Star Traders: Frontiers News

Update #192 comes after a short break as we rally around the next set of major roadmap and story additions for Star Traders: Frontiers. We're hard at work now bearing down on the final adjustments, balance and feature additions to wrap the enemy small craft expansion completely and to finish balancing out the new changes to recruitment and high level enemy AI.

A warning to high difficulty, high level players -- check the section on the AI's new cross-Job smarts, you will see a difficulty spike in enemy captains over level 32 thanks to some improvements in the AI crew builder.


[h2]Rock Paper Shotgun Games of the Decade[/h2]
We are very proud to share that -- with your help and support -- Star Traders: Frontiers was picked as one of the games of the decade by Rock Paper Shotgun!


[h2]Loot All - Pirate's Delight[/h2]
We've added a very quick and very helpful button to looting in ship combat victory. The Loot All button simply claims as much cargo as you can possibly cram into your cargo hold from the enemy ship, starting with the most valuable options first. It's a quick, one-click fix for looting and in most cases you don't need to do anything else. It only considers price when sorting what to take, it does not consider permit and trade law, so perhaps you might snag some mid-price but easy to sell cargo first manually and then click Loot All to fill your hold with the rest.


[h2]Enemy Cross-Job Officers[/h2]
On higher difficulty, higher level officers have gained a big improvement in how they plan out and deploy their Job points to achieve the best possibly synergy and cross-Job potential. This generally means there is going to be an uplift in difficulty for any high level captains who are facing enemies at level 34-ish or above. As always, the AI are only doing what you can do, but beware -- they have once again bitten into the advantages you may have stacked against them!

[h2]Recruitment Attribute Bonuses[/h2]
Attribute bonuses have always been dolled out to characters recruited at higher levels, but the meaning of "high level" shifted in a big way with Update #191. After confirming that we're happy with the new recruitment levels, we've moved on to giving further incentives to recruit through the Spice Hall and Contacts by continuing the Attribute bonus tiers up to level 26. The existing bonuses at 2, 5, 8 and 12 are all in place and we've added new bonuses for 18, 22 and 26 as well as strengthening the 12th level bonus a bit. For those captains looking to higher crew and officers with the highest possible Attributes, this is the best route for you.


[h2]Enemy Craft Targeting[/h2]
We've made some important changes to how weapons target small craft with this update. Previously, the automatic targeting of weapon-to-craft was performed at the time the weapons were activated. Then, during the turn if a craft was forced to land by a Talent (Knock from the Void) or shot down by weapon fire, any weapon that had targeted that craft at the start of the turn would simply skip its firing round. We've changed these rules to now allow weapons to dynamically retarget and as long as their is a valid craft to fire at, they will take a shot. This rule affects the enemy capital ships as well.


[h2]Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is coming![/h2]
As we have moved into the v3 family of the Star Traders: Frontiers roadmap, we're excited to share our upcoming next game. In Cyber Knights, you are the razor-sharp leader of a covert merc company operating in the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human drama story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world.

Coming to KickStarter in Feb 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.

[h2]v3.0.21 - 12/13/2019[/h2]
- Added "Loot All" option to ship combat victory -- one click to take all of your enemy's cargo sorted by value
- Attribute bonuses for high level recruits continue to increase at levels past 12 (additional bonuses at 2, 5, 8, 12, 18, 22, 26)
- Improved rules for targeting enemy craft -- if a craft is shot down or knocked down by a Talent, weapons will correctly retarget any other available craft
- Improved high level enemy ship officer cross Job intelligence -- beware more difficult end-game ship combats!
- Fixed bug with xeno-specific Talents when xeno enemy boards your ship not working
- Fixed bug with high level Scitterings sometimes having 0 Skills
- Improved some mission descriptions to include the target system name in the action summary for easier comparison
- Fixed a bug allowing some ship combat Talents to purge debuffs incorrectly
- Fixed name mismatches in ship component hovers during combat

Update #191 comes with a focused set of changes around recruiting new crew and officers from Contacts and the spice hall. In preparation for future changes to the level cap and to help balance out the place for recruitment (best Attributes) vs. conscription (easier access, higher levels) we've made some major changes to the minimum recruitment levels. We're also continuing to grind down on community requests for improvements -- tweaking the Jyeeta balance, story issues and more.

