Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader

[Humbaba]

Gentlemen, we have a date:

This will put Larian out of business.



-Humbaba

[Emphyrio]

this game failed so hard nobody is even talking about it two months later

[maidenhaver]

What a piece of ****.

[The_Mask]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 9882626363

Feedback from the Koronus Expanse 2: Beta survey results
Greetings, Lord Captains!

Months ago, during alpha testing, we posted an article about changes brought to the game based on your feedback in the big alpha survey.

Time flies by quickly, and today we are back with the second article of the series, this time to show you how your feedback shaped the game after the beta!

Disclaimer: Same as in the last article, we will not be going over every question in the survey, but will highlight only the most interesting facts. Enjoy the read and watch out for spoilers below!

Overall Score

What could be better than to begin the article with the overall rating you guys gave us?

A total of 5000+ players have taken the survey, and they rated Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader 4.3 out of 5!

This is almost the same result as the last time (alpha was rated 4.35). But considering this time the amount of people taking the survey has increased tenfold, a large number of them way less familiar with the universe, it looks like we’re still going in the right direction. Thank you for the recognition! Of course, this result is not a reason to sit idle, and we’ll discuss why below.

Reactivity and Convictions

One of the most frequent complaints in the survey was the insufficient reactivity of NPCs and companions to the Rogue Trader’s biography, doctrines, and convictions. There were also concerns about the conviction tags often feeling off or missing altogether. Well, that makes sense - a significant chunk of these reactions were not in the game yet! We’re already busy adding these reactions as this article is being written. Same goes for convictions - the tag placement was a draft done shortly before the beta launch, and we’re carefully working on all dialogues to tag them correctly.

We’ve also paid additional attention to scenes where a lot of you wished to see specific reactions. For example, quite a few people really wanted to be able to interrupt some of Idira’s heretical speeches in front of outsiders, and we’ll let you do this now!

Tutorials and Lore Glossary

Over 50% of you found our newly introduced tutorials useful, and the only negative criticism about them was, well, that there’s not enough of them! We are happy that they seem to be working well and will add more tutorials for various aspects of the game as we continue development. Some of them will even receive short explanatory videos.

The lore glossary appears to be quite helpful as well: almost 90% respondents told us they were actively using it! A curious note: these numbers appear the same even for the respondents who claimed to be deeply familiar with the universe. Checking our knowledge of the Lore, are you?

Difficulty Curve

There’s a lot of curious data here depending on the choice of difficulty. Overall, it seems that we’re on the right track, although some players on normal difficulty reported that there could be a bit more challenge. We will be carefully tuning the encounters with that in mind, especially in the later acts of the game, where player power may currently grow a bit too quickly.

Doctrines

Among the doctrines available, Marksman was an undisputed leader in all aspects. So much that we are considering lowering its potential a bit. Don’t panic though, we’re not removing the already iconic Shoot on the Run!

Adept, on the other hand, appears to be the least popular, with the most common complaints being lack of visible impact and difficulty in understanding its mechanics. In the beta this doctrine also suffered from a whole spectrum of bugs, which made the abilities even more confusing. We will be fixing these, tweaking some abilities, and reviewing the confusing and unclear descriptions.

UI

The UI seems to overall be well-received both visually and mechanically, with three exceptions:

Levelling UI. We’ve received a lot of feedback that the window was too small, there were way too many options in a single list, no way to compare the skills, and it lacked any sort of recommendation system, which led to massive timesinks every time you needed to level. Lack of respec options was often mentioned too. We will be addressing all of these issues! Here’s a glimpse on one of the menus we are currently working on:










Cargo/Loot UI. In the feedback, we’ve seen an overwhelming demand for proper drag&drop, scrolling, sorting, searching, and categorization. We haven’t been sitting idle and this UI is receiving a significant update. You can have a sneak peek of the changes yourself:










Targeting UI and ability formulas. Crit chance, cover benefits, visibility of the target, and buffs/debuffs were not always obvious. Formulas in ability descriptions and combat logs were confusing, and damage numbers were often way off the expected values. We have fixed these incorrect values, made the formulas shown as values by default, and increased visibility of icons and lines of sight.

When selecting targets for a ranged attack or ability, you can now also press TAB and hover your mouse over the hit chance or buff/debuff icons to get detailed information about them:









Reputation and Profit Factor

We’ve seen a fair share of confusion on profit factor, vendor trade, and reputation systems. A lot of people didn’t figure it out at all throughout their playthrough, and others were confused about how the profit factor value was calculated.

