I’ve been really enjoying our latest Darktide update. It’s not perfect, Crushers sometimes make sounds, Ragers sometimes make sounds, so that’s forward progress.
Anyways, I was thinking about the story since I feel like the Warren delivers a lot more than any other map so far. So first of all, the Karnak Twins… AWESOME. It really made me feel like my actions on Atoma have made an impact, now our strike team is being HUNTED because the enemy knows we’re here to disrupt their operations. This may not seem like much, but all of a sudden, I felt a lot more connected to Atoma Prime. The traitors know that we’re here and they know we’re capable, they are sending their best to stop us.
I really hope the Karnak Twins and other such ambushes and events become a permanent staple in the game. It doesn’t need to happen on every map, but it should be a big deal when it happens AND it should be rewarded. Maybe this is something FS should consider, how to scale rewards? Karnak Twins will have better equipment than your average Scab so wouldn’t you have a chance of stealing their sweet sweet loot?
Anyways, I was still thinking about the story. I find it strange that there are no mission where we rescue captured Rejects. Outside of the 3 other people in missions with me, I have no connection to anyone else in the game. I’m not saying we would rescue ACTUAL players, but I’m thinking something like Against the Grain in Vermintide 2. We hit a detention center and rescue a couple of Ogryns or something.
One more thing, missions should build on themselves. For example, when we turn the smelters back on, there could be another mission where we pass the functioning smelters and go into the factory to continue clearing it or something. Anyways, like the Carnival missions, it would be great if missions in the same area were loosely connected.
did you maybe notice that once they get everyone in the team, they kill them at the end screen?
they don’t “Capture” rejects, they round them up and shoot them once they’re sure none got away.
To quote the great Zapp Brannigan: “I surrender and volunteer for treason”
The missions could be a rescue or an assassination for Rejects that have been corrupted and are turning traitor (and we’ve established that some are turning away from the God-Emperor in the main “story” of the game).
And just because we saw our crew get killed in the end, that doesn’t mean that it’s the same for ALL missions. In fact, we could have a timed final event where we give the last rites to a Reject being interrogated. We’re tasked with silencing them before they reveal information about our dealings on Atoma Prime.
The point is, it would be interesting to link back to the things that are happening on the Morningstar (it would be great if things actually happened on the Morningstar…).
There is some merit to this; in the Carnival cutscene that we got, there is a brief moment where you can see surrendering Operatives being held at gunpoint by the Moebian 6th. Truly loyal servants of the Emperor would never put their hands on their heads as to surrender, even when faced with death.
The replacement for the Karnak twins(im hoping we get one and that its not a reskin of the captains without shields) and all Monstrosities should drop Plasteel and Daemonhosts should either drop a larger pile or put a 10% modifier on your end amount of Plasteel and Diamantine. Makes them something other than a waste of time to deal with. Vermintide monsters dropped loot cubes so its a fair progression in my opinion.
Edit: sorry this was a reply to OP, i misclicked.
I like the idea of boss loot, but encouraging people to trigger a Daemonhost and potentially a squad-wipe for some Plasteel is really not a great idea.
I think its a great idea since Daemonhosts only appear on Malice+ without lights on modifier. Especially since they are currently pointless besides a walk around moment in the map, its never even a thought process to fight it currently.
I know that it’s boring just having Daemonhosts as glorified landmines but I really don’t trust pubs with this sort of thing unless we’ve got a decent Zealot or Ogryn on the team. I don’t want to have to carry the team just because an Assail Psyker or something wanted to get some extra Plasteel.
I think that would bring back the risk/reward mentality from VT2 where you would decide on how many books you pick up and it would affect your rewards.
