Dune II micro is balanced?

[X3M]

Ah yes, I understand.

 

The team bug is fixed in the version that I play. It was the first drop + team attack + what was scouted. That killed me.

 

And that wasn't the only bug that was fixed. Their damn harvester returns to a field after squishing one of my infantry.

AND

The AI occasionally hunted down one of my harvesters.

 

Another bug that is still there. Is the waiting line of the enemy. About 6 tanks and a quad are staring me in the face. When I take action, about 2 tanks will shoot me. This is 3 times deadlier then facing the 2 tanks one by one. A waste of infantry is the result.

 

I am playing with Atreides. So not troopers, until I get the palace ;)

 

Mission 4.

With reinforcements, I noticed that in total. You have 3 tanks, 4 quads and 2 trikes in total. I lost the trikes already though.

I did not have to restart.

Loading before the infantry scout/attack the enemy was prevented.

I managed to use infantry to hold of the attacks. I got 9 Barracks in total. But the last 4 where build in order to protect the latest silo's that I build.

5 harvesters did a good job in emptying the map. This is a good strategy that is going to see a lot in mission 5.

However, my job is not done yet. I have 13.500 in stock. That is enough to attack at least 6 more times with 20 infantry squads.

However, the field is empty of spice, so I am going to scout now with 3 out of 4 harvesters. I keep one if I missed a baloom.

 

New discoveries:

 

I have noticed how a tank (300) compared to a quad (200) is waaaaay more effective against my infantry. Even though both wack my infantry fast any way.

The tank doesn't even squish my infantry. Yet manages to kill at least 2 times more infantry before dying.

 

I guess that this is due to each their function.

The quad is supposed to be fast and your heaviest choice against rocket launchers later on.

Infantry have as secondary function, to take over enemy buildings. So while 20 squads have no problem taking out a quad. 20 squads do have a problem taking out a tank.

The tank itself, is obviously meant to destroy. Meaningless to say that even this tank is useful in taking out a rocket launcher.

 

Future (lame) strategies:

Obviously I am going to sit them all out.

Mission 4 lead me to this strategy sooner than I previously thought. (me noob, or just to hard?)

Infantry are stupid in an attack now. Clearly their only function is to take out structures by destroying them or take them over. But they need to get the chance. And that chance is right in the end.

 

So...

 

Fase one:

Saving up all my vehicles.

Getting a maximum of harvesters.

Preparing a repair bay (no need for other upgrades).

Preparing carryalls.

Walling in with turrets.

Emptying the map while amassing silo's.

 

Fase 2:

Mass infantry by barracks/wor/palace

With the final and only attack, only vehicles. This due to the enemy turrets.

They might destroy the enemy. But where possible. Infantry will continue the job, while the vehicles snipe out other turrets.

 

---

 

I don't really feel like continuing this way. Or should I not use vehicles in an attack? And simply see if mass infantry can win against the rocket turrets? Mission 6 will be the test for this.

[MrFlibble]

And that wasn't the only bug that was fixed. Their damn harvester returns to a field after squishing one of my infantry.

This is actually fixed in vanilla v1.07.

Regarding the whole concept of playing with infantry only, I certainly did contemplate that in the past. But there are two factors that make light infantry very ineffective: first, the infantry soldier has the lowest HP in the game among ordinary ground units (IIRC the Saboteur and Ornithopter have even less HP). Second, the infantry squad, while having mode or less adequate HP, is the slowest unit in the game (maybe the Devastator is slower though, not sure). This, combined with its short range, renders whatever advantage it HP it has useless. This is why I would usually not use squads at all, and single soldiers only as "combat engineers" to take over buildings.

Heavy troopers should be a bit more manageable. They have decent speed and armour, and quite a neat attack range with their missiles. This should make packs of troopers/trooper squads more effective.

[X3M]

This is actually fixed in vanilla v1.07.

