Completed Let's Battle for Dune! #12 Failure is death (finished)

[Hellraiser]

Update 11: Draconian measures.

To anyone who has ever studied the history and politics of the Imperium it was no surprise that the Arrakian War of Assassins would bring an end to two of the three noble houses involved. There was simply no other option, if a House was to claim the Golden Lion throne then its opposition had to be annihilated. That was the only way for the new Emperor to assert his power and force the other Houses to be unquestionably loyal to him. One can argue that the Guild's support was all that was needed to ensure loyalty to the new Emperor. However as we all now know the Guild as always, had an agenda of its own.

The invasion of Sigma Draconis IV had the Spacing Guild's backing, after all back then nobody could move anything anywhere in the Imperium without the Guild's involvement. Even the future great Emperor Gunseg Harkonnen the first, did not know what treachery awaited him. For the time being he was concerned with one matter. The complete annihilation of the Ordos on their icy homeworld.

- Vincent Diomedes Weller, "The Great History of House Harkonnen", Chapter 2: The Arrakian War of Assassins, year 2438 A.G.J. (after Gunseng's Jihad)

FMV - Fire of Draconis IV



While at the moment he was still merely a Baron Gunseng the first has already possessed the ferocity and blood-lust worthy of a Harkonnen emperor. Indeed these were the traits of all men born of Harkonnen lineage ever since the founding of the noble House. You can see in this recording how enthusiastic he is about the upcoming slaughter of the Ordos homeworld. Like his predecessors and his successors Gunseng I reveled in the carnage of war. Clearly there was no man of noble origin more fit to lead the Imperium in one of the upcoming dark times of the Jihad.

Some music to get you bros in the mood, once again from that shitty star trek RTS (last time I swear):

You all heard what the good Baron said. Maim, burn, kill but capture the abomination known as the executrix alive.

: Commander the captured Ordos prisoners tell us that there is only one path leading into the city. It is heavily guarded.

: The Commander has gotten us this far mentat I am sure he will find a way to crush whatever pitiful defenses these pathetic worms might have.

: None can hope to defeat those with titanium bones my Lord Baron. They will die like all the other Ordos manboons before them.

: Your enthusiasm is unquestionable soldier. It is time for the Ordos to become a footnote in history!

Our initial force includes seasoned veterans of the War of Assassins. Hopefully they will secure this icy rock and kill the Ordos before we all freeze to death.

: You call that air-power Ordos manboons?

: Your end is inevitable Harkonnen, our forces are superior both in numbers and in technology!

: The inferior delude themselves. I will save you from your insanity by killing you.

: We have sent a small team to construct a manufacturing plant just as you requested Baron. Projector tank production will begin shortly.

: Excellent, the Ordos in their stupidity will waste all their firepower on shooting at holographic phantoms while my soldiers will slaughter them like pigs.

Ixian support played a crucial part in the success of Gunseng's military campaign. While the Ordos forces were inferior of inferior quality when compared to the Harkonnen their numbers were great. Any man with lesser insight into strategy and tactics would have surely been defeated on Sigma Draconis IV. But Emperor Gunseng Harkonenn the First was no such man.

: Commander the volunteer aerial scout has located the primary Ordos military complex. Crush it and this frozen rock will be left mostly defenseless.

The brave gunship pilot provided House Harkonnen with valuable information before his demise at the hand of Ordos scum.

: The projections you requested are ready my future Emperor.

: You and your world are proving to be rather useful Ixian, keep it up and you may be the first loyal subject rewarded by emperor Gunseng Harkonnen.

The Ordos however were not going to give up without a fight. They marshaled their forces and launched and attack that was supposed to end invasion of Draconis IV. However Harkonnen victory was inevitable.

: Cower in fear before those with superior intellect manoboons!

Yes I know holographic missile tanks are bullshit, fortunately I didn't end up using them as much as I feared. Still better than spamming holographic fremen fedayin which was the recommended strategy in pretty much every guide/walkthrough.

: Inferior beings at 11 o'clock!

The Ixian holograms proved to be effective but not as much as it was expected. It took the blood of Harkonnen soldiers to win the War of Assassins and the battle of Draconis IV was no exception.

: Assemble the strike team and deploy them west of the Ordos palace. I want that hidious piece of architecture turned to rubble.

: We ride to battle on steel wings of superiority manboons!

RIP Cleve Ghola #452, he was shot down in the icy skies of Draconis IV when he was riding to victory on steel wings of superiority.

: I enjoy observing the carnage that my Cleveland Mark Blakemore Gholas create. It is so majestic.

The strike team has killed many "manboons" as the gholas referred to all that are against House Harkonnen. Still with the Ordos numerical superiority attrition was becoming an issue which has slowed down the offensive.

: Estimates give you a 0,2% chance of survival Harkonnen, why do you want to die for a Baron that will lose the War of Assassins?

: You claim to understand the concept of odds yet you do not. I will end you and raze your "palace" Ordos scum!

