The long, long history of Tie Fighter Collector’s Edition:
Introduction:
A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… there was
me-AceJoel. I am a Rebel sympathizer, a High Royal Captain
from the Battle of Naboo. Unfortunately, the Republic I
used to fight for is now an evil Empire. Being in the good
graces of the Emperor has its perks: money, esteem, power…
and a one-way ticket to double-agent’s ville. Being on the
Rebel Alliance’s side would be great, but I can help them
out much more by attacking the Imperials from the inside.
This history is intended for those who wish to infiltrate
the Empire as fighter pilots. It covers the difficult
decisions you must make to maintain your cover and inflict
maximum damage to the Empire. I will guide you through my
own missions, offering strategies that will keep you alive
and grow in rank and in the trust of higher-echelon
commanders.

Like every other Tom, Dick, and Han, I had to start out in
the Empire’s lowest position: Cadet. All those platinum
medals I earned wouldn’t have meant a thing if I couldn’t
prove myself within the Imperial Space Navy. I fought my
way into the Emperor’s Secret Inner Circle, becoming the
Emperor’s Reach. I eventually became a General,
accomplishing every primary, secondary, and secret goal
(which the Emperor had set forth). I’ve earned every flight
simulator medal, training medal, and meritorious
accomplishment award for winning battles available at the
time.

The history below contains a history of the events
commencing with the Rebel defeat at Hoth, and ending just
before the Battle of Endor. The main battles involved
pirates, the Imperial traitor Admiral Harkov, and Admiral
Zaarin, who sought to usurp the Emperor. It also covers
Grand Admiral Thrawn’s rise to power, and provides an
inside look at the Emperor’s plot to trap the Rebel
Alliance at the Battle of Endor. The history shows why the
Empire lost the battle to achieve space superiority with
fighter craft. I also include a list of the names of every
ship involved in every battle, just in case one of these
ships later turns out to have a greater historical
significance.

After a brief summary of each battle and commentary on the
surrounding events will be a more detailed discussion of
winning strategies. These strategies will prove useful in
combating the remaining imperials, and in flight simulator
practice of the historical battles I’ve fought.

The history will be examined from the Imperial’s point of
view. This will give us a better understanding of the
enemy, and equip us with the tools of education needed to
fight the war against Imperial ignorance. I’ve learned
through my battles that many Imperials aren’t bad: they
think they are fighting for the same peace, freedom, and
order that we are. We can gain potential allies by clearing
up these misunderstandings spread by Imperial propaganda.

Included in the history is the explaining I’ve had to do in
front of the Alliance’s war tribunals, intelligence agents,
and old friends. Gaining the trust of the Empire meant
killing members of the Alliance and foiling plots that had
the potential to topple the Emporer. But by doing so, I
weakened Imperial forces many times more, ultimately
forcing them into their own trap at Endor. I will show how
my seemingly treacherous acts were the most faithful things
I could have done in the service of the Alliance.

Basic TIE Fighter Chronology:
Historical Battles 1- 4 and the Steele Chronicles.
Battles 1- 4.
Historical Battle 5 debuts
Battles 5 and 6
Historical Battle 6 debuts
Battle 7
Historical Battle 7 debuts
Battles 8-13

Battle 1: The Aftermath of Hoth
Summary: This particular series of missions took place in
the Javin sector in the outer rim, as well as the Tungra
sector and the Bruanii sector. The battle consisted of
Rebel attempts to take over an Imperial base. This group of
Rebels was allied with the Mugaari pirates.
Until this battle, the Mugaari had been independent raiders
with a moderate influence in the Outer Rim. By joining the
Rebels, they became mercenaries for hire in addition to
their occupation of piracy.
Prior to this battle, Cygnus Spaceworks had released the
Escort Shuttle. This craft is a design modification of the
older Lambda Class Tyderian shuttles, made for use as a
military assault and heavily armed escort vehicle. The
Mugaari stole several shuttles, used a few of them briefly,
and soon sold the remainder to the Rebels.

Commentary: The Rebel attacks failed because of the massive
defeat at Hoth. This was not the right time to go on the
offensive; it was a time for retreat. Plus, this group of
Rebels allied themselves with pirates, could have betrayed
them as soon as they were paid to do so by the Empire. I
ended this uneasy alliance before the pirates could get to
know the Rebels closely enough to do some real damage.

During my training in the Navy, I had this message drilled
into my head: Imperials are the good guys. The following is
an expert from one of my orientation manuals:
“At the battle of Yavin Rebel terrorists [Even the most
sheltered, ignorant being has had some exposure to at least
one of the Empire’s wrongdoings. No matter where you went,
there were always rumors that the Rebels were the good
guys. Despite this, if you hear it enough times, even if
you know it’s false, you start to believe it. Compound this
by multiple missions where you’re given bad intelligence as
to the motives of the Rebels, and it makes a pretty
compelling case against us… unless you’re given the truth
as well] aided by spies [Admiral Ackbar, former slave of
the late Grand Moff Tarkin] and traitors within the Empire
[By Imperial definition, anyone who disagrees with you]
struck a cowardly blow [Of the dozens of X-Wings and Y-
Wings involved in the assault, less than five made it out
alive. They knew going into the assault what the chances of
survival were, and they did it anyway. No matter which side
you fight on, going to war ain’t for chickens. Or those
things Jabba flicks off the railing in the Phantom Menace.]
at the new symbol of Imperial power. The Death Star! [Which
also had the power to blow up peaceful planets like
Alderaan. I’d call it more of a symbol of Imperial misuse
of power.]

“Darth Vader brought swift justice to the rebels by
destroying their main base on Hoth. The pitiful remnants of
the Alliance [Endor is one of our greatest victories. It
shows we were down but not out.] have now scattered to the
Outer Rim.

“In the days ahead, the Emperor will call upon the Imperial
Navy to eradicate the last vestiges of rebellion and
restore law and order in the galaxy! [I’ll keep this as
short as possible. The Emperor was an evil Sith bent on
oppressing freedom and killing anyone who opposed his
will.]”

Battle 1 Mission 1: Patrol Jump Point D-34
Summary: A routine deep-space inspection near base XQ1 D-34
turned into a Rebel offensive. Rebel refugees from Hoth
were found aboard a Mugaari pirate transport, captured, and
interrogated. This led to the discovery of another group of
Rebel refugees. The attack on the second Rebel group would
take place in B1M3. The interrogation also revealed that
the Rebels had been planning to destroy the station prior
to this mission.

Commentary: The first mission is always the hardest, and
this one sure was. During a routine inspection mission at a
deep space based platform, a freighter was found containing
Rebel refugees from Hoth. They were captured and
interrogated, but not before ten Rebel fighters were lost
trying to rescue it. Again, the problem was that they
attacked at all. Friendships are important, but more
Alliance members can be saved if this loss had been written
off.
The location of a group of more Rebel refugees was revealed
during the interrogation. I didn’t like having to destroy
ten Rebel ships and their crew, but it was the first step
to gaining the confidence of the Emperor. If I couldn’t
complete my first mission, there was no way I could have
made the tough decisions of later missions.
From the Imperial POV, this was a matter of war against
terrorist aggressors, and of defending an Imperial base
against attack.
Ship List: Platform XQ1 D-34, B-18, B-16, Glich; groups:
Dayta, Yander, Taloos, Onece, Tough, Roe, Escro.

Strategy: The way to beat this is to fly straight by Dayta
1,2 at maximum speed, with laser power redirected to
engines. [I hit “T” fast so that I would inspect both.]
Inspect them. Freighter group Onece will be arranged in a
V-formation. Onece 3 contains Rebels. Save it for last,
inspect the others first. When shuttle group Roe comes in,
go straight towards them. (Tip #1: Keep a bogie coming
towards you at the edge of your left radar. So long as he
stays there, he can’t shoot you.) (Tip #2: Match speed or
reduce speed to zero for slow-moving targets.) Apply Tips 1
and 2 to the shuttles. Then destroy group Escro. After
they’re destroyed, head over to whoever is closest to you
of Yander and Taloos. Destroy Glich [Tie Fighter has many
easter eggs in it, but they all come in the form of hidden
names. Glich might be the first one: glitch, as in a
computer bug] as soon as he comes in. Glich is your first
priority. Now for the hard part: Escort Shuttle group Tough
will come in soon after you destroy Escro. While they
number only three, they have three lasers on the front, and
a rear-firing laser on the back that is very difficult to
avoid. Also, you’re in a tie fighter, so it only takes
about three shots to bring you down. Re-direct power to
engines, and go back to the base. Hide behind it. (Tip #3:
Use a large battleship, cruiser, or station to destroy
fighters for you by making fighters shoot at it. The
battleship will react in self-defense, shooting at an
attacking ship whether or not it is a friendly. To
accomplish this, switch to the outside camera, fly toward
the battleship, and by dodging your attacker’s shots, force
him to hit the battleship). [In the game, Escort shuttles
react like a battleship when attacked, meaning they’ll
destroy each other if one accidentally shoots the other. I
got lucky when this happened, and only narrowly beat the
mission. This mission took me weeks to beat, but my brother
beat it in a few tries by being bold about attacking the
Escort shuttles. He didn’t attack them head-on though. ] If
all goes well, you can finish off the weakened shuttles.
Fly home to the base.

Battle 1 Mission 2: Red Alert
Summary: The Imperials stepped up security in anticipation
of the impending Rebel attack. During the Rebel assault,
ISD Hammer arrived as a relief force. Rebel officers who
had stolen an Imperial shuttle during their escape from
Hoth were captured during the attack.
Commentary:
It was during this mission that I first met a special envoy
of the Emperor. He would give me my secondary mission goals
that had been defined by the Emperor. He and the XO
survived until the end of my time with the Empire. I don't
know what happened to them, but since we haven't heard from
them since, I assume that they died in the Battle of Endor.
I don't know much about that mysterious cloaked figure, not
even his name. I do know that he was an upper-echelon
member of the Emperor's secret inner circle, because he
administered the promotion ceremonies. He also had Force
powers, including the ability to use Force lightning to do
tattoos.
Ship List: XQ1 D-34, Hammer, Scutz, , Flanken, B-16, B-17,
B-18, B-19; groups: Petdur, Laire, Derk, Ubote. [EE: Ubote
= U-Boat, as in Underwater Boat. Think WWII.]
Strategy:

Battle 1 Mission 3: Counter-Attack
Summary: The Mugaari’s inbound hyperjump was traced back to
a cargo loading waypoint in the Tungra sector. During a
weapons transfer between the Rebels and the Mugaari, the
Imperials attacked, destroying all cargo ships, shuttles,
and fighters present.
During the mission, a group of Rebels not present at the
loading were alerted that the Imperials were occupied with
the attack on the loading area. Reasoning that the base
would be left defenseless, the Rebels captured the base
with the help of the Mugaari. They began raiding the base's
arms and equipment.
The timing of the Rebel's attack on the base was perfect.
The only way the Rebels could have known that the Imperials
were had left the base unguarded would be if the Rebels had
been informed by an upper-level Imperial officer. This leak
contributed to the Emperor's later suspicions that Admiral
Harkov was a secret ally of the Rebels.
Commentary: At this time, the Mugaari had mostly old star
fighters.

Ship List: Hammer, Fogger, Gallon, Romold, Kann, Wess,
Prince, Queen, Thor (see also H7M4; not related), Dawn,
Destion, Xesre [EE: Xerxes?], Dunns.
Strategy:

Battle 1 Mission 4: Outpost D-34 Has Fallen
Summary: The Imperials learned that the base in the Javin
sector had fallen to the Rebels and Mugaari, and recaptured
the base. Some of the Rebel raiders were destroyed as well.
Commentary: We know later on that Harkov was responsible
for the leak of intelligence in B1M3. But why would he
allow an Imperial base to fall into Rebel hands? It could
have been a gift of good faith to the Rebels, or he may
have sold the information to them for money. Either way,
Harkov showed that he did not have the best interests of
the Empire in mind.
This attack saw the Escort Shuttles used in Rebel hands for
the first time.
[The Rebel attack that was never seen would make a good mod
mission, played as a Rebel.]
Ship List: XQ1 D-34, Fogger, Hammer, Gopher, B-16, B-17, B-
18, B-19; groups: Claf [EE: Gopher = Go for = Go for this,
go for that. It's a transport, remember?]

Battle 1 Mission 5: Attack Rebel Lt Cruiser
Summary: The Imperials found the cruiser that the attack
was launched from in the Bruanii sector. This mission
stripped the cruiser of its star fighter defenses.
Imperial probes, stolen from D-34, were found at the sight,
providing the single greatest piece of evidence that an
Imperial traitor was selling goods to the Rebels. This was
further supported when the second wave of Imperials
destroyed the evidence.
Admiral Harkov was later revealed to be the traitor in
B5M1. The traitorous second wave had been under his
command.
Commentary:
The Imperials probably found the Rebel’s hideout through
the captured CORT Gopher.
You’ll notice that even though the probe containers are
destroyed in this mission, in B1M6 there are three more
identical containers with the same contents. In B1M6, there
is a minefield, even though two of the minelayers were
destroyed in this mission. Harkov explains both of these
discrepancies. He didn’t want this mission to succeed, and
he knew where the cruiser was from supplying them
previously. So he equipped the Rebels in between the two
missions with more mines and replaced the supplies.
Ship List: Lulsla, Container C group C440, Modd, Leven.
Strategy: [Before I get into strategy, let me state that
this mission took me two and a half months to beat. The
main reason for this applies to the other extremely hard
missions: lack of realism. If this had been a real battle,
I would have had more control during the pre-mission
preparation. I would have had the opportunity to teach my
fellow wingmen how to dogfight, and given them specific
instructions on what not to do. I would have given some
wingmen heavy rockets, and some advanced missiles. If it
were real, I would have been able to tell the
reinforcements to be a positive presence, despite not being
under my control.]
Do not, at any point in this mission, let any weapons fire
hit the Lulsla. If it does, give up. A virtually endless
supply of A-Wings and X-Wings will come from the Lulsla,
and the Lulsla will attack you with missiles. This includes
you, your wingmen (that’s why you have to kill Mu 1 and 2),
and enemy fighters. Later on, you’ll be luring your
attackers away from the Lulsla to prevent this.
Runners: a fighter that has lost his shields, and usually
taken heavy hull damage, who then proceeds to hyperspace
out, or run for his home ship’s hanger. I can’t blame them,
because it’s what I would do. Wedge Antilles ran when he
ran out of proton torpedoes, and look at how he turned out.
(Tip #4: Spotting runners- look for a ship who isn’t
fighting, who is heading in a straight line, who has taken
heavy damage, and is going slower than normal. The long way
to spot them is to use your map: any runner will have a
line going clean off the map. If a mission has a moderate
occurrence of runners, cycle really fast through your
targets, looking for yellow in the shield and hull
percentages. [This is easier in the DOS version, where you
can cycle through targets by holding “t” or “y” down.] The
best way to confirm it is to use the “z” key to view the
description of their current and intended activities. But
don’t use this as your first option. It blocks out your
flight view while the mission keeps going, leaving you
vulnerable.)
There will be plenty of opportunity for runners in this
mission. Keep a wary eye out for them.
Immediately go to full throttle. Switch to heavy rockets.
Fire one missile each at Mu 1 and Mu 2 without waiting for
a lock. Put all power to engines. Divert all power from
lasers into shields using the /’/ key (the apostrophe).
Target Modd, the first transport that comes out. Fire as
soon as you get a lock. On your way over to where the next
transport, Leven, will be less than 20 seconds from now,
you’ll probably pass by the B-Wings. Wait until you’re less
than 2 klicks away to fire. It may lay a mine before you
destroy it, so charge up shields and lasers, and destroy
the mine (If you were too slow or inaccurate). You’ll be
under fire from the B-Wings at this point. While dodging
the B-Wings, inspect the cargo containers. Start attacking
the B-Wings with heavy rockets (when you get near point
blank range), and lasers (when they’re within laser range).
Don’t use ion cannons. If they get disabled, you’ll
probably run in to them. Dumb-fire your rockets when they
get close enough. Tell your wingman to help you destroy
fighters. You’ll soon get your shields recharged
completely, so you can turn them to normal recharge rate
when they do. This is the time when you’re most likely to
get runners. Attack the X-Wings next, using lasers. Attack
the A-Wings using ion cannons. Tell all Imperials to leave
at least one of them alone. After you’ve disabled all of
them, recharge completely (you’ll hear me use this often.
It means you must have your shields completely green, where
you can’t divert any more power into shields. Your lasers
should also be completely charged). Allow your remaining
wing mate(s) to recharge completely as well. Destroy all
but one of the A-Wings with lasers. Leave the one closest
to a point about 2 klicks from the Lulsla. Fly to a point
on the hanger side of the Lulsla about 1.5 klicks away, and
orient yourself so that you are parallel to the Lulsla. Get
ready for the hard part. Destroy the last A-Wing. Start
firing with lasers at the X-Wings as soon as they come out.
Follow them out to about 2 klicks from the Lulsla, and
remember to avoid putting the X-Wings into a position where
they could accidentally fire at the Lulsla. Alternate
between targets, not letting any one get a lock on you.
Constantly hit either “e” or “r”. I kept my laser recharge
rate at max, and my shield recharge rate at partway. After
you’ve disabled every X-Wing, start destroying them with
lasers or rockets. Use the same criterion in picking out
which one you’ll destroy last as you did with the A-Wings.
Make sure you’re completely recharged after every round.
After four rounds of five X-Wings each, you’ll get the
“secret mission objectives complete” message. Hyperspace
out. [My brother completed this mission on Hard, along with
all of the bonus and secondary goals. He did it in less
than 90 minutes of trying, and didn’t kill off Mu 1 and 2.
I still don’t know how he did it.]

