Star Traders: Frontiers News

It's Update #317 with a new Mass 9000 ship, autocannon rebalances, new Oribtal Salvage card (watch out!) and more. Starports all across the galaxy have started on hulls for the new Acheron Battlecarrier, so start saving, captains.

A huge thanks goes out to all of the community members posting on the forum, helping new players, and sharing their thoughts in reviews. We're excited to keep Star Traders: Frontiers growing with new content and additions, so you're loving the 300+ free updates be sure to drop a review and tell a friend.

[h2]What’s the latest on Cyber Knights?[/h2]
Throughout the last year, we’ve been running Cyber Knights: Flashpoint’s private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same tried-and-true process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. With 1,000 in the game now, development pace has picked up and we’re marching to the launch pad to release to Steam Early Access, so make sure you’ve wishlisted (and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


[h2]New 9000 Mass Battlecarrier[/h2]
The Acheron Battlecarrier is a sprawling ship weighing in at 9000 Mass and kitted out as a battle-hardened carrier perfect for taking on Jyeeta xeno carriers head-to-head. It boasts best-in-class maximum craft defense at 78% and a unusual slot configuration that preferences Small (15) and Large (8) sized slots over medium (8). With 7 officers and 42 crew, it can sustain 5 craft and is a new contender in the most expensive and largest weight class for ships.

We'll keep the Acheron in player's only hands for a bit and shake out any balance issues before considering letting high level captains on high difficulty take this thing for a spin!


[h2]M101 Autocannon Update & Xeno Autocannon[/h2]
We've applied a fix to bring the venerable M101 Tracker Cannon up to the level it needs to be to stay competitive with other autocannons, granting it a +3% Craft Defense.

On the enemy's side, the L2 Terrox Xeno Autocannon has also gained a +3% Craft Defense, making their close-in short range ships more challenging to fight with carriers. The miasmatic death haze that floats close to the hull of the Terrox Spines makes it hellish for any wing pilot to come that close to the hull!


[h2]New Salvage Card and Updated Weights[/h2]
A new "Reactor Accident" card has been added to Orbital Salvage with a nasty -5 weighting. Take your time considering if you want to prioritize knocking this card out of the hand because it can leave your engine in a bad way, which can both cause heightened combat risk as you limp back for repairs and a hefty repair bill to boot.

We've increased the weight of the "Web of Conspiracy" card, fully doubling it, as the card has so many cool permutations and after-effects that are great in the galactic simulation.

[h2]AI Captain + Crew Build Improvements[/h2]
With Update #317, we've tweaked the appearance rates for the Caliga Vindex and Shizari Huntress to make them less common opponents. We've also fixed a longstanding bug that was allowing the AI to promote too many officers on the Caliga Vindex for an unfair advantage.

[h2]v3.3.41 - 5/13/2023[/h2]
- New 9000 Mass Battlecarrier, the Acheron
- Balanced "M101 Tracker Cannon" adding +7% Craft Defense
- L2 Xeno Autocannon adds "Miasmatic Death Haze" granting +3% Craft Defense
- Added a new "Reactor Accident" Salvage Result Card (-5)
- The "Web of Conspiracy" Card is now twice as common (because it is fun)
- Reduced chance of Caliga Vindex and Shizari Huntress enemies spawning
- Fixed too many enemy officers spawning on Caliga Vindex
- Fixed performance issues on huge maps with large numbers of living Contacts

Hello, Captains. It’s time for another STF challenge. Loyalty is important and in this challenge you will be fiercely loyal to two contacts of your choice. How will you help them meet their goals? How will you crush their enemies and those who work against them?



As always there are a few requirements for this challenge, including for the first time in a Community Challenge a specific map seed to use for your playthrough. The requirements for this challenge are:

• When you pick your two contacts to champion, Faen cannot be one of them.
  
• Drive your reputation to -100 of lower with all other contacts. It may not be possible to fully meet this requirement due to faction politics, but the goal is to get all other contact reps as low as possible.
  
