Welcome back to the update train with Update #326! We had to take a break recently (reasons explained below) from updates but we're excited to get back to the priority list for Star Traders: Frontiers. We've still got some exciting things in store, so let's get busy --
If you're enjoying the game and the updates, please leave a review and share the game with a friend!
Our new game has started Early Access!
Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, just launched into Steam Early Access! Featuring in-depth character builds, turn-based stealth & combat, and an all-new story engine that selects storylines and weaves different members of your squad and contacts into them based on how you’ve played.
The ultra-rare Relic Deathward will not be an easy find. Salvaging medical wrecks, exploring the most dangerous and desolate places, you might come across this ancient and forgotten tech. But taking it in hand, you'll gain +30 Bleed Res (goodbye Bleeds!) and a near unimaginable +24 Resilience.
Mutiny Improvements
After the good changes in Update #325 that fixed how Captain's Talents were selected during a Mutiny (they can now be used even if Captain is low Morale) we've returned to Mutiny again to do further improvements and house-cleaning.
Any crew member who has the "Loyal" or "Revere's Authority" Trait will also correctly offer their Talents during a Mutiny, even if their Morale is below the line. This matches the rule exception for the Captain and further helps those stalwart supporters in your crew make a difference at this critical time.
To help stave off the repeat Mutiny issue, a new offer of "Large Pay Raise" has been added which can trade even more promise of future credits in for +50 Morale instead of the normal +20. While more expensive, this option is one that will put the Mutiny to bed for a while and can be really helpful in open space, or if there are no ports of good harbor and high Spice nearby to help you improve your Morale in other ways.
Cutting against you, we now consider the levels of the mutinous crew when determining how much damage they could cause if they are met in battle. The damage numbers goes up if you allow higher level crew to reach a point of Mutiny (which, to be clear, is very rare).
Boarding is no longer "No Action
We fixed a bug that was popping a confirmation when you attempted to board and do nothing else during a ship combat turn. Apologies about that, boarders!
v3.3.61 - 11/3/2023
- New Ultra-rare Gear: Relic Deathward - Improved Mutiny results display for Bribes and Payments - Added new additional "Large Pay Raise" option to grant +50 Morale instead of the normal +20 - Now "Loyal" and "Reverse Authority" Crew will now even offer Mutiny Talents, even if morale too low - Talents that prevent Morale loss now work to player's benefit during Mutiny - While rare, Mutiny with high level Crew is now more dangerous (higher damage numbers) - Fixed SFX for Rank 15 Combat Medic Talent: Flechette Rounds - Fixed issue where confirmation dialog for no action would appear in ship combat even if boarding
Our new game has LAUNCHED!
Captains, you've seen it in the Star Traders updates for a long time now, and it's finally arrived! Cyber Knights: Flashpoint - our squad tactics heist RPG - launched on Steam today! 🎉🎉🎉 It's our first 3D game and a big step up for our studio; we'd love for you to check it out.
Like Star Traders: Frontiers, Cyber Knights is an in-depth RPG with a ton of replayability, endless character build possibilities, and a contact system that expands even further on the traits, reputation, and living web of influence and relationships that you can impact.
Come take a look and see if Cyber Knights' smart turn-based tactics, heist strategy layer, and unique 23rd-century cyberpunk looks fun to you. If it's not your style of game, no worries, even just spreading the word about it helps support us and the possibilities for Star Traders' future.
We're looking forward to a great Early Access where player ideas and feedback shape the game every bit as much as they did Star Traders. And don't worry, we might be fully-focused on Cyber Knights' launch right now, but we'll be back with more for Star Traders: Frontiers too.
You've lived long sailing the stars with us. Now come live fast and die young running these cyberpunk streets.
It's Update #325 for Star Traders: Frontiers with some new QoL features requested by the community! This week, we've added new quick randomization options to new game to help you find your perfect Captain persona, added a confirmation button to ending the turn without any action in Ship Combat, saved Mutinied captains from themselves and fixed a number of hot-topic reported bugs.