The strike team was advancing closer and closer to the palace. The Ordos inside of it were most likely overwhelmed by terror as their and their House's inevitable end approached.

: I may die now but my brothers will succeed where I have failed!

Unfortunately the before mentioned attrition resulted in the complete annihilation of the strike team. It was a death of a thousand cuts but while the Ordos numbers seemed limitless they were still no match for the Harkonnen blood-lust.

: Prepare the second strike team.

: Of course my Lord Baron.

The second strike team was deployed right on top of th enemy forces. The gholas would have it no other way. The ferocity encoded in the Cleveland Mark Blakemore genetic code beckoned them to fight. Unlike most gholas these were not conditioned in any way. They were one hundred percent as natural true Harkonnen as the original Cleveland Mark Blakemore himself. Just like him they had just one goal in their existence, to crush all enemies of the Baron for they were inferior to true Harkonnen.

: I may be alone and surrounded but my genetic superiority will still allow me to kill a legion of Ordos manboons before I fall!

While the second strike team didn't achieve much apart from the glorious slaughter of the Ordos that dared to stand in their way the Baron had another tactical option ready for use.

: Launch the Death Hand. NOW!

: An inefficient use of atomics, projections predict Harkonnen defeat with 67% probability, we will reign supreme.

: Mentat! Damage report!

: The target's structural integrity is severely crippled but it still standing. Perhaps a third strike team can finish the job my Lord Baron?

: Perhaps they can, send the third strike team.

Continued in next post...

 

[Hellraiser]

More music with a fitting title:

Once again a ghola in his Devastator was shot down enroute to his destination. The future emperor cared little for any losses suffered. Victory was supposed to come at any price if the Baron desires it. That is the simple truth known by all Harkonnen.

With the construction yard down the Ordos military capability has been severely crippled. All they could do now is hope the Harkonnen will not completely annihilate all their manufacturing plants before the Ordos manage to launch a victorious offensive.

: A day without the scheeming CHOAM merchants and Spacing Guild bankers suffering losses is a day lost. Their intrigues cannot be tolerated.

Off-world reinforcements were also out of the question when the strike team razed the Draconis IV space port. Without those facilities equipment from the greedy CHOAM merhcants could not be safely delivered into the high density urban area of the Ordos Capital City.

: Force size ratio is still in our favor, you will be overwhelmed, Sigma Draconis IV shall be your tomb.

: Now the odds are even more in our favor. Why do you continue to fight Harkonnen? Can't you see your deaths approaching?

: Your blind faith in odds and estimates is truly entertaining mentat. Perhaps we might discuss this subject further once you are in my personal torture chamber as a guest.

While the Ordos were severely weakened they still posed a threat. Their Chaos Lightning did weaken the Baron's defences, knowing this he ordered the Ixians to deploy projections. He thought that if the Ordos chase after phantoms the remaining real defenders will crush them.

Some of the Ordos attackers decided to attack from the lightly defended western entrance. While this would have normally be seen as be a sign of tactical genius the Ordos decided to send 3 soldiers against a lone flamethrower tower. The outcome was obvious.

... and toasty.

: Your violations of the great convention will not be ignored, the other houses will surely use their own atomics against you for this.

: The great convention only forbids using atomics against humans. You do no look very human to me Ordos.

: Purging the subhuman abominations with atomics is in the spirit of the great convention.

: See? My legal expert agrees on that. Now please prepare for your arrival at my torture chamber. I could use some entertainment.

The second Death Hand missile launched neutralized the Chaos Lighting threat. Now the only conventional forces could stop the Baron's march to victory.

Once most of the Ordos assault force was crushed one man decided to finish off the remaining Ordos. Some say his suicidal charge was the result of potato overdose while others claim he let his harkonnen instincts take over. Or maybe he was just mad. After millenia it is hard to seperate fact from myth but we do know how he was named and how he died.

For the glory of House Harkonenn! Konjad will kill all of you!

Konjad has been true a Giedi Prime patriot.

However those were not all of the forces the Ordos sent against House Harkonnen that day. More Cobras appeared on the horizon, the gholas rejoiced for they really wanted to kill more enemies of House Harkonenn.

of atomics.

The Ordos in their treachery decided to attack the weakly defended side of the Harkonnen base. The Baron quickly ordered to create projections so that the Ordos assault is stalled until his Devastators could get in place.

Most remaining Ordos factories proved resistant to the use of atomics. Furthermore Ordos engineers repaired them before another missile could be prepared for launch. The Baron decided to use his nuclear arsenal against the Ordos power plants to deprive Ordos turrets of power.

: This kind of statistical anomaly is highly improbable, the use of prescience must be responsible.

: Prescience? I have no need for the sorcery and tricks of the Bene Gesserit. I am Harkonnen as are my soldiers, that alone is enough to defeat you.

With the palace secured the Baron could start preparation for the final assault.

: Witness the begining of the end of all Ordos.

: This is impossible, what are you?

: We are Harkonnen, we always emerge victorious. That is our genetic destiny.

One lone ghola number 173 survived, but he was a true Harkonnen which meant victory was inevitable.

