Texas_Fett

Don't worry about it, Sith_Lord! It's easy to misunderstand. Feel free to jump in whenever, just be on the lookout for good-natured ribbing every now and then...well, actually it's pretty much in every post. Valkir is a self-proclaimed curmudgeon about a lot of stuff: AMD chips (which he talked me into using when I built my new PC earlier this year), still using Windows 98 (which I was still using up to January of this year, so I can't give him TOO much crap about that), stuck in 1st and 2nd Edition rules of Dungeons & Dragons, Rebels are terrorists, Wulfgar's a punk, David Eddings is a hack, he's a rabid Cowboys fan, etc. And it doesn't matter what movie it is or how good it is, Valkir WILL find something wrong with it. Granted, a lot of times he has a point, but it's funny as heck nonetheless. Despite all that, he was a groomsman in my wedding, I was an usher in his, we share political views, he's my "guru" when I'm having computer problems, and we share pretty much every hobby. And we're practically family, for all intents and purposes. Heck, the reason he's here on the forums is because I told him the site was back up and running and that I'd posted a few times. Even his avatar is from a picture I sent him of everyone's favorite dwarf, Gimli. He shares a love for Rebellion, and likes to post in internet forums, yet there's nothing he likes more than to get in my craw and stir up some tongue-in-cheek trouble. But he's still a grumpy, Empire-loving dwarf.

I'll give you that, but considering the loss of so many elite officers on the first Death Star, you'd think Vader would think twice before summarily executing his command staff. Then again, it's for that exact same reason that he DID kill Ozzel; the sot DIDN'T take the above into account when he jeapordized so many troops and ships when he jumped the fleet into the Hoth system. But I do agree with you to a point. Ozzel DID have it coming to him. Needa was still robbed, though.

Nah, just Intel chips and the lastest version of Windows. Hey, didn't you see the winkin' emoticon? That was sarcasm. "Spinnin' the Lies Away" again, huh Valkir? Wouldn't it have been more cost-effective if Vader had let him learn from his mistake instead of outright killing him? Sure, throttle him a bit a-la Admiral Motti, but shouldn't he at least have gotten a second chance? (okay, maybe a third; there's still his stubborn position over the whole probe droid thing). Besides, I think the problem was that he came out of light speed too close to the Hoth system, yet too far away for a bombardment. They were supposed to come out of hyperspace well outside of the planetary system, allowing them to more accurately make a short jump to planetary orbit when they were ready for battle and the whole fleet had arrived. The result is that the Imperials were too far away to take advantage of the lack of the planetary shield being up to commence a bombardment, and allowed the Rebels to prepare defenses. They then had to attack Hoth before they were ready, which resulted in your aforementioned casualties. On top of that, he wasn't showboating. Just displaying typical Imperial arrogance and disregard for Rebel tactics that was so widespread in the command staff of the Imperial fleet during the early stages of the Galactic Civil War. Ozzel was commanding the Imperial Death Fleet from the bridge of the mightiest ship in the fleet, Vader's personal flagship, the Executor, staffed with THE best crewmen in the Imperial Navy. He had an escort of several Imperator-class (and even Imperator-2 class) Star Destroyers. There was NO Rebel Fleet in the area, aside from a bunch of Medium Transports. The ONLY thing he felt he had to worry about was a shield generator. Sounds to me like he just got cocky... Now Needa...Needa got robbed. He at least took responsibility for what happened.

That's what I thought. I found the link in the "Main Stop", but I got the "Under Construction" and a pop-up, so I was hoping for a work-around. Thanks anyway!

Whoa, whoa there, cowboy...erm...sithlord! Them's just barbs Valkir and I throw each other's way. We live in the same city and have been good friends for years. He's a die-hard Imperial and I'm a supporter of the Rebellion, so we tend to push each other's buttons just for the fun of it. It DOES make it easy for us to play games of Rebellion, though. Sure, there's no equivalent slang in the rebel vernacular for imperials to match "Rebel Scum", but all it is is each side throwing perceived stereotypes at each other for comedic effect. I mean, how many times does someone post "in-character" merely to tout "the party line" for either side? Besides, "You Puppet of a Totalitarian, Imperialistic Sith Regime" just isn't as much fun to say as "You Rebel Scum", especially when you can poke fun of Imperial Strategy brochures by inserting a little Rebel "propaganda" while "in-character".

...and the url is.....?

