Dune: Spice Wars is the first game for the franchise in two decades, which is surely exciting for the fans. However, the game has taken a new 4x approach instead of the base building RTS that the series was known for. Despite the early access, players have already started spending hours on the game and have found its mechanics unique and fresh.
The game can be hard-hitting for first-time players of either the franchisee or the 4x genre. Finding the right balance between military prowess and political expansion, all for riches of the spice, can be a bit to take in at an early glance. But there is always a first step to take, and Rome was not built in a day.
6 Understand The Strengths & Weaknesses Of Each Faction
Players familiar with Dune would be accustomed to the faction styled gameplay. The game has four different and unique factions, each with its own tactical and economic leverage.
House Atreides is the best choice for players looking for a less militaristic approach and seeking more diplomatic and political expansions. It is economically prosperous and is one with efficiency in raw material production at a higher rate when compared to the other factions. They can use Influence to capture villages.
House Harkonnen is the house for players wanting to take a more violent approach to their gameplay. The house has the most potent military units in the game and often takes to corruption to get things done. However, this comes at the cost of a low economy and weak production rates. They can use Authority and oppression to capture villages
Smugglers are a band of covert operatives who benefit from carrying out undercover operations that can sabotage enemy factions. Their ability to set up secret headquarters underneath the opposition's villages can help them benefit from its resources.
The Freman are the locals of Arrakis who have their own setup. With goals to terraform the desert planet into a green garden of Eden, they are an elementary band of revolutionaries trying to strive for a free world. The faction is for those who like a minimalistic approach to the game with basic military units.
5 Know Your Resources
The basis of Dune: Spice Wars is the battle for spice. He who controls the spice controls Arrakis. Spice is the base on which fans can pay their monthly tax to the empire or trade their way with the other factions for a better position. Building a refinery in the villages near these spice fields allows players to harvest them. A purple marker on the map marks them.
Solari is the currency to keep the economy afloat. Fans need them to keep their base going at complete optimal levels. Military units, base expansion, and keeping production lines going would all need Solari. Building processing plants in the villages near rich elements or taking control of villages with merchants adds to one's Solari deposit.
Water is the third most crucial resource in the game and players can harvest water from windy regions. Building windtraps in villages adds 3 points of water to one's inventory. It's worth noting that the water produced by the windtraps multiples by the wind strength of the area (village) that they are built on.
Like wood and stone in the Age of Empires, Plascrete is the Dune material that allows fans to add buildings to their captured villages. Every building costs plascrete and for upkeep. Building processing plants in the regions under the player's control adds to one's plascrete inventory.
Other Key Stats & Resources
The manpower icon on the HUD helps players keep tabs on their employment levels. Anything and everything that would require a workforce, such as the military, is subject to the availability of manpower. Building recruitment offices in villages help increase its numbers.
Units like spice harvesters and ornithopters require fuel cells. They can be produced by fuel cell factories in regions that have volcanoes.
Authority is required to take control of villages with or without a military takeover. Assigning agents to Arrakis would add more numbers to the authority Tab.
Influence is that extra push that gives more power to your votes while at the high council. Building listening posts or assigning agents to Landstad helps add value to the tab.
Knowledge is basically skill points to feed into new developments. Building research hubs helps players gain more.
Intel is required for carrying out espionage that might help fans for the better or cause a dent in the opposition's economy. Data centers and assigning agents to enemies provide more for more intel numbers.
Hegemony is level up points that unlock new levels of base expansions and additional buildings. Every action with significance adds to hegemony points.
Command points are cut-offs for the total military units that can be trained. They are redeemable. Units destroyed or disbanded add back to the command points, while researching ground commands and high commands add an extra slab to the total tally.
4 Understanding Arakkis
The map of Arakkis is split into many shapeless regions, each having its own name and piece of individuality. The foremost thing to look out for is the wind strength and sandworm activity in the bottom left corner. The more the wind strength, the more water produced by the wind traps.
Apart from that, these regions in Arakkis also have unique resources. Building the companion plants or refineries adds more bonuses to the current production value of certain materials.
Rare elements provide a premium add-on to the solari numbers, energy sources provide fuel cells, and minerals provide a bonus in plascrete production. Be wary of the desert space. It is where the sandworm makes a grand entry. Keep troops away as much as possible and protect the harvester.
3 Politics & Espionage
Intel, Influence, and Landsraad standings are the most essential factors in this part of the game mechanics. The political aspects of the game include votes in the Landsraad council every 25 game days. Three resolutions that can change the game for either yourself or your opposition factions are the crucial requirements for the vote. Spending votes for supporting or declining those resolutions would help get a competitive edge over the others. The higher one's influence and Landsraad standings, the higher the number of votes that can pass for each resolution.
Agents can be assigned to the enemy faction or string-pullers like the Spacing Guild, the Landsraad council, or Arrakis. Posting agents to each available option opens up possibilities to create and explore Arrakis, support your objective in the game, or bring down the other rival factions. The agents level up with every operation successfully completed and can go up to the max levels, unlocking new ways to hamper enemy factions and gain the upper hand.
2 Important Tips To Keep In Mind
It is wise to build and fortify your existing cluster before raiding and gaining more villages under one's control. Expanding costs a lot of resources. Ensure you have enough for smooth control of existing bases before moving on to expansion.
It is also essential to keep an eye on the spice to solari meter. It helps players understand the ratio of spice that has been converted to solari. Either side of the extreme would prove painful to one's progress.
1 The End Game
Dune: Spice Wars is, first and foremost, a strategy game. Unlike other games in the genre, Spice Wars has a three-way win condition. Players can either win by "Domination" - where fans must eradicate all enemy bases on the map, or through "Governorship" - where players can sneak through the Landsraad council via the dune governorship and hold it for 60 game days. "Hegemony" is the long method where the player's faction accumulates 50,000 points.
Dune: Spice Wars is now available as Early Access on Steam.