
Installations are buildings on a planet's surface or in orbit.Each kind can be constructed by one of three construction facilities. There are several kinds of buildable units. A Commander increases the combat efficiency of starfighter squadrons.


A General increases the performance of troops and reduce the likelihood of successful enemy missions on a friendly planet.An Admiral increases a fleet's performance in both tactical battles and orbital bombardments.Some characters can be given military ranks by the player to put them in specific roles. Characters with higher Force ratings are better at diplomacy, espionage and combat, and can therefore conduct missions with a higher chance of success. Characters can also enhance their abilities by conducting missions. Minor characters will sometimes randomly be generated Force-sensitive and can be trained by certain Jedi characters ( Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader) to augment their abilities (Luke must be a Jedi Knight). The Empire's major characters are Darth Vader and the Emperor. The major characters for the Alliance are Mon Mothma, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia Organa. Only major characters can embark on recruitment missions. Major characters are always available at the beginning of the game, while most minor ones must be recruited. The player has to undertake colonization, diplomacy, creation of buildings and units, supervising of mines, refineries, and stockpiled resources, building and commanding fleets in a tactical mode, conversion of systems to one's own side through various means, recruitment of characters, and dispatching characters or units to systems or fleets, and finally the assigning of missions to characters and special forces.

Some of them belong to 'unknown' regions and need to be explored while known systems can be either under control of one of the two main factions or neutral at the start of the game.

The map consists of sectors of 10 systems each (the number of sectors is customisable to be either 10, 15 or 20), all known from the Star Wars universe. The game interface consists of a map of the Star Wars galaxy and an advisor droid ( C-3PO for the Rebellion and IMP-22 for the Imperials). The player assumes the role of a military administrator and takes control over either the Galactic Empire or Rebel Alliance. The player commands the manufacturing of facilities, troops and starships, resources, fleet deployment, and mission assignments of units and characters (60 in all: 6 major, 54 minor, 30 per side) around the (up to) 200 available systems. There are elements of turn-based games as well, as the events of each 'day' of game time are processed at the end of that day. Although a RTS in the wider sense of the term, it belongs more to the genre of 4X games resembling Master of Orion.
