If you could make your own unit what would it be?

[Klobbersaurus414]

My special unit for Atreides would be a mech much like the giant mechanical dinosaurs at high class monster truck shows called Klobbersaurus. Yeah, pretty predictable, huh?

For the Harkonnens i would have a giant rolling pin with spikes coming out of the sides called Rolling Thunder. It would be extremely heavily armored but has no long range or AA capabilities.

For Ordos, i would have either a kamikaze tank of maybe a tank with a freeze beam.

Hell, id just want to make my own house and use all of my own cool ideas. They would be called House Klobbersaurus or the Bene Klobbersauri.

[alejandro]

For the Atreides an heavily armored bomber called "Azor".

For the Harkonnen an nuclear kamikaze heavily armored vehicle called "Muerte Lenta".

For the Ordos an average armored vehicle (like a light tank) with Short Range Teleportation Capability called "Lince".

A good house name could be House of Alba, unfortunately this house exists, the Duchess is as ugly as you can think but is the most powerful here, so i prefer House Picara.

[daniel]

i would only want an imrpoved AIR force

[Guest Ordos_Yogurt]

I would create something that would go well with my nickname.

For instance a nuke that floods the enemy base with radioactive yogurt. his base will become unfunctionable. good fortification thought ;D

or a cannon which specializez in turning anything to peach yogurt which your units can eat to regenerate health

lmao

[salikadali]

Maybe a subhouse specific unit that is infantry, but heavily armored like a tank. A cross between a mech and an infantry. With jumpjets, a chaingun, and rockets. Effective against infantry, tanks, and air. Maybe Sardaukar, or a completely different subhouse. It would cost about 500, and have a slow building time, because its so powerful. Power armored trooper, good all around unit, but vulnerable to anti-armor weapons like the kinjal. They could travel in a straight line and just jumpjet over the terrain. Good for base attacks, support, or harvester raids. Hmm, maybe a little too good?

[ordos45]

For Atreides, a mech with four arms. Basically a Mino with big sonic cannons instead of shell launchers on its arms.

For the Harks a gunship that fires nukes instead of normal missiles.

For Ordos: A heavily armored, incredibly powerful splash plasma tank, it would have ten plasma cannons, teleporter, cloaking, AA missiles, hover abilities, nearly invulnerable shields, can become an aircraft when deployed, has built in holo generator and projects eleven of itself around it, and a nuke launcher, and chaos lightning generator. (bankrupt yourself to build)

And for the subhouse I'd pick the Ixians and strap nukes to the new infiltrator.

I know I overdid the Ordos viechle.

[alejandro]

Ordos45 you forget the cost, about 500.000 minimum i suppose.

[Guest Ordos_Yogurt]

nah.. too much. 10,000 solaris I suppose.

[alejandro]

10.000 solaris and 5000 yogurts no?

[daniel]

i prefer minigos lol

[exatreide]

my ordos unit would shoot a row of undergorund mines. the mines would move towerds there target and explode upawards since the belly is usaly the least armerd. perhapes blowing units rigth on there back. It would also shooot anti persanel mines that would have wide splash damnege. it would be slow but its sheild regenerates 5 times as fast as a laser tank.

My hark unit would be something new for the harkonnens something that dose not suck. :)

My atreides unit would be a specily trained hawk that can sout twice as fast a scout and it has a small nukeular suicide bomb.

[guild_navigator]

The only unit I would add is a repair unit or repair pad for the Hark's, or maybe self-repair after one level of veterancy. Everything else is okay.

[daniel]

wut about sumthing like an IFV?

[firefly]

There was a discussion like this over on GameFAQs' E:bfD board, and some interesting concepts were brought up there. For convenience's sake, I'll start crossposting some of the items I'd put there.

*Field medic ($200-300?)

Atreides; upgraded barracks

As indespensible to the Atreides soldiers' success as any weapon or armor they carry, the unarmed medics often risk life and limb to keep their comrades in the battle. The weight of equipment and armor makes them only slightly slower than regular troops.

"Medic on the way."

"Patchin' em up."

[lifted pretty much from Red Alert]

*IFV ($150-250?)

Ordos; factory

A fast-moving vehicle capable of carrying a single passenger. Normally armed with turreted missile pods (ala the Mongoose), it can assume a variety of configurations depending on the nature of the passenger. Loading an infantry unit gives it a slightly longer-ranged and more powerful version of that unit's weapon; loading an engineer turns it into a repair vehicle. Exceptions: Contaminators and Guild Makers may not be loaded; medics and scouts act like light infantry for armament change purposes.

Like all Ordos hover units, the IFV sports shields.

[An RA2 import, 'nuff said]

[firefly]

Notional idea for a Sardaukar vehicle

*siege platform ($1000-1500?)

