Warhammer: 40,000 - Rogue Trader - CRPG by Owlcat games

[Just Some Other Guy]

Massive new patch in a few days.

Highlights​

• Brand new full voiceover for the Prologue and companion chatter across the game;
• New visual effects and icons;
• Narrative tweaks and new reactivity options;
• Fixes for broken quests and dialogues (including the long-anticipated Price of Humanity quest fix);
• Fixes for incorrect and inconsistent epilogues;
• A massive amount of fixes for incorrectly functioning abilities and items, including those that led to silly damage multiplication;
• Balance updates, including survivability and damage buffs to Space Marines, nerfs for Officers, weapon balance, encounter balance, and changes to calculations of many stats, bonuses and difficulty modifiers, resulting in an overall smoother game experience;
• A lot of performance improvements and optimization;
• Reputation thresholds for vendors being lowered by about 20%;
• Improvements for NPC AI, reducing the cases of friendly fire and unnecessary triggering of Attacks of Opportunity;
• Co-op desync fixes and possibility to hire mercenaries during multiplayer sessions;
• QoL UI improvements, including ability sorting, recommended skills and visibility of quests and extractums on the map;
• Marazhai and Yrliet gaining access to many previously human-restricted items;

https://roguetrader.owlcat.games/news/en/33

Niiiice. Glad I got to enjoy officers before the nerf bat came for them

 

[FunPosting101]

Alright, I have the high-seas version of this game, I'm trying to use the mod manager, but whenever I click on the .exe for it, I get this " Cannot find module 'fs-extra' " error. I know that this is a Javascript error (see the attachment at the bottom of this post), but I'm not sure how to fix it. I've looked around a bit and found this when searching for the error in question; https://stackoverflow.com/questions/39249237/node-cannot-find-module-fs-when-using-webpack but I'm not sure how to apply this to the mod manager for Rogue Trader.

I'd appreciate any help you guys can give me here.

Niiiice. Glad I got to enjoy officers before the nerf bat came for them

I don't like it when options for the player get nerfed in a single-player game, Owlcat seems to suffer from the same sort of bad judgment that afflicts From Software and CD Projekt Red.

 

[SIMIΔN]

I don't like it when options for the player get nerfed in a single-player game

You have far better self control than I have.
It's hard not chase the meta at the expense of fun. A balanced game makes more things viable not less

 

[FunPosting101]

You have far better self control than I have.
It's hard not chase the meta at the expense of fun. A balanced game makes more things viable not less

The solution here, IMO, is to buff the underpowered stuff, not to nerf the overpowered stuff.

 

[Overly Serious]

The solution here, IMO, is to buff the underpowered stuff, not to nerf the overpowered stuff.

Have you actually played this game much, yet? They nerfed officers - a class that derives their potency from enhancing the abilities of their team mates. I'm not sure how you "buff the underpowered stuff" if you mean bring the other archetypes up to officer's power level without even further increasing the deadliness of officers who will now be enhancing an even stronger base. If a class is overpowered because it can make the operative shoot 11 times before the enemy has a turn, you don't balance the game by making the operative hit harder.

And if you mean buff the enemies then that does nothing but make Officer archetype even more essential.

 

[Male Idiot]

Yeah officers could easily be abused, it is nice they buffed SM.

 

[RSU 1741]

The solution here, IMO, is to buff the underpowered stuff, not to nerf the overpowered stuff.

Almost all combat encounters by Act 4/5 can be ended in one turn with a couple officers (and some, like boss fights, should be ended in one turn) because the combat system was/is utterly broken. If they "buffed" other classes you would just end up with the same problems. But if you nerf the good classes you end up with having to PLAY the combat encounters, and trust me you don't want to play "as intended" the vast majority of Chapter 3/4/5 fights because they're badly designed unfun chores.

I entertain the opinion that Rogue Trader's combat system/class system is so ineptly developed that's essentially impossible to fix without a complete rebuild after you go beyond Chapter 2 power levels. It's simply badly designed on a fundamental level, they can band-aid it a lot but they'll need to rethink and rebuild everything after a certain point.

Honestly, they should have rebuilt everything instead of selling an unfinished game, dumping beta testing on paying customers, and trying to salvage the shit heap months later.

