Paying a deep reverence to its source material, Dune: Awakening is very unique as far as survival MMOs go. One thing it doesn't stray away from, though, is the researching and unlocking of new crafting recipes. To produce ever more powerful items, you'll need intel to unlock them from the research page, and since there are tons of schematics to grab, you'll need a hell of a lot of intel to build everything.
Acquiring intel is only the first step—you'll also have to spend it on schematic kits, effectively unlocking the blueprint to then craft the item in question. Depending on the type of item you're looking to make, you'll need to use one of a few different crafting utilities, from various fabricators to your construction tool.
If you're playing in the locked Dune: Awakening research menu mode, you're unlikely to actually run out of research points in the early stages. However, if you're playing with the full research repertoire at your fingertips, you might be tempted to splurge your points on a new rifle or shotgun right away (I was), only to find you don't have the intel you need to unlock a quest-related schematic.
How to get intel in Dune: Awakening
You'll earn bundles of intel by looting enemy outposts as well as each time you level up, providing you with a regular supply of valuable research points. To spend your intel, you just need to open the research page (accessed through the menu or by pressing Y on your keyboard) and select a schematic kit. Generally, you'll get multiple crafting recipes in a single schematic kit.
Outposts
Enemy outposts, not to be confused with the basic camps and sealed caves, are your best source of intel as and when you need it. Marked by an icon that looks like three little houses, you can head to these locations, fight the inhabitants, and loot a green hologram to get intel. While outposts are marked on your map, the specific intel location within the camp won't be, so you'll need to explore the base to find it. Given that it glows, they're usually not too hard to track down, especially at night.
It's worth noting that the map tells you how much intel each outpost has. The curveball is that this is actually telling you how many intel items there are to collect, not how many research points you'll get for collecting them. For instance, the Threeway Outpost in Hagga Basin has one intel cache, but I earned three points for looting it. This increases as you progress, with outposts in the second area giving you five intel points per cache.
Leveling up
If you're not in the mood for wading into a camp full of angry scavengers, then you'll be pleased to know that you'll earn bundles of intel when you level up. Obviously, this isn't exactly the quickest way to get intel, particularly as you progress further into the game, since each level requires more XP than the last.
The good news is that Dune: Awakening is pretty broad in terms of what you get XP for—if you don't feel like gunning down scavengers, you can also explore and discover new locations. You'll also earn skill points to upgrade your character's abilities, so why not spend them both at the same time?
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