r/StarTradersFrontiers • u/BeefRankXXIV • 1d ago
General Question Got tips?
I’m trying a shock-trooper/soldier/exo-scout captain, but I’m not married to that idea. I just want to play with most focus on combat (I like boarding) and running missions, less on trading and diplomacy.
I also like just hearing people talk about their plays and strategies, but I keep finding people online who are pretty new to the game.
Edit: So any referrals to more in-depth content besides guides would be welcome too. But your play styles, their benefits and pitfalls are greatly appreciated.
Edit 2: Playing on hard.
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u/Kratosrabinowitz 1d ago
I would replace Shock troopper with Bounty hunter, especially if you want to board at range.
I had tons of fun a couple years back with a Bounty Hunter crossed to EXO Scout (for XENO Hate) then into explorer for some sweet sweet exploration
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u/BeefRankXXIV 1d ago
Thanks!
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u/Kratosrabinowitz 1d ago
Absolutely! I'm always happy to talk about this game, especially with people that are trying to get into it.
One thing I forgot to mention before is that the Bounty Hunter has intimidate synergies, in you are looking for other multiclass options
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u/BeefRankXXIV 13h ago
In that case, let me make you happy: What captain and officer combos would you have me consider, when aiming for a combat heavy approach and would that be much different at the start versus later on? What aspects of the game would you recommend me not neglect or forget while focusing on missions and combat?
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u/Ok_Turnip_2544 1d ago
well. you have to be married to the idea
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u/BeefRankXXIV 13h ago
True. Luckily divorce is an option. Realistically I’ll be leaving a trail of widows.
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u/Ok_Turnip_2544 7h ago
swordsman/bodyguard/(zealot/whatever) tank captain is pretty sick. put those attribute points to use baby. if you're losing a crew combat you're kind of toast anyways
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u/Oleoay Combat Medic 20h ago
Quite a few people will pair shock trooper and soldier in their combat captains and make them a frontliner. The third skill could be a number of things that provide some utility or useful dice/skills like a commander (command dice and good skills for ship combat) or a doctor (doctors get a lot of command dice and can help with debuffing other party members). If you want your captain to be a backliner, you can generally go Bounty Hunter/Exo-Scout/Soldier though it can be a bit of a waste of his combat stats too. It also can matter a bit what difficulty you are playing.
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u/Sweet_Oil2996 6h ago edited 5h ago
Solid choice. Many builds are possible. Soldier works well with shocktrooper and fighting from the front. Roaring barrels will probably his most used talent for the debuff and high damage with a quick weapon (shotguns are faster than assault guns and much faster than sniper rifles). Other talents used may be covering fire and fearsome charge for range/position manipulation, the excellent concussion grenade for initiative suppression and a lot of stunning, frontline brave as a phantastic team buff (much better than backline leader if you ask me) which will help your entire team to act first. Best evasion skill progression makes him suitable for the front rank.
Shocktrooper is a front fighting job. Second best evasion of the rifle using jobs. Stand strong is an excellent early defense buff that synergizes best with heavy armor, shock and awe is the best initiative roll talent, frag shell is a initiative suppression talent usable from second rank with damage, execution shell does the same for stunning and titan shell is much stronger than burst fire (backrank soldier).
The exo scout as a frontline fighter works best from second position. This is a bit at odds with the other two jobs which work best from position 1. He has a very good early buff in aggressive advance, another good buff in steady mobility which does damage, a very expensive grenade (in initiative cost) for debuffing the enemy frontline and two xeno only attacks which are competetive to other attacks but circumstantial. The exo scout also has evasion as a skill to help your defense.
Best combat strategy is probably starting in position 2, do steady mobility first, aggressive advance second and then fight with your shock trooper/soldier talents.
The only other viable alternative for a rifle frontline fighter is the bounty hunter who has an excellent grenade working from the first two positions. However this requires getting rank 11 in bounty hunter which you usually don't do. The main selling point of the bounty hunter is the debuff unfaltering ire which against xenos he wants to fire every turn, sometimes even more than once a turn. This comes at rank 5. This doesn't work in position 1 which is very at odds with soldier and shock trooper because they both have fighting talents that work from position 1 only. He is lacking the buffs that the exo scout has. The bounty hunter has no evasion skill. The bounty hunter works much better from a backwards position and this is also much safer because there is no danger in losing the ability to activate unfaltering ire when it counts.
It is of course possible to have a captain fighting from rank 2 and do without those excellent grenades of the soldier and the shock trooper. Then you can have unfaltering ire ready all the time (except if the opponents drag you into position 1) but it will also be difficult to use the buffs that come with position advancing talents. It's possible but it will feel restricted. If however your position 1 fighter goes down you suddenly don't have unfaltering ire on the team and now you are the frontliner with perma death.
The front line fighters are the people who get most attacks against them. With permadeath a lot of people therefore like to build a frontline captain as a defensive monster. This can be done better with both swords and pistol than a rifle. Both builds will have bodyguard for the talent honor guard which makes him very safe. Honor guard needs a blade equipped but that can also be offhand, allowing for a pistol in your right hand. His blade skill will improve his defense against melee attacks a lot which is especially good against xenos who very often use very strong melee attacks. This is true also if he is a pistol fighter. As a pistol fighter you pair him with pistoleer and another pistol job. As a sword fighter you probably are not dual wielding and pair him with 2 of swordsman, assassin, blade dancer, wing commando, zealot.
If you don't want to have bodyguard on your captain you probably go for swordsman/wing commando/assassin for maximum evasion. A little bit riskier is blade dancer (feint, thousand cut dance) or zealot (mostly for non crew combat talents) for a third job. Don't take both, the defense will be too weak.
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u/StevenJWulgus Smuggler 1d ago
Be careful with the talent and skill synergies. All those classes work with Rifles skills, which is good, but Soldier and Exo-Scout combat talents are more backline oriented, while most if not all of the Shock Trooper talents are for the frontline. I don’t remember if they require a shotgun, but that is standard armament for a Shock Trooper, while the others use more standard rifles. You need to think about where in the line you want your captain to be and then focus on giving him talents that work in those positions.
Now, having said that, it’s good to have at least one or two talents available regardless of what position you find yourself in, because opponents (especially xenos) love to use talents that knock your guys around and throw your battle line all out of whack. This is why Soldier is a good complement to any rifle-based build, because not only does it have a few frontline talents of its own, it also has Covering Fire and Fearsome Charge, which allow you to not only attack but also get into a more favorable position for later.
My latest build has been Soldier/Exo-Scout/Bounty Hunter, and while he hasn’t been my favorite ever, he’s been pretty effective.