So I just picked this up and did up a 1v1 beginner-advanced hybrid (beginner setup but including action cards and all planets). I played as Rebels, and the quick recap is as follows:

- I was (as expected) horribly outnumbered and outgunned, and made a few desperate attacks with some successes and some losses

- Managed to draw Mon Mothma's action to put Mon Calamari's production into my queue immediately

- The Imp's extra probe droids action kept working and costing me an extra 2 probe droids per round

- I was able to orchestrate some surprise attacks that worked well, including using the Mon Cal cruiser I lucked out on to take out a small fleet with Wedge's "Focus on the Star Destroyers" card, Kashyyk uprising, and Lead the Assault

- By the time I had developed any momentum the Imp had deduced guesses down to three possibilities

- Unexpectedly he rolled into my base right after I had emptied half of it to take Mon Cal

- I lost on round 6-ish

Had a blast playing! I have been thinking about strategy for the next play, and wondering if anyone has any general strategy tips for the Rebs.

My main challenge is around balancing between base defence and map control. My difficulties arose from getting stifled with subjugation, then not having enough units to mount any sort of counterattack. That said, this was happening when I was focusing on map control (just losing). I pulled off a fair number of loyalty gains but almost all of them got immediately subjugated because I couldn't muster forces to defend them. Then I just declined and went out with a whimper, pulling literally 2 military victories.

Thanks!

Playing the rebels can be difficult because it seems so overwhelming.

You have 2 goals basically. Complete objectives, and delay the Empire.

Completing objectives is important as that reduces the length of the game making it easier for you to win. Making small sacrifices to complete this, or using an extra action or two to get an objective point is well worth it. By turn 5, the Empire will have 8 actions per round. So spending 2 or 3 to complete an objective reduces the length of the game by 1 turn and denies them 8 actions.

Cards that allow you to filter the objectives (draw one place one at bottom), or draw more objectives are VERY important. Later objectives are worth more points, or simply easier to complete. They also open up more opportunities and create new threats to the Empire.

Delaying the Empire is done by making the Empire spend more actions than you did by making them react to situations that are a threat.

Sabotaging a subjugated system takes 2 actions for the Empire to clear. If he chooses not to spend those actions, you've reduced his production ability and made it harder for him to deploy to that system also.

When choosing targets for the rebel's various secret attacks (rebellions, uprisings, secret fleets, etc), pick target that will require at least 2 actions to respond to. They won't want you having the ability to deploy and launch attacks at other important Imp systems, so they will turn a large offensive fleet back to squash your uprising...but this takes actions, and delays them from searching for you. The only time I'd do these types of actions closer to defenses is when I'm using them to complete objectives.

Additional points to consider.

NEVER have more than 7 units in your base. The Imps can rush through a probe deck pretty effectively by turn 8 or 9, even sooner with a little luck. Shortening that time by giving them an extra card a turn is bad.

Rapid Mobilization is useful, but beware the timing. If it looks like the Imps are coming for you and are going to land on your doorstep, don't wait until they are knocking before you move...it might be too late. And don't forget that if you use it, and don't like your choices, or find out the Imps weren't moving on your base, you can just burry the cards and not move this round.

The Imps don't have much difficulty putting together large fleets of Star Destroyers and TIEs. They also don't need to leave naval garrisons all over the place. However, due to the subjugation rules, they do need to leave ground units. And there is a dilemma here that you can exploit. If you focus on sabotaging subjugated systems with ground units (especially subjugated systems that provide stormtroopers), you can really hinder their ability to both defend systems and assault/subjugate new systems. If you can force them to leave AT-STs behind for defense, that's a win. In addition, if you can get them into a situation where they can only leave 1 or 2 stormtroopers to defend each system, that just makes it easier for your sneak attacks to be successful.

Also, know your objectives, and where they fall in the deck. Work on more than one at a time, even if you don't have that objective (you may draw it just in time to turn it in). If they are focusing on stopping your sabotages to prevent that objective, and spending time trying to change loyalty in a system you almost have full loyalty in...they may miss you flying a couple X-wings to subjugated worlds without space defense. Now you can complete an objective anyways, and you shut down their production/deployment to those worlds. If you keep them guessing and wasting turns chasing your shadow, you can slip other things past them without them noticing.

One tactic that I enjoyed using as the rebel was playing missions in systems with imperial fleets I didn't want to move. I could usually trick my opponent into countering the mission (he had more leaders than I did) thereby locking his fleet for the rest of the turn.

