Dune: Spice Wars – A Mentat’s guide to Arrakis

Dune: Spice Wars – A Mentat’s guide to Arrakis 1 - steamlists.com
Dune: Spice Wars – A Mentat’s guide to Arrakis 1 - steamlists.com

This collection is assembled by mentat Carazvan in the year 10192 for the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. It comprises our best intelligence on the Dune Spice Wars without setting foot on Arrakis. Take care when using this information, as the spies are unreliable and provide contradictory at times. As new patches of knowledge are acquired data may need be updated.
 
 

Arrakis

Arrakis, Dune, one of the most desolate places in the universe …
 
 
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…and at the same time the most precious planet. Because it is here, and only here, that the spice mélange grows. The spice extends life, expands consciousness and is vital to space travel. This has been the central pillar of our civilization for millennia and its mining is the key of the Imperium.
 
 
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The dangers of the planet are many, as the desert provides constant hazards like storms, worms and hostile locals that attack with little warning.
 
 
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How frequent these hazards are in their actuality is probably something that can only be experience first-hand upon arriving on the planet.
 
 


 
Time
 
Due to its slow rotational speed and axial tilt there is an exact day-night cycle every 15 standard days with 10 days sunlight, 1 day dusk, 4 days nighttime. It is rumored certain factions and rebels can use this to their advantage to gain benefits.
 
 
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As more first-hand reports are included in this report, I should mention to your highness that many reports seems be using the guild navigators trance-like perception of time and mixing it with human scales. To avoid confusion, the space navigator’s perception of time is 30 seconds equaling one day (15 mins equaling 1 month, 3 hours equaling 1 year).
 
 
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This perception of time can also be frozen, sped up by 50% (20s/day) or even by 100% (15sec/day).
 
 


 
Factions
 
The surface of Dune is currently battled over by 4 factions with more potential candidates being rumored to exist.
 
 
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While the exact methods for determination the supremacy is up to your highness, as well as who should even be considered a candidate, I will strive to present a balanced view of their strengths and weaknesses as well as all the trials they will face.
 
 
 

House Atreides

General Strategy
 
 
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Your majesty’s cousin, Duke Leto Atreides, seems poised to seek the Landsraad’s backing to become governor of Arrakis. His likely strategy will be to use their army and skills to expand and take as much territory as possible, not seeking but neither avoiding conflict with other factions, and then use their Landsraad connections to request recognition as Dune’s official governor.
 
 


 
Faction Bonuses
 
 
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His reputation, or hegemony as your majesty prefers to call it, seems to grow with every successful appearance in the Landsraad council. My sources tell me that once he reaches sufficient hegemony he will be able to get financial or military support based on resolutions affecting them. There’s even talk of him avoiding the requirements normally placed on houses for the charters.
 
 
The Atreides skilled diplomats seem to be able to convince rebel towns via negotiation to join their cause in 15 days in a peaceful annexation trading only some meager political influence. While this might seem like a trivial bonus, since troops can clear and annex a town in 1-2 days, there are three points to consider.
 
 
The village’s rebel troops will join his faction, meaning even a very large militia town can be a target early on. Secondly, since there is no necessity for owned territory to be anywhere nearby, their diplomats can conquer far away valuable lands. And lastly, since these negotiations are secret, the other factions often don’t see this until the day the village announces their new allegiance.
 
 
Their fair practices in trade mean that other factions do not need to give up authority for their purposes. While at the tactical level this seems like a loss of authority, the strategic benefit is they can make research and trade deals instantly with all factions (as long as they are not strong-willed humans and most adversaries today seem like the tired old thinking machines of the Butlerian Jihad).
 
 
This focus on fairness also comes as a disadvantage as the Duke has forbidden the pillaging of neutral villages, which is likely to limit their initial growth.
 
 


 
Councilors
 
There are multiple councilors around the Duke which can give him extra benefits but I think he only tends to listen to 2 of them at any time:
 
 
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It’s believed Lady Jessica uses the power of the voice in treaty negotiations since all that go there never deny her and a faction has to spend much authority to override and discredit their trade representative.
 
 
Duncan Idaho’s is rumored to be spending time among the Fremen, which is likely to give the Duke better knowledge of the hidden sietches locations and make the rebel villages more likely to accept his rule.
 
 
Thufir Hawat’s meticulous recruiting practices for agents seem to allow them to develop skills in two specialties. Whenever a province is dedicated to a single purpose he also seems to personally oversee it’s development generating bonuses in its production.
 
