Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption - Walkthrough / Hints

Perfect Victory on HARD Difficulty

Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption - Hints and Walkthroughs
This is a table of contents for the various hints and walkthroughs we posted for Star Wars: Empire at War (Gold Pack, Empire at War version 1.5, Forces of Corruption version 1.1). They are actually best read AFTER you've tried to conquer a particular planet or if you are having trouble with one, as you may find a different and interesting approach to the mission than your own -- or have a superior strategy yourself.

This post covers only the Forces of Corruption expansion content. For hints and walkthroughs for the original Empire at War and the Imperial and Rebellion campaigns, click here.
For a generalized information guide, try GameFAQs.

We have also liberally included informational links to Wookieepedia: The Star Wars Wiki to provide wider context and canon information related to the content that appears in Empire At War: Forces of Corruption.

Technology
These posts cover notes and suggestions for the use of various units and structures. The Imperial and Rebellion sections cover only what is new to Forces of Corruption. The Empire At War units were discussed in the Star Wars: Empire At War Walkthrough / Hints post.

We initially played the Zann Consortium with a focus on money -- That is, conquering land but not space, waiting for planets to be Corrupted first, and typically putting just one Zann Consortium Palace on each planet to maximize income only. After Mission 15, we aborted and restarted, playing a crime syndicate only game to see how far we could go. In this scheme, we chose only one planet to have a full base and space station, and did not conquer any space or planets unless necessary (for Missions or if it were already unclaimed). Where planets could be settled, we placed only a Zann Consortium Palace for income.

Consortium Buildings
Consortium Ground Units (except Defilers, which are discussed here)
Consortium Space Units
New Imperial Units
New Rebellion Units

Planets
These posts cover notes and suggestions for handling various planets. In each post we only offer tips where something might be overlooked or where the mission is tricky or difficult.

In general, remember that Build Pad items now cost a lot more and therefore are useful to recycle for credits when you are done. And on Corruption Missions you do not get to keep any units that you start with (so you don't really need to keep them alive).

Alzoc 3 Bespin Bonadan Carida Coruscant Dathomir Endor Felucia Fondor Honoghr

Hoth Hypori Ilum Kamino Kessel Kuat Mandalore Mustafar Muunilinst Myrkr

Nal Hutta Polus Ryloth Saleucami Shola Sullust Taris Tatooine The Maw Utapau Yavin 4

Heroes
These posts cover notes and suggestions for heroes, in order of appearance in the Forces of Corruption campaign.

Tyber Zann
Urai Fen
Defiler (Minor Hero)
Bossk / Hound's Tooth
Silri
IG-88

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - New Empire Units

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

Heavy Assault Vehicle Transport B5 Juggernaut

Imperial "Lancet" Aerial Artillery
When under the control of the AI, this unit does not attack heroes. It can attack ground units but only with its weak Point Defense Laser Cannon.

Imperial Mobile Defense Unit

Phase I Dark Trooper
It is a droid, and is immune to Drain Life from Silri or Nightsisters, Urai Fen's Sonic Stunner, and Tyber Zann's Bribery.

Phase II Dark Trooper
It is a droid, and is immune to Drain Life from Silri or Nightsisters, Urai Fen's Sonic Stunner, and Tyber Zann's Bribery.

Phase III Dark Trooper
The Phase III Dark Trooper can fly with a jet pack, but the start-up and landing times are quite long, and it cannot attack once it starts its jet pack, until it lands.
It is a droid, and is immune to Drain Life from Silri or Nightsisters, Urai Fen's Sonic Stunner, and Tyber Zann's Bribery.

Noghri Assassins

Only the Empire can have these units, and they are only recruited from Honoghr.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Zann Consortium Buildings

Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption - Zann Consortium Buildings
This is a hint / walkthrough for buildings 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 general strategy for the Galactic Map is a bit different from the Empire at War Rebellion and Imperial Campaigns because you can now Corrupt planets, and Corruptions remain even after you have conquered the planet.
Also, you cannot remove a Corruption yourself once it is in place, so you may have to wait for prerequisites if you want to Corrupt a planet before conquering it (e.g., Put Racketeering on it before invading, and collect credits for every unit you destroy; or conduct Piracy to access different types of ships).
Further, because the Empire and the Rebellion are busy with each other, you can expect them to destroy each other's fleets for you. This saves you from having to maintain a large navy.
Finally, you cannot build Mining Facilities. The only "mining income" you can get is from a Zann Consortium Palace, which generally gives you 7x the base income of a planet.

For the Forces of Corruption campaign, we went with a mix of keeping the story going and Corrupting planets as our focus. In between Missions, we corrupted every planet at which we could choose a desirable Corruption. Because heroes and Defilers can travel in stealth and thereby attack any planet while bypassing forces in orbit, we generally left the fleets intact (as they generally do not have ground forces, and therefore can't invade the planet anyway).
We only built a Zann Consortium Palace on many planets because we were prepared to lose them. The investment is only about 4000 credits in total: 1000 for a Defiler to perform a Corruption, around 1000 for a Corruption, and 2000 for a Zann Consortium Palace. Depending on the planetary income, this could be recovered in 4-7 days.

