Star Traders: Frontiers News

Welcome all new captains! We're kicking off a week of updates in celebration of all of our captains -- old and new -- who sail the quadrants. It's a great time to spread the word by telling a friend or leaving a review as Star Traders: Frontiers is 40% off for the next 6 days and nights.

To start the week off, Update #211 kicks off the week with a host of new high risk and reward cards piling into orbital ops and salvage.


[h2]6 New Rumor Cards [/h2]
All of the 5 new high powered cards arriving in Update #211 are linked to Rumors. First up are set of 3 that appear exclusively in Salvage as rare cards but that provide some significant bonuses above the normal.

The new "Major Score" card can drop a stack of up to $100K Credits into your account, providing a new major way to rake in the bank while salvaging. But it doesn't end there with the "Riches Untold" offering a reward of up to $200K from a single card. Both are rare, and "Richest Untold" obviously the rarest of the bunch but that is the name of the game in Salvage -- high risk, high reward!

Beyond material wealth, "Spice Memories" card drops a whopping 800 XP onto a small subset of your crew. With this extra focused XP, this can easily result in an immediate level gained in the earlier game!

In those quadrants that are under the dangerous quadrant-wide Rumors of Radiation Storm and Xeno Fleet, there are new reasons to risk entering these areas. Any orbital operations (Patrol, Spy, Blockade) now have a chance of including the rare "Enviable Breakthrough" card that grants 400 XP , shared across a small subset of your crew.

The new "Web of Conspiracy" card can uncover 3 to 6 Rumors in a single turn, as your captain uncovers some bigger scheme. This new card can appear as a rare card for Spying during any conditions, but will appear in Patrol and Blockade during either Radiation Storm or Xeno Fleet Rumors.

Finally, because it can't all be good news -- in the presence of a Radiation Storm or Xeno Fleet Rumor, you can also draw the "Horrific Damage" orbital ops card which can destroy up to 4 components completely. This is a nasty card ranking at -5 and worth warning that it's skill tests are hard to beat if you lack a Talent. Be careful to avoid or knock this one out with a Talent!

[h2]Scales of Risk and Reward[/h2]
We've made some further tuning improvements to the risk and reward weights in Patrol, Spy and Blockade to push planets and zones more into their focus niche. Those zones that were good for Spying are likely even better for it -- so its all the more important now to go to places that are good targets and not just spy anywhere.

In Salvage, we've also rebalanced some of the drop rates for weapon to help players find a wider variety of armaments as they salvage.

[h2]Wishlist Cyber Knights![/h2]
Of course, we're also celebrating and sharing our next title: Cyber Knights: Flashpoint. Take a minute to peak and punch that Wishlist button!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

[h2]v3.0.65 - 5/26/2020[/h2]
- New "Major Score" Orbital result card grants up to 100K Credits
- New "Enviable Breakthrough" Orbital result card grants up to 400XP
- New "Spice Memories" Salvage result card grants up to 800XP
- New "Riches Untold" Salvage result card grants up to 200K Credits
- New "Horrific Damage" Orbital results card destroys up to 4 components
- Graphical optimizations to reduce game's memory footprint
- Rebalanced drop rates for new weapons in Salvage mini-games
- Additional balancing for risk and reward weights in Orbital Ops (Patrol, Spy, Blockade)
- Fixed Reported Crashes

Update #210 releases a new pack of art for landing zone environments, some new wrinkles to the Jyeeta Brood Era, reworks the Wing Bomber Job and addresses a big pile of community feedback that has come in over the last week. As always, a big thanks goes out to the captain's sailing the void, posting feedback, suggestions and as always -- reviews!

Without further delay, let's get into the details!

[h2]New Zone Art[/h2]
We're going on a bit of a quest to add even more art to the game, starting with environmental art. This release includes a new ice world wilderness, ice world outpust (low Population), desert outpost (low Population) and new art for high military prime worlds, slotted in for Cadar and Steel Song's prime worlds.


[h2]Brood Era[/h2]
Once the Brood Era has started, a Xeno Hunter's Talents that seek out xeno will now have a chance to spawn Jyeeta over Terrox. If you're into hunting xeno then the big game will be available if you look for it. They already appear in other forms through Rumors, operations cards and travel events but this is one more way the Jyeeta are not forgotten after their Brood.

We've also adjusted the weighting of fighting Jyeeta xeno on the ground and in the void outside of missions during the Brood. There is a reduction to the Brood Score and this was previously equal between ship and explorer fights. We've adjusted this balance to put a bit more weight to taking out their ships traveling the void, and therefore far more xeno than those you might encounter in a ground fight.


