Strategy Guide - Guide for Dune 2000

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DUNE 2000
Walkthrough / FAQ

Written by:
SMoon ([email protected])

Date Created: 11/29/99
Last Revised: 11/29/99

Copyright SMoon 1999
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 ***  I N T R O D U C T I O N ***

Hello, y'all. Strategy games and RPGs are my type of game, but Dune 
2000 is one I haven't played in a long while. I did see, however, that 
the Gamefaqs site needed one, so, I am going to go back into the game 
to write the FAQ. 

This game is a lot like Command and Conquer series, as that you do all 
commands the same way. In a way, it is like a 'duned' C&C, in that 
there is a little difference in units, and some improvements in 
gameplay options.

This FAQ is more unique than the other FAQ I have written. I only see a 
need for a FAQ in RPGs, and I really don't know how to write one for 
strategy games yet. But, I will experiment, and, write the best FAQ 
that I damn well can. 

First of all, I haven't played the game much, and I beat the Atreides 
missions. I am (or was) very far in both of the other houses, but I 
haven't beaten them yet. This is where I need your help. If you have 
any information on beating the _ORDOS_ missions, then please tell me! I 
am pretty good at these games, and are revered by other players, but, I 
am not a master. I will beat the ORDOS missions eventually, but I want 
to get the FAQ finished A.S.A.P. Well, enjoy the FAQ!

Also, these strategies are for the EASY category!! They will probably 
work for medium (just requires more speed and slightly different 
strategy) but hard players will probably never find a FAQwriter that 
has that much skill. 

 *** R E V I S I O N   H I S T O R Y ***

11/30/99       V .3        First release. No walkthrough yet, but It'll
                           be up soon! Please be patient.      

 *** C O N T E N T S ***

I. Game Introduction
II. Gameplay Concepts
III. Structures / Units
   IV. Walkthrough
   - Atreides
   - Harkonnen
   - Ordos
V. EXTRAS
   - Miscellaneous tips
   - Modem/Net/Etc. play tips

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Dune, a barren, desert world, is a planet that is valuable in one way, 
despite its very harsh conditions. It is the only place in the entire 
known universe that houses the very powerful substance known as the 
Spice Melange. The Spice can lengthen life, power ships, accomplish 
many common tasks. 

Currently, the Padishah Emperor, Federick IV, is the ruler of the 
entire known universe. He is the leader of House Corrino, who trains 
his extremely powerful Sardaukar troops. 

The emperor recently made a challenge...to three of the most powerful 
houses, all of which are hostile to each other. The victor not only 
gains mining rights, but the Governor ship of Dune. Sounds intriguing, 
that such a selfish Emperor would make such an offer...

The houses have accepted the challenge, and all of them are arriving at 
Dune to compete for their precious prize. What could the emperor have 
in store for them? The destiny of Dune is in your hands...

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Dune is your battle field. A wise commander always knows his 
battlefield. Dune has different types of terrain, that of which can be 
used to your advantage, or even disadvantage.

||||||||||||||               Spice is a reddish color, and is your main
|Spice Fields|               source of dinero. It can be harvested to 
||||||||||||||               obtain credits to purchase units.

|||||||||||||                What do ya think?! It's the most easily                
|Normal Sand|                passable terrain, and also the most 
|||||||||||||                abundant. 

|||||||                      Found in the sand. Obviously, it is hard 
|Dunes|                      pass with vehicles.
|||||||

|||||||||||||||||            Terrain features that are stable enough to
|Rock Formations|            build structures on. Still, concrete slabs
|||||||||||||||||            must be built for maximum stability.

|||||||||||                  Ridges that are the only elevated areas in
|Mountains|                  all of Dune. Only infantry may cross, 
|||||||||||                  only in certain spots though.

There are two types of species which are indigenous(native) to the 
planet.

++ Sand Worms ++      These are an extremely dangerous type of worm.
                      Huge, unseen, and well, huge worms which lurk
                      the sands of Dune. These worms are NOT 
                      invisible, though, and can be killed. The process
                      is very slow, so avoiding it would probably 
                      easier.

