History Main / BaselessMission

* {{Videogame/Warcraft}}:
** '' Warcraft: Orcs and Humans'' has several campaign missions like this.
** ''Warcraft II'': There are a total of six such missions in the vanilla game and its expansion.

** Frequent in ''Warcraft III'', where you usually get to play as a main hero of the current campaign plus a handful of units.
*** In ''Frozen Throne'', the whole Orc campaign is RPG-style.
* ''{{Starcraft}}'': Each campaign in both the vanilla game and the expansion pack has several missions like this. They typically require careful micro-management as there is no easy way to heal your units. These missions are often referred to as "installation missions" as they usually take place on maps made from the Installation tileset. Tangentially, said tileset has no tiles which allow placement of buildings.

* A staple trope of ''CommandAndConquer'' series, encountered at least once in each installment. Each hero got at least one mission dedicated to him or her. Often doubles as StealthBasedMission.

* You get to play as the main character exclusively in ''ImpossibleCreatures''' campaign.
* ''EmpireEarth'' did that with Middle Ages campaign.

* ''WorldInConflict'' doesn't have a base per se (only stationary drop zones) but most campaign missions restrict your ability to call in reinforcements at some point. There are two missions in the vanilla game where this is played straight, however:

A BaselessMission typically includes most of these restrictions:

* ''{{Warzone 2100}}'' had two types of missions in its campaign mode: One involved searching the map, collecting your usual resources and expanding your base while fighting off enemy units and completing mission objectives. The other were "transport" missions where you loaded an air transport with a set number of units to accomplish mission objectives on a completely different map. You were, however, generally allowed to review your base's production/research schedules and arrange reinforcements from home base.

* ''Videogame/BattleZone1998'' and its sequel have several. In the first game, several missions task you to [[EscortMission escort your]] [[BaseOnWheels Recycler]] to the mission end, though thankfully its under your direct control. The sequel has a mission where your DropShip is shot down, requiring you to find your Recycler and guide it over an unstable ice-covered lake before it can reach a stable location to deploy into a base.

* ''CompanyOfHeroes'' has a few. Mostly involving paratroopers, who have the ability to reinforce their squads anywhere, and could drop new squads with a support power. Since resources were gained by territory control, it was still possible to have income without a base.

* ''HeroesOfMightAndMagic IV'' introduced these into its series in some campaign missions where you were just given a hero or several and no towns, and ''HOMM V'' followed suit. In previous games, you always lost the game in a week after all your towns were captured.

** The second game in the trilogy, ''Heart of the Swarm'' has three such missions and they're all mandatory. But since Kerrigan levels up RPG-style throughout the campaign it's not as difficult. There are also segments of missions that are baseless, like the second-to-last alternates between baseless infiltration and destruction of power nodes, and building up units to swarm the enemy base while the protective field is down.

* Frequent in ''WarcraftIII'', where you usually get to play as a main hero of the current campaign plus a handful of units.
** In ''Frozen Throne'', the whole Orc campaign is RPG-style.
* ''WarcraftII'': There are a total of six such missions in the vanilla game and its expansion.
** In mission 6 of the Orc campaign, you escort a moderately-sized band of orcs and trolls led by Cho'gall to a certain location.
** In mission 9 of the Human campaign, you receive a full army and navy in order to escort Uther Lightbringer across the map.
** In the expansion, the first mission of each campaign gives you no peasants (although you do have access to a handful of buildings and the upgrades that can be purchased from them).
** The seventh human mission in the expansion does give you peasants, but they can't build any military structures; and the ninth orc mission again has no peons, only a few buildings scattered across the map and a finite amount of resources to buy the upgrades from them.
* ''[[WarcraftOrcsAndHumans Warcraft: Orcs and Humans]]'' also has several campaign missions like this.

** Any of these missions from Tiberian Dawn apparently expected you to literally take on a base by yourself, making them quite Nintendo hard. Later literations would always add some sort of script or conveniently placed barrels to help you through the level.

This is how those missions typically work.

* At least one of your soldiers is a hero unit if there are any.
* You lose the mission if you lose your whole army or, in some occasions, [[HeroMustSurvive the hero]].
* There may be a way of getting additional soldiers, especially if you are behind the enemy lines: you free them from being enemies' captives.
* You may get the base back halfway into mission.

* Frequent in ''WarcraftIII'', where you usually get to play as a main hero of the current campaign + a handful of units.

* ''WarcraftII'': One of the missions involves leading a band of orcs, trolls, and Ogres to a location. They have no workers to create buildings.
** There are actually six such missions in WarcraftII and its expansion: In the original game, in mission 6 of the Orc campaign, you escort a band of orcs and trolls led by Cho'gall to a certain location.
** In mission 9 of the Human campaign, you have an army and a navy trying to escort Uther Lightbringer.

* Warcraft 1 also has several campaign missions like this.
** StarCraft too.

** ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'' seems to have one in every campaign, often as the first mission. You start Joan of Arc with just Joan and a ragtag band of supporters, and while your army increases, you never get to build a base.

* The goal of single player missions in ''{{Starcraft}}'' and ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'' is generally (as in multiplayer) to build up your base and defeat the enemy, but a number of missions were included where you're given only a group of units with occasional scripted recruits and you have to navigate through the map and survive. These are called "installation missions" in the fandom, because they would often take place inside Terran structures or ships on the installation map tileset.

