How to generate +$15M from Exploring in Ten Years
Setup
I’ve learned a LOT about how Star Traders: Frontiers works, especially with regard to efficient trading operations, combat crew recruitment, and optimal map generation. In this guide I will update my original work and describe in detail how you can generate a fortune with Exploration.
110 – THE GOAL – By the start of Year 11 (220.01) generate +$15M in credits from Exploring.
120 – STARTING TEMPLATE – This build is for a Non-Combat Explorer Captain. The primary purpose of your captain is to negotiate the sale of Rare Trade Goods (RTGs) at Black Markets and Exchanges. Additionally, the Explorer Captain Trait Overkeen doubles your chance of drawing Xeno Artifact cards while Exploring.
A – CONTACTS
- #1 – Prospector – Offers Explorer recruits and can purchase Scientific Intel. Explorer crew members are critical to your Exploration operations.
- #2 – Gestalt Explorer – Offers Exo-Scout recruits and can purchase Scientific Intel. Exo-Scout officers will serve as the core of your Combat Crew Team.
- #3 – Fixer – Offers Black Market access, sells Specialist Gear, and can purchase Intel.
- #4-#8 – <<Your Choice>> – Any Starting Contacts of your choice. I recommend contacts that offer Black Market access to open more sales locations.
B – SKILLS
- +10 Negotiate
- +5 Doctor
C – ATTRIBUTES
- Strength = 12
- Quickness = 12
- Fortitude = 12
- Charisma = 12 + 12 = 24
- Wisdom = 12 + 18 = 30
- Resilience = 12
D – SHIP
- Reach Vindex – Any “D” Priority ship will do, but the Reach Vindex is the best!
E – EXPERIENCE
- Useless – always an “E” priority for me.
130 – LAUNCHING THE GAME – Use the following settings when launching your game:
- CHANGE MAP – Use a Custom Map for this run. Copy the following Map Seed onto your clipboard: st-v02-18-2-172958035 On the “Prepare Your Captain” screen click “Change Map” then “Create New Map”. Click on the three dots under “Enter a Seed” to upload the map seed, name the map whatever you like at the bottom of the page, then click “Save Map”.
- CHANGE FACTION – Use Javat for this playthrough.
- CHANGE DIFFICULTY – Pick any difficulty of your choice. I typically play on HARD, because it allows for all Unlocks but is a bit more forgiving of minor mistakes than IMPOSSIBLE.
- Click “YES” for MANUALLY ASSIGN TALENTS.
- Skip the Intro if you want.
- Prepare your captain’s appearance however you want.
140 – CUSTOM MAP – This map is ideal for a Javat Exploration playthrough for several reasons:
- Faction Zones – Your Starting Quadrant, Savant’s Edge, has only three Javat Zones – Javat Prime, Ottrusca Holding, and Bruklyn Capital. All three of these zones are clustered closely together in the lower right corner of the map, making it very easy to run lots of “Prove Your Charter” Missions in the first half year. Additionally, all three of these sites are Tradeaway Zones with 3 Trade Law and high Economy Ratings, making them great locations to sell high-value cargo on the Exchange.
- Starting Contacts – All three of your Starting Contacts – the Prospector, the Gestalt Explorer, and the Fixer – are located at Javat Prime. This planet has excellent ratings for recruiting powerful Combat Crew.
- Black Market – Having Black Market access (from your Fixer) at a Tradeaway Zone (Javat Prime) gives you the opportunity to sell your Rare Trade Goods at premium prices.
- Rival Faction – You’ll notice that your Starting Quadrant is only connected to one other quadrant – Farfallen Rim. For this reason, your rival faction will always be the Indies! Calagan Faen will provide you an endless supply of missions that pit you against the Independents, which is fantastic because your won’t lose Faction Rep when you complete these missions.