• This specific map seed must be used: st-v02-28-12-95189000
  

Some ideas for what we’d love to see:

• Screenshots of your chosen contacts, your reputation screens
  
• Stories of how you built up your chosen contacts and the challenges of having (and making) so many people very angry at you
  
• Your strategies for hitting the reputation requirements, choosing your particular contacts
  
• Any other creative ways you want to share to tell us about the risks and rewards of being fiercely loyal: memes, interpretive dance, gifs, etc
  

No matter what you choose to share, please include one screenshot of your reputation screen showingn your chosen contacts and all of the people you've made very, very unhappy.



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 #faction_champion_challenge channel found in the STF category.

Good luck, Captains! Choose your friends wisely!

It's Update #316 with some new deadly enemy captain + ship combos, a new round of variations to how Xeno will build their ships, new gear and even better Contact death logs. The pre-Summer scramble has dragged our usual update schedule a bit, but we're excited to be getting back to the update roadmap here!

If you are enjoying the pace of updates and new free content, be sure to drop a review and post some feedback! We're always here and listening.

[h2]Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?[/h2]
We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, we’re telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

[h2]New AI Captains in Dangerous Ships[/h2]
Newly trained captain AI have taken command of some powerful ships -- the Dreadnought Battlecruiser and the Shizari Huntress. These new enemy challengers will show up in the later stages of the game and their captain's have new upgrade plans for them to ensure they are as threatening as they sound. If you encounter such a ship in the void, be sure to check your scopes, consider your options and choose wisely.


[h2]Xeno Variety[/h2]
In this update, we've spent some hours digging into the rules and decisions by which Terrox and Jyeeta Xeno build their ships. It was a good opportunity to check the systems against current human AI as well as the latest technologies available to you, the human Star Traders. This review has led to some exciting improvements that should help create a wider variety of xeno ships including a better mix of weaponry and defensive components.

[h2]New Gear, More Available Deathward[/h2]
With Update #316, we've added 2 new high level pieces of gear - the Edgebane Tincture and the Bexian Synthserum. Respectively at level 8 and 9, these are not likely to be easy to find and will require multiple runs into high risk Orbital Salvage operations to turn them up.

Also, the Zendu Deathward has bee reduced in level from 10 to 8 in order to make it appear more frequently in Salvage loot drops.


[h2]Contact Death Rules and Logs[/h2]
Some new rules have been added to extend Contact's lifespans on worlds with either high Spice rating or high Military Rating. For those on high Spice rating worlds, the natural lifespan has been extended even farther. For those on high military worlds, they have gained a higher chance to be able to resist an attempt by an enemy Contact to have them killed by assassins.

In addition, we've increased the variety and clarity of the death reasons that are included in Contact's death log, specifically if they were killed by some kind of violence or faction violence. We hope you enjoy these tidbits of information which can offer glimpses into the game's simulation as well as provide key details to your story as you sail the galaxy.

[h2]v3.3.39 - 5/8/2023[/h2]
- Newly trained AIs using Dreadnought Battlecarrier, Caliga Vindex and Shizari Huntress
- Reduced 'Zendu Deathward' Gear from Level 10 to Level 8 (more frequent drops)
- New level 8 Gear 'Edgebane Tincture'
- New level 9 Gear 'Bexian Synthserum'
- Revised some aspects of Xeno Ship Combat AI to add variety
- Contacts on zones with higher Spice Rating live even longer
- Contacts on zones with higher Military Rating more resistant to Assassins
- Added more descriptive "death reason" to Logs for Contacts that died in Faction violence
- Fixed a bunch of reported crashes, thanks for sending those

Update #315 rolls out a list of community-driven enhancements. A huge thanks to everyone posting their feedback, frustrations and questions to the Steam forums and to Discord to help us keep improving. This update has an especially helpful update to Mission icons as well as a key refinement of the ship comparison report that was throwing many players and selling them on their engine superiority when it might not really be the case. Here's Update #315, let's check it out!

I'm sure when we get to Update #400, you'll know that we're serious about this game :P

[h2]Keep this game growing![/h2]
After five years of updates, Star Traders has received a lot of love, long past release. To keep it going, Andrew & I rely on two things: reviews for this game, and wishlists for our next! Reviews for Star Traders keep the game visible on Steam, please write a few words for us if you have a minute.

