~Dune

Strategy Adventure by CRYO/VIRGIN

Complete Tips from Lu Richardson.


I tripped over this game by mistake and got totally hooked on it.  I 
looked in Cheet Sheets for tips but they were insufficient.  So I 
decided to give you a few myself, in case anyone else wants to have 
a bash.


General:

There is a general strategy which will emerge as we go along, so I 
won't say much here about that; apart from the fact that your 
paramount task is to produce spice, so that you will use everyone in 
the first area you colonize for that purpose.  Never lose sight of 
this aim, no matter how complicated things get!

In travelling, you go through the same motions at first; get the 
orni and choose a destination then skip to it.  You cannot do this 
when searching for an unknown place:  then, you just have to fly in 
the general direction indicated to you till your companion points it 
out, when you can skip to it.

It is important to talk to everyone frecuently, they often come up 
with new information - for this reason, you must at first go to the 
Palace after each round and get new orders.  Do also the rounds of 
the sietches whenever opportunity arises, talk with the leaders and 
make sure you move the Fremen to new locations when the spice runs 
out.  If you neglect to keep in touch, their motivation will fall.  
Also, once they move to a new area, they might explore around and 
can give you new information.

Certain sietches won't appear until you've done something else.  
Certain others you will have to find by yourself, i.e., nobody tells 
you about them.

Because you can only save two games and are forced to overwrite 
them, it would be a good idea to get up to the point before you 
actually go on the attack and save; then copy your saved games 
somewhere safe and have a trial run.  If it all goes disastrously 
wrong, you can copy back your previously saved games.

You will appreciate that things are slightly different every time 
you play and that the fact that you've forgotten to do something 
(which can easily happen) can throw a totally different complexion 
on the progress of the game.  You needn't follow these tips 
slavishly; their main purpose is to give you an idea, and you'll 
have more fun devising your own strategy.


From the start:

THE SETUP

Talk to the Duke, go S, talk to Jessica, S, S, S.  Take orni, go to 
Carthag-Tuek.  N to enter (this applies to all locations, so I won't 
repeat this instruction; in some sietches, you have to go N twice to 
contact anyone), talk to Gurney and take him with you (click on 
"Come with me"), talk to the Fremen chief, ask him to work for you, 
choose Specialize in Spice and give no more orders (you'll be doing 
this with everyone you meet here, so I won't go on about it).  Note 
that one good way of finding out what equipment there is in any 
location is to use the "Modify Equipment" option - if there is only 
one orni (which is yours anyway), then there is nothing.

S to exit, take orni to Carthag-Tumin; ask the guy to work for you 
but he won't, yet.  Exit and take the orni to Carthag-Harg; again, 
talk to the guy and get him to work for you.  Go to the Palace.

Go through each room and talk to everybody.  Once you have your 
orders, take the orni and go to Carthag-Tuek.  The Freman will tell 
you about the suits, and also about new places to the N and E.  
Go E to Tuono-Tabr, E to Tuono-Tuek and NW to Carthag-Tabr, getting 
the guys to work for you as you go.

You can now go to Carthag-Tumin and this time the guy will work for 
you.  He will give you a very important map.  On giving orders, 
choose Specialize in Spice, then Move Troops.  These are prospectors 
and very important to the game, since production cannot start till 
they have prospected the new areas.  They can visit three areas one 
after the other, so point to the next three you wish them to visit, 
i.e., the grey ones on his map.

Go to Palace, talk to Gurney as you go in, then Duncan and then go N 
and look in the mirror - watch the progress of the colour of your 
eyes, and you can also save and load games here (though, as you 
know, you can save anywhere and at any time through the maps and 
globe).  Talk to Jessica and take her with you.  Go S, S, S, S; 
Jessica will discover a hidden door.  Go W, N and talk to Jessica.  
There will be a little confab.  Leave Jessica here and go to talk to 
Duncan.

THE SPICE

Go to Tuono-Tabr, talk to Freman and go NE to the crater center, 
where you'll find Tuono-Harg.  There are two harvesters here.  Go to 
Tuono-Tuek and Carthag-Tabr and move the Fremen to Tuono-Harg.

Save your game and find Tuono-Clam, which is E and slightly S of 
Carthag-Tuek, mid-way to Tuono-Tabr.  Take your time and, when you 
have found it, load your saved game and go directly to it.  Here you 
will find a harvester and two ornis (also some weapons, but leave 
those for now).  Find the prospectors and send them here (i.e, don't 
send them on anywhere else).  Go to Carthag-Harg and move the Fremen 
to Tuono-Clam, where you will later equip them with a harvester and 
an orni.  By now, the other guys will have got to Tuono-Harg, so go 
there and give each a harvester.  Go back to the Palace.

