Warhammer Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Pre-Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Jaedar]

They're not really vanilla. Crime lord, ig commander, navy officer... Maybe it's explained in game and makes sense, but the idea that someone would just let a crime lord become a rogue trader without contesting it, or a military careerist not folding it into the army strikes me as weird.

Rogue Traders are very high in the Imperial social hierarchy. Many (including the player character here) have more power than planetary governors. They only answer to inquisitors and top ranking Imperial officials.

They can do basically whatever they want, which is the premise of the whole TTRPG. Some have actual pirate empires, so adopting a crime lord as their heir isn't the most outlandish thing out there.

I know. But as I understand the game you are a random joe schmoe, then you receive a trade writ "out of nowhere" and the game starts for real. Maybe the game has a really good explanation, but I'd expect anyone who just gets a writ out of nowhere to be assassinated within a week while mysteriously bequeathing the writ to some powerful faction.

This remains bizzare in the extreme, especially given that the RT commands a single meagre ship, instead of the equivalent of an Imperial Naval Battlegroup.

Afaik most trader dynasties control entire trade empires, with dozens if not hundreds of ships, planets, stations, etc... Money is power, and a dynasty is often richer than entire planets (not the richest planets in the empire, but not squalid agriworlds either).
Emphasis on the dynasty, they have a clear line of succession which makes a random getting a writ strange to me.

I just wanna say I really fucking hate that Owlcat for some reason always want to make protag of their games a leader of a kingdom/army/whatever. It's really not making any sense and breaks immersion, when you're supposed to be roleplaying someone on top of the social hierarchy, in theory having control over whole armies (or even planets in this one), but 99% of the game is just doing grunt work and adventuring with couple of companions. It's really fucking dumb and pretty much anti-immersive.

In this case it's 100% lore accurate though. Rogue traders lead from the helm of their flagship.

 

[lightbane]

In this case it's 100% lore accurate though. Rogue traders lead from the helm of their flagship.

The pnp game made fun of that, of why such important people are risking their lives so unnecessarily. The answer being more or less "because it's fun". RTs can have multiple ships, theoretically, as their Profit Factor gets higher and higher, but for balance reasons you start with one ship.

 

[Infinitron]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2186680/view/3905246507035489480

A pre-release checkup

Greetings, Lord Captain!

We are pleased to inform you that the release of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is getting closer. The journey into the depths of the Koronus Expanse will begin as early as December 7, 2023. Are you ready? Make sure you are with our checklist.

And get ready to claim your brand new game key - these are available, starting on December 4.


If you purchased one of the editions of the game at roguetrader.owlcat.games, then log in to your account.
If you forgot your password and have trouble recovering it, please contact team@owlcat.games - we will help you.


After that, check the Digital Downloads tab: there you will be able to obtain the game key. You will be able to activate the game on the following platforms: PC or Mac.

As for now, the keys for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X / S are not available -
they will become available right on the day of the release. The same stays for the GOG keys on the PC - they will be available on December, 7. Important note: Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is NOT optimized for PlayStation 4 and the older versions of the Xbox.


If you choose to activate the key on PC, you will be able to select between a key for Steam or EGS.
Please be careful: once you have obtained a key for a particular platform, you will not be able to switch back and replace, for example, a Steam key with a EGS key.

After receiving the key, you will be able to activate it in the corresponding program or launcher. Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader will appear in your game list. You will be able to download the game only starting from the release day, the 7th of December.

If after purchasing one of the editions of the game you have a promo code for the portal, please note:
it is intended to be activated by another user.


That's all for now. See you in the Koronus Expanse, Lord Captain!

 

[Tyranicon]

Rogue Traders are very high in the Imperial social hierarchy. Many (including the player character here) have more power than planetary governors. They only answer to inquisitors and top ranking Imperial officials.

This remains bizzare in the extreme, especially given that the RT commands a single meagre ship, instead of the equivalent of an Imperial Naval Battlegroup.

Yeah, I don't know why the player character doesn't have an actual fleet. They own entire planets. Maybe they will have an armada in the full release?

Mostly likely this is for gameplay reasons and they didn't want to program fleet battles (sad).

 

[Fedora Master]

I don't know how they justify your character becoming a Rogue Trader complete with a Letter of Marque since I've not bothered to read up on the story but most of the origins are highly dubious. So they already start off badly.

Certainly even sanctioned psykers would not be made Rogue Traders for a myriad of reasons.

 

[Jaedar]

Certainly even sanctioned psykers would not be made Rogue Traders for a myriad of reasons.

Psykers can become inquisitors, so why not traders?

Yeah, I don't know why the player character doesn't have an actual fleet. They own entire planets. Maybe they will have an armada in the full release?

I think the standard explanation is that most of the ships in the dynasties fleet are not fancy combat vessels, but rather boring cargo haulers. The trader shows up in their fancy flagship and establishes trade routes, the haulers ensure the goods flow in the background.

 

[Storyfag]

Afaik most trader dynasties control entire trade empires, with dozens if not hundreds of ships, planets, stations, etc... Money is power, and a dynasty is often richer than entire planets (not the richest planets in the empire, but not squalid agriworlds either).
Emphasis on the dynasty, they have a clear line of succession which makes a random getting a writ strange to me.

