Units in Emperor: Battle for Dune

The following is a list of units in the PC real-time strategy game Emperor: Battle for Dune.

All Houses

MCV: The Mobile Construction Vehicle is very expensive, slow, unarmed and heavily armoured; it can deploy to form the Construction Yard, which is required to build structures. When attacking a territory on the strategic map, the player's allotment of units always includes one of these which must be deployed before base construction can begin.

Spice Harvester: Slow moving, heavily armoured spice gathering vehicles. These are the player's only source of income (apart from selling buildings), but if the last one is destroyed, a new one is provided for free. Carryalls may ferry Harvesters to and from Spice fields by air, significantly improving harvesting speed. A free Carryall is provided with a refinery or refinery pad upgrade, but if a Harvester is constructed manually, a Carryall must be built separately.

Carryall: These unarmed, relatively poorly armoured, non-player-controlled air transports ferry Spice Harvesters between Spice fields and Refineries at a significantly higher speed than Harvesters can attain on the ground. However, it is poorly armoured, and if it is destroyed while carrying a Harvester, both units are lost.

Advanced Carryall: This armoured, player-controlled aircraft can be used to ferry units (both friendly and enemy) across the map. They hover in place when not moving, are moderately armoured and can be used in several very nasty tactics. The downside is their cost and the time it takes to build them. Again, as with the regular Carryall, if it is destroyed while picking up or carrying a unit, the carried unit will perish also. This is one of the most effective ways of taking out a Harkonnen Devastator, as it cannot fire back when airborne.

Scout: Unarmed, cheap, fast moving infantry armed only with a pair of oil lenses; stealthed (read: invisible) while stationary or moving short distances. These units are useful to locate the enemy and to spy on him/her, although they are easily dispatched even by weapons which are inherently weak against infantry. The Scout can detect enemy stealth units at a greater distance than any other unit.

Engineer: Expensive, slow moving, unarmed and poorly armoured, these units' power lies in the fact that they can enter an enemy building and thereby convert it to their own side. House Harkonnen's engineers are slightly more unusual than those from the Atreides and the Ordos as they carry pistols as a means of self protection. Engineers can also remove a Leech larva from an infected vehicle.

House Atreides

Infantry: Light infantrymen armed with submachineguns. These are only useful against infantry and light vehicles, and then only in numbers. They are poorly armoured and suffer from a weak anti-armour attack. Their main strengths are low cost and low training time, meaning that it is possible to field a large army of these purely as cannon-fodder, to divert fire from your more important combat units. The Atreides Infantry are weaker than their Harkonnen or Ordos counterparts (the Harkonnen Light Infantry and the Ordos Chemical Trooper)

Sniper: These long-ranged anti-infantry snipers can kill most non-veteran infantry in a single shot. At the highest level of veterancy (three chevrons), these units gain stealth, meaning that they cannot be seen by the enemy unless moving long distances, firing, or when an enemy unit is in close proximity. This makes the Atreides extremely lethal in infantry warfare, as Atreides infantry of the highest veterancy may go back into the Barracks to train new recruits in 1 additional level of veterancy; hence, if three highest-level Snipers return to the Barracks, all Snipers produced by the Atreides are stealth-capable.

Kindjal Infantry: These expensive slow-moving infantry are armed with a weak pistol for self-defence; however, these units also carry a powerful armour-piercing cannon which must be deployed on a tripod to be used; while the cannon is deployed, the infantry is immobile. They cannot attack aircraft.

Sand Bike: This cheap, very fast unit is serves as a replacement for the Trike unit found in previous games. An effective scout unit and its light machinegun useful against infantry. It is the Atreides' basic light vehicle, and can be built immediately after a Factory is completed. Its main advantage is its speed, though its low armour makes it vulnerable to groups of missile infantry or main battle vehicles.

Mongoose: This armoured walker unit is equipped with a rotating guided missile launcher, capable of firing while the unit is moving, which can attack vehicles and air units effectively, but is poor against infantry (unless they stomp on them).

APC: The Atreides APC is a fast, lightly armoured vehicle capable of carrying 5 infantrymen, regardless of type, into battle - or the enemy base. It is stealthed and hence invisible to the enemy when stationary or moving short distances. Firing its weapon - a light autocannon - also reveals it to the enemy, though briefly. This is enough to ascertain is position and direction, and hence makes the APC susceptible to interception by enemy forces.

