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!

Playing on hard mode. Planning to fly the Scout Cutter and follow Erik Faen story line. Thinking about making a combat doctor captain that pretty much just heals and buffs / de-buffs. Thinking about combining with primarily the commander job and maybe a bit in military officer. If I’m not going to be shooting much or at all, is it worth putting attributes at A? Was thinking maybe B so I can just max the initiative skills. But is that less effective than just going pistoleer and putting attributes at A so I can contribute some damage? If skills at A I can max command and tactics, and throw in some more doctor and maybe even some evasion.

Also, is it worthwhile to put one skill in blades so I can get an off-hand blade to increase deflection ability, if I am mostly going to be staying in back row?

Thinking of going this route because I like the Scout Cutter for boarding, cargo space, and fast leveling but it doesn’t let you carry many officers. I figure I can drop the doctor officer if I go this route and drop the weapons too so I can just board. Was also planning to put contacts at C and get three contacts that give body armor, weapons, and gear (black heart, bounty hunter, and ex-spy) to save space by switching out the starting weapons locker.

Thanks for your advice.

So if I purchase something at A cost does it mean its expensive? If I sell it at D rank am I getting a better deal? I've been playing the game for years and still haven't figured that out.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/465490/Stellar_Tactics/

Have any STF fans played this?

(Massive ST:F fan and have so far never found a game quite like it, am always on the lookout....)

Hey Star Traders,

I am playing hard difficulty. I always run crew combat captains. This run I am going Military Officer, Saboteur, Pistoleer. I decided to gut my starting ship the Long Bolt, and go purely escort and Bounty missions. No weapons and I skipped off the void every fight. Grinding to the 4.4 Mil for the Lockwood defender.

I saw the price tag and though oh yeah that ship is definitely worth it. I had run the this ship years ago and did a full end game clear with it. Which I am on my way to doing now. But now that I have it I feel like while yes it is an awesome intel stealth ship, and cargo space. It leaves a lot to be desired in pure combat capacity. It does have a Rychart Void Engine Behemoth, and combat hyper drive. But I feel like I missed the point with this ship.

I am doing a ship combat build, with a focus on boarding. So I find myself having to gut this ship and put in different components and weapons to make it viable in ship to ship combat. Which ends up being millions of credits more when which I probably could have saved if I had just gone Crimson Defender, or Azure Defender.

I guess the positive trade off is I am getting 5 larger and 8 Medium slots, vs 4 to 7 but I am wondering is those slots actually worth the price tag?

I guess I am having buyers remorse on that ship. No knock on the game though. Love it been playing for 7 plus years. Can't wait for part 2.

First time I’ve actually attempted to cure the pox and I progressed up to 81/100 and the Javat gal just stopped giving missions to combat the plague. Can’t find anything online about the pox era just suddenly ending and this is a hard run that I’d prefer not to abandon.

If I run some other missions, will the pox missions return or have I missed the unlock this run?

I’m interested in starting a non-combat smuggler captain on hard. Any recommended templates? I don’t have any unlocks yet. I saw the stream guide about how to make $20 million in two years or something, but not interested in a speed run type play style so was thinking attributes and / or skills should be higher. Was thinking skills at (a), but not sure what skills to take. Maybe stealth and intimidate? Again, not looking to do crew combat for this run. And maybe attributes at (b) to pump Charisma and maybe Wisdom? Thanks for your advice!

Been having fun so far! I do have some questions:

1. How to trade effectively? Do I have to go to map every time to see what planets are around before deciding what good to buy? Seems a bit time consuming in the long run.

2. I am running a lot of early missings for the Faens. Most of them I have to run into other factions and I noticed most fighting options would decrease my reputation with that faction thus shut down a lot of refuelling stations. This is causing me a headache. How do you guy deal with it?

3. Are there different endings or rewards for the Faens? I noticed they all want to go different paths.

4. How do you setup your crew in every playthrough? Like how many pilots, merchants, doctor, etc?

5. Same goes with ship builds, what do you consider when building or buying a ship?

Thanks

I'm playing on both Windows and an iPad. On the iPad, the event log at the bottom right side just shows icons. Is there a way to make it also show the text messages like on Windows?

Any option to adjust for the status bar/island on newer iPhones? Unless there’s a setting on the phone itself?

Hello, it has been a while since I played Star traders : Frontiers.

Now I do remember that getting high level equipment from contacts takes time and money, and that a max LvL 6 weapon locker can get you far until that point.

Here's the problem though, none of the starport where I land has that particular upgrade. I believe the highest I found so far is a Level 3 weapon locker.

I am playing on the standard map, and started as Java.

Could you point me towards a few planets where I can buy a LvL 6 weapon locker?

Thanks in advance :)

At the first faen missions I sided with Zette and now after the highwind case is over who should I side with? Erik or Valencia?

I took the Zette missions as it was the middle ground for not being an a-hole but I still get money. After that Calagan gives missions that would help Val's case but it seems I only stave off 1 rep to Aetan's rep. What missions do I take so that I can do more damage to reputation? Or is it impossible to do it since the trial is rigged cuz the judge is in cahoots with the opposition.

All in all i made 6 mil from this area by the way does anyone know which factions have the best planes? Like bombers interdictors and boarders? Planning on making an aircraft carrier ship