Description
The planet Arrakis (also known as Dune for it's sandy landscape) is the only place in the known universe where the Spice Melange can be found. The Spice is very important, being the basis of interstellar travel and thus the standard of the Imperial economy. To increase productivity, The Padishah Emperor has invited three powerful Houses (Harkonnen, Atreides and Ordos) to compete against one another economically and bring up spice production. Competition between these houses will begin peacefully but soon turn to conflict involving weaponry, troops and spies. At the same time, the planet itself is hostile, with dangerous sandworms that inhabit the spicefields.
Dune II is often considered the first mainstream modern real-time strategy game and established many conventions of the genre. Even though set in Frank Herbert's famous Dune universe, the game is only loosely connected to the plot of any of the books or the films based from them. Controlling either of the three Houses, the player must fight a number of battles against the other Houses. In the early levels, the goal is simply to earn a certain number of credits, while in the later missions, all enemies must be destroyed.
The single resource in the game is the Spice, which must be collected by harvesters. The spice is converted to credits in a refinery, which are then spent to construct additional buildings and units. There are two terrain types: buildings can only be constructed on stone, while the Spice is only found on sand. However, units moving on sand attract the large sandworms of Dune, who are virtually indestructible and can swallow even large units whole. As levels progress, new and more advanced buildings and units are made available, including structures like a radar station, a repair facility or defense turrets and, for units, various ground troops, light vehicles and tanks. Each House can construct one unique special unit, and, after building a palace improvement, can unleash a unique palace effect.
After a mission is completed, the player can select the next mission on a map of Dune. This choice determines the layout of the next map to be played, but has no effect on the overall campaign.
Alternate Titles
- "沙丘魔堡II :王朝的建立" -- Chinese Title (Tradition)
- "Dune: The Battle for Arrakis" -- Genesis/Master System Title
- "Dune II: Kampf um den Wüstenplaneten" -- German Title
- "Dune II: Battle for Arrakis" -- European Title
- "Dune 2" -- Informal Title
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Trivia
Dune 2 utilizes "PAK"-files, which are essentially several files archived in one. It is extremely easy to figure out the format and write a packer/unpacker, and in fact, a friend of mine has. Therefore, it was theoretically possible to write a scenario editor for Dune II, which might have increased the game's popularity even further.
