Enslavers. What the ♥♥♥♥ is this.

[ShadowKatt]

So I picked up Gladius from the Humble Bundle because I've been waiting for a good opportunity to pick it up and this was the perfect chance. Picked up all the DLC too. Exciting times. Downloaded the game, ran the tutorial, got a feel for the mechanics, and the dove in.

Went with a random faction, just to see what would happen. Ended up with the Imps, so I ordered extra body bags. Got my city started off, expanding, shoring up my weak spots in the economy, grabbed a couple nearby nodes. Then the enslavers showed up.

I'm not new to 4x games. The Civ series, the Endless series, I think of myself as pretty well versed. Barbarians suck. Pirates suck. You deal with them and move on, hopefully. Enslavers....are not barbarians. They are not pirates. I don't know what this is supposed to be. I understand who they are in the lore, and that's fine, but who greenlit this in the game and why was this allowed to be published. One enslaver showed up. I set my three Imp squads against it. It mind controlled one on one turn. The next turn it and the controlled imps murdered one of my remaining squads. Then it mind controlled my last squad, and brought my army back to my base to burn it to the ground.

What in the absolute ♥♥♥♥ is this. This is the poorest gameplay I have ever seen in a game. What, exactly, was I supposed to do about this? Where was the counter on turn three for dealing with enslavers? I don't even have a barracks yet, I can't even make new troops. Now I have no troops, and my game is over. Either I am missing something here, I really hope I am, or this game is absolute garbage and I need to get a refund before any more time passes.

[Shin]

Enslavers are not so hard to deal with. They can only mind control you if you are I think it was under 8 morale points. Just scout ahead, don't walk into them and take them on with multiple troops at once. Guardsmen can destroy them fast with frag grenade spam. Heavy weapons team and hydras are also very effective at dealing dmg at them from distance. Hope this helps.

[KDubya]

The problem was that you sent three guardsmen to engage the Enslaver instead of pulling back and leavit alone until you have more firepower.

Get some Hydras or Heavy Weapons Teams and you can hunt them down.

In this game Neutrals (wildlife) are a serious threat and need to be respected.

[ShadowKatt]

I'll give that a try if I can get it up and running. Had it come later in the game it wouldn't have been that big an issue, I think. But right out the game, completely sweeping my army out from under me, and then laying seige? It's like, why did you even give me troops. Just keep the troops and start me off with barbarians in the city. Same difference.

I didn't know about the morale thing, so I'll look into that. Haven't quite figured out the morale system yet.

[Shin]

If you are new to the game imperial guard is not the best starting faction. Guardsmen without some upgrades are pretty weak. You just get some starting troops to deal with weaker neutrals like kroot hounds or cultists but even then you should advance carefully. Enslavers and especially Kastellan robots take some preparation before you can take them on. The neutrals in this game are much harsher than in other 4x games but still very beatable once you know how.
Another tip is neutrals only have a chance to attack units nearby as long as you didn't attack them first before. Sometimes you can get away with not triggering their aggro (turning off overwatch can help). But this is only a chance and not a guarantee that they won't attack.

[BLAME! 40K]

Originally posted by ShadowKatt:

So I picked up Gladius from the Humble Bundle because I've been waiting for a good opportunity to pick it up and this was the perfect chance. Picked up all the DLC too. Exciting times. Downloaded the game, ran the tutorial, got a feel for the mechanics, and the dove in.

Went with a random faction, just to see what would happen. Ended up with the Imps, so I ordered extra body bags. Got my city started off, expanding, shoring up my weak spots in the economy, grabbed a couple nearby nodes. Then the enslavers showed up.

I'm not new to 4x games. The Civ series, the Endless series, I think of myself as pretty well versed. Barbarians suck. Pirates suck. You deal with them and move on, hopefully. Enslavers....are not barbarians. They are not pirates. I don't know what this is supposed to be. I understand who they are in the lore, and that's fine, but who greenlit this in the game and why was this allowed to be published. One enslaver showed up. I set my three Imp squads against it. It mind controlled one on one turn. The next turn it and the controlled imps murdered one of my remaining squads. Then it mind controlled my last squad, and brought my army back to my base to burn it to the ground.

