexbolt Injector is a rare piece of gear that can increase combat Initiative.

v3.3.25 - 2/1/2023

- During Pirate and Xeno Quadrant Rumors, Black Market confiscation risk reduced by 50% - Reduced the chances of "Deadly Encounter" card being drawn in Black Market - Substantially improved Black Market odds during Spice Festival, Xeno Fleet Rumors - Increased XP bonus when Trait Conditioning Cards cannot be triggered - New Level 5 Military Salvage Gear: Hexbolt Injector (Init Bonus Gear) - Minor performance improvements, fixed reported typos & crashes

[ 2023-02-04 22:17:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Captains, the spice hall is re-opening and let's get some updates in here! We took a much needed break over and after the holidays but it is time to ramp up the pace of updates again for our favorite space captain simulator. To get things warmed back up, we're catching up on the community reports of bugs and improvement requests that came in over the last month. A nice quality of life update to kick it off!

Ultrawide Support (21:9)

For anyone playing on an ultrawide with a 21:9 aspect ratio, we've fixed the issues with ship combat to ensure that you get a good combat experience.

Talent Fixes

We've fixed a bug with some debuffs like Unfaltering Ire where the Talent name was appearing over a randomized enemy instead of the actual target. For all Ship Combat Talents that increased Morale, we've fixed their implementation to be sure to always heal the right number of crew (if the healing is needed) -- so the Quartermaster's Rallying Cry correctly targets up to 20 crew and heals them by their Skill. Finally, we resolved some issues with Talents that added Plasma / FIre / Radiation Resistance working in reverse of the expected rules in some cases, where they could increase damage. This is a bug that slipped in during the upgrade to Auto-Combat so we're thankful to have it fixed now.

Ships and Components

With this update, we've fixed the mislink of data for Interlocking Sensor Matrix 5 and 6 which resulted in them having duplicated stats. Now they are properly differentiated. We've correctly linked the Neutiquam Cruiser to the Speciality Acquisitions achievement and lock. Remember, if you dislike playing with locks just play the modded version of the game without any mods. And of course, thanks for reporting typos in the game and in Steam achievements -- we fixed many!

Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?

We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, were telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.3.21 - 1/27/2022

- Improved ship combat screen for ultrawide screens (21:9 aspect ratio) - Fixed bugs with Plasma / Fire / Radiation resistance working in reverse or using wrong type - Fixed bug with debuffs like Unfaltering Ire printing Talent name over wrong target - Fixed Quartermaster's "Rallying Cry" to correctly healing the right number of crew (20) - Correctly locked Neutiquam Cruiser behind Specialty Acquisitions achievement - Fixed Interlocking Sensor Matrix 6 having duplicate stats with ISM 5 - Fixed typos in dialog, component descriptions and Steam achievements

[ 2023-01-27 19:20:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all, hope your quarters are cozy and your cargo holds full this season. :christmas_tree: :fire: :star: For all our captains in the void, our gift to you is a fresh update, #309: Flashing Signals. This year, we've taken a trip through the community suggestions and feedback and cherry picked a number of great quality of life suggestions and balance improvements to help us prepare for the new year. Thank you all for your support, feedback, posts, shares and reviews. We would not be here without all of you, so thank you, happy gaming and happy holidays!

New Year, New Game Coming!

We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, were telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Inline Combat Dice Results

Update #309 follows up on a great player suggestion to include the results of the dice rolls for movement, attack and boarding rolls inline in the on-screen display for each ship combat action. While all of this data is available in longform in the ship combat log, it is very helpful and educational to be able to see the numbers for the different actions flashing by. It immediately makes it far easier to get a sense of the tip of the balance and the sudden changes that a powerful buff or critical hit can have on the dice pools.
While the numbers flash by quickly, you can get the sense of the combat situation in a single series of salvos, seeing your own firing crew piling up 34+ successes on each attack and then enemy ranging from 19-28 gives you a strong sense of your own ability to land hits without having to dig through the full report of the combat log.

Merchant's Garner Favor

The Merchant's Garner Favor has long been a power Talent which yielded outside results rapidly -- granting a Reputation bonus up to your Negotiation Skill (!!) for a trade over $5,000. Previously, the balance on this power Talent was to cap its Rep gain once you hit positive 80 which reduces the overall usefulness of the Talent and targets it for Respec once it has outlived its usefuless. With Update #309, Garner Favor has been rewritten to be useful more broadly. Now, featuring a 10% + Negotiation Skill chance to granting a Reputation bonus on a $5,000+ trade it no longer needs a cap and can be evergreen beneficial. In addition, the possible Reputation bonus is based on the size of the trade, with each extra $2,500 in profit yielding a potential Rep bonus point. While this can cap out around 20 Rep per trade, the low level Talent now has room to grow and be useful in the Merchant's long-term kit.

Prize Ship Talents Improvements

With Update #309, we've rebalanced Prize Ship Talents to improve their profitability. The spread of Talent results has increased allowing a wider range for more profit balanced against more Reputation damage. In all, the profit %s are up and the Reputation damage numbers are down, so Prize Ship Talents are more competitive even as we widen their results range within the set.

Ship Components Flagged

Those ship components which are faction specific now have their faction origin displayed prominently in ship status and in the starport screen when you are considering replacing components. This can help you differentiate between icons with the same component, remember which specialized components you have and generally speed up shopping and ship analysis. Thanks to the players suggestion this one!

v3.3.19 - 12/24/20222

- In Ship Combat, results of dice rolls for move, escape, boarding and attacks are shown in results - Rebalanced Merchant's "Garner Favor" to use 10% + Negotiation chance to gain Rep Bonus, removed cap on Rep - Improved balance and profitability of prize ship talents, wider range of results enabling high profit or no Rep loss - Faction flags are now shown over ship components in all instances (ship status, starport ship layout, etc) - Clarified that reductions in Hyperwarp Jump time can never exceed 50% - Fixed crash in Auto-Battle for crew combat if character carried Sniper Rifle and trained AOE Talent - Fixed HUD overlap issues on iOS devices with white bar

[ 2022-12-24 22:05:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #308 adds 4 new pieces of gear you find in early-game Orbital Salvage and rebalances the life of the clothing merchant -- both regular Clothing and Luxury Clothing and increased the risks of Salvaging while Radiation Storms hover over the quadrant. Thanks to everyone posting feedback, reviews and sharing the game with friends this wintery season. The Pirate's Life Community Challenge is still on-going so be sure to join up and we'll see you on the boards --

Our upcoming heist RPG is on the way!

Right now ~1,000 of the Kickstarter backers for Cyber Knights: Flashpoint have access to the games private alpha and are giving us great feedback as the game gets closer to Early Access. Make sure youve wishlisted and followed Cyber Knights for news and a special discount when its released! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Early Game Salvage Loot

With Update #308, we've expanded the options for lootable items while Salvaging. These new items focus on survivability builds, increasing Armor, Fortitude and Initiative and are great starters but will likely be phased out by future purchases and discoveries during Salvage or stories. The new items include the Tarbax Plate (+Armor, +Debuff Res), Penta Scale (+Armor, +Dodge, +Fortitude), Galbreth Bright (+Resilience, +Debuff Res, +Deflection) and Memret Scale (+Armor, +Init).

Economics of Cloth

The life of a cloth merchant has gotten more interesting with Update #308 as the flow of both regular Clothing and Luxury Clothing has seen overhaul. There are minor and major changes to demand and production -- Farming zones are now major producers of Clothing while Industrial and Hi-Tech Orbitals have had minor increases to Luxury Clothing production. Population and Tradeway demand for clothing has increased. The voracious Luxury Population zones want Luxury Clothing even more than before. And there are some new vectors altogether -- Hi-Tech Orbitals no longer manufacture Clothing and Tradeways are now interested in Luxury Clothing where they were not before. And remember, all of these demand factors are scaled by the zone's Population, so the highly populous Lux Pop zones -- so seek out those large pop worlds for the best trade triangles.

Dangerous Salvage

Salvaging under dangerous conditions -- with disastrous Radiation Storms threatening on the horizon -- has become even more risky. Now, the "Reduce Duration" card which will slash the durations of other positive Rumors in the area savagely are even more likely to appear when you have Radiation Storm Rumors in the Quadrant. This is another way that the risk in Salvaging ticks up and that the local context is even more important to your choice of when and where to take these risks.

v3.3.17 - 12/6/2022

- Economy adjustments for Clothing, Luxury Clothing to improve trade flow - During Quadrant-wide Radiation Storms, Orbital Rumors will draw 50% more Rumor Duraction Reduction cards - Added 4 additional early-game Salvage loot items focused on combat survivability - New Military Gear: Tarbax Underplate - New Relic Gear: Penta Scale - New Medical Gears: Galbreth Bright, Memret Scaling - Minor performance improvements, fixed reported typos & crashes

[ 2022-12-06 20:05:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #307 follows on the Zucho Mil-Accords with an addititional positive Trait reward card for Salvaging, updated rules for all Trait cards from Salvaging, rebalances to key components like Water-Fuel Reclamation and a new useful bonus for all Meshes, Weaves and Coating ship components. Thanks to everyone sharing the game, posting to the forums and leaving a review as we drop this newest update. Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

Extended Pirate's Life Challenge

We've been thrilled by the number of captains jumping into the Pirate's Life Challenge and have decided to extend it through January of 2023. To keep it spicey and dicey, we've added two new wrinkles for you to try out if you want to -- or just play it under the original challenge rules! [olist]

Be a pirate against only a single faction. Pick one and be merciless.

Be a pirate against everyone. Be an indie pirate and go after every faction. How will you make it when everyone is turned against you? [/olist]

New Salvage Card: Far From Home

A new +5 Salvage card has appeared in Update #307, the "Far From Home" card grants a rare chance to gain a positive Trait from a short list of Traits that all improve Death Save, such as Durable, Lucky, Revenant and Life-Spark. Also, for all other cards that add Traits, we have improved the rules for how they seek and find crew to give those Traits to as well as ensuring that in the case that Traits can't be granted (everyone has all the Traits!) then large XP bonuses are granted instead and the result text is more clear.

Coating, Weaves and Meshes

With Update #307, we've improved the position in the meta for 3 wide categories of ship component types: Coatings, Weaves and Meshes. These components now help buff either Radiation or Void Resistance, making them more useful to a wider variety of ships.

Water-Fuel Reclamation 4

A number of components have been repriced and rebalanced in Update #307 as we are taking a moment to sweep the ship component catalog, improve balance, pricing and progression as we prepare for future adjustments. Water-Fuel Reclamation 4 now adds +18 more Water-Fuel (up to 48 now), reduces 4 more fuel when jumping (up to -16 now) and adds +2 more Navigation skill pool (up to 4 now). It is a significantly more appealing component and a more viable step up from WFR 3 now.

Late Era Stories

Update #307 also fixed an issue that was identified by the help of some highly experienced captains. In games with far advanced dates that had completed the final story Era, a bug introduced by modding support could prevent certain sets of new storylines from starting in the game. This bug did cover the recently added Zucho Mil-Accords and the follow-on story event we added for Consolidation / Dissension in Update #305. We also fixed a bug with the Research Lead contact added in Update #305 to fix the useless "Special Service" to a service offering Specialist Wing Gear.

v3.3.15 - 11/30/2022

- Improved trait-granting rules for "Impactful Expedition" Orbital Card - Added new rare trait-granting card focused on Death Save Traits (+5 Salvage Reward Card) - Hull Coating, Weaves and Meshes now grant some Radiation & Void Resistance - Completely Rebalanced "Water-Fuel Reclamation 4" - Repriced & rebalanced "Ferrochromium Plating" - Repriced & rebalanced "Iridlaentine Weave-Coating" - Fixed dead-end "Special Service" in Research Lead Contact to be Wing Gear - Fixed bug preventing new stories from proccing into very old saved games beyond the last Era - Minor platform support patches, fixed report crashes & text issues

[ 2022-11-30 19:43:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

What better way to welcome a 30% off deal for Autumn Sale than to launch update #306! Yes, that's update 3-0-6. A huge thanks to the community on Steam and Discord. for all the feedback and help improving the game and welcoming new captains to the void. If you're enjoying the game and the pace of updates, please take a moment to share it with a friend and post a review! With Update #306: Zucho Mil, we've added a new story event that will usually occur in the second half of the 3rd century AE and makes a new grade of craft available as well as adding a new orbital operation card.

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Earlier this year, we launched Cyber Knights: Flashpoints private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same tried-and-true process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. With 1,000 in the game now, development pace has picked up and were on the long march to release on Steam, so make sure youve wishlisted (and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Zucho Mil-Accords & Grade 8 Craft

Following on other major Trade Alliance events, the Zucho Mil-Accords features a triple military Alliance event and usher in an era of grade 8 craft. These most powerful new craft to hit starports are available through Syndicate channels only as these factions harden their stance against the Great Houses and Clans late in the third century AE. Visit De Valtos for the newest Frostburn VX6 interdictor, Cadar with the Poseidon heavy bomber and Rychart with the Swordbreaker XV shuttle for daring boarding operations.

New Risks Arise in Orbital

Late in the third century, it becomes more and more common for the factions to illegally deploy anti-ship mines in orbit to prevent piracy, protect salvage sites and try to ward off spies. Even those valiant militants patrolling to protect the void are at risk. The most famous of all types is the Zucho Anti-Ship Mine which begin to appear after the triple Alliance during certain types of Rumors including Terrox and Jyeeta Xeno rumors, Pirate and Solar War Conflicts. In additional, some types of Rumors -- both good and bad -- have become less likely to be ended early during Conflicts. The chance of any card that reduces Rumor duration such as Salvage or Blockade of cards that can reduce Salvage and Quarantine Rumors is now reduced during Conflicts. We've also addressed the recently reported crashes so a huge thanks goes out to everyone helping surface these issues.

v3.3.13 - 11/23/2022

- Added new story event -- Syndicate Zucho Mil-Accord -- which creates a triple military Alliance and releases grade 8 craft - New Interdictor: Frostburn VX6 (grade 8; De Valtos) - New Shuttle: Swordbreaker XV (grade 8; Rychart) - New Bomber: Poseidon Heavy (grade 8; Cadar) - After Zucho Mil-Accord, Zucho Anti-Ship Mines appear as Orbital Risks during Xeno, Jyeeta, Pirate and Syndicate Wars - During Conflicts Orbital Rumors will draw 50% fewer Rumor Duration Reduction cards - Minor performance improvements, fixed reported typos & crashes

[ 2022-11-24 04:19:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to Update #305, which adds new planetary artwork and a new set of late-game story events that further reward your story choices, show technological advancement in the factions and introduce unique components and Contact types. We're also excited to share the November community challenge - it's a Pirate's Life (For Me!) - join in the fun and the silly hats! https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/335620/view/3376037401308938450

Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?

We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, were telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Post Consolidation / Dissension Tech Progress

On the far end of the Consolidation / Dissension Era, there is already a story event in which a specific faction -- based on your actions or inaction -- gains a new technology that enables a powerful and unique ship component. As the years grind by and you continue to ply the void, these research advances are now allowed to further progress and in time, a second story event will occur which further improves the ship component category where the faction focused their advances -- Alta Mesa on the Battle Bridges, De Valtos on ECCM Screen Matrix and Thulun on Interlocking Sensor Matrix. Each component is the pinnacle of its chain of components and worthy of their high price tag. I'll skip further spoilers about the Era and the involved choices, but it is a new story event, ship component and even -- a new Contact type.

New Research Lead Contact

A new unique Contact will appear with the story event -- and this Research Lead has a great set of services, makes for a very powerful ally in a starport and recruits Pilots and a powerful secondary Job depending on the faction they are due to story choices. As some of the factions continue to develop their power centers around the Coalition, their research arms continue to break out ahead of the competition.

v3.3.11 - 11/24/2022

- Added new "Distant Glacier" Ice World outpost image - Added story event post Consolidation / Dissension, further research progress for factions - Meeting unique and powerful contact "Research Lead" - Gain access to new high-level component based on Era choices - Added new component: Alta Mesa stands to gain Battle Bridge 4 - Added new component: De Valtos can gain ECCM Screen Matrix 6 - Added new component: Thulun can gain Interlocking Sensor Matrix 6

[ 2022-11-15 03:37:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

As Update #304 installs itself into your local starport with some important component rebalances and a host of new high-level components to shop, we're also excited to share the November community challenge - it's a Pirate's Life (For Me!) https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/335620/view/3376037401308938450 Check out the full details of the update below and a huge thanks to everyone sharing the game, leaving a review and posting feedback and suggestions onto the Steam boards.

Our upcoming heist RPG is on the way!

Right now ~1,000 of the Kickstarter backers for Cyber Knights: Flashpoint have access to the games private alpha and are giving us great feedback as the game gets closer to Early Access. We also have some public demos on our roadmap for events coming up this fall. Make sure youve wishlisted and followed Cyber Knights for news and a special discount when its released! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Garden Outposts

The worlds of the Star Traders scattered across the quadrants are many, and we're excited to add two more art boards for landing zones to Garden world outposts.

Sensor Arrays Rebalances and Gain Lvl 5

With Update #304, we've revisited the catalog of Sensor Arrays and made some adjustments to ensure their progression is clearly expressed. Sensor Arrays provide more consistent bonuses across their progression from rank 1 to 4 and their installation and repair times are also correctly aligned with other small slot components. In addition, a new 5th rank Sensor Array 5 has come online granting best in class Navigation and attack bonuses as well as and matched Electronics with Sensor Array 4. The requirements for starports that can install Signature Dampeners have also been increased a bit as part of this rebalance.

Orbital Scoop 5

The estimates for all Orbital Scoop components were slightly too high and have been adjusted for this update. This should help prevent players from expecting more during fuel returned during Orbital operations. A good thing, now there is an Orbital Scoop 5 component that can provide the best in class scooping for your reduced fuel cost. Install a few of these for free ops!

Small Slot Medical Options

A new small slot Advanced Medical Chamber has joined the family and offers a superior +3 Medical Rating though it comes with neither Armor nor Shielding bonuses. The Shielded Medical Chamber now adds +2 Jump Cost to help keep it balanced within the small slot medical component options and keep it fairly weighted against the Reinforced Medical Chamber.

Advanced Hangar

In another win of a long run of wins for carriers, the Advanced Hangar Bay is now for sale in Thulun starports across the galaxy. Built for those captains looking to take an aggressive stance, the Advance Hangar Bay provides a place for a craft, bonus fuel and aggressive bonuses against enemy craft.

Ship Repricing

With the changes to components and all the adjustments to costs over the last few months, we've taken a moment to correct some ship prices. The Caliga Vindex has been raised to $2.1m credits and the Shizari Huntress has gained a much needed bump to $1.2m. These changes match up to the components installed on the hulls and ensure prize ship and resale prices provide fair values in the starport market.

v3.3.9 - 11/3/2022

- Added two new "Valley View" Garden World outpost images - Added new component "Advanced Medical Chamber" (Size 1) - Added new component "Sensor Array 5" (Size 1) - Added new component "Orbital Fuel Scoop 5" (Size 2) - Added new Thulun component "Advanced Hangar Bay" (Size 2) - Added Hyperwarp Jump Cost to 'Shielded Medical Chamber' - Rebalanced Sensor Array 1-4 - Fixed issues with Orbital Fuel Scoop Estimates - Adjusted ship prices for 'Caliga Vindex' and 'Shizari Huntress'

[ 2022-11-04 20:12:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Avast ye, Captains. Its time for the November 2022 STF challenge. Last time, we did a trade focused merchant challenge. This time, though, its all about piracy in the Pirates Life Challenge. Time to plunder, capture, and steal your way through the universe. This challenge is very open for how you want to play being a Pirate, but there are a few requirements. The requirements for this challenge are:

• No buying from faction worlds. You can buy from Indie worlds and sell at any world, but as this is a pirate challenge, we want to emphasize plundering and capturing goods from other ships!
• 5 of your crew must be conscripted. This requirement will take time to complete, but by the end of the challenge at least 5 of your crew need to have been conscripted from another ship.

Some ideas for what wed love to see:

• Screenshots of your stats on cargo looted and crew conscripted, your crew, your stash of loot
• Stories of your conscripted crew and how they became part of your team, your favorite pirating adventure/encounter
• Your strategies for being a pirate: how do you find your next target, what do you do with your plundered loot
• Any other creative ways you want to share to tell us how you became the universes most notorious pirate

No matter what you choose to share, please include one screenshot of your piracy stats (cargo looted and crew conscripted)!
Weve opened up a discussion here on Steam in the General Discussion forum for aIl of your posts. If you post on the discord, post in the #pirates_life_challenge channel found in the STF category. Yarr, its time to plunder, Captain! Looking forward to hearing about your adventures and exploits!

[ 2022-11-01 17:01:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

After a short break, we're back warming up the update train with Update #303 Patchwork. With a new environmental artboard and some adjustments to the Contact simulation, this minor patch gets things moving again with more to come. The last community challenge -- Merchant Mogul -- has wrapped up and the team is prepping the next exciting chapter of those challenges, so stay tuned. Thanks to everyone for the on-going support, sharing feedback and sharing the game!

New Art Board

We've added a new planetary artboard for the icy vastness of iceworld outposts. We've also tweaked and adjusted some of the recently added artboards for color and improved cropping.

Starting Contact Influences

WIth this update, we've tuned a number of Contact starting points for the betterment of the Contact ecosystem. The Retired Bodyguard and Racketeer Contacts have both had their starting Influence values reduced and their action pattern adjusted so that they are better at building Influence over time. On the other hand, we have increased the starting Influence for all Templar Contacts, including the Templar Militant, and also applied an additional Templar-only rule that slows their Influence pace changes, to reflect their Zendu ways.

v3.3.7 - 10/18/2022

- Added new 'Ice Outpost' planet artwork - Fixed bug with 'Zendu Lineage' Trait - Adjustment base influence for "Retired Bodyguard" & "Racketeer" - Revised influence equations for Templar / Templar Militant

[ 2022-10-19 03:35:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #302 continues to press on adding new scores to the game, adding new artwork for environments and addressing some quality of life UX work in buying ship components and selling Intel to Contacts. Most importantly, the new scores tracking for Conflicts opens up the possibility to add an entirely new type of player-direction mission where you're working to influence Conflicts directly -- any way you choose. That's an exciting future for a near-term update, but for now -- its Update #302!

Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?

We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, were telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Conflict Scores

Your captain's scores page now keeps record of exactly how much you've influenced any of the retribution justice Conflicts within the game. The scores are factionless, so they are counting only how many points you've added to *any* Solar War over your career. But, for bragging rights as the ultimate assassin, faction warrior or peacemaker these new scores are exciting record of your actions. The latest community challenge -- Merchant Mogul -- is making good use of the some of the recently added captain's scores and we're looking at some ideas how a new challenge could be created around these 7 new scores as well. We're always open to additional community challenge ideas, so please do share :D https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/335620/view/3374906503254336022

Remote or Minor Outposts

Update #302 adds another 5 new landing backgrounds for small urban zones nestled in among the beautiful wilderness remote environments -- small heat-shielded city in molten mountains, towers rising from misty jungles and peaceful settlements spread across idyllic garden-world scapes.

Buying and Selling Improvements

We've received a number of posts recently on the Steam forums about improvements we could make to different buying and selling UIs in the game so we've started on some of those items with Update #302. When shopping for ship components, your sort order is now remembered and we are continuing to discuss the use cases for remembering filtering -- it is coming soon! In addition, the scroll position in your Selling Intel screen is kept so that you can much easier target and sell multiple sets of records without as much work.

v3.3.5 - 9/20/2022

- Added 7 new Contact Scores to track your career's impact on Conflict Scores by type - See your impact on Solar Wars, Trade Bans, etc from the Scores screen - Added 5 new environment backgrounds for oceanic and radioactive worlds - Sorting choice is remembered between shopping screens for components - When selling Intel to Contact, the scroll position in the list is correctly remembered - Fixed issues with oceanic world Urban zone artwork selection logic

[ 2022-09-21 01:26:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, Captains. Its time for the September 2022 STF challenge. This time its all about trade in our Merchant Mogul challenge. Brush up on your bartering skills and try to remember where you secretly stashed those valuable goods. How will you influence the universe through trade? How much money will you make?
This is a trade focused challenge. Update 301 added six new trade scores that will help you to tell the story about building your trade empire. Here are the requirements for this challenge:

• Build a respectable cargo ship with at least 100 cargo space
• Thats it. No really, just the one requirement. We want you to have the chance to play how you want as you grow your wealth through trade.

Some ideas for what wed love to see:

• Screenshots of your trading stats: highest single trade, number of trades over $500k
• Your strategies for making money, how you impacted trade conflicts
• Your favorite port to trade in, your most profitable trade triangle
• Your own creative way to tell us about how you became the greatest trader

No matter what you choose to share, please include one screenshot of your trade stats! Weve opened up a discussion here on Steam in the General Discussion forum for aIl of your posts. If you post in the discord, post in the #merchant_mogul_challenge channel found in the STF category. Go make that money, Captain! Looking forward to hearing about your growing trade empire!

[ 2022-09-01 16:34:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #301 follows closely on the release of Wing Commando profession to fix 2 small bugs with the new Captain job as well as adding 6 new fun and competitive scores tracking your skill as a trader, a new option for easier play on laptops and PC tablets and 6 new art backgrounds for wilderness zones to make your time out of the void even more beautiful.

Our upcoming heist RPG is on the way!

Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Exchange and Black Market Scores

With Update #301, we're prepping for an upcoming community challenge and so added 6 new exciting scores for traders and smugglers. Your Captain Scores page will now report on the number of trades you made in the Exchange and Black Market that were up to the $50,000 and $500,000 thresholds in value. Rack up a couple of those and feel like a rich any mighty trader. In addition, the game is now tracking the value of your highest value trade in both Exchange and Black Market. Bragging rights activated -- make some hard earned credits and post up your scores!

Touch Screens Option

For those players who have a touchscreen where right click is not easily accessible -- such as those using Microsoft Surface, ultrabooks, or PC tablets -- we've now added a new option to make the game easier to run with only a touchscreen. In the options menu, you can enable "Touch Screen" option and then make sure that the "Touch to Navigate" option is set and you should be able to play with a stylus or a finger more easily.

Mountains, Wild and Remote

Update #301 adds another 6 new wilderness backgrounds for dangerous and remote environments -- desolate deserts, forgotten jungle clearings and towering mountain ranges. As you travel and explore the void, enjoy the new views.

Wing Commando Fixes

Wing Commando profession launched with a few small bugs! Sometimes, they were not allowed to take command of a shuttle and the game just kept insinuating that they lacked the training to handle the high g-force. Insulting! Now fixed. Also, the Attributes from the Profession Trait were wrong, now also fixed!

v3.3.3 - 8/25/2022

- Added 6 new environment backgrounds for remote wilderness - Added new Captain Scores to track highest value Exchange and Black Market trades of your career - Added new Captain Scores to track Exchange and Black Market trades over $50K and $500K - Added new option "Touch Screen" for desktop platforms with touch screens (Surface, etc) - Fixed bug preventing Wing Commando from being put into a shuttle - Fixed wrong Attributes for Wing Commando's Traits

[ 2022-08-25 20:49:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #300 launches some exciting changes to the carrier meta right out of the hangar bay at screaming high speeds. Your Captain can now train to pilot an Interdictor, Shuttle or Bomber and lead your wing squadron against the enemy. it's rich territory for the recent Top Gun Community Challenge and a new and fun way to enjoy your carrier with even more on the line than ever before. The update has also added new artwork for the worlds of the void, improved hovers and fixed bugs thanks to community input. Thanks to every captain for playing, posting reviews and telling a friend!

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Earlier this month, we launched Cyber Knights: Flashpoints private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same tried-and-true process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. With a thousand players in the game now, development pace has picked up and were on the long march to release on Steam, so make sure youve wishlisted (and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Wing Commando Profession

When setting up a new captain, you can now opt in to the high-risk, semi-crazy Wing Commando Profession. You are signing up to leave the bridge in your officer's capable hands and get shot out of a hangar bay at extreme speeds, hurtling toward the enemy hull to lead a deadly boarding operation ... sounds like the life! Wing Commando requires the challenging "Xeno Slayer" unlock or you can play the modded version of the game without mods to skip unlocks entirely. There are no starting ships in the game that come free with a Boarding Shuttle, so before you really begin your perilous and possibly short-lived career, you'll need to be able to afford one.
Don't like the unlock, just launch the modded version for no unlocks at all.

Captain, to the Hangar Bay!

Since Captains can now join the ranks of shuttle pilots, we've ripped the prohibition off all Wing jobs and now allow Captains to train into Wing Leader, Bomber or Command (as a Job, not your starting profession). Now your captain can mix with the best pilots on the crew and be a star in your Top Gun Community Challenge playthrough. Some may say it is unnecessary risk for the Captain to lead bombing runs but the Captain will tell you, there is nothing else in the void that feels quite like cracking a hull with a Buster or the pure fiery joy of intercepting a torpedo mid-flight.

Beautiful and Dangerous New Locales

Update #300 adds 6 new backgrounds for landed environments including 2 new desert wilderness locations, two new wilderness ice world locations, an ocean wilderness location and an idyllic garden outpost.

Fuel/AU Clarification and Bug Fixes

With Update #300, we have improved the hover over Fuel/AU to be clear that this value is an approximation which is heavily modified by travel conditions and tests. We've also fixed a bug where bonuses from Captian's Traits were not showing up in the ship status screen after ship upgrades.

v3.3.1 - 8/20/2022

- Added new unlockable Profession: Wing Commando! - Lead boarding assaults from your shuttle as a Captain Commando - Adjusted carrier-captain rules, Captain can now train as Wing Leader, Bomber or Commando (even without profession) - Added 6 new environment backgrounds for remote worlds and small settlements - Fixed display issue causing Captain's Trait not show in ship status after upgrading ship - Marked Fuel/AU for engines as approximation, clarified hovers - Fixed unlock typos

[ 2022-08-22 01:36:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Captains, it's been 4 years now since we launched Star Traders: Frontiers. Another year of expanding this universe, welcoming new players, fun new playthrough challenges, and booming Steam, Discord, and Reddit communities that continue to impress us with your ideas for us, helpfulness to each other, and creativity in your gameplay. Basically, we have a lot to celebrate! So this Sunday, at 8pm EDT, join us on Twitch for a celebration stream! Tune in for...

• dev chat!
• Cory seeing how far some of the cheat-ier mods you all have created can get him... on Impossible Difficulty ...
• a dive into the deep lore -- bring your questions and see what secrets you can get out of Andrew.

And before the Sunday night stream, we'd like to invite you to hop in our Discord and share a favorite moment, a gameplay story, or even just a link to a review you've left us. Everyone who does so may get featured in a commemorative image we're working on and will reveal during the livestream. Share your links / stories / gameplay memories before Sunday at noon Eastern for your chance to be included. Well see you on https://www.twitch.tv/TreseBrothers at 8pm Eastern, this Sunday August 7th!

[ 2022-08-05 15:51:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello, Captains. Its time for the July (and a little bit of June) 2022 STF challenge. Ride the Highway to the Danger Zone in our Top Gun Challenge! We want to see and hear the stories of your hot shot pilots and their exploits. Who buzzed the bridge after a battle? What happened during their shore leave beach volleyball game? Do they have the need, the need for speed? This is a carrier craft challenge. With the recent release of Update 299, you have access to a new starting carrier ship if you've completed the "Hunt the Hunter" unlock (or are playing the moddable version), in addition to all previously available options. Here is the outline of the guidelines for this challenge:

• Fly a carrier ship or install a launch bay onto the ship of your choice
• Have at least 3 wing pilots
• Use any mix of Bomber, Interceptor and Boarding Shuttles
• If you wish, use Custom Difficulty and max out Profit Boost to help accelerate getting ships, pilots, etc

While this is a carrier craft challenge, we want to hear about your Wing pilots. Tell us about their lives, their adventures, and their careers through screenshots, narrative write ups, stats, memes, etc. You can share them here or in our Discord. At the end of the challenge, we will highlight several of your Top Guns.

Show us your pilots and boast about their exploits with:

• Screenshots of your elite pilot team and (if they are lucky) their fabulous mustaches
• Stories of your pilots daring (perhaps dangerous) actions during battle, what they got up to at the spice hall, and how they came to be a part of your crack pilot team
• Stats on their battle prowess, battles won/lost
• Your own creative edits / showcases / celebrations of your pilots' adventures

No matter what you choose to share, please include one screenshot of your pilot team! We want to see your aces, your hot shots, and your pilots that like to bend the rules. If you post in the Discord, please post in the #top_gun_challenge channel in the STF category. We've also opened up a discussion on the general forum for all posts, questions and shares for this challenge! Fly into the Danger Zone, Captain. Looking forward to hearing about your pilots!

[ 2022-06-27 17:11:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

It is a hot time of the year for sales, so sit down in the cool captain's chair in your air-conditioned bridge (you bought the AC upgrade, right?) and command your ship and crew across the icy void. Come one, come all, join us in Star Traders: Frontiers for the Steam Summer Sale. This is the best price you'll see until Cyber Knight's: Flashpoint launches, so don't miss this one. Update #299 is a major carrier update, releasing the first and only starting carrier, the mighty Shizari Huntress. This also opens the door for modders to add their own starting carriers if they please. We've also added a new contact, improved the orbital UI to make spotting Contact's easier and fixed a small pile of other things suggested by community members. If you're enjoy the game, the pace of updates and all the free (299 updates ... no DLC ... wut?) updates, please remember to share the game with a friend and leave a review!

Our upcoming heist RPG is on the way!

Right now ~1,000 of the Kickstarter backers for Cyber Knights: Flashpoint have access to the games private alpha and are giving us great feedback as the game gets closer to Early Access. We also have some public demos on our roadmap for events coming up this fall. Make sure youve wishlisted and followed Cyber Knights for news and a special discount when its released! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Starting Carrier

When setting up a new captain, you can now start your game directly with the Shizari Huntress, a light-service carrier that bristles with long range weaponry as well as auto-cannons to augment its launch bay and dual hangar bays. This new priority (A) ship requires the challenging "Hunt the Hunter" unlock (or, you can play the modded version of the game without mods to skip unlocks entirely) but comes with an extra $60,000 of valuable craft installed in its hangars. The default configuration is a Wing Leader flying a Interdictor and a Wing Bomber flying a Bomber. For modders, ship components have also gained a new field "defaultCraft" which can be used to indicate what craft a component should slot when its being used for a starting ship, and the matching crew will join the ship as well.

Spice Hall Presser

Hanging around the spice hall, the presser is an unforgiving type of Contact, rounding up potential Pilots and helping them find their way to a captain who needs more hands. The Presser offers Pilot recruits, discounts on Spice and direct access to the Black Market. With the 4 new Contact types added in the last update, this latest push has greatly expanded the ability to get access to all the different recruit types you might need directly from Contacts, where the highest recruit levels and best Attribute bonuses are available.

Contact Hover

When visiting a system's orbit screen, you can now hover over the Contacts icon over either of the zones to see exactly which Contacts are there. This can be especially useful on systems with 2 zones and multiple Contacts to avoid landing at the wrong spot.

More Fixes

As usual, we've got a pile of other fixes thanks to everyone posting daily here on the Steam forums:

• Resolved the text overruns that were showing up on some resolutions for the new starting Contacts added in #298.
• Fixed an unlock image for Specialty Acquisitions which was actually a ship but just showed a big ?.
• Improved the screen flow for selling Intel / Scientific Intel to match other Contact services (subscreen closes on use).
• Adjusted more engine burners to be bettered centered.
• Improved spawn rates for 4 new Contact types added in Update #298.

v3.2.49 - 6/25/2022

- Added new starting carrier ship Shizari Huntress (unlock "Hunt the Hunter") to (A) priority - Light service carrier packs long range weaponry, auto-cannons and dual hangars - Added new Contact type "Spice Hall Presser" who recruits pilots, offers spice discounts and Black Market access - Contact hovers in system orbit screen list all Contacts by type and name - Fixed text overruns for new Starting Contacts on some screen resolutions - Fixed missing unlock image for Specialty Acquisitions - Screen flow when selling Intel or Scientific Intel to Contacts matches pattern for all services - Adjusted visual engine burners for Galtak and other ships during Hyperwarp jumps

[ 2022-06-26 03:43:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Stemming from an excellent conversation on the Steam forums, Update #298 adds 4 new starting Contacts to help balance out the mix of starting Contact recruits and services. With these 4 new starting options, we've also addressed a number of requests and bugs posted by the community in the last week -- all rolling up into an exciting new release. A huge thanks goes out to everyone posting on the Steam forums, sharing the game and leaving reviews. Your time and effort helps us keep developing and improving Star Traders: Frontiers as we near an exciting Update #300.

Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?

We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, were telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

4 New Starting Contacts

Four new unlockable Contacts have been added with Update #298, adding more options for key servicesl like Combat Armor and filling in missing melee recruit options. If you dislike playing with unlocks, keep in mind that you can just play the modded version without any mods and skip unlocks altogether. The Palace Guard (unlocked by Wraithful Corsair) is charged with defending palace visitors, royals and diplomats and can recruit Bodyguards, offer Introductions and has connections both for Edicts and Military Rank. Cruising the underground with a pack of ruffians and an eager blade, the Smuggler Rover (unlocked by Salvage Contractor) is likely to rob those they don't respect. If you can earn their respect, they recruit Blade Dancers, offer the Black Market, sell Rare Trade Goods, and have some connections above-the-shadows that allow them to offer low level Permits. Trained at the academy and hardened in fleet service, the Naval Doctor (unlocked by Pit Fighter V) has returned from their tour of duty and now works within the grav military. They can recruit Combat Medics, SellsArmor, Buy Intel and offer Military Rank as well.
The Retired Blademaster (unlocked by Master Adventurer) was once a deadly duelist or a revered Blade Dancer. Now, retired to their residence or school, eager fighters come to train at their feet or to hear the tales of their warrior days. The Retired Blademaster can recruit Swordsman, Sell Weapons and has their ear to th ground for Recruit Rumors.

Quality Updates

With Update #298, we've also ensured completed a few more tasks for the community:

• Hitting ESC and then clicking to go to the Main Menu always works, it only worked sometimes before
• The Hunna and Templar factions are always visible in the faction list
• The new Caliga Vindex (if you buy a new one!) has a better setup with the correct number of officer cabins.
• Fixed position of engine burner for some ships during Hyperwarp jumps -- we appreciate the reports!

v3.2.47 - 6/21/2022

- Added 4 new unlockable Starting Contacts - Palace Guard (unlock Wraithful Corsair) recruits Bodyguards, offers Introductions, Discounts Fuel, Rank, Edict - Smuggler Rover (unlock Salvage Contractor) recruits Blade Dancers, Black Market, Rare Trade Goods, Permit - Naval Doctor (unlock Pit Fighter V) recruits Combat Medics, Sells Armor, Buys Intel, Rank - Retired Blademaster (unlock Master Adventurer) recruits Swordsman, Sells Weapons, Recruit Rumors - Hunna and Templar factions are now always shown in faction list - Fixed issue with ESC > Quit to Main Menu not working in ship or crew combat sometimes - Repositioned engine burners for some ships, including Longbolt, during Hyperwarp jumps - Fixed too many Officer Cabins on Caliga Vindex

[ 2022-06-20 20:07:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #297 breaks out an all new Rare Trade Good, an all new 2400 Mass class ship with 6 officer slots and the long-requested option to gain more Hunna Contacts. Along with some key rebalances to improve Orbital Salvage, this one is full of exciting adds for your captain. Sell some Shards, buy a new ship, join the Hunna? Thanks to everyone posting feedback here on Steam and helping us continue to develop and improve this game.

Keep this game growing!

After four years of updates, Star Traders has received a lot of love, long past release. To keep it going, Andrew & I rely on two things: reviews for this game, and wishlists for our next! Reviews for Star Traders keep the game visible on Steam, please write a few words for us if you have a minute. Meanwhile, wishlists for our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG help us plan for the studios future (which includes future Star Traders games ). If turn-based squad tactics, creative stealth & hacking, and a unique 23rd-century dark future world sound like your thing, add to your wishlist today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Steel Song Caliga: 6 Officers at 2400M

The Caliga Vindex is built for Steel Song bounty hunters and clan assassins -- and rumored to have been designed in the first place for use by Faug Daen operatives. Architected for boarding, the Caliga has light weapons, solid defense and extreme speed. Appointments for six private cabins make it very attractive to Captains who prize officer space over all else. Coming in at a cool $1.8M, this is a small fast, ship that is touchy to configure by standout for its officer capacity.

New Rare Trade Good: Shards

This update has added a new Rare Trade Good, the Kraesline Shards. Know to be highly unstable and dangerous to transport, these goods can only be sold at Orbital Stations or Tradeways. However, they are in high demand to be used in new and developing industrial processes to refine both spice and duranium and are know to boost both the quality and profits of such processes. Kraesline Shards are rare, expensive and highly illegal. In addition to their high profit margins, they an above average impact on a Contacts' Influence when they are sold. Outside of purchasing Kraesline Shards from a Contact, this RTG can also be found in stashes recovered while Salvaging. Kraesline Shards will only appear as Rare Trade Goods for a specific quadrant in newly generated maps. However, they will appear in recovered stashes from Salvage in any game regardless of when it was started.

Hunna Contacts!

While a little late for the Hunna Snakes challenge (if you haven't given it a try, its a ton of fun and never too late to join in!), we've updated all cards that can create Contacts during Salvage to have a chance to also reveal or create Hunna Contacts as well as making these cards overall more likely to appear.

Salvage Cards

With Update #297, we've increased the XP rewards from XP cards drawn during Salvage if you are crazy enough to salvage while under an Ion Storm or Radiation Storm Rumor. Also, in the cases when Jyeeta Debris Field cards can appear -- during the Jyeeta Era, during certain Rumor events, and afterwards -- we've increased the chance that these cards will appear to ensure their threatening presence is properly felt.

v3.2.45 - 6/15/2022

- Added all new Rare Trade Good: Kraesline Shards - Added 'Kraesline Shards' to loot tables for recovered stashes - Maps generated may now contain Quadrants that supply Kraesline Shards - New Ship: Caliga Vindex (Steel Song, 2400M Officer-Focused Space Yacht) - Salvage Cards that create Contacts can now create Hunna Contacts - Greatly increased spawn rate for 'Contact Rescue' Salvage Card - Increased XP bonus Cards for Salvaging during Radiation Storms - Increased spawn rate on 'Jyeeta Debris Field' Salvage Card

[ 2022-06-15 20:59:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

You can hear the Interdictor engines screaming as they whip out of the launch day -- one, two, three rushing headlong into the void, rushing to meet the incoming torpedoes and bomber wings. Update #296 dives back into the high-adrenaline life of a defensive Wing Leader and helps buff up their ability to stop incoming Bombers from reaching the capital ship. Also, with this update, we've rebalanced and tweaked how all anti-Radiation and Ion Storm Talents work (better!) so check that out as well. A huge thanks to everyone posting feedback, the great discussions about balance. If you are enjoying the on-going updates, be sure to tell a friend and leave a review.

Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?

We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, were telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Defensive Interdictors

With Update #296, we've integrated some great feedback from the community (thanks @Innocent!) to help improve the balance in favor of defensive Interdictors having a better shot at really stopping enemy bombers from reaching your ship, even as they shoot down incoming capital ship long-range fire. First, defensive Interdictor Initiative has been adjusted to always trump that of Bombers. Therefore, defensive Interdictors always get an attack against an incoming Bomber before it can complete its bombing run, removing the chance that the Bomber wallops your capital ship and then your Interdictor shoots it down. Second, we've fixed a long-standing issue (which also could cause a crash at times) where the Wing Tech "Knock from the Void" Talent could conflict with an Interdictor's targeting choice and cause the Interdictor to miss its turn because its target was Knocked. Interdictors are now coordinating with your ship's Wing Tech to make their choices around this and will never waste a turn, assuming there is another Bomber target. If a target is Knocked from the Void, then it is not subject to any attacks for the turn (that has always been the rule).

Anti-Radiation and Ion Storm Talents

Navigators, E-Techs, Engineers and Scientists all provide Talents to help shield your ship and crew from Radiation Storms (quadrant) and Ion Storm (system) Rumors. With this update, the balance on these Talents has adjusted a bit, as some can provide additional XP or even create Scientific Intel. All of the Talents now shield your ship and crew from the ravages of the storm while still capable of granting additional bonuses (the XP boosters / Intel creators used to not shield you...). In addition, while you have the Talents on cooldown, these have gone from a partial shielding (reducing damage) to a full shield (no damage). So, stocking up on a few crew members with these capabilities is even more helpful now for your ship than before. To offset this balance shift, we've adjusted the cooldown on these Talents by a small amount -- +1 week for the regular shields and +3 to +4 weeks for the ones that pack extra bonuses.

Additional Fixes

With #296, we've also fixed a search string issue with searching contacts (you could search "sells weapon" but needed to search "buy Intel") and updated the hover text to be clear -- buys / sells is correct in all searches. We've fixed a visual display issue in upgrading components where the bonuses from your components stacked every time you opened the screen (+4% ... then +8% ... then ...) -- now the values stay correct in the display all the time. Finally, thanks for the report on the broken hat -- the character's hair no longer sticks out through hats :D Derp!

v3.2.43 - 6/1/2022

- Defensive Interdictors always trump attacking Bombers Initiative - Knock from the Void Talent no longer crosses badly with defensive Interdictors and prevents bombing attacks - Improved effect of all anti-Radiation and Ion Storm Talents; when available they completely mitigate damage - Extended cooldowns of all anti-Radiation and Ion Storm Talents 10-30 Turns - Fixed issues with Scientist "Amplified Assay" and "Distortion Field Survey" not triggering for Ion Storms or Rad Storms - Fixed search string for contact to use buys/sells (Buys Intel, Sells Weaponry) instead of buy/sells - Fixed crash with small craft combat and Knock from the Void or Emergency Grounding - Fixed issue with ship bonus displays doubling and tripling upon multiple opens of upgrade components - Fixed issue with hair clipping around hat

[ 2022-06-01 21:28:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #295 focuses solely on UI improvements around a big part of any Star Traders job -- plotting routes through the void, from one quadrant to the next, sometimes running missions, sometimes seeking grav services and sometimes hunting deals on cargo. These improvements all stem directly from requests here on the Steam boards, so thank you for posting them. Also, a big thanks goes out to everyone helping us share the game, leave a review or tell a friend. The Hunna Snakes Rule! challenge is in mid swing this month, so if you're looking for a new way to play and experience the void, this is a great way to test your limits -- https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/335620/view/3225150323270014742 Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

Galactic Map Hovers

We've added 2 major improvements to the hovers over quadrants on the galactic map. The first is to display a list of all Contacts who reside in that quadrant and are known by name, where previously we gave a simple count. This can help you look for specific contacts by name or by type as you plan your way across the stars.
Second -- specifically for mission runners -- we've added some very important details about offered and accepted missions. Again, where previously there was simply a count ("3 offered missions") we are now showing the mission title and the Contact who gave or is offering the mission. Now, when previewing missions from your Contact mission screen, you can make sense of the larger spread of missions and make better choices, faster.

Search Examples and Boolean Logic (AND, OR)

To help more players find and use search effectively, we've added a set of hovers over the Contact and Star Atlas search boxes. These give a pretty awesome set of examples you are not going to want to miss. With the right search terms, you can find what you're looking for faster with just search over filters but the two combine nicely.
In addition to combining with filters, you can now use up to 2 search phrases combined with either OR or AND logic. Search likes "edicts AND trade permits", "sells water pur AND sells advanced med" come into play and make looking for higher value combinations much easier and faster.
As always, we love working directly off some of the best feedback on the Steam forums. We're grinding through a cycle of QoL and UI improvements before diving back into a summer of story content, so post up your good ideas now :D

v3.2.41 - 5/15/2022

- Quadrant hover in galactic map now lists accepted and offered mission title and contact - Quadrant hover in galactic map now lists known Contact by title and name - Contact / System Atlas / Map Preview search now support use of one OR and AND per search (spy recruits AND edicts) - Contact / System Atlas / Map Preview search boxes now have hovers with useful examples included

[ 2022-05-16 19:16:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Its been a while, but we are back with a new challenge for the month of May 2022! Star Traders are independent and dont need the establishment to be successful. In this challenge, we want to see you reject those faction phonies. You play by your own rules, and if they don't like it: tough. Who will acquire success without ever being part of "the system" -- and who isnt afraid to make some enemies along the way?
To qualify for this challenge, your Captain must never acquire a military rank, edict, or even a trade permit with any faction. Your Captain must also never accept missions from any Contact representing "the man" -- Princes, Warrant Officers, Military Officers -- Only those who flaunt those rules are worth are consideration. No missions from ANY Contact unless:

• they also offer Black Market access
• are Hunna / Independents
• are Calagan Faen or Valencia, up to the point Valencia joins the Hunna

All other Contact services, such as selling Intel, recruiting and purchasing equipment are allowed with any Contact, regardless of their affliation. Show and tell us about your fiercely independent captain and crew with screenshots and stories, stats, lets plays, interpretive dance videos, etc. You can share them here orin our Discord. At the end of the month, well highlight several with the Trese Brothers flashlight.

Show your indie stripes and boast about:

• Your favorite Indie Planet, your ship, your Indie crew with screenshots
• How you built your Indie crew, stories of missions from your favorite Indie/Hunna contact, and the challenges of working on the fringes
• Your strategies to survive outside the system: making money, finding supplies, trading partners, upgrading/buying ships
• Stats of your reputation with various factions, number of missions you complete
• Your own creative edits / showcases / celebrations of your adventures

No matter what you share, we ask that you include at least one screenshot of your Indie crew roster. Show off your coolest officers and crew and their Indie flag! If you post in the Discord, please post in the #hunna_snakes_rule_challenge channel in the STF category. We've opened up a discussion on the general forum for all posts, questions and shares for this challenge! Cant wait to see em Captains. Stick it to the man!

[ 2022-05-04 16:21:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

With Update #294, Star Traders: Frontiers joins the celebration of everything rogue-y on Steam with a 35% discount, improved carrier meta, better ship dry dock UI and improvements to the recently added auto battle option in crew combat. Thanks to everyone in the community for posting feedback and suggestions! Check out the full details below --

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

We're recently back from Cyber Knights: Flashpoints demo stint on the floor at PAX East where we joined the PAX Rising showcase, a group of 12 indie dev's hand picked by the Penny Arcade team. With that exciting show behind us, we're back to the private alpha test for our 1,000+ Kickstarter backers and back on the long march to release on Steam. So, cyberpunk heist RPG lovers -- make sure youve wishlisted (and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Craft Meta Shift

With Update #294, we have removed the original (and confusing) rule that Skill points from Wing Jobs that involved getting into a craft -- such as Wing Leader, Bomber, Commado and Saboteur -- did not count toward the Skill pools to operate and run your capital ship. While this had some merit in the game's meta and balance, it is overly complicated especially in the case for Officers or Wing Bomber's Tactics Skill. With Update #294, we've removed the rule which is a net positive for carrier crew and craft -- the Skills of your craft pilots contribute to Ship pools like everyone else.

Better Dry Dock

When previewing a ship in Dry Dock or looking to install a new component within the ship starport, a ship now correctly displays its bonuses stack like +Accuracy %, +Escape Dice, etc. This is especially helpful when shopping for ships to get a clear idea of what types of bonuses are coming out of the gate with the hull and its default components. We also fixed one reported crash while selling ships. Thanks to everyone reporting bugs!

Auto-Battle Fixes

A big thanks to everyone sharing feedback and posting bugs on the new Auto-Battle feature. We've now resolved the one class of bug that was reported -- that various movement Talents could feasibly move your own squad into the enemy ranks and just .... mess *everything* up! With this fix in #294, everything is looking clean for Auto-Battle to ride into the sunset and slay endless enemy combat crews!

Hideout Clarification

We've provided a much needed clarification to the Smuggler's "Hideout" Talent with this update -- specifically that this Talent only protects mission packages, prisoners and passengers and not regular cargo from search and seizure. Based on the discussion around this clarification, we've started looking into how we could add some of the other possibility -- hidden smuggler compartments -- that would actually hide illegal *cargo* from search and seizure. We'd love to hear you thoughts on this one!

v3.2.39 - 5/2/2022

- Boost for Carrier-meta: all Wing Jobs (Leader, Bomber, Commando, Saboteur, Tech) now contribute their skill pools normally to ship - Ship Upgrade and Ship Dry Dock now correctly lists bonuses like +Accuracy and +Escape - Fixed Auto-Battle issue with Talents moving your team forward or backward would push them into enemy lines - Clarified description of Smuggler's "Hideout" Talent to be clear -- only protects mission items - Fixed bugs with some modal dialogs crashing on double click - Fixes issues with crash reporting

[ 2022-05-03 02:43:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Captains, we're back at PAX this year! Our upcoming game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint was selected for the PAX Rising Showcase, a group of 12 indie games hand-picked by the PAX team for a spot in the Expo Hall. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/ Even if you're not going to PAX, this means more in store for you, including a new studio chat in Discord next week (Star Traders questions always welcome!), and a giveaway of one of these awesome Cyber Knights posters:
Follow @TreseBrothers on twitter for sights from the show! (You know Star Traders is on twitter and Facebook too, right?)

If you're also going to PAX...

You'll find us 10am-6pm in the PAX Rising section of the Expo Hall, booth #13091.
We'll have:

• a playable Cyber Knights demo level, with three different versions of the Vanguard for you to choose from
• at least two more chances to win a Cyber Knights poster
• a unique photo opportunity
• a ton of excitement to chat with anyone who's already a Trese Brothers fan!

Hope to see you there! Have a great weekend!

[ 2022-04-20 04:26:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #293 follows on after Update #300 (what madness is this, it's April Fools!) with a major quality of life upgrade for combat captains, a powerful balance improvement for mission runners, new content for the crew barks system and fixes for Blade Dancer and the Templar storyline. We're hard at work again, knocking off the major quality of life and rebalance requests from the community. If you are enjoying the improvements, please take a moment to leave a review, post some feedback or share our game with a friend.

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Earlier this year, Cyber Knights: Flashpoints private alpha test went live for our Kickstarter backers, following the same tried-and-true process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. With a thousand players in the game now, development pace has picked up and were on the long march to release on Steam, so make sure youve wishlisted (and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Auto-Battle!

When it comes time for the rapid takedown, we've made a lot of improvements over the last year to help combat captains play faster. An upgraded suite of keyboard shortcuts and the high speed combat option to skip animation and SFX have both helped. But compared to the newest Auto Battle option, these previous improvements are tepid spice beer compared to a heaping spice plate. Auto Battle --

• Uses the same AI controlling the enemy to control your team
• Uses all your Talents, healing and attacks automatically
• Resolves combats very quickly, especially when combined with Fast Combat option
• Can win easily if you are in a commanding position -- if you outclass the enemy or you've already cleared half the enemy team, Auto Battle will help you mop up. If the enemy is a lineup of E-Techs and Navigators, Auto Battle can give you that rapid takedown experience.
• Should be used carefully in evenly matched combats where every decision counts. In closely balanced battles, Auto Battle will duke it out but will not be able to use your team's combat builds as optimally as you could.
• Can be quickly turned off - click the toggle to get control again
• Will never Surrender and always fight to the death
• Is not responsible for deaths to your team members -- Use at your own risk!
• Starts disabled with each new combat. To a void mistakes where Auto Battle runs the first few (woops!) turns of a xeno combat, it always starts disabled

Auto Battle always starts disabled and as soon as you engage it your team will take care of the rest. We recommend trying out Auto Battle option in a few safe situations -- when the enemy is down to 2 crew, when the enemy is far lower level than you, when your fighting mostly enemy ship crew boarding -- to see how it feels with your combat crew. The Auto Battle AI uses basically the same AI as the enemy, so it may not be able to use your combat crews optimally, may not buff in the order you like or may heal less than you'd chose to -- etc. We're excited to hear your feedback -- especially from boarding-heavy captains -- to see how this helps and what we could do to further tune the Auto Battle AI.

Red Badge Priority Drop

With Update #293, Reputation mitigation Talents like the Diplomat's "Adept Mediation" or Spy's "Stealth Op" will activate before the Bounty Hunter's more generalist "Red Badge". This is a boon to captains who specialize in these skill-focused Talents, enabling you to save your Red Badge for a later mission step that might not have Stealth or Negotiation options. The Bounty Hunter bearing an Edict has always been able to use Red Badge to reduce Reputation loss on any type of mission step in urban zones (not Exploring). Historically, it always went first. Many captains found this to be a disadvantage to the newer Rep mitigation Talents and we've finally caught up with the change that activates Red Badge always as a last resort.

Clarified Ritualized Retreat

We have fixed the description of the Blade Dancer's "Ritualized Retreat" Talent to be much clearer about what Black Market cards it can protect against -- that is, only cards that include "Cargo Lost" in their title specifically. It does not protect against encountering hostile security squads.

New Barks -- Thanks Twitch!

In a recent Twitch stream on our Twitch channel, Cory hung out and chatted and gathered awesome suggestions from the community to improve and add to the already huge set of barks in the game. Another 20 entries were added for specific Traits.

v3.2.37 - Rapid Takedowns

- Enabled hotkey and button to toggle auto-combat in Crew Combat (AI will resolve for you) - Added button to toggle fast combat in crew combat - Added 20 new barks for crew Traits - Adjusted order of Mission Rep Loss mitigation Talents -- Blood Badge will run AFTER other specific Skill (Stealth, etc) Talents - Corrected description of Blade Dancer's "Ritualized Retreat" Talent to only cover Cargo Lost cards - Fixed bug allowing reclaiming (and then using) Templar gear

[ 2022-04-07 15:27:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

One of the things weve always been quietly proud of in Star Traders is the wide variety of faces available within the game. But even before we added official modding support to the game, some of the first unofficial mods were graphics replacements players created to further customize the games character art or add in their own faces & clothes. Now with fully-supported Steam Workshop modding available, its even easier, more reliable, and weve seen some modders getting pretty creative with it. So creative we may have gotten a little jealous. Seeing modders getting a chance to put a whole new spin on the game, from tributes to other franchises to rebalances that create new playstyle opportunities not to mention all the straight-up improvements some modders are claiming Improved Ship Combat Icons, Sound FX Overhaul, Larger Cargo Holds this is what comes from creating a Captain simulator, everyone thinks they can run the ship better. ;) So, we dug deep into our graveyard of code fragments, searching for a half-finished time-travel wormhole wed written off all the way back in Early Access as too dangerous to complete, and let our wounded pride throw caution to the solar winds. Why a time travel wormhole, you might ask? Because how else in the midst of Cyber Knights development, spring travel, and tax season were we going to find the time for this: a full faces revamp featuring entirely new*, 100% original** crew art now available to you within the game.
We asked Andrew to art better this time, and boy did he! While the original faces were a collaboration between Andrew as Creative Director and our professional art team partners, the revamped crew faces are a fully in-house effort only "lightly" inspired from their original work, and we think youre going to love the results.
Each face features:

• 20-50% more pixels
• fine-tuned adjustments to key facial features
• bold new interpretations of classic sci-fi tropes
• exciting speculative guesses at alternate evolutionary possibilities
• increased immersion through stronger representation of the effects of centuries of drinking the water-fuel

Okay, so youve hopefully figured it out by now, but if not: [spoiler]April fools![/spoiler] This is not a real game update. BUT IT IS A REAL GAME MOD! If you want to, you can actually play with these ludicrous, outlandish, unexplainable, sometimes unfortunate faces, by playing the mod version of the game and adding our new mod, Star Derps. All 100+ of the crew faces have been replaced with new versions. Try it out, you might even find a few youd like to grab from the modded spritesheet and add into a less outrageous mod of your own. For-real props to all our modders, who have created some truly fun stuff for the game. Check out the other mods now available for Star Traders and leave some comments to encourage them to make more, and dive into the Making Mods section of the wiki to learn how to make your own. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2787587653&searchtext=

[ 2022-04-01 13:11:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #292 was born directly from a lively and productive conversation here on the Steam boards about the System Atlas and its display of accurate or inaccurate trading conditions. While we were in there, we added some clarifications to the in-game text about the thresholds at which trading into certain rumors -- Trade Blockade and Embargo -- can yield Reputation bonuses. And to make it look good, we also dressed Update #292 in a new helmet and awesome translucent visor to boot.

Help Us Support Ukraine

My brother Cory and I have worked closely with amazing partners in Ukraine to dream, design and create the art for our next game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint over the past 3 years. Over the years, our partnership has grown to friendship as we spent countless hours working with these wonderful and talented people. The entire Trese Brothers team is worried for our friends, their children, their families and their country. They need our prayers, our monetary support and our voices raised in solidarity. Their country and millions of refugees are in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medical supplies. We hope you will join us in giving to some organizations trying to ease the suffering in Ukraine. Here are a few options: Ukrainian Red Cross Project HOPE Docotrs without Borders

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint?

Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. The private alpha is in full swing with over a 1,000 players, so get your cyber ready. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

System Atlas Gets Lively

This update brings a major upgrade to the way the Star Atlas displays buy and sell information for places you've visited. It's something we've been tinkering with ideas for for a while, and recent discussions in the community helped us prioritize pushing this through to completion. Thanks all for the feedback! Previously, the Star Atlas would display supply and demand information based on the system type, zone type and economic rating. This gave players a good "usual conditions" benchmark for what they could expect to buy & sell in different zones, but was frequently mistaken for a live display of current prices. Without additional tracking on your own, it could be difficult to remember as you made numerous trades along a route where your last trades had left demand for certain goods, or where there was still an affordable supply of another.
Now we've made it so that the Star Atlas remembers and displays supply & demand information unique to each zone, based on your last visit to that zone. Your crew logs the local pricing to the ship's data cores each time you depart, where it will remain "fresh" for up to half a year (21 weeks). After 21 weeks, the Star Atlas will revert back to showing an estimate for that zone, with a helpful reminder displayed that the information may be inaccurate as you haven't visited that location in a long time.
This is a big boon for traders executing shorter trading trips and triangles and greatly reduces the need to check and double-check economic conditions before leaving port. May your trades glitter!

New Visor and Helmet

Update #292 adds a new translucent visor, interjecting display over reality to help combatants and ship crew alike do their daily tasks. Looking cool, looking blue. We've also added a new helmet, hitting the milestone of 15 total hat/helmet options. Perfect for some of the combat armors, this helmet is for battle-hardened combat crew or your wing pilots.

Trading Rumor Clarifications

With this update we have improved the data displayed in the Exchange if you are making a sale and the Trade Blockade or Embargo Rumors are active. The messages there now include the specific threshold of sale value (for example, $1,500 for Embargo) before any Reputation bonuses can be gained. Small sales will not move the Rep needle, which is now nicely messaged in game.

v3.2.35 - 3/23/2022

- Added new helmet and new pair of translucent eyewear for characters - If zone has been visited within 1/2 a year, Star Atlas supply / demand data is accurate - Star Atlas supply / demand data will include cargo types that are not being bought or sold due to lack of supply / demand - Clarified rules for Rep bonuses when trading under Rumors "Trade Blockade" and "Embargo" in game

[ 2022-03-24 14:24:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #291 brings some important upgrades to the power levels achievable through Contact recruiting, fixes screen display and resolution for smaller resolution monitors, adds an important option for anyone playing on the Steam Deck and drops one more Talent into the oh-so-useful Talent Manifest.

Help Us Support Ukraine

My brother Cory and I have worked closely with amazing partners in Ukraine to dream, design and create the art for our next game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint over the past 3 years. Over the years, our partnership has grown to friendship as we spent countless hours working with these wonderful and talented people. The entire Trese Brothers team is worried for our friends, their children, their families and their country. They need our prayers, our monetary support and our voices raised in solidarity. Their country and millions of refugees are in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medical supplies. We hope you will join us in giving to some organizations trying to ease the suffering in Ukraine. Here are a few options: Ukrainian Red Cross Project HOPE Kyiv Independent

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint?

Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. The private alpha is in full swing with over a 1,000 players, so get your cyber ready. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

Steam Deck Screen Size Option

In the last update, we made some changes to the screen resolution detection to better cater to the Steam Deck hardware. It had some unexpected consequences for players on lower resolution monitors. We've addressed that in Update #291, by rolling back to the old resolution detection and adding an option in the Options menu for "small screen display". If you're playing on a Steam Deck (lucky you!), toggling this option on and you may find the game's interface better caters to the smaller screen. May you like it the big screen way too -- you get to pick!

Contact Recruit Levels ^^

With Update #291, we've made some significant upgrades to the Contact Recruiting service. All the numbers got bigger! To help Contacts provide better recruits into the late and mid game, we've upgraded their service to recruit character levels at 2X the Contact Service level which ranges from 1-8. So, instead of base levels for your characters from 1-8, you can now range from 1-16 (level 1 still recruits level 1). In addition, we've bumped the bonuses of passing Eras from +10 over all of the Eras in the game to +12. Therefore, late game Contacts in the final Era will be offering level 28 Officers and Crew recruits, not counting any Edicts, Military Ranks, Permits, Traits or Rumors that may further increase those values. To even out the big new improvement to Contact recruiting, the minimum thresholds for Effective Rep and Influence have been significantly raised as well as the Personal Rep and Credit cost of recruiting. Truly high-end recruits are costly, especially if you are considering cycling through a few to look for the best Traits and Attributes, but as always -- compared to Spice Hall or Conscription -- they do have the best Traits and Attributes!

Talent Manifest

If you see a Talent missing from the manifest, please report. Thanks to a report, we've now added Sample Analysis to the on-landing Talent stack in the manifest for those adventurous spirits seeking Scientific Intel.

Mission Updates

Thanks to reports from the community, we have also fixed a number of issues with different missions. Some missions that failed to mention the name of the destination zone in their text have been corrected and other places were Prisoners were being transported and there were missing nouns in the mission options have also been fixed. Big thanks to everyone reporting issues!

v3.2.33 - 3/15/2022

- Improved Contact Recruit services across the board to recruit higher level characters (service level x 2) - Increased Credit, Personal Rep Cost and thresholds for Effective Rep and Influence on all Contact Recruit service levels - Added Scientist "Sample Analysis" to Talent Manifest - Fixed multiple missions that failed to list destination zone names in text - Fixed issues with Prisoner missions where there was missing nouns in mission options - Fixed issue with lower resolution screens converting UI to Steam Deck UI, added option to play in small screen mode

[ 2022-03-15 16:57:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings, captains. We have Update #290 coming out tonight but first we wanted to focus on something much more important

Help Us Support Ukraine

My brother Cory and I have worked closely with amazing partners in Ukraine to dream, design and create the art of Cyber Knights: Flashpoint over the past 3 years. Over that time, our partnership has grown to friendship as we spent countless hours working with these wonderful and talented people. The entire Trese Brothers team is heartsick and worried to see the invasion and wanton destruction of their country missile strikes hitting hospitals, apartment buildings, even kindergarten schools. We are scared for our friends, their families and their children. They need our prayers, our monetary support and our voices raised in solidarity. Their country and thousands of refugees already need food, water, shelter and medical supplies. We hope you will join us in giving to some organizations trying to ease the suffering in Ukraine. Here are a few options: Ukraine Direct Relief Project HOPE Kyiv Independent

Exo Suit Outfits

Our 290th update adds 2 new customizable outfits which are matching uniforms for the masculine and feminine characters. You can also mix and match these with any other outfits and for some matches, it is looking awesome!

Controller Configs / Steam Deck Prep

In preparation to apply for verification with the Steam Deck, we've assigned 3 default controller configs for the game. The Steam Deck one was put together on our testing hardware and the Steam Controller and XBox Controller configs come out of the community -- so thanks for posting up awesome configs, team.

New Game: Skip Intro

Occasionally, we get a little confusion from some players when the Skip Intro checkbox missing on a new install or after wiping all their saved games. For most players, this is never noticed but we've adjusted the code to ensure that the Skip Intro option is always available, even to a completely new captain who has never before played or a player who has no saves on the local machine.

v3.2.31 - 2/26/2022

- Added default controller configs (Steack Deck, Steam Controller, XBox) - Added 2 new outfits - Skip Intro option is always shown in New Game regardless of save counts - Improved modding support for modders

[ 2022-02-27 02:14:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #289 takes a turn and swings back through the Rumor section of the simulation to see the completion of some long needed tweaks and the addition of a Rumor affinities system that helps better match Rumors to applicable systems and zones to deliver more compelling and impactful results. We've also fixed and improved a number of other things with Update #289, working from community requests -- blocking more early game Rumors, repricing the Explorer extraction components and fixing odd bugs with the new ship comparison display. Plus, from our on-going work with the modding community, we've improved some of the visual modding support and are looking forward to the upcoming release of some new exciting character design mods.

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Earlier this month, we launched Cyber Knights: Flashpoints private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same tried-and-true process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. With a thousand players in the game now, development pace has picked up and were on the long march to release on Steam, so make sure youve wishlisted (and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Rumor Affinities

With Update #289, we've added a new system of Rumor affinities that improves the matching between the system and zone type and the Rumors that can be generated along with it. This system both helps to avoid certain silly situations -- such a Surplus on a Lux Population world that produces nothing -- but also strengthens the thematic appearance of Rumors in the right places -- Mining zones are more prone to civil unrest, oceanic systems are more prone to Ion Storms, Farm zones are more likely to have Surpluses, Orbital zones are often running into Shortages. We've loaded in about the first 30 affinity matches and are excited to keep extending and improving this system. The new Rumor affinities system also gave us a chance to review and improve some of the Contact events taken in response to Contact actions taken when a positive economic Rumor was on their zone. We have increased the strength of these actions -- helping an ally, creating an additional positive Rumor, gaining Influence by 20% -- making the impact of positive economic news felt more strongly. We have also improved the text on many of the event logs for Rumors (bottom right) as well as the entries going into the captain's log to ensure they are more helpful and clear.

Early Game Rumor Blocks

To avoid unfair and messy situations in the first 2 years of the game, we've extended the block on certain Rumor types in the early game. Previously, this type of blocking was reserved for Xeno related Rumors, but now you will no longer encounter the following Rumors in the first 900 Turns of the game: Starport Closed, Civil Unrest, Ion Storm or Meteor Storm. Have more fun flying in your first years :D

Templar Contact Age & Recruiting

We've done some work with #289 to improve support of Templar Contacts. Templar and all Zendu Contacts have received an even longer age limit before they may die of old age. We've also fixed a number of places where the game could report -- through filters, search or services list -- that Templar and Zendu Contacts could offer services, such as Recruiting, that they really do not. Thanks to everyone for reporting these issues.

Rebalance Explorer Components

With Update #287, we've adjusted the purchase and repair cost for some of the most powerful Exploration components -- Extraction Drill, Harvester Bay, Resource Processor and Javat Mechi-Reaper. For their value in the field, and ability to greatly increase profits from exploring, their costs had dipped too low. Constantly damaged by their use in exploring, finding the right value for their repairs is key.

Bug Sweep Up

Update #289 fixed a couple of key issues that came out of the last few updates. First, zones with 0 Starport rating -- which rare -- could crash the game if your ship had certain levels of damage to it when you tried to land. Second, if you debuffed an enemy ship hard enough, its ship comparison could go "all the way around" and start reporting that it was superior to you!

Improved Mod Support

We've got some exciting work brewing in the modding community and to support that we've made some improvements to the game's handling of hair, hats and beards to help the modders keep making progress toward some awesome releases. If you haven't checked out the Workshop recently, don't miss all the different options to tweak gameplay, character visuals, add story, jobs and more -- https://steamcommunity.com/app/335620/workshop/

v3.2.29 - 2/10/2022

- Removed "Stardock Closed", "Starport Closed" and "Civil Unrest" Rumors from early game - Removed "Ion Storm" and "Meteor Storm" Rumors from early game - Increased Influence Economy via Rumors by 20%, making all Contacts more powerful - Created New Zone and Planet Rumor affinities to tie Zone/Planet Types to thematically consistent Rumor Types - Revised & Improved Rumor Lifecycle Logging - Fixed issue where heavy debuffing could cause ship comparison to go "all the way around" and flip comparison - Clarified in-game Wisdom hover - Fixed issue where Recruiting or Rank services could show up for Templar Contact incorrectly - Increased the maximum Contact age of Zendu and Templar Contacts - Repriced & Rebalanced "Extraction Drill, Harvester Bay, Resource Processor, Javat Mechi-Reaper" Components - Fixed crash landing on Starport: 0 Zones with a damaged ship - Improved support for modders adding new head / hair / beard / hat combos

[ 2022-02-10 15:44:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Star Traders, gather round the spice hall -- its Update #288.

