Genre: Strategy / tactics
Perspective: Top-down
Visual: Free-roaming camera
Pacing: Real-time
Gameplay: Real-time strategy
Interface: Point and select
Setting: Sci-fi / futuristic
Narrative: War
Published by: Virgin Games
Developed by: Westwood Studios
Released: 1992
Platforms: DOS, SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive
Game "Dune 2" was created after the well-known American science fiction series by Frank Herbert on the planet Arrakis, known as "Dune." "Dune 2", apparently, is a leader in 1993 for the popularity: it could be compared only the masses of favorite series "Wolfenstein". This success is deserved - impeccable graphics and cut scenes of the game, great sound, robust and convenient system management and exciting plot, in short, nothing but dignity without glaring defects.
"Dune 2" belongs to the genre of the dynamic strategy, ie you have to go to make strategic decisions, but they have to implement in real time, and the inept handling of the mouse, most likely, would negate the very good strategic idea.
Another unique feature of the "Dune 2" is that it can bring to pass much more fun than reading a somewhat lengthy and obscure books Herbert. From the plot of the book in the game was left virtually nothing but the most common concepts, and it will only benefit.
The planet Arrakis, a world almost completely covered with sand, almost devoid of flora and fauna, with a unique ecological system. A special place is occupied giant sand worms living in the thick sand and devour everything that walks on the surface, worms mysteriously contribute to the emergence of spice. For information: Spice (in one of the translations called them his "special", but we probably will not do that) - a red powder, which is produced in the sand with special machines, harvesters. It seems that Herbert himself is not completely figured out what, in fact, so prized spice. For our purposes, it does not matter - in short, a spice give money, and any other valuables, except spice on Dune is not there.
From the magnificent performance saver, we learn that the Emperor announced the contest for the right to possession of Dune and its resources as a spice. Three great houses go to war: known from books noble Atreides and evil Harkonnen, and Ordos (which the book does not seem to be). You are granted the right to choose who you want to play. The easiest way to play for the Harkonnen, brute force and powerful weapons are extremely powerful argument. However, after a while the Atreides appears extremely powerful weapon - acoustic tanks, which equalizes the chances slightly, so that all three houses can be considered more or less balanced in strength.
The game is divided into levels, each of which you have to perform a task, then you allow the next. At the first two levels of the challenge is to get a certain amount of money, but on the other - to destroy all enemies. At your disposal from level to level are more varied and powerful, but the opponents are getting worse and worse.
So, regardless of the task you need at every level to build a sustainable base, adjust the spice processing and production of military equipment to make up for combat losses. In this building can only be built on the rocks, and not on the sand, in the beginning you have a construction site, which can not be built very much, except that the power plant, scoop and strengthen the site. Please note that very often you can build new buildings and on the bare rock, without reinforcing pads, but these facilities are not working at full capacity, and in the end you will likely still have to repair them. After the scoop will give you the energy for operation of the base, you build complex cleaning spice. The complex included free one car-harvester, which you give the order to collect spice on nearby field. When the harvester is filled to 100%, it automatically returns to unload, and the collected recycled spice - your cash, from the top right of the screen increases. Not bad, but not necessarily, have spaysohranilische. Ready for the money you can build further facilities or equipment. Here is a very brief overview of facilities available in the game, (note - not all of them are available at lower levels!)
Construction Yard - "heart" of the base, allows you to build all the other buildings.
Small / Large Concrete Slab - structures built here once operating at full capacity.
Spice Refinery - spice in processing the collected money.
Wind Trap - power plant, provides the energy for the activities of the base facilities.
Radar Outpost - if there is enough energy, you can see a map of the site, where is your mission, including moving combat units of the enemy and sand worms.
Barracks, WOR - they can produce infantry. For the production of light and heavy infantry use different types of barracks.
Light Factory - produces, you guessed it, light vehicles of different types, such as hardened armored cars with mounted weapons. These machines are quite effective against infantry, but against tanks look pathetic.
Heavy Factory - build it only once a factory light. Tanks are available in several types, harvesters and rocket launchers.
Repair Facility - your equipment damaged in combat, can be restored to normal. Of course, not free ...
High Tech - transport karrialy can greatly speed up the transportation of harvesters to the base and to mine the spice, and pull out of the fight badly damaged vehicles for repairs. You could also make light combat ornithopter.
Space Port - if you do not want to make all the equipment at the base, then you can buy it from the dealers, but the prices they are very unstable and often overpay. Incidentally, in the original version of "Dune * 2" purchased the goods are often lost on the way, it was an unexpected defect in the program - "bug", in a revised version of this error is absent.
IX Center - allows more sophisticated types of weapons.
Turret, Missile Turret, and the Wall - all serve to build fortifications around your base.
Palace - can (though rarely) use a special weapon for the home. For example, it is for the House Harkonnen - deadly rocket launcher, and for the House of Atreides * units natives (free), attacking enemy structures.
But the types of infantry and military equipment, which is used in the game as the construction of appropriate structures:
Light Infantry - the most poorly armed troops. True, they move pretty quickly, but are unlikely to have a significant resistance to the powerful armored vehicles.
Heavy Troopers-squad of three heavy infantry is quite able to fight the enemy with light equipment. But in general, any infantry used more for reconnaissance than for combat.
