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

LordofSyn

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Joined
Nov 8, 2014
Messages
113
and that item is idiotic. with two of them on the slowest ship (with a shitton of availble space) nobody can run, you always dictate range without activating skills. a speed 9 ship manages to be faster than a 27. something is veeeeery wrong. that's why mods are just too important with these kind of games.
The developers are not finished with this game and issues like component balancing is still being worked on. While I agree that mods will eventually help this game, the devs should be allowed to fix it first.

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LordofSyn

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Messages
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Nav and Speed are used for ranges 5 and 4, while Pilot and Agility are used for Ranges 3, 2, and 1 in ship combat.

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Reapa

Doom Preacher
Joined
Jul 10, 2009
Messages
2,340
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are there still missing rewards for achievements in the release version?
 

SausageInYourFace

Angelic Reinforcement
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Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit. Pathfinder: Wrath
Star Traders got a Bestest Bests from RPS.

Wot I Think - Star Traders: Frontiers
Spice kills - quit now

Fraser Brown

Contributor

9th August 2018 / 1:00PM

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70

Star Traders: Frontiers is a huge stellar sandbox with an evolving galaxy that moves forward with or without you. It’s liberating, not being on the hook for every little problem. As a free-wheeling captain, you can ingratiate yourself with the most important galactic players, becoming embroiled in the highest level of politics, or you can just enjoy the life of a scoundrel, smuggling and stealing your way through space.

It’s a chimera, stitched together from bits of RPGs, strategy games, roguelikes and space sims, but it’s miraculously cohesive. The multitude of systems and invisible paths can be initially daunting, but the ability to carve out your own little niche means that it’s as manageable as you want it to be. That’s how it gets you. You’re merrily ferrying legal goods between worlds for a small profit, staying within your comfort zone, and then an hour later you’re smuggling illegal artefacts, spying on royals and fighting the space cops.

Star-Traders-6-1212x682.jpg


See, while Star Traders lets you chart your own course freely, it also makes sure that you know about all the things you might be missing out on. As you’re travelling through space and visiting worlds, you’ll hear rumours and updates about interesting threats and opportunities in the rest of the galaxy. Wars, alien mysteries, even nasty space anomalies that are likely to mess up your ship – you’ll rapidly collect a big list of points of interest that will pull you in every direction.

They’re constant reminders that the galaxy is alive. It’s a boast that space sims in particular make about their dynamic universes all the time, when what it often boils down to is prices changing in shops. It’s a relief to see that life in Star Traders is considerably more diverse. A solar war, for instance, can transform sectors into battlefields, with factions doling out missions to mercenaries and letting pilots seize enemy ships. There’s a dynamic economy too, of course. The holistic nature of the galaxy means that there’s always something putting pressure on a system’s economy, but the impact is usually greater than a sale on advanced electronics.

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An embargo is like catnip for smugglers. With trade officers cracking down on certain goods, the black market fills in the gap. That means bold captains can potentially make a tidy profit by trying to sell illegal goods under the cops’ noses. Wars can even break out over trade, with embargos spanning systems and merchants turning into privateers.

You can earn a living just by playing it safe and doing simple trade runs, fulfilling the demands of a few worlds, but to really make some cash you’ll always want to have your ear to the ground. Trading is reactive, sometimes exploitative, and infinitely more engaging than… well, anything other than EVE Online. You can conduct corporate espionage, become a war profiteer or even use your smuggling skills to help a ragtag group of rebels.

Despite the name, trade is only a small part of Star Traders. When you create a new captain, whether by picking a preset or building one from scratch, you can make one more suited towards things like piracy or exploration, giving them skills and a starting ship that match the sort of adventures you want to get into. You won’t be limited to their specialities, however, just better at them. Any weaknesses can also be shored up as you gain experience and by picking the right crew.

Star-Traders-1-1212x682.jpg


When you’re designing your captain, you’re really just making one tiny component in a complex machine. Every single member of your crew will also come with their own jobs and talents, contributing to your total while also giving you extra abilities that can be used in and out of combat. They also provide a bulwark against the cruel and random nature of the universe. Random events are constantly playing out on the ship, their results determined by a dice roll and the crew’s skills. If you’ve got a skilled doctor, you’ll be less likely to lose crew if a virus gets onboard, while reliable engineers can stop your components from suddenly catching on fire.

