Master_Xan

Hmm... you say you tried loading the cards individually, but couldn't find where they downloaded to? Are you using Internet Explorer, Firefox, what? Double check the RR instructions and make sure you didn't miss anything. Post back what browser you're using, and in the mean time I'll think about it...

Thanks errantone! I'll give it a shot sometime, after I've fixed the models so it doesn't crash after every battle.

I'm not sure what the other values modify, but I do know that the Millennium Falcon locations listed are wrong, at least for Expert. I haven't tested the intermediate and novice ones. The location sited for the Falcon on Expert must control something else, though I don't know what. Perhaps the other similar values you found control speeds for construction movement, like when facilities are moving from system to system? Or else the movement speed for normal characters?

Ah. Nice image! You should submit it for the database.

Alas, these forums are slowly falling into disuse. Fewer join, fewer members post, and the thing that brought us together is downright ancient by gaming standards. Not that Rebellion can join the ranks of Pacman and Frogger just yet, but do you realize Windows 95 was still in heavy use when Rebellion came out? Heck, DOS was still in heavy use! I myself haven't been here much, not even lurking like I usually did. Still though, there are a few here working on Rebellion 2 projects, and occasionally a poor lost soul stumbles in trying to make Rebellion work. Until they all leave, I'll be poking around now and again. I just wish we could get the old crew back together for awhile longer, but I guess life moves on...

Hmm... which method do YOU like more? If its that easy to change, you can pick the way you want it and add it to the list of "if the testers don't like this, I'll change it" Personally, I always go for functionality over realism. Yes, getting shot tends to kill people in the real world, but not every game can be Rainbow Six. So in my mind, control should come first, unless that fine level of control isn't needed. You may take into account that turning, then moving, will drastically impact certain ships in combat. Like SSDs, which turn rather slowly. Moving and turning simultaneously would improve the player's ability to respond to changing circumstances with slower ships. Those few seconds can mean all the difference, and leave the player frustrated if it costs them (like when said SSD needs to turn around and retreat). From that perspective, functionality dictates move-and-turn simultaneously, rather than a two-step process.

So... nobody ever replied to this one...? www.starshattermods.com Go there. You'll have to join their community to access the database, but there is a Star Wars mod there. No idea how good it is, as I've never played the game... but I'm adding it to my "To Play" list

You may try running it as administrator, if it really is a permissions error. I've run into the same thing and haven't found a solution yet (though I just spent the last two months at a camp and away from my computer). If anybody figures it out, I'd love to know! And if I figure it out, I'll be sure and put up a notice.

Question mark?

Battlefront, Battlefront 2, SOTE, and Roge Squadron. I loved the one in Shadows of the Empire!

You could try reloading the TC from RebEd again (and the last step after that). Otherwise, you probably have to fix it manually. Which would not be fun. Unless someone else has any suggestions...

Well this sounds nifty. Especially the part about the Republic having several Jedi; I sometimes modify the game and give each side several Jedi (makes it much more interesting when you run into them from time to time during missions ) Actually, you could set Sidious to take Luke's spot, and the event would be Sidious calling order 66 (and stops assisting the Confeds). As for replacing him... nothing comes to mind at the moment. If you chose that route, you could make Imperial stormtroopers be high research, along with basic TIE fighters and maybe the ISD.

From what I have read from others, it takes more than one ISD to stop a corvette using tractors... But again, I haven't tested things, so... yeah. Just as a fun note, KDY ion cannons have an attack value of 2000. That is, they do up to 2000 points to enemy ships (considered only disable points, leaving the enemy ship not permanently damaged). LNR Is only have a rating of 800, and LNR IIs have 5000. This means an ion cannon can disable ships 2.5 times as strong as what an LNR can destroy. Also fun to note, with a rating of 5, KDY cannons are more resistant to bombardment than any other structure. Shield generators are only rated at 3, meaning if you can get past their shields, they are easier to destroy by bombardment than ion cannons. Only mines are equal, with a rating of 5 as well. I'm not sure about detection values; RebEd doesn't list any detection values for structures at all. I'm going to check SWRE to see if it lists them. EDIT: SWRE doesn't list any detection values (or sensors, as it calls them) for structures. Any structure.