 
Gurney Halleck’s recruitment and training program generates superior fighting forces from the earliest levels. When applied to village militia ,while more expensive in terms of both men and costs, it generates fighting forces unrivaled by any faction.
 
 


 
Units
 
The Attreides military focuses on united cooperation and protection of their units in frontal assaults
 
 
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Weaknesses
 
The main weaknesses for House Atreides is their lack of ability to pillage early on until they have contact with enemy factions as well as a relatively slow pace of hegemony production since it depends on waiting for council sessions and desired outcomes. Other factions will likely be able to outpace them and enable their own plans before the Duke can bring his power to bear.
 
 
 

House Harkonnen

General Strategy
 
 
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Baron Vladimir Harkonnen brutal tactics and demeanor are infamous, but I think it leads many people to overlook his ruthless cunning and scheming. My spies tell me it is these constant plots and operations that are increasing his hegemony daily. I think the Baron will aim to expand carefully fully building up a few towns and squeezing all he can out of them while he plots away at removing his opponents either militarily or with a few expendable agents.
 
 


 
 
Faction Bonuses
 
 
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The state of constant unrest makes most villages under his control perform their tasks less efficiently but this is usually balanced out by the fear of their militia class which act like overseers at local areas
 
 
Their Oppression of the local population in their villages is impressive. It has the ability to squeeze resources out of a village with tripling production for a period of 2 days with the loss of only a few workers which are replenished in about 10 days, there is also the remote possibility they would rise up to fight him but troops are usually stationed close-by to deal with such discontents.
 
 
I think if it becomes widely known it could also be that this will help his forces and recruiting ability.
 
 
His constant use of spies also gives the baron full knowledge of the influence gains enemy factions have on Dune letting him plan his steps in the Council in advance.
 
 
In my calculus I believe the Barons lack of value for human life will likely lead to him sacrificing many agents to achieve his goals if he feels he has a grand enough hegemony. This would seem trite for most type of operations, but a well timed traitor could be undetected, much less expensive and facilitate the death of an enemy leader.
 
 
If forced into a corner I believe he might even risk deploying part of his atomic arsenal to prevent another faction from achieving victory and bear the brunt of the uproar in the Landsraad. While any house could potentially use their atomics, his ability to sacrifice agents to deploy them all in just a few days could be crucial.
 
 


 
 
Councilors
 
 
The Baron likes to keep his circle of trusted advisors very small and will likely only select 2 councilors to fully bring into his plans, what is likely to happen to those not selected doesn’t bear thought:
 
 
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Feyd-Rautha, the nephew of the baron is becoming well versed in the act of political discourse. His ability to argue opposite sides resolutions in the Council make it so that even if a faction wins a vote they lose standing.
 
 
Piter De Vries’s twisted thoughts are recently turned to stealth intelligence gathering with Ornithopters and Drones, no doubt to support the barons devious plots
 
 
Raban’s lives up to his moniker of the beast. He’s found new and cruel ways to oppress the locals enabling the tripling of production to increase by the use of the local militia. He might even convince the Baron to hire more militia. This is likely to enable a full town to add a day to the resource production.
 
 
Iakin Nefud’s semuta trances seem to have given him new ideas on how to both recruit new forces and provide them with combat drugs cheaper.
 

 


 
 
Units
 
 
Harkonen units focus on damaging the opponent with little care for their own safety and take pride in the injuries and kills they inflict
 
 
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Weakness
 
 
While the Harkonnen have some of the strongest troops on the battlefield of Arrakis they also require them in many locations and their expansion will be hampered by the necessity to keep troops in all town. I think they are the most likely to suffer from guerrilla attacks and disruptions to their towns can likely lead to spirals of deficit problems forcing them to contract their reach.
 
 
 

The Smugglers

General Strategy
 
 
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Esmar Tuek is a man that would be beneath even minor houses on other planets but his ability to gather important people around him and be present in all important discussions on Arrakis should not be overlooked. I would reckon that he’ll continue to avoid any confrontations, ambush and sabotage other factions plans, and continue to build up his dominion until his hegemony of the planet is uncontested.
 
 


 
 
Faction Bonuses
 
 
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It’s rumored that the hegemony Esmar has achieved is mainly funded by the pillaged goods from villages on Dune, but no-one looks to closely when the solari and spice flows.
 