Yeah, you'd think that throttling all his officers for even the slightest or perceived failure would encourage a higher quantity of successful training missions. Valkir asked my about the "Favored Sector" phenomenon the other day, and I can't say that I've ever noticed a definite pattern. I sent Lando to diplomacize on Bespin once for the sheer irony of it, and he DID bring it around pretty quickly. I could't vouch for the whole sector, though. BTW, nice sig, Valkir.

Whoa! Much obliged for the walkthrough. That was a LOT more detailed than I expected, but I'll probably need all the info. I'll give it a shot tonight and over the next few days and let you know how I fare. Thanks again, Pucho777!

My suggestion: go on the offensive. Create a fleet with 2 escort carriers, several Corvettes/Gunships (to take care of small TIE garrisons rather than risking your fighters), a handful of Nebulon-B's (oh, wait! You deleted them from your game, right? Dang! Well then, sub in some Dreadnaughts) and a Mon Cal or two (since you are trying to build 18, hopefully you'll have a few to spare). Put an Admiral & Commander aboard (hopefully characters that double as esp/sab types) and load 'em up with spec forces. Then blockade a few Imperial systems. Sabotage a few facilities and when the Imp's come running, run away (which will work until Interdictors are introduced). It'll at least get their attention. They'll be too busy chasing you around the sector to invade anywhere, especially if you create a second fleet to harass another sector. It's the same "Hit & Fade" tactics used by the computer when you play as the Empire.

Ah, the mandatory frustrations of college registration. Aren't the lines part of the "Freshman Weed-out" program? Which degree are you working on? Bachelors? Masters? Well...that works too. I'd never thought of reducing the number of characters that could do research...that would sure put a premium on the few characters that could. What gets me is the amount of cards in the database in which everyone has some level of design ability. Doesn't that kinda miss the point? That IS weird. I've toyed around with research levels on ships and haven't noticed anything like that, but then again I wasn't paying THAT close of attention. I'll have to try it myself...

Okay so, um, this is gonna sound innane, but I take it 'the patch' doesn't affect the names and encyclopedia entry lengths for ships/fighters, right? So ResHack would be the way to go to edit them then? Pardon my ignorance, but as I'm a noob at dealing with ResHack, which .dll's are the entries found in, and is there a set procedure to ensure that everything appears correctly? Thanks in advance for any and all help you can give me.

Nice narrative, teukros. I about spewed coffee on my monitor when I read about the "Wookie Smell". I REALLY like having Antilles around early in the game. Although I tend to use him as a Commander for my insignificant sector fleets, his esp/sab is just too good to pass up. And working with Chewy...it's a beautiful thing, isn't it? I've tended to use Dodonna as a diplomat in the Sumitra sector at first, then I rush him to the nearest shipyard. Glad you're enjoying the results!

Went with the first choice, but lemme 'splain: on production worlds (consisting of only mines & refineries) I only have a garrison of 2-3 regiments. These troops are usually low cost, low defense/bombardment, high detection rating (i.e., Sullustans). This way, I have a better chance of foiling enemy missions on those planets, yet I don't station my best troops on a system with no protection. I actually welcome the enemy to invade these systems. It's vitally important to have diplomats increase support in the system to maximum, because then when the enemy does invade (and he will), he's forced to garrison the planet with six troop regiments. My sector fleet will then blockade the planet, and my spec forces (led by a good esp/sab char or two) will pick off each regiment one by one. After the first 2-3 regiments are destroyed, the system is in uprising. Leave the system, and come back a few days later. The computer tries to solve the uprising by rushing troops there, and by moving back into a blockade, you tied up those troops in transit since they cannot get through the blockade. Eliminate the remaining garrisons, the planet reverts to your control, your support goes up across the sector, potentially winning new systems for you or taking them from your opponent. And all you are out is three regiments of Sullustans. Nice trade off, IMO. If the system has a Construction Yard or Training Facility I put one Gencore and one LNR planetside, and increase the garrison to 6, usually a mix of troops with a high detection rating and/or high defense. If the system has several Construction Yards, and it's the only one in the sector, I'll also try and add a General and several fighter squadrons. The fighter squadrons allow me to see what kind of fleet blockades my planet so I can plan an appropriate response. Shipyards get the same treatment as above, unless it has 4+ on the system. Then I have two Gencores (later upgraded to Gencore II's), one LNR (LNR II), a mixed garrison of 9 Troops, a General, 6-9 fighter squadrons and a capital ship or two with a Commander for better fighter support. I'll usually only have one such uber-shipyard in a sector, so the sector fleet will usually call that system home, so it'll have the Admiral & Commander on board.

