Stemming from an excellent conversation on the Steam forums, Update #298 adds 4 new starting Contacts to help balance out the mix of starting Contact recruits and services. With these 4 new starting options, we've also addressed a number of requests and bugs posted by the community in the last week -- all rolling up into an exciting new release.
A huge thanks goes out to everyone posting on the Steam forums, sharing the game and leaving reviews. Your time and effort helps us keep developing and improving Star Traders: Frontiers as we near an exciting Update #300.
Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?
We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, we’re telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/
4 New Starting Contacts
Four new unlockable Contacts have been added with Update #298, adding more options for key servicesl like Combat Armor and filling in missing melee recruit options. If you dislike playing with unlocks, keep in mind that you can just play the modded version without any mods and skip unlocks altogether.
The Palace Guard (unlocked by Wraithful Corsair) is charged with defending palace visitors, royals and diplomats and can recruit Bodyguards, offer Introductions and has connections both for Edicts and Military Rank.
Cruising the underground with a pack of ruffians and an eager blade, the Smuggler Rover (unlocked by Salvage Contractor) is likely to rob those they don't respect. If you can earn their respect, they recruit Blade Dancers, offer the Black Market, sell Rare Trade Goods, and have some connections above-the-shadows that allow them to offer low level Permits.
Trained at the academy and hardened in fleet service, the Naval Doctor (unlocked by Pit Fighter V) has returned from their tour of duty and now works within the grav military. They can recruit Combat Medics, SellsArmor, Buy Intel and offer Military Rank as well. The Retired Blademaster (unlocked by Master Adventurer) was once a deadly duelist or a revered Blade Dancer. Now, retired to their residence or school, eager fighters come to train at their feet or to hear the tales of their warrior days. The Retired Blademaster can recruit Swordsman, Sell Weapons and has their ear to th ground for Recruit Rumors.
Quality Updates
With Update #298, we've also ensured completed a few more tasks for the community:
Hitting ESC and then clicking to go to the Main Menu always works, it only worked sometimes before
The Hunna and Templar factions are always visible in the faction list
The new Caliga Vindex (if you buy a new one!) has a better setup with the correct number of officer cabins.
Fixed position of engine burner for some ships during Hyperwarp jumps -- we appreciate the reports!
v3.2.47 - 6/21/2022
- Added 4 new unlockable Starting Contacts - Palace Guard (unlock Wraithful Corsair) recruits Bodyguards, offers Introductions, Discounts Fuel, Rank, Edict - Smuggler Rover (unlock Salvage Contractor) recruits Blade Dancers, Black Market, Rare Trade Goods, Permit - Naval Doctor (unlock Pit Fighter V) recruits Combat Medics, Sells Armor, Buys Intel, Rank - Retired Blademaster (unlock Master Adventurer) recruits Swordsman, Sells Weapons, Recruit Rumors - Hunna and Templar factions are now always shown in faction list - Fixed issue with ESC > Quit to Main Menu not working in ship or crew combat sometimes - Repositioned engine burners for some ships, including Longbolt, during Hyperwarp jumps - Fixed too many Officer Cabins on Caliga Vindex
Update #297: Shards of Kraesline
Update #297 breaks out an all new Rare Trade Good, an all new 2400 Mass class ship with 6 officer slots and the long-requested option to gain more Hunna Contacts. Along with some key rebalances to improve Orbital Salvage, this one is full of exciting adds for your captain. Sell some Shards, buy a new ship, join the Hunna? Thanks to everyone posting feedback here on Steam and helping us continue to develop and improve this game.
Keep this game growing!
After four years of updates, Star Traders has received a lot of love, long past release. To keep it going, Andrew & I rely on two things: reviews for this game, and wishlists for our next! Reviews for Star Traders keep the game visible on Steam, please write a few words for us if you have a minute.
