Hopefully I can get some feedback from others that have encountered this. Our group is playing the Friends Like These adventure and while attempting to organize the defences of Xorrn we decided to figure out what the Engineers, General Labourer's and Security Personnel would work on for the 48hrs of time before the Imperial attack. Since the 3 groups of workers can work on separate tasks simultaneously we wrote out 3 columns and decided to quickly calculate what they could build. It quickly became apparent that something wasn't adding up as you can see below, the sheer number of extra dice and ability increases we would be adding to the Mass Combat roles would be ridiculous.

This example is for the Engineers, of which there are 150. We accounted for what the job was, how many the job would take and how many hours would be required.

How have other groups found these additions to the Mass Combat system to be? Does it make it far to skewed in the players favor?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide

The biggest obstacle is the fact you have to convince the one of the leaders to step and the rest to step down. That's on top of them backing said leader. If it goes sideways, then there are fewer engineers to work with. Especially if the side deals are implemented.

So you have 150 engineers and 48 hours of time. Assuming that they can work 2/3 of the time (most of them need off-time to eat, sleep, and excrete waste), that's 4800 man-hours. The activities you suggest amount to just over 4,000 man-hours, so you've still got a bit left for player-derived solutions.

Yeah we managed to convince the leaders to work together, so that side is good to go.

The "problem" or really the concern is that we (players) will succeed too easily on the mass combat rolls. As stated by HappyDaze we have 4800 man hours available to us and that will equate to 10+ extra blue dice plus multiple ability upgrades on each mass combat roll. Seems like the odds will be so heavily in our favour that it won't be enjoyable.

Curious if other groups found this to be the case. Any suggestions on making the mass combat more of a closely fought battle?

I've play(test)ed it three times. The battle is very much in favor of the players even though it tries to create the illusion otherwise. The mass combat at the end always turned into a dull slog of rolling dice just to roll more dice.

2 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

I've play(test)ed it three times. The battle is very much in favor of the players even though it tries to create the illusion otherwise. The mass combat at the end always turned into a dull slog of rolling dice just to roll more dice.

Thanks HappyDaze. I will suggest to our GM that he spice things up a bit and challenge us... we don't mind...

Add more Imperials. In reality, though, this is a good concern, and I'll have to make sure that I set up from the start a solution that will make the last Mass Combat more interesting. After all, if it's a last-minute patch, my players will notice.

10 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

So you have 150 engineers and 48 hours of time. Assuming that they can work 2/3 of the time (most of them need off-time to eat, sleep, and excrete waste), that's 4800 man-hours. The activities you suggest amount to just over 4,000 man-hours, so you've still got a bit left for player-derived solutions.

Player and faction derived. One group of mercs that the PCs could ask for help from want ships.

9 hours ago, fist said:

Yeah we managed to convince the leaders to work together, so that side is good to go.

The "problem" or really the concern is that we (players) will succeed too easily on the mass combat rolls. As stated by HappyDaze we have 4800 man hours available to us and that will equate to 10+ extra blue dice plus multiple ability upgrades on each mass combat roll. Seems like the odds will be so heavily in our favour that it won't be enjoyable.

Curious if other groups found this to be the case. Any suggestions on making the mass combat more of a closely fought battle?

The battlefield is a multi-stage fight that is in the hands of the defender. If anything, between the Republic wrecks, the CIS droids, and the players initiative, there should be little going against the defenders should everything work out.

If anything, the biggest problem isn't surviving the assault but preventing the surviving Imperials from escaping. Having a possible Rebel repair depot and supply base is an attractive target,

9 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

I've play(test)ed it three times. The battle is very much in favor of the players even though it tries to create the illusion otherwise. The mass combat at the end always turned into a dull slog of rolling dice just to roll more dice.

The only thing I can think of is if the Imperials had called in some favors for more specialized units to be assigned to the operation. ISB agents, Imperial Engineers, and Inquisitors can make the encounter interesting.

