Pushing the release date to September, 2017. Some of the combat animations aren't quite to my liking, so I want to take some extra time to work on those. Plus would like to apply a bit more polish on a few aesthetic items here and there. But overall, extremely happy with things!

Pushing the release date to September, 2017. Some of the combat animations aren't quite to my liking, so I want to take some extra time to work on those. Plus would like to apply a bit more polish on a few aesthetic items here and there. But overall, extremely happy with things!

It's been a harsh season. The star team I put together is having a rough go of things in the arena, resulting in many defeats and deaths. The one beacon of hope has been a Skeel gladiator named Seezteep, who has so far managed a respectable 6-2 record.



But now he's dead.

I pushed my luck once too often by putting him the arena while he was sick. It was a bloodbath.

What to do?


Every gladiator can be cloned once in their career if a player has built a cloning lab. Luckily this was one of the first additions I added to my base, so the downtime should be limited.



But to clone a dead gladiator, one needs enough DNA stored for their particular species. DNA is primarily gathered through processing dead gladiators in your morgue, with the catch being that once you process a body for DNA, that gladiator is lost to you forever. So it's a judgement call: only process the bodies of gladiators you don't have plans of cloning down the line.

As I mentioned, the season so far has been tough. Many gladiators under my employ have died. And thus many have been processed. Checking the available DNA I have to work with, it turns out I do indeed possess enough material to clone a Skeel gladiator:



So it is time to resurrect our friend Seezteep.



Processing dead gladiators also yields a chance of extracting a special strand of DNA, which contributes toward a particular physical attribute bonus. In the case of Seezteep, I add a coordination strand of special DNA I have been saving, which will provide him 20 additional points of coordination when cloned.

Into the tank he goes.



I am told it will take the standard 15 days to clone him. With cloning tank upgrades and bonuses, this wait can be lowered - but for now, I have no choice but to tough it out with him off the roster.


Emerging from the cloning tanks, Seezteep is groggy and confused - but he is added back to the barracks, alive and once more available for combat.



As mentioned previously though, a gladiator can only be cloned once; so do not spend the lives of your fighters cheaply.

I welcome Seezteep back to the barracks by giving him a new rifle and a pat on the back. Here's hoping his newly added combat abilities can turn the season around!

It's been a harsh season. The star team I put together is having a rough go of things in the arena, resulting in many defeats and deaths. The one beacon of hope has been a Skeel gladiator named Seezteep, who has so far managed a respectable 6-2 record.



But now he's dead.

I pushed my luck once too often by putting him the arena while he was sick. It was a bloodbath.

What to do?


Every gladiator can be cloned once in their career if a player has built a cloning lab. Luckily this was one of the first additions I added to my base, so the downtime should be limited.



But to clone a dead gladiator, one needs enough DNA stored for their particular species. DNA is primarily gathered through processing dead gladiators in your morgue, with the catch being that once you process a body for DNA, that gladiator is lost to you forever. So it's a judgement call: only process the bodies of gladiators you don't have plans of cloning down the line.

As I mentioned, the season so far has been tough. Many gladiators under my employ have died. And thus many have been processed. Checking the available DNA I have to work with, it turns out I do indeed possess enough material to clone a Skeel gladiator:



So it is time to resurrect our friend Seezteep.



Processing dead gladiators also yields a chance of extracting a special strand of DNA, which contributes toward a particular physical attribute bonus. In the case of Seezteep, I add a coordination strand of special DNA I have been saving, which will provide him 20 additional points of coordination when cloned.

Into the tank he goes.



I am told it will take the standard 15 days to clone him. With cloning tank upgrades and bonuses, this wait can be lowered - but for now, I have no choice but to tough it out with him off the roster.


Emerging from the cloning tanks, Seezteep is groggy and confused - but he is added back to the barracks, alive and once more available for combat.



As mentioned previously though, a gladiator can only be cloned once; so do not spend the lives of your fighters cheaply.

I welcome Seezteep back to the barracks by giving him a new rifle and a pat on the back. Here's hoping his newly added combat abilities can turn the season around!

