Table of Contents:
________________________
1.0 ? About this FAQ
1.1 ? What is it?
1.2 ? Where to get it
2.0 ? Getting started
2.1 ? The Great Houses
2.1.1 ? House Atreides
2.1.2 ? House Harkonnen
2.1.3 ? House Ordos
2.2 ? The Minor Houses
2.2.1 ? The Fremen
2.2.2 ? The Guild
2.2.3 ? House of IX
2.2.4 ? Imperial Sardaukar
2.2.5 ? Bene Tlielax
2.3 ? The Dune Universe
2.3.1 ? Novels
2.3.2 ? Arrakis
3.0 ? Units, structures and junk?
3.1 ? House Atreides
3.1.1 ? Structures
3.1.1.1 ? Construction Yard
3.1.1.2 ? Windtrap
3.1.1.3 ? Barracks
3.1.1.4 ? Refinery
3.1.1.5 ? Factory
3.1.1.6 ? Outpost
3.1.1.7 ? Hanger
3.1.1.8 ? Landing Pad
3.1.1.9 ? Starport
3.1.1.10 ? Palace
3.1.1.11 ? Machine Gun Post
3.1.1.12 ? Rocket Turret
3.1.1.13 ? Walls
3.1.2 ? Units
3.1.2.1 ? Atreides Infantry
3.1.2.2 ? Sniper
3.1.2.3 ? Kindjal Infantry
3.1.2.4 ? Engineer
3.1.2.5 ? Scout
3.1.2.6 ? Sand Bike
3.1.2.7 ? Mongoose
3.1.2.8 ? Atreides APC
3.1.2.9 ? Minutaurus
3.1.2.10 ? Sonic Tank
3.1.2.11 ? Repair Vehicle
3.1.2.12 ? Air Drone
3.1.2.13 ? Ornithopter
3.1.2.14 ? Carryall
3.1.2.15 ? Advanced Carryall
3.1.2.16 ? Harvester
3.1.2.17 ? MCV
3.2 ? House Ordos
3.2.1 ? Structures
3.2.1.1 ? Construction Yard
3.2.1.2 ? Windtrap
3.2.1.3 ? Barracks
3.2.1.4 ? Refinery
3.2.1.5 ? Factory
3.2.1.6 ? Outpost
3.2.1.7 ? Hanger
3.2.1.8 ? Starport
3.2.1.9 ? Palace
3.2.1.10 ? Gas Turret
3.2.1.11 ? Pop-up Turret
3.2.1.12 ? Walls
3.2.2 ? Units
3.2.2.1 ? Chemical Trooper
3.2.2.2 ? AA Trooper
3.2.2.3 ? Mortar Infantry
3.2.2.4 ? Saboteur
3.2.2.5 ? Engineer
3.2.2.6 ? Scout
3.2.2.7 ? Dust Scout
3.2.2.8 ? APC
3.2.2.9 ? Laser Tank
3.2.2.10 ? Deviator
3.2.2.11 ? Kobra
3.2.2.12 ? Eye in the sky
3.2.2.13 ? AA Mine
3.2.2.14 ? Carryall
3.2.2.15 ? Advanced Carryall
3.2.2.16 ? Harvester
3.2.2.17 ? MCV
3.3 ? House Harkonnen
3.3.1 ? Structures
3.3.1.1 ? Construction Yard
3.3.1.2 ? Windtrap
3.3.1.3 ? Barracks
3.3.1.4 ? Refinery
3.3.1.5 ? Factory
3.3.1.6 ? Outpost
3.3.1.7 ? Hanger
3.3.1.8 ? Landing Pad
3.3.1.9 ? Starport
3.3.1.10 ? Palace
3.3.1.11 ? Flame Turret
3.3.1.12 ? Gun Turret
3.3.1.13 ? Walls
3.3.2 ? Units
3.3.2.1 ? Light Infantry
3.3.2.2 ? Trooper
3.3.2.3 ? Flamer Infantry
3.3.2.4 ? Engineer
3.3.2.5 ? Scout
3.3.2.6 ? Buzzsaw
3.3.2.7 ? Assault Tank
3.3.2.8 ? Flame Tank
3.3.2.9 ? Missile Tank
3.3.2.10 ? Inkvine Catapult
3.3.2.11 ? Devastator
3.3.2.12 ? Gunship
3.3.2.13 ? Air Defense Platform
3.3.2.14 ? Carryall
3.3.2.15 ? Advanced Carryall
3.3.2.16 ? Harvester
3.3.2.17 ? MCV
3.4 ? Sub Houses
3.4.1 ? The Fremen
3.4.1.1 ? Fremen Camp
3.4.1.2 ? Fremen Warrior
3.4.1.3 ? Fremen Fedaykin
3.4.2 ? The Guild
3.4.2.1 ? Guild Palace
3.4.2.2 ? Guild Maker
3.4.2.3 ? Guild NIAB Tank
3.4.3 ? House of IX
3.4.3.1 ? House of IX
3.4.3.2 ? Ixian Infiltrator
3.4.3.3 ? Ixian Projector
3.4.4 ? Imperial Sardaukar
3.4.4.1 ? Sardaukar Barracks
3.4.4.2 ? Imperial Sardaukar
3.4.4.3 ? Imperial Sardaukar Elite
3.4.5 ? Bene Tlielax
3.4.5.1 ? Tlielaxu Flesh Vats
3.4.5.2 ? Tlielaxu Contaminator
3.4.5.3 ? Tlielaxu Leech
4.0 ? You should know all of this
4.1 ? Playing smart
4.1.1 ? Concentrated fire
4.2 ? The playground
4.2.1 ? Worms
4.2.2 ? Trees
5.0 ? I?m having trouble with?
5.1 ? I have no money
5.2 ? Worms! My god they?re huge!
5.3 ? I?m being tank rushed.
5.4 ? Death Hands
5.5 ? Chaos Lightings
5.6 ? Hawk Strike
5.7 ? Saboteurs
5.8 ? Sandstorms
6.0 ? Walkthroughs
6.1 ? The basics of Single player game
6.2 ? Atreides walkthroughs
6.3 ? Harkonnen walkthroughs
6.4 ? Ordos walkthroughs
7.0 ? Multiplayer
8.0 ? Frequently Asked Questions
9.0 ? Useless facts and knowledge
9.1 ? Crate contents
10.0 ? In the future
10.1 ? Future versions
10.2 ? More FAQs
10.3 ? Dune
12.0 ? Revision history
1.0 ? About this FAQ
1.1 ? What is it?
This FAQ is a fan made strategy guide for players of Emperor: Battle for Dune. Before this one I made FAQs for Dune 2000, Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2. Back then I gave some reason why I do it, like I wanna see less newbies, and make sure people don?t spend money on useless guides that actually cost money. This time I?m not really going to reason it.
1.2 ? Where to get it
You can get the newest version of this FAQ and other FAQs at:
http://www.dune2k.com/faqs/
2.0 ? Getting started
2.1 ? The Great Houses
2.1.1 ? House Atreides
From the planet of Caladan ? House Atreides is lead by their Duke and is known for nobility. The Atreides are the realization of good, starting from their behavior, going through their home world, the green, lush, water world of Caladan and ending in their ingame bonuses. The Atreides insignia is a Hawk, their color on Dune is blue. Since the Atreides care for their soldiers the most, they?re the only house with a repair unit. They also posses the bonus of sending elite soldiers back to the barracks and turn them into drill instructors, thus increasing all future units rank by one. This can be done for a cumulative effect and create some nasty effects. Especially for the very infantry oriented Atreides players.
2.1.2 ? House Harkonnen
House Harkonnen from the industrialized plant of Giedi Prime resembles pure evil. The Harkonnen look only for profit and will let a lot of people die on their way too it. House Harkonnen is ruled by the Baron, their insignia is a Bull. The employ brutal tactics and treat their population as bad as possible. This reflects their ingame style where they cannot repair their units and instead Harkonnen units keep working at 100% until the last second.
2.1.3 ? House Ordos
House Ordos is a cartel that only looks after power and profit. Based in the icy planet of Sigma Draconis. The Ordos build their military power using their money and they have access to weapons the Harkonnen and Atreides can only dream of. Including a lot of illegal weapons form the Ixians. They?re best in hit & run tactics and not in straight out fights. Their advantages in the game come from self repairing, shielded units and hovering units. Their insignia is a Snake.
2.2 ? The Minor Houses
2.2.1 ? The Fremen
The Fremen are the natives of Arrakis. People accustomed to the harsh desert that have grown immense strength. They make for powerful allies on the planet Arrakis because of their numbers and potential to become an extremely deadly army.
2.2.2 ? The Guild
The spacing guild has a monopoly on all of the space travel in the universe. They have an important interest in spice since their mutated navigators need it to travel in space and ?fold? it. The guild is always concerned from the situation in Arrakis and its main concern is that the spice will flow.
2.2.3 ? House of IX
The house of IX comes from a high-technology planet in the edge of the empire. Their distance from the Butlerian jihad kept them with technology, which would be considered, forbidden anywhere else in the empire. They have access to the most advanced technology in the universe and trade it with anyone that can supply the money.
2.2.4 ? Imperial Sardaukar
The Imperial Sardaukar were the emperor?s private army. Coming from the harsh background of a prison planet, the Sardaukar are hardened and make for excellent fighters. The best in the universe and matched only by the Fremen from Arrakis.
2.2.5 ? Bene Tlielax
The Tlielaxu are more a cult of mutated humans then a respectable house. They are masters of biotechnology and can do anything from changing shapes (Some of them, known as face dancer) to reviving clones of a dead human.
2.3 ? The Dune Universe
2.3.1 ? Novels
Dune, if you didn?t already know is a science fiction novel from the mind of Frank Herbert. It was followed by some sequels and now some prequels. The orignal book was written back in 1964 and is considered as the bible of science fiction books in a lot of ways. The novels written by Frank Herbert were:
Dune
Dune: Messiah
Children of Dune
God Emperor of Dune
Heretics of Dune
Chapterhouse Dune
Also, three ?prequels? were written after Frank Herbert?s death by his son and another writer these books are:
House Atreides
House Harkonnen
House Corrino
You are recommended to read at least the original novel, and if you like it you might as well try the rest.
2.3.2 ? Arrakis
Arrakis, a desert waterless planet, nicknamed Dune could be just a little useless and silly planet. But it is the only place in the universe where the priceless spice Melange is found. The spice is a priceless mineral, it extends life, it lets the Bene-gesserit have their visions and without it space travel would be extremely slow and meaningless. Mining the spice is done on Arrakis by harvesters, and the process is quite dangerous because of the giant sandworms, lethal sandstorms, and the lack of water in sufficient amount that make the planet Arrakis unfriendly at best.
3.0 ? Units, structures and junk?
