Westwood Studios said their next
Dune game will only come in a few years. That's OK as long as they're going
to make it a real blockbuster. For now, they're concentrating on the C&C
series. I'm also a big Tiberian Sun fan, but I really think the Dune series
has even more potential (the novels are international best-sellers). Their
biggest competitor (I won't give it's name) has 2 RTS series, not just
one. Westwood really should think about making a new Dune game. Since for
some reason they don't want to do that right now, an expansion pack for
Dune2k would be a good idea. I know it's pretty late for that, so maybe
it should be able to run without the original Dune 2000 (in exchange for
that, it should be more expensive than an ordinary expansion pack). I've
put together my ideas and I came up with Legends of Arrakis. It
has 32 new units, 8 new buildings and 7 heroes (special unique units).
I made sure the game stays balanced. Also, it should have 5 new missions
for each house and 3 special missions (2 with the emperor and 1 with the
mercenaries).
Of course, a Dune 2k expansion pack doesn't have to contain all of these
(usually there are only about 10 new units, I "created" 32). Here's a list
of the new features the expansion pack could have (plus
a link to my new article about the next Dune game)
Nerve
gas troopers
type: advanced infantry
house: Ordos
requires: upgraded barracks
and IX research center
range: long - speed:
6 km/h
armor: light, they're vulnerable
to high explosives and machine guns
purpose: The nerve gas troopers
fire special gas missiles. They can only deviate soldiers, but they can
also damage vehicles (a bit). Their range is the same as the siege tank's.
Plasma
troopers
type: advanced infantry
house: Harkonnen
requires: upgraded barracks
and IX research center
range: short - speed:
6 km/h
armor: light, they're vulnerable
to high explosives and machine guns
purpose: The plasma troopers
fire plasma like the devastator. Their range is the same as the devastator's.
They can't self-destruct.
Elite
sardaukar
type: highly advanced infantry
house: Imperial house
requires: Imperial palace
range: very long - speed:
20 km/h
armor: heavy, they're vulnerable
to high explosives and lasers
purpose: The elite sardaukar
are the unstoppable soldiers of the emperor. They have lasers with the
same range as rocket turrets. They also have energy shields always turned
on. Because of them, the elite sardaukar are almost invulnerable to most
weapons. However, the shields don't protect them from high explosives and
they explode in contact with lasers. The elite sardaukar can be squished,
but the unit that squished one also dies. The elite sardaukar are built
free by the imperial palace, in the same time as the fremen. However, only
one elite sardaukar comes out each time.
Airborne
APC
type: armored personnel
carrier
house: Atreides
requires: heavy factory
and barracks
range: N/A - speed:
40 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to missiles and high caliber guns
purpose:.
The airborne APC isn't a true aircraft, it's a hover vehicle. When it moves,
it flies and it can only be hit by missiles. When it stays still, it lands.
It can carry up to 5 soldiers. It can fly over anything, but it's the slowest
flying unit.
Stealth
APC
type: armored personnel
carrier
house: Ordos
requires: heavy factory
and barracks
range: N/A - speed:
40 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to missiles and high caliber guns
purpose: It's an invisible
APC. It only becomes visible when loading or unloading troops (or when
it's too close to enemy soldiers). It can carry up to 5 soldiers.
Energy
shield APC
type: armored personnel
carrier
house: Harkonnen
requires: heavy factory
and barracks
range: N/A - speed: 40
km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to missiles and high caliber guns
purpose: The energy shield
APC has an energy shield that makes it invulnerable. However, the shield
needs charging. When it's charged, it can be turned on for a while, then
it needs to recharge. Since the APC is a vehicle, the shield also works
against lasers, like all other weapons. This APC can carry up to 5 soldiers.
Laser
APC
type: armored personnel
carrier
house: Imperial house
requires: heavy factory
and barracks
range: N/A - speed:
40 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to missiles and high caliber guns
purpose: This APC has two
laser guns. It's the only APC with weapons. It can carry up to 5 soldiers.
