From Disaster to Icon: Anvil Gladiator | Star Citizen Lore

Today we discuss the rags to riches story of the Anvil Gladiator. From the unwanted result of a high level scam to posterchild of the UEE Navy the Gladiator has proven its worth in countless battles in the nearly 50 years it has been in service
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[@GuttedWrenStudios]

One day, CIG will remember the Gladiator exists and give this ship the love it deserves.

[@kyleobryant6150]

It gets all the love it deserves. 😊

[@BVDxBEAR]

Master modes and advanced tactical situations...

[@velocitymg]

Lose the bubble turret, make it a remote unit and second seat as a RIO / weapons operator and I’ll be a happy pilot.

[@niklasdahlgren7641]

Upgrade the S3 wing pylon mounts back to it's original S5 so it has a full torpedo load.

[@robertschumacher2707]

@@niklasdahlgren7641 At a guess the military models will have the S5 mounts while we civvies get the downgraded ones.

[@mistersolace265]

As a Veteran the idea of burying their dead and returning back with the dog tags brought an unexpected tear to my eye. I felt that deep in my gut.

[@pilotgshep]

Thank you for your service

[@WolfeLeon23]

I'm the same way. Was in the U.S. Navy so all the stories of the UEE Navy always get to me. Hell I was tearing up at the Invictus convention.

[@esdee108]

The Gladiator and Hawk have always been the red-headed step children of my security oriented fleet. Hopefully the both of them get some love with the upcoming changes!

[@animusnocturnus7131]

I love the Hawk. I know that its frame is a bit too good of a target and its weaponry isn't exactly the best, but I love how quick it reacts and how you can destroy enemies with needle pricks. It's a really fun ship.

[@gabrielibarra5551]

Same!

[@The_Huntress]

"Aggressive Environmental Recalibration..." This has to be something that Hurston Dynamics contracted out for.

[@bryanthegoalie5692]

Former military, this right here had me crying when they all volunteered and readied their craft all the way to your patreon at the end.

[@stratum42]

I'm former military as well, and I'm not sure what it is about the Hornet chassis and history but there's some feeling of nostalgia like I grew up hearing about in real life with WWII pilots. My Grandfather was one of them. Hence I have pledged real money on every Hornet chassis ship in the game, including the Gladiator and they are all I use other than the Scorpius.

[@JumpyLemming22]

That warm feeling lore gives me

[@iancarlin1597]

I love it. I don't even own the game yet but I've had my eye on this ship ever since my "research" (obsession) with watching the game. luv ur vids.

[@jgvtc559]

Do not spend a red cent on this game until you have 32gb ram minimum with dialed in timings 16gb gets so hot it could combust And the game is unplayable Now you have 32gb ram ok It's "playable" enjoy the bugs

[@iancarlin1597]

@@jgvtc559 Ty for the tip. I don't even have a gaming pc yet lol.

[@jgvtc559]

@@iancarlin1597 no problem I regret buying it so soon myself personally the game that is not the PC It has lots of good stuff about it smothered in bugs and I'll just wait a few til I try and play it again It's worsely optimized than cod wz and that's saying something

[@animusnocturnus7131]

@@jgvtc559 There are better and worse patches. Last year we had the entire year on the 3.17 branch, which was a nightmare. I've played since November 2020 almost daily with only a couple days in between where I dedicated my time to different games for a change of palette, and for the most part I had very few issues. Before 3.13 there had been the occasional 30k error, but afterwards I was able to play for hours without a single bug occuring. 3.17 had brought a LOT of issues with it though, including the most outrageous amount of 30k errors I've experienced in the game. I can't wait to be rid of 3.17 to be honest. Hopefully 3.18 or 3.19 will be more stable.

[@williamsnyder8399]

Give it a try during one of the many free fly events throughout the year.

[@Nimoodles]

Bold of you to put the word "Scam" in a thumbnail pertaining to Star Citizen.

[@TheAstroHistorian]

I like to dance on the wildside

[@Ryecrash617]

I've never had any interest in the Gladiator until this video. Thank you so much for making such a great video.

[@TheAstroHistorian]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@citizeninja]

I love this lore, but I think the Gladiator itself needs a little extra love from CIG whenever it gets its gold standard pass.

[@party4lifedude]

If they can go over that ship and make it really as good as it deserves to be, that would be amazing. It would probably become a lot of people's favorite ship, rather than something you forget exists. It deserves better. It has been in the game for a long time, and you can really tell. They will have to refresh it in order to get the component system functional in that ship.

[@alyxander8897]

I love the Gladiator despite it's current state in game. I recently upgraded it to a Vulcan but I managed to pick up a CCU so that it may rejoin my fleet.

