Video Game / Thrawn's Revenge

Thrawn’s Revenge is a game mod for the LucasArts & Petroglyph PC Real-Time Strategy Game Empire at War.

Following the destruction of the second Death Star and the deaths of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader at the Battle of Endor, the Galactic Empire has crumbled into warring splinter factions led by power-hungry warlords each seeking to carve their own fiefdoms out of the decaying Empire. Meanwhile, the Rebel Alliance has reorganized itself into the New Republic and now seeks to establish itself as the new legitimate galactic government and drive out the oppression of the Empire once and for all.

The mod takes place during the New Republic Era of the Star Wars Legends franchise (formerly known as the Star Wars Expanded Universe; the one that was canon before Disney took over the galaxy) and spans from two years after the Battle of Endor in 6 ABY to the signing of the Pellaeon-Gavrisom treaty and the (former) true end of the Galactic Civil War in 19 ABY. These thirteen years are divided into five eras based on the leaders of the Imperial Remnant and their campaigns against the New Republic.

Although the mod is based on and requires the Forces of Corruption expansion pack to play, all traces of the Zann Consortium and the corruption mechanic have been removed. In its place the mod adds several other new factions including Grand Moff Ardus Kaine’s Pentastar Alignment, Treuten Teradoc's Greater Maldrood, Sander Delvardus's Eriadu Authority, Zsinj's Empire, and Grand Admiral Thrawn’s Empire of the Hand.

The mod adds so much new content, gameplay changes, and graphical updates that it could almost be its own distinct game. The mod adds a large number of new units, heroes, and planets and a number of new Galactic Conquest campaigns to use them in. The vast selection of starships has also been balanced and scaled more closely to their canonical(?) sizes, armaments, and abilities.

The mod’s website can be found here.

On February 5th 2016, a sequel called Thrawn's Revenge II: Ascendancy was released. This time a mod for Sins of a Solar Empire's Rebellion Expansion. It can be downloaded here.

In December 2018, it was revealed a prequel known as Fall of the Republic: Thrawn's Revenge III (later renamed as Empire at War Expanded: Fall of the Republic, with Empire at War Expanded serving as the umbrella name for EAW mods from the Thrawn's Revenge team) is in development. It is a mod for Forces of Corruption, same as Thrawn's Revenge, and takes place during the Clone Wars. Several Dummied Out soundfiles of Anakin, Obi-Wan, Clone Troopers, and the ARC-170 (plus an empty General Grievous folder) can be found in the files for Version 2.3 of Thrawn's Revenge, likely early framework for Fall of the Republic. It was released in January 2020, and it included a host of features that will also appear in Thrawn's Revenge, such as allied states and fleet repair. Other mods announced are Revan's Revenge (covering the Old Republic era, starting with the Mandalorian Wars) and Imperial Reign (covering the Galactic Civil War before the Battle of Endor).

Please only list tropes that apply specifically to the mod or those that apply differently from the vanilla game here.

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Thrawn’s Revenge contains examples of:

