Star Traders: Frontiers News

Following up on the major milestone event GREAT HOUSES, Update #252 adds new content, improves existing systems, patches up some holes here and there and caters to some of the latest community requests. We're excited to keep cranking out updates as we move through the year, targeting both completing our roadmap and starting the next big thing: modding.

If you like the pace of updates and free new content, be leave a review and tell a friend. In the meantime --

[h2]What’s the latest on Cyber Knights?[/h2]
Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. We’re currently working toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (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]February "Boarding Bosses" Challenge[/h2]
This month's community challenge is an open ended call to share the stories, builds and designs for your best and most legendary boarding combat crews. We're off to a roaring start with some absolute A-teams posted already, sporting amazing gear and even better looks. Join in and bring your #BoardingBosses to the party.
https://steamcommunity.com/games/335620/announcements/detail/3066358039684902746



[h2]Peak Velocity[/h2]
Rychart is bringing the speed with the latest new ship component, the Peak Velocity Matrix 4 which grants a whopping +15 Move bonus, +1 Initiative and +6 Boarding. This faction-specific component is a great addition to any quick moving ship -- for fleeing, boarding or both. We've also tweaked the starport and economy requirements for PVM 3 to ensure they were up to snuff.

[h2]Trade Alliances Respect[/h2]
When you surrender to an enemy ship, their behavior is affected not only by any Trade Permits you hold with their faction, but also by any Trade Permits you hold with factions that are in a Trade Alliance with their faction. We've fixed an issue that was causing Military Officers and Bounty Hunters not to fully respect this rule set with Update #252.

For Pirates, once you reach Trade Permit 2 or higher (or have a Trade Permit with a Trade Alliance partner) they cease to loot your hold altogether, wary of angering their faction. For Military Officers, Bounty Hunters and Zealots they still demand to search your cargo in full. Each cargo is checked against your legal permits with their faction or now (correctly) with any Trade Permit of a Trade Alliance partner. While Pirates leave off at 2, you'll still need correct Permits for every good type if you want to pass through military inspection but with the Trade Alliance rules now properly respected, this just got easier.

[h2]Mutineers Unite![/h2]
While its an ugly moment when the crew rises up against their chartered captain, we still have come around to improving it once again. With Update #252, we've improved the details shared during mutiny -- being more specific about headcounts, Morale thresholds, amount of money offered and the results of a stand up fight (where some crew may die while others will survive by Death Save).

In addition, the mutineers have wised up a little bit. Their paltry demands for a lump sum are no longer so tiny and they may demand up to as much as 5% of your entire credits on hand, depending on just how bold they are feeling and how many are standing against you.

Finally, we've also improved the value of the anti-Mutiny Talents, boosting their basic Morale improvements. Those Talents relying only on Skill -- such as Doctor or Quartermaster -- have upgraded to 20 + Skill Morale. Those Talents that outright kill one of the mutineers (no Death Save!) have upgraded to 40 + Skill Morale. In both cases, if a mutiny is threatening, these Talents are going to feel a lot more powerful as ways to stave it off and worth training.

[h2]Intel Gathering[/h2]
For those captains picking up a lot of Intel through Talents, we've ensured that all event logs related to Intel gathering now clearly list the faction in their top line without a need to hover over the event. We've also flipped the default sort of all places where Intel appears so that it is sorted newest first. We are prepping to add filters to Intel and then Sell All which will give a quick and easy way to offload Intel by filter to Contacts for those master spies who are sitting on big stacks.

[h2]v3.1.29 - 2/6/2021[/h2]
- Added new Rychart-only Peak Velocity Matrix 4, high Movement bonus, more Pilot, gains +Init
- Adjusted zone requirements for Peak Velocity Matrix 3
- Military Officers and Bounty Hunters now correctly respect Trade Permits across Trade Alliances
- Improved Mutiny options and results to be more clear about cost and deaths versus wounded (death save)
- Improved power of all anti-Mutiny Talents to heal Morale, now 20 + Skill base or 40 + Skill for killing a mutineer
- Mutineers wised up -- demand much higher prices for calming (up to 5% of total credits on hand)
- Improved event logs for Intel-generating Talents to always mention faction
- Changed default sorting of Intel lists, newest Intel Records are at the top
- Fixed issue with "Fuel Depot" card in Explorer not correctly saving fuel updates
- Fixed typos and reported crashes

[h2]End-of-Month Wrap-up...[/h2]
(Original challenge description below, skip to it?)
[h3]Videos, bumper stickers and a whole lot of #BoardingBosses![/h3]

You all delivered with the Captain's pride we would expect for your champions of crew combat. Screenshots and stories included a mysterious Hunna clone, a love story with a Cadar High Princess, the crew that unlocked Master Explorer with ease, and more!

