Star Wars: Rebellion Setup Permutations

This article is about the Star Wars: Rebellion Map Generator & Setup Helper's map scoring.

I put together this analysis to help better understand the balance between the various initial setup. There are 2,100 possible starting system configurations and the analysis below goes through each one and assigns them a "balance score" that loosely demonstrates if it is favorable to the Rebel player, to the Imperial player, or is neutral. I made a few assumptions which are stated below. I understand some of them are pretty general and might not be valid in certain scenarios, but I had to make some for this to work. Far below is some actual game results and how they relate to its related balance score. Enjoy!

Assumptions

• The Rebel player will not want their initial Rebel Base location to be directly adjacent to an Imperial System.
• During the first round and if possible, the Imperial player will attack and subjugate up to 2 of the Rebel's most power systems (in terms of build power). This means if all 3 initial Rebel systems are adjacent to Imperial systems, the Imperial player will attack 2 of the most powerful ones.
• In fact, it is preferable for the Rebels to have no adjacent Imperial Neighbors at all.
• It is good for the Rebels to start with Mon Calamari, especially if the Imperials don't start on Saleucami.
• It is good for the Imperials to start with Mandalore and Mygeeto or with Sullust and Mustafar.

Definitions

• Units - the number of units that will be produced at the end of round 1 assuming no change in loyalites (includes Rebel Base and Coruscant production as well).
• Attack Power - the number of red and black dice allowed by the produced units.
• Defense Power - the number of hit points allowed by the produced units.
• Rebel Systems w/ Imperial Neighbor - the number of starting Rebel systems with at least 1 starting Imperial system adjacent to it.
• Imperial Superiority - After the first build at the end of Round 1, this is the additional units and power the Empire will gain over that of the Rebels (see assumptions).
• Balance Score - This is a calculated score (0.0 to 10.0) that loosely indicates if the setup favors a strong Rebel start (0.0) or a strong Imperial start (10.0).

Graphs

This graph shows the number of systems the Rebel player can choose from for the base's initial location that are not adjacent to any Imperial system. Some setups will have more options (easier for the Rebel) while others will have fewer options (harder for the Rebel).

It's no secret that the Empire will produce more ships than the Rebels. This graph hows many more ships the Empire will produce than the Rebels during the first build. This assumes that the Imperial player subjugate up to 2 of the Rebel's most power systems (in terms of build power) during the first round. Obviously, a bigger difference in fleets will make it harder for the Rebels.

Likewise, the Empire's fleet will always be more powerful in terms of firepower and defense, but just how much more powerful is the question. This graph shows how much more powerful the Imperial fleet will be after the first build than the Rebel fleet. Obviously, the greater the net power the harder it will be for the Rebels.

After taking the assumptions and considerations into account, each setup permutation is assigned Balance Score. It is a calculated score (0.0 to 10.0) that loosely indicates if the setup favors a strong Rebel start (0.0) or a strong Imperial start (10.0). This graph shows the distribution of the Balance Scores. Note that there are very few below 5.0.

All Possible Initial Configurations