Meanwhile, wishlists for our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG help us plan for the studio’s future (which includes future Star Traders games 😉). If turn-based squad tactics, creative stealth & hacking, and a unique 23rd-century dark future world sound like your thing, add to your wishlist today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/
Steel Song Caliga: 6 Officers at 2400M
The Caliga Vindex is built for Steel Song bounty hunters and clan assassins -- and rumored to have been designed in the first place for use by Faug Daen operatives. Architected for boarding, the Caliga has light weapons, solid defense and extreme speed. Appointments for six private cabins make it very attractive to Captains who prize officer space over all else. Coming in at a cool $1.8M, this is a small fast, ship that is touchy to configure by standout for its officer capacity.
New Rare Trade Good: Shards
This update has added a new Rare Trade Good, the Kraesline Shards. Know to be highly unstable and dangerous to transport, these goods can only be sold at Orbital Stations or Tradeways. However, they are in high demand to be used in new and developing industrial processes to refine both spice and duranium and are know to boost both the quality and profits of such processes.
Kraesline Shards are rare, expensive and highly illegal. In addition to their high profit margins, they an above average impact on a Contacts' Influence when they are sold.
Outside of purchasing Kraesline Shards from a Contact, this RTG can also be found in stashes recovered while Salvaging.
Kraesline Shards will only appear as Rare Trade Goods for a specific quadrant in newly generated maps. However, they will appear in recovered stashes from Salvage in any game regardless of when it was started.
Hunna Contacts!
While a little late for the Hunna Snakes challenge (if you haven't given it a try, its a ton of fun and never too late to join in!), we've updated all cards that can create Contacts during Salvage to have a chance to also reveal or create Hunna Contacts as well as making these cards overall more likely to appear.
Salvage Cards
With Update #297, we've increased the XP rewards from XP cards drawn during Salvage if you are crazy enough to salvage while under an Ion Storm or Radiation Storm Rumor. Also, in the cases when Jyeeta Debris Field cards can appear -- during the Jyeeta Era, during certain Rumor events, and afterwards -- we've increased the chance that these cards will appear to ensure their threatening presence is properly felt.
v3.2.45 - 6/15/2022
- Added all new Rare Trade Good: Kraesline Shards - Added 'Kraesline Shards' to loot tables for recovered stashes - Maps generated may now contain Quadrants that supply Kraesline Shards - New Ship: Caliga Vindex (Steel Song, 2400M Officer-Focused Space Yacht) - Salvage Cards that create Contacts can now create Hunna Contacts - Greatly increased spawn rate for 'Contact Rescue' Salvage Card - Increased XP bonus Cards for Salvaging during Radiation Storms - Increased spawn rate on 'Jyeeta Debris Field' Salvage Card
Update #296: Interdiction Scourge
You can hear the Interdictor engines screaming as they whip out of the launch day -- one, two, three rushing headlong into the void, rushing to meet the incoming torpedoes and bomber wings. Update #296 dives back into the high-adrenaline life of a defensive Wing Leader and helps buff up their ability to stop incoming Bombers from reaching the capital ship. Also, with this update, we've rebalanced and tweaked how all anti-Radiation and Ion Storm Talents work (better!) so check that out as well. A huge thanks to everyone posting feedback, the great discussions about balance.
If you are enjoying the on-going updates, be sure to tell a friend and leave a review.
Want more Trese Brothers sci-fi?
We always love seeing how many of you have pieced together the lore of Star Traders from the stories within, and enjoy the flavor of this universe your Captain is a part of. In our next game, we’re telling a very different sci-fi story but with the same depth we bring to all our worlds. Check out the dark-future feel of our upcoming cyberpunk heist RPG, and wishlist it today! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/
Defensive Interdictors
With Update #296, we've integrated some great feedback from the community (thanks @Innocent!) to help improve the balance in favor of defensive Interdictors having a better shot at really stopping enemy bombers from reaching your ship, even as they shoot down incoming capital ship long-range fire.
First, defensive Interdictor Initiative has been adjusted to always trump that of Bombers. Therefore, defensive Interdictors always get an attack against an incoming Bomber before it can complete its bombing run, removing the chance that the Bomber wallops your capital ship and then your Interdictor shoots it down.