On planets where we wanted to keep, we maximized the space station and built Barracks and Factories for their garrisons, but this was rare because only a few planets were really interesting to hold for their special features or because they had a lot of Building slots (in turn meaning you can build a lot of factories and thereby reduce build time).

By leaving enemy fleets in orbit in the early game, you will be inhibiting the movement of your own fleets and troops (especially going past The Maw), but for most missions you can just move heroes and Defilers anyway, and they can bypass enemy fleets.

When defending your space station, you can often have a garrison of Broadside Cruisers or Marauders. They will start ahead of your station, so pull them back immediately and to the sides, and have them hold position. Their barrage will help you fight back fighters and bombers, and when cruisers start to charge your station, they can add their considerable firepower to that of your station.
In some places, however (like Nal Hutta), this can be tricky.

Remember that you can select your station and then right-click on an enemy unit to get it to direct all valid fire at that target. This can really help in crippling an enemy and making it turn. You will want to then hit the engines before moving onto another target. This will help you keep them in range if you can find the breathing room to finish them off.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Zann Consortium Space Units

Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption - Zann Consortium Space Units
This is a hint / walkthrough for units in Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. The index of all our guides for Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is here.

I like to run space battles with no unit losses (unless they are "free" units that are from, for example, space station garrisons), so you won't see tips like "keep calling for reinforcements".
Forces of Corruptions lets you select the first unit to show up, and you can bring in the rest yourself. As there is very little wait time for space reinforcements, this works out quite well for lining up your ships.

In the Forces of Corruption Campaign, as planets become available, some cannot be Corrupted immediately, or you do not have the prerequisites yet for the Corruption you may like. Because you cannot Corrupt a planet you already control, you may have to wait if you want all planets to benefit from some sort of Corruption.

You don't get space units that have staying power until much later in the campaign (after Mission 14, "Cloud City Conflict"; and after Mission 15, "Baiting the Hook", when you get all your high end units and jump to Tech Level 5). If you don't mind losing units, this is not relevant. If, like me, you do hate losing units in battle, then you will have to wait for better ship options before you start building a fleet and clearing enemy fleets.
I therefore did not have an early game fleet, but instead built no ships other than a Tartan Patrol Cruiser for additional support against fighters. Later, when the Vengeance-Class Frigates, Broadside Cruisers, and Marauder Corvettes became available, I put together a fleet of five Vengeance Frigates and five Marauders. When Keldabe-Class Battleships became available, I skipped the flashy Aggressor-Class Destroyers and arranged fleets of four Battleships supported by four Marauders.
Although the Crusader-Class Corvettes can be upgraded to have the interesting point-defense power that can destroy incoming missiles, I still found them too fragile to bring and instead opted to rely on the staying power of very large ships and long-range support fire from missile ships.

When defending against enemy fleets, you can often defend with just strong Space Stations. At planets you really want to keep, you should have the strongest possible Station. In combat, get all the upgrades you can, and spend your free reinforcements like water because only destroyed units are replaced. As long as your station is free of enemy bombers, use suicide runs to destroy long-range bombardment ships like Broadside Cruisers or Marauders and then focus on larger ships when they are in station weapon range to take them down as quickly as possible.

When attacking enemy fleets, seize the ground first if you can, using heroes and Defilers (all of which can ignore fleets in orbit and directly attack the planet). You don't get Bombing Runs, but if you succeed you will destroy the enemy space station as well (like a Rebellion Raid Fleet).

In addition to the Zann Consortium ships, you can build the following ships, but they do not share the ability of all pirate ships to safely enter and hide in asteroid fields:

• Tartan Patrol Cruiser - from Piracy at Mandalore
• Marauder Corvette - from Piracy at Kessel
• Broadside Cruiser - from Piracy at Bespin

Starviper-Class Attack Platform
You get the Buzz Droids ability for free at the start of the campaign. The use of this is tricky as the effective radius is small and the enemy tends to immediately move out anyway. Probably best used if you can have enough Starvipers lay down a carpet to protect an area. You cannot, however, target an area on which there is another vessel (such as your own space station). You could try putting it in the way of a committed bombing run, but usually bombers will have fired their payload before actually getting very close to the target.

GAT-12 Skipray Blastboat
The Sensor Jamming ability theoretically lets it be ignored by the enemy and protects it from missiles, but I have yet to notice a discernible different in battle. Also, missiles tend to explode in a dangerous blast radius that can take down whole clouds of fighters and bombers easily even if they haven't been directly hit.
Like all bombers, however, enough of them can be deadly to any large vessel.

Interceptor IV Frigate
The standard pirate Frigate. It has okay firepower but lacks the staying power to really use it unless you have a lot of distracting support to spread out enemy fire (the AI does not generally concentrate on one ship at a time).

The Full Salvo upgrade fires a stream of concussion missiles from the bow, but does so straight out of the ship in the direction it is facing, rather than at whatever it has been set to target--The Interceptor will not turn to face its target first, so for best effect you need to make sure it is facing the right way.

