Texas_Fett

Probably the fact that when I DID find it, your laughed nervously and said something to the efect of, "Oh...you found that, did you? How'd you manage that?"

Um, instead of looking for ONE answer to the dilemma, why not consider that it was a combination of factors that led to the 'unusual' and lopsided Imperial defeat at Endor. 1) The Heroes ALWAYS win: Let's allow GL his artistic licence and give him this one. But there has to be an accompanying explanation, right? 2) The Imperial Fleet was ORDERED not to engage the Rebels, or more accurately, NOT TO LET THEM GET AWAY. They weren't fighting to DESTROY the Rebels, only to delay them so they could be picked apart by the DS2. That reason alone explains why the full force of the Imperial Fleet wasn't used, as well as the use of a fraction of the capacity of TIE's. Also, just because the Executor is surrounded by 23+ ImpStars doesn't mean they're all in range to open fire on the Rebels, who were concentrating their firepower on the SSD. "But the Rebels closed!" you say? Surely they wouldn't have just sat there, right? What could explain THAT? 3) The Thrawn Theory: Not only were the Imperials given orders from a commanding officer, they had the will of the Emperor driving them, and in this case, forbidding them from countermanding those orders. They may have gotten off a few shots here and there, but nowhere NEAR what should have been raining down on the Rebels if every turbolaser battery was online on each SD. I had more thoughts on the matter, but I've gotta go. Hope I helped somewhat!

Thanks, Lebarronn, but that's not quite what I meant. Those are both rather general guides, and don't focus on the specifics BoShek and I had mentioned earlier. Perhaps an example is in order. Take some of the 'strategy' articles presented for the game 'Diplomacy' on The Diplomatic Pouch site (http://www.diplom.org/) in their current issue of the 'zine. You can find articles expounding on the strategic importance of Livonia, or describing how Constantinople is virtually unassailable unless control of the Black Sea and the Agean Sea is attained. Both of these examples could be simplified by saying, "always have support for your important supply centers", but these authors really delved into their (obscure) topic with relish, providing a lot of insight into the game, and in a lot of cases, historical significance. So why not do that with Rebellion? I don't know where half of the systems in Rebellion come from, so background articles would be nice, but why not have people write about their strategic view of Morgrovodine? Favorite tactics used to ferret out the Alliance HQ? Explain their view on the most important Core Sector to control in the first 100 days? Heck, in one of the two links you posted you had one player say that research missions didn't seem to speed up the process of attaining new ship types and that only Mon Mothma should be recruiting while Han, Leia, and Luke split up for Diplomacy Missions or Espionage/Sabotage. Yet I've seen other 'guides' that claim to have other winning tactics. The point is, there really ISN'T one answer to every situation. But why not provide a place for players to present their strategies, guides, insights, dilemmas, etc.? And each one will be different, yet it only serves to broaden the scope and appreciation of the game. I know you weren't arguing against having that kind of thing, and you were just providing a couple of guides that would seemingly answer my question, but I got the feeling that you missed the point. Don't flame me if I misunderstood!

