Dune Spice Wars - House Ecaz Strategy Guide

The Ecaz House is a sort of surprising faction in Dune: Spice Wars. In the books, they are only mentioned in passing and were never canonically present on Arrakis, except for occasional guests or diplomats. Their inclusion in the game allows you to envision what might have occurred if they had been involved in the conflict!

The Ecaz House shares the goal of the Fremen to transform the planet into a green paradise... but only for the wealthy elite of the galaxy. If you play Arrakis as Ecaz, treating it like a garden, you will witness the flow of Solari into your coffers.

House Ecaz Abilities

The Ecaz House has the ability to transform neutral villages into sanctuaries by controlling each region adjacent to them. While a sanctuary does not provide its own resources to the Ecaz House, it grants them additional authority every day. Furthermore, each region bordering a sanctuary gains an enhanced manifestation of its village characteristics.

Sanctuaries cannot be attacked by any other faction except for the Ecaz House, but if Ecaz loses control over even a single adjacent region, the sanctuary reverts back to being an ordinary village.

The Ecaz House cannot initiate a conflict by violating a ceasefire. If you negotiate peace with another faction, they must take the first step if you wish to resume fighting!

Finally, the Ecaz House can construct masterpieces in its villages. These can be of any building type (economic, military, or political), so try to tailor them to the characteristics of each respective village. Masterpieces do not have independent functions and instead occupy two building slots instead of just one, but the Ecaz House can unlock various bonuses depending on the number of masterpieces you possess.

Masterpieces also deter attacks from other factions. The destruction of a masterpiece results in the attacker losing one hundred Landsraad reputation. Since only the Ecaz House can utilize the masterpieces, players who conquer the lands of the Archduchess must choose between angering the Landsraad or keeping a useless building that occupies space.

Hegemony Bonuses

At five thousand Hegemony, the Ecaz House can spend one thousand Solari to appoint a single unit as their champion. The champion receives a significant boost in statistics and yields Hegemony every time they kill a unit from an enemy faction. Raiders, militias, and renegades do not yield Hegemony when killed by the champion.

The Ecaz House can also designate a single village under their control as a garden resort. The village remains a resort for the rest of the game, and this decision cannot be reversed. Garden resorts provide significant bonuses that depend on the number of adjacent sanctuaries and masterpieces. Therefore, strive to plan a resort that has two or even three sanctuaries, if possible!

At ten thousand Hegemony, the Ecaz House receives fifty free votes in every Landsraad Council. Additionally, they receive one-fifth of a percent of their total Hegemony score in Solari each day.

Ecazi Councilors

Most advisors of the Archduchess are direct family members, each having a personal stake in maintaining the fabulous wealth and luxurious lifestyle of the dynasty.

Sanya Ecaz

The eldest daughter of Archduchess Armanda encourages the player to fully exploit the unique mechanics of her house. As long as she is in your council, each masterpiece yields two Solari per day. Furthermore, masterpieces cost twenty percent less for each existing sanctuary. Even better, each of these sanctuaries provides an additional ten Solari per day to House Ecaz.

Whitmore Bludd

Whitmore Bludd, a renowned swordmaster of the Ginaz, ensures the protection of Ecazi interests by bolstering your army. He causes Ecazi units to start with an additional level of experience and allows you to appoint two champions instead of just one, provided they belong to different unit types.

Besa Ecaz

Besa is a tough negotiator, and anyone who holds significance in imperial politics knows that. She grants House Ecaz three points in Landsraad reputation when they complete a masterpiece. When the Landsraad council convenes, Besa can protect her family from negative decisions and make House Ecaz impervious to challenge for a single proposed bill per session.

Mesa Ecaz

Mesa requires some finesse to use properly, but in the hands of an experienced player, she enables House Ecaz to expand almost as swiftly as the Fremen. Initially, she doubles the construction speed of masterpieces. Alongside her sister Sanya, this can contribute to bringing a significant amount of money into the treasury.

Whenever House Ecaz voluntarily relinquishes control of a village, the authority invested in it is fully refunded. If the previously neutral village contains a masterpiece, House Ecaz receives a three percent increase in daily authority gain. And if it is also a sanctuary, even better!

House Ecaz Developments

House Ecaz has several unique developments to enhance their gameplay style.

