CHAPTERFOUR

Lessenthe missions that require to clear all enemies.

The Subfactions’ Capitals And Example MissionsThere:

THEALLIED BLOC

Pacific Armies

Kyoto (nothinghappens in Tokyo): “The Gardener”.

North America

Washington,D.C.: “Red Dawn Rising”.

Euro Alliance

London:“Godsend”.

THESOVIET EMPIRE

Havana Kingdom

Havana:“Killing Fields” (redesigned).

Russian Khanate

Moscow:“The Conqueror”.

Korea-Kashmir

Shanghai(nothing happens in Beijing): “Power Hunger”.

THEEPSILON DOMAIN

Scorpion Cell

Bissau:“Obsidian Sands”.

Psi Corps

TranquilityBase (even Totoya Island is better than Moscow): “Earthrise”.

Antarctic Castles

SouthPole: “Hamartia”? “Babel”?

THE FOEHNREVOLT

Hai Head

KashmirHome Base?: “Thread of Dread”.

Coronian Hurricanes

Coronia: TBD.

Last Home

Alert(the perfect location, much better than Alaska): TBD. (How about “Alert!Alert!”?)

Where And Why Is Alert?

“Alert,

in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada, is the northernmost permanently

inhabited place in the world.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alert,_Nunavut)

Alert isnorth of Deven Island, where “Idle Gossip” occurs.

Bycontrast, Alaska is not north enough (most areas are even out of the ArcticCircle), and too extensive to be a capital.

What’smore, this MOD is based on “Red Alert 2”. How can you imagine a place betterthan “Alert” itself?

Last Homecan be set:

Plan A

The wholestrip from Bering Sea to Nares Strait (even to Greenland?).

Plan B

Somestrongholds between them.

Plan C

Only thearea around Alert.

Fanmissions can have whatever sets the authors like. However, the officialmissions had better not contradict the subfaction frame, which the skirmishrelies on.

Rashidimay change his allegiance from time to time, even become of the boss of Foehn.KK may usurp RK’s throne of the Soviet Empire. Everyone may win or lose. Anyway,they are all backgrounds, not the skirmish itself.

However,SC and Malver had better belong to Epsilon at the end of the day, no matterwhether Epsilon, including SC, finally succeeds or fails. We may set Malverbreaks up with Rashidi and the remaining SC splits. The part following Rashidi,which may also include some Americans, is integrated into Foehn. The otherpart, after “Neuromancers” and “Nightcrawler”, still holds the name and theterritory, as a subfaction of Epsilon. And Malver, (re)affirming “My blade forYuri”, becomes the new leader of SC.

Similarly,Yunru founds Foehn and forsakes KK, but she eventually rejoins KK, perhaps forthe sake of her parents, to whom KK’s carrot and stick approach works.

zj 1.0.6:Perhaps the Prime Minister of KK is mind-controlled, and this is a trap.Perhaps Rashidi is marginalizing Yunru within Foehn.

zj 1.0.8:

To retain Yunru in KK, we may create a new campaign hero(ine) named “Zhongjie”(終結), who leeches KK, founds Foehn and isLibra’s antagonist. At the same time, Yunru is less dramatic.

“終結” means “end, terminate, finish, shut

down”. The game “Mental Omega” is just translated as “心靈終結”. So “Zhongjie” is an appropriate name

of the first antagonist, as “Libra” is the name of the first protagonist. In

contrast, “Yunru” lacks this sort of connotation and colouring. What’s worse, “Yunru”

has too many Chinese translations (云茹, 雲如, 芸如, 蕓茹, etc.) and each translation has its inflexible “Red Guards” (or “Yun

Guards”). BTW, https://moapyr.fandom.com/wiki/Yunru says “[h]er

name means ‘cloud-like’ in Mandarin”. If so, her name should be “雲如” not “云茹” (theofficial translation).

Furthermore,Libra goes berserk and attacks anyone indiscriminately in “Machinehead” and“Blood Rage”. This effect is way closer to Zhongjie’s Confusion rifle thanYunru’s Immobilizer.

