Starship Troopers: Extermination News

So, Trooper, you’ve managed to beat the odds; you strolled through hell and managed to live to tell your tales. You’ve earned promotions, and you’ve gotten comfortable with your life as an officer in the Deep Space Vanguard, but your job isn’t finished yet if you so choose - there is no greater honor than volunteering for another tour of duty with the Federation!



Once a Trooper has managed to complete their career progression and reached the legendary Rank 100 Deputy Sky Marshal I. Troopers will have the opportunity to serve the Federation with the greatest sacrifice there is (at least if your heart’s still pumping):

[h3]RE-ENLISTMENT![/h3]

Troopers will be able to increase their Re-enlistment Tier in the new update. Doing so resets your Career Rank, and all your Classes. Troopers will be able to go into their “Profile” to re-enlist! In exchange, you’ll earn a NEW Career Badge, a Custom Loadout Slot, and the opportunity to earn your Ranks and Levels again.


Nothing inspires the troops better than a commanding officer picking up their faithful Morita Mk. 1 once more and re-joining the recruits against the Arachnid menace. We all remember Pvt. Zim!


[h2]Back on the Grind[/h2]

Re-enlisting as a Rank 1 Private isn’t the same as starting over from scratch! You RETAIN your Weapon Mastery Progression you’ve already accrued over your first deployment, meaning you can come back with a head start over your less seasoned compatriots. This means you can take immediate advantage of an improved Sight or a Modification on your weaponry that you’ve previously earned.

In addition, you will KEEP the uniforms, visors, and decals you’ve already earned from your previous tours of duty, letting you distinguish yourself from the rest of the Vanguard.



With Re-enlistment you will also earn new Custom Loadout Slots EACH TIME you complete a Re-enlistment Tier. Access to extra Custom Loadout Slots grants you the ability to save another equipment loadout for quick selection at the beginning of an engagement.

Want to take that Hawkeye to the wide-open battlegrounds of Agni Prime, but need to keep the option of the Morita XXX ready just in case? Use your Custom Loadout Slots to save alternative kits for different situations, whether it’s to save time and effort or just to flex on your friends.



The implementation of the Re-enlist feature has a few goals that we’d like to share.

[h2]Always Moving Forward[/h2]

• We understand that this isn’t something that everyone will be interested in, but some troopers may find continuous progression important to their gameplay experience.
  
• We wanted to provide a method of ultra-endgame progression that still allows all other players to progress at a reasonable pace.

[h2]Your Reward, Your Choice[/h2]

• As we won’t expect everyone to willingly reset their hard-earned progress, we’ve ensured that this is a path that is purely OPTIONAL.
  
• Custom Loadout Slots provide additional flexibility to Re-enlisted players but don’t provide a benefit entirely unachievable by others.
  
• We wanted to provide a reward that was both valuable but not critical to the overall core experience.

[h2]Future Benefits[/h2]

• That said, we aren’t done with rewards for repeated Re-enlisting and will look to add more to this system as we develop Starship Troopers: Extermination.
  
• We’ll be letting all troopers know if we add anything to the Re-enlistment system, so keep your eyes and ears open. And if there’s something you’d love to see reward your efforts, please let us know!

Remember, Troopers, what you’ve just read is still Work-In-Progress and Subject to Change. If you have thoughts or feedback you’re willing to share, please let us know.

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That's all for this transmission! We hope to see some of you chat with recruitment once again to re-enlist and secure the future of the Federation!

Want to re-enlist with other troopers or provide feedback to us the devs? Come join the ST:E Community Discord!

Welcome to the far reaches of the galaxy, where love knows no bounds, not even across species! In Starship Troopers: Bugs and Kisses, you (as a loyal trooper of the Federation) will embark on an intergalactic journey unlike any other as you navigate the treacherous terrain of dating... the Bugs!