3.1 - House Atreides
House Atreides has two important advantages each player should be aware of. The first one is the repair vehicle that makes up for the Harkonnen disadvantage and allows the Atreides to repair all vehicles fast with a simple unit. The second advantage is the ability to send an elite infantry unit into the barracks and in return all future soldier form this type will start in a higher veterancy level. This can be done again and again and you can actually build elite Kindjals out of your barracks if you?re lucky.
3.1.1 ? Structures
3.1.1.1 ? Construction Yard
The heart of your base and a preferable target by your enemies ? The construction yard supplies the construction needs of your base. Construction yards cannot be built and in order to get new ones you must deploy a MCV. Unlike past Westwood games, the MCV this time is a very accessible unit and destroying someone?s construction yard will do him very little harm if he has money. Because of that the construction yard is somewhat less important this time around, but is still the number one structure to destroy for the opponent. Construction yards are heavily armored, and even though it can survive a Death hand, you will have to repair him immediately after that or the radiation will take it down. If such a thing happens and you find you have no money, sell something quickly. Remember you need to upgrade your Construction yard for better base defenses and the high-tech buildings.
3.1.1.2 ? Windtrap
The windtraps supply the power and water of your base. Without sufficient power your base can usually operate, but it won?t do a good job in it. Windtraps are cheap, and their armor is quite sufficient to make them a rather bad target so while attacking a base you?d rather choose the enemy factories and other over the windtraps. If you?re on low power two effects will occur. The first one is a slowdown in your entire production. The second and sometimes more troubling one is that some of your defenses will go offline (As well as your radar map) and this effect makes the windtraps useful targets before an invasion.
3.1.1.3 ? Barracks
The barracks is the cheapest factory in your possession, and the first one you get. IT supplies you with infantry, which can support you through a lot of battles for little money. Barracks are small, low armored (Though considering their price it?s not a problem at all). Building more than one is recommended, in order to cut down building time of infantry. And once you get a second base going, it?s the first structure you should deploy there. Watch out for engineer capturing these structure, it will give the enemy a spot to make new engineers and other infantry units that you wish your enemy won?t have. When you take over an enemy building in his base, pop up a barracks and start causing havoc. If you gain control of the enemy construction yard, and can?t keep it, build a barracks, and then sell it. The enemy can?t build an engineer on time unless he already has one, and will avoid just shooting his construction yard. You will need to upgrade your barracks in order to access advanced infantry.
3.1.1.4 ? Refinery
The heart of your economy ? the refinery is an important building to you, and a very good target for your enemies. This is where your harvester load your precious spice gathered on the land of Arrakis. A refinery costs 1500 credits and comes with a free harvester and carryall. Making it a very good deal, much better than actually buy them. If you want to expend your economy and have the time and space build more refineries. When do run out of space, or need to build other buildings, build harvesters and carryalls by yourselves (Or better yet, order them from a Starport). You can also upgrade Refineries; each upgrade is cheaper than a new refinery and will add another pad at the refinery. You can have up to three pads at each refinery. Refineries are nicely armored but still make a good target because a player without them is screwed, usually much more than players without a construction yard (This actually depends in which phase in the game you are).
3.1.1.5 ? Factory
The Factory is where you build your vehicles. Factories are much more expensive than barracks, but they?re not too heavy armored, so blowing them up is a nice idea. Factories allow you to build (or replace destroyed) harvesters as well as build new MCVs and of course you combat vehicles. Factories need to be upgraded in order to gain access to advanced units. And you will need a Starport as well in order to build Sonic tanks. Factories should be placed in the back of your base where they?re safer since if the enemy gets your construction yard his next goal will be making sure you don?t have anymore vehicles.
3.1.1.6 ? Outpost
The Outpost serves as your radar. Until built your radar map will still be there, but it will only be showing your buildings. Once built (And assuming power is one of course) you will be able to see all enemy units, enemy buildings and friendly units on the map. Outposts come very cheap and are easy to replace, but the time needed for replacing them can be used nicely if you know what you?re doing.
3.1.1.7 ? Hanger
The Hanger is your aircraft factory. The last factory you build. You will build carryalls and advanced carryalls in it. As well as your houses primary air assault unit and AA unit (Known as pre-order units). You will need to upgrade the hanger in order to build the primary air assault unit and advanced carryall. Units that come out of the Hanger are fully armed. In order to rearm them though, you might need the helipads in some cases.
3.1.1.8 ? Landing Pad
The Landing pad serves as a rearming post for your fleet of ornithopters. It can rearm one ornithopter at a time. Once rearmed the ornithopter will move out and make room for another one to rearm, this is all an automatic process and allows you to have more ornithopters than landing pads without annoying micromanagement. The number of landing pads needed really depends on your dependency on the ornithopters. The more you have, the faster you send another air strike.
3.1.1.9 ? Starport
The Starport is an excellent structure when you have little money. It is also good when you have too much money. And it is also useful; when you have an amount in between. The starport allows you to order units directly from, well, not really clear where from but who cares. You can order up to six units at once, which will arrive after a while on a CHOAM frigate. The prices in the starport change from time to time, and may ever be cheaper than the ones in the factory or more expensive. You can buy only your house?s units in the starport, and this does not include infantry and the ?Pre-order? units. Starports are heavily armored, expensive and require a lot of power.
3.1.1.10 ? Palace
The Atreides palace is expensive and has excessive power usage. It will allow you however to use the Hawk Strike. Once charged (Look for it under vehicles) you can choose a target for your Hawk Strike which will create a giant hologram of a hawk that will scare enemy units beneath it and make them spread around helplessly. The effect holds for some time, more than the Ordos Chaos Lighting effect. Target your hawk strikes at concentrated enemy groups, and do it before you attack, while is may seem like a wimpy weapon it can easily turn the tide of battle when used right. If you know your enemy has a Hawk strike ready and a force nearby, you are well advised to spread your forces, thus making you less vulnerable to the weapon. Note that units under the effect of a Hawk strike will flee of the map sometimes, in case you don?t understand: They won?t be returning!
3.1.1.11 ? Machine Gun Post
The Machine gun post is a light Atreides base defense. It is a tower with a soldier on top of it armed with a heavy machine gun. The machine gun will only cause minor damage to enemy vehicles but will slaughter enemy infantry very effectively and even though its short range can prove very effective if you get attacked early on or later on as an anti-engineer defense spread around in your base. Machine gun posts will continue firing even if your power is out.
3.1.1.12 ? Rocket Turret
The Rocket turret is a more powerful base defense for the Atreides. They require power to work, cost more and require upgrading your construction yard as well. However they have a high defense value. These turrets launch homing rockets at their targets that are very effective against vehicles and will also defend the base from aerial threats.
3.1.1.13 ? Walls
Walls give your base defenses some extra defense as well as fortify some units and make it harder for your opponent to come from different directions. To build walls, select ?wall? from the buildings tab and start placing the walls. You can keep making walls and you get tired press the right button on the mouse to stop. The construction yard will automatically build the wall section you marked. Put units that can shoot over walls behind them, and remember, it?s quite easy to destroy them if one really wants to.
3.1.2 ? Units
3.1.2.1 ? Atreides Infantry
The Atreides infantry is weak and cheap. It has rather little use for Atreides players since it can mostly harm other soldiers and damage vehicles slightly. Since you?d rather have snipers for killing soldiers, and Kindjals for fighting off vehicles and Atreides infantry is left with the job of supporting a combined force and nothing more. Atreides infantry comes from most of your structures when you sell or lose them. Atreides infantry is almost exactly like the Harkonnen Light infantry except they cost 10 credits more and are faster.
3.1.2.2 ? Sniper
The sniper is an anti-infantry long-range unit. The fact they?re available to the Atreides from the start makes them an annoying unit. They will take quite easily on infantry, but watch out for flamers and deployed mortar infantry that will defeat these guys. They are useless against vehicles at all, and therefore will do best with a support of anti-tank units. Mostly, you will want to use Kindjals for this job. Snipers have a long reload time and they cannot move while reloading and this makes them a bad maneuvering unit so you be able to avoid enemy mortars with them.
3.1.2.3 ? Kindjal Infantry
The Kindjal infantry are armed with a small pistol and a tripod launcher that shoot powerful mortars. When on the move they will use their pistols, you can deploy them to use their powerful weapons. Kindjals make for excellent units in holding bottlenecks. Mix them up with snipers for a better anti-infantry force and as long as you can keep long-ranged anti-infantry units from them they will do the rest. This gives them a high value in early game since the enemy does not posses these units yet. Kindjals are trickier to use in offense but can be as effective as in defense by deploying them right. Use infantry rock to add them and defend them from running themselves over (Plus a damage bonus). If you want to spend money on useful infantry to bring with your vehicles, you will usually go with the Kindjal infantry.
Kindjals are excellent in making sure enemy tanks won?t get through bottlenecks.
Just make sure they get the support they need.
3.1.2.4 ? Engineer
The engineer is a very deadly unit. As always before they can capture an enemy building by simply reaching it. They can also repair your buildings to full health and they?re the best line of defense against the Tlielaxu leech, since they can remove larvae from an infected unit (though a repair vehicle does the job better). Engineers are lightly armored and unarmed. They should be eliminated the second you see them coming towards your base. They make for an ideal transport on APCs since they are useless until you have access to the enemy base. Try putting some in APCs and bring them with attack force. Espeically effective in games with more than two players.
3.1.2.5 ? Scout
The scout is an important unit for any game. It is also the first unit you should build in any game. Scouts are very cheap, the cheapest thing in the game to be exact. They?re fast and have stealth ability. And their most important attribute is their sight. Use scouts early in the game to reveal the entire map and make sure you see the enemy bases. If you have hard time scouting an area do it more carefully and use the stealth ability. If you lose them don?t fear, they?re very cheap to replace. Later on in the game put scouts in key places. This is extremely important for games with ?Fog of War? and is also effective in game without it. Since scouts can detect stealth units they will prove very effective in standing in front of your force or guarding entrances to your base. They can easily make a simple joke out of the annoying Fremen units or save your base from a stealth Atreides APC.
3.1.2.6 ? Sand Bike
The Sand bike is the Atreides light vehicle. It?s a small tricycle armed with a ?friendly? machine gun. It is fast and lightly armored. It is great for hunting infantry around the map, or annoying your enemy by surprise attacks. It can also support your mongooses when fighting against infantry. Aside for that there?s little use for the Sand bike later on, especially because exploration is done by scouts.
3.1.2.7 ? Mongoose
The Mongoose uses the Atreides as their main combat unit. The Mongoose is a small two legged mechanoid armed with a small rotating rocket launcher. It is fast, nicely armored and packs a nice punch, therefore, it uses as a main combat unit in Atreides vehicle attacks, and also provides an important backup for your infantry when they meet flame tanks, contaminators or other deadly anti-infantry units. As another important bonus the Mongoose can launch its rockets to every air unit that will attempt moving above him. Giving it another value as a great tactical AA unit, which possesses speed, firepower and the ability to fight ground targets. Note that the Mongoose will lose to Harkonnen assault tanks in a direct approach so circle around them and exploit your rotating turret.