Sorry, I meant ion cannons on the planet do nothing in orbital battles. Your scheme using a few Defenders to let Bombers through is nifty! Probably wouldn't work with the Alliance though, since B-wings are higher tech and probably what they attack first... unless you wanted to use Y-wings instead.

1. Tractor beams, so far as I know, affect sublight speed for capitals, and agility for fighters. You can completely stop a ship (that's the blue haze they get when they stop). I've never tested how it all works, so what you found from others is all I know about the numerical side of things (like how strong you need them to be before another ship stops). 2. The base cannot arrive at a blockaded position, so far as I know. Just like a facility in transit, it is repelled. I believe simply to it's place of origin, but I haven't tested it. That would be interesting to know, actually, but not particularly useful, since it doesn't come up often... still interesting though. 3. Ion cannons disable an enemy ship's weapons. Temporarily. So when they bombard, the ship looses it's bombardment value. A single ship, then, would never do any damage. LNRs kill during bombardments too, which is why I prefer to use them over Ion cannons... why disable temporarily when you can destroy? Though I'm not sure if a ship hit with LNR fire still "fired" against a planet, doing damage before it was destroyed... Also, with two shield generators, it is impossible to assault a planet. One shield must be destroyed via bombardment or sabotage first. Sometimes I put two shields at Corescant, load up troops, and ignore it's defenses the rest of the game. No fighters or fleets necessary. Rebels come, rebels go, and my planet never cares much... if they stay too long, I start sabotaging their ships. So far as I know, ion cannons do nothing during a battle. But I don't use ion cannons much, so there may be something there I don't know about. 4. Surround tactics do allow more ships to get into tractor range of the target. Stand off is useful because it doesn't have the negatives of surround (like putting your ships deeper into the enemy lines). Ships do not back away to maintain maximum range to target; once they arrive, they simply stay there unless the target moves out of range. If you do tests, I would love to hear your results. Also, I updated that little guide I mentioned; its now 25 pages. Lots of good tactics in there, if anybody wants it.

This is a new problem. What OS are you using?

This is nifty stuff! I'm sure somebody can use it.

As Alzir noted, the base moves just like anything else, and is instantly spotted when any espionage mission succeeds, or any fleet gets into orbit (even if they loose a battle or retreat, if they visited the planet at all, you see the base). Recon missions are seemingly random in what they tell you. If successful, you get I think everything but personnel information. If a recon mission fails, you get seemingly random data on the planet; sometimes it will reveal a fleet there, sometimes not. Sometimes you see what is in the fleet, other times not. Sometimes you see troops on the surface, other times not. I've never caught a pattern to failed recon missions, so I don't know if you could ever find the base with a failed recon mission. Obviously if it succeeded, you would, and if it fails, then you know the Rebels are there and you can check it with another method (like a ship, if you are launching the droids from a nearby Carrack or something). The thread mentioned above was not a good test at all. Firstly, as Alzir noted, they