Before I Play

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader

(These tips are current as of patch 1.3.)

TL;DR

  • Owlcat have done a lot of work on fixing bugs, but it's still recommended you keep a couple of back-up saves.
  • Bosses and other setpiece battles usually have some sort of gimmick; if you're having trouble, read the enemy abilities.
  • Try to keep most of your 'major' alignment decisions consistent, if you can.
  • Keep most navigation routes at yellow.
  • Act 3 sticks you with a single party for a while.
  • The "Secret" ending is much easier to achieve then previous Owlcat games.
  • Strongly consider picking up the Toybox mod.

Character Creation

  • The reactivity to Homeworld/Origin/etc. is fairly minor, there's no exclusive content hidden behind any of it.
  • The exception is Psyker origin, which is basically its own unique class that can synergize with the archetypes or be the main focus for level up.
  • Most companions have unique features & abilities you can't replicate with mercenaries. However, you can min-max synergies in ways companions can't.
  • For melee, priority is Agility, Weapon Skill, Toughness. Strength is only important for equipping heavy/power armor.
  • Extra turn mechanics (i.e. the Officer's powers) start underwhelming but become extremely effective by midgame.
  • Skill checks in the game are balanced assuming characters focus on 2-3 skills each.

General

  • If things like the UI or character animations start acting strangely, closing and rebooting the game usually fixes it.
  • There is no time limit for the main story. Some companion missions will expire if you ignore them for too long.
  • There are well-labeled points of no return for advancing into the next chapters, make sure to finish any side quests you care about before going forward.
  • Don't neglect upgrading your voidship and its gear; main quest missions are often gated by a moderately difficult ship battle to proceed.
  • Incidental alignment-dialogue isn't as important as it used to be, so feel free to make choices that feel right for your character, though you should still generally try to stick to one alignment for 'major' decisions.

Level Up

  • Each character should specialize in two to three skills, maximum. A jack of all trades is a master of none, and Act 3 will see skill checks with -50 penalties and higher become common.
  • The Combat Master general talent is basically mandatory on every character who's going to spend any amount of time in melee.
  • Itemization is not ideal for certain builds; don't specialize into any kind of weapon or gear you don't already have access to. (i.e. Power Armor doesn't show up until Act 4.)
  • There are no "gotcha" stat requirements except the Strength requirement for Heavy/Power Armor (STR 45).
  • If a build really doesn't feel like it's working, you've got a decent number of free respecs from Janris before it starts costing Profit Factor

Act 3

  • The party you bring into an early, seemingly-minor mission will be the only ones you have access to for most of the Act.
  • High priorities are social skills, Lore (Xenos), Medicae, and at least one psyker.
  • The permanent party member debuffs can be cured by turning in plot items found in the area.
  • If you want the Space Marine companion, you'll need to do at least some of the side quests.

Companions

  • Some of the more under-performing companions have received significant buffs since launch. Take any comments about under-powered ones with a grain of salt.
  • Most of the companions have access to some sort of gimmick the main character doesn't. For example, Idira's powers are stronger than an equivalent Sanctioned Psyker, but also much riskier.
  • Companions will not leave unless you side against them during a pivotal conversation, or after an extreme alignment option in Act 4.
  • Companion quest outcomes are usually tied to your choices during their first personal quest, i.e. how you handle the orphans that Argenta asks you to speak with.

Colony Management

  • Save extractors for Xenotech and Flogiston early-game, you can always go back and slap one down later if you need more of a specific resource.
  • Once you unlock it, get in the habit of checking the Colony Management screen every few jumps.
  • Foulstone is the only optional colony. If you loot it instead of founding it, you won't get another one.
  • The project that gives Chirurgeon Medikits (on Janus) will be a lifesaver in Act 3. Pick it up early and start stockpiling.

Vendors

  • Profit Factor is essentially the maximum value of items you can just tell people to give you; it isn't reduced by buying things.
  • Focus on one or two vendors that don't want the same high-value cargo; maxing them all is effectively impossible for a casual player.
  • Convert excess consumables like medkits and stims into cargo instead of hoarding them.
  • Vendor reputations increase to 35 in Act 4 with new high level equipment available.
  • The Imperial Navy only takes trophies obtained from ship combat, you may have to manually add them to cargo from your inventory occasionally.
  • Vendor reputations also unlock some colony projects, and other colony projects can boost reputation as well.

Patches and DLC

  • Most of these tips exist to reiterate and clarify the situation about aspects of the game that used to be serious/infamous issues, but are no longer the case.
  • Some of the more under-performing companions, most notably the Space Marine and the Heretic-exclusive late game member, have received significant buffs and bugfixes. All of them should be functional and viable now.
  • Alignment used to be incredibly strict about requiring you to go all-in during even incidental dialogue if you wanted enough points to reach the good bonuses and special endings. This has been changed as of Patch 1.3; you now have a lot more room to make choice that feel right for your character, though you should still generally try to stick to one alignment for 'major' decisions.
  • Gear options have finally been expanded in 1.3, including a number of new force swords for psykers of all alignments. However, power armor still doesn't show up until Act 4 at the earliest.
  • A dual-wielding build is technically possible for any archetype, but the Bladedancer archetype (and party member) added by the first DLC is explicitly focused on a dual-swords style.

Modding

  • As mentioned, Toybox is highly recommended, as it can do anything from tweak certain behaviors (like gender-locked romances) to letting you crowbar open bugged quests. How much or how little you use it is up to you, but you won't regret having it available.
  • The other must-have mod is Modfinder, a utility for finding mods, installing them, and, notably, keeping them up to date.
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