++ Fremen ++          These are warriors which live in caves around the 
                      planet called Sietches. Very dangerous and 
                      masters of stealth, they have no allies...yet.

There are three houses that are in a warring state for control of Dune. 
Being some of the most powerful houses in the universe, the Emperor 
sees them as a potent threat, and unleashes a plan that could destroy 
them all, or destroy him, depending on you. The three houses are:

>>>ATREIDES<<<
  A noble house. Their planet is the watery world of Caladan. They are 
  a prosperous people. Their leader is Duke Leto Atreides. He is an 
  intelligent nobleman, who leads his people well. He has a mentat 
  named Noree Moneo. Their strengths lie in air force, and slightly
  higher quality units and structures. Their absolute enemy and threat
  is Baron Harkonnen and his house of wretched 'creations'. Of course,
  this house, being the most intelligent, is most suspicious of the 
  Emperor's offer, and is ready at any moment for surprises.

>>>HARKKONEN<<<
  Detestable beings. Their planet is the wasteland of Geidi Prime. You
  could say that their leader, Baron Harkonnen, is the epitome of evil. 
  He rules cruelly under grieving conditions; punishment is normally 
  torturous and perverted. His mentat is named Hayt DeVries (a Ghola; 
  reanimated corpses. Didn't I say this guy was perverted and 
  demented?). Their strength lies in pure brute force, and perhaps the
  fear which the Baron strikes in the hearts of his forces and his 
  enemies. It is also rumored that he utilizes the use of atomic 
  weapons, though most would not be surprised. Prisoners and all 
  Harkonnen are required to wear heart plugs; plugs in the heart area
  which, when pulled, allow the Baron to drink the blood of failures
  and prisoners with ease (!).

>>>ORDOS<<<
  A very 'shy' house. Not much is known about it, nor their home 
  planet. Planet is a world of ice, thus, their resources are smuggled
  from other planets. Their leader is currently not known. Rumor is, 
  though, a group of wealthy men manage the finances of the house, and
  thus it seems they also manage the house itself. Their mentat is 
  rumored to be a supercomputer in the form of a man, but it would most 
  likely be the first ever created, so the idea is normally 
  disapproved. Masters of sabotage, they're strength lies in large 
  wealth. Mercenaries are their main source of troops, though, leaving
  an unreliable source for recruiting troops. 

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When you start up your program, you will be given a choice to:

----------------------
|  [Start New Game]  |
|  [ Load Mission ]  |
|  [ Multiplayer  ]  |
|  [Intro/Sneak P.]  |
|  [ Game Options ]  |
|  [  Exit Game   ]  |
----------------------

If this is your first time, an animation should've already run and you 
should be able to pick your house. I recommend that you pick easy as a 
difficulty if your picking the Ordos, pick easy / medium for Atreides 
and Harkonnen. Although the walkthrough varies from difficulty to 
difficulty, you should be able to follow it easy if you pick the 
difficulties stated above.

You should already know how to play the game if you've played previous 
Command and Conquer games. But here's an explanation for newbies. 

1. Use your mouse to:
  - Scroll around screen
  - Select units/groups
  - Initiate commands
 
This could mean anything from commanding units to move to setting up 
special Guard / Sell controls.

2. There are many different cursors:
  - When there are brackets around your unit, it is selectable. 
  - When there is a circle with four arrows, that means that that the
    selected unit can be commanded to move there.
  - When there is a circle with four arrows with universal no sign, 
    then that means that the selected unit cannot move on that terrain.
  - A big arrow indicates scrolling.
  - A arrow with the universal no sign means that you scrolled to the 
    end of the map.
  - The deploy cursor is 4 small arrows moving from the center.
  - The can't deploy cursor is the arrows with the universal no.

3. Groups can be selecting by dragging the mouse cursor to make a box.

4. The sidebar is a useful tool; here you can initiate all building, 
   view maps, upgrade, and initiate auto guard to a group. During 
   multiplayer, you can also ally with the sidebar.

