Star Wars: Rebellion(video game)

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Star Wars: Rebellion

Star Wars: Rebellion (orStar Wars: Supremacy in theUnited Kingdom) was aLucasArts strategy game released onFebruary 28,1998.

It is unrelated to the2006comic book series of the same name.

Opening crawl[]

It is a dark time for the Rebellion.Although the Death Star has beendestroyed, Imperial forces have locatedthe hidden Rebel base on Yavin and arepoised to strike back.On the planet Coruscant, the heart ofthe Empire, Darth Vader and theEmperor make plans to crush the rebelAlliance once and for all. The full weightof the Empire is about to come to bearagainst the rebels.In their secret headquarters, Allianceleaders, resolute after their recentvictory, gather the warships of the rebelfleet. Although they have won asignificant battle, the war between theAlliance and the Empire has only justbegun....

Plot summary[]

The game starts right after theBattle of Yavin and the destruction of theDeath Star. TheGalactic Empire is ready to strike back against theRebel Alliance base onYavin 4, while the Rebels are readying to move to another system.

Apart from the time specified for the beginning of the game, it is not story driven, and the scenario expands freely. Events of the later movies are mentioned and can happen randomly (like the capture ofHan Solo bybounty hunters or theJedi training ofLuke Skywalker).

Some characters are Force sensitive and can be trained by Jedi characters (like Luke Skywalker orDarth Vader) to augment their abilities. This would lead to a powerful team that could turn many missions successful, improve the morale of planets and fleets they were in, etc.

Canonicity[]

The game is non-linear and open-ended (the player is able to do anything in any order); therefore, the player can change or avert some events of the canonical timeline, like not migrating toHoth after Yavin, creating more than one Death Star, killing off important characters and even leading the Empire to victory.

There are other inconsistencies to the canon, like having to discover planets and recruit characters who, according to the timeline, should already known. Gameplay values are also radically changed; many spacecraft technical details from their canonical versions.

The game contains a large number of misspelled location and character names (such asFarrfin sector spelled as "Farfin"). Some bloopers also are present, such as the identity ofBob Hudsol being switched withVanden Willard and inaccurate encyclopedia entries, such as suggestingDark troopers areForce-sensitivestormtroopers. Also, some planets are shown in the wrong sectors. Cartographic placements are treated as canon in this article unless they contradict already established locations, in which case the original placement supersedes theRebellion placement.

Additionally. Force-sensitivity is determined randomly. Characters that have no known Force abilities outside of this game (like Chewbacca orPiett), can randomly be generated as Force-sensitive at the start of a new game and trained up to Jedi Master level.

Gameplay[]

Although areal-time strategy game in the wider sense of the term, it belonged to the4X genre (a sub-genre of games often containing galactic conquest likeMaster of Orion), though the action ofRebellion was more abstract.

The game interface consisted of a map ofthe galaxy and an advisordroid (which in the case of the Rebellion, wasC-3PO and in the case of the Empire,IMP-22). The map comprisedsectors of 10 systems (the number of sectors was customizable for either 10, 15 or 20), all known from the Star Wars universe. Some of them belonged to 'unknown' regions, and needed to be explored. The sectors on the game map did not correspond to the canon information otherwise available, so it was assumed that the location of various systems was arbitrary for gameplay.The player assumed the role of an officer of either the Rebellion or the Empire. He was called to manage command and maintenance, like colonization, diplomacy, creation of buildings and units, supervising of mines and resources, building and assigning of fleets, conversion of systems to one's own side, recruiting of characters, (60 in the game, both from the movies and theExpanded Universe) and dispatching characters or units tosystems (up to 200 available) or fleets.

Every element of the game had its own encyclopedia-like 'card' with a short description and abilities sheet. This amounted to a total of several hundred encyclopedia cards.

Objectives[]

The standard objective of each game was to take the headquarters of the enemy (Coruscant or the mobile Rebel base) and capture the two leaders of the opposite side: The Alliance had to capture Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, and the Empire's objectives were to capture Luke Skywalker and Mon Mothma.

Another mode was also available where you only had to find and destroy the enemy's headquarters.

Faction strengths and weaknesses[]

Both the Rebels and the Empire have their own strengths and weaknesses, which affect how a player should use them.

