Dune: Spice Wars cover
Dune: Spice Wars screenshot
Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Strategy, Tactical

Dune: Spice Wars

Dune: Spice Wars - Community Update #3 Out Now!

Hello everyone!

Community Update #3 is now live! This update includes several reworks and balancing changes all inspired by your feedback and suggestions. The standout feature? Our brand-new spectator mode!

Check out the full list of changes below and let us know what you think. We’re excited to hear your feedback on these latest improvements!



Spectator Mode


Multiplayer lobbies can be set up to allow up to 8 spectators.

Eliminated players can keep watching the game as spectators.

Pillaged Sietch rework


Fremen can no longer build in a devastated sietch. They can, however, repopulate them for a large cost, which removes the “devastated” trait.

To compensate, Fremen now have 1 more building slot in their Main Base, forming a new 1-slot district.

The eligibility condition for Dune Governorship has also been revised to only account for non-devastated sietches. The condition is now:
  • control 1/5 of the map
  • ally all non-devastated sietches
  • at least 3/4 of sietches are not devastated


Assassination UX rework


Assassination UI has been improved with additional information on what you are supposed to do.

A new option “Assassination tips” will help with learning the Assassination mechanics through targeted alerts. The option is “on” by default.

The “imperial intelligence” Landsraad resolution, that allows Cell Search, even without having detected any assassination attempt, now works properly: you can prepare Cell Search operations, but also use them on your territory.

Spaceship Balancing


All spaceship costs, stats and traits have been balanced to make them worth the cost, without being overwhelmingly strong.

Hawk:
  • 30 -> 9 guild favor cost
  • 15 -> 12 solari upkeep
  • 200 -> 270 health
  • 11 -> 8 power
  • 10 -> 20 attack speed

Kraken:
  • Can only attack ground units

Harpy:
  • 30 -> 9 guild favor cost
  • 15 -> 12 solari upkeep
  • 200 -> 270 health
  • 8 -> 10 power
  • Trait changed to “attack in a small area and executes enemy units under 80 health”

Overlord:
  • Can only attack ground units

Banshee:
  • Can attack ground and air units
  • 40 -> 15 guild favor cost
  • 250 -> 360 health
  • 25 -> 17 power
  • 4 -> 5 Fuel Cell
  • 4 -> 5 Command Point
  • Trait changed to “Cannot be seen outside of combat and current target suffer -50% speed and attack speed”

Spire:
  • Can attack ground and air units
  • 20 -> 6 spaceship parts cost
  • 80 -> 150 health
  • 20 -> 8 power
  • 5 -> 10 attack speed
  • 10 -> 8 solari upkeep
  • Trait changed to “+50% damage against enemy units outside of their territory”

Altar:
  • Can only attack ground units

Hammer:
  • 40 -> 12 guild favor cost
  • 300 -> 360 health
  • 20 -> 16 solari upkeep

Cronos:
  • Can only attack air units
  • 2000 -> 2400 health

Siren:
  • 30 -> 9 guild favor
  • 200 -> 270 health
  • 24 -> 10 power
  • 15 -> 12 solari upkeep
  • Trait changed “attacks in a small area, and damaged enemy deal -10% damage on their next attack (can stack)”

Monument:
  • Can only attack ground units

Spirit:
  • 30 -> 9 guild favor
  • 150 -> 270 health
  • 15 -> 18 power
  • 5 -> 3.3 attack speed
  • 15 -> 12 solari upkeep
  • Trait changed “always tethered and, in truced territory, gain stealth and -40% damage received”


General Balancing


“Defense breaches” operations do not stack.

Main bases detect stealth units at Very Long Range.

Landsraad units from "Judge of the Council" Charter cost 40 -> 25 influence each to recruit.