 

[FunPosting101]

Have you actually played this game much, yet? They nerfed officers - a class that derives their potency from enhancing the abilities of their team mates. I'm not sure how you "buff the underpowered stuff" if you mean bring the other archetypes up to officer's power level without even further increasing the deadliness of officers who will now be enhancing an even stronger base. If a class is overpowered because it can make the operative shoot 11 times before the enemy has a turn, you don't balance the game by making the operative hit harder.

And if you mean buff the enemies then that does nothing but make Officer archetype even more essential.

I haven't gotten that far yet, still in the first chapter.

Almost all combat encounters by Act 4/5 can be ended in one turn with a couple officers (and some, like boss fights, should be ended in one turn) because the combat system was/is utterly broken. If they "buffed" other classes you would just end up with the same problems. But if you nerf the good classes you end up with having to PLAY the combat encounters, and trust me you don't want to play "as intended" the vast majority of Chapter 3/4/5 fights because they're badly designed unfun chores.

I entertain the opinion that Rogue Trader's combat system/class system is so ineptly developed that's essentially impossible to fix without a complete rebuild after you go beyond Chapter 2 power levels. It's simply badly designed on a fundamental level, they can band-aid it a lot but they'll need to rethink and rebuild everything after a certain point.

Honestly, they should have rebuilt everything instead of selling an unfinished game, dumping beta testing on paying customers, and trying to salvage the shit heap months later.

If the game's combat system is as broken as you claim, nerfing things isn't the answer, rather they need to fundamentally redesign the combat system in question.

 

[Overly Serious]

I haven't gotten that far yet, still in the first chapter.

Exactly what I thought. You're disagreeing with people who make pretty good points based on minimal understanding of the actual issues, which come later. I've explained what is wrong with your solution in my post.

If the game's combat system is as broken as you claim, nerfing things isn't the answer, rather they need to fundamentally redesign the combat system in question.

Again, you lack the understanding to actually make such confident answers. The primary issue is a handful of abilities that lead to getting multiple extra turns before the enemy can act. Nerf the Officer archetype and you've addressed the biggest issue with game balance against enemies. No need to "fundamentally redesign the combat system" which on the whole is pretty good.

Seriously, the way you with next to know experience of the game or understanding of the issues are confidently throwing out assertions or disagreeing with people who've played the whole darn thing is silly.

 

[FunPosting101]

Exactly what I thought. You're disagreeing with people who make pretty good points based on minimal understanding of the actual issues, which come later. I've explained what is wrong with your solution in my post.

Again, you lack the understanding to actually make such confident answers. The primary issue is a handful of abilities that lead to getting multiple extra turns before the enemy can act. Nerf the Officer archetype and you've addressed the biggest issue with game balance against enemies. No need to "fundamentally redesign the combat system" which on the whole is pretty good.

Seriously, the way you with next to know experience of the game or understanding of the issues are confidently throwing out assertions or disagreeing with people who've played the whole darn thing is silly.

Dude, the thing your responding to in the second half of your post is a reply I made to a different person, and @RSU 1741 was claiming that the game was fundamentally poorly designed, I told him that if the game was as badly designed (broken) as he claimed, then the best solution in that hypothetical is not to tweak this or that but to rebuild the combat system from the ground up.

I honestly don't know if the game's combat is fundamentally broken, you seem to disagree with him on that. I was simply stating that, hypothetically speaking, if it is that broken, tweaking this or that thing won't really fix the underlying problems, although to be fair, it might mediate them somewhat. You responding to something that wasn't directed at you and then calling me silly, is actually pretty silly in and of itself.

 

[RSU 1741]

No need to "fundamentally redesign the combat system" which on the whole is pretty good.

No need?

Chapter 1&2 hold together (barely) due to the fact that trash combat is constant and close enough to tabletop roots that the utter insanity of the character system doesn't bleed through. I'll try to be short because a close analysis of why Rogue Trader's combat and character building is bonkers and terrible (or, if one wants to be merciful, deeply flawed, collapsing on itself on Chapter 3-4-5) would be very long. Finished the game on Daring, didn't try harder difficulties because man, seriously, why bother?