* ''WorldInConflict'' doesn't have a base per se (only stationary drop zones) but some missions in the single-player campaign where even your drop zone is taken away from you, either temporarily or for entire duration of the mission.
* The fourth Imperial guard mission in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: DawnOfWar: [[ExpansionPack Winter Assault]]'' is a baseless EscortMission, but actually not that bad.

** {{Stracraft}} too.

** In ''Frozen Throne'' the whole Orc campaign is RPG-style.

* ''MetalFatigue'' had a level where you only had one combot and no base and had to heal it by scavenging spare parts.

Typically in strategy games you are given or have to build a base, so that you can have an endless supply of units as long as you have access to resources, and you can rebuild destroyed buildings.

However, in this mission (it is usually a campaign mission) you don't get such a luxury.
You get a handful of units, and you must accomplish your goals without losing all of them.

This is how those missions typically work.
* The premise is that you are behind the enemy lines, fleeing from somebody, or exploring a new territory.
* At least one of your soldiers is a hero unit if there are any.
* You lose the mission if you lose your whole army or, in some occasions, [[HeroMustSurvive the hero]].
* There may be a way of getting additional soldiers, especially if you are behind the enemy lines: you free them from being enemies' captives.
* You may get the base back halfway into mission.
* These missions typically become ThatOneLevel if the game is not suited for tactical combat well or the amount of units given isn't enough to deal with enemies.

!!Examples:
* Frequent in ''WarcraftIII'', where you usually get to play as a main hero of the current campaign + a handful of units.
** In ''Frozen Throne'' the whole Orc campaign is RPG-style.
* ''WarcraftII'': One of the missions involves leading a band of orcs, trolls, and Ogres to a location. They have no workers to create buildings.
** There are actually six such missions in WarcraftII and its expansion: In the original game, in mission 6 of the Orc campaign, you escort a band of orcs and trolls led by Cho'gall to a certain location.

** Any of these missions from Tiberian Dawn apparently expected you to literally take on a base by yourself, making them quite Nintendo hard. Later literations would always add some sort of script or conveniently placed barrels to help you through the level.
* You get to play as the main character exclusively in ''ImpossibleCreatures''' campaign.
* ''EmpireEarth'' did that with Middle Ages campaign.
* ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'' did that a handful of times.

* ''{{Warzone 2100}}'' had two types of missions in its campaign mode: One involved searching the map, collecting your usual resources and expanding your base while fighting off enemy units and completing mission objectives. The other were "transport" missions where you loaded an air transport with a set number of units to accomplish mission objectives on a completely different map. You were, however, generally allowed to review your base's production/research schedules and arrange reinforcements from home base.

* ''MetalFatigue'' had a level where you only had one combot and no base and had to heal it by scavenging spare parts.
* ''HeroesOfMightAndMagic IV'' introduced these into its series in some campaign missions where you were just given a hero or several and no towns, and ''HOMM V'' followed suit. In previous games, you always lost the game in a week after all your towns were captured.
* Several missions in ''State of War'' let you start with a handful of units and nothing else. Some of them let you capture enemy factories and win as usual, other (like escort missions) don't give you that luxury.
** Inversion: mission in Greece gives you a base but no means of acquiring unit factories - you have to win by building lots and lots of towers.

* The fourth Imperial guard mission in ''{{Warhammer 40000}}: DawnOfWar: [[ExpansionPack Winter Assault]]'' is a baseless EscortMission, but actually not that bad.

** ''DawnOfWar II'' however is (almost) entirely baseless. The single player campaign (up to the ''Retribution'' ExpansionPack) consists only of reinforcement points to rally around to bring depleted squads back up to full strength. The multiplayer mode has slightly more in the way of bases, in that each player has a single building as their main base, and can fortify other specific strong points, but these are pretty far removed from traditional base building.

** AgeOfEmpires2 seems to have one in every campaign, often as the first mission. You start Joan of Arc with just Joan and a ragtag band of supporters, and while your army increases, you never get to build a base.

** ''DawnOfWar II'' however is entirely baseless.

* A staple trope of ''CommandAndConquer'' series, encountered at least once in each installment. Each hero got at least one mission dedicated to him.

* A staple trope of ''CommandAndConquer'' series, encountered at least once in each installment since at least ''Tiberian Sun''. Each hero got at least one mission dedicated to him.

* The goal of single player missions in ''{{Starcraft}}'' and ''StarcraftII'' is generally (as in multiplayer) to build up your base and defeat the enemy, but a number of missions were included where you're given only a group of units with occasional scripted recruits and you have to navigate through the map and survive. These are called "installation missions" in the fandom, because they would often take place inside Terran structures or ships on the installation map tileset.

* The goal of single player missions in ''{{Starcraft}}'' and ''StarcraftII'' is generally (as in multiplayer) to build up your base and defeat the enemy, but a number of missions were included where you're given only a group of units with occasional scripted recruits and you have to navigate through the map and survive. These are called "installation missions" in the fandom, because they take place inside Terran structures or ships on the installation map tileset.

* ''AgeOfMythology'' did that a handful of times.

* The goal of single player missions in ''{{Starcraft}}'' and ''StarcraftII'' is generally (as in multiplayer) to build up your base and defeat the enemy, but a number of missions were included where you're given only a group of units with occasional scripted recruits and you have to navigate through the map and survive.

** ''DawnOfWar II'' however is entirely baseless.

* A staple trope of ''CommandAndConquer'' series, encountered at least once in each installment since at least ''Tyberian Sun''. Each hero got at least one mission dedicated to him.