Battle 1 Mission 6: Destroy the Lulsla
Summary: The cruiser, its remaining defenses and supplies,
and fleeing crew were destroyed in the second phase of the
attack. Several commanders were captured while fleeing.
The destruction of the last of the forces involved in the
post-Hoth offensive signaled the end of this battle. The
Rebels changed their offensive tactics to brief raids
hereafter.
Commentary: The fleeing crew would have brought
reinforcements. It wasn’t great that they were destroyed,
but I was still gaining the trust of the Emperor at this
point.
Ship List: Lulsla, Zack, Charity; groups: Container C group
C440, Starway, Gargon, Derris, MX-B, MX-C, MX-D, MX-E, MX-
F, RQ-A, RQ-B, RQ-C, RQ-D, RQ-E, RQ-F, RQ-G. [E.E.: I think
a Gorgon is a mythical Greek monster.]

Battle Two: The Sepan Civil War
Summary: The Imperials ended a prolonged civil war between
the Dimok and the Riboblus in the Sepan system near the
outer rim. After the Empire helped each side counter acts
of aggression from the other, the forces attempted to forge
a peace treaty without the supervision of the Empire. As a
result, the Empire destroyed the joint forces of both, and
seized power in the region.

Battle Two Mission One: Respond to S.O.S.
Summary: The Imperials began efforts to eliminate acts of
aggression from both sides to quell the civil war. The
Imperials received a distress signal from a Riboblus under
attack from Dimok raiders. The Empire drove off the Dimok.
The Dimok reported their leaders, who then realized the
Empire sought to end the war.
Commentary: The Dimok and Riboblus were guilty of
committing atrocities against the other. The Imperials
intervened at a time when the Sepan Civil War threatened to
break out into full fury, spilling over into neighboring
systems.
This is one battle I’m glad the Empire fought. They brought
some semblance of order to a region involved in a bloody
war. It saved the Alliance from having to spare the
resources to settle this conflict.
The Dimok fleet of battleships was small, consisting mainly
of small to medium warships. Many were converted
merchantmen.
Admiral Harkov’s poor performance had caught the Emperor’s
suspicions before this war even started. B1M4 was an
example of leaked intelligence that Harkov may have been
responsible for. Suspicions of Harkov supplying both sides
were fueled by the revelation of Imperial supplies in
sectarian transports.
Ship List: Falaricae, Delphine, Falx, Mangonel; groups:
Abso
Strategy:

Battle Two Mission Two: Intercept Attack
Summary: The Riboblus staged a reprisal attack on a Dimok
research facility. The Imperials drove off the attack,
proving that they favored neither side in the war.
Commentary: To their credit, the research facility was
actually a secret Dimok weapons lab, but the Empire still
sought to end aggression.
You’ll notice that shuttle Toten, which will later appear
in B5M1, also appears in this mission.
[E.E.: Atawar = at war? ‘At a war = that a war = that’s a
war = that is a war = way to go, war?]
[E.E.: Malat = Mallet]
Ship List: Toten, Dromon, XQ1 Youst, Selander, Tug CUV/L
11f5, Sword, Pike, Galliot, Retec, Atawar, Musket, Halberd,
Pilum, Nipasa, Sapre, Malat; groups: C Lab Module
Strategy:

Battle Two Mission Three: Rescue War Refugees
Summary: A Group of Riboblus refugees tried to flee the
Civil War, but the government of the Riboblus sought to
destroy them rather than let them escape. The refugees
found a safe Haven aboard Star Destroyer Protector. The
Dimok joined into the fray, attacking all sides.
Commentary: System Patrol Craft Glas had no hyperdrive
engine. Glas was accompanied by a couple of shuttles. Glas
docked with the Protector, transferred the passengers, and
was fitted with decoys. All of them made it alive. The
abandoned Glas was later destroyed.
The refugees were mainly scientists weary from the misuse
of their technology by the Riboblus. I’m guessing that
several of them were from the weapons lab from B2M2.

Ship List: The Protector, Glas, P-87, B-145; groups: Typhon
[E.E.: Typhoon], Nazaar, Able, and Baker

Battle 2 Mission 4: Capture Enemies
Summary: This mission took place near Sepan 8. The Dimok
and Riboblus put aside their differences and joined forces
against the Empire. The Dimok and Riboblus attempted to
formalize the peace by forging a treaty.
To ensure that neither side would betray the other, each
exchanged the children of their own leaders. The Imperials
captured both craft, ensuring their safety; however, this
act by the Imperials was enough to solidify the Dimok and
Riboblus unification against the Empire.
With the increased power of two combined enemies, the
Empire needed significant reinforcements to pacify the
Sepan system.
More evidence was found in the possession of the joint
forces showing that Imperial supplies were being illegally
sold.
Ship List: Kedon, Phantele, Glaive, Runka, Godenday,
Falarcie, Manus Ferre, Shemsher, Moran; groups: Adam,
Baker, Charlie, Arabu, Berono, Calitana, Degio
Commentary: Nebulon B Frigate Shemsher was destroyed during
this mission; by the next one, the Riboblus had renamed a
Nebulon B-2 Frigate “Shemsher” to replace it.
The Manus Ferre was the Dimok flagship at the time.
Imperial Intel had intercepted the communications regarding
the meeting. The Emperor suspected that the Dimok and
Riboblus were getting Imperial weapons because the Sepans
did not have sufficient supplies manufacturing
capabilities- they needed to have an outside source.
The reason why the Dimok and Riboblus joined forces was
probably because neither liked the fact that the Empire was
more powerful than either of them.
Strategy:

Battle Two Mission Five: Guard Resupply
Summary: The Dimok and Riboblus put aside their differences
to fight a common enemy- the Empire. An Imperial
fortification of newly developed TIE Advanced fighters to
the Sepan region coupled with destruction of the majority
of Riboblus-Dimok joint forces resulted in the end of the
Sepan Civil War. This took place near Gerbuad 3. The
Imperials took direct possession of the government and
territory.
Commentary: The primary purpose of this mission was to
replace the Interceptors and TIE fighters that had been
lost in previous battles with TIE advanced fighters. In
addition to gaining the edge by sheer number of fighters,
the threat of a highly developed superiority fighter proved
too much of a deterrent to maintain a war with the Empire.
The Dimok-Riboblus joint forces staged a desperate last-
ditch attack to stop the Empire’s aggression in the system.
The Imperials were alerted to the attack that took place on
the rendezvous through stationary space probes. These
probes picked up the plan from communications traffic. I
think you can see these same probes when you enter the
mission.
By the Dimok and Riboblus sat aside their differences to
fight the true enemy it was too late. The dark horse of the
already united Empire destroyed their forces, and seized
power.
When shuttle Omulaut was inspected, a Rebel envoy was
onboard. This greatly contributed to the growing suspicions
of Admiral Harkov’s waning loyalty, in addition to Harkov’s
chronically missing Imperial supplies turning up in Rebel
hands. Initially, Harkov had been selling Imperial supplies
to the highest bidder, but he later gave himself wholly
over to the Rebels.
After this mission, the TIE advanced fighter was put into
service for the Empire.
[This is the single hardest mission in the game. It took me
about 2 or three months of exhausting every imaginable
strategy before I realized that the developers didn’t beta
test this mission on Hard, with the intent to get all the
goals. In fact this mission is impossible to beat on
Medium. It isn’t so much a matter of difficulty as it is a
lack of realism. In virtually every aspect of the mission,
there is an element that could be made easier through
simple communication orders, craft choice, weapons choice,
timing, and flight physics. The final element that makes
this mission unbeatable on Hard is that the Shemsher
hyperspaces out as soon as the escort shuttles are
destroyed. Be encouraged though, because you can still
achieve all of the bonus goals on Easy, with a lot of
strategy. The one I list is by no means the only way to get
it done. After months of varying my attempts, I
consistently got to the Shemsher with all other goals
complete, using vastly different strategies.]
Ship List: the Protector, Tropsobor, Ben Het, Long Tan,
Suoi Tre, Can Guoic, Omulaut, IDSNB G1 and G2 (probes);
groups: Abo, Bordok, Chubb, Elba, Fuzzum, Givin, Killam,
Larkma, Raven, Seakyte.
Strategy:
Immediately go to full power and request reinforcements.
Destroy the Protector’s laser gun on the right side of the
conning tower, and then destroy the one on the top of the
bridge. (You are reducing the Protectors firepower in order
to give the escort shuttles more time. You’ll need all the
time you can get to destroy the Shemsher.) Divert power to
engines. Plot an intercept course to the Ben Het before
it’s even there- you want it to hyperspace in so that
you’re right on top of its hanger bay, fully charged and
ready to take out Z-95s. Save the Tropsobor to F5, Ben Het
to F6, and Long Tan to F7. Destroy as many Z-95s as you
can, but stay close enough to destroy Killam 1 when he
comes out. Tell your wingmen to attack Y-Wing Bordock, but
when they get close, tell them to wait for further orders
(They won’t be able to do much damage, and they will get
themselves killed in the process. But you want them to be
out there to help you take them down eventually). Try to
take out any Z-95s close to the Ben Het, and stay around
there until the TIE bombers get within laser range. After
the first few laser hits contact the Ben Het, start
destroying its laser guns and laser turrets. After the
first round of TIE bombers are destroyed, break off your
attack. There might be some Z-95s close by that you can
take down. Whenever the TIE advanced fighters are
threatened, tell your wingmen to attack their attacker. You
may have to go help out if it looks like one is taking a
lot of damage. After your hit-and-run efforts have stripped
Ben Het of its defenses, start shooting it yourself. Lasers
that are charged up to overcharge supposedly do more damage
and have greater range (though I’ve never seen convincing
proof of this), so when you start to go to the darker
green, wait for them to fully recharge. After Ben Het is
destroyed, go get the Y-Wings off of the Tropsobor, and get
your wingmen to help you. After all of Y-Wing groups
Bordock, Chubb, Givin, and Larkma have been destroyed, go
to the Long Tan. Tell your wingmen to wait further away
from it, at least 2 klicks, so they’ll be safe from laser
fire. (Tip #6: Blind Spots. Most battle cruisers and
corvettes have a blind spot where you are relatively safe
from weapons fire. From here, you can completely destroy
even the biggest and toughest of battleships. Sometimes
you’ll have to destroy one or more guns before you can use
it. The spots are usually towards the back, by the engines,
and any lasers will be blocked by the ship’s hull.) The
blind spot for a modified corvette is .13 km behind the
engines. Match its speed. Get its shields down to 4%,
recharging as needed. You’ll want to be near the right side
of the engine banks. When you put the next few shots in,
Get ready to go back and forth between full throttle, and
matching its speed, still firing. Slow down when it is
destroyed, but don’t break off until it is vaporized. You
may not have to worry about doing this though. Sometimes it
is destroyed by the bombers or by the gunboats. The two
cargo ferries should come in soon. Get over to them as fast
as possible. The blind spot on cargo ferries must be
reached by destroying one of the wing guns, and then
staying underneath it, and to the side. Destroy both. As as
Omulaut hyperspaces in, finish up whatever it is you are
doing, divert everything to engines, plot an intercept
course, and then inspect it. You, the Imperials, Harkov,
and the Rebels will benefit from the Rebel onvoy onboard
being killed.
When Shemsher comes in, tell your wingmen to attack it, but
before they get within laser range, tell them to wait for
further instructions. Escort Shuttle group Raven will exit
from hyperspace a few seconds after the Shemsher. Allow the
Assault Gunboats and TIE interceptors to get closer to
Raven, but don’t allow them to attack (You want them to be
closer to the Shemsher.). You should be close to the
Shemsher, approaching it head on. The TIE bombers will be
the only ones attacking the Shemsher, using their
torpedoes. Slow down to zero and fully recharge about 2
klicks away. Set lasers to single fire. The Shemsher is a
very fast ship, and it may pass you up. Stay with it to the
side if it does.
Any time one of them starts heading back to the Protector,
finish them off. Once the last of the three bombers is
weakened partially destroy him.You’ll get a fresh wave of
bombers if all of them die. Check from time to time that
they aren’t attacking the Escort Shuttles.
Once they’ve fired their first laser shots at the Shemsher
and the Shemsher fires back, tell your wingmen to attack
the Shemsher. You must shoot off all of the Shemsher’s
weapons, except for the missile launcher. Your main goal is
to keep yourself and the bombers alive, so the destruction
pattern can vary. Once you start shooting a turret, try to
completely destroy it. Your recharge rate should be set to
maximum. They take 12 to 14 shots. Keep your speed pretty
slow, probably less than one third. Running into it will
kill you. Chances are good that your wingmen will be killed
shortly after beginning their attack. When a fresh wave of
TIEs comes in, tell them to wait for further instructions.
Depending on the timing of all of this, you’ll either be
about 1km away from the nose, or slightly to the side. The
front position is better, because the nose and ventral guns
are harder to shoot off.
If you are at the front, shoot off these two cannons, go
along the back of the Shemsher, and shoot off its rear gun.
If you are on the starboard side of the Shemsher (Avoid
going to its port side. It doesn’t pose an immediate threat
to the bombers.), then take out the wingtip cannons,
starboard turret, and dorsal turret. On your next pass,
shoot off the guns that are on the right wing tip, the left
underside wing tip, and the right wing turret. Then shoot
off the dorsal turret, left upper side gun, and port
turret.
Now begin taking down its shields. You should have a full
charge at all times. If you go to dark green, wait until
you’ve fully recharged to begin your attack again. Stay
behind the Shemsher, not focusing on destroying any one
part; your top priority is to you’re your laser shots hit
some point on the hull. Around this time, the last of the
Escort Shuttles will be destroyed [when I played it on
Easy, the last of Seakyte was destroyed after the Shemsher
was destroyed, however.]. When this happens, tell everyone
to commence his attack (Shift + G). The Shemsher will make
a run for it. He hyperspaces out when the “Z” information
says he is 13 seconds away. If it starts getting near this,
don’t worry about keeping your lasers charged up- empty
everything you have into him. Don’t stop shooting until he
blows to smithereens. [E.E.: Dimok = Democrat, Riboblus =
Rebublican.]

