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Dune Spice Wars is the latest RTS from Shiro Games, published by Funcom. Players jumping into the early access launch are finding a blend of RTS and 4X qualities, giving players a solid mix of both worlds. However, learning a new RTS or 4X can be a lot. So, here are some Dune Spice wars tips that will guide you on the right path.
Dune Spice Wars Tips
Below we will guide you through quite a free Dune Spice Wars tips, ranging from micro and macro strategies to help you on your way.
Pick the faction for you
At the time of writing, there are four factions in the EA launch of Dune Spice Wars. These are:
- House Atreides
- Harkonnen
- Fremen
- Smugglers
The best beginner faction is Atreides. Atreides have peaceful annexation of villages if you want to learn about how to build an empire. They also have a decent army and have a strong reputation in the Landsraad, a form of council voting. It means that you can passively learn the game quite well with this faction and see what’s on offer.
If you’re not into that, then Harkonnen is the military-focused faction. If you want to take over the world, then run them. The Fremen are a bit more advanced but have cool features. We recommend playing the Fremen once you have a few starts under your belt and have a better idea. Finally, the Smugglers are a more covert and economic focused race. Again, we recommend playing the Smugglers after having a few games under your belt.
You can also take two councillors at the start of a game. Pick which ones feel more like you and learn to get your own playstyle, if that matters?
Get your Harvester
Getting your harvester as soon as possible is key. Use your Ornithopter to scout a nearby zone. Every starting territory has one purple spice field if you zoom out on the map. Send your Ornithopter over to the purple region (purple = spice), scout the village and then let it autopilot. While the Ornithopter is scanning, you want to build three units to make sure you have enough troops to take the nearby village. Build two melee units and one of the other units your faction starts off with. You should be able to take the first spice settlement without your units running out of supplies. Upon takeover, your units can stand around the occupied village and refill their supply. You can then annex the village.
Once you annex a village, you can then start building one of the two building slots. It would be best if you made a refinery immediately. Upon completion, it will spawn a Harvester. Deploy the harvester straight away, and it will automatically head to the spice deposit in the region and begin collecting your spice. That way, you can start collecting spice for the first tax date. This is one of the Dune Spice Wars tips you need to master to avoid your entire early game fumbling.
The spice slider
You will notice a spice slider in the top left of the screen. The spice slier is something you will want to fiddle with throughout the campaign. If you have a great Spice economy, you can stockpile as much Spice as you want. Once you have enough stored to pay the Spice tax bill easily, you can then sell the spice to the shareholders for extra Solari. This is one way that players will find they can make a lot of Solari. Striking a balance between managing your Salorai and your Spice stockpile for the taxman is key to surviving the late game, as the tax does get more pricey with every new tax period.
Watch for Sand Worms
Throughout the game, Sand Worms will appear around the world. You can tell a Sand Worm is nearby the rumbling dusty sand in the region. You will also get a red alert in the top left portion of your screen along with other prompts and notifications. If your troops are in the area, try to steer them away, or recall your harvesters if it is under one of them. One Dune Spice Wars tip is to pause the game as you see a red alert on your screen. Get whatever is in the path of a sandworm, as s losing an army, or a harvester can be extremely dangerous to your momentum.
Be advised that Sand Worms can follow troops as they move. If possible, get them to the nearest bedrock to avoid them getting gobbled up as they move between regions.
Expand your empire by getting a high wind area early
Water is a scarce resource on Arrakis. To get water, you need to build a windtrap in a region. You can get more water depending on the strength of the winds in that region. Find the closest 4, 5, or 6 wind power region to your starting city and claim it for your empire. You get three water per one wind strength in the region, meaning that six wind regions get you 18 water, enough to support three more villages in your empire and part of an army. Getting one of them earlier is huge for your gameplay experience.
If there is no 5 or 6 in your city’s immediate proximity, then place a windtrap in another desirable location and expand straight to the first 5 or 6 you see. You can then build a wind collector there and watch as your water supply expands.
Watch the economy
The economy is a very important part of the 4X experience on Dune Spice Wars. Creating buildings will require Solari and Plascrete maintenance, and building them will cost both resources outright. We recommend finding Plascrete and highly valuable Solari regions to annex as you will need plenty of space as building slots are limited, and tech and hegemony unlock new buildings to get better units and production buildings.
When an enemies economy beats them
Building a large army in Dune Spice Wars is very difficult, thanks to the population resource and the cost of funding them. It means you’re dealing with small and compact armies for the most part. However, overwhelming enemies with units is a viable strategy. One thing you can do is aim for an enemy faction’s water producing villages and take from them. That way, an enemy civilization will feel the lack of water, and rebellions can begin It allows you to completely cripple an enemy faction, allowing you to mop up the territory of a crippled enemy or watch as they fall behind the hegemony race.
Intel and Influence are important
Intel is an important resource you generate that allows you to use special missions in certain regions. Perhaps it drains supply quicker when a marauding band of enemies walkthrough your terrain. It could be to prevent battles, or allow you still produce resources from an area. Keep an eye on your intel and stockpile missions for your wider grand strategy, wherever that may be.
As for influence, you will want to generate that to keep things interesting in the Landsraad. Sometimes there are negative buffs that go out. You may want to direct that against your opponent or use it to get yourself a nice buff for a small period of time. Other times might be free units to defend your capital, handy if you know a siege is coming, or it might be trying to fight against water sanctions that could cripple your empire?
Victory Conditions
There are three victory conditions in Dune Spice Wars:
- Domination
- Governor
- Hegemony
Domination has two different ways to win. You can eliminate all the enemy factions from the map. Alternatively, you can assassinate through covert espionage. Then you have Governorship, which is to hold onto the Governorship of Arrakis for 60 in-game days, which you vote on through the Landsraad. Finally, there’s Hegemony. You accumulate Hegemony in many ways. You can get it through your Spice tax, Spice shares, conquering territory, beating enemy units, technology progress, to name a few. It’s the victory condition for those in a neutral turtle position with no other clear way of winning.
This concludes the Dune Spice Wars tips guide. Good luck capturing Arrakis! For more content, why not check out our Dune hub?
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