didn't have even numbers, nor varying numbers (like 6 vs. 6, 15 vs. 15, and 30 vs. 30). Nor did they test the fighters against capital ships to see the effect of leadership against other targets. Nor did they attempt to test response time, like how long from receiving new orders it takes for the fighters to begin to act upon the new orders (which response time might be better with a commander present). Nor did they test Imperial leadership bonuses, as Alzir also noted. It also appears all tests were conducted with Alliance carriers going to an Imperial planet; a true test would require Alliance carriers meeting Imperial carriers over a neutral world, just to rule out variables. Preferably a neutral, uninhabited world, like in the Outer Rim somewhere. To further reduce variables, one could use RebEd to make one fighter, say TIE fighters, available to both sides, and thus eliminate any differences between fighters at all. In which case, with both sides using the exact same fighters (in this case TIEs), then 6 vs. 6 should be exactly dead even, with 50% of the wins going to one side, and 50% to the other. Then any significant difference to that 50% ratio would automatically indicate the affect of leadership bonuses, and to what extent This would also help with eliminating variables, like the TIEs launching from their carriers, because both sides would need to launch (which isn't an issue for their test if it was over an Imperial world, but would be over a neutral planet). Or better yet, let both sides have TIEs, which are unshielded and represent the most basic fighter (thus fewer variables like tractor beams or other special weapons) but modify the TIEs to have hyperdrives. Use the hyperdrive TIEs with both sides, equal numbers per side, in combat over a neutral, uninhabited world. Test overall survival rates, as well as command response time, then conduct tests against capital ships (like something basic, say, Corellian Corvettes). A true test would require testing with multiple types of fighters as well, so a test with, say, A-wings on both sides, and then B-wings or TIE Defenders on both sides, would also be required to complete the study. But the first test, with just the TIEs, should be sufficient to give a pretty darn good idea of what the command bonus is. The other test on that thread seemed much more valid (the shield strength and bombardment test). Just as a side note. Yeah... I just don't have the time to play online all at once, and don't have any buddies locally who play the game. I could probably play online if my opponent agreed to leave and come back to it later... As for the AI, so far as I know its hard-coded in. But using SWRE to modify AI values, you can influence it's decisions... For instance, I upped the AI value for B-wings, so the computer wouldn't always build A-wings and nothing else. Also, I tend to give the computer a steep advantage. Their ships cost 25% less than mine (or even less), and I give them a head start in research, with more ships available at the start, and more guaranteed force users. I also don't play full-contact with the AI- I usually let them build up a little at the beginning of the game before I utterly crush them. Otherwise, I would just disable their economy and my other changes wouldn't ever matter! Speaking of which... if anyone is interested, I wrote a 22 page strategy guide years ago... never finished it, and never released it to the public. If anybody wants it, I can spruce it up a bit, and send a copy. PM me if you're interested (include your email so I can send it to ya).