[@DeformedCoffee]

Man I hope this ship gets some love soon, it's been my favorite ship for a long time.

[@matzemania4416]

i just love how deep and crafted with love the SC lore allready is. it's like when i first iscoverd the Warhammer 40k univers. i Could just listen the rest of my life to the SC lore thx Astro for another awesome vid!

[@jhbk5]

I've read most of these pieces individually over the years but hearing them be told together and in order just feels different. It only excites me for the stories we will discover in the verse. Fantastic job, good sir.

[@Tarnfalk]

Hey my favorite ship in SC, glad 3.18 has finally fixed cross section missiles so now I can use it again

[@Thekobibryant]

I have an never ending hunger for lore, keep up the good work. Please and thank you!!

[@catsyrup5455]

Wow I have no idea there is so much lore to this ship!

[@TheAstroHistorian]

Neither did I honestly...

[@FreakGameR8699]

The squadron 214 story would easily make an awesome movie

[@WitcherGary]

Gladiator is just perfectly ugly enough to look like tough navy workhorse. But i would love to see more support variants, like early warning E-2 Hawkeye, or that mentioned Search And Rescue (sorta like PBY Catalina)

[@theorangeofallahpbuh1840]

Hopefully in the future that will happen, thanks to stated modularity.

[@velocitymg]

Gladiator will never be modular, best hope is they give the textures a rework and bring it up to current anvil design spec along with a pass on cockpit interior.

[@why9541]

@@velocitymg What makes you say it'll never be modular? Lots of other ships have modularity planned such as the retaliator and caterpillar, so I don't see why the Gladiator wouldn't see some love much later in development

[@pirateradio8420]

Really enjoyed this one! Almost makes me want to buy back my Gladiator.

[@N1ghtCOB]

Incredible, Paul. Got me right in the feels on this video. So very well done.

[@DerpMcDerp101]

Thanks!! Nice to hear audio of this. Well spoken.

[@jonathan4824]

Another damn good video, dude. Always a pleasure to watch.

[@MadhatterMike42]

Awesome video, really enjoyed that! I find the gladiator is a ship that is there but not many talk about or used often so great to hear all this lore on it.

[@friskydingo9024]

Love the lore videos, keep up the fantastic work!

[@eisenhowerjones6965]

Perfect timing I recently really started liking Anvil. I wish you would take the audio for these lore videos and put them in podcast format so I could learn at work.

[@witchdoctor6502]

Great video ands very nice story. Definitely going to buy it in 3.18 although I still think it is ugly :D Also UEE blunders sounds like a great idea for a video.

[@chrisalexander2478]

Keep them coming Paul. Excellent video :)

[@ParanoidCarrot]

wonderful video ! thanks

[@Shamshiro]

Learning that this absolute unit has a firefighter variant makes me feel an incredible urge to form a firefighter brigade (provided fire breakouts would be a thing someday soon lol).

[@CyberiusT]

Man, you had my fingers twitchin'... One does not put SC and "scam" in the same sentence without preparing for war! ;) Excellent story, though! Almost enough to make me want to buy one. "Almost", because I am very much /not/ a fighter pilot! :)

[@TheAstroHistorian]

You obviously never delt with defense contractors

[@CyberiusT]

@@TheAstroHistorian Worked for one, briefly. But no, never had to control the business at all.

[@I86282]

Yo whoever thought up this backstory for as awesome of a ship as the gladiator. Is in the wrong profession. But you can't really blame them. I mean CIG pretty much already abandoned it. When they got rid of one dude who was doing all the programming. Which prompted them to utilize lumber yard instead. Actually now that I think about it. I wish they had abandoned it. No they did something much worse. They nerfed it into Oblivion. And then forgot about it.! It used to be a ship worthy of its name. Really it was OP. If anyone remembers. It was a hero. That they made sure to make a zero. Truly the Gladiator stands as a shining example of all the tragedy's lost and forgotten in bygone alpha versions. RIP 4.3 I'll never forget you bro.! 😢 🫗 But I gota say Paul. The video itself. Was superb. A beautiful soliloquy and homage worthy of such a ship as the T3-A Gladiator. Thank you sir.

[@Dinops907]

Excellent Video and Great Lore....Long LIVE the 214...Black Crows

[@humech]

Lovely video thank you!

[@monkey.360]

Can't help but feel like the UEE we were scammed by CIG to put this forgotten ship into our hanger. Then you fly it......and fall in love with it. Superb little ship. Just wish CIG would give it some love. Release that green skin with the white nose CIG.

[@MadBeausuff]

Nicely done

[@RookRiot1]

Good news, the gladiator is still a neglected deathtrap.

[@ergobibamus4409]

Awesome, thank you.

