Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War – 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.

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 miles 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 teaching 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 artifacts, 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

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 your 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 that 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 36 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 36 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.