3.1.2.8 ? Atreides APC
The Atreides APC is a cheap but powerful transportation for infantry. It costs only 2/3 of the Ordos APC and this comes in a price. Atreides APCs have a very small meaningless firepower that makes them useless as a combat unit. They however can fight a few soldiers before dying, so don?t be afraid to kill some enemy troopers, especially if you use the stealth ability. They are also not too heavily armored but they are made very dangerous by their stealth ability. They remain invisible if they move at short distances (And stay away from detectors). This allows you to put 5 engineers into someone?s base easily if he?s not ready for it. It will only require annoying micromanagement on the way. When unloading or loading the APC loses its stealth.
3.1.2.9 ? Minutaurus
The heavy Atreides Minutaurus is a slow powerful mechanoid. Armed with four long-range cannons the Minutaurus serves as artillery, heavy combat unit (And a nutritious snack for worms). Minutauruses are the biggest Atreides vehicle, they are very slow and require support because when left alone their targets can out-maneuver them. The cannons will fire in one burst of explosive shells that is highly dangerous to infantry and quite effective against vehicles. The range is quite big, and is a match for the Harkonnen missile tank and Ordos Kobra. Minutaurus requires you to upgrade your factory. They?re best in groups and with other units in front of them. An excellent unit for this will be the Moongoose that makes an excellent combo with the Minutaurus. The best way to fight these units is with units that can escape the shells and shoot between barrages. They are also very vulnerable to aerial strikes. Keep in mind that while being slow and heavy, the Minutaurus is actually quite weak compared to the enemy heavy units.
3.1.2.10 ? Sonic Tank
The Sonic tank is an old familiar Atreides unit. It shoots a powerful sonic blast that annihilates anything on its way. Sonic tanks are moderately armored and slow. Their important attribute is their firepower, and if they get to fire their weapon, the opponent usually doesn?t get that chance, if however they will be caught in fire too fast they will prove a waste of money. Sonic tanks are quite expensive, considering the fact that they are less armored than the Minutaurus but their advantage comes from their powerful weapon that is effective against infantry, vehicles and structures. It also possesses a long range and will keep going after it hit its target. This lets the sonic tank destroy groups of enemies in seconds and destroy several tanks in one shot sometimes but it can also be very annoying for their controllers as friendly fire is quite common in the sonic tank?s case and it is also very deadly. Sonic tanks are very effective when placed as walls waiting for an enemy on its way.
3.1.2.11 ? Repair Vehicle
The Repair vehicle is an important advantage for the Atreides. It puts them in a great situation against the Harkonnen that cannot repair their damage and balances them with the self-repairing Ordos units. The Repair vehicle is rather cheap and light armored (So operating in the middle of battle won?t leave it alive for too long). They?re great for standing beyond your forces and after enemy strikes to repair your forces. You can also have more than and then they will also repair each other. Repair vehicles can also remove leeches and they do this job better than engineers since they will also repair the unit after that. They are great for standing next to your refinery and repair all harvesters as they go by or by guarding your landing pads and keeping your fleet of ornithopters at their maximum. The later one is an important advantage as the Harkonnen lack of ability to repair their gunships is noted. Projected repair vehicles cannot repair, too bad.
3.1.2.12 ? Air Drone
The Air Drone is the Atreides ?Pre Order? unit. It is rather cheap and once built will remain in the air until it?s destroyed. It cannot however hold itself in the same spot so it will move in circles in the spot you ordered it to go. While it may seem slow when moving in circles, this is not the case actually since the Air Drone can easily intercept any other aircraft in the game. When an aircraft is in range the Air Drone will release homing missiles and start shooting it down. It can take out enemy aircraft rather easily and makes for an excellent air-to-air unit. A recommended use for Air Drones aside from watching the skies above your base is hunting carryalls. The Air Drone is excellent as it shoots them really fast, can escape if needed and intercept them if they decide to switch spice fields.
3.1.2.13 ? Ornithopter
The Ornithopter is the Atreides main air unit. It flaps its two wings to move like a chopper and is armed with a missile launcher. It has limited ammo and must return to a landing pad to reload. Once reload it will clear its spot for a fellow ornithopter. Ornithopters are lightly armored and fast; they?re great for attacking units that wander around the map with no AA support or with little one. They make a worse base-bombing unit than the Harkonnen gunship because they have almost half the armor of the gunship and they unload their payload slower. Their big advantage however over the gunship is your ability to repair them, make use of that ability and keep at least one repair vehicle next to your landing. If you have enough of these, don?t be shy and go blow up the enemy?s construction yard and other key structures.
3.1.2.14 ? Carryall
Carryalls are used to carry your harvesters around. They?re moderately armored and fully automated. You have no control on them what so ever, which can make it hard to cause them retreat from danger. When getting free harvesters from refineries you will get a free carryall. However when you build or order your own harvesters you will need to get new carryalls by yourself (Through either the hanger or a Starport). Carryalls are excellent targets since they tend to make it harder for you to hunt harvesters, you might as well shoot them down first. There are plenty of units for this job and once you take out someone?s carryalls his economy will slowdown significantly. You get warnings when your carryalls are under attack, so listen carefully and make sure every time it happens if it is just a coincidence or does the enemy aim for them. If he aims for them you will need to start spending money on defending them.
3.1.2.15 ? Advanced Carryall
The Advanced Carryall takes stuff, and put them in another place. That?s pretty all there is to it, from here on the sky is the limit. You can pick up your forces and put them wherever you want. You can pick up enemy harvesters and bring them to your base so you can destroy them. You can pick up enemy devastators from your base and put them back somewhere far away or better yet, put them next to someone else?s harvesters. You can take someone?s harvester and put it in someone else?s base. And you can put APCs full of engineers or saboteurs right in the middle of the enemy?s base. Whatever you choose, there are a few notes though. Adv. Carryalls are expensive and light armored, so you don?t want them on suicide missions unless these are critical ones (Such as an aerial train to land forces in your enemy base) and not mundane ones (Transport units). Adv. Carryalls need a few seconds to take off again, and in these seconds are very vulnerable, so don?t try to pick an assault tank surrounded by five more, it won?t work. If the enemy has Adv. Carryalls make sure you hunt them down, it?s easy and will save you much trouble later on. Make sure you use the ?Call Adv. Carryall? key (V by default) that will call an Adv. Carryall to come and pick the selected unit(s).
3.1.2.16 ? Harvester
Harvesters are the blood of your economy. They will supply your refineries with spice and keep you with money. Harvesters are slow and heavily armored. They contain up to 700 credits worth of spice when they need transportation a carryall will come to transport them (If one is available). Carryalls will also attempt to rescue them from danger and destroyed harvesters will be replaced for free at times. This makes harvesters a much harder target than before, and if you plan on hunting them you should have big forces that will destroy them before they evacuate from the place or forces that can control the spice field and kill them as they come. Shooting a carryall with a harvester will yield excellent results. Rather than building new harvesters, build refineries and upgrade them. It will be much cheaper (Since you get extra pad, harvester and carryall for a less) and will save on traffic problems that can become very annoying at times.
3.1.2.17 ? MCV
The Mobile Construction Vehicle is the first link in a base. It deploys into a construction yard that will be the heart of your base. Aside for the initial MCV you receive in the start of a game you can build new ones in the factory or order them from a starport. Note that obviously it?s an expensive unit. You might want to build MCVs if you lost your construction yard, wish to have backup (Or build structures faster) or you simply want to build a new base, which is an important thing in long game. Remember that you can undeploy your MCV and redeploy it in another spot if needed; this may be useful if your initial deployment makes you lose some building area you later on need. Don?t let these guys near deviators.
3.2 ? House Ordos
The Ordos are mostly based in hit & run tactics and their units fit this very well. Ordos vehicles auto-repair themselves and some of them are shielded. Note that while shields are usually good, any shot from a Lasgun weapon will spawn the dreaded ?Holtzman? effect, which will destroy both the attacker and the defender. Ordos vehicles also can travel through dust bowls and the dust scout can hide in them for another sneaky feature.
3.2.1 ? Structures
3.2.1.1 ? Construction Yard
The heart of your base and a preferable target by your enemies ? The construction yard supplies the construction needs of your base. Construction yards cannot be built and in order to get new ones you must deploy a MCV. Unlike past Westwood games, the MCV this time is a very accessible unit and destroying someone?s construction yard will do him very little harm if he has money. Because of that the construction yard is somewhat less important this time around, but is still the number one structure to destroy for the opponent. Construction yards are heavily armored, and even though it can survive a Death hand, you will have to repair him immediately after that or the radiation will take it down. If such a thing happens and you find you have no money, sell something quickly. Remember you need to upgrade your Construction yard for better base defenses and the high-tech buildings.
3.2.1.2 ? Windtrap
The windtraps supply the power and water of your base. Without sufficient power your base can usually operate, but it won?t do a good job in it. Windtraps are cheap, and their armor is quite sufficient to make them a rather bad target so while attacking a base you?d rather choose the enemy factories and other over the windtraps. If you?re on low power two effects will occur. The first one is a slowdown in your entire production. The second and sometimes more troubling one is that some of your defenses will go offline (As well as your radar map) and this effect makes the windtraps useful targets before an invasion.
3.2.1.3 ? Barracks
The barracks is the cheapest factory in your possession, and the first one you get. IT supplies you with infantry, which can support you through a lot of battles for little money. Barracks are small, low armored (Though considering their price it?s not a problem at all). Building more than one is recommended, in order to cut down building time of infantry. And once you get a second base going, it?s the first structure you should deploy there. Watch out for engineer capturing these structure, it will give the enemy a spot to make new engineers and other infantry units that you wish your enemy won?t have. When you take over an enemy building in his base, pop up a barracks and start causing havoc. If you gain control of the enemy construction yard, and can?t keep it, build a barracks, and then sell it. The enemy can?t build an engineer on time unless he already has one, and will avoid just shooting his construction yard. You will need to upgrade your barracks in order to access advanced infantry.
3.2.1.4 ? Refinery
The heart of your economy ? the refinery is an important building to you, and a very good target for your enemies. This is where your harvester load your precious spice gathered on the land of Arrakis. A refinery costs 1500 credits and comes with a free harvester and carryall. Making it a very good deal, much better than actually buy them. If you want to expend your economy and have the time and space build more refineries. When do run out of space, or need to build other buildings, build harvesters and carryalls by yourselves (Or better yet, order them from a Starport). You can also upgrade Refineries; each upgrade is cheaper than a new refinery and will add another pad at the refinery. You can have up to three pads at each refinery. Refineries are nicely armored but still make a good target because a player without them is screwed, usually much more than players without a construction yard (This actually depends in which phase in the game you are).
