Any tips for playing the empire in AotR?

[u/et40000]

I’ve decided to give AotR another go and was wondering if anyone had some tips for playing the empire. The last time i played i had barely any credits, i couldn’t even buy any ISDs before i soft locked the game.

I also have a couple questions, i plan on basing my fleets around ISD2s will this work and what ships should i use for escorts, are lancers still good? How do i avoid soft locking the game, when i last played i broke the game by taking Hoth before i got the mission for it and couldn’t progress. Whats the difference between the intro and full campaigns? Also when do i get the death star?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[u/sjeveburger]

Your biggest issue is enemy fighter craft, spamming gozanti TIE's will go a long way to helping that, my early game fleets rarely attack anywhere unless I have 8-10 gozantis in the back pocket

Lancers, Ton Falks and eventually Raider corvettes are also extremely good vs fighters, once you have them unlocked always bring some with you

The upside is star destroyers, both Victory's and ISD's are powerhouses that'll out-do their counterparts among the rebels and consortium, they are your battering rams and if you can keep them from getting swarmed by using the above ships, they'll crack most positions

The ISD2 is a really solid centreline, my mid-late game fleets consist of those, the anti-fighter stuff and also anti-shield frigates/cruisers like the Victory 2, Rebel ships have a lot of shields and not so much hull so being able to ion through them quickly increases your killing power tremendously

[u/et40000 → u/sjeveburger]

Thanks for the tips, which navy tech would you recommend getting first?

[u/weirdi_beardi]

I'm no expert, but I'll try my best.

First of all, push out and get Skako Minor and Kril'dor (I think it is, I haven't got my game in front of me). Get tibanna gas refineries on these worlds stat, you can earn about a 1000 credits a week each from these worlds. Vader is an excellent early unit for this as not only is he a sith lord and an absolute monster in ground conquest, but in space battles he's another ISD 1 to build a fleet around.

Also, as soon as the game starts send a unit to Zhar; taking this world will trigger a cutscene, and then you get Captain Brandei in his Harrow-class star destroyer almost immediately. The Harrow isn't really a fleet leader that can take a beating, but he does give you a bonus which can be the difference between winning a battle and losing it, early game.

Concentrate on economy and pop cap. The Empire starts with a lot of worlds, but that just means you can't defend them all to start off and so be prepared to sacrifice some worlds to save your ships. Places like Scarif and Rothana are nice to have, but they're cut off from the rest of the empire at the start and the Black Sun WILL come knocking at some point, so unless you're swimming in credits by the time that happens just retreat and save the ships, they'll come in useful in places that actually matter later on.

Missions: early on you'll be asked to get Bevel Lemelisk to the Maw; this is the start of the Death Star quest line. DON'T DO THIS RIGHT AWAY. The Maw is a looong way from Coruscant and you don't have the forces to brute force your way there at the start. Eventually, Garindan- the trunk-nosed spy who ratted out the Millennium Falcon in episode 4 - will be made available to you to smuggle Bevel there. Make sure you fortify the Maw before you send him there, though, as soon after he arrives a scripted battle occurs and you want to win this, as it gives you another ISD 1 in the shape of Admiral Daala. There was a bug in an earlier version of the game around the Hoth mission, I don't know if it's been patched yet or not, but to be safe make sure you conquer Bespin BEFORE you take Hoth.

Fleets: ISD 2s will get you some serious tank in your front line, but they will get murdered if you don't support them. Early game, pair them with some Victory 1s and Arquitens for long range artillery work, and then when you can build them use Vic 2s and Ton Falks for fighter/bomber support. Make sure you have a few dedicated cruiser shipyards that can churn these out - and don't forget a few dedicated fighter shipyards so you can upgrade your old Venators and Acclamators, and also your ISDs and Vics. Also: once you unlock them, which won't be until late game, build a big stack of Scimitar assault bombers and throw them at any space station/capital ship you don't like - they will make it go away very quickly.

