Age of Gladiators II
Release Date - Revised
Cloning Dead Gladiators
But now he's dead.
I pushed my luck once too often by putting him the arena while he was sick. It was a bloodbath.
What to do?
The Cloning Tanks
Every gladiator can be cloned once in their career if a player has built a cloning lab. Luckily this was one of the first additions I added to my base, so the downtime should be limited.
But to clone a dead gladiator, one needs enough DNA stored for their particular species. DNA is primarily gathered through processing dead gladiators in your morgue, with the catch being that once you process a body for DNA, that gladiator is lost to you forever. So it's a judgement call: only process the bodies of gladiators you don't have plans of cloning down the line.
As I mentioned, the season so far has been tough. Many gladiators under my employ have died. And thus many have been processed. Checking the available DNA I have to work with, it turns out I do indeed possess enough material to clone a Skeel gladiator:
So it is time to resurrect our friend Seezteep.
Processing dead gladiators also yields a chance of extracting a special strand of DNA, which contributes toward a particular physical attribute bonus. In the case of Seezteep, I add a coordination strand of special DNA I have been saving, which will provide him 20 additional points of coordination when cloned.
Into the tank he goes.
I am told it will take the standard 15 days to clone him. With cloning tank upgrades and bonuses, this wait can be lowered - but for now, I have no choice but to tough it out with him off the roster.
A Brand New Gladiator!
Emerging from the cloning tanks, Seezteep is groggy and confused - but he is added back to the barracks, alive and once more available for combat.
As mentioned previously though, a gladiator can only be cloned once; so do not spend the lives of your fighters cheaply.
I welcome Seezteep back to the barracks by giving him a new rifle and a pat on the back. Here's hoping his newly added combat abilities can turn the season around!
The Draft
Incoming Transmission
The best fighters originate from The Academy. This is where prospective gladiators are brought in at an early age (twelve standard Earth years) for training. Their development during this time is extremely variable, but the very top academy-trained fighters will likely be superior in skill to gladiators you have signed “off the street”.
When academy gladiators reach the age of sixteen years old, they are eligible for the draft. The draft occurs once a season with the order being determined by the owners standings in the league. The poorest performing owner will receive the top draft pick, the second poorest performing owner will receive the second draft pick, and so on. This is to help with parity in the league.
An academy trained gladiator is only allowed to remain in the league until they are nineteen years old. Afterward, all undrafted academy-trained gladiators are released for regular civilian life.
All drafted gladiators are sent to the Rookie League, where they compete non-lethally. A gladiator in the Rookie League can be promoted anytime to the owner’s Blood League squad – but we recommend allowing them to develop a few years in the Rookie League first. Unless an academy-trained gladiator is absolutely elite, they may face a tough and deadly time in the Blood League if rushed too soon.
Note that rookie may only stay in the Blood League until they are twenty-one; after which they must be promoted. If an owner does not have room on their roster, the rookie will instead be sent to waivers, where any other boss has the opportunity to sign them. So keep space on your roster for graduating rookies!
And, yes, you may notice we are using the same age for different species. Through some fancy arithmetic, scientists have managed to employ a standard earth year age for each species that conforms to their development cycle. Don’t ask me how.
Larnrron
Blood League Chief Of Operations
Draft Day
In my current game, I finished high in the standings during the 3008AD season. So my draft standing was very low: 51st out of 60 league owners.
So that meant 50 owners would be selecting newly-minted Academy-trained fighters before my turn came up. But that's the price I had to pay for enjoying success the previous season (I came close to winning the Blood League championship, having fallen in the semi-finals.)
Sifting through the leftovers, there were a ton of gladiators being graded by the Central Scouting Bureau in the B- overall range; pretty mediocre overall. But seeing as these fighters were young and developing still, who knows what can happen? I begin scanning the list of remaining fighters until I find a Kathaarn gladiator named Loonporl. He is well-graded in strength, stamina and vitality, which means I could perhaps develop a good melee fighter with a decent number of hit and action points.
So I go ahead and click the Draft button. A good draft selection can make or break an organization.
When I select him, he is removed from the Academy and is moves in transit to join my Rookie League roster. I see several days later that he is currently ranked #198 in that league out of thousands of hopeful fighters, so perhaps this bodes well - but it will be several years before I know for sure if my gamble has paid off.
The Future
Looking back at the draft class of 3000, it is dire.
Only one fighter from the top 15 draft pick is still active, with the others having either been killed or retired. A Human star named Gemellus was selected 8th overall and is currently ranked #7 in the entire Blood League.
