What I've Learned About Dune: Spice Wars

[@mateuszniedziela5484]

"you don't need big army" - i played now on big map and hard difficulty, smuglers attack me deep in my territory, 8 garrisons, they cut my villige where i had repair depot, so my whole economy crushed in one minute - I absolutely adore this game!!!!

[@chadthundercock4806]

Gotta have airfields

[@mateuszniedziela5484]

@@chadthundercock4806 i fought elsewhere, but i could dispatches some reserve warriors with planes but no way to win against 8 garrisons. Same moment another opponent with intel maked rebel in another village. That game is super awesome challenge.

[@Ender7j]

Yeah I’ve been tagteamed by a well timed fremen raid and a major faction attacking right behind them, like ten or twelve units rolling over my frontier fortress territory….I’ve lost a lot and every time I do, I learned something new. God created Arrakis to train the faithful. - Paul Muad’Dib

[@kgeo2686]

I love what you said about expansion being dangerous. And I love that that’s a thing! It’s a survival managing your empire. And I have found myself crippled economically through careless expansion. And I have found myself stretched too thing and vulnerable in the same way. I think this game feels very unique and I’m loving. Can’t wait for multiplayer!!

[@mrsoggyramen9596]

Military isn’t everything, but plastcrete is. The first building I make in every village is a plastcrete factory. Let’s you unlock new building zones earlier, and only requires plastcrete to maintain.

[@shawnadams1460]

I go water, more water more troops + faster expansion. But soon as the water is good Plastcrete is essential. I just hope I have a buff for it village once water is good.

[@shroomer3867]

For Atreides it's Influence and Authority since they need it to peacefully annex villages. Don't need plascreete if you don't have villages, so that's a first priority, then water and then plascrete.

[@mrsoggyramen9596]

@@shroomer3867 this was posted in an earlier build where plascrete was relatively cheap, and didn’t have solari upkeep.

[@TheADPOL]

The focus on political and economic power is very appropriate for a Dune game.

[@bfwebster]

Thanks! This video was very useful, particularly the tips about defense and avoiding 4X spamming. What made the difference in my current Atreides game (which I'll win either by points or as Governor of Dune, which every one completes first) were the following approaches: (1) Research thru Crew Training Materials and staff the harvester (and subsequent ones) with full crews, as well as building spice silos. That made solid growth (spice + sols) possible w/just 2 spice fields. (2) Research thru Defense Systems, and then thru New Homeland. That gives me 4 militia per village (and 2 missile batteries, though I haven't done that anywhere), extra missile battery power, and fast militia training. 4 militia and a +20% missile battery is a solid defense on outlying; with just 1 military unit added, it's pretty much impregnable. (3) Expand slowly, using influence instead of military, while paying attention to both intel and politics. Keep rebalancing production of resources.

[@Meatrockman]

i spent the hole night playing as the "House Atreides" most of that time. I tried the other factions too of course, and I think "the Smugglers" seem to have some interesting and very potential qualities. Atleast for someone that has more experience and that is comfortable enough with the overall game, to not feel stressed out by some of it's key aspects. The "Fremen" is another faction that also is very powerful IMO, and when the AI controls them they just kills it every time. The biggest struggles i've had with the game loop, is not the (fun part), because that is something i have alot of here. It's more the tempo of the game that is kinda hard to get used to for me, and even if I have the slowest speed I still loose to the damn Fremen every time. Easy is not to underestimate here, because you'll still have to rush into the games many objectives in a way that is not "easy". It can be hard to relax sometimes, yes! Unless you're not pressing the paus bottom. I've noticed that the (Hegemony) points, which is so crucial in this game it's insane! if you lack them behind, you'll gonna pay hard. In my experience, i was never really able to catch up with the AI's hegemony score when it got to that point I was so far behind, but i'm sure I will learn that too. With that said, the game is indeed challenging, and it is fun, just like it's frustrating. That is not a bad thing though, because wow, what an experience it is to play! I love to do a little role play with my (Thopter). The "dragonfly" looking hover craft thing. I just zoom in as much as the game let's me and place the camera right behind the craft and fly around the map. Trust me, it will let you feel like you actually are sitting inside the cockpit! I got so immersed by doing that, and I generally feel hyped every time i think about this game. This Dune game is so fantastic it's sick, because there are no other titles out there really that are like this new Dune installment. I would never touch one of those god awful Dune mods in my life! Like the War Thunder one, or civilizations Dune mod. Yikes! They look so tasteless. Just make sure you got some decent RAM, and you'll gonna to play for hours whitout performance issues. 8 gigabyte is fine, but i think it deserves 16 gigabytes in RAM, because there is a lot of things going on here. And everything happens at the same time basically. So when you have spent hours and hours, you're gonna noticed that. But anyways, I really like it and i think it's one of those games that has both it's uniqe style, aswell as it's very own distinctive features and feel to it. the game is almost an art form in it's self, and that has nothing to do with the movies or the books. They have created there own world here, so try it out! it's both uniqe and fun at the same time, trust me...