These little moments make the ship seem a bit more lively, but their frequency and lack of interactions mean that you’ll quickly stop even registering them. Activities like spying and exploring planets also generate random events, but they use a card-based minigame to simulate your fortune. One by one, the game removes a card, each with an outcome, until there’s only one left. Talents can move the odds in your favour, though chance can always screw you over. Instead of getting your sly mitts on some intelligence that you can sell to the enemies of your enemies, you might end up getting spotted by a bounty hunter. It’s just one additional and very insubstantial layer of complexity, but it makes the world of difference.

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For all the help your crew provides – and they are entirely indispensable – they rather reasonably expect to be paid well and led by someone who knows what they’re doing. It doesn’t always work out that way.

The pirate crew of the Hedgehog was not happy. Someone forgot to fill up the fuel tank when we left the last planet. It was the final straw after a botched negotiation and a beating at the hands of a security team. As the ship hurtled through space, running on fumes, half the crew mutinied. It didn’t go very well for them. To thank those who remained loyal, and also to boost morale, I scheduled a stop at the spice hall on the nearest space station. That’s when I became a spice addict. Along with most of my crew.

A chronically inept spice addict, it turns out, isn’t the best person to stop the galaxy from spiralling into chaos. The galaxy doesn’t revolve around you, but that doesn’t mean inaction or failure can’t have undesirable consequences. As I discovered when I forgot to stop a war from starting.

Star-Traders-15-1212x682.jpg


I was late. My crew had been getting agitated, so we hit up the local spice hall and enjoyed ourselves a bit too much. Again. I was meant to be ferrying negotiators and working with spies to undermine a trial that was poised to end badly for my employer. The trial concluded while I was still in space, and not in my employer’s favour. Thus, war. I should have stopped helping, but instead I persisted, making things worse.

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Work kept coming to me because I had such a high reputation with this single faction. I might have been a bit useless, but I’d worked for them for years, fighting their enemies and even uncovering a conspiracy. I stumbled on it, really, but my boss was very impressed.

Reputation is the true currency of Star Traders. What your standing is with a faction determines everything from what you’ll be able to do when you dock in one of their ports to how their ships will react to you when you meet them out in space. You have a reputation with individuals, too, and they with other characters and factions. It’s a complex web of friendships, grudges and political alliances that can be easy to get tangled up in.

Star-Traders-16-1212x682.jpg


For a whole year, I worked for a scientist who was sending me out on tasks designed to increase their reputation with a member of a faction they were technically at war with. People don’t always toe the faction line, and it’s possible to be best mates with someone when you’re also plotting to destroy their boss. Complicated, but possible.

In the maelstrom of a galactic war, ship battles are common, and gosh would it be nice if they also resolved automatically. On the 2D map of space, you never actually see any other ships. It’s a lonely void punctuated only by planets. As you move through it, you’ll have random encounters, informing you that you’ve come across another vessel. They might be merchants that you can rob, cops that want to search you, or pirates demanding you empty your cargo hold. Typically there are lots of different ways to handle these encounters, but sometimes you just have to fight.

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Space battles are turn-based duels between two ships, and dreadfully slow. The fights are almost entirely static, but so much time is given to the boring exchange of gunfire, drawing out every round. Even if you just want to blow up a vulnerable little trader, you still have to go through the process of watching its useless guns completely miss your ship over and over again as you whittle down its health. Most fights follow a predictable pattern with the only real wrinkle provided by the engagement distance. Every weapon has a sweet spot from which it does the most damage, and distances where it can’t be used at all. To bring all of your weapons to bear, you need to advance and fall back, spending reactor points that would otherwise be used on attacks. It would be exceedingly generous to call it tactical.

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While I don’t need to see it played out every single time, all the planning that goes into these bland ship brawls is great. I put a lot of work into my ship, hand-picking every component, from the cabins to the bridge, considering how my choices would affect the ship’s speed, fuel consumption, jump efficiency… I had a lot on my mind. When you’re building a ship, it’s a lot like designing a captain. It should complement them, really. If you’re a spy, you might want a stealthy, high-tech ship that can rapidly escape battles, whereas a pirate might benefit from vessel designed for boarding and broadside attacks, even if it’s just for thematic consistency.

It’s a brilliant, flexible system where complexity isn’t conflated with complicatedness. The choices are hard because there are so many directions to go in, not because you need to do homework to understand them all. The ship and customisation screens are dense with information, but it’s presented clearly and with an abundance of tooltips. Actually picking new components is also made considerably easier by the ability to compare each part before you purchase it.