• Adaptational Badass: In canon, Kosh Teradoc fell into a deep depression after the death of his brother Treuten and died a year after him when a bomb planted by Wraith Squadron killed him and destroyed his secret base on Ryvester. In Thrawn's Revenge, his Greater Maldrood is playable in Era 7, and though he starts with at most 2 planets, he can go on to conquer the galaxy.
• All There in the Manual: The mod’s documentation is extensive and thorough, and reveals certain things that are not mentioned at all in-game, such as the exact armaments of each starship, how much damage each weapon does, and which planets are designated mining colonies.
  • Subverted in recent versions where there is a dedicated effort to expose as much information as possible in the game itself. Unit tooltips now show most of their critical stats and the mission holocron has been repurposed into an in-game manual that explains hero traits, government mechanics, weapon base damage and modifiers ect.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: Heroes come and go as the eras advance. This is especially true for the Imperial Remnant, since in the multi-era campaigns they get a new leader when the previous one is killed. As of 3.3, this can apply to any faction that wins the Legitimacy minigame and earns Dark Empire, allowing you to progress from Palpatine to Pellaeon while keeping your original faction leaders.
• Artificial Stupidity: The Imperial Remnant loves sending it's hero units, especially Leaders, against the bulk of your forces. While this can mean trouble since three of them command Super Star Destroyers of one variety or another, if you've got the fleet, you can destroy the Leader and advance the Era, giving you more powerful ships for the next time an Imperial Leader comes knocking. It's not had at all to advance Eras as the New Republic very quickly, without making much (if any) effort to hunt down the Imperial Leaders (and possibly without even conquering many planets beyond your starting ones).
  • The AI in general uses its Heroes as its main attack forces. While this can shift over into Demonic Spiders for factions with lots of strong heroes, killing said heroes largely neuters that faction's offensive ability. Some factions, especially on lower difficulties, seemingly give up attacking completely once they lose certain key heroes. In the case of some factions that are very dependent on their heroes, like the Pentastar Alignment, it can utterly maim them.
    • The reason AI Pentastar tends to suffer this is because most of their heroes are spaceborne, which leads to the AI making a Hero-only fleet. It can be very powerful, given that their leader Ardus Kaine can acquire a Super Star Destroyer, but if they encounter something that can destroy that fleet, it will cripple their faction for the rest of the game.
• Beam Spam: In addition to units from the standard game, Dreadnought-class cruisers have "All Power to Weapons." Praetor-II-class Battlecruisers, Super Star Destroyers, and Bothan Assault Cruisers are this pretty much by default.
• Big Bad: Seven of them! Each era sees a new leader of the Imperial Remnant. They are:
  • Era 1: Grand Vizier Sate Pestage
  • Era 2: Director Ysanne Isard
  • Era 3: Grand Admiral Thrawn
  • Era 4: Reborn Emperor Palpatine
  • Era 5: Carnor Jax
  • Era 6: Admiral Natasi Daala
  • Era 7: Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon
  • In addition to the above there are also four major Imperial Warlords leading their own Imperial splinter factions and competing between themselves, the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic to become the true successor to the Galactic Empire.
    • Grand Moff Ardus Kaine, leader of the Pentastar Alignment
    • Warlord Zsinj, leader of Zsinj's Empire
    • High Admiral Treuten Teradoc and Admiral Kosh Teradoc, leaders of the Greater Maldrood
    • Superior General Sander Delvardus, leader of the Eriadu Authority
  • Of course any of these characters can become your Villain Protagonist if you play their faction.
