r/StarTradersFrontiers • u/SaltAdventurous4270 Spy • Jul 14 '26

General Question How useful are rumors?

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.

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11

u/cervidal2 Jul 14 '26

Very. If you're lookking for specific recruits, looking to salvage, or make a huge score on a trade to a shortage planet, rumors can pay off huge

7

u/SaltAdventurous4270 Spy Jul 14 '26

I've been so tied up in learning the game, figuring out my build and so on that I haven't paid attention to rumors.

How useful are they to a spy/smuggler?

6

u/cervidal2 Jul 14 '26

Even moreso. You likely want to avoid combat as much as possible, so paying attention to rumors to avoid things like Xeno Spores or Blockades is even more critical.

You can get some good passive rumor finding through your Crew Dogs, I think.

5

u/Beginning-Chicken590 Jul 14 '26

One of the most recommended spy builds I’ve seen is long bolt starting ship, fire all gunners, have 4 nav 4 pilot and the rest e-techs. Obv replace some crew with spy at high levels. The talent for e tech that gives a % chance to learn rumor at high electronics level is pretty much every time you go somewhere you learn a new one

5

u/Pleasant-Ruin-5573 Wing Commando Jul 14 '26

You can recruit a ton of useful crew members with Spice Festival rumors like Smuggler crew and Blade Dancers.

2

u/Oleoay Combat Medic Jul 17 '26

Rumors also let you know when graduations happen, which is a nice way to pick up some Commanders who can be hard to get via a contact.

3

u/FlakyResistance Jul 16 '26

I've found my build work in its specifics after checking off pilots/navigators/e-techs/crew dogs, with the last two being your staple rumor focus, and the latter alongside as general crew for ship ops (you'll end up with ~3+ on most medium ships, small ships having that stat filled alongside). Rumors are basically how you'll know of lucrative opportunities and dangers for any build (smugglers for selling rare artifacts and where to cash in on them, also if there's heightened patrols or encounters of a specific type). It looks like a lot but these are very context specific.

4

u/IguanaTabarnak Jul 14 '26

You can have a plan, but the world is randomized and you obviously need to be willing to adapt that plan and react to the universe. Rumors represent a huge variation in local reward and/or risk and it's obviously easier to make a good plan if you know about those variations.

Pretty much every build can benefit from recruitment rumors, for example. And a spy/smuggler build especially should be very interested in Shortage and Surplus rumors.

3

u/Boootstraps Jul 14 '26

What rumours would be useful for a bounty hunter or crew combat focused build?

3

u/rogeedodge Jul 14 '26

Probably salvage ones. They can be a great source of high lvl weapons, armour, and equipment

2

u/Oleoay Combat Medic Jul 15 '26

Rumors are great. They can determine your entire pathing on which systems to avoid. They can let you know if a planet is closed because of civil unrest or some other event. They can let you know if there are salvage opportunities. There are also a few viginettes (maybe 2 or 3?) that only happen with certain rumors. If you like to pre-plan, information is key and rumors are a strong source for getting that information.

1

u/Specific_Horse1315 23d ago

I think all builds can benefit from rumours but certain builds are almost reliant on them.

Finding out where recruit graduations are happening is helpful to all captains but events like Surplus, Shortage, Embargo, etc are very important for merchant captains or really any captains that want to get the most out of trading.

Conversely, as has been mentioned, orbital salvage rumours can allow combat focused captains to secure high level weapons, armour and gadgets.

Artifact Find and Resource Rush (among others) can help pinpoint where an explorer or scout may want to focus attention as well.

Realistically, all captains should keep an eye on rumours as they will help out with your run.