1 hour ago, Kestin said:

Add more Imperials. In reality, though, this is a good concern, and I'll have to make sure that I set up from the start a solution that will make the last Mass Combat more interesting. After all, if it's a last-minute patch, my players will notice.

Have special units get assigned at the last minute. The various Imperial Factions could all have a vested interest in this operation succeeding.

1 hour ago, Sarone said:

If anything, the biggest problem isn't surviving the assault but preventing the surviving Imperials from escaping.

Oh yeah, that's a huge problem with the writing. You have to roll all of those dice for Mass Combat and yet, it's really all for nothing since you cannot do any better than delay the enemy at each stage until you almost certainly win at the last minute. And then, with (as written) no chance to prevent it, the enemy escapes. So you win but ultimately lose since the Empire knows where the base is and will be back in greater numbers. The last chapter is simply a bad railroad ride all the way through.

I am about to run it, so thank you for the feedback here. I am probably making it more challenging on the attacking side.

I found it more interesting to have the PCs scrambling to find a way to evacuate the base (and to convince those in the base to go along with it), all the while knowing that they couldn't save everyone and they would have to abandon some of the vital war materials too. Hard choices, and ones the adventure forces upon the characters anyway once it reveals that all of your efforts to save the base have been all for naught when the attackers escape.

On ‎6‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 1:10 AM, HappyDaze said:

Oh yeah, that's a huge problem with the writing. You have to roll all of those dice for Mass Combat and yet, it's really all for nothing since you cannot do any better than delay the enemy at each stage until you almost certainly win at the last minute. And then, with (as written) no chance to prevent it, the enemy escapes. So you win but ultimately lose since the Empire knows where the base is and will be back in greater numbers. The last chapter is simply a bad railroad ride all the way through.

Not quite. By my calculations a while back, should the PCs succeed at all Mass Combat checks, the rebel reinforcements will arrive just as the Imperials are landing their forces. Depending on how the combat goes, one of the Raiders should be disabled with most TIEs being destroyed. Heck, if the PCs are as chaotic as they should be, I do not have any doubt they wouldn't try to inflict come damage on the Guardian. Depending on how such a group is setup, having access to some heavy ordnance might not be out of the question. That's before asking some mercs to help out.

On ‎6‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 9:02 AM, HappyDaze said:

I found it more interesting to have the PCs scrambling to find a way to evacuate the base (and to convince those in the base to go along with it), all the while knowing that they couldn't save everyone and they would have to abandon some of the vital war materials too. Hard choices, and ones the adventure forces upon the characters anyway once it reveals that all of your efforts to save the base have been all for naught when the attackers escape.

If evac was the goal, then sure. But it sounds like the command for the various organizations want to keep access to the base and shipyard.

The scenario never really gives you the option to inflict any harm on the Gladiator, nor does it allow you to prevent the Imperials from escaping. Because of that, there is no way to preserve the base from the inevitable Imperial return. IOW, fighting the battle is pointless.

12 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

The scenario never really gives you the option to inflict any harm on the Gladiator, nor does it allow you to prevent the Imperials from escaping. Because of that, there is no way to preserve the base from the inevitable Imperial return. IOW, fighting the battle is pointless.

They build this into the scenario, if I remember correctly. Supposedly, this Imperial leader is striking on his own, without the knowledge of the Empire at large, for reasons of his own. If he fails, he fails, since his attack isn't sanctioned by the war machine, so he'll get in trouble if he tries to get others to help him mount a counter-counter-offensive. That's from memory, mind you, but I'm fairly sure this or something like it is in the setup for the adventure.

59 minutes ago, SavageBob said:

They build this into the scenario, if I remember correctly. Supposedly, this Imperial leader is striking on his own, without the knowledge of the Empire at large, for reasons of his own. If he fails, he fails, since his attack isn't sanctioned by the war machine, so he'll get in trouble if he tries to get others to help him mount a counter-counter-offensive. That's from memory, mind you, but I'm fairly sure this or something like it is in the setup for the adventure.