Ah, good to know Alzir. I thought that's how it worked, but I wasn't sure. Also, I can't really play you online... I never have 4-5 hours at once to play like that. Sorry...

1. As I under stand it, with surround they will move continually to remain at maximum distance if the target moves out of range; but just like when they are set to "stand off," they won't move further back if the target moves towards them. A pity; it would make for interesting tactical strikes, using ships with fast reverse engines and long range staying too far away to be hit... but alas, I digress. 2. When you set them to surround, the task group will move to surround the target, with each vessel moving to its maximum range and opening fire. So instead of this: ...........Target.................. 1.....2.....3.....4.....5.....6 With 1,2,5, and 6 possibly being out of range, you get something like this (differing ranges done on purpose): .............2........... .....1......T.........3 ....4.......5.......6 With each ship surrounding the target and moving into the range for that ship. Surround will ensure each ship in the task group has the enemy target in it's envelope. Of course, this means when they switch targets, several of the ships in the group may have to significantly reposition themselves, depending on how tightly packed the enemy formation may be, and where the new target is. At the end of the day, it may be easier to break larger task groups down, or even give orders to individual ships. This just isn't always feasible in large battles, nor always necessary in small battles, and may be impossible in battles against humans (because it takes time to give orders to that many individual ships, and your opponent may not want to sit around and wait for you). It should be noted; if your ships are set to surround, enemy ships will have an easier time targeting your vessels. That's because there is a lower chance of your vessels being out of enemy range when they (the enemy) is using stand off tactics. It will also take longer for some ships to retreat from surround (as they are further into the enemy formation and have further to go) and because your ships are moving towards the enemy line, they will be within range of slower enemy vessels sooner than they would be using stand off tactics. That last point is very significant when some of your ships are quick moving and lack the firepower to stand up to enemy capital ships, like Carrack cruisers. They may end up on the "deep" end of the formation (like number 2 in the above diagram), and that means they will be in range of heavy hitters, like Mon Cal cruisers, before the Mon Cals can reach their real targets. While ships move into formation, they will take pot shots at any targets of opportunity; in this case, your poor Carrack would get pulverized by the oncoming Mon Cals, which would otherwise have never fired at the Carrack because it would have been in range at the same time as the Mon Cals' real target (like an ISD). If that makes sense. Simply put, surround tactics can make weaker vessels very vulnerable for a few moments to incoming fire they might otherwise not have taken. 3. Ah, task groups. These are not intuitive in Rebellion. Ctrl+# will set a new group, or reconfigure an existing group (if you use the number of one already in use). Just like most RTS games. Example: select three ISDs and press Ctrl 1. This assigns them to group 1. If you press 8 instead of 1, they are group 8, and that number will show up along the top of the screen. If there was already a group at 8, your new group replaces the old one, which is now numberless. Selecting ships is the un-intuitive part. if you have a few ships selected, clicking one of them may not do what you think it would. You'll have to experiment using drag-click, shift+click, and ctrl+click to figure out how to select or deselect ships. The task groups assigned by default may not be intelligent; sometimes a Carrack cruiser is grouped with ISDIIs and a SSD. That is a waste of the Carrack's speed, and any fight with that kind of firepower means the Carrack is likely useless against the powerful enemy capital ships. So reassign groups that don't make sense (group the Carrack in with a few Lancers, for instance, and have them hunt fighters together). There are four potential groups for fighters. By default, the game groups these for you, and you can't reassign them. This is because each type of fighter, with four possible, gets its own slot. For instance, TIE fighters automatically get a different slot from TIE Bombers, etc. If you have fewer than all four types in a battle, it may assign one type to two slots. Example: if you have twelve squadrons of TIE fighters, it may set six in one slot, and six in another. 4. Auto targeting. Ah, how wonderful, and how dumb. Usually, when you set ships to attack capital ships, they automatically go for the most powerful enemy ship first, then the next, and so on. When targeting fighters, you get the same- ships automatically target one class of fighter, and focus on it till its gone, and then move on. To be honest, I'm not sure what the criteria is there, or what order the game uses to determine which to attack first. I suspect, just as conjecture, its the same as capital ships, and the game automatically targets the one with the highest AI value. Though ships may target bombers first (like Y-wings and B-wings) before targeting AI Value is a numerical representation of how powerful the computer AI believes a vessel to be. Powerful ships have high AI values, causing the AI to build them first, if it can, and also determining when the computer will retreat from a fight. When you see the AI using a thousand of one type of ship and no other types, its because the AI value and cost of that ship are such that the computer picks that ship every time it runs the calculation to pick which ship to build. Which is not good in later stages of the game; the computer can end up with a thousand of one type of vessel and no fighters, for instance. But I digress. AI values are not editable in RebEd, but they are editable in SWREditor. That program is harder to find; if you want to view the AI values and/or edit them, let me know your email and I'll send you a copy (since you may not be able to find it on the 'net anymore). But SWRE is less user-friendly than RebEd, and it's only advantage is the AI value, so if you don't want to do that, you don't need it So far as I know, you can't order ships to attack a certain type of fighter. Except editing the AI value, which isn't very helpful.

I feel it's disgraceful that no one has responded to this by now... I take it you're playing on a Mac? Rebellion wasn't designed for that new of an OS; I'm not familiar with Virtual PC, but perhaps you can set it to emulate an older version of Windows? I think Rebellion was around Win 98 era. Or you can try Win 2000; should work there too. If you are still around, I'll get replies to my email so I will see if/when you reply to this. Let me know what's currently going on, and I'll see if I can't help somehow.

