[ICW] Playable Faction Profile: Corporate Sector Authority

[Corey]

We've shown off a little bit in terms of feature changes being made in 2.3, but it's time for us to take a look at the new playable faction being added to the mod, the Corporate Sector Authority


As always, if you prefer to see these news posts in video form with some (very early) footage of the CSA and their units in action, I've done a video version of the news post on Corey Loses:



Leader: Executive Officer (ExO)
Capital: Etti IV

Historical Overview

"CSA attorneys can find a loophole even when there isn't a loop." - Klin-Fa Gi

The Corporate Sector originally began as an administrative division at the end of the Tingel Arm within the Galactic Republic, 490 years before Yavin to mediate disputes between corporations and the galactic governing body. This allowed corporations to acquire large swaths of space which were allegedly devoid of sentient life, though this often proved to be untrue and caused many armed conflicts between the original inhabitants and the new corporations. During the Clone Wars, the Corporate Sector would largely support the Confederacy, however some companies remained at least nominally loyal to the Republic. This group formed the Galactic Corporate Policy League, which supported Palpatine in his bid for power within the Republic. Over its existence, the Corporate Sector seemed to gain some increasing level of self-determination, with some level of independence having been gained in fact if not in law by 27 BBY. Under the Empire, the CSA would buy up significant amount of Clone Wars surplus, including the entirety of the Corporate Alliance's remaining assets and other CIS equipment. It was also expanded to up to 30,000 systems under the Empire, and soon after the Declaration of the New Order by Palpatine, the Corporate Sector officially organized into the Corporate Sector Authority, which was granted a significant level of autonomy even under the Empire. Many citizens who tried to flee the Empire, hoping for a better life in the CSA would quickly find that the CSA could be equally draconian. After Palpatine's death, the CSA attempted to remain neutral and sell to both Imperial and New Republic clients, although many in the New Republic felt the CSA to be as bad as the Empire, or worse. Despite these attempts, the CSA found themselves under the thumb of Warlord Zsinj for the year before his death, and Grand Admiral Makati died fighting to keep the CSA territory under Imperial control.

The CSA in Thrawn's Revenge

"The Corporate Sector is completely by the book, and when they feel they are right, according to that book, there is no stopping them." -Reen Irana

While we've added several new playable factions over the years, all of these have been Imperial splinter groups since the first release with the New Republic and Empire of the Hand. The CSA is the first of a few upcoming factions which breaks that trend and offers the chance for us to work on not just a set of more unique rosters, but also opens us up for a few other new gameplay mechanics within these playable factions which we'll be going over as we continue with previews. With the CSA, this will generally mean some some different interactions with corporations and mechanics based upon their leadership. As a military-surplus based faction there is still quite a bit of overlap with the existing factions in their space roster, however on land an entirely new roster within the mod has been added using a mix of the Clone Wars surplus and the equipment of the Espos, a very well-armed police force within the CSA Security Division. The CSA will be playable in several existing galactic conquests, including all eras of the era progressive GCs, as well as being the focus of another more local galactic conquest, focusing on their conquest by Zsinj, as well as the events leading to Makati's death.

Thrawn's Revenge has always focused on making our own assets rather than using free released or otherwise collected assets, but many of the assets for the CSA are being developed in cooperation with Phoenix Rising, another EaW mod made by one of the Thrawn's Revenge developers, Evilbobthebob. If you want to check out the CSA in that mod, you can do so by clicking here.

Roster Overview

(Green denotes the unit is fully implemented ingame, yellow that it's nearly done)

Space Unit Roster
Lucrehulk | Invincible | Bulwark Mk III | Bulwark Mk I
Recusant | MTC | Gladiator | Neutron Star | Dreadnaught | Dauntless | Victory-I | Victory-II
Etti Light Cruiser | ILH-KK Citadel | Gozanti | Nebulon-B | Marauder
Authority IRD | Preybird | Authority IRD-A | #2 Warpod | Mankvim-814 | T-Wing | Skipray Blastboat

Ground Unit Roster
Espos | B1 Battledroid | Droideka
Espo Walker | K-222 | SX20 Airskimmer
X10 Groundcruiser | Strikebreaker | GX12 Hovervan
Persuader | JX40 Jailspeeder | Corporate Alliance Artillery