Star Traders: Frontiers News

It's the second week of Steam Summer sale and our 4th big update so far! With Update #162, you're still saving 33% and you get even more content, outfits, a new Pirate Talent, major Stash feature improvements suggested by the community and more! We'll dive into all the specifics below, section by section.

If you're enjoying the pace of updates and new content, please leave a review. Great to see some of our 600+ hour players coming out to drop reviews on the game! Thank you :D

If you've ever been looking for an interesting and peace-focused merchant / high cargo ship build, look no further than the screenshot above shared by @JimmysTheBestCop. Amazing capacity, amazing fuel efficiency, but no weapons and weak Ship Skill Pools. This one needs factions to be friendly and some powerful Encounter Talents.


With Update #162 we've added another matching outfit. Your Military Officers and Commanders never had it so good, now featuring an outfit specifically baked just for them. If you are a Captain, Officer or just a pretentious crew member, you can now wear your full regalia and remind everyone else that you serve a faction military. Or not. Either way -- you're going to do it in style.

A huge thanks to all of our Patreons who have helped suggest outfits that are appearing in this second wave.


If you've got *a lot* of things in stashes buried all across the galaxy than this update is for you. First up, we've now denoted the rows that are the headers for individual stashes by coloring them differently, making it a quick visual scan to see the different stashes. Second, we've included Quadrant name in the stash header row, making is easy to see which Stashes are in the same Quadrant, helping you plan a pickup run if you're sweeping through to collect and sell.

Third, we've added a Dump feature for stash items. You can dump an entire entry in a stash or even just a few units -- all from across the galaxy. By erasing these entries from your data records, you remove the Stashed cargo from your list. Got 32 units of Biomass that are 17 jumps away? Dump it!

Finally, we fixed a routing bug that was occurring when looking at Stashes on the galaxy map. If you're routing to stashes from this map, the waypoints will now update correctly.


The Pirate Job has gained a new rank 11 Talent, "Looter's Intuition" that affects all encounters with Merchants while blockading. While hunting the richest targets, a Pirate's nose for loot can now help pick out the merchants who are most heavily loaded with cargo. There are no clear visual signs, perhaps the slightest traces on the arc scanner reverb -- but none the less, a real Pirate just nose. Knows? Nose.

Any Merchant who is encountered with this Talent firing is going to have a packed cargo hold, often with extra valuable goods. Just one more way to reap the benefits of blockading.

We've also fixed a bug with the "Signature Jammer" type Talents -- they were not appearing in the ship encounter log if they reduced Rep loss to just -1. We've clarified their description as well to be clear that they have cannot reduce Rep loss below -1 and we've also clarified all Doctor Saving Talents which had some confusing words in their description before.

Thanks to everyone for playing, sharing and gifting the game. Also, for reviewing! Enjoy the new content!


- Added new matching character outfits -- military officer or top brass commander
- Added new rank 11 Pirate Talent "Looter's Instinct" which causes any Merchant encountered during Blockade to have bonus cargo
- Stash List now includes Quadrant name for each stash grouping for easier visual parsing
- Added feature to "Dump" cargo from Stashes at a distance, allowing the complete removal of Stashes without visiting them
- Improved color coding of rows in Stash list to make it clearer which are the Stash headers and which are Stashed cargo
- Fixed issue causing galactic map to route oddly when navigating to a stash
- Fixed bug that was preventing "Signature Jammer" Talents from appear after ship encounter if the Rep loss was exactly -1
- Clarified description of "Signature Jammer" Talents to be clear that they reduce Rep loss to a minimum of -1
- Clarified description of medical Talents that prevent Doctor Skill failures and Life Savers

Welcome to the first weekend of the Steam Summer Sale and another big update for Star Traders: Frontiers. Update #162 is built around the arrival of the 7th new story in the 2.5.x roadmap family -- the first vignette to result in unique story ship components becoming available based on your actions. We've also made shipping xeno artifacts a little more dangerous, improved the fuel bar in the HUD, helped the AI pick weapons to cover ranges more intelligently, and upgraded all the ship comparisons to fully take difficulty into account. And more -- so be sure to check the full release notes.

Thanks to everyone leaving a review -- it's been bonkers, so thank you!


