Completed Let's play Dune

[Absalom]

Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson novels are basically the BioWare treatment of Dune. In their novels that end the Dune saga characters that have been dead for thousands of years are resurrected and indulge in one massive inane soap opera drama. And the ultimate ending is literally Mass Effect 3's synthesis ending.

Forgive me the PA webcomic but it's p much spot on in this case.

Also lol I never noticed those language when playing this game so long ago. P cool of the devs to make an effort

 

[Abelian]

7. Prospecting Spice

He who controls the Spice, controls the universe! - Baron Harkonnen, Dune film

Update 5 cliffhanger: Will Paul finally mange to get out of the bedroom and accomplish something? Will we manage to make it through the first day? Will the onslaught of negative feedback end yet another Dune LP prematurely?

Last time: Paul did manage to get out of the bedroom and accomplish something: find Gurney Halleck and recruit two fremen troops. The gracious audience did not cry bloody murder; quite the opposite. However, Paul was sadly not able to see the first day though the end.

Two out of three ain’t bad.

Spoiler

Paul: How about a “thank you” for finding Gurney and convincing almost 4000 fremen to work for us, you autocratic ingrate? [talk to me]
Duke Leto: It would be an advantage for us to have some of these stillsuits. Go with Gurney and see if you can find some.
Paul: [talk to me]
Duke Leto: And remember… Avoid wandering in the desert… You won’t go very far without a stillsuit.
Paul: I know… (sigh) [stop talking]

We talk to Gurney:

Paul: What?! You knew about this and held out on me? [talk to me]

Paul: WTF? Did you just wink at me? Or are you saying is this wink-wink-nudge-nudge “stillsuit maker” some kind of intergalactic desert pimp? [stop talking]

If we talk to Gurney outside near the orni, he also says the text above.

We go outside and select the “wait for morning” action. I don’t really remember why I took this screenshot, but my best guess is to show the sunrise.

We fly to Carthag-Tuek and talk to the naib.

In the DOS CD version, Cryo changed the text slightly:
Fremen: I thought you looked interested in my stillsuit. (CD version)
Paul: And yet you waited until I flew home and returned. Do I have to ask the correct question to proceed? Are you some kind of Fisher King? Alright, I’ll play your stupid game: Do you know a stillsuit maker and if so, where can I find him? [talk to me]
Fremen: Yes, I know a stillsuit maker. You’ll find him if you fly eastwards in your orni. It’s not very far, but be sure to fly with someone, ‘cause sietchs are not easy to find.

He’s not kidding: a companion is necessary for finding new sietches, or you’ll miss them. The sietches will still be visible when travelling, but you won’t be able to stop and visit them. Gurney’s statement that it’s impossible to find new sietches without precise instructions is exaggerated, since I usually find a few while travelling.

Gurney: We must fly eastwards from Carthag-Tuek.
Paul: Thank you, Mr. Quest Compass. [stop talking]

I’m going to occasionally poke fun at the hand-holding in the game, but it’s a tremendous help when can ask your companion for what you’re supposed to be doing, because if the players forget, they’ll have a hard time remembering which sietch they’re supposed to travel in order to get past the next plot lock.

We go to the orni navigation screen and select our destination as “DESERT eastwards”. You have to be careful and point directly east (or whatever direction is appropriate in other cases). Sometimes it’s not enough to wait until the text above the map changes to “DESERT eastwards” because it could be that you select slightly north or south of the required direction and you’ll miss the sietch if you don’t fly close enough.

Gurney spots the sietch. The background is the interior of the orni.

SEGA CD version. The orni interior is blue, consistent with the exterior shots from the last update. This will be the last SEGA CD screenshot I will include.

You’d think that time stops while you’re having this conversation in the orni, but you’d be wrong. The clock continues to tick as Paul sits in his hovering orni.

We enter the sietch and notice that it has multiple rooms, as opposed to the previous ones. This basically means an extra room to click through going in and going out.

For some reason, the NPC sometimes have dramatic close-ups after speaking. It occurs after the character finishes talking and the conversation is still active, as part of the idle animations (moving eyebrows, blinking, looking sideways, etc.). Sometimes, the close-ups occur immediately after the character finishes speaking as part of a deliberate emphasis (which is not the case here).

So we’ve finally found the stillsuit maker. We talk to him.

Paul: Thanks. Feels good man. [talk to me]

Paul: You know what they say: when in Rome, do as the Romans do. [talk to me]
Fremen: A stillsuit is basically a high efficiency filter. Perspiration passes through the first layer and is gathered in the second. Salt is separated. The reclaimed water circulates to catchpockets from which you can drink through a tube at your neck.
Paul: I see. Wait a minute, perspiration isn’t the only way the body loses water… [talk to me]
Note: Yes, the novel notes that urine and excrement are processed by the stillsuit.
Fremen: Breathing and walking provide the pumping action. Here’s some stillsuits for both of you, and I’ll send some to the palace as well.
Fremen: I know of two more sietchs in the vicinity whose leaders would be more than interested in meeting you, Paul Atreides. Travel north and east from here.
Fremen: We’ve heard of you: you’re the son of the Atreides Duke and of Jessica, the… (… Could he be the one? …)
Paul: Work for me.
Fremen: Yes, I agree to let my troop work for you.

I was curious about the phrase “Here’s some stillsuits for both of you”, so I tried to check the game’s condition checks by leaving Gurney at the palace after he spotted the sietch (he is the only character willing to accompany Paul at this stage).

The Fremen chief still uses the plural “both of you” even when Paul is alone. Considering the fact that Gurney is needed to discover the sietch, it was a very reasonable assumption that he would still be with Paul two screens later, so I’ll let it slide.

Here’s the Dune Map.

