Star Traders: Frontiers Update #80: Aftershocks

[fallen]

This weekend's update marks our 80th update during Early Access. We're averaging one update every 2.91 days for the life time of our EA. We've now knocked out two of the major features in the v2.3.x family and are gunning to knock out the rest without delay. That is to say -- we are battling our way toward the end of Early Access quickly now.

If you are enjoying your time in the frontier, please tell a friend, leave a review, help us share the game. We can offer more awesome updates in trade.

Rumors Abound

With all the new Rumors -- from Spice Festivals to Pox Outbreaks -- it was time to make sure they were more visible everywhere. This update now includes Rumors displayed on the map as first class citizens next to Missions and Contacts. If a system or any of its landing zones has a Rumor, the blue map marker will be displayed.

Also, if you know of a rumor in the zone or system to which a personal objective or mission is sending you, that Rumor's details will be displayed inline with the mission step.

Xeno Cunning

Higher level xeno captain's have gained access to new cunning with this update via a secondary xeno AI to run ship combat. Also, these higher level captains now have access to new component upgrades including more powerful armor, ship boosters and weapons akin to gravity drivers, lance arrays and railguns. In addition, some xeno may now dedicate their ship build points to installing ship's engines similar to the profiles of Chaser or Traveler engines.

Plague Balance

The newest Era is a big one with a lot of moving pieces. This update includes some needed balance to some of those systems as well as new hooks for interactions. We've improved the requirements for avoiding pox infections when running plague missions and tied this directly to the size of your crew. Smaller ships will have a lower requirement of Medical Rating and Doctor Skill while larger ships will need more dedicated medical personnel or equipment.

The Arbiter and any United Coalition contacts are stepping in to help, and all will now be offering missions to deliver medicines to affected faction holdings. We're working on some additional storyline around Arbiter Brokstrom, but this is a good start.

v2.3.7 - 7/5/2018

- Rumor icons now displayed on main map if there is a system or any zone rurmor
- Missions display any known zone or planet rumors when viewing steps to forewarn of potential issues or benefits
- Adjusted scaling on all ship art in combat to better represent ship's mass
- Improved Zone, Contact and Exchange rendering for Rumor Rules and Trade Law Adjustments
- Buffed Xeno Ships and fixed issues with Xeno difficulty
- New Xeno Ship AI, New Xeno Ship Components, New Xeno Ship Weapons
- Plague Era: Rewrote rules about avoiding infections during plague missions -- now based on Crew Count, Medical Rating, Doctor Skill
- Plague Era: United Coalition Contacts and Arbiter all offer medical delivery missions to help the sick during the era
- Plague Era: Rebalanced rate of Pox Infected Trait mutation and rate of causing First Infection Rumors on zones
- Plague Era: Fixed bugs with low payment on some plague-related missions
- Fixed issues with Xeno ships using Valiant Autocannons
- Fixed all reported crashes