It's a load of crap. When the idiot's force returns all blasted to hell and knowing of a significant Rebel fleet concentration, somebody aboard it is going to talk. At this point it's not about the captain trying to hide a personal mission (and the captain may well be dead or captured, so the second-in-command is likely to throw him under a landspeeder bus at first opportunity). The ship no doubt has at least one Imperial Intelligence officer aboard, and possibly an ISB loyalty officer too. Designing the adventure background so that none of these things are in place is crappy writing. The base is screwed; all the PCs have done is bought time for the Rebel fleet to scoop up the people and toys and get away. If the adventure had been honest about being a delaying action I'd have been much happier.

5 hours ago, SavageBob said:

They build this into the scenario, if I remember correctly. Supposedly, this Imperial leader is striking on his own, without the knowledge of the Empire at large, for reasons of his own. If he fails, he fails, since his attack isn't sanctioned by the war machine, so he'll get in trouble if he tries to get others to help him mount a counter-counter-offensive. That's from memory, mind you, but I'm fairly sure this or something like it is in the setup for the adventure.

In addition, the Rebel fleet is monitoring major ship movements. If they were to try and take out the base with a significant fleet, like an actual Star Destroyer, it would be a tempting target.

In fact, if I also remember correctly, not only did he tell few people outside the chain of command, but he may not have told his second in command, unless that was part of the overall plot.

4 hours ago, HappyDaze said:

It's a load of crap. When the idiot's force returns all blasted to hell and knowing of a significant Rebel fleet concentration, somebody aboard it is going to talk. At this point it's not about the captain trying to hide a personal mission (and the captain may well be dead or captured, so the second-in-command is likely to throw him under a landspeeder bus at first opportunity). The ship no doubt has at least one Imperial Intelligence officer aboard, and possibly an ISB loyalty officer too. Designing the adventure background so that none of these things are in place is crappy writing. The base is screwed; all the PCs have done is bought time for the Rebel fleet to scoop up the people and toys and get away. If the adventure had been honest about being a delaying action I'd have been much happier.

Actually, there is a way to hurt the Gladiator. It's in one of the side missions that makes it an extremely valuable opportunity.

The biggest point in the Group's favor is that the Galactic Empire doesn't know WHAT is there. The after action, supposedly, is that impression is that the Main Villain received intelligence about rebel activity. Said Villain acted on it, only to be ambushed both in space and on the ground. The Villain is either captured or killed, who also happened to get quite a bit of equipment and personnel captured and killed.

Up until this point, the Empire knew it was a site of a CIS shipyard that was destroyed in a space and ground battle.

And just because there is a current location of a Rebel fleet doesn't mean squat when it is the site of an ambush and the fleet will have left by the time the Empire reacts.

14 minutes ago, Sarone said:

Up until this point, the Empire knew it was a site of a CIS shipyard that was destroyed in a space and ground battle.

And just because there is a current location of a Rebel fleet doesn't mean squat when it is the site of an ambush and the fleet will have left by the time the Empire reacts.

There is zero chance that the Imperials would not return to the site to investigate. Considering that they leave after an ambush, the Imperial forces sent to investigate would be significantly greater than the first attack. If the base and personnel are still there when the Imperials arrive, it will be bad for them. The Imperials, contrary to the cartoons, are not stupid.

16 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

There is zero chance that the Imperials would not return to the site to investigate. Considering that they leave after an ambush, the Imperial forces sent to investigate would be significantly greater than the first attack. If the base and personnel are still there when the Imperials arrive, it will be bad for them. The Imperials, contrary to the cartoons, are not stupid.

Ok, do you reread what you posted? And read what other's have posted?

