Star Traders: Frontiers News

Full challenge write up down below!

Hi Captains! I'm here with our end of the month write up for the mini-map challenge! A lot of you have taking on that tiny little map and the unique situations it created.



Matt gave us detailed write ups about the adventures of their captain and their crew. Captain Billy stayed very busy despite the small map!



Scathe, who's Capain Majara, relied on a lot on diplomacy and trade to navigate through their adventures.

Many of you, including Migal, gave the new Blade Dancer a try on this challenge too, mixing it up even more.

We really enjoyed all of you telling us about your adventures on this challenge. It's always so much fun seeing how you all choose to tackle the challenges and the shenanigans you get up to along the way!

I'll be back soon (a couple months) with another STF challenge, but make sure you join us for our CKF challenges as well if you have both games!

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Hello, Captains. It’s time for another STF challenge. This is the mini-map challenge! How will you play on the smallest of maps with the least sectors? Is it very different from your standard style of play? What choices will you make and why?

This challenge really only has one "rule." That you play on the specific map seed for this challenge. Otherwise, you can play whatever professions, ships, rules, and styles you would like.

The map seed for this challenge is: st-v02-12-2-99475829

It is a 12 sector very small map. Chillbear who suggested it says that it has a very strong starting position for Steelsong.



Some ideas for what we’d love to see:

• Screenshots of your ship, your crew
  
• Descriptions of your strategies approaching such a small map and how they are different from your 'normal' strategies
  
• Tell us about the challenges your faced, particularly those around it being a small map or interesting things that happened
  
• Any other creative ways you want to share to tell us about life in so few sectors: memes, interpretive dance, gifs, etc
  

No matter what you choose to share, please include one screenshot of your journey!


We’ve opened up a discussion here on Steam in the General Discussion forum for aIl of your posts. If you post on the discord, post in the #mini_map_challenge channel found in the STF category.



Good luck and have fun, Captains!

A priority signal is beaming in from the void, captain. It's another update. They say it is update #349. There must be some mistake ... With this update we've improved the Blade Master Trait balance, circled back to improve the first Early Access profession, Bounty Hunter, added 2 new ship weapons and completed some minor improvements for the Paladin Crusader and Wolfpack Interceptor.

If you're enjoying your first-class, front-row seat on the update train here at Star Traders HQ, please be sure to leave a review, share the game and tell a friend!

[h2]Want to help shape our next game?[/h2]
So many of our updates for Star Traders are based on feedback from you all. But there are limits to what we can do in a game 5 years after its release. Our new tactical heist RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, is evolving fast in Early Access, with plenty of room for content ideas and shifts in gameplay based on what early players are finding fun.

Join us to make this game another one you’ll be enjoying for years to come.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

[h2]Blade Master Trait Updates[/h2]
Thanks to the community for the outpouring of excitement and feedback about the new Blade Master profession! We've included a set of adjustments the Blade Master's Traits to balance them out. With your help, they are in a much better spot now. The Blade Master's Blood Ritual Trait has been upgraded to be much more focused on combat engagements with bonus to Fortitude, Melee Damage and a very powerful Debuff Resist.


[h2]Bounty Hunter Profession Buffs![/h2]
However, all this discussion of Profession balancing has highlighted the unfortunate fact that some of the first professions added to the game during the Early Access phase have been left behind a bit by the power curve. We'll be taking some time this month to make some adjustments and try to bring things back into balance. This patch includes some improvements to the Bounty Hunter profession.


[h2]New Ship Weapons![/h2]
Two terrifying new ship weapons are now available, the DSX Plasma Battery and the Vanguard Gravcannon. The new DSX Plasma Battery is a medium slot level 9 weapon and the Vanguard Gravcannon can punch a hole through anything at large slot, level 9. These are both based on requests from the community, so please keep your ideas and posts coming! They are fuel for the Star Traders reactor.


[h2]Improved Component Labeling[/h2]
An awesome community member brought to our attention how easily confused the Defense Pattern Matrix and the Pilot Assist Module are when looking at ship status screenshots. To make this less confusing and make screenshots more readable, we've changed the icon for Defense Pattern Matrix from Pilot Booster to Defense Booster. This better matches what the component does and is visually more clear. Win-win!

[h2]On-Going Tweaks to Paladin Crusader and Wolfpack Interceptor[/h2]
With so many new captains taking the bridge of the Paladin Crusader and Wolfpack Interceptor, we've heard a lot of feedback about how to tune these ships up to be just right. A big thanks to everyone sending this in and helping us improve. We've done some component swaps and tweaks and these are flying off the starport launch pad better than ever.

[h2]v3.3.113 - 7/27/2024[/h2]
- Further revised Blade Master Profession Traits
- Improved Bounty Hunter Profession Traits
- New Ship Weapon: DSX Plasma Battery (Size 2, Level 9)
- New Ship Weapon: Vanguard Gravcannon (Size 3, Level 9)
- Components adjustments for "Paladin Crusader" and "Wolfpack Interceptor"
- Changed ship component icon for "Defense Pattern Matrix" to increase clarity
- Fixed bugs and reported crashes

Welcome back to the void, Captains, and let's say hello to another mid-summer update in our Summer of Star Traders event! You may have purchased this game 5 years ago, but we're still here making it better with Update #348. We've rolled out a brand-new Profession for Blade Master, Voracious Class ship design and a redesign of the Paladin Cruiser and finally a nasty new Terrox ship to battle.