Carryall - versatile flying machine harvesters to transport to the place of production of spice and back, as well as for the delivery of damaged vehicles to the repair. Weapons karrialah not.
Ornitopter - combat aircraft, using an imitation of bird flight. Plaque can cause unprotected ornithopter based in big trouble. The main drawback of the ornithopter - its fragility, it flies from the first hit.
Harvester - machine for mining spice. A harvester is given together with each complex cleaning of spice, and the rest can be built on a heavy factory after its modernization.
Mobile construction site (MCV) - creates a new site in the roster spot.
Trike - very weak three-wheeled combat vehicle. Trikes can normally fight only to that of the infantry, and then with a light.
Raider - kind trike used House Ordos. Rader several more mobile than the classic trike, but it has less armor.
Quad - armored "SUV" with a set heavy weapons.
Combat tank - easy track tank. He is much greater than the quads in firepower and armor, but the cars and light, however.
Siege Tank - a fair price coupled with outstanding fighting qualities. Siege Tanks are designed primarily for "breaking" the enemy's defense and providing cover for rocket attacks. There is a more powerful technique than Siege Tanks, but it already belongs to the category of special.
Rocket Tank - in close combat missile tank is helpless to cope with it even trike, but at a distance of rocket fire destroying everything. Although the missile tank to skillfully manage and never raise it without a powerful shield, a group of two or three tank missile capable of destroying defenses and allow his troops to break into the enemy base.
Sonic Tank - the only weapon, surpassing the power of fire missile tanks. Acoustic acts on the enemy tank destructive acoustic wave. This weapon is only available to the House Atreides.
Deviator - House Ordos superweapon. Gas, which charged rockets diverters, affects the nervous system of the soldiers and crew vehicles, making them temporarily to side with House Ordos.
Devastator - specific to House Harkonnen weapon. Ravager like siege tank with increased firepower and armor. In addition, you can intentionally blow Ravager - if skillfully done this on the basis of the enemy, can cause great destruction.
Easier to control by using the mouse, select the object to which you want to order, whether it is construction or military equipment. Image of the object appears on the right, in particular, the colored strip at the top measure of the state of the object and the need for repair. Green strip indicates prosperity, red - on the urgent need of repair. It also includes a few buttons with possible orders. For a unit of four orders:
ATTACK - attack
MOVE - move
RETREAT - back to the base
GUARD - to prepare for the Protection
Orders for the giant harvester few others:
HARVEST - collect spice in the specified location
MOVE - move
RETURN - return to base
STOP - stop.
Finally, the plants most often there is only one button - REPAIR, repair, exceptions are:
- Re-equipped facilities - that is, those that cost more
costs can produce more quality products. Button can be used to re-equip "UPGRADE".
- Construction site - it has a selection button under construction building (no label) and a button "BUILD THIS", which the press and starts construction
- Spaceport, which gave the order for the purchase of equipment.
When you choose to order, you must specify the purpose for the order, ie "Mouse" shows where to move or who is attacking.
The same principle applies to the enemy targets and sand worms - except that here you can only learn about the state of the objects, but you can not give them orders.
Note that your combat units still able to think a little bit, and if they are the enemy, they will start to shoot without your order. But this applies only to those units whose opponent will be in the field of fire, and those that are at a distance closer (and fire) will not.
Tips
- Try not to "denude" the base on either side, the enemy can parachute unexpectedly.
- It is advisable to hold any spice deposit near the base in the event of protracted hostilities when sending harvesters long field is dangerous.
- In some places on the surface of the sand mounds are found, which are shot in (or getting into a unit) leads to the release of spice to the surface and the appearance of the new field.
- Sand worms living under the surface, get out when the object will be fighting for a particular site. Worms behave quite honestly, that is devouring everything that moves, no matter whose House owns this or that object. When sandworm urgently evacuate all equipment on the rocks - it will eat its worm. The worms that crawl along the bases, after a while shooting killed by rockets and other equipment.
- Against missiles that sooner or later you will start to bombard the easiest fight in two ways:
- Often record the game, and in the event of catastrophic damage rocket just to recover and to ensure that these injuries were minimal, this method is easier, but in something "nesportiven."
- Stretch a base in space, the rocket hurts no more than one building.
- As experience shows, heavily damaged building is usually not worth repairing, it is cheaper to build a new one.
- When the assault enemy bases spread defenses easiest mobile missile units, but each group is to cover the tanks, rocket launchers as weak in defense and very vulnerable even to infantry.
- Harvester, though not bear arms, is extremely effective against large forces of infantry - it can crush them.
- At the site of the destroyed enemy installations usually stays a few soldiers. To get rid of them quickly, because the total number of military facilities is limited.
- Capture enemy structures and harvesters, this should drive to the place his infantry. Is sent to capture the infantry disappear forever, but after a time (usually have to wait a long time), the color structure or harvester is changing, and it starts to work on the grip.
- An interesting strategy is the "smearing" of the base on the surface. To do this, the modernized factory is constructed of heavy vehicles traveling construction site (MCV), which begins construction next door at the opponent. About this new site is built a few missile turrets, and they do not allow their fire to the enemy to pop out from the base. Of course, you need to calculate skillfully place in which to locate a "firing point."