[@michaelmacdonell4834]

The Gladiator became the go-to-MRCA

[@vasilizaitsez7455]

Thank you! I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this nugget of lore. Im a huge fan of Anvil, have the Gladiator and Carrack mentioned in this video. I look forward to collecting all Anvil ships in game and seeing all their related lore.

[@AzzaRudd]

Fantastic video Makes me want the Gladiator to get gold standard ASAP!

[@31415epsilon]

Recently got this one. I love Utility in SC.

[@fishbaitx]

this lore. i love it! ANOTHER!

[@animusnocturnus7131]

I recognised this reference.

[@squallleonheart7353]

This video single-handedly made me want to buy a gladiator

[@spacecowboy4804]

Honestly, it would be super cool if they would make a super high alpha damage torp with 0 guidance and is dumb fire only. Make the torps more powerful and balance their usage with a high skill ceiling. Currently the s5 torps aren’t quite as damaging as a torp should be and are very easily avoidable.

[@ralfgartner7549]

I thinking of getting one since years but it never convinced me totally. So i think i will try it in the invictus week and make up my mind. it should fit on my Liberator as well, so it would be a nice thing to have.

[@J.Severin]

CIG please, give us some of these Variants of the Gladiator! sounds awesome!

[@UEENavy]

As long as the maneuvering thrusters have the Teletubbies vacuum animation I will not touch it.

[@durtyred86]

Hmm...This sounds, vaguely familiar......🤔😅😅

[@DecemberSeraphim]

The only thing that I hate about it is how the turret disturbs the pointy design of this ship.

[@xikungao2376]

CIG watching this: Anvil what now? We made a ship called Gladiator in SC?

[@TheAstroHistorian]

CIG: Wait, we wrote that?

[@UNiTEDDKSilent21]

I wonder how this lore will change when the a1 comes into the verse

[@phillipscott9736]

With all the lore built into star citizen i am surprised they havent tried to make a show based on it.

[@goself84]

Makes me wanna buy a Gladiator

[@Lord_Retrospect]

did u receive a polite request from CIG to remove scam from the title?

[@takeonedaily]

If you know the history of Star Citizen as a game, The Gladiator is very much an allegory for CIG and SC.

[@vbiron8203]

At first glance i fell in love with the gladiator, but then i took closer look and tested it out. Too clubsy for my taste. And visualy its to wide and flat, almost shaped like a star.

[@grinningidiot]

In the Air Force I worked on the F15E which fill a heavy fighter/light bomber role and I've always loved the Gladiator for having that familiar feel and I love the look of it. I would have bought one by now except every time I test fly one during an event, some feature or another doesn't work making it less than useful. I'll probably get one if it ever gets a gold standard pass.

[@shaftoe195]

Where did you get all this lore information from?

[@TheAstroHistorian]

Gladiator Brochure, Squadron 214 Lore Post on Jump Point, Whitley's Guide Gladiator Post in Jump Point and a bunch of other places including the Galactapedia.

[@scratthesquirrel5242]

and i said GLADIATOR? more like glad he barely knew her.

[@IndraVir01]

🎉🎉🎉

[@RobertP-zk8vh]

wish they would update this fighter it needs it bad

[@5centsperkittykat]

The gladiator is like the Y-wing. shit still works

[@dartdragon4785]

Is the experimental torpedo supposed to be Star Citizen?

[@TheAstroHistorian]

Naw it was never made beyond prototype because it didn't work

[@TheAngriestGamer.]

