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😂 You know exactly what that thing is! I'm certain you'll find that everything is infinitely more polished. I did quite a lot of work to make this a good campaign! Best as I could make it.

The smugglers campaign is done! Again! Features: - Eighteen campaign levels; Thirty meticulously-crafted missions in total. - Highly varied objectives between mostly non-linear, large-scale maps. - A smooth difficulty curve from the simple tutorial to the thrilling climax. - Custom artwork to bring your most dire foes and epic confrontations to life. - Engaging story full of twists, evoking surprise, and bringing identity to each faction. - Your in-game choices will affect how certain missions play out. You are the Commander! - Challenge and drama that amp up constantly, adding a sense of desperation to your battles. - Re-imagined tech and balancing through a complex mod that's still loyal to the original designs. In-Game Screenshots: Details: Glossary of Units & Structures: Download Link: Smugglers Campaign - Summers' Solstice.zip Don't have Dune to run this on for some reason, or want a fresh installation? Here ya go: https://dunemaster.webs.com/files Installation & Execution: 1. Unpack the downloaded zip. 2. Merge the data folder inside the downloaded zip with the data folder in your D2k directory. Overwrite everything. 3. Launch the "Mission Launcher" application in your D2k directory. Navigate to "All Missions," then "Smugglers." Uninstallation: 1. Merge the data folder inside the backup folder inside the downloaded zip with the data folder in your D2k directory. Overwrite everything. That's all. Enjoy!

Many thanks! I really appreciate that, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!

In my campaign? 😅 I hope not! But since you said, "past mission 9," since my campaign notably is longer than the norm, it sounds like it lol What mission are you having trouble with? I playtested everything myself, on hard mode, so I know it's all possible. As did some other folks. And I suppose I could offer some advice!

With the defense ratio set very low, the AI tends to trickle units into attackers. Or, at least, that's how it's behaved for me. The defense areas are pretty neat, you can use very low defense strength values for such areas and the AI will send a bunch of units once the defenders in the area are down. Usually. Sometimes they do that, sometimes they don't. We gotta figure out what makes them do that lol

This is why my AIs tend to have, like, a 20-35 Protect ratio. XD They send a few units to help Harvesters, but will save the majority of their army for defending the base itself or for attacking the player. I always thought it was funny the AI's scariest 'attack' often came from defensive behavior. lol

Alright! S17V1's first draft is complete, meaning all that's left to do is make sure everything works, fine-tune a bit, and release the full campaign. Here's the download link: S17.zip As with other downloads, all you need to do to install it is merge the data folder in the zip with the one in your D2k directory. To uninstall the mod, do the same thing with the data folder under backup in the zip. Here are some details about the new map: This level should be roughly equivalent in difficulty to S17V2. You may not have to deal with airstrikes and nukes on this one, but the wide-open terrain in your starting area means you'll have less opportunities to fire on enemy units during their approach. You'll have to face them head-on! S17V1 / V2 are the only maps that need playtesting now. Once they're a bit more polished up, the campaign is considered complete, and it can be officially released. If you'd like to help out with the fine-tuning process, please leave feedback on this thread once you've tried S17V1! Or, contact me on Discord if we're in touch there. I could use a bit more feedback on S17V2 as well. Just bear in mind that these are maximum-size maps meant to precede S18, meaning they are very difficult, large-scale chaos maps compared to prior maps in the campaign! You might want to warm up on, say, S09V2 first. Whether you're just playing or aim to test for me, enjoy! And once again, good luck.

Ah, cool! Good luck, I'd LOVE to hear back from you about your experience. XD I remember that too. Cm did re-balancing on a lot of his old campaigns; the updated versions can surely be found in the completed mods and tools index.

Oh, you've done mine already? Okay. Well, Cm's recently done up some sick Butlerian Jihad sequel campaigns. Feda's gonna come out with a War of Assassins sequel soon, and I've almost got S17V1 done. There are also some neat puzzle maps in the Glory Awaits campaigns.

Wow, welcome back fam! Things are certainly still being developed around here. We have new tilesets, modding tools, mods, epic new campaigns and stuff. Cm just finished a mini-campaign the other day where you're Santa and need to beat up the people stealing Christmas or something idk lmao Anyway, if you're looking for a challenging campaign, my main project features the following: If you want to see some related images, here ya go: If you'd like to play through, here are twenty-eight of the thirty missions: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1y48LuY8cuL4KU3iHpZ__WakoGs_bbwDW S17V1 and V2 are the unfinished maps. Well, S17V2 is technically done, but it's in a first draft state. It needs testing! If you want to test it (and I would be very grateful, especially if you provided feedback as well), please check this post in the WIP thread: https://forum.dune2k.com/topic/27783-wip-smugglers-campaign-2/?do=findComment&comment=397875 Otherwise, all eighteen levels are in, it's just that one version of level 17 is missing. Enjoy. Edit: Oh yeah, I almost forgot. To install, just merge the data folder in the zip with the one in your D2k directory, and to uninstall, do the same with the data folder under the backup folder in the zip. Easy! Then launch the missions through Mission Launcher > All Missions > Smugglers.