Ok, here we go: 1. There are many strategies for early Imperial expansion. They do start with some diplomats. But with their other characters, you can easily turn the tide of Alliance diplomacy. When you see a planet join the Rebels, you can guess they have a diplomat, or more, in that sector. It's usually fairly easy to do an espionage mission on neutral worlds; track down the diplomat and capture them. Take a few personnel to the planet in a fast ship, like a Carrack, to improve your odds of capturing them and reduce down time between failed missions. But it should be a cinch to grab them from missions to neutral worlds. In truth, you don't even have to capture them; simply disrupting their mission or injuring them will buy you time to catch up on diplomat numbers, or fleet strength. Also, as soon as a planet turns, the AI will often send troops there. If you can bombard those troops before the planet's rating has gone too far to the Alliance, they will like you more, and may even return to neutrality, often affecting all other planets in the sector as well. If you have a ship that can get there before the enemy troops arrive, they can't get onto the surface because of your blockade. That makes it easier to try and catch a diplomat before they are protected. Just remember the enemy will send a fleet to break the blockade, so your time may be limited (depending on what they have available and how far away it is). 2. The Rebel base provides no real advantage. Imperial Coruscant gives a leadership bonus to everyone, so long as Palpy is there, but the Rebel base does nothing. Plus you can retake Coruscant, but the Rebel base is simply gone once you catch up to it. So it evens out. And you can usually track down the base by carefully observing fleet movements; the AI tends to have a substantial fleet presence in that system. You can easily send out a single ship, a fast one like a Carrack or Assault Transport, and have it wander around to find enemy planets in the Outer Rim. When you find an enemy planet, be sure to check it from time to time for the HQ, and since most players will group planets in a sector to facilitate defending them, you can check the other planets in the sector to see if they are newly-acquired enemy systems as well. Given a little time, it usually isn't too hard to track down (unless you are loosing and don't have resources to spare, and/or the galaxy is huge and you have a sneaky opponent). Alternatively, take a fast ship, park it in the sector, and send out probe droids from that ship. Much faster than sending the droids from your systems across the map, with lower risk to your ship. Also faster than using just one ship to do all the searching, and cheaper than making many ships. The Rebels can recruit more quickly, but the AI doesn't usually use all possible characters for recruitment. Even with human players, the Empire has an advantage to capturing enemy personnel (more combat types to catch them, more espionage types to find them, and more leadership types to bolster fleets, making enemy escape from blockaded planets less likely) and it comes out even. 3. I rarely use hook maneuvers. Most ships are too slow to make it effective, and faster ships are usually more adept at targeting fighters. That said, if you expect your opponent to flee, positioning your ships between them and their starting place means they have to run past you to escape. That can cost them... Surrounding a ship has one MAJOR advantage. When you have, say, three ships, targeting one, they move into maximum range and open fire. As soon as ONE ship is in range, the formation stops. So the center ship will fire, while the two side ships may be out of range. This is especially true with large fleet battles, when there are seven or eight ships in a line. It also exemplifies the importance of grouping ships with the same range together, not just the same target. You have 0-9 to assign task groups, use them! and don't be afraid to separate off ships without a task group if you need to (just don't forget to update their orders as the battle progresses). 4. Ships do fire while moving. They can only fire at one target at a time (which is annoying, and doesn't make sense, but it is what it is). 5. I don't play online, so I can't help you there. :/ 6. Fleets in orbit are NOT guaranteed to spot enemy characters on the surface. Not even if they are command personnel. They do get a chance to spot them. I'm not sure what determines their likelihood of seeing them though. 7. Sometimes incoming units show up without espionage being performed. You can get informant information, or if you have units present at the location where the ship/personnel left from, sometimes you will see their destination. If you find a production facility, you can sometimes see where it is sending completed units (though it may not show on the display, if you examine the facility you may find out). Occasionally, and I don't know why, your units will somehow learn of incoming fleets before they arrive, without any apparent cause. Usually only with a day or two before they arrive (making it useful to evacuate personnel, but not generally enough time for reinforcements to arrive ahead of the enemy). 8. Fleets with no ships can mean several things. You may have discovered there is a fleet there, but your people couldn't pin down what kind of ships, or their numbers. The fleet might be in transit. Or might have left. Or you might have known there was a fleet there, but the ships you knew about are gone, and now you don't know if there are any left or not. Or it might be a ship under construction. 9. If your CD is missing... well, the max install is not enough to run the game. It still checks for a CD. If the game is installed, you may be able to find a no-cd exe file somewhere. Try gamecopyworld.com

The top ones look like maybe the fleet is full and can't take any more fighters. But the picture may have been abandoned because it was just an annoying pop-up.

This is sounding like good stuff... I can't wait to see what you come up with as it comes along!

Yep! I formatted it and all was well after that. I had to put everything back on, but I did that while doing homework so it didn't really matter much. Personally, I've never gotten along with players like WinMedia, iTunes, etc. I just organize my music myself, in folders. For me its easier that way. Even with my player, I don't use a program (or any transfer program, either). I just transfer it in manually and organize it myself.