Looking for new player tips

[Broseph884]

Hey I'm looking to get this game, any good tips like character builds, party composition, other stuff like that which might be good to know? I've heard Owlcat games can be pretty complex.

[✧Starshadow Melody✧]

take a psyker origin, and then cease worrying about archetype, just go all-in on your psyker ♥♥♥♥.

[Gregorovitch]

This game is a fantastic cRPG. My top tips are:

1. Play as a Sanctioned Psyker Officer -> Grand strategist. Obviously you don't have to but there are big advantages in doing so and with a game a complex and difficult as this you need every advantage you can get.

2. Get the Voidborn DLC a) because it's fantastic and b) because you get Kebellah as a companion and she is very powerful and more importantly incredibly fun to play.

3. Understand that by far the most powerful member of your team is Cassia, the one you should never leave home without, and it is essential to learn how she is supposed to be built and how she is supposed to be played (which is very far from obvious). A properly built Cassia is a game changer.

The rule set, character building and combat mechanics of this game are very complicated, they are also very unique and unfamiliar to most people. Trying to figure them out yourself from scratch is certainly possible but it is a serious undertaking. I'd say you should pick one of two approaches to it:

* play on an easy difficulty if you want to take the time (in this case quite a lot of time) to explore the rule set and character building blind by yourself.

* select a good build guide playlist (there are several on Youtube) and play on Hard. Learning how to play characters properly built from a guide is about as difficult as learning how to build your own as well as figuring out how to use them yourself in almost all other cRPGs. You'll still have a lot to figure out.

I would go for the second option because that way you will experience the game as it was meant to be played, you'll get the full unique combat experience. If you go the self-teach/easy mode way then as far as combat goes it will play very much like most TB cRPGs do.

However it doesn't matter that much, this game has an excellent story, top writing, interesting companions, authentic WH40K lore, it drips atmosphere, it's just a rip-snorting, stonking good RPG. If it had the BG3 production values it would have been difficult to choose between them for GOTY. The ride will be worth it either way.

FYI my guide playlist of choice is this one:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8adH-ifQHcAiSJVnf4HYYRd6pyBJbTMD

[Broseph884]

thanks i'll probably just get the base game now and replay it with both dlc eventually.

[Azure]

If you see an option to claim a planet take it

[freaky.ashes]

Originally posted by ✧Starshadow Melody✧:

take a psyker origin, and then cease worrying about archetype, just go all-in on your psyker ♥♥♥♥.

I think Crime Lord is probably as good or arguably better than Psyker. There's plenty of powerful psykers in your party as is, but you're the only one who can be a crime lord without hiring mercs that take away a companion slot in your party. I think I'll just roll a crime lord soldier instead of operative on my next playthrough. Also RP wise it makes a lot of sense as to why you're so good at being a Rogue Trader right off the bat, as you've ran an empire once already.

[✧Starshadow Melody✧]

Originally posted by freaky.ashes:

Originally posted by ✧Starshadow Melody✧:

take a psyker origin, and then cease worrying about archetype, just go all-in on your psyker ♥♥♥♥.

I think Crime Lord is probably as good or arguably better than Psyker. There's plenty of powerful psykers in your party as is, but you're the only one who can be a crime lord without hiring mercs that take away a companion slot in your party. I think I'll just roll a crime lord soldier instead of operative on my next playthrough. Also RP wise it makes a lot of sense as to why you're so good at being a Rogue Trader right off the bat, as you've ran an empire once already.

Wasn't arguin' on power, psykers are just easier to build in my experience.

[JustSmile]

Originally posted by Broseph884:

Hey I'm looking to get this game, any good tips like character builds, party composition, other stuff like that which might be good to know? I've heard Owlcat games can be pretty complex.

They are, and this one is too - but unlike Pathfinder titles, the system is very, very forgiving. Yes. there's an absurd number of interconnected talents and abilities, and optimising for the most OP ♥♥♥♥ possible is hard... but even blindly picking recommended things you will still end up with good, playable characters. Rogue Trader is overall far easier to be competent in than their earlier games.

[freaky.ashes]

Originally posted by ✧Starshadow Melody✧:

Originally posted by freaky.ashes:

I think Crime Lord is probably as good or arguably better than Psyker. There's plenty of powerful psykers in your party as is, but you're the only one who can be a crime lord without hiring mercs that take away a companion slot in your party. I think I'll just roll a crime lord soldier instead of operative on my next playthrough. Also RP wise it makes a lot of sense as to why you're so good at being a Rogue Trader right off the bat, as you've ran an empire once already.

Wasn't arguin' on power, psykers are just easier to build in my experience.

That's true, just dump all stats into willpower and call it a day. I had to respec my main like three times by now to get where I wanted to be.

[Revan619]

A lot of the stuff online can be quite out of date and there is a lot of misinformation pushed in various places which can make getting into the game quite difficult.

