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

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/star-traders-2-rpg

http://www.tresebrothers.com





https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/star-traders-2-rpg/description
From your bridge, command your hand-picked crew and fully customizable ship. Roam through a massive open-universe with complete freedom to choose how and when to approach your goals. Interact with hundreds of detailed characters with unique personalities, strengths and weaknesses.

  • Explore a huge game universe with over one thousand years of rich lore developed from our Star Traders games. Experience the galaxy from whatever role you choose for your Captain and ship. You can be a pirate, trader, bounty hunter, mercenary, spy or any blend that suits your style.
  • Develop living relationships with the denizens of the quadrants you visit. Your choices will make friends and enemies among the Factions that hold power in space.
  • Assemble and train your crew, developing them from lowly staff to bridge officers. Recruit and promote individual characters from the star systems and colonies you visit.
  • Exploit the economic and cultural diversity of the quadrants to gain the upper hand in trading, smuggling and political dealings. Discover new trade routes, smuggle rare goods or illicit cargo.
  • Explore uncharted worlds, walk the halls of ancient palaces and lead your crew and officers on dangerous missions.
Star Traders 2 will be an immense RPG blending elements from our current titles and from classics like Pirates! and Mass Effect. Each major game system will include a purposeful mix of procedural content and custom designed elements. These will ensure that every game will be different -- different worlds, characters and choices await you and your crew. In the greater sandbox universe, the path you strike is entirely up to you. Every hyperwarp gate will uncover sprawling quadrants, new threats, and the lost secrets of the Star Traders and Templar Knights.

That is a central theme of Star Traders 2 -- worlds within worlds to discover and explore. The game will offer multi-layered gameplay with depth in each system:

  • ST 2 will be a turn-based, 2D game with multiple game-play perspectives following either your ship or Captain. The Deep Space View will track your ship as you travel between stars and planets. The Ground View will follow your Captain and crew as you deploy to the surface of planets to attempt missions, explore lost ruins, and visit the notable locations.

  • Every game’s map will be different in this sandbox RPG. The net of hyperwarp gates and the Quadrant connections that they create will be procedurally generated, creating a new universe for every Captain. Individual quadrant maps will be created by backers and filled in from known Star Traders space.

  • As you create your Captain, you’ll choose your personality traits, strengths and weaknesses. Much like a pen and paper RPG, every Captain will be assigned a personal story based on your choices and derived from his or her background, profession and Faction allegiance.

  • Your Captain and crew are the heart of the story. Depending on the size of your ship, your crew may be a few veterans or a large body of men and women running different parts of your spacing vessel. Using our new Motivation Engine, each crew member will be a unique individual, procedurally generated with varied traits, goals and prejudices. As each crew member survives harrowing experiences and completes missions, they will gain experience and you’ll learn more about their personality. When a crew member hits a certain threshold, you can choose to promote them to an officer and look to them as a leader of your crew. For these veterans, you'll take an active role spending their XP and allocating gear and weaponry.

  • If the heart of the ship is your crew then the muscle and bones are your Star Trader vessel. Your craft’s hull design will determine its characteristics and limits, and allow you to slot components into its modular structure. You'll design your ship’s upgrades and load out to fit the needs of your profession, type of work and your crew. While your Explorer Captain may install a research laboratory in the upper decks and park an Exo-Crawler in the cargo hold, a Military Captain will dedicate the upper decks to crew barracks and an advanced medical bay while loading up on torpedo bays and extra gunnery points.

  • Battle will feature three tactical views, ranging from capital ship combat to hand to hand combat between crews. The Ship Combat View will include battles in deep space and within a planet’s atmosphere. Take the bridge and issue orders to your crew and Officers to maximize your tactical advantage. Use your ship’s unique design, firing arcs and defenses to crush your opponents. Pick from a wide array of weapons to develop your own style - some may favor smart weapons (mines, torpedos) while others rely on the brute strength (mass drivers, guns decks). The Boarding Combat View will cover battles inside ships and hostile orbital installations. Lead the boarding party directly and fight corridor to corridor to capture enemy ships. Equip your warriors with hundreds of weapons, armors and combat skills. Face unexpected dangers on hostile ships including hull damage, radiation and overwhelming aliens. The Ground Combat View will cover exploration and battles on the surface of planets. Lead your away team across varied terrain, through dangerous worlds, toxic environments, and against hostile ground forces.
  • Politics will be built on a base of individual characters and local conflicts. Everyone you meet - from the fence who buys your smuggled goods to the Prince who hands out your promotions - will be generated by the Motivation Engine with their own traits and goals. You’ll have the opportunity to invest in - or destroy - your relationship with these different characters. Your Faction Reputation will be based on your Reputation with its influential members. Conflicts are localized - between Factions in a specific Quadrant - and led by individuals. A Thulun Prince is driving a wave of sanctions against the Javat mining worlds of the Delga Spiral. Your intervention could determine whether a settlement is negotiated or the trouble escalates to neighboring quadrants.

