Warhammer Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War - turn-based 4X from Slitherine

[Hobo Elf]

Had a long work day yesterday so I didn't have much energy to play, but from my brief time playing they did seem interesting. The only unit I got to try out were the basic Guardians. Still trying to figure out how to play them as their start is slow if you try to play the normal way. It seems like they benefit the most from rapid expansion by rushing to establish new towns for resource growth rather than making more resource buildings as they are slow at building and even slower at growing more pop.

The Guardians themeslves were interesting. They hit like trucks, but they can only shoot at adjecent enemies and moving into an enemy unit who can overwatch them hurts a lot. OTOH they can move after attacking and they have a base 4 movement making them really agile. Eldar also start out with a vision on every warpway on the map, giving them vision across the entire map right from the get go. You can use 10 influence to claim the webway and then teleport your troops between them. With an additional cost of influence and ore you can turn the webway into a new city.

Eldar also have 4 hero units instead of 3, though one of them doesn't seem to have any special abilities you can pick from level ups. From the unit description he gives Eldar units a passive bonus, however, and can buy and use items from the shop.

The new Eldar theme was also quite a nice addition to the soundtrack. I.. honestly can't remember if the previous DLC factions had a new theme or not. If they did, it wasn't very memorable.

 

[desocupado]

How is the game nowadays? I have a not removed from inventory copy, and it's pretty fun, but I'm finding the game kinda impossible to win on "impossible" difficulty, while being kinda easy on the difficulty before that. Or maybe it's because the race balance isn't very good.

I think my copy is version 1.6. Did they improve the game after that? I'm considering buying it.

 

[chuft]

I think it's great. I also think map size and wildlife settings can favor certain factions. Huge maps for example seem much harder for Space Marines since they only get one city.

The diceless combat works very well.

 

[chuft]

By the way it's currently on sale on Slitherine site 60% off. Ends tomorrow.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

impossible to win on "impossible"

[surprised kirk]

 

[Galdred]

Has someone found a build/research order that works with Eldars? They are incredibly brittle, and have little long range firepower.
There is a lot of the aspect guardian lineup missing (Warp spiders, Dire Avengers, Swooping hawks, striking scorpions, Dark Reapers), which may make these issues worse.

 

[TemplarGR]

Now that i have played all 8 factions extensively, i can say that Gladius is probably the best combat-focused 4X game on the market right now. Sure, it may seem one-dimensional in that it lacks diplomacy and trading and shit (not that when those exist in other games like Civ VI they matter much but still...) but the combat is literally awesome and far deeper than it appears at first glance. Playing Gladius is essentially like playing a turn based hybrid of Warcraft III + Civlization VI in the Warhammer 40K setting. What an underrated game. Truth be told though, it can be very expensive to get the full experience, seeing as half the game and more is locked behind DLCs. Definitely recommended though. I sure hope they keep releasing DLCs for this, so many units left to add to existing factions and they could always add Sisters of Battle/Inquisition, Adeptus Mechanicus, Dark Eldar, hell, even Chaos demons, lol.

The sad things about this game though is that the playerbase is tiny so the wiki is underdeveloped and there are no decent guides available, plus being also a 4X means that multiplayer is about the same people playing with each other again and again on discord, lol. The AI though is definitely competent, not great, but way better than CIV VI AI for example. The game could use some optimizations i think too, it doesn't look nearly as impressive as its requirements suggest.

In my opinion, every fan of the Warhammer 40K setting should own and play this.

 

[Raghar]

Gladius didn't capture tabletop feeling at all. Its deterministic damage, or bloated HP, that actually feels less like game that needs combined arms tactic, and more like leve en masses.

 

[TemplarGR]

Gladius didn't capture tabletop feeling at all. Its deterministic damage, or bloated HP, that actually feels less like game that needs combined arms tactic, and more like leve en masses.

Depends on the stage of the game. Also on the opponent. You can beat the AI rather easily especially at lower difficulties (when they don't get any bonuses) by just spamming units but a human opponent is going to handle your ass on a platter if you play that way. There are plenty of tactics to use and units definitely enhance each other. It is only in the very late game that super-heavy units make combined arms tactics mostly obsolete and you just spam the super heavies to win. That game lacks a mechanic to counter this, i hope they add something in the future to give bonus damage when you surround a unit, thus making spamming only a few super heavies being counterable by masses of infantry/smaller tanks.

