Star Traders: Frontiers Update #154: Savage Hunters

[fallen]

With Update #154, we're rolling out the fifth new story since we got going on the v2.5.x family in the development roadmap. The third legendary bounty hunter can now come to call. We've also added a Rumor link to recruit Exo-Scouts in the spice hall, enabled the Retreat option alongside Acknowledge, better linked your ship's Radiation Resistance components help against Ion and Radiation storms, bumped the Palace Interceptor out of the AI's hands in the early game and fixed a ton of reported community issues.

It's another night, another packed update! If you're enjoying the updates, new content, new features and more please share the game with a friend and leave a review!

New Bounty Hunter Vignette: The Werewolf

With Update #154, a third unique story Bounty Hunter may be sent after you by an enemy Contact. Working to Steel Song, the legendary Werewolf won't take a bribe so you're going to have to find another way out of trouble of face him and his gang of hunters in deadly crew combat. This new danger also comes along with an opportunity to score new unique story reward armor.

We've got one of more Bounty Hunter vignette planned in the v2.5.x family before we move on to some of the larger arcs that are brewing and then into the first of the two Eras.

Draw of Xeno Spores

Word of xeno spores raining down on a system is now enough to draw Exo-Scouts into the spice hall. During the "Xeno Spores" system rumor, you can recruit these hunters, anti-xeno fighters and expert explorers.

Storm Shielding

The components on your ship that grant Radiation Resistance now block are better linked to blocking damage from Ion Storm and Radiation Storm Rumors. A ship decked with better Rad Res will be better able to prevent both component damage as well as crew health damage.

Difficulty Tuning

We're always working to improve the difficulty balance of the frontier and to ensure that we're giving meaningful choice and challenge. We've bumped the Pirates who were flying Palace Interceptors into a higher level slot so that they don't appear so early in the game and also reduced the rating on an orbital ops Distress Signal card to -3.

With this update, we've ensured that "Retreat" is an available option next to "Acknowledge". While Acknowledge will gain you Rep and Rep across Alliances, it could also cause Rep loss (M. Officer + Solar War) which harmed some players looking to stay peaceful with everyone. This new change helps give you as a captain more choice where needed.

Community Reports!

We've cleaned up a bunch of community reported issues this release. Thanks to everyone posting and helping us improve the game. If you happen into a Rychart spice hall during a mission, you'll now get their special 90 max Morale rule. The longstanding bugs with Callous Justice quest log are now fixed -- it will go away at the right time and should not appear randomly where it was showing up badly. The Zealot's "Retribution Justice" now properly goes into cool down when used in a Mission context and we've fixed the case where two cross Rumors (Trade Blockade and Xeno Fleet) could create xeno faction, human, military officers! What does it even mean!?

v2.5.35 - 5/29/2019

- Added new Bounty Hunter story vignette - barbaric assassin the "Werewolf" comes hunting with a Death Warrant
- New unique story reward and armor available
- Exo-Scouts are now recruitable at spice hall during system-wide "Xeno Spores" rumors
- When meeting a friendly ship in the void, Acknowledge as well as Retreat are now options -- skip Rep gain avoid Rep loss through Conflicts with Retreat
- Radiation Resistance from ship components reduces ship and crew damage during Radiation and Ion Storms
- Adjusted Orbital Ops Distress Signal card to be a -3 due to depth of possible negative results
- Adjusted enemy AI's hull availability to remove the Palace Interceptor from the early game (too hard)
- Finishing missions in a Rychart spice hall now include the Rychart bonus to max morale (90 instead of standard 80)
- Fixed incorrect description listing "Passenger Suites" as luxury accommodations, instead adding it correctly to "Luxury Suites"
- Fixed bug preventing Zealot's "Retribution Justice" Talent from going into cool down when activated from a Mission
- Fixed bug with crossing Xeno Fleet and Trade Blockade Rumors causing xeno Military Officers to appear
- Fixed two bugs with "Callous Justice" personal objective -- once where it stayed around too long, once it appeared without reason

[John Robinson]

- When meeting a friendly ship in the void, Acknowledge as well as Retreat are now options -- skip Rep gain avoid Rep loss through Conflicts with Retreat

Thank you! There are quadrants you must pass through on a regular basis to complete missions. When all I want to do is transit through a neutral quadrant, I don't have
to worry about adding more negative rep every time I'm passing through to get to another quad.

[fallen]

Glad you're liking the changes With the new legendary Bounty Hunters out there, all the more reason to try to stay neutral