| “ | The Gladiator Swarm is a slow, powerful squadron for close-range encounters, built from the remains of defeated aliens. | ” |
| — In-Game Description |
| !THIS SQUADRON CAN ONLY BE EQUIPPED ON THE FREYJA CARRIER! | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| !THIS SQUADRON CAN ONLY BE EQUIPPED ON THE DOMINION CARRIER! | |||
| Gladiator Swarm | I | II | III |
| Mass | 842t | 1,010t | 1,179t |
| DPS | 234 | 304 | 410 |
| Flight Time | 120s | ||
| Scramble Range | 8,250 m | ||
| Speed | 2,000 m/s | ||
| Health | 1,000 | ||
| Unlocking (Obtainable only by defeating Harvesters) | |||
| Arms Lab Required | VI | VIII | X |
| Build | |||
| Time | 8h | 1d | 2d |
| Helium-3 | 6,904,902 | 7,365,229 | 7,825,556 |
| Antimatter | 2,301,635 | 2,455,077 | 2,608,519 |
General
The Gladiator Swarm is one of three Squadrons utilized by the Aliens, the others being the Charger Swarm and the Ranger Swarm, and the last to be released. It has the characteristic long flight time of Alien Squadrons and is the only Alien squadron to not flank the enemy directly. It has the most health and speed out of any obtainable swarm currently in the game.
They have been utilized on Alien Hives and Alien Harvesters all the time along with the Ranger Swarm, and were finally available in the third Alien Decimation.
Strategy and Setup
Advantages:
Its extremely high DPS surpasses even that of the Ranger Swarm, which, in addition to its high speeds, 1,000 health, and lower mass requirements, makes the Gladiator swarm one of the most powerful squadrons in the game. Its High DPS and flight time ensures certain death to any enemy ship whose defenses are penetrated.
With its low mass, it is possible to outfit higher level Gladiators on a Mk I Dominion Carrier as compared to the Charger Swarm and Ranger Swarm. This means it can achieve higher DPS while retaining a reasonable mass.
Gladiator Swarms also have a massive health pool of 1,000 health. This gives even anti-squadron fleets have a hard time, and they will frequently fly through the barrage with only a small decrease in their health. Not even the Manifold Missile, the best anti-squadron weapon, can 1-shot the Gladiator, making it do almost certain damage.
Gladiator Swarms remain vulnerable to Xeno weaponry.
Disadvantages:
The only major drawback that the Gladiator suffers from, compared to its counterparts, is range. Even ships with Bomber Squadrons or Spectre Squadrons are able to outrange it by a small distance, enabling skilled pilots to kite carriers with Gladiator Swarms.
The Gladiator Swarm is only available in Alien Decimation, and thus is extremely hard to obtain; only available to high level players who are able to take on the powerful Alien Harvester. To add to this, 70-75 Harvesters have a very low chance to drop Gladiator III, and lv 80 was extremely powerful - it could usually wipe out any non-Xeno Division fleet very quickly if attacked incorrectly, and even then they had a rather low chance to drop Gladiator III.
The Gladiator has a long refit time also, meaning refitting a carrier with the Gladiator can take up to a maximum of 12 days. This usually takes up valuable time which could be better used to refit or build other things. They also are very resource consumptive which will usually drain your resources which is needed for refitting and building.
The Arms lab now has the ability to craft higher-level swarms out of lower level swarms, meaning that players with large numbers of lower-level gladiator swarms may be able to obtain gladiator III.
Gallery
Trivia
- The Gladiator Swarm is the Last Alien Swarm to be released to players.
- The Gladiator Swarm is the only swarm squadron that doesn't flank enemy ships.
- Most players fear the high DPS of this squadron in the old hive fleets, and thus tend to stick at maximum range with their carrier in order to prevent triggering those squadrons.
- Some people confused the Gladiator Swarm for Gladius Swarm, a reference to the Gladius Driver weapon.
- The Description says the Gladiator Swarm is slow, when ironically it has the highest speed of a squadron.
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