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** Bonus Mission 3 may be a BonusLevelOfHell, but it has earned its place here. At the start, you're immediately bombarded by 2 Artillery, each guarded by 3 Rocket (Bazooka) infantry to deter your Heavy Tanks. You must destroy this Artillery ASAP or they'll destroy the fortress that the game [[GuideDangIt doesn't suggest is destructible]] and give you an automatic mission failure. You would want to work on tasks other than the Artillery because once the Artillery is destroyed, a respawning Bomber appears to make your life miserable, and you don't even get any anti-air units unless you're willing to count [[spoiler:Assaults, which still do likely too little damage to be worth considering]]. And to top it all off, your only units for destroying all of the enemy vehicles are Heavy Tanks, which are slow and big, which means thanks to similar reasons as to why Pit in VideoGame/SuperSmashBros is a SkillGateCharacter, are given grief by the Anti-Air Vehicles' attack spams causing them to repeatedly bounce along with all the damage they take. Oh, and guess what is ready to hammer your infantry and further mess up your Technique score? ''Two more Artillery!'' And if you finally get past ''all'' of this, say hello to a Bomber and Gunship spam to give your Fighters (which arrive, '''about time''') misery in killing them all quickly, which you need to do because of the fact that your Heavy Tanks are still [[EscortMission mission critical]], even if you wiped out every enemy vehicle. And if you're looking for a good score, you have so many units that basically amount to being little more than target practice for the Bombers that your Technique will be based on [[LuckBasedMission whether your units feel like surviving all the abuse]].

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** Bonus Mission 3 may be a BonusLevelOfHell, but it has earned its place here. At the start, you're immediately bombarded by 2 Artillery, each guarded by 3 Rocket (Bazooka) infantry to deter your Heavy Tanks. You must destroy this Artillery ASAP or they'll destroy the fortress that the game [[GuideDangIt doesn't suggest is destructible]] and give you an automatic mission failure. You would want to work on tasks other than the Artillery because once the Artillery is destroyed, a respawning Bomber appears to make your life miserable, and you don't even get any anti-air units unless you're willing to count [[spoiler:Assaults, which still do likely too little damage to be worth considering]]. And to top it all off, your only units for destroying all of the enemy vehicles are Heavy Tanks, which are slow and big, which means thanks to similar reasons as to why Pit in VideoGame/SuperSmashBros is a SkillGateCharacter, {{Skill Gate Character|s}}, are given grief by the Anti-Air Vehicles' attack spams causing them to repeatedly bounce along with all the damage they take. Oh, and guess what is ready to hammer your infantry and further mess up your Technique score? ''Two more Artillery!'' And if you finally get past ''all'' of this, say hello to a Bomber and Gunship spam to give your Fighters (which arrive, '''about time''') misery in killing them all quickly, which you need to do because of the fact that your Heavy Tanks are still [[EscortMission mission critical]], even if you wiped out every enemy vehicle. And if you're looking for a good score, you have so many units that basically amount to being little more than target practice for the Bombers that your Technique will be based on [[LuckBasedMission whether your units feel like surviving all the abuse]].
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*** He loves to use the Sneak Attack, Rebel Ambush, and Anthrax Bomb attacks. The Sneak Attack is countered by a handful of tanks kept near your Command Center; the Rebel Ambush by widely distributing infantry-mowing Snipers or Gatling Tanks; and the Anthrax Bomb aircraft always follows the same path, so load it with AA weapons to kill the bomber before it can drop. The Scud Storm will fall to just about any combination of two high-damage support powers.

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*** He loves '''loves''' to use the Sneak Attack, Rebel Ambush, and Anthrax Bomb attacks.gen powers. The Sneak Attack is countered by a handful of tanks kept near your Command Center; the Rebel Ambush by widely distributing infantry-mowing Snipers or Gatling Tanks; and the Anthrax Bomb aircraft always follows the same path, so load it with AA weapons to kill the bomber before it can drop. The Scud Storm will fall to just about any combination of two high-damage support powers.
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*** He loves to use the Sneak Attack, the Rebel Uprising, and the Anthrax Bomb attacks. The Sneak Attack is countered by a handful of tanks kept near your Command Center; the Rebel Uprising by widely distributing infantry-mowing Snipers or Gatling Tanks; and the Anthrax Bomb aircraft always follows the same path, so load it with AA weapons to kill the bomber before it can drop. The Scud Storm will fall to just about any combination