Gladiators?
 

What are some good uses for these guys? Seems to be just a good way to lose a load of cash to a scout or some hawks :doh:

Is there any reasonable use for them, outside of aiding (very expensively, I imagine) in initial expansion?

Re: Gladiators?
 

They are good for defending castles for example, or intercepting thugs/raiders.

Re: Gladiators?
 

I presume you mean using them to delay the breach in the fortress walls, because after they're breached, they'll all quit once a single enemy scout sticks his head in the gate. I guess if you buy a bunch right before your castle is besieged, your enemy might not know they're in there...

Intercepting thugs/raiders? What characteristics make them useful against those enemies? The net of the net-and-trident guy?

Re: Gladiators?
 

Nobody forbids you to break siege. Enemy can't prevent this with scout.

Actually flailed ones with perhabs few gladiators with a net. Gladiators with flails have good straight and 2 atacks, they possibly can overwhelm some PD killers or even poorly equiped pretenders in early game. Sometimes your opponent just can't avoid the fight.

Re: Gladiators?
 

I see. Thanks!

Any other ideas and tips out there?

Re: Gladiators?
 

They could buy you some time. For example: the large army of your opponent is about to take a province of importance. Your main force wouldn't make it in time to protect it, but you have send there a small army of glaiators from your castle. Your opponent has a tough choice: either to fight gladiators combined with PD and take heavy losses or even to be defeated, or send there a scout to kill all your gladiators, but lose a turn, and next turn your main force will be in the province and would give him even harder fight. You manage to keep the province each way.

Summary: gladiators are strictly situational units that could find ther niche in the game rather for the defence then for offence.

Re: Gladiators?
 

I think they'd just kill your gladiators with a scout and move the raiding army elsewhere - they'd have cost you a chunk at gold an succeeded in disrupting your recruitment. I guess if the province is really important (which is going to happen very rarely) and it happens to be next to your fort and your other forces are an extra 1 move away and you can build enough gladiators rather than normal troops to actually stop/discourage the enemy army when combined with PD,... then they might be useful. But that's really, really niche.

Re: Gladiators?
 

As Ermor/Pythium, they are really useful for the very initial expansion. Especially as EA Ermor which does not have as many options. 15-20 gladiators could clean up most indie provinces, and the net+trident ones are surprisingly effective against heavy cavalry. That means you'd attack two provinces in turn three not one. You start with an admin 60 Great City, and that extra province should bring you important resources plus some gold next turn.

Re: Gladiators?
 

Gladiators are situational - but more useful than often thought.

If you *know* you are going to take casualties anyway, (for example, facing cav, why not make the casualties glads?

It *is* difficult to use these troops multiple moves away from a castle. So, these troops are often best used with a nation that has a lot of castles.

The gladiators come in two flavors -- nets, and flails. (iirc). Nets are very useful against thugs, sc's and cav. Flails hit very hard for their density.

I wrote a little about glads in my EA-Ermor write up.

Re: Gladiators?
 

Gladiators are very good for early expansion. They are cheap and require no resources, so you just hire as much as you can, give them to an indie commander and he captures some troublesome province like knights-longbowmen.