Note: These hints were written with an early version of my set of house rules for FITG in mind (Freedom in the Galaxy 2.0, Reuter version). Nevertheless much of the advice below can be applied to the original game as well.

BEGINNER'S NOTES

Both Players in Freedom in the Galaxy have the chance to ease their game a lot by spending some time thinking and preparing BEFORE the game starts.

Though Freedom in the Galaxy has a lot of randomness, there is still a lot you can plan or at least think about and prepare in advance. Maybe it is because the game can seem to be such a random affair, that this kind of pre-game planning pays off so well. It will give yourself some guidlines about what you want to achieve and what your limits are so you will not get sidetracked later on by the myrriads of things that can happen once the game commences.

Lets start with the Empire. Not just because the Empire sets up first (the set up is to some extent a fairly trivial and temporary measure anyway), but because it is defensive and passive during the early game, building its defense against the Rebels and then waiting for where it will be challenged first. Once we have seen how to build these defenses, we can start to think how to dismantle them with the Rebels.

Throughout the Beginner's Notes I will use the terms 'Prime Systems' and 'Outer Rim Systems' A 'Prime System' is a System with a Capital, Throne or home of a Starfaring Race. These are the Systems the Empire can fly to even if the Strategic Assignment does not name them. An 'Outer Rim System' is a System without these properties, i.e. the Imperial Player can only fly there, when the Strategic Assignment names the province of that System.

EMPIRE

Military units

Task

To prepare for the Empire is much more difficult than to prepare for the Rebel Player. The Rebel Player has 20 characters, 20 possessions, complete freedom of movement and the initiative during the early game. The Empire has 51 Planets of various importance, over 100 military units, its 12 characters, restricted movement and no way of predicting where the Rebel Player will strike neither can it really prevent it. On one hand the Empire has fixed assets which it has to protect on the other hand it must prepare some forces to be used offensive without actually knowing where it finally get that chance to act offensive. These two main issues, guarding of your assets and be ready to strike out at the Rebel Player at any opportunity that might arise are difficult to balance. Use too much for guarding duties of your key worlds and the Rebel Player will have an even freer hand on all other Planets, use too little for guarding and he can target your key Planets directly. Often units have to serve both functions and it takes a bit of time to get a feeling when to switch between roles.

Deployment Plan

How to get started now?

The first step to do is to draw the Planet Secrets and then take the whole Imperial countermix into account to determine how you want (or better have to) use it. You have to take a look where are the Planets you want to protect and then decide which units of your force pool shall do it.

The first step to do is NOT to take the 35+ points per province allowed and place them on the map. That is not playing, it is just muddling through the game step by step and turn by turn as the rules instruct you to do. It lacks a plan, it lacks aim, it lacks any judgement what has to be done. Your forces at start are a mere temporary affair. Don't be fooled that the Strategic Assignment is that much of a hurdle that your initial setup will last more than three or four turns in the disarray it starts. Your taxation can ensure, that after turn four all that will be left in your force-pool are mainly Elite and Atrocity units. And a couple of turns later and you can have your force-pool empty if you want.

Plan your game with your whole force-pool in mind. This means including your characters. Sure, no plan survives enemy contact, but till this contact occurs, till the Rebel Player has his own military forces, it will take some time. You will have to adjust your intial plans later on as necessary, but you need an initial plan to at least have something that you can adjust.

So lets think which Planets are important to you?

Cruicial Worlds

Obviously the Throne and Capital worlds, both for their VPs and their ability to tax your provinces (and in the Armageddon Scenario for their political value). As those are almost immune to domino effects, all the Rebel Player could do to take them away is to land on them and drag them by hand from Patriotic down. Anything else can be reached by domino effect from somewhere else at least in theory and is difficult to protect just by troops. Not so the Capitals and Throne. Also later on during the game, they will be the staging areas for those troops, that shall react to the first Rebellions using the rules of 'Local Alarm'. Therefore, very likely guarding them will happen by default to some extent anyway.

The homes of Star-faring races are next obvious. Do not over-estimate the domino effect they can create, some races (Xanthons for instance) are so rare it makes little difference on which of their four Planets troubles start. However, they are all worth 3VPs and with some races, their domino effect actually CAN be nasty. Again, Home-Planets are immune to most domino effects (only Planets in their own System influence them) so again they can be protected a bit by troops.

Easy to miss for the beginner is, that there are some Planet Secrets which are so important that I would rather choose to lose the Throne World than these. The IPOC is something most beginners seem to grasp at once. However, in my hierarchy even the IPOC ranks below the Gem, Slave and Industry Worlds. These three worlds each give you 25 points per se in five turns. Any other Planet will be taxed ONCE in the same time - at half value - if you do not have to forego its revenue completely to shift its loyalty up. These three are the backbone of you financial basis. Keep them at all cost.

There are couple of other Secrets, which should be guarded at least during the early stages of the game. The Trap! ranks very high for that for me, next would be the Imperial Archives and maybe Casino Galactica, maybe Imperial Deltronics are worth a thought too. Some of them lose their value after the Rebel Player has succeeded with some kind of missions on them or got his Possessions together but till then you have to think if you want to make it easy for the Rebel to get down on them to perform those missions or not.

Also a point overlooked by beginners is, that each Secret in an Outer Rim System should have a mobile unit and a 0 PDB at the start of the game. The Trap! is the big deterrent for the Rebel Player at first to fly to every single Secret in the Outer Rim Systems. The Trap! of cause needs a level 0 PDB to be able to detected Rebel spaceships and be effective at all. And a mobile unit is handy to transport possible captured characters away. But if you just put a PDB and a mobile unit on the Trap!, even lousy opponents will get the idea where the Trap! is not. Don't give that info away for free. Many secrets lie along important space-lanes and when the Rebel can not land on them safely, he may lose some time in the early game trying to fly around them.

Of lower importance, but still to mention are Coup ratings. Coups can backfire, but on a Patriotic Planet, that backlash matters nil for the Rebel Player. But even one little Militia will be a big deterrent for the Rebel Player to risk a coup as the whole group can be captured and some form of mobile unit to threaten to bring them away would be a bonus. Some people may wish to guard the orbit box over certain sovereigns on Rim Planets, Nam Nuhk or Yaldor for instance, so they can intercept the units these could contribute to the Rebel cause.

One thing you should not forget is that in the first two or three turns you maybe will need some military unit(s) to get your mission groups together. For details about that read farther below about Imperial characters, but already here it can be said that some Veteran or better yet an Elite Navy on Diomas and/or Orlog during initial setup might be necessary.

