u/scoutermike

Please do me a favor. I suck at overland stations above level 5, so looting grade 2-5 augment bp’s as well as schematic patterns g2-5 is problematic for me. But if YOU loot, craft, and sell the finished augments ready to install, I will buy, as I’m sure others will, too. I think there is a market for grade 2-4 augments, not just top of the line grade 5. The grade 5 stuff is exorbitantly priced, but I’m willing to buy cheaper lower grades all day.

Today I went on a 400 million Solari spending spree upgrading a few slots and stocking up on g2-5 schematic patterns. The piece I’m most happy about? 10-shot g5 Regis tripleshot! 10 shots of poisonous 800+ damage incoming!

The augment was a g4 jabal spitdart expander for 100 million. Probably the most i'd ever spent on a single item. But it was the only such augment on the exchange, and I have no idea when another one will come up. I didn’t want to wait…no regrets at all! I can make that solari back in no time!

Thank you!

Pic of neighbor’s spot, right place right time. 

That setup is the hill I will die on, defending my time-tested and proven "ultimate" base design for a solo spice farmer in deep desert.

My pattern after dd reset is to fly in with a fully-loaded assault thopter, first, to scout around and find the perfect spot (based on what I see on the online cheat sheet maps). The assault already holds enough to build almost everything except the refinery and the stills.

So, I setup the basic base – including the gens, cisterns and wind traps – activate them to start collecting water, then fly the *scout* back to HB home base to pick up the carrier and the cargo box. The box holds materials for the refinery and stills, along with the parts for the buggy and crawler.

The beauty of this setup is, I can stay self-sufficient deep in dd for most of the week. And it's flexible. I use assault + hand compactor to work crowded large blows, and I'm starting to use the crawler again for medium blows – when I can get to them untouched. The mediums yield about 15,000 dust in about 10-15 min.

I make a point to build on an island with an occupied cave, to collect bodies for the stills.

When no blows are active, I'm still busy harvesting titanium and stravidium, looting falling ships, clearing nearby caves, and treasure hunting. With each activity, my cargo crate gets fuller with loot.

I've posted pics of this setup numerous times before, so I hope I'm not being boring. On the other hand the sub could use more media and in-game content. So I share what I have.

On a related note, lighting can have a huge impact not only on the quality of your screenshots, but how you feel...just existing in your base. I would say a nicely lit space feels much cozier than the same space in the dark. This is why I place lights during or asap after the build. Because I need a cozy, comfortable corner to retreat to, in between the hectic parts of Dune life.

I'm also including screens from the current capstone faction mission. I have become disenchanted with House Atreides, disappointed with the Laandsraad, and with the monarchy itself. I no longer rep the Atreides colors. Yet, I remain loyal to Duke Leto.

I acknowledge his humanity and his efforts to preserve order...and the honor of his clan. He's doing the best he can, given the circumstances he was put into. For now, I will continue my service to House Atreides.

In the future? Who knows.

Today, I primarily fight for spice and Solari. And for my own glory.

So be it.

Pro tip: I use this base resource calculator to help me plan my cargo loads. Very very helpful: https://tools.tcno.co/dune

I just noticed the Liberty In Action event and associated patch. I know many of us love cool and different patches - this is a cool one. And obviously, the meaning and requirements behind it are significant. Sorry for the late notice, I just found it myself.

Here's the official page about Scouting America's Liberty in Action program celebrating USA "semiquincentential" 250-year anniversary.

https://www.scouting.org/service/a250/

Here's the requirements pdf:

https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Liberty_in_Action_A250_Challenge_Final.pdf

The tricky requirement is the service project. However if your unit is doing anything for 4th of July, like walking in a parade (our pack used to do this) - that would count. But really any kind of service project would count, as the wording is so broad: "service to community, civic responsibility, liberty, equality, or the common good."

Happy 250th Birthday America!

Dear fam, how are you? I am great! So far my time at Camp Dune has been really fun but sometimes a little challenging. My Atreides counselors are cool but the Harko ones are really mean and are always trying to haze us. Every day at camp is pretty similar. Maintain the base, collect water, gather spice.

I've had some close encounters with Papa Worm! My bunkmates now call me the Worm Whisperer since I'm always the one helping to summon him.

Our swimming activities have been canceled because of...a water shortage, can you believe it? So no extra water to fill the pool - every drop has to be rationed here. And did I mention how HOT it is? OMG one little error putting on your stillsuit and you're gonna feel it.

We've had a few outings to local abandoned testing stations...that turned out to be occupied after all! One such station was particularly difficult - I didn't realize there would be not one, not two, but THREE so-called "lock-in" rooms, some with about a dozen tough enemies that would appear!

