Update #119: Scour the Wilds
Star Traders: Frontiers - Trese Brothers
Update #119 shifts the balance of Exploration by updating Exo-Scout Skills and adds more spice to an important Exo-Scout Talent. We're excited to see new Job combos and playstyles emerge as these new changes go into affect.
We've also streamlined the new game experience for our repeat players and made the first round of big tweaks to crew combat math, with every armor's Deflection % going up. More coming soon on this one.
Thanks to everyone supporting our efforts and for sharing or review the game!
Exo-Scout Rebuild
For a long time, discussions about the Exo-Scout as a combat class have been swirling around the Steam forums our Discord. With this update, we've finally put into place a series of changes that help re-balance the placement of the Exo-Scout and Explorer in the game. This an important set of changes but we know it shifts the balance tables a bit. Excited to hear your feedback!
First, Exo-Scouts have had their Skill progression rebuilt to focus on Rifles as their primary, Exploration as their secondary and now adding Evasion to the mix. This gives Exo-Scout some defensive abilities while maintaining their offensive advantages. Also, it shifts the balance of which Jobs have Explorer Skill so that Explorer is best, Exo-Scout is second.
For Talents, we've done two renames to kick things off. We have renamed Explorer "Artifact Hunter" to "Artifact Profiteer" and Exo-Scout "Resolute Hunter" to "Artifact Hunter". In addition, the (newly renamed) "Artifact Hunter" Talent has its cool down extended to 9 weeks as well as a Danger-based chance to draw a "Xeno Spore" card instead of a simple Artifact reward card. This will still net 8-16 Artifacts but comes along with a xeno fight as well. Higher Danger zones have a increased chance to draw this, but even in the worst possible scenario its still a low %. When your Exo-Scouts go seeking xeno artifacts ... expect to find xeno sometimes.
Skip Intro + New Game Remembers
New game has gotten smarter and snazzier with this release. First, we've added a new option -- Skip Intro. As a game that encourages replay, we know a lot of players make a lot of new captains. Skip Intro cuts the entire intro scene down to a single line of dialog -- a reminder about the Arbiter waiting -- so its a single click to get playing now.
In addition, New Games now remember your last choices for Difficulty, Faction and Skip Intro. If you've got a favorite setup, this will help streamline your process. Finally, we made some really helpful clarifications in the Custom Difficulty tooltips to be clear what the baselines were and what choices make certain aspects of the game harder or easier.
Improved Deflection %
With Update #119, we've started a process of shifting some of the balance again in crew combat. This time, we've pushed the Deflection % values for every armor higher. As this was an across the board increase, this change is really more about weapons. Now, weapons that have lower Piercing % are even less likely to punch through heavier armor while those with higher Piercing % really shine for that specific attribute. Especially when stacking with Buffs now, you can achieve a Deflection % that can be hard to take down, unless your enemy is wielding something heavy or a sniper rifle.
More tweaks and rebalances will be forthcoming as we push for the next level up on crew combat.
v2.4.37 - 12/5/2018
- Exo-Scout Skills rebuilt, now Rifles, Explorer, Evasion in priority order
- For clarity, Renamed Explorer "Artifact Hunter" to "Artifact Profiteer" and Exo-Scout "Resolute Hunter" to "Artifact Hunter"
- Exo-Scout "Artifact Hunter" now has a Danger-based chance to draw Artifact Guarded by Xeno card
- Exo-Scout "Artifact Hunter" cool down extended to 9 weeks
- Starting Faction and Difficulty choices are now remembered from the last New Game
- Added "Skip Intro" option to New Game for faster start, also remembered
- Increased Deflection % across the board on crew armor, making Piercing % more defining for weapons
- Increased Piercing % for all Grenade Attacks
- Fixed Wisdom Attribute display in Orbital Salvage Reward Factors
- Improved consistency of button style in crew detail / talents / jobs / promotion
- Clarified rules in Custom Difficulty tooltips
- Increased performance for new games and loading games
I agree, though I just did it in the patch right before this one so it ma not be that "fixed".
Update #127: Farthest Reaches
9 January - Trese Brothers
Let's keep the new year cheer rolling with another big update! With #127, we're rolling out the Alta Mesa faction-specific ship, 5 big new components, 3 new Traits, 6 new faction special rules, new art for character gear and more! Step onto the bridge, captain, and let's sail.
Alta Mesa's Reach Cruiser
An easy candidate for "most well-rounded 5K ship" the Reach Cruiser is a custom designed, heavily armored long-range cruiser build exclusively by the shipyards of Alta Mesa. Designed around an armored core of integrated Crew protection components, like the Alta Mesa Battle Bridge, the Reach Cruiser can protect a crew and soak up an incredible amount of punishment in battle and survive. Their reputation as the best shipwrights in the galaxy precede them, and the Reach Cruiser delivers!