The Dune Map uses the top-down perspective used by Ultima VI and VII. There are three sietches visible, each with its own fremen troop. The transparent fremen troop in the northwest sietch signifies that the troop is discovered, but not currently working for us. The southwestern troop is spice mining (represented by an animation of the fremen digging with a shovel). The eastern troop is waiting for orders.

Clicking on a sietch shows the equipment found at the sietch (even if it’s in use).

Paul: Give orders to troop.
Fremen: 1740 men. Motivation 30%.
Paul: Select troop occupation: spice mining.
At this point, we can only give orders to fremen in our current location.

Paul: Modify equipment.

We can see the unused equipment available at the sietch. There is a harvester and an orni, but we shouldn’t give away the orni, since it’s the one we use to travel (we can still take it back if the fremen are still at the same sietch).

By clicking on the harvester, it gets transferred to the fremen troop and it becomes visible on the man.

An idle harvester sits around, while it will show a little moving animation if the troop is currently spice mining (you can see a little dust flying in the screenshot). The blue circle is just a “ping” showing the troop you’re interacting with, which is useful if there are multiple troops in the current location.

In the first person mode, we saw that’s there actually another room in the back, but we can’t go there yet:

Paul: Come on, man, I know you’re holding out on me. What do you have back there? Hookers? Blow? Harlots? Crack? Strumpets? A spice stash? [stop talking]
Hoarding spice was actually illegal, which allowed Duke Leto to perform a nice gambit in the novel: he sent an expeditionary force to destroy a spice hoard on the Harkonnens’ home planet, Geidi Prime. The Harkonnens couldn’t exact retribution, since the spice hoard was illegal in the first place.

We consult with Gurney.
Gurney: Let’s visit these two new sietchs.

Now that we have a stillsuit, let’s see how far we can travel in the desert.

Still 69 screens.

So that thing the Duke said about “wearing it, they can stay in the desert without losing their bodily water” was a lie. According to a novel, a person wearing a stillsuit would only use a thimbleful of moisture per day. My guess is that since walking in the desert is a useless mechanic, the devs didn’t bother to increase the walking distance. Also, the death animation is the same: Paul isn’t seen wearing his stillsuit.

Here are the two new sietchs. Thankfully, the sietch locations show up on the map, so we don’t have to go searching for them. We first go to Tuono-Tuek.

Fremen: 2350 men. Motivation 25%.
Paul: Select troop occupation: spice mining.
Fremen: My troop is settled in Tuono-Tuek. We’ve been asked to do Spice Mining but can’t start it right now.
Fremen: The area has to be prospected for spice before we start mining it. We don’t know how to prospect, hmm… it’s a very peculiar job.

We ask Gurney.
Gurney: I did suspect the existence of a troop of prospecters. There has to be one!
Paul: Do you have any actual useful suggestions? [talk to me]
Gurney: I’m convinced such a troop is nearby… Probably still in one of those “already prospected” sietchs.
Paul: That’s more like it. [stop talking]

Since we’re heading west anyway, we visit the other new sietch, Carthag-Tabr.

We find another troop that can’t start spice mining. We go to Carthag-Tuek, since it’s the closest prospected sietch.

If were to not visit the two new sietches and return to the palace, Duncan would admonish us.
Duncan: You’ve not visited all of the sietchs we know. You must recruit as many Fremen troops as possible.

Paul: Great. Do you know where can I find them? [talk to me]
Fremen: No, we don’t know where they are now… er… At first they seemed unfriendly but they’re okay.
Paul: Unfriendly fremen… Every fremen troop we encountered so far has been like “’Sup, Paul. Can me ‘n’ my homies toil and labor for your righteous house?” Wait, there was one exception…

[made-up conversation]
Paul: Screw that. I’m not talking to the mutton-chopped pervert again.
Gurney: But, Paul, we only have three sietches producing spice, and one of them is relatively poor in spice. And remember what Duncan told you:

Paul: Ugh, you’re right.
[/made-up conversation]

Paul: That sounds like thinly-veiled reference to pimping. [talk to me]
Fremen: But… You’re talking the right person! My troop specializes in spice prospection. I’m sure we’re the only Fremen troop who are able to do it.
Paul: Not helping your case, man. [work for me]
Fremen: Ahh… Good to see that our knowledge is appreciated… Yes, Paul Atreides, we will work for you.

Paul: Select troop occupation: spice mining.

Paul: OHGAWDPLEASENO

Paul: Uh, thanks for the spice density map. [continue]
In contrast to the novel and Westwood’s games, the spice does not replenish. Thus it is entirely possible that within a few months, the entire quantity of spice will be exhausted from the only planet in the universe where it is found, putting an end to interstellar travel. The game is fairly easy, so this should not pose a problem in terms of finishing the game.

I included this screenshot mainly to show that the prospectors have a unique troop graphic to make it easier to identify them on the Dune Map screen.
Paul: Ask for more information.
Fremen: 400 men. Motivation 40%. On trial in spice.
Paul: Ask for more information.
Fremen: Prospecting has been done in this area. We can go elsewhere.

The prospecter troop is the smallest one in the entire game (it's possible to get smaller ones through combat losses). They are also essential to our economy, so we must take care to prevent their capture (I read here that the game becomes unwinnable if they're captured early on since they can't be rescued like other troops).

We move the troop to the two sietches that need prospecting. We don’t have three destinations, so I just clicked on Tuono-Tuek twice (or I could have selected the “Done” option).

This is what the spice density map looks like in the Amiga version.

The prospectors head for Carthag-Tabr and we head back to the palace.

It’s possible to make the game unwinnable at this stage by giving the orni to any of spice-mining fremen, then moving them to a different sietch using the spice density map, leaving Paul stranded.

This is what I mean by coatroom during the last update.

Paul: No, duh, Sherlock.

Paul: Thanks, fatface. [talk to me]
Duncan: Our stocks of spice are currently 330 kgs.
Yesterday, we had produced 230 kgs of spice, that is 190 better than the day before.

