Dune II: Battle for Arrakis

For the Sega Mega-CD game, see Dune.

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Dune II: Battle for Arrakis
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Virgin Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Westwood Studios
Sound driver: GEMS
Genre: Simulation
Number of players: 1
Official in-game languages: English Deutsch
Release Date RRP Code US 1994-05-01 $62.9962.99 T-70246 EU 1994-06 T-70246-50 DE 1994 T-70246-18 UK 1994-06 £44.9944.99 T-70246-50 AU 1994

Dune II: Battle for Arrakis, known as Dune: The Battle for Arrakis in the US, is a strategy game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for the Sega Mega Drive. The game was also translated to German as Dune II: Kampf um den Wüstenplaneten. It was one of the first, if not first, Sega Mega Drive game to feature fully localized, spoken German language audio.

Battle for Arrakis is a complete overhaul of Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty, a game released for the IBM PC and Amiga a year earlier. The Mega Drive version features streamlined controls, gameplay tweaks, new levels, and new graphics. Dune II is considered a milestone in the real-time strategy genre.

Story

Houses

The story of Dune II is slightly different than the official canon of the Dune universe. None of the characters from the book are mentioned and a new House called "Ordos," created by Westwood Studios, is available for play.

The Emperor of the Galaxy, Frederick IV of House Corrino, is desperate for the harvesting of a powerful life-prolonging substance called the "spice" to pay off all of his debt incurred on internecine wars with family members. To achieve this, he declares an open challenge to all powerful Houses in the galaxy and announces that the victorious House will take control of Arrakis, also known as "Dune," the only planet in the universe where the spice can be mined. He states that there will be no rules of engagement.

The player is a military commander from a House of their choice. In the first few missions, the objectives are to successfully establish a base on an unoccupied territory of Arrakis, to harvest spice, and to defeat intruders. Later, when the three Houses divide Arrakis among them, the player has to assault and capture enemy territories. When the player dominates Arrakis on the world map, the two other enemy factions ally against their common enemy. The final showdown is the battle between the player's House against three enemy sides, among them Frederick's forces, the Sardaukar (an unplayable elite force whose heavy infantry are particularly powerful).

House Atreides

Hailing from the beautiful planet of the Caladan, the people of House Atreides are known for their hardworking, peace-loving and dedicated nature. House Atreides believes an alliance with the local inhabitants of Dune, the Fremen, is the only way to establish rule over the Dune. The Noble House of Atreides is known for its tendency to negotiate with their opponents first, a tactic that will most likely fail in Dune.

In game, House Atreides focuses on technological superiority. While they cannot produce Heavy Troopers, they are able to deploy Ornithopters, giving them some amount of air power. Their special weapon is the Sonic Tank and their ultimate special weapons are the Fremen.

House Ordos

A House created solely for this game, House Ordos is not actually a noble House at all. It is a loosely allied group of merchants whose armies consist of mercenaries. They do not produce any weapons, instead purchasing what they need to send into combat. This insidious House believes that profits are everything and will stop at nothing until the profitable spice-mining business is completely under their control.

House Ordos cannot produce Quads, Trikes, and Rocket Launchers. Their special unit is the Deviator and their ultimate weapon is the Saboteur. They can also produce Ornithopters, but they develop them much later compared to the Atreides.

House Harkonnen

The most vile and violent House in the universe, House Harkonnen believes that power is everything. Their desire is to take control of the Dune and take revenge from their hated enemy, House Atreides, drives them forward in their conquest of Dune. In House Harkonnen, power is never given; it is taken. If a soldier kills his commander and takes command, he is respected and feared by all.

House Harkonnen specializes in heavy weaponary. They do not produce Trikes and light infantry. Their special weapon is the Devastator and their ultimate weapon is the Death Hand missile.