We won't go into spoilers about the new storyline vignette that has been added, other than to say that it starts on Rychart worlds only after the Early Coalition Era has ended. In this messy weave of galactic espionage, there are opportunities to unlock new and unique ship components that otherwise are unavailable. Your captain's actions can help change the technology of the galaxy in this new vignette.

The Contact's name is Cassie Cain and we'd like to send out a huge thanks to the KickStarter backer who helped us develop her character and her storyline!

This storyline will eventually appear in any game, regardless of how far along your captain is -- no need to restart!


Carrying Terrox Artifacts just got a bit more dangerous. While no one knows why, warnings have always been whispered that smuggler's carrying troves of artifacts are the most likely to be attacked by the Terrox. Perhaps someday, humanity will better understand the Terrox to know how it is possible, but for now, know this -- every Terrox Artifact in your cargo hold gives a very fractional increase to the percentage chance of encounter a xeno in the void. It's small, but carrying a hundred Artifacts results in a few important percentage points bump!


Based on some great player feedback, we've added a third field to the fuel bar text in the HUD. It now includes the exact amount of fuel, along with the fuel range in AU and the AU to the destination. While the exact amount of Water-Fuel is implied by the existing numbers (if and only if you know your ship's fuel-to-AU ratio), it is a big help to see the actual changes to your fuel gauge. It helps to impress upon a captain the differences between ships, large and small as well as between efficient and guzzling Void Engines.


We've improved the ship comparison run down in a ship encounter and the tooltip during combat to include the Ship Combat Boost from your Difficulty setting. This was mistakenly not taken into account before, and it is a very important factor. Mostly, this was leading to enemy captains on lower difficulties looking overly powerful for what they really were, while captains on higher difficulties might look underpowered. The comparison report is even more accurate now!


- Added new story vignette "Goltha Theory" starting on Rychart worlds after the end of the Early Coalition Era -- thanks KickStarter backers!
- Get tangled up in galactic espionage in the "Goltha Theory" story arc
- Multiple possible unique story Ship Components unlocked by story -- best new spying equipment available
- Story includes new high powered Contact type, so called "Retired Diplomat"
- Improved Fuel Bar in the HUD to include exact quantity of Water-Fuel in the tanks as well as AU range and AU to destination
- Carrying Terrox Artifacts in your cargo hold while traveling increases chance of encountering xeno ship
- Improved critical hit target group in ship combat to include Launch Bays (along with Bridge, Engine, etc)
- Refined ability for enemy AI to pick ship weapons that cover a wider band of ranges
- Improved ship comparison logic in tooltip and ship encounter screen to take Ship Combat Boost from Difficulty properly into account
- Fixed a bug that could prevent the second of two orbital ops missions from appearing over the same system
- Fixed issue where hovering over an event for a Skill test or a Saving Talent could be misleading about Saving Talents ready at time of test

We've pushed a quick patch this afternoon that adds a new QoL feature based on player feedback, fixes a crash in crew combat and fixes a number of other small display bugs that have been coming up.

With this quick patch (too small to get an Update #), we've added a "Claim All" button to the Stash screen. Explorers rejoice! One click to quickly load up the cargo hold.

We've fixed some issues with the tooltip math in ship combat, fixed the display of the -25% Armor Piercing on the new Shrapnel Shell Talent as well as a crash that could sometimes happen when it was used. We've tightened rules in crew combat to ensure you don't get Blade Skill for defense if you aren't carrying a blade. We've fixed a counting bug in the Talent Manifest that was always reporting that you had only 1/1 Port Maintenance or Skip Off the Void Talents. We've improved the title of the option to toggle between "Right Click to Navigate" and "Right Click to Set Waypoint".

