DUNE: SPICE WARS FACTION GUIDE | What's the best faction in Dune Spice Wars?

Welcome to Dune: Spice Wars, the highly enjoyable and reasonably well reviewed new 4x real time survival city building political strategy game set on Arrakis - the dessert world in Dune home to Spice! In this Dune: Spice Wars Beginners Guide video I'm ranking every house, civ, and playable faction in Dune Spice Wars Early Access (this video was therefore filmed during the Dune Spice Wars Steam Early Access - with a release date of April 26 2022). This will serve as a sort of draft, dare I say, Dune Spice Wars tier list, however I won't be applying specific tiers just yet. Rather I'm providing some Dune Spice Wars tips and strategy guidance for each one, ranking and reviewing the strength of their councilors (helping you decide which ones to choose) and evaluating their overall strength, unique characteristics, and ranking their viability in each of Dune: Spice Wars' victory conditions. #DuneSpiceWars #Dune #Gaming #Strategy #Review
Contents:
0:00 - Dune Spice Wars Intro
0:25 - House Atreides
3:20 - House Harkonnen
6:23 - The Smugglers
9:45 - My quick thanks to you!
10:15 - The Fremen
15:07 - Dune Spice Wars Tier List
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Video Information
Title: DUNE: SPICE WARS FACTION GUIDE | Ranking Every Faction in Dune: Spice Wars
DUNE: SPICE WARS FACTION GUIDE | The Best Factions to Playin Dune: Spice Wars
DUNE: SPICE WARS FACTION GUIDE | What's the best faction in Dune Spice Wars?
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[@olegoleg258]

Hey sir? Small mistake, it's not you who doesn't lose authority with a treaty, it's the _other_ faction who doesn't lose authority. You still need to pay authority for the treaty

[@JumboPixel]

Yes sorry I misspoke there - thank you! Will pin this to the top so others can see

[@olegoleg258]

@@JumboPixel yeh, tbh I feel like both should benefit from it in some way, as it's kinda weird that trading with house atreides benefits others, but not the house itself

[@Adrian-mw7us]

@@olegoleg258 It does benefit Atreides if you have the unique Atreides statecraft tech. It gives you influence and gold per active treaty. Not to mention, the benefits of the first 2 treaties themselves are very strong, regardless of the authority hit. Authority becomes a small price to pay for them, especially when your gameplan usually involves turtling as the Atreides rather than carpet expanding

[@antoniestrydom6367]

@@olegoleg258 In addition to what Adrian said, I think it incentivises (or should) other AI factions, or players in MP, to form treaties with you so you can reap the benefits of the statecraft tech.

[@dubya85]

@@olegoleg258 it makes it very likely the other side will accept the treaty - very powerful

[@LLemon_Pepper]

Hey Jumbo, found your channel from the Dune content, and I'm really enjoying it. The content, and the game. I'm coming into this game from more of the RTS side, so lots of starcraft 2, age of empires, homeworld etc. So I'm very much appreciating your 4x background, as thats something I'm missing, and I have a lot to learn there. You have a great way of explaining the mechanics, and I hope to catch some live streams soon. Cheers!

[@drewleatham2885]

What do you think of the RTS elements? there's not a lot of micro so far, but I'm only about 3 hrs into my first game.

[@LLemon_Pepper]

@@drewleatham2885 I've found the RTS elements to be... anemic? It's there, but its not a big focus of the game. I'm still enjoying it tho, and I'm liking the game.

[@conversefall5928]

Stilgar and Otheym have been my favorite Fremen combination. The Sand Killers buff lets you take the first village with just 1 unit, giving you very cheap and early access to Spice, which then gives you +1 authority for the rest of the game. These early bonuses let you expand quickly and snowball the game. Plus the Thumpers make controlling that massive territory super easy.

[@emdeo]

Otheym is interesting, the Skirmishers can have enough range to get the buff when workin with a Warrior.. but yeah the power boost is good early, the speed boost is good all game. I've been trying out Chani, having that much Intel is really really nice.

