Dune DLC One and DONE . . . but we ain't done!

I finished up Dune's recent DLC today, and I have to say that I think it's worth the $12 because of one small thing, and it's not the Treadwheel vehicle. I mean, it might be the Treadwheel vehicle, but I haven't even crafted one yet.  The best thing about this update was the new secret lab instance within Station 163. I have to see if I can run this one again because I loved it so much. 

Imma talk about this Station 163 secret lab in a moment, but first . . . a lot has been going on in Dune for me lately. Not only have I been doing this DLC content, but I've been participating in my first ever Landsraad event, mining spice like a madman, and equipping myself in full tier 6 gear. woohoo!

Behold the grid of Lansraad -- try to make a political bingo and win some prizes!

I had no idea this Landsraad stuff was this great, and despite all the guides I was reading on it, I just . . . didn't get it . . . at all. For me it was one of those events I had to physically do before I could grok it. So . . . when you press L in game, it brings up the current Landsraad event page and the status of what's going on within.

Hi Quartermaster! I just need you to take these 20 MK2 Holtzman Shields for the war effort. thanks!

The basics of Landsraad is that you're fulfilling orders for certain houses.  Think of houses as sub-alliances outside of the major conflict between House Harkonnen and House Atreides.  At the beginning of the week, I was kind of bummed because none of the instances in the Deep Desert were offering blade weapons (my weapon of choice) as possible drops.  After looking at the Landsraad page though, it all clicked for me.

At first I asked in the Team Spode Discord just to make sure I was looking at it right:

"Ok, I need something explained to me.

Tom: "Hey, I see there's a reward for House Mutelli that could get me a Replica Pulse Sword as long as i have 10500 points -- I should do that!"

• Step 1: Make 7 Adept Disruptor M11 guns
• Step 2: Turn in guns to the Lansraad Quartermaster -- Netting me and my alliance 12,236 points.
• Step 3: Wait until we win Lansraad for the week.
• Step 4: Return to the House Mutelli representative the following week and ask for my reward.

Am I understanding that correctly? 

The only problem with that could be . . . 3 other bozos like me are thinking the same thing and we fulfill the Lansraad objective before I can turn in my guns to the Quartermaster."

Hello House Mutelli! I need that sword you've got there for 10,500 points

To which, no one really had an answer because everyone else was just as confused as I was.  A few hours later, I had made my 7 Adept Disrupter M11 guns and turned them in. Much to my surprise, when I talked to the House Mutelli rep, they just handed over all the loot with no questions asked and no waiting period.

I rushed back to Discord to clarify:

Ok! I got this Lansraad stuff figured out -- well, the crafting ones at least.

Tom: "Hey, I see there's a reward for House Mutelli that could get me a Replica Pulse Sword as long as i have 10500 points -- I should do that!"

• Step 1: Make 7 Adept Disruptor M11 guns
• Step 2: Turn in guns to the Lansraad Quartermaster -- Netting me and my alliance 12,236 points.
• Step 3: Wait until we win Lansraad for the week.
• Step 43: Return to Go visit the House Mutelli representative the following week and ask for my reward.
• Step 4:  Profit!

That's all there is to it."

Step 4! PROFIT!

With that done, all I had to do was craft up my Replica Pulse Sword and waBAM, my last piece of Tier 6 gear had been made. After all that work to craft up the Adept Disrupter M11 guns, I started looking at what else was being offered on Lansraad this week, and then I just started cleaning out my bank. I KNEW there was a reason I was keeping all this junk! Suddenly it was like a desert-themed garage sale with hungry white trash just waiting for me to set up the for-sale sign: 

• Opafire Gems for House Sor
• MK2 Holtzman Shields for House Spinnette
• Adept GRDA 44 guns for House Haggal
• Agave Seeds for House Wydras
• House Rapiers for House Kanola
• Advanced Servoks for House Wayku 

Behold the Replica Pulse-sword . . . it's a beautiful thing!

Now, there are other Landsraad tasks on the board besides these crafting quests. There's tasks where you hold a control point and there's tasks when you kill a certain enemy type, but I'm saving those tasks for tomorrow! Today was all about cleaning house.

And speaking of cleaning house, I had started the DLC content right on release day, and at first it seemed a bit disappointing, but I get it now.  It starts with all this beginner quest stuff that I'm waaaay past, so it seems like a drag, BUT I GET IT NOW. This deepens the game for new players, and now this quest chain stretches all the way through the game to where most players would get dumped out into the Deep Desert.

Cool story, bro -- How about a more difficult quest?

I had left the final two instances in my quest log for a day while I worked on farming spice in the Deep Desert, but today I decided to finish them up. The last half of DLC One has you revisiting some old stations around Hagga Basin. This is where the story really started to get good. 

The main underlying premise of Dune (in a very condensed reader's digest type of explanation) is that spice is valuable because it increases our brain capacity to equal that of AI when piloting spaceships at warp speeds. AI is bad. AI is evil. We went to war with AI and we won. We don't want AI anymore, we want the spice. WE NEED THE SPICE!

 . . . But that's the thing!  The last half of this DLC has you going into secret labs and claiming old AI tech that is still out there buried in the sand and handing it over to the higher powers that be. WHAT?!

All of that leads me to what I promised you before: the Secret Lab in Station 163. 

PAL . . . not to be confused with HAL . . . just sayin'

As it turns out, the AI hidden away here was created solely to entertain, and it has created a fantasy dungeon for you to explore. 

YES! A glowing golden dungeon! I'm in my element!

While you delve PAL's dungeon, PAL keeps getting irritated with you for using your cool guns and weapons instead of the fantasy spells and sword play it intended for you to play with. By the end, PAL is pretty mad and turns the boss into a mighty fire breathing dragon . . . which you just need to perfectly hit in five spots.

He's gonna breathe fire! Hide behind those pillars, yo!

It sounds simple, but man did I love this instance. It was a pure joy to play through. So, kudos from me to you, devs!  I like what you did here.

After you finish these quests, you'll have unlocked the ability to craft the new treadwheel vehicle, which is the next thing I'm going to do for sure! I need one of these things! They look super fun and fast!

Can't wait to make one of these!

. . . Of course, I just got a DM from Skip Legday . . . apparently the next thing we're going to make is a sandcrawler.  The Treadwheel will have to wait! COWABUNGA! It's SPICIN' TIME!

Happy Dueling!