... Lots of good stuff that is 100% on the nose....

I agree with a lot of the above. In a lot of ways, delaying the Empire is the same thing as completing your objectives, one sets the Empire back a turn, the other knocks a turn off the game.

One thing I want to add on delaying the empire:. If you can launch preemptive attacks on the Imperial fleets, they are forced to add a leader which will prevent them from moving, costing them a turn or not which will increase their casualties, which may buy you an objective success. It can be a bad choice either way for the Empire. Small rebel fleets with a fistful of objective cards can inflict massive casualties on a larger Imperial fleet without a starting hand of tactic cards.

I cannot agree stronger with the need to burn through your stage 1 objectives as quick as possible so you can draw the stage 2 and 3 ones. After that I tend not to play the base objective scouting card anymore, as I want all of those objectives. I am a little hesitant to do it 1st turn for risk of capture, but I should get over that. Being predictable in this area is not such a good thing.

The hardest skill I am still balancing is performing missions near your base to stymie the Empire versus performing missions away from your base to stymie the Empire and make them think there may be a rebel base in that region. I feel that I am broadcasting my location a little to loudly.

See I'm having the opposite problem I'm struggling to find good options playing as the Imperials I found play the rebels easier like they have the advantage

I think another thing to consider: If your opponent is focusing on one thing over another, consider how to counter it. Every strategy has a counter in this game.

If the Imperials are focused on probe droids, use hidden fleet to get some of your units out of the base to limit him to 1 extra probe. Or if the situation is hopeless, start stacking ion cannons and shield generators on your base.

If the Imperials are focused on setting up outposts, go on the offensive. Attack weaker garrisons. Sabotage systems that give them stormtroopers.

If the Imperials are focused on R&D, cycle your objectives as quickly as possible. Don't get caught with your pants down and no death star plans. And take One in a Million, if you get the opportunity.

And if the Imperials favor spec ops, remind them it's not wise to upset a Wookiee.

But despite what I said, one of the most important things is to not always be in the position of reacting. Throw some curves his way. The player whose every action is a response to their opponent's initiative is likely to lose.

See I'm having the opposite problem I'm struggling to find good options playing as the Imperials I found play the rebels easier like they have the advantage

I don't think they have an advantage (I believe it's pretty balanced), but I do believe that an aggressive Rebel strategy can be a big pain in the butt for the Imps. The Imps seem like they can be the aggressors, and in some ways are, but if the Rebels are aggressive, the Imps are left playing a very reactive campaign.

And yes, I totally forgot about the pre-emptive strikes! Thank you two for pointing those out. That is a great strategy.

If they don't play a leader, you can hit them hard with the card advantage. Do some damage and decide if you need/want to retreat, or if your leader advantage is strong enough to do more damage.

If they defend, they are locked in place and you can withdraw to safety after the first exchange.

Excellent strategy!

The Rebels should be all about getting those objectives competed! You don't need to win battles. You only need to destroy certain things. If you have a destroy a Star Destroyer Objective, then attack a Star Destroyer. Run after you've done enough damage to take it down and claim you point!

The other half of your strategy should be to slow the Empire down. Sabotage and steel weakly (or unguarded) systems. Doing this in unison of Build phases or objectives is even better!

When strategy I was thinking about with sabotage it's not to sabotage where they are but where they're going to be because by default the Empire has to land troops on planet 90% of the time to find the rebel base and if you sabotage ahead of time that can screw you in early Victory point

I've played 3 games so far and I share OP's sentiments about playing as the Rebels. I will admit that I was initially unused to the Rebel's unorthodox methods and felt overwhelmed by the Imperial forces. First game I wasn't fully playing to the Rebel's strengths, second game was abit better but we couldn't finish the game but after my last game I'm starting to feel like Rebels are somewhat underpowered and lacking the tools to counter an aggressive Imperial strategy.

Basically what happened that game was my opponent drew a series of missions in the first 2 turns of the game that allowed him to turn multiple neutral systems to Imp loyal, dramatically boosting his production capacity. I tried my best to build alliances and sabotaging subjugated systems but by turn 3 the majority of populous systems were Imp loyal and he had massive forces both ground and space and was outpacing me on almost all fronts. Sabotaging didn't really work cuz he had so many loyal systems and he was playing R&D every turn. I wasn't getting the cards I needed to counter him, uprisings were squashed the turn they spawned and I was eventually choked out of resources. In the end there was no where I could run.

