Warhammer Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader - turn-based Warhammer 40k RPG from Owlcat Games - now with Void Shadows DLC

[user]

Just gotten through the Prologue. I suppose the Owlcat "house style" of CRPG-ing is a like/loathe it thing, personally I've liked it since Pathfinder, so I'm snug as a bug in a rug with this.

I'm playing on Normal and it's a bit disappointing how most enemies just go splat, so I think I'm going to have to up the difficulty at least a notch (I was scared by the warning that "those unfamiliar with ...." etc., but I probably shouldn't have been).

The lore is the big revelation for me, I love it. I mean, I've been vaguely aware of it since forever and I've checked out a few lore expositions so I know the basics, but because I've never played the tabletop and never really got on with RTS-es much beyond Total Annihilation and the first Total War game (Shogun or whatever it was), I never actually played any Warhammer games proper till this, and I must say it's a thoroughly engaging virtual world to be immersed in, and I think Owlcat have done a grand job with the environmental art design, the uniforms, etc. - it all looks and feels quite like how the art and miniatures look, from my recollection. IOW, I can see what the fuss is all about now that I'm actually playing something that's faithful to the lore (or so it seems, I don't know the lore in depth enough to know whether this actually is lore accurate or not - I mean the Rogue Trader concept seems like the "privateer" concept turned up to 11, so it makes sense as an adjunct to the Empire, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's some sort of invention of Owlcat's, as I'd never heard of it before).

Have to join my voice in the chorus of Indira haters though. Like Seelah, the character itself as written is decent enough, it's just the diversity hire actress is painfully awkward and over-the-top in a way that amplifies one's nigger fatigue to the max. I'm hoping there's some other Psyker companion I can use, as it seems to be a very cool class. But there probably won't be, and I'll have to suffer her amdram theatrics for the whole game

The combat seems brisk and no-nonsense. Haven't quite got the build system in my head yet, but the outlines are starting to emerge out of my mental fog.

I'm playing an Officer, which suits my rp feel, and the extra turn and whatnot seems like a pretty powerful thing to give to companions so far, though I'm not yet sure whether it compensates for my personal feebleness - I wouldn't mind a bit more personal oomph tbh.

Indira is strongest character early. You can replace her with mercenary psyker.
I think she is OK since they made her African and not american.
For me she is more not fitting my RP of current character and I already see I will need to get rid of her sooner or later because of heresy

Just admit that you are kicking her out of the party because she is stronger than you
I created a pyro (up to lvl 12) and it felt less of a power fantasy and more like a

fantasy, good thing Idira was there to protect me with her superior dps.
Seriously, is there a way for the mc to become unsanctioned and carry their weight??

 

[user]

Have to join my voice in the chorus of Indira haters though. Like Seelah, the character itself as written is decent enough, it's just the diversity hire actress is painfully awkward and over-the-top in a way that amplifies one's nigger fatigue to the max. I'm hoping there's some other Psyker companion I can use, as it seems to be a very cool class. But there probably won't be, and I'll have to suffer her amdram theatrics for the whole game

Personally, I think it's racist that nearly every black character can't speak English without an accent. It's like these people who design the character think colored people live in some faraway tribe or something. Jesus.

 

[Cryomancer]

I created a pyro (up to lvl 12) and it felt less of a power fantasy and more like a

fantasy, good think Idira was there to protect me with her superior dps.
Seriously, is there a way for the mc to become unsanctioned and carry their weight??

Me too. Seems like Psyker in this game was designed by Lacrymas , I din't played a end game psyker yet, but Psy Rating = 4 being the cap means that immolate will at end game be as good as an sniper rifle or the navigator abilities. I"m not joking, Immotalte the soul from navigator scales 4x WP bonus. Few psyker powers scale 1x WP bonus. But if you wanna Idria powers, just pick Telephaty.

If when I get Molten Beam and insinerate and it still sucks, I will gonna restart as a melee biomancer. USing psyker powers only for buffs and a force sword + plasma pistol. Like I played in beta.

 

[Trithne]

It's been a while and I don't have the books to hand, but I'm pretty sure psy ratings only go up to 4 there too.

What's missing is the option to supercharge your powers and cast them at a higher psy rating at the risk of more likely and dangerous Perils.

Generally though psykers are not supposed to vastly outpace weapons in 40k. At least not without the risk of suddenly turning into a spawn.

 

[Cryomancer]

but I'm pretty sure psy ratings only go up to 4 there too.

Dark Heresy sourcebook - page 160. If I remember correctly, it goes up to 10, but 7+ is alpha plus territory aka things which PC's should't be using.

Goes up to 6.

And since he talked about Pyromancy, here is the pyro powers - pg 174 and the Telekinesis powers in 176, Telekinesis in TT allows you to stop bullets Matrix style, create force fields, force bolts and so on.,

psykers are not supposed to vastly outpace weapons in 40k. At least not without the risk of suddenly turning into a spawn.

