After a short break, we're back warming up the update train with Update #303 Patchwork. With a new environmental artboard and some adjustments to the Contact simulation, this minor patch gets things moving again with more to come.

The last community challenge -- Merchant Mogul -- has wrapped up and the team is prepping the next exciting chapter of those challenges, so stay tuned.

Thanks to everyone for the on-going support, sharing feedback and sharing the game!

We've added a new planetary artboard for the icy vastness of iceworld outposts. We've also tweaked and adjusted some of the recently added artboards for color and improved cropping.

WIth this update, we've tuned a number of Contact starting points for the betterment of the Contact ecosystem. The Retired Bodyguard and Racketeer Contacts have both had their starting Influence values reduced and their action pattern adjusted so that they are better at building Influence over time. On the other hand, we have increased the starting Influence for all Templar Contacts, including the Templar Militant, and also applied an additional Templar-only rule that slows their Influence pace changes, to reflect their Zendu ways.

- Added new 'Ice Outpost' planet artwork
- Fixed bug with 'Zendu Lineage' Trait
- Adjustment base influence for "Retired Bodyguard" & "Racketeer"
- Revised influence equations for Templar / Templar Militant

Update #302 continues to press on adding new scores to the game, adding new artwork for environments and addressing some quality of life UX work in buying ship components and selling Intel to Contacts. Most importantly, the new scores tracking for Conflicts opens up the possibility to add an entirely new type of player-direction mission where you're working to influence Conflicts directly -- any way you choose. That's an exciting future for a near-term update, but for now -- its Update #302!

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/


Your captain's scores page now keeps record of exactly how much you've influenced any of the retribution justice Conflicts within the game. The scores are factionless, so they are counting only how many points you've added to *any* Solar War over your career. But, for bragging rights as the ultimate assassin, faction warrior or peacemaker these new scores are exciting record of your actions.

The latest community challenge -- Merchant Mogul -- is making good use of the some of the recently added captain's scores and we're looking at some ideas how a new challenge could be created around these 7 new scores as well. We're always open to additional community challenge ideas, so please do share :D

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/335620/view/3374906503254336022

Update #302 adds another 5 new landing backgrounds for small urban zones nestled in among the beautiful wilderness remote environments -- small heat-shielded city in molten mountains, towers rising from misty jungles and peaceful settlements spread across idyllic garden-world scapes.

We've received a number of posts recently on the Steam forums about improvements we could make to different buying and selling UIs in the game so we've started on some of those items with Update #302. When shopping for ship components, your sort order is now remembered and we are continuing to discuss the use cases for remembering filtering -- it is coming soon! In addition, the scroll position in your Selling Intel screen is kept so that you can much easier target and sell multiple sets of records without as much work.

- Added 7 new Contact Scores to track your career's impact on Conflict Scores by type
- See your impact on Solar Wars, Trade Bans, etc from the Scores screen
- Added 5 new environment backgrounds for oceanic and radioactive worlds
- Sorting choice is remembered between shopping screens for components
- When selling Intel to Contact, the scroll position in the list is correctly remembered
- Fixed issues with oceanic world Urban zone artwork selection logic

(original challenge description below)

This month it’s been all about making that money in our Merchant Mogul challenge. You all have been stockpiling rare goods, making some massive trades, and building your trade empires, all while dodging those pesky pirates.

We’ve really enjoyed reading your stories and have been duly impressed at some of the trades you all have made! If you want to catch up on all of the bartering and fun, check out the challenge discussion thread and pop into our Discord and head to #merchant_mogul_challenge.

A few highlights from the month:


Tomcat for several massive trades, but 15.6m was the biggest one we saw! That’s a lot of spice. 😲


nhdkentun for this very impressive stash of trade goods. Set up to make some money when those get sold!


matt for sharing their adventures with pirates. Pirates can definitely complicate your plans for building your trade empire. 😄


RhysOnasi for this excellent meme on the struggles with the xeno. Always showing up at the worst time.

Great work, Captains! So many of you participated in the challenge, sharing your screenshots, stories and more. Thank you all! Even though September is over, we’d still love to hear about your attempt at this challenge (or any of the previous community challenges) any time!

Stay tuned for future challenges!


Hello, Captains. It’s time for the September 2022 STF challenge. This time it’s all about trade in our Merchant Mogul challenge. Brush up on your bartering skills and try to remember where you secretly stashed those valuable goods. How will you influence the universe through trade? How much money will you make?