In all 3 games I played against 1st time players and they pretty much had a breeze as Imperials, were as to win as Rebels required far more experience and knowledge of the game, not to mention if the Imps have a good starting hand you'll be fighting an uphill battle from the get go. I feel that the tools the Rebels currently have need to be more readily available or slightly buffed to counter whatever shenanigans the Imps pull against them.

I'm sure some of you more experienced players would disagree with me and I'll gladly accept whatever further advise you can give but as of now I feel this game favors the Imperials too much.

I've played 3 games so far and I share OP's sentiments about playing as the Rebels. I will admit that I was initially unused to the Rebel's unorthodox methods and felt overwhelmed by the Imperial forces. First game I wasn't fully playing to the Rebel's strengths, second game was abit better but we couldn't finish the game but after my last game I'm starting to feel like Rebels are somewhat underpowered and lacking the tools to counter an aggressive Imperial strategy.

And that's exactly how it should be. The Rebels do not have the military advantage. Their little plastic pieces will not win in a "fair fight". That's why the Rebels never fight "fairly". Use those mission cards to complete objectives! Don't stand toe to toe. Run, hide, hit and run. Need to kill a Star Destroyer to gain a point? Play a mission to sneak attack, concentrate fire (those Y-wings are nasty!) and retreat as if you were French after blowing it up! Has the Empire just subjugated a system and only left a storm trooper or two on it? Cause a rebellion, kill 3 health worth of Imperial units and gain another point!

The Empire will win if you play their game. The Rebels should sabotage, cause minor annoyances, and complete those objectives.

I've played 3 games so far and I share OP's sentiments about playing as the Rebels. I will admit that I was initially unused to the Rebel's unorthodox methods and felt overwhelmed by the Imperial forces. First game I wasn't fully playing to the Rebel's strengths, second game was abit better but we couldn't finish the game but after my last game I'm starting to feel like Rebels are somewhat underpowered and lacking the tools to counter an aggressive Imperial strategy.

Basically what happened that game was my opponent drew a series of missions in the first 2 turns of the game that allowed him to turn multiple neutral systems to Imp loyal, dramatically boosting his production capacity. I tried my best to build alliances and sabotaging subjugated systems but by turn 3 the majority of populous systems were Imp loyal and he had massive forces both ground and space and was outpacing me on almost all fronts. Sabotaging didn't really work cuz he had so many loyal systems and he was playing R&D every turn. I wasn't getting the cards I needed to counter him, uprisings were squashed the turn they spawned and I was eventually choked out of resources. In the end there was no where I could run.

In all 3 games I played against 1st time players and they pretty much had a breeze as Imperials, were as to win as Rebels required far more experience and knowledge of the game, not to mention if the Imps have a good starting hand you'll be fighting an uphill battle from the get go. I feel that the tools the Rebels currently have need to be more readily available or slightly buffed to counter whatever shenanigans the Imps pull against them.

I'm sure some of you more experienced players would disagree with me and I'll gladly accept whatever further advise you can give but as of now I feel this game favors the Imperials too much.

As I stated above, the Rebels need to control the board. Not militarily, but by actions. If you let the Imps take the initiative, and you try to react to them, you WILL lose.

Rebels win through action denial. And sacrificing units for objectives or to deny actions is a fair trade.

In my first experience I had a somewhat counter-intuitive success with the rebels. The imperial player was loading up in missions in the early turns, especially the probe droid missions instead of building his forces. He did this so much that I had several free leaders to run around and either conquer planets militarily or woo them to my side diplomatically. What was left of his fleet struggled to counter, even if it did outmatch me in a straight fight. When he did deduce the base and rumbled up to it, he didn't have the forces to take it. I then cut off his ability to resupply the fleet that was garrisoning my base and sabotage any production centers he had nearby. When he finally got the Death Star over to me, I mobilized the base to the far end of the map. By then it was too late for him and I won by turn 7.

My takeaways are that if the Imperial player spends too much time on his missions or countering yours, you have enough meager forces to land grab quickly and further stop his ability to react to your base when he does finds it. His mistake was not to utilize his death star sooner (but he couldn't have known I never drew Death Star plans to threaten it).

I'm afraid you guys have to be more specific. I understand the principle of how Rebels should fight but it seems alot harder to put to practice. What do you do specifically on the first few turns? What missions do you focus on? What do you do when the Imperials are turning systems loyal to them faster than you can to yours or when they play a perfect storm of cards? How do you regain the initiative once you've lost it?

