Star Traders: Frontiers News

The summer heat is on and with it come the big sales! You can save 33% on Star Traders: Frontiers all through the Steam Summer Sale. If you've waited out the first 160 updates now might just be the time to get in on this wild ride across the galaxy at the best discount yet. Or, if you're already running a ship, gift a copy to a friend!

Update #161 brings all sorts of new to the game -- two new character outfits, new art for different types of hexshell and LMGs, a new rank 11 Soldier Talent to target lightly armored enemies, new improvements to the Star Atlas based directly on player suggestions, the final piece of the AI puzzle to prepare for carriers and much more. Read the entire release notes below for all the details!


The new paramilitary uniform is a matching uniform that gives the feeling of a light and mobile soldier or perhaps a wing pilot with military training. We're loving the look of this outfit on fighters, wing pilots and even ship ops crew if they have that kind of attitude. It's always exciting to deliver another outfit to the game, with new options for how to style your crew and different jobs.

As shown in the dev roadmap, there are more coming. The roadmap includes our goal of doubling the outfit count and we are about 30% of the way there now with the additions since launch in August.


Based on feedback from a number of different players, we've made a set of improvements to the Buy and Sell lists within the Star Atlas to specifically help legal traders work more quickly.

First, we've alphabetized the list. This simple sort can help you find what you're looking for faster. Even better than that, we've tagged every item that is in your cargo hold with a blue highlight. Now with a glance, you can tell if you're carrying the goods that this zone wants to purchase. If you want to know exactly how many of that cargo type you are carrying, simply hover over the item -- you can now see the exact cargo count as well.

Finally, we've made the permit tagging more clear. We've ensured that cargo types requiring permits still show their demand type (A-, etc) as well as the permit. In the tooltip we've included the permit rank required specifically to provide every bit of needed intel possible.

Happy trading, merchants! Thanks to everyone for posting feedback. We hope you enjoy seeing it filter into the game over updates :D


Soldiers have gained a new rank 11 Talent with Update #161, thanks to @DrSpendLove for the great suggestion. Shrapnel Shell is a perfect attack Talent for a low armored enemy, adding Damage, Critical and Bleeding but also reducing your attack's Armor Piercing by 25%. Not the best against a heavily armored target where the extra damage is going to get soaked up, but very effective against lower armored targets. With a debuff to Parry along with the bleeding, anyone who survives the close-range blast can be mopped up by another team member.


These updates are always deep, so you'll want to check the full patch notes below for every little thing. We've improved the AI's ability to pick a better mix of crew with this update, which is the last foundation piece required to truly prepare them for staffing carriers.

We've also improved the "Deadly Encounter" card in Black Market to note th status of your Life Saver Talents. Also, Troy 'the Blade' Circin's famous Circin Cutter has had its stats bumped.


- Added new matching character outfits -- paramilitary soldier or wing pilot
- Added new art for lower level Hexshell Rifles and LMGs (Weapons Locker A0 through A3, level 4 from Contacts)
- Added new rank 11 Soldier Talent "Shrapnel Shell" causes deadly damage and bleeding but at significant reduction to Armor Piercing
- Star Atlas now highlights cargo types in the buy/sell list in blue if present in your cargo hold, tooltip lists exact amount
- Star Atlas now lists exact permit level required for cargo types in the buy/sell list in tooltip
- Star Atlas now lists resources available to buy/sell within a zone in alphabetical order for easy reading
- Improved AI's ability to pick ship crew effectively, final prep step for Carrier AIs
- Improved Black Market card "Deadly Encounter" to list the status of Talents that prevent death like "Life Saver"
- Improved stats on "Circin Cutter" blade
- Increased mission payment offers at the end of the "Call of the Strong" storyline
- Fixed incorrect Escape dice value shown in tooltip over ship in combat when at Range 1-3
- Fixed incorrect listing for award "Survivor III" which requires 50 crew battles

Welcome to Thursday! We've dropped another big one! Update #160 includes two new character outfits, 4 new Contact character faces, one new ship component, a wealth of improvements to existing smaller ship designs, tweaked boarding Talents and a host of storyline tweaks and fixes driven by the community. If you're enjoying the pace of updates, please take a moment to leave a review and tell a friend.

Let's get right into the details!


