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

[Jeskis]

It’s also very atmospheric

that's the weakest part to me. look around: plague bearers with axes, wasp men with laser rifles, huge robots, giant scorpions (which are supposed to belong to a very specific area of a very specific planet), floating energy balls... it makes no sense.

Yeah, I mean, those are filler mobs and aren’t supposed to be a part of the atmosphere, but I’m getting where you are coming from. I think that the factions’ quests is where the game atmosphere shines the most, even though they resolve in a pretty similar outcomes. For me the majority of the atmosphere comes from developing my cities and forming the early game armies, I usually end up fielding two squads which differ a lot and they are tasked with advancing through different chunks of a map. I even enjoyed roleplaying some bits when I struggled to survive as Tau.

 

[Lacrymas]

The heroes aren't unique, named characters in a story, they are more powerful units/commanders/specialists. You can have more copies of each one just like you can have 2 specialists irl.

 

[Louis_Cypher]

I find it very entertaining. I didn’t have this much fun since god knows how long. But there’s something indeed that this game is lacking and I can’t quite say what that is.

I know what you mean; you can tell from screenshots that the 40K setting isn't quite "there" in terms of in-universe perspective, i.e. having all the factions on a single planet, for example, rather than making each map unique worlds in the galaxy - but I went into the game expecting far worse, so was pleasantly suprised. What I heard here on RPGCodex, was that it has slowly become the most comprehensive WH40K game of all time in terms of factions/units, had detailed map customisation options, and it was suprisingly more like a "Hex wargame" than the "Civ knockoff" that it looks like - like having terrain bonus to cover, etc. Going in, expecting just an indie game with dedication to content, I enjoyed it.

 

[Jeskis]

Are all quests result in victory or defeat outcome? I’ve just played Imperium Guard campaign and apparently have done the whole quest chain which led me to the final one where I must defeat a neutral army spawned nearby in 20 turns. Upon defeating it I won the game, if I chose not to kill the key unit it was considered a defeat.

Super lame. I was anticipating the final showdown with the CM and this just spoiled everything.

 

[Lacrymas]

Not all, only those with a time requirement. The AM's quest is one of the worse ones in this regard. You couldn't have had a final showdown with the chaos marines because they weren't in the game yet.

 

[flyingjohn]

Quests are just badly done in my view. They should have just been replaced by events.Especially the annoying "a small amount of enemies spawn every turn and you have no timer or idea when will it end".

 

[Lacrymas]

Quests are basically for solo play (i.e. with no opponents on the map), lore and achievements. Quests are the easiest way to get the achievements that require impossible difficulty.

 

[Jeskis]

You couldn't have had a final showdown with the chaos marines because they weren't in the game yet.

I meant the AI opponents that I was anticipating to confront.

Speaking of the AI, I can’t find a difficulty setting to my like. I tried two AI (hard) and they stomped me, then I switched to two AI (medium) and they were absolutely passive. I mean “hard” is just a small bonus to loyalty and some other stuff, so I guess it’s not the decisive factor here.

Oh I’ve just realized there are mods for this game, any good ones you can recommend?

 

[Jeskis]

Quests are just badly done in my view. They should have just been replaced by events.Especially the annoying "a small amount of enemies spawn every turn and you have no timer or idea when will it end".

I like the initial part where you have to build some buildings, produce some units, visit some points on map. Spawning armies is kinda not my cuppa. Also nothing suggested finishing a quest will result in a victory.

 

[Lacrymas]

Oh I’ve just realized there are mods for this game, any good ones you can recommend?

Too Many Voices, Full Citadel Color Set for non-gameplay-altering mods and are must haves imo. As for gameplay ones, people usually like to install balance mods to fix some leftover stuff for PvP, but you don't need that if you are only playing single player.

 

[Jeskis]

I think that a mod that would make a destroyed vehicles not to disappear from the battlefield rendering it an obstacle would be interesting to test. Also I don’t understand the LoS mechanic in this game, is there any comprehensive explanation?

 

[Lacrymas]

is there any comprehensive explanation?

Tiles also have a height value ranging from 1 to 4. When mousing over a tile, the third number that is displayed is the tile's height. Any unit can travel from one tile to another that is 1 level below or above it, but when two tiles are next to each other with a height difference of 2 or more, then that creates an impassible cliff that can only be traversed by Flyer units. Height differences can also break line of sight.

 

[Jeskis]

Wow, thanks. I didn’t even know there are different elevations in the game. They should have made this more visually readable, but I guess that would have made the map look more gamey and cluttered.

Is there any such thing for the damage types, accuracy and stuff? I find it a bit confusing either.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

i've been trying, i truly have, but this is a snorefest. resources are just too strict to have any fun, you build 5 units and you're done. even my beloved tyranids are a bore.