After a blood rampage all across the Ordos capital he finally located the primary target. The Great Hall of the executrix itself.
However nobody knows why the killing blow was dealt or by whom.

: NO! You fools! You were supposed to bring them to me alive! Who launched that?! Who?!

The Ordos have been crushed! However...

: My agents have done as requested Lord Gaider.

: Excellent, if the Harkonnen ever tortured the executrix they could have learned of our plan. That Ordos spy who got away won't be a problem now.

: Yes, now they posses no knowledge of our arrangement. Their missile made sure of that.

: How I love it when you use their assets against them. Still this is by far your best work so far Skyway. Magnificent is he not?

: Yes he is, Dune Cat will reign supreme over man just like the Guild wills it.

: Just like we planned from the start when we poisoned that old fool Corrino. This war of Assasins will mark the dawn of a new age. The Age of Emperor Dune Cat who will steer humanity using his superior prescience abbility!

FMV - Tleilaxu Treachery





Clearly it is an unspeakable horror only David Gaider could have thinked of! This abomination has to be killed!

However first some voting for the now upcomming and obvious epilogue in the next update.

For their support of House Harkonnen the Ixians shall gain:

1) An exemption from the great convention and other imperial laws on Ix. They will be able to have full autonomy on their world but they must abide by imperial law off-world.
2) Nothing at all serving the future emperor is a duty not a voluntary job that is to be rewarded.
3) A position of power as overseers of spice production on Arrakis that will be closely watched by Harkonnen troopers. Power brings treachery and the Baron cannot trust one not born of Harkonnen blood.

For their support of House Harkonnen the Sardaukar shall gain:

A) Giedi Prime as a new training and recruitment planet once House Harkonnen moves to Kaitan.
B) The duty of guarding spice production on Arrakis. Harkonnen soldiers including Cleve Gholas will take their place as the imperial army.
C) They cannot be trusted, General Castor and all remaining Sardaukar will be branded as traitors and hunted down when it will be convenient for the future Emperor.

The guild for it's arrogance and treachery shall be punished in which way:

I) It will be split apart into several smaller organizations forbidden from cooperating with each other ensuring competition in both space travel and banking.
II) All guild navigators, representatives and members will be guarded by no less than 4 Cleve gholas at any given time. The highest ranking officials will be killed or imprisoned.
III) Fully disbanded, we do not need the guild to roam the stars.

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

Bravo!

What made the scenario as difficult as you mentioned it earlier? You seemed to handle if quite easily.

Voting: 1 B III

 

[Hellraiser]

Basically if you try to advance by land by the time you get there through all the fortifications the Ordos get a bullshit horde of free units of the exact type needed to counter yours. You get limited funds and you're not on Arrakis so you can't use 6 harvesters to "outmacro" the AI which worked in every mission on Arrakis. This combined with multiple Chaos Lightnings screws you over royally. I managed to weaken an assault or two using holographic missile tank cheese which reduced the loses among my defending units and I sent the drop squad ASAP. Notice that the construction yard was hit by the very first Death Hand I had. Really that mission is a race against time, if you don't go in fast and destroy the construction yard with a surgical strike you will be forced on the defensive and lose to attrition.

I tried spaming holographic sardaukar but the popamoledos just got a horde of mortars squads+cobras which killed them from 10 kilometers away. Cobras are a bitch to deal with because they're good against anything, have decent armor and great range. Only minotaurs are more bullshit because they can fire on the move and don't need to deploy. Theoretically air units can counter them but good luck with that, Westwood was never good at balance just look at Yuri's Revenge which was an even bigger mess released around the same time as this. When the AI gets like 10+ of these for free plus laser tanks every few minutes you are kind of fucked.

Also lol at the smugglers guild being able to get you back to Arrakis, not that this game has ever followed dune canon to the letter but it is still a moronic idea.

 

[lightbane]

I vote for 1-A-III. Cool update btw, good thing the thread it's not dead after all.

 

[Erebus]

I'm voting 1 B I.

I remember smugglers being mentioned in the books. It seems unlikely that they would be able to travel between solar systems as the Guild does... then again, if they don't, their smuggling must be fairly limited.

 

[Mrowak]

Totally voting 3-B-I

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

1 B II

I remember smugglers being mentioned in the books. It seems unlikely that they would be able to travel between solar systems as the Guild does... then again, if they don't, their smuggling must be fairly limited.

IIRC, smugglers simply had their own deals with the Guild for transportation. Arranging for a few people (Gunseng, commander, mentat) to be smuggled on-board a Guild highliner isn't beyond the realm of possibility. I hope that's what they've done in the game and not smuggled a full Harkonnen force (that would be hilariously retarded).

 

[anus_pounder]

1 B I

This is the good shit.

 

[Azalin]

Finally an update,I was afraid the untermenschen had deafeated the mighty Harkonnen war machine but Cleve didn't let us down.
BTW how many Cleve gholas have been produced?Is he close to becoming the ultimate Kwisatz Haderach?