Regarding the whole concept of playing with infantry only, I certainly did contemplate that in the past. But there are two factors that make light infantry very ineffective: first, the infantry soldier has the lowest HP in the game among ordinary ground units (IIRC the Saboteur and Ornithopter have even less HP). Second, the infantry squad, while having mode or less adequate HP, is the slowest unit in the game (maybe the Devastator is slower though, not sure). This, combined with its short range, renders whatever advantage it HP it has useless. This is why I would usually not use squads at all, and single soldiers only as "combat engineers" to take over buildings.

Heavy troopers should be a bit more manageable. They have decent speed and armour, and quite a neat attack range with their missiles. This should make packs of troopers/trooper squads more effective.

And you are right regarding the infantry. I think that I have better chances with troopers.

So, I guess the only rule is that I am only allowed to build infantry/troopers/fremen/saboteurs. Further, no other tanks etc.

Then the only strategy is emptying the map as soon as possible. But this strategy is a stand alone. I think this test ends for the Atreides. And I should change the test into.

 

How far can I come with only infantry attacks?

The answer is logical and known already by all. But then again, an experienced player might get 1 level further.

For atreides, this ends in mission 5/6? I don't know yet.

 

Since you are the only one reacting. Should I consider emptying the resources of the map as an extra nesety for my infantry strategy? Or should I abandon this and keep 5 as a maximum of harvesters. Which is already 2 more than I usuall use.

Result would be, vehicles defend that I get from the start. And harvesters are the one fighting, by taking over all resources. Eventually I use the repair base to keep my defences (vehicles) on good health.

 

---

 

Regarding the effects of infantry.

 

We all know that a vanilla infantry has a pretty good chance against vehicles/tanks.

What is against our infantry?

 

- They can be squished. But the AI is too stupid for that in Dune2.

- They can not be healed.

- They can take over buildings.

 

That's right, it is a disadvantage when you have to conduct normal combat. I think this is the reason why they introduced engineers for games after Dune2.

But I am not sure if this theory is correct.

 

Do you think that infantry have been made a bit weaker? Simply due to the fact that they can take over structures?

Or was this in balance with being squished?

 

---

 

No time now. But the following will give me more insights.

http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/130704/list-of-unit-statistics

[X3M]

The following is a complete chewing with numbers. Based on the link provided in the previous post.

It is obviously a TLDR.

 

---

---

 

Test laws:

- Pretending that hurt units/squads don't get weaker (because I don't know the specifics).

- Pretending that there aren't random events. (Which are, but still, no one has any clue about them how they work exactly)

- Also, other things like range or speed are not compared. (You always need to consider 1 on 1 fights when designing a game where facing each other is very common. I guess the rocket launcher is the one and only exception in Dune2. So, speed is of no use in direct combat. Range is only a minor difference of who shoots first. But knowing the AI, it will react later than any ranged unit.)

- No first shots. (I do not include first shot effects either, which are important for the higher Rof units. Just total DPS based on a 50 frame rate? Knowing the early test era of game designers. Westwood too failed at this in countless occasions)

- And last but not least: sniping out units of a group effect is,... added. It requires me to know how much randomness there is in each shot. So they are only estimates. But in overall:

2 units would have 75% effect.

3 units would have 66,7% effect.

4 units would have 62,5% effect.

5 units would have 60% effect, etc.

25 units would have 52% effect.

 

I recalculated the relative value's towards the combat tank.

I'll pretend a fair game here. Ehm... scrap that. I'll pretend the game has some logical mechanics.

 

---

 

Initial value's.

 

Combat Tank

200 H

25 D

Rof 80

Total D 15,625

 

Soldier

$ 60 becomes $ 300, this for all units.