Here, find the Duke in the balcony to the right of the throne room.  
He will ask you if you've seen the message.  Go to the comms room 
and view it, then talk to Duncan.  He will send you to Tuono-Tabr.

Go there and talk to the Freman, who will send you SE to 
Tuono-Timin.  Pick up Harah after talking to her; she knows of three 
more sietches to the S.  This is the time to go to Tuono-Clam and 
give the prospectors an orni, and the other guy a harvester and 
orni.  Send the prospectors to the next three areas which need to be 
investigated.

Visit Habbanya-Timin, Habbanya-Tuek and Habannya-Tabr.  The first 
two Fremen will work for you, but not the last one.  Go back to the 
Palace.  Visit Jessica and she will ask you to go to the desert.

Before you go quite outside, leave Gurney and Harah in the anteroom 
then go outside and step back from the orni.  Wait till you see a 
vision.  Back inside the Palace, go to the comms room and view the 
message.  Go and talk to Duncan, who'll tell you about the worms, 
continue talking to him and discuss the Emperor's request - when 
finished, agree to it, take Duncan and go to the comms room.  
Watch.  Talk to Duncan, view new message (this sequence gets 
repeated at the appointed times - don't miss these times, be sure to 
make the necessary arrangements to send the spice to the Emperor; if 
you don't, you'll die).

After this, go to the throne room; talk to Jessica, talk to Duke, go 
to the balcony to the E, confab (Gurney is missing), back to the 
throne room, talk to Jessica, talk to Duke, again Jessica, take her 
with you, go S, S, talk to Jessica, go E, talk to Gurney, leave 
Jessica, go to the Duke, who sends you to the comms room.  Go there, 
talk to Hawat and then take him with you, go E, E, talk to Hawat 
twice, then go S with him.  Talk to him again and leave him here.  
Go N, take Gurney, go S, talk to Gurney and then leave him here. 
Phew!  Basically, you now have to find a leader everyone respects.

Right, now collect Harah and talk to her (she can't remember where 
such a leader lives), leave and save your game.  Take the orni 
and fly directly south to spot Habbanya-Clam; again, if you can't 
at the first go, try again, then reload and go directly to it.  Here 
you will find weapons (leave for now), 3 ornis and a harvester.

Look at maps and get the guy in C-Tuek to go to T-Tabr.  Go to 
T-Harg and move the two guys with the harvesters to H-Clam.  Go to 
H-Tabr and get the guy to work for you, equip him with the harvester 
and send him to H-Clam.

Find the prospector and make sure he is going to the grey areas in 
the map.  Send a guy to T-Timin to use the harvester there.  Talk to 
everyone as you go along till someone comes up with the information 
you want.  If you then talk to Harah, she says she'll take you there.

By now, everyone should have got where you sent them.  Go to H-Clam 
and equip all the guys with harvesters with an orni and send them to 
the best areas (i.e., lighter colour) to do their stuff.  Go to 
T-Tabr.  The local guy won't budge for a long while, even if there 
is no spice left; so, take away his harvester and give it to the 
other guy - send him to a better place to harvest.  Now the local 
chap is empty handed, you can do anything you like with him.  It 
would be best to change his occupation - recruit him into the army 
and send him off to find equipment.

Go to the Palace and save.  Head W, as per Harah's instructions.

THE ARMY

You'll land at a place call Sihaya-Clam; there is nothing here.  
Talk to Harah and follow her instructions, i.e. go NW till you come 
to Ergsun-Timin, where you'll find Stilgar.  Talk to him and ask him 
to come with you.  Talk to the Freman and ask him to Specialize in
Army; Modify Equipment will give him the knives.  Leave him here 
and take the orni.  Head for H-Clam (don't skip) and you should 
discover Oxtyn-Harg on the way.  No-one here, but plenty of 
equipment.  

Fly to T-Harg.  Send guy to O-Harg.  Fly to H-Clam and talk to 
prospectors - send them to more places.  Do the general rounds, 
trying to give each team of diggers a harvester and an orni, moving 
them if necessary to better areas.  When you've done the best you 
can, go to the Palace (you might be interrupted before you've 
finished sorting everyone out; if so, continue after you've sent the 
spice to the Emperor).