Battle 3: Battle on the Frontier
Summary: This battle took place in the Pakuuni system in
the Outer Rim, near the planet Argoon, planet Pakuuni, and
Arecka. It followed Vice Admiral Thrawn’s efforts to
establish an outpost from nothing. Resident Pakuuni pirates
were replaced by the Imperials as the dominant power.
The Pakuuni pirates were receiving backing from the Rebels.
Commentary: This was my favorite battle, mostly because
Thrawn was in it, and thus was easy.

Battle 3 Mission 1: Load Base Equipment
Summary: Thrawn began by transferring supplies from an
outpost near Argoon. Prior to Thrawn's arrival in the
Stalwart, the outpost learned of an impending Rebel attack.
The base was abandoned, and the Rebels attacked when Thrawn
arrived.
The Rebels were defeated and Thrawn left with the supplies.
Ship List: Stalwart, Vanguard, Beecon, Dragon, Viper,
Splinter, Scouter; groups: THX-1136A, THX-1137D, THX-1138B,
THX-1139D, THX-1140D, and Mule (also seen in H5M2).
[E.E.: Arecka = A wreck; THX-1138B = THX-1138; this was the
name of George Lucas’s first movie. Mule = a mule is a pack
animal, a transport. This ship is a transporter. Beecon =
Beacon?]

Battle 3 Mission 2: Destroy Pirate Outpost
Summary: Near the planet Pakuuni, M/FRG Ludwick destroyed a
Pakuuni pirate station and its fleet to neutralize the
pirates's influence in the sector. Rebel advisors to the
pirates were captured. Thrawn was not present.
Commentary: Once again, the Imperials got some dirty work
done for us. The Imperials restored order to an area rife
with smugglers and pirates, who had preyed upon innocent
civilians.
The Rebel advisors had it coming. Consorting with pirates
isn't good business.
Ship List: Sonia, Ludwick, Tiger (see also B8M2 and B5M2
(no relation); this is an ATR), Leach, Clavier, Grapler;
groups: DLC11A, CRM908A, CG-78, and Jiggs.

Battle 3 Mission 3: Hold Position
Summary: M/FRG Ludwick defended the area until the base
parts convoy, the relief forces, and Thrawn arrived. The
Pakuuni and Rebels were defeated in their joint attack.
Thrawn left in the Stalwart to get more supplies.
Ship List: Ludwick, Stalwart, Huntress; groups: Bakkun,
Anta, Amber, Horvus, Gorfan, Ravn, Escape
[E.E.: Ravn = Raven]

Battle 3 Mission 4: Guard Space Station NL-1
Summary: NL-1 was constructed near planet Arecka and was
mostly functional, but its shields were not fully
operational. The Rebel-Pakuuni joint forces attacked the
station, but were defeated. Thrawn arrived again partway
through the mission. The station survived. Thrawn left
again.
High-ranking Rebel officers were captured fleeing an
attacking Rebel M/FRG. They provided information on their
future plans in the sector.
Ship List: NL-1, Ludwick, Stalwart, Baruu, Hord, SI-78, SI-
79, DI-49, Soonya; groups: Del, Layter, Moori, Runeer, and
Proto
[E.E.: Soonya and Layter = Sooner and Later; Soryi = Sorry;
Maaser = Master – it only appears when you play it on Hard;
Hord = Hoard, it is a tool used to collect things; Baruu  =
Borrow; Del = Dell computers?]

Battle 3 Mission 5: Thrawn Inspects NL-1
Summary: Thrawn arrived again. Thrawn formally inspected
the station. His shuttle was defended from a Rebel-Pakuuni
attack.
This mission marked the debut of advanced concussion
missiles. These missiles were smarter, faster, and stronger
than their predecessors.
Ship List: NL-1, Ludwick, Stalwart, Reef, Resupply; groups:
Gamer, Bliss, Noway.
[E.E: Noway = No way = they are difficult to defeat]
Commentary: Even with the Rebels captured from two seperate
missions, the Imperials still didn't know that this attack
was going to happen. I guess the Rebels didn't crack.
I received this briefing from the XO: "Almost all of our
TIE Fighters and Interceptors are out of service undergoing
maintenance repairs at this time.  We have no choice but to
use the TIE Bomber in a defensive role, something it was
not designed to do. " Thrawn was either a mad man or a
brilliant man to inspect the station under these
conditions. He was correct in assuming that with one of the
best pilots in the galaxy guarding him, he wouldn't be in
any real danger.
Thrawn bestowed me the honor of guarding his shuttle.

Battle 3 Mission 6: Wait for Relief Forces
Summary: NL-1 was completed. The resident Rebels had been
stripped of their medium-sized capital ships. The Rebels
had captured several Imperial assault craft and transports.
Thrawn left, escorted two System Patrol Craft back, and
left again.
The Pakuuni-Rebel forces attacked. Thrawn arrived with the
last of the station’s fleet and supplies late in the
mission. The last of the Pakuuni-Rebel forces were
defeated, establishing a permanent Imperial stronghold in
the Pakuuni sector.
Rebel officers were captured.
Ship List: Luft, Clue, Shark (see also H5M2; no relation),
NL-1, Ludwick, Stalwart, Gaarni, Clipper; groups: Ranger,
Sivaa, Taxel, Thunder (see also H6M2; not related),
Electra, and Rover
Commentary: Thrawn would go into hiding in the Unknown
Regions after the Battle of Endor. I suspect that he used
many of the same techniques used for establishing Imperial
control as he did here, but he had less supplies to work
with.
This was the Rebel’s last stand. They were desperate.

Battle 4: Conflict at Mylock IV
The Imperials battled pirates in the Outer Rim. The Habeen
and Nharwaak pirates had a group of scientists that had
developed hyperdrive technology for small starfighters. The
Habeen were pro-Empire, but the Nharwaak were pro-Rebel. In
exchange for being allowed into the Empire, the Habeen
would give the Imperials the hyperdrive technology.
The Habeen were safely accepted into the Empire, the
Nharwaak were destroyed, and the Imperials gained the
hyperdrive technology.

Battle 4 Mission 1: Escort Convoy
Summary: This mission was the evaluation of the pirates’
hyperdrive technology by Admiral Zaarin.
The Nharwaak ambushed the transfer of the fighters from the
Habeen to the Shamus, but were defeated.
Admiral Zaarin was a research scientist who would later
produce the TIE Advanced and TIE defender. He would also
commit mutiny later.
Commentary: This marks the first appearance of Admiral
Zaarin.
I can’t think of how more powerful Imperial ships would
help the Rebellion, so I’ll put this in the “trying to keep
my cover” category. Any time a technological development
happens, both sides will eventually gain control of the
technology, anyway.
Ship List: Shamus, Nihema; groups: Verack, Stimner, Striker
Y-Wings (see H1M4), Charger
[E.E. Nihema = Nehemiah?]

Battle 4 Mission 2: Attack the Nharwaak
Summary: Negotiations with the Nharwaak failed, so their
main base and technology was destroyed.
Commentary: The Rebels were supplying the Nharwaak with
older star fighters.
Shotgun made a previous appearance in H4M3. Because this is
a group of CRVs instead of a single one, they probably
aren’t related. However, maybe Shotgun was formerly an
Imperial group, and the pirates hijacked most of them, so
now the three are separated from the last one. I doubt it
though.
Ship List: Shamus, Junker, Hume, Workshop, Repo, Petor,
Shotgun, Sunbird; groups: Pamir.

Battle 4 Mission 3: Defend Tech Center
Summary: The main Habeen base was attacked and destroyed by
the remnant Nharwaak in reprisal for the Imperial raid. The
Imperials arrived during the attack, drove off the
Nharwaak, and the Habeen personnel escaped completely. All
of the vital equipment and technology was saved.
Commentary: Don’t go on the offensive against the Empire
unless you know you can win. The Nharwaak actually stood a
good chance though, and it would have been a good thing if
they had been able to destroy the technology.
Ship List: Shamus, Phoenix, Notz, Phalanx, Runner, Doyle,
Sgidek; groups: CN/A Order, Baker.

Battle 4 Mission 4: Diplomatic Meeting
Summary: The Habeen formalized relations with the Empire in
a final contract signing. The Nharwaak made a last ditch
attack that failed. Immediately afterwards, the Habeen
hyperdrive units were transferred to the Shamus.
Commentary: The Habeen threw in bonus experimental
technology in the transfer.
Trident is also the name of a Rebel cruiser in B4M3; the
two are not related.
Ship List: Shamus, Trident, Lendova, Fairfax, Nexus;
groups: Phazer, Star, Ram, Scarlet, TRN Ferry.
[E.E. Phazer as in Star Trek phaser?]

Battle 4 Mission 5: Rebel Arms Deal
Summary: The Nharwaak followed through on their threat to
sell their hyperdrive technology to the Rebels. Their
attempt to transfer the advanced equipment to the Rebels
was prevented. The Nharwaak were completely destroyed, and
the Rebels took heavy damages.
Commentary: The hyperdrive technology was a high priority
to the Rebels. They threw in a great amount of star
fighters, piloted by some of their best. Thus, it was a
huge loss to the Rebels.
After this battle, Admiral Zaarin showed Darth Vader the
first hyperdrive-capable TIE advanced fighters. Darth Vader
commissioned Zaarin to begin work on TIE Defender
prototypes, but these would not make their battlefield
debut until B6M1.
Glazer makes a prior appearance in H2M3, and played a
supporting role in it as well. The similarly named Glaser
is probably not related to it; Glaser is a Rebel craft.
Ship List: Shamus, Glazer, Janson, Xerxes, Coffey, Fonel,
and Tela; groups Flash, Vite, Strike
[E.E.: Coffey = Coffee; Tela = Tea; Glazer = Glazed donut;
Vite = Vitamin; Fonel = Funnel Cake]
Strategy:

Battle 5: Battle for Honor
Summary: Admiral Harkov openly defected to the side of the
Rebels. Harkov fled, but the Imperials found him, and
blockaded his supplies. Harkov departed his flagship
temporarily for the increased safety of a Rebel supply
station, and his fleet fled. The station and Harkov were
captured.
Harkov’s rebellion segued into Admiral Zaarin’s coup-de-
tat.

Battle 5 Mission 1: Mineclearing
Summary: Admiral Harkov set a trap to kill an Imperial
loyalist before defecting to the Rebels. Under the guise of
a mineclearing operation, the pilot was to be destroyed by
his own wingmen. The pilot survived the attack, and
discovered Harkov’s first officer en route to a Rebel
Cruiser. Harkov became a traitor of the Empire, marked by
the Emporer for interrogation and execution.
Commentary: The growing suspicions of the Emporer were
validated when Harkov attempted to kill me using standard
manuver 717 [You can see another example of this in “Walk
the Path That’s Given” from Star Wars Tales #23]. Luckily,
since Harkov never does anything right, I was put in a TIE
Interceptor instead of a regular TIE. The cargo containers
provided more proof that Harkov was exchanging supplies
with the Rebels.
You’ll notice that shuttle Toten, which appears in M2M2,
also appears in this mission.
Ship List: The Protector, Osprey, Toten, and Margaret
Strategy: [I turned In-flight speech off for this mission.
Harkov’s lame taunts get annoying fast. The hard part about
this mission is runners. Also, remember that the TIE
Advanced fighters use lasers, but not warheads. They’re
plenty deadly without warheads, anyway. I took only one hit
when I won this mission for the last time, and it was from
a stationary mine, not a TIE Advanced fighter. ]
Do not, at any point in the mission, let your laser fire
hit the Protector. Immediately request reinforcements. Use
single fire to take out the Interceptors in front of you,
right one first [I had to replay this part so many times
that I could take them out with six shots total, with 100%
accuracy.]. Set laser recharge to maximum. Go to full
throttle, and steer towards the Protector’s hanger bay. Go
to 1/3 throttle a couple times before you get there. Be
sure you are at full throttle before the fighters come out.
Link your lasers. Twist so that you’re level with the
protector.
Destroy the bombers quickly when they come out. After
they’re all destroyed, Go back towards the Protector, using
your outside camera view to avoid the laser fire from the
avengers. Don’t run into the Protector, but get really
close to it. You’ll be using Tip #3 for the next few
minutes. Be on constant lookout for runners, using Tip #4.
In this mission, this means checking your map every 20
seconds or so, and checking your messages for the word
“hanger”. If you see it, restart. When a ship is getting
close to the Protector, switch to single fire, destroy it,
and then link your lasers again. The next wave of bombers
should exit within a few seconds. Destroy them completely.
Sometime during this destruction, shuttle Lambda will exit
the Protector. Fire about five salvos, but don’t destroy it
until you’ve inspected it.
Divert laser power to engines. Head over towards the Osprey
(You can save targets while in your map view. Switch to map
view, and save the Osprey to F5). Now is a likely time for
runners. The Osprey will fire on your attackers with lasers
and, more importantly, missiles. It is a friendly, so it
won’t fire at you.
On your way over, destroy Y-Wing group Red. This is the
easy part. (This is the key to getting all the secret bonus
goals.) Orbit around the Osprey (about .13km away), being
careful not to run into it. Use your outside camera view.
Keep the Osprey between you and your attackers. Watch for
runners. There will be 4 waves each of groups Alpha and
Gamma. X-Wing group Blue will probably be the last to be
destroyed. When the last of your attackers are destroyed,
breathe a big sigh of relief, confirm that they were all
destroyed, and then fully recharge.
Use your map view to target one of the corner mines. Set
your laser recharge rate to normal, and keep your lasers
linked. Keep moving as you destroy the mines, using the
outside camera view to avoid laser fire. Don’t get caught
in the middle of them, or get close to the Protector. When
it gets too hot, run for the Osprey, recharge, and then
continue clearing the mines. After they’re gone, inspect
the containers, and don’t run into them. After you’ve
inspected them all, destroy them. Check your goals, and fly
home to the Osprey.