That's all for this quick patch. Be sure to tell a friend and share the game while its on sale for Summer Sale. Save 33% today, Captain.

v2.5.55 -
- Added "Claim All" capability from a Stash -- load everything that fits into the cargo hold in a single click
- Fixed issue in tooltip during ship combat that was showing Tactics dice even if Gunnery is understaffed -- if Gunnery is understaffed, no Tactics on attack
- Fixed missing "-25% Armor Piercing" from Shrapnel Shell's Talent, fixed bugs when using Talent
- Improved rules in crew combat -- if you are not holding a melee weapon you do not gain Blades Skill as defensive dice
- Fixed bug in Talent Manifest that could incorrectly report 1/1 Talents in a group when you had more, such as "Repair on Landing"
- Improved options menu to be more clear about option's use "click to navigate" or "click to set waypoint"
- Fixed bug with stash and cargo screen loop

The summer heat is on and with it come the big sales! You can save 33% on Star Traders: Frontiers all through the Steam Summer Sale. If you've waited out the first 160 updates now might just be the time to get in on this wild ride across the galaxy at the best discount yet. Or, if you're already running a ship, gift a copy to a friend!

Update #161 brings all sorts of new to the game -- two new character outfits, new art for different types of hexshell and LMGs, a new rank 11 Soldier Talent to target lightly armored enemies, new improvements to the Star Atlas based directly on player suggestions, the final piece of the AI puzzle to prepare for carriers and much more. Read the entire release notes below for all the details!


The new paramilitary uniform is a matching uniform that gives the feeling of a light and mobile soldier or perhaps a wing pilot with military training. We're loving the look of this outfit on fighters, wing pilots and even ship ops crew if they have that kind of attitude. It's always exciting to deliver another outfit to the game, with new options for how to style your crew and different jobs.

As shown in the dev roadmap, there are more coming. The roadmap includes our goal of doubling the outfit count and we are about 30% of the way there now with the additions since launch in August.


Based on feedback from a number of different players, we've made a set of improvements to the Buy and Sell lists within the Star Atlas to specifically help legal traders work more quickly.

First, we've alphabetized the list. This simple sort can help you find what you're looking for faster. Even better than that, we've tagged every item that is in your cargo hold with a blue highlight. Now with a glance, you can tell if you're carrying the goods that this zone wants to purchase. If you want to know exactly how many of that cargo type you are carrying, simply hover over the item -- you can now see the exact cargo count as well.

Finally, we've made the permit tagging more clear. We've ensured that cargo types requiring permits still show their demand type (A-, etc) as well as the permit. In the tooltip we've included the permit rank required specifically to provide every bit of needed intel possible.

Happy trading, merchants! Thanks to everyone for posting feedback. We hope you enjoy seeing it filter into the game over updates :D


Soldiers have gained a new rank 11 Talent with Update #161, thanks to @DrSpendLove for the great suggestion. Shrapnel Shell is a perfect attack Talent for a low armored enemy, adding Damage, Critical and Bleeding but also reducing your attack's Armor Piercing by 25%. Not the best against a heavily armored target where the extra damage is going to get soaked up, but very effective against lower armored targets. With a debuff to Parry along with the bleeding, anyone who survives the close-range blast can be mopped up by another team member.


These updates are always deep, so you'll want to check the full patch notes below for every little thing. We've improved the AI's ability to pick a better mix of crew with this update, which is the last foundation piece required to truly prepare them for staffing carriers.

We've also improved the "Deadly Encounter" card in Black Market to note th status of your Life Saver Talents. Also, Troy 'the Blade' Circin's famous Circin Cutter has had its stats bumped.


- Added new matching character outfits -- paramilitary soldier or wing pilot
- Added new art for lower level Hexshell Rifles and LMGs (Weapons Locker A0 through A3, level 4 from Contacts)
- Added new rank 11 Soldier Talent "Shrapnel Shell" causes deadly damage and bleeding but at significant reduction to Armor Piercing
- Star Atlas now highlights cargo types in the buy/sell list in blue if present in your cargo hold, tooltip lists exact amount
- Star Atlas now lists exact permit level required for cargo types in the buy/sell list in tooltip
- Star Atlas now lists resources available to buy/sell within a zone in alphabetical order for easy reading
- Improved AI's ability to pick ship crew effectively, final prep step for Carrier AIs
- Improved Black Market card "Deadly Encounter" to list the status of Talents that prevent death like "Life Saver"
- Improved stats on "Circin Cutter" blade
- Increased mission payment offers at the end of the "Call of the Strong" storyline
- Fixed incorrect Escape dice value shown in tooltip over ship in combat when at Range 1-3
- Fixed incorrect listing for award "Survivor III" which requires 50 crew battles

Welcome to Thursday! We've dropped another big one! Update #160 includes two new character outfits, 4 new Contact character faces, one new ship component, a wealth of improvements to existing smaller ship designs, tweaked boarding Talents and a host of storyline tweaks and fixes driven by the community. If you're enjoying the pace of updates, please take a moment to leave a review and tell a friend.