Double
APC
type: armored personnel
carrier
house: Mercenaries
requires: heavy factory
and barracks
range: N/A - speed:
60 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to missiles and high caliber guns
purpose: The double APC
is an advanced armored personnel carrier. It's much faster than an ordinary
one and it can carry up to 10 soldiers. However, it has no special ability.
Hijacker
type: special forces
house: Atreides
requires: upgraded barracks
and IX research center
range: N/A - speed:
15 km/h
armor: light, it's vulnerable
to high explosives and lasers
purpose: The Hijacker can
steal enemy vehicles. It has a stealth device to avoid being detected by
the enemy. However, the device only works for 10 seconds (on the fastest
gameplay) and it can only recharge when the hijacker is inside an enemy
vehicle (it recharges instantly). When the hijacker gets in a vehicle,
he takes over it. He only gets out if the vehicle is destroyed. Then he
can take over another one.
Sniper
type: special forces
house: Ordos
requires: upgraded barracks
and IX research center
range: long - speed:
20 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to high explosives and lasers
purpose: The Sniper is an
elite shooter, with great accuracy and range. However, he has a long weapon
reload time. He's always invisible, with the common rules of stealth applying
(he becomes visible when shooting and when he's close to soldiers or right
next to turrets). He can kill any soldier in one shot, except elite sardaukar
(they take two shots). He can also shoot at vehicles and buildings, but
they only take minor damage. However, shooting on a vehicle will sometimes
cause it to "freeze" in place or loose it's firepower (temporary effects,
they wear off after a while). Shooting on buildings will also have temporary
effects sometimes, depending on the type of building. These effects are
caused by the fact that the sniper sometimes kills personnel inside buildings
or vehicles.
Bomber
type: special forces
house: Harkonnen
requires: upgraded barracks
and IX research center
range: N/A - speed:
10 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to high explosives and lasers
purpose: The Bomber is an
explosives specialist. He can place remote control bombs. Unlike mines,
they only explode when you want them to. The explosion is like the one
caused by a siege tank's cannonball. To place an explosive, force-attack
the place where you want to put it. You can even place explosives on infantry-only
areas. To detonate an explosive, deploy it. To detonate all explosives
that you placed on the map, select a bomber and force-attack one of the
explosives. They'll all detonate, regardless of the bomber's position.
The bomber has an unlimited supply of explosives, he doesn't need to go
get more. He also has a stealth device. It only works for 20 seconds (on
the fastest gameplay), then it takes a while to recharge. The common rules
of stealth apply. When he places an explosive, he becomes visible for a
second (on the fastest gameplay).
Laser
tank
type: advanced battle tank
house: Imperial house
requires: upgraded heavy
factory and IX research center
range: medium - speed:
40 km/h
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable
to missiles and high caliber guns
purpose: The laser tank
is the emperor's main tank. It has a powerful laser gun, excellent against
soldiers and very good against vehicles and buildings. They're not cheap,
but they're worth it.
Mobile beam
transporter - MBT
type: battlefield support
vehicle
house: Atreides
requires: upgraded heavy
factory and Atreides palace
range: N/A - speed:
45 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to missiles and special weapons
purpose: The MBT is used
to beam units from one place to another. It can only be used when deployed.
You can deploy it on anything (anywhere it can get to). It can't move when
deployed. To un-deploy it, click the deploy cursor again. You need at least
two of them deployed to make them work. To beam a unit, order it to enter
a deployed MBT. It will dissapear and re-appear after 3 seconds (on the
fastest gameplay) on the closest deployed MBT (it doesn't matter how close
that one actually is). If all the other MBTs are destroyed in those 3 seconds,
the unit will re-appear on the one it started from. If all of that player's
MBTs (including the one that beamed the unit) are destroyed in the 3 seconds,
the unit is lost.
Mobile cloak
generator - MCG
type: battlefield support
vehicle
house: Ordos
requires: upgraded heavy
factory and Ordos palace
range: medium - speed:
50 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to missiles and special weapons
purpose: The MCG creates
a cloaking field with a 5 cell radius. It can hide 24 units (25 cells,
but the middle one is occupied by the MCG). You need to deploy the MCG
to activate the cloaking field. You can deploy it on anything (anywhere
it can get to). It can't move when deployed. To un-deploy it, click the
deploy cursor again. If a building is inside the cloaking field, it also
becomes invisible. Of course, it only affects friendly units and buildings.
