Dune 2 - The Building of a Dynasty

[laiocfar]

A bug or there wasnt no place for unit to deploy

[Picollo]

i have a patch for better sound if someone wants me to upload it

[The Fifth Horseman]

Yes, please. :)

[Enterthefire]

woah... glad to see there's still people playing this :o

Anyways i got a good little bit of advice for the first level.

If memory serves, your first objective is to amass 1000 spice, right? usually, at the start of the level, you get 1000 spice, which drops by one to 999.


now here's the best bit: you dont need to build a refinery to get 1000 credits.

simply quit and enter the level. if it goes down again, reload and try again. eventually it will stay on 1000 after the level starts and all you have to do is wait until the mission complete message shows up

hope i helped you save time =D

[Szilvio]

A bug or there wasnt no place for unit to deploy

For sure there was space to deploy, so happy to here it is a bug. I thought it is the risk to get "cheap units". :)

[Simoneer]

Awesome game.

However, is there any copy protection crack for this game, or at least a .pdf file with images & info on vehicles, etc.? Any sort of reference? Only thing I have is a text manual for the game, which makes it a real guessing game when they display a picture, and ask: ''What unit is this?'' <_<

Thanks in advance. ^_^

[red_avatar]

http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.1682

Try looking here.

[NotRegist]

I just got done finishing the game with cheats in House Harkonnen.
I must say I was ticked off because I had spent about 8 hours trying to beat it first without cheats before having to just having to install the cheats and be done with it.
First off when I watch Youtube videos the people beating the game are always using a version different from mine (Amiga, Genesis).
When I look at there base I can see that they are not effected by the things I am effected by, I will explain.
When I read a Dune II walkthrough it says that the AI will launch an attack(for me its scripted to start 15 minutes after game start) that lasts somewhere between 15-20 minutes but this is not the case for me, when the computer starts its attack it has somewhere between 10-20 units attacking at ALL times and the attack never ends, in my last attempt (before using serious cheats) I spent 3 hours holding off the AI attack before my cheat money got spent up defending my base and I was destroyed(I had to limit the AI to 0 units to prevent this from happening and finally win the game).
The Max buildings I have are quite low, I can only build the staples such as a refinery, barracks, heavy vehicle factory, no hi tech or palace and then after that I can only build 3 turrets but the people beating the game seam to not have this limitation.
The Enemy Missile always hits my base while mine is like 1/2 the time.

I downloaded the game years ago from I think this site(maybe) anyways I was wondering if anyone is having the same problems I had or if my scenario.pak file was edited to make it super duper hard before I downloaded it.

[Dave]

There is a AI pack that increases difficulty, perhaps you have that one installed?

[Simoneer]

http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.1682

Try looking here.

You know, that makes me feel like a dumbarse. I know of that site. Why I didn't think of it beats me. <_<

Thank you, ra! This shall be great.

[Szilvio]

[QUOTE=NotRegist;355792] Here is an answer to post #258

"I just got done finishing the game with cheats in House Harkonnen. .... The Enemy Missile always hits my base while mine is like 1/2 the time."

You don't need cheats even with the improved AI. Enough to save often and if you had been hit hardly, reload the game and prepare for defense, or prepare an attack. If enemy launches Missile you need to have a save before his launch, than you have chance that AI miss the target (if you also increase speed of the game, than you have also higher chance that he miss the target). For your Missile save before launch and decrease the game speed. If you saved after the rocket launch, rocket will hit always the same place AI's and yours too.

"The Max buildings I have are quite low, I can only build the staples such as a refinery, barracks, heavy vehicle factory, no hi tech or palace and then after that I can only build 3 turrets but the people beating the game seam to not have this limitation."

May be stupid question, but do you have radar station? If you have no radar, you can not build higher structures. You have to have some buildings to be able to build new ones...

[NotReg]

"There is a AI pack that increases difficulty, perhaps you have that one installed?"

Yea that must have been it, I just got done beating last mission with the Scenario pak from the downloads section and wadda ya know it was easy.
Whoever released that version of Dune2 for regular download deserves to have his unit caught on fire (why his sonic tanks of course which unit did you think I was talking about?).