Gameplay

Gameplay

The player takes the role of the commander of one of the three interplanetary Houses, the Atreides, the Harkonnen, or the Ordos, with the objective of wresting control of Arrakis from the other two Houses. The objective of most missions is usually to destroy all enemy units and structures on the map. The basic strategy in the game is to harvest spice from the treacherous sand dunes using a harvester vehicle, convert the spice into credits via a refinery, and build military units with these acquired credits in order to fend off and destroy the enemy. The game map initially starts with a fog of war covering all area which is not covered by the player's units range of view. As the units explore the map, the darkness is removed. Unlike later games such as Warcraft II, the fog of war is lifted forever with initial exploration; it does not become dark once more when units leave the area.

In addition to enemy incursions, there are other dangers such as the marauding, gigantic sandworm, capable of swallowing vehicles and infantry whole but blocked by rocky terrain. Buildings may only be built in rocky zones and connected to another existing building. Building structures or units requires spice, which can be harvested at various points on the map. Spice fields are indicated by orange coloration on the sand, darker orange indicating high concentration. Spice can be spent fixing structures or gained by selling them. Buildings require power to function, so the player must build and defend Windtraps to generate power. Unpowered buildings produce much more slowly.

The Construction Yard can produce new buildings, while the Barracks and Vehicle Factories can produce infantry and vehicles respectively. Completing higher missions unlocks improved technology and higher-order weaponry unique to each House. For example, House Harkonnen may construct their Devastator tanks with heavy armor and ordnance but cannot build the similarly impressive Atreides Sonic Tank or the Ordos Deviator tanks. The player can gain access to other Houses' special units by capturing an enemy Vehicle Factory. The final prize for the commander is the building of the House Palace from where superweapons may be unleashed on opponents in the final closing chapters of the game. The House Harkonnen superweapon is a long-range powerful but inaccurate finger of missiles called the Death Hand, whereas House Atreides may call upon the local Fremen infantry warriors, over which the player has no control, to engage enemy targets. House Ordos may unleash a fast-moving Saboteur whose main purpose is the destruction of buildings.

In its original home computer form, Dune II was entirely mouse-driven; however, the Mega Drive version only supports the control pad. The game includes a tutorial to familiarize the player with the controls and the basic mechanics. The D-Pad moves a cursor, which is used to select units and structures or pan the view (when moved near the edges of the screen). Holding while moving the D-Pad quickly pans the screen without moving the cursor. The player can select units or give orders to selected units with or cancel a selection with . Units automatically fire on enemy units within range but can be commanded to move to specific locations or target specific units.

The production screen can be seen by moving the cursor over a building and pressing again on a selected building. This screen shows a menu where the player can choose a unit or structure that can be produced. Unlike later Command & Conquer games, each building can only construct one thing at a time. Each unit has a cost (in credits), an armament (showing the damage done to other units), and shielding (showing the damage that the unit can withstand). Credits are spent as units are produced (rather than taken upfront when the unit begins production). Units and structures take time to produce; their progress is shown on the side of the screen when their production structure is selected. When a building is finished constructing, a placement grid appears over the player's cursor, allowing the player to place the building in any valid location. Production can be halted from the production screen by selecting "Stop." The player can also repair buildings to restore any damage taken by enemy attacks by selecting "Fix" (which pauses production).

Each House has a separate campaign consisting of nine missions each. The game uses a password system for continuing. Passwords are entered from the options screen, which can be accessed from the main menu or invoked at any time during gameplay with  START .

Structures

More advanced units and structures become available as the player progresses through each campaign.

