Gladius - Adeptus Mechanicus Campaign Guide

This guide details each mission within the Adeptus Mechanicus Campaign and gives players insight into when they can pause to battle AI enemies, research technologies, and build up cities between missions.

Introduction

The campaigns in Gladius are an interesting addition to the standard 4X formula. They can often be a source of frustration rather than enjoyment due to large amounts of hostile forces attacking you. There’s nothing quite like losing a long game just as you were on the cusp of victory because of an event time limit or a massive invasion force.

There are three main campaign mission types:

Explore.
Produce.
Battle.

During Explore and Produce missions, it’s frequently possible to put your campaign progress on hold while you deal with AI enemy factions or build up your forces, but you rarely know what the campaign will ask of you next.

In this guide, we’ll take a quick look at the Adeptus Mechanicus campaign chapters to make it easier for you to decide when to march forward through the campaign and when to hold back.

As with all quests, you can choose to do this after your game ends in a normal victory if you don't want to risk also being attacked by another player.

If this guide helped you, please remember to rate it up so that it can help others too!

Also, check out my guides for the other races! https://steamcommunity.com/id/1N54N3/myworkshopfiles/?section=guides

Chapter 1: Analysis - Blessed Inception

Produce

This is a simple, straightforward objective. Thankfully, the Skitarii are actually quite decent for a starter unit. I produced 4 more early on for a total of 6 to split into 3 scouting teams that could support each other. Get this done ASAP as we'll be moving on to vehicles next. Try to get a tile ready that can hold at least 2 more buildings.



Produce

Pretty much the same as the previous step. Get your building going and focus on getting that tier 3 tech going asap. Be warned however, that 2 small enemy camps will be spawning near your base once Chapter 2 starts.

Chapter 2: Design - Variable Reduction

Battle

In my game, two neutral level 1 cities spawned about 9 tiles away from my starting city. The Tyranid and Ork camps will each have low tier units around them which won't prove much of a challenge, but it could be bad to have this spawn if you're already being attacked by someone or something else. In my game the Orks had 2 squads of Boyz and 2 squads of Warbuggies. The Tyranids had 2 squads of Tyranid Warriors.

Before finishing this step, I'd highly recommend having at least 1 or 2 Cybernetica Datasmiths built and ready to capture some upcoming Kastelan Robots.


Battle

Immediately after killing both camps and activating any Doctrina, a Cybernetica Datasmith and 3 Kastelan Robots will spawn nearby. This shouldn't be too hard as you can simply steal the robots instead of killing them. Deal with them however you wish to proceed to the next step.

Chapter 3: Testing - Uncertain Inputs

Explore & Produce

This one is easy, just keep teching up and building higher tier units. If you've done any Gladius Quests before, you know that some large scale showdowns are coming soon. If you can swing it (or are just unlucky) you can get into Tier 5 tech without having 2 artefacts, which can give you an edge on unlocking past just 1 upgrade.

Be aware that the next stage will auto complete and spawn 3 different squads of T'au units around 3 tiles if you've researched the Tier 5 tech and have 2 artefacts. You must defeat the T'au and visit the 3 tiles with a Tech-Priest Manipulus. These groups are fairly weak with generally 2 Pathfinders, 1 Fire Warrior, and 1 Crisis Battle Suit.

Make sure at this point that you have at least 2 Tech-Priest Manipulus built. As I'm sure you've noticed, their heals are incredibly powerful with a 1 turn cool-down as of Jan 2022 (Plz no nerf!). While many of the units we have access to can deal some decent damage, they really aren't that tanky. You may have noticed that a lot of units have between 0-6 armor. We'll need some strong heals to offset the incoming damage as our units can't reduce as much damage as some other races.



Explore & Battle

If you were like me, you've already done the first 4 parts of this quest and got instantly thrown into some extra skirmishes with the Tau. As stated above, you must defeat the Tau around the 3 tiles and visit them with any Tech-Priest Manipulus. These groups are fairly weak with generally 2 Pathfinders, 1 Fire Warrior, and 1 Crisis Battle Suit so they shouldn't really prove too difficult unless you're already fighting on other fronts.

Chapter 4: Transition - Heretikal Deviations

Produce

This is a simple step, but thankfully it is one that you have to trigger when you're ready. As soon as you use any of your abilities from the top left corner of your screen, the next step will begin which will be an invasion style event. Make sure you units are near your cities before proceeding.