Crusader-Class Corvette
You have access to this ship design after Mission 11 (Visions of the Past), whereupon you get one free ship. It works as a basic anti-fighter corvette. Although the Tartan Patrol Cruiser has the Boost Weapon Power, you might want to switch them all for Crusaders as only pirate ships have the ability to hide in an asteroid field. Also, Tartans do not benefit from Zann Consortium space station upgrades.

Once you have Vengeance Frigates and either Broadside Cruisers or Marauder Corvettes, you can try dropping these corvettes out of your navy: The Vengeance Frigate mass drivers are reasonably good anti-fighter weapons; and if allowed to fire freely, the exploding missiles from Broadside Cruiser and Marauder Corvette can take out whole wings of fighters.

Vengeance-Class Frigate
You have access to this ship design after Mission 14 (Cloud City Conflict), whereupon you get one free ship. At the time, your Tech Level is 3, but the Cloaking Device Tech Level is 4, and it will cost you over 30000 credits to purchase it at Tech Level 3 (less if you control more than one Black Market). Don't build more than one fleet for Mission 15, as shortly after you will get Aggressor Destroyers and Keldabe Battleships.

The Vengeance suffers from the big problem of not having shields. It has staying power, but without shields it starts to lose hardpoints (usually the Engines) very early in the battle. Still, at the time it appears, it is the toughest ship in your navy, and you can field (at 25 points) 5 Vengeance Frigates to shield 5 Broadside Cruisers or Marauder Corvettes.
In such a fleet, the Vengeance does double duty in keeping fighters and corvettes away from your missile barrage ships, and to add their firepower against larger cruisers making suicide runs to get at those missile ships. You are basically holding the line as far away as you can from a space station while allowing your Broadsides or Marauders to continue firing. Your goal is to hit their weapons until they turn to flee, then hit their engines so they can't escape the continuous missile barrage. You will need to retreat heavily damaged Vengeance Frigates, but they are helpfully quite sturdy.

Theoretically the cloaking device can help you sneak close and sight the enemy for long-range bombardment with your Broadsides or Marauders, but the enemy will usually make suicide runs on those anyway, and your Vengeance Frigates are better used to keep them at bay and let the missile barrage continue.

Aggressor-Class Destroyer

You get your first Aggressor in Mission 15 -- Tyber Zann's flagship, the "Merciless". Be careful about it making wide turns because an allied vessel is in the way. You need to more or less point its bow at an enemy ship in order for it to fire its special twin gun or its special charged-up blast, and those swinging turns can mess that up. At the same time, it's not entirely clear how to get it to turn back to its original heading.

One of the main weaknesses of the Aggressor is that it does not have a lot of weapon hardpoints, so it is primarily an anti-cruiser ship using its big gun to help your fleet. Each time the red pulse hits, a chunk of hull is taken off. If you compare it to how much the guns on a Keldabe Battleship can do, it can be about the same.
The initial ion cannon blast can strip off the shield from a powerful vessel quickly, but after that, it really doesn't do anything. Finally, both bolts travel quite slowly, so against even a cruiser that is moving, if you aim for something at the bow or stern, you can actually miss because the vessel has moved or turned by the time the projectile reaches the target.

Note that the main gun will not fire at all unless you manually select a target.

The Self-Destruct power has hardly any radius to it: You practically have to be on top of something to affect it. Otherwise, it will probably just take out some fighters flying over the ship's hull at the time you blow it up.

Keldabe-Class Battleship

You get this after Mission 15 (Baiting the Hook) from Piracy on Mandalore. It is a capital ship and can only be built on certain planets, including Shola, which you can hopefully hold on to during the repeated attacks after meeting Thrawn over Carida.

The Keldabe does not have a flashy main gun, but it has a lot more weapon hardpoints and so is less likely to end up toothless on the battlefield. In the meantime, as you approach a large ship, you can leave it to choose its own targets and spread fire all around to small ships like corvettes and fighters. It is a very poor shot against against fighters despite the mass drivers, so it will need to be supported somehow.

The Leech Shields upgrade is remarkably effective at taking down a shield. How much the weapons are boosted, however, is debatable. You cannot use it on a target without shields up, but otherwise, everything is fair game. Great against space stations so you don't have to waste time taking out the Shield Generator.

Leech Shields is theoretically lousy against the Imperials who like to maximize weapon power at the expense of their own shields, but if you leave the ability on Autofire (i.e., computer controlled), it can fire quickly enough to leech the shields from a reinforcement vessel as it hyperspaces in. A ship hyperspaces in usually at the edge of the map, and then flies very quickly to its designated location (you can watch this on the minimap). With this ability on autofire, as soon as a ship is in range, even if it is in this sort of coming-out-of-hyperspace transit, it can be targeted by the Keldabe Battleship.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Zann Consortium Ground Units

Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption - Zann Consortium Ground Units
This is a hint / walkthrough for units 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 have enough of a unit mix to field a "regular" army and use typical tactics, the Zann Consortium is actually more effective using commando action. All Consortium heroes and the powerful Defiler minor hero unit are stealth units on the Galactic Map: They ignore enemy fleets. And unlike Rebellion Raid Fleets, you can have more than 3 units sneak by a fleet over a planet and attack the planet directly.
Further, once you have Corrupted a planet, you get to see not only enemy units but building and unit placements. This allows you to quickly locate and destroy enemy buildings that can continue to produce troops (Factories and Barracks). And after all buildings are destroyed, the fog of war lifts and you can see the movements of remaining enemies.
Finally, the Defiler minor hero unit is so powerful with its useful Remote Explosive power that you can just build them to be your entire army, instead of "conventional" units. You will generally want to have Urai Fen take point because he continuously heals and can hide with his Personal Cloaking Field to scout more dangerous areas.
However, until you get a useful artillery/turret shield (like Silri's Rancor), areas that are covered by more than one Turret, or a Turret plus a Bunker, are extremely dangerous because the Defilers need to get in close to throw their thermal detonators; and you don't have any hero strong enough to withstand two Turrets (Urai Fen can usually sneak close to one and take it out, but not two, and sometimes not even one Anti-Infantry Turret, which tends to be able to shoot back no matter how close he is).

Defiler
This special unit is discussed here.

Mercenary Assault Squad
The Stim Pack inflicts ~25% damage to health.
You must buy the Disruptor upgrade for the Mercenary Assault Squad as part of Mission 5 (Black Market Establishment).

Grenadier
The Stim Pack inflicts ~25% damage to health.

The arcing shot of the Grenadier can allow a target that is charging straight at the Grenadier to run underneath and avoid some or most of the fire. It also means it can fire over some obstacles, whereas most weapons are direct fire and sometimes a unit on or below a cliff will fire harmlessly into the ground or wall.

The Proximity Mines upgrade is an interesting one, as it allows idle Grenadiers to eventually carpet wide areas, making them dangerous to traverse. The Landmines are themselves tiny devices rather than absolute coverage over an area. Each device explodes independently, so a small unit entering the area might be extremely lucky and avoid them all, or trigger only one or two and the area will still remain dangerous.
The Proximity Mines can also be disabled by the enemy by shooting at them, as once they are laid, each mine is an individual item. Usually the enemy will step on one and then realize they are in a minefield and start shooting the rest. An automatic fire weapon with a spread to the burst can take out several mines per burst. The blasts do not set off any chain reaction.

Mobile Defense Unit
Good if you have deep pockets to spend on a mission. There are some land missions where Build Pads may be difficult to find, and an MDU can come in handy if you want to hold ground on your own terms.
The Sensor Jammer is particularly useful because your fragile or shielded units are very vulnerable to missile fire of all sorts.

When attacked, whatever is built on an MDU is first damaged, and then the MDU is damaged.

Destroyer Droid Mark II (Droideka Mark II)

These move very, very, quickly, but are remarkably fragile against everything, despite their shields. PLEX Troopers can kill them very quickly, and even one squad (9 individuals) of Stormtroopers can tear down the shields with remarkable speed.

They can move forward a bit without dropping their shields, but for longer move orders, they undeploy and then race forward. Deploying and undeploying takes about a second each, during which time they can be very vulnerable because they have no shields. Theoretically, however, you can race them inside artillery minimum distance before they come under fire.

Nightsister riding Rancor
This very useful unit is your artillery shield / turret shield. Charge them in quickly, especially against AT-ATs as they get inside the AT-AT's minimum range and can attack without retaliation.
Watch for clumsy turns, frequent traffic jams, and getting stuck in walls.

They can secure Build Pads and other structures.

Their Drain Life ability affects infantry and vehicles, but not droids, anything built on a Build Pad, and buildings.

Because they can only be recruited on Dathomir, you may want to focus on securing that planet. However, the hero Silri can summon a slightly smaller Rancor, so you can get similar tanking but with an expendable and renewable "free" unit from a hero who ignores enemy fleets on the Galactic Map.

F9-TZ Transport
At Tech Level 4 (after Mission 15, "Baiting the Hook"), the Cloaking technology becomes cheaper on the Black Market on Imperial worlds, but you are allowed to buy it at any time.

Missile Attack Launcher
The Zann Consortium's artillery piece, the M.A.L. (Missile Attack Launcher) uses a barrage of missiles similar to that of Rebellion PLEX Troopers. They ignore shields travel nap-of-the-earth (so they can slide over low obstacles like hills), go harmlessly through (not over) bunkers that you own, and will follow targets who change course. As they do not arc over anything, they are hard to avoid by ground units and have no minimum range.
The barrage of PLEX missiles can be split to two targets if you right-click on a different target while it is still firing its volley.

The main difference between the M.A.L. and the artillery pieces of the Rebellion and the Empire is that it's attack is quite weak. Whereas Rebellion or Empire artillery can be expected to destroy weak units in a single volley, it will take several volleys from an M.A.L. to destroy even infantry.

The Carbonite missiles (from the Weaponized Carbonite technology upgrade) fire quite quickly, but one missile at a time. These have a low arc instead of multiple PLEX-type missiles. They explode in a wide radius, do less damage against infantry compared to the regular missile barrage, and almost no damage against structures and vehicles but do still slow them down.

