Star Traders: Frontiers News

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


[h2]Strike Carrier Extreme[/h2]
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.

[h2]Ironclad Access[/h2]
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.

[h2]Community Reports/Suggestions[/h2]
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!

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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!

[h2]v3.0.37 - 2/1/2020[/h2]
- 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

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!

[h2]v3.0.35 - 1/25/2020[/h2]
- 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

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!


[h2]Dogfighting Adjustments[/h2]
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.

[h2]Built to Hunt[/h2]
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.


[h2]Flash Charge Comes to Town[/h2]
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.

[h2]Frontier Liner[/h2]
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.

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[h2]Next Project: Cyber Knights[/h2]
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.

[h2]v3.0.31 - 1/22/2019[/h2]
- 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

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.


[h2]Interdictor Dogfights[/h2]
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.


[h2]Galactic Map Scanning[/h2]
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!

[h2]Orbital Salvage[/h2]
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.

[h2]Jyeeta Timeline[/h2]
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.


[h2]Next Project: Cyber Knights[/h2]
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.

[h2]v3.0.29 - 1/16/2019[/h2]
- 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

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.


[h2]Salvage Weaponry[/h2]
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.


[h2]Show All Talents[/h2]
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.

[h2]Enemy Intelligence by Difficulty[/h2]
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.


[h2]Next Project: Cyber Knights[/h2]
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.

[h2]v3.0.27 - 1/9/2020[/h2]
- 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