I vote 1 B I

Good job Hellraiser

P.S.What Happened to the hot Ordos Mentat,is she part of the Baron's harem now?Do you have any videos of tasteful rape?

 

[Azira]

Not participating in the fake vote, but do go on.

 

[Hellraiser]

Not participating in the fake vote, but do go on.

You are not worthy of being a LARPing fag like the rest of us prestigious gentlemen

 

[Azira]

I suck at LARP, that much is true, but I do enjoy this LP nonetheless.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Thank you for updating, you are almost at the desired *LP completed* stage and thus free to complete the DK LP


Voting: 1-B-I

 

[Brother None]

1 B I, I think.

That update was p cool, Hellraiser.

 

[Hellraiser]

Update 12: Failure is death.

There are some scholars who outright refuse to believe that such an abomination like Dune Cat could have been created. According to them the whole thing was just one giant lie created by the new emperor
to justify getting rid of the Tleilaxu and to weaken the Guild. In fact they claim that Gunseng's Jihad itself was just a cover up for a purge initiated by the new Emperor. I will tell you this, the
people claiming that have no right whatsoever to call themselves historians or scholars. Dune Cat was no myth, it was very real as was the Tleilaxu and Guild plot. However when Gunseng the first arrived
on Arrakis he did not yet know the full extent of the Skyway's treachery. Neither did David Gaider of the Spacing Guild.

- Vincent Diomedes Weller, "The Great History of House Harkonnen", Chapter 2: The Arrakian War of Assassins, year 2438 A.G.J. (after Gunseng's Jihad)



The power of prescience could forge the ultimate being. An all knowing living God that could steer humanity in whatever direction he wanted using his knowledge of the past, present and future.
If Dune Cat was to awaken humanity would be forever enslaved. Every action and choice would have the exact consequence Dune Cat wanted. The Guild would control the threads of fate itself or so they thought.

Manworms, horrible creatures I avoid them whenever I can.

The Emperor Worm Dune Cat must die. Otherwise all of humanity will be enslaved by its ultimate prescience powers.



Although one thing that is just bloody stupid about this whole affair is that nowhere in the game did westwood say why this whole emperor worm nonsense was so dangerous. If you read the first four dune novels you could guess that this is because worms
create the spice and spice gives unprecedented prescience powers. It makes sense within the duniverse canon except for one thing. Why the fuck does the guild want to create a living God that will make it pretty much obsolete? It just makes no sense.
The Tleilaxu motivation for helping them will be explained later in this update (westwood wanted to do that in an unreleased expansion/sequel titled alliances there is a rough description of what it was going to be about floating around the net).

Nevertheless even then the whole concept of an emperor worm reeks of derp. Either way we got a freak show feline to slay.

Our starting location is to the north. The damn worm cat is on the opposite side of the map in the south as could be expected from a RTS mission.

: How amusing, it seems the locals have finally recognized me and House Harkonnen as the true rulers of Arrakis.

: Do not think we are brothers bound by our water Harkonnen Shaitan. We will aid you in killing this foul creature but sietch Inania will not stain its honor by further dealings with your kind.

: You will address me properly fremen or I will slaughter your little sietch and every man, woman and child belonging to it.

: Your threats do not scare me servant of the Djinn. I am Andhaira the Shai-hulud slayer and I am fearless.

: Truly these fremen are an inane and savage people my Lord Baron. Still it cannot be all that bad if they distract the guild forces allowing us to kill this abomination quickly.

: Ah there is it, the foul beast itself.

: It is merely another foe we must kill all in the name of our future emperor and the Imperium of course.

: CAN I HAZ IMPERIUMZ???

: Not only does it take the form of the satanic serpent as described in the Orange-Catholic bible but it speaks in tongues! Clearly this is a spawn of satan that threatens traditional Christian values with sin and feminism.

: At the end of the day the Imperium will be triumphant. No spawn of satan or other devilish serpent will stand between the Sardaukar and their oath to serve the Golden Lion throne.

: The progressive liberal agenda of satan cannot be underestimated general. He tries to bring moral decay, gender equality and sodomy at any opportunity he has since the very beginning of the universe.

: While I understand your concerns Ixian the facts are simple. We are Sardaukar and we win or we die for the Imperium. Any other outcome is equal to treason and I do not plan on dying anytime soon. We will emerge victorious.

: IZ DREAMING OF CHEEZEBURGERZ WIT MELANGE, THEY R SO TASTY.

: That thing is getting on my nerves. The sooner the gholas burn turn it into ash the better.

: Why of course my Lord Baron.

BTW those flying things around the creature are Guild NIAP flyers. NIAP means Navigator in a Plane I kid you not. The guild also has NIAB (..in a box) tanks but more on those annoying fuckers later. Either way the flyers are just eyecandy, they have no weapons for some reason.

The basic structures are erected. Soon more Cleve Gholas will be deployed and we will kill this damn cat.

