Star Traders: Frontiers News

Update #248 comes roaring into the new year with a blast of new character art -- crushing two content expansion milestones in the process -- and a new dry dock feature. As always, if you like the pace of updates and new content, please take a moment to tell a friend or post a review.

With the new faces added in Update #248 and the 900+ outfit combinations in #246, we've closed two of the content expansion milestones off the dev roadmap. This doesn't leave much left to do here. Our focus is narrowing down on smashing these last few items and the onwards, to the stars (and whatever is next!)


We're also excited to say, its 2021 now and this will be the year our turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG will be coming to Steam. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint 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]Added 6 New Faces[/h2]
To follow up on Update #246 and those that can before it, we've added another 6 new character faces to your crew roster. Featuring long hair, cool earrings, older characters, beards, scars and more. Enjoy the new looks.




[h2]Queue Dry Dock Repairs[/h2]
With Update #248, you may now queue repairs for dry docked ships. Just like with queuing ship upgrades, this allows you to order the repairs and then leave without waiting for them to complete. This can save a captain huge amounts of time lost if you don't need the ship right now. Of course, while the repairs are going the ship can't be launched.

Pop open the repair detail, select your drydocked ship, and then when prompted you can pick Immediately or Queue.

Happy repairing!

[h2]And Few Small Extras[/h2]
We also fixed the description of Wing Leader's "Precise Pursuit" buff which increases chance to hit the enemy capital ship (not enemy craft). We fixed a bug that could occur when Contacts who are targeted by a mission died.

And finally, more on dry dock -- we fixed an issue that prevent removing passenger cabins or prison cells on dry docked ships because you had a prisoner or passenger on your current ship.

[h2]v3.1.21 - 1/11/2021[/h2]
- Added 6 new character faces including new mustache and beard
- Enabled queuing of repairs on dry docked ships -- large repair jobs no longer interrupt
- Fixed bug preventing removal of prison cells or passenger cabins on dry docked ships
- Fixed incorrect buff description of Wing Leader "Precise Pursuit" (+50% Hit Chance, not +50% to Hit Craft)
- Fixed issue with missions given related to Contacts if the Contact died
- Fixed reported crashes and typos

[h2]End-of-Month Wrap-up: The Winner, Honorable Mentions, and Next Month’s Challenge...[/h2]
(Original challenge description below, skip to it?)
[h3]And our winners are... Tomcat, bogboy3, davea![/h3]


After a final January 31st push to send his score soaring into the ionosphere, Tomcat racked up an incredible 20,198.75 points with the help of his friends Calagan Faen (Javat Prince), Ignatio de Cadar (Cadar High Prince), and Heitta Lumotte (Moklumnue High Pricess). A truly impressive accomplishment on Impossible difficulty; well done Tomcat.

In second place, bogboy3 snuck in with his own January 31st bomb drop, out-doing his previous submitted run (Captain Vkari, 999 points) by a mere 10,007 points. Using his second-oldest captain, Captain El Putzo Fantissimo (a veteran from when the Frontiers were still in Early Access), bogboy3 earned more than 3,000 additional personal reputation with his contacts waited through years of pesky peacetime for opportunities to increase the influence of Silvaine von Sha (Thulun Spymaster).

And in third with 2,086 points, davea’s submission from all the way back at the beginning of the month kept him on the leaderboard throughout. Michael Guun (Zenrin Prince) was pleased to see Captain LeBraun had a fellow Zenrin, Xanth Vandee, among his officers… none the wiser that she’d been promoted from a mere electronics technician shortly before.



[h3]Honorable Mentions[/h3]
A shout-out to Dr. Spendlove, whose Captain Hame coulda been a contenda if we’d allowed story-unique contacts like the Coalition Arbiter and Fleet Commander to count. Sorry Doc!

And a bonus mention to Tomcat, for also submitting a “send all the bounty hunter stories to me” run from Cadar Princess Aetaan Char having a personal rep of negative 2052. Earning him a final score of… negative 6335.31 points. 👏❓



Thanks again everyone for the discussion and submissions both. Everyone is still welcome to post a run report for this challenge or any of our previous challenges in the Steam forums or in our Discord. We’ll love sharing notable playthroughs (impressive gameplay, fun screenshots / edits, fan art or stories) on our Twitter or Facebook.

We’ll get February’s challenge up soon, stay tuned!


