Hi, this is the first mission I make, the objective is simple: attack the Triclon Outpost and kill their brain.
It comes with the Triclon Empire mod(necessary to play the mission, mod topic here viewtopic.php?f=61&t=21236).
It also comes with a version of the mission with less actors that should cause less lag.

Triclons have a long AI range and will use artillery strikes and shockwave attacks if you come too close, so be careful, there are some hidden turrets defending the outpost too.
The mines can be destroyed by shooting at them, kill the Conquerors to stop the artillery strikes.

Download:
download/file.php?id=36563
Contains the mod + the mission

Please post any suggestions you might have to improve it.

Changelog:
V1.70: first version with this mission, didn't work
V1.71: this version works
V1.72: Added a little surprise to the mission
V1.73: Triclon weapons can now be looted
V1.74: Mines added, Small tower added
V1.75: Added a version of the mission with less actors that should cause less lag
V1.76: No more random crashes in the mission
V1.77:
_Flatened the roof of the player's bunker in the mission in oirder to make landings easier.
_Added a few mines
_Mines are now easier to destroy(made of metal instead of Triclon metal)
_Added a small tunnel from the main bunker to the weapons stash
_Difficulty will now affect your starting founds
_Increased the AI range of the Defenders on the towers
V1.78:
_The mission can now be played by 2 players in split screen, they will have the same brain but will both able to order and control different actors.
_The mines placed inside buildings are now visible

Here is a picture:

Isn't this pretty much just a duplicate of your army topic, except with a huge image of the scene?

Well this is a mission so I think it is the right place for it, and adding that huge picture to my already very long mod topic would be too mutch, but the download here is the same as in my other topic, it's Triclon Empire V1.70.7z.

Edit: They was a mistake in my ini preventing the mission from appearing in the menu, it is fixed now, please redownload if you have this problem.

Edit-2: Updated to V1.72: Added a little surprise to the mission

Edit-3: Updated to V1.73: Triclon weapons can now be looted

Edit-4: Updated to V1.74: Mines added, Small tower added

Edit-5 Updated to V1.75: Added a version of the mission with less actors that should cause less lag

That's the most annoying mission ever. If invisible mines won't kill you, airstrikes will. And the whole triclon faction isn't balanced with vanilla content.

edit: but the non-crash update works, so now it's playable. I "only" got memory dump blue screen after I left the game (but I can't tell whose fault that was.)

The mines can be destroyed by shooting at them, and it isn't hard to guess where they are, the artillery strikes are caused by the Conquerors, killing them will stop the strikes.

I never experienced this kind of problem, I don't think it is caused by the mission.

Edit: In the next version I'll make the mines visible(not too much however)

V1.78:
_The mission can now be played by 2 players in split screen, they will have the same brain but will both able to order and control different actors.
_The mines placed inside buildings are now visible

Concerning the mines here is a picture:


As you can see they aren't easy to detect, if you see one, shoot it to destroy it, mines outside are still invisible.

You might want to change the position of the mines, they are upwind and its too easy to detect them.

They are not meant to be invisible, it would make the mission too difficult and not fun.

The mission worked for me. It didn't crash, it wasn't unbeatable and it was fun to shoot stuff. It wasn't easy.

The main thing i'd like to point out here is the incredibly important difference between a challenging mission and the cheap sort of "BOOM YOU'RE DEAD" vibe i got from this one. The mines are the major thing. They don't force you to think critically or to be cautious. They aren't invisible, but they aren't readily visibile either. There's a huge difference between mines and traps in games and those in real life. Mines and traps in games are easily recognizable and are meant as challenges or obstacles for the player to overcome. Mines and traps in real life are meant to kill situationally-aware people.

Now, the mines are placed in really smart locations from a defensive point of view. In that way the mission is really well-designed. But from a player's perspective (the most important perspective) it's frustrating. A game that doesn't prepare you for what's in store - one that punishes you for not examining every pixel - is not a fun game. You're hiding razor blades in the candy here.

I think if you just made them look like our iconic images of bombs and traps (blinky lights, exposed wires, a depressor plate rased a bit from the floor) then there would be less hair-pulling and cursing on the part of the player. It would be more fun and the only real difference in gameplay would be the player feeling in control of their experience. Like they can use their tools to be competent in the world. Dying repeatedly can make a player feel ashamed of their own performance and zero players want to feel that way. We play games so we can succeed at the challenges they present. Because that feels good.

NOW: dying in game can be a learning experience, but dying in this mission didn't follow through on that idea. Anything we learned early on wasn't relevant anymore in other rooms. We learned that we shouldn't have stepped there, i guess. Maybe next time, if we wish to revisit the mission, we might be a little more scared of that bit of wall or floor. Maybe someday we'll revisit it. Like, in the fairly distant future.

Also, near the brain room when you have to cut through those two little walls, how is the player supposed to position himself so he doesn't die repeatedly? What is the optimum strategy there? If a player can't figure the best way around a problem after stacking up a few corpses then the blame rests with the designer, not the player.

I'd say this in closing: Make it simple and to the point. Give the player some slack, treat them like a child, make goals and hazards obvious, THEN throw them into the treacherous exploding labyrinth. Other missions people typically think of as "good" make your motivations and goals and hazards clear to the player. It would only benefit the mission to look to those that came before as an example, at least in that regard.