Age of Gladiators II: Inventory System

With Age of Gladiators II, I wanted to create a unique inventory system that caters to a variety of different gladiator templates and builds.

Each gladiator has 6 inventory slots in total. These slots can be filled with any combination of weapons, armor, combat stims, and specialized equipment. More on that below – but first the various equipment available to a gladiator.





Age of Gladiators allows a manager to equip gladiators with either ranged or melee weapons. A shrewd manager will know from a gladiator’s physical attributes which type of weapon to equip. Ranged weapons have the advantage of allowing a gladiator to attack from afar - but melee weapons enjoy significant damage bonus versus ranged-wielding fighters. So choose carefully.

It is also important to equip weapons based on your opponents armor mitigation type - more on that in the next section.

Here are the weapons available through either the bazaar or missions:

• Axe – high damage
  
• Sword – medium damage
  
• Vibroblade – low damage
  

• Rifle – high damage
  
• Carbine – medium damage
  
• Pistol – low damage
  

The highly technological nature of the weapons during this time period provide varying combat stat bonuses as well.

All weapons provide bonuses to a gladiator’s melee hit chance % and critical chance %, so as well as a damage, it is also important to take these stats into consideration as well.






Gladiators are able to use three types of armor:

• Heavy Armor – high damage mitigation
  
• Medium Armor – medium damage mitigation
  
• Light Armor – low damage mitigation
  

Armor mitigation is split between energy damage mitigation (ranged) and kinetic damage mitigation (melee). Some armors are evenly split between the two while others skew in either melee or ranged.
Further, due to sophisticated servo-motors and advanced technology, armor also provide combat stat bonuses for action and hit points.

So a lot of consideration should also go into shopping for and equipping armor.





Here is a list of special equipment:

• Force Field – upon activation deflects a % of damage for one turn
  
• Sensory Scramblers – % chance of stunning a target for one turn
  
• Trauma Injectors – heals an amount of damage for one turn
  
• Adrenal Booster – provides extra action points for one turn
  
• Nano-Leeches – leeches a % of health from a target for one turn
  
• Armor Shredder – reduces the mitigation % of target armor for entire match
  
• Weapon Jammer – causes ranged weapon malfunction for one turn
  

These provide an extra dimension in combat and can definitely make the difference between victory and defeat.





Combat stims are one-time usable boosts to physical attributes. For example, a speed combat stim, when used, will provide a +50 boost to a gladiator’s action points and dodge chance. A strength combat stim will provide a boost to a gladiator’s melee damage and block chance.

These boosts last the entire match.







As mentioned, gladiators possess 6 inventory slots in total. The heavier a weapon or armor set, the more inventory slots it will take up:

• Axe (high damage) – 3 Slots
  
• Sword (medium damage) – 2 Slots
  
• Vibroblade (low damage) – 1 Slot
  

• Rifle (high damage) – 3 Slots
  
• Carbine (medium damage) – 2 Slots
  
• Pistol (low damage) – 1 Slot
  

• Heavy Armor (high damage mitigation) – 3 Slots
  
• Medium Armor (medium damage mitigation) – 2 Slots
  
• Light Armor (low damage mitigation) – 1 Slot
  

• Combat Stims – 1 Slot
  
• Special Equipment – 1 Slot
  

So as you can see, you can certainly equip a gladiator in heavy armor and a rifle for 6 slots in total – good for a lot of damage dealing and mitigation, but that won’t leave any room for vital special equipment or combat stims that can provide crucial benefits on the battlefield.

Conversely, if you have a fast and agile gladiator with lots of action points, it might be a be an idea to try equipping them with a pistol and light armor – this will then leave you with 4 extra slots to equip special equipment and combat stims!

A gladiator’s expertise when leveling can further add to the efficacy of a particular weapon or set of armor.

It was my intention to provide as much freedom as possible for managers to try different play styles and fighting techniques. So don’t be afraid to have fun and experiment with your gladiators!