Star Traders RPG v2.9 Upgrade Cliff Notes

[Cory Trese]

Extended Mainsail (+15%)
• Captain Required to Purchase Armor Plates to determine Sail Strength (Crystals)

Prow Sail (+3)
• Captain Required to Purchase Armor Plates to determine Sail Strength (Crystals)

Advanced Sail System (25%)
• Captain Required to Purchase Armor Plates to determine Sail Strength (Crystals)

Nano-Solar Sail Coating (+6)
• Captain Required to Purchase Armor Plates to determine Sail Strength (Crystals)
• Increases Cost of Repairs
• Reduces Availability of Repairs

Cargo Pod (+10)
• Adds to the Cargo Size of the Ship

Titan Components (+5 Engines)
• Increases Cost of Repairs
• Reduces Availability of Repairs
• Combat Engines

Prow Lance Battery (+3)
• Adds to the Maximum Torpedoes
• Increases accuracy when firing at fleeing targets

Torpedo Control Pods (+20%)
• Adds to the Maximum Torpedoes
• Increases accuracy when firing

Aft Lance Battery (+3)
• Adds to the Maximum Torpedoes
• Major increases to accuracy when firing after fleeing attempts

ARES Class Missile Control (16)
• Increases Signature

Cargo Pod (+8)
• Adds to the Cargo Size of the Ship

Towed Stealth Array
• Adds to the Captain’s Stealth Statistic
• Adds to the Captain’s Pilot Statistic
• Increases % to avoid hostiles

Reinforced Prow (+1)
• Adds to the Maximum Armor
• Does not increase signature
• Increases Resistance Vs. Ram
• Increases Boarding Action
• Increases Ram Attack
• Captain Required to Purchase Armor Plates to determine Armor Strength (Metal)

Structural Refit (+3)
• Adds to the Maximum Armor
• Does not increase signature
• Captain Required to Purchase Armor Plates to determine Armor Strength (Metal)

Battle Prow (+5)
• Adds to the Maximum Armor
• Increases Signature
• Increases Resistance Vs. Ram
• Increases Ram Attack
• Increases Boarding Action
• Captain Required to Purchase Armor Plates to determine Armor Strength (Metal)

Dreadnought Architecture (+6)
• Adds to the Maximum Armor
• Increases Signature
• Increases Resistance Vs. Ram
• Increases Resistance Vs. Boarding Action
• Captain Required to Purchase Armor Plates to determine Armor Strength (Metal)

Cargo Pod (+7)
• Adds to the Cargo Size of the Ship
• Increases Signature

Ancient Reactors (+6 Engines)
• Increases Cost of Repairs
• Reduces Availability of Repairs
• Landing Engines

Additional Quarters (+20)
• Does not increase Signature

External Crew Pods (+15)
• Does not increase Signature

Military Crew Retrofit (+30%)
• Increases Signature

Battleship Architecture (+20 and +30%)
• Increases Signature
• Increases Resistance Vs. Board
• Increases Water-Fuel Consumption

Cargo Vault (+12)
• Adds to the Cargo Size of the Ship
• Increases Signature

Water-Fuel Tank (~25)
• Stores 25 Units of Water-Fuel

Plasma Door Cutters (Type II)
• Increases Boarding Action Attack for Short -> Zero Range Transitions
• Large Bonus for First Boarding Action of Combat

Close Range Sonic Disrupter (Type III)
• Increases Boarding Action Attack for Zero Range

Attack Shuttle Launching Bays (Type II)
• Increases Boarding Action Attack for Short -> Zero Range Transitions
• Large Bonus for Outnumbering Opponents

Leviathan System (Type III)
• Increases Boarding Action Attack for Zero Range
• Bonus for based on Captain’s Warrior Skill

Cargo Pod (+7)
• Adds to the Cargo Size of the Ship

Heavy Bulkheads (+2 Armor / Type I)
• Adds to the Maximum Armor
• Increases Resistance vs. Boarding Attack

[jtwood]

I see it all over the place, I don't know what it is.

What does 'signature' mean?

[Cory Trese]

Signature is what causes you to run into bad guys.

If you take a bunch of illegal passengers, carry mystery packages, have a hull full of weapons and fly a giant ship you will be very obvious.

If you attach huge missile racks, retrofit the ship to carry 3,000 tons of armor and add 2.5 kilometers of mycracrysta solar sails and deployment booms ... the ship is beyond obvious.

----

That's the cumulative value computed from the following:

* Current Cargo Hold (excluding Water Tanks)
* Contract Cargo on Ship (passengers and packages)
* Hull Size
* Ship Speed

Signature Increasing Upgrades add a scaling factor to this.

Lower signature is critical to moving undetected, avoiding bounty hunters, surveillance, docking at hostile territories, ect.

The test could be summarized (although they have 40 some parts) as:

Signature vs. Security Forces
Signature vs. Enemy's Tactics
Captain's Stealth vs. Signature

[jtwood]

Thanks!

[koles]

oh man this should be in manual
now buying upgrades is more tactical

i suggest one thing for next version, could locked upgrades have some mark in it when you are looking at them on upgrade list, or whney it is in dock for sell, you click it and there is no info that it is locked item

[Cory Trese]

koles,

I have fixed that for the next version. It was always supposed to print the message about the locking but I messed it up

I will see what I can do about an icon or some additional indicators!

[wormholewillie]

Perhaps two icons for unlockable content are in order: one for locked, one for unlocked.

[Cory Trese]

icons are hard

looks like we might have to use low a low tech {L} and {U} for a quick fix.

[wormholewillie]

Those look like (text-based) icons to me!

[koles]

could this descriptions apears when you click to buy upgrade? (not only in manual)?

[Cory Trese]

koles,

i will work on it.

[RushSecond]

Jan 16, 2011 15:41:10 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

Captain Required to Purchase Armor Plates to determine Sail/Armor Strength (Crystals/Metal)

What do you mean by this? Crystals in cargo make sails stronger, and metal in cargo makes armor stronger?

[Cory Trese]

Rush,

The purchasing location and how much Metals and Crystals are available determines the strength of the repair points.

Not all "Hull Points" are equal. If you repair the Hull where there is a metal shortage, it will be weaker than if you repair where these is not a metal shortage.

Shortages and surpluses also drive availability of upgrades and repairs.

[wormholewillie]

Oh my stars! The depth of this game is truly profound.

[Mr Lucky]

Love the depth on display!

I'm particularly interested in minimizing my "signature" I see that in some categories of upgrades you noted "does/does not" increase signature. In others no comment was made.
I was going to assume that not mentioning signature means that upgrade has no signature effect, however in a further comment you (Cory) note that sail configuration could have such an effect.
Any chance you could call out what upgrades effect signature? Even better put all relevant stat mods in the "in game" text?
Love the game, but sometimes "feedback" is missing. It's not always clear what effect some actions will cause.