Atreidis Units

[peseverance]

Minosaurus rules!!!!! They kick ass...

Can't say that the A.I. is very smart After two days of gaming (about 16 hours) I'm in the last mission (I think). Anyway My strategy so far has been waves of 10 Minosaurus. They rip apart just about anything... their main problems have been Ordos Laser Tanks and Thilexu Leechs and air units. Computer hadly uses air units so... unless in the rare oiccasion I put them with 5 Mongoose.

Heres a tip: Sonic Tanks suck :) The ONLY right way to use them is by themselves. Send 1 our and NOT a group of 10... They DO kill each other... one Laser Tank can cause you to lose 5 Sonic Tanks if you aren't careul. I find that they are the best used for conquering spice fields with a couple on mongoose and if you are thinking Worms? Don't worry a Sonic blast will get rid of the worm... They are also good for harvester hunting takes them only 3 shots to remove a harvy.

Here is another tip: Ornithopters are best used to take out units w/o AA support. If there are AA units they drop like flies... takes 25 Ornitshopters to remove a const. Yard if there are 10 AA Troopers defending it. :0

A hint: Ordos Laser Tanks have one MAJOR weak point... Projectile weapons like those of Sadaukar and the SandBikes BTW its fun to see Sadaukar Elites fight Laser Tanks :) major boom!

Here is another hint: Picking up Enemy Harvys with Adv. Carryalls is fun.

Final Tip: Last Stage gets pretty wild... tone down your options if you have a PIII 500 w/ 256 aand a GeForce 64Mb DDR... I just played it and for half the time it was 1fps... When i find a way through the waves of compy forces to get to the objective (You have 30mins). hehehehe don't want to ruin it for ya... GL

[peseverance]

Just remembered...

You'll find this out if you read the manual... sending 3 elite units into your Atreidis Barracks will allow you to build that unit as an elite... Elite Snipers are pretty cool... But don't get your soldiers near a Inkvine Catapult or a Kobra.. Its BAD its REALLY BAD.

BTW Harks die easily to Minosaurus but if the come in force get to a bottleneck and place a few Sonic Tanks at the neck with those Minosaurus in support.

[Edric O]

They're called "Minotaurus", not "Minosaurus". They're not an Atreides version of the T-Rex. :)

[Guest Draken]

Hmm u woukdent have an chans vs me with that tactic..

Is there only newbies here??

Of course u will win if you totaly outpower the crapy AI..

Try building like 20 Sonic tanks, spread them around the enemy base just out of fiering range of eatchother....

How hard is that?? And how fun..

I guess u are playing easy mode.. Else u would be toasted with that strat..

When it takes u around 5 - 10 mins to finish an mission at hard. Then u should consider posting an strat..

I could but i wont.. cos with my strat this game is way to easy..

[Guest Albatross]

Hmm.... yes, well I play all games on Normal. ALL games. No hard, no easy, just the way it was meant to be played. But I really wouldn't base any strats off the single-player campaign, its SKIRMISHES and MULTIPLAYER where strats are refined.

As for killing the computer, it's the same on all difficulty levels anyway. Build up a group of fast hitters, run to enemy resource field, slaughter economy. Lather, rinse, repeat. Computer run out of cash, you outbuild it, then steamroller computer. This has been the effective strategy since the days of Dune 2 and Command and Conquer (the original), and remained the same throughout all the games except RA ("build lots of tanks, rush"). AI isn't really programmed to handle this.

Minotauri are pretty nice. Agreed that Ordos Tron Tanks ream them good, but that's why you have Sonic Tanks, which can kill even a veteran Laser Tank in a single shot. Sonic Tanks aren't meant to be in groups of themselves, no, but they ARE designed as heavy support for other things. A Mintotaurus and Sonic Tank working together can be a real pain in the ass, since the Mino handles the long range stuff and anything that tries to swarm the group gets obliterated by the Sonic Tank. Shouldn't be worried about worms much at all since you'll be controlling them with Fremen. The game seems to only allow one worm in play at a time in single player, and if you're riding one, that keeps you safe from worm attacks until he goes back into the sand to nap.

Never would have guessed air units worked best against units without AA. Gee, wonder why I never thought of that... :P (/sarcasm)

"Projectile weapons like those of Sadaukar "

I think you mean BEAM weapons. Elite Sardaukar have them, and are a major pain in the ass for Ordos. But you can rectify that by sending in those Sand Scout bug-things, which have shields, anti-infantry weapons, cost lest than Sau Elite and build faster. No worries, mate.

"Picking up Enemy Harvys with Adv. Carryalls is fun."

Yeah, works great on the computer, but too bad it gets a new Harvester for free every minute until its 'quota' (how many available ramps it has at the home base) is met. So even stealing them doesn't help.

