Atreides

The good guys

The Atreides are the good guys - a house built on just and fair rule. As a result, their troopers are considered the most loyal of all the three major houses. Atreides units that have reached the third level of veterancy (like Tiberian Sun and RA2, Emperor features units that can reach veteran and elite status) can return to the barracks or factory and train the new units to immediate veteran status. Our demo focused mostly on Atreides campaign, so we got a good look at a number of the units. Here are a few of the more interesting ones.

Scout

The Atreides Scout has a huge sight radius and is a fast mover, making him ideal to reveal terrain and eliminate the shroud. The Scout is very lightly armed, but the compensate, they camouflage themselves against the terrain if they remain stationary or move slowly.

Sniper

One shot, one kill - these deadly foot soldiers have the longest range of any infantry in the game. During our demonstration, Emperor producer Tim Fritz parked a couple snipers within range of an enemy barracks. Just as the spawn campers do in Quake 3, the Atreides snipers immediately gunned down every new infantryman built out of that barracks. It's pure evil.

Not the AWP

Kindjal

These are the Atreides long range anti-vehicle troopers. They're armed with two types of weapons - pistols for self defense, and their long range anti-tank cannons. To utilize their cannons, players must deploy the Kindjal (by pressing the deploy button) which allows them to set up their bulky gun but makes them stationary. It's very similar to how the GIs in Red Alert two can deploy their bipod machine gun and set up sand bags around themselves. In the mobile, undeployed state, the Kindjal have a weak pistol to defend against other infantry.

Is that a rocket launcher or are you just happy to see me?

Sand Bike

One of the fastest vehicles in the game, the Sand Bike features a small cannon for taking out infantry. Its main purpose is scouting and to accompany the larger vehicles. They don't pack much punch against the more heavily armored tanks so players will need to keep them protected with anti-vehicle units.

Mongoose

The Mongoose walker is a mech-type of vehicle that has the unique ability to shoot while on the run. This helps to balance out the fact that the refire rate on its missile launcher is rather slow. Used in numbers, the Mongoose is especially effective against enemy vehicles.

Minotaurus

This bad boy sports four long range cannons that explode for devastating area effect damage. Its heavy armor makes it a slow moving target though, and it the nature of its weapons makes it difficult for the Minotaurus to aim at fast moving units.

4 cannons for you

For a more complete list of the Atreides units and buildings, check out Daily Radar