Westwood Studios said their next Dune game will only come in a few years. That's OK as long as they're going to make it a real blockbuster. For now, they're concentrating on the C&C series. I'm also a big Tiberian Sun fan, but I really think the Dune series has even more potential (the novels are international best-sellers). Their biggest competitor (I won't give it's name) has 2 RTS series, not just one. Westwood really should think about making a new Dune game. Since for some reason they don't want to do that right now, an expansion pack for Dune2k would be a good idea. I know it's pretty late for that, so maybe it should be able to run without the original Dune 2000 (in exchange for that, it should be more expensive than an ordinary expansion pack). I've put together my ideas and I came up with Legends of Arrakis. It has 32 new units, 8 new buildings and 7 heroes (special unique units). I made sure the game stays balanced. Also, it should have 5 new missions for each house and 3 special missions (2 with the emperor and 1 with the mercenaries).

Of course, a Dune 2k expansion pack doesn't have to contain all of these (usually there are only about 10 new units, I "created" 32). Here's a list of the new features the expansion pack could have.

THE STORY

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THE STORY

The emperor's challenge was a trick. The emperor wanted to destroy all the 3 houses. Each time one of them went ahead, he allied with the others and took it down again. This bloody war went on for 10 years. Eventually, the mercenaries realized something was wrong. They reported the emperor's strategy to the Cartel, who sent out the spies immediately. The ordos soon found out what was the emperor doing. They started to try to make the baron and the duke come to an agreement. They succeeded in one year. The 3 houses were united against the common enemy. The emperor didn't want to give up this easily. He embarked himself and the whole imperial army on highliners to Dune. When they disembarked, the war became more bloody than ever. The alliance of the 3 houses wasn't as strong as planned. After 5 years, the space Guild saw an opportunity. For centuries, they shared power with the emperor and the houses... why not abandon them on Dune? The Guild emposed an embargo on Arrakis. Just to be allowed to communicate with their home planets, the houses and the emperor have to pay the Guild. The Guild said to each one that he'll be allowed to go back to his world if he wins. In the mean time, they supply the Guild with spice. Also, the smugglers became very well-treated, they now had Starports. A new world order has emerged: the Guild reigns supreme while the emperor and the 3 houses fight on Dune. This embargo crushed the alliance of the houses. They fight each other as well as the emperor. The sisterhood of the Bene Gesserit wants to stop the Guild, so they became interested in the war on Dune. Only one thing can bring the Guild to it's knees: absolute control of the Spice. He who controls the spice, controls the universe. ONE house will be victorious. ONE house will crush the Guild. ONE house will rule the universe. YA HYA CHOUHADA!

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UNITS

These are the new units you get with the expansion pack.

Sound blast troopers
type: advanced infantry
house: Atreides
requires: upgraded barracks and IX research center
range: medium - speed: 6 km/h
armor: light, they're vulnerable to high explosives and machine guns
purpose: The sound blast troopers fire sonic blasts like the sonic tank. Their range is the same as an ordinary trooper's.

Nerve gas troopers
type: advanced infantry
house: Ordos
requires: upgraded barracks and IX research center
range: long - speed: 6 km/h
armor: light, they're vulnerable to high explosives and machine guns
purpose: The nerve gas troopers fire special gas missiles. They can only deviate soldiers, but they can also damage vehicles (a bit). Their range is the same as the siege tank's.

Plasma troopers
type: advanced infantry
house: Harkonnen
requires: upgraded barracks and IX research center
range: short - speed: 6 km/h
armor: light, they're vulnerable to high explosives and machine guns
purpose: The plasma troopers fire plasma like the devastator. Their range is the same as the devastator's. They can't self-destruct.