Agreed. This is why I'm much more interested in Telekynesis and Biomancy but since most of good stuff of Biomancy and all Telekinesis is not in the game, decided to go pyro this time

 

[Jermu]

First game breaking bug at footfall atrium, all my save files in that area got fucked

always crashes at 13%, guess need to load earlier save file before entering that place and pray

edit figured it out, pirate funeral quest is fucked breaks whole save file at some point of it changing area does not solve it

edit most likely having these 2 same time with 1 character was the reason

also bring it down + be smart ap increase does not work with int which should be a bug, there goes 1 of the main reasons I went with voidborn officer
edit3 noble +1 ap thing for servant does not work either, just fuck up my whole build will you

 

[Vasya]

I think Unfair difficulty on the streams is bugged, I've seen it display Enemy Dodge bonus as +2% but it should be +20% on Unfair. No wonder it looked so easy.

Bonuses grow to their full values by the end of the first chapter.

 

[Harthwain]

I know it's frowned upon (apparently), but the combat feels like nuXcom. Sure, since it uses an AP system, you could argue it's much more in line with Phoenix Point which is a combo of the two. Then why can't I fire more than once per turn? I can see the AP cost, why I can't spend that AP? So it's basically the move-and-shoot thing from nuXcom, even if it uses action points. I'm a bit confused here.

It has nothing to do with XCOM (Rogue Trader was around before new XCOM).

You have one Full Action to make it count (or you can take take Half Actions instead). You also have Movement Action, Reaction and Free Action as separate types of Action. If you want to get more out of your attacks, you should consider what Archetype you take and related Heroic Act. Here is a list:

https://www.thegamer.com/warhammer-40000-rogue-trader-momentum-heroic-desperate-acts-explained/

 

[Storyfag]

I'm playing as a woman, though I still wasn't sure whether to read the message as signifying romantic interest or not. Nevertheless, I'm consigning him to the corner of the bridge just in case.

Fave fun with your solo playthrough

 

[Reinhardt]

why even play as a woman if there is no hot lesbians?

 

[Storyfag]

I mean the Rogue Trader concept seems like the "privateer" concept turned up to 11, so it makes sense as an adjunct to the Empire, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's some sort of invention of Owlcat's, as I'd never heard of it before

It is ancient. Actually one of the first things Geedubs released for 40k. Of course the concept underwent rampant mutation since then, but the present iteration is more or less what Owlcat gives us.

 

[Lord of Riva]

So I am stuck at the end of Chapter 1, the Boss does not spawn. I'm getting my Kingmaker PTSD triggered again.

Owlcat_Eyler Are you guys able to fix a save right before heading back to the landing pad in after fighting Aurora?

The only one good way to know that is to send a bug report

I already sent it, there have been reports about this since january on reddit. What is your average response time?

I got the game on GoG I can still return it, I would rather not but I am not willing to wait weeks until you got your bugtracker unclogged. (I worked in QA I can imagine there is a lot right now)

tnx, I'll try to look for your report manually and pass it on to QA team later. But I'm not sure about save fixing :/

After sleeping a night over it I am willing to start new, as I can optimise my char anyways BUT do you have any Insight how to avoid the issue with the CSM battle?

 

[Jermu]

Act 2 Cassia is pretty much soloing every encounter unfair difficulty, can get pretty silly willpower very easily in second round. curious to see what the final boss is and does not get 1 shotted
also casual 162% dodge

 

[Cnaiur]

This game gives me anxiety after every level up. And you level up every ten seconds early game.

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

Suspiciously little talk about encounter design / variety. All over the web. Either they've improved by far their weakest area ... or it's not worth talking about, as basically "more of the same".

Their Pathfinder games are super combat dense to begin with, even compared to classic crawls -- whereas the likes of Solasta has designated dungeon areas with maybe a fist full of (hand-crafted) fights, Owlcat so far barely could do settlements without, making for a quite samey loop as is (the cool chapter in Kingmaker where you got to gather clues to get to the source of a plague was such a welcome relief).

However, whilst Owlcat could do decent set pieces before, the bulk of their combat was putting the same-ish mob inside a corridor and have you engage that. And another time. And yet another time. And yet.... another time. Which is puzzling either way, as you could have cut a good 30%+ of their combat wholesale, and their games would still be friggin' huge. Quantity over quality approach, clearly. And "spamming" another combat mob from the editor is the cheapest content there is, go ask JRPG masterminds of padding things out with their billions of random fights.

As much as I like both Pathfinders, so far there's been one constant: Whenever I fired up an Owlcat game, there were long periods of taking a break involved (up to several months) before finishing. As eventually with an experience like that, you can't help but feel numb after a while. I'm going to get this either way. But after being close to finishing another 80 hours epic with far less "filler", this makes me a bit weary to jump right into things upon purchasing directly.

