Tactical game

The tactical game is the hands-on battle mode of Star Wars: Rebellion, in which the player commands the capital ships and fighters of a fleet in three dimensions. The other mode is the strategic game.

Overview

The manual describes the strategic game as gaining support across the galaxy, controlling systems, using resources and building fleets, and the tactical game as the point where the player meets the opposition in battle. Both forces appear inside a 3D wireframe "holocube", and the player gives orders on maneuvers and enemy targets. Ships differ in offense, defense, speed and maneuverability, and the encyclopedia entry for each ship compares these. The player arranges ships into task forces, sends them out in chosen formations, and can pause at any moment to reassess. The camera can zoom on a skirmish or swing around the battle. The ships' guns are covered under Tactical weapons systems.

Entering tactical mode

Tactical mode is available whenever a fleet meets an opposing fleet. That happens when an enemy fleet enters orbit around a system where the player has fleets or fighter squadrons, when the player's fleet enters orbit around an opponent's system holding a fleet or fighter groups, or when fleets meet over a neutral system.

A Battle Alert window announces the meeting at once and bypasses the droid messaging system, because the manual says fleet engagements need immediate handling. It gives the location and a description, with commands to enter tactical mode, simulate the result, or retreat. The Alliance Forces and Imperial Forces buttons list each side's capital ships, fighters and troops. The size of an enemy fleet is not known in advance unless personnel learned it on espionage missions. The Take Command button starts the battle.

Tactical display and commands

The battle opens paused, with capital ships grouped into task forces and fighter squadrons into fighter groups. Orders go to capital ships singly or by task force, and to fighters only through their groups. Orders given during a pause take effect when play resumes, and ships take several seconds to respond. The manual says this delay can be shortened by assigning a character as Fleet Admiral in the strategic game.

A unit must be selected before it can be commanded. A task force is chosen from the numbers in the screen's top-left corner, a fighter group from the colors at the top right, and a single capital ship by left-clicking it. The control panel on the right then changes to match the selection. A ship is added to a task force by selecting the force, holding CTRL and clicking the ship. A new task force is formed by CTRL-selecting ships and clicking the blank space beside the highest task force number. Orders can be a position (see Navigation points), a target, a preset approach (see Maneuvers and tactics), or a specific or general objective such as the nearest target.

The battle

Resuming the battle sets both fleets moving. Fighter groups, which appear as colored dots at default zoom (white for the enemy), reach their targets faster than capital ships, and a task force moves at the speed of its slowest ship. A ship fires once an enemy is in weapons range, and orders can be changed while paused or during play.

Shots travel as red dots for the Alliance and green for the Empire, ion bursts are blue streaks, and small explosions mark hits on capital ships. A tractor beam appears as a blue cloud around a ship and makes it hard to maneuver. Sound effects accompany shots, movement and explosions, while fighter groups and task forces announce their losses and acknowledge new orders.

Assessing damage

Shield strength determines how much punishment a ship absorbs. The control panel shows one ship at a time, and arrows step through the ships of a task force. Hull and shield bars start solid blue and turn red as damage accumulates; a completely red bar means a destroyed hull or a shield that offers no protection. Shields recharge, but under heavy fire they can lose strength faster than they recover. The shield recharger, unlike other systems, can be damaged before the shields fail. With the shields gone, the weapon recharge, tractor power, engines and hyperspace engines can all be hit. These repair themselves slowly, one at a time. The manual mentions a strategic retreat as an option for a badly damaged ship. See Battle options and Damaged ships.

Observing the action

The Highlight Alliance Ships and Highlight Empire Ships buttons draw green or red wireframes around each side's ships. The camera control on the lower part of the control panel can center on the selected ship, task force, fighter group or navigation point, and Memorize saves a camera position and zoom (or restores the default view if none is saved). Keyboard shortcuts: ENTER centers the camera on the selection, F1 to F8 follow task forces 1 to 8, F9 to F12 follow the red, blue, green and gold fighter groups, the arrow keys rotate the view, and + and - zoom.