The common rules of stealth apply.
Mobile shield
generator - MSG
type: battlefield support
vehicle
house: Harkonnen
requires: upgraded heavy
factory and Harkonnen palace
range: short - speed:
40 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to missiles and special weapons
purpose: The MSG creates
an energy shield with a 3 cell radius. It can protect 8 units (9 cells,
but the middle one is occupied by the MSG). It needs to be deployed to
activate the shield. You can deploy it on anything (anywhere it can get
to). It can't move when deployed. To un-deploy it, click the deploy cursor
again. If a turret is inside the shield, it's also protected. Any friendly
units or turrets inside the shield (including the MSG) are completely invulnerable,
but they also can't fire. A harvester inside the shield becomes vulnerable
when harvesting. If all of someone's buildings (except walls, concrete
slabs and turrets) are destroyed, his MSGs don't work any more. This prevents
players (or the computer) from making the game impossible to win by protecting
units or turrets forever.
Spice
thief harvester
type: base support vehicle
house: Mercenaries
requires: refinery and IX
research center
range: N/A - speed:
50 km/h
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable
to missiles and fire
purpose: This is a special
modified harvester. It can't harvest normal spice, but it can harvest from
spice blooms. It has a permanent stealth device (the common rules of stealth
apply). It harvests spice blooms by deploying on them (you can also "attack"
them). When it's harvesting, the bloom also becomes invisible. All the
spice that should come out of the bloom is taken by the spice thief harvester.
It doesn't have a storage limit. It lets go and returns to a refinery once
the bloom is finished. It can't be picked up by a carryall (it would make
it visible and cause only trouble). The spice thief harvester is generally
used to cut the enemy's money supply.
Chaos
spy
type: special forces
house: Mercenaries
requires: Mercenary palace
range: N/A - speed:
50 km/h
armor: very light, it's
vulnerable to high explosives and machine guns
purpose: The chaos spy has
a stealth device like the saboteur's (the common rules of stealth apply).
It can infiltrate enemy buildings by entering them. Once a chaos spy entered
a building, all the units and buildings of that army, over a 7-cell radius,
start changing their colors randomly and continuously for 10 seconds (on
the fastest gameplay). They still remain controlled by the same player
(or computer), but any unit or turret will start fireing at the units and
buildings that aren't it's color. Since the colors keep changing, the result
will be total chaos in that region. Most units will probably be destroyed
by the chaotic battle.
IronHawk
type: attack aircraft
house: Atreides
requires: high-tech factory
and aircraft control tower
range: N/A - speed:
220 km/h
armor: light, it's vulnerable
to missiles (in the air) and high explosives (when it's landed)
purpose: The IronHawk is
an UFO-type aircraft (the atreides aircraft model). It flies in a chaotic
pattern so it's hard to hit. However, it must hover in the air above it's
target to hit it. It must be straight above it. This makes it very vulnerable,
so it also has a reversed-polarity stealth device: it's invisible when
it stays still (even when fireing), but it's visible when it's moving.
It has a high caliber cannon (like the combat tank, but with twice the
firepower). It can fire 6 times, then it must return to the aircraft control
tower to recharge.
SkyCobra
type: attack aircraft
house: Ordos
requires: high-tech factory
and aircraft control tower
range: medium - speed:
355 km/h
armor: light, it's vulnerable
to missiles (in the air) and machine guns (when it's landed)
purpose: The SkyCobra is
a combat ornithopter (the ordos aircraft model). It flies very fast, like
all 'thopters. It's very hard to hit. It has twin machine guns with armor-piercing
bullets (machine guns with the firepower of 5 raiders). It can fire 10
times, then it must return to the aircraft control tower (it never slows
down, it goes over the target like the bomber ornithopters).
DeathRam
type: attack aircraft
house: Harkonnen
requires: high-tech factory
and aircraft control tower
range: short - speed:
310 km/h
armor: light, it's vulnerable
to missiles (in the air) and high caliber guns (when it's landed)
purpose: The DeathRam is
a helicopter (the harkonnen aircraft model). It flies fast, dodging missiles.