• Big Good: The New Republic also has multiple options for its Chief of State. Mon Mothma is usually the initial Chief of State but the player can opt to put others such as Leia Organa, Ponc Gavrisom, Borsk Fey'lya or Navik the Red in charge, each with a different global bonus.
• Boring, but Practical: The Republic's Nebula-class Star Destroyers and Endurance-class carriers are both durable and powerful. While they have no special abilities and their head-to-head power will always be outclassed at an individual level, the late-era Republic's deep economy and two administrator player characters (Ponc Gavrisom and Leia Organa) means you can quickly deploy many of these ships and use them in concert to overwhelm individually more powerful ships. Their fighter compliment, with E-Wings, Defenders, and K-Wings, also ensured that they would utterly murder all other ships or fighters coming their way, baring overwhelming numbers.
• Break Out the Museum Piece: Several factions use Clone Wars era technology. The Pentastar Alignment uses Venator-class Star Destroyers. The Eriadu Authority uses Arquitens light cruisers. Zsinj's Empire uses All Terrain Attack Pods. The Corporate sector also uses rather outdated transport vessels that have been converted to warships, such as Lucrehulks and Bulwarks, as well as hailfire droids and Providence-class carrier/destroyers. Nearly every faction also makes liberal use of Dreadnaughts, modified or not, and anyone who conquers Muunilinst and then acquires enough influence can build the Munificent-class frigate.
• Color-Coded Armies: Of the Color Coded Mooks and Indicator kind. For the major factions, the New Republic is orange, the Imperial Remnant is green, the Empire of the Hand is ice blue, the Pentastar Alignment is navy blue, Zsinj is tan brown, Greater Maldrood is red, the Corporate Sector Authority is light purple and the Eriadu Authority is white. For the minor factions, Hapes is deep purple, the Duskhan League is lime green, and independent forces (ranging from the Hutts to minor warlords) are also lime green.
• Cloning Gambit: Grand Admiral Thrawn dies at the end of Era 3, but prior to his death he prepared a clone of himself to be revealed ten years after his death is reported. Come 17 ABY, the Empire of the Hand can investigate rumors of Thrawn's return. If it does, the aptly-named Thrawn Clone appears in the service of the Empire of the Hand and grants the same combat bonuses as the original Thrawn. It should be noted that the clone is fully aware that he is not the original Thrawn.
  • The Reborn Emperor Palpatine is also the result of this, though unlike the Thrawn Clone, it is the original Palpatine's soul transplanted into a clone body.
• Defeat Means Playable: If you are playing as the New Republic in a multi-era campaign, then to advance to Era 3 you must kill Director Ysanne Isard by destroying her Executor-class Star Dreadnought, the Lusankya. Then when you get to Era 4 you are given General Wedge Antillies and his ship, which happens to be the very same Lusankya you defeated back in Era 2, now sporting the New Republic emblem on its sides!
  • In newer versions, capturing certain planets and maxing out influence on those planets allows you to build normally exclusive ships. For instance, you can build Battle Dragons at a loyal Hapes or Keldabes at Mandalore. This is intended to be expanded as the mod develops, but due to balance issues and it being considered an overused ship, it's unlikely the New Republic will be able to build ISDs.
  • 3.2 Version and Imperial Legitimacy brings three additional examples to the table: an Imperial Player (Imperial Remnant or Warlord Faction) integrating the Imperial Remnant with this mechanic will unlock the recruitment of Stormtroopers. Integrating the Greater Maldrood will likewise allow the recruitment of Victory II Crimson Command Star Destroyers. And besides these is the Integration Mechanic in general: Once an Imperial faction has three planets or less, no leader alive, no Super Star Destroyer alive, this faction will cease to exist and its surviving units and heroes will join whatever Imperial faction holds the highest Legitimacy score at the moment of their defeat. With some luck and planning, it can mean scoring both heroes and unique types of ships to bolster the player's forces (no other troops of these factions will be recruitable in the future though, besides the two Integration rewards already mentioned).