The shield and armor on a MAL are weak, so pairing Carbonite Missiles with regular ones can keep enemies away while you continue to bomb them with another MAL, or help allies on the field escape.

MZ-8 Mobile Pulse Cannon
These tanks are actually quite weak, possibly comparable or less so to a 2-M Saber Repulsor Tank. The plasma pulse cannon has a long charge-up time, but once charged it cannot be stopped and will fire even if the tank is destroyed. Despite the spectacular blast, it harms only one target at a time. They move quite responsively despite being tracked vehicles. They cannot move and fire at the same time.

Vornskr
You must control Myrkr (accessible after Mission 15, "Baiting the Hook") in order to recruit Vornskr. They attack quickly and can tear through infantry. Like infantry, they can be run over.

Canderous Assault Tank
You get one unit (three tanks) for free after Mission 15 (Baiting the Hook) and can start building them at that time. Their attack isn't very strong, but their handling is very responsive and smooth like a 2-M Saber Repulsor Tank, and their turret turns quite quickly. They cannot move and fire at the same time.

Ewok Handler
You can recruit these after choosing the Slavery Corruption on Endor (available after Mission 15, "Baiting the Hook").
These costly units have a very long start-up time for their attack: They need to use their Gaffi Sticks to yank out an Ewok from their bag and send it off, all at around infantry blaster range (the Handler will move into that range before pulling out an Ewok).
The Ewok runs faster than infantry, but not by much. If shot down before then, it does not explode. If you want an explosive, go for a Defiler instead.

Ewok Handlers are recruited from a Zann Consortium Palace instead of Barracks.

Pyn'gani Warrior
You can recruit these after choosing the Slavery Corruption on Polus (available after Mission 15, "Baiting the Hook").
They are very weak infantry with no special abilities. Instead of a squad, they are all individuals, and cannot be told to stand still -- After completing a move command, if they are idle, they wander.

Sullustan Civilian
You can recruit these after choosing the Slavery Corruption on Sullust (available after Mission 15, "Baiting the Hook"). They are essentially very weak infantry with no special abilities.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - IG-88

Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption - IG-88
This is a hint / walkthrough for a hero in Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. The index of all our guides for Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is here.

You get IG-88 at the start of Mission 14 (Cloud City Conflict). Like Bossk, he can Neutralize Heroes on the Galactic Map.

On Land
Both of his powers (Infection and Radioactive Contamination) have poor range, work slowly, and do not affect Turrets. However, he has enough armor and firepower to let him outgun a turret.

Against Dark Troopers and stronger weapons fire, use the Radioactive Contamination -- especially at an area being defended, as the defending units will usually give up a chase and return to their positions, even if it is under the green Radioactive Contamination haze.

His blaster fire is actually a volley of shots, and strong against turrets and infantry squads. One volley can take out about 6-7 individual soldiers.

In Space
IG-88 has his own personal ship that is something in between the size of a fighter and a corvette. His Corrupt Systems power can be useful in bringing down most of the shields on a large ship or base quickly at the start of an engagement, giving your forces a head start in damage. However, he has to be at the centre of the area you target, and in a thick firefight he's a bit fragile.
He can be useful against fighters, but even then it's iffy.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Silri

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

You get Silri during Mission 13 (A Dark Ally) and at that point finally get a good artillery shield / tank. She is very tough personally, and can heal herself with the Drain Life power that all Nightsisters have -- a very wide-radius power that also works on vehicles and turrets. Against Turrets and artillery, she can send her summoned Rancor, Cuddles.

As she can repeatedly summon her Rancor, there is an interesting opportunity to pair her with (a lot) of Defilers, since Defilers can plant their Remote Explosives on allies. The Rancor is generally hardy enough to survive a run through enemy forces, so you could plant a lot of explosives on it, let it run to a dangerous target (like a hero), and then detonate. Remember that the radius is very wide, so you don't have to get too close. Also, the detonation will hurt the ally, so the fact that Silri can re-summon her Rancor is very handy.

The Rancor needs a certain amount of micromanagement as it turns clumsily and can occasionally be stuck in a railing or wall section and not be able to move forward (but will keep trying and moving in place instead of detouring out and around).

The Rancor can secure Build Pads and buildings like Nightsisters, but cannot trample infantry.

Her force whip looks slow in attacking, but it is actually two attacks in one animation, and a single lash will destroy a T2-B Repulsor tank. It ignores shields.

Silri has no powers in a space battle, and appears in a transport shuttle.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Bossk

Star Wars: Empire at War - Bossk / Hound's Tooth
This is a hint / walkthrough for a hero in Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. The index of all our guides for Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is here.

You get Bossk on Hypori in Mission 11 (Visions of the Past). He appears in space in his own large fighter, the Hound's Tooth. He is not available after Mission 15 (Baiting the Hook).
Overall he isn't a very useful combatant on land or in space compared to his ability to Neutralize Heroes on the Galactic Map.

On Land
Bossk has two powers -- A flamethrower and Plasma Grenades. Both have a slow recharge, so switch out the Plasma Grenade when he's thrown one.