“EMP Bomb” spying operation:
  • -50% attack speed to mechanical units, missile battery and Main Bases
  • -50% -> -20% move speed to mechanical units
  • “-50% power to mechanical units” has been removed

Gear switching or removal cost 1000 -> 500 solari

Development “Border Defense”:
  • +1 Missile Battery limit per Village
  • Militia have +2 -> +1 armor
  • “+30% power to Missile Battery” has been removed

Main Base building “Research Center”:
  • +20% knowledge
  • +20% hegemony gained from spice tax and daily gain
  • “+15% hegemony from all sources” has been removed

AI in multiplayer games never offer trades outside of their team, and are generally more reluctant to accept trades.

House Atreides


Trooper unit:
  • Trait changed: ”+2 -> +3 power under the effect of at least one allied bonus”

Ranger gear “Automated Weapons”:
  • +50% attack speed
  • -25% -> -30% power

Support Drone:
  • 15 -> 12 solari upkeep

“Peaceful Annex” is no longer possible on devastated villages.

"Veteran Militia" development:
  • -15% damage inside territory
  • militia have +100% -> +80% health
  • “militia have +50% power” has been removed

"Proud Liberator" development:
  • Non-mechanical units get +2% -> +1% max health per 25 -> 20 standing
  • Units liberating or annexing a village from a faction with less standing heal 20% -> 50% of health for free

"Sustainable spying" development:
  • Agents assigned to choam, landsraad and spacing guild slots produce +100% -> +50% of their associated resources
  • Agent traits present only once on an information field apply their effects twice

Councilor “Dr Wellington Yueh”:
  • +2 knowledge
  • non-mechanical military units have +10% -> +15% health
  • non mechanical military units regen 30% faster


House Harkonnen


Combat Probe:
  • 5 -> 4 solari upkeep

Councilor “Umman Kudu”:
  • +2 manpower prod
  • units take -20% -> -30% time to recruit
  • units in a region with an active harkonnen operation gain +1 armor

Hero “Iakin Nefud”:
  • Military units in the region get +5% -> +10% attack speed per active harkonnen operation
  • “Survival of the Fittest” skill gives +100% -> +200% power to the next attack, which only stacks once, but has a much lower cooldown.


The Smugglers


Councilor “Stabban Tuek”:
  • full headquarter produce 5 -> 4 solari per neighboring headquarters
  • +1 slot in headquarter

Councilor “Lingar Bewt”:
  • produces 10 -> 12 Water
  • unlock the Water Network and Water Seller headquarters extension

Councilor “Lashon Hara”:
  • gain information in other faction by trading any resources
  • information level in faction reduce 50% slower
  • gain 10 solari and 1 influence per information level in another faction


The Fremen


Skirmisher:
  • 7 -> 5 power
  • Trait: +15%->20% damage per enemy unit in damage radius

Mobile turrets now have xp.

Balancing of spaceship parts looted from enemy vessels. Combined with cost changes, Spire are overall cheaper to produce from destroyed enemy ships.

Councilor “Shimoom”:
  • Each village producing at least 12 Water gives -3% -> -4% solari upkeep globally
  • Villages produce 1 water in empty slot

Councilor “Jamis”:
  • gain 50 -> 80 authority on liberating an enemy village
  • military unit inflict +10% damage outside of territory
  • can trade authority for manpower

Councillor Mother Ramallo’s ability “Incite rebellion” cost 80 -> 50 authority

House Corrino


Artillery Drone:
  • 25 -> 20 solari upkeep

Councilor “Princess Irulan” now only affects villages neighboring a main base

Councilor “Zum Garon”:
  • Military units have +15% power per active Truce
  • Imperial Mandate has no cost


House Ecaz


War Banner:
  • 15 -> 12 solari upkeep
  • The “Big Banner” gear now increases the banner range of effect.

