Update #137 is a bit of a monster. We must have gone too many days without doing an update -- features, new art, component upgrades, and all sorts of great changes just kept piling up. The result is #137, Behemoth Looms!

If you're enjoying the pace of updates and all the new goodies, please tell a friend and leave a review!

With Update #137, the enemy AI has taken another big step forward with its ability to specialize the ship during build-out and then in the ability for the AI to specifically take actions that use that specialization during battle. The enemy AI is better at managing its attempts to move into its chosen optimal battle range, better at focusing on firing its optimal weapons to the best effect and in the case where it has the Talent, successful in using Twitch Surge intelligently.

The ship builder AI also has been buffed to match this, allowing for military and non-combat ships to better specialize their component builds based on their type and design pattern.



Adjustments to the design of the Zartar Fang improve the fit for the assigned role by increasing Pilot and Navigation soak pools. By using a Mass Dampener and Modulator instead, the design is still able to manage mass and increase pools.

The Palace Interceptor has been reworked to better avoid damage and increase performance in combat. The engine has been swapped out for a Traveler instead of a Longhaul for higher combat speed. In addition the range 2 weapon has been upgraded from a single lance to a lance array that should improve the damage output for the Palace Interceptor at range 2.

Both the Vulture Liner and Callus Freighter received small balance improvements to increase their ship pools and eliminated unnecessary mass dampening components.
These improvements both assist players using these ships but also improve their legality and challenge level as enemies.

A number of components gained benefits with this release. Starting with the EVA Decks, we've added Shield and Fuel Storage. The Signal Array has increased its Electronics Pool while the Hull Cladding had gained Shielding and had its mass reduced. The Hull Plating on the other hand has gained Armor but kept its original mass. The Orbital Scoop has lost some of its Fuel storage while the Surface Scanner has gained Electronics Pool and the Resource Harvester added Cargo and Fuel storage to better match some of the other awesome hybrid components that have come out since Salvage was added.

A huge thanks to the community members helping with these balance changes!



Thanks to slide87 for suggesting that Contact Introductions should display the full list of services offered by that contact. Now, with the clear distance, price, contact type and services offered -- you've got everything you need to make the best informed decisions about which Contacts are worth paying a hefty fee to meet.

Especially with the ability to see in advance recruit types -- this is a huge win from a community suggested feature.



This is not a new rule -- AOE attack Talents have always ended Stealth Mode. However, we've now added this rule directly to the game in the right hand details bar when looking your Talents.



We've made some changes to the meta scores of cards in both the Black Market and Orbital Ops with this update. In the Black Market, we've shifted around different cards in the negative set, making Captain Damage a -1 while better aligning the Confiscate Cargo cards so that they are -3, -4 and -5. In Orbital Ops, we've bumped Distress Signal to -1 so that you can use Talents against it, as it can have some nasty results along with its possible positive results.

With Update #137, we've added new card art for both Pirate and FDF ground combats. We've got more coming too!

- When viewing offered Contact Introductions, these now include a list of Contact's offered services
- Further improved enemy ship builder AI -- military ships are more focused on their builds and components that serve their weapon types and ranges
- Improved enemy ship combat AI -- improved ability to range change to use ship's components and strategy to best ability and best use of Twitch Surge
- Improved enemy ship combat AI to better focus on firing optimal ranged weapons and achieving optimal range for battle
- Rebalanced meta score for Black Market cards -- cargo confiscation and captain damage
- Converted Orbital Ops "Distress Signal" cards to -1 Risk Cards so they can be hit with Talents
- Buying or selling cargo in exchange or black market now takes 1 Turn ("hours") if quanity is over 5
- Fixed Mechanic's "Entropic Estimate" to properly predict the timeline of the current Orbital Salvage Rumor
- Crew Combat AOE attack talents now list in their rules that they End Stealth Mode
- Removed rare chance that Smuggler recruit could start with Rigidly Lawful Trait
- Reordered Atlas Zone listing to better match map and hovers
- Increased Hyperwarp Jump Test difficulty slightly, small increase in penalties when jumps are failed
- Improved "EVA Decks" Ship Component (Added Shielding, Fuel Storage)
- Improved "Signal Array" Ship Components (Added Electronics Pool)
- Improve "Hull Cladding" Ship Components (Added Deflection, Reduced Mass)
- Improve "Hull Plating" Ship Components (Added Armor)
- Improve "Orbital Scoop" Ship Components (Added Fuel Storage, Reduced Mass)
- Improved "Surface Scanner" Ship Components (Added Electronics Pool)
- Improved "Resource Harvest" Ship Components (Added Cargo, Fuel Storage)
- Fixed issues with Templar and Hunna ships in Orbital Ops
- Fixed issues with leaderboard scores not updating
- Ship Design Improvements by Resistor:
* Improved 'Zartar Fang' ship
* Reworked 'Palace Interceptor' ship
* Updated 'Vulture Liner' and 'Callus Freighter' ships
- Added new card art for pirate and FDF encounters in exploring and black market

