Hello everyone. Having reviewed past posts here, I see that this question was discussed a little previously, but I thought I would revisit the issue of what the hive mind thinks about whether there are "normal" rewards following a RitR Conquest (and the same for Evacuation) Pivotal Battle - rewards for winners and losers are clearly available in Demonstration of Force since it expressly tells us both in the rules and the FAQ where to get those rewards from.

Honestly, I think it was intended that there would be, and it's consistent with every other battle in the game, that the losing team in a 6 hour, 3x3 (or 2x2) massive game should get something for having played that battle.

Here's what I think the argument against standard rewards is:

Page 24 of the rules says, under "Determine Battle Effects" that "Specific campaign points, strategic effect tokens, and location rewards are described in each pivotal battle objective, beginning on page 26. If a pivotal battle includes upgrades or squadron rewards, that objective is treated as a campaign objective."

All well and good. As neither Conquest nor Evacuation specifically mention any rewards (other than moving bases, getting some strategic effect tokens, and campaign points), I think the argument is that therefore there aren't any location based awards available to either the winners or losers in those battles.

Here's my counter argument:

Each of Conquest and Evacuation say this in their respective "Determine Battle Effects" paragraph, "This battle is treated as a base location with the following exceptions." I think this is intended to mean that you treat this battle just like any other base battle in the game - so that you take rewards from the location where the battle takes place just like any other time there would be a base battle in the game. Which means that both winners and losers gain some rewards (so the losers don't end up completely empty handed).

I am curious if everyone has played it such that there are no "standard" awards available for these two types of Pivotal Battles or whether any of you have gone a different route. Frankly, I don't know that I'd choose either Conquest or Evacuation ever again if I knew there were no "standard" rewards as in this kind of slugfest, how can you possibly guess if you'll end up on top?

Thanks!

The importan part is "This battle is treated as a base location with the following exceptions.". In the exceptions there are no mention to the normal points for buying upgrades to change, so as that is not an exception, you just treat it as a normal battle at a base location and having played a campaign objective (meaning that you can buy unique upgrades or squadrons).