 
The smugglers are so good at hiding their tracks that it seems they can install a full underworld village in opponents regions. These can be used for financial or political gains or even as a staging ground to prepare for the villages invasion.
 
 
Since they live in the shadows it should come as no surprise that unlike other factions they don’t need to send units to negotiate with found Black Markets being able to use them instantly to sell a full spice load at outrageous prices. I’d be surprised if they ever interact with CHOAM to sell their spice they gather like other factions
 
 
My spies tell me their bribes have even made it to the Landsraad Council with bounties being placed on resolutions.
 
 
I fear that if he continues to rise his hegemony even to moderate levels he will gain recognition in the the Landsraad as a viable option to the official houses. Such recognition would probably open up even more ways for they to ship contraband spice off-world.
 
 
If his hegemony rises even higher I believe he will be able to attract better equipped merceneries from off-world directly into his ranks. Knowing his methods these merceneries would like be used to pillage even deeper into enemy territory.
 
 


 
 
Councilors
 
In these days it’s said that Tuek uses two assistants but their identity hasn’t been found out. His known associates are
 
 
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Staban Tuek is his son and specializes in running the networks in the villages to maximize cooperation and profit.
 
 
Lingar Buet is the famous water-trader of Arrakis and if he’s working with Tuek it will be certain he will brag about the vast stores of water to help bring villages and underworld agents to his cause.
 
 
Drisq is Tuek’s quatermaster who’s surprisingly adept at gathering information without any other human sources from all factions. This is likely linked with her desire to only have agents that can bring a direct financial benefit to the faction
 
 
Bannerjee is the head of security for Sietch Tuek and as such knows all the places people hide their goods. He could be teaching the smuggler forces to ransack and gather even more when pillaging enemy villages.
 
 


 
 
Units
 
The smugglers units look to be focused on sneak attacks, ambushes and pillaging villages rather than true fights. They tend to prey on troops on low supply and avoid direct fights.
 
 
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Weakness
 
The smugglers are likely to suffer greatly if any of the houses start focusing on them directly. Their troops while having the firepower don’t have the health to stand up to direct assault and will likely lose many towns on front lines with the enemies.
 
 
 

The Fremen

General Strategy
 
 
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While most of the indigenous population of Arrakis can be considered Fremen, a particular leader is arrising in the person of Liet Kynes. Their leadership from Sietch Tabr is uniting more and more people under a single unified goal of liberating Arrakis from Imperium forces. As such I doubt there will be any quarter will be given to enemy factions and they are the most likely to push for completely wiping out all enemy resistance.
 
 


 
 
Faction Bonuses
 
 
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The Fremen’s obsession with water and it’s preservation is well-known in the universe and my spies tell me that they’re using it’s production rate to expand their hegemony.
 
 
The Fremen seem at home in the desert being able to use their stillsuits to limit their needed supplies.
 
 
While they are not known for using shuttles there are some very troubling reports that they ride the giant worms to get around between locations. I believe these require skilled worm-riders that are exhausted upon its use thankfully. However, as they get more hegemony, I fear that they might get even more skilled worm-riders that can call even larger worms to travel up to 50% further.
 
 
One aspect to be thankfull for is that while they may use their influence in the Landsraad they will never be recognized by the other Houses and given votes and no charter will be possible. Grudgingly your highness may have to resort to calling them ‘Arrakis Governor’ if they conquer half of available villages and have stronger sietch allies.
 
 


 
 
Councilors
 
 
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When my spies hear of Liet Kynes four other names are usually mentioned but it is my understanding that Liet send two of them away on special missions so those are unlikely to help the Fremen’s cause in this conflict.
 
 
Chani Kynes is the daughter of Liet and seems to be a natural troublemaker. Even in villages that haven’t sworn their allegiance to Sietch Tabr she can get intelligence to further the Fremen cause. She also specializes in inciting villages to rebel at the slightest hint of a succesful Landsraad resolution, no doubt my making lies that it will impact them negatively.
 
 
Mother Ramallo is one of the oldest truth-holders or Sayyadina for the Fremen. Her knowledge of the olden ways is likely to enable Liet to build shrines much earlier to their so called ‘Shai-Hulud’ god. She’s also said to be able to posses some intrinsic connection to the spice-mellange being able to detect it all over the planet at the slightest trance in the wind.
 
 
Otheym is one of the fiercest known warriors that would likely be able to impart his knowledge of desert warfare to all Liet’s troops. His knowledge of solo ambush combat will likely make single Fremen fighting troops even more effective.
 