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You’ll start out with a default loadout, but you’ll be able to replace every component at a starport, if you’ve got the cash. The only limitation is space, with each ship having room for a specific number of large, medium and small components. Even this can be extended, though. That means you can chuck out all your guns and replace them with passenger cabins. Forget about the wars and just spread good times throughout the galaxy with your party bus.

All of this is true for ground combat, as well. It’s less common than ship combat and seems a little faster, but ultimately it’s a lot of the same fights and the same attack rotations repeated over and over again. Instead of one ship, it’s four of your crew, but the principles of positioning and engagement distance are the same. I’d auto resolve almost all of them if I could, spending the extra time making the perfect crew of cutthroats.

Star-Traders-5-1212x682.jpg


Even before I retrofitted it, the Hedgehog had room for 30 crew and five officers, making me responsible for 35 people. I had gunners who were in charge of aiming at enemy ships, navigators who got us safely through hyperwarp jumps, swordsmen and pistoleers for ground combat – my own little army. Officers, who can have up to three jobs, have to be trained manually, but the rest of the crew’s training can be automated. When I did take the hands-on approach, however, I felt like my input was making a lot more difference than it did in the battles.

You’ll chat to your officers during missions, while your crew will make casual remarks as you flit about in your ship, and they put on a convincing show of having a personality. The fantastic character designs do a lot of the heavy lifting, making it impossible to not project character traits and personality quirks onto the random crew. Take a gander at Wolf Thorncroft and tell me you don’t know exactly what he’s like.

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He’s old, he’s got a moustache, he’s got an indescribable quality that demands respect and at some point you’ll absolutely call him “Dad”. It will be super embarrassing. This informed the choices I made for him, and the tone in which I read his dialogue, only increasing my desire to hear him say “I’m proud of you, son.”

There are a few characters I’m obsessed with. I get a serious ‘Metal Gear Solid villain’ vibe from Hurley Caravor, and despite his stern features, who can deny that he has lips that were made for smooching?

Star-Traders-12-1212x682.jpg


Star Traders is just an endless parade of striking costumes and memorable characters. That’s at least half the reason I’ve invested so much money into expanding the crew quarters. It’s a fashion show every night. The planets are lookers, too. If you can peel your eyes away from the menus, you’ll see some stunning sci-fi art.

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Dune seems like an obvious source of inspiration, with the spice and warring feudal houses, but the web of politics and intrigue that spreads out across the galaxy is also evocative of both from The Expanse and Babylon 5. That’s some excellent company to be in, and Star Traders more than earns the comparison. It’s a galaxy that feels lived-in and coherent. It’s steeped in lore, but importantly it’s lore that serves the plot. Instead of just filling space or giving the illusion of history, it explains why the galaxy’s in the state you find it in. And when there’s exposition, it’s part of the natural flow of a conversation, not a big information dump.

I mentioned roguelikes 2,000 words ago and cruelly left it hanging there, so I’ll put you out of your misery now: permadeath is an entirely optional hurdle. You can play the game with permadeath and in iron man mode, and I sort of understand the appeal, but it also seems like a bonkers way to play a game that makes you invest so much time into developing your crew and ship. Thankfully there are a whopping seven difficulty levels, each a combination of different death rules, challenges and rewards, and you can also make your own custom rules.

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While basic is the recommended difficulty for new players, it’s just a bit too gentle. Not needing to worry about your captain or officers dying is lovely, but with enemies only fighting at 60% strength, they’ll barely be able to touch you. Bumping it up to 80% puts you at an advantage but actually makes you use your talents, essentially buffs and debuffs, instead of just relentlessly shooting your biggest guns. It also benefits from a bit of risk. I like to keep my captains immortal, so one mistake doesn’t cost me the entire game, but I appreciate my crew and officers all the more when I know they’re vulnerable.

At every point, Star Traders gives you more options than you probably think you need. Even without permadeath, it invites additional journeys. In the middle of writing this, I realised I could probably make a prison barge, filling my ship with cells and hunting down all the galaxy’s ne’er-do-wells. It’s that or the party bus next. My imagination is all fired up, ready to embark on another disastrous experiment.

Star-Traders-17-1212x682.jpg


Even if I do dream of having an auto-resolve button for fights, I’m still pretty smitten. It’s an exceptional space sim that’s happy to let you just while away the years, smuggling spice and getting into bar fights, all while this elaborate and galaxy-shaking space opera plays out behind you. It’s shining a spotlight on the Bossks of the universe, sort of just getting on with their job and sometimes being tangentially related to important stuff. And Bossk is the best.
 

