SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Ryloth

Star Wars: Empire at War - Ryloth
This is a hint / walkthrough for a planet in Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. The index of all our guides for Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is here.

The Forces of Corruption campaign starts with Tyber Zann's headquarters on Ryloth. You therefore do not get the chance to choose a Corruption, but if you are forced to defend on Ryloth, you will find that it has the Racketeering Corruption, which makes it a good choice for taking on the enemy, as every unit you destroy gives you credits.

You can immediately upgrade the space station level 3 to level 4, but it will not open any new construction options, and the cash drain will force you to wait extra days before continuing with Corruption missions as each Defiler costs 1000 credits.

After Mission 12 (A Dark Ally), the Empire will send a fleet toward Ryloth, destroying any pirate fleets in the way. Even if you deliberately lose, the fleet will just sit in orbit and not invade the planet -- you cannot therefore see what Corruption options are available for Ryloth.

Space Battle
If you are defending at Ryloth, you will notice that your reinforcements arrive in the wrong direction -- That is, away from the enemy fleet. Good for bombers, bad for everything else.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Nal Hutta

Star Wars: Empire at War - Nal Hutta
This is a hint / walkthrough for a planet in Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. The index of all our guides for Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is here.

Corrupt Militia

Kidnapping (Corruption Income +109)

Ignore the tip to scout carefully because Twi'lek Commandos are coming, with Bantha-II Cargo Skiffs not far behind. Like Rebel Infiltrators, the Twi'lek Commandos have a very powerful long-range sniping attack that can take down one infantry individual per shot, and can overwhelm Urai Fen if you are not careful.

Instead, quickly arrange your forces with the All Terrain Attack Pods in front to draw fire and shield your units. Rush the enemy so you can bring the Grenadiers in close to quickly overwhelm the enemy.
Behind these, keep Urai Fen and the Defilers.

Use the Defilers and their thermal detonators to destroy any skiffs that flank you, or to take out buildings quickly. Use Urai Fen's Stealth to come up behind a turret and attack it. Theoretically, turrets have a minimum range but I found the Rapid-Fire Turret could still track and attack Urai Fen when he was in melee range.

If you conquer Nal Hutta afterwards, you still count as having performed one Kidnapping (some Corruptions require one or more other Corruptions to have been performed). So you might as well do so and instead get considerably better income by controlling the planet and having a Consortium Palace.

After Mission 15 (Baiting the Hook), the Empire will start attacking your holdings with a fleet until their fleet commitment is destroyed (even if the remainder is one Broadside Cruiser and one Tartan, they will charge a level 5 space station). This is probably a scripted attack, but it is very likely to originate from Kuat and the fleet heads down toward Ryloth.
We secured Nal Hutta with a strong space station, so they never could get past it, but in hindsight it might have been better to leave Nal Hutta space empty so they could instead attack maybe Shola (next along the trade lanes, on which a fleet would presumably travel), where we have Racketeering in place, and can therefore collect salvage credits from each battle.

Space Battle
There is a garrison of V-Wing Starfighters with Ion Cannons, and the asteroid space station sends out more. This can be irritating to deal with unless you are prepared to lose either wings of your own fighters, or maybe a Frigate or two.
Instead, capture the planet with stealth units first, which will destroy the space station. You can then use just one Interceptor IV Frigate and one Tartan Patrol Cruiser to clear the garrison.

There is a sensor pod in the northern nebula, but the map is so small that it is hardly worth going for.

When defending Nal Hutta space, be careful if you win but the satellite build stations in the middle of the map are enemy-controlled: The next time you have to defend your space station, those build stations will typically be under enemy control and have whatever weapons that were on them in the previous conflict. If you have corvettes or other fragile ships as part of the fleet in orbit, they will start close to these satellites and likely you will lose at least one ship before you can pull them all back to safety.

Land Battle

In the early game there is only one building (a Hutt Control Centre). You can land just Tyber Zann and Urai Fen, turn their stealth on, and head over to destroy it. Destroying all the buildings will lift the fog of war, which makes things a lot easier.

When you do this, you can also watch something interesting: Even though this is a Hutt faction world, the native Hutts will attack the Hutt faction. Moreover, the Hutt faction will not fight back (although a Pod Walker might accidentally step on them). The natives can therefore take out turrets and bunkers for you.

You can collect your own bounty on destroying native Hutt structures (although this is buggy and you don't always get the bonus).