We are getting attacked by Atreides forces manipulated, bribed, brainwashed or mind controlled by the guild. Either way I don't really remember how they got to control their forces. I think that if we burned the Atreides on Caladan to the ground it would be the Ordos under Guild control but I am not sure. Either way Caladan
look like shit. I'm no graphics whore but when the dustbowls on arrakis are nicely animated and look like liquid but the water on Caladan is a static flat surface with a texture which looks like painted with watercolors by a 5 year old. Yeah it looks as shitty as that. Really the art department dropped the ball with that one.

: These could prove useful if you could capture them commander.

Yeah too bad we don't really have time to do that and the Harkonnen have no APC to transport engineers fast without getting sniped by Tleilaxu turrets.

: Ah I see you have discovered my little desert retreat. This is irrelevant at this point, Dune Cat will soon awaken from his slumber.

: Your petty schemes with the Tleilaxu have no chance of succeeding Gaider.

: Is that so? You fail to realize that the Spacing Guild is the keystone of Imperium. Man cannot and will not roam the stars without our help. And with Dune Cat on our side we will control not only space travel but also the very fate of Man itself.

: I find it hard to believe that such a creature would be perfectly willing to do your bidding Gaider. That seems like a rather obvious hole in your plot. Did you get that idea from a cheap romance novel?

: Your insolence is amusing harkonnen. Enjoy the lasts moments of your existence before you become a footnote in history. History that will be forged by Dune Cat and the Spacing Guild.

: He has clearly gone mad, such is the fate of all who reject the teachings of the Orange-Catholic bible and forge a covenant with Satan himself.

: No, his fate is one of death by the hands of true Harkonenn. We will make sure of that.

You can see the two buildable Guild units in this screenshot. One is the previously mentioned NIAB tank, it is essentially a cross between a tesla tank and a chrono tank from Red Alert. It fires a long straight arc of electrictity damaging all in it's path. It can also fold-space but similar to chrono legionares from Red Alert 2 it is "stunned" and vulnerable for a period of time proportional to the distance it jumped.

The other is a guild navigator, this guy is a rather slow and beefy infantry unit armed with a cone area of effect lightning weapon. Like the NIAB tank he is buildable if you use the guild subfaction in skirmish or multiplayer.

You can clearly see the lighting cone attack here.

Navigators kind of explode when they die. I have no idea why. Also how the fuck can they survive outside their spice gas atmosphere chambers? Once again Westwood fucks up the canon.

: The newest batch of scouts has arrived my Lord Baron.

: Excellent, send them to scout the only path leading into the Guild compound.

Actually I was wrong there is an Ordos base here. They are also controlled by the Guild.

This factory could be problematic, you see that bunch of mongoose walkers and the missile turrets provide AA coverage for an area otherwise lacking it. That and it most likely will end up spamming minotaurs which as I already said many times before are overpowered as fuck.

: Manboons! Cower before the genetic destiny of Man!

More of gaider's guild goons (GGG).

: Some of the finest Sardaukar who survived the initial Tleilaxu-Guild offensive and fought them ever since have arrived. They will help us end this inconvenience so that the Imperium may triumph once more.

Did I mention there is a rather large base directly next to us in the west? Yeah it just started sending crap at us.

: Harkonnen victory is inevetible manboons!

They don't make atomics like they used to...

: The sands of this world will not stop us from arriving at the field of battle.

this navigator is preparing to fold space yet he just refuses to jump when the harkonnen are shelling him.

: The Ordos dogs server their even more inferior masters. Bow down before you future emperor Gunseng Harkonenn manboons!

: I CONTROLZ THE SPICE I CONTROLZ THE UNIVERSE!

: Can you hear that baron? Dune Cat is almost awake. Too bad you will not be alive to witness the splendor of his rule.

What a nice coincidence. I was about to say the same thing about you witnessing my glorious reign.



Shit is about to get real.

: ITZ HAPPENING!

FUCK!

SHIT!

: We will not let you triumph over those with superior intellect.

: Your water will be ours foul shaitans!

Fucking minotaurs man. At least we managed to drive them back.

: Oh my that desert dweller is rather resourceful for someone as superstitious as him.

: Even the godless zen-sunni heathens can recognize a true servant of Hell when they see one.

: I always thought the Ixians were not tainted by religious zealotry.

: Both the laws of physics on which our machines are based and the laws of morality come from the same divine source. That same source demands that the righteous slay the heretics seeking to undermine the cultural and spiritual heritage of christianity.

: Aren't you amusing Ixian? You think you understand the universe but only those with the ultimate power of prescience can understand the universe.

: As always the servants of Mammon claim they understand the universe when all they do is acquire wealth and influence they do not deserve by stealing it from others. I will not listen anymore to your greed-driven satanic nonsense.

Fucking hawk strike, at least it's not a Chaos Lighting.

: I will slay you all servants of ITZ.

Seriously is there a planet ruled by some Chinese House that produced all the atomics owned by everyone in the Landsraad?

Either way the AI missed that next hawk strike, time to end this before the clock of doom starts counting down.

