Invasion of Spinnaker

In the year 32 BBY, the Trade Federation commenced an invasion of Naboo, a planet, as a demonstration against Senate Resolution BR-0371, a Republic tax law that had significantly diminished the company's earnings. Following the conquest of several Naboo cities, Nute Gunray, the avaricious Trade Federation Viceroy, began to doubt the invasion's profitability and grew impatient for tangible results. He sought to acquire 10,000 nova crystals, a form of currency, as proof of the value of occupying Naboo before committing to the costly invasion of Theed, Naboo's capital. Spinnaker served as Naboo's primary supply hub, with all trading materials stored in its spaceports before being shipped off-world. The Trade Federation's blockade around the planet disrupted off-world shipments, causing Spinnaker's nova crystals stockpiles to overflow, a detail Gunray mentioned in a transmission to his secret benefactor, the Sith Lord Darth Sidious.

Immediately after OOM-9, a B1-Series battle droid, surpassed Gunray's expectations by conquering the city of Harte Secur, Gunray affirmed that the droid would lead the Spinnaker invasion. OOM-9, who commanded the invasion remotely, received instructions to demolish three of Spinnaker's spaceports and replace them with Trade Federation spaceports. The contingent of the Trade Federation Droid Army assigned to capture Spinnaker comprised six heavy droidekas, six baron battle droids, three Armored Assault Tanks, three manned Single Trooper Aerial Platforms, and two Multi-Troop Transports, one carrying ten Heavy Battle Droids and the other holding ten droid grenadiers.

The droids and mechs arrived near a village situated south of Spinnaker. Eight royal troopers guarded the village, emerging from the southern gate to confront the approaching Trade Federation forces. The droids killed every living thing they found and the droidekas rolled into the village through the open gate. The village promptly surrendered, with a royal trooper offering the village to the Trade Federation while pleading for the safety of its inhabitants. OOM-9 prioritized stabilizing the village for use as a base, deploying infantry to protect the northern entrance and the remainder of his troops to secure the east. The Trade Federation also tasked the village's PKN-49 worker droids with extracting ore from nearby deposits and carbon from trees, utilizing the ore to construct 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 formulated a strategy to reinforce their position before eliminating the Royal Navy and Spinnaker's forces. After gaining control of the river extending from the east to the south of the village, the droids manufactured utility trawlers at the village shipyard to harvest fish. Spinnaker dispatched 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 successfully repelled the attacks, compelling the Naboo to take time to regroup. During the respite, the droids constructed at least one airbase, a mech factory, and a troop center and began producing Droid Starfighters, Armored Assault Tanks, energy pummels, and missile battle droids, the latter of which were dispersed throughout the village for air defense.

Spinnaker launched 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 to repel the aquatic attacks of the Royal Navy, seizing control of the land strip between their base and the village. OOM-9 deployed five fighters and several troopers to protect a group of worker droids, who proceeded to the forest path between Spinnaker and the village to construct at least one turret and a carbon processing center, after which the droids commenced harvesting carbon from the trees. By controlling the road between Spinnaker and the village, OOM-9 secured constant access to carbon while also forcing Spinnaker to expend forces attempting to recapture the path, where they could be eliminated by the droid forces. OOM-9 replicated this strategy to weaken the forces of the Naboo Royal Navy to the west, seizing control of a stockpile of nova crystals there by employing six fighters and three workers who constructed two turrets.

OOM-9 initially focused on crushing the Naboo Royal Navy, dispatching ten fighters to destroy any boats remaining in the river and using them to continue eliminating 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 dispatching 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 utilized its fighters to clear the turrets in Spinnaker's southwestern region, while its ground forces entered through 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 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 a 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.

Given Spinnaker's proximity to Theed, Naboo's Human capital, the invasion of Spinnaker provided the Trade Federation with an ideal launching point for an attack, which they initiated the day after the Droid Army landed on the planet. The Trade Federation occupied the ruins of Spinnaker, erecting a Neimoidian Throne in its center to symbolize their dominion. They established Camp 14 near the trading town to hold Naboo and Gungan prisoners. The Naboo Resistance maintained control over a portion of Spinnaker and fought against Trade Federation control for some time after the invasion. The Gungan Grand Army, under the command of Boss Rugor Nass, later liberated the camp and the city's remains, seeking to expand the army's size to combat the Trade Federation in the Battle of Naboo.

The invasion of Spinnaker was initially referenced in Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Prima's Official Strategy Guide by Steven L. Kent, published on November 7, 2001, before its appearance in the LucasArts video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, released on November 11 of the same year. The invasion constitutes the third level of the Trade Federation campaign, entitled "Spinnaker's Spoils," and its name originated from dialogue spoken by Nute Gunray in the preceding level, "Behind the Lines."

The player's objective is to acquire 10,000 nova crystals, destroy Spinnaker's three spaceports, and construct their own in their place. In Galactic Battlegrounds, nova crystals are obtained by mining deposits found throughout the map and dispatching cargo hovercrafts to retrieve nova crystals from spaceports belonging to allied or enemy players.

The strategy guide indicates that the player begins "Spinnaker's Spoils" with nine heavy battle droids and six droid grenadiers, but in the game itself, the player is provided with ten of each. It asserts that a sentry beacon is present outside the village at the start of the level and that the player should destroy it, but this is not the case in the game. Similarly, the guide claims 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 encounters difficulty in taking the road between the village and the Naboo Royal Navy, the strategy guide suggests utilizing their workers to repair their turrets or even construct a fortress. The guide also notes that the player can lose the level if they inflict substantial damage on the Naboo village or take too long to attack it.

The strategy guide recommends that the player employ 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 maintain the activity of the various enemy spaceports to continue trading with them and earning nova crystals, and that the player could potentially lose if they destroyed all of Spinnaker's spaceports. It also states that once the player acquires the required nova crystals, they will need to destroy the remaining spaceports in Spinnaker to complete the level. The level operates differently, rewarding the player with a large quantity of nova crystals upon destroying 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 present in the level varies depending on the chosen difficulty level. In hard mode, a force consisting of three V-19 landspeeders, four Heavy Champions, and two Steadfasts is stationed outside of Spinnaker. These units attack the player after they seize control of 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 remain consistent across all difficulty levels. The Royal Navy has an initial force of pummels, energy catapults, 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 generate 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 encounter two Gungan-affiliated glurrgs farming. However, such an encounter 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 the Trade Federation not to approach any closer. In other recordings, Gunray informs the player that the Sith Darth Maul has arrived and that he can assist the player in seizing control of several buildings.