Let me recap:

1. The main villain is trying to keep his future assault secret. He doesn't tell anyone but his adjutant, who happens to be a rebel spy. In regards to the other ships, this is supposed to be a training exercise. That is already a bad idea even if it succeeds.
2. On the surface, the Imperials will have taken out the "shipyard" on the way in. During that time, the Adjutant flees, but whether anyone else will know about it or not is up in the air. At this time, one of the Raiders and several TIEs might be destroyed, rendering certain option unavailable for the IMPs.
3. After landing the invasion force, in which the commander of the squadron leads the ground forces, the Imperials are engaged by opposition forces. These forces, at best, are made up of Mandalorians, pirates, slavers, and various civilians.
4. The biggest IF is if or when the Imperials find the foundry. If they should not discover it by the times the Rebel Fleet arrives, the squadron will flee. In which case, the imperials on the surface are forced to surrender or be destroyed. That means a defeat for the Imperials.
5. If the Imperials find the foundry, then that will need to be broadcasted to the squadron. That is never mentioned as happening.

Now that is covered, here is why the Imperials might not investigate the battle, let alone send a "significantly larger force":

1. The Imperial squadron manages to get their invasion force ambushed on the ground by Mercs and Pirates, then get ambushed by the rebel fleet. That is either a bad operation for the imperials or a good one for the rebels. Point goes to the rebels.
2. The Rebel fleet might "stick around" to evacuate the "ground force". They can also make the battlefield more in their favor with mines, auto turrets, and other ambush specific tactics. This puts the battlefield advantage more in their favor.
3. Now, Imperial command could send a larger force, but the clock is running. Ambush 101 states that the attacking force, the ambushers, need to move out before enemy reinforcements arrive as soon as possible. Usually this is about four hours minimum, up to twenty four hours.
4. Assuming the Imperials can get a task force assembled, where will it be coming from? How many operations will be impacted? If ships and troops are assigned for a retaliation attack, could the rebels exploit it? This further delays the Imperial response.
5. Depending on how the Grand Moff reacts, this operation may just as well be pinned on bad leader ship and bad intelligence. Losing up to one Raider Corvette, several TIEs, and a ground force is never easy, but trying to chase ghosts can very well cost more manpower and resources.
6. Finally, should the Imperials attack, then they have to hit hard and fast. Otherwise, not only will the Imperials lose more, but it can also spread knowledge, manpower, and expertise of an experienced ship builders and modders into the galaxy.

In essence, they may not be stupid, but the Imperials have bigger fish to fry than some foundry that may or may not be there based on possibly faulty intelligence. Especially if said rewards are outweighed by the risks of losing more ships, equipment, and personnel for the Imperials.

I've read what you've posted. It's nonsense. The 'new' commander of the Gladiator will make a report after losing the CO on the surface. The Imperials will come back to investigate a definite sighting of the Rebel fleet, and they will come with enough force to win. The Rebel fleet knows this--it's why they have a "do not engage" doctrine at this time. The base will be lost, all the battle did was buy them a little more time, because a secret base is worthless once it's no longer secret.

I'm going to be starting this module in the coming weeks and I agree with HappyDaze - the ending needs a rewrite. I'm going to be turning the "Rescue the Spy" sideline into a major op for the PCs as the spy tells them they've got to disable the gladiator or else it will just escape when the rebel fleet shows up. Give the PCs a shot at actually making a difference (also allowing for the raiders to be destroyed or disabled during the mas combat stuff). I plan on being pretty straightforward with how I present it that if the Empire does escape then the base/shipyard will essentially be lost. If they fail to disable the Gladiator then they still have the goal of saving as many lives as they can until the rebel fleet shows up.

I think the module does a good job of setting up the scenario reasonably so that the Empire does not know where the fleet went (where the rebel shipyard is) and of informing the PCs of this fact. Less so that the Empire will find out if any Imperials escape.

