Dune: Spice Wars Walkthrough Tips - Beginner's Guide

 11 Newbie Tips to Make Exploring Arrakis Easier and Achieve Your First Victory

Dune: Spice Wars is a new 4X global strategy (abbreviation 4X is translated as "explore, expand, use and destroy") in real-time from Shiro Games. Perhaps there is nothing completely new in it, some unexpected mechanics, but this does not take away the fact that the game is worked out in detail and is generally quite complex. The developers did not particularly bother with the training system, which is why it will not be easy to get accustomed to the world of Dune!

In this Dune: Spice Wars guide, we've put together some practical tips and information you need to know before setting foot on Arrakis.

Starting small

Below are a lot of tips for passing Dune: Spice Wars, which will acquaint you with political, and economic subtleties, and reveal the secrets of government, but the first piece of advice we would like to give is to start small. Take it literally. Once you've selected your faction and advisors, look for the Settings option next to the "Start Game" button. Here you will be able to select various options, including map size, AI difficulty, and the number of opposing AI sides (along with a bunch of other options). There is so much to learn and manage in Dune: Spice Wars, so consider playing the game for the first time as self-learning. Pick the smallest map, the easiest difficulty, and only one enemy faction to make your first run easy. Relatively, of course.

Speaking of simplification...

Know where to use automation

Since there are many different processes in the game, the developers decided to simplify your task a bit, so some functions can be automated. There are only two mechanics that can be automated: the recall of harvesters when sandworms are detected, and exploration by ornithopters.

Your ornithopter acts as a scout and explorer. By clicking on the ornithopter (or selecting it from the list of units on the right side of the screen), you can tell it what to do and explore. Alternatively, you can choose "Auto Exploration". Thanks to this, he will move around on his own and explore everything he finds. It sounds pointless, but such a task can be assigned to at least one of them.

Every time you build a processing plant in a settlement that has spices, you get a harvester (miner). Only one harvester is assigned to each processing plant. When harvesting spices, the harvester may stumble upon a sandworm. And if nothing is done, it will be destroyed. By clicking on the harvester, you can click on the similar "Auto recall" button. Activating this feature will cause the harvester to return to safety whenever a sandworm appears. However, in this case, the harvester receives a 5% penalty to the amount of spices collected, and you will have to return the harvester to work when the situation calms down and the sandworm disappears.

Keep an eye on the spices to pay your taxes on time

Every 25 in-game days you will have to pay taxes for the Space Guild. We'll have to give spices. The amount you have to pay will increase with each next time. This means that the spice tax (or bribe if you're playing a non-House faction) is a ticking time bomb. You will not be able to cover the tax if you do not expand the territory and do not provide reserves.

Find deposits of spices and arrange their production. This is the first thing to do when starting another Dune: Spice Wars session. No wonder it's called that. To extract spices, you need to find a field with spices. One of them will be marked with a marker automatically when you start the game, and your ornithopters will help you find new ones. Then you need to capture a settlement in the region with spices (probably there will be military units) and then build a processing plant. Finally, you will have to keep an eye on the harvester so that it does not become easy prey for sandworms (read above). Do not forget that you will have to pay for the maintenance of the settlement, combat units, processing plant, and harvester at the same time. You can, and even should, think of it all as one ecosystem. Only not ecological, but economic.

For all this, you need to manage resources. And there are a lot of resources in Dune: Spice Wars.

All resources matter

According to my calculations, in Dune: Spice Wars you will have to manage 12 types of resources or currencies. Perhaps some of them are more important than others, but in reality, they are all necessary. More importantly, if even one of them ends, it can lead to disastrous consequences.

Let's take a closer look at the resources in Dune: Spice Wars:

• Spices. If you're familiar with the Dune franchise, then you're well aware of what spices are. In Dune: Spice Wars, spices are used in two ways: to pay a monthly tax and to trade with other factions. You can get spices by creating processing plants in settlements located next to spice fields.
• Solarium is the main monetary unit. The solarium is needed to train combat units, expand your own base (but not to add new buildings to settlements) and pay for almost everything else. You get a solarium by converting some of the collected spices into money, by building processing plants near deposits of rare elements, or by controlling villages that have merchants.
• Plast concrete is a building resource. To create each building, plast concrete is needed, it is also necessary for its maintenance. You get plastic concrete by creating factories for its production.
• Labor force is a measure of how many people can be sent to work. Manpower will be needed to train the militias in the settlements and combat units, adding brigades to the spice pickers in order to increase production. You will get the workforce by setting up recruiting offices.

• Fuel cells are what you need to keep your vehicle running. They will be needed to power spice harvesters (both for construction and maintenance) and to create new ornithopters. You will get fuel cells by building factories for the production of ... fuel cells.
• Obviously, in the desert world of Arrakis, water is no less valuable resource than the same spices. It will be needed to capture and maintain settlements, to train combat units. You will get water by building wind traps in settlements. Wind traps will produce 3 units of water for each level of wind strength in a particular settlement.
• Authority is the measure of your leadership. For lack of a better word, let's call it to influence. To take control of a settlement, you need influence or prestige. You will gain prestige by sending agents (spies) to different parts of Arrakis.
• Hegemony is like experience points. Hegemony opens up access to new buildings to expand the base (as certain levels are reached). You can earn hegemony for just about anything, from voting on decisions in the Landsraad Council to paying taxes and defeating enemy units. Or for the construction of workshops.
• Knowledge is a resource that determines how quickly you research new developments. Think of development as a skill in a skill tree. Research centers need to be created to gain knowledge.
• Influence (yes, I remember mentioning it above) is a resource that can be used in addition to your votes in the Landsraad Council. Something like extra votes to give more weight to your decisions. You will gain influence by creating listening posts or appointing agents to the Landsraad (Council).
• Intelligence, or simply data, is a measure of the performance of your spy network. You will spend data to create operations - one-time events that will help or harm your enemies. You gain information by building data centers and infiltrating agents into enemy (or neutral) factions.
• Command points determine how many combat units you can have in your army. Each unit spends a certain amount of command points. For example, soldiers need 3 points, and auxiliary drones need four. If the unit is destroyed, command points are returned to the general piggy bank. You can increase the limit of these points by researching certain developments such as Ground Command and High Command.

