Paul surveys his domain.
The call of jihad approaches, echoing ever louder in his dreams. All thoughts now turn to preparation for war; the people must build a mighty army, capable of destroying the enemies of the Mahdi.
The people consult the Oracle of Hajra, who declares that Paul is indeed the Lisan-al-Gaib. The Oracle declares support for the Mahdi, and the Oracle's servants venture forth from the wilderness and enter the Atreides cities, sharing their skills and technical manuals that they have preserved since the great Catastrophe.
We discover Liet-Kynes, the Imperial Planetologist turned Fremen, son of the great man Pardot.
The Fremen are the key to Dune, and we sympathize with Liet's vision of an Arrakis Paradise. So we must make every effort to keep good relations, and eventually to contemplate a permanent alliance. But the Fremen are slow to trust, so we must remain patient and demonstrate our good intentions.
But it remains to be seen whether such a dream is truly feasible. And surely such things must remain secondary to the great Jihad. What is one planet when compared to the future of humanity?
The Fremen are incredibly weak; they must have started on a small island and been unable to expand, thanks to their still inadequate AI, which does not allow them to move their sandrider-settlers across the deserts.
We may have to protect the Fremen at a later stage (to ensure they are not destroyed), which could prove difficult given the distances involved.
To start improving relations (and to speed their tech a little) I share Faith with them - hopefully they too can one day be encouraged to embrace the Mahdi?
Sharing Faith demonstrates our good intentions, enough that the Fremen will open their borders to us, and together the two are enough that they will share with us their knowledge of Dune's Topography in exchange for helping to train their Fanatical warriors.
The backward Sietch Tabr; an example of the AI's ******** city-placement algorithm. It needs to realize that settling directly *on* groundwater is useless; the resource is useless. If we actually remove the groundwater resource, will that help?
This city is so bad, that the Fremen will be completely crippled this game.
Also, a bad start position, which is very unfortunate. I never really get start positions that bad on Arrakis mapscript.
We encounter Emperor Shaddam, of House Corrino. An Emperor in name only; since the Catastrophe and Shaddam's presumed death by the rest of the galaxy, another Emperor was named, who is but an Ecazi puppet for now.
Though Shaddam's forces on Arrakis have been destroyed along with everyone else, as he gains power he will be able to bring in the elite Sardaukar from offworld, fearsome assault troops ever loyal to House Corrino.
Shaddam is impetuous and rash, and cannot be relied on. While we will no doubt have to crush him under our boot and take the Imperial throne for ourselves, for now we will have peace.
The great houses are banding together: Landsraad is founded by House Ix.
Al Akabah is founded, and we begin building an insect farm.
The Duke of Ecaz demands Jihad, but I refuse; the sacred writings must be shared only with those who Believe. Infidels must not be allowed to use them against us, or to distort them with their false propaganda.
The Tleilaxu have spread to the poles; rooting them off our starting island will not be enough to destroy them. We may have to make peace with them after clearing them off our island; using 2 wars to destroy them. Prolonged wars with the Tleilaxu are to be avoided if possible, since their devastating bio-plague lasts until we make peace and they share the cure.
Fortunately, everyone else tends to distrust and hate the Tleilaxu, so won't be particularly offended if we destroy them.
The Bene Gesserit ask for open borders, which we refuse. What fool would let the Witches roam freely through his lands?
The Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, our most hated enemy. Though he is too far to deal with for now, our goals must include ridding the galaxy of the treacherous Harkonnen filth forever.
While he appears to be an imperial lapdog for now, we can rest assured knowing he would gladly betray them if it were to his advantage. His secret desire is to put a Harkonnen on the throne.
We complete desert engineering, which increases the yield from our wells. Very valuable.
The Spice honey has eliminated our health problems. We shall found 1 more city and then concentrate on our war machine.
We have researched Combat Ornithopters, and pick a city to be our aircraft manufacturer; Al Yassanah already has Imperial religion, so will not be getting Mahdi any time soon, so lets use that one. It'll be expensive, so a refinery first.
We can grab Feudalism cheaply for Serfdom, which will increase our worker build rate, very valuable at this stage, and HR to quell any unhappiness.
A beeline then for Atreides heirs and Meritocracy is possible, but those techs are very expensive.
Our military is in a pathetic state, so that needs to be the priority by far.
Save attached.
Increased sci rate to cut 2 turns while held up the Oracle until Stillsuit is finished. Luckily Mahdi spread to Arrakeen and could put some hammers to the Temple.