With Update #160, we've added another outfit option for your crew, designed specifically for your ship operational crew and your wing specialist pilots. This new green flightsuit design is great for those pilots cramming into bombers and interdictors and fits well for Mechanics, Elo-Techs and more. We've got a lot more additional outfits to add as we keep moving through the roadmap, but its great to see another option targeted at the non-fighting majority on board your ship.


With Update #160, we've also finalized 4 new Contact character faces that will go into rotation for new games and new Contacts in existing games. As always, they're channeling the outlandish and unique style of the faction gravs.


Based on some great community feedback (thanks @resistor) we've made a set of improvements to some of the small ship designs, including the Dart Liner, Volk Frigate and Allistar Liner. In general, we've replaced some non-essential components with those that help increase the Skill Pools for the ship, adding Nav Assist Modules or Sig Dampeners as possible. We've also varied the weapons build out on the Dart Liner to mount a second Light Railgun on the ship.

Outside of small ships, we've improved the balance of the Dragoon Cruiser to ensure it is competitive within its class. Coming out of the starport, it now boasts heavier Armor and Shield along with slightly increased base Fuel to match its built-in Warhammer class Void Engine.


Update #160 adds a new interesting option -- a 6 bunk small component "Compact Barracks". For creative ship designers, it could help decompose the needed bunks in a ship into different component slots, such as avoiding a large slot 42 bunk barracks and instead taking a medium 36 and a small slot 6. We'll leave the rest of the design crafting in your capable hands, but enjoy this one!

We also fixed a misleading message in the Starport if you tried to replace a barracks and had too many crew. It was suggesting you dismiss *way* too many people ha!


We've hammered through a batch of story bugs reported by the community. The Arbiter Estelle storyline will no longer end prematurely at 2 supporters. You can now turn in both De Rivesh legacy pieces even if you get them separately. Prince Damien Lumotte is specific about amount of Rep lost and gained. Some short story arcs will also cause less of a delay in other stories popping up which will help when players are seeking out specific, larger storylines like Call of the Strong, etc.


- Added new matching character outfits -- green pilot, wing pilot or mechanic jump suit
- Added art for 4 new Contact character faces
- Added new ship component "Compact Barracks" a small component that holds 6 crew
- Improved Dart Liner Ship, replacing one of the Armored Bulkheads 1 with Sig Dampener (more Nav and Elo pool), replaced 2nd Torp with a Railgun
- Improved Volk Frigate, replacing Reactor Spike Module with Nav Assist Module 1 (more Nav pool)
- Improved Allistar Liner, replacing Reactor Spike Module with Nav Assist Module 1 (more Nav pool), swapped Mass Dampener 1 for Mass Modulator 1 (more Pilot)
- Improved Dragoon Cruiser within its Mass class, gaining +1 base Armor, +1 base Shield and +10 base Fuel to match its start Warhammer Class Void Engine
- Improved failure message when attempting to remove a Barracks that will remove too many beds to house your full crew
- Fixed issue where Combat Medic's "Bio-Bomb" boarding Talent was damaging a component
- Cleaned up some issues in text of improved boarding Talents "Thrown Wrench" and "Disarming Sabotage"
- Fixed issue where Arbiter's storyline and "Coalition Founder" unlock fired too early (finishing 2 instead of 3 storylines)
- Fixed bugs with the "De Rivesh Legacy" storyline -- dialog inconsistencies as well as inability to turn in the second half of the findings for reward
- Fixed issues with famous Officer Elsa Nariman's homeworld being incorrect
- Improved storyline with Prince Damien Lumotte, dialog is now specific about all Rep gains and losses for your actions
- Improved the pacing between some of the storyline events to move on more quickly from smaller events to larger ones
- Fixed issues with text formatting in Dry Dock screen

Let's start the week off with a bang! Update #159 comes straight from the community -- requests for quality of life improvements, suggestions for missing Talents, improved balance, improvements to the mission generation system -- and more, all directly dialed in by our players. So, this one goes out to you, captains! Thanks for posting, writing, joining our Discord and leaving reviews!