Development	Tier	Prerequisite	Effect(s)
National Mythos	Military (Red), Tier 2	Survival Training	Allows training of the War Banner unit. Ecazi units near the Champion deal ten percent more damage.
Martial Perfectionism	Military (Red), Tier 2	Survival Training	Grants five Command Points. Allows construction of the Military Academy at Foliage. Allows the optional training of enhanced versions of each unit. These units cost fifty percent more and take twice as long to train, but have twenty percent more Power and Health.
Inspiring Standard	Military (Red), Tier 3	National Mythos	War Banners produce two Manpower per turn. War Banners grant all non-mechanical Ecazi units in the same region doubled regeneration speed.
Logistical Flourish	Military (Red), Tier 4	Martial Perfectionism	Allows units to equip a second gear slot in the Armory. Allows construction of the Command Post at Foliage. Allows one additional Agent to be assigned to the Spacing Guild.
Artistic Aspirations	Economy (Yellow), Tier 2	Composite Materials	Each new Masterpiece grants one hundred Solari when completed. The cost to add new building slots to a Village is reduced by half. Allows construction of the Mason Guild at Foliage.
Cultural Tourism	Economy (Yellow), Tier 3	Artistic Aspirations	Allows Trade Agreements with other factions. Sanctuaries each provide five Water and ten Solari per day, in addition to their other effects.
Cosmopolite Elegance	Statecraft (Blue), Tier 3	Spying Logistics	Information levels rise and fall fifty percent faster. If an infiltration is at Information level three, the Agents participating produce fifty percent more of each resource.
Influential Plots	Statecraft (Blue), Tier 4	Stealth Gear	If House Ecaz is out of Intel, they can spend Influence instead. House Ecaz can maintain one additional Infiltration Cell in each faction.
Political Art	Statecraft (Blue), Tier 4	Landsraad Support	Each new Masterpiece provides thirty Influence when completed. Votes cannot be proposed to reassign any Charter held by House Ecaz. House Ecaz can still lose a Charter via the Loss Of Rights proposal.
Manichean Propaganda	Expansion (Green), Tier 2	Local Dialect Studies	Ecazi Villages gain an additional militia slot. Whenever another faction kills an Ecazi militia, that faction loses five Influence.
Native Artists	Expansion (Green), Tier 2	Local Dialect Studies	If a Region contains both a Sietch and a Masterpiece, the Sietch's relationship with House Ecaz will grow faster. Allows construction of the Investment Office in Villages. Allows construction of the Museum Of Unbound Arts at Foliage.
Prideful Crown	Expansion (Green), Tier 3	Manichean Propaganda	Every Ecazi Village within two Regions of the Garden Resort increase their militia's Power and Health by fifty percent. Villages not controlled by House Ecaz within two Regions of the Garden Resort cost forty percent less Authority to annex.

Early Game Strategy For House Ecaz

Sanctuaries are the key to success when playing as House Ecaz. Therefore, when exploring the map, you should plan where your sanctuaries are to be placed. Once you have gained control over all regions adjacent to your headquarters, you should train or acquire Ornithopters until you have at least three and aggressively explore your half of the map. Don't place as much importance on investigating discoveries as you normally would - the crucial information pertains to the arrangement of regions on the map.

An easy way to acquire sanctuaries early on is by placing them at the edge of the map. This way, you only need to seize two to three adjacent regions instead of four or five.

Utilize the additional authority from your sanctuaries to conquer as many regions as possible before encountering other factions. Once you have neighbors, carefully plan attacks on neutral villages to cut off the enemy's expansion and ensure that you secure more space for sanctuaries.

Once you have some extra influence, negotiate a ceasefire with the opponent directly across from you on the map. This way, you can spend a portion of your additional authority on contracts. If House Atreides is present, they are ideal for this purpose. Stay at war with the other two leaders for now; you want to be able to conquer border villages if necessary, and you can always negotiate a ceasefire later on.

Late Game Strategy For House Ecaz

Once you have exhausted all options for further expansion without costly invasions, end the remaining wars and focus solely on your economy. Shift your agents to counterespionage as there will likely be assassination attempts coming your way. Concentrate on generating influence and Solari while working towards political and economic victories simultaneously.

The units of House Ecaz excel in defense. Use this advantage to deal with invaders or war-hungry rivals who trespass into your territory. It is important to note that while House Ecaz has strong units, it is not a good idea to attack an enemy's capital. Due to the lack of suitable destruction units, it is nearly impossible for House Ecaz to overcome the armor of a headquarters. If a player needs to be eliminated from the game, the only realistic way is through an assassination attempt.