Star Traders: Frontiers News

As we've gathered input from all our players in our year-end survey that we put out last week for Star Traders: Frontiers, we've pulled together a quality-of-life release to address some of the community posted issues and rough spots. Thanks to everyone posting reviews, feedback, for filling out the Google Form survey and for helping us share Star Traders: Frontiers!

Speaking of good things coming-- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107

[h2]Furthered Armor Meta[/h2]
We've further improved the power of the armor meta with Update #285, allowing the component types like Hull Plating and Armored Bulkheads to continue to use their high hit percentage to soak damage even after they have crossed the 60% damage threshold. This means your armored components continue to provide that extra layer of protection even after they have drawn the first waves of damage to themselves.


[h2]Exact Job Rank Bonuses[/h2]
In the Jobs screen, it has always taken a little bit of math to figure out the exact bonus granted by a new rank of a Job -- you had to look at the new (total) bonus and find the difference from the current (total) bonus. We've updated the screen to specifically list the bonus from the Job rank in isolation as well as the total bonus.

[h2]Star Atlas Rumors[/h2]
The Star Atlas can now search System Rumors as well as Planet Rumors by name -- so searches like "Pirates" or "Ion Storm" or "Medical Station" will turn up results. We've also fixed the logic on the searchable objects to prevent Rumors you don't know from being searchable (sorry!)


[h2]Scrolling Issues[/h2]
We've fixed some longstanding bugs that were preventing mousewheel scrolling in the Mission Offers and Missions List screens. If you see other screens in the game that are resistant to scrolling please report them and we'll get them fixed right up!


[h2]Clarifications[/h2]
In the Jyeeta Brood Era we've added a few clarifications to the dialog in the final mission -- specifically some notes about healing Templar mechs and fixing the dialog that could be confusing about when the boss fight is about to occur.

We fixed 2 exploration missions -- Survey Tour and Forgotten Secrets which had issues with the order of steps you could complete.

We fixed a big typo ... Phase Infectors is now Phase InfLectors :D

[h2]For the Modders[/h2]
We adjusted the default values read from the data.ShipEffect table so that the new Radiation Bonus and Void Bonus fields always come out at 0 instead of -1. Up next for modding, we're going to be making the rules for starport repair times and the new armor meta available to mod and see what modders want to spin up!

[h2]v3.2.19 - 12/7/2021[/h2]
- Armor/protection focused components increase chance of being hit even when over 60% Damage, increasing their value to soak component damage even more
- System Rumors are now searchable from Star Atlas, hidden Rumors no longer search
- Improved Job screen to list the exact bonus from next job rank (+1 Tactics) as well as total (+3 Tactics, +4 Gunnery)
- Added note in dialog that Templar Mechs cannot be healed by your healing Talents
- Clarified story dialog in Avengent storyline that confused a penultimate battle for the final boss fight
- Fixed mousewheel scrolling in Mission List and Contact Mission Offers screens
- Fixed typo where "Infector" => "Inflector"
- Fixed "Forgotten Secrets" and "Survey Tour" missions

FOR THE MODDERS:
- Ship Effect values all default to 0, such as new Void Bonus and Rad Bonus (reduces need to update)

Hello captains! As we move into the 4th year of Star Traders: Frontiers development, we are continually seeking to improve the game. We are gathering the big topics for this year’s roadmap and we want to put extra attention on parts of the game that are tripping up both new and veteran players.

We'd like to ask you to fill out a short survey to help us identify the key areas where we could improve clarity of game systems.

You can find the Google Form survey here: STF survey

The survey will be open until December 15th.

We’d appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to fill it out and thank you in advance!
Trese Brothers Team

Hey Captains, it's Steam awards season! Star Traders: Frontiers is eligible for the Labor of Love award, if you all would like to nominate us. We celebrated 3 years since Star Trader: Frontiers' launch this year, with near-weekly updates to the game with new content, improvements, and changes based on your feedback.



One of the biggest post-launch additions we've ever made to a game — MOD SUPPORT — was added this year. The mod version of the game also automatically grants all unlocks, giving everyone who doesn't want to play with achievements access to all ships, contacts, and captain jobs from the very beginning. This year's also been a big one for UI improvements from your suggestions, including easier mission plotting, better trade ban & faction conflict warnings, menu access during combat. And we'll save the full tally for an end-of-year roundup, but there's certainly no shortage of new content added to the game!

You all know we're hard at work on our upcoming heist RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, but we're still adding to ST:F, with plenty more planned for it. So long as we know you're all still enjoying Star Traders, we'll keep bringing more to it.

Head to the Star Traders: Frontiers page if you’d like to nominate us!

