New Captain HP Bars in the HUD warn of impending trouble
Another day in the void, another major update. We're hard at work and not just listening to you -- we're quickly learning and improving based on your. As STF launched into early access, we knew we'd have an exciting week with a lot of changes. It has been exactly that and this update is a really move forward for the game and its balance.
A huge thanks to everyone who has left a review! And, Star Traders: Frontiers is in its last hours its launch sale, so if you haven't picked it up yet, do!
Balancing Out Captain Insta-Death
We've been hard at work in the balancing room, running the math and watching the logs and all the data we have. We have also been reading every forum post and review about combat and comparing it to our roadmap how to go forward. What we've released tonight greatly improves the balance of battle and helps to insulate the Captain and Officers from massive, sudden damage on the ship.
First, we have reduced the amount of damage that a Captain or Officer can take in a single hit in ship combat. We have also tied the damage calculation into difficulty level, so things will be less brutal on lower difficulties. We've made a major stride forward in visibility into your risk level in combat by exposing both Captain's HP scales in the ship combat HUD -- now you can see where you are at every turn and be aware of when you are running on a thin red line next to death.
We've also tempered the bonus damage that was given out when a ship weapon hit an enemy's engine or bridge. This was leading to some really big numbers and sudden crew death. No promises that a nasty hit won't insta-kill crew members, but it will no longer take your officers or captain's lives in a single blast. An SFX was added to mark the hit to engines which matches the existing VFX where you can see a sudden burst of red in the engine animation. We'll keep working on improving the visibility of these key stats in the next updates.
Of note, all combat systems are symmetrical so the enemy are playing by the same set of rules which means their Captains will also no suffer insta-death syndrome. What's fair is fair!
Looking stylish!
New Designs
As everyone loves crew customization, I squeezed in a few hours to work on the art for two new accessories. Engineering glasses and space aviator glasses have been added -- enjoy. I also fixed a few faces that weren't quite right (neck, head position). We've got work to do clean up and perfect this entire character system and this is a nice step forward. We're looking longingly at the pile of hats we have almost ready but just haven't been able to add yet -- lots more outfits, faces, and accessories are inbound in the coming weeks.
Other Goodies
We forgot to mention ship rename was in v2.0.9 -- check the top right of your main status screen. We fixed the issue with the Exchange misreporting amount and price of goods on buy -- now it starts the slider with the right number of goods that can be offered with the right price display. We fixed an issue with some early rumors blocking the Faen storyline (Quarantine especially).
Also, we fixed a ton of bugs and crashes. We're working hard to get to 100% stable in both the storyline and the system, so please keep reporting and sharing your saved games if you have them. It is a huge help and we are rapidly trending in the right direction with update #4!
Please leave a review to help us spread the word about Star Traders: Frontiers!!
v2.0.13 - 11/20/2017
- Ship Combat: Reduced Max Single Hit Damage to Captain
- Ship Combat: Capped Max Single Hit Damage to Officers
- Ship Combat: Improved Difficulty-based damage scales
- Ship Combat UI: Both Captain's HP values now visible in HUD
- Ship Combat: Reduced Severity of Engine hits
- Ship Combat: Reduced Severity of Bridge hits
- Ship Combat: Alarm SFX when player's Engine is hit
- Added 2 new eyewear accessories, new types of glasses -- more options coming
- Added ability to Rename Ship (in v2.0.9, but forgot to mention it!)
- Fixed issue with Exchange reporting incorrect value and amount when purchasing
- Improved balance of Rep loss during Trade Ban and Trade War
- Fixed Space bar cancelling map navigation
- Improved v1 Ship Engine description listing
- Buffed Starting ship "Frontier Liner" & Reduced Cost
- Restored broken "Rich Harvest" Rumor for Wild Zone
- Replaced Pin icon with arrows - slide the detail pane of the table in so you can view the map and use the table!
- Radiation Storm / Xeno Fleet / Quarantine Rumors no longer occur in first year -- no longer blocking start of story
- Fixed crashes with opening mission list under some story circumstances
- Fixed story bugs and crashes
BOOM!