Hero “Whitmore Bludd”:
  • If multiple champions deal damage to the same unit, only the last to damage it will get a trophy
  • the “Frightful Champion” skill gives +1 -> +0.5 armor per trophy

Councillor Ibbo Vipp’s ability “Landsraad Immunity” cost 20 -> 30 standing on negative resolution and gives 10 -> 30 influence on positive resolution

House Vernius


Fighting Mek:
  • 350 -> 400 health

Railgun Drone:
  • 220 -> 320 health

Resonance Drone:
  • 350 -> 400 health
  • 25 -> 20 solari upkeep

10k Hegemony Bonus:
  • Can obfuscate a single researched development
  • Each knowledge point increase production of all other resource by +0.1 -> +0.2%

“Physical Wiring” development:
  • Unlocks Assassins
  • Infiltration Cells adjacent to a connected neural node gives +2 knowledge, as well as +5 solari production and +1 intel production per Statecraft building in the village
  • “Infiltration cells adjacent to a connected neural node do not count in the maximum of infiltration cells allowed” has been removed

“Automated Defenses” development:
  • 2 free Automated Militia in any village with a connected neural node
  • Connected Neural Nodes attack enemy units in the region as a rapid-fire single-target defensive building.
  • “enemy units in the region suffer -3% health per day per node connected through this region” has been removed


Lobby QoL


  • A player kicked from a lobby cannot join again for 1 minute.
  • quick start can no longer be used in kanly, and the option is no longer visible


Bug fixes


  • Truces are no longer broken if the target of an attack (village) is captured by another faction before the attack takes place.
  • AoE damage no longer breaks truces unless the actual target is in a truce.
  • Units are no longer eaten by a worm in a region protected by Decoy Thumper
  • Fixed landsraad votes being blocked when trying to set more votes than the maximum
  • "Next Mainbase Building is Free" event should no longer be lost unfairly
  • Fixed the updating of villages neighboring the enemy after a change of owner (for data center and listening post purpose)
  • Warden in Last Stand can now be saved by support drone
  • Harkonnen redfluid gear no longer triggers during occupation (if no other enemies are around)
  • Harkonnen combat probes’ health is no longer reduced for no reason when using the torture tool gear
  • Communication Jamming now removes Defense Breaches and Administration Burden properly
  • Drisq passive no longer applies stealth to units engaged in combat
  • Fixed some traits not being applied correctly when leaving wormriding
  • Fremen raid from stalwart alliance now engage units contesting the liberation
  • Buildings in a destroyed Corrino Main Base no longer prevent Corrino from building the building again in another Main Base
  • Corrino Main Base building “Emperor Monument” is now properly deactivated if the development to unlock it is no longer active.
  • After Corrino is eliminated, the “administrative consolidation” modifier on a village is now properly removed
  • Dropping a Corrino Main Base on a Masterpiece no longer completely breaks the game
  • Obfuscation of development giving agent slot now removes the slot properly
  • Hidden Backdoor now works properly on enemy mechanical units. They ignore all previous orders.
  • The Folder Relay can no longer teleport units to invalid location
  • Fixed a rare case in the first tutorial where the Harkonnen trooper can kill your units, softlocking the tutorial.
  • A few visual and sound bugs have been fixed
  • Fixed Steamdeck launching the game twice for no reason (affecting performance).
  • Rabban millitia now count towards the "You shall not pass" achievement
  • Losing an Overlord’s sting no longer prevents you from getting the “Prudent” achievement

We're part of the Tacticon!

Hey everyone!

We are part of this year Tacticon, hosted by Hooded Horse and Firesquid!
For that occasion, Dune and its DLC are up to 40% off their original prices.

For more info, check the sales below...



Enjoy the base game!


Or invite your friend to join the fight for the control of Arrakis

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1605220/Dune_Spice_Wars/



Take command of the Ixian Confederation


And control Arrakis as the house Vernius

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2807090/Dune_Spice_Wars__House_Vernius_of_Ix/



Get everything Spice Wars related


And get the complete package

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/38656/Dune_Spice_Wars__The_Ixian_Edition/


If you also look for more discussion around Dune and the Strategy games, don't miss Sylvain's participation on the broadcact "the revival of RTS game", hosted by the Tacticon directly on Steam, today at 9:30pm CEST/UTC+2.

Link to the event

Happy Tacticon to all of you!