We've added a new blade attack Talent for Zealots at rank 1 -- "Incensed Strikes." This new ability pushes Zealot's possibilities, making it more valuable as a combat class and enables crew Zealots to have more fighting options, especially early on. Incensed Strikes costs 1.5X your weapon's Initiative, but it has a rare debuff to enemy Initiative as well as clearing their buffs!

We've also added a new Doctor rank 5 Talent "Healer's Intuition." With the constant care of the crew's health, it is only natural that a Doctor comes to know his or her crew very well. This insight can reveal a Trait when the crew is paid and has a moment to truly relax.

Based on player feedback, we've also improved the handling of Talents when paying crew to ensure that Talents with a % chance to activate don't block other Talents from firing. And finally, in this area we've fixed a bug with the Diplomat Talent "Hand that Feeds" which was prevent the Talent from activating correctly.




We've adjusted the system that helps a Contact pick the mission they request to increase the focus of Contact's on their core areas. Those Contacts giving Merchant missions are going to be more likely to dish out cargo missions, stash missions and the like while Prison Wardens are far more likely to send you on capture bounties and prisoner transports. This extra level of focus will increase your captain's ability to cleave to a type of career by cleaving to a type of Contact.

Beyond the mission-giver type, we've also strengthened the effect of Conflicts upon mission selection. Those Contacts who respond to certain types of Conflicts are going to be even *more* likely to give missions focused on the core Conflict. For example, those Contacts giving Spy missions are going to go all in on spying during an Info War while Duel of Assassins is going to turn up more Edict and death warrant missions than before.


Two Talents have come up in player feedback often -- the Mechanic's "Thrown Wrench" and Gunner's "Disarming Sabotage" where neither provided enough specifics in their description or in the details after they were used to let captains make an informed decision about their value. In both cases, we have adjusted their rules to be more powerful as these are rarer Talents -- in both cases you need to be either boarding at range 1 or have a unique Job combination on an Officer to make these available at longer range. In addition to buffing their power level, we've made their exact rules clear in their description as well as improving their in-game feedback upon use so that it is clear exactly what components or weapons were damaged and for how much.


The on-map tooltip over wild zones now displays Richness, Danger and Explore ratings giving those adventurous and brave explorers faster access to critical data as they browse a quadrant, looking for the best targets to set down and go hunting.

Good luck and avoid those xeno cards! Unless ... you're looking for them!


For a time, in ship combat victory there has been an unfair disparity between the XP granted to those taking a more peaceful route Ransoming a ship and those taking a destructive route to destroy and then salvage a ship. In order to help balance this out, we've added a minor XP bonus to the Ransom action as well as making it clear with all 3 action types -- Ransom, Destroy, Salvage -- exactly how much XP is gained for taking the action.


- Added new rank 1 Zealot Talent "Incensed Strikes" as additional blade attack option
- Added new rank 5 Doctor Talent "Healer's Intuition" which can reveal a crew members Trait on payday
- Improved rules for Talents running while paying crew -- Talents with a % to fire that do not no longer block other Talents from running
- Fixed issue with Diplomat "Hand that Feeds" Talent that was not activating while paying crew
- Added Richness, Explore and Danger rating to map hover for wild zones
- Improved rules for Mechanic's boarding Talent "Thrown Wrench" and added result that explains exact ship damage dealt
- Improved rules for Gunner's boarding Talent "Disarming Sabotage" and improved result to include full detail of what weapons are damaged
- Now gain minor Experience bonus when you Ransom a ship, exact Experience gain for destroying a ship is now displayed
- Adjusted weights for all Contact mission giver types to be more focused on their core area (Merchants > Cargo missions, Wardens > Capture bounties)
- Adjusted weights of mission givers during Conflicts to be more focused on the core Conflict (Info War > Spy missions, Duel of Assassins > Edict missions)
- Improved details of Intel sale to be clear when maximum Personal or Faction Rep has been achieved
- Slightly increased the maximum caps for Personal Rep when selling Intel
- Clarified text for all Flight Plan Talents as 4 turns such as "(launch, close, bomb, land)"
- Fixed bug with Wing Commando's "Grandiose Arrival" Talent always granting a $0 bonus
- Fixed bug allowing too much gain of Personal Rep through sale of Intel
- Fixed bug with Talent "Redemption Purge" that was allowing it to repair 5 components instead of 2-4
- Fixed text description of "Exposed Shot" to indicate you are causing a self-debuff that can be purged
- Fixed bug that could place High Prince Contacts "on vacation" on indie worlds
- Improved some screens when using UI scaling to increase visual size of elements
- Clarified rules for Exo-Scout "Keen Senses" Talent -- only rerolls risk cards

Update #158 sees 4 new Talents slot into spots across 3 Jobs, a new De Valtos only Luxury Suite, some rebalance to the new Sig Dampeners and Xeno crew combat defense as well as a big sweep of fixes based on community feedback. As always, new Talents expand the already expansive field of possible builds and make some crew build outs more possible.

