Star Wars: Empire at War - Manaan

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

Imperial Campaign

Space Battle

Nothing special.

Land Battle

The special ability of the planet for infantry to continuously heal extends only to the defenders. It also means that your infantry can't take down their infantry as they typically heal fast enough to outlast a gunfight.

There is a Rebel Training Facility to the south east. It is not essential to destroy this facility and it is represented with a star on the map instead of the usual square. The tooltip help indicates that it would set the Rebellion back if you did, but the actual effect of this is not clear.

Rebellion Campaign

Space Battle
Land Battle

PLACEHOLDER
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
CONTENT COMING SOON

Star Wars: Empire at War - Kuat

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

Imperial Campaign
Available in Mission 6 (Attack on Mon Calamari) / Tech Level 3.

Space Battle
If you rush for the planet at the start of Mission 6, you can get there just before the Rebellion. The Rebellion will send a raid fleet, however, so you can either wait and dig them out, or defend on the planet.

Land Battle
I grabbed Kuat right away at the start of this mission, and right away had to defend it against a raid fleet. The Rebels had PLEX Troopers and MPTL-2a Mobile Proton Torpedo Launchers, which are preceded by spotter droids.
Although the MPTLs are slow to move, slow to deploy, and tend to undeploy and flee when charged, their barrages are devastating to anything the Imperials have on the ground -- even Darth Vader.
For the defense of Kuat, I had landed with only a Field Commander and two squads of AT-STs. The natives comprised two free units and started with the Field Commander far to the northwest.

The layout of the Kuat land battle involves a narrow river crossing between the Imperials and the Rebellion reinforcement point / landing zone. Once I spotted the spotter droid, I charged forward immediately with the AT-STs. They survived one barrage and some fire from PLEX Troopers, and quickly cleared the MPTLs with their own barrage. Then they stepped on the Rebel infantry and the defense of Kuat was fortunately won.

What I could have instead done is just secure Kuat space but let the Rebels take the land, then conquer it later at leisure. Since I would not have had significant time on the planet, there would be no fortifications to lose.

Rebellion Campaign
The Rebellion Campaign starts in Kuat space in Mission 1, but on a special map.
Kuat is available in Mission 2 (Interpreting the Network) / Tech Level 1.

Space Battle

The Rebellion Campaign begins here, with Raymus Antilles in the Sundered Heart. To quickly blow up each component of the shipyard, target the containers, which will trigger a chain reaction.
When you return to Kuat afterwards, the orbital space has no Imperial forces.

Land Battle

The land battle can be done at the start of Mission 2, and is quite easy if you are patient at the start and ignore the tips about scouting.
First, secure the Reinforcement Point with two squads of T2-Bs and one squad of PLEX Troopers. You cannot be flanked from your starting position except by Scout Troopers if they go over water and the long way, which is very unlikely as the enemy starts from the northeast and has no reason to circle around.
There are two Build Pads and one infantry dugout. Choose only 1 to use. I recommend choosing the western Build Pad to put an Anti-Infantry Turret (which, at this early stage, is useful against the lightly armored vehicles that the Imperials have). The Build Pads are far enough away that unless you draw the enemy to one of them, they might not get a chance to fire.
The other Build Pad can be set to a Vehicle Repair Station, although if you build it too early you will probably lose it. Instead, put one squad of T2-Bs nearer the river ford, your PLEX Troopers not far behind to cover them against vehicles, and the other squad of T2-Bs in reserve behind to swap with the forward group if that group's shields get too low. Keep C3PO and R2-D2 behind to repair the Turret and your T2-Bs.

Once the lengthy initial wave (mostly infantry) is over, continue to hold the Reinforcement Point area and send one group of T2-Bs out. If you scout to the west, you can find the single native building near the coast, approximately south of the second Reinforcement Point. Take it out and relocate your force to that Reinforcement Point. Remember to sell the turrets you've built.
At the mouth of that Reinforcement Point are two Build Pads, which you can use if you are worried about holding the location. Call all the PLEX Troopers you've got. Even if you've built more T2-Bs than the initial two squads provided to you, they'll just create a traffic jam in this tight map.
Now start moving on the enemy. Lead the way with either C3PO and R2-D2 (pulling them back to a Vehicle Repair Station when necessary), or a squad of T2-Bs. Follow quite closely with the PLEX Troopers to quickly take down vehicles. If you haven't taken too much time, the enemy may not have built any Turrets on their Build Pads but will probably still have a sizable force of light vehicles that will charge you. If you have a lot of PLEX Troopers, you'll clear them much more quickly than clearing their Infantry.