Character building is a complete mess with far too many levels, far too many abilities, essentially badly designed origin/class/advance system (the Soldier/Warrior/Officer/Specialist system is uniquely badly managed in flattening characters and being obtuse). Most classes have devastating combos that go beyond officer spam, from the Archmilitant insanity to Cassia just obliterating everyone to Indira being the same. It was exceedingly easy to break the system, a system at the same time incredibly obtuse and reliant on weird combos of abilities and perks. Sure, no pre-battle buffing, whoops a Specialist has what 12-15 abilities at level 40 to use during his round? Engaging gameplay.

Combat encounters are a mess. When their system start collapsing it's clear as day: bosses that flat-out break the game rules (free turns, free regens, custom-built abilities to make them work because they could not build a functional AI). A good turn based game is about resource management and risk mitigation, Rogue Trader is a card game where you need to start your broken combo before the pre-programmed enemy broken combo starts. This means all lategame combat is built around nuking them before they nuke you, all very engaging and fun.

Rogue Trader main problem is that the parts that were extensively playtested by paying customers (1-2-3) are borderline decent, Owlcat then dropped the ball and the bug and playtesting is being done after release. I'd consider this an insult as a paying customer. I will not discuss the problems about plot (or lack thereof) characterization, performance and reactivity, because they are too massive burdens on what's probably the worst game (and worst release) Owlcat threw out.

Also apparently they rebuilt the combat system FOUR TIMES. If this is the best they can manage without Pathfinder holding their hand, I'm scared about their future games because it's clear they utterly lack competent designers.

 

[Male Idiot]

I agree, but this issue was the same with Pathfinder. I remember the different levelup talents needed for every single type of weapon. And scimitar is just best. Or was it sabers? Rapiers? So it is nothing new for Owlcat.

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

Marazhai and Yrliet gaining access to many previously human-restricted items;

Heresy.

 

[RSU 1741]

I agree, but this issue was the same with Pathfinder. I remember the different levelup talents needed for every single type of weapon. And scimitar is just best. Or was it sabers? Rapiers? So it is nothing new for Owlcat.

Yes, Pathfinder was bad and Wrathfinder had some flat-out incredibly badly designed areas. Yes, broken at release.

They still had nothing on the Rogue Trader release, and Pathfinder at least had a non-Owlcat character and combat system. Plenty of broken shit in Wrathfinder and Pathfinder 1 is notorious for being powerplayer-friendly, but at least some basics of encounter/designs were still there. Rogue Trader seems to have been designed by an AI that has been told to mix Dark Heresy, Pathfinder and the worst abuses of online theoretical RPG builds they could find.

The state of Rogue Trader at release was/is nothing short of an insult to paying customers.

 

[Rich Evans Ayypologist]

Finished the game on Daring, didn't try harder difficulties because man, seriously, why bother?

Oh, it's easy on Hard. You can sleep through it.

Then, the act 3 boss wipes your entire squad on her first turn.

 

[SIMIΔN]

The state of Rogue Trader at release was/is nothing short of an insult to paying customers.

From a gameplay perspective, you might be right, it is hard to complete anything above normal without knowing the meta.

Owlcat's games are notoriously difficult. YouTuber Mortimisal Gaming found the hardest difficulty of Baldur's Gate easy, but struggles with the third hardest Pathfinder difficulty.

From a story and art perspective, it really immerses you in the 40k universe, so it has a lot of promise if combat becomes more intuitive.

I 'demoed' the first two acts, and look forward to buying it on sale when it is completed

 

[Just Some Other Guy]

The state of Rogue Trader at release was/is nothing short of an insult to paying customers.

Meh. I had fun. No regrets.

 

[Failed Lurker]

Was stuck trying to get out of Comorragh, random actions of characters weren't working after the mini cut scene, one being setting Space Wolf to charge an opponent and instead would run past them, round the top platform then all the way back to the lift and attacking an empty space. So hopefully that's been fixed as was enjoying it until that point and hadn't had time to get back into it. Did always find it strange either Eldar couldn't use generic human weapons as a baseline to begin with.

 

[God of Nothing]

Finally decided to get it.
Plan on going psyker because I need to be special in these types of games, even if it goes against the setting. Anything I should know about?

 

[Tor Lugosi]

Finally decided to get it.
Plan on going psyker because I need to be special in these types of games, even if it goes against the setting. Anything I should know about?

There's almost zero reactivity towards your Rogue Trader being a psyker, unfortunately. Your psyker RT will even still treat other psykers like some new, alien thing he has no idea about.