It's very hard to hit. It has a short range and it stays still when fireing,
but it still dodges missiles (avoiding them has a higher priority than
fireing). It fires high explosives, like the siege tank (but with only
a short range). It can fire 8 times, then it needs to go to the aircraft
control tower to recharge.
Bazooka
UFO
type: attack aircraft
house: Atreides
requires: high-tech factory
and upgraded aircraft control tower
range: medium - speed:
210 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to missiles (in the air) and high explosives (when it's landed)
purpose: The bazooka UFO
flies in a chaotic pattern so it's hard to hit. It has a short range (like
the trooper's) but it has the firepower of an r-turret. It fires missiles,
so it can also hit other aircraft in the air. It must hover in the air
to hit it's target. This makes it very vulnerable, so it also has a reversed-polarity
stealth device: it's invisible when it stays still (even when fireing),
but it's visible when it's moving. It can fire 4 times, then it needs to
go back to recharge.
Missile
'thopter
type: attack aircraft
house: Ordos
requires: high-tech factory
and upgraded aircraft control tower
range: medium - speed:
350 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to missiles (in the air) and machine guns (when it's landed)
purpose: The missile 'thopter
flies very fast, like all 'thopters. It's very hard to hit. It fires missiles,
so it can also hit other aircraft in the air. It has the firepower of two
launchers. It can fire 5 times, then it needs to go back to the aircraft
control tower.
Rocket
chopper
type: attack aircraft
house: Harkonnen
requires: high-tech factory
and upgraded aircraft control tower
range: medium - speed:
300 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to missiles (in the air) and high caliber guns (when it's landed)
purpose: The rocket chopper
is a helicopter (the harkonnen aircraft model). It flies fast, dodging
missiles. It's very hard to hit. It has a short range and it stays still
when fireing, but it still dodges missiles (avoiding them has a higher
priority than fireing). It fires missiles, so it can also hit other
aircraft in the air. It has the firepower of an r-turret plus a quad. It
can fire 5 times, then it needs to go back to the aircraft control tower.
Fremen
UFO
type: attack aircraft
house: Atreides
requires: high-tech factory,
upgraded aircraft control tower and IX research center
range: N/A - speed:
200 km/h
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable
to missiles (in the air) and high explosives (when it's landed)
purpose: The fremen UFO
flies in a chaotic pattern so it's hard to hit. It fires fremen gliders.
The fremen gliders are non-selectable air units. When the fremen UFO "attacks"
something, it launches fremen gliders that start fireing at the target,
then it returns to the aircraft control tower. It can "fire" only once
before it needs to return, but that one "fireing" means launching ten fremen
gliders. The fremen gliders are slow-moving air units that fire while moving.
Each has the same firepower as a fremen.
Sabotage
'thopter
type: attack aircraft
house: Ordos
requires: high-tech factory,
upgraded aircraft control tower and IX research center
range: N/A - speed:
340 km/h
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable
to missiles (in the air) and machine guns (when it's landed)
purpose: The sabotage 'thopter
flies very fast, like all 'thopters. It's very hard to hit. It "fires"
by parachuting a saboteur. You can only parachute it into an enemy building.
The parachuted saboteur is a non-selectable air unit. It can be killed
before it gets down to the building, but it takes a lot of AA defences
to do it. If he gets to it, he acts like any other saboteur, destroying
the building. After parachuting a saboteur, the sabotage 'thopter returns
to the aircraft control tower to recharge.
Death
hand chopper
type: attack aircraft
house: Harkonnen
requires: high-tech factory,
upgraded aircraft control tower and IX research center
range: short - speed:
290 km/h
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable
to missiles (in the air) and high caliber guns (when it's landed)
purpose: The death hand
chopper is a helicopter. It flies fast, dodging missiles. It's very hard
to hit. It has a short range and it stays still when fireing, but it still
dodges missiles (avoiding them has a higher priority than fireing). This
chopper fires a mini-death hand. However, it has only a short range. The
mini-death hand does only 1/4 the damage and affects only 1/4 the area
of a normal death hand. After fireing once, the death hand chopper must
return to recharge.