20 H becomes 100 H (=50%)

3 D becomes 15 D

Rof 45

Total D 16,667 (10 estimated by sniping by a combat tank)

(=107% / =64%)

 

Average 78,5% - 57%

 

Infantry

50 H becomes 150 H (=75%)

2x3 D becomes 18 D

Rof 45

Total D 20 (13,333 estimated by sniping by a combat tank)

(=128% / =85,3%)

 

Average 101,5% - 80,15%

 

Trooper

45 H becomes 135 H (=67,5%)

5 D becomes 15 D

Rof 50

Total D 15 (10 estimated by sniping by a combat tank)

(=96% / =64%)

 

Average 81,75% - 65,75%

 

Troopers

110 H becomes 165 H (=82,5%)

2x5 D becomes 15 D

Rof 50

Total D 15 (12,5 estimated by sniping by a combat tank)

(=96% / =80%)

 

Average 89,25% - 81,25%

 

 

---

 

Let's not forget. There is a limit to all. I'll pretend to be having 25 in total of each. And compare it to a number of Combat Tanks. But only sniping out total damage. Which is 52% x D x 50 / Rof

 

 

Soldier

In health; 2,5 Combat Tanks. (=10%)

43,3 D or a snipe out of 4-5 CT. (=16-20%)

 

Infantry

In health; 6,25 Combat Tanks. (=25%)

86,7 D or 10-11 CT. (=40-44%)

 

Trooper

In health; 5,675 Combat Tanks. (=22,7%)

65 D or 7-8 CT. (=28-32%)

 

Troopers

In health; 13,75 Combat Tanks. (=55%)

130 D or 15-16 CT. (60-64%)

 

Combat Tank

In health; 25 Combat Tanks.

203,1 D or 25 CT.

 

 

Sure you can rebuild the entire army. But then you are comparing again with the numbers given in the previous block.

 

---

 

Well, that was fun. I only detect 3 green numbers.

 

These numbers are when soldiers/infantry can shoot without interruption. Plus you can build as much as you like. Then, but only then, they are better then combat tanks.

 

Further, it seems that soldiers/infantry's > trooper(s) when dealing with combat tanks in damage. But if it comes to health. The trooper(s) prevail.

 

When you go for a complete army strategy. Troopers compared to the other even look superior.

But when you go for rebuilding a complete army with equal money. Only Infantry seem to be better at first. Better yet, infantry are supposed to win with a constant Barracks feed. Do they?

 

Yet it still seems/feels better to simply build Combat Tanks.

Why? In practise, there are indeed more factors that influence the war:

- Infantry only need to be shot 2 times shortest, before dying. Normally not a problem in a well balanced game, but it is ridiculous fast compared to the other statistics and behaviour. Which are named in the next 3 points. Did I forget to mention that there is a first shot? You only need the Rof once!!! Before you snipe out Infantry.

- One group can take attention, while others still crawl into position. Speed and range are the down sides here. So the reduced damage effect is not sum divided by squared. But a root instead. Which is way lower.

- Still being able to be squashed if they move into position without taking attention (which would stop the tank).

- Range, in rare situations. How? A squad becomes a single soldier. This soldier might retreat. The combat tank fires on retreating soldiers. When I order them to go back for continue the fighting. They might be dead by then. This is only meat, no damage. So Infantry squads are less effective. I think about 60% damage instead of 100%. Or in other words a 80% average.

 

---

 

I don't know. Should I restart my mission 4?

 

- Only 1 harvester, just like the enemy. (Only 60% spice than current events, AI will be having 300% spice)

- Kill off all my vehicles once my base is "complete".

- And simply defend with mass infantry?

- It would be a "sitting it out" mission.

 

That would be fair and would test the theory of being better with infantry.

[MrFlibble]

I'm not really following your calculations, sorry. However, I would, in fact, suggest trying out what seems like a simple strategy to me before giving up on the infantry only Atreides playthrough. That is, try to spam infantry faster than the AI produces tanks. Should be doable with multiple Barracks and a steady flow of spice. Then you can either just continually send your troops in a frontal assault, or keep a force in your base to defend it, and use the rest to flank the enemy and take over their base with your infantry.

If this succeeds, don't forget that infantry can capture turrets in Dune II. That may become a useful advantage in later missions if you decide to continue.

[X3M]

If this succeeds, don't forget that infantry can capture turrets in Dune II. That may become a useful advantage in later missions if you decide to continue.

Capture turrets? That is a good thing to know. Thanks.

 

With 9 Barracks, it was hard to defend and attack at the same time. You kinda need all fire power on just 1 front.

Sure I tried flanking. But that is where it went wrong in the first place.