Doesn't work on people much, at least, on Harkonnen and Atreides. Us Ordos suffer from a lack of flying units and decent AA, so it's easier to pull off on the snakes.

"Elite Snipers are pretty cool... "

Yeah, they cloak! It's awesome.... sure wish you could do that with Fremen or Sardaukar units as Atreides... that would own.

"or a Kobra"

Mortar troops and Buzzsaws aren't too frienly, either.

"get to a bottleneck "

EVERYTHING dies easily if you catch it in a bottleneck with superior fire. =P

[Guest Draken]

Ok im going to be nice.. Tell u an little seacret.. hehe

Rush the AI, dont deploy your base.. Do it in the enemy base and build gun turrets...

Usaly the game ends before u have deployed the base.. Like 2-5 mins loong..

Always works if u get deasent troops..

If the enemy attacks you already have an base but get less units but it is as easy..

Build an Sardukar barack, build machinegun Sardukars and build an Fremen Camp and upgrade it and build thoes Ky...

when u get like 3 Sardukars and 1 Ky.. attack.. usaly i have already found the AI by then with the units i was asigned at start.. Takes around 5-7 mins, also get some gold from an wreak.. like 2 of em to be on the safe side.. IF u found some cash do a few engineers if u have an transporter..

Remeber to put on guard mode on the freman and micromanage the attack..

One can take out unlimited amout of tanks with like 5 Ky.. and if backed up by sardukars that kills thoes strong ground units(that flame dudes and talaxians)..

And dont underestimate the power of combining fremen and sardukar, i totaly messed up the last mission.. hehe was going to try to blow the "thingy" well i accidently blow up my entire camp hehe :) only sardukar barack, power and freman camp left(had tre of eatch of em before the explosion) so it took me 20-25 mins to compleat it cos i was to scared to attack hehe..

Sonic Tanks rules!! thay arent as esay to use as in Dune 2k but a single one right placed it will destroy anythingy that aproatches..

Well this game was wayyy to easy.. no chalange at all.. Both Dune2k and Dune2 was alot harder to beat.. And i dident get to terraform the planet!!! *sniff* I want to make it green and nice! :)

ohh btw one can have more then 1 worm :) had 3 at the same time.. But why use the worm at all.. it dosent wanna move as i want it to and it kinda sux.. why go after enemy harveresters when one can go after there base..

And IX troops sux big time.. Well ok the duplicate thingy is pretty neat, but one could have killed the enemy at the time it takes to set it up and move the units and so on.. Only use i can think of is if it

[Guest Albatross]

Dude, Ix are completely garbage, there's no way around it.

Thanks for the AI-slaughtering trick, Draken. I like. That's how I usually solve the base-defense missions when the computer attacks your territory. Generally they set up a Con Yard inside your base.... well, I just immediately upgrade barracks, sell the non-essential buildings, whip out an Engineer, and steal their con yard before they can build anything else. Usually a defense mission is over in one or two minutes, tops, with no actual fighting on your part. You lose whatever cheapass units you had and the guys you got from selling buildings, but it really doesn't matter since you've just saved a half hour of your life from ticking away trouncing the AI. Of course, if they set up a distance away, just treat it like a skirmish mission where you kill off their economy first. No problemo.

Why use the worm? Are you MAD? You don't tell the thing to attack a unit, you just click the 'move' button on the other side of their army, and it plows through them, destroying everything it comes into contact with. Kills harvesting operations dead, kills armies dead, and generally clears the way FOR you to land on their rock and start cracking the base. Controlling it is easy, just give it space to turn. It sticks around for a pretty good amount of time, and certainly doesn't suck! Why go after harvesters? Well, gee Bob, maybe because I like to slaughter a base with full confidence that the enemy will have ZERO reinforcements to stop me? I like being able to smash a base with impunity, unharassed by enemy units. Easiest way to kill one, in fact.

[peseverance]

Look..... Projectile Units take out Laser Tanks FAST.... I used Sand Bikes to get those buggers... and i did say Sardaukar... Elites have lasers and Laser-Shields Combos aren't pretty..

BTW I play it on medium...

I just beat the last mission of Atreidis... and i take it back that Sonic Tanks sux... They helped me kick Theilexu A$$ :)

[Guest Albatross]

"Look..... Projectile Units take out Laser Tanks FAST.... "

Look, that only works if the opponent is a moron who lets his Laser Tanks sit there.  Laser Tanks MOVE TOO FAST TO HIT WITH MOST PROJECTILES.  Minotauri, Missile Tanks, etc, etc have too slow of a projectile speed to hit the Laser Tanks.  Also, those Tron Tanks have the ability to aim and fire WHILE ON THE MOVE.

