Star Traders: Frontiers News

Welcome new captains to the void -- everything is on sale right now and the updates, well they're free. They're always free. Here's #312 - new Salvage Relic armor, more colorful hints in the captain's log, new Black Market card, improved Salvage Shipyard Parts and new impact for high Spice zones on Contact longevity.

If you're new to the void and have questions, the community forum our Discord are great places to get help. If you're enjoying the pace of updates, please consider telling a friend and leaving a review!

[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]Pentaweave Armor and More[/h2]
Salvaging Armor has received some major improvements with Update #312, adding both 3 new types of high-level armor that can be found via the Relic card as well as improving the overall progression of armor salvage cards - including Relic - to include fewer duplicates and present a better progression of loot chance.


[h2]Contact Life & Death[/h2]
... "killed by faction assassins" ... "killed in a suspicious accident" -- the Captain's log entries detailing the death of a Contact now include colorful descriptions giving some clues to the Contact actions and direct causes that might be behind their demise -- faction infighting, questionable accidents and outright assassinations!

For those lucky Contacts who reside on zones where the Spice Rating is high, such opportunity to access such a rich spice flow can increase their longevity and help them live longer natural lives.

[h2]Backroom Deals - Traits![/h2]
The new Backroom Deals card that can appear in the Black Market has the opportunity to add new sneaky and conniving Traits to your criminal records, helping further develop your crew based on your actions. Traits like Discreet, Fearless and Menacing are some of the possible results from this card.


[h2]Shipyard Parts Salvage[/h2]
If you hit the Shipyard Parts card during Salvage, the resulting stashes are larger and with more varied results between capital ship components, weaponry and small craft components which will make your life as a merchant perhaps more interesting but also more profitable if you can find the right outlets to sell.

[h2]v3.3.27 - 2/15/2023[/h2]
- New Relic Armor (Level 9) : Pentaweave Mesh, Ranger Nine-Plate, Razorbright Stealth
- Improved behavior of Armor Relic Salvage Card (better filter, less duplicates)
- Improved Stash generation logic for "Shipyard Parts" salvage card (larger, more interesting stashes)
- New Black Market card that generates sneaky Traits (Discreet, Fearless, Menacing)
- Contacts on zones with higher Spice Rating live longer
- Added colorful "death reason" to Logs for Contacts that died in Faction violence

[h2]End of Month Wrap Up[/h2]

(Description of showcase below)

Hello, Captains! Over the last month you all have been sharing pictures and stories of your captains and their first mates. We have enjoyed hearing all about them, their personalities and their adventures! If you would like to catch up on the fun, you can check out the Steam discussion thread and hop over to our Discord to check out #captain_showcase.

A few highlights from the month:



From MakiMakiMa on Discord about the risks their captain was willing to take: “There is no seam that was too dangerous or too deep for the captain to mine.”



From Caelan on Discord about their “charismatic” first mate: “(My) first mate instills fear to his crew so they don't rebel. Same goes to their enemies. If their combat team is losing morale, it's his job to inspire them.”



From Matt on Steam about their doctor first mate: “I like combat medics who can fight in combat … Don't mouth off to this doc -- she's a berserk, pain tolerant brute. Rumor is she threatened to blow up the Cadar Medical School unless they gave her a diploma.”

Thank you to all of you who shared about your captains and first mates with us! Though this showcase is over, we always enjoy hearing about your captains and you can check out our previous community challenges as well to shake up your gameplay!

Stay tuned for more community events in the future!

------------------------




Hello, Captains. We are going to do something a little bit different from the standard STF Community Challenges. We want to give you a chance to show off your captains and their first mates in our Captain Showcase. As always, you can participate here on Steam or on our Discord!



These showcases can take whatever form you would like. There are no required screenshots or similar like the challenges have. But here are some ideas for things you could share:

• Screenshots of your captain and first mate, showing off their outfits, traits, and stats
  
• Stories of their exploits in battle
  
• Tell us how your first mate became your captain’s number one
  
• Any other creative ways you want showcase your captain and first mate
  

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 #captain_showcase channel found in the STF category.

