SWR Alliance Challenge

[slutzinc]

(First off: If this is the wrong forum for this, I apologize, but I couldn't really figure where else to post this.)

 

I recently dusted off my Rebellion CD and played a few games. Now, we all know that the AI is... naïve — at best. After finishing off my last game, where I won by controlling an entire huge galaxy (I even gave up control of Coruscant), I got a bit bored and decided, "Hey, I want to see Solo brought before Jabba!" So I started a new game on expert huge (as usual) and just let the days run by. To have things run even faster for me, I scrapped everything and moved everyone to Alliiance HQ. About 300-and-something days in, the Empire launched an attack on the HQ and destroyed it. So far, only once had the lousy bounty hunters attacked Solo. (Which is how the Empire found the Alliance HQ location.) As my characters regrouped to the nearest system, I thought, "Hmm... This might prove a challenge, let's save the game once they arrive." I let the game run its course further, to see if I could get the Jabba's palace scenario.

 

In the end, I ended up with only one system left and Solo still very much in my control.

 

Now, however, winning the game will most definitely be a huge challenge — even if it's against the AI. So, if like me, you're up for a challenging game, listen up:

 

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/9148/swryavin.png

 

It's day 1500. The Alliance headquarters at Garban have been destroyed. Mon Mothma is captured along with Ackbar and princess Leia. Jan Dodonna has been killed. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Wedge Antilles, Chewbacca, Drayson, Huoba Neva and Sarin Virgillo has taken refuge at Yavin -- the ONLY planet still in your control. And it's been stripped of EVERYTHING. No facilities, no troops, no ships. It's only a question of when the Empire will launch its attack on the last Alliance planet, and bring Skywalker to the emperor... (My tests show that the Empire will launch its attack on Yavin at around day 1590. When they do, you WILL lose the system, and the game.)

 

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/6282/swrsupport.png

 

I hope some of you will try out this scenario and report back your results. Let's see who can win the game in the shortest amount of time? Do you have some interesting stories of key missions or battles going in or against your favour? How many times will you curse my name as you spot an Imperial abduction mission at Luke's location?

 

I've included a little readme with a note on where to put the savegame, an overview of the situation, and contact information if you should wish to drop me an e-mail. Now get the file from here: http://www.mediafire.com/?kebo7kjc7eeorfn and let me know how things turn out for you.

[Evaders99]

Neat, I love it when you're faced with a "no-win" scenario. I personally I have given the AI a handicap of hundreds of days, just to play with some challenge. Certainly not the extent of losing within 90 days

 

I did a nice little mission in the original X-Wing game: Death Star Trench mission with no shields. That was fun.. but hell to actually pull off

[slutzinc]

Giving the AI headstarts have definitely been challenging at times, but this time I feel I'll really be put to the test. No improvements have been made in research, and by now the Empire should have Interdictor Cruisers, so when I get my hands on a shipyard I'll need to be very careful with my deployment of ships.

 

So far I've managed to secure a construction yard and a training facility, and is in the process of expanding both. My hopes are to lock down both these systems as soon as possible with troops and shields, and expand from there. On the bright side, I have a ginormous pool of refined materials ready, so I doubt I'll ever run into the problem of not having enough to keep production going. (Which used to be a major problem for me. I'd make sure every facility I had was producing, and in the end I built faster than my refineries could produce.)

 

As for that X-Wing mission, I remember that. I think I was about 13-14 when I played it, and as far as I can remember, that mission was hard with the constant barrage of laser battery fire in the trench. To try and do it without shields is beyond masochistic, if you ask me.

[Kjell_Bjarne]

Damn I like challenges, tried your savegame yesterday and I must say it is a pain in the ass. Always on the run and low on credits. That's the rebellion I know from the movies!

After about 800 days the empire managed to capture my "main fleet". Just 2 carriers and 12 Y-Wings. Just because I stayed more than 5 days on the same planet. My fault. Most of the crew escaped onto the planet surface, but 2 of their comrades had to pay with their life for my incompetence.

 

One thing was great, after maybee 200 days of playing, Admiral Ackbar escaped from his prison on Mon Calamari. Get it? Ackbar <-> Mon Calamari. Is it just a coincidence Ackbar was imprisioned on Mon Calamari or do you tweak a little bit?

[slutzinc]

I sure hope you mean pain in the ass in a "challenging" way, not a "tearing my hair out" way.

 

You sure are having a much better time than me, then. As mentioned, I've got a construction yard and a training facility at two different planets. But the Empire keeps jumping between each and blockading them, ruining my research efforts on both. At least I've managed to secure both, but it's a major pain in the butt to keep restarting research missions every five or so days. There are three planets in this system with loyalty in my favour, but the Empire has garrisoned each with at least 18 troops! Liberating them through sabotage is going to take a looong time...

 

As for Ackbar being on Mon Calamari, it's just coincidendce. After the Alliance HQ at Garban fell, every personell relocated to the nearest planet, which happened to be Mon Calamari. I'd like to say I did it on purpose — because it is a nice touch — but it's all down to which planets I started out with.

[Ragnar]

Ok... this got me to dust off my CD and I can safely say it's doable. Took me the better part of a day, though, so it's only "doable" in a "I have the week off starting tomorrow anyway" kind of way.

 

The trick is to get your foot in... somehow, somewhere.

