Spice, Solari, and Water: The Dune: Imperium Economy

Dune: Imperium has three resources, and new players often treat them as points. They are not. Spice, Solari, and water score nothing on their own, apart from breaking ties. Each one is a key to certain board spaces, and the skill is holding the right key when you reach the door.

Every number here comes from the rulebook and Dire Wolf’s board space player aid for the original game. Uprising notes are at the end.

Water: the key to the desert

You start with 1 water, and there is never much of it. Water pays for:

• Hagga Basin: 1 water.
• The Great Flat: 2 water.
• Hardy Warriors: 1 water for two troops.
• Research Station: 2 water to draw three cards.

Where it comes from: Stillsuits (1 water), Sietch Tabr once you have 2 Fremen Influence (1 water and a troop), Heighliner (2 water with its troops), and cards. The rulebook’s tip is simple: if you need water, look to the Fremen.

Water is a gate, not a stockpile. One water in hand when the desert spaces fill with bonus spice is worth more than three water you never spend.

Spice: the key to the Factions

Spice comes from the three Maker spaces, Imperial Basin (1), Hagga Basin (2), and The Great Flat (3), plus whatever bonus spice has piled up. It pays for:

• Conspire: 4 spice for 5 Solari, two troops, an Intrigue card, and Emperor Influence.
• Heighliner: 6 spice for five troops, 2 water, and Spacing Guild Influence.
• Selective Breeding: 2 spice to trash a card, draw two, and gain Bene Gesserit Influence.
• Sell Melange: turns spice into Solari.
• The tiebreaker. Spice is the first tiebreaker at the end.

Solari: the key to upgrades

Solari pays for the Landsraad: the Swordmaster (8), the High Council (5), Rally Troops (4), and the Mentat (2). It comes from Secure Contract (3), Wealth (2), Conspire (5), Sell Melange, Control of Arrakeen and Carthag, and cards.

The exchange rates

Most of the economy is converting one resource into another. Sell Melange is the clearest rate on the board:

Small sales are the most efficient per spice. Big sales get you the most in one Agent turn. Since Agent turns are scarcer than spice, selling 4 or 5 at once is often right, and 4 spice for 10 Solari pays for a Swordmaster with 2 to spare.

Conspire is a different kind of trade. You give 4 spice and get 5 Solari, and also two troops, an Intrigue card, and a step on the Emperor track. That is half the Solari Sell Melange pays for the same 4 spice, but when you want the troops, the card, and the Influence, the extras are worth more than the difference.

Bonus spice, and timing your harvest

Each Maker space without an Agent gains 1 bonus spice in every Makers phase. A Great Flat left alone for three rounds pays 6 spice for 2 water. That changes the math on every desert visit: an untouched pile can be worth more than any Faction space that round.

Watch the piles, and watch who has the water and Spice Trade icons to reach them. If a rival can, and the pile is big, taking it first also takes it from them.

Plan two turns ahead

The economy rewards chains. Some common ones in the original game:

1. Water, then desert, then Faction. Stillsuits for water, Hagga Basin for spice, Conspire or Heighliner the next round.
2. Spice, then Solari, then Swordmaster. Harvest, sell 4 at Sell Melange for 10 Solari, buy your third Agent.
3. Solari, then troops. Secure Contract for 3, then Rally Troops for 4 later, building a garrison for a Conflict worth fighting.

A chain that needs three Agent turns usually takes two rounds. Start it early, and know which link is next.

Leftovers

Resources left at the end are almost worthless, apart from the tiebreakers: spice, then Solari, then water, then troops in your garrison. So spend freely in the last round. The endgame lesson covers when that round has come.

Uprising

The Uprising board changes the rates. There is no Sell Melange on the standard board. Instead, Spice Refinery pays 2 Solari, or 4 if you pay 1 spice, and Shipping, with 2 Spacing Guild Influence, turns 3 spice into 5 Solari and a step of Influence. Heighliner costs 5 spice for five troops and no water. Deep Desert costs 3 water for 4 spice, or two sandworms with Maker Hooks. The Uprising strategy tips add that the Spacing Guild can supply water, as well as the Fremen.

Know the job of each resource, and the board will tell you what to gather next.