LOL! How ironic that in a German game of Diplomacy it's the French and the British that are the first to fall. And ITALY is poised to win it all?!? You don't see that too often. Which power are you, Boshek? My favorite power to run is Turkey/The Ottomans. But just so this thread stays true to the topic, I had an interesting situation in Rebellion last night, and I thought I'd share the tactic. I started a new game as the Rebels (no surprise there), and quickly took stock of my assets. I was pleased to note that I had control of Tralus and Vagran in the Corellian sector, and that Tralus sported a shipyard and dual-training facilities. It also had a defending fleet of two bulk cruisers and a corvette. It lacked a construction yard, however, as well as any gencore shields. Fast forward about 100 days. I've managed to build four X-wing squadrons for Tralus, but still haven't managed a construction yard or gencore, although one IS on the way for Vagran. An imperial fleet jumps in-system, consisting of three VicStars and a Carrack. Each VicStar has a full compliment of stormtroopers, yet has only 1 TIE squadron apiece. I retreat from the battle to Vagran, and the Imperial fleet sits tight on Tralus for about 8 days before leaving, but not before they bombard the planet and destroy all but one of my garrisons. Realizing I needed to bring more starfighter firepower to bear, I quickly got an escort carrier loaded with four X-wings and two Y-Wings, put Syub Snunb on board as a Commander, and sent it hurtling to Vagran. The problem is that this was the closest capital ship I had to the area, and it was blockading Phraetiss, so it was going to take 50-60 days to get there. I also sent about a half dozen fighters from various neighboring sectors to Vagran, hoping to hold the planet until the gencore could arrive. In the meantime, I tried to build more X-Wings on Tralus, and I sent the fleet from Vagran back, as well as the four X-Wings. I had only built two more squadrons when the Imperial fleet jumps back to Tralus. Only this time, they also had three galleons packed with stormtrooper & army regiments. With a grand total of twelve troop regiments I quickly realized the obvious, and wrote off Tralus as lost. But not willing to go down without a fight, I ordered my X-Wings to engage the TIE's with support from my Corvette, while my Bulk Cruisers opened fire on one of the VicStars. After dispatching the TIE's I sicced the X-Wings on one of the Galleon Transports, but they were taking heavy casualties from the pursuing Carrack. The Corvette engaged the Carrack while the VicStars pursued the Corvette, and the Bulk Cruisers maintained their barrage on the one VicStar. I eventually gave the order to withdraw, but not before I had destroyed one Galleon. However, I was left with one squadron of X-Wings and my Corvette and one Bulk Cruiser were heavily damaged. I gave as good as I got, as I had damaged one VicStar, the Carrack, and destroyed one Galleon. I retreated back to Vagran, and the Imperials invaded Tralus. Their first effort was repulsed by my garrisons, but the second attempt cost me the planet. Fast forward some twenty-odd days. Commander Snunb arrives at Vagran with his Escort Carrier and fighters to take command of the remnants of my fleet. I immediately send the new fleet to Tralus, and engage the lone TIE squadron stationed there on the SAME DAY that the Imperial fleet arrives at Vagran, sans one VicStar. Their Fleet quickly turned tail after encountering the 6-8 X-Wing and Y-Wing squadrons there, and couldn't flee to Tralus (the closest Imperial system) because of my blockade. At Tralus, I promoted Commander Snunb to Admiral and commenced a Planetary Bombardment, targeting Military facilities. I destroyed all but one Stormtrooper regiment, and the system went into uprising. Now came my unorthodox strategy. I moved my fleet to Vagran, reasoning that the AI would send imperial troops from all corners of the galaxy to supress the uprising. I would then move my fleet back to Tralus, causing those Imperial Troop regiments to be tied up in hyperspace, forced to make the journey to Tralus only to have to turn right back around and return from whence they came. Leaving the system had an unexpected Diplomatic boon, however. Corfai, up to this point having remained neutral, joined my cause and Talus went into uprising (their sympathies were with the Rebels, and the Empire was holding the planet by force). I moved my fleet back to Tralus, eliminated the remaining Stormtrooper regiment with another bombardment, and reclaimed Tralus. Xyquine then joined my cause, and Corellia went into uprising against the Imperials. I had to save & stop shortly after that, what with the need for sleep kicking in. But I found my accidental strategy intriguing and thought I'd share. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves.

Ah, a fellow "Diplomaniac", eh? I first played that game in High School; my American Literature teacher taught us, and we played during lunch. I've played with a few friends in the years since then, and I've tried getting my buddies to play via e-mail, but to no avail. And I don't have the guts to try jumping into an online game. But "The Diplomatic Pouch" is a sweet site to find some great articles on the game. And then some! Strategy articles on Rebellion would be VERY cool (There HAS to be a "Lepanto Maneuver" in there somewhere... ). Everyone has their own strategies, and I'd be interested to see what works for other people, as well as sharing my own insights. And not simple things like, "Suncrushing is the only way to go". Gimmie something meaty, like how many decoys to run on a Rebel Sabotage Mission on an imperial-held system with six stormstrooper regiments led by General Veers with the Emperor on Coruscant. Or whether or not I should 'waste' an Impstar by having it play nursemaid for Piett on his diplomacy missions early in the game to keep his sorry butt from getting abducted/killed. Or...the list goes on. I'd REALLY like to see if anyone has made use of the waypoints and maneuvers in the tactical battles, or what other tactics people use in the unedited (read: non-Golan III) game.