[@Purple.Dog17]

You can rotate the camera?

[@shroomer3867]

My most favourite strategy as Atreides is to send treaties to everyone to get +2 influence with the political treaty trade per faction and then using that influence to peacefully annex all of the masterworks zones before anyone even gets to them and then setting up airfields throught the whole map. I played on Normal, so it's most likely that on higher difficulties this strategy gets curbstomped by the AI, but it's still surprisingly strong, and you can even steal zones which the AI would've gotten pretty easily in the early game. Also Hegemony points are really important, but if a faction is at an advantage you can actually steal those points if you conquer their territories, or at the very least prevent the opponent from winning just a bit longer.

[@NF-nv3xw]

Another note. Harkonen Opression ability is friggin broken. In a hour i had military cap and was pillaging other factions like was nothing. The Raiders Lairs tive 1.2k Solari per pillage (no bonus). Easiest game of my life on Insane. If i had to rank id put 1 Harkonen, 2 Smugglers, 3 Fremen, 4 Atreides. You may ask why i put Smugglers above Fremen and i will say Mercenaries and Free Company. The major Fremen problem is the Thumper, its refresh timer is too damn long. But Warriors, Fedaykin and Spice extractors are too good.

[@KrolPawi]

Not as broken . You do get a lot of resources but unfortunate rebelions can cripple you, especialy if someone attacks you simultanously. Alghtough i agree in singleplayer they are broken beacuse AI isnt opprtunistic enough . I imagine it wont be that easy in multiplayer as harkonen(rebelions from oppresion, rebelion from operation and simultanously attacking is gonna be quite a powerful combo against harkonen ) . Or you can support rebelion and treat them as additional troops. Its also gonna work. And also their troops arent that strong. In fact they seem weaker than atreides and fremen(obviusly), maybe even smuglers. But that might be beacuse they dont really support my playstyle

[@taichou3391]

I would love to see a in depth vídeo of each faction :)

[@Rhidcully]

Absolutely adore this game. I love how you can have different ways to victory

[@norsekraken]

One massive tip with the Freman, place the Shai-Hulud Temple in every settlement. Also the amount of clicking and indecision you have moving your units stresses me out :D I do enjoy these videos though and watch/listen to them for anything I may have missed. The Freman are stupidly over powered with the Shai-Hulud Temple.

[@gemgreg]

You are totally right about that rushing is dangerous. I played last game where I dominated 2 opponents and one more was left. I took his Spice territories and I was feeling so powerful. I started to expand like crazy and I end up having every resource at minus and I lost cause I couldn't save my economy..

[@ric.a.905]

I just prepped an army yesterday of 7 to 8 units and swept through the Smugglers, then the harkonen and finally the fremen to be the absolute ruler of Arrakis :D (tip: when playing attreides there is an "easy" mission or whatever it's called under the espionage that you can keep making as long as you have intel that basically recharges your energy and your supplies even in foreign territory. i used that a LOT). Continued playing on but without other factions the espionage option just becomes disabled... p.s. took me over 5 hours though...this game is hard even on easy :)

[@JohnsonPadder]

Nice work! I know harkonnen have that same mission also "Supply Drop." I found myself using it constantly too.

[@Adrian-mw7us]

Yep, supply drop is super strong

[@The80sWolf_]

Another strong one is the on that makes a village rebel. Combo it with the poison.

[@demonicell]

Expansion killed me last night. I put airfields out for the first time and it costs so much it ruined everything.

[@KarlMagnusWestphal]

Best review seen. Totally agree to your insides.

[@emdeo]

There is a reward for destroying the Harkonnen, no more Combat Drugs! I want some more intel operations that give local buffs, and maybe some more industrial sabotage that isn't Ghost Market (even if Ghost Market is amazing). Maybe I should just play the Smugglers more. How do you feel about the army styles of the different factions? Which do you think is best?

[@joshw3591]

I find having ARRAKIS DIPLOMACY on hand at all times allows you to stop those pesky raids and focus on maintaining and expanding. Also helps increase diplomacy with the sietch, fighting the raid only gives military experience and could be costly in transport expenses.

[@joel3838]

Love your vids! Can I ask, what microphone do you use?

[@martinxyz]

Biggest mistake in this game in my opinion is no menu with list of regions and what building you have in each one

[@cliff4377]

Go with three colors? I like it a lot. it's been fun watching your streams for the last week

[@dnaseb9214]

I just got brutally destroyed by a army of around 9 Sardaukar.....where did they come from ? How can I get them ? How can I win against them ? I didnt find anything related to them on the net.

[@Andyp12]

I've had them appear if I miss a spice payment. I had it happen 3 times in one game as Smugglers. I got lucky the 2nd time and they got eaten by a worm which I avoided but they got lured into, the other 2 times I kited with the extremely strong Snipers smugglers get. Kiting is so good against them.