Combat
frigate
type: attack aircraft
house: Imperial house
requires: high-tech factory
and aircraft control tower
range: long - speed:
250 km/h
armor: very heavy, it's
vulnerable to missiles (in the air) and special weapons (when it's landed)
purpose: This is the imperial
controlable aircraft. It's a modified frigate with a long-range laser cannon
mounted on top. It doesn't have any special missile-avoiding tactic (it
flies straight like a frigate), but it has a huge armor and it can fire
12 times before it needs to go back to the aircraft control tower to recharge.
However, it's also very expensive.
Laser
infantry
type: advanced infantry
house: all
requires: starport
range: medium - speed:
10 km/h
armor: light, they're vulnerable
to high explosives and machine guns
purpose: The laser infantry
is specially trained by the Guild to fight on Arrakis. They each carry
a mini-laser gun. Very useful in large numbers. They can only be purchased
from the starport (in groups of five, that count as one unit in frigate
transports).
Commando
type: special forces
house: all
requires: upgraded barracks
and IX research center
range: medium (for sniper
rifle) - speed: 15 km/h
armor: light, they're vulnerable
to high explosives and machine guns
purpose: The commando is
a highly advanced soldier. He has two fighting modes: "demolition" and
"spy". The demolition mode is the default (that's how they come out of
the barracks). In this mode, they act like the commando from C&C and
Tanya from Red Alert (they've got a sniper rifle to take out soldiers in
one shot and time bombs to place on buildings; a single time bomb can destroy
a building, but the commando must get to it first). They're visible like
any other unit. Deploy them to change between modes. In spy mode, the commando
has a permanent stealth device and he can infiltrate buildings (like a
spy from Red Alert). The common rules of stealth apply. Once he infiltrates
a building, he can't get out. You can see everything an infiltrated building
does (for example you can see the enemy's power levels if you infiltrate
a windtrap). The commandos aren't heroes. You can build as many of them
as you want (both in single player and multiplayer).
Mine
layer
type: battlefield support
vehicle
house: all
requires: heavy factory
and repair pad
range: N/A - speed:
45 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to most types of weapons
purpose: The mine layer
can place mines or minefields. To place a mine, deploy it (or force-attack
a place where you want a mine). To place a minefield, select the mine layer,
hold down "shift" and draw a rectangular box with the mouse. The minelayer
will place a mine in every cell of that box (where it can). After placing
25 mines, it must return to a repair pad to reload (for free). The mines
are effective against soldiers as well as vehicles.
Gas
missile turret
type: Ground based turret
requires: outpost and IX
research center
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable
to missiles and fire
house: Ordos
purpose: The gas missile
turret fires gas missiles like those of the deviator. The difference is
that these missiles can deviate both soldiers and vehicles. It has the
same range as a rocket turret. It can be out ranged by launchers. It can
hit and deviate air units. It doesn't work when you have low power.
Plasma
turret
type: Ground based turret
requires: outpost and IX
research center
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable
to missiles and high caliber guns
house: Harkonnen
purpose: The plasma turret
fires plasma charges, like the devastator. It can't self-destruct. It has
the same range as a gun turret. It can be out ranged by r-turrets, gas
missile turrets, sonic turrets, lion turrets (with enough power), deviators,
launchers, sonic tanks and siege tanks. Still, it has a devastating firepower.
It doesn't work when you have low power.
Lion
turret
type: Ground based turret
requires: outpost and IX
research center
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable
to missiles and lasers
house: Imperial house
purpose: The lion turret
is the emperor's favorite base defense. It has twin laser guns. The range
depends on the power you have. It can be equal to an r-turret's when you
have lots of power, but when you're close to low power it's the same like
a gun turret's. It doesn't work when you have low power.
Mercenary
palace
type: Capitol building
requires: IX research center
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable
to most types of weapons
house: Mercenaries
purpose: The mercenary palace
is like any of the other palaces. Once it's built, it becomes the center
of mercenary operations. It builds the chaos spy (special palace option
- for free).