Took me long enough to get back to you, didn't it? I went out of town for the weekend and came back to the 'issues' with the site update. Okay, Page. My reasoning for Page is that he defected to the Alliance with Crix Madine. Both were intimately involved in the training of Imperial Special Forces, so I figured Page would be a good choice to have Troop Design rather than Rieekan (who was really just a good general at Hoth and didn't show any aptitude in the Troop Design arena). I know the reasoning is tenuous at best, but that's my take on it. Okay, I can see your reasoning. I kept the Imperial Escort carrier rather than the Alliance version simply because I'd never seen the Alliance EC anywhere else. I dreaded engaging the Imperial version in XW:Alliance, and I figured the Rebels would either use/steal the same design or build their own, so I made it available to both sides. The costs are right about the same, so there's little difference there. I'm working on getting my custom cards together to upload to the site, and I'll post the who became what afterwards. I just applied the Cardspace patch Monday night, so I'm going through and correcting and adding to entries. I'm also making my first attempt at using ResHack, so there's quite a learning curve right now. Couple that with husband/father duties and it greatly increases the lead time to completing everything! I'm hoping to have something in a week or two to upload. I just hope they're up to everyone's standards; I'm working with MS Photo Editor, MS Paint, and Irfanview, so things aren't exactly Photoshop quality. I've gotta go pixel by pixel on the edits, too...

I haven't got a clue. Like I said, EVERYTHING was offline with the Carrack, thanks to my X-Wings in the previous encounter; no guns, no sublight engines, no hyperdrive, no shield recharge...yet it's MY ship that loses the battle?!? Even if the Carrack's Damage Control managed to get 'A' turbolaser battery back up after I told the computer to simulate, it wouldn't have been enough. My theory is that when you tell the computer to simulate a tactical combat, it doesn't take a ship's current status into account. All it saw in this case was a fully functioning Carrack, not an orbiting piece of scrap metal. Chalk it up to one more thing to fix if and when we get our grubby little mitts on the game's source code... Hey, check it out! I just got promoted!! WHOO HOO!!

Interesting...I thought you were out to screw the Rebels until I saw that last paragraph. Well...I still think you're being a bit harsh on the Rebels, but whatever floats your boat. I'll list some of the changes I've made, although I'm afraid I can't be as detailed as I'm at work and I'm working from memory. I eliminated the Alliance Dreadnaught and Escort Carrier, while making the Imperial versions available to both sides (I'll have to check to see what I replaced the Alliance versions with). Nebulon-B's are available to both sides, and the Empire gets access to the SSD at research level 5. The CC-9600 frigate became the MC-40 Gunship (at a reduced materals/maintenence cost, but also with reduced stats), the Mon Cal the MC-80, and the Dauntless the MC-90. The Imperial Assault Transport became the Lambda Shuttle (I can hear the groans already) and the Star Galleon is now a Sentinal Landing Craft (still more groans, but at least they're both available from the start). Bulk Transports are now Bantha Assault Transports (capacity: 1 troop regiment; available to both sides). I similarly altered the Strike Cruiser, although I hadn't considered the change you made to the CC-7700. As for characters, I replaced a lot of the lesser-known characters with those from the EU (I'll have to compile a list of who became who). The one notable difference is that I added a few Diplomacy capable characters to the Empire, and each side now has one additional Ship Design Research character (but I switched up who could do it a bit). There's more, but that's all I've got for now.