[jerryboy]

hey the music dosent work for me. someone got a idea?

[The Fifth Horseman]

Did you try running the game in DOSBox?

[dospf]

This is a really addicting game!:)

[Valand]

I used to play this game on my Commodore Amiga, back in 1993. I played with house Atreides, but never managed to finish the game. I got to the last mission, but kept getting my base blown to bits by the Harkonnen heavy missile(some sort of nuclear missile launched from Harkkonnen palaces). Unfortunately for me, the emperor also has this missile in his palace, so repeated strikes from 2 missiles were enough to blow my bases to bits. Has anybody managed to finish the game, I would love to know what happens in the final cut scenes.

Well I did by building a new base in the southern part of the ordos base. The missiles tried poundering that to but missed. I took med days and days do find out that idea but then it wasn´t to hard. You just had to fight your way upp clearing room för your base and constantly killing those turrets that miracoulsy was rebuilt where you had put buildings. I memorised where they had stod in order to avoid building there. I was so fun and rewarding when I made it.

[Tiny4Ever]

i keep getting a 32 bit or 64 bit error message about the game not being compatible anyone know why?
or what i need to do?

[dosraider]

i keep getting a 32 bit or 64 bit error message about the game not being compatible anyone know why?
or what i need to do?
Two posts above yours:
Did you try running the game in DOSBox?
Yep, indeed, that's your answer.

[j0_luva_girl yahoo.com]

that sucks!!! i love this game and cant playing coz i have vista not xp.

any ideas

[dosraider]

Yes:
http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showthread.php?t=19982

[Nyerguds]

"The Max buildings I have are quite low, I can only build the staples such as a refinery, barracks, heavy vehicle factory, no hi tech or palace and then after that I can only build 3 turrets but the people beating the game seam to not have this limitation."

May be stupid question, but do you have radar station? If you have no radar, you can not build higher structures. You have to have some buildings to be able to build new ones...
Actually, this is true... the maximum structures limit is ridiculously low. After a certain amount of buildings you get that annoying "unable to create more" message. There's an easy fix for that though... order a bunch of units from your starport and go destroying some enemy structures. For each structure you destroy, you can build a new one. In the last Harkonnen mission I completely wiped out the Ordos just to finish my base.

The same thing applies to units, though ordering them from the starport throws off the scale a bit.

[another_guest]

Aaah, the annoying building and unit limit + the issue that prevented starports from delivering your latest huge, expensive order :)

Those were the days...

[MrFlibble]

There's an easy fix for that though... order a bunch of units from your starport and go destroying some enemy structures. For each structure you destroy, you can build a new one.
It's not as easy as that though. There's a correspondence between the size (in tiles) of the structure that you destroy and what you get allowed to build. If you destroy a Turret, for example, you won't be able to build a Palace yet.

Same with the units, as there seems to be a separate global limit for each unit-type (Foot, Wheeled, Tracked and Flying), which is, at least in v1.07, reflected by the availability of certain units at the Starport (e.g. you might find that all units except carryalls and 'thopters become unavailable, then you destroy some enemy Quads and tada, Quads and Trikes are no longer "out of stock" too).

[Talkienotlogin]

Login seems to have problems ("click here to login" doesn't work).


At any rates, I played Dune II for the first time because I heard so much about it. It's very different from, err, Dune (the first videogame), but it
figures as a nice complement ("A nice complement, huh? Dune II won awards in 1993 you dumbass!"). Hmm, ok, it was more than a complement. Let's say it invented its own videogame genre. Either you will adore it or you won't.


But I find the videogame wasn't hard at all to win. Ok, I had to restart about 3 times on Mission 8, but once I got what I was doing wrong, Mission 9 was much easier (except I used saves about twice early on for the Death Hand attacks).


Thing is, a lot of people expect or desire Dune II to be fast and frantic. They want battlefield action and after they cry that they can't finish the late missions. I browsed some of the strategies here and somehow I didn't see anything close to what I did, which made everything sooo easy.