I agree with Jedi. The back and forth about what the Gladiator does or does not do - at least to the degree that it's this heated - is useless. Now, I'm the first in line to run things as close to RAW as possible (if I didn't want RAW, I'd not have bought the book, after all), but if you care this much... change it. IIRC, it's not a hard change to make. You can use literally the entire adventure up to Act IV as written and alter a few details of the last battle.

It's been a bit since I've poked too heavily into it (we're not running it for a while yet), but the current Gladiator Captain has done everything he can to make this mission secret. I can't remember if that means the Imps have no idea where he went or not, but I thought he was taking the Raiders on a "training exercise" out and about space. He specifically doesn't want people to know where he's going because he's partially trying to cover up a truth about him as much as he is gain an advantage in the political pecking order by dealing a blow to the Rebels. All you have to do is give the Rebels more opportunity to ensure there aren't survivors. That can include involving the PCs more heavily, or just bringing the Rebel ships in soon enough to trap them between the planet (which was heavily prepared for them) and space, finishing them off.

Oh, and nowhere does it say that this is the Rebel Fleet (the one with Mon Mothma and Luke and co. wandering the starts looking for a new home after Yavin). I don't know about your game, but in mine, a lot of Sector Forces either have access to or are entirely comprised of ships of the line. The big stuff and the technologically advanced stuff is reserved for the home fleet, but even the Sector Force on Arda I has a "Rebel cruiser" (which is not used during the course of the game at all except to have a meeting on, which is bad form but a different discussion); I've framed it as an MC30c that's understaffed and in disrepair. I'm not saying the Imps wouldn't chase down Rebel vessels anywhere they were seen - my game takes place a few months after Yavin and the Empire is cracking down hard on Rebel activity - but they also have a lot on their plate. Food for thought.

Just ask yourself this:

You're the ranking officer of the Gladiator, now in command since your CO went down to the planet and is presumed dead. Your forces have taken a beating and a superior Rebel force arrives in-system. You are able to activate your hyperdrive and escape.

What would you do after leaving the system?

4 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

Just ask yourself this:

You're the ranking officer of the Gladiator, now in command since your CO went down to the planet and is presumed dead. Your forces have taken a beating and a superior Rebel force arrives in-system. You are able to activate your hyperdrive and escape.

What would you do after leaving the system?

Just ask yourself this:

You're the GM of a pre-written adventure, now in charge of how it progresses after FFG made decisions you find questionable. They say Imperial forces are supposed to escape an engagement and you feel this invalidates the point of the adventure as a whole. You are able to change thing as you see fit.

What would you do before running the game?

1 hour ago, Kestin said:

Just ask yourself this:

You're the GM of a pre-written adventure, now in charge of how it progresses after FFG made decisions you find questionable. They say Imperial forces are supposed to escape an engagement and you feel this invalidates the point of the adventure as a whole. You are able to change thing as you see fit.

What would you do before running the game?

I would change the expectations rather than the outcome, but I'm OK with players having crappy choices. What I wouldn't do it make it a storybook happy ending because that seems wrong in this case and I prefer in-setting simulationist immersion over narrative style gaming (I can deal with some narrative mechanics, but I'm not fond of the narrativist mindset that often accompanies it). And I said as much earlier in the thread:

I found it more interesting to have the PCs scrambling to find a way to evacuate the base (and to convince those in the base to go along with it), all the while knowing that they couldn't save everyone and they would have to abandon some of the vital war materials too. Hard choices, and ones the adventure forces upon the characters anyway once it reveals that all of your efforts to save the base have been all for naught when the attackers escape.

I played along, so now kindly answer my question. You'll note it's from a simulationist POV.

49 minutes ago, HappyDaze said:

I would change the expectations rather than the outcome, but I'm OK with players having crappy choices. What I wouldn't do it make it a storybook happy ending because that seems wrong in this case and I prefer in-setting simulationist immersion over narrative style gaming (I can deal with some narrative mechanics, but I'm not fond of the narrativist mindset that often accompanies it).