Starting Crew & Officers
210 – TRAIT CHECK – Upon starting a new game the first thing you should do is check the Traits of your Starting Crew. Notable, you’re going to keep your starting Crew Dogs (2x), E-Techs (4x), Mechanic (1x), and Pilots (4x) for the whole game. Check those crew and see how many of them have the Diggermind or Scrounger Traits. If you don’t have at least 2-3 crew with one of these traits then you may want to RESTART the game.
- Diggermind – A natural knack for digging, gain +10% on Raw resource, Rare and Artifact rewards whenever Exploring (max 30%), +2 Fortitude.
- Scrounger – Naturally voracious seeker, gain +10% rewards whenever Exploring, +25% to Prevent Craft Maintenance Points.
220 – STARTING CREW – Oddly enough, your ship doesn’t begin the game directly over a planet. Instead, it starts out hovering in the middle of space. Additionally, it’s worth mentioning that your Starting Quadrant has a 16 DANGER RATING. Therefore, before moving your ship, you’ll need to teach your crew members as many Skill Saves as possible. Once this is complete, travel to a nearby planet and make the following changes to your Standard Crew:
- Dismiss 4x Gunners
- Dismiss 1x Pistoleer
- Dismiss 2x Soldiers
- Dismiss 1x Swordsman
- Add 4x Crew Dogs
- Add 2x Gundeck Bosses (available at Military >6)
- Add 1x Mechanic (available at Starport >7)
- Add 1x Navigator (available at Spice Hall >5)
- Add 2x Pilot (available at Starport >4)
Here are the recommended Talents for your starting Standard Crew:
- 6x Crew Dogs – 6x Safety Protocols – SHIP OPS Skill Save.
- 4x E-Techs – 4x Hotwire – ELECTRONICS Skill Save.
- 2x Gundeck Bosses – 2x Snarling Judgment – INTIMIDATE Skill Save.
- 2x Mechanics – 2x Careful Testing – REPAIR Skill Save.
- 4x Navigators – 2x Read Charts – NAVIGATION Skill Save; 2x Exacting Design – TACTICS Skill Save.
- 6x Pilots – 4x Expert Maneuver – PILOT Skill Save; 2x Sure Landfall – Lands efficiently on a World.
230 – STARTING OFFICERS – Here are the recommended Jobs & Talents for your Starting Officers.
1x CAPTAIN – Explorer / Smuggler / Merchant
- Your Captain will provide value Trading and Ship Combat Avoidance Talents.
- Illicit Notoriety (S1) – Always access one level higher at the Black Market.
- Backroom Deal (S1) – Replace Black Market Risk card with Market Access Card.
- Bootleg Profits (S5) – Increases/decrease Black Market sales/purchase price by 20% + Negotiate Skill.
- Faked Signature (S5) – Reduces hostility of Bounty Hunters.
- Forged Permit (S5) – Reduces hostility of Military Officers, Zealots, and Spies.
- Righteous Profits (M8) – Increases/decrease Exchange sales/purchase price by 10% + Negotiate Skill.
1x Engineer –Engineer / Mechanic / Scavenger
- Reduce the price of Ship Purchases and Component Upgrades.
- I recommend replacing your starting Engineer Officer with a high-level Scavenger recruited from your Fixer Starting Contact as quickly as practical.
- Port Maintenance (E1) – Repairs ship components during landing.
- Assisted Installation (E5) – Discounts Component Upgrade by 10% + Repair.
- Hard Bargain (E8) – Discounts Ship Purchase by half your Repair.
- Helpful Hands (M8) – Discounts Component Upgrade by 10% + Repair.
1x Doctor – Doctor / Quartermaster / Commander
1x Quartermaster – Doctor / Quartermaster / Commander
- These two Officers provide Skill Saves and enhance boost your Recruits.
- Medical Staff (D1) – DOCTOR Skill Save.
- Stern Leader (Q1) – COMMAND Skill Save.
- Discerning Glance (C1) – Boosts Recruits.
