Terrain

Terrain plays a vital role in combat, as it can provide tremendous bonuses and maluses to both the attacker and the defender. Effective use of the landscape is an intrinsic part of victory on Gladius Prime.

Types

Name	Special rule	Effects	Description
Arctic		-20% Food, +20% Science	On most human-habitable planets, the icy, treeless 'arctic' climates are located towards the poles of the planet. On Gladius Prime, however, ancient climate management means the frozen regions are less predictably-distributed.
Brush		+10% Food,	This low scrubland is scattered with the detritus and debris from human habitation, and xenos invasion. It might not be attractive to the eye, but it's fertile enough for basic subsistence.
Coast			Here sits the ruin of an Imperial fishery; there, the abandoned summer villa of a ranking Imperium bureaucrat; there, a camp of desperate, feral human survivors, eking out an existence from the ocean's bounty.
Desert		-20% Food, +20% Energy	In these bare regions, precipitation is so low as to make life impossible, save for slow-growing extremophiles and the most alien anhydrous lifeforms. The clear land and skies are perfect for solar-capture devices, however.
Fermentation Pool	+2 Food/Requisitions, +2 Influence Necrons when controlled. +20% Growth when Acquired.	+20% Food and Requisitions, -10% Loyalty to adjacent tiles.	Special feature that increases the growth rate of the city when acquired. This apparently-natural water source looks welcoming to any wildlife -- but woe betide any thirsty Grox that wanders by. The pool's unusual bacteria rot down the planet's plant life and concentrates the runoff into something lethally-intoxicating. More advanced races can collect and refine the liquid, for trade or entertaining consumption.
Grassland			Whether natural plains or once-inhabited regions scoured clean by unholy warp energies, these rolling fields are the most fertile places on the planet, perfect for Imperium-approved crops.
Grox Pasture	Special feature that increases the food or requisitions output of the city when acquired.		Around heatstones alien storytellers muse about the Grox -- the dangerous herd animal that is ubiquitous throughout human lands. Wherever man goes, the hardy Grox travels with him or is there before him. Some joke that the Grox was the Old Ones' most successful creation.
Imperial Ruins			The pre-invasion human colony was built for defense and mineral exploitation. Nothing was designed to stand the tectonic shifts and warp-born horrors that came with the Ork invasion, and hence very few structures weathered it. This ruin is a rare survivor.
Jokaero Trader Encampment	Special feature that allows a hero unit on the tile to purchase and sell items as well as increases the influence output of the city when acquired.		If you have little regard for your life and seek excitement, visit the Jokaero. Imbued with an instinctive technical creativity that exceeds even that of an Ork Mekboy, these orange-furred aliens resemble a great Terran ape but can create wonders beyond imagining -- the challenge is in acquiring them and safely working out what they do...
Necron Tomb	Feature that allows Necrons to found a city on the tile.		Deep beneath this innocuous patch of land lies a Tomb City, where the Necrons have slept away the long millenia. To one who knows the correct protocols, it's a simple matter to begin the procedure of awakening it and its inhabitants from their dreamless sleep...
Ocean			Who knows what treasures have been swept into Gladius' mighty seas? What long-lost artefacts lie crusted with coral amidst its deep-ocean smokers and light-fearing sea aberrations? Given the richness of the land, no-one has ever explored these questions.
Ore Field	Special feature that increases the ore or requisitions output of the city when acquired.		Few places on an inhabited world still have mineral-rich rocks simply lying around on the surface. Yet here, the ruptures of the warp storm have torn great chunks from the planet's surface, allowing for easy exploitation by whichever faction finds it first.
Orkoid Fungus			Feature that increases the food output and healing rate for Orks.
Outpost			Feature that grants the controlling player a small resource bonus.
Promethium Relay Pipes	Special feature that increases the energy output of the city when acquired.		These heavily-armoured ducts once carried energy-rich promethium to the planet's extensive human cities from deeply-buried auto-refineries. Now, with the cities in ruins from war and chaos, the surviving pipes can be exploited by whichever race claims them first.
Recaf Leaf	Special feature that increases the loyalty of the city when acquired.		These humble fields of wild herbs hide a secret -- a rich food and narcotic stimulant that allows organic races to go without sleep or rest for great periods of time. Called 'Recaf' by humans, it's collected, processed and distributed to factory workers and slaves to greatly improve their output.
River			This freshwater watercourse wends its way to the sea, concentrating the wealth of mountains and fields as it does. Infantry regiments are less interested in the river's bounty and more in its capabilities as a natural defensive line.
Rocks			Thrust up by the planet's seismic hell, these freshly-revealed crags might be bare of organic life, but are a superb source of the rare minerals at Gladius' heart.
Ruins of Vaul	Special feature that provides a reward to the first unit that enters the tile and increases the research output of the city when acquired.
Savanna			Mixed woodland and grassland proliferates here, atop the inevitable human and xenos ruins, making for a landscape that's both fertile and home to the planet's unique ore-rich 'trees'.
Shard of Vaul	Special feature that increases the ore or requisitions and energy output of the city when acquired.		Before the warpstorm, when man ruled the planet, these great outcrops were a curiosity and an attraction, like Cadia's pylons. Yet whilst the warpstorm rages overhead, they tremble with an unkind power that foolhardy races may seek to tap.
Tundra			A stark landscape dominates here, where short growing seasons and low temperatures offered only a bitter existence for the erstwhile human settlers. Food can still be found here, but hydroponic or intensive systems are required for survival.
Volcanic			Here, the massive sub-surface pressure triggered by the warp chaos has created seismic eruptions on the surface. For those races willing to risk their lives (or their slaves' lives), it's a rich area for ore exploitation.
Wire Weed	Feature that ends the movement of a unit and deals damage each turn.		Woe betide anyone who wanders into these thickets of brambles. Slowly at first, but faster and faster, the living weed draws its razor-sharp filaments tighter around the hapless intruder.

Strategies

This article is a stub. You can help Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War Wiki by expanding it.