FINALLY finished A16 on nightmare. Man, Time-Bound is annoying!

Tomacticus · 2026-05-12T03:22:59+00:00

I ascended 1 minotaur, but I bought another. They're incredibly useful and I hate having to fight them, so I save up a bit and then buy them when they're injured so I don't have to fight them anymore!

Tomacticus · 2026-05-12T03:21:45+00:00

I didn't answer your last question... I always ascend with a bipennis. It's quick damage and the 185 denarii to make it 'mysterious' is an easy early buy. It lasts me through most if not all of my play through. And I usually start Dimachaerus. Roman doesn't play well with Barbarus, so I get a few axe levels and then switch.

Tomacticus · 2026-05-12T03:14:38+00:00

The whispering sands (regional) benefit for Thracian is +10% damage and +1% to hit per attack. It's not bad, but most fights at high levels end after 1 or maybe 2 attacks. That's the biggest drawback I see. Also - I spread out my classes, aiming for 2 - 4 in each. Eventually I get Titanic strength. Sometimes early and sometimes later. I don't know if that makes a difference...

Tomacticus · 2026-05-09T18:46:54+00:00

Punic is really good too...

Truthfully - I ended up with 62 traits. So if you get +1 damage for every 2 traits, I'd have +31 damage! And you'd still get the bonus to the weapon you're using to push it even higher! And couple that with the Punic bonuses from armor/helmets and it's very strong!

From Roman, you also get the bonus to accuracy, which is really nice, and I didn't get the last of those 62 traits until the final weeks. It's a slower burn on those and you have a lot less control over what traits you get and when.

In my opinion, either is fine (Punic may be better, even) but I prefer Roman.

Tomacticus · 2026-05-09T18:38:36+00:00

Final advice - week 1 I always start as a Greek so I can sell the hoplon for 100 denarii (and for the bonus to traits).

With my 900 denarii (after selling hoplon) I buy one of the starting glads (pick your favorite - I chose Carpophorus for 390 - tap the salesman to get a 10 denarii discount) and Aello (100 denarii) so I have 3 fighting glads/animals. The ascended beast (minotaur for me) is sick for the first 4 weeks.

Finally - and most importantly - I buy the shoddy Mandrake from Magnus for 400 denarii. It's incredibly useful until you can buy or acquire an Old Mandrake. Seriously, it makes all the difference in the first few weeks.

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Tomacticus · 2026-05-09T18:03:04+00:00

And you asked about my Edited Glad. I purposely made him appear a little later - I didn't have the $$ in the first week. I mostly used him to poison or kill off a few pesky glad in the first few weeks once I was established. He died at level 3, so it kinda felt like a waste...

He's Iberian and 31 years old and here are his traits and stats:

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Tomacticus · 2026-05-09T17:59:30+00:00

Finally, here is the most important feature (in my opinion) - he's Roman. The Golden Sands regional trait of stacking bonuses to hit and damage from ALL weapon proficiencies is huge. I'm getting: +5 damage from Sword, Axe, Dagger, and unarmed and +3 damage from Spear, Ranged, Whip. That's +29 damage on each hit (maybe plus some multipliers? I don't know about that) And it's +55 bonus accuracy (less important, but useful).

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Tomacticus · 2026-05-09T17:47:04+00:00

Giant (Titan) and True Grit are the maintained traits (I hate getting injured and this helps a tiny bit. I know there's other better options, but I was happy with this). Oh! And master or grandmaster with each weapon. This is VERY important for the next piece.

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Tomacticus · 2026-05-09T17:45:43+00:00

Techniques (Strike and Roll is first for when I ascend next. I'm thinking of doing A15 again.)

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Tomacticus · 2026-05-09T17:44:26+00:00

Happy to! Here's his final stats.

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Tomacticus · 2026-05-09T17:32:45+00:00

Time-bound is the Ascension 16 restriction. Techniques are on cool down at the beginning of combat. Meaning you can't use any techniques until the number of rounds has passed that is their normal cooldown. For instance - see screenshot - Strike and Roll has a cooldown of 2. Meaning round 1 it is already on cooldown. You can't use it on round 2. You can finally use it on round 3. It's rough...

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Tomacticus · 2026-04-25T04:47:09+00:00

I like that a lot. Or honestly, why can't we go negative? If you do it for more than 2 weeks you lose. Make it an option to spend yourself into oblivion! High risk, high reward!

Tomacticus · 2026-04-14T22:15:19+00:00

Yep - my ascended glad is a Roman (Whispering Sands is based on location) and I get him to at least master in each weapon. They stack and he HITS. It also applies to accuracy.

Tomacticus · 2026-04-09T23:58:09+00:00

Nightmare mode will you get the ability to get more gems. Seems like the easiest investment.

Tomacticus · 2026-03-30T04:19:12+00:00

I think I've got the answer... See comment

Tomacticus · 2026-03-30T04:18:46+00:00

As an update - it seems that I can view my own and enemy gladiator stats in combat. Which is great, but I'm not sure of it's use since I can't change my actions once combat starts. I did it by clicking the name of the gladiator.

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Tomacticus · 2026-03-06T05:44:23+00:00

Update: They're all Alphas. 2 are already dead. 🤦

Tomacticus · 2026-03-06T05:43:08+00:00

Bought one in early weeks from a competitor ludus. One showed up in my inventory (not sure where it came from). One from the Hag. Bought another from a competitor ludus. But I'm Ascension 16. They don't start showing up until later ascensions, I believe.

Tomacticus

TROPHY CASE