In order to get the audience fully immersed in the LP, I’ll include Duncan’s quote on the importance of spice from time to time, so you can get sick of it, too.

Paul: Of course they’re working well. It’s not like I’m going to let them sit idle… such as waiting for the prospectors instead of moving them to an already prospected area. Oops. [talk to me]
Duke Leto: Paul, as you know, we haven’t been here at the palace long and this old building may still hold many secrets. Our enemies were here recently, you know, some signs prove it.
Duke Leto: Well… you mother Jessica has this special talent for… er… sounding a room and finding secret doors. Try it with her.
Paul: ...
Well. That was awkward. [talk to me]
Duke Leto: Remember that now our most important task is to achieve a good spice production.
Paul: Yeah, Duncan may have mentioned something like that. [stop talking]

We talk to Jessica, as suggested.

I was reminded by of an IMDb review of the Dune movie:
“The big plot point is that a privileged young man turns out to be even more privileged (with galactic implications) than he imagined; that's something you can really relate to.”
Paul: I want to be a dragon. [talk to me]
Jessica: I can’t tell you more for the moment… But each time you experience something weird or… hmm… special, come and tell me: I’ll give you an explanations.
Paul: Well, I’ve been having these dreams since puberty hit… err, that’s not what you’re talking about, is it? Um, how about we look for secret doors? [talk to me]
Jessica: Ok, now… together we can try to explore the palace a little, hmmm?
Paul: Um, this is getting weird, mom. [come with me]
Jessica: We both will try to examine the few rooms we can access. Go ahead, I’m following you.

We now go in rooms throughout the palace, talking to Jessica in each of them.

Paul: That was cold, mom. Dad’s standing right there behind you.

Paul: Looks like we’re not in Kansas anymore. [stop talking]

Paul: At least Gurney likes it.

Paul: Okay, you just said that in the previous room…

Below is a wholly unnecessary trip to the desert to see Gurney's and Jessica's reaction.

Spoiler

Paul: Hey, Mom, checkout all the stillsuits I found. Grab one and let’s go outside! [made-up conversation]
We take Gurney and Jessica in the desert to observe their reactions.

Paul: You don’t look to happy. Did you get some sand in your…

Paul: … shoes? You don’t look to happy at all now.

Paul: Oh, I get it: the desert is beautiful when you’re sitting on the palace balcony and sipping your mojito, but take a few steps outside and you get sick of it.

Paul: I’m getting tired of all your complaining, Gurney. [stay here]

Paul: If you don’t enjoy my company, maybe you should wait here. [stay here]

Paul: I take that back. Let’s go home.

This probably going to be the last time I take a screenshot in this room, as it serves no other function.

This is the most useless room in the entire game. It has no function at all, not even just to pass through. I wondered at its purpose in-game, since it looks kind of strange. My guess is that it’s supposed to be a “no-chamber”, but it would be anachronistic since they were invented only in later novels.

Paul: Not much articulate! [stop talking]

If anyone cares, this is where we are.

I had to use the CD version here due to Gurney’s expression. Nice touch from Cryo. The text is slightly altered as well.

Remember when Jessica said in the corridor that she feels something? There is a shortcut between the communications room and the corridor, which means that we can bypass the gray room.

Now there’s a small cutscene, where characters will talk with no interaction from the player, save for clicking on “Continue…”. The game clock does stop in cutscenes, as opposed to regular conversations.

Dat smugface
Again, this is from the CD version, so the smirk is intentional.

Paul: Gee, thanks, dad. “No pressure there, Paul”
End of cutscene.

We talk to Jessica about the comm room.

From an engineering standpoint, it might seem absurd to communicate through holograms when a simple text message would suffice, but a lot of communication is nonverbal, so it could be useful to convey mood and facial expressions. And you can bet I’ll be taking advantage of that for some screenshots

On a more serious note, solido projectors are mentioned in the novel as being used for rendering 3D representations. However, it is specifically mentioned that a high-priority message was sent on a message cylinder through a courier on a Guild heighliner, so there apparently isn’t a technology for faster-than-light communication (not all communication is hand-delivered: there are radios and such, but they have relatively short ranges on Arrakis, due to storms).

Jessica: No messages have arrived yet, but I am sure we will soon have one from the Emperor.
Paul: Wait, what would have happened if we didn’t find the comm room and couldn’t contact the Emperor? [talk to me]
Note: Nothing. Finding the comm room acts as a trigger that will cause the Emperor to initiate conversation. I know.
Jessica: I’m so tired from having sounded rooms like that. It’s emotionally exhausting.

Here are the current results. Note that our charisma has increased from 0 to 3.

We visit the throne room and talk to the Duke.
Duke Leto: That communication room will be of great use to us. Jessica has stunning faculties, doesn’t she? I think there is a great deal of her in you.
Paul: 50%, to be exact. It’s kinda how DNA works. [talk to me]
Duke Leto: Remember that now our most important task is to achieve a good spice production.

Gurney: I wonder if Duncan is satisfied with the spice production.

We go to the dining room and tell Jessica to stay here.
Jessica: I’m staying here.

We talk to Duncan, as our walking quest compass suggested.

Paul: WTF, man? [talk to me]
Duncan: You told me you saw one harvester in a sietch. Go there with Gurney and ask where they got it.
Duncan: You told me you saw one harvester in a sietch. Go there with Gurney and see if you can locate some more of them. (CD version)

Gurney is helpful as always.
Gurney: What about looking at the map to find where the Fremen that Duncan mentioned is?
Gurney: Let’s look at the map and find where the Fremen group that Duncan mentioned? (CD version)
The hint being that the player would presumably have given the harvester to the fremen, which would then be visible on the map.

We fly to Tuono-Tabr, home of stillsuit maker.