Battle 5 Mission 2: Assault Gunboat Recon
Summary: The Imperials begin a search for the defecting </pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
Admiral Harkov at Rebel supply depots. Harkov was found
during the reconnaissance when he arrived for supplies.
Darth Vader was notified of Harkov’s location. By
inspecting the Rebel supplies, the Imperials knew what
supplies were critical to Harkov.
Commentary: After obliterating much of Harkov’s fleet in a
defensive gesture, I finally got a chance to go on the
offensive. The last mission revealed Harkov’s
misappropriations of Imperial supplies, and his plan to
defect to the Rebels. The Imperials split up, and found a
Rebel supply depot. Harkov arrived at a Rebel base to pick
up these supplies during the reconnaissance mission. Darth
Vader began his journey towards the location where Harkov
was last seen. He planned on interrogating and then
executing Harkov. The supplies, Rebel defensive screen, and
a portion of Harkov’s fleet were destroyed.
Again, Harkov joining the Rebels could only be a
detrimental thing. He did enough damage to the Imperials
while he was on their side, and he would have betrayed the
Rebels as soon as it was personally beneficial.
This mission was a case example of how Rebel fleet
strategy: supply bases are hidden in deep space, relatively
secure from discovery. It is not necessary to heavily
defend them, as they are behind friendly lines. Therefore,
they have the leftovers of the Rebels: a few Z-95s. On the
off chance that a Rebel base is discovered, it usually
wipes out the base, its defensive screen, and any supplies.
This was a target rich environment.
However, due to Harkov’s presence, there were B-Wings and
A-Wings present, in addition to his own fleet of TIE
Advanced fighters.
Containers were inspected to determine what was critical
for Harkov’s fleet.
Ship List: Cimigo, Protector, Platform XQ DS 5.
Strategy: Compared to the last mission, this one is easy.
[It takes a really long time to complete though. It took me
about an hour and a half of flying to beat it. This is also
easier with the DOS version, because ships are clearer to
see, and I think the AI is easier.] Choose advanced
missiles. As soon as you get out of hyperspace, go to your
map. Target Corellian Transport Cimigo. Immediately after
you close out of your map, divert all power to engines.
Switch to missiles. Link them. As soon as you get a lock,
fire three salvos. Plot an intercept course to Cimigo. On
your way there, switch to ion cannons and divert power from
shields into lasers using the “;” key. Disable him, inspect
him, and then destroy him (You must inspect him to meet
your bonus goals). Start charging up lasers and shields
while you take out all the Z-95s. Fully recharge. Inspect
all the containers and the station. Request reinforcements.
Start destroying the containers. As soon as you get your
first layer of shields knocked out, fly away from the
station. (Tip #5: Use your outside view to avoid lasers by
hitting “F3”, especially by looking backwards by using the
“2” key. Be careful you don’t run into anything, though.)
Fully recharge. Repeat the hit-and-run strategy until all
the containers are destroyed. Harkov will arrive soon. Take
out any remaining Z-95s and B-Wings, even if A-Wings have
already arrived. Your wing mates and reinforcements will
run as soon as Harkov arrives, so the next hour is going to
be pretty busy with some of the most fighter opposition
you’ve faced so far. I ended up fending off one Z-95, three
B-Wings, six A-Wings, and six TIE Avengers. That’s sixteen,
folks. The good thing is, you’re in a craft with shields,
for once, and remember battleship programming: if you hit
me, then I’ll hit back. With such dense fighter activity,
ships will hit each other, doing some of your job for you.
[When I played it, the TIE Avengers soon left the dogfight
and started patrolling for targets.] Destroy everyone with
lasers, unless you run out of energy. In that case, use ion
cannons to weaken fighters. You won’t want to disable
fighters, because you aren’t going to be able to clean them
up later. Concentrate on one fighter group at a time: first
the Z-95s, then the B-Wings, and then the A-Wings. Try to
stay away from the station and the Protector. Keep moving,
using Tip #5 and charging up whenever your first layer of
shields is gone. When your shields are at least in yellow,
lower your shield recharge rate to normal, while keeping
your lasers on full charge. Go for the A-Wings; you have to
be moving fast to catch them. You can use missiles, but
save some for later for the Avengers. Once all of the A-
Wings are gone, the Avengers will come for you, probably
one at a time. If they’re far enough out, you can dual-fire
your missiles. Don’t waste time trying to get a lock after
you’re in a dogfight, though. They juke around so much that
you’re better off with lasers. After you’ve destroyed the
first three, the remaining three will come for you. Do what
you’ve been doing: keep away from the station, concentrate
on one fighter at a time, and keep moving. After you’ve
destroyed the last one, the hardest part comes up: six new
TIE Advanced fighters. You have to destroy at least one, so
try to take one out with missiles at long range. I kept
alive by going towards the Protector, and having Harkov
weaken them for me. Pick the weakest one while avoiding
laser fire, and destroy him with lasers. The Protector
should have taken at least one hit from the Avengers. As
soon as you get the “secret mission objectives complete”
message, try to hyperspace out. I had some difficulty doing
this, because there were so many objects in the way.


Battle 5 Mission 3: Convoy Attack
Summary: An Imperial attack on an emergency supply convoy
en route to Harkov near a Rebel base. It gave the Imperials
the upper hand in the following mission.
Commentary: This mission insured that the following mission
would be a decisive victory, without more loss of life than
necessary. Without supplies, Harkov’s forces would be
weakened. Like the previous two missions, many of Harkov’s
fighters were destroyed, making the odds more even.
Ship List: The Protector, Platform XQ DS 5, group Karflo,
Modular Conveyor Group SoroSuub, group Morgath, group
Sundog.
Strategy: You'll be flying an Assault Gunboat. Choose
advanced missiles. You must inspect at least one of group
Karflo, SoroSuub, Sundog, Morgath 1 and Morgath 5. Destroy
everything after that.
You'll have to divert everything to engines in order to
make it over to Heavy Lifter AAA Tow in time [Easter Egg:
AAA is a car insurance group. Part of being a member means
that you get deals on tow truck services. A Heavy Lifter
tows stuff like a tow truck, and this one has “tow” in the
name].  Divert what laser power you have at the start into
shields.
Go towards the Protector. Keep hitting "U" until Karflo
comes out of hyperspace. Target Karflo 3, and inspect it on
your way over. As soon as the A-Wings come out of
hyperspace, tell your wingmen to destroy the closest one.
As soon as that A-Wing is destroyed, tell them to destroy
the next A-Wing. Then tell each of them to head home;
they’ll get themselves killed, and don’t have the skill
needed to destroy a fleeing A-Wing. Plus, you’ll get a
point bonus.
Save HF AAA to F5. Switch to missiles, and link your
missiles. On your way over, target Alpha 1. When it gets
within 3.5km, head towards it. Don’t bother getting a lock,
fire when you’ve gotten about 4 beeps. Switch back to
single fire. Target AAA. After you get 5 beeps, fire.
Go towards the station, with all power still at your
engines. Do not hit the Protector, or Platform XQ DS 5. In
fact, don’t fire energy weapons unless you’ve got a good
chance of hitting a straight moving, target that is not
darting around, and is not between you and the station.
Keep your shields fully aft. Don’t worry about runners.
Only one fighter each from groups Alpha, Beta, Delta, and
Gamma need to be destroyed. Once you get there, set shield
and laser recharge rate to maximum. Use Tip #3, don’t run
into the station, constantly even out shields (That is,
unless an attacker has a missile lock on you. In that case,
switch shields to aft.), and constantly divert power to
engines. The station will hit you with lasers, but
infrequently. It will fire lasers and missiles at the TIE
Advanced fighters. Whenever a new batch of TIE advanced
fighters comes out, use your map to target one, get a lock,
and then fire two missiles. You might be able to get all
three if you’re lucky. Destroy HF A1 when it comes out just
like you did with AAA. Repeat this when A2 comes out.
Staying alive through the next few minutes is the hard
part. You can’t continue your mission until every single
fighter is gone from the battlefield.
There is a good chance that Alpha and Gamma will be
destroyed, but Beta and Delta haven’t come out yet. This is
usually because none of group Karflo has been destroyed, or
the Protector was never hit by a stray shot. In this case,
Karflo will probably be very near the station. It will
still take them about 15 minutes to hyperspace out. Fully
recharge, and destroy one of them with lasers. Beta should
come out.
However, the more likely scenario is that Beta and Delta
will come out while you’re still dodging Alpha and Gamma.
Continue to use the above strategies until every last
fighter is gone.
Once you are safe, inspect one of container group Pi,
destroy group Karflo, inspect one freighter from Sorosuub,
destroy group Sorosuub, inspect Morgath 1, destroy Morgath
1, inspect Morgath 5, destroy Morgath 5, inspect one
corvette from group Sundog, and then use Tip #6 to destroy
group Sundog.
If you didn’t get a secondary or secret mission objectives
complete message, check your goals list. It could be the
Protector was never attacked. If you did get the messages,
then you should hyperspace out.

Battle 5 Mission 4: Tactical Superiority
Summary: The last mission left Harkov stranded at the Rebel
supply station. The remaining TIE Advanced fighters were
destroyed to ease Harkov's capture. Harkov temporarily
abandoned his followers and sought refuge onboard the Rebel
supply base. The Protector temporarily left the area.
Commentary: The last three missions severely weakened
Harkov's forces by destroying his fighter support and
supply venue. This mission saw some of the first battles
where TIE Advanced fighters were used by both sides. After
the last two missions, the base made an attempt to increase
its defenses by setting up a minefield, and by using two
Modified Corvettes.
I think it was at this time that I was promoted to be the
Emperor’s Hand. Apparently, Mara Jade wasn’t the only one.
Who knows, there could be more of us out there somewhere.
Before Harkov left for the base, the Empire had been
planning to board the Protector to capture Harkov. By
moving to the base, he made the next mission easier for the
Imperials.
Ship List: the Protector, Platform XQ1 DS 5, group Wurger,
Toten; group Badger.
Strategy: Choose advanced torpedoes before you go in. Send
for reinforcements. Switch to warheads. Divert laser energy
to shields, and then divert power to engines. Head for the
cargo transports. Continue dodging fire and picking off
missiles before they hit you. Fire three warheads at each
transport. After they're destroyed, head for the Protector,
avoiding fire. Shuttle Toten will come out soon, carrying
Harkov. Inspect it. He must be captured alive, so Toten
must finish its mission. You must then attack the Protector
if the TIE advanced fighters haven't already. Soon, the
Protector will leave the area. Finish off the mines, then
the TIE advanced fighters. Stay away from the base. Fully
recharge, and then inspect one of group Wurger. Tip #6
isn't effective, or necessary. After you've fired a few
shots at both, fly between them. They'll kill each other
for you, but you should finish them off. Hyperspace out.

Battle 5 Mission 5: Capture Harkov
Summary: The Imperials captured the Rebel base, supplies,
and ships, as well as Harkov. Harkov was interrogated and
executed.
Commentary: [E.E.: Geddawai = Get away.] Several ships left
the station as decoys. Harkov was on board Corellian
Transport Geddawai. Reinforcement arrived for the Rebels,
including the second half of Modified Corellion Corvette
group Wurger. However, despite the many reinforcements, the
Rebels lost the base, Harkov, and the battle.
Darth Vader was present for this mission on board the
Garrett. After Harkov was captured, Vader executed him
before Harkov got a chance to answer a single question,
diminishing the purpose of the last three missions, which
was to catch Harkov alive so that he could be questioned.
Ship List: Platform XQ1 DS5, Toten, Kolermigon, Geddawai,
Wurger, Olinor, Garrett, Tug CUV 8f1.
Strategy: Choose advanced missiles. Don’t worry about the
mines; while you’re busy with other goals, the TIE advanced
escort and your wingmen will take care of the mines. Go
towards the base. Don’t send for reinforcements yet. Tell
your wingmen to attack the nearest fighter. You’ll be
pretty busy, but if you can spare the attention, tell them
to attack the next fighter after they’ve destroyed the
current one. Switch to warheads and link your missiles.
Inspect Geddawai, Toten, and Kolermigon. Geddawai will be
the first to leave the station. Divert everything to
engines in order to keep up with him. Fire a total of six
missiles, or three salvos. By the time you get within ion
cannon range, you’ll be out of energy weapon power. You
should then divert energy from your shields to your lasers
by using the semicolon key. Once he’s disabled, use ion
cannons to disable Toten, and then disable Kolermigon.
Finish off the leftover Rebel fighters, and then head for
the closer of group Wurger. Don’t bother inspecting them.
Use energy weapons to destroy them until Rebel A-Wings
enter the area. Link missiles, and fire two at each
fighter. Tell your wingmen to attack the fighters, and when
they’re gone, tell them to attack group Wurger. Olinor is
probably in the area by now, so divert everything to
engines and go inspect it. Divert energy to engines, and
return to group Wurger. Destroy them with lasers and any
leftover warheads.
After you get the “secret mission objectives complete”
message, and have double-checked that you got your primary
and secondary mission objectives, hyperspace out.

Battle 6: Arms Race
Summary: This battle took place in the Parmic system in the
Deep Core, and later in the Corporate Sector. Admiral
Zaarin developed two main new technologies: the Mag Pulse
warhead (a missile designed to disable a ship while leaving
it intact) and the TIE Defender (an improvement on the TIE
advanced fighter).

Battle 6 Mission 1: Protect Prototypes
Strategy: By this mission, TIE Advanced fighters were
considered fit for frontline, primary aggressor use. Zaarin
developed prototypes of the TIE Defender. The Rebels
attacked a research base during a transfer operation. The
Rebels were defeated completely, and the station, cargo,
and non-fighter craft survived.
Commentary: [This battle is a big crossover between TIE 95
and X-Wing Alliance. Both games have several battles
involving the Mag Pulse warheads.]
The first prototypes were being transferred from PLT/6
Research to various containers. The containers were then
taken by HLFs into hyperspace.
It is possible that Zaarin didn’t want the Emperor and
Darth Vader to get a look at the prototypes, so he could
have tipped off the Rebels.
The reason why it was a good thing that the Imperials
developed this new technology was that soon the Rebels
would get it too.
Ship List: Thunderer, groups: Sela, PLT/6 Research (One of
many of Zaarin’s research stations).

Battle 6 Mission 2: Prevent Rebel Ambush
Summary: From Zaarin’s research facility, TIE Defender
prototypes were shipped to Vinzen Neela 5 (aka Zaarin 5) to
be transferred to a single carrier. The Rebels were
informed of the transfer from a spy at Zaarin’s research
facility, and attempted an ambush. The Imperials prevented
it, and the Defenders made it to Coruscant.
Commentary:
The Corvettes were minelayers, setting up a defensive layer
around a hyperspace beacon. I think they were trying to
protect it so that as many Rebel fighters as possible would
be able to find the ambush location. (Clues to an
information leak from Zaarin’s research facility were
somehow relevant to the mines found on Rebel Corvettes.)
[E.E.: Hininbirg = Hindenburg; Sela  = Seal or = Selah, a
Jewish musical unit]
Ship List: SATA Beacon H-4, Hininbirg Mar Duun, Vop Hui;
groups: Sela

Battle 6 Mission 3: Convoy Escort
Summary: The Rebels ambushed another one of Zaarin’s
research platforms and a convoy using information provided
by an Imperial spy. The Rebels were completely destroyed.
The platform was developing new tractor beam technology.
This tractor beam was to be used by small star fighters to
slow the speed and maneuverability of enemy fighters. It
first saw use in B7M1.
This marked the battlefield debut of the Mag Pulse Warhead,
developed by General Electronics. The Mag Pulse Warhead
disabled only the energy weapons of the targeted ship. At
least one B-Wing using this weapon was captured.
Commentary: This convoy was bringing critical supplies to
PLT/3.
FRT Anterab and Degathem boarded FRT Docking Plt, which in
turn boarded with PLT/3.
The Imperials would have gotten this weapon eventually, so
this falls into the “keeping my cover while picking up
credibility points” category. As for the Rebels not being
able to capture the technology, this technology was one of
the Empire’s top priorities. Their defense was too good to
risk an attack.
Ship List: PLT/3: Research, HLF U-3f14, Anterab, Degathem,
and FRT Docking Plt (probably Plt = Platform); groups:
Storm.