5. Building is easy:
  - To initiate building, just click on the picture of the building on 
    the sidebar. The building will become shaded, and fractions of the
    shading will be colored at certain speeds. When the shading 
    disappears, the building is ready.
  - Click on the picture again, and you will see a building placement
    cursor, which shows the space that the building needs to be built.
  - Buildings can be built on rock only. Also, I would recommend that 
    you build concrete slabs before you place the buildings, as that 
    acts as a foundation that keeps buildings from 'falling apart'.
  - Power: Power is needed for proper operations of buildings. When 
    low on power, buildings slow in training/building, some become 
    completely unoperational. Build Wind Traps to add power, and NEVER
    let your power fall into red (check on your sidebar for power 
    reading)
  - Training / Building units is just as easy. Click on the picture,
    and it will start building. When finished, it will come out of the
    proper training facility.
  - Upgrading / Building requirements: Some buildings/units require 
    that certain buildings already be built to be built. Some also
    require that buildings be upgraded. To find out all that stuff,
    read the unit listings just ahead.
  - Harvesting: When you build you a spice refinery, a harvester will
    come via carryall. Harvesters are used to harvest the spice, and
    the spice is what your money is in this game.
6. Sidebar extras
  - Sell button: The $ on the sidebar is the button you click on to 
    activate the sell cursor. Any building you click thereafter will
    be sold for half of its original price. NOTE: This cursor will
    remain UNTIL you click the right mouse button.
  - Radar Button: Cycles through each of the radar views. A outpost is
    required for radar.
  - Guard Button: When you select this button, selected units go into
    guard mode. When enemies enter their area, the units will attack 
    and chase down (to a certain point) the enemy units.
  - Retreat button: If your in a jam, select the units and click the 
    retreat button.
7. Advanced tactics
  - Teams: You can make teams of units by selecting a group of units 
    and pressing ctrl + # to assign them to a group. Press the # key 
    to recall the group. (this is not #, when I say #, I mean a 
    number, as in 1-9). THIS IS AN EXTREMELY USEFUL AND IMPORTANT
    tactic. With up to 9 teams selectable, you can do to separate 
    attacks easily. Press alt + # to center the screen on a certain 
    team.
  - Bookmarks: Useful to quickly go back to a certain area on the map.
    Go to the area you want to save and press ctrl + F9-F12. To recall
    the area, just press the F9-F12.
  - Force Fire: It could be a useful tactic to tell a unit to fire on 
    an area that is not necessarily a target. Press CTRL and click on 
    the area which you which to force fire.
  - Force Move: Heh Heh...if you have infantry pissing you off because
    your tanks can't kill them, use force move :) Just press alt and 
    click on the unit.
  - Scatter: If tanks are smashing into your infantry, try scattering.
    Units will move in random directions to try and avoid the enemy.
    Scatter by pressing X.
  - Stop: If you want your unit to stop immediately, select them and
    press S.
  - Center View: Pressing the Home Key will center your view on the
    selected unit if you accidentally get lost.
  - Construction Yard View: Pressing H centers your screen on your
    Construction Yard.
  - Select Everything: To select every selectable _unit_ on the map
    that of course is yours, press E.

Well, after all that, you should have a pretty good idea on how to play 
the game well. Good luck on your missions!

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/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ I I I .   U N I T S \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
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All buildings are available to any house. Units, though, are more 
unique to the houses. Unique units will be marked with a )A(, ]H[,
or a }O{ to indicate which house can build/train the selected unit.
Please NOTE: The costs of the buildings are not available yet, but I 
will have them soon enough! Come on, I did all this in 3 hours!
 