-Shiro Games

Patch Notes for 29/04/2024

v.2.0.7.31913

  • Fixed tutorials 1 & 5 not starting
  • Fixed detect stealth alert triggering with your own units
  • Fixed Skirmisher and Infiltrator Gear "Camouflage Fabric" giving free supply for no reason
  • Fixed icon of the "Assassin gear" trait

Patch notes for 23/04/2024

v2.0.6.31902

Balancing


  • Added Annexation costs per ongoing Annexation, that are equals to cost of owning more region, but do not benefit from cost reduction and is never refunded.
  • Atreides Peaceful Annexation takes 10 -> 5 days.
  • Detection of a stealth unit now gives an alert.
  • The ranges for detection of stealth units are not longer smaller at night.


Bug fixes


  • Fixed fremen dev "Desert Watchers" so the unit stay hidden between regions.
  • Fixed fremen dev "Arrakis Secret" so the harvester can be attacked right after undeploying, if you can detect them.
  • Fixed Assassin reseting assassination progress factor even when the infiltration cell has been removed.
  • Fixed the text explaining which faction is affected by an ongoing operation.
  • Fixed the "World Museum" achievement in conquest.

Patch notes for 10/04/2024

v2.0.5.31873

Balancing


  • Overkill damage is now applied to Executionner with "Meat Armor" gear
  • Executionner "Meat Armor": heal 50 -> 40 hp per stack


Bug Fix


  • Fixed Atreides Sustainable Spying not working on the second traits from Thuffir Hawat
  • Fixed recruitment cancellation on multiplayer
  • Fixed Village textures not being updated when annexed by a faction on multiplayer
  • Fixed Harkonnen Gunners' "Blood Thinner" gear removing 50% life instead of 25% in some situations

Patch notes for 02/04/2024

v.2.0.4.31850

Balancing


  • Harkonnen Councillor Umman Kudu gives +3 -> +2 manpower prod
  • Corrino development "Administrative Consolidation" gives -15% -> -20% upkeep on villages with 4 buildings of the same type
  • Landsraad charter support: the efficiency of supporting a charter on the agenda depends on the time left before the next council. It gives 20 Priority for 10 Influence at the start of a period and only 2 Priority for 10 Influence at the end.
  • Resolution "Controlled Markets" can no longer appear during the first 2 councils


Bug fixes


  • Fixed airfields not being updated when using Vernius / Bronso
  • Fixed Fremen hero first recruitment costing Solari
  • Fixed refunded cost being divided each time we open the refund dialog
  • Fixed not being able to choose a hero when no recruitment slot is available
  • Fixed Fremen harvester recruitment being blocked if no recruitment slot is available
  • Fixed not being able to cancel recruitment when refunding in a particular order
  • Fixed Vernius not giving unlocked developments to teammates in 2v2
  • Fixed agents gained via Sietch alliance not being removed if they were assigned to a Sietch
  • Fixed Jamis receiving no authority when liberation is canceled from abandon of the village
  • Fixed Executioner not receiving Bloodthirst stacks when there is an enemy drone nearby on the fight. (also apply to Adrenaline Addiction)
  • Fixed Executionner not getting stacks from suicidal drones nor from executed units (also apply to Adrenaline Addiction)
  • Fixed Fighting Engineer receiving XP multiple times for each drone in the range and in combat (and for itself too)
  • Fixed Fighting Engineer not receiving XP bonus in some situations
  • Fixed Paul first Sietch bonus being lost when the first Sietch is hostile
  • Fixed sending a message with enter unfocusing the chat box in the lobby
  • Fixed Neural Grid sometimes disconnecting neural nodes
  • Fixed Corrino Frigate having 500 more hp while deployed
  • Fixed some units briefly losing stealth when changing regions

Patch notes for 20/03/24

v.2.0.3.31764

Balancing



House Atreides


- Development “Political Entente” gives 5 -> 4 guards on betrayal
- Warden’s Gear “Cover Tactics” gives +20% -> +30% speed