 
Stilgar_Ben_Fifrawi is one of the most trusted sietch Naib’s on Dune and his swearing allegiance to Liet’s cause would likely increase their authority on the condition they can prove they have the spice reserves to back up their unknown plans.
 
 


 
 
Units
 
Their individual units are incredibly strong with anecdotal evidence of single troops engaging whole villages or even enemy sietches succesfully but training of such strong warriors likely requires massive resources
 
 
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Note the Kulon Caravan is thought to be a mobile supply base which transforms into a Hiereg that can heal, hide and replenish their troops.
 
 
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Weakness
 
 
While the Fremen are strong warriors and powerful enemy their power is almost entirely dependant on their ability to continue expanding and wining fights. If hit with economic attacks via negative resolutions and enemy spy operations they are likely to fair much worse and can be brought down from the inside.
 
 
 

Starting out

At this date 01.01.10192 all factions find themselves in similar strategic position on Arrakis. They control only a main base and Ornithopter with the knowledge of the direction of one spice province resource.
 
 
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The main base provides an initial level of resource gain and is the bastion they must defend at all cost.
 
 


 
 
Exploring
 
Any leader’s first task should be to investigate the surrounding provinces. They can likely get reports on province outlines and rumored locations of interest simply by entering the province. Finding and identifying the exact locations and types can take them about 2/3rd of the day (or 20 seconds in the tracelike time).
 
 
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Each location rumored on the map can become a village, province resource, or a point of interest. On average each province has about 3 potential initial locations with one village, resource and point of interest. A clever duke, baron or naib will soon learn to generally gauge which locations to investigate first as spots near rocky outcroppings tend to be villages.
 
 
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A leader can also gain ideas if a province contains a village and resource from the descriptions of provinces. Although they refuse to name the locations, the locals that put these reports together give clues in the number of shields. 2 shields indicating a region with both a town and a resource and 1 shield for a single town.
 
 
The description also include an estimate of the average wind produced in the region which is a key to both supply loss suffered by troops and to determining yields for water production.
 
 


 
 
Province Resources
 
The province resources that can be found usually can improve existing yields for village buildings
 
 
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Or even allow new industries to be built, like the all important spice gathering.
 
 
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Special provinces
 
Separate from the resources one might find via the reports the locals provide there are some provinces that are famous for various geographical locations, or are known to provide great places to build up centers of research or recruitment. Since these locations are known to all on Arrakis they usually also provide a hegemony bonus to the faction that controls them.
 
 
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Villages

Interactions
 
After a factions military has beaten the local militias there are usually 3 options to be considered
 
 
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Some of these options can be improved in their results via technologies as it is known that newly liberated towns sometimes pay solari to fremen leaders which have invested in those contacts.
 
 


 
 
Annexation Costs
 
There are multiple aspects that impact the annexation costs for a village but can be broadly broken down into base costs and bonuses/maluses.
 
 
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The base costs for taking a village are split up into 4 parts:
 

  • flat village cost of 20 authority
  • Distance based cost of between 5-100 depending on distance from main base
  • Owned villages cost which can be computed based on T – number of towns owned and D-Distance cost mentioned above. Owned village cost is ~ T * (3.5 + D/6)
  • Enemy village cost which can be computed based on T – number of towns owned and D-Distance cost mentioned above. Owned village cost is ~ 15 + (D/20) * T

 
These 4 costs added together gives the leaders the base authority they’ll have to spend to conquer these villages.
 
 
After that most leaders invest in bonuses that are applied as a percentage reduction to the base costs, which can range from exploration fame, water propensity, cruel reputation or many other options.
 
 


 
 
Buildings
 
 
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Villages start with 2 buildings slots available for buildings with 3 more able to be expanded for 100,300,500 Plascreen. With very limited exceptions no 2 buildings of the same type can be placed in provinces.
 
 
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Most of the buildings are seen among villages from all factions.
 
 
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Some buildings are present in villages belonging to all but the Fremen.
 
 
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The Fremen present some of the more interesting buildings both for their spice gathering and economy and for their avoidance of fuel cells.
 
 
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Underworld HQ
 
The Smugglers underworld HQ ability can be almost thought of as a village within a village with 3 separate slots available for buildings and 6 options available (Esmar Tuek is thought to be thinking of even more ways to exploit enemy villages so more options are likely to come)
 
 


 
 
Specialties
 
 
While the resources and strategic locations have the largest impact on which targets are chosen by the factions an interesting aspect is the bonuses some of the villages provide which helps set them apart.
 
 
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Research

Technologies
 
It seems the factions start focusing on research after they discover the hardships of conquering their first village. Beyond improving abilities certain technologies also unlock buildings, treaties and units.
 
 
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The opportunities are split into 4 branches and each faction modifies the main tree a little while they share most technologies. To better allow your highness to compare their choices I am presenting them together with alternatives into a single tree.
 
 
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Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Research - 2F0E29B
 
 


 
 
Research Costs
 
 
The times that my spies mention the factions spend on research makes me believe the Ixians or Tleilaxu are interfering and changing their results as the costs seem to keep increasing not with difficulty or time but simply with every succesfull technology.
 
 
While the specifics are still eluding my calculations (the spies used insist on providing only round estimates in days) the main characteristics of the research system are as follows:
 
 

  • research cost start per level at 20, 30, 40, 50 knowledge.
  • knowledge costs increase by between 10-20% every new research is completed
  • knowledge costs depend only on the number of technologies researched.
  • Main base research reductions (20%) improve the cost of a technology as if 1 less was researched

 
I will update this report once further data studies are performed to find exact costs.
 
 
The Research can be sped up in 2 ways: by increasing daily knowledge gain and by getting bonuses to the rate of research. As the research bonus rates only increase the costs partially I think they should be secondary and a research institute should be first goal for any
 
 


 
 
Research by other means
 
One thing that can potentially help the factions speed up their research is the existing knowledge scattered around the map. An entreprising leader can have his agents gather information from wrecks on the map that give him 2 days worth of expansion, economic or military knowledge.
 
A lucky leader might even find some old crashed spaceships which have 15 total days (10 statecraft, 5 military) of knowledge.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Research - BB5AA69
 
 
 

Landsraad

Standing
 
 
The Landsraad assembly of great houses is supposed to be one of the steadfast pillars of the Imperium besides your highness’s imperial throne and the Spacing guild. It’s standing impacts all recognized houses and those that may gain recognition by a strong hegemony.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Landsraad - E5BD5EE
 
 
Council
 
 
The council of the Landsraad is a political entity that has sessions running every 20 days. The council seems to be on hiatus so the first one of year 10192 will start on day 21. Each session is divided into 4 stages and presents 3 resolution to be voted upon.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Landsraad - 655B5E4
 
 
First stage lasts 6 days and is mainly for the Speaker of the Council to decide if they wish the Council to reroll any of the proposed resolutions.
 
 
Second stage lasts 6 days and is supposed to be for thorough reading of the resolution texts but more recently factions have started using this time to place bounties, corrupt officials and incite rebellions on these resolutions.
 
 
Third stage lasts 6 days and represents the actual voting on the resolutions with use of Landsraad votes and accumulated influence.
 
 
The final stage lasts 2 days and shows the voting outcomes. The resolutions come into effect at the start of this section instead of as the next session.
 
 
Charters
 
 
Charters are special roles in the Landsraad that grant a faction special powers or via the governorship a victory opportunity.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Landsraad - D03F5D7
 
 
There are two types of requirements on charters, Unlock requirements which must be met for anyone to be considered for the charter and election prerequisites which one must satisfy at the start of a new session.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Landsraad - CF1E6B3
 
 
An example in the above situation shows various combinations of if the position is unlocked (lighter color and lock missing), election options if a resolution were to be propossed (the sheilds below the charters) and who holds the position currently (Solid color and faction icon in charter).
 
 
Resolutions
 
The types of resolutions are varied and can range from economic, political, military and votes on charters. Additionally they can be general applying to all parties equally or targeted on a single faction.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Landsraad - 0BF7C5F
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Landsraad - BE9ED8D
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Landsraad - E2AE01C
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Landsraad - A8CD469
 
 
 

Espionage

Agent Generation
 
The espionage system relies around agents who unlock levels of infiltration for enemy factions, counter-espionage, as well as the planet neutral parties like Arrakis, Spice Guild, CHOAM and Landsraad
 
 
Agents are generated continuously starting from day 15 and their recruitment time depends on how many other agents the Factions Master of Assassins needs to juggle. This time can be improved significantly with technologies or Information center.
 
 
The following are the approximate times in days needed to recruit spies at various boost levels
 
 

Number of Spies Normal x2 , +100% agent recruitment x3 , +200% agent recruitment x4 , +300% agent recruitment x5 , +400% agent recruitment
5 98 49 32 25 21
10 459 229 152 115 93
15 Imposible Imposible 383 288 230

 
 
Recruitment times per each level for normal speed are listed below:
 

Existing spies 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Seconds (Exact) 120 300 545 830 1135 1450 1800 2150 2515 2900 3300 3700 4100 4550 5000
Days (Rounded) 4 10 18 28 38 48 60 72 84 97 110 123 137 152 167

(note the italic times are there for computation of higher levels only as at least x3, +200% is required to have more than 10 spies)
 
 
It also seems that that the prestige of Eye of the Council makes two agents join the faction without any influence to this recruitment time.
 
 


 
 
Spying resources
 
Each agent that is on assignment to an infiltration level manages to produces some resources for their faction beyond their primary task of infiltrating
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - 3811DED
 
 


 
 
Infiltration Levels
 
 
Each agent generates +10% infiltration per day which and increases level if a new agent is placed.
 
Each infiltration level applies a -10% infiltration penalty per day which decreases the level if an agent is not present to counteract it. This means that over the long term infiltration levels will always equal number of agents placed in a category.
 
 
A shrewd Master of Assassins can therefore maintain a true level 1 infiltration of all factions with 1 agent moving them around between factions as a single tick will be needed to move the infiltration back to 1.
 
 
The infiltration levels allow the development of various operations which can be used directly on the map. These operations fall into categories of difficulty with varying costs and risks. Some of the operations are faction specific or limited for some factions.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - FCCC965
 
 
A faction’s infiltration level gives increasing details on their resources, inflows/outflows, councilors, military command points used, agents.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - 5BD1DCC
 
 
Arrakis infiltration level allows for interacting with certain points of interest on the map discovered by the Ornithopters.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - 9147603
 
 
CHOAM Infiltration level 1 also gives information about the future spice trade rates allowing extra planning if storing or selling current stockpiles.
 
 


 
 
Agent bonuses
 
It seems when recruiting these agents there’s focus on using their unique skills to benefit their faction more than the usual resources provided.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - 738739C
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - B0286BB
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - 792851E
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - EFD3817
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - 4D98BE9
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - 1A53FAF
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - F9E1DA4
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - 439235D
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - 45B8FCE
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - 965F02E
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Espionage - 6CD030B
 
 
 

Operations

Operations are the main way the leaders use their intelligence on Arrakis to further their goals.
 
They range from simple probes to scout a location, to Atomics use which can devastate a province.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 0911BCA
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 3F1C1B4
 
 
The simplest only take intelligence points, low levels of infiltration and carry no risks and tend to be focused around combat. As they gain in difficulty they have extra complications and chance for agent capture.
 
 

Difficulty Operation
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 8D11E37 Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 1DFB898
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 908FD00
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 21C1FFC
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 4AB291A

Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 4CE9242 Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 7D4DE7A
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 72C9FBD

Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 012CE6F Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 6366F28
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 25A76EE
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 0DAFCD4

Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - F8F24AF Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - F8D14B2
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 03C0CF9 Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - DF2312F
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - ED6084F

 
Beyond the common operations above each faction has a special operation they can set up
 
 

Faction Operation
Atreides Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 31E0664
Harkonnen Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - A80E2B5
Smugler Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 8D15F95
Fremen Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 61CAF34

 


 
 
Assasinations
 
In certain cases a faction might decide spending resources to eliminate a faction via subterfuge is preferred to direct confrontation.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - 26798C2
 
 
Since these operations are very dangerous they always involve complications and setup considerations.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - EBDEB92
 
 
As this does seem to be one of their favored tools I would be remiss to not mention the Harkonnen’s ability to sacrifice agents which makes these operations that much more terrifying.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Operations - E7FE1F7
 
 
 

Events

The political landscape of Arrakis is filled with intrigue and jostling for position between even minor houses and actors. Such people sometimes give interesting events that last 20 days for a faction leader to consider.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Events - D83331A
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Events - 7E733A7
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Events - 07D862D
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Events - 6AEEA25
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Events - B365C33
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Events - F2F7D6C
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Events - 3C1F782
 
 
Not all events are beneficial with deadlines and potentially disastrous consequences happening for ignoring some for 20 days
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Events - CEC5AA4
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Events - 519C905
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Events - 9CDA920
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Events - E36BA3A
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Events - ABC3C60
 
 
The smugglers also seem even more apt at finding special ways and events to use their contraband supplies
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Events - E2BD9E5
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Events - 9830C0F
 
 
 

Points of Interest

As one explores the map of Arrakis it becomes clear that it has many riches available for those know to search it. A clever leader might also stockpile these locations and only resolve to use them at strategic times instead of keeping the data available for other spies to see.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Points of Interest - A86D486
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Points of Interest - E0B0D21
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Points of Interest - 5448A9E
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Points of Interest - FA2B829
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Points of Interest - BB5AA69
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Points of Interest - DD1D53C
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Points of Interest - 83B3F05
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Points of Interest - 8495E31
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Points of Interest - 8AB6EF3
 
 
The smugglers have an even better deal with the Black Market not needing to send any troops to make contact and being able to sell a full load (~200 spice) at outrageous prices of 4-4.5 Solari/spice.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Points of Interest - 287CC5A
 
 
Constant exploration of these Points of Interest can generate a good source of research, intel, or direct resources depending on the need of the player
 
 
 

Main Base

Once sufficient ranking is achieved (via 2K Hegemony) the main base can be developed further to improve its characteristics. Here we also encounter differences in the layout of the bases and the maximum number of buildings they can hold.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 64A96B5
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - ABB7EE5
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 07F44DF
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 161735D
 
 


 
 
Main base bonuses
 
 
The district bonuses are almost universal and can be stacked multiple times. The only slight variation is in political forum. Since no building can be built more than the faction leaders will be forced to make decisions about which areas to prioritize and build up accordingly.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - A51E946
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 9EFB458
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 37ADB1D
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - FF3FBDA
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 61BE186
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - C525F11
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - EF0A157
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 5DC76E9
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - A82D85C
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 2033EB5
 


 
 
Base Buildings
 
 
Most buildings available for the main base seem to be present among all faction:
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 7FF2261
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 1B8955C
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 3A02DD8
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 1701135
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 711EF16
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 3421C1F
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 8C6996A
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - E2401FA
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 0A6267C
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 21984FB
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 0DD33C7
 
 
The last statecraft building seems to be specific to each factions focusing on their stregth:
 
 

Faction Building
Fremen Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 46234E7
Smuglers Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - AE6CF50
Harkonnen Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 091B58E
Atreides Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 5D4EACE

 
Additionally the Fremen switch out the Harvester works for the Al Gaib Temple and the Smuglers switch out the enhanced fortifications for weapons facility
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - B31BFA0
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Main Base - 239A533
 
 
 

Sietches

Discovery
 
Littered around the map of arrakis are many sietches that harbor the rebels which plague most houses with constant attacks. These locations can be found via investing in Arrakis infiltration or by investigating the relevant points of interest on the map.
 
 
If the constant attacks have made a leader angry he can try and wipe out the sietch to stop risks of future attacks for a short time as well as receive a decent plunder of 1.1k-1.4k Solari.
 
 


 
 
Trade
 
A smarter approach is to trade excess water which the Sietches value dearly for resources.
 
The trades seem to be overall fair with 10 Water giving valuable resources and also slowly increasing relation with the sietch. At 100 relation this trade value is increased by 50% further improving the trade.
 
 

Resource Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Sietches - F5E912A
Initial +1 +4 +1 +20 +4 +10
100 Relation +2 +6 +2 +30 +6 +15

 


 
 
Bonuses
 
When reaching 100 relation the local naibs share the sietches secret specialty with the faction.
 
Most factions need to station an agent to facilitate this trade but I’ve heard report the fremen only give up some authority for the same privilege and don’t even need to share a province.
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Sietches - CDF6FDEDune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Sietches - 1B983D3Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Sietches - 4EECC15Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Sietches - 7CAD60E
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Sietches - 2D01125
 
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Sietches - 5FB3B0B
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Sietches - 41504F7
 
Dune: Spice Wars - A Mentat's guide to Arrakis - Sietches - 17024C0
 
 
 

…. transmission garbled ….

…. transmission garbled ….
 
 
Taxes and Upkeep
 
 
…. transmission garbled ….
 
 
Deficits
 
 
…. transmission garbled ….
 
 

Written by carazvan

 
 
This is all about Dune: Spice Wars – A Mentat’s guide to Arrakis; I hope you enjoy reading the Guide! If you feel like we should add more information or we forget/mistake, please let us know via commenting below, and thanks! See you soon!
 
 


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