At least giving players more choice, more incentive
I mean, if they faceroll the daemon then they will obviously die, and then hopefully that problem will weed itself out. You act like we don’t have people who turn off their sound and run straight into daemons now lol
There’s no evidence that the traitor in the story is not already a spy to begin with. Also, any instance of a reject being captive in any sense of the word is grounds for summary execution, assassinating them would just make them another scab honestly, they aren’t like special forces or anything they would hand them a shotgun and some flak and say go get em. If they believed in the emperor they would die fighting like everyone else. The other rejects aren’t like us, we are framed as the only functional members of the crew, the 5-10% that didn’t die on first contact.
Agree. I like the world building that helps the on-going story, I wish they did more to make it feel affected by our Prescence.
At the very least continue to add mission briefings to further the plot for repeat missions.
I still stand by my suggestion that based on the mission director (morrow,zola,grendyl, rannick etc.) it would create a map change or unique modifier for that mission.
For example Zola needs you to link into different terminals (optional side obj) or morrow wants you to kill X amount of Patrols. Or maybe Hadron wants you to carry a power cell to the ship instead of using it on a recharge station. I could go on… you get the point!
I’m interested in your sources for all this. Are there details I may have missed?
As far as I know, we’re never really given any indication about the size of the Inquisitor’s Warband.
There are multiple stories where combatants from the WH40K universe are captured, specifically a few stories by Dan Abnett himself. I was using those as inspiration about this post.
I’ve been saying this for awhile. I enjoyed Against the Grain and Fort Brack because it showed that the VT gang was actively part of something larger, rather than just 5 people walking around murder hoboing. Have us save a Moebian 21st detachment, even if not directly. Just stuff that makes us feel more like we’re in a warzone.
If Hadron sees you show up on the ship with an orange plasma pistol (typically depicted as Dark Mechanicus/chaos plasma) she would physically rip your head off herself.
That’s kind of the thing, you aren’t warband until 30. And that final traitor cutscene, your induction as an acolyte in the warband, you will notice that none of the others that were with you in the first cutscene (you are warriors) are there. My inference for that was always that they were dead, they even say as much in the cutscenes involving the traitor, several teams ambushed, all dead. But we’ve been ambushed several dozen times, still alive. Data-wise, I don’t have much for you, it’s basically just those inferences from cutscenes and the number of times in briefings/Morningstar comms where they keep reporting on losses of teams. As far as captured go, sure you could argue that some teams weren’t completely killed like ours is portrayed when we all die in a mission, but that would infer that they were either spared(unlikely because unless they were already traitors they wouldn’t have an opportunity to be spared, fighting to the death) or they were non-lethally knocked unconscious, which seems equally unlikely with the encounters we have in missions. Not impossible, but in our particular circumstances as Acolytes, not sure we are worth capturing, double so for the rejects that didn’t make the cut. Our position from the start is disposable fodder, in this story we are just the ones good enough to survive.
The thing is, since Patch 13, if you walk up to Hadron, it shows that weapons that we used are scavenged from the battlefield… therefore their machine spirit would already be tainted by the influence of Grandpapa Nurgle
I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment. The only thing I would add is that the game/story expects you to group up with any other 3 random individuals from the Warband. It’s hard to tell how many people are part of the Inquistor’s cadre.
I understand this is also a special operation on Atoma Prime and the Inquisitor isn’t likely to keep all these people in his employ. We’re expendable.
I still maintain that a rescue mission of other Rejects could work. But it could just be a rescue of trapped civilians/workers/nobility. A prison break mission sounds really cool to me. Maybe I’m missing your point, but I think it could fit into the Darktide story since it’s so common place in the 40k universe.
Anyways, thank you for these interesting insights, this is a fun conversation
I always assumed our team was composed of filler squad story-wise. Like we got assigned to a team and we have been with that team the whole time and that the rest were already Acolytes or they got promoted at an earlier time. Mostly from the first cutscene after reaching level 2(?) i think, shows the traitor leaving with a squad that’s fully decked out and she is in prison fatigues still just like you. https://youtu.be/HY--7EyvUJs?si=ou7L7DppL-tLr4rm