Update #136 continues the hunt to perfect the game's balance, expand the possible builds with ship components and prepare for the coming release of fighters/carriers. We've rebalanced some of the existing medical components as well as added anew exciting hybrid component that can house an officer, the Medical Clinic. Two balance changes have been made to ship combat Talents, we've expanded the abilities of the Salvage Bay component type and made some changes to ship status to better display bonuses.

If you're enjoying the updates, the balance tweaks and these nice quality of life changes, please tell a friend and leave a review!


Two new large slot medical components -- the Medical Clinic and Advanced Medical Clinic offer the unique bonus of being able to house an officer. While clearly it is expected that you're doctor will leave in those quarters, if there is no ship's doctor than probably your Soldier, Xeno Hunter or Spy will set up shop in their (i.e. its a standard officer's cabin). However, its the first large slot beyond a bridge that offers this capability while also provide some powerful Medical Rating and some good Skill Pool bonuses.

We've also rebalanced Medical Bays, Medical Chambers and Combat Hospital Ship to increase the variety among the set with better Skill Pool, Armor, and Shielding options.

The Salvage Bay components can really rake in some cash and they have new opportunities to do so now. Previously only effective when doing orbital salvage, Salvage Bays now add their bonus to salvaging destroyed ships as well, just like Vulture Trait. To balance out this change, however, the % bonus to profits have been reduced across the board by 30%. Still, they are far more versatile, useful in more situations and stack great with ship salvage Talents or xeno hunting!

To push the Gunner's rank 1 Talent "Targeting Lock" into a better unique positions, we've changed its -10% Armor to -10% Defense. If you're locking on with your targeting systems to ensure they can't escape, it always helps to get in a hit too! We've also slightly reduced the debuff from Bombardment, taking its drop on negative enemy Accuracy from 20% to 15%.


Your ship status screen now includes details on buff and component bonuses including Range Change, Critical %, Void Res and Damage, Shield, Armor, Defense, Accuracy and more. This includes the bonuses you may gain from installed components as well as the bonuses you can garner from buffing (or being debuffed!) in ship combat.


To help further clarify some of the rules of the game, we've started adding a second section to some of the game's hovers. In the above example, you can see the first changes to Shield and Armor display which note that while your ship hull and components can take the bonus to 60% the maximum for buffs is 75%. We're working our way through different tooltips in the game to ensure all the rules are expressed in them especially these clauses with extra detail.

- Rebalanced Medical Bays, Medical Chambers and Combat Hospital Ship Components
- New Medical Clinic Ship Components (Medical Rating + Officer Cabin)
- Improved Gunner's Talent "Targeting Lock" now causes -10% Defense instead of -10% Armor
- Reduced "Bombardment" debuff to enemy Accuracy to 15% from 20%
- Added buff and debuff fields like +Accuracy %, +Dmg, Critical % to ship status
- Improved hover support to express special game rules
- Improved 'Salvage Bay' Component Text and Balance (Orbital and Salvage)
- Fixed issue with "Soul Piercer" Xeno Hunter Talent not adding Attribute bonus
- Improved Story Officer Nikolai Ramius' character Traits
- Fixed text overlaps and formatting issues

With Update #135 we're rolling out a hotly requested high speed combat option, two new Talents to help captains who are trying to escape enemy targets, a change to ship combat that buffs the Armor/Shield meta and new rules to help Contacts focus their missions on their zone of influence. Not to mention a ton of bug fixes, small tweaks and improvements!