When I did this land battle right away at the start of Mission 2, there was just one Mining Facility and one Light Factory.

Star Wars: Empire at War - Korriban

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

Imperial Campaign
Available in Mission 6 (Attack on Mon Calamari) / Tech Level 3.

Space Battle

Nothing special.

Land Battle

The natives in the northwest start out allied to you. They cannot initially see any enemies, but there are enemy infantry and vehicles just outside their vision. If you bring in a Field Commander, they will be able to see those enemies and attack. If you move them back first, you can save them for use as cannon fodder if necessary, and also save their dwellings so they can respawn.

Rebellion Campaign
Available in Mission 2 (Interpreting the Network) / Tech Level 1.

Space Battle

At this early stage of the game, there was just a single Pirate Cruiser and its garrison of two wings of Pirate Fighters. No Asteriod Space Station.

Land Battle

PLACEHOLDER
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
CONTENT COMING SOON

Star Wars: Empire at War - Kessel

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

Rebellion Campaign
Kessel orbital space is the site of Mission 4 (Kessel Space Rescue).

Space Battle
For the Rebellion, they can have 25 points of units during space combat (versus 20 points for the Imperials). I went with Sundered Heart (mandatory), 9 Corellian Corvettes for firepower, and five squadrons of Y-Wing Bombers (a few squadrons are mandatory).

The Imperials begin with a few wings of TIE Fighters and TIE Bombers from the two Acclamators which you can take out -- go in with the Corellian Corvettes to clear the TIEs and draw fire. If you do not draw fire from the Acclamators, they can take out your Y-Wings.
Follow up the Corellian Corvettes with the Y-Wings and their special Ion Cannon Shots, then concentrate fire on the one Acclamator until it is destroyed. Rescue the prisoners from the shuttles then head over to do the same to the other Acclamator escort.

In case it is not clear, all you have to do is fire your Y-Wing Ion Cannon Shot once at each shuttle. A mission objective arrow will appear over it. Move the Sundered Heart very close to the shuttle and it will disappear. When all six shuttles are rescued, the ending cutscene automatically takes over and you hyperspace away.

You will probably not have time to try to destroy the newly incoming Victory Star Destroyers, and you don't have to since the orbital space will be clear after you complete this mission. Just return to Kessel and take the orbital space without resistance.

Land Battle

After completing Mission 4, you can land a unit on Kessel and take it without resistance.

Star Wars: Empire at War - Kashyyyk

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

Imperial Campaign
Available in Mission 7 (Trouble on Kashyyyk) / Tech Level 2.

Space Battle
You can move into Kashyyyk immediately with no resistance, but but you cannot land anything other than a stealth unit (Smuggler or Bounty Hunter) on the planet without triggering the special land combat against Han Solo. Curiously, you can start build queues once you put a Smuggler or Bounty Hunter on the planet. However, even if everything has completed building, ground buildings vanish after the land mission.

Land Battle
You can prevent Han Solo from planting any charges and destroying a prison by attacking him. He will stop to fight back, and only head back to a prison when enemies have retreated. You can therefore use the Scout Trooper/Speeder Bike's incredible speed to save ALL the prisons if you are fast enough:
Before you start your ground invasion, put various land units in orbit, and make sure you have several units of Speeder Bikes. To initiate the land invasion, use only one Speeder Bike. This will force your first unit on the ground to be a Speeder Bike.
Immediately start bringing in more Speeder Bikes -- about 4-6. As they come in, run them to find Han Solo and start shooting at him. (Even if you don't immediately know where he is, the Speeder Bikes are so fast that you can split them up to go solo and zip by the prisons quickly until you find him.
Once you find Han Solo, be careful: You only have two bikes per squad and they go down very quickly when under fire.
As you call down more Speeder Bikes, group your bikes into two or three groups as they come available. Each time Han Solo turns to attack one group, move that group out. When he chooses another group, move it back in to attack him. Once Han Solo is practically dead, he with retreat and the cutscene will play.