Last to mention is, that from a certain point of the game on, you will need troops not only to guard planets, but also to attack the Rebel Player. You will see that your forces will already be spread very thin if you want to guard all the places I mentioned above. But still, one turn in the future you must have the troops in place to attack Rebel units and crush Rebellions. Not at the start of the game, but you should already think, which units you will spare for that matter. As a beginner, it is a good idea to reserve your Elite units for that. They will usually arrive later in the game (you can build two at most per turn and they cost maintainance each turn) while almost everybody else can be ready within turn four to garrison and protect your important planets.

So these are the things for your units to do during your game. And you barely have enough units to get all jobs done. There is no perfect way to do it and it depends a lot how the game develops, but if you at least have a plan how to guard your assets AND maintain some reserves, you at least will not blunder around with your units in some remote insignificant corner of the galaxy while the Rebel Player wins the game somewhere where it counts.

Initial Setup

Now, after you have this idea how you want to arrange your troops ideally, now you can bother to spend your initial 210 points. But this will only serve one purpose: to provide you a list of which units still lack and where to buy and put them. And an idea how the first couple of Strategic Assignments should be arranged.

With PDBs, I usually do not have the points to spare at start for anything better than a 0 PDB on all Secrets and planets worth more than one VP. Later on, these are raised each time the province is taxable while any other Inner Planet may get a level 0 PDB at most and Outer Rim Planets very often nothing at all. You could of cause raise all the Outer Rim planets to level 1 and make life difficult for ships like the Freighter or Solar Merchant, but it will cost you a real lot of points to do so. As well could you raise all Planets in Prime Systems to level 0 to help you hunt Rebels there, but the net effect will be not very much. In general, do not over-estimate what your PDBs can do for you without troops to back them up. With regards to the units you buy at the start of the game, I am not even writing how to do that. They are just the first step of your forces and soon it will not matter at all any more what you bought where.

Pay instead attention to your Strategic Assignment. As you have no way to predict how the game develops, you can not do much wrong (or right) here. Furthermore, the Historic Event 'Imperial Senate Disbanded' will give you the chance to rearrange your Assignment Deck completely new. So at first, try just to arrange the Deck in such a way, that you will be able to get your defences up, i.e. deploy your forces the way you want. This is why you already need an idea before the game starts where you want which troops. This initial arrangement of the Strategic Assignment Deck has to be coordinated with how much taxation you get when and also with the first couple of Historic Events of Game Turns one to three. After that, it pays off to have the Cards connect to each other. You can worm your way through the Galaxy or you can fan out from province one to the other provinces or use a combination. But if the last couple of cards do not match any more, it won't be a disaster, very likely by that time, 'Imperial Senate Disbanded' will have made your initial Deck obsolete anyway.

Gameplay

Now, how are your units usually used during the game:

Use your characters for missions during the early game. The guy who wrote in the original Imperial hints they are good for nothing has little inkling about the game.

You have three proper diplomats (Dermond, the Emperor and Gelba) to perform D missions while your many good leaders can try their luck with C missions. Also think about doing I missions from the start of the game. It will maybe not reveal the secret base for you, but will after some time reduce the choices the Rebel Player can offer you for one I drawn. Once he has revealed a couple of Supply Conduits and gave you the free choice of atrocity (which you will just keep to block that choice) all that is left for him is grant you freedom of movement for one I. That can be very handy on occasions. Just make sure that you in fact have a good unit to threaten to move with whenever you go on an I mission.

Take a look how you could combine your characters in the example below. Usually, I let most of my characters follow the Strategic Assignment. If you take province four as an example, there are only two Prime Systems (three planets) you can fly to without the Strategic Assignment. Once all of these are Patriotic, you need an I mission to get away, wasting maybe precious time. On the other hand, some provinces have so much work at hand for Imperial characters, that you can leave a group behind and keep it occupied till the province is in the Strategic Assignment again. Province Three and Five are good example for this, later on also Province One. If the IPOC or Slave World (both in Outer Rim Systems) are low on Loyalty, you can leave a group there till it is Patriotic, then fly to a Prime System to find work there or the Capital to get away with an I mission.

One future turn there will be the need to remove some of your characters from mission groups to lead units in battle. Prepare for this ahead.

Now to your military units.

Those in Prime Sysems can be used a bit flexible. You still have to guard some Planets there, but you can occasionally thin your defensed out to put pressure on Rebels showing up in Prime Systems in the hope to get lucky and bag them in. Chances are low, the Rebel Player will only use his best ships on these Planets, usually all three at the same time in one province, but you should try your best. If you get lucky, it will help you a lot. And it will keep the Rebel Player jumpy even if you don't get lucky.

Those on Outer Rim Planets (IPOC, Slave World, some Coup Ratings and unrevealed secrets ...) have to stay put to interfere with any Rebels trying to get to the assets they guard. You can not send them to Prime Systems temporarily, as that direction is one way only (until the Strategic Assignment names that province again). However, some of these troops will become free to be used elsewhere after some time. Once the Trap! is revealed, all those mobile units to bluff at other secrets are not needed any more in that role. Once the Rebel Player got an I on the Archives or the Trap! the Planets become mainly useless etc. etc.. These troops can be used to bolster your defences of other important places or can be put on a Capital to have them ready as part of your reaction force against future Rebellions.

Regularly, you will strip some of your defences to stomp out Rebel Camps once the Strategic Assignment allows so. Mass your troops, stomp the Camp and fly back to your usual post again, don't let the Camp go on.

After some time, the first Rebellions will occur. They will unlikely occur within the Strategic Assignment so be prepared. Units at the respective Capitals should be ready. Rebellions in Outer Rim Systems can be reached only from the respective Capitals and the Rebel Player knows that. You can send anybody from the Capital to the Rebellion and reinforce the Capital from within the Province, but there has to be a suitable force on the Capital to react to Rebellions. As said, think in time of diverting leaders too.

Which units to have as this kind of fire brigade? I earmark almost all of my Elites for that purpose, three of them per province on average. They are reliable and they will not suffer losses easily. Also the units which I received from obsolete Secrets (see above) are good for the reaction force. Depending on the province, these can be another three to four units in that province. Together with thinning out your defences, you can have up to eight units maybe in a province free to react to Rebellions. At first enough to prevent any Rebel units from escaping (before they learn how to conduct Escape Moves that is). Keep in mind that you will have to leave a garrison behind to prevent the Planet from switching to Rebel Control. Two M would be perfect, anything more fancy you will lack in later battles.