Minotaurus: The Atreides' principal heavy assault and fire-support unit. This expensive, heavily armoured, slow moving walker unit's quadruple cannons fire in volleys of four shots over long range. It is effective against slow-moving vehicles and quite powerful against infantry and buildings, however it is very slow and cannot retreat from battle if the enemy closes in.

Repair Vehicle: This fast moving unit can repair any mechanized unit in the field. Its relatively poor armour makes it susceptible to enemy fire, however its fast rate of repair can help turn the tide of battles, if the Repair Vehicle(s) is (are) carefully guided. It will automatically move to repair any damaged unit within range if left to its own devices, and will gladly follow a Sand Bike straight into the maw of the enemy's defences. It is also the only other unit (aside from the Engineers) in-game capable of removing a Tleilaxu Leech larva from a vehicle without harming it.

Sonic Tank: The Sonic Tank once again returns as House Atreides' "super-unit", and only available late in the game. This poorly armoured unit shoots out a sonic pulse that damages all targets, enemy or ally, in its short trajectory. Although expensive and poorly armoured, this is still a useful unit, partly because of its good speed but mainly because of its powerful attack, especially against infantry and buildings. A contingent of Sonic Tanks can break an enemy base wide open by quickly removing its defences, however this entails the risk of the Sonic Tanks firing through and severely damaging each other.

Ornithopter: An upgrade over the previous versions of Ornithopters used by the Atreides military, this fast moving aircraft can fire a small number of armour-piercing rockets at ground targets. If it is out of ammo it must reload at a Landing Pad. It will hover when engaging a stationary enemy, but will land when moved to a location devoid of hostile activity. It is most useful as a scout and surprise strike unit. A team of Ornithopters can swoop over an enemy base's defences and attack its Construction Yard, but if the enemy has mobile anti-air units or stationary anti-air capable of firing into the middle of the base, the Ornis are dispatched relatively quickly.

Air Drone: The Atreides' basic air patrol unit. This cheap, fast aircraft patrols in a small circle when "stationary" and will fire missiles at enemy air units. It does not need to reload. These units can be used in numbers to assault and harass the enemy's Spice mining operation, taking out Carryalls (preferably while carrying Harvesters) and thereby significantly reducing the enemy's income. However, if and when Air Drones stray into AA range, their poor armour will be their downfall.

Machinegun Turret: Not strictly a unit, this defensive turret is armed with a heavy machinegun firing in volleys of several shots per volley. If the target is destroyed during a volley, the turret will automatically choose another target and continue firing. It is powerful against infantry and light vehicles, but fares poorly against more heavily armoured units.

Rocket Turret: The Atreides' anti-tank/anti-air turret fires volleys of 2 unguided missiles at nearby enemies. It is powerful against vehicles and aircraft, but weak against infantry.

House Harkonnen

Advantages: Heavy armour protection, powerful weaponry.

Disadvantages: Low speed, poorly armoured fire-support units. Lack an APC and lose all the advantages that come with it. Devastators are the slowest units in the game bar none.

Overall: The house requiring the smallest amount of micromanagement, the Harkonnen units are designed for prolonged slugmatches where their greater armour and firepower will give them an advantage. Their primary strength, however, lies in base assault, as their units are good at withstanding turret fire and their principal fire-support unit, the Missile Tank, is primarily suited for destroying turrets because of its long reload time.

Light Infantry: Cheap, poorly armoured infantrymen equipped with submachineguns. It is slower than the Atreides Infantry, but fires more rapidly.

Trooper: Heavier infantryman equipped with an anti-tank/anti-air bazooka missile launcher. If these are placed on Infantry Rock (rocky outcrops which provide cover for infantry), these can decimate enemy armour, unless anti-infantry units tag along. Also powerful versus buildings.

Flamethrower Infantry: Like the name suggests, infantry armed with a flamethrower. They carry a huge tank of fuel (presumeably napalm) on their back, and hence erupt into a small explosion when killed or run over. Flamethrowers are short-range weaponry mainly useful against infantry, although a good number of these units can wreak havoc on any type of enemy. Slow moving.

Buzzsaw: The first Harkonnen vehicle, and their fastest. A heavier-than-usual scout/anti-infantry unit, the Buzzsaw consists of two small side hulls alongside a single upright buzzsaw blade, capable of running over (or rather, slicing up) infantry and destroying Spice fields. Its actual weapons are two small autocannons mounted on the side hulls, which are more effective against vehicles than the other Houses' scout units' weapons.