Check out the discussion thread, if you haven't already, for all the fun, or search the #st_frontiers channel in our Discord for "#BoardingBosses". Thanks to everyone for all their submissions.

Shout-outs to: Heyokah, for including a full video of his carrier combat crew clearing out an enemy ship with ease. You can find a clip of that here on our twitter: https://twitter.com/StarTradersGame/status/1368254395821985797

bogboy3, for creating a "bumper sticker" meme that's sure to become a classic:


Tomcat, for not only providing an excellent breakdown of his combat crew buildout, but showing us a crew with one of the most impressive collections of high-level gear we've seen.

Yowid, appropriately marking 500 hours in Star Traders with an impressive Zealot.

cyborgknight, for full squad stats & gear screenshots with backstory!

violetmistum, for a strong crew and dependable gameplan: "Assassin does smoke, Captain honor guards Healer, Healer buffs two frontline melee with Tactical Edge while Sniper builds up for that one shot kill." 💯

Well done everyone. As always, #BoardingBosses submissions are still welcome on an ongoing basis in the Steam forums or Discord.

[h3]Next month's challenge...[/h3]
Actually, we're skipping a month this month for community challenges. ElfWord, who's been helping run these, is recovering from COVID, thus the delayed wrap-up as well. It's a busy March so one less item on our plate will help us keep the updates coming, and in April we'll resume with a fresh opportunity to dig into some aspect of the game.


[h2]Boarding Bosses Challenge[/h2]
This month we want to do a more open-ended challenge, asking a simple question: who has a boss boarding crew? Whether you’ve min-maxed through 50 iterations to create the ultimate xeno-grinder, or are simply proud of a combat squad that has kept you alive by the skin of their teeth, we’re open to all kinds of bosses here.

Show and tell us about yours with screenshots and: stories, stats, let’s plays, interpretive dance videos, etc. You can share them here or in our Discord. At the end of the month, we’ll highlight several for an official Trese Brothers nod (and possibly some memery).


Some of the things we’re hoping to see:

• Stories about your best crew combat accomplishment, journey to building your crew, or in-universe accomplishments.
  
• Screenshots of fully-customized combat crew members, special story vignette fights, or (RIP) combat captain death screens.
  
• Explanations of (/names for) your favorite combat tactics, equipment loadouts, or crew-combat-focused gameplay strategies.
  
• Stats from your best post-combat boarding results, self-imposed challenges, or high-difficulty achievements.
  
• Your own creative edits / showcases / celebrations of your favorite combat crew.
  

We ask that no matter what form your submission takes, you include at least 1 screenshot of the crew in combat. If you post in the Discord, include “#BoardingBosses” so we can find everyone’s entries easily through search (the #st_frontiers channel can get pretty busy 😅).

Can’t wait to see ‘em Captains. All hands, to battle stations!

We've opened up a discussion on the general forum for all posts, questions and shares for this challenge!

No, not Cyber Knights… with 2020 behind us now, we thought it was worth looking back at allll the things that are new with Star Traders: Frontiers over the past year. We’ve more than doubled much of the content in the game since release, and after over 50 updates just last year, there might even be something you missed…

[h2]1) More map control[/h2]
Veteran players have always been able to add to their replay experience by changing the procedurally-generated universe itself at the start of a new playthrough. Now we’ve released map seeds version 2, allowing you to create better-balanced, more unique, and larger universe maps.



See updates #240, CARTOGRAPHER, and update #241, Mapmaker Rising, for details on the features we’ve added for maps. Finally in the latest GREAT HOUSES we introduced a new default map to the game from the version 2 seed.

[h2]2) New stories, new ways to play[/h2]
In 2020 we added three new story vignettes to the game, two new jobs, and brand new mission types!



CATALYST, update #232, added the Scientist job along with scientific intel to the game. Another classic sci-fi archetype, the Scientist in Star Traders: Frontiers adds to both exploration gameplay and rewards for encounters with the xeno.

The Blade Dancer job, from update 202, added an aggressive blades combatant, rich in Steel Song lore and unique talents, for your combat crews.