[h2]Wing Bomber[/h2]
Based on some great community feedback, we identified a weakness in the Wing Bomber and juggled the Skill progression around to push Electronics into their primary slot and Pilot as secondary. This helps the crew member who is a Wing Bomber be far more capable of flying high level craft and gaining all of the best bonuses. Certainly, a craft still may be beyond their ability but if they fly a craft within their ability range, their Electronics and Pilot line up in the way seen with Wing Leaders, etc.

[h2]And More[/h2]
With Update #210, we fixed a price issue with the large slot Advanced Medical Clinic where it was in fact cheaper than the lower level option. In this adjustment and major price hike, we've also tweaked its stat line to have slightly lower mass than the lower level option, making it even more appealing.

There were a few cases -- including a Salvage card that killed a Contact and a few story Contact deaths -- in which a Contact might die and all of their missions would not be effectively cancelled. We've closed these few loopholes to tight up the entire system.

In Exploring, you Captain's Wisdom is used to influence the value of the Rare Reward category, specifically to add to a Very Rare pool. It was not being properly displayed in the Risk and Reward categories, the display made Wisdom look like a non-factor when it is actually notably important. Not to mention it has a big impact on the decision of 2/3 or 3/2 positive and negative cards! Exploring barren and unforgiving wilderness is a game of the wise.

[h2]Wishlist Cyber Knights![/h2]
If you haven't seen our next title, take a minute to peak and punch that Wishlist button!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

[h2]v3.0.63 - 5/18/2020[/h2]
- Added 4 new landing zone environments -- new art for glacial wilderness, ice world outposts, desert outposts and Cadar and Steel Song prime worlds
- After the start of the Jyeeta Brood Era, all xeno hunter Talents that seek xeno have a chance to turn up Jyeeta
- Rebalanced brood score effect of fighting jyeeta ship and ground forces outside of missions, ships now worth more points
- Rebuilt Skill progression of "Wing Bomber" Job, now better match for bomber craft, Electroncis is primary, Pilot second, Tactics tertiary
- Increased price of "Advanced Medical Clinic" large slot component, reduced its mass by 50
- Fixed bugs with Salvage card and few story arcs killing Contacts that could leave their Missions active
- Fixed Reward Factor listing of Wisdom to take into account its impact on Very Rare rewards
- Fixed missing ship image when jumping Extremis Carrier
- Fixed incorrect icon for Rare Trade Goods in contact display

Update #209 follows on the first in a series of changes to the ship meta with a new set of balance adjustments, a new Javat-only ship, some ship price changes and a whole new set of AIs to bring more ships and ship build strategies into the mix. A huge thanks to everyone in the community for sharing feedback, posting suggestions and bugs. if you enjoy the pace of updates, new content and features please take a moment to leave a review!


[h2]Rim Exocruier[/h2]
Perhaps the Rim Exocruiser was built to last extensive voyages to the very rim of the galaxy, seeking the edges of known space and exploring dangerous wilderness. However, it has become a known favorite of smugglers. This Mass 3400 Javat-only hull features the highest base fuel in its class, is one of the 4 ships in that class that can boast 30 crew and 5 officers, can support 2 craft and has a max craft evasion of 88%. With 11 small slots, 5 medium slots and 2 large slots it comes outfitted with a bevy of powerful components, including a Behemoth Engine, Shielded Barracks and Officer Suites, a Javat Hauler Hold, three Defense Pattern Matrix 4 installed, a Scout Bridge and more. It's fast, hard to pin down and can make the long haul.

[h2]Max Craft Evade Tweaks[/h2]
As we continue to work on the new changes around ship hull's maximum craft evasion stat, a natural next step is to examine the results, check in with player feedback and make some balance tweaks. With Update #209, we've made a number of smaller adjustments. The Sword Battlecruiser and Azurite Cruiser have both had their max craft evade increased while the Obsidian Carrier, Basalt Carrier, Harbinger Carrier and Skylift Carrier have all seen a drop in the hull stat. For dedicated carrier hulls, it is even more important to have Interdictor and/or Autocannon defenses against incoming craft.


[h2]New Enemy AI[/h2]
Update #209 also rolls out a package of additional enemy AI subtypes and new ship options for there types. There are new Military Officer AI flying and configuring the Victus Interceptor, Longbolt, Leo Battlecruiser and Reach Defender. These new Military Officer AI have a wide range of ship builds they can step into and will provide some new challenges to captains they meet. For Bounty Hunters and Pirates, we've added new AI that are can fly the Horizon Cruiser, Reach Vindex and Rim Exocruiser.