3.2.1.5 ? Factory
The Factory is where you build your vehicles. Factories are much more expensive than barracks, but they?re not too heavy armored, so blowing them up is a nice idea. Factories allow you to build (or replace destroyed) harvesters as well as build new MCVs and of course you combat vehicles. Factories need to be upgraded in order to gain access to advanced units. And you will need a Starport as well in order to build Deviators. Factories should be placed in the back of your base where they?re safer since if the enemy gets your construction yard his next goal will be making sure you don?t have anymore vehicles.
3.2.1.6 ? Outpost
The Outpost serves as your radar. Until built your radar map will still be there, but it will only be showing your buildings. Once built (And assuming power is one of course) you will be able to see all enemy units, enemy buildings and friendly units on the map. Outposts come very cheap and are easy to replace, but the time needed for replacing them can be used nicely if you know what you?re doing.
3.2.1.7 ? Hanger
The Hanger is your aircraft factory. The last factory you build. You will build carryalls and advanced carryalls in it. As well as your houses primary air assault unit and AA unit (Known as pre-order units). You will need to upgrade the hanger in order to build the primary air assault unit and advanced carryall. Units that come out of the Hanger are fully armed. In order to rearm them though, you might need the helipads in some cases.
3.2.1.8 ? Starport
The Starport is an excellent structure when you have little money. It is also good when you have too much money. And it is also useful; when you have an amount in between. The starport allows you to order units directly from, well, not really clear where from but who cares. You can order up to six units at once, which will arrive after a while on a CHOAM frigate. The prices in the starport change from time to time, and may ever be cheaper than the ones in the factory or more expensive. You can buy only your house?s units in the starport, and this does not include infantry and the ?Pre-order? units. Starports are heavily armored, expensive and require a lot of power.
3.2.1.9 ? Palace
The Ordos Palace is an expensive power-eating building that will give you access to the Ordos superweapon ? The Ordos Chaos Lighting. The Chaos Lighting will affect an area like all other weapons, all units in this area will go mad. Mad means these units will start shooting everything in site, usually their buddies and so a formidable force can be destroyed with one chaos lighting strike. Use this superweapon once your enemy groups some units, and feel free doing it in his base where they can start shooting his construction yard. A nice way to minimize damage will be killing the units under the effect of the lighting before they cause too much damage, this tactic is useful when the lighting is shot into the middle of a big force.
3.2.1.10 ? Gas Turret
The Gas turret is the Ordos anti-infantry base defense; it is cheap and will work in low power conditions. While it has a low range it will take care of any infantry in range. Mix them up with the advanced pop-up turrets to provide a defense against all kinds of units, since gas turrets are ineffective against vehicles. Supporting them with mortar infantry will also yield good results.
3.2.1.11 ? Pop-up Turret
The Pop-up turret is the Ordos base defense against vehicles. It has a bigger range than the gas turret, but it costs more and requires power to work. Pop-up turrets are good to block enemy tanks on their way, but are still vulnerable to air attacks and long range units. So you?re advised to guard them with mortar infantry and AA troopers.
3.2.1.12 ? Walls
Walls give your base defenses some extra defense as well as fortify some units and make it harder for your opponent to come from different directions. To build walls, select ?wall? from the buildings tab and start placing the walls. You can keep making walls and you get tired press the right button on the mouse to stop. The construction yard will automatically build the wall section you marked. Put units that can shoot over walls behind them, and remember, it?s quite easy to destroy them if one really wants to.
3.2.2 ? Units
3.2.2.1 ? Chemical Trooper
The Chemical trooper is the basic Ordos infantry. It has two tanks of chemicals on its back, which he sprays into his enemy?s face. It can kill infantry in a second but its effective ness against vehicles is limited. Chemical troopers can defeat the enemy light infantry usually, but they do however lack range. Use them with mortar infantry and AA troopers early on to create a formidable force. When an Ordos structure is sold or destroyed, chemical troopers will emerge.
3.2.2.2 ? AA Trooper
Though the AA in the name the AA trooper is similar to the Harkonnen trooper. It is more expensive though. It is armed with a missile launcher that can shoot both air & ground. It is however almost totally useless against infantry. AA troopers in groups can fight off enemy tanks easily, especially if they are on infantry rock. To make them more efficient support them with chemical troopers against enemy soldiers. Their most important attribute for the Ordos though is their AA support. The lack of a base defense with AA capability makes the AA trooper the most effective AA in their possession, since they?re cheap and have a big firepower, if you?re enemy packs on air units build those for defense.
3.2.2.3 ? Mortar Infantry
Mortar infantry are a very deadly infantry unit. They are armed with a pistol when on the move, which is capable for little damage. But when deployed they pull off their mortars and start bombing with serous firepower with a very long range. They?re cheap and light armored like all infantry so they die fast however if they are kept defended they will provide the best firepower (Per money) for the Ordos. The mortars will kill infantry easily and damage vehicles seriously as well, they however have one main disadvantage, their speed. Mortars are very slow and even rather slow units can escape them. As long as they maneuver around your mortars the soldiers remain useless, but once they stop they will start pounding on that units head. They?re also effective against groups since they?ll be hitting something anyway in that case. To use them effectively deploy them in tactical positions, infantry cover makes for excellent spots. You can also take mortar infantry with you for attacks, but it will require more micromanagement. The best way to counter these units is with Minutauruses, Kobras or Inkvine Catapults. Thought a flame tank that gets close will also do the job wonderfully so need to use these units only.
3.2.2.4 ? Saboteur
The Saboteur is nothing more than a fancy suicidal unit. It is rather cheap and can prove very effective at times. It can use its explosives to detonate against anything you wish (Well, not aircrafts) and can cause some nice damage. However if the saboteur is killed before blowing himself up he will cause much less damage. Saboteurs can be very effective against structures and infantry, but their effectiveness against vehicles is limited. If you have extra money and no need of other infantry build these guys and start sending them one by one to the enemy (Not in groups as they will all blow up together) at different targets and cause some damage to stuff. If you can put some on APCs before you attack your enemy and unload them at the right time in the enemy base you can have a nice surprise and a blast (Got that? Hihi). If however you really want to get this guys into the enemy base and got the cash, go for the Eye in the Sky that does this job in the best way possible.
3.2.2.5 ? Engineer
The engineer is a very deadly unit. As always before they can capture an enemy building by simply reaching it. They can also repair your buildings to full health and they?re the best line of defense against the Tlielaxu leech, since they can remove larvae from an infected unit. Engineers are lightly armored and unarmed. They should be eliminated the second you see them coming towards your base. They make for an ideal transport on APCs since they are useless until you have access to the enemy base. Try putting some in APCs and bring them with attack force. This is especially effective in games with more than two players.
3.2.2.6 ? Scout
The scout is an important unit for any game. It is also the first unit you should build in any game. Scouts are very cheap, the cheapest thing in the game to be exact. They?re fast and have stealth ability. And their most important attribute is their sight. Use scouts early in the game to reveal the entire map and make sure you see the enemy bases. If you have hard time scouting an area do it more carefully and use the stealth ability. If you lose them don?t fear, they?re very cheap to replace. Later on in the game put scouts in key places. This is extremely important for games with ?Fog of War? and is also effective in game without it. Since scouts can detect stealth units they will prove very effective in standing in front of your force or guarding entrances to your base. They can easily make a simple joke out of the annoying Fremen units or save your base from a stealth Atreides APC.
3.2.2.7 ? Dust Scout
The small light Dust scout is an excellent recon vehicle, but this is Emperor: Battle for Dune so you?ll use scouts instead. So what is left for the dust scout? It is fast and packs a nice machine gun that lets it take out infantry nicely. Using it?s speed it will prove as a nice tool for hunting enemy infantry and annoying the enemy by attacking his harvesters. Dust scouts have the ability to move over dust bowls, and not only that. If the stay in place in a dust bowl they?ll dig themselves in so the enemy won?t be able to see them (You won?t be able to see them too, but you can select them of course). This ability makes them a nice unit to hide around and kill unexpected foes. Make sure you disable guard mode (G? by default) if you want to keep them in the dust bowl and wait for the right moment.
3.2.2.8 ? APC
The Ordos APC is a hovering carrier for infantry armed with a rocket launcher and defended by a shield. It can carry up to five soldiers and makes for an excellent engineer transportation (Or saboteurs). The APC is shielded and therefore if shot by a Lasgun will explode with its shooter (Holtzman Effect). The APC can take a fair amount of damage, more than the Atreides APC, and it also costs more. It?s weapon makes it also a useful vehicle since its rocket launcher can shoot enemy aircraft and it is the only really good mobile AA unit the Ordos have. Make use of the fact that Ordos APCs in a force don?t attract too much attention and hide some engineers or saboteurs on them for later on, just for when the enemy doesn?t expect anything. The Ordos APC can go over dust bowls.
3.2.2.9 ? Laser Tank
The Ordos Laser tank is a unique deadly unit. Equipped with the best technology in the universe this tank hovers above ground, has a shield to protect it and above all is armed with a deadly Lasgun. The Laser tank, although powerful is a weapon best suited for hit & run tactics, since in a front confrontation with the mainstream units of the other houses, it will lose. The Laser tank is faster than the Mongoose and the assault tank and has a rotating turret, if you use this ability wisely you can circle around your enemy and sometimes get ridiculous results in a fight with very few Laser tanks. Laser tanks are shielded, and therefore if shot by a laser weapon (From another Laser tank or an Imperial Sardaukar Elite) will be destroyed with the attacker (Known as the Holtzman effect when energy weapons hit shields). Laser tanks will reload their shield and self repair and due to their low armor will do it very fast. So Laser tanks that get evacuated from combat while damaged will be good as new in no time. They?re effective against vehicles and should avoid infantry. They make for excellent vehicle hunting units because of their high speed and regeneration. Remember that Laser tanks over and therefore can go over dust bowls.
3.2.2.10 ? Deviator
This old lethal Ordos weapon is back. The Deviator is another hovering shielded unit of the Ordos. It is light armored and slower than the other hovering units, but is still fast enough to keep up with their pace. The Deviator is armed with an extremely lethal weapon; it shots a rocket that contains a special gas that will take control of machines ? turning enemy vehicles under your control for some time. The time a unit remain deviated will be shorten by shooting it. While the unit is under your control you can do whatever you want with it. (Including deploying a MCV to have a permanent construction yard). The Deviator itself however has a medium range only and the projectile is very slow and moving units can avoid it, slow units however make a good target, especially the Harkonnen devastator that can be simply self-destruct after that.
3.2.2.11 ? Kobra
The Kobra is a heavy tank armed with a medium range cannon that is effective against infantry at most but will damage vehicles effectively as well. What makes the Kobra a lethal unit is the ability to deploy it and increase its damage and range. Once deployed the Kobra can easily take care of big groups of infantry (Its important role since the other Ordos vehicles are very bad in this job) and its long range cannon can also outrange a lot of enemy weapons and use as a match for the Minutaurus. Kobras don?t hover, which ruins your dust bowl advantage that the other vehicles give you. They?re not shielded, but they self-repair (Like all Ordos vehicles). Kobras are also slow and one last note, they?re quite expensive.