My point is: since the game's PC controls a trade empire of several planets, why doesn't he control a sizeable fleet, but just one ship?

 

[std::namespace]

my first pc UwU

 

[Axel_am]

Tomorrow is the day, boys.

 

[SpaceWizardz]

I don't know how they justify your character becoming a Rogue Trader complete with a Letter of Marque since I've not bothered to read up on the story but most of the origins are highly dubious. So they already start off badly.

Certainly even sanctioned psykers would not be made Rogue Traders for a myriad of reasons.

Protag is a potential heir to an already established dynasty looking to single out a successor, it's not a new warrant.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

I know. But as I understand the game you are a random joe schmoe, then you receive a trade writ "out of nowhere" and the game starts for real. Maybe the game has a really good explanation, but I'd expect anyone who just gets a writ out of nowhere to be assassinated within a week while mysteriously bequeathing the writ to some powerful faction.

You are summoned by the RT prior to her death as a possible successor since she knows that her time might be up. And the backgrounds fit well with that, with you being one of the prospective candidates precisely because you aren't some average Joe. And there's dialogue reactivity depending on your background in your interactions with the RT that showcase Theodora's line of thinking regarding that choice - you're a viable option precisely due to the sort of experience that you'd bring to the table.

 

[Yosharian]

my first pc UwU

By the emperor

 

[Yosharian]

I have contacted a severe illness and have also injured my knee, so I cannot attend work. I'm in danger of buying the game to pass the time.

Chaos works in mysterious ways, my brethren. Always be wary.

 

[Incendax]

They only answer to inquisitors and top ranking Imperial officials. They can do basically whatever they want, which is the premise of the whole TTRPG. Some have actual pirate empires, so adopting a crime lord as their heir isn't the most outlandish thing out there.

Yes, they are really supposed to be out on the fringes consolidating control over things, not hanging around in the stable core planets of the Imperium where top ranking Imperial Officials tend to live. They can always visit stable core planets for business reasons, but you're supposed to be leveraging your Carte Blanche to get shit done out in the barbaric shit holes of the galaxy. So having a fairly wild background isn't out of the question, including straight up crime bosses (like you said).

 

[mediocrepoet]

I have contacted a severe illness and have also injured my knee, so I cannot attend work. I'm in danger of buying the game to pass the time.

Chaos works in mysterious ways, my brethren. Always be wary.

Ah so that's what the middle aged version of, "koff koff, mom, I'm so sick. I can't go to school today! " looks like

 

[Dishonoredbr]

But as I understand the game you are a random joe schmoe

Actually in most background your protagonist has some kinda of achievement , is a noble , midly successful criminal lord , a priest or a psyker that defeated a demon of some kind. Your character isn't a nobody , otherwise you wouldn't be able to compete for the position at all.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I have contacted a severe illness and have also injured my knee, so I cannot attend work. I'm in danger of buying the game to pass the time.

Chaos works in mysterious ways, my brethren. Always be wary.

Merry Christmas from Papa Nurgle!

 

[fantadomat]

Soo there will be some gay demon sex soon.

 

[ArchAngel]

Soo there will be some gay demon sex soon.

I am not sure if the game will support your specific sex fetish.

 

[Kem0sabe]

 

[Jaedar]

Seems he ran into a bug that broke all the menus, and the only solution was to rollback before it happened. Multiple times? Still says it's their least buggy.

 

[Spectacle]

I wish that this game would threat romances more than merely fan service. For eg, dating an Eldari being a real romance, nto only ""platonic"" and should come with serious consequences, like nobles finding it out and trying to blackmail the MC, the most fanatical inquisitors even trying to kill the MC depending on what he does.

Any dealings with the Eldar are heretical. I don't think that fucking one is any worse than having one on your crew in the first place, as far as the Imperium is concerned.

Actual romance will make the inevitable betrayal more painful, it's always risky to get emotionally involved with xenos.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

 

[Turn_BASED]

PC Gamer, 59/100: https://www.pcgamer.com/warhammer-40000-rogue-trader-review/

Review isn't really worth reading outside of this:

"I had to restart after a quest-blocking bug 18 hours in, and had characters insist I help them with problems I already solved or offer their services after being recruited. One enemy ran back to the beginning of the map on the first turn and hid there, meaning after dealing with his friends I had to trek back in turn-based mode to finish the fight. Allies sometimes don't act on their turns, and distant enemies sometimes take a full minute to decide what they're doing. The camera doesn't always move where it's supposed to when dialogue pops up during battles, meaning I have to read it in the log after. The log reverts to Russian when describing Perils of the Warp, and explains why I have to reroll successes by saying "%Reason%". Two of my combat abilities stopped working for a while, and the tech-priest's utility mechadendrites, which are supposed to give him a +10 bonus to Demolition and Tech-Use, instead give him a +1,020 bonus. I could go on."

 

[gongal]

Any non redditor reviewers can confirm that writing is not an absolute twitter tier garbage? (like in Wrath of the Trannyous)