Those damned Corellian Corvettes

[teukros]

As if the Rebs didn't have enough advantages. Diplomatic advantages. Neb-Bs. Reb Starfighters. That git, Skywalker! Bah! Now it's those damnable, fast and cheap as dirt Corellian Corvettes that are driving me insane!

 

In the past when I have played against the computer, the computer-controlled Alliance has built ten or so of the Corellian Corvettes and then sent them out, SINGLY, to bombard Imperial worlds! Each Corellian Corvette has a bombardment of one! They come in and find a world with a lot of Rebel agitators where Imperial troops are helping to maintain order, they blow the troops away with their short range laser batteries (!) and then you have a Rebel uprising on that world. I swear there was one time that I had a world with one shield generator on it, this Corellian Corvette comes along and starts blowing away my mines and refineries left and right. And this resulted in Rebel agitation increasing in every world in the Sector! (?!) Two or three Imperial worlds went into uprising as a result!

 

In the game I am playing right now the Rebels are sending groups of the damned things clockwise and counterclockwise around the Rim in sweeps. Making it damned hard to develop the Rim. The Empire is waiting for its shipyards to finish building VSDs but would like to have a dozen or so Carrack Light Cruisers for its own Anti-Rebel sweeps around the Rim. The problems with the Carrack are that it costs twice as much as the Corellian Corvette and that it is much less effective against enemy Starfighters. So the Rebels can crank their Corellian Corvettes out as fast as they can, and rest assured that the damned things will remain effective (in the anti-fighter role) until the end of the game.

 

The Rebel player likes to use small, fast fleets of three Neb-Bs, one Escort Carrier, three Corellian Corvettes and 12 Starfighter squadrons, which he then multiplies as necessary. So he might attack an Imperial world with nine Neb-Bs, three Escort Carriers, nine Corellian Corvettes and 36 X-Wing Starfighter Squadrons, with a slow fleet of Medium Transports right behind it. Ouch.

 

If any "wet work" is necessary he softens the target up with that criminal Solo and/or that git Skywalker and after the Imperial troops are blown away and the Rebel troops have landed, the Rebels send in about ten thousand diplomats to brainwash the population into supporting the Alliance... all before the Empire can organize any kind of an effective response.

 

What's a poor Emperor to do?

 

teukros

[Venix]

Build a bunch of ISD's

[UntimelyDemise]

Lock the door....

 

 

 

 

And hope they don't have blasters!

 

[TK421]

Build shields!

[UntimelyDemise]

Or use RebEd to make Corvettes cost 100000 and only have 1 laser cannon!

[TK421]

That's a nice trick.

 

Or give the Corvette also to the Empire. In the EU, they do use them

[UntimelyDemise]

Yes, that's actually a better method...more fun that way. I also allow the Empire to build Neb-Bs and Medium Transports.

[TK421]

What kind of fool wants to build medium transports?

[teukros]

One Imperial I SD plus six TIE squadrons costs 130 construction points. Three Nebulon-B FFs plus six X-Wing squadrons costs 132 construction points.

 

Which side would you bet on?

 

 

I thought that the Neb-B was an IMPERIAL design for crying out loud!!! And weren't Corellian Corvettes sold to both (er... all) sides?

[TK421]

Nice calculation. I didn't realized that.

 

Another benefit for the Rebels is that the Neb-B's take less time to build, so they can build multiple on the same time on different planets.

 

BUILD SHIELDS!

[teukros]

The Alliance *MUST* build several medium transports. This is not optional. It is mandatory! There is no other way to develop the Galactic Rim as quickly and as aggressively as it has to, to, er, make life miserable for the Empire.

 

In the midgame, when the Alliance fleet consists of Neb-Bs, carriers and Corellian Corvettes, these transports are the only option for transporting troops. Unless you want to waste money building obsolescent Dreadnaughts. Or unless you want to build the Bulk Transports which I argue are also a waste and should NEVER be built for the following reasons:

 

The Alliance already has a half dozen or so Medium Transports which were used in the development of the Rim. It might as well continue to use them in its military campaigns. The Medium Transport is slow, but so is the Bulk Transport (100 vs. 90). The Bulk Transport costs 2.4 times as much but only carries three times as many troops. On the other hand, losing six regiments is a lot worse than losing two regiments! And the Medium Transports have laser cannons for fighter defense. Have you ever been the Imperial player and seen a large group of enemy Medium Transports _attack_ your TIEs? I have. When the endgame rolls around, the Alliance will be using its Mon Cals and Liberators for transporting troops and will have no need of either Medium or Bulk transports. So why waste money on Bulk Transports?