	Construction Yard
	Shield: 800
	The main base structure, which constructs all other buildings. Every mission starts with a Construction Yard, and the player can use a Mobile Construction Vehicle (MCV) to establish another at a different location (making it the only building that does not need to be connected to another building to construct).
	Concrete
	Shield: 40 Cost: 15 Requires: Construction Yard
	A concrete slab, produced in a 2x2 square, on which buildings can be constructed to prevent wear. Buildings that are not built on concrete start with some damage and take more damage over time from the elements. Concrete can also be used to build roads so that units can move around more quickly. Concrete slabs cannot be repaired if damaged but can be replaced (by simply building a new slab over the old one).
	Windtrap
	Shield: 400 Power: 100 Cost: 300 Requires: Construction Yard
	Provides power to other buildings. It is necessary to build at least one Windtrap before any other structures can be built. If a structure become unpowered (because a Windtrap is destroyed), it produces much more slowly. Windtraps show a flashing lightning bolt icon when the grid power is low and more power capacity should be added.
	Refinery
	Shield: 900 Power: -30 Cost: 400 Requires: Windtrap
	Harvesters transport spice to a Refinery, where it is processed and converted into credits that can be spent on units and structures. Each Refinery comes with a Harvester, which automatically starts harvesting spice once produced. The Refinery can hold 1,000 units of spice. The player must construct Spice Silos to store more.
	Spice Silo
	Shield: 300 Power: -5 Cost: 150 Requires: Refinery
	Adds another 1,000 units of spice storage capacity to the base.
	Outpost
	Shield: 1,000 Power: -30 Cost: 400 Requires: Windtrap
	A radar station that provides a minimap that shows the terrain for the current mission (with both friendly and hostile units and structures marked in different colors). The minimap turns off if the building is unpowered. The Outpost is also a prerequisite for creating the buildings that produce combat units.
	Barracks
	Shield: 600 Power: -10 Cost: 300 Requires: Outpost
	Produces infantry units. For House Atreides, it initially produces the Soldier and can be upgraded to produce Infantry. For House Ordos, it initially produces the Soldier and can be upgraded once to produce Infantry, a second time to produce the Trooper, and a third time to produce Troopers. For House Harkonnen, it initially produces the Trooper and can be upgraded to produce Troopers.
	Vehicle Factory
	Shield: 800 Power: -20 Cost: 400 Requires: Refinery
	Produces support vehicles such as Harvesters and MCVs, light combat vehicles such as Trikes and Quads, and heavy combat vehicles such as Rocket Launchers, Tanks, and House-specific tanks (the Sonic Tank, the Deviator, and the Devastator).
	Hi-Tech
	Shield: 1,000 Power: -35 Cost: 500 Requires: Vehicle Factory, Outpost
	Produces aerial support units, Carryalls and Ornithopters. These units are not directly controlled by the player; once produced, they appear above the facility and fly independently.
	Wall
	Shield: 140 Cost: 50 Requires: Outpost
	A defensive barrier that protects buildings. Adjacent walls are automatically connected into a single long wall.
	Turret
	Shield: 250 Power: -10 Cost: 125 Requires: Outpost
	An autonomous turret that automatically fires at incoming enemy units.
	Rocket Turret
	Shield: 500 Power: -20 Cost: 250 Requires: Outpost
	A long-range, high-damage turret that fires rockets. Effective against both land and air units.
	Repair Facility
	Shield: 1,800 Power: -20 Cost: 700 Requires: Vehicle Factory, Outpost
	Repairs damaged vehicles. Repairing costs time and credits (depending on the extent of the damage). Only one unit can be repaired at a time.
	Starport
	Shield: 1,000 Power: -50 Cost: 500 Requires: Refinery
	Allows the player to buy units (for a premium) that are delivered from orbit immediately rather than produced conventionally.
	Palace
	Shield: 2,000 Power: -80 Cost: 999 Requires: Starport
	Allows use of the House superweapons (the Fremen, the Saboteur, and the Death Hand). To deploy, select the Palace by pressing twice when the cursor is over it. The cursor then changes to a targeting reticle that can be used to choose a target, which can be confirmed by pressing a final time. It costs nothing to use a superweapon, but the player must wait a duration before it can be used again.

Units

House Atreides units are blue, House Ordos units are green, and House Harkonnen units are red.