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Earlier this month, we launched Cyber Knights: Flashpoints private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same tried-and-true process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. With a thousand players in the game now, development pace has picked up and were on the long march to release on Steam, so make sure youve wishlisted (and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Repair Time Rebalance

Over the last few updates, we've been updating the data schema for ship components to give us more fine-grained control over the cost and time consumed by repair. As this backend work has wrapped up, we've now made some wholesale adjustments to these values and rebalanced the time required to repair all ship components in the game. In general, repairs times should feel shorter, more predictable and less "spikey". As components increase in size (small, medium, large) and level (1-8 currently) and complexity (engines, bridges, salvage bays, launch bays, etc) the repair times increase but more within an expected curve than previously where some components simply came with astronomically high repair hours. We've love to hear your feedback about it and will be returning to look at the credit cost ($$) of repair in a future update but this alone has gone a long way to help make repair a more predictable experience. Finally, we have also put in a rule that -- regardless of any Talents or faction bonuses -- Repairs must always take at least 1 Turn. For anyone who was counting Turns and worrying about the pace of story, this should be a boon as well!

Valencia and the Hunter

I don't want to spoil anything, but we fixed a story timing bug where Valencia might leave before "the Hunter" arrives. If you had this bug, you know what I mean. If you don't, good luck!

Fuel Range in HUD

After the fuel cost display adjustment in Update #287, the HUD could display the wrong AU Fuel Range. This has now been resolved and you'll now see a 100% sync between the displayed fuel range and fuel cost per AU throughout the game, engine displays and HUDs. Thanks to everyone pushing on this!

Ship Comparison Crash Fix

There was one case -- in which one of the two ships had no weapons installed -- that could cause the new ship comparison screen to crash. We've fixed this bug with #288 and apologies for the delay on that.

v3.2.27 - 1/21/2022

- Rebalanced repair time for all components, especially improving some Weapon Lockers, Railtraks and other peaks - All repairs must always take at least 1 Turn - Fixed issue where AU Fuel Range was misreported in the HUD - Fixed story bug where in some cases, Valencia left before the Hunter arrived - Fixed some ship designs could cause crashes with new ship comparison

[ 2022-01-21 15:48:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy new year and welcome to the first major update, #286. With the huge new wave of captains (:wave:) joining us in the void over the winter holiday, we've focused this update on one of the major areas tripping those captains up -- with #286, we have a major upgrade for the ship comparison data in ship encounters as well as a few other minor display tweaks to help that screen flow better. We've also made another big step improving repair times and costs, added new effects to all Shielded Barracks and resolved a display bug with Engine fuel / AU shown in game. Speaking of new, shiny, blaze -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. We've just launched the private alpha to over 1,000 players and the wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

Relative Ship Comparisons

Update #286 has simplified the encounter text the top of the screen so it is more easily readable quickly and added the level next to the profession so you don't have to go digging for it, such as Smuggler (Lvl 6). In addition, we've included a note to players to check the ship report if they are considering a fight. The ship comparison report has been improved to use relative comparisons to give the captain better data about what their ac scanners can pick up about the enemy ship. The comparison report warns about razor-thin margins in dice pools and reminds that a single buff can tip a pool upwards of 25% so even that kind of margin must be considered risky.
Once in combat, the hover over the enemy ship continues to update each turn and considers all buffs, ship damage and crew losses so you can get a continued feel for how things are going and know whether or not it's time to close or retreat and where your buffs or debuffs may be best applied.

Better Repair Cost/Time

Update #286 completes a project started on Update #285. This greatly reduces the cost and time to repair for some of the most expensive components in the game. Their high install cost was previously granting them a very painful repair duration and price. For the modders, these fields (repair time and cost) from install cost, time and salvage value allowing easier control over these important aspects ship components.

Event Log Abbreviations

We also tweaked the event logs display of dates so that we could always keep all of the relevant data displayed. 3 yrs, 2 wks, 5 days would be "3 Years, 2 Weeks and 5 Days". Before #286, it would have simply dropped the days from the count which was causing confusion.

Improved Shielded Barracks

Shielded Barracks 3, 4, 5 and 6 have all received new bonuses that help protect the ship from Void and Radiation Damage, and some of them have had a small Shield bonus increase. This helps them find a better position within the meta compared to Reinforced Barracks.

Engine Fuel / AU

We have made a display change (with no gameplay impact whatsoever) to Void Engine's display of their Fuel / AU statistic. This has long bothered some captains who are closely watching their Water-Fuel that in real travel conditions, the Fuel / AU is always higher than was being posted. This change makes the Fuel / AU calculation correct and closer to real travel conditions. In most cases, it results in an additional +1 Fuel for the engine. However, there was no gameplay change, only the text in the display.

v3.2.25 - 1/12/2022

- Enemy captain level now visible from the main screen of ship encounter - Improved ship comparison report (ship encounter, combat hover) to include relative comparison data (toss up, risky, dominant, etc) - Reduced & Adjusted repair time and cost for many expensive components (high-end bridges, engines, launch bays) - Corrected Fuel / AU rates for all engines to better match real world travel conditions (display only, no gameplay change) - Improved Shielded Barracks 3, 4, 5 and 6 - Fixed display bug where reduction of repair time was not properly displayed (but correctly used, per event log)

[ 2022-01-12 18:45:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy New Year and welcome all new captains! We're pushing out a quick patch today to fix a crash with pinning the mission list and an oddity causing the repair times of hulls to be near random. Both bugs were accidentally introduced in release .19 and .21 and we wanted to get them fixed as so many new captains are piling in this week. We'll be back to regular updates in a week or two, we've just launched the private alpha for our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint and are getting that going before returning to the ST:F roadmap.

v3.2.23 - 1/5/2022

- Fixed random, long repair times with ship hull - Fixed crash with pinning Mission list

[ 2022-01-05 18:56:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy holiday to all from the frigid cold of the void. We've got the year's best deal on Star Traders: Frontiers here with 50% off, so we hope you'll join us on the bridge of a new starship. On top of the best prices of the year, we are rolling out some changes to the starport repair duration rules which are gifting you all with the best starport deals of the year. This such a huge year for Star Traders: Frontiers -- check out our summary of all the updates we made in 2021 and thanks to everyone posting feedback, reviews and sharing the game. Our thanks and gratitude!

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. Were currently barreling toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (make sure youve wishlisted and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Starport Rating Reduces Maximum

With Update #286, we've increased the impact that the Starport rating has on repair durations. The maximum repair duration -- which has been shorted to 32 weeks from 35.5 weeks -- is reduced by 1 week (10 Turns) per Starport rating. The new range of maximum repair durations now ranges from 320 (Starport rating 3) to 250 (Starport rating 10). While Starport rating is already key in keeping repair durations short, this further increases the importance of planning routes higher Starport zones for larger repairs.

Repair Talents Reduce Duration

In addition to reducing maximum duration times by starport rating, we have improved the Mechanic and Wing Techs repair boosting Talents by allowing their cost-only discount to now affect duration as well. Where previously, these Talents might have reduced repair cost by 14%, they now reduce cost and time by 14% (etc). Notably, this reduction is applied after the Starport rating cap has been put in place, so for a Starport rating 10, this hypothetical 14% reduction would be calculated against a 250 Turn wait.

Wing Leader and Bomber Debuffs

To keep up with the Wing Commandos, we've finished the testing and balancing run to push all the Wing Leader and Wing Bomber flight plans that cause debuffs up to 4 Turns each. This heightens the ability for bombers and leaders to pulverize targets, raining down debuffs in a continual cycle without a gap.

v3.2.21 - 12/22/2021

- Starport Rating has more of an effect on maximum Repair times, reducing max time by Starport Rating x 10 Turns (now ranges 340-250) - Engineer and Wing Tech repair Talents now reduce duration as well as cost of Starport repairs - Rebalanced repair times of Water-Fuel Reclamation components - Fixed bug allowing hull repair times to sometimes exceed maximum Turn allowance for repairs - Increased debuff duration for all Flight Plan Talents (Wing Leader & Bomber) to 4 Turns (!!) - Fixed issue in ship combat with Phase Inflectors and Fuel Helix Coils showing up as buffs - Clarified Strength description in new game template

[ 2021-12-23 04:23:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

We celebrated the 3-year anniversary of Star Traders launch this year; what a ride its been! Although weve been deep in dev work on our upcoming heist RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, weve still produced 38 (so far) updates to Star Traders: Frontiers this year, including one of the largest post-launch additions to a game weve ever made: mod support! To help you make sure you havent missed anything, weve rounded up all the most notable changes & improvements into the summary below. We did the same last year, so if youre coming back to Star Traders after a long break, we hope these will be helpful as you get ready for a new journey through the stars.

1) New expansions & improvements to game systems.

New default map! Since we added the new v2 map generator last year (allowing the creation of better-balanced, more unique, and much larger custom galaxy maps), we were on the hunt for a new default map to take advantage of the same benefits. Thanks to everyone who pitched in to help us find the perfect map seed! The new default has 10 more quadrants than the original. Weve also since made it so all "local" starting Contacts are always placed in your starting quadrant, even if there are 2 to a zone. And if youve starred a zone with a color, that now appears on the quadrant map.
New story vignette! Fractured Factions has a chance to begin after the Coalition, when landing on any Cadar world, from contact Felix Slayer NaZee. Through the multiple endings you stand to make powerful enemies, allies, and gain access to multiple powerful ship components and/or a unique crew weapon. Even with the factions supposedly united, the balance of power is in constant shift... Economic & recruitment rumors are now for sale from many contact types. And now, all rumors that are purchased from a contactmost notably, salvage rumorsget a bonus to their duration to prevent any from ever expiring right after you purchased it. We rebalanced many trade systemsincreased rare trade goods demand in many zone types, made $5,000+ trades during economic faction conflicts now impact the conflict score, altered the smuggler talent slippery trader to entirely avoid Rep loss in trade conflicts, and rebalanced the supply/demand/prices of multiple goods. Plus:

• 2 new mission types: "Nomadic Defender" & "Mercantile Negotiation"
• More profitable ship salvage & ransom options.
• Legendary Bounty Hunters are far more likely to appear and chase you down once you make enemies
• New operations card art
• 30 new crew barks with lore about factions, jobs, and planets

2) Even more options for your crew.

New crew jobs: Shock Trooper & Saboteur. The Saboteur provides many useful boarding talents, plus a mix of stealth talents and pistol abilities. The Shock Trooper brings a wealth of new combat talents to the table with a strong emphasis on frontline snubber-wielding. Also available as a starting profession for your captain, with traits that grant ship & crew combat bonuses. All factions now provide an affinity bonus for at least one crew job: We started this last year with the Blade Dancer, renowned for their long tradition among the Steel Song. Now, every faction has at least one crew job in which its members have exceptional training or suitability. Crew members recruited from that faction, with that job, have special attribute bonusesCadar Shock Troopers, Zenrin Bodyguards, Alta Mesa Wing Leaders and more! Rebalanced bleeding rules & snubbers. Any bleeding damage youve dealt an enemy is now applied every time they act. All bleeding effects and things that grant bleed resist were rebalanced. Meanwhile, snubbers have all been rebalanced to trade some of their Accuracy for Parry, making them superior up-front weapons.
Better auto-training for the early game. For new playthroughs, auto-training your crew members now prioritizes skill-save talents to ensure you reach a safe baseline of ship operation before expanding into more combat abilities / bonus-providing talents. And more!:

• More customization options! 2 outfits, 16 new faces, 3 new beards, new flight helmet hat.
• New "Traits + Gear" section on crew member detail screens, summarizing all effects
• 7 new ultra rare level 10 Relic Weapons
• 4 new level 5 Gear for sale (2 Mil, 2 Specialist)defensive, offensive, Attribute boosters
• New Diplomat Talent "Vindication Pact," reduces price of Pardons
• Improved Merchant's Talent "Garner Favor" to give even better Rep bonuses

3) New starship combat rules, components, and rebalances.

Many tweaks to small craft (and their counters), plus new plasma bombers. The ability to build or encounter ships that launch starfighters becomes a big deal in ST:Fs late game, and weve continued to make additions and improvements to that experience. This year weve:

• added 3 new PlasBombers with massive radiation-damage weapons to help cripple enemy ships instead of cracking hulls
• increased the damage of all craft bomb & rocket weapons
• boosted the chance-to-hit-craft for all Autocannons for better close-in defenses
• added a new ship: Dreadnought Battlecarrier
• reduced Maintenance Cost for Class 1 and Class 2 Small Craft
• increased Hull Points for Boarding Shuttle Small Craft at Level 5 and above
• buffed the Battle Prow component with a minor craft defense bonus and added a Tacticians Annex component that grants accuracy/defense against capital ships and craft

Better ship armor! Weve added new game logic to increase the chance that armored components take hits first in combat. This more appropriately increases the power of armored ships in combat, and if you have the credits to repair components makes damage soak builds more viable.
Many new components & weapons:

• New type of medium component, Annex to hold one officer and provide specialized bonus related to their class - Wardens Annex, Tacticians Annex, Engineer Annex
• Faction-specific componentsRychart Peak Velocity Matrix 4
• Fuel Helix components to increase Engine Safety, reduce Jump cost and add fuel boosts
• New level 8 heavy Railguns for 4 and 3 RP
• New level 8 Autocannon for 1 RP, great at taking down craft
• New level 8 Missile for 3 RP
• 6 new powerful weapon types for high level craft

4) Quadrantfuls of Quality of Life Improvements

Your feedback is always helpful; we hear and respond to almost all of it within the forums and our Discord, and just finished up a player survey to help with next years roadmap. This year Cory & I have been on a streak of finding ways to improve convenience & clarity, within the scope of what we can do post-release. Some notable areas and overall trends weve put work into include: Easier mission planning & map integration - icons for offered missions and accepted missions now appear on the galactic & quadrant maps; you can also now go directly to the galactic map from a contact mission offer. In that mission offer, youll now see icons next to each mission segment, indicating if it requires a ship battle, crew battle, exploring, spying, picking up for dropping off a passenger etc. And within your mission list, you can now use filters to show offered missions, and show only narrative missions or local missions.
Better logs - Lots of little tweaks to make it easier to find out more about whats going on under the hood in combat (e.g. radiation & void damage from ship weapons), keep track of events as you sail the void (e.g. how your medical rating is impacting saves), and understand how much impact your talents are having (e.g. repaired components during ship combat). Clarifications in other key areasin addition to all the log improvements, weve also made Trade Ban warnings much more visible, clarified many components of ship encounters (were looking at more ways to improve this still), and reworked mutinies. While mutinies may be a rare event for most captains, we want to make sure if it happens your options and their cost are crystal clear (we also improved the value of anti-mutiny talents while were at it). Save Slot hotkeys - check your hotkey options, as we now offer configurable hotkeys for the 4 save slots available.

5) We added (and kept adding to) mod support!

The moddable version will show up as an option whenever you launch the game from within Steam. It gives you access to any mods youve subscribed to from the Steam Workshop, and automatically grants all of the games unlocks.
Were excited about moddings potential to add even more content to the game (modders can create their own stories, gear, crew jobs, and more), enable very different gameplay experiences (from near god-mode cheats to small, intimate crews), and give everyone even more customization options (art, maps, and more). Weve expanded modders options in all of those areas since launching mod support in August. Weve written more about what modding will and wont do as we continue to add to its capabilities (depending on the mods you start)! Check out Creating Mods on the Star Traders Wiki, and join the Discord for help, modding requests & discussions, and a great community of Star Traders players.

2022, here we come!

Sometime in the new year well give the roadmap an update to share more for the road ahead. In the meantime we do have one major change were thinking about that wed love active players input on. Going on 4 years of Frontiers now, and we still love adding to this game and are glad so many of you still enjoy it (and so many new sci-fi RPG fans are still discovering it!). Special thanks to all who support the continued development of the game through our Patreon, by gifting Steam keys to their friends, by shouting us out on in reddit recommendation threads and YouTube comments, by drinking from your Star Traders mug during Zoom meetings, etc. Even just leaving / updating your review (and giving a to others) is one of the best gifts we can receive as the Steam Winter Sale approaches. Happy holidays, Captains!

[ 2021-12-20 14:51:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

As we've gathered input from all our players in our year-end survey that we put out last week for Star Traders: Frontiers, we've pulled together a quality-of-life release to address some of the community posted issues and rough spots. Thanks to everyone posting reviews, feedback, for filling out the Google Form survey and for helping us share Star Traders: Frontiers! Speaking of good things coming-- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

Furthered Armor Meta

We've further improved the power of the armor meta with Update #285, allowing the component types like Hull Plating and Armored Bulkheads to continue to use their high hit percentage to soak damage even after they have crossed the 60% damage threshold. This means your armored components continue to provide that extra layer of protection even after they have drawn the first waves of damage to themselves.

Exact Job Rank Bonuses

In the Jobs screen, it has always taken a little bit of math to figure out the exact bonus granted by a new rank of a Job -- you had to look at the new (total) bonus and find the difference from the current (total) bonus. We've updated the screen to specifically list the bonus from the Job rank in isolation as well as the total bonus.

Star Atlas Rumors

The Star Atlas can now search System Rumors as well as Planet Rumors by name -- so searches like "Pirates" or "Ion Storm" or "Medical Station" will turn up results. We've also fixed the logic on the searchable objects to prevent Rumors you don't know from being searchable (sorry!)

Scrolling Issues

We've fixed some longstanding bugs that were preventing mousewheel scrolling in the Mission Offers and Missions List screens. If you see other screens in the game that are resistant to scrolling please report them and we'll get them fixed right up!

Clarifications

In the Jyeeta Brood Era we've added a few clarifications to the dialog in the final mission -- specifically some notes about healing Templar mechs and fixing the dialog that could be confusing about when the boss fight is about to occur. We fixed 2 exploration missions -- Survey Tour and Forgotten Secrets which had issues with the order of steps you could complete. We fixed a big typo ... Phase Infectors is now Phase InfLectors :D

For the Modders

We adjusted the default values read from the data.ShipEffect table so that the new Radiation Bonus and Void Bonus fields always come out at 0 instead of -1. Up next for modding, we're going to be making the rules for starport repair times and the new armor meta available to mod and see what modders want to spin up!

v3.2.19 - 12/7/2021

- Armor/protection focused components increase chance of being hit even when over 60% Damage, increasing their value to soak component damage even more - System Rumors are now searchable from Star Atlas, hidden Rumors no longer search - Improved Job screen to list the exact bonus from next job rank (+1 Tactics) as well as total (+3 Tactics, +4 Gunnery) - Added note in dialog that Templar Mechs cannot be healed by your healing Talents - Clarified story dialog in Avengent storyline that confused a penultimate battle for the final boss fight - Fixed mousewheel scrolling in Mission List and Contact Mission Offers screens - Fixed typo where "Infector" => "Inflector" - Fixed "Forgotten Secrets" and "Survey Tour" missions FOR THE MODDERS: - Ship Effect values all default to 0, such as new Void Bonus and Rad Bonus (reduces need to update)

[ 2021-12-08 16:25:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello captains! As we move into the 4th year of Star Traders: Frontiers development, we are continually seeking to improve the game. We are gathering the big topics for this years roadmap and we want to put extra attention on parts of the game that are tripping up both new and veteran players. We'd like to ask you to fill out a short survey to help us identify the key areas where we could improve clarity of game systems. You can find the Google Form survey here: STF survey The survey will be open until December 15th. Wed appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to fill it out and thank you in advance! Trese Brothers Team

[ 2021-11-30 18:54:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Captains, it's Steam awards season! Star Traders: Frontiers is eligible for the Labor of Love award, if you all would like to nominate us. We celebrated 3 years since Star Trader: Frontiers' launch this year, with near-weekly updates to the game with new content, improvements, and changes based on your feedback.
One of the biggest post-launch additions we've ever made to a game MOD SUPPORT was added this year. The mod version of the game also automatically grants all unlocks, giving everyone who doesn't want to play with achievements access to all ships, contacts, and captain jobs from the very beginning. This year's also been a big one for UI improvements from your suggestions, including easier mission plotting, better trade ban & faction conflict warnings, menu access during combat. And we'll save the full tally for an end-of-year roundup, but there's certainly no shortage of new content added to the game! You all know we're hard at work on our upcoming heist RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, but we're still adding to ST:F, with plenty more planned for it. So long as we know you're all still enjoying Star Traders, we'll keep bringing more to it. Head to the Star Traders: Frontiers page if youd like to nominate us!

[ 2021-11-25 19:35:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #284 returns to ship combat meta to add new options for building our your specific strategy as well as improving well-known routes. Adding 4 new ship components that boost the Radiation or Void damage of your ship weaponry opens up an avenue for high focus on disabling enemy ships while buffing the ability of armored components of all types to soak up damage to your ship further empowers the heavily armored meta. To help in both cases, we've made the combat logs clearer, better organized and added missing lines of detail.

For a different flavor of Trese Brothers sci-fi, check out Cyber Knights!

Our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is under development. Set in a different universe than Star Traders, we think much of what you all love about STF (a lore-rich world, many ways to play, strong independent spirit, lots of RPG depth) is shared within. Learn more about the Cyber Knights setting on its Steam page, or check out this video showing a ton of art and discussing the game design. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Phase Inflectors for Crippling

Update #284 has added 4 new medium slot components which increase the Void or Radiation Damage of your capital ship weapons. These Quturaan and Katteduun Phase Inflectors can only super-charge one type of damage or the other, so focusing on a certain class of ship weapons will be important to make the most of your bonuses. Captains focusing on pulverizing a ship and crew into submission with Void and Radiation Damage now have all new angle to customize their ship. The most powerful Phase Inflectors are sold exclusively by Rychart (Void) and Thulun (Radiation) starports, To help with the new components and bonuses, the ship combat log now reports Void and Radiation Damage to a ship on a separate line.

Advanced Armor Protection

Armored components have always helped reduce overall Standard Damage that is passed through to your Hull and then turned into internal damage to turn your components into ash. With Update #284, they have gained a new intrinsic way to help prevent destruction to your ship's components even after all the dice have been rolled. Once all the damage is totaled, components from your ship are selected in a series of rounds to take portions of that damage. All types of components that are designed to provide additional protection (even not those explicitly armor) are now more likely to be selected to "soak up" the damage and protect other components from taking it. In a large ship with only one or two armored components, this effect may be pretty minor, but as you increase your set of armored components this balance change will come into play more readily. Specifically:

• Exploration Seals, Orbital Platings, Orbital Sealing increase their chance of getting hit by 20%.
• Armored Bulkheads, Hull Plating, Reinforced Structures and Battle Prows increase their chance of getting hit by 35%.

While this can help protect other key components -- such as Piloting modules, ship weapons and the engine -- it can also help more rapidly reduce a ship's armor as the armor components take damage and drop offline. If a ship is built with redundant Armor %, this double-edged sword effect will be prevented from taking effect longer.

Improved Combat Logs

The ship combat logs now include the Radiation and Void Damage of both capital ship and small craft. This key missing piece of intel is key for disabling captains to understand how their hits are hitting! We've also adjusted the spacing and lead in on most of the log lines to make them more clear and stand out from each other -- such as using (T) for Talent and (!!) for a Crippling Effect which now both really jump out in a busy logged turn. There are some more exciting meta changes coming for ship combat and improving strategy options, so stay tuned and we will be upgrading the combat log hand in hand as we go.

v3.2.17 - 11/22/2021

- Improved many armor/protection focused components to increase chance of taking hits in combat, therefore protecting other components - Added 4 new medium ship components (Quturaan and Katteduun Phase Inflectors) which increase ship weapon void and Radiation Damage by percentage bonus % - Best Phase Inflectors are sold exclusively by Rychart (Void) and Thulun (Radiation) - Improved ship combat logging to include details of Radiation and Void Damage from ship weapons - Improved formatting and consistency of ship combat logging - Clarified Damage Bonus in ship Talent and component effects as "Standard Damage" - Clarified description of "Upstaged Success", it does not increase Contact Influence gains - Fixed reported typos and crashes

[ 2021-11-22 17:39:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #283 continues a series of improvements to carrier and craft, enables quick use of save slot with keyboard shortcuts, brings the BOOM with the addition of PlasBombers and improves Salvage profits from destroy ships. It's new content, community-requested quality of life features and fine-tuned balancing. It's Update #283, the Plasma Depth-Charge! If you are enjoying the pace of updates and new content please remember to leave a review and tell a friend. Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

Quick Save Slot Access

Save Slots just got one big step easier to use! There are now 4 configurable hotkeys that can let you save to a slot straight from the game's main map. Defaulting to 7, 8, 9 and 0 these respectively save to slots 1, 2, 3 and 4. As with most hotkeys, we suggest you bind them to fit perfectly into your keyboard setup. While playing this morning, one thing that I found that worked well was to move just one of the save slot hotkeys under my main hand so I could mash it all the time as a basic "auto-save". When I wanted and alternate slot, I'd lift my hand and go for the other bindings. As always, thanks to the community for posting suggestions, feedback and reviews to help us improve the game!

PlasBombers!

With Update #283, we've added 3 new types of bomber craft which all pack powerful and disabling PlasBombs. Trading the usual hull-busting power of bombers for extreme Radiation Damage and high Crippling %, PlasBombers focus on disabling a ship instead of destroying it outright. Especially well paired with mid-range capital ship weapons like Plasma Cannons or long range disabling Torpedoes, PlasBombers give an entirely new angle to carrier combat which focuses on burning out the enemy crew and components while leaving the hull still in one piece. We have also made one last round of adjustments to the weapons for regular Interdictors and Bombers to ensure each class of craft has their own stand-alone weapon. Class 5 and 6 were still accidentally sharing weapons. This has resulted in an upgrade in *another* weapon power for class 6 and 7 Bombers and Interdictors.

Wing Commando Boarding Strikes

Not to be left behind, Wing Commando's launch plans for their boarding shuttles have also been upgraded. These launch plans now bring even more powerful, longer lasting debuffs to the table in a way that no other boarding strike can. When paired with well-planned boarding victory Talents, these can hasten the way to victory or surrender. Both "Breacher's Assault" and "Boarder's Storm" have had their durations extended to 4 Turns (nicely matching with the time it takes the Commando to round trip for another boarding). In addition, they have both gained a damage over time component to increase their effect in bringing the enemy ship or crew to its knees. Breacher's Assault has replaced the -10% Boarding debuff with a 15 Crew Dmg / Turn debuff, leaving wounded and dead in the wake of the shuttle strike. Boarder's Storm has gained a 15 Morale Dmg/Turn, as the defensively-weakened ship reels from the strike, knowing they are about to get pummeled.

Salvage & Ransom Maximums

With Update #283, we've increased the maximum profit you can make from Salvaging a destroyed enemy ship by $5,000 to $31,500. This maximum is applied *before* any Talents, Traits or ship components are calculated -- so those can help you capitalize on an expensive Salvage and make far more than that. The amount of money made from Salvage is based off the ship's component pricing reduced by any damage done to those components. So, as always, the best Salvage profits are gained from ships with less (or no!??!) damage. While Ransom is a much harder way to make significant money, the same calculation is applied -- all of the ship component prices are multiplied by their damage to calculate the final ransom hall. As it comes with much less Reputation loss, Ransom applies a much steeper reduction to the component pricing but still in some cases if you are Ransoming a large mass battlecruiser or a carrier, the resulting profit can be quite substantial. To protect the balance between Ransom and Salvage, we have added a similar cap to Ransom but -- as it is much, much harder to reach -- we have set the cap at $56,500. The same rule applies to Ransom, where Traits and Talents are applied after the cap and therefore can capitalize on expensive Ransoms to make far more money.

Hit ESC in Crew Combat

You can now access the game menu and exit to the game's main menu cleanly from crew combat as well as ship combat. Just hit ESC!

v3.2.15 - 11/3/2021

- Added 3 new Bombers carrying heavy plasma bombs with massive Radiation Damage, high Crippling Effect % (class 5, 6, 7) - Fixed issue with class 6 Bomber/Interdictor sharing weapons with class 5 (improved stats for both class 6 and 7) - Improved Wing Commando's "Breacher's Assault", replaced -10% Boarding debuff with 15 Crew Dmg/Turn, extended to 4 Turn duration - Improved Wing Commando's "Boarder's Storm", added 15 Morale Dmg/Turn, extended to 4 Turn duration - Added configurable hotkeys to save game to Save Slot 1-4 from quadrant map - Increased maximum pre-Talent/Trait/Component Salvage value for enemy ships by $5,000 to $31,500 - Added maximum pre-Talent/Trait Ransom value for enemy ships at $56,500 (very hard to reach) - Added a Game Menu in Crew Combat, allowing access to options and main menu - Fixed issue with "Explosive Shots" debuff being cleared like a buff - Fixed bug with "Forgotten Secrets" mission step ordering

[ 2021-11-04 00:29:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #282 takes a detour to catch up on some balance work we've been testing and tuning. We've heard from the community, watched in play and analyzed the data about how craft measure up to regular capital ship weaponry and are making some changes with this update to help tip the scales a bit. Across the spectrum -- Bombers, Interdictors and Autocannons are all more dangerous as of Update #282. We have to tread carefully with these types of updates as enemy carriers gain all the bonuses, so keep in mind that they will be hitting harder after Update #282 and be sure to you have your anti-craft strategy in place by (usually) year 8 to 12. If you're enjoying the pace of updates, be sure to tell a friend and leave a review.

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. Were currently working toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (make sure youve wishlisted and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Bomber and Interdictor Upgrades

With Update #282, we've ratcheted up the damage across the spectrum in small craft to keep them competitive with other ship weapons, especially as more powerful weapons are coming online through story arcs. All Interdictor rockets and Bomber bombs have gained around +10% to +20% Radiation Damage, depending on their class. In addition, standard Damage base (the static, unrolled part of the damage) has gone up around +10% per craft as well. While they take a few turns to deliver their destructive payload, Bombers are now tearing apart enemy hulls even more effectively and your Interdictors are even better prepared to shoot down other craft. But, if the craft are hitting harder ...

Autocannons Strike Back!

As the entire damage balance getting more savage, its key that Autocannons strike back even harder. Across the board, ACs are now more accurate when attacking small craft, anywhere from +2% to +7% in the attacks. All the more reason to make sure you're craft are defensively prepared to avoid enemy fire and even better to shoot down incoming enemy craft.

Class 7 Craft: New Weapons

When the class 7 Bomber and Interdictor were added a linking issue wasn't caught that left them with the weapons from the class 6 craft. We've now resolved this issue and properly linked the Trifex Assault Mk2 Interdictor to its new and best in class Rockets as well as the deadly Trident DX9 Bomber to the best in class boom-boom! All the more reason to cozy up to your factions and go shopping to upgrade what you've got in your carrier's hangars.

Shock Trooper's Single-Minded Strike

The Shock Trooper's Talent "Single-Minded Strike" has been upgraded to have a shorter cooldown (now 6 weeks) and a longer duration in ship combat (3 turns) as its effect is so narrow -- boarding, boarding, boarding! For those Shock Troopers helping to get their ship into range so they can get their snubber's barrels into range, enjoy the upgrades. If you're enjoying the pace of updates, be sure to tell a friend and leave a review.

v3.2.13 - 10/23/2021

- New rocket weapon for "Trifex Assault Mk2" (class 7 Interdictor), best in class - New bomb weapon for "Trident DX9" (class 7 Bomber), best in class - Increased base Damage on all craft bomb weapons by 10% - Increased Radiation Damage on all craft rocket and bomb weapons by 10-20% - Increased Chance to Hit craft for all Autocannons - Improved Shock Trooper's "Single-minded Strike" Talent to have 3 Turn Duration and reduced cooldown to 6 weeks - Fixed typos and reported crashes

[ 2021-10-24 01:56:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #281 circles back to adding some new awesome looks to the game with new character faces and a new set of matching outfits. Plus, we've expanded ship component access to Engine Safety bonuses with a new set of Fuel Helix Coil components for your medium slots. Finally, we've added a few new capabilities and fixes for the modding community to enable to some new mod options. We've got a busy season here at Trese Brothers HQ for both Star Traders: Frontiers and our next game -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

New Faces, New Outfits

With this update, we've added another 3 masculine faces to the game -- one with short cropped hair, one with an awesome mustache and one with the grayer hair of a long-time space veteran. These new faces will filter into your crew and make great new captains, officers or just mates crew dogs hoping for a promotion. We've also added 2 new matching outfits featuring a finer style associated with diplomats, the wealthy gravs or fashionable duelists. These new looks are excellent on their own for pirates, smugglers and all kinds but they also mix extremely well with the other outfits in the game if you use the "Unlock Outfit Combos" option. So, while we've added 2 new full outfits, we've added hundreds of new combos for your crew to check out! Here are a few of our favorites --

Fuel Helix Coils

Fuel Helix Coils are a variation of a medium slot Fuel Tanks which offer a small amount of Fuel, a small amount of reduction in hyperwarp Jump Cost and most importantly a bonus to Engine Safety. With a maximum of +6 Engine Safety available from ship components, this gives another option -- next to Annex and Water-Fuel Reclamation -- as to how to get your Engine Safety fix if you need one. The highest grade Helix Coils 4 and 5 are only manufactured and sold in Zenrin starports.

For the Modders

With Update #281, we've fixed a few minor issues in mods where game hovers were not reflecting mod changes to maximum Ship Armor or Shield. We've also made it possible to mod the maximum number of jobs that your captain or officers can have -- that will be very interesting to see what gets done with that! Fancy a true jack of all trades? Leave it to the modders :D

Are you in the Discord?

Our Discord server is a great community. Lots of good Star Traders discussion, one of the best places to stay in the loop on what we're working on, and sometimes... fun surprises! We've got a giveaway going right now for light-hearted roguelike Obsidian Prince. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1373260/Obsidian_Prince/ Hop in to check it out, we have two copies to give away and all it takes is a react to the message in #giveaway to enter.

v3.2.11 - 10/15/2021

- Added two new matched outfits - Added 3 new character faces - gray hair, mustache, short hair! - Added 4 new Fuel Helix Coil components -- medium slot fuel tanks that add Engine Safety, reduce Jump cost and add minor Fuel boost - Fuel Helix Coil 4 and 5 is sold exclusively by Zenrin starports - Enabled modders to adjust the maximum number of multi-jobs for Captain and Officers - Fixed hovers for Armor / Shield max values if they are modded - Fixed reported typos and crashes

[ 2021-10-15 21:36:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #280 arrives with some shake up to the availability of high-end faction ships, better XP balance for mission runners, improved balance for anti-craft Talents and more. A huge thanks to everyone posting suggestions, feedback and bugs to the forum and helping us continuing to push Star Traders: Frontiers. If you're enjoying the continued updates, be sure to tell a friend and leave a reveiw!

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. Were currently working toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (make sure youve wishlisted and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Rank Ships

By their nature, faction-specific ships are a perk of serving a faction. Previously, all ships -- regardless of their cost -- required only Military Rank 4. With Update #280, we've pushed this to a scale grading from Rank 4 all the way up to Rank 10 for the ships costing over $2m credits. With this new ability to set the minimum rank easily for each ship individually, we've opened up an exciting new option we are investigating -- powerful faction flagships offered only to the highly qualified military officers. We're gathering some ideas and will be moving forward with this expansion soon.

Mission XP

While some XP has been always granted for missions requiring skill checks, we've doubled that amount with Update #280 and also added a log to the mission completion details with the exactly amount. Before this update, no XP was granted if your crew ended up falling back to a Saving Talent. However, we've now adjusted this rule to grant a smaller chunk of XP, but XP bonus nonetheless. You traveled, you may have bled or fought to complete that key task -- the XP is earned, Talent or not.

Gunner and Gundeck Boss

We've adjusted two anti-craft Talents brought by the Gunner and Gundeck Boss Jobs. The Gunner's "Close-In Defenses" Talent is a rank 11 Talent that now cleanly provides a nice mix of anti-craft with reducing boarding, reducing the craft attack chance and their evasion (-10 Boarding, -20% Hit Chance, -15% Craft Evasion for next 3 turns) -- it is best used if you have weaponry and you're planning on lighting the enemy craft up. On the other hand, the Gundeck Boss's rank 1 Talent is purely defensive and turtle strategy, with "Point Defense" (-10 Boarding, -30% Hit Chance, -25% Dmg for next 4 turns).

Magnanimous Victory Clarification

We've tagged the description of Magnanimous Victory to be clear that it removes your options for other aggressive abilities such as looting, destruction or conscription. This is a key Talent in managing reputation damage but also ends your interaction with a defeated enemy ship.

Mod Support

With Update #280, we've made some changes to how the AI approaches the Wing Commando's Talent "Ripcord" to support the "Merchant Marines: Fly Casual" mod -- one of the most popular mods on the Workshop right now that seeks to adjust the Star Traders: Frontiers balance to better approximate smaller crew and more of a Firefly-like experience. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2539177784

v3.2.9 - 10/1/2021

- Faction-specific ships require scaled faction rank -- Rank 4 for basic, Rank 6 for over $1m, and up to Rank 10 for $2m+ - Doubled the XP gained for completing a mission step which require Skill Save, added XP log - Completing mission step while relying on a Saving Talent now grants some XP for crew - Clarified Talent "Magnanimous Victory" to be clear it prevents any further looting or aggressive actions - Improved balance of Gunner's "Close-In Defenses" and Gundeck Bosses' "Point Defense" - Documented faction special rules for Rychart and De Valtos expensive bribes in New Game - Fixed Bribe option text for Pirates to ensure it never threatens Rep loss (pirates never report) - Improved AI crew combat intelligence to work better with "Merchant Marines: Fly Casual" mod - Fixed report crashes and typos

[ 2021-10-01 19:58:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #297 brings another round of improvements directly from the community as we continue our patch and improve drive following the big Steam Workshop mod release. After we clear this backlog of balance, QOL and improvement issues we'll be moving back to larger chunks of content and story additions. For now -- buckle up, more coming!

Next up from Trese Brothers

You may have heard our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is on its way to Steam in 2022. A turn-based cyberpunk RPG, Cyber Knight's features XCOM-like combat and a unique heist system for missions ... you don't need to hear more? Okay, just smash that Wishlist button! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Trade Ban Visibility

With Update #279, we've adjusted the ordering and text color for Trade Ban and Trade War warnings to ensure that they are front and center and your merchant captain can't miss them when making decisions about going through with a trade. As always, a huge thanks to the community members helping to post feedback and improve the game.

Ship Encounter, Bribes and Confiscation

We've updated the rules for surrendering to military ships that may check your cargo holds for illegal goods and confiscate if you fail to have valid permits. There is now a possible small Reputation loss if you are carrying goods that will be confiscated. This loss can be offset if you are carrying goods that *are* legal with a permit. No matter how much you might be carrying, the Rep penalty cannot exceed 2. We've also fixed the Bribe offering for Independents which had been lost in the latest update -- including the key fact that Indies have no stored Reputation and therefore you can never lose Rep with them.

Game Menu Ship Combat Additions

We've enabled the ability to pull up the game menu with during the major screens in ship combat -- including during a ship encounter and mid-ship combat. This can help you drop out of the main menu without killing the game completely. Notably, Options and Save Slots are not available in these contexts. We'll keep working to make this menu access global and getting it into key places where it is still missing (crew combat).

New Shiny: Battle Barracks

The Battle Barracks line has received an upgrade to help encourage ship combat captains to consider them worth their price (which has also gone up!). With new Armor, Shield and Void Res, these protected crew quarters are even more valuable to captains willing to pay the price and longtime cost to jump cost.

More Balance and QOL

For those Salvage cards that included double combats, we've adjusted the language to be clearer, stating "back-to-back" combats to be sure you know just what you are risking when you make the roll. During and after the Jyeeta Era, we've retuned the appearance of the feared Jyeeta Maeledictor to make sure it retains its boss status among other Jyeeta enemies.

For the Modders

With Steam Workshop being quite busy, we're still working to expand the possible footprint of mods. With this update, we've added some key new capabilities, allowing modders to start to adjust specific limits in the game -- raising max character level, job level. Also, we're enabling adjusting important combat rules and thresholds -- allowing for the change of Init cost to move, morale break or being Stunned as well as the maximum Armor and Shield ratings you can achieve with components and buffed. We're very excited to see what the community will cook with this new support!

v3.2.5 - 9/17/2021

- Improved Trade Ban warning (location, icon, red text) - Lose up to 2 Rep when illegal cargo is seized, offset by legal permit-protected cargo - Fixed Bribe option text for Independents to be more clear - Added a Game Menu in Ship Combat, Combat Preamble - Reduced spawn rate of "Jyeeta Maeledictor" in mix of Jyeeta ships - Increased Price of Battle Barracks, Added Armor, Shields and Void Res - Clarified "Xeno Assault" Salvage card to be clear it is 2 xeno combats back-to-back - Better differentiated stats for the Trident DX9 and Blackhall Ultra Small Craft - Modders can now change max character level, job level, Init costs of Stun, Morale Break, Move and Max/Buff Max of Shield/Armor

[ 2021-09-18 20:01:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

With the major release of mod support behind us, we're returning to some regular order here with a roll-up update full of community-driven fixes. In Update #278, we've added even more mission icons, improved the way that Wing Commando's "Behind Enemy Lines" works to truly knock out the single, most powerful weapon, replaced all the Bribe offer text in ship encounters to always be correct and more. We're getting back to regular order here with more exciting updates to come, so if you're enjoying the pace of new features, content and fixes please tell a friend and leave a review.

For a different flavor of Trese Brothers sci-fi, check out Cyber Knights!

Our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is under development. Set in a different universe than Star Traders, we think much of what you all love about STF (a lore-rich world, many ways to play, strong independent spirit, lots of RPG depth) is shared within. Learn more about the Cyber Knights setting on its Steam page, or check out this video showing a ton of art and discussing the game design. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

More Mission Icons

With the addition of mission icons to help summarize step actions in Update #277, we've been hearing from the community about specific types of actions that weren't fully covered. We've now added icons to help summarize steps including Negotiation (huge!) and the missing variations of Intel missions.

Clearer Bribe Offers

Ship encounter options often include Bribes but the text of those offers has often been misleading about whether or not your are paying to avoid Reputation loss or not. We've cleaned up the text on all Bribe offers to cleanly match the result you'll get if both ships leave.

Behind Enemy Lines

The Wing Commando Talent "Behind Enemy Lines" has been fixed to operate as described in its description. Previously, it was working closer to the Gunner Talent "Disarming Sabotage". Now, Behind Enemy Lines specifically targets the most powerful, functioning weapon on the enemy ship and does it 80% damage -- a guaranteed knock out hit! A couple of Wing Commandos can work efficiently to take down enemy gun's completely if they act fast enough from their striking shuttles.

And More

With an influx of new players coming to check out the game, the Steam forums and Discord have been busy with feedback, suggestions and minor bug posted. We've fixed a bevy of minor issues with Mass and pricing on :ththe latest set of hybrid barracks components, adjusted the failure message in Civil Unrest Rumor to be more clear and fixed a whole heap of typos.

v3.2.3 - 9/8/2021

- Mission descriptions now include missing icons for Negotiation, some additional ship battle types, Conflict Intel missions - Added hover to Accept/Waypoint buttons in mission offer for clarity - Fixed Wing Commando's "Behind Enemy Lines" to match description -- guaranteed to disable most powerful enemy weapon - Fixed all Bribe options for all captain types in ship encounters to be clear when Reputation loss is at risk - Improved fail message with Civil Unrest Rumor when faction denies access (-10 or less Rep) - Fixed pricing on Battle Barracks 4, fixed Mass on Shielded Barracks 4 - Fixed Barracks appearing twice in medium slot display - Fixed Spice Hall description of recruit bonus for Mercenaries Rumor - Fixed report crashes and typos

[ 2021-09-08 17:10:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Now that mod support is released, lets talk about where it will (and could) go from here. The last week since modding launched has been exciting with a lot of interest, thousands of subscribers to mods and a great update to the core game to boot. Now -- let's look at the road ahead for modding.

First: Mod Support v1

Thanks to our dedicated modders in the private beta, some of the mod support capabilities youre seeing today are even better than we expected.

• A mod manager that merges SQL allows multiple mods to be installed and work seamlessly with each other with many fewer potential conflicts and much less configuration than we might have released originally.
• Story modding became a v1 priority. Modders now have everything they need to add their own story vignettes to the game. While creating quality stories is no small task (welcome to our world ), we think the potential for player-created story mods filling the Star Traders universe is one of the most exciting aspects of adding modding to the game.

In addition to those big wins, were proud to have v1 offer a broad foundation for modding to begin with:

• Everything in the game database is replaceable, or can be added to. Ships, weapons, gear, talents... pretty much anything with stats. Modders can rebalance, simplify, power up, or add to any of these things.
• All binary files in the game directory are replaceable. Graphics, sound effects,
• An extensive set of documentation. Upfront: this may not mean complete, but weve gone through a huge amount of data fields to make it more clear what each does and what your options are as a modder for using them.

Second: some necessary limitations

We want to be upfront about a few things that will not be possible with modding. 1) Hacking in crowd-sourced translation through modding. While modders are welcome to create mods in any language, or even to attempt to rewrite the portions of in-game text that are contained within the game database, we want to be that there is still too much inaccessible text through the mod kit to complete a successful translation of the game. We know translation is a popular request, but we want to be very clear up front that modding does not answer that request. As weve noted elsewhere, weve learned a lot from this entire process, and our next game will be translated from the start. 2) We wont be adding a scripting language for mods (though we may add some additional scripted triggers / effects for modders to use, ourselves). Star Traders: Frontiers is built on a custom engine, with a workflow heavily driven by data in the game database. While weve opened up the database, we cant open up the engine, or provide a way for modders to hook in scripts without a far more extensive rebuild than we could handle with the mod kit at this date in the game's lifecycle. However, we are listening daily to the modding community (and asking to!) to understand where there is interest for additional extensibility and hooks that can be used by the mod kit. 3) Modding Roadmap As we have stated elsewhere -- we are continuing our work to update the base game, especially with some big upcoming story arcs and eras. At the same time, we have reserved some bandwidth to work closely with involved and interesting modding creators to expand the capabilities of the mod kit.

In-progress

• Save editor: while the modded game databases be modified at will with simple tooling, we are still looking forward to creating a saved game editor that will allow you to execute certain sets of commands against your saved games.
• Improving documentation: the doc team never sleeps because there is always more to write down! Star Traders: Frontiers is a surprisingly huge and deep game (did you notice?) and so documenting every in and out of its data-driven structure is going to be a process that continues for a long time.
• Crowd-sourcing talent effects: some of the ready-to-play mods already make exciting tweaks to Jobs but we're looking forward to the first completely New Job mod to appear. To this end, we'll be holding a brainstorming within the mod community looking for new types of Talent effects and triggers that could help define new Jobs and allow modders to create truly unique new combinations for your crew and officers.

Future possibilities

• Game Rule Control: while few rules are within reach of the mod kit today (maximum ship armor 75%) we will be working to move some of these -- those most interesting to the mod community -- into scope and play for mods over the next months.
• More Story Examples and Features: with the first story mod already published, we cannot wait to see more modder created storylines filling up the galaxy. As we continue to add story to the base game, we will be authoring these new storylines in the same that the modders can use, which will expand the base of examples to pull from. We're excited to work closely with any modder working on a stories as one of our top priorities to see this type of content expanding in the game and to work on building out features that specifically cater to their needs.
• Further authoring tool development: the modding community has already developed a pretty set of powerful authoring tools, some of which are publicly shared. Depending on the need and interest, we may further invest in helping the community make these tools easy to use and share for new modders coming on to the team.
• Card Control the mod kit does not include the contents and rules for card games today but if there is significant interest, this is a direction we could work to expand the kit.

Captains, I think you know by now that given unlimited time and resources wed just keep adding to Star Traders: Frontiers until your scientist crew members were writing essays in their downtime pondering if they were merely living in a simulation and there were a real universe somewhere outside their perception... Sadly, as we do not have the cheat codes to get unlimited time and resources, we do have to pick our battles. So:

Play and make some mods!

We're loving the response to modding so far, with more and more mods continuing to be added and more players trying them out. Check out the game's Steam Workshop to browse the now 20+ mods available and being updated. Give those creators some love in the mod comments! More mods played and praised = more mods made and updated. Want to become a modder yourself? Check out Creating Mods on the Star Traders Wiki, and join the Discord for help, modding requests & discussions, and a great community of Star Traders players. We can't wait to see what you all create! The Star Traders question we've always asked before is: what kind of Captain do you want to be? Now we get to ask: Captains, what do you want in your universe?

[ 2021-09-01 04:39:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #277 is full of exciting adds and accompanied by a pile of new mods coming out on the Steam Workshop as well. We've delivered on a longtime community request to decorate Mission listing with action icons, the galactic starports are now installing 4 new types of hybrid barracks, we've buffed Battle Prows and even tweaked the placement of the Skip All button in dialog for faster play. On the Steam Workshop and modding side, we've had thousands of players subscribe to mods and welcomed 10 new mods to the ready-to-play family. Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

Mod Spotlight!

Modding has been live for a week and we're excited to welcome

Fly Xeno Ships!

Have you ever dreamed of flying a xeno ship? Stalking the galaxy in a semi-organic, completely alien death cruiser? Or just wearing a really big hat? Then you must be Rychart! All joking aside, in this mod Shelgeroth Cultists of Rychart have unlocked the secrets to utilizing Xeno technology and now sell the xeno ships at their starports for a hefty sum. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2495203303&searchtext=

Mini-Mod Pack

The mini-mod pack provides a easy to modify set of changes to the game and encourages players to pick and chose among them to get just the modded experience they want. It is already a big toolkit put together by @davea and @ptarth, two of the mod creator veterans from the mod beta. Check it out! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2586893280&searchtext=

SFX Overhaul

The newest SFX overhaul provides awesome sound FX for crew combat weapons, ship weapons, character injuries and all other parts of ship combat. Boom boom! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2586103199&searchtext=

Mission Summaries

Mission step groups now include a full list of all the icons of the types of actions for their children. This gives you a quick way to look at a mission and know what is involved -- from crew to ship combat, from exploring to salvaging or intel, stash and cargo missions. The ability to pick and chose missions wisely -- and to do it quickly -- is way up with #277. In addition, the icons also include a Passenger, Prisoner and Package "+" to indicate adding one and a "-" to indicate a drop off. This is a big help as well to plan out your routes for captains completing multiple missions and especially if your multiple passengers are competing for limited space.

Hybrid Barracks

Update #277 adds 4 new hybrid Barracks options as well as rebalancing the existing small slot Compact Barracks to be overall improved. The new medium slot Squad Barracks is a good way to get a few more crew capacity crossed with an officer bunk. The entire new series of Battle Barracks 1, 2 and 3 offer medium slot ways to keep a battle-trained and hardened crew at the ready, granting both additional Defense % and Boarding points.

Dialog Skip All Button Moved

For some of us, this is going to take some muscle memory retraining -- the Skip All button for Dialogs has moved to the bottom center of the screen to minimize needed mouse movement to reach it.

Craft Crash Fixes

This update cleans up a few sneaky bugs with craft crashing during combat, certain ordering when destroyed by capital ship weapons and a number of other edge cases that were hard to reproduce. A huge thanks goes out to the captains who kept reporting and sharing details until we could finally hunt this down!

v3.2.1 - 8/29/2021

- Mission description now includes type icons for all segments (combats, op types, add/drop off passenger, etc) - Baracks Components Update: 4 New Barracks Components, rebalancing Compact Barracks - Added new medium slot "Squad Barracks" which provides a Cabin-Barracks hybrid - Added new medium "Battle Barracks 3" with Defense and Boarding Bonuses - Buffed Battle Prow Boarding Bonus, Added Minor Craft Defensive Buff - Improved Spice Festival Rumor description - Moved "Skip All" dialog button into middle center of screen - Fixed sort order for craft to be more closely aligned with components - Fixed issue with extreme hostility in ship encounter printing "ERROR" - Fixed story issue where sometimes story mission could start twice - Fixed a crash with Ship Combat with a type of Small Craft conflict - Fixed reported typos from Forum and Discord - Fixed crash issue with some hotkey combinations

[ 2021-08-30 01:21:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

With new mods coming online daily, we wanted to shine a big spotlight on some of the other awesome mods already available to play -- one that adds story content, one that removes complexity in ship builds and one that re-writes the default v1 map. The modding creators have been working hard to bring their creations before the community. Be sure to tell them how much you appreciate their work, rate and share their mod!

Mod Spotlight!

Spy Pack and Story

This mod is the very first story mod for Star Traders: Frontiers, adding an entire new vignette introduced by Contact Valen Ducote. The Spy Pack isn't only a story mod, it also buffs spying and diplomatic abilities and Talents, adds a new Stealth Raptor ship and new spying components. The modder, @schrader, is a legend for the amount of work he put into creating this mod and helping us document and test story modding support during the private modding beta. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2578776840&searchtext=

No More Mass Reducers

This mod reduces complexity in ship build by completing removing the concept of Mass and therefore Mass Reducers from the game. With every ship component contributing only a small amount of Mass, the only thing you need to consider are your Small, Medium and Large slots and exactly how you'd like to set them up. Note, this mod really needs to go last in your mod config or it can cause crashes when combined with other ship or component mods. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2492139496&searchtext=

V1 Default Map Revamp

The first mod that creates a customized map for players to enjoy, this mod revamps the original default v1 map. New jump routes have helped improve playability and travel within the original map. After subscribing to the mod, you must delete any map_2.db file in your saved game folder, otherwise the mod changes will not take effect. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2498806096&searchtext=

[ 2021-08-26 18:05:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

After months of working closely with the mod community, Star Traders: Frontiers is opening our Steam Workshop for all to contribute and enjoy. After years of interest and requests from the community, we've been able to add modding to Star Traders: Frontiers just after its 3 year anniversary. We owe a great thanks to the 100+ creators who have already started working in the modding space and helped us write documentation, improve mod capabilities and test out the entire workshop kit. One of the first things many of you will notice is the game now offers you a choice at launch, to play either ST:F or its moddable version. These two versions of the game will both receive the same updates, but will store saves separately. Additionally, the mod version of the game comes with all of the Unlocks automatically achieved, so you may decide to play this version of the game just for that.

How to Get Started with Mods

The Steam Workshop is now open with some of the first mods created and tested during the modding beta. This first wave of mods covers a wide gamut -- from UI, to SFX to ship design and more. The creators are hanging out with us -- and the community -- in our Discord #stf_mods channel waiting for your feedback and ideas. To check out these mods, the process is straightforward: [olist]

Visit the Steam Workshop, browse and pick some mods by clicking the green Subscribe button on the mod page. Your Steam client will download any subscribed mods. If you don't see the downloads queuing, then try restarting your Steam client (classic).

Select Star Traders: Frontiers within your Game Library and push the big green Play button. This will pop up a choice to play the regular version of the game or the moddable version of the game.

When you pick the mod version of the game, you'll see a very different main menu with your subscribed mods listed. Click "Activate" to enable any mod you'd like to include in your current game configuration.

Any time your mod configuration changes, you must restart the game. [/olist]

Modding Going Forward

We've worked for 4 months with the modding creator beta team to expand modding support and build out the needed documentation. With the first crop of mods now out and the Workshop going public, we know there is a lot more coming. There are multiple story mods for vignettes in the works -- some reportedly being released soon -- and a great frontier of new content that could be added including jobs, professions, story vignettes, eras, ships, outfits and more. Join us in Discord or on the new Modding discussion board in Steams community hub to post up your ideas for mods, find like minded creators and get busy! The modding documentation for players and creators is homed on the wiki.

Mod Spotlights!

Merchant Marine: Fly Casual

Merchant Marine: Fly Casual is a game rebalance mod that was inspired by Space Opera and Western tales, small ships with small crews up against the universe. But has since broadened to include a larger number of changes to base ST:F gameplay. The mod aims to increase the options players have, while fundamentally retaining the gameplay of ST:F. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2539177784

Dave's New Ship Components

Dave's New Component mod lives up to its name, dropping a boat load of new and awesome ship components into the game, such as new officer cabins (Quartermaster's HQ and the Shrine of Shalun), cargo holds that reduce the Mass of your ship, and the Caterpillar engine which reduces both ship encounters and fuel use drastically. Not stopping at components, Dave has also included a new ship, the Habbanya Frigate, a 5000 mass ship with a unique layout and at a price that's difficult to resist. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2560635932

Davea's Instamax

A classic cheat mod, the Instamax Mod rockets your crew to level 40 in a blink of an eye and sets the price of every ship in the game to $1. Play with a new level of freedom and power as you cruise the void with max max max! https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2500463612

Davea's Army Officer / Military Commander

This mod moves around the Talents of the MIlitary Officer and Commander Jobs to help each better focus on a single thing -- the new Army Officer is a crew combat expert while the Naval Commander excels in ship to ship battle in the void. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2501902114

Doctor Profession

Currently 15 of the game's nearly 40 crew jobs provide special bonus traits to a Captain who starts with one of them. Now with the Doctor Profession mod, you have a new archetype to create your captains with. Envisioning a quippy Captain McCoy, a steely-smart Simon Tam, or ...why not Zoidberg? This mod gives you medical-minded captains a nice boost. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2567607837

What's next for Star Traders?

While we've opened the door for modders to create in the endless reach of the void, this is far from the end of our own content for Star Traders: Frontiers. We'll be updating the public roadmap in the months to come and still have more story content and Eras planned. If you enjoy the new features and capabilities still being added to the game without charge 3 years later, we hope you'll consider telling a friend and leaving a review.

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. Were currently working toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (make sure youve wishlisted and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights

v3.1.85 - 8/23/2021

- Enables mod support and Steam Workshop

[ 2021-08-23 17:35:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #275 brings a major improvement to your quadrant map to make starred zones ever-visible as well as improving ship encounter messages, fixing an Explorer card, tweaking a ship price and making final preparation for the modding upgrade. Thanks, as always, to the community for making great suggestions on how to improve the game, reporting bugs and pointing out little places where we could put on a little more polish. We wouldn't have made it to Update #275 without such an amazing community gathered around the game, so many thanks! The launch of Steam Workshop and full mod support is very close now. We're lucky to have had such an amazing crew of creators working on different improvements, adjustments and adds to the game. It's going to be awesome to see so many new things available to everyone on the first modding day! Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

Stars on Quadrant Map

If you use Stars on your zones, they now appear right on the quadrant map as you pan or sail around. This really helps brings stars into constant consideration, avoids the need to use the Atlas and can help you spot and remember zones you might have otherwise forgotten. My captains are already grumbling about needing more colors!

Other Fixes

Update #275 is more specific about the Depart messages in ship encounters for Merchants, Smugglers and Explorers, removing vague warnings about losing Reputation in the cases when that is not a possible result. We've also improved the text on the explorer card "Wild Revelations" and increase the number of crew who can possibly gain XP. The price on the Neutiquam Cruiser had to be increase a few hundred grand and finally we clarified some text in new game Templates around who can use gear (some crew!) While we've got a really nice update here, there is a lot more work going on behind the scenes to finalize the mod support in each of these updates. If you're enjoying the pace of updates, be sure to tell a friend and leave a review!

v3.1.83 - 8/15/2021

- Zone stars now appear on the quadrant map when sailing the void - Improved depart messages from ship encounters for Merchants, Smugglers and Explorers - Fixed "Wild Revelations" XP card in Explorer to reward 12 or more crew - Fixed price issues with Neutiquam Cruiser - Improved note about Contacts offering weapon/armor/gear in New Game Template

[ 2021-08-16 01:43:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #274 arrives with a bevy of community requested improvements, new features, content balance and minor tweaks. A huge thanks, as always, to the big community surrounding the game, posting feedback, suggestions and reviews. As Update #274 goes live and modding is just around the corner, we're hitting our 3 year launch anniversary for the game and looking back to marvel at all that has happened. We've been busy, hitting an average update every 4.8 days if you include the 8 months of Early Access before launch. If you've enjoyed the massive expansions and constant improvements to the game, we hope you'll take minute to leave a review and tell a friend -- there is no better way to thank us!

Live Streaming STF's Birthday

Also, we're celebrating a major milestone -- 3 years since launch and nearly 300 updates! -- this Sunday, August 8th, on Twitch if you want to join us for a live stream party. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/335620/view/3003324016167573939 But speaking of new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

New Mission Manifest

With this update, we've added a new section to the Talent Manifest to cover the wealth of options within Mission Talents. There are over 13 different variations listed here, each with their own angle or bonus. It is an immediately useful section in our playtesting and helps to highlight all the ways you can build out your crew to focus on mission success. This also gave us a chance to look closely at all the rules for the different mission Talents and we did uncover one bug. The Military Officer Talent "Power Play" Talent has long been using the wrong Attribute, relying on Resilience instead of Charisma for its Reputation bonus %. Now fixed!

Starport Boosted Discount

The discount offered for Starport Boosted Rumor is now clearly codified into the game's Rumor list as well as displayed prominently in the starport when you're shopping. It's a solid 10% off, so you want to know in cases where that is saving you thousands of credits!

Tactician's Annex

This one came off the presses just too good! We've removed the Armor bonus for the Tactician's Annex.

v3.1.81 - 8/5/2021

- Added Mission Talents to Talent Manifest (13 variations) - Corrected bug with Military Officer Talent "Power Play" which was using Resilience instead of Charisma - Improved Starport Boosted Rumor listing to clarify 10% discount on component upgrades and make visible in starport - Improved ship encounter bribe text for Merchants, Explorers Zealots and Bounty Hunters to be more specific - Removed Armor Bonus from new Tactician's Annex component - Fixed issue when enemy crew uses On Init debuff Talents such as Sniper's "Target Acquired" text printing in wrong side of screen - Fixed issue when enemy Wing Command users "Ripcord" Talent messing up the combat order

[ 2021-08-05 14:42:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Its a crazy summer, but we didnt want to let this milestone pass unnoticed. Its been 3 years since Star Traders: Frontiers launched on Steam!
This Sunday, at 8pm EDT, join us on Twitch for a community party! Join us (Andrew, Cory, and a whole bunch of you awesome players) to...

• Look back at some of the biggest changes to ST:F in the nearly 300 free updates weve made to the game.
• Showcase some of our favorite player creations & achievements. (If you have fan art or screenshots of your favorite captains / crews / achievements youd like to share, post it in our Discord!)
• Get a preview of the upcoming Steam Workshop mod support.
• Talk about whats still to come for Star Traders, both in Frontiers and (potentially, some day, purely hypothetically), the next Star Traders game.
• Hang out, meet some cool people from the community, celebrate being a part of making Star Traders and Trese Brothers Games better and better (10+ years )!

Well see you on https://www.twitch.tv/TreseBrothers at 8pm Eastern, August 8th!

[ 2021-08-05 01:37:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #273 launches from the starport with 2 new powerful options for officer's annex in the medium slot, a major upgrade to Smuggler's ability to flaunt Trade Conflicts in the Exchange, better duration for all Intel gathering missions, Talent icon upgrade and improved error handling for new game templates (thanks mod team!). If you're enjoying the pace of updates and new content, remember to tell a friend and leave a review! Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

No One Saw That Trade

Smugglers have always been the kings and queens of the Black Market, but their ability to break the law in the Exchanges has been limited. Now, we've upgraded their "Slippery Trader" Talent to enable it to completely remove any Rep loss from trading into a Trade Conflict, where before there was a minimum of -1 Rep loss always. Knowing the right things to say, the right people to find in any Exchange, you can feed the economic demand and avoid your dings. Merchants on the other hand can continue with "Bold Statements" to lawfully trade and gain Rep bonuses with the faction they are supporting.

Warden and Tactician Come to Roost

Two new officer annex have been released in Update #273 giving even more ways for you to hybridize your officer space into other duties as well. Both Annex are medium slot components which provide a single officer living space along with another set of powerful bonuses. Sold only by Steel Song, the Warden's Annex includes a small prison cell for 1 prisoner who needs to be closely watched as well as minor boosts to Armor and Medical Rating. Sold only by Thulun, the Tactician's Annex can provide a ship with powerful offensive and anti-craft capabilities, with +10% Accuracy, To Hit Craft and Damage, as well as +10% Craft Evasion. It's perfect for a Gundeck Officer, Commander or other military-minded officer. The presence of such a hardened position on the ship also helps reduce Morale loss.

Intel Mission Duration

While many types of missions receive different levels of duration boosts, thanks to come of the modding creators in the beta, it came to our attention that that the Intel gathering missions -- faction, Conflict and Science -- all lacked an appropriate bonus. These self-directed missions can take a lot more time than a normal mission and often don't have the type of mufti-step traveling requirements that buoy many mission durations. With Update #273, we've added a healthy bonus to the duration of all of these missions and will keep an eye on them to see if more is needed.

Orchestrated Salvage

This Talent is now appropriately colored to match with other Talents that destroy the enemy ship, as this is a key choice that removes other options like refueling and conscription.

Template Error Handling

Thanks again to the mod team, we've found and fixed some error handling holes in the New Game template system. Malformed template files, invalid template files or those with professions that are not in the game (added by mod, removed by mod) could all cause crashes or strange behavior in the system. We've hardened this component now in prep for mod release and for anyone sharing templates with friends!

v3.1.79 - Update #273:

- Improved Smuggler Talent "Slippery Trader" to be able to completely avoid Rep loss in Trade Conflict, used to preserve minimum -1 Rep - Added Steel Song-made Warden's Annex, new medium slot component that holds one officer and one prisoner - Added Thulun-made Tactician's Annex, new medium slot officer cabin granting accuracy/defense against capital ships and craft - Clarified bonus for Engineer Annex, maximum Engine Safety Bonus is +6 no matter which components you get it from - Increased Mission duration for those missions related to gathering Intel of any type - Updated icon from "Orchestrated Salvage" icon to match ship destruction color schemes - Improved error handling with New Game templates is JSON config file is missing or contains invalid syntax (hand-edit)

[ 2021-07-27 15:06:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #272 rolls out a nice set of small polishing improvements to the core game and another set of improvements to help the mod creators working on everything from story to new ships. With Update #272, we've improved the balance of how often the new missions appear and added new logs and hovers to ensure that Medical Rating is given its full due.

Mod Creators, last chance to get in beta!

The mod creator's beta has been chugging along for almost two months and we are now closing in our early August launch date. Modders have cooked up some amazing things that will get featured in the first weeks -- rebalance mods, changes to ship design, new ships, flying xeno ships (!!!) and the first story mods are now under development! If you want to join the beta and get something in under the deadline to get featured in our mod launch celebration, now is the time. All the steps to join up are posted on the Steam group, so sign up today and let's create together.

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. Were currently working toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (make sure youve wishlisted and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Medical Rating

Medical Rating can be very helpful on a ship as a supporting stat for your Doctors and Combat Medics, but it is used in unique ways compared to many of your other ship stats. Its important role in traveling events was not clear enough in the game, so with this update we've improved the hover in Ship Status describing Medical Rating and also clearly labeled its effect on Doctor Skill travel events in the travel log. We'll even included it here -- each point of Medical Rating adds +3 Standard Dice to your Doctor Skill traveling tests, where your crew and officer's Doctor Skill adds +1 Strong Dice per point. For ships of any size, Medical Rating is a big help to pass these tests, especially for larger ones. For all the rest of Medical Rating's far reaching effects, check out the wiki: https://startraders.fandom.com/wiki/Medical_Rating

Mission Rebalance

The missions added in Update #271 were using the new system available to the modders. We have now rewritten that system to be more flexible and also rebalanced it to prevent these missions from appearing too heavily in the rotation. Specifically, in this case, "Nomadic Defender" and "Mercantile Negotiation" will appear less often, especially in the early game.

Fixed Logging

We've cleaned up 2 small logging issues -- where Spice Hall would mislog the Morale bonuses for Libertine Trait and where a Contact would fund a Spice Festival Rumor but the log would report it was Mercs. A huge thanks to everyone watching the game's simulation so closely and reporting these minor, but important, issues! Every bug must die :D

v3.1.77 - 7/17/2021

- Improved mission weighting of new mission "Nomadic Defender" and "Mercantile Negotiation" to be more in line with other similar missions - Improved log for Doctor traveling events to highlight the value of Medical Rating for saves - Improved tooltip on Medical Rating, stating that it adds exactly +3 standard dice to Doctor travel saves per point - Fixed spice hall log issue with Libertine Trait printing incorrect Morale bonus - Fixed Zone News log issues misreporting a Contact funding a Spice Festival Rumor as a Mercs Rumor

[ 2021-07-18 01:48:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #271 focuses on a batch of changes to the economic simulation, reworking some of the game world economy to the supply and demand chain of raw to refined to manufactured goods stronger and more clearly hungry for supply. Mines mine more, refineries want more metal and refine more, and industrial zones produce more. While we've been working to update other areas of the game, we've been completing a cycle of study and analysis on the game world's economy and Update #271 puts the resulting changes into action. This one also has a big chunk of update for the modders -- enabling full proc-gen mission, story mission and storyline support!

For a different flavor of Trese Brothers sci-fi, check out Cyber Knights!

Our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is under development. Set in a different universe than Star Traders, we think much of what you all love about STF (a lore-rich world, many ways to play, strong independent spirit, lots of RPG depth) is shared within. Learn more about the Cyber Knights setting on its Steam page, or check out this video showing a ton of art and discussing the game design. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Economic Rebalance

In general, the differentiation between supplies and demands are more extreme and more diverse now within the raw material and manufactured goods markets. The production of ores has been increased for Mining zones and the demand for ores in turn has been increased in Refineries. This flows down the chain, with the output of refined metals increasing at those Refineries and finally, Industrial now demands more raw and refined materials than ever before

Industrial Booms

The production output level of all Industrial zones has increased, making Industrial worlds capable of being a larger profit center for a Star Trader, better fulfilling mission demand, and possibly able to serve and exhaust the demand in multiple nearby zone markets.

Duke Permits

In a small but important tweak, the Duke Contact Type can now offer up to grade 3 Permits instead of only grade 2. As a local zone nobility, the Duke has a lot of interest in all areas of operation, not only limited to military and the navy. Their economic clout deserves to drive negotiations at a Permit 3 level.

v3.1.75 - 7/5/2021

- Re-balanced Supply and Demand Hydrogen Fuel, Methane Fuel - Increased Trade Value of Hydrogen Fuel by 40% - Re-balanced the trade of Ores, Metals and Alloys - Increased Production output of all Industrial Zones - Base Permit Level available from Duke Contact increased to 3

[ 2021-07-06 02:02:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

There are only a few days left in this year's Steam Summer Sale which boasts the best price for the year for Star Traders: Frontiers. The bridge awaits, captain! We're constantly working to improve and expand the game and Update #270 hits those notes with new mission content, new rules for orbital ops, fixing a bug in the latest "Fractured Factions" storyline and a series of bugs with Jyeeta Era missions. A lot of the work in the last two months has been to expand and round out mod support for the mod creators in the on-going beta and Update #270 is no different, prepping the way for modders to create their own proc-gen missions. If you like the pace of updates, please consider leaving a review and telling a friend -- especially during Summer Sale!

For a different flavor of Trese Brothers sci-fi, check out Cyber Knights!

Our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is under development. Set in a different universe than Star Traders, we think much of what you all love about STF (a lore-rich world, many ways to play, strong independent spirit, lots of RPG depth) is shared within. Learn more about the Cyber Knights setting on its Steam page, or check out this video showing a ton of art and discussing the game design. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Missions

Update #270 adds 2 new mission types of the game -- an extended roving patrol mission with a lot of options about where and when to patrol and a diplomatic mission that mixes both negotiation, escorting a passenger and delivering cargo to get the deal done. Internally, we've prepped the game engine for modders to add new missions but to make sure we put the system through all of its paces, we'll be adding a series of new missions over the next few updates, specifically looking for mission types and sequences that are underserved or could have more interesting variety, such as the combo of diplomacy-passenger-cargo. We've also made a change to how cargo delivery missions affect Rep. If you're delivering cargo to a faction that isn't the one who offered the mission (working for Cadar, delivering to Thulun) you will no longer lose Rep with Thulun.

Fractured Factions and Jyeeta Fixes

For some paths through Fractured Factions storyline, the special faction-specific ship story component was never appearing. We've now fixed that bug for new captains and for captains who have passed through the storylnie. Within a few years, it should show up next time you visit a Cadar world. This update catches up on a bug introduced by the internal modding work we've been doing for the mod creators. During the Jyeeta Era, some of the missions were no longer turning up Jyeeta opponents. This has been resolved!

Mutinous Orbital Ops

Your crew will now refuse to engage in any orbital operations once it nears mutiny. In some cases, it was possible to run orbital ops nearly endlessly without landing on a zone. You can still do this if you are excelling at the card game -- finding ways to increase Morale, steal fuel, etc -- but if things are falling apart, you'll now reach a bottom out point where the crew refuses to keep going.