If you're enjoying the pace of updates, we've got a lot more coming so be sure to leave a review!


Before Update #191, Contacts could give a base recruitment level of 8 as their maximum. Augmented by Rumors, Traits, and your Permits, Ranks or Edicts it was possible to achieve a maximum of level 18, though that was definitely unlikely. In the Spice Hall, with a base of 1, you it was feasible to get up to level 8 recruits. As captains progressed in the mid-game, replacing losses above these levels became more and more challenging which pushes conscription from enemy ships forward as the only way to get a crew member above level 20 immediately, even if that means bad Traits and lower Attributes often.

Update #191 takes a big step to resolve that by granting an Era-driven bonus to the base recruitment level. Early Era's like the Second Founding and the Third Century add a +1 level bonus, while other more impactful Eras like Brood, Plague and Early United Coalition all add +2 bonuses. In total, as the Era's come and go, the base recruitment level in both the Spice Hall and with Contacts increases by +10 levels, setting the basic recruitment level in the Spice Hall at 11 and the top recruitment from Contacts at 18. With the additional (harder to get) bonuses from Rumors, Traits, Rank, Permit and Edicts, Contacts can now recruit out level 28 crew.

We're excited about this change and want to thank community members like @daveal and many others for helping us get here! As always, please send the feedback :D


With this update, we've made a number of important tweaks to the latest Era, Brood. We've resolved an issue with the Jyeeta Artifacts never having the correct demand in different zones. You'll now find they can sell for even better prices! We've fixed a way that you could short-circuit the challenging "Hulking Carrier" mission and skip right to the end. We've resolved some bugs with Brood story objectives that stuck around even when they should have disappeared. And finally, we've made some balance changes to the Terrox Horrorcaster weapon and the distribution of both types of xeno ships to ensure you see a wider and more fun variety but also that the challenge ramps up appropriately.

We've also clarified the Talent description for the Navigator's "Skip Off the Void". Where it previously stated that the Talent would "burn" a certain amount of fuel, it now clearly states "requires". If you're running low on Fuel, you'll find this Talent can't be used, so be sure to make shorter runs between zones in high danger areas. This is not a change to rules -- just a clarified description.


As we have moved into the v3 family of the Star Traders: Frontiers roadmap, we're excited to share our upcoming next game. In Cyber Knights, you are the razor-sharp leader of a covert merc company operating in the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human drama story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world.

Coming to KickStarter in Feb 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.


- Rebalanced Recruit Levels, base recruiting level increases with each major Era
- Maximum Contact Recruit level is now 28 (with Rep, Eras, Traits, Rank, Permit, Edict, Rumors)
- Clarified Navigator "Skip Off the Void" fuel requirement in talent description
- Rebalanced Terrox Horrorcaster Weapon Damage
- Rebalanced Jyeeta and Terrox ship distribution
- Fixed demand and pricing for artifacts collected during the Brood Era
- Fixed issue with "Hulking Carrier" mission allowing you to skip to the end
- Fixed hanging story objectives when Brood Era ends
- Fixed inconsistency in Agility Engine stat tooltip
- Fixed mission typos or missing values in descriptions

We're kicking open the doors for the Black Friday sales with 35% off Star Traders: Frontiers! And, to help celebrate we're including Update #190 for free. To be clear, all 189 updates before this one have also been free ... heck of a deal! With Update #190, we've added a new ship, an entire new class of hyperwarp drives, a pile of new crew barks and have kept hammering through community feedback on all the little quality of life things. Thanks again to the thriving community for posting so many ideas and suggestions and for leaving reviews!

So, tell a friend -- its the biggest discount of the year! Save 35% all weekend.