Its seems that there's far more nuances to grasp as Rebels whereas the Imps are pretty straight forward. Thematically this makes sense and I do like that its like that but I just feel that playing as Rebels is alot harder than it should be.

It's actually a bit of the opposite. The imperials have more things they need to be doing then they have leaders and time to do it. Part of the rebels play is exploiting what the imperials have neglected. So strategy is situational. It also seems to take the imperials longer to change tactics. So if you can force them to adjust their strategy (like blowing up ships under construction and sabotaging planets if they are busy fleet-building) you are buying yourself precious time.

That being said, grinding through the deck to get to the Death Star Plans is critical. As the Death Star is impervious before that. I haven't really played enough to develop any hard and fast rules for the rebel player beyond that.

In my first experience I had a somewhat counter-intuitive success with the rebels. The imperial player was loading up in missions in the early turns, especially the probe droid missions instead of building his forces. He did this so much that I had several free leaders to run around and either conquer planets militarily or woo them to my side diplomatically. What was left of his fleet struggled to counter, even if it did outmatch me in a straight fight. When he did deduce the base and rumbled up to it, he didn't have the forces to take it. I then cut off his ability to resupply the fleet that was garrisoning my base and sabotage any production centers he had nearby. When he finally got the Death Star over to me, I mobilized the base to the far end of the map. By then it was too late for him and I won by turn 7.

My takeaways are that if the Imperial player spends too much time on his missions or countering yours, you have enough meager forces to land grab quickly and further stop his ability to react to your base when he does finds it. His mistake was not to utilize his death star sooner (but he couldn't have known I never drew Death Star plans to threaten it).

My most recent game went almost completely opposite. It also sounds like my opponent was alot smarter than yours even though it was only his first game. He did not hesitate to use his Death Star to bulldoze through my forces and he played 2 cards that turned 3 neutral systems loyal on turn 1 and subsequently played cards like "display of power" and/or trade negotiations almost every turn. Of course I didn't have the leaders to counter this strategy so early in the game as I was trying to build alliances of my own. By the end of turn 1 he had 3 ISDs on the build queue and a bunch ties and ground forces ready to deploy and because he had gained those systems on the first turn he had plenty of room to deploy them all.

Initially sending Chewbacca to sabotage was great and seemed to work the first few turns but in the end he ended up with so many loyal systems that a few sabotage markers didn't matter to him. I was choked off of resources so bad that I couldn't even mount a small raid to score an objective.

There are perfect storms of cards that are hard to beat. If the Imps pull Turn first round, and capture and turn Leia first turn. Then pull carbonite 2nd round and capture/carbonite someone 2nd round, then pull off a third capture in the third round...well, it's cutting out 3 leaders super early in the game. The rebel leader never pulled a way to free the leaders that game.

The Imps getting multiple loyalty cards early would be pretty devastating also. It would ramp up their control and production very fast.

The same goes for the rebels however. Pull a couple incite rebellion cards early enough and you would cause some serious pain.

The Rebels should play 3 cards every turn for the first couple turns.

Sabotage. Hitting key systems during build phase is ok as it can stop something like an AT-AT or SD from being built. Subjugated systems are always great as it takes 2 actions to remove.

Build Alliance. Always a big one. Turn systems to your side and use their production, or gain objective points. Keep in mind that a subjugated rebel system is still loyal to the rebellion. So you can use this against a subjugated neutral system to complete an objective for instance. Also, if they leave a Imp loyal system with good resources without defenses, you could turn it neutral. If there are defenses, you could turn it to a subjugated neutral and gut their production there.

Infiltration should be used at least every turn till you get into the tier 2 objectives. Those objectives are better as they are worth more, easier to complete, and contain the death star plans. You blunt the DS ability with the threat alone.

Other missions are as needed based on what you have and need to do.

I played my first game as the Rebellion yesterday. (Please don't let word of that spread too far. I have a reputation to uphold among the X-Wing and Armada crowd.) It amazed me how flexible it is, in terms of moving troops (with Hidden Fleet) and the base (Rapid Mobilization), and how much I could react to the Empire's chosen strategy.