Let's get started!


For those players who want to move quickly, feel comfortable already with the combat system or who have put in 400+ hours -- the new Fast Ship Combat option may be perfect for you. The GIF above shows an entire turn of combat elapsing in a flurry of traded shots, damage values, misses and critical hits. With this option enabled, you can move through ship combats much more quickly than before, well over double-speed. Of course, if you missed any detail you really need to see the Combat Log has it all there for you.

We've also improved the display of critical hits! You'll now see "-102 Crit!" floating above the hit and the text itself is scaled up to help it pop. It's a glorious moment, as long as you were the one scoring the hit!


We've added a new early and a new late-game Talent -- a rank 1 Gunner Talent and a rank 15 Engineer rank 15 Talent. Both are geared toward helping players who are trying to Escape challenging combats and both take a very different approach to getting there.

The new "Elusive Barrage" from your Gunners gives you a debuffing attack that reduces the enemy's Accuracy and Range Change. As all Range Change and Escape rolls are opposed, it is critical not only to buff your own scores but also to debuff your enemy to ensure that they score less successes on their part of the dice roll. Elusive Barrage is great paired with any other Escape Talent like Bolt or Fast Getaway, or the new Engineer Talent.

The new Engineer Talent "All the Power" dangerously reroutes the ship's power into the void engine to enable a rapid escape. The Talent comes with some drawbacks -- reducing Shield and causing internal component damage, but the bonuses to Escape and Move are high -- very high. Having a high level Engineer on your crew to help perfect the power balance on your ship has new appeal -- especially for those looking to dodge battle in the void.


With Update #135, we've opened up a new frontier for Armor and Shield within ship combat. Based on your ship's base Armor and Shield, plus any Armored or Shielded components you've installed, you can reach a maximum of 60% Armor or Shield. Now, with Update #135, your Talents that buff Armor and Shield can still be useful even if your ship is built to soak up the hits. While 60% is still the maximum for each in ship build, your buffs can now raise Armor and Shield all the way to 75%. This enables new strategies and synergies between ship class, component build outs and the right crew to build ships that rely more on soak than previously possible.

Not that getting hit with a void-cutting Torpedo is ever going to be nice ...

We've made a major improvement to all Contacts' interest in Conflicts -- now Contacts will avoid Conflicts that are really out of their scope of interest or influence. For example, a Merchant will not engage in a Solar War nor send you on missions to destroy enemy ships during one. Nor will a Smuggler get involved in an Alliance.

This lack of ability to ignore Conflicts has led to many of the odd Missions situations that Steam players have been asking about -- if my Smuggler is *supporting* this Alliance, why is he asking me to sneak illegal packages into their zone? Well ... because he is a Smuggler! That's what he does.

We've added the exact details of which Conflicts mission-givers ignore to the wiki -- https://startraders.gamepedia.com/Mission_Types

- New Feature: Fast Ship Combat resolves turns very quickly
- Added new rank 1 Gunner Talent "Elusive Barrage" reduces enemy Range Change and Accuracy -- perfect Talent to debuff enemy as you try to flee
- Added new rank 15 Engineer Talent "All the Power" which routes all Void Engine power into escape attempt but causing internal damage and reducing shield in the process
- While ship Armor and Shield maximum from base plus components is 60%, Buffs can now raise Armor and Shield to 75%
- Critical hits in ship combat are now shown as "-120 Crit!" during combat
- Contacts no longer give Missions related to Conflicts out of their zone of interest -- Smugglers ignore Trade Alliances, Merchants ignore Solar Wars, etc
- Increased price of Inferno Torpedo (small slot, level 5) and Torpedo Dual-Laced Array (small slot, level 7)
- Fixed balance of off-hand short blades at level 6 and 7, reduced some of their stats
- Fixed issues with some Explorer cards and other Talents that could generate Terrox Artifacts that were Independent Faction
- Corrected bug that was showing all Introductions to be 1 jump farther than they were
- Fixed bug preventing Contacts who got the "Learn Salvage Rumor" from a Trait from appearing in contact filters
- Fixed bug causing Crew List sort memory to get wiped if you sorted Starport upgrade components
- Fixed mission bug where Rep loss could be shown with xeno faction

Update #134 follows on the release of the Xeno Hunter with new updates to the enemy ship AI, a new rank 15 Talent for Mechanics with a brand new ... mechanic ... balance changes to +Armor % buffs, gear and the Xeno Hunter and simplified rules for new game officer skill bonuses.