Hospital
type: repair facility
requires: barracks
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to most types of weapons
house: all
purpose: The hospital heals
soldiers just like the repair pad repairs vehicles. Up to 5 soldiers can
be healed at the same time in a hospital. Healing soldiers is cheaper than
training new ones.
Aircraft
control tower
type: production facility
requires: high tech factory
armor: medium, it's vulnerable
to high explosives
house: Atreides, Ordos,
Harkonnen, Imperial house
purpose: The aircraft control
tower builds the aircraft that you can control. It also provides landing
space for 8 aircraft (it occupies 9 squares: the tower is at the middle
and the other 8 are landing space).
Holographic
projector
type: illusion projector
requires: palace and IX
research center
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable
to most types of weapons
house: all (multiplayer
only)
purpose: The holographic
projector is the most advanced building you have on multiplayer. It creates
illusions. The illusions are free, but they take a while to build. You
can select what the illusion will represent: it can be a unit or a building,
but it can also be a group of units or buildings. If it's a group, you'll
control the units (or buildings) all at once. An illusion only lasts for
a minute (on the fastest gameplay). After that, it disappears. Illusions
don't take damage, but they also can't do anything. If they fire, they
don't damage anything. Of course, the unit illusions can move like normal
units. You can deploy an illusion to make it look badly damaged. The holographic
projector needs a lot of power and it doesn't work when you have low power.
It can be upgraded. An upgraded holographic projector can also create illusions
of enemy units or buildings.
Bronso
of IX
rank: top ordos strategist
description: Bronso was
once a historian. He can easily guess what people think. He was arrested
for revealing state secrets, but the Cartel's men busted him out. Since
then, he works in secret for house Ordos.
range: N/A - speed:
30 km/h
armor: light, he's vulnerable
to missiles and fire
ability: He has a stealth
device that works all the time (it doesn't need recharging). He can sabotage
any building, and he's not hurt by the explosion. Also, if a unit accidentally
runs over him, it explodes.
Feyd-Rautha
Harkonnen
rank: na-baron (Vladimir's
heir)
description: Feyd-Rautha
is baron Vladimir's nephew. He's Paul's mortal enemy. Sometimes, he goes
on Arrakis to supervise special operations.
range: medium - speed:
10 km/h
armor: heavy, he's vulnerable
to high caliber guns and machine guns
ability: He's got a death
hand shield. It's not always active, it needs recharging. When he activates
his shield, the harkonnen launch a death hand at his location. It destroys
everything around him, but he's protected by the shield. When the shield
is charged, deploy Feyd-Rautha to activate it and call in a death hand.
Hasimir
Fenring
rank: Count Fenring
description: Hasimir is
the emperor's cousin and best friend. They were friends since they were
children. Count Fenring is now the emperor's right hand.
range: very long - speed:
15 km/h
armor: heavy, he's vulnerable
to special ammo (sonic blasts, plasma and lasers) and machine guns
ability: He's got 2 long-range
laser guns and a reversed polarity shield (always on). The laser guns can
out-range a missile launcher. The shield is unique in the universe. It
doesn't explode in contact with a laser, but it doesn't protect from it
either.
Scytale
rank: Tleilaxian face dancer
description: Scytale is
the most famous face dancer in the universe (a face dancer can change his
look as he wants). He likes to be involved in politics. Sometimes he works
for the mercenaries and sometimes he works alone.
range: N/A - speed:
25 km/h
armor: light, he's vulnerable
to high caliber guns and missiles
ability: Scytale is a face
dancer, so he can look like any infantry unit (soldier) of any house. He
can also infiltrate enemy buildings like a commando. Unlike a commando,
he can get out as well ("deploy" the enemy building to get him out). While
he's in, he can mess a bit with the enemy base (if he's in a windtrap,
he can turn off the some of the power; if he's in a refinery or silo, he
can make some money disappear etc.)