And just this month we’ve added the Saboteur. This new job brings new boarding combat abilities, opens up more long-range boarding options, and specializes in talents for wrecking the enemy ship and crew after a successful boarding.



Story updates are always exciting, and the extensive work they take to complete pays off with some of the most unique experiences Star Traders: Frontiers has to offer. In 2020 we added three:

• Spirit of Cadonya - a hunt for a ship of legend, diving deep into the lore of the Exodus.
  
• The Clan Skyline Trade Accord - a new galactic event that creates one of the largest trade alliances in the game, opens up new advanced craft, and shakes up contacts in the political simulator.
  
• Avengent Lost - the capstone storyline for the Jyeeta Brood Era, this brings all new allies and enemies, new unique contact types, story-specific gear, and... Templars!
  

And most recently, we’ve expanded the mission types available! Across multiple updates, we’ve been expanding the mission system; contacts can now offer missions based on rumors, like salvage opportunities. We’ve also started experimenting with “self-directed” missions... Contacts can now offer you a mission for gathering intel; it will be of a specific type or related to a specific faction, but where and how you gather it is up to you.

Both of these new mission capabilities increase your ability to play the way you want to play while still aiding your faction and contact’s goals… and earning you a nice payday. We’ll continue to expand these capabilities over the year.


[h2]3) A limited number of crew members can now equip gear[/h2]
It’s a change that would sound small to anyone new to Star Traders, but long-time players will tell you is one of the most significant changes we’ve made to the game since launch. In update #225, a limited number of crew members gained the ability to equip the valuable specialist gear that was previously restricted to your ship’s officers.

This has opened up the possibilities for your crew builds quite a bit, no longer requiring the devotion of so many officers to your boarding party / crew combat A-teams. As the number of crew who can equip this gear is based on your Captain’s level, it also provides another nice reward for keeping your Captain (and their career) alive and growing.

[h2]4) Tons of quality-of-life improvements[/h2]

We are constantly listening and responding to the feedback you all provide -- in the Steam forums, in our Discord, on Reddit, and on social media. Thanks to you, we have made countless improvements to the UI and descriptions, fixed dozens of rare but squish-worthy bugs, and been able to prioritize the gameplay improvements that matter most to you. Just to name a few of the big ones:

• Added a game option setting for faster crew combat
  
• Added option to review a recruit before hiring
  
• Ship component shopping (everything is cleanly grouped by categories, better filters, ability to preview a ship hull’s stats and components before buying)
  
• Drydock ship transfers
  
• Entirely-keyboard-controlled combat.
• Pay contacts to learn far-flung Economic and Recruit Rumors
  
• Rumors you’ve paid to learn about are now extended if they were about to expire
  
• Mission planning features added to the map & better map integration with the mission offer screen
  

[h2]5) Massive amounts more variety and customization[/h2]
In a game where replayability is one of its greatest strengths, variety is essential to making that sustainable. So wherever possible, we’ve added more:

• +41 talents
  
• +39 new crew weapons/armor/gear
  
• +17 new cards for card games
  
• +18 new faces and over 900 new outfit combos (not even counting gloves, which can now be set separately)
  
• +10 new ships and 47 new ship components
  
• New enemy AI and leveling options, increasing the variety of challenges as you level up (and giving you the option of conscripting better enemy crew members)
  

A rework of ship engines and the addition of several new bridge components are two big changes that have helped us ensure that ships of all masses, from tiny scouts to massive carriers, provide balanced gameplay while continuing to feel different from each other.



And we know how much many of you value customization options to ensure your Captain and crew members look the way your story about them feels. We closed out 2020 with a massive push to expand customization options, and started the year by crossing off two big content expansion milestones from our roadmap with crew outfits and crew faces.

[h2]Still more exciting things ahead[/h2]
Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our cyberpunk heist RPG, is going into its private alpha and aiming for Early Access by the end of the year. But even as work on that next game intensifies, Star Traders: Frontiers will continue to get new and significant content added.

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

This year will be another big year of updates. You’ve seen us tease some of these here (further mission capabilities) and in our dev streams (even more map capabilities in a v3 expansion). We still have some big story milestones left on the roadmap that will see all new story quadrants and Eras to be added to the game. Thanks to your continued enjoyment and support of the game, we’re as enthusiastic as ever about continuing to expand it.

Hope your year is off to a great start! Be sure to leave / update your review if you’d like to join us in celebrating all these additions to the game, and help us spread the word!

