Dune: A Guide to House Ecaz

Dune: Spice Wars
A Heroes Journey
00:00 The Call to Adventure (Why play Ecaz)
1:59 The Refusal of the Call (Why not Ecaz)
4:10 The Supernatural Aid (What is Unique to Ecaz)
22:18 The Threshold Guardians (What to worry about)
27:50 Undergo Tests (How we maximize)
35:00 Challenges and Temptations (What are the hard decisions)
47:00 Apotheosis (Units and the Deathball Army)
55:34 Master of Two Worlds (The End game)

[@daevohk]

I forgot my whole section on how to determine what to make a sanctuary! What makes a good Sanct: 1. No resources in it (you'd prefer to exploit those rare elements or plascrete or imperial research center) 2. Easy to surround, pressed up against the desert or a mountain range so you only need to take 2-3 regions to make it a sanct and can reap an early +authority benefit. 3. Alternatively, something not easy to surround--but hitting many other good regions. Even if its tough to make a sanct early--maybe later on you'll complete it and it'll provide big trait bonuses to many regions at once. Dont' be afraid to make early sancts on resources you'll eventually want--you can always annex them later. Don't be afraid to NOT make early sancts, if you've got lots of good land--just work your good land! Pay extra attention to village quirks. If you've got bonus plascrete factories on Mount Idaho that is already paying out +200% then see if you can force an extra sanct or two nearby to boost the quirks and make even more factories on it. Those +3 solari per color traits are your bread and butter, they're a phenomenal return on investment.

[@choochoochic]

does anyone else like when daevohk says "does anyone else like...."

[@johnernest5843]

Your house guides are THE best Dune Spice Wars content that I've seen on KZbin since I've grown interested in the game! Concise, informative, entertaining--the hour long guide just flew by and I learned so much and grew hungry to try a faction I've never tried before Please consider making guides on the earlier factions like the Fremen or the Atreides, as these might be factions newer players may lean into!

[@daevohk]

Thank you! More guides to come in time.

[@catscrath25alpha83]

Keep in mind you can also use the fog and performance on OTHERS fighting as well. If you see a huge battle going on between two enemies you can drop it on them to force them to completely commit and be unable to micro, essentially ensuring the complete destruction of one side. This is particularly effective if they are fighting on the sand. Fog and thumper will ensure one side takes heavy losses, and the other is destroyed. Remember to throw in an emp bomb if it’s Ix taking part. Also you can use performance on an approaching or retreating army to suddenly delete their influence. Most don’t know it also drains them for leaving the region, and some out of panic will even walk back into the region in hopes of getting it back. If you are taking a village or the enemy is trying to move into your territory to take yours, drop it on them. If you see an enemy army in the desert losing supplies and trying to get back home, drop it on them. It has so much use and exists as a constant threat to moving or attacking for everyone in the game. I always have fog, performance, and a thumper prepped (Supply drop too if on offensive), and an emp too if Ix is in the game. Performance also pairs well with the orders to leave the territory, forcing them to choose a money or influence hit. It’s best to find a village where statecraft builds give 3 intel and fill it with masterpieces so you can always throw these out. Unfortunately you don’t have much in the way of protecting from a death ball trying to stop you from winning the game, most of your threats target the players ability to continue playing the game.

[@catscrath25alpha83]

Now one of the things I don’t really know how to use are fencers. They just seem to have to little health to do their job as an assassin unit.

[@daevohk]

Great additions here. Fencers are dead to me, they dont work.

[@magni5648]

@@catscrath25alpha83 Fencers are a very niche unit to me. Like, have one or two at most. The trick is to NOT have them in your deathball, but hanging out nearby on the flanks, then bring them in against the enemy ranged line after the big furball has started. Also, they're great for chasing down retreating enemies - with Chasing Stance they can easily turn an enemy retreat into a bloodbath. For the other armory choice, I'd probably go with Personal Mantlet, just to further improve that style of committing them late.