• Discard and Draw: The unit rosters for the New Republic and Imperial Remnant change significantly as the eras progress. For the New Republic this generally results in older ships being retired in favor of newer dedicated wartime designs, representing their evolution from a ragtag band of rebels into a true modern government and military. The Empire meanwhile peaks in the Palpatine Era and then afterward is steadily relegated to less strictly Imperial designs to represent their waning resources.
  • Elevating Sian Tevv to Chief of State of the New Republic allows production of Bulwark Mk.III Battlecruisers but also disables production of the MC 80 Home One Type.
  • Several research options for the New Republic unlock new ships but also retire other ships. In particular researching the New Class Modernization Program and the Mediator each result in multiple previous designs being retired.
• Enemy Civil War: Defeating Palpatine during the Emperor Reborn scenario immediately causes the Warlord factions to take over several Imperial worlds and spawn high tier capital ships, all hostile to the Empire, the New Republic, and each other.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: As mentioned above in Defeat Means Playable you destroy the Lusankya only for it to come back in a later era. The Chimaera is handled the same way in that its destruction marks the end of Era 3 but it appears again in Era 7. Though to be fair, although the ships return, their old commanders do not, so one could reason that the commander was killed but the ship was rebuilt or repaired. The opposite happens with Admiral Ackbar; if Home One is destroyed it is gone for good, but Ackbar himself survives and can return in a later era in command of the Galactic Voyager.
  • In canon, none of these ships were destroyed during the time period of Thrawn's Revenge. But both Isard and Thrawn did die aboard the Lusankya and Chimaera, respectively.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: Grand Admiral Thrawn in the multi-era campaigns. He starts out as the leader of the Empire of the Hand in Era 1, but following the death of Ysanne Isard he leaves the Hand and becomes the leader of the Imperial Remnant for Era 3. Whether he is killed or not after that, by 17 ABY his clone appears and Thrawn once again serves the Empire of the Hand.
• I Fight for the Strongest Side!: The Legitimacy system for Imperial factions works this way. While playing as the Empire or an Imperial warlord faction, if you reduce another Imperial faction to 3 planets or less, eliminate all their leaders or heroes with the Warlord trait, and all of their Super Star Destroyers, that faction will join the Imperial faction with the highest Legitimacy score at the end of the next in-game week, bringing all of their remaining heroes and units with them. Conquering planets raises your Legitimacy score and gives you a chance to recruit other Imperial heroes, such as Nigel Nivers, Tol Getelles, or Lumiya.
• Killed Off for Real: In the original games, if a Hero is defeated in battle, they're unusable for a period of time. In Thrawn's Revenge, if a hero is defeated in battle, it's this.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Empire of the Hand Rohkea-class gunships, which mount a terrifying array of proton torpedo launchers. One can take out an Imperial Star Destroyer all by itself easily, especially on higher difficulties, if it can survive the Star Destroyer's guns.
• Mechanical Evolution: Just as in the source material, World Devastators grow larger the more ships they destroy. Your first World Devastator, Silencer-7 under Titus Klev, begins in the Destroyer phase. After killing enough ships and stations (or just being there to collect the debris; it doesn't have to personally make the kill), it grows into the Battlecruiser phase and spawns a new World Devastator in the Frigate phase. When that Frigate destroys enough ships, it grows into the Destroyer phase, which later grows into the Battlecruiser phase and spawns a Frigate, which grows into a Destroyer, etc.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: As the campaigns and eras progress, some space commanders will get new flagships or upgrade their existing ones.