Update #284 returns to ship combat meta to add new options for building our your specific strategy as well as improving well-known routes. Adding 4 new ship components that boost the Radiation or Void damage of your ship weaponry opens up an avenue for high focus on disabling enemy ships while buffing the ability of armored components of all types to soak up damage to your ship further empowers the heavily armored meta. To help in both cases, we've made the combat logs clearer, better organized and added missing lines of detail.

[h2]For a different flavor of Trese Brothers sci-fi, check out Cyber Knights![/h2]
Our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is under development. Set in a different universe than Star Traders, we think much of what you all love about STF (a lore-rich world, many ways to play, strong independent spirit, lots of RPG depth) is shared within. Learn more about the Cyber Knights setting on its Steam page, or check out this video showing a ton of art and discussing the game design.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

[h2]Phase Inflectors for Crippling[/h2]
Update #284 has added 4 new medium slot components which increase the Void or Radiation Damage of your capital ship weapons. These Quturaan and Katteduun Phase Inflectors can only super-charge one type of damage or the other, so focusing on a certain class of ship weapons will be important to make the most of your bonuses. Captains focusing on pulverizing a ship and crew into submission with Void and Radiation Damage now have all new angle to customize their ship. The most powerful Phase Inflectors are sold exclusively by Rychart (Void) and Thulun (Radiation) starports,

To help with the new components and bonuses, the ship combat log now reports Void and Radiation Damage to a ship on a separate line.


[h2]Advanced Armor Protection[/h2]
Armored components have always helped reduce overall Standard Damage that is passed through to your Hull and then turned into internal damage to turn your components into ash. With Update #284, they have gained a new intrinsic way to help prevent destruction to your ship's components even after all the dice have been rolled.

Once all the damage is totaled, components from your ship are selected in a series of rounds to take portions of that damage. All types of components that are designed to provide additional protection (even not those explicitly armor) are now more likely to be selected to "soak up" the damage and protect other components from taking it. In a large ship with only one or two armored components, this effect may be pretty minor, but as you increase your set of armored components this balance change will come into play more readily.

Specifically:

• Exploration Seals, Orbital Platings, Orbital Sealing increase their chance of getting hit by 20%.
  
• Armored Bulkheads, Hull Plating, Reinforced Structures and Battle Prows increase their chance of getting hit by 35%.
  

While this can help protect other key components -- such as Piloting modules, ship weapons and the engine -- it can also help more rapidly reduce a ship's armor as the armor components take damage and drop offline. If a ship is built with redundant Armor %, this double-edged sword effect will be prevented from taking effect longer.


[h2]Improved Combat Logs[/h2]
The ship combat logs now include the Radiation and Void Damage of both capital ship and small craft. This key missing piece of intel is key for disabling captains to understand how their hits are hitting! We've also adjusted the spacing and lead in on most of the log lines to make them more clear and stand out from each other -- such as using (T) for Talent and (!!) for a Crippling Effect which now both really jump out in a busy logged turn.

There are some more exciting meta changes coming for ship combat and improving strategy options, so stay tuned and we will be upgrading the combat log hand in hand as we go.



[h2]v3.2.17 - 11/22/2021[/h2]
- Improved many armor/protection focused components to increase chance of taking hits in combat, therefore protecting other components
- Added 4 new medium ship components (Quturaan and Katteduun Phase Inflectors) which increase ship weapon void and Radiation Damage by percentage bonus %
- Best Phase Inflectors are sold exclusively by Rychart (Void) and Thulun (Radiation)
- Improved ship combat logging to include details of Radiation and Void Damage from ship weapons
- Improved formatting and consistency of ship combat logging
- Clarified Damage Bonus in ship Talent and component effects as "Standard Damage"
- Clarified description of "Upstaged Success", it does not increase Contact Influence gains
- Fixed reported typos and crashes

Update #283 continues a series of improvements to carrier and craft, enables quick use of save slot with keyboard shortcuts, brings the BOOM with the addition of PlasBombers and improves Salvage profits from destroy ships. It's new content, community-requested quality of life features and fine-tuned balancing. It's Update #283, the Plasma Depth-Charge!

If you are enjoying the pace of updates and new content please remember to leave a review and tell a friend.