=-=-=-=-=-=
|Structures|
=-=-=-=-=-=

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|Construction Yard          |  |Concrete Slab              |
 ---------------------------    ---------------------------
|Prerequisite: MCV          |  |Prerequisite: Con. Yard    |
|                           |  |                           |
|The main part of any base; |  |Foundations of a building. |
|probably one of your most  |  |Highly recommended to be   | 
|important structures. It   |  |built under buildings to   |
|allows you to build all    |  |prevent from unnecessary   | 
|structures.                |  |damage.                    |
 ---------------------------    ---------------------------

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|Wall                       |  |Wind Trap                  |
 ---------------------------    ---------------------------
|Prerequisite: Wind Trap    |  |Prerequisite: Con. Yard    |
|                           |  |                           |
|Use this to defend your    |  |Yet another very important |
|base from attack. Hard to  |  |structure. It provides     |
|destroy; only higher level |  |power to your base. Power  |
|explosive attacks can      |  |is needed for your base to |
|damage it.                 |  |function correctly         |
 ---------------------------    ---------------------------

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|Refinery                   |  |Barracks                   |
 ---------------------------    ---------------------------
|Prerequisite: Wind Trap    |  |Prerequisite: Wind Trap    |
|                           |  |                           |
|The refinery is the        |  |Infantry are trained at the|
|facility that allows you to|  |barracks. May need to be   |
|collect spice on Dune.     |  |upgraded in order to create|
|Comes with a harvester and |  |more advanced units.       |
|is where the harvester     |   ---------------------------
|dumps its load to be       |
|refined.                   |   ---------------------------
 ---------------------------   |Outpost                    |
                                ---------------------------
 ---------------------------   |Prerequisite: Barracks     |
|Gun Turret                 |  |                           |
 ---------------------------   |This is where your radar   |
|Prerequisite: Barracks     |  |originates. If you have    |
|                           |  |sufficient power, then the |
|Primary defense for a base.|  |radar will be available to |
|Low cost, power, and       |  |you. The outpost is easily |
|mediocre defense against   |  |destroyed though, and      |
|enemies. Very useful.      |  |should be defended.        |
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|Rocket Turret              |  |High Tech Facility         |
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|Prerequisite: Outpost and  |  |Prerequisite: Outpost      |
|upgraded Con. Yard         |  |                           |
|                           |  |This serves only one       |
|Costly, and drains power,  |  |purpose to most houses; the|
|but well worth the defense.|  |construction of the ever   |
|Has much more power, and   |  |useful carryalls. The      |
|ability to attack air units|  |Atreides have used this    |
|but it is inaccurate, to   |  |building to construct their|
|say the least.             |  |unique ornithopers, but it |
 ---------------------------   |must be upgraded first.    |
                                ---------------------------
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|Starport                   |   ---------------------------
 ---------------------------   |Light Factory              |
|Prerequisite: Heavy Factory|   ---------------------------
|and Outpost                |  |Prerequisite: Refinery     |
|                           |  |                           |
|A very useful building;    |  |Allows construction of more|
|allows trade w/ CHOAM, an  |  |'light' vehicles, such as  |
|intergalactic merchant's   |  |trikes. Useful in the      |
|guild. Many different types|  |beginning missions, but    |
|of units may be bought at  |  |later the units built by   |
|high numbers at a lower or |  |this facility become       |
|higher price.              |  |obsolete.                  |
 ---------------------------    ---------------------------

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|Repair Pad                 |  |Ix Research Center         |
 ---------------------------    ---------------------------
|Prerequisite: Upgraded     |  |Prerequisite: Outpost and  |
|Heavy Factory              |  |upgraded Heavy Factory     |
|                           |  |                           |
|Useful, in that you can    |  |Extremely advanced         |
|repair more of your        |  |technology is examined here|
|expensive units, except    |  |to provide your house with |
|its pretty obsolete when   |  |their most powerful        |
|comes to units that are    |  |weapons. Worth having to   |
|cheap and expendable.      |  |produce these weapons.     |
 ---------------------------    ---------------------------
  
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                  |Palace                     |
                   ---------------------------
                  |Prerequisite: Ix Res. Cen. |
                  |                           |
                  |Palaces are the prime      |
                  |building of a house; it    |
                  |contains 'forbidden'       |
                  |technology, and is useful  |
                  |in deploying powerful      |
                  |tactics.                   |
                   ---------------------------