Dune Spice Wars: Smugglers - faction features Dune Spice Wars guide, tips

On this page of the guide for Dune Spice Wars you will learn a detailed description of the Smugglers faction. You will learn how to play them, what advisors and faction bonuses they have, as well as a unit list. You will also read about the Contraband event, the Black Market and the Underworld Headquater.

Last update: 10 June 2022

In this section of our game guide we will focus on getting to know the Smugglers faction in Dune Spice Wars. You will learn what their strengths and weaknesses are and what sort of victory options are the easiest for them. Also, we have prepared an overview of their units, faction bonuses and councilors.

• Faction features and tips
• Faction bonuses and traits
• Councilors
• Underworld Headquarters
• Army units

Faction features and tips

The smugglers make a living by pillaging and stealing . They can also get Plascrete and Intel (optional) while pillaging and plundering villages. They can establish Underground Cells in enemy villages and thus steal resources or carry out diversions. This is the faction that dominates in terms of the generated Solari amount.

1. The faction has military problems - they are not very good at attacking or defending. Hence, proper military management is very important. Their units have a small amount of Armor.
2. Their economy is mostly focused on earning Solari. For this, however, they often need a lot of Spice, which is worth saving or stealing from rivals.
3. Trade - thanks to large amounts of currency, they can easily buy the missing raw materials and resources.
4. This faction can easily achieve victory through Hegemony or Domination - by using Assassinations. A faction uniquely gains 100 points of Hegemony for each pillaged village.
5. They have high political power. They get a Landsraad Standing, but don't care much for Votes - they influence resolutions through Influence. They can generate a lot of the latter due to passive Bribe bonus to the Empire (payed in Spice).
6. Before the vote for the resolution begins, they can choose the reward option to pay 5 Solari per vote to each faction that votes according to their suggestion.
7. There are 9 slots to build the Base buildings.
8. Mercenaries - thanks to huge amounts of currency, the best military investment are large armies of mercenaries, generated quickly and costing only Solari (and a few Command Points).

The Smugglers have a pretty good start. It's worth to begin with lots of pillaging, especially if you focus on bonuses in the form of increasing Solari or additionally obtaining Plascrete and / or Intel from looting. Next, it is almost crucial to use enemy villages to set up underground cells there. It is not worth occupying too many lands and investing in the development of villages if you cannot afford it - it is difficult for Smugglers to defend their land due to a weak army and even weaker defense.

Faction bonuses and traits

Smugglers have the following bonuses:

1. Better relations with the Black Markets - these are Point of Interest where you can exchange Spice for Solari. These places offer a better reward for Smugglers than for other factions.
2. Underground headquarters - you can set them up at any time in enemy villages to profit from theft or to prepare a sabotage.
3. Reward for votes - before the Landsraad voting, you can set a reward (5 Solari per Vote) so that other factions vote as you wish. In other words, you can simply bribe them.
4. Bribe instead of Tax - you should still give the Empire a portion of the Spice, but in this case you will be rewarded with a passive increase of Influence.
5. You cannot pillage neutral villages - the only option is to capture them. However, you can still pillage attacked enemy villages.
6. 5k Hegemony - 50 Votes in Landsraad, which you can also increase; Special Contraband Events - these are the events that appear on the left side of the screen and allow you to exchange Spice for Solari at an extremely favorable rate.
7. Hegemony 10k - Mercenary training becomes available (there's a possibility to have it earlier from Research), but also grants +20% Power for Mercenaries. From now on, you can also set up Underground Quarters in the Enemy Base, which works a bit differently than the usual ones - a description of the functionality can be found below.

Councilors

The smugglers have the following Councilors to choose from:

1. Staban Tuek - allows you to maximize your profits from the Underworld Headquarters: you will receive 5 Solari for each headquarters whose village is bordered by another region where the headquarters is also located. Additionally, you get 0.5 points of Influence for each Underworld Headquarters.
2. Lingar Bewt - the more Water you produce, the greater the benefits: the amount of Power needed to annex villages is reduced and the cost of building Underworld Headquarters is reduced.
3. Drisq - Infiltration level cannot be lower than 1. This means that even without an assigned agent to infiltrate an organization, you are at level 1. This will allow faster access to certain Missions and Operations. Additionally: each agent has the Merchant trait - this trait increases the production of goods by Smugglers by 1%.
4. Bannerjee - you gain additional Plascrete and 30% more Solari when you pillage villages.

Underworld Headquarters

These buildings will allow you to profit from enemy villages or prepare them for a future offensive. You can build them in any enemy village as long as you meet the Authority and Solari requirements. Players cannot remove Smuggler buildings from their village or learn about their existence.