By now, I've collected a nice set of gear that has kept me well-protected. Also, I acknowledge combat training with Duncan Idaho and Gurney Halleck has significantly boosted my fighting skills. However, after surviving the onslaughts of the first two lock-in's, I hesitated at the door to the third.

I was literally trembling a little. I realized I had stumbled into what I had feared the most during my early days on Arrakis - the dreaded Buried Imperial Testing Station in Deep Desert!

I balked. I just wanted the spiced plast ore in the final chest. And I was pretty confident I could clear the final room, too. But, I decided it wasn't worth it. Only because I hadn't mentally prepared for this. Having a group of 4 shielded sword guys rushing at me is basically my worst fear in this world (other than being swallowed by Shai Hulud!). Granted, with my op armor I was able to continue kiting and picking them off with combos of drillshots, knee charges, and slow blades. It wasn't traumatizing, but it was exhausting.

Standing there with the next batch of sword guys looking at me from the other side of the locked prudence door, I decided to nope-out of there. I'll get my 25 spiced ore some other way lol. At least for now. I'm sure I can tackle that station all the way through, now. But I want to be ready for it, know what to expect. Next time, I will be better prepared, mentally.

Oh, and I'm embarrassed to say I had a little mishap with my personal dd base camp - it got destroyed accidentally! Whoops! My bad! The good news is I had enough canteen money to buy replacements for the gear I lost, at least as good as what I had before. And my new base is better than ever! So a major crises was averted, thank the Maker!

Anyway, that's a good update for now. Dinner is starting soon - grilled muad'dib skewers is the rumor. I hope we get spiced funnel cake for desert - my favorite!

Miss you! See you soon! With love,

EEON

XXOOXXOO

Sorry for the slightly misleading title. But that's sort of how I felt logging in two days ago and standing where my cherished dd base once stood, with my battered vehicles strewn across the landscape.

My first thought was...an exploit. I was certain another player had done this to me. I wanted to believe a griefer used an exploit to lasgun my critical base pieces. I wanted to blame someone.

I checked the logs. I'm not an expert at reading the logs, but I saw a bunch of messages saying x destroyed by sandstorm.

Did I really mess up? I did notice some of my base pieces eroding the day before and quickly repaired and replaced them. I used mainly granite pieces in this build, which hadn't been a major issue in the past.

But then I realized something. This base rested on 4 foundation pieces - and for this build I used granite not plastone. I had forgotten about the durability issue. Or maybe I erroneously believed granite could still last one week, at least. I assume a series of storms took down the shields and because I had neglected to maintain those four granite pieces - I think they failed, which led to the collapse of the entire structure.

My emotions were a mixture of defeat and embarrassment. It looked like my vehicles and big storage crate were intact. But I quickly started calculating the equipment losses:

• 3 spice generators
• Large spice refinery
• 2 large wind traps
• 2 large cisterns
• 2 advanced stills

That hurt, but I knew the machines could be replaced with not too much effort (I hoped). But then a more painful realization hit: I lost my daily edc bis armor and weapons.

I usually wear a stillsuit unless heading out on combat missions. I kept my combat gear in a medium storage container - which does NOT survive if the base beneath is gets destroyed. Basically, it was all bis S-tier stuff, grades 2-4, mostly purchased over time from the Exchange for millions of solari.

I felt pretty gutted, but I knew all was not lost. Indeed, I suddenly understood why my end game has revolved around farming, stockpiling, and selling: to make up for big mistakes like this.

I immediately broke down the crawler and buggy and threw the parts into the big container. Fortunately, the big container DID survive, but it was in bad shape. It meant the 2k mélange and stacks of titanium and stravidium I had just farmed were not lost (which turned out to be important).

I repaired the remaining vehicles, sheltered the assault outside a cave, and used the carrier to fly the container back to home base in Hagga. Quickly flew back in a scout to pick up the assault.

Then, once I was safe again in my main HB base, I calmed down, regrouped, and took stock. Actually, I went out to the irl beach with my irl family for the day. Then I came home - somewhat grounded and refreshed - took stock again, and realized things weren't as bad as they had seemed.

The first step was to see if I could produce a second copy of my typical dd base including machines. Turns out 3 spice gens, large refinery, 2 cisterns, 2 wind traps, and 2 advanced stills require A LOT of resources, esp plastanium. Fortunately, I had just enough resources to do it. But it meant I had little left over to craft replacement armor and weapons!

Melange wasn't the issue. I had lots of it. But despite continuously farming batches of Ti and stravidium this whole time, I had to consume my entire stockpile - and even quickly refine a few hundred ingots more - to make it.

Fine, the machines and vehicles were now accounted for. But what about my beloved combat loadout? This would depend on my bank account and the availability of my preferred gear on the exchange.

