Era One - Galactic Conquest Breakdown news

2.2 is bringing a lot of overhauled content to the table, and Galactic Conquest scenarios are no exception. The GC selection and era system of previous versions did a decent job of capturing the overall themes, but there were some things we really wanted to change. Some GCs ended up trying to cover too much, and some GCs ended up being a little redundant. For 2.2 we sat down and basically re-planned all of our scenarios from the ground up (get it?). We'll be posting 7 updates of this type to outline the changes; one per era, one for progressive GCs, and one for GCs which don't fit into those categories (though eras 3 and 4 may be combined for the breakdown, we'll see when we get there). There will probably be some changes between what you read in these updates and the final release, but nothing too major.

With all of the GCs in the mod, once of the things we wanted to do was to inject a little bit more of the story and lore where possible, so in 2.2 you'll see a few more events thrown into the GC for different rewards or to cover different plot points. Some of these will be mentioned in the update, but not exhaustively. The era system does a decent job of covering the broad strokes of the post-Endor story, but there's still some gaps it leaves and we essentially want to make that a little more fluid and try to have some story progression in GCs which don't cover multiple eras. Era 4, for example, is pretty compact; there's only one major conflict in the time period (Daala trying to reunite the Empire while fighting the NR), but with others there's a lot to represent and having "the era 5 GC" just didn't do it justice.

Now, for the first set. Era 1 has always had Isard on the Lusankya as the sole leader of the Empire, which got the job done but condensed things a bit too much considering Lusankya spent most of this period under a city and Sate Pestage was more or less in charge before Isard (there was another guy between them, but he didn't really do much). Having just Fractured Empire and The Stars Align, which were altogether too similar in content also left out a lot of the bigger campaigns in what was actually a pretty hectic period, and that's what we're trying to cover here with these changes. So, we've refocused The Stars Align to be more localized to the Pentastar Alignment, and split Fractured Empire into the 2 GCs; Endor Aftermath and The Bacta War.

The Stars Align
"The New Order has never fallen. Only the Emperor. … The Emperor may be dead, but the Empire lives on!"
―Grand Moff Ardus Kaine



Time Covered: Pentastar Talks (4ABY)

This GC essentially gives the option of a small campaign within Era One for Pentastar players, focusing on the formation of the Pentastar Alignment and the Pentastar Talks between Grand Moff Kaine and the various groupss that form the Alignment. In 2.1, The Stars Align was meant to focus on this but ultimately ended up containing the majority of Fractured Empire as well, so these changes (initially planned by new team member, Kucsidave) should refocus the scenario and with its focus on the Alignment, give it a bit more of a reason to exist on its own.

Factions:
New Republic - Hast
Imperial Remnant - Orinda
Pentastar Alignment - Entralla

Endor Aftermath
"It's just that, after every major victory, I hope the fighting is over. But it'll never be over…Even after we defeat the Imperials, there will be someone…another threat to peace…"
―Wedge Antilles



Time Covered: Delvardus Campaign (4ABY) - Liberation of Coruscant (6ABY)

This GC covers the initial expansion of the New Republic and the rise of Imperial Warlords. The battle of Endor has left the Empire in shambles, caused infighting within its political and military branches and allowing the New Republic to make several key gains. The Pentastar Alignment, Zsinj, Eriadu Authority and Greater Maldrood all hope to establish themselves as the legitimate successors to the Empire, and have the benefit of starting with their territory already consolidated. Within this GC, the Remnant starts out with Sate Pestage as its head. However, if Coruscant is taken, Pestage flees and Isard takes over with the Lusankya (or if Pestage is killed before then), essentially splitting the GC into two mini eras. Imperial players can also opt to support Isard earlier if they put in the resources to extricate Lusankya from Coruscant themselves.

Factions:
New Republic - Endor
Imperial Remnant - Coruscant
Pentastar Alignment - Entralla
Eriadu Authority - Eriadu
Warlord Zsinj - Serenno
Greater Maldrood - Centares

Bacta War
"Rebel forces are indeed now in control of Imperial Center. What they have discovered, though they know not the depth of the problem, is that Imperial Center is a poisoned world, a sick world. It is a black hole from which they cannot escape."
-Ysanne Isard



Time Covered: Mission Above Imperial City (7ABY) - Battle of Thyferra (7 ABY)

After the fall of Coruscant, elements within the New Republic differed on what should be their course of action. As she left the planet, Isard on the Lusankya unleashed the Krytos Virus, a bioweapon developed by Evir Derricote which targeted non-humans. Isard then took Thyferra, allowing her to control the galaxy's supply of healing bacta. Wedge Antilles and Rogue Squadron wanted to raid Thyferra for the Bacta and focus on removing Isard, but the New Republic instead chose to target Warlord Zsinj, believing him to be the greater threat. Despite this, Antilles and Rogue Squadron still undertook the mission to cure the virus. This GC primarily sees the Imperial Remnant and New Republic fighting over the core worlds, with Zsinj waiting at the edges of the galaxy to strike. It also includes a series of events for the New Republic involving finding a cure for the Krytos Virus, which will place penalties on New Republic worlds from the start of the campaign until it is cured.

Factions:
New Republic - Coruscant
Imperial Remnant - Thyferra
Warlord Zsinj - Serenno

That's it for now. Hopefully this gives you a decent idea of where we're going with these changes. These updates will be interspersed with faction profiles and "We Could Be Heroes" editions until we've completed them all, so stay tuned. Also, I (Corey) have been doing some very early preview playthroughs of 2.2 content on my personal youtube channel, so if you want to check that out it can be found here.

If you have any suggestions, critiques or anything else you want to discuss for the mod, head over to our forums at www.thrawnsrevenge.com/forums.