An odd choice, considering Shiro Games themselves downplay RTS elements in a Steam blog.
Embrace your grand strategy!
Its like John Dune always said: Fear is the path to the dark side, Malcolm Reynolds.
And happy days everyone else, because this brevity doesnt sacrifice both systems-rich and setting-faithful design.
Not everything is equally impactful, but they all converge in an engaging melange of Dune-flavoured decision making.
Early access brings four factions.
Ever the diplomat, Leto can expand through peaceful annexation.
Theres the Baron Harkonnen, for reprobates who slather their toast in marmalade and eat it in the bath.
This increases unrest, potentially leading to rebellions, but can otherwise make you disgustingly rich, disgustingly quickly.
The Fremen can hail Sandworms like gargantuan Ubers, shuttling troops across huge distances.
The second way - slower but more flexible - is through a resource called Hegemony.
Right, those spice payments.
Sometimes, sandworms come to investigate the noise.
May the spice be with you, etc.
Youre left perpetually hungry for spice, as you should be.
you’re able to buy shares in CHOAM, or ally with every Sietch on Dune.
you could use influence to pass favourable motions at the Landsraad council.
Diplomacy is very limited, though.
Trading is useful - and somewhat overpowered - but theres little depth beyond inter-faction reputation.
Speaking of non-non-aggression: aggression.
Stealth, debuffs, ranged and melee units all play their part, with some asymmetry between factions.
Theres often enough fine tuning and different decisions elsewhere to keep your micro-fingers happy, anyway.
it’s possible for you to even have agents run counter-schemes against your enemies.
My main gripe with Spice Wars is the pacing.
Now that Ive finished reviewing it, I wont be playing Spice Wars for fun.
