In Dune: Awakening, ornithopters play an essential role in traversing the harsh desert environment of Arrakis. These iconic flying machines are not just a mode of transport but an integral part of gameplay, offering players unique advantages while navigating the vast, perilous dunes and engaging in complex endgame activities. Here’s everything we know about the significance of ornithopters in the game.
Ornithopters: Changing the Scale of the Game World
Ornithopters are unlocked as players progress through Dune: Awakening, significantly altering the way they experience and interact with the world. The vast deserts of Arrakis, which can feel overwhelming on foot or via ground-based vehicles, become more navigable with the introduction of ornithopters. These machines drastically change the perception of distance in the game, allowing players to explore the sprawling landscapes at a much faster pace and opening up new possibilities for exploration and combat.
The Deep Desert and Ornithopter Traversal
One of the most significant uses of ornithopters is for traversing the Deep Desert, the most dangerous and expansive region of Arrakis. While crossing the desert by foot or vehicle can take a substantial amount of time, ornithopters can complete the journey in around 15 minutes. Despite the speed advantage, the Deep Desert remains a perilous zone, with its environmental challenges, sandworms, and dynamic events that keep players on edge even while airborne.
The design of the Deep Desert is clearly tailored to ornithopter traversal, as the landscape, with its vast dunes and open spaces, provides a unique environment where aerial movement becomes essential. However, even with the speed of the ornithopter, players must remain cautious, as danger can strike unexpectedly.
Spice Harvesting and Strategic Coordination
Ornithopters are crucial for large-scale activities like spice harvesting, one of the core endgame pursuits in Dune: Awakening. To effectively gather spice, players must coordinate teams, using ornithopters to transport specialized vehicles like spice crawlers. These teams must work together to extract valuable resources while protecting their operations from the ever-present threat of sandworms and rival players.
The ability to transport vehicles under ornithopters provides a strategic advantage, allowing for more complex operations in the harsh desert environment. This mechanic adds depth to gameplay, requiring careful planning and coordination for successful spice harvesting missions.
Sandworms and Ornithopter Vulnerabilities
Just as with any vehicle or activity on Arrakis, ornithopters are not immune to the deadly sandworms that inhabit the Deep Desert. These massive creatures are attracted to vibrations, and the whirring of an ornithopter’s engines can draw their attention. This creates an additional layer of danger, as players must carefully manage their movements to avoid attracting sandworms while carrying out their objectives.
The threat of sandworms adds tension to every flight, forcing players to think strategically about when and where to fly their ornithopters. As exciting as they are, the risk of encountering a sandworm can quickly turn an otherwise successful mission into a disaster.
PvP Combat and Aerial Dogfights
Ornithopters also play a significant role in Dune: Awakening’s PvP combat. Equipped with rockets, these flying machines are designed for aerial dogfights, allowing players to engage in intense PvP battles high above the desert sands. The potential for high-stakes aerial combat adds a thrilling dimension to the game, as players use their ornithopters’ firepower to target opponents in the air or on the ground.
One particular anecdote from the developers highlights the importance of strategy in PvP combat: a player used 50 rockets to attack another ornithopter, demonstrating how valuable and limited these resources are. Rockets are a finite and precious resource in the game, so players must carefully consider when and how to deploy them in combat. The importance of strategic decision-making in these encounters cannot be overstated, making every battle a test of skill and resource management.
Ornithopters and the Landsraad System
Ornithopters may also play a role in the Dune: Awakening Landsraad system, a political competition that drives endgame activities. Players may be tasked with delivering ornithopters to their chosen faction to help influence the weekly vote count and determine the server rules for the upcoming week. This further ties the ornithopter mechanic into the broader gameplay loop, ensuring that they are not only useful for exploration and combat but also contribute to the political dynamics of the game.
A New Dimension to Gameplay
Ornithopters are more than just a mode of transport in Dune: Awakening; they are a multi-faceted tool that impacts exploration, combat, resource gathering, and even political influence. By introducing these iconic flying machines, the developers have added an exciting new layer to the gameplay, ensuring that players have a wide array of challenges and opportunities to explore. Whether you’re flying over the vast deserts, engaging in high-octane PvP dogfights, or coordinating spice harvesting operations, ornithopters will be a key part of your journey through the world of Dune: Awakening.
As the game evolves, it’s clear that the ornithopter will remain an essential element of the Dune experience, offering both thrills and strategic depth as players navigate the unforgiving world of Arrakis.