Meanwhile, wishlists for our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG help us plan for the studio’s future (which includes future Star Traders games 😉). If turn-based squad tactics, creative stealth & hacking, and a unique 23rd-century dark future world sound like your thing, add to your wishlist today!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


[h2]Cargo and Stash Icons[/h2]
Cargo and Stash Missions now display the required cargo icon above the mission step! This is a huge help for everyone doing these types of missions as you can both skim the mission with overall less reading but you're less likely to accidentally buy the wrong cargo as well. Thanks to everyone making these great suggestions in the community!


[h2]Engine Comparison[/h2]
The ship encounter report about the enemy ship mistakenly used the regular math (that which is appropriate for big dice pools like Attack and Defense) when discussing your Engine's Agility and Speed stats. We've now made significant improvements to the comparison of Engine stats so that the displayed bonuses are very specific and match the game rules exactly as you'd find them on the wiki. This should be a big help in understanding how your Engine stats affect your outcomes and when you truly outclass an enemy or not.


[h2]Sneaky Enemy Craft Pilots[/h2]
With the help of some sharp players, we discovered a rare issue where enemy craft pilots on a Flight Plan could be forced into boarding crew combat defending their ship. This case where they were in 2 places at once is unfair and problematic -- because after the combat they are dead but ... flying a craft?

The fix is simple - to remove them from the list of viable defenders during a boarding operation!

[h2]Talent Fixes[/h2]
There were some inconsistencies in post-combat Talents being overly available during post-boarding -- where Macabre Harvest and Genetic Sequencing could appear unfairly even if the character who owned them was not in the boarding party and the boarding did not occur at range 1. We have now fixed Post Boarding Talents to ensure that the list is always accurate to who was in the party, reducing these unfair advantages. Your Scientist and Xeno Hunter are going to have to work harder for their Intel and Artifacts!

At the same time we also resolved an issue where the Scientist's Genetic Sequencing might not always create Scientific Intel after xeno battle.

And finally, we have added a missing SFX to Shock Trooper's "Stand Strong" Talent -- that's nice.

[h2]v3.3.35 - 3/29/2023[/h2]
- Cargo and Stash Missions now display the required cargo icon above the mission step
- Improved Ship Encounter comparison of Engine stats (Speed/Agility) to be very specific about game bonuses
- Added missing SFX for Shock Trooper's "Stand Strong" Talent
- Fixed rare issue where enemy craft pilots on a Flight Plan could be forced into boarding crew combat
- Fixed issue with Genetic Sequencing not always creating Scientific Intel after xeno battle
- Fixed Post Boarding Talent inconsistencies where Macabre Harvest and Genetic Sequencing could appear incorrectly

Update #313 rounds out some of the orbital Salvage loot tables, improves one of the heroic allies you can get in the game, adds a new rare Zendu relic and fixes some pesky numbers (wrong numbers, not right numbers) in the recently updated Contact Death captain's log entries.

Thanks to everyone posting feedback and suggestions, from the big to the small!

[h2]Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?[/h2]
We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, we’re telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

[h2]Templar Buffing[/h2]
If you reach the rare air of the late era epic boss battles and find yourself side by side with a Templar Leviathan, know that its armor is stronger with higher Hardness and Ballistic % to help is soak up Damage and live up to its place in the lore.


[h2]Mid-level Medical Relics[/h2]
To further balance out the loot tables within the orbital Salvage operation, we've added 3 new defensive mid-level gear. These are more common to find with regular Salvage Gear cards, making the Dermlink Weave, Orgin Plate, Inkscale Mesh all pretty good options to perhaps replace expensive gear you might have instead purchased at from a Contact.

[h2]Rare Deathward[/h2]
The Zendu Deathward is a rare find when Salvaging but its powerful bonuses will help any who bear it stave off deaths and pass those cursed Death Saves.


[h2]Contact Death Logs[/h2]
Some of the Contact Death logs were including some really weird numbers. Some were really big, some were really small, all of them were wrong. We've fixed it! Thanks to everyone report this issue.

[h2]v3.3.33 - 3/7/2023[/h2]
- Buffed Templar Leviathan's armor (Exemplar Command) Hardness, Ballistic
- Added Medical Relics (Level 4) Dermlink Weave, Orgin Plate, Inkscale Mesh
- Added Ultra Rare Relic, Zendu Deathward (Level 10)
- Clarified Contact Death Log Entries
- Data handling performance improvements, fixed reported typos & crashes