Update #251 follows closely on the heels of the GREAT HOUSES major milestone to deliver a new set of Contact Traits and a raft of patches to the most recent splurge of new map, new job, new Talents, new new new.

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 2021 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/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

[h2]New Contact Traits[/h2]
Update #251 adds "Unforgiving" and "Pioneer" Contact Traits to the mix. Contacts with Unforgiving Trait are grudgebearers, pay the most attention to their Personal Rep over Faction Rep, double the price of their pardons, offer more violent missions and recruit Bounty Hunters. Contacts with Pioneer always buy Intel, increase the price of all their services slightly and recruit Exo-Scouts. We're excited to have bumped up the availability of different Jobs recruitable by Contacts over the last two releases with the 4 new Contact Traits.

To avoid overlap with Traits in other areas, we've renamed last update's Contact Trait "Hawkish" to "Sabre Rattler."

[h2]Saboteur Adjustments[/h2]
A new job means a lot of new meta to sort out. Sometimes that means a nerf. "Skullshot" had a short life as perhaps the best low Initiative cost pistol Talent but the king had to fall. We've focused on keeping the low Initiative cost (1x weapon) but removed the -25% accuracy debuff and trimmed its ability to fire into the back half of the ranks -- it is only capable of targeting the first and second slot now.


We also made a change to the rules for "Demolition Joy" which prevents multiple copies of the Talent being used in the same boarding. It can now provide the intended +50% number of actions per boarding victory, not +500% as some players were finding if you stacked enough Saboteurs!

Finally, the bugs related to Saboteurs being willing to get into small craft are fixed -- they will now happily pilot your boarding shuttles, as will all of your Wing Commandos. And, the same bug was affecting a Saboteur's flight plans and preventing them from flying -- now fixed. Board on, good Saboteurs!


[h2]High Prince and Princess, Where Art Thou?[/h2]
A bug has been preventing the High Princes and Princesses of the factions from making their appearance in the Faen storyline under certain map seed conditions. We've now resolved this and they will appear in all games during missions like "Prime Pilgrimage" etc.

Finally, we fixed an unlikely bug where you could generate fuel by using Skip Off the Void with negative jump cost.

[h2]v3.1.27 - 1/28/2020[/h2]
- Added 2 new Contact Traits "Unforgiving" (expensive pardons, recruits Bounty Hunters) and "Pioneer" (expensive services, buys Scientific Intel, recruits Exo-Scouts)
- Balanced Saboteur "Skullshot" -- cannot target slot 3, removed -25% Accuracy debuff
- Fixed bug preventing Wing Commandos or Saboteurs from being assigned to shuttle craft
- Fixed bug preventing Saboteur shuttles from successfully boarding
- Fixed bug allowing Saboteurs to use multiple "Demolition Joy" Talents
- Fixed bug in default map v2 with Calagan Faen's High Prince and Princess focused missions
- Renamed Contact Trait "Hawkish" to "Sabre Rattler"
- Fixed bug where Nav's "Skip Off the Void" could increase fuel

We're celebrating the launch of GREAT HOUSES major milestone and the new default map for v2 with a 35% off sale. This major milestone is packed with new -- new default map, a new boarding specialist Job Saboteur, new Contact types and Traits, new mission plotting features and new trade route opportunities in rebalanced economies.

Already our 4th big update of the year, we're welcoming 2021 with new features, new content and more. If you're enjoying the constant stream of free updates, please share the game with a friend and be sure to leave a review.

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 2021 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. If you didn't know, now you know.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


[h2]New Default Map and Faction[/h2]
In November, we opened up map seed v2 with the CARTOGRAPHER update, inviting every captain to enjoy new, improved and even larger galactic maps. With GREAT HOUSES, we're finishing that arc by upgrading the game's default map to a map seed v2 map. We owe a huge thank you to the entire community who joined us is in the hunt for map seed v2's default. Many captains spent many hours looking for the perfect fit. In the end, the honor goes to @wilky with assist from @Shad1902 who helped convince us of the merits of the amazing 42 quadrant that was finally selected: "st-v02-42-2-53091310"

Of course, you can continue to play the original default map as long as you like but for new players this new and exciting map v2 default will greet them on their first playthrough.

Cadar has long had the honor of being the default faction due to a poll held during the Kickstarter, but it time has come to pass the crown to a GREAT HOUSE and so Thulun has now taken the position as default faction.


