Hello, Captains. It’s time for another STF challenge. This challenge is a bit different as it is more of an RP challenge - to theme your captain, officers, and playstyle around being a bounty hunter. Shout out to Füchsingeist for giving us the idea with their themed playthrough.



As always there are a few requirements for this challenge, although they are more guidelines and starting points, rather than hard requirements. For this challenge:

• Your captain must be a bounty hunter
  
• Feel free to theme your run around fictional bounty hunters (Spike and Jet, Han Solo, the Mandalorian, Boba Fett) if you want or create your own original bounty hunter and their team

That's it!


Some ideas for what we’d love to see:

• Screenshots of your bounty hunters and their officers
  
• Description of your theme
  
• Tell us about your highest bounty and the story behind it
  
• Any other creative ways you want to share to tell us about the bounty hunter life: memes, interpretive dance, gifs, etc

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

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



Good luck and have fun, Captains!

Welcome Star Traders and exiled Cyber Knights to another exciting update post for your favorite Star Traders game, Star Traders: Frontiers. 😁 If you haven't already seen, all of the Trese Brothers games and bundles are 33% to 80%-off for the next several days!

This includes the Android and iOS versions of Star Traders and our other games, and we just released a new "Best of Trese Brothers" Steam bundle for a bonus discount on any games you don't already own -- top-down turn-based tactics RPG Templar Battleforce (set in the same universe as Star Traders!), our new squad tactics heist RPG Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, and old-school fantasy tactics in our party-based RPG Heroes of Steel.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/37813/Best_of_Trese_Brothers/


This update brings two new Rank 15 Talents, one for Spy and one for Quartermaster. The new Quartermaster "Combat Debrief" talent provides a catch-up mechanic for Crew Experience and provides a strong Morale heal following Crew Combat. Depending on how popular this Talent is, we might be releasing a twin brother Talent that provides the same result but for Ship Combat.

The Spy gains "Asset Forfeiture" which is a Prize Ship talent capable of seizing ships during Conflicts, if the Captain holds and Edict and can pay the tithe. Chasing prize ships is a favorite activity for many late game Star Trader: Frontiers players and adding this talent to the Spy has been a popular request. Our hope is that this will open up more Officer builds for players hunting Prize Ships.

We love hearing your ideas for new Rank 15 Talents, even when they are a little bit OP. Keep 'em coming!


By popular request, we've added "Fuel Tank 8" and "Fuel Tank 9" to hold previously unheard of quantities of fuel. Useful for players building ships with the capacity for many hyperwarp jumps without refueling and available for installation on small and medium sized ships. They are expensive to install, but not particularly expensive to maintain. These components won't become available until after the Plague Era has started, and can only be found in zones with level 9 Economy, 7 Military, 9 Starport.

For an upcoming patch we are testing additional Large Fuel Tank upgrades for players who are building dreadnought-sized behemoths with a terrible thirst for fuel.


In an effort to provide even more variety and seekable scenarios, and make Salvage Rumors more valuable for more types of builds, we've added some new rules about how Salvage Ops and Explorer interact. The Explorer deck now includes additional reward, and some risks, when a Salvage Rumor is active overhead. During an Orbital Disaster there are increased risk of Ship Damage, but also the possibility of finding valuable components and cargo that was ferried down to the planet from the dying Orbital. Orbital Construction Rumors also modified the Explorer deck increasing the potential to strike it big when Exploring.

We have reworked the very dangerous "Meteor Storm" -5 orbital Risk card to include Navigation or Command in the avoidance save. However, the rule that 25% of the time no save is permitted is still in place -- so watch out for this card. As this card was only included in the deck for a single Rumor, we've also expanded it to be present in all Salvage Operations, albeit at a very low percent.

In keeping with the theme of running a rescue operation during Orbital Disasters, we've added an additional large Reputation Bonus reward card to that Salvage Operations deck. This should help balance out some of the additional risk cards that have been added during the v3.3.x series of updates.

