March 9, 2001 Producer Chris Longpre stopped by yesterday to show off a surprisingly complete build of Emperor: Battle for Dune. Completionists can check out the really extensive preview below; this update's just going to focus on the new information Chris revealed to us. Most importantly, he told us that we can expect the game to ship sometime this summer, possibly as early as June. The game is pretty much feature complete at this point so the team has plenty of time to iron out any bugs in the code. The game begins when you choose one of the three Houses. The Atreides are a very infantry heavy force, relying on numerous types of foot soldiers to get things done. As a means of increasing their effectiveness, infantry units in this game can take advantage of small rock formations that are scattered about the map. These emplacements are inaccessible to vehicles (eliminating the threat of being run over) and add defensive and offensive bonuses to your infantry. These bonuses are a factor of the cover offered by the rocks and the stability of infantry weapons when placed against the rocks. The infantry also can produce snipers and mortar infantry. APCs with stealth technology mean that the Atreides player can move his infantry around the map virtually undetected. At least in theory. The stealth technology only becomes active once your units have remained still for a short time. At this point they can move very short distances without the stealth being deactivated. Harkonnen doctrine emphasizes brute strength. As a result, their units will be heavily armored and heavily armed. They've got some really inventive ways to work around the strengths of the Atreides infantry. The Buzzsaw tank is a vehicle that was just made (literally) for chewing up infantry. The Inkvine is another interesting anit-infantry weapon. It shoots out caustic projectiles that leave a stain about a tile and a half wide. Any infantry that get hit by the missile or walk through its residue, will begin to take damage. They will also have access to Flame Tanks and Flame Thrower equipped foot soldiers. The Ordos equivalent of the Flame Thrower is the Chemical Trooper. This trooper carries a short-range weapon that eliminates enemy infantry with frustrating efficiency. On the whole you can think of the Ordos units as stealth oriented. They have lots of hover and shield technology (which, unfortunately, makes them especially tasty to worms). Their Cobra Cannon excels at long range sieges while their Dust Scout is better suited to quick strikes against weakly defended emplacements. As your units participate in combat, they will rise through the three levels of rank in the game. Each unit receives unique rewards for each level of veterancy. For instance, the Atreides sniper gets an extended range at the first level of veteran status. The second level brings the ability to regenerate and the third level allows for stealth movement. Elite units will be much more important in this game than in previous titles. Even more intriguing is the option to send an elite unit back to the barracks or factory where they were created. Once there, they are consumed but will raise the level of experience for every new unit of that type produced at that building. At the outset of the game and between each mission, you'll get a chance to direct the war from a more strategic level. The 33 territories on the map are divided among you and your two enemies. You can attack any territory along the fronts with either opponent. Each territory has a special event associated with it that may influence whether or not you gain the cooperation of one of the sub houses. If, for example, you can lift a siege around a Fremen camp, they might join your cause. You can also see whether or not the opponent you'll be facing will be aggressive or defensive. Once on the mission map, you'll be presented with a fully 3D render of the territory you're fighting for. The game maps look surprising good, considering they're all just big patches of desert. The design team has added lots of neat little features to break up the monotony. The buildings are especially impressive with real distinct character and style. You can even rotate the buildings around before you place them to make as much use as possible of the limited rock space. There will be a few missions (like the capital assaults or highliner missions) that depart from the desert formula. Apart from the menace of the sand worms, you'll also have to watch out for sand storms. These funnel clouds travel across the map picking up infantry and flinging them off the map. It's really funny is a sick kind of way. The sand storms won't toss buildings or vehicles around but it will damage them. The only units immune to the sand storm are the Fremen. A few things have changed on the multiplayer side. The chat lobby has been changed around a bit to make it easier to find a game. That's what Westwood says at least. We haven't had a chance to try any of it out yet, but the ideas are intriguing. The Quick Match feature that was present in Red Alert 2 is here as well. 25 multiplayer maps will ship with the game but, do the difficulties of rendering 3D terrain, there will be no map generator. We were kind of ticked by this, but Westwood's usually very good about releasing new maps from time to time, so there shouldn't be any shortage of maps to play on. There will also be the option to turn off sand worms and sand storms in multiplay and skirmish games. So that's a lot more new hinkfo. Anyone interested in learning more about some of the other aspects of the game (such as subhouses, camera controls, and other things) can check out the first preview of the game below. And once you're done with that, you should check out our exclusive interview with Chris as he talks about the story and several other aspects of the game.