The Kherson Lifeline, A homage to spyVspy's The Xinjang Lifeline Options

[Lars]

3rd Guards Tank Army Headquarters, Kherson, Kherson Oblast, Ukraine
August 4, 2046 - 2200 Hours

"Greetings Comrade General. Let us eschew the formalities and go ahead with your briefing, shall we? God knows we have enough to deal with as it is what with the war in the west."

"Just over two days ago, one of our outposts out in the Oleshky Sands reported hostile contact with unidentified forces, later positively identified as GLA. Further air recon missions were conducted and we very quickly learned that the enemy has AAA in abundance; what we've gleamed from those who did return however tell us that the force we're dealing with is at the very least division-sized. We have little clue as to how a force this big got into the country in the first place, but our intelligence organs suspect that they pulled the same freighter trick with us as they did with the Europeans back in the 2020s; as to how they were able to completely conceal their movements for as long as they did and us not knowing of it sooner - Well, I'm sure the Kremlin is already cracking skulls as we speak. That's not what's important right now; what is important is that they're here in force and have a solid foothold this close to the Rodina. This cannot stand; the Kremlin will not allow it. We will not allow it."

"Your orders are this: Relieve the remaining forces stationed in the outpost and take command. Henceforth you are tasked with scouring the canyons of any enemy presence. How you do this is up to you; only that you leave no stone unturned until every single trace of GLA is hounded, cornered, and destroyed. You have been afforded the freedom of completing this operation by any means you see fit.

"Elements from the 1st and 3rd Guards will assist you in this battle. Overall command has been turned over to you for the duration of this operation. Reinforcement will have to come by rail; we cannot afford to risk our aircraft. To this end, another of your primary objectives is to secure a safe passage for the trains. If the GLA get their hands on the materiel in those trains, it could be potentially disastrous for us."

"I will continue to provide you with intel as the operation progresses from our HQ here. You leave as soon as the first train is ready to set off. Good Luck Comrade General. Remember: Failure is not an option."

And that does it for the long-winded briefing. This is a singleplayer mission made in homage and based off the (god knows how old) spyVspy map "The Xinjang Lifeline" for the original Generals but with the scripts retooled for ROTR's Russia faction and quite a few tweaks of my own, using 1.87 features and units. All credit for the gorgeous detailing and such of the original map is his.

For those familiar with the map, the main changes are:
1. Obviously, this time you play as Russia.
2. Tons of cosmetic additions and changes that I think you'll approve of.
3. I've made it significantly harder compared to the original; it isn't particularly difficult though.
4. New units for the GLA, including their Interceptors!
5. A side mission that'll help cracking the main base easier on you.

All in all, this is mainly a map for people who like to role play/take it easy. For the best experience, don't play it seriously and keep your OP Russian unit count (Golems, Sentinels) to a minimum and take it easy with the "Screw Everything in this Area" Generals Powers. LARPing is fun! The way it's set up means that the attack on the main base will be a protracted siege of sorts unless you somehow manage to insert a strike force inside the enemy's base, but only some sort of tactical genius could hav-CREEEEEEED!. Considering how powerful Russian units are though, this shouldn't be much of a challenge. (Doesn't mean you should underestimate it when you try to attack the main base though.)

Hints:
1. The more trains the GLA destroy, the more powerful they get. That means cracking the main base will be made all the more harder with the addition of new defences and recycler upgrades for GLA attack teams.
2. If you manage to complete the side mission, the GLA's flow of income will be severely reduced in more ways than one. (They no longer get money from destroying the trains)
3. Interceptors are scripted to go after AA units first, then other air units second, then things (mostly MTPs and transports) they can actually hurt third.
4. The GLA main base has had time to make itself very heavily dug-in. Make sure to bring Mishkas and protect them, Interceptors have a high target priority on them. You'll have to dislodge GLA forces from the hills surrounding the main base as well.
5. Watch out for ambushes near ruins and such.
6. Karman Jell will troll you with his Stinger from time to time when you enter his domain.

Download Link (Night and Morning ver.):
http://www.mediafire.com/file/zmclu6omyt15...on+Lifeline.zip

Problems:
1. For some reason, the map lagged very heavily when I set the Grads to guard in a specific way and I couldn't find a solution. That's why their guard range is very limited in this one. You'll most likely kill them with counter-arty without resistance. As per my suggestion, if you want to make it harder for yourself, you could just leave them alone. They're stationed on chokepoints anyway.
2. Initially planned to include the helicopters in this, but their scripts somehow couldn't work with the Interceptor's scripts and neither were produced. When I tried to get around this with spawning scripts, the game enters into a loop and spawns infinite instances of the same team at the same point. Lag was so much so as to be unplayable.

All feedback and advice on the issues listed is welcome! This was my first map and my first time fiddling around with World builder, so I hope you enjoy the fruit of my efforts!

This post has been edited by Lars: 29 Jan 2017, 12:39

[Lars]

Please do report any bugs or issues you may find.

[five star genera...]

Please do report any bugs or issues you may find.

Here is how i saw this mission

I played version 1 on ROTR 1.86 and this is review of that version.
This review is written in good will and hope it will help developer in his future work.

Mission technicality
First that we se on missions are intros but there is non here thats a minus.
Tech tree has no limitations aside you cant build CC not sure is that intentional or
not. (Developer couldnt find faction Russia in WB).
Also looks amateur you can see CC but cant build one also a minus.
I would remove tesla stuff and airfield for Russia.
Radar is weird because camera do not reset, its fixable by just clicking on number 5
but it should be done in WB to look professional. Also minus.
So for mission technicality 6/10

The idea of the mission with the train is good love it but the problem is that even if carts get destroyed
player still gets resources. In that case no resources spawn for player at train station.
This is how i would do it-

Really like GLA ai with ambushes and guerilla attacks.
9/10 for idea.

AI difficulty is good maybe if those guerilla attacks be more stronger but thats just me 10/10.
Finished this mission in 90 minutes with no problem at all, played a lot harder missions than this.
Never even used savegame.

Gameplay was dynamic just spawn sentinels and msta from wf and hinds from choppers production building
cant remember its name.
Those three units are stars of this mission and i wouldnt change much in tech tree or add tech
reinforcement structures.

Enemy base had good amount of defenses to keep me from just rush it love mine placing 10/10.

Map classic desert area with nice bottlenecks rate 10/10.

All in all i had a lot of fun with this mission and i rate this mission 7/10.
If those technicality stuff would be fixed i would give it 9/10.
When i rate missions i consider all missions made with ZH world biulder and missions like
The prototype and introducing the gang of four are to me the best missions ever made in ZH WB.
And no they are not made by me, so i just cant rate any mission that is below those 10/10.
Those missions are so special at least to me.

Also if you want need any help in the future with the missions i would be happy to help you.