Dominus Gladiatus Demo — Gameplay Improvements & Fixes

This update brings major improvements to Morale, crowd interactions, injuries, gladiator management, combat feedback, and Ludus quality of life, along with another round of fixes and polish based on player feedback.

Gameplay & Balance

• Reworked Morale, including how a gladiator's death affects the rest of the Ludus.

• Positive Morale effects now apply immediately, without requiring a separate Game Event.

• The Doctore's whip no longer causes a Morale penalty.

• Reworked crowd calls: each gladiator can now call to the crowd twice per fight.

• Favored gladiators and arena animals can no longer be targeted by crowd-thrown stones.

• Tier 0 wooden weapons can no longer cause decapitations.

• Reworked Injuries and their recovery behavior.

• Quarters now recover Fatigue faster.

• Leaving the Infirmary early now removes injuries based on the amount of recovery time completed, while restoring Fatigue to its value before admission.

• Rebalanced gladiator purchase and sell prices.

• Exhibition Match cooldowns now begin after the fight ends rather than when the match is accepted.

• Gladiators who refuse to fight are now also unavailable for Exhibition Matches.

• Added additional game-speed controls using keyboard keys 2 and 3.

Gladiator Management & Interface

• Gladiator selling has moved from the Armory to a dedicated Dominus tab.

• Slave Market refreshes now progress using Ludus time, with a countdown showing when new gladiators will arrive.

• Highlighting a gladiator during Fight Preparation now also highlights their opponent matchup.

• Empty gladiator positions during Fight Preparation are now shown as darkened slots.

• Improved Health and Damage reports, including clearer Battle Inspiration feedback.

• Arena reward reports now display the base match reward separately from bonus coins earned through Charismatic.

• Improved stat placement, Morale indicators, Fatigue icons, and general interface layout.

• Added a new Veteran icon.

• Added a short delay before Game Events appear after returning from an arena fight.

Audio & Visual Improvements

• Added a new Ludus music track.

• Added new sound effects for interface actions and Dominus Powers.

• Improved the volume slider for more consistent perceived loudness.

• Improved death animations, including deaths caused by kicks.

Fixes

• Fixed several issues with Dodge Roll.

• Fixed Battle Inspiration effects not being cleaned up correctly after arena fights.

• Fixed reward report information incorrectly carrying over between fights.

• Fixed several Morale calculation and crowd behavior issues.

• Fixed tracking of the maximum number of gladiators allowed in the Ludus.

• Fixed overlapping icons on Victory and Defeat screens.

• Fixed Fatigue indicator rounding and positioning.

• Added an error sound when attempting to unpause while a match is pending.

• Fixed various additional gameplay, interface, and combat issues.

Thank you to everyone continuing to play the demo and share feedback. We're continuing to refine Dominus Gladiatus as we get closer to release.