The

pronunciations of “Zhong (終)” and

“Jie (結)” are [tʂuŋ55] and [tɕiɛ35] respectively.

So doNorio and Zhang-Jian. If they die, they had better die as PA’s infantry.

zj 1.0.8:Flint Westwood may be set as Allied campaign hero that joins Foehn.

The Divergence of Divergences (zj 1.0.8)

The cloak-and-daggerstory is charming. However, if everyone is cunning and ambitious, everything isconspiratorial and complicated, the story is ruined. Different charactersshould have different personalities. Different betrayals should have differentplots, and even some “betrayals” may not be betrayals from certain views.

1. Noriotemporarily leaves PA

NorioPUBLICLY opposes the non-aggression pact that Commander-in-Chief (a Koreanwoman?) of Pacific Armies signs with KK. Norio not only leads the resistancemovement against Sino-Pacific forces (“Think Different”, “Eclipse”), but also personallyhelps RK and sells out the pact (“Unshakeable”). Furthermore, Norio secretly backsRashidi in “Singularity”.

After KKis expelled from Kagoshima (“Unshakeable”), PA fails to invade RK(“Dragonstorm”), and finally the pact breaks (“Singularity”), Norio returns toPA in triumph.

2. Zhang-Jianleaves KK

Dr. Yunrupicks Zhang-Jian, who holds a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from ScU, for theScU Sub project, which is led by Yunru herself.

Later whenKK and PA becomes de facto allies, a cluster of KK Technicians, including Zhang-Jian,are assigned to Kanegawa Industries, CEO of which Zhongjie has been appointed. (In“Eclipse”, one of these Technicians tries to decode Future Tanks.)

WhenZhang-Jian works in Okawa Falls, an Australian she-wolf discovers that he isnot only a bachelor but also won’t refuse to be hen-pecked and a naturalizedsubject of PA. Therefore she marries him. (Although it’s rare, thenaturalization is easy and inconspicuous, since PA and KK are enjoying theirown honeymoon too.)

On one occasionwhen Zhang-Jian and his wife goes to Australia, RK with Norio’s aid drives KK forces,including Zhongjie, away from Kagoshima (“Unshakeable”). Soon the shady romancebetween PA and KK turns out to be the bloody divorce (“Singularity”). ThenZhang-Jian loses his connections with KK.

Now Commander-in-Chiefdesperately needs both something as the fruit of her foreign policy and someoneto balance Norio. And she chooses Zhang-Jian, because he came from KK as herally, took the oath of allegiance on her watch, does research at KI, has a PAfamily, and is willing to be in her pocket.

As areward, Zhang-Jian is prompted “from zero to hero” and furnished with advancedKI weapons.

By the

way, all the characters with academic titles are: Prof. Einstein, Assoc. Prof.

Siegfried, Dr. Yunru, B.S. Zhang-Jian, LL.B. Norio (Sorry, I barely know 若本規夫 早稲田大学法学部を卒業).

3. Yuri leavesSoviet

How aboutthat the “friendship” between Yuri and Romanov is of convenience from day one?

4. Zhongjieleaves KK

The PrimeMinister, Yunru, Zhongjie and the Snow Leopards ...

I inventthe fictional name, “the Snow Leopards”, to replace “ROC Rebels” / “TheRepublic of China”.

“[V]ast

majority of snow leopards reside in China. They are more commonly found in the

Himalayan mountain range” (https://animals.net/snow-leopard/) And theso-called “ROC Rebels” appears in Tibet (Xizang).

The name,“the Snow Leopards”, imitates “the Tamil Tigers” and “the Black Panthers”, bothof which are / were anti-government forces.

How aboutZhongjie is behind the Snow Leopards, and when Zhongjie completely secedes fromKorea-Kashmir, the Snow Leopards reveals itself as Zhongjie’s Guards under theFoehn banner (“Nobody Home”)?

By theway, we may set the Babel can’t affect the Arctic as well as Himalayas, Alps andother great mountains, where some Act Three missions occur.

