Probably the craziest big-budget movie of the same period, as well as one of the finest strategy games of the early 1990s, were inspired by one of the greatest science fiction books of the previous century. Both David Lynch's Dune (1984) and Dune II: Battle for Arrakis (1992) are regarded as timeless masterpieces, as ageless as the desert planet itself.
Villeneuve’s fantastic 2021 film reignited interest in all things Dune worldwide. To be honest, it would be stupid not to try to take advantage of it. The first to seize the chance were Funcom and Shiro Games, who unveiled a brand-new game centered on Arrakis. We give Dune: Spice Wars our review after it just became available for early access on Steam.
Hybrid approach An intriguing mashup of 4X and vintage real-time strategy games is Dune: Spice Wars. You will be mining spices, gaining territory, building industry and military, battling or negotiating with competing factions, participating in Landsraad elections, and avoiding Shai-Hulud while leading Atreides, Harkonnen, Smugglers, or Fremen. There are now three requirements for winning: political, hegemonic, and dominance. The simplest choice is number one: destroy your adversaries, see them driven before you, and listen to their ladies weep.The least intriguing of the three options is the second, Hegemony, which is dependent on the total number of victory points. The most interesting is the third, at least conceptually. It is accomplished by winning an election to lead Arakis' ruling group and holding onto office for sixty days. Right now, the enormous gains for dealing with Landsraad make it much too simple for Atreides to win in that manner. I assume that one of the next upgrades will weaken it.
Differences in factors
Who are the Fremen, Atreides, Harkonnen, or Smugglers? All four play quite similarly, despite notable variances. Whichever you choose, the game will begin with a single ornithopter buzzing above your locked faction headquarters until you reach a 2000 hegemony score. By default, there is a heavy fog of war over the Arrakis map, but that is the purpose of the flying little gnats.Finding a zone with a Spice field should be the first item on the agenda. Capturing any territory entails subduing or absorbing its people. You may take either route if you're playing as Atreides, but if you choose the (slower) assimilation route, you'll get the colony along with its garrison. Once you have control over the village, you may begin to develop it in accordance with the resources at your disposal and/or your overall strategic requirements.You will construct the spice refinery and begin gathering The Most Valuable Commodity in the Universe (TM) if a zone has a spice field. The main uses of gathered Spice are to bribe the Spacing Guild (Fremen) or pay the monthly imperial tax (Atreides). Either you pay the tax or bribe, or you take a momentary, crippling blow. You may swap surplus spice for other currencies with other factions or convert it automatically to Solari, the basic money used for hiring troops and maintaining infrastructure.Economic and military aspectsIn addition to Spice and Solari, you'll need concrete, water, labor, fuel cells, power, influence, and knowledge, depending on your faction. Dune: Spice Wars aims to be more than just an RTS game, even if that's a lot of balls to manage. In terms of how they are used, most resources are entwined. Plascreete, for instance, is used to construct and maintain infrastructure; enlisting new troops requires both manpower and Solari, while manpower-raising items need plascreete and available construction slots. There is a limited amount of room in each town for new construction, so you will need to prioritize based on any shortages you may be facing. If you have more room to spare, you can always purchase more. If you have an excess of water, power, or soldiers, you may also capture or absorb additional settlements.You'll gather some soldiers and begin to harass the opposition as soon as you're comfortable with the way your resources are coming in. Similar infantry units are used by each group at first, with better troops linked to advancements made in the scientific tree. Each unit has a limited supply in addition to fighting power, which is depleted when crossing an open desert and refilled in friendly territory. In addition to marching, your soldiers might take to the skies (Atreides, Harkonen, etc.) if you had established an airfield network. Fremen travel quickly by riding sandworms, which is clearly much cooler.
Diplomacy, intelligence, and closure
These days, diplomacy is relatively simple. All you can do is establish a few simple agreements and trade with other factions. Additionally, you might attempt to outnumber other factions in the galactic parliament, Landsraad, on a variety of problems. To be honest, the present version of Landsraad is just as boring as a UN session in games of civilization. Unfortunately, one of the requirements for winning is strongly linked to Landsraad votes. To some extent, the whole idea is doctrinally incorrect. For example, why would Fremen feel obliged to obey the choices made by the Landsraad? Other areas that may be streamlined include counter-espionage and espionage. Its actions are not easily understood without the tutorial, which is currently nonexistent, and it has an obscure interface.Finally, I want to stress how terribly underutilized those powerful Sandworms are. When there's a disturbance (fight), worms sometimes appear, but you may relocate troops from rippling sand and be safe. They also don't give harvesting operations much thought. On the first hint of danger, you may activate automatic pickup via carryall if your faction relies on Spice harvesters. You will be completely impervious to harvesting harassment if you play as a Fremen.Dune: Spice Wars has a lot of potential, even if it's now very basic. At the moment, the game simply has a skirmish mode versus AI forces; it does not include a campaign or multiplayer features. Positively, it sells for a lot less than what the final product will cost.