Not featured: a screenshot of Cleve Gholas flying into battle. Overall I made less screenshots than usual in this update for some reason sorry.

I think we lost a few carry-alls when flying over that weakened atreides base with AA mentioned earlier.

: We will stop ITZ from happening. Its harbinger will be slain.

BTW the AI captured that Megacannon and is now shelling our Cleves with it. Fucking

: These gholas better not fail me now.

: Well well it looks like the Harkonnen think they can kill a God.

: They are nothing more than a bunch of banal fools.

Did I mention that we have literary no way of sending more Cleves here in time before the AI floods us with more minotaurs?

: Do not interfere manboon. You cannot comprehend the horror of ITZ that we are trying to prevent.

: I may die now but my brother will avenge meeeeee[static]

: You will not kill my magnificent creation harkonnen.

Meanwhile the GGG Ordos from the west decide to strike from the rear.

: This cannot be! Why is that foul abomination still alive?! I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION!

: Y MEOW HEAD HURTZ SO MUCH????

: NO! I will not be denied the Golden Lion Throne so easily!

: Durable is he not?

: Most durable indeed Skyway. As durable as our pact.

: Indeed.

: LAUNCH EVERYTHING WE HAVE! EVERY LAST DEATH HAND! NOW!

: What are you trying to achieve harkonnen? A mere atomic missile is not enough to kill Dune Cat as you can see.

: Its vital signs are fading. The radiation is killing it.

: NO! The radiation! Curse you Harkonnen! Curse all of you!

: That is irrelevant. I will make my exit now and leave you to your new Harkonnen friends. My goal has been achieved. You have been a useful but boring pawn Gaider.

: What?!

: Your surprise is as banal as it was predictable. I hear the harkonnen torture chambers are quite advanced. Perhaps you will tell me about your stay in them once Bene Tleilax rules the Imperium. If you survive that long.

VICTORY FOR HOUSE HARKONNEN! VICTORY FOR THE BARON! VICTORY FOR THE IMPERIUM AND MANKIND!

A close one as fuck, seriously if that radiation damage over time did not kill it Dune Cat would reign supreme.

The following images are one of the few recordings of that glorious victory that survived until this very day. Yet despite such strong evidence some still deny that this happened. They are fools and ignorants nothing more.



Notice that Cleve drops are even in the CGI FMV ending, such is the superhuman nature of Cleveland Mark Blakemore's influence.



And on that very day House Harkonnen claimed the Golden Lion Throne. Man was about to enter a new age and many of the choices made during the War of Assassins had consequences in the centuries that followed.

However:

: They have performed adequately.

: Indeed, that fool Shepard could have ruined everything but once again the Imperium has triumphed. I never liked his disrespect for authority anyway.

: Extreme times call for extreme measures. He was merely the consequence of the surroundings he was forced to exist in.

: Still I am honestly surprised how well that Cleveland served his part.

: Surprised? It took seven centuries of selective breeding and behind the scenes manipulation to get everyone and everything in place so that a man like him could end up in the exact place we needed him in.

: With that amount of preparation and planning it is no wonder we have won. The future of the Imperium looks bright. You Reverend Mother Scottish Martial Arts know it best.

: Indeed almost all went according to plan, except for nomask. But the Atreides never would have sided with the Tleilaxu for long enough to create gholas of him and Cleveland performed well enough that nomask was expendable. Still you just made one mistake.

: And what might that be?

: You assumed we know what will happen next but we have no future, or at least none that we can see. Time will tell what the consequences of this war will be.

Epilogue:

"The direct consequences of the choices made by the key players of the Arrakian War of Assasins: a historiographic analysis"

Vincent Diomedes Weller, year 2447 A.G.J. (after Gunseng's Jihad)

"Once the dust or rather sand had settled and Dune Cat was dead a new Emperor has ascended to the Golden Lion Throne. He was a Harkonnen by blood and by action. But the flames of war have not been entirely extinguished.

What Skyway of Bene Tleilax hoped to achieved by helping the Spacing Guild in creating Dune Cat was a distraction. By assassinating Emperor Shaddam IV and organizing the War of Assassins the Guild turned everyones eyes away from the rest of the Imperium. Instead they were looking solely at what was going on Arrakis. At the same time a few people here and there were replaced by face dancers, water supplies were contaminated and within two months
the Tleilaxu were slowly taking control of most of the major worlds of the Imperium. Skyway had hoped that the Guild could be manipulated via Dune Cat into allowing free movement around the known universe but with Dune Cat dead that part of the plan could not be executed.

The new Emperor Gunseng I started his glorious Jihad. For years worlds all across the Imperium have burned. Many were purged of Tleilaxu taint by atomics, the Tleilaxu after all were everywhere and noone could be trusted. The allies of the Emperor like the Sardaukar and the Ixians aided him in this struggle. Eventually Bene Tleilax itself was purged by atomic fire and Skyway was dead. But the positions of power the allies of Gunseng gained as a result of their involvement in the Jihad were far more important for the future history of Man than even the execution of Skyway.