If you're enjoying the updates and their relentless pace, please take a moment to share the game with a friend and leave a review!


While fighters and carriers are still a ways out, we are making tons of underlying changes and improvements to major core systems in preparation for their arrival. With Update #134, we have finished rebuilding the enemy ship AI decision tree and decision weighting to be more fluid to the evolving situation and more fun and challenging. Across the board, the enemy captain's ability to weigh their next move against their desire to escape, advance or board, along with the conditions of their ship, health, crew, weapons, engines and buffs or debuffs has been improved. You should find the enemy captains making smarter and more reactive moves.

This has also allowed us to squash a set of bugs or pure mistakes that the enemy AI was making -- such as using Twitch Surge and then retreating or using Fast Getaway and then advancing or attempting to board without a ready boarding party.


We've also added anew ability to the Mechanic's Talent list with "Flawless Reset". This rank 15 Talent is capable of purging 1 to 3 debuffs from enemy Talents which were previously irremovable, such as Scattershot, Raking Fire or Bombardment. The chance to get up to 3 debuffs is based on your Mechanic's Resilience.


With Update #134, we've removed all RNG from the starting Skill bonuses for your ship's first round of officers. They are granted the same bonuses every time -- for example your Doctor always gains +4 Doctor and +2 Evasion. The bonuses given to these officers are above average, another reason to consider keeping them. This change is also a big boon to new starting players who will now find that their ship has an improved Doctor, Tactics, Command and Intimidate Skill Pool thanks to preset officer bonuses.

We've fixed some Xeno Hunter issues -- the weird trick with mutating gear, changed Launch Grenade to be Initiative 16 (sorry, we tried!) and got Macabre Harvest to work properly with Mission xeno fights.

In addition, we've reduced the power of all crew combat buffs and gear that were adding 20% or higher Armor bonus. These have all been paired down a bit, making it more of an investment of gear slots and Initiative to stack absolutely OP armor.

Thanks to everyone leaving a review!

- Added new rank 15 Mechanic Talent "Flawless Reset" removes from 1 to 3 debuffs from enemy ship based on Resilience roll
- Improved enemy ship AI's Talent intelligence when picking Talents to use
- Better control over ship component repair, mid-battle healing and morale restore, engine protection, purging crippling effects
- Fixed issue where enemy AI would incorrectly use Twitch Surge when attempting to flee
- Reduced highest range Armor buffs in gears and Talents (Fading Shot, Infliction Rage, Unstoppable Force, Resolute Hound, Unfailing Stand, Cadovast Weave all reduced to 20%)
- Increased Xeno Hunter's "Launch Grenade" Talent to 16 Inititiave cost
- Fixed bug preventing Xeno Hunter's "Macabre Harvest" Talent from working on Mission combats against xeno
- Fixed bug where enemy AI in crew combat would incorrectly use Talents that require but end Stealth Mode
- Officers in new games have set Skill bonuses, all RNG removed (Doctor's have +4 Doctor, +2 Evasion, etc)
- Fixed bug where Prime Pilgrimage Missions could route to starting world (Mok Prime to Mok Prime)
- Fixed click through and scroll issues with crew combat selection screen when detail pane is shown
- Fixed story bugs with Nikolai

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.


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!


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.


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.


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.


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!

- 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!)

Update #132 rolls out strong on a Saturday night, delivering some awesome new heavy armor outfits, a mean looking new helmet, new mission types, a new mission acceptance summary screen to give details on Talents being used and much more.

A huge thanks to everyone sharing Star Traders: Frontiers and leaving a review to help us keep cranking updates at this Relentless Pace.


With Update #132, we've rolled out of one of the new matching pairs of character outfits. Now you can deck your fighting crew in heavy military armor as they prepare for battle. The outfit set comes with a matching helmet to boot! As we keep adding new outfits, we've got a focus now on matching outfits, so expect to see that trend continue.