  • Isolated for centuries, each Quadrant has evolved a unique manufacturing, agricultural and technological landscape. Hundreds of unique and rare trade goods will be categorized along the classic ST RPG lines for the economic simulation but with substantial improvements. These improvements will focus on driving a more sophisticated trading strategy allowing your Captain to capitalize on long distance trade routes, rare trade goods and realistic supply and demand.

Closed Alpha should be released January 2017.

Game seems to have some similarities with Mandate in scope, but at least Trese Brothers have some decent games (Heroes of Steel, Templar Battleforce) under their belt, so perhaps this one won't be vaporware.
They have been quite diligent with their kickstarter updates. Last one came just under a week ago.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/star-traders-2-rpg/posts/1773322
 
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Zarniwoop

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Star Traders 1 is basically a good game for 10 minutes until you realize there's no variety, no real randomness, no real economy and no real exploration. It's basically 2d Freelancer without funky grafixx so not really gonna fap too much over this one.
 

SausageInYourFace

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so perhaps this one won't be vaporware

Not only do they have games under their belt but they have amazing customer support, frequently engage with players, listen to feedback and they support, patch and improve their games very extensively and long after release. Considering its only two guys basically, I have no clue how they manage to do it, its quite amazing. No way this is going to be vaporware.

I have only played Templar Battleforce so far but it was a big positive surprise. Looks like mobile crap on first glance but has incredibly well designed and fun turn-based combat, so I will definitely keep my eyes on this.
 

Morkar Left

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Star Traders 1 is basically a good game for 10 minutes until you realize there's no variety, no real randomness, no real economy and no real exploration. It's basically 2d Freelancer without funky grafixx so not really gonna fap too much over this one.

It was one of their first games and for mobile. Since then they have continually improved/expanded further games with complexity.

It was some months ago where I thought combining Star Traders with Templar Battleforce would be extremely cool. It seems they had the same thoughts.
:yeah:
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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so perhaps this one won't be vaporware

Not only do they have games under their belt but they have amazing customer support, frequently engage with players, listen to feedback and they support, patch and improve their games very extensively and long after release. Considering its only two guys basically, I have no clue how they manage to do it, its quite amazing. No way this is going to be vaporware.

I have only played Templar Battleforce so far but it was a big positive surprise. Looks like mobile crap on first glance but has incredibly well designed and fun turn-based combat, so I will definitely keep my eyes on this.
Yet scope of this game will be wholly different from say Templar Battleforce.
Whereas TB was squad based tactical game with handmade missions; this promises to have motivation engine guided crewmen and NPCs with their own goals, 3 different battle systems (ship to ship, boarding and planetary missions) and procedurally generated galaxy with handmade content included.

It simply is vastly more ambitious project than what they have done before.
 

Zarniwoop

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Yet scope of this game will be wholly different from say Templar Battleforce.
Whereas TB was squad based tactical game with handmade missions; this promises to have motivation engine guided crewmen and NPCs with their own goals, 3 different battle systems (ship to ship, boarding and planetary missions) and procedurally generated galaxy with handmade content included.

It simply is vastly more ambitious project than what they have done before.
Sounds like the pitch for Scam Citizen or Nu Males Sky or Spore or X4: Stillbirth. I want to love again but I've had my heart broken by pretentious devs with faggy beards one too many times.

Will wait for the 85% off Steam sale with all dlc.
 
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almondblight

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The battle systems look a lot simpler than Templar Battleforce in this update, though I don't know if that's simply a place holder or the final design.
 

SausageInYourFace

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Looks like there are three layers of combat, ship battle, boarding and ground combat. The ground combat looks pretty much like TB, looks like the same engine.
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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I guess we'll find out this month. Is anyone getting the alpha?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/star-traders-2-rpg/posts/1773322
The Star Traders alpha (which is a closed alpha, available only to $50+ backers) will be divided into three major phases. The first phase, which is the center of our final tasks, will be focused on captain creation, combat and the mission system (previous known as Contracts in ST RPG).


I'm not one of those $50 backers.
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/star-traders-2-rpg/posts/1796591

Announcing Alpha Phase 1

Incoming!!

It has been a long road to get here but the day has finally come. The Star Traders 2 Alpha is going live! We are excited to share a new and ambitious game with all of you. But when it comes to KickStarter, ambition must be met with hard work and dedication to commitments. Together, your faith and our labor have built the phase 1 of the alpha. We are now officially underway.

If you are part of the Alpha team ($50+ reward) please check your email. You will see both a direct email from andrew@tresebrothers.com with alpha instructions, as well as an invitation from HockeyApp to join the alpha download site. All the step-by-step details are in the first email, so start there. If you do not receive one of these emails please send us a message here on KickStarter or email andrew@tresebrothers.com and we’ll get you straightened out.
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Even for our backers who are not a member of the alpha team, this is still a major milestone. It means the game is coming within a number of months. Sit tight and keep an eye on the update roll here on KickStarter, we will post more information as it is forthcoming!

As always, be sure to check the reward status graphic to make sure you’ve gotten access to all of the rewards that you deserve as we’ve completed them!
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Time to get to work, Captain!

