Invasion of Spinnaker

In 32 BBY, the Trade Federation launched an invasion of the planet Naboo in protest of Senate Resolution BR-0371, a Republic taxation law that had significantly reduced the company's profits. After conquering several Naboo cities, the greedy Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray lost confidence in the profitability of the invasion and grew impatient to see it bear fruit. He wanted to obtain 10,000 nova crystals, a type of currency, before committing to the costly invasion of Naboo's capital Theed as proof of the value of occupying Naboo. The city Spinnaker was Naboo's main supply center: all trading materials were stored in its spaceports before being sent off-world. The Trade Federation's blockade around the planet prevented off-world shipments and Spinnaker's stockpiles of nova crystals were overflowing, which Gunray mentioned in a transmission to his secret benefactor, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious.

Immediately after the B1-Series battle droid OOM-9 exceeded Gunray's expectations by conquering the city Harte Secur, Gunray confirmed that the droid was required to lead the invasion of Spinnaker. OOM-9, who commanded the invasion remotely, was instructed to destroy three of the spaceports in Spinnaker and replace them with Trade Federation spaceports. The portion of the Trade Federation Droid Army assigned to take Spinnaker included six heavy droidekas, six baron battle droids, three Armored Assault Tanks, three manned Single Trooper Aerial Platforms, and two Multi-Troop Transports, one containing ten Heavy Battle Droids and the other holding ten droid grenadiers.

The droids and mechs arrived near a village south of Spinnaker. The village was guarded by eight royal troopers, who exited from the southern gate to confront the approaching Trade Federation forces. The droids killed everyone they encountered on the path and the droidekas rolled in to the village through the open gate. The village immediately surrendered, and a royal trooper offered the village to the Trade Federation while begging for the inhabitants not to be harmed. OOM-9 focused on stablizing the village so it could be used as a base, sending the infantry forces to protect the northern entrance and the rest of his troops to protect the east. The Trade Federation also put the village's PKN-49 worker droids to work gathering ore from nearby deposits and carbon from trees, using the ore to build two turrets and anti-air turrets along the northern and western walls. The Trade Federation also assembled their own OX9 labor droids to assist in the invasion.

The droids strategized to fortify their position before annihilating the Royal Navy and Spinnaker's forces. After gaining control of the river that stretched from the east to the south of the village, the droids manufactured utility trawlers at the village shipyard to gather fish. Spinnaker sent an initial force to the village, including three heavy V-19 landspeeders, four Heavy Champion repulsorcrafts, and two Steadfast tanks. The Naboo Royal Navy, operating from a base west of the village, also sent four Royal crusaders, three energy pummels, three Naboo energy catapults, and three Tuskcat Troopers to attack the village. The droids were able to ward off the attacks, forcing the Naboo to take time to regroup. During the reprieve, the droids built at least one airbase, a mech factory, and a troop center and began creating Droid Starfighters, Armored Assault Tanks, energy pummels, and missile battle droids, the latter of which they dispersed throughout the village for air protection.

Spinnaker made another unsuccessful attack with a force consisting of eight royal troopers, four heavy Tuskcat Troopers, six heavy V-19 landspeeders, two Champions, and one Steadfast. The droids began repelling the aquatic attacks of the Royal Navy, taking control of the strip of land between their base and the village. OOM-9 used five fighters and several troopers to protect a group of worker droids, who went to the forest path between Spinnaker and the village to build at least one turret and a carbon processing center, after which the droids began to harvest carbon from the trees. By taking control of the road between Spinnaker and the village, OOM-9 ensured constant access to carbon, while also forcing Spinnaker to waste some of its forces attempting to recapture the path, at which point they could be picked off by the droid forces. OOM-9 repeated that strategy to weaken the forces of the Naboo Royal Navy to the west, taking control of a stockpile of nova crystals there by using six fighters and three workers who built two turrets.

OOM-9 focused first on crushing the Naboo Royal Navy, sending out ten fighters first to destroy any boats remaining in the river, and using them to continue to pick off turrets and soldiers on the road. The Trade Federation sent pummels into the naval base to destroy its fortress, losing at least one to the fortress autoturrets. After the fortress was destroyed, OOM-9 sent in fighters to eliminate any survivors from the base while the pummels destroyed the buildings. OOM-9 began sending Neimoidian traders, a type of repulsorcraft, to retrieve nova crystals from the base of YIN-762, another Trade Federation battle droid.

