Star Wars: Rebellion (video game)

Main screen for the Rebel Alliance

The game's setting is directly after the Battle of Yavin and the Death Star's destruction. The Galactic Empire is poised for retaliation against the Rebel base on Yavin 4, while the Rebel Alliance prepares to relocate to a new system.

Beyond this initial timeframe, the game's storyline is open-ended, allowing for emergent narratives. Events from subsequent movies are referenced and can occur randomly, such as Han Solo's capture or Luke Skywalker's Jedi training.

Certain characters possess Force sensitivity and can undergo training by Jedi masters to enhance their capabilities. This can create formidable teams capable of achieving mission success, boosting morale on planets and within fleets, and more.

The game's non-linear, sandbox nature allows players to potentially alter or prevent canonical events. For example, players can choose not to migrate to Hoth, construct multiple Death Stars, eliminate key characters like Chewbacca or Lando Calrissian, or even lead the Empire to victory.

However, some inconsistencies with established canon exist. These include the need to "discover" planets and "recruit" characters already known within the timeline. Gameplay mechanics also deviate, with spacecraft shield values differing from their canonical counterparts. As an example, the Interdictor cruiser's shield strength is double that of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer, while the Super Star Destroyer is only "merely" four times stronger than the Imperial-class.

Numerous spelling errors in location and character names are present (e.g., Farrfin sector as "Farfin"). Factual errors also occur, such as misidentifying Bob Hudsol (switched with Vanden Willard) and inaccuracies in encyclopedia entries, like the one for Dark troopers (erroneously suggesting they are Force-sensitive stormtroopers). Furthermore, some planets are incorrectly placed within sectors. Therefore, cartographic placements are treated as canon in this article unless they contradict already established locations, in which case the original placement supersedes the Rebellion placement.

Another element is the arbitrary way that Force-sensitivity is determined. Characters with no known Force abilities outside of this game, such as Chewbacca or Piett, can randomly be generated as Force-sensitive at the start of a new game and trained up to Jedi Master level.

Scene from the intro

While broadly classified as a real-time strategy game, it more specifically fits into the 4X genre (a sub-genre of games often containing galactic conquest like Master of Orion), although Rebellion's gameplay is more abstract in nature.

The game's interface consists of a map of the galaxy and an advisor droid (represented by C-3PO for the Rebellion and IMP-22 for the Empire). The map is divided into sectors of 10 systems each (with customizable sector counts of 10, 15, or 20), all familiar from the Star Wars universe. Some sectors are initially 'unknown' and require exploration. The sector arrangement on the game map does not align with established canon, suggesting that system locations are arbitrary for gameplay purposes.

Players assume the role of an officer within either the Rebellion or the Empire, tasked with managing command and logistics. This includes colonization, diplomacy, construction of buildings and units, resource management, fleet construction and assignment, system conversion, character recruitment (60 characters from both the movies and the Expanded Universe are available), and deploying characters or units to systems (up to 200) or fleets.

Each game element has its own encyclopedia-style 'card' providing a brief description and details of its abilities, totaling several hundred cards.

The primary objective is to capture the enemy's headquarters (Coruscant or the mobile Rebel base) and their two leaders. The Alliance must capture Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, while the Empire aims to capture Luke Skywalker and Mon Mothma.

An alternative game mode involves simply locating and destroying the enemy's headquarters.

The Rebels and the Empire each have unique strengths and weaknesses that influence gameplay strategy.

• Rebels: The Rebels' key advantage is their mobile headquarters, mirroring the movies, forcing the Empire to search for them. They begin with more diplomatic, recruiting, and combat characters, allowing them to quickly convert planets and recruit characters at a higher rate. Their main disadvantage is being outgunned, but they compensate with superior fighters for most of the game. The Rebels cannot conduct Assassination Missions, as they are the "good side."
• Empire: The Imperial Fleet dominates in firepower for most of the game, partly because they can immediately build Star Destroyers that Rebel ships struggle to match. They also start with more skilled generals and admirals (who receive an additional 50% bonus to their Leadership Skill if the Emperor resides on Coruscant ), giving them an edge in battles, and they can research better ships and troop types more quickly. The Empire's weakness is its fixed headquarters on Coruscant, making it a constant target. They also start with fewer recruiting and diplomatic characters. While their starships are superior, their starting fighters are weak.