I played along, so now kindly answer my question. You'll note it's from a simulationist POV.

Oh that was directed at me, not the person with whom things were getting mutually snippy?

You are entirely correct: if the fleet escapes - perhaps any element of the fleet - then the base is 100% lost. There is no salvaging it, because the Empire will be back. In force. If the Gladiator survives? You can bet. Especially if it isn't captained by Nervi (who has a lot of reasons to keep this under wraps). I could see an individual Raider captain being too scared to admit being part of the operation, knowing it was against protocol and not being punished, but I wouldn't count on it, so if I were the Rebels, I'd get the hell out of dodge.

In my mind, however, the idea that the Imperials might not survive is simulationist, or can be. If the Rebels can achieve that, then the base is saved. Now, as the GM, I'm not saying you go out of your way to ensure that, but it's a perfectly reasonable ending. There is nothing to say that significant Rebel forces can't arrive in the system after 53 hours, and there seems to be stuff in the adventure that gives you a chance to cause damage as you stall. I guess it's time to break out my copy of Friends Like These. We are operating under the assumption that everything in the module is reasonable, yes? Let's look at that first, since apparently your idea of "simulation" is "not changing anything".

In the orbital phases, it's entirely reasonable to have capital-ship scale weaponry in play on the PCs side: turbolasers hidden in the asteroid belt, a corvette-class vessel, multiple freighters. These things can easily damage or destroy at least the Raiders, given enough time. PCs in starfighters can also directly engage these ships (provided they can afford to ignore the TIEs). My PCs - because none of them better be reading this thread anyway - are going to have a base of operations in system or nearby, as the local cell formed to investigate a secret Imperial project, and they'll have some resources on hand to contribute to this phase as well, I'd imagine, and my PCs know there will be future Mass Combat and might end up with the Talents and Sig Abilities that allow them to interact with Mass Combats. I'd be absolutely fine letting a Strategist, say, manipulate things in Phase I to get a few rounds of fire at a Raider.

Reading further, PCs winning Mass Combat checks (and doing very well, admittedly) can also directly be used to cause damage to the Raiders. It isn't unreasonable to up the impact of both passing and failing these checks, especially if you're going for gritty simulation-style gameplay. Even without that, winning two Mass Combats (with, I'll give, a lot of Advantages or a Triumph twice) outright destroys one Raider. As for the Gladiator, the Spy Extraction mission could probably be utilized by clever PCs to sabotage the ship, especially if you've set the tone that it escaping would be the end of things on Xorrn. Even so, once the combat moves to the ground, the Imperials are still harassed in orbit. Vessels there are on the back foot, but they could finish off a damaged Raider with hit and run tactics or try to weaken a vessel until they are chased off and show up later in Phase V.

Yes, a new officer captains the Gladiator once the man in charge descends to the planet to engage in shenanigans, but things probably seem to be going well, so they'd commit. Once the local Rebels arrive - and it looks like they've committed serious firepower, which makes sense given they knew ahead of time and this has been set up, at least in my game, as a very important ally of the Rebellion - the adventure has the Gladiator immediately come under heavy fire from a ship much larger than it. It escapes, and, from a sensible point of view, this is what any sane captain of the vessel would do. We see small ships escape from large ships all the time by plotting hyperspace coordinates. Does that mean it's unreasonable for the Gladiator to have fallen?

No. It's surprised, first of all - remember, they have no idea their attacks wasn't an utter surprise. They might assume that, given how the fight is going for them, but it could also look like Xorrn was just more prepared than originally indicated. They have no idea a sizable armada is arriving to cut them off. Perhaps they get trapped in the gravity well (it's been shown that you can jump to hyperspace from within a gravity well, but it's also been shown to be a totally desperate act performed by mavericks, so maybe this new captain is rigidly Imperial and believes it impossible). Maybe the new captain isn't confident or experienced as a commander and can't scramble to order the retreat in time. If the PCs were clever or lucky, maybe the Gladiator is damaged in such a way that prevents it from leaving. If you want to be really forgiving (and this is where I'd say it gets "storybook") , perhaps the Rebels stole and Interdictor and committed it to protecting the most important free shipyard in the southern Rim.