	Mobile Construction Vehicle (MCV)
	Shield: 150 Cost: 900 Produced from: Vehicle Factory
	An MCV can be transformed to a Construction Yard, allowing the player to produce other buildings. The MCV is unarmed and must be protected at all times. All missions start the player with a Construction Yard, but MCVs are needed to produce additional Construction Yards.
	Harvester
	Shield: 150 Cost: 300 Produced from: Vehicle Factory
	Given free with every Refinery or produced from Vehicle Factory, the Harvester collects spice and transfers it to the refinery for credits. Slow and unarmed.
	Soldier / Infantry
	Shield: 20 / 50 Arms: 4 Cost: 60 / 100 Produced from: Barracks
	Used by House Atreides and House Ordos. They are initially produced individually, but after upgrading the Barracks, they can be produced in groups of three (which are controlled as single units). These lightly-armed and armored troops have little effect in the battlefield, as they can be easily destroyed with either heavy weapons or simply running over them with a heavy vehicle. They can, however, be used for capturing enemy buildings (at the cost of the soldiers). Simply move troops toward the structure by hovering over it when building's health is red and pressing .
	Trooper / Troopers
	Shield: 45 / 110 Arms: 8 Cost: 100 / 200 Produced from: Barracks
	Used by House Ordos and House Harkonnen. They are initially produced individually, but after upgrading the Barracks, they can be produced in groups of three (which are controlled as single units). While slower, these power armor-wearing troops carry Gatling guns and rocket launchers. They are slightly more useful in combat and can capture buildings as well.
	Trike
	Shield: 130 Arms: 10 Cost: 150 Produced from: Vehicle Factory
	A three-wheeled reconnaissance vehicle. Its light armor and firepower make it useful for scouting but little else. Though only House Atreides can build this unit from the Vehicle Factory, House Ordos and House Harkonnen can order it from the Starport.
	Raider Trike
	Shield: 80 Arms: 8 Cost: 150 Produced from: Vehicle Factory
	Used only by House Ordos. The Raider Trike is the fastest ground vehicle on Dune, but it is ineffective in combat.
	Quad
	Shield: 130 Arms: 10 Cost: 200 Produced from: Vehicle Factory
	A four-wheeled vehicle for both combat and reconnaissance, the Quad is a potent force until tanks enter the battlefield.
	Tank or Combat Tank
	Shield: 200 Arms: 38 Cost: 300 Produced from: Vehicle Factory
	A fast and well-armed tank for both attack and defence.
	Missile Tank or Rocket Launcher
	Shield: 130 Arms: 112 Cost: 450 Produced from: Vehicle Factory
	A long-range launcher with large rockets. Very useful for reducing enemy building to rubble, but it has a very slow firing rate and cannot engage enemies in short range. Slow movement speed and low armor means it requires escorts.
	Siege Tank
	Shield: 300 Arms: 45 Cost: 600 Produced from: Vehicle Factory
	A powerful yet slow tank with heavy armor and firepower.
	Sonic Tank
	Shield: 110 Arms: 90 Cost: 600 Produced from: Vehicle Factory
	Used only by House Atreides. Sonic Tanks fire ultrasonic sound waves that are lethal to soldiers and buildings. They are moderately effective against other vehicles. Very long range. Possibly based on "Weirding Module" technology from the David Lynch film adaptation.
	Deviator
	Shield: 120 Cost: 750 Produced from: Vehicle Factory
	Used only by House Ordos. A specialized rocket launcher whose warheads are filled with a brainwashing gas that temporarily turns enemy units to Ordos control.
	Devastator
	Shield: 400 Arms: 60 Cost: 800 Produced from: Vehicle Factory
	Used only by House Harkonnen. The most powerful ground vehicle in the game, the Devastator is a heavily armed and armored tank powered by an unstable nuclear reactor. It has no turret, however, and must turn towards the enemy, limiting its initiative. The Devastator automatically self-destructs when it is nearly destroyed. It can also be ordered to manually self-destruct by pressing twice when the cursor is over the unit, which damages nearby enemies after a short countdown.
	Carryall
	Shield: 100 Cost: 800 Produced from: Hi-Tech
	A utility aircraft, the Carryall automatically transports and bring back harvesters. They can also take damaged units to a repair facility (but they do not bring them back). It can be brought down with rocket turrets. It is autonomous and cannot be directly controlled.
	Ornithopter
	Shield: 3 Arms: 75 Cost: 600 Produced from: Hi-Tech
	Used only by House Atreides and House Ordos. An aircraft that flies by flapping its wings like a bird. Armed with guided missiles, it can engage enemy units from the air, but its attack frequency is low. It is autonomous and cannot be directly controlled.
	Fremen
	Shield: 110 Arms: 90 Produced from: Palace
	Used only by House Atreides. They are a squadron of elite units. Native inhabitants of the Dune, Fremen can be called from the Atreides Palace. While they cannot be controlled, these heavily armed troopers wreak havoc among the enemy. Turrets cannot target them.
	Saboteur
	Shield: 40 Arms: 150 Produced from: Palace
	Used only by House Ordos. The Saboteur can destroy an enemy building if it can reach it. While it cannot be seen in the battlefield, it can be seen in the map, and all units seem to target it.
	Death Hand
	Shield: 70 Arms: 150 Produced from: Palace
	Used only by House Harkonnen. A product of Harkonnen's illegal atomic weapon stockpile, Death Hand is a powerful yet inaccurate cruise missile. It is recommended to fire it to the middle of the enemy base for the maximum chance of a hit.
	Sand Worm
	An uncontrollable unit for all sides, Sand Worms attack any unit that remains on the sand. If its health reduced to half, it disappears momentarily. Atreides units, probably because of their alliance with Fremen, do not automatically attack them, so manual targeting is necessary.