The great trade networks of Moklumnue demand powerful ships to transport cargo but also to protect those valiant traders. The latest Moklumnue-only faction ship, the Azure Defender, is just that. Weighing in at a mid-range 6000 Mass, the Azure Defender boasts a well-balanced set of component slots with 12 small, 7 medium and 4 large. While having a lower base armor and base shield but high base fuel, it can also house the largest set of officers for a 6000 Mass ship -- a total of 7 command positions over 36 standard crew.

The base model comes equipped with a Traveler Void Engine, Combat Hyperwarp Drive, Shielded Officer Suites, two Defense Matrix 4 and an array of long range weaponry. It's a powerful ship ev
en as it lifts off from the starport for its first flight.


With Update #190, we've added a new class of hyperwarp drives -- the Warhammers. FItted for all Mass classes of ship, the different versions of the Warhammer drives can service on Mass 2400 all the way up to Mass 9000. Warhammer hyperwarp drives provide the highest possible ship skill pools -- boasting high Pilot, Electronics and the very best in class Navigation, as well as including Shielding and Armor. However, the trade offs are in price and jump cost. Those ships building with Warhammers are not made for long distance travel, seeing almost double the jump cost of standard drives.

We've also changed the availability of Combat Hyperwarp drives to ensure they are a little more challenging to find to fit their value.


With Update #190, we've included new barks suggested by the community and some additional barks from our team to further characterize the Flashbacks, Deathwish, Drive and Bandit Traits. We're always working to improve the variety of barks and to make them more context-aware and this set is especially fun.

For those crew members who have been through some hard times and come out for the worse or more hardened, they'll have some new things to say.


With every release, we're sourcing input from the community in form of suggestions or bug reports and trying to improve the game from every little angle. We've fixed the minimum requirements for C-Tak and Railtrak 3 and 4 ship components. We've fixed a longstanding bug with certain UCF Contacts simply "disappearing". It is possible that some captains will suddenly see a chunk of new UCF contacts across different worlds appear.

We've improved the scoring for the "Rare Discovery" card -- if the Rare Good ends up being Artifacts, then it is properly counted toward your artifact discovery score. Finally, we've fixed the log message for Conflicts ended by stories like the Faen-Char Duel of Assassins and put in a potential fix for the inability to click the sell button on some Windows configurations with full screen.


While we still have a lot of work to finish out the Star Traders: Frontiers development roadmap, we're excited to be coming out of the pre-production phase on our next game and ready to share. In Cyber Knights, you are the razor-sharp leader of a covert merc company operating in the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world.

Coming to KickStarter in Feb 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.


- Added new ship: Azure Defender (Clan Moklumnue)
- Added 6 new ship components, the mighty Warhammer Hyperwarp Drive (M2400 up to M9000)
- Fixed too common availability of Combat Hyperwarp Drives
- Added new crew barks for Flashbacks, Deathwish, Driven and Bandit
- Fixed bug with "disappearing" Contacts or Introductions that led to no Contact, usually a UCF Contact
- Fixed minimum Military requirements for C-Tak and Railtrak 3 and 4
- Fixed event log but with any Conflict ended by the start of Faen-Char Duel of Assassins
- If "Rare Discovery" card turns up Terrox Artifacts when picking a Rare Trade Good, properly scored as discovering artifacts
- Fixed issue with inability to click on "Sell" button in Exchange while in fullscreen on some machine configurations (workaround, alt-tab)

Update #189 continues to deliver on the enemy making full use of craft squadrons. With this update, enemy carriers -- including the dreaded jyeeta -- will now launch fully operational boarding shuttles! In addition, we've added a new Contact Trait, fixed some final bugs with the Jyeeta and xeno-related Talents, rebalanced a bunch of ship components and fixed a missing--but very important--clause about how the Swordsman's Sharp Counter and Wing Commando's Whirling Blade work.

Up next, we're working on a string of new vignette storylines -- thanks KickStarter backers :D

If you're enjoying the updates and free expansion packs, be sure to leave a review and tell a friend.