The Trade Federation then proceeded to use its fighters to clear the turrets in Spinnaker's southwestern region, while its ground forces entered the southwestern gate. The fighters then attacked the remaining boats, including the Spinnaker Navy's four destroyers, two cruisers, and five Light Scouts, and any buildings outside of the range of anti-air turrets. OOM-9 used his remaining droidekas to guard at least three pummels as they attacked Spinnaker, sustaining heavy damage from turrets by the time they had destroyed the city's power cores and fortresses. The Trade Federation left the spaceports intact to continue exporting nova crystals from them. OOM-9 also targeted a trading town across the bay north of Spinnaker, loading a pummel into an transport to destroy the turrets located in it and trade with its spaceports afterwards. After accumulating 10,000 nova crystals, Gunray congratulated OOM-9 for his efforts and stated that the full-scale invasion was ready to begin.

As Spinnaker was a short distance from Theed, Naboo's Human capital, the invasion of Spinnaker put the Trade Federation in an ideal position to attack it, which they did so on the day after the Droid Army had landed on the planet. The Trade Federation occupied the ruins of Spinnaker, building a Neimoidian Throne in its center to symbolize their dominance. They established Camp 14 near the trading town to hold Naboo and Gungan prisoners. The Naboo Resistance held control of a portion of Spinnaker and fought against Trade Federation control for some time after the invasion. The camp and the remains of the city were later liberated by the Gungan Grand Army at the command of Boss Rugor Nass, who sought to expand the army's size to fight off the Trade Federation in the Battle of Naboo.

The invasion of Spinnaker was first mentioned in Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Prima's Official Strategy Guide by Steven L. Kent, published on on November 7, 2001, before appearing in the LucasArts video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, released on November 11 the same year. The invasion constitutes the third level of the Trade Federation campaign, titled "Spinnaker's Spoils," and its name was given by dialogue by Nute Gunray in the previous level, "Behind the Lines."

The player has the objective of earning 10,000 nova crystals, destroying Spinnaker's three spaceports, and constructing their own on top of them. In Galactic Battlegrounds, nova crystals are achieved through mining deposits found throughout the map and sending cargo hovercrafts to retrieve nova crystals from spaceports belonging to allied or enemy players.

The strategy guide states that the player starts "Spinnaker's Spoils" with nine heavy battle droids and six droid grenadiers, but in the game itself, the player is given ten of each. It states that a sentry beacon is present outside the village at the start of the level and that the player should destroy it, but this does not appear in the game. Likewise, the guide states that the Naboo Royal Navy base contains more than one fortress, anti-aircraft turrets, and a spaceport, but these are all absent in the level. If the player finds taking the road between the village and the Naboo Royal Navy too difficult, the strategy guide recommends using their workers to repair their turrets or even construct a fortress. The guide also notes that the player can lose the level if they damage the Naboo village substantially or take too long to attack it.

The strategy guide recommends that the player use their MTTs to destroy the Spinnaker Navy's anti-air destroyers, but none of the destroyers appear in the level. The strategy guide advises that the player should keep the various enemy spaceports active to continue trading with them to earn nova crystals, and that the player could potentially lose if they destroyed all of Spinnaker's spaceports. It also states that once the player earns the required nova crystals they will need to destroy the remaining spaceports in Spinnaker to finish the level. The level functions differently, rewarding the player with a large quantity of nova crystals if they destroy spaceports and stating in the instructions that the player needs to construct their own spaceports on top of those in Spinnaker after destroying them. However, in the game the player automatically achieves victory as soon as they possess 10,000 nova crystals.

The number of enemy units in the level varies depending of the difficulty level chosen. In hard mode, a force of three V-19 landspeeders, four Heavy Champions, and two Steadfasts, are stationed outside of Spinnaker. These units attack the player after they take control the village. The forces inside Spinnaker in hard and moderate difficulty consist of eight troopers, four Tuskcat Troopers, four heavy landspeeders, two Champions, and one Steadfast. In easy mode, Spinnaker is only defended by its navy and four V-19 landspeeders, and the Naboo village is equipped with two anti-air turrets that the player also acquires along with the forces of the village. The Spinnaker Navy's forces are consistent across all difficulty levels. The Royal Navy has an initial force of pummels, energy catapaults, Royal Crusaders, Tuskcat Troopers and Light Scouts in hard mode. These forces are absent in the lower difficulty levels. Throughout the level, Spinnaker and the Royal Navy may create new units with which to attack the player. This article assumes the units in hard difficulty are canonical.

Some Naboo troopers rode kaadu mounts in Galactic Battlegrounds, which were replaced with Tusk cats in the 2002 expansion Clone Campaigns. Near the Naboo Royal Navy, the player may find two Gungan-affiliated glurrgs farming. However, an encounter with them would be non-canonical, as according to the game, the Trade Federation did not learn about the existence of the Gungans until after the Fall of Theed. Several unused audio recordings are included in the files for the level. Several feature a Naboo trooper—whose voice is distinct from that of the royal trooper who surrenders to the player—warning that the Trade Federation not to come any closer. In other recordings, Gunray informs the player that the Sith Darth Maul has arrived and that he can help the player take control of several buildings.

• Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Prima's Official Strategy Guide