Assault Tank: A heavily armoured, slow moving tank, the Harkonnen Assault Tank is similar to its forerunners in the previous Dune games, only with fixed-mount forward-facing gun rather than a swiveling one. Nevertheless, it is powerful against vehicles and buildings but not against infantry. Because its cannon is fixed forwards, the entire unit must rotate to face the enemy in order to fire.

Flame Tank: A heavily armoured, comparatively fast-moving tank armed with two side-mounted flamethrowers capable of independent targeting, which can fire while the tank is moving. Even a single one of these units can destroy an infantry assault, and large numbers of them may wreak havoc even amongst enemy vehicles. These can be used to spearhead assaults on the enemy. They will erupt in a medium-sized explosion when destroyed, as they carry a massive fuel tank which sticks out of the top of the vehicle.

Missile Tank: Another returning vehicle from the previous games, the Missile Tank is comparatively poorly armoured vehicle. The Harkonnen fire-support unit fires a large amount of missiles in a single, powerful volley. Although these volleys can cause serious damage to enemy vehicles and structures, their reload time is very long, and this, coupled with their poorer armour, makes Missile Tanks unsuitable for direct combat.

Inkvine Catapult: The most fragile out of all Harkonnen vehicles, the Inkvine Catapult lobs a barrel of caustic, toxic inkvine fluid over long ranges. When the barrels burst on the ground, a small area of ground is covered in the dark green substance, and any unit crossing over that patch of area will be damaged. Infantry will be killed nearly instantly. If it is hit by an explosive or flamethrower weapon, the inkvine will ignite and burn, causing it to disappear, though not before posing a significant threat to infantry, light vehicles and - to a lesser extent - heavy vehicles.

Devastator: The Harkonnen "super-unit", the Devastator walker is the most powerful conventional combat unit in the game. A notable upgrade from its tank predecessor, it is armed with twin plasma cannons and a volley-firing missile launcher capable of targeting ground and air targets. However, the Devastator is exceedingly expensive and horrendously slow; so much so, in fact, that the only effective way to move these behemoth walkers around is by using Advanced Carryalls. Devastators are heavily armed, but a concentrated assault will destroy them. If ordered to do so, the Devastator will self-destruct, severely damaging and destroying units within a certain radius of the Devastator. This order should not be given lightly, however; Devastators are very expensive and difficult to replace, given their excruciatingly long build-time.

Gunship: This slower, more heavily-armoured version of the Atreides' Ornithopter is not - as it name implies - armed with any machineguns. Instead, it carries a large payload of unguided missiles, capable of severely damaging enemy armoured units and buildings.

Air Defence Platform: The Harkonnen aerial defence unit. The ADP is a slow moving, moderately armoured unit which hovers in place. Its belly-mounted twin cannons may attack ground and air units alike, and is moderately useful versus infantry and light vehicles. These units can be used to attack, even though they are very slow; in numbers, they are powerful against almost everything, but they should never go out into unexplored territory by themselves, as most AA units will make short work of ADPs, especially since the only AA unit slower than an ADP is the Devastator. A group of seven ADPs flown in after an unsuccessful base attack is capable of mopping up whatever is left over within a few minutes.

Flame Turret: The Harkonnen light turret is armed with a medium-ranged flamethrower, powerful against infantry and light vehicles. Its main weakness is its short range. Moreover, if the target moves past the turret and is standing between it and a building, the building too will take damage. This is not really a viable strategy, however, as the damage is very low.

Gun Turret: This turret is equipped with a rapid-firing 4-barreled gun system, which appears to fire in volleys but in fact fires single shots. It is powerful against all enemy targets, infantry, vehicle and aircraft.

House Ordos

Advantages: High speed and maneuverability, sneaky tactics, units self-repair.

Disadvantages: Low armour protection, unit (especially vehicles) speeds suffer tremendously when damaged, single-use units, very weak airforce, no fixed anti-air.

Overall: This house is more micromanagement-intensive than the other Houses, primarily because their units are designed for speed and maneuverability. Vehicles usually have a Holtzman shield, but when this shield is down and the unit itself takes damage, poor armour protection becomes apparent. This House excels at hit-and-run raids and interception of enemy units by large numbers of Ordos hover vehicles, but care must be taken to avoid slugmatches, as that is one of the Ordos' primary weaknesses, the other being a complete lack of aerial superiority.

