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Dune: Spice Wars is as much a game about economics and politics as it is about warfare and conquest, and House Atreides excels at the former. If the exercise of soft power and boxing your enemies in with the force of the law is your preferred strategy, you can do no better than House Atreides.

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The key to playing as these dexterous diplomats is knowing when to fight on the battlefield and when to fight at the negotiation table. Both are essential for victory in Dune: Spice Wars, and with House Atreides you'll often find you can win without firing a shot.

Updated March 10, 2024 by Matt Arnold: The Heroes of Dune update has changed the available Councilors for each faction - we've added Dr. Yueh and Young Paul to this guide so that you can stand firm against the enemies of the Atreides!

House Atreides Traits

house atreides capital main base

More than any other faction, House Atreides needs to maintain a positive reputation in the eyes of the people of Arrakis. As such, Atreides players cannot pillage occupied Villages. While this hampers their income somewhat, they are able to peacefully annex neutral Villages by spending Influence alongside the usual annexation cost of Water and Authority.

The Atreides also get reduced Solari upkeep costs, letting them save more for costly purchases and CHOAM Shares.

Hegemony Bonuses

When House Atreides achieves five thousand Hegemony score, they begin to earn bonuses based on the Landstraad Resolutions currently in play. If a Resolution affects the Atreides positively, such as granting them a bonus to income, they will earn ten percent more Solari from all sources for as long as the Resolution is in effect.

Conversely, if the Atreides are affected by a negative Resolution, their units gain ten percent more combat power for the duration of the Resolution. This means that trying to hamper House Atreides by forcing unfavorable Resolutions upon them can backfire once the midgame is underway.

At ten thousand Hegemony score, House Atreides is eligible for Charters in the Landstraad without meeting the necessary requirements, except for the requisite Landstraad Standing score. This allows you to quickly seize power by rushing Charters before your opponents have a chance to make a play for them.

Additionally, once House Atreides reaches ten thousand Hegemony they permanently increase the production of all their resources by two percent for each positive Resolution granted to them, to a maximum bonus of a whopping forty percent. As long as you're able to control vote outcomes, you'll become more powerful the longer the game goes.

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House Atreides Councilors

dune spice wars opening scene atreides

House Atreides can select two Councilors from a pool of four at the beginning of each campaign. These Councilors provide permanent bonuses for the duration of the game.

Lady Jessica

Lady Jessica is a master of strong-arm diplomacy thanks to her quasi-mystical Bene Gesserit training. By spending Influence, she allows her lord to force a Truce ending a war with a rival without giving them a chance to decline. All the normal conditions of the treaty, including its length and Authority costs to House Atreides, remain unchanged.

Jessica is also useful for forging alliances - while she is on the Council, House Atreides doesn't have to pay Authority to maintain any ongoing deals.

Despite being something of a black sheep in the Sisterhood, Jessica still holds sway with the Bene Gesserit. Once a faction is in a Truce with House Atreides, breaking that Truce costs an additional 50 Landsraad Standing as word of the betrayal spreads.

Thufir Hawat

The Atreides spymaster gives all of his House's Agents an additional Trait, making them much more versatile and granting your spy network more flexibility. He also allows House Atreides to spend Solari to speed up construction in Villages or hasten an Infiltration mission in progress.

Dr. Wellington Yueh

Dr. Yueh is the Duke's personal physician, trained by the finest medical minds in the Imperium. While he is on the Council, all non-mechanical Atreides units regenerate thirty percent faster and have ten percent more maximum Health.

Dr. Yueh also provides two additional Knowledge per day, greatly speeding up early research and development!

Young Paul Atreides

Spice Wars takes place at the very beginning of the first Dune novel, before Paul comes into his destiny. A competent but untested youth, Paul is nevertheless devoted to his family's honor.

The wheels of prophecy are already in motion, so Paul's future as the Lisan al-Ghaib makes him ideal for negotiating with the natives of Arrakis. He grants a higher starting relationship level with newly-discovered Sietches, and produces two Authority for each Sietch allied with House Atreides. Better yet, allying with a Sietch reveals another one if there are any left on the map to be discovered.

Prior to the release of Heroes of Dune, Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck were available as Councilors. They have been replaced with Yueh and Paul, but one of the two loyal warriors can be recruited as a Hero upon reaching ten thousand Hegemony.

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House Atreides Developments

dune spice wars arakeen win

Like the other three factions, House Atreides has some unique Developments in their tech tree. In keeping with the faction's playstyle, these Developments focus on maintaining good relations with your neighbors and deterring anyone who would act against you.

Development

Tier

Prerequisite

Effect(s)

Local Community

Economy (Yellow), Tier 1

N/A

  • Produce an additional five Plascrete per day.
  • Allows construction of the Maintenance Center and Investment Office in Villages.

Urban Planning

Economy (Yellow), Tier 2

Local Community

  • Villages may have multiple construction projects underway at once.
  • Allows construction of the Mason Guild at Arrakeen.
  • Allows Trade Agreements with other players.