The First Two Year (210.03 – 212.03)
- Main Story Mission – Compelling Passenger
- Main Story Mission – Arbiter Escort
- “Prove Your Charter” Missions
- Main Story Mission – At Faen Court
- Main Story Mission – Arbiter Neutrality
- Main Story Mission – Delayed Settlement
- “Alliance” Missions
310 – ADDITIONAL MISSIONS – In addition to the missions listed above, feel free to complete as many easy missions as possible offered up by Calagan Faen. They almost always put you up against the Indies, who don’t lose Faction Rep when the missions are completed.
In particular, be sure to complete the Story Mission Prime Pilgrimage, which will provide a High Princess Contact on Javat Prime. Notably, this contact will decrease the purchase price of ships on this planet by 10%.
320 – STATUS CHECK – END OF YEAR TWO (212.03) – By 212.03 you should have the following:
- Reach Vindex with several additional Passenger Cabins and Prison Cells.
- The full crew outlined above (levels 8-10).
- $800-1,000K in the bank.
- 200-300 Faction Reputation with your starting Faction.
- High Personal Reputation + Influence with each of the four initial Contacts in your Starting Quadrant.
Building Your Ship
420 – PICKING YOUR SHIP – As soon as you have the funds available, go to Javat Prime and purchase a Vrax Hauler. Leave it in Dry Dock and put your upgrades in queue while you run around completing missions. Once the upgrades are complete switch to the Vrax and sell your Reach Vindex for $375K.
VRAX HAULER
- Cost: $348.2K (with 8% Hard Bargain discount & 10% High Princess discount)
- Max Officers: 5
- Max Crew: 30
- Base Fuel: 100
- Small Components: 10
- Medium Components: 7
- Large Components: 4
421 – LARGE COMPONENTS
- Hull Plating 1 -> Cargo Hold 1 [$39K/12 Weeks]
- Increases your Cargo and Fuel capacity.
422 – MEDIUM COMPONENTS
- Barracks III -> Barracks IV [$42K/9 Days]
- Increases your Crew capacity to 30.
- Basic Medical Bay -> Resource Processor [$99K/1 Week]
- Greatly increases your Exploration yields.
- Missiles & Mass Dampener -> 3x Storage Holds [$42K/6 Weeks]
- Increases your Cargo capacity by 25 each.
423 – SMALL COMPONENTS
- Weapon Locker A1 -> Weapon Locker A6 [$329K/1 Week]
- You want the best weapons for Crew Combat. You’ll need to find an Urban Zone with 10 Military to purchase this component.
- Phoenix Lance -> Officer Cabin [$9K/4 Days]
- Increases your Officer capacity to 5.
- Imperator PC-1 -> Storage Cache [$16K/3 Weeks]
- Increases your Cargo capacity by 10.
- 2x Hellfire Torpedoes -> 2x Mass Dampener 1’s [$21K/3 Days]
- Increases your Officer capacity to 5.
Building Your Crew
510 – COMBAT CREW – The first step in hiring your optimal Combat crew is training several officers with recruit boosting talents like the Military Officer’s Recruiter’s Eye and the Commander’s Discerning Glance. Start by doing the following:
- Dismiss 1x Scavenger/Engineer/Mechanic officer
- Dismiss 2x Doctor/Quartermaster/Commander officers
- Promote 2x Crew Dogs to officers
- Promote 2x Navigators to officers
- NOTE: Promote crew members you don’t mind losing. Pick crew with negative traits if possible.
Train each newly promoted officer with Level 1 Commander for the talent Discerning Glance and Level 5 Military Officer for the talent Recruiter’s Eye. You now have 8 recruit boosting talents. Go to your Gestalt Explorer Starting Contact are prepare to recruit your Combat Crew.
