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Star Traders: Frontiers News

"Santa’s Stash & Spacemas Cocktail" December Challenge

[h2]End-of-Month Wrap-up: The Winner, Honorable Mentions, and Next Month’s Challenge...[/h2]
(Original challenge description below, skip to it?)
[h3]Congratulations to the Santa’s Stash challenge winner, on a hot streak... bogboy3![/h3]


With a whopping 1250 bottles stashed by his Captain Jolly Missle-Toe, and a Brexian Spice Tea cocktail inspired by his time in the Himalayas(!!), he’s earned his second community challenge win in a row.



[h3]Honorable Mentions[/h3]
T3h Brambl3 with a very impressive Coolant Leak cocktail, and a Vudka stash over a month in the making… only to be cut short by the Xeno. 😭



Dr. Spendlove for bringing us the tale of a dire Vudka shortage introducing him to a local mocktail recipe, Shalun Sangria.



Thanks everyone for sharing in our holiday fun, hope you had lots more at home!

As always, you can still post a run report for this challenge or any of our previous challenges in the Steam forums or in our Discord. We’ll always consider notable runs (impressive gameplay, fun screenshots / edits, fan art or stories) for a share on our Twitter or Facebook.

We’ll kick the new year off with a new challenge soon, stay tuned!


[hr][/hr][h3]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.

“There’s 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 they’d heard of alright.
The captain’s 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, we’ve 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 Captain’s reputation was epic, and the Prince’s 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 problem’s not in feeding them, it’s 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.”
[/h3]
[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 you’re 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.


[h2]Scoring Rules[/h2]

[h3]Points awarded for:[/h3]
  • +1 point per unit of vudka stashed

[h3]Bonus points:[/h3]
  • +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)

[h3]Screenshots:[/h3]
To report your challenge’s 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 can’t wait to see what drinks you come up with!

[h2]Further Discussion, Post Scores and Ask Questions[/h2]
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/

Update #241: Mapmaker Rising


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/


[h2]Settings Remembered[/h2]
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.


[h2]Easy Sharing[/h2]
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!


[h2]Starting Danger[/h2]
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.

[h2]Kamguard Deathblade[/h2]
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.

[h2]v3.1.5 - 11/28/2020[/h2]
- 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

Let's Go: Labor of Love!


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.

Also, if you'd like to help "nominate" Cyber Knights: Flashpoint as next year's "Best New Turn-Based Tactics Cyberpunk Heist RPG" then click wishlist below!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Major Milestone "CARTOGRAPHER" and 50% off sale

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!

[h2]Create New V2 Maps![/h2]
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.




[h2]Map Preview[/h2]
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.


[h2]Default Map for V2[/h2]
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.

[h2]v3.1.1 - 11/25/2020[/h2]
- 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

[h2]v3.1.3 - 11/25/2020[/h2]
- Fixed some issues with hyperwarp gate linking in v2 maps

[h2]v3.1.4 - Mac Only[/h2]
- Fixed crash in v2 map gen for Mac OS

Update #239: Send Blades, Guns and Hex!


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


[h2]Cyber Knights: Flashpoint[/h2]
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/


[h2]Weapon Locker A6[/h2]
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.


[h2]Grade 5 Gear[/h2]
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.

[h2]Destroying Ships to Support Conflicts[/h2]
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.

[h2]v3.0.125 - 11/16/2020[/h2]
- 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