Gaius
Helen Mohiam
rank: Bene Gesserit reverend
mother
description: Gaius Helen
is a very old reverend mother. She is a master of using The Voice.
range: very long - speed:
6 km/h
armor: medium, she's vulnerable
to high explosives and fire
ability: Gaius Helen doesn't
have any weapons, but she has visions and she uses The Voice (a special
Bene Gesserit technique for mind control). When she has a vision, she reveals
an area of the map. It could be small or large (it's random). She can only
attack infantry units (soldiers). She uses The Voice to convert them. This
way, she can sometimes have a large army (especially if she converted engineers
and used them). She can also repair the converted units (for free). The
color of her army is light brown (like this text).
Lady
Elara the truthsayer
rank: ex-concubine of the
emperor
description: Lady Elara
was once the emperor's bound concubine and truthsayer. She was always loyal
to the Bene Gesserit, as well as to the emperor. Because of this, the emperor
didn't accept her any more and the sisterhood excommunicated her. She went
to Arrakis, where she became addicted to spice. The melange enhanced her
abilities. Now she's a renegade Bene Gesserit which can't use The Voice
any more but who KNOWS the future and who's invulnerable to conventional
weapons
range: N/A - speed: 6
km/h
armor: none (she's invulnerable
to all weapons except nerve gas missiles)
ability: Lady Elara hasn't
got any weapons and no special abilities. She works alone and she's only
vulnerable to nerve gas troopers and Gas missile turrets. All houses try
to get her on their side, because she knows the future.
The
missile launcher
In the original
version, the missile launcher was only available to the ordos from the
Starport, and the other houses had to build an IX to get it. This has to
be changed. With the expansion pack, you don't need and IX to build the
launcher (so the IX appears later in the game), you only need an upgraded
heavy factory. It's the same for the ordos. They can build launchers from
an upgraded heavy factory.
The
fremen
Because
everybody has the airstrike, some compensation had to be given to the atreides.
This is it. The fremen are much more useful. They can kill any soldier
in one hit with a knife (but the knife only works in close combat). They
know the desert like their back yard, so they have a much better sight
range. They can create quicksand traps that act like mines. Any unit that
goes on one will sink right away, but the trap only works once. Deploy
a fremen to create a quicksand trap where he's standing. The fremen are
not affected by the traps. The problem is that it takes some time to make
a trap and during that time he's visible. One fremen can't build another
trap until the last one caught a unit. The fremen are built just as
fast as before, but you get 3 at once instead of 2.
Note: I removed one of the new
abilities I gave them before (the one with them staying undetected by infantry
if they're not moving), to balance the game better.
The
saboteur
The saboteurs
weren't too popular because the stealth device doesn't stay on for long,
so you need precision when using them. That's why, in the expansion pack,
the saboteur's stealth device works for 3 times as much. The reload time
is the same.
Multiplayer
options
Nearly all Dune
fans wish they could play with the emperor, the mercenaries or the smugglers.
This expansion pack includes 2 missions with the emperor and one with the
mercenaries. Also, you'll be able to play with the emperor and with the
mercenaries in multiplayer, but only in practice mode (skirmish). If you
play with the mercs, you'll start allied with all the ordos players. This
is like any ordinary alliance, so you can brake it if you want. Also, there's
going to be a special skirmish XL map for the smugglers. You'll be able
to play only with them on this map (of course, your starting point is randomly
chosen from the ones available). Also, this is the ONLY map on which you
can play with the smugglers. This is because they're in a special position:
they're neutral and they only have 4 types of buildings: windtrap, refinery,
silo and starport. You're going to start with 2 windtraps, a refinery,
a starport and 4 silos. You can order an MCV from the starport, but you
still won't be able to build any other buildings (but at least you can
build more of these ones). When you play with the smugglers, you'll have
2 ways to achieve victory: First, the conventional way: you'll have to
declare war to the other players and destroy them. This is nearly impossible
with your limited building types. Second, the spice race: harvest all the
spice on the map. The other players will sell their buildings and leave.
This isn't as easy as it looks, if the enemy sees you harvesting his spice,
he'll declare war and you're going to have to defend yourself. You won't
select the victory type at the beginning: the default way is the spice
race, but if you want to destroy your enemy you can do that and you win.