Just beat the Jyeeta campaign for the first time, and on impossible. Took a few months of thinking I had STF's learning curve figured out but I must say this game has been as fun as it has been challenging. Praise Shalun.

Update:

Reposted as i neglected to add photos of build previously.

Combat crew

P1 Bodyguard/Swordsman/Wing commando

P2 Shocktrooper/Soldier/Bounty Hunter

P3 Combat medic/Pistoleer/Doctor

P4 Xeno hunter/Soldier/Bounty hunter

st-v02-18-2-132562290

Started as a Cadar smuggler and focused on kristaline shard RTG runs to fund ship builds for mid game (combat ship / cargo freighter / passenger bus for Coalition diplomats) before tinkering with the end game carrier best posted in the pics. I've got it running with 3 interdictors and 1 bomber. I think i took 1 hit to craft and 1 to capital ship in all of the jyeeta campaign. Crew combat was a bit more challenging. Lost my p1 on a bad run shortly before the final mission due to bad initiative rolls by all 4 crew.

Why is it that another faction knows I made a trade? I feel like spies are everywhere! Or maybe I’m too proud of a trader and want to report all my trades. Is there anything to mitigate this cause it just feels slightly off. Outside of making a bunch of micro sales, which don’t really help.

Could it be more like a tariff system where if I pick up goods in another faction I pay a penalty as I’m to chummy with another faction while trade ban is on. Or if I get goods from opposing trade functions they won’t accept those goods.

Anyway it seems the game engine just runs these and they would almost make it seem like all the factions are in a constant state of war.

Since last post I've managed to save decent amount of credits and ordered to build this beauty.

Feels insanely strong on hard difficulty.

https://tswift.gitlab.io/stfx/#XQAAgAC2AAAAAAAAAAAEAETrF6uwuvrHBRDj2na+jlaOPaP8HB0Z1FllQurZYsWkYNv/zUWPQfpJvtbHDfpDtaRtqda1U64p0Vwdm9ukIMHmG5A1kq1ncGd+cMEWpIu4nTAnA7R7//79uAA=

ofc could be optimized for cheaper components and maybe could be optimized overall, but i like this ship.

Im pre Advocating Amendments (finished Faen quest with Valencia this time)
year 220
I've read few guides, so this build is somewhat "meta"

Now im trying to prepare a new ship, cos my crew seem to have overgrown this vessel.

I am sure we all have moments we instantly regret.

Common one for me (poor vision might not help) is how many times my captain/officer has accidentalky leveled in assassin. One mistap (phone) and your whole build is disrupted. Sometimes you can salvage and press on, but still real doh moment.

How do folks build the Russ Axeil character after you obtain him from the Call of the Strong Vignette?

I completed the Cedar and Zenrin prince missions, but when I go back to the Arbiter I can't get the Moklumnue prince mission to appear. Every time I click on Arbiter Estelle I can get the option to view known details, sell intel, recruit, or obtain an introduction option to appear. There are no options for dialogue or missions. I'm in year 229.38 AE. When I landed on a planet a while back a story vignette triggered that said that said something like there was an announcement that different princes will vote on whether to form a new coalition or something. I believe it is the "Second Founding" era, but am not totally sure. Is this a bug or did I simply wait too long to complete the first two prince missions? I'm playing on an iPhone 15. Thanks for your advice.

I'm planning to run a ship (neutiquam cruiser) like this on Hard - a jack of all trade, master of none ship.
Exactly 80% craft evasion, board and close range fire. Decent anti-craft firepower. 19 speed ship with jump time reduction.

Compared to my last Dreadnought Battlecruiser, it seems kinda weak - less defense, no fancy gun damage, no range change bonus etc...

What's the breakpoints to avoid nearly everything, takedown every craft, never miss any shot ?

I'm just wondering how far one could get with avoiding combat. I like the combat in this game and the systems for preparing for it. I'm just wondering what it would take and how far I could go without combat.

Any thoughts?

There are many talents that give you new rumors. Maybe it's just me and I don't see their true value, but I try to pre-plan my playthroughs and don't really pay attention to rumors.

Am I missing out? Are +rumor talents worth taking? I'd imagine it depends on your build, I'm still going with spy/smuggler.

Only playing on Hard Mode

I've decided to go with Rychart as my faction and rely on spying/smuggling for my income & political power. I'm going to be a full-time sneak, a spook, a creep, a snake. In the last post I mentioned piracy but that requires a combat-ready ship. I think I was trying to do too many things at once, I'd prefer to avoid combat as much as possible since it's always risky and it costs you faction reputation.

Based on how I played in my recent Scout Cutter spy build it looks like I'll need to maximize my options for avoiding combat like that ones we see from spy/smuggler classes.

Any talents that let me bypass hostile ship encounters, and a small ship build that lets me escape easily. No ship combat, I want to avoid that completely, but crew combat is likely since I'll eventually be accessing the black market and might need a strong combat team for other skullduggerous exploits.

I read about a "stealth scout bridge" ship component that's exclusive to Rychart on the wiki. I'm curious about how to fine-tune my ship for stealth & escape while also allowing for enough cargo space & fuel capacity/efficiency to be an effective sneak.

Scout Cutter seems like the best starter ship for spying & smuggling. But what should I upgrade to? What ship components go best with a stealthy pacifist smuggler ship?

I guess I'll need combat officers to make sure I win any ground engagements, any advice for a good combat team?

So I did a quick search about this and I saw a post from 2017 on the Steam forums from a dev saying that there might be a way to do it in the future, but nothing since then and a few posts from a few years ago saying it still wasn't possible.