We've added two new types of Missions that play the political hotspots on the faction Prime worlds where the High Princes and High Princesses reside. Many political and economic Contacts want to keep their standing good at these courts and are willing to pay higher prices for you to carry their envoys and emissaries there and back again. Later, once a few Eras have past a new mission type emerges that will have your Contacts sending their envoys to Ryeline Ganne to meet with a certain someone and the emissaries there as well.


The new mission acceptance summary screen is helpful pull together your action and give a few reminders as well displaying the specifics of Talents. After accepting a mission, you'll get a summary now -- it includes the Talent that was used during the action and any exact bonus % or resulting discovery that you may have made. Also, you'll get reminders about future mission requirements (a prison cell will be required) or immediate changes to mission cargo (we've brought a prisoner aboard, captain).

With this release, we've exposed more details about the Sabotage action in ship combat boarding. If you've boarded the enemy ship and successfully defeated them, you have the default option to sabotage one component or can use the Cascading Destruction Talent to strike at another nearby component. The newly upgraded display indicates how damaged a component may already be through previous boarding or ship combat to help you make the best choices, perhaps picking the debuff or some other boarding Talent instead of Sabotage.

We've also fixed a bug when enemy Bounty Hunters coming calling. Sent on missions by Contacts you've infuriated or insulted, these Bounty Hunters can use Blood Game against you. This fix enforces the rule that a successful boarding with Blood Game cancels any attempt to escape.

- Added 2 new matching blue heavy armor outfits - perfect more regimented military crews and heavy hitters
- Added matching blue heavy helmet - perfect fit for new armor
- Added 2 new mission types, negotiation and pilgrimages to faction Prime Worlds or Ryeline Ganne
- Added new summary screen after accepting a mission, displays Talents used, bonuses, mission cargo changes or requirements (prisoner, package, passenger)
- New mission summary screen makes exact bonuses to price by Talents very clear
- Giving repeat firing orders in ship combat opens the Talents list to speed turns
- Successful use of "Blood Game" Talent boards enemy and prevents escape
- Improved Boarding Sabotage details on targeted component's damage to ensure best use of boarding abilities
- Fixed issue with Chaesin Researchers not getting involved in the Plague Era
- Fixed bug in Pit Fighter V story arc with Gestalt variation
- Improved auto-save routine to ensure quitting the game any time loses no progress
- Fixed issues with hotkeys in wild zones

Update #131 lands with a blast of a new art, even more improvements to the enemy ship builder, a new Trait Conditioning service for Chaesin Doctors and Researchers (new!) and a ton of balance improvements and bug fixes. A huge thanks to everyone sharing the game, posting feedback and helping us improve!

In the art department, we've got 2 new environmental landing zones, a new wilderness jungle and a new urban image for some of the largest urban worlds. We've also added 3 new character faces.

We've also buffed the Navigator's Fast Getaway Talent, made Radiation Storms and other Rumors more impactful in orbital operations and given more teeth to the damage caused to crew during any card game.


The Chaesin Doctors are the oldest medical tradition of the Star Traders, hailing back to well before the Exodus and the Guild. While the Gestalt Technologists offer Trait Conditioning through their vats and other secretive techniques, the Chaesin now offer their own similar but different service through holistic techniques, synthesized compounds and reconditioning training.

Chaesin Trait Conditioning can remove Addictive Tick, Crippled, Flashbacks, Frail, Hypochondriac, Hyperwarp Sickness, Paranoid, Stormshock or Weak System Traits -- a set with some overlap to the Gestalt list but also more of a focus on psychological Traits.

We have also added a new Contact Type to help proliferate more Chaesin into the galaxy. The Chaesin Researcher offer Doctor Missions, buys Intel, Recruits Combat Medics, Trait Conditioning, Discounts Medical Services, may offer Black Market based on Traits such as Greedy, Corrupt, Underworld.


We're continuing to put more pressure on the enemy ship builder routines, increasing their intelligence and ability to coordinate upgrades across a ship in prep for the Fighters/Carriers future milestone. In this update, we've once again increased the total number of upgrade paths for an enemy to consider, specifically by helping the ship builder do better with crew and officer accommodations and mass modulators components. Also, for those military focused ship types, they have improved their ability to ensure they upgrade their Weapon Lockers appropriately.


