Looking back on it, it was kind of an epic moment. But I, at least, didn't deal with them promptly in that mission and struggled with a tiny army against a swarm of units that could steal my units away from me to increase their own numbers. If dealt with promptly, they weren't a problem. The Tleilaxu were one of the game's sub-factions or Minor Houses, and they had 2 units: their infantry unit (the Contaminator) would convert other infantry units into more of themselves, and the vehicle (the Leech) would do the same to other vehicles. There are a couple of fun moments - I retain a distinct memory of being attacked by a massive swarm of Tleilaxu units at one point and being unable to stem that tide. The campaign is decent, allowing the player to go through a series of skirmish matches with some light story sprinkled in, interspersed with a couple of commando missions and other story-advancing levels. Also, the game's UI was a somewhat baffling transparent rainbow sherbet color. Even for 2001 its graphics were a bit sub par. In some ways, it's not aged particularly well. One of my all-time favorite games is the 2001 RTS Emperor: Battle for Dune.