House Harkonnen


- Councillor Cron Vatia gives +2 manpower per empty building slot on oppression, on top of his other effects
- Councillor Umman Kudu produce +3 Manpower on top of his other effects

The Smugglers


- Councillor Lashon Hara now gain information in faction when trading intel or influence and gain both intel and influence from information level

The Fremen


- Councillor Mother Ramallo gives 0.5 authority prod per active harvesting teams, on top of her other bonuses

House Corrino


- Rework “Solid Materials” development:
- +15 plascrete production
- Village buildings have +1000 health
- Rework “Megalopolis” development:
- +3 Water in village neighboring main base
- Building cost 10% less plascrete and solari to build in MB and neighboring villages
- Rework “Imperial Administration” development:
- Effects of villages quirks are applied one more time in village neighboring MB
- Unlock the “investment office” village building
- Rework “Administrative Consolidation” development:
- Village with 4 or more buildings of the same type reduce solari upkeep by 15%
- Unlock the “emperor monument” MB building
- “Integrated cost” development: -50% -> -30% solari upkeep of major building around main base
- “Maintenance Center” village building is no longer available.

House Ecaz


- “Museum of unbound art” gives +5 -> +3 max influence, manpower and authority
- “Garden Resort” +0.5 -> +0.2 influence prod per masterpiece in neighboring regions
- “Artistic Aspirations” development gives 100 -> 80 solari on building a masterpiece
- “Political Art” development gives 15 -> 8 influence on building a masterpiece

House Vernius


- Councillor Cammar Pilru gives 30 Landsraad whenever an opponent declare Conflict or break a Truce, on top of his other effects
- Councillor Tessia Vernius turn 50% of knowledge into intel and solari when no development is in progress
- Patent dev cost 800 -> 600 Solari
- Harmless gadget treaty cost 200 -> 100 Solari
- Analytical machine cost reduced by 100 Solari each

Other


- Balancing of hostile sietch raid (unit stats and numbers of units) in conquest
- Sietch demo raider has 7 -> 6 power
- Spying operation “Scavenger Team” now gives 25% of dead units max health as solari instead of scaling off power.


Bug Fixes


- Fixed “Political Model” Atreides Conquest Bonus
- Fixed “Automatic Weapons” Ranger gear
- Fixed no war grace period with Lady Jessica
- Fixed “Omnipresent Fanaticism” Harkonnen Conquest Bonus
- Fixed “Painful Lesson” Conquest Bonus interaction with “Red Fluid” gear
- Fixed “Activist Heardquarters” Smuggler Main Base Extension
- Fixed “Stalwart Alliance” Fremen development: Only one raid per Sietch at the same time, that can only help to Liberate
- Fixed “Political Arts” Ecaz development blocking charters after House Ecaz death
- Fixed “Sobering Medication” Squire gear not displaying its bonuses correctly in multiplayer
- Fixed C’Tair skill
- Obfuscating the “Counter Measures” development properly unassign the third agents in counterintelligence
- Fixed being able to queue multiple devs without checking their requirements with Vernius 5k hegemony
- Fixed water regulation resolution being scaled by villages
- Units are not dragged into combat by aoe anymore
- Fix Crew Training Program was apply 2 times (on faction & on harvester)
- Fix conflicted input after rebind + add feedback when there is a conflict
- Fixing assassination tooltip showing wrong message when only free infiltration cells where remaining
- Fixing landsraad confirm button getting disabled after each resAction
- Fixing rally point and hero alerts in dedicated servers
- Fixing stealth units remaining stealth if they are the only one sieging
- Fixing AI when trying to defend itself

Patch notes for 13/03/2024

v2.0.1.31677

Known Issues


  • Vernius’s harvester in range of the Experimental Alloy Furnace will get a trait with texts in english, even if it’s not the chosen game language.