Elite sardaukar
type: highly advanced infantry
house: Imperial house
requires: Imperial palace
range: very long - speed: 20 km/h
armor: heavy, they're vulnerable to high explosives and lasers
purpose: The elite sardaukar are the unstoppable soldiers of the emperor. They have lasers with the same range as rocket turrets. They also have energy shields always turned on. Because of them, the elite sardaukar are almost invulnerable to most weapons. However, the shields don't protect them from high explosives and they explode in contact with lasers. The elite sardaukar can be squished, but the unit that squished one also dies. The elite sardaukar are built free by the imperial palace, in the same time as the fremen. However, only one elite sardaukar comes out each time.

Airborne APC
type: armored personnel carrier
house: Atreides
requires: heavy factory and barracks
range: N/A - speed: 40 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to missiles and high caliber guns
purpose: The airborne APC isn't a true aircraft, it's a hover vehicle. When it moves, it flies and it can only be hit by missiles. When it stays still, it lands. It can carry up to 5 soldiers. It can fly over anything, but it's the slowest flying unit.

Stealth APC
type: armored personnel carrier
house: Ordos
requires: heavy factory and barracks
range: N/A - speed: 40 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to missiles and high caliber guns
purpose: It's an invisible APC. It only becomes visible when loading or unloading troops (or when it's too close to enemy soldiers). It can carry up to 5 soldiers.

Energy shield APC
type: armored personnel carrier
house: Harkonnen
requires: heavy factory and barracks
range: N/A - speed: 40 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to missiles and high caliber guns
purpose: The energy shield APC has an energy shield that makes it invulnerable. However, the shield needs charging. When it's charged, it can be turned on for a while, then it needs to recharge. Since the APC is a vehicle, the shield also works against lasers, like all other weapons. This APC can carry up to 5 soldiers.

Laser APC
type: armored personnel carrier
house: Imperial house
requires: heavy factory and barracks
range: N/A - speed: 40 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to missiles and high caliber guns
purpose: This APC has two laser guns. It's the only APC with weapons. It can carry up to 5 soldiers.

Double APC
type: armored personnel carrier
house: Mercenaries
requires: heavy factory and barracks
range: N/A - speed: 60 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to missiles and high caliber guns
purpose: The double APC is an advanced armored personnel carrier. It's much faster than an ordinary one and it can carry up to 10 soldiers. However, it has no special ability.

Hijacker
type: special forces
house: Atreides
requires: upgraded barracks and IX research center
range: N/A - speed: 15 km/h
armor: light, it's vulnerable to high explosives and lasers
purpose: The Hijacker can steal enemy vehicles. It has a stealth device to avoid being detected by the enemy. However, the device only works for 10 seconds (on the fastest gameplay) and it can only recharge when the hijacker is inside an enemy vehicle (it recharges instantly). When the hijacker gets in a vehicle, he takes over it. He only gets out if the vehicle is destroyed. Then he can take over another one.

Sniper
type: special forces
house: Ordos
requires: upgraded barracks and IX research center
range: long - speed: 20 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to high explosives and lasers
purpose: The Sniper is an elite shooter, with great accuracy and range. However, he has a long weapon reload time. He's always invisible, with the common rules of stealth applying (he becomes visible when shooting and when he's close to soldiers or right next to turrets). He can kill any soldier in one shot, except elite sardaukar (they take two shots). He can also shoot at vehicles and buildings, but they only take minor damage. However, shooting on a vehicle will sometimes cause it to "freeze" in place or loose it's firepower (temporary effects, they wear off after a while). Shooting on buildings will also have temporary effects sometimes, depending on the type of building. These effects are caused by the fact that the sniper sometimes kills personnel inside buildings or vehicles.

