Importance Score: 6 / 100 🟠
Understanding In-Game Currency in Darktide: Ordo Dockets and Ordo Ingots
In the Warhammer 40,000: Darktide universe, navigating the various currencies is crucial for character progression. Notably, Ordo Dockets and Ordo Ingots, though similarly named, serve distinct purposes within the game. Ordo Dockets are accrued through mission completion, alongside essential crafting materials like plasteel and diamantine. These dockets, along with the resources, are vital for enhancing your equipment at the Shrine of the Omnissiah, overseen by Tech-Priest Hadron Omega-7-7. Furthermore, acquiring new basic gear from Peddler 138/143, the servitor stationed at the Armory Exchange, also necessitates the use of Ordo Dockets.
Acquiring and Utilizing Ordo Dockets
As mentioned, Ordo Dockets are primarily obtained by undertaking and finishing missions within Darktide. They function as a fundamental currency for players seeking to upgrade their weaponry and acquire baseline equipment. Remember to visit Tech-Priest Hadron Omega-7-7 at the Shrine of the Omnissiah to leverage these dockets for gear enhancement and the Armory Exchange’s servitor, Peddler 138/143, for new basic items.
Ordo Ingots: For High-Tier and Weekly Rewards
Ordo Ingots, in contrast to Dockets, are exclusively earned by successfully accomplishing weekly challenges. This more exclusive currency is specifically intended for acquiring specialized top-tier equipment from Sire Melk’s Requisitorium. The weekly challenge system provides a consistent avenue for players to obtain Ordo Ingots and access these enhanced items.
Penances, Cosmetics, and Additional Currencies
Beyond Dockets and Ingots, Darktide features other systems affecting player progression and customization. Penances, tracked by Sister Hestia Prine, award penance points upon completion. These points can then be exchanged for cosmetic items at the Shrine Penitentax, allowing for visual customization of characters. Cosmetics are also obtainable from Mara Vinci at the Commissary using Ordo Dockets, or from Commodore Alice Hallowette at the Commodore’s Vestures. Commodore Hallowette, however, requires Aquilas, a premium currency purchased with real money.
Darktide’s Progression System: A Subject of Debate
Further layers of complexity in Darktide include trust levels, which unlock talent points, and weapon masteries, granting blessing points for individual weapon types. While engaging in combat and eliminating heretics with weapons like the Kantrael MGXII Infantry Lasgun remains enjoyable, some players find Fatshark’s approach to progression refinement, post-launch, less appealing. The continuous adjustments to these systems, intended to address initial feedback of the game feeling incomplete, have been met with mixed reactions.
Darktide: The Miniatures Game – A Streamlined Alternative
In stark contrast to the intricate digital progression, Darktide: The Miniatures Game presents a significantly simpler system. Players select equipment and upgrades through card draws. At the outset, two cards are chosen from a shared equipment deck and two from a class-specific upgrade deck, providing a pre-mission loadout. Campaign mode introduces post-mission card draws, proportional to mission performance. These drawn cards enable players to further customize their equipment for subsequent missions, maintaining a limit of two upgrades and two equipment pieces.
Simplicity and Ease of Use
This card-based progression in the miniatures game is designed for ease of use. Its simplicity allows players to easily track their progression, even by simply photographing their cards between sessions. Compared to tabletop games featuring complex veterancy and RPG-style level-up systems, the Darktide miniatures game offers a refreshingly straightforward approach.
Gameplay and Mechanics of Darktide Miniatures
Darktide: The Miniatures Game emphasizes cooperative play and fast-paced action. Enemy heretics operate under streamlined AI rulesets defining their behavior. For example, a Moebian Trooper prioritizes shooting, moving to shoot if necessary, and dashing if required to close range, targeting the closest, exposed, or injured player agents.
Fast-Paced and Streamlined Combat
Gameplay is rapid due to the absence of mechanics like attacks of opportunity or shooting restrictions in close quarters, mirroring the fluid movement of the first-person shooter videogame. Heretics lack parrying abilities, further simulating their aggressive, charging behavior seen in the digital counterpart.
An Iterative Rule System Rooted in Warhammer 40,000
The ruleset underpinning Darktide: The Miniatures Game draws from a refined version of Kill Team, itself an offshoot of Warhammer 40,000. Games Workshop’s extensive history of rule development since 1987 has resulted in a streamlined and efficient system.
Characterful Agents and Miniature Quality
Players embody one of four Inquisition agents, mirroring the videogame classes: psyker, ogryn, veteran, or zealot. While the miniatures are not newly sculpted for Darktide, instead being drawn from existing Games Workshop sets (agents, traitor guards, and poxwalkers), they maintain high quality and detail. These miniatures can also be valuable assets for tabletop RPGs like Wrath & Glory.
Mission Structure and Checkpoints
The miniatures game’s missions are structured into three smaller rounds, creating natural breakpoints for gameplay. This segmented approach allows for convenient session management, suitable for shorter playtimes or pausing and resuming games over multiple sessions.
Contrast in Enemy Scale and Upgrade Complexity
A key difference from the videogame lies in the scale of enemy encounters. Reinforcements in the miniatures game typically arrive as single units, not hordes. While specialist enemies like snipers and flamers are present, iconic enemy types like pox hounds, ragers, bursters, or plague ogryns are absent. The simplified upgrade system further distinguishes it from the videogame’s elaborate weapon customization, talent trees, and relic blessings. This pared-down progression aligns thematically with the disposable nature of the player characters, known as “Rejects,” facilitating flexible player substitution without disrupting game balance.
Pricing and Recommendation
The primary barrier to entry for Darktide: The Miniatures Game is its price point, a common factor among many games in this genre. However, for enthusiasts, the quick gameplay and low-commitment nature of Darktide: The Miniatures Game make it a worthwhile acquisition, particularly compared to more time-intensive premium tabletop games. Its solo mode, a feature yet to be implemented in the videogame, further enhances its appeal.