What in the absolute ♥♥♥♥ is this. This is the poorest gameplay I have ever seen in a game. What, exactly, was I supposed to do about this? Where was the counter on turn three for dealing with enslavers? I don't even have a barracks yet, I can't even make new troops. Now I have no troops, and my game is over. Either I am missing something here, I really hope I am, or this game is absolute garbage and I need to get a refund before any more time passes.

Ok bye , git gud in your next game you buy

[Miku]

Enslavers are a pain in the beginnging.
But you should be able to take them on if you can get the drop on them with 3 to 4 sqauds regardless of faction. If they survive, they either flee or mindcontrol. If they mindcontrol, you can destroy them the next turn and get your unit back.

Anyway, Enslavers are a problem for all factions, excpet the neutrals of course. You may encounter weakened Enslavers, these should be easy prey for your army.

[[1stTX.F]Pvt.Reaper]

I find the Kastellans to be worse than the Enslavers most of the time. Why? Because Enslavers can't wipe out an entire army like a horde of four to six Kastellans can in the early game. But once you start pumping out vehicles, particularly tanks, Kastellans will start falling fairly easily.

But yeah, you should avoid facing off against Enslavers until you have expanded your army, got a commissar, and have at least gotten frag grenades.

Also if you're new to the game, don't do a random faction for your first game, I would recommend starting with the Space Marines.

[yagenatep]

Enslavers is easy to kill. You cant do this and for you game is poor and bad. How old are you kid????

[Sneedshrew]

I hate it so damn much when the enslavers run away to water tiles.
I'm forced to use stun grenade or bolas but they cost so much influence.

[Maxim The Ghoul]

It also helps that Enslavers are easily the least aggressive critter mob in the game, and they only occasionally attack you, and usually only when you take artifacts. So you can just ignore them early on and fight them when you got back up.

[Miku]

Originally posted by Phatbird:

I hate it so damn much when the enslavers run away to water tiles.
I'm forced to use stun grenade or bolas but they cost so much influence.

Get one of the new Chimeras, they are amphibious

[Noodlesocks]

Don't provoke enslavers if you aren't prepared. They mostly just hang about the artefact they're protecting. Keep your distance until you can deal with them. Use your commanders against enslavers in the early game. At full morale, commanders can't be enslaved. Later on you'll have the tech and dudes to kill them easy. They are annoying but not nearly as tough as Kastelan robots so you have them to look forward to.

[Torrens]

Common beginner mistake is getting wrecked by Enslavers in early game. Everyone has gone through this. Imperial Guard grenades kill Enslavers easily. Necron gauss weapons make quick work of them and basic Boyz will beat the ♥♥♥♥ out of them in 1 turn with 3-4 squads. Take it slow don't rush into the fog of war head first like and idiot and concentrate firepower. This is a common beginner mistake.

[sarrowquand]

As others have said once you know a bit about enslavers and how Gladius uses greys you'll be able to adapt your tactics and have a much easier time of it. One time I almost really messed up because I let an enslaver unit mind control a chaos rhino with squads inside (it gets all of them). Another time my Space Marine fortress of redemption was mind controlled because I put it somewhere foolish and couldn't back it up (the only thing that can't be mind controlled is a city, but moral will shield a unit for a while).

There are a couple of other grey units that will antagonise you, Kastellans and wasps. You get used to these too and how to handle them. Civ Barbarians serve a very different purpose and endless neutrals are closer to civ but they are a bit more developed. A 4x game with even harsher neutrals is Conquest of Elysium, when you play that you are fighting the environment as much as other players and I've had some early games where a giant monster was near my citadel at the start and I was just hoping it wouldn't come for me.

TL:DR Gladius uses greys as walls between players to control zerg rushing and ti defend map bonuses. In some ways the greys fight for you because they are like a river or a wall fencing off your territory. Breaking only one wall will mean you have some free defence from players on your other sides.

[JDPUK]

Originally posted by KDubya:

The problem was that you sent three guardsmen to engage the Enslaver instead of pulling back and leavit alone until you have more firepower.

Get some Hydras or Heavy Weapons Teams and you can hunt them down.

In this game Neutrals (wildlife) are a serious threat and need to be respected.

+1