 

If your army is 50% in numbers because you are busy with 50% somewhere else.

The total combat strength, lets say of 20. Is about 210.

But having 2 groups of 10, means 55 points on each. That is if they all can fight at the same time.

So about 25% is left for defence and 25% is in the attack.

 

If you wait till the attacks stop. Then you can focus on your own attacks. (It is how I first played the game any way when being a 12 year old kid.)

 

Don't worry about calculations. Leave that to me.

 

And mission 4 is a success. I did wait till the spice flow stopped.

I am yet to start with mission 5.

 

Strategies for Ordos and Harkonnen will be with troopers. The reason is the range that they have. And they can be behind walls and stuff. More range means more fire power at the same time. Despite them being weaker in comparison. Their total activity will make up to it.

 

PS. The title of this topic needs a question mark. :)

[X3M]

Mission 5.

 

Turrets are soooo, OP.

3 shots within 2 seconds, and one squad is gone!!!

What moronic mind thought they should be $125 each?

By their power, I would say they should cost at least twice the amount.

 

There is no way that my infantry will manage to kill even 1 turret unless I have some vehicles near by to lure in the shots.

 

Any ways, before I truly invade the enemy.

 

My strategy to do notching but defend goes well.

I got 6 tanks and 4 quads form start/drop. Kept in tiptop shape.

About 10 turrets myself cramped in 1 place. Right before my repair bay.

The enemy tries to shoot it, but are dead within 1 second once they stand still, mhuhahahaha. (No really, OP)

I have 10 harvesters atm. But the field is empty. And I got like 38k in storage now.

5 balooms are awaiting. But most harvesters will be sacrificed before my attack begins.

1 field is visible but is behind enemy lines. No way I can snatch it away without getting into trouble. I patiently await for the enemy to harvest and waste it.

 

Normally the enemy would be dead by now by 20 rocket launchers simply harassing him.

[X3M]

I lost patience. So attacked right away after parking my harvesters.

 

Since when do turrets stop firing back? Is this a bug?

My vehicles had an easy time, picking on the turrets.

 

No need for sacrificing my harvesters. My starting vehicles was all that I needed.

Eventually I even had 42k spice in stock, while harassing the enemy.

 

I have a little over 1000 points for mission 5 with my hogging up all spice strategy.

 

And it seems that 65000 spice is an absolute maximum score. Correct?

 

---

 

Mission 6. Not the map that I normally play.

But I am sure going to build harvesters only again.

And I have thought of something new:

The starport is going to supply me with even more harvesters.

And then.... I build some extra refineries for getting more harvesters. :D Mhuhahahaha.

 

Harvesters are OP support units compared to any unit :D.

If you harvest 700, you do 700 damage on your opponent. And he is only using 1 harvester. So he is in that regard, always outnumbered.

10 vs 1 was already extreme.

I wonder how 50 or more vs 1 will do.

 

"Spice is lost!"

This message, will probably occur a lot. After I reach the building limit.

But I don't care ;)

 

Having like 6 construction yards will probably help too!

[MrFlibble]

My vehicles had an easy time, picking on the turrets.

 

No need for sacrificing my harvesters. My starting vehicles was all that I needed.

I'm not sure if it counts as an infantry-only playthrough if you use your vehicles to attack. I think it would be fair to use the starting vehicles to quickly deal away with sandworms.

Once you get to build your own turrets, this should free up all your mobile units for the offensive. In fact, since infantry can capture buildings, this compensates for their low firepower. You don't need to destroy enemy units to win the mission after all, only buildings (with the exception of turrets, but they're useful to capture anyway). So it is only logical to ignore defending enemy units and send all your infantry to capture whatever you can. It doesn't matter if you keep the captured structures or not: the AI won't rebuild them so it's a win-win for you.

I think you can also try to trick the AI's defending units to fire at their own buildings by first drawing the attention of a unit (tanks and launchers are goot for that) to yours, and then positioning your unit so that there's an enemy structure between the attacking enemy defender and your unit. The AI unit will fire at its own building. This of course works best with trikes or raiders, and may not work well with infantry at all because of their low speed.