While the enemy captains have been launching craft from their bays since the drop of the BROOD expansion pack, it is finally time for them to launch boarding shuttles as well. We've tiered these releases to be sure that captains have time to adjust to the new content and meta requirements. Shuttles -- especially those from jyeeta -- are going to make things a little more challenging! Be sure to keep your own boarding defense party ready and well-equipped in case some pirates or xeno kick open an airlock!


Both Swordsman "Sharp Counter" and Wing Commando "Whirling Blade" Talent lost a critical part of their descriptions a few updates ago. Both of these attacks leave a lasting buff that enables the character to counter-attack against any enemy in the front two ranks who tries to attack them -- hit or miss. It's a key part of why these Talents are so valuable and now its back in their description!


With this update, we're following up on community suggestions and bug reports about components, Talents and lots of things! We've fixed the bug with Explorer "Artifact Profiteer" that prevented it from working with Jyeeta artifacts. We've fixed Hull Plating 4 which had the wrong stats, as well as rebalanced Defense Pattern Matrix 1 versus rank 2.

We made some fixes to the Contact discount % display -- they had become mismatched with the last update for some service types. We've also resolved an icon mismatch for the Commander Talent "Inspiring Squadron" and tightened up the rules about changing ships in dry dock.


While we still have a lot of work to finish out the Star Traders: Frontiers development roadmap, we're excited to be coming out of the pre-production phase on our next game and ready to share. In Cyber Knights, you are the razor-sharp leader of a covert merc company operating in the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world.

Coming to KickStarter in Feb 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.


- Enemy ships, including Jyeeta Xeno, will now use boarding shuttles effectively to board at range
- Added new Contact Trait "Legacy Seeker" for those obsessed with pre-Exodus finds, recruits Explorer
- Explorer Talent "Artifact Profiteer" now correctly fires when selling Jyeeta Artifacts for bonus profit
- Fixed missing description in Wing Commando Talent "Whirling Blade" and Swordsman "Sharp Counter" that allows counter-attacks while its buff is active!
- Rebalanced Defense Pattern Matrix 1 vs 2
- Fixed issue with "Witness Protection" mission allowing it to be completed out of order
- Fixed bonuses of Hull Plating 4 (now Void/Rad res instead of Boarding bonuses)
- Fixed all Contact Discount services to match display and reduction %s
- Fixed icon for Commander Talent "Inspiring Squadron"
- Fixed some edge case bugs with Dry Dock ship swapping

While we released 3 sizeable patches in the wake of Update #187, our first big update following the BROOD milestone is #188, Gundecks Roar. In this update, we've made some more important improvements to the new Brood era, improved the warning you get before encounter jyeeta, added a rank 15 Gundeck Boss Talent, improved autocannons against craft, and added 5 new craft defense and attack related components, and as always, more too. Check the full release notes for everything!

If you're enjoying the pace of updates and the new major expansion pack, please sure to leave a review and tell a friend.


With Update #188 we've addressed the two biggest pieces of feedback from the player-base for Brood -- the jyeeta carriers are a surprise and you needed more time to defeat the era. For the first, we've now added a discussion between your officers and the captain about the known aspects of jyeeta that make them so challenging as soon as the era starts -- consider it a better pre-warning. Second, if you're getting involved in the jyeeta era, following the story and knocking down the brood score, you are constantly extended the timeline you have to defeat the era. The more you're involved, the more time you get. For those who want the era to end as quickly as possible so you can get back to peaceful trading, don't get involved!

We've also added a correct story mission objective to help you find the Brood quadrant as soon as it starts. Or, you can always check the Rumors screen to see the current Era and plot a waypoint.


The Gundeck Boss has gained a new rank 15 Talent to help eviscerate incoming craft with a +50% Damage bonus only to craft and a +10% craft hit chance. While it needs to be paired with other craft accuracy components or Talents, the massive Damage bonus can let you really light up incoming bombers and interdictors!

In addition, we've modified Autocannon rules to ensure that if you are fighting at close range with an enemy they will fire at craft on either side of the screen -- either those that have closed on your ship or those sticking close to the enemy ship, where before they only fired on those that have closed. This gives your ACs an entire additional turn to fire at craft if you can close on the enemy carrier, increasing the value of the strategy of getting close. Of course, watch out because the enemy ACs have the same rules now too.