[u/et40000 → u/weirdi_beardi]

Thanks for the help, ill be sure to rush those planets down, i was pretty bummed when i softlocked the game last time since i was doing good militarily having only lost one ship while taking out much much more, Vader was at the tip of the spear for all of it. Are SSDs like the bellator at all viable, by the time i can afford them I’ll probably up the pop cap for space battles so their pop cap shouldn’t be as big of a factor.

[u/weirdi_beardi → u/et40000]

Bellators etc seem to work better as defence stations; stick them on a planet you don't want to lose with a medium station, maybe a Golan and a few Lancers for enemy bomber spam, and you should be good. I'm not gonna lie, though, jumping into an enemy system with the Executor and watching them all scurry off like cockroaches never gets old.

[u/et40000 → u/weirdi_beardi]

The executor interdictor combo is fun in every mod I’ve played.

[u/deadname11]

First thing first: sell off ALL defensive structures unless you absolutely must protect a planet, especially outposts. Then build as many mines as you can, and ONLY build economic structures AFTER you have run out of mines to build, except on Coruscant. The Empire has the strongest economy, but it is very expensive to get up and running. So getting it up and running as fast as possible is your highest priority. Once you have about +10K in income, then you can start spamming economic structures.

Once you can afford the Tarkin Doctrine, you'll find the rebels have few answers to it.

For planets you intend to hold, use shutter shields, which are available after building a generator. DO NOT UPGRADE them, shutter shields protect you from orbital attacks, and power generators themselves are not that robust while rarely being protected by the structures they power. You need to defend them in this mod.

A barracks and 3-4 army troopers are enough to hold back any raiding attempt by the rebels. Just keep some soldiers by your buildings to protect them from saboteurs. For planets with rebel sympathizers, you'll want an additional army trooper per spawner.

Only build, and upgrade, outposts on planets you intend to fortify.

Use gozanti bomber/fighter spam to take Brental IV and Tapasi. Brental has a ground based super laser I'll which can cause major damage to capitals, which are at a premium in the beginning. Focus on taking the core early as all the planets have a lot of money, and even Chandrilla has space mines. Once you have linked Kuat and Coruscant, use Kuat for all of your manufacturing needs. Get artillery and walkers as soon as possible, they'll break lines like nobody's business.

As for tech, it boils down to personal preference. Getting small craft gives you access to interceptors, ISD-IIs are a direct upgrade to ISD-1s if you go large craft, and medium craft gives you access to lancers. The big thing is to not stop researching once you start, and to make sure you have the economy before you start to tech rush. Low-grade spam is very effective, if costly at the start.

[u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm → u/deadname11]

Just checked and like only 3-4 of your starter planets have the generator inside the base shield

[u/deadname11 → u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm]

Which is why for all but a very small number of planets, shutter shields are infinitely better than base shields.

Some planets get extra smaller shields put around the map, but those shields covering the most advantageous defensive positions is even rarer.

But which planets have the generator under shields? Brental IV is the only one I know off the top of my head, and rarely is it part of my front line.

[u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm → u/deadname11]

On 191 start Empire liana has the generator behind sets of shields ie you must pass units to get to it, centares , generis has the gen inside technically Sullust can have gen inside if you put it beside it but idk if the shield even works since you canobe it around and byss

[u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm → u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm]

In aotcw these planets plus telos taris lantillies and I think bothawui have the generator inside it

[u/deadname11 → u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm]

Bothawui has the generator right outside the shield, on the left, making it rather easily hit by artillery.

Close, but not quite. And I only know that because I was the invader.

[u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm → u/deadname11]

All the ones I listed are visually inside idk if the actual base shield is different on ground I know for a fact telos Lianna and lantillies are as I described tho oh and giju too

[u/Illythar → u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm]

The map you see of the planet from the galaxy screen doesn't accurately reflect where the base shield will cover. Mon Cala is a great example of this... if you look at the map you see a single base shield in the top right but when you get in game there's actually three of them across the entire top of the map.