Genetic Sequencing

We've fixed an issue reported with Scientist "Genetic Sequencing" Talent where it was producing more than the maximum of 10 Scientific Intel. Sorry! Nerf!

v3.1.73 - 7/2/2021

- Added new "Nomadic Defender" mission type, long trip patrol - Added new "Mercantile Negotiation" help mediate a contract and then seal the deal with a cargo delivery - Cargo missions no longer damage Rep with target faction - Added prevention of all orbital ops if crew is at mutiny levels of Morale - Fixed bug in "Fractured Factions" that could prevent new ship components from appearing - Fixed issue where some xeno story missions -- such as Jyeeta Era -- could turn up human enemies - Fixed issue with Scientist "Genetic Sequencing" producing over maximum Scientific Intel

[ 2021-07-02 17:14:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Steam Summer sale is on with the best deal of the year for new captains -- a galactic 50% off. Welcome to the hundreds of new Star Traders firing up their engines and taking to the void. The community forums are very friendly place to ask for advice or post feedback on the game or please join us on the official Trese Brothers Discord for help, strategies or more. Update #269 comes with exciting new new character faces and a number of improvements fixes coming straight out of the community. We sure to share the game this week and consider posting a review if you're enjoying the pace of updates. Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

4 New Faces

It is always good to see new faces in the crew, even among your enemies. Update #269 adds 4 new faces in total, including some masculine options with longer hair and 2 varieties of beards. With this update, we've reached 104 total faces in the game. Our next art expansion will all focus on additional outfits and a few final hats, but we're excited to be looking toward the mods release that will hopefully invite more artists to join in and expand the options!

Follow-up Fixes

Update #268 debuted a new story vignette, and its always good to have a follow-up release with some fixes and improvements after a big content release. With this update, we've tweaked and improved some of the Trait mutation paths, especially around trading and spying in the void. We've also fixed an on-going bug with the Mechanic Talent "Ordnance Overhaul" which was crashing in some very specific scenarios based on what weapons and ship components were damaged. We've fixed a mistake in the description for the Shock Trooper Talent "Retaliation" which will return fire with Braced Fire if you have trained it. Finally, there was a bug in the Jyeeta Era where the Coalition Commander --if present -- offered missions but without any explanation of what they were. Happy Summer Sale all! May your wishlists delivery many delights :D

v3.1.71 - 6/27/2021

- Added 4 new character faces - long hair, beards, blue hair! - Improved Trait mutation paths - Fixed crash with Mechanic "Ordnance Overhaul" Talent - Fixed typo for Shock Trooper "Retaliation" can use Talent "Braced Fire" as its counter - Fixed issue with Coalition Commander having empty mission box during Jyeeta Era

[ 2021-06-27 16:19:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #268 roars into summer with a new and challenging story vignette, Fractured Factions, a much needed fix to type-locked Launch Bays and new card art for orbital ops. The newest storyline will join any existing game after the Coalition has formed and is started by a Contact "Felix Slayer Na'Zee." As always, we want to give a shout out to all of our Kickstarter backers who gave us so many great ideas for stories over the years. If you're enjoying the new content, please take a moment to leave a review, post some feedback and tell a friend.

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. Were currently working toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (make sure youve wishlisted and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Fractured Factions Storyline

The looming maw of faction politics awaits you in the "Fractured Factions" story vignette. Keep an eye out for the Contact Felix Slayer Na'Zee who will meet you at the starport when landing at a Cadar world. We won't include any more spoilers here, but through the multiple endings, you stand to make powerful enemies, allies, and gain access to multiple powerful ship components and/or a unique crew weapon. As the quadrants have reunited, the balance of power is in constant shift ...

Unlocked Launch Bays

Update #267 included a bug that type-locked all launch bays and made it impossible to replace them with any other type of component. This was an unintentional change due to some updates made for the growing modding community and drastically changes the landscape of ship and hull design. We've rolled this bug back and now Launch Bays can be swapped out once again.

New Card Art

With Update #268 we've added 7 new pieces of card art to help increase the visible readability of orbital ops. When you play enough of the ops games, its extremely helpful to just be able to see the card art and grok the hand, so these new cards -- for 3 tiers of ship and crew danger and and updated mission success card -- all improve the pace of play as well as the consistency of look in a very large set of cards.

Conscription Sort and Ritualized Retreat

We've fixed a lingering bug with Sort by Job not working when conscripting enemy crew. Also, the Blade Dancer's Talent "Ritualized Retreat" was previously not dubbed a "Smuggle" Talent and now it is correctly marked.

v3.1.69 - 6/23/2021

- Added new story vignette "Fractured Faction" starting on Cadar worlds with Felix Slayer Na'Zee - Get tangled up in a web of deadly faction politics - Multiple possible unique story Ship Components unlocked by story -- top tier new lance weaponry - Story includes new high powered Contact type, so called "Ex-Naval Commander" - Story includes chance to earn a new high powered level 11 blade - Added 7 new orbital ops card art for missions, and 3 tiers of ship and crew dangers - Fixed issue with all Launch Bays being type-locked as of 3.1.67 - Fixed "Sort by Job" not working when conscripting enemy crew - Fixed label on Blade Dancer Talent "Ritualized Retreat" to market it as a smuggling Talent

[ 2021-06-23 23:11:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Summer has slowed our pace of updates down a little bit but still, the updates must flow. Update #267 improves Saboteur's highest level Talent, ensures that the captain's log always includes key details about story-added ship components, improves combat logging for mid-combat repair Talents, and finally hides hidden Trait bonuses from the character list effect summary. Along with a heap of community requested tweaks and fixes, it also has some important items for the modding creator community who continues to put together some really exciting stuff in advance of the upcoming full launch of mods for Star Traders: Frontiers. Speaking of moar, better, faster -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

Engine Disruption

Saboteur's powerful rank 15 Talent is the rare exception that allows you to always damage the enemy void engine. It's powerful but when we set it up, we included one major balancing requirement -- that the Void Engine have 0% Damage. Thanks to helpful feedback from the community, we've eased this restriction back to 25%. The 0% rule was preventing the Talent from being used in all sorts of cases and making it hard to mix and match ship weapons and boarding and the Talent successfully as a glancing hit would do 6% Damage to the Engine and tank your opening boarding strategy. Saboteur on!

Story-Driven Ship Components and Craft

There are many different storylines that result in special ship components and craft being added to the starports, and most often faction-specific starports. These are explained in dialog, but that can be too easy to miss and so with this update we've ensured that whenever you encounter one of these story events, it always writes a clear and concise captain's log entry that includes the key details -- the component name, slot size, type and faction, if it is limited.

Mid-Combat Repair

Those ship combat Talents like the Mechanic's "Rushed Patches" that effect mid-combat repair now include the full list of repaired components in the ship combat log. This helps cut down any detective work you might have been doing to figure out what exactly was repaired by 28%!

Effect Summary and Hidden Traits

The awesome new effect summary on each crew roster entry had one flaw -- it could be used to reveal hidden Traits as it was including their bonuses. We've now resolved this issue and hidden Traits are now longer factored into the summary.

Type-Locked Components

Your Bridge, Engine and Hyperwarp Drive are all type-locked components. This means you can't replace them with a component of any other type. To help reinforce this, we've added the type-locked icon to more screens -- the ship preview and component replacement screens. This is helpful as we've also granted the ability for modders to type-lock anything they want on any ship in this update, so for mods that perhaps force hangar bays, weapon slots, explorer slots or cargo slots on ships, this extra reinforced display will be critical.

And More...

And more of course! We have resolved an issue where crew conscripted from United Coalition ships had no Traits. There were a few Talents that stated they could "reroll any card" which has been fixed to "reroll any risk card." You will no longer lose Templar Rep for one of the steps in the middle of the "Avengent Down" story mission. The gear "Falcon Reticle" now correctly buffs Ranged Accuracy instead of Melee.

For the Modders

When it arrives (as the modder update lags a bit for extra testing), it will contain a number of nice improvements for our beta creators. In the utility bucket, the main menu now includes a "MODS ENABLED" badge that can help you be sure when you're running the modded version. We've also added a "Self Test" button to the main menu which will run some of our automated tests on your database, checking to make sure all the images and components load. In the feature bucket, we've enabled the use of data.ShipDataCompartment.typeLocked field to type-lock any component on any ship. This opens up a whole world of exciting possibilities to really change the use-case for a ship. With type-locking you can force a ship to be carrier, or an orbital operations focused boat or a gunship with 6 guns. The AI will also adhere to these rules. Finally, to help with graphical mods each mod can now include its own sprite sheet that overrides the baseline sprite sheets. This allows modders to add new icons and images without having to compete of the same set of baseline sprite sheets or every worry about merges.

v3.1.67 - 6/14/2021

- Improved Saboteur's Engine Disruption to allow it to work if Engine is less than 25% damaged - All story events that add ship components to starports clearly list Faction, component name and slot size in the captain's log - Ship combat Talents that repair components mid-combat now report exact list of repaired components in log - Effect Summary of all bonuses in crew roster no longer includes bonuses from unknown Traits - Type locked ship components (hyperwarp, bridge, engine) are shown locked in ship upgrade screen - Fixed issue where Conscripted United Coalition crew had no starting Traits - Fixed description of "Mitigation Protocols" and "Unflinching Risk" to read "reroll any risk card" - Fixed issues with Dissension/Consolidation not affecting all story dialog in Plague Era - Fixed gear "Falcon Reticle" to correctly buff ranged accuracy - Fixed Templar Rep loss during one step of mission "Avengent Down" - Added "Kraesline Shards" and "Jyeeta Xeno Artifacts" to the wiki For THE MODDERS - Each mod can now provide its own uniquely named spritesheet to overload core game art - Ship components can be locked by type using the data.ShipCompartment.typeLocked field

[ 2021-06-14 22:17:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Last week, we opened the beta for mod creators, inviting them to come and check out the tools, get their feet wet and start creating. It has been a wild and wonderful week to see them in action and to learn about places where we can improve our support to really let their creativity run free in in the void. While Update #266 is very much for our mod creators it also includes a very exciting -- and to be honest, a very risk -- starting profession! The Shock Trooper Captain has arrived and it is a rush. Living on the front line of every fight a snubber in hand. Hold on to your butts, here goes!

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. Were currently working toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (make sure youve wishlisted and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Shock Trooper

A Shock Trooper has been toughened and trained by some faction military, prepared for deadly battle in the closest of quarters. Whatever profession or career these warriors seek, they are likely to do it from the front ranks. Picking this profession as a new captain may be especially challenging, if you plan to fight in the traditional way of a Shock Trooper. Access to the Shock Trooper profession has been locked behind the "Heir Apparent" unlock, which you can gain by helping Valencia on Normal or higher Difficulty. Equipped with a snubber and the Battle Proven Trait ("Often set to a single, resolute purpose, +2 Fortitude, +2 Resilience, +2 Initiative, +20% Debuff Resist, Morale never breaks in Crew Combat") and the Undisputed Boarder Trait ("Charging to battle even from the bridge of their ship, gains +20 Boarding, +1 Initiative and +5 Range Change in Ship Combat") the Shock Trooper captain is a force to be reckoned with. Be sure to set your Attributes high Priority!
An exciting early selection of mods is already coalescing!

Mod Creators Welcome

Last week we were excited to open the mod creators beta Steam group and have welcomed over 60 creators now to check out the tools, see what can be done and get their hands dirty. This flurry of activity has resulted in a list of places where we want to improve our support. But, as we are with updates for the mainline, we're jumping on updates for the modders during this beta process. Rapid improvements are already arriving! :D This 3.1.61 update for modding version of the game will arrive soon. When it does -- A new data.JobConfig table now enables full add / replace / remove for both jobs and starting professions. This data.JobConfig table also allows easy marking of which Jobs have faction affinity, so you can add more, remove or change these as well. The Jobs that are recruited by Contact Traits can now be modified through the data.ContactTrait table. And we've retooled the SFX priority system to ensure all the database fields are used -- Talent > Weapon > default. We'll be posting more on this update in the mod creators beta Steam group if you are interested! https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/335620/view/3067493264357330871

v3.1.61 - 5/29/2021

- Added new Shock Trooper profession, the hardened military operative - New unique Traits for Shock Trooper profession - Shock Trooper profession requires "Heir Apparent" unlock (protect Valencia, Normal difficulty) - Minor improvements to sorting of ship combat Talents within range groups - Fixed misprints with Hota-Cored Shells boarding talent

Modding Kit v3.1.61

- Jobs and starting Professions now ready to be modded - Faction affinity for Jobs now ready to be modded - Jobs recruited by Contact Trait now ready to be modded - Override SFX for ship weapon and crew weapons now ready to be modded

[ 2021-05-29 16:14:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

It has been a long road to get here, with modding interest for the game starting on the very first day of Early Access in 2017. We are excited to announce that after #265 updates, we are now inviting any mod creator who wants to get in, test out the tools and start creating mods to come aboard and get busy! As of Update #265 we've finished the prep work for modding and released it in a beta branch for creators to pick up and try. If you want to give it a shot, join the modding creators beta group and we can't wait to see what you create. Things have been rolling for less than 48 hours and we have over 30 creators already on the tools and the first working content mods are starting to appear. We've even had an enterprising community member step forward to write a Mod Manager (thanks @TheWelp!) to help us improve the tooling. The wikis is growing up quickly with more and more data and great examples coming online (thanks @phara0h!) Ever dreamed of an Empty Slot component? Ever wanted a better Palace Interceptor? Just wanted more faction armbands for your characters? The modding community is in the kitchen and cooking up a galactic storm. We cannot wait to see what you create!
If you are a mod creator please join the modding creators beta group. If you are a player interested in mods know that mods aren't far off and our amazing community is going to deliver -- as always!

[ 2021-05-20 01:25:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome all new captains! It is a big week here on the bridge with a 40% off discount, new update, new ship weapons, improved Rumors and Traits and word coming down from the officers that our private modding beta is about to open. Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

Modding Workshop Coming!

Update #265 includes a lot of behind-the-scenes changes that have prepped the game for modding. It has taken a lot of work, so please report any issues you see but it is very unlikely to appear in the base game. We are excited to open the private modding beta to interested mod creators who want to take a first crack at creating mods. If you're interested, please request to join the modding private beta Steam group We cannot wait to see what you create!

New Level 8 Weapons

With the last few updates, we've been rounding out the options for level 8 ship weapons in the game. Update #265 adds 2 more options, the M101 Tracker Cannon is a mean new 1 RP autocannon featuring high damage and high crippling hit chance, best for pummeling capital ships into bits at close range. The new Gargoyle Missile Battery clocks in at 3 RP and has higher Crippling Rate and Damage in trade for lower Radiation and Critical Hit rate.

Fuel Tweaks

Big ships can bring a lot to the table but with Update #265, we've slightly ticked up their fuel cost for combat encounters to offset some of their other many advantages.

Rumor Improvements

A bevy of Rumor improvements are helping to keep Rumors interesting, dangerous or valueable even into the later game. The Starport Boosted Rumor is now more likely once the 3rd Century has started, helping you late game shopping sprees. The risk and fuel costs for some of the more localized orbital Rumors -- Ion Meteor Storm, Salvage Hive, Orbital Disaster -- have all increased which makes Salvaging an landing often on the same world a little more challenging. We've also reduced the boost that "Offworld Stash" Card was getting while Exploring under the Jyeeta Spoors Rumor, as it was showing up just too often. The "First Infections" Rumor can no longer appear on Wild Zones!

Trait Clarifications

For all Traits that boost bonuses at +10% in card games and post-combat (etc), we've clearly labeled them having a 30% maximum now. We also fixed a bug where the Crafty Trait was printing oodles of reports that crew members were using their Trait above the 30% maximum (just a printing error, not real).

v3.1.59 - 5/18/2021

- New level 8 Autocannon: M101 Tracker Cannon (1 RP, High Damage & Crippling Hit) - New level 8 Missiles: Gargoyle Missile Battery (3 RP, High Damage & Crippling Hit) - Increased spawn rate of "Starport Boosted" Rumor during 3rd Century - Increased Fuel cost and Danger Boost for Ion Meteor Storm, Salvage Hive, Orbital Disaster - Reduced too common "Offworld Stash" Card during Jyeeta Spoors Rumor - Locating a new Rumor or Contact in the Spice Hall now grants an Experience Bonus - Increased Combat Fuel Cost for M6000, M7000 and M8000 Ships - Clarified rules for Traits Bandit, Vulture, Crafty, Sly, Terrifying -- all stack to max 30% bonus - Fixed issue with Crafty Trait printing all crew members even though only 30% bonus was applied - Fixed issue where an infected crew could cause "First Infections" Rumor on a Wild Zone - Slight balance adjustments to Xeno Ship Engine Speed & Agility

[ 2021-05-18 22:10:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #264 picks up one some of the work we've completed in the last month -- faction affinity jobs, auto-trainer improvements -- and carries each a little further toward perfection. We've got a new faction affinity Job for Javat, and improved auto-trainer ruleset for Wing jobs, up-balanced in-flight Wing combat Talents and a pile of community-driven fixes to boot.

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. Were currently working toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (make sure youve wishlisted and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Javat Exo-Scouts

Update #264 swaps Javat's faction affinity from Scavengers (non-combat, Talent's don't rely on Attributes) to Exo-Scout (crew combat, Attributes at a premium) which is a big win for the clan. We've also included a little blip of text in every Job description that has a faction affinity so that players are aware from which faction the the best possible recruits will hail.

Wing Job Auto-Trainer

Recently we made some major improvements to the auto-trainer routine to handle Skill saving Talents better, ensuring your crew has a baseline count before considering other Talents. With Update #264, we've taken a similar approach to Wing Jobs -- Leader, Bomber and Commando -- to ensure that these Jobs put a training priority on launch Talents. Without such launch Talents, they cannot fly a craft and are overall dead weight on any crew. So now, when auto-training, characters with these jobs will ensure a baseline of such Talents before considering other options.

In-Flight Wing Talents

The cooldowns for 3 more of the in-flight Wing Talents have come down to 1 week from 3 weeks. These Talents -- "Synchronized Strikes", "Vanguard Scan" and "Bolstering Fly-By" -- now all join "Protective Escort" at the 1 week cooldown level. This reduced cooldown window gives an additional advantage to craft pilots who have a high cost (must launch!) to use these buffs in the first place. They're more readily available than any other type of ship combat Talent. It's a nice -- if minor -- balance upgrade for craft. We're continuing to work on small and steady improvements to the overall meta of combat.

Jyeeta Brood Fix

For many players, finishing the Jyeeta Brood Era has resulted in a hanging quest log about the "Death of a Brood". For all future captains who pass through the ending storyline as of Update #264, this should no longer be an issue and nicely cleaned up. For those captains who already went through the Era, if you still have the hanging quest log, select it, pick actions and then dismiss mission.

Fixing Trait and Card

We fixed the Contact Trait "Covert Ops" which was not really forcing Contacts to always buy Intel. Now they do! We also fixed the description for the Salvage card "Influence Boost" which was claiming it gave too much Influence -- it really gives +10-20.

v3.1.57 - 5/3/2021

- Changed Javat's faction affinity Job from Scavenger to Exo-Scout - Added faction affinity bonuses to all Job descriptions to match Steel Song - Auto-Train for Wing Jobs now puts priority on Launch Talents - In-flight Wing Leader and Wing Bomber Talents "Synchronized Strikes", "Vanguard Scan" and "Bolstering Fly-By" reduced to 1 week cooldown - Fixed issue with Contact Trait "Covert Ops" not correctly offering option to buy Intel - Fixed formatting issues on Star Atlas (Water-Fuel, etc) on lower resolutions - Fixed card description for "Boosted Influence" in Salvage orbital ops (10-20 Influence boost) - Fixed issue with quest objective "Death of a Brood" sticking around after end of Jyeeta Brood Era

[ 2021-05-03 20:30:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

When Andrew and I released Star Traders: Frontiers, it was a new pinnacle in the years of work wed put into the Star Traders games already. Wed delivered on our promises to more than a thousand backers on Kickstarter, gotten recognition from Steam as one of the best games from Early Access that year, and had seen so much fan and new player enthusiasm that we knew wed be able to keep the game growing for years to come. And we have: over 250 updates of new free content, game improvements, and story expansions to our space sim sandbox RPG. Weve burned through an incredible number of milestones from our development roadmap, doubling or tripling almost every kind of content in the game, introducing new game mechanics, all while keeping the game balanced and as bug-free as possible across all platforms. If were trumpeting how much work weve done here, its because we want it to come across just as notably how much of content and improvements weve made have been driven by ideas and feedback from you, the players. In reviews, forum posts, discord brainstorming, and Twitch chat, you all have made it clear that you love this universe as much as we do, and enjoy adding to it as much as you do sailing through it.

Whats coming next

Now, were coming up on the end of our previously announced roadmap for Star Traders. This is not the end of new content from us for the game by any means, simply the completion of what weve already promised to add to the game. Weve always been very upfront about our ability to keep adding to our games depending on keeping a tight focus & staying in-scope. Now with these last milestones wrapping, weve been able to consider what larger-scale changes outside of the scope of the last roadmap we want to give you. Given how much of what weve added to the game has been driven by you already, and knowing its a small fraction of the ideas, possibilities, and personal passions you all have for the game, we think the choice is an obvious one: were going to add mod support to Star Traders: Frontiers.
This means: [olist]

A basic save-game editor all players will be able to use to customize their personal playthroughs. Want everything unlocked? Done. Wish that officer had more Fortitude? Buff away! Want to try max level? Change difficulty mid-playthrough? Remove that one annoying trait? Check, check, and check.

Steam Workshop tools for uploading & downloading mods, and a separately-installable build of the game so you can switch between vanilla Star Traders and modded Star Traders.

Officially-supported access & documentation to the game database for mod creation. [/olist] Work has already begun, and we expect to release these tools later this year. If you are a modder who would like to be among the first to get access to our mod creation tools, please fill out this form.

This is a big deal for both Star Traders and Trese Brothers.

As long-time fans of the studio will know, weve loved the idea of mod support for quite a while. The challenge has always been having both the development capacity and the playerbase scale to make adding mods viable and worthwhile. As weve grown, we felt confident enough to promise wed add mod support to Cyber Knights: Flashpoint since the Kickstarter. With this announcement though, it turns out Star Traders: Frontiers will be the first Trese Brothers game have full-fledged mod support. One of the things we value most in our games is replayability. As a studio, we would much rather create one game you want to play for the next ten years than sell ten games youre done with after a few months. Its an extremely high mark to hit in our novelty-driven world, but were excited about the potential for mods to even further extend the lifespan and replayability of these games so many of you are already so passionate about. We cant wait to see what you all will create. If youre a modder, or an artist or a programmer interested in getting into modding, remember to let us know if youd like to potentially get early access to these tools. For all our players and fans who want to simply stay in the loop, contribute ideas, or let us hear your enthusiasm for the news, our Discord community is open to you.

[ 2021-04-27 11:01:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #263 delivers on some new and devastating railgun platforms to round out the weapon set at level 8, a huge heap of card art for the Salvage, Explorer, Blockade, Spy and Patrol, a new card for the aggressive orbital ops and new enemy carrier AIs in some big, powerful carrier ships. Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

Demon-X Rails

We've added 2 new Railguns to round out the class for the late-game. These powerful, level 8 weapons platforms are story-sensitive, just like all of the level 8 weapons, and are not released until the end of the Consolidation or Dissension Eras. However, when they do arrive on the starport shop floor, they are worth a look! The Demon-X Heavy Rail hits with a high Crippling Rate and best-in-class Damage and for a medium weapon it requires a mighty 4 Reactor Points. The Demon-X Fast Rail only demands 3 RP from your void engine in trade for a downgrade in Damage, Craft Hit %, and Crippling Rate it still is a powerful contender as the only level 8 Railgun that can be railed off at 3 RP. Be sure

Card Adds and Revamps

We've added a new negative card for the aggressive orbital operations -- Blockade and Spy -- which can result in loss of Reputation with the local faction. This card mirrors the result you can gain in Patrol for supporting the faction and gaining Rep. It is a great one to knock out with Talents if you're looking to do your work quietly. Looking at you, intergalactic spies. We've also improved and replaced a ton of visuals across the card set in both Explorer and the entire orbital ops group -- Patrol, Blockade, Spy and Salvage. The new card sets make the game easier to read without checking as much text -- you can now see a large weapon or gear icon when you've got valuable loot appearing in Salvage, etc.

Enemy Carriers

With this update, we've finished the testing and analysis of two new high challenge level faction carriers -- the Javat Mortifor and the De Valtos Dreadnought Battlecarrier. The second is especially kitted out for battle, so beware of De Valtos Bounty Hunters sailing the stars in such a mighty vessel. Or maybe you're also kitted out for battle and you might be looking for that peak Salvage price tag or -- if you're really into making money -- using a Prize Ship Talent to bring that Dreadnought home in one piece and under your banner. Either way, make sure you're defenses, autocannons or your own craft are primed if you run into either of these in the late-game.

Small Craft Maintenance

The cost to maintain early Class 1 and Class 2 small craft has been reduced with this update. Running a carrier is not a cheap operation, but for those getting their new carriers off the ground in the mid-game, it just got a little more reasonable.

v3.1.53 - 4/22/2021

- New level 8 Railgun: Demon-X Heavy Rail (4AP, High Crippling Hit & Damage) - New level 8 Railgun: Demon-X Fast Rail (3AP, High Critical Hit & Void) - New "Reputation Loss" Card introduced for Spy and Blockade - Added "Mortifor Carrier" Javat Military Officer AI - Added "Dreadnought Battlecarrier" De Valtos Bounty Hunter AI - Improved card visuals for Orbital Ops (Spy, Blockade, Patrol, Salvage) - Improved and revised visuals for Exploration - Improved visuals for several Orbital Cards, such as "Reputation Bonus" - Reduced Maintenance Cost for Class 1 and Class 2 Small Craft

[ 2021-04-22 17:25:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #262 bundles up a lot of meta changes that we've been in the pipe for some time as we finish testing and analysis of the improvements. #262 includes ship Crippling Effect improvements, new economic angles and demand, new enemy AI and ship combinations and finally new tweaks to high and low mass Chaser engines. We're excited to keep improving and expanding Star Traders: Frontiers and hope you'll help us do so by sharing the game with a friend and leaving a review.

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. Were currently working toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (make sure youve wishlisted and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Crippling Effect Rebalance

With Update #262, we've tuned some of the classic ship crippling effects coming from powerful weapons, paying special attention to their % chance to appear for the class. As one of the rarer sets, Missiles have gained powerful bonuses to their unique effects. Crew Stunned (coming from Missiles) has gained a -1 Reactor penalty. Secondary Explosions (coming from Missiles and craft Rockets) has gained 10 Component Damage per Turn. Radiation Wash (coming from Railguns, Lances, Plasma Cannons) has split its 20 Morale Damage into 10 Crew Damage and 10 Crew Morale loss per turn.

Economic Shifts

Another meta analysis and improvement we've completed with this update is to specific economic resources and increasing their demand across the galactic Exchanges, in some cases opening up new trade route possibilities and in others simply growing the roaring yell for moar moar moar of a certain product.

• Demand for Iridlaentine has simply grown much stronger in the places where they've already called for it.
• Narcotic Spice is now more readily supplied by Farming worlds
• To feed the small but important local agriculture on Population and Luxury Population worlds, there is now demand for both Fertilizer and Pesticides
• Industrial worlds supply more Terraforming Components while Tradeways no longer provide these key manufactured components

New Enemy AI

As new ships are brought online in the game, we always give the player-base a chance to test them out before we build AI around them. It's a cautious move to ensure captains are not killed unfairly until we've seen the ships in action. With this release, we're catching up a bit and have added 5 new enemy captain AI's in specialized ships and factions, bringing out the Lockwood Defender for Rychart Military Officers all the way down to the Larimar Battlecruiser (yikes!) for Cadar Bounty Hunters.

Engine Balance

In our quest to perfect the balance of ship's engines, we've reduced the Safety Rating on two engine groups with Update #262 -- the M9000 Dual Field and all Chaser engines at the M6000 class and above. We've also bumped the M2400 Chaser Engine's safety to 10.

Community Fixes

And, as always -- a big thanks to everyone in the community posting feedback, feature requests and bugs. We've fixed a number of typos, minor display bugs and issues this week include a issue where Ship victory Talents boost the wrong Conflict!

v3.1.51 - 4/18/2021

- Rebalanced Secondary Explosions, Radiation Wash and Crew Stunned Crippling Ship Effects - Added new galactic demand for Fertilizers and Pesticides - Added new galactic production for Narcotic Spice - Increased industrial supply for Terraforming Components - Increased galactic demand for Iridlaentine - Added "Lockwood Defender" Rychart Military Officer AI - Added "Neutiquam Cruiser" Steel Song Smuggler AI - Added "Tempus Freighter" De Valtos Merchant AI - Added "Vark Carrier" Zenrin Pirate AI - Added "Larimar Battlecruiser" Cadar Bounty Hunter AI - Fixed issue where Ship Victory Conflict Talents could misidentify the Conflict they boosted - Reduced Safety Rating on M9000 Balanced and Dual Field Engines - Reduced Safety Rating on M6000+ Chaser Void Engines

[ 2021-04-18 19:34:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #261 comes in with a new ultra heavy Mass 9000 ship launching to the stars paired with two new M9000 battle hyperwarp drives and a M9000 Dual-Field Void Engine. What a package! We've also rounded out the faction affinities set with 4 new affinities for Thulun, De Valtos, Javat and Moklumnue. Update #261 brings a few tweaks to combat Talents that will help negative Bleed Res be featured in more strategies as well as adjusting the Jyeeta craft weaponry (watch out, bombers incoming!) to ensure their bombers and interdictors are hitting with the right punch. It's a big one with a lot of new content, so enjoy it! If you're liking the steady stream of free updates and expansions, be sure to tell a friend and leave a review. Speaking of new, new, new-new: if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint coming to Steam which mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

New Ultra Heavy M9000 Battlecarrier

De Valtos has released its entry into the Mass 9000 class of ships in classically De Valtos style -- with great pomp, Mass, and circumstance! The mighty Dreadnought Battlecarrier is a 9000 Mass ship sporting 2500 Hull (exceeding Sword BC by 400), 160 Base Fuel (best in class), a crew/officer max of 42/7, 6 max craft and 12 Small / 12 Medium and 8 Large (best in class) components. Outfitted as a super carrier the price tag is very De Valtos as well at $3,981,250. A new entry in the Mass 9000 class is sure to shake up the meta of those captain's stepping onto the bridge of the largest ships in the game during the mid-to-late game. The Dreadnought is spec'd out for ships that want more Large slot components, including launch bays or super-class weapon systems like the Obliterator Plasma Cannons, Buster Arrays or the most powerful Gravcannons.

New M9000 Engine and Hyperwarps

The M9000 Dual-Field Void Engine extends this well-loved line of engines up to the highest mass class of any ship. Bringing a balance approach to engine statistics along with a much lower Mass requirement, the M9000 Dual-Field adds 12 Jump Cost but burns off 650 Mass. All for a pretty price of about $1.4m credits this new engine can help free up mass on a large scale ship to be spent on other priorities. The Combat and Warhammer Hyperwarp Drives each add PIlot bonus to their profile along with significant Armor (3 and 7) and Jump Cost (40 and 50). Trading up into one of these drives can help reduce the need to dedicate other components to armor for a ship designed more for battle than for long range travel. If you're shopping for Drives, be sure to check "Any Faction" in the ship component filters so you'll spot the Warhammer Drive only sold by Thulun and the M9000 Performance Drive only sold by Moklumnue (which has been in the game a while).

New Faction Affinities

In the last few updates, we've been loading up each faction with exciting affinities that result in the best possible Attribute bonuses when a certain Job is recruited from their spice hall or Contacts. We've now completed the set, hitting a few very core Job notes in the process. Each faction affinity is listed in the new game faction list screen under their special rules. These faction affinities grant an extra bonus on top of any existing Attribute bonuses that you are getting from Traits, Talents, zone stats, Era, recruit level, etc.

• Diplomats from Thulun
• Scavengers from Javat
• Swordsman from De Valtos
• Merchants from Moklumnue (could it be any other way!?)

There is no bonus during the new game process (if your captain starts as a Thulun Diplomat, for example).

Crew Combat Rebalance

With Update #261 we've tweaked the balance of three talents -- Shock Trooper's "Deepstrike Grenade" and Blade Dancer's "Thousand Cut Dance" and "Squall of Blades" to add negative Bleed Resistance. Apply negative Bleed Res can increase existing Bleeds, which helps set up more synergistic strategies for the Talents. Hitting them with both a Bleed and negative Bleed Res can spike Bleeding damage as high as possible. In the case of Deepstrike Grenade, this addition was swapped in for the -2 Init penalty.

Jyeeta Bombers Beware!

We found and fixed a bug that was interjected into the set of Jyeeta craft at some point after their release. The Interdictor ended up with the higher power bomb and the bomber with a lower power rocket. This has now been fixed and will make attacking Jyeeta Interdictors less of a threat but definitely increases the threat from Jyeeta Bombers. Be sure to have your craft mitigation strategy firmly in place before flying headlong into the maw of the Jyeeta Brood!

v3.1.49 - 4/11/2021

- New Ship: Dreadnought Battlecarrier (De Valtos, 9000M Ultra-Heavy Battlecarrier) - New Engine: M9000 Dual-Field ($1.1M Credits) - Rebalanced M9000 Combat and Warhammer Hyperwarp Drives - Added 4 new faction affinities for recruits - Scavengers recruited from Javat spice halls or Contacts gain additional bonus Attributes - Merchants recruited from Moklumnue spice halls or Contacts gain additional bonus Attributes - Diplomats recruited from Thulun spice halls or Contacts gain additional bonus Attributes - Swordsman recruited from De Valtos spice halls or Contacts gain additional bonus Attributes - Rebalanced Deepstrike Grenade: Removed -2 Init Penalty, Added -5 Bleed Res Debuff - Added Bleed Res Debuff to Blade Dancer Talents Thousand Cut Dance, Squall of Blades - Improved HUD ship/crew refresh to avoid any caching issues during operation card games - Fixed weapon mix-up in Jyeeta bombers and interdictors -- watch out, bombers now hit harder - Fixed tooltip on shuttle's Electronics to be clear it adds to Boarding Chance % - Fixed misnamed Dragoon Injector

[ 2021-04-11 21:21:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Every major new update and expansion deserves a couple of solid Quality of Life follow up updates, and this is the first in that vein. We've added exciting new faction affinity's for specialist recruits, including a section in a crew roster detailing Trait and Gear bonus summary, further tuned economic and Contact simulation, fixed issues with Shock Trooper Talents, some of the new weapons and fixed a bevy of other community reported issues. Thanks to every new captain for your support and especially to those leaving reviews!

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, is continuing as we march toward the alpha test for Kickstarter backers and then on to Steam Early Access. Thankfully, we're finally be able to come clean about the true reason for the game's delays. Get on the hype, punch that wishlist button. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Faction Affinity

As we've added Jobs all the way up to #38 with Shock Trooper, we've started linking highly specialized Jobs to certain factions and granting them a Attribute bonus when recruited from that faction. The first was Blade Dancers -- which is an ancient and traditional Steel Song practice -- and Steel Song. Of course, the other factions have learned the practice, but the best Blade Dancers (may, all things depending) hail from Steel Song. Saboteurs have a faction affinity to Rychart and the Shock Trooper has an affinity to Cadar. With Update #260, we've added those affinities clearly to the new game screen where you are picking factions and seeing their unique bonuses and special rules. We have also added 2 new faction affinities -- there is no tougher defender than a Zenrin Bodyguard and if you truly want an ace pilot, look no farther than a Alta Mesa Wing Leader.

Trait and Gear Bonuses

We've now included a section in every crew member's roster dedicated to the summary of all bonuses granted by Traits and Gear. This can be a quick way to see the full effect of the choices and mutations your character has and is super helpful when evaluating officer potential!

Economic and Contact Simulation

We've rebalanced the economics of 2 major trade goods -- Terraforming Components and Spice Extractors to ensure they are more profitable in trade routes. We've also adjusted the Influence and action rates for some of the more powerful Contact types including High Prince, UCF Emissary and Fleet Commander.

Shock Trooper Fixes

We've fixed the last few things about Shock Trooper that were outstanding. In the Talent detail for their counterattack Talent, "Retaliation", is now correctly stated that if you have trained Bracing Shot, that is the Talent the Shock Trooper will counter with, otherwise Close Blast will be used. And finally, we've fixed a bug with "To the Front" which was always moving the Shock Trooper and not the target of the buff.

Other QOL

We resolve issues with 3 weapons that were released in Update #259 not having the correct stats -- Paratitan HG, Otrike Domer, Solar Dragoon. We've also resolve an issue that was causing Thulun on map v2 default to have an 11 jump Arbiter mission which had potential impact on a lot of different maps, given the whims of proc gen. Finally, we've resolved an issue where purchasing a Military Rank would temporarily allow you to use the services of any landing zone regardless of faction rep.

v3.1.47 - 4/1/2021

- Added new "Traits + Gear" display in Crew Details to show summary of all effects - Bodyguards recruited from Zenrin spice hall or Contacts will have best Attributes - Wing Leaders recruited from Alta Mesa spice hall or Contacts will have best Attributes - Added faction affinity (such as Shock Trooper + Cadar) to list of faction special rules in New Game - Rebalanced the economics and trade for "Terraforming Components" making them more profitable - Increased galactic production of "Spice Extractors" in Industrial and Orbital Zones - Increased Influence Base and Growth Rates for: Fleet Commander, Emissary and High Prince - Increased Hull Points for Boarding Shuttle Small Craft at Level 5 and above - Fixed issue where buying a rank temporarily allows you to use landed services with large negative Rep - Fixed issue with Shock Trooper "To the Front" moving the Shock Trooper and not the buff target - Fixed issues with low stats on level 10 weapons -- Paratitan HG, Otrike Domer, Solar Dragoon - Fixed incorrect Talent detail in side panel for Retaliation, which uses Bracing Shot in its counter-attack if available - Fixed issue with Thulun start on Map V2 default that could lead to an 11 jump Arbiter Escort mission

[ 2021-04-01 18:16:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #259 follows up on the major new addition of the Shock Trooper job -- a frontline warrior with the sustaining power to hold slot 1 or 2 without a blade -- and adds new weapons, new gear, rebalances snubbers to further separate them from assault rifles, improves a merchant Talent and more! If you're new to the game, expect a lot of new updates with free, awesome content and be sure to leave a review and tell a friend.

For a different flavor of Trese Brothers sci-fi, check out Cyber Knights!

Our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is under development. Set in a different universe than Star Traders, we think much of what you all love about STF (a lore-rich world, many ways to play, strong independent spirit, lots of RPG depth) is shared within. Learn more about the Cyber Knights setting on its Steam page, or check out this video showing a ton of art and discussing the game design. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Snubber Rebalance

With Update #259, we've taken a chance to push Snubbers into an even more unique class of weapon by transforming some of their Accuracy bonuses into Parry bonuses. While they can't compete with carrying a melee weapon (as you have no Blades Skill) this bonus makes any buff to Melee Defense more noticeable and some of the high level Snubbers are bringing pretty significant Parry stacks.

Level 10 Relic Weapons

We've added 7 new ultra rare level 10 Relic Weapons as possible results of Salvage -- the Slazah Falchion, Ki-Karat Sah, Paratitan HG, Retaliation Roar, Otrike Domer, Solar Dragoon and mighty AX2 Advadnium. This will be the last weapon add to Salvage as the story rewards will stand unique at Level 11. They each have their own special twist and will be of interest to specific combat builds but worth the risk in hunting.

Contacts Selling Level 5 Gear

Contacts who sell Military and Specialist gear have gained 2 new options each with level 5 gears that are a mix of powerful offensive, defense and Attribute boosters. For those looking for a reliable pick up in ability to handle crew combat, check these out.

Shock Trooper Clean Up

We've fixed the majority of reported Shock Trooper issues with Update #259, and what is left is small textual issues in certain Talent detail panels. We've resolved the issue with Deepstrike Grenade always immediately putting your Shock Trooper to penalty -- it was costing 196 Initiative! We've also fixed the issue with some of the Shock Trooper's buffs and attacks adding to Melee Accuracy or Melee Damage -- these obviously were ranged. For clarity, we're renamed the buffs that were Parry and Dodge to Melee Defense and Ranged Defense (thanks @jamesthesecond!) as these effect all dice in those pools, not only your weapon's Parry dice (etc).

And More

Finally, we've improved the power and way that the dice roll out for Merchant's Talent "Garner Favor" which will help it have more impressive results.

v3.1.45 - Update #259: Retaliate!

- Added 7 new ultra rare level 10 Relic Weapons (Slazah Falchion, Ki-Karat Sah, Paratitan HG, Retaliation Roar, Otrike Domer, Solar Dragoon, AX2 Advadnium) - Added 4 new level 5 Gear for sale (2 Mil, 2 Specialist) -- defensive, offensive, Attribute boosters - Rebalanced all Snubbers to trade small percentage of weapon Accuracy for some weapon Parry - Improved application of Negotiate Skill in Merchant's Talent "Garner Favor" to give more even better Rep bonuses - Renamed buff bonus "Parry" to "Melee Defense" and "Dodge" to "Ranged Defense" for clarity - Fixed bug with Shock Trooper Talents buffing Melee Accuracy instead of ranged - Fixed issue with Deepstrike Grenade costing 196 Initiaive to use (auto Penalty)

[ 2021-03-26 19:47:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #258 launches with all new frontline snubber-focused Shock Trooper combat job, all new Bleeding rules and Pinning resistance that shake up crew combat meta, powerful new boarding Talent, new recruit options for Princes and Merchants and more. Step on to the bridge captain, the void waits for no ship. To celebrate this major update and new Job, we're kicking off a weeklong 40% sale. Send shrapnel, shells and spice!
Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

Shock Trooper -- to the Front!

For too long, the bladesman has held sway over the front ranks of battle. At last, a complementary Job has arrived to prop up Soldier's frontline Talents and shake up the close-quarters combat on ship, salvage yard and open field. The Shock Trooper is a deadly close-quarters combat specialist, trained in the martial arts of deadly face-to-face firefights. These battle-hardened warriors charge forward, and can be found in the front lines of conflicts across the galaxy. The Shock Trooper unleashes 15 new Talents focused on joining the battle in the front 2 slots of crew combat and bringing enough sustaining power to survive it. Their unique buffing attack "Bracing Fire" allows them to resist being Pinned and resist all forced movement (your own team can still move you) -- helping them stay right where they want to be, in the enemies face. A Shock Trooper's firepower is legendary, and "Retaliation" creates the first and only ranged-fire counterattack Talent, allowing them to blast back if attacked from the enemy front 2. Like Swordsman, the Shock Trooper will return fire with a different Talent if available -- where Swordsman uses Balanced Blade, Shock Trooper will counter with Bracing Fire. The Shock Trooper's "Deepstrike Grenade" also pairs with the Soldier's "Concussion Grenade" to allow targeting the enemy's front or back ranks with a stunning grenade (both Talents now have 14 Initiative cost). In many ways, the Shock Trooper synergizes with the Soldier's Talent list Their non-crew combat Talents include a Command Save, a ship combat +Boarding Buff and a powerful "finish them" style Boarding Talent. "Hota-Cored Shells" destroy up to 3 components with at least 40% but less than 60% (damaged but not yet out) guaranteeing that they are at least 60% damage or higher. If properly timed and planned, this Talent has the potential to land a knock out punch to an enemy ship, in the absolute best scenarios on the first boarding hit!

Bleeding Out

Some exciting new meta has dripped and splattered into the Bleeding rules for crew combat. Bleeding has taken a new pace and now Bleeding Damage is rolled every time a character gets a chance to act. Naturally, we've rebalanced all of the Bleeding and Bleed Res damages but this does mean that heavier, chunkier use of Initiative will cost (Snipers) you less Hit Points to Bleeding. When thinking about who to slice up and Bleed, those characters who are high Initiative and use low Initiative attacks (Pistoleers) are your most effective targets. The new rules helps Bio-Poison stand on its own as the damage-over-time that runs once a turn where Bleeding runs every action (even if you are Stunned or Morale Break). And the Shock Trooper brings some exciting new capabilities in this area! To battle!

Contact Adjustments

With Update #258, we've pushed more recruit options into some of the most commonly available Contacts -- Princes and Merchants. Princes -- with their connection to their own military elite -- offer to recruit Shock Troopers and Merchants -- with their far-flung network of trade -- offer to recruit Hyperwarp Navigators.

Mission Highlight and Pending Count

To ensure you spot the change, we've added a new highlight for whenever a Contact adds a story Mission to your offered list. At the end of the conversation, a highlight will play over the Mission option, reminding you that while the Contact told you about the Mission in story dialog, you do need to check it out, review its specifics and make an informed decision as to whether or not you'll accept.
We've also fixed a few bugs with Mission Offered count getting behind and showing too few or too many missions until you opened the subscreen, especially in the case of Missions expiring.

v3.1.43 - Shock Trooper

- New Bleeding rules -- Bleeding damage is applied every time you act, all Bleeding and Bleed Res rebalanced - New Job "Shock Trooper" leads with a snubber and a rack of grenades from the frontline with Rifles, Evasion, Command Skills - Shock Troopers recruited from Cadar spice hall or Contacts will have best Attributes - 15 new Talents for Shock troopers including multiple unique Talent types, uses and combat combos - Shock Trooper "Braced Fire" resists forced movement and Pinning - Shock Trooper "Retaliation" allows for ranged fire counterattacks - Shock Trooper "Hota-Cored Shells" boarding victory Talent knocks out already damaged components - Contact types Prince and Retired Bodyguard (new) offer Shock Troopers as recruits - Merchant Contacts now offer Hyperwarp Navigator recruits always - During Mercenaries Rumors, Shock Troopers and Bodyguards can be recruited in the Spice Hall - New Contact Trait "Military Leverage" increases costs, always willing to buy Intel, recruits Shock Troopers - Initiative on Soldier's Concussion Grenade Talent reduced to 14 - New mission highlighter shown in Contact screen if the mission count changes (due to story, etc) - Fixed bug where crew combatants could end up smaller if they had custom outfit (legs/upper/gloves) - Fixed all issues with incorrect number of pending missions listed when talking to contact - Corrected Talent icon for Wing Bomber "Ruthless Destruction" to be red

[ 2021-03-22 17:52:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #257 rolls out with a set of revamps to how Legendary Bounty Hunter stories are pulled into the game, adds new Contact simulation actions and fixes some outstanding issues with Conflict selection when generating Intel that were blocking the upcoming Conflict Missions. We've also continued to work on the platform updates and revisions for Mac and Linux that kicked off in Update #256. If you like the pace of new updates, please consider leaving a review and telling a friend! Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

Legendary Bounty Hunters

The four legendary bounty hunters -- Troy 'The Blade' Circin, April 'The Werewolf' Flowder, Draiv Solregard and Urraca Aurelius -- have long haunted the nightmares of captains and at times, come for them from the dark of the void, carrying a death warrant and a blade. Sometimes a assault rifle. Sometimes a torp. Whatever. If one of your enemies pays them well enough, they will come for your life. But, we often receive the feedback that a veteran player believes they have created the conditions that should cause one of the infamous hunters to appear but they do not. With this update, we've completely rewritten how the Bounty Hunters are deployed by Contacts to make it far less questionable whether or not they are going to appear. They are proc'd much more readily now, more like the vignettes. If you make a powerful enemy, they will not hesitate to pay these hunters to do what they do best.

Spicy Contacts

We've improved the matrix of actions that a Contact Trait can cause for a Contact again with this release, working to link more Rumors to more Traits. As an example, this release we've added the link that those Contacts who are Spice Addicted are more likely to take action that will start Spice Festivals on their zones. As more and more Rumors and Traits get added, we're always working to improve this motivation matrix.

Conflict Selection in Orbital Ops and Talents

As we march toward Conflict Missions, we're continuing to grind down on any little rough edges, balance imperfections and bugs around Conflicts. With this update, we've fixed an issue related to how Conflicts were selected for those that would be targeted by Orbital Ops and any Talent that generated Conflict-related intel. The selection rules specifically used to select the oldest standing Conflict. This meant when playing an Orbital Ops like Spying you could only affect one Conflict and only gain Intel related to one Conflict. For Intel gathering Missions, this is a major problem and it would have been even worse for Conflict Missions. We've resolved this in many places -- from Orbital Ops to Unauthorized Access boarding Talent -- so that the targeted Conflict is taken from a list of possible Conflicts with a slight weighting applied by age.

Flight Plan Maxing

For a long time now, if you trained enough flight plan Talents and used the right screen resolution, you could end up with them going off the top of the screen. This was kicked up a notch by adding Saboteur and players combining Saboteur and Wing Commando. We're now resolved this with a refresh to the interface that shows the Talent Icons in a neat little grid (less mouse movement, yah!) with hovers for their full details.

v3.1.41 - Update #257: The Infamous Hunt

- Rebalanced rules for Legendary Bounty Hunters -- they will appear far more readily now - Contacts with Traits like Spice Addict (and others) are more likely to start Spice Festival Rumors on their own zone - Improved balance of Contact-created Rumors to run longer and be more useful to captains - Rebalanced Orbital Conflict selection and Intel Talents that target a Conflict to stop using "oldest" Conflict only - Fixed issue with too many Flight Plans going off screen - Fixed issue with selling generic Intel to Contact raising wrong Conflict Score

[ 2021-03-15 16:24:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #256 is an unexpected detour into an important system within the game. With a very timely and well-put post, @davea pointed out an area where we could massively improve the experience for new and veteran players through making the game's auto-trainer for Talents smarter. We took a quick break from our progression on Conflicts toward Conflict Score missions to improve the auto-trainer for the good of every captain across the expanse. As always, a huge thanks to everyone posting feedback and helping us share the game through reviews.

Mac Big Sur and Linux Support Improvements

This update also includes major upgrades to our SDKs, Steam libraries and other parts of the internal system to improve support for the latest versions of Mac OS and Linux distros -- such as Big Sur.

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. Were currently working toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (make sure youve wishlisted and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/
^ Experience E in the Frontier Liner

New Game and Auto-Train Talents

Talent training has come up on the Steam forums in many ways over the years, with many players needing to receive the advice from the veteran captain community to train up on Skill Saving Talents. But, the credit is owed to @davea for asking just the right question to set off this chain of work and key improvements to the game that every new captain will feel. The auto-trainer for bot the new game and the button in the crew manifest have had their priorities reworked significantly. The changes are all about acquiring up to a threshold of Skill Saving Talents before any other Talents are considered. if possible, the 3 or more are acquired in every core ship Skill and at least 1 is acquired in social skills.
This leads to dramatically better starts on every difficulty. In my last test on Normal, my captain who started in a Frontier Liner with E experience escorted the Arbiter, then took the mission to Faen court and to the Highwind wreckage and returned to Calagan Faen with only 2 traveling skill failures without having to do any manual Talent training.
^ Smuggler Template
^ Explorer Template
^ Pirate Template
^ Bounty Hunter Template

Job Skill Priority

When reviewing different Jobs, you can now see the true list of primary, secondary and lower Skills. At early levels, this can sometimes be misleading, where Spy starts with +2 Stealth and +1 Electronics but eventually ends up with higher Electronics than Stealth as the Job progresses. For Jobs like Saboteur this can also be helpful as you don't see that you will train in Pilot Skill at all in the first level. To help reinforce this priority, the Job skill bonuses are now ordered by primary, second, etc -- so Spy reads +1 Electronics, +2 Stealth, +1 Pistol in order of primary, second, tertiary skills.

And More

Along with the work on the Auto-Trainer we also hammered out some other fixes from the Steam boards. We fixed an issue where the Templar Militant wasn't offering his unique brand of Trait Reconditioning but instead offering Chaesin's list. We also fixed some issues with ship component types disappearing during starport shopping and Talent descriptions and icons after use.

v3.1.39 - 3/8/2021

- Major improvements to new game Talent training logic to better prioritize Skill Saving Talents - Improved crew list Auto-Train to better prioritize Skill Saving Talents - Job Listing now includes Primary, Secondary (etc) skills in order for each job - Specific bonuses for a job level are now ordered by this primary, secondary ordering - Linux and Mac Big Sur platform support improvements - Fixed issue with Templar Militant Trait Reconditioning not matching advertised list - Fixed issue with Wing Leader and Saboteur Talent descriptions - Fixed issue with preview of new ship Component List being empty, launch capability being incorrectly listed - Fixed issue with "Offensive" ship component subcategory sometimes disappearing

[ 2021-03-08 18:49:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #255 introduces a major new way for Merchants and other traders to get involved in Trade Ban, Trade War, and Trade Alliance Conflicts. We've also made some major QOL improvements to crew combat's log and hover, fixed two longstanding bugs with craft and hammered out some more requests coming in from the community. Thanks for all your support and if you like the pace of updates, be sure to leave a review. Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

Trade Conflicts

Every type of Conflict has its angles for you to get involved and tip the scales in the favor of one faction or another. Blockading and merchant hunting has long been the angle for Trade Wars and Trade Bans but with Update #255 we've opened up a new attack vector -- legal trading at the Exchange! Any time you make a trade over $5,000 that violates a Trade Ban or Trade War, your action can cost you Rep but will also support the opposing faction in the Conflict and increase their Conflict score by 1-4 points. In addition, any $5,000 or higher trade in an Exchange with two factions in a Trade Alliance supports the local faction and increases their economic power within the scales of balance of that Trade Alliance. The politics of the Star Traders are petty and feudal -- someone always emerges the victor, even in Alliances. This important set of updates invites merchants more actively to the Conflict table and prepares for the next big round of open-ended missions that will be coming to the game -- Conflict missions -- where you will be paid to adjust a Conflict Score by a certain amount by whatever means you can. Having more options will increase the variability of play in these missions, so expect some more Conflict Score angles appearing before these missions slide into your update feed.

Crew Combat Logs and Hover

A special thanks to @Pilda on Steam this week for a spot on suggestion for easy ways to improve the crew combat log. We jumped on the simple suggestion and have much nicer, much more readable crew combat logs coming out this week. Based on everyone's feedback, we'll make further improvements and then ship combat logs will get a similar treatment in the next update. In a reverse operation, we're working to upgrade crew combat hovers over characters to include the level of detail about your dice pools for accuracy and defense equal to what you can see in ship combat. With this update, we compressed and improved the overall layout of crew combat hovers to prep for this data injection. The biggest improvement this week is if you have a lot of buffs or debuffs going, things should be much more readable.

Craft Launch and Repair

We fixed two important craft bugs with this update -- when you launch a craft an enemy ship now properly interprets this as a hostile move. It is considered as hostile as firing a weapon and reduces the enemy ship's hostility, which will trigger a fight response if they are unable to flee. Second, we fixed a longstanding issue with the Talent "Hangar Triage" which was failing to take Repair Skill into account properly and always only repairing at 10%. [h2[And a Bit More
Thanks to everyone in the community posting feedback, bugs and suggestions. We're constantly tracking and recording everything coming in. This week we hit on a few more smaller items that came through. We caught up on another set of places were Rep loss for Indies was being reported incorrectly -- the Black Market, stealing Fuel and with the Terrifying Extortion Talent. Thanks to everyone dutifully reporting this issue. We also fixed a bug with Call of the Strong's Russ Axeil where he could end up with 2 Traits that gave a second recruiting option, and based on the order you discovered them you'd only be able to recruit one or the other in the end. This is fixed for all future iterations of Russ.

v3.1.37 - 3/1/2020

- Trading $5,000 credits in violation of Trade Ban or Trade War or into a Trade Alliance increases the Conflict Score of supported faction - Improved crew combat logs color and formatting to make them easier to read during and after battle - Improved crew combat hover over characters - Fixed issue with "Hangar Triage" Talent not correctly taking Repair Skill into account - Launching craft correctly adjusts enemy ship's hostility - Fixed issue stating that taking Fuel from a non-Pirate defeated indie ship would cause you Rep loss - "Terrifying Extortion" Talent no longer reports Rep loss with indies, Black Market no longer reports Rep loss with indies - Fixed issue with Russ Axeil having two recruit Traits for future captains

[ 2021-03-02 17:34:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

This week's update adds a new Talent, improves the placement rules for starting Contacts and then hits on 10 big feedback points from within the community this week. After last week's big update and sale, we'd like to welcome all new Captains to the void! We hope you're enjoying the pace of updates and new content. Let's dig into the details here -- Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Vindication Pact

This week we heard a (funny?) story of the plight of Diplomat who was about to get spaced if they could not help their Captain find a way to afford a high value pardon. The story came with a great request for an improvement -- to cover Pardon's with a discount Talent. We were happy to oblige and save the poor diplomat's life! Or, at least the captain has promised not to space them until after the pardon is paid. Given the captain's temperament, I imagine the Diplomat is going to have to keep earning his seat -- but that is up to all their other great Talents. The Diplomat's new rank 8 Talent, "Vindication Pact" helps cut down on the price of pardons by their Negotiate Skill, up to a maximum of 30%. Depending on how egregious your crimes have been, that can be a lot of money!

Starting Contacts Pile In

The rules for starting Contact placement on maps have always given preference to keeping your first Contacts spread across different zones. However, on some maps that led to some of the 3 starting Contacts who are designated to be local to your faction and starting quadrant having no place to live. Which meant these Contacts were getting the boot to nearby quadrants and other factions, which conflicted with the template you had established. We've rewritten the rule to allow these 3 "local" Contacts to pile up. If absolutely needed, they will all pile onto the same zone even. However, the new game placement rules now keep the promise set by your template -- all "local Contacts" are just that.

And More Community QOL

This update is full of QOL improvements coming straight off the Steam boards. A huge thanks to everyone posting there with feedback, bugs and balance improvements. Even though you were being charged, ship's with hull damage in dry dock were not getting their hull repaired. This is now resolved so your ship can be pristine and ready to launch. A certain set of factors -- including a 10 Danger world and the custom team build with a rare Bodyguard and Sniper combo -- made the Yalto Thulun battlegroup unfairly OP. We've now made some balance changes to bring it back in line on lower difficulties. There were 22 places in orbital operations where interactions with Indies might report Rep gain or loss incorrectly. Fixed! The new flight helmet had some issues -- for some heads the hair could stick out the back and it was too picky about removing eyewear. you can now have either eyepatch while wearing the helmet. Finally, we fixed a pile of reported typos, a few crashes from reports, clarified the Doctor "Medical Ward" Talent to remove an misleading phrase of "advanced medical facilities" (it just means ship's Medical Rating) and resolved a few places where mousewheel scrolling wasn't working as expected.

v3.1.35 - 2/21/2021

- Added new rank 8 Diplomat Talent "Vindication Pact" reduces price of Pardons up to 30% maximum - All "local" starting Contacts are all placed in starting quadrant, even if there are 2 to a zone - Improved balance of Yalto Thulun's battlegroup - Fixed issue where hull on drydocked ships was not being repaired correctly - Fixed issues with orbital operations logs when encountering Indies and Rep loss - Fixed issue with hair sticking out the back of flight helmets - Flight helmets now allow eyepatches - Clarified "Medical Ward" Talent's description - Fixed issues with mousewheel scrolling in all card games, recruit screen - Fixed typos and reported crashes

[ 2021-02-21 18:12:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #253 welcomes the Steam Lunar New Year sale with a 35% discount and a pile of new content and community-driven improvements and fixes. Welcome all new captains pouring into the void this weekend and thanks to everyone posting feedback and reviews. We've got a new hat, 3 new character faces, a corrected Peak Velocity Matrix 4 and more!

For a different flavor of Trese Brothers sci-fi, check out Cyber Knights!

Our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is under development. Set in a different universe than Star Traders, we think much of what you all love about STF (a lore-rich world, many ways to play, strong independent spirit, lots of RPG depth) is shared within. Learn more about the Cyber Knights setting on its Steam page, or check out this video showing a ton of art and discussing the game design. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Flight Helmet and Faces

With Update #253 we've added a new community-requested hat for all characters. The flight helmet is perfect for all the Wing classes, your working ship crew or just anybody who wants the look! We've also added another 3 character face options including 2 beards and a scar. It is always exciting to see some new faces in the crew!

Peak Velocity 4

The PVM 4 came out just last week but had some of its stats wired up wrong. It's now fixed, for the glory of Rychart!

Boarding Details

With Update #253, we've brought the details on a character's Talents up to full parity with what you can see in the status screen -- including the full description, effect and cooldown rules. If you're looking for details while picking crew, just click the >> button to slide out the detail panel as usual.

Community QOL

We're always pulling from the community for requests for fixes and improvements and with Update #253, we hit on some great ones! For those players having the issue where music would reset or stop after ignored combats, it's finally fixed! We've improved some of the missing or incorrect SFX and VFX for crew combat Talents for the Templar and the Jyeeta bosses as well as Interdictor flight plans. Finally, if you revealed a Contact Trait that changed their service offering, the screen used to do a poor job of updating on the fly -- now its smooth and updates immediately without having to exit. Finally, all carriers -- including Pirates -- will not suicide their Shuttles against you if they lack proper fighting crew. You will no longer find an enemy shuttle packed with whimpering Pilots and E-Techs :D

v3.1.31 - Update 253: Lunar Slingshot

- Added new flight helmet hat -- great for craft pilots, engineering crew, everyone - Added 3 new character faces - scars, beards, beards! - Corrected bonuses for Peak Velocity Matrix 4 - Improved display of Talents shown during Crew Combat selection to match Status > Talents - Fixed issue with some Pirate carriers attempting to board without surviving fighting crew - Fixed issue with revealing Contact Traits not always refreshing Contact service offerings - Fixed inconsistencies with Talent SFX and VFX in a few spots in crew and ship combat (flight plans, Templar, jyeeta boss) - Fixed issues with keybindings on Explorer screen - Fixes music stopping and starting around ignored combats

[ 2021-02-13 01:41:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Following up on the major milestone event GREAT HOUSES, Update #252 adds new content, improves existing systems, patches up some holes here and there and caters to some of the latest community requests. We're excited to keep cranking out updates as we move through the year, targeting both completing our roadmap and starting the next big thing: modding. If you like the pace of updates and free new content, be leave a review and tell a friend. In the meantime --

Whats the latest on Cyber Knights?

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. Were currently working toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (make sure youve wishlisted and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

February "Boarding Bosses" Challenge

This month's community challenge is an open ended call to share the stories, builds and designs for your best and most legendary boarding combat crews. We're off to a roaring start with some absolute A-teams posted already, sporting amazing gear and even better looks. Join in and bring your #BoardingBosses to the party. https://steamcommunity.com/games/335620/announcements/detail/3066358039684902746

Peak Velocity

Rychart is bringing the speed with the latest new ship component, the Peak Velocity Matrix 4 which grants a whopping +15 Move bonus, +1 Initiative and +6 Boarding. This faction-specific component is a great addition to any quick moving ship -- for fleeing, boarding or both. We've also tweaked the starport and economy requirements for PVM 3 to ensure they were up to snuff.

Trade Alliances Respect

When you surrender to an enemy ship, their behavior is affected not only by any Trade Permits you hold with their faction, but also by any Trade Permits you hold with factions that are in a Trade Alliance with their faction. We've fixed an issue that was causing Military Officers and Bounty Hunters not to fully respect this rule set with Update #252. For Pirates, once you reach Trade Permit 2 or higher (or have a Trade Permit with a Trade Alliance partner) they cease to loot your hold altogether, wary of angering their faction. For Military Officers, Bounty Hunters and Zealots they still demand to search your cargo in full. Each cargo is checked against your legal permits with their faction or now (correctly) with any Trade Permit of a Trade Alliance partner. While Pirates leave off at 2, you'll still need correct Permits for every good type if you want to pass through military inspection but with the Trade Alliance rules now properly respected, this just got easier.

Mutineers Unite!

While its an ugly moment when the crew rises up against their chartered captain, we still have come around to improving it once again. With Update #252, we've improved the details shared during mutiny -- being more specific about headcounts, Morale thresholds, amount of money offered and the results of a stand up fight (where some crew may die while others will survive by Death Save). In addition, the mutineers have wised up a little bit. Their paltry demands for a lump sum are no longer so tiny and they may demand up to as much as 5% of your entire credits on hand, depending on just how bold they are feeling and how many are standing against you. Finally, we've also improved the value of the anti-Mutiny Talents, boosting their basic Morale improvements. Those Talents relying only on Skill -- such as Doctor or Quartermaster -- have upgraded to 20 + Skill Morale. Those Talents that outright kill one of the mutineers (no Death Save!) have upgraded to 40 + Skill Morale. In both cases, if a mutiny is threatening, these Talents are going to feel a lot more powerful as ways to stave it off and worth training.

Intel Gathering

For those captains picking up a lot of Intel through Talents, we've ensured that all event logs related to Intel gathering now clearly list the faction in their top line without a need to hover over the event. We've also flipped the default sort of all places where Intel appears so that it is sorted newest first. We are prepping to add filters to Intel and then Sell All which will give a quick and easy way to offload Intel by filter to Contacts for those master spies who are sitting on big stacks.

v3.1.29 - 2/6/2021

- Added new Rychart-only Peak Velocity Matrix 4, high Movement bonus, more Pilot, gains +Init - Adjusted zone requirements for Peak Velocity Matrix 3 - Military Officers and Bounty Hunters now correctly respect Trade Permits across Trade Alliances - Improved Mutiny options and results to be more clear about cost and deaths versus wounded (death save) - Improved power of all anti-Mutiny Talents to heal Morale, now 20 + Skill base or 40 + Skill for killing a mutineer - Mutineers wised up -- demand much higher prices for calming (up to 5% of total credits on hand) - Improved event logs for Intel-generating Talents to always mention faction - Changed default sorting of Intel lists, newest Intel Records are at the top - Fixed issue with "Fuel Depot" card in Explorer not correctly saving fuel updates - Fixed typos and reported crashes

[ 2021-02-06 22:03:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

This month we want to do a more open-ended challenge, asking a simple question: who has a boss boarding crew? Whether youve min-maxed through 50 iterations to create the ultimate xeno-grinder, or are simply proud of a combat squad that has kept you alive by the skin of their teeth, were open to all kinds of bosses here. Show and tell us about yours with screenshots and: stories, stats, lets plays, interpretive dance videos, etc. You can share them here or in our Discord. At the end of the month, well highlight several for an official Trese Brothers nod (and possibly some memery).
Some of the things were hoping to see:

• Stories about your best crew combat accomplishment, journey to building your crew, or in-universe accomplishments.
• Screenshots of fully-customized combat crew members, special story vignette fights, or (RIP) combat captain death screens.
• Explanations of (/names for) your favorite combat tactics, equipment loadouts, or crew-combat-focused gameplay strategies.
• Stats from your best post-combat boarding results, self-imposed challenges, or high-difficulty achievements.
• Your own creative edits / showcases / celebrations of your favorite combat crew.

We ask that no matter what form your submission takes, you include at least 1 screenshot of the crew in combat. If you post in the Discord, include #BoardingBosses so we can find everyones entries easily through search (the #st_frontiers channel can get pretty busy ). Cant wait to see em Captains. All hands, to battle stations! We've opened up a discussion on the general forum for all posts, questions and shares for this challenge!

[ 2021-02-05 17:13:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

No, not Cyber Knights with 2020 behind us now, we thought it was worth looking back at allll the things that are new with Star Traders: Frontiers over the past year. Weve more than doubled much of the content in the game since release, and after over 50 updates just last year, there might even be something you missed

1) More map control

Veteran players have always been able to add to their replay experience by changing the procedurally-generated universe itself at the start of a new playthrough. Now weve released map seeds version 2, allowing you to create better-balanced, more unique, and larger universe maps.
See updates #240, CARTOGRAPHER, and update #241, Mapmaker Rising, for details on the features weve added for maps. Finally in the latest GREAT HOUSES we introduced a new default map to the game from the version 2 seed.

2) New stories, new ways to play

In 2020 we added three new story vignettes to the game, two new jobs, and brand new mission types!
CATALYST, update #232, added the Scientist job along with scientific intel to the game. Another classic sci-fi archetype, the Scientist in Star Traders: Frontiers adds to both exploration gameplay and rewards for encounters with the xeno. The Blade Dancer job, from update 202, added an aggressive blades combatant, rich in Steel Song lore and unique talents, for your combat crews. And just this month weve added the Saboteur. This new job brings new boarding combat abilities, opens up more long-range boarding options, and specializes in talents for wrecking the enemy ship and crew after a successful boarding.
Story updates are always exciting, and the extensive work they take to complete pays off with some of the most unique experiences Star Traders: Frontiers has to offer. In 2020 we added three:

• Spirit of Cadonya - a hunt for a ship of legend, diving deep into the lore of the Exodus.
• The Clan Skyline Trade Accord - a new galactic event that creates one of the largest trade alliances in the game, opens up new advanced craft, and shakes up contacts in the political simulator.
• Avengent Lost - the capstone storyline for the Jyeeta Brood Era, this brings all new allies and enemies, new unique contact types, story-specific gear, and... Templars!

And most recently, weve expanded the mission types available! Across multiple updates, weve been expanding the mission system; contacts can now offer missions based on rumors, like salvage opportunities. Weve also started experimenting with self-directed missions... Contacts can now offer you a mission for gathering intel; it will be of a specific type or related to a specific faction, but where and how you gather it is up to you. Both of these new mission capabilities increase your ability to play the way you want to play while still aiding your faction and contacts goals and earning you a nice payday. Well continue to expand these capabilities over the year.

3) A limited number of crew members can now equip gear

Its a change that would sound small to anyone new to Star Traders, but long-time players will tell you is one of the most significant changes weve made to the game since launch. In update #225, a limited number of crew members gained the ability to equip the valuable specialist gear that was previously restricted to your ships officers. This has opened up the possibilities for your crew builds quite a bit, no longer requiring the devotion of so many officers to your boarding party / crew combat A-teams. As the number of crew who can equip this gear is based on your Captains level, it also provides another nice reward for keeping your Captain (and their career) alive and growing.

4) Tons of quality-of-life improvements

We are constantly listening and responding to the feedback you all provide -- in the Steam forums, in our Discord, on Reddit, and on social media. Thanks to you, we have made countless improvements to the UI and descriptions, fixed dozens of rare but squish-worthy bugs, and been able to prioritize the gameplay improvements that matter most to you. Just to name a few of the big ones:

• Added a game option setting for faster crew combat
• Added option to review a recruit before hiring
• Ship component shopping (everything is cleanly grouped by categories, better filters, ability to preview a ship hulls stats and components before buying)
• Drydock ship transfers
• Entirely-keyboard-controlled combat.
• Pay contacts to learn far-flung Economic and Recruit Rumors
• Rumors youve paid to learn about are now extended if they were about to expire
• Mission planning features added to the map & better map integration with the mission offer screen

5) Massive amounts more variety and customization

In a game where replayability is one of its greatest strengths, variety is essential to making that sustainable. So wherever possible, weve added more:

• +41 talents
• +39 new crew weapons/armor/gear
• +17 new cards for card games
• +18 new faces and over 900 new outfit combos (not even counting gloves, which can now be set separately)
• +10 new ships and 47 new ship components
• New enemy AI and leveling options, increasing the variety of challenges as you level up (and giving you the option of conscripting better enemy crew members)

A rework of ship engines and the addition of several new bridge components are two big changes that have helped us ensure that ships of all masses, from tiny scouts to massive carriers, provide balanced gameplay while continuing to feel different from each other.
And we know how much many of you value customization options to ensure your Captain and crew members look the way your story about them feels. We closed out 2020 with a massive push to expand customization options, and started the year by crossing off two big content expansion milestones from our roadmap with crew outfits and crew faces.

Still more exciting things ahead

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our cyberpunk heist RPG, is going into its private alpha and aiming for Early Access by the end of the year. But even as work on that next game intensifies, Star Traders: Frontiers will continue to get new and significant content added. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/ This year will be another big year of updates. Youve seen us tease some of these here (further mission capabilities) and in our dev streams (even more map capabilities in a v3 expansion). We still have some big story milestones left on the roadmap that will see all new story quadrants and Eras to be added to the game. Thanks to your continued enjoyment and support of the game, were as enthusiastic as ever about continuing to expand it. Hope your year is off to a great start! Be sure to leave / update your review if youd like to join us in celebrating all these additions to the game, and help us spread the word!