Bomber
type: special forces
house: Harkonnen
requires: upgraded barracks and IX research center
range: N/A - speed: 10 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to high explosives and lasers
purpose: The Bomber is an explosives specialist. He can place remote control bombs. Unlike mines, they only explode when you want them to. The explosion is like the one caused by a siege tank's cannonball. To place an explosive, force-attack the place where you want to put it. You can even place explosives on infantry-only areas. To detonate an explosive, deploy it. To detonate all explosives that you placed on the map, select a bomber and force-attack one of the explosives. They'll all detonate, regardless of the bomber's position. The bomber has an unlimited supply of explosives, he doesn't need to go get more. He also has a stealth device. It only works for 20 seconds (on the fastest gameplay), then it takes a while to recharge. The common rules of stealth apply. When he places an explosive, he becomes visible for a second (on the fastest gameplay).

Laser tank
type: advanced battle tank
house: Imperial house
requires: upgraded heavy factory and IX research center
range: medium - speed: 40 km/h
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable to missiles and high caliber guns
purpose: The laser tank is the emperor's main tank. It has a powerful laser gun, excellent against soldiers and very good against vehicles and buildings. They're not cheap, but they're worth it.

Mobile beam transporter - MBT
type: battlefield support vehicle
house: Atreides
requires: upgraded heavy factory and Atreides palace
range: N/A - speed: 45 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to missiles and special weapons
purpose: The MBT is used to beam units from one place to another. It can only be used when deployed. You can deploy it on anything (anywhere it can get to). It can't move when deployed. To un-deploy it, click the deploy cursor again. You need at least two of them deployed to make them work. To beam a unit, order it to enter a deployed MBT. It will dissapear and re-appear after 3 seconds (on the fastest gameplay) on the closest deployed MBT (it doesn't matter how close that one actually is). If all the other MBTs are destroyed in those 3 seconds, the unit will re-appear on the one it started from. If all of that player's MBTs (including the one that beamed the unit) are destroyed in the 3 seconds, the unit is lost.

Mobile cloak generator - MCG
type: battlefield support vehicle
house: Ordos
requires: upgraded heavy factory and Ordos palace
range: medium - speed: 50 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to missiles and special weapons
purpose: The MCG creates a cloaking field with a 5 cell radius. It can hide 24 units (25 cells, but the middle one is occupied by the MCG). You need to deploy the MCG to activate the cloaking field. You can deploy it on anything (anywhere it can get to). It can't move when deployed. To un-deploy it, click the deploy cursor again. If a building is inside the cloaking field, it also becomes invisible. Of course, it only affects friendly units and buildings. The common rules of stealth apply.

Mobile shield generator - MSG
type: battlefield support vehicle
house: Harkonnen
requires: upgraded heavy factory and Harkonnen palace
range: short - speed: 40 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to missiles and special weapons
purpose: The MSG creates an energy shield with a 3 cell radius. It can protect 8 units (9 cells, but the middle one is occupied by the MSG). It needs to be deployed to activate the shield. You can deploy it on anything (anywhere it can get to). It can't move when deployed. To un-deploy it, click the deploy cursor again. If a turret is inside the shield, it's also protected. Any friendly units or turrets inside the shield (including the MSG) are completely invulnerable, but they also can't fire. A harvester inside the shield becomes vulnerable when harvesting. If all of someone's buildings (except walls, concrete slabs and turrets) are destroyed, his MSGs don't work any more. This prevents players (or the computer) from making the game impossible to win by protecting units or turrets forever.

Spice thief harvester
type: base support vehicle
house: Mercenaries
requires: refinery and IX research center
range: N/A - speed: 50 km/h
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable to missiles and fire
purpose: This is a special modified harvester. It can't harvest normal spice, but it can harvest from spice blooms. It has a permanent stealth device (the common rules of stealth apply). It harvests spice blooms by deploying on them (you can also "attack" them). When it's harvesting, the bloom also becomes invisible. All the spice that should come out of the bloom is taken by the spice thief harvester. It doesn't have a storage limit. It lets go and returns to a refinery once the bloom is finished. It can't be picked up by a carryall (it would make it visible and cause only trouble). The spice thief harvester is generally used to cut the enemy's money supply.