Using Speeder Bikes to harrass Han Solo requires a lot of by-the-second micromanagement as you flip back and forth between Han Solo in the northeast and watching for your reinforcements to land in the southwest. So you may want to play this mission in a less frantic way:

When the mission starts, you already know where the prisons are, and so when another falls, you have an idea of where Han Solo is located. Notice the east side has two exits. Cover both to make sure you catch Han Solo coming out (usually the north side). Once he is hurt enough (but you do not have to "kill" him by reducing his health to zero), he withdraws from the battle.

At the river crossings, if you wait on one side, you can sometimes quickly march a unit of AT-ST Walkers or TIE Maulers across to squish Wookies that advance onto the ford as it is quite narrow. You can take down a lot of wookies this way and it is much faster than shooting them, but those at the edge of the path will typically evade certain death this way.

Rebellion Campaign

Land Battle

Your units do not automatically attack the prisons, but you can do so if you wish. However, a destroyed prison does not release any Wookie prisoners. Only Han Solo can do this.

When Han Solo is brought near a prison, he needs some time to release the Wookies. During this time, you cannot select and control him or manually abort the sequence.
You can clear out all the Imperials before sending Han Solo in to do anything.

Star Wars: Empire at War - Jabiim

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

Imperial Campaign
Available in Mission 9 (The Rebel Fortress) / Tech Level 4. Starts under Rebel control. Conquer Jabiim early as part of preventing the Rebels from building raid fleets. The Mission does not end until the Land Battle is over.

Space Battle
If you take Jabiim early, it may only have a level 3 Space Station (unlike Fresia, which starts at Level 5). However, it has asteroid fields on the perimeter, which can cause your larger ships like Victory Star Destroyers to circle round if you're not watching.
Jabiim also has an Ion Cannon on the planet, which can disable any ship for a long time. This means it can't fire, it can't move, and shields drop to zero.

I captured Jabiim space early in Mission 9 with five Victory Star Destroyers, two Broadside Cruisers, Darth Vader, and a Fleet Commander. No losses sustained, no reinforcements called.
On entry, I moved the Broadsides away to a corner to maximize their chances of staying out of sight. I stopped the Star Destroyers from moving so they wouldn't accidentally drift into space station range. (Even so, the Ion Cannon could still hit them.)
As usual with Broadside Cruiser station sieges, I have Darth Vader (or TIE squadrons) tie up the larger Rebellion ships near the space station if possible--Enemy ships often drift closer and if your Broadside Cruisers come under fire, they could be crippled or destroyed before the enemy is shot down. Darth Vader can take on the missile-firing Marauders and keep them too busy to fire on you.
Once the initial wave of corvettes is done, use Broadside Cruisers to take on the space station while keeping the Star Destroyers holding still, defending each other and out of range of the station. Anytime a Broadside Cruiser draws attention from another vessel, pull them back.
Eventually you will destroy the station with missiles. Retreat your Broadsides behind your Star Destroyers and advance your fleet cautiously together so they can concentrate fire and cover each other. Any that are heavily damaged can be retreated to a far corner away from enemy activity.

Land Battle

The energy generator is outside of the shielded area, to the northeast. It's possible to solo this mission with Darth Vader, and in some ways it's easier because you start in a cramped area, and if you land units other than Darth Vader, the Rebels immediately try to swarm you.

If you want to take this the non-cheesy regular way (i.e., not solo with Darth Vader), you have to immediately move your units when you land. Start with an AT-AT (maybe Colonel Veers) as it is the least fragile. Set up one or maybe two groups units of SPMA-Ts to back it up. Against anything that gets past the AT-AT, you can use AT-ST Walkers (Repulsor lift vehicles cannot be deployed on Jabiim).

There are two side-by-side Building Pads near the western exit from the Reinforcement Point, and is the best place to park your AT-AT as you can have two Vehicle Repair Stations constantly healing it against an onslaught of heavy armor and artillery.