The best fighters originate from The Academy. This is where prospective gladiators are brought in at an early age (twelve standard Earth years) for training. Their development during this time is extremely variable, but the very top academy-trained fighters will likely be superior in skill to gladiators you have signed “off the street”.



When academy gladiators reach the age of sixteen years old, they are eligible for the draft. The draft occurs once a season with the order being determined by the owners standings in the league. The poorest performing owner will receive the top draft pick, the second poorest performing owner will receive the second draft pick, and so on. This is to help with parity in the league.

An academy trained gladiator is only allowed to remain in the league until they are nineteen years old. Afterward, all undrafted academy-trained gladiators are released for regular civilian life.

All drafted gladiators are sent to the Rookie League, where they compete non-lethally. A gladiator in the Rookie League can be promoted anytime to the owner’s Blood League squad – but we recommend allowing them to develop a few years in the Rookie League first. Unless an academy-trained gladiator is absolutely elite, they may face a tough and deadly time in the Blood League if rushed too soon.

Note that rookie may only stay in the Blood League until they are twenty-one; after which they must be promoted. If an owner does not have room on their roster, the rookie will instead be sent to waivers, where any other boss has the opportunity to sign them. So keep space on your roster for graduating rookies!

And, yes, you may notice we are using the same age for different species. Through some fancy arithmetic, scientists have managed to employ a standard earth year age for each species that conforms to their development cycle. Don’t ask me how.

Larnrron
Blood League Chief Of Operations


In my current game, I finished high in the standings during the 3008AD season. So my draft standing was very low: 51st out of 60 league owners.



So that meant 50 owners would be selecting newly-minted Academy-trained fighters before my turn came up. But that's the price I had to pay for enjoying success the previous season (I came close to winning the Blood League championship, having fallen in the semi-finals.)

Sifting through the leftovers, there were a ton of gladiators being graded by the Central Scouting Bureau in the B- overall range; pretty mediocre overall. But seeing as these fighters were young and developing still, who knows what can happen? I begin scanning the list of remaining fighters until I find a Kathaarn gladiator named Loonporl. He is well-graded in strength, stamina and vitality, which means I could perhaps develop a good melee fighter with a decent number of hit and action points.



So I go ahead and click the Draft button. A good draft selection can make or break an organization.

When I select him, he is removed from the Academy and is moves in transit to join my Rookie League roster. I see several days later that he is currently ranked #198 in that league out of thousands of hopeful fighters, so perhaps this bodes well - but it will be several years before I know for sure if my gamble has paid off.




Looking back at the draft class of 3000, it is dire.

Only one fighter from the top 15 draft pick is still active, with the others having either been killed or retired. A Human star named Gemellus was selected 8th overall and is currently ranked #7 in the entire Blood League.



Everyone except the 1st overall selection (who had a sterling 149-0 Rookie League record and an equally unblemished 8-0 Blood League record before tragically dying) turned out to be busts. Even the 2nd overall selection was incredible in the Rookie League (140-1) but couldn't quite hack it at the next level - though it is possible he had poor teammates which resulted in some losses during larger matches.

The entire 3001 draft class is dead or retired.

3002 has a few gladiators remaining, with the 1st overall gladiator named Barknij ranked #4 in the Blood League. And then the 4th overall selection, Bleeseez, having hung on to a roster spot for 7 seasons despite having a pretty poor 6-12 Blood League record. He is currently ranked #177th in the Blood League, though I would give his agent higher kudos for keeping his client employed for so long.




Academy-trained fighters typically have a better chance of success than an "off the street" recruit that you sign - but not always. You can be sure I have seen my fair share of busts and burn-outs in 9 seasons. It's just a matter of handicapping the physical attributes of the gladiators on your draft board as well as a bit of luck.

The best fighters originate from The Academy. This is where prospective gladiators are brought in at an early age (twelve standard Earth years) for training. Their development during this time is extremely variable, but the very top academy-trained fighters will likely be superior in skill to gladiators you have signed “off the street”.



When academy gladiators reach the age of sixteen years old, they are eligible for the draft. The draft occurs once a season with the order being determined by the owners standings in the league. The poorest performing owner will receive the top draft pick, the second poorest performing owner will receive the second draft pick, and so on. This is to help with parity in the league.