If you like the pace of updates, please take a minute to leave a review, share the game or just post some feedback! Feedback goes straight into updates :D
New Game Randomize
With Update #325, you can now rapidly randomize your Captain's name and appearance. The randomization will keep to regular outfits (without mix-and-match legs and torso) and currently does not add any accessories. Personally, I'm loving this new addition as a way to find a cool looking and sounding new captain with some speed clicking.
Let us know how it works for you! Should we add it to the main roster as well?
Skipped Turn Confirmation
In ship combat, if you happen to hit End Turn without putting in any orders -- no Talents used, no weapons fired, no craft launched and no move orders issued -- you'll get a once per combat confirmation dialog to ensure you really want to skip out. If you do choose to continue anyway, we'll leave you alone and not ask again. If you want to correct a mistake, then the confirmation will reappear if the mistake is made again.
Thanks to the community for always pressing us to improve the game!
Captain Mutiny Talents
There was a bug with Captain Mutiny Talents that was counting Captains out of using their own Talents to quell mutinies if their Morale was very low. That is a lot less fun for Pirate captains and the like! This is now resolved and your Captain will always be able to use their anti-Mutiny Talents regardless of their low Morale. A captain never joins against themselves in a Mutiny ... and if they do, they've got bigger problems.
Nine Blade Cut Debuff
There was an issue where Nine Blade Cut's debuff was getting cleared by Talents that remove Buffs. This is now resolved.
We also fixed a bug with Disarming Sabotage not finding weapons in some cases.
v3.3.59 - 8/27/2023
- Added button to randomize captain name in new game - Added button to randomize captain outfit in new game - Added confirmation dialog if you take now action (talent, weapons, craft, move order) in ship combat (confirm only once) - Fixed bug that would prevent a low Morale Captain from using Talents during Mutiny - Fixed bug allowing Nine Blade Cut debuff from being removed from enemy - Fixed issue with Disarming Sabotage always reporting that there are no enemy weapons
Update #324: Orbital Disaster Strikes!
It's Update #324! Not quite an orbital disaster but it sounds pretty cool. We've got some awesome improvements, tuning and fixes in this update as well as a reminder about the 5 year anniversary stream too. So -- if you like the pace of updates, please tell a friend, post some feedback and be sure to leave a review!
5 Year Celebration Reminder!
Time flies like a starship, Captains. This month we're celebrating 5 years of Star Traders: Frontiers!
Mark your calendars for TONIGHT, August 10th, 9pm EDT. We'll be live on Twitch with the Trese Brothers (including a special appearance from youngest brother Martin!) for a community hang-out and celebration stream on Twitch: https://twitch.tv/TreseBrothers
What’s the latest on Cyber Knights?
Throughout the last year, we’ve been running Cyber Knights: Flashpoint’s private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same tried-and-true process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. Now, with a live demo up on the Steam page, we're cranking up to finishing pace and we’re marching toward the Q4 launch pad to release to Steam Early Access, 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/
Orbital Disaster
When different types of Salvage Rumors start on a system, the local Contacts can gain or lose Influence. Orbital Salvage Rumors that can cause Influence bonuses include those like Orbital Constructions, Abandoned Military Station and others. We have now pushed Orbital Disaster Salvage Rumor correctly into the camp that harm local Contact Influence - a good change to help keep the simulation fair and clear, especially as this is a Rumor that can be bought by aggressive Contacts on their action.
Early UCF Rumors Peace
We have added a rule change to the simulation to further improve the dynamics of the interstellar Rumors during the Early Coalition Era when Contacts attempt to create damaging Rumors. In the simulation in general -- when taking their action, Contacts can attempt to purchase damaging Rumors against other Contacts they hate (example -- Aetaan Char is in the simulation attempting to Civil Unrest the Faen homeworld due to her extreme hatred).
