Star Traders: Frontiers News

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.

[h2]What’s the latest on Cyber Knights?[/h2]
Earlier this month, we launched Cyber Knights: Flashpoint’s 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 we’re on the long march to release on Steam, so make sure you’ve 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/


[h2]Rumor Affinities[/h2]
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.

[h2]Early Game Rumor Blocks[/h2]
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

[h2]Templar Contact Age & Recruiting[/h2]
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.


[h2]Rebalance Explorer Components[/h2]
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.

[h2]Bug Sweep Up[/h2]
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!


[h2]Improved Mod Support[/h2]
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/

[h2]v3.2.29 - 2/10/2022[/h2]
- 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

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

[h2]What’s the latest on Cyber Knights?[/h2]
Earlier this month, we launched Cyber Knights: Flashpoint’s 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 we’re on the long march to release on Steam, so make sure you’ve 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/

[h2]Repair Time Rebalance[/h2]
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!


[h2]Valencia and the Hunter[/h2]
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!


[h2]Fuel Range in HUD[/h2]
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!


[h2]Ship Comparison Crash Fix[/h2]
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.

[h2]v3.2.27 - 1/21/2022[/h2]
- 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

Happy new year and welcome to the first major update, #287. 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 #287, 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


[h2]Relative Ship Comparisons[/h2]
Update #287 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.


[h2]Better Repair Cost/Time[/h2]
Update #287 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.


[h2]Event Log Abbreviations[/h2]
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 #287, it would have simply dropped the days from the count which was causing confusion.

[h2]Improved Shielded Barracks[/h2]
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.


[h2]Engine Fuel / AU[/h2]
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.

[h2]v3.2.25 - 1/12/2022[/h2]
- 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)

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.

[h2]v3.2.23 - 1/5/2022[/h2]
- Fixed random, long repair times with ship hull
- Fixed crash with pinning Mission list

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!

[h2]What’s the latest on Cyber Knights?[/h2]
Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. We’re 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 you’ve 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/


[h2]Starport Rating Reduces Maximum[/h2]
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.


[h2]Repair Talents Reduce Duration[/h2]
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.


[h2]Wing Leader and Bomber Debuffs[/h2]
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.

[h2]v3.2.21 - 12/22/2021[/h2]
- 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