An academy trained gladiator is only allowed to remain in the league until they are nineteen years old. Afterward, all undrafted academy-trained gladiators are released for regular civilian life.

All drafted gladiators are sent to the Rookie League, where they compete non-lethally. A gladiator in the Rookie League can be promoted anytime to the owner’s Blood League squad – but we recommend allowing them to develop a few years in the Rookie League first. Unless an academy-trained gladiator is absolutely elite, they may face a tough and deadly time in the Blood League if rushed too soon.

Note that rookie may only stay in the Blood League until they are twenty-one; after which they must be promoted. If an owner does not have room on their roster, the rookie will instead be sent to waivers, where any other boss has the opportunity to sign them. So keep space on your roster for graduating rookies!

And, yes, you may notice we are using the same age for different species. Through some fancy arithmetic, scientists have managed to employ a standard earth year age for each species that conforms to their development cycle. Don’t ask me how.

Larnrron
Blood League Chief Of Operations


In my current game, I finished high in the standings during the 3008AD season. So my draft standing was very low: 51st out of 60 league owners.



So that meant 50 owners would be selecting newly-minted Academy-trained fighters before my turn came up. But that's the price I had to pay for enjoying success the previous season (I came close to winning the Blood League championship, having fallen in the semi-finals.)

Sifting through the leftovers, there were a ton of gladiators being graded by the Central Scouting Bureau in the B- overall range; pretty mediocre overall. But seeing as these fighters were young and developing still, who knows what can happen? I begin scanning the list of remaining fighters until I find a Kathaarn gladiator named Loonporl. He is well-graded in strength, stamina and vitality, which means I could perhaps develop a good melee fighter with a decent number of hit and action points.



So I go ahead and click the Draft button. A good draft selection can make or break an organization.

When I select him, he is removed from the Academy and is moves in transit to join my Rookie League roster. I see several days later that he is currently ranked #198 in that league out of thousands of hopeful fighters, so perhaps this bodes well - but it will be several years before I know for sure if my gamble has paid off.




Looking back at the draft class of 3000, it is dire.

Only one fighter from the top 15 draft pick is still active, with the others having either been killed or retired. A Human star named Gemellus was selected 8th overall and is currently ranked #7 in the entire Blood League.



Everyone except the 1st overall selection (who had a sterling 149-0 Rookie League record and an equally unblemished 8-0 Blood League record before tragically dying) turned out to be busts. Even the 2nd overall selection was incredible in the Rookie League (140-1) but couldn't quite hack it at the next level - though it is possible he had poor teammates which resulted in some losses during larger matches.

The entire 3001 draft class is dead or retired.

3002 has a few gladiators remaining, with the 1st overall gladiator named Barknij ranked #4 in the Blood League. And then the 4th overall selection, Bleeseez, having hung on to a roster spot for 7 seasons despite having a pretty poor 6-12 Blood League record. He is currently ranked #177th in the Blood League, though I would give his agent higher kudos for keeping his client employed for so long.




Academy-trained fighters typically have a better chance of success than an "off the street" recruit that you sign - but not always. You can be sure I have seen my fair share of busts and burn-outs in 9 seasons. It's just a matter of handicapping the physical attributes of the gladiators on your draft board as well as a bit of luck.

Base building in Age Of Gladiators is an important aspect of the game. An operation will have a hard time being successful without a base from which to house, train, feed, and mend your gladiators.

You start off inheriting an asteroid base with only an office and living area for yourself.



Looks cozy, right? But as you gain success, you will want to build your base up. You decide which areas of the asteroid to excavate and place modules.



Each section of the asteroid takes a certain number of days to excavate and each module takes a number of days to build. So choose carefully the order of what you build!