 

In my case I started out with Phraetiss in the Farfin sector, because it was close, had defenses and a training facility. With luck (I reloaded the save-game quite a bit), it was mine around turn 1560. The timing was important because next to it is Byss, which has about 7 troops that (again with luck) can all be sabotaged before reinforcements arrive. After much attempts to build on this, I gave up on the Farfin sector, leaving 4-5 planets under my control behind for the Empire to take. I'm uncertain if this helped or hurt me. Maybe it kept them busy and this bought me the time to succeed elsewhere, maybe I just wasted my time.

 

The problem was that i just couldn't defend it. Without a construction yard, without enough troops to prevent saboteurs, it's a game of sabotage-the-garrison-before-the-fleet-comes-to-get-you (a complicated version of whack-the-mole, where you are the mole) and without a ship, you're just not fast enough to win that game. So, I sent of Drayson to Kamparas in the Dolomar sector earlier, to persuade them to join the Rebellion. This went much better. Phorliss in that same sector had a construction yard and somehow I managed to get 2 Gencores, enough troops and a general there to prevent it from being assaulted or sabotaged. It starts off with 1 Gencore, an Ion cannon and an LNR and I took along three regiments that I built in the Farfin sector, so it was a little easier than it sounds. Once you have that lock: troops, general, shields, the AI is pretty much helpless and doesn't know how to handle it.

 

Not that it was easy from there on. The Empire keeps taking planets and I keep sabbing them. This is hard, because often they change the troops on it and spying takes more time than I have. Eventually though, I manage to build a medium transport with the single shipyard I built with the construction yard (after building a training facility first) at Phorliss and from there on it gets much easier. No more hoping the target garrisons are still on the planet. By flying around (very carefully) an sabotaging garrisons, I eventually take all of the Dolomar sector save for Tangrene and Wor Tandell. For some reason those have 9-18 garrisons and that's just not odds i like to expose my scarce personnel to.

 

So it's time to switch tactics. I build another transport and start the exploration and diplomacy of Outer Rim, setting up shop where I can. Dolomar is mostly mine, but the Empire keeps sneaking in invasions, to it's not like it's a quiet run. Because of this I'm around or below 0 maintenance for a while, so it's impossible to expand quickly. When the maintenance cap loosens up, I start expanding. The imperial fleet is massive so it's no use thinking small. Eventually I set up a 9 shipyards on Kashyyyk and place an order for 10 escort carriers and 60 Y-wings.

 

During all this, I start recruiting with Luke and Han and i manage to get some research done. The Sullustan regiments are a godsend. Cheap on maintenance (only 1) and good at what I need them to do: keeping the Empire's saboteurs out. All the while I'm just building more mines and refineries on outer rim planets, knowing that I'll need them. I set up a second planet with 9 shipyards (Valrar) and place another big order: 10 escort carriers and 60 A-wings.

 

It takes a few hundred turns for this fleet to get built, assembled and in position. By then recruitment is done and all non-research personnel are on this fleet. Luke is commander, Han admiral. First I take on the remainder of the Dolomar sector. As the Imperial fleet htere is smaller than mine, they run and I quickly take the two remaining planets. Time to revisit the Farfin sector which I abandoned earlier. Most planets have gone over to the Green Side, only Firro still has strong Rebel sentiments. My fleet quickly dispatches the fighters there. It has no LNRs and a precise bombardment takes care of its garrison. The destruction of the Imperial troopers and the liberation of the planet sends streaks of Red jubilation through the sector. Not enough though. I continue, but accidentally encounter a huge Imperial fleet (20+ capital ships).

 

From past games I know this should not be a problem, but not having played a game in years I screw up, sending my A-wings back into the carriers instead of making them hunt Ties and then pressing the auto-resolve button instead of the retreat button , and end up losing all my fighters and 2 carriers. Support in the sector is on the rise though, because I took out quite a few destroyers before I my final screw-up. I retreat to Taanab, which I had taken earlier. The Empire has built shipyards there, so it's a good place to rebuild. I now have 3 planets with 7-9 shipyards and they're all building fighters. The Empire tries to attack Tanaab, but by the time they arrive, I have enough fighters again to send them off with a good thrashing.

 

I also throw in a few Mon Calamari Cruisers, but mostly for kicks. In huge battles, there's almost no tactical reason to have anything other than Y-wings, and carriers to move those around with. The attack on Farfin is continued, this time without mistakes. Planets with orbital guns get those sabotaged first. There's almost nothing a team of 5 (1 sab, 4 decoy) 100+ in espionage/combat cannot take out. My Jedi Wooki has 200+ on those scores, eclipsing everyone else, even Han (still good for 150+) and Luke (more combat, but less espionage). During this, I find Vader busy with a diplomatic mission. He is no match for Luke, who has been strengthened by many, many failures and gets injured. After this he is easy prey for an non-Jedi abduction team led by Han.

 

Believing I have seen the best the Empire can throw at me, I head for Sesswena. After a few rounds of taking out garrisons from orbit, I head to Coruscant. Foolishly, the Empire tries to make a stand and their fleet gets pulverized (meaning they lose multiple times more capital ships than I lose Y-wings). After Luke meets the Emperor (and injures him), Han invites Palpy up for tea, I sab the 3 LNR II's on the planet and blast away its garrison. Coruscant goes neutral. A stop and a bit of tactical carpet bombing on Uvena pushes the planet over the edge to the Red Side.

 

Coruscant taken with Vader and Palpatine in custody: day 3121.

 

I'm sure it can be done faster.