Dune Editing news 04-03-10

[Dunenewt]

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The War of Assassins team have been very busy since the last Dune Editing update.  Firstly, they have changed their website domain, and you can now find it at either BattleforDune.eu or WarofAssassins.com.

They've also been producing some videos showing off their progress, for example:

- definitely worth watching, and will get you excited about the finished release!

As well as this, they also have several new models and screenshots, so have a look at their site, or their thread on our forum.

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The team that was working on the Tiberium Wars total conversion mod Dune: Arrakian Wars, which was sadly never completed, have reorganised, and are now working on a stand alone Dune RTS game, entitled Dune: War of the Spice.

'New name, same great project. Dune: War of the Spice is a new fully original Real Time Strategy game loosely based on the Dune novels of Frank Herbert and following in the footsteps of such games as Emperor: Battle for Dune and Dune II: Building of a Dynasty. The game follows the exploits and conflict between the three Great Houses of the Atreides, Harkonnen and Ordos in their fierce battle for power and control of the Imperium, as well as a number of Subhouses that try to use the conflict to their own advantage.

Some of their current concept art looks great, such as the Harkonnen Trooper.

'The even the common Harkonnen Trooper is a formidable opponent. Their armor may make them slow-moving but the heavy maula pistol they carry can easily cut through hordes of enemy infantry.

Most of the foot soldiers fielded by the Harkonnen are are either slaves or conscripts, the brutal treatment which their masters can inflict on them for failure is what motivates them to risk their lives on the battlefield. In the absence of their Squad Leader, they cannot be relied upon not to flee from the conflict in order to escape their servitude.'

Or the Harkonnen Dragon Tank, which looks like a redesigned, meaner and tougher version of the Flame Tank in Emperor: Battle for Dune.

'The Harkonnen Dragon Tank is a heavily armored, slow unit that strikes fear into the heart of everyone who encounters it in battle. It can spray burning napalm over an almost 360 degree radius while traveling in any direction, meaning there is nowhere to hide if it gets close enough to strike.

They can be almost as dangerous to their owners, however. If one of these tanks is damaged or destroyed, the resultant explosion can splatter burning fuel over a wide area.'

They are currently recruiting concept, environmental and texture artists, so if you're interested contact them on their site, or let them know in this thread on our forum.  You can visit their website here, and follow them on Twitter.

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Dune 2: The Golden Path v1.68 has been released:

   * Main executable is again separate from music files, and will be going into the future

   * Many, many bugs fixed and some graphics tweaked

   * New menu system added for most production buildings (please use your mousewheel)

   * Full network synchronization with acceptable speed (still only 2 human players)

   * Greatly improved close-range pathfinding (no more units doing the "dune shuffle")

   * AI players now send attacks in formation (not as great as it sounds but still an improvement)

   * Units put on Retreat will not be selectable until they are close to their destination, when they will default to Move/Protect orders

   * Added a timer to the global Retreat Flag button

   * Flak Trikes now take double damage from ground units when moving

   * Outpost now controls default Retreat settings and building auto-repair (if researched)

   * Auto-concrete now has greater range from each ConYard

   * Fremen have range 2 instead of 3

   * Slightly reduced AOE of Rocket Launchers/Deviators (very slightly)

   * Added percentage complete for flyer queues at HTF

   * No problems should remain with Sandstorms

   * Trading Posts will not appear on enemy radar

   * Outposts, Trading Posts, and MTPs have higher vision to balance Sandstorms

   * AI Death Hands will now launch when attacked

   * Reduced Harvester strength by 10%

[TeamWolf]

Looks like there is a lot going on in the Dune modding community!

[Dunenewt]

If you have another update before Sunday I will put that in the next Dune Editing news, because I missed some stuff.