[ 2021-01-30 17:23:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #251 follows closely on the heels of the GREAT HOUSES major milestone to deliver a new set of Contact Traits and a raft of patches to the most recent splurge of new map, new job, new Talents, new new new. Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Contact Traits

Update #251 adds "Unforgiving" and "Pioneer" Contact Traits to the mix. Contacts with Unforgiving Trait are grudgebearers, pay the most attention to their Personal Rep over Faction Rep, double the price of their pardons, offer more violent missions and recruit Bounty Hunters. Contacts with Pioneer always buy Intel, increase the price of all their services slightly and recruit Exo-Scouts. We're excited to have bumped up the availability of different Jobs recruitable by Contacts over the last two releases with the 4 new Contact Traits. To avoid overlap with Traits in other areas, we've renamed last update's Contact Trait "Hawkish" to "Sabre Rattler."

Saboteur Adjustments

A new job means a lot of new meta to sort out. Sometimes that means a nerf. "Skullshot" had a short life as perhaps the best low Initiative cost pistol Talent but the king had to fall. We've focused on keeping the low Initiative cost (1x weapon) but removed the -25% accuracy debuff and trimmed its ability to fire into the back half of the ranks -- it is only capable of targeting the first and second slot now.
We also made a change to the rules for "Demolition Joy" which prevents multiple copies of the Talent being used in the same boarding. It can now provide the intended +50% number of actions per boarding victory, not +500% as some players were finding if you stacked enough Saboteurs! Finally, the bugs related to Saboteurs being willing to get into small craft are fixed -- they will now happily pilot your boarding shuttles, as will all of your Wing Commandos. And, the same bug was affecting a Saboteur's flight plans and preventing them from flying -- now fixed. Board on, good Saboteurs!

High Prince and Princess, Where Art Thou?

A bug has been preventing the High Princes and Princesses of the factions from making their appearance in the Faen storyline under certain map seed conditions. We've now resolved this and they will appear in all games during missions like "Prime Pilgrimage" etc. Finally, we fixed an unlikely bug where you could generate fuel by using Skip Off the Void with negative jump cost.

v3.1.27 - 1/28/2020

- Added 2 new Contact Traits "Unforgiving" (expensive pardons, recruits Bounty Hunters) and "Pioneer" (expensive services, buys Scientific Intel, recruits Exo-Scouts) - Balanced Saboteur "Skullshot" -- cannot target slot 3, removed -25% Accuracy debuff - Fixed bug preventing Wing Commandos or Saboteurs from being assigned to shuttle craft - Fixed bug preventing Saboteur shuttles from successfully boarding - Fixed bug allowing Saboteurs to use multiple "Demolition Joy" Talents - Fixed bug in default map v2 with Calagan Faen's High Prince and Princess focused missions - Renamed Contact Trait "Hawkish" to "Sabre Rattler" - Fixed bug where Nav's "Skip Off the Void" could increase fuel

[ 2021-01-29 04:56:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're celebrating the launch of GREAT HOUSES major milestone and the new default map for v2 with a 35% off sale. This major milestone is packed with new -- new default map, a new boarding specialist Job Saboteur, new Contact types and Traits, new mission plotting features and new trade route opportunities in rebalanced economies. Already our 4th big update of the year, we're welcoming 2021 with new features, new content and more. If you're enjoying the constant stream of free updates, please share the game with a friend and be sure to leave a review. If word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Default Map and Faction

In November, we opened up map seed v2 with the CARTOGRAPHER update, inviting every captain to enjoy new, improved and even larger galactic maps. With GREAT HOUSES, we're finishing that arc by upgrading the game's default map to a map seed v2 map. We owe a huge thank you to the entire community who joined us is in the hunt for map seed v2's default. Many captains spent many hours looking for the perfect fit. In the end, the honor goes to @wilky with assist from @Shad1902 who helped convince us of the merits of the amazing 42 quadrant that was finally selected: "st-v02-42-2-53091310" Of course, you can continue to play the original default map as long as you like but for new players this new and exciting map v2 default will greet them on their first playthrough. Cadar has long had the honor of being the default faction due to a poll held during the Kickstarter, but it time has come to pass the crown to a GREAT HOUSE and so Thulun has now taken the position as default faction.

New Boarding Specialist: Saboteur

The Saboteur job rolls out totally new abilities as well as taking new angles on existing specialties. The Saboteur is a boarding specialist, with a total of 5 amazing boarding victory Talents capable of smashing ship, crew and morale. They also can unleash totally unique boarding combat abilities -- the ability to damage a Void Engine and to increase the number of boarding Talents that can be used in any boarding run from 2 to 3.
In addition, Saboteurs have the option to fly boarding shuttles to get themselves and their boarding party onto the enemy ship from long ranges. Either way, when they clash in combat they can deploy a bevy of debuffing pistol attacks from the midranks. They also join Spy as another Stealth and Pistol combination, giving new options for Job combinations. For any boarding focused ship combat and for carrier builds, the Saboteur opens up new and exciting possibilities to improve your builds! Saboteurs can be hired from Contacts or during Spice Festival Rumors in the spice hall and those that hail from the Rychart Syndicate get an Attribute boost.

New Contacts and Traits

With GREAT HOUSES, we've added 2 new Contact types -- the Ex-Mining Chief and the Racketeer. Both offer Black Market services and can recruit Saboteurs as well as other exciting services to fill in underworld economic side of Contacts. We've also added 2 new Contact Traits -- "Conspirator" which reduces mission pay, increases Intel prices, may offer Black Market and recruits Saboteurs. And finally, "Hawkish" increases mission pay, increases hostile missions and recruits Commanders.

Offered and Accepted Missions

With GREAT HOUSES, we've improved the offered and accepted mission displays across the game and fixed a few bugs introduced by Update #249. From the Contact screen where you are offered missions, you can now directly open the Galactic Map to look at your missions and help plot out there routes. The icons used on the quadrant map are now more clear -- showing the standard mission icon for those quadrants that have an accepted mission, a grayed out icon with a blue plus for those quadrants that only have an offered mission and a standard mission icon and the blue plus for those quadrants where there are both active missions and offered missions waiting.
We keep improving here, but for now the fastest way to check your routes is to open the mission list and pin it back so you can see where each mission is quickly.

Rebalanced Economies and Components

Some economics got a refresh this update, We've improved fuel bonuses for Fuel Tank and Large Fuel Tank components as well as removing Jump Cost from multiple medical components and fixed the low sale price on high-end Barracks. Finally, we added 2 new keybindings for quick landing on zones from orbit. Enjoy!

v3.1.25 - 1/25/2021

- New default map from map v2 "st-v02-42-2-53091310" -- huge thanks to @wilky, @shad1902 and everyone who contributed to the exhaustive search! - New default faction rises from the GREAT HOUSES: Thulun - New Job "Saboteur" excels at debuffing pistol fighting and boarding Talents, option to fly boarding shuttle - Saboteurs recruited from Rychart spice hall or Contacts will have best Attributes - 15 new Talents for Saboteur including multiple unique Talent types, all new boarding abilities - New Contact Types: "Ex-Mining Chief" and "Racketeer" recruit Saboteur and offer Black Market - New Contact Trait "Conspirator": less mission pay, higher Intel price, may offer Black Market, recruits Saboteurs - New Contact Trait "Hawkish": bonus mission pay, more hostile missions, recruits Commanders - Added 30 new Barks with Lore about Factions, Jobs and Planets - Saboteurs can be recruited during Spice Festival Rumors - Commanders can be recruited during Starport Boom and UCF Recruitment Drive Rumors - Rebalanced and increased Rare Trade Good Demands for Luxury Population, Orbital and Refinery Zones - Improved Soldier's "Ferocious Crossfire" Talent to add additional damage up to Rifle Skill - Reworked trade economy for Hydrogen and Methane Fuel - Reworked trade economy for Refined Spice and Spice - Buffed Fuel Storage of 'Fuel Tank' and 'Large Fuel Tank' components - Removed Jump Cost penalty from several Medical Bay components - Fixed ridiculously low sale and repair prices on some Barracks modules - Fixed a bug preventing Traits increasing price of Intel and Scientific Intel sales from applying bonus - Fixed Linux crash on opening mission list, occasional incorrect display of pending mission as accepted - Jump to galactic map directly from Contact mission offer to better plot routes - Improved display of offered and active missions on the galactic map - Improved filtering of Mission list for "Narrative" to include story missions and story objectives - Added new keybinding for Landing on Zones from Orbit for better keyboard play

[ 2021-01-25 18:18:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #249 clears some of the haze from the hyperwarp navigator's maps and gives easy visibility into the destinations of missions that contacts are offering, not only those that have already been accepted. For mission-runner focused captains, this is a big step forward in being able to effectively plot your galactic travels. If you're enjoying the pace of new free content and improvements in updates (249 and counting!), please take a minute to post a review and share the game with a friend.

@StarTradersGame is out of drydock on twitter!

You may already be following us on Facebook and on the @TreseBrothers twitter, but we're now sharing news, sales, gameplay vids, guides & tips from the forums & discord, streams, memes, and more on Star Traders' own twitter account: https://twitter.com/StarTradersGame

Cyber Knights Heist RPG

We're also excited to say, its 2021 now and this will be the year our turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG will be coming to Steam. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Filter and View Offered Missions

The mission list now features three new filter capabilities -- story objectives, accepted missions and offered missions. First, this allows you to quickly isolate story objectives. But, second and most importantly this allows you to have visibility into missions that Contacts have offered you but that you have not yet accepted. The mission list is available to look at from the galactic map, the map of a single quadrant and a bevy of other screens as well. The most immediate use for the new feature is to pop open your galactic map, swap over to looking at pending missions and then click through them to see where they will take you. This visibility makes route plotting for a mission focused character a lot more possible without needing to remember quadrant names or mission arcs. While you can't jump directly from the Contact mission offer screen yet, this is the first huge step. Let's go!

The hunt for the new v2 default map is coming to a close...

Speaking of the galactic map, we're getting ready to select a new default map based that takes advantage of the new map generation features we added back in November. If you have any last thoughts on what you'd like to see in the default, or map seeds you've found that feel awesome and well-balanced, post them in the forum thread ASAP.

Starport Repair Crash

A quick note that we fixed the crash in starport repair if you popped out the details window. Thanks to everyone for reporting it.

Sample Analysis

We've also fixed some issues with Sample Analysis, which is a rare Talent that relies on two Skills -- Doctor to trigger and Explorer to determine how many Scientific Intel are created. We've clarified its description a bit as well to ensure its clear how zone Danger can impact the results, especially for lower level characters.

v3.1.23 - 1/19/2021

- Added new filter to mission list to show missions offered by Contacts but not yet accepted - Added new filter to mission list to look at only narrative objectives - Highlight quadrant destinations of offered missions in the galactic map for better route plotting - Improved Scientist "Sample Analysis" Talent to create the correct number of Scientific Intel, clarified description - Fixed crash in starport repair if you repaired individual items - Fixed reported crashes and typos

[ 2021-01-19 17:16:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #248 comes roaring into the new year with a blast of new character art -- crushing two content expansion milestones in the process -- and a new dry dock feature. As always, if you like the pace of updates and new content, please take a moment to tell a friend or post a review. With the new faces added in Update #248 and the 900+ outfit combinations in #246, we've closed two of the content expansion milestones off the dev roadmap. This doesn't leave much left to do here. Our focus is narrowing down on smashing these last few items and the onwards, to the stars (and whatever is next!)
We're also excited to say, its 2021 now and this will be the year our turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG will be coming to Steam. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Added 6 New Faces

To follow up on Update #246 and those that can before it, we've added another 6 new character faces to your crew roster. Featuring long hair, cool earrings, older characters, beards, scars and more. Enjoy the new looks.

Queue Dry Dock Repairs

With Update #248, you may now queue repairs for dry docked ships. Just like with queuing ship upgrades, this allows you to order the repairs and then leave without waiting for them to complete. This can save a captain huge amounts of time lost if you don't need the ship right now. Of course, while the repairs are going the ship can't be launched. Pop open the repair detail, select your drydocked ship, and then when prompted you can pick Immediately or Queue. Happy repairing!

And Few Small Extras

We also fixed the description of Wing Leader's "Precise Pursuit" buff which increases chance to hit the enemy capital ship (not enemy craft). We fixed a bug that could occur when Contacts who are targeted by a mission died. And finally, more on dry dock -- we fixed an issue that prevent removing passenger cabins or prison cells on dry docked ships because you had a prisoner or passenger on your current ship.

v3.1.21 - 1/11/2021

- Added 6 new character faces including new mustache and beard - Enabled queuing of repairs on dry docked ships -- large repair jobs no longer interrupt - Fixed bug preventing removal of prison cells or passenger cabins on dry docked ships - Fixed incorrect buff description of Wing Leader "Precise Pursuit" (+50% Hit Chance, not +50% to Hit Craft) - Fixed issue with missions given related to Contacts if the Contact died - Fixed reported crashes and typos

[ 2021-01-11 16:11:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Across the stars, a Captain must travel through territory controlled by many different factions. Even the most zealous loyalist to a single faction knows how helpful it is to have contacts among at least a few of the other syndicates and great houses. The more powerful, the better. And even those Captains who operate in the shadows, under-the-table, or on the fringe know how useful it is to have a Prince in your pocket who can bail you out if things get too hot. So in this challenge, we want to see how well you can cultivate your friendships in high places. At any point in your playthrough, if you have ...

• three high places (defined below) contacts
• from at least three different factions
• with at least 80 influence

... you can add up your personal reputation with those three contacts and submit your score. You may update your score at any point from within the same game, or submit multiple scores from new runs with new Captains.

High places contacts include:

• The Throne Room: High Prince, Prince, Duke, Court Scientist, Court Seer
• Faction Ministers: Diplomatic Consul, Faction Judge, Legal Consul, Politician
• Top Brass: Commander, FDF Commander, Naval Commander, Starport Commander
• Big Money: Mining Samrak, Ranking Executive, Smuggler Prince, Trade Czar, Magnate
• Big Brains: Retired Theoretician, Spymaster

Scoring Rules

Points will be awarded for:

• Sum of your Personal Reputation from your top 3 qualifying Contacts. Each contact must be from a different faction, and each must have 80+ Influence.

Bonus points for:

• +0.10x points if all three of your contacts having 90+ influence.
• +0.25x points if you have at least one officer from each of the factions of your 3 Contacts.
• +0.25x points for every difficulty level above Basic.

Note the bonuses are multiplicative. Therefore, you would get the calculation: (Sum of Contact Personal Rep) x 1.1 (for all 3 Contacts have 90+ Influence) x 1.25 (for faction-matched officers) x 1.25 (for Normal diff)

Screenshots required:

• Each of your 3 contacts, showing your personal rep with them and their influence. (Tip: from the Known Contacts menu, sort by Rep or Influence to find them easily, and/or use faction filters.)
• Your crew (if going for multi-faction officers bonus points).

Further Discussion, Post Scores and Ask Questions

All scores, questions and chatter about the January community challenge should be routed to the Discussions forum thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/335620/discussions/0/3006682619654847940/

[ 2021-01-07 22:26:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy New Year captains! We're excited to share another big year of updates in the void with you. To get 2021 started right, we're sending out Update #247 with two new major Contact service offerings for Rumors, improved rules for paying to uncover Rumors and a very nice improvement to the Star Atlas straight from the community boards. We're also excited to say, its 2021 now and this will be the year our turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG will be coming to Steam. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210

Economic and Recruitment Rumors

Joining Salvage Rumors mongers, many Contacts across the galaxy are now plugged into networks of Rumors through their Spice Halls and Exchanges. Some Contacts can now sell access to economic Rumors like Salvage, Surplus and Embargoes while other Contacts can sell access to recruitment-focused Rumors like Spice Festivals, Mercenaries and Academy Graduation. While the Contacts can only reveal existing Rumors, these offerings can give your captain's focused ability to turn up Rumors that they might go hunting for profit or talent. As with Salvage Rumors before them, the value of these new services are dependent on your captain's ability to take advantage of the conditions but with the right playstyle, these are proving to be very useful.

Uncovering and Extending Rumors

With Update #247, we've improved the rule set around paying to learn Rumors. It is key to know that you are always paying to learn a pre-existing Rumor. These Contact services do not create Rumors and it is not that hard to find a case where your Contact has no Rumors to sell or you've purchased them all. However, sometimes the ones you pay to discover are far away or are just about to end. With Update #247, we've adjusted the rules to ensure a duration boost is given to every Rumor you pay to uncover, guaranteeing you'll always have *some* time to check it of if you want to.

Star Atlas Improvements

Straight from the community boards, we've patched the Star Atlas to include the quadrant name in the left hand list of planets whenever you are using the multi-quadrant filter. Without this data, it could be a bit hard to piece together where all of the zones might be situated as multiple quadrants could be 2 jumps away. It's a very nice improvement, so many thanks as always to our community. Finally, we fixed a bug with the Spirit of Cadonya storyline that could leave it half-failed in case of losing a specific combat. And we've also resolved the issue with the Entropic Estimate Talent reporting incorrect dates.

v3.1.17 - 1/3/2020

- Many contacts can now sell access to Economic Rumors -- shortages, surplus, embargo, tariffs - Many contacts can now sell access to Recruitment Rumors -- mercs, academy graduation, UCF recruitment drives, starport booms - Paying a Contact to reveal a Rumor (Salvage, Economic, Recruitment) breathes new duration into the rumor -- will no longer ever be "expiring soon" - Star Atlas now shows quadrant name when jump filter is engaged - Fixed issue in Jon Kaytyn storyline where a failed combat could leave the mission half-failed - Fixed incorrect date in Entropic Estimate Talent

[ 2021-01-03 17:09:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #246 is focused on a singular, ridiculous number: 925 new outfit combinations have been unleashed! If you factor in the 5 glove options per outfit, there are 4525 new outfit options to play around and test. Of course, not every single one is a winner and some of them are exposing places where our character art needs a bit more standardization (waist connections) but there are tons of new awesome combos to customize your crews look. As 2020 comes to a close, we're looking forward to next year when our turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG will be coming to Steam. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Unlock Outfit Combos

For any outfit where you want to tweak the gloves, lower body or upper body outfit, click the Unlock Outfit Combos option. This will drop out the options for the 3 parts and allow you to tweak them independently of each other. This can enable simple changes like tweaking to a new glove style or finding a new combo entirely. At any time you want to go back to the locked style (matching upper, lower and gloves) click to relock the outfit. Update #246 focuses on unlocking all the combinations for you to play with. Following updates will address some of the more obvious issues with the hundreds of new options, standardizing connections at the waist. From here, every new outfit we add with have a very powerful multiplicative effect on the total option stack!

Community Fixes

We've fixed the crash that was introduced last update with Trait Reconditioning if you lacked the Influence or Personal Rep for it. We've also fixed an issue with your ship skill pools caching not updating correctly in some routes of paying crew through the spice hall.

v3.1.15 - 12/27/2020

- Added 900+ new outfit combinations to the game - Added exact control over the gloves for your outfit - Fixed issue with all Trait Conditioning services crashing if you lacked Influence, Rep or Credits - Fixed issue with ship skill pools caching after certain landing zone services - Fixed reported crashes and typos

[ 2020-12-27 19:56:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy holiday season and let's get the Steam Winter Sale started off right! We're launching our 50% discount -- the best price of the year, fa la la -- along with the major milestone: TEMPLAR! This newest major milestone adds a challenging and twisted new storyline to the game -- but we don't want to spoil it. But you might already have an idea about it just from the name :D

Major Milestone: TEMPLAR

We've added a major new storyline to the Jyeeta Brood Era. If you play through the Era, you're very likely to encounter it and it will take you on a wild and truly dangerous ride. Be sure to stock your weapon locker, get an extra few bottles of lux and get ready! This one comes with all new allies and enemies, introduces new story characters and new unique contact types as well as unique story gear and unique story weapons. We're going to leave it at that. Shalun favors the brave, captains! Once you've played through the new story content in Star Traders: Frontiers, if feel like you need to know more, then check out Templar Battleforce! It might just be the xeno-crushing, mech-stomping turn-based tactics battler youve always wanted. And, it will take you on a deep dive into more of the universe's backstory that you might not already know! https://store.steampowered.com/app/370020/Templar_Battleforce/

Coming in 2021: Cyber Knights

As 2020 comes to a close, we're looking forward to next year when our turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG will be coming to Steam. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210

New Relic Rifles

With the major milestone TEMPLAR we've also added 2 new high grade assault rifles -- the grade 8 AX Tall Order and grade 9 AX Rapidbreach. These can only be discovered when salvaging and more rarely when exploring. The best chance to find them is -- as you might expect -- in military base salvage rumors.

Flash Charge and Missions

For as long as you could use Flash Charge to start a mission ship combat at range 4 or 3, it has been causing issues. When using Flash Charge, there were scenarios in certain missions where you would no longer get to see the resulting mission screen. Even though everything processed successfully, you wouldn't get to see your Rep changes, payments and Talents working. Well, this is now fixed!

v3.1.13 - 12/22/2020

- Capstone storyline added to the Jyeeta Brood Era - All new story characters, unique story items and unique story weapons - New allies, new enemies! - Added new grade 8 and 9 Assault Rifles (AX Tall Order, AX Rapidbreach) to the relic weapon salvage lists - Fixed bug with use of "Flash Charge" Talent in missions causing the end screen to be skipped

[ 2020-12-22 23:16:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #242 continues to expand your character customization options, adds new wilderness zone art and plugs a few more holes in the ever expanding Talent Manifest. We've also fixed a huge raft of issues and bugs reported by the community. We're closing in on capping of 2020 and this is our 50th update of the year! If you like the pace of updates, our dedication to improving the game and all the new, free content please take a moment to leave us a holiday present -- a wee review! Next year will be an exciting year as our turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG will be coming to Steam. If word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, its time to get on the wishlist. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Matched Smuggler Outfits

To follow up on the new 12 faces that were added across Update #242 and #243, we've now added a new set of match space smuggler outfits. We're always hearing how we need more matched outfits, so we're glad to see how well these two work together and depending on the type of crew you are running, they can fill in for a lot of ship or combat roles.

Flash Charge in Talent Manifest

The Navigator's "Flash Charge" ship encounter Talent which allows you to lunge into ship combat at either range 4 or 3 was missing from the Ship Encounter section of the Talent Manifest. It has now been added to make this easy to keep an eye on.

Community Quality of Life

A huge thanks -- as always -- to our community for helping us to improve the game, fix bugs, and file down rough edges.

• We've improved the display for the "Entropic Estimate" Talent to ensure it shows not only the duration of the Rumor but also its estimated end date.
• Bounty Hunter's "Cold-Blooded Threats" Talent is improved to affect 5 enemy crew instead of 3 with its significant Morale damage.
• Fixing an oversight, Bounty Hunter's "Cold-Blooded Threats" and Military Officer's "Call for Surrender" are no longer shown as options against xeno.
• We've fixed a whole close of bugs that could cause the ship skill pools to get out of date during orbital ops if components were repaired or damaged.
• We've fixed a bug where some Contacts might have two "Sell Intel" offers due to Traits.

v3.1.11 - 12/13/2020

- Added two new outfits, matched space smugglers - Added new environment background for jungle wilderness - Added Navigator's "Flash Charge" to the Talent Manifest in Encounter Talents - "Entropic Estimate" Talent now includes the length of the Salvage Rumor as well as the estimated date of completion - Improved Bounty Hunter's "Cold-Blooded Threats" to affect 5 targets instead of 3 - Fixed issue where Bounty Hunter's "Cold-Blooded Threats" and Mil Officers "Call for Surrender" could be used against xeno - Fixed set of issues in orbital ops and explorer where ship skill pools could become out of date due to repair or damage - Fixed bug where Contact could have 2 Sell Intel services due to Traits - Fixed description issues with Spy's "Distracting Shots" Talent - Fixed positioning of recruit review on some window sizes and resolutions

[ 2020-12-13 21:27:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #243 comes hot on the tail of Update #242 to fix a bug where half your crew was wearing an eyepatch unexpectedly. I blame the airlock! We've also added another 6 new faces for your crew and an awesome new winter seasonal hat! Through the end of the year, we'll be doubling down on more art, outfits, faces and hats as well as new storylines. You can clearly see the part of the Content Expansion roadmap we are hammering away at :D
If word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

December Community Challenge

December's monthly community challenge has gone out and its a fun one! Check out "Santas Stash & Spacemas Cocktail" challenge :D Now with the holiday hat, you can be even more good looking for your challenge screenshots!

Six New Faces in the Spice Hall

To follow up on Update #242, we've added another 6 new character faces AND an awesome new holiday hat. We're always hearing from the community about how new faces, hats and outfits are so much fun so we're working to hit those big goals. A lot more art will be piling into the game through the New Year, so stay tuned. Also, we've started a longer process of adjusting the proportions and connection points of the male character's head and torsos -- there will be some more changes coming to improve the look!

Reputation Protection in Talent Manifest

In an odd oversight, the E-Tech's "Signature Jammer" and Smuggler's "Garbled Identity" Talents were never included in the Talent Manifest. They have now been added under the Ship Encounter section as "Rep Protection" category to make this easy to keep an eye on.

v3.1.9 - 12/6/2020

- Added new holiday seasonal fur hat - Added 6 new character faces including new mustache and beard - Added E-Tech's "Signature Jammer" and Smuggler's "Garbled Identity" to the Talent Manifest in Encounter Talents - Fixed issue with half the crew always having an eyepatch

[ 2020-12-06 18:20:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #242 expands both map generation for v2 seeds as well as the roster of interesting faces that might join your crew. Not to mention a boss hat! Through the end of the year, we'll be doubling down on more art, outfits, faces and hats as well as new storylines. We'll jump into the extra details for this update below, but first a few things you might want to know! If word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

December Community Challenge

December's monthly community challenge has gone out and its a fun one! Check out "Santas Stash & Spacemas Cocktail" challenge :D

Map Seed v2 Max Upgrade

We've loved to see all the huge maps that have been created for map seeds v2. That has inspired us to raise the roof and push it even farther. With this update, we've cranked the maximum quadrant count for map seeds v2 all the way up to 70. The maps are crazy huge but 10/10 would gen again!

New Faces, New Hat!

With Update #242, we've added 6 new character faces as well as a new wide brimmed pirate hat. We've heard from the community that we needed more faces with beards and with long hair, so we've included both in this update. Also, we've started a longer process of adjusting the proportions and connection points of the male character's head and torsos -- things should already be looking better this update.

v3.1.7 - 12/4/2020

- Increased maximum quadrant size in map v2 to 70! - Added new wide-brimmed pirate hat - Added 6 new character faces include 3 new bearded faces

[ 2020-12-04 19:51:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

[hr][/hr]

Twas the night before Spacemas, and all through the Void, Not a Captain was flying, not even the employed. The quadrants were gripped with a paralyzing fear, Like nothing seen before, rumors said: a massive xeno fleet was near. The gravs knew only stories, but spacers were filled with dread, If these rumors were true, all humanity might be dead. It was too late for another Exodus, there was no time for flight, Deep in the governmental Palace, the Prince wrestled with the plight. Theres too many to fight them, our buildings too big to hide, His advisors all bemoaned, Shalun save us again, how will we possibly survive!? As the noble Prince brooded and his soft courtiers despaired, BANG BANG on the Palace doors -- an intruder, who would dare!? As the massive doors opened, none were prepared for the sight. A striking red color and spectacular hat, a Star Trader stood, one theyd heard of alright. The captains exploits were infamous, the officers too; the first mate stood with him, representing all the crew. He spoke for his captain, grim-faced, mustache... burred We have an idea, and we demand to be heard! We must flee the city, and outwait the assault. Deep within the wilderness, weve stocked a hidden vault. Preposterous! a royal idiot shouted, and ridiculous too! Hear hear, another shouted. We are hundreds of thousands, what kind of stockpile could do? But the Captains reputation was epic, and the Princes influence strong; they knew the worth of working together, and the Prince spoke to play along: Our people are resilient, and food we carry can be shared. The problems not in feeding them, its what will they do for weeks when they are scared? The same thing we do in space, that grizzled first officer did tell. Remember your duty, trust your crewmates, and pass the vudka til all is well.

[hr][/hr] Captains, to start this challenge you must find a system with both a) a wild zone and b) an urban zone of any of these types: Mining, Tradeway, or Orbital. This will be your Stash System.
You can take as much time as you like to find your Stash System and to prepare your ship, bankroll, and knowledge of the galaxy. Once youre ready to begin, navigate to your Stash System and take a screenshot of it from orbit -- this will show the starting date, that the system meets the criteria (one wild zone and one mining, tradeway or orbital zone) and that there is nothing currently stashed on the system (as there is no green stash icon in orbit). From this point, you have 1 in-game year (e.g. from 219.05AE to 220.05AE) to acquire and stash as much Vudka (supplied by Farming, Refinery Zones with Trade Law 7 or less, piratable from many Smugglers and Pirates) as you can possibly find into your Stash System. Selecting a well-located Stash System will be critical to your success, as you will need quick access to multiple locations supplying Vudka. There are a few other restrictions about where you vudka may come from, all based around the requirement that you must obtain your stash *after* the start of your year.

• You may not move any Vudka from another stash
• You may not have any Vudka already in your cargo hold
• You may not move any Vudka from a drydocked ship's cargo hold

And, to make it interesting, out-of-game we are providing massive bonus points for creating a Star-Traders-themed winter cocktail you post a recipe for and photos of. The cocktail must:

• Contain vudka (vodka is acceptable), rum (because pirates), or a base drink with no alcohol whatsoever (water-fuel).
• Have at least two-other Star Traders-themed ingredients / toppers. Creative substitutes for actual Kongon Locusts, xeno blood, hydrogen fuel, etc. are acceptable as these may not be available on your planet.

Scoring Rules

Points awarded for:

• +1 point per unit of vudka stashed

Bonus points:

• +5000 points for creating a cocktail with a recipe and photo
• Use the new Map Gen v2 - points x 2
• Screenshot your holiday captain outfit - points x 1.25
• x 1(+0.1 points per difficulty level above basic)

Note the bonuses are multiplicative. Therefore, at maximum you would get the calculation: (Vudka + Cocktail Points) x 2 (for Map Gen 2) x 1.25 (for holiday outfit screenshot) x 1.1 (for Normal diff)

Screenshots:

To report your challenges score, provide the following screenshots and text:

• Recipe & Photo -- for your Star Traders cocktail / mocktail.
• Screenshot -- Your Stash System from orbit -- this will show the starting date, that the system meets the criteria (one wild zone and one mining, tradeway or orbital zone) and that there is nothing currently stashed on the system (as there is no green treasure chest stash icon in orbit)
• Screenshot -- Your total stash and the ending stardate.

Clear your cargo holds and check your trade routes captains. Maybe put that new Map generator to work for you. And we cant wait to see what drinks you come up with!

Further Discussion, Post Scores and Ask Questions

All scores, questions and chatter about the December community challenge should be routed to the Discussions forum thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/335620/discussions/0/2962769352270501993/

[ 2020-12-03 16:06:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Big updates drive a flurry of new play and from that falls a pile of great feedback. We've spent the last few days since releasing major milestone CARTOGRAPHER putting your feedback straight into the game to improve the ease of generating and sharing maps.
This time of year is a special season on Steam -- its time to nominate the games we love for Steam awards. This year, we're going up for Labor of Love and hope you'll join in by nominating us! If word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Settings Remembered

Clicks are evil and the less of them we ask, the better for everyone. To this end, we've enabled the map generator to remember the settings from the last map generation -- quadrant count, density, map version. If you are looking to find a certain type of Max Density, 42 quadrant, version 2 map you now quickly generate new maps with the same settings on repeat.

Easy Sharing

We've included the map seed in the preview which makes sharing your maps easy and fast. Snap a screenshot of the preview and its everything you need to know -- the seed, the gate connections, its size, where the starting quads are. Happy sharing!

Starting Danger

For those players looking for a certain setup with starting danger, we've added that detail to the map list. You can now see the quadrant name and starting danger for each faction in the summary. Especially for those looking for a new default map or wanting to play as a specific faction, this is a big help and increases the pace of the search.

Kamguard Deathblade

Thanks to @DrSpendlove for suggesting this missing blade -- there is now a level 9 strength-based blade you can find in relic weapon salvage cards.

v3.1.5 - 11/28/2020

- Added "Kamguard Deathblade" a level 9 salvagable strength-based blade - Map preview screen now includes map seed so a single screenshot is enough to share your map - Map gen settings including quadrant count, density and map version are remembered between gens, much faster repeat generation - Starting quadrant name and Danger rating are now included in map list details - Clarified maximum Intel creation rates with Unauthorized Access and Genetic Sequencing boarding Talents - Fixed seed copying bug that could result in broken 1 quadrant map

[ 2020-11-28 19:09:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Last year we were more than qualified for Steam's Labor of Love nomation and we've dropped almost an additional 100 updates since then! All the updates are coming to the game free without additional cost, without gimmicks -- just amazing features, new contents, system improvements, and now the Map v2 generator. We're not done with Star Traders: Frontiers yet and still have more to do. In fact, 2021 is going to bring some of the most exciting changes yet as we complete the long-posted public roadmap and look to what's next. As they say, Shalun favors the brave so let's charge the fences and nominate Star Traders: Frontiers for this years Labor of Love.

[ 2020-11-25 18:01:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Last Updated 11/25/2020 at 6 PM EST We're celebrating the Autumn Sale and the coming close of the year with a series of big updates! With Update #240, we're rolling out the major milestone "CARTOGRAPHER" which debuts the highly anticipated map generator version 2.0. Major Milestone CARTOGRAPHER adds map seeds v2 to the map generator as a new option. These new maps feature better balance, more variety and up to 60 max quadrants. Within the quadrants themselves, we've improved the variety of the maps to include both quadrants that are much larger and harder to traverse as well as those that are even denser. The changes are a roll-up of all the feedback we've gathered from 3 years and hundreds of thousands of maps generated with v1. It is hard to summarize them all, except to say that map v2 are going to create more exciting, more varied and (if you configure it) larger galaxies. It is critical to say up front that you can keep playing all of your captains who are on v1 maps. You can also keep starting new games on v1 maps you love. If you create new maps in v2, they will come with all the improvements but ALL of our updates are always fully backwards compatible so there is no concern of invalidated saved games or any of those amateur-hour shenanigans. If word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/
It is also that special season of the year when Steam asks us all to nominate amazing games that we love. This year, we're going up for Labor of Love and hope you'll join in by nominating us!

Create New V2 Maps!

Just make sure the "Use Map v2 Generator" checkbox is enabled when create a new map to use all the new map proc gen rules and content. You can still create v1 maps by unchecking the box.

Map Preview

Joining map seeds v2 in Update #240 is the all new map preview feature set. When you are browsing maps you can now see a quick summary of the details for that map, including the counts of how many quadrants each faction owns as well as the total zone count for each faction. If you need to know more, you can pop open the map preview from within the map list and take a spin around the map without needing to start a new game. This map preview includes everything you need to know, showing all the gates, quadrants, systems and their zones as well as all the stats. You can filter and sort the data just as you would in the game. Finally, this display also highlights the starting quadrant for each faction so you can look and see exactly where you'd get going (and what Danger you'd find) if you started as Javat versus Thulun. For map grinders, this is really exciting. If you're looking for a certain structure, something new and original, or a map that is tilted toward a certain faction you can now grind and examine maps far more quickly and enjoyably.

Default Map for V2

We have decided not to roll out a default map for map seed v2 yet. If you start a new game and use the default map, you will start on the map v1 default map. We are putting out a call to all captains to suggest seeds for the default map. The default map for v1 was discovered in this way during the game's alpha, found and promoted by some enterprising captains. Please share the coolest seeds you find on the Map V2 Seed Exchange thread and post your seeds that could be candidates for the v2 default map to the Default Map V2 thread.

v3.1.1 - 11/25/2020

- Map Seed v2 creates all new, improved, larger maps - Create endless new map variety, improved balance and proc gen rules, up to 60 quads - Improved variety of quadrant maps including very large and dense maps - Keep playing v1 seeds and captains as much as you like - New map preview features allows you to examine a map before playing it - Map preview includes starting quadrants, ability to look at all zone data - New map details shown when selecting a map including faction quadrants and zones - When drawing a "Strike a Blow" card from Spying, added Electronics save to be extra sneaky and avoid Rep loss - Fixed reward and availability of Major Score orbital ops card

v3.1.3 - 11/25/2020

- Fixed some issues with hyperwarp gate linking in v2 maps

v3.1.4 - Mac Only

- Fixed crash in v2 map gen for Mac OS

[ 2020-11-25 18:01:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #239 cuts down another major content milestone on our dev roadmap by delivering a heaping mile of new guns, armor and gear. With 22 new high level pieces of equipment added -- between Contacts, ship's weapon lockers and Salvage-ready relics -- there is a bevy of new stuff to go hunting. We know your officers will be bickering over who gets what! With this major new blast of equipment, we're excited to announce we've far exceeded the content expansion for weapons, armor and gear and have officially struck it from the roadmap. We had it penciled in at 200% and this new set has brought us over the 300% line. It is high time to knock it from the list and move on to what is next! As with all the content expansion milestones, this is not a promise that we won't add more later :D

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

If you haven't heard the rumors of Cyber Knights: Flashpoint crackling across the matrix in 2231, maybe you should just read about it on PCGamer.com! They've just helped us share our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint which is on its way to Steam in 2021. Mixing elements of stealth, hacking and tactical combat, Flashpoint is a true turn-based tactics RPG. You'll want to Wishlist this puppy today because -- that's right, you can get cyberdog and cybercat companions. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Weapon Locker A6

To the tune of over $350,000 and requiring a starport with Military Rating 10, the A6 is the most difficult of weapon lockers to secure for your ship. However, boasting grade 6 Phoenix-class weaponry and armor, it provides the easiest full-team access to the most powerful weaponry. The A6 focuses on providing a direct ramp up in power and utility from the A5. However, as these are mid to late game weaponry, a small percentage of the Accuracy bonus points have been shaved off (usually 1-2 pts) and dedicated their value to the Damage, Parry, Init and Piercing scores. Enemy ships -- especially those of the military design -- will start to install A6 in mid to late game as of Update #238, so be sure to be ready for their harder hits.

Grade 5 Gear

All Contacts who sell gear -- specialist, military or wing -- now offer grade 5. Some powerful and truly cool items are landing with this update including the new GAATSO Interlink and Mammothshot.

Destroying Ships to Support Conflicts

The ramifications of destroying enemy ships during Solar War and Trade War Conflicts was not previously well expressed in the game. We've now added it to the tooltips for Conflicts and slightly expanded the rule for Trade Wars. If you destroy a Military Officer, Bounty Hunter, Zealot, Spy or Pirate ship during a Solar War, you strike a blow in the Conflict for the other faction and gain Rep with that faction. If you destroy a Smugger, Merchant or Pirate (new addition!) during a Trade War, you strike a blow as well. This is another great way you can take action in Conflicts on top of all the other options.

v3.0.125 - 11/16/2020

- Added ship component Weapon Locker A6 provides Phoenix-class weapons and armor (6 new weapons, 3 new armors) - Contacts now sell up to grade 5 for all gear types (Military, Specialist, Wing) - Added 4 new grade 5 gears (Mammothshot, Cambre Cutter, GAATSO Interlink, Vrax Harness) - Added 6 new ultra rare level 9 Relic Weapons (Towerblade, Kiret Karat, Titan Heavy, Arbitration Breacher, Otrike Mauler, Solar Viper Heavy) - Added 3 new ultra rare level 8 Relic Armors (Frozburn Mesh, Strak Heavy, Gauzlight Stern) - Rebalanced prices of Armor for sale by Contact and found salvaging - Rebalanced prices of Weapons found salvaging - Minor bebalance to some level 5 and 6 gear, Bladeguide Aegis, Plasfire Cutter - Added rules for supporting Conflicts by destroying ships to Conflict tooltips - Destroy Merchant, Smuggler or Pirate ships to support Trade War and gain Rep - Destroy Military Officer, Bounty Hunter, Zealot, Spy or Pirate ships to support Trade War and gain Rep

[ 2020-11-17 16:08:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #238 continues some of the follow-up work from the major milestone CATALYST released last month. With this update, we've added 2 new Contacts and upgraded more Contact Traits to better enable Intel / Scientific Intel. We've also improved the dual-Intel system to better allow Contacts to be fully interested in both types. Finally, we've added a filter to the Contact list dedicated to Scientific Intel.

Away Team Community Challenge

We've kicked off a new Community Challenge for the month of November, challenging you to build your best Away Team of 3 and see how rich you can get exploring before someone falls. https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/335620/view/2961640281625025897

New Contacts

Two new Contacts have joined the ranks of gravs. The Military Researcher provides rank, recruits Soldiers, sells Military Gear and buys Scientific Intel. The Retired Theoretician recruits Scientists, has Black Market potential, sells Specialist Gear and buys Scientific Intel. These two new additions help improve the recruitment tables, expands access to Scientists and adds more options for selling Scientific Intel.

Intel-Buying Traits

With Update #238, we've expanded the Contact Trait system around Traits that enable buying Intel. Contacts with Trait "Covert" and "Data Hound" are now always willing to buy Intel, even if they already bought Scientific Intel. Contacts with Trait "Researcher" and "Technologist" are now always willing to buy Scientific Intel even if they already bought Intel. These Traits now create cool situations in which a Contact will buy both, giving you even more avenues to Rep up with your Contacts.

Improved Filtering

To help you find Contacts who will buy your Scientific Intel, we've added a new filter to the Contact list specifically for Scientific Intel. The Intel filter is now only for faction espionage Intel, making it faster to find exactly what you need.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

If word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the dome, seeped through the cracked concrete down to your safehouse, we've got news for you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes elements of stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and base building. You'll want to Wishlist this puppy today because -- that's right, you can get cyberdog and cybercat companions. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.0.123 - 11/6/2020

- Added 2 new Contact types -- Military Researcher and Retired Theoretician offering variety of buying Scientific Intel, recruits, rank and permit - Added Contact list filter for "Buys Scientific Intel" separate from "Buys Intel" - Contacts with Trait "Covert" and "Data Hound" are now always willing to buy Intel - Contacts with Trait "Researcher" and "Technologist" are now always willing to buy Scientific - Fixed issues with Intel buying Traits when overlapping with Contact type services, Contacts with such Traits might by both types of Intel - Improved clarity in a few places with Scientific Intel, fixed other typos

[ 2020-11-06 21:51:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're kicking off a new run of brand new community challenges for you! This ones for the explorers, the wilderness seekers, our Captains whose journeys through the void are to seek out strange, new worlds and see what valuables might be hiding on them.

The Challenge

Choose an away team of 3 crew members -- it can include your captain or officers but must include at least one regular crew member. No other crew members may have more Exploring Talents than any member of your away team trio at any time. This includes both talents that remove or replace risk cards and Talents that passively increase Explorer rewards. We want to see who can explore the most while keeping the same consistent away team alive and kicking. Away Team of Only 3 Whenever you encounter a crew combat while Exploring, you must include your entire 3 character Away Team in the battle, regardless of their condition. The fourth position in your combat squad is yours to fill as you see fit and is not a member of the Away Team This 4th character is completely up to you, does not need to be the same character between fights, can be crew/officer/captain and does not need to have any Explorer Talents. If you encounter a combat outside of Exploring, you can send anyone to the fight you want and have no requirement to use the Away Team but you may chose to do so. Ends if Away Team Member Dies If you lose a member of your away team, your run has ended. Regardless of how your Away Team member dies -- killed in an Explorer combat, killed in a non-Explorer combat, dead by torpedo, lost in an airlock accident -- at that time, use the scoring rules shown here to total your score. However, after totaling your score you may start a second run of the challenge by selecting a new away team from your crew. For your second run, select a new away team of 3, but:

• Only one member from your previous away team may be part of your second away team. Traumatized by the death of their close companion, if the other member is surviving they must be dismissed or retrained to have fewer Explorer Talents than the new away team trio.
• Any unsold Scientific Intel must be sold before starting a new run. This Scientific Intel counts toward the score of your first run.

The second run scores just like the first except that your second score only includes points earned after youve formed your second away team. If your second run ends with an away team member death, you may start further subsequent runs with the same rules and scoring requirements. The rule requiring that no other crew member has more Exploring Talents that any member of your away team increases the difficulty of the challenge. You must build an away team who is both skilled in crew combat as well as exploring. Or you can run light on Exploring Talents on the away team but that means the entire crew has to run light.

Scoring Rules

Points awarded for: 1 point per exploration expeditions without losing an away team member (running the explorer card game, not explorer-based combats) 5 points per Scientific Intel sold to contacts 20 points each for up to 3 wilderness zones you include in your report, with at least three sentences about your adventures on the surface Bonus points: +0.25x points per difficulty level above basic 2x points for surviving 100 crew battles started from exploration 1.5x points for including a Scientist Captain in the away team Screenshots: At the start and end of a run, the required screenshots are of: Ship Status > Captains Log > Stats showing the Traveling Far section which includes exploration count and crew combats from exploration Your away team members at the start of the run, any survivors at the end of the run. Tasteful black-and-white in memoriam screenshots / memes of any dead members are optional. Winners will receive internet fame and leaderboard-backed bragging rights, but honorable mentions await those who display creativity and effort as well. Alright captains, ready your away teams. Its wild out there, dont get munched.

Discuss and Post Progress

To join in on the challenge, discuss the meta, ask questions or post your away team's scores join us on the discussion thread: https://steamcommunity.com/app/335620/eventcomments/2993165479015935342

Previous Challenges

You can also check out some of the awesome community challenges that have been run before:

• Firefly Tour travels the galaxy with only your officers
• Underworld Renown tests Smugglers
• Legendary Hunter challenges Bounty Hunters
• Small Ship to Prize Ship can burn even the best combat captain

[ 2020-11-01 22:10:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #237 keeps hammering on the mission theme and with 8 new missions and all new Salvage Mission types it helps us close out another Content Expansion Goal from our dev roadmap. Since the update and its new missions are all focused on Salvage, this is the moment we've been waiting for to buff the Scavenger Captain's Traits toward these mission activities. With CATALYST full released two weeks ago and +18 new mission types and 2 major new categories of missions rolled out, we're excited to announce we've hit the content expansion for missions and have officially struck it from the roadmap. The list is getting smaller all the time now. Onwards to Weapons, Armor and Gear!
If word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the dome, seeped through the cracked concrete down to your safehouse, we've got news for you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes elements of stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and base building. You'll want to Wishlist this puppy today because -- that's right, you can get cyberdog and cybercat companions. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

@StarTradersGame is out of drydock on twitter!

You may already be following us on Facebook and on the @TreseBrothers twitter, but we're now sharing news, sales, gameplay vids, guides & tips from the forums & discord, streams, memes, and more on Star Traders' own twitter account: https://twitter.com/StarTradersGame

Salvage Missions!

Those Contacts who offer Salvage Missions just got a lot more serious about it! They will now replace their usual Conflict-related mission offer with an offer to run Salvage Missions at any Salvage Rumor you already know. They rely on your intelligence to uncover the Rumors, so you need to either use your own Traits, Talents or their Learn Rumor service to track down viable Rumors. Once granted, you can play the Salvage Mission like a Patrol or Blockade Mission, hunting that all important golden card. Watch out -- orbital salvage can be a harsh master. In my last testing run, I made $200,000 credits in rich salvage, lost 2 crew members to death saves, killed 2 bands of pirates, got one of my Contacts killed, gained a Relic Weapon and finally completed the 2 Salvage Missions I had been chasing to the tune of $400,000. Whew, what an exciting couple of weeks! This new capability of the mission system also opens up the future potential to make more missions that are driven by Rumors -- embargos, civil unrest, artifact finds and more, oh my!

Scavenger Captain Traits

With the new Salvage-based missions arriving, we've taken this moment to buff both of the Scavenger Captain's starting Traits. First, the Junker Trait now includes a +10% chance to draw Salvage mission cards along with the ability to repair whenever salvaging. Second, we've changed when the Roughneck Trait runs to make it far more effective. Previously running only when the Captain spiced, it is now run whenever the crew spices which vastly increases the chances of turning up new and exciting Salvage Rumors -- which you need for your Salvage missions! Also, the Junker Trait now grants a repair bonus when salvaging at the wreck of a xeno ship, so enjoy that. Not to mention their rank 11 "Rescue Mission" Talent finally makes sense =D

Ship Component Fixes

A huge thanks to everyone in the community posting different issues and bugs. We fixed a mix up in the shopping categories for Mass Modulators and Reducers with #237 as well as fixing the price on the newly introduced Reinforced / Shielded Passenger Cabins and Prison Cells. Finally, we fixed a longstanding bug that has been kicking around, Salvage Bay 5s were not working in some of the conditions of salvage.

v3.0.121 - 10/28/2020

- Added new type of Missions -- Salvage missions to zones with Salvage Rumors - All new way to run missions in the highest risk/reward orbital operation - Added 8 new multi-step Salvage missions -- high risk and high reward! - Improved Scavenger Trait "Junker" to add Salvage Missions start with +10% chance to draw Mission card - Improved Scavenger Trait "Roughneck" so it runs whenever anyone spices, not just the Captain -- far more effective - Increased availability of Intel and Scientific Intel missions from interested Contacts - Added new score to captain's log scores -- number of crew battles faced in explorer - Fixed issue where Scavenger Trait "Junker" was not properly firing against xeno ships salvaged - Fixed issues with Salvage Bay 5 and salvaging bonus when destroying human ships - Fixed category organization issues in Mass Modulator and Reducers - Fixed prices on Shielded/Reinforced Passenger Cabins and Prison Cells - Improved display of faction in mission that are anti-Hunna

[ 2020-10-28 19:51:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #236 takes the new features of CATALYST and injects them straight into the mission system with uncompromisingly awesome results. We've added an entirely new class of mission -- freeform gathering of Scientific or espionage Intel -- along with a new mission giver type to help Contacts like Court Scientist focus on an even more sciencey agenda than before. On top of the major burst of mission activity, Update #236 rounds out Scientific Intel missions with a new Doctor rank 8 and 11 Talent and a new Engineering rank 8 Talent as well. With CATALYST full released and through its early patch cycle, we are now turning our attention back to the dev roadmap. First to fall will be -- as indicated by this update -- the +100% Missions. Now that Intel and Scientific Intel missions are in, next up will be Salvage Missions to strike the item from the list. Then, onwards to Weapons, Armor and Gear!
If word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the dome, seeped through the cracked concrete down to your safehouse, we've got news for you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2021 and mixes elements of stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and base building. You'll want to Wishlist this puppy today because -- that's right, you can get cyberdog and cybercat companions. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

New Mission Frontier

Update #236 opens up an entirely new frontier for self-directed Missions in Spying, Exploring and Salvaging. The addition of Missions that require you gather Intel and Scientific Intel from specific sources bring a new type of challenge to these operations. A captain who excels at direct Spying missions will want a certain set of Talents to seek out and obtain the golden Mission card, while a captain who excels at Intel gathering missions will need a different set of Talents -- to flip for Intel or Scientific Intel -- along with reward Talents that increase Intel gather and a ship that can further boost those rewards. Intel gathering missions come in a few forms including -- gathering Scientific Intel, gathering generic Intel (any faction or conflict), gathering faction specific Intel (single faction, any conflict) or the most expensive and difficult to obtain, Conflict Intel (one specific Conflict). Often these missions have a follow up set of steps that draw you deeper into your Contact's purpose and scheme. These new missions also open up a new way to use Intel. Where before Intel was always a lower credit reward for higher Reputation and Influence, if you chose to sell your Intel into these Missions you now make Mission money (much higher!) and Mission Rep and Influence changes (when compared to selling Intel directly much lower). We can't wait to see these play out in the game and hear your new stories, captains. As mentioned above, more Mission types are coming!

Science Mission Giver

We've also added a 16th mission giver type, that of Science Missions. Previously, these Contacts gave Explorer Missions. Science Missions is a derivative of Explorer Missions with a higher weighting on Scientific Intel missions and these Contacts are less likely to engage in Smuggling and other underhanded acts.

Doctor and Engineer

Both Doctor and Engineer gained new Talents with Update #236, two of which help round out the availability of Scientific Intel Talents. The Doctor can now replace a risk card in Exploring with a Scientific Intel reward card at rank 11 and the Engineer can help boost the price of all Scientific Intel sold to Contacts. Finally, to ensure the Doctor's position commands the proper respect aboard a starship, they have gained a rank 8 Talent to save Command Skill rolls.

v3.0.119 - 10/21/2020

- Added new type of self-directed Missions -- gather Scientific, generic, Faction or Conflict-specific Intel - New way to convert your Intel gathering abilities into high credit rewards with lower Rep and Influence gains (mission money, mission rep) - Added 4 new types of Scientific Intel focused missions with unique follow-ups and conditions - Added 6 new types of Intel focused missions with unique follow-ups and conditions - Created new Mission Giver type for Contacts who "Offer Scientific Missions" to find Scientific Intel, Explore and Salvage - Improved Intel creation details for Intel created by Boarding Talents, properly linking to origin system - Added 2 new Talents for Doctors -- "Professional Respect" Command saving Talent at rank 8, and "Sawbones Seeker" replaces Exploring risk card with Scientific Intel - Added new rank 8 Engineer Talent "Contemplative View" increases the price of all Scientific Intel sold to Contacts by 30% + Electronics - Fixed issues with Field Distortion Log Entries during Radiation Storms - Fixed issues with Talents not triggering during planetary Ion Storms

[ 2020-10-21 17:43:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #235 is the third update this week of the 45% off sale to continue to drive features and improvements for the new Scientist profession and Job released in the Major Milestone CATALYST. There has rarely been a better time to step on to the bridge of a ship and explore the void with this new systems, playstyle and job now available. If you haven't seen CATALYST and the addition of Scientific Intel to the game as a new play style, be sure to check it out below. With Update #235, we've added a new Javat-only flagship carrier, improved the Talent Manifest for all Science Talents and completed some important rebalancing and expansion of the prisoner and passenger component types.
And if you haven't seen it, we're excited to be sharing our upcoming turn-based tactical RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint which will be coming to Steam in 2021. Mixing elements of stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and base building, you'll want to Wishlist today if you haven't already. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210

Javat Launches the Mortifor Carrier

The Mortifor Carrier embodies exactly what you'd expect from a Javat flagship. Weighing in at 8000 Mass, the Mortifor boasts best-in-class starting Armor and very strong starting Shielding. Packing 42 crew and 7 officers it also allows for 5 max craft, running neck and neck with the Skylift and Harbinger Carriers. Where the Mortifor shines like no other 8000 Mass ship is in its 15 small slots (!!!), 8 medium and 6 large slot component layout. Coming off the starport line with a Traveler Engine and 3 hangars for craft, the Mortifor is ready to engage at a starting price of $2.4m.

Scavenger Returns!

The last update, Update #234, accidentally bopped Scavenger off the profession list. Scavenger is back with Update #235 and Scientist has stayed so all is now right in the void. For just a minute. Before the next xeno attack. Enjoy it :D

Talent Manifest

We've caught up with the Talent Manifest after the round of new Talents being released by adding the Scientist's selling of Scientific Intel as well as the Explorer and Salvage Talents that add Scientific Intel cards.

Passenger Cabins, Prison Cells and Wards

With Update #235, we've expanded into a progression for passenger cabins, prison cells and wards. we've added 4 new component options for higher price tag that allow you to upgrade your standard small slot cells and cabins. You can bulk up to include either Armor with the Reinforced Passenger Cabin or Shields with the Shielded Passenger Cabin and the same options are available for small slot Prison Cells. In addition, we've pushed the Interrogation Ward to be a second tier component by creating a lesser large slot Prison Ward which holds 4 prisoners and offers +5% Shielding. Interrogation Ward -- which creates valuable Intel -- is now a second level large slot component that holds 4 prisoners and costs a bit more to install. Finally, to ensure the balance stays correct across these critical mission components, we've pushed the jump cost for all of the large slot components higher.

v3.0.117 - 10/17/2020

- New Javat-only Ship: Mortifor Carrier (8000M Heavy Carrier) - Fixes issues with Scavenger profession - Improved Talent Manifest: Added Science Intel Cards, Scientific Record Sales - New Components: Reinforced Passenger Cabin, Reinforced Prison Cell, Shielded Passenger Cabin, Shielded Prison Cell - New Component: Prison Ward is the starter large slot prison component, holds 4 prisoners and does not create intel - Improved large slot Interrogation Ward to hold 4 Prisoners and doubled price to install - Large slot prisons and passenger suites increase jump fuel cost - Fixed formatting on some Explorer & Salvage Cards

[ 2020-10-17 14:42:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #234 is a follow on update to the Major Milestone CATALYST that further expands the new systems, playstyle and jobs available there. If you haven't seen CATALYST and the addition of Scientific Intel to the game as a new play style, be sure to check it out below. With Update #234, we've added a new captain profession (SCIENCE!), a new rank 15 Exo-Scout Talent and 2 new Contact types. And if you haven't seen it, we're excited to be sharing our upcoming turn-based tactical RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint which will be coming to Steam in 2021. Mixing elements of stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and base building, you'll want to Wishlist today if you haven't already. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Scientist Profession

Update #234 adds the Scientist as a full blown starting profession you can add to your new captain templates. With two powerful unique traits -- Theoretical and Cerebral Seeker -- the Scientist captain excels at a strategic mix of Exploring, Salvaging and xeno hunting to reap Scientific Intel at every turn. Great for multi-Jobbing with Explorer, Doctor, Scavenger and more, the Scientist captain rounds out the new and exciting angles of play here.

New Contacts

A new starting Contact -- the Court Scientist -- and a Contact created only by the simulation -- the Academy Consul -- are both interested in buying Scientific Intel and recruiting Scientists along with offering a mix of other exciting services like Trait-driven Black Market access, a mix of Permit, Rank and Edict as well as Introductions, gear and more. Keep an eye out for these new players and consider the Court Scientist when setting up your new Scientist captain templates.

Exo-Scout Rank 15

Exo-Scouts gain new rank 15 Talent, Earned Revelations that replace risk card with Scientific Intel reward cards. Only the most veteran and highly capable exo-scouts have the chops to record valuable Intel from their exploration missions but those who can stand to make a killing among their network of contacts.

v3.0.115 - 10/14/2020

- Scientist is now available as a Captain profession with 2 unique captain traits, Theoretician and Cerebral Seeker - Added new starting Contact type, Court Scientist who purchase Scientific Intel and recruts Scientist - Added new proc-gen Contact type, Academy Consul who purchase Scientific Intel and recruts Scientist - Exo-Scouts gain new rank 15 Talent, Earned Revelations that replace risk card with Scientific Intel reward cards - Fixed issue with Repair/Explorer skill in new game templates - Fixed reported crashes

[ 2020-10-15 03:06:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Last edited 10/13/2020 @ 2 PM EST - we've released patch 3.0.113, see release notes at the bottom With Update #232 we're hitting another major milestone, dubbed SCIENCE with huge raft of new content, a new playstyle to chase and a 12% raise to the maximum level cap. Major Milestone CATALYST introduces the Scientist who can fill the iconic position aboard your starship as your Science Officer or perhaps your xenobiologist or part time xeno hunter. Your Scientist eagerly seeks the unknown -- and in the void the unknown is inexorably intertwined with the dangerous. Along with the Scientist comes an entirely new type of Scientific Intel that can be gathered when encounter xeno, exploring, salvaging or traveling space under terribly conditions such as Radiation Storms. This Milestone also raises the level cap from 40 to 45 and all jobs have had their max level expanded from 32 to 36. This is a major new infusion of Skill points for everyone and up to 2 new Talents for both Captain and Officers. And if you haven't seen it, we're excited to be sharing our upcoming turn-based tactical RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint which will be coming to Steam in 2021. Mixing elements of stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and base building, you'll want to Wishlist today if you haven't already. If you didn't know, now you know. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/ To keep up with all the latest news, sales, gameplay vids, guides & tips from the forums & discord, streams, memes, and more, follow us on the Star Traders' twitter account: https://twitter.com/StarTradersGame

Scientist Job and Scientific Intel

Major Milestone CATALYST comes with a new Job, but not just any new Job -- the highest community requested, the venerable and respected Scientist or Science Officer, if you chose to promote. The Scientist is a powerful supporting character bringing Doctor, Explorer and Command Skills to the ship. From a Talent perspective, the Scientist can play in both Orbital Salvage and Explorer, knocking out and replacing risk cards or boosting results. But where the Scientist truly shines is in the discovery and capture of a new type of data -- Scientific Intel. Startling observations, dangerous new concepts, recorded anomalies, encounters with the other can all produce Scientific Intel when cast through the lens of a trained eyed -- the eye of the Scientist. The Scientists Talents and 5 new cards added across Salvage and Explorer can impart this valuable and dangerous knowledge in the form of Scientific Intel. Like espionage-based Intel, this Scientific Intel is highly prized by Contacts and 14 Contacts will now buy Scientific Intel, including 5 of the Starting Contacts. Mostly, these are a Contacts who did not previously buy Intel and now have a new angle through which you can increase their Influence and Rep, but a few are swap overs from Intel to Scientific Intel. The new rules and system have also touched on a huge number of Contact Traits that will recruit Scientists or prefer to purchase Scientific Intel if possible or will pay heavily (Cult Leaders!) for the secrets, often farmed directly from xeno encounters. Scientists can be promoted or recruited during Academy Graduations or from Sage of Records, Medical Provost and Xenologist Contact Types.

New Level Cap 45

For those veteran captains still sailing the void after 70 years and reaching the level cap of 40, we've made a major lift with CATALYST to open the gates all the way to 45. This also includes a big uptick in maximum job level from 32 to 36. The job levels are especially exciting as they come with a solid chunk of Skill points which we've used creatively to fill gaps, catch up certain off skills, or double down on the primary skill. On top of the extra Skill points, the Captain and Officers both net a total of 2 Talents, giving you even more powerful build options.

Zenrin-only Vark Carrier

The Vark Carrier is a technical marvel and the heaviest 6000-class hull architecture ever devised. While the exact details of the design are a tightly-held Zenrin secret, the build borrows heavily from the expertise of Zenrin's friends among the Star Trader Houses and Clans. While the Vark is heavily shielded and armored, the massive hull is built around the Traveler Void Engine, rather than the Dual-Field popular on large warships, strictly for speed. Zenrin Captains, and the fearless aces of small craft combat stand ready to face any Xeno threat, no matter how distant. Among the 6000-class ships, the Vark Carrier is the only one capable of docking 5 craft.

And More

We've also updated the rules for the Spice Festival Rumor to further reduce Trade Law, now applying a massive -4 over the previously -2. And, for those Spies selling traditional Intel, we've bumped up the price of Conflict Intel to which the Contact is directly related by more than 50%. We've also fixed the Armor/Shield stats on Performance Hyperwarp Drives and rebalanced the prices of both Neutiquam Cruiser and resolved its issue of having 8/7 Officer Cabins.

v3.0.111 - 10/12/2020

- Increased max level cap to 45 for all Captain, Officer and Crew -- new Job and Talents points! - Increased max level of all Jobs from 32 to 36 -- more Skill points! - Added new Zenrin-only ship, the mighty Vark Carrier (6000M Zenrin, heavy attack Carrier) - All new Scientist Job seeks the unknown in the void to gain Scientific Intel and bonus Experience - All new type of Scientific Intel can be gathered through ops and Talents and sold to interested Contacts - 14 Contacts including 5 starting Contacts now buy Scientific Intel - Added 3 new Orbital Salvage cards and 2 new Explorer cards with Scientific Intel rewards - Scientists can be recruited from Sage of Records, Medical Provost and Xenologist - Added new Contact Trait Technologist, increases price for Scientific Data and recruits Scientists - Contacts with Tinkerer, Techno Addict, Heritage Hunter, Xeno Obsessed, Cult Leader, Collector and Researcher all buy Scientific Intel at better prices - Contact Trait Researcher will enable buying Scientific Intel if the Contact doesn't already buy Intel - Scientist is recruitable during Academy Graduation Rumors and in any Spice Hall in the Jyeeta Brood quadrant - Spice Festival Rumor now reduces Trade Law by -4 instead of -2 - Increased the sale price of Conflict Intel when the Contact's faction is involved in the Conflict - Fixed issue with Neutiquam Cruiser having 8 officer cabins - Fixed issue with Performance Hyperwarp Drives having too much armor/shield - Increased price of Neutiquam Cruiser by $500K - Increased price of Extremis Carrier by $425K

v3.0.113 - 10/13/2020

- Increased chances of Scientific Intel Cards appearing during Explorer & Salvage - Scientific Intel now appears more often during Xeno Fleets, Jyeeta Incursions and Radiation Storms - Reputation gains from selling Scientific Intel buffed by 12% - Fixed issue with all Diplomat Talents requiring incorrect Job Rank

[ 2020-10-12 19:30:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #231 continues to deliver on exciting new ship and component expansions, bringing new options and new meta to the table. With this update, we've included 2 new end-game faction ships and 12 new components that all make use of the completely new ship effect types (Engine Safety, Jump Time reduction, Craft Boost) released in Update #230. We're excited to announce as well that this update completes two of our content milestones on the publicly posted dev roadmap -- moving us closer and closer to completing it entirely! We've also made a big rule change for Scavenger captains (Repair in new game templates!), improved the Defense Pattern Matrix 4 and fixed some issues with how the AI was trying to build out a set of big end-game ships. If you enjoy the stream of updates, free content and general game support please remember to leave a review and tell a friend!

Roadmap Content Milestones

With Update #231 we have closed two of the major content milestones we have been tracking to since the game's release in August 2018. With the addition of the Neutiquam Cruiser and Tempus Freighter we have completed a long march to triple the size of the ship catalog across Mass spectrum. And with the blast of 5 new components in the last update and 12 new components in this update, we have hit our goal to double the size of the ship component catalog, massively expanding the ways in which different captain professions can specialize their individual ship and hit the metrics they feel are necessary to safely sail the void. Of course, hitting the milestone goal doesn't mean we won't be adding more :D https://steamcommunity.com/games/335620/announcements/detail/1696055855739611821

Faction Flagships

The Tempus Freighter is a contender for the crown of most advanced large-capacity and long-haul cargo ship. Produced exclusively by the De Valtos syndicate, the Tempus Freighter carries an exceptional fuel and cargo load while still maintaining heavy armor and shield. The merchants of De Valtos value their sprawling cargo holds but know that the best cargo delivery is one that is made safely. While formidable without any upgrades, a fully built Tempus Freighter delivers top-tier cargo storage and unparalleled combat survivability. Boasting 11 medium and 8 large slots and a trailing 9 small slots, the Tempus has the capacity for another $5M-$6M in upgrades to create the ultimate merchant-warriors freighter or anything in between. The Neutiquam Cruiser is a compact, heavily armored ship that soaks damage like a much larger hull. Built for boarding combat, attack shuttles and anti-carrier duty the Neutiquam Cruiser is difficult to hit and harder to kill. Sold for under $2.5M at Steel Song starports, this military vessel can be reasonably effective without upgrades, it truly shines after an overhaul and new weapons package. Boasting 11 small, 9 medium and 5 large slots, this Cruiser could soak up additional millions to be fully upgraded as a legendary Bounty Hunter's personal flagship or the death barge of a roaming Steel Song assassin.

Scavenger Retrofit

A big thanks to the community from bringing this up and discussing it -- how to best build a Scavenger captain. To assist with this, we've made one of the recommended changes which is to add Repair to the list of Skills that a captain can increase in their character creation template. Enjoy those extra bonuses in Talents and Orbital Salvage! The second change will come with the addition of Orbital Salvage missions, which require mission cards which will adjust their starting Traits. But that is for another day, another update!

12 New Components

Update #230 was not shy about adding new components and #231 cranks it up another level with a full set of 12. First, we've added a fourth tier of the Water-Fuel Reclamation systems, once again Javat-only. This component adds less fuel than the WFR 3 but trades that for a +1 Engine Safety bonus. For those ships looking to travel safer, farther, this is a worth consideration. Carriers have long had a gap in their ability to build out a heavily focused set of components to empower their activities. You needed to install launch bays and hangars, but the rest of the build was in your crew and Talents. With Update #230, we began addressing that with a carrier-focused bridge and two new powerful launch bays but Update #231 kicks open the door to ultra carrier builds with the addition of Joint Precision Launch Systems 1-3 which each add craft boost bonuses to any and all launched craft. These bonuses stack, adding to Craft Damage, Hit % and Boarding rolls and so now a carrier has a whole new option for how to invest their small slots. Every carrier build needs some, how many will you install? Some Star Traders aim to travel far but others aim to travel *fast*. For those speed demons of the void, we've released a series of new Performance Hyperwarp Drives that all reduce the time taken in making hyperwarp jumps from 25% for the lowest mass drives to 12% for the highest mass drives. These drives trade higher fuel burn for their speed but over the longhaul, they'll help you scoot across the galaxy -- and especially large maps -- much more efficiently.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

While we are hard at work supporting the Star Traders: Frontiers roadmap, we've been developing our next game for going on 2 years now! If you like our style of endless updates, new features and content, wishlist it today! Cyber Knights is a tactical RPG that plunges you and your team of hackers, mercs and thieves into the neon-soaked future of 2231. Hire the right team under the crumbling New Boston Zone and mix stealth, hacking and combat skills to claw your way to the top of the criminal heap. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.0.109 - 10/7/2020

- New captain templates can now include Repair Skill bonuses for jobs like Scavenger - New Ship: Neutiquam Cruiser (Steel Song, 6000M Attack Cruiser) - New Ship: Tempus Freighter (De Valtos, 8000M Long Range Hauler) - Added 8 new Performance Hyperwarp Drives that reduce jump time by 12% to 25% based on ship mass in trade for higher fuel costs - Added 3 new Joint Precision Launch System components to provide craft boost for carriers in small slot - stack for ultra carrier - Added new Javat-only Water-Fuel Reclamation 4 component in medium slot with +1 Engine Safety but lower fuel bonus - Defense Pattern Matrix 4 rebalanced to grant 6% defense instead of 5% - Fixed AI issues with: Reach Carrier, Azurite Cruiser, Larimar Battlecruiser

[ 2020-10-07 17:23:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #230 launches can be installed at a starport near you in the form of a heap of new exciting ship components that roll out 3 completely new types of effects not previously available through any component. We've also further improved the recently released high level Capital Bridges with these new effects, fixed the launch-preventing bug with the Pallas Freighter and trained the enemy AI ship builder on even more components.

New Effects

With Update #230, ship components can now do some even more exciting things! While your Void Engine sets your Safety Rating, other ship components can now add bonuses (or, in the future, reduce) that up to a maximum of +6 Safety. This can help you offset riskier engine choices. Second, ship components can now reduce the amount of time spent in hyperwarp jumps. Each jump has its own defined length which you can see relative to other jumps on the galactic map. All in all, these traveling events can add up to a lot of time and ship components are now capable of increasing or reducing that traveling time with ship components to a maximum of -50%. Finally, to assist with carrier builds we've added a effect dubbed Craft Boost that allows the capital ship to increase the Damage, Hit % and Boarding rolls for all launched craft. The carrier's capital ship systems can now help increase the effective aggressive features of all craft it has launched.

Two Annexes

The Engineering and Navigation Annex have been added in Update #230. Both are medium slot components that provide space for a single officer but also some very powerful bonuses, including Skill points. The Engineering Annex adds +2 Safety Rating and is great for ships that are trying to travel long distances. In addition, the Engineering Annex provides a constant protection against Morale damage over time effects. The Navigation Annex reduces hyperwarp jump time by 15% as well as hyperwarp jump cost by -10 fuel. The Engineering Annex is Zenrin only while the Navigation Annex is to be found in Alta Mesa starports only.

New and Updated Bridges

Update #230 adds a new Scout-Vanguard Bridge 5 which compares well with the 3 recently added Scout 5 options -- Skirmisher, Hauler and Stealth. For those small ships that want to adjust their component builds away from craft defense, the Vanguard provides a major 30% to Evade Craft Attacks, fully double what the Scout-Skirmisher 5 provides in exchange for its Accuracy bonus and some Armor and Shield. You can only find this extreme craft defense bridge for small ships in Steel Song starports. Update #230 has also modified the Capital Carrier Bridge 5 to include the all new Craft Boost bonus. This powerful bridge for large-scale carriers adds +12% to the Damage, Hit % and Boarding for all aggressive crafts. It is a new must-have component for those captains looking to built ultra-carriers. Finally, we've updated the Compact Capital Bridge 4 to include a +1 Safety Rating as well to go along with its significantly lower Mass and solid Skill bonuses, making it a possible contender for the slot for non-combat captains.