Battle 6 Mission 4: Punitive Raid
Summary: For selling the Rebels the Mag Pulse technology,
GE’s assets were seized, including their research facility,
equipment, arms dealer, and techs. All fighters present
were destroyed, except for one carrying the Mag Pulse
warheads.
Commentary: TIE Defender historical missions made their
debut immediately following this mission. The Empire
probably found out who was selling the technology because
of the captured fighters.
Ship List: Glory; TUGs U-4f91, -4f92, -4f93, -4f94, -14f1;
PLT/2 Pondut, Bujiboi, GEC U47, Lucky Day, Kalree; groups:
T. Chamber.
[E.E. General Electronics bears close resemblance to
General Electric, one of Earth’s leading electronics
manufacturers.]

Battle 7: Treachery at Ottega
Summary: The late Admiral Harkov’s leftover forces
continued their defection to the Rebels without him. As
they fought for survival, Zaarin carried the momentum from
Harkov’s rebellion into his own coup-de-tat. Zaarin timed
his mutinous attack on Darth Vader’s forces to coincide
with a kidnapping attempt of the Emperor. Zaarin’s attempts
to slow Vader’s return to Coruscant by using an Interdictor
failed to prevent the rescue of the Emperor.

Battle 7 Mission 1: Trap the Protector
Summary: Darth Vader located the missing defecting fleet.
The fleet decided to join the Rebels, even without Harkov.
Harkov’s flagship, the Protector, was trapped using the
Interdictor Harpax. The Imperials sent an assault force to
rendezvous with the Harpax at the location of the
defectors. However, by the mission’s end, the Harpax was
surrounded by enemy capital ships.
This mission marked the first use of the star fighter
tractor beam.
The Rebels sent a cruiser, and the defecting Imperials had
a second battleship present.
Certain starships were able to hyperspace out despite the
interdiction field, possibly because the Harpax momentarily
lowered the interdiction field long enough for them to
activate hyperspace engines.
Commentary: The Rebels tried to help the defectors by
sending fighters and two warships.
Yes, it would have been great if Harkov’s fleet had been
able to join the Rebels. Unfortunately, Darth Vader found
the forces, and made it his pet project to eliminate them.
To try to help the Rebels escape Vader would have meant
opposing Vader and blowing my carefully constructed cover.
There have been only a small handful of people that have
defeated Vader, and I certainly couldn’t have done it.
However, by helping Vader destroy the defectors, I gained
more trust and influence, which was the whole point of
being a double agent.

Ship List: The Protector, the Harpax, Whell, Warhawk, and
Akaga; groups: HX, HM, Oxin, Waq, C223, and Scarlet.
Strategy: Choose advanced missiles. Request reinforcements.
Divert some laser power to shields. Destroy the three
interceptors in front of you. Destroy the containers, HF
Whell, and the many WAQ tow vehicles that will come out.
When the TIE bombers come out, stop what you’re doing to
destroy them. After the last of the Z-95s are eliminated,
and you've completed your secret mission objectives, head
towards the Harpax. When X-Wing Gold starts to come after
you, run away into deep space. After the Assault Transports
have entered the hanger of the Harpax, your primary mission
objectives will be complete. Try to head for the Harpax by
diverting all power to your engines, unless an attacker has
a missile lock on you. In that case, raise lasers and
shields to full power, and fight off your attackers. Then
divert energy to engines, and continue towards the Harpax,
and enter the hanger. Of course, you could avoid this by
exiting into hyperspace, but then the Harpax would be all
by itself.

Battle 7 Mission 2: Destroy the Akaga
Summary: The Akaga, a defecting Imperial frigate, began to
attack the Interdictor Harpax, which was keeping the enemy
fleet trapped in the area. The Akaga was destroyed. The
Rebel and defecting fleet were held at bay until Darth
Vader arrived in the Garrett.
The danger was most pressing from the Akaga, because it was
a fast and dangerous ship compared to the Harpax.
Commentary: Vader himself requested my presence aboard the
Garrett, which goes to show how much I'd fooled the
Emperor. Vader told me that the Emperor told him that Vader
should rely on the Emperor's secret order. As an Emperor's
hand, being the only one in the area at the time, which
meant that the Emperor was indirectly referring to me. How
cool is that?
Despite being surrounded, and caught in a trap of their own
making, the Imperials fought off their attackers.
Ship List: The Akaga, the Protector, Harpax, Garrett, Goya
[E.E.: as in the cheap, spicy Mexican canned food. Like a
container of Goya salsa, it delivers up a fresh round of
warheads that have quite the kick to them. Yum.]; group
Himner
Strategy: Choose heavy bombs. Send for reinforcements. Link
warheads. Target the Akaga. Fire once you get a lock. If
someone tries to get a lock on you, turn and destroy him.
Concentrate your laser fire on the Akaga, and don't bother
reloading your warheads.
Once the Akaga is gone, destroy any X-Wings, Z-95s, and Y-
Wings. Destroy transport group Himner once they enter the
area. The bonus objective list will pretty much take care
of itself because the Imperials have the Rebels and
defectors outgunned in quantity (I think) and quality of
fighters.
The Garrett will show up soon, and your primary mission
objectives will be complete. Vader will request your
presence, so go into the hanger of the Garrett.

Battle 7 Mission 3: Retribution
Summary: Interdictor Harpax made a last stand while the
remaining Rebel and Imperial defectors were destroyed. This
mission marked the beginning of a war that consisted of six
battles. Admiral Zaarin chose this opportunity to commit
mutiny. Instead of providing reinforcement, Zaarin’s forces
attacked the Imperials. While Darth Vader was occupied with
this mission, Zaarin was busy kidnapping the Emperor. As
soon as the mission was over, Darth Vader’s forces raced
back to Coruscant. The Garrett had transferred the first of
the TIE Defender prototypes to a large carrier prior to
this battle. The Garrett took critical damage, so Darth
Vader used the TIE Defender prototypes to journey to
Coruscant.
Commentary: I think the ship that was holding the Defenders
was called the Hininbirg. You can see it in B6M2. This same
ship was a staging area for my missions at the time.
Ironically, to foil Zaarin's plot against the Empire, Vader
used the same TIE Defenders that Zaarin had developed.
Keeping the Harpax alive was a tricky task, and you may ask
yourself: "Why bother? The Rebel forces were completely
destroyed. We don't need to keep the Harpax alive anymore."
In addition to being part of a command from the Emperor, it
is beneficial to the Rebel Alliance. The same principal of
a wounded soldier applies to a wounded ship: burying a
soldier or destroying a ship is cheaper for your enemy than
to have that enemy spend money, resources, and accept the
tactical disadvantage that healing a soldier or repairing a
ship requires.
Because I completed my mission objectives, I was personally
invited by Darth Vader to lead a rescue force to Coruscant.
The time has come at long, long last. The single most hated
ship in the entire game will finally be destroyed. Lack of
support, a haven for fleeing enemy ships, or trigger for
runners; whatever a challenge was, if the Protector was in
the mission, it was probably the cause- especially if
Harkov was in command. Sweet retribution.
The greatest threat to the Harpax came from the CRL
Warhawk, because the Protector was too slow to catch up
with the Harpax.
Also, this marks another appearance of Admiral Zaarin.
Notice that this battle concerns mutinous fleets. Zaarin
would later commit mutiny on his own. That's called
foreshadowing, kids.

Ship List: The Protector, The Harpax, Garrett, Warhawk, CUV
18f1; groups: Arditi, Falcon, BaKaar.

Strategy A [The easy way to get it done on hard]:  Choose
Heavy Rockets. Don't send for reinforcements yet. Divert
everything to engines. Switch to warheads and link them. Go
for the Warhawk. Tell everyone except your wingmen to wait
for further instructions.
Save the Harpax to F5, the Protector to F6, and the Warhawk
to F7. Target a laser gun or turret that is on the same
side of the Warhawk that you are on, and fire two warheads
on it, then target another quickly. Get the turrets first
if you can. Don’t worry about it much though, no matter
where you aim at, it will do the same amount of damage.
Fire all your warheads, and then go get some more.
Aim for the Protector's warhead launchers [insert detail
from guide]. The Protector getting hit triggers the arrival
of Assault Gunboats. Keep fighting them until the Rebel
forces arrive. The Garrett will destroy the Protector, but
you can help him. Send for reinforcements. Reload if
needed. Take out the B-Wings, and group Spitfire while
you're doing that. Harpax will hyperspace out soon, but
nobody wants to leave anyway.
Take out four Assault Transports with one heavy rocket
apiece. Take out the last one with lasers. Reload. Take out
the modified corvettes with as few rockets as possible. CUV
81f1 will eventually run out of warheads, so you'll have to
take out the last one with lasers. There's no hurry. You
have lots of help. Enter the hanger of the Garrett.

Strategy B [The hard way that you shouldn’t use]: Choose
heavy rockets. The Harpax takes top priority; defend it.
Send for reinforcements. Tell your wingmen to attack the
Warhawk. Divert everything to engines. Set the Harpax to
F5, the Protector to F6, and the Warhawk to F7. Target a
laser gun or turret that is on the same side of the Warhawk
that you are on, and fire two warheads on it, then target
another quickly. Get the turrets first if you can. Don’t
worry about it much though, no matter where you aim at, it
will do the same amount of damage. Go reload.
Reloading is tricky: your goal is to get to CUV 18f1 as
quickly as possible, while reaching zero KPH by the time
you reach it. Divert everything to engines. By the time
you’re within range of the Warhawk, it will probably be
gone. Don’t waste warheads.
If it is gone, go after the Protector. Tell your wingmen to
ignore it. Target the left warhead launcher, fire a single
warhead at it, target the next one, and then run away. Be
sure that you can hit them directly. Do it from as far away
as possible. After your warheads hit it, turn around and
fire the last two, preferably at guns. Reload.
Go after the B-Wings as fast as possible. Use lasers. Fire
off a few shots at each one so they veer away. Destroy
them, giving priority to those directly attacking the
Harpax.
After they’re gone, Arditi and 5 Assault Transports will
hyperspace into the area. Go for the Assault Transports,
using one rocket apiece. Reload, and destroy two of Arditi
with two rockets apiece. Reload, and destroy the remaining
Arditi with rockets, and the last Upsilon with lasers if it
is weak (If not, use rockets and reload now).
Group Falcon will enter the area. Destroy one with rockets,
and then reload (You may not get to reload after this, CUV
18f1 might be out of warheads). Save your warheads (if you
have any left), and attack the guns of group Falcon.
Destroy it, unless BaKaar has entered the area. They take
top priority, unless Falcon is firing at the Harpax. Take
out the one closest to the Harpax with two rockets, then
the next one. There is probably no way 18f1 has any
warheads left, so you must take out their guns, and destroy
them with lasers.
When you’re sure you’ve completed all your goals, enter the
hanger of the Garrett.

Battle 7 Mission 4: TIE Defender
Summary: With Admiral Zaarin's coup-de-tat now obvious,
Darth Vader began the journey to Coruscant in the few TIE
Defender prototypes available, the only craft fast enough
to get to Coruscant in time to warn the Emperor. There was
a brief stopover to re-arm the defenders. During this
detour, Zaarin sent Interdictor Harpago to slow Vader down.
Harpago was destroyed. This was the defender's first combat
mission. Other Imperial forces began the trip to Coruscant
as well, including Vice Admiral Thrawn.
Commentary: Thanks to my performance in the previous
mission, Darth Vader allowed me to lead the mission, while
he flew in the #6 Defender. The reason why he let me lead
was probably because he wanted to observe my performance
first hand.
Notice the Osprey- it was in B5M1.
Ship List: Osprey, Harpago, CUV/L-1, and Rendezvous.
Strategy: Choose Heavy Rockets. Target the nearest gunboat
attacking you. Throughout the mission, keep telling your
wingmen to attack the craft nearest you. Take out all of
the Assault gunboats.
After you're done, take out any leftover bombers. Destroy
Interdictor Harpago from a distance with warheads. Finish
it off with lasers. Don't bother reloading.
When you've completed your mission objectives, enter the
hanger of the Osprey.

Battle 7 Mission 5: Save the Emperor
Summary: Darth Vader was unable to warn the Emperor in
time. Zaarin boarded the Emperor's flagship, the Majestic,
and kidnapped the Emperor. However, the Imperial forces
captured the shuttle the Emperor was held in, and he was
rescued.
Commentary: By B7M4, I was promoted to the Emperor's Eyes,
and I personally commanded the rescue of the Emperor. Then
I was awarded a medal at a huge ceremony in my honor. I got
complements from Darth Vader and Vice Admiral Thrawn. Am I
in or am I in?
Yes, it would have been great if the Emperor had been
killed instead of being rescued. But then Darth Vader
wouldn't have come back from the dark side, and either
Zaarin or Vader would have commanded the Empire, which was
still intact.
[This mission marks the conclusion of the original set of
TIE fighter missions, and the beginning of the expansion
packs.]
This mission featured Zaarin's flagship, the Glory, for the
first time. It lasted as long as Zaarin did.
It was probably harder to lose this mission than it is to
win it: with the Emperor, Darth Vader, and Thrawn present,
Zaarin was impossibly overpowered and out-thought.
Ship List: The Majestic, the Glory, Vanguard, Mescue, group
Haven, Hellcat.
Strategy: Throttle down to zero. Divert power to engines.
Switch to warheads. Don’t bother sending for
reinforcements- you won’t need them. Fire at least one
warhead at the shuttle in front of you. Fly close to each
of group Haven. Once you’ve determined which one the
Emperor is on, disable it, and tell your wingmen to ignore
it. Use lasers to take out the rest. Tell your wingmen to
attack whichever one you’re working on.
Take out some TIE advanced for points, but enter the hanger
of the Vanguard when you get your mission objectives
complete message.

Battle 8: Strategic Warfare
Summary: This battle in the Omar system in the Inner Rim
was the first major theater of a war that lasted for six
battles. It took place in the Parmel system. Admiral Zaarin
committed mutiny in Battle 7, taking with him a very large
body of Imperials, technology, and supplies. During this
battle, Zaarin launched a series of sabotage attacks
against key Imperial facilities.

Commentary: [This battle also marks the beginning of the
Defenders of the Empire expansion pack. It consists of
Battles 8-10.]
In many ways, Admiral Harkov and Admiral Zaarin were
complete opposites. Where Harkov was a blundering,
impulsive fool, Zaarin was a planning, brilliant
strategist. Harkov’s defection brought with it few forces,
a flimsy connection to the Rebels, and almost no supplies;
Zaarin left with a huge body of followers, no ties to the
Rebels, and ample supplies.
Zaarin chose the perfect time to leave the Empire. He used
the momentum of the previous desertions by Harkov’s troops
to propel his own. He had inside knowledge of the newest
star fighter development, of factories, and of Imperial
tactics. Darth Vader was in the middle of a mission at the
other end of the galaxy, with a weak, damaged fleet. The
Emperor was (supposedly) unaware of Zaarin’s treachery. He
had a trap set up ahead of time, before Vader’s forces were
attacked.
It’s a good thing that Harkov and Zaarin rebelled, though.
Without these conflicts, the Alliance would not only have
had to fight Harkov and Zaarin, but the Empire would also
have been able to concentrate on the Rebellion, bringing to
bear the full brunt of a united Navy down upon the
Alliance, which was already weak from the defeat at Hoth.

