We are about to publish a new update for Warhammer 40.000: Gladius, called the Community Update. We're adding a few new traits to increase the uniqueness of some units along with a very large balance update. Game performance and GUI scaling have also been improved. This update is bigger than usual, it contains considerable changes to the game balance. These changes have been made possibile thanks to the involvement of our community, and that's why this update is called Community Update. You can find the full changes down below. We want to thank our community for their feedbacks, ideas and suggestions that led to the realization of this update. Last but not least, stay tuned: Gladius has been out for years, but it doesn't mean we're done with it yet. The team is hard at work on new content. We think you will like it... ## New Added Malicious Volleys to Chaos Space Marines: If the unit remains stationary, they fire Rapid Fire weapons with increased attacks at all ranges. To a Heretic Astartes the boltgun is far more than a weapon, it is an instrument of his anger and the bringer of death to his foes.* Added Bolter Discipline to Tactical Space Marines: If the unit remains stationary, they fire Rapid Fire weapons with increased attacks at all ranges. To a Space Marine, the boltgun is more than a weaponit is an instrument of Mankinds divinity, the bringer of death to his foes.* Added Stronghold Shielding research option at tier 5 that grants Fortress of Redemption 50% invulnerable damage reduction. Fortresses of Redemption are an essential part of Space Marines' economy, but do not get any harder to destroy as the game progresses, unlike cities. This addition is aimed at rectifying that. Gladius Prime is already proving far more hostile than the Adeptus Administratum's worst forecasts. With the Fortress' physical defenses under almost constant assault, the Techmarines approve installation of a void shield. Once constructed, this shimmering dome of power is sufficient to warp away the firepower of entire battalions (or even a rogue Imperial Knight) before collapsing.* * Astra Militarum city headquarters can now cycle from Krak Missile Launchers to Frag Missile Launchers. * The GUI can now be scaled from 50% to 300%, in steps of 25%, or even custom values through the Gladius.xml configuration file or by modding SettingsHUD.xml. ## General * Improved performance on Windows by up to 45%. * Improved unicode support. * Improved text box rendering. * Name text input is now limited to 50 characters. * Chat messages are now limited to 500 characters. * Added option to choose graphics device under video settings. * Increased Malanthrope visual size by 20%. * Updated translations. ## Balance (General) * Clear tile abilities can now be used to remove enemy cluster mines. This is the first thing removed. Previously, it was impossible to remove enemy cluster mines except walking on them. Tweaked Graviton trait so that damage buffs and debuffs uniformly scale the final damage independent of target armor. The formula is now: `damage 0.4 + targetArmor / 10`. * Fortifications can no longer be constructed on enemy city tiles. * Gargantuan units and Super-Heavy Walkers units can now overwatch again. This was taken from tabletop rules, but was confusing and not justified very well (why can other Super-Heavy Vehicles overwatch?). ## Balance (Adeptus Mechanicus) * Reduced Cybernetica Datasmith cost by 33%. Adeptus Mechanicus expansion was a bit slow to be competitive. * Cybernetica Datasmith Reprogram Kastelan Robot now costs 20 influence. It continues to be free for neutral Cybernetica Datasmiths. * Archaeopter Transvector now has energy instead of ore upkeep. * Moved Kataphron Destroyer research from tier 8 to 7. * Moved Skorpius Disintegrator research from tier 7 to 8. * Increased Onager Dunecrawler cost by 33%. * Increased Scorpius Disintegrator cost by 50%. * Reduced Tech-Priest Manipulus hitpoints from 9 to 6. * Reduced Tech-Priest Manipulus Galvanic Field armour penetration from 26 to 13 and increased duration from 1 to 2 turns. * Reduced Tech-Priest Dominus, Tech-Priest Manipulus and Cybernetica Datasmith armour from 10 to 8. * Reduced Tech-Priest Dominus Volkite Blaster damage from 6 to 4. * Monolithic Buildings now consider themselves as a building of the same type, thus gaining a +5% bonus. Previously, any building built on the initial tile incurred a -5% on both existing buildings, now both buildings get +0%. * Reduced Power Surge cooldown from 10 to 6. * Reduced Power Surge duration from 10 to 6. * Reduced Power Surge cost from 40 to 20. * Increased Power Surge resource effect from +10% to +25%. * Thermo-Exchange Efficiency now increases Power Surge resource effect from +3.3% to +10%. * Changed Terran Generalism from removing Monolithic Buildings malus to increasing the production output for each building in an adjacent tile. * Added Move Through Cover to Pteraxii Sterylizors. ## Balance (Astra Militarum) * Reduced Tech-Priest Enginseer cost by 33%. Astra Militarum expansion was a bit slow to be competitive. * Increased Tech-Priest Enginseer Power of the Machine Spirit cooldown from 1 to 2. * Increased Tech-Priest Enginseer Construct Imperial Bastion cooldown from 5 to 10. * Increased Tech-Priest Enginseer Construct Void Shield cooldown from 5 to 10. * Reduced edict cost by 25%. * Changed Labour Corps resources from +2 food to +2 research. * Changed Imperial Barracks resources from +1 loyalty to +2 food. # Balance (Chaos Space Marines) * Reduced Dark Disciples Deferred Absolution invulnerable damage reduction from 33% to 17%. Dark Disciples made Noctilith Crowns irrelevant. * Reduced Dark Disciples cost by 25% To compensate for the lower damage reduction. * Changed Master of Possesions Possession from 19 Chaos Spawn level to 51 cooldown. The