Star Wars: Empire at War Cheats and Hints

Typically in real-time strategy games, you slowly assemble your armies by gradually building the required structures and by researching the proper upgrades. Then you bring these armies in to battle in the late game, only to lose them in the next mission. Empire at War's units will be completely persistent, so you'll keep whichever units survived your last battle. So, considering how expensive some of the most powerful units will be, you may find yourself actually retreating. In fact, attacking and retreating may be central to your strategy, especially if you're playing as the Rebels, who might not always have the resources to mount a full-scale assault. Sometimes it may be better to use guerilla tactics, like crippling a powerful capital ship and fleeing into hyperspace before an armada can be sent after you.

These tactical situations highlight some of the major differences between the two factions. The Rebels will begin the game, as you might expect, at a material disadvantage, so they'll have limited resources, limited holdings, and even limited technology. In many cases, the Rebels won't be able to amass large armies for fear of being discovered, so they'll often find it wiser to build only scattered holdings across different planets. However, the Rebels will have a strong advantage in terms of intelligence-gathering. Consequently, the Rebels will have spies everywhere. And in the meantime, the massive forces of the Empire will also be...everywhere. In fact, your gathered intelligence may actually be stored and used like a "quest log" in a traditional role-playing game, so once the Rebels receive fresh information on what the Empire is doing and where it's doing it, they can take appropriate action based on each tip received.