Several types of buildable units exist, each constructed by one of three construction facilities.

• Installations are structures on a planet's surface or in orbit, including construction facilities and defense installations.
• Mines extract raw materials, while refineries process them into usable materials for construction, both increasing maintenance costs and allowing for larger military forces.
• Construction Yards build other installations.
• Troop Training Facilities create troops and special forces.
• Shipyards construct starships and fighter squadrons.
• Planetary cannons attack assaulting starships and troop transports, and the Ion Cannon is also used to defend units escaping a blockade.
• Shield generators protect everything on the planet from orbital bombardment.
• Troops conquer and defend planets and claim uninhabited systems.
• Starships blockade systems, conduct orbital bombardments, and serve as platforms for planetary assaults. They can also carry troops, starfighters, characters, and special forces.
• Starfighters are stationed on planets or capital ships, built in squadrons, and participate in fleet battles, contributing to bombardment and detection ratings.
• Special forces include spies, saboteurs, and long-range reconnaissance teams.

As research progresses, new units and facilities become available. Research can be accelerated by assigning characters with the relevant ability to design missions. Characters can also have the ability to research facilities, starships or troop designs.

During the game, planets can be struck by Natural Disasters, destroying resources and energy, rendering them useless. Conversely, new resources can appear on planets.

The game features two character types: major and minor. Major characters are available from the start, while most minor characters must be recruited. Only major characters can undertake recruitment missions and cannot be killed in action, though they can be injured and temporarily removed from play.

Minor characters can sometimes be generated Force-sensitive and trained by Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader to enhance their abilities. Major Force-sensitive characters can also improve their abilities through missions. Higher Force ratings improve diplomacy, espionage, and combat skills, increasing mission success rates. However, Force sensitivity can be a double-edged sword, as Force-sensitive characters can detect enemy Force-sensitives attempting missions in their system, automatically foiling them. Princess Leia can become Force-sensitive, but only if Luke Skywalker learns of his heritage (i.e. if he meets Darth Vader in combat and is not captured) and the two meet on a planet or ship somewhere in the galaxy where he reveals that she is his twin sister.

Players can assign military ranks to characters for specific roles: an admiral enhances a fleet's firepower, shields, and speed; a general improves troop performance and reduces the likelihood of successful enemy missions on a planet; a commander increases the combat efficiency and speed of starfighter squadrons. Ship-based squadrons also launch faster with a commander present.

Some characters may betray your side to the enemy if the winning conditions favor the other side. Traitors can only be detected by Force-sensitive characters, and the only ways to remove a traitor are to either improve your winning conditions or retire the character, where retiring means the character is out of the game entirely.

All Rebel starfighters have shields and hyperdrive, while the TIE Defender is the only Imperial starfighter with shields and hyperdrive, and does not start inside a capital ship.

Ground Forces defend planets from assaults, missions, and uprisings, where the latter is often a risky, and not a favored choice among veteran players to control planets. They also assault enemy planets.

Special forces units conduct various missions in lieu of characters, except Diplomacy, Recruitment, and Jedi Training. These units are most often used as opposed to characters to conduct missions in dangerous areas if failure is high.

These structures are avaliable to players as long as they have access to at least one Construction Yard. Each structure needs at least one unit of energy (blue), with mines needing one unit of raw materials (red).