Paul: Dammit, you’ve been holding out on me [stop talking]

Nice sunset.
I forgot to mention this during the first orni flight, but that gray line on the map in the upper-right corner represents the flight path and the white dot represents our current location.

Also, there is a feature I missed until this playthrough: the arrows in the lower-right corner, where the mouse pointer is at in the screenshot. You can actually control the orni’s direction by keeping the left mouse button pressed down on the arrows pointing left and right. This doesn’t really have any use in-game, except looking for new sietches, which you can do more methodically by clicking places in the desert using the orni navigation screen.

This is a minor detail that has no effect on the game, but the characters correctly say whether the sietch is to the orni’s left or right when spotting it.

There are no Fremen in the sietch, but there are two harvesters here (the second one is kind of hard to make out, as it’s behind the closer one). I forgot to take a first-person screenshot of the stillsuit maker’s harvester.

We ask Gurney about them. I forgot to do it at Tuono-Tabr and to take screenshots of the harvester, so here’s what they look like in action:

When the harvester is in use, there is an animation loop that shows the sand being ejected, and the nose and those four round bellow-like things above the tracks vibrating as the harvester “vacuums” up the spice and filters out the sand.

Amiga version. Notice how plain the sky looks compared to the DOS version.

DOS CD version

Gurney: Fremen told me that the spice is mined much faster when using a harvester like this one.
Gurney: Have you seen the two harvesters around the sietch? We must go to the two nearest sietchs to tell the Fremen to come and pick them up.

We go to Carthag-Tabr and talk to the Fremen naib.

Paul: Go & search for equipment.
This option will cause the Fremen troop to go to the nearest sietches with unused equipment and retrieve it, and return to the original location. The equipment is related either to spice mining or military, depending on the troop’s current occupation. You can’t select the destination: the Fremen will go to the nearest sietch, but only if it’s not too far away (I haven’t measured the limit, but I think it’s about a screen length or two in radius).

If you want the fremen to go to a specific sietch and retrieve equipment, you can move them using the “move troop action” on the Dune Map, which will bring up the spice density map and you can select a destination, similar to the prospectors (prospectors can queue up three destinations), then use the “modify equipment” command, like we used for the harvester, and finally move them to a new location.

We also tell the fremen at Carthag-Harg (the Fremen with the green stillsuit northeast of the palace) to go & search for equipment. You can see three Fremen troops moving: the one above the mouse cursor are the prospectors, while the other two are retrieving the harvesters.

However, the stillsuit maker does not want to move… He saw through our little ploy to move him away from his secret stash.

Our task completed, we talk to Gurney again.
Gurney: The best thing to do now is to go back to the palace after having attributed the two harvesters.

Occasionally, when Gurney does not have any hints for Paul’s current task, he waxes poetical so I’ve included a compilation of his various observations. He is a troubadour-soldier, after all, and one of his hallmarks is his penchant for pithy Old Testament quotations.

Paul: Can’t argue with that logic.

Paul: Why, yes, cloud cover would be welcome at noon.

Looks like Gurney has some prescient powers as well.

Paul: It is called Dune, after all…

Sometimes the night sky is orange all night instead of dark blue. There is a Fremen chant in the novel that mentions red nights.

Paul: Quit pouting (both literally and figuratively).

Gurney was a warrior-poet in the novel, so this is a nice reference to his instrument, the baliset. The baliset is a plucked string instrument, similar to a lute.

Here is an excerpt from the movie where Gurney Halleck plays the baliset.


The scene was cut from the original version, but included in the extended versions. The baliset prop was actually a modified Chapman Stick. The sound box with the fan is purely decorative, since the Chapman Stick is essentially an electric guitar fretboard. A Chapman Stick has ten or twelve strings, while a baliset is supposed to have nine. Interestingly, the baliset is described as having a neck in The Terminology of the Imperium, even though it’s descended from the zither which only has a soundboard, like an autoharp.

The name of the song is Back Yard, and it was written and played by Emmet Chapman himself. It is included on his 1985 debut solo album Parallel Galaxy.

Here’s an example of a virtuoso Chapman Stick performance by Bob Culbertrson (if you’ll excuse the cheesy background, shirt and 80’s mullet)


Finally, here are some screenshots the sunset and sunrise near the palace for your enjoyment.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

Do you two eventually find and kill Batman?

 

[Abelian]

Do you two eventually find and kill Batman?

You mean the Fatman, right?

Spoiler

Unfortunately, Gurney and Paul don't visit the Batcave, but I think they can take on Batman seeing how they're two of the universe's greatest fighters.

Also, for some reason, I've been seeing a lot of Batman DVD ads on the Codex recently (the Adam West TV series, that is).

 

[Storyfag]

Having now seen a handful of updates, I must ask: does the game include Thufir Hawat at all?

 

[Ulminati]

Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson novels are basically the BioWare treatment of Dune. In their novels that end the Dune saga characters that have been dead for thousands of years are resurrected and indulge in one massive inane soap opera drama. And the ultimate ending is literally Mass Effect 3's synthesis ending.

Also lol I never noticed those language when playing this game so long ago. P cool of the devs to make an effort

I remember slugging through the House Atreides/House Harkonnen/House Corrino trilogy when I was severely jonesing for Dune. It was.... bad. If you disregarded the fact that Brian was raping his father corpse, they got almost tolerable. In the same way you can read a pulpy 40K novel on the toilet as a guilty pleasure. Then I read the pre-prequels about the butlerian Jihad and seriously considered ordering the services of a Lithaunian Hitman.

Having now seen a handful of updates, I must ask: does the game include Thufir Hawat at all?

It does. We should get him soon™

[edit]
If you can't wait, Storyfag:

Spoiler

 

[SCO]

I'd forgotten Gurney Halleck rape face close ups

 

[Storyfag]

[edit]
If you can't wait, Storyfag:

Spoiler

ItIsByWillAloneISetMyMindInMotion. ItIsByTheJuiceOfSaphoThatThoughtsAcquireSpeed. TheLipsAcquireStains. TheStainsBecomeAWarning. ItIsByWillAloneISetMyMindInMotion.