[@weedling3552]

thats my favorite way to play as well :D i call it the jihad build. i only build warriors and fedaykin. about 5 warriors and in late game a few fedaykin. since you can use warriors so effectively early on you dont really need the other units (except one skirmisher when attacking headquarters) then once you get fedaykin thanks to the otheym buff they are one man armies that can independently harass the enemy, while your warriors form a small but very effective army. (they are basically weak elite units to begin with and are very good at focus killing units when in group fights, since everything does less dmg to them while they do more damage to the target) meanwhile you have the most hegemony, biggest territory and best economy by far, even though you are rarely not in the red, thanks to the only authority income bonus in the game only you can access and constant easy raids since the very start of the game. its pretty op tbh xD

[@weedling3552]

@@emdeo the power boost is extremely powerful late game on fedaykin, one single fedaykin will force the attention of the entire enemy army or they can just run around raiding, liberating or taking over territory. anything except a few elites (3+) or a huge army (5+ units) isnt enough to get rid of them. just get rid of the armor shredders first. in my opinion the fedaykin profit extremely from that buff since its their role to be able to operate independently and force the attention of the enemy. plus the buff means you can constantly raid 2 milita villages with just one warrior and focus on taking more valuable territory further away. just one effect of this is that you can build a third ornithopter before you build a second warrior. as fremen ornithopters also only cost gold, since you always have a easy source of extra gold you can easily sustain going negative income, so you can easily get 5 ornithopters, allowing you get max intel from crashed ornithopters. its such a snowbally way to play in so many ways, im 100% sure they will patch it, enjoy it while it lasts. it think the main problem is that both give you bonuses that give you accumulative incomes others have a hard time accessing (like such efficient early raids) or no access too at all (like an authority bonus that will easily outweigh for example authority gains from the spy system) and you are given these bonuses basically form the very start of the game. (only having to buy one ground unit, +1 authority as soon as you get your harvester)

[@emdeo]

@@weedling3552 Yeah it, I agree, and it all stacks so well for Fremen. Double +2 armour from the military districts and Bazaar? Authority from paying the bribe + more authority.... If it doesn't get patched, it will once multiplayer gets added. :D

[@nobodyparticular8529]

You can actually subdue a 3 militia village if you play it smart (dont click on the village until you are in melee range of it and always go for the ranged defender first). Just dont use this tactic on fremen raids

[@emdeo]

Mother Ramallo is good fun, the Shai-hulud Temple is so amazing, +20% that early on is really really nice. Get your early water and plascrete and spice rolling properly. I think Fremen are by far the best, but that might just be them suiting my playstyle. I do like the Harkonnen, that refund on military units is just hilarious.

[@timmietimmins3780]

I have kind of been underwhelmed by gurney halleck. The thing is, atreides does not do well imho with a lot of military. They get basically no benefit as they cannot pillage, and I would much rather sink my solari into building up my main base and my scouting, and my manpower into crewing my harvesters. Harvester crews are CRAZY strong, as I believe each tier is +25% base production (it's 5 per tier, and I think base is 20, right? ). But that means that you aren't going for early scouting tech, and the second bonus to atreides is their ability to run around the map snaking the best spots, which means you probably want the rare minerals refining tech ASAP, particularly if you end up with the well of riches (which is about as powerful as a double upgraded harvester that never gets blocked by sandworms, costs no fuel cells, and I believe is way less plastic). also, the veteran militia are not bad, but they are EXPENSIVE, being 4 times the cost of regular miltia, but they also are a complete non combo with peaceful annexation, as the whole point is partially that you get the entire enemy garrison, which cannot be upgraded, only replaced. I have not really used jessica, as I just don't see her ability as even interesting. I have not had trouble getting the AI on hard at least, to accept treaties, and the authority cost is not nothing. council resolutions, on the other hand, really matter, so spending influence on something I could get for free makes little sense to me. In contrast, Duncan is THE MAN. Authority early is super useful, and atreides is very much a mass expand faction, because if you aren't sinking water into an army, you are going to have a lot of water. the early tech cost of going authority cost reduction tree is HUGE, because the opportunity cost of getting research points is massive, when you could instead, be getting fuel cells or manpower to build and crew more spice harvesters, or more plasticrete (or whatever it's called, the thing you never have enough of as atreides).

[@WalrusRyder]

Could you make a sequel to this guide that dives into the unique techs of each faction? BTW Thanks for all the content and love and hype you’re giving this game!

[@moritzm.3671]

I am always surprised of the frequency you are pumping out new Videos. And you are definitely not skipping on the quality.

[@JumboPixel]

I’ve definitely been burning the midnight candle this week! 💤

[@PenitentChaplain]

Criminally low like count for such a well-polished presentation.