With our experience from making Starship Troopers: Extermination, we aim to make this the most immersive Arachnid dating game on the market. We’re putting you in the boots of a brave Trooper who finds themselves learning, amidst the chaos of war, that love blossoms in unexpected places.

As you delve into the game, you'll encounter a colorful cast of Bug characters, each with their own distinct personalities and quirks. From the charming and witty Drone Bug to the fierce and loyal Tiger Elite, there's a match of every carapace to connect with.


Your choices will shape the course of your romantic journey as you navigate through dialogue options, mini-games, and branching storylines. Will you win the affection of your chosen bug companion, or will you face the challenges of interspecies romance head-on?



We’ve put a lot of love into Starship Troopers: Bugs and Kisses, and while we can't reveal it all right now, here is what you need to know:

• Bug-Tastic Romance: Immerse yourself in a world where love knows no boundaries and romance blooms amidst the chaos of intergalactic warfare.
  
• Diverse Cast of Arachnids: Meet and interact with a variety of familiar Bug characters you’ve seen in Starship Troopers: Extermination, each with their own unique personalities and backstories. From the Drone to the Plasma Grenadier, there is a Bug for every Trooper!
  
• Branching Storylines: Navigate through branching storylines and make decisions that will shape the course of your romantic journey. Take the time to discover multiple endings based on your decisions throughout the game. Will you and your Bug companion find true love, or will fate lead you down a different path? The choice is yours to make.
  
• Stunning Artwork: You’ll be head over heels with beautiful Bug-centric artwork that brings the Starship Troopers universe to life, from the lush alien landscapes of Valaka and Agni Prime to intricately detailed character designs.

Are you ready to embark on an unforgettable journey through space and romance? Play Starship Troopers: Bugs and Kisses and discover the thrill of serving the Federation.



Get ready for your first date, Troopers! We hope you enjoy what we’ve shown off for Starship Troopers: Bugs and Kisses so far. We’re sure you’d love to know more, so keep a close eye on this space over the coming weeks for more from the upcoming game. If you have feedback or questions, please share them with our Dev team in the ST:E Community Discord!

Thank you for your support of Starship Troopers: Extermination, and as our last words to you before you embark on this adventure of love:

[h2]“We’re from Offworld, and we say seduce ’em all!”[/h2]

[h2]Why Are We Moving to a New Mission Selection System?[/h2]

With the release of 0.7.0, upon entering the game, players will be introduced to a new UI and Mission Selection Screen. The goal with the new system is to funnel active players into fewer, fuller matches at times when the player population count is low. Starship Troopers: Extermination is best played with a full server of 16 players and this system will take a lot of the guesswork out of matchmaking and also really help low player count parties find each other.


The new selection process gives players the ability to pick their game modes and difficulty, but critically it also allows for the player to choose their destination planet.

We always want to promote an increasing amount of choices to the player, but as we do so (and as we add even more content in the future), the danger will be in dividing the community more and more, making it harder to find active, full matches. This curated system is a tradeoff between player choice and funneling the active players into matches together.

Generally (but this is subject to change with player feedback and game telemetry), available missions will include:

• AAS missions with difficulties Easy, Medium and Hard
• ARC missions with difficulties Medium or Hard
• Horde missions with difficulties Medium or Hard
• Hive Hunt missions with difficulties Easy or Medium. Hard will make a return soon.

We also have removed the terminology of Recruit, Trooper and Veteran from how we named difficulty Tiers. We did this to improve the accessibility and understanding of our difficulty tiers for the average player; no more guessing what Trooper meant for difficulty. Once we add difficulties past Hard we will introduce more in-universe names for our difficulties.



Now that we have a more controlled and predictable mission curation system, we have improved, simplified and re-introduced the Quick Play feature.


In our previous system of Players selecting any mission type, it was entirely possible for the player base to spin up very low population matches. Quickplay and matchmaking services in general are very complex, and we had a lot of reports of Quickplay not being able to find optimal matches for players.

