Star Traders: Frontiers Update #112: Razor's Edge
Oct 29, 2018 12:21:28 GMT -5
strega, resistor, and 2 more like this
Post by fallen on Oct 29, 2018 12:21:28 GMT -5
We're glad to be back! After 10 days without updates, we've got the big one you deserve. New storyline, new encounter and Rep improvements, new enemy AI smarts, new starting contacts and so much more. It's packed full of the good stuff -- including lots of suggestions from right here on the Steam boards -- so be sure to review the full patch notes at the bottom!
Here's Update #112!
New Bloody Vignette
If you've reached the 3rd Century Era, keep your eye out for a new story vignette invitation -- from one Eryn Razor. I won't spoil the story of the new "Bloodsport" narrative, it is a highly challenging and late-game story arc that will put your crew combatants to the test. It also has the potential for tie ins from multiple other storylines and makes available some mighty new unique story rewards.
In other story news, we've added some more delays between late game Eras to slow them down a bit. We've increased the turn at which story vignettes start joining the game which will reduce the crowded feeling that can happen early in the story. And, we've fixed the issue where the Highwind Case story objective would sit as "Coming Soon" for a long time -- now it keeps its deadline correct even as your actions may extend it.
Ship Encounters
We've fine tuned and improved the balance and rate of ship encounters in the void with Update #112. Overall, ship encounter rates have been reduced about 10% with special attention paid to some types of Rumors that were spiking it beyond normal levels. This fine tuning also includes more targeted encounter types, such as more Bounty Hunters once your Rep falls below -45 with a faction. We're excited to keep tuning this rule set and these rates.
Pirates and Rep Loss
With this update, we've pushed more nuance into the rules about Rep loss when you defeat an enemy ship. The potential Rep you stand to lose is based on the enemy type and descends the farther away from lawful the captain is, the scale being: Military Officer > Merchant > Zealot > Bounty Hunter > Explorer > Spy > Smuggler > Pirate.
We've also improved all of the descriptive text about Rep loss and gain in ship combat victory to help clarify the reasons behind such changes.
If you happen to be facing a Pirate while carrying a Permit 2 of the Pirate's faction, we've improved the title of the Surrender option to be clear -- "Protected by Permit" as such a Pirate will not loot a licensed trader of their faction.
Enemy Crew Combatants
We've rebuilt the enemy AI's logic for picking crew combat Talents for individuals and for their team. This has made crew combat more competitive, fun and pushed our testing teams to use more of the systems. Swordsman, Pistoleer, Soldier, Assassin, Spy, Sniper are all improved, and if it goes well, we will dig into the other combat Jobs next to hone the knife.
This also includes fixing issues where AI crew were not carrying Snubbers in the front row.
Also, we've fixed a bug that could sometimes duplicate your crew and improved the heavy armor options in Weapons Locker A4 and A5 to make sure they are competitive.
New Starting Contacts
Open up more options during captain creation, we've introduced two new starting Contacts -- the Ex-Merc and the Gestalt Explorer. Each plays to different play styles, but between them they offer Combat Medic recruits, Zealot recruits, Trait Conditioning, combat armor, exploration missions and sabotage missions. A mighty new pair to add to your set!
We've also made a few tweaks to other Contact's special recruits -- Spice Tenders now hire Pirates and Diplomatic Counsels offer Quartermasters.
Finally, we've changed the new game rules to prevent any of your starting Contacts from appearing in Aetaan Char's faction. For those captains getting involved in the Faen story arc, these Contacts soon lost their value as Effective Rep plummeted.
v2.4.15 - 10/29/2018
Story
- Added new story vignette: 'Bloodsport' narrative, new unique story rewards and challenges
- New story vignette starts sometime after 3rd Century starts and has potential for tie ins to multiple other storylines
- Added some additional delay between late-game Era starts
- Increase turn at which story vignettes start to add to game
- Improved tutorial instructions on first escort mission about the use of saving Talents in missions to guarantee success
- Resolved story bug where you decided to tell Calagan of a plot, but no option was present
- Fixed story bug causing "Highwind Case" story objective to get stuck "Coming Soon" for a while before triggering
Encounters and Rep
- Ship Encounters: overall reduced encounter rates by 10%
- Ship Encounters: improved and fine tuned effects of Quadrant Rumors on ship encounters
- Ship Encounters: more quadrant faction Bounty Hunters will appear if you are criminal status (-40 Rep)
- Ship Victory: Rep loss with faction now depends on enemy type of ship (Military Officer > Merchant > Zealot > Bounty Hunter > Explorer > Spy > Smuggler > Pirate)
- Ship Victory: improved descriptive text for all Rep loss within ship victory, added custom explanation per enemy type
- Improved description of Surrender option for Pirates when you carry Trade Permit 2 or higher, "Protected by Permit"
- Improved enemy ship builder AI's ship weaponry selection
Enemy Crew Combatants
- Rebuilt AI that builds enemy crew combatants -- Swordsman, Pistoleer, Soldier, Assassin, Spy, Sniper all far more dangerous at picking Talents as individuals and across the team
- Fixed bug preventing enemy crew combatants from picking up Snubbers in the front row
- Fixed bug that sometimes allowed members of your crew to appear twice in crew combat selection
- Improved Heavy Armor option in Weapons Locker A4 and A5
Starting Contacts
- Added new starting Contact: Gestalt Explorer (hires Combat Medic, Trait Conditioning, exploration missions)
- Added new starting Contact: Ex-Merc (hires Zealots, sells Combat Armor, saboteur missions)
- Contact Recruit changes -- Spice Tender now recruits Pirates, Diplomatic Counsel recruits Quartermasters
- Starting Contacts in distant quads no longer appear in Aetaan Char's faction
Talent Adjustments
- Swordsman Talent "Balanced Blade" now requires 1.5x Weapon's Initiative to use for powerful buff
- Fixed description of Talent "Unrivaled Patch" to include the character's Repair Skill (in total, 20% + Skill)
- Prize Ship Talents are displayed even if you cannot afford the court fees
- Renamed Pirate's "Faked Signature" Talent to "Blackheart Fraud" and Spies "Faked Signature" Talent to "Counterfeit Identity"
And More
- Zone services now include time taken in their event log ("Paid $500, took 2 days")
- Selling Intel to a Contact now takes 1 Turn
- Increased duration of Time Lost card during any type of orbital operation
- Fixed bug occasionally causing Rep displays to become incorrect after selling Intel
- Fixed bug preventing crew combat debuffs from playing their SFX
- Fixed bug causing Blackheart starting Contact to be locked behind Faction Defender instead of Privateer
- Fixed bug with character hand positions not matching snubbers or sniper rifles sometimes
- Fixed bug with save slots sometimes displaying the wrong weapon in Load Captain screens
- Fixed mismatches in ship descriptions between starting and maximum crew, now listed both if different -- "24 starting crew (30 max)"
- Improved size and style of Skip All button in story scenes
- Improved sizing of tooltip over Date in the HUDs
- Improved text in tooltips, descriptive text for some Talents, spacing in UI
