Star Traders, captains and travelers of the void - we are back again with another Star Traders: Frontiers update. This one took a while to finish – more complicated than it sounds fixing some of the weirder bugs that were reported this week. Ahhh, STF, the gift (that you paid for) that keeps on giving (us more and more bugs.)

We're excited to keep this update train rolling and wanted to extend a hearty Thank you! to everyone who has posted a review or "badged up" to the Supporter Badge. You help us keep developing this lovely void simulation RPG ;)

Ultra Carrier 9000M

Update #358 sees a new ultra carrier hull being constructed at Moklumnue starports around the quadrants, the Alistar Huntress. The Huntress joins the rare 9000 Mass category, bringing the number of these ships to 5. We are planning to release two more soon – a 9000M heavy hauler transport, and a 9000M high durability battlecruiser to provide a foil for one of the all-time most popular ships, the Sword Battlecruiser.

The Alistar Huntress stands out within the super heavy category with the best in class Armor, middle of the road base Shields, Hull Points second only to the Cautela Titan, matched for best in class Base Fuel, 7 officers, 42 crew, 6 max craft and a component allocation of 16 small, 9 medium and 7 large.

3 New Defensive Components

Update #358 also includes significant component expansions for ship components that can round out a defensive ship build, adding more options for Radiation and Void resistance as well as Armor and Shielding. These categories haven't seen expansions in some time, so these are considered prototypes and will likely see some balancing buffs or nerfs in the coming patches. For now, and until we complete the balance passes, the Enemy Ship Architect is prohibited from using these new components in hostile ship builds until they are verified.

New Explorer Card: Contact Network

We have added a new card to the Explorer game, and fixed some existing ones. The new card is a +5 draw that, if picked, provides a Reputation-positive introduction to a Contact – and all of that Contact's Links. This card has proven to be pretty powerful, as it can establish an entire mission and RTG network in a single pull.

In addition, we fixed some bugs with how Experience was allocated on the Zendu Revelations card and increased the drop rates on the Zendu Relic cards, which were not appearing in hands at the rate we intended due to some unexpected math oddities.

Other Bug Fixes!

In ship combat, you all reported some issues where the wrong component could be listed in the log – this applied to both damage and repair talents and some small craft combat log messages. The error was strictly in the display code, but still glad to see it fixed. It explains occasional reports that a component was listed as damaged during battle but then later would be found undamaged.

Enemy Ship Warning!

We also gave the enemy shpip builder 2 new ships. Big ones. With lots of guns. Enjoy!

While rare the Bounty Hunter enemies may now come after you in the Alistar Huntress and the Military Office enemies may be at the helm of a Shizari Huntress.

v3.4.9 - #358: Huntress Grand - 10/11/2024

- New Ship: "Alistar Huntress" (9000M Heavy Carrier)
- New Component: Hull Plating 6 (Void + Rad)
- New Component: Armored Bulkheads 6 (Armor + Void)
- New Component: Reinforced Structures 6 (Shield + Rad)
- Increased drop rate for "Zendu Relic" Explorer card
- New Explorer Card: Uncover Contact Network (1 Contact + All Links)
- Fixes for Ship Combat Buffs that Repair Components, Improved Logging
- Fixed some issues with Ship Component sort in Starport
- Fixed some logging issues for Victory Talents that damage Ship Components
- Warning: Bounty Hunter AI can (rare) proc "Alistar Huntress"
- Warning: Military AI can (rare) proc "Shizari Huntress"
- Fixed Reported Bugs