Welcome Update #331, where we are continuing the drive to add more high powered ship components to the game to help you design the perfect ship for whatever profession you chose in a wide range of mass categories. We've also added a new rare Salvage Armor type, the Wolf Eight-Plate and fixed a number of bugs and community reported QoL.

If you're enjoying the on-going free updates to the game years after launch, we hope you'll consider leaving a review!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, launched into Steam Early Access and how is marching to Update #30 as it battles through its ambitious public roadmap. We've just completed the first major roadmap milestone with the Hacker's Nest and are preparing to complete the second milestone with Proc-Gen Missions and Custom Difficulty (even better than STFs!) If you're looking for a story rich, squad-based RPG, take a minute to follow, wishlist or try Cyber Knights!

All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope you’ll check it out and spread the word!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


We're still not done expanding the scope of ship design options and components for our Captains, and this update adds another top-end option for cargo haulers, Cargo Hold 7. This oversized large component can individually hold 70 units of cargo, making it the largest hold to date. As we press towards Rank 10 Cargo Holds, ship architects are warned that our designer's ability to cram even more Water-Fuel storage into these spaces has hit a upper limit. For Captains that demand more fuel storage and longer range for their cargo haulers, look to the upcoming large size fuel tanks instead of Cargo Hold 7 and beyond.


Update #331 also rolls out the new Advanced Hangar Bay, a medium sized component capable of holding 1 craft, boasting the best Electronics boost among Hangars (+2), the highest Fuel Boost (+20) but also the highest HW Jump Cost (+10).

Also, we've renamed the Thulun-specific hangar bay to 'Fidelis Hangar' so the Faction ownership is more clear.


This new armor set provides superior protection and mobility, ensuring your team is ready to face any challenge in the galaxy. Keep an eye out when you're salvaging for this rare drop!

Last but not least, we've implemented additional bug fixes and gameplay adjustments. We've resolved an issue causing seized AI ships to incorrectly display zero available cargo space, and fixed a bug that sometimes led to the unexpected drop of Templar Exemplar Command armor as loot. Also, we've added +1 Armor to the Jyeeta Cargo Hold II, enhancing the Jyeeta's resilience and make this terrifying race of "space slugs" even worse!

We've also caught up to a long running bug that could result in seized AI ships having 0 available cargo space.

- New Ship Component: Cargo Hold 7
- New Ship Component: Armored Cargo Hold 5
- New Ship Component: Advanced Hangar Bay
- Renamed Thulun specific hangar bay to 'Fidelis Hangar'
- New Crew Armor: Wolf's Eight-Plate
- Fixed issue that could cause seized AI ships to have 0 available cargo space
- Added +1 Armor to Jyeeta Cargo Hold II, making upgrade Jyeeta slightly stronger

If you'd like to nominate Star Traders: Frontiers for a Steam award, we're a labor of love. With Update #330 just out, the labor continues, and it does so do to love of the game.

Thanks for all your support, reviews and shares!
Andrew & Cory & the whole Team

Update #330 arrives with some new Trait changes, new Trait mutation opportunities, new gear for your characters, and improvements to both new game and mutiny options. A huge thanks to everyone who has helped us get to 330 updates and continually improve the game with new features, balance and content.

If you're enjoying the continued free updates, please remember to leave a review and share the game with a friend!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, launched into Steam Early Access last month! With Update #20 already out, we're doing it in a style you'll recognize from Star Traders: Frontiers. Fast, relentless improvement and expaions! We've just completed the first major roadmap milestone with the Hacker's Nest and are preparing to add a new Story Era (sound familiar, Star Traders?) and proc-gen missions to the new title. If you're looking for a story rich, squad-based RPG, take a minute to follow, wishlist or try Cyber Knights!

All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope you’ll check it out and spread the word!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

We've pushed the longtime Trait, Self-Taught into more exciting territory with Update #330. First we've increased its chance to grant double XP to 15%, allowing it to compete more directly with other powerful Traits like Brilliant. With Update #330, we've also added Self-Taught to more Trait rule sets, allowing it to proc in recruits from the clans, low Economy zones and other places where it is impossible that Brilliant will proc.

While the Brilliant character may gain additional XP due to their sheer intelligence, a Self-Taught character gains extra XP from necessity to survive and excel (or whatever other motivation you'd like to RP!)



