Rules for the Balanced Variant by Nicholas Palmer from The General Vol. 20, No. 4 The following rules, in my opinion, lead to a better balanced game: 7.22 (amendment): Once inspected, mobile units are left face up. 15.52 (amendment): The state of the PDB is irrelevant to the conversion of Rebellion to Rebel Control; if there are only legal Rebel military units on the planet at the end of an Imperial Player-Turn, that planet becomes Rebel controlled. 23.2 (amendment): A planet _may_ be placed into or out of rebellion as a result of the "Domino Effect" of starting or stopping a rebellion. 35.31 (amendment): Imperial units may _never_ cross province boundaries in violation of a current Assignment, even if the target planet is in rebellion. This restriction no longer applies once the Secret Base is revealed. Note that units _within_ the province may still be moved to planets in rebellion from the local capital. 38.53 (amendment): The Imperial player _cannot_ win by merely eliminating all Rebel Control after the Secret Base has been revealed. The main effect of these rules is to make local Rebel victories easier and to eliminate the danger of a quick knockout if a captured Rebel character reveals the Secret Base location under torture early in the game. It should not be supposed that winning with the Rebels is now a lesser task, but the Empire is forced to give much more thought to the division of his troops between the different provinces. The Rebel player may well be able to now establish a "liberated area" in an outlying province to disrupt tax revenues and provide a base for further campaigns.