Large-scale Components
Update #127 adds 4 new Large slot components and 1 Medium slot, beefing up the options available to any ship willing to trade its larger slot for additional cargo, fuel or armor. The Alta Mesa Battle Bridge (medium) is combat ready and heavily armored. Cadar's Battle Prow 5 (large) adds a ridiculous complement of Armor with a dash of Shield while Javat's Hull Plating puts Shield first and Armor second. Both large-scale components can provide a great deal of ship's needed defensive soak, at a trade for a good deal of jump cost in fuel. Thulun's new Armored Cargo Hold 4 (large) packs a 40 cargo hold and adds 65 Fuel while the De Valtos' Fuel-Cargo Hold puts more emphasis on 95 Fuel over 35 cargo.
All of these large slot components provide a great deal of utility and free up smaller slots for other work, but all require more than 600 mass and add to jump cost. Packing a few of these large cargo and fuel options onto a ship can extend its range immensely, enabling you to cross multiple hostile quadrants without a need for a refill.
Faction Special Rules
With Captain-only Traits now behind us, we're moving on to Faction specific rules. Update #127 has released the first wave of these new additions, showing the character and specializations of these factions.
With the latest medical tech available to all citizens, cost of healing at De Valtos clinics is reduced by 20%. Employing a unique blend of holistic medicine, spice products and medical tech, cost of healing at Zenrin clinics is reduced by 20%.
Plush with every comfort and type of spice, Rychart Spice Halls can raise crew Morale to 90 (instead of 80). If you're sailing the void past a Rychart world, the crew may clamor now for a quick stop to "top off" their Morale.
Combining sure proficiency with advanced tech, Thulun starports repair ship hull and component damage in 20% less time than elsewhere. Unrivaled expertise in ship construction eases upgrade cycles, Alta Mesa starports install new components in 15% less time than elsewhere.
Known to be both stubborn and of robust health, Zenrin Contacts live 30% longer than normal.
More Faction specific rules will be coming, so don't be salty if your faction was not included in this go round!
New Traits and Tweaking Captain Traits
With this release, we've added 3 new Traits suggested by @drspendlove from our awesome community: Hypochondriac, Fierce and Paranoid. You'll encounter new recruits who may have these Traits and will see them mutating onto your existing crew. Those with Hypochondriac cost twice as much to heal, Fierce characters gain +15% Piercing, +1 Strength and -1 Charisma while Paranoid characters gain +2 Initiative, but lose -2 Wisdom and all Morale gains are reduced by 50%. The Trait Conditioning of the Gestalt Technologists can remove Hypochondriac ... for a price.
We've also fixed two issues with the Captain-only Traits. In some cases, the Zealot's Single-Minded Trait was incorrectly stating that it increased Fortitude, which it does not. We've also fixed a bug with the Diplomat's Honorable Trait which was causing positive Reputation gains with the enemy faction during missions.
v2.4.59 - 1/9/2019
- New Faction-specific Ship: Reach Cruiser, a heavily armored long range cruiser
- New Ship Component: Battle Bridge (Alta Mesa)
- New Ship Component: Battle Prow 5 (Cadar)
- New Ship Component: Hull Plating 5 (Javat)
- New Ship Component: Armored Cargo Hold 4 (Thulun)
- New Ship Component: Fuel-Cargo Hold 4 (De Valtos)
- Rebalanced Vrax Hauler base hull stats
- Revenant Trait now grants immunity to a failed Death Save one time; then it is removed
- Added 3 new Traits: Hypochondriac (doubles price for healing), Fierce (-1 Charisma, +1 Strength, +15% Piercing), Paranoid (all Morale gains reduced by 50%, +2 Initiative, -2 Wisdom)
- Gestalt Technologist can use their trait conditioning service to remove Hypochondriac
- New Thulun Faction Bonus: Thulun starports repair ship hull and component damage in 25% less time than other starports
- New Alta Mesa Faction Bonus: Alta Mesa starports install new components in 15% less time than other starports
- New Zenrin Faction Bonus: Zenrin Contacts live 30% longer than normal
- New Rychart Faction Bonus: De Valtos Spice Halls can raise crew Morale to 90 instead of 80 at other spice halls
- New Zenrin and De Valtos Faction Bonuses: price of doctor services at Zenrin or De Valtos is 20% lower than other factions
- Added new art for character's gear
- Corrected description of Zealot's Single-Minded Trait (+2 Resilience, +2 Init, +10% All Dmg, Never Morale Breaks in Crew Combat)
- Fixed bug with Honorable Diplomat Trait causing positive Rep gain with enemy faction
- Fixed bug where Spicing from the Spice Hall detail screen did not take Turns
About time.