They were right all along! There IS a war on Christmas! This looks awesome, Cm. Thanks so much! I've gotta have a look at this ASAP.

It's a pity about D2k's graphics behavior If it were a bit more flexible, we could have the edges be buildable without hecking up the graphics when a structure is sold or destroyed, and then there are the craters... Still, I've been following your progress on this oldschool campaign and it's great what you worked up, man. Just commenting here to let you know I've been looking at places other than the secret modder Discord. (which you should totally join @Klofkac!)

I try to establish a sense of scale and desperation with my maps. Big maps, the occasional side objectives, secrets or Easter eggs, and some very tough fights against foes meant to feel superior to you. While there's only so much I can do with the gameplay to make a foe feel imposing without making the game unfair, I certainly try to keep up the feeling through the story! S16V1 / V2 and S17V1 / V2, the missing maps (three of which are now complete), are the build-up to S18 I needed to make it a fitting climax. The player and his ally, the mercenaries, fight two separate battles against a single superior commander. It prepares the player for S18, I hope. Although some of the earlier maps may still take some time to beat on account of multiple objectives, a sequence of events, or large enemy presence, I still tried to make sure they're fast-paced as heck. Once Combat Tanks show up, there's only one really fast-paced map, that being S04V1, on account of it eventually becoming a 3v1 map. Some maps later on, like S17V2, are meant to be taken apart piece by piece. I designed them piece by piece, too! The most important part, I believe, is a sense of progression. It may take more time to beat the map, but the player always feels he's making progress. I achieved that on S09V2 through the arrival of allies and how the battle changes around them. On S18, it was the slow crawl up Hajj Plateau, the trudging through endless enemies, that established a sense of desperation on both sides. You, trying to surmount impossible adversity, and your enemy, holding you back by whatever means they can, stalling until the apocalypse. These recent maps are more single-tiered, if you know what I mean, to feel a bit smaller than the climax maps. S16V1 is a desperate defense across a wide area as you push against the enemy that surrounds you, and that persists through the whole map. S16V2 snowballs rapidly as you capture more autofactories. That feels better for a sense of progression, but it is kind of crowded, it feels more like a constant push. S17V2 offers many opportunities for early aggression before you push through enemy territory with less stealthy units, but that's as tiered as it gets. For S17V1, I'll have to see what I can do. They're definitely quicker to do than S18, and that's by design because they are meant to feel smaller and less intense than the final battle. If it's a "one objective" kinda map, it needs to go by faster because it'll become a slog. You know? If the map's like S18 or S09V2 and has multiple events going on where stuff happens, the map can drag on because it evolves, it changes, and the aim of that is to keep it interesting all throughout. So hey, even if it does take a while to complete the campaign, my aim is for every map to be unique from the others in its own way, and for it to be fun all throughout.

Heya, folks! I've been super busy lately, but I managed to complete the first draft of S17V2, so here it is. S17V2.zip As with other downloads, all you need to do to install it is merge the data folder in the zip with the one in your D2k directory. To uninstall the mod, do the same thing with the data folder under backup in the zip. Here are some details about the new map: The missing missions between S15 and S18 are all build-up to the final fight against Achen Moriaen and the Emperor Worm. The only one left to do is S17V1. I'm excited to finish it and call this campaign complete! This is a first draft map, so please remember to come back here and leave a comment with some feedback if you give this map a shot. The map is meant to be harder than S16V1 / V2, but easier than S18. My testing run went well for me, it felt to be around that difficulty level, but the only way to know for sure is to get feedback from others. I want to make sure it's perfect before doing the final release! (also, please note that this is one of the last maps in the campaign. if you haven't played any maps in the campaign yet, I DO NOT recommend starting with this one! it is not meant to be easy! check out some earlier maps and get a feel for the mod first! ) Thank you! See you when S17V1 is done.

Oh, sick dude! I'm glad to see Cm's tileset go to good use. He put a lot of effort into it. Welcome, by the way. Nice to see a new face around here!