?; upgraded factor, upgraded Sar. barracks

Slow, heavily armored air unit (in the mold of Red Alert 2's Kirovs) that has a pair of pulse-plasma cannon which act like the flame tank incinerators - that is, if left to their own devices they target independently; if the unit is commanded to attack a particular target, both are brought to bear. Like the Kirovs, it presents a hazard when it crashes.

Reporting: "Ready."; "Gravitics stabilized."

Moving: "Moving out."; "Proceeding."

Attack: "Death from above!"; "No surrender."

Dying: "We are going down."

[Players of the old SW RPG (the one made by West End) will recognize this as a mutation of the Imperials' 'floating fortres'...

[firefly]

*hover MLRS ($1400-1600)

Atreides; upgraded factory, starport

Even as the Minotaraus began entering wide service among the Atreides, engineers and technicians quickly realized that its speed - or, more correctly, lack thereof - was a serious drawback (especially on the attack) and began work on something more suited for the assault role. This is the result.

Not to be confused with its Tiberian Sun counterpart or the Harkonnen missile tank: this is an artillery vehicle that fires volleys of rockets. In other words, aside from being mounted on a hover platform like the Ordos and Ix tanks, it's a lot like the current-day MLRS. While this gives it excellent speed and agility, it must deploy (park and lock down) to fire. By a small margin, even accounting for splash damage, the hover MLRS outranges all other artillery units and defensive structures.

Reporting: "Fling rack ready."; "Give me a vector."

Moving: "You got it."; "New firebase confirmed."

Attack: "On the way!"; "Ah, stir-fry..."

Level 1: increased range; level 2: increased damage and rate-of-fire; level 3; increased rate of fire and self-repair

*Sandhawk ($800)

Atreides; hangar

A small Osprey-type aircraft sporting a turreted machinegun and room for five passengers; its special hull design makes it invisible to sensor matrices.

Reporting: "Transport ready."; "Where to?"

Moving: "Underway."; "A good day for a tour."

Attack: "LZ is hot."; "Clearin' a path."; "Cuttin' 'em down."

[The Nighthawk from RA2, more or less...]

*commando

?; upgraded barracks; starport

Elite soldier armed with a suppressed SMG and detpacks. Death on infantry (like the sniper, but with faster fire rate and a range slightly less than light infantry and beyond that of flamer/chemical troops); the detpacks are instant death for any structure... when they go off, which is after a time delay (10-15 real seconds?), during which an attentive player can have an engineer defuse them.

Reporting: "Yes?"; "Give me a target."; "A little surprise for you..."

Moving: "Op underway."; "Affirmative."

Attack: "This is too easy."; "Enemy in my sights."; "Special delivery."; "A care package..." (these last two are heard when the commando is ordered to plant a bomb)

Level 1: increased sight range; level 2; increased rate of fire; level 3: permanent stealth (ala the Fremen) and self-repair

[firefly]

*plasma-yield bomb

?; ?

The product of research into an effective alternative to fission/fusion weaponry, plasma-yield devices (abbreviated to PYD hereafter) basically obliterate everything within a fixed raduis when they detonate, with little overpressure and none of the fallout associated with nukes. The peculiarities of PYD design means they can only be delivered by cruise missiles, a distinct downside in the face of extensive air defenses.

In game terms, the cruise missile is a small air unit (about the size of the Atreides' drones) with light-to-medium armor and enough smarts to attempt to evade fire enroute to its target. When it detonates, a silvery globe expands from ground zero to a radius about twice that of the green patch left by a Death Hand, and then dissipates (people who've seen Akira will get the idea). Everything within that globe, including air units, is obliterated instantly. Unlike the Death Hand, there is _no_ fallout.

[The concept is lifted from the Dale Brown novel 'Battle Born'; reference is therefore commanded to your local library or bookstore]

[firefly]

*plasma tank ($1800-2000)

Ordos; upgraded factory, spaceport

Ordos technicians who studied captured Devastators, impressed with the destructive power of their plasma cannons, saw no reason such power should not be mated with the exterme mobility that is the hallmark of Ordos armor. The resulting tank falls someplace between Kobras and laser tanks in speed, but sports heavy armor and a single turreted plasma cannon which fires faster than and outranges slightly its Harkonnen counterpart (at the cost of some damage yield)

Unlike Devastators, plasma tanks lack both the secondary missile pod and self-destruct mechanism.

*Fremen (proposed addition to both types)

If an infantry target is within a certain (short) range, Fremen will make use of their crys(sp?) knives instead of their primary weapon. As is the case with Sardaukar officers, this is instantly fatal to the subject.

[firefly]

*advanced scout ($100?)

? (most likely Ordos); upgraded barracks, upgraded factory

Scouts equipped with hoverboards that give them increased movement speed - on a par with dust scouts - and the terrain capability of other Ordos hover units. Carries a laser designator; artillery units (deployed Kobras, Minotauruses, mortar infantry, missile tanks, but _not_ inkvine catapults/infantry) and ornithopters firing on a designated target get a damage bonus in the neighborhood of 10-20%. Note: the target must be marked for the projectiles' entire flight time for the bonus to apply... and naturally, the scout is immobile and vulnerable while designating.