We've added 3 new character faces with this update. We're excited to now have reached the 40 faces mark for female characters and will keep marching toward our goal of doubling the original 30. A similar wave of revisions and additions is coming for the male characters but there is some more work to do to prepare for that.



- Added 3 new female character faces
- Added 2 new landing zone art boards, jungle wilderness and unique art for Alta Mesa and De Valtos Prime
- Improved enemy ship builder AI -- increased upgrade paths, better upgrade planning for crew and officer accommodations, mass modulators, military deployment of higher level Weapons Lockers
- Chaesin Doctors and Researchers now offer their own type of Trait Reconditioning to remove bad Traits, Gestalt are no longer the only game in town
- Chaesin conditioning can remove Addictive Tick, Crippled, Flashbacks, Frail, Hypochondriac, Hyperwarp Sickness, Paranoid, Stormshock or Weak System Traits
- Added new Contact Type "Chaesin Researcher" -- recruits Combat Medics, offers Trait Reconditioning, Buys Intel, Discounts Medical Services, may offer Black Market based on Traits such as Greedy, Corrupt, Underworld
- Smuggler Contact Type now offers discount on Spice at the hall and can now offer Permit grade 1
- Salvage Broker Contact Type will only offer Black Market based on Traits such as Greedy, Corrupt, Underworld
- Void Engine Safety Rating now displayed in main ship status, dry dock and starport with helpful tooltip
- Radiation Storms and other Quadrant-wide Rumors have more impact on all Orbital Ops (Spy, Blockade, Patrol, Salvage)
- Buffed Hyperwarp Navigator's "Fast Getaway" Talent to include a +5% Shield increase
- Fixed issue with Orbital Salvage positive Trait cards adding negative Trait (Xenophobic)
- Corsair's Scan Talent no longer removes Tribute option from Ship Encounters
- Fixed rare bug that could prevent you from repairing your ship's Scout Bridge
- Fixed issue where damage dealt by results of Exploring, Orbital Ops was less than shown
- Fixed bug where negative or positive Rep could be shown while Exploring Indie wilderness zones
- Fixed possible text overlays on Talent screen

Update #130 comes with an exciting set of new Void Engines, big changes to how the enemy ship builder designs its ships, some critical balance changes to Orbital Salvage and a ton of other community suggested improvements and bug fixes.

We're hard at work laying the foundations for carriers/fighters and the next story Era. If you read between the Bexian tea leaves, you can see the enemy ship design rebuild being a direct product of needing to improve the AI's ability to accommodate fighter variations.

Thanks to everyone suggesting improvements, posting suggestions, telling a friend and leaving a review!

Here's Update #130, captains!


Over the last few months of play, testing and component upgrades the AI has been preparing for a major upgrade. Update #130 begins this series of improvements to its upgrade routines, helping expand the total number of upgrading paths that the enemy ship builder can pick as well as improving the allocation of upgrades and especially of defensive upgrades.

With this update, you will start to see some improved AI behavior, more weapon variation and better defensive stats on military captain types. From here, we've restructured the internal rule set of how the enemy upgrades its ships and we'll be making further changes in the coming series of updates.

Dual-Field engines provide another option for captain's with a stockpile of capital who are looking to use balanced engines. The Dual-Field technology allows similar Void Engine statline while reducing the Mass of the engine component by upwards of 30%. However, such technology doesn't run cheap and the costs can be as much as 200% higher than the standard engine. Still - the trade off can help free component slots.

In balancing out these new engines, we also took a moment to review and correct issues with some Mass 3400 and Mass 5000 ships. Some of the ships had unnecessary mass reducing components installed in their default builds and those have now been swapped out for more exciting and functional components.


That ^^ is not where you Orbital Salvage, but it sure looks like a nice vacation spot.

... in serious news, Orbital Salvage has always been billed as high risk and high reward. With this update, we've fixed a bug in the card deck calculation that was causing too many hands to be tipped to have 3 positive cards and only 2 negative cards. This has caused some of the run-away successes that we've seen in Orbital Salvage where Captains can amass a vast pile of wealth on single orbital rumors. This change will help tip the balance back to where it should be -- high *risk* and high *reward*.

In balancing this, we've also tweaked the Pirate's Talent "Nose for Loot". While it still swaps in a Rare Trade Good card, the number of RTGs uncovered is half of what the standard +5 card will draw.