Andrew and Cory Trese

Trese Brothers Games
 

SausageInYourFace

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The concept is great and I am sure the gameplay will be great too but they really need to get the memo about PC UI design. Even though this is PC exclusive (I think?) you can tell they have been developing for mobile a lot, some of these boxes are so fuckhuge.That was the one thing that annoyed me about Templar Battleforce too but there it was somewhat excusable.
 
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Severian Silk

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Graphics are nice. I prefer Homeworld-style ship combat compared to this, however. Star Wolves was fun.
 

Taka-Haradin puolipeikko

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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tresebrothers/star-traders-2-rpg/posts/1863819
Phase 2 Alpha Build (v1.2.1)
Phase 2 is going live tonight across all platforms! Phase 1 was 75 days long -- our longest and busiest alpha test phase ever. We’re so proud to be working with you to polish Star Traders 2 into a real gem. During the Phase 1 we put our focus on character creation, trading economy, missions, ship combat, and crew combat. In addition, we have been continually pushing forward in completing the creative rewards for our KickStarters (Legendary Captain, Famous Officer, Join the Lore).

In prep for Alpha Phase 2, we have shifted our focus to finishing and polishing advanced trade (Black Market, unique trade goods), operations (Exploring, Spying, Blockading, Patrolling), contacts and in later updates, Storyteller support.

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Advanced Trade

Across the quadrants, dishonest Faction merchants are operating non-Exchange trade houses that cater to Captains who wish to purchase outside of the trade laws that restrict legal commerce with off-worlders. Access to these Black Market trading houses requires a Contact who can provide an introduction and the quick wits and steely nerves of a fearless smuggler. We’ve expanded the black market implementation to include circumvention of both permits and legality.

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To support the smuggler play style we’ve buffed indy worlds, increased the generation of Smuggler contacts on high Trade Law worlds, increased the number of Contacts who can introduce you to other Smuggler contacts and added scoring/awards for this playstyle.

Operations

Phase 2 also includes a focus on the game’s operation mini-games, including Exploration, Patrol, Spy and Blockade. We’ve rebuilt the UI for the card game and have rolled in all the lovely flavor text for the individual cards. If you’re Exploring on an oceanic world, your expedition might be attacked by toothy aquatic predators (sharks) or you might get rolled under an avalanche on a ice world. For each operation type we’ve put in a comprehensive list of Risk and Reward factors (bottom right) so you can see exactly what is contributing to the draw of the cards, and make informed decisions as to whether or not this is the place to be risking it.

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Contacts

Phase 2 expands Contacts in every dimension. We’ve added new services, the ability for contacts to grant discounts on zone services (Fuel, Doctor, Reparirs), new contact types, improvements for the contact generator, more contacts in your games, a revised the contact link system and an improved influence system. As we move through Phase 2 we’re working to rebuild the contact UI and incorporating the contact artwork we’ve been working on for the past 6 months. These upcoming features really bring these characters to life: my greedy, militaristic friend Davin Scarpitti will feel a lot more alive when I can see his serious Zenrin face and talk to him as well.

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Key to phase 2 are the expanded Contacts types that were added to start migrating concepts from the Lore Book into the game. In Phase 2 you’ll be able to meet new types of characters like Blade Dancers and Gestalt Technologists and old friends like the Chaesin Doctors, Xeno Hunters and Templars. We’re filling in gaps with both epic and ordinary contacts. For example, Phase 2 includes both Smuggler Lords and Spicetender contacts. These new contacts provide new service combinations, recruits, discounts and ways to expand your contact network. We’ve made the cost of new introductions variable -- many will be more affordable, but high quality contact introductions will cost more. This can make it advantageous to buy introductions to contacts in the early game, because they become more expensive to meet as they grow in Influence.

Storyteller Engine

Our game engine’s narrative system is code named “Storyteller” and while not immediately available in the first launch of Phase 2, we will be dropping the first story elements, side quests and character vignettes during phase 2 for testing and feedback. The very first story element will feature John’s character Nikolai Ramius. Because he is an honored Exec Producer and repeat backer of our projects we’re excited to see his handsome mug in Star Traders 2. While he has already appeared in Heroes of Steel and Templar Battleforce we think his Star Traders 2 appearance will be unique. Once his test story is launched, we’ll be adding additional content quickly and the galaxy will fill with story fast.

One of the core promises of the Star Traders 2 Kickstarter was that we would blend the sandbox universe of Star Traders with a rich narrative and bringing Storyteller to life in Phase 2 is what will enable us to deliver on that.
 

Trash

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I'm cautiously optimistic about this one as the Trese Brothers have been doing this for awhile and seem to be improving with each release. I must admit however that I did expect something a bit more exciting from crew and ship combat than what I saw in the Twitch gameplay session. Perhaps they'll expand further upon it though. Will keep an eye on this one, especially as they seem to have gotten a decent budget for the first time.

Do love their universes. These guys are unashamed nerds who build their gamestudio from a mom and dad photo store and base their gameworlds on their own pnp gaming. And it shows. They throw in everything from Dune to WH40K to Blade Runner and somehow it works.
 

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