Second, we've fixed a long-standing issue (which also could cause a crash at times) where the Wing Tech "Knock from the Void" Talent could conflict with an Interdictor's targeting choice and cause the Interdictor to miss its turn because its target was Knocked. Interdictors are now coordinating with your ship's Wing Tech to make their choices around this and will never waste a turn, assuming there is another Bomber target. If a target is Knocked from the Void, then it is not subject to any attacks for the turn (that has always been the rule).
Anti-Radiation and Ion Storm Talents
Navigators, Mechanics, Engineers and Scientists all provide Talents to help shield your ship and crew from Radiation Storms (quadrant) and Ion Storm (system) Rumors. With this update, the balance on these Talents has adjusted a bit, as some can provide additional XP or even create Scientific Intel. All of the Talents now shield your ship and crew from the ravages of the storm while still capable of granting additional bonuses (the XP boosters / Intel creators used to not shield you...). In addition, while you have the Talents on cooldown, these have gone from a partial shielding (reducing damage) to a full shield (no damage). So, stocking up on a few crew members with these capabilities is even more helpful now for your ship than before.
To offset this balance shift, we've adjusted the cooldown on these Talents by a small amount -- +1 week for the regular shields and +3 to +4 weeks for the ones that pack extra bonuses.
Additional Fixes
With #296, we've also fixed a search string issue with searching contacts (you could search "sells weapon" but needed to search "buy Intel") and updated the hover text to be clear -- buys / sells is correct in all searches.
We've fixed a visual display issue in upgrading components where the bonuses from your components stacked every time you opened the screen (+4% ... then +8% ... then ...) -- now the values stay correct in the display all the time.
Finally, thanks for the report on the broken hat -- the character's hair no longer sticks out through hats :D Derp!
v3.2.43 - 6/1/2022
- Defensive Interdictors always trump attacking Bombers Initiative - Knock from the Void Talent no longer crosses badly with defensive Interdictors and prevents bombing attacks - Improved effect of all anti-Radiation and Ion Storm Talents; when available they completely mitigate damage - Extended cooldowns of all anti-Radiation and Ion Storm Talents 10-30 Turns - Fixed issues with Scientist "Amplified Assay" and "Distortion Field Survey" not triggering for Ion Storms or Rad Storms - Fixed search string for contact to use buys/sells (Buys Intel, Sells Weaponry) instead of buy/sells - Fixed crash with small craft combat and Knock from the Void or Emergency Grounding - Fixed issue with ship bonus displays doubling and tripling upon multiple opens of upgrade components - Fixed issue with hair clipping around hat
Update #295: Navigating the Void
Update #295 focuses solely on UI improvements around a big part of any Star Traders job -- plotting routes through the void, from one quadrant to the next, sometimes running missions, sometimes seeking grav services and sometimes hunting deals on cargo.
These improvements all stem directly from requests here on the Steam boards, so thank you for posting them. Also, a big thanks goes out to everyone helping us share the game, leave a review or tell a friend.
The Hunna Snakes Rule! challenge is in mid swing this month, so if you're looking for a new way to play and experience the void, this is a great way to test your limits -- https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/335620/view/3225150323270014742
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 2022 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?snr=1_2108_9__2107
Galactic Map Hovers
We've added 2 major improvements to the hovers over quadrants on the galactic map.
The first is to display a list of all Contacts who reside in that quadrant and are known by name, where previously we gave a simple count. This can help you look for specific contacts by name or by type as you plan your way across the stars.
Second -- specifically for mission runners -- we've added some very important details about offered and accepted missions. Again, where previously there was simply a count ("3 offered missions") we are now showing the mission title and the Contact who gave or is offering the mission. Now, when previewing missions from your Contact mission screen, you can make sense of the larger spread of missions and make better choices, faster.
Search Examples and Boolean Logic (AND, OR)
To help more players find and use search effectively, we've added a set of hovers over the Contact and Star Atlas search boxes. These give a pretty awesome set of examples you are not going to want to miss. With the right search terms, you can find what you're looking for faster with just search over filters but the two combine nicely.
In addition to combining with filters, you can now use up to 2 search phrases combined with either OR or AND logic. Search likes "edicts AND trade permits", "sells water pur AND sells advanced med" come into play and make looking for higher value combinations much easier and faster.