The Plasma Grenade covers a moderate area with a continuously burning plasma that will kill infantry quite quickly and harm anything in or passing through. The range is fairly short, the recharge time long, and it does not ignore shields.
Because it sets up a kill-zone, it is useful to hit a unit at an area being defended, as the defending units will usually give up a chase and return to their positions.

Bossk can only shoot flying vehicles with his blaster on regular fire. If you have him switched over to the Plasma Grenade, or if you target a flying vehicle with his flamethrower, he runs in circles beneath the targeted vehicle.

In Space
Into the middle part of the Campaign, Bossk will be your only hero with any kind of useful space presence. The in-game hints say that having a hero boosts morale and helps your fleet fight better, so if that is all you need, any hero that will sit in a Frigate will do (e.g., Tyber Zann or Urai Fen).

The Hound's Tooth is actually pretty good against fighter wings because it has missiles that track the target. You can use him as a corvette but he still won't last long in a thick firefight. Theoretically the Sensor Jamming ability should make him hardy against Broadside Cruisers and Marauder Cruisers, although it is hard to say how useful the ability actually is.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Defiler

Star Wars: Empire at War - Defiler
This is a hint / walkthrough for a unit 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 Defiler is not a unique Major Hero character, but we have so many notes about them that we have separated it from the general land unit discussion. They have no real presence in Space Battles, and just show up in a small TZ-15 Shuttles.

Defilers have a strong blaster attack that can kill one individual of infantry per shot, so a pair of them can often destroy a Speeder Bike and its Scout Trooper very quickly. The range of the blaster is less than that of regular infantry.

Regarding the Remote Explosive:

• The explosion is about three times the visible explosion diameter and apparently just as powerful throughout.
• Three explosives roughly equal the power of one bombing run.
• Any Defiler can detonate any explosive. All explosives are detonated when you issue the detonate command.
• The explosion ignores shields and is therefore great for taking out clumps of T2-B Repulsor Tanks, which it can do with a single blast.
• The explosive can be attached to a building, Build Pad structure, or enemy unit. If a unit moves out of the way, the explosive will land on the ground. It can still be detonated and will still harm all targets within its blast radius. Any number of explosives can be attached to the same target.
• To plant an explosive on the ground for later detonation, you can move an ally to the location you want the explosive and pause the game. Now, issue the command to throw an explosive at your ally, and issue the ally a move command away from their location. What should happen when you unpause the game is the targeted ally moves away while the explosive lands where they were standing. There is no guarantee that the enemy won't see the explosive and shoot it, thus detonating it harmlessly.
• The explosive can be attached to an ally (such as a Scout Trooper (bribed by Tyber Zann) or Silri's summoned Rancor) to make a suicide bomber. When it explodes, it will hurt the unit. Some few units (mostly heroes) can survive a bomb, although their health would then be so low that they might not survive enemy retaliation.
• Another possible use of the delayed detonation is to plant it on an enemy building and then retreat. When the defenders return to their positions near the building, set off the explosives to take out the defenders as well.
• The explosive cannot be attached to an unowned structure, such as a bunker that has not been claimed by either yourself or the enemy.
• The explosive exists in-game as a very small device, and can occasionally be shot out of the air. It prematurely explodes harmlessly. If detonated in mid-air, it is also harmless.
• Sometimes their pathfinding gets them stuck and they keep running in place while trying to move close enough to a target. You can usually issue a move command to get them by an obstacle.
• Sometimes they can get stuck, and the unit cannot be moved. You generally have no choice but to reload the game.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Urai Fen

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

On Land
Urai Fen has a slow melee attack, but it is very powerful, ignores shields, and can hit all units around him. This is particularly helpful when attacking a clump of lightly armored vehicles; and after running into a swarm and activating his very wide-radius Sonic Stunner ability.

Some buildings (e.g., Hutt Command Center) seem to confuse the pathfinding for Urai Fen and you have to manually move him very close in until he can attack, or try a different point on the building perimeter. Otherwise, he just stands there, or possibly walks in circles on the spot.

He cannot be told to hold his position unless he has his Personal Cloaking Field active. He will respond to a Stop movement command, but will still head toward the nearest visible enemy shortly after.

He has a Personal Cloaking Field that is probably best used to get close to Turrets or to quickly get out of trouble, especially as he can regenerate his health and he can outrun many units. However, some turrets introduced in Forces of Corruption can apparently still fire on him -- You may have to move him very, very, close to the turret.

He can slowly heal, but does not do so while in a Bunker.

In Space
Urai Fen is a Stealth Unit, but does not provide any intelligence on units or structures. He can, however, be sent down to attack the planet somewhat like a Rebellion Raid Fleet.
Some plot-related planets (e.g., Yavin 4) automatically trigger special space or land maps even if Urai Fen is travelling with only Stealth units, so it is generally better to scout with Defilers.

Unless there is a large vessel as part of the attack fleet he is with, Urai Fen does not appear in space combat.