Not only will we be implementing a number of tutorials to help you figure out these systems, but we’ve also put a lot of work into making the UI more clear and self-explanatory. Profit factor will also now be visible in the colony screen:













Cutscenes
Looks like you guys generally enjoy our approach to cutscenes! There were only two significant points of feedback that attracted our attention:

Desynchronized or incomplete/weird-looking animations. All of these problems are being worked on and should be solved by release.
Impossibility to skip cutscenes, which was especially painful when a cutscene would happen just before a difficult fight. We don’t want to make you suffer yet, so we’re adding an option to skip cutscenes!


Ground Combat

Ground combat has received a solid 4.2 out of 5 in the beta, which is up from 3.94 in the alpha. This demonstrates steady progress, and there are only a few things we still would like to look at, such as the frequency of encounters in some zones and certain battles that tend to drag on too much or don’t feel original enough.

Space

For space combat, we are at 3.7 out of 5, up from 3.4 in the alpha. Progress is visible, but there is still a lot to do. A lot of people were frustrated by the lack of tutorials, so of course we’ll be putting that in! We will also fully implement officer post management, which was turned off for the beta, squash some bugs, and put in some additional effort to improve the variety of encounters.

Space exploration was rated 4.1, up from 3.9 in the alpha. It is a good result, and after a bit more polishing, it looks like we’ll be in the right spot. An interesting observation is that an overwhelming amount of players explore everything in the game, no exceptions.

Colony management is at only 3.4 at this point, which is far less than we would like to see. We will be putting in tutorials, improving the UI, tweaking numbers, offering more interesting rewards and adding reactivity to colony events and decisions. We will also remove the necessity to personally visit the colony to claim a reward - it was a quite popular demand.

The global map is at 3.93, which is decent, but it could be a bit better. We will be adding tutorials, upgrading a few visuals, adding more text-based warp encounters (many of you found them repetitive), and tuning the number and frequency of combat warp encounters.

Locations

Overall, it looks like we completely got rid of the ‘not enough grim darkness’ problem reported back in the alpha. It appears that the amount of weariness and despair added to the locations turned out to be just right, and such feedback is almost fully absent in the new survey. In fact, “just the right amount of grim darkness” is a very popular answer in the open feedback section!

The most popular locations (remarkable 4.42 and 4.41 out of 5, accordingly) were the Prologue:




and the Electrodynamic Cenobium:




Other popular locations included Eurac-V:




Inquisition Shipwreck:




and the Adeptus Administratum Palace:




Locations from the dark city of Commorragh were less popular, hovering around the score of 4. To an extent, it’s to be expected - they were still largely a WIP in the beta. In addition, in the first few days of the beta, there was a bug that allowed you to skip most of Act III by taking the wrong portal, which left many players confused. We will continue polishing and improving those locations as we prepare for release.

Companions and Narrative

Just like the last time, Argenta raked in all the praise, nominations, and awards! Who would have doubted that it would happen?




Unfortunately, same as the last time, the least popular companions are Jae and Idira, although the gap isn’t as big this time. We are already implementing a number of further tweaks and improvements which will make them more interesting and unique both mechanically and narratively.

We’ve also received a lot of feedback about a certain taking place in Act III, players pointing out that it was unjustified or unexplained.

Partially, it was caused by the fact that some content and reactivity that would make it clearer wasn’t yet in the beta. However, we see a clear urge for a better explanation, so besides adding the missing content, our narrative team is giving that event some additional attention.

Conclusion

And this marks the end of the article! We hope you enjoyed this little insight into the development of the game.

Once again, we thank you kindly for participating in the survey and helping us to shape this game so it can become even more fun, entertaining, and lore-accurate. It is an honor to have such an engaged and passionate community!

And as a final parting gift, here are some interesting stats from the survey:

[Emphyrio]

Colony management is at only 3.4 at this point, which is far less than we would like to see. We will be putting in tutorials, improving the UI, tweaking numbers, offering more interesting rewards and adding reactivity to colony events and decisions. We will also remove the necessity to personally visit the colony to claim a reward - it was a quite popular demand.

why does this game have colony management? We already have spaceships and our merchant business to deal with.

Just like the last time, Argenta raked in all the praise, nominations, and awards! Who would have doubted that it would happen?




Unfortunately, same as the last time, the least popular companions are Jae and Idira, although the gap isn’t as big this time. We are already implementing a number of further tweaks and improvements which will make them more interesting and unique both mechanically and narratively.