Now that the Mission combinations are more limited, we are re-introducing the feature and we hope that the Player experience will be improved.



Those with a keen eye might have also noticed that mutators are back for now mutators will return in the Normal difficulty mode. We are experimenting with different combinations now that we have the Reinforcement feature and more frequent high-player count matches.

As mentioned above, this mission configuration can change depending on telemetry and feedback and we’ll be closely monitoring how the feature plays out and seek to adjust it accordingly.

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That is all for this dev blog we hope you liked seeing the new Mission Select and are eager to deploy as part of the Federation in exterminating those pesky bugs!

We'd love to hear your thoughts on it all and we may be looking for some loyal troopers to aid in trying out all these new features coming to ST:E so if that interests you, please come join the ST:E Community Discord!

“Great news, Brimstone. Terran Command has given the greenlight for our trial weapon modification program. The objective is to turn each soldier into a true Archie-killing machine on the battlefield! There has been some troubling but unconfirmed intelligence of the Bugs evolving thicker armor to deal with our weapons and we want to stay ahead of the curve”



Weapon Mastery is our new secondary progression system for weapons. All weapons will be able to gain XP and rank up. As they rank up, they can unlock weapon attachments and will be able to shift the way weapons perform out on the field. You can also unlock weapon skins, allowing you to customize your weapons, and lastly, you can achieve weapon mastery upon reaching rank 10 with any weapon. Achieving weapon mastery on a weapon that is locked to a specific class will allow you to use that weapon with any class.


[h2]Gaining XP[/h2]

Weapons will gain XP when you kill an Arachnid with that weapon. To keep things simple, weapons gain the same XP as the player receives for the kill.

[h2]Ranking Up[/h2]

After reaching a certain amount of XP, your weapons will rank up. When a weapon ranks up, any unlocks tied to that rank will become available for you to equip.


[h2]Weapon Modifications[/h2]

Weapon modifications come in 4 types: Ammo, Magazine, Internals and Sights.

• Each of these types can have ONE modification at a time.
  
• These modifications can have a variety of positive and negative effects on the weapons.

Example: Extended Mags, which are now part of weapon mastery, offer 50% increased Mag capacity for the weapon. So the advantage would be a minor overall increase in ammo and less time spent reloading, but you may have to rearm at base more often, as the downside to this mastery is you have fewer mags available.

With the release of the next update, troopers should keep in mind that weapons will not come out of the gate with their full-fledged mastery tracks and we will be looking to fill the progression track more as we develop Starship Troopers: Extermination. That said, every weapon will have a mastery track enabled, and any modifications added in the future will be retroactively unlocked as long as you’ve reached the appropriate rank with your weapon.


[h2]Weapon Mastery[/h2]

• Once you master a weapon by reaching rank 10 with it, you will unlock the Mastery for that weapon. Mastery will allow you to now use that weapon on ANY class as long as you are at the right level within the class.

Example: If the Hawkeye unlocks at Level 4 on the Sniper, and you master it, you have to be at least Level 4 in the class you would like to use it on as well.

Weapon mastery will carry over between classes meaning that once you master it, it’s mastered on all classes, and you will not have to redo the progression track to acquire modifications again.



This feature has quite a few areas we hope to impact when it is released with 0.7.0, and we want to share our reasoning behind the changes and what we expect to come from the Mastery System.

[h2]Add New Unlocks for Players to Chase.[/h2]

Leveling up is fun and so is having goals to work towards. A system like weapon mastery provides more goals while giving interesting rewards

[h2]Learn the Basics, Then Break the Rules.[/h2]

Mastery is inherently a bit of a rule breaker when talking about classes. It takes previously exclusive things and suddenly says “But what if…?”. That in itself is a pretty cool idea and one of the things we’d love to see is what the community is going to do with the different possibilities. Maybe we see Rangers with the FU17 Flamethrower running around, or Medics and Engineers will take up the mantle of Hawkeye once more. The most experienced troopers of the Deep Space Vanguard have earned the Federation’s confidence that they will choose whatever loadout gets the job done.