The good news was that I was able to find - and afford - comparable replacement items. New power harness one grade higher. Circuit gauntlets one grade lower, etc. Same with the weapons. Still missing a few graded versions. Hopefully I'll see them come up on the exchange soon. And honestly, I think this round of weapons is slightly better!

All told, I probably spent 100-150 million solari to get back to where I was. Biggest purchase was for graded tripleshot or dunewatcher - 20 million iirc. I also had to buy a few million solari worth of spiced plastanium ore.

The reason I had so much cash and material on hand was because of my...end game.

I finished the storyline content some months ago. Since then, I've been enjoying the weekly deep desert base shuffle, and it's been fun competing with other farmers for spice.

I asked myself lots of times why I continued to collect spice and plastanium. Well, now I have the perfect answer. Because I'm going to need it the next time I screw up like this!

I actually hesitated sharing this story out of embarrassment hehe. I'm a veteran player, a master solo farmer, and a storyteller in this community. But I don't care, I'm happy to share my mistake, and maybe this info will serve as a warning to others.

I've since come up with a more robust base design, and I have committed to only using plastone bricks in DD from now on!

Pics showing the scene when I logged in and saw my base destroyed. Then, "after" picks showing my reinforced dd base, and improved and restyled combat loadout.

Blessed be The Maker!

Be safe and good luck, sand walkers!

There used to be a lot of content about building the ultimate basic fief, back when taxes were part of the game. Will people make content about building the ultimate advanced fief for dd bases? I’d love to see some other advanced fief layouts optimized for dd ops. This is my attempt. Or at least this week's version. Peace unto you, sand walker!

Just some shots from the last couple weeks, trying to capture a bit of my experience on Arrakis...

Same server, shots taken within 8 hours of each other. And to be honest, both versions are thrilling.

Just like we are expected to leverage a variety of weapons and tactics in combat, obtaining spice requires different strategies, too. Recently I hand compacted a small blow in hagga just to top off a refinery run. Sure, I've love to casually solo crawl all day without being bothered. But those lazy days are over. The real war for spice has begun!

Most of the time I resort to hand compacting with an assault thopter. But once in a while, an opportunity to solo crawl presents itself! Last night at about 3 am, I got such an opportunity!

All I can say is, it was really chill and really fun working with two other solo farmers who knew what they were doing. I suspect one guy wasn't using the quiet treads and engine upgrades. Once he left, we'd have longer stretches of harvesting time with no worm.

Flying back to base with a full Regis container - 75k dust - 15 minutes before server reset...felt frigging amazing.

Bless the Maker!

New patterns are being established.

I thought I was being slick logging in at 5:30 am. I thought that was early enough to swoop in and claim the prime real estate in deep desert - the sweet spots on islands near the geometric center of all the large blows, ideally near titanium and stravidium. If there is a hidden cave nearby with spice infused plastanium, all the better.

Such a choice island existed in this week’s dd map - F3. As I approach the island at about 6 am, I realize…I was late.

There must have been 3-4 bases already down, maybe more, with another couple still being built as I watched. Doh!

I quickly scanned the geography, looking for a high spot with ground access for a buggy. Fortunately, I found such a spot.

I had spent 90 minutes the night before designing a new dd base that integrates some new Water Shipper pieces with the older Atreides set.

I had already torn down my dd base on Sunday. So on Monday I zone into dd and make a new design, right in Row A. Once happy with the design, I save a couple Solido Replicator copies…then tear everything down and fly back to Hagga, haha!

But it makes today’s “deep desert shuffle” a little easier. Assuming I could find a compatible spot.

Once I actually equipped the Solido, I had to spend a good 10 minutes massaging the blueprint into place. I was trying to squeeze it between two neighboring fiefs. I actually had to build out some foundations and floors to reposition my fief so the box would sit right.

I got the fief in the right spot, but fitting a 9x9x9 blueprint in a 10x10x10 space requires a little finesse. There is a trick.

The trick is to use the mouse to get the blueprint into the approximate zone, so most of it appears green. Then, let go of the mouse.

“Dial in” the final positioning using the KEYBOARD.

Q and E slides the blueprint left and right.

Z and C slides the blueprint forward and backward.

ALT-Mouse-wheel ROTATES the blueprint.

CTRL-Mouse-wheel ELEVATES (raises and lowers) the blueprint.

Using these keyboard and mouse wheel commands, it’s a lot easier to nudge the blueprint into place. When you see only green and all the conflict messages disappear, click the left mouse button to place!

I really should make a video demonstrating the whole process. One of these days.

With the blueprint finally placed, fast clicking all blocks into place didn’t take long. Crafting the solido the night before paid off.

I suspect this week will be similar to last week (before the bonus weekend). Basically, the spice grind.

Listening for sonic booms. Flying around looking for the active blow. Soloing the crawler if I’m lucky. Otherwise, lots of hand compacting with an assault thopter. Then hauling the dust back to my dd refinery to convert it to melange.

