Many worlds have a technological base to match that of Holy Terra, whilst many more have devolved into feudal backwaters with little more than black powder technology. Far-flung planets on the fringes, on the other hand, are more likely to be frontier worlds, left to their own devices for much of the time and under the constant threat of physical or spiritual attack. The closer a world lies to Holy Terra-the home planet of mankind, far from the Calixis Sector-the more important, advanced, and well-governed it is likely to be. Heck I've even gained some insight by looking at things from ym critics POV (Even if some of them are a bit goofy IMHO.)
More often than not, the problem lies more in HOW you choose to view it, rather than the material itself, and nothing is ever lost by looking at a different perspective. And just because contradictions do crop up doesn't mean it becomes an end of the world, either/or scenario.
In the end I just emphasize the point - "be flexible" and "don't fall into dogmatic patterns" when it comes to thinking of these things. Perhaps the differences come up to other perfromance traits (acceleration, for example.) That said, in my own experience it does not neccesarily translate into a vast inconsistency (EG its within an order of magnitude, which is 'good enough' by sci fi calc standards and certainly by my own) and thus would be fine unless one is unusually draconian in their interpretation of 'approximate.' That does not neccesarily mean ships CAN'T be heavier, either, since one of the key parameters (hull thickness) can be variable in alot of ways (nevermind internal designs), but again that comes down to 'don't treat things as narrowly defined absolutes' - I could quite see 'super light' cruiser designs finding a place alongside 'super heavy' cruiser designs. I've found a number of calcs throughout the various supplements (the most hilarious being in Frozne Reaches and thin skinned ork Roks) so it is quite possible that some, most, or even all of the ship masses are far lighter than they should be. To be fair, I'm neither defending nor condemning the numbers in general per se. I'll deal with those in a separate thread, although I've discussed them before here and here I'll probably add some other comments and do some of my own (rough) comparisons to modern naval ships (closest approximation) and note how variable the densities in those cases can be. Enjoy.Īs an aside, one thing that has consistently come up about the thread are the ship masses. And so we start with part one of the Rogue Trader core rulebook. STart with the Rulebooks and work outwards from there. The format for Rogue Trader's analysis will follow Dark Heresy and the others. Even if they look like giant cathredals from time to time.
Rogue Trader introduces BFG-esque space combat as part of its system, and that is (for me, the tech nerd) a huge draw, because I've long loved Battlefleet gothic and spaceships. Or it can be serious.Īnd of course there is the starship stuff. There's tons of scope for that for all kinds of characters, stories, and it also allows for some of the most amusing, upbeat or even outright silly concepts because of its nature. Rogue Traders are perhaps the most libreral and the most 'human' characters in the Imperium - they see rules as things to be broken or bent (and don't apply to them.) Outside the Imperium they are as god (within the limits of their charter.) They control starships, planets, armies, and the wealth of entire sectors flows through their hands. It encompasses trade, exploration and conquest, diplomacy, treasure hunting, as well as combat in spades. But of the lot, Rogue TRader is perhaps the most diverse and upbeat RPG. Of the five systems, it is perhaps my favorite, tying with Only War simply because I am an Imperial Guard fanboy and it is thus an unfair comparison. Which deals with, unsurprisingly, Rogue Traders.
We now start the second of the five primary RPG game lines by Fantasy Flight games, Rogue trader.