Atreides Foremen

Economy (Yellow), Tier 4

CHOAM Integration

  • Increases the crew capacity of Harvesters by two.
  • Harvesters with full crew permanently increase their gathering rate by ten percent when the Imperial Tax is paid.
    • This bonus can stack up to five times for each Harvester.
  • Harvesters set to auto-recall will also redeploy automatically.

Post-Trauma Reintegration

Military (Red), Tier 2

Survival Training

  • Grants five additional Command Points.
  • Non-mechanical units drain thirty percent less Manpower while regenerating.
  • Allows construction of the Command Post at Arrakeen.

Proud Liberator

Military (Red), Tier 4

Parallel Training

  • Non-mechanical units increase their Health by one percent for every twenty Landsraad Standing.
  • Liberating or annexing a Village held by a faction with lower Landsraad Standing than House Atreides causes all participating units to immediately heal for twenty percent of their maximum Health.

Atreides Sympathizers

Statecraft (Blue), Tier 1

N/A

  • House Atreides gains five Landsraad Standing for every Information Level they have on the Landsraad after each council.
  • Increases Influence production by two.

Sustainable Spying

Statecraft (Blue), Tier 3

Spying Logistics

  • Agents infiltrating CHOAM, the Landsraad, or the Spacing Guild double their resource output.

Small Council

Statecraft (Blue), Tier 3

Spying Logistics

  • Agents assigned to Counterintelligence produce one Influence and two Intel per day.
  • Allows construction of the Council Chamber at Arrakeen.

Air Network

Expansion (Green), Tier 2

Local Dialect Studies

  • Construction and upkeep costs of Airfields are reduced by seventy percent.
  • Transport shuttles move at twice their normal speed.

Veteran Militia

Expansion (Green), Tier 3

Air Network

  • Atreides militia units double their maximum Health and deal fifty percent more damage.
  • Atreides military units take twenty percent less damage while within House Atreides' borders.

Cultural Assimilation

Expansion (Green), Tier 3

Native Customs

  • Reduces the Authority and Influence cost of Peaceful Annexation by twenty percent.
  • One additional Agent can be assigned to Arrakis Information.
  • Allows construction of the Concord Chamber in Villages.

Early Game Strategies And Tips

character select atreides

It might be tempting to start using Peaceful Annexation right away, but at the beginning of the game you should conquer nearby Villages by force. Peaceful Annexation takes much longer than doing it the old-fashioned way, which means that your economy will stall right from the start if you aren't aggressive.

House Atreides is best for a Political or Economic Victory, so prioritize Solari and Influence with your early construction. Until you have a border with another faction, you won't need to have much of an army; three to five units should be sufficient to handle any raiders than come in from the desert.

When you start recruiting Agents, focus on sending them to Arrakis and the Landsraad. You'll need the Authority generated by the former to keep your expansion on pace, while the Influence generated by the latter will help you win votes early on.

Your first major goal is to reach ten thousand Hegemony as quickly as possible. The sooner that happens, the sooner you can start racking up economy bonuses for winning votes!

Like most factions, you'll want to research Composite Materials and Local Dialect Studies first. Your third Development should be Atreides Sympathizers, which will help push your Landsraad Standing upward. You'll want that number to be as high as possible later in the game, as it will earn extra Influence and cheaper CHOAM Shares.

If a rival faction successfully invades a Village while it's undergoing Peaceful Annexation, the process will be canceled and all progress lost. Keep troops nearby to chase off aggressors if you're trying to annex contested territory.

Late Game Strategies And Tips

dune spice wars opening cinematic

Once your economy is large enough to support an army of forty or more Command Points, keep your forces concentrated at Arrakeen for rapid deployment via Airfields. If you have a particularly aggressive neighbor, concentrate your armies at the border instead. If war can't be avoided, a full-sized Atreides army can make quick work of enemy invaders and even threaten a capital assault.

Try to get a truce with all the other factions, followed by Political or Trade Agreements. Since it's entirely feasible to go for Political and Economic Victory simultaneously, decide which Treaties to pursue based on which will help your opponents the least. For example, if another faction is competing for CHOAM Shares, don't seek a Trade Agreement with them.

At this point, it's safe - and even preferable - to start using Peaceful Annexation on neutral Villages, since this allows your troops to be elsewhere as you expand. Picking up extra territory, particularly Special Regions, can help keep you competitive in the Hegemony race and can earn you some big bonuses once you research Understand The Beauty.

Chances are that you'll have to go on at least one offensive campaign to lock down your victory. Go after your biggest competitor for either Landsraad votes or CHOAM Shares. If you can destroy their base, that's great; if not, focus on ruining their economy by liberating or annexing Spice Fields. This is especially useful for an Economic Victory, as a faction that's out of funds might sell some shares for quick cash... driving the price down for you to pick up the discarded stock!

If you can't take a Spice Field, you can instead send two or three Hawks to destroy the Harvesters. Pull them back if the opponent responds with force. It might take a couple of raids to pull it off, but every minute your opponents' Spice isn't flowing is a good minute for you!

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