That gets me to the other point, from my experience as playing the Empire. (I've got four games under my belt, so take it for what it's worth.) The Empire has a number of different strategies that it can choose from:

1. It can run around widely with its fleets and troops, investigating all the systems it can for the Rebel base, and leaving garrison troops to deny it as a Rebel base later. This strategy has the drawback of covering systems that can later be used by the Rebels after a Rapid Mobilization, but it does press the Rebellion into reacting.
2. It can also engage in a gathering-intel strategy, in which it maximizes its ability to gather probe droid cards, and thus essentially playing a game of poker Sabacc with the Rebels. Of course, the more leaders you devote to this, the less mobile your forces become.
3. Another option is to try to counter the Rebels' mission attempts. A drawback here is that it gives the Rebellion the initiative, which the empire probably shouldn't cede to the Rebellion so easily.
4. One could also think of a building strategy, in which the Empire tries to spread loyalty and uncover systems that way, while also building more military capabilities, but I seriously think that's a trap, because it might take too much time.
5. Finally, it can just use its superior military might to try to conquer the Rebels' overt positions, rather than worrying too much about where the Rebel base is, until there is more information to make decisions with.

Obviously, blends of those are possible, but I do think there's a danger in trying to spread yourself too thin between these strategies. Also, some will be easier to adopt than others, depending on the Empire's starting systems.

The strategic Rebel thinker should closely watch what the Imperial player is doing, and exploit the drawback of each of these strategies.

...and retreat as if you were French after blowing it up!

Dude, I agree with all that you're saying, but this quoted part is unnecessary and historically mistaken. If you wanted to do a historical parallel, you might look at the American Revolution, in which it was the Americans who engaged in the tactics you suggest, until the French showed up with a proper military. Also, there's a perpetuation of a vile stereotype that's just uncalled for.

...and retreat as if you were French after blowing it up!

Dude, I agree with all that you're saying, but this quoted part is unnecessary and historically mistaken. If you wanted to do a historical parallel, you might look at the American Revolution, in which it was the Americans who engaged in the tactics you suggest, until the French showed up with a proper military. Also, there's a perpetuation of a vile stereotype that's just uncalled for.

Humor often uses stereotypes to deliver its punch lines. My joke was meant in good fun. In the same way that everyone jokes that I'm a drunk and beat my wife because I'm Irish. I personally stop taking offense to jests that are meant to be harmless. If you saw this as a direct attack, know that wasn't my intention. I also have problems with anyone who ACTUALLY thinks to be French is to be a coward and to be Irish is to be a drunk.

Fly Casual

...and retreat as if you were French after blowing it up!

Dude, I agree with all that you're saying, but this quoted part is unnecessary and historically mistaken. If you wanted to do a historical parallel, you might look at the American Revolution, in which it was the Americans who engaged in the tactics you suggest, until the French showed up with a proper military. Also, there's a perpetuation of a vile stereotype that's just uncalled for.

Humor often uses stereotypes to deliver its punch lines. My joke was meant in good fun. In the same way that everyone jokes that I'm a drunk and beat my wife because I'm Irish. I personally stop taking offense to jests that are meant to be harmless. If you saw this as a direct attack, know that wasn't my intention. I also have problems with anyone who ACTUALLY thinks to be French is to be a coward and to be Irish is to be a drunk.

Fly Casual

Fair enough.

As someone who teaches international studies, I spend a lot of time undoing the influence that stereotypes have on people's ideas about other peoples. It's hard to know where the joke stops and serious mental shorthand begins. But, I certainly take you at your word that you meant it as a joke.

In the future, we should just use Star Wars alien stereotypes (Run like an Ortolan late for dinner). Lol

That being said, grinding through the deck to get to the Death Star Plans is critical. As the Death Star is impervious before that. I haven't really played enough to develop any hard and fast rules for the rebel player beyond that.

Getting Death Star Plans early sounds like a good idea. Thx for the tip.

There are perfect storms of cards that are hard to beat. If the Imps pull Turn first round, and capture and turn Leia first turn. Then pull carbonite 2nd round and capture/carbonite someone 2nd round, then pull off a third capture in the third round...well, it's cutting out 3 leaders super early in the game. The rebel leader never pulled a way to free the leaders that game.

The Imps getting multiple loyalty cards early would be pretty devastating also. It would ramp up their control and production very fast.

The same goes for the rebels however. Pull a couple incite rebellion cards early enough and you would cause some serious pain.

The Rebels should play 3 cards every turn for the first couple turns.

Sabotage. Hitting key systems during build phase is ok as it can stop something like an AT-AT or SD from being built. Subjugated systems are always great as it takes 2 actions to remove.

Build Alliance. Always a big one. Turn systems to your side and use their production, or gain objective points. Keep in mind that a subjugated rebel system is still loyal to the rebellion. So you can use this against a subjugated neutral system to complete an objective for instance. Also, if they leave a Imp loyal system with good resources without defenses, you could turn it neutral. If there are defenses, you could turn it to a subjugated neutral and gut their production there.