Chemical Trooper: This infantryman is equipped with a very short-ranged chemical spray weapon similar to that of the Brotherhood of Nod's Chemical Trooper. It is very powerful against infantry, but very poor against other objects. It has the shortest range of any unit in the game second only to Tleilaxu Contaminator, and will be killed if it sets off an explosive barrel.

AA Trooper: An infantryman armed with a light anti-tank/anti-air rocket launcher similar to the Harkonnen trooper.

Mortar Infantry: Similar to the Kindjal Infantry in that it uses a pistol while moving and can deploy to fire a heavier weapon, the Mortar Infantry's shots take time to travel to their target, are fired in a ballistic trajectory and are more powerful against infantry and light vehicles than against heavy armour.

Saboteur: Specialized infantry unit carrying a large pack of explosives. It can move up to an enemy and detonate itself, terrorist-style, causing heavy damage. It may also be detonated at will, and will explode when killed. Be careful, therefore, in using Saboteurs; if an enemy Sniper or other anti-infantry unit picks off a Saboteur walking amongst a group of infantry, the amount of casualties will be large.

Dust Scout: Small autonomous robot with four articulated legs. These very fast scout units are armed with a light anti-infantry gun and have poor armour. If they are damaged they will slow down significantly, as with most Ordos vehicles. These units are unique in that they can move into the otherwise impassable dustbowls and dig in beneath the sand, hiding itself from enemy units. They can dig themselves out and attack or move when the enemy closes in or at the command of the player. This makes them useful in laying an ambush for infantry units expected to move near a dustbowl. If it is damaged, the Dust Scout will slowly repair itself, a useful trait which it shares with most Ordos vehicles.

Laser Tank: The mainstay Ordos battle unit is a hovering vehicle with an anti-tank lascannon and a Holtzman shield which will protect it from being damaged up to a certain extent. When the shield is down, however, its armour protection is poorer than that of the other Houses' mainstay units. They are the fastest main battle unit in the game and effective in hit-and-run strategies. However, when damaged its speed decreases dramatically. It can move over dustbowls and maneuver easily because of its hover technology. When damaged it will slowly repair itself.

APC: The Ordos APC, like the Atreides APC, can carry five infantrymen. It hovers above the ground like the Laser Tank and has a similar shield, and while it lacks the Atreides APC's stealth technology, it is faster, and its missile launcher is more powerful against vehicles and can target aircraft. The APC will gain the sight range of any infantry placed inside.

Kobra: This is the Ordos' fire-support unit. It is a large vehicle with an equally large howitzer cannon. While moving, the entire unit must rotate and face the enemy in order to fire, like the Harkonnen Assault Tank; however, the Kobra can deploy its cannon on a large vertical column, increasing range but immobilizing the unit.

Deviator: Returning from the original games, the Deviator now sports hover technology and a shield, and still fires unguided missiles loaded with Deviator Gas which can temporarily turn enemy vehicles over to the Ordos side. A nasty surprise if the enemy is attacking with its one or few Devastators, Sonic Tanks or Minotauri.

Eye In The Sky: The Ordos are the only House without an air combat unit. The EITS is a small craft that hovers in place and can self-destruct at will, damaging units below. When self-destructed or destroyed, a Saboteur will parachute down to the ground. However, he may be shot down before landing.

AA Mine: Another example of the Ordos' weakness in the skies. The AA Mine is a hovering device that will self-destruct when spotting an enemy aircraft, launching a volley of missiles upon self-destruction. It is a powerful air-to-air defence, but can only be used once, and AA Mines are prone to overkill, self-destructing more Mines than is strictly necessary to destroy an enemy aircraft.

Gas Turret: This turret is really only suited for use against infantry. Where the other houses' basic turrets are somewhat suited for use against light vehicles, the Gas Turret is only powerful against infantry. It shoots a small barrel of gas (not Inkvine fluid, merely a rapidly dissipating gas) which often misses enemy infantry which move quickly. If it hits, however, it causes massive damage to any infantry caught in the cloud.

Pop-up Turret: This laser turret needs to come up out of the ground before firing, which takes very little time. It is the only high-level turret incapable of anti-air work; it shoots a volley of a few lasers at enemy vehicles.

Subhouse Units (excluding campaign-specific units)

Tleilaxu Contaminator: This Tleilaxu "infantryman" is a mutated human being carrying what is known as the Contaminator virus. If it kills an enemy infantryman, he will be turned into a new Contaminator, making this a very powerful asset if the enemy is prone to using infantry. However, it is weak against vehicles.