Chaos spy
type: special forces
house: Mercenaries
requires: Mercenary palace
range: N/A - speed: 50 km/h
armor: very light, it's vulnerable to high explosives and machine guns
purpose: The chaos spy has a stealth device like the saboteur's (the common rules of stealth apply). It can infiltrate enemy buildings by entering them. Once a chaos spy entered a building, all the units and buildings of that army, over a 7-cell radius, start changing their colors randomly and continuously for 10 seconds (on the fastest gameplay). They still remain controlled by the same player (or computer), but any unit or turret will start fireing at the units and buildings that aren't it's color. Since the colors keep changing, the result will be total chaos in that region. Most units will probably be destroyed by the chaotic battle.

IronHawk
type: attack aircraft
house: Atreides
requires: high-tech factory and aircraft control tower
range: N/A - speed: 220 km/h
armor: light, it's vulnerable to missiles (in the air) and high explosives (when it's landed)
purpose: The IronHawk is an UFO-type aircraft (the atreides aircraft model). It flies in a chaotic pattern so it's hard to hit. However, it must hover in the air above it's target to hit it. It must be straight above it. This makes it very vulnerable, so it also has a reversed-polarity stealth device: it's invisible when it stays still (even when fireing), but it's visible when it's moving. It has a high caliber cannon (like the combat tank, but with twice the firepower). It can fire 6 times, then it must return to the aircraft control tower to recharge.

SkyCobra
type: attack aircraft
house: Ordos
requires: high-tech factory and aircraft control tower
range: medium - speed: 355 km/h
armor: light, it's vulnerable to missiles (in the air) and machine guns (when it's landed)
purpose: The SkyCobra is a combat ornithopter (the ordos aircraft model). It flies very fast, like all 'thopters. It's very hard to hit. It has twin machine guns with armor-piercing bullets (machine guns with the firepower of 5 raiders). It can fire 10 times, then it must return to the aircraft control tower (it never slows down, it goes over the target like the bomber ornithopters).

DeathRam
type: attack aircraft
house: Harkonnen
requires: high-tech factory and aircraft control tower
range: short - speed: 310 km/h
armor: light, it's vulnerable to missiles (in the air) and high caliber guns (when it's landed)
purpose: The DeathRam is a helicopter (the harkonnen aircraft model). It flies fast, dodging missiles. It's very hard to hit. It has a short range and it stays still when fireing, but it still dodges missiles (avoiding them has a higher priority than fireing). It fires high explosives, like the siege tank (but with only a short range). It can fire 8 times, then it needs to go to the aircraft control tower to recharge.

Bazooka UFO
type: attack aircraft
house: Atreides
requires: high-tech factory and upgraded aircraft control tower
range: medium - speed: 210 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to missiles (in the air) and high explosives (when it's landed)
purpose: The bazooka UFO flies in a chaotic pattern so it's hard to hit. It has a short range (like the trooper's) but it has the firepower of an r-turret. It fires missiles, so it can also hit other aircraft in the air. It must hover in the air to hit it's target. This makes it very vulnerable, so it also has a reversed-polarity stealth device: it's invisible when it stays still (even when fireing), but it's visible when it's moving. It can fire 4 times, then it needs to go back to recharge.

Missile 'thopter
type: attack aircraft
house: Ordos
requires: high-tech factory and upgraded aircraft control tower
range: medium - speed: 350 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to missiles (in the air) and machine guns (when it's landed)
purpose: The missile 'thopter flies very fast, like all 'thopters. It's very hard to hit. It fires missiles, so it can also hit other aircraft in the air. It has the firepower of two launchers. It can fire 5 times, then it needs to go back to the aircraft control tower.

Rocket chopper
type: attack aircraft
house: Harkonnen
requires: high-tech factory and upgraded aircraft control tower
range: medium - speed: 300 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to missiles (in the air) and high caliber guns (when it's landed)
purpose: The rocket chopper is a helicopter (the harkonnen aircraft model). It flies fast, dodging missiles. It's very hard to hit. It has a short range and it stays still when fireing, but it still dodges missiles (avoiding them has a higher priority than fireing).  It fires missiles, so it can also hit other aircraft in the air. It has the firepower of an r-turret plus a quad. It can fire 5 times, then it needs to go back to the aircraft control tower.