It's a simple 3 notes rule: Economy - Defense - Patience

In the late missions (let's presume you all had it easy through the first 7),
you have either low amount of Spice available, or low amount of possible structures to built.


In both cases, you need to spread, about in that order: refineries, turrets, a starport, and a repair facility. You don't really need much more, but you need a starport to get the most Harvesters possible, fast. In the meantime, building rocket turrets and repairing them often, added with a few tanks bought at the Starport will create a strong defense line. You need a defense
line so strong that you don't need to even worry about it.

Then, you need a Palace to use its free weapon ASAP. I find that if you play Atreides, the Fremen will destroy the most quantity of units while you simply defend your base. The Harkonnens, it's a joke how it's easy to win with them. Ordos requires more strategy and are the most fun. Saboteur are VERY useful and fun, but you need to help them.

Next step is buying carryalls (keep checking the Starport) so you can have your units repaired. If you don't spend too much on Factories and Upgrades until you have plenty of credits, you should be fine with a Starport, but save sometimes in case the Starport freeze on you (or..it WILL let you down if the Windtraps are not working fully).


In Mission 8 you will loose Spice pretty fast and why it's important to choose carefully what you are ready to pay for, and create an "army" that you won't have to replace (because you won't have the credits to replace it). Better to buy lots of Turrets and keep defense destroying a good portion of the enemy for a while.

In Mission 9, credits is not a problem. The problems are lacks of availability of stuff (units and space to built), and... missiles. For the missile you need to spread your base with lots of empty space early on (build in diagonal), and then send a MCV start a new Construction Yard. This is your best bet.
You will eventually get enough money to rebuilt anything lost easily, but keep the essentials, don't go for the fancy base that has everything. For the availability of space, you will notice that if you take your time, and use the Palace weapon aplenty, you will start receiving much less visits to your base. That's when you can start to destroy your own Turrets and the Windtraps needed to power them. You can build Silos instead, or other needy structures, like the Factories. The Starport is is not rich in Units, but with patience you will get more than what you need.


When the battle is advanced, it's rather easy to send a small group of a couple launchers and some tanks to destroy, first, turrets one after the other,
or at least the ones that prevent you from going "behind" the enemy bases.
You start from an extremity and pave your way in, or you may want to go directly to the palaces but then you need more tanks to attack defense
units. After that, take pauses when a unit is sent by a carryall for repair, and let your Palace weapon do some more jobs for you. As you advance like this,
everything is so easy that you can take time to harvest more spices (building silos as soon as enemy structures are down). You can also try fancy stuff like letting Ornithopters destroy the whole enemy down (buying them one after the other).


All I'm saying is I thought the videogame was easy to win. I didn't expect the Death Hand and the heavy attacks on the late missions, but then I thought "ok, all they're asking is that I take my time". And indeed, if you take your time (you only need to rush about refineries, harvesters and turrets in the beginning), it's rather easy.



Talkie

[gorber]

i remember some serious 12 hour sessions with this one. Amazing.

[tzutzy]

I'm still having problems with the Radar Outpost. I'm using version 1.07 downloaded from the site, plus I've also downloaded the fix (Mr Fibble).
As soon as I try to place the Radar, the game freezes.
Any fixes?

Thanks

[Dry Mango]

This was the very game that started off the entire Real-Time Strategy genre. Warcraft is more widely known, but a lot of people don't give Dune 2 the credit.

I certainly remember my dad ordering this game through the mail back in early 1993. The version he got contained a number of bugs. When you went to the Mentat screen and clicked on Wind Traps, the game would lock up. There were others, but it has been too long since I actually played the game without using DosBox.

I always thought the easy way to beat the game was to play the Harkonnen. Besides their vile statistics they were strong and well armored. I used a number of Devastators to take down the rocket turrets and the Rocket Launchers to destroy the Refinery and Construction building from a distance. Don't forget the lovely Death Hand. If I missed my target I could always go back and reload my save file.