The v3.3.x series of updates has included a large number of fixes, new components and price adjustments, both for install value and maintenance cost. As a result, some of the ship prices have started to drift outside of the expected bands. The accountants at the largest Rychart shipyard have teamed up with a Javat price to push for updated pricing, and here we are. Four ships got more expensive, one ship got a lot cheaper. Several ships received patches and adjustments to fix issues and replace some incorrect components.

Cyber Knights has just received a huge update with the new Scourge class, and we wanted to thank all of our players who have helped support all of our games through Early Access and beyond. It makes a big difference to the final quality of the game.

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/

- New Rank 15 Spy Talent: Asset Forfeiture (Prize Ship w/ Edict)
- New Rank 15 Quartermaster Talent: Combat Debrief (Bonus XP, Morale Recovery)
- New Ship Components: Fuel Tank 8, Fuel Tank 9
- "Meteor Storm" orbital card can now be reduced with Navigation or Command check
- Salvage Ops can now draw "Meteor Storm" card (very low base chance)
- Successful Salvage Ops can now generate Rep Bonus during Orbital Disasters
- Explore operations have additional cards for Orbital Disasters and Orbital Construction Rumors
- Increased the price of "Rim Exocruiser" by 200K credits
- Increased the price of "Basalt Carrier" by 200K credits
- Reduced price of updated "Vark Carrier" by 1M credits
- Increased the price of "Horizon Highliner" by 175K credits
- Increased the price of "Horizon Cruiser" by 175K credits
- Components adjustments for "Obsidian Carrier" and "Larimar Battlecruiser"

Welcome Captains, to the next episode of This Old Star Traders Update. We sincerely hope that you enjoy the twists and turns of 3.3.91. Let's dig into what's changed!

If you're enjoying the continued support and updates for Star Trader: Frontiers, we hope you'll take a moment to review the game, check out Cyber Knights: Flashpoint or tell a friend about our work.


First, by popular request we've ported the outfit and name randomizer out of the appearance screen and promoted them to the Crew details screen of the Roster. This intends to increase the number of players who can see and use this feature, as well as making it easier to re-randomize large parts of your Crew by using Next + Randomize. Be aware, Captain, that changing the appearance and name of your Crew will do nothing to dissuade or confuse Legendry Bounty Hunters, like "Draiv Solregard" who also get a sneaky little buff in v3.3.91

This update also expands the ship component catalog with new components and integrates previously released components into the AI ship architect. With each update, as we release new ship components first they head out to the player base where we can get feedback and observe their balance. Then, after a period of testing, they are released to the AI ship builder.


New for players this time around are two structural components and a new type of Plasma Cannon. First, the new Water-Fuel Reclamation 6 component will help Captains with smaller fuel tanks maintain longer operational cycles by reducing fuel use and offering a rebate on used fuel. This component can also serve a powerful function in ship combat, as attacks that normally would hit the Ship's Engine can be soaked by a Reclamation plant.


The Armored Salvage Bay 6 provides another upgrade for ships built to Salvage and Explore. The Armored Salvage Bay 6 provides substantially advantages in Salvage while also increasing ship survivability by providing a large amount of Ship's armor. The originally armored salvage bay upgrades were added due to player requests for more Salvage-Combat hybrid components. Salvage operations are always dangerous -- the richest prizes bring all the predators out -- and as a result Ships engaged in Salvage operations are far more likely than Patrol or Spy operators to encounter hostile forces. The Armored Salvage Bay provides enhanced survivability and other minor combat benefits.

Ok and now for the good stuff -- new weapons! The new Obliterator PKX-5 Plasma Cannon will absolutely obliterate your opponents if you can fit it on your ship. Do not attempt to install two of these monsters, that just wouldn't be fair. As a size 3 Plasma Cannon, the Obliterator PKX-5 is now the most devastating mid-range weapon in the game. Previous iterations of the Obliterator line, such as the PKX-3 and Obliterator PKX-1 are size 3 but require a full 4RP to fire, making them difficult to field on all but the largest battleships. The advanced PKX-5 design allows for increased efficiency and plasma coil cooling which means it can be fired for 25% less overall energy while still packing the same devastating punch.