 

[Abelian]

Having now seen a handful of updates, I must ask: does the game include Thufir Hawat at all?

It does. We should get him soon™

For certain values of soon, anyway. It won't happen in the next update, since I have the screenshots already prepared. He'll definitely show up in update 9, though. Unfortunately, I'll be very busy during the next weekend, so that means I probably won't be able to post an update until two weeks from now.

On an unrelated note, I noticed that almost everyone following this thread is already familiar with either the novel, film or video game or a combination of them, so unless anyone objects, I'm considering lifting the "no plot spoilers" restriction. At the very least, it will allow people to discuss other Dune-related stuff while waiting for updates.

 

[Dehumanizer]

Enjoying this LP a lot.

By the way, I have the "Spice Opera" soundtrack on CD; I remember buying the game on CD in a very big box (which opened up like a cardboard worm!) around 1992, and it included the soundtrack on an audio CD. I only found out it was relatively rare decades later...

 

[Jason Liang]

I am teaching a literature class next semester. Is Dune too much of a stretch? I am considering it. Cloud Atlas is already on the syllabus.

 

[omega21]

What level is your class at?

 

[Jason Liang]

High school seniors with senioritis.

 

[Abelian]

I am teaching a literature class next semester. Is Dune too much of a stretch? I am considering it. Cloud Atlas is already on the syllabus.

I've read the thread you created earlier. Here are some thoughts.

Pros:
-Dune has widespread critical acclaim in the science fiction literary community and is considered a classic of the genre.
-The characters' political machinations may be interesting the for the course's political angle. There is also the spice as a metaphor for oil interpretation.
-Since the high school's focus is on science, math and business, I think many students would appreciate science fiction as a fun diversion.
-The students are close in age to Paul, so they can relate to him better.
-The class can analyze Dune as a Bildungsroman and how it subverts conventions of the genre.

Cons:
-Science fiction has still not gained wide-spread acceptance as serious literature. This isn't as important if all the students will become engineers or business people, but for many it will be the last chance to become familiar with authors such as Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Anton Chekhov, Charles Dickens, Joseph Conrad.
-Some students might find the plot confusing due to the plans withing plans theme, so it may not be suitable for those with short attention spans (or senioritis).
-I don't think visual adaptation of a literary work is the best way to introduce it to an audience, since visual adaptations have to cut or alter a lot of the material by necessity of the time constraints. Furthermore, a visual adaptation tends to color the audience's perception of the work (ex. people who saw the Lord of the Rings movies before reading the book). Of course, there would not be enough time to cover all the material if the students had to read all of it, but that's kind of the point: it may be more worthwhile for them to focus more in-depth on fewer works, rather than getting the CliffsNotes version.

One possible course of action is offering the novel as a possible option for summer reading. Then students could choose to read it if they're interested in the subject matter and write a book report when school starts.

 

[abnaxus]

Spoiler

If vegetation reaches a Harkonnen base, the Harkonnens will abandon the fort. I wonder if anyone ever bothered to turn the entire Harkonnen zone green and basically conquer the planet without having to fight. Conveniently there are hidden sietches located south of the entire Harkonnen zone.

Of course one would still need troops to conquer Arrakeen palace.

The vast sietches in the south are more than enough to never run out of spice.

 

[SCO]

The emperor spice demands follow a linear extrapolation (or was it exponential?)
I think i actually tried to break the plot by never finding the secret room, but couldn't which is a pity.

There are also hidden smuggler bases, those are fun to find.

 

[Abelian]

The emperor spice demands follow a linear extrapolation (or was it exponential?)

It was roughly linear. These are the quantities from a previous playthrough when I bothered to record them:
1020
2320
4400
5730
7210
8990
11130
11630
12080

I forgot to keep track of the day counter, but it's every five or six days for regular shipments.

 

[SCO]

Do you two eventually find and kill Batman?

Thufir Hawat also has a 'special' face.

 

[abnaxus]

There's also a trick to turn Arrakeen palace into a sietch so you can keep playing forever.

 

[Abelian]

Do you two eventually find and kill Batman?

Thufir Hawat also has a 'special' face.

Faces only a mother could love.

Spoiler

A Reverend Mother assigned to "preserving bloodlines", that is.

 

[Abelian]

8. Death and Taxes

A person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken. – Duke Leto Atreides, Dune film

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. – Benjamin Franklin

Spoiler

We return to the palace after sending Fremen to recover the two harvesters.

Strangely, the throne room is empty.

We check the bedroom and find Jessica, but she dismisses us.

We find the Duke on the balcony.

Paul: I guess that’s why you’re here so often [talk to me]

He still doesn’t want to accompany us.
The conversation took place at sunset. Notice how the UI and speech bubbles changed color over the course of a few seconds. For comparison, here is the iconic quote at dawn:

Also, his use of “awaken” is what reminded me to use the “awaken, my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright” Overmind quote at the start of update 6. The quote is lifted from the film, which repurposed it from the novel.

We go to the comm room.

“You’ve got mail!”

“Help me, Paul Atreides. You’re my only hope.”

This ugly bastard is Shaddam IV Corrino, Emperor of the Known Universe. We’ll be seeing his ugly mug quite a few times.

In fact some of you way be experiencing a feeling of déjà vu. This because we have already seen his visage somewhere else:

See that bloke in the upper left corner sitting above a galaxy and giving the finger to Paul’s parents? You know, on the side of the image labeled HARKONNENS. No way there exist two idiots sporting that same stupid haircut in the entire galaxy*, and we’ve seen our share of bad haircuts already. You will also notice three swastika-looking symbols to the left, right and below the fat man (who I’m guessing represents Baron Harkonnen). The Emperor also wears it around his neck. Apparently, it’s from Jodorowsky’s concept art.