The Atredies were to me, sort of a balance. Their Fremen were more of a nuisance than an actual help, but the Sonic Tank did good enough. The rest of their units were either good or average.

The Ordos were hard to play as. You cannot build Rocket Launchers at your Heavy Factory, you have to import them. Their Trikes were fast, but weak and vulnerable. My biggest complaint was it's unit at the Palace. I spent 999 Credits my Harvester cashed in from the spice to build a Palace, just for a Saboteur? I mean, it was weak. One hit from a Siege Tank or a Rocket Launcher was more than enough to blow up the Saboteur, and it just proved that I wasted a lot of Credits. Would of been better to have a group of them, and invisible to Turrets/Rocket Turrets.

Overall, the game was one of the best in it's day. The cinematics were well presented and highly detailed, and the gameplay was the first of it's kind. The only problem was the copy protection, but I guess that was meant for people not to copy the data and source code onto a blank floppy disk. Hehe :smile2:

Good times...

[MrFlibble]

I'm still having problems with the Radar Outpost. I'm using version 1.07 downloaded from the site, plus I've also downloaded the fix (Mr Fibble).
As soon as I try to place the Radar, the game freezes.
Any fixes?
Turns out this is caused by corrupt speech files. I've made a little fix for that, read more info here (http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showpost.php?p=431510&postcount=39).

[The one who flew]

I'm trying to use TiMidity to play Dosbox's MIDI music, but the mission music in Dune 2 won't loop, it only plays once!(yes I unchecked "Not Loop") I can reset the music entering the mentat screen but that's quite annoying having to do it every ½ minute. I tried different versions of Timidity I could find on the net and different Dosbox versions but can't get it to work.

Anyone have TiMidity set up and working?

EDIT: Ha, nevermind, found another software MIDI synth, this one works great and doesn't need virtual MIDI ports with loopMIDI or anything! http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=87639

This soundfont sounds pretty good: http://www.geocities.jp/shansoundfont/

EDIT2: Fuck me I'm stupid. I probably shouldn't use the patch for GUS music when I'm not gonna use it :doh: That seemed to cause the incompatibility.

Well at least now I can choose from half a dozen different ways to listen to Genral MIDI games.

[MrFlibble]

The one who flew, that's very nice of you to post all this info :) Thanks a lot for the links! :D

I haven't tried playing Dune 2 through DOSBox with TiMidity (although other DOS games with MIDI music worked fine with the TiMidity++/Twsynth combo that installs the alternate MIDI driver on Windows), I've been using pure GUS emulation in DOSBox along with this patch (http://forum.dune2k.com/topic/21642-info-running-dune-2-with-gravis-ultrasound-in-dosbox/) that adds GUS compatibility to Dune 2.

[Domomonkey]

Any advice on the third Harkonen mission when fighting Ordos?

No matter what I do I vcan't make any headway on their base. The PC spews out units nonstop and repairs it's buildings so fast I can hardly make a dent.

[Eagle of Fire]

It been way too long since I played this game so I cannot remember mission specifics... However, the first few missions are usually the easiest. You should not have too much problem taking the upper hand.

If you really cannot corner the AI then remember that there is always a fixed amount of spice on the map. The first thing you should do is build two refineries and sit tight until your develop your base and have enough units to make a strong attack. If you don't win in the first wave keep attacking them in waves and they will eventually fold to your superior money gathering power.

[me_lobo]

Any advice on the third Harkonen mission when fighting Ordos?

No matter what I do I vcan't make any headway on their base. The PC spews out units nonstop and repairs it's buildings so fast I can hardly make a dent.

First of all, have at least two harvesters as mentioned above. Second, dont use trikes at all, just for exploration. Third, AI spews unit as you mentioned, but they barelly create a huge wave (only at the first contact) so post your defensive vehicles in reasonable numbers. Fourth, create rather large group of vehicles, go around your enemy base and alway try to lure the guards one by one. Your first target should be the enemy construction yard, ir he will replace the destroyed buildings (many times over your units).
This strategy wins most (probably all) maps of the game.