"I used Sand Bikes to get those buggers... "

 LOL!  That's funny, especially since it only takes three or four laser shots to blow up a single bike.  Now, since most people use Laser Tanks in packs (unless it's a braindead AI), that means they can run away from you and your little pack of sand bikes, no matter how large, will be dead before you can whittle down the shields.  Your sand bikes CAN'T move and attack well, since they have to face their target to fire, a drawback that the Laser Tanks lack.

"and i did say Sardaukar... "

 Which the opponent can use as well.   Or the Ordos can just use Fremen (which I always do, no reason not to use them with Ordos, in fact), who outrange the Saus and can snipe them dead in droves before they touch the tanks.  That's a time when their cloaking ability comes in useful. ;)  Even if you decide to mix in your own Fremen with your Saus, the opponent can have 2 spare fremen for each Sau you have... they STILL come out better.

 Also, using slow-moving infantry to try and take down fast-moving tanks is kind of silly.  Laser Tanks are raiding machines, not stop-and-go sluggers.

"Elites have lasers and Laser-Shields Combos aren't pretty.."

 That's why I sacrifice my gun-bugs to them.  Come out higher on the economic side of things.<p>"BTW I play it on medium..."

 Cool, another like me, then.

"They helped me kick Theilexu A$$ "

 Yeah.  Pairing them up with repair vehicles and/or Minotauri lets you setup these really nasty kill-zones.

The Atredies unit which really blows is the damn Mongoose.  It's cool that it can move and fire, but it moves TOO DAMN SLOW.  Supposedly you can use packs of them to kill tanks, but at their price and slow crusing speed, it's not likely to work.  I hope that WW gives them a 25%-50% speed boost in the next patch, cause as it stands, they are a complete waste of cash.

[Guest Draken]

Naa IX isent totaly useles.. Dupe the Minotaurs or Devasator and use them as defensive units behind an wall..

And about the subhouses.. This part of the game kinda sux..

It

[cyclonus]

IX sucks? Lol. IX allied with OD can really rock. I usually build 5 or so save them as team 1 and start cloning las tanks. Then I keep circling the enemy and blasting them down, since they can't hit me my clones won't die. This doesn't work against another OD player, nor an AT, its most effective against the HK.

[Guest donkus4000]

yeah are you people all way too lazy to type a FULL word i mean come on... fedaykin is that so long or ORDOS yes thats right a _5_ letter word i dont know if thats too much for you to handle and atreides 8 letters!!! o and "las tanks" seriously are you people too god damn lazy to add 2 fuckin letters. and then we have the harkonnen its no that hard to type kids i hope you all enjoyed my little lesson please take it into your small little heads that it gets prett7y damn annoying when you see las tanks and HK and OD and AT. get a life...oh yeah and some typing lessons too idiots

[quoudam72]

Why don't you just shut up and put a "strategy" here and not a freakin "complaint" use the general discussion board for that. O.K.

[cyclonus]

Whats wrong with acronyms?

[peseverance]

I Think anocryms are good to a certain degree :)

[cyclonus]

As long as we have a clear understanding. I mean what could a las tank be? hmmm real toughie.

[Guest Sonic Tanker]

I won the Atreides Final Mission with just one Elite Sonic Tank and an Advanced Carryall ( ! )

those sonic tanks perform MUCH better in close range

[Guest Fedaykin]

I won it with a whole bunch of Fremen Feydakins.

[Guest Fedaykins]

Fedaykins work best without any uncloacked units around. Try to hit with these Fremen first, then follow up with Minotaurus, with sonics leading the charge.

[marc]

about the las tanks, that was kinda frank herbert's idea. in the books they talk about lasguns and not laser guns.

[ordos45]

OK about the invincible Sardaukar and Fremen joint army. It would be hard to beat. I mean if you play against the Ordos with that kind of alliance on your side what chance do they have. Sure sacrifice one elite Sardaukar by firing its las beam into the shields of a pack of las tanks and you would exchange 1 unit for however many las tanks were grouped together.

[cyclonus]

theres no omnipotent strategy.

[ordos45]

Your right Cyclonus no strategy is all powerful. But many are pretty powerful. Still if you are fighting an infantry only battle fremen and sardaukar would be ideal.

[Guest Silven]

Arrg..im havin'a major problem in the atreiedes campaign. I finally made it to the mission where i have to wipe the harkonnen out of the planet. I made it to the part where you invade their homeworld. How to i beat it? Anyone have any tactics/strategies i can use?

[peseverance]

I played the Ordos Homeworld mission but the gist is the same

Comp gets about the same amount of credits as you

so he doesn't attack everytime

The idea is to Stonewall the comp then build up your force with Discount units from the starport