Bug Fixes


  • Fixed Fremen AoE damage factor issues
  • Fixed AoE issues for Skimisher (center of explosion, aoe radius and aoe fx radius)
  • Fixed loot display not appearing correctly
  • Re added idle harvester alert
  • Fixed robotic voices in conquest
  • Alloy furnace works on Vernius Harvester
  • Fixed popup appearing when using a patent or obfuscate when it should not
  • Fixed Epic Quest Operation
  • Fixed player being able to place a infiltration cell when faction target is already being assassinated by player
  • Fixed free main base building effect when having a pending building
  • Ceremonial caves now works properly on great volcano
  • Fixed sniper trait
  • Some fixes in aura levels (fedaykin, incinerator, siren, overlord stings and hark drones)
  • Also adding filter so armies in truce won't get damage from aura levels
  • Fixed repair cost for vernius ship
  • Fixed radius for Incinerator gear and Feydakin
  • Fixed cost applied not being what is shown in refund dialog
  • Fixed being able to unlock “Patent Troll” achievements when not playing the required faction
  • Fixed uncontrollable unit not auto engaging in combat
  • Fixed LifeReformation gear being active when regenerating at a safe place
  • Fixed uncontrollable units not loosing Rabban's passive when they become controllable
  • Fixed incinerators badly applying burn. Also fixing the gear that accelerates the burn
  • Reduced allocations and perf CPU
  • Fixed Conquest Battle generation
  • Fixed Agony for Vernius and also fixing random bug that spawns uncontrollable raids of my faction around my mainbase
  • Fixed stakkanov prod increase on craft workshops


Balancing


  • close range and most aoe range: 10->7
  • Patent dev 1000 -> 800 solaris
  • Atreides Support Drone 13 -> 14 power
  • Harkonnen Combat Probe 60 -> 100 hp
  • knight gear:
    • vow of fervor +30% -> +20% damage
    • vow of heroism +2 -> +3 CP
    • vow of bravery: -3 -> -2 armor

  • Fremen dev Stalwart Alliance: the amount of unit in the raid have been reduced
  • Harkonnen Overlord stings:
    • 80 -> 150 health
    • Lose 50% -> 40% health per day

  • Duncan Idaho: unit at short range inflict +10% -> +20% damage
  • Vernius Resonance Drone do not attack with aoe anymore
  • Fedaykin nerf 180 degrees -> 120 degrees
  • Sietch raid units have been balanced
  • Incinerator, Fedaykin and Siren aoe have been fixed to start from them instead of the unit they target. Angles have also been adapted to fit the visual not too badly.

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year 🏆

Dune: Spice Wars has been honoured with the title of Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year at the 27th DICE Awards!

Congratulations to the team here at Shiro Games who have poured their passion into creating an exceptional gaming experience for fans of both the Dune universe and strategy games.

A special thank you to our community, your support & contributions over the last couple of years have been instrumental in helping us reach this incredible milestone.

- Shiro Games

Dune: Spice Wars - Community Update #2 Out Now!

Hey Everyone!

Community Update #2 has arrived on Arrakis! As usual, the changes are based on community feedback/sentiments, read on to find out more...



Conquest



Faction specific councilors with text dialogs & voiceover have been added. They will appear when launching a new conquest, during every mission, and at the end of each conquest.



The goal is to improve both the immersion and personality of each faction, and give a better narrative feel to the conquest.
A new mission, “Skirmish”, has been added.



Faction Selection


The single player faction selection screen has been improved, adding new shortcuts & making each faction more visible.



Quick Start


For experienced players that want to skip the early game, we’ve added a “quick start” option, available both in single player and multiplayer skirmishes. You start with increased resources and more map knowledge.



Multiplayer


We’ve dramatically reduced the bandwidth use in multiplayer, in order to decrease lag, especially during the endgame phase.

Bug fixes


  • Fixed a crash on startup that affected new versions of the Steam Deck
  • Fixed a crash when starting a lobby


Full changelog here - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZXpuWBrSc2Zp64P02O7baujPmmeAeJyYV84W4GORpys/edit?usp=sharing

Thank you all for your feedback and suggestions, we can't wait to hear your thoughts and feedback on this update!

- Shiro Games