With some other community members I put together a build spreadsheet for various builds for people to try out and full companion builds which work so well you can even play through your first run on unfair and have no trouble if you are familiar with cRPGs.

We even included a glossary, loot table accurate to 1.2 minus colony rewards, space battle route and system resources for colony management.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rskX4sYcNm6Wqt4rtm8EQqRR4__yrEuxCEzjwoKlHOY

Last thing id say is dont start officer or operative if you dont enjoy being the buff bot. If you want the power fantasy go for one of the damage classes like warrior, soldier or bladedancer.

[Gregorovitch]

Originally posted by Revan619:

A lot of the stuff online can be quite out of date and there is a lot of misinformation pushed in various places which can make getting into the game quite difficult.

This is true. Only guides released/updated since Voidborn release should be used now I think. The are all sorts of nerfs that have been implemented that invalidate many previous build recommendations.

Originally posted by Revan619:

A lot of the stuff online can be quite out of date and there is a lot of misinformation pushed in various places which can make getting into the game quite difficult.

Last thing id say is dont start officer or operative if you dont enjoy being the buff bot. If you want the power fantasy go for one of the damage classes like warrior, soldier or bladedancer.

Fair point but I would add that if you do go that way you really need to plan in advance in some detail exactly who in the party is going to be bbuffing your damage dealers (including yourself in this case) and how. You need to know what you are doing.

I think the key feature of this game is that even the best DPS builds do pants damage unless they are cranked up to the eyeballs in specific ways by buff bots. One advantage of playing as Officer/Strategist if you are new to the game is that it tends to focus your attention on the game's complex and unique buffing mechanics, the effective use of which is not optional except on the easiest difficulties.

[JustSmile]

Originally posted by Gregorovitch:

One advantage of playing as Officer/Strategist if you are new to the game is that it tends to focus your attention on the game's complex and unique buffing mechanics, the effective use of which is not optional except on the easiest difficulties.

A pretty big downside is that arguably the best companion in the game is tailor-made to be an officer. Though I guess there's no big harm in doubling down on officers, even if it's not as dumb OP as on launch.

[Pierogolepca]

I'd advise playing whatever looks interesting+cool to you, so you actually play your own guy and not someone else's. And playing an OP build that boils down to spamming 1 weapon + 1 skill combo gets stale real fkn quick.

The game has a lot of tweakable difficulty settings so you can easily finish it by picking relevant talents for your class (marked with a thumbs up I think).

Cassia is an amazing combatant but you can play the game without her no problem.

[Suiho]

You need only officer-strategist (you) for first turn, officer-tactic (Kassia), because tactic+navigator abilities stacks, and soldier-archmilitant with heavybolter (Argenta), on maximum difficulty you will win all battles in one or two turns. It doesn't matter at all who you choose, a psyker, a commissar, a nobleman, or anyone else, take whoever you want, because soldier-archmilitant under officer is legal cheat.

[Voldski]

Originally posted by Revan619:

A lot of the stuff online can be quite out of date and there is a lot of misinformation pushed in various places which can make getting into the game quite difficult.

With some other community members I put together a build spreadsheet for various builds for people to try out and full companion builds which work so well you can even play through your first run on unfair and have no trouble if you are familiar with cRPGs.

We even included a glossary, loot table accurate to 1.2 minus colony rewards, space battle route and system resources for colony management.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rskX4sYcNm6Wqt4rtm8EQqRR4__yrEuxCEzjwoKlHOY

Last thing id say is dont start officer or operative if you dont enjoy being the buff bot. If you want the power fantasy go for one of the damage classes like warrior, soldier or bladedancer.

Think you underestimate the kind of damage a dogmatic officer with staff using emperors wrath and master tactician buff can actually do.

[✧Starshadow Melody✧]

Originally posted by Voldski:

Originally posted by Revan619:

A lot of the stuff online can be quite out of date and there is a lot of misinformation pushed in various places which can make getting into the game quite difficult.

With some other community members I put together a build spreadsheet for various builds for people to try out and full companion builds which work so well you can even play through your first run on unfair and have no trouble if you are familiar with cRPGs.

We even included a glossary, loot table accurate to 1.2 minus colony rewards, space battle route and system resources for colony management.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rskX4sYcNm6Wqt4rtm8EQqRR4__yrEuxCEzjwoKlHOY

Last thing id say is dont start officer or operative if you dont enjoy being the buff bot. If you want the power fantasy go for one of the damage classes like warrior, soldier or bladedancer.

Think you underestimate the kind of damage a dogmatic officer with staff using emperors wrath and master tactician buff can actually do.

if you wanna be damage and start operative, you probably wanna use the Sanctioned Psyker origin. Pyromancer is supposed to be the damage psyker, last I heard, but when I first played Ignite was kinda lackluster and I was running it on Warrior anyway so I took Orchestrate Flames to turn it into a Kaioken. Now it's damage isn't lackluster anymore and I still use it like that.