Star Wars: Empire at War - Kessel

Star Wars: Empire at War - Kessel
This is a hint / walkthrough for a planet in Star Wars: Empire at War. The index of all our guides for Empire at War is here.

Rebellion Campaign
Kessel orbital space is the site of Mission 4 (Kessel Space Rescue).

Space Battle
For the Rebellion, they can have 25 points of units during space combat (versus 20 points for the Imperials). I went with Sundered Heart (mandatory), 9 Corellian Corvettes for firepower, and five squadrons of Y-Wing Bombers (a few squadrons are mandatory).

The Imperials begin with a few wings of TIE Fighters and TIE Bombers from the two Acclamators which you can take out -- go in with the Corellian Corvettes to clear the TIEs and draw fire. If you do not draw fire from the Acclamators, they can take out your Y-Wings.
Follow up the Corellian Corvettes with the Y-Wings and their special Ion Cannon Shots, then concentrate fire on the one Acclamator until it is destroyed. Rescue the prisoners from the shuttles then head over to do the same to the other Acclamator escort.

In case it is not clear, all you have to do is fire your Y-Wing Ion Cannon Shot once at each shuttle. A mission objective arrow will appear over it. Move the Sundered Heart very close to the shuttle and it will disappear. When all six shuttles are rescued, the ending cutscene automatically takes over and you hyperspace away.

You will probably not have time to try to destroy the newly incoming Victory Star Destroyers, and you don't have to since the orbital space will be clear after you complete this mission. Just return to Kessel and take the orbital space without resistance.

Land Battle

After completing Mission 4, you can land a unit on Kessel and take it without resistance.