Putting the 'role' back in role-playing games since 2002.
Donate to Codex
Good Old Games
  • Welcome to rpgcodex.net, a site dedicated to discussing computer based role-playing games in a free and open fashion. We're less strict than other forums, but please refer to the rules.

    "This message is awaiting moderator approval": All new users must pass through our moderation queue before they will be able to post normally. Until your account has "passed" your posts will only be visible to yourself (and moderators) until they are approved. Give us a week to get around to approving / deleting / ignoring your mundane opinion on crap before hassling us about it. Once you have passed the moderation period (think of it as a test), you will be able to post normally, just like all the other retards.

KickStarter Star Traders: Frontiers - space sandbox game by Trese Brothers

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
28,231
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
I like the idea of character creation, where you can choose to prioritize experience, stats, skills, ship or even contacts. More games could use this sorta thing.
The interface is a bit opaque to me though, I'm having trouble searching for the action I want to take. Guess I'll eventually get used to it.
 

Morkar Left

Guest
in EA it's bound to difficulty but for the actual release you will be able to fully customize the difficulty.
 

Morkar Left

Guest
Right now I think the captain can die too easily in ship combat since you have rarely any control over it. It happens for me in 5 combats 2 times - death of captain to critical hit (on the first difficulty with permadeath)
 

Iznaliu

Arbiter
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
3,686
Start with Attributes A and max your HP and resilience (death resist), avoid or minimize combat unless you have good armor/shields, have a doctor with the lifesaving talent...

Wouldn't that kind of make character creation and gameplay boring and repetitive since there is only one viable strategy to survive?
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
28,231
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Right now I think the captain can die too easily in ship combat since you have rarely any control over it. It happens for me in 5 combats 2 times - death of captain to critical hit (on the first difficulty with permadeath)
Better to board them as fast as you can. Enemy ships can barely function after that.
Anyone ever get any loot out of ground combat?
 

Morkar Left

Guest
Start with Attributes A and max your HP and resilience (death resist), avoid or minimize combat unless you have good armor/shields, have a doctor with the lifesaving talent...

I always had attributes on A priority (btw cool char gen from Shadowrun) and you can't avoid always avoid combat. Bribing isn't always possible or it wouldn't make sense because you have story mission npcs on board. Got wrecked that way on the first story mission. Maybe it's connected to ships mass, too. I fly around with the weakest one.

Right now I think the captain can die too easily in ship combat since you have rarely any control over it. It happens for me in 5 combats 2 times - death of captain to critical hit (on the first difficulty with permadeath)
Better to board them as fast as you can. Enemy ships can barely function after that.
Anyone ever get any loot out of ground combat?

Yeah, boarding is the only chance I have with my weak ship.

All in all I really like the game so far. The UI needs some overhaul. Tooltips for every button would make already a big difference. Some mechanics are a bit overcomplicated withour giving you more control and options, but I probably just have to get used of it. Boarding/Land combat is abit awkward with the different ranks and which ranks you can attack. I would naturally assume that with a gun you can attack from very rank...
For flying around I would like to see more info when/how/why a stat check happens (which you can see on the right display on the bottom) and who of the crew uses one of his traits. Another one would be showing a line between your ship and your plotted destination to see which route you will take.

Contacts look very interesting and I can see already some good stories arise in my head with all the difference stats and connections. Think a bit like Crusader Kings. A drawback seems to be that no wars / changing ownership of planets can happen. Ownership of planets is static.

But the biggest plus in my book is the crew management. It's nicely done and you have a lot of options on your hand leveling them up.

The game is already a huuuge improvement to the first Star Traders (which was already fun) and has potential to become a really great game. The writing so far isn't great but it is INTERESTING, something that big companies often lack in their stories nowadays.
That they have given up on the Templar Battleforce combat and exploration is unfortunate. That sort of direct positioning and exploration is lacking in the game so far. What I don't like is the raising difficulty the further you progress. I hope that isn't really an issue. Never liked that levelscaling.
But I can't really judge that much at the moment. I just played for 4 hours and can't say anything about longtime motivation.
 

Iznaliu

Arbiter
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
3,686
Bribing isn't always possible or it wouldn't make sense because you have story mission npcs on board. Got wrecked that way on the first story mission

Does it make sense (storywise) to complete side missions before story missions?
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
28,231
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
And damn me, but the kickstarter pitch looks vastly different to the game at hand.
 

Morkar Left

Guest
Bribing isn't always possible or it wouldn't make sense because you have story mission npcs on board. Got wrecked that way on the first story mission

Does it make sense (storywise) to complete side missions before story missions?

You have some damn long timer for the story missions when accepted. But they are more like a tutorial right now because they aren't finished. Do some to get started and then concentrate on missions for your contacts I'd say.
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
28,231
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Fuck I had a good run ruined by morale break during crew combat. Now my captain has a trait that lowers fortitude but raised wisdom. Hopefully I can find a way to reverse it.
At least where the captain is concerned I wish I had some say in his traits.
Also the combat went off sync somewhere in between.
 

Iznaliu

Arbiter
Joined
Apr 28, 2016
Messages
3,686
So is this worth a buy?
Yes if you like sandboxes with emergent stories. And if you're ok with obtuse (but improving) interface, micromanagement, and manual management of save files.

There was an update today with some new stuff: http://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/16965/star-traders-frontiers-silent-update

People who use ProBoards instead of proper forum software always annoy me, since everything is at the mercy of ProBoards rather than them, and IIRC, ProBoards has engaged in some shady activity before.
 

Morkar Left

Guest
So is this worth a buy?
Yes if you like sandboxes with emergent stories. And if you're ok with obtuse (but improving) interface, micromanagement, and manual management of save files.

There was an update today with some new stuff: http://startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/16965/star-traders-frontiers-silent-update

People who use ProBoards instead of proper forum software always annoy me, since everything is at the mercy of ProBoards rather than them, and IIRC, ProBoards has engaged in some shady activity before.

Than look at the changelogs on Steam?
 

Sarissofoi

Arbiter
Joined
Mar 24, 2017
Messages
761
Hello there fellow Spacers.
I recently discover this little game and have a blast(all my chars dead and blasted).
 

Morkar Left

Guest
It's pretty amazing how good the faction based missions work. Pretty satisfying when you improve your relationship with your quest givers and they improve (or fail) in their ambitions. Gives you that Firefly/Shadowrun feeling of dealing with your contacts.
 

As an Amazon Associate, rpgcodex.net earns from qualifying purchases.
Back
Top Bottom