Urai Fen can buy technology faster (i.e., he becomes available to you again) faster than Tyber Zann.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Tyber Zann

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

On Land
Tyber Zann's blaster, a modified Rawk Chopped Special is basically a short-range sawed-off shotgun that can hit multiple units. It is especially useful against Scout Troopers because the same blast will destroy the Speeder Bike as well as the Scout Trooper (normally, the Trooper dismounts unharmed from a destroyed bike unless it was destroyed in a large explosion, such as from a thermal detonator or artillery fire).

He has a Personal Cloaking Field that is probably best used to get close to Turrets or to quickly get out of trouble. However, some turrets introduced in Forces of Corruption can apparently still fire on him -- You may have to move him very, very, close to the turret.

His ability to bribe enemy units is very expensive on vehicles and should probably be used more sparingly than leaving it on automatic, which you can do with the game engine (e.g., an All Terrain Pod Walker costs 250 credits). You also don't get to keep any units afterward, and to properly maintain your investment you will want to keep it alive on the battlefield, which in turn means Bacta Healing Tanks or Vehicle Repair Stations. You are looking at maybe 300 credits in just support costs on top of the initial bribe.
That said, it's also a very fast way to get out of trouble, especially if you are pursued by a single unit.

In Space
Tyber Zann is a Stealth Unit, but does not provide any intelligence on units or structures. He can, however, be sent down to attack the planet somewhat like a Rebellion Raid Fleet. Some plot-related planets (e.g., Yavin 4) automatically trigger special space or land maps even if Tyber Zann is travelling with only Stealth units, so it is generally better to scout with Defilers.

Unless there is a large vessel as part of the attack fleet he is with, Tyber Zann appears in a transport ship during space combat.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Yavin 4

Star Wars: Empire at War - Yavin 4
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

Racketeering (Corruption Income +180)
This requires Intimidation x2 and cannot be done until Mission 8. You had to perform one Intimidation at Honoghr in Mission 2 (Defiler's Mission), and the next Intimidation Mission that you qualify for is in Mission 8 (Corruption of Saleumaci).

Space Battle
You are required to send Tyber Zann to Yavin 4 as part of Mission 5 (Remnants of the Death Star). Even if he is travelling with only Stealth units, the special data pod search "space battle" will automatically trigger.
It is hard to say whether this mission is meant to be done with actual combat vessels as you cannot get to Yavin 4 without controlling the space of the Empire-controlled planets in between (you cannot Bribe past them to get to Yavin 4). It is theoretically doable to conquer the Imperials in between with large flocks of bombers, but we declined to spend the time and cost to do so right now. In any case, the mission to Yavin 4 is doable with just Tyber Zann.

If you arrive at Yavin 4 with just Tyber Zann, Urai Fen (and possibly some Defilers), they all appear in space in individual TZ-15 Shuttles. These shuttles have small defensive lasers, but even a swarm of them will have a hard time taking down a wing of X-Wings. On the other hand, even Corellian Corvettes have a hard time taking them down.

Around the middle of the map, slightly to the east, are four Tartan Patrol Cruisers who will defect. When you get them, keep them with your shuttles and -- this is important -- keep the group moving looking for the data pods. There is one in the northwest corner, one near the north edge, and one last one in the southwest, but only after you have found the other two as this is the special encounter that ends the space battle.

On this map, there are many spots of debris, which more or less count as asteroids against large ships. As stated in the tutorial, pirate vessels are not damaged by being in an asteroid field, so if you brought a Frigate, it should be okay. However, when you control a large number of vessels, they can unpredictably move around them and become separated, rather than go right through, even if they are very small and would be unharmed. To have them clump together and head inside a debris field, give movement commands to each ship one at a time rather than selecting them and giving the group a movement command.

It is probably helpful to first destroy the defensive satellite in the southwest corner, as it is not likely that it will switch to target the pirate vessel that appears. Chase the pirate from southwest to southeast where he will stop. By then your Tartans should have taken it down. Have Tyber Zann pick it up, and shortly after the end cutscene will appear and your force will retreat to the nearest friendly space (possibly all the way back to Nal Hutta).

If you want to use the power of foresight, hide your Tartans in the large debris field just north of the missile platform. Move Tyber Zann's shuttle to the southwest corner, triggering the pirate encounter. He will zoom ahead eastward, thus drawing the attention of the missile platform. Chase him. Shortly after the cutscene, he will be destroyed by the missile platform ahead east. Dash forward with Tyber Zann to pick up the data pod and trigger the victory announcement. At that point, his shuttle becomes invincible and ignores missiles.

Land Battle
To buy you some time to go for the destroy-native-buildings bonus, leave the Bunkers alone for last. Any units in there will still have to be destroyed, but in the meantime tend to simply stay put in the bunker (although there is a chance that if all that are left are bunkers, the Rebels may sound a retreat before you can destroy them). As long as you stay away from them, they can't do any harm. You can therefore destroy the Light Factory and Barracks to lift the fog of war.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Utapau

Star Wars: Empire at War - Utapau
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 (Corruption Income +43)

Kidnapping
The kidnapping is pretty straightforward if you let Silri and her summoned Rancor pretty much go solo (although they will probably need a Bacta Healing Tank). Be careful of letting Rebel forces engage your units, because, as Silri warns, they are "tougher than usual" and even regular infantry (not PLEX-using ones) will destroy your Droidekas in a few seconds.