We also fixed some small issues players found and reported. We fixed a rare and specific path through the UI that would allow players to pay landing costs twice for the same zone. We changed the rate of Mutiny generation during Xeno Fleet Rumors, without reducing the Morale loss from the Rumor. Crew are less likely to start internal fights when surrounded by Xeno ships. While less common, Mutiny during Xeno Fleet is far from impossible given the difficulty of passing through such sectors.

- Added randomize name and outfit to crew screen from roster
- New Ship Component: Water-Fuel Reclamation 6
- New Ship Component: Armored Salvage Bay 6
- New Ship Weapon: Obliterator PKX-5 (RP3 Plasma Cannon)
- Fixed re-landing issue where hitting space or clicking would count as a new landing
- Added components from the v3.3.x updates to the AI ship designer
- During Xeno Fleet Rumors, Crew Mutiny is less likely

Update #339 continues the additions to small ships with new Scout Bridges, adds new Cargo Hold options for ships with large slots dedicated to cargo, as well as new and improved Trait mutation paths for Explorer crews, and a big retraining of the enemy human AI on How to Effectively Use Carriers (TM).

If you're loving the updates, improvements and new content please share the game with a friend and leave a review!


Two new Scout Bridges have rolled out with Update #339. Available only to ships that have small slot bridges, these improved Scout Bridges are powerful additions to the small ship meta. Each is faction and era locked, so they aren't always available or available immediately in the game.

Scout Bridge 6 is developed by Cadar at the time of the start of the Second Founding Era while Scout Bridge 7 is developed by Thulun at the start of the Plague Era.

While they offer a host of advantages, these Scout Bridges are also well suited for light carrier builds that utilize Shuttles for boarding. In addition to the new Scout Bridges, we're introducing the new Level 6 gear: Trifax Interlink, designed to boost craft defense for piloting a shuttle and provide combat buffs for boarding combat.


Both of the new Cargo Hold options -- Cargo Hold 8 for maximum storage and fuel capacity and Armored Cargo Hold 6 for a hybrid of Armor and cargo space -- are developed near the start of the Plague Era. While they are not faction-locked, both are expensive top tier components to consider installing into your high-end ship to squeeze out a few more points, fuel and cargo capacity.


With Update #339, we've improved the variety of possible Trait mutations that can come from Exploring with 5 new positive and negative routes. As you do any activity - from sailing, to spicing to Exploring - you have a constant low percentage chance that your crew will gain Trait mutations. Over time, the types of activities you repeat and repeat shape your crew. Exploration has new Trait options that will bake in over your career.

We've also updated the way in which Trait mutations are displayed during Exploration to be sure that they are always displayed clearly.


With this update, we've retrained the enemy ship builder on the Skylift Carrier to help it provide more threatening and efficient builds. This will result in some new and exciting directions that the enemy ship builder can take the Skylift. It is a big and powerful ship, so it's exciting to see it be more threatening when it appears in your ship encounter.


Carriers are especially important to get right, as the enemy ship builder needs to consider a few extra things. Perhaps the most important is the ratio of Bomber, Interdictor and Shuttles, but to be effective this needs to closely align with the ship's capital weapon strategy as well as their crew and combat crew.

For Update #339, we've improved the decision tree for the enemy ship builder to approach the rules and order of decisions that the enemy ship builder will make when putting together an enemy carrier. This update focuses specifically on human carrier enemies, so let us know what you think if you're facing off with these captains in the void.

Think deep thoughts, enemy ship builder!


Thanks for all the typos and reported crashes! We're constantly tuning and tweaking to improve performance, stability and to stamp out the remaining typos in the game. We appreciate your attention to detail - every bit helps!

We're hanging out on the Trese Brothers community Discord, waiting to hear your thoughts on these updates, so join us there or on the forums!

