Dune: Spice Wars – The Smugglers Faction Guide

Dune: Spice Wars will have players vying for control over Arrakis, the most important planet in the Imperium that produces the critical Spice resource. The Imperial Houses of Atreides and Harkonnen aren’t the only ones vying for control over Arrakis. Other forces of opportunity, such as The Smugglers seek to carve out their own place in the universe through economic connection and cunning operations.

Here’s everything you should know about the Smugglers in Dune: Spice Wars.

 

The Smugglers Faction Guide

Features and Abilities

The Smugglers, just like the Harkonnens, are also economically-inclined, but unlike the brutal imperial house that focuses on economic gain through exploitation, Smugglers prefer trickier and complicated means of earning profit. They do this with their unique Underworld Headquarters mechanic, where the Smuggler faction can build smaller bases in villages controlled by the other factions. Each headquarters offers two building slots and you can place a variety of buildings that give you economic, military, or stately benefits.

Being such adepts at market interactions and having a vast array of contacts, the Smugglers have improved relations with the Arrakis Black Markets – points of interest that ornithopters can survey. These black market contacts let the Smugglers acquire Spice or Solari, depending on what the strategic situation calls for, meaning you don’t necessarily have to rely on your own villages for resource production, instead choosing to interact with the world and siphon resources from others.

Since the Smugglers aren’t exactly officially recognized by the Landsraad, this faction initially has no access to council resolutions until reaching 5000 Hegemony when the Smugglers get 50 votes to use in the Landsraad Council. However, the Smugglers can place bounties on specific resolutions to incentivize and sway the opinion of other factions to vote for resolutions most beneficial to you before officially joining the Landsraad. Also, at the same level of Hegemony you get access to a separate Contraband offers mechanic, which opens up further economic options.

At the 10000-point Hegemony threshold Smugglers gain the option to recruit Mercenary units that are themselves stronger than the baseline troops of the various factions without having to research the technology that normally unlocks these units. Not only do you get them without research, but Smuggler Mercenaries come with a bonus of 20% to their strength.

 

Councilors

The first of the Smuggler Councilors is Staban Tuek. They improve the resource production of your Underworld Headquarters, specifically Solari and Influence. However, these bonuses are related to the position of these outposts in relation to each other, so effective positioning is critical to utilize Staban’s effects.

Lingar Bewt aids in the Smugglers’ ability to claim new land based on the faction’s water production. Depending on the overall positive level of water production the Authority cost to annex new villages and build Underworld Headquarters goes down. Monopolizing valuable water production can help with your own expansion.

Drisq is your head intelligence officer and grants all recruited agents the Merchant trait, which increases Solari generation, essentially making each of your agents a money producer. Also, Drisq ensures that all infiltration levels across all organizations will never drop below 1, which helps with agent missions and increased resource productivity.

The Smugglers’ war leader, Bannerjee buffs the faction’s pillaging potential by increasing overall resource generation from the pillage action. In addition to a simple increase in resources, Bannerjee also lets Smugglers gain modest amounts of Plascrete per raid on top of the usual Solari loot.

 

Army Roster and Tactics

The overall way of war for the Smugglers is a mix of the Atreides synergy-based target focus tactic and a healthy dose of skirmishing and effective use of terrain. Many of the Smugglers’ troops have effects that increase the supply drain of enemy units, meaning if they tire them out and lead them into hostile terrain, then you can let the environment do most of the work for you, as Smuggler troops typically lack much armor or ways to increase their durability.

Scavengers are the basic frontline unit of the Smuggler faction and have similar characteristics to the Harkonnen troopers, except for their special ability. This unit will gain a 10% regeneration buff for every nearby defeated enemy unit, which can stack up to five times. This can work to increase their durability in a prolonged fight if you’re able to quickly defeat enemy units or give just enough health regeneration to help you disengage in one piece.

Perhaps the most important unit in the Smugglers’ roster is the Wrecker. A demolition unit with area damage, the Wrecker comes with a crucial effect, which defines how the rest of the Smuggler army performs. Wrecker grenades cause a contamination effect on the target which increases the target unit’s supply drain by 50%, which can be absolutely devastating if the unit is away from friendly territory. This means Smuggler Wreckers can throw grenades at a target and run away to more favorable ground and let the lack of supplies eat away at their opponent’s army.

Benefiting from low enemy supplies, the Smuggler Sniper unit is the roster’s main damage dealer. They’re a typical glass cannon unit with little armor and low health, but they gain additional strength based on the target’s missing amount of supplies, so they can easily speed along the death of a unit running low on supply and away from friendly territory.

Getting the Combat Drone is when the Smugglers can get more serious with their combat operations, as this unit has better health and armor than the basic infantry units, though it still benefits from the enemy’s lack of supplies to fight even better. The Combat Drone will gain an additional 30% strength if its target has its supplies at half or less.

Finally, the quintessential assassin unit, the Free Company gains a massive strength boost of up to 50% to its already high strength based on the target’s missing health. They may not be the unit to initiate combat, but the Free Company sure will be the ones who finish the fight. They also have Camouflage to stay hidden and get into a position for the killing blow.

 

Strategy

While the Smugglers could go for a political victory through the Landsraad Council once they gain access to it, they’ll be at a general disadvantage to pursue this type of victory compared to the Imperial Houses. As such, the Smugglers are perfectly geared for a Hegemony victory based on their unique and easy way of earning additional Hegemony – pillage settlements. The more you pillage the more influence you build on Arrakis.

The Smuggler army is purpose-built for this style of hit-and-run micro-intensive skirmish tactics where the goal isn’t to find a defeat the main core of an enemy army but to harass it, break it apart, and force it into the desert where the lack of supplies will do all the work for you. So diplomatically, this faction can benefit from being friends with everybody, but ensuring that there are always neutral or helpless villages to continuously pillage your way to victory.

In regard to territory, if the Harkonnens want to expand but steadily and at a modest pace, the Smugglers are the least expansionist faction of the four, as the more territory they control the fewer potential pillaging targets they have. So for claiming land, it’s advisable to be pickier than even the Harkonnens and take control of the most prized and valuable regions.

Because of this lack of territory, you’ll need to find alternate ways to earn resources, which is where diplomacy, Black Markets, and the Underworld Headquarters come into play. Pillaging will provide a good bulk of Solari, but not much else so you’ll need to spend your hard-earned cash on trading with other factions to make up whatever you lack. Black Markets will help with obtaining the necessary Spice bribes and taxes, while the Underworld Headquarters can siphon resources from the regions you’ve placed them in.

This comes to the most important element of Smuggler strategy – situational awareness. While reconnaissance is valuable generally, for this faction it’s even more vital as knowing where valuable regions are and where enemy forces are coming from are all paramount to success and survival as the Smugglers to deploy your forces to raid and your Underworld Headquarters for maximum resource gain.

The Smuggler faction is arguably the funkiest and off-kilter power at play on Arrakis due to its underhanded and curveball approaches to the game’s mechanics. You’ll need to be on top of your game of knowledge and cunning to truly succeed as the Smugglers. What will you do to make Sietch Tuek the capital of Arrakis?

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