I don't know anything about these characters except their name, class and portrait, but I can recommend one quick simple change that will instantly make Jae and Idira just as popular as the pretty girl.

[Humbaba]

I don't know anything about these characters except their name, class and portrait, but I can recommend one quick simple change that will instantly make Jae and Idira just as popular as the pretty girl.

Battle Sisters have always been extremely popular with the 40k crowd. When they released the first updated plastic range in 2019, it sold out within minutes. I like em alot too.




-Humbaba

[The_Mask]

why does this game have colony management? We already have spaceships and our merchant business to deal with.

I think these two go hand in hand. Not sure. I don't plan to tank the day 1 purchase.

[Emphyrio]

I think in addition to these there are 2 more male companions, a spess wolf marine and a dark eldar.

[Emphyrio]

Battle Sisters have always been extremely popular with the 40k crowd. When they released the first updated plastic range in 2019, it sold out within minutes. I like em alot too.

My suggestion was going to be to give them better portraits. Jae's (the captain chick) is ok but too mommish and her scar is non-aesthetic. If they fixed the scar and altered her outfit to give her some chest skin she'd fine. Indira is just awful.

[maidenhaver]

If you don't like the portraits, you can replace them.

[Rinso]

I've had my eye on this one for a while but i will wait and see how it goes after the fiasco they had some months back.

Also hoping it'll be quite modable. I've always wanted something akin to a BG2 / infinity engine world with a 40k setting.

[The_Mask]

I normally don't post about this, but this looks cool.



Jae had to learn the difference between a handful of gold and a hand full of gold the hard way, but look at her now! When it comes to trade - she has a golden touch, and whenever she gives you a hand - it's worth its weight in gold.

[Humbaba]

Inb4 the arm turns out to be a bit of highly forbidden/sought after archeotech, causing conflict with the techpriest companion and forcing the player to make a Tough Decision (c) between the two.



-Humbaba

[The_Mask]

Bee double O Z Eeeeeeeeee



Rumors say the amasec in the Martyrs Endurance is called 'firewater' for a reason. But better not dwell on it too much, pal. Just order another glass and have a chat with Octaviana - the charming hostess of this cozy place.

[maidenhaver]

The W in Warhammer stands for women.

[junior]

they need to fire the entire art team
it's not just this game, all of their games have this awful look
I was gonna try this game out but having seconds thoughts

[gerey]

they need to fire the entire art team

Should fire all the writers too while they're at it, and the producers, programmers, designers, QA team.

Pretty much fire the whole team into a volcano.

[maidenhaver]

Inb4 the arm turns out to be a bit of highly forbidden/sought after archeotech, causing conflict with the techpriest companion and forcing the player to make a Tough Decision (c) between the two.



-Humbaba

That'd be gay.

[The_Mask]

Reactivity, if you decide to be a heretic:



When Psykers use their powers, they tap into the Immaterium itself.

And the more reckless they are, the thinner the veil gets, opening the passage to realspace for all kinds of blood-chilling daemonic horrors.

Our designers have done a great job of showing you the consequences.

[Emphyrio]

they need to fire the entire art team
it's not just this game, all of their games have this awful look
I was gonna try this game out but having seconds thoughts

The artists draw what they're told. It looks like they put less effort into the woke characters. You can see that Idira and Fu Manchew have rougher rendering than the normal characters.

[Humbaba]

New @maidenhaver avvy just dropped:




-Humbaba

[maidenhaver]

He looks like a very masculine specimen of a man who loves his mother.

[Emphyrio]

Reactivity, if you decide to be a heretic:



When Psykers use their powers, they tap into the Immaterium itself.

And the more reckless they are, the thinner the veil gets, opening the passage to realspace for all kinds of blood-chilling daemonic horrors.

Our designers have done a great job of showing you the consequences.

Oops my psyker rolled that a greater daemon was summoned. Guess I'll just reload.

[The_Mask]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 8439676428

Religion and Synthesizers
Every component of a game matters. An engaging story, believable and memorable characters, balanced gameplay, unique features, and an impressive visual aesthetic are all prominent aspects that grab players’ attention. However, there’s one more element that binds everything together and brings immersion to the next level. Music and sound design are one of our studio’s signature touches. Today we’re going to tell you a little about this process and all the creative and inventive ways our composers used sound and music to bring Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader to life. We now go over to Paweł Perepelica, one of the project’s composers and the writers of the game’s main theme.