However, one turn it will happen that the big trouble arrives. There is one new Rebellion in a province started, of cause by Rayner Derban. At the same time, Rebel units built via Supply Conduits destroy units you left as garrisons on two Planets in Rebellion in the same province. Both these Planets have a formidable stack in Orbit to interdict you, one with Ly Mantok. You are just happy that the other two R missions the Rebel Player did in that Province this turn failed. Three Planets in Rebellion with only eight units and Saytar to lead them. Maybe you have to thin out your defences even more?

But this is only the first sign of doom. Maybe you will manage to keep two Planets out of Rebellion, the third will slip into Rebel Control. And you can bet the domino Effect will put his neighbour into Rebellion too, the fourth now within one turn and all the troops you can spare in that province are already involved in battles, your defences thinned out to the minimum. But at least now, you can ask other provinces to assist you and send troops to your Capital due to Provincial Crisis.

At this point of the game, it is difficult to give advice how to act. It will depend a lot on how the situation has developed till then overall. On the other hand, when you have played that far, you should not need advice any more.

So let us take a look at an example how I would prepare for a hypothetical game.

EXAMPLE

Here a communique sent by Redjac, Headmaster of the Imperial Knights to Barca, Grand Marshal of the Imperial Army:

From: Redjac, Head of the Order of the Imperial Knights

To: Admiral Barca, Grand Marshal of the Imperial Army

By the Emperor,

With this Standard Cycle, his Godness the Emperor Creguya of Orlog has passed the 'Resolution of Internal Strength' to put in the Empire's hands those means necessary to defend itself against all threats alien as well as internal, future and present.

Built up is to be commenced as with this resolution. Please find attached the detailed plans for mobilization, training and deployment of our forces as laid out therein. You are to organize these forces as stated in these plans within the next 4 Standard Cycles, five at most. All resources necessary for this built-up will be made available asap. Please find the Order of Taxation and Conscription and the Strategic Assignment attached in subfile B-00.02.

The present forces are to reorganize in compliance with these plans. The 'Systems Defence Act' has been revoked, you are free to reassign current Planetary Defence Forces as deemed fit and integrate them into the new deployment of forces as feasible.

Your objections against the transformation and expansion of the Order of Imperial Knights from a Royal Security Force to a regular Army formation have been brought before his Godness the Emperor. It is his Majesty's will however, to make the Imperial Knights the new vanguard of his might. Your personal cooperation has been ordered by the Emperor on this issue.

Signed in the absence of the Emperor in his name,

Redjac, Head of the Imperial Knights

IMPERIAL SCHEDULE

PROVINCE ONE			Start (PDB/units)	Final
111	KAYNS		- M	LPM
112			- PM
113	? Drug World	c	- MM	MM
121			- P
122	SEGUNDENS		0 M	LPM
131	? Imp. Deltronics		0 VM	VM
141		e.r	- P
142			- L
143	? Living Planet		0 P	P
151			- P
152	CAPITAL		0 VM Dermond	VPM
161			- L
162	THRONE		0 VV Emp, Thysa, Barca	LPM
163			- L
			4V 3L 5P 7M	2V 3L 5P 7M
PROVINCE TWO
211	YESTERS		0 M	LPM
212	? Welcome Rebels	e.i	- M
221	? Trap!		0 V	VLPM
222	? IPOC	c	0 LM Redjac	VLPM
223		e.i	- P
231		e.i	- P
232			- L
241	CAPITAL	c	0 M Saytar	VPMM
			1V 2L 2P 4M	3V 3L 4P 5M
PROVINCE THREE
311	CAPITAL		0 P Jon Kidu	LLM
312	? Clone World	e.r	- P Jin Voles
321	SAURIANS		0 M	LPM
322		e.n	- L
323			- P
331	? Casino Galactica	c	0 PM	VLPM
341	? Slave World	c	0 LM	VLPMM
342			- P
351	SUVANS	e.n	- M	LPM
352	? Gem World		0 M	VPM
			-V 2L 5P 5M	3V 6L 5P 7M
PROVINCE FOUR
411	CAPITAL		0 V Telmen	VVM
412		e.i	- M
421		c	- LM	LM
431			- P
432		c	- LM	LM
433			- L
441		e.r	- L
442	? Dead World		0 P Els Taroff	P
451	PIORADS		0 M	LPM
total			1V 2L 2P 4M	2V 3L 2P 4M
PROVINCE FIVE
511		e.r	- P
512	? Industry World	c	0 M	VPMM
513	XANTHONS		0 L	LPM
521	? Mutant World	e.n	0 P	P
522	? Imp. Archieves		0 LM Vans Ka-Tie-A	VLPM
523		c	- M	PM
531	? Hyper World		0 P	P
541	? Empire Forever	e.n	- P
542	CAPITAL		0 P Gelba	VPM
551		c	- M	PM
total			-V 2L 5P 4M	3V 2L 8P 7M

Strategic Assignment

turn	tax	assignment
1	none	1-5
2	two	1-2
3	three	1-3
4	four	1-4
5	five	4-5
6	one	5-2
7	two	2-3
8	three	3-1
9	four	1-4
10	five	1-5
11	one	1-2
12	two	2-3
13	three	3-4
14	four	4-5
15	five
16	one
17	two
18	three
19	four
20	five

Characters:

Redjac, Emperor, R.'s Ship

Dermond, Taroff, Telmen, Ship

Gelba, Thysa, Ka-Tie-A, Ship

Jon Kidu, Jin Voles, Ship, N

Barca, Saytar, N

Notes:

M = Militia

P = Patrol

L = Line

V = Veteran

Military units (final)

The first step for me was, to put a Veteran, Patrol and Militia on all Capitals and a Line, Patrol and Militia on all Home-Planets, all to be put in the Orbit Boxes. From there, the Veteran/Line can go down in a reaction move together with the loaded Militia should any Rebels dare to land and become detected.

A Line and a Patrol might look not very much, but the Rebel Player will have to guess where the dangerous Veterans are and where not, as all stacks look the same. I can switch these stacks regularly during the game to keep him further guessing, but once the first Rebellions loom on the horizon, I will have to think more carefully which units to put on the Capital. Though they are mainly to guard the Planet, if I am short of troops they might be the last I can throw against a Rebellion in due time.