Battle Launch Bays

Before Update #230, the highest level launch bays -- the Advanced and Hyperion -- both provided massive Fuel bonuses to help offset the carrier's consumption but did little to support aggressive craft activity. Now, a level 3 and level 4 combat focused launch bays have been added. the Battle Launch Bay at level 3 is available only from De Valtos and is extra shiny with its best in class +15% Craft Boost. The highly sought after and highly expensive Warhawk Launch Bay could be made by none other than Alta Mesa boasting a +8% craft boost and housing 1 officer. If combined with the Capital Carrier Bridge (as it should be!) these could net a 20% to 27% Craft Boost bonus, making your very larger, very expensive carriers even more deadly.

AI Training

We've worked on training up the enemy AI ship builder on a few additional types of components to help round out their ships, including C-Taks, better use of Fuel Tanks, upgraded Battle Bridges and Mass Dampeners. Finally, we fixed the Pallas Freighter's bug being 1,000 Mass over at purchase time. If you happened to buy one of these broken ships, sorry you have to keep it (or sell it). Only new ships coming off the line are fixed.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

While we are hard at work supporting the Star Traders: Frontiers roadmap, we've been developing our next game for going on 2 years now! If you like our style of endless updates, new features and content, wishlist it today! Cyber Knights is a tactical RPG that plunges you and your team of hackers, mercs and thieves into the neon-soaked future of 2231. Hire the right team under the crumbling New Boston Zone and mix stealth, hacking and combat skills to claw your way to the top of the criminal heap. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.0.107 - 9/30/2020

- Added 3 New Ship Component Effects: increase Engine Safety, reduce Hyperwarp Jump Time, Craft Boost adds Dmg, Hit % and Boarding to all launched craft - New Zenrin-only Component: Engineering Annex, medium slot for 1 officer adds +2 Safety Rating and other bonuses - New Alta Mesa-only Component: Navigation Annex, medium slot for 1 officer reduces Hyperwarp Jump time and other bonuses - New Steel Song-only Component: Scout-Vanguard Bridge 5 provides +30% to Evade Craft Attacks and other bonuses - New De Valtos-only Battle Launch Bay trades lvl 3 Advanced Launch Bay's fuel for +15% Craft Boost, combat focused launch bay - New Alta Mesa-only Warhawk Launch Bay trades lvl 4 Hyperion Launch Bay's fuel for +8% Craft Boost, combat focused launch bay - Improved Capital Carrier Bridge 5 to include +12% Craft Boost bonus, powerful bridge for large-scale carriers - Improved Compact Capital Bridge 4 to include +1 Engine Safety bonus - Fixed issue with Pallas Freighters starting 1000 Mass over - Enemy AI ship builder is more capable at using C-Taks, Battle Bridges, Fuel Pods and Mass Dampeners

[ 2020-09-30 04:26:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #229 had to come in a bit of a rush because map gen v2 tried to escape the lab in Update #228. We're pushing this update to directly address these issues as well as include some new ship components and some bug fixes to orbital ops.

Map Gen

Changes in prep for map gen v2 in Update #228 and caused a rolling set of bugs with generating new maps under this release. Update #229 resolves all of these issues and puts us back on track to release map seeds v2 soon.

Rank 5 Components

With Update #229, we've added a new set of ship components for your high level ships and especially for capital ships with large bridges. The Shielded Barracks 5 joins the fun with space for 36 crew and 4 Shielding points in trade for 5 Jump Cost. It can be a nice way to stack up your shielding so you can focus other components elsewhere if you can manage the credit and fuel cost. Three new types of Capital Bridges have joined the fray -- the Freighter, Carrier and Compact version. The Freighter variation includes bonus cargo and fuel capacity while reducing jump cost and is of course, controlled by Clan Moklumnue. The Carrier Capital Bridge is built exclusively by Alta Mesa with best in class Electronics and Navigation. And finally, the Compact Capital Bridge is available from Clan Zenrin at a reduced Mass of 480 for those capital ships looking to allocate their mass elsewhere. To be completely honest, the Compact and Carrier bridges are casualties of the fast release cycle to fix the maps issue here. Neither are done and both will be improved to be specific to their niche in the next update. Sold only by De Valtos, the Fuel-Cargo Hold 5 offers 35 cargo and 135 fuel storage. For a much higher price tag, it offers the best in class fuel and cargo storage for those ships that can dedicate large slots to it.

Orbital Ops

We've fixed a bug with how Salvage worked over indie planets where there is no local faction. This removes the issues with the "Faction Rep Bonus" card which had no where to stash the bonus Rep, as indies do not do Rep. We've also improved the card iconography to include better icons for cards that grant Experience.

v3.0.103 - 9/17/2020

- Fixes bug with map generation - New Components: Shielded Barracks 5, Capital Freighter Bridge, Capital Carrier Bridge, Compact Capital Bridge, Fuel-Cargo Hold 5 - Fixed Orbital Salvage Faction Rep Boost Over Indie Planets - Fixed incorrect icons on some Experience granting cards

[ 2020-09-18 03:29:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #228 reaches the version number 3.0101, indicating 50 releases in this family (that is, 3.0.x). However, we're very excited to share that this release family is sun-setting with 3.1.x coming in fast. On our Trese Brothers Twitch development livestream last week, Cory debuted a major map preview feature we are buttoning up which allows you to check out maps you are making in the new game before you play which is a key feature of map seed version 2. We're also now getting to a point where we will be sharing map seeds v2 on Twitch and the big release of the new system is coming in just around the corner. In the mean time, v3.0.x still has some life in it! We're finishing balancing out engines stats as well as introducing new exciting build potential for how to setup your ship operations crew by introducing a slew of new saving Talents. Update #228 also includes Gravcannon updates, changes to 1080p resolution options, upgraded stat display when shopping for ship components and fixes for Traits that should never proc together on the same character, so for everything check the full release notes You may already be following us on Facebook and on the @TreseBrothers twitter, but we're now sharing news, sales, gameplay vids, guides & tips from the forums & discord, streams, memes, and more on Star Traders' own twitter account: https://twitter.com/StarTradersGame

Improved Crew Builds

In response to some great community feedback, we're beefing up the availability of saving Talents for core ship Skills. With Update #228 we've focused on Ship Ops and Electronics, adding 3 new saving Talents for each Skill to different ship operational jobs. These new saving Talent options greatly expand the viable types of crew you can assemble to cover the needs of a ship's Skill Pools and saving Talents. You'll still need core crew, but you've got more room to include specialists who can help cover those spots. First, the Crew Dog has gained additional utility by gaining an Electronics saving Talent at rank 8 to add to their Ship Ops saving Talent at rank 1. In addition, Engineers and Wing Techs have both gained an Electronics save at rank 8. Second, to help augment the available Ship Ops saving Talents offered by Crew Dogs and Quartermasters, we've added the Talent type to 3 new Jobs -- Mechanic, Gundeck Boss and Wing Tech. Wing Techs get access to the Talent first at rank 5 while both Gundeck Boss and Mechanics need to reach rank 8 before they can lend a guaranteed saving hand to Ship Ops.

Engine Adjustments

With Update #228, we've made further improvements to the stats to some engines that needed a little more boost to fit into the new scheme. In order to ensure that Warhammers and Behemoth engines are fairly safe, their Safety Ratings have been increased by roughly +1 across the board from the Mass 5000 to Mass 8000 engines. This removes any 4 Safety Rating engines -- which basically could never find a quadrant with Danger below their engine -- from the game and leaves a minimum of 5 Safety. For Speed and Agility we've made a few more changes to keep the engines in balance. The Mass 8000 Chase Void Engine has gained +2 Agility to fit correctly into the class scheme. Also, to ensure they live up to their price tag and are competitive with other engine types, the Warhammer Void Engines have gained +1 or +2 Agility across the entire line regardless of Mass and the Behemoth engine line has gained +1 to +2 Speed.

Grav Cannons

We've rebalanced the Gunnery values on rank 7 and 8 Gravcannons. More boom!

Resolution 1080p

If you're playing at 1080p and are finding the text too small (playing on a TV, etc) we've made some changes to allow the UI to scale up to 110% instead of maxing at 100%. Give it a try and let us know if it helps!

Wishlist that Cyber Knights

If you're loving Star Traders: Frontiers, its 228 updates, its constant new features and content or just the style of our studio, then be sure to wishlist our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint. Turn-based tactics lovers and XCOM fans are not going to want to miss this one -- https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.0.101 - 9/16/2020

- Improved Agility by +1-2 points on Warhammer engine line, improved Speed by +1-2 points on Behemoth line - Improved Agility on M8000 Chaser Void Engine by +2 - Improved Safety on M5000 to M8000 Warhammer / Behemoth engines by +1 - Added 6 new Ship Ops and Electronics Talents across a wider selection of jobs - New Electronic saving Talents for Engineer (rank 8), Wing Tech (rank 8) and Crew Dog (rank 8) - New Ship Ops saving Talents for Mechanic (rank 8), Gundeck Boss (rank 8), Wing Tech (rank 5) - Increased Gunnery of large slot rank 7 and 8 Gravcannons - Added combat effects like +Void Res to starport upgrade summary screen - Adjusted UI Scaling option to allow 110% scaling at 1080p - Prevented Traits "Rigidly Lawful" and "Spice Addict" from mutating onto same character

[ 2020-09-16 20:16:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #227 follows quickly on the heals of #226 because of the "Free Fuel" bug that accidentally slipped through in the last update. We know everyone has been enjoying the free cruiser around the galaxy but we've got to get that fixed with Update #227. To assuage the suffering of once again burning Water Fuel, we've added a killer feature from the community request list -- transferring dry docked ships between zones!

Transfer Dry Dock Ships

If you're buying and outfitting a ship, sometimes you really need it to be in a different zone -- to access faction-specific components or to access higher military or economic ratings. Or perhaps you bought it somewhere with a nice discount but not a nice enough starport to do years of upgrades. Whatever the reason, it has long been a pain to move ships around -- you had to swap to them, fly them yourself and then find another ride (i.e. buy another ship) back to the original ship. We're excited to announce the ability to transfer dry dock ship across the galaxy with Update #227. You can pay a reasonable fee of $100,000 credits per hyperwarp jump and an extra 11% for each Mass class at or above 6000 Mass.
In order to initiate this ferry service, you must first land on the zone where you dry docked ship resides. Then open the Star Atlas -- from the zone, from the galactic map, etc -- and find the zone you want to transfer the ship to. At the bottom of the zone, you'll find a transfer offer and price. Of course, you must meet the requirements of Military Rank 1 and the zone must have 7 Starport or a rare 9 in the case of Indies. If you can afford the fee, the transfer is made instantly -- basically, as fast as you can fly there the ship will be waiting for you. To all those captains building out a glorious fleet and asking for dry dock transfer, enjoy!

v3.0.99 - 9/8/2020

- Added new feature: pay to transfer dry docked ship from one starport to another using Star Atlas - Star Atlas now includes a note about any zone that has a ship in dry dock - Fixed issue allowing free fuel travel within quadrants for low Mass ships - Fixed issue where starport repair detail text could still report an incorrect timeline for repairs

[ 2020-09-09 03:42:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #226 comes in as a heavy-weight with an important rebalance to Void Engines across the mass and class spectrum. We're continuing to work through our planned updates and improvements to the meta with some very exciting new things coming once we are able to clear this set of hurdles. We've also added 3 new top tier pieces of gear that your officers or crew (!!) can now equip and fixed a number of minor ship component and story bugs. If you're enjoying the pace of updates, be sure to leave a review and tell a friend. If you need more Star Traders: Frontiers memes in your day, we're now sharing them, along with news, sales, gameplay vids and more at Star Traders' own twitter account: @StarTradersGame

Void Engine Rebalance

The void engine is part of the daily life on a Star Trader's ship. It is the heart of a ship and its energy fields change Star Traders who live near them, granting long life, makes their diet and medicine so complicated and shutting down many of the body's natural processes. Update #226 includes two big rebalances for the void engine at any and all mass classes. There will be follow-up upgrades that expand upon these changes, including allowing ship components to modify critical stats like void engine Safety. First, we've updated Safety Rating display for your engine, getting away from the % scale used. Safety Rating is directly compared to the Danger of Quadrants in its impact on traveling, and so it is now displayed as a simple number, just like Danger. Second, we've rebuilt the Safety Ratings for every void engine, basing their ratings around their class (Chaser, Longhaul, etc) as well as their Mass grouping. Small ships are no longer inherently unsafe Longhaul engines are now the safest, built for extended traveling conditions. Balanced and Dual-Field engines are next down the list with standard Safety Ratings. Chasers and Travelers are lower in safety than their standard counter-parts with their focus on either Speed or Agility. Finally, Warhammers and Behemoths, huge monstrosities capable of producing the highest Reactor Points in combat have the lowest Safety Ratings. Finally, for void engines in the the Mass 6000 and above group, there is now a fuel cost per encounter with an enemy ship. This includes encounters during travel as well as those made for missions and any type of orbital ops. The fuel cost can be as low as 1 per encounter up to 10 per encounter for the largest, heaviest combat engines like the Behemoth. Chaser class engines, built for combat efficiency, have the lowest encounter costs in each Mass grouping with the 6000 Mass Chaser still having 0 fuel cost per encounter. High speed Traveler engines have the highest fuel cost to when encountering another ship, while Balanced, Dual-Field and Longhaul engines all have average costs within their Mass grouping. This new fuel tax for large engines may require some changes in play and you might want to use a bit more of your large ship component slots to stock up on fuel.

Booster Gear

Update #226 includes a new level 5 specialist gear now for sale from Contacts, the Interlink Wireset which grants a big boost to Wisdom. Check out the Talents your crew and officers are using and see if you might find a Wisdom boost helpful! We've also added 3 more exciting gear that can be found via Salvage, the Ultra Heavy Jack, Isotriphate Injector and Betaphate Drip. Each comes with big Attribute bonus -- Fortitude, Quickness and Fortitude again in order. The Quickness boost is so high on the Injector that it had to come along with a -Initiative debuff to keep the peace!

Some Bug Fixes

We've also fixed a bug with Salvage Bay 5 not actually working when salvaging ships and adjusted the Armored Salvage Bay 5 to display its proper bonus, which is 49%, not 54%. Finally, we fixed a bug that could lead to Zette's storyline spawning multiple copies of the same mission.

Wishlist Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

Pilot a fleet of battle drones, lead a pack of cybernetically enhanced war dogs, mind-meld with a cybercat, charge your nano-blade, get your arms replaced, stalk the night of New Boston as a cybernetic mercenary-beast of 2231. If you like these words, wishlist Cyber Knights: Flashpoint today. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/ You can't tell me you don't want this cyber beagle on your team? [previewyoutube=5DbOJqRLTAo;full][/previewyoutube]

v3.0.97 - 9/7/2020

- Void Engine Rebalance: improved significance of engine safety, rebalanced safety ratings and added encounter fuel cost to larger engines - Void engines at 6000 Mass and higher now have a per-encounter Fuel Cost (travel, landing, orbital ops) - Improved Display of Engine Safety to use the same scale as Quadrant Danger as the two are directly compared - Increased impact of Engine Safety on results of Pilot and Ship Ops failures in dangerous quadrants - New Attribute Boosting Gear for sale in Specialist Gear level 5: Interlink Wireset (+Wisdom) - Added 3 new salvage Relics, Ultra Heavy Jack (+Debuff Res) and Isotriphate Injector (+Quickness), Betaphate Drip - Fixed bug with Salvage Bay 5 not adding bonus while salvaging ships - Fixed incorrect text in Armored Salvage Bay 5, it adds 49% bonus to all salvage operations - Fixed bug with duplicate missions during Zette's storyline

[ 2020-09-07 19:41:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #225 opens new and exciting possibilities for your own crew builds even as it gives more options and variety into the hands of the enemy AI crew builder. We've also improved some of the difficulty descriptions to be clear where difficulty increases are actually increasing the cleverness of the enemy AI builders. Finally, we've made an important fix to the Crimson Defender and closed a story race condition with "Blood for Blood" Faen missions. Thanks to everyone posting reviews and playing and if you enjoy the constant stream of improvements, be sure to tell a friend and post a review!

Crew Champions, Gear Up!

Update #225 offers some new possible paths for your design of combat crew and craft pilots by allowing you to equip a limited number of crew members to equip gear. As your captain increases in level, the number of crew who can equip gear increases as well, all the way to up to 6 high potential individuals. While this does not replace the need or value of using officers for craft pilots and as crew combatants, it increases the viability of exceptional crew members taking on these rolls. Within your crew, look for your best, brightest lights. First, keep them away from airlock duty. Then, equip them with some awesome gear and send them to battle! Starting at level 5, you can equip your first crew member. At 8, 12, 16, 32 and 38 you gain an additional equip point. This means that by level 16, you could field an entire gear-equipped combat team with a single officer or run a sizeable craft fleet with gear-equipped crew pilots only. To help track these chracters, we've added 3 new filters to the crew list -- one for weapons, armor and gear. These filters show only those characters who you have equipped with a unique weapon, armor or gear or those that have had a special equip decision within a weapon locker. So, if you give a character special sniper rifle you bought from a contact or salvaged from a hive, they will show up here. But if you pick a combat character and manually assign that they should use a snubber over the default pick of a rifle, they will also show up here. Anyone using gear will appear in the gear filter, making it easy to find those crew who have joined this new echelon of crew.

Enemy Crew Builder Variety

The enemy AI that designs the crew to staff a ship has received some exciting updates with #225. As always, enemy crew builder intelligence is modulated by game difficulty, so some of these will not appear -- or appear only rarely -- in easier difficulty games. The first big change starts to open the door for more exciting enemy boarding combat teams. Traditional, the enemy boarding team is a mix of Swordsman, Pistoleers and Soldiers but now the crew builder may decide to include Snipers and/or Combat Medics to mix up these teams. These are especially more likely on military ships that have more than 4 combat crew -- a second boarding team or defensive team deployed. The second change focuses on ship crew specifically, allowing for the enemy crew builder to consider Mechanics, Military Officers, Smugglers and Commanders among the crew ranks. These are only in consideration based on the enemy captain type (Smugglers and Explorer captains can include Smugglers but won't include Military Officers). These new additions cause some changes to the stats of an enemy ship that can be beneficial, but due to their limited number of slots, their impact will be felt mostly through the unique and new Talents they can use on behalf of their captain. Finally, we did further increase the intelligence of high difficulty AI to make smarter decisions about both Pilot and Navigation dice pools and their allocation of Pilot and Navigator Jobs versus other options. Their pool allocation will be a little sleeker, leaving a bit more space for specialists when they can hit the 150% to 200% Skill Pool target comfortably.

Crimson Defender!

The Crimson Defender has long been missing a 12th small slot due to a minor data processing error on our part. We've resolved the issue and a new starting Officer Cabin has materialized from the void, bringing the Defender up to its fully operationally 12 small slot target.

Clarifying Difficulty

To help clarify the on-going difficulty changes that we are making, we've modified the in-game description of difficulties and custom difficulty to make it clear that as you increase the enemy challenge level, their cleverness increases as well. We've made many changes and improvements to the enemy ship and crew builders over the last year and at times, we've failed to make it clear that these AI improvements require a certain level of intelligence from the difficulty scaler to be used. Certainly, higher difficulty will result in higher statistic enemies, but it is generally because they are making more intelligent decisions about how to setup their crew and ship.

@StarTradersGame is out of drydock on twitter!

You may already be following us on Facebook and on the @TreseBrothers twitter, but we're now sharing news, sales, gameplay vids, guides & tips from the forums & discord, streams, memes, and more on Star Traders' own twitter account: https://twitter.com/StarTradersGame

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

Pilot a fleet of battle drones, lead a pack of cybernetically enhanced war dogs, mind-meld with a cybercat, charge your nano-blade, get your arms replaced, stalk the night of New Boston as a cybernetic mercenary-beast of 2231. If you like these words, wishlist Cyber Knights: Flashpoint today. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.0.95 - 9/1/2020

- Limited number of crew members may now equip Gear based on Captain Level (starting at level 5) - Gear-wearing crew are better candidates for joining combat teams or flying craft - At highest level, 6 crew can equip gear (progression, 5/8/12/16/32/38) - Added 3 new crew list filters -- Weapon/Armor/Gear which show any officer or crew with custom equip - Military Enemy AI may add Snipers and Combat Medics to their boarding teams - Depending on their type, enemy AI can seed their crews with Mechanics, Military Officers, Commanders and Smugglers - Enemy AI at higher difficulties better balance their allocation of Pilots and Navigators - Clarified difficulty / custom difficulty description to be clear where AI cleverness is increased - Fixed major balance bug with Crimson Defender, missing 12th Small Slot (Officer Cabin) re-instated! - Fixed inconsistency with display of ransom value in ship ransom with Talents and Traits - Fixed race condition between Duel of Assassins and "Blood for Blood" mission that could cut story short

[ 2020-09-01 18:29:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

With Update #224, we're wrapping up a big series of updates focused on ship component shopping, rebalances and starting to move on to the next series of exciting changes and content adds. We've added a set of new relic gear and the first level 5 gear sold by a Contact with more to come as well as we prep for some very exciting rule changes about gear itself. If you're enjoying the constant, more than weekly updates, please remember to tell a friend and leave a review!

New Relics and Level 5 Specialist Gear

Update #224 introduces 4 new high level pieces of gear that can be found in Salvage and Explorer. While the new Bladeguide Aegis is combat focused, the other three types of gear are big Attribute boosters for Officers using builds that require high Attributes, such as Charisma. These can make gear more appealing to non-combat officers as well as their battling brethren. In addition, we've opened up for the first time the ability for Contact's with the Specialist Gear service to sell level 5 gear. The first piece of gear up for sale is the powerful Bexian Deathward which massively increases Resilience (+10!!) and Bleed Resistance (+25!!) making it an interesting piece to consider in the mix. More level 5 gear will be coming online soon after this first toe-dip.

ECCM Screens and Reactor Spike Balance

Thanks to everyone in the community continuing to post feedback on the new component categories and their internal balance. We'll be continuing to improve the balance with the goal of raising more components up to the level where they fit a clear and powerful purpose within builds. With Update #224, we've put a target on ECCM Screen to ensure they have a place within the meta. We've both significantly increased their +Escape bonuses but added important Craft Evasion bonuses that can help ensure they can offer better coverage for ships like Smugglers and Spies who are built to disengage and flee combat. For Reactor Spike Modules, we had to make a price increase to the first level (+$7K) and reduced the fuel stored within that module down to 5. Fine tuning another great component that is now viable for many types of builds. As part of this adjustment, we upgraded the 8000 Mass Broadsword Class to use a RSM 2 instead of an RSM 1.

Final Category Tweaks

Hopefully for a while, we've completed the last set of tweaks to category shopping based on all the feedback we're hearing from within the community.

• If you use the "Type Match" filter and there is only one category that matches, then this category is automatically expanded to avoid double clicks.
• We fixed both A-Z and Z-A alphabetical sorting when you are browsing categories.
• We fixed the remaining duplicate of small slot Mass Reducers when looking at categories
• We fixed an issue with faction filtering causing some categories to disappear if the first item in the category was faction locked even if others were not

If you have any other issues or suggestions about the upgraded shopping experience, please share them!

Seen Cyber Knights?

Have you seen -- and wishlisted -- our next upcoming game? Cyberpunk turn-based tactics under the shadows of the crumbling New Boston dome is not something you want to miss. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.0.93 - 8/22/2020

- New Rare Relic Gear: Bladeguide Aegis, Slindo Trade Slate, Perk Balm, Allistar Edgeweave (Attribute Boosters for Talent Officer Builds) - New level 5 Specialist Gear sold by Contacts: Bexian Deathward (Resilience + Bleed Resistance) - Improved +Escape Bonus on ECCM Screen Matrices and added +Craft Evade to all levels - Balanced Reactor Spike Module 1 with minor Fuel reduction, minor price increase - Improved "Type Match" filter in component shopping, if there is only one matching subtype, the subtype is expanded automatically - Fixed alphabetical sorting when viewing ship components categories - Adjusted ship build for Broadsword Class 8000M to use Reactor Spike Module 2 instead of 1 - Fixed duplicate small slot Mass Reducer categories showing up in component shopping - Fixed issues with Faction-filtering making some component categories disappear in component shopping

[ 2020-08-22 21:05:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #223 starts to work on filling out the component count and stat bonuses for some of the under-developed categories for ship components, as well as fixing all of the reported issues with the new category system within shopping for ship components. Thanks to everyone posting feedback and reviews!

Shop by Category Fixes

In case you ran into any of these issues, here is the full list of what was fixed in Update #223 for ship component shopping:

• Some components, such as small Fuel Tanks and Pulse Boosters, appeared twice on the category list
• Some components, such as large Gravcannons and large Barracks, did not appear on the list at all. Across the set of 58 categories and 3 sizes, there were 15 misses in total. All are now resolved.
• Some ship weapons were showing the wrong icon for their type of special damage -- showing Ship Ops icon and stating "Causes Radiation". Sounds like an airlock issue to me.

We've also made a few more tweaks to improve the consistency of sorting throughout the set.

Water-Fuel Reclamation 3

One of our follow-on tasks to this major shopping upgrade will be to ensure there are enough good options behind every category. In some cases, this means adding more components and in other cases it will mean rebalancing the bonuses. For Water-Fuel Reclamation systems, we've now added a grade 3 component which increases the Fuel storage, further reduces Jump Cost and provides even nicer Electronics bonus.

Reactors Spike Modules

With Update #223, we've delivered on the promised addition value for Reactor Spike Modules -- that is the bonuses to both Range Change and Escape. While these are small, they can add up with other components or with stacked RSMs quickly.

Defensive Tweaks

We've made two small adjustments to fine-tune the balance of defensive ship modules with this update. The highest level Pulse Boosters came out of the gate a little strong with +4% Defense and +40 Res to its targeted special damage type. To keep things competitive with other defensive options and as there will be higher levels of the Pulse Booster released under a faction flag in the future, we've trimmed this down to +3% Defense. Finally, the Defense Pattern Matrix has long held on to a +1 Initiative bonus at DPM 4. While this is a minor bonus, when stacked this grants the DPM very powerful sway of Initiative in who fires first in ship combat. This uncharacteristic bonus on a defensive module has finally been removed.

v3.0.91 - 8/17/2020

- Added missing +Range Change and +Escape bonuses to Reactor Spike Modules - Added new Javat-only component Water-Fuel Reclamation 3, minor price bump to WFR 2 - Removed +Initiative bonus from Defense Pattern Matrix 4 - Reduced max Defense % on Pulse Boosters level 3 to 3% - Fixed issues with certain categories (barracks, gravcannons) not showing in certain component sizes (large) - Fixed duplicate Pulse Booster and Fuel Tank categories in small slot - Fixed issues with wrong damage icon showing for some weapon types causing Radiation or Void - Further fine-tuned sorting of components with shopping lists

[ 2020-08-18 14:54:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #222 arrives with a major upgrade to ship component shopping that matches the new ship preview capability of Update #220 in size and scope. Finding and considering components to install on your ship has never been easier or faster with the new browse by category feature. With this update, we've also added 4 Pulse Booster components and improved the entire Reactor Spike Module set to round out the new set of 54 categories. Plus, new Explorer cards, better timing rules for the Jyeeta Era and some critical bug fixes! If you like the pace of updates, new content and new features be sure to leave a review!

Browse by Component Type

The major ship component shopping upgrade in #222 allows you to quickly browse categories of ship components before drilling down into their specific progression. As you browse the categories offered, you can see a useful summary of what the component type has to offer, what Skills it will boost in your ship and for weapons what Reactor Point range it fires in, how it stacks up against small craft and what types of special damage (Void, Radiation) it causes. This boils the 586 components in the game down to 58 categories and makes searching faster and more efficient. It will also help many players who may have previously overlooked a component type to see the value and goal of the component type and how it might fit into a ship build. Once you drill into a category, you'll see only the components in its progress and be able to consider what you can afford. If you've finished browsing a category, use the ALL button to hop up to the main list. Category browsing works with all the other filter types, so you can quickly narrow your categories to Weapons or Weapons that fire at range 4 and still see the summaries. Of course, if you're just bonkers about the old way of shopping the entire list, you can click the "Expand All" filter to jump back to the old setup. In addition to adding this new browsing feature, we've increased the consistency of sorting across the board between the different sort types.

New Pulse Boosters

With Update #222 we've added 4 new components to extend the Radi-Pulse and Void-Pulse Boosters beyond a single component to a full progression. You can now invest in Radi-Pulse and Void-Pulse Boosters 1 to 3. The first grade of these have had their bonuses to void and radiation increased and the 2nd and 3rd grade have more powerful Radiation and Void resistances as well as +Defense % bonuses. These new levels help push alternative options to other defensive components and open up new build paths for ships of all sizes.

Reactor Spikes and Defense Patterns

We've expanded the use case for Reactor Spike Modules which are still excellent smaller sources of additional fuel but these high-pressure fuel injection system increases both your Range Change bonus as well as your Escape bonus. In trade for their new bonuses which help them be more relevant in the mid to end game component design, RSM 2 thru 4 have gained in price. To better even out the component set, we've increased the prices of Defense Pattern Matrixes 2-4 as well.

New Cards

We've added two new positive cards to Explorer mini-game which can help a crew keep going a bit longer in the wildlands. The first card -- an extreme Experience bonus -- is rare but can help increase the XP efficiency of an exploration crew that is working on zones with high reward percentages. The second card is also very rare -- the discovery of a Zendu ruin -- and restores the Morale of the entire crew as well as possibly causing a positive Trait mutations.

BROOD Timing

With Update #222, we're dusting off the Jyeeta BROOD era and making some improvements base on player feedback. We're prepping for some bigger changes and the first tweak here is the better improve the era's timer's reactivity. You will now consistently extend the era's timeline as you are battle the Jyeeta, the extensions were previously limited to doing missions but now you can gain through any victorious encounter with the Jyeeta (ship or ground).

Wishlist that your cyberpunk fix

We're cooking up a mighty mix of turn-base tactics, cyberpunk and grimy, gritty, nano-radioative story from New Boston 2231 in our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint. Check it out and wishlist today -- https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/ In addition to CK's Facebook page and the @TreseBrothers twitter, we now have a twitter account you can plug into to keep updated *and* get your regular cyberpunk fix. Sharing concept art, gameplay previews, news & interviews, highlights from the forums & discord, shout-outs to other awesome cyberpunk creators, and more. Follow us here: https://twitter.com/CyberKnightsRPG

v3.0.89 - 8/14/2020

- New "Extra Large Experience" Explorer Card - New "Full Morale Recovery" Explorer Card - Major upgrade to ship component shopping - browse categories first and then drill down to specific components - Read quick summaries of 58 component types to find what you need - Use "Expand All" filter within ship component shopping to access the old setup - Improved consistency of sorting in all cases for ship component shopping - Added 4 new components, Radi-Pulse and Void-Pulse Boosters 2 and 3, opens up new defensive build paths - Improved Radi-Pulse and Void-Pulse Boosters rank 1 with more void/radiation resistance - Improved Reactor Spike Modules to add +Move and +Escape bonuses, reduced to 100 Mass, increased prices significantly - Increased prices of Defense Pattern Matrix 2-4 - Improved reactivity of Jyeeta Brood Era timer to your actions -- better extending timeline as you keep fighting - Fixed issues clicking through the filter UI on some screens - Fixed combat keyboard selection issue with Talents like Steadfast Aim not being able to target first slot

[ 2020-08-15 00:42:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #221 follows up on the Groundshaker #220 with a big release of new story content, new story components and contact types, an upgrade to the Talent manifest, changes to fuel consumption on social tests during travel and a number of additional fixes and small improvements requested by the community.

Spirit of Cadyona

Starting on any Cadar world in the mid-game, the latest story vignette begins with an introduction to the Exodus Research, Jon Kaytyn. As with all the vignettes, we don't want to spoil any of the exciting story, but we do share this starting point so that everyone knows what to keep an eye out for. Join with Jon Kaytyn and you'll get tangled up in a tale far older than the Exodus which reveals new lore about the Guild War, Exodus and old grudges between the factions. Depending on how the story plays out and which ending you get, multiple story ship components can be unlocked, including some very powerful offensive components and a truly unique large slot weapon. As always a huge thanks to the Kickstarter backers who helped us create this awesome content, we can't wait for everyone to see the Star Traders history from a new angle. One thing we were extremely pleased to see during testing, is that the conditions of the new vignette are very likely to get a legendary bounty hunter sent after you. Of course, that's up to the proc-gen simulation system, but the last 3 times we tested the ending of the story, a different legendary was on our case within a few years! So, make your choices wisely!

Hideout Joins Talent Manifest

The Smuggler's Hideout Talent has now joined the Talent manifest under the Ship Encounter's grouping. In the request to add this one, we've received a few more great suggestions on how to improve the Talent Manifest and will continue to make minor adjustments and adds to it as requested by the community. Stay tuned for a few more changes here soon!

Tactics and Intimidate Travel Tests

We've updated the travel test matrix slightly to move two social test types -- Tactics and Intimidate -- out of costing extra fuel. They may still burn more turns, damage Morale and possibly even health, but unlike all of the ship tests, they do not cost additional Fuel any longer.

Bugs and QoL

Coming out of #220, there were a few lingering things to fix. One issue related to certain situations in which the cards for Patrol, Blockade and Spy could be rerolled if the right Conflict was in place. This is now fixed. Another issue cropped up around reviewing recruits, a certain click pattern that could lead to issues with repeating recruiting. Finally, many of the Stealth Talents stopped displaying that they engaged Stealth Mode (while they still did) we we have fixed now.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

For 10 years, we've honed our craft creating turn-based tactics and simulation games, and we are extremely excited to be coming back around to the world and story of our second game, Cyber Knights. Our next title is Cyber Knights: Flashpoint and its waiting for your Wishlist on Steam. Get hype! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.0.87 - 8/9/2020

- Added new story vignette "Spirit of Cadyona" starting on Cadar worlds with Jon Kaytyn -- thanks KickStarter backers! - Get tangled up in galaxy-wide hunt for a lost legendary Exodus era battlecruiser - Multiple possible unique story Ship Components unlocked by story -- top tier new offensive small slots, large slot level 8 torpedo array!! - Story includes new high powered Contact type, so called "Exodus Researcher" - Added Talents reducing hostility with spies to Talent Manifest under Ship Encounters group - Added "Hideout" Smuggler Talent to Talent Manifest under Ship Encounters group - Fixed bug allowing re-roll of some orbital card games for some captains - Fixed repeat issue recruiting from Contacts while reviewing stats - Fixed issue with Talents like "Gliding Advance" not stating that they enable Stealth Mode - Improved message for saved slots on high difficulty when loading games - Failed Intimidate/Tactics saves during travel no longer incurs extra Fuel cost - Fixed 2 inaccurate ship buff names in hovers (Wild Flying, Bandit)

[ 2020-08-09 20:55:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

Every now and again, an absolutely massive update comes off the assembly line. A certain alignment of timing of features coming out of testing, balance updates and community feedback converge and you get ... Update #220. This one is big with a ton of exciting changes -- from new hotkeys to play combat exclusively with the keyboard, to previewing ship's component build before you buy, to new Scout Bridge 5 options, repriced ships, better Behemoth Engines, upgraded Cauleta Titan and just more, more, more. If you enjoy the pace of updates, the constant improvements and our dedication to our games, please leave a review and tell a friend!

Combat Keyboard Exclusive

With Update #220, you can now play crew combat entirely with the keyboard. With hotkeys to pick a Talent and new hotkeys to select your enemy or friendly target, you can whir through battles as never before. The default hotkeys are Z, X, C, and V and are laid out so that they overlap the friendly and enemy slots. Therefore, Z is the 4th slot of your own crew but the 1st slot of the enemy crew. As with any high speed option, you'll need to be sure not to enter a trance mode and get your crew killed :D But, combined with the recently added high speed combat option and toggle, crew combats have never been smoother.

New Ship: Previews and Bases

Update #220 delivers on the top request from all quadrants about the ship buying experience -- the ability to fully preview the ship and all of its default components as if you were flying it *before* you purchase! This full preview power enables you to check on absolutely any detail of interest -- would my crew fit, what size bridge is installed, how many mass reducers are in use, what would my skill pools look like, do I like the color? In short, it prevents dedicated shoppers from having to drop off and look at the wiki before making a ship decision.
We've also modified the display during ship purchase to separate the ship hull's intrinsic base values for Armor, Shield and Fuel from its summed values that take the component build into account. With these base values exposed, you can now be sure what you're getting out of your new hull specifically.

Scout Bridge 5's

Three new Scout Bridge 5 options have arrived with Update #220, each from a separate faction and each with their own custom-built purpose. The Rychart Scout-Stealth Bridge 5 is the first cloaking bridge to arrive on the scene, reducing enemy encounters by 10% and bumping defense against craft. The Alta-Mesa Scout-Skirmisher Bridge 5 is perfect for combat-ready small ships and also bumps defense against craft. Finally, the Zenrin Scout-Hauler Bridge 5 is for captains looking to extend their options in other components slots and provides the value of reducing Mass and Jump Cost.

Ship Reprice

All ship's in the 7000, 8000 and 9000 Mass classes have had their prices increased with the levy of a new "component tax". Base on their Mass and component slot setup, these high value hulls have all seen a bump in price. Jumping into a Sword Battlecruiser or Cauleta Titan is going to be a bit more difficult as they are now both priced over $2,000,000 credits for the default setup and most of the rest of the 7000+ Mass hulls are hitting above the $1,000,000 mark.
In addition to this re-price, we've adjusted the component build out of the 9000 Mass Cauleta Titan to make it more of a competitive option against the Sword Battlecruiser. By gaining +1 Medium slot, it becomes a much more viable option for certain types of builds that are looking for variety of pure combat versatility of 14 Small slots of the Sword Battlecruiser. In the repricing, we've also pulled the expensive and end-game Behemoth Engines off of all 3400 Mass ships to ensure their default patterns are still viable for purchase.

Component Upgrades

The Behemoth Void Engines are even more worthy of their names now with some updates that increase some of their Speed values, increase Safety Rating across the pack and hit an all new high of 11 Reactor Points for the Mass 8000 and Mass 9000 engines. In addition, their prices have been trimmed slightly, from 10% to 20% across the board. We have also retuned Dual Field Engines a bit for the M2400 and M3400 variations, further trimming Mass off of these critically useful Void Engine variations. Finally, we've improved Interlocking Sensor Matrix 2 through 4 with more Damage and more Critical bonuses. Going aggressive? Check out these powerful Matrix components and slot them today.

Card Game Expirations

The rules for all of the card game expiration dates have been improved with card hands dealt now usually expiring anytime between 1 to 2 years after they were drawn. While this extended timeline will most often force you off the dime if you can't overcome a risk in the hands, it does mean that triple-Xeno draw you got in 214 AE won't be sitting there smiling at your in 220 AE.

Thrown Wrench

A long-time OP ability of Mechanics arriving in boarding combat or boarding from range 1, Thrown Wrench has had a 3rd of its power knocked off. The mighty -3 Reactor Point debuff has been knocked down to a -2 Reactor Point debuff. The core value of the Talent is still the same -- and still extremely powerful and unique -- but it will take a little more work for your mechanics to slip onto the enemy ship and *completely* disable their capabilities.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

For 10 years, we've honed our craft creating turn-based tactics and simulation games, and we are extremely excited to be coming back around to the world and story of our second game, Cyber Knights. Our next title is Cyber Knights: Flashpoint and its waiting for your Wishlist on Steam. Get hype! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

And More!

As we mentioned at the top, this one was huge. There is more to check out in the change notes below that covers all the bugs we fixed as well.

v3.0.83 - 8/3/2020

- Added new hotkeys for crew combat targeting, now play crew combat only with keyboard (default Z, X, C, V to target friend/enemy crew) - Now preview all stock installed components on a new ship before purchase with "Preview" button - New Ship screen includes base ship scores for Fuel, Armor, Shield as well as final scores with components calculated - Added 3 new Scout Bridge 5 variations: Scout-Stealth 5 (Rychart only, reduces ship encounters), Scout-Skirmish 5 (Alta Mesa Only, most battle ready!), Scout-Hauler 5 (Zenrin only, mass reducer) - Applied "component tax" to ship hulls over 7000 Mass, increasing price from +10% to +50% - Sword Battle Cruiser and Cauleta Titan now cost over $2m to lift off the starport in their default configuration - Upgraded Cauleta Titan to gain +1 Medium Slot bring it to 12 Small, 13 Medium, 6 Large - Increased the Mass Reducing power of Dual Field Engines for M2400 (-40 Mass) and M3600 (-100 Mass) - 10-20% Behemoth Engine price reduction, improved stats -- better Engine Speed, higher safety ratings, and M8K and M9K variations now boast 11 RP - Rim Exocruiser and Wolf Vector M3400 ships are sold with Warhammer Engines, priced in the half million range - Improved Interlocking Sensor Matrix 2-4 (more Damage, more Critical) - New game template contact list now includes mission type (Diplomatic Missions, Espionage Missions, etc) - Improved rule and timers for expiration of all card game hands, ranging from 40 weeks to 2 years depending on zone - Reduced "Thrown Wrench" Boarding Talent's -3 Reactor Points to -2, increased damage to components/turn by +10 - Fixed issue where Talents learning Traits when paying the crew were not firing as often as they should - Fixed issue in galactic map opening multiple quadrant dialogs - Fixed ship combat scaling with ultrawide monitors (5120x1440) - Fixed 2 Buried Demons Era story missions that started "Overdue" - Fixed occasional mismatch with Patrol "Bounty Hunters" card driven by Conflict mismatches - Fixed issue with Wolfheart Gene gear showing Stealth sometimes - Fixed swapped label in Star Atlas when using multi-jump filter - Fixed some issues where HUD warnings would not updated after paying / spicing crew raised low Morale

[ 2020-08-03 17:07:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

The requests for new filters and features on the Ship Buyer's screens have come in fast and furious since we debuted Update #218 earlier this week and we're excited to roll out the first set of community-driven enhancements as of today. We've got more coming, some of which we are sharing below! We've also followed up the rank 5 Salvage Bay with an Armored variation for those who know that orbital salvage is a risky business and asks for ship to ship combat.

Armored Salvage Bay

The Armored Salvage Bay 5 trades some of its cargo and fuel in exchange for a hefty armor package while still providing the powerful utility expected at that component level. Sold exclusively at Thulun starports, its up for sale now for a pretty price. We've also made some tweaks to the Salvage Bay 5 component, increasing its Ship Ops skill as well as its cargo capacity by +5.

Mass & Default Sorting

Perhaps the mostly rapid fire feedback we got about the new ship screen was the swap to sort to the largest ships first by Mass. We've swapped it back to the way it was, starting with small Mass ships and down to the big hulls. We've also split out the Mass sorting so that you can sort Mass from high to low or low to high.

Shopping for a Match

When you're shopping for a ship, if you're looking for a hull that will fit your current crew and officers you can now use the easy Exact Crew Match filter which only shows ships that match your exact maximums. If you're looking to upgrade without changing crew sizes up or down, this filter will be a big help.

Mass Class Filter

To help narrow in on certain bands of ships, you can now filter on Mass class. The filter works with an "AND" mentality, so you can select Mass 5000 and Mass 6000 ships and see both sets. Then filter by Exact Crew Match, and sort by price and you've got a pretty nice looking shopping list to eval!

Additional Features Coming

To address some of the other most hotly requested features, we are working on:

• Allowing you to preview the full component build of a ship before purchase. This will prevent any need from checking the wiki and expose all values for components like Engines.
• Indicating the base values for Armor, Shield, Fuel, etc as well as the values with all the components installed
• Providing a summary of each ship's design based on its default component setup

v3.0.81 - 7/23/2020

- New Component: Armored Salvage Bay 5, less cargo and fuel by +5 armor, Thulun-only - Minor improvements to Salvage Bay 5, +1 Ship Ops, +5 Cargo - Added new ship filter: Exact Crew Match, only shows ships that have the exact max crew/officers as current ship - Added new ship filters: by mass class, filter to show ships in 3400 Mass and 5000 Mass, etc - Improved sort by Mass feature to sort either direction low/high

[ 2020-07-23 17:26:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #218 delivers a new ship component, clarifies a Talent rule, improves default sorting for the crew list and most importantly delivers on the start of a much needed set of quality improvements when it comes to shopping for a new ship. As always, there is more work to do, so we'll be listening closely to the community for suggestions. If you enjoy the pace of updates, new features and new content please be sure to leave a review!

Professional Salvage

Update #218 adds a new level 5 ship component for those orbital scavengers who are truly dedicated to their work. Weighing in with a hefty price tag over $600K, the Salvage Bay 5 boasts the best salvage bonus available at 54% along with 25 Fuel and 25 Cargo. Capable of doubling as your cargo bay, this large component can fill a lot of needs on the right salvage ship.

New Ship Browsing: Call for Suggestions!

This update also delivers the first wave of much needed updates to the ship purchasing screens. As the variety and options of new ships have grown in the game, this list has become more difficult to navigate and to find the ship that properly fits your needs. This round of changes is basically the opening salvo. We know that we need more, but we wanted to hear from the community what types of sort, filter and metadata about the ships they need. As we've previewed the screenshots of the features to the community, we're already hearing ideas we hadn't thought up yet that will help us drive the second round. So, please post your thoughts after checking it out! With Update #218, we've added sorting and filtering to the ship purchasing screen. First, this suppresses any ship you can't buy due to faction restrictions. If you want to see specific factions or all the ships, then you can enable that in the filter ("Only Cadar" or "Cadar and Thulun", etc). Sorting currently allows you to sort by Mass, Price and Name. We know we'll need both more sorting and filtering, but we're still working through which are best as filters (filter by M3400, M5000, etc) and which should be sorts (sort by cargo, fuel, small component count). Also, we'd like to use this time to prompt for more metadata requests from the community. What else do you need to see on the left and right side in order to make better decisions. P.s. we already know we need to enable a component preview, working on that! :D

Counter-attack Rules

Since the beginning of the game, all counter-attacks have been able to use the Swordsman's Balanced Blade Talent, if it is trained, as their counter-attack. If you use Sharp Counter and someone attacks you, if you know Balanced Blade that is your riposte and you get the buff. These are Talents matched like a glove, but it was never clearly spelled out in the rules. We've added this clarification to all counter-attack Talents (Swordsman, Wing Commando) in the right hand sidebar of the Talent's screen.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint

Do you happen to like turn-based RPGs? Complex storylines? Job systems featuring combining Jobs? Base building? Stealth, combat hacking!? If you haven't seen Cyber Knights -- our next upcoming game -- take a look and give it a wishlist. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.0.79 - 7/21/2020

- New Component: Salvage Bay 5 - Added filters and sort to New Ship list, filter by faction, carriers and sort by mass, price - New Ship list filter starts by hiding ships that cannot be sold (other factions), filter "Any Faction" to see all - Improved display of each ship in table with Mass/Hull/Fuel/Armor/Shield - Default starting crew list sort is now by Job instead of Level - Clarified rules in right side bar for all counter-attack Talents, which use Balanced Blade if it is trained

[ 2020-07-22 00:01:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #217 comes quickly on the heels of #216 to provide a hotfix for one issue related to replacing officer cabins, to improve the warnings about those component swaps and to provide proper coverage to specialist component types that provide officer living space. In addition, we've improved the Contact list search options, addressed an issue with maximum repair times not lining up on high value components, added a new Explorer -5 risk card "Time Dilation", improved power levels on faction-specific Contacts and turned how the Coalition contacts use their actions in the simulation. So, let's look in detail!

Contact List Search

You can now search in the contact list by the type of zone they live on, such as "mining". Keep in mind that search uses an AND syntax, so you can't search "mining refinery" but you can use one at a time in combination with other filters such as Black Market. This can definitely help in smoothing out paths, and I've found it useful in quickly checking the opportunity to complete multiple tasks during a visit to a contact.

Time Dilation and Time Lost

We've rebalanced the amount of time that can be wasted in the "Lost" card to ensure that it lives up to the threat of "weeks". In addition, we've added another time related negative card, "Time Dilation" which threatens that your expedition can wander into some time rift, possibly related to the hyperwarp dimension.

Czar and Samrak

The power levels of the Contact types Trade Czar, Mining Samrak, Red Lion, Naval Commander, Ranking Executive Contacts have all been bumped up with Update #217, putting more power into the hands of these rarer but awesome faction-specific Contacts. We've also changed how the Coalition Liaison Contact fits into the world, buffing their starting Influence. Finally we've tweaked the Contact AI for all Coalition Contacts when it comes to how to use their influence and turns in the simulators -- they now have unique Rumor buying logic focused on Tax, Civil and Starport Rumors. The Coalition will now more directly support the faction economic status quo.

Officer Cabin Replacement

Thanks to the captains who posted on Steam, emailed, tweeted and dropped this bug into Discord. We've now fixed the issue where officer cabins could not be replaced, which was related to #216 but also had its in much older code. With this update, we've made 3 improvements to how officer cabins work. First, we've fixed the bug -- they can now be removed. Second, we've improved handling of those components that are not cabins directly -- such as medical bays -- which were not properly participating in the rule set around officer cabins. Finally, we corrected an issue that was preventing a red warning from appearing if a captain installed a cabin that went over the ship's officer max.

Wishlist Cyber Knights!

Our next upcoming title is waiting for your wishlists here on Steam. Cyber Knights is a tactical RPG that plunges you and your team of hackers, mercs and thieves into the neon-soaked future of 2231. Smash that wishlist button! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.0.77 - 7/15/2020

- Zone Economy Type ("refinery") now searchable in Contact List - Adjusted maximum repair times for any single component -- be sure to repair at high level starports - Rebalanced "Time Lost" Card in Explorer, a -1 Risk - Added new "Time Dilation" Card in Explorer, a new -5 Risk - Increased the power levels of Trade Czar, Mining Samrak, Red Lion, Naval Commander, Ranking Executive Contacts - Improved the "Coalition Liaison" starting power level and Contact AI - Coalition Era Contacts now have unique Rumor buying logic that prefers Tax, Civil and Starport Rumors - Fixed issue with replacing officer cabins - Fixed issue where some non-officer cabin components (medical bays) failed to print warnings when being replaced - Improved warning message about installing more officer cabins than your ship's max capacity

[ 2020-07-16 04:42:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #216 drops some retrofits, improvements and major changes on to some of key components in the starport catalog -- Warhammer and Behemoth Engines and Mass Reducers. Thanks to everyone posting reviews, sharing feedback and discussing strategies here on Steam! We're lucky to have a great community of captains sailing the void together. Tell a friend, leave a review!

Living Up To The Name

Update #216 has rebuilt the massive Behemoth void engines to live up to their name. Built around battle-pattern void reactor cores, these engine are truly mighty and put a defining mark on any ship that can afford to install them. Depending on size, these engines are capable of generating 9 or 10 Reactor Points per turn. As a trade off, they guzzle fuel at unbelievable rates. The Warhammer engine pattern is the next-step up from standard engines, built around a similar combat pattern and costing in the range of half a million credits. The newly retrofitted Behemoth engines are truly over-engineered to extremes and can pack some of the highest shield and armor of any component on a ship. Bringing such an engine aboard can change the landscape of other components you need drastically, all while devastating your fuel economy. Not to mention their multi-million credit price tag!

Repricing Ships

Those ships that already start with the Behemoth installed have all had their prices corrected for the new massive power and cost adjustments. These ships have vaulted into some of the most expensive positions on the starport. What's more -- for those pirates seeking prize ships to capture, you've gained a new list of priority targets with Update #216: Wolf Vector, Lockwood Defender, Azurite Cruiser, Obsidian Carrier, Rim Exocruiser, Larimar Battlecruiser!

Mass Reducer Rebalance

Every component above level 1 within the mass reducer category -- from Mass Modulators to Mass Reducers and back again -- has had some rebalancing done with Update #216. This package of changes has been in testing for a while but its the right time to roll it out. These higher level components are more expensive to install and some have had their jump costs increased as well. The components have also gained more Skill pool opportunity, making them both more demanding but more valuable in providing strong dice for your ship.

Corrected Larimar Unlock

We fixed an unlock issue that was linking the Larimar Battlecruiser to the wrong unlock, it is now correctly dependent on the Antique Collector unlock.

Wishlist It: Cyber Knights

Our next upcoming title is Cyber Knights: Flashppoint, a turn-based tactical RPG set in 2231 under the New Boston dome. The cyberpunk story will take you from meanest streets far beneath the street level to the lux towers and maybe even up to a gleamer and back again. Smash that wishlist button! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.0.75 - 7/13/2020

- Fixed Larimar Battlecruiser Unlock Duplication Bug - Rebalancing Engines -- Massive Buffs to Behemoth Engines, Revised Warhammer Patter Engines - Rebalancing Mass Reducers -- Increased Jump Costs, Ship Ops Requirements, adjusted higher level Reducers - Repriced: Wolf Vector, Lockwood Defender, Azurite Cruiser, Obsidian Carrier, Rim Exocruiser, Larimar Battlecruiser

[ 2020-07-14 16:06:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

With a week left to go in the Steam Summer Sale, we're dropping another quick release to add a new control switch option for combat speed, fix a repair time issue in starports, update the fields shown in the new game screen and clarify one of the Sniper's Talent abilities. It's a smaller update, but its go some nice things in it as well as the critical fix to starport.

Starport Repairs

Introduced in Update #214, a bug has been effecting starport repair times, forcing them to run around 25 weeks all the time. We've now resolved that with Update #215! Our apologies.

High Speed Combat

While an toggle in the options screen is nice, it does not provide for easy mid-combat toggling of combat speed. Often, you'll find yourself wanting to play slow during hard combats or the start of combats and then ready to speed it up as you claim dominance on the field. A new configurable keybinding -- defaulting to "F" -- has been added to toggle between combat speeds. It will put a message up to the screen when it swaps and notably only accepts input when its y our turn. Press F for fast!

Speed and Agility in New Game

We've added a ship's engine speed and agility to the listed fields in the new game captain template builder. This can be a big help to pick among ships of the same or similar Mass class as you consider how quickly they traverse the map and their different values as a mission runner versus a close or long ranged combat ship.

Story Pacing

We're constantly monitoring the data and listening to the community about the story pacing. We've made many adjustments and tweaks and want to share that with Update #215, we've picked up the pace of the later half of the game a bit to help compress the story content a bit and reduce long stretches of purely free sandbox play without the option to engage in story.

Sniper!

Finally, we've tweaked the description of the Sniper's "Target Acquired" Talent which does not require your character to already be in Stealth Mode. Simply the presence of a backline sniper bearing down on them hinders the enemy front rank target with this awesome On Init debuff.

v3.0.73 - 7/3/2020

- Fixed bug causing all Starport repairs to take 255 turns - Added new configurable keybinding 'F' toggles high speed ship or crew combat during combat - When customizing new game templates, ship speed and agility are shown during selection - Improved the pacing of late game story eras and events to ensure less story downtime late in the game - Improved talent description of Sniper's "Target Acquired" to be clear it does not need Stealth
Check out our next upcoming game and wishlist today https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

[ 2020-07-03 19:22:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to the Steam Summer Sale! At 40% off it's the best price ever and a great time to pick up Star Traders: Frontiers if its been sitting on your wishlist, or you've been waiting to share it with a friend. Come, the void is calling your name, captain. Update #214 adds a new ship, rebalances an existing one, fixes some issues with ship component repair times, adds a new keybinding from the community, and improves Rare Trade Good display in the Star Atlas. Thanks to everyone for playing, posting a review and sharing!

Larimar Battlecruiser

The Larimar Battlecruiser has officially been greenlit and is now for sale at Cadar only military ports. Built as a destructive torpedo boat, the Larimar is ready to do battle at long range and decimate enemy crew and components with its heavy compliment of weaponry. Built with a hangar for one interdictor or a long range shuttle, the Larimar packs a bevy of torpedos, a Deflector Array 4, Battle Prow 5, shielded barracks and officer suites as well as two Interlock Sensor Matrix 4. Cadar brings torpedoes to any fight!

Reclaiming the Azurite

The Azurite Cruiser has permanently joined the Cadar starport roster and is no longer for sale at other starports. Naturally, this means that it has been further militarized with its base Armor and base cost both going up and some nice changes to its component setup making it better prepared for battle upon lift off.

Repair Time Rebalance

Some components that had long install times, such as the very expensive Hyperion Launch Bay, came along with grievous long repair times. Sometimes so long, you might consider installing a new one instead. We've resolved the math mistake that caused this issue and now the highest level and most expensive components correctly have their logical capping to their total repair time cost.

Keybinding Addition

With Update #214, we added a new keybinding from a user request posted after #213. If you see missing keybinding options that would increase your pace and enjoyment of play, please post them! The default key '2' will now jump back to the map from any subscreen -- ship status, crew roster, landing zone. This can help you quickly get back to traveling if you've hit a zone for a quick refresher. Punch 1 on your keyboard to run all the services, then punch 2 and you're back to traveling!

Check that Cyber Knights

Our next game is hovering on Steam, waiting for you to check it out. If you like turn-based tactics, cyberpunk, dogs, cats, drones, nano, base building, XCOM, ice cream or games -- wishlist it now! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.0.71 - 6/29/2020

- New Ship: Larimar Battlecruiser (7000M Cadar-built heavy combat ship) - Rebalanced: Azurite Cruiser (now Cadar-only, increased cost & armor) - Rebalanced Repair times for Hyperion Bays and Level 5+ Components - Added new configurable keybinding '2' jumps back to map from any subscreen - Improved the phrasing of some Trait-based barks - Rare Trade Goods now correctly appear in resource buy list in Star Atlas as well as search

[ 2020-06-29 18:10:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #213 focuses on a major feature for quality of life for long-time players and crew combat battlers. We've now introduced a "Fast Crew Combat" option to match the long-loved "Fast Ship Combat" option. With this option enabled, crew combat is fast -- the animations are trimmed out and all the actions flash by. If you've got hands on a keyboard, you can wrap up a battle much much faster than you could ever before.

Beware Carriers

With Update #213, we've also made human-captained carriers far more likely to appear in the game and also reduced the minimum enemy captain level at which they can be flown. Depending on your difficulty, you'll see human carriers flying earlier and more often now than ever before.

Other Fixes

A few other fixes include correcting the missing description for "Riches Untold" Salvage card and fixing the incorrect level marker shown over Deflector Array 5 and 6. With the new fast crew combat option now fully deployed, we've got one more major QoL option up our sleeve for #214 before moving back to content, map v2 and stories!

v3.0.69 - 6/21/2020

- Added new game option "Fast Crew Combat" allows for much faster crew battles for veteran players - Enemy carriers flow by human captains are more likely to appear and will appear more often (enemy captains level 15+) - Fixed missing description for Salvage card "Riches Untold" - Fixed level displayed over Deflector Array 5 and 6 ship components

Seen Cyber Knights?

Have you seen -- and wishlisted -- our next upcoming game? Cyberpunk turn-based tactics under the shadows of the crumbling New Boston dome is not something you want to miss. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

[ 2020-06-21 15:55:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to the newest wave of captains taking flight in the void! With Star Traders: Frontiers at 40% off, we hope you'll take a moment to tell a friend, post a suggestion and leave a review when you're ready. Update #212 follows up on adding new cards, a new faction-specific ship, some major new ship components, and improves the Star Atlas search based on user feedback.

Blockading for Cargo

With Update #212, we've added 3 new cards to Blockading ops, allowing you to not only take money by extorting enemy ships for tithes but by forcing enemy merchants to surrender and looting their hold. Between the three cards, "Stolen Cargo" will capture up to a moderate 40 cargo, a mix of manufactured and raw cargo, while "Corsair's Haul" will gain up to 60 cargo with a heavier focused on valuable manufactured goods. And finally, the "Rare Trade Heist" will steal up to 16 Rare Trade Goods from a Smuggler for possibly a big pay off. In all three cases, these cards are more likely to appear during Trade Wars and Trade Bans, as well as Quadrant-wide Rumors related to the Jyeeta and Merchant Fleets. The cards will only be available if you have worthwhile amount of cargo space empty in your hold.

New Ship: Lockwood Defender

The Lockwood is Rychart's long-range strategic reconnaissance craft design and manufactured in top-secret foundries on Rychart worlds. Equipped with the best on-ground and orbital Intel gathering technology, combined with a custom Rychart Behemoth Engine the Lockwood is an incredible long range top notch spying vessel.

New Ship Components

The galactic starports are working double time to churn out even more powerful components. These high 3 new high end additions will take a bit out of any budget, but are worth if to perfect your ship. The Hyperion Launch Bay is the first craft and officer component, docking both 1 Craft and housing 1 Officer, as well as a major Fuel reserve of 100 and significant armor. These are gold plating power for any large carrier!
Deflector Array 5 and 6 have now also gone into production, providing ramped up Radiation and Void Resistance as well even better defense against craft for your capital ship. For combat vessels of any size, these are worth their significant investment!

Star Atlas Search

We've fixed a hole in the Star Atlas search that was preventing searches like "buys Travor Spice Wax" (or just "buys Trav") from working. Rare Trade Goods are now included in these searches! Happy selling out there.

Wishlist Cyber Knights!

Of course, we're also celebrating and sharing our next title: Cyber Knights: Flashpoint. Take a minute to peak and punch that Wishlist button! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.0.67 - 5/30/2020

- New Ship: Lockwood Defender (6000M, Rychart, Space SR-71) - Added 3 new Blockade cards - "Stolen Cargo", "Corsair's Haul" and Rare "Rare Trade Heist" - New Blockade cards more common under Trade War and Trade Ban Conflicts and Quadrant Rumors (Jyeeta, Merchants) - New Component: Hyperion Launch Bay holds 1 Craft/1 Officer/100 Fuel/5 Armor for $3M+ each - New Component: Deflector Array 5, provide extreme Rad/Void/Craft Defense for $1M+ each - New Component: Deflector Array 6, provide insane Rad/Void/Craft Defense for $2M+ each - Star Atlas can now be searched for Rare Trade Goods, such as "buys Travor Spice Wax"

[ 2020-05-31 15:27:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome all new captains! We're kicking off a week of updates in celebration of all of our captains -- old and new -- who sail the quadrants. It's a great time to spread the word by telling a friend or leaving a review as Star Traders: Frontiers is 40% off for the next 6 days and nights. To start the week off, Update #211 kicks off the week with a host of new high risk and reward cards piling into orbital ops and salvage.

6 New Rumor Cards

All of the 5 new high powered cards arriving in Update #211 are linked to Rumors. First up are set of 3 that appear exclusively in Salvage as rare cards but that provide some significant bonuses above the normal. The new "Major Score" card can drop a stack of up to $100K Credits into your account, providing a new major way to rake in the bank while salvaging. But it doesn't end there with the "Riches Untold" offering a reward of up to $200K from a single card. Both are rare, and "Richest Untold" obviously the rarest of the bunch but that is the name of the game in Salvage -- high risk, high reward! Beyond material wealth, "Spice Memories" card drops a whopping 800 XP onto a small subset of your crew. With this extra focused XP, this can easily result in an immediate level gained in the earlier game! In those quadrants that are under the dangerous quadrant-wide Rumors of Radiation Storm and Xeno Fleet, there are new reasons to risk entering these areas. Any orbital operations (Patrol, Spy, Blockade) now have a chance of including the rare "Enviable Breakthrough" card that grants 400 XP , shared across a small subset of your crew. The new "Web of Conspiracy" card can uncover 3 to 6 Rumors in a single turn, as your captain uncovers some bigger scheme. This new card can appear as a rare card for Spying during any conditions, but will appear in Patrol and Blockade during either Radiation Storm or Xeno Fleet Rumors. Finally, because it can't all be good news -- in the presence of a Radiation Storm or Xeno Fleet Rumor, you can also draw the "Horrific Damage" orbital ops card which can destroy up to 4 components completely. This is a nasty card ranking at -5 and worth warning that it's skill tests are hard to beat if you lack a Talent. Be careful to avoid or knock this one out with a Talent!

Scales of Risk and Reward

We've made some further tuning improvements to the risk and reward weights in Patrol, Spy and Blockade to push planets and zones more into their focus niche. Those zones that were good for Spying are likely even better for it -- so its all the more important now to go to places that are good targets and not just spy anywhere. In Salvage, we've also rebalanced some of the drop rates for weapon to help players find a wider variety of armaments as they salvage.

Wishlist Cyber Knights!

Of course, we're also celebrating and sharing our next title: Cyber Knights: Flashpoint. Take a minute to peak and punch that Wishlist button! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.0.65 - 5/26/2020

- New "Major Score" Orbital result card grants up to 100K Credits - New "Enviable Breakthrough" Orbital result card grants up to 400XP - New "Spice Memories" Salvage result card grants up to 800XP - New "Riches Untold" Salvage result card grants up to 200K Credits - New "Horrific Damage" Orbital results card destroys up to 4 components - Graphical optimizations to reduce game's memory footprint - Rebalanced drop rates for new weapons in Salvage mini-games - Additional balancing for risk and reward weights in Orbital Ops (Patrol, Spy, Blockade) - Fixed Reported Crashes

[ 2020-05-26 22:00:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #210 releases a new pack of art for landing zone environments, some new wrinkles to the Jyeeta Brood Era, reworks the Wing Bomber Job and addresses a big pile of community feedback that has come in over the last week. As always, a big thanks goes out to the captain's sailing the void, posting feedback, suggestions and as always -- reviews! Without further delay, let's get into the details!

New Zone Art

We're going on a bit of a quest to add even more art to the game, starting with environmental art. This release includes a new ice world wilderness, ice world outpust (low Population), desert outpost (low Population) and new art for high military prime worlds, slotted in for Cadar and Steel Song's prime worlds.

Brood Era

Once the Brood Era has started, a Xeno Hunter's Talents that seek out xeno will now have a chance to spawn Jyeeta over Terrox. If you're into hunting xeno then the big game will be available if you look for it. They already appear in other forms through Rumors, operations cards and travel events but this is one more way the Jyeeta are not forgotten after their Brood. We've also adjusted the weighting of fighting Jyeeta xeno on the ground and in the void outside of missions during the Brood. There is a reduction to the Brood Score and this was previously equal between ship and explorer fights. We've adjusted this balance to put a bit more weight to taking out their ships traveling the void, and therefore far more xeno than those you might encounter in a ground fight.

Wing Bomber

Based on some great community feedback, we identified a weakness in the Wing Bomber and juggled the Skill progression around to push Electronics into their primary slot and Pilot as secondary. This helps the crew member who is a Wing Bomber be far more capable of flying high level craft and gaining all of the best bonuses. Certainly, a craft still may be beyond their ability but if they fly a craft within their ability range, their Electronics and Pilot line up in the way seen with Wing Leaders, etc.

And More

With Update #210, we fixed a price issue with the large slot Advanced Medical Clinic where it was in fact cheaper than the lower level option. In this adjustment and major price hike, we've also tweaked its stat line to have slightly lower mass than the lower level option, making it even more appealing. There were a few cases -- including a Salvage card that killed a Contact and a few story Contact deaths -- in which a Contact might die and all of their missions would not be effectively cancelled. We've closed these few loopholes to tight up the entire system. In Exploring, you Captain's Wisdom is used to influence the value of the Rare Reward category, specifically to add to a Very Rare pool. It was not being properly displayed in the Risk and Reward categories, the display made Wisdom look like a non-factor when it is actually notably important. Not to mention it has a big impact on the decision of 2/3 or 3/2 positive and negative cards! Exploring barren and unforgiving wilderness is a game of the wise.

Wishlist Cyber Knights!

If you haven't seen our next title, take a minute to peak and punch that Wishlist button! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.0.63 - 5/18/2020

- Added 4 new landing zone environments -- new art for glacial wilderness, ice world outposts, desert outposts and Cadar and Steel Song prime worlds - After the start of the Jyeeta Brood Era, all xeno hunter Talents that seek xeno have a chance to turn up Jyeeta - Rebalanced brood score effect of fighting jyeeta ship and ground forces outside of missions, ships now worth more points - Rebuilt Skill progression of "Wing Bomber" Job, now better match for bomber craft, Electroncis is primary, Pilot second, Tactics tertiary - Increased price of "Advanced Medical Clinic" large slot component, reduced its mass by 50 - Fixed bugs with Salvage card and few story arcs killing Contacts that could leave their Missions active - Fixed Reward Factor listing of Wisdom to take into account its impact on Very Rare rewards - Fixed missing ship image when jumping Extremis Carrier - Fixed incorrect icon for Rare Trade Goods in contact display

[ 2020-05-19 04:18:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #209 follows on the first in a series of changes to the ship meta with a new set of balance adjustments, a new Javat-only ship, some ship price changes and a whole new set of AIs to bring more ships and ship build strategies into the mix. A huge thanks to everyone in the community for sharing feedback, posting suggestions and bugs. if you enjoy the pace of updates, new content and features please take a moment to leave a review!

Rim Exocruier

Perhaps the Rim Exocruiser was built to last extensive voyages to the very rim of the galaxy, seeking the edges of known space and exploring dangerous wilderness. However, it has become a known favorite of smugglers. This Mass 3400 Javat-only hull features the highest base fuel in its class, is one of the 4 ships in that class that can boast 30 crew and 5 officers, can support 2 craft and has a max craft evasion of 88%. With 11 small slots, 5 medium slots and 2 large slots it comes outfitted with a bevy of powerful components, including a Behemoth Engine, Shielded Barracks and Officer Suites, a Javat Hauler Hold, three Defense Pattern Matrix 4 installed, a Scout Bridge and more. It's fast, hard to pin down and can make the long haul.

Max Craft Evade Tweaks

As we continue to work on the new changes around ship hull's maximum craft evasion stat, a natural next step is to examine the results, check in with player feedback and make some balance tweaks. With Update #209, we've made a number of smaller adjustments. The Sword Battlecruiser and Azurite Cruiser have both had their max craft evade increased while the Obsidian Carrier, Basalt Carrier, Harbinger Carrier and Skylift Carrier have all seen a drop in the hull stat. For dedicated carrier hulls, it is even more important to have Interdictor and/or Autocannon defenses against incoming craft.

New Enemy AI

Update #209 also rolls out a package of additional enemy AI subtypes and new ship options for there types. There are new Military Officer AI flying and configuring the Victus Interceptor, Longbolt, Leo Battlecruiser and Reach Defender. These new Military Officer AI have a wide range of ship builds they can step into and will provide some new challenges to captains they meet. For Bounty Hunters and Pirates, we've added new AI that are can fly the Horizon Cruiser, Reach Vindex and Rim Exocruiser.

And A few More

We've made some changes to the build for the Leo Cruiser to fix some issues with it and to tune it up. It no longer is built for 8 officer slots even though it can support 7 and comes off the starport dock a little smoother than before. We've increased the sale price of the Reach Vindex by $120K to match its internal build and hull value. This does not change its value during captain creation and it still stays as a Priority D ship. We've made an adjustment to the "Entropic Delay" Talent to better display when a Rumor could expire at any point. While it may take a while for the Rumor to roll over, the Talent will report "any day now" while a Salvage Rumor is in that end state.

v3.0.61 - 4/30/2020

- New Ship: Rim Exocruiser (3400M, Javat, Exploration Cruiser) - Fixed issues with 'Leo Battlecruiser' ship design - Increased sale price of Reach Vindex by $120K - Improved Max Craft Defense for: Sword Battlecruiser, Azurite Cruiser - Reduced Max Craft Defense for: Obsidian Carrier, Basalt Carrier, Harbinger Carrier, Skylift Carrier - New Military Officer AI for: Victus Interceptor, Longbolt, Leo Battlecruiser,Reach Defender - New Bounty Hunter & Pirate AI for: Horizon Cruiser, Reach Vindex, Rim Exocruiser - Improved message on "Entropic Delay" Talent - Fixed Reported Crashes

[ 2020-04-30 21:00:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #208 starts an important series of shifts in the ship hull meta, introduces a new hull attribute, drops an exciting new Thulun-only battlecruiser, adds more Captain's Log entries and fixes and balances a ton of smaller items coming out of community feedback. There are some big changes here, so be sure to review the new hull rules and see how it impacts your captain's builds. The next series of updates will focus on further improvements and expansions to the ship hull meta as well as a new story vignette as well as an exciting expansions to 2 existing Era storylines.