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 three major roadmap milestone with the Hacker's Nest, Proc-Gen Missions for endless play, and Custom Difficulty (and the ability to change difficulty during play). 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/

- New Ship Component: Cargo Hold 8
- New Ship Component: Armored Cargo Hold 6
- New Ship Component: Scout Bridge 6 and 7
- New Level 6 Wing Specialist Gear: Trifax Interlink
- Improved the way Trait mutation reports during Explorer
- Added 5 new positive and 5 new negative Trait events for Explorer
- Updated AI for the Skylift Carrier
- Retrained non-Xeno AI small craft strategy with new improvements
- Minor performance improvements, fixed reported typos & crashes

Update #338 unleashes a completely unique and powerful small-ship Hyperwarp Drive that includes +1 Officer Cabin, 2 new high-level ship components that will only appear after the Second Founding story Era starts, more connections and impacts for Rumors, and finally also tips the scales back a bit toward the enemy with an upgraded Legendary Bounty Hunter template and finally unleashing the 3.3.x components into the enemy ship builder pool.

If you like to see a game like Star Traders: Frontiers continued to get updates for free, 6 years after its release date, please hit up the review button and check out ...

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


We've upgraded the ship blueprint used by the adversary "Draiv Solregard", a Legendary Bounty Hunter. His ship's components now upgrade more effectively for combat and make him a more unique encounter compared to other normal Bounty Hunters. He is one of the oldest and most feared hunters in the void, so beware this near-ghost of an earlier era.


We've added a unique new component for small and medium sized ships, the "Traveler" class of Hyperwarp Drive. These upgrades are expensive for a Hyperwarp drive but include a critically useful +1 Officer Cabin and are available for the 2400, 3400, 5000 Mass hulls.

With the addition of the Traveler drive and the use of Annex components, many ship builds can completely eliminate dedicated officer cabins completely at 3400 mass and below. Our testing showed that these opened up new options for early game ship builds and so we've made them available immediately at the start of the game.

We are also releasing several new, late game ship components as the story Era's advance. First, providing state of the art targeting data for ship weapons is the Interlocking Sensor Matrix 7. Additionally we've added Ferrochromium Plating II to increase ship survivability in extreme survey and patrol conditions.

Both of these powerful new components are sold in starports only after Second Founding Era starts.


The current barrage of updates, called the v3.3.x series, has included a ton of new ship components, component rebalances and weapon additions. We've started the process of finalizing v3.3.x and have begun testing and cycling these new components into the ship building AI. This means in late games you may start to see some of the new components and new weapons used by hostile AI. As always, the game remains fully symmetrical so you won't see the enemy using any components that cannot purchase.

In preparation for the next onslaught on Star Traders: Frontiers updates, v3.4.x, we've deployed another raft of Black Market and Rumor integrations. Pirate Fleet Rumors increase chance of Crew Combat results in Black Market, rendering this rumor a Risk and Reward booster for the Black Market.

With the zone in chaos, the Xeno Fleet Rumor will now increase chance of access in Black Market, making it easier to trade in dangerous places. And finally, the recruit-madness of the Mercenary Rumor, and all the off-world information and war stories it brings to the zone, increases the value of Intel cards in Black Market by 5x.

- Upgraded "Draiv Solregard", Legendary Bounty Hunter
- New "Traveler" class of Hyperwarp Drive Component, includes +1 Officer Cabin (2400, 3400, 5000 Mass)
- New Component: Interlocking Sensor Matrix 7, Ferrochromium Plating II available after Second Founding Era
- Added components from the v3.3.x updates to the AI ship designer
- Pirate Fleet Rumors increase chance of Crew Combat in Black Market
- Xeno Fleet Rumors increase chance of access in Black Market
- Mercenary Rumor increases the value of Intel cards in Black Market

Update #337 swings back around to the Rumor system to deepen their impacts into multiple systems and the Contact simulation. With this update we've improved the results for Artifact Find, Merchant Fleet, Starport Closed and Mercenaries. Rumors are a key system in Star Traders: Frontiers that cause variation, reasons to travel, dynamic and short term goals and help shake up the Contacts in the simulation, so the more numbered and powerful their effects the more interesting they become.