This is a trade focused challenge. Update 301 added six new trade scores that will help you to tell the story about building your trade empire. Here are the requirements for this challenge:

• Build a respectable cargo ship with at least 100 cargo space
  
• That’s it. No really, just the one requirement. We want you to have the chance to play how you want as you grow your wealth through trade.

• Screenshots of your trading stats: highest single trade, number of trades over $500k
  
• Your strategies for making money, how you impacted trade conflicts
  
• Your favorite port to trade in, your most profitable trade triangle
  
• Your own creative way to tell us about how you became the greatest trader

No matter what you choose to share, please include one screenshot of your trade stats!

We’ve opened up a discussion here on Steam in the General Discussion forum for aIl of your posts. If you post in the discord, post in the #merchant_mogul_challenge channel found in the STF category.

Go make that money, Captain! Looking forward to hearing about your growing trade empire!

Update #301 follows closely on the release of Wing Commando profession to fix 2 small bugs with the new Captain job as well as adding 6 new fun and competitive scores tracking your skill as a trader, a new option for easier play on laptops and PC tablets and 6 new art backgrounds for wilderness zones to make your time out of the void even more beautiful.

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/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


With Update #301, we're prepping for an upcoming community challenge and so added 6 new exciting scores for traders and smugglers. Your Captain Scores page will now report on the number of trades you made in the Exchange and Black Market that were up to the $50,000 and $500,000 thresholds in value. Rack up a couple of those and feel like a rich any mighty trader.

In addition, the game is now tracking the value of your highest value trade in both Exchange and Black Market. Bragging rights activated -- make some hard earned credits and post up your scores!


For those players who have a touchscreen where right click is not easily accessible -- such as those using Microsoft Surface, ultrabooks, or PC tablets -- we've now added a new option to make the game easier to run with only a touchscreen. In the options menu, you can enable "Touch Screen" option and then make sure that the "Touch to Navigate" option is set and you should be able to play with a stylus or a finger more easily.

Update #301 adds another 6 new wilderness backgrounds for dangerous and remote environments -- desolate deserts, forgotten jungle clearings and towering mountain ranges. As you travel and explore the void, enjoy the new views.

Wing Commando profession launched with a few small bugs! Sometimes, they were not allowed to take command of a shuttle and the game just kept insinuating that they lacked the training to handle the high g-force. Insulting! Now fixed.

Also, the Attributes from the Profession Trait were wrong, now also fixed!

- Added 6 new environment backgrounds for remote wilderness
- Added new Captain Scores to track highest value Exchange and Black Market trades of your career
- Added new Captain Scores to track Exchange and Black Market trades over $50K and $500K
- Added new option "Touch Screen" for desktop platforms with touch screens (Surface, etc)
- Fixed bug preventing Wing Commando from being put into a shuttle
- Fixed wrong Attributes for Wing Commando's Traits

Update #300 launches some exciting changes to the carrier meta right out of the hangar bay at screaming high speeds. Your Captain can now train to pilot an Interdictor, Shuttle or Bomber and lead your wing squadron against the enemy. it's rich territory for the recent Top Gun Community Challenge and a new and fun way to enjoy your carrier with even more on the line than ever before.

The update has also added new artwork for the worlds of the void, improved hovers and fixed bugs thanks to community input. Thanks to every captain for playing, posting reviews and telling a friend!

Earlier this month, we launched 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 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/


When setting up a new captain, you can now opt in to the high-risk, semi-crazy Wing Commando Profession. You are signing up to leave the bridge in your officer's capable hands and get shot out of a hangar bay at extreme speeds, hurtling toward the enemy hull to lead a deadly boarding operation ... sounds like the life!

Wing Commando requires the challenging "Xeno Slayer" unlock or you can play the modded version of the game without mods to skip unlocks entirely. There are no starting ships in the game that come free with a Boarding Shuttle, so before you really begin your perilous and possibly short-lived career, you'll need to be able to afford one.


Don't like the unlock, just launch the modded version for no unlocks at all.

Since Captains can now join the ranks of shuttle pilots, we've ripped the prohibition off all Wing jobs and now allow Captains to train into Wing Leader, Bomber or Command (as a Job, not your starting profession). Now your captain can mix with the best pilots on the crew and be a star in your Top Gun Community Challenge playthrough. Some may say it is unnecessary risk for the Captain to lead bombing runs but the Captain will tell you, there is nothing else in the void that feels quite like cracking a hull with a Buster or the pure fiery joy of intercepting a torpedo mid-flight.