[h2]And A few More[/h2]
We've made some changes to the build for the Leo Cruiser to fix some issues with it and to tune it up. It no longer is built for 8 officer slots even though it can support 7 and comes off the starport dock a little smoother than before.

We've increased the sale price of the Reach Vindex by $120K to match its internal build and hull value. This does not change its value during captain creation and it still stays as a Priority D ship.

We've made an adjustment to the "Entropic Delay" Talent to better display when a Rumor could expire at any point. While it may take a while for the Rumor to roll over, the Talent will report "any day now" while a Salvage Rumor is in that end state.

[h2]v3.0.61 - 4/30/2020[/h2]
- New Ship: Rim Exocruiser (3400M, Javat, Exploration Cruiser)
- Fixed issues with 'Leo Battlecruiser' ship design
- Increased sale price of Reach Vindex by $120K
- Improved Max Craft Defense for: Sword Battlecruiser, Azurite Cruiser
- Reduced Max Craft Defense for: Obsidian Carrier, Basalt Carrier, Harbinger Carrier, Skylift Carrier
- New Military Officer AI for: Victus Interceptor, Longbolt, Leo Battlecruiser,Reach Defender
- New Bounty Hunter & Pirate AI for: Horizon Cruiser, Reach Vindex, Rim Exocruiser
- Improved message on "Entropic Delay" Talent
- Fixed Reported Crashes

Update #208 starts an important series of shifts in the ship hull meta, introduces a new hull attribute, drops an exciting new Thulun-only battlecruiser, adds more Captain's Log entries and fixes and balances a ton of smaller items coming out of community feedback. There are some big changes here, so be sure to review the new hull rules and see how it impacts your captain's builds.

The next series of updates will focus on further improvements and expansions to the ship hull meta as well as a new story vignette as well as an exciting expansions to 2 existing Era storylines.


[h2]New Hull Meta: Maximum to Evade Craft Attacks[/h2]
The biggest change in Update #208 is the addition of a new property innate in a ship hull. Maximum Craft Evasion percentage joins other fields like Max Officers, Base Fuel, Mass and the Small/Mediu/Large Slot counts (along with other values) to define the unique aspects of each ship hull. The range for Max Craft Evasion ranges from the low 60% for high mass and hard to maneuver ships to 100% for fast and nimble ships. Regardless of what ship components you install, this maximum will cap your craft evasion and requires captains who are facing carriers -- and especially Jyeeta -- to look into other ways to protect their ship if they are unable to reach 100%. Autocannons, high accuracy longer range weapons and your own Interdictors can form a formidable defense to augment a ship's Evasion to Craft Attacks and a mixed strategy is now be required. We encourage everyone to review your ship builds, post questions and build design changes you are seeing to the forum.

It is important to state that this isn't an isolated change. More changes are coming to the ship hull meta that will improve the overall balance of the game and push each the ships' unique definitions farther away from each other. On the list are included Max Armor and Max Shield for individual hulls, allowing some hulls to exceed the currently global cap of 65% (75% with buffs) as well as caps that will modify the meta around stacking ship defense. We'll make these changes carefully as we go and are excited to hear any and all feedback from the community. Much like the previous change to allow Ship Defense Strong Dice to come from either Electronics or Pilot, these changes aim to break up meta monopolies and inject new options into player's ship builds.

As always, the AI follows the same rules as the player.


[h2]Autocannons Defensive Roar[/h2]
Higher level Autocannons -- from level 5 and up -- have now gained bonuses to Evading Craft Attacks. Thought small, these additional bonuses model the reality that a ship bristling with short range weapons is difficult for a bomber or interdictor to close on. In addition to helping to shoot down enemy craft, these ship weapons now provide an innate defensive bonus.

[h2]Leo Battlecruiser[/h2]
The Leo Battlecruiser is the latest monstrous ship rolling out of the famous Thulun starports. Built from many exclusively Thulun components, the Leo is a loyalists dream battlecruiser. Weighing in at 7000 Mass, the Leo boasts 6 Large, 9 Medium and 12 Small slots and a Max Craft Evasion of 85%. Staffed by 7 officers, 42 crew and its component set includes 2 Reactive Hangar Bays, a Dual-Field Engine, and a mix of Autocannons, Torps and Railguns. Let the Red Lions of Thulun roar!

[h2]New Contact in Captain's Log[/h2]
While the death of a known Contact has been long logged into the Captain's Log, the addition of a new Contact has not been consistently captured under all the circumstances -- orbital ops, explorer, Talents, trading. With Update #208, we've completed a clean sweep to ensure that the discovering of a new Contact is always logged with some important details about that Contact as well.

