Tyber Zann is the charismatic leader of the new faction, the Consortium. He is out on revenge against the Empire (who thought he was too much of a long-haired loser to join their ranks) and Jaba the Hutt, the slimy fatso who is a direct gangster rival to Zann. The lad does seem to gather enough brigand followers to found a new empire of terror and corruption. These guys are the bounty hunters, the pirates and misfits, all joined together to sneak upon the one who underestimates them. Because yes, they are a force to be reckoned with. If you've played the original game you might think otherwise since the pirates were quite weak back then and proved to be not a match at all to Rebel and Imperial weaponry. But Zann's Consortium has more tricks than the literally cheap early forces like the Interceptor Frigate for example.

For the land chapter Zann leads the way with his ability to bribe enemy units. His powerful lieutenant is a one-man close combat killing machine but the other landbased units seem to be a bit weaker in respect. In space the new faction is quite powerful. With devastating long-range Mass Driver weapons and the ability to suck up other spaceships' shields you have a killer unit in the form of the Vengeance Frigate. The largest capital ships also have very powerful (and colourful) special attacks and their impact on the destruction overall is definitely up there with what the Rebels and the Empire are throwing at you.

Some nice changes can be found in the brand new campaign. The Consortium can corrupt planets in several ways next tot the known option of completely conquering them (the traditional but quite tedious Empire at War-way). Each kind of corruption has a certain set of missions for each planet. It's definitely a much-needed variation to campaign-map. Smaller options refine this gamemode by allowing you to view a planet's base layout for example.

The two existing sides are also reinforced with a bunch of new units to keep up with the Consortium. The Empire has powerful, but expensive new infantry in the form of the Dark Troopers. Their PI versions are ace in close combat in such a way that even heroes on foot have to fear them, the PII’s then have jetpacks and are good all around and the single PIII then is very effective with its lasers and stationary artillery option. Boba Fett also wreaks havoc in Imperial service with a jetpack/flamethrower combo. On land Rebels finally gain the help of Yoda although his lethal impact isn't as big as I expected. He does have a neat trick to reveal the whole fog of war for a couple of seconds though. And another landbased hero unit is Garm Bell Imblis, who goes around and kills everything on his path with his gigantic moving fortress.

Next to these specific troops there are units for general purposes too, which are used by all factions. The mobile turret platform for example just needs to be stationed somewhere so you can purchase a turret on top. If it gets destroyed you can easily buy a new turret. Also available to everyone now are transports; since infantry aren't that fast these can offer a fast way of travelling across the map.