Finally, we fixed issues where remove Rare Trade Good rewards for winning crew combats during Orbital Salvage were not being not counting towards Awards and Unlocks. Yes, you've got to kill some pirates or xeno, but its another way to pile up those rewards!

A few more cool down changes to improve balance for the crews have gone into effect this release. Mechanic's System Flush has joined all other ship combat purge Talents at 6 weeks. The Quartermaster still reigns supreme at stopping mutinies, but the Calming Speech Talent's cool down has now been pushed out to 13 weeks.

To help make Scouring Search stick out in the Spy card game, we've given it a new Talent icon.

A huge thanks to all of our players making suggestions on how we can improve the game! Please tell a friend or leave a review :D

- Improved enemy ship builder AI -- increased upgrade paths, better allocation of upgrades, smarter at defensive module management
- Fixed issues with several Mass 3400 and Mass 5000 mass ships that had unnecessary Mass Reducer components by default
- Added 7 new Void Engine designs -- the Dual-Field engines
- New 'Dual-Field' Void Engines provide minimal mass options at higher cost
- Adjusted balance of Orbital Salvage so that card hands are more correctly balanced to have high risk -- more hands will draw with 3 negative cards
- Adjusted orbital salvage Pirate Talent "Nose for Loot" to replace a risk card with Rare Trade Loot card, a smaller find of Rare Trade Goods (4-8)
- Fixed issues where remote RTG stashes created after crew combats during Salvage were not counting towards Awards/Unlocks
- Fixed issues where positive Reputation was being incorrectly reported with xeno during missions
- Fixed issue with some story fights incorrectly giving you the option to bribe or retreat
- Added new Talent icon for Spy's "Scouring Search" Talent
- Adjusted Quartermaster's "Calming Speech" Talent cool down to 13 weeks
- Adjusted Mechanic's "System Flush" Talent cool down to 6 weeks

Update #129 unfurls its sails with some amazing new ship components, some changes to the balance of some M2400 and M3400 Engines, new ability to set waypoints from your mission cargo screen, new SFX and the Bounty Hunter changes that were discussed with Update #128 but missed the launch boat.


Known for the incredible durability of their spirits and their ships, the Zenrin House now offer level 5 upgrades for both Reinforced Structures and Armored Bulkheads. These new upgrades provide some of the best Void and Radiation damage resistance in the game and can be deployed to protect both crew and ship from damage.

As new larger hull ships are introduced as well are better large slot upgrades, we are constantly working to test and maintain balance across all ship mass classes. As a balancing measure the survability of Mass 2400 and Mass 3400 Ship Engines has been increased by including both Armor and Shield in their profiles, which will make these ships slightly harder to kill as enemies and slightly more survivable when controlled by a player captain.


A big thanks to the community for sharing some more great ideas and suggestions with us this week. Especially to all of the streamers playing Star Traders: Frontiers. By request, we have made the map seed visible from the in game menu so it is easier to grab and share while playing. We've also added a varied sound effect for a negative Trait mutation so you know it the second it happens and can take a check of the event log.

Finally, we've added a feature allowing you to set a waypoint to a mission from the mission cargo screen. By opening your Cargo screen, then mission cargo, you can see a list of all passengers, prisoners and packages you have on board. By clicking any of these items, your ship will route a new waypoint to that mission's next destination.

We talked about this last time,. but due to a glitch in the sequence of events it wasn't included in Update #128. Now in #129, we've made the previously mentioned changes to the Bounty Hunter Talents! We've changed the Initiative cost of 2 Bounty Hunter Talents -- increasing Unfaltering Ire to 10 and reducing Hunter's Challenge to 10. Also, the bonuses from Steadfast Aim have been reduce to flat +20% to Ranged Damage, Accuracy and Piercing.