[X3M]

Here is an update. Level 5. I had 2 save points.

1 where I simply won with my 10 vehicles.

and 2 where I needed every last bit of spice to have infantry running towards the turrets.

The difference is 1000 points compared to just 250 points. A loss of 6 and a quick game, or a loss of 420 and a slow game sure makes a difference. I had about 10k left. I am happy to have had 10 harvesters in that game.

 

Mission 6.

30 harvesters, 6/refinery. Rest where silo's.

This time, I started to test my infantry first, while not having any harvester or vehicle.

 

Ehm, Rocket turrets. hmmmmm..... ehm....

here is the answer for infantry versus rocket turrets:

 

 

Remove 1 infantry squad and add 1 rocket launcher:

[MrFlibble]

Well wasn't that predictable.

[X3M]

Well, it was.

 

The pain full thing is. Even 1 rocket turrets is OP.

And you can't get to sufficient power plants either.

 

So, I guess it is time to conclude the Atreides. While I have learned a strategy that is way more effective than having an army.

 

My conclusion with Atreides.

Level 2; Easy, 2 Harvesters/Refineries

Level 3; Normal, 3 Harvesters/Refineries

Level 4; Hard, 5 Harvesters/Refineries

Level 5; Very Hard, 10 Harvesters, 5 Refineries, 5 Carryalls, Turret Wall

Level 6; Impossible, 15 Harvesters, 5 Refineries, 5 Carryalls, Rocket Turret Wall

Level 7; Same as Level 6

Level 8; Fremen Easy, yet Infantry (for destroying the base) Impossible. Which means Impossible overall.

Level 9; Still Impossible

 

I don't know if Troopers can manage against Rocket Turrets. Perhaps 1 or 2. But not the group of 4 in mission 9? Something to test, right?

[MrFlibble]

The pain full thing is. Even 1 rocket turrets is OP.

And you can't get to sufficient power plants either.

JIC, in Dune II, the turrets do not get turned off on low power. In some missions (especially in the last one for all Houses) the AI starts with insufficient windtraps to power its base, but that does not prevent it from using rocket turrets.

[X3M]

JIC, in Dune II, the turrets do not get turned off on low power. In some missions (especially in the last one for all Houses) the AI starts with insufficient windtraps to power its base, but that does not prevent it from using rocket turrets.

Well then, it was a bug in mission 5, that some stopped firing.

 

Besides, killing off power means that the structures slowly get damaged. This also goes for the AI. I once had a watching game to see how long that last Silo would be standing once the AI run out of spice. No doubt it goes for all other structures as well once power fails.

 

If I have time, I will scout the enemy as much as possible with trikes in mission 6. And then let's see where only infantry might stand a chance in destroying power. No power and no spice is a doomed AI. For all I know, it is not possible destroying sufficient power.

 

Unless you know where I can find the complete maps?

[MrFlibble]

Besides, killing off power means that the structures slowly get damaged. This also goes for the AI. I once had a watching game to see how long that last Silo would be standing once the AI run out of spice. No doubt it goes for all other structures as well once power fails.

IIRC buildings on low power only get damaged to 50% HP but not below.

[X3M]

I am playing the mobile version. The mobile version seems to be different in many aspects.

 

The 50% that you are speaking of is the general were down for the pc version.

 

The mobile version has 100% health and remains 100%. If you forget slabs, the buildings start with lower health with 50% as a minimum. They also will slowly get damaged, where once again, a maximum of no slab means a maximum of damage over time. This goes to death apparently, so a rebuild structure wont hold out much longer.

Lack of energy too will do damage until notching is left.

[Nyerguds]

"the mobile version", from what I've seen, is just OpenDune.

[kingwhirlie]

Swordmaster, I think there is a bug that occurs sometimes if your vehicles get repaired and the enemy no longer recognizes that unit and doesn't target it. I play on v. 1.07. So that would be why your vehicles on level 5 weren't attacked. I can't remember if the vehicle needed to be getting fired at (shot in air) prior to the pickup to repair for the bug to happen. I just play try to not use those vehicles because the game isn't as fun.