[@JumboPixel]

You’re awesome!

[@nobodyparticular8529]

The smugglers are actually very strong during council votes. The 50 votes you get at 5k hegemony is peanuts compared to the fact that you can use solari to swing the 400 minor house votes your way. If you play the smugglers correctly (which is to say that you are swimming in solari and influence), you will never lose a vote unless both atreides and harkkonen vote together against you As for their military, it actually synergizes very well. You have a unit that wrecks enemy supplies, another unit that increases power based on how much supplies the enemy has lost, and another unit that increases power based on how much hp the enemy unit has lost. It's a 3-stage snowall combo for every fight

[@centurionzen1005]

I also think it's brilliant to make house Atreides the versatile faction because it's the most attractive. The intro calls their leader an honorable Duke & the faction bonuses enforce a moral way of playing - both of which imply they are the "good guys" which people will want to play as first. Absolutely genius!

[@RafaelCabreraAzrael]

they are the most OP of faction for that reason too

[@micmiclee47]

I hope there is a MOD to switch colors with Atreides and Sumgglers - new color - Atreides (blue) and Sumgglers (green). Just an nostalgia early 90's playing Dune 2. :)

[@SuperHipsterGamer]

I hope there's a mod to switch colors with Smugglers (red) and Harkonne (Blue). Then I can get the correct book colors. :)

[@Cdre_Satori]

idk, I am reading the books and Atreides colours are green and black. But I got into Dune because of the movie so I never played the game so I dont get the vote of nostalgia

[@MattGiuca]

This dude's on fire with Spice Wars content. 9 videos in the last 4 days! Do get some sleep 😌

[@westleystewart]

Thanks for the very helpful Dune: Spice Wars videos the last few days. Grab yourself a coffee on me.

[@JumboPixel]

Deal! Thanks so much!!

[@Yacovo]

Thanks for the video

[@timmietimmins3780]

I think you are going WAY less hard on spice fields than I am. +1 or +2 authority on stillgar? It's not he who controls the random villages controls the universe. It's he who controls the SPICE controls the universe, and that's what I feel the game truly gets right. Even on medium maps, I am routinely getting a fast 3-4 spice node play off of a 3 ornithopter start, or alternately, with mother ramallo, and since your base authority is , I think, four (or is it six?) +3 is a LOT. Especially as without tech, you can only get another +2 from arrakis agents, and then you are crippling your intel generation. Authority is not easy to come by in this game, unless you luck out and get an early water trader goodie hut.

[@Zargabaath]

Agreed. Authority bonuses are FUCKING MASSIVE. A +3 bonus on +4 base is basically DOUBLING you expansion rate. Fucking crazy. I've found that the Fremen are fucking nutty too. They're just so good.

[@AEspiral]

Smugglers kind of Scream "House Ordos".

[@test-id6cz]

Not as cool tho...ordos are so much cooler. Dune for me is not the same without it cuz i picked it up from a emperror game

[@michup86]