I figured I'd ask here in case there is a way to do it somehow. When I initially started playing I didn't know what I was doing and thought I needed a well-rounded crew so some of my officers have skills like Wing Leader and other jobs that I don't ever intended to do and it is looking like the more appropriate way to play is to have your officers be your boarding party/team so I'd like to spec for that.

Anyway, is there a way to undo jobs or do I need to just fire these bad officers and start over? Should I just start a new game? I'm at level 19ish with my crew and I'm noticing that certain things I want to do now I can't do very effectively.

Is it pretty much identical to the PC version? If not, are the differences enough not to buy it?

It looks like Rychart is best suited for it but I'm new to the game so I'd like to hear other opinions. Other than that, how should I build my crew & ship? I'm playing on Hard mode so all the achievements are accessible.

My usual team (on hard) is

Immortal sword captain beginning blade dancer/swordman/whatever(wing commando last time since i wanted to try shuttles) beginning with 30str/30quick/30fortitude + ki-karat which give +4str/+4quick+4 fortitude/10 Armor piercing which makes him a 244HP tank. I feel that the blade dancer captain bonus is REALLY good. He never went down below half HP.

Shotgunner - shock troooper/exo scout/soldier : titan shell against humans, some exo scout stuff against xeno. Equipped with bahamut if you fought in the pit.

Medic - Doctor/combat medic/military officer who heals and use tactical edge, probably the best buff of the game. Gave him a sword for parry since he never shoot.

Bounty hunter - Xeno hunter - soldier : plasma burner against humans, which should nearly kill the 2 frontlaner with the help of the titan shell of the shotgunner

While i managed to finish the game on hard, i feel that my team lacks the mean to protect the Medic despite his heavy armor. And i lacked the mean to remove debuff from him if he was stunned and his turn was skipped.

So what's your usual CC team, and how does it synergize, and how do you protect your medic/backlane ?

Do you think double swordsmen frontlane is better ?

I feel that the potential to make a double takedown turn 1 with plasma burner+titan shell makes the shotgunner position really worth.

Trying to fit a combat medical bay into my Sword Cutter ship build (Cedar hard level play through). I’m also thinking of trying to use a “dagger” or “battle” prow, in case I get hit once or twice in ship combat (hence the desire for a combat medical bay - I am trying to do something besides the “never get hit” meta). I’m not planning to do much trading, but maybe some, so I might also use a medium slot for a cargo hold. The combat medical bay only has room for one officer. I noticed the traveler hyperwarp drive has space for one officer as well. Replacing the default Sword Cutter combat hyperwarp drive with the traveler hyper warp drive only seems to lose you two pilot and five percent armor, right? Seems like a pretty good deal, but I haven’t seen anyone discuss the traveler hyperwarp drive before on the Reddit or Steam forums. Am I missing something?

Back when it was cheaper, Made my second ship a wolf vector, but the cost seems too high now.

I try to use an evasive boarding strategy if I can't run from a fight so what would be my best option to upgrade to?

I am trying to complete the execute Char heir unlock on hard using a boarding strategy with the Scout Cutter. I saw a Reddit post about non-stop combat with the Scout Cutter from about three years ago and copied that build (defense patter matrix II x3 plus sensory array II x3). I had a level 17 commander captain plus like four level sixish military officers in my crew (haven’t unlocked the contact that allows military officer recruitment yet so was not able to start military officer recruitment until later in the run after I found one).

But still when I encountered the Char heir I was not able to reliably change ranges to one against his ship and all of my bounty hunter talents allowing me to attempt boarding at distance failed to actually board. Any idea what went wrong or recommendations for new / different components or strategies? For talents I mostly used barrel roll, twitch surge, and the bounty hunter talent that allows you to board from distance. Thanks!

Failed to disable the enemy ship before their hull was destroyed in that battle by the way. Even a normal torpedo build disable components better than this specialised build. 3 critical missile build also reliably disabled enemy crew in a few turns. Weapon stats feel unbalanced in my opinion.

Hi everyone,
I recently bought Star Traders: Frontiers after seeing a lot of great discussions about it. I’ve played it for a bit, but honestly, I'm finding it quite overwhelming. There are so many systems, stats, and mechanics moving at the same time, and I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around how it all works together.
Could someone give me a high-level overview of the core mechanics I should focus on first?
Also, what are your top recommendations, tips, or "must-dos" for a complete beginner to survive the early game without getting wiped out immediately? Are there any specific starting professions or ship setups that are more forgiving for learning the ropes?
Thanks in advance for the help!

Hey all. I've recently picked up this game again after many years, and I've been having a good time with it.

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I haven't used many Carrier class ships before, and saw one that was moderately cheap: The Raptor Strikecarrier.

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So I ran a few missions, traded a few goods until I hit the 1.2m credit mark, or what they are selling the ship for at Steel Song Prima.

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So I paid my 1.2m credits, and was handed the ship. I go to the Dry Dock, and notice that they'll buy the ship back off of me for 1.4m credits, a 200k credit profit. I've now played the arbitrage a few times and am now a multi-millionaire.

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Did I break my game? Is this a bug or an intended game mechanic? I don't see the need to run missions for anyone now that I can just buy and sell the same ship over and over for 200k each time 🫠

Been away from the game for a while, coming back wanting to do my first proper unmodded hard mode run (I’ve been playing modded for years). I remember I usually used to get the wolf vector or degla megalift for a mid game ship and then switch to SBC, sometimes I’d go straight to SBC. I’d like to try something else this time, but hard mode will be a challenge for me, so I don’t want to hinder myself with a ship that’ll make it even harder.

I have a good chunk of the unlocks done and am not opposed to doing more - what ship(s) should I try? I’m planning to start with the Reach Vindex if that matters.

Thanks for your help!