5. Rashidileaves Yuri

Ratherthan saying Rashidi betrays Yuri, let’s say SC, when controlled by Rashidi, onlycooperates with Epsilon. From Rashidi’s perspective, he isn’t Yuri’s vassal,and he works with Yuri just as he works with Zhongjie, Soviet, and Allied.Rashidi, the technical geek, is willing to make friends with anyone as long as he/shesupports his research.

FromYuri’s perspective, Rashidi is unfaithful and insubordinate, he has to toleratethe love rat at the beginning, but later must take over SC and punish theso-called Miracle Man, who turns out to have a foot in all camps. After“Obsidian Sands”, “Neuromancers” and “Nightcrawler”, Rashidi is ousted, and SC reallyaffiliates to Epsilon (e.g. in “Brothers in Arms”).

6. Malverleaves Rashidi

“Nothinglasts forever.”

Malver,belonging in desert, isn’t used to the cold. Simply by virtue of this, hisfriendship with Rashidi freezes, after the neurotoxin is delivered (i.e. after Malverfulfills his obligation).

“Even themighty shall fall.”

Malver“live[s] out most of his life in solitude” and doesn’t care whether the globehas a boss or who is that boss.

When Yuriwarmly offers him the position of the head of SC, main of which is already in Yuri’sgrasp, and exempts him from the duties in frigid zones, Malver has few reasonsto say no.

ForMalver and Yuri, it’s “it takes one to know one”, it’s “live and let live”, andit’s a win-win.

Malver isnot a big fan of Yuri, but he is not a big foe either, as long as Yuri leaveshim in peace. On the other hand, Yuri makes a good deal to trade a position forrecruiting Malver as well as SC rebels marshaled by him and shifting the dailymanagement of SC onto Malver.

Compare thetraits of Zhang-Jian and Malver.

Both aremale but non-aggressive, and both change their allegiance unintendedly.However, they have many basic differences:

α Social interaction.Zhang-Jian is extrovert, often involved with someone or something. Malver isintrovert, even reclusive.

β

Adaption. Zhang-Jian lives well in various circumstances (e.g. Kashmir, China,

Korea, Japan, Australia). Malver prefers and thrives on deserts just like a

scorpion.

γ Intelligence.Zhang-Jian is book smart, full of allusions and quotations. Malver is “desertsmart”, deep in Meditation.

δSpecialization. Zhang-Jian indeed is a talented scientist, but has never reached“summa cum laude”. Malver is one of the only three most powerful psychics(Malver, Yuri and Libra). And he has completely mastered all his abilities(including stealth and swimming) before he meets Rashidi or Yuri.

εLeadership. Zhang-Jian has no leadership at all. In fact, he is always led byothers, even tied to his wife’s apron strings. Malver has charismaticleadership. Even in unfavorable conditions, he can organize a troop and win abattle (“Survivors”). Both Rashidi and Yuri call him up to run SC.

ζIndependence. “Help me, help you.” is Zhang-Jian’s creed. On one hand, Zhang-Jiancan’t support himself. On the other hand, a lot of things would be impossibleif Zhang-Jian weren’t there. Malver is autonomous. When assisting Rashidi,Malver doesn’t have to protect him in Bissau. Later Malver voluntarily mobilizes“Survivors” to do him a favor. Then Malver suspends their friendship. Whenrepresenting Yuri, Malver is free from his presence in the polar regions. Bycontrast, Libra, Space Commando and Rahn are not merely Yuri’s agents, but alsohis creatures, and therefore have infinite obligations.

Inaddition, the external factors are different. Zhang-Jian changes hisnationality when the relationship between KK and PA flourishes. Malver acceptshis new role when the relationship between Rashidi and Yuri sours.

7. Romanovrebels against NA

8. FlintWestwood leaves Allied

AfterAllied expedition forces perishes in Antarctica (“Hamartia”), Flint Westwood, leadingresidual Allied militia, joins the Foehn Revolt.

9. ArnieFrankenfurter leaves Allied

AboutHollywood action hero joining HK, one is enough.

PerhapsArnie Frankenfurter wants to join the winning side?