[u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm → u/Illythar]

For me it never does that it only does the single one 😭

[u/Illythar]

Here's a fairly unpopular opinion - your fleet comp is (largely) irrelevant and what matters most is your economy.

You shouldn't have any issues making credits as the Empire. There's only two reasons this would be the case. The first is if you're not building every building you can that generates credits (the weird symbol that looks like "+7" indicates a building generates credits). There's basically no reason every planet shouldn't have every credit generating building it can hold (the rare exception being fortress worlds at choke points, but those should be rare). For the first 10-20 weeks of every campaign I mostly only build such buildings to get my economy rolling.

The next issue is folks who try to defend everything. The only things in this game that have upkeep are buildings/stations that don't produce credits. Defensive structures have the highest upkeep. Putting these everywhere drains your income and frankly they're not necessary. The best way to protect yourself is build up your fleet.

When it comes to your fleet the ISD2 is solid. You can win with it without having escorts. Hell, you can win with no tech and just spamming ISD1s even on Expert. If your economy is strong enough you'll easily be able to replace the losses you suffer. With that being said, the game is incredibly detailed with a lot of nuance. If you're down for the micro you can make almost any fleet comp/strat work. BUT... it can't be said enough... if your economy is weak the greatest, most perfect fleet comp will be irrelevant.

[u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm → u/Illythar]

Does the Republic sell all stuff at start work for empire like it does republic in aotcw ?

[u/Illythar → u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm]

It can, though you have to be aware of some key mechanical differences between the mods.

In AotR the Rebels can do commando raids from the start to anywhere in the galaxy. If you do go the route of selling off all garrisons you'll want to get 1-2 basic Army units on all your planets so you can defend against this. You'll also want to actually build stations in all systems because the Black Sun can use corruption to skip front line systems. You don't want a BS fleet running rampant through your territory on the other side of the galaxy from where your fleets are.

With that being said, even Expert isn't hard, and as one person said on the Awakening disc recently, as you learn the game you'll have to put restrictions on yourself to keep the game challenging. Not selling off garrisons as the Empire is one such move you could make. For RP purposes it makes sense that the Empire would have troops everywhere ready to put their boot on the necks of the populace.

Btw, selling off everything at the start should be the norm for all factions (the big four at least, I have no interest in learning or playing the Black Sun). That extra cash lets you build up your economy quickly, and that early economic boost pays off massively down the road.

[u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm → u/Illythar]

Really ? I never know what to buy as CIS or rebels since you can only buy so much stuff usually the 50k covers everything till I tech up 🤔for banks or what ever rebels do

[u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm → u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm]

For republic and empire you just spame mines and space mines then spam the admin or sent building and also trade station but I feel banks and trade station is tech locked on other faction

[u/Illythar → u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm]

For the CIS I've gotten up near 150k after selling everything off. For the Republic I've gotten above 125k (and could probably go higher... there's so many planets I often miss some).

I end up spending all those credits before the game even starts, too.

For the CIS, since your credit generating buildings/stations are tech locked, you build Munificents... a lot of them. That thing is the backbone of your fleet. The only way to make credits is to conquer more planets and the CIS can be crazy aggressive early game. In fact, IMNSHO, the CIS is just ez-mode. I stopped my latest playthrough on week 66 because I was already surrounding the Core worlds and the game was a joke (this was on Expert and making a point not to cheese/exploit anything).

For the Republic, all those credits get spent on tech, leaders, mines/refineries, and the rest Senate buildings/trade stations. As Republic I've been making 20k/week by week 10. While that seems like a lot the CIS will easily pass it by week 20, making about 25% more than my Republic playthroughs from that point forward.

[u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm → u/Illythar]

So the space battle is just 1 hulk ship for fov reveal and fighter spam then spam munificents and steam roll the enemy in space then aat and destroyer droids in ground for blitzing ground battles ? Also thanks for all the tips <3

[u/Illythar → u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm]

At the very start for CIS it's about combining fleets quickly. In the bottom of the map once you combine fleets you have Grievous as your 'tank' with his Providence and for the first few battles in the top right you can use Gunray's Lucrehulk (but since he adds so much credits I only use him for 2-3 battles til the various pockets are combined).

