Gameplay tips on maintenance and manufacturing summarizes the parts of the official "Rebellion - Gameplay Tips" web page that deal with maintenance points, build orders and the Agent's automatic production setting in Star Wars: Rebellion. The page was part of the game's official site on the LucasArts web server; see LucasArts Rebellion website (2004 archive).

Maintenance

According to the page, building anything other than mines, refineries and characters costs maintenance points. The current pool is shown in the right-hand monitor at the top of the Command Center. Every item takes up a fixed number of maintenance points for as long as it exists; when an item is scrapped or destroyed, its points go back into the pool.

One Mine and one Refinery working as a pair give a player 50 maintenance points, according to the page. The Galaxy Overview, opened from the Agent's right-click menu, shows how many of each facility a player has, and the page recommends keeping the two numbers equal to get the most maintenance. More maintenance comes from building more pairs, from winning or conquering planets that already have them, or from the Agent's Manage Production setting (which may place facilities where the player would not have chosen).

If maintenance drops even though mines and refineries are being built, the page suggests two causes: enemy sabotage of those facilities, or blockaded planets. Maintenance from a blockaded planet cannot get through, and build orders there wait until the blockade is lifted. For the rules as the manual presents them, see Refined materials and maintenance capacity.

When building is not possible

The page gives a checklist for a build order that does not proceed:

• A suitable idle facility must be available. The GID (galaxy information display) can list idle shipyards, Construction Yards and troop training facilities.
• The maintenance pool must cover the item's maintenance cost, shown in the encyclopedia entry or in the right-hand box of the build window.
• The stock of refined materials, shown in the middle monitor, must cover the item's cost, shown in the encyclopedia or in the left-hand box of the build window. An order can still be placed when materials run short, including an order for a manufacturing facility, but construction waits until materials arrive. The reason given is that materials are not deducted in one lump when the order is placed; they are drawn in portions while the item is built.
• The planet must not be blockaded (Planetary blockade) and must not be in uprising, because planetary facilities cannot be used in either state.

The page adds that the game's manual includes a tutorial on these steps.

Queues and changed orders

The page says there is no true build queue. The closest substitute is ordering several copies of one item. Telling a facility to build something else makes it drop the item in progress and start the new one. Changing the quantity of an item that is already being built wipes out the progress made so far, so the page advises waiting for the first batch to finish and then ordering more.

The Agent's Manage Production setting

With Manage Production switched on, the Agent tries to maximize mining and refining: it builds as many mines as the player's planets can support, and one refinery for each mine. Refineries in excess of mines are scrapped to free space. The Agent does not scrap any other kind of facility to make room for mines.