[h2]Try out New Things.[/h2]

Troopers, we hear you loud and clear that a lot of people tend to gravitate towards a favorite class, but variety is the spice of life. We think weapon mastery is a great incentive to move to another class but keep some familiarity and progress. Mastered everything on your Sniper and want to try out the Demolisher? Well, once you progress through the initial few basic levels, your weapons will be there ready and waiting for you to kill some Bugs.

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We hope you've been enjoying these developer blogs on what is to come with the next update. We still have plenty we want to share before the update arrives so stay alert troopers!

If you want to share your thoughts on these dev blogs to us the devs or just chat with fellow troopers, come join ST:E Community Discord!

Troopers! This transmission comes directly from Sky Marshal Ramsey! Listen closely and take notes if you have to, as this will only be sent out once!

Please Note: What you’re about to hear is Work-In-Progress and Subject to Change.

[h2]Reinforcements[/h2]

“Troopers, these mounting battlefield losses have been unacceptable! I will not have the security of the Federation jeopardized by sloppy fieldwork. Effective immediately, I am coordinating with the rest of Terran Command to mitigate the loss of materiel in the Deep Space Vanguard… as well as to reduce casualties. We will expect better of you down on the field in the future.”

- Sky Marshal Catherine Ramsey

[h2]Introducing Reinforcements[/h2]

With the next update we are introducing the reinforcements mechanic. Vanguard Teams will now have a limited number of respawns available during each mission. This means each death carries more weight with it, and it will be up to each trooper, especially those valiant medics, to keep other troopers alive. Remember teamwork is essential when you’re fighting Archie!


[h2]How Does the Reinforcement System Work?[/h2]

Troopers will be deployed to each mission with a predetermined amount of reinforcement respawns for their team. The quantity of respawns available varies based on the mission's designated mode and its corresponding difficulty level. Generally, missions categorized as less challenging will afford a greater number of reinforcements compared to higher-difficulty missions. During a mission, when a trooper dies and is not just incapacitated, the team's total reinforcements will go down by 1 and then the deceased trooper can respawn. When reinforcements hit 0, the mission is called off and immediate extraction will be called in.


Troopers will be able to gain extra reinforcements from activities in the field. This can be done by successfully completing designated side objectives or by achieving significant progress within the ongoing mission.


[h2]The Design Intent:[/h2]

The implementation of the Reinforcement feature has a few goals that we’d like to share.

[h3]Make Death Meaningful.[/h3]
The Reinforcement system should make reviving incapacitated troopers much more important and it should make the updated medic a much more active player in the field.

Want to stay standing? Protect your medics!

[h3]Make the Game Harder![/h3]
Reinforcements make it so you have another thing to manage out in the field. It should make side objectives more meaningful as well, as they can help earn more reinforcements.

• For Recruit difficulty, it should exist as a way to introduce players to the system but shouldn’t affect the win rate too aggressively.
  
• On Trooper difficulty we should see some more mission failures but it shouldn’t feel like you are fighting against all odds all the time!
  
• On Veteran difficulty though, that’s where we hope to push our Troopers to the limit. Also, this is just one of the areas we are looking at to spice up difficulty.

Get ready to arm up, Troopers. Archie can smell weakness, so make sure it doesn’t smell like you.

[h3]Future Plans[/h3]

• Having the Reinforcement system gives us the ability to run weekend events in the future in which we can change the amount of respawns in a mode or even disable them entirely. It also opens the door for some mutators in the future. (“...M.I. does the dying”)

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You heard the Sky Marshall, Troopers! We can’t afford unnecessary losses in these upcoming fights so make sure you have each other's back out there! That's all for this transmission! We expect more to come, so stay on your feet.

If you want to find fellow troopers to chat with to be part of your team to ensure the future of the Federation or provide feedback to us, the devs come join the ST:E Community Discord!