From: brad@seas.gwu.edu (Bradford J. Crane)
Subject: Dune II Strategies and Hints
Organization: George Washington University
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 17:03:10 GMT

DUNE II - Hints and Strategies of the Master of Arakis

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Well, here is the list.... now that you are past the spoiler..

First: The first four missions are too easy and too many other people
have already given their strategies... but here are the bugs that you
might not know... and some are not bugs but good info.

1. The enemy starts out with their base already built... and they can't build
any more. Well, the implications of this are obvious... once you destroy their
factories, they can't produce more tanks... then you don't have to deal with
them.

2. The carry all is VERY useful. If you chose retreat on the unit, the carry
all will pick it up! (You need a repair facility though). Also, the carry all
will pick up harvesters when they are done. If you have one carry all per
harvester, then you can have the carry all pick it up, unload the spice, then
it RETURNS it to the spice field, VERY USEFUL!

3. Ornithropter suck for attacks, but they are good to 'survey' an enemy base..
they usually show the locations of turrets. Note: You need an IX and a 
HIGH-TECH facility to build these.... which you need a starport... etc. Just
build AT LEAST ONE of each structure type - or you may miss out on some items
in the game.

4. Building turrets is the best defense for a base. They must be on the base
in order to shoot down enemy ornithropters.... much like AA guns. Otherwise, 
your units will never hit them and your base will be destroyed by a few
ornithropters... how degrading!

5. Use the trench method, where you line up your unit on either side of the
enemy, and blow them away. 

6. Always mine spice... and watch out for the worm. Please note that the worm
CAN BE KILLED!

7. At the beginning, when you can't see much, the worm cannot attack you unless
you can spot it. In other words, slow exploration at the beginning is the
best idea. It keeps enemies from attacking you for longer periods of time.


Enemy weaknesses:

The deviator basically sucks. First, it can take over your units but they don't
attack you back. One good thing to do when fighting deviators is to use the 
attack selections on all nearby units. When they get deviated, they will keep
attacking the selected target, yet the enemy will not retaliate!!!!! This is
very cool!

The Sonic Wave tank is a great offensive weapon. Alone, it is sucks. But in a
group of about 6, it kicks major ass. Do the slow approach method, then attack
enemy installations. It takes a while, but the tanks suffer little damage, and
inflict massive damage. The best defense against Wave Tanks is a rocket
launcher, but even that is not full-proof. Since the enemy does not effectively
use their forces, this should be no problem.

The devastator is a good armor tank, but enough friendly units firing take this
one down in no time - but it does not have many weaknesses!

The infantry SUCKS! Here is the best attack.... SQUASH THEM!!!!!! ha, ha, ha
I bet you did not think a spice harvester could be used as an offensive unit -
think again. It is great to attack infantry. The computer sees it as no threat
but it splats them INSTANTLY!!!!!!! COOL!
(just drive over them)

The trikes suck against rocket launchers at a distance.... but the trikes in
close combat really inflict heavy damage against rocket launchers. You must
have a close attack unit to protect against trikes!

Turrets have no know weakness, except attacking at a distance. You can attack
the turrets one square away from their max range, and destroy them without
getting hit... just watch out for enemy units!

Walls suck against rocket launchers (fire over them) and Sonic Wave tanks 
(fire THROUGH them!) Basically, these are good against tanks... they must
blast through them... but I don't use tanks... except in base defense.. 
period.

Concrete slabs are a must, and they save you money too. Don't use them, be a
fool!

Ordos Raider trikes are fast but very easy to destroy and vulnerable. Best shot
is to drive INTO the enemy base and lure rockets. Then the enemy ends up hitting
their own base in addition to you!

Ordos Sabatuers cannot be visually seen!!!! (But they can be seen via radar!)
However, one shot destroys them - they have never gotten to my base yet.

Palaces are very dangerous! When they are destroyed, they leave behind enemy
VEHICLE UNITS!!!!! So be very careful. They are very useful... they allow
atrietes to use fremen, ordos to use sabatuers, and harkonens to use the 
cluster rockets... The cluster rockets do MAJOR DAMAGE - blow up everything
in a six by six square area!!!!!!!

Fremen are much like the Sardaukar troopers, and enemy turrets WILL NOT TARGET
THEM!!! (I think they may be invisible to the enemy like the sabatuer!) These
are VERY USEFUL and inflict MAJOR DAMAGE!
Since they are troopers, they can be run over though.... but I think they do
attack harvesters... only rarely though.

Repair facilities coupled with carry alls are great! They will pickup badly
injured units in combat and repair them within a few seconds - really cool!
(Sometimes they even bring repaired units INTO a battle area - but I think
that works much like the spice harvesters - only if you have spare carry alls.)


The enemy has one other weakness, they always follow a straight line from 
the factory they are made at to your first construction facility! It may be
possible to 'move' your base using an MCV and let them destroy your first one,
and see if they keep going to the same place. But this makes building defenses
easy. Just mass up defenses right where they always attack... keep a few spare
units around, and you can destroy them easily.


Well, this is my short list of hints, I will answer ANY questions, and I have
beat the game as the Atriedes! The last battle was a bitch, fighting
sardaukar, harkonens, AND ordos. (There were THREE ENEMY BASES!) But I
conquered all destroying some 400 enemy units, producing about 40000 units of
spice, (none left on the map), and destroying some 30-40 structures of the
enemy! I also had TWO palaces which I built, in addition to every other
building.... slow and steady does win the race - although it did take
two and a half hours to beat... the ending SUCKED! (No speach, a few words,
credits, exit to dos.... boring!) Enjoy the holiday season, now I have to 
COMPLETELY MASTER THE GAME!!!! (with the harkonens and the ordos!)

							Brad