Ssi-Ruuvi Redux news - Star Wars: Thrawn's Revenge II: Ascendancy mod for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

In the past we've talked about our intention to have the Ssi-Ruuvi in the mod, and now we're explaining that a bit more. And before anyone says it, no, they will not be a playable faction in 1.1.

"It has been almost thirty years since the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium waged war in this section of the galaxy. In fact, our former masters were assessing more than just their tactics in the wake of their defeat." - Lwothin

For much of its history, the Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium remained isolated in their own star cluster, content to enslave less powerful species close by, chief among them the closely-related P'wecks. This isolation was partially the result of xenophobia, while the Ssi-Ruuk religious fear of dying away from consecrated ground also contributed heavily. In this isolation, the Ssi-Ruuk developed their own unique technology to power their droids and starships, a process named entechment by which they drained a being of its life energy. Resource scarcity drove the Imperium to become expansionist around the Battle of Endor, and upon taking Imperial prisoners from border worlds, they discovered that humans provided significantly larger amounts of energy.

A deal with Emperor Palpatine had promised the Imperium several worlds and millions of entechable humans, however upon his death the Empire was no longer able to fulfil this deal, and the Imperium began an invasion into the Chiss Ascendancy and the known galaxy. The New Republic launched a counter-offensive after defeating the Imperium at Bakura, only to find the Ssi-Ruuvi fleet in shambles, the result the much more destructive theatre of war between the Chiss forces and the Imperium; Jagged Fel indicated the occurance of several skirmishes between the Chiss and the Imperium. Although it would take decades, the Imperium recovered and, under the influence of Yuuzhan Vong infiltrators, launched another offensive in 28ABY which was ultimately thwarted by the Galactic Alliance and a P'weck slave revolt.

"The gulfs of space are not home to us and neither are the barren worlds. The worlds of fire and the worlds of ice are not home to us. Where oxygen burns and water flows, where carbon bonds and ozone protects—there we plant our roots. The seed of our species is fertile; all we require is the soil in which to plant it." - The Keeramak, Grand Shreeftut of the Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium

For those who remember, we initially announced the Ssi-Ruuvi as a non-playable faction a few years back, although they've yet to feature in the mod. This changes as of 1.1. One of the possible random events in the mod will be Ssi-Ruuvi incursions into the galaxy. These can range from small-scale scouting fleets, to full-fledged armadas rivaling the power of the players in the game. When they do show up, you'd better deal with them fast, as they will have the ability to not only destroy your territory, but to capture and exploit it for themselves and expand their fleet. In our test games, it's not uncommon for them to become a major consideration, especially if they arrive early enough in an unoccupied section of the galaxy.

Their fleets will consist of the Shree-class as their heavy hitter, the Lwhekk-class Manufacturing ship as a carrier which does not require being resupplied (one of their faction bonuses), the Wurrif-class cruiser and the Swarm Droid fighter. If we end up with more art resources than we expected, we may make a few more units for them in 1.1, but that will most likely be waiting for them to become one of the three future playable factions in a future version.

In general, the mod is progressing well. As you can see in the screenshot above, the UI rework is essentially finished. Part of this will involve some of our steps to make the game mechanics a bit more clear to players, especially new ones, which we'll explain in a future news post with a few mechanical changes to the Remnant and New Republic. Heroes are also almost done, with a few key exceptions. The majority of the work remains with the Empire of the Hand, who will be gaining 3 new capital ships, two space stations and two defense platforms in 1.1.

Corey will also be hosting some community games of 1.0 on his stream in august. The schedule for this is as follows: