It has been some time since we have visited the Dune universe in a real-time technique recreation – I assumed the iPod was mainly sorcery when Emperor: Battle for Dune got here out in 2001 – however even in its early entry type, Dune: Spice Wars is shaping as much as be a triumphant return. 4 distinct factions that every one have interaction somewhat in another way with attention-grabbing fight, politics, and exploration make for an thrilling time on the fantastically lethal world of Arrakis. And extra spectacular nonetheless, it by no means made me really feel like I have to be a extremely skilled Mentat mastermind to maintain observe of all of it.
Spice Wars is a little more of a standard RTS than developer Shiro Video games’ final venture, Northgard, which shared a number of components with employee placement tabletop video games. However a return to the previous components isn’t essentially a foul factor, and its well-balanced useful resource mechanics are nonetheless on the coronary heart of the whole lot. Whether or not it is manpower, political affect, or the all-important spice, I by no means fell right into a rut on this glimmering desert the place I felt like I had sufficient of the whole lot. Spice Wars at all times retains you hungering for one thing, which may result in battle even with a long-time ally if they simply occur to get to that juicy spice discipline you have been eyeing earlier than you may.
Fight is comparatively easy however satisfying. Till you get fairly deep into the navy tech tree your military dimension will probably be restricted to solely a handful, which makes microing your models essential in a good struggle. I admire how this raises the ability cap considerably with out having to fret a couple of big, indecipherable blob of troopers. And every faction fights a bit in another way, from the comparatively simple Atreides legions who get bonuses for ganging up on a single enemy, to the elusive Fremen who could cause a number of pleasant havoc by cleverly leveraging small squads of stealthy infiltrators. The added hazard of the Shai Hulud introduces additional tense and interesting concerns to every battle, particularly within the late recreation. Why? As a result of having giant teams of troopers preventing over a small space dangers getting all of them became worm meals.
MASTERS OF DUNE
Due to these variations every faction has some distinct taste to their techniques, with the brutish Harkonnens counting on robust navy garrisons to squeeze further productiveness out of their workforce, and the Fremen’s advantageous capability to gather treasured spice with out noisy, mechanical harvesters that have a tendency to draw bother of the enormous dying worm selection. In fact, you may by no means really take away the specter of the worms, so you must be taught to dwell with them. I actually like how this reminds you that irrespective of how highly effective you get, you continue to must bow to Arrakis’ unforgiving guidelines. On this method, the planet actually comes alive and turns into a personality of its personal, supported by gleaming stretches of dunes within the daytime and an eerily quiet, virtually meditative sea of twinkling blue at evening. The look of the models and buildings is a bit cartoonishly stylized, however placing the whole lot collectively, it is beautiful.
This signature harshness additionally manifests in a provide system that calls for you provide all navy models with provisions to outlive for any size of time outdoors pleasant territory. Notably harmful are the deep deserts, dividing up the map with mainly impassible expanses, killing something that tries to move by them and creating efficient tactical puzzles to unravel. Some factions, particularly the Fremen, can finally acquire the power to cross them safely. However more often than not, I needed to determine if it was value risking my entire military to strike an enemy the place they least anticipated it – a dangerous however exhilarating gambit.
NOT BRAVE ENOUGH FOR POLITICS
Whereas all of this is happening, high-level technique simmers as every faction jockeys for place within the cutthroat house senate, the Landsraad. The Atreides and Harkonnens are voting members with official illustration, however all factions, together with the unrecognized Fremen and Smugglers, can spend a useful resource referred to as Affect to symbolize bribes and backroom offers to get what they’re after. It sounds advanced, however the way in which it really works may be very straightforward to observe, with resolutions like growing the maintenance on sure items or giving a faction the power to lift particular Imperial armies coming to a vote periodically. It is spectacular how Spice Wars was in a position to bolt a reasonably deep political system onto an already advanced RTS with out it feeling bloated or complicated. That stated, that is one space that might use a steadiness move earlier than it comes out of early entry.
Of the a number of video games I performed of Spice Wars, which every take round three to 4 hours to complete, all however one ended when the Home Atreides have been voted Governors of Dune. As soon as they attain this title, it is solely a matter of holding onto it for a sure variety of days earlier than the sport ends. The primary concern I had was that there would not actually appear to be any technique to cease them, aside from perhaps wiping them off the map – and that’s virtually inconceivable to do shortly, given every faction’s important base has defenses that can decimate all however the strongest late-game armies. It’s a must to hope that the governorship randomly comes up for a vote once more and attempt to take it for your self. Generally it merely would not come up once more in any respect – there’s no technique to affect this that I may discover.
I, SPY
The espionage system is the place the complexity might need lastly boiled over. Utilizing spies, who’re named characters who generate an Intel useful resource, you may execute helpful operations that vary from hindering enemy replenishment in a area to beginning a rebel in considered one of their settlements. The issue with it’s that it takes a number of time to handle, and it ended up being one too many issues to juggle after I had warfare, economics, and politics to fret about. Underhanded dealings are a giant a part of the Dune universe, so I would not essentially wish to see this method go away. However extra methods to make use of my Intel passively as a substitute of regularly having to assign it to new operations (or commerce it away so it did not go to waste) would have been good.
And people rebellions really feel a bit too punishing, as properly. Given the small unit cap, having a complete settlement on the opposite facet of the map stand up whilst you’re in the course of a conflict will be disastrous, even with a number of brokers assigned to counter-espionage. Native militias you’ve got constructed within the settlement solely defend in opposition to rival powers and will not raise a finger in opposition to rebels. So it might get fairly irritating with how few instruments there are to counter it.