Next I put a strong stack on the IPOC and the Slave world - a Veteran, a Line a Patrol and a Militia each. The Veteran and Patrol in Orbit to give two shifts on the detection table, the Line and Militia to search on the ground. These stacks have to be strong and self-sufficient as both Planets are in Outer Rim Systems and are difficult to reinforce. Should the PDB get knocked out, these units also pack 8 points of space strength, enough to replace the PDB and still get one shift.

I do the same with the Trap! also an Outer Rim World. This will of cause give away, that this is an important Secret. The other option would have been, to put just one unit in Orbit (a Veteran) to pass the Planet off as 'just another Secret'. However, I deem it more important to make it difficult for the Rebel Player to do an I mission on the Planet than the slim chance I can bag in a careless mission group approaching the Planet without Professor Mareg or the Advisor Android. I usually assume my opponent avoids such blunders. I would love to put similar stacks on the Imperial Archives and Casino Galactica, but this will have to wait if I can spare the units.

Next I put a Veteran, Patrol, Militia stack in the Orbits of the Industry and Gem Worlds. These stacks can be slightly weaker than on the IPOC and Slave world, as they are in Prime Systems and can be reinforced. Should Rebels land, I can fly in a Line from somewhere else to make life difficult for the Rebel.

With the most important Planets now protected, I continue with the less important ones.

Each Secret in an Outer Rim System has to have its mobile unit to pass it off as the Trap! I put a Patrol in each Orbit except Imperial Deltronics. The Imperial Deltronics are a nice chance to shoot down some careless Rebel ships. By putting a Veteran in Orbit I will get a nice fleet detachment to attack with. However I do consider this just a nice trick, not really important to my game and should I need that unit elsewhere, I will recall it without second thought. This in mind, I decide to thin out the Throne World a bit, replacing the Veteran there with a Line as the Veteran on the Deltronics is just one jump point away if need arises.

I see that I still have enough units to strengthen the Casino Galactica and the Imperial Archieves, so I add a Veteran to the Orbits and a Line and Militia on the ground to each Planet.

Next, I like to protect the coup rates with two units minimum. If a planet already has units in Orbit, I just add a Militia which will stay in the environ with the coup, on the Slave World I add it even though there are already units to give the Line there freedom of movement on the Planet. All the other coups, I have to think a bit. Ideally I would place a Patrol and a Militia on each, the Militia protects against 'Locals Raid Enemy Forces' the Patrol threatens to transport characters away foolish enough to go o a C mission. However, I am running out of Patrols, but I still have a couple of Lines left over instead. How to use these last units?

In a situation like this, I like to check a bit which Province already has how many units. Each Province needs a certain amount of good units (Veteran and Lines) even if there are few important planets just to be able to react to Rebellions, browse Prime Systems for Rebel characters showing up there and to destroy Rebel Camps. It turns out (as so often) that province four is fairly empty with only one Veteran and one Line. That is okay when it comes to guarding the assets there as there are few of importance in Province Four, but on the other hand, the Piorads are notorious troublemakers. Especially in this game, with Tartio being the Dead World, I expect them to come at me rather early in the game, along with Yarro Latac and Nam Nhuk joining the fray. I should add another Veteran and Line at least to be prepared.

I add a Line with a Militia with each of the two coups in Province Four. Furthermore, I decide to take away one Veteran from the Capital of Province Three and replace it with a Line, as province three is bristling with units (there is an exceptional concentration of important Secrets in Province Three this game). I replace the Patrol on Troliso with it, freeing another Patrol for a Coup and strengthening Province four a bit.

The two unguarded coups in Province Five receive one Patrol and Militia each. The Coup on Fliad, I guard with two Militias only. It is in a Prime System, where I can send in units to pick up captured Rebels.

Except my special units (Elite, Special Ops and Atrocity) I have five Militias left. I will reserve these to be used in conjunction with Elite units. I plan to put at least one Elite unit on every Capital with a Militia early on. Should I go on an I mission on any Planet in the hope of revealing Supply Conduits, the Rebel Player will have to think if he wants to grant me freedom of movement instead. I could then cast an Elite Navy unit with a Militia into the Orbit above the Freighter or Merchant, posing a serious threat to them during take-off. The Militias are necessary to protect against 'Locals Raid Enemy Forces'. Maybe I will later recall one Militia from Fliad for that use and put another Elite on Orlog.

One Elite unit will be used as a transport for Barca and Saytar.

Last I take a look at the Provinces. Province One and Four are fairly empty for their size, they will receive Elite units first to bolster their defences. The Clone World is totally unprotected. However, it is not nearly as important as during the original game so I can live with that. Once the Rebel Player has most of his Possessions, I can think about switching the forces from Casino Glactica to the Clone World should it become important for the Rebel Player.

With that I consider my preparation done. Enough units to guard each important Planet and occasionally a couple of units in addition, leaving all Elite and other Special units free to deploy as necessity arises. I don't want to say this is the only way, you could as well include some or all Elite units in your plan or leave other units out, but I like to do it this way. Elite units tickle in slowly as you just can build two per turn and as the game develops, you will get some ideas where they may be used best.

However you can already think a bit what you could do with your remaining special units.

Another use for new Elite units is to replace a Veteran unit guarding an important Planet. The IPOC and Slave World come to mind as they are very important, but in Outer Rim Systems, deserving the best protection one can afford. The replaced Veteran can then be sent to the Capital, waiting for Rebellions to crop up. In general however you see, that these last 16 strong units in one way or the other will finally be my vanguard against the Rebellion.

Don't wait too long to build your Elite units. It is true that they require maintenance. However it is also true, that you can only build two per turn. If you spend turns 1-4 only building all other units, it will be turn 12 that your last Elite arrives.

[Data regarding Special Ops and Atrocity units require security clearance indigo or higher]

A lot what is written above looks a bit off-the-cuff and arbitrary. This in fact is true in some cases. The Empire has no way of telling how exactly the game will develop. My concerns for Province Four might prove totally useless, the Rebel Player may postpone Rebellions there (maybe because of my setup) and concentrate on another Province. As said, you will have to adjust your plans to the development of the game. However, it is better to at least have a plan to change than just muddle through from turn to turn to turn. If you prefer it that way, at least make sure your opponent still enjoys the game.

Characters

How to group your characters. Well, it is a good idea to group them in a way then can survive missions. For the Rebel Player, this means a total Strength of eight or higher for me (more on that in the Rebel section) and though the Imperial Player has not to fear Sentry Robots in the early game at least, he should heed the same advice.