I still explore game and I'm surprised how good it is the way it is considering its early access. I'd say that all factions seems to be balanced and all seems to be viable with various tactics. I understand all talkings that Atreides are peaceful while Harkonen are military oriented etc. However, I feel its a bit oversimplified as all can play well in all departments but have their own "flavors" or "way of things" within each tactic. I prefer Atreides because they can capture peacefully land which allows to expand in remote location beyond reach. That's unique to them so I build a strategy around that. I typically during playtrough early gain access to 3 location with spice because of it. I focus in economics tree gaining a lot of money and purchasing from other factions their votes and produce myself a lot too, and go for election win. I gain a lot of new towns by restraining from pacts and making a lot of Authority from operators in Arakis, also the goal is to connect those remote locations with spice with my hometown. But first make military tech to get additional slot in all towns for protection, also, having that guy that grants better militia is important. For the most of the playtime I don't own armies at all. Always have a peaceful trait from spy's in case of an attack, and airport with all towns with spice production or in places where borders with other faction is directly in touch. I can recruit some army and send it over on time. However, this will only work with proper recon so I buy early two fly units and gain more via collecting them from the ground early. They scan through entire map early, and its 60% of focus area during early-mid game to gain as much as possible free perks and resources from items scarsed on map and finding new spice. That's all done while developing all perks for flying units that allows faster collection of points of interests and boost harvesters. Later, those units are used to boost spice collection by following the harvesters or to follow with armies to counter invisibility, better local awerness, and slower resources use to cover more ground. In late game after harvesting tech its time to invest in army tech by inventing those units with shields. Than I purchase 7 of them and destroy town by town of the taughest opponent - typically its smugglers or harconens. Focus is on towns with spice production and where the most of their resources are. I don't need to attempt to wipe entire faction entirely. They will collapse and have many rebelions due to lacking resources, especially smugglers and harconens because they typically have large territory and its not easy to keep it running wihtout resources. Its like a cascade and when they start to fall under their own weight because of couple successful military runs then its a good moment to wipe them out leaving just hometown or 1-2 areas. Typically its enough to do it to the largest opponent who's competing for a victory by hegemony. Regarding spy's I put early two on Arakis to gain Authority and than two to influance the council for votes. Than two on faction that boosts spice to money ratio. I could than spy on others but typically instead I put two more on counter spying, because that way I don't have to invest in inteligence tree and two on counter spying is more effective than one on faction (only one is allowed without upgrade). I trade with other factions their votes and intel for money - not that I need it but its because I want to deplete their options to threat me and money is the least valuable resource and I have at some point around 30k. I almost do not invest in Intel tech tree - which may be surprise to others seems its Atreides. So, that's why I wanted to share my play style because I suspect they will differ by a lot between players. My strategy is effective on medium difficulty. Haven't try hard yet. As a side note Lady Jessica opens potentially a tactic for defeating someone by force treaty and moving into their hometown for a kill. I personally prefer thos Easy councilors because militia perk and extra experiene is very good, and gaining more resources from hostile infiltrations is good and it happens a lot. Harkonens can be very political as they know how much influence everyone has so they can be very mindful about who wants what and make a final call. They can also easiest win by hegemony and get twice fast more agents out which opens up their infiltration tactics - they can produce 500 hegemony plus fast hegemony build up from towns via structure and oppression. Fremens are great to sneak attack via sandworms harvesters and prevent escape via spy perk that closes the air use. Overall, they are good in controlling the spice and use it as a vehicle for whatever they want by trade. Not tested, but I wonder if its possible to negate spice so effectively that other factions will struggle to pay the tax, especially mid-end game when it goes up to 3k mark.

[@taichou3391]

Thank you!

[@NF-nv3xw]

I love the smugglers and if you wanna get them the most OP way aways get Staban Tuek and Lingar Bewt. Once you get your Underworld Headquarters rolling you will be unstoppable. Also Free Company + Mercs rules the field.

[@user-ji1if8qj6n]

still didn't figure out how to build it

[@Cdre_Satori]

I started out with the smugglers and didnt realise until late game what the potential of their headquarters is. Also their snipers can snipe from far enough distance that it doesn't aggro militia in the village making shai halud their only threat when conquering neutral settlements. With faction villages there is always possibility of missile turret.

[@Moochewmoo]

Okay, listen I get that I'm about to sound completely insane but I have to put it out there. In your recording settings do you have like a filter or something on? I hear a veeeeerryyy quiet robot voice "behind" yours when you are speaking. I have to know if I'm crazy or not.

[@Ephrathh]

I'm absolutely loving this game.

[@dubya85]

Likewise

[@blockachockyt1163]

Thanks!

[@JumboPixel]

WOAH! My _super_ thanks right back to you friend for all that you do!

[@AllanEnraged]

The Smugglers are totally my style

[@kephryccephryc863]

hope we get hause ordos to this game

[@mrdiddleshot]

Fremen best pick for domination IMO You last long enough you have the most powerful single units in game + an airfield that can drop virtually anywhere

[@michaelswierczek664]

I am a relative novice to 4x games, and I'm getting slaughtered in this one. But I *love* it, it captures so much of Dune so well. Fremen, take their water!

[@theexterminator9913]

Can you tell us how to fix the Glitches of dune spice wars because I can't find someone telling anyone something a but the Glitches

[@dnaseb9214]

Did you see the Sadaukar in your games ? I have, people are saying they show up if you miss too many "Imperial tax". Could you make them spawn on stream ? And defeat them ? I do not think it is possible.

[@JumboPixel]

Ooooooh that’s an interesting idea to unpack!