During the Early Coalition Era, there is now a voting mechanism where other Contacts may deny the Rumor action after it has already been paid for. This results in the Rumor not being created and the aggressive Contact losing the Influence they put on the table for the action in the first place. This helps create a relative but fragile time of peace during the Early Coalition Era.
Gear Buffs
Two sets of combat gear -- the Paladin's Chain and Watchdog Whisper -- both have gained buffs to their stats to help push them more into the forefront of their respective categories. In addition, we've added to the respective Attribute bonuses for the Wing gear GAATSO Interlink and Vrax Harness, as it always helps for your Wing pilots to have slightly sharper Attributes along with their Wing-focused traits, gear and Talents.
More Xeno Protections
We're on a bit of a rip making sure xeno don't slaughter early game captains unfairly. We've added another round of protections to prevent xeno rumors from being generated in certain ways that were letting them slip past the existing filter. Even less xeno Rumors should escape the lab in the early game but they are really hard to keep locked up -- so you might still see some!
Other Fixes
We've adjusted the weighting in enemy captain ship designer to reduce the likelihood of Caliga Vindex and Shizari Huntress ships appearing as they were both a little overweight for fairness and pushing other ships into the margins.
Finally, thanks for reporting bugs, typos and all the rest!
v3.3.55 - 8/9/2023
- Orbital Disaster rumors now damage Contact Influence rather than increase it - Contact AI purchasing Rumors during UCF Era revised to use simulated votes (hurts aggressive Contacts) - Buffed Paladin's Chain and Watchdog Whisper (Crew combat gear) - Buffed Attribute bonuses for GAATSO Interlink and Vrax Harness (Fighter Pilot gear) - Reduced chances of Xeno Rumors occurring early in the game - Reduced rate of enemy Caliga Vindex and Shizari Huntress spawning - Minor performance support patches, fixed reported crash & text bugs
The new Endless Adventures bundle features ST:F + two other great RPGs!
In the now 5 years 🎉 since Star Traders: Frontiers' release, we've heard from so many of you that ours is a game you enjoy coming back to time and time again, creating new captains, outfitting entirely different ships, trying playthroughs with new goals or creative challenges. To this day we continue to update the game with new content, and opened up a new frontier of possibilities for player-created content with modding support added last year.
Wildermyth is another highly-replayable game we've admired since its release for its innovative procedural generation storytelling system, storybook-come-to-life style, and character legacies. Our shared tabletop RPG inspirations couldn't be more clear, and their many clever systems for creating unique characters and stories on every playthrough are very well executed.
Vagrus: The Riven Realms is another game we've been impressed by; this time for the sheer amount of hand-crafted content in its vast, dark-fantasy setting. Star Traders players will find lots of similarities in Vagrus' caravan premise, from the many options for who you recruit to travel alongside you, to the total freedom you have in how you choose to make your way in its detailed world.
If you're a bargain-hunter, you should know:
With this bundle, you'll only pay for the games you don't already own.
The bundle discount stacks with individual game sale discounts, so you'll often be able to find this bundle at a great price.
Hope you'll enjoy checking out these award-winning RPGs! Please spread the word: if you're a player who loves getting lost in a game — vast worlds, extensive character build variety, tons of ways to play — these three RPGs are for you.
We're celebrating 5 years of Frontiers! 🎉 Join us for a community hang-out?
Time flies like a starship, Captains. This month we're celebrating 5 years of Star Traders: Frontiers!
Mark your calendars for August 10th, 9pm EDT. We'll be live on Twitch with the Trese Brothers (including a special appearance from youngest brother Martin!) for a community hang-out and celebration stream on Twitch: https://twitch.tv/TreseBrothers
This year, we want to hear about (and see screenshots of!) your favorite captain and your greatest achievement in game with them! A legendary set of salvage gear? A stash of horded Vudka the size of a small moon? A black market trade route that puts the Kessel Run to shame?