I like to group Barca and Saytar. They are the best leaders and I get two of these when I dissolve that group. They usually get some military units and either go on coup missions or gather information (especially when their units could do some damage somewhere).

I like Senator Dermond with Els Taroff and Telmen. This mission group has a combat strength of ten, ensuring that Dermond can go almost every turn on Diplomacy, even if somebody is gets wounded. Els Taroff provides navigation as good as it gets.

The Emperor fits good with Redjac. Strength eight, decent diplomacy rating and also not bad at summoning sovereigns.

The third diplomatic group would be Vans Ka-Tie-A, Gelba and Thysa Kymbo. Thysa looks a bit deplaced, but I like her one point of combat strength here. Also her Intelligence is a boon to that group.

Jon Kidu and jin Voles are a nice team for Coups, Gather Information and maybe - Assassination.

As said, Barca and Saytar can start to work as leaders almost any time. Once more leaders are needed however, there has to occur some shuffeling. However, the Empire can come up with new combinations fairly easy and there are a lot of options. For example I would guess Telmen and Jon Kidu being the next two mobilized together, with Jin Voles either replacing Telmen with Senator Dermond (raising that group to a whooping eleven strength points) or a much more thorough reorganization to spread combat strength more even and optimize navigation (e.g.: Dermond+Vans+Taroff / Emperor+Thysa+Redjac / Gelba+Voles). Or just mobilizing one of the two and continuing with four mission groups, thinned out a bit strength-wise (e.g. Barca, Saytar and Telmen as leaders and the groups like: Emperor+Redjac / Dermond+Voles+Thysa / Gelba+Vans / Kidu+Taroff).

Just try a bit to mobilize those as leaders first, that have little other use (i.e. no diplomacy rating to mention, low combat strength, bad navigation). It pays off to calculate a bit before you sort someone out.

Initial Setup and Strategic Assignment

As said, this is almost trivial. Just make sure every Secret, Capital, the Throne and Home-Planet gets a 0 PDB and you fulfil the one unit per Planet requirement. Put mobile units on Planets you do not want to guard anyway and move them to Prime Systems asap. I have lost sometimes a Line to 'Locals Raid Enemy Forces' because I waited (in fact without a real chance of finding the Rebel characters anyway). Many Planets will start with a Militia only, put them on Planets that will have to receive on anyway or at least in Prime Systems, it saves you a lot of logistic hassle later. Make sure that your characters have the mobile units needed to combine them as fast as possible. If you can manage, try to prepare against events like 'Imperial Deltronics recall standard spaceships' by putting even your Knights with a mobile unit.

Once you have done your initial setup, there is one purpose it can serve: to tell you how to start your Strategic Assignment Deck. A few sentences on that. You have no chance to predict the next fourteen turns, so don't bother too much about them. Get a nice connecting path (worming, fanning, both, whatever) and try a bit that no province is out of assignment for too long. However, the first couple of turns, you should plan a bit to get your forces into position as fast as possible. Take a look at which province lacks most units for its final setup or holds the planets most dear to you and put it early under the Strategic Assignment. Fanning out from Province One during the first couple of turns is not a bad idea. Remember that Province One may always raise new units during the Resource Phase, so if you empty Province One in one turn to support another one, you can replace these units the next turn (barring a preventing Galactic Event).

REBELS

The Rebels are a lot easier to prepare than the Empire. You do not have to predict which Planet could come under what kind of threat, you are the threat. You do not have to guess were in the next five turn the attack will come from, you mount that attack. And when you don't want to continue it, you disengage. Of cause an idealized version of how the game will be for you - but not too much.

In one respect however, the Rebels are more demanding and this is in the fine-tuning of the meagre forces they begin the game with. And it is astonishing how often I have seen Rebel Players putting no thought at all in how to put the little forces they have to the best use. If the Imperial Player misplaces a unit or two (or three or four) it will not ruin his day. Most of his plan is at best just guessing anyway. But to the Rebel Player, one mission group fewer because of sub-optimal combination of characters is a loss of more than 10% of your power. The two heaps of junk (the Freighter and the Merchant) not utilized are 25% of your mobility just thrown away. Two of your three dedicated diplomats in the same mission group? A waste of 33% of your core diplomatic corps. And I have seen that all, it is amazing how often I have seen groups thrown together at random and then expecting to make progress.

To make it clear: The Rebel Player has only 20 characters and 20 possessions for a very, very long part of the game. And to make it worse it is the beginning stage. You do not optimize your strength during that time, you maybe never will leave that stage.

These 40 cards are all you have. 40 cards, not 20. Whoever just thought he can leave out his possessions during his preparation just qualified for his 'Yes I of cause just need 50% of my stuff to lose this game'-award. These 40 cards will be all you have for a very long time. The basic question that you should ask yourself isn't when you will get them (or if). They may come later, they better come earlier, but after a couple of turns they will be all yours. You do P and G and they trickle in, this is out of question. The question you should ask yourself isn't either, how are you going to use them. That is written in the rules. The real question is: How much can I get out of them pushed to the limit and then a bit.

My answer would be: Nine mission groups. Four on your three best ships to stir troubles in Prime Systems and maybe heavily guarded Planets. The other five in the remaining ships responsible for everything else in the Outer Rim Systems.

It is only the way I arrange my characters and possessions and there are a lot of variations possible, but if you manage less you should ask yourself why. It can't be because I have more cards than you, I own the same game. It can't be because they are still in the deck, because that is what P and G missions are made to solve for you. It can't be because you can not get them together, because your characters ain't nailed to the board on their home-planets. And it also can't be because the task is so overwhelming, because I start with the same forces as you and manage it in the first couple of turns with some shuffling around. And though it is not trivial, it is also not too complicated to come up with good mission groups. It is just 40 cards you have to arrange till you get no more out of them. And though not being trivial, this arrangement of your characters and possessions has a couple of parameters determining very fast, if a combination is useful or not. All you need is a plan what you want to achieve and then work towards that end.

First of all, you have to realize that though you have much freedom of movement, you do not have the time to meet for every single mission anew to get your act together. You have to form groups, which can act on their own without needing help from another group every turn. That will happen anyway once and then when you suffer wounds and a character has to heal, but if it becomes your stable diet that regularly two groups of two characters have to meet every time to go on one mission they will do at most half the work two groups of two could do if they were designed proper.

What does it now take for a group to be able to stand on its own? There are three basic parameters.

First, they need sufficient combat strength to survive hostile locals, creatures and sentry robots. Squads are not really a consideration. Squads can be avoided by just staying away from enemy stacks too big. Locals and creatures can't be avoided. And though the game now isn't lethal any more, your characters are as useless while captured, incarcerated or incapacitated as they would be when dead.

Second, they need transport. A seat in a ship and someone to fly it as best as you can manage.

Third, they need the skills for the job to be done. And the main job for a big part will be D and B. All other missions have their time and their use, but D and B is what is the mainstay. D needs diplomacy rating, B needs leadership. And R, once it becomes an issue, needs leadership too.

These are the three parameters that make a mostly self-sufficcient mission group. Besides these basic parameters, there are two categorizations of mission groups that will have an impact on the design of your groups. Shall it be geared to target Prime Systems, where the Imperial Player may interfere with his units, or will it target the Outer Rim, where it is largely undisturbed? Let us take a look at the different needs and roles of these two groups.

The Prime System Groups need the best ships you can get, backed up with everything you have that works against enemy searches, detection routine and PBDs. Furthermore, I also back them up with everything that will help them on their missions. These groups in my opinion need success fast for staying too long in one place of Prime Systems just invites troubles. B missions are not really suitable for these groups, as Camps in Prime Systems cease fast. D is what they will go for. Once a Planet is out of Patriotic and subjectable to Domino Effects, a lot is achieved already.

Outer Rim groups on the other hand have none of this pressure. The worst that usually happens to them is, that the Strategic Assignment names the province they are in, which only means they have to pack up and go to one of the other three provinces. B missions are as viable for these groups as D missions. Occasionally a unit will be sent after them through an I mission.

That is already all that there is to it. There are a lot of ways how you can combine your characters and possessions along these four parameters. However, without any thought to what you want to achieve, without any idea what your mission groups should look like in the end, all you will do is throw people together randomly from turn to turn. That is not playing, it is just muddling through the game. It lacks a plan, it lacks aim, it lacks any judgement what has to be done. Your at-start characters are a mere temporary affair. What counts is the whole set of them assembled as you think they will be most efficient.

If this sounds familiar, you read almost the same sentence for the Imperial Player. There are after all some things that stay the same for everybody, one being the player making less mistakes usually wins.

As with the Imperial Player, lets look at an example, how the 40 Rebel Cards could be combined.

EXAMPLE

Here an internal rebel communique:

Status Report - Galacty Cycle 5
Imperial Strategic Assignment: Province One and Two
Ship:	Operatives:	Location / Mission:
S-XIII	Yarro Latac (Norrocks, Personal Body Shield)	Tamset/Wild - D
	Oneste Woada (Charsot)
Stellar Courrier	Ran Jayma	Suti/Subt. - D
	Vudot Vodot (Scanner, Medi Kit of Ptolus, Advisor Android)
	Drakir Grebb
Explorer	Scott Rubel	Tsipa/Urban - D
	Doctor Sontag (Cache of Rare Gems, Scrambler)
	Bridne Murcada (Assassine's Blade)
	Frun Sentel	Tsipa/Urban - B
	Sidir Ganang
Planetary Privateer	Boccanegra	Midest/Orbit - none
	Professor Mareg (Helian Drug)	(revealed Slave World, guarded heavily)
Star Cruiser	Ly Mantok	Lonica/Urban - B
	Odene Hobar
Interstellar Sloop	Rayner Derban (Cervac Mk V)	Scythia/Fire - B & D
	Adam Starlight	(Hyper World)
Solar Merchant	Tourag	Scythia/Fire - B & D
	Agan Rafa (wounded, healing)	(assist group Derban, raise strength)
Galactic Frighter	Kogus (High Energy Sniper's Rifle)	Niconi/Wild - B
	Zina Adora

How and why were the characters and possessions grouped like shown in the example.

Strength:

As you can see, every group except one has a combat strength of eight. When you take a look at the irate locals chart you see, very few are rated higher than seven. With regard to creatures the most common one - Sentry Robots - also yields a strength of seven. Also when you go through the Galactic Guide, you will see that few creatures are higher than strength seven those that do all have some limitations or disadvantages in combat. Finally, the squad strength of two Militias guarding a coup is also only six.

With very few exceptions, a strength of eight puts you on the -1 table during the first round of attack. Even if you fail to break off, you are more likely to hurt the attacking creature/local than the other way round. Defeat is very unlikely for you under these circumstances. This is why I consider a strength of eight to be sufficient.

The only group with a Strength below eight is Yarro Latac and Oneste Woada, with a mere four even with the Norroks added. However, because of the special abilities combined, this group will not be attacked by locals or creatures. The group is however very vulnerable to enemy squads and should avoid enemy units at all cost.

Navigation:

Half of the ships have pilots with a Navigation of five (the S-XIII raising Yarro Latac's stat) the other half a Navigation of Four (Kogu's rating raised while with Zina Adora). All in all there are only nine characters with these ratings, so you must try a bit till everything fits.

Skills:

Two ratings are of prime importance to consider. Diplomacy for D missions and leadership for B missions. A diplomacy rating of two is already fairly good, more being excellent. It protects from those Action Results already, which backfire on Diplomacy missions. For the Rebel Player, also a leadership rating of two is fairly high, only two characters having a higher stat here.

In most groups there is either an excellent Diplomat in the group with a diplomacy rating higher than two or diplomacy and leadership are both two or better, making the group non-specialized but capable at B and D. Two groups are an exception. The group formed by Frun Sentel and Sidir Ganang, which however combines two bonus draws for B missions with a leadership of one, and the group formed by Boccanegra and Professor Mareg which only has good leadership but can reveal Planet secrets.

Role of the Groups; Prime Systems and Outer Rim Systems

The three fastest ships - the S-XIII, Stellar Courier and Explorer - will be used to target Prime Systems and anything slightly dangerous. The ships with the lower shieldings got some possessions to help them through the detection routine, the Courier the Scanner and the Explorer the Scrambler. If the Explorer with a shielding of only two is fit for that task, and if the Scanner is the right help for it is open to debate. However I think, that five spaceships for the Outer Rim Systems are enough, especially if you take the work Rebel Camps can do there into account. On the other hand I consider just two ships for the Prime Systems too little. More than half of the game's Planets lie in Prime Systems. Should the Explorer really get lost, it could be repurchased with the Cache of Rare Gems. Yet, as two mission groups are put into the Explorer, there is the question if this is not overdoing it as one of them could try a P mission to retrieve the Explorer. As said, there are several ways how to combine your cards.

