The first thing a Rebel commander should do is DIPLOMACY! You won't have the strength to fight until you build up some resources and R&D some ships. You must make sure you have many systems TOTALLY loyal, so if they are lost in an assault you have a good chance of causing an uprising. Then, you must make sure you have a good detection rating, two (preferably 3) planetary shields, two (preferably three) planetary batteries, two ion cannons, and a decent size fleet protecting your Rebel HQ. If you are discovered by the Empire, MOVE THE STUPID BASE! DON'T TRY TO FIGHT IT OUT OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT! I know. Popular support drops if it is destroyed, and that usually pushes neutral planets over to the empire that you could otherwise have won over through diplomacy. If a planet with some shipyards gets on the Imps side, they will build more, and when they get a Death Star that's guarded with a substantial fleet, you could be in trouble. Also, your HQ can't be rebuilt, unlike Coruscant, which can be recaptured. You should also use Han Solo for recruitment on loyal planets. Until you have a strong fleet for him to command, he is useless except for sabotage missions. However, it is more important to recruit characters early than send an irreplaceably one out to sabotage. Speaking of sabotage, here is my next tip. First, if you start out with a planet in the same sector as Coruscant, use quite a few resources to protect it. Early on, that means some corvettes, at least one dreadnaught, some X-Wings for anti-starfighter protection, and some Y-Wings for battling capital ships. IT IS IMPERATIVE YOU HOLD AT LEAST ONE SYSTEM IN THAT SECTOR!!! You will use this as a base for sabotage, espionage, and kidnapping missions, and also as a place to assemble your fleet before you invade Coruscant. If possible, move a diplomat there and try to get more systems on your side. This will speed up your campaign because you won't have to wait thirty days for personnel to return from missions, and also you can send an espionage mission out to Coruscant, get-up-to date info, and that way you can get a fleet there soon before anything unexpected happens, such as the empire moving a death star, a death star shield, a Super star destroyer, and interdictor cruiser, and a whole lotta lancer frigates there in the forty days it takes for your fleet to get there. It sucks to have your entire force destroyed. But we must learn from our mistakes, so GET THAT PLANET! It's kind of like Nimitz's and Macarthur's Pacific "island hopping" campaign in World War II. The more planets you take, the closer you get to your objective, Japan (in this case it's Coruscant). Anyway, this is the end of that section, and on we move to my next piece of advice.
The next thing you should do is colonize. How to do this is outlined in the manual. I think the best way to do this is start with the unexplored planets in the same sector as your HQ, again, to save time. I find the most efficient way to colonize planets is not to send a hundred Y-Wing Recon teams, but build one bulk transport per sector, fill it up with the cheapest troops you have, and use it to explore. Simply map out a sector, colonize the best six ("best" judged by amount of mining slots and number of building slots), then have a construction yard build two more CY's on one planet. I like to have one planet per system with five or six construction yards, one planet per sector with eight or nine shipyards, and one planet per sector with three or four training facilities. Then I fill the other seven planets with mines and refineries.
Those are my basic Rebel strategies. Sorry, the only tip I have for Imp players is invade weak planets early, but make sure you have enough troops to control the unruly ones. Smuggling losses and uprisings can hurt you.
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