[@joaosaran4440]

i played as harkonnen this week and after killing atreides i completely ignored the lansraad reputation and stopped paying taxes as there was no one else who could get the diplomatic victory, i dont remember seeing any sardaukar or any penality besides the minor houses trolling me at the council votes and the choam company throwing the spice price to the ground to hurt my economy. in the end it wasnt really a problem since i was focusing in my military power and could just raid a village to make a quick buck or oppress someone to get the resources needed at the moment

[@dnaseb9214]

@@JumboPixel They have a pale armor and can execute units bellow 20% hp. They look quite unique. I was playing as smugglers when they showed up. I did managed to make a worm eat a few of them, but they still killed me. Too many.

[@dnaseb9214]

@@joaosaran4440 I assumed like most people that the Landsraad guard were Sardaukar, until I saw them in game. They are incredible and cool.

[@joaosaran4440]

@@dnaseb9214 now im curious, i saw a dev stream were the devs said that there are sardaukar in the game but i didnt knew how to spawn them. i will start a new game and miss every tax possible to see what happens lol

[@AmbarVB]

how to recall harvester as freeman i cant is it a bug

[@Thorcar123]

Did this man just called a sietch "a barbarian tribe place"

[@kuzerov2123]

The tearty bonus is a negative Couse only you get authority penelty if you play against atreides do all the treaty's you can with them youll only profit from it.

[@test-id6cz]

Where is HOUSE ORDOS?!!

[@markogrofcierny8237]

if multiplayer comes, lady Jessica can be really strong because influence you can achieve more easy and authority you can't for singleplayer Fremen have most powerful army from start (not only fight power but supply power too), but lose economic options in mid-late game, in my opinion are still best, because domination by combat is easy achivable victory then Smugglers and Harkonens are same level with different ways, Harkonens are little better, because militia bring defense and production and have +1 max militia advisor and still have nice landstraad from start Atreides are weakest, peaceful anexation is shit - because you lose 50 authority and is very very slow anexation, Atreides have overall weakest units, best landstraad isn't enought

[@dubya85]

Peaceful annexation is super powerful. Atreides units are built for combined arms armies. If you put them all together their army is really powerful

[@Zeo_Nix]

Team Fremen!

[@turankhan2381]

For ranking purposes of the military, I suggest ranking each faction's unit synergies. It seems to me that some are easier to pull off than others. For example: 1) Atreides. Rating: 5 - basic unit Trooper gets benefit/synergy from ALL other 4 remaining units: 2) Ranger, 3) Heavy Weapons Squad, 4) Support Drone and 5) Warden. - arguably the most buffed and thus strongest basic unit trooper if supported by 4 remaining units 2) Harkonnen. Rating: 4 - basic unit Trooper benefits from only 3 other units, not all 4 units, since House Guard is basically just a better replacement for itself - also almost needs Combat Drugs operation to be active for maximum effect) 3) Smugglers: Rating 3 - basic unit doesn't DIRECTLY synergize with other units, but allows through its HP healing to kite the enemy, I guess - Wreckers synergize directly with both Snipers and Combat Drones based on missing Supply, indirect synergy with Free Company (basically Wreckers+Snipers+Combat Drones do most damage by missing supply and then Free Company comes in to finish the job) - However, this missing Supply doesn't activate immediately, so needs kiting or use of "Poison Supplies" operation for maximum effect. Kinda similar to Harkonnen needing "Combat Stims" operation for maximal impact 4) Fremen: Rating 2 - basic unit Warrior synergizes directly with 3 other units: Infiltrator and Fedaykin and indirectly Kulon Caravan - all units synergize very well with the Kulon Caravan, almost better than Drones of other factions, at least for map control/denial and strategic depth - Skirmisher is only good against armored targets/units, which would be Imperial faction's troops, but not doing much against Smuggler units with light/no armor. Again, no DIRECT synergy mechanic with other units and kind of meh/not much dps/direct contribution, when compared to Atreides Ranger, Harkonnen Gunner or Smuggler Wrecker.

[@NF-nv3xw]

I disagree. Despite Atreides unit bonuses are good theyre not great. I may be a bit bias but Smugglers while almost every bonus are crap but the Free Company bonus is the best of the entire game.

[@joreecollins2336]

Harkonnen are unplayable in my play throughs on insane they just need better units

[@gbxgbxgbx]

Loose this cartoonish, candyish character look - it's spoiling the whole game. They would be better of with some still dark photos.