Each of the fastest ships has one dedicated diplomat (i.e. not Rayner Derban, who is more important as a leader) with a diplomacy rating of three or more, each further boosted by a possession that grants additional bonus draws on D missions. As said, I consider it important that these three groups show successes fast and then leave again.

Each of the ships got a way to heal wounds (by Doctor Sontag or the Medi-kit) or to avoid wounds (the Body Shield). The assignment of the Body Shield however is a bit questionable. Yarro Latac and Oneste Woada will have little chance to get wounded. On the other hand, the Shield will be their last hope should they ever have to face an enemy squad. Still, I am not really satisfied with this assignment.

The Explorer got an additional mission Group. If this addition of the ninth group in this way is really the best idea can be argued. First of all, should the ninth group really be put at risk by going to the Prime Systems? I think yes as the Outer Rim Systems are fewer and can be influenced with Rebel Camps. The next question is, should it really join the Explorer? It is still the ship with the lowest shielding. The other ships however are already full if possessions are not reassigned as well (remember that each companion takes up one passenger space). Last is, what kind of mission could the group do if I put it in another ship? In the current configuration, Frun Sentel and Sidir Ganang can go on B Start Rebel Camp with three bonus draws. The Camp will be rather short lived, but it would draw units away from Orbit and thus help to leave the planet. If the Explorer along with the Cache is destroyed, they could go on P to recover one of them. Furthermore, Sidir Ganang and Bridne Murcada can switch groups and then Murcada and Frun Sentel can form a group for Assassination with as much as twelve bonus draws. If I would put the ninth group into another ship, whom should it include, Murcada or Ganang? Yet, the savety concerns of the Explorer remain a problem for me. But all in all, I see no better way for me now than the one outlined in the example above. The Explorer's crew is perfectly capable of flying even to planets with many Imperial units. All characters together have a whooping strength-endurance of 16-18, enough to tackle any enemy squad.

As can be seen an ideal arrangement of groups is maybe impossible to reach. In the end, it becomes a matter of various trade-offs, but as long as you know what you trade of for what, chances are that you at least know what group is at which risk and what they can dare.

Now to the remaining groups, which will stay in the Outer Rim Systems.

For the early part of the game, Boccanegra and Mareg will form one group, though they lack a decent diplomacy rating. The reason is, that these two will go to reveal secrets, which is also the reason, why they got the best ship after the Explorer, the Privateer. The only other characters strong enough to form a strength eight group with Mareg (whose special ability is not a protection against everything) and still be able to pilot a spaceship adequately would be Rayner Derban or Ly Mantok. These two however are your best leaders and too usefull to just stay in the Orbit of heavily guarded Secrets and way too valuable to risk in an attempt to perform an I mission on the Archieves or the Trap! The Helian Drug is exactly for this kind of mission, to boost Professor Maregs Intelligence if necessary. Later on however, the Helian Drug should be given to Ly Mantok (once it was scavenged anew) to boost his Space Leadership in a decisive battle (e.g. to crack the defenses of the IPOC).

Once however, the Secrets of the Outer Rim Systems are mainly revealed (in the Prime Systems, the Advisor Android can do this job) it is possible that some characters in the Outer Rim groups could be rearanged. Professor Mareg could from then on be of valuable assistance against the many undefeatable creatures (Frost Mist, Elilad, Thunks to name only a few) which love to dwell especially in the Outer Rim.

The other four groups of the Outer Rim Systems are more or less all suitable for B and D missions. B missions would be my primary choice as long as it is allowed. Instead of avoiding the Strategic Assignment, it often pays of to follow it, i.e. to start Camps in the province, that just dropped out of the Assignment. That way, Rebel Camps can increase their life-expectancy a bit.

So much to the way, how mission groups can be grouped. There are some constants which will never change. Zina Adora will always be grouped with Kogus and Yarro Latac will always pilot the S-XIII. Oneste Woada and the Norrocks are an ideal combination etc., but there are also a couple of decisions to make which are not so clear cut. Most important however is, that you come up with an idea how you think your characters and possessions will serve you best.

Now after having decided how your mission groups could look like, how are you going to play with them.

Gameplay, early game

The first step would be to assemble them.

I have seen Rebel Players going on D, B and even I missions during the first turns. I see little use in this and do not believe very firm in the 'Early knock-out-victory' some claim to be able to pull off this way. It's mainly blind actionism if you ask me.

G and P are what shall be done during the first turns. Every character gained this turn will translate in more mission groups (i.e. missions) next turn and for the rest of the game. D and I missions do not and B only temporary. A character gained one turn later is one mission group less that turn is 10% of your potential less that turn, definitely. A loyalty marker shifted one turn later is very likely just a loyalty marker shifted one turn later, especially during the early game. I consider this calculation so simple, that I have very little understanding for the many excuses I have heard for why this or that D or B or H or I mission was just The Thing to do right now.

The few exceptions when another mission than P or G is an option while there are still characters or possessions to be found are when you discover a Secret like the Trap! or Archives very early, before they are guarded proper. In that case, exploit this chance and do your I mission, it will be much harder later on. If you see a chance to get the loyalty of the IPOC, Slave, Gem or Industry World down (or even into Rebellion) this way early, give it a try. Even if you only manage to pull its loyalty down, this will already pay of later. But anything else can wait.

Though G and P missions are your main concern during the first turns, there are other issues to pay attention to. One is that you do not only have to collect your characters and possessions, but also that you have to get them together in the groups you planned.

The best way for that is to find a group of Outer Rim Planets near to each other (without unrevealed Secrets of course), preferably with several environs even if not very big ones and then stay close to each other while doing G and P, constantly exchanging a character or possession here or there. You will need a good number of environs to do missions in, three at least, as in each environ you are only allowed to perform one G and P mission per turn. If you put all your characters just in the same environ, you will only gain one new character and Possession per turn at most.

Pronox, Lysenda and Charkhan in Province Two are a very good place for a start (just be careful with the Drants if your Endurance is two or less and the Drusers can do nasty things to silly people) when Province One is not named in the Assignment even Ownex and Adare can be included in this cluster. Another good place would be Horon, Solvia, Cercis and Lonica in Province Four (but avoid the Frost Mist and be careful with the Thunks on Rhexia as well), though that cluster is in a far corner of the Galaxy. Last worth mentioning would be Niconi and Adrax in Province Five. Of cause, the Strategic Assignment will sometimes force you to evacuate, but do not spread out over the whole Galaxy. Try to stick together, while avoiding to mass more than two mission groups - one for P and one for G - in any single environ.