If updates make you happy, and you know it, leave a review!


The Quadrant Rumor Artifact Find has a wide impact across Explorer and encountering Smuggler ships. There are Artifacts to be found, and while previously the Rumor mostly impacted the direct results of Explorer, now the Rumor also expands the value and size of any Stashes discovered during Explorer. In the case where you find some clue that reveals another smuggler or pirate's stash, it is a stash that was bloated in value by the Artifact Find Rumor and the value and type of cargo in that stash will be better for it.

Also, we've further increased the value of bonus cargo being carried by Smugglers across the Quadrant with Artifact Find Rumor active. If you're a pirate, there is even more incentive to flock to the quadrant for valuable pickings now.

Speaking of which ...


The Pirate's Talent "Looter's Instinct" which adds a bonus cargo to a Merchant encountered while Blockading now has Rumor hooks as well. The type of bonus cargo and the count allocated to the bonus is now larger when the Quadrant Rumors Merchant Fleet or Artifact Find are active.

If you plan to truly capitalize on the value of Rumors, be sure to build out a crew to help you find them and then use Talents to reap the rewards.


Stardock Closed Rumor already has a wealthy of unfortunate consequences. First, you can't fuel, repair, upgrade or access dry docked ships at this landing zone and any local Contacts are at risk of Influence loss. We've punched up the risk to Contacts to represent their inability to flee in the case of trouble. If a Contact suffers an assassination attempt from another Contact while such a Rumor is active, it is 25% less likely that they will survive.

Considering that a Contact may have used their action to drop this harmful Rumor on an enemy Contact's zone, they are basically setting up their enemy for a possible death blow on their next action in the simulation.

While a Mercenaries Rumor is affecting a zone, the Black Market can be a little more dangerous. In response to these often-troublesome off-worlders clogging the starport, spice hall and surrounding district, the local forces have doubled down on their patrols to keep the peace. Which makes sneaking your illegal cargo to the Black Market more difficulty. Where there are Merc Rumors, security patrol cards are more likely now in the Black Market.


A fan favorite - the No More Mass Reducers mod removes all Mass Reducers from the game -
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2492139496

Merchant Marine mod tones down the crew size aiming to give a more Firefly-esque style of play -
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2856946970

Want 24 new heads for your characters in the game - download Playable Contacts today -
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2936075922&searchtext=

Everyone loves new ship components - so check out the ever-popular Dave's New Ship Components mod -
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2560635932

Always wanted to have a zendu on board to dole out justice - install the Arbiter job mod -
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2824645849

- 'Artifact Find' Rumor now causes increased found Stash value in Explorer
- Increased value of cargo found in Smuggler's holds during 'Artifact Find'
- Boosted power of Pirate Talent 'Looter's Instinct' when Merchant or Artifact rumors active
- Updated 'Artifact Find' Rumor makes it easier to access the Black Market when active
- The 'Stardock Closed' rumor now harms Contact influence, makes it 25% harder to escape assassins
- The 'Mercenaries' rumor now increases the chance of combat patrols in Black Market

Update #336 rolls out with another bristling set of level 8 and 9 capital ship weapons, rebalanced enemy ship builders to improve the short-ranged Lance builds, pricing and ship weapon rebalances, new rules for Spice Hall Trait mutation and extra burning for Molten Worlds.

A huge thanks goes out to everyone playing, posting and sharing Star Traders: Frontiers! As we keep climbing toward the 350th update milestone, remember to leave a review and --

We love continuing to add to Star Traders: Frontiers, but increasingly it’s sales of Cyber Knights that keep our studio going. Help us out by spreading the word? Give the game a shout-out, or recommend it to any of your Steam friends that like games similar to Cyber Knights?

