Dune Spice Wars: Beginning of the game - Step by Step Walkthrough Dune Spice Wars guide, tips
On this page of the Dune Spice Wars guide you will read how to get started step by step without any knowledge of the game. Taking over the first settlements, building a Refinery, and acquiring Spice, exploring the terrain and constructing buildings, as well as rebel attacks from Sietch and protection from the Sandworm are all described here.
Last update: 11 May 2022
Here you can read how to start playing Dune Spice Wars . You will learn what your first steps should be when starting the game. We explain the most important mechanics like conquering and expanding villages, building a Refinery and harvesting Spice, and stabilizing the extraction of other resources such as Manpower, Solari or Plascrete.
- Conquering the first village
- Constructing buildings and harvesting Spice
- Taxes, Solari and Spice
- Research
- Espionage
- Fremen Raids
- What's next?
Conquering the first village
In the early stage of the game, you don't have a clear tutorial and game objectives. In most cases, you will get advice only after you start an activity. Therefore, the following page is intended to explain a few intricacies for new players.
First steps:
- Send the Ornithopter to the area with the purple Spice icon - the vehicle will start exploring the region and points of interest on its own.
- Build 2 military units and attack a city discovered in the region in order to conquer it.
- Take over the city after victorious battle by clicking on it and selecting the flag icon ( Take Control ) from the bottom panel.
Each city has some units that are defending it. You also can (and should) recruit them in your areas (maybe not necessarily at the beginning of the game - because you are using the Manpower resource here). The number of units is represented by the number next to the city name, and by clicking on it, you will learn the details of what units you will face in the battle.
This is how you conquer and take over villages - wait for the green bar to fill up, leaving at least one unit in the city area. Regions are needed to expand the territory and construct new buildings, which in turn will provide resources. However, each village needs a constant Water supply and you spend Authority points (which are being gained very slowly) on taking control over them. This way, you are limited in the pace of the game by conquering subsequent areas - the values will increase with each new village you conquer.
Constructing buildings and harvesting Spice
Click on the city and select a Refinery from the construction section in order to place it anywhere. You can build it here because you have chosen the location of the Spice deposits. In the meantime, discover a new area and conquer another village. If your units have suffered damage, their health will be regenerated while you are standing near the city.
Next, it is a good idea to build a Plascrete Factory . The next construction slots will cost you Plascrete. You can build a maximum of 5 buildings near one village.
After building a Refinery , you will receive a Harvester. Click on it and select the deploy option. The vehicle will set off to collect the Spice in the nearest Spice Field. Later, you can add a crew to the vehicle by sacrificing your Manpower (50) to increase your production by a few points per day.
Harvesters can be an easy target for Sandworms. To avoid having to manually recall them before a threat, you can use the Auto-Recall option. However, as a result your harvester will gather 5% less spice than usual.
Taxes, Solari and Spice
Now that you are mining the spice, it is worth taking an interest in the Imperial Tax . You have to pay tax once a month (if you don't, your Landsraad Standing will decrease - which is an important policy item). Tax is being paid in Spice and its value increases each month. Paying tax raises your position. Both taxes and Landsraad Standing have an effect on Hegemony points .
In the top left corner of the screen you can see how much spice you get per day. Use the vertical slider to determine how much you store and save for difficult times or for tax purposes, and how much you exchange for Solari at the current rate. Use the button in the top left corner of the Spice Report to see exact stats on how much Spice you will save until the next tax period. By using the slider in the opened report window, you can set the correct quantity (the last position in the report should be marked in green).
Research
As soon as you capture your first village, you will have access to the Developments panel . It allows you to passively discover new technologies and buildings, and the pace of research determines the level of Knowledge . There are 4 research categories, divided into trees:
- Blue - related to agents, espionage and infiltration.
- Green - associated with the acquisition of basic resources, materials and saving.
- Red - dedicated to army issues and unit training.
- Orange - which focus on increasing the Solari's income.
For a good start, it is worth choosing those technologies that will lead you to a certain economic stability. Later, you can focus on a specific strategy. You can choose research on Composite Materials, then Local Dialect Studies.
Espionage
After the first 5 minutes of the game, you will receive an agent (magnifying glass icon on the right). You can assign him one of the three following tasks:
- Infiltration of factions - which will allow you to act against them in the future, if you spy on them long enough,
- Organization of infiltration - thanks to them you can get new resources, but also unlock access to new Missions.
- Counterintelligence - a form of defense against hostile agents operating in your regions. Due to the existence of this form of operation, agents can die over time and you will spend time acquiring new ones.
- The missions will allow you to prepare special operations. These include methods of defense and attack, strengthening units and activities associated with diplomacy. Each has unique requirements. You should assign your agents to specific activities.
Operations that can be initiated are displayed in small boxes on the right, below the icons of other factions' representatives. Just click on them and select the area of operation - most of the operations concern a specific region.
Fremen Raids
After some time you will witness the Fremen Raid . They are hostile rebel units that seek to free cities from faction's reign. These actions should be taken into account - unprotected cities will immediately surrender and reduce production efficiency, and even become neutral after a while. Then you will have to regain control of the specific region. However, enemy units do not appear out of nowhere . You can determine their approximate location and increase defense in a particular area. Over time, you will be able to discover the caves ( Sietch ) where they hang out and attack them or cooperate with them.
What's next?
From this point on, the game will be played according to your will. Dune Spice Wars offers many ways to win, but capturing and defending territories is critical for any faction. You have to build new buildings and get more resources. We encourage you to read the Victory Conditions page if you want to know more.