Tleilaxu Leech: This bio-engineered three-legged creature "fires" a larva Leech at enemy vehicles. The larva will attach itself and continually damage the vehicle. When the vehicle is destroyed, a new Leech will be "born". This is a very dangerous unit against light vehicles, although heavy vehicles can absorb the larva's damaging influence for long enough to allow it to be removed, either by friendly (or enemy) fire or by an Engineer/Atreides Repair Vehicle. The Leech is weak against infantry and relatively poorly armoured, though it is fast.

Guild Maker: A freakishly mutated former human on the way to becoming a Spacing Guild Navigator, the Maker shoots out a wide arc of electricity, damaging enemies in a large area.

Guild NIAB Tank: Similar to Command & Conquer's Chronotank, the NIAB Tank contains a Guild Navigator and a Holtzman engine that allows it to teleport anywhere on the map. After teleporting, it must take some time to recharge before it can move, fire or teleport again. It is moderately armoured and is equipped with an energy beam of sorts, dealing moderate damage.

Ixian Infiltrator: The Infiltrator is a permanently stealthed mobile mine that can self-destruct to deal a good deal of damage on the enemy, and which will reveal cloaked units within a certain radius of the Infiltrator. When the order to detonate is given, the Infiltrator is revealed to the enemy for two seconds before the actual detonation. In that time, it can be destroyed. It is one of the few self-destruct-only units (together with the Ordos EITS) which does not explode when killed by hostile fire.

Ixian Projector Tank: The Ixian Projector is a moderately armoured hover vehicle with a light autocannon, which can deploy two "arms" to create a holographic projection of any unit (friendly/enemy/neutral). The projection appears to the enemy as a normal unit, even dealing damage and getting promoted as if it were an actual unit. However, the projection will be destroyed after it's time bar runs out (seen as an ever decreasing health bar), if it is touched by any enemy unit, or if it is hit by a weapon. To the controlling player, the projection will appear slightly brighter than the normal unit. Projections have limits, for example, projected units cannot deploy, so projected MCVs, Kindjal infantry, Mortar Infantry, Fremen Fedaykin, Projector tanks, etc. will be unable to perform their specialties. Projected engineers CANNOT capture enemy buildings. However, projected leeches can put an active leech larvae on a vehicle, thus giving you the ability to create a real leech under your control.

Imperial Sardaukar: The Imperial Sardaukar are powerful and dangerous soldiers, armed with a heavy machinegun that will tear through infantry and light vehicles easily. They are amongst the most expensive infantry available, but are the single most powerful all-round soldier in the game and have heavier armour than any other infantry unit.

Imperial Sardaukar Elite: The Elite Sardaukar are armed with a knife and an anti-tank/anti-air laser pistol. They can 'slash' and kill enemy infantry units with single attack if they're close enough to them. Their laser pistol is very effective against vehicles and buildings. However, if any laser - including the Ordos Laser Tank's weapon - hits a unit with an active shield, both the attacking unit and the shielded unit will be destroyed.

Fremen Warrior: Snipers which are cloaked when not attacking or touching enemy units. They are powerful against infantry, but weak against other targets (unless they are massed).

Fremen Fedaykin: Elite Fremen warriors equipped with Weirding Modules, which grant them an attack similar to that of the Sonic Tank, but with a shorter range. They are stealthed when not attacking or touching enemy units. They can deploy Thumpers, which will attract a Sandworm upon which the Fedaykin will ride. The worm can be controlled, although it will choose its own path several times per second, and the player must keep clicking at the desired destination to direct the worm. This is a nasty surprise to pull in your enemy's Spice fields. The worm will disappear beneath the sand after some time.

Sandworm: Sandworms will appear occasionally, moving across the sand swallowing units, regardless of whether they are infantry or Devastators, whole. Units can shoot at the Sandworm, and when its "health" runs out it will disappear beneath the sand. (Incidentally, one region of the map of Arrakis in Emperor contains the partially-submerged corpse of a dead Sandworm.) Rarer is the appearance of a Sandworm towering up from the sand, swallowing units from below. It remains upright, opening and closing its three-lipped mouth, for a little while, then dives sideways into the sand again. Units caught under the Worm when it dives back into the sand are unharmed, however.

Sandstorm: This violent tornado-like storm appears randomly and moves about the map in long straight lines. Its deal damage to any mechanized unit or building caught beneath it, but is especially deadly for infantry, as they can be picked up outright by the winds.

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