[h2]And More[/h2]
We've adjusted the rules for Dismiss taking 1 Turn to exclude the first year. This allows new captains to freely dismiss some of their crew early in the game without paying a cost in turns.

We've fixed a bug with "Slippery Trader" Smuggler Talent where you could end up with positive Rep once you got over 100% effectiveness. We've also clarified the description of the Merchant's "Lawful" Trait to include the specifics that it always adjusts hostility by +1.

Be more careful when you see a Radiation Storm card in Salvage. There was a case where they were not causing damage and now they are fully operational.

[h2]v3.0.57 - 4/25/2020[/h2]
- New property of Ship Hulls: Maximum to Evade Craft Attacks percentage, starting at 85% for most ships
- Max Craft Attack Evasion is lower for large hulls and higher for sleek hulls
- Improved Autocannon weapons at level 5 and above to grant small bonuses to Evading Craft Attacks (bristling gunship wards off bombers)
- New Thulun Ship: Leo Battlecruiser (7000M, Heavy Combat Carrier)
- Added new Captain Log entries to capture the details of new Contacts discovered
- Dismiss no longer requires 1 Turn in the first year of the game
- Fixed bug where Smuggler's "Slippery Trader" could reduce Rep by more than 100% and cause odd results
- Fixed bugs with sale price of Scout Bridge ships on some maps
- Clarified description of Merchant Trait "Lawful"
- Fixed issue with "Radiation Storm" Salvage card sometimes not causing ship damage

Update #207 launches a new starting ship, improvements to story pacing, rebalanced Talents, and a bundle of fixes and improvements gathered from another active week with the community. We owe a huge thanks to all of the captains for play, posting feedback and leaving reviews! While things have been a bit slowed down here, we still have a big roadmap ahead of us for the year -- so let's keep grinding together!



[h2]New Starting Ship D[/h2]
Update #207 adds a new option for your starting ships in the "D" priority. At $200,000 the Reach Vindex isn't a dream ship but it does have its advantages among the slot and gives more options for those captains wanting to start in a lighter, less expensive ship that allows them to focus on other priorities. The Reach Vindex is a minimalist hull designed for long range operations in deep space. Equipped with extensive shielding and massive fuel tanks, the Reach Vindex is popular with long-haul Star Traders.



[h2]Late Game Era[/h2]
Based on some great feedback from the community, we found a mistake in the timing rules for the late game Eras and how they proc'd into the galaxy. We've now adjusted the rules to account for the fact that there are now 3 late game Eras (Plague, Brood, Buried Demons) and to ensure there is some delay between them so that they don't back-to-back without any rest.

We've also fixed a long running bug with Estelle giving an erroneous offer in the Buried Demons after it was complete.

[h2]Recruit Timing[/h2]
Update #206 added a 1 turn requirement to recruit any new crew member. It also added 1 turn requirement review-and-dismiss them. Taking the community feedback into account, we've removed the 1 turn cost if you dismiss them directly while reviewing-and-recruiting. However, we have now adjusted general Dismiss to increase its cost to 1 turn. Leaving an offworlder on a grav world is not something done quickly, and it requires the time of the captain and officers. It is a rare event and now outside of the recruit-and-review loop which was where the timing got egregious.


[h2]Mission Adjustments[/h2]
We've fixed an issue where sometimes using Flash Charge in some missions would skip the mission completion or failure screen that would follow. In a continued effort to balance mission pricing and duration, we've made some more tweaks to the pricing calculations per type and per jump for long, short and medium length missions.

Finally, for those Salvagers using the "Entropic Estimate" Talent from Mechanics, the results of that Talent are now lodged in the Event Log which makes it easier to reference after leaving the Salvage screen.

[h2]v3.0.55 - 4/13/2020[/h2]
- New Starting Ship: 3400M Reach Vindex ($200K, Minimalist Scout Starter)
- Access Reach Vindex with "Salvage Contractor" Unlock
- Dismiss after reviewing a recruit no longer requires a few hours (1 Turn)
- Dismissing a crew from crew list now requires a few hours (1 Turn)
- Improved timing delay between late game Eras -- Plague, Buried Demons, Jyeeta Brood
- Adjusted balance of Blade Dancer "Forbidden Edge" Talent -- less Armor Piercing, More Bleeding
- Adjusted prices on short, mid and long distance missions
- Fixed issues with Flash Charge in missions -- Talent not going on cool down, sometimes post mission screen not appearing
- Mechanic Talent "Entropic Estimate" adds a event log to make prediction of Rumor length more clear
- Fixed story issue with Buried Demons where Estelle could be told about the events after events happened