It's Update #317 with a new Mass 9000 ship, autocannon rebalances, new Oribtal Salvage card (watch out!) and more. Starports all across the galaxy have started on hulls for the new Acheron Battlecarrier, so start saving, captains.

A huge thanks goes out to all of the community members posting on the forum, helping new players, and sharing their thoughts in reviews. We're excited to keep Star Traders: Frontiers growing with new content and additions, so you're loving the 300+ free updates be sure to drop a review and tell a friend.

What’s the latest on Cyber Knights?

Throughout the last year, we’ve been running Cyber Knights: Flashpoint’s private alpha test for Kickstarter backers, following the same tried-and-true process we used for Star Traders: Frontiers. With 1,000 in the game now, development pace has picked up and we’re marching to the launch pad to release to Steam Early Access, so 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/

New 9000 Mass Battlecarrier

The Acheron Battlecarrier is a sprawling ship weighing in at 9000 Mass and kitted out as a battle-hardened carrier perfect for taking on Jyeeta xeno carriers head-to-head. It boasts best-in-class maximum craft defense at 78% and a unusual slot configuration that preferences Small (15) and Large (8) sized slots over medium (8). With 7 officers and 42 crew, it can sustain 5 craft and is a new contender in the most expensive and largest weight class for ships.

We'll keep the Acheron in player's only hands for a bit and shake out any balance issues before considering letting high level captains on high difficulty take this thing for a spin!

M101 Autocannon Update & Xeno Autocannon

We've applied a fix to bring the venerable M101 Tracker Cannon up to the level it needs to be to stay competitive with other autocannons, granting it a +3% Craft Defense.

On the enemy's side, the L2 Terrox Xeno Autocannon has also gained a +3% Craft Defense, making their close-in short range ships more challenging to fight with carriers. The miasmatic death haze that floats close to the hull of the Terrox Spines makes it hellish for any wing pilot to come that close to the hull!

New Salvage Card and Updated Weights

A new "Reactor Accident" card has been added to Orbital Salvage with a nasty -5 weighting. Take your time considering if you want to prioritize knocking this card out of the hand because it can leave your engine in a bad way, which can both cause heightened combat risk as you limp back for repairs and a hefty repair bill to boot.

We've increased the weight of the "Web of Conspiracy" card, fully doubling it, as the card has so many cool permutations and after-effects that are great in the galactic simulation.

AI Captain + Crew Build Improvements

With Update #317, we've tweaked the appearance rates for the Caliga Vindex and Shizari Huntress to make them less common opponents. We've also fixed a longstanding bug that was allowing the AI to promote too many officers on the Caliga Vindex for an unfair advantage.

v3.3.41 - 5/13/2023

- New 9000 Mass Battlecarrier, the Acheron
- Balanced "M101 Tracker Cannon" adding +7% Craft Defense
- L2 Xeno Autocannon adds "Miasmatic Death Haze" granting +3% Craft Defense
- Added a new "Reactor Accident" Salvage Result Card (-5)
- The "Web of Conspiracy" Card is now twice as common (because it is fun)
- Reduced chance of Caliga Vindex and Shizari Huntress enemies spawning
- Fixed too many enemy officers spawning on Caliga Vindex
- Fixed performance issues on huge maps with large numbers of living Contacts