  • As of version 3.1 many commanders especially in the New Republic gain new command ship options as the game progresses and in some cases can freely switch between them. For example in pre-3.1 versions Ackbar automatically upgraded to the MC 90 Galactic Voyager upon reaching the Palpatine Era, whereas now the change is optional and reversible.
  • Special mention goes to Garm Bel Iblis in version 3.1 who has a whopping FOUR different command ships. He initially arrives during the Thrawn Era in command of a Katana Dreadnaught, but upon reaching the Palpatine Era he can upgrade to a Victory Star Destroyer. In later eras and with some research he can upgrade again to a Mon Mothma-class Star Destroyer or a Mediator.
  • In the Pellaeon Era Booster Terrik can upgrade his Errant Venture into a fully functional Imperial-class Star Destroyer, adding in its missing weapons and even giving it a custom red paint job!
  • During the Reunification campaign as the Imperial Remnant, conquering Odik II will cause Admiral Natasi Daala to exchange her Imperial-class Star Destroyer, the Gorgon, for the Knight Hammer, an Executor-class Star Dreadnought.
• Nerf: Version 2.3 removed several factions' initial Super Star Destroyers from Era 1 galactic conquests, with only Zsinj starting with a free Executor. The other "canon" SS Ds now have special requirements before they appear.
  • This same version also rebalanced all of the space units and in particular the population cap. Ships like the Executor-class now take up well over half the available population cap making it impossible to have more than one on the field at any given time, something that made the Pentastar Alignment in particular extremely powerful in the early game with their formerly two starting SS Ds.
  • Version 3.0 introduced government mechanics and in particular the ability to elevate Borsk Fey'lya to Chief of State of the New Republic which revealed full intel on all planets bordering New Republic territory for as long as Fey'lya was in office. This was deemed too powerful to come without a cost and so as of 3.1 having Fey'lya as Chief of State also removes Admiral Ackbar from your command roster, depriving you of one of your best space commanders. This doubles as Gameplay and Story Integration as Fey'lya and Ackbar were bitter rivals and Fey'lya did once try to have Ackbar removed from command on bogus charges of treason.
  • As of 3.3, no faction starts with a free SSD, not even Zsinj, but can be upgraded to them as circumstances allow. In addition, if an Imperial faction absorbs the Eriadu Authority or the Pentastar Alignment before they can build the Night Hammer or the Reaper, respectively, and then go on to become the Dark Empire, they can upgrade Admiral Daala to the Knight Hammer or Admiral Pellaeon to the Reaper, provided they are the post-DE faction leader.
• Nintendo Hard: Several of the gameplay changes have made the game more difficult. Your shipyards are now virtually defenseless on their own and require dedicated protection. In space, warheads no longer bypass shields (there is a submod on the Steam Workshop that restores this ability, though). Infantry units are more fragile than ever, though their weapon variety has increased dramatically. Minor Heroes are gone. Major Heroes die permanently. Expand too rapidly, and you will outpace your available infrastructure, inflicting debuffs on unit costs and build times.
• Returning Big Bad: After an Imperial faction absorbs the Imperial Remnant or else two other Warlord factions and has 60% legitimacy, Emperor Palpatine will choose that faction to become the Dark Empire. Palpatine becomes the leader of that faction in addition to its existing leaders (ex. if Zsinj's Empire becomes the Dark Empire, Palpatine and Zsinj will both be considered leaders).

