The makers of Dune: Spice Wars announced that there would be a fourth faction in the game. Gamers of the franchise were accustomed to the series with three playable factions, all of which were noble houses of the imperium. The honourable Atreides, The industrial hellraisers Harkonnen and the mercenaries of Ordos.
However, the new 4x strategy game sticks a little close to the novels and introduces the Fremen - the native people of Arakkis whose goal is to terraform the desert planet into a garden of Eden. For those who aren't well versed with the novels, fear not. The faction's ideologies and traits resemble those from Denis Villeneuve's 2021 movie, Dune.
About The Faction
The Fremen are the natives of the desert planet Arrakis, which gives them a high advantage over the other factions. They are more adaptable to using the planet's conditions to their excellent effects - both for survival and warfare. Their leader Liet Kynes is a planetologist who binds the faction together with one common goal - to make Arrakis into a garden of Eden. The faction has no means to cause warfare, and they are more of a "mind one's own business" kind. Sadly, one can terraform the planet only if it is still a free world, and such is the motive for the Freman to take control of the vast dunes of Arakkis.
The natives have a religious side to their culture and respect the planet as one of their life-giving sources. Unfortunately, with such considerable admiration, players expecting to play as the Fremen can find that their buildings and strategy lack industrial depth and take a more primitive lineage. This might cause minor hiccups to the production levels compared to the other factions, but there is always a way to do better. As mentioned earlier, the Freman uses what the planet offers.
They may not be inept with technological advancements like the other factions, but they know to work around their shortcomings. One of their more exciting abilities is how they use the sandworms of Arakkis for transportation. Attracting them with thumper devices can help them move between any part of the planet without having to build bases. They also do not have spice harvesters but have spice tents which reduce the chances of attracting the sandworms for unnecessary reasons.
The Councilors Of The House
Chani Kynes, the daughter of Liet, is the shadow master for instigating all things chaos and riots in the enemy faction. The Freman are the natives of the planet, and the council lady uses that advantage to make the life of newcomers a living hell. She also helps denounce resolutions in the Landsraad council and produces half a point of Intel every day. Stilgar Ben Fifrawi produces a bonus of one authority point every day for each spice field controlled by the Freman. In addition, he helps detect nearby Sietches assisting the player in making preventive measures in advance.
Mother Ramallo is a God-sent prophet. The councilwoman takes a very religious standing, and having her on the team gives away all the spice locations on the map. She also unlocks the Shai-Hulud temple, which, when built, increases the production levels of the entire faction. Otheyn is a fierce warrior and provides all the Fremen's military units with a twenty percent increase in combat traits, two extra points of armor and the ability to move ten percent faster.
Military Units
Warriors are the primary and basic units on the Fremen military roster. Armed with long knives, warriors are good at close range combat and can help raid the first villages of the expansion strategy. Infiltrators are stleath units weilding dual knives. They are more useful for surprise attacks and can weaken the defense of the enemy line with ease. Skirmishers are the faction's grenadier options. They are effective against armored units and make a good offensive team with the warriors.
Fedaykin are elite units and are trained in the weirding way of combat. They are well-defined by their training and are believed to get stronger with the number of units they take down. Kulon Caravans are strategic supply caravans for the faction. They can be used to set up camps nearby raids and help hide the units during the retreat. While doing so, the army would be healed, resupplied and made ready for the second round of attack.
Strategy
The Fremens have their way around the game, and their ideal strategy would be to focus more on water acquisition. Their ability to adapt to the planet gives them better methods to cultivate water and do it better. Since they do not have many activities at the Landsraad council, they build their economy on their own terms and can excel at it. The Fremen do not have much military might, and it is only easier to win through Hegemony, for which water production is the best possible way forward.
For those who want to try out the domination route, having Mother Ramallo on the council Team is critical. It may not be the kind of domination one would expect, but the dominance through "Spreading the Faith" increases the Solari income from neutral regions. Combining this and the faction's ability to use the planet's environment for combat is the way to victory!
Dune: Spice Wars is now available as early access on Steam.