Thanks to everyone for playing, posting a leaving a review!

[h2]Cyber Knights is getting lots of updates too![/h2]
If you haven’t checked it out in a bit, our new game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is evolving fast in Early Access. Just in the month of July we've added the NanoFab crafting system to create and customize your own weapons, armor, and equipment as well as the infamous Head Hunters system, the big bad bounty hunters are coming for you! We're excited to be a part of the on-going Tacticon festival with a great sale, so come join us in the New Boston zone.

All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope you’ll check it out and spread the word!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


[h2]Blade Master Profession[/h2]
Available immediately to all players this unlocked Captain Profession for Blade Master lets you start as a member of the ancient sect of melee warriors and entertainers. This new profession grants the Blade Dancer job and has 2 unique Traits. Blade Master captain is useful in both crew combat, boarding ship operations and during missions.


If you haven't tried a new career or run at the stars in a while, come join us again in the void with this exciting new profession!


[h2]New Ship: Voracious Class[/h2]
This update also includes a new ship, the Voracious Class which is a hybrid battlecruiser-carrier using micro carrier components to provide a berth for a boarding shuttle. Popular with Steel Song (and Blade Master Captains haha) this ship is a modern redesign of one of the ships added to the game in 2017, the Raptor.


[h2]Redesigned Paladin Crusader[/h2]
Based on player feedback we've redesigned the Paladin Crusader completely. If you purchased the old design on 3.3.107, congrats, you have a one-of-a-kind relic. The new v3.3.109 design is more expensive, but considerably more tuned to its role as an alternative to the Paladin Defender. We hope you like the changes!

[h2]Terrox Deathspear[/h2]
Lastly we've added a new ship, the Terrox Deathspear and we're sorry to announce that it is hostile to all life in the galaxy. It is a medium size ship, with a good engine. We will be monitoring how well it does over the next few weeks. If you have any feedback after encountering a Deathspear, please let us know. This new Xeno ship isn't more powerful than other existing Xeno ships, but it is pretty different in how the AI tries to use it. Beware!

We also fixed a bunch of bugs, performance issues. blah blah the usual stuff. Thanks for playing!

[h2]v3.3.109 - 7/21/2024[/h2]
- New Profession: Blade Master (Blade Dancer Job)
- New Ship, "Voracious Class" (Modern take on Raptor Class, 6000M)
- New Xeno Ship, "Terrox Deathspear" (Good Luck!)
- Complete redesign of Paladin Crusader based on player feedback
- Fixed component category missing for Large Size Passenger and Prison Cell
- Performance improvements, fixed reported typos & crashes

Welcome back to the spice hall again, captain. Come, sit a while and let me tell you a story of another update for everyone's favorite Star Traders game, Star Traders: Frontiers. Did you know its the Summer of Star Traders? This update brings a new ship, new Explorer and Salvage cards and some rebalancing of the Explorer's probability tables. The Black Market "New Trait" card has also been adjusted, so let's dig in!

If you're enjoying the summer of updates, please let us know, post up things you'd like to see included and be sure to tell a friend and leave a review!

[h2]Our new game has started Early Access![/h2]
Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, just launched into Steam Early Access! Featuring in-depth character builds, turn-based stealth & combat, and an all-new story engine that selects storylines and weaves different members of your squad and contacts into them based on how you’ve played.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


[h2]New Ship: Paladin Crusader[/h2]
Update #347 adds a new ship design that was provided by a Captain with extremely high Reputation, Dr. Spendlove. We did our best to lovingly translate his design into the starports around the galaxy. The Paladin Crusader is an upgraded take on the Paladin Defender, a common ship for early game Star Trader Captains.

The Paladin Crusader is unique among the 5000 Mass ships, featuring a 6th Officer slot and an additional small compartment tucked below the Void Reactor's cooling fin array. While the Crusader is more expensive than the Defender, it will offer more flexibility and a better path to a high Mass late game, if the Captain can afford the Crusader's premium price.


[h2]New Explorer Cards[/h2]
Update #347 adds 2 new cards which are the start of a series of additional Reward and Risk cards that have been designed and are scheduled to be added to the game throughout the Summer of Star Traders. The cards in this new series will be hybrids -- combining two previously distinct Reward cards into one blended and connected card. Hybrid cards, both Rewards and Risks, will be considerably more rare than normal cards but add fun variety.

The "Stash of Secrets" card leads the Captain to sealed vault from the early days of the Founding. The card generates Intel Records based on the early days of the Quadrant's colonization, bonus Experience for the Crew and the chance of rolling a cool new Trait for one of your Crew.

The "Uncover Rumors" Explorer card leads the Captain to a connected web of Rumors, spread across the Galaxy. Sniffing at the web of secrets and rumors that link Contacts and Factions, the Captain is able piece together clues and discover two or more Rumors. The Captain and Crew receive an Experience bonus based on the number of linked Rumors discovered. Rumors recently purchased by a Contact will be the most likely to discover with this card.