Helton

Arcane
Joined
Jan 29, 2007
Messages
6,789
Location
Starbase Delta
What kind of ships do you guys use? I can never decide when the time comes to update (and then I get wrecked).
i prefer small and best small is raptor.


anyone can tell me whats the point of trade/spy/whatever wars? I made my faction win a war by 200 points but i did not notice any bonus from that.
Whats more, selling intel only improve influence(and tip war) but not faction rep?
I think conflicts affect the influence of contacts on each side. Contacts need a certain amount of influence to provide you services. It is even possible for contacts to die (or stop being a contact in any case, perhaps they go into exile). I think conflict loss can trigger this (among other things).

Sometimes selling intel boosts faction rep. I never quite figured out when vs. when not. I think it may only boost it up to 30 or so, or perhaps if the intel is relevant in a conflict?
 

SausageInYourFace

Angelic Reinforcement
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Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit. Pathfinder: Wrath
When you are selling during a conflict and the intel is related to that conflict it probably boosts faction rep because you are helping that faction winning. All those faction wars give you opportunities and also change what kind of missions your contacts give you. If you see that a faction that hates you has a spy war going and you have a contact within that faction who buys intel you could go and spy over planets of the opposing faction and later sell that intel.

One things thats been bothering me is when I run patrols over a factions planet and then run into a military ship of that faction and it drops my reputation further. I'm trying to help yo! I guess its realistic that they wont let a crime lord away just cause hes helping out patroling some trade routes. But it makes it hard to come back once your rep is in the dumpster.
 

Emily

Arcane
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Messages
3,068
I am not sure i understand, is this early access or finished version? Cause it seems like it early access.
like for instance military ranks dont do anything, nor can u be a part of faction..
And on that note it seems there is no hierarchy within the contacts or something more understandable.
Also idk what is the end goal of this game? buying the biggest ship is kinda easy if u just abuse one play (spy, trader etc)
 

LordofSyn

Scholar
Joined
Nov 8, 2014
Messages
113
I am not sure i understand, is this early access or finished version? Cause it seems like it early access.
like for instance military ranks dont do anything, nor can u be a part of faction..
And on that note it seems there is no hierarchy within the contacts or something more understandable.
Also idk what is the end goal of this game? buying the biggest ship is kinda easy if u just abuse one play (spy, trader etc)
It is no longer Early Access, but that does not mean that support for it has ended. Expect continued support for at least the next 5 years, if not more.

Military Ranks do indeed do something as you continue to buy more. You will get access to harder and better paying missions, for example. You also gain access to better ships and components by virtue of your higher rank.

There is no end game planned as of yet and plenty more Eras to be added so that there is no way you can see everything your map has to offer in one play setting.

If you feel that you are getting to the later ships too quickly, then I recommend moving up a difficulty level or two where your choices have more weight and the stakes are higher. The rewards can also be better too. Finally, as of now; you can also hunt Unlocks for future play-throughs.
The devs have a new roadmap they are going by to hit all the remaining points that need to be fulfilled by their Backers before going for even more expansive additions and concepts.

Again, expect support for 5+ years. Also know that it is a 2 man team doing all of this so they are working as bard as they can, but it will still take some time to see it even more fully fleshed out.

Sent from my LGLS996 using Tapatalk
 

Emily

Arcane
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Messages
3,068
I am not sure i understand, is this early access or finished version? Cause it seems like it early access.
like for instance military ranks dont do anything, nor can u be a part of faction..
And on that note it seems there is no hierarchy within the contacts or something more understandable.
Also idk what is the end goal of this game? buying the biggest ship is kinda easy if u just abuse one play (spy, trader etc)
It is no longer Early Access, but that does not mean that support for it has ended. Expect continued support for at least the next 5 years, if not more.

Military Ranks do indeed do something as you continue to buy more. You will get access to harder and better paying missions, for example. You also gain access to better ships and components by virtue of your higher rank.

There is no end game planned as of yet and plenty more Eras to be added so that there is no way you can see everything your map has to offer in one play setting.

If you feel that you are getting to the later ships too quickly, then I recommend moving up a difficulty level or two where your choices have more weight and the stakes are higher. The rewards can also be better too. Finally, as of now; you can also hunt Unlocks for future play-throughs.
The devs have a new roadmap they are going by to hit all the remaining points that need to be fulfilled by their Backers before going for even more expansive additions and concepts.

Again, expect support for 5+ years. Also know that it is a 2 man team doing all of this so they are working as bard as they can, but it will still take some time to see it even more fully fleshed out.