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


The first medium slot Gravcannon above level 6, the GUR-18 weighs in at level 8, costing 3 AP to fire and smacking with a massive 360-450 Dmg. While it can't boast best in class for its other weapon statistics, it is still a smaller, faster Gravcannon (is there such a thing?) that can still shatter enemy hulls and may fit better into your ship configuration than one of the larger high level GCs.


The new Thunderstrike Quad-Arc has been called by some the Lance of the Gods. The level 9 small size lance can pack a powerful punch with 55% Crippling Hit and solid 40 Radiation Damage. Used as a battery, firing multiple at a time for 2 AP, these high-powered Lances can cripple and cook a ship effectively at 2 Range.

Lances have seen a nice rebalance to be now classified with Autocannons and Gravcannons that in the case of a tie between the attacker and the defender, the attacking Lance wins, where with all other weapon types (non AC, GC, or Lance) the defender wins ties. Ties are most common when the dice pools are small -- in early game ships or when both ships are burning, so it isn't a huge impact, but something to keep in mind if you're fighting evenly matched opponents.

We've also spent some time with the AI ship builder to make sure it is pairing its Lance builds with the right other set of ship components to get the best results in short-range, barrage fire type builds.

Both the Torpedo Mk3-Delta and Torpedo Mk4-Ultra have both had their Crippling Effect % revised downward to prevent them from being too OP within the class.

With Update #336, we've continued the press on updating the price balance across the 700+ ship components in Star Traders: Frontiers. The Duranium Coating II and III have both had their price increased as well as all Autocannons, Lances and Gravcannons above Level 6. This helps increase their rarity among AI captains as well and makes them a bit harder to purchase or jump up to as you upgrade your ships.


We've started to dig in the trait mutations sections of the game, looking for exciting ways to add new context and different flavors to how and when mutations happen today. The first tweak in this area is to adjust Spice Hall Trait mutations to increase the chance of gaining Spice Addict if you're crew members are injured and low on HP.


If you're out exploring molten worlds, we've pushed the chance for Crew Damage cards, and especially the most damaging cards in the set, to the max. These types of worlds are dangerous and can really scorch a crew if you're not careful.

- Added new "GUR-18 Gravcannon" (Level 8, Size 2)
- Added new "Thunderstrike Quad-Arc" (Level 9, Size 1)
- Rebalanced Lance Ship Weapons, now classified like Autocannons, Gravcannons
- Minor balance adjustments for Torpedo Mk3-Delta, Torpedo Mk4-Ultra
- Retrained AI Lance strategy with new improvements
- Spice Hall with low HP now increases the chance of Spice Addict Trait rolling
- Increased Price Duranium Coating II, Duranium Coating III and made them more rare
- Increased Price of Level 6+ Autocannons, GravCannons and Lances and made them more rare
- Exploration on Molten Worlds has higher chance of generating Crew damage

Happy New Year, captains! It's going to be another eventful one in the void as we cruise past the #335 Update mark. Update #335 brings new medium sized torpedo weapons, more exciting rules for Engine Damage for aggressive attack strategies, improved rules for Morale Damage when hits target Bridge and Engine, big updates to how enemy ship captains pick their ship weapons in combat and a big sweep of price raising for late game components.

If you've enjoyed just a few free updates or hundreds of updates over the years, we hope you'll consider leaving a review and sharing Star Traders: Frontiers with a friend!


With Update #335, we've rolled out three new medium slot Torpedoes that all pack a massive punch. These high-level medium slot torps make torpedo boats with a wider variety of designs viable into the late game as you finally have options at level 7, 8 and 9 for your medium slots. Get more Void Shielding because these torps can hit very hard and beware that late-game enemy captains may also employ the Mk3-Gamma, Torpedo Mk3-Delta and Torpedo Mk4-Ultra.