View message, go to Duncan and send the spice, then talk to Hawat.  
Talk to everyone yet again.  Go and pick up Gurney at the Armoury 
and then fly to E-Timin.  Leave Gurney here and go visit the 
sietches round about - get everyone in the army and arm them if you 
can.  Those who are armed, send to E-Timin.  Those who have no 
weapons, send to places where they'll find them.  Don't forget that 
they will only find the place, you have to give them the equipment; 
as soon as they have it, send them to E-Timin.

You'll be recalled to the Palace; view message, talk to the Duke, 
then to Hawat, back to Duke, then Jessica.

OK, go to E-Timin and talk to Gurney.  See how everyone is going on 
with the training; as soon as the men are experienced, turn 
someone's occupation to Espionage - but watch him and get him back 
before he is taken (i.e., as soon as he spots a fortress and tells 
you how many troops are there).  When he is back at the sietch, you 
can send another spy out.

Have another look around to see that everyone is doing what they are 
supposed to do.  If anyone went off to find weaponry, remember to
send them to E-Timin.

Back to the Palace, talk to Duncan - he should tell you about a 
village of smugglers.  Talk to Harah and she will tell you about the 
"Fish's mouth".  If you go out and get your orni, the map will pop 
up and you will see, quite near the Palace, a rock formation which 
looks like a fish.  In it's "mouth" you will find the village.  Find 
out who is missing ornis/harversters or both, head for the village 
and buy what you need.  You will have to send the right people in 
search of this equipment.

After you've discovered the village, you won't need Harah - keep 
talking to her till she asks to go back to T-Timin.  Take her back.

Go to E-Timin.  Save.  Your army should be ready and an enemy 
fortress should be visible.  Order everyone in E-Timin to attack 
Bledan-Timin.  Talk to Stilgar and he will take you to Oxtyn-Tabr 
(plenty of equipment here), where you will meet a girl called 
Chani.  Take her with you, go outside and step back from the orni.  
Wait till evening and talk to her.  Watch.

Right, with a bit of luck, the Fremen will have taken Bledan-Timin 
(if not, reload and try again).  Visit B-Timin and talk to 
everybody; you should have some new recruits here.  You can bring 
Gurney to B-Timin.  The winners will turn the fortress into a 
sietch, so you won't be able to use them for a few days.  It will be 
obvious to you by now that you should use "Espionage" to spot 
fortresses and that the ones nearest the Harkonnen Palace will be 
too tough for you at first; don't attack yet, just find out safely 
who's around.  Obviously, as you go on recruiting men, you will keep 
the experts together (in groups of six troops or seven) and put the 
other ones in the same sietch as Gurney's, so that he can train them.

Do the rounds once more, getting the most off everybody.  Now start 
on the Oxtyn sietches, though most likely you will be interrupted 
(see below if that happens).

Go to the Palace, do the necessaries, talk to Hawat.  Stilgar wants 
you to go outside, so go E and he will tell you about the worms.  Go 
outside and to a sietch where someone will appreciate your orni.  
Step back and Call Worm.  Aim at the Palace and go.  Neat, huh?

Go to Hawat and tell him about the worm.  He will send you to 
Jessica, who will be in the bedroom.  Look at the mirror.  Talk to 
Jessica and take her with you.   Go to the room where you found 
Gurney unconscious and talk to Jessica.  Go right and talk to her 
again.  Leave here and go to collect whoever you left in the 
bedroom.  Before you do anything else, check on everybody, as per 
usual.  

Now things are going to get pretty hectic, with constant 
interruptions and numberless people to check upon.  It's important 
that you visit the fighting troops frequently and in person, 
otherwise their morale drops.  You must take your own decisions, but 
the one thing you must do is to go to O-Tabr and from there Chani 
will take you to her father.  Speak to him and follow him about till 
you know all there is to know.  Then go around the new sietches 
recruiting people and turning them into ecologists.  Send them to 
Kynes. 

While you are going round these sietches, you will see water and 
Stilger will ask you if you wish to drink it.  Don't, until you've 
spoken to Jessica about it.  Come back and drink then; when you 
return to Jessica, she'll tell you that you can now talk to everyone 
all over Dune.

Actually, somewhere along the way, you'll get a message from B-Timin 
that everyone is sick.  Go there and talk to everyone.  Leave Chani 
there to cure them.  She does, but then she gets abducted and 
everyone's morale drops.  Consult Hawat and he'll suggest you send 
spies out.  Do so.  But more about this later.  Don't attack anyone 
yet.