[h2]Friend in High Places Challenge[/h2]
Across the stars, a Captain must travel through territory controlled by many different factions. Even the most zealous loyalist to a single faction knows how helpful it is to have contacts among at least a few of the other syndicates and great houses. The more powerful, the better. And even those Captains who operate in the shadows, under-the-table, or on the fringe know how useful it is to have a Prince in your pocket who can bail you out if things get too hot.

So in this challenge, we want to see how well you can cultivate your friendships in high places. At any point in your playthrough, if you have ...

• three “high places” (defined below) contacts
  
• from at least three different factions
  
• with at least 80 influence
  

... you can add up your personal reputation with those three contacts and submit your score. You may update your score at any point from within the same game, or submit multiple scores from new runs with new Captains.

[h3]“High places” contacts include:[/h3]

• The Throne Room: High Prince, Prince, Duke, Court Scientist, Court Seer
  
• Faction Ministers: Diplomatic Consul, Faction Judge, Legal Consul, Politician
  
• Top Brass: Commander, FDF Commander, Naval Commander, Starport Commander
  
• Big Money: Mining Samrak, Ranking Executive, Smuggler Prince, Trade Czar, Magnate
  
• Big Brains: Retired Theoretician, Spymaster
  

[h2]Scoring Rules[/h2]
[h3]Points will be awarded for:[/h3]

• Sum of your Personal Reputation from your top 3 qualifying Contacts. Each contact must be from a different faction, and each must have 80+ Influence.
  

[h3]Bonus points for:[/h3]

• +0.10x points if all three of your contacts having 90+ influence.
  
• +0.25x points if you have at least one officer from each of the factions of your 3 Contacts.
  
• +0.25x points for every difficulty level above Basic.
  

Note the bonuses are multiplicative. Therefore, you would get the calculation:
(Sum of Contact Personal Rep) x 1.1 (for all 3 Contacts have 90+ Influence) x 1.25 (for faction-matched officers) x 1.25 (for Normal diff)

[h3]Screenshots required:[/h3]

• Each of your 3 contacts, showing your personal rep with them and their influence. (Tip: from the Known Contacts menu, sort by Rep or Influence to find them easily, and/or use faction filters.)
  
• Your crew (if going for multi-faction officers bonus points).
  

[h2]Further Discussion, Post Scores and Ask Questions[/h2]
All scores, questions and chatter about the January community challenge should be routed to the Discussions forum thread.

Happy New Year captains! We're excited to share another big year of updates in the void with you. To get 2021 started right, we're sending out Update #247 with two new major Contact service offerings for Rumors, improved rules for paying to uncover Rumors and a very nice improvement to the Star Atlas straight from the community boards.

We're also excited to say, its 2021 now and this will be the year our turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG will be coming to Steam. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint 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


[h2]Economic and Recruitment Rumors[/h2]
Joining Salvage Rumors mongers, many Contacts across the galaxy are now plugged into networks of Rumors through their Spice Halls and Exchanges. Some Contacts can now sell access to economic Rumors like Salvage, Surplus and Embargoes while other Contacts can sell access to recruitment-focused Rumors like Spice Festivals, Mercenaries and Academy Graduation.

While the Contacts can only reveal existing Rumors, these offerings can give your captain's focused ability to turn up Rumors that they might go hunting for profit or talent. As with Salvage Rumors before them, the value of these new services are dependent on your captain's ability to take advantage of the conditions but with the right playstyle, these are proving to be very useful.


[h2]Uncovering and Extending Rumors[/h2]
With Update #247, we've improved the rule set around paying to learn Rumors. It is key to know that you are always paying to learn a pre-existing Rumor. These Contact services do not create Rumors and it is not that hard to find a case where your Contact has no Rumors to sell or you've purchased them all.

However, sometimes the ones you pay to discover are far away or are just about to end. With Update #247, we've adjusted the rules to ensure a duration boost is given to every Rumor you pay to uncover, guaranteeing you'll always have *some* time to check it of if you want to.


[h2]Star Atlas Improvements[/h2]
Straight from the community boards, we've patched the Star Atlas to include the quadrant name in the left hand list of planets whenever you are using the multi-quadrant filter. Without this data, it could be a bit hard to piece together where all of the zones might be situated as multiple quadrants could be 2 jumps away. It's a very nice improvement, so many thanks as always to our community.

Finally, we fixed a bug with the Spirit of Cadonya storyline that could leave it half-failed in case of losing a specific combat. And we've also resolved the issue with the Entropic Estimate Talent reporting incorrect dates.