Curiously, completing the Kidnapping mission did not increase the count of Kidnappings done (still just 1 success recorded from the Kidnapping at Nal Hutta).

Space Battle

Land Battle
The land battle is much easier after the mission. You can just solo with Urai Fen since the only structure is a Rebellion Barracks.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Shola

Star Wars: Empire at War - Shola
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.

Racketeering (Corruption Income +158)

You are required to choose this Corruption in Mission 4 (Defiler's Second Mission). Afterwards, you might as well take over the system to more than recover your costs in salvage. Upwards of 4000 credits is possible (mostly in the land battle), more if you allow the Hutt faction to keep building turrets so that you can destroy them (for +150 credits each).
Although the Corruption Income seems high, you will get more for the planet plus having a Consortium Palace. In any case, the Corruption remains for future battles even if you conquer the planet.

Space Battle
Shola starts with a minimal space garrison and no space station which you can take with just an Interceptor IV Frigate and a Tartan Patrol Cruiser for anti-fighter support. This lets you clear the way to have Bombing Runs if you invade.

Land Battle
Now that you have Racketeering in place, you can do the land battle either the fast way or the slow way.
The fast way is to split your initial force and rush to hold the second reinforcement point before the enemy digs in there with Anti-Aircraft Turrets. Take Urai Fen to the east, pausing briefly only to capture the Abandoned Mining Facility. Once he gets up north, call a Bombing Run on the Hutt Control Centre, thus destroying the only building on the map and removing the fog of war.
Tyber Zann and a Defiler can move up the western path to take the Abandoned Mining Facility along the way and quickly hold against the Hutt faction from taking it. Reinforce them with Urai Fen and a Bacta Healing Tank, and clear the rest of the map.

The slow way is similar to the fast way, except you let the enemy build turrets so you can destroy it for credits. You must also not destroy the Hutt Control Centre as that seems to make the enemy rush you since they have nothing more to defend. The advantage of the slow way is you can rack up a lot of credits -- more than enough to recover the money you spent on a Defiler and setting up Racketeering.

SW:EAW: Forces of Corruption - Saleucami

Star Wars: Empire at War - Saleucami
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.

Intimidation (Corruption Income +43)
You are required to choose one of the Corruption options in Mission 8 (Corruption of Saleumaci). If you take the super-easy Intimidation mission, you will also fulfill the prerequisites for Racketeering on Yavin IV.

The mission attached to Intimidation here is easy if you see that the objective is to take out just one person (Governor Koong Eeth), rather than slog through a long battle. When you start, pull your troops back and move Urai Fen toward the objective as far as he can without getting killed, then activate his Stealth and go the rest of the way. Once you are at the target, wait until most of the infantry have moved off before attacking the target. Before anyone can react, you should already have "killed" the target and thereby completed the mission, whereupon all units on the field are invulnerable while the game plays some background music and shows you the victory message.
If, for whatever reason, you can't finish off the target without getting killed, the infantry nearby should be vulnerable to Urai Fen's stunning area attack, which buys you extra time to complete the mission.

Racketeering
You are required to choose one of the Corruption options in Mission 8 (Corruption of Saleumaci). If you choose Racketeering, you can probably recover all your costs during the subsequent invasion of Racketeering because of the hordes of enemy troops there. However, doing this delays your ability to Corrupt Yavin IV with Racketeering, and there is only one remaining Intimidation mission on Alzoc 3. You cannot change a Corruption on a planet on your own, and Retreating from the special land battle does not let the Hutt faction retake the planet and remove the Corruption (presumably because it hasn't been conquered yet).

Land Battle
At the start, you can probably withstand the initial rush if you keep your troops back. Your Grenadiers also have surprising range as they can arc their shots down the slope of the landing zone plateau while enemy soldiers can't necessarily fire successfully up the slope. Watch out for the initial rush of Swamp Speeders taking down Urai Fen if you aren't watching his health closely. If you turn on his Personal Cloaking Field, he can't draw fire to protect the free infantry you start with, so try to manage him to preserve your troops (although you will probably have enough if you do not advance down the landing zone).

Afterwards, if you advance Urai Fen cautiously and take your time to retreat and heal, he can actually clear all the enemies and the two Hutt Palaces between the landing zone and the southern Reinforcement Point.
There is also a side passage that allows him to completely bypass all enemies -- or send troops down to join up with those at the Reinforcement Point.

The mission will prematurely end in victory if you destroy all the enemy units and buildings before you reach the southern Reinforcement Point. However, in doing so, you will miss the brief cutscene and event at the Reinforcement Point.

Saleucami comes under your control afterwards. It will be attacked by an Imperial fleet (possibly from Dathomir or beyond, from planets you do not yet have access) after Mission 12 (A Dark Ally). Unfortunately, the fleet will just park itself over the planet if it wins and not take over the planet, denying you a chance to choose another Corruption.

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.