StarFrame Update - The Arena - August 8, 2026

09 Aug 2026Developer post

StarFrame Update - August 8, 2026

The Arena is open. Press ARENA on the title screen. Free-for-all PvP in its own system, cut off from the rest of the galaxy.
You fly a separate arena pilot. Max skills, premium active, flying under your Steam name. Your real character is untouched and nothing crosses over in either direction.
Every ship is free. Dock and open the Hangar. Pick any hull. It replaces your current one.
Every module is free. Click a slot on the fitting screen and fit anything in the list. All arena gear is Flawless.
Ammo is free. ARENA AMMO section in your inventory. 1,000 per click, or enter an amount. It goes straight to your cargo.
Dying costs nothing. No wreck, nothing drops. You respawn at a station and pick a new ship.
No law in the arena. Kills add no infamy and can't be reported. There is no market and no bounty board.
Parties carry in. Corps don't.
Caps at 50 pilots. If it's full you get an arena full message at login.
The arena keeps its own kill board.

The Cloaking Field is renamed the Signature Dampener, and its tiers work now. It shrinks the range others detect you at: 10,000 / 7,500 / 5,000 m. All three tiers used to give the same 10 km.
A real cloak: the new Cloaking Field I/II/III. Detection range 3,000 / 2,000 / 1,000 m. Skills are Cloaking Systems and Cloaking Fabrication (Utility 60); built under STEALTH in manufacturing.
If they can't see you, they can't lock you. Locks now respect visibility, and a held lock drops when the target goes dark.
The Sensor Jammer is missile-only. It suppresses missile locks and kills in-flight homing. That is what it actually did all along; the description claimed more.
New countermeasure: the Lock Breaker. Breaks hard locks. A 4–5 second window on a 28–34 second recharge, 1–2 charges by tier. It is an escape, not immunity. Skill is Lock Breakers (Countermeasure 60).
The Utility skill ladder is releveled: Targeting Computers 0, Energy Neutralizers 50 → 20, Dampener Systems 20 → 40, Cloaking Systems 60. Nothing fitted comes off your ship, but refitting a dampener below Utility 40 needs the training.

Crafted modules and ammo now carry a quality band: Crude, Standard, Refined, Flawless (85% / 90% / 95% / 100% of catalog stats). The band is set by your fabrication skill level when you craft it. Flawless lands 25 levels above the tier's base.
Quality shows on the item. The fitting chooser and fitted modules name the band.
Unmarked items count as Crude. Anything crafted before this update without a band runs at 85%. Basic gear has no band and no penalty.

Stealth Systems / Stealth Fabrication skills are renamed Dampener Systems / Dampener Fabrication.
Module and countermeasure descriptions rewritten to say what the module actually does.

Restart Steam to pick up the update.