We've spent a few weeks working on Mutiny as one of the focus areas and with this update we've buttoned up a few final issues. We've ironed out a few of the Traits that should or shouldn't allow Talents and fixed some bugs where the total amount of money required for Large Pay Raise was miscalculated.


While in most situations, starting contacts are well spread around, there are still map seeds that could result in them ending up in a pile. With this update, we've further improved the situation even in those odd maps seeds to make this more optimal, more of the time.
 
- Buffed "Self-Taught" Trait to 15% chance of Double XP
- Independent Recruits have increased chance to have "Self-Taught" Trait
- Added new chance of "Self-Taught" Recruits for Clans and low Economy Zones
- Increased chance of "Self-Taught" where "Brilliant" can't proc
- New Gear: St. Leena's Bangles
- Fixed Dread Legacy description, buffed XP and Rep Bonus
- Fixed text issues with "Large Pay Raise" option during Mutiny
- Fixed issues with some mutinous crew Talents being available
- Fixed issue with "local" starting Contacts all being placed in a single zone
- Fixed ship pricing display bugs during Starport Expansion rumors

Update #326 follows-up on a number of awesome community requests for improvements - new Talent cooldown visibility, new medium slot Fuel Tanks, new HUD details about paying your crew and more. A huge thanks to everyone posting and sharing to help improve the game!

If you're enjoying the on-going support for your favorite space captain RPG, please take a minute to leave a review and share the game with a friend!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, launched into Steam Early Access last month! We've just completed the first major roadmap milestone with the Hacker's Nest and are preparing to add a new Story Era (sound familiar, Star Traders?) and proc-gen missions to the new title. If you're looking for a story rich, squad-based RPG, take a minute to follow, wishlist or try Cyber Knights!

All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope you’ll check it out and spread the word!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


With Update #329 we've made the cooldowin details for all ops Talents -- Exploring, Spying, Patrolling, Blockading and Salvage -- visible when hovering over a Talent before use. For these Talents especially, as you're often trying to plan out a certain sequence of Talents to ensure you come off cooldown quickly enough to never have to play without a talent -- this is highly valuable! Thanks for the great suggestion @rzwicaksono!


Since we were adding it for the ops Talents, we've also included cooldown details for Talents in ship combat. As these Talents go onto cooldown for extended periods of time, you can make quicker decisions about using them, especially if you have some idea of the level of risk you can currently take or the chances of another ship fight just around the next star.

Update #329 has added 2 new medium slot Fuel Tanks to the mix. While neither of the new tanks adds any additional Skill Pool to your ship, they do add sizeable chunk of Fuel in total for the trade of cost, at 105 Fuel and 130 Fuel respectively.


We've added details about how many crew need to be paid to the hover over the alert bar at the top of the HUD. While crew payment doesn't have enough priority to demand its own icon up on this bar, the information is just always available if you hover. This can provide a quick way to know if you can level your crew, or use the Traits that rely on paying crew to your advantage.

With Update #329, we also fixed a problematic pricing issue with the Wolf Vector's and reports bugs and issues from the forums.

Thanks to everyone reporting bugs and issues!

- Improved Talent Displays: Added Cooldown to Explore, Orbit, Ship Combat
- Improved Ship Alerts: Now shows count of Crew waiting on payment
- New Components: Fuel Tank 5, Fuel Tank 6
- Fixed displays of some Small Craft Crew buffs from Gear
- Fixed: Wolf Vector price bug
- Fixed bugs and rendering issues

Update #328 adds the new Cargo Hold 6, improves a Zendu Trait and also adds another set of deepening simulation connections between game systems and Rumors - Rumors and Black Market, Rumors and Rare Trade Goods

Cargo Hold 6 is a beast - the top of the line large cargo hold for your merchant's cargo long hauler. The expansive fuel capacity pairs well with the recently updated Longhaul Engines. So whether your running Salvage or Explorer with a Javat mining rig, or just hauling cargo for credits, this is the upgrade for you. Load up on expensive Permit-only goods or seeking out even more difficult to obtain Rare Trade Goods, the Cargo Hold 6 is a big investment but helps keep those merchanting margins high.

Overall, we've pushed the chances of drawing access cards - which are the success cards int he Black Market - about 5% higher with a bit of a bias toward higher level access cards.

In the case of Rumors like Spice Festival and Civil Unrest we've made the Black Market access cards - in which you reach the market - twice as likely to be drawing in to the hand of 5 cards. Also, access cards with higher level of access are now more prevalent.

