Shiro Games has been revealing more details about their upcoming 4X strategy game Dune: Spice Wars, revealing key details on the four factions players will be able to try out during its early access phase. While last month we had look at the ruthless Harkonnens, this month the developers share look at another new faction: the Smugglers.
The Smugglers are a bunch of enterprising individuals, who hold a major underground economic power in the imperium, and people who want to avoid CHOAM turn to them for the procurement of precious materials. Smugglers manage their territory using their armed forces and the little political influence that they possess. However, their might come from their agents, who have their hands in the dealings of every planet out there, successfully influencing public policies and trade.
The Smugglers are led by Esmar Tuek, a skillful spymaster and the most respected of all his peers in Arrakis. With major houses going at each other’s throats amidst the spice wars, the Smugglers have banded together under his leadership to defend their interests and motivations.
Esmar Tuek is surrounded by his four advisors- the loyal quartermaster Drisq, who takes care of logistics of smuggling operation along with managing the spy network; Staban Tuek, the son of Esmar Tuek. who is proficient in the art of politics and uses his riches to influence the council in favorable ways; Bannerjee, the head of security, who leads his crew with an iron fist; and finally, Lingar Bewt, who oversees the water trade, which gives him authority in the Pan and Graben village.
The general gameplay of the Smugglers is going to be focusing on optimizing their economic outcomes, which revolves around parasitizing the development of their neighbors and laying the foundation of their underworld into the production of their opponent.
Dune: Spice Wars will also feature unique units for Smugglers, like the Scavengers, who are opportunist killers and gets stronger when their target supplies diminish; the Wreckers, who use chemical weapons to harass and reduce the supply of enemies in their area while letting the allies comfortably loot the spoils; the Snipers, who are deadly marksmen with modified rifles and long-range attacks; the Free Company, who are a group of famous assassins and bounty hunters in the imperium doing their bidding; and the strong and extremely agile mechanical units called Combat Drones.
Players can expect to utilize the smarts and trading prowess of the Smugglers in Dune: Spice Wars when it launches in Steam Early Access sometime in 2022.