The Water Sellers

Here's some brain-storming on the topic of Water Sellers.

    A simple strategy I use when constructing Water Seller decks relates to their Homeworlds special ability. The more Cities in play the more Solaris your homeworld can produce. Therefore, I throw every City card I can into my Imperial Deck. Arakeen, Carthag, Arsunt, and Tsimpo. Heck, if you're creative you can turn your Deserts into Cities. Attach a handy Sietch Community to 'em. Bang! They're a City and they're tougher to take down in Battles.
    Then you can take an extra step and include some Charters that relate to possession of Arakeen and Carthag. Carthag Engineering and Arakeen Water Facilities. These are extremly useful and versatile additions. When you possess the specific Cities you'll have the opportunity to gain Solari or Favor. When an opponent has them you can drain his remaining Solari or shoot up in the favor. These 2 cards alone can keep you in competition with Sister decks.
    A step to consider after the focus on these Fiefs is how to protect them. When I play Water Sellers I usually take a defensive stance. Not a lot of military might. I just try to grab and hold onto the cities. A cheap card to add a little defense could be Garrison. Ice Riggers aren't a bad addition but have a rather puny resistance. Their special ability is only a minor aid. A House Battalion might be a better option.
    If I need to take down an opponents City to deploy my own, I can make use of Lingar Bewt's ability to target Cities with Arbitration rites. .......but enough City talk........here's a little breakdown of WS cards (their strengths and weaknesses).......

Allies...... Some useful ones....
    Lingar has some nice Arbitration appeal......Ok. I've talked enough about the cities. :)
    The remainder have some varied skills...... Zenzi might be nice to slow down a Piter or Liscia appearance.
    Fahkir Zirut has a nice defensive countering ability.....
    The rest are a little unremarkable in my opinion...... not worthless but not really valuable.

Aides.... WS do have some interesting aides..
    Water Peddlars can be useful to drain your opponents Solaris. Nice when teamed with an Expert Command.
    Water Marshalls can help in the favor department.... Also nice with Expert Command..
    Corrupt Water Officials can also be nice if you're soaring in favor but need a little cash.

Resources.....
    Glacier Refineries.... better Homeworld defense and extra Solari production.... like a Pyon Village but with a command boost
    Ice Riggers..... blah... Battles are not the strength of Water Sellers.... Toughen a fief's force but no real resistance aid.
    Soaks.... decent Arb participants..
    Hydraulic Engineers.... a little expensive but some varied abilities...

Program....
    Immobilize Urban Center could be considered although it's just a Favor producer. I just choose to ignore it. Gaining Favor isn't a serious difficulty I've encountered. Battling (?). Not an easy route.

Deck Strategies....
    I think that Water Seller decks mainly focus on Arbitration rites. They have no Battle abilities to speak of (unless you're packing some Lasguns or other equipment). Dueling's not much to speak of. And not a lot of Intrigue support either. Keeping your opponents down by hitting their Charters is really the best offense a Water Seller could have. Focus on defending your own resources.  During games you should have no problem maintaining an abundant Favor and Solari flow. Most games I've played WS, I've shot ahead quite rapidly.
    When it comes to Spice production there are different routes you could take. Either you could pack some Choam Restructurings and buy it all. Money shouldn't pose a problem. Just include some Policy of Oppressions and target the Northern Polar Sink. Or go with Deserts (w/ an optional Sietch community). Include some Spice Blows and you might be set. If you need to grab Dune from someone, take it out with Arbitration. It's not commonly defended for. Holding it for any length of time could prove to be difficult, though. 

That's my 2 Solari. How's that?

        Here's a little extra for the WS strategy guide:

        2 cards I also recommend for a Water Seller deck are Arakeen Patriarches and Carthag Privateers. The reason is two-fold. Both can supplement an Arbitration deck well. Both are fairly inexpensive and pack a good Arbitration Rank and a good Command. Their only other major weakness is their puny Resistance. So protect them!
        The Patriarches and Privateers can also serve in your manipulation of the 2 major cities. By Subduing an AP and discarding a favor you can Engage/Disengage Arakeen. The CP has the ability to Disengage Carthag. If you possess both Cities, so much the better! Your Solari production will sky-rocket. Also, neither Persona need be Disengaged to use. So, you could easily perform an Arbitration rite and then subdue them to manipulate the Cities.

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