Also at this point, you should be pushing hard towards researching and building your Skorpius Disintegrators as you'll be needing them to survive any further quests steps in the near future.



Battle

This is an invasion style event which can be both the best and worst parts of Gladius quests. In this one, we'll have Chaos forces spawning about 10 tiles away from any city you own. These forces can include level 6-8 Warpsmiths, Helbrutes, Maulerfiends, and Venomcrawlers. These forces on their own aren't too bad, but in my game, 6 of the Venomcrawlers grouped up and started rampaging through some of my units, so be careful. In total I believe I had to kill about 14 units.

ALERT
There is a very high chance that ending this quest will kick you straight into the first large battle of the quest starting in Chapter 5. If you don't have a high number of units like Skorpius Disintegrators built, I would delay in killing the last unit or two until you're ready. The upcoming battle will spawn a neutral Space Marine city close to one of your cities, and it will be surrounded by about 40 different squads of units. In my game these units only consisted of 3 unit types: Terminators, Thunderfire Cannons, and Vindicator Tanks.

Chapter 5: Evaluation - Questoris Deployment

Battle

Another battle? Yep! Tired of fighting yet? Too bad, because this fight is going to be nuts. You'll be facing a neutral Space Marine city close to one of your cities, and it will be surrounded by roughly 40 different squads of units all level 5-7. In my game these units only consisted of 3 unit types: Terminators, Thunderfire Cannons, and Vindicator Tanks. See the screenshot from my game below.


One of the best case scenarios that you'll hopefully have happen to you, is that the city and army will spawn directly next to some of your forces. If you can start breaking morale on large groups of the units, you'll have a far easier time. So, start whittling away at all of the neutral units while trying to avoid taking too much damage or loses from another player or AI.

Be aware that moving in the Sicarian Infiltrators doesn't destroy the city or remove the forces, so there is no need to rush this objective. Moving the Sicarian Infiltrators adjacent to the city will allow you to destroy the city though, and won't make the situation any worse as you have to actually destroy it along with 2 other objectives in order to proceed to Chapter 6.



Battle & Produce

Thankfully, they haven't thrown any new units or threats at us. This one is very straightforward, but make sure to leave one of these things unfinished until you're ready to proceed to Chapter 6. Leaving the city can be easier, but if another faction or player destroys it, you may be advancing the quest unexpectedly.

If your conditions and game will allow for it, I would recommend waiting to build the Knight Crusader until you get the Level 10 tech for them. The Twin Linked Icarus Autocannon will really pump up those rookie damage numbers and help out in the coming final chapter. There will be another massive battle as soon as Chapter 6 begins, so be ready for it either way.

Chapter 6: Implementation - And/Or Simulation

Battle

Well, it isn't too shocking that we'd be fighting Necron. What is shocking, is the size of the armies we're facing. That's a hard yikes from me, dawg. Anyway, the same concept applies here as before. Hit them hard and break morale ASAP on the massed forces. I've attached pictures below of the forces I had in my game. I honestly didn't make an effort to count them all, but you'll be facing 2 different groups of about 30 units. Thankfully they only include early to mid-game Necron units. Keep in mind that this is not the final stage of the quest-line, so don't go too ham and leave yourself open for the final stage.




Battle

We've got another Invasion style finale here. These aren't too bad as you'll likely have a massive army at this point. We'll be getting attacked by a combination of T'au and Eldar units, and you can see some end-game units in there, so be careful and stay alert. Be sure to find the Arcane Infundibulum and move him to safety ASAP. In my game it spawned in the middle of 3 T'au units. I'd recommend finding it, and planning how you'll escort it to a city before you move any of your units.

Oh, and at one point I saw 6 Scorpions all grouped up in one spot, so be careful of situations where you could quickly lose a lot of units. Also watch out for the KV-128s hiding in the forests.. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

After 10 turns of successful holdout, Victory!!

[Insane]

@D-Black Catto You probably could if you set the artifact spawn rate to the highest setting, but I haven't tested this.

[D-Black Catto]

can't be done on tiny map. playing on tiny map, there is only one artifact and 3 is unobtainable

[CrYpTiC]

Spoiler alert:
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so basically, the mechanicum faction fell to the machinations of the deceiver and become his puppet on gladius prime. Is this correct?

[Insane]

Right? I don't get it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Kazeck]

Can't believe they did the Mechanicus dirty with the ending though, playing through it myself I was utterly shocked by how bad the ending was.