3.2.2.12 ? Eye in the sky
The Eye in the sky is an excellent air assault unit, though it is quite different from the other house?s ornithopters. The Eye in the Sky is a moderately armored aircraft that is not armed and moves in a moderate speed (Slow for an aircraft). Inseatd of shooting its target it explodes and a saboteur parachutes into the ground. You then have control of the saboteur and can do whatever you want with it. You must deploy the Eye in the sky for this effect, if it is destroyed the pilot won?t get out and you just spent a lot of money (As you will notice this unit is very expensive). Once deployed the Eye in the Sky will explode and the debris falling will cause some damage, enough to save you some job and kill soldiers around your target at times. The saboteur will parachute into the ground; notice that it can be killed in the air. If the saboteur lands on ground it will act like a usual saboteur (And if killed before detonation won?t cause a lot of damage). However if it lands right into its target it will cause a serious amount of damage to it. Three well deployed Eye in the Sky will take down a construction yard. Sounds expensive? That?s why the Eye in the sky isn?t the solution to all of your problems. It is most efficient when you have a lot of money to spare or if you can make a nice order from the starport at a good time (Price tends to reach 1300 credits at least once a game). You can then with a nice strike disable a big part of the enemy base, a very effective trick if you can keep your enemy unaware since enemies are the least ready for Ordos? aerial strikes.
To use Eye in the Sky in maximum efficiency deploy it above the target so the
Saboteur will land directly into its target.
3.2.2.13 ? AA Mine
The AA Mine is a simple solution for Ordos players that do not like enemy aircraft and do not wish to stack a lot of AA troops. It is however most useful when the enemy does not control a mass of aircrafts, if it does you are advised to use AA troopers. If he doesn?t than the AA Mines will make sure the few aircraft he have won?t get far away. The AA Mine is slow and needs to be placed in the right spot first rather than intercept. While selected you can see a circle noting its range. When an enemy aircraft enters its range it will detonate releasing five homing missiles that will lock onto the enemy aircraft and destroy it (Yep, always). AA Mines are rather cheap and provide a nice way to force the opponent off aircraft since they cost less to you than to him. Spread a few of them around also covers up for the lack of stable AA defenses of the Ordos.
3.2.2.14 ? Carryall
Carryalls are used to carry your harvesters around. They?re moderately armored and fully automated. You have no control on them what so ever, which can make it hard to cause them retreat from danger. When getting free harvesters from refineries you will get a free carryall. However when you build or order your own harvesters you will need to get new carryalls by yourself (Through either the hanger or a Starport). Carryalls are excellent targets since they tend to make it harder for you to hunt harvesters, you might as well shoot them down first. There are plenty of units for this job and once you take out someone?s carryalls his economy will slowdown significantly. You get warnings when your carryalls are under attack, so listen carefully and make sure every time it happens if it is just a coincidence or does the enemy aim for them. If he aims for them you will need to start spending money on defending them.
3.2.2.15 ? Advanced Carryall
The Advanced Carryall takes stuff, and put them in another place. That?s pretty all there is to it, from here on the sky is the limit. You can pick up your forces and put them wherever you want. You can pick up enemy harvesters and bring them to your base so you can destroy them. You can pick up enemy devastators from your base and put them back somewhere far away or better yet, put them next to someone else?s harvesters. You can take someone?s harvester and put it in someone else?s base. And you can put APCs full of engineers or saboteurs right in the middle of the enemy?s base. Whatever you choose, there are a few notes though. Adv. Carryalls are expensive and light armored, so you don?t want them on suicide missions unless these are critical ones (Such as an aerial train to land forces in your enemy base) and not mundane ones (Transport units). Adv. Carryalls need a few seconds to take off again, and in these seconds are very vulnerable, so don?t try to pick an assault tank surrounded by five more, it won?t work. If the enemy has Adv. Carryalls make sure you hunt them down, it?s easy and will save you much trouble later on. Make sure you use the ?Call Adv. Carryall? key (V by default) that will call an Adv. Carryall to come and pick the selected unit(s).
3.2.2.16 ? Harvester
Harvesters are the blood of your economy. They will supply your refineries with spice and keep you with money. Harvesters are slow and heavily armored. They contain up to 700 credits worth of spice when they need transportation a carryall will come to transport them (If one is available). Carryalls will also attempt to rescue them from danger and destroyed harvesters will be replaced for free at times. This makes harvesters a much harder target than before, and if you plan on hunting them you should have big forces that will destroy them before they evacuate from the place or forces that can control the spice field and kill them as they come. Shooting a carryall with a harvester will yield excellent results. Rather than building new harvesters, build refineries and upgrade them. It will be much cheaper (Since you get extra pad, harvester and carryall for a less) and will save on traffic problems that can become very annoying at times.
3.2.2.17 ? MCV
The Mobile Construction Vehicle is the first link in a base. It deploys into a construction yard that will be the heart of your base. Aside for the initial MCV you receive in the start of a game you can build new ones in the factory or order them from a starport. Note that obviously it?s an expensive unit. You might want to build MCVs if you lost your construction yard, wish to have backup (Or build structures faster) or you simply want to build a new base, which is an important thing in long game. Remember that you can undeploy your MCV and redeploy it in another spot if needed; this may be useful if your initial deployment makes you lose some building area you later on need. Don?t let these guys near deviators.
3.3 ? House Harkonnen
House Harkonnen units are slower and heavier than the other houses. Because they lack repair options their units keep working in 100% until the moment they die.
3.3.1 ? Structures
3.3.1.1 ? Construction Yard
The heart of your base and a preferable target by your enemies ? The construction yard supplies the construction needs of your base. Construction yards cannot be built and in order to get new ones you must deploy a MCV. Unlike past Westwood games, the MCV this time is a very accessible unit and destroying someone?s construction yard will do him very little harm if he has money. Because of that the construction yard is somewhat less important this time around, but is still the number one structure to destroy for the opponent. Construction yards are heavily armored, and even though it can survive a Death hand, you will have to repair him immediately after that or the radiation will take it down. If such a thing happens and you find you have no money, sell something quickly. Remember you need to upgrade your Construction yard for better base defenses and the high-tech buildings.
3.3.1.2 ? Windtrap
The windtraps supply the power and water of your base. Without sufficient power your base can usually operate, but it won?t do a good job in it. Windtraps are cheap, and their armor is quite sufficient to make them a rather bad target so while attacking a base you?d rather choose the enemy factories and other over the windtraps. If you?re on low power two effects will occur. The first one is a slowdown in your entire production. The second and sometimes more troubling one is that some of your defenses will go offline (As well as your radar map) and this effect makes the windtraps useful targets before an invasion.
3.3.1.3 ? Barracks
The barracks is the cheapest factory in your possession, and the first one you get. IT supplies you with infantry, which can support you through a lot of battles for little money. Barracks are small, low armored (Though considering their price it?s not a problem at all). Building more than one is recommended, in order to cut down building time of infantry. And once you get a second base going, it?s the first structure you should deploy there. Watch out for engineer capturing these structure, it will give the enemy a spot to make new engineers and other infantry units that you wish your enemy won?t have. When you take over an enemy building in his base, pop up a barracks and start causing havoc. If you gain control of the enemy construction yard, and can?t keep it, build a barracks, and then sell it. The enemy can?t build an engineer on time unless he already has one, and will avoid just shooting his construction yard. You will need to upgrade your barracks in order to access advanced infantry.
3.3.1.4 ? Refinery
The heart of your economy ? the refinery is an important building to you, and a very good target for your enemies. This is where your harvester load your precious spice gathered on the land of Arrakis. A refinery costs 1500 credits and comes with a free harvester and carryall. Making it a very good deal, much better than actually buy them. If you want to expend your economy and have the time and space build more refineries. When do run out of space, or need to build other buildings, build harvesters and carryalls by yourselves (Or better yet, order them from a Starport). You can also upgrade Refineries; each upgrade is cheaper than a new refinery and will add another pad at the refinery. You can have up to three pads at each refinery. Refineries are nicely armored but still make a good target because a player without them is screwed, usually much more than players without a construction yard (This actually depends in which phase in the game you are).
3.3.1.5 ? Factory
The Factory is where you build your vehicles. Factories are much more expensive than barracks, but they?re not too heavy armored, so blowing them up is a nice idea. Factories allow you to build (or replace destroyed) harvesters as well as build new MCVs and of course you combat vehicles. Factories need to be upgraded in order to gain access to advanced units. And you will need a Starport as well in order to build Devastators. Factories should be placed in the back of your base where they?re safer since if the enemy gets your construction yard his next goal will be making sure you don?t have any more vehicles.
3.3.1.6 ? Outpost
The Outpost serves as your radar. Until built your radar map will still be there, but it will only be showing your buildings. Once built (And assuming power is one of course) you will be able to see all enemy units, enemy buildings and friendly units on the map. Outposts come very cheap and are easy to replace, but the time needed for replacing them can be used nicely if you know what you?re doing.
3.3.1.7 ? Hanger
The Hanger is your aircraft factory. The last factory you build. You will build carryalls and advanced carryalls in it. As well as your houses primary air assault unit and AA unit (Known as pre-order units). You will need to upgrade the hanger in order to build the primary air assault unit and advanced carryall. Units that come out of the Hanger are fully armed. In order to rearm them though, you might need the helipads in some cases.
3.3.1.8 ? Landing Pad
The Landing pad serves as a rearming post for your fleet of ornithopters. It can rearm one ornithopter at a time. Once rearmed the ornithopter will move out and make room for another one to rearm, this is all an automatic process and allows you to have more ornithopters than landing pads without annoying micromanagement. The number of landing pads needed really depends on your dependency on the ornithopters. The more you have, the faster you send another air strike.
3.3.1.9 ? Starport
The Starport is an excellent structure when you have little money. It is also good when you have too much money. And it is also useful; when you have an amount in between. The starport allows you to order units directly from, well, not really clear where from but who cares. You can order up to six units at once, which will arrive after a while on a CHOAM frigate. The prices in the starport change from time to time, and may ever be cheaper than the ones in the factory or more expensive. You can buy only your house?s units in the starport, and this does not include infantry and the ?Pre-order? units. Starports are heavily armored, expensive and require a lot of power.
3.3.1.10 ? Palace
The Harkonnen palace, once you get through the price and power demands, will give you access to the ultimate weapon ? The Death Hand missile. The Death Hand is an atomic missile, once charged you can launch it anywhere on the map. The damage from the missile can take out most structures and it will then leave lethal radiation. The missile is powerful enough to destroy a construction yard if the enemy won?t repair it and let it suffer the radiation damage. Death hand is the only superweapon that doesn?t require grouped enemies to be effective. Simply wipe out a section of your enemy?s base. Aid the missile with a good aerial strike to take out all the key structures at the enemy?s base at once.