The Main Theme
Every track of the game’s musical score was the result of long and meticulous work. Each theme went through a strict vetting process both at our studio and Games Workshop. It took us about five months to find the right sound for the main theme. The other composers and I tried many different versions, scrapping the ones we disliked, trying again and again. That search left me with some extra time on my hands, which I put to use getting started on the game’s space battle themes. One of those themes became a sudden hit and caught everyone’s attention, so much so that a decision was made to transform this track into the main theme.
As a long-time Warhammer fan, I’ve always wanted to work on something set in this universe. Imagine my excitement when I got the offer one day to work on Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, finally having a chance to turn my ideas into reality! I always knew that if I were to write music for the Warhammer universe, I’d make sure to try and bring together two things: religion and synthesizers! Those two words are what come to mind when I imagine music from Warhammer 40,000.


The choir is the main theme’s centerpiece. For the orchestral version, we recorded a live professional choir. But here’s a fun fact: for the earlier version, I used my own voice layered on top of itself several times over. We needed the choir to sound natural and human, which you don’t always achieve with digital samples. That’s why in the beta, as well as in the version of this track shared earlier on YouTube, the vocals you hear are mine. A choir of Paweł Perepelica clones, if you will.



I used many vintage analogue synths from the 1980s during recording. They have a very unique sound, owing partly to the old hardware, a kind they don’t make anymore. One of those was the legendary Polivoks. Over the years, it’s been used by such famous artists as Rammstein, Goldfrapp, and Mick Gordon (who used it in the soundtrack to the 2016 reboot of Doom, among other things.)



Music for the Rogue Trader
The setting of Rogue Trader is somewhat unusual as Warhammer titles go. Back when we started working on the soundtrack, we had something more classical in mind, with more strings and other “organic” instruments. Then, however, we realised the music had to sound a little more “unpolished” and “rough.” Dramatic grandeur (provided by the choir, an organ, and other components typical of religious music) had to be complemented with something obscurely down-to-earth. That approach was received well by us, by Games Workshop, and, as we can see, by you, the audience.
We tried to preserve the grand atmosphere of Warhammer 40,000 that fans adore while also adding something new: that “unpolished” quality I mentioned along with some other unusual sounds. For example, our music is rich in various types of percussion. It has unexpected instruments along with some scraping and clanging. This is true of the entire soundtrack, not just the main theme. The music isn’t all about grandeur (which of course it can’t do without); there’s a more down-to-earth side to it as well. It’s likewise about a motley crew of characters who accompany the player throughout the entire game. It’s about the lives of lowly commoners. It’s about our voidship and the places it will take us to, the most fantastic and grim corners of the universe. And it’s about the enigmatic xenos.
We mixed and matched a lot, and used every means available to create a hybrid soundtrack. Aside from the choir, the synths, and classical strings, I used traditional instruments from a variety of cultures in a few tracks (such as a banjo, a hammered dulcimer, and a bouzouki). I processed them in order to give them a “broken” sound that’s evocative of a dieselpunk aesthetic. I experimented a lot with recordings of everyday objects around me, including coins, keys — and even a moonshine still!


There was even a bowed string instrument I crafted myself out of a tin can, a string, and a couple of wooden planks. We used that one a lot in the Footfall track.


Every World Sounds Different
We had a different approach for each of the settings, aiming for a soundtrack that players would instantly associate with whatever surroundings or situation they were in at any given moment. The game features a great variety of worlds and locations, and we used every possible artistic means to reflect how out of the ordinary they are — whether it be the voidship, Footfall, the alien jungle of Janus, or any of the other biomes and settings. Each of them is unique, with its own distinctness and charisma, which we sought to highlight through the music.
Metallic clangs were one of the soundtrack’s fundamentals (and every one of our guidelines said as much.) A technique I used often was impulse response reverb. In simple terms, I’d take the sound of something striking a metal pipe and blend it with the sound of a French horn. The result was a strange metallic sound that resembled singing (“singing pipes” was how I referred to it myself.) This effect appears most in tracks we hear when we’re on our voidship. The Rogue Trader’s ship is a hulking mass of metal which at the same time is practically a living being. We felt that its machinery had to have a peculiar singing voice of its own, and it would be great for the soundtrack to reflect that. In the name of the Omnissiah, obviously.



Footfall is a hub of sorts, full of people and bustle. Deals are constantly being brokered; schemes are being run. That’s why Footfall music contains, among other things, the sound of coins and the metallic noises of moving augmetics.