Fremen UFO
type: attack aircraft
house: Atreides
requires: high-tech factory, upgraded aircraft control tower and IX research center
range: N/A - speed: 200 km/h
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable to missiles (in the air) and high explosives (when it's landed)
purpose: The fremen UFO flies in a chaotic pattern so it's hard to hit. It fires fremen gliders. The fremen gliders are non-selectable air units. When the fremen UFO "attacks" something, it launches fremen gliders that start fireing at the target, then it returns to the aircraft control tower. It can "fire" only once before it needs to return, but that one "fireing" means launching ten fremen gliders. The fremen gliders are slow-moving air units that fire while moving. Each has the same firepower as a fremen.

Sabotage 'thopter
type: attack aircraft
house: Ordos
requires: high-tech factory, upgraded aircraft control tower and IX research center
range: N/A - speed: 340 km/h
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable to missiles (in the air) and machine guns (when it's landed)
purpose: The sabotage 'thopter flies very fast, like all 'thopters. It's very hard to hit. It "fires" by parachuting a saboteur. You can only parachute it into an enemy building. The parachuted saboteur is a non-selectable air unit. It can be killed before it gets down to the building, but it takes a lot of AA defences to do it. If he gets to it, he acts like any other saboteur, destroying the building. After parachuting a saboteur, the sabotage 'thopter returns to the aircraft control tower to recharge.

Death hand chopper
type: attack aircraft
house: Harkonnen
requires: high-tech factory, upgraded aircraft control tower and IX research center
range: short - speed: 290 km/h
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable to missiles (in the air) and high caliber guns (when it's landed)
purpose: The death hand chopper is a helicopter. It flies fast, dodging missiles. It's very hard to hit. It has a short range and it stays still when fireing, but it still dodges missiles (avoiding them has a higher priority than fireing). This chopper fires a mini-death hand. However, it has only a short range. The mini-death hand does only 1/4 the damage and affects only 1/4 the area of a normal death hand. After fireing once, the death hand chopper must return to recharge.

Combat frigate
type: attack aircraft
house: Imperial house
requires: high-tech factory and aircraft control tower
range: long - speed: 250 km/h
armor: very heavy, it's vulnerable to missiles (in the air) and special weapons (when it's landed)
purpose: This is the imperial controlable aircraft. It's a modified frigate with a long-range laser cannon mounted on top. It doesn't have any special missile-avoiding tactic (it flies straight like a frigate), but it has a huge armor and it can fire 12 times before it needs to go back to the aircraft control tower to recharge. However, it's also very expensive.

Laser infantry
type: advanced infantry
house: all
requires: starport
range: medium - speed: 10 km/h
armor: light, they're vulnerable to high explosives and machine guns
purpose: The laser infantry is specially trained by the Guild to fight on Arrakis. They each carry a mini-laser gun. Very useful in large numbers. They can only be purchased from the starport (in groups of five, that count as one unit in frigate transports).

Commando
type: special forces
house: all
requires: upgraded barracks and IX research center
range: medium (for sniper rifle) - speed: 15 km/h
armor: light, they're vulnerable to high explosives and machine guns
purpose: The commando is a highly advanced soldier. He has two fighting modes: "demolition" and "spy". The demolition mode is the default (that's how they come out of the barracks). In this mode, they act like the commando from C&C and Tanya from Red Alert (they've got a sniper rifle to take out soldiers in one shot and time bombs to place on buildings; a single time bomb can destroy a building, but the commando must get to it first). They're visible like any other unit. Deploy them to change between modes. In spy mode, the commando has a permanent stealth device and he can infiltrate buildings (like a spy from Red Alert). The common rules of stealth apply. Once he infiltrates a building, he can't get out. You can see everything an infiltrated building does (for example you can see the enemy's power levels if you infiltrate a windtrap). The commandos aren't heroes. You can build as many of them as you want (both in single player and multiplayer).