 

[baud]

you just spam the super heavies to win. That game lacks a mechanic to counter this

sounds accurate to the tabletop to me

 

[TemplarGR]

Game has a great sale these days. You can get the complete version for 46 euros. If you want to play what is in my opinion the best combat-focused 4X on the market, here is your chance, cause in general the DLC are expensive for this, 46 for everything is a good price, and the price includes the latest unit pack that was just released. If you like Warhammer 40K it is a no brainer. Let's play some multiplayer some time

 

[Hobo Elf]

Bought the new unit pack that was released yesterday. Hopefully I'll have some time today to go and test them out. Some pretty cool units in that pack, like Warlocks and the Kill Bursta.

 

[TemplarGR]

Bought the new unit pack that was released yesterday. Hopefully I'll have some time today to go and test them out. Some pretty cool units in that pack, like Warlocks and the Kill Bursta.

Got it as well. Haven't tried it yet. I was somewhat dissappointed that it wasn't super-heavies themed though. Still, more units are good.

 

[chuft]

Proxy has announced their next game, Zephon. It doesn't sound like there will be any more Gladius content.

 

[Galdred]

Proxy has announced their next game, Zephon. It doesn't sound like there will be any more Gladius content.

I am not so sure. Some Slitherine forum dwellers seemed to say one more was on the way.
It is quite possible they have a limited team still working on Gladius, while the rest moved to Zephon, especially if the new DLC adds no new mechanics.
Actually, it is almost certain they started working on Zephon while making the last few Gladius DLC at the same time.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Yeah they've been working on Zephon for a while now. I asked them some 6 months ago if they were working on a new game and got a confirmation but that it was too early for them say anything yet at that point.

 

[TemplarGR]

Proxy has announced their next game, Zephon. It doesn't sound like there will be any more Gladius content.

Actually, in the latest announcement they said that more content is coming for the game. And there is no reason not to. It is not like it takes a huge amount of effort to create unit packs or a new faction. If it sells, why not? I plan to get any new dlc they put out.

 

[chuft]

What latest announcement? In the Proxy discord last night all I heard was they were not working on anything Gladius related.

 

[TemplarGR]

What latest announcement? In the Proxy discord last night all I heard was they were not working on anything Gladius related.

The 1.8.0 update announcement? DUH!

 

[chuft]

So in your own private aspy language, you meant to say "the small update/patch notes on the Steam store page." Ok.

It says they have plans for more content. Fair enough.

 

[TemplarGR]

So in your own private aspy language, you meant to say "the small update/patch notes on the Steam store page." Ok.

It says they have plans for more content. Fair enough.

It is not a "small update patch notes". It is a major update version and they introduced it by saying they have more content to come. I mean, where else did you want them to post it?

 

[chuft]

On the desktop interface it is literally titled "Small Update/Patch Notes" in the Community area you get to from the Store. On the mobile interface for some reason it is titled an Event instead.

You could easily have been talking about the Slitherine forum, the Proxy site, the GOG site or forum, and who knows where else, like the Proxy official Discord. Just link to it next time.

 

[Galdred]

It is possible they asked another studio to make content for the game, then.

 

[Lacrymas]

I've been playing this recently and it's not bad. Question mark. At least up until now it's the best 4X Warhammer game. It's not as good as mainstays like Age of Wonders 3, but it's better than its bastard spawn Planetfall. A lack of a true campaign is disappointing, but it at least gives us stories for each of the factions to go through while playing a normal game. I've only bought the cheapest DLCs at a big discount at this point, but they still kinda feel too expensive for what they are - only a single unit per faction. I don't know, maybe it's just me. I haven't bought any additional factions yet and I'm not interested in the T'au, they are too anime for me. Either way, I'm having fun and I might buy Chaos Marines and the Tyranids if I feel like it somewhere down the line. I also want to try to multiplayer. We'll see.

 

[TemplarGR]

It's not as good as mainstays like Age of Wonders 3

Do not insult Gladius (and our intelligence) like that. Seriously. Age of Wonders 3 is utter garbage, it is not a "mainstray" of anything, is casual trash.