Also the Fremen attacks can be a viable option, idk if the game glitches but sometimes the fremen attack and the enemy doesn't return fire. And if you don't watch them take down the buildings they are attacking then the building doesn't repair as fast. The problem to encounter, particularly on the last level is if your fremen divide up attacks on the palaces because you need all your fremen concentrated on one palace. I believe I had 9 rounds of Fremen  and it was enough to take down the palace, but only if I wasn't watching the building. otherwise they could outrepair my attacks and I couldn't take down the building.

I also can't remember if there is a limit to the number of fremen you can have on the battlefield. Same with Saboteurs. Which I thought was 2 Saboteurs were the max, and I wanted to say 3 sets of Fremen but I just played the last level the other day and had 9 sets before I finished off the last palace. And it could be that 9 is the max, but since I usually have a minimum of 3 palaces going on that level that I remember that there is 3 overall sets of fremen from each palace. Anyways, I'll come back when I test that out actually. Just some food for thought.

Side note, When I was kid I loved the Death Hand so much that I played the last level by building 7 palaces and only used that to take down the bases. And then I ran out of money bc I didn't really understand the importance of harvesting and I got outharvested. The version I also played then was the one that costs money to repair the palaces, which is frankly not worth it as it was super expensive. Im pretty sure I tried to keep them pretty well repaired. The other thing that I recall about that version was that it seemed like the computer RARELY rebuilt buildings. So you took down that Sardaurkar palace once and you were good. In fact I remember when we got (ithink its a windows 95 version?) the game on a cd and we played and they were rebuilding buildings and it was so much harder. Especiallly that last level bc I couldn't build a palace at the bottome fire a shot and listen to hear if I got the palace. I now had to aim for the corner and then get the palace which generally meant I needed to endure a couple missiles and so forth. Anyways, good times.

[X3M]

Ok, had to dig down in my saved files what was bugging again.

My last try-outs where only infantry. When I said that the turrets bugged. This was when my infantry where fighting. Not my vehicles, I had none.

 

Mass Palaces is fun. And I was happy that you could do this again in Generals. However, in Generals, your income was exponential. Thus having more than 100 nukes ready was very easy. In Dune2 you had to build smart and harvest a limited amount of spice.

If you want to try out something funny. Try the following: only harvesters with 5 Refineries. A wall of rocket turrets. While 3 or 4 CY do the buildings for you. And you invest all in Palaces. This works well with Atreides AND Harkonnen.

I thought that having 100 units (including Fremen) was the max. I loved to spam Fremen, until the last spawn was only a single trooper :D

[X3M]

I have started a new experiment after concluding with troppers on Harkonen only.

 

First the Harkonen Troopers. Mission 6 was actually doable. Ordos seems to be weak here. And continiuing with troopers shows that a hogging up spice strategy. Is a valid one for all missions. Mission 7 is the same. And after that, nuke camping is all there is to it.

I have still to do mission 8 without nuke camping. I wonder how that goes. Again spice hogging? 

Camping is boring. And killing harvesters is a way of killing time. Bit squishing isn't fun. So I decided to start a quads squads strategy. 

These things rock! While taking casualities. With 5 harvesters and 5 light factories. Each mission felt 'easy'.

There was only one rule. Kill the construction yards before anything else. Hunting harvesters is ok.

I am at mission 6 now. And even this mission proves to be easy. Those rocket turrets are eaten away. This is simpler then having to utalise rocket launchers.

During my trip towards mission 6, I noticed a bug again. 

A score of 28 in mission 2. Why? Seems the time is 6 hours. I am sure it was only gathering enough spice to finish the game. Mission 3 even took 11 hours. Odly enough, it took me a lucky 15 minutes with 5 refineries and those 5 light factory spam.

Big bug. And it is the opposite on the Atreides missions. I checked. 20 minutes on mission 9? Fat chance. Yet it happened. Resulting in that ridiculous score.

[X3M]

I finished playing the game with only Quads.
I also did the same with Atreides and Ordos. Where Quads where the play at first. But then I took one step backwards. Trikes/Raiders.
It felt a bit harder at first. But knowing where to strike, no real differences where felt.