New Hull Meta: Maximum to Evade Craft Attacks

The biggest change in Update #208 is the addition of a new property innate in a ship hull. Maximum Craft Evasion percentage joins other fields like Max Officers, Base Fuel, Mass and the Small/Mediu/Large Slot counts (along with other values) to define the unique aspects of each ship hull. The range for Max Craft Evasion ranges from the low 60% for high mass and hard to maneuver ships to 100% for fast and nimble ships. Regardless of what ship components you install, this maximum will cap your craft evasion and requires captains who are facing carriers -- and especially Jyeeta -- to look into other ways to protect their ship if they are unable to reach 100%. Autocannons, high accuracy longer range weapons and your own Interdictors can form a formidable defense to augment a ship's Evasion to Craft Attacks and a mixed strategy is now be required. We encourage everyone to review your ship builds, post questions and build design changes you are seeing to the forum. It is important to state that this isn't an isolated change. More changes are coming to the ship hull meta that will improve the overall balance of the game and push each the ships' unique definitions farther away from each other. On the list are included Max Armor and Max Shield for individual hulls, allowing some hulls to exceed the currently global cap of 65% (75% with buffs) as well as caps that will modify the meta around stacking ship defense. We'll make these changes carefully as we go and are excited to hear any and all feedback from the community. Much like the previous change to allow Ship Defense Strong Dice to come from either Electronics or Pilot, these changes aim to break up meta monopolies and inject new options into player's ship builds. As always, the AI follows the same rules as the player.

Autocannons Defensive Roar

Higher level Autocannons -- from level 5 and up -- have now gained bonuses to Evading Craft Attacks. Thought small, these additional bonuses model the reality that a ship bristling with short range weapons is difficult for a bomber or interdictor to close on. In addition to helping to shoot down enemy craft, these ship weapons now provide an innate defensive bonus.

Leo Battlecruiser

The Leo Battlecruiser is the latest monstrous ship rolling out of the famous Thulun starports. Built from many exclusively Thulun components, the Leo is a loyalists dream battlecruiser. Weighing in at 7000 Mass, the Leo boasts 6 Large, 9 Medium and 12 Small slots and a Max Craft Evasion of 85%. Staffed by 7 officers, 42 crew and its component set includes 2 Reactive Hangar Bays, a Dual-Field Engine, and a mix of Autocannons, Torps and Railguns. Let the Red Lions of Thulun roar!

New Contact in Captain's Log

While the death of a known Contact has been long logged into the Captain's Log, the addition of a new Contact has not been consistently captured under all the circumstances -- orbital ops, explorer, Talents, trading. With Update #208, we've completed a clean sweep to ensure that the discovering of a new Contact is always logged with some important details about that Contact as well.

And More

We've adjusted the rules for Dismiss taking 1 Turn to exclude the first year. This allows new captains to freely dismiss some of their crew early in the game without paying a cost in turns. We've fixed a bug with "Slippery Trader" Smuggler Talent where you could end up with positive Rep once you got over 100% effectiveness. We've also clarified the description of the Merchant's "Lawful" Trait to include the specifics that it always adjusts hostility by +1. Be more careful when you see a Radiation Storm card in Salvage. There was a case where they were not causing damage and now they are fully operational.

v3.0.57 - 4/25/2020

- New property of Ship Hulls: Maximum to Evade Craft Attacks percentage, starting at 85% for most ships - Max Craft Attack Evasion is lower for large hulls and higher for sleek hulls - Improved Autocannon weapons at level 5 and above to grant small bonuses to Evading Craft Attacks (bristling gunship wards off bombers) - New Thulun Ship: Leo Battlecruiser (7000M, Heavy Combat Carrier) - Added new Captain Log entries to capture the details of new Contacts discovered - Dismiss no longer requires 1 Turn in the first year of the game - Fixed bug where Smuggler's "Slippery Trader" could reduce Rep by more than 100% and cause odd results - Fixed bugs with sale price of Scout Bridge ships on some maps - Clarified description of Merchant Trait "Lawful" - Fixed issue with "Radiation Storm" Salvage card sometimes not causing ship damage

[ 2020-04-25 21:57:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #207 launches a new starting ship, improvements to story pacing, rebalanced Talents, and a bundle of fixes and improvements gathered from another active week with the community. We owe a huge thanks to all of the captains for play, posting feedback and leaving reviews! While things have been a bit slowed down here, we still have a big roadmap ahead of us for the year -- so let's keep grinding together!

New Starting Ship D

Update #207 adds a new option for your starting ships in the "D" priority. At $200,000 the Reach Vindex isn't a dream ship but it does have its advantages among the slot and gives more options for those captains wanting to start in a lighter, less expensive ship that allows them to focus on other priorities. The Reach Vindex is a minimalist hull designed for long range operations in deep space. Equipped with extensive shielding and massive fuel tanks, the Reach Vindex is popular with long-haul Star Traders.

Late Game Era

Based on some great feedback from the community, we found a mistake in the timing rules for the late game Eras and how they proc'd into the galaxy. We've now adjusted the rules to account for the fact that there are now 3 late game Eras (Plague, Brood, Buried Demons) and to ensure there is some delay between them so that they don't back-to-back without any rest. We've also fixed a long running bug with Estelle giving an erroneous offer in the Buried Demons after it was complete.

Recruit Timing

Update #206 added a 1 turn requirement to recruit any new crew member. It also added 1 turn requirement review-and-dismiss them. Taking the community feedback into account, we've removed the 1 turn cost if you dismiss them directly while reviewing-and-recruiting. However, we have now adjusted general Dismiss to increase its cost to 1 turn. Leaving an offworlder on a grav world is not something done quickly, and it requires the time of the captain and officers. It is a rare event and now outside of the recruit-and-review loop which was where the timing got egregious.

Mission Adjustments

We've fixed an issue where sometimes using Flash Charge in some missions would skip the mission completion or failure screen that would follow. In a continued effort to balance mission pricing and duration, we've made some more tweaks to the pricing calculations per type and per jump for long, short and medium length missions. Finally, for those Salvagers using the "Entropic Estimate" Talent from Mechanics, the results of that Talent are now lodged in the Event Log which makes it easier to reference after leaving the Salvage screen.

v3.0.55 - 4/13/2020

- New Starting Ship: 3400M Reach Vindex ($200K, Minimalist Scout Starter) - Access Reach Vindex with "Salvage Contractor" Unlock - Dismiss after reviewing a recruit no longer requires a few hours (1 Turn) - Dismissing a crew from crew list now requires a few hours (1 Turn) - Improved timing delay between late game Eras -- Plague, Buried Demons, Jyeeta Brood - Adjusted balance of Blade Dancer "Forbidden Edge" Talent -- less Armor Piercing, More Bleeding - Adjusted prices on short, mid and long distance missions - Fixed issues with Flash Charge in missions -- Talent not going on cool down, sometimes post mission screen not appearing - Mechanic Talent "Entropic Estimate" adds a event log to make prediction of Rumor length more clear - Fixed story issue with Buried Demons where Estelle could be told about the events after events happened

[ 2020-04-14 21:04:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #206 lifts off from the starport with new ship components, rebalances for existing components and level 5 and 6 ship weapons as well as clarified descriptions for all orbital ops components. We've also adjusted the rules for the time spent recruiting, the prices during short, mid and long range missions and fixed a number of issues reported by the community. The updates must flow, and if you like the steady stream of new and improved -- please leave a review!

Peak Velocity Matrix

A longstanding favorite medium slot component, the Peak Velocity Matrix has always lacked a progression of improvements. With Update #206, we've added a PVM 2 and PVM 3 to give your highly range change focused ships more options with their build. This has naturally come with a downtick in the abilities of the starting PVM 1, reducing its Range Change bonus a bit to help it fit into the progression better.

Orbital Ops Clarification

Orbital Ops components do not stack their effects. If have two Spying components installed that both increase Intel, only the better one will work. This is now clearly indicated in the components description ("does not stack"). In addition, whenever these ops components are called in to use they suffer Damage which is now also noted in the description ("damage on use").

Ship Weapons 5 & 6

The on-going rebalance of ship weapons has now moved down into the level 5 range with big price increases coming across the board. We've completed this additional sweep of rebalance along with testing out the changes to the AI's ability to purchase these upgrades. More powerful ship weaponry at level 5 is now in line with the prices of 6, 7 and 8th level weaponry.

Recruiting Hours

Every recruit and dismissal now takes 1 turn, a feature that has been too long overlooked. While you won't burn a ton of time recruiting, its important that meeting a pool of recruits -- or individual from a Contact -- chew up some game time.

Other Improvements

We've rebalanced prices on missions focusing on the different classes of short, mid and long distance missions as we look at their prices. Update #206 also includes a fix for the Trade War warning that went into Sell All last update, what we added was basically the inverse of what it needed to be. Finally, Talents like "Unfaltering Ire" and other purging debuffs now properly knock an enemy out of Stealth.

v3.0.53 - 3/29/2020

- Added two new ship components, Peak Velocity Matrix 2 and 3, rebalanced existing Peak Velocity Matrix - Added note to description of orbital ops and exploration components -- "does not stack, damaged on use" - Rebalanced ship weapons and increased costs at Level 5 and 6 - Recruiting and Dismissing recruits now takes a few hours (1 Turn) each - Adjusted prices on short, mid and long distance missions - Fixed issue where Talents like "Unfaltering Ire" were not purging Stealth buffs from target - Fixed warning for "Sell All" option in Exchange about Trade Wars being inverse of correct warning - Prevented Templar zones from getting certain Rumors that do not fit

[ 2020-03-30 17:18:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #205 executes a clean sweep on some of the most recent and pressing requests for enhancements as well as bug reports. As we keep crafting more storylines and doing the prep work for map seeds v2, we're working hard to keep up with new community ideas, feedback and improvement suggestions. Update #205 is the result of that and includes a definite fan-favorite request -- to ensure that your Starting Contacts end up in the best seats of power. We've also added a new Alta Mesa only story-driven ship component, improved craft buying requirements, expanded the Sell All warning support to include Trade Wars and more. Before we dig into the details, we do have some exciting news --
We are excited to share that Star Traders: Frontiers made the list of "Best 20 Space Games on PC" on Rock, Paper Shotgun! It's a list full of amazing titles and we're proud to have been selected to stand in their ranks, stare into the void and contemplate where we will all go next.

Starting Contact Locations

With Update #205, we've made some changes to the rules of how Starting Contacts pick their starting zones and allowed them to focus on the most powerful zones in each quadrant. This is a huge help to not only place your Contacts places where you might find lucrative trade and excellent orbital op chances, but also so that their services and discounts will be most effective. While the change does not guarantee that a Contact with a medical discount will always be able to provide one, it massively increases the chance that they will be able to if there are such locations in the quadrant. In addition, for those Contacts who have some services based of the zone's attributes -- such as Military Rank, Permit, etc -- this change helps ensure they can offer those services to the fullest.

Ship Components, Craft Requirements

During the United Coalition "Buried Demons" story Era, one of the branches can lead to the Alta Mesa unlocking the Battle Bridge 2 component. To further extend the usefulness of that branch and the bridge type, that story event now also unlocks the much more expensive but more versatile Battle Bridge 3, once again only sold under the Alta Mesa flag. Such ship builders of legends can install some of the most powerful bridge command centers, for a price. We've also modified some of the purchasing requirements for craft, reducing Economy and Military to no higher than 12 in order to ensure that every craft type is purchaseable on the default map.

Sell All into Trade Wars

During a Trade War, you may not be able to sell your goods, but for those you can you may still incur Reputation bonuses. Sell All in the Exchange now includes a warning of not only Trade Bans but Trade Wars as well.

Clean Sweep!

This update list is long with a lot of other improvements and fixes as well, so be sure to check the full list. We've improved the display of Era recruiting bonuses so that you can see exactly what the bonus is, not just the sum of the level bonuses. If you were reviewing recruits from Contacts, the click pattern is now better to avoid dropping you back to the Contact's main services list. And a ton more -- check out the full list!

v3.0.51 - 3/20/2020

- Improved starting Contact placement to prefer high economy / high population zones - Reduced Economy requirement for high level craft to maximum of 12 to ensure playable on default map - Alta Mesa's story-driven acquisition of Battle Bridge 2 component now includes Battle Bridge 3 as well -- even better, more expensive - "Sell All" option in the Exchange now correctly warns of Trade Wars and potential Reputation loss - Improved display of recruiting Era level boost -- always visible in Spice Hall and Contact recruit, just lists bonus (+3 bonus) instead of total level - Improved description of Talents that push/pull friends and enemies to be more consistent - Improved Boarding Victory Talents so that if they fail for any reason (Macabre Harvest but no cargo space) they do not consume a boarding action - Improved description for "Trader's Reciprocity" Merchant Talent to be clear it is based on the Trade Permit of local faction (not Contact) - Fixed click pattern with reviewing recruits from Contacts forcing reopen of recruit screen - Fixed issue with UCF Emissary and Commander missions and resulting Contacts face/name mismatch - Fixed issue with Contact "Learn Rumor" logs appearing in Ship Combat victory logs - Fixed issue with Plasma, Fire and Radiation Damage Logging in Crew Combat - Fixed issue with "Coalition Patrol" cards in orbital ops describing an encounter with a standard faction ship - Fixed issues where Trade Ban icon was used instead of Trade War in some exchange screens

[ 2020-03-20 21:02:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #204 arrives in the relative quiet after the end of our Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Kickstarter campaign. Things have been in a fury here at Trese Brothers HQ and we're excited to get back to regular order -- improving Star Traders: Frontiers and building Cyber Knights. As we gear up to tackle the next big set of improvements, we've rounded up some of the latest issues from the community and put them all to rest in #204, as well as adding a new Cadar-only ship and rebalancing large ship prices.

Cadar Reach Defender

The Reach Defender (5000M) is a prestigious Cadar hull design dating from the early 200s that favors armor over shielding to maximize the ship's heavy duty superstructure. Built around a pair of M94 Cannons, the Reach Defender becomes more and more dangerous as it closes range. Using an advanced Cadar Battle Prow, the Reach Defender can soak incredible amounts of damage and continue fighting, a popular capacity among Cadar's elite military forces, bounty hunters and privateers.

Ship Pricing

Across the board we've rebalanced 8000M and 9000M ship pricing making them more expensive to purchase. We're experimenting with some large ship designs (10K) mass and considering component pricing adjustments for large mass ships, including installation surcharges for oversized hulls. We'd love to hear your feedback on the new ship prices and how you'd balance the costs and advantages of new extra large hulls.

Sell All Ordering

When you use the Sell All feature in the Exchange, it will now sell the cargo in order of the value of the cargo items. This will allow your Talents to run against the biggest sales and not get chewed up by smaller sales.

Resource Renames

We've updated the names of two resources to be more clear and to help avoid players having confusion over Stashing missions. Usralite is now Refined Ursalite (as there is an Ursalite Ore) and Kambrinite is now Refined Kambrinite (as there is a Kambrinite Ore).

Other Fixes

We fixed several reoccurring issues that plagued component repair cards and Talents in Explorer and Salvage. We've made several adjustments to standardize these and provide for consistently effective component selection and improved logging so you can more easily see how much and what was repaired.

v3.0.49 - 3/11/2020

- New Ship: 5000M Reach Defender (Cadar Close Combat Cruiser) - Rebalanced ship prices for 8000M and 9000M ships - Improved "Sell All" Cargo Ordering to trigger Talents better - Improved "Patchwork" Talent's Component Repair scheme - Improved Orbital card "Wreck in Space" Component Repair scheme - Fixed issues with Combat Logging of Parry Buffs - Renamed Ursalite to "Refined Ursalite" - Renamed Kambrinite to "Refined Kambrinite" - Fixed issue with Contacts showing incorrect level when unable to recruit - Fixed issue with being able to Spy on invalid worlds

[ 2020-03-12 00:31:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

As Blade Dancer came flying out in Update #202, a wave of more updates is certain to follow in the wake of the practitioner of one of the oldest art of the Star Traders people. Update #203 releases a new class of primary melee weapon -- the Straightblade -- improves a zone Rumor, adds custom window sizing for Linux However, first we have a final call to action for our Cyber Knight: Flashpoint Kickstarter campaign!

Cyber Knights Kickstarter - Last Chance!

With 36 hours remaining for our Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Kickstarter, we are reaching out to ask for your support! If you have enjoyed Star Traders: Frontiers, its 6 major expansion packs of its 203 updates consider this an easy way to pay it forward and help us expand the funding for our next game with a $15 discounted pre-order copy. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint can be summarized easily as a cyberpunk XCOM but this high level summary is missing all the details that make Cyber Knights so unique and exciting. Some check out the campaign and read about our flexible stealth model, the way hacking mixes into fighting back against the security system and how we're ripping out the tile-based approximations and going fully gridless. Come read about our heist mission system that focuses on preparation steps instead of just reading a mission brief. Come, bribe a Bravestar security officer to slow down the arrival of off-site security by 10 minutes. Come on, step into your criminal safe house and base build while managing your network of fixers, Yakuza, gang bosses and corrupt corporate leaders. Get a cybered war dog, pilot three drones at once, graft titanium to your skeleton and go full Wolverine with hand claws. We have only a few hours left, come take a look at our campaign and know that we're going to build the game with the same dedication and passion we brought to Star Traders: Frontiers. C'mon chumbo, pledge to Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/cyber-knights?ref=6n6pht [previewyoutube=ugXVXD4l_cw;full][/previewyoutube]

Straightblades

A very specific design and manufacturing process is used to create the straightblade, a lighter shorter weapon that is still used as the primary blade. All classes of Straightblades rely on Quickness over Strength for attack accuracy. Straightblades like the Stywrit and Crass are for sale from Contacts who sell weapons while other powerful Straightblades can be recovered from Orbital Salvage relic weapon cards. Aside from relying on Quickness for attack, Straightblades also feature higher Piercing %, lower Damage and a more balanced Accuracy and Parry set.

Recruiting during Starport Closed Rumor

Many Rumors have impacts on recruiting availability or levels. Thanks to @Dr. Spendlove for the great suggestion to improve the generally negative Starport Closed Rumor with a recruiting bonus. With work halted at the starport, skilled mechanics are looking for other work and willing to go offworld to get it. Any Mechanic recruited in the hall or from Contacts gains +2 bonus levels.

Negative Jump Cost

While there was a valid strat for a while to achieve a negative Jump cost for your ship and then generate Water-Fuel by hyperwarping -- this bug is now closed. Your jump cost will never drop below zero with Update #203.

Custom Window Sizing

On Windows and Linux you can now use command line arguments to define your own window size. You can set these directly in the Steam client. There are 4 arguments used in order, such as: winwidth 1820 winheight 900 These have been available on Windows for a while but are now available on Linux as well.

v3.0.47 - 3/3/2020

- Added new type of primary blade weapon -- the Straightblade relies on Quickness instead of Strength - Added 2 high level Straightblades for sale from weapon selling Contacts - Added 2 high level Straightblades to the relic weapon card from Orbital Salvage - Starport rumor increases level of Mechanic hired at Spice Hall by +2 levels - Fixed: Negative Jump Cost can add Water-Fuel when jumping - Fixed: Issues where "Brooding Jyeeta Spore" could generate too many artifacts - Slight increase in Retrain Costs, fixed Custom Difficult Retrain Costs to equal "Hard" - Added custom window size command line support for Linux (winwidth, winheight) - Fixed typos with Blade Dancer Talents

[ 2020-03-04 13:35:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Coming out of the spice hall in a whirl of steel, a sharp laugh and even sharper wit -- the Blade Dancer has arrived! We're excited to release the 34th Job for Star Traders: Frontiers and expand the options for your multi-job officer corp or your specialist crews. Before we dive into the flashy details of Update #202, we want to take a quick moment to highlight our next game, Cyber Knights!

Cyber Knights Kickstarter - Last Chance!

With 8 days remaining in our Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Kickstarter, we are are closing time. Our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, plunges you and your team of hand-picked mercs, thieves and hackers into the future of cyberpunk. Combining a mix of stealth, hacking and XCOM-inspired combat, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint wraps a cyberpunk world full of consequential story choices and significant character development around a rich core of classic and new turn-based gameplay mechanics. Flashpoint takes place in one of the oldest cities on the eastern seaboard which has become a melting pot of influences, criminal elements and corporate power players. Weve taken inspiration from our years of pen and paper RPGs as well as cyberpunk greats like Phillip K. Dick and William Gibson to craft a city steeped in history, alive with character and awash with neon. On Kickstarter, we are selling pre-order copies of the game at a discount, but most importantly we are gathering a might alpha team of players. If you want to be the first to play the game, months before its Steam release, and work closely with the Trese Brothers team to help us mold the final experience we hope you will join the project on Kickstarter to pledge today! Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/cyber-knights?ref=6n6pht

Blade Dancer

Born from a time long before the Guild the Exodus, the ancient art of Blade Dancing has been a long-loved tradition of the carnival-like spice hall for hundreds of generations. Blade Dancers combine ritualized dance, acrobatics and dueling. Eccentric performers known for their spice hall antics, they can also take their aggressive blade style to battle. While the most famous Blade Dancing styles and rituals are associated with Steel Song, it is an art with practitioners from every faction. The Blade Dancer Job focuses on Blades, Negotiate and Tactics as their Skill trio and brings a wide variety of exciting Talents to the table. The bring unique Talents to the spice hall, causing the round of spice on which their Talents are fired to be free ($0) in return for their performance while either boosting crew Morale further of gaining new Contact introductions. Blade Dancers have a unique ability to also have a chance to learn of a new Contact whenever completing an orbital mission, as rumors of their presence aboard your ship go before you. In addition, they also bring a unique rank 11 ability to the Black Market access -- their longstanding tradition and place on the edge of society allows them to diffuse situations with security and avoid cargo confiscation and reputation penalties. Long has the tradition been that a Smugglers keep Blade Dancers among their crew! In crew combat, Blade Dancers are offensively focused to a fault. Theirs is not a profession and performance that leads to practical defensive fighting but instead acrobatic movements and sweeping flourishes of the blade. They can be deadly but without additional training they may be a risk to inject into a high level combat. Therefore, Blade Dancers do best as an officer on your crew, crossed with other combat jobs to give them flexibility (Pistoleer) or improved defenses (Swordsman) or stealth before they come flying out (Assassin) in a Squall of Blades!
You can immediately train any officer to the Blade Dancer Job or look to hire Blade Dancers from either the Spice Hall or Contacts. During Spice Festival Rumors, Blade Dancers are always available. You can also hire them from Courtesan and Troubadour Contacts. When recruiting a new Blade Dancer, keep in ind the affinity of the Steel Song Clan with the performance practice -- any Blade Dancer coming from the Steel Song Clan gets an additional Attribute bonus.

New Contact Traits

Update #202 also roles out 2 new Contact Traits that add additional recruiting capabilities. Those Contacts with "Security Minded" Trait are focused on their own protection and will pay more for missions, recruit higher level characters and offer Bodyguard as a Trait-driven recruit. Those Contacts with "Lux Living" love the finer things in life and spend heavily to enjoy such delights. To cover their cost, they increase the cost of all of their services, but also recruit higher level characters and offer Blade Dancers as their Trait-driven recruit. We're always working to create new and interesting Contact Traits to further push the already huge variety of combinable Traits and options.

Flak Attack and Artifacts

With Update #202, we've also improved the Gunner "Flak Attack" Talent to last an additional turn, preventing enemy ships from launching fighters for 2 turns instead of 1. We've also resolved a bug where Jyeeta Artifacts were marked as being produced by Indies sometimes. Now wouldn't that bring up some tough questions?

v3.0.45 - 2/25/2020

- New Job Blade Dancer excels Contact manipulation, spice hall activity and at deadly crew combat - Blade Dancers recruited from Steel Song spice hall or Contacts will have best Attributes - 15 new Talents for Blade Dancer including multiple unique Talent types, uses and combat combos - Contact types Courtesan and Troubadour both offer Blade Dancer as recruits - During Spice Festival Rumors, Blade Dancers can be recruited in the Spice Hall - New Contact Trait "Security Minded" pays better for Missions, promotes Rank cheaper, all recruits +1 level, hires Bodyguards - New Contact Trait "Lux Living" increases all service cost by 15%, all recruits +1 level, hires Blade Dancers - Gunner's "Flak Attack" Talent gains +1 turn duration to prevent enemy craft launches for 2 turns - Fixed faction ownership of Jyeeta Artifact cargo found on human ships (now Jyeeta faction!)

[ 2020-02-26 16:56:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

We wouldn't want to sit on Update #200 too long -- you might get the idea we aren't updating constantly around here! So, we're rolling out Update #201 with some enhancements to the new recruit review feature and a major improvement to the quadrant map screen to help navigation. We also fixed a crash with the new grade 7 craft that needed to be put to rest. We have also added an in-game advertisement banner for our live Kickstarter for Cyber Knights: Flashpoint. It will stay on the main menu for as long as the campaign is running (through March 5th). We heard for years after the end of the Star Traders: Frontiers Kickstarter from so many players "I missed the Kickstarter" or "I wish I had known!" We've added this small ad banner to help raise awareness and get the word out as many of the rewards available during the Kickstarter will never be offered again.
For a little bit longer, we're going to talk a lot about it :D Bear with us -- Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is our next game -- a turn-based tactics cyberpunk game in the vein of greats in the tradition like XCOM. Jump into the Kickstarter to get a discounted pre-order, join the alpha team or join the game by creating a recruitable character and more. You step into the role of a Cyber Knight, an illegal covert operator with a permanent spinal implant that lets you lead your band of hackers, thieves and soldiers of fortune with unrivaled precision. If you don't want to support the Kickstarter, you can wishlist or follow the game on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

System Names!

Following the addition of quadrant names to the galactic map, its become clear that it would be a huge benefit to have them visible on the main quadrant map as well. We've had to do some reorganization of the scene to improve the performance (lots of calculations and auto-saves going on while flying) to ensure this will work seamlessly and smoothly. But -- we're happy to have hit the mark and now we can release system names fully displayed on the map. Even in a few hours of play, I've found that my knowledge of different quadrants is so much better and places feel so much more familiar as I travel the void.

Recruit Health and Morale

The recruit review option has been a big hit and we've updated it today with the most consistent piece of feedback we've heard so far -- which is the need to have visibility into max hit points and morale. Of course, you could guess at this but what fun is guessing when the numbers can just be onscreen? We've also fixed some of the overlap issues that could happen on high UI scale or lower resolution monitors.
We have also fixed a crash that was causing grade 7 bombers to fail in bombing and grade 7 shuttles to fail in boarding. Thanks for all of your support, reviews and feedback!

v3.0.43 - 2/18/2020

- Quadrant map now features system names directly displayed over system, hidden while moving - Added max Health and max Morale to Recruit review offer - Added banner to Star Traders: Frontiers main menu to share Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Kickstarter - Fixed bombing and boarding crash with new grade 7 craft

[ 2020-02-18 17:06:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #200 deserves to have some BOOM. So it took a few extra days, but we made sure it packs a huge punch with a new story event, 3 new grade 7 craft, a new ship and a major new recruiting feature! For big #200, we made sure there was some boom, bam and a lot of extra content for our captains to enjoy. Before we move on to reviewing each part of Update #200 in detail, we want to make sure our players -- old and new -- hear about our next project, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint! [previewyoutube=ugXVXD4l_cw;full][/previewyoutube] Our next project, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Kickstarter is currently on Kickstarter and you can jump in to get a discounted pre-order, join the alpha team or jump into the game to create a recruitable character and more. Cyber Knights is a tactical RPG that plunges you and your team of hackers, mercs and thieves into the neon-soaked future of 2231. Hire the right team under the crumbling New Boston Zone and mix stealth, hacking and combat skills to claw your way to the top of the criminal heap. The campaign funded in the first 12 hours and is now smashing through stretch goals -- next up the new Skyrise environment -- so we want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has jumped in to support us. If you are on the fence, know that Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be cut from the same model as Star Traders: Frontiers -- developed with passion, deep mechanics, dynamic story, hundreds of updates, free expansions and no DLCs. If you enjoy that type of game, we hope you'll pledge today! If you don't want to support the Kickstarter, you can wishlist or follow the game on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Recruiting Review

For those captains who want to recruit carefully and focus on finding only the best, we've added a new key recruiting feature that will help speed up play, reduce clicks and make recruiting more fun. There is a new option checkbox in every screen where you can recruit -- Spice Hall and at Contacts -- that allows you to review each recruit. When enabled, as soon as the recruit is taken on to your ship you get a pop up dialog that shows you their Attributes, Skills, known Traits and Initiative. You can decide to keep them or dismiss them (making space for another recruit attempt) with a single click. We know for those captains looking for a fast, combat-ready swordsman this might save a lot of time and effort so we are glad to finally deliver this improvement! While it isn't recruit pooling (looking at a pool of available recruits before recruiting them), this is about as far as we can take it in Star Traders: Frontiers based on limitations of the historical saved game format. We're excited to say that Cyber Knights is starting with pooling right out of the gate -- so thanks to everyone who gave that feedback loud and clear!

Grade 7 Craft Story Event

In Update #200, you may now encounter a new story event - the Clan Skyline Trade Accords - which join three powerful clans into a major Trade Alliance and spur on the release of grade 7 craft of all 3 types to faction Starports. The Clan Skyline Trade Accords will only come after the Zuden Techno Trade Concord which opens up grade 6 craft from some of the powerful syndicates and Thulun. I think everyone wants to know -- when will Alta Mesa make their comeback?

New Horizon Cruiser

Unlocked the "Brood Slayer" achievement on Normal difficulty, the Horizon Cruiser is a new 6000 mass ship built specifically for anti-fighter devastation. It comes off the starport lines with as a flexible cruiser with good anti-fighter capabilities and very high hull points for its mass class. It's base shielding helps protect its large crew complement and its 9 small, 9 medium and 5 large slots make it a medium-to-large focused hull. As always, the ship design is designed off of successful player configurations that captains have shared with us and suggestions coming in from captains in the void. The AI enemy captains do not yet have access to the Horizon Cruiser but we'll be working on releasing it to them once we've seen how it is put through its paces.

v3.0.41 - 2/15/2020

- New Ship: 6000M Horizon Cruiser (Interdictor Cruiser) - Unlock Horizon Cruiser with "Brood Slayer" -- defend the quadrants from Jyeeta to unlock this - Added recruit review feature - new checkbox to enable reviewing each recruit as they join your crew in Spice Hall and Contact Recruiting - Enable to be check a recruits Attributes, Skills, known Traits and Initiative while recruiting, disable to recruit quickly - Added new story event -- Clan Skyline Trade Accord -- which creates a triple trade alliance and releases grade 7 craft - New Interdictor: Trifex Assault Mk2 (grade 7; Javat) - New Shuttle: Blackhall Ultra (grade 7; Moklumnue) - New Bomber: Trident DX9 (grade 7; Zenrin)

[ 2020-02-15 22:05:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #199 comes out with a new uptick in the occurences of human captains flying carriers (no change to xeno), multiple new carrier focused AI strategies for captains, and a new fast attack carrier for players and enemies both. We've also made some important rebalancing changes to the cost of high end weapons, dual-field engines and some of the high-end defensive components. The pricing bands for components of different levels is widening across the board, driving up the price of building an end-game ship for the better. Of course, the AI is using all the same prices and so gets a symmetrical change to their build choices as well. We also have some very exciting news in our other major game project!

Cyber Knights is Live on Kickstarter

Having gone live on last Monday, our Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Kickstarter funded in less than 12 hours and is now smashing through stretch goals as more and more backers join the project. While the game's main development is funded by sales of Star Traders: Frontiers and our other successful games, we have come to Kickstarter to help us expand the game's scope, beauty and depth. So a huge thank you to everyone who has come out to support our efforts or told a friend. If you haven't, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be cut from the same model as Star Traders: Frontiers -- developed with passion, deep mechanics, dynamic story, hundreds of updates, free expansions and no DLCs. If you love that, we hope you'll pledge today!

Reach Carrier

The newest fast attack carrier -- the Reach -- has just been announced at starports across the galaxy. The Reach Carrier's combination of flexible weapons and substantial space for small craft is made possible by an advanced, light-weight Dual-Field Reactor Core. The Reach Carrier trades fuel capacity for armor and firepower. It's an exciting new option for captains trying out fast strike carriers.

Increased Enemy Carriers

It has become even more important with Update #199 to have a plan against enemy carriers. The appearance of human carriers has been increased across the board by roughly 5%, which while it may sound small is definitely felt across a captain's career. Even if the plan is "run!" you'll need a plan now more than ever. Three new carrier-specific AI have been added for the enemy captains, improving the variety of strategies and ship builds that these types of enemies will use. The new AI as well as the existing human AI models have all gained some improvements as to how they plan and lay out their craft and pilots for the Extremis, Skylift and Strike Carrier ships.

Component Price Rebalance

Due to the small differences in cost, it has long been the most efficient move to save up a little more money to skip from the lowest level ship weapons (1 or 2) to the highest (6 or 7) without taking any intermediary upgrades. With Update #199 we're starting the process of correcting that by rebalancing the prices of rank 6, 7 and 8 weaponry to ensure their prices are in the correct line with other components at a similar tier. In all cases, this involved significant price increases. Of course, the AI have to contended with the same price increases so everyone will find it a bit more challenging to get high level weaponry. We've also rebalanced and increased the price of all Dual-Field Void Engines which have such strong stats and additional utility for their low mass. Finally, we've ticked up the price for Defense Pattern Matrix 3 and 4 to make sure they are appropriately priced for their value within the overall set of components. As always, we're fixing extra bugs and has resolved some issues with Awards, dry dock and more. We hope you'll take a look at the Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Kickstarter as well.

v3.0.39 - 2/9/2020

- New Ship: 5000M Reach Carrier (Fast Attack Carrier) - Added 3 New Carrier Focused AI Captains - Added new Captain's Log entry for new ship purchases - Increased generation of human AI carriers by 5% - Improved AI behavior on Extremis, Skylift and Strike Carrier Ships - Rebalanced ship weapons and increased costs at Level 6, 7 and 8 - Increased prices of Dual-Field Engines - Increased prices of Defense Pattern Matrix 3 and 4 - Fixed issues with awards "Master Smuggler" 1, 2 and 3 firing too early - Fixes issues with upgrading Cabins and Prison Cells on Dry Docked Ships

[ 2020-02-10 00:36:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

[previewyoutube=qCavPLvJAd8;full][/previewyoutube] Under the crumbling New Boston dome, in the flickering neon ... your Cyber Knight is born with the irreversible implant of an illegal spinal computer ... Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is a tactical RPG that plunges you and your team of hackers, mercs and thieves into the cyberpunk future of 2231. Hire the right team under the crumbling New Boston Zone and mix stealth, hacking and combat skills to claw your way to the top of the criminal heap in this turn-based squad RPG inspired by X-COM and other greats of the genre. The Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Kickstarter is now live and has already funded within the first 10 hours. Explore the dystopian cyberpunk future of 2231 as you command a company of shadow mercenaries working for the highest bidder. Cyber Knights wraps a world full of consequential story choices and significant character development around a rich core of classic and new mechanics.
If you've played Star Traders: Frontiers you know our record of passion and dedication for the games we create. We're bringing our unique and prove gamedev process to Cyber Knights and can't wait to share this new game with all of you. If you're interested, join us on the alpha test and be the first to play the game and work closely with our team daily to help us balance, improve and expand the game before it launches. As a special incentive, If you back the Cyber Knights Kickstarter within the first 48 hours of the campaign, youll receive a digital code to unlock the starting storyline expander, Horizon Cypher. This optional expanded storyline adds a major twist to your first weeks after your cybernetic surgery and transformation into a Cyber Knight.
We hope you'll come check out the Kickstarter and help us make this ambitious cyberpunk game. Or, wishlist the game on Steam today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

[ 2020-02-04 06:14:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #198 deploys with a new mid-weight strike carrier, the Extremis as well as major rebalancing to the Black Market based on your rank with your Contact. We've also been working to keep up with the active community making suggestions, requests and posting up any issues still discovered. We've got some exciting content coming and are working on a set of new story arcs while we are doing the underlying engineer required to prepare for map seeds version 2. It's going to be a big and glorious improvement for the game, but it will take some time to incubate. Check out our dev roadmap to keep up with the next big steps. https://steamcommunity.com/games/335620/announcements/detail/1696055855739611821

Strike Carrier Extreme

The Extremis Carrier is a close-support carrier designed for heavy combat duty. Supporting a full compliment of 7 officers by default, the ship have plenty of room for a boarding team or fighter pilots. Powered by the advance dual-field Void Engine, the Extremis Carrier is mass-efficient and have ample room for upgrades and expansions, even with the heavily compliment of railguns and missile systems. Heavy Shielding in both cabins and crew spaces increases crew survivability during ship combat, making it very effective at mid-range combat in support of a fighter wing. The Extremis is a Range-3 build and will be in the hands of the AI soon, beware.

Ironclad Access

Those Contacts offering the Black Market can offer more powerful protection to Star Traders who work their way up the levels of the illegal service. First, the top most level "Ironclad Access" has gained some big improvement and significantly increased its impact on drawing 3 positive cards over drawing 3 negative cards into a hand. This is perhaps the largest determining factor of risk within the card draw, and consistently drawing only 2 negative makes your Talents go a lot farther, helping you avoid rounds where you simply can't knock out all of the unacceptable risks. Contacts offering higher levels of access also just increase their impact on good card draws with Update #197. We've also buffed the Trait Mutation paths that come out of sneaking into the Black Market, adding some exciting new options all the way up to including the chance to gain a Device Freak Trait.

Community Reports/Suggestions

We've worked through a ton of items from the community this week, such as improving the Trait mutations from Radiation Storm and Spying. Boarding Talents that cause debuffs like Bio-Agent Bomb now leave helpful result rows in the boarding screen. We've prevent Flash Charge from appearing multiple times in Mission menus and better sorted the components in the ship status view. A huge thanks to everyone posting and making suggestions! [previewyoutube=E1f1kKTezXE;full][/previewyoutube] We are now less than 36 hours away from the launching the Cyber Knights: Flashpoint Kickstarter. The campaign will go live on Monday, February 3rd at noon EST. We hope you will help us get the campaign off to the strongest start possible by backing in the first 48 hours. Check out the Kickstarter sneak peak!

v3.0.37 - 2/1/2020

- New Ship: 6000M Extremis Carrier (Close Combat Carrier) - Big improvement to strength of Contact's "Ironclad Access" Black Market level on drawing 3 positive and 2 negative cards (over 2 and 3) - Improved influence of Contact's Black Market level on good and bad card draws across the board - Buffed Trait mutation types generated by Black Market success (including adding Device Freak) - Rebalanced Trait mutation types generated by Radiation Storm, Spy Run - Certain boarding Talents like Bio-Agent Bomb now have a result log shown after use when boarding - Prevented "Flash Charge" option from appearing multiple times in Mission preambles - Improved component sorting in ship status view - Fixed bugs with Trait Mutation following Hyperwarp jumps

[ 2020-02-02 04:55:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Tonight we've put out a quick patch release to fix some issues that were introduced in Update #197 related to craft. Something about these new craft never finished baking right. We've tossed them back in the oven for a bit and this update will help us get back to bug free new Interdictors! Thanks to everyone leaving a review and posting bugs and feedback!

v3.0.35 - 1/25/2020

- Fixed crash with ship encounter Talents like Blackheart Fraud - Fixed crash when using new craft on attack flight plans - Fixed crash when interdictor attacked enemy craft - Fixed crash whenever launching Feralight M8 craft - Fixed crazy numbers show in results of "Covert Signals" Spy Talent

[ 2020-01-26 15:10:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #197 is hot on the tail of #196, following up with improvements to Interdictor craft versus craft battle in the void, 3 new craft specifically built for it, a big improvement to Missions to allow the Flash Charge Talent, and tweaks to the venerable Frontier Liner starting ship. If you're enjoying the updates, we be sure to leave a review!

Dogfighting Adjustments

Some big changes have swooped in for the craft versus craft fighting with Update #197. First, we've separated an Interdictor's chance to hit an enemy capital ship from its chance to hit an enemy craft. In total, this is about a +20% accuracy boost across the board. Also, we've changed the Skill used for attacking an enemy craft to Gunnery instead of Electronics, which plays to the favor of Interdictor builds.

Built to Hunt

The newest addition to the craft you can purchase at the starport are built to hunt, seek and destroy enemy craft. These 3 new Interdictors from Cadar, Thulun and Alta Mesa are focused on defensive flight plans only and will not do well attempting to attack the enemy ship. However, they shine with high chance to hit other craft, higher void damage and higher engine agility. They're great for taking out torps and missiles too.

Flash Charge Comes to Town

For those players often using the Navigator's "Flash Charge" talent, the inability to use it in mission combats has made more things unfairly challenging. The captain of the carrier I was flying today during testing was supremely happy to be able to use Flash Charge at last in his bounty hunting missions, as his ship has no weapons he can fire from range 5 and getting to 4 makes all the difference. Flash Charge still can't be used in every story situation, but we're working on ways to remedy that. This improvement also opens the door for future pre-combat Talents that may be added (pre-launching an Interdictor for example) and making them easy to add to the mission selection screen when they go live.

Frontier Liner

With this update, we've adjusted the Frontier Liner to focus more on exploring with its default configuration. Already boasting an A2 Weapons locker, we've stripped some of the shorter range guns off it in exchange for a Harvester Bay to increase rewards, an EVA Airlock to reduce ship damage during exploring and Matchweave Suits to cut down on crew damage. [previewyoutube=E1f1kKTezXE;full][/previewyoutube]

Next Project: Cyber Knights

The big year of 2020 has arrived and we're now 11 days and counting from launching Cyber Knights: Flashpoint on Kickstarter! You play the razor-sharp leader of a band of soldiers of fortune, hackers and thieves operating under the crumbling dome of the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human drama story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world. Coming to KickStarter in FEB 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.

v3.0.31 - 1/22/2019

- Added 3 new Interdictor craft (Cadar, Thulun, Alta Mesa) designed specifically as defensive and for dogfighting - Added 3 new craft design visuals for new interdictor models - Split out Interdictor's chance % to hit craft from ships, increases dogfighting accuracy by about 20% across the board - Chance to hit enemy craft during dogfighting now based on craft Gunnery over Electronics, increases dogfighting accuracy - Missions for ship combat now offer Navigator "Flash Charge" as an option to start the battle - Improved Frontier Liner starting configuration to be more Exploring focused, added Harvester Bay (m) and EVA Airlock and Matchweave Suits (s) - Fixed issues in Orbital Ops that could result in occasional Conflict/Faction mismatch - Trait cards in Salvage improved and bugs with not applying Traits fixed - Fixed some display issues on Game Over screen

[ 2020-01-22 22:46:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #196 comes barreling out of the hangar bay, locking its scopes and sights on incoming enemy bombers and immediately vectoring to engage. With this update, Interdictors on capital ship defense will now attack enemy bombers, we've added highly useful labels to the quadrant map, revamped the math backing Salvage Orbital Op, eased the time restriction on the Jyeeta achievement and more.

Interdictor Dogfights

Interdictors have gained another key defensive capability. Those on defensive flight plans around the capital ship will now both intercept incoming torps and missiles, but will also attack bombers, shuttles and interdictors that have closed with their ship. The targeting rules are such that any engagement / weapons fire will be soaked up by enemy interdictors, so there if you're facing stiff enemy interdictor defenses you can protect your own bombers by sending over aggressive interdictors. Beware, the enemy may do this as well, covering their bomber and shuttle assaults with aggressive interdictors.

Galactic Map Scanning

The galactic map is easier than ever to use with full quadrant names now displayed under every quadrant. Thanks to everyone in the community who has been pushing for this simple but extremely helpful change. A gross amount of time is reduced looking for a quadrant, tracking mission routes over hover. Enjoy, captains!

Orbital Salvage

Salvage is the last orbital op to receive a full revamp of all of the math underlying its risk and reward factors, now joining Patrol, Spy, Blockade and ground Exploration. The updates to the math help prevent some odd catch 22 scenarios where higher Skills and stats drove the risk and reward factors in strange directions, as well as just better balancing the inputs to the entire system. As always, where you Salvage and who your Salvage crew are critical to your success, so check those factors! The Skills of Electronics, Tactics, Explorer and Repair have all gained a boost in their ability to impact card draws.

Jyeeta Timeline

We've increased the impacts that getting involved in the Jyeeta Brood Era storyline can have on the timing of the entire quest chain. Working with the HQ commanders will extend the timeline by about 20% more than it did before Update #196, giving everyone those extra weeks needed to reach 0/100.

Next Project: Cyber Knights

The big year of 2020 has arrived and we're a few short weeks away from launching Cyber Knights: Flashpoint on KicKStarter! You play the razor-sharp leader of a band of soldiers of fortune, hackers and thieves operating under the crumbling dome of the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human drama story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world. Coming to KickStarter in FEB 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.

v3.0.29 - 1/16/2019

- Interdictors on defensive flight plans will now intercept and attack enemy craft that close on their capital ship - Interdictors can dogfight an enemy craft and shoot down an enemy torpedo or missile - All quadrant names now visible on galactic map - Improved Risk and Reward factors weights for Orbital Salvage including all zone stats, Rumors and other influences - Increased Impact of Electronics and Tactics Skills during Salvage mini-game card selection - Increased Impact of Repair and Explorer Skills during Salvage mini-game card selection - Removed 5 negative or neutral cards from Salvage deck mix, increases positive card draws - Added extra places where Jyeeta Era timeline can be extended by helping the HQ commanders - Increased length of ship combat logs to 60 lines - Fixed incorrect amount of discount shown during purchasing a new ship for "Hard Bargain" Talent

[ 2020-01-16 18:52:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #195 lands with some exciting new weapon salvage opportunity, one of the highest requested community features, We've also made some good changes to lower difficulty AI intelligence, fixed some Trait mutation pathways and caught up with recent community reports and suggestions. So, without further delay -- here come the big hits from Update #195. For the rest, be sure to check the full release notes at the end.

Salvage Weaponry

While Orbital Salvage is known to be high risk there are chance of high rewards as well. With Update #195, we've added 12 new weapons to the salvage cards that turn up weapons. These weapons run the gamut of all the types, provide new interesting build angles and bump the highest possible level available in salvage up another tick. For those willing to take the risks, the rewards just got sweeter.

Show All Talents

Planning ahead is a key part of being a good captain, and the latest feature add makes that even easier. The "Show All Talents" checkbox on the Talent training screen now makes it easy to see all of the Talents for a given crew member or officer, even if you don't have the rank to train them. Due to the value of this new feature, its enabled by default but your selection will be remembered if you want to tick it off. Turn it on any time you need it for future planning! Thanks to the community members pushing this suggestion, its going to be a great add.

Enemy Intelligence by Difficulty

We've made some tweaks to how much difficulty effects enemy ship, crew and Talent selection. In this case, we've increased the strength of lower difficulties (Basic, Normal and the corresponding levels of custom difficulty) to make the AI a little less cohesive and focused in these buidls.

Next Project: Cyber Knights

As we slide into 2020, we're blasting the news that our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is coming to KickStarter in February -- just a little more than 3 weeks away. You play the razor-sharp leader of a band of soldiers, hackers and thieves operating under the crumbling dome of the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human drama story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world. Coming to KickStarter in FEB 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.

v3.0.27 - 1/9/2020

- Added "Show All Talents" toggle to training screen, defaults to showing all Talents even if you can't train them yet - Added 12 new weapons to Salvage mini-game cards - Down balanced AI crew/ship build intelligence on lower difficulties - Captains can no longer develop the Klepto Trait under any mutation - Improved log message when selling Rare Trade Goods - Corrected some incorrect Trait names shown during Exploration mini-game results - Fixed some missing action types listed under Talents (conscript, refuel, etc) - Fixed crash in neutral arc of the Dissension Era when helping Estelle - Fixed bug showing Trade Ban warning in Black Market while choosing to "Sell All" -- Black Market is not affected by any Conflicts - Fixed mistaken Talent description of "Counterfeit Identity" Talent

[ 2020-01-10 05:48:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to the New Year, captains! Its 213 AE ... err 2020! Let's ring it in with a new update. With Update #194, we've added new Talents to discount fuel purchases, added a new Spy ship encounter Talent and adjusted the rules on one of the Smuggler's Talents to allow it to also cover spies. From the community feedback angle, we've improved some of the navigation in screens around combat, fixed a bug preventing offensive ship components from displaying their Gunnery bonuses and resolved a number of other reported issues or minor enhancements. Be sure to check the release notes below for every detail!

Spy Encounter Talents

For a long time, spies have been the only human opponent that can get aggressive who have lacked some encounter Talents to give you options to reduce their hostility. That has now been resolved with Update #194, as we introduce 2 options. First is a Spy rank 1 Talent, "Cover Signals" which can reduce the hostility in enemy spy ships by up to 2 points. Second, we've expanded the Smuggler Talent "Forged Permit" to also affect Spies along with Military Officers and Zealots. However, for Spies you get a hostility reduction of 1 instead of the standard 2, so it is a little less effective.

Fuel Discounts

We've added a set of 3 fuel discount Talents across the Merchant (rank 1), Scavenger (rank 1) and Smuggler (rank 8) to help you bring down the cost of fuel. At a 15% + Skill discount, this can be combined with Contact discounts and can make refueling pretty cheap. However, on a longer cooldown and taking precious Talent slots, these Talents aren't for every ship and build. For those large class fuel guzzlers, they might help keep cost down a lot.
We've also improved the handling of escape key or middle mouse button in the pre and post combat screens. If you open a tab, and then hit a back key the tab will now close and the main list will be displayed instead of leaving the screen altogether. We've fixed a bug that was hiding the Gunnery bonuses of offensive ship components like Interlocking Sensor Matrix and Targeting Matrices. We've fixed an ancient bug that was causing some Attribute bonuses from gear to come and go on loading a game.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is coming!

As we roll into the new year, we're excited to share the news that our next game, Cyber Knights is coming to KickStarter in February 2020. You play the razor-sharp leader of a covert merc company operating in the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human drama story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world. Coming to KickStarter in FEB 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.

v3.0.25 - 1/3/2020

- Added 3 refuel discount Talents -- Merchant rank 1, Scavenger rank 1, Smuggler rank 8 - Added new Spy Talent "Covert Signals" reduces hostility with other Spies - Adjusted rules for Smuggler Talent "Forged Permit" by allowing it to reduce hostility for Spies (along with Zealot, Military Officers) - Improved combat/mission tab handling, ESC/back button returns to main list instead of closing - Fixed issue with ship offensive components not showing their Gunnery bonuses (Targeting and Interlocking Sensor Matrix, etc) - Fixed bug with some gear with Attribute bonuses causing itinerant +/- to the Attributes - Fixed issue with Exo-Scout recruiting 1 level lower than expected at Spice Hall - Fixed incorrect description for "Hard Bargain" Talent when purchasing a new ship - max discount is 10% - Corrected component upgrade warning in starport for prisoner cells

[ 2020-01-03 21:03:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to 2020 ... almost! Our team is coming back off holiday travel and we're warming up with a quick patch release with a few fixes and polish. Thanks to everyone reporting bugs and suggesting improvements to the game -- we're working hard to do just that. We've got an exciting 2020 lined up with a ton of new story vignettes, new map seed version, new quadrants, eras and more!

Talent Clarification

There are some combat Talents that have, for a long time, silently required you to equip a certain type of weapon. These were Buff and On Init Talents in a handful of Jobs -- such as powerful Swordsman Talents ... which can only be used if you are holding a blade. That's an important clause in their use, and so we've included that clearly in their text now. We've also clarified the descriptions of Port Maintenance and Makeshift Repairs to be more clear about their minimum and maximum effect. Finally, some Jyeeta Talents simply had the inverse rule -- their debuffs were buffing your Accuracy. Oops, that just got worse.

Other Fixes

We've fixed an issue in the opening dialog of the Brood Era that could leave you with no choice but to turn down helping the Commander based on the exact order of dialog options you selected. We've improved the messages about claiming stashes so they don't tell lies about taking everything when you didn't have space in your hold. And finally, we fixed a bug in the mission distance calculator that was doing a bad job when the entire multi-step mission was in the local quadrant.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is coming!

As we are digging into the v3 family of the Star Traders: Frontiers roadmap, we're excited to share our upcoming next game. In Cyber Knights, you are the razor-sharp leader of a covert merc company operating in the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human drama story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world. Coming to KickStarter in FEB 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.

v3.0.23 - 12/29/2019

- Buffs and On Init Talents that require specific weapons equipped now state that clearly in their description - Fixed mission distance calculation in 2+ step missions that all stay within the same quadrant - Fixed Jyeeta debuffing attack Talents Whiplash and Dripping Tailspike that both caused +25% Accuracy to their targets! - Fixed bug allowing autocannons to retarget to enemy craft near their ship - Clarified Talent description of Port Maintenance and Makeshift Repairs - Improved message when claiming all from stash if there was not space for all cargo - Fixed odd order of dialog choices with commander in Brood Era

[ 2019-12-29 13:21:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #192 comes after a short break as we rally around the next set of major roadmap and story additions for Star Traders: Frontiers. We're hard at work now bearing down on the final adjustments, balance and feature additions to wrap the enemy small craft expansion completely and to finish balancing out the new changes to recruitment and high level enemy AI. A warning to high difficulty, high level players -- check the section on the AI's new cross-Job smarts, you will see a difficulty spike in enemy captains over level 32 thanks to some improvements in the AI crew builder.

Rock Paper Shotgun Games of the Decade

We are very proud to share that -- with your help and support -- Star Traders: Frontiers was picked as one of the games of the decade by Rock Paper Shotgun!

Loot All - Pirate's Delight

We've added a very quick and very helpful button to looting in ship combat victory. The Loot All button simply claims as much cargo as you can possibly cram into your cargo hold from the enemy ship, starting with the most valuable options first. It's a quick, one-click fix for looting and in most cases you don't need to do anything else. It only considers price when sorting what to take, it does not consider permit and trade law, so perhaps you might snag some mid-price but easy to sell cargo first manually and then click Loot All to fill your hold with the rest.

Enemy Cross-Job Officers

On higher difficulty, higher level officers have gained a big improvement in how they plan out and deploy their Job points to achieve the best possibly synergy and cross-Job potential. This generally means there is going to be an uplift in difficulty for any high level captains who are facing enemies at level 34-ish or above. As always, the AI are only doing what you can do, but beware -- they have once again bitten into the advantages you may have stacked against them!

Recruitment Attribute Bonuses

Attribute bonuses have always been dolled out to characters recruited at higher levels, but the meaning of "high level" shifted in a big way with Update #191. After confirming that we're happy with the new recruitment levels, we've moved on to giving further incentives to recruit through the Spice Hall and Contacts by continuing the Attribute bonus tiers up to level 26. The existing bonuses at 2, 5, 8 and 12 are all in place and we've added new bonuses for 18, 22 and 26 as well as strengthening the 12th level bonus a bit. For those captains looking to higher crew and officers with the highest possible Attributes, this is the best route for you.

Enemy Craft Targeting

We've made some important changes to how weapons target small craft with this update. Previously, the automatic targeting of weapon-to-craft was performed at the time the weapons were activated. Then, during the turn if a craft was forced to land by a Talent (Knock from the Void) or shot down by weapon fire, any weapon that had targeted that craft at the start of the turn would simply skip its firing round. We've changed these rules to now allow weapons to dynamically retarget and as long as their is a valid craft to fire at, they will take a shot. This rule affects the enemy capital ships as well.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is coming!

As we have moved into the v3 family of the Star Traders: Frontiers roadmap, we're excited to share our upcoming next game. In Cyber Knights, you are the razor-sharp leader of a covert merc company operating in the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human drama story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world. Coming to KickStarter in Feb 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.

v3.0.21 - 12/13/2019

- Added "Loot All" option to ship combat victory -- one click to take all of your enemy's cargo sorted by value - Attribute bonuses for high level recruits continue to increase at levels past 12 (additional bonuses at 2, 5, 8, 12, 18, 22, 26) - Improved rules for targeting enemy craft -- if a craft is shot down or knocked down by a Talent, weapons will correctly retarget any other available craft - Improved high level enemy ship officer cross Job intelligence -- beware more difficult end-game ship combats! - Fixed bug with xeno-specific Talents when xeno enemy boards your ship not working - Fixed bug with high level Scitterings sometimes having 0 Skills - Improved some mission descriptions to include the target system name in the action summary for easier comparison - Fixed a bug allowing some ship combat Talents to purge debuffs incorrectly - Fixed name mismatches in ship component hovers during combat

[ 2019-12-13 21:35:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #191 comes with a focused set of changes around recruiting new crew and officers from Contacts and the spice hall. In preparation for future changes to the level cap and to help balance out the place for recruitment (best Attributes) vs. conscription (easier access, higher levels) we've made some major changes to the minimum recruitment levels. We're also continuing to grind down on community requests for improvements -- tweaking the Jyeeta balance, story issues and more. If you're enjoying the pace of updates, we've got a lot more coming so be sure to leave a review!

Era-driven Recruitment Minimums

Before Update #191, Contacts could give a base recruitment level of 8 as their maximum. Augmented by Rumors, Traits, and your Permits, Ranks or Edicts it was possible to achieve a maximum of level 18, though that was definitely unlikely. In the Spice Hall, with a base of 1, you it was feasible to get up to level 8 recruits. As captains progressed in the mid-game, replacing losses above these levels became more and more challenging which pushes conscription from enemy ships forward as the only way to get a crew member above level 20 immediately, even if that means bad Traits and lower Attributes often. Update #191 takes a big step to resolve that by granting an Era-driven bonus to the base recruitment level. Early Era's like the Second Founding and the Third Century add a +1 level bonus, while other more impactful Eras like Brood, Plague and Early United Coalition all add +2 bonuses. In total, as the Era's come and go, the base recruitment level in both the Spice Hall and with Contacts increases by +10 levels, setting the basic recruitment level in the Spice Hall at 11 and the top recruitment from Contacts at 18. With the additional (harder to get) bonuses from Rumors, Traits, Rank, Permit and Edicts, Contacts can now recruit out level 28 crew. We're excited about this change and want to thank community members like @daveal and many others for helping us get here! As always, please send the feedback :D

Brood Improvements

With this update, we've made a number of important tweaks to the latest Era, Brood. We've resolved an issue with the Jyeeta Artifacts never having the correct demand in different zones. You'll now find they can sell for even better prices! We've fixed a way that you could short-circuit the challenging "Hulking Carrier" mission and skip right to the end. We've resolved some bugs with Brood story objectives that stuck around even when they should have disappeared. And finally, we've made some balance changes to the Terrox Horrorcaster weapon and the distribution of both types of xeno ships to ensure you see a wider and more fun variety but also that the challenge ramps up appropriately. We've also clarified the Talent description for the Navigator's "Skip Off the Void". Where it previously stated that the Talent would "burn" a certain amount of fuel, it now clearly states "requires". If you're running low on Fuel, you'll find this Talent can't be used, so be sure to make shorter runs between zones in high danger areas. This is not a change to rules -- just a clarified description.

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is coming!

As we have moved into the v3 family of the Star Traders: Frontiers roadmap, we're excited to share our upcoming next game. In Cyber Knights, you are the razor-sharp leader of a covert merc company operating in the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human drama story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world. Coming to KickStarter in Feb 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.

v3.0.19 - 12/4/2019

- Rebalanced Recruit Levels, base recruiting level increases with each major Era - Maximum Contact Recruit level is now 28 (with Rep, Eras, Traits, Rank, Permit, Edict, Rumors) - Clarified Navigator "Skip Off the Void" fuel requirement in talent description - Rebalanced Terrox Horrorcaster Weapon Damage - Rebalanced Jyeeta and Terrox ship distribution - Fixed demand and pricing for artifacts collected during the Brood Era - Fixed issue with "Hulking Carrier" mission allowing you to skip to the end - Fixed hanging story objectives when Brood Era ends - Fixed inconsistency in Agility Engine stat tooltip - Fixed mission typos or missing values in descriptions

[ 2019-12-04 17:50:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're kicking open the doors for the Black Friday sales with 35% off Star Traders: Frontiers! And, to help celebrate we're including Update #190 for free. To be clear, all 189 updates before this one have also been free ... heck of a deal! With Update #190, we've added a new ship, an entire new class of hyperwarp drives, a pile of new crew barks and have kept hammering through community feedback on all the little quality of life things. Thanks again to the thriving community for posting so many ideas and suggestions and for leaving reviews! So, tell a friend -- its the biggest discount of the year! Save 35% all weekend.

Moklumnue Defender

The great trade networks of Moklumnue demand powerful ships to transport cargo but also to protect those valiant traders. The latest Moklumnue-only faction ship, the Azure Defender, is just that. Weighing in at a mid-range 6000 Mass, the Azure Defender boasts a well-balanced set of component slots with 12 small, 7 medium and 4 large. While having a lower base armor and base shield but high base fuel, it can also house the largest set of officers for a 6000 Mass ship -- a total of 7 command positions over 36 standard crew. The base model comes equipped with a Traveler Void Engine, Combat Hyperwarp Drive, Shielded Officer Suites, two Defense Matrix 4 and an array of long range weaponry. It's a powerful ship ev en as it lifts off from the starport for its first flight.

Warhammer Hyperwarps

With Update #190, we've added a new class of hyperwarp drives -- the Warhammers. FItted for all Mass classes of ship, the different versions of the Warhammer drives can service on Mass 2400 all the way up to Mass 9000. Warhammer hyperwarp drives provide the highest possible ship skill pools -- boasting high Pilot, Electronics and the very best in class Navigation, as well as including Shielding and Armor. However, the trade offs are in price and jump cost. Those ships building with Warhammers are not made for long distance travel, seeing almost double the jump cost of standard drives. We've also changed the availability of Combat Hyperwarp drives to ensure they are a little more challenging to find to fit their value.

Additional Barks

With Update #190, we've included new barks suggested by the community and some additional barks from our team to further characterize the Flashbacks, Deathwish, Drive and Bandit Traits. We're always working to improve the variety of barks and to make them more context-aware and this set is especially fun. For those crew members who have been through some hard times and come out for the worse or more hardened, they'll have some new things to say.

And Moar!

With every release, we're sourcing input from the community in form of suggestions or bug reports and trying to improve the game from every little angle. We've fixed the minimum requirements for C-Tak and Railtrak 3 and 4 ship components. We've fixed a longstanding bug with certain UCF Contacts simply "disappearing". It is possible that some captains will suddenly see a chunk of new UCF contacts across different worlds appear. We've improved the scoring for the "Rare Discovery" card -- if the Rare Good ends up being Artifacts, then it is properly counted toward your artifact discovery score. Finally, we've fixed the log message for Conflicts ended by stories like the Faen-Char Duel of Assassins and put in a potential fix for the inability to click the sell button on some Windows configurations with full screen.

Calling All Cyber Knights!

While we still have a lot of work to finish out the Star Traders: Frontiers development roadmap, we're excited to be coming out of the pre-production phase on our next game and ready to share. In Cyber Knights, you are the razor-sharp leader of a covert merc company operating in the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world. Coming to KickStarter in Feb 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.

v3.0.17 - 11/27/2019

- Added new ship: Azure Defender (Clan Moklumnue) - Added 6 new ship components, the mighty Warhammer Hyperwarp Drive (M2400 up to M9000) - Fixed too common availability of Combat Hyperwarp Drives - Added new crew barks for Flashbacks, Deathwish, Driven and Bandit - Fixed bug with "disappearing" Contacts or Introductions that led to no Contact, usually a UCF Contact - Fixed minimum Military requirements for C-Tak and Railtrak 3 and 4 - Fixed event log but with any Conflict ended by the start of Faen-Char Duel of Assassins - If "Rare Discovery" card turns up Terrox Artifacts when picking a Rare Trade Good, properly scored as discovering artifacts - Fixed issue with inability to click on "Sell" button in Exchange while in fullscreen on some machine configurations (workaround, alt-tab)

[ 2019-11-27 21:27:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #189 continues to deliver on the enemy making full use of craft squadrons. With this update, enemy carriers -- including the dreaded jyeeta -- will now launch fully operational boarding shuttles! In addition, we've added a new Contact Trait, fixed some final bugs with the Jyeeta and xeno-related Talents, rebalanced a bunch of ship components and fixed a missing--but very important--clause about how the Swordsman's Sharp Counter and Wing Commando's Whirling Blade work. Up next, we're working on a string of new vignette storylines -- thanks KickStarter backers :D If you're enjoying the updates and free expansion packs, be sure to leave a review and tell a friend.

Boarders, Incoming!!!

While the enemy captains have been launching craft from their bays since the drop of the BROOD expansion pack, it is finally time for them to launch boarding shuttles as well. We've tiered these releases to be sure that captains have time to adjust to the new content and meta requirements. Shuttles -- especially those from jyeeta -- are going to make things a little more challenging! Be sure to keep your own boarding defense party ready and well-equipped in case some pirates or xeno kick open an airlock!

Rightful Counterattacks

Both Swordsman "Sharp Counter" and Wing Commando "Whirling Blade" Talent lost a critical part of their descriptions a few updates ago. Both of these attacks leave a lasting buff that enables the character to counter-attack against any enemy in the front two ranks who tries to attack them -- hit or miss. It's a key part of why these Talents are so valuable and now its back in their description!

Fix and Balance

With this update, we're following up on community suggestions and bug reports about components, Talents and lots of things! We've fixed the bug with Explorer "Artifact Profiteer" that prevented it from working with Jyeeta artifacts. We've fixed Hull Plating 4 which had the wrong stats, as well as rebalanced Defense Pattern Matrix 1 versus rank 2. We made some fixes to the Contact discount % display -- they had become mismatched with the last update for some service types. We've also resolved an icon mismatch for the Commander Talent "Inspiring Squadron" and tightened up the rules about changing ships in dry dock.

Calling All Cyber Knights!

While we still have a lot of work to finish out the Star Traders: Frontiers development roadmap, we're excited to be coming out of the pre-production phase on our next game and ready to share. In Cyber Knights, you are the razor-sharp leader of a covert merc company operating in the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world. Coming to KickStarter in Feb 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.

v3.0.13 - 11/12/2019

- Enemy ships, including Jyeeta Xeno, will now use boarding shuttles effectively to board at range - Added new Contact Trait "Legacy Seeker" for those obsessed with pre-Exodus finds, recruits Explorer - Explorer Talent "Artifact Profiteer" now correctly fires when selling Jyeeta Artifacts for bonus profit - Fixed missing description in Wing Commando Talent "Whirling Blade" and Swordsman "Sharp Counter" that allows counter-attacks while its buff is active! - Rebalanced Defense Pattern Matrix 1 vs 2 - Fixed issue with "Witness Protection" mission allowing it to be completed out of order - Fixed bonuses of Hull Plating 4 (now Void/Rad res instead of Boarding bonuses) - Fixed all Contact Discount services to match display and reduction %s - Fixed icon for Commander Talent "Inspiring Squadron" - Fixed some edge case bugs with Dry Dock ship swapping

[ 2019-11-21 19:34:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

While we released 3 sizeable patches in the wake of Update #187, our first big update following the BROOD milestone is #188, Gundecks Roar. In this update, we've made some more important improvements to the new Brood era, improved the warning you get before encounter jyeeta, added a rank 15 Gundeck Boss Talent, improved autocannons against craft, and added 5 new craft defense and attack related components, and as always, more too. Check the full release notes for everything! If you're enjoying the pace of updates and the new major expansion pack, please sure to leave a review and tell a friend.

Brood Improvements

With Update #188 we've addressed the two biggest pieces of feedback from the player-base for Brood -- the jyeeta carriers are a surprise and you needed more time to defeat the era. For the first, we've now added a discussion between your officers and the captain about the known aspects of jyeeta that make them so challenging as soon as the era starts -- consider it a better pre-warning. Second, if you're getting involved in the jyeeta era, following the story and knocking down the brood score, you are constantly extended the timeline you have to defeat the era. The more you're involved, the more time you get. For those who want the era to end as quickly as possible so you can get back to peaceful trading, don't get involved! We've also added a correct story mission objective to help you find the Brood quadrant as soon as it starts. Or, you can always check the Rumors screen to see the current Era and plot a waypoint.

Take Down All Zigs

The Gundeck Boss has gained a new rank 15 Talent to help eviscerate incoming craft with a +50% Damage bonus only to craft and a +10% craft hit chance. While it needs to be paired with other craft accuracy components or Talents, the massive Damage bonus can let you really light up incoming bombers and interdictors! In addition, we've modified Autocannon rules to ensure that if you are fighting at close range with an enemy they will fire at craft on either side of the screen -- either those that have closed on your ship or those sticking close to the enemy ship, where before they only fired on those that have closed. This gives your ACs an entire additional turn to fire at craft if you can close on the enemy carrier, increasing the value of the strategy of getting close. Of course, watch out because the enemy ACs have the same rules now too. Quick note on the enemy -- the AI controlling craft is now smarter about launching craft and will avoid launching too many defensive interdictors once you are inside of torpedo and missile range.

New Ship Components

Five new ship components have been added with this update, all enabling more focused anti-craft ship builds. The Railtrak Guidance Matrix 3 and 4 are going to further improve your ability to take out enemy craft before they reach you. You can only pick up the RTGM 4 at a Steel Song starport though. The C-Tak Interceptor System 3 and 4 give the reverse, increasing your defenses and ability to avoid incoming craft and bombing runs. The CTIS 4 is only available at Zenrin starports though. Finally, we've added a Thulun-only Reactive Hangar Bay which is a way to gain additional % chance to dodge craft attacks. This modified hangar has defensive systems for the ship while still housing a craft. However, you'll have to trade the Armor or Shield or your Reinforced or Shielded Hangar Bays for it. Finally, with Update #188 we've made some needed balance changes to defensive and offensive components in regards to +Initiative buffs. Defense Pattern Matrix ranks 1 through 3 have had their +Initiative bonus removed. They are still amazing even without it. Defense Pattern Matrix 4 retains an Initiative bonus, but it has been lowered to a +1. Finally, we've added +Initiative bonuses to aggressive Targeting Matrix components ranks 2 to 4. As bonus Initiative determines who fires first and therefore who gets Crippling Effects or knocks out enemy components, we're going to ensure these types of bonuses are found mostly on offensive ship components in future additions and balance updates.

Ship Discounts

Ships are expensive and the discounts against them can really add up quickly. For a long time, Contacts and Talents could each provide a 15% discount. With this update, we've finally reduced that discount to 10% for either. While this hurts, it is a needed balance for the price of ships, resale rules, and to help ensure the differentiation between hull prices is enough.

Calling All Cyber Knights!

While we still have a lot of work to finish out the Star Traders: Frontiers development roadmap, we're excited to be coming out of the pre-production phase on our next game and ready to share. In Cyber Knights, you are the razor-sharp leader of a covert merc company operating in the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world. Coming to KickStarter in Feb 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.

v3.0.11 - 11/15/2019

- Participating in the Jyeeta Brood Era extends the storyline timer, giving more time to succeed - Added mission objective to make it easier to find the Jyeeta Brood Quadrant - Added officer warning about the dangers of fighting jyeeta carriers and strategies you might consider - Added rank 15 Gundeck Boss Talent "Take Down" grants +50% damage to craft and +10% to hit craft - Autocannons firing at range 1 or 2 will now fire on craft near their own capital ship if no enemy craft have closed yet - Improved AI intelligence about launching interdictors when they cannot intercept torps or missiles - Added Railtrak Guidance Matrix 3 and 4, grade 4 is Steel Song only - Added C-Tak Interceptor System 3 and 4, grade 4 is Zenrin-only - Added Thulun-only "Reactive Hangar Bay" giving some ship defense against craft while docking a craft - Removed +Initiative bonus from Defense Pattern Matrix 2-3, reduced DPM 4 +Init bonus, added +Init bonuses to Targeting Matrix 2-4 - Reduce cool down on Gundeck Boss Talent "Dead Eye" and Explorer "Tag the Beast" to ever 3 weeks - Reduced maximum price reduction for Contact's "New Ship" discount to 10%, maximum Talent discount to 10% - Increased some ship prices purchased at the starport - Improved limit on appearance of Jyeeta Brood Era to make sure it cannot show up unfairly early - Fixed miscounted cargo in the "Stockpiled for Riches" mission involving weapons stashes - Fixed hovers with some Jyeeta rumors missing description

[ 2019-11-16 14:13:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

The BROOD has been awoken in this major new expansion pack which includes a extremely challenging Story Era, the new Gundeck Boss Job and invites enemy captains to command carriers and launch squadrons of attack craft. With the drop of this major expansion, we're inviting new captains to come sail the quadrants and save 35%. If you're enjoying the game and the continuous stream of major expansions without any DLCs, please take a moment to leave a review or tell a friend. If you're new to the frontiers, post your comments, feedback and suggestions to the discussion board or join us on our Discord where there is a great community to help!

Brood Awakens

To avoid spoilers, we won't say much about the ancient, slimy, snaky void-slug evil that has slept since the time of Shalun. The BROOD Story Era will start during the 3rd or 4th Centuries with a series of introductory stories. No matter how old your game is, it will start if you play for a few years -- as always we work hard to make sure veteran captains can keep enjoying new content without any restarts. Prepare your ship, sharpen your blades, load up on hexshell. This one won't be easy, captain.