511 – BEST ATTRIBUTES – You want to recruit combat crew officers with great Attributes. The following factors impact the Attributes of your recruits:
Planet/Zone Ratings – These have a HUGE impact on recruit attributes:
- Zone Military Rating impacts Strength
- Zone Economy Rating impacts Charisma
- Zone Population Rating impacts Quickness
- Zone Government & Trade Law Ratings impacts Wisdom
- Zone Military Rating impacts Fortitude
- Planet Danger Rating impacts Resilience (higher danger is better!)
- Additionally, Zone Population Rating has a small impact on all attributes
Recruit Boosting Talents – On average, these talents add an additional +20-25 attribute points to each new recruit. Don’t hire a new combat crew recruit without one!
Recruit Level – On average, a Level 16 Recruit has an additional +6 attribute points when compared with a Level 1 Recruit.
Recruited as Officer – On average, a character recruited directly as an officer has an additional +6 attribute points when compared with a recruited crew member.
Faction-Specific Jobs – Each faction has a specific job that gets an additional +3 attribute points:
- Javat Exo-Scouts
- De Valtos Swordsmen
- Steel Song Blade Dancers
- Rychart Saboteurs
- Cadar Shocktroopers
- Moklumnue Merchants
- Thulun Diplomats
- Alta Mesa Wing Leaders
- Zenrin Bodyguards
Attributes from Traits – These are semi-random, although some factions are more likely to get certain traits than others.
As a test, I recruited ~50 Exo-Scouts level 16-19 on Javat Prime on this map from my Gestalt Explorer contact. Each one was recruited as a crew member (not an officer) with recruit boosting talents. Here are the average attributes I observed:
- Strength – 21
- Charisma – 26
- Quickness – 20
- Wisdom – 26
- Fortitude – 23
- Resilience – 21
512 – RECRUITING YOUR COMBAT TEAM – Recruit several Exo-Scouts as crew members until you get four you really like. Dismiss your Commander/MO Officers and promote THREE of your Exo-Scouts to Officers. I recommend the following build for your Combat Crew Team:
- SLOT 1 – Shocktrooper / Xeno Hunter / Exo-Scout – Snubber + Heavy Armor
- SLOT 2 – Combat Medic / Saboteur / Exo-Scout – Pistol + Heavy Armor
- SLOT 3 – Combat Medic / Saboteur / Exo-Scout – Pistol + Heavy Armor
- SLOT 4 – Exo-Scout (Non-Officer) – Assault Rifle + Med Armor
Be sure to equip them with Thraul Injectors from your Fixer contact to improve their Initiative in combat.
520 –EXPLORER CREW – Dismiss your two Gundeck Bosses and recruit eleven (11) Explorers. Teach your Explorers these talents:
- Makeshift Repairs (E5) – Repair ship upon Wilderness Zone Landing.
- Rarest Find (E11) – While Exploring replace a risk card with a RTG reward card.
- Digging Deeper (E11) – While Exploring increase rewards by 30% + Explorer Skill.
521 –EXPLORER OFFICER – Select the Officer with the largest bonus to Explore Skill and promote them to an Officer position. Increase the Explorer job to Level 5 for Artifact Profiteer, add five levels of Xeno Hunter for Macabre Harvest, and pour the rest of their levels into Scientist for Sample Analysis and Doctor saves.
Exploration Runs
610 – EXPLORATION OPERATIONS – You now have a freighter with 180 Cargo Capacity, a solid Combat Crew Team, and plenty of Explorers to boost your Exploration efforts. Pick a Wild Zone and start your Exploration Runs. Use the Talent Rarest Find ever round until it’s unavailable. If the Zone runs out, move to a different zone. I like to periodically load my ship up with Rare Trade Goods and dump them into a common Wilderness Zone in Savant’s Edge. It creates a “RTG Bank” that becomes important when it’s time to sell your goods.