...what would be the point? [rant] As mentioned before, there are plenty of sites dedicated to other games in the Star Wars universe (with the notable exception of Force Commander, which was also mentioned earlier). I agree that to take on that kind of radical change to this fine site would mean having to offer unique content that relates to those games. The various customizations for Rebellion offered here are what makes this place so unique, but trying to find equivalent content for other games to post here just seems to be a waste of time. We have interactive fan-art (cards), a place for fan fiction (Rebellion war stories), offerings for the Mod-community (RebEd as a whole, but also 3-D modelling), a collaborative 'Mod' in the works, and the potential for uncovering THE Holy Grail of Rebellion editing, 'The Source Code' (cue dramatic music and cheesy lens flare here)...about the only thing I could see you adding is an upgrade for the RebEd html help, completing all the empty sections, as well as providing a similar guide for model editing and/or ResHack for all of us newbies. Maybe even maintain an image gallery of hard-to-find and/or original Star Wars images for users to download for the creation of their own cards (better encyclopedia images of the A-Wing, B-Wing, Y-Wing, and ALL the TIE's come to mind). The point is, I came here for one thing and one thing only: to find info on Rebellion. Whether that 'info' is cards for RebEd, finding people to play with, a place to tell my favorite Rebellion story, or what have you, this is THE place to find it, and I don't want to have to wade though a dozen other game titles to find it. I think your collective efforts would be better spent by getting word out to all those Star Wars fans who maybe at one time DID play Rebellion (but were turned off by it for one reason or another) about the upcoming TC, or that we're trying to get ahold of the Source Code to make Rebellion the game that it we all dream it COULD be. I didn't even find out about RebEd until last year, and I would've jumped on that bandwagon years ago if I'd heard about it sooner. [/rant] But then again, I'm a newbie here, and just a lowly cadet at that, not to mention I have NO experience at running a website, let alone marketing one, so...

Erm...no need. Suffice to say that a screen full of dragons wreaking pain and destruction on my pitiful human forces was enough to make me bail. Too painful to watch! Now on to the 'other game': Most of what Valkir said was correct; to a point. Except that I was under the impression that we'd be starting at the same relative power level, to avoid what happened with the FIRST game, i.e. one player starting with an unfair advantage. Valkir had set up the game so that we'd have all of our research done and the computer handling our manufacturing so we'd start with a LOT of maintence points & raw materials again. So what do I see after an espionage mission to Denab? The "Second System Intelligence" points to Tangrene, where he has twelve advanced shipyards and the above mentioned fleet. I didn't even have an escort carrier or a bulk cruiser! And he's wantin' to go to war right away! MAN was he embarrassed when I found that out! "Difficulty Level 4" my a$$! As an aside, you REALLY should have built that uber-shipyard in the rim, Valkir. I probably wouldn't have found it, that way.

I've had my own "Leia on the Death Star" experience. It was one of the first games I'd played, and I was doing pretty well on the medium difficulty setting, for a newbie. I had taken over several systems in the Sesswenna sector, including Averam, Yaga Minor, Svivren, and Chandrila. The empire controlled every system in the Corellian sector, and I had no idea what was going on there, aside form knowing they had a huge number of shipyards on Commennor. I was stoked on the fact that my shipyards on Averam had produced my first bona-fide Mon Cal Cruiser. I (naively) figured I was finally gonna stick it those damned imperials and their ImpStars. So I grabbed Leia and put her on the Mon Cal, figuring it'd be the best protection for her, and built a fleet with a few Neb-B's and corvettes, then headed to Corsin to blockade the planet. But when I got there, the tactical officer does his "Death Star Approaching" phrase and I about soil myself. Accompanying the DS was a lone Lancer Frigate and only ten fighters or so. Being new to the game, I panicked and retreated, only to see the DS blow my oh-so-beautiful, just-off-the-assembly-line, virginal Mon Cal Cruiser to smithereens...with Leia aboard. The AAR (After Action Report) said that Leia was captured, and was being held on board the Death Star. I figured I'd re-create the events of ANH, and sent Luke, Han, and Chewie on a rescue mission, but they were based on Tangrene, so they had no chance of getting there before the DS left the system. In the meantime, the DS continues on...to my shipyards at Averam. At least I'd had the foresight to build a starfighter defense at Averam. After having seen what a large contingent of X-Wings could do to ImpStars, I'd build roughly 10-15 squadrons of X-Wings there, as well as 3-4 squadrons of B-Wings. So when the DS and it's Lancer escort jumped in system, I figured I'd make them pay for blowing up my Mon Cal, and just wrote off Leia, figuring she'd be killed if and when I destroyed the DS. So the battle begins, and I quickly vape the TIE escort, and after getting the report than a DS Trench Run can be attempted, I sic my X-Wings on the Lancer and send the B-Wings to attack the DS. It seemed to take forever for the B-Wings to get there, but I figured they'd easily be able to take it out. The cinematic ran (of the X-Wings; that was a disappointment), but they failed. I was crushed knowing that all four squadrons had been destroyed just like that {snaps fingers}. Meanwhile, the 2 groups of X-Wings had taken out the Lancer, but there was only one group left consisting of six squadrons. Having no other option, I sent them on a trench run. Again the cinematic rolls, and this time they're successful. I jumped out of my chair, whooping and hollering in glee as the "DS destroyed" cinematic ran. That was SUCH a rush. After closing the AAR I got a message that Leia had escaped captivity, and was down on Averam. And I haven't encounterd a DS since, in over five years of playing and some twenty-plus games.