Whatever your best achievement may be, share your captain screenshots and stories in the Trese Brothers Discord #stf_5_year_celebration channel by August 8th for a chance to be featured in a special way in the 5-year anniversary celebrations.
Thank you all for the fun, the support, the reviews, the memes and the memories. I know we're talking a lot about our next game these days, but we're looking forward to the new possibilities it will bring for Star Traders as well. And with all the new players that keep coming to Star Traders: Frontiers, it's still got more life (and updates!) ahead.
Join us on the 10th for a fun celebration!
Update #323: Ripples of Trade Instability
Welcome all new captains to the latest Star Traders: Frontiers update. With some fixes to the newly added Talents, new sources of Era-driven Rumors, a rebalance for early game Explorers and a platform-specific fix that brings music and SFX back to mac OS, it's big #323.
A huge thanks goes out to everyone leaving a review, posting feedback and sharing the game with friends!
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/
New Rumor Sources
Rumors filter into the simulation by the actions of Contacts, thrown off from Conflicts and Eras, and even caused by the ripple of other Rumors ending. With Update #323, we've adjusted these Rumors flows during 3 Eras of the game to further push certain types of Rumors that fit the Era's storyline and feeling. For early traders and merchants, in the moment of prosperity that is the start of 212 AE, new Surplus Rumors have been seeded into the game. During the founding of the UCF, intergalactic instability and worry causes a flush of new Shortage Rumors to appear and finally, during the 3rd Century as military power continues to build up without an outlet, more and more Mercenary Rumors are occurring.
Early Game Explorers
Reports trickle back slow to the spice hall, stories of warning, danger and death. New Explorers who have sometimes never set foot on a wilderness touch down and take their away team out, searching for riches and ancient sites. Some never return, ripped apart by Terrox or Shalun help them, Jyeeta.
We've made some adjustments to help balance the life of new game Explorers a bit. There are no xeno lurking in the Exchange or the shipping lanes in the first few years of the game, so Explorers -- who could draw multiple xeno cards in a single hand !! -- we're facing an unfair uphill battle at the start of their career. We've now limited Xeno cards from appearing in early game Exploration to avoid this unfair disadvantage to their career.
Talent Fixes
Both of the Swordsman Talents released in last week's update regrettably had issues and could cause crashes when used in crew combat. With this update, we've redone their testing and fixed the Talents to work as well in production as they did during development! En garde, let's fight!
v3.3.53 - 8/2/2023
- Balance Change: Xeno Cards No Longer Appear in early Turn Explorer Hands - Early game now contains more Surplus Rumors - UCF Founding now triggers widespread shortages during trade disruptions - Increased the number of Mercenary rumors that are created for 3rd Century - Fixed issues with Secrets of Steel - Fixed issues with Nine Bladed Cut - Fixed crashes and freezes in Crew Combat - Card title formatting adjustments in Salvage - Fixed missing music and SFX for Mac OS
Update #322: Steel of Nine Blades
Update #322 continues the push to fill out the high level Talents for crew combatants, bringing 2 new Talents to Swordsman and adjusting the AI talent selections based on all the new adds, fixing Bodyguard selections and making xeno even more dangerous in their Talent picks. We've also added a bit more balance to the latest Soldier Talent additional, Still Standing, and fixed issues with the AI ship builder that could result in enemy ships have the wrong Hyperwarp Drive occasionally.
A huge thanks to everyone posting feedback, sharing the game and leaving a review!
Stealth Fest Demo!
Calling all ninjas, shadows, and ghosts in the machine -- Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is waiting to see just how stealthy you can be in our freshly-updated free demo for Steam Stealth Fest this week. The first rule should probably be, "Don't talk about Stealth Fest", so just roll up your Vanguard, lock-and-load your shock mines and power up your Chameleon suit - it's time to kill quietly, move as a shadow, become one with the patrol routes. Blades and silent pistols are your weapons, speed and silence your friends.