[Dave]

^This
Let me add a thing, the AI isn't such complicate to understand, it's quite repetitive. Work on a "defensive wall" positioning vehicles where the enemy likes to strike.
The beginning of a mission is always the hardest part, once your defenses are ready and you have closed weak points you can start to annoy the enemy.
Remember to use a fast and expandable unit to explore the fog of war and locate the enemy, if you learn where they are you'll know where they come from :)

[Domomonkey]

20 years ago when I first played this game I had no problem with it, I must have grown soft over the decades.

The mission I am talking about is as basic as it goes. It's against the Ordos. I can build Quads and Troopers. The object is to destroy their base, which is on the right side of the map just about parallel with my starting location.

So you are all saying to make a whole lot of units and move a wall up? I did it a little bit, moved all my guys to a small rock area that the AI would walk all it's guys through. It's when I get to the base that is's a problem. Maybe I will need to build more.

Should I just build quads up to the limit?

[MrFlibble]

Building a wall of units and advancing them slowly isn't a very good idea, simply because if one unit is attacked, it will only get support fire from the few neighbouring units, and the AI, even if sending one unit at a time at you, will slowly drain your unit's health as you won't kill off attackers fast enough to minimize damage. You should rely on more micro and scatter your units (don't build Troopers except if you want to capture enemy buildings, they're too slow and weak, even with their superior range of attack) and then concentrate your fire on each enemy attacker by surrounding it with as many Quads of your own as possible. This way, you will quickly dispose of enemy units before they have a chance to deal significant damage to your attacking force. Also remember that a unit that stands directly north of its target deals maximum damage (http://forum.dune2k.com/topic/19996-info-dune-2-half-damage-bugtip-plus-question-on-fremensarduakar/) (yep, that's an exploit of sorts).

As it was said above, scout the enemy base and find its Const. Yard, and take it out first. Try not to advance in the path of the attacking enemy, which is usually the shortest path from the AI's base to yours. Go around, take out or capture the Const. Yard, then the rest will be more or less easy.

[Domomonkey]

Any advice on getting it to run quick in W7?

It really crawls when there is a lot of action on screen. I am using Dosbox, Should I be changing any settings?

[The Fifth Horseman]

Make sure the core is set to Dynamic, under game options set the speed to fastest, and then increase/decrease the cycles until you find the optimum value.

[MrFlibble]

I know it's a bit lazy, but cycles=max works fine for me :) As for the CPU core, setting it to auto usually suffices IMO, although dynamic won't hurt either. It's the cycles that seem to make the real difference though.

[Domomonkey]

Odd.

When I push cycles up just a little bit everything starts to skip and the sound starts to go bad.

I will try changing the core settings to see if that fixes it.

[Eagle of Fire]

DOSBox don't have fixed cycles. It is directly linked to the power of your computer. So if you cycle too high you will start slowing down again as your computer can't keep up.

[Domomonkey]

Setting the CPU to dynamic and the cycles to max in the conf instead of using the function keys in the program itself fixed everything. Game now runs super smooth.

Thanks!

I also beat the third mission. Having things be responsive helped quite a bit.

[MrFlibble]

Setting the CPU to dynamic and the cycles to max in the conf instead of using the function keys in the program itself fixed everything. Game now runs super smooth.
Setting cycles to max should give DOSBox a value depending on the estimates of your real CPU's capabilities, and it seems to do the job quite well :)

From mission 4 onward, things are going to be quite a bit easier since you get tanks and, further on, even more powerful units, so mission 3 really might be a bit hard - I remember my own first time, it was Harkonnens too (in fact, this is probably the easiest of all three Houses), and I even stopped playing for a while as my "wall of units" strategy (somehow this seems a common thing for people to try) failed utterly :lol:

[Temporary]

Hola,

Hey, what is the difference between the CD version and the floppy version of Dune II?

I cannot imagine the CD image being a mere 7 megabytes. Was there CD audio on the media, or was there anyadditional content? Does anyone know the size of the CD image (not the ISO, since that only includes data, but the raw image)?

