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House Vernius of Ix is a DLC faction available forDune: Spice Wars.The Ixians are only mentioned tangentially in the books, but their technological advancements are second to none in the entire galaxy. Since they routinely violate Imperial law with their experiments, they’re known to keep to themselves.
Playing as House Vernius of Ix requires a different approach to Spice Wars. If you may master their limitations and put their unique mastery of technology to good use, you’ll leave your opponents scrambling to figure out just what to do about you.
Neural Nodes And Tethering
The focus of House Vernius' strategy iscreating a Nodal Networkthat stretches across the surface of Arrakis. The Ixian main base, S-Vault, isalways connected to the Network, and controlled regions can be connected byconstructing a Neural Node there.
Neural Nodes can only be built in regions that haveexactly one neighboring region already connected.
Ixian units inside or adjacent to a region connected to the Network are consideredTethered.Tethered units get bonuses based on their type, but as a result they tend to be much weaker if they’re too far from home territory.
Ixian villagessuffer a fifty-percent production penaltyif they don’t have a Neural Node. This means it’s important toplan your expansion by snaking lines out from S-Vault; otherwise you’ll find yourself using Authority to take unproductive villages.
House Vernius Abilities
House Verniusprefers to avoid conflict, and they have a very good bargaining chip when it comes to diplomacy; any faction in a Truce with House Verniusgains access to the benefits of any Development that the Vernius player has researched.If the Truce ends, those benefits immediately vanish. This can shut down buildings or cause a player to go over their Command Limit!
Upon reaching 5000 Hegemony, House Vernius canresearch a single Developmenteven if they don’t meet the prerequisites for it. The amount of Knowledge required to complete the research remains the same, however. This is a great way to exploit theirFile Patentability, which also appears at this Hegemony level.
House Vernius canpay 1000 Solarito file a patent onany Development they have researchedthat no other faction has. For the rest of the game, players mustpay House Verniusto unlock the Development before they can begin researching it. The farther ahead you may get in research, the more money you stand to make from patents.
At ten thousand Hegemony, House Vernius canObfuscate one Development that they have researched.The Obfuscated Development ispermanently disabled for all players, including House Vernius. Shutting down a Development that’s critical to an opponent’s strategy, like House Harkonnen’s Instill Fear, is a particularly ruthless maneuver.
Patents and Obfuscation target a location on the tech tree, so if a faction has a unique Development there it will be affected, even though House Vernius can technically never learn it.
Early Game Strategy As House Vernius Of Ix
House Vernius needs todeviate from the standard opening playsthat other factions take. While it’s still a good idea to immediately build two melee units and an Ornithopter, you shouldhold off on seizing your first villageuntil you’ve fully scouted the area around S-Vault. Choosing which villages you’ll annex and connect to the network is crucial, since it determines your later expansion paths, so take your time and do it correctly from the start.
While your thopters are scouting,build a Combine Harvester.Ixian Harvesters don’t need a Refinery - they can harvest from any owned or neutral Spice Field as long as they’re close enough to the Network to remain Tethered. This means that youdon’t need to annex your starting Spice Field; since it’s adjacent to S-Vault, your Harvesters will always be Tethered there.
House Vernius uses remotely-operated drones for Spice Harvesting; as a result, they’reimmune to sandworm attacks.
As you play through the first few weeks of the game,focus on Solari and Knowledge production.The goal is torush down the tech tree as quickly as you can, thenbuy up patents upon hitting 5000 Hegemony.If you can anticipate which techs your opponents will want and patent them first, so much the better.
When conquering villages,prioritize regions that allow construction of Fuel Cell Factories.House Vernius relies on Fuel Cells much more than Manpower. If you don’t have access to Geothermal Vents,research Water Batterieson the military tech tree and build Dew Collectors to try and make up the difference.
Look for a Landsraad Resolution to force a truce with other players; if you vote for yourself, you can avoid invasions from aggressive neighbors and get the full benefit of House Vernius' early Statecraft Developments, which provide bonuses for being at peace.
Late Game Strategy As House Vernius Of Ix
House Vernius is best for anEconomic or Political Victory, so those should be your primary goals. Buying up CHOAM Shares while pushing for Charters in the Landsraad will occupy most of your time when you aren’t expanding.
Once you have enough Fuel Cells for your mechanized army,keep enough drones on handto fight off Sietch Raiders and other threats. Build a Spacing Guild Branch as soon as you can afford to do so; air power is a great deterrent, and will be critical if you need to go on the offensive.
Suboid Soldiers are cheap to produce and maintain, and deal decent damage in groups, but they haveno Armor whatsoever.They should only be used to support your mechs, usually bylocking down enemy ranged units in melee.
If you need to go to war,an assassination is your best betfor eliminating the opponent. Mechanical troops don’t use Supply or attract sandworms, but the Fight-Engineers that they need nearby certainly do. That, plus the need to be near the Nodal Network, can make it very difficult to get within striking range of an enemy capital.
If push comes to shove,request a frigate from the Spacing Guild.It provides a Network connection to units in the same region; just keep it out of missile range!