Let's get right into the details!


With Update #160, we've added another outfit option for your crew, designed specifically for your ship operational crew and your wing specialist pilots. This new green flightsuit design is great for those pilots cramming into bombers and interdictors and fits well for Mechanics, Elo-Techs and more. We've got a lot more additional outfits to add as we keep moving through the roadmap, but its great to see another option targeted at the non-fighting majority on board your ship.


With Update #160, we've also finalized 4 new Contact character faces that will go into rotation for new games and new Contacts in existing games. As always, they're channeling the outlandish and unique style of the faction gravs.


Based on some great community feedback (thanks @resistor) we've made a set of improvements to some of the small ship designs, including the Dart Liner, Volk Frigate and Allistar Liner. In general, we've replaced some non-essential components with those that help increase the Skill Pools for the ship, adding Nav Assist Modules or Sig Dampeners as possible. We've also varied the weapons build out on the Dart Liner to mount a second Light Railgun on the ship.

Outside of small ships, we've improved the balance of the Dragoon Cruiser to ensure it is competitive within its class. Coming out of the starport, it now boasts heavier Armor and Shield along with slightly increased base Fuel to match its built-in Warhammer class Void Engine.


Update #160 adds a new interesting option -- a 6 bunk small component "Compact Barracks". For creative ship designers, it could help decompose the needed bunks in a ship into different component slots, such as avoiding a large slot 42 bunk barracks and instead taking a medium 36 and a small slot 6. We'll leave the rest of the design crafting in your capable hands, but enjoy this one!

We also fixed a misleading message in the Starport if you tried to replace a barracks and had too many crew. It was suggesting you dismiss *way* too many people ha!


We've hammered through a batch of story bugs reported by the community. The Arbiter Estelle storyline will no longer end prematurely at 2 supporters. You can now turn in both De Rivesh legacy pieces even if you get them separately. Prince Damien Lumotte is specific about amount of Rep lost and gained. Some short story arcs will also cause less of a delay in other stories popping up which will help when players are seeking out specific, larger storylines like Call of the Strong, etc.


- Added new matching character outfits -- green pilot, wing pilot or mechanic jump suit
- Added art for 4 new Contact character faces
- Added new ship component "Compact Barracks" a small component that holds 6 crew
- Improved Dart Liner Ship, replacing one of the Armored Bulkheads 1 with Sig Dampener (more Nav and Elo pool), replaced 2nd Torp with a Railgun
- Improved Volk Frigate, replacing Reactor Spike Module with Nav Assist Module 1 (more Nav pool)
- Improved Allistar Liner, replacing Reactor Spike Module with Nav Assist Module 1 (more Nav pool), swapped Mass Dampener 1 for Mass Modulator 1 (more Pilot)
- Improved Dragoon Cruiser within its Mass class, gaining +1 base Armor, +1 base Shield and +10 base Fuel to match its start Warhammer Class Void Engine
- Improved failure message when attempting to remove a Barracks that will remove too many beds to house your full crew
- Fixed issue where Combat Medic's "Bio-Bomb" boarding Talent was damaging a component
- Cleaned up some issues in text of improved boarding Talents "Thrown Wrench" and "Disarming Sabotage"
- Fixed issue where Arbiter's storyline and "Coalition Founder" unlock fired too early (finishing 2 instead of 3 storylines)
- Fixed bugs with the "De Rivesh Legacy" storyline -- dialog inconsistencies as well as inability to turn in the second half of the findings for reward
- Fixed issues with famous Officer Elsa Nariman's homeworld being incorrect
- Improved storyline with Prince Damien Lumotte, dialog is now specific about all Rep gains and losses for your actions
- Improved the pacing between some of the storyline events to move on more quickly from smaller events to larger ones
- Fixed issues with text formatting in Dry Dock screen