Infiltration should be used at least every turn till you get into the tier 2 objectives. Those objectives are better as they are worth more, easier to complete, and contain the death star plans. You blunt the DS ability with the threat alone.

Other missions are as needed based on what you have and need to do.

This is helpful, thx. I guess there's only so much I can do against a good early draw and like you said it can happen the other way as well.

Also, after what you've said I realized, in my last game, I should've been turning more Imp loyal systems with no garrisons neutral instead of working on flipping neutral systems. I remembered there were a few such systems but I was too focused on getting my production up and running that I neglected to take advantage of that weakness.

Fair enough.

As someone who teaches international studies, I spend a lot of time undoing the influence that stereotypes have on people's ideas about other peoples. It's hard to know where the joke stops and serious mental shorthand begins. But, I certainly take you at your word that you meant it as a joke.

I'm a Humanities professor and there is nothing more important to me than human culture. Keep fighting the good fight. I'm right there with you.

Back to Strategy

How successful has everyone been with sabotage missions? Are they worth spending a leader's time on in the early rounds?

Fair enough.

As someone who teaches international studies, I spend a lot of time undoing the influence that stereotypes have on people's ideas about other peoples. It's hard to know where the joke stops and serious mental shorthand begins. But, I certainly take you at your word that you meant it as a joke.

I'm a Humanities professor and there is nothing more important to me than human culture. Keep fighting the good fight. I'm right there with you.

Back to Strategy

How successful has everyone been with sabotage missions? Are they worth spending a leader's time on in the early rounds?

I would say they are most important in the early turns. The Imperials control less systems so it knocks back their production by a bigger % and can stop the Imperials from reinforcing an entire 1/3 of the board.

That being said, the Imperials know this and want project cards early on so they generally play a lot of R&D early on. But then Sabotage slows down their ability to cycle that deck.

Since a lot of the great units take 2-3 turns to build, Sabotage gets less useful towards the end of the game, but can stop a critical deploy point.

I played a game recently where I used to Sabotage, surprise ground troop deployments and loyalty tricks to ensure the Imperials only were able to deploy a single Star Destroyer that game. I did very well that game.

Fair enough.

As someone who teaches international studies, I spend a lot of time undoing the influence that stereotypes have on people's ideas about other peoples. It's hard to know where the joke stops and serious mental shorthand begins. But, I certainly take you at your word that you meant it as a joke.

I'm a Humanities professor and there is nothing more important to me than human culture. Keep fighting the good fight. I'm right there with you.

Back to Strategy

How successful has everyone been with sabotage missions? Are they worth spending a leader's time on in the early rounds?

Sabotage is a key factor in rebel game play as far as I'm concerned.

Doing it randomly doesn't help much. Like everything else in the game, you have to use it right to be effective.

Hitting a key loyal system right before the build phase can be pretty annoying. Stop them from building a SD and a TIE, or an AT-AT and a stormtrooper can be pretty effective and slow down their military crawl over the map. But this wouldn't be my main use of it. This would be a very tactical choice for shutting down a key unit from being built. If you've been lucky enough to kill off a couple SDs, stopping them from replacing them (if you have some sort of control over the others or they are only subjugated) can be huge. Ground forces can be a big Achilles heel to the Imps, so stopping that production isn't bad either.

Don't forget about turning a loyal planet neutral either though. Key Imp planet with good production, sabotage, then loyalty, or loyalty and then sabotage. Now it's harder to clear the sabotage, and they've lost the production.

Hitting subjugated systems can be a double wammy though. Harder to clear it, and it could mess up deployment, while also slowing production.

Keep in mind that you can't clear sabotaged systems, but the Imps don't much covet a sabotaged system either. I've used that to my advantage before also. They may not defend or fight for a sabotaged system as hard as they would for other systems, so I've used low value sabotaged systems to complete objectives (rebels on imp planets, entire regions rebel loyal, etc).

All in all, the rebels need to be working on a few things. Gaining objective points, slowing the military advance on the map, and wasting Imperial actions. Sabotage is very effective at all of these. It takes 1 or 2 actions to clear a sabotage (if they use the project card, it clears the sabotage and negates the loss of build units, but it's still 2 actions spent for your 1). It disrupts their build/deployment plans. It forces them to react to you instead of search for you. If they ignore your sabotage, then you are disrupting their production for a longer period of time which benefits you also.

It's a mission I typically try to play every round of the game, all game long.