Enemy Carriers and Gundeck Boss

Enemy captains now have the fully operational battle carriers! High level human captains of certain professions like Military Officer may challenge you in the void, ready to launch interdictors, bombers and boarding shuttles against you. And, the jyeeta race is well known for its craft swarms. In both cases, it is time for your captain to consider some changes to ship weaponry, ship components, Talents and even perhaps Job distribution on the boat. Consider the % to hit craft when picking ship weapons, as you'll want to blow the enemy craft out of the sky before they reach you. Take another look at Autocannons. Consider of the C-Tak and Railtrak Guidance components that play double-duty on your ship, or Pilot Assist Modules which help your capital ship evade bombing runs. Finally -- most ship Jobs already provide Talents with capability to jam, disable or debuff craft, and now a new specialist Job has arrived as well.
The new Gundeck Boss Job brings a strong anti-craft capability to any ship, combining the sensibilities of a quartermaster with the skills of a gunner. Stalking the gundecks, the boss roars orders, pinpoints targets and rallies morale in ship combat. Adding Gunnery, Intimidate and Repair, the Gundeck Boss is a great cross-Job for a ship officer but can make for a powerful stand-alone crew member. Even on a small ship, the Gundeck Boss can make a big impact versus carriers.

Roadmap Next Steps

With the BROOD expansion, we've closed down the entire v2.6.x family of the roadmap, adding the promised 7th story Era and the jyeeta xeno species in a single blow. We've also completed our goal to add +33% new Jobs and Talents and +50% new Contact types and services after the game's release, which means we're starting to tick off some of the big boxes in the Content Expansion Goals as well.

Next Project Announced!

While we still have a lot of work to finish out the Star Traders: Frontiers development roadmap, we're excited to be coming out of the pre-production phase on our next game and ready to share. In Cyber Knights, you are the razor-sharp leader of a covert merc company operating in the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world. Coming to KickStarter in Feb 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.

v3.0.1 - 11/4/2019

- Added 7th Story Era: Jyeeta Xeno Brood Awakens! - Added new anti-craft "Gundeck Boss" Job! - Enemy captains may now fly carrier ships including the dreaded Jyeeta Xeno and their swarm - All new simulation rules, Rumors, Conflicts, and Contact actions/mutations during this new period of galactic threat - Added new Era-specific Echoes that forever change the simulation due to the 7th Era - Added 4 new Era-specific Rumors which can affect entire quadrants, systems and wilderness zones and multiple Rumor echoes which can appear anytime after Era - Added 1 new Era-specific Contact Type, the controversial Xenologist, who will also echo and appear after Era - Added 5 Era-specific Contact creation rules to seed the Era new blood - Added 4 Era-specific special cargo rules for Spies, Merchants, Smugglers and Pirates - Added 5 Era-specific Explorer cards which can also echo and appear anytime after Era - Added 6 Era-specific Orbital Ops and Salvage cards which can also echo and appear anytime after Era - Added new Era-driven ship encounters and mechanics when meeting the Jyeeta xeno in the void - Added 13 new Era-specific crew barks for different Rumor typess - Added new Rare Trade Good, Jyeeta Artifacts - New Spice Hall recruit of Xeno Hunters during Jyeeta Spore system Rumor - Rippling effects of story choices made all the way back in the first Era bearing fruit - Added new Contact type "Fleet Commander" offers high rank and edict, pardons, ship upgrade discount, recruits Gundeck Boss - Renamed Contact Trait "Naval Vet" to "Wing Vet", added new "Naval Vet" Contact Trait - Contacts with "Naval Vet" Trait gives more weight to Faction Rep, has +1 bonus level to Recruits, and Recruits Gundeck Bosses - Increased duration of Navigator's "Fast Getaway" Talent to 3 turns from 2 - Buffed Battle Prow 1, 2 and 3 components with improved Electronics and Boarding Bonus - Rebalanced Military Officer's "Incite Victory" Talent - Fixed bug with Sell All sometimes still selling "F" demand resources - Fixed issues with total component counts sometimes reporting incorrectly in starport - Fixed issues with Awards -- Survivor III, Navigator I, II and III - Fixed issues with some enemy Talents showing up in the player's log

[ 2019-11-04 19:53:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #186 rolls out the last pack of critical changes before the next major milestone -- rebalancing some aspects of ship combat, improving the AI's Job/Talent training routine, improving high level ship weapon components and tweaking some of the cards related to fighting xeno and harvesting artifacts. Following this update, we're marching straight for the next major milestone which will include a new era, new xeno type and enemy carriers! If you're enjoying the pace of constant updates, be sure to leave a review and tell a friend! You can see some of the "making of" the Jyeeta xeno race on YouTube. This time lapse video compresses a multi-hour animation session into a few minutes. [previewyoutube=Uau5UBcrhnA;full][/previewyoutube]

Boarding and Gunnery Rebalance

We've made some important changes to the meta around boarding defense and ship weapon Gunnery requirements that may impact your ship builds. First -- we've changed the rules for boarding defense. In the past, Boarding Bonus was directly applied to your boarding defense which means a ship built to board is also excellent at defending against boarding. With this shift, we've reduced the Boarding Bonus contribution to boarding defense by 50%. Without a doubt, this is most likely to help the AI. Most players who are boarding have already figured out how to get 100% boarding success where the enemy who attempts to board fails more than 50% of the time. This change should make Bounty Hunters, Pirates and other boarding aggro enemy captains more fun and challenging. Second -- we've increased the Gunnery Skill Pool requirements for many ship weapons above level 4 from anywhere from +1 to +8 points. Overall, this pushes the Gunnery Skill Pool higher which may require you to adjust your crew compositions to find additional Gunnery Skill, depending on how many high level weapons you have on board. However, it will also increase the accuracy of these weapons and impact the AI's interest in having higher Gunnery Skill.

AI Talent Selection

With Update #186 we've completed the final round of AI hardening before the release of enemy carriers. This update includes improving the ability for captain and officers to balance their Talent selections by upfront planning some of the decisions and needed Talents for their ship type and size. Also, the AI is now putting more weight into higher level Talents to help drive smarter choices and harder to beat strategies. Another improvement was to avoid too many duplicates of the same Talent. This includes toning down the number of Twitch Surge's that any ship crew will take.

Artifact Card Adjustments

With the new xeno race coming it means a new type of xeno Artifact and Rare Trade Good coming as well. As we're working our way through all those impacts, we're balancing and improving the Terrox ops cards. The reward of the Explorer card "Xeno Spore!" can be improved by Mining Ship Components. In Salvage, "Xeno Assault" has an increased number of artifact rewards if you survive the double stacked xeno fights. We've also fixed a bug where Traits gained after Crew Combat where not immediately appearing. Also, finally we've closed the final set of reported bugs for the Buried Demons storyline, including some issues with dialog lying about Trike's final fate.

v2.6.29 - 10/25/2019

- Improved intelligence of routine training enemy ship's officers to make smarter Talent selections - Improved balance of enemy ship's Pilot taking Twitch Surge Talent - Rebalanced Ship Combat - Boarding rolls to make defense weaker and buff attack bonuses - Increase Gunnery Skill Pools for most ship weapon's above level 4, increasing ship accuracy as well as Gunnery pool needs - Adjusted visuals in ship combat to clearly differentiate between captain's ship and craft and the enemy ship (and craft soon) - Artifact haul for "Xeno Spore!" Exploring card (xeno plus an artifact stash) is now increased by Mining Ship Components - Increased the Terrox Artifact rewards when fighting xeno in Orbital Salvage card "Xeno Assault!" - Fixed issues with Traits gained by crew combat victory not appear for a little while or until game reload - Fixed story bug where dialog would state Trike Zermotte lived when he actually dies - Fixed crashes in Ship Combat related to Small Craft

[ 2019-10-26 13:22:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #185 rolls out with another set of additions -- new Talents, new advantages to old Talents, new Rumor effects and many improvements across the card mini-games and Trait mutation rules for the game. If you're enjoying the relentless pace of updates, new changes and additions please be sure to leave a review and tell a friend!

New Talents - Morale Crushers

Drawing on some inspiration from community suggestions, we've pushed new alternatives for Morale-damaged focused builds into the Talent set for ship combat. Commander has gained a new powerful rank 15 Talent, Warning Shots, which reduces their own damage but debuffs the enemy's move, escape and inflicts nasty Morale Damage every turn. In addition, Gunner's "Signature Homing" (rank 1), "Targeting Lock" (rank 1) and "Scattershot" (rank 8) Talents have all gained +10 Morale/turn to enemy crew, giving some new and quick options to add Morale damage to your starting and standard builds. A final new Talent has gone in for Diplomats at rank 11 -- Compelling Conscription -- allows these quick talkers to lean hard on a new conscript and come onto the ship with higher Morale and without any negative Trait mutation.

Recruit Rumors

Rumors that are focused on Recruiting bonuses -- including Mercenaries, Spice Festival and Academy Graduation -- all the now ensure the doors for recruiting at the spice hall are always open. In situations where these Rumors could appear on low starport worlds there was not enough starfaring interest in the zone to drive recruitment. Now, these Rumors temporarily boost that.

Mutating Traits and XP

Across a number of card game operations and combat scenarios, we've fine tuned and improved the rates for Trait mutation and XP gain. Traits are slightly more likely to appear now on crew combat victory and slightly less likely to appear on ship combat draw and hyperwarp jump (which are both very common events). We've added new Trait mutation paths for Ship Combat Victory, Craft Destroyed (assuming you survive!) and Craft Landed to help further shape those brave men and women who take to the void in bombers, interdictors and shuttles. In addition, larger planets now cost more Fuel and Time to land on, so have your Piloting Talents ready.

v2.6.27 - 10/18/2019

- Added new Commander Talent "Warning Shots" at rank 15 - reduce enemy move, escape and crush their Morale - Added new Diplomat Talent "Compelling Conscription" at rank 11 - pressed crew start with higher Morale and don't gain negative Trait - Gunner Talents "Signature Homing" (rank 1), "Targeting Lock" (rank 1) and "Scattershot" (rank 8) all gain +10 Morale/turn to enemy crew - During Mercenaries, Spice Festival and Academy Graduation Rumors, the Spice Hall is always open for Recruiting even if Starport rating is below minimum - Recovery of relic wargear during Exploration slightly more common, increased during "Gold Rush" Rumor - Radiation and Molten worlds are slightly riskier for Exploration - Very Large Planets take slightly longer and more fuel to make planetfall - Slightly increased Trait Mutation rate for Crew Combat Victory, slightly reduced for Hyperwarp / Ship Combat Draw - Added new Trait Mutation paths for Ship Combat Victory, Craft Destroyed, Craft Landed - Very slightly increased Experienced earned in Ship Combat Victory - Display of ship's offered price added to dry dock sale confirmation dialog - Fixed missing "Unexpected Revelation" cards in Explorer decks, experience granting card now appears again - Mechanized enemies no longer Bleed or suffer Poison Damage - Fixed bug in map hovers where Repair service that was denied by Rep might not show as disabled - Fixed bug with Hietta Lumotte's court (no longer appears)

[ 2019-10-18 20:39:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #184 arrives with continued focus on polishing up the quality of life features, improving the UI and hitting major points of community feedback. As we keep marching to the exciting and dramatic end of the v2.6.x roadmap family, we're focused on hitting all the big points in the quality of life section of our to-do list. We'll be hammering away at this for a few more releases and then we'll be ushering in a new major blast of content! Thanks to everyone leaving a review and telling a friend.

Sell All Improvements

Immediately a popular feature, Sell All rapidly garnered a lot of smart feedback and suggestions on how to make it even better. Right away, we heard selling everything that was able to turn any profit mean you're incorrectly selling sometimes at F demand for a few credits -- so you have to abandon the button and go back to selling one by one. Therefore, we have added a Minimum Demand slider which you can raise from F to A+. Any resource that has less than this demand won't be sold when you click "Sell All". Our testing merchants cruised through hours of profitable play without ever having to sell anything manually! This setting is remembered from Exchange to Exchange within your game, so set it where you like it and let it ride! Also, to avoid nasty or nice surprises, we've added a warning about Trade Ban Conflicts as well as Embargo and Blockade Rumors, which can respectively damage or raise your Rep when trading. These warnings are visible from the Sell All view and can help you avoid mistakes here. A huge thanks to everyone pouring fuel on the feedback fire for this one.

Sell Ship Confirmation

We've added a helpful confirmation dialog to selling a ship as a few players have been stung by a misclick here. Thanks again to everyone suggesting the little things to make the game even smoother.

Orbitals Continued

Over the last couple of releases, we've worked to revamp the balance of Risk and Reward factors throughout all of the orbital games. We've pushed another set of balancing changes with Update #184 as well as increasing the impacts of the Plague Era and Meteor or Ion Storm Rumors. These dangerous events make this type of activity very dangerous and you should -- more than ever -- consider a lovely spying trip when meteorite storm is whizzing through the system.

v2.6.25 - 10/15/2019

- Exchange and Black Market "Sell All" now includes a preference for the Minimum Demand (such as B+) to sell cargo, cargo under this Demand is not sold - Exchange and Black Market "Sell All" now warns about Trade Bans, Blockade Rumors and Embargo Rumors that might increase or decrease Rep with every sale - "Sell All" button always appears when opening Exchange or Black Market sale screen - Added confirmation dialog to Dry Dock ship sales to avoid accidental sales - Additional balancing and fixes for Risk and Reward factor weights in Orbital Ops - Increased impact of Plague Era in Orbital Ops (Salvage, Patrol, Spy, Blockade) - Increased impact of Meteor and Ion Storms on Orbital Ops - Fixed issues with buttons overlapping in Exchange on for some screen sizes - Clarified description of some card game Talents - New SFX for "Meteor Damage" during Orbital Ops - Additional SFX for Xeno Encounters in Orbital Ops and Explorer

[ 2019-10-16 04:25:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #183 brings a series of new features to the starport and exchanges on grav worlds to help established merchants, prize ship hunters and captains of all type get their void-faring work done faster and easier. We've also made a pile of changes to improve the October Community Challenge which put some odd strains on the game! If you're enjoying the pace of updates, please leave a review!

Firefly Tour Challenge

Update #183 includes some fixes and balance changes specifically aimed at making this month's community challenge more playable. The community challenge -- linked below -- involves surviving 14 years with only Officers and your Captain on board the ship, in honor of Firefly's 14 awesome episodes and their tight knit group. October Community Challenge: Firefly Tour Update #183 reduces the minimum head count required for Orbital Ops to 5 which makes this far more achievable with officer-only setup. We've also fixed a bug with the screen locking up on orbital missions if you have less than the minimum head count on board. Finally, we fixed a bug we had never seen before -- the "chain of Storytellers" in which one Storyteller could boost another Storyteller's Morale who would in turn boost another Storyteller's Morale ... its not something you'd ever see in a larger crew but it was causing some occasional issues for this popular challenge!

Fire Sale!!

The Exchange and Black Markets now have a new fire sale button! The "Sell All" button will sell all goods that can be sold in the current market at a profit. The button is not picky about how much of a profit, so be sure to check the totals displayed in the table before clicking -- even a few credits will get a cargo row tossed into the fire. However, for most trading this is a welcome addition to speed up the pace of cargo hauls! Thanks to the players suggesting it and enjoy!

Repair Dry Docked Ships

Ships parked in dry dock have long had the disadvantage that they could not be repaired. This could create some challenging situations for launching them as sometimes their officer cabins or barracks could be so damaged that your current crew couldn't transfer over for a valid launch event! Now, you can repair local dry docked ship in the starport by swapping into their repair list. Use the white arrow button in the repair box in the zone to open the repair detail and you'll see a list of any dry docked ships there. Swap in and repair! This can also help you net a better price when selling a ship, as component damage tanks the resale price of a vessel. We've also made some improvements to how certain classes of story missions are set to expire -- specifically those by Calagan Faen and the Arbiter. In both cases, now as the Eras roll by and major political events happen if the mission is still pending as an offer from the Contact it is immediately expired. However, if you've already accepted the mission then it will not expire out from under you suddenly.

v2.6.23 - 10/9/2019

- Added "Sell All" button to Exchange and Black Market which makes all profitable trades in a single click - Added ability to repair locally Dry Docked ships in the starport - Improved story handling of expiring missions for Calagan and Arbiter Brokstrom -- better cleanup for mission offers and no clean up for missions in progress - Fixed crash for Community Challenge "Firefly Tour" to prevent possible crash during Paying Wages - Reduced minimum head count required to engage in Orbital Ops and orbital missions to 5 - Fixed bug causing game freeze when attempting an Orbital Ops mission with less than minimum head count - Added note to all orbital operations (Spy, Blockade, Patrol, Salvage) that 5 is the minimum head count required - Improve new Trait mutation paths for even better results, fixed bugs causing some characters to get Trait overflow

[ 2019-10-09 22:28:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #182 is almost entirely dedicated to Traits and Contact Traits with a massive addition of 15 new Traits, one new Contact Trait and further refinement and deepening of all Trait mutation systems. With this big addition, we're excited to finally be marking some of the content items off the dev roadmap -- having now exceeded 210 Traits, we've cleared the "+100% Traits" goal that we put up for Trait expansion. This doesn't mean that more Traits aren't coming, but we're getting close to knocking down a number of these categories (+33% Jobs and Talents is next). If you enjoy the constant updates and new free content, please leave a review and tell a friend!

Piles of New Traits!

Update #182 comes loaded with new Traits, many of them inspired by or directly suggested by the community. A big thanks definitely goes out to @DrSpendLove for suggesting at least half of these! We've got -- Ace Pilot, Bad Eyes, Bloodstained, Bulky, Daredevil, Diggermind, Fast Talker, Flexible, Lonehawk, Maimed, Surehand, Self-Taught, Wayfarer, Well-Rounded!!! That's quite the list and its a mix of good and bad Traits to enjoy. Ace Pilot, Daredevil and Lonehawk are specifically craft pilot focused, so watch for these when considering your choices on carriers. We've also spent some time tuning and refining the Trait mutations, creating more links between Traits and game events and preventing odd Trait crosses. With this update and the new additions, we've added more strong faction-links to Traits -- meaning Traits like Diggermind are most prevalent on Javat where existing Traits like Spatial are most likely to appear in Alta Mesa crew. We've improved the list and added more to further differentiate the factions over the course of your crew's Trait evolution. If you end up with Bad Eyes from exposure to Radiation or Maimed after falling under xeno claw, you can visit Chaesin and Gestalt clinics -- they can help recondition these Traits out.

Contact Traits

With Update #182, we've added the 60th Contact Trait -- Hunted. A Contact who perhaps has had a brush with death or assassins in the past can't shake the feeling that someone is gunning for them. Hunted Contacts hire out Bodyguards, avoid violent missions and offer cheaper pardons. In addition, we've pushed more rules about Pardon pricing to Contact Traits -- Traitor and Corrupt Contacts are willing to take lower price Pardon offers as a form of bribes while Greedy Contacts always charge more.

Desertion

We've made some nice improvements to desertion this update. First, we've increased the maximum bonus that a veteran's tenure can provide from 25% to 35% -- their weeks and years on your ship will now make them even more resistant. Combined with other factors (landing on a world that doesn't match their faction, on a world that is a syndicate when they are a clan or just landing somewhere indie) your vets can reach over 100% resistance to desertion. Another important note about desertion -- the new Wayfarer Trait can cause some issues with Officers. Those Officers who have Wayfarer gain +4 Wisdom by they are also wanderers and seekers and are willing to jump ship if their Morale is low, even when they are Officers. Otherwise, Officers never desert. So, be sure to know your Officer's Traits. We've also fixed a bug that cause the Ship Skill Pools to not correctly update after desertion was prevented by Talent or Trait.

v2.6.21 - 10/4/2019

- Added 15 new Traits (Ace Pilot, Bad Eyes, Bloodstained, Bulky, Daredevil, Diggermind, Fast Talker, Flexible, Lonehawk, Maimed, Surehand, Self-Taught, Wayfarer, Well-Rounded) - Added more strongly faction-linked Traits for newly recruited crew (Javat to Diggermind, Alta Mesa to Ace Pilot, as well as others new and old) - Added more Trait mutation paths from ship and crew combat results - Added new Trait "Surehand" which can grant Gunnery Skill Bonus up to +12 - Maimed and Bad Eyes can be healed by a mix of Chaesin and Gestalt Reconditioning - Added new Contact Trait "Hunted" with cheaper Pardons, less violent missions and Recruits Bodyguards - Updated Contact Traits Corrupt and Traitor to charge less for Pardons while Greedy charges more - Fixed issue with some bonus Skills from officers not appearing in Ship Status / Logs (from Neverlost, Spatial) - Increased maximum desertion resistance bonus that a long tenure on the ship can give a crew member by 10% up to 35% - Fixed bug with Desertion prevention Talents and Traits not always causing Ship Skill Pools to refresh properly - Corrected inconsistency in Born Hunter Trait description

[ 2019-10-04 19:23:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

While we are still hard at work on Star Traders: Frontiers dev roadmap -- with another big Era release and major milestone coming this month -- we are very excited to preview our next project -- Cyber Knights RPG. It is early -- we're deep in pre-production -- but want to share the exciting news (outside of our Patreon who have been watching for a while). Cyber Knights invites you to lead your shadow company of mercs through the New Boston Zone in 2231, testing not only your skill and what you'll compromise to make it big but also your loyalty to each other and how much you're willing to sacrifice. Built on a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights layered over merc company management, base building and criminal networking, Cyber Knights weaves a sharply human story in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world. So, while it is early, if you like are enjoying Star Traders: Frontiers, like our style of games or love our dedication to updating and expanding our games, sign up to get the call! In the meantime, enjoy some concept art and tell a friend! Cyber Knights RPG is coming.

[ 2019-10-04 02:35:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #181 arrives to close out September and helps us preps for a really big October. With this release, we've added new character outfits, are nearly done rebalancing all of the Risk and Reward factors in the operations, pushed in some important ship component improvements and have done another round of minor improvements to the quad map and star atlas. From here, we have a few more big quality of life focused releases coming up before we drop the later October update that will close out the v2.6.x family of the dev roadmap with a bang, a boom and a scream in the void (new xeno, new era, new Job!).

New Outfits

While most of the outfits in the latest additions have all been matched, we've added two unique outfits today with Update #181. Before you get your pitchfork, these outfits were suggested and detailed by some of our Patreon supporters (https://patreon.com/TreseBrothers). If they're popular, we'll look into making a matched set for each but these are additions thanks to our awesome patron crew who support us every day. First up, we've got a space-punk swordsman and second up we have a sleek and simple fashionable attire suitable for captains, diplomats, merchants and also I am betting that works for assassins too. You try and tell us what you think, captains!

Rebalance Spy Risk and Reward

We've been gathering feedback and input on the new Risk and Reward rebalance and by and large are very happy with the new results. We've continually rolled out new sets of Risk and Rewards for a new type of operation each update for the last few updates, to be careful not to upset everything at once. Still, everything in the orbital and ground ops just feels better now, and the feedback is good so we are marching forward! Spy has now had its Risk and Reward math, all reported bugs fixed and all oddities about really high Skill pools causing unpleasant results are resolved.

Ship Component Improvements

With Update #181 we improved the Valkri Missile Pods, the level 8 ship weapon. For that price tag, they needed to pack a bit more punch and accuracy. We've also added Ship Ops requirements to every Prisoner Cell and Passenger Cabin. This helps bump the Ship Ops pools on ships that may be investing heavily in Missions and is overall a definitely improvement for captains across the void.

Improved Map and Star Atlas

We're bringing in new suggestions from the community every week and this week we picked up a few more related to the Star Atlas and the main star map hovers. We've added Trade Permit values to the hovers over zones so you don't need to remember whether or not you have a permit with a faction when shopping on the map. Also, we've added the phrase "trade law X" to the searchable term -- while it isn't perfect it can help when you're looking for some specific trading zones. We've got a few more great requests this week about QoL in these areas and are looking forward to rolling in more community feedback in the next updates! Thanks to everyone leaving a review and especially to our Patreon supporters.

v2.6.19 - 9/27/2019

- Added 2 new character outfits suggested by Patreons -- sleek and stylish outfit and gray and space-punk swordsman - Improved Risk and Reward factors weights for Orbital Spy including all zone stats, Rumors and other influences - Improved balance of level 8 ship missiles, Valkri Missile Pods - Added Trade Permit level with faction to hover over systems on the quadrant map - Added minor Ship Ops Skill requirements to Passenger suites of all kind and rebalanced Ship Ops requirements for Prisoner cells - Fixed bug that allowed some non-local starting Contacts to end up on Indie zones - Added searchable string "trade law X" for all visited zones in the Star Atlas - Fixed issue with incorrect jump count shown when navigating to distance quad from Star Atlas - Fixed mobile issue where too many Contacts could run off screen

[ 2019-09-27 21:07:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #180 comes burning out of the system, opening up the frontier for traders, pirates and anyone traveling the void's lanes. With a major new filter in the Star Atlas, a new unlockable ship for purchase, further extension of the new enemy ship selector and a full rebalance of Blockade's risk and reward system, Update #180 full of improvements requested by the community with solid adds of new content.

Star Atlas at Range

The new star atlas jump filter allows you to populate the Star Atlas with zones that are outside of the currently selected system. The default comes up only showing the local zones, but if you want to cast your net wider, you can pull down the filter drop down and pick any range up to 4 jumps distant, and these zones will load in. This will greatly increase the number of potential zones shown, as even using the 1 jump filter will pull zones from any quad within 1 jump -- which might be 1 to 4 new quads on the regular. So, it is very important to use additional filters and search to narrow down the list. For example, look for any wilderness zone within 1 jump. Or, search for any zone that "sells explosives" within 3 jumps. Or search for a "mining" zone within 4 jumps. You can peruse what the galaxy has to offer with new ease! Sorting by distance can be a big help to keep things useful.

Azurite Cruiser

Locked behind the Master Explorer unlock, the Azurite cruiser is 7000 Mass class combat vessel coming off the starport shelf with many upgraded components including multiple Shielded and Reinforced types of components, Deflector Array 4, upgraded weapons and more. Also promising the best-in-class base Armor for a 7000M ship and with the highest medium slot count of 10 and still packing 11 smalls -- the Azurite stands out as combat ready but also prepared to be retrofitted for many other types of duties. The AI isn't yet flying the Azurite but will get the option soon.

Blockade Risk and Reward

The same major rework coming through Explorer and Patrol has now touched down in Blockade. All of the underlying math to determine Risk and Reward from your crew's Skills as well as all of the local factors from Danger to the zones' Economics, Starport and Military have been fine tuned and improved. We've also made a second pass on Patrol, tweaking a few things and make it even better. You'll really feel the benefits of Patrolling and Blockading at ripe systems and can feel the pain of doing it in the wrong places even more clearly.

Quality of Life

We've also jammed a pile of community requests and reported fixes into this release. A long running issue that allowed some of your starting Contacts to end up in Aetaan Char's faction has been resolved. We've further expanded the AI's ship selection routines, spicing up Pirates and Military Officers with a few more options. We've added some missing tooltips to the crew list screens and to craft during ship combat. Finally, we've fixed some issues with hanging story objectives in some branches of the new Era content.

v2.6.15 - 6/17/2019

- Star Atlas now supports jump filter, allowing viewing of systems outside of the currently selected quad, up to 4 jumps - New Ship: 7000M Azurite Cruiser (Heavy Combat Ship) - Unlock Azurite Cruiser with Explorer II - Permanently fixed all occurrences of starting Contacts being in Aetaan Char's faction - v4 of rebalanced enemy AI ship selection -- now with more than 110 ship AI - Revised and Updated Patrol risk and reward weights based on player feedback and results from v2.6.13 - Improved Risk and Reward factors weights for Orbital Blockade including all zone stats, Rumors and other influences - Improved hovers for Small Craft in Ship Combat - Improved missing tooltips on Crew List / Trait List / Talent Manifest screens - Fixed hanging story objectives that could be left during Buried Demons story branches

[ 2019-09-18 16:11:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #179 brings another wave of improvements to enemy ship selection, a rebalance of all the risk and reward factors for Exploring and Patrol, as well as adding all the missing operation Talent sections to the Talent Manifest (Explorer, Black Market, Salvage). We've also pushed more powerful and varied effects into Rumors, Military Rank and high Rep with factions. As we start the march to the next major Story Era and Job milestone, we're hammering away on quality of life, systems balance and community suggestions. So a huge thanks to everyone posting feedback, suggestions and bugs!

Ships Galore

We used Update #178 as a release and testing ground for the new rewrite of the enemy AI ship selection. This let us test out the new system, gather data and we had to hotfix a critical bug. Now that everything is confirmed working, with Update #179 we've revved the engine and actually applied gasoline. Boom! The enemy ship AI has a better sense of progression and has more than 100 more options across the board through the tiers of levels and with different captain types. We're eager to hear feedback from the player base, but we've taken this very important project slowly in multiple stages to ensure that this part goes smoothly and leads to a more balanced, fun and challenging experience for all captains at all difficulties.

Risk and Reward Factors

With Update #179, we've completed a rewrite of the Risk and Reward factors of Patrol and Exploring. The factors remain unchanged -- Explorer, Tactics, Danger, etc -- are all still what derive the % for Common, Good and Rare rewards, for example, but the math to combine all those factors has been adjusted to better take into account the large swing of scale of these values as well as the modifiers of Rumors and Conflicts. This also addresses some issues that were reported about the values oddly shifting as certain Skill Pools got very high as well as some oddities with high Danger planets not being dangerous enough. They're dangerous, we fixed that! One of the dangerous improvements to Explorer is that system-wide Ion Storm and Meteor Storms now increase Exploration risk of ship and crew damage.

Talent Manifest Expansion

We've now added the 3 missing sections to the Talent Manifest to cover all the wide variety of Talents for Explorer, Salvage and Black Market. Each major Talent type has its own section, making it easy to check on your crew's prowess within any given specialty operation and the cool down status of these Talent groups.

Rumors, Rep and Rank

We've added more effects to high Reputation, high Military Rank and recruiting Rumors. First up -- very high Rep Captains can gain additional bonus levels recruiting anyone from a zone with Starport 8 or higher. These bonuses can be especially significant when combined with other Rumors and factors -- starting at 500 (+1 non-combat), 800 (+1 all), 1100 (+2 combat, +1 all others), 1400 (+2 all) and 2100 (+3 all). Next up -- Permit Rank 4 and Military Rank 13 and higher both have gained additional bonuses to their recruit types. For example, Permit 4 now gives +2 level bonus to Smugglers. Spice Festival, Academy Graduation and Mercenary Rumors also all got their level bonuses boosted, giving even better options for spice hall and contact recruits. With all the changes, the new theoretical maximum for a recruit is now level 16, but it would take a lot of work and the right Rumor conditions!

v2.6.13 - 9/11/2019

- v3 of rebalanced enemy AI ship selection -- now with more than 100 ship AI - Improved Risk and Reward factors weights for Explorer including all zone stats, Rumors and other influences - Improved Risk and Reward factors weights for Orbital Patrol including all zone stats, Rumors and other influences - Very High Rep Captains (Star Hero and above) increase bonus Recruit Levels from affiliated Starports of Rating 8 and above - Increased Recruiting Level Impact of Rank 13, Mercenaries, Graduation and Spice Festival Rumors - Revised some negative Trait mutation tables to better match each event's theme (void, wilderness, spice, piracy) - Ion Storm and Meteor Storms now increase Exploration risk of ship and crew damage - Fixed bug where a Military Officer might be sailing a Xeno Spine ship (oops!) - Fixed bug that allowed xeno ships to surrender due to Morale loss in certain situations - Fixed occasional crash in UCF Founding cut scene

[ 2019-09-12 03:37:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #178 follows on the coat tails of the HIGHFALL expansion with all new improvements to the enemy AI ship selection logic as well as a wave of new ships showing up in the hands of enemy captains. We've also fixed a pile of issues with Buried Demons and the HIGHFALL story Eras, some typos and label mismatches and rebalanced a few ship components.

Enemy Ship Selection

We've focused on this major change for this update, as we have completely rebuilt and rebalanced the enemy AI's ship selection logic. The first and foremost benefit of this is that enemy captains have far more variety available to them in their ship selection. This has not only increased the variety you'll see in lower levels, but granted higher level captains access to more powerful ships later in the game. Finally, this will further improve the appearance of faction specific ships, making it all the more likely that an enemy captain will be flying one of these rare hulls. As with many of the big improvements we've been making to the AI stack, this has its roots in adding carriers to the enemy's arsenal. Another big notch ticked for that project!

HIGHFALL Story Eras

A big thanks to everyone reporting any inconsistencies or bugs with the Buried Demons story and the resulting story Eras that can come out of it. We've been receiving saved games and details from players and have swept the board pretty clean of remaining issues with #178. In this patch, we've cleaned up the last vestiges of some of the major characters (won't name them for spoilers, but you know...) having the opposite reaction to your actions than expected.

v2.6.9 - 9/7/2019

- Rebuilt and rebalanced enemy AI ship selection -- captain types have more variety in their ship selection - Enemy captains gain more access to different and more dangerous hull types as they progress in level - Enemy captains are more likely to use their faction's unique ships, especially military type captains - Resolved issues with main characters in Buried Demons having wrong reactions after the Era start - Fixed label for mass reduction components in ship display and starport - Fixed ECCM Screen Matrix 3 and 4 Ship Ops level - Fixed reported crashes and typos -- thanks!

[ 2019-09-07 18:03:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #177 follows up on a big week after the release of the Dissension/Consolidation Era with HIGHFALL major milestone. We're working to get back to regular order and quick cycle updates, but still have some patching and clean up to do. Tonight's patch focuses on major improvements to the starport upgrade rules, filters and sorting as well as some important story patches.

Salvage Bay Rules

Every Star Trader's vessel requires a cargo hold -- at least one, of any size. With Update #177 we've made a rule change that now allows the large Salvage Bay components to count as a cargo hold. These Salvage Bays provide cargo storage and also important bonuses for anyone playing the Salvage orbital op. We've removed the restriction that prevented these cargo-providing components from counting for the rule and have opened up some new and exciting angles for ship design!

Starport Filters and Sort

The list of specific improvements to filter and sort is pretty long and can be probably summed up in "more filter categories, better filter specifics and better sorting." Overall, its cleaner and easier to use and find what you are seeking, but just try it out and see what you think. In specifics -- since Salvage Bays are now counting as cargo bays, they appear in both the standard "Ops" filter as well as the "Cargo" filter. We've added both "Offensive" and "Defensive" filters and reclassified the components which fit into these to be clean and clear. This has also meant a lot of shifts about what is in the "Ship" filter, but again its clearer and simpler. We broke a new filter category "Medical" out from the Crew filter entirely, except if the medical component provides an Officer Cabin it still appears under "Crew". Similarly, we broke out "Mission" from Cargo entirely, splitting off Passenger and Prisoner components. Finally, for filter, the "Small Craft" filter now includes Launch Bays *and* Hangars which it was missing before. Potentially even more importantly, we rebuilt the default sort in starport upgrade screen to group components together (all Nav Assist Modules together by default) which is a huge boon in finding things faster.

Buried Demons and new Era

We've patched all the reported story issues -- thanks to everyone for sharing these and especially for sending in saved games. A few crashes were fixed, including those at the end of the "False Trail" mission. We've also fixed an issue where Trike would appear unexpected even though you had made choices that mean he shouldn't be there. A few more bugs were fixed and we'll keep hammering away at any and all situational mistakes we've made until everything is 100% smoothed out. Thanks for playing and if you're enjoying the game please leave a review!

v2.6.7 - 9/2/2019

- Salvage Bay components now classify as Cargo Hold to fulfill the requirement of always having a cargo hold - Improved, re-categorized and added more starport component filters to make finding upgrades easier - Salvage Bay components now appear in both "Cargo" and "Ops" filters in starport upgrade - Added "Offensive" and "Defensive" filters to starport upgrade and reclassified components into "Ship" to simplify search for components - Added "Medical" filter to starport upgrade for all medical bay and hospital components (separated from Crew) - Added "Mission" filter to starport upgrade for specific Passenger and Prisoner component types (separated from Cargo) - "Small Craft" filter in starport upgrade finds both Launch Bays and Hangars -- easier to equip your carrier - Improved default sort in starport upgrade screen to group components together (all Nav Assist Modules together by default) - Fixed crash at the end of Arbiter's "False Trail" Mission - Fixed issue with decision in Trike mission not being correctly remembered later - Fixed issue with Rep damage not actually processing at the end of one of Buried Demon's choices - Fixed reported crashes and typos -- thanks!

[ 2019-09-03 12:25:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Today's Deal: Save 33% on Star Traders: Frontiers!*

Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are!

*Offer ends Monday 9/2 at 10AM Pacific Time

[ 2019-08-27 17:10:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

The HIGHFALL major milestone unleashes a massive new story addition with 2 new story Eras as well as a new highly defensive fighting job, the dual wielding Bodyguard. This major new story expansion includes a major arc that moves forward the political story of the galaxy, brings new powerful characters to the fore and threatens to upend some of the order you may have helped establish. Please be careful with spoilers within the community, there is some *major* stuff in here! On top of this major milestone, now is the time to join in and save 33%. If you're enjoying the game and continuous stream of major new updates without any DLCs, please take a moment to leave a review or tell a friend. If you're new to the frontiers, post your comments, feedback and suggestions to the discussion board or join us on our Discord where there is a great community to help!

Cracking Open v2.6.x

With this update we've smashed open the new group of the development roadmap. The first item in v2.6.x has fallen with the release of these two dueling eras and the new combat job. To see more detail about what is coming next, check out our development roadmap which details the next major features and content expansions as well as our on-going content expansion initiatives.

Two New Story Eras

This update releases a major wave of story content, major branch points for the galactic story, new characters to meet, new rewards to chase and new challenges to face. This includes 2 new Eras -- Dissension and Consolidation -- which are mutually exclusive in the storyline. Your choices might help drive the galaxy one way or the other. And with each comes a heap of new content and additions to explore -- all new rules for the simulation including 2 new unique Rumors, 4 Era-specific rules for what types of cargo enemy ships are carrying, 6 new Contact creation rules to set the tone of the Era as well as a specialized Conflict setup rules and more. You might see some ship you've never seen before due to these Eras and will definitely meet some all new characters. Keep an eye out for the "Buried Demons" storyline introduced by Silvaine von Sha to get a start on it. These Eras will only get started if you've already reached the 3rd Century Era, but will appear in any game no matter how far along you are. In the dept of "even more new stuff" these Eras can also release up to 3 new specialist ship components as story rewards as well as an entirely new tier of ship weaponry!

Bodyguard Joins the Ranks

The Bodyguard Job is now available as the 34th Job of the frontiers. This defensive-focused fighter dual wields pistols and blades while mixing high power defensive buffs with well-aimed disabling hits. Protecting a target is a mix of keeping the enemy off balance and blocking incoming hits. The Bodyguard boasts a truly new Talent type -- Honor Guard which grants an 75% Auto-Block chance to a friendly crew member who is behind the Bodyguard. Each hit that is blocked has a 50% chance of ending the buff, but its a great way for a front-line bodyguard to protect the back-line. The Bodyguard is also unique in having 4 Skills which stretches his or her Skill set pretty wide -- Pistols, Blades, Evasion and Tactics. Without a doubt, the best Bodyguards will be Officers with complementary Jobs. The Job combinations are staggering and extremely fun to play with -- from the Assassin, Military Officer, Bodyguard to the Spy Bodyguard, Swordsman -- there are too many too count and we're excited to see what you captains cook up! Bodyguards can also provide life saving Talents to protect other crew and officers and special mission bonus payments for passenger and prisoner missions. Bodyguards can be recruited from High Princes, Judicial Counsels and Courtesan Contacts.

v2.6.1 8/26/2019

- Added new pistol-blade wielding "Bodyguard" Job, unique defensive fighter and team defender! - Added 6th Story Era: either the Era of Dissension or Consolidation - Choose a side in the growing galactic tension between the UCF unionists and the faction leadership - All new simulation rules, Rumors, Conflicts, and Contact actions/mutations during these new chapters of the United Coalition - Added new story vignette to introduce the Era, "Buried Demons" with Thulun Intelligence Officer - Added 3 new specialist ship components available through story choices and rewards - Added 2 new unique crew weapon/armors available through story choices and rewards - Added 2 Era-specific Rumors as Coalition power shifts -- "Anti-Coalition Riots" and "UDF Recruitment Drives" - Added 4 Era-specific special cargo rules for Merchants, Smugglers and Pirates - Added 6 Era-specific Contact creation rules to seed the Era new blood - Added 8 new ship weapons released by the Era progressions -- gear up for advanced warfare! - Added 3 new major story characters who can have wide impact - Added new Era-driven ship encounter and mechanics and 2 new Era-driven cards for orbital ops games - Added 2 special Missions available in different story paths of the Eras, including a chance at a first meeting with legend from Templar Battleforce - Rippling story impacts can flow into other Eras like the Plague - Recruit Bodyguards from High Prince, Judicial Counsel and Courtesan Contacts - Improved Alta Mesa component "Battle Bridge" with Void/Res Resist and +Accuracy % - Contact Search now picks up Trait-based services like Offer Rumor due to Techno Addict Trait

[ 2019-08-26 23:36:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

We dropped a quick Sunday night patch to stabilize a few bugs that had escaped the lab due to the new Era development. In the Crowning Smuggler storyline an unexpected character might appear and spout some nonsense. Also, there was a crash in the lab near the end of Zette's storyline. Both are fixed! Thanks to everyone for reporting. v2.5.89

[ 2019-08-26 02:23:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #174 continues to hammer on quality of life improvements while we wrap up the next story Eras back at HQ. We've expanded the search feature into Star Atlas as well as adding 4 new filters which can be combined to make finding a specific system, buyer or seller of a cargo type much easier. we've also better marked Rare Trade Goods within the galactic map, improved Contact introductions and tweaked some of the rules for the Plague Era to ensure mission prices are right as well as letting Kloxian Medical Bays get in on the fun. If you're enjoying the pace of updates, please leave a review and tell a friend. This should be the last update in the v2.5.x dev family. v2.6.x is NEXT :D

Searching the Star Atlas

Searching Contacts was a hit, so we've wasted no time moving the solution into the next most critical list in the game -- the Star Atlas. You can now search the atlas for all sorts of helpful terms such as "mining" to find all mining zones or "population" to find both pop and lux pop zones. You can search for "stash" to find where you have stashes too. But, to the great glee of merchants and smugglers across the galaxy, the best is definitely the cargo type search. You can search "sells explosives" to find any zone that can legally sell you explosives or type "buys crystals" to find a buyer for what you've got in your hold. The search takes Trade Law and Rumors into account as well, so you can now find your next stop very quickly and with great precision!

Rare Trade Goods

To help the quadrants where Contacts can gain access to Rare Trade Goods be more evident, we've bubbled them up to the galactic map. Alongside Rumors, Mission and Contacts you can now see a map mark for the availability of Rare Trade Goods, and hover to see exactly which one is available where. Of course, you still need to find a Contact with the Influence, Rep and service to sell you such valuable goods, but the hunt is far simpler now!

Other Improvements

We've made two tweaks to the Plague Era -- first counting Kloxian Medical Bays as a type of medical supplies for different Rumors within the Era. Second, due to some calculation issues, some story Contacts in the Era were offering terribly priced missions -- now resolved! If you're looking to get an Introduction from a Contact, you'll find that they are a little more upfront about the destination of the second Contact, not only listing the jump count but the quadrant and system name as well.

v2.5.85 - 8/21/2019

- Added search feature for Star Atlas -- search "mining" to find Mining Zones, "sells explosives" or "buys explosives" to find zones that trade explosives, plus combine with filter and sort - Added 4 new filters to Star Atlas to quickly seek zones that have Repair, Upgrade, Doctor or Spice services - Quadrants with Rare Trade Goods available now clearly marked on galactic map and in quadrant hovers - Selling Kloxian Medical Bays to infected zones can now help break Infected Rumors - Contact Introductions now list the name of the Contact's system and quadrant - Improved mission offers to recognize round-trip missions that are only in the local quad - Improved pricing on some of the cargo delivery missions during Plague Era and increased their ability to scale to your cargo/permit level - Fixed issue with Ship Fuel displays in New Template - Fixed bugs that allowed certain ships to move without using fuel

[ 2019-08-22 02:32:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

For Saturday afternoon fun, we've released a quick patch to help fix some issues and improve some of the new features from yesterday. This patch fixes some of the start ship prices -- some of the accidentally shifted in Update #173 and bumped ships into different categories. The Longbolt is now back in category D. We've also fixed a bug that was causing some cut-scenes to resist clicking to advance. They were basically unplayable and you had to skip them. Sorry - now fixed! Finally, we've made the first round of improvements to the Contact Search feature. We've changed the searchable text to more closely align with the visible text -- searching "Spy Recruits" will now get matches as that is what you can see on the screen. We've also changed a few game terms to separate keywords -- Spy Missions are now Espionage Missions, Diplomat Missions are now Diplomatic Missions and finally Doctor Missions are now Medical Missions. This should help prevent some keywords from crossing and getting false positive results. We're hard at work on getting the Star Atlas search perfected, so stay tuned for exciting updates to come!

v2.5.83 - 8/17/2019

- Fixed pricing on some starting ships that had moved categories (Longbolt is now back in D) - Fixed bug preventing clicking from advancing cut-scenes like those at the start of the game - Renamed some mission giver categories to make search easier ("Spy Missions" is now "Espionage Missions", "Dipomat" is "Diplomatic" and "Doctor" is "Medical") - Improved searchable text to match visible text fixing some mismatches (searching "Spy Recruits" now correctly gets hits)

[ 2019-08-17 21:51:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #173 lifts of the starport tarmac with a roar bringing a long awaits UI improvement to the Contacts list, 4 new ship components, better rules for high Rep protecting against Rank/Permit/Edict loss and more. A huge thanks as always to all the players posting feedback, suggestions and bugs who help us drive continued improvements to the game! We're in the final ramp up to the next major move on the Development Roadmap. A few updates from now, we'll be rolling out 2.6.1 with major new story Eras, galactic shifts and more! https://steamcommunity.com/games/335620/announcements/detail/1696055855739611821 The map seed above is st-v01-40-6-10776916 if you're interested in a a nice multi-directional sprawl.

Searching Contacts

This request has been very popular for a while and we're excited to finally deliver. You can now search your Contacts for specific terms such as "quartermaster", "generous" or "prince missions". The search is a single keyword, so "prince missions" will only find Contacts who offer that type of mission, and anyone who offers any type of Mission and all Princes. You can also search zones, systems or quadrants like "Northpines" or specific Contact types like "Gestalt". Search can be combined with filters and sort for the best effect. We're rolling out Contact search as a first trial of the setup to gather player feedback, see if there are any issues and test the waters. From there, we will move on to other exciting areas like the System Atlas.

Anti-Craft Components

As we continue to fight the good fight to get enemy carriers to be ready, we've introduced a new set of Small slot anti-craft components. These components also have general bonuses that might make them appealing to wider ship design. The Railtak Guidance Matrices components add standard Accuracy bonus as well as an improved chance to hit enemy craft. The C-Tak Interceptor Systems increase a capital ship's chance to avoid craft attacks, increase Initiative and also provide Void Resistance. While you may not be running to your nearest starport to install these just yet, the enemy AI ship builder is interested in using them and since you can capture enemy ships ... anyway -- they are nice!

High Rep Protection

With Update #173, we've rolled out an improved set of contextual rules for the loss of high grades of Ranks, Permits and Edicts. As you cross the 100 positive Reputation mark, these faction perks becomes more difficult to lose. Each category has its negative Reputation threshold loosened a little bit at the 100 Rep mark. For Military Ranks, it goes from -2 to -4 Rep to lose a Rank. For Permits, it drops from -3 to -4 and for Edicts -4 to -5.

Weapon Locker Prices

This deserves to be a full heading. The princes of Weapon Lockers have been increased. You can now get an A4 for what you used to be able to get an A5. The middle tiers are also more expensive in a better curve. The enemy's access to Weapon Lockers has been adjusted accordingly to match.

Component Improvements

Both Launch Bays and Hangars have gained Skill Pools to help them integrate into ship builds more directly. We've also simplified some of the requirements for ship components, removing some of the lower Economy requirements, cleaning up Starport requirements and fixing a few tiered sets of components that had contradictory requirements.

v2.5.81 - 8/16/2019

- Added search feature for Contact list -- search "Quartermaster" to find specific recruits, "Generous" to find certain known Traits, and combine with filter & sort - Added 2 new "Railtak Guidance Matrix" ship components to increase chance for capital ship to hit Craft and general Accuracy % - Added 2 new "C-Tak Interceptor System" ship components to increase capital ship evasion against Craft, Initiative and Void Res - Above 100 Rep with a faction makes it more difficult to lose high level Rank/Permit/Edict by 1 to 2 pts (-4 for Ranks, -4 for Permits, -5 for Edict) - Launch Bays and Hangars all gain Ship Ops and Electronics Skill Pools - Increased prices of Weapon Lockers A2 thru A5 - Fixed a number of component sets that had inconsistencies in Starport / Military / Economy requirements - Reduced complexity in low requirements for components (removed all Economy 2 requirements, etc) - Added System Danger rating to Star Atlas for better seeking recruits, orbital ops, etc - Fixed pricing and component count issues with Skylift Carrier and other ships - Fixed bug with De Valtos Grand Lux Suites not always providing 22% bonus - Fixed some keyboard issues in the HUD and subwindows

[ 2019-08-16 20:05:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #172 comes roaring out of atmo and into full orbit with a new ship and big community requested improvements to the Talent Manifest. A big thanks to everyone who is posting feedback, suggestions and bugs. This update includes a bundle of changes requested by different players all using the Talent Manifest -- straight from the community boards to you! We're hammering through preparation to crack open the next phase of the development roadmap, the v2.6.x family. Another big Era is coming, and this update includes a lot of internal prep for the next Era, which we're on the brink of releasing. https://steamcommunity.com/games/335620/announcements/detail/1696055855739611821 Now, on to the exciting new stuff!

Skylift Carrier

The Thulun starports have produced a new heavily armored freighter that uses fighters primarily for defense -- the Skylift Carrier. It is well equipped to protect crew and cargo and its design prefers armor and speed over shielding and agility. It features an oversized Warhammer Void Engine more commonly used in battleships. The Skylift is a secure cargo hauler's dream ship. It's a beast of a carrier boasting 12 small, 10 medium and 6 large slots. Oh, it also has a passenger cabin :)

Talent Manifest

First, we've enabled collapsible sections throughout the Talent Manifest which was needed as we've loaded 5 more major groups into it. You can now quickly browse the major sections, and view the groups you want. There are even more sections coming, but with this update we've added a new "After Landing" section that covers Talents like Listening Post and Generous in Service. We've also added an entire group for "Contacts" which includes Talents that reveal traits, discount services, ranks, introductions and the rest. To test the groupings, we've added a section to cover the 3 core types of Orbital Ops -- Blockading, Patrolling and Spying. If these are found helpful by the community, we'll add Salvage, Black Market and Exploring as well to round out the set. So far, we're still keeping Crew and Ship Combat Talents out of it. Those will need to be visible in their own blocks and also visible in the Ship Encounter screen, so they are coming soon as well.

Xeno Scores

We've also fixed an issue that was causing xeno battles encountered through Missions to be incorrectly underscored for Unlocks, Awards and for your Captain's Score. This is now resolved!

v2.5.79 - 8/10/2019

- Added SkyLift Carrier new massive carrier at 8000M class, 5 Craft and 7 Officer - Unlock Skylift Carrier with the "Adventurer" Award - Talent Manifest sections can now be toggled open/close to enable longer list of talent groups - Added new section to Talent Manifest for all "Contacts" Talents including discounts to rank, edict, permits, introductions and Trait reveals - Added new section to Talent Manifest for all "After Landing" Talents including Generous in Service, Listening Post, etc - Added new section to Talent Manifest for 3 orbital ops -- Blockading, Patrolling, Spying -- with all active and passive Talent types - Separated "Makeshift Repairs" (wilderness landing repairs) and "Port Maintenance" (urban landing repairs) in Talent Manifest - Aded Electronics Tech "Alert Scanner" Talent to the "Travel and Hyperwarp" group in Talent Manifest - Fixed miscounted Talents in the Black Market trades over $5,000 category in Talent Manifest - Fixed scoring issue with xeno missions not properly counting xeno battles

[ 2019-08-10 18:42:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #171 rolls out with some exciting new changes to how Contact Traits can affect Missions, a second round of QoL improvements to Mission offers, sharpening the teeth of all crew and ship danger cards in operations, better weighting for xeno-related missions and more! If you're enjoying the pace of updates, please tell a friend and leave a review!

Hidden Agenda Missions

Contact Traits have gained some new teeth with Update #171. Unknown Traits can now keep some of a Contact's true agendas hidden until they are known. The first type of Trait-Mission relationship like this is in the Cult Leader Trait, the Xeno Obsessed Trait and the Collector Trait. Much like recruit bonuses from Traits which only function when the Trait is known, these Traits now add special types of Missions once they are known. Once your Contact has let you in on the secret that he or she is dabbling in a cult, they're willing to start asking you to help them with that secretive side of their life. In this case, a new Mission is available that will ask you to gather Terrox Artifacts through xeno ship combat, exploring, salvaging or however and stash them on a wilderness world for the Contact's agents. This new branch of the Contact Trait hidden impacts has a lot of potential and we can't wait to see more Trait-Mission combos added over the coming updates! Finally in other xeno-related news, we've also adjusted the weighting on the Xeno Hunter mission giver to make it more likely that the focus will be on missions to hunt down and destroy xeno.

Operational Dangers!

Across the board, the cards that warn of ship or crew danger have gained in power in both Orbital Ops and Exploration. These cards can be at times easy to avoid if you have enough of the right Skill saving Talents on hand. But now, they have some more serious teeth and if you fail to save them you're going to feel it. A few fails in these common cards can send a crew back to a landing zone for some R&R. These changes help shift more value into the ship components that can pull the teeth out of these cards by mitigating crew and ship damage in ops.

Improved Mission Offers

Based on feedback from players (thanks @gravling) we've doubled down on the improvements to the mission offering screen. It now shows the total jumps and offered price of the mission, as well as the distance of the first jump. If the mission is one-way, meaning that all of the jumps lead to a single destination and there is no return trip, this is also noted in the mission offer. These extra details in the summary will help players stay out of the extended mission description. We'll keep grinding on improving this section as we go!

Trade Alliances and Permits

We've updated the rules for Trade Permits in Trade Alliances and fixed a long time bug. The bug was allowing honoring of permits up to grade 4 when the rules stated only grade 2. We've met in the middle here, allowing Trader Permits to honor up to grade 3 and fixed an issue with the logic on grade 1 permits always being counted as 2.

Missions and Stories

We've made some important tweaks with Update #171 to specific missions and stories. We've fixed a faction mismatch in the "Smuggler Snatch" Mission. We've also doubled the timeline for the "Call of the Strong" Mission, basically making Commander Axeil far more patient. And of course, a lot more. Check out the full release notes below!

v2.5.77 - 8/3/2019

- New Contact Trait specific Mission Types - Stash Xeno Artifacts - Contacts with "Cult Leader", "Xeno Obsessed" and "Collector" Traits may ask you to find xeno artifacts for them, if you know the Trait - Introduces new "hidden agenda" missions pattern based on Trait knowledge - Improved mission offer display to show both total mission jumps and price as well as distance to first step - Mission offer summary now calls out missions that are one-way -- you jump out to the destination but are not paid to return - Improved power of Trade Alliances and Trade Permits -- factions will now honor up to grade 3 Permits - Doubled storyline timeline for "Call of the Strong" storyline - Improved faction targeting and description of "Smuggler Snatch" mission type - Adjusted penalty to selling price on indie worlds to be -10% - Improved the weighting of Xeno Hunter mission types to focus more on xeno - Increased danger from Crew / Ship Danger rolls in Orbit and Exploration - Fixed bug with "Bandit" Trait allowing more than 3 character Traits to jack the bonus above 30% - Fixed some Salvage cards that were not reporting loss of Rank/Permit/Edict due to Rep loss - Clarified time required to remove Trait through Contact Trait Reconditioning Service - Fixed bug where a anti-xeno Mission might be shown as assigned against another faction - Fixed Rare Trade Good counter in character template creation when selecting contacts - Fixed Crew Combat log bug that caused initial target's defensive stats to be printed for every target in AOE attacks - Fixed display bug showing negative ship component damage under some circumstances

[ 2019-08-03 01:59:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #170 rolls out with a big focus on captain's quality of life in ship status and while planning how to upgrade your ship. These changes are a continuation of work we began last week and improvements that have been requested by different players. We're happy to deliver more ship component icons as well as visually marking the level of all tiered ship components directly on the icon! A huge thanks to everyone posting feedback, suggestions and reviews!

Component Level Visible

Whenever you're looking at a ship component that has a level as part of its description, you'll now see that level in roman numerals over the icon, easy to read and see at a glance. This is a huge help in being able to visual share a ship design. It is also even more important when browsing component lists within the starport. Along with this, we've done some name standardization to be sure that any component which is part of a tiered setup (1 to 4, etc) has the level in its name (Pilot Assist Module 1).

More Component Icons

We've also added a new set of component icons for the different modules of your ship -- differentiating Armor-focused components, Shield-focused components, those types of seals and plating for orbital ops and ship combat, as well as spike modules. We've also added icons for the exo-crawler exploration components and differentiated Warhammer and Behemoth Void Engines.

v2.5.75 - 7/27/2019

- Improved ship component display for shopping, sharing and planning - Added new component icons for Armor components, Shield components, exo-crawler, Behemoth and Warhammer void engines - Added new component icons for operations seals and protectors, spike modules - Added level tag to all icons for all ship components in sequences (Fuel Tank 1 to 4, etc) - Improved consistency of naming of ship components, especially those in a sequence (Pilot Assist Module 1) - Fixed reported issues with Mission jumps - Clarified rules for Rank / Permit / Edict loss in the Contact details panel

[ 2019-07-28 02:06:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #169 comes hot on the heels of the last one due to a bug in th emission jump calculations on some platforms. This is now fixed with Update #169, but a few other nice improvements got caught up in the net and are ready to ship! So we ship!

Motivation Engine

This patch includes a reduction of the chance of Trait mutation for some very common activities like visiting a doctor in the landing zone, making a hyperwarp jump or ship encounters that end in a draw. This will help further balance the traits of crew to be about more interesting events like emergency HW jumps, ship victories or exploring wilderness zones. We've also completed a pass to tie more Traits to more mutation events, improving on the concept that your actions directly drive and develop the type of crew that hangs around you.

Captain's Log

We've added a number of new entries to the captain's log with Update #169. These include reaching major level thresholds with your captain -- 20, 30 and 40 -- as well as promoting officers or dismissing crew. In addition, we've added more story event logs which help tie together the arc of a story when you are looking back over your captain's log. We've made additional balances to the Dart Jammer, Degla Megalift, Skylift Carrier which is an on-going process as we are balancing out ship components and crew/cabin masses.

v2.5.73 - 7/25/2019

- Fixed reported issues with Mission jumps - Improved variety of traits in motivation engine / mutation rolls - Reduced Trait mutations from Doctor, Hyperwarp, Combat Draw - New Captain Log Entries for Promoting Officer, Dismissing Crew Members - New Captain Log Entries for reaching Level 20, 30, 40 - Added new story event logs for major story events like second Arbiter mission - Fixed icon for Defense Pattern Matrix - Ship Balancing for Dart Jammer, Degla Megalift, Skylift Carrier

[ 2019-07-26 01:44:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #168 rolls out in the heat of the end of July, bringing another new ship, a major redesign to the Sword Cutter, improvements for some faction-specific ship components and some major player-driven improvements to the mission offer and current mission lists. We're also grinding through some balance tasks across all of the card games. If your'e enjoying the game or the pace of updates, please consider leaving a review and telling a friend!

Warmaster Victus Interceptor

The Victus Interceptor is the premier construction template for the fifth generation Juror class solar yacht. The Victus is a sleek, efficient vessel with very flexible operational capabilities for a ship of its mass. The hull's architecture is was planned to save mass and hull at every step which makes two small craft bays possible. Boasting a famous knife-like design and a bold black-and-red color scheme, the Victus is a favorite of those captains who love to terrify their opponents. Access to the ship requires the Warmaster unlock.

Mission Estimations

With Update #168 we've made some very helpful improvements to the Mission offer and current list of Missions. First, we've removed all inconsistencies between the two screens. There were fields (price and distance) that were not shared cleanly between the two -- now they are all. Also, we've ensured the price and distance calculations for each mission include the sum total of all steps. If the missions summary on the left states "2 jumps" it is correctly counting the 1 jump there and the 1 jump back. Once the mission is accepted, you'll see the same summary in the current Missions list.

Faction-specific Ship Components

With some great input from the community, we've made some changes to ship components -- thanks @peterbbesen! The Mass on Zenrin-only "Armored Officer Suites" has been fixed to 225. We've added Void and Radiation resistances to both the Cadar Shielded Barracks 4 and the Alta Mesa Reinforced Fuel Pod to set them apart from stock options. The Alta Mesa Reinforced Fuel Tank (medium) has also gained a small Fuel bonus as well as some Pilot and Electronics Skill Pool bonuses to help stay competitive.

Card Game Balancing

Across the wide world of operations, we've made a ton of changes. Many are for the moment in the form of higher XP bonuses for critical actions, like ending or reducing Rumors timeline (Quarantine) or for the card that uncovers a new Rumor. In the Black Market, learning a new Contact or uncovering a new Rumor will also yield higher XP rewards. If you're salvaging, the time and fuel cost of crew risk cards has gone up. We've also made some Rumors more impactful on the Black Market -- the Ion Storm system Rumor and Civil Unrest zone Rumor now make the Black Market significantly easier to reach.

v2.5.71 - 7/25/2019

- New Ship: Victus Interceptor (3400M, Warmaster Unlock) - Improved Mission offer and accepted missions list -- correct jump count and price always shown on both, local missions marked as such - Redesigned and repriced Sword Cutter from 800K to 480K - Improved Cadar "Shielded Barracks 4" with Void and Rad Resist - Improved Alta-Mesa only "Reinforced Fuel Tank" with +2 Pilot, +2 Electronics and +4 Fuel - Improved Alta-Mesa only "Reinforced Fuel Pod" component with Void and Rad Resist - Fixed incorrect Mass on Zenrin-only Armored Officer Suites medium component - Changed classification of Kloxian Reaver and Cognisense Balm - Orbital Ops: Increased XP bonus for ending a Quarantine Rumor by 100% - Orbital Ops: Increased XP bonus for reducing a Quarantine Rumor by 50% - Orbital Ops: Increased XP bonus for uncovering a Rumor by 20% - Increased Turns and Fuel used when Crew are injured during Salvage operations - Black Market: Increased XP bonus for uncovering a Rumor by 200% - Black Market: Added major XP bonus for uncovering a new Contact - Reduced Crew morale loss during Black Market failures by 20% - Civil Unrest Rumor now makes Black Market access considerably easier - Ion Storm Rumor makes Black Market access considerably easier

[ 2019-07-25 17:14:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #167 is rolling out during the Steam Space Exploration Sale where you can save 33% on Star Traders: Frontiers. The frontier awaits, so get in here or help a friend find their way to the bridge! With this update, we've made some major rebalances to the pricing system of missions to ensure that single-stop and short jump missions to increase their minimum prices, added a pile of new helpful icons for different ship components, rebalanced some of the ships affected by the Mass reduction of cabins and barracks, added 2 new Contact Traits that allow specialist recruits and made some improvements to Black Market Traits that will help smuggling access to more common. If you enjoy the pace of updates, please tell a friend and leave a review!

New Mission Pricing

An important balancing upgrading has come to Mission pricing to help ensure that shorter missions, very far away missions and missions that only involve one step are all fairly balanced in price, as well as valuable throughout the life cycle of a long captain's career. In general, this is going to appear as a bump to many mission prices and a focus on making individual steps worth their jumps.

New Ship Component Icons

We're returning to ship component icons this week to inject a new level of variety and clarity to their visual style. We've added new icons that separate Officer Cabins from Barracks, as well as a new icon to separate Combat Hyperwarp Drives from traveler and base drives. Also, all Mass reduction components now have their own icon. Finally, we've split the boosters into 4 categories -- those that lead with high Pilot, those that lead with high Navigation, those that are aggression focused and then all others (often Electronics-high). This is a great new start that makes looking at a ship build far more interesting and communicative as well as helping to make the shopping experience more visual and easier to sort through. However, we are just getting started. Future updates will feature the component's level as part of its icon, so seeking out level 4 pilot modules will be something you can start to do without reading any text and only looking at icons. With this, we are also planning on buffing the Starport component filters to be more clear, breaking them out into much more functional silos, where "Ship" filter today groups together a very wide range of types, we will see that split out into 3 or 4 new filters to make shopping faster and easier.

New Contact Traits

Two new Traits have arrived for Contacts -- a "Decorated Vet" who was a hero in some Solar War sometime in the past as well as an "Unscrupulous" Contact who doesn't really care how it gets done, just wants the rewards. Decorated Vets put more weight on Faction Rep, pay better for Missions, but most importantly, offer Military Officers recruits! Unscrupulous Contacts raise the price of all of their services, may enable the Black Market and most importantly, offer Smuggler recruits!

Improved Black Market Access

With this update, we've added clarification to the Trait text for all Contact Black Market Traits. A single Black Market Trait is not enough to always enable to the Black Market, which we've now made clear in the Trait description. It is only when a Black Market Trait is combined with certain types of Contacts (a Greedy Merchant or an Unscrupulous Spice Trader) that the Black Market becomes available via a Trait. We have also improved the rules so that *any* Contact who has 2 Black Market Traits -- the Unscrupulous Greedy Prince -- will open Black Market access, making it a little easier to find Black Markets across the galaxy even with Contacts where you might not normally suspect it.

Ship and Component Balance

After the Mass reduction to all barracks and cabins last update, we are coming through with a large sweep to effect some additional ship balance and remove any Mass reduction components deemed no longer needed on ships. With this update, we've made changes to the Vulture Liner, Fallen Carrier, Dragoon Cruiser, Lightbow Raptor, Longbow Cruiser. We've also caught up to the faction-only Mass reduction components and improved them to match the core set. The Hawk Mass Reducer 4 (Alta Mesa only) and Lion Mass Reducer 4 (Thulun only) are both far more interesting and attractive now within their class. We fixed a bug with the Shielded Officer Suites where their Mass was too high for the group.

v2.5.69 - 7/20/2019

- Improved base price and duration calculations for all Missions to avoid some missions coming out with far too low pay - Added new component icons for Officer Cabins, Combat Hyperwarp Drives, Mass reduction comps, Pilot boosters, Nav boosters, aggressive boosters - Ship balance improvements for: Vulture Liner, Fallen Carrier, Dragoon Cruiser, Lightbow Raptor, Longbow Cruiser - Improved balance of Hawk Mass Reducer 4 (Alta Mesa only) and Lion Mass Reducer 4 (Thulun only) - Added new Contact Trait "Decorated Vet" increases weight of Faction rep, +10% mission pay, recruits Military Officers - Added new Contact Trait "Unscrupulous" increases cost of services, recruits Smugglers and may enable Black Market - Clarified rules for Black Market Traits -- these Traits combine with certain Contact Types and Traits to possibly open Black Market (but not always) - Removed limitation on Black Market access -- any Contact with combo of Unscrupulous, Greedy, Corrupt, Underworld can grant access - Fixed incorrect Mass on Shielded Officer Suites medium component - Fixed incorrect Void Engine name in main ship status screen

[ 2019-07-21 18:40:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #166 rolls out with a new Mass 8000 freighter, a rebuild of the Cargo Missions to make the more exciting and lucrative for focused merchants, a new look at how craft pilots gain XP, and a major rebalance to the Mass allocated for Dual-Field Engines, Barracks and Officer Cabins. As always, there is more so check the full notes below. If you're enjoying the pace of updates and improvements, please share the game with a fiend and be sure to leave a review! For anyone having crashes during the Faen storyline or other storylines when completing a mission, this update should resolve it! Thanks to everyone for reporting the issue.

Expanded Cargo Missions

While peaceful merchants have run cargo missions for a long time, these missions have not scaled well to the power and grandeur of those said merchants. With the latest update, Cargo Missions now take into account the captain's cargo hold size, their Rep with the faction and their Trade Permit level when determining how far to push the requirements for the cargo delivery -- and the price. The rewards for cargo delivery now scale more above the linear line as these requirements go up. Now, its possible to see larger deliveries with larger pay days.

Crew and Officer Mass Reductions

We've made some important and highly impactful changes to the Mass stats for all ship components -- small, medium and large -- that primarily house Officer or Crew. This type of component has across the board seen a reduction in Mass, sometimes upwards of 20%. As every ship is required to have some barracks and officer cabins, this frees up a bit more design space across the board and even more so on ships that feature multiple components to house their crew and officers. Dual-Field Void Engines have also seen a reduction in Mass to improve their place within the engine hierarchy and to help offset the decision to return to Balanced engine from one of the specialist builds.

Pallas Freighter

The new Pallas Freighter leaves the starport at a heavy 8,000 Mass boasting powerful internal shielding, best-in-class fuel storage (96 base, 250 all told) and the average hull points of a freighter built for transport. The Pallas offers 8 large slots -- an unrivaled layout with a ability to expanding with large components like cargo holds. In trade, it has only 12 medium and 8 small slots. The Pallas has the option to convert into a carrier and fly up to 3 max craft, which is especially suited to its large slot setup. Built out with a wide array of medium component cargo holds, a Salvage Bay, and an array of bristling weaponry for its own defense -- the Pallas Freighter will cost you more than $1,000,000 credits to get into but is worth the price tag.

Railgun Rebalance

The Blazelight Railgun and Radiance Raligun -- the high level small slot railguns -- have been rebalanced a bit with Update #166. The Radiance has been pushed even more into the pattern of a crippling weapon with high Radiation Damage and high Crippling Chance. The Blazelight maintains its position as a more hull-destructive version of the weapon. We've also added a new windowed resolution by request and dropped in 8 new awesome barks (thanks @lurker) that reference back to Exodus and pre-Exodus lore.

v2.5.67 - 7/17/2019

- New 8000 Mass class Ship: Pallas Freighter - mighty transport class - Enhanced cargo delivery missions to scale up delivery requirements (more cargo, more reward) based on ship's cargo hold, Permit rank, Rep levels - Improved balance of XP granted for craft pilots during ship combat, also moved XP gains to moment of attack/boarding/intercept instead of landing - Rebalanced & reduced mass costs for Dual-Field Engines, Barracks and Size 2 Officer Cabins - Added 8 new barks hearkening back to Exodus and galactic core - Added 2560x1080 windowed resolution by request - Fixed switch names of ship debuffs Devastating Shot and Disabling Approach in hovers during ship combat - Rebalanced Blazelight Railgun (small slot, lvl 5) and Radiance Railgun (small slot, lvl 6) - Fixed issue where story event on quadrant map might not stop ship from moving - Fixed crash occurring on some maps with Faen or other story missions ("Conspiracy in Motion", etc)

[ 2019-07-17 20:59:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #165 adds a new carrier ship to the mix, fixes a critical story bug plaguing the Faens, drops a new rare lootable relic, updates the Pirate default starting templates and improves the ship displays in new game, drydock and new ship to include more of the critical fields. The updates keep coming, so be sure to leave a review and tell a friend.

Obsidian Carrier

The Obsidian Carrier lifts off from the nearest starport with a void shaking rumble. While lightly armored, the Obsidian's best-in-class Hull and high shielding makes a hull with high endurance. Built with redundant launch bays and capacity for all 4 craft right off the tarmac, the Obsidian is one of the most focused carriers available on the open ship hull market. It's sale is locked behind the Press Gang unlock

Faen Story Bug

An important Faen story bug was introduced two updates ago, which causes some missions to suddenly disappear after their first step. We're very sorry for the issue and would like to talk to any player who is having the problem - we will help resolve. This update fixes the issue for all future captains.

Updated Pirate Start

Thanks to @en1gma and @lordofsyn on our https://discord.gg/tresebrothers for suggesting some improvements to the starting Pirate template. With some adjustments to priority, changes to Skills and Attributes as well as a ship swap, the Pirate template has never been more ready to fly and dive into ship combat. Please note that these changes to the template will only appear in new installs.