D'OH! My bad...helps to read through the topic completely before posting...just ignore that previous post.

Shouldn't that be "Bevel Lemelesk Caliber"? Sure, he can research all three, but after he's done...no espionage, no combat, no diplomacy, no leadership...hell, he can even be given a rank! He's completely useless. At least Orlock can be given a command.

The TIE Defender rocks! I used it in EVERY dogfight I played with my friends in X-Wing: Alliance. And in Rebellion it really IS the complete package. If it weren't for the fact that the Empire gets it so late in the game (as it should) it'd have a much better chance to shine. Where they're most useful, though, is when a Death Star is crammed to the gills with 'em, as well as any escort ships. That way, when the DS jumps into a Rebel system, they're already deployed for combat, thereby most likely preventing a DS Trench Run by the Rebels. (I believe so long as the Imperial Starfighters outnumber the Rebel Starfighters in an engagement, no Trench Run may be attempted).

Thanks, guys! It's rare that you can actually find an appreciative audience for your Rebellion/Supremacy tales. My wife just rolls her eyes and grudgingly indulges me when I wax poetic about my latest Rebel strategy. Man, I just wish I'd found this place years ago. Valkir admitted he had an unfair advantage in hosting "The Grand Melee to End All Melees" over Coruscant. Any such engagement in the future will be held in a neutral system...