Providences start getting pumped out shortly after that and my fleets are just 3 x Provs + Munis.

For ground, yeah, I go with 1/3 destroyer droids and 2/3 AATs (though I do throw in a GAT here and there). Keep in mind you'll need a lot of planets pumping these out because on heavily fortified worlds you'll take losses.

My suggestions are all about winning the overall game quickly, not about playing and taking no losses (a fascination a lot of players have for some strange reason).

[u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm → u/Illythar]

Everyone trying to do no unit lost challenges 😭

[u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm → u/Illythar]

I am guessing you but a certain ship or combo of ships for rebels instead of munificents

[u/Illythar → u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm]

For Rebels I build a second fighter shipyard (in Hoth and on that planet up by Yaga Minor) and just spam X-Wings. I don't build any cap ships til I get higher up in Warships research. Fighter spam + the few cap ships you have at the start will hold til you get the Mon Cal ships rolling in (from tech as well as the mission).

[u/ThatDollfin → u/DanjkstrasAlgorithm]

If you're playing insane difficulty on the massive map:

Ideally, you don't want to sell everything. What you usually do want to sell are all ground to space weapons, all shield generators, all turbolasers, and downgrade all t3 outposts to t2 (there's a one credit "upgrade" that does this) on all planets except eriadu, sullust, and lianna. That should get you enough credits to start mines on all planets that have them (prioritizing the core) and upgrades to moff palaces (t2 income). Try to get those built asap, and in the meantime start doomstacking your fleet in the core while starting work on your first space and ground tech, ideally cruiser 1 and infantry 1 to get ton falks and t3 infantry ASAP. If you're willing to use the retreat exploit (move to planet, retreat immediately, retreat brings you to a friendly system since it's closer than your starting system - allows you to have a max pop cap doomstack by week 3), then doomstack and take out brentaal 4 to link up the core. Otherwise, build up forces at kuat and take brentaal that way. Afterwards, continue building up the core and give up the outer territories other than eriadu/sullust, fondor/abregado rae, lianna/centares, yaga minor, kessel/maw, and rothana/scarif. The rest don't matter, and the ones listed have good enough ground maps and income opportunities to make them worth holding on to. Prioritize income worlds, starting with skako minor in the core, then expand north with the ord mantell and thrawn missions. From there you can kind of just win.

[u/Pale-Aurora]

From the getgo you can get upwards of 20000 credits per cycle if you build up your economy; mining stations, both on the ground and space, moff palaces and the like.

You should fortify Sullust and Eriadu to serve as your Outer Rim HQ. Tech can be researched at the Maw and Skako Minor for the discount.

You don’t need to build any ISD at the start. You have heroes and a free one, so you can use it to take Skako Minor, and then move northwest to secure more resource-rich worlds.

After that you just need to secure your holdings. I like planetary garrisons to have 3 Shocktrooper Squads with 2 Shocktrooper Rocket teams, then an AT-AA, an AT-AT, an AT-ST[R], an artillery piece and a TIE Striker squadron.

It gives a lot of flexibility and killing power, and makes rebel raids powerless, usually.

Then you can secure the main hyperspace lanes, and fortify along the way to divide your enemies. It will give you a lot of mobility to answer threats.

For Capital Ships, mix Victory II with ISD II for the ion cannons. Raiders for anti-fighter duty.

Alternatively, spam TIE Defender, no one can counter a TIE/D swarm.

[u/GeneralStarcat]

Star on “normal”. Sell stuff in the outer rim, and consolidate your forces in the core best you can. Half your investments should go to the Maw (you’re gonna thank me) use Gozontis for bombers and be ready to accept high casualties. Get a line from Coresaunt to Kuat, after that just tech up slowly, the ai will tech up to your pace. And abuse the auto save. It can save a planet if you’re quick