3.3.1.11 ? Flame Turret
The Flame turret is a cheap anti-infantry defense for the Harkonnen. It is available right from the moment you have barracks and while it is only short ranged it will clear any infantry that comes near it in seconds. Flame turrets are also useful as anti-engineer defenses in them idle of your base. Mix them with Gun turrets for better defense. Flame turrets will keep on working even if your power is out.
3.3.1.12 ? Gun Turret
The heavy gun turret is a more expensive base defense that will take care of enemy vehicles and aircrafts with ease. It has a longer range than the flame turret and a much better firepower. It cannot work without power however. If your enemy is building an air force, don?t count on these for your all AA defense and get them some backup.
3.3.1.13 ? Walls
Walls give your base defenses some extra defense as well as fortify some units and make it harder for your opponent to come from different directions. To build walls, select ?wall? from the buildings tab and start placing the walls. You can keep making walls and you get tired press the right button on the mouse to stop. The construction yard will automatically build the wall section you marked. Put units that can shoot over walls behind them, and remember, it?s quite easy to destroy them if one really wants to.
3.3.2 ? Units
3.3.2.1 ? Light Infantry
The light infantry is weak and cheap but has a good use for the Harkonnen players. Since you?ll be probably exploiting the troopers you?ll need at times good infantry units to support them and save them from enemy infantry. Since flamers and troopers don?t work out nicely light infantry will do the job. Their firepower as mentioned is useful against enemy infantry and rather useless for the rest of the jobs, though they do damage vehicles when in groups. To use them efficiently group them with troopers, this force will prove very effective, cheap and is available since the moment you get your barracks. Light infantry will also come from most of your structures. Atreides infantry is almost exactly like the Harkonnen Light infantry except they cost 10 credits more and are faster.
3.3.2.2 ? Trooper
The Trooper is a basic anti-tank infantry. They cost more than the light infantry. But more important, they?re slower and have health the armor. So they die really fast in front of an anti-infantry weapon. They, however, armed with very effective missile launchers and while it does little damage per missile, you can easily get a big group of troopers because of their low price and mow down big armor forces of Mongooses, Laser tanks or Assault tanks. Mix them up with light infantry to make a more efficient force. And later on they can be very useful in giant groups escorting your vehicle forces and fighting off the enemy armor. Avoid putting them next to flame weapons as it will prove to be a very dumb idea, put them on infantry rock or next to vehicles to make sure they don?t get run away easily and forcing the enemy to a fight with them.
3.3.2.3 ? Flamer Infantry
Flamer infantry are armed with heavy flamethrowers and heavier armor than most other soldiers. They?re also slower. They provide excellent firepower against enemy infantry and can face light vehicles. They?re also effective against structures. They however have the slight problem of causing a lot of friendly fire and burning their friends. While they provide more firepower per money than the flame tank, you might prefer flame tank because of enemy units that will wipe out groups of these guys in seconds (Such as Kobras or Mortars).
3.3.2.4 ? Engineer
The engineer can take over enemy buildings for you and let you access enemy technology. It can also repair your buildings to full health and remove larvaes from units that have been infected from Leeches; all around it is an important unit and useful one. Since the Harkonnen have no transportation for engineers the Harkonnen engineer has more armor than the Ordos and Atreides ones, and he is also armed with a small pistol. The pistol is capable to little damage only, and not one that makes a 400 credits unit worth for its combat value. Watch out for engineers on guard that decide running after enemy units and shot them, it tends to be a waste of money.
3.3.2.5 ? Scout
The scout is an important unit for any game. It is also the first unit you should build in any game. Scouts are very cheap, the cheapest thing in the game to be exact. They?re fast and have stealth ability. And their most important attribute is their sight. Use scouts early in the game to reveal the entire map and make sure you see the enemy bases. If you have hard time scouting an area do it more carefully and use the stealth ability. If you lose them don?t fear, they?re very cheap to replace. Later on in the game put scouts in key places. This is extremely important for games with ?Fog of War? and is also effective in game without it. Since scouts can detect stealth units they will prove very effective in standing in front of your force or guarding entrances to your base. They can easily make a simple joke out of the annoying Fremen units or save your base from a stealth Atreides APC.
3.3.2.6 ? Buzzsaw
The Buzzsaw is the lightest Harkonnen vehicle, but unlike other vehicles in its price range it is slower. The Buzzsaw isn?t heavily armored instead but what it does do is kill infantry much more effectively. The Buzzsaw is composed out of two light guns and a giant chainsaw. It can either shoot its target, which is not very effective against vehicles and useless against infantry because you?ll simply be chopping them down usually (Unless they?re on infantry rock of course). The Buzzsaw hold another cool feature and its ability to destroy spice fields. Any spice the Buzzsaw move over will be destroyed. This is a rather weak feature and takes a lot of micromanagement, but if done to an important enemy field that doesn?t regenerate in the start of a game it can have meaningful consequences. Keep in mind this is not a good unit for defending spice fields though. Use it early on in your forces, but later on feel free to switch it with the flame tank and Inkvine that are more useful (And cost appropriately).
3.3.2.7 ? Assault Tank
The Assault Tank is the core of the Harkonnen forces. It is armored, armed and still moves at a decent rate. The assault tank holds the main role of the Harkonnen force. Assault tanks cost only little more then their closest counter parts at the other sides and tend to beat the others in battles since the assault tank simply relies on ?being able to shot the enemy? while the others have to use silly useless abilities such as ?shields? or ?speed? to their advantage. While shooting soldiers with assault tanks is rather useless, you can always run them over. Keep in mind that soldiers on infantry rock will make short work of your tanks, usually. Mix these guys with missile tanks, Inkvine catapults, infantry, flame tanks and basically everything.
3.3.2.8 ? Flame Tank
The Flame tank is an excellent solution for groups of enemy?s infantry. Its dual flamethrowers can kill all soldiers in less than second and the effectiveness against groups is even better. Flame tanks however are very short ranged and their armor is lacking. Flame tanks are not effective against vehicles but can damage buildings effectively. Use them in front of your force and in situations where you need to face a group of soldiers, which have a backup that flamer infantry cannot survive.
3.3.2.9 ? Missile Tank
The missile tank is the main Harkonnen long-range attack unit. They launch a barrage of rockets at once onto distance target and then reload. Like most artillery units, they?re weak, slow and will die very soon if no friendly unit is in front of them. The missile tanks spits eight missiles and once and then takes a break. So basically if it?s not defended and something is left to shoot it once it shot its missiles it won?t survive. Luckily for you (Or your enemy) the barrage of missiles destroy most units in one second. The missile tank is also able to shoot AA units. Since one barrage cripples all air units at once, (Well, not all, but most important ones) the missile tanks as an excellent AA unit.
3.3.2.10 ? Inkvine Catapult
Inkvine Catapults are another long-range Harkonen unit, which do a really good job of annoying, and exploiting AI glitches. Inkvine catapults shoot barrels full of toxic chemicals into the air, these slow barrels that will miss a moving target have a long range and a nice damage effect that will take care of infantry nicely and damage vehicles a little. Another advantage for this unit beyond it?s great range is that the barrel leaves chemicals on the ground that will damage what ever stands in it. Soldiers are much more vulnerable to this chemicals. Also a nice touch, the chemicals are flammable so you can burn them by shooting them (And make sure they don?t stay) or fry what?s on them a little, too much micromanagement usually, but the idea is nice. The big range of the Inkvine catapults allows them to shoot other units undisturbed at times; this is a nice ability you should exploit.
3.3.2.11 ? Devastator
The heavily armed Devastator is the most powerful unit on Arrakis (And out of it). It is armed with powerful twin plasma cannons and a rotating rocket launcher that will support the first gun, or shoot aircrafts. Note, that the plasma cannons are fixed and the slow rotation of the devastator will come into a big effect because of these. In order to power this behemoth the devastator is powered with forbidden nuclear technology, the important thing about it is that you can auto-destruct it and cause serious damage to near units. The extremely low speed of the devastator makes it quite hard to bring them to your enemy on foot. Because of that the devastator is an ideal cargo for the advanced carryall hat can hurl them around in big speeds. Devastators are slow, yes but once you remove this disadvantage with an advanced carryall you?ll easily be able to exploit this powerful unit that blows up most vehicles in one barrage from its weapons. Devastators are best for holding ground, and make great defense units. Their second good role as we said was dropping them in the enemy?s base, if you decide to do that, do it with several devastators and try supplying them with a diversion in another place so your enemy will see them a little later, which some times can be enough time to destroy half a base.
3.3.2.12 ? Gunship
The Gunship is a heavy four-winged Ornithopter armed with dual missile launchers. The Gunship needs to reload its ammo on a landing pad. If there isn?t one available they will wait until one is ready for them. Gunships are more armored than the Atreides Ornithopter and unload their payload much faster. They however fly at half the speed of the Ornithopter. Gunships can shoot both air & ground. Because of their ability to cause a lot of damage in little time they make an excellent unit for bombing the enemy base and a good fleet of Gunships can take out all the key structures in one bombing. Gunships are also good for weakening enemy forces on their way and if you have a big group and don?t plan on attacking the enemy base right now consider attacking his harvesters and carryalls. Note the big disadvantage of the Gunship, which is the fact it cannot be repaired unless you gain control of repair vehicles. This makes the gunship a unit that will suffer damage through bomb runs until it is destroyed so keep on replacing them. There is no need by the way to have a landing pad for every gunship. One landing pad can easily support five gunships and still keep them available when needed, of course that your dependency on your air force plays a role here. You will need to upgrade a hanger to build gunships, or simply order them from your Starport.
Gunship fleets are a great way to get rid of key enemy structures.
3.3.2.13 ? Air Defense Platform
The Air Defense Platform is a slow moving aerial unit equipped with a machine gun. It can shoot both air and ground and provides good support forces, nice sentry for spice fields and a fine air defense to spread in your base. Air Defense Platforms are rather expensive. Their lack of speed means that they?re better place in the right post than moving, though the speed is not that awful sometimes. They have a rather small range actually, which is denoted by the circle around them while selected. It is recommended to bring some with your attacking force since these units provide nice support once the AA units are gone. Try to put them in enemy spice fields where they can shoot down enemy carryalls.
3.3.2.14 ? Carryall
Carryalls are used to carry your harvesters around. They?re moderately armored and fully automated. You have no control on them what so ever, which can make it hard to cause them retreat from danger. When getting free harvesters from refineries you will get a free carryall. However when you build or order your own harvesters you will need to get new carryalls by yourself (Through either the hanger or a Starport). Carryalls are excellent targets since they tend to make it harder for you to hunt harvesters, you might as well shoot them down first. There are plenty of units for this job and once you take out someone?s carryalls his economy will slowdown significantly. You get warnings when your carryalls are under attack, so listen carefully and make sure every time it happens if it is just a coincidence or does the enemy aim for them. If he aims for them you will need to start spending money on defending them.