The spice hustle. And maybe some titanium gathering. The grind. That’s the agenda for this week.

But the good news is…this is a lot of fun! We’re having fun again!

The competition in dd over spice is real. The best spice gathering method is a two-man team - a carrier pilot and a crawler driver working together. But as a solo, I can barely start my crawler engine before hand farmers start calling the worm with their noise. I realize I have to be super crafty if I want to use the crawler. Otherwise, I have to settle with hand compacting, myself.

Ok, I can live with this. The competition feels real, and it’s fun.

I sell about half my weekly take for an average of $107,000 solari per unit of melange. I sell about 600 melange at a time. I always sell fast because I undercut the market a little. Which is fine…because spice prices seem inflated at the moment. I’m happy to put a little downward pressure on the market.

Good luck with your spice hustle this week, dune walkers!

Until next time, be safe and prosper!

What a brilliant concept. Basically looked like hanging black curtains lined with flexible led edges.

But the whole pattern ebbed and flowed and undulated with the shifting winds! Completely psychedelic. Perfect production this year. Absolutely loved it.

Noticeably fewer flags 6:30 at cosmic.

The ones that meet the regs get through. They are being strict this year!

Update 12:30am.

There are drastically fewer tall flags! Honestly it was a little disorienting at first, but then I realized I could actually see the stage most the time!

Nice work insomniac.

If you want to bring a flag, please do so. But please keep it in spec. No more 30 footers please!

After months, I finally got to run the crawler again. After months, I was finally refining spice in DD again. And it felt great!

Around 8:30 am I logged in and flew the scout to the three large blows nearby, not expecting to see anything. I was surprised to see a half-full field with no thopters present! I quickly returned to base to pick up the carrier and crawler and headed back.

Wow. Finally! I had about 20 minutes of uninterrupted crawling!

Just me and Muad'dib!

Eventually another farmer showed up with a hand compactor. But by then my Regis container was mostly full and I decided to quit while I was ahead.

With the refining bonus I was able to run about 2-3 batches through the large refinery. I know I can haul the raw dust back to Hagga for processing but it's actually fun to process the dust out in the field.

I actually had a reason to collect a few cave bodies for the stills, too...

...but by now, completely overpowered – and more combat-hardened - the forgotten caves that once presented the hardest challenge in the game for me – have now become so trivial, it's almost funny. Good. I like feeling powerful. Finally hehe.

When I logged in later, the place was much more crowded. With so many other farmers around, hand compacting was less stressful. Compacting by hand yields smaller amounts, but the hustle on the ground competing against other farmers is pretty exhilarating.

With frequent compacting missions balanced with occasional crawler runs, the spice is flowing once again!

Blessed be The Maker!

Well that was different. Now, the spice farming end game is all about hunting spice blows and rushing to be first on scene. Holy smokes! The competition for dust is just as intense as before, if not more so!

But, isn’t this what we wanted, what we asked for?

Essentially, yes!

Running a crawler doesn’t seem feasible. At least not at the large blows during peak hours. Yet I did see a few tracks so not completely sure about that.

I noticed the nearby large blow had only crumbs left, so I wanted to try to "reset" it.

A shout in DD chat quickly brought two other players and together we did the trick to call the grandpa worm and reset the field. Pics attached.

The point is this: when the next big blow popped, within minutes (seconds) there was a swarm of farmers on scene. But…it was actually chill.

Yes every 30 seconds the worm breached and we all had to liftoff for about 30 seconds until it went away.

Compact. Collect. Up. Down.

Compact. Collect. Up. Down.

Repeat. Pretty steady.

And one by one, we filled our cargo holds with dust and flew home.

I collected enough dust to run one load at my dd base refinery. I’m starting to think a refinery in dd is overkill. I’m still behaving as I did when I was on an empty server filling my Regis container over and over.

I don’t think I’ll be filling a Regis container anytime soon, hehe. So probably no need to keep a large refinery in dd for now.

Otherwise, it felt great to run some dust through the machine. I hadn’t farmed in dd for a couple months due to the griefing. So just farming and handling some spice again felt really good.

And having a dd base again felt great, too. Before my farming hiatus, I had built up a nice collection of base solidos, various 9x9 base blueprints optimized for dd ops.

I picked out a good one and used it to pop the template on an island located near in the three large blows, upper left quadrant.

I actually love this base version. Everything fits nicely in a 10x10 advanced sub fife, no extension stakes needed. And this version has a cozy "field office" in the corner, a spot where I love to chill between missions.

Finally, the smuggler assault variant has a length of ballistic weave stretched between the tail beams. It seems like a perfect place to lay down, catch my breath, take a nap, and dream of never-ending fields of purple…

Peace unto you, sand walkers!