So just as you're getting used to playing the game the developers go and change everything! That sweet Bronze Protectorate you saved up for thinking it would last you forever now only gets you through a few divisions!?!?
Blasphemy!
Madness!
The negative reviews have been flooding in since the most recent change. Anytime you give players EZ mode and then take it away a large group of them figures to cry foul.
Indeed the change is rather unfair to anyone who bought a Gannicus, who figured his Legendary Spatha would be an unlimited use item.
Even with 150 uses the sword will break eventually, rendering Gannicus just another gladiator with nothing to seperate him from the others.
I'm not a particularly big fan of the change either, seeing as I already had a few gladiators with the best gear and plenty of Denarii and Influence saved up.
Ultimately it is the developers game to do with as they please and although they need to balance this change and probably add a repair option, the change isn't as game breaking as some would have you believe. It does add an element of strategy in gear selection which I will address presently.
It used to be you could just buy these three items and then forget about gear altogether. In the event you had a Gannicus you didn't even need the sword. Now everything has an associated cost per fight.
Bronze Spatha: 1340 Denarii/18 Uses = 74.4 Denarii per fight
Bronze Protectorate: 2094 Denarii/25 Uses = 83.7 Denarii per fight
Spiked Bronze Scutum: 150 Influence/21 Uses = 7.1 Influence per fight
Total = 158.1 Denarii + 7.1 Influence per fight, OUCH!
Here is a list of all the items in the game:
Item - Attack/Defense Value - Weight - Cost - Uses - Cost Per Fight
Weapons
Bronze Spatha - 15 - Light - 1340 - 18 - 74.4
Bronze Sica - 15 - Very Light - 1260 - 16 - 78.1
Bronze Gladius - 13 - Light - 1120 - 18 - 62.2
Iron Spatha - 11 - Very Heavy - 360 - 14 - 25.7
Iron Sica - 11 - Heavy - 325 - 12 - 27.0
Iron Gladius - 9 - Heavy - 300 - 14 - 21.4
Copper Spatha - 7 - Heavy - 154 - 9 - 17.1
Copper Sica - 7 - Light - 120 - 7 - 17.1
Copper Gladius - 5 - Light - 95 - 9 - 10.5
Wood Spatha - 3 - Light - 35 - 5 - 7.0
Wood Sica - 3 - Light - 16 - 4 - 4.0
Wood Gladius - 1 - Light - 2 - 5 - 0.4
Armor
Bronze Protectorate - 11 - Heavy - 2094 - 25 - 83.7
Bronze Armor - 8 - Heavy - 1149 - 21 - 54.7
Copper Armor - 6 - Heavy - 490 - 17 - 28.8
Leather Armor - 4 - Light - 128 - 13 - 9.8
Linen Armor - 2 - Very Light - 64 - 8 - 8.0
Shields
Spiked Bronze Scutum - 3/8 - Very Heavy - 150 Influence - 21 - 7.1 Influence
Bronze Scutum - 0/8 - Heavy - 996 - 21 - 47.4
Bronze Parma - 1/5 - Very Light - 694 - 27 - 25.7
Spiked Iron Scutum - 2/6 - Very Heavy - 720 - 20 - 36.0
Iron Scutum - 0/6 - Very Heavy - 480 - 18 - 26.6
Iron Parma - 1/3 - Heavy - 144 - 18 - 8.0
Copper Scutum - 0/4 - Very Heavy - 160 - 14 - 11.4
Copper Parma - 1/2 - Light - 64 - 14 - 4.5
Wood Scutum - 0/3 - Heavy - 38 - 10 - 3.8
Wood Parma - 0/1 - Light - 12 - 10 - 1.2
Which brings us to item weight...you might ask yourself:
"What's up with all this Heavy and Light business anyway?"
My theory is that there is a speed bonus or penalty associated with your gear. Based on my own experiments with gladiators with high Brawn/low Speed, high Speed/low Brawn, and different mixes of Heavy and Light gear I have come up with the following ideas:
Speed seems to affect not only the rate at which you make attacks but also the rate at which you block attacks.
Light gear seems to give a speed bonus, while Heavy gear seems to give a speed penalty.
If I had to make an educated guess I would say that per item:
Very Heavy = -10 Speed
Heavy = -5 Speed
Light = +5 Speed
Very Light = +10 Speed
If you assume a speed penalty/bonus, some items go way up in value. For example the Bronze Sica, and not the Bronze Spatha would now be the best purchasable weapon in the game, since both weapons have 15 Attack Value, but the Bronze Sica is Very Fast, while the Bronze Spatha is Fast.
Other items such as the Bronze Parma shield and even the seemingly modest Leather Armor would seem to go way up in value. Considering their modest per fight costs of 25.7 for the Bronze Parma and 9.8 for Leather Armor, these items could serve you well in all but the toughest of arena battles.
My gladiator is equipped with Bronze Spatha, Leather Armor, and Bronze Parma. The combined per fight cost of my gear is 109.9 Denarii with no Influence cost.
My purse roughly matches the cost of my gear for the fight, which means I'll be gaining Denarii only from Division rewards and gifts from allies.
This gladiator is up to 780 wins. A large number of those wins were farmed painlessly in Pompeii even after having cleared into Capua.
Here is an example of another gladiator, a Healthy Slave who has 70 wins and is in Division 4 Neapolis, going back to Pompeii to farm an easy win and some Denarii.
I have intentionally equipped him in the least expensive gear possible, Wood Gladius, Linen Armor, and Wood Parma. The combined per fight cost of this gear is 9.6 Denarii.
You also get +8 Vitality for ALL of your gladiators for every 4 wins in Pompeii so this will help to heal the occasional plink damage you will receive during your fights.
So if you are having trouble in Neapolis, Capua, or beyond or you just want to increase your Max Stats and earn some easy Denarii, falling back to Pompeii and using cheap gear is always an option.
The new gear change may suck but you just have to deal with it as best you can. Follow these simple rules and you will be better off than most:
1. Use the right type of gear for the situation. The bigger your stat advantage, the lesser your gear needs. Don't use expensive gear to farm easy wins.
2. Make good use of your Division Reward gear. Free gear = more Denarii saved. Don't buy an expensive item right before you get a free one of that type.
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