Mine layer
type: battlefield support vehicle
house: all
requires: heavy factory and repair pad
range: N/A - speed: 45 km/h
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to most types of weapons
purpose: The mine layer can place mines or minefields. To place a mine, deploy it (or force-attack a place where you want a mine). To place a minefield, select the mine layer, hold down "shift" and draw a rectangular box with the mouse. The minelayer will place a mine in every cell of that box (where it can). After placing 25 mines, it must return to a repair pad to reload (for free). The mines are effective against soldiers as well as vehicles.

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BUILDINGS

These are the new buildings you get with the expansion pack.

Sonic turret
type: Ground based turret
requires: outpost and IX research center
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable to missiles and high explosives
house: Atreides
purpose: The sonic turret fires sonic blasts, like the sonic tank. It's range is in between that of the rocket turret and that of the gun turret. It can be out ranged by r-turrets, gas missile turrets, deviators and launchers. Siege tanks can sometimes out range it. It doesn't work when you have low power.

Gas missile turret
type: Ground based turret
requires: outpost and IX research center
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable to missiles and fire
house: Ordos
purpose: The gas missile turret fires gas missiles like those of the deviator. The difference is that these missiles can deviate both soldiers and vehicles. It has the same range as a rocket turret. It can be out ranged by launchers. It can hit and deviate air units. It doesn't work when you have low power.

Plasma turret
type: Ground based turret
requires: outpost and IX research center
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable to missiles and high caliber guns
house: Harkonnen
purpose: The plasma turret fires plasma charges, like the devastator. It can't self-destruct. It has the same range as a gun turret. It can be out ranged by r-turrets, gas missile turrets, sonic turrets, lion turrets (with enough power), deviators, launchers, sonic tanks and siege tanks. Still, it has a devastating firepower. It doesn't work when you have low power.

Lion turret
type: Ground based turret
requires: outpost and IX research center
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable to missiles and lasers
house: Imperial house
purpose: The lion turret is the emperor's favorite base defense. It has twin laser guns. The range depends on the power you have. It can be equal to an r-turret's when you have lots of power, but when you're close to low power it's the same like a gun turret's. It doesn't work when you have low power.

Mercenary palace
type: Capitol building
requires: IX research center
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable to most types of weapons
house: Mercenaries
purpose: The mercenary palace is like any of the other palaces. Once it's built, it becomes the center of mercenary operations. It builds the chaos spy (special palace option - for free).

Hospital
type: repair facility
requires: barracks
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to most types of weapons
house: all
purpose: The hospital heals soldiers just like the repair pad repairs vehicles. Up to 5 soldiers can be healed at the same time in a hospital. Healing soldiers is cheaper than training new ones.

Aircraft control tower
type: production facility
requires: high tech factory
armor: medium, it's vulnerable to high explosives
house: Atreides, Ordos, Harkonnen, Imperial house
purpose: The aircraft control tower builds the aircraft that you can control. It also provides landing space for 8 aircraft (it occupies 9 squares: the tower is at the middle and the other 8 are landing space).

Holographic projector
type: illusion projector
requires: palace and IX research center
armor: heavy, it's vulnerable to most types of weapons
house: all (multiplayer only)
purpose: The holographic projector is the most advanced building you have on multiplayer. It creates illusions. The illusions are free, but they take a while to build. You can select what the illusion will represent: it can be a unit or a building, but it can also be a group of units or buildings. If it's a group, you'll control the units (or buildings) all at once. An illusion only lasts for a minute (on the fastest gameplay). After that, it disappears. Illusions don't take damage, but they also can't do anything. If they fire, they don't damage anything. Of course, the unit illusions can move like normal units. You can deploy an illusion to make it look badly damaged. The holographic projector needs a lot of power and it doesn't work when you have low power. It can be upgraded. An upgraded holographic projector can also create illusions of enemy units or buildings.