10. KKrebels against RK

Epsilon Missions

Since Yurihas already “long been criticized by the High Command” and “does not haveclearance to the Weapons Protocol” and has to flee after stealing a Stalin’sFist, it’s weird that the Proselyte commands so many Soviet units, even SovietMCVs, particularly when the operations are behind Soviet’s back. -- All theSoviet’s units can and should either be replaced by Epsilon’s or controlled byAI (“Warranty Void” is an exception, because of the Snow Leopards).

TheProselytes never officially work along with Russians, even if some actions mightbe temporarily beneficial to RK in one way or two. In fact, the first time theProselyte enters the inland of Russian Khanate is in “the Conqueror” as a“tourist” to “watch” the Soviet Victory Parade. Before that, the Proselytemerely touches some borders in “Human Shield”, “Focus Shift”, “Brain Reset” and“Moonlight” (not long ago when two Proselytes carried out “Television Lie”,Kazakhstan was even occupied by NA yet).

Yurihimself isn’t a Russian but a Romanian (“Memory Dealer”). And when the ThirdGreat War starts, he is just a Kremlin adviser and the director of a department(Psi Corps), which Khan Romanov is considering to dissolve.

Thepartners Yuri chooses, from the Proselytes to Rashidi to Malver, are notRussians either. Within RK, Yuri only has his soldiers (Epsilon Adepts) and onefriend or two (for the sake of “Brian Reset”).

“Accelerate”

The onlyobject is to capture or destroy Artillery Bunkers before the Soviet tankdivision arrives, and at least one Epsilon Adept lives.

The lastthing Yuri wants is that RK uncovers he has a new “comrade” who is no Soviet atall, especially when Yuri himself is in a “fragile position”.

“Scrapyard”

Plan A:Replace the Borillo with the prototype Driller, which must survive.

Plan B:Replace Epsilon Adepts with Epsilon Elites, at least one Elite must survive. --We may say Yuri has secretly trained several Elites, and appoint them to theProselyte. Working for oneself is very different from working for others, letalone for those you want to kill.

When theProselyte's funds are collected to 10,000, Rashidi builds up an EpsilonBarrack, as both a show-off of his engineering and a sign to associate himselfwith Yuri. Now the Proselyte can train Initiates and Archers (and Engineers?).

Toaccomplish the mission, the Epsilon Barrack must be built and conserved.

Duringthe whole mission, the player cannot control Stalin’s Fist and Rashidi, butmust protect them.

Rashidican buff you and will call in some Mantis Tanks, Gatling Tanks and PiranhaMinisubs at certain stages.

“HumanShield”

Since thegoal is to use Allied as the human shield, the Epsilon Adepts should use anAllied transport to both arrive and leave. So, at the start, the Proselyteneeds to command a Hijacker to get a Stallion, then uses the Stallion totransport the Adepts to the battlefield. At the end, the player needs theStallion to withdraw.

Aftermath:The Stallion will be used to evacuate Rahn in “Huehuecoyotl”.

“ThinkDifferent”

As thepartner of KK’s invading force, six Epsilon Adepts reach Kanegawa Industries bya KK’s Pangolin (zj 1.1.2). Once Korea-Kashmir establishes its ConstructionYard, a horde of Pacific Armies’ engineers will try to capture it. Here theplayer has two choices.

1. Usepsychic blast to help your ally, KK, out. As long as KK keeps its ConstructionYard, KK will send abundant reinforcement periodically, which will finallyoccupy Kagoshima. All the player needs to do is to infiltrate PA’s Avant-gardeSkyscraper (plus Remote Command, Experimental Warpshop, and Construction Yardnow) before they’re destroyed by KK. Your Epsilon Adepts can mind-controleither PA’s Spies or KK’s Saboteurs to complete the mission.

2.Mind-control several PA’s engineers, and wait the rest to capture KK’sConstruction Yard. Then re-capture KK’s Construction Yard. The player candefeat PA himself/herself, as in 3.3.4. (The only object is to infiltrate thecritical buildings though.)

Now differentplayers can think differently.

“KillingFields”

In orderto gather intelligence on Senior Bomb Pilot, Rashidi goes to Havana as a“merchant”. Near the success of the espionage, Rashidi is spotted and arrestedby Havana Kingdom. And HK is about to execute Rashidi in HK Capital’s killingfields.