Once the initial wave is over, move your SPMA-Ts to the building pads and move your AT-AT a bit forward so they are targeted by enemy artillery first. Keep your AT-AT there to draw fire from artillery units -- After the initial wave, the Rebels will have to wait for new vehicles to be produced from their factories. Send maybe Darth Vader and supporting AT-ST Walkers to find the shield generator and take it out with a bombing run. Or, send the AT-AT, and then return it to the Vehicle Repair Station before the final advance on the base.
After that, you can advance on the base. Take out the heavy factory first (northeastern corner of the base, usually).

The mission does not end until you take out the Ion Cannon deep in the forest to the east.

Rebellion Campaign

Space Battle
Land Battle

PLACEHOLDER
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
CONTENT COMING SOON

Star Wars: Empire at War - Ilum

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

Imperial Campaign
You have to conquer Ilum in Mission 4 (The Pirate Menace) / Tech Level 2.

Space Battle
Boba Fett's mission here is straightforward if you take your time and let his shields regenerate first, and draw the Pirate Assault Fighters away (if any are left after his seismic charge) before finishing them off -- you can sometimes be too close to the asteroid space station and after a while sound the general alarm.
Afterward, have Boba Fett take out all missile platforms and patrolling fighters before calling in the Empire.

When you call in reinforcements, you can split them into three or four approaches. Against the fighters that appear later with the Pirate leader's vessel, you can try to engage and clump them, then have Boba Fett run by and drop a siesmic charge.

Note that this mission is practically impossible if you are using a ship rescaling mod that resizes the pirate frigate to Star Wars canon size. The reduced size makes it very, very, hard for some of your larger vessels to hit it.

Land Battle
Assuming you don't immediately know where the (only) building is located, the first thing to do is race for the other reinforcement point to get more units -- especially when playing on Hard and the pirate forces are thick. Build turrets on the Building Pads (probably two Anti-Infantry) to keep the enemy busy while they try to contest that reinforcement point.
Run Vader east and follow up a short distance later with AT-STs. Once you're at the next reinforcement point, you will probably have to fight some pirates first. Try to secure at least one Building Pad and build a Vehicle Repair Station to give your AT-STs longevity. Call in reinforcements, then slowly fight north. There is no need to hold either Reinforcement Point, as by now you would have called in the maximum number of units (10).

Around the middle of the map are two Building Pads close together -- another good place for an overlapping Vehicle Repair Station. As you abandon your old positions, if you are worried about being flanked, you can convert Repair or Bacta Stations into Turrets.

On the way from the southwest Reinforcement Point to southeastern one, you may see a Pirate base on the mountain above (especially if you have a Field Commander, which will extend the radius at which the fog of war is revealed). If you can call down a bombing run early, you will have a much easier time as it pumps out a lot of vehicles. It is also the only structure on the planet, so if you just hold ground and use bombing runs, you can stem the tide of pirate reinforcements. Even if you can't target the building, you can try to target the nearest land you can, and after a few runs the splash damage from the explosions should eventually destroy the building.

You can also do an AT-ST Walker blitzkreig toward the only building. Along the way, one bombing run typically becomes available before you reach the vehicle factory. You can either use that to help you clear a thick clump of pirates, or to clear out the factory.
One of the reasons you can do this with just Darth Vader and three squads of AT-STs from just the initial Reinforcement Point is because AT-STs can walk and shoot at the same time. Darth Vader takes point to soak PLEX missiles. By continually walking forward, you squash almost all the infantry in your way using your AT-STs. The typically lightly-armored pirate vehicles (Bantha II Cargo Skiff, Swamp Speeder/Infantry Support Platform) can be taken down by the continuous AT-ST weapons fire. The occasional heavier Pod Walker/All-Terrain Attack Pod can be very quickly handled by Darth Vader's Force Crush.
One of the main advantages of a blitzkrieg is that you can run past the Building Pads before the pirates can use them to build turrets. Turrets will slow your advance considerably as you will have to wait for Darth Vader or a bombing run to clear them (or take losses doing so yourself).

Rebellion Campaign

Space Battle
Land Battle

PLACEHOLDER
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
CONTENT COMING SOON