• Advanced Contruction Yard - Builds facilities and planetary defenses at twice the speed of normal construction yards
• Advanced Shipyard - Builds starships and fighters at twice the speed of normal shipyards
• Advanced Training Facilities - Builds ground and special forces at twice the speed of normal training facilities
• Construction Yard - Allows construction of facilities and planetary defenses
• Death Star Shield (Empire Only) - Prevents the enemy to conduct an attack run on a Death Star in the event of a battle over the planet
• GenCore Level I Shield Generator - Shields a system from enemy bombardments. Two shield generators stops planetary assaults
• GenCore Level II - Shields a system from enemy bombardments at twice the strength as the Level I and uses less maintance points. Two shield generators stops planetary assaults
• KDY-150 Ion Cannon - Allows evacuation of systems under blockade without the threat of being intercepted by enemy ships or fighters
• LNR Series I Planetary Battery - Fires on bombarding ships in a blockade dealing damage to one target. If a general is on the planet, has a chance to significantly damage higher tiered ships and destroy lower tiered ships
• LNR Series II Planetary Battery - Fires on bombarding ships in a blockade dealing significant damage than the Series I and can destroy mid-tiered ships. If a general is on the planet, has a chance to destroy any ship, regardless of tier.
• Mine - Mines raw materials for use of refining. Adds 50 maintance points to the maintance pool if there's a vacant refinery.
• Orbital Shipyard - Allows construction of starships and starfighters
• Refinery - Refines raw materials into refined materials used in construction of facilities, troops, and ships. Adds 50 maintance points to the maintance pool if there is a vacant mine.
• Training Facilities - Allows training of ground and special forces

All characters and certain special forces can conduct any mission against the opponent, or assists in your hand. Success on the mission depends on the stats of the character in question. The mission list is as follows:

• Assassination Mission (Empire Only) - Injure or kill a targeted character
• Abduction - Captures a target character
• Espionage - Gathers information on a targeted system's defenses, personal, facilities, fleets in orbit, and ongoing missions, where a successful mission can lead to information from another system. (Rebel players who successfully conduct an espionage mission on Coruscant can obtain information on several enemy-controlled planets)
• Incite Uprising - Attempts to sway public opinion against your opponent which could lead to the planet going neutral or thrown into a full-blown uprising
• Sabotage - Destroys a targeted installation, planetary defense structure, regiment, planetary-based starfighters, or any starship in orbit over a planet.
• Death Star Sabotage (Rebel Only) - Destroys a Death Star over a planet
• Recruitment - Recruits other characters into your army
• Facility Design Research - Improves the capabilities of Construction Yards to research and develop new structures
• Troop Design Research - Improves the capabilities of Training Facilities to research and develop new troop regiments
• Starship Design Research - Improves the capabilities of Shipyards to research and develop new starships
• Diplomacy - Sways public opinion to your side in an attempt to either convince them to join your side, or max out public opinion
• Rescue - Rescues captured characters from your opponent
• Jedi Training - When present with at least a Jedi Knight or better, trains targeted Force-Sensitive characters to improve stats overall
• Subdue Uprising - Stops an uprising on a planet you control

The player is given three options for the size of the galaxy, impacting which sectors are in play and potentially the length of the game.

The smallest galaxy has 10 sectors, with three fully discovered core sectors: Corellian, Sesswenna, and Sluis; and seven unexplored sectors on the outer rim where the initial location of the Rebel base could be randomly generated: Calaron, Churba, Dufilvan, Mayagil, Moddell, Orus, and Sumitra. The medium size adds Farfin to the core and four to the outer rim: Glythe, Jospro, Kanchen, and Quelli. The largest has a total of 20 sectors, adding Dolomar and Fakir to the core and Abrion, Atrivis, and Xappyh to the outer rim.

Batteries and planetary shields protect your planet from opposing fleets. Two shield generators on a planet will prevent the opponent from landing troops where the batteries will open fire on a blockading fleet that is bombarding. The batteries can inflict serious damage on an enemy fleet where one with a General has a strong chance to destroy a capital ship after bombardment, including a Super Star Destroyer.