[h2]v3.1.17 - 1/3/2020[/h2]
- Many contacts can now sell access to Economic Rumors -- shortages, surplus, embargo, tariffs
- Many contacts can now sell access to Recruitment Rumors -- mercs, academy graduation, UCF recruitment drives, starport booms
- Paying a Contact to reveal a Rumor (Salvage, Economic, Recruitment) breathes new duration into the rumor -- will no longer ever be "expiring soon"
- Star Atlas now shows quadrant name when jump filter is engaged
- Fixed issue in Jon Kaytyn storyline where a failed combat could leave the mission half-failed
- Fixed incorrect date in Entropic Estimate Talent

Update #246 is focused on a singular, ridiculous number: 925 new outfit combinations have been unleashed! If you factor in the 5 glove options per outfit, there are 4525 new outfit options to play around and test. Of course, not every single one is a winner and some of them are exposing places where our character art needs a bit more standardization (waist connections) but there are tons of new awesome combos to customize your crews look.

As 2020 comes to a close, we're looking forward to next year when our turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG will be coming to Steam. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint 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]Unlock Outfit Combos[/h2]
For any outfit where you want to tweak the gloves, lower body or upper body outfit, click the Unlock Outfit Combos option. This will drop out the options for the 3 parts and allow you to tweak them independently of each other. This can enable simple changes like tweaking to a new glove style or finding a new combo entirely. At any time you want to go back to the locked style (matching upper, lower and gloves) click to relock the outfit.

Update #246 focuses on unlocking all the combinations for you to play with. Following updates will address some of the more obvious issues with the hundreds of new options, standardizing connections at the waist. From here, every new outfit we add with have a very powerful multiplicative effect on the total option stack!

[h2]Community Fixes[/h2]
We've fixed the crash that was introduced last update with Trait Reconditioning if you lacked the Influence or Personal Rep for it. We've also fixed an issue with your ship skill pools caching not updating correctly in some routes of paying crew through the spice hall.

[h2]v3.1.15 - 12/27/2020[/h2]
- Added 900+ new outfit combinations to the game
- Added exact control over the gloves for your outfit
- Fixed issue with all Trait Conditioning services crashing if you lacked Influence, Rep or Credits
- Fixed issue with ship skill pools caching after certain landing zone services
- Fixed reported crashes and typos

Happy holiday season and let's get the Steam Winter Sale started off right! We're launching our 50% discount -- the best price of the year, fa la la -- along with the major milestone: TEMPLAR!

This newest major milestone adds a challenging and twisted new storyline to the game -- but we don't want to spoil it. But you might already have an idea about it just from the name :D


[h2]Major Milestone: TEMPLAR[/h2]
We've added a major new storyline to the Jyeeta Brood Era. If you play through the Era, you're very likely to encounter it and it will take you on a wild and truly dangerous ride. Be sure to stock your weapon locker, get an extra few bottles of lux and get ready! This one comes with all new allies and enemies, introduces new story characters and new unique contact types as well as unique story gear and unique story weapons.

We're going to leave it at that. Shalun favors the brave, captains!

Once you've played through the new story content in Star Traders: Frontiers, if feel like you need to know more, then check out Templar Battleforce! It might just be the xeno-crushing, mech-stomping turn-based tactics battler you’ve always wanted. And, it will take you on a deep dive into more of the universe's backstory that you might not already know!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/370020/Templar_Battleforce/

[h2]Coming in 2021: Cyber Knights[/h2]
As 2020 comes to a close, we're looking forward to next year when our turn-based cyberpunk heist RPG will be coming to Steam. Cyber Knights: Flashpoint 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

[h2]New Relic Rifles[/h2]
With the major milestone TEMPLAR we've also added 2 new high grade assault rifles -- the grade 8 AX Tall Order and grade 9 AX Rapidbreach. These can only be discovered when salvaging and more rarely when exploring. The best chance to find them is -- as you might expect -- in military base salvage rumors.

[h2]Flash Charge and Missions[/h2]
For as long as you could use Flash Charge to start a mission ship combat at range 4 or 3, it has been causing issues. When using Flash Charge, there were scenarios in certain missions where you would no longer get to see the resulting mission screen. Even though everything processed successfully, you wouldn't get to see your Rep changes, payments and Talents working.

Well, this is now fixed!

[h2]v3.1.13 - 12/22/2020[/h2]
- Capstone storyline added to the Jyeeta Brood Era
- All new story characters, unique story items and unique story weapons
- New allies, new enemies!
- Added new grade 8 and 9 Assault Rifles (AX Tall Order, AX Rapidbreach) to the relic weapon salvage lists
- Fixed bug with use of "Flash Charge" Talent in missions causing the end screen to be skipped