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HEROES

The heroes are special units that you get in some missions. They add a whole new dimension to single player campaigns, by fitting in with the storyline. If one of your heroes dies, you've failed your mission. You can't build them, so they're not available in multiplayer (and there's no chance you can get one from a crate).

Paul Atreides
rank: na-duke (Leto's heir)
description: Paul is duke Leto's sun. He's used to harsh conditions and he knows how to ride worms.
range: N/A - speed: 20 km/h
armor: medium, he's vulnerable to high explosives and special ammo (sonic blasts, plasma and lasers)
ability: He has a thumping device that attracts worms much faster than an ordinary one and doesn't make sounds. He can ride worms. If the worm dies, Paul can catch another one.

Bronso of IX
rank: top ordos strategist
description: Bronso was once a historian. He can easily guess what people think. He was arrested for revealing state secrets, but the Cartel's men busted him out. Since then, he works in secret for house Ordos.
range: N/A - speed: 30 km/h
armor: light, he's vulnerable to missiles and fire
ability: He has a stealth device that works all the time (it doesn't need recharging). He can sabotage any building, and he's not hurt by the explosion. Also, if a unit accidentally runs over him, it explodes.

Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen
rank: na-baron (Vladimir's heir)
description: Feyd-Rautha is baron Vladimir's nephew. He's Paul's mortal enemy. Sometimes, he goes on Arrakis to supervise special operations.
range: medium - speed: 10 km/h
armor: heavy, he's vulnerable to high caliber guns and machine guns
ability: He's got a death hand shield. It's not always active, it needs recharging. When he activates his shield, the harkonnen launch a death hand at his location. It destroys everything around him, but he's protected by the shield. When the shield is charged, deploy Feyd-Rautha to activate it and call in a death hand.

Hasimir Fenring
rank: Count Fenring
description: Hasimir is the emperor's cousin and best friend. They were friends since they were children. Count Fenring is now the emperor's right hand.
range: very long - speed: 15 km/h
armor: heavy, he's vulnerable to special ammo (sonic blasts, plasma and lasers) and machine guns
ability: He's got 2 long-range laser guns and a reversed polarity shield (always on). The laser guns can out-range a missile launcher. The shield is unique in the universe. It doesn't explode in contact with a laser, but it doesn't protect from it either.

Scytale
rank: Tleilaxian face dancer
description: Scytale is the most famous face dancer in the universe (a face dancer can change his look as he wants). He likes to be involved in politics. Sometimes he works for the mercenaries and sometimes he works alone.
range: N/A - speed: 25 km/h
armor: light, he's vulnerable to high caliber guns and missiles
ability: Scytale is a face dancer, so he can look like any infantry unit (soldier) of any house. He can also infiltrate enemy buildings like a commando. Unlike a commando, he can get out as well ("deploy" the enemy building to get him out). While he's in, he can mess a bit with the enemy base (if he's in a windtrap, he can turn off the some of the power; if he's in a refinery or silo, he can make some money disappear etc.)

Gaius Helen Mohiam
rank: Bene Gesserit reverend mother
description: Gaius Helen is a very old reverend mother. She is a master of using The Voice.
range: very long - speed: 6 km/h
armor: medium, she's vulnerable to high explosives and fire
ability: Gaius Helen doesn't have any weapons, but she has visions and she uses The Voice (a special Bene Gesserit technique for mind control). When she has a vision, she reveals an area of the map. It could be small or large (it's random). She can only attack infantry units (soldiers). She uses The Voice to convert them. This way, she can sometimes have a large army (especially if she converted engineers and used them). She can also repair the converted units (for free). The color of her army is light brown (like this text).