Just asking, since I have never actually seen a CD version of the game anywhere.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Far as I know, it was exactly the same as the floppy version - no CD audio and no extra content.

[Eagle of Fire]

Well... Floppies back in the day were able to hold 1.4 megs each.

7 megabytes meant 5 floppies... Which mean that even though a CD can easily hold more than a hundred times more than this it was still convenient to go with a CD over 5 floppies.

Not to say that a CD is quite hard to damage to the point of not being able to use it. Floppies have a very limited life.

[Temporary]

Sure, the convenience of the CD is probably a selling point.

I seem to recall something about an 'off-line music player' on the CD version, but that might have been the Sega version. I also seem to recall the CD version being the fully patched version, with the updated Setup Utility and the speech fix. Perhaps the Dune II CD that came with the 'commemorative edition' of C'n'C was the only such version.

Maybe if someone with an actual Dune II CD could perchance verify, perhaps?

[MrFlibble]

While I don't have any CD version myself, information from other sources suggests that there have been various CD releases, both of the US version (someone somewhere even mentioned he had a CD release of the US v1.0, although I can't be 100% sure about that) and the European three-language releases.

Some time ago I've catalogued known differences between the various versions of Dune II:

Comparison of v1.0 and v1.07 (http://forum.dune2k.com/topic/20343-info-differences-between-dune-ii-v10-and-v107/)
Comparison of the different releases of v1.07 (http://forum.dune2k.com/topic/23786-different-versions-amipc1017useuhs/#entry371683)

One of the users had actually uploaded the contents of his CD version, which was released in Northern Europe somewhere in 1995. I'm not sure how official it was, but it was a jewel-case release with a three-language v1.07 that came to be called the HitSquad* version (after the apparent publisher). It included a poorly done electronic version of the game manual in Microsoft Word format, and the EXE was hacked to removed copy protection (in a very lousy way, but it worked). The CD also had a DOS installer in English and IIRC Danish and Norwegian (or maybe Swedish, I'm not sure). The hacked EXE had a date stamp from 1995, all other game files had date stamps from 1993. There was nothing else on the CD IIRC, so the whole thing was about 9 Mb in size.

Then again, it could have been some budget re-release at best, or a pirated thing at worst.

*To the best of my knowledge, this is not the same version as the one here at AB.

[zirkoni]

I have the CD version, here's a screenshot from the start menu:

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/8281/dune2000.png

The CD doesn't have any audio tracks, only one data track that includes the game files:
http://imageshack.us/scaled/thumb/9/dune2cdfiles.png (http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/968/dune2cdfiles.png)
(+ 4 batch files in the root of the CD)

And when you install the game on your HDD, you get these files (play.bat was created by me):
http://imageshack.us/scaled/thumb/94/dune2hddfiles.png (http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9163/dune2hddfiles.png)

[MrFlibble]

Thanks for sharing that!

Hmm, there are WAVESET.BAT and WAVESET.DAT files in the HD directory, I assume you installed them yourself with the official sound fix, right? They're not in the CD directory.

I also wonder what the CDPATCH.EXE and DUNE.RNC files on the CD are for.

It's kind of hard to tell whether this is the HitSquad or the newer EU version without the exact file sizes in bytes though. An easy way to check is to save a game and then go to the main menu. If the option to load the game goes like "Load a game", then it's the HitSquad version. If it's "Load Game" (note the capitalization), then it's the EU version.

BTW, I also know that there's yet another three-language "The Battle for Arrakis" version which is similar to the HitSquad one but not the same, apparently it was sold in Australia.

[zirkoni]

I assume you installed them yourself with the official sound fix, right?
Yes, I forgot to mention that earlier, and it's the HitSquad version.

[MrFlibble]

Well, the EU version has some fixes for the German and French languages compared to the HitSquad version.

But what is even more amazing, is that the non-playable demo Nyerguds found on a Kyrandia CD (link (http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/dune/dune2versions/dune2_demo_ky.zip)) actually includes a different version of FRENCH.PAK where all voice clips are replaced with newer ones (even by a different voice actor), of much better quality. I have no idea if these updated assets were ever used in any playable release of the game, because the demo in question just plays the intro cinematic.