Update #300 adds 6 new backgrounds for landed environments including 2 new desert wilderness locations, two new wilderness ice world locations, an ocean wilderness location and an idyllic garden outpost.

With Update #300, we have improved the hover over Fuel/AU to be clear that this value is an approximation which is heavily modified by travel conditions and tests. We've also fixed a bug where bonuses from Captian's Traits were not showing up in the ship status screen after ship upgrades.

- Added new unlockable Profession: Wing Commando!
- Lead boarding assaults from your shuttle as a Captain Commando
- Adjusted carrier-captain rules, Captain can now train as Wing Leader, Bomber or Commando (even without profession)
- Added 6 new environment backgrounds for remote worlds and small settlements
- Fixed display issue causing Captain's Trait not show in ship status after upgrading ship
- Marked Fuel/AU for engines as approximation, clarified hovers
- Fixed unlock typos

Captains, it's been 4 years now since we launched Star Traders: Frontiers. 🎉 Another year of expanding this universe, welcoming new players, fun new playthrough challenges, and booming Steam, Discord, and Reddit communities that continue to impress us with your ideas for us, helpfulness to each other, and creativity in your gameplay.

Basically, we have a lot to celebrate! 😁 So this Sunday, at 8pm EDT, join us on Twitch for a celebration stream!

Tune in for...

• dev chat!
  
• Cory seeing how far some of the cheat-ier mods you all have created can get him... on Impossible Difficulty 😅...
  
• a dive into the deep lore -- bring your questions and see what secrets you can get out of Andrew.

And before the Sunday night stream, we'd like to invite you to hop in our Discord and share a favorite moment, a gameplay story, or even just a link to a review you've left us.

Everyone who does so may get featured in a commemorative image we're working on and will reveal during the livestream. Share your links / stories / gameplay memories before Sunday at noon Eastern for your chance to be included.

We’ll see you on https://www.twitch.tv/TreseBrothers at 8pm Eastern, this Sunday August 7th!

(original challenge description below)

This last month you all have been riding the Highway to the Danger Zone with your Top Guns. You’ve dealt with them only firing when they are good and ready and put up with them buzzing your bridge.

It’s been a lot of fun reading your stories and hearing about you and your pilots’ adventures. If you want to catch up on the fun, you can check out the challenge discussion thread and head to our Discord and go to #top_gun_challenge.

Some highlights:

LordofSyn, for giving us the fashion crime of the challenge, but also check out that glorious mustache. It definitely deserves a prize.



Scathe, for the many captain’s logs highlighting the adventures of their pilots and their kill totals. Particularly enjoyed the stories of intrigue with an officer trying to steal titles to ships and jealousy, when the top pilot was passed over for a promotion in favor of a longer standing member of the crew. Check out these stats on their Top Guns!



Lord Duluth, not only for the stories about their 3 pilots, but for telling us about the Bounty Hunter/Xeno Hunter/Soldier who really wanted to let everyone know that they would be an excellent pilot. No really, just look at those traits!



Well done, Captains! There are so many more of you who participated in the challenge, sharing great screenshots and stories; thank you all! Even though July is over, we would love to hear about your try at this challenge (or any of the previous community challenges) any time you’re looking for a fun twist to your playthrough.




Hello, Captains. It’s time for the July (and a little bit of June) 2022 STF challenge. Ride the Highway to the Danger Zone in our Top Gun Challenge! We want to see and hear the stories of your hot shot pilots and their exploits. Who buzzed the bridge after a battle? What happened during their shore leave beach volleyball game? Do they have the need, the need for speed?

This is a carrier craft challenge. With the recent release of Update 299, you have access to a new starting carrier ship if you've completed the "Hunt the Hunter" unlock (or are playing the moddable version), in addition to all previously available options. Here is the outline of the guidelines for this challenge:

• Fly a carrier ship or install a launch bay onto the ship of your choice
  
• Have at least 3 wing pilots
  
• Use any mix of Bomber, Interceptor and Boarding Shuttles
  
• If you wish, use Custom Difficulty and max out Profit Boost to help accelerate getting ships, pilots, etc

While this is a carrier craft challenge, we want to hear about your Wing pilots. Tell us about their lives, their adventures, and their careers through screenshots, narrative write ups, stats, memes, etc. You can share them here or in our Discord. At the end of the challenge, we will highlight several of your Top Guns.