As always, we love working directly off some of the best feedback on the Steam forums. We're grinding through a cycle of QoL and UI improvements before diving back into a summer of story content, so post up your good ideas now :D
v3.2.41 - 5/15/2022
- Quadrant hover in galactic map now lists accepted and offered mission title and contact - Quadrant hover in galactic map now lists known Contact by title and name - Contact / System Atlas / Map Preview search now support use of one OR and AND per search (spy recruits AND edicts) - Contact / System Atlas / Map Preview search boxes now have hovers with useful examples included
Hunna Snakes Rule! May Community Challenge
It’s been a while, but we are back with a new challenge for the month of May 2022!
Star Traders are independent and don’t need the establishment to be successful. In this challenge, we want to see you reject those faction phonies. You play by your own rules, and if they don't like it: tough. Who will acquire success without ever being part of "the system" -- and who isn’t afraid to make some enemies along the way?
To qualify for this challenge, your Captain must never acquire a military rank, edict, or even a trade permit with any faction. Your Captain must also never accept missions from any Contact representing "the man" -- Princes, Warrant Officers, Military Officers -- Only those who flaunt those rules are worth are consideration. No missions from ANY Contact unless:
they also offer Black Market access
are Hunna / Independents
are Calagan Faen or Valencia, up to the point Valencia joins the Hunna
All other Contact services, such as selling Intel, recruiting and purchasing equipment are allowed with any Contact, regardless of their affliation.
Show and tell us about your fiercely independent captain and crew 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 with the Trese Brothers flashlight.
Show your indie stripes and boast about:
Your favorite Indie Planet, your ship, your Indie crew with screenshots
How you built your Indie crew, stories of missions from your favorite Indie/Hunna contact, and the challenges of working on the fringes
Your strategies to survive outside the system: making money, finding supplies, trading partners, upgrading/buying ships
Stats of your reputation with various factions, number of missions you complete
Your own creative edits / showcases / celebrations of your adventures
No matter what you share, we ask that you include at least one screenshot of your “Indie crew roster.” Show off your coolest officers and crew and their Indie flag!
Can’t wait to see ‘em Captains. Stick it to “the man!”
Update #294: Stellar Rogues
With Update #294, Star Traders: Frontiers joins the celebration of everything rogue-y on Steam with a 35% discount, improved carrier meta, better ship dry dock UI and improvements to the recently added auto battle option in crew combat. Thanks to everyone in the community for posting feedback and suggestions! Check out the full details below --
What’s the latest on Cyber Knights?
We're recently back from Cyber Knights: Flashpoint’s demo stint on the floor at PAX East where we joined the PAX Rising showcase, a group of 12 indie dev's hand picked by the Penny Arcade team. With that exciting show behind us, we're back to the private alpha test for our 1,000+ Kickstarter backers and back on the long march to release on Steam. So, cyberpunk heist RPG lovers -- 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/
Craft Meta Shift
With Update #294, we have removed the original (and confusing) rule that Skill points from Wing Jobs that involved getting into a craft -- such as Wing Leader, Bomber, Commado and Saboteur -- did not count toward the Skill pools to operate and run your capital ship. While this had some merit in the game's meta and balance, it is overly complicated especially in the case for Officers or Wing Bomber's Tactics Skill. With Update #294, we've removed the rule which is a net positive for carrier crew and craft -- the Skills of your craft pilots contribute to Ship pools like everyone else.
Better Dry Dock
When previewing a ship in Dry Dock or looking to install a new component within the ship starport, a ship now correctly displays its bonuses stack like +Accuracy %, +Escape Dice, etc. This is especially helpful when shopping for ships to get a clear idea of what types of bonuses are coming out of the gate with the hull and its default components.
We also fixed one reported crash while selling ships. Thanks to everyone reporting bugs!
Auto-Battle Fixes
A big thanks to everyone sharing feedback and posting bugs on the new Auto-Battle feature. We've now resolved the one class of bug that was reported -- that various movement Talents could feasibly move your own squad into the enemy ranks and just .... mess *everything* up! With this fix in #294, everything is looking clean for Auto-Battle to ride into the sunset and slay endless enemy combat crews!