We're excited to share this demo that takes you to the very start of your Cyber Knight's career: the night of your cyber surgery. In the underworld of New Boston, nothing goes down easy and everyone has an agenda. Can you keep your head up in these dangerous waters? https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/
Swordsman Coming Around!
Each major crew combat class with missing rank 15 Talents is getting its day - and now it's time for Swordsman to get the treatment. With Update #322, the Swordsman has gained a new rank 11 and new rank 15 Talent to complement their already powerful set.
The new rank 11 Talent, Secrets of Steel is a companion to the venerable Strength of Steel and not related to our other games at all. Secrets of Steel can help a Swordsman who has been knocked back - or retreated of their own will - rapidly recover and get back into the fight and offers some powerful synergy for blade wielders who are willing to exercise additional mobility or fight with an offhand pistol.
Nine Blade Cut is a powerful stunning attack targeted at the front row which can be especially useful if any ranged weapon fighters are brought into the front, as it will further dent their accuracy. Combining Stun with an immediate Initiative penalty, Nine Blade Cut is a great way to slow down and trip enemy combatants and may be - for some strategies - especially useful against xeno.
High-Level Talent Rebalance
As we add a number of new high level crew combat Talents to the game, rebalances are sure to be required. With this update, we've reduced the duration of the Soldier's Still Standing Talent by 1 Turn.
AI Talent Selection
With this update, we've completed another review of the AI Talent selection logic across different enemy types and jobs. We found some issues where enemy Bodyguards would incorrectly purchase Talents from any other job, often beyond the rules of multi-jobbing.
Second, we've updated the logic for how enemy xeno pick their Talents to make them more synergistic as a group. We're sorry in advance. Be sure to buff your armor, sharpen your blades and prepare for the worst if you're high level and tangling with Terrox or Jyeeta.
Underwhelming HW Drives
We fixed an issue for some AI ships which were built with incorrectly sized Hyperwarp drives. Unable to actually send the mass of the ship through a Hyperwarp gate, these could become quite the burden to a captain who captured them with Prize Ship and require a significant retrofit before they could really become useful.
v3.3.51 - 7/26/2023
- New Rank 11 Swordsman Talent: Secrets of Steel - New Rank 15 Swordsman Talent: Nine Bladed Cut - Reduced 'Still Standing' Duration by 1 turn - Fixed issue with AI Bodyguards buying Talents from all Jobs - Improved Xeno Talent selection logic (sorry!) - Fixed issue that could cause seized AI ships to have undersized HW drives
Save 50% + Update #321: Engaging Fighters!
Update #321 continues the Summer Sale 50% savings and brings two new powerful rank 15 Talents to core jobs on your ship. Along with the recent Talent upgrades, we've upgraded the AI's weighting and decision tables when planning its own Talent strategy for ship captain and officers. We've also highlighted a few awesome mods from the workshop with Update #321 and fixed all reported typos and crashes.
A big thanks goes out to the community who helps us keep improving Star Traders: Frontiers. If you like the pace of free updates, be sure to drop 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/
New Rank 15 Talents
With Update #321, we've added to new rank 15 Talents to round out the Pilot and Soldier Jobs. The new Soldier rank 15 Talent "Still Standing" is a powerful turtle buff, capable of giving a Soldier a last-stand chance against deadly enemies. Granting massive defensive bonuses in trade for the majority of their Turn's Initiative, Last Standing can be used to make Soldier a defensive bulwark or to desperately try to hold until a Combat Medic can apply healing.
Pilot's rank 15 Talent "Engage Fighters" trades accuracy and Damage against capital ship in order to significantly buff both offensive and defensive capabilities against fighters. If you're facing an overwhelming Jyeeta swarm or just pesky boarding shuttles you can't allow to close, Engage Fighters may be able to give you a quick turn-around to gun down the incoming. Engage Fighters obviously works best when paired with weapons ready for the job, like Autocannons.