This isn’t really a spoiler, since the novel makes it clear early on that the Emperor is secretly in league with the Harkonnens.

There’s one thing I’ve never noticed before in this image: the impaled head to the Emperor’s left. Also, I have no idea who the weird-headed people below the Emperor are supposed to be. Harkonnen ancestors? The Guild?

*I found this image while reading a random article a few days ago, proving once again that life can be stranger than fiction:

Paul: Real subtle there, Duncan. [stop talking]

Paul: Thanks, Gurney, I got it. [stop talking]

We fly to Tuono-Tabr, the place with the Fremen chief who gave us the stillsuits, told us about two additional sietches, found the harvester, told us about the abandoned sietch with two harvesters, and doesn’t want us looking in the back room. This guy has the most unique dialogue of any of the Fremen chiefs, including the longest reply seen in the game (the one where he explains how the stillsuits work).

Paul: It’s kind of the only reason anyone visits this hellhole planet…
Fremen: Yes, I’ve been told of vast spice fields in the south. Take your orni and fly plain south-east. Before reaching the rocky area, you’ll find Fremen.

Paul: Why, yes, he did. And stop snickering. [stop talking]

I forgot to take a screenshot of the orni navigation screen. I’ll show the sietch on the Dune Map later.

We find a sietch, but there’s no Fremen troop.

Paul: So there are women on this planet? [talk to me]
Harrah: He died during a fight with a youngster. But mourning time comes to an end now… I have to live my life.
Paul: Well, it just so happens that I’m an expert in that matter. You might say I’ve been doing it my entire life. And that youngster who killed James sounds like a total douchebag. So… where’s all the spice? [talk to me]

plot spoiler

Paul killed Jamis after being challenged to ritual combat invoked using the Amtal rule in the novel.
His prize for winning was all of Jamis belongings, including his wife, children and water extracted from his corpse.

Harrah: Ah.. the spice… Yes spice is easy to locate ‘round here and there’s much more southwards! I know several sietch locations…

The text in the CD version is slightly altered:
Harah: I’ve heard about you, Paul Atreides. You were misinformed, all the people have left.
Harah: I stayed here to mourn for my husband, Jamis. He died during a fight with a young man. But mourning time comes to an end now. I have to live my life.
Harah: Ah, the spice. Yes, spice is easy to locate around here and there’s much more southwards. I know several sietch locations.

Harah speaks more formally in this version using “young man” instead of “youngster”, “about” instead of “’bout” and “around” instead of “’round”. Also, her speech no longer contains ellipses (…).

Here’s what Harah looks like in the Amiga version. I’ve got to admit that I like the stillsuits better in the Amiga version, since they’re more detailed.

We ask Gurney for dating advice, because Paul cannot into girls.
Gurney: You should have asked Harah to come along with us. I’m sure she could help us to meet more Fremen.

Paul: Come with me.
Harah: Yes, Paul Atreides, I’m going with you and I don’t care what the people say!
Paul: Probably something along the lines of “lucky girl” or “gold spice digger”.
Harah: So, you wanted to go to areas rich in spice, didn’t you? We have to go southwest.

Here are our current results. Notice that our controlled areas vary in size. This is because the radius of influence around a sietch increases the longer it is occupied by our Fremen troops.

We fly to the southernmost of the three new sietches on the left, Habbanya-Tabr.

Harah: Ho, please. These Fremen peasants can’t resist my charisma.

Paul: Yeah, that’s me. Now bow down before me as your lord and sovereign.

Paul: Alright, have it your way. I’ll be sending someone to collect the harvester outside. It’s not like you’re using it…[stop talking]

This is the only Fremen chief that I know of who will refuse to work for Paul due to his charisma being too low. It’s entirely possible that there are others as well, but I must have reached them too late when my charisma was high enough or never found the sietches.

We fly to the middle sietch, Habbanya-Tuek.

Paul: Nice combover, bro. [work for me]

Paul: Select troop occupation: spice mining.

Finally, we go to the northernmost of the new sietchs, Habbanya-Timin.

We don’t have to initiate conversation, since the Fremen chief does it.

Paul: Whoa. You actually look normal. [talk to me]
Fremen: We saw you coming from the other sietch.
Paul: But you’re still sending stalker vibes, bro. [work for me]

Paul: Select troop occupation: spice mining.

We finally remember Duncan’s advice to make sure the Fremen aren’t idle and move the troop to the prospectors’ sietch, since nobody is currently mining it. I should note that it’s possible for multiple fremen troops to be in the same sietch.

Paul: Threatened by shadows at night and exposed in the light.

Paul: Wait ‘till you see the bedroom

Paul: Duncan! Check out this chick I found.
Duncan: Paul, I don’t think that I’ve told you about the worms… They are a danger to spice mining.
Paul: …
You’re not ever going to talk about anything other than spice, are you? [talk to me]
Duncan: Sandworms grow to enormous size – specimens longer than 400 meters have been seen in the deep desert – and live to a great age. Worms attack all rhythmic vibrations.
Paul: Anything that moves, eh?
Duncan: Don’t hesitate to regroup your troops in a place where there is much spice to mine.
Note: This is something that the Fremen will comment on as well: an area that is poor in spice will yield fewer kilograms per hour than a high-density area.
Duncan: Our stocks of spice are currently 1160 kgs.
Duncan: Yesterday, we had produced 360 kgs of spice, that is 130 better than the day before.
Paul: I keep hoping that one day you’ll say: Yesterday, we had produced 420 kgs of spice, that is 69 better than the day before. [talk to me]
Duncan: Do remember that spice it by far the most valuable substance in the whole universe.. and that it can only be found here, on Dune.
Paul: Oh, you’re no fun at all. [stop talking]

Paul: Why, yes, he is. Just kidding, dad.
The Duke doesn’t comment on Harah, but Lady Jessica makes up for it with a priceless expression.

