Update #262 bundles up a lot of meta changes that we've been in the pipe for some time as we finish testing and analysis of the improvements. #262 includes ship Crippling Effect improvements, new economic angles and demand, new enemy AI and ship combinations and finally new tweaks to high and low mass Chaser engines.

We're excited to keep improving and expanding Star Traders: Frontiers and hope you'll help us do so by sharing the game with a friend and leaving a review.

What’s the latest on Cyber Knights?

Development on our next game, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, proceeds apace. We’re currently working toward the private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. But you can view the latest updates on the CKF Steam page (make sure you’ve wishlisted and followed!), or join us for behind-the-scenes discussion and development snapshots in our Discord.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

Crippling Effect Rebalance

With Update #262, we've tuned some of the classic ship crippling effects coming from powerful weapons, paying special attention to their % chance to appear for the class. As one of the rarer sets, Missiles have gained powerful bonuses to their unique effects. Crew Stunned (coming from Missiles) has gained a -1 Reactor penalty. Secondary Explosions (coming from Missiles and craft Rockets) has gained 10 Component Damage per Turn. Radiation Wash (coming from Railguns, Lances, Plasma Cannons) has split its 20 Morale Damage into 10 Crew Damage and 10 Crew Morale loss per turn.

Economic Shifts

Another meta analysis and improvement we've completed with this update is to specific economic resources and increasing their demand across the galactic Exchanges, in some cases opening up new trade route possibilities and in others simply growing the roaring yell for moar moar moar of a certain product.

• Demand for Iridlaentine has simply grown much stronger in the places where they've already called for it.
• Narcotic Spice is now more readily supplied by Farming worlds
• To feed the small but important local agriculture on Population and Luxury Population worlds, there is now demand for both Fertilizer and Pesticides
• Industrial worlds supply more Terraforming Components while Tradeways no longer provide these key manufactured components

New Enemy AI

As new ships are brought online in the game, we always give the player-base a chance to test them out before we build AI around them. It's a cautious move to ensure captains are not killed unfairly until we've seen the ships in action. With this release, we're catching up a bit and have added 5 new enemy captain AI's in specialized ships and factions, bringing out the Lockwood Defender for Rychart Military Officers all the way down to the Larimar Battlecruiser (yikes!) for Cadar Bounty Hunters.

Engine Balance

In our quest to perfect the balance of ship's engines, we've reduced the Safety Rating on two engine groups with Update #262 – the M9000 Dual Field and all Chaser engines at the M6000 class and above. We've also bumped the M2400 Chaser Engine's safety to 10.

Community Fixes

And, as always – a big thanks to everyone in the community posting feedback, feature requests and bugs. We've fixed a number of typos, minor display bugs and issues this week include a issue where Ship victory Talents boost the wrong Conflict!

v3.1.51 - 4/18/2021

- Rebalanced Secondary Explosions, Radiation Wash and Crew Stunned Crippling Ship Effects
- Added new galactic demand for Fertilizers and Pesticides
- Added new galactic production for Narcotic Spice
- Increased industrial supply for Terraforming Components
- Increased galactic demand for Iridlaentine
- Added "Lockwood Defender" Rychart Military Officer AI
- Added "Neutiquam Cruiser" Steel Song Smuggler AI
- Added "Tempus Freighter" De Valtos Merchant AI
- Added "Vark Carrier" Zenrin Pirate AI
- Added "Larimar Battlecruiser" Cadar Bounty Hunter AI
- Fixed issue where Ship Victory Conflict Talents could misidentify the Conflict they boosted
- Reduced Safety Rating on M9000 Balanced and Dual Field Engines
- Reduced Safety Rating on M6000+ Chaser Void Engines