Luckily,a squad of Epsilon Adepts, as HK’s “ally”, has arrived in Havana. They want somecondemned prisoners for experiments, and visit the killing fields.

The Proselytemust find Rashidi and escort him into the cargo plane within a limited time andwithout any conflict (you mustn’t kill anyone and Rashidi must avoid any HK’sfire before aboard). For instance, when two Tesla Troopers (Attack range 7.5)are charging a Tesla Coil (Attack range 8), an Adept can mind-control one TeslaTrooper and move it somewhere else, then Rashidi can pass through the side.

How aboutthe player cannot control Rashidi during the mission and he automatically walk intothe cargo plane after the Proselyte meet him in the prison, like in “FocusShift”? (The mechanism is the player and HK are allies, while Rashidi is theenemy of the two.) It’s said Ares is fixing the pathfinding AI, I wish itsuccessful.

Aftermath:Digesting the information obtained from HK, Rashidi and Yuri are able to trainBloaticks.

zj 1.0.8zj 1.1.2 (new background):

In orderto deal with Americans in Africa, Rashidi not only collaborates with Yuri, butalso goes to Havana for help.

Yuri mustprevent SC-HK alliance. Taking the advantage of being a senior cadre of Soviet,he disinforms HK that Rashidi is an Allied spy. Meanwhile HK itself noticesRashidi has some questionable activities, which seem to also involve Norio. Consequently,Havana arrests Rashidi and is going to interrogate him.

Right nowYuri cannot lose Rashidi or let HK get any information out of Rashidi.

Proselyte,rescue Rashidi from the killing fields before the interrogation ever happens. ShowRashidi what side his bread is buttered on. Meanwhile, make the thing look likethe “Allied spy” breaks the prison, so that HK really doesn’t trust Rashidi andmaintains confidence in Yuri.

“FocusShift” (zj 1.0.7)

The THREETopol-M Launchers are stationed and protected in Kemerovo Oblast by Russians (oneof the two MIDAS has been fired in “Road to Nowhere”). However, RK, Yuri,Allied and KK all know the Launchers’ whereabouts, and have their own schemes(some of which have been executed already). -- If Yuri first had hidden twoLaunchers and later handed them over to Kremlin, then he voluntarily confessed hehad committed a crime that was more serious than stealing a Stalin’s Fist.

Onlyafter KK riots, Epsilon Adepts and the Proselyte are reluctantly allowed toenter the battlefield. Even so, none of RK’s arsenal, from the Topol-M Launcherto the Repair Drone, is directly under the player’s command.

Thanks tothe chaos, the Soviet General pays little attention to the Proselyte.

“BrainReset” (zj 1.0.7)

Let’s saythe Soviet General in charge of Southern Primorsky Krai happens to be a friendof Yuri’s. In addition, Yuri is still a senior cadre, at least nominally. Sothe Palace here, which is far from Moscow, “is within Psi Corps' reach”, andthe two Proselytes, on Yuri’s behalf, come to help the general in the face of Sino-Pacificinvasion.

Aftermath:The general is purged because of the loss of Southern Primorsky Krai and his/herpersonal ties with Yuri.

zj 1.1.2:

The general approves the collaboration without Kremlin’s permission, because

he/she thinks he/she will win and “Победителей не судят.” (The winners arenot to be judged. / There’s no condemnation for winners.)

By theway, Soviet Mission “Dragon Storm” had better be set after “Brian Reset”. KKand PA need to move from Southern Primorsky Krai to Northern Primorsky Krai. In“Dragon Storm”, Soviet has already lost access to Yuri’s tech.

“Singularly”(zj 1.0.8)

Yurithinks “Rashidi has come out in full support of me. As gratitude for rescuinghim from [Havana], he asked his best friend and assassin, Malver, to help usout.”

However,it’s only half true. Rashidi did fail to collude with HK, but succeeded in shakinghands with Norio behind the scenes, who also asks Rashidi to undermine theSino-Pacific pact.