For reference, here are the Wilderness Zones near your Starting Quadrant. When possible, synergize Mission Runs with Exploration efforts in these quadrants:
SAVANT’S EDGE – Starting Quadrant
- Gulgutux Delta – 10 Exploration / 9 Richness / 8 Danger
- Kambria Ruins – 8 Exploration / 1 Richness / 10 Danger
- Rudulvan Ice Wastes – 1 Exploration / 3 Richness / 5 Danger
FARFALLEN RIM – 1 Jump Away
- Hills of Ghactllli – 4 Exploration / 2 Richness / 9 Danger
- Tennath Wastes – 4 Exploration / 3 Richness / 10 Danger
- Ihaca Basin – 6 Exploration / 2 Richness / 8 Danger
- Ninth Kingdom – 2 Exploration / 6 Richness / 10 Danger
KULLO SPIRAL – 2 Jumps Away
- Dragon Moor – 5 Exploration / 8 Richness / 4 Danger
- Mulkor Mesa – 10 Exploration / 10 Richness / 9 Danger
PAREJA GAP – 3 Jumps Away
- Ogorlit Delta – 4 Exploration / 10 Richness / 6 Danger
- Kinonas Sands – 7 Exploration / 10 Richness / 4 Danger
- Cathedral Swamps – 1 Exploration / 8 Richness / 2 Danger
620 – SELLING YOUR WARES – Once you have enough goods of a single type to fill your cargo hold it’s time to find the best place to sell it. Make sure your sales boost talent if off cooldown before you go to the market:
KRAESLINE SHARDS
- Sales Location: Javat Prime / Savant’s Edge
- Market Type: Black Market (Fixer Contact)
- Sales Price: $13,593 / unit
- Boost Talent: Bootleg Profits (Captain) – profit increased by 20% + Negotiation Skill
IRIDLAENTINE
- Sales Location: Gamma Capital / Farfallen Rim
- Market Type: Exchange
- Sales Price: $7,250 / unit
- Boost Talent: Righteous Profits (Captain) – profit increased by 10% + Negotiation Skill
PRUVIA BLOOMS
- Sales Location: Javat Prime / Savant’s Edge
- Market Type: Black Market (Fixer Contact)
- Sales Price: $4,200 / unit
- Boost Talent: Bootleg Profits (Captain) – profit increased by 20% + Negotiation Skill
KONGON LOCUSTS
- Sales Location: Bandar Haven / Hope Swathe
- Market Type: Exchange
- Sales Price: $2,484 / unit
- Boost Talent: Righteous Profits (Captain) – profit increased by 10% + Negotiation Skill
TERROX XENO ARTIFACTS
- Sales Location: Javat Prime / Savant’s Edge
- Market Type: Black Market (Fixer Contact)
- Sales Price: $4,757 / unit
- Boost Talent: Artifact Profiteer (Explorer Officer) – profit increased by 25% + Explore Skill
KAFFANGE ROYAL JELLY
- Sales Location: Javat Prime / Savant’s Edge
- Market Type: Black Market (Fixer Contact)
- Sales Price: $2,362 / unit
- Boost Talent: Bootleg Profits (Captain) – profit increased by 20% + Negotiation Skill
KLOXIAN MEDICAL BAYS
- Sales Location: Javat Prime / Savant’s Edge
- Market Type: Black Market (Fixer Contact)
- Sales Price: $7,000 / unit
- Boost Talent: Bootleg Profits (Captain) – profit increased by 20% + Negotiation Skill
CADAVOST PLATING
- Sales Location: Rinze Mining Camp / Farfallen Rim
- Market Type: Exchange
- Sales Price: $4,698 / unit
- Boost Talent: Righteous Profits (Captain) – profit increased by 10% + Negotiation Skill
630 – MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY – Maximum efficiency is reached when your Explorers hit Level 21 and learn the Rank 15 Talent Unstoppable Hunt. Now you can reroll any Exploration hand that doesn’t start with a RTG or a TXA card. Combined with the Rarest Find talent, you can now guarantee that ever hand has at least two RTG / TXA card.
640 – THE END OF EXPLORATION – After ten years of playing you should have generated +$15M in credits, allowing you to purchase and upgrade any ship that you want!