Paul: Bow-chicka-wow-wow… Oh hai, mom! Didn’t see you there…

Paul: Take a chill pill, mom. She’s more of a servant, anyway.

Note: This is a good example of how tone can change the meaning of words. In the floppy version, I interpreted Jessica’s comment as being excited that Paul has a girlfriend (“Oooh! Look at you two; you’re so cute”) while cautioning him to stay focused on his tasks. However, in the CD version, Jessica’s tone is annoyed/exasperated in the vein of “what have you gotten yourself into now”. My only justification is that the exclamation marks misled me.

“plot spoiler”

Also, in the novel, Paul refused to take Harah as his wife and kept her as a servant instead.

Paul: Can’t I take Harah with me? I think she might help with the deep penetration and awakening my internal potentials.

Paul: I think I’ll go now. [stop talking]

We try walking in the desert with Harah, with obvious results:

Paul: Penetration in the desert…
Even though the text seems to indicate that she’s screaming, the tone of the voice-over is calm and threatening (ex. “just what do you think you’re doing?”)

We drop off Harah and Gurney in the palace.

Paul: I know exactly what I want. A better girlfriend

I thought that this was one occasion where I was supposed to wait until morning, but it’s not necessary.
It’s sufficient to go one step away from the palace and wait a few seconds.

We then get our first vision. The image is blurry on purpose; it’s not a graphical glitch.
The way the video game implements prescience is basically identical in function to a two-way radio or wireless telephone. In the novel, Paul had the ability to see through time and analyze the past, present and possible futures. This was simplified in the film to the ability to see the future, as if only one was possible.

Paul: Hey, Harah! I just found you I can read minds! What do you think?

Paul: You’re giving me the cold shoulder. Note to self: dump Harah and find a better girlfriend. [come with me]

Cutscene:

If you watched the introduction video, you might recognize this scene. However, Harah is present here and Gurney and Thufir Hawat, another character we’ll soon meet, are missing.

Paul: I see a harsh land that is the sole source of spice, the most valuable substance in the entire universe. Yet is a land of great beauty, and home to a brave and resilient people, with whose aid we shall overthrow the cruel Harkonnen yoke. [made-up conversation]

Paul: Real observant there, Duncan.

Paul: Wait, Duncan’s shallow and superficial observation was correct? What was even the point of the question?

Spoiler

Smug face is smug
Also, I like how Leto goes "anyway" and changes the subject whenever someone talks about paranormal abilities, such as detecting hidden rooms, Paul’s visions, or the prophecy.

End of cutscene.

Plot spoiler:

“Details on prophecy spoiler”

In the novel, Jessica is able to identify the Fremen prophecy about Lisan al Gaib (“The Giver of Water”), also known as The Voice from the Outer World or as Mahdi, who would be born to a Bene Gesserit mother. The prophecy is part of Panoplia Propheticus (collection of myths) disseminated by the Bene Gesserit’s Missionaria Protectiva arm, which introduced myths and prophecies to other cultures, so the Sisterhood could later take advantage of them.

Jessica realizes that Dune must be a very harsh environment, since the Mahdi legend is only seeded on worlds that are very dangerous and the Bene Gesserit need every advantage they can get.

This also means that the prophecy is fake and that Paul has been intentionally, if reluctantly, duping the Fremen.

We head for to the comm room and run into Duncan in the dining room:

and check the new message:

Paul: Take a chill pill, bro. I got this.

I mentioned in update 2 that 1000 kg is a generous estimate on the amount of spice mined every 330 days. The Emperor demands 1000 kg after five days of mining. Like I said, either Herbert or Cryo got their math wrong. My guess is that Cryo attempted to correct what it saw as minuscule amounts in the novel. Remember, however, that the 620,000 solari/decagram is quoted in the game manual.

1,000 kg = 1,000,000 grams = 100,000 decagrams
620,000 solari/decagram x 100,000 decagrams = 62,000,000,000 solari = 62 billion solari
That’s 62 billion solari over a 5 day span. Now consider that we control 3% of the planet, only have 8 troops working for us, most don’t have harvesters and are mining in low spice density areas.

Now we know why taxalot chose Emperor Shaddam IV as his avatar.

Oh, look, our charisma increased from 3 to 4.

We ask Harah for any input in dealing with the Emperor.

Paul: sigh…

We talk to Duncan.

This is the only time I’ll show the entire process of making the spice shipments to the Emperor. They’re from a different playthrough, so the time of day and spice quantity will be different.

We now see the negotiation screen, which will be used in a couple of different situations. The “Accept” and “Refuse” options are self-explanatory, while the “Argue” option will cause the character the make another offer.

Paul: Argue

Paul: Argue
We get this message if our current spice stocks are much more than the Emperor’s demand. I’m not sure what qualifies as “a lot indeed” but I do know that having more than twice the Emperor’s demand is enough. Otherwise, Dunan would say:
Duncan: We can send him the totality of our stocks… well… That would make a shipment of 1230 kgs of spice.

If we have more than twice the Emperor’s demand, we can send either 50% or 100% more than what he asked (that’s 150% and 200% of the demand, respectively) for in exchange for some extra time.

Paul: Argue

Paul: Argue
If we have less than twice the Emperor’s demand, but enough for a full shipment, we can send either 75% or 50% of our stocks. Note that the previous percentages were with respect to the Emperor’s demand, but these ones are relative to our current supply.

Paul: Argue
This option would be enough to keep the Emperor satisfied, if we were to choose it.

If we don’t have enough to meet the Emperor’s demand, we can either send 100%, 75%, 50% or 25% of our current spice stocks. I took screenshots of the conversation transcribed below, but didn’t want to renumber all the following screenshots yet again, and this update was getting image-intensive anyway.