We look forward to hearing all about your captains and their first mates!

Trade, credits, money! Trade must flow across the galaxy, even when the local Princes think they can stop it. Trade must flow even when the local law forbids it. Here, come this way -- the Black Market awaits! Update #311 is dedicated to the crossing of Rumors and the Black Market. And a new piece of +Init gear to boot!

If you like the on-going free updates to a game original shipped in 2017 or if you just think the number 311 is crazy, please take a minute to leave a review of tell a friend about our studio.

[h2]Our upcoming heist RPG is on the way![/h2]
Right now ~1,000 of the Kickstarter backers for Cyber Knights: Flashpoint have access to the game’s private alpha and are giving us great feedback as the game gets closer to Early Access. We also have some public demos on our roadmap for events coming up this fall. Make sure you’ve wishlisted and followed Cyber Knights for news and a special discount when it’s released!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

[h2]Black Market X Rumors[/h2]
The Black Market is now much better connected and influenced by local zone, system and event quadrant Rumors.



During rumors where illegal trade would naturally spike -- such as Pirates harassing shipping lanes or Xeno running amok in the quadrant -- Black Market confiscation of goods is reduced by 50%, making it easier to get your illegal goods to the market. For Rumors where Trade Law and all types of law would be lax -- such as Spice Festival and during the scourge of local system Xeno Rumors -- the odds of reaching the Black Market and reaching it with a high level of access are greatly increased.

[h2]Other Card Improvements[/h2]
In the Black Market, we've also reduced the chance of the "Deadly Encounter" card being pulled, it was simply too heavily weighted for the mini-game. And in Salvage where the Trait Conditioning card appears, we've further increased the XP bonus if there is no character who has a Trait that can be conditioned.

[h2]New Init Gear[/h2]
For those intrepid captains willing to risk salvage operations in the void, there is a new gear results possible on military salvage. The Hexbolt Injector is a rare piece of gear that can increase combat Initiative.

[h2]v3.3.25 - 2/1/2023[/h2]
- During Pirate and Xeno Quadrant Rumors, Black Market confiscation risk reduced by 50%
- Reduced the chances of "Deadly Encounter" card being drawn in Black Market
- Substantially improved Black Market odds during Spice Festival, Xeno Fleet Rumors
- Increased XP bonus when Trait Conditioning Cards cannot be triggered
- New Level 5 Military Salvage Gear: Hexbolt Injector (Init Bonus Gear)
- Minor performance improvements, fixed reported typos & crashes

Captains, the spice hall is re-opening and let's get some updates in here! We took a much needed break over and after the holidays but it is time to ramp up the pace of updates again for our favorite space captain simulator.

To get things warmed back up, we're catching up on the community reports of bugs and improvement requests that came in over the last month. A nice quality of life update to kick it off!


[h2]Ultrawide Support (21:9)[/h2]
For anyone playing on an ultrawide with a 21:9 aspect ratio, we've fixed the issues with ship combat to ensure that you get a good combat experience.

[h2]Talent Fixes[/h2]
We've fixed a bug with some debuffs like Unfaltering Ire where the Talent name was appearing over a randomized enemy instead of the actual target. For all Ship Combat Talents that increased Morale, we've fixed their implementation to be sure to always heal the right number of crew (if the healing is needed) -- so the Quartermaster's Rallying Cry correctly targets up to 20 crew and heals them by their Skill.

Finally, we resolved some issues with Talents that added Plasma / FIre / Radiation Resistance working in reverse of the expected rules in some cases, where they could increase damage. This is a bug that slipped in during the upgrade to Auto-Combat so we're thankful to have it fixed now.


[h2]Ships and Components[/h2]
With this update, we've fixed the mislink of data for Interlocking Sensor Matrix 5 and 6 which resulted in them having duplicated stats. Now they are properly differentiated.

We've correctly linked the Neutiquam Cruiser to the Speciality Acquisitions achievement and lock. Remember, if you dislike playing with locks just play the modded version of the game without any mods.

And of course, thanks for reporting typos in the game and in Steam achievements -- we fixed many!