• Spared by the Adaptation: Jerec, who was defeated by Kyle Katarn in Jedi Knight in 5 ABY, is alive and well as one of the heroes for the Pentastar Alignment if starting in Era 1.
• Springtime for Hitler: Prior to 2.2, when playing as the Imperial Remnant in a multi-era campaign, you have to get your own leader killed in order to advance to the next era. Of the four leaders you will need to sacrifice, three of them command some variety of Super Star Destroyer. These ships have such an insane amount of hitpoints, weapons, and starfighter complement that they can destroy entire enemy fleets all by themselves, so getting one to commit suicide may in fact be harder to do than destroying an enemy one, especially when playing against the AI.
  • Averted in the current versions, where it's now possible to manually advance the era as the Imperial Remnant.
• Starter Villain: The Eriadu Authority for the New Republic. Its territory bisects the Republic's at the start of the campaign and surrounds Sullust. Eliminating them is even advised by the mod itself before trying to build up for a campaign against Zsinj or the Empire proper. Once you do, the Republic's starting territory is mostly unified, its economy can grow, and ships can be built further from the frontline in protected shipyards.
• Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: Each faction has its own strengths and weaknesses, and fighting them usually requires at least slight changes in strategy (or enough forces that it doesn't matter.) In space:
  • The Empire/Imperial Remnant is somewhat top-heavy, having access to ISD-Is, ISD-I Is, Tectors, and Allegiance battlecruisers, and their fighters are weak compared to the New Republic's, but don't have any glaring deficiencies in their roster and can mimic the playstyle of any of the warlords fairly well.
  • The New Republic puts more emphasis on massive waves of starfighter attacks, and their fighters are the best in the mod, but their capital ships are slow and mostly meant to draw fire from Imperial equivalents until later eras. Certain heads of state can replace Mon Calamari designs with an equivalent (ex. Sian Tevv can replace MC 80 Liberty cruisers and Home One types with Bulwark I and Bulwark III cruisers, respectively).
  • The Pentastar Alignment is geared towards swarming their opponents with fighters, having access to the Venator and Secutor-class Star Destroyers, the Praetor-II carrier subtype, and the Mandator-III Star Dreadnought. This fighter support is essential, however, as their ships are not as good in a slugging match as the Empire.
  • The Eriadu Authority is even more top-heavy than the Empire proper, having access to the Torpedo Sphere, the Praetor-II Battlecruiser, and the Bellator and Assertor-class Star Dreadnoughts, but their smaller capital ships, carriers, and anti-fighter defenses are lacking, and although they can research shields for their TIE fighters, these shields are not very strong.
  • The Greater Maldrood focuses mainly on frigates and smaller capital ships, but the Altor Replenishment Ship is the biggest and strongest fleet tender in the game and can heal multiple ships, allowing you to keep swarms of frigates alive, but they have few large capital ships, being limited to the ISD-I and Tector Star Destroyers and the Bellator Star Dreadnought.
  • Zsinj's Empire is similar to the Imperial Remnant in being somewhat top-heavy and otherwise generalist, but in a less straightforward way. Establishing pirate bases will allow you to build ships that can mitigate the weaknesses in Zsinj's "legitimate" roster.
  • The Hapes Consortium resembles the Greater Maldrood in their focus on corvettes and frigates, and they can flood the field with above-average fighters, similar to the Empire of the Hand. However, they have no capital ships larger than a Victory-class Star Destroyer.
  • The Corporate Sector Authority resembles the Pentastar Alignment in their ability to swarm enemies with low-quality fighters. They can also purchase ships from outside their roster via the Ship Market.
  • The Empire of the Hand leans toward being glass cannons; their ships are more fragile than the nearest Imperial equivalent, but every one of their ships except for the Intego battlecruiser can jump to hyperspace, allowing you to carry out hit-and-run attacks and minimize your losses. Their fighters are second only to the New Republic's.
• Tech Tree: Subverted. The vanilla game’s system of getting better units by advancing your tech level is gone. Unit and hero availability is now based by year or by era, the latter of which can be advanced by killing the current leader of the Imperial Remnant (or by research if you are playing as the Imperial Remnant). Every era offers each faction a complete spread of soldiers, vehicles, and ship classes with which to fight their enemies. Some units and heroes will in fact be lost between certain eras, though they are generally replaced by more modern designs appropriate to the new era, such as the MC80 Liberty-type Star Cruiser being phased out and replaced by the more modern and powerful MC90 Star Cruiser in era 4. Also, historical and regional campaigns are locked into a specific era, meaning whatever is available to you during that era is all you get.
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Enabling the Cruel AI function puts this trope into full effect, giving the AI virtually unlimited credits and cutting down their build times drastically.
• Took a Level in Badass: The New Republic, which goes from fielding a motley, significantly weaker, post-Endor Rebel fleet, with the most un-unified territory at the beginning of the game to having their own brand of Star Destroyers that can get into slugging matches with the best the Empire has to offer and come out on top.
• Vestigial Empire: The aptly-named Imperial Remnant is what remains of the proper Galactic Empire following the Battle of Endor.
• Wave-Motion Gun: The Superlasers of the Eclipse-class Dreadnought (which is now a true ship, compared to its incomplete version in Forces of Corruption) and the Sovereign-class Dreadnoughts. They can instantly destroy any sufficiently large ship, but unlike the Death Stars they cannot destroy whole planets. Speaking of the Death Stars, they are not available in Thrawn's Revenge, nor are Galaxy Guns.
• Zerg Rush: A surprisingly quick and effective way to take out enemy turbolaser towers is to rush in and swarm it with several squads of basic infantry. Also the best way of destroying the various Super Star Destroyers that attack in game (albeit with fighters and making sure there's at least one allied capital ship on the map).
  • Some planets, such as Wayland, Byss, and Khomm, can house cloning facilities allowing you to produce infantry at half price; some players just throw mass produced infantry at planet and autoresolve until they get it.

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