Here is a list of the different modules available for your base:

• Barracks – increases the capacity of your gladiators
  
• Armory – increases the capacity and maintenance of equipment
  
• Staff Quarters – increase the capacity of hired staff members
  
• Basic Training – allows the assignment of gladiators to individual trainers
  
• Weapons Range – allows the assignment of gladiators for accelerated ranged training
  
• Sparring Center – allows the assignment of gladiators for accelerated melee training
  
• Medical Center – allows the assignment of gladiators to doctors for specialized treatment
  
• Cloning Lab – allows the collection of DNA and cloning of dead gladiators
  
• Cybernetics Lab – allows the application of cybernetics to permanently wounded gladiators
  
• Workshop – allows the upgrading of weapons and armor
  
• Mission Center – allows the assigning of gladiators to covert missions
  
• Kitchen – increases the morale of all gladiators in your base
  
• Entertainment – increases the morale of all gladiators in your base
  
• Combat Research – opens up the research for combat discipline techs
  
• Weapon Research – opens up the research for weapon discipline techs
  
• Armor Research – opens up the research for armor discipline techs
  
• Medical Research – opens up the research for medical discipline techs
  
• Scouting Research – opens up the research for scouting discipline techs
  
• Security Hub – increases security of base to prevent runaways
  
• Surveillance Center – increases security of base to prevent runaways

Most modules can also be upgraded a maximum of 5 times in order to increase their bonuses or capacity allowances.




While some modules provide only a passive bonus to your operation, most offer different levels of interaction such as:

• Medical Center
  
• Cloning Lab
  
• Cybernetics Lab
  
• Workshop
  
• Basic Training
  
• Sparring Center
  
• Weapons Range
  
• Mission Center
  
• Research Labs (Combat, Weapons, Armor, Medical, Scouting)

From cloning your favorite, dead gladiator to sending a covert team on a mission to steal training data from an off-world facility, these modules allow you flexibility in running your operation.


A functional base is critical to your success both inside and outside the arena. But ask your gladiators, and they will tell you that none of the modules are more important than a fully-stocked kitchen!

Base building in Age Of Gladiators is an important aspect of the game. An operation will have a hard time being successful without a base from which to house, train, feed, and mend your gladiators.

You start off inheriting an asteroid base with only an office and living area for yourself.



Looks cozy, right? But as you gain success, you will want to build your base up. You decide which areas of the asteroid to excavate and place modules.



Each section of the asteroid takes a certain number of days to excavate and each module takes a number of days to build. So choose carefully the order of what you build!


Here is a list of the different modules available for your base:

• Barracks – increases the capacity of your gladiators
  
• Armory – increases the capacity and maintenance of equipment
  
• Staff Quarters – increase the capacity of hired staff members
  
• Basic Training – allows the assignment of gladiators to individual trainers
  
• Weapons Range – allows the assignment of gladiators for accelerated ranged training
  
• Sparring Center – allows the assignment of gladiators for accelerated melee training
  
• Medical Center – allows the assignment of gladiators to doctors for specialized treatment
  
• Cloning Lab – allows the collection of DNA and cloning of dead gladiators
  
• Cybernetics Lab – allows the application of cybernetics to permanently wounded gladiators
  
• Workshop – allows the upgrading of weapons and armor
  
• Mission Center – allows the assigning of gladiators to covert missions
  
• Kitchen – increases the morale of all gladiators in your base
  
• Entertainment – increases the morale of all gladiators in your base
  
• Combat Research – opens up the research for combat discipline techs
  
• Weapon Research – opens up the research for weapon discipline techs
  
• Armor Research – opens up the research for armor discipline techs
  
• Medical Research – opens up the research for medical discipline techs
  
• Scouting Research – opens up the research for scouting discipline techs
  
• Security Hub – increases security of base to prevent runaways
  
• Surveillance Center – increases security of base to prevent runaways

Most modules can also be upgraded a maximum of 5 times in order to increase their bonuses or capacity allowances.




While some modules provide only a passive bonus to your operation, most offer different levels of interaction such as:

• Medical Center
  
• Cloning Lab
  
• Cybernetics Lab
  
• Workshop
  
• Basic Training
  
• Sparring Center
  
• Weapons Range
  
• Mission Center
  
• Research Labs (Combat, Weapons, Armor, Medical, Scouting)

From cloning your favorite, dead gladiator to sending a covert team on a mission to steal training data from an off-world facility, these modules allow you flexibility in running your operation.


