Funny and unusual strategy to beat Atreides Mission 8

[Klofkac]

For almost every time I played Atreides mission 8, I used this funny and unusual strategy, which became my favourite way of beating this mission. The key point is that I do not build up any base on the initial top-right area at all, but instead migrate with all my units and MCV and take over the smugglers base on the top-left corner and later take over the small Ordos base with barracks and light factory. I have very limited area where I can place buildings, so I must save space and build only the types of building I really need, for example only one refinery, no hi-tech factory or outpost and so on. This is definitely not the fastest or optimal way of beating this mission (takes quite lot of time), but it is something different from how most missions can be usually beaten, which makes the game much more fun to play (and makes it a "real" strategy).

Today, due to some nostalgia, I repeated playing Atr mission 8 and had some fun again. I'll share how I just played.

- Mark all your units (exclude trike and quad because they are fast) and move them to the left towards the place where the first enemy reinforcement is dropped. Your units arrive just when the carryall lands, your combat and missile tanks being in front. Destroy enemy tanks and quad and try prevent your missile tanks from being damaged.

-Send your units fo the top-left corner of map where is smugglers base. The tanks and missile tanks arrive first, use them to crush smugglers infantry (crushing infantry won't make them hostile). Then destroy their refinery, wind traps and harvesters. Do not destroy silos. Meanwhile the slow MCV arrives, deploy it on the leftmost side just below silos.

- Build a wind trap and refinery below the construction yard, and then a heavy factory. Build extra harvester immediately. Place your combat tanks, missile tanks and siege tanks in formation to protect your base from arriving attacks.

- Build second wind trap and barracks. Build one more harvester and produce as much infantry as possible, both light infantry and troopers in proportion 2:3. Meanwhile you can also produce more combat tanks for your defense and engineers to capture the silos (they give you a few extra credits).

(note: this is not the best layout, I could have built refinery more to the right in the position of barracks to make the way for harvesters shorter)

- Once you have enough infantry, wait for Ordos and Harkonnen attack and destroy their units with your defense line, and when the situation calms down, send all your infantry to attack the nearby Ordos base. Prepare three engineers too.

- Destroy Ordos units and turrets, destroy harvester only when it pumps spice to refinery otherwise it can crush your infantry. Leave just two wind traps and light factory and use engineers to capture them.

- Sell heavy factory and build outpost on its place. Sell barracks and build wind trap on its place. Build new heavy factory on the bottom-left part of the captured Ordos area and upgrade it.

- Now you can build IX research centre, sell outpost and build it on its place.

- Start building Atreides palace. In meantime you can produce about two missile tanks in heavy factory. Once palace is ready, sell IX and built Atreides palace on its place.

- Now Fremen are produced, which is most important. Now you can extend the base - one more more wind trap, new barracks, starport (above the heavy factory) and a few rocket turrets to protect your base. I always like to have the Ordos light factory so that I can produce Raiders, my most favourite unit You can purchase carryalls and extra harvesters from starport.

- Wait until about 20-30 Fremen are produced, meanwhile produce units as fast you can.

- Once you get enough Fremen, send them to te bottom-most part of map, near the infantry-only entrance to Ordos base.

- Then select a 5-group of Fremen and move them on the infantry-only entrance, then move them down next to Ordos Construction Yard. Repeat for all Fremen groups and stealthily infiltrate the Ordos base.

- Mark all your units your produced and start a frontal attack to Ordos base. Make 2 groups of your units, and send one group from the left side and one group grom the right side around the blocking rock cliff.

- Ordos will send all their forces to defend their base.

- While Ordos are distracted by your frontal attack and there are no enemy units around the base, use all the Fremen to destroy construction yard. They do it in a few seconds. Then use your Fremen to destroy more key buildings, like IX, starport, barracks, light factory, heavy factory (beware that there are two barracks and heavy factories). Try your best to destroy as many key buildings as possible by Fremen.

- Meanwhile your frontal attack destroy most of Ordos units and the rurrets and reach Ordos base. Use units which survived to finish the remaining buildings and annihilate Ordos. Produce more units and reinforce to speed up Ordos base destruction.

- As last thing, destroy Harkonnen. That will be piece of cake. You can use a few newly produced Fremen to attack Harkonnen from the unprotected side of their base while doing frontal attack.

And that's all.

Generally, I think you can challenge yourself by using similar unusual strategies, like not building a base on your initial area (where starting with MCV) but taking over some other place. That can bring some fun to otherwise repetitive style of gameplay.

[Cm_blast]

2 hours ago, Klofkac said:

- Then select a 5-group of Fremen and move them on the infantry-only entrance, then move them down next to Ordos Construction Yard. Repeat for all Fremen groups and stealthily infiltrate the Ordos base.

Well, at least I did one of your steps xD, but I think that's totally intenional, the area it's full of only infantry area and hard to reach for vehicles while having an infantry only entrance, to convient to Fremen to go and do damage. 15 Fremen should be enough, even with 10 you can do it, but you will need to send at least one to attack another building to make distraction or send some units at the front of the base so the Fremen can do the work and, by the time they are finish, you can already go-in the full base.

But with the amount of fremen you have there, you can order the attack and they will take the CY before AI has enough time to react and protect itselves, unless he had 2 siege tanks nearby.

[X3M]

And this is what makes RTS fun. You can do something unexpected and completely different than what the developers might have intended.