New Allied mission for RA mod - Normandy

[umairazfar]

This is the first version of the map. Please play it and let me know of any bugs and suggestions. You can get it from here

[CannerZ45]

First off, this version I'm so keeping! I really like what this version of the map is saying; "Sure we're brutally-difficult as hell, but hey look ,you could totally win on a technicality!".

As seen on the image given, one can win the mission on the virtue that those concrete walls are technically yours and are recognized as parts of your base. The enemy doesn't give a cuss about those existing either. I think that's a priority for your fixin'.

As for a more personal gripes, my three big irks are the walled-off ore fields, the pacing of the enemy reinforcements, and how those two greatly compound on each other.

The walled-off ore fields are a bother for two things; it kept the fields small, and given that the entrance is a one-unit size, it tends to quickly clog up when I add more harvesters. This means it's really difficult to make a proper flow of income throughout the mission. I thought up of a couple of solutions here;
-you totally remove the walls, and spread the ore more, join the two fields through northwest.
or;
-(as with the provided illustration) join the two walls(highlighted in white), then remove the inner ones(highlighted in red) to make it, one big, walled ore field. Also widen up the ore field's entrance by at least, a single unit more(highlighted in green) so that the harvesters won't get jammed up.
or;
-simply add more oil derricks.
(as a minor note, you might also want to adjust the walls from the north and the west, as they are on the map void)

Now, I totally understand if you really meant for that mission to be, 'economically gripping'. But then, that problem is seriously exacerbated by the pacing of the enemy reinforcements. First wave paratroops and it's already top ranks; shok troopers, snipers and flamethrowers. Meanwhile, half a minute later and i'm already fending off heavy and tesla tanks from the beach. When flankers are a bunch of solid structure destroyers, and the main force are bullet sponges and ranged attackers. It really feels like there's no way it's ever in the player's favor...for a singleplayer mission.

My proposition here is that you make a lot of different enemy reinforcements/strikeforce, and queue them up in order of difficulty. This reminded me of the first ant mission in Red Alert, the game start up by giving the player sample targets, enough to keep the player alerted, but not overwhelmed early on. Give the player time to either build a decent defensive force, or a stable economic flow. By the fifteen-sixteen minute mark. Start the actual invasion, introduce the heavy hitters but do not bring like, six of it already, save those for the finale. Slowly build it up as a reminder to the player that he/she must never slack off, but not too much that says any effort is practically useless.

Alright, now I noticed this is starting to get long. But understand, by now this is my seventh failed attempt. I'm having fun with it, in a "Don't Starve" kind of way. So far, my only comfort is the "technically, the wall's owned by me so i still win" bug. The best I did in keeping the base intact is fourteen minutes.

Hope these help.

[umairazfar]

Thanks for the excellent feedback.

I think I shall make the walls neutral, then that should fix the walls bug. That should not have happened as I set the condition that if the base structures are destroyed, the mission ends in failure (A total of 13 structures)

With that said, the economic lock-down is indeed intentional. You do not need to make more harvesters, just capture the oil derricks quickly and you are good to go. You should prioritize defending them however and also your left and right flanks

moving your mcv around the map and putting down defenses can do wonders I think you did not think about that. Also artillery and helicopter combo also produces good results. helicopters for sight, arty for shooting over the walls there are plenty of choke points

I have tried the map 3 times now after I posted it online and have been able to finish it, so it is doable.

btw, what actually happens in this map is that the frequency by which the forces arrive gets faster with each passing minute. In the beginning, the delay is 72 seconds which goes down to about 40 seconds by the end.

the minelayer also helps in the beginning. You can ctrl + right click to designate a large area for it to mine. it keeps placing mines till the area is filled. I dont know if you knew that.

[CannerZ45]

Yeah, you're right, I guess this particular mission shows my inherent weakness; not much for sea and air. Way too often I focus on the ground, reason why I'd rather opt for team games during LAN games here. Often fall either in the cannon-fodder or defensive role. X/

Alright, i'll see what I can bring up with the new info.

(also yeah, I, indeed, NOT know you could do that with the minelayer!)

[umairazfar]

Just a screenshot