Awakening of the Rebellion is a game mod for the LucasArts & Petroglyph PC Real-Time Strategy Game Empire at War.
Following the destruction of the 1st Death Star and the death of Tarkin, many former Imperial systems fell out of sway with Emperor Palpatine and were now, either, under the control of the Rebel Alliance or the Black Sun. The Galactic Empire now has to deal with, both, a full scale Rebellion and also fighting off the corrupt and scheming nature of Prince Xizor's forces. Palpatine had felt an Awakening with the loss of the 1st Death Star. Soon, the rest of the galaxy would also feel it.
Created by the Steiner Modding Group, the mod was originally made in german before it received some english translation patches over different versions. Inactive for 5 years (Last version was made in 2009), AOTR was revived by user "ThatOneBullet" in 2014. The current version of the mod is "2.11.2: Jump To Hyperspace".
The mod takes place post A New Hope and spans from just after the Battle of Yavin in 0 BBY to the end of The Empire at the Battle of Jakku in 5 ABY. While it's based on and requires the Forces of Corruption expansion pack to play, the Zann Consortium has been removed and, instead, has been replaced by Prince Xizor's Black Sun faction. The mod also contains several other minor factions such as the Hutt Cartel, the Hapes Consortium and the Corporate Sector Authority.
The mod adds new content, gameplay changes, and graphical updates. It also adds a large number of new units and heroes for each faction while also adding new planets and a large number of new Galactic Conquest campaigns to use them in.
The MODDB, Steam Workshop and Wiki pages can be found here
, here and here
Please only list tropes that apply specifically to the mod or those that apply differently from the vanilla game here.
Awakening of the Rebellion contains examples of:
- All There in the Manual: While there's no manual in the mod directory, the devs have made the framework of a wiki explaining the stats of units, guides to help people get started, etc. Fans later added more detailed content after joining up with the AOTR wiki team.
- Artificial Brilliance: The AI has made a big step up from the vanilla Empire at War. The AI will now send stacks of ships and units when its appropriate. During the space battles, if there's a station they have to defend, they will hug the station tightly to keep it protected against attacks. On the ground, the AI will use its units effectively to wipe out your forces.
- Break Out the Museum Piece: The Black Sun faction likes to make use of Clone Wars related tech such as Battle droids, AATs and ships like the Recusant and Lucrehulk.
- Color-Coded Armies: The Galactic Empire is Green, the Rebellion is Red and the Black Sun are Yellow. For the minor factions, the Hutt Cartel are Avocado Green, the Hapes Consortium are Imperial Purple and the Corporate Sector Authority are Paled Turquoise. The local pirate forces (if you pick a GC that doesn't have Black Sun) are Orange.
- Macross Missile Massacre: Victory Star Destroyers are an example of long range missile and rocket capacity. They can easily penetrate shields for maximum damage.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: As the Galactic Conquest goes on, you soon unlock several new bits of technology for you to use. For example:
- As the Rebellion, if you capture a planet like Sullust, you can gain access to much needed carrier support like Quasars and Liberators.
- As the Empire, if you capture certain planets like Zhar or Hoth, you gain access to new heroes.
- As the Black Sun, if you have access to a planet that can build a Ship Refitter, you gain access to build Lucrehulk-class Battleships.
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Nintendo Hard: This mod is MUCH harder than the vanilla experience ever was. Several changes to gameplay can also make it frustrating to play at points. Minor heroes die for good if killed and Major heroes, instead of respawning a few minutes later, are instead captured and you have to complete a mission in order to regain them. Ion Cannons now disable certain ships abilities like "Power to Shields" so you can't rely on it. There's also a Hyperspace penalty for dropping units next to the enemy. They take significantly more damage until they fully exit hyperspace. This prevents players from using the vanilla `cheese strategy` of dropping a fleet in front of the AI so they die quicker. - Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: Each of the factions have different strengths and weaknesses. Unlike the vanilla game, having more numbers may not help you all that much in combat if the enemy has superior firepower.
- The Rebel Alliance, in the early and mid campaign, have to rely alot on hit-and-run strategies. If an enemy force is way more powerful than you, it might be wiser to run away and come back to retake that sector when they turn away. While they get better quality fighters like the X-Wing and B-Wing, they don't get carriers when the campaign starts so you have to rely on building them as single units until you can find a planet that can let you build Quasars and Liberators. Their Mon Calamari cruisers are, also, varied in their strengths. The MC 80 Freedom, for example, are more durable than a MC 80 Liberty but have far less firepower, relying more on Ion Cannons.
- The Galactic Empire relies on big ships with alot of firepower. The downside is that their starting forces, when the campaign begins, are very small so you'll have to make due with your meager forces until your shipyards come into full effect. Their starfighters have alot less quality than the Rebel Allaince. Tie Fighters will lose to an X-Wing in a one on one battle but they're to be used in swarms to overwhelm your enemy.
- The Black Sun are... varied. While their initial unit loadout is pretty bad, the tech they acquire later on can prove useful. They also start with units that the other two factions don't get (Unless it's a mission) like Heavy Corellian Corvettes and B2 Battledroids.
- Tech Tree: Slightly Subverted. While the regular tech tree from the base game has been removed, you and the AI instead build "Global Space Tech" which unlocks higher tier units which are normally greyed out. These "Global Space Tech", unlike the base game, spawn on the galactic map so if you or the enemy destroy one, it denies that tech from that faction until they find another place to build them again.