rush-ability was a little too high on this one. * Reduced Bloated from 100% to 50% heal. This makes it less oppressive when rushing. * Moved Daemon Prince research from tier 9 to 5. * Reduced Helbrutes Fire Frenzy speed reduction from 0 to 1. ## Balance (Craftworld Aeldari) * Reduced Webway Redoubt cost by 25%. Craftworld Aeldari expansion was a bit slow to be competitive. * Reduced Webway Gate hitpoints from 32 to 16. The AI will now try to not take over gates it cant defend. This should make countering webway teleportation easier. * Increased Transcendent Bliss loyalty from 2 to 3. * Increased Doom of the Aeldari loyalty from 2 to 3. * Increased Rangers cost by 33%. * Increased Howling Banshees War Shout morale from -2 to -3. * Reduced Warlocks Cleansing Flame attacks from 7 to 5. * Warlocks Gate of Infinity now costs 10 influence. * Moved Craftworlds Pledge research from tier 9 to 8. * Changed Shining Spears cost and upkeep to ore only. * Changed Vauls Wrath Support Battery cost and upkeep to ore only. # Balance (Necrons) * Monoliths Gauss Flux Arc now has rapid fire. This is an addition from 9th edition tabletop rules. * Increased Obelisk Gravity Pulse radius from 1 to 3. * Changed Quantum Shielding from +2 armour to 17% invulnerable damage reduction. To make the performance similar against low and high armour penetration weapons. * Increased Cryptek Mindshackle Scarabs range from 2 to 3. * Reduced Gauss Pylon Phase Shift Generator invulnerable damage reduction from 33% to 17%. * Increased Efficient Reanimation Protocols hitpoints per turn from 0.67 to 2. * Increased Immortal Forms hitpoints per turn from 0.67 to 2. * Changed Lords Defensive Protocols from +2+6 armour on Necron infantry to +2 armour, 1..3 radius on all Necron units. * Moved Efficient Reanimation Protocols research from tier 3 to 6. * Moved Immortal Forms research from tier 5 to 3. * Moved Viridian Discharge research from tier 9 to 4. To make early Tesla units more viable. * Moved Atomic Flayers research from tier 4 to 5. # Balance (Orks) * Reduced Mek cost by 25%. Orks expansion was a bit slow to be competitive. * Changed Waaagh! from +3+30% attacks to +2+20% attacks and +2+20% loyalty. * Changed Animosity from -3-30% attacks to -2-20% attacks and -2-20% loyalty. * Changed Pile O Dakka resources from +4 influence to +1 food, +1 influence, +1 loyalty. * Changed Kult ov Speed resources from +2 influence, +2 research to +1 ore, +1 influence, +1 loyalty. * Moved Runtherd Groundz research from tier 10 to 9. * Moved Big Shinies research from tier 9 to 10. * Ere We Go! can now be used in transports. ## Balance (Space Marines) * Space Marines can no longer deploy Fortresses of Redemption and Acquila Macro Cannons into enemy city tiles. * Hammer of Wrath no longer affects Bomb weapons. * Reduced Vindicator cost by 25%. * Increased Hunter cost by 50%. * Increased Hunters Savant Interlocution ranged accuracy from +2 to +4. * Changed Signum to give Relentless (negates penalty for heavy weapons) instead of +2 accuracy. * Added Devastator Centurion to the Devastator Doctrine requirements so it can be researched without Devastator Space Marines. * Scout Bikers Cluster Mines ability no longer consumes movement. # Balance (Tau) * Markerlight no longer works on fortifications. * Reduced Vespid Stingwings cost by 33%. * Increased Convert Auxiliary cost by 50%. Converting Kroot Hounds was too cheap. * Increased XV25 Stealth Battlesuits accuracy from 6 to 8. # Balance (Tyranids) * Reduced Venomthropes cost by 33%. * Reduced Venomthropes Toxic Miasma cooldown from 5 to 2. * Added Move Through Cover to Gargoyles, Venomthropes and Zoanthropes. * Removed Spore Cloud and Fleet from Malanthrope. * Increased Malanthrope hitpoints from 12 to 16. * Increased unit upkeep reduction research from 10% to 17%. * Added Strikedown to Haruspex. Trying to give them more of a rolea sturdy defender that slows enemies. * Increased Thresher Scythe damage from 3 to 6. Increases Haruspex viability with limited balance downsides. * Changed Brood Nest resources from +4 biomass to +2 biomass, +1 loyalty. ## Bug Fixes * Fixed game sometimes not starting on Windows when the user data folder or game folder included non-ANSI characters and did not have "Use Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language support" turned on. * Fixed crash when entering a non-ANSI character for the save name. * Fixed Canoptek Wraiths having a power effect below them. * Fixed Helbrute and Wraithblades having a glowing orb at their bases. * Fixed Craftworld Aeldari music not playing while playing as Craftworld Aeldari unless the Assault Pack DLC is installed. * Fixed being able to give found city orders on target tiles with stationary units. * Fixed hero skills being leveled past the maximum under rare circumstances. * Fixed crash when infiltrating camps or exploring depths in quests with a unit in a transport. * Fixed Avatar of Khaine taking damage from Warp Smith's Mechatendrils. * Fixed Tomb Blades being able to use Hammer of Wrath without an action left. * Fixed text boxes not being cut off properly when fallback font glyphs are used. * Fixed some words in the menu in the Russian language being cut off. * Fixed many typos. * Fixed sometimes not being able to cycle weapons. ## Modding * Added ability to specify minimum distance between two cities via the foundCity action: ``. * Found City description now dynamically fetches the min city distance and loyalty per city. * Added ability to specify if an action can be used while embarked in a transport with ``. Not all actions are guaranteed to work properly. * `` actions that deploy units that have the HarvestResourceFeatures trait will now be deployed by the AI with the same logic as Fortresses of Redemption. * Added `` tile effect. * Added `` tile condition.