We're expanding Rumors effects by allowing them to interact with the Rare Trade Good generation and economy. This is another exciting intertwining of important systems and we're excited to continue to make changes in this regard that deepen their relationship.

For example, Shortage Rumors on the planets responsible for Rare Trade Good supplies will trigger spikes in prices for the goods as the news travels. We've mapped out some more cool ideas for Rumor interaction like with Civil Unrest and Xenos driving supply and pricing changes as well.


To help protect high powered Contacts, we've added some new rules that prevent low Influence Contacts from actually making an attempt at killing them. This helps strengthen the simulation and improve the chances for higher Influence Contacts to outlive their peers.


This Zendu Trait has gained a full point of +1 Initiative. The memories of your lineage's past, regardless of how fragment give you nearly preternatural reaction time, now for a total of +3 Initiative.
 
- New Ship Component: Cargo Hold 6 (yw, merchants)
- Reduced rate of low-influence Contacts attempting to assassinate high-influence rivals
- Rumors on RTG origin world can now cause market and pricing changes (more soon)
- Balance Change: Black Market overall +5% Success Rate
- Double Success Rate for Black Market Under Spice Festival, Civil Unrest
- Contact Influence spent on Rumor duration is return to Contacts if the Rumor ends early
- Buffed: Zendu Lineage Gains +1 Init for +3 Total
- Nerfed: Relic Deathward looses -5% Bleed Res

The update train continues with Update #327: Longhaul It! This one adds a new level 10 ship weapon, new rare gear, improves all Longhaul engines regardless of Mass, improves starting Contact balance and fixed the fix for the Acheron Battlecarrier.

If you're enjoying the game and the updates, please leave a review and share the game with a friend!

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.

All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope you’ll check it out and spread the word!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


The new M115 Twin Autocannon breaches the level 10 weapon barrier! Exciting, highly expensive and highly powerful, the M115 offers intensely high (90%!) chance to hit enemy craft as well as best-in-class accuracy against enemy capital ships (+14). Like other higher level weapons, it is unlocked alongside Level 9 weapons by the grand sweep of story and Eras.

We've also made fixes to the M101 Tracker Cannon which had some odd values set for its level, price and the minimum zone stats required to buy it.


All Longhaul type Void Engines have gained a new and key boost -- extra fuel! Ranging from +25 to +55 depending on the Mass of the engine, these Longhauls now directly help your ship live up to its name, even beyond the regular Engine Speed's effect. This helps them stand out in the set of engines for their purpose.

To the benefit of small ships interested in using Longhauls, the lower Mass Traveller and Longhaul Engines now come with Armor, which can help take pressure off other components in an already small ship.

Another rare piece of gear you made need to salvage high level wrecks to find, the new Hogobloxin Balm adds +3 to Wisdom, Resilience and Charisma as well as adding +25 Debuff Resistance.

Speaking of ultra rare loot, we've rebalanced the newly added Deathward down to +21 Resilience (from +24) and tweaked its loot drop rules so that it is even less likely to appear early in your career.

 
With Update #327, we've adjusted the starting Influence of Retired Blademaster, Naval Doctor, Spice Presser Contacts. Mosty to their benefit, these new starting Influence values can be especially helpfulf or new starting contacts who may or may not be your allies. This lets them be more active in the simulation and protects them a bit from early and sudden death.

- New Ship Weapon: M115 Twin Autocannon (Level 10! What?)
- New Rare Loot Gear: Hogobloxin Balm
- All Longhaul pattern engines now offer additional fuel storage, from 25 to 55 depending on mass
- Low mass Traveller and Longhaul Engines now have Armor points, are Armored components
- Reworked 'Kiret Karat' Relic 2nd Hand Blade (low damage, high accuracy)
- Contact Influence has much larger impact on duration of Rumors purchased by Contacts
- Increased range of Zone Rumors `Court Scientist` Contact can attempt to purchase
- Increased Starting Influence for: Retired Blademaster, Naval Doctor, Spice Presser Contacts
- Relic Deathward reduced from +24 to +21 Resilience
- Fixed reported problems with 'Acheron Battlecarrier'
- Fixed issues with M101 Tracker Cannon (Level, Availability, Cost)

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!

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.

All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope you’ll check it out and spread the word!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/


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.

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).


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!
 
- 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

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.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

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


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?


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!

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.

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.

- 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

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!

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

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/

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.

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.


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.


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!

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!

- 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