In a small but important change for some strategies, we've revised the special rules around Engine Damage in the first 3 Turns of ship combat. There has always been a protection for the player's engine against becoming immediately disabled before Turn 3. Some of these protections were extended to the AI ships as well in ways that made certain hyper-aggressive strategies (ALL the Gravity Cannons, Turn 1!) less effective. We've adjusted the rules on the AI's side without touching the player side rules to allow for these cases and don't punish hyper-aggressive strategies or force them to wait until Turn 3 to truly unleash their power.

A big thanks to the players posting feedback and sharing data on these strategies that helped us craft this fix.


If a ship or crafts weapon attack hits the Bridge or Engine, there is now up to a 30% increase in damage to the crew's Morale. Taking hits to these critical components shakes up the crew as they know the ship is in direct danger of failing to function and therefore losing to the enemy. This change can help accelerate and make more meaningful the ship combat defeat rule that can cause an enemy ship to surrender by Morale loss.


We've updated a number of important AI templates, rules and decision points as they relate to ship weapons. We updated some of the rules and decisions for torpedoes as to what other components to pair them with the for the maximum effect. For those enemies you find hanging at long range and trying to rain torp-hell down on you, be sure to pick your fights, close, or take them out fast with your own long range fire or craft. We've also helped the enemy ship builder balance better between Torpedoes and Missiles to ensure they have good coverage at a wide set of ranges.

Finally, the enemy ship builder was not making great choices about when and where to attach Gravity Cannons to their ships, and we've improved the entire set of thinking. These highly devastating weapons can punch a hole in your hull if you're not careful, so keep an eye out for newly configured enemy mid to large class ships.

With so many weapon's related changes, we also touched on one ship class specifically to make sure the AI ship builder would be making the best decisions -- Broadsword Class. If you see an enemy captain swinging around the edge of a moon in one of these, just be sure you're on your best behavior.


With over 700 components and steadily growing, sometimes prices slide out of band and we need to come back through and revise some things. With Update #335, we've completed a necessary price raise for a number of components, better matching price to performance.

The prices for the M115 Twin Autocannon, Fuel Tank 5+, Cargo Hold 6 and Armored Cargo Hold 6 have all been directly increased. In addition, the all high level Coatings have had their prices increased to better achieve the progression into such high power defensive components.

So many of our updates for Star Traders are based on feedback from you all. But there are limits to what we can do in a game 5 years after its release. Our new tactical heist RPG, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, is evolving fast in Early Access, with plenty of room for content ideas and shifts in gameplay based on what early players are finding fun.

Join us to make this game another one you’ll be enjoying for years to come.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

- Three new size 2 torpedoes Torpedo Mk3-Gamma, Torpedo Mk3-Delta, Torpedo Mk4-Ultra
- Increased the Morale damage from direct Bridge Hits by 30%
- Direct hits to Engine can now cause Morale damage for effected crew
- Revised engine damage rules for early combat, to make aggressive attack strategies more viable
- Post-boarding Bridge hits are now more effective vs all AI, Xeno included
- Updated AI for the Broadsword Class
- Retrained AI torpedo strategy with new improvements
- Improved AI ship architect's weapon selection logic for missiles and torpedoes
- Fixed issues with AI not correctly using Grav Cannons
- Increased the price of M115 Twin Autocannon, Fuel Tank 5+, Cargo Hold 6 - Armored Cargo Hold 6
- Completely repriced high level Coatings

Update #334 continues to expand the sweep of core components for fuel extenders, rebalances how fuel extenders play out in the armored ship meta, improves Shocktrooper's Deepstrike Detonator to target ship's weapons and makes a key negative Salvage card even worse (watch the engine, ye dogs!)

We also have the best price of the year going on with 50% off during Winter Sale! So tell a friend and leave a review!

If you haven’t checked it out in a bit, our new game Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is evolving fast in Early Access. In December, we added proc-gen missions and custom difficulty options that let you control everything from the economy to any time pressure. Now, the latest update has added 6 new cool hairstyles and new types of military gear your corrupt cop allies are willing to "fall off the back of the truck" for you, for a price.

