Star Traders: Frontiers Update #74: Save 25% on Summer Sale!

[fallen]

Welcome to the Steam Summer Sale, captains! We hope you'll use special sale period to share the game with a friend and help us bring more captains to the game.

To get the sale started right, we've packed an update full of new art, new recruit rules, nice improvements on last night's landing zone updates, bug fixes, balance tweaks and more!

Recruiting with Rank, Edict and Permits

Gaining Rank, Edict and Permits with a faction will help you recruit more powerful crew or officers who fit into the roles of those faction upgrades. Edicts now grant bonus levels when recruiting Bounty Hunters, Snipers or Assassins from contacts while Trade Permits grant bonus levels when recruiting Merchants, Diplomats or Smugglers from contacts. Military Ranks grant bonus levels when recruiting Military Officers, Soldiers, Pistoleers or Swordsman from contacts. The level bonuses come at 2 tiers, granting +1 level at grade 2 and a total of +2 at a higher tier (Edict 5, Permit 4, Rank 5).

Landing Zone Clean Up

With the huge update last night, we already published one hotfix this morning to clean up a few things with the landing zones. This round hits a few more, fixing issues with hovers, click patterns, swapping the minimize button to the right. We've also adjusted the icons for the buttons when a subscreen is up so that it is clear which buttons in the task tray will pop a subscreen. Click once to open, click again to close a subscreen.

Welcome New Faces

We've added 4 new contact character faces with this update, bringing the total unique faces up to 72 now.

Crew Combat Fixes

Crew combat has always been a strong place to gain XP for your combat team. We've modulated the XP bonuses for combats now, putting an emphasis on faster victories granting more XP.

v2.2.83 - 6/22/2018

- Added 4 new contact character faces (new games and new contacts)
- Edicts grant bonus levels when recruiting Bounty Hunters, Snipers or Assassins from contacts (Edict 2 grants +1, Edict 5 grants +2)
- Permits grant bonus levels when recruiting Merchants, Diplomats or Smugglers from contacts (Permit 2 grants +1, Permit 4 grants +2)
- Ranks grant bonus levels when recruiting Military Officers, Soldiers, Pistoleers or Swordsman from contacts (Rank 2 grants +1, Rank 5 grants +2)
- Re-ordered landing zone tasks when minimized for easier completion of common tasks
- Switched sides of All and Minimize buttons in new landing zone tasks to better fit UI patterns
- Improved ordering, layout and hovers for the new landing zone interface
- Improved balance of XP gained during crew combat, XP bonus decreases as more turns are used
- Corrected positions from which a Military Officer can use Tactical Edge Talent
- Fixed crashes when visiting zones with Starport 0
- Fixed bug with Nav Talent Distant Commission giving overly large bonuses
- Fixed bugs allowing return to map while in combat
- Improved some female head art in regards to wearing hats