Category: Game Releases

It’s no secret, we’re big fans of Star Traders: Frontiers here at Pocket Tactics. The open-world sci-fi RPG does a lot of things right, from its free-form character customisation, to the blank-slate that is your ship and the path you can choose out amongst the stars.

Beyond that though, it’s also a pretty respectable beacon of not only premium mobile games, but game development in general. Frontiers occupies a ‘middle-ground’ in terms of pricing, but Cory and Andy Trese (known as the Trese Brothers) are continually adding to the game. From micro-content drops, to new ship classes and now – a brand new late-game Era.

This ‘Sixth’ Era – known as either The Era of Dissension or The Era of Consolidation depending on your choices, essentially brings all of the change and evolution the game world will have gone through to a head. It advances several of the main galactic story-lines that chug away in the background. This game-defining threads, like all content in STF, can either be actively engaged with or completely ignored by the player, but they will happen regardless and Era 6 is no exception.

I had a quick chat with the Trese Brothers to go over what’s coming in the new update (which already hit PC today). While every story ‘era’ has a prolonged effect on the game’s underlying simulation, Era 6 specifically is coming with a host of bespoke rules and tweaks that will define how your game will play out:

• Added new story vignette to introduce the Era, “Buried Demons” with Thulun Intelligence Officer.
• All new simulation rules, Rumors, Conflicts, and Contact actions/mutations.
• Added 2 Era-specific Rumors as Coalition power shifts.
• Added 4 Era-specific special cargo rules for Merchants, Smugglers and Pirates.
• Added 6 Era-specific Contact creation rules to seed the Era new blood.
• Added new Era-driven ship encounter and mechanics.
• Added 8 new ship weapons released by the Era progressions — gear up for advanced warfare!
• Added 3 new major story characters who can have wide impact.
• Added 3 new specialist ship components available through story choices and rewards.
• Added new unique crew equipment available through story choices and rewards.

Not only that, but a brand-new job type is also coming to the game – the Bodyguard. This is STF’s 34th job, and is a defensive-focused fighter that can dual wield pistols AND Blades.

This new update will be coming to both iOS and Android shortly – mobile patches usually trail a bit behind the PC updates due to the approval process, but this is just the beginning. Era six marks the start of the Version 2.6.x build, which according the road-map includes a 7th era and a new Xeno species.

If you’ve been looking for an excuse to jump back into Frontiers, or need a reason to try it out for the first time, then this latest update should do the trick. There aren’t many studios who are so relentless in their support for a game after it releases (for free, no less) and if you have any interest in RPGS where you’re the captain of your own ship, then you need to check this out.

The Pokemon franchise is no stranger to mixing up its traditional battle elements for the sake of its many spin-off titles, and Pokemon Masters – the latest attempt due out later this week – is no different. It may look like a fairly standard take on the franchise with its 3v3 battles, but there’s a lot of real-time decision making and new rules in effect here that can trip up even the most dedicated Pokemon fan.

In this quick-fire guide, we’ll highlight a few of Pokemon Masters‘ small mechanical quirks and dish out some helpful tips to overcome its challenges. That way veterans of the franchise won’t fall victim to decades of now obsolete knowledge and muscle memory, and newcomers can jump straight in without feeling too overwhelmed.

1. Pokemon Only Have Single-Type Weaknesses

Unlike basically any other title in the franchise, Pokemon are only ever weak to a single element in Pokemon Masters. Veterans of the franchise will have memorized weakness chart in their minds a long time ago, but that’s actually more of a hindrance in this game.

Rather than a Fire-type Pokémon being weak to Water and Ground, it might only be weak to one or the other. This is thankfully displayed beside each Pokemon on the field. But when these battles are all about quick decisions and fast fingers, you’ll need to keep these strengths in mind before you go using an Ice-type move on a Flying-type Pokemon that’s only actually weak to Electric.

2. Resistances Aren’t A Thing

Staying on a similar subject, type resistances also go the way of the dodo in Pokemon Masters. Just like weaknesses, Pokemon would traditionally resist other types of attacks based on their own. That’s not the case here. Here, there aren’t any resistances at all. That includes complete immunity, too. So don’t worry about using a Normal or Fighting-type move on a Ghost-type Pokemon. You’ll still sock that Ghastly right in the face.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIwGe83JUo8?controls=0]

3. Only The AI’s Centre Pokemon Will Use A Sync Move 

One of the stranger things about Pokemon Masters is how the rules of battle aren’t identical between the player and the AI. Where you have access to a trio of Sync Moves to suit the situation, your opponent will only ever have the one.

