Update #339 continues the additions to small ships with new Scout Bridges, adds new Cargo Hold options for ships with large slots dedicated to cargo, as well as new and improved Trait mutation paths for Explorer crews, and a big retraining of the enemy human AI on How to Effectively Use Carriers (TM).

If you're loving the updates, improvements and new content please share the game with a friend and leave a review!

New Scout Bridge 6 and 7

Two new Scout Bridges have rolled out with Update #339. Available only to ships that have small slot bridges, these improved Scout Bridges are powerful additions to the small ship meta. Each is faction and era locked, so they aren't always available or available immediately in the game.

Scout Bridge 6 is developed by Cadar at the time of the start of the Second Founding Era while Scout Bridge 7 is developed by Thulun at the start of the Plague Era.

While they offer a host of advantages, these Scout Bridges are also well suited for light carrier builds that utilize Shuttles for boarding. In addition to the new Scout Bridges, we're introducing the new Level 6 gear: Trifax Interlink, designed to boost craft defense for piloting a shuttle and provide combat buffs for boarding combat.

New Cargo Holds

Both of the new Cargo Hold options – Cargo Hold 8 for maximum storage and fuel capacity and Armored Cargo Hold 6 for a hybrid of Armor and cargo space – are developed near the start of the Plague Era. While they are not faction-locked, both are expensive top tier components to consider installing into your high-end ship to squeeze out a few more points, fuel and cargo capacity.

Exploration Trait Mutation

With Update #339, we've improved the variety of possible Trait mutations that can come from Exploring with 5 new positive and negative routes. As you do any activity - from sailing, to spicing to Exploring - you have a constant low percentage chance that your crew will gain Trait mutations. Over time, the types of activities you repeat and repeat shape your crew. Exploration has new Trait options that will bake in over your career.

We've also updated the way in which Trait mutations are displayed during Exploration to be sure that they are always displayed clearly.

Enemy and the Skylift Carrier

With this update, we've retrained the enemy ship builder on the Skylift Carrier to help it provide more threatening and efficient builds. This will result in some new and exciting directions that the enemy ship builder can take the Skylift. It is a big and powerful ship, so it's exciting to see it be more threatening when it appears in your ship encounter.

Enemy (Human) Carriers Rebalance

Carriers are especially important to get right, as the enemy ship builder needs to consider a few extra things. Perhaps the most important is the ratio of Bomber, Interdictor and Shuttles, but to be effective this needs to closely align with the ship's capital weapon strategy as well as their crew and combat crew.

For Update #339, we've improved the decision tree for the enemy ship builder to approach the rules and order of decisions that the enemy ship builder will make when putting together an enemy carrier. This update focuses specifically on human carrier enemies, so let us know what you think if you're facing off with these captains in the void.

Think deep thoughts, enemy ship builder!

Reported Crashes

Thanks for all the typos and reported crashes! We're constantly tuning and tweaking to improve performance, stability and to stamp out the remaining typos in the game. We appreciate your attention to detail - every bit helps!

We're hanging out on the Trese Brothers community Discord, waiting to hear your thoughts on these updates, so join us there or on the forums!

Our new turn-based tactics RPG!

Cyber Knights: Flashpoint, our stealth & squad tactics heist RPG, launched into Steam Early Access and how is marching to Update #30 as it battles through its ambitious public roadmap. We've just completed the three major roadmap milestone with the Hacker's Nest, Proc-Gen Missions for endless play, and Custom Difficulty (and the ability to change difficulty during play). If you're looking for a story rich, squad-based RPG, take a minute to follow, wishlist or try Cyber Knights!

All support for Cyber Knights ultimately results in a brighter future for Star Traders, so hope you’ll check it out and spread the word!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1021210/Cyber_Knights_Flashpoint/

v3.3.89 - 1/26/2024

- New Ship Component: Cargo Hold 8
- New Ship Component: Armored Cargo Hold 6
- New Ship Component: Scout Bridge 6 and 7
- New Level 6 Wing Specialist Gear: Trifax Interlink
- Improved the way Trait mutation reports during Explorer
- Added 5 new positive and 5 new negative Trait events for Explorer
- Updated AI for the Skylift Carrier
- Retrained non-Xeno AI small craft strategy with new improvements
- Minor performance improvements, fixed reported typos & crashes