Battle 8 Mission 1: Evacuate TIE Advanced Plants
Summary: Zaarin destroyed three TIE Advanced manufacturing
facilities at Omar. The Imperials were able to evacuate
most of the personnel during the attack, however. The
personnel were to be relocated and the plants would be
rebuilt. The destruction of the plants resulted in the
absence of TIE advanced fighters at the Battle of Endor.
Commentary: The personnel were more important to the
Imperials; the personnel could always relocate and could
quickly rebuild the plants. The personnel were
irreplaceable, and took years to reach their level of
expertise.
Ship List: Timber, Hut, Libro, Freighter Subcom, Teal,
Nomme, Raptor, Runner; groups: Omar, Resro.
Strategy: Choose advanced missiles. Send for
reinforcements. Divert power to shields. Target the warhead
launcher of the Raptor. Fire one missile at it, and then
target its guns and turrets. Tell your wingmen to attack
the bombers.
Go after the bombers, using ion cannons. [Unlike X-Wing
Alliance, TIE bombers blow up when you disable them. It
takes fewer shots, so it's faster than lasers. Maybe they
get shorted out or something. ]
TIE advanced fighters will come in; tell your wingmen to
attack them. Try to take out some bombers while you're
doing it, though. After the Avengers are gone, turn your
full attention to the bombers. After the bombers stop
coming, go after the Raptor. As always, aim for guns if you
can.
Keep your shields up, and when fire gets too intense, run.
Assault Gunboats will enter the area, but if you keep your
shields and lasers up, they won't be a problem. In fact,
they are so slow and such bad shots that there were about
20 in the area, and I still had full shields. You can use
them a little bit to get them to shoot the Raptor, but it
isn't very effective at all. Concentrate on the Raptor,
doing short runs on it. When its shields are at zero,
disable it.
Destroy it at your leisure, and then shoot down as many
gunboats as you want to for big points.

Battle 8 Mission 2: Save TIE Advanced Factory
Summary: Zaarin’s plan was to steal high-tech resources as
they left, while denying the Imperials the same technology
by destroying facilities behind them in order to gain
technological superiority.
ZA-13, another TIE advanced hyperdrive-manufacturing plant
in the Omar system (which had been under Zaarin’s direct
control and supervision) was subject to the looting. This
plant was one of the last Imperial TIE advanced
manufacturing plants in the galaxy. The Imperials
intervened during the process, and stopped Zaarin’s
transports from escaping with the stolen materials, as well
as preserving the facility. However, the facility was still
held by Zaarin’s commandoes.
Commentary: Zaarin needed the equipment to make his fleet
of TIE Defenders hyperdrive-capable. His TIE advanced
supply was thinned during this mission.
Tiger is the name of a single ATR seen in H5M2, so the two
may be related.
Ship List: Coral, ZA-13, Elpi, Renegade; groups: Cod, Oz,
and Tiger (see also B3M2 (possible relation) and H5M2 (no
relation)).
Strategy: Choose advanced torpedoes. Don’t send for
reinforcements this mission. Destroy the TIE fighters.
Target Z-Oz 2 and fire 3 warheads at it. Tell your wingmen
to attack Z-Oz 1 and then immediately tell them to ignore
it. Disable and inspect both. Keep your wingmen busy
attacking the TIE advanced fighters. Reload. Fire 2
warheads each at group Z-Mod. Disable and inspect both, and
tell your wingmen to ignore them.
Fire two warheads at Z-Coral, then disable and inspect it.
Tell your wingmen to ignore it. Finish off the TIE advanced
fighters. When all five ships have been boarded, you should
destroy them all. When Z-Elpi comes out, disable it with
ion cannons only.
After you get your last “mission completed” message,
hyperspace out.

Battle 8 Mission 3: Secure TIE Advanced Plant
Summary: The Imperials recaptured and gained control over
ZA-13. During the boarding operation, Zaarin’s forces tried
to destroy ZA-13, rather than see it fall back into
Imperial hands. Production of TIE advanced fighters then
resumed.
Commentary: It wasn’t until this mission that I had even
encountered a Carrack Cruiser, let alone disabled,
captured, and destroyed one.
Ship List: ZA-13, Java, Jumini, Render, Resupply; groups:
Caplure, Themor.
Strategy: Choose advanced missiles. Send for
reinforcements. Divert power to shields. Always have a
target assigned to your wingmen. Destroy the Assault
Gunboats with 2 missiles followed by lasers.
Destroy the enemy transport group with 2 missiles each.
Destroy the lone TIE advanced fighter with lasers. Fire at
M/Cor group Caplure with a couple missiles each. Reload.
Continue with missiles, firing from a distance to avoid
having your missiles shot down. Finish them with lasers.
Try to take the points for yourself by telling your wingmen
to ignore the ones that have taken critical damage.
Fire your remaining missiles at Jumini, and tell your
wingmen to attack it. As always, target turrets. Your
wingmen will abandon you, so it’s up to you to destroy it.
Reload, unload your missiles on Jumini, and repeat until
his shields are down. Disable him, and don’t completely
destroy it until it has been boarded.
After you get “mission complete” confirmation, hyperspace
out.

Battle 8 Mission 4: Supply TIE Advanced Plant
Summary: ZA-13 was attacked a third time while repair
supplies and crew were being sent, this time by Rebels. ZA-
13 remained intact.
The Rebels provided the Imperials their first look at the
Mag Pulse warhead in action- when they were fired at ships,
the missile would temporarily drain laser energy.
Ship List: ZA-13, Vendor; groups: Terry, Dromii, Rope 17,
and Cobra.
Commentary: [This is a major crossover with X-Wing
Alliance: if you note the time that the warhead first
appears in use in XWA, you can create a rough timeline of
the events of TIE95 and XWA.]
The Rebels should never have attacked this plant. The TIE
advanced fighters were being used to fight Zaarin, not
Rebels.
ZA-13 was previously used to manufacture TIE advanced
hyperdrive engines only, but because Zaarin had destroyed
so many plants, it began making the complete fighter.
Group Rope 17 had already been attacked once on their way
to ZA-13; they survived, so this is their second time
they’ve come under attack. The first Rebel attack alerted
Imperials that the Rebels would soon attack ZA-13 and the
convoy.
After this mission, the station was guarded with two
Nebulon B frigates to prevent further attacks.
Strategy: Choose advanced missiles. Take out everything in
this order: all Y-Wings, B-Wings, Y-Wings again, Z-95s, Y-
Wings, Corvettes (Use missiles, refill when needed.), Z-
95s, Y-Wings, A-Wings, and finally X-Wings.
Wait until all the transports have hyper-spaced out, then
hyper out you must hyper out.

Battle 8 Mission 5: Capture Mag Pulse Weapon
Summary: At least one of the attacking Rebels from the
previous mission was tracked back to their base. The
Imperials captured the base and recovered several Mag Pulse
warheads for research. Developers of the weapon were also
captured.
Vice Admiral Thrawn was then promoted to Admiral.
Elsewhere during this mission, Zaarin attacked ZA-13 his
third time (this was the fourth time the station had been
attacked), destroying both the station and a frigate
guarding it.
This mission also debuted the Rebel’s new experimental star
fighter: the T-Wing [or new escort shuttle?].
[They never show the station getting destroyed, so that
would make a good mod mission]
Commentary: Transport Blue was disabled, captured by
commandoes, and had some of the developers transferred to
the boarding craft. The boarding craft returned to the
Sceltor. Blue, piloted to ISD Sceltor by the commandoes,
was disabled again. The Rebel officers onboard were then
taken by another transport into Sceltor. Blue was then
destroyed.
I leave ZA-13 alone for 10 minutes and look what happens.
Man, if it weren’t for me, this whole war would be falling
apart.
Yes, it would have been great if the Rebels had been able
to keep the Mag Pulse warheads during the remainder of the
war. Unfortunately, the Imperials had more resources, so
they would have eventually reverse-engineered one and made
more than the Rebels ever would have been able to do. The
Empire would have gotten more use out of the warheads than
the Rebels.
So you may ask, “why did you help the Empire get them in
the first place then?” I had to keep my cover, and the
Empire would have gotten one eventually, even if I hadn’t.
I was just hurrying the arms race along.
Zaarin already had working copies of the weapon. The
warheads were to be used against Zaarin, not the Rebels.
Ship List: Leopard, RS-32, TT-109, Resupply, Sceltor;
groups: Rampart, Muraat.
Strategy: Choose Heavy Bombs. Send for reinforcements.
Destroy the escort shuttle in front of you, then the Z-95s
and T-Wings. Fire 4 bombs at the station at max speed,
reload, and fire two more. Disable it.
Disable transport Blue as it exits. Inspect group Rampart,
and destroy each with one bomb as you fly by. Destroy any
remaining fighters. After Blue is captured, disable it
again, but don’t destroy it.
After you get the “mission complete” messages, hyperspace
out or enter the Sceltor’s hanger.

Battle 8 Mission 6: Trapped
Summary: With the Rebel base captured and Imperial Navy
reinforcements present (including Admiral Thrawn), Zaarin
set an Interdictor to trap the Imperials and take the
weapons technology.
RS-32, the Rebel Mag Pulse development facility, was
destroyed.
Zaarin’s spy again played a pivotal role in causing this
battle by leaking intelligence of the Empire’s plans to
gain Mag Pulse technology.
This mission closed the chapter of Zaarin’s sabotage
efforts on Imperial starships and weapons manufacturing
other than the TIE defender.
Commentary: No secondary or secret bonus goals, only two
primary mission goals, I got to work with Thrawn, and best
of all, I didn’t get killed. All in all, this was an
enjoyable mission.
Ship List: RS-32, Serpent, Sceltor, Shadow, Grappler, and
Resupply.
Strategy: Choose Heavy Bombs. Destroy fighters until
Serpent enters the area. Fire all your bombs at it at max
speed. Thin out the fighters enough so that you can reload
safely. Destroy Serpent with lasers.
Get near Grappler, fire your bombs, disable it, and then
destroy it with lasers.
After you get the “mission complete” messages, hyperspace
out or enter the Sceltor’s hanger.

Battle 9: T/D Technology
Summary: This battle took place in the Parmel system in the
Inner Rim. It took place in the same system as Battle 9,
because it was a continuation of Zaarin’s War.
Zaarin now concentrated his efforts on obtaining TIE
defender technology, appointing Commander Ravine to lead
the attacks.

Battle 9 Mission 1: Capture Platform
Summary: In the same way he attempted to take from TIE
advanced plants and take Rebel Mag Pulse warheads, Zaarin
captured a T/D development plant. The Imperials captured
the facility, prototype Defenders, and other research
equipment. ISD Ardaga then guarded the station.
An improved version of the star fighter tractor beam made
its debut, along with shielded TIE fighters.
Zaarin’s landing crews were interrogated, and gave valuable
information concerning his force’s locations.
Rebel forces attempted to destroy the station, rather than
see it fall back into Imperial hands.
Commentary: This was a hugely important battle. If Zaarin
had won, he would have taken over the Empire and the Battle
of Endor never would have happened. It concerned the latest
technology, had dozens upon dozens of fighters involved,
and a complicated victory rubric.
Ship List: XQ3 R+D Lab, Jitte, Ardaga, U-3f7, U-3f6, U-
3f11; groups: Pacho, Sakin.

Strategy:
Your hardest objective will be keeping every one of your
wingmen alive through the entire mission, and thus it will
be your top priority. [The bonus goal actually says, “50%
of Group Delta must have completed mission”. However, even
if you and one wingman make it through the mission- that’s
67%- you won’t achieve the goal. That’s called a glitch,
people.]
Choose Advanced Torpedoes. Send for reinforcements. Turn
your shields and lasers all the way up. Switch ion cannons.
Target the nearest enemy bomber. It will be the one
attacking you, but you should try to get the one on the
right that fires a missile. Try to get that one before he
ever fires a missile. Turn your tractor beam off. Activate
your map view. Save Delta 2 and 3 to F5 and F6,
respectively. Deactivate your map view.
To destroy a TIE bomber, use ion cannons. It takes less
shots to take out the fighter’s systems than it does to
take out the hull. Disabling it also destroys it.
Destroy the nearest enemy bomber; it should be the one
attacking you. Throttle off, and destroy the next two
bombers.
Throttle up, target the nearest shuttle, and tell your
wingmen to ignore it. Tell your wingmen to ignore a shuttle
whenever you target it.
To disable a shuttle, fire one warhead after you get a
lock, or have a good shot. Switch to ion cannons. Brake
fully. Disable it. Don’t bother going after a shuttle if
group Rho is going after it. Use missiles on group Lambda
and Upsilon 2. You could disable the rest with ion cannons,
but group Rho will do it for you anyway.
Target Upsilon 1 and tell your wingmen to ignore it. Divert
energy to engines, but not all of your stored laser power.
Target Upsilon 2 and disable it, and then do the same with
Lambda 2. Target the newest group of TIE bombers. Disable
all three. Help group Rho as they disable the shuttles if
you find them near your flight path while you are
destroying all the remaining TIE bombers.
After all the TIE bombers have been destroyed, and have
disabled Lambda 2 and Sigma 1, attack Sakin 2. Tell your
wingmen to attack it. To save time, use your map view to
save it to F7. As always, aim for lasers during attack
runs. I recommend linking your lasers and throttling down.
Alternate between attacking Sakin 2 and 3, and keep moving
if laser fire gets heavy. Disable them when their shields
are low. As soon as one is disabled, finish off the other
one.
After the last TIE bomber is destroyed, group Omega will
soon enter the area and begin attacking Escort Carrier
Jitte.
There are several things you need to do that directly
concern group Omega. 1- Certain ATs will continue to attack
the station with lasers even after it has been disabled, so
you may need to disable one of them if they insist on
attacking [Omega 5 and 6 are especially prone to this.].
Keep your speed low or you will either overshoot them or
crash into them. 2-At least one must survive until after
the station is disabled [ATs that enter the hanger before
it is disabled don't count.]. To keep at least one of Omega
alive, you'll need to attack the station. Start with its
warhead launcher, and then guns. You'll draw the fire away
from Omega. Destroy missiles targeting you. Wait to do this
until after the TIE fighters are destroyed. 3-Your wingmen
attack defensively if they are hit, and this includes craft
on your own side. To prevent this, tell your wingmen to </pre><pre id="faqspan-3">
ignore each of group Omega as they enter the area.
Sakin 4 will probably enter the area at the same time as
Jitte, so tell your wingmen to attack Sakin 4. Disable it,
but don’t bother destroying it.
Tell your wingmen to ignore Jitte. Target a TIE fighter
attacking you. Link your lasers to destroy it. Work on one
at a time when you need to fight them. If your wingmen get
their shields below 65%, immediately help them out. Your
first priority for now is to weaken Jitte, mainly by
destroying its guns and turrets. If you keep moving slowly
around Jitte, you won’t need to break off very often to
destroy the TIE fighters attacking you. Destroy a TIE
fighter if the outer layer of your shields gets into the
red. Keep diverting power to your engines, but not past
your laser’s bright green supercharged point. Disable
Jitte, and finish off the TIE fighters.
Tell your wingmen to wait for further instructions. You
should have 5 missiles left. Link them, and fire two
warheads at the station’s warhead launcher from a distance.
Save the rest of your missiles. Now attack the station,
remembering the above warnings about group Omega. Do brief
attack runs, aiming mostly for the laser guns. Run away
when your shields turn yellow. Alternate between lasers and
ion cannons, using whatever is supercharged at the moment.
Draw the fire of the station away from any nearby shuttles
and group Omega. After it is disabled, check to see if
anyone from group Omega is still firing lasers at the
station.
Destroy any leftover TUGs and container Pi. You'll get
points for the containers that are captured later. Fully
charge everything, reduce your beam weapon to normal
charge, and stay near the station at about 1/3 throttle.
Tell your wingmen to head for home when the Ardaga enters
the area.
A lone Rebel A-Wing will enter the area. When this happens,
divert your entire beam weapon charge to engines, raise
your energy weapon and shield recharge levels to full, and
destroy it. Rebel fighters will enter the area. Go after
the A-Wings first, then the B-Wings, and lastly the X-
Wings. Periodically check to make sure that none of them
are close to exiting into hyperspace. As you head towards
the A-Wings, divert everything to engines. Switch lasers to
single fire. When you get within 4Km of them, power up your
shields and lasers. Fire across the line of A-Wings to take
out incoming missiles. Link your lasers. Focus on one A-
Wing at a time. Set your shield recharge to an increased
rate so you can keep up with them. After you’ve destroyed
three of them, get a warhead lock on B-Wing 1 and fire two
at it. Disable it. Destroy the remaining A-Wings. The B-
Wings launch heavy rockets at the station, so take them out
in order of their distance from you. Destroy the last four
of the X-Wings. You should have one missile left. This
warhead is to be used for runners. If you are down to the
last X-Wing, fire a few laser shots at him and then finish
him off with the warhead.
After every transport and shuttle has either entered the
hanger of the Ardaga, you should get your precious "Secret
Mission Objectives Complete" message. Enter the Ardaga's
hanger.