If you're enjoying the pace of updates please be sure to leave a review and tell a friend.

A huge thanks goes out to the community members posting suggestions, bug reports and feedback.


The Pistoleer combat Job has gained 2 new useful, high rank Talents with Update #158.

With "Exposed Shot" you can now take aim at a target in any slot in the enemy's line up granting all new flexibility for a Pistoleer. The shot requires deadly aim but may not do as much damage, but its value is in the sheer flexibility. However, for stepping so into the open you'll suffer a small Defense and Dodge bonus for the next few turns.

With "Confounding Gunplay" you have an immediately available attack that can drop 50% Stun and a small Accuracy debuff on an enemy at only 1.5X the Initiative cost of your pistol. This rank 15 Talent comes with some nice punching power and will be a foundation of high-end Pistoleer builds for centuries to come.


Bounty Hunters are finally getting into the prize ship game with "Realm's Justice", capable of claiming a ship during a Conflict for a faction. As the edict-carrying enforces of a faction, they take the ship for 50% of the cost and one of the higher Rep damages in the set. You may be making enemies but you've gained a ship and struck a might blow in the Conflict. Be the hand of "Realm's Justice" and capture a ship today.


Diplomats have gained a new rank 8 Talent "Unyielding Force" granting an Intimidation save to match their rank 1 Negotiation save. As a non-combat class, this utility is especially key and it can help narrow the required build of a ship crew. Where you may have needed more specialists to cover Intimidation -- such as a Pirate -- now your diplomatic corp can keep that on the lock.


With this update, we've tweaked the stats for the new Sig Dampeners to ensure that they are fairly in line with other competitive long range and escape focused components. We've also fixed a bug that was introduced where a list of components gained different bonuses like +8 Void Resist accidentally. These have now been removed.

All Luxury Suites and Cabins now have minimum economy ratings in order to install.

And, if you're looking for your Ship Encounter reduction rate you can see it now on the ship status screen.


- Added new rank 15 Bounty Hunter Talent "Realm's Justice" allows the BH to capture a prize ship under standard rules
- Added new rank 11 Pistoleer Talent "Exposed Shot" which allows targeting backline enemies at a penalty
- Added new rank 15 Pistoleer Talent "Confounding Gunplay" which debuffs with 50% Stun
- Added new rank 8 Diplomat Talent "Unyielding Force" saves against Intimidate skill failures
- Added new De Valtos only ship component "Grand Luxury Suites" which grants a +22% bonus per passenger
- Reduced crew combat evasion for Terrox Xeno by 10-20% based on type
- Rebalanced bonuses from slightly overpowered set of Sig Dampener Components
- Ship Encounter rate reduction now shown on main ship status screen
- Fixed bug with Reinforced Medical Chamber, Sensor Array 1, Storage Cache, Reinforced Officer Cabin, M2400 Void Engine: Traveler all accidentally getting incorrect extra bonuses
- Added minimum Economy requirements for all Luxury Cabin types
- Fixed issue allowing Wing Bomber's Talent "Intimidating Fly Over" to take effect in wild zones
- Switched names for Elo Tech Talents "Hunt and Seek" and "ECCM Surge"

Update #157 adds a exciting new function capability of ship components, 5 new ship components, new rules to help keep Interdictors competitive, new rules to help keep your active wing specialist pilots up to level, a major balance improvement for On Init crew combat Talents, a big wave of component rebalance and more.