Sent from my LGLS996 using Tapatalk
Thank you for your answer i understand it now better.
So just to confirm the difficulty and the target of missions scales with your military rank? As in you will get more involved military missions with better reward and stronger opponents if u are higher rank?
Is there any other level scaling in the game btw?

Alright i guess in 5 years many things could come, and the game so far is an awesome it just lacks features here and there.
Anyways if u are connected to developers u might want to consider giving them advice of maybe trying for some faction play and focusing more on that similar to game called Mount and Blade warband that was really successful and is kinda like this just in medieval period. You had all the similar elements of trading, fighting, moving up in the world, buying better gear and also having ranks (sorta) and facing bigger challenges later on.
 

LordofSyn

Scholar
Joined
Nov 8, 2014
Messages
113
Thank you for your answer i understand it now better.
So just to confirm the difficulty and the target of missions scales with your military rank? As in you will get more involved military missions with better reward and stronger opponents if u are higher rank?
Is there any other level scaling in the game btw?

Alright i guess in 5 years many things could come, and the game so far is an awesome it just lacks features here and there.
Anyways if u are connected to developers u might want to consider giving them advice of maybe trying for some faction play and focusing more on that similar to game called Mount and Blade warband that was really successful and is kinda like this just in medieval period. You had all the similar elements of trading, fighting, moving up in the world, buying better gear and also having ranks (sorta) and facing bigger challenges later on.
The game starts with a certain difficulty based on how you set it up, but will also continue to get more difficult as your Captain continues through their career.
Additionally, beyond the tougher and higher paying missions from higher Mil and Edict ranks; there are also the Political events and rumours which will add difficulty spikes too.

As for the Faction specific missions and disparities, there are already some and more are already planned to be added.

2 man team. A loaded Dev roadmap and a massive suggestion list that grows everyday. Stick around, the game is already very deep and the longer you play; the more layers you'll find.

Glad you are enjoying it and that you want to see more. I do recommend joining their Forums and Discord as the Devs communicate *daily* in all formats (including Steam) with their fans and players.

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LordofSyn

Scholar
Joined
Nov 8, 2014
Messages
113
i guess my question will just be ignored...
Yes, there are still some rewards for unlocks that are being worked on. They may be missing now, but you will still receive those rewards for any that you have unlocked; as soon as they are added.

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Emily

Arcane
Joined
Mar 21, 2012
Messages
3,068
What are advantages of a small ship? Is it more maneuverable? Could it be a good boarding vessel?

I was thinking of maybe making something akin to that but not sure is it possible.
 

Reapa

Doom Preacher
Joined
Jul 10, 2009
Messages
2,340
Location
Germany
i guess my question will just be ignored...
Yes, there are still some rewards for unlocks that are being worked on. They may be missing now, but you will still receive those rewards for any that you have unlocked; as soon as they are added.

Sent from my LGLS996 using Tapatalk
That's not very smart for a game that is not in early access any more. It makes it look like the released state is a lie. There's nothing wrong with the game still being worked on after release, in fact it's great, but when you sell it as released, it should look like it's done. Like the features its supposed to have now are there. It's their game and they can do whatever they want with it, i'm just saying it doesn't look good for anyone that buys it and sees that ships and contacts he unlocks are not in the game yet. Some people would probably not even buy it knowing that and rather wait for the game to be feature complete. Not telling them that unlockables are not implemented yet is a lie.
 

LordofSyn

Scholar
Joined
Nov 8, 2014
Messages
113
What are advantages of a small ship? Is it more maneuverable? Could it be a good boarding vessel?

I was thinking of maybe making something akin to that but not sure is it possible.
Small ships like the Scour Cutter or Juror are viable ships, but not ones I would recommend for starter ships.
They do allow for a smaller crew and considerably faster leveling of that crew, but are also pretty fragile and will be very costly to repair in the early game.

To make the most of them, you want to forgo any ship combat at all until after you have upgraded a few components. Also note that smaller ships are better fine tuned towards a specific duty like Spying. They are not large enough to be better all-around or Jack-of-all-trades ships.

Test play with them on lower difficulties to get a feel for them. Making them into boarding ships can be done, but usually may not be in grasp until a few years into your career as you will need to swap most of the weapons on board for Piloting and Nav modules and some armor/shielding as possible.
Making sure that you have great Nav and Piloting ship Talents will also go a long way.


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lukaszek

the determinator
Patron
Joined
Jan 15, 2015
Messages
12,624
deterministic system > RNG
 
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