• Rebels: The primary strength for the Rebels is that, like in the movies, the Empire has to look for their headquarters, and the Rebels can move it to another location. The Rebels start with a larger number of diplomatic, recruiting, and combat characters than the Empire does, so they can start off with missions to move planets to their side or recruiting characters more quickly and at a higher rate than the Empire. The Rebels' main weakness is that, like in the movies, they are outgunned. It isn't until later in the game that they can get ships that can match what the Empire can build, but they compensate somewhat by having much better fighters than Empire for most of the game. Also, the Rebels are unable to do Assassination Missions, since the Rebels are the "good side."
• Empire: The Imperial Fleet outguns the Rebellion for most of the game. Part of this is because the Empire starts with the ability to constructStar Destroyers, which the Rebels starships can't compete against for most of the game. The Empire also starts with a larger number of skilled generals and admirals (who receive an additional 50% bonus to their Leadership Skill if theEmperor resides onCoruscant), giving it an edge in battles, and it can research better ships and troop types more quickly. The Empire's weakness is that, unlike the Rebels, it can't move its headquarters. It's always located on Coruscant and will be the constant target for the Rebels. The Empire also doesn't start with as many recruiting or diplomatic characters as the Rebels do. Also, although the Empire's starships are better for most of the game, their starting fighters are extremely weak.

Unit management[]

There were several kinds of buildable units. Each kind could be constructed by one of three construction facilities.

• Installations were buildings on a planet's surface or in orbit. They could be construction facilities or defense installations.
• Mines produced raw material from planets, while refineries refined them into processed materials that could be used for construction, and both increased maintenance and thus allowed for larger military forces.
• Construction Yards built other installations.
• Troop Training Facilities created troops and special forces.
• Shipyards constructed starships and fighter squadrons.
• Planetary cannons attacked assaulting starships and troop transports, and the Ion Cannon is also used to defend units escaping a blockade.
• Shield generators defended everything on the planet from orbital bombardment.
• Troops were used to conquer and defend planets, and to claim uninhabited systems.
• Starships could blockade systems, unleash orbital bombardments, and be the platforms for planetary assault. They could also carry troops and starfighters up to their respective limits and an unlimited number of characters and special forces.
• Starfighters could be stationed on planets or capital starships, and were built in squadrons. They could fight in fleet battles, and add to bombardment and detection ratings.
• Special forces included spies, saboteurs, and long-range reconnaissance teams.

As research progressed, new units and facilities became available for construction. Research could be sped up significantly by ordering characters with the corresponding ability to conduct design missions. Characters could also have the ability to research facilities, starships or troop designs.

Sometime during the game a planet could be hit with a Natural Disaster that would destroy resources and energy on the planet, making it worthless. At the same time, new resources can pop up on a planet.

Characters and starships[]

There were two kinds of characters in the game: major and minor ones.Major characters were always available at the beginning of the game, while most minor ones had to be recruited. Only major characters could embark on recruitment missions and could not be killed in the line of duty but could be injured, removing them from play for a while.

Minor characters could sometimes be generatedForce-sensitive and could be trained by Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader, to augment their abilities. The main characters with Force control could also enhance their abilities by conducting missions. Characters with higher Force ratings had better abilities in diplomacy, espionage, and combat, and could therefore perform missions with a higher chance of success. Force sensitivity could be a two-edged sword however, as Force-sensitive characters stationed in a system could detect the presence of enemy Force-sensitives trying to perform a mission there, and foil the mission automatically. Princess Leia could 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.

Some characters could be given military ranks by the player to put them in specific roles: anadmiral increased a fleet's performance by enhancing firepower, shields and speed; ageneral increased the performance of troops and reduced the likelihood of successful enemy missions on a friendly planet; acommander increased the combat efficiency and speed of starfighter squadrons. Ship-based squadrons also launch faster with a commander present.

Some characters can 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 of the Rebel starfighters have shields and hyperdrive, while theTIE Defender is the only starfighter the Empire has that has shields and hyperdrive, and does not start inside a capital ship.

Units[]

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

Special forces units are used to 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.

Facilities[]

These structures are available 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

Missions[]

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

Sectors and planets[]

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.

Credits[]

Appearances[]

This Appearances list is incomplete. You can help Wookieepedia byexpanding it.

Sources[]

• "Game Room: Launching a New Rebellion" —Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 10
• "Lucasfilm's Latest" —Star Wars Insider 32
• "Game Room: Darth Vader's Plenty Game" —Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 11
• "Game Room: Game Knights" —Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 13
• "Be the Jedi in Three New LucasArts Games" —Star Wars Insider 36
• Star Wars: Rebellion: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
• "Atari Wars: AStar Wars Video Game History" —Star Wars Insider 40
• "Red Five, I'm Going In: The History ofStar Wars Video Games" —Star Wars Insider 65
• Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle
• Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle, Updated Edition
• "The Rebel Bruiser: Steve Blum is Zeb Orrelios" —Star Wars Insider 152
• Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual History, Updated and Expanded Edition
• Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual History, New Edition

Notes and references[]

External links[]

• Star Wars: Rebellion onMobyGames(backup link)
• Fan site with database and modding on SWRebellion.com (backup link archived onMarch 23,2021)
• Star Wars: Rebellion Game Manual on theInternet Archive
• Star Wars: Rebellion Official Website onLucasArts'sofficial website(original site is defunct)