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Mandalore

Star Wars: Empire at War - Mandalore
This is a hint / walkthrough for a planet in Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. The index of all our guides for Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is here.

Bribery

Piracy (Corruption Income +68, can build Tartan Frigates at Space Station level 2+, can build Keldabe-Class Battleships at capital ship planets with Space Station 5 after Mission 15)
You are required to choose this Corruption option in Mission 4 (Piracy on Mandalore).

On Hard Difficulty, this can be a very hard mission because you cannot count on supporting fire from Tyber Zann in the Interceptor IV Frigate. The frigate looks like the pirate Interceptor-Class Frigates encountered in hordes on pirate worlds in Empire At War, and is just as fragile. Instead of a Proton Torpedo Launcher on the bow, however, the Interceptor IV Frigate has a Concussion Missile Launcher (which does the same thing -- ignores shields to damage target).

You can take the base head on with the Interceptor IV Frigate leading to initially draw fire and thereby cover the approach for your Starviper fighters and GAT-12 Skipray Blastboats. However, you will rapidly start to lose the fighters and bombers from turret fire, and lose even more if you try to retreat them. Meanwhile, if you do not withdraw your Interceptor IV, you may well lose it and automatically lose the mission.
Further, before the space station is destroyed, the Mandalorians will come in with a Keldabe-class Battleship that is remarkably deadly against your fighters at any engagement range. In the crossfire between the battleship and the space station, you will lose all your units in short order.

The safest way to do this mission is to take advantage of the space station's arcs of fire and inability to move, plus the Interceptor IV Frigate's concussion missiles.
First, move all your fighters and bombers into the asteroid field to the south. According to the Forces of Corruption tutorial, they will be considered hidden inside. Make sure they stay in there until you area ready to move them out against the battleship.
Next, approach the asteroid space station with the Interceptor IV Frigate from the southwestern arc. You should come under laser fire by no more than 3 turrets. Set the ship to attack one turret. It will drift forward. Stop it immediately when you see it firing its concussion missiles -- which will damage the turret regardless of the space station's shields. When the volley has been fired, turn it around to get out of range and restore its shields. Keep doing this until you have destroyed the nearest two turrets. When you are only under fire by one turret, you can hold position and keep firing on the space station until it is destroyed -- your shields will regenerate around as fast as one laser turret can deplete it.
A single wing of Starvipers may be dispatched to attack the Interceptor IV Frigate. Back away from the station to a safe distance, hold position, and wait for the Frigate to destroy the wing (usually with concussion missiles). Do not panic as a single wing of Starvipers cannot take down the Frigate's shields. Return to destroy the space station.

As mentioned above, before the space station is destroyed, the Mandalorians will hyperspace in the battleship. It will start firing immediately if it sees the Frigate, and then drift to around the center of the screen. Immediately withdraw Tyber Zann's ship until it is out of sight, and finish destroying the space station -- the battleship can destroy the Frigate in less than a minute if it gets the chance.
Assuming you keep all your units out of sight, the battleship will not move. Once the space station is destroyed, you can move on to take on the battleship.

Inch the Frigate toward the battleship, and turn immediately away from both the battleship and your fighters when the battleship starts to fire. You will probably lose your shields and some hull.
As soon as the battleship starts firing on the Frigate, you can rush your fighters and bombers out. Target weapons, beginning with the Mass Drivers as their shots move very quickly and are therefore very accurate against even fast-moving fighters.
You should be able to take out one to two hardpoints each time the bombers swoop in on the battleship, and maybe one hardpoint with the fighters. As soon as a hardpoint is gone, pause the game and if possible select another hardpoint in the direction that the swarm of fighters or bombers are moving.

Meanwhile, your Frigate should wait for its shields to regenerate and turn around, but not re-enter the weapons range of the battleship yet. When only a few turrets are left, you can re-enter to help the fighters and bombers finish off the battleship, although it is entirely possible that by then, you won't need the Frigate.

Space Battle

At some point after the Piracy mission, the garrison in space changes and the Keldabe-class Battleship vanishes.

Land Battle

Mandalore is very interesting in the early game because it is controlled by the Black Sun Pirates but has no ground forces or buildings. You can therefore conquer the planet by moving one of your stealth units (Tyber Zann, Urai Fen, or a Defiler) into orbit, and then landing them on the planet. You instantly conquer it, but if you move your unit back into orbit before finishing building something on the planet, the Black Sun again takes over the planet and the Corruption you had on the planet is removed (if Piracy, you lose the ability to build Tartan Patrol Cruisers).