THE ECOLOGICAL WARFARE

You'll have to keep coming back to the girl's father (Keynes) amongst 
all your other duties, to find out if the ecologists are ready.  When 
they are, equip them with bulbs and send them to the north, to 
sietches already mined out (i.e., dark brown).  Here, change their 
occupation so that they'll build wind traps.  They will automatically 
start planting when they've done that.  If you see any of them 
standing in vegetation, they've done their job and they can be moved 
on elsewhere.  I guess the idea is you crowd the Harkonnen out (the 
vegetation exhausts the spice, discouraging them from heading south 
towards you).  You will be told that the vegetation creeps north; 
it's up to you, but the sietches in the South of the planet are full 
of water, so you might like to start there.  Go to the main map, 
click on the sietches and find out which have water - the bulb 
planting starts at once and it's more productive.  However, remember 
that vegetation exhausts the spice, so don't go planting in areas 
rich in it.

Spice production will then become very difficult, since most sites 
will soon be exhausted.  Fly your orni slowly over empty areas of 
the spice density map, where it is likely that you will find 
sietches, new men (into the army!) and new spice fields.  Also, as 
your men start to take Harkonnen fortresses, you will send the 
prospectors there and, immediately afterwards, spice experts.

Your aim, at this point, is to keep the spice coming somehow or 
other, to get the ecologists to change the planet, and to take one 
by one the enemy fortresses.  Since the number of spice fields left 
to mine will be very few and expert extractors will exhaust them in 
no time, you can just keep two or three going (your stocks of spice 
should now be sufficient to cover you with the Emperor) and chuck 
everyone else into the army or turn them into ecologists.

THE CAMPAIGN

While keeping all the other balls up in the air, your aim is to have 
two or three groups of at least six troops expert in the army, and as
well armed as you can manage.  The fact that Chani is missing causes 
morale to drop; so the first thing to do is to rescue her.

She could be anywhere, so keep sending spies out.  They should spot 
the place and tell you Chani is there.  Save your game and send your 
troops in; as soon as they arrive, call a worm and join them.  Talk 
to Stilgar and, if he thinks you are in with a chance, mount an all 
out attack.  If you get killed, reload your game and leave this 
particular battle for later.

You must take each fortress, starting from as far away from the 
Harkonnen Palace as you can; roughly, in the regions of Bledan, 
Tsympo, Haga and finally Arrakeen.

Take turns with your three groups of troops to give them all a 
rest.  Save each time, before you send them out.  If you fail 
to take a fortress and lose your men, reload and try another 
fortress.  If you take them in the right order, you should do all 
right.

Obviously, each time you take a fortress you are going to have new 
recruits; however, if you've been prudent you should have your army 
intact.  You should also be able to keep churning spice out of the 
new areas with a couple of harvesters - therefore, turn your surplus
new recruits into Ecologists and send them to Kynes for training and 
to collect bulbs.

Some of the fortresses contain captured captains.  Get the guys 
around to overpower them (you'll need two lots; if there is only 
one, use whoever happens to be with you) and then you can question 
them.  This is not important if you've done your Espionage work well 
and you know the location of all the fortresses.

Each time you take a fortress you will find new equipment.  It is 
important that you give the atomic weaponry to the leaders with most 
men.

THE FINAL ASSAULT

When you've taken the last fortress, talk to Stilgar - he will 
suggest you speak to Hawat.  Go to the Palace and do so.  He will 
ask you to take him to your men.  Once there, he will ask you to 
collect everyone in the same sietch.  You'll have to go backwards 
and forwards collecting everybody - but pause between each trip to 
visit your men and contact everyone in the planet, making whatever 
adjustsments are necessary.

Next, Hawat will ask you to place your troops in the three sietches 
closest to the Harkonnen Palace.  You have to have 10000 men armed 
with atomic weaponry (by the way, this cannot be bought in the 
villages); so make sure you distribute these weapons to the leaders 
with most men, as I suggested above.  Once everything is ready, talk 
to Hawat and await events; here is your last chance to have a look 
around and make sure everything is in order.

When the shields are down, you can go to the Harkonnen Palace; Hawat 
will give you the word.  Go there and watch the finale.  

                            THE END

This Article Copyright 1995 of Lu Richardson.
Written for Cheet Sheets Magazine.