I was a little confused by that thread as well, as it always seemed to me that commanders do have an effect, but I've never really tested it properly. Having said that, I don't believe the test they conducted was very extensive. Firstly, why do they give the empire a numerical advantage, as I would’ve thought you conduct a test with equal numbers but, that aside, I do find it interesting that 30 tie fighters can take out 24 x-wings even without a commander, since my recent experience suggests the victory would go to the rebels. I haven't played a long game for years though, so my experience recently has only been from the early game, and that could be the key point since the numbers on each side are much lower. For example I recall 6 x-wings vs 6 tie fighters recently resulting in only 1 or 2 x-wing losses, but their test makes me wonder whether there’s a critical point where the sheer number of tie fighters negates the effect of the X-wing shields. On a small scale, the rebel fighters seem to get at least one free shot at the tie fighters, since the shield absorbs the initial fire from the ties, and that free shot or two can take out a tie squadron. When fire does pass the rebel shields, the total damage potential from the imperial fighters has been much reduced, and it’s a downward spiral from there. At a medium level, with 30 ties on the field, it’s enough to immediately penetrate rebel shields and kill a squadron, which means from the start the downward spiral affects both sides, with rebels possibly never having enough to overcome the slight numeric advantage. If this was the case, then the commander effect they noted, of 1 or 2 extra kills, might actually show a more significant improvement than they concluded. I’m still surprised by the result though, and interested enough to try it myself. Before drawing any overall conclusion though, I would conduct the experiment differently, including a small scale test, as well as medium, and also large. I would also explore the effect of commanders on the imperial side, since Vadar always seems to have an effect during a game, when set as commander – though again it’s hard to recall the circumstances. Assuming the rebel base is in the outer ring, then unless it’s been moved to a planet you’ve previously explored, the game doesn’t actually allow you to conduct an espionage mission there. That leaves recon probes or fleets if you want to explore it. Normally a recon mission to an occupied planet will fail which, in this case, would alert the Empire to the presence of a rebel presence there, but alert the rebels via a mission foiled message. I’ve never seen a recon mission succeed to the rebel base, but I can’t say for sure that that’s always the case. If you explore with a fleet, you will discover it though, as it’s effectively a facility on the planet, even taking up an energy slot. It moves through hyperspace like everything else. Off now to try and find my PM inbox