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/

All ship components that provide bonuses to Water-Fuel are no longer considered armored components. That means they will no longer have the increased soaking in cascading damage (even when over 60%) to other components. These types of fuel extenders were masquerading as armored/protection components and getting too much of a boost out of it.

Also, we've repriced the Large Fuel Tank ship component to make it more competitive within its progression.

With Update #334, two new core components have been released to the high-end starports of the world. Those boasting 8 Starport and 8 Economy can now sell Fuel Tank 7 and Water-Fuel Reclamation 5.

Note that neither the new Fuel Tank nor Water-Fuel Reclamation count as armored components any longer, as noted above.


The Shocktrooper's Deepstrike Detonator has been rebalanced with this update to be more targeted, specifically focusing on destroying the enemy ship's weapons instead of regular components. This plays to the aggressive and all-out-attack style of the shocktrooper, sent in to destroy the enemy's offensive capabilities.


The risks for your ship's engine when Salvaging have just gotten worse. While the card cannot take your ship's Engine out entirely, it now has more power to significantly damage it. Salvaging is always a high risk and high reward opportunity, but now if you are in unfriendly territory without a good starport nearby, it can be even more dangerous. Consider which cards to knock out with your Talents carefully, captain.

We've also fixed some incorrect card art for exploring ice world wild zones.

Thanks to everyone reporting bugs and crashes!

v3.3.79 - 12/30/2023
- Ship Combat: Components that carry Water-Fuel no longer count as Armored
- New Ship Components: Fuel Tank 7, Water-Fuel Reclamation 5
- Repriced 'Large Fuel Tank' Ship Components
- Revised Deepstrike Detonator to target ship's weapons
- Increased severity of "Reactor Accident" Salvage Card (-5)
- Fixed an issue in an ice world wild zone art board
- Fixed reports typos and crashes

Happy Holidays everyone!

The Steam Winter Sale is in full swing, and all of our games are at their best deals of the year. Star Traders celebrated its 5 year anniversary this year and is 50%-off, a great gift for any fellow sci-fi fans in your life.

Templar Battleforce, our 93% 👍 turn-based tactics game set in the same universe as Star Traders is too! And our new game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, is now two months in to Early Access with over 30 updates expanding and improving it.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/370020/Templar_Battleforce/

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

It has been a tough year for game studios as you may have seen. We're definitely trying to make the most of this Steam sale, and get the word out about our games! Anything you can do to help is a great gift to us.

• 📝 Write a review on Steam, and rate which other reviews are helpful.
  
• 🎁 Gift a friend one of our games.
  
• 📢 Give us a shout-out on social media, or share one of our own posts on twitter or Facebook.

We're super-thankful to have so many wonderful fans, and know a lot of you have already done all of the above early and often. 😄 Thank you again, and know that it's you we're thinking of when we add update number ::checks notes:: 334 to Star Traders. 🥰

Because of the way Steam "complete the set" bundles work, if you already own games in a bundle you're purchasing, you're just paying for the games you don't already have -- with both the bundle discount and any sale discount the individual game has! It makes for some incredible deals, and ours are full of great indies worth supporting.

The Endless Adventures - Deep & Replayable RPGs bundle contains Star Traders and two equally deep RPGs, our friends Wildermyth and Vagrus.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/33786/Endless_Adventures__Deep__Replayable_RPGs/

The Turn-Based Tactical Bundle has our game Templar Battleforce, plus three other gems each with a very different flavor; quirky fun Chroma Squad, epic fantasy Warbanners, and fast-paced gothic Golden Krone Hotel.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/18428/TurnBased_Tactical_Bundle/

Old School Fantasy RPGs has Heroes of Steel (our first game on Steam!), and a variety of fantasy RPGs from open-world cRPG Balrum to isometric action RPG Exiled Kingdoms to a classic gridder dungeon crawler, The Fall of the Dungeon Guardians.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/18982/Old_School_Fantasy_RPGs_Bundle/

Hope that gives you some options for any Steam gift cards you may have gotten or any day-of Christmas gifting you're doing! 🎅 Enjoy the season; cheers!