It's another big update from our HQ to you -- if you're enjoying the constant stream of new content, please be sure to leave a review and rave to a friend :P


With this update, we've added a new capability for ship components -- that of reducing deep space encounters -- with the Sig Dampener and Signal Concealment Field components. Joining the existing small slot Sig Dampener are the small slot Sig Dampener 2 and 3 and the Rychart-only Sig Veil Field. For a medium slot option, the Sig Concealment Field packs a higher reduction rate of 10% but is a larger slot investment.

When stacked, these components can reduce ship encounters up to 25% maximum. Each of them has other bonuses, adding both strong Escape bonuses and primarily Electronics and secondarily Nav Skills with some light Void Resistance on the top end options.

For those ships looking to avoid encounters and escape in the case of being forced into an encounter, these new Sig Dampener components and feature are going to be a great boon.

As an all new area, they're likely to get some balancing up and down in some stats in the next release or two, so be sure to post your feedback!


Craft have gained two more important balance additions with this update. First, in order to reward their successful service, those wing specialist pilots who make a complete and successful Flight Plan during ship combat will gain Experience directly. This helps to keep your most active wing specialists pilots gaining XP for their flight duties, in the same way that crew combat gains XP for their battles.

Second, Interdictors have now joined Bombers and Shuttles in landing on the same turn that their flight plan ends. Previously, Interdictors would have a final turn where they were not blocking torpedoes but only focusing on landing the craft. Now, they land at the end of the last turn on which they will block incoming long range attacks, improving their flight plan efficiency by 20%.


Crew Combat Talents that fire "On Init" have gained a major upgrade as they now impart their Init bonuses on the turn they fire. As almost every On Init Talent gives a +Init bonus, this is a big boon and guarantees at least one of your combatants to get an Init bonus on the first round of combat (assuming you're wisely using these power talents) and then more bonuses to come if you have more Talents.

Of course, the enemy gets the same. And they are wise to use these Talents as well :D


A lot of balance changes have been rolled up into this release. A huge thanks to all the community members, including @prime_resistor for posting such great suggestions.

With Update #157, we've adjusted all Combat Hyperwarp drives to tweak their allocation of Skill Points, putting more into Navigation over Electronics. Smaller ship Combat HW Drives -- for Mass 2400 and 3400 hulls -- have gained additional Skill points.

The large slot Hull Plating components now add to Ship Ops as well as contributing better Electronics and Void and Radiation Resist. For such an investment in an armor-focused large slot, these components are now far more competitive and also have reduced Jump Cost across the boards.

The medium slot Deflector Arrays have gained improved Electronics Skill Pool as well as new Void Resist to help their long range defense contribution, shifting them into a more advantageous position within the Elo-defense meta.

Finally, we've added +15 Fuel Storage to Micro Launch Bays to help offset their Jump Cost.

There is always more! Be sure to check the full release notes below and leave a review!


- Added new component capability - reduce encounter rate in void travel by %, up to 25% maximum (starport "Ship" filter)
- Added new 2 new small slot Sig Dampener components (2, 3) to join original Sig Dampener in granting reduction in encounter rate, grant Elo, small Nav, Void Res
- Added new Rychart only small slot Sig Veil Field as top tier Sig Dampener type component
- Added new medium slot Sig Concealment Field which reduces encounter rate, grants Rad/Void Res, Elo/Nav Skill
- Wing specialist pilots now gain XP for each successful flight plan run keeping active wing pilots better leveled
- Interdictors on defensive flight plans now land after the final turn instead of waiting one last turn to only land (just like offensive flight plans)
- Big buff to all On Init Talents: now correctly granting the Initiative bonuses on the first Turn they are used
- Adjusted all size Combat Hyperwarp Drives to rebalance Electronics and Navigation, improved Skill Pools for Mass 2400 and Mass 3400 drives
- Adjusted large comp Hull Plating to include Ship Ops, better Electronics, moderate Void and Radiation Res on all tiers and lower jump cost
- Adjusted medium comp Deflector Array to give slightly better Electronics bonus and Void Res
- Added +15 Fuel Storage to Micro Launch bay
- Adjusted Wing Tech's "Recovery Pod" Talent to use Repair to determine health of saved wing pilot
- Improved language in ship encounter to explain current disposition / hostility versus base disposition / hostility
- Fixed some bugs with certain play loops causing game date to skip backwards
- Fixed bug with Wing Tech's "Hangar Triage" Talent not using Repair Skill correctly