Dune: The Battle for Arrakis Walkthrought
With Dune: The Battle for Arrakis on Sega, it’s best to let the gameplay do the talking. Open every mission on solid rock: lay concrete, drop your Construction Yard, then a Wind Trap and a Refinery. Plant the Refinery near the sand to shave precious seconds off your Harvester’s route, but never on bare dunes—your base belongs on rock. Next step: either a second Refinery or a second Harvester from the Starport if the price is right. Early on, doubling spice income beats rushing tech. Once the melange is flowing, rush a radar: the Outpost unlocks the minimap and alerts, and without it you’ll miss raids. And a word about the worm: in Dune: The Battle for Arrakis—often dubbed “Dune II on Sega”—the sandworm eats lone targets on open sand. Keep your Harvester hugging rock and a Trike/Quad patrol on standby; see ripples in the dunes, drag your units to stone and the worm drops aggro.
Base growth and defense, step by step
After a couple Harvester runs, add Barracks and a Light Factory. Park infantry in houses for cover and behind walls—they live through drive-by raids. Set your first turrets at the base “gate”: a Gun Turret up front toward the sand, a Rocket Turret behind it. Together they swat Trikes and tanks alike. Turrets chew power, so slot in another Wind Trap before you expand—no one wants a blackout mid-attack. Hunt for narrow sand chokepoints and fortify them—holding one passage beats covering the whole perimeter. As the map opens up, drive a second MCV to a fresh spice patch and lay concrete immediately: buildings placed without slabs deteriorate over time, and repairs are pure melange down the drain.
Starport and the small spice economy
The Starport is your midgame heartbeat. Check prices before you commit: on a good roll you’ll grab tanks, a Harvester, or even an MCV cheaper than building them. If it’s overpriced, wait—the market swings. Need troops right now? Buy at the Port; building pays off when your factory queue is already rolling. Bank surplus in Silos or you’ll hemorrhage spice. And don’t skip the High-Tech Factory: it unlocks Carryalls that lift Harvesters over worms and airlift damaged armor to the Repair Facility.
Mid missions: breaking a base
Start by trimming the flanks: Rocket Turrets, factories, radar. Versus a fortified corner, bring a “Missile Tanks + Combat Tanks” mix and play the range game: missiles pick off turrets while tanks screen against Trikes. Meanwhile, sneak a squad around to snipe Wind Traps—drop their power and the turrets and radar go dark, letting your push snowball. Don’t hesitate to sell off battered captured buildings: cash beats a random enemy box collecting dust in the corner.
Atreides: sound and beyond
For the Atreides—often just called “Dune on Sega”—Sonic Tanks are the key. They cut in a line, so scout with infantry and keep your armor off to the side to avoid friendly fire. Hit turrets with missile units and reserve the sonic beam for dense columns. Once the Palace comes online, use it: Fremen are great at sniping backline structures, popping Silos, and yanking Harvesters. With the High-Tech Factory, Ornithopters join in; they strike on their own, but late-game those runs finish off half-built structures and Repairs. On the final Atreides maps, two footprints help: a turreted main and a forward outpost near rich spice, with a couple towers and a Repair Facility to keep tanks cycling.
Harkonnen: brute force and pinpoint pain
Harkonnen strategy revolves around a heavy fist. Devastators are slow, but under your turrets they’re at home: wedge them up front and trail Missile Tanks behind. Hit a wall of turrets and buildings? Fire the Palace’s Death Hand—aim along Wind Traps and the Repair Facility to collapse their defense grid. Once their power dips, Rocket Turrets stop stinging your column. Don’t forget the Devastator self-destruct on a key target if it’s on its last legs: one tap can erase half a base. In late missions, keep spare MCVs queued at the Starport: lose a corner, and you can immediately unpack a new Yard elsewhere while the enemy celebrates over rubble.
Ordos: trickery and fast teardown
Ordos shine once the Deviator is online. Tag enemy heavies and they fight the wrong war for a short window. Timing is everything: while chaos reigns, have Missile Tanks shred turrets and use your “temporarily converted” lone heavies to hold a flank. The Palace gives you a Saboteur—he needs a clean corridor with no infantry. Carve one with walls and a frontal distraction. If he reaches the Construction Yard or Wind Traps, half the job’s done. Early on, Ordos love Raider Trikes: slice Harvesters, especially as they roll onto their first spice patch. In drawn-out brawls, don’t hesitate to buy “cheap” Missile Tanks at the Port and queue the next batch—Ordos turn money into tempo faster than anyone.
Final maps: multiple bases and a worm for dessert
When two or three enemy bases share the map, don’t spread thin. Secure a “resource pocket,” drop a second MCV on the nearest rock by a fat melange field, and anchor it with two or three Rocket Turrets. Carryalls ferry Harvesters across danger—on late maps that’s a lifesaver versus the worm. Attack in waves: the first strips turrets and Repairs, the second deletes factories and radar, the third finishes the Palace and Construction Yard. If they’re out of power, stay on target—erase the infrastructure or they’ll pop Wind Traps and bring defenses back online. When only dull “pockets” remain on the minimap, don’t chase across dunes one by one: keep a strike group under repairs and hop between targets via rock “islands.” You still don’t need to “kill” the worm—better to feed it decoys and arc your Harvester back to rock than lose half your column on open sand.
Step by step, The Battle for Arrakis resolves into a clean gameplan: rock underfoot, spice flowing, turrets holding the gate, and strike teams hitting where it hurts. Call it “Dune on Sega” or, like when we were kids, just “Dune II”—the principles don’t change: a crisp spice economy, a timely Starport buy, and a surgical hit where the defense is cracking.