 

[Lacrymas]

If you are running out of resources after 5 units, you need to git gud.

 

[flyingjohn]

resources are just too strict to have any fun

Only food is a potential problem because of rng and plenty of tiles with minus food.Had a Tau game surrounded by minus food tiles and two enemy factions nearby. The start was a brutal experience.
Every other resource can be accumulated in the hundreds easily because of multipliers and racial abilities.And artifacts break any economy balance quickly.

you build 5 units and you're done. even my beloved tyranids are a bore.

Finished a coop game with a friend(who is really mediocre at the game) playing as nids.He had over 10 units before we even met the other factions.Just spamming cities and units like a madman.He ended the game with 35 units.

Gladius may encourage a more careful playstyle because of how everything seems limiting, but specific factions require aggressive play either by expansion(nids) or constant combat(orks).

 

[Jeskis]

I won a game with Nids against two hard AIs, it was fun. There was a moment when the opponents have accumulated enough armies and I found myself extremely outnumbered. This time I lured them into my territory and with thought out defense and rotating units it was fairly easy to grind their armies. After that they didn’t have time to recover and they met their end engulfed in the swarm.

 

[Fedora Master]

It’s also very atmospheric

that's the weakest part to me. look around: plague bearers with axes, wasp men with laser rifles, huge robots, giant scorpions (which are supposed to belong to a very specific area of a very specific planet), floating energy balls... it makes no sense.

The planet is fucked to hell, considering it's infested with every horror the setting can throw at you. Enslavers alone would be a good reason for Exterminatus. It's honestly kinda funny how awful it is.

 

[Latelistener]

Never played hex wargames much before. Gladius and FGII look interesting, but are they a good starting point?

I played both a bit, they are nice games, but I cannot imagine giving $40 for both. I got base games cheap, but DLCs are even more expensive.

 

[Lacrymas]

Never played hex wargames much before. Gladius and FGII look interesting, but are they a good starting point?

You have a few choices when talking about a starting point. And Gladius isn't a wargame, it's a 4X with a heavy focus on combat. FG2 isn't a bad starting point because it's a modern game with all the QoL features you can expect from such a thing. The base game campaign is very long and good on its own without thinking about the DLCs. Another good starting point would be Fantasy Wars, it's currently 99 cents on GOG. It's modern enough as well. If you would like to try another 4X with a heavy focus on combat like Gladius, you can try SpellForce: Conquest of Eo. As for the price of Gladius and its DLCs, wait for a sale (there's probably one going on somewhere right now) and check gg.deals for the best deals. It's not worth it at full price unless you've been playing Gladius from the beginning, are a big fan and have gradually accumulated the DLCs.

 

[Latelistener]

I'm waiting for a better discount for Conquest of Eo, but it does look nice. I also have Fantasy Wars. What about Panzer Corps 2 though?

Spoiler

As for Gladius, I have found out that there is a stupidly easy way to unlock DLCs. Mods probably won't like it, so I won't discuss it here, but you can PM me.

 

[Jeskis]

FG2 looks so boringly generic. What’s its selling point?

 

[Lacrymas]

FG2 looks so boringly generic. What’s its selling point?

Generic compared to what? It's not like we get this type of wargame on a regular basis. As for what makes it good, it's just a very competently done wargame. There are tons of units to use, diverse scenarios in the campaign, surprisingly involved C&C and exploration, it's challenging on the hardest difficulty and there's an ironman mode. It also has 3 DLCs with even better campaigns and more factions. It's definitely one of my favourite contemporary games.

 

[Jeskis]

Generic compared to what?

I mean visually. Generic, cheap fantasy stuff.
Btw I‘ve completed all the factions in Gladius except Delves and Sistahz and I’m bored now. Anything to spice things up?

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

FG2 and Gladius are both hugely inspired by nuciv instead of what you seem to be looking for and NO, they are absolutely not a good starting point. PC2 is a much better bet, but honestly, as far as casual pg-like wargames go, it's very mid. And that's probably me being Christmas spirit nice.

I definitely recommend starting with classics from the nineties. If you don't want to do that for some reason, then I'd go for PC1. Full package must be very cheap now. It's a good effort, runs clean and crisp and some of the dlc content is actually very solid. Most importantly, it's an actual follow up to the source material and offers some genuine improvements over it. There are some things that are ymmv or worse as well, but nothing damning.

There are other options and some seem to be strongly approved by other codexers, but imo all of these titles have some serious flaws to them and tend to be a bit of a slog. People seem to forget that one of the biggest pulls of the original formula was how smoothly it flowed.