Emperor: Battle for Dune - Harkonnen Level 09

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Jimbatron

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Published on March 9, 2024 10:56:08 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3tw67jdnm0

Game:

Emperor: Battle for Dune (2001)

Duration: 59:36

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With the new Dune movie released, I thought I'd upload some old videos of a playthrough of the last licensed strategy game for the franchise released in 2001 (although stylistically it looks more like the David Lynch 1984 film than the descriptions in the books or the visuals from Denis Villeneuve's version).

Strategy overview:
The Atreides homeworld presents a similar challenge to their capital on Arrakis, but it's more difficult. Attacking the main island by land is difficult as the access ramps are heavily defended, and a direct assault will lead to casualties you can't afford. You can't mine spice here. You get a fair amount of cash to start with, but additional funds are slow to arrive. You also have to suffer larger attack early on, which I only just hold off. The Atredies will also start using their Hawkstrike super weapon (where as in previous levels it tends not to build a palace, even though it's available on the tech tree), which will cause your units to flee - off the map, and gone for good if they are close the edge. Once the attack waves in the first 10 minutes are dealt with, I build Devastators and airlift 5 of them to the back of the enemy base. Once they established a foothold, I airlift an MCV in, build a barracks and capture their structures.

0:00 Opening Cutscene
0:48 Game Start
I need to be reasonably prompt at the opening before intital attacks arrive. I deploy the MCV on the nearest hill, and use a combat tank to get rid of the trees to create more space to build. I use the Inkvine Catapults to take out the infantry in nearby trenches to the north west. I sacrifice a Buzzsaw to uncover the nearby barracks, and then do a hit and run attack with the two missile tanks. This is very helpful as it means you'll get less infantry attacks early on while you're building your base. I begin constructing wind traps and a factory. I send one buzzsaw east to uncover the map towards the coast.
2:34 Fremen attack
These can be quite damaging as the Feydakin are strong against vehicles, and they are stealthed so you don't see them coming. They take out one of my Inkvine Catapults before I can finish them off. In hindsight, building a Barracks and having a flame turret ready to place might have been a better option!
4:23 Second Infantry attack
This consists of Fremen and Atreides infantry plus some sandbikes and wipes out my force of vehicles completely. Fortunately I now have a barracks and place a couple of flame turrets and burn them all before they are able to destroy either my construction yard or factory - although it's close. At the end though an APC sneaks in an engineer and steals my construction yard before I can build the infantry to stop him. Fortunately the AI isn't smart enough to sell it immediately, otherwise it would have been game over for me - instead I train an engineer and capture it back. I complete a starport and start building Devestators.
9:08 Third Enemy attack
This one is major attack where enemy reinforcements keep on coming, These pretty much wipe out the extra turrets and vehicles I build and I repel the attack with 1 Devastator left standing. Fortunately the AI completely wastes the Hawkstrike sequence on a lone infantry unit.
12:15 Grabbing cash
My forces have been decimated and I'm low on funds. I build a lone buzzsaw to destroy the wreckage to the east and grab the cash inside.
14:01 Scouting the enemy base
I build a lone gunship on a suicide mission to uncover the enemy base and palace. I plan to use the death hand to take it out and effectively neutralise the Hawkstrike sequence. I get another attack wave sent my way but it's easier to deal with now. My Devastators take out the Minotaurus and a flametank disptaches the Kinjal infantry. The enemey uses a Hawkstrike on one Devastator but it doesn't flee off the map.
18:42 Death Hand Launch
I nuke the enemy palace. I can now fend off new attack waves with relative ease, but I have limited funds so can't build an attack force as quickly as I would like
23:20 Starport Order
Devestators are cheap, so I get 6, but it uses up most of my remaining funds
25:25 Extra funds arrive
Only an extra 5k, so build progress is still slow. The Atredies palace hasn't been rebuilt so I nuke the construction yard and start building Advanced Carryalls as my 6 Devastators have arrived at the starport.
32:33 Devastator airlift
Once the enemy air defense are taken out, I airlift in an MCV. I build a barracks and gun turrets inside the enemy base
37.22 Capturing enemy structures
I grab their construction yard and palace, and construction structures. I build extra units with them, and use both palace super weapons on concentrations of enemy units
53:12 Attacking the Starport base
With the main encampment taken over, I deal with the remaining smaller ones. I use Atreides Minotaurus built from the caputred structures to do damage from range, and an air defense drone to uncover the map quickly.
59:09 Victory

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