Everyone except the 1st overall selection (who had a sterling 149-0 Rookie League record and an equally unblemished 8-0 Blood League record before tragically dying) turned out to be busts. Even the 2nd overall selection was incredible in the Rookie League (140-1) but couldn't quite hack it at the next level - though it is possible he had poor teammates which resulted in some losses during larger matches.
The entire 3001 draft class is dead or retired.
3002 has a few gladiators remaining, with the 1st overall gladiator named Barknij ranked #4 in the Blood League. And then the 4th overall selection, Bleeseez, having hung on to a roster spot for 7 seasons despite having a pretty poor 6-12 Blood League record. He is currently ranked #177th in the Blood League, though I would give his agent higher kudos for keeping his client employed for so long.
Summary
Academy-trained fighters typically have a better chance of success than an "off the street" recruit that you sign - but not always. You can be sure I have seen my fair share of busts and burn-outs in 9 seasons. It's just a matter of handicapping the physical attributes of the gladiators on your draft board as well as a bit of luck.
Base Building
You start off inheriting an asteroid base with only an office and living area for yourself.
Looks cozy, right? But as you gain success, you will want to build your base up. You decide which areas of the asteroid to excavate and place modules.
Each section of the asteroid takes a certain number of days to excavate and each module takes a number of days to build. So choose carefully the order of what you build!
Modules
Here is a list of the different modules available for your base:
- Barracks – increases the capacity of your gladiators
- Armory – increases the capacity and maintenance of equipment
- Staff Quarters – increase the capacity of hired staff members
- Basic Training – allows the assignment of gladiators to individual trainers
- Weapons Range – allows the assignment of gladiators for accelerated ranged training
- Sparring Center – allows the assignment of gladiators for accelerated melee training
- Medical Center – allows the assignment of gladiators to doctors for specialized treatment
- Cloning Lab – allows the collection of DNA and cloning of dead gladiators
- Cybernetics Lab – allows the application of cybernetics to permanently wounded gladiators
- Workshop – allows the upgrading of weapons and armor
- Mission Center – allows the assigning of gladiators to covert missions
- Kitchen – increases the morale of all gladiators in your base
- Entertainment – increases the morale of all gladiators in your base
- Combat Research – opens up the research for combat discipline techs
- Weapon Research – opens up the research for weapon discipline techs
- Armor Research – opens up the research for armor discipline techs
- Medical Research – opens up the research for medical discipline techs
- Scouting Research – opens up the research for scouting discipline techs
- Security Hub – increases security of base to prevent runaways
- Surveillance Center – increases security of base to prevent runaways
Upgrades
Most modules can also be upgraded a maximum of 5 times in order to increase their bonuses or capacity allowances.
Interactive Abilities
While some modules provide only a passive bonus to your operation, most offer different levels of interaction such as:
- Medical Center
- Cloning Lab
- Cybernetics Lab
- Workshop
- Basic Training
- Sparring Center
- Weapons Range
- Mission Center
- Research Labs (Combat, Weapons, Armor, Medical, Scouting)
From cloning your favorite, dead gladiator to sending a covert team on a mission to steal training data from an off-world facility, these modules allow you flexibility in running your operation.
Summary
A functional base is critical to your success both inside and outside the arena. But ask your gladiators, and they will tell you that none of the modules are more important than a fully-stocked kitchen!
Species: Combat/Non-Combat Bonuses, Unique Abilities
Incoming Transmission
I am the Chief Medical Officer for the Blood League. An oxymoron, I know. Alien biology is fascinating. Less than 0.009% of the Milky Way has been explored, yet we have already discovered hundreds of thousands of intelligent species. Some with tentacles, some entirely gelatinous, some consisting of gas, some I cannot even explain.
But for sake of league parity, we are only allowing species of a bi-pedal nature(two arms, two legs, one head) to be allowed for competition in the Blood League. Competing species must possess a brain and central nervous system, use two legs for locomotion, and rely on muscle-matter for manipulating their environment.
Think if we allowed one species that felt no pain or took no damage to face another that did. It would be an unfair disaster.
Hlq'nik'knik
Blood League Chief Medical Officer
Species
There are 8 species in Age of Gladiators II, each with their own attribute bonus, as well as unique combat and non-combat abilities.
The species are as follows:
- Skeel – Hyper-active and inquisitive, sharing the same planet and common ancestor as the Vorccine
- Karthaarn – Coagulating blood and hardened exoskeletons, extremely adaptable
- Boorhaal – Hot-tempered and socially crude, extremely tough and durable
- Vorccine – Predatory and vicious, sharing the same planet and common ancestor as the Skeel
- Humans – Curious and robust, hailing from the Sol system
- Xissc – Reptilian species, possessing regenerative organs
- T’Shikt – Hive-minded, logical, insect species, fun at parties
- Hresh – Highly martial, warlike and unrelenting
Species - Bonuses
Each species has an attribute bonus suitable to their physical or mental make-up.