[@catscrath25alpha83]

@@magni5648 Interesting! So they are sort of like the Hark Cerbs if you are not going with splitters. I still feel their low health and needing to be alone nullifies any effective usefulness. Even against ranged units they come out heavily injured and don’t even think about hero hunting. Most times it just serves more consistent to throw more generic units at the target then try and get fences to work. I would love to continue this discussion with you and others to try and unlock the strategic with these as I want them to be my favourite unit but just can’t seem to do anything.

[@magni5648]

@@catscrath25alpha83 They don't need to be alone anymore. Their innate ability got changed - they now simply take a flat 30% less damage from the specific enemy unit that's their current target. Makes them surprisingly less squishy against lone enemies. And yes, as said, they're really more niche units meant for a specific role in the big setpiece engagements Ecaz likes. They're not really meant to get things done all by themselves. You toss 'em into the enemy ranged from a flank like non-split Cerbs and you use them to chase down and murder fleeing enemies. Having a Fencer put -20% speed on their target while it tries to run from your Warbanner-boosted army is just a hilarious asshole move, especially if you manage to clown on a hero that way. This means you'll probably never run more than like 1-2 of them in support of the Knight/Squire/Musketeer/Warbanner deathball.

[@apoleonschneider]

And yet another glorious thumbnail! The knight and his squires. Bravo!

[@NobletheKnight]

I really love how you ordered this in the pattern of the heroes journey. Makes a ton of sense. Great content as always!

[@afirarvm]

We really need these for all houses! One at a time. Great video man, a lot of great information here! Thx for it and keep on! :)

[@SkAnD1NaV1An]

Excellent guide my lord! You always do what's needed!

[@Lancelot2000Lps]

Garden makes big influence for each masterpiece build in it + next region you get 0.2 + 2 knowledge and i won my first game with ecaz thanks for your advice's big thanks.

[@voltairepop4661]

Please make more. It is really fun to watch.

[@nami-pm2zd]

Thanks for the excellent guide! Just finished my second online game and it felt so much better than the first one. Got whacked by Doghead and had my army eaten by worms five times - but was still a pretty fun experience

[@daevohk]

Nice! There is no teacher like experience. Keep getting in those reps and the Dog shall die in the dark.

[@babesinclair]

Lots of good info here, thanks so much.

[@PereJoel12]

Thx a lot. A learn so much with this video.

[@diomed4570]

Cool guide

[@tdfitzsimons]

Great guide, would love to see a similar treatment for other factions (particularly Smugglers!) if that's something that interests you.

[@AstonHodge]

😂😂😂 love the thumbnail, love the film. RIP to the legend.

[@CoIdAshes]

Very good and in depth video, you should try and slowly do all the factions as you learn them!

[@daevohk]

More coming, soonish!

[@magni5648]

I think you didn't mention one little bit about the sanctuaries: You can not only annex them at any time, you can also periodically send units there to collect either a bunch of solari in taxes or hav ethem hold a military parade, which nets you some extra influence and experience for those units.

[@daevohk]

You're right I did miss a section on sanctuarys, thank you! Also of note is that a military parade that provides the influence and xp provides the XP for all of your units no matter where they are, not just the ones doing that particular parade.

[@Aetherion_]

Masterpieces aren't actually that cheap in the early game without Sanya. 100 plascrete per is ridiculous, Sanya cheapens it by 40% per Sanctuary, 60 plascrete is reasonable and 20 is dirty cheap. So getting 2 sanctuaries early is crucial if you want to make lots of masterpieces. Even without the +3 traits masterpieces are good for saving water and still proccing other traits (the 1 intel per statecraft one stands out, 2 blue masterpieces is better than a data centre) Also about Sietches, the other perk that stands out is the one thats gives you 2 extra Fremen sibling agents, as you mentioned Ecaz caps out at 10 agents, spending 1 agent to get one extra is a decent perk.

[@daevohk]

Great points, I didn't actually realize it was 40% per sanc, I just thought they were dirt cheap these days. TIL

[@mikemac1298]

I've been waiting for a up to date guide for a faction for months. I've had the game since release. And still don't understand some mechanics. GG Daevohk. Can't wait for more. But I wish you would have covered Fencers. They seem OK to me. But idk.