Hideout Clarification
We've provided a much needed clarification to the Smuggler's "Hideout" Talent with this update -- specifically that this Talent only protects mission packages, prisoners and passengers and not regular cargo from search and seizure. Based on the discussion around this clarification, we've started looking into how we could add some of the other possibility -- hidden smuggler compartments -- that would actually hide illegal *cargo* from search and seizure. We'd love to hear you thoughts on this one!
v3.2.39 - 5/2/2022
- Boost for Carrier-meta: all Wing Jobs (Leader, Bomber, Commando, Saboteur, Tech) now contribute their skill pools normally to ship - Ship Upgrade and Ship Dry Dock now correctly lists bonuses like +Accuracy and +Escape - Fixed Auto-Battle issue with Talents moving your team forward or backward would push them into enemy lines - Clarified description of Smuggler's "Hideout" Talent to be clear -- only protects mission items - Fixed bugs with some modal dialogs crashing on double click - Fixes issues with crash reporting
Trese Brothers at PAX East 2022!
Hey Captains, we're back at PAX this year!
Our upcoming game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint was selected for the PAX Rising Showcase, a group of 12 indie games hand-picked by the PAX team for a spot in the Expo Hall.
Even if you're not going to PAX, this means more in store for you, including a new studio chat in Discord next week (Star Traders questions always welcome!), and a giveaway of one of these awesome Cyber Knights posters:
You'll find us 10am-6pm in the PAX Rising section of the Expo Hall, booth #13091.
We'll have:
a playable Cyber Knights demo level, with three different versions of the Vanguard for you to choose from
at least two more chances to win a Cyber Knights poster
a unique photo opportunity
a ton of excitement to chat with anyone who's already a Trese Brothers fan!
Hope to see you there! Have a great weekend!
Update #293: Rapid Takedown
Update #293 follows on after Update #300 (what madness is this, it's April Fools!) with a major quality of life upgrade for combat captains, a powerful balance improvement for mission runners, new content for the crew barks system and fixes for Blade Dancer and the Templar storyline. We're hard at work again, knocking off the major quality of life and rebalance requests from the community. If you are enjoying the improvements, please take a moment to leave a review, post some feedback or share our game with a friend.
What’s the latest on Cyber Knights?
Earlier this year, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint’s private alpha test went live for our Kickstarter backers, following the same tried-and-true process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. With a thousand players in the game now, development pace has picked up and we’re on the long march to release on Steam, so 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/
Auto-Battle!
When it comes time for the rapid takedown, we've made a lot of improvements over the last year to help combat captains play faster. An upgraded suite of keyboard shortcuts and the high speed combat option to skip animation and SFX have both helped. But compared to the newest Auto Battle option, these previous improvements are tepid spice beer compared to a heaping spice plate.
Auto Battle --
Uses the same AI controlling the enemy to control your team
Uses all your Talents, healing and attacks automatically
Resolves combats very quickly, especially when combined with Fast Combat option
Can win easily if you are in a commanding position -- if you outclass the enemy or you've already cleared half the enemy team, Auto Battle will help you mop up. If the enemy is a lineup of E-Techs and Navigators, Auto Battle can give you that rapid takedown experience.
Should be used carefully in evenly matched combats where every decision counts. In closely balanced battles, Auto Battle will duke it out but will not be able to use your team's combat builds as optimally as you could.
Can be quickly turned off - click the toggle to get control again
Will never Surrender and always fight to the death
Is not responsible for deaths to your team members -- Use at your own risk!
Starts disabled with each new combat. To a void mistakes where Auto Battle runs the first few (woops!) turns of a xeno combat, it always starts disabled
Auto Battle always starts disabled and as soon as you engage it your team will take care of the rest. We recommend trying out Auto Battle option in a few safe situations -- when the enemy is down to 2 crew, when the enemy is far lower level than you, when your fighting mostly enemy ship crew boarding -- to see how it feels with your combat crew. The Auto Battle AI uses basically the same AI as the enemy, so it may not be able to use your combat crews optimally, may not buff in the order you like or may heal less than you'd chose to -- etc.