Battle 9 Mission 2: Hold Platform
Summary: Zaarin attempted to regain the station using the
same strategy that the Imperials had used in the last
mission- T/Ds and ATRs. His forces were repelled, but
succeeded in rendering the ISD guard and station
indefensible.
The Empire, while depriving Zaarin of the same technology,
captured at least one T/D for use. The Imperials gained
information from the pilots that Zaarin was planning to
destroy the station in a subsequent mission.

Commentary: The XO mentions that the ship you are currently
on is the Ardaga.
The Imperials probably found out about Zaarin’s alternate
plan to retake the station by interrogating the landing
crew from the last mission.
ES/S group Red Knight provided reinforcement until the
evacuation began.
Let’s learn from this- Zaarin placed too much confidence in
new technology to provide victory. If he’d placed more
emphasis on obtaining good pilots for his revolution, he
would have had more success.
Mad props from the XO: “[Zaarin] did not foresee the
extraordinary way in which you would turn his deadly weapon
against him. Your loyalty to the Emperor and the skill you
have displayed in dispatching his enemies has won you great
honor! Your prowess in the TIE Defender will make the
difference here!”
Ship List: Ardaga, R+D Lab, CUV 3f1, 8f9, 7f9, 6f9, 5f9;
groups: Red Knight, Uhu, and Keyhole
Strategy: [This was a really hard mission. It took me like
three weeks to beat. I beat the rest of the Combat Chamber
missions because I got so sick of playing this one.]
Choose Advanced Torpedoes. Don't send for reinforcements.
You'll be flying most of the mission with your shield and
laser recharge rates set to maximum. Check your map as soon
as you get into the mission. Save the Ardaga to F5. Check
to make sure its hull is above 25%, if it is, its condition
is not critical. Target Sigma 1. Return to your flight
view. Divert everything to engines. Switch to warheads.
Link them. Turn your beam weapon on. When you start to get
a lock, turn shields and lasers to maximum recharge. As
soon as you hear the fifth beep, fire two at Sigma 1.
Target Sigma 2. Switch to lasers. Set your throttle to
zero. You probably won't be able to get a second ATR
because you're going so fast, but you should be able to
shoot down a few warheads on your way past. Switch back to
warheads. When destroying the ATRs in this mission, you
should either have a solid red lock, or should be flying
directly at it. If they are further than 1.5Km away, wait
until you have a red lock to fire. If you are within 1.5Km,
only wait about five beeps. If they are firing lasers
directly at you, wait until you are within .2Km before
firing. The primary way that an ATR can destroy you is not
by lasers; rather, you kill yourself by running into these
slow-moving, heavily armored craft. When you are within 1Km
of ATRs, throttle down to zero or hit Enter to match their
speed. I prefer throttling down to zero because it seems to
slow me down faster. You can also briefly turn your beam
weapon to full recharge rate, as long as you remember to
turn it back off. Use two Advanced Torpedoes if their
shields are at greater than 60% strength. If its shields
are between 60% and 20%, then use one warhead. If it shield
are at less than 20%, disable it with ion cannons.
If you are directly behind Sigma 2, and within .5Km, you
probably won't have to wait more than two beeps. Quickly
target and destroy Sigma 3. Target the newest craft, CUV
3f1, and save it to F6. Repeatedly tell it to board with
you by hitting Shift + B.
The Combat Utility Vehicle is faster than the Transport.
#1: If it is less than .5Km away, throttle down to zero;
turn everything to maximum recharge rate, including your
beam weapon. Divert everything to shields. Continue to turn
to face it until you are at zero KPH. You will get six
warheads total. Be ready to return to full throttle and
turn your beam weapon recharge off the second you've gotten
your third set of warheads. #2: If you are between .5Km and
1.5Km away, you are at an ideal distance. Target the CUV.
Set throttle to 100%. When you are about .6Km away, turn
your beam weapon recharge rate up to maximum. When you are
within .3Km, set throttle to zero. You will slow down to
about 34KPH. Alternate your throttle between full and off
until you are within .15Km, and then throttle down
completely. Repeat the remaining steps in #1 once you are
within 0.5Km. #3: If you are further than 1.5Km away, set
throttle to full. Briefly turn laser and shield recharge to
normal, and once you get within 1.5Km, turn shield and
laser recharge rates to maximum. Repeat the remaining steps
in #2 once you are within 1.5Km and #2 once you are within
0.5Km. After you've restocked your supply of warheads,
you'll have enough of a charge in your beam weapon to use
it for a few seconds. Don't turn it on unless you'll be
able to use it on a craft you intend to disable or destroy.
Back to the present: during this reloading, check your map.
Target Sigma 1 from the newest ATR group. Destroy Sigma 1,
using your beam weapon as soon as you are within range. Use
your map to target Sigma 2, destroy Sigma 2, and then
repeat the process for Sigma 2.
Reload. Target the nearest ATR and destroy it using
warheads or lasers. When the newest group of either Omega
or Lambda enters in from hyperspace, you'll want to have
expended your warheads, and have gotten a third reload.
Take out either group Omega or Lambda, but don't split your
warheads between the two. When only three ATRs remain,
group Red Knight will enter the area. Depending on the
Ardaga's condition and the number of ATRs, send for
reinforcements. If its hull is below 25% and there is more
than one ATR, worry about the ATRs.
Throughout the mission, you will need to check to see if
anyone is attacking any of T/D group Z-Alpha. If they are,
tell them to wait for further instructions. If they are
damaged more than 60%, stop whatever you are doing to
disable it. It doesn't matter if three out of the four T/Ds
are destroyed. So long one of them is boarded, you will
acheive your secondary mission objective. But you must
disable every single T/D before they are destroyed. You may
get lucky like I did and shoot down an advanced missile
before it hits a T/D. To disable one, link your lasers.
When its shields are at 25%, disable it with ion cannons.
The T/Ds will run for hyperspace if all the ATRs are
destroyed. You'll usually be able to catch up with them
without needing to lower your shield recharge rate. I set
my throttle to 1/3 when a T/D twisted out of view, and then
returned throttle to full once it was centered and heading
straight.
The best time to disable them is when there are about three
ATRs left, depending on the state of the Ardaga. Otherwise,
destroy the Ardaga's warhead launcher with lasers. It is at
the very tip of the Ardaga's hull.
After you have disabled the T/Ds and destroyed the last of
the ATRs, check to make sure none of the T/Ds is still
under attack. Only one survived when I was flying. The
Ardaga will soon exit the area, and TUGs will exit the
station to pick up the T/Ds. Reload, and then tell CUV 3f1
to head home. It must complete its mission. Use the "Z" key
mode to see what the TUGs are doing. Tell the ones that are
not going after a specific T/D to head home. Fully
recharge, and then level everything out to normal. Keep
flying around aimlessly at full throttle, being carefully
not to run into anything.
CORV Uhu 1 will hyperspace into the area soon. Divert
everthing to engines. Fire three or four warheads at it.
Target Uhu 2. Keep everything diverted to engines. Fire
your remaining warheads at it. Once you are within 3Km of
it, set recharge rates for everything at maximum. Weaken it
with lasers until its shields are gone, then disable it
with ion cannons. If your cannons are not supercharged,
divert energy from shields using the ";" key. Match its
speed and stay behind it.
Once it is destroyed, destroy group Keyhole 2, and then
Keyhole 1. Fully recharge on your way over to Keyhole 2,
and level everything out.
[There was a glitch when I was playing. There was only one
T/D left, and one TUG. The single TUG stopped once it
reached 1.15Km, and took 4 hours to reach the T/D with the
time accelerated. This mission was extremely hard, so I
didn't want to start it over. If this happens to you,
either restart the mission or leave your computer alone for
an hour.]
Once a T/D has been boarded, and the last TUG has returned
to base, you'll get the "secret mission objective complete"
message. You can leave through hyperspace or enter the
hanger of NL-1.

Battle 9 Mission 3: Protect Evacuation
Summary: With the last of Imperialist forces nearby
depleted, evacuation of the facility began. The last of the
T/D prototypes were evacuated using a nearby bulk
freighter. The last of the crew, critical research data,
and the top research scientist were also evacuated. Zaarin
arrived in ISD Glory to stop the evacuation, but failed.
The station was destroyed.
Ship List: R+D Lab, Mharsup, Glory, and 20f16; groups: Red
Knight, Dragonfly, and G’nabgib.
[E.E.: G’nabgib = Big Bang spelled backwards]
Strategy:

**********************************
Historical Missions
Introduction: A historical mission is any mission that
Maarek Stele did not fly in, but was later given a chance
to practice with in a flight simulator. Some of these
Combat Training missions were purely fictional, and were
always used for training purposes (indicated by Fiction
(F)). Fictional missions allowed pilots to concentrate on
the basic elements of a mission, and were cheaper than
real-life missions.
Others were based off of historical events (indicated by
Non-Fiction (NF)). The ideal winning situation of these
missions was often different than their historical outcome.
For example, in order to obtain a bonus goal, a battle
cruiser must be destroyed that never was actually
destroyed.
Strategy: I don’t recommend repeatedly playing these
missions to get all the bonus goals. Unlike the actual
missions, you don’t get anything for achieving them. I got
all the bonus goals on certain ones, like the Interceptor
missions. Concentrate on your primary goals, and only try
to get the bonus goals when you’re finished with them.

Historical Combat 1: TIE Fighter Combat:
First Used: Pre B1
The TIE Fighter was usually the first ship pilots would
learn to fly, and this was usually their first taste of
flight. Pilots were taught gunnery, targeting, flight
controls, wingmen commands, and combat strategy.

(F) Historical 1 Mission 1: Gunnery
Summary: Pilots were taught the fundamentals of flight and
gunnery against increasingly hard enemy flight groups.
Commentary: [This mission has a built-in mechanism wherein
if the base is destroyed, Avenger group Dark Angel would
come out and attack the player. This is so difficult to
produce that it is practically an E.E. It does not conform
to continuity, as the Avengers didn’t appear until Battle
2. However, it doesn’t make any difference, because the
player will never see them.]
Ship List: PLT/2 Training (not to be confused with PLT/1
Training); groups: Mover, Fighter, Diad, Triad, Quad, Quin,
Dodec, Revenge, and Dark Angel.

(F) Historical Combat 1 Mission 2: Flight Leaders & Wingmen
Summary: Waves of Rebel fighters attack a base while
supplies are raided. Pilots are taught wingmen instruction,
and further targeting controls.
Commentary: The containers’ cargo included Ebla Beer,
R’alla water, and Norv’n Grog.
Ship List: PLT/2 I.N. Depot 5, Colossus, TUG C/T; groups:
Pelican.

(F) Historical Combat 1 Mission 3: Destroy Depot
Summary: Pilots are taught prioritization methods while
destroying a Rebel fighter and supply outpost.
Commentary: You get major complements if you are able to
destroy Perfect and ISD Punisher (see also H1M4, H6M4).
Ship List: Perfect, Punisher; groups: TUG T-XL, Limi, and
Vic (see H3M3).

(F) Historical Combat 1 Mission 4: Destroy a Probe
Summary: This mission supposedly took place in Klaymor 4-2.
A Rebel probe was to be destroyed. Pilots were taught how
to survive in the face of tremendous fighter opposition.
Commentary: Notice that you must again destroy the Punisher
from the last mission in order to obtain your bonus reward.
[E.E. I think Claymores are a type of explosive.]
Ship List: Punisher (see also H1M3, H6M4), Rogelo, PR-V74;
groups: Astin, Striker Z-95s (see B4M1)

Historical Combat 2: TIE Interceptor Combat:
First Used: Pre B1
The faster TIE Interceptor was usually the second craft
Imperial pilots would learn to fly. Pilots learned
inspection, ambush, and mine clearing procedure, along with
further flight controls and combat tactics.

(F) Historical Combat 2 Mission 1: Threat Display:
Summary: Pilots learned to use sensors and inspection
procedure. This mission took place at a customs checkpoint.
Smugglers were found, and Rebels supposedly rushed to their
aid. The Smugglers were captured, and the Rebels were
defeated.
Ship List: PLT/2 Customs, Nomannic, StarTour 7, TRN Seinar
T4D, T5D, Ritam, Elorac; groups: Yagmar, Sunnida.
[E.E. Sunnida = Sunny Day; Nomannic = Nomadic]

(F?) Historical Combat 2 Mission 2: Ambush!
Summary: Further combat practice, and ambush tactics.
Pilots were to attack a Rebel supply base to lead a capitol
ship in. After it enters in, overwhelming Imperial forces
would finish the base, fighters, and bombers destroyed the
cruiser.
Commentary: ISD Implacable is a reoccurring ship in the
Historical Missions. This one seems so pointless, that it
might actually be a NF mission. The Ardent is the name of
another Rebel cruiser (but not the exact same model) in a
NF mission, which adds to the credibility. The discrepancy
between the model types (this one is a MC-40a, the other is
an MC-80) is still unexplained. Maybe this H2M2’s Ardent is
based off of the Ardent in H5M2.
Ship List: Implacable (See also H1M1), PLT/3 AZ 77, Neenoc,
Derdmin, Ardent (also see H5B2).
[E.E.: Neenoc = Knee Knock, as in knock-kneed.]