[@daevohk]

Fencers have a number of problems. Extremely squishy and their ability doesn't offer meaningful protection. A specific anti-squishy niche where they only really function well against low armor targets--but they don't do THAT much damage. If their dps was outrageous it might justify them, but it's just 'fine'. Flanking play style separates your deathball apart, weakening your knights who want as many friendly bodies right next to them as possible.

[@mikemac1298]

@@daevohk Oh TY for the reply! I didn't expect that! Well ty, I just couldn't for the life of me see why they were that bad. Well you explained it. Ty, Ty!

[@Shadow-ub5kl]

Are you going to do some more of those guides? That would be nice for new players (like me :) ) great video anyway :))

[@daevohk]

More to come eventually

[@jeremyrugg3015]

Great guide and explanation of what Ecaz has to offer. One thing that I feel wasn't highlighted and, for me, makes the tech much better is with Cultural Tourism. In your example game I believe you had 3 sanctuaries, or maybe just 2. Either isn't uncommon. You mentioned that you want to be able to avoid the Recycling Vats, but for Cultural Tourism you only mentioned the 20 or 30 solari you would be getting without mentioning the biggest reward, the 10 or 15 water that you get from no buildings that helps enable you to avoid Recycling Vats. The water on Cultural Tourism makes it, for me, not a go to tech, but one that is a great silver bullet to remember if you are struggling on water.

[@daevohk]

That is a fair point, I may well be undervaluing it. Its tagged in my brain as the "little bit of money" tech, but maybe it ought to be the "lots of water" tech

[@orang2667]

good guide, really good explanations can you please do other factions

[@Lancelot2000Lps]

I like the councilor Mesa Ecaz because i want some times in the middle game change my sanctuary's and when i change it than it cost not authority.

[@magni5648]

I kinda disagree a bit about the armory choices. For the Squires, I prefer prickly spear over the medication. They're your tankiest units already, and their main role is to protect other units. Any opponent paying attention is going to try focus-fire against anything other than them, and the 20% debuff is great for allowing them to do their job in that case. And for Knights, I like Vow of Bravery. Knights in your deathball will have a bunch of armor even with the -2, while ignoring half of enemy armor can be really impactful against opponents throwing heavily-armored stuff at you. (Hi there, Atreides!) Vow of Honor is just really meh IMO, +1 power for Squires is next to nothing.

[@LookItsCollin]

Watching all your stuff. Planning on getting the game once it goes on sale again and very thankful for my productivity's sake that it isn't. Which faction are you thinking about next? Corrino?

[@LookItsCollin]

The call to adventure checklist is a great framing device too.

[@daevohk]

Maybe so, Corrino and or Atreides are probably next on the list.

[@unit-lost]

Thanks for making this! 28:44 does it really work? The description of masterpieces says they count as two buildings for village quirks. So I assumed they would only count as one building for bonuses that are not quirks.

[@unit-lost]

So I loaded the game and tested it, and yes, it does work. Damn it, developers! So really the description should be "counts as two buildings period".

[@daevohk]

We joke sometimes that the entirety of how to play dune is just tribal knowledge we hand down to one another because there is so much that tooltips alone won't lead you to.

[@grottoguru6473]

A knight's tale, nice

[@misanthropicservitorofmars2116]

These thumbnails. My man.

[@SkullLeader]

Just spill wine on them...

[@khajiit92]

+15 power for +3 command points seems not worth it, what am i missing? is 10% extra power worth 1 less musketeer/ most of another squire/ knight?

[@daevohk]

I've gone back and forth on it, but I do think it is still a decent choice. It gets buffed hugely by epic quest, large single hits like that are practically ignoring armor. 15 more knight power at their higher attack speed might actually be more dps than 1 addtl musket that can get shut down in melee.

[@RedAce93]

Maybe I missed it but what are your thoughts on the Fencer unit?

[@daevohk]

We do not build Fencer units under any circumstances. Unless there is some radical rework.

[@RedAce93]

@daevohk Okay, I played my first game as Ecaz yesterday and thought they were basically useless haha" glad I'm not the only one

[@Hybridsunite]

Thank you for this great guide! If you do another one could you turn down or off your in-game music? takes away from your voice and is almost equal in volume

[@daevohk]

Got it, thanks for the feedback!

[@Lancelot2000Lps]

How does epic quest really works if in death bowl have 4 units that have the same power get all 4 the +100% or only 1 of them?

[@daevohk]

Only 1 ever

[@Lancelot2000Lps]

@@daevohk Other question can you with Ecaz good base attack? And big thanks for the answer.

[@daevohk]

@@Lancelot2000Lps ecaz is not great at base killing. It can work with a full army because the full Ecaz army is so strong. But not as good at it as Smugs, harks, corrino

[@kiriker]

Can you give some comments on the most profitable armory upgrades for each unit?

[@daevohk]

Best upgrade for each unit: Squire - Sobering Medication for 50% damage bonuses turned into dmg reduction. This makes the 50% dmg bonus from warbanner and monument turn into 25% damage reduction which is a huge defensive boost. Musketeer - Barrel Cleaner for +100% first attack damage. Muskets have a high damage, low attack speed so getting effectively a doubleshot in right away can be a big dps burst to pick off an early dangerous target. Dont use fencers War Banner - Marching Colors for super run speed outside of combat Knight - Vow of Heroism for +15 power at +3 cp cost. Makes your hard hitting knights hit even harder and also gets multiplied by banner/monument boosts and epic quest operation.

[@kiriker]

@@daevohk Thanks!

[@mdilelio]

A smugglers guide next??

[@daevohk]

Soooon

[@mdilelio]

@@daevohk in any case, congratulations for the videos: great quality and ability to convey useful information to those approaching this game!

[@eagleek93]

Im not entirely sure how power works, but I cant see +15 power on knights being worth 1 muskeet per knight. tbh almsot seem better to just do 1 armory slot on knights. thoughts?

[@eagleek93]

the -2 armor will also be mitigated by the stacking buff as long as you get 2 more units in range instead of the +3 cost

[@daevohk]

Fair to say the knight upgrades are hard to parse, but +15 power is better than you think for a couple reasons. -Damage done to a target is attackerPower-defenderArmor=health lost, so armor is very strong against lower power fast attacks, and less valuable against slower high power attacks. With huge power on knights, they might as well be ignoring armor values which are rarely higher than 5-6 to begin with. -Knights have a reasonably fast attack speed at 5, meaning power on them goes a bit further in terms of overall dps than just an additonal musketer who attacks slower at a 3. -Warbanners, and the Monument ship both amplify damage done by a total of +50% making that 15 power boost even bigger. Also the 100% from epic quest operation is almost certainly affecting a single knight champion--which will then double that 15 power boost. -One knight is typically significantly more difficult to kill than a single musket, or even a musket just tied up in melee suddenly loses 50% of it's dps output. All in all, I find that to be one of the only good boosts for knights since other upgrades that ignore armor are minor compared to the amount of power they've already got, or a large loss of HP which is already critically low for knights to begin with.

[@eagleek93]

@@daevohk cool, thanks for the in depth response. You're videos are entertaining and I've been learning a lot about the game.

[@zkirk446]

How do you get that giant ship for your military

[@daevohk]

Getting the big ship is the same for all factions. 1. At 5k hege, you can build a spaceport major building. 2. After building it you can select the structure to trade either 30 spice, or 5 influence daily for 1 guild favor. At 100 guild favor you can make your flagship 3. You can also acquire guild favor by fighting neutral renegade bases that will start appearing on the map later in the game.

[@zkirk446]

@@daevohk thanks so much I didn’t know that!

[@savenok4869]

Nice 10 stack champion One small problem *gets stabed from invis*

[@daevohk]

😭😭😭😭😭

[@_TheOldMan_]

Are you sure champions can be assasinated?

[@daevohk]

I stand corrected! That must have been a patch change as you could in previous versions. Immune to execution (from sardakaur) also appears to be immune to murder from assassins.

[@jonathanpessahov165]

Marry me dude