Speaking of new, new new -- if word hasn't trickled down from the tippity top of the New Boston spires, leaked below the streets and drip-drip-dripped into your safehouse, we're here to tell you about our upcoming turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint will be coming to Steam in 2022 and mixes stealth, hacking and tactical combat with deep RPG elements and a unique heist system for missions. The wishlist button is calling your name, Knight.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107


[h2]Quick Save Slot Access[/h2]
Save Slots just got one big step easier to use! There are now 4 configurable hotkeys that can let you save to a slot straight from the game's main map. Defaulting to 7, 8, 9 and 0 these respectively save to slots 1, 2, 3 and 4. As with most hotkeys, we suggest you bind them to fit perfectly into your keyboard setup. While playing this morning, one thing that I found that worked well was to move just one of the save slot hotkeys under my main hand so I could mash it all the time as a basic "auto-save". When I wanted and alternate slot, I'd lift my hand and go for the other bindings.

As always, thanks to the community for posting suggestions, feedback and reviews to help us improve the game!


[h2]PlasBombers![/h2]
With Update #283, we've added 3 new types of bomber craft which all pack powerful and disabling PlasBombs. Trading the usual hull-busting power of bombers for extreme Radiation Damage and high Crippling %, PlasBombers focus on disabling a ship instead of destroying it outright. Especially well paired with mid-range capital ship weapons like Plasma Cannons or long range disabling Torpedoes, PlasBombers give an entirely new angle to carrier combat which focuses on burning out the enemy crew and components while leaving the hull still in one piece.

We have also made one last round of adjustments to the weapons for regular Interdictors and Bombers to ensure each class of craft has their own stand-alone weapon. Class 5 and 6 were still accidentally sharing weapons. This has resulted in an upgrade in *another* weapon power for class 6 and 7 Bombers and Interdictors.


[h2]Wing Commando Boarding Strikes[/h2]
Not to be left behind, Wing Commando's launch plans for their boarding shuttles have also been upgraded. These launch plans now bring even more powerful, longer lasting debuffs to the table in a way that no other boarding strike can. When paired with well-planned boarding victory Talents, these can hasten the way to victory or surrender.

Both "Breacher's Assault" and "Boarder's Storm" have had their durations extended to 4 Turns (nicely matching with the time it takes the Commando to round trip for another boarding). In addition, they have both gained a damage over time component to increase their effect in bringing the enemy ship or crew to its knees. Breacher's Assault has replaced the -10% Boarding debuff with a 15 Crew Dmg / Turn debuff, leaving wounded and dead in the wake of the shuttle strike. Boarder's Storm has gained a 15 Morale Dmg/Turn, as the defensively-weakened ship reels from the strike, knowing they are about to get pummeled.

[h2]Salvage & Ransom Maximums[/h2]
With Update #283, we've increased the maximum profit you can make from Salvaging a destroyed enemy ship by $5,000 to $31,500. This maximum is applied *before* any Talents, Traits or ship components are calculated -- so those can help you capitalize on an expensive Salvage and make far more than that. The amount of money made from Salvage is based off the ship's component pricing reduced by any damage done to those components. So, as always, the best Salvage profits are gained from ships with less (or no!??!) damage.

While Ransom is a much harder way to make significant money, the same calculation is applied -- all of the ship component prices are multiplied by their damage to calculate the final ransom hall. As it comes with much less Reputation loss, Ransom applies a much steeper reduction to the component pricing but still in some cases if you are Ransoming a large mass battlecruiser or a carrier, the resulting profit can be quite substantial. To protect the balance between Ransom and Salvage, we have added a similar cap to Ransom but -- as it is much, much harder to reach -- we have set the cap at $56,500. The same rule applies to Ransom, where Traits and Talents are applied after the cap and therefore can capitalize on expensive Ransoms to make far more money.

[h2]Hit ESC in Crew Combat[/h2]
You can now access the game menu and exit to the game's main menu cleanly from crew combat as well as ship combat. Just hit ESC!

[h2]v3.2.15 - 11/3/2021[/h2]
- Added 3 new Bombers carrying heavy plasma bombs with massive Radiation Damage, high Crippling Effect % (class 5, 6, 7)
- Fixed issue with class 6 Bomber/Interdictor sharing weapons with class 5 (improved stats for both class 6 and 7)
- Improved Wing Commando's "Breacher's Assault", replaced -10% Boarding debuff with 15 Crew Dmg/Turn, extended to 4 Turn duration
- Improved Wing Commando's "Boarder's Storm", added 15 Morale Dmg/Turn, extended to 4 Turn duration
- Added configurable hotkeys to save game to Save Slot 1-4 from quadrant map
- Increased maximum pre-Talent/Trait/Component Salvage value for enemy ships by $5,000 to $31,500
- Added maximum pre-Talent/Trait Ransom value for enemy ships at $56,500 (very hard to reach)
- Added a Game Menu in Crew Combat, allowing access to options and main menu
- Fixed issue with "Explosive Shots" debuff being cleared like a buff
- Fixed bug with "Forgotten Secrets" mission step ordering