Star Traders: Frontiers News

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


[h2]Void Engine Rebalance[/h2]
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.


[h2]Booster Gear[/h2]
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!

[h2]Some Bug Fixes[/h2]
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.

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

[h2]v3.0.97 - 9/7/2020[/h2]
- 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

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!


[h2]Crew Champions, Gear Up![/h2]
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.

[h2]Enemy Crew Builder Variety[/h2]
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.


[h2]Crimson Defender![/h2]
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.

[h2]Clarifying Difficulty[/h2]
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.

[h2]@StarTradersGame is out of drydock on twitter![/h2]
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


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

[h2]v3.0.95 - 9/1/2020[/h2]
- 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

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!


[h2]New Relics and Level 5 Specialist Gear[/h2]
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.


[h2]ECCM Screens and Reactor Spike Balance[/h2]
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.

[h2]Final Category Tweaks[/h2]
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!

[h2]Seen Cyber Knights?[/h2]
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/

[h2]v3.0.93 - 8/22/2020[/h2]
- 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

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!


[h2]Shop by Category Fixes[/h2]
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.

[h2]Water-Fuel Reclamation 3[/h2]
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.


[h2]Reactors Spike Modules[/h2]
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.


[h2]Defensive Tweaks[/h2]
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.

[h2]v3.0.91 - 8/17/2020[/h2]
- 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

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!


[h2]Browse by Component Type[/h2]
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.


[h2]New Pulse Boosters[/h2]
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.


[h2]Reactor Spikes and Defense Patterns[/h2]
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.

[h2]New Cards[/h2]
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.

[h2]BROOD Timing[/h2]
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).

[h2]Wishlist that your cyberpunk fix[/h2]
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

[h2]v3.0.89 - 8/14/2020[/h2]
- 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