We're excited to hear your feedback -- especially from boarding-heavy captains -- to see how this helps and what we could do to further tune the Auto Battle AI.
Red Badge Priority Drop
With Update #293, Reputation mitigation Talents like the Diplomat's "Adept Mediation" or Spy's "Stealth Op" will activate before the Bounty Hunter's more generalist "Red Badge". This is a boon to captains who specialize in these skill-focused Talents, enabling you to save your Red Badge for a later mission step that might not have Stealth or Negotiation options.
The Bounty Hunter bearing an Edict has always been able to use Red Badge to reduce Reputation loss on any type of mission step in urban zones (not Exploring). Historically, it always went first. Many captains found this to be a disadvantage to the newer Rep mitigation Talents and we've finally caught up with the change that activates Red Badge always as a last resort.
Clarified Ritualized Retreat
We have fixed the description of the Blade Dancer's "Ritualized Retreat" Talent to be much clearer about what Black Market cards it can protect against -- that is, only cards that include "Cargo Lost" in their title specifically. It does not protect against encountering hostile security squads.
New Barks -- Thanks Twitch!
In a recent Twitch stream on our Twitch channel, Cory hung out and chatted and gathered awesome suggestions from the community to improve and add to the already huge set of barks in the game. Another 20 entries were added for specific Traits.
v3.2.37 - Rapid Takedowns
- Enabled hotkey and button to toggle auto-combat in Crew Combat (AI will resolve for you) - Added button to toggle fast combat in crew combat - Added 20 new barks for crew Traits - Adjusted order of Mission Rep Loss mitigation Talents -- Blood Badge will run AFTER other specific Skill (Stealth, etc) Talents - Corrected description of Blade Dancer's "Ritualized Retreat" Talent to only cover Cargo Lost cards - Fixed bug allowing reclaiming (and then using) Templar gear
Update #3OO: Best Face Forward
One of the things we’ve always been quietly proud of in Star Traders is the wide variety of faces available within the game.
But even before we added official modding support to the game, some of the first unofficial mods were graphics replacements players created to further customize the game’s character art or add in their own faces & clothes. Now with fully-supported Steam Workshop modding available, it’s even easier, more reliable, and we’ve seen some modders getting pretty creative with it.
So creative… we may have gotten a little jealous. Seeing modders getting a chance to put a whole new spin on the game, from tributes to other franchises to rebalances that create new playstyle opportunities… not to mention all the straight-up improvements some modders are claiming… “Improved Ship Combat Icons,” “Sound FX Overhaul,” “Larger Cargo Holds” …this is what comes from creating a Captain simulator, everyone thinks they can run the ship better. ;)
So, we dug deep into our graveyard of code fragments, searching for a half-finished time-travel wormhole we’d written off all the way back in Early Access as too dangerous to complete, and let our wounded pride throw caution to the solar winds. Why a time travel wormhole, you might ask? Because how else in the midst of Cyber Knights development, spring travel, and 😱 tax season were we going to find the time for this: a full faces revamp featuring entirely new*, 100% original** crew art now available to you within the game.
We asked Andrew to art better this time, and boy did he! While the original faces were a collaboration between Andrew as Creative Director and our professional art team partners, the revamped crew faces are a fully in-house effort only "lightly" inspired from their original work, and we think you’re going to love the results.
Each face features:
20-50% more pixels
fine-tuned adjustments to key facial features
bold new interpretations of classic sci-fi tropes
exciting speculative guesses at alternate evolutionary possibilities
increased immersion through stronger representation of the effects of centuries of drinking the water-fuel
Okay, so you’ve hopefully figured it out by now, but if not: April fool’s! This is not a real game update.
…
…
…
…
BUT IT IS A REAL GAME MOD! 😮😁😮😁😮😁
If you want to, you can actually play with these ludicrous, outlandish, unexplainable, sometimes unfortunate faces, by playing the mod version of the game and adding our new mod, Star Derps. All 100+ of the crew faces have been replaced with new versions. Try it out, you might even find a few you’d like to grab from the modded spritesheet and add into a less outrageous mod of your own.