Quick note on the enemy -- the AI controlling craft is now smarter about launching craft and will avoid launching too many defensive interdictors once you are inside of torpedo and missile range.


Five new ship components have been added with this update, all enabling more focused anti-craft ship builds. The Railtrak Guidance Matrix 3 and 4 are going to further improve your ability to take out enemy craft before they reach you. You can only pick up the RTGM 4 at a Steel Song starport though.

The C-Tak Interceptor System 3 and 4 give the reverse, increasing your defenses and ability to avoid incoming craft and bombing runs. The CTIS 4 is only available at Zenrin starports though.

Finally, we've added a Thulun-only Reactive Hangar Bay which is a way to gain additional % chance to dodge craft attacks. This modified hangar has defensive systems for the ship while still housing a craft. However, you'll have to trade the Armor or Shield or your Reinforced or Shielded Hangar Bays for it.

Finally, with Update #188 we've made some needed balance changes to defensive and offensive components in regards to +Initiative buffs. Defense Pattern Matrix ranks 1 through 3 have had their +Initiative bonus removed. They are still amazing even without it. Defense Pattern Matrix 4 retains an Initiative bonus, but it has been lowered to a +1. Finally, we've added +Initiative bonuses to aggressive Targeting Matrix components ranks 2 to 4. As bonus Initiative determines who fires first and therefore who gets Crippling Effects or knocks out enemy components, we're going to ensure these types of bonuses are found mostly on offensive ship components in future additions and balance updates.


Ships are expensive and the discounts against them can really add up quickly. For a long time, Contacts and Talents could each provide a 15% discount. With this update, we've finally reduced that discount to 10% for either. While this hurts, it is a needed balance for the price of ships, resale rules, and to help ensure the differentiation between hull prices is enough.


While we still have a lot of work to finish out the Star Traders: Frontiers development roadmap, we're excited to be coming out of the pre-production phase on our next game and ready to share. In Cyber Knights, you are the razor-sharp leader of a covert merc company operating in the New Boston Zone in 2231. Built around a core of turn-based gameplay featuring stealth, hacking, ambushes, firefights and complex missions, Cyber Knights weaves the human story of your team, their loyalty and their sacrifice in a dehumanizing cyberpunk world.

Coming to KickStarter in Feb 2020, sign up to get the call and alerted about free first day rewards, discounts and more! We're gathering the most crackpot amazing alpha team ever and we hope you'll join us.


- Participating in the Jyeeta Brood Era extends the storyline timer, giving more time to succeed
- Added mission objective to make it easier to find the Jyeeta Brood Quadrant
- Added officer warning about the dangers of fighting jyeeta carriers and strategies you might consider
- Added rank 15 Gundeck Boss Talent "Take Down" grants +50% damage to craft and +10% to hit craft
- Autocannons firing at range 1 or 2 will now fire on craft near their own capital ship if no enemy craft have closed yet
- Improved AI intelligence about launching interdictors when they cannot intercept torps or missiles
- Added Railtrak Guidance Matrix 3 and 4, grade 4 is Steel Song only
- Added C-Tak Interceptor System 3 and 4, grade 4 is Zenrin-only
- Added Thulun-only "Reactive Hangar Bay" giving some ship defense against craft while docking a craft
- Removed +Initiative bonus from Defense Pattern Matrix 2-3, reduced DPM 4 +Init bonus, added +Init bonuses to Targeting Matrix 2-4
- Reduce cool down on Gundeck Boss Talent "Dead Eye" and Explorer "Tag the Beast" to ever 3 weeks
- Reduced maximum price reduction for Contact's "New Ship" discount to 10%, maximum Talent discount to 10%
- Increased some ship prices purchased at the starport
- Improved limit on appearance of Jyeeta Brood Era to make sure it cannot show up unfairly early
- Fixed miscounted cargo in the "Stockpiled for Riches" mission involving weapons stashes
- Fixed hovers with some Jyeeta rumors missing description