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InWarhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, you must create team builds and assign combat roles to your companions for strategic battles. The game’s story, dialogues, and battles span a considerable length of time. However, beyond fighting xenos, cultists, and robots on planets, there is another type of combat in the game: Space Combat.
At the beginning of the game, your chosen voidship serves as not only a means to reach your targets in the vast void of space but also a well-equipped war machine. While getting accustomed to the game’s battle system is challenging enough, space combat might add to the confusion. Don’t worry; we’re here to assist you with this.
Do Not Avoid Space Combat
Make sure to seize every opportunity for space combat that comes your way. The reason for this is that as you engage in these battles,your voidship will gain experienceand consequently level up. With each level gained, your ship will acquire various upgrades.
Another rewarding aspect of participating in space combat is the chance toacquire parts that you can attach to your shipafter the battle. While these often consist of weapons, you may also find better shields among them.
Yet another advantage of entering battles is thescrap you gather at the end of each fight.These scraps are crucial for repairing and upgrading your ship, enhancing its hull, ram, and abilities on your posts. In short,scraps serve as a currencyfor improving your ship, and the best way to acquire them is through space combat.
Know The Basic Combat Mechanics And What You Can Do In Battle
Firing Weapons And Movement System
Frankly, while space combat may seem complex at first glance, it’s not very different from regular battles apart from a few distinctions. Firstly,you control only one unit (for now)at the beginning of the space combat: your Voidship. It moves and attacks each turn.
Unlike normal battles, your attack options are not limited to one;you may use all of your weapons, but there are conditions for using each weapon fired from the ship. Some weapons target the left, some the right, and some deal damage to a large area around you. You can check the range of weapons by hovering over them.
You can either fire before or after moving. Even you can fire first, then move, and then fire again.
To conclude your movement, you need toreach your ship to the end-phase cells, which are the greenest cells. Choosing the last cell where your ship will stop is crucial because your ship’s movements are not overly agile, and you need toconsider its maneuvers.
Shields Protect You From Damage
Your ship hasshields in all four directions, which protect you from enemy damage in the early stages of battle. The damage you receivediminishes the shield on the sidefrom which the enemy has fired. If all shields on one side are depleted, any subsequent damage from that side willdirectly affect your ship.
Additionally, due to the mathematics behind shield mechanics,shields may not always fully protectyour ship from damage. The higher your shield points, the better your chances of protection. Therefore, allowing your shields to decrease can lead to dangerous situations. In short, higher shields have a greater chance of absorbing damage.
Your ship has the ability called’Restart Shields' to restore shieldsto their original state. When used, this abilitymaximizes the shield points in all directionsat the beginning of the next turn butreduces your speed and firing range for that turn.
The most important thing to know about shields is this:attempt to keep all enemies on one side of your ship.For example, if they all target the shields on the right side of your ship, your ship will undoubtedly sustain heavy damage.
Also, remember thatenemy ships have shieldsas well and operate on the same principle. Initially, they won’t take damage from you when they have high shield points, and if you manage to penetrate their shields, you’ll have a better chance of destroying them.
Use Voidship Ram When Necessary
One of themost effective methods of dealing damageto enemies is Voidship Ram. Of course, there are conditions for using it; firstly, you can only collide with a shipdirectly in front of you, offering you little choice in terms of range like your other weapons. Additionally, you can use this feature during the acceleration phase, meaningbefore you move.
Also, the enemy ship must beat least two cells away from you. While this type of attack deals significant damage to the enemy proportionate to the distance you’ve traveled, unfortunately, it’s not always an option you can use. Remember that your ship will also sustain collision damage after hitting the enemy.
Don’t Forget That Torpedoes Are Your Best Friend
To be honest,one of the most effective weaponsin the game is torpedoes. Keep in mind that after using torpedoes,you won’t be able to use them in the next turn.You summon torpedoes in front of your ship, and they come in a specific quantity. Typically, you start with four torpedoes. After using torpedoes,you can control themeach turn as if they were ships.
Your goal is tocollide your torpedoes with enemy ships, thereby inflicting damage equal to the number of torpedoes. Additionally, you don’t necessarily have to ram the enemy ship with the torpedo;you can detonate it immediately next to a ship’s cellto inflict damage.
Alternatively, you candamage multiple shipsaround a cell with a single explosion.
Also, remember that enemy ships have torpedoes too. Your method of damaging torpedoes is different from damaging ships. Since each successful hit destroys a torpedo, a firing that inflictsmultiple hits will be effectivein destroying them.
Moreover, if torpedoesfail to reach any targetwithin four turns,they automatically explode. It’s essential to keep this in mind.
Finally, even thetoughest battles can be wonby evading using torpedoes.By constantly fleeingin one direction from enemies andcontinuously firing torpedoes, you may keep your enemies occupied with your torpedoes. If they can’t destroy them,you can hunt down all your enemiesone by one. Although this process is lengthy, it’s quite effective.