[@dnaseb9214]

@@Andyp12 Same, as smuggler. A lot of prople saw them only when playing as smuggler. I didnt manage to bait more than 2 squads into a worm.

[@Andyp12]

@@dnaseb9214 Honestly my worm one was so lucky, if I knew it was going to happen I would have recorded, it literally got the whole blob and saved me, would have easily been game over as Harkonnan's had been in a big fight with me just before.

[@juxstapo]

Subd. Keep making Dune content mate

[@chaz706]

Arrakis: the planet where simultaneously everything is trying to kill you (sand, dust storms, worms, etc) and nothing is trying to kill you (a lack of water will kill you just as quick!).

[@docrock3234]

Are you still fresh on this game? Is there a way to just play it in an endless mode? Must the game end?

[@JamesLaserpimpWalsh]

I'm enjoying it actually. Some of the diplomacy and political systems are still a bit of a mystery. Not sure how the voting screen works. I'm sure I will get my head around it a bit better. Cheers for the vid.

[@peuthi]

Rock-paper-scissors are systems where A beats B (but looses to C), and B beats C, and C beats A. Melee beats cavalry, cavalry beats archers, archers beat melee.

[@bashcoder]

Thanks!

[@JumboPixel]

Aw thank you~!

[@juxstapo]

Almost want to describe this game as a super well designed Euro board game... On PC

[@birbtw0]

Keep your eyes open for ribbles.

[@johndane9754]

If mods could be made with the finished product. What if the plot and some units of the earlier dune RTS game were adapted to this one.

[@m0rbane]

You need cease fire, poison the reserves, and supply drop on hand at all times.

[@hexor0846]

Dune: Spice Wars is more or less like Nobunaga Ambition: Iron Triangle on the PS2 back then.

[@MrHeadshot93]

I like the idea of a dune game but in its current state it feels like an early access civ game, to much Goin on that's not on the campaign map, this is definitely for people who like tabletop games or extreme dune fan. I came in hoping for a rts builder that was more combat focused, the combat right now is really not worthy of a strategy game. That being said I love the dune ip and hope they add in an in depth command and combat system of some sort.

[@Ender7j]

God created Arrakis to train the faithful - Paul Muad’Dib

[@bon2yan88]

SADLY NO HOUSE O R D O S

[@jonah3985]

One thing I've noticed that's happened to me a few times now, is if I'm doing well and stockpiling a decent amount of spice the game will attack one of my outposts and then in the time it takes me to move over there and direct my units to defend a sandworm will have eaten my Harvester. I see the same thing happen with my military units: if I get a good army going or I'm moving toward a weaker force with a big army, the game will ALWAYS spawn the sandworm right under my units. The sandworm is clearly the game's way of balancing things out and it feels a little cheap. Like, I've played the game for a handful of hours and I've had this experience six or seven times at this point.

[@christoffknaepkens7228]

Is it not related to movement of a lot of people at the same time?

[@jonah3985]

@@christoffknaepkens7228 Yes and no. In the first example, rather than going for the giant squads of troops moving across the desert (theirs and mine) it targeted my Harvester on the other side of the map. And when it targets troops, thus far it always seems to target mine. I'm thinking of loading up a new game and playing really poorly to see if it targets the enemy more often when I'm perceived by the game as being behind the eightball.

[@19Burgandy]

thanks mate

[@anonoumos]

i agree, game should really be called resource wars, since spice can be traded into any resource, the only extra thing is spice gets an extra tax. its actually more useless, because the other resources (water, manpower, plescrete) go towards actual units/buildings.

[@bluebarrymore5442]

4x real time almost makes no since to me.

[@JohnsonPadder]

First! Gosh this game rules.

[@m3divh]

I mainly play as Atreides and they are incredibly overpowered. It is so EASY to achieve Political victory as Atreides it is so funny. They can pressure Enemies with influence to take debuffs to economy or to to pay 100 Authority to prevent this.. That means you can prevent enemies from expanding especially early on when they can not have 100 Authority since they did not expand yet realy and at the same time when they do pay the authority price they wont be able to expand any more :D The landsraad bonuses you get at high Hegemony are disgusting since you acan easily winn governorship when you just ignore prerequisites to political positions... Of course they are not great in battle and have some issue with supply for units since they can not Pillage. And most importantly... YOU CAN BUY INFLUENCE FROM ENEMIES! :D

[@markogrofcierny8237]

in my opinion they are worst, you can easy crush them before 10k hegemony, peaceful annexation is awful slow, they have weak economy in start, need winning voting for bonuses, treties is benefit more for partners than you (Atreides pay authority, partner don't), treaties are good after you achieve 5k hegemony, weakest army (but cheap)

[@Patrick462]

For some reason I started calling it Dune: Pixel Wars. I think I'm watching too much JumboPixel.

[@gbxgbxgbx]

They should loose this CARTOONISH character look, it takes away form the game climax. They would be better of with just still photos of characters.And that hand on the welcome screen -jeez - the 90s graphics?

[@Psycrovv]

This game looks like trash....