“RushTactics” (zj 1.0.8)

Theconvoy should move from South Korea (bottom) to North Korea (top). The mapshould rotate 90 degrees. (zj 1.1.2)

After theconvoy leaves the bottom outpost, player A and B respectively gets six (mental)/ nine (normal) / twelve (easy) engineers sent into the outpost by driller.

Thebottom outpost now has one Construction Yard (no access to T3), one Barrack,one Shipyard, one War Factory, one Remote Command, one Airbase (unable to becaptured), a few Power Plants, a few Tech Oil Derricks, one Tech ParatrooperLiaison Office, one Tech Missile Bunker, one Tech Secret Lab (Battle Tortoise),two Tech Turrets, one Tech Artillery Bunker, two Tech SAM Sites, one TechConcrete Bunker.

If andonly if the Construction Yard is captured, PA will paradrop infantry andvehicles to destroy or recapture the outpost.

Various tactics.

Proselytes,catch up and destroy all the Hailstorms.

The escortunits won’t leave (disappear) until the last Hailstorm leaves.

No moreSoviet MCVs at all.

Aftermath:Norio’s calculation is: tacitly sparking the war in the Korea DMZ, and thendeploying the Hailstorm regiment to win the war, and then himself becomingCommander-in-Chief. Now as a result of Psi Corps’ “Rush Tactics”, Norio partlyloses his momentum both at home and abroad, while Commander-in-Chief secures herposition.

“Moonlight”(zj 1.0.7)

Insteadof being offered a RK MCV, the player can train RK MCVs after capturing both RKWar Factory and Field Bureau.

Aftermath:Although Russians now know Yuri was behind recent events, they still don’t knowthe Proselyte standing beside Yuri. And they won’t declare Yuri as an enemy,because they need to lie to the entire world that Yuri’s psychic and gene techsare components of their arsenal. No matter, Yuri now invite you to enjoy theamalgamation of fire (the Sahara) and ice (the Antarctic) with him.

“TheConqueror”

zj 1.0.7:

Thereinforcements sent by Drillers should not contain any Soviet soldiers.

Ratherthan an Epsilon Construction Yard, the player is given more engineers.

zj 1.0.8:

No moreSC, merely AC (the player) and PC (AI).

This isthe debut of Antarctic Castles.

AC:Stalin’s Fist (produce Opus Tank, Gatling Tank, Stinger, Ghost Miner), ShadowTanks, Drillers, Initiates, Archers, Engineers, Adepts, Duneriders, Viruses.

PC:Drillers, Initiates, Archers, Engineers, Elites, Duneriders, Viruses, Yuri.

ShadowTank reinforcement (except the initial) only comes from the left outpost, whereTopol-M platforms are evacuated.

“Divergence”(zj 1.0.8)

After retakingthe PC outpost, Malver will retreat.

“LizardBrain” (zj 1.0.8)

SinceOpus Tanks make the debut in “Conqueror” now, replace Opus Tank prototype withScavenger prototype?

“ObsidianSands” (zj 1.0.7)

Rashidishould own the Stalin’s Fist, which Yuri has given to him.

Rashidishould have some NA weapons (like in “Ghost Hunt”) and PA weapons (like in “TheGreat Beyond”).

Rashidishould command a battalion of Foehn troops, not just one Jackal Racer. Afterall, he is a co-founder of the Foehn Revolt.

Soviet Missions

“Archetype”(zj 1.0.8)

Moralesdoesn’t come to Ukraine for nothing. Chitzkoi is HK’s spoils. Later HK willimprove it to Cyborg Culpeo.

SinceMorales now has Timed incendiary explosive ejector, some barrels can beremoved.

“Threadof Dread” (zj 1.0.8)

Russian Khanateis north of Korea-Kashmir, so the map had better be reversed, i.e. HK should startat the top, and Zhongjie should defend at the bottom.

Fan Missions

“Blaze

[a] Trail” (《筚路蓝缕》 by @盖世侠盗v)

https://www.bilibili.com/video/av30308660/

If ahero/heroine is able to disguise himself/herself, then spies alike can impersonatethe hero/heroine, which fails to agree with one general set of MO.

My discussions with the author: https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv3330325#reply2067106805