Lastly, if you’ve also unlocked the’Warp Wave' abilitywhile using this method, it becomes evenmore effective.Since the ‘Warp Wave’ abilityhas an infinite range, you may exhaust andeliminate enemies with torpedoes and ‘Warp Wave.’
Additionally, the ‘Torpedo Control’ abilityprovides extra movement to your torpedoes, while the “Focused Efforts” ability allows you toreduce the cooldown of the ‘Warp Wave’ abilityfaster and use it more frequently. In conclusion, if you have a well-equipped ship with good abilities, speed, and high HP, you have an advantage in battles.
Effectively Manage Your Scrap Economy
Scrap can be consideredas the currencywith which you canenhance your ship.Scrap serves three purposes:
While you can generally obtain scrap byengaging in battles, there are also situations where you can acquire it through your Profit Factor.
When your ship reaches the fifth level, the ‘Rugged Repair’ developmentreduces the cost of repairing your ship by 50 percent.The ‘Take it All!’ ability increases the scrap you earn by ten percent. Acquiring these upgrades will be quite beneficial and will further strengthen your ship.
In the Hull Repair section, make sure torepair your ship after every battleto avoid being caught unprepared for the next fight. Additionally, during Warp Travel, your ship may sustain damage as a result of certain events.
As the name suggests, ‘Ram Upgrade’ increases your ram damage, while ‘Hull Upgrade’ is crucial becauseit increases your ship’s maximum HP.
Furthermore, the officers you place in the post sectioncan utilize the ship abilities you’ve learned.If you want to upgrade these abilities to higher levels, you will need to scrap again. It’s essential toupgrade these abilitiesas they enable your ship toperform more effectivelyin battle.
Obtain Ship Equipment by Trading with the Imperial Navy
In Chapter Two, you’ll start in the Furibundus system andencounter a ship in that systembefore reaching Footfall. After interacting with that ship, you’ll be able totrade with the Imperial Navy.As your Profit Factor increases,you’re able to acquire good ship parts,shields, and weapons.
Additionally, after some battles, you may receive loot, such as weapons, shields, etc. that you can equip on your ship.
Furthermore, after interacting with the Imperial Navy once, you canspeak with High Factotum Janris Danrokon your ship’s bridge to open the screen of merchants with whom you can trade. This allows you to continuously provide your cargo for the Imperial Navywithout having to constantly go to their shipand acquire useful items.
you may already see which equipment you can install on your ship in the ‘Component’ tab. After battles or purchasing new components, alwaysremember to remove the old onesandupdate your ship by installing better ones.
Upgrade Your Ship And Assign the Most Suitable Companions To Posts
Your ship can level up to a total of 12 ranks,and at each rank, some skills can be learned. When upgrading your ship, it’s best toacquire the ‘Warp Wave’ abilityas early as possible. Thanks to itsinfinite range,it inflictsdamage based on the hull damagetaken by enemy ships, making it a very useful ability.
Additionally, skills such as ‘Swing Run,’ ‘Shallow Jump,’ and ‘Strafe,’ whichincrease your ship’s movement, can help you position yourself well on the battlefield and aid in evading. As an ultimate ability, the’Empyrean Storm' is a good optionfor first choice due to its high range and effective damage.
If you find using torpedoes in battle more effective, try toacquire the ‘Torpedo Control’ and ‘All Hands on Deck’abilities as early as possible. Also, don’t neglect to acquire skills that reinforce your shields.
Another tab on your ship is the ‘Posts’ tab. Here, you canassign your companions to specific postson the ship. If you assign the most suitable person to each post, the skills associated with that post willwork more effectively.To do this, click on the post, and next to your companions, you’ll see some numerical values.Assign the person with the highest numerical valueto each post.
These numerical values aredetermined based on your companions’ skills.The skills relevant to the posts are as follows:
Master of Etherics
Awareness
Don’t forget toplace the best companionsin terms of the specified skills in each post to get the best performance. Also, if you don’t assign anyone to these posts,you won’t be able to use the related post’s skills.Finally, from this tab, you may also upgrade the skills associated with posts for scrap.
Add Extra Ships To Your Fleet
While not initially possible, as you progress through Chapter Two andestablish colonies on your planets, you’ll be able tocomplete certain projects.Some of these projects offer rewards that can strengthen your ship or provide additional ships to accompany you in every battle.
Althoughyou do not directly control these ships, they’re crucial for dealing extra damage to enemies anddrawing their aggro awayfrom your main ship. Here are three projects that your colonies can complete, resulting in obtaining ships:
Filth of the Expanse
Two
Shield of the Emperor
Choosing Shield of the Emperor will lock out the other option, Filth of the Expanse, and vice-versa.
Additionally, remember that you can initiate projects from your colonies that will allow you to craft effective weapons for your ship and provide some talents for your ship.