(F?) Historical Combat 2 Mission 3: Clear Minefield
Summary: Pilots learned to clear a minefield. In this
mission, the pilot was to clear a Rebel minefield guarding
food supplies, and fighters later on.
Commentary: Calvary reappears later in the Historical
Missions. Glazer reappears later during the Rebel Arms
Race; this may mean that the mission actually happened.
Ship List: Lightning (H2M4, H5M3), Calvary (see also H3M3,
H5M3), Glazer (See B4M5), TUG T-WF; groups: Ahrman, Pelex,
Koss
[E.E.: Ahrman = our man, as in the Rebels’ man; Koss is an
electronics company]

(F) Historical Combat 2 Mission 4: Combined Attack
Summary:  Pilots would learn how to attack a fighter shield
for a supplies yard alongside a larger Imperial force. The
Rebel base and fighters were supposedly destroyed
completely.
Ship List: Lightning (H2M4, H5M3), Calvary (see also H2M3
and H3M3); groups: Wreden, Revt, Bultz, Moth, TUGs T-SE,
and T-SF.
[E.E.: Bultz = Bolts]

Historical Combat 3: TIE Bomber Combat:
First Used: Pre B1
The slower TIE Bomber was usually the third craft Imperial
pilots would learn to fly. They learned advanced warhead
techniques, and standard attack procedures.

(F) Historical Combat 3 Mission 1: Proton Torpedoes
Summary: Pilots face increasingly difficult targets. Pilots
would learn advanced proton torpedo targeting techniques,
and warhead reloading procedure.
Ship List: PLT/1 Training (also seen in H5M1)(not to be
confused with PLT/2 Training); groups: Target

(F) Historical Combat 3 Mission 2: Space Bombs
Summary: Pilots assault Rebel platforms, while learning how
to use space bombs.
Ship List: Implacable (see also H1M2), Mako, Abrihom,
Cyrlus, Satomi, Ossus Day; groups: Casper
[E.E.: Mako is a famous Asian actor; Abrihom = Abraham;
Bersabba = Barsheeba, another Biblical character; Ossus Day
= Cassius Clay?]

(F) Historical Combat 3 Mission 3: Torpedo Run
Summary: An Imperial ambush of a Rebel ships depot. Pilots
were taught “quick strike” ambush tactics.
Ship List: Calvary (see also H2M3, H5M3), Walker, TUG T-ST,
T-SP; groups: Axet, Xarxis, Enouck, Limi, Vic (see H1M3)
[E.E.: Enouck = Enoch or Enough]

(F) Historical Combat 3 Mission 4: Bombers Armed with
Missiles
Summary: A Rebel storage yard is to be destroyed before the
cargo craft escape. Pilots were taught use of missiles
against fleeing targets.
Ship List: Calvary, Compton, TUG T-DP, Clip; groups: Trail,
Guild, Goode, and Berm.

Historical Combat 4: Assault Gunboat Combat:
First Used: Pre B1
The Assault Gunboat had already come into widespread use by
the Battle of Hoth, but it was still considered fairly new.
Pilots are taught shield, energy, and wingmen management
while honing dog fighting and escort tactics.

(F) Historical Combat 4 Mission 1: Shields
Summary: The gunboat was the first Imperial small fighter
craft to have shields. This mission taught pilots energy
management. Pilots would attack a Rebel minefield, arms
cache, and fighters. They would also capture a Rebel spy.
Ship List: Weet, Scythis
[E.E.: Weet = Wheat]

(F) Historical Combat 4 Mission 2: Teamwork
Summary: Pilots would further the learning they obtained in
H1M2 for wingmen commands. Pirates stole Imperial
munitions. With the help of arms dealers, the pirates
intended to sell the munitions to the Rebels. All three
parties were attacked by the Imperials. The munitions and
arms dealers were captured, but the pirates and Rebels were
destroyed.
Commentary: Three different parties on the Rebel side;
looks like the Imperials aren’t the only ones capable of
teamwork.
Ship List: Redbill, Wippet, Filcher, Riirdo; groups: Amgis,
Devil

(F) Historical Combat 4 Mission 3: The Challenge
Summary: Pilots have everything thrown at them in a
challenge of dog fighting skills. In this obviously
fictional mission, the pilot accidentally encounters a
Rebel frigate. The frigate orders the fighter to surrender.
Instead the pilot defeats the best of the Rebel fleet,
despite being grossly outnumbered.
Commentary: Shotgun later appears as a group in B4M2.
Because this is a single CRV instead of a group, the two
probably aren’t related. Trident is also the name of an
Imperial ATR that appears later in B4M4; the two are not
related.
Ship List: Supreme, Shotgun, Challenge (see also B6M1; not
related), Luklucle, Trident, Movn, and Jupit

(F) Historical Combat 4 Mission 4: Escort Duty
Summary: Pilots would learn how to protect mission critical
craft. Pilots escort a group of freighters to their
hyperspace jump point while vastly outnumbered by Rebel
fighters. All Rebel forces are destroyed.
Ship List: Nav/B1 NB-Z6, Dodger, Leap; group: Rugle.

Historical Combat 5: TIE Advanced Combat:
First Used: Immediately after B4M5?
Rather than risk the very few models that they had, the TIE
advanced fighter simulator missions provided a safe way to
show pilots how to make optimal use out of the fighter. The
fighter was unique largely due to the onboard hyperdrive
engine made possible by the Habeen pirates’ scientists.
These missions taught pilots the use of heavy rockets and
advanced missiles, and tactics for multiple fighter
opposition and critical craft defense.

(F) Historical Combat 5 Mission 1: Concussion Missiles
Summary: Pilots learn to use advanced missiles, a.k.a.
concussion missiles in dog fighting practice with the T/A
against increasingly difficult targets.
Ship List: PLT/1 Training (also seen in H3M1), Cadiy;
groups: Shooter (probably appears in other missions, but it
is common enough to qualify as a placeholder name like
group Alpha), Target, Duo, Trio, Quad, Quin, and Hex (same
thing).
[E.E.: Cadiy = Caddy, as in golf caddy, someone who carries
tools for use by a main player.]

(NF) Historical Combat 5 Mission 2: Rocket Attack
Summary: This is one of few truly historical simulator
missions. Observation of a supply cache caught a Rebel
frigate during a refit. It was ambushed and quickly
destroyed. A Rebel cruiser showed up to help, and was
severely damaged, but not destroyed, before fleeing into
hyperspace.
Pilots would practice using heavy rockets against enemy
warships.
Commentary: The name of Tiger held by a single ATR in this
mission is also seen in B8M2 as a group, so the two may be
related.
Ship List: Inamo, Mule (also seen in B3M1), Nav/B1 NB-73,
Argus, Ardent (See also H2M3); groups: Tiger (see also B3M2
(no relation) and B8M2 (possible relation); these are Z-
95s), Shark (see also B3M6; no relation), and Demon.
[E.E.: In the goals summary, the container groups are
called Prongeds, but they are seen as Pi, Chi, and Xi in
the mission.]

(F) Historical Combat 5 Mission 3: Preemptive Strike
Summary: Pilots practiced multiple target dog-fighting
tactics. A Rebel shipyard and supply depot was destroyed
completely.
Commentary: A second group Juble was later seen and
captured in H6M3, but this group was destroyed.
Ship List: Lightning, Calvary (see also H2M3, H3M3, H5M3),
Trole, Retuna, Reyue, Garble; groups: Toone, Juble (see
also H6M3).

(F?) Historical Combat 5 Mission 4: Hyperdrive Upgrade
Summary: Like H4M4, pilots learned to protect multiple
critical craft despite overwhelming Rebel fighter
opposition while using advanced missiles. This mission
presumably took place near the Arrora asteroid. An Imperial
freighter was carrying a new hyperdrive system to a frigate
when the Rebels attacked. The Rebels were completely
destroyed, and the hyperdrive system was successfully
installed.
Commentary: This mission so detailed, it may be a NF
mission.
Ship List: Laantis, Blackstar, Glaser (probably not related
to B4M5 and H2M3’s Glazer), Chiller, Spartzen, Rasvin;
groups: Silver, Jackal, and Logan.

Historical Combat 6: TIE Defender Combat:
First Used: After B6M4
The TIE Defender first saw use in B7M4, but the training
missions first became available after B6M4. The Defender
held the position of superiority star fighter until the
debut of the Missile Boat. What made it unique was its
weaponry (4 lasers, 2 ion cannons, and 2 missile
launchers), fast charging shields, beam weapons, hyperspace
capability, acceleration, and speed.
Pilots practiced dog-fighting, tractor beam technique, and
learned capturing techniques.

(F) Historical Combat 6 Mission 1: Dogfighting!
Summary: Pilots would practice fighter against fighter
skills while making full utilization of the new features of
the Defender. The pilot could customize this mission by
picking ship type, number, and difficulty of the
opposition.
Ship List: Challenger (see also B4M3; no relation), CUV
Reload.

(NF) Historical Combat 6 Mission 2: Tractor Beam
Summary: This mission took place in a salvage yard near
Venzeiia 2 Prime. A Rebel spy was tracked to the salvage
yard. The Imperials knew he was in a Corellian Transport,
modified to be fast enough that only a Defender could catch
it. In addition to the Rebel spy, wanted criminals and
smugglers were captured. For aiding these three fugitives,
the station was also captured. Several ships attempting to
resist the Imperials were destroyed. A smuggler freighter
was destroyed. A single Rebel fighter was captured.
Pilots were taught tractor beam use.
Commentary: It is likely that this mission took place
immediately after B6M4, and before B7M1. In B6M3, the
Rebels attacked one of Zaarin’s research bases, acting on
information provided by a Rebel spy within the base. The
Glory was Zaarin’s ship. Zaarin could have found out the
spy, who could have been the same one in this mission. The
tractor beam technology rolled off the line at the very end
of B6M4. The Defender was still a prototype in B7M1, but it
was still operational. Battle 7 consisted of subsequent
missions, with no space for this mission, so it must have
taken place before then.
Commentary: This mission features the Glory (a real ship),
a real place is mentioned, the events are very detailed,
and it has a full ship list devoid of placeholders, so it
may be a NF mission.
Ship List: Glory, Recovery, PLT/3 AZ 77, Poltroon, Nemzet,
Lin, Kaar, Ko, Thunder (see also B3M6; not related),
Renspecs; groups: Sague.

(F) Historical Combat 6 Mission 3: Inspect and Disable
Summary: Pilots practice inspection and disabling tactics.
Supposedly, during a routine patrol of a hyperspace
waypoint with high traffic, a Rebel freighter group is
found. It is captured despite Rebel fighter intervention.
This area had been known for renegade traffic, and this
incident caused the Imperials destroy the waypoint to
prevent further renegade traffic.
Commentary: Group Juble was previously seen in H5M3 as a
known Rebel craft. In this mission, the Rebel group Juble
was hiding amongst renegades. The two groups may have been
two parts of the same group that had become separated.
Ship List: Elite, Hatch, Olumpa, B-52, B-53; groups:
Slasher, Trawler, Switch, and Juble (see also H5M3).

(F) Historical Combat 6 Mission 4: Disable and Capture
Summary: Pilots learned to capture large enemy battleships.
An Imperial reconnaissance patrol found two Rebel ESC. One
was disabled and captured, along with its complement of
star fighters. Rebels entered the area to defend them, and
were completely destroyed.
Commentary: Some of the bonus goals for this mission
require the pilot to commit treason and destroy at least
three formidable Imperial battleships.
Ship List: Burke, James, Punisher (see also H1M3, H1M4),
Suelu, Egale, Down; groups: Prowler, Sharky, and Spear.
[E.E.: Suelu = Sulu, a character from Star Trek; Egale =
Eagle]

Historical Combat 7: Missile Boat Combat:
First Used: After B7M5?
Pilots were taught use of the new features of the Missile
Boat, including the advanced tractor beam, dual warhead
launchers, and the SLAM (Sub Light Acceleration Motors);
they also learned proper application of the features,
including warhead interception, dog-fighting tactics, and
ship defense.
With Zaarin gone from the Empire’s service, the Imperials
turned to Cygnus Arms to develop a countermeasure to
Zaarin’s TIE Defender. The Missile Boat would not begin to
appear until Battle 10, but Cygnus had a rough draft of it
much earlier. Historical training missions for the MIS saw
their first use as early as post Battle 7. It is safe to
all of the missions were fictional; there were less than
200 Missile Boats ever produced, so the Empire needed every
one of them in action constantly. The Missile Boat was the
most advanced star fighter the Empire ever produced.
Commentary: It is unlikely that the HMs were available any
earlier. Zaarin didn’t defect until partway through B7, so
there is no reason for a countermeasure any sooner. Because
B7 was a series of subsequent missions, the development
would not have started in between any of these missions.
The Emperor would have jumped on this problem as soon as he
heard of it, though, so I don’t think it would have
happened any later.

(F) Historical Combat 7 Mission 1: Dual Warheads
Summary: Pilots were taught use of the advanced tractor
beam, dual warhead launchers, and the SLAM (Sub Light
Acceleration Motors).
This mission was an attack on a Rebel arms installation.
The station, its supplies, transportation fleet, and fleet
were completely destroyed despite a star fighter screen.
Additional Rebel craft, fighters, and a frigate entered the
area after receiving word of the destruction of the
facility. They were all destroyed.
Ship List: Arjun, Arjun Jr., Organarms, Dahome; groups:
Graabaas, Rimrunner, Altar Moon, and Kempman.
[E.E.: Organarms = Organa Arms, as in Leia; Dahome = Da
Home = The Home; Kempman = Kampman, as in the fish sticks.]

(F) Historical Combat 7 Mission 2: Anti-Warhead Defense
Summary: Pilots are taught enemy warhead interception.
Rebels attacked an Imperial cargo transport carrying
supplies for an Imperial weapons factory. The first wave
was destroyed. During the second wave, an Imperial
scientist left the lab and met with the transport. Imperial
defectors attacked as a third wave, but were destroyed. The
CTRNS and SHU made it to the factory.
Commentary: Heavy concussion bombs a.k.a. space bombs, have
targeting electronics bafflers.
Ship List: Silver Bull, SpecWar Fab, Rover, Aluma, and
group Samol.

(F) Historical Combat 7 Mission 3: Disabling Minefield
Summary: Pilots practiced dog-fighting and defensive
tactics while destroying a minefield.
An Imperial M/CRV group exited from hyperspace into a Rebel
minefield trap. The mines disabled the group. Imperial
fighter reinforcement arrived. Soon after, a CRL entered
and launched fighters to destroy the group. The group
escaped, and the Rebels were completely destroyed.
Commentary: Ion bolts move slower than laser bolts.
The title of this mission refers to a minefield that
disables. It does not refer to the pilot disabling the
minefield, because the pilot destroys the minefield and
does not disable it.
Ship List: Planka; groups: Dagger and Lacoda.

(F) Historical Combat 7 Mission 4: Missile Boat vs. TIE
Defender
Summary: Pilots practice fighting Defenders.
The Imperials attacked a traitor fighter storage and
fighter supplies yard. All traitor supplies, fighters, and
transports were completely destroyed. Partway through the
operation, pirate CRVs and fighters arrived. The pirates
were also completely destroyed.
Ship List: Holdon, Yllama; groups: Rover, Domm, Duce, Thor
(see also B1M3; not related), Thoret, and Xtram.
[E.E.: Holdon = Hold on; Yllama = llama]

You are viewing proxied material from gopher.endangeredsoft.org. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.