Try to combine your groups gradually over the beginning turns like you have planned them to be before the game started. As time goes by more and more of your groups will appear in the shape you wanted them to be. Very likely first the simple ones (i.e. those of consisting not much more than two characters and a spaceship) later the more sophisticated ones (those with a lot of possessions). Send these finished groups to other environs nearby and continue with P and G. Remember that you can leave behind characters on a Planet with one group and send another group to him from somewhere else. Remember also that characters can walk from environ to environ without a ship.

The only group I would possibly release from your cluster would be the Boccanegra / Professor Mareg group, which you can assemble very fast by sending Boccanegra (not alone of cause) to Cercis and do a G mission there. Once Professor Mareg shows up, send the two on their exploration tour to reveal Planet Secrets. First those lightly guarded near your cluster, to scout more environs for your other groups, but then further and further away from the other Rebels, who will still stay together to organize as you planned before the game started.

Occasionally Boccanegra and Mareg will discover a Secret, that will prevent them from performing missions (for instance the Dead World or the Mutant World, the latter being too dangerous for the two alone). However, this delay is acceptable. You have to reveal the secrets in the Outer Rim Systems and the earlier the better. Not only to reveal what they hide, but also to make them save for the other characters. There are a lot of Secrets in the Outer Rim Systems getting in the way for your other groups again and again. While revealing Secrets, Mareg and Boccanegra can still try to Scavange Possessions if their destination is not too dangerous. They can later give that possession to the group that needs it. Do not Gain Characters with them, the character can not contribute anything valuable to them and will be missed only in the group he was intended for.

Possessions can be added a bit later to mission groups, the more pressing issue at first is, to get every group to its proper combat strength to survive missions. As all possessions that help during combat are given during the setup, this aim can be achieved once all the six remaining characters are gained. From then on, it is just adding gadgets to do missions better, fly more or fly saver.

It can look very confusing sometimes with so many characters and possessions so near to each other but eventually everything will fall into place. Concentrate a bit, combine and arrange till you get your results. If necessary, practice this a bit solitair before the game.

Gameplay, mid-game

This is when you have your groups mainly assembled but are not yet challenging the Empire with military units.

Now, once you have your groups together like you planned, how to use them?

Very cautious would be my first advice. Opportunistic would be my second. These two go hand in hand.

One thing that should be obvious is, to check locals and creatures BEFORE you go on missions. There are some creatures so dangerous, you can not enter their environ without the Norrocks or Professor Mareg, others are dangerous if your Endurance is low or you lack a certain Intelligence. Take a close look at the following creatures: Elilad, Frost Mist, Chantenes, Gadhars, Thunks, Virus, Drants, Magrons, Dindin, Telebot, Vorozion, Drusers and Crunge and think what could go wrong when you meet these. Some look weak at first, but the proper combination of wrong circumstances can incapacitate a character easily. The Crunge looks like a laugh - until you see that in the Zina Adora/Kogus group, Zina already had suffered from one wound last turn. Ouch! Some other creatures are obviously outright lethal.

Another thing is that you should avoid unnecessary risks. It is astounding how often I have seen Rebel Players homing in on one Planet (usually just the one in front of their nose) oblivious to obvious dangers there even when I pointed them out to them because 'that Planet was still Patriotic'. That there were a handful of other Planets also Patriotic within reach and without any risk apparently eluded them. Maybe it was all these swirling colours and circles on the map confusing them. There is no real need to fly to that guarded IPOC, when there is still another Patriotic Planet within easy reach. For your 26 VPs, you don't need any of the Capitals, Home Planets or important Secrets. Sure, each of these will help you, but if there is not a good opportunity at hand, there is no need to make your character's lives more dangerous than they already are. There are a lot of Planets on the map, concentrate on those that come easily to you now. The only risk you should not be afraid to brave is to fly to a planet in a Prime System that is not really guarded. Sure, the Empire can send units after you, but if you let yourself be bullied away from these many, many Prime Planets, your choices will become very limited very soon.

If you heed that advice, your game should develop as follows. Once you have your groups assembled you begin your D and B missions. Your three best ships target Prime Systems, which are not guarded and not within the current Strategic Assignment. If you can manage it, send them all three into the same province, that way the Imperial Player can not go after all at once.

Your other groups should focus on the Outer Rim Systems, pulling them down with B and then D missions. Avoid heavily guarded Planets while you still have other Planets that you can work on. Scout Planet Secrets with Professor Mareg in the Outer Rim (and with the Advisor in the Prime Systems if you deem him expendable for that) to find out which Planets of them is the Trap and which ones are save to go to, increasing the number of Outer Rim planets for you. When you find the Archives, think carefully if you want to speed up that process by landing on the Planet and trying for an I. There might be a Special Ops waiting for you.

Once you get the chance, start Rebellions. Do it early, different from the original game, you will get something in return. The first ones will be crushed, but slowly your Supply Conduits will begin to produce your first units. Sidestep with them the Strategic Assignment as you would do with your Outer Rim mission groups and gather them. When strong enough, launch raids on isolated Imperial units at overwhelming odds in Outer Rim Systems. Lets see how long the Empire continues to guard every single coup rating.

As the game progresses you will grow strong enough to attack planets like the IPOC, Slave World or Trap! even when heavily guarded. Ly Mantok with the Helian Drug can give you a four column shift on such an attack. Destroy the PDB first if you can, then continue with the Enemy's units. Work fast especially if you do not know the next Strategic Assignment. A Gather Information mission performed in advance will be handy in this situation. Once you have breached the Planet and it is save for your characters to land, send in your best groups. Do the missions you need (I on the Trap! D and R on the IPOC) and then leave before Imperial reinforcements arrive.

Be wary of Imperial I missions. Always think carefully which choice you give him for a single I. Too many Supply Conduits revealed early will mean, that later on you can not reveal some more when a violation of the Strategic Assignment will be very inconvenient for you. Better to allow the Imperial Player some free moves during the early game and later just reveal two Conduits to him, when he really is in need of a free move.

Gameplay, late game

How to finally stage a coordinated Rebellion of Galactic Scale, is described in my designer's notes of my rules and I like to refer to them at this point and close my beginner's hints.