Lady Elara the truthsayer
rank: ex-concubine of the emperor
description: Lady Elara was once the emperor's bound concubine and truthsayer. She was always loyal to the Bene Gesserit, as well as to the emperor. Because of this, the emperor didn't accept her any more and the sisterhood excommunicated her. She went to Arrakis, where she became addicted to spice. The melange enhanced her abilities. Now she's a renegade Bene Gesserit which can't use The Voice any more but who KNOWS the future and who's invulnerable to conventional weapons
range: N/A - speed: 6 km/h
armor: none (she's invulnerable to all weapons except nerve gas missiles)
ability: Lady Elara hasn't got any weapons and no special abilities. She works alone and she's only vulnerable to nerve gas troopers and Gas missile turrets. All houses try to get her on their side, because she knows the future.

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MODIFICATIONS

In order for the game to stay balanced, some modifications have to be made. Also, some options need to be added in practice mode.

The airstrike

In the original version (without the expansion pack), the airstrike was only available to house Atreides. This was balanced by the fact that the fremen were pretty useless. However, to make the game more challenging, all houses should have combat aircraft. That's why I made the Aircraft Control Tower and I gave each house 3 new air units (and one to the emperor). To keep the game balanced, everybody has the airstrike (including the emperor and the mercenaries).

The missile launcher

In the original version, the missile launcher was only available to the ordos from the Starport, and the other houses had to build an IX to get it. This has to be changed. With the expansion pack, you don't need and IX to build the launcher (so the IX appears later in the game), you only need an upgraded heavy factory. It's the same for the ordos. They can build launchers from an upgraded heavy factory.

The fremen

Because everybody has the airstrike, some compensation had to be given to the atreides. This is it. The fremen are much more useful. They can kill any soldier in one hit with a knife (but the knife only works in close combat). They know the desert like their back yard, so they have a much better sight range. They can create quicksand traps that act like mines. Any unit that goes on one will sink right away, but the trap only works once. Deploy a fremen to create a quicksand trap where he's standing. The fremen are not affected by the traps. The problem is that it takes some time to make a trap and during that time he's visible. One fremen can't build another trap until the last one caught a unit. The fremen are built just as fast as before, but you get 3 at once instead of 2.

Note: I removed one of the new abilities I gave them before (the one with them staying undetected by infantry if they're not moving), to balance the game better.

The saboteur

The saboteurs weren't too popular because the stealth device doesn't stay on for long, so you need precision when using them. That's why, in the expansion pack, the saboteur's stealth device works for 3 times as much. The reload time is the same.

Multiplayer options

Nearly all Dune fans wish they could play with the emperor, the mercenaries or the smugglers. This expansion pack includes 2 missions with the emperor and one with the mercenaries. Also, you'll be able to play with the emperor and with the mercenaries in multiplayer, but only in practice mode (skirmish). If you play with the mercs, you'll start allied with all the ordos players. This is like any ordinary alliance, so you can brake it if you want. Also, there's going to be a special skirmish XL map for the smugglers. You'll be able to play only with them on this map (of course, your starting point is randomly chosen from the ones available). Also, this is the ONLY map on which you can play with the smugglers. This is because they're in a special position: they're neutral and they only have 4 types of buildings: windtrap, refinery, silo and starport. You're going to start with 2 windtraps, a refinery, a starport and 4 silos. You can order an MCV from the starport, but you still won't be able to build any other buildings (but at least you can build more of these ones). When you play with the smugglers, you'll have 2 ways to achieve victory: First, the conventional way: you'll have to declare war to the other players and destroy them. This is nearly impossible with your limited building types. Second, the spice race: harvest all the spice on the map. The other players will sell their buildings and leave. This isn't as easy as it looks, if the enemy sees you harvesting his spice, he'll declare war and you're going to have to defend yourself. You won't select the victory type at the beginning: the default way is the spice race, but if you want to destroy your enemy you can do that and you win.