BTW, there's another easy way to identify the version of Dune II, by opening the EXE with Nyerguds' Dune II Editor (http://forum.dune2k.com/topic/19114-dune-2-dune-ii-editor-with-107-support/).

[Temporary]

Hey,

Did anyone get their greedy hands on the Tile Editor that was released by Arrakis Research, before is disappeared from the net forever?

I seem to recall there was a beta version of it around, but then it disappeared in a puff of programmer apathy.

Anyone?

[MrFlibble]

Here you go (download hosted by Nyerguds):
http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/dune/dune2tools/Dune2TileEditor(Beta).zip

The editor is fully functional BTW. If you're looking for some other tools for Dune II, here's a list (http://forum.dune2k.com/topic/19752-list-of-dune-ii-editing-tools/). Most links should work, even.

[heisant]

Now when EA lost their old CEO, maybe there is a chance we'll be seeing the return of westwood.

[Eagle of Fire]

Don't count on that.

And even if it would be the case, there is more to game producing than a name. There is many people behind each game and when you get a great studios then it is the mix of so many great people working together which end up creating that great game which make the difference.

I'm sure any studios would purchase the right to slap "Westwood Studios" on any of their products if they thought it would boost sales by a factor of whatever. :suspicious:

[heisant]

I wouldn't be that pessimistic. With the steam community, GoG and Kickstarter things are getting better, and publishers should finally realize the lesser community has some serious saying in the game industry. Take a look at Brian Fargo, who ultimately resurrected one of the best RPG development studios Black Isle. It's called inXile now, but the folk is all local.

[Unregistered2]

LOL, I remember that bug :)

Did you know that according to the manual, the Spice Bloom acted like the crates in the C&C games, and you could get units and money out of them?

It sure didn't work that way in the GAME... any unit that walked on a spice bloom got sucked under a couple hundred tons of sand :P
What you are describing are "crates".
And they DID exist in the game.
That is, it is possible to make your own scenario using them.
When a unit attacks it, a new random unit will emerge.
When a unit goes over it, the unit will explode.
In the original game scenario's they were not used though.

Spice blooms are what the name suggests: you attack it or walk on it and *booom* the pre-spice mass explodes and you get a new spice field. (though, as with the crates, if you walk over it instead of shooting it, the unit will be destroyed).

;-)

[MrFlibble]

What you are describing are "crates".
When a unit attacks it, a new random unit will emerge.
When a unit goes over it, the unit will explode.
To clarify, the only way to "activate" the Special blooms on the map (unlike normal Spice Blooms) is to run a unit over it, which case it will not be destroyed.

For those interested, more detail on the Special blooms can be found here (http://forum.dune2k.com/topic/18875-dune-2-exe-editing-programming-issues/page-5#entry339889) and here (http://forum.dune2k.com/topic/18875-dune-2-exe-editing-programming-issues/page-6#entry340386).

[weev]

Hallo,
I have get Dune II. but i don´t no answer the question´s.
Can any people me help?
MfG Weev

[arete]

Have you looked in the manual? It's under the Extras section.

[Mystvan]

Some curious observations about Westwoods’ *ahem* “adaptation” of the Dune saga:

• Contrary to popular belief, elite force Sardaukar does not live up to the name of the fearsome and fanatical imperial Force feared by all. Sardaukar can be easily crushed by Military Vehicles with the exception of Light Vehicles. We could include the tough Fremen as well;

• The Sardaukar cowardly retreat when any of the Houses (Harkonnen, Atreides, Ordos) invade the imperial Palace leaving their Emperor at the mercy of the enemies. Would this be the famous Sardaukar elite troop whose fanaticism and ferocity reminds the legendary warriors of the city of Sparta mainly against the elite the 10,000 Immortals (Medes and Persians) of the Persian Empire?