[teukros]

Right. Nothing hurts worse than to have an Imperial I 90% constructed and then along comes a small Rebel fleet which wipes out your shipyards AND your 90% constrcted SD...

[UntimelyDemise]

Good points...I agree.

 

Any ship without weapons is a worthless ship. I usually add weapons to Galleons and Bulk Transports to make them worthwile. Thank goodness for RebEd!

[TK421]

I always have enough ships near the beginning of the game to explore and take a lot of planets. Most of the time, the problem is not the ships but the troops (they take so long to build!)

[teukros]

100% agree about the troops. Troops and planetary morale are the real keys to winning the game (and developing the Rim)!

[Venix]

Using RebEd to tweak ships equals cheating. Cheating sucks.

[UntimelyDemise]

Cheating does suck. However, tweaking ships to make the game a little more challenging is acceptable.

 

Also, making troops quicker to train (on both sides) is the way to combat the troop problem.

[Guest JediIgor]

Somehow I think this post should go into "Gaming Stories". Anyone else think so?

[UntimelyDemise]

Actually, I think it has turned into Rebellion Editing....but the original topic should be Gaming Stories.

[Venix]

Gaming Stories then.

[Sir]

Isn't this what it should be like? The rebels would have resort to hit and run tactics, as they would be unable to engage the Imperials head-on.

[teukros]

If the Imperials started with about three times as big a navy and five times as many troops, or if Imperial troops were significantly cheaper to build, that might be cool. Or maybe if the Empire started the game with every one of its character cards on the board (is it possible to do this with RebEd?), freeing up Lord Vader and Palpatine to do stuff other than recruiting for the first 300 turns, the Alliance would have to spend most of the game playing catch-up. The way it is now, the Alliance has all the advantages, and there are no long term Imperial advantages to balance them.

 

I've experimented with modifying different things in different ways but I just can't get a good balance. No matter what I do the Empire seems to be blued, screwed and tattooed. No matter which side I play - when I play the Alliance I have a _significantly_ easier time.

[TK421]

Both sides are fun to play, and they are pretty equal, but in a different way.

 

Generally, the Empire focuses on the Core sectors, and the Alliance on the RIM.

Of course the RIM is easier to develop, but the core is already developed (mines and refineries, shipyards and stuff). The Empire begins with a HUGE fleet, sometimes consisting of over 2 ISD and VSD, Carriers, etc. They have many troops, strong characters for all kinds of missions. The Alliance has some good diplomacy characters but they are useless in the RIM sector (except for some developed RIM planets). These characters should do diplomacy missions in the Core.

 

As you see, there are a lot of variety of strategy. It all depends on you... - and of course C3PO to manage your mining!

[irwoodhouse]

To address is original issue of innumerable CVTs, two words: maintenance disruption. Sabotage/bombard/steal either mines OR refineries and force the enemy to scrap things.

 

However, if you have given an Alliance player the chance to build up those sorts of fleets I think you've probably lost anyway, because you missed one of the major game strategies: get an early advantage and keep it.

 

Alternative strategy: lancer frigates. Compare the stats (quoting from my crib sheet, frigate/corvette), lancers have: better shields (300/200) and better shield recharge (15/10), equal sublight speed & agility (6 & 3, resp.), better firepower (150/120), and cost the same to build (14).

 

(on a side note: has somebody worked out whether better figures for: damage control, shield recharge & weapon recharge; are LOW, or HIGH?)

 

Now, if you'd complained about corellian GUNSHIPs, that's a different matter, and I'm surprised the Alliance player hasn't switched to gunships - they're far superior to either corvettes or lancers.

 

Incidentally, on Carracks; I've found them rather useful against corvettes, since they have turbolasers as well as laser cannons, and I tend to build them as personnel shuttles/anti-starfighter before assault transports are available, so I have plenty running around. Having (weak) tractor beams, they're also useful for snaring light rebel craft if the enemy wants to run, whilst your heavier, slower VSDs/ISDs trundle within striking range (assuming they don't *immediately* run, that is).

 

Like everyone else, I've got opinions on how the two sides are balanced, but that's best left for another post.

 

I shall shut up now.

[UntimelyDemise]

An excellent post, irwoodhouse!

 

To answer your question:

 

Higher is better on damage control, shield recharge, and weapon recharge.

 

I personally think Carrack cruisers are key to victory early on if you can gather about three into a fleet with a major capital ship (Dread, VSD, ISD). Very little can defeat a fleet of this type (early, that is).