The Spacing Guild itself was split apart, the lesser guilds were all of equal size. They were forbidden from merging, cooperating or even contacting other guilds. This initially proved problematic when it came to matters of banking but intermediaries were used if transfers had to be made between the guilds. Because the Emperor held a tight grip on Arrakis and the flow of Spice the guilds remained loyal and would often compete with one another for influence in the royal court on Kaitan. Divide and conquer was an old and still very effective method of ensuring the guilds would never betray the Imperium again. With time the guilds became obsolete and their former influence and power became insignificant.

The Sardaukar paid a heavy price for supporting their future Emperor. During the Jihad they were tasked with the most difficult of assaults. While they have triumphed in most cases the price was high. Even General Castor himself died during the reclaiming of Ix. The battle of Ix was brutal and savage, normally a world as infiltrated by the Tleilaxu as Ix would be turned to glass by atomics. But Lyric Suite's influence and Ixian support during the War of Assassins convinced the Baron to take back Ix house by house street by street. As a result the Jihad lasted at least 4 years longer than it should have. It may have been a price worth paying considering what Ixian science has achieved although that to came at a high price. Severely crippled the Sardaukar were given the honor of guarding spice production on Arrakis after the Jihad. The few remaining high ranking and experienced veterans slowly died to attrition when a fremen insurrection led by the notorious fremen fedaykin Andhaira of sietch Inania and later his son Andhaira targeted spice production. The rebellion was brutal and the battered Sardaukar suffered more and more losses with each year. Gunseng I cursed the day he let that fremen get away during the War of Assassins for the rest of his life. But the Sardaukar cursed it even more for the insurrection was their undoing. Andhaira's attacks forced the Sardaukar to recruit weaker and less experienced men lowering Sardaukar standards. The Sardaukar became a joke and were finally disbanded and replaced by Cleveland Mark Blakemore Gholas.

The Cleveland Mark Blakemore Gholas themselves proved useful exterminating the entire fremen culture within five years of taking over security on Arrakis. Captured tleilaxu scienctists were "persuaded" to work on creating more Gholas during the Jihad so there was an ample supply of super soldiers to station across the Imperium. However the scientists in question could not be trusted, they conditioned the new batch of Gholas to rebel at the 350th anniversary of the end of Gunseng's Jihad. The brutal war that ensued cost billions of lives. It is in my opinion as a scholar that if the Sardaukar were given ample time to rebuild their strength after the Jihad Gunseng's successors would never grow so reliant on the Gholas and the eneromous loss of life could have been avoided.

But finally it was the Ixians who gained the most out of their alliance with House Harkonnen. They were granted autonomy on an unprecedented scale, yes their homeworld was in ruins but it was still habitable unlike the dozens of other worlds which were turned to ash during the Jihad. They quickly rebuilt and within the next few centuries rediscovered knowledge long lost. Knowledge condemned as sinful and outright banned by the Great Convention and the religious holy books. But as part of its autonomy Ix was not bound by the Great Convention. The first computers since the Butlerian Jihad were built. Ones which would allow starships to safely travel using space folding without being reliant on prescience and the spice. Religious leaders called this heresy and demanded a Jihad but none of the Harkonnen emperors wanted to take away the privileges granted to Ix by the Great Gunseng I. At any rate at the begining they had no reason to. The power of the spacing guilds was slowly eroding as more and more ships utilizing supercomputers left the orbital shipyards of Ix and other worlds. However in the end we got to this point. The hubris of Ix resulted in recreating the very threat that nearly wiped out mankind during the Butlerian Jihad. Thinking machines, artificial intelligence, mechanical life. And now nearly two and a half millennia after the War of Assassins Man is threatened by machines just as it was during the Butlerian Jihad. All because of the choices made that long ago. You see history is not about recording or glorifying the deeds of those before us, it is about understanding the consequence of each choice ever made. That is my final thought written in my final publication as the machines are laying siege to my world, one of the few still left fighting. May God have mercy on us all and if bad comes to worst no mercy for those who led to the fall of Man."

Final comments:

As mentioned before there was supposed to be an expansion sequel which due to the closing of Westwood studios never came into existance. According to it the Tleilaxu tricked the Guild with the whole manworm thing to further their own agenda in this case a full scale assault on the Imperium. For some ridiculously retarded reason the three houses (with their leaders somehow alive, wtf westwood) agreed after much bitching that the Commander (!) becomes the new emperor and fights the Tleilaxu. On one hand they at least managed to explain why the fuck the Tleilaxu got into the whole arrangement with the guild. Oh and you would fight on different planets all across the Imperium which might have been fun as long as the economy was adjusted for that seeing how bloody difficult the missions on the House homeworlds are.

The game itself is a mixed bag after playing it after quite a few years. Some ideas were nice like the subfactions and the risk-style campaign mode, mission variety was a bit off as was overall mission design. Especially considering Westwood made Tiberian Sun. The interface was outdated even when the game was released, seriously the game has no attack move command. There are obvious unit balance issues like Minotaurs and Cobras having no viable cost-effective counter. The choices could have had more rigid consequences, regardless of what you do the Ixians, Sardaukar and Fremen ally with you when you storm the oponents arrakian capital.