Janus is an entirely different place, a fascinating alien forest. I spent a long time finding a unique touch for this setting’s combat music. Normally, for a forest theme, the choice of instruments tends to be on the more classical, strings-and-winds side. Our forest isn’t typical at all. On top of being visually quite different from most of the game’s locations, I thought that adding a bit of contrast in the music would be awesome. Something organic but also unnatural, crossing a little into “electronica.”

I used a didgeridoo, an Aboriginal Australian wind instrument with a very peculiar sound. However, rather than to use it unaltered, I blended it with my own voice to make it sound like someone singing in a didgeridoo voice. Eventually, the team decided that the resulting sound carried the wrong associations when featured prominently in the tracks, seemingly echoing the culture of an indigenous tribe. But the sound did remain in the background, creating a strange sense of something DIFFERENT.



The Experiments Continue
Creating the Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader soundtrack has been a long process of searching, recording, and vetting. As is often the case, this type of work is an adventure, one where experimenting, failing, and starting again are all part of the process. Aside from the composers and the sound design team, the project’s creative team, its team of producers, and Games Workshop have also taken part in developing the music and sound design, each making their own contributions. On your journeys as a Rogue Trader across the vast number of the alien worlds, we hope you find them and their music as enjoyable and captivating as we did!

[Norfleet]

Oops my psyker rolled that a greater daemon was summoned. Guess I'll just reload.

But first, try to kill it and loot its corpse.

[rusty_shackleford]

Oops my psyker rolled that a greater daemon was summoned. Guess I'll just reload.

save scumming should wipe your hard drive

[General Reign]

Everyone has something they will die on a hill for I guess.

[The_Mask]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 3503793830

Update 0.2.1ao for Rogue Trader Beta!



Update 0.2.1ao is live for Rogue Trader Beta!

Changelog (Beware of possible spoilers below!):

Doctrines and abilities:

Vanguard’s Formidable Distraction talent now correctly reduces dodge;
Toughness resistance check for Psyker’s Assail didn’t have any base difficulty - fixed;
Adept’s Sharpshooter talent didn’t work - fixed;
Adept’s Clue debuff icon wasn’t appearing on the targets - fixed;
Adept’s Dismantling Attack Heroic Act would always prioritize melee weapon if the character had both melee and ranged weapons equipped - fixed, there are now separate buttons for using melee and ranged versions of this Heroic act;
Adept’s Desperate Measure had the same name and icon as Adept’s Heroic act - fixed;
Assassin’s Aim for the Opening could provide an incorrectly cumulative damage bonus if applied multiple times from different directions and then used from any of those directions - fixed;
Assassin’s Killing Edge damage bonus from lethality didn’t work - fixed;
Hunter’s Piercing Shot was indefinitely stacking “Pierce and Ruin” debuff on the target after each attack - fixed;
Marksman’s Fortress talent didn’t work - fixed;
Fighter’s Combat Master was being calculated incorrectly - fixed;
Commissar’s Let’s Give them Hell ability didn’t provide an extra turn to the ally after killing the marked target - fixed;
Psy-rating 4 had incorrect requirement for Psy-rating 2 instead of 3 - fixed;


Items

Requimator item ability was incorrectly dealing damage to all enemies in combat, not just those close to the target - fixed;
The Armour of Refraction was listed in the wrong category in the inventory - fixed;



Story and dialogue

A book event in Commorragh was ending abruptly after picking one of the options - fixed;
Multiple text fixes in tooltips, dialogues and book events across the game;
In dialogue with Clementia, you would gain 7 experience every time you’d ask her about any other issues you should be aware of - fixed;


UI

Sometimes when hovering over a skillcheck in dialogue, you’d see the two different success chances - fixed;
Crippled Arm trauma icon was missing - fixed;
Points of interest and important NPCs kept being hidden by fog of war on the location map even after being discovered - fixed;
Fighter’s Sworn Enemy debuff no longer appears twice on the target;



Space

Planets and points of interest could lose their textures on the system map under certain circumstances - fixed;
Torpedo launch ability tooltip now better reflects that the highlighted tiles are for the placement of torpedoes, not for attacking the enemy. The visual effect for these tiles has also been updated for better readability;


Misc:

Encounter with the wildlife on Janus wasn’t treated as ambush and allowed a preparation phase - fixed;

[The_Mask]

Video says basically nothing, but it's nice to hear there's going to be C&C in the game:

[Humbaba]

Consequences will never be the same and all that.



-Humbaba