3.3.2.15 ? Advanced Carryall
The Advanced Carryall takes stuff, and put them in another place. That?s pretty all there is to it, from here on the sky is the limit. You can pick up your forces and put them wherever you want. You can pick up enemy harvesters and bring them to your base so you can destroy them. You can pick up enemy devastators from your base and put them back somewhere far away or better yet, put them next to someone else?s harvesters. You can take someone?s harvester and put it in someone else?s base. And you can put APCs full of engineers or saboteurs right in the middle of the enemy?s base. Whatever you choose, there are a few notes though. Adv. Carryalls are expensive and light armored, so you don?t want them on suicide missions unless these are critical ones (Such as an aerial train to land forces in your enemy base) and not mundane ones (Transport units). Adv. Carryalls need a few seconds to take off again, and in these seconds are very vulnerable, so don?t try to pick an assault tank surrounded by five more, it won?t work. If the enemy has Adv. Carryalls make sure you hunt them down, it?s easy and will save you much trouble later on. Make sure you use the ?Call Adv. Carryall? key (V by default) that will call an Adv. Carryall to come and pick the selected unit(s).
3.3.2.16 ? Harvester
Harvesters are the blood of your economy. They will supply your refineries with spice and keep you with money. Harvesters are slow and heavily armored. They contain up to 700 credits worth of spice when they need transportation a carryall will come to transport them (If one is available). Carryalls will also attempt to rescue them from danger and destroyed harvesters will be replaced for free at times. This makes harvesters a much harder target than before, and if you plan on hunting them you should have big forces that will destroy them before they evacuate from the place or forces that can control the spice field and kill them as they come. Shooting a carryall with a harvester will yield excellent results. Rather than building new harvesters, build refineries and upgrade them. It will be much cheaper (Since you get extra pad, harvester and carryall for a less) and will save on traffic problems that can become very annoying at times.
3.3.2.17 ? MCV
The Mobile Construction Vehicle is the first link in a base. It deploys into a construction yard that will be the heart of your base. Aside for the initial MCV you receive in the start of a game you can build new ones in the factory or order them from a starport. Note that obviously it?s an expensive unit. You might want to build MCVs if you lost your construction yard, wish to have backup (Or build structures faster) or you simply want to build a new base, which is an important thing in long game. Remember that you can undeploy your MCV and redeploy it in another spot if needed; this may be useful if your initial deployment makes you lose some building area you later on need. Don?t let these guys near deviators.
3.4 ? Sub Houses
3.4.1 ? The Fremen
3.4.1.1 ? Fremen Camp
The Fremen camp is the Fremen facility. You will have access to it if you?re allied with the Fremen. It will cost you 600 credits and the upgrade in order to train Fedaykin will cost another 1000 credits. When destroyed or sold, Fremen warriors will emerge from it.
3.4.1.2 ? Fremen Warrior
The Fremen warrior serves as the weaker Fremen unit. It is equipped with a long-range rifle that lets him pick enemy infantry easily. The added bonus comes from the warrior stealth that lets him move short distances unnoticed. Other than that there?s not much to tell about the Fremen warrior. One more thing to note about it is that it does not attract worms. So what do you do with the Fremen warriors? Avoid vehicles at most since even big groups of them will have trouble damaging. Go for infantry; use them as either covert groups to hunt enemy infantry or as support. Even though by support other forces the stealth isn?t used effectively enough, the Fremen warrior can really help a fight and the stealth does make it harder for the enemy. When a Fremen camp is destroyed, Fremen warriors will emerge.
3.4.1.3 ? Fremen Fedaykin
The elite Fremen unit is a multi purpose unit with a destructive potential. Each of the fedaykin is armed with a wierdling module (The weapon invented by David Lynch in the movie, amplifies sound to create a lethal effect). Fedaykin are also stealth units and also posses the ability of planting thumpers and catching rides on small worms and use them to eat some enemy tanks. They also do not attract worms. With all that being said, what do we have here? This is a unit with effectiveness against both infantry and vehicles, though it works better on vehicles. They can make really good use in groups that you will use to raid the enemy at unexpected areas. Blow up harvesters, damage buildings, kill lonely units. All will be effective. As a support unit they are a little more problematic because they damage friendly units. Another use is summoning worms. To do so, take a Fedaykin into open sand, preferably as close as possible to the target (But make sure you choose a safe spot). Deploy the Fedaykin, and wait. While deployed the Fedaykin is visible and the sound of the thumper can easily hint to your opponent what is going on. At a random time, which I cannot figure how it works (yet) a wormsign will appear beneath the Fedaykin and a worm will appear beneath it. While riding the worm, use it to eat whatever you want. However a few notes: Worms without orders wander around eating stuff, you don?t want friendly controlled to eat your harvester so watch out they don?t go after them or bump into them. Also, summoning a lot of worms at a time is doable, but hard to controlm and make sure your Fedaykins are spread enough so the summoned worms won?t cause friendly kills. If an enemy tries to do that to you, you?re advised to stay on the rocks for a little time, or simply block him from summoning so many worms. Worms that ate enough, got damaged seriously or been too much time on the surface will go back to the deep sand, leaving your Fedaykin, usually right in front of a big enemy unit that will slaughter him to his horrible death.
3.4.2 ? The Guild
3.4.2.1 ? Guild Palace
The facility for the spacing Guild will cost you a whooping 2000 credits. Not to mention the big size of it and the fact you will invest 2000 more in order to upgrade it and get access to the NIAB tank. However, it is heavily armored.
3.4.2.2 ? Guild Maker
The Guild Maker is a half mutated guild navigator. It is rather expensive but can pack a serious punch. The makers are only lightly armored and will die easily, but their firepower of a spread electrical shock makes up for it. The electrical attack is especially effective against groups, and is very deadly for infantry and some vehicles alike. Keep makers with support that will attract the fire and try to avoid the disadvantage of a rather short range. If you can land a few blasts on an enemy force in the start of the match the maker will be will worth the money it cost you. Makers do not attract sandworms.
3.4.2.3 ? Guild NIAB Tank
The NIAB tank is the advanced guild unit. It costs 2000 credits and requires you to spend a lot of money just to build one. This is because it an extremely dangerous unit, especially if you get it early on in the game. The Guild NIAB tank is moderately armored and moves at a decent rate; it shots and electrical charge that needs some time to reload but is effective against all kinds of targets. But what makes it so powerful is the fact that it contains a guild navigator that can ?fold space? (Teleport for guys who didn?t get this one). The NIAB tank can deploy and than teleport to any spot on the map, however once teleported it will be vulnerable for a few seconds that it cannot move, teleport or shoot. This makes the NIAB tank a deadly unit, since a few of them teleporting for the back of the base require some time to be destroyed and have powerful firepower to destroy heavy buildings in this time. If your enemy has NIAB tanks you must keep track of them and be ready with heavy defenses in your base, remember it costs him a lot to have groups of these units, so unless is economy is too good (In which case you will lose anyway) make him spend money on the NIAB tanks and build your advantage in conventional military. NIAB tanks, aside from being a great covert weapon for blowing up enemy construction yards are great for destroying second bases just when they go online or for destroying harvesters, which they can do rather fast as well. They can also support attacks by teleporting to the back of the enemy?s forces and striking units that require defense.
3.4.3 ? House of IX
3.4.3.1 ? House of IX
House of IX is where you build Ixian units once you?re allied with them. It will let you build Infiltrators and Projectors (Once you pay extra 1500 credits for the upgrade).
3.4.3.2 ? Ixian Infiltrator
The Ixian Infiltrator is somewhat similar to the Ordos saboteur, but it is way more effective and thus costs more than three saboteurs. The infiltrator is a small device. It remains stealth for most of the time. The point of the unit is simple, get it near your target, deploy it; it explodes. Very simple, yet very effective, the infiltrator is a simple unit to operate but requires some skill to use it with maximum effectiveness. The first important thing is to give them attention and deploy them right away. Once deployed they become visible, but usually the enemy can?t do much about it. Still, you?re recommended to avoid big groups of units, especially if they can detect the infiltrator before it reaches its destination. Infiltrators can take out vehicles nicely but they really become useful in killing infantry, which they do excellent. They can also take out structures, while a construction yard requires a big group of them, a barracks or outpost will be destroyed by one. Look for good opportunities planting them in the enemy base. Avoid grouping them, since if one is destroyed all will be destroyed. If the infiltrator is destroyed it still causes damage, but much less making it ineffective.
3.4.3.3 ? Ixian Projector
The Ixian projector is a unit of deceit and trickery. It creates semi-real holographic copies of real units on the battlefield. Don?t think it?s just a hologram, as each of these copies will shoot very real ammunition at your units. The projector takes only a second to project the projection (And this is the name I will use for referring the fake units from now on). Projections are somewhat real, somewhat none. They look like an ordinary unit but they shimmer in white and glow. They can also use the weapons of the original source. However, they cannot be deployed, harvest, teleport, stealth and more. Projections will stay until one of the following occurs: They have been shot or received any amount of damage (Splash weapons are very useful), an enemy unit comes close to it, the projecting unit is destroyed, and last, if too much time has passed (Indicated by the projection?s health). To exploit projection units use them with real units and put them in the back. Projected missile tanks, for example, will do some serious damage before the enemy gets the real assault tanks in front of them. Projected sand bikes attacking enemy harvesters will work nicely since once the enemy comes to defend the attack has lost its point. Only you don?t lose any units. Projectors also supply you with the ability to supply the units you need fast. If for example you desperately need some artillery, project your only unit or an enemy one. You can also project enemy units and use Inkvine Catapults to make traps, or Lasgun units to blow up shielded ones. Keep in mind you can make infinite projections with on projector (I didn?t reach a limit) but if you have a group of them you can do it faster. To project, deploy the projector and target any unit. Works better in groups. Remember hat the enemy sees the projections, and know they?re fake so he will try to make them disappear fast. This is of course the best line of protection against these annoying units. One more thing I have to mention is the fact the projector has a cannon. The cannon is weak and causes very little damage and the only reason to move the projector to attack is to make the projections appear closer to the enemy. Avoid putting in direct fire since it also cannot suffer too much damage, if things become bad, project a repair vehicle to repair projector. (Great idea, will really piss off opponents). All in all, the Ixian projector is a unit that requires an original thinking; keep your enemy amazed and you will use it effectively.
Projecting long-range units like the Atreides Minutaurus yields excellent results.
They can cause a lot of damage before disappearing. Remember, you don?t have
to be the owner of the Minutaurus.
3.4.4 ? Imperial Sardaukar
3.4.4.1 ? Sardaukar Barracks
The Sardaukar Barracks allows you to train Imperial Sardaukar. In order to train Imperial Sardaukar Elite you will need to upgrade the Barracks. If sold or destroyed, Imperial Sardaukar will emerge from the building.