A functional base is critical to your success both inside and outside the arena. But ask your gladiators, and they will tell you that none of the modules are more important than a fully-stocked kitchen!

I am the Chief Medical Officer for the Blood League. An oxymoron, I know. Alien biology is fascinating. Less than 0.009% of the Milky Way has been explored, yet we have already discovered hundreds of thousands of intelligent species. Some with tentacles, some entirely gelatinous, some consisting of gas, some I cannot even explain.

But for sake of league parity, we are only allowing species of a bi-pedal nature(two arms, two legs, one head) to be allowed for competition in the Blood League. Competing species must possess a brain and central nervous system, use two legs for locomotion, and rely on muscle-matter for manipulating their environment.

Think if we allowed one species that felt no pain or took no damage to face another that did. It would be an unfair disaster.

Hlq'nik'knik
Blood League Chief Medical Officer



There are 8 species in Age of Gladiators II, each with their own attribute bonus, as well as unique combat and non-combat abilities.

The species are as follows:

• Skeel – Hyper-active and inquisitive, sharing the same planet and common ancestor as the Vorccine
  
• Karthaarn – Coagulating blood and hardened exoskeletons, extremely adaptable
  
• Boorhaal – Hot-tempered and socially crude, extremely tough and durable
  
• Vorccine – Predatory and vicious, sharing the same planet and common ancestor as the Skeel
  
• Humans – Curious and robust, hailing from the Sol system
  
• Xissc – Reptilian species, possessing regenerative organs
  
• T’Shikt – Hive-minded, logical, insect species, fun at parties
  
• Hresh – Highly martial, warlike and unrelenting

Each species has an attribute bonus suitable to their physical or mental make-up.

The bonuses are as follows:

• Skeel: +20 Speed
  
• Karthaarn: +20 Vitality
  
• Boorhaal: +20 Strength
  
• Human: +20 Intelligence
  
• Xissc: +20 Aggression
  
• Vorccine: +20 Agility
  
• T’Shikt: +20 Reflexes
  
• Hresh: +20 Stamina

These bonuses will help inform which kind of build you want to create with your various gladiators.





Each species each have their own special ability that can be used during combat. The cooldown time in between uses is determined by the gladiator's Species Cooldown combat stat.

The combat abilities are as follows:

• Skeel
  Hyper Attack: 6 Extra Action Points (1 Turn)
  
  
• Karthaarn
  Fast Coagulation: Heals 300 Damage (1 Turn)
  
  
• Boohaal
  Brutal Attack: 10% Bonus To Critical Damage (1 Turn)
  
  
• Human
  Robust Nature: 3 Extra Action Points, 10% Bonus To Hit Chance (1 Turn)
  
  
• Xissc
  Cold Blooded: 20% Bonus to Critical Chance (1 Turn)
  
  
• Vorccine
  Barbaric Rage: 10% Bonus to Regular Damage (1 Turn)
  
  
• T'Shikt
  Hardened Exoskeleton: 50% Incoming Damage Reduction (1 Turn)
  
  
• Hresh
  Hyper Attack: 20% Bonus to Hit Chance (1 Turn)

These unique abilities add extra dimension to battle, so be sure to plan out your build around these.



As well, each species also possess their own out of combat passive abilities as well.

These abilities are as follows:

• Skeel
  Tinkerer: Equipped weapons decay much slower.
  
  
• Karthaarn
  Armorer: Equipped armor decays much slower.
  
  
• Boohaal
  Hardy Constitution: Does not suffer from sickness.
  
  
• Human
  Versatile: Gains training XP in both melee and ranged weapons.
  
  
• Xissc
  Regenerative Tissue: No critical or permanent injuries.
  
  
• Vorccine
  Fanatical: Does not suffer from fatigue.
  
  
• T'Shikt
  Hive Mentality: No morale loss.
  
  
• Hresh
  Martial Culture: Selected weapons training XP bonus.

In creating and designing the species in Age Of Gladiators II, I wanted to make sure each was unique in both their combat and non-combat abilities, as well as their attributes.