For-real props to all our modders, who have created some truly fun stuff for the game. Check out the other mods now available for Star Traders and leave some comments to encourage them to make more, and dive into the Making Mods section of the wiki to learn how to make your own.
Update #292: Market Conditions & Stand With Us In Support of Ukraine
Update #292 was born directly from a lively and productive conversation here on the Steam boards about the System Atlas and its display of accurate or inaccurate trading conditions. To make it look good, we also dressed Update #292 in a new helmet and awesome translucent visor to boot. While we were in there, we added some clarifications to the in-game text about the thresholds at which tradaing into certain rumors -- Trade Blockade and Embargo -- can yield Reputation bonuses.
Help Us Support Ukraine
My brother Cory and I have worked closely with amazing partners in Ukraine to dream, design and create the art for our next game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint over the past 3 years. Over the years, our partnership has grown to friendship as we spent countless hours working with these wonderful and talented people.
The entire Trese Brothers team is worried for our friends, their children, their families and their country. They need our prayers, our monetary support and our voices raised in solidarity. Their country and millions of refugees are in desperate need of food, water, shelter and medical supplies. We hope you will join us in giving to some organizations trying to ease the suffering in Ukraine.
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 2022 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. The private alpha is in full swing with over a 1,000 players, so get your cyber ready. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210?snr=1_2108_9__2107
System Atlas Gets Lively
The accuracy of the System Atlas buy and sell information has long been a point of discussion but some recent community discussions finally bumped this up the list in priority. With Update #292, we've honored your local knowledge of an economic situation by persisting the accurate buy and sell information into the system atlas for half a year (21 weeks) after you've visited a zone.
This addresses a number of situations and assists greatly with short cycle trading where you are bouncing between nearby systems and shuttling goods.
One previously example of a case is land on a Population world and then selling them a haul of 50 Basic Medicine. The cargo is sold and then you return to space and fly back to the Industrial zone where you had picked up the Meds previously. Now, from the Industrial zone, a mere 5 days later, you have no ability to check if the Population zone still wants Basic Medicine. Or Water Purifiers -- did you already sell them some? Can't remember ...
Now the System Atlas remembers! If you have visited a zone within the last 21 weeks, the System Atlas will give accurate read out of the economic conditions there the last time you visited. This information is guaranteed to be accurate as conditions do change. However, the traders on your boat have logged the local data to the ship's data cores and you can review it at a distance.
You'll see demand and supply values adjusted correctly whenever you visit the System Atlas. If there is a type of good that is usually in demand or supply but is not currently due to the economic conditions (you sold them enough Basic Medicines, current demand has dried up) then the cargo type will be marked with a gray NA and the hover will indicate its status of currently not being bought or sold.
Finally, a notification has been added above the Buy/Sells area that indicates if you are looking at economic estimates based on the zone type or if you are looking at accurate data from the ship's data cores.
This is a big boon for traders executing shorter trading trips and triangles and greatly reduces the need to check and double-check economic conditions before leaving port. May your trades glitter!
New Visor and Helmet
Update #292 adds a new translucent visor, interjecting display over reality to help combatants and ship crew alike do their daily tasks. Looking cool, looking blue. We've also added a new helmet, hitting the milestone of 15 total hat/helmet options. Perfect for some of the combat armors, this helmet is for battle-hardened combat crew or your wing pilots.
Trading Rumor Clarifications
With this update we have improved the data displayed in the Exchange if you are making a sale and the Trade Blockade or Embargo Rumors are active. The messages there now include the specific threshold of sale value (for example, $1,500 for Embargo) before any Reputation bonuses can be gained. Small sales will not move the Rep needle, which is now nicely messaged in game.
v3.2.35 - 3/23/2022
- Added new helmet and new pair of translucent eyewear for characters - If zone has been visited within 1/2 a year, Star Atlas supply / demand data is accurate - Star Atlas supply / demand data will include cargo types that are not being bought or sold due to lack of supply / demand - Clarified rules for Rep bonuses when trading under Rumors "Trade Blockade" and "Embargo" in game