The new "Influence Bust" Salvage card (a -5 Risk card) fuses two fun mechanics -- Influence loss and Rumor degradation -- into a single thematic event. A disaster of a card that can only appear in Orbital Construction Salvage decks, this one can get Contacts killed, end Conflicts, or send the Orbital Construction project to salvage and end the Rumor all together.

[h2]Trait Black Market Cards[/h2]
We received some helpful feedback that the list of Traits in Black Market's trait card was a little too similar to the ones granted by other game's Trait cards. After some analysis, we agree -- this could be better. The Traits granted from Black Market are now more thematically aligned with the Crew's intimidation of the local FDF and fearless flaunting of standard Faction protocols.

We are in the process of making a set of updates to the Explorer game's card weight list that will help increase the variety of hands, provide more differentiation between high and low risk zones and respond to Rumors more dramatically. This update includes some early work on this project, and rebalances dozens of card weights in the Reward and Risk decks. Explorer already feels better!


[h2]More AI Ship Types[/h2]
We also gave the AI some new ships and are still testing our new Xeno Ship. It came out of the egg a wee bit too stronk, so we're trying to reign it in a little bit before it escapes into the Quadrants.

[h2]v3.3.107 - 7/10/2024[/h2]
- New Ship, "Paladin Crusader" (6 officer, 30 Crew, 5000 Mass)
- New "Stash of Secrets" Explorer Card
- New "Uncover Rumors" Explorer Card
- New "Influence Bust" Salvage Card (Orbital Construction)
- Improved "New Trait" card in Black Market
- Rebalanced card weights for Explorer decks
- We gave the AI some new ships to play with (new Xeno ship next update, brace yourselves)

Welcome, Star Trader. Join us, pass the plate and share a tale of adventure among the stars. Or just pull up a seat, kick back and bask in the warm glow of the summer (of Star Traders). We were hard at work this week incorporating recent feedback, adjusting systems and planning for the months ahead. Lots to look forward to for fans of Star Traders: Frontiers. Tell a friend! We are looking forward to hearing your feedback, on Discord or Steam, about what you'd like to see next.

If you're liking the updates as we cruise up to #350, please do take a moment to leave a review.

[h2]Cyber Knights is getting lots of updates too![/h2]
If you haven’t checked it out in a bit, our new game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is evolving fast in Early Access. In June we smashed 5 major milestones - including the new Agent EX character class, a new character creation experience for new game, dynamic evolution among Contact Traits and Services (inspired by, yes, Star Traders: Frontiers). Now, in July we're motoring toward Crafting and Head Hunters to round out a very update-hot summer.

All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope you’ll check it out and spread the word!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


[h2]New LIght-Class Wolfpack Interceptor[/h2]
This update brings a new ship that was specifically requested by some players. The new "Wolfpack Interceptor" (not yet used by the AI) is a bare bones 3400 mass ship modeled after its bigger, and much more expensive sibling, the Wolf Vector. The "Wolfpack Interceptor" is a ready-to-customize ship built at starports across the galaxy. At only 20% of the cost of a Wolf Vector, your Captain can fly around in a ship that looks almost as good.


[h2]AI Ship Access[/h2]
Update #346 handed the AI a few new ships and recently added components. Look out for your opponents sporting upgraded weapons and new hull types.

One thing that has been requested by several players who specialize in Xeno hunting is some additional variety among the worst opponents in the game. With that somewhat questionable goal in mind, we've been testing some new varieties of Xeno ships. They're not yet ready to release, but they're waiting in the wings.


[h2]Black Market and Rumors[/h2]
Update #346 This update makes several substantial adjustments to the rules around Black Market and Rumor interactions making it much easier for the player to successfully trade under several rumor conditions.

First, the Rumors Spice Festival, Civil Unrest and UCF Riots temporarily, but completely, block the Faction's capacity to confiscate illegal cargo from the Captain.

The Jyeeta Xeno Rumors also received a substantial reduction in faction capacity to confiscate cargo (they will take 50% less units) but an increased risk of combat with the FDF.

As all Quadrant, Planet and Zone Rumors can stack, these changes allow for more fun, exploitable conditions in the Black Market caused by a confluence of Rumor events.

[h2]Bug Fixes - thanks for your posts![/h2]
We appreciate everyone who alerted us to defects and issues this week while they were playing. Most of those are fixed in this update and we're pushing a new update to the Wiki to include all the new content and components.

[h2]v3.3.105 - 7/1/2024[/h2]
- New Ship, "Wolfpack Interceptor" (bare bones 3400 early game ship)
- Black Market: Spice Festival, Civil Unrest, UCF Riots block Faction capacity to confiscate cargo
- Jyeeta Rumors now have substantial impact on Black Market odds
- During Mercenaries Rumors, Black Market may proc high-level crew combats
- We gave the AI some new ships to play with (and we're testing a new Xeno ship)
- Fixed issues with "Vengeance Class Mk3"
- Fixed issues with "Mortifor Carrier"