Hill I am willing to die on:

While Empire at War is a) better looking due to graphics and b) allowed for controlling ground combat, it is in every other way an inferior game to Star Wars: Rebellion.

Every.

Other.

Way.

Let's discuss the reasons why.

Let's start with some basics.

Take the map. In Star Wars: Rebellion, the Galaxy was composed of 20 sectors, each containing 10 worlds. These worlds were able to be colonized, conquered, or engaged diplomatically to join your faction. The map was loaded with WEG and EU planets.

Next up, the characters. Each faction had 20+ characters that you could recruit to help your cause. Not just the main movie characters either. A plethora of characters pulled from the Expanded Universe.

Not only that- save a few major characters, people could be killed.

Yes, you heard me. KILLED. Mon Mothma could be assassinated by Noghri assassins. General Veers could be killed defending Yaga Minor from a Rebel invasion. Wedge Antilles could die in a fleet battle over Duros.

People mattered. They didn't just respawn like in EaW.

Let's talk a bit about resource management. It wasn't a simple "gather credits" exercise. You had to maintain a balance of mining rigs and tibanna gas stations to keep your economy humming. A weak economy meant you could not afford the armies and navies you needed to win.

The many types of missions that characters could do was great. Each character had varying strengths and weaknesses for diplomacy, combat, espionage, and sabotage. How you used these character was KEY.

Not only that- you had to recruit them. It took time to get all them.

Characters also had restrictions. In military roles, you could assign certain characters to the following:

Admiral = fleet commander
Commander = starfighter commander
General = army commander

Not every character could do each role. This added nuance and made the game better.

The scale of the game was also huge for fleet combat. As the game progressed and the galaxy was split between the Empire and Rebellion, it was possible to have battles where hundreds of capital ships and equally as many squadrons fought it out.

It made the game feel epic.

You'd have your fleet divided into 7 distinct task forces. Normally grouped by class (ie, large capital ships in TF 1-3, medium ones in TF 4-6, transports and carriers in TF 7. You could deploy each task force with unique tactics and target different elements of the enemy fleet.

Fleet battles were not quick- they could be LONG slogs. If you didn't combine firepower on larger ships like SSDs, ISDs, etc, they could tear into your forces.

You had to be careful how you used your fighters too. They had different speeds. If deployed wrong, you lost ALOT.

The whole thing about ships is what made the game so great. You started with the basics for both the Empire and Rebellion. To get better ships, you had to assign characters to research.

By doing this, you'd speed up the time it took to unlock new ships.

As a Rebel player, you had to act fast. Recruit characters, evacuate Yavin Four, and scatter you forces to the Rim. You only had a handful of corvettes, fighters, transports, and carriers.

The Empire, with fleets across the Galaxy, focused on looking for Rebel worlds to take.

The game still had little nuances that gave it character. Luke would still go to Dagobah. If Han was captured, Luke and Leia would go find him.

plus- EPIC cut scenes. Just watch the fall of Coruscant to the Rebellion.

@admiraljello

Oh- I almost forgot! Once Luke confronts Vader, he becomes a Jedi Knight. He can then TRAIN OTHER JEDI. Randomly chosen.

So yeah, Force Sensitive Jan Dodonna was a thing. These Jedi characters were able to add ALOT to battles, diplomacy, etc.

The game had balance. You couldn't just build 50 Star Destroyers for a fleet and expect them to survive Rebel fighter attacks. You'd build Lancer frigates and other escorts.

Ship vs. ship, ship vs. fighter, and fighter vs. fighter was all about balance.

A balanced fleet would be mixed of all types. Some super ships like the SSD or Bulwark. A strong battle line of ISD's or MC80's or Dauntless cruisers. Escort ships and anti-fighter ships. Carriers and transports. All four fighter types.

Fighter squadrons in Rebellion were as follows:

TIE Fighter
TIE Interceptor
TIE Bomber
TIE Defender

X-wing
A-wing
Y-wing
B-wing

These squadrons were neat. Each 12 ship squadron was represented by a single icon. Each hit a squad took would whittle down the number to 0.

When capital ships fought, you had to first knock out their shields. Once these were down, hull hits would eventually remove weapons, engines, sensors, and hyperdrive.

This last part was HUGE.

Many a battle ended with crippled warships that couldn't jump away.

Ships repaired slowly, unless over a friendly planet with shipyards. I can't tell you how many times I'd anxiously wait for the red "X" on a capital ship to go away. It meant it could jump to hyperspace again.

As a Rebel player, this was CRITICAL during hit and fade strikes.

Anyways, I think I'll stop now. I just realized that I could probably do this for HOURS, but I gotta get back to work.

MTFBWY my friends!

One more... just because there is nothing more beautiful than seeing a Home One-type Star Cruiser beat an SSD.

@thomasLharper

Sweet Y-wing action too.