You will have the ability to make any gladiator you like, but there may be times when you want to play to the strengths of the species you are controlling!

I am the Chief Medical Officer for the Blood League. An oxymoron, I know. Alien biology is fascinating. Less than 0.009% of the Milky Way has been explored, yet we have already discovered hundreds of thousands of intelligent species. Some with tentacles, some entirely gelatinous, some consisting of gas, some I cannot even explain.

But for sake of league parity, we are only allowing species of a bi-pedal nature(two arms, two legs, one head) to be allowed for competition in the Blood League. Competing species must possess a brain and central nervous system, use two legs for locomotion, and rely on muscle-matter for manipulating their environment.

Think if we allowed one species that felt no pain or took no damage to face another that did. It would be an unfair disaster.

Hlq'nik'knik
Blood League Chief Medical Officer



There are 8 species in Age of Gladiators II, each with their own attribute bonus, as well as unique combat and non-combat abilities.

The species are as follows:

• Skeel – Hyper-active and inquisitive, sharing the same planet and common ancestor as the Vorccine
  
• Karthaarn – Coagulating blood and hardened exoskeletons, extremely adaptable
  
• Boorhaal – Hot-tempered and socially crude, extremely tough and durable
  
• Vorccine – Predatory and vicious, sharing the same planet and common ancestor as the Skeel
  
• Humans – Curious and robust, hailing from the Sol system
  
• Xissc – Reptilian species, possessing regenerative organs
  
• T’Shikt – Hive-minded, logical, insect species, fun at parties
  
• Hresh – Highly martial, warlike and unrelenting

Each species has an attribute bonus suitable to their physical or mental make-up.

The bonuses are as follows:

• Skeel: +20 Speed
  
• Karthaarn: +20 Vitality
  
• Boorhaal: +20 Strength
  
• Human: +20 Intelligence
  
• Xissc: +20 Aggression
  
• Vorccine: +20 Agility
  
• T’Shikt: +20 Reflexes
  
• Hresh: +20 Stamina

These bonuses will help inform which kind of build you want to create with your various gladiators.





Each species each have their own special ability that can be used during combat. The cooldown time in between uses is determined by the gladiator's Species Cooldown combat stat.

The combat abilities are as follows:

• Skeel
  Hyper Attack: 6 Extra Action Points (1 Turn)
  
  
• Karthaarn
  Fast Coagulation: Heals 300 Damage (1 Turn)
  
  
• Boohaal
  Brutal Attack: 10% Bonus To Critical Damage (1 Turn)
  
  
• Human
  Robust Nature: 3 Extra Action Points, 10% Bonus To Hit Chance (1 Turn)
  
  
• Xissc
  Cold Blooded: 20% Bonus to Critical Chance (1 Turn)
  
  
• Vorccine
  Barbaric Rage: 10% Bonus to Regular Damage (1 Turn)
  
  
• T'Shikt
  Hardened Exoskeleton: 50% Incoming Damage Reduction (1 Turn)
  
  
• Hresh
  Hyper Attack: 20% Bonus to Hit Chance (1 Turn)

These unique abilities add extra dimension to battle, so be sure to plan out your build around these.



As well, each species also possess their own out of combat passive abilities as well.

These abilities are as follows:

• Skeel
  Tinkerer: Equipped weapons decay much slower.
  
  
• Karthaarn
  Armorer: Equipped armor decays much slower.
  
  
• Boohaal
  Hardy Constitution: Does not suffer from sickness.
  
  
• Human
  Versatile: Gains training XP in both melee and ranged weapons.
  
  
• Xissc
  Regenerative Tissue: No critical or permanent injuries.
  
  
• Vorccine
  Fanatical: Does not suffer from fatigue.
  
  
• T'Shikt
  Hive Mentality: No morale loss.
  
  
• Hresh
  Martial Culture: Selected weapons training XP bonus.

In creating and designing the species in Age Of Gladiators II, I wanted to make sure each was unique in both their combat and non-combat abilities, as well as their attributes.

You will have the ability to make any gladiator you like, but there may be times when you want to play to the strengths of the species you are controlling!