What I'm saying is, you're absolutely right that, from a simulationist (or even properly narrative) point of view, the Imperials would leave the moment they could, but that doesn't mean they will. It's only because you want to that things end bleakly. There isn't anything wrong with that - it's your **** game, and I'm not here to tell you how to run it. But there is no reason to argue with someone else who doesn't want that to be the ending when it is just as reasonable the Imperials could be defeated. It isn't "storybook" or "deus ex machina" if you set it up right and your players are clever. It's stated from the get-go that a Rebel fleet is arriving. There are plenty of plot devices you and the players can use to damage, disable, or render incompetent the Imperial flotilla, and they are perfectly reasonable outcomes for a battle.

If you want to change the expectation and tone of the game - a desperate fighting retreat only made possible by 48-hours worth of preparation - and that works for you and your players, go for it. If, instead, you want to change minor detail of the ending so that the premise and tone of the adventure stays the same that's just as valid. Ideally, you'd go full simulation and tell the players that they can save Xorrn if they're incredibly lucky and skilled, but should be prepared to abandon ship. That makes sense. You build up what you can and do what you can to survive and ensure there aren't witnesses, but there are consequences if you fail and you can fail. As it's set up, the Gladiator auto-escaping is just as ham-fisted and stupidly storybook as you seem to believe saving Xorrn is, because the players have no chance to effect it. The only reason FFG did it is because, to them, it's clearly a non-issue: all advice on future campaign hooks imply the Imps never return, which, as you've stated, is unreasonable.

To make it work, you have to change something. Either you have to change the adventure so the players know it'll end in an evacuation, or you have to change the ending so they can save Xorrn. As written, the adventure doesn't work. Pick one, pick the other, pick "possibly both, depending on my players", whatever. The goal here isn't to say who's more right about trying to fix the adventure, it's about listing ideas GMs can use to fix it for themselves. Me? My players have abandoned enough bases to the Empire, after Arda I. I'm not sure things will go super well for Resolute Base, either. I'm giving my players the opportunity for a win, both so they can secure allies for their new cell-turned-Sector-Force and advance the theme I'm presenting and so they can feel like they've achieved something (or had the chance to), and I'm giving them the resources to do it so they don't feel cheated. And I might still let them fail.

I like narrative, but I don't feel there's anything wrong with my choices in terms of in-setting immersion. It's what I strive for in my play-by-post (of course, I run pre-written modules, so we've obviously had to suspend immersion for some of the stupider details, like how the Imps in Onslaught have a traitor on their side and still somehow can't manage to wipe out all the Rebels before most of them escape). Your big point on immersion seems to be the actions and motives of the Imperials, and I, at least, haven't disagreed with you on that point at all. My big point is that you have the power from before you start the adventure to adjust things so that, motives aside, the Imperials don't get what they want. I'm not saying you suddenly have Home One and Rogue Squadron show up with three Interdictors they somehow stole and curbstomp the Imps so you can all have a party with some Ewoks (who inexplicably show up because arc-ending parties tend to have Ewoks); I'm saying you go into the module knowing it's rather hopeless as written and seed expectations in before the game even starts so when more help than written shows up or more damage than is written happens to the Gladiator, your players still feel immersed.

TL;DR: in any case, bad, sudden, or unexplained change feels like you've cheated your players and breaks immersion, but there's no reason you can't maintain in-setting realism as long as you plan in advance for whatever sort of Friends Like These you'd like to run. I mean, you could set the whole thing up as an independent farm that ships food and medicinal/steroidal chemicals to various organizations, Rebels included, that you have to defend, and that wouldn't feel out of place as long as you planned for that and made it feel real to the players.