3.4.4.2 ? Imperial Sardaukar
The Imperial Sardaukar is armed with a heavy machine gun. It is heavily armored but unlike other enemy units will never prone in the face of danger. Imperial Sardaukar are very effective against enemy infantry and somewhat effective against enemy vehicles. Group them with your vehicles and use them to kill the enemy soldiers, if none are available, don?t worry their firepower will still be useful. If however you need a good anti-tank infantry force than use the Imperial Sardaukar Elite.
3.4.4.3 ? Imperial Sardaukar Elite
There?s nothing this guy can?t do. It is armed with a Lasgun that can shoot both air & ground targets making it a very effective troop against tanks and aircraft. Since the Lasgun isn?t effective enough against enemy troops the Imperial Sardaukar Elite can get close to them and use his ?Imperial Elite? knife that will instantly kill any other soldier. Make sure that when fighting enemy troops they use their knife and not their Lasgun. Imperial Sardaukar Elite cost only little more than the regular one, but still group them with some regular ones that will add ranged anti-infantry support. If your enemy packs on these units you are recommended to get some effective anti-infantry units that can handle groups of infantry.
3.4.5 ? Bene Tlielax
3.4.5.1 ? Tlielaxu Flesh Vats
The Tlielaxu Flesh vats is the Tlielaxu facility. It produces contaminators and leeches. In order to build leeches you?ll be required to upgrade it. Upon destruction or sale contaminators will emerge from the building.
3.4.5.2 ? Tlielaxu Contaminator
The terrorizing contaminator is the Tlielaxu zombie made for dealing with infantry problems. This undead unit can take quite some fire and using this armor it can get to its target and infect it with a virus that will kill it instantaneously. But that?s not all, the dead soldier will then resurrect as another contaminator under the control of the original contaminators control. Contaminators can also fight bear handed against other targets. However they?re somewhat, a little, totally useless when doing that.
3.4.5.3 ? Tlielaxu Leech
The Tlielaxu leech is another deadly biological unit. Unlike its brother the contaminator, the leech is equipped to fight enemy vehicles. It attacks by launching a deadly larvae that when reaching its target will penetrate it and start digesting it part by part. When the target is finally destroyed, it will resurrect as another leech. The only way to get rid of the larvae is by using an engineer to remove it. Basically the ultimate harvester-harassing unit - Send it to keep enemy harvesters dying. Also for a really fun effect, take it into battle with other units and let it attack once every enemy unit. Then you kill them you?ll get tons of new leeches to annoy the previously reminded enemy harvesters. Larvaes however have disadvantages. You are noted everytime a friendly unit is infected by a larvae. And you can remove larvaes using engineers or the Atreides repair vehicle (Who does a better job, since it also repairs the target).
4.0 ? You should know all of this
Here is some basic playing info that will make your life easier.
4.1 ? Playing smart
Basic things you should employ while playing.
4.1.1 ? Concentrated fire
The first thing that will make you effective in battles is concentrated fire. Always make sure your units are aiming at the same target, this way you eliminate the enemy firepower much faster and avoid some of the losses on your side. Concentrated fire has exceptions. When using units as missile tanks, do not concentrate your fire. Let each missile tank shoot a different target since else you?ll be wasting firepower. Also split your forces and use each unit against that target it will be most effective against. Don?t let Inkvine catapults and sand bikes shoot vehicles if infantry is in the area. The best way to do this is by saving your anti-tank and anti-infantry to different groups or simply using the Type select (T? by default) more often in battle.
4.2 ? The playground
4.2.1 ? Worms
Sandworms (Shai-Hulud) can be an annoying trouble. They come in two forms, the horizontal and vertical. Horizontal worms act like a unit, they have health and if damaged to 25% percent will sink into sand right away. Since they?re fast and can chase most units if needed shooting them is the only solution to save big forces from being engulfed. Keep looking around every time there?s a wormsign. If the worm is close to your forces, take counter measures, be sure that a worm next to your harvesters will go and eat them, so remember to evacuate them. Vertical worms don?t give you a choice, as soon as the wormsign appears it is too late to do anything, your units start sinking in the sand and cannot move, they can only ponder on their small polygonal life as the giant worm?s jaws close on them.
4.2.2 ? Trees
Why do I mention these? They only appear in Caladan, but I really liked them, and the animation when you destroy them is cool.
5.0 ? I?m having trouble with?
The following are common problems that tend to upset players and recommended solutions on how to avoid them.
5.1 ? I have no money
Economy problems are a serious problem since without money you won?t get far. There are however simple basics for a good economy. The first thing is you need more than three harvesters. You will need more than one refinery as well. You?re advised not to build harvesters but instead to build refineries and upgrade them. This is cheaper and will keep you in a 1:1:1 ratio between pads, harvesters and carryalls, which would make sure your economy is in maximum efficiency. I go for three refineries (Fully upgraded) whenever I can and it does the job leaving me with tons of money once I stop queuing units, this economy BTW doesn?t come in a big price. Getting harvesters from upgrading will also free up your factory early on. Another important basic is protecting your harvesters and carryalls and making sure the enemy doesn?t get to shoot them every two-three minutes. If he does, keep replacing them and keep track of your harvesters and carryalls. Hunting someone carryalls is a tactic that will collapse someone?s economy and slow it down significantly.
5.2 ? Worms! My god they?re huge!
These worms can be an annoying thing, and good solutions aren?t really available. Since vertical worms cannot be escaped I?ll cover up horizontal worms solutions. You can ever escape or ?kill? (Not actually kill) a worm. Escaping a worm is quite hard unless your units are right next to a rock or extremely fast. Harvesters can escape worms using carryalls, but they won?t do it automatically and you have to be aware and evacuate them when a wormsign is nearby. Scaring a worm by shooting it is a nice solution if they come near a big force. A few vehicles or a big group of infantry can do it. The key to doing these things is being ready, and this is an easy thing, simply press the spacebar whenever you?re warned about a wormsign and look how close it is to you. If you?re on alert you can hunt the worms in your area as soon as they come, some ornithopters or gunships can do a nice job in scaring potential dangerous worms.
5.3 ? I?m being tank rushed.
Rushes in Emperor are mostly a thing of the past. If you are being tank rushed there?s a simple solution by building a lot of troopers, kindjals or other appropriate units. However smart rushes are available, and a well customized force might find its way to you very early in a multiplayer game. The best solution here lies on two things: Intelligence and speed. Improve your intelligence make sure you know exactly what force is coming to attack you, and when, this will let you prepare a much more useful defense. The second problem that may put you in trouble is lack of speed in building defenses. Some people just play slower, but sometimes it simply because of a lacking building order or too much concentration when the enemy is rushing.
5.4 ? Death Hands
That?s the most annoying superweapon with no doubt, luckily for you it recharges slowly. You can?t do anything about death hands really, even if you spread your forces, your base remains a lovely target. Things you can do is keep money to repair the damaged structures, else you might find yourself without a construction yard suddenly. Building a second construction yard will stop players from nuking only them. Watch out for the dirty trick when some units like NIAB tanks or gunships come to finish the job!
5.5 ? Chaos Lightings
The Chaos lighting cannot be blocked like all other superweapons but there are two simple ways to minimize damage from it. One is to spread our forces (Obviously) and the second one is kill them, yes that?s right. Kill the infected units if you see they will cause too much damage. This can save some other units that are worth more than a tank on a friendly-fire frenzy.
5.6 ? Hawk Strike
The Hawk strike can be a serious problem (And it should considering how much it costs) and no good solution can solve it. Two things will minimize its effect though: Spreading your forces and keeping them away from map borders. As with all superweapons, you can always get rid of the palace to stop the Hawk strikes.
5.7 ? Saboteurs
Saboteurs are sometimes just a small problem, but if your opponent feels like sending endless streams of them you will soon be bother by that. Simple solution for saboteurs is killing them when they?re in groups (They usually do it in some point) and by long range units such as the Minutaurus and Kobra.
5.8 ? Sandstorms
These annoying ?tornados? can be annoying at best. While they only cause minor damage, there?s nothing more annoying than seeing your groups of infantry fly in the air and die or your base losing power because the sandstorm is wrecking havoc on your windtraps cluster. Luckily for you, you can?t do anything about it! (Well, perhaps not ?Luckily?) You however move your units away from a sandstorm and that?s it. Make sure you do that though when they get near your soldiers. And make sure you repair your buildings or you might find yourself in an awkward situation later on.
While the Sandstorms are visually impressive and look dangerous they?re
usually just a nuisance you can ignore.
6.0 ? Walkthroughs
This section is lacking at the time. It will also lack in the future as Emperor is a big game with a lot of ways and 150 walkthroughs might be needed here. As well as a good explanation of finding the right one!
6.1 ? The basics of Single player game
Single player missions work differently than a multiplayer game and revolve in most cases (When the mission is to destroy the enemy) on the same concept. Defend, Expand, Annihilate or as I like to call it ? DEA. The first thing in a mission is to get a suitable defense, the enemy attacks don?t vary enough so once you can block one attack, you?ll be able to block them all (Well, assuming you blocked it without almost dying). So the first phase is gathering defenses. These vary from units to defense buildings and more. Get some defenses going and after two-three attacks you should be stabilized. The next phase is ?expend?, build up your economy and force at this phase. Get like nine harvesters and amass some big forces, the only limit to this phase is when your feel bored and want to attack or the spice fields with access to them have ended. Feel free to start hunting enemy harvesters at this phase if you need to. The last phase is ?Annihilate?, meaning go ahead with your big force and employ your favorite tactics to kill the computer. These phases may change depending on the mission. In missions with several enemy bases you?d probably like to attack some of them early on and build new forces later on.
6.2 ? Atreides walkthroughs
No walkthroughs yet, sorry.
6.3 ? Harkonnen walkthroughs
No walkthroughs yet, sorry.
6.4 ? Ordos walkthroughs
No walkthroughs yet, sorry.
7.0 ? Multiplayer
This section will be added in the next version. I promise.
8.0 ? Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of common questions about this game that appear a lot. And some solutions or useless answers.
9.0 ? Useless facts and knowledge
9.1 ? Crate contents
For your pleasure, here are thing you can get in crates in Multiplayer games:
Money: An amount of cash.
Soldier: An infantry unit.
Vehicle: A vehicle unit, of basic houses. You may also get an advanced carryall.
Stealth: The unit that picked the crate will gain stealth ability
Veterancy: The unit that picks the crates get experience to go up in one level.
Map Reveal: Reveals the entire map.
10.0 ? In the future
10.1 ? Future versions
New version will come; don?t worry. I?m planning on a comprehensive walkthrough database as well as tons of multiplayer strategies. For now this is just a beta.
10.2 ? More FAQs
10.3 ? Dune
For all you Dune fans, you?d be happy to know there are two more Dune games in the work right now. One is a 3D adventure game called ?Frank Herbert?s Dune? and the other is an online mass multiplayer strategy game called ?Dune: Generations?.