The bonuses are as follows:
- Skeel: +20 Speed
- Karthaarn: +20 Vitality
- Boorhaal: +20 Strength
- Human: +20 Intelligence
- Xissc: +20 Aggression
- Vorccine: +20 Agility
- T’Shikt: +20 Reflexes
- Hresh: +20 Stamina
These bonuses will help inform which kind of build you want to create with your various gladiators.
Species - Combat Abilities
Each species each have their own special ability that can be used during combat. The cooldown time in between uses is determined by the gladiator's Species Cooldown combat stat.
The combat abilities are as follows:
- Skeel
Hyper Attack: 6 Extra Action Points (1 Turn)
- Karthaarn
Fast Coagulation: Heals 300 Damage (1 Turn)
- Boohaal
Brutal Attack: 10% Bonus To Critical Damage (1 Turn)
- Human
Robust Nature: 3 Extra Action Points, 10% Bonus To Hit Chance (1 Turn)
- Xissc
Cold Blooded: 20% Bonus to Critical Chance (1 Turn)
- Vorccine
Barbaric Rage: 10% Bonus to Regular Damage (1 Turn)
- T'Shikt
Hardened Exoskeleton: 50% Incoming Damage Reduction (1 Turn)
- Hresh
Hyper Attack: 20% Bonus to Hit Chance (1 Turn)
These unique abilities add extra dimension to battle, so be sure to plan out your build around these.
Species - Non-Combat Abilities
As well, each species also possess their own out of combat passive abilities as well.
These abilities are as follows:
- Skeel
Tinkerer: Equipped weapons decay much slower.
- Karthaarn
Armorer: Equipped armor decays much slower.
- Boohaal
Hardy Constitution: Does not suffer from sickness.
- Human
Versatile: Gains training XP in both melee and ranged weapons.
- Xissc
Regenerative Tissue: No critical or permanent injuries.
- Vorccine
Fanatical: Does not suffer from fatigue.
- T'Shikt
Hive Mentality: No morale loss.
- Hresh
Martial Culture: Selected weapons training XP bonus.
Summary
In creating and designing the species in Age Of Gladiators II, I wanted to make sure each was unique in both their combat and non-combat abilities, as well as their attributes.
You will have the ability to make any gladiator you like, but there may be times when you want to play to the strengths of the species you are controlling!
Armor Classes & Upgrading
- Light
- Medium
- Heavy.
The accelerating tiers of armor provide increasing mitigation values, but at the cost of taking up additional inventory slots on your gladiator.
Light Armor takes 1 slot, Medium Armor takes up 2 slots, and Heavy Armor takes up 3 slots.
Mitigation & Bonuses
All armor classes have two types of mitigation values:
- Kinetic
- Energy.
Energy resistances mitigate against ranged laser attacks while kinetic resistances defend against melee hits. Some armors will be balanced evenly between the two mitigation values, while others will balance heavier in one direction or another.
Due to the sophisticated and powerful exoskeleton technology of the armor, they also provide the user with a bonuses to movement and speed (action points). The armor technologies also feature vitality and organ-boosting technology, providing a boost to the armor-wearers overall health during combat (hit points).
Upgrades
Armor mitigations can also be upgraded by armor technicians. How much they boost their armor depends on their upgrading stats for each particular class of armor.
Armor technicians also require a workshop in your base from which to upgrade armor sets – so be sure to build one (I will be talking more about base building in the next few days) if you want to maximize the efficacy of the armor sets you have purchased from the bazaar.
And of course, the occasional legendary armor set can be earned from missions that you send your gladiators on.
Armor shredders are special items that gladiators can arm themselves with to reduce the mitigation of opponent armor, so consider that as well.
Summary
So it’s no longer just a question of which armor provides the best mitigation: it will also be important to choose your armor based on the bonuses they provide as well.
Where mitigations also become important is in matching your gladiators equipment based on the individual or team they will be facing – if a gladiator is going to be fighting a ranged specialized opponent, by all means deploy him in that 40% energy resistance, 11% kinetic resistance armor sitting in your inventory. It's pretty much be worthless against melee attacks, but it will be practically impervious to ranged ones.
So strategy becomes much more important in selecting armor now more than ever before!
Leveling, Attributes, Expertise, and Weapons Training!
The feedback I received from the first game was that people wanted more variety in their gladiators. So with that in mind, I created the leveling system in Age Of Gladiators II to be far more robust, allowing players to deploy and try a variety different combat builds out in the arena!