It allows you to erect buildings on three slots (200 Solari each):

1. Bootleg Market (30% of the village's production (Spice, Plascrete, Water) is obtained as Solari for you),
2. Contraband Cache (stores 30% of the village's production (Solari, Spice, Plascrete), where the warehouse can hold up to 500 units. You can pick them up when you are pillaging and looting the village)
3. Back-Alley Doctor (the village allows you to heal your units and renew Supplies - check in when you are going to prepare another attack on a village),
4. Hidden Explosives (during a village siege, the militia stationed there will lose 50% of their health; the structure will be destroyed),
5. Spyware (speeds up the progress of a random research that the opponent has already unlocked),
6. Whisperers' Lair (0.5 Intel and Influence production per day).

Additionally, when reaching the threshold of 10,000 points of Hegemony, you will automatically establish headquarters in enemy Bases and gain a little income from them. You can increase your income by building structures, just like in the case of regular underground quarters - each building costs 2000 Solari and 200 Intel. List of Quarters buildings in the bases:

1. Contraband Hub (Smugglers get +30% more resources when pillaging Villages owned by the same player as the Contraband Hub's Village)
2. Laundering Network (The Smugglers gain 30 Solari per day per level of the capital's largest Economy District)
3. Hidden Explosives (-20 Armor to enemy base, charges disappear when attacking)
4. Weapon Dealers (3Smuggler units get three percent more Combat Power per level of the capital's largest Military District)
5. Whisperer's Hub (Smuggler Agents captured by the capital's owner are twice as likely to escape each day and you will earn an additional 10 Intel when infiltrating this faction)
6. Activist Headquarters ( The Smugglers' maximum Influence is increased by twenty per level of the capital's largest Statecraft District)

Army units

Below is a list of the available military units of the Smuggler faction that you can recruit, along with a description of their characteristics:

Scavengers

Basic melee unit. Features:

1. 400 Health, 18 Damage, 3 Armor
2. Opportunism (10% daily health regeneration (max 50%) during combat, when an enemy unit dies nearby)

Recruitment / maintenance costs :

Solari	Manpower	Water	Pts. of command
200	20	3	3
6	3

Snipers

Ranged units equipped with rifles. Features:

1. 300 health, 20 damage, 0 Armor
2. Elimination Shots (The less Supplies an enemy has, the more damage they take, up to 50% of the max.).
3. Sealth Camouflage (camouflage when there are no enemy units nearby).
4. Fire Blast (-50% Melee power).
5. Recruitment Requirements : Survival Training research.

Recruitment / maintenance costs:

Solari	Manpower	Water	Pts. of command
200	20	3	3
6	3

Wreckers

Equipped with rocket launchers, they deal area of effect damage. Features:

1. 400 health, 12 damage, 2 Armor
2. Chemical Weapons (gives the enemy a Contamination status, consuming Supplies 50% faster).
3. Destroy Enemy Armor (+30% chance to destroy Armor when attacking).
4. Fire Blast (-50% Melee power).

Recruitment / maintenance costs :

Solari	Manpower	Water	Pts. of command
200	20	3	3
6	3

Combat Drone

An aerial unit that can become the target of the enemy. Drones are as slow as infantry units, but they ignore uneven terrain (can fly over rocks) and have large supplies. Features:

1. 500 health, 20 damage, 5 Armor
2. Concussive shots (+30% Power when the target has less than 50% Health).
3. This unit does not generate vibrations (does not attract Sandworm).
4. Recruitment conditions : Support Buildings research.

Recruitment / maintenance costs:

Solari	Fuel Cell	Pts. of command
400	3	3
8

Free Company

The strongest unit of Smugglers, but it is not worth building an army consisting only of them. Features:

1. 600 health, 20 damage, 4 Armor
2. Sharpened swords (Power increase up to 50% in relation to the lost Health of the attacked enemy).
3. Sealth Camouflage (camouflage when there are no enemy units nearby).
4. Recruitment conditions : Call to Arms research.

Recruitment / maintenance costs:

Solari	Manpower	Water	Pts. of command
500	20	4	4
10	4

Mercenary

It is not the strongest unit, but it is the cheapest and costs the least Command Points. Additionally, their recruitment is almost instant. However, they have very little supplies. They are ranged units. Mercenaries do not gain experience. Features:

1. 400 health, 16 damage, 3 Armor
2. Headhunter (+10% Might, +1 Armor (up to a maximum of 5) when a nearby unit dies ( including the enemy ), only for the duration of the fight).
3. Fire Blast (-50% Melee power).
4. Recruitment conditions : Economic Lobbying research.

Recruitment / maintenance costs :

Solari	Pts. of command
500	2
20