Loading an advanced scout into an IFV creates a FIST-V (FIre-Support Team Vehicle), which has no weapon aside from a longer-ranged version of the targeting laser.

Reporting: "Ready for duty."

Movement: "We go."

Marking: "Lighting them up."; "On the dot..."

[firefly]

*Arach ($400-600?)

Atreides; upgraded factory, upgraded House of Ix

Commonly referred to as 'Kumo' (spider), this is a joint Ix/Atreides creation, spawned to fit the role of fast (comprable to a dust scout), all-terrain scout. The name comes from its form; it has a roughly Mongoose-sized body with eight spindly legs, which it can use to cross any terrain... even ascend cliffs (but it slows down considerably while doing so). This flexibility comes at a cost: armament consists of a pair of the MGs normally seen on sand bikes or dust scouts, and the armor is very light for its size.

Level 1: increased sight range and rate of fire; level 2: increased damage; level 3: scout cloak and laser designator (force-fire to use).

Reporting: "Arach ready."; "Where to?"

Moving: "Agreed."; "Yes."; "Relocating."

Attack: "We strike."; "For House Atreides!"; "Showin' the fangs."

Designating: "Smile for the camera..."

*Arach Magus ($2000)

Atreides; upgraded factory, upgraded House of Ix, starport

AKA 'Shin Kumo' (death spider). Minotaraus-sized body with spider legs sporting either - I'm not sure which; what do you think? - two of the Minotaraus' cannon (instead of the usual four) or a pair of Devastator-style plasma guns (these have about 20% better range than the originals). Has slightly less armor than a Minotaraus, but is fast for its size - about the speed of a sonic tank? And like its smaller brother, has no problem scaling cliffs.

Level 1: increased rate of fire; level 2: increased defense; level 3: increased damage

Reporting: "Battery online."; "Magus ready."

Moving: "Let's go."; "Proceeding to new firebase."; "Affirm."

Attack: "I smell fear."; "Fire zone confirmed."; "Time to rock and roll."

-

Both are inspired, somewhat, by the Fuchikomas seen in Ghost of the Shell...

[firefly]

Spy ($500?)

Atreides; upgraded barracks, outpost, House of Ix

Another Atreides/Ix joint effort. Spies wear a special 'chameleon' suit that, allows mimicry of any infantry unit in both appearance and speed (the 'deploy' function resets the suit); in their 'basic' state, they are identical to scouts. While spies have decent sight range, their real use comes in infiltrating enemy buildings, as tabulated below:

>production structures (barracks, factory, hangar): enables you to produce their units from your corresponding structure.

>outpost: for thirty seconds, that player's radar view is fused with yours (you see what they see). [only works if fog of war is enabled]

>palace: resets superweapon timer

>windtrap: shuts down base power for one minute

A few seconds after infiltrating a building, the spy pops back out, ready to work again; this event brings up an alert box on your radar, along with the green-tinted inset view. To garner the benefits of infiltrating production structures, you have to bring the spy back to your barracks (once again, a few seconds later, (s)he pops back out, ready to return to duty).

Reporting: "Ready."; "What's the plan?"

Moving: "Enroute."; "Certainly."

Infiltrating: "Operation underway."; "Undercover..."

-

And someone had suggested the Bene Gesserit as a new subhouse, to which I contributed...

-

Bene Gesserit initiate ($400)

Functions like a human version of the psychic sensor from RA2, albeit with a smaller effect radius. In other words, you'll know if someone has sent units to attack something in the initiate's range (and you can see where the units are, fog of war or no, by following the appropriately-colored target lines).

Bene Gesserit mistress ($1000)

A hybrid in functionality between RA2's Psi-Corps troopers and Starcraft's Dark Archons. Can take control of an unlimited amount of units, but must regenerate her energy reserves (indicated on the status halo as though they were shields) after each, a process which takes about a minute. Also has at her disposal a psychic shockwave which does some (not much) damage to and temporarily paralyzes enemy infantry.

[daniel]

wuts with sand fleas and long mssgs?

[quoudam72]

DeMiGod~LOKI cough cough Firefly is a swordmaster at the moment. :)

[firefly]

The only reason those messages are so long is so that the individual units could be given a proper workup that addresses most conceivable questions (for instance, the IFV's versatility would appeal to the Ordos' sense of efficiency) and makes the things believable in the storyline. Unlike a certain game company (*cough*hack*Midway*gasp*) I truly prefer to take my time and get it right, as opposed to rushing inferior product out the door.

[Klobbersaurus414]

There should definitely be a Terror Drone and an IFV, arguably two of the best units in RA2. There should also be a Crazy Ivan like unit, so you can strap bombs onto the terror drone so after it dismantles the enemy vehicle it can explode the second it gets out of the vehicle destroying the terror drone and surrounding units.