Attributes and Combat Stats
With Age Of Gladiators II, there are now 12 physical attributes in total that contribute partially to an equal number of different combat stats.
Each physical attribute contributes 75% into one combat stat and 25% into another. This equates into more planning and strategy when shaping the physical attributes of your gladiator.
Here’s a breakdown of how attributes work:
- Strength: Determines Melee Hit Damage (75%) and Block Chance (25%)
- Stamina: Determines Counter-Attack Change (75%) and Hit Points (25%)
- Aim: Determines Ranged Hit Chance (75%) and Ranged Damage (25%)
- Vision: Determines Ranged Damage (75%) and Special Item Cooldown (25%)
- Perception: Determines Critical Chance (75%) and Ranged Hit Chance (25%)
- Reflexes: Determines Block Chance (75%) and Melee Hit Chance (25%)
- Agility: Determines Dodge Chance (75%) and Counter-Attack Chance (25%)
- Speed: Determines Action Points (75%) and Dodge Chance (25%)
- Intelligence: Determines Special Item Cooldown (75%) and Critical Chance (25%)
- Coordination: Determines Melee Hit Chance (75%) and Melee Hit Damage (25%)
- Aggression: Determines Species Ability Cooldown (75%) and Action Points (25%)
- Vitality: Determines Hit Points (75%) and Species Ability Cooldown (25%)
Or in reverse, here are the combat stats and the attributes used to feed them:
- Action Points: Determined by Speed (75%) and Aggression (25%)
- Hit Points: Determined by Vitality (75%) and Stamina (25%)
- Block Chance: Determined by Reflexes (75%) and Strength (25%)
- Dodge Chance: Determined by Agility (75%) and Speed (25%)
- Counter-Attack Chance: Determined by Stamina (75%) and Agility (25%)
- Special Item Cooldown: Determined by Intelligence (75%) and Vision (25%)
- Species Ability Cooldown: Determined by Aggression (75%) and Vitality (25%)
- Ranged Hit Chance: Determined by Aim (75%) and Perception (25%)
- Ranged Hit Damage: Determined by Vision (75%) and Aim (25%)
- Melee Hit Chance: Determined by Coordination (75%) and Reflexes (25%)
- Melee Hit Damage: Determined by Strength (75%) and Coordination (25%)
- Critical Hit Chance: Determined by Perception (75%) and Intelligence (25%)
As well, Initiative, which contributes to the roll of which gladiator or team of gladiators gets first move in the arena is determined as follows:
Initiative: Speed (25%), Aggression (25%), Intelligence (25%), Perception (25%)
So as you can see, there are now a wide array of combat possibilities based on a gladiator's physical make-up.
Expertise
Each time a gladiator levels up, they are further shaped by their expertise. With Age of Gladiators II, Expertise is split into Offensive and Defensive categories. This will allow you to further customize your gladiator into a damage or tank build (or both).
As well, Expertise will allow you to create other types of more specific builds as well. For example, if the attributes of your gladiator favor a fighting style of dodging and counter-attacking, you can further take advantage of these skills in combat by putting Expertise points into Inspired Agility and Lethal Counterstrike – which will mean that each time a gladiator dodges or counter-attacks, they will also rejuvenate hit points.
It is no longer just a mighty and strong gladiator that is viable in the arena. Imagine rolling out physically weaker but speedy gladiator that dodges most attacks and then counter-attacks right after, while also healing damage each time as well.
Weapons Training
Another dimension to leveling now is the specific weapons training.
Weapons training is split into two categories: Ranged and Melee. A gladiator can only train each turn in one of the two categories. Their weapons discipline is initially determined by their physical attributes – but you can change this at any time.
Once a gladiator earns either a Ranged or Melee level, they can assign a point into a specific weapon choice belonging to whichever discipline they are currently training in:
Ranged
- Pistol
- Carbine
- Rifle
Melee
- Vibroblade
- Sword
- Axe
Training points add a damage bonus to the weapon of your choice. This allows for further customization of your gladiators to use weapons that make most sense for their build.
A gladiator can use any weapon you desire, but the advanced training specializations allow you to build a gladiator that is extremely lethal with specific types of weapons.
Summary
The leveling system in Age of Gladiators II has been created so that you can create and roll out a multitude of different combat builds, using weapons of your choice. I wanted to avoid a strict class system, instead making it possible to mix-and-match various attributes, expertise selections, and weapons specialties in order for you to forge forward with the gladiators of your choosing.
If you want a speedy and agile pistoleer equipped with light armor and specialized gear, you can make that build. Or if you want a slow-moving, heavily armored tank wielding an deadly axe, you can do so as well!