At this point, you can either land on the planet again (reinstating whatever Corruption you had on it before), or perform a new Corruption. What is interesting here is that you can do the Piracy mission again, and it will count toward the total number of Piracy missions you have completed. This in turn allows you to start a Black Market on Kamino (requires 2 Piracy missions) and buy Disruptor technology.
Because you are required to establish a Black Market on Kuat and buy Disruptor Technology in Missions 6 (Black Market Establishment) and 7 (Tyber's Recon), this re-Piracy seemed like an oversight / exploit, we did not do this and will not feature this in our walkthrough / hints.
This also happens on Polus and Sullust (both revealed after Mission 15, "Baiting the Hook"; at which time all planets on the Galactic Map are available).

Another curious thing about conquering the planet of Mandalore this way is that it does not destroy the space station in orbit. If, after you capture the planet, you move a fleet in and destroy the fleet and space station in orbit, the game will list the loss of the asteroid space station as one of your combat losses.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Kuat

Star Wars: Empire at War - Kuat
This is a hint / walkthrough for a planet in Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. The index of all our guides for Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is here.

Although you can see Kuat and send stealth units into orbit there, you cannot attack the space or invade the planet until much later into the campaign.

Black Market (Corruption Income +60)
You are required to choose this Corruption for Mission 6 (Black Market Establishment) and Mission 7 (Tyber's Recon), although through an exploit (?) you can set up a Black Market on Kamino as early as Mission 4 (Piracy on Mandalore). Doing so will not, however, allow you to proceed from Mission 6 to Mission 7.

After Mission 15 (Baiting the Hook), Tyber Zann can no longer Buy technology at Kuat, but you can still send Urai Fen.

Kidnapping
This Corruption mission requires Bossk and is not possible in the Forces of Corruption campaign.

Space Battle
You cannot invade Kuat in the Forces of Corruption campaign until the final mission to capture the Eclipse.
The special space battle here is very long, but nowhere near as hard as the battle over Carida (assuming you wanted to come out of that one with no units lost). My fleet into Kuat was composed of Tyber Zann, IG-88 (who turned out to have a minimal role), four Keldabe-class Battleships, and four Marauder Corvettes. No reinforcements -- I didn't plan on losing any units.

Before you enter Kuat space, put Tyber Zann or IG-88 in the initial deployment slot. When you enter Kuat, you will then have just that one ship plus a Boarding Shuttle to take over the Eclipse. It will therefore be easier to move about and arrange your forces.
In space combat, you can bring reinforcements in wherever there is safe, empty space. You can therefore bring in the rest of your ships in the northwest corner, and arrange them to defend the Eclipse. Be careful about putting them too far east or south as you will come under fire from the space stations there. Arrange them in a defensive huddle with missile ships behind capital ships.

When two space stations are destroyed, capture the Eclipse. The Rebellion turns hostile, but they are typically too busy with the Empire. Start clearing the map, but do not take out the final space station until the area is reasonably clear. In particular, you should take out any large clumps of leftover fighters (sometimes 10+ wings defending a cruiser). A fast way to do this is with a missile ship like a Marauder or Broadside.
Use the Eclipse to destroy incoming cruisers and Broadsides or Marauders threatening you from afar. Since I was counting on my Marauders to help me against fighters and bombers, it was critical that I not lose them.

Shortly after you destroy the final space station, the Super Star Destroyer and its escort of three Imperial Star Destroyers, plus continuous reinforcements (Acclamators and Interdictors) will come in. They focus on the Eclipse, so your own ships will only come under fire if their weapons can't reach the Eclipse.
Grab all your ships you can safely use (being careful of your missile ships) and target the Imperial Star Destroyers first. The Keldabe Battleships will take care of their shields, so ignore the Shield Generators and go straight to their weapon hardpoints. When a ship has all its weapons destroyed, ignore it and go for the next one. When you have done this to all the Imperial Star Destroyers, turn your attention to any cruisers that have come.
After a few minutes, the Eclipse main gun will come on line again and one shot will tear apart the Super Star Destroyer.
The rest of the mission is just mopping up. Rearrange your units into a defensive huddle again and calmly clear the map.