Update #133: Big Game Hunter
7 Feb @ 5:33am - Trese Brothers
The Void's most dangerous predator has arrived with Update #133. Striking another big line from our development roadmap, we are excited to announce the newest Job and starting Profession: the Xeno Hunter!
Something burns deep inside the Xeno Hunter, compelling them to chase the true terrors of the Void. Specializing in baiting, tracking and killing the alien in deadly crew combat, the Xeno Hunter uses distance and heavy weapons to gain the advantage.
We've also made some minor but important balance changes to crew combat, so check the final section for those details.
v2.4.x Winding Down
With the new Job knocked off the list, the final item in the v2.4.x family of the dev roadmap is the next Era -- then on to Fighters/Carriers!
High Difficulty Career
The Xeno Hunter Job and starting Profession is unlike any other. Something drives these madmen and madwomen to hunt the xeno, the terrors of the void. Their Talents replace other measly risk cards with Xeno Encounter cards in Patrol and Explorer! Xeno Hunter are a special breed and they ask much of their crew and ship, but for those captains looking for a new quest, a new challenge, a new way to sail the frontiers, these predators might be just right for you.
A Rare Breed
You can get a Xeno Hunter on your ship in a number of ways. First, there is a new unlocked profession so your Captain can start as a Xeno Hunter with 2 new awesome Captain-only Traits. Second, you can easily train your existing Captain or Officers into the new Jobs. And third, the Retired Xeno Hunter Contact and any Contact with the Xeno Obsessed Trait now offers recruiting of these big game hunters of the void.
In the same vein as other Jobs like Commander, Xeno Hunter is designed to be best for officers. A crew Xeno Hunter is going to be at a disadvantage as Xeno Hunter Job will do best cross-classed for different synergies, depending on which direction you want to take the abilities.
Xeno-Only Talents
Many of the Xeno Hunter's Talents are only applicable when they can be used against Xeno, but they pack a mighty punch for the limitation. For example, the Talent "Triumphant Predator" provides the strongest post-ship-combat Morale recovery available to any Job, but can only be used if you've just fought a xeno ship. "Exalted Hunter" grants an enormous bonus to the payment for xeno hunter missions and can be stacked with normal Mission bonus Talents! And the Xeno Hunter brings the only full-team On Init Buff to battle, but "Irid-Laced Resolve" can only fire if you are facing xeno.
That said, they are powerful backline combatants that rely on heavy armor over evasion and nasty plasma damage to be effective in any combat situation -- xeno or not.
Killing Power Rebalance
As we continue to work on improving crew combat balance, we've made another round of adjustments to armor, weaponry and some Talents. Most Armors have gained a small 4% to 6% increase in their ability to soak ballistic damage. We have also reduced the Piercing % for many LMG and HMG weapons in the game to help bring them into line against snubbers and sniper rifles who excel at this type of piercing blasts and single shots.
On the Talent note, we've taken 5% off the top of Full Auto's bonus to Damage and Critical %.
There you have it -- v2.4.79 delivers on another big roadmap item! If you enjoy the updates and the progress, please leave a review and tell a friend!
v2.4.79 - 2/6/2019
- Added new Job: the dreaded Xeno Hunter! Some inner demon drives these madmen and madwomen to seek out the xeno
- 16 new Talents to hunt the xeno in space and on land and to join crew combat from the back ranks
- New high difficulty starting profession, Captains can elect to be Xeno Hunter by profession
- 2 New Captain-only Traits for Xeno-Hunter: Inner Flame and Dread Legacy
- Now featuring 28 Jobs and 13 starting Professions
- Retired Xeno-Hunters Contacts now recruit Xeno Hunter crew and officers
- Contacts with the Xeno Obsessed Trait also recruit Xeno Hunter crew and officers, more likely to give Explore or Xeno missions
- Greatly improved prompts in Ship Combat Victory over Xeno to help captains achieve best rewards (Loot > Destroy > Salvage)
- Fixed issue where sometimes Mission Accept Talents would not fire
- Increased Ballistic Soak of armor by roughly 4-6%
- Reduced Piercing values for LMGs and HMGs, reduced Damage and Crit bonus for Full Auto Talent by 5%
- Fixed bug that caused -Init Debuffs to knock enemies out of Init Penalty
- Fixed bug allowing "Influence Conflict" card to be drawn in Orbital Salvage even without a Conflict
- Fixed typos in dialog and tooltips (thanks for reporting!)
There is also Chaos Sector; its a cheap retro-ish strategy rpg. Feels like the old snes srpgs. but it has less traditional crew and loot studf. more like units/research upgrade. but hell of a blast space rpg game. think fire emblem without weaboo kawainess.
Wait until you play Templar battleforce; CRAZY DEEP SQUAD CUSTOMIZATION. Its a Pure Combatfag game which got regular updates for almost a decade.
You addle-headed buttfuck. Stop gushing about games and you might actually help them some.
Goddamn phone posting.