Only the centre Pokemon on the AI team can execute a sync move. To make up for this, AI sync moves will always hit your entire team rather than just the one target like your own. It’s usually a good idea to knock this Pokemon out early to avoid a team wipe in one big blow.

4. Level Caps Aren’t Tied To Rarity

Trainers (or sync pairs) eventually reach what’s known as a “soft cap” – a point where they can’t be levelled up any further without jumping through a few hoops. Similar games usually lock this behind the unit’s rarity (or star rank), requiring players to boost the unit’s rank to unlock their level cap.

While you can upgrade a unit’s rank in Pokemon Masters through the Increase Potential menu, unlocking their max level limit is actually done in a dedicated window using completely different items. So if you’ve seen these systems before in other mobile games, just know that if you’ve reached a unit’s soft level cap, upgrading their rarity isn’t the way to push it further.

5. Use Items to Speed Up Sync Moves

In your effort to knock out the opposing team’s centre lead before they can get their Sync Move off, using items can really speed up the job. Items don’t consume the Move Gauge but do still contribute to the Sync Move countdown.

So if you’re trying to get a Sync Move off before your opponent, consider queueing up item uses on other Pokemon while another spams low-cost moves to accelerate the gauge. Remember: a low-cost move increases the Sync Move gauge just as much as a higher one.

6. Rarity Isn’t Indicative of Overall Strength

There’s no denying that rolling a 5-star character is an exciting prospect, and it’s no surprise that people will cram their teams with as many 5-star gatcha rolls as they can. But Pokemon Masters isn’t as clear-cut as that.

Just because a story character comes in at 3-star rarity, that doesn’t mean they’re completely useless by comparison. Any unit can be upgraded to a 5* with enough effort, and some of those story characters can easily rival a 5-star gatcha pull once they’re boosted to the same point. So just because they’re free, doesn’t mean they’re at the bottom of the tier list. They just need some TLC to really prove their worth. Don’t write them off too soon.

And besides; with type advantages being a thing, almost every sync pair has a use somewhere.

7. Make Use of Status Combos

If you’re having trouble knocking out a strong Pokemon before it has time to finish you off with a Sync Move, make sure you’re making good use of status combos for some easy extra damage. Tapping and holding an attack or skill in battle will show you it’s power, accuracy and additional effects.

Some attacks can inflict common status conditions like Paralysis or Flinching, and certain Sync Moves can exploit these for tons of extra damage. One early example is Flannery and her Torkoal. Torkoal’s base attack, Ember, can inflict Burn with enough luck, and its Sync Move deals considerably more damage to a Burned target. It’s best to build a team that synergizes well with these kinds of combos to exploit these bonuses and take down foes fast.

8. Items Don’t Regenerate Between Rounds

Before you go spamming items early into a zone, be aware that they don’t regenerate between fights. This means if you’re going into a story zone with two or more fights, blowing all your items in that first battle to rush out a Sync Move might leave you grasping at straws later on.

9. Use The Suggested Team To Level Up The Rest

The Level-Up Training zone is a great way to boost low-level sync pairs, but you don’t need to take them in to reap the benefits. Rather than making the easy fights difficult with low-level teams that can’t exploit weaknesses, just use the training manuals rewarded at the end to level up these non-optimal characters. That means you can make quick runs through the level-up training fights with your better teams and use the resulting items to power up your weaker ones.

10. Turn On Battle Order In The Menu

By default, you can’t easily see which Pokemon is next in-line to attack. If you absolutely need to know who’s about to strike next, you can actually turn on a battle order indicator through the menu mid-fight.

Just open it up through the cog icon on the top-left and scroll all the way down. With the option toggled, an indicator on the right-side of the screen will appear with three slots denoting each Pokemon’s position on the battlefield. Enemy Pokemon will show up in red, while friendly Pokemon will be blue.

Want to know anything else before the game releases? Let us know in the comments! There’s still time to pre-register, otherwise Pokemon Masters will release on iOS and Android world-wide on August 29th, 2019.