• Screenshots of your elite pilot team and (if they are lucky) their fabulous mustaches
  
• Stories of your pilots’ daring (perhaps dangerous) actions during battle, what they got up to at the spice hall, and how they came to be a part of your crack pilot team
  
• Stats on their battle prowess, battles won/lost
  
• Your own creative edits / showcases / celebrations of your pilots' adventures

No matter what you choose to share, please include one screenshot of your pilot team! We want to see your aces, your hot shots, and your pilots that like to bend the rules.

If you post in the Discord, please post in the #top_gun_challenge channel in the STF category.

We've also opened up a discussion on the general forum for all posts, questions and shares for this challenge!

Fly into the Danger Zone, Captain. Looking forward to hearing about your pilots!

It is a hot time of the year for sales, so sit down in the cool captain's chair in your air-conditioned bridge (you bought the AC upgrade, right?) and command your ship and crew across the icy void. Come one, come all, join us in Star Traders: Frontiers for the Steam Summer Sale. This is the best price you'll see until Cyber Knight's: Flashpoint launches, so don't miss this one.

Update #299 is a major carrier update, releasing the first and only starting carrier, the mighty Shizari Huntress. This also opens the door for modders to add their own starting carriers if they please. We've also added a new contact, improved the orbital UI to make spotting Contact's easier and fixed a small pile of other things suggested by community members.

If you're enjoy the game, the pace of updates and all the free (299 updates ... no DLC ... wut?) updates, please remember to share the game with a friend and leave a review!

Right now ~1,000 of the Kickstarter backers for Cyber Knights: Flashpoint have access to the game’s private alpha and are giving us great feedback as the game gets closer to Early Access. We also have some public demos on our roadmap for events coming up this fall. Make sure you’ve wishlisted and followed Cyber Knights for news and a special discount when it’s released!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


When setting up a new captain, you can now start your game directly with the Shizari Huntress, a light-service carrier that bristles with long range weaponry as well as auto-cannons to augment its launch bay and dual hangar bays. This new priority (A) ship requires the challenging "Hunt the Hunter" unlock (or, you can play the modded version of the game without mods to skip unlocks entirely) but comes with an extra $60,000 of valuable craft installed in its hangars. The default configuration is a Wing Leader flying a Interdictor and a Wing Bomber flying a Bomber.

For modders, ship components have also gained a new field "defaultCraft" which can be used to indicate what craft a component should slot when its being used for a starting ship, and the matching crew will join the ship as well.


Hanging around the spice hall, the presser is an unforgiving type of Contact, rounding up potential Pilots and helping them find their way to a captain who needs more hands. The Presser offers Pilot recruits, discounts on Spice and direct access to the Black Market. With the 4 new Contact types added in the last update, this latest push has greatly expanded the ability to get access to all the different recruit types you might need directly from Contacts, where the highest recruit levels and best Attribute bonuses are available.


When visiting a system's orbit screen, you can now hover over the Contacts icon over either of the zones to see exactly which Contacts are there. This can be especially useful on systems with 2 zones and multiple Contacts to avoid landing at the wrong spot.

As usual, we've got a pile of other fixes thanks to everyone posting daily here on the Steam forums:

• Resolved the text overruns that were showing up on some resolutions for the new starting Contacts added in #298.
  
• Fixed an unlock image for Specialty Acquisitions which was actually a ship but just showed a big ?.
  
• Improved the screen flow for selling Intel / Scientific Intel to match other Contact services (subscreen closes on use).
  
• Adjusted more engine burners to be bettered centered.
  
• Improved spawn rates for 4 new Contact types added in Update #298.

- Added new starting carrier ship Shizari Huntress (unlock "Hunt the Hunter") to (A) priority
- Light service carrier packs long range weaponry, auto-cannons and dual hangars
- Added new Contact type "Spice Hall Presser" who recruits pilots, offers spice discounts and Black Market access
- Contact hovers in system orbit screen list all Contacts by type and name
- Fixed text overruns for new Starting Contacts on some screen resolutions
- Fixed missing unlock image for Specialty Acquisitions
- Screen flow when selling Intel or Scientific Intel to Contacts matches pattern for all services
- Adjusted visual engine burners for Galtak and other ships during Hyperwarp jumps

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.

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/


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.


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!

- 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 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.

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/


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.


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.

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.

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.



- 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