Vanilla : Strategies for Showdown at Bespin

[Carnivore Jacques]

So I have this guy who lives near me, with whom I sometimes play a game or two of vanilla GC with him.

The two of us came to the conclusion a couple months ago that generally the ideal strategy for the Empire was to take some neutral and pirate planets, build mining facilities and upgrade tech as fast as possible while keeping some pirate planets between the Rebels and yourself. In so doing, the Empire has a military and technological advantage upon first contact, which can be maintained by religiously keeping Boba Fett on the planet nearest the rebels - from where they are to surely steal.

This strategy can be taken to the extreme in the multiplayer GC 'Showdown at Bespin'. For those of you who don't want to go through the trouble of starting up the game, the layout is as follows. You have two clusters of four planets which are connected by Bespin, which a large pirate fleet orbits. The cluster on either side is somewhat evenly matched, so in theory Bespin is the deciding factor.

However, if you apply the strategy I just mentioned and don't attack Bespin as the Empire, it leaves the Rebels without any tech upgrades. Since their population cap is the same as yours (quite low), their fleet is bound to be weaker and smaller than yours after defeating the pirates. In the time it takes to build a fleet large enough to take Bespin, the Empire can get to Tech 5 and march right over the whole place.

So, here is my question: is there a winning strategy for the Rebel player in Showdown at Bespin?

[GreyStar]

Just for the sake of finally figuring out an answer to this riddle.

Same way you beat the Executor and Death Star 2 combo of FOC. On Endor fill it up with Ion Cannons. Your pop should be dedicated to mother but X-Wings, Y-Wings, and Corellien Gunships. Keep all of your Space heroes there. And keep the land ones elsewhere. Now here's the important part. Your enemy will get tired of the match going on and take Bespin. When he does hopefully you will have created your final defense. He'll attack with the Death Star and everyone at once. He will successfully blow up Endor. But. If you can destroy his fleet, he'll have nothing left in terms of space forces. From here you'll have to take all four of his planet's airspace. You're only hope will be finding Palpatine and managing to kill him with your limited heroes.

I've never had the chance to try this.