- New Ship Component: Reinforced Structures 5 (Zenrin Faction)
- New Ship Component: Armored Bulkheads 5 (Zenrin Faction)
+20% Accuracy, +20% Piercing
- Mass 2400 pattern changes -- increased base Armor to 3 and added 1 base Shielding to all M2400 Engines
- M2400 Void Engine: Behemoth now has 5 Armor and 3 base Shielding
- Revised pricing and install availability for Battle Bridge, Battle Prow 5, Hull Plating 5
- Revised mass, install price and install time for Armored Cargo Hold 4, Fuel-Cargo Hold 4
- Added New Trait Mutation Sound Effect (Negative Traits)
- Click Mission Cargo (Passengers, Prisoners, Packages) to set Mission Waypoint
- Added display of current game's Map Seed to map menu overlay
- Bounty Hunter Talent Initiative changes: Hunter's Challenge only costs 10, Unfaltering Ire now costs 10
- Bounty Hunter Steadfast Aim changes, reduced self-buff to +20% Damage,
- Fixed name mismatches for Eryn Razor at some points in story
- Fixed bug with Pirate Talent 'Rigorous Search'
- Fixed bug causing constant price decreases in some Steel Song starports

In Update #128 the faction juggernauts of industry and military might gain their first set of faction-specific bonuses, another round of art additions finishes the gear catalogs, the game over screen gets a big boost, Bounty Hunter Talents get some rebalance and a new player-requested feature in "Stash All" in wild zones! It's big, its packed, its Update #128.


Relying on their immense network of mining and refinery operations, Javat is able to offer Water-Fuel at a 10% discount at all of their starports. Where the price is below $10, the discount always cuts at least $1 off the price.

On the military side -- out of reverence for military captains, all Cadar faction holdings reserve extra Spice and Medical supplies for captains bearing military rank. As the grade of your military rank increases, the reserved cache of spice and medical supplies increases. On the far side, Steel Song bestows great prestige upon those that carry their Edicts. Every grade of Edict grants a 1% discount on any and all starport upgrades -- from weapons to armor to new prison cells.


Thanks to our awesome community, we've got another player-requested feature in #128. The "Stash All" button in wilderness zones allows you to quickly drop everything in your cargo hold onto into a hidden stash.

With Update #128, we've changed the Initiative cost of 2 Bounty Hunter Talents -- increasing Unfaltering Ire to 10 and reducing Hunter's Challenge to 10. Also, the bonuses from Steadfast Aim have been reduce to flat +20% to Ranged Damage, Accuracy and Piercing.

Across the board for character's gear, the bonuses to Damage have been reduced, from between 5% to 10% for some of the higher pieces of gear.


For those legendary captains who have died in the void or fighting to get back to it, the game over screen has gained some big improvements to help you remember their life and deeds. You can now gain access to the full Captain's Log as well as the Captain's Awards list in order to bask in their (fallen) glory!

We've also added over 100 new names to the game's name generator for added variety and more flavor. We've added 10 new barks for Traits like Drunk and upgraded the Trait mutator to avoid confusion combinations like Tense + Calm. And we've fixed a host of little bugs reported on Steam -- issues with the starting mission, different window size handling at different scaling, losing Rep with Indies and more.

Thanks to everyone posting feedback and suggestions!

- New Javat Faction Bonus: Javat starports offer a 10% fuel discount on normal fuel prices
- New Steel Song Faction Bonus: captains with Edicts gain discount on all upgrades in starport at 1% per Edict rank (rank 9 = 9% off)
- New Cadar Faction Bonus: captains with military rank gain access to additional spice and doctor supplies
- Added 11 new pieces of gear art for to round out the catalog
- Added 10 new barks for characters by Trait (thanks Steam!)
- In Memoriam screen now features the fallen Captain's Awards and Log (thanks Twitch!)
- Added "Stash All" button for Wild Zones to dump entire hold to stash with one click
- Increased list of names in the name generator by 10% (over 100 new names)
- Bounty Hunter Talent Initiative changes: Hunter's Challenge only costs 10, Unfaltering Ire now costs 10
- Bounty Hunter Steadfast Aim changes, reduced self-buff to +20% Damage, +20% Accuracy, +20% Piercing
- Improved Trait exclusion tables to avoid odd combinations
- Reduced highest bonuses to ranged or melee damage granted by gear
- Fixed bug where Arbiter's mission disappears after accepting it
- Fixed bug allowing some missions to cause fake loss or gain or Rep with Independents
- Fixed inconsistencies between System Atlas and Contact Detail around Recruiting and other Trait-base services
- Fixed some inaccuracy in mission text
- Improved UI responsiveness to certain screen sizes and scaling