(As a side note and general observation: I think a concept like the original Fallout's with its sole emphasis on reactivity, branches, open ended quest and narrative design would have a real hard time nowadays. As this is involves a conscious decision of sacrificing campaign length. I mean, you can finish Fallout in but a couple hours, depending on your build. However, "filler" much easier gets a full grade A pass. It may have been a lot of filler, but people feel they got hours out of it, so that's something in itself apparently. Don't believe me? Dragon Age Inquisition won GOTY awards FFS. It's like with canned food: tastes like meh, but at least you're fed.)

 

[processdaemon]

Personally I find levelling up exhilarating, I can't wait to hit midgame and realise which of the abilities that I planned my build around actually don't work at all and which are broken in a way that trivialises the game, it's like a lottery

 

[Infinitron]

Cassia: Anya Taylor Joy Fishwaifu/10

Before and after warp mutation

 

[gurugeorge]

Just had to do a quick restart as I realized I'd kind of cocked up the character build. Voidborn seemed a good match for my Crime Lord/Officer at first, but then I realized Noble makes more sense as I might as well slam Fellowship up to 50 and get that sweet +5 bonus on my command buffs, etc., from the get-go, plus the STR hit was too much, considering I do have to have some Weapon Skill to make the hefty-looking Killing Plan upgrade to Sure-Fire Plan worthwhile, so I might as well actually be at least a little bit effective in melee, and I like playing at both ranges as necessary anyway, and should be able to seeing as Sure-Fire Plan is basically agnostic re. ranged/melee (you'd think that seeing as the basic "plan" is agnostic, the Killing Plan upgrade would be too, but what the hey). Plus the Noble abilities seem quite useful for that build combo too.

But the prologue's reasonably short so I've still got that ultra-immersive first run through in my mind and remembered most of my choices, so I still feel like the same character, and now I've got more of a handle on things, like the "build stacks/use-or-blow stacks" mechanic which seems to be ubiquitous for lots of things.

Very enjoyable indeed, seems like there's quite some depth to it.

 

[Cryomancer]

How many effects in a single creature...

 

[Axel_am]

This game gives me anxiety after every level up. And you level up every ten seconds early game.

Leveling up is a bit anxiety inducing. It just happens so often and the thought process of "picking the best thing without knowing what's best" is a bit annoying. I'd imagine this gets better the more you progress. I'm not over with Act I and am already starting to understand what works and what doesn't. Probably the feeling will go away once you decide what build you want to do/works.

 

[janior]

you can just respec........

 

[Harthwain]

This game gives me anxiety after every level up. And you level up every ten seconds early game.

Leveling up is a bit anxiety inducing. It just happens so often and the thought process of "picking the best thing without knowing what's best" is a bit annoying. I'd imagine this gets better the more you progress. I'm not over with Act I and am already starting to understand what works and what doesn't. Probably the feeling will go away once you decide what build you want to do/works.

I always found leveling up to be a highlight when playing RPGs. It's like being in a shop and deciding what cool thing you want to buy.

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

This game gives me anxiety after every level up. And you level up every ten seconds early game.

Leveling up is a bit anxiety inducing. It just happens so often and the thought process of "picking the best thing without knowing what's best" is a bit annoying. I'd imagine this gets better the more you progress. I'm not over with Act I and am already starting to understand what works and what doesn't. Probably the feeling will go away once you decide what build you want to do/works.

Well it's not D&D. Still funny how rampant and constant level-ups used to be a thing of mostly hack&slashs and Diablo, gaming's equivalent of cheap coin slot machines. But if a more traditional and serious RPG announces a level-cap of but 10-12, it's shitstorm time. I mean, even in the likes of PoE Deadfire, you've barely shipped past Tutorial Island and already leveled a fistful of times (each time gushing over new stuff from a set of abilities, like a child entering a toy store stacked with goodies).

If the Realms Of Arkania trilogy were to be released today, people would rage all over the web -- for all the wrong reasons. Not only does ever entry mean a fully-fledged campaign story. Within that story, characters progress 3-4 levels at best. Also, the Das Schwarze Auge ruleset as the foundation of things makes for very little typical vidya game addiction loops and reward cycles for itself. For instance, pretty much all spells are available to casters from level 1 -- leveling up just means increasing the chance of their success ratio. And magic loot? Barely existent in either game. Chances are, some of your chaps may be wearing the same armor by the end of part III they started out with in part I.

 

[Jermu]

Voidborn seemed a good match for my Crime Lord/Officer at first, but then I realized Noble makes more sense as I might as well slam Fellowship up to 50 and get that sweet +5 bonus on my command buffs, etc., from the get-go, plus the STR hit was too muc

it would yeah

too bad its bugged

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Cassia: Anya Taylor Joy Fishwaifu/10

Before and after warp mutation

I-is she a Deep One hybrid or something???