• I believe that only the House of Atreides could present a threat to the Sardaukar, whereas the Harkonnen... As the Sardaukar disguised themselves as Harkonnen, it was clear to the Fremen who Sardaukar was and who Harkonnen was... The quality difference was quite clear.

• Using a wonderful Dune II Units and Structures editor, you could edit the type of Structure, Hit Points, Unit type, Hit Points of your House and your Opponent(s). In addition, you can even edit Sandworm so that a single and the weakest Soldier shot (without armor) is enough to mortally wound the Sandworm;

• I noticed that the Resistance of the enemy Units were stronger. Even if I used a Devastator against the Siege Tank, my Devastator would suffer more damage. In addition to the Sandworm stay close to my Structures and Units to swallow them. These are disadvantages that you must overcome in order not to be destroyed;

• When I selected a Mission, I preferred that my Base be located in a corner, protecting at least two of the four sides;

• Already happened to some of my Unit exploring the edges to lighten the Map and some enemy Rocket Turret(?) or Rocket Tank beyond the edge hit it.

I remembered that even by editing the HP of Units and Structures by Savegame Editor, they are possible to be destroyed under certain conditions:

• If a Unit of Soldiers is crushed by a medium / large armored vehicle, the death of the Unit is inevitable;

• If a Unit of Soldiers is hit by Sandworm, the death is inevitable;

• If a Unit of Soldiers is swallowed by Sandworm, the death is inevitable;

• If a Unit of Soldiers inadvertently steps on a “sandbank” resulting in an explosion (of Spice Melange), the death is inevitable;

• If a civil / military Armored Unit is swallowed up by Sandworm, the destruction is inevitable;

• If a civilian / military Armored Unit inadvertently crosses a “sandbank” resulting in an explosion (of Spice Melange), destruction is inevitable;

If a Structure is hit by a Harkonnen or Corrino / Sardaukar Missile, the destruction is inevitable. One way to avoid this would be to edit the Palace to some Structure of similar size. Or make the Palace as your House.

Perhaps all these conditions were determined by programmers so that no matter how big the HP of the Unit / Structure, if the condition happens, the destruction is inevitable.

[Mystvan]

The score of each mission in Dune II is very similar to that of Warcraft I (http://www.abandonia.com/vbullet/showthread.php?p=469473#post469473).

Some similarities would be:

• Number of your Units killed;

• Amount of your Buildings / Structures destroyed;

• Number of enemy Units killed;

• Number of enemy Buildings / Structures destroyed;

• Amount of Spice Melange harvested;

Some peculiarities would be:

• The existence of the extremely resilient Sandworm (up to 2) that hinders the harvest of the Spice Melange and consequently in its available treasure;

• The constant deterioration of the Buildings / Structures (is there no Butler / Manager or something similar?) In up to 50% of HP;

• There is a limit on the total number of Units in the mission. I do not remember if there was limit on the amount of Buildings / Structures as well;

• The enemy attacks from the edges of the map;

• I forgot to mention that the time it takes you to complete the mission also determines your ranking.

It took me a long time to complete each mission (4 to 5 hours) thanks to the damn Sandworms.

I drew Sandworms and enemy Units through the fastest Vehicle to my waiting Army. The Sandworm was delayed to be mortally wounded, but the enemy Units were quickly destroyed without any loss of units on my part.

[Mystvan]

I found some interesting links from Dune II quotes since (unfortunately) there is none of this on Wikia unlike Warcraft series...

• Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty Quotes (https://www.quotes.net/movies/dune_ii:A_the_building_of_a_dynasty_119964)

• Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty (Video Game 1992) - Quotes - IMDb (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0183020/quotes/?tab=qt&ref_=tt_trv_qu)

• Dune II: Battle for Arrakis (game) - Retro Legends (http://retrolegends.wikidot.com/game:dune2)

I also found something interesting about the tactics and data of the Units and Structures of Dune II. I prefer not to post the direct download link of the file in respect to the site, giving the opportunity for more people to visit and know the site.

• Dune II Insider's Guide - PDF Drive (https://www.pdfdrive.com/dune-ii-insiders-guide-d20137441.html)