It is difficult to call any of the listed resources more important than the others. However, I can point out the resources that I run out of more often than others, so I recommend focusing on their increased production: spices, solarium, plastic concrete, and water.

Proper conversion of spices to solarium

In the upper left corner of the screen, next to the avatars of the faction and advisers, there is data on the production of spices. It's a vertical purple-yellow slider. There are also two tiles with information about the CHOAM contract and the stock of spices.

The most important thing here is the slider. With it, you can control how many spices to immediately convert into tanning, and how many will remain intact and go to the general supply. The slider on the slider indicates the percentage of spices that are converted/unaffected. However, the slider is only related to the spices you get while harvesting with combines. You cannot convert spices that have already been collected and sent to a common tank into a solarium.

Keeping a balance between having enough spices to pay taxes and converting spices into solarium to expand your base is one of the most important tasks in Dune: Spice Wars. The most correct solution would be to convert about 40% of the spices into a solarium, while 60% of the mined spices should be sent to the general storage. However, try to keep abreast of current expenses and needs, so periodically adjust the slider to suit your needs.

Maintain production, and don't rush to expand

To control new regions and use their resources, you will need several combat units. Each combat unit has an initial training cost and maintenance cost. You will have to pay a certain price when capturing settlements (with water and authority), and in the future, you will spend resources on their maintenance (in addition to the cost of maintaining any buildings built in the settlement).

What I'm trying to say is that the expansion in Dune: Spice Wars is expensive, so you need to make sure that the captured villages cover the new costs. Expanding too quickly is a sure way to run out of resources, and when it does, the settlements will rise up against you and the fledgling empire will be destroyed.

By clicking on a settlement (independent or enemy), you will see information about it. You will also find out how much control over it will cost (after the settlement's militia is destroyed).

In special regions, you can produce more!

Some regions of Arrakis have special resources. Spices are the most obvious of these, but there are also rare elements, minerals, and energy sources. Each one gives a bonus to the production of certain resources in that region (which you produce with buildings built in that region's settlement).

• Rare elements (yellow-orange stone) allow you to build a processing plant that produces a solarium.
• Minerals (grey stone) increase the production of plastic concrete in the region by 50%.
• Energy sources (three vertical red waves) increase the output of the fuel cell plant by 50%.

As such, keep an eye on what bonuses a region has to offer and decide which structures to build based on them.

“Non-special” regions will also benefit

Not every region is 'special', but even common ones can be useful. In any settlement, you can create anything, with the exception of processing plants. However, you are limited to a total of five buildings per settlement, so sometimes you just need any new settlement to expand your production.

Just as important, traveling through regions you don't control requires supplies for combat units. When they run out of supplies, health begins to suffer. However, units in regions you control do not consume supplies (or health). This means that it makes sense to control the regions for the successful movement of troops, to make sure that they are fully provided, full of strength, and ready to fight at any moment.

Council vote - what to do?

Everything that has been considered so far has dealt with day-to-day and military operations on Arrakis. But Dune: Spice Wars is multifaceted, and there was a place for espionage and politics. Every 25 days there is a vote in Landsraad. Three resolutions are put to the vote in each cycle. Most of them come down to confirming or rejecting the developments put forward. For example, a 30% increase in water maintenance costs or a 100% increase in recruitment costs. Other resolutions may introduce new roles that can be both helpful and harmful.

Each cycle you can spend your votes (at the beginning you will have 100 votes, but the number may change with your position in the Landsraad), as well as influence on each of these decisions. Each of the factions opposing you has its own votes and influence, and there are 400 council votes.

Resolution voting is a good way to get some kind of bonus or put a spoke in your opponents' wheels through diplomacy rather than military might.

Agents, espionage, missions, operations and destruction

Among other things, you are also in charge of a spy network of agents. These agents are assigned to enemy factions or other players in the Dune universe such as the Space Guild or the Landsraad Council.

Agents produce intelligence and provide various buffs and bonuses depending on who they are assigned to. Your agents are also slowly infiltrating this group. More importantly, you can spend intel on missions. Missions are operations that allow you to support your efforts or frustrate your enemies.

As your level of penetration increases, you will unlock more and more powerful Operations, up to an assassination attempt on your opponents.

And this brings us to….

Three ways to win

In Dune: Spice Wars, you can win in three ways:

• Dominance. To do this, you must destroy all enemy factions with the help of combat power or successfully eliminate their leaders through espionage operations.
• Governorship. One of the charters (a special kind of resolution) that is voted on by the Landsraad Council is the governorship of Dune. If you can vote for your faction in this charter and hold it for 60 days, you will win a political victory.
• Hegemony. Victory through hegemony requires the accumulation of 50,000 units of hegemony. This victory can only be earned through patience. You will achieve Hegemony victory by doing just about everything Dune: Spice Wars has to offer. From destroying enemy units to collecting spices, but keep in mind that it will take a lot of time to get 50,000 Hegemony units.