History

Development

According to designer Joseph B. Hewitt IV, Dune II was inspired by the games Populous, Herzog Zwei, and Civilization.

Legacy

While not the first real-time strategy game, Dune II was one of the most influential games in the genre, particularly in the Command & Conquer series, also developed by Westwood Studios. Its specific combination of a fog of war, mouse-based military micromanagement, and an economic model of resource-gathering and base-building established a template for subsequent real-time strategy games, including the Warcraft and StarCraft series from Blizzard Entertainment and the Age of Empires series from Microsoft.

In 1998, Dune II was remade for Windows PCs as Dune 2000, which was ported to the PlayStation. In 2001, Westwood released a sequel, Emperor: Battle for Dune, exclusively for PCs.

Production credits

• Executive Producer: Christopher D. Yates
• Producers: Aaron E. Powell, David Pokorny
• Product Coordinators: Robb Alvey, Ken Love
• Designed by: Aaron E. Powell, Joe Bostic
• Programmers: Leroy Wing, Denzil E. Long, Jr., Rob Povey
• Writer: Rick Gush
• Artists: Matthew Hansel, Sandy Dobbs
• Music & Sound: Paul S. Mudra, Frank Klepacki, Dwight K. Okahara
• Voices: Frank Klepacki, House Voices; Glenn Sperry, Units
• Manual: Eydie Laramore
• Manual Layout: Penina Finger
• Quality Assurance: Glenn Sperry, Mike McCaa, Adam Ryan, Kenny Dunne, Paul Schoener, William Baca, Jesse Clemit, Jeff Fillhaber, Scott Fleming, Bill Foster, Mike Lightner, Tim Fritz, Ronnie Balducci, Jared Brinkley, Mitch Feldman, Chris McFarland, Scott Manning, David Fries, Chris Rausch, Nick Camerota, Bijan Shaheer
• Package Design & Fulfillment: Lauren Rifkin, Lisa Marcinko
• Special Thanks to: Brett W. Sperry and Lyle J. Hall II

Dune is a trademark of Dino De Laurents Corporation and licensed by MCA/Universal Merchandising, Inc. ©1984 Dino De Laurents Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

©1993 Westwood Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Virgin is a registered trademark of Virgin Enterprises, LTD.

Thank you for playing Dune: The Battle for Arrakis

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Dune II: Battle for Arrakis/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in GamePro (US) #60: "July 1994" (1994-xx-xx)
also published in:

• EGM² (US) #1: "July 1994" (1994-07-19)
• EGM² (US) #2: "August 1994" (1994-0x-xx)
• Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #62: "September 1994" (1994-xx-xx)

Print advert in Mega (UK) #20: "May 1994" (1994-04-21)

Physical scans

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	88
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Dune II: Battle for Arrakis

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, DE
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, AU

Mega Drive, AU (Silver)
Cover
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Technical information

Main article: Dune II: Battle for Arrakis/Technical information.

References

Dune games for Sega systems
	Dune (1993)
	Dune II: Battle for Arrakis (1994)