Land Battle
You cannot invade Kuat in the Forces of Corruption campaign.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Kessel

Star Wars: Empire at War - Kessel
This is a hint / walkthrough for a planet in Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. The index of all our guides for Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is here.

Prologue

The initial cutscene isn't clear, but it appears that Tyber Zann did not mean to be arrested after stealing the artifact. Although both he and Urai Fen have a personal cloaking device, probably as a plot device, Tyber Zann is allowed to be captured and sent to the spice mines on Kessel -- this, despite the fact that the scene in Kessel suggests he already had a plan to escape.

After the initial cutscene, you start the Forces of Corruption campaign in the Kessel prison. There really isn't much here that can defeat Tyber Zann and Urai Fen except possibly the Dark Troopers at the end, so save your credits and waive using Tyber Zann's power to bribe the enemy.

Corrupt Militia
The earliest you can perform this Corruption is after Mission 11 (Visions of the Past) when you finally get Crusader-class Gunships.

Piracy (Corruption Income +128; can build Marauder Corvettes)
The earliest you can perform this Corruption is after Mission 14 (Cloud City Conflict), where you get IG-88. Because of this, you may want to wait before conquering Kessel even though it is accessible early in the game.
On the other hand, you can perform this Corruption at the same time as Piracy on Bespin, which gives you the comparable Broadside Cruiser.

This mission is pretty tough because of the Imperial cruisers (Victory or Acclamators) roaming the map. If you are unlucky, you might get two coming at you at the same time, which will probably cause you to lose your Crusaders. The Vengeance-class Frigates are actually fairly good against fighters and bombers, but you only have one and IG-88 isn't particularly good in space.

The Vengeance Frigate has a weapon range longer than that of the space turrets, so you can use it to safely take them out.

Space Battle
Land Battle
The prisons here release a random mix of prisoners who are generally hostile to you and each other.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Kamino

Star Wars: Empire at War - Kamino
This is a hint / walkthrough for a planet in Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. The index of all our guides for Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is here.

Black Market
Through an exploit (?) you can set up a Black Market (on Kamino) as early as Mission 4 (Piracy on Mandalore), but you get the same technology choices as the Black Market on Kuat, which you must establish as part of Mission 6 (Black Market Establishment).

If you do not use the Mandalore exploit, the earliest you can have a Black Market here is after Mission 14 (Cloud City Conflict), when you can conduct Piracy on Bespin.

Corrupt Militia (Corruption Income +38)
Space Battle
Land Battle

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Hypori

Star Wars: Empire at War - Hypori
This is a hint / walkthrough for a planet in Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. The index of all our guides for Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is here.

Hypori becomes accessible during Mission 11 (Visions of the Past).

Black Market
This is not accessible in the Campaign.

Land Battle
You can leave Tyber Zann at the landing zone and rush / stealth Urai Fen to the controls. Turn on Tyber Zann's Personal Cloaking Field if any Droidekas go after the initial Reinforcement Point. Don't call any reinforcements yet.
In doing this, you are saving yourself a lot of fighting and saving the Droidekas for later when you can gain control of them.

Tyber Zann is automatically moved to the first set of factory controls for the cutscene where Bossk joins you. Any reinforcements you had called down stay wherever they are. Rush the nearest Hutt Reinforcement Point with all three heroes. Secure it (probably using Bossk's flamethrower on the Pod Walkers and plasma grenade on the infantry) and then call down your reinforcements.

At this point, if you remain at the Reinforcement Point, Jabba the Hutt's troops coming from the third Reinforcement Point (counting from left to right) will not have you in their line of sight and may completely stop. If you like you can just wait there until Urai Fen controls the factory and you can send the expendable Droidekas to take care of Jabba the Hutt's forces.
The Hutt troops from the last Reinforcement Point may follow Urai Fen, so make sure he is cloaked and send the Droidekas against any forces headed for the Droidworks first.

Jabba the Hutt's forces are large enough that a single turret of any kind won't last very long. But they like to clump up and a single thermal detonator from a Defiler can clear the lot of them.

After this mission, you control Hypori and are given a garrison of two Droideka units. Later Corruption missions may require Droidekas, so keep them around even if you don't use them.
Since you control the planet, you cannot Corrupt it. And since the Spread Corruption option was not available before, you cannot access the Black Market corruption on this planet.

Crusader-class Gunships also become available after this mission and you can build them anywhere you have a Space Station level 2+.