Greetings, all! Thought I'd chime in with my favorite multiplayer war story. A good friend of mine (to protect the poor sot, I'll refer to him as Valkir; you may have seen him wandering about if you're an EQ junkie) and I still regularly play LAN games of Rebellion. I ALWAYS play as the Alliance. For some reason the Empire bores me, as playing with them is like starting as the Alliance with 300 days under your belt and lacking the Alliance's flexibility and starfighter support. Anyway, this is fine as Valkir loathes the Rebels on both a philosophical and primal level (I think it has to do with Luke's whining). We started to get bored with the mediocre battles and galaxy-combing though, and wanted to create a truly epic space battle. So we started a game, took care of business with our initial characters for the first 200 days (research, recruiting, diplomacy, AI-managed resources, etc.)...and then set the speed to 'Fast' and let it sit overnight. When we came back, we each had all of our ships, troops, facilities, and an ungodly amount of raw materials and maintenence points. Valkir realized his mistake, however, as I had anticipated the amount of game time that would pass, and had ordered my system with dual-shipyards to churn out twenty Mon-Cal Cruisers and two lone shipyards to craft thirty Nebulon-B's and Corvettes. He immediately wanted another "Cease Fire" to attempt to bring his forces up to par. We agreed, and I set about completing my fleets, and the final confrontation was to take place over Coruscant for all of the marbles. After another three hundred days or so (the date was somewhere around day 27,000) I had a truly astounding armada: Two fleets, each with their own Admiral, General, and Commander; each sporting two Bulwark Battlecruisers, a sprinkling of Daultless cruisers, etc. In all, one fleet had eighty-odd capital ships with the other having ninety. The starfighter totals were something like fifty B-Wing squadrons, 100 X-Wing squadrons, and 100 A-wings. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty cocky, especially when I heard the dismay in Valkir's voice when he saw my Armada blockade one of his planets (Corsin, I believe). Anxious to get to the upcoming battle, I moved my armada to Coruscant. As soon as the battle started, I knew I'd made a mistake. For what do I see, but two ImpStars, three Vics, a few Carracks, ten Lancers or so...and five...HUNDRED...squadrons of Tie Interceptors (you KNEW I'd get to the subject eventually, right?). To Valkir's credit, he still figured he was about to get pasted. After all, Interceptors aren't exactly Capital Ship killers. I was even still feeling a bit cocky about the whole thing. Still, I thought I should take precautions. I first targeted his Impstar that had his admiral and commander on board, hoping to take out the increased performance of his ships and fighters (and the reason why I had TWO fleets and sets of cadre instead of one). I sent my B-wings to help take out the capital ships, gave orders to the rest of my capital ships and had my X-Wings, A-Wings, Corvettes and Gunships engage the Interceptors. Then I hit the 'Unpause' button. And I watched in horror as my beautiful armada was torn to shreds. The B-Wings got a whole 2-3 volleys at the Impstar before being taken out. The X-Wings and B-Wings took the Interceptors down to 300 squadrons or so before being wiped out. Then Valkir turned the Squints loose on my capital ships. In less than thirty seconds a Bulwark was gone...then another...then another...the Interceptors were going from ship to ship, damaging it enough to disable it before moving on to another craft. Before I knew it, all my capital ships were disabled and the Squints just went back to the top of the order and obliterated the helpless ships...and the Imperial Capital ships hadn't even moved! Needless to say, Valkir was overjoyed at the outcome. Yet he was a magnanimous winner, attributing his victory to luck and a whim. When he saw the ships I'd built overnight he'd completely given up, deciding to build nothing but Interceptors. That defeat smarted, but I still enjoy telling it. We're hoping for a rematch soon...hopefully one that's more balanced. Thanks for reading! Texas_Fett

Makes sense, although the few times it's happened to me, it's been with a system in a Core Sector and within the first 3-5 hundred days. One time that comes to mind was when an Imperial Ship Design Research mission was foiled in the sector that contains Tangrene (the sector name eludes me, as does the planet's; it was the lower right one). I didn't have squat in the sector, let alone the means to go and check out what all the hubbub was about. Although your 'traitor theory' would explain a lot.

What I love is getting a message that I've foiled an enemy Diplomacy/Research mission in a Sector in which I don't control any systems and I wasn't even aware of a mission there, much less able to attempt to thwart it.

Greetings, all! Long-time Rebellion junkie, first time poster. I was browsing through some of the old topics and thought I'd chime in with my own "Han & The Bounty Hunters" experience. I got Han captured in one of the first half-dozen games I ever played (i.e., seven years ago, or so). Luke was on Dagobah, so Leia and Chewie left to get him. (Background: One of the tricks I like to use is to blockade a planet that has Palpatine on it early in the game {NOT Coruscant; it's when he's running Diplomacy Missions in other sectors}. Even on 'Hard' difficulty, the Imperials rarely come to break the blockade, assuming ther isn't a production facility there. Then I'll send Luke on a few abduction missions, which drives up his force rating. Several times I've had him at Jedi Knight BEFORE he goes to Dagobah, whereupon he comes back as a Jedi Master.) Luke then comes back and immediately sets off to rescue Han. The trio is successful (insert appropriate .dll and music here), and they all reappear on a Rebel controlled system. Don't know if Luke being a Jedi Master had anything to do with the success. I've only had it happen one other time, and Luke was already a Jedi Knight at the time. Same result. I've never seen them delivered to the Empire, though. From what I remember the "Rescue Han" mission doesn't last that long; it's usually shorter than Luke's trip to Dagobah. The odd thing is that it doesn't matter how far away the character is, they will leave to rescue Han, and if the mission is successful they will reappear (usually on the planet Han was abducted from, but I could be wrong; it HAS been awhile) half-way across the galaxy, when it'd normally take MONTHS of in-game time to get there. Another odd thing is that I remember Han still suffering attacks from the bounty hunters even after being rescued. Here's one for ya: Ever gotten Luke up to Jedi Knight, then DELIBERATELY get him captured by Vader so he's taken to Coruscant and captures both Vader and the Emperor?