Ship Stats

Across the game where you're looking at a ship without being able to see all of its components, a wealth of new roll-up stats are available. Where before you could see the hull's base fuel, now you can see its final fuel, cargo as well as prisoner cells and passenger cabins. In addition, you can see the exact count of crew and officers who have bunks on the ship as well as the hull's maximum for crew and officers. This extra info is a great boon when planning a build and considering a new ship purchase!

And More

A new rare relic can now be found during Salvage, the Voidsealed Heavy Jack. We've also reduced the chance of encounter xeno slightly in Explorer, with some weighting to the early game experience as well. And, we've fixed a bug with the Longbolt having a missing tag line. A huge thanks to everyone posting bugs, feedback and reviews!

v2.5.65 - 7/11/2019

- New Unlockable Ship: Obsidian Carrier (7000M) - Added Unlock Reward info for "Press Gang" Award -- conscript 20 enemy crew - Fixed bug causing some story missions such as Erik and Zette's to disappear suddenly after finishing one step - New Relic: 'Voidsealed Heavy Jack' (Military Gear, Salvagable Rare) - Replaced Pirate Template with updated and Improved version putting more focus on the right Attributes, Skills and improved ship choice - Improved Ship Details display in new template to include final cargo and fuel capacity as well as maximums for crew and officers, prisoner and passenger cabins - Improved Ship Details display in New Ship/Dry Dock to include the same additions as new template - Fixed missing description of Longbolt starting ship - Fixed Crashes in Unlock Display in some conditions - Slight reduction in Xeno encounter rates during Exploration

[ 2019-07-11 22:07:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #164 will help us wrap up the Steam Summer Sale in style! The Grand Prix theme was all about speed, and we've dropped 5 updates with tons of new content, new features and community driven improvements fast-fast-fast! And this latest update is no expection -- Update #164 features a new Rychart-only ship, 2 new ship weapons focused on disabling enemy ships, a new Javat-only cargo hold, major new improvements to how enemy AI staff their ship, rebalance for Pilot Assist Modules versus craft attacks and well, there's more too. Read the full release notes for everything! If you've enjoyed the relentless pace of updates and the game, please leave a review and tell a friend!

Gunhawk Sabre

Rychart's own fast, sleek and deadly Gunhawk Sabre is hitting the void with a very unique build. This M2400 class ship features 10 small components, 7 medium slots and only 1 large slot but boasts high start Armor, Shield, a full set of 6 officers and the smallest crew out there, clocking in at 18. Build for close ranged combat, hit and run boarding or spying expeditions that are just in Rychart's wheel house, the Gunhawk Sabre requires a special kind of focus and a special kind of captain to command. Whether your rapidly training a small inner core of crew and officers for a large ship upgrade or planning to stay forever, the Gunhawk Sabre is a joy to fly.

Interceder Plasma Cannons

Sometimes you need someone to negotiate for peace on your behalf. You're in luck, because the new Interceder class Plasma Cannons are ready to "talk it out" with your enemy. Packing a huge Radiation Damage punch and extra Crippling Chance, these high level large class Plasma Cannons are built to decimate and cook the enemy crew and ship's internals while leaving the hull (mostly) in one piece. Perfect for pirates and salvages alike, mount these new beauties on your ship and start negotiating your way out of trouble.

Hauler Hold

Javat is finally getting into the transport game with the release of their new Hauler Hold. Boasting 65 Cargo capacity and a solid chunk of Fuel storage, the hold is perfect for any commodity merchant all the way up to someone who can afford to pack it with Rare Trade Goods and sail the stars.

Staffing Enemy Ships

Enemy ship captains are gaining a new level of versatility as they are now able to staff their crew with more interesting Job picks. Military and boarding-focused captains may choose to foregoe extra Pilots or Gunners in trade for more Swordsman, Pistoleers and Rifleman. And now, Pirate captains may swap out some of their Pilots for Pirates. These changes will have a wide set of effects -- they can make boarding against military vessels harder as you may face multiple sets of trained fighting crew. Also, they may reduce the ship pools on some ships as a Pilot or E-Tech is replaced with an extra Pistoleer or a Swordsman. This also increases the chance that Captains may find more interesting Jobs to conscript among the enemy crew. And Pirates among the enemy crew will bring new varied set of Talents to bear in ship combat. As with all major shifts, this will be done in multiple stages, starting here and looking to expand to other enemy captain types and other exciting crew Jobs. The changes are difficulty dependent, so you're less likely to see these new swaps on lower difficulty.

Pilot Modules

With some improvements to Pilot Assist Modules, we're moving toward some important rebalancing to help defend against craft. Craft come with a percentage based attack system (60% to Hit, etc) that does not take normal ship defenses into account. If the craft is able to close and swoop down in over your hull, you're way bigger than a womprat or a barn and their bombs are going to hit you. Now, with new bonuses coming off Pilot Assist Modules, your capital ship has gained the ability to avoid their attack runs altogether with a Dodge %. This new type of bonus will be propagating to other ship components as well, as its a critical part of allowing the AI to fairly use craft, especially for smaller ships.

And More!

We've fixed a ton of other nice things for you as well! Salvage Bay components now work against xeno. All story fights against xeno are properly counted in your stats screen. We've fixed some issues with smaller maps and story missions hanging -- if you were having this crash, just try again after the update. We've resolved a bug with "Dread Legacy" Trait from xeno hunters in certain quadrants. The Quad-Goltha Scanner component needed some tweaks to be fair versus the rewards of the storyline so got a bit of a down balance. And, we fixed more odd edge-case bugs with the Arbiter storyline and story arcs timing out. If you're enjoying the updates, we hope you'll leave a review!

v2.5.63 - 7/6/2019

- Added new ship design: Gunhawk Sabre is a unique Rychart-only M2400 class ship built for close range combat and boarding - Added two new large slot Plasma Cannon ship weapons -- the "Interceder PCX" class deals massive Radiation Damage in trade for low Standard Damage - Added new Javat-only "Hauler Hold" large slot cargo hold is high capacity for bulk shipments, adding 65 cargo and 40 fuel - Military or boarding minded enemy captains will now hire additional fighting crew (difficulty dependent) - Pirate enemy captains will now hire additional pirates to staff their boats (difficulty dependent) - Improved Pilot Assist Modules 1-4 to include % chance to avoid attacks from small craft - Rebalanced the Quad-Goltha Scanner against the Red series Goltha tech to improve the "Goltha Theory" storyline pay off - Salvage Bay ship components now improve the results when salvaging xeno ships - Fixed crash occuring on some 12 quadrant small maps with story missions ("Conspiracy in Motion", etc) - Fixed bug with "Dread Legacy" Xeno Hunter Captain Trait that caused it not to display in certain quadrants when defeating xeno - Fixed issue where some Mission and Story battles against xeno were not properly recorded in logs - Fixed bug making the chance to avoid a fight in Civil Unrest Rumor very low - Fixed bug allowing Zenrin Archivist Contact to appear on non-Zenrin systems - Fixed other ways that the Arbiter Coalition storyline could end early - Fixed some bugs with early Arbiter-Faen storyline and timing out

[ 2019-07-08 00:52:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's the second week of Steam Summer sale and our 4th big update so far! With Update #162, you're still saving 33% and you get even more content, outfits, a new Pirate Talent, major Stash feature improvements suggested by the community and more! We'll dive into all the specifics below, section by section. If you're enjoying the pace of updates and new content, please leave a review. Great to see some of our 600+ hour players coming out to drop reviews on the game! Thank you :D If you've ever been looking for an interesting and peace-focused merchant / high cargo ship build, look no further than the screenshot above shared by @JimmysTheBestCop. Amazing capacity, amazing fuel efficiency, but no weapons and weak Ship Skill Pools. This one needs factions to be friendly and some powerful Encounter Talents.

Military Brass

With Update #162 we've added another matching outfit. Your Military Officers and Commanders never had it so good, now featuring an outfit specifically baked just for them. If you are a Captain, Officer or just a pretentious crew member, you can now wear your full regalia and remind everyone else that you serve a faction military. Or not. Either way -- you're going to do it in style. A huge thanks to all of our Patreons who have helped suggest outfits that are appearing in this second wave.

Doomsday Stashers

If you've got *a lot* of things in stashes buried all across the galaxy than this update is for you. First up, we've now denoted the rows that are the headers for individual stashes by coloring them differently, making it a quick visual scan to see the different stashes. Second, we've included Quadrant name in the stash header row, making is easy to see which Stashes are in the same Quadrant, helping you plan a pickup run if you're sweeping through to collect and sell. Third, we've added a Dump feature for stash items. You can dump an entire entry in a stash or even just a few units -- all from across the galaxy. By erasing these entries from your data records, you remove the Stashed cargo from your list. Got 32 units of Biomass that are 17 jumps away? Dump it! Finally, we fixed a routing bug that was occurring when looking at Stashes on the galaxy map. If you're routing to stashes from this map, the waypoints will now update correctly.

Pirate's Nose for Loot!

The Pirate Job has gained a new rank 11 Talent, "Looter's Intuition" that affects all encounters with Merchants while blockading. While hunting the richest targets, a Pirate's nose for loot can now help pick out the merchants who are most heavily loaded with cargo. There are no clear visual signs, perhaps the slightest traces on the arc scanner reverb -- but none the less, a real Pirate just nose. Knows? Nose. Any Merchant who is encountered with this Talent firing is going to have a packed cargo hold, often with extra valuable goods. Just one more way to reap the benefits of blockading. We've also fixed a bug with the "Signature Jammer" type Talents -- they were not appearing in the ship encounter log if they reduced Rep loss to just -1. We've clarified their description as well to be clear that they have cannot reduce Rep loss below -1 and we've also clarified all Doctor Saving Talents which had some confusing words in their description before. Thanks to everyone for playing, sharing and gifting the game. Also, for reviewing! Enjoy the new content!

v2.5.61 - 7/3/2019

- Added new matching character outfits -- military officer or top brass commander - Added new rank 11 Pirate Talent "Looter's Instinct" which causes any Merchant encountered during Blockade to have bonus cargo - Stash List now includes Quadrant name for each stash grouping for easier visual parsing - Added feature to "Dump" cargo from Stashes at a distance, allowing the complete removal of Stashes without visiting them - Improved color coding of rows in Stash list to make it clearer which are the Stash headers and which are Stashed cargo - Fixed issue causing galactic map to route oddly when navigating to a stash - Fixed bug that was preventing "Signature Jammer" Talents from appear after ship encounter if the Rep loss was exactly -1 - Clarified description of "Signature Jammer" Talents to be clear that they reduce Rep loss to a minimum of -1 - Clarified description of medical Talents that prevent Doctor Skill failures and Life Savers

[ 2019-07-03 15:36:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to the first weekend of the Steam Summer Sale and another big update for Star Traders: Frontiers. Update #162 is built around the arrival of the 7th new story in the 2.5.x roadmap family -- the first vignette to result in unique story ship components becoming available based on your actions. We've also made shipping xeno artifacts a little more dangerous, improved the fuel bar in the HUD, helped the AI pick weapons to cover ranges more intelligently, and upgraded all the ship comparisons to fully take difficulty into account. And more -- so be sure to check the full release notes. Thanks to everyone leaving a review -- it's been bonkers, so thank you!

New Vignette: Goltha Theory

We won't go into spoilers about the new storyline vignette that has been added, other than to say that it starts on Rychart worlds only after the Early Coalition Era has ended. In this messy weave of galactic espionage, there are opportunities to unlock new and unique ship components that otherwise are unavailable. Your captain's actions can help change the technology of the galaxy in this new vignette. The Contact's name is Cassie Cain and we'd like to send out a huge thanks to the KickStarter backer who helped us develop her character and her storyline! This storyline will eventually appear in any game, regardless of how far along your captain is -- no need to restart!

Dangerous Cargo

Carrying Terrox Artifacts just got a bit more dangerous. While no one knows why, warnings have always been whispered that smuggler's carrying troves of artifacts are the most likely to be attacked by the Terrox. Perhaps someday, humanity will better understand the Terrox to know how it is possible, but for now, know this -- every Terrox Artifact in your cargo hold gives a very fractional increase to the percentage chance of encounter a xeno in the void. It's small, but carrying a hundred Artifacts results in a few important percentage points bump!

Improved Fuel Bar

Based on some great player feedback, we've added a third field to the fuel bar text in the HUD. It now includes the exact amount of fuel, along with the fuel range in AU and the AU to the destination. While the exact amount of Water-Fuel is implied by the existing numbers (if and only if you know your ship's fuel-to-AU ratio), it is a big help to see the actual changes to your fuel gauge. It helps to impress upon a captain the differences between ships, large and small as well as between efficient and guzzling Void Engines.

Ship Comparisons

We've improved the ship comparison run down in a ship encounter and the tooltip during combat to include the Ship Combat Boost from your Difficulty setting. This was mistakenly not taken into account before, and it is a very important factor. Mostly, this was leading to enemy captains on lower difficulties looking overly powerful for what they really were, while captains on higher difficulties might look underpowered. The comparison report is even more accurate now!

v2.5.57 - 6/28/2019

- Added new story vignette "Goltha Theory" starting on Rychart worlds after the end of the Early Coalition Era -- thanks KickStarter backers! - Get tangled up in galactic espionage in the "Goltha Theory" story arc - Multiple possible unique story Ship Components unlocked by story -- best new spying equipment available - Story includes new high powered Contact type, so called "Retired Diplomat" - Improved Fuel Bar in the HUD to include exact quantity of Water-Fuel in the tanks as well as AU range and AU to destination - Carrying Terrox Artifacts in your cargo hold while traveling increases chance of encountering xeno ship - Improved critical hit target group in ship combat to include Launch Bays (along with Bridge, Engine, etc) - Refined ability for enemy AI to pick ship weapons that cover a wider band of ranges - Improved ship comparison logic in tooltip and ship encounter screen to take Ship Combat Boost from Difficulty properly into account - Fixed a bug that could prevent the second of two orbital ops missions from appearing over the same system - Fixed issue where hovering over an event for a Skill test or a Saving Talent could be misleading about Saving Talents ready at time of test

[ 2019-06-30 17:40:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

We've pushed a quick patch this afternoon that adds a new QoL feature based on player feedback, fixes a crash in crew combat and fixes a number of other small display bugs that have been coming up. With this quick patch (too small to get an Update #), we've added a "Claim All" button to the Stash screen. Explorers rejoice! One click to quickly load up the cargo hold. We've fixed some issues with the tooltip math in ship combat, fixed the display of the -25% Armor Piercing on the new Shrapnel Shell Talent as well as a crash that could sometimes happen when it was used. We've tightened rules in crew combat to ensure you don't get Blade Skill for defense if you aren't carrying a blade. We've fixed a counting bug in the Talent Manifest that was always reporting that you had only 1/1 Port Maintenance or Skip Off the Void Talents. We've improved the title of the option to toggle between "Right Click to Navigate" and "Right Click to Set Waypoint". That's all for this quick patch. Be sure to tell a friend and share the game while its on sale for Summer Sale. Save 33% today, Captain. v2.5.55 - - Added "Claim All" capability from a Stash -- load everything that fits into the cargo hold in a single click - Fixed issue in tooltip during ship combat that was showing Tactics dice even if Gunnery is understaffed -- if Gunnery is understaffed, no Tactics on attack - Fixed missing "-25% Armor Piercing" from Shrapnel Shell's Talent, fixed bugs when using Talent - Improved rules in crew combat -- if you are not holding a melee weapon you do not gain Blades Skill as defensive dice - Fixed bug in Talent Manifest that could incorrectly report 1/1 Talents in a group when you had more, such as "Repair on Landing" - Improved options menu to be more clear about option's use "click to navigate" or "click to set waypoint" - Fixed bug with stash and cargo screen loop

[ 2019-06-26 20:36:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

The summer heat is on and with it come the big sales! You can save 33% on Star Traders: Frontiers all through the Steam Summer Sale. If you've waited out the first 160 updates now might just be the time to get in on this wild ride across the galaxy at the best discount yet. Or, if you're already running a ship, gift a copy to a friend! Update #161 brings all sorts of new to the game -- two new character outfits, new art for different types of hexshell and LMGs, a new rank 11 Soldier Talent to target lightly armored enemies, new improvements to the Star Atlas based directly on player suggestions, the final piece of the AI puzzle to prepare for carriers and much more. Read the entire release notes below for all the details!

Paramilitary Uniform

The new paramilitary uniform is a matching uniform that gives the feeling of a light and mobile soldier or perhaps a wing pilot with military training. We're loving the look of this outfit on fighters, wing pilots and even ship ops crew if they have that kind of attitude. It's always exciting to deliver another outfit to the game, with new options for how to style your crew and different jobs. As shown in the dev roadmap, there are more coming. The roadmap includes our goal of doubling the outfit count and we are about 30% of the way there now with the additions since launch in August.

Star Atlas for Traders

Based on feedback from a number of different players, we've made a set of improvements to the Buy and Sell lists within the Star Atlas to specifically help legal traders work more quickly. First, we've alphabetized the list. This simple sort can help you find what you're looking for faster. Even better than that, we've tagged every item that is in your cargo hold with a blue highlight. Now with a glance, you can tell if you're carrying the goods that this zone wants to purchase. If you want to know exactly how many of that cargo type you are carrying, simply hover over the item -- you can now see the exact cargo count as well. Finally, we've made the permit tagging more clear. We've ensured that cargo types requiring permits still show their demand type (A-, etc) as well as the permit. In the tooltip we've included the permit rank required specifically to provide every bit of needed intel possible. Happy trading, merchants! Thanks to everyone for posting feedback. We hope you enjoy seeing it filter into the game over updates :D

Shrapnel Shell

Soldiers have gained a new rank 11 Talent with Update #161, thanks to @DrSpendLove for the great suggestion. Shrapnel Shell is a perfect attack Talent for a low armored enemy, adding Damage, Critical and Bleeding but also reducing your attack's Armor Piercing by 25%. Not the best against a heavily armored target where the extra damage is going to get soaked up, but very effective against lower armored targets. With a debuff to Parry along with the bleeding, anyone who survives the close-range blast can be mopped up by another team member.

And More

These updates are always deep, so you'll want to check the full patch notes below for every little thing. We've improved the AI's ability to pick a better mix of crew with this update, which is the last foundation piece required to truly prepare them for staffing carriers. We've also improved the "Deadly Encounter" card in Black Market to note th status of your Life Saver Talents. Also, Troy 'the Blade' Circin's famous Circin Cutter has had its stats bumped.

v2.5.53 - 6/25/2019

- Added new matching character outfits -- paramilitary soldier or wing pilot - Added new art for lower level Hexshell Rifles and LMGs (Weapons Locker A0 through A3, level 4 from Contacts) - Added new rank 11 Soldier Talent "Shrapnel Shell" causes deadly damage and bleeding but at significant reduction to Armor Piercing - Star Atlas now highlights cargo types in the buy/sell list in blue if present in your cargo hold, tooltip lists exact amount - Star Atlas now lists exact permit level required for cargo types in the buy/sell list in tooltip - Star Atlas now lists resources available to buy/sell within a zone in alphabetical order for easy reading - Improved AI's ability to pick ship crew effectively, final prep step for Carrier AIs - Improved Black Market card "Deadly Encounter" to list the status of Talents that prevent death like "Life Saver" - Improved stats on "Circin Cutter" blade - Increased mission payment offers at the end of the "Call of the Strong" storyline - Fixed incorrect Escape dice value shown in tooltip over ship in combat when at Range 1-3 - Fixed incorrect listing for award "Survivor III" which requires 50 crew battles

[ 2019-06-25 19:26:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Welcome to Thursday! We've dropped another big one! Update #160 includes two new character outfits, 4 new Contact character faces, one new ship component, a wealth of improvements to existing smaller ship designs, tweaked boarding Talents and a host of storyline tweaks and fixes driven by the community. If you're enjoying the pace of updates, please take a moment to leave a review and tell a friend. Let's get right into the details!

New Flight Suit or Mechanic Outfit

With Update #160, we've added another outfit option for your crew, designed specifically for your ship operational crew and your wing specialist pilots. This new green flightsuit design is great for those pilots cramming into bombers and interdictors and fits well for Mechanics, Elo-Techs and more. We've got a lot more additional outfits to add as we keep moving through the roadmap, but its great to see another option targeted at the non-fighting majority on board your ship.

New Faces Among the Gravs

With Update #160, we've also finalized 4 new Contact character faces that will go into rotation for new games and new Contacts in existing games. As always, they're channeling the outlandish and unique style of the faction gravs.

Small Ship Improvements

Based on some great community feedback (thanks @resistor) we've made a set of improvements to some of the small ship designs, including the Dart Liner, Volk Frigate and Allistar Liner. In general, we've replaced some non-essential components with those that help increase the Skill Pools for the ship, adding Nav Assist Modules or Sig Dampeners as possible. We've also varied the weapons build out on the Dart Liner to mount a second Light Railgun on the ship. Outside of small ships, we've improved the balance of the Dragoon Cruiser to ensure it is competitive within its class. Coming out of the starport, it now boasts heavier Armor and Shield along with slightly increased base Fuel to match its built-in Warhammer class Void Engine.

Barracks Options

Update #160 adds a new interesting option -- a 6 bunk small component "Compact Barracks". For creative ship designers, it could help decompose the needed bunks in a ship into different component slots, such as avoiding a large slot 42 bunk barracks and instead taking a medium 36 and a small slot 6. We'll leave the rest of the design crafting in your capable hands, but enjoy this one! We also fixed a misleading message in the Starport if you tried to replace a barracks and had too many crew. It was suggesting you dismiss *way* too many people ha!

Story Bug Round Up

We've hammered through a batch of story bugs reported by the community. The Arbiter Estelle storyline will no longer end prematurely at 2 supporters. You can now turn in both De Rivesh legacy pieces even if you get them separately. Prince Damien Lumotte is specific about amount of Rep lost and gained. Some short story arcs will also cause less of a delay in other stories popping up which will help when players are seeking out specific, larger storylines like Call of the Strong, etc.

v2.5.51 - 6/20/2019

- Added new matching character outfits -- green pilot, wing pilot or mechanic jump suit - Added art for 4 new Contact character faces - Added new ship component "Compact Barracks" a small component that holds 6 crew - Improved Dart Liner Ship, replacing one of the Armored Bulkheads 1 with Sig Dampener (more Nav and Elo pool), replaced 2nd Torp with a Railgun - Improved Volk Frigate, replacing Reactor Spike Module with Nav Assist Module 1 (more Nav pool) - Improved Allistar Liner, replacing Reactor Spike Module with Nav Assist Module 1 (more Nav pool), swapped Mass Dampener 1 for Mass Modulator 1 (more Pilot) - Improved Dragoon Cruiser within its Mass class, gaining +1 base Armor, +1 base Shield and +10 base Fuel to match its start Warhammer Class Void Engine - Improved failure message when attempting to remove a Barracks that will remove too many beds to house your full crew - Fixed issue where Combat Medic's "Bio-Bomb" boarding Talent was damaging a component - Cleaned up some issues in text of improved boarding Talents "Thrown Wrench" and "Disarming Sabotage" - Fixed issue where Arbiter's storyline and "Coalition Founder" unlock fired too early (finishing 2 instead of 3 storylines) - Fixed bugs with the "De Rivesh Legacy" storyline -- dialog inconsistencies as well as inability to turn in the second half of the findings for reward - Fixed issues with famous Officer Elsa Nariman's homeworld being incorrect - Improved storyline with Prince Damien Lumotte, dialog is now specific about all Rep gains and losses for your actions - Improved the pacing between some of the storyline events to move on more quickly from smaller events to larger ones - Fixed issues with text formatting in Dry Dock screen

[ 2019-06-20 17:54:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

Let's start the week off with a bang! Update #159 comes straight from the community -- requests for quality of life improvements, suggestions for missing Talents, improved balance, improvements to the mission generation system -- and more, all directly dialed in by our players. So, this one goes out to you, captains! Thanks for posting, writing, joining our Discord and leaving reviews!

+2 New Talents

We've added a new blade attack Talent for Zealots at rank 1 -- "Incensed Strikes." This new ability pushes Zealot's possibilities, making it more valuable as a combat class and enables crew Zealots to have more fighting options, especially early on. Incensed Strikes costs 1.5X your weapon's Initiative, but it has a rare debuff to enemy Initiative as well as clearing their buffs! We've also added a new Doctor rank 5 Talent "Healer's Intuition." With the constant care of the crew's health, it is only natural that a Doctor comes to know his or her crew very well. This insight can reveal a Trait when the crew is paid and has a moment to truly relax. Based on player feedback, we've also improved the handling of Talents when paying crew to ensure that Talents with a % chance to activate don't block other Talents from firing. And finally, in this area we've fixed a bug with the Diplomat Talent "Hand that Feeds" which was prevent the Talent from activating correctly.

Mission Focus

We've adjusted the system that helps a Contact pick the mission they request to increase the focus of Contact's on their core areas. Those Contacts giving Merchant missions are going to be more likely to dish out cargo missions, stash missions and the like while Prison Wardens are far more likely to send you on capture bounties and prisoner transports. This extra level of focus will increase your captain's ability to cleave to a type of career by cleaving to a type of Contact. Beyond the mission-giver type, we've also strengthened the effect of Conflicts upon mission selection. Those Contacts who respond to certain types of Conflicts are going to be even *more* likely to give missions focused on the core Conflict. For example, those Contacts giving Spy missions are going to go all in on spying during an Info War while Duel of Assassins is going to turn up more Edict and death warrant missions than before.

Boarding Victory Talents

Two Talents have come up in player feedback often -- the Mechanic's "Thrown Wrench" and Gunner's "Disarming Sabotage" where neither provided enough specifics in their description or in the details after they were used to let captains make an informed decision about their value. In both cases, we have adjusted their rules to be more powerful as these are rarer Talents -- in both cases you need to be either boarding at range 1 or have a unique Job combination on an Officer to make these available at longer range. In addition to buffing their power level, we've made their exact rules clear in their description as well as improving their in-game feedback upon use so that it is clear exactly what components or weapons were damaged and for how much.

Explorer Ratings

The on-map tooltip over wild zones now displays Richness, Danger and Explore ratings giving those adventurous and brave explorers faster access to critical data as they browse a quadrant, looking for the best targets to set down and go hunting. Good luck and avoid those xeno cards! Unless ... you're looking for them!

Experience Spread

For a time, in ship combat victory there has been an unfair disparity between the XP granted to those taking a more peaceful route Ransoming a ship and those taking a destructive route to destroy and then salvage a ship. In order to help balance this out, we've added a minor XP bonus to the Ransom action as well as making it clear with all 3 action types -- Ransom, Destroy, Salvage -- exactly how much XP is gained for taking the action.

v2.5.49 - 6/16/2019

- Added new rank 1 Zealot Talent "Incensed Strikes" as additional blade attack option - Added new rank 5 Doctor Talent "Healer's Intuition" which can reveal a crew members Trait on payday - Improved rules for Talents running while paying crew -- Talents with a % to fire that do not no longer block other Talents from running - Fixed issue with Diplomat "Hand that Feeds" Talent that was not activating while paying crew - Added Richness, Explore and Danger rating to map hover for wild zones - Improved rules for Mechanic's boarding Talent "Thrown Wrench" and added result that explains exact ship damage dealt - Improved rules for Gunner's boarding Talent "Disarming Sabotage" and improved result to include full detail of what weapons are damaged - Now gain minor Experience bonus when you Ransom a ship, exact Experience gain for destroying a ship is now displayed - Adjusted weights for all Contact mission giver types to be more focused on their core area (Merchants > Cargo missions, Wardens > Capture bounties) - Adjusted weights of mission givers during Conflicts to be more focused on the core Conflict (Info War > Spy missions, Duel of Assassins > Edict missions) - Improved details of Intel sale to be clear when maximum Personal or Faction Rep has been achieved - Slightly increased the maximum caps for Personal Rep when selling Intel - Clarified text for all Flight Plan Talents as 4 turns such as "(launch, close, bomb, land)" - Fixed bug with Wing Commando's "Grandiose Arrival" Talent always granting a $0 bonus - Fixed bug allowing too much gain of Personal Rep through sale of Intel - Fixed bug with Talent "Redemption Purge" that was allowing it to repair 5 components instead of 2-4 - Fixed text description of "Exposed Shot" to indicate you are causing a self-debuff that can be purged - Fixed bug that could place High Prince Contacts "on vacation" on indie worlds - Improved some screens when using UI scaling to increase visual size of elements - Clarified rules for Exo-Scout "Keen Senses" Talent -- only rerolls risk cards

[ 2019-06-17 16:09:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #158 sees 4 new Talents slot into spots across 3 Jobs, a new De Valtos only Luxury Suite, some rebalance to the new Sig Dampeners and Xeno crew combat defense as well as a big sweep of fixes based on community feedback. As always, new Talents expand the already expansive field of possible builds and make some crew build outs more possible. If you're enjoying the pace of updates please be sure to leave a review and tell a friend. A huge thanks goes out to the community members posting suggestions, bug reports and feedback.

Highly Trained Pistoleer

The Pistoleer combat Job has gained 2 new useful, high rank Talents with Update #158. With "Exposed Shot" you can now take aim at a target in any slot in the enemy's line up granting all new flexibility for a Pistoleer. The shot requires deadly aim but may not do as much damage, but its value is in the sheer flexibility. However, for stepping so into the open you'll suffer a small Defense and Dodge bonus for the next few turns. With "Confounding Gunplay" you have an immediately available attack that can drop 50% Stun and a small Accuracy debuff on an enemy at only 1.5X the Initiative cost of your pistol. This rank 15 Talent comes with some nice punching power and will be a foundation of high-end Pistoleer builds for centuries to come.

Ship Bounties

Bounty Hunters are finally getting into the prize ship game with "Realm's Justice", capable of claiming a ship during a Conflict for a faction. As the edict-carrying enforces of a faction, they take the ship for 50% of the cost and one of the higher Rep damages in the set. You may be making enemies but you've gained a ship and struck a might blow in the Conflict. Be the hand of "Realm's Justice" and capture a ship today.

Diplomatic Force

Diplomats have gained a new rank 8 Talent "Unyielding Force" granting an Intimidation save to match their rank 1 Negotiation save. As a non-combat class, this utility is especially key and it can help narrow the required build of a ship crew. Where you may have needed more specialists to cover Intimidation -- such as a Pirate -- now your diplomatic corp can keep that on the lock.

Component Rebalance and Fixes

With this update, we've tweaked the stats for the new Sig Dampeners to ensure that they are fairly in line with other competitive long range and escape focused components. We've also fixed a bug that was introduced where a list of components gained different bonuses like +8 Void Resist accidentally. These have now been removed. All Luxury Suites and Cabins now have minimum economy ratings in order to install. And, if you're looking for your Ship Encounter reduction rate you can see it now on the ship status screen.

v2.5.47 - 6/12/2019

- Added new rank 15 Bounty Hunter Talent "Realm's Justice" allows the BH to capture a prize ship under standard rules - Added new rank 11 Pistoleer Talent "Exposed Shot" which allows targeting backline enemies at a penalty - Added new rank 15 Pistoleer Talent "Confounding Gunplay" which debuffs with 50% Stun - Added new rank 8 Diplomat Talent "Unyielding Force" saves against Intimidate skill failures - Added new De Valtos only ship component "Grand Luxury Suites" which grants a +22% bonus per passenger - Reduced crew combat evasion for Terrox Xeno by 10-20% based on type - Rebalanced bonuses from slightly overpowered set of Sig Dampener Components - Ship Encounter rate reduction now shown on main ship status screen - Fixed bug with Reinforced Medical Chamber, Sensor Array 1, Storage Cache, Reinforced Officer Cabin, M2400 Void Engine: Traveler all accidentally getting incorrect extra bonuses - Added minimum Economy requirements for all Luxury Cabin types - Fixed issue allowing Wing Bomber's Talent "Intimidating Fly Over" to take effect in wild zones - Switched names for Elo Tech Talents "Hunt and Seek" and "ECCM Surge"

[ 2019-06-12 20:58:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #157 adds a exciting new function capability of ship components, 5 new ship components, new rules to help keep Interdictors competitive, new rules to help keep your active wing specialist pilots up to level, a major balance improvement for On Init crew combat Talents, a big wave of component rebalance and more. It's another big update from our HQ to you -- if you're enjoying the constant stream of new content, please be sure to leave a review and rave to a friend :P

Signature Dampeners

With this update, we've added a new capability for ship components -- that of reducing deep space encounters -- with the Sig Dampener and Signal Concealment Field components. Joining the existing small slot Sig Dampener are the small slot Sig Dampener 2 and 3 and the Rychart-only Sig Veil Field. For a medium slot option, the Sig Concealment Field packs a higher reduction rate of 10% but is a larger slot investment. When stacked, these components can reduce ship encounters up to 25% maximum. Each of them has other bonuses, adding both strong Escape bonuses and primarily Electronics and secondarily Nav Skills with some light Void Resistance on the top end options. For those ships looking to avoid encounters and escape in the case of being forced into an encounter, these new Sig Dampener components and feature are going to be a great boon. As an all new area, they're likely to get some balancing up and down in some stats in the next release or two, so be sure to post your feedback!

Interdictors and Ace Pilots

Craft have gained two more important balance additions with this update. First, in order to reward their successful service, those wing specialist pilots who make a complete and successful Flight Plan during ship combat will gain Experience directly. This helps to keep your most active wing specialists pilots gaining XP for their flight duties, in the same way that crew combat gains XP for their battles. Second, Interdictors have now joined Bombers and Shuttles in landing on the same turn that their flight plan ends. Previously, Interdictors would have a final turn where they were not blocking torpedoes but only focusing on landing the craft. Now, they land at the end of the last turn on which they will block incoming long range attacks, improving their flight plan efficiency by 20%.

On Init Crew Talents

Crew Combat Talents that fire "On Init" have gained a major upgrade as they now impart their Init bonuses on the turn they fire. As almost every On Init Talent gives a +Init bonus, this is a big boon and guarantees at least one of your combatants to get an Init bonus on the first round of combat (assuming you're wisely using these power talents) and then more bonuses to come if you have more Talents. Of course, the enemy gets the same. And they are wise to use these Talents as well :D

Component Rebalancing Sweep!

A lot of balance changes have been rolled up into this release. A huge thanks to all the community members, including @prime_resistor for posting such great suggestions. With Update #157, we've adjusted all Combat Hyperwarp drives to tweak their allocation of Skill Points, putting more into Navigation over Electronics. Smaller ship Combat HW Drives -- for Mass 2400 and 3400 hulls -- have gained additional Skill points. The large slot Hull Plating components now add to Ship Ops as well as contributing better Electronics and Void and Radiation Resist. For such an investment in an armor-focused large slot, these components are now far more competitive and also have reduced Jump Cost across the boards. The medium slot Deflector Arrays have gained improved Electronics Skill Pool as well as new Void Resist to help their long range defense contribution, shifting them into a more advantageous position within the Elo-defense meta. Finally, we've added +15 Fuel Storage to Micro Launch Bays to help offset their Jump Cost. There is always more! Be sure to check the full release notes below and leave a review!

v2.5.45 - 6/8/2019

- Added new component capability - reduce encounter rate in void travel by %, up to 20% maximum (starport "Ship" filter) - Added new 2 new small slot Sig Dampener components (2, 3) to join original Sig Dampener in granting reduction in encounter rate, grant Elo, small Nav, Void Res - Added new Rychart only small slot Sig Veil Field as top tier Sig Dampener type component - Added new medium slot Sig Concealment Field which reduces encounter rate, grants Rad/Void Res, Elo/Nav Skill - Wing specialist pilots now gain XP for each successful flight plan run keeping active wing pilots better leveled - Interdictors on defensive flight plans now land after the final turn instead of waiting one last turn to only land (just like offensive flight plans) - Big buff to all On Init Talents: now correctly granting the Initiative bonuses on the first Turn they are used - Adjusted all size Combat Hyperwarp Drives to rebalance Electronics and Navigation, improved Skill Pools for Mass 2400 and Mass 3400 drives - Adjusted large comp Hull Plating to include Ship Ops, better Electronics, moderate Void and Radiation Res on all tiers and lower jump cost - Adjusted medium comp Deflector Array to give slightly better Electronics bonus and Void Res - Added +15 Fuel Storage to Micro Launch bay - Adjusted Wing Tech's "Recovery Pod" Talent to use Repair to determine health of saved wing pilot - Improved language in ship encounter to explain current disposition / hostility versus base disposition / hostility - Fixed some bugs with certain play loops causing game date to skip backwards - Fixed bug with Wing Tech's "Hangar Triage" Talent not using Repair Skill correctly

[ 2019-06-08 21:28:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #156 comes roaring to life with a new starting ship, new terrifying Steel Song ship components, a new section added to the Talent manifest, upgrades to the De Valtos faction ship and some down balance for Xeno and Void Contortions Crippling effect. And ... lots more too! Check the full release notes for everything and enjoy it! If you're loving the relentless pace of updates and new content, please drop a review and tell a friend.

Priority D Ship: Longbolt

The new priority D ship weighs in at a clean $200,000 and is custom-fitted for long distance void travel and covert spying operations. Delivered with built-in spying components, a single weapon and a Longhaul engine, the Longbolt packs a crew of 24 for long distance trips. Locked behind the Big Network achievement, this new ship gives a traveler, spy and mission runner or any captain who is looking to use the Electronics meta and avoid combat, a new starting option in the D slot. You can see its starting configuration above, including its ridiculous fuel range and low jump cost thanks to the Water-Fuel Reclamation Tank. Watch out, it has very light weaponry.

Interrogation Chambers

Steel Song has a reputation to uphold, and its doing so with the newest round of new ship components. The medium slot Interrogation Chamber and the large slot Interrogation Ward both hold prisoners in special "luxury" care. When a new prisoner is taken aboard the ship and one of these Interrogation Cells is available, up to 10 Intel is immediately generated. De Valtos may have their luxury, but as the Song say -- maybe you'll come back as one of us.

Xeno and Void Contortions

With this update, we've slowed down the access of Terrox xeno to tier 2 and 3 components, and especially let difficulty take a bigger hand in this progression. Some of the up-balance of the xeno got ahead of where we wanted it to be and we've been listening to players and making tweaks over the weekend. We've also directly reduced the power -- especially Gunnery bonuses -- of some of the Terrox components. Also, the Void Contortions Crippling Effect from torpedoes has received a nerf. For being a tier 1 type of Crippling Effect it was simply too strong and its -20% Defense and -20% Escape chance sounded the death knell for too many captains. We've dropped this to -10% Defense, -10% Escape, -10% Armor to ensure that it doesn't completely undo the buff you just dropped or the bonus your engine is granting in a single hit.

Trade Section of Talent Manifest

We've added a section covering both the legal and illegal Talents of trade. Quick reference can help you see what types of bonuses they offer and what is available at any given moment.

And More

There is always more, these notes go on for a while! Spice Hall Talent activation has been changed to ensure Talents with a % chance to run will not block other Talents from running if they fail. Over all, this will see an increase in Talents running during spicing. We've fixed an issue with the "Distress Signal" card that was allowing you to get some $2 or $3 paybacks for helping to tow in a disabled ship. We've also added 2 new art boards to the orbital card game for refuel and extorting bribes. If you get a stash from winning a combat -- such as in Salvage -- the crew victory screen now includes the details. Also, we fixed the coloration of the text in ship comparison to help avoid red-brown (gold) issues.

v2.5.41 - 6/4/2019

- Added 2 new Steel Song prison cells -- Interrogation Chamber and Interrogation Ward, each create up to 10 Intel when taking on a new prisoner during a mission - Added new priority D starting ship, the Longbolt is 3400 Mass, fast travel and spy-ready ship, requires Big Network unlock - Added new Exchange and Black Market section to the Talent manifest including all trading bonus and trade into conflict talents - Improved De Valtos faction ship "Corsair Interceptor" -- upgraded to Cargo Hold 2, Nav Assist Module 2, added 13th small slot with Sensory Array 1 - Improved rules for how Spice Hall Talents run -- Talents with a % to fire that do not no longer block other Talents from running - Reduce power of tier 1 Crippling Effect "Void Contortions" created by torps (now -10% Defense, -10% Escape, -10% Armor) - Reduced power of some of the Terrox xeno tier 3 components - Fixed Orbital Ops result of Distress Signal that could sometimes result in $2 or $3 credits when towing - Improved description of stashes won via crew combat to include the type and count of the stashed resources - Added new card art for orbital operations for extortion bribes and refueling - Clarified rules description for both Wing Bomber's "Intimidating Fly Over" and Wing Commando's "Grandiose Arrival" -- both require piloting craft - Reduce cool down for Wing Commando's "Grandiose Arrival" to 9 weeks - Fixed bug where Talents that require character to be piloting a craft might not appear in ship or crew victory if there was one crew member out of a craft - Updated font color in ship comparison tooltip and report to avoid red and gold looking to close - Improved new game crew generator to ensure better number of starting crew dogs

[ 2019-06-04 20:01:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Another community challenge has arisen from our Discord's STF channel (https://discord.gg/tresebrothers), and we're throwing it out there for the June challenge! Can you follow in the footsteps of the recently released famous Bounty Hunters and rise to legendary status? Join in the discussion here!

Legendary Hunter

In this challenge, you must start the game as a Bounty Hunter. You can start the game on any difficulty, but props clearly going to permadeath players. During early play, you can do anything you want to accrue wealth and experience. First, you must achieve Edict 9 with a faction of your choice. Then, you must complete a $500,000 mission kill or capture bounty mission which requires an Edict. To get that size of a payment for your Mission, you're likely to need your Edict, high Military rank, a Contact with the right Traits and/or a high power mission payment boosting Talent. Please post in this discussion thread if you're picking up this challenge! Then post some screenshots and brag about your difficulty and at what date you completed your mission :D If you missed the May Community Challenge: Small Ship to Prize Ship you may still want to jump in and join the fun.

[ 2019-06-02 00:27:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #155 completes the adds the fourth and final legendary bounty hunters in the v2.5.x family. We've also improved the ship comparison report to be more directly helpful and easier to read, rebalanced Water-Fuel Reclamation component and added a second level Javat-only version of the component. We've clarified rules for both Trade War Conflict and Civil Unrest in the game and fixed a pile of community reported issues and suggestions. We're on stride, hitting an update every 3 days for the month of May with 6 new story arcs added in the last 30 days. If you're enjoying the pace of updates, features, and new content please leave a review and tell a friend about Star Traders: Frontiers!

Ancient Draiv Solregard

A Bounty Hunter who has been operating since the pre Exodus period, Draiv Solregard is two centuries ancient but just as deadly and ruthless as ever. Unlike the other hunters, if a contact sends him after you, he will come bearing a capture warrant for your arrest and imprisonment. Be careful if you cross him, you might die regretting it!

Ship Comparison Report

This ^^ looks bad ... with Update #155, we've changed what numbers are being compared in the ship report. Now, instead of comparing their accuracy vs. your accuracy, we're comparing their accuracy vs. your defense so that you can get a much clearer view of whether or not they'll hit you and if you have a chance to hit them. We've also updated the fonts in the ship report to be red (outclassed by enemy) and gold (outclass your enemy) to help make them clear with just a glance.

Far Travelers

Improvements to the Water-Fuel Reclamation Tank component and a second tier 2 version of the component are going to make these both of high interest to those captains who travel far and jump often. Both components now include small Navigation bonuses, as well as larger fuel storage(+18 and +32) as well as more significant reductions to jump cost (-5 and -12). You can only install a Water-Fuel Reclamation 2 system at a Javat starport, so be sure to stay friendly with this industrious clan.

And More

We've added rules clarification to the Civil Unrest confirmation that Tactics saving Talents do not have an effect during these attempts to reach Contacts. Also, we've clarified the Trade War Conflict tooltip to be clear that selling goods to a faction who made them doesn't incur Rep penalty (selling Mok goods at a Mok Exchange does not incur penalty with Rychart if they are in a Trade War). We've resolved an issue reported by some Steam players that certain Rifle or Pistol attack Talents could be incorrectly used with the wrong weapon types. We've changed some of the dialog and characters in the Werewolf story to better match the KickStarter backer's vision. And, there was an issue where when you hired an Exo-Scout under Xeno Spores Rumor, they'd morph into a doctor. No more! If you enjoy the updates, content, stories and fixes please leave a review!

v2.5.37 - 6/1/2019

- Added new Bounty Hunter story vignette - determined and ancient hunter "Draiv Solregard" comes hunting with a Capture Warrant - Finished the 4th legendary Bounty Hunter to be added in v2.5.x dev roadmap family -- many thanks to the KickStarter backers! - Adjusted ship comparison in Encounter and in ship combat tooltip to compare attack vs. defense (not attack vs. attack), improved fonts for clarity - Rebalanced Water-Fuel Reclamation Tank to include small +Nav bonus, reduce Jump Cost by -5, +18 Fuel - Added Javat-only Water-Fuel Reclamation Tank 2, more Electronic/Nav, -12 Jump Cost, +32 Fuel - Clarified rules for Trade War in Conflict tooltips -- no Reputation loss for trading of cargo manufactured by a faction at that faction's own Exchange - Clarified rules for "Civil Unrest" -- Tactics saving Talents do not apply here, fixed bug with Rep loss - Fixed bug in Talent Manifest causing Skip Off the Void not to show - Fixed issue with Valencia's story where results could be crossed (left, but then joins your ship) - Fixed reported issues with "Werewolf" Bounty Hunter story - Fixed engine placement for some ships - Fixed issue allowing some rifle or pistol attacks to be used with the wrong type of weapon - Chased out the Doctors hiding as Exo-Scouts in the Spice Hall during "Xeno Spores" rumors and let the real Exo-Scouts in

[ 2019-06-01 16:36:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

With Update #154, we're rolling out the fifth new story since we got going on the v2.5.x family in the development roadmap. The third legendary bounty hunter can now come to call. We've also added a Rumor link to recruit Exo-Scouts in the spice hall, enabled the Retreat option alongside Acknowledge, better linked your ship's Radiation Resistance components help against Ion and Radiation storms, bumped the Palace Interceptor out of the AI's hands in the early game and fixed a ton of reported community issues. It's another night, another packed update! If you're enjoying the updates, new content, new features and more please share the game with a friend and leave a review!

New Bounty Hunter Vignette: The Werewolf

With Update #154, a third unique story Bounty Hunter may be sent after you by an enemy Contact. Working to Steel Song, the legendary Werewolf won't take a bribe so you're going to have to find another way out of trouble of face him and his gang of hunters in deadly crew combat. This new danger also comes along with an opportunity to score new unique story reward armor. We've got one of more Bounty Hunter vignette planned in the v2.5.x family before we move on to some of the larger arcs that are brewing and then into the first of the two Eras.

Draw of Xeno Spores

Word of xeno spores raining down on a system is now enough to draw Exo-Scouts into the spice hall. During the "Xeno Spores" system rumor, you can recruit these hunters, anti-xeno fighters and expert explorers.

Storm Shielding

The components on your ship that grant Radiation Resistance now block are better linked to blocking damage from Ion Storm and Radiation Storm Rumors. A ship decked with better Rad Res will be better able to prevent both component damage as well as crew health damage.

Difficulty Tuning

We're always working to improve the difficulty balance of the frontier and to ensure that we're giving meaningful choice and challenge. We've bumped the Pirates who were flying Palace Interceptors into a higher level slot so that they don't appear so early in the game and also reduced the rating on an orbital ops Distress Signal card to -3. With this update, we've ensured that "Retreat" is an available option next to "Acknowledge". While Acknowledge will gain you Rep and Rep across Alliances, it could also cause Rep loss (M. Officer + Solar War) which harmed some players looking to stay peaceful with everyone. This new change helps give you as a captain more choice where needed.

Community Reports!

We've cleaned up a bunch of community reported issues this release. Thanks to everyone posting and helping us improve the game. If you happen into a Rychart spice hall during a mission, you'll now get their special 90 max Morale rule. The longstanding bugs with Callous Justice quest log are now fixed -- it will go away at the right time and should not appear randomly where it was showing up badly. The Zealot's "Retribution Justice" now properly goes into cool down when used in a Mission context and we've fixed the case where two cross Rumors (Trade Blockade and Xeno Fleet) could create xeno faction, human, military officers! What does it even mean!?

v2.5.35 - 5/29/2019

- Added new Bounty Hunter story vignette - barbaric assassin the "Werewolf" comes hunting with a Death Warrant - New unique story reward and armor available - Exo-Scouts are now recruitable at spice hall during system-wide "Xeno Spores" rumors - When meeting a friendly ship in the void, Acknowledge as well as Retreat are now options -- skip Rep gain avoid Rep loss through Conflicts with Retreat - Radiation Resistance from ship components reduces ship and crew damage during Radiation and Ion Storms - Adjusted Orbital Ops Distress Signal card to be a -3 due to depth of possible negative results - Adjusted enemy AI's hull availability to remove the Palace Interceptor from the early game (too hard) - Finishing missions in a Rychart spice hall now include the Rychart bonus to max morale (90 instead of standard 80) - Fixed incorrect description listing "Passenger Suites" as luxury accommodations, instead adding it correctly to "Luxury Suites" - Fixed bug preventing Zealot's "Retribution Justice" Talent from going into cool down when activated from a Mission - Fixed bug with crossing Xeno Fleet and Trade Blockade Rumors causing xeno Military Officers to appear - Fixed two bugs with "Callous Justice" personal objective -- once where it stayed around too long, once it appeared without reason

[ 2019-05-30 02:40:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

With Update #152, we've rolled out a new way to specialize as a mission-running captain with the full Luxury Passenger experience, added another blast of storyteller tales to the spice hall and further improved the standard AI and xeno AI in preparation for the upcoming release of carriers and craft. We've also include another big round of balance improvements for craft, this time focusing on the Pilot and Electronics Skill Pools of craft, as well as Interdictors attack flight plans. Of course, there is always more -- so check the full release notes for every detail. If you're enjoying the pace of updates and new content, please leave a review and tell a friend!

May Community Challenge Wrapping Up!

The on-going May 2019 community challenge "Small Ship to Prize Ship" will be wrapping up in the next week. If you haven't had a chance to see if you can run a Juror or other tiny ship all the way up to taking a 8000 or 9000 Mass ship over with a Prize Ship Talent, get in on this one now! Post your glorious victories. The June challenge will be posted soon!

Full Lux Experience

Your passengers can now travel in luxury across the galaxy. The two luxury offerings -- the medium slot Luxury Cabin (1 spot) and the large slot Luxury Suite (3 spots) -- offer this splendor and comfort to your passengers. Whenever a passenger comes aboard during a mission, they fill up your luxury space first and promptly add +15% profit to every step for the rest of the mission. Based on the length of the mission (Diplomat Tours!) this can be a significant improvement in profits, especially as it stacks with Talents. If your luxury space is fully, the passenger may grumble a bit but they will take a standard cabin and grant no pay bonus. To be a luxury passenger liner takes additional dedication of larger ship slots, this isn't as simple as just upgrading your existing passenger cabins. But, for those mission runners criss-crossing the galaxy with passengers, pilgrims and spies this can be a huge profit booster.

Further AI Prep

Teaching the AI to build a good ship, a good crew, to pick the right Talents, to allocate the right component upgrades -- this has been an on-going process throughout all of 2019. And then for the last two months, we've been mixing the craft requirements into the same soup. This update addresses some issues we've been seeing with the AI in general as well as with those AI trying to build effective carriers. The AI is now better at planning out its final Ship Skill Pools (Pilot, Electronics, etc) to ensure it is well staffed but not over staffed and that it can make space for additional specialist crew. This has a critical impact on its future ability to correct snag wing specialist pilots and will have an impact in the more short term by allowing the AI to better pick other specialists like Mechanics, Pirates and others to join the crew. The on-going rounds of AI upgrades may seem cyclical, but we're making improvements, watching the metrics, measuring, replanning and then making another round. We've also spent a lot of time tuning exactly *how* smart the AI ship builder should be given the game date and the game difficulty settings. And, *shudder* once again, the xeno ship builder got a boost in smarts. Same components, new strains of logic.

Across the Spice Plate

Another big round of stories of legendary captains has been injected into the spice hall Storyteller Trait tonight. This covers the last of the stories from the KickStarter "Join the Lore" reward, except two more that will manifest as famous Bounty Hunters -- coming soon!

Interdictor and Skill Pool Buffs

Much like a capital ship, if a wing specialist pilot has the Skill to match their craft, they gain a bonus. If they exceed the Skill Pool of their craft, they are losing out on some potential bonus. Every point of Pilot Skill matched between craft and wing pilot grants a +2% chance to evade. With this update, we've increased the Pilot maximum for all Interdictors, increasing the option for higher level pilots or dual Job pilots to shine. We've done the same to Bomber's Electronics, as each matched point there adds +2% chance to hit the enemy capital ship. In the end analysis, it has come out that Interdictor attack plans were weak. To help balance this out, we've improved the power of the debuffs they deliver. They already had high Crippling Effect chance which means you could possibly land 2 debuffs in a single go. Finally, we modified Interdictor rocket weapons to cause Void Damage now, taking some of the Standard Damage and shifting it over for each weapon.

Fuel Components

We've balanced the price and install time of large slot and small slot Fuel Bays as well as increasing the fuel bonus on all types of Hangars and Launch Bays.

Conscription Woes

We've improved the rules for Trait mutation during conscripting enemy crew from a defeated ship. The variety of possible negative Traits that can spawn is more larger and far more exciting, now giving enough variance to have really bad, just bad and even lucky conscription events. In this, we've also clarified the rules of Malcontent, making it clear that the crew will rise up against the captain in any Mutiny regardless of their own personal Morale.

v2.5.33 - 5/25/2019

- Luxury Cabins / Luxury Suites now increase entire mission payment by 15% if a luxury bunk is open when passenger comes aboard - Enemy AI improves planning of Ship Skill Pool %s as difficulty increases and game progresses - Enemy Xeno ship builder AI makes better choices to focus builds (same components, smarter choices) - Added 8 new tales of legendary captains to spice hall Storyteller Trait (thanks KickStarter backers!) - Improved negative Trait mutation options when conscripting enemy crew, added more variety and fun Traits - Clarified rules for Trait "Malcontent" -- always joins Mutiny regardless of personal Morale - Improved power of Interdictor debuffs to make their lower damage attack runs more viable, also very high Crippling Effect changes - Shifted Interdictor rocket's damage from standard damage to void damage, up to 40 to 80 points - Increased the Pilot Skill Pool for all Interdictors -- higher Pilot on wing specialist crew member results in better dodge % - Increased the Electronics Skill Pool for all Bombers -- higher Electronics on wing specialist crew member results in better hit chance % - Increased fuel bonuses for Launch Bays and Hangars - Rebalanced prices for small slot and large slot Fuel Tanks, improved Alta Mesa Reinforced Fuel Pod (+2 Fuel, +1 Armor) - Improved team composition for Troy "The Blade" Circin -- more likely to be a good setup - Added new names to the name generator (thanks @For_Science!) - Fixed location bug with Plague Era mission "Research Protection"

[ 2019-05-26 03:32:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

With Update #152, we've expanded the legends and stories told by your Storyteller characters, improved the power of the Diplomat's "Smooth" Trait, made a significant fix to bombers and interdictors flight plans which increases their power, shared the wealth a bit with different ship combat buffs helping to hit small craft, tweaked the balance on a wide array of ship components, and fixed a pile of player reported issues.

Over the Spice Plate

When your crew with "Storyteller" Trait get going, they can tell some amazing tales. With this update, we've added another large set of legendary stories, all thanks to our KickStarter backers who chose to "Join the Lore." We have one more large set to add to close out the KickStarter reward tier completely and then we'll work on adding more related to story characters, eras and history of the frontiers. The exact rules of Storyteller Trait are now included in its text, showing that it has a 30% + Charisma chance to fire on each visit to the spice hall.

Smooth Diplomat

The "Smooth" Trait for Diplomats now gives a powerful starting bonus to all Introductions as well as discounting the price by 15%. Now adding +20 Personal Rep with every Introduction, this Trait makes it easy for Diplomats to make friends and to ensure those friends are willing to offer at least starting services right out of the gate. Notably as well, in many cases this means introduced Contacts will offer 2 Missions at a time.

Craft Bonuses and Improved Capital Ship Defenses

With Update #152, we checked into a recent captain's report that Hullbuster wasn't adding its bonus Damage correctly and were surprise to see it was true. Having been bumped during the early round of fixes for carriers and craft, your wing pilot's flight plan Talents weren't correctly adding either bonus Damage or Critical %! This is a huge bump to some flight plan Talents more than others, but is another power level raise for your carriers. On the other side, we've added a bonus % to hit craft to a number of capital ship Talents including Coordinated Fire and Broadside. Bombardment's debuff now reduces chance to hit craft as well, helping to give cover for your bombers. Finally, we've fixed a set of bugs that could cause crashes when a craft was destroyed or in the case when the Wing Tech's "Recovery Pod" Talent fired.

Ship Comopnents

With well over 500 ship components, there are always more small tweaks and improvements to make. With this update, we've differntiated medium slot Adv. Mass Dampeners (now boosting Ship Ops and Nav) from Mass Reducers (still boosting Ship Ops and Electronics). We've straightened out some issues with the price of medium slot Fuel Tanks and tweaked Basic Medical Bay, Medical Bay. Balanced Combat Medical Clinic (removed Armor) and Advanced Medical Bay.

v2.5.31 - 5/23/2019

- Added new set of tales of legendary captains to spice hall Storyteller Trait - Diplomat's "Smooth" Trait now adds a +16 Personal Reputation bonus with any Introductions - Fixed significant craft attack Talent bug preventing bonus damage from Talents like "Hull Buster" from being applied (more boom boom!) - Added a -10% Chance to Hit Craft to "Bombardment" Debuff, added +10% Chance to Hit Craft to "Coordinated Fire" Buff and +20% Chance to Hit Craft to "Broadside" buff - Clarified "Storyteller" Trait with rules for 30% + Charisma chance to increase Morale at spice hall - Balanced prices of Basic Medical Bay, Medical Bay. Balanced Combat Medical Clinic (removed Armor) and Advanced Medical Bay - Improved price spread and minimum install requirements for medium slot Fuel Tanks - Differentiated Skill bonuses between medium slot Adv. Mass Dampeners (Ship Ops, Nav) and Mass Reducers (Ship Ops, Electronics) - Fixed bug with Xeno Hunter "Exalted Hunter" firing twice or sometimes firing on prisoner missions - Fixed confusing language in Interdictor defensive launch Talents - Fixed bug causing crash with the use of "Recovery Pod" Talent when craft was destroyed - Fixed faction in "Military Sweepers" card in orbital salvage - Fixed "Major Setback" card in orbital salvage to ensure it reduces Contact Influence - Fixed bug where craft buffs were printing '0 Turns' duration to the combat log incorrectly

[ 2019-05-23 17:52:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

With Update #151, we're excited to add the newest Rumor to the galaxy -- the Academy Graduation -- as well as dropping all new and terrifying tier 3 Terrox xeno ship builds. Beyond that, we've further empowered the Quartermaster Job, improve the Spice Festival Rumor, enhanced Tactics Skill impact on Civil Unrest, allowed multiple desertion Talents to fire at once and rebalanced, fixed and improved a whole pile of other things based on the community feedback. It's a momentary break from new stories as we march toward releases of some larger story arcs. If you're enjoy the pace of new content, new features and improvements all for free, please consider telling a friend or leaving an update.

Rumor: Academy Graduation

On grav worlds, academy graduations are constant but every now and again an especially large and especially well-trained waves passes through the academies. These culminate in an Academy Graduation Rumor which leaves a zone flush with skilled recruits. The most notable bonus is that some of these grads would be willing to take up life as a spacer and so you can find Doctors, Quartermasters, Military Officers, Wing Leaders, Wing Techs and Engineers from the spice hall, all willing to sign on with a captain. As the graduations are also a great cause for celebration, the spice hall gains +2 Spice rating during such a series of events and all recruits -- from the hall or contacts -- gain +1 bonus levels. Especially early on as you are seeking to fill out a crew with specialist recruits, this Rumor can be a great boon to fill empty bunks without needing to invest in a wide network of Contacts. In addition to adding the Academy Grad Rumor, we've also improved the Spice Festival Rumor so that the Spice rating of the zone jumps to 7 at a minimum during such a celebration. In final Rumor news, we've increased the impact that high Tactics Skill can have on avoiding fights during Civil Unrest. Congats to all the grads out there this weekend!

Next Tier Terrox

With Update #151, we've opened another "next level" for Terrox xeno ships, releasing a wave of new and high level components to their more powerful ships. While these components won't be factored in below level 20, they allow xeno ship builder at higher levels to better focus and produce even more challenging ship combats. The changes also allow Terrox to change their build strategy to take advantage of the Electronics meta depending on their ship and engine setup. We've also tuned the AI and the ship builder for more deadly results at all levels.

Venerable Quartermaster

Interest in Quatermasters is at an all time high lol. Buy stock now! With this update, we've improved their availability to recruit from Contacts by allowing Prison Wardens to recruit them. We've also added Spy recruits to the Court Seer Contact type. In addition, Quartermasters have now joined the rare ranks of Jobs that have 3 saving Talents -- gaining "Baleful Grimace" to be able to put down Intimidation save failures.

Improved Desertion Protection

For a long time, the Zealot and Quartermaster Jobs have had Talents to prevent desertion. But only one of these Talents could fire at a time, leaving your precious crew always at risk if more than one decided to jump ship. With this update, we've allowed more than one Talent to fire -- up to 5 if you have them all ready -- to prevent desertion. Notably, this would rapidly raise the salary rates across your crew, but there are more options now to pin down crew members and bribe them to stay. We also tweaked some ship components, added some lines of missing dialog to the Valencia Faen story arc, tweaked the Xeno Ruins and Pinned Smuggler story cards to only appear after the 5 year mark, and fixed many other player-reported or player-suggested things. Check the full release notes below!

v2.5.29 - 5/18/2019

- Added next tier components for Terrox xeno, making late game xeno ships more challenging - Improved xeno AI for ship building and combat - Added new zone Rumor "Academy Graduation" - especially large and well-trained class graduating across multiple academies - During "Academy Graduation" Rumor, +1 level to recruits, +2 Spice Rating - During "Academy Graduation" Rumor can recruit Doctors, Quartermasters, Military Officers, Wing Leaders, Wing Techs and Engineers from the hall - Added new rank 1 Talent for Quartermaster "Baleful Grimace" prevents Intimidation failures - Quartermasters join the rare ranks with Hyperwarp Navigators of Jobs with 3 saving Talents - Added new recruits to Contacts -- Prison Warden Contact now recruits Quartermasters, Court Seers now recruit Spies - Improved Spice Festival Rumor to increase Spice rating to 7, spice never runs out - Improved rules for Talents like Zealot "Unbending Law" to allow multiple desertion prevention Talents to run - Improved story dialog in Valencia's Faen's storyline to make movement of events more clear - Increased ability of Tactics Skill to help avoid violent confrontations during Civil Unrest Rumor - Rebalanced install time for Armored Bulkhead components 1 thru 5 - Prevented unique story cards in mini-games from appearing too early in captain's career - Fixed issue with starport repair detail screen showing that repairs will take "no time" - Fixed issue where sometimes indie zones could show services incorrectly disabled in star atlas - Improved description of Prize Ship Talents

[ 2019-05-18 17:06:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

With Update #150, we're rolling out the fourth new story since we entered the v2.5.x development roadmap family, as well as new art, a major improvement to craft attack plans, a major improvement to how starport repair handles craft, new combat log entries for crew deaths and death saves, some component improvements, a new way to get a Quartermaster recruit and a huge pile of community-driven bug fixes. It's another day, another update full of goodies! If you enjoy the relentless pace of new content, new improvements and seeing what you suggested make its way into the game, please tell a friend and leave a review to help Cory and I keep it up!

Pinned Smuggler Story

Most recently, we added a storyline that could result from a unique card in Explorer mini-game. Now we've added a storyline that can be triggered by hitting a unique card in the Patrol or Blockade mini-game whenever a "Trade Blockade" Rumor is active. Trade Blockades are especially profitable opportunities for smugglers, but with the system so full of naval vessels trying to keep anyone landing with marketable goods, it is also a very risky time. Sometimes a Smuggler just needs a hand!

Swifter Flight Plans

With Update #150, we've increased the pace of both Shuttles, Bombers and Interdictors as they finish their flight plans. Previously, after making their attack or boarding run, craft would take an entire turn to retreat to the space near their own capital ship. Then, they would spend an entire turn landing. The swifter flight plans change combines these two turns into one -- on the turn after making their attack run or boarding, the craft will return to their capital ship and land in a single Turn. It's a 20% increase in speed and your ability to deliver crushing blows to your enemy with your craft!

Repairing Craft

Before Update #150, when you went to repair a craft, its damage, time and cost were all tucked under the Hangar in which it was docked. This led to some confusing values and when combined with a bug about repair time and cost, made for a real mess. With Update #150, we've split craft out into their own rows so that their individual cost is very clear. This also allows you to separately repair the hangar, launch bay or craft if you have limited time or budget. Finally, we fixed a bug with the repair times of craft that were making them additive instead of only using the longest repair time, and therefore making repair times far too long. Craft will cost both less time and credits to maintain and now it should be very clear what you're paying for. We also fixed a bug with discount Talents that could result in a situation where the starport refused to take your money or repair anything.

New Card Art

We're always working to add more character to the card mini-games and with this update we've added 4 new art boards to make the explorer and orbital ops mini-game cards stick out more -- covering cards like Lost, Smuggler Cache, and Rare Trade Discovery.

Deaths and Near Deaths

All fatal wounds are now logged directly into your ship combat log. Those that are prevented by Death Saves are marked with the Death Save and those that result in a final death are also include. We're conitnuing to work on improving the availability of the captain's intel on this screen and in the log and this is another great step forward. A big thanks to the players suggesting it.

Quartermaster Rescue

Quartermaster recruit availability keeps coming up! We're working on improving it, and we're looking across the entire game to do so. With this update, we've added QMs to the list of possible crew or officers that can be rescued from a Distress Signal card in any of the orbital operations.

Alta Mesa Fuel Components

We've also improved the stats and cost of the Alta Mesa fuel components and fixed a bug that allowed them to count as cargo holds. If you're looking for a Micro Launch Bay, it now appears in the small craft filter in starport correctly. And so many other smaller items, see the full list below!

v2.5.27 - 5/15/2019

- "Smuggler Escort" unique card story vignette can now appear in orbital Patrol Blockade during a "Trade Blockade" Rumor - Risky opportunity to rake in big profits and make a new black market friend - Added 4 new art boards for wide variety of card rewards -- time lost, smuggler cache, rare trade goods cache, story cards - Major bomber and interdictor improvement - all attack flight plans are 1 Turn faster, craft now retreat & land in the same turn - Improved starport repair list to include a separate row for any damaged craft so that its cost is clearly separate from hangar/launch bay - Improved combat log for small craft death saving Talent "Recovery Pod" - Added death save and death of any crew during ship combat directly to the combat log for easiest checking - Increased fuel allocation and price of Alta Mesa Reinforced Fuel Tank and Reinforced Fuel Pod - Added Quartermaster to the type of crew or officers who can be rescued from orbital ops "Distress Signal" card - Fixed issue allowing Alta Mesa Fuel Pod and Fuel Tank to count as cargo holds - Fixed issue with craft buffing Talents causing Interdictors to stay out longer, fixed bug with Mechanic's "Peak Reactor Burn" - Fixed issues allowing Wing Tech "Hangar Triage" Talent to repair craft more than described - Fixed disconnect with Repair discounts in starport that could lead to inability to repair in very niche cases - Fixed bug with starport repair times for craft causing sum of repair time as opposed to taking longest - Fixed "Craft" filter in starport replace component to ensure "Micro Launch Bay" is visible - Fixed bug where Xeno Hunter "Macabre Harvest" could used after defeating Troy 'The Blade' Circin - Fixed incorrect flag with universal pardons you can't afford - Fixed bug allowing Indie contact to be created during Orbital Salvage - Fixed missing SFX for Wing Commando's "Knife Work" Talent - Fixed placement of some ship combat UI elements on large screens

[ 2019-05-15 16:48:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update #149 comes hot on the heels of #148 and issues in the final set of changes to the base Jobs that have been in planning and testing for a while now. In addition to Navs gaining some Command, both Gunners and Navs have gained a new saving Talent as well. We've improved the ease of finding the "Xeno Ruins" story, rebalanced new ship component, improved details on 2 crew combat Talents that nuke enemy Morale and fixed a host of community reported issues. Thanks to everyone for sharing feedback, posting suggestions and bugs! If you're enjoying the game and the relentless pace of updates, we hope you will take a moment to post a review!

Wrapping Base Job Rebalance

We've moved quickly after Update #148 to finish the remaining rebalances to the base Jobs that were planned. With Gunners gaining a pool of Tactics over Ship Ops, they've helped add additional attack and range change dice to every ship in the galaxy. Now, with Update #149, we're finishing this sweep by splitting the Hyperwarp Navigators Tactics Skill into Command and Tactics. With Command taking their secondary Skill slot, Navs are now more helpful in defense and escape during ship combat while still retaining some value in range change and attack. Of course, their actual Navigation Skill plays a larger role if the ship is at long range in every type of maneuver. On the bridge of a ship, your hyperwarp navigators often work together as a team, plotting and pathfinding through the void. They carry an important burden -- keeping the entire ship on course -- and it is especially heavy when they are called on to navigate a hyperwarp gate. And so, the voice and opinions of a Navigator are respected among the crew as everyone knows that their lives are in their hands at some point during the journey. And so, Command fits as a perfect secondary Skill for the Navs.
The final additions in this rebalance are two new Talents -- a Tactics saving Talent for your Gunners at rank 1 and a Command saving Talent for your Hyperwarp Navigators at rank 11. These new Talents provide new options for covering these critical Skill saves with protective Talents. The new "Bullseye Certainty" is the first saving Talent for Gunners, helping them fill a more rounded out role within the ship and the rank 11 "Pathfinder's Lead" makes Navigators one of the most unique and highly demanded Jobs in having a whooping 3 saving Talents. All of the changes to the Gunner and Navigator Jobs have some subtle impacts to the ship combat meta which will play out in the following weeks. Excited to hear everyone's feedback about these changes to the ability to get Tactics and Command dice pool through standard crew.

Morale Nukers

We've fixed two issues with crew combat Talent descriptions missing an important clause that they nuke enemy Morale. Both Commander's Scorn and the Combat Medic's Toxin Terror were missing these clauses. They reduce the target's Morale by 10 + Intimidate or 10 + Doctor respectively.

Follow Up Balance

We've adjusted the Xeno Ruins story to be easier to find, now allowing it to also turn up during wilderness zone "Discovery" Rumors as well as the quadrant-wide "Artifact Finds". The Plague Ward component was a bit OP and has been re-tuned with changes to its Medical Rating, cost and jump cost. Wrapping up some late arrival craft bugs, we've fixed an issue with how Interdictor Buffs were being wrongly applied to the ship instead of launched craft as well as resolving an issue where certain enemy AI types refused to shoot at craft. This new round of fixes is bringing us much closer to the carrier AI being released. We've also fixed bugs with Slippery Trader, Winning Compromise and Loyalty Rousing.

v2.5.25 - 5/12/2019

- "Xeno Ruins" explorer unique card story vignette can now appear during "Discovery" wilderness zone rumor as well as quadrant "Artifact Find" - Rebuilt Hyperwarp Navigator Skill progression to add Command as a secondary Skill and bump Tactics to tertiary -- more valuable in defense and escape - Added new Command Saving Talent for Hyperwarp Navigators at rank 11 - Added new Tactics Saving Talent for Gunners at rank 1 - Tweaked progression of Tactics for Gunner Job to start slower - Adjusted price, medical rating and jump cost of "Plague Ward" component - Added important missing description to Combat Medic's "Toxin Terror" and Commander's "Scorn" both cause (10+Skill) Morale Loss - Fixed bug preventing enemy ship from firing on small craft with certain weapon types - Fixed issue with "Tip of the Spear" and "Screening Swarm" causing the buffs to be transferred to the capital ship instead of craft - Fixed bug preventing "Winning Compromise" and other price increasing Talents from firing reliably - Fixed bug with Commander's "Loyalty Rousing" Talent causing it to heal more Morale than described - Fixed bug allowing Smuggler's "Slippery Trade" to fire even if Rep loss was 0 - Fixed bug preventing credits display from updating immediately upon selling a ship in Dry Dock - Fixed missing skill listing in Spice Hall Recruit

[ 2019-05-12 16:00:30 CET ] [ Original post ]