[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]v3.3.21 - 1/27/2022[/h2]
- Improved ship combat screen for ultrawide screens (21:9 aspect ratio)
- Fixed bugs with Plasma / Fire / Radiation resistance working in reverse or using wrong type
- Fixed bug with debuffs like Unfaltering Ire printing Talent name over wrong target
- Fixed Quartermaster's "Rallying Cry" to correctly healing the right number of crew (20)
- Correctly locked Neutiquam Cruiser behind Specialty Acquisitions achievement
- Fixed Interlocking Sensor Matrix 6 having duplicate stats with ISM 5
- Fixed typos in dialog, component descriptions and Steam achievements

Hey all, hope your quarters are cozy and your cargo holds full this season. :christmas_tree: :fire: :star: For all our captains in the void, our gift to you is a fresh update, #309: Flashing Signals. This year, we've taken a trip through the community suggestions and feedback and cherry picked a number of great quality of life suggestions and balance improvements to help us prepare for the new year.

Thank you all for your support, feedback, posts, shares and reviews. We would not be here without all of you, so thank you, happy gaming and happy holidays!

[h2]New Year, New Game Coming![/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]Inline Combat Dice Results[/h2]
Update #309 follows up on a great player suggestion to include the results of the dice rolls for movement, attack and boarding rolls inline in the on-screen display for each ship combat action. While all of this data is available in longform in the ship combat log, it is very helpful and educational to be able to see the numbers for the different actions flashing by. It immediately makes it far easier to get a sense of the tip of the balance and the sudden changes that a powerful buff or critical hit can have on the dice pools.


While the numbers flash by quickly, you can get the sense of the combat situation in a single series of salvos, seeing your own firing crew piling up 34+ successes on each attack and then enemy ranging from 19-28 gives you a strong sense of your own ability to land hits without having to dig through the full report of the combat log.


[h2]Merchant's Garner Favor[/h2]
The Merchant's Garner Favor has long been a power Talent which yielded outside results rapidly -- granting a Reputation bonus up to your Negotiation Skill (!!) for a trade over $5,000. Previously, the balance on this power Talent was to cap its Rep gain once you hit positive 80 which reduces the overall usefulness of the Talent and targets it for Respec once it has outlived its usefuless.

With Update #309, Garner Favor has been rewritten to be useful more broadly. Now, featuring a 10% + Negotiation Skill chance to granting a Reputation bonus on a $5,000+ trade it no longer needs a cap and can be evergreen beneficial. In addition, the possible Reputation bonus is based on the size of the trade, with each extra $2,500 in profit yielding a potential Rep bonus point. While this can cap out around 20 Rep per trade, the low level Talent now has room to grow and be useful in the Merchant's long-term kit.

[h2]Prize Ship Talents Improvements[/h2]
With Update #309, we've rebalanced Prize Ship Talents to improve their profitability. The spread of Talent results has increased allowing a wider range for more profit balanced against more Reputation damage. In all, the profit %s are up and the Reputation damage numbers are down, so Prize Ship Talents are more competitive even as we widen their results range within the set.


[h2]Ship Components Flagged[/h2]
Those ship components which are faction specific now have their faction origin displayed prominently in ship status and in the starport screen when you are considering replacing components. This can help you differentiate between icons with the same component, remember which specialized components you have and generally speed up shopping and ship analysis. Thanks to the players suggestion this one!

[h2]v3.3.19 - 12/24/20222[/h2]
- In Ship Combat, results of dice rolls for move, escape, boarding and attacks are shown in results
- Rebalanced Merchant's "Garner Favor" to use 10% + Negotiation chance to gain Rep Bonus, removed cap on Rep
- Improved balance and profitability of prize ship talents, wider range of results enabling high profit or no Rep loss
- Faction flags are now shown over ship components in all instances (ship status, starport ship layout, etc)
- Clarified that reductions in Hyperwarp Jump time can never exceed 50%
- Fixed crash in Auto-Battle for crew combat if character carried Sniper Rifle and trained AOE Talent
- Fixed HUD overlap issues on iOS devices with white bar