Although, I did use some Palaces with the Atreides and Harkonnen. But none the less, going for the simple vehicles, saves up a lot of spice. And having a Starport first helps a lot as well. Make that first rush towards their CY, and you are good to go.

I don't know if TaxOwlbear is reading this. But doing 1 campaign (no 3 times 1 map etc., just choose 1 house and do 1 mission each level), doing 1 campaign with only squads of quads and occasionally some palace power. I think, that is a decent challenge. Your only trouble would be the last 3 missions, when dealing with sonic's and palaces. Just remember, locate the CY (knowledge is allowed) and swarm in on any RT of Refinery. Eventually, the enemy will be out of resources and dries to death.

[Cm_blast]

2 hours ago, X3M said:

I finished playing the game with only Quads.
I also did the same with Atreides and Ordos. Where Quads where the play at first. But then I took one step backwards. Trikes/Raiders.
It felt a bit harder at first. But knowing where to strike, no real differences where felt.

Although, I did use some Palaces with the Atreides and Harkonnen. But none the less, going for the simple vehicles, saves up a lot of spice. And having a Starport first helps a lot as well. Make that first rush towards their CY, and you are good to go.

How many time took you to beat mission 9 using only quads/trikes?

[X3M]

With atreides. 2 hours and about 15 minutes. I incapitated them as fast as possible though, didn't notice how long it took though. I went with only to do small attacks with the quads where the fremen went. I supported in a way. Just make sure the cy and palaces are dead.

Ordos was ridiculous hard in the beginning. At least 3 hours. Although, raiders made the strike teams faster. I can't tell for sure. But it felt like the raider campaign in level 9 went faster. With ordos, I had no fremen meat. After striking down the cy and palaces. I needed to camp and rely on RT and massive hogging of spice. 

Saboteurs where used to strike down RT. I only had 3 palaces.

If you are going to try this too. Let me know how it went. I played on my cellphone. Here you can easily command a group of 10-15.

[Cm_blast]

Wow, take me 1 hour or so beating the game in the traditional way, except for that time I depleted all the spice available so my weapon was only the 1 Ordos Palace saboteur, against the Imperial Palace and his WOR.

So the fight was my saboteur against the Death Hand and 1 trooper squash one at a time. The game said that game lasted for 8 hours. I still don't know how I had the patient to do that.

I am not that good player, In your previous screen you achieve the "Emperor" rank multiple times, but I only reached that once. In fact, after years of playing the game the time I got it I was "Wait... There was something more that ruler of Arrakis?"; I don't remember what I did special except for only loosing 2 or 3 units.

Edited December 4, 2017 by Cm_blast

[X3M]

I suspect that the score system on the cellphone version is bugged/glitch or whatever you want to call it.

While I was happy at first by reaching such a score. It is obvious that it is calculated wrong. I mean, I also can reach a score of only 28 while playing the second Harkonnen mission for just 10 minutes or so. And I often make more kills with Harkonnen then with Atreides in mission 9. Yet the Atreides have a whopping +1000 score. That makes no sense at all.

Ruler of Arrakis, see them in my list? Those go to a score of 1399 I think. 1400 and onwards gives you Emperor.
The title Emperor is not linked by defeating mission 9. As you can see, I got it at mission 8 as well.

I don't know how much the titles hold true, compared to the original. Nyerguds knows, I think.

The special thing that you did was killing more then 300 units in that mission. It is easy to reach those score if you snipe out all CY and Palaces. Then they will send unit after unit after unit. Simply take about half of all the spice. And let them have the rest, so that they keep sending. They need to send more points than you loose by time. I don't know exactly, but you need to manage to let them send tanks and infantry only. Vehicles are annoying, since they actually manage to hurt you. And palace powers are the same. A wall of RT and the AI wanting to get your Heavy Factory all the way in the back is how you roll on mission 9.

Mission 8 has less spice. Waaaaaay less.

In short, I am not that good either. I know where to snipe and sit things out. And the cellphone game is bugged in score calculations.