size 5 Micro torps capital killers?? LMAO wut? this ship may be awesome in lore, but ingame with its specs its dog water. the thing needs its dumb wing guns need upgraded to S4 fixed/S3 Gimbaled, the inner wing pylons need to be 1xS4/2xS3/4xS2/8xS1 mounts The outter wing mounts needs special rules that allow it to have 1xS3, 4xS2, 4xS1. the main S5s need to have their damage increased to 23k dmg per missile and they need to beable to mount other S5 missiles not just the ones they come with as well as edit/buy and reequip the Gladiators S5 racks so when you bug out and get them destroyed, they can be replaced instead of being stuck with a ship that has no freaking weapons on it... the 2nd seater needs to get access to a targeting pod as well as the gun turret. the bomber needs Laser guided gravity bombs and rockets for A2G operations. THEN it will actually beable to fill its intended freaking role as a light bomber/Medium fighter sized attack craft where it can go after things like connys, redeemers, A2s etc etc, and maybe a couple of them going after corvettes as a group. but even with all that. you will NOT beable to kill actual capitalships like frigates and destroyers. not even as a group, no way in hell. I wish this was the only ship that was unable to fill its intended role but its not, the Conny Andromeda (aka combat connie) needs a 2nd S3 shield, it needs its gun turrets changed back to S3 mounts instead of the current S2s, and it needs to beable to fit all 4 S5 guns. instead of having 2x 5s and 2x4s like it does now. the perseus is an absolute dumpster fire of a ship in its design and intention. .the s3 AA gun on the bottom needs moved out of the buttcrack of the ship and put onto the lower front hull where it can actually have decent firing arcs. the Torps on that thing need to be increased in size from S5s to S6s, then they need to take a page out of the Javalins turret designs and add remote Twin S3 top guns on each of the manned S7 guns as added Point defense against missiles and small craft. The S7 guns need to NOT be bespoke like they are planning and we need to beable to mount Projectile or energy repeaters or cannons if we want. CIG are terrible at making gameplay and things that fill their intended roles. they only seem to be good at selling the worlds most expensive Jpeg/NFTs... The Natalus needs its twin S7 gun downsized to a Twin S6 so it doesnt steal the light of the Perseus. and its mines need to be equal in power to S7s or S8s atleast. instead of the current plan to give them power equal to a S5.. idk WTF CIGs obsession is with crappy S5s which are not really torps like a S1 missile isnt really a missile. the best they can do is take out Heavy fighters. Remove the stupid bed from the Harbenger and add a 2nd 3x S5 missile bay so it can do its job as a torp bomber/fighter and add 2 1xS6 only missile hardpoints on the outside of the bomber so it can do its intended job. Corvettes in general all need to be rocking a single S4 shield generator instead of S3s. the bigger ships need to have S5 or S6 shields. Where is the freaking armor system at, and why oh god why are they planning to add STUPID crap like going to the bathroom, eating, showering, insurance that doesnt do anything, losing and looting ship components that aren't sold in stores, etc etc etc... Bad game design, not fun "mechanics", and "military ships™" that are literally only suppose to be good for combat, yet are actually worse even at combat than civilian ships, is a crying shame.

[@TheAstroHistorian]

Sir, this is a whammers.

[@TheAngriestGamer.]

@@TheAstroHistorian it took me a second to get the joke but once i did, i couldnt help but chuckle. yeah going off on you for CIGs dumb shit doesnt really help. and while thats not what i intended with my message, upon reading it i can see how that might of come across like that.

[@drksideofthewal]

It’s not awesome in lore though. It was based around a scam weapon, which is probably why it sucks so much. S5 torpedoes aren’t particularly useful against capital ships.

[@TheAngriestGamer.]

@@drksideofthewal no shit.. it should be a light bomber. its NOT going to go aginst caps. but a few of these things should be yeeting Connys, A2s M2s C2s, Orions, Liberators, Hull B-D maybe Es, Redeemers, Corsairs, and maybe a few of these could group up and attack Hammerheads, Persius, polaris and natalus.. that is the limit of what its indented role should be.. Its not going to go aginst anything bigger than a corvette, and even vs corvettes it should have to work in pairs. The other thing about the gladiator is it would make a fantastic platform for a light A2G bombing if they gave it some decent gravity bombs. Its a light pocket bomber to be carried on Idiris and other ships. if you want an actual anti capital bomber you should be using Eclipse and Retaliaters. The reason i ranted so much in my 1st post. is because it doesnt even do what i just listed well, and i pitched the changes needed to make it actually work and have a functional role outside of just lore/theroy.

[@drksideofthewal]

@@TheAngriestGamer. I was responding specifically to your claim that the ship was “awesome” in lore, I don’t actually give a single shit about the Gladiator balance.

[@TheKodiak72]

No sources given, the brochure mentions nothing of most of it. calling BS on this video

[@TheAstroHistorian]

I mean we can do this if you like. I tend to not cite sources because it breaks the flow of the video as a lot of these sources are broken and scattered through a lot of different lore. robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/12970-Portfolio-Anvil-Aerospace robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/14165-Consolidated-Outland robertsspaceindustries.com/media/k9o0qbp9vvu1tr/source/Gladiator-Brochure-V4.pdf robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/14436-Squad-214-Bravo-Flight The big one where most of this information comes from is an article in Jump Point Issue 9-4 April 2021 which has not yet been released to the public. If you are a subscriber on CIG's service you have access but with that information you likely can find someone who has posted that issue to the public as well.

[@tree0311]

Better to appear a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt. This information was a Google Search away...

[@solitaryreport]

Never question THE Astro Historian...

[@danford6678]

The game is a scam 12 years into development it is still absolute garbage. 7 years since early access started 7 years of free alpha testing.... and even the most basic things like inventory and gui's don't work properly. Not to mention the desync endless bugs 0 QOL and time wasting tedium as survival mechanics. Also there is still no persistence in the game lol it is a joke.