Battle of Mos Espa

"Srimaur sent me, he says the Tuskens are coming. They are going to attack the city.''" "''What!? This is not good. We need your help. Please help us defend the city."

- A spacer and Kav Goldor

The Battle of Mos Espa was a conflict fought between the citizens of Mos Espa, a city on the planet Tatooine, and an army of Tusken Raiders led by the Tusken King. The battle took place sometime after the conclusion of the Battle of Yavin during the Galactic Civil War, but before the Battle of Hoth. The catalyst for the engagement was the theft of three sacred artifacts from the Sand People. They were stolen by a spacer from the Tusken relic cave so that they could be studied by a scholar named Srimaur. Following the looting of the cave, a group of Tuskens marched on the city and occupied it. Kav Goldor, the leader of the city's militia, and several spacers retook the city and prepared its populace to defend themselves against the advancing Tusken army and their leader, the Tusken King. In a fierce battle, the spacers, citizens, militia and Kav Goldor were successful in killing the Tusken King and his elite guard, liberating the city of its occupiers.

The prelude
The trouble began shortly after the Battle of Yavin when a Human scholar named Srimaur hired a spacer to infiltrate the relic cave of a tribe of Tusken Raiders, an indigenous and hostile species of Tatooine, and find three specific relics for him to study. These relics were a chieftain's head, a krayt dragon skull, and a ghastly gaderffii baton. The spacer entered the cave to search for the relics, but was discovered and attacked by several Tusken relic guards after stealing the final item. Nonetheless, the sentient escaped, and returned to Mos Espa to deliver the items to Srimaur.

When the spacer informed Srimaur about being discovered, he knew that the Tuskens would seek retribution for the theft of their relics. He asked the spacer to rally a group of fighters, and speak with Kav Goldor, leader of the Mos Espa Militia. Goldor was shocked to hear about the approaching hoard of Tusken Raiders, and pleaded with the spacers to aid in the city's defense. Feeling it was the least they could do, the spacers agreed to help, and regrouped on the outskirts of town to formulate a strategy with Goldor.

The battle
"All right, the first squad of your new militia will arrive soon."

- Major Berok Skoff

While Kav Goldor and a group of spacers planned their response to the Tusken threat, the raiders invaded the city and drove out most of the civilian population. Goldor and the spacers began their attack by retaking the city's cantina and using it as a staging area for the continued liberation of the other key buildings within the city. While at least one of the spacers stayed inside the cantina to defend Goldor, the rest went out into the city to liberate the starport, university, medical center, hotel, cloning center, the combat guild hall, and the Toydarian Watto's junk shop from the Tuskens which occupied them. As Tuskens poured into the cantina in an attempt to kill Goldor, the spacers knew that defense would be a failure if the seasoned militiaman were to die.

When the spacers eradicated all Tuskens from the six key buildings, the populace began to reenter the city, and the Tuskens ceased their relentless assault on Goldor, who had only suffered a bruised knee after falling off a bar stool. However, the liberation of Mos Espa was still far from complete. Countless more Tusken warriors began to pour into the city, forcing many of the civilians to flee to the safety of the city's hotel. In order to secure the liberation of Mos Espa, expert citizens had to be mobilized by the spacers to the six key buildings. These experts were stationed in the slums near Watto's junk shop, a lone house in the middle of town, and a mansion. These three areas were constantly attacked by the Tusken's in an attempt to kill the experts. However, the three areas were well defended by the spacers, allowing a group of experts to reach each of the city's key facilities. While the city remained under attack, expert citizens reached the combat hall to aid the Human, Major Berok Skoff in upgrading the militia's equipment, and training them for combat. Some reached Watto's shop to help produce and arm an armada of pit droids to act as a deterrent to further Tusken attacks. Others reached the medical center, cloning center, and university, to mobilize expert medics and learn as much about the Tusken's weaknesses as possible. The Human Rebel, Commander Da'la Socuna of the Crimson Phoenix Squadron, oversaw the scholars who researched information on the indigenous sandpeople. Those which reached the starport were able to assist as ground crew to launch Human pilot Macy Malo in her BTL Y-wing starfighter, who then proceeded to execute a bombing run over the city against the Tuskens.

When each of the key buildings were fully staffed, Goldor called on all spacers, militia, and droids to rally near the cantina to fight off one final push led by the Tusken King himself. As the denizens of Mos Espa waited and prepared, five Tusken Warlords fought to make way for the King, but were defeated. Finally, the Tusken King marched toward the collected force with four of his Tusken Honor Guards. In a final, epic clash, the King and his followers engaged the large number of citizens defending the city. The fierce battle eventually ended, when the King was successfully slain. With their leader dead, the remaining Tuskens either retreated, or were killed off. Finally, the liberation of Mos Espa was complete.

Aftermath
"But let us not forget to keep the receipts."

- Watto, after producing a number of pit droids to defend the city.

The city of Mos Espa sustained minimal damage during the attack. On the other hand, the Tuskens suffered heavy losses during the battle, including the death of their King and his honor guard. Exact casualty numbers among the Mos Espa citizenry were never accounted for, but it is known that no more than ten were killed. The same could not be said for the militia, which very well could have included a sizable number of deaths. The spacers largely responsible for the successful defense of the city were commended for their efforts. Each of the spacers received the Mos Espa Token of Heroism for their selfless defense of the city. Several interesting and powerful items and weapons were also looted from the Tusken King's corpse, including his Rucksack and elite versions of the Tusken Cycler rifle and gaderffii baton.

Behind the scenes
The Battle of Mos Espa first appeared in the 2003 video game Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, a massively multiplayer online-role playing game developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts, prior to its closure on December 15, 2011. It was added to the game as a high level combat challenge known as a "Heroic Encounter" on November 1, 2007 as part of the Chapter 7: A Collection of Heroes game update. The encounter was named Tusken Army in the game. The battle was also recreated in a special Heroic Encounter scenario for the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game expansion set Squadrons Over Corellia released in December of 2008. Players who completed the trading card game scenario would receive the Rucksack of the Tusken King loot card. The Trading Card Game was also shut down alongside Star Wars Galaxies.

Before accessing the encounter, players were required to finish a pre-quest for Srimaur, involving the theft of three Tusken relics. Once completed, players could group up with other players who met the prerequisites to perform the encounter. The first phase of the encounter required the defense of Kav Goldor in the Mos Espa cantina, while the other players liberated six key structures spread throughout the city. The death of Goldor would result in the failure of the mission. The second phase required the deliverance of three expert citizens to each of the key structures. The deaths of ten citizens would also result in a mission failure. During the last phase, all of the players and non-player characters tasked with defending the city would rally near the cantina for a final battle against the Tusken King. Killing the Tusken King would result in the success of the Heroic Encounter.

Players who completed the encounter would receive a Mos Espa Token of Heroism which could be used to buy rewards for their character at the township of Aurilia on Dathomir. Additionally, killing the Tusken King gave the player's character a point to their critical hit reduction combat statistic, reducing the chance an enemy would critically strike them. This effect could be gained up to a maximum ten times per character. The Tusken King had several highly sought after loot items, including the aforementioned rucksack, rifle, and baton. Additionally, players could loot anywhere from 150,000 to 200,000 credits from the King. These credits were evenly split among all players present at the time of his death, depending on the group loot settings. Hirce Tharnam and hotel manager Javran Mu were listed in the Star Wars Galaxies TRE files as characters involved in the Tusken Army encounter, but they never actually appeared in the game. Although players could choose not to do the Tusken Army pre-quest or Heroic Encounter, this article assumes 100% game completion.