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Battles in Dune: Spice Wars tend to be small-scale skirmishes that can nevertheless change the fortunes of the entire planet. Armies are expensive to recruit and maintain, so you need to use them effectively to stay ahead of your opponents. A well-composed, well-commanded army is essential for taking control of Arrakis.
Even if your plans don't include prolonged offensive campaigns, you'll still need capable military units to defend your territory while you set your schemes in motion. By countering your opponents' strengths while maximizing your own, you can gain significant advantages throughout the course of the game.
Updated on September 14, 2023 by Matt Arnold: Dune: Spice Wars is out of early access, so we've updated this guide to ensure its accuracy with the launch version of the game.
Unit Stats
Every unit in Dune: Spice Wars has four stats that you need to be aware of if you hope to win wars. From left to right on the unit tab, they are:
- Power, represented by a crossed swords icon, indicates how much damage a unit deals with each attack. Every unit makes one attack every two seconds, so a unit's total DPS is equal to half their current Combat Power. There are many effects that can increase or decrease the Power of a unit, so be aware of these when engaging the enemy.
- Health is represented by a diamond icon and shows how much damage a unit can sustain before it is destroyed. Health only regenerates if a unit is near a friendly Village or under the effects of beneficial Operations like Supply Drop.
- Armor is represented by a shield icon and represents the amount of damage from each incoming attack that the unit can ignore. For example, if a unit with 3 Armor is attacked by a unit with 19 Power target will only suffer 16 damage from the attack.
- Supply is represented by a hexagonal icon, and shows how long a unit can survive in the desert. Units outside of friendly territory will slowly lose Supply. A unit that runs out of Supply will quickly lose Health until its Supply is restored or the unit dies.
Units in the Deep Desert lost Supply much faster than normal - only cross this dangerous terrain if there's no other choice, or if you are playing the Fremen and have ways to survive the harsh terrain.
Units' stats can be adjusted by changing their loadout. You can do so by clicking the Armory button underneath your army's icons on the right-hand side of the screen. Adapting your soldiers' gear to handle a specific enemy can be the difference between victory and defeat!
Unit Types
Units in Dune: Spice Wars can be broadly divided into two types: melee and ranged. As a general rule, melee units deal more damage overall and usually have the Armor and Health necessary to survive prolonged engagements. Ranged units typically deal less damage per attack, but as long as they are protected by a melee line they are safe from reprisal.
If a ranged unit finds itself engaged in melee combat, it suffers the Pinned Down debuff. Its attacks will only deal half damage and will not gain the benefit of traits like Demolition Team until they are able to disengage. Protect your ranged units at all costs, and try to pin down those of your enemies!
Every faction has at least one ranged unit with the Demolition trait, indicated by an icon that looks like an explosion. Demolition Teams are critical for winning battles as their ranged attacks will slowly degrade the Armor of their targets. They don't typically deal much damage, though, so be sure to have combat units ready to take advantage of the foes' broken Armor!
Ships
Added in the Air And Sand update, ships are ranged units capable of flying like Ornithopters. Generally, ships are either Fighters, which have a decent airspeed and provide excellent supporting fire, and Frigates, which are extremely slow but durable and hard-hitting.
Ships are very expensive, so always protect them! They're especially vulnerable to missile fire, so keep them away from turrets and enemy capitals.
Combat Strategy
Usually you'll only have a handful of units in a given engagement. A good strategy is to have one ranged unit for every two melee units, though the exact composition will vary depending on your faction and your progress along the tech tree. Unless you're facing a late-game army filled with elite soldiers, your faction's basic units are usually enough to passably get the job done.
Have your melee units engage the melee units of your opponent, with your ranged units providing fire support. The goal is to eliminate their melee line as quickly as possible so you can break through to the vulnerable ranged line. If you have a numerical advantage, send one excess melee unit to outflank and engage the enemy ranged line, pulling them back to reinforce if necessary.
During battle, watch out for enemy units or raiders who might join the fray. A clever third party might wait nearby to pounce on the winners of a battle. The Fremen are particularly dangerous in this regard as they can strike from almost anywhere and have capable stealth units.
Prolonged battles on sand will eventually attract a Sandworm. If this happens, move your troops immediately to bedrock or disengage if there's none available. There's no point in winning a battle if your victorious troops just end up getting devoured. If you can maneuver the battle lines so that the enemy troops get eaten while yours remain safe, so much the better!
House Harkonnen troops are generally replaceable and sometimes provide bonuses when they die, so a particularly ruthless strategy for the Baron is to attract a worm, then bog down your opponent in the open sand until both armies are devoured.
House Atreides Combat Strategy
Atreides troops are at their best when they can support one another with buffs. Be sure that your Troopers and Rangers all target the same unit, picking off the enemy one at a time. Support Drones provide extra survivability to an already-solid defense, and a mix of Wardens and Troopers in the late game will require lots of heavy fire to break through.
House Harkonnen Combat Strategy
Of all the factions, the Harkonnens don't care if their soldiers live or die. Harkonnen troops usually get bonuses the lower their Health gets, so make them fight to the last even if the situation is hopeless. The Baron's Combat Drugs Operation can turn wounded troops into monstrous berserkers, keeping them alive just long enough to finish off the enemy before they succumb.
Smuggler Combat Strategy
The Smugglers are masters of attrition, so always make sure you're the one deciding when and where to fight when playing as them. Catching enemy troops in the desert is ideal, as many Smuggler units deal extra damage to enemies with low supply. If you're forced into a straight-up fight, take advantage of your Scavengers' inherent regeneration ability. If you can afford to do so in the late game, keep a unit or two of Free Company nearby as a "cleanup crew" to chase down stragglers.
Fremen Combat Strategy
The Fremen have the toughest melee line in the game, with their Warriors boasting fifty percent more Health than the basic troops of the Offworlder factions. Take advantage of this to sneak an Infiltrator into the enemy ranged units for a huge advantage. If you need to retreat, a single Fedaykin can cover your escape and prevent unnecessary losses, as they get significant bonuses while outnumbered.
House Corrino Combat Strategy
House Corrino relies on small, elite armies to maintain order on Arrakis. Since they can't support more than one decent-sized battlegroup, and their Infantry get bonuses for being near one another, it's best to keep your entire force together and transport them via Airstrips wherever they're needed. House Corrino rarely lacks for transports or the funds to deploy them, so this isn't likely to be an issue.
House Corrino is even more defensively-oriented than House Atreides, so most of your battles will have home-field advantage. Set up your artillery on cliffs and ridges to hold choke points, and you should be able to hold against even the most dedicated assault.