Updated Enemy Officer Talent Selection
As more and more Talents and strategies are added to the game the enemy ship and crew builder has a evolving task of trying to pick the best Talent set for its captain and officers. We've updated the rules and weights to pick Talents in order to take into account some of the new Talents as well as adjusting meta conditions. In addition to being more interested in picking up recently added Talents, the AI has 3 new options to try to for different Talent strategies which we believe can lead to more dynamic ship enemies - both in ship combat and if you attempt to board.
Workshop Highlight
We're always very pleased to see how the Steam Workshop -- which was a very late addition!! -- for Star Traders: Frontiers has continued to grow and how many players are using and trying out the variety of mods available. We wanted to take a minute in this Steam Summer Sale update to highlight a few!
The Spy Pack 1 features a bevy of new spy features -- a new spy focus ship, new faster engines, buffed Diplomats and Spies and most notably an all new Spy-focused storyline. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2578776840&searchtext=
If you're looking for more face variety, the Playable Contacts Head Pack brings 24 of the Contact heads into the game as playable heads, letting you pick from some of the coolest and favorite Contact heads for your captain, crew and officers. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2936075922&searchtext=
The most popular mod, @davea's No More Mass Reducers component adjusts how Mass is calculated in the game to remove it as a consideration when designing ships, as well as all titular Mass Reducer components from the starports. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2492139496
If you haven't checked out these or other cool workshop items, take a look!
v3.3.49 - 7/10/2023
- New Rank 15 Pilot Talent: Engage Fighters - New Rank 15 Soldier Talent: Still Standing - Improve Enemy Officer & Captain Talent Selection Logic - Fixed reports typos and crashes
Save 50% + Update #320: Medical Mastery
Update #320 comes along with the Steam Summer Sale and the best discount of the year. Save 50% to step onto the bridge of your own Star Trader's vessel and ply the void, to serve the factions, seek your fortune or plot your own course. With this latest update, we've added 2 new rank 15 Talents for the esteemed medical jobs - Combat Medic and Doctor. We've also tuned up the rule set around anti-weapon ship boarding Talents, fixed some bugs with character cosmetics and some issues that could occur in 2 of the 5 branches of the Pit Fighter V storyline.
If you're enjoying the updates, be sure to tell a friend and leave a review!
What’s the latest on Cyber Knights?
Throughout the last year, we’ve been running Cyber Knights: Flashpoint’s private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same tried-and-true process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. With a demo posted up for Steam Next Fest still freely available to play, development is continuing at a high pace and we are layering on polish as we marching to the launch pad to release to Steam Early Access, 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/
Rank 15 Medical Professions
Improved Anti-Weapon Boarding
We've improved the rules for boarding victory Talents that specifically target and disable enemy ship weapons. If these Talents are unable to target at least one weapon to destroy -- usually because the ship's weapons are already offline -- then they will refuse to active, won't go on cooldown and will not consume one of your 2 boarding talent slots.
Pit Fighter V Storyline Fix
Thanks to everyone reporting errant issues within the game's many storylines. With this Update, we've fixed a bug in one of the five possible branches you can hit in the Pit Fighter V storyline -- all depending on who hates you the most -- which could lead to early expiration of the rest of the missions. If it was Char's agents, then you might end up in a horrible unfair rush to reach the fourth and final round.
In a follow-up to last update's new character outfits, we've fixed some issues with hats and helmets not interacting with other choices correctly.
v3.3.47 - 7/2/2023
- New Rank 15 Doctor Talent: Medical Reset - New Rank 15 Combat Medic Talent: Flechette Rounds - Fixed issue with "Disarming Sabotage" and "Behind Enemy Lines" firing without functioning enemy weapons to target - Fixed issues with most recently added flight helmet and full helmet - Fixed bug in Pit Fighter V storyline if attacked by Char's agents, could expire too early