Another name for this thread could be: But I thought the Corvette was the BOMB?!? Interesting experience the other night. Imperials jump into my lightly defended system at Rishi. I had six X-Wing Squadraons versus two VicStar-1's (no TIE's) and a Carrack. I decided to be stubborn, and sicced the X-Wings on the Carrack. They brought down it's shields, it had no firepower, no shield recharge, no sublight, and no hyperdrive. Then I withdrew. The VicStars abandoned the Carrack for greener pastures, and my X-Wings retreated to Wistril. The only capital ship I had in the sector was a lone, undamaged Corellian Corvette, and I lacked any characters and/or specforces to deal with the crippled Carrack blockading Rishi. But I figured the Carrack would be too damaged to put up much of a fight against my Corvette, so I sent it to Rishi. So combat starts when it gets there, and I order it to engage the Carrack, which is just sitting there looking pathetic. The Corvette races across the screen, guns blazing. So I click on the Carrack and notice that despite not having a shield recharge rate, it's shields are at maximum and figure that it is going to take a looooong time for the Corvette to wear it down. So I sat there for 5-10 minutes and the Carrack's shields are only down to 1/3 power. So I went to 'options' and had the AI simulate the rest of the battle, not wanting to sit through the tedium of blowing the Carrack out of the system (I SO wish you could just board/capture ships!!). To my surprise, the AAR screen comes up "Rebel Fleet defeated! The Rebels have been defeated and are fleeing to Wistril". WTF?!? So I check out the condition of my Corvette only to see that it's shield recharge has been reduced to nil. What, did they accidentally RAM the Carrack? I mean, it was using that oh-so-deadly tactical maneuver of "Sitting Dead in the Water". How the HELL did I LOSE that fight? Well, needless to say, I sent the Corvette back a dozen days later, and let the combat sit there until that damn Carrack was atomized. Friggin' AI...

ARISE FROM THE DEAD, OH TEN-MONTHS-SINCE-THE-LAST-POST THREAD! Okay, my comment on this may not have been worth resurrecting this thread, but what the heck. I've never understood why Wedge's postion as leader of Rogue Squadron makes him a candidate for Ship Design Research. Remember, Rebellion/Supremacy takes place immediately after the events of ANH, and according to canon, that makes Wedge a 19(?) year old pilot who survived the attack on the Death Star. I hardly think that qualifies him to start designing the latest and greatest Rebel Capital Ship and Starfighter Technology. No, I used RebEd long ago to remove Wedge's Ship Research and made Dodonna capable, using the A-Wing reasoning. Imperial players may not like the idea of Wedge being freed up for Espionage/Sabotage/Command duties, but they should smile at knowing that the Rebel player now has another tough choice for a diplomacy/research character (a la Talon Kaarde, Lando, et al): use Dodonna for diplomacy missions in the Rim/Core, or tie him up for most of the game researching new ship types? Another thing I've never understood is why Rebel Troop types take so long to research. What's so darn complicated about giving some Sullustans, Mon Calamari, and Wookies weapons? Like that takes a genius to figure out. I also didn't quite understand having Riekaan capable of Troop Training, so I gave that R&D capability to Page (I can hear the Imperial players cheering already). Anyway, it would be interesting to see how people have used RebEd to both change the game to meet their preferences yet maintain game balance.

Friggin' dwarf...

Feh...potato, potatoe. I DID have to remind you that you get secondary Intelligence on espionage missions, and that's how I found out about your extracurricular activities on Tangrene.

Consider it a counterpoint to always having the epithet of "Scum" follow the word "Rebel" in the Imperial vernacular. Did I say anything about Leia? I was referring to the (AI & Movie) Imperial Tactic of "Invade & Conquer" a la Atilla the Hun. Why else would so many Imperial systems start with popular opinion THAT close to uprising? Interesting that the crew of the Tantive IV was forgotten in all of that, or that the targeting of non-humans by the Empire was the order of the day, but I digress. It still makes for a funny, yet appropriate title for a missive on Imperial Strategy.

Will do. I'm scheduled for a game with 2-week deadlines, and they said to expect it to go about 9-10 months, so at least I'll have a loooooong time to share how it's going.

Friggin' Imperials...you know, I STILL get goosebumps whenever I encounter an Imperial world with >6 TIE Interceptor squadrons...

I can see the working title now: "Imperial Tactics 101: or, How to Rape and Pillage Your Way Across the Galaxy Without Worrying About Rebel Scum, by Valkir". Seriously though, it should make for a good article. Valkir's a darn good writer, and he thinks quickly on his feet...for a dwarf.

I always like to see how other Diplomacy games go. Congratulations on taking Italy as far as you have, btw. That's not an easy country to lead, especially against dedicated Diplomacy fans. You managed to stoke the fires, though; I figured I'd give a PBEM game a try and registered on the Diplomacy 2000 site (out of the UK). Well see how that goes! As for the Rebellion tactics, it's tricks like that what make Rebellion so intriguing. Sometimes you're able to plan an ambush of enemy fleets, other times you have to improvise on the fly. But having a section where everyone can share tips and stragies would be most welcome.