Duncan: We can’t send him what he asked for… 2450kgs… as our stocks are 1590kgs.
Paul: Talk to me.
Duncan: We can send him the totality of our stocks… well… That would make a shipment of 1590 kgs of spice.
Paul: Argue.
Duncan: Maybe three quarters then… Let me think… 1180 kgs? (Remember he asked for 2450 kgs)
Paul: Argue.
Duncan: I can see that you aren’t pleased with this idea… Er… What about half of our stocks, 790 kgs of spice?
Paul: Argue.
Duncan: The least we can do is wave to each other to ship about one quarter of our stocks… er… 390 kgs of spice.

Paul: Stop talking.

Paul: Talk to me.
The conversation ends at this point. We restart it and select the “We can send him what he asked for” reply, which is the default option and shows up first.
Increasing the spice quantity will increase the time interval before the Emperor demands his next shipment. Sending the entire spice supply or double the Emperor’s demand is generally a bad idea (especially if the entire spice supply is more than twice the asked for quantity), since the increased interval will not offset the additional expense.

We get this message if we accept to make a payment, but forget to tell Duncan to come with us and go to another room. It goes away very quickly (and caused the graphical glitch in the action list), so I had to take a screenshot in order to read it. Thankfully, we don’t have to do the whole negotiation over again.

We get this message if we accept to make a payment, forget to tell Duncan to come with us, then talk to him again. Thankfully, we don’t have to do the whole negotiation over again.

Paul: Talk to me.
Normally, I would choose “come with me”, which will bypass this reply and go to the next one.

Duncan is rolling his eyes at Paul.
Paul: Come with me.

Here’s what Duncan looks like in the Amiga version.
Rather than going west in the corridor, we take the scenic route through the stillsuit room and strange gray chamber.

This will be the last time I’ll take a screenshot in this room, since even the game admits there’s no reason to go this way to the comm room, requiring two extra steps. Technically, if we enter the palace and head straight for the comm room, going through the gray room is equally fast in terms of moves (but it still requires more mouse movement: forward-left-forward instead of forward-forward-left).

Upon reaching the comm room with Duncan, he automatically sends the spice shipment to the Emperor.

Each time we send a shipment to the Emperor (what? you were expecting this to be a one time thing?), a little animation plays, which I will show only this one time.
It’s an unskippable 5-second cutscene, so be thankful you only have to watch it once.

The space zoom-out sequence is now reversed, and we return to the comm room.

Duncan has vacated his companion slot and is waiting at computers.
As an aside, I’m pretty sure these computers would be illegal under The Great Convention, but I never got an exact idea on how advanced a device must be for it to qualify as a thinking machine.

We can’t leave the room until we receive the Emperor’s reply. This is triggered by talking to Duncan, then selecting “talk to me twice”. If we attempt to leave before receiving the message, Duncan chastises us with the message above (however, we can still ask him to accompany us).

Thanks for the hand-holding, Cryo, but this reply doesn’t really have any use in-game, and just makes the player click one more time (similar to the “Do remember that spice it by far the most blah blah blah”).

We see this reply if we meet the Emperor’s demand, which we do.

We see this reply if we give the Emperor what he wants.

We see this reply if we give the Emperor more spice than what he wants.

We see this reply if we give the Emperor more spice than what he wants. Notice he gives us an extra day.

Also, if we should forget what day the Emperor demands his shipment, we will receive this vision from Duncan.

Below you can see what happens if we were to send less than the requisite amount of spice or forget about the shipment altogether. I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count.

Spoiler

First, let’s explore what happens if we’re late with our spice payment.

The Emperor starts off with politely reminding us.

Fast forward 2 days after the deadline:

They don’t call it a deadline for nothing.

By the way, you can’t gain more time between shipments by delivering the spice late. The time will be deducted from the next payment interval.

Now let’s see what happens when we don’t send the spice payment in full.

The Emperor can’t get no satisfaction.

Spice hoarding is serius bizniss.
And we’re expected to take a man who looks like this seriously.

Paul: Duncan, you’ve lost weight!

I wasn’t kidding when I said tax-a-lot.

We send another partial shipment.

This image goes away very quickly and even though I tried capturing his response a couple of times, it always looks like this in the DOS version I’m playing. Here’s what he says:
Emperor: This is the second time you don’t send me the spice I demand. I’ve warned you, so don’t think you can get away with this.

Now this is testing the game to its limits: even the developers didn’t anticipate someone could be foolish enough to shortchange the Emperor twice.

Boom! Headshot!

The reason the Emperor sends his Lithuanian Sardaukar hitmen is we failed to meet his demands twice in a row. You can technically alternate partial shipments and full shipments, but the late fees will make it an untenable course of action.

It’s a lot easier to lose this game by failing to meet the Emperor’s spice demands than outright military defeat.

For lack of a better way to end this update, here’s a picture of Duncan and an Atreides palace guard, with arms crossed gangsta-style.

 

[omega21]

I love the inclusion of lore in this. Bet it helps the plebs that didn't read the books.

It's been a few years since I've looked at them anyway.

 

[abnaxus]

Useful link:

http://baheyeldin.com/literature/arabic-and-islamic-themes-in-frank-herberts-dune.html

 

[Abelian]

I will never understand why people love Dune so much.

[tits]

The 5th tired me so much, I gave up. Maybe I will try to resume the series at some point, when I recover.

Heretics and Chapterhouse are generally considered far weaker than the rest of the series. You can safely stop after God Emperor of Dune without missing anything important. Messiah/Children are also slightly weaker than Dune/God-Emperor, but they do fill out the gap leading up to GEoD, so they're worth reading for that.

It goes without saying that the Brian Herbert prequels should be avoided like the plague.

I think DU's ellipsis macro answered MicoSelva's question. Bonus points for his mentioning the novel with the Honored Maters in the post.

 

[Storyfag]

Soo... when's the next update coming up?