Trade, Reputation and Cargo Explained | Gamer Guides: You... (2024)

Money makes the world go ‘round, it’s said, but what happens when you end up so wealthy and powerful due to your status that carrying around petty cash - or really any form of liquidity - becomes a redundant hassle? As the Rogue Trader you control a voidshipped crewed by thousands of hereditary serfs, the wealth of entire planets are yours to call upon, and aside from a handful of other privileged individuals, your word is often law wherever you travel. The idea of fussing around with coins,crowns, cash, scrip or credits is frankly beneath you, but as one of the primary movers and shakers in the Koronus Expanse, other factions can expect to profit by associating with you, and will exchange wares based on both your standing with said faction and the competence at running an interstellar empire you’ve demonstrated. This page will explain how trade, reputation and cargo works in Rogue Trader.

Loot, Cargo and Carrying Capacity¶

The economy in Rogue Trader is focused decidedly on the macro scale. You don’t need to bother counting currency, worrying about getting meals or lodging, or keeping track of ammo stocks. Presumably your basic necessities are covered by merely being the Rogue Trader. That Warrant of Trade you inherited opens many doors and allows you to requisition most of the minitae.

That said, you’ll still pick up loot from vanquished enemies, and (presumably for gameplay purposes) there are some blind spots not covered by the status conferred upon you by your Warrant of Trade - weapons, armor, medikits and grenades are decided NOT something you can acquire easily enough to the point where it’s outright omitted from gameplay. You know, basically everything with practical application in combat. While you can still acquire arms, armor and consumables by looting, pillaging and plundering, this brings up another question - what do you do with all this excess equipment? As mentioned earlier, there’s no currency in Rogue Trader, but there is another valuable commodity that you can accumulate via the judicious bequeathal of excess equipment - Reputation.

There are a variety of factions in Rogue Trader that are influential in the Koronus Expanse, and more importantly, which provide various wares and services which will help you in your travels. You’re not buying items, however, or really even trading, despite what the game says. Instead you’re really requisitioning items from these other factions, and your ability to do so depends on two factors - your reputation with the faction (they’re willing to open up higher tiers of loot if they like you more) and your Profit Factor (a combination of factors, all of which jointly represent your authority, the stability of your domain and the resources you can subsequently bring to bear). Suffice to say, the wares other factions will give you depends on both your personal relationship with them and the perceived value of doing business with you.

How to Increase Reputation in Rogue Trader¶

There are numerous ways in which you can raise your reputation with a faction, the most direct of which being to offload excess gear and cargo. When you go to trade with a faction (either by talking to a faction representative directly, or by talking to High Factotum Janris Danrok on the bridge of your voidship and picking the option “I would like to order the shipping and transportation of some goods.”) you’ll find yourself in a trade screen with two tabs - Trading and Reputation.

Switch on over to the Reputation screen and you’ll find a list of all the cargo you possess on the right and the amount of Reputation you’ll get for trading different categories of cargo. This is a system that might initially seem complicated, but it actually streamlines a lot of tedious inventory management. Pretty much every item you find save for quest objects, multikeys and notes belongs to a cargo category and contributes X% of said cargo. This includes most arms, armor and consumables you’ll find as you explore, in addition to a whole host of junk cargo - Holy Gifts, Jewelry, Heretic Trophies, Xeno-Artefacts etc. Instead of forcing you to manage this all on your own, when you pick up cargo it’s automatically sorted into stacks, until said stack is at 100% or more, at which point the entire stack can be given to a faction.

For example, say you loot a container and you find Machine Spirit Vaultlets, Collections of AutoQuills, Universal Power Cells, and Motive Force Conductors. Instead of having to fuss with them in your inventory, they’re all just added to cargo. They’re all Mechanicus Creations, and contribute 20%, 10%, 7% and 5% to a Mechanicus Creations cargo stack. They will be sorted, stacked and if you get enough of a cargo stack to reach 100% it’ll be tradeable. There’s no encumbrance, no limit to how much you can pick up, and you don’t need to bother with it save for picking it up in the first place and trading it to some faction later on. All your cargo can be viewed via the Cargo Manager option (hotkey: B).

Actual usable equipment - arms, armor, accessories and consumables - go directly into your inventory, separated entirely from cargo. That said, it should be noted that most equipment is cargo, as well. Every Laspistol you pick up contributes 10% to a Ranged Weaponry cargo stack, every Sword contributes to a Melee Weaponry cargo stack, most armor contributes to an Armor Kit cargo stack, while more esoteric forms of equipment may contribute to Mechanicus Creations, Uniform Kits, Jewellry, Xeno-Artefacts, Heretic Trophies, or the ever-popular Miscellaneous category. You can add unwanted equipment to cargo stacks manually, send entire stacks of redundant gear to cargo, or trade them directly to various factions.

Reputation, then, is the primary currency in Rogue Trader. Assuming you’ve raised your Reputation with a faction sufficient to access a tier and you have enough Profit Motive, you can take any eligible items from said faction. There are no other costs or requirements. It’s also worth noting that different factions prefer different types of cargo, although factions value cargo the same way, so you don’t need to worry about trading one type of cargo to the “wrong” faction. The type of each cargo accepted by each faction and the Reputation you gain from doing is can be found below:

Cargo Categories and Reputation Points by Faction¶

In addition to trading cargo, you can also increase your Reputation with a faction through various other means. Sometimes you’ll get dialog options that result in hefty bonuses to Reputation (when another character offers to put in a good word, or if you act charitably toward a faction being common examples). Certain [Colony Projects] can also yield vast amounts of positive Reputation.

How to Earn Profit Factor in Rogue Trader¶

In addition to being on good terms with a faction, you also must have proven yourself competent as a Rogue Trader before factions will offer up their best gear. Profit Factor is the closest thing the game has to currency, and in some regards it does measure the Rogue Trader’s assets, liquid or not, but it’s also a reflection of their power and authority. Essentially the more expansive, stable and profitable your realm is, the greater your Profit Factor is. Gaining Profit Factor is largely a result of choices made in dialog (striking up trade deals and imposing your will on others both often yield greater Profit Factor) quest progression and what [Colony Projects] you choose to pursue. Keep in mind that as your influence waxes and wanes you can gain and lose Profit Factor, so be sure to strike while the iron is hot and claim any treasures you can.

Factions and Trade in Rogue Trader¶

There are five factions you can trade with in Rogue Trader, with four (Drusians, Explorators, Fellowship of the Void and Kasballica Mission) operating in a more or less uniform, conventional manner; get cargo, trade to boost reputation, then take whatever wares your Reputation tier and Profit Factor gives you access to. One outlier, the Imperial Navy, also exists, and they deal exclusively in ship upgrades, and require you to make offerings of Void Trophies to boost your Reputation with them. A list of all the factions in Rogue Trader and how to get in contact with them can be found below:

Faction Locations¶

Below you’ll find lists of all the items the game’s various factions will offer up, as well as the Reputation Tier and Profit Factor you need to have in order to requisition said items.

Drusians Trade Goods - Chapter 2¶

Explorators Trade Goods - Chapter 1¶

Explorators Trade Goods - Chapter 2¶

Fellowship of the Void Trade Goods - Chapter 1¶

Fellowship of the Void Trade Goods - Chapter 2¶

Imperial Navy Trade Goods¶

Kasballica Mission Trade Goods - Chapter 2¶