Where are the shops

[assam60]

I'm in Act 1, done the Navis Nobiliate station and now getting bored wandering around being attacked by rebels on Rikard Minor. But I'm starting to wonder - are there any shops in this game or is the only way to get new equipment is to loot it? It's weird for a game about commerce that there are no individual traders who'll sell me a Plasma pistol or the like?

[Flavalicious]

My understanding is in act 2 you get more control over commerce/trading/etc

[Quintus Cassius]

You are rogue trader, so the normal people shops are not for you. Instead, you are dealing with Factions. In act 1 there are two of them - ship on the map and another on the planet. After you have established trade protocols, you can just "get" from them (for free, nothing is spent) items under your Profit Factor (10 at the beginning). By increasing reputation (giving them stuffed cargo crates) you will unlock more goods to get for you, but they will also require higher profit factor as well.

(Also, you don't need to go to "trade spot" each time you want to trade - after you have established connection, you can ask your main scroodge on the bridge that you want to trade, and he will open the same menu for you)

[assam60]

OK- but is that also buying equipment for my characters in battles? e.g. I can evenutally just buy Plasma guns for everyone?

[Quintus Cassius]

Originally posted by assam60:

OK- but is that also buying equipment for my characters in battles? e.g. I can evenutally just buy Plasma guns for everyone?

For example, the ship on the first map will "sell" you _one_ flamer(among other goods). (it fits well to sis, I say). You cannot buy weapons in bulk or anything like that, but weapons, armor, accesoires, consumables (medkits, grenades, etc, etc) - are fair trade. But most (except consumables) are not coming in bulk.

[REhorror]

There is that void ship outta nowhere.

[Illudium]

You don't really "buy" stuff in this game the conventional way, because you don't waste your time on conventional money. Because of your station, you literally own planets, and your money is, for all practical purposes, infinite. That doesn't lend itself well to "do I have enough gold/credits for this new sword/gun" as a gameplay mechanic.

Instead, your "currency" is your Reputation (whether a faction is willing to cut a deal and sell you their stuff) and your Profit Factor (a vague approximation of just HOW impossibly rich you are and whether you're a good bet to trade with). If those are high enough, "merchants" from those factions will just give you the items. From a narrative standpoint you're buying them, but from a purely gameplay perspective, it's more like a separate Commerce XP bar that rewards you with items instead of perks for hitting a new level.

[vaulander73]

Okay, so I have obscene amounts of wealth, I do my trading in big orders and deals. And I can't use a fraction of that wealth to stock up an armory with weapons, armors and whatever for my crew and myself? I should have access to the top tier civilian and possibly militant gear out of hand. End of story. Top gear as soon as I gain control of the ship. Fifty crew members decked out as Imperial Guards to sweep the area before me wherever I go. And that's if I am being brash and foolhardy. Five HUNDRED heavily armed vanguards before me. I am obscenely rich with unspeakable power and authority. Why the hell am I in the front lines scrabbling for loot among the dead? My life is the most important on the ship!
The background story sets me up as a head of house, more like a Total War game mixed with commerce. It plays like I am a strike team unit serving the Rogue Trader. And even if I WAS just a member of a strike team, the mailed fist of the Family Head, I am sure they would see to it that I had the best available gear for the job. OR, give me some funding to visit shops. I want a flamer and a heavy bolter for my Battlesister!

[Stechhelm]

Originally posted by vaulander73:

Okay, so I have obscene amounts of wealth, I do my trading in big orders and deals. And I can't use a fraction of that wealth to stock up an armory with weapons, armors and whatever for my crew and myself? I should have access to the top tier civilian and possibly militant gear out of hand. End of story. Top gear as soon as I gain control of the ship. Fifty crew members decked out as Imperial Guards to sweep the area before me wherever I go. And that's if I am being brash and foolhardy. Five HUNDRED heavily armed vanguards before me. I am obscenely rich with unspeakable power and authority. Why the hell am I in the front lines scrabbling for loot among the dead? My life is the most important on the ship!
The background story sets me up as a head of house, more like a Total War game mixed with commerce. It plays like I am a strike team unit serving the Rogue Trader. And even if I WAS just a member of a strike team, the mailed fist of the Family Head, I am sure they would see to it that I had the best available gear for the job. OR, give me some funding to visit shops. I want a flamer and a heavy bolter for my Battlesister!

Because this is a game and thats how it works. Its importend for the feeling of progression.

Mechanic is good actually.

[JimmysTheBestCop]

Equipment and reputation suck in this game. You can barely max 1 non navy vendor

[LewIsz]

Originally posted by JimmysTheBestCop:

Equipment and reputation suck in this game. You can barely max 1 non navy vendor

Super easy barely an inconveinence. You know you can "dismantle" crates to claw back the 1% overages?