[h2]New Boarding Specialist: Saboteur[/h2]
The Saboteur job rolls out totally new abilities as well as taking new angles on existing specialties. The Saboteur is a boarding specialist, with a total of 5 amazing boarding victory Talents capable of smashing ship, crew and morale. They also can unleash totally unique boarding combat abilities -- the ability to damage a Void Engine and to increase the number of boarding Talents that can be used in any boarding run from 2 to 3.



In addition, Saboteurs have the option to fly boarding shuttles to get themselves and their boarding party onto the enemy ship from long ranges. Either way, when they clash in combat they can deploy a bevy of debuffing pistol attacks from the midranks. They also join Spy as another Stealth and Pistol combination, giving new options for Job combinations.

For any boarding focused ship combat and for carrier builds, the Saboteur opens up new and exciting possibilities to improve your builds!

Saboteurs can be hired from Contacts or during Spice Festival Rumors in the spice hall and those that hail from the Rychart Syndicate get an Attribute boost.

[h2]New Contacts and Traits[/h2]
With GREAT HOUSES, we've added 2 new Contact types -- the Ex-Mining Chief and the Racketeer. Both offer Black Market services and can recruit Saboteurs as well as other exciting services to fill in underworld economic side of Contacts.

We've also added 2 new Contact Traits -- "Conspirator" which reduces mission pay, increases Intel prices, may offer Black Market and recruits Saboteurs. And finally, "Hawkish" increases mission pay, increases hostile missions and recruits Commanders.


[h2]Offered and Accepted Missions[/h2]
With GREAT HOUSES, we've improved the offered and accepted mission displays across the game and fixed a few bugs introduced by Update #249. From the Contact screen where you are offered missions, you can now directly open the Galactic Map to look at your missions and help plot out there routes.

The icons used on the quadrant map are now more clear -- showing the standard mission icon for those quadrants that have an accepted mission, a grayed out icon with a blue plus for those quadrants that only have an offered mission and a standard mission icon and the blue plus for those quadrants where there are both active missions and offered missions waiting.



We keep improving here, but for now the fastest way to check your routes is to open the mission list and pin it back so you can see where each mission is quickly.

[h2]Rebalanced Economies and Components[/h2]
Some economics got a refresh this update,

We've improved fuel bonuses for Fuel Tank and Large Fuel Tank components as well as removing Jump Cost from multiple medical components and fixed the low sale price on high-end Barracks.

Finally, we added 2 new keybindings for quick landing on zones from orbit. Enjoy!

[h2]v3.1.25 - 1/25/2021[/h2]
- New default map from map v2 "st-v02-42-2-53091310" -- huge thanks to @wilky, @shad1902 and everyone who contributed to the exhaustive search!
- New default faction rises from the GREAT HOUSES: Thulun
- New Job "Saboteur" excels at debuffing pistol fighting and boarding Talents, option to fly boarding shuttle
- Saboteurs recruited from Rychart spice hall or Contacts will have best Attributes
- 15 new Talents for Saboteur including multiple unique Talent types, all new boarding abilities
- New Contact Types: "Ex-Mining Chief" and "Racketeer" recruit Saboteur and offer Black Market
- New Contact Trait "Conspirator": less mission pay, higher Intel price, may offer Black Market, recruits Saboteurs
- New Contact Trait "Hawkish": bonus mission pay, more hostile missions, recruits Commanders
- Added 30 new Barks with Lore about Factions, Jobs and Planets
- Saboteurs can be recruited during Spice Festival Rumors
- Commanders can be recruited during Starport Boom and UCF Recruitment Drive Rumors
- Rebalanced and increased Rare Trade Good Demands for Luxury Population, Orbital and Refinery Zones
- Improved Soldier's "Ferocious Crossfire" Talent to add additional damage up to Rifle Skill
- Reworked trade economy for Hydrogen and Methane Fuel
- Reworked trade economy for Refined Spice and Spice
- Buffed Fuel Storage of 'Fuel Tank' and 'Large Fuel Tank' components
- Removed Jump Cost penalty from several Medical Bay components
- Fixed ridiculously low sale and repair prices on some Barracks modules
- Fixed a bug preventing Traits increasing price of Intel and Scientific Intel sales from applying bonus
- Fixed Linux crash on opening mission list, occasional incorrect display of pending mission as accepted
- Jump to galactic map directly from Contact mission offer to better plot routes
- Improved display of offered and active missions on the galactic map
- Improved filtering of Mission list for "Narrative" to include story missions and story objectives
- Added new keybinding for Landing on Zones from Orbit for better keyboard play