On one hand westwood did some but on the other they decided it was too much and screwed up by pretty much forcing you to lose your alliance with the Tleilaxu. While in the harkonenn campaign it is technically possible to keep it until the very end it is hard as hell not to pick a mission where your alliance gets fucked. The Ordos campaign is a particularly bad case because their homeworld mission is a Tleilaxu weapons demostration that goes sour which breaks the alliance if you have one.

Also the whole concept of turning the Tleilaxu into Evulz is outright retarded. Yeah the Harkonnen got the same treatment but they were the antagonists in the novel and they already were portrayed as downright evil although for practical reasons rather than for the evulz. The Tleilaxu were "alien" morally and culturally but like most factions in the duniverse they only did what they thought was right and would further their agenda. Their motivation of galactic conquest in Emperor and the never made sequel is just outright idiotic.

 

[Kashmir Slippers]

Noo! Not Dune Cat!

Bravo for finishing.

I like what you did with the epilogue, too. Silly us.

 

[Hellraiser]

Thanks to JarlFrank now I have a snazyy completed tag on this LP

 

[Brother None]

Good job, Hellraiser. Quite a bumrush at the end there, seems like a tough mission, but you defeated the evil dunecat.

Haha, that rubber crown.

Also stumbled upon this emperor worm victory cutscene:

That emperor worm reminds me of the human-alien hybrid in how extremely stupid an idea it is. I'm guessing most of this game has been dismissed from canon.

 

[Hellraiser]

Ah crap forgot about that FMV, anyway there is also an FMV if you fail the campaign (you have to lose 2 or more territories in defense mission IIRC) for all the factions. The Ordos one is particularly lulzy.

Now as far as the dune canon goes the manworm isn't entirely a dumb idea, it is a dumb idea overall but in universe it makes sense. The execution of the whole thing is dumb, if that guild guy I renamed to Gaider decided to turn himself into a man-sandworm hybrid it would make a lot more fucking sense. But as I said The Guild's plan is just one big derp pile. They had no way of knowing that the all knowing creature would not fuck them over which it could since it would know everything about the possible future, the past and the present. They had pretty much zero explanation as to why they want to do that other than "because we fucking can" or "hurr durr guild iz evulz". As mentioned before the Tleilaxu wanted to use this to either manipulate the guild or to just draw attention away from their plan. So that part while never explained in the game itself had some justification done by westwood. But the guild is just truly inane in its actions.

Anyway the dune RTS games have an odd place in the dune expanded universe. For one they are based on lynch's movie so some of the silly ideas (like the voice being a sonic blaster) stayed. That is because EA owns the license to making games based on the movie and not on the novel. Also they take place in some very alternative continuity, the Corrinos are in power, the atreides and harkonnen are still important players in the landsraad but you have the Ordos who are pretty much non-canon (westwood took their name from the non-canon dune encyclopedia). While with dune 2 and 2000 you could place those games as some sort of distant prequel in the timeline Emperor is pretty much an alternative duniverse because the rule of House Corrino ended in the way described in "Dune" which was definitely not by getting assassinated by a Bene Gesserit tranny.

Also as dumb as the manworm was it still isn't as derpy as the shit Herbert's son and that cheap toilet paper writer Anderson pulled in the prequels and "Dune 7". Really the dune canon was fucked long ago and Westwood's contribution to that rape was minimal compared to that derpy duo.

 

[Azalin]

Good job Hellraiser

 

[lightbane]

Good job Hellraiser

Now, you should continue your other lp, the Dungeon Keeper one.

 

[Hellraiser]

I had something else in mind, text-based LARP-faggotry this time. But I may stop being a lazyass and actually sort and upload the DK screenshots lying around and write a DK LP update instead if you bros are insisting on it so much. Tzeentch knows those 4+ updates worth of screenshots are gathering digital dust as are all the potential skyrim related memes yet not abused by that LP. Also Greater Daemon Roshambo the Horned reaper needs to rage more at the decline. I doubt a LP where were are a traveler roaming the many parallel dimensions of the multiverse as a citizen of a very imperialistic atlantis with an imperial british approach to primitive cultures would be that popular. Too much reading and all that.

 

[CappenVarra]

Nice LP

I doubt a LP where were are a traveler roaming the many parallel dimensions of the multiverse as a citizen of a very imperialistic atlantis with an imperial british approach to primitive cultures would be that popular. Too much reading and all that.

Oh no you don't - start writing that this very instant! The Imperium of Codexia demands it!

 

[Hellraiser]

I have actually written the initial update (background choice and introduction) for that 2 months ago as I did with the metaplot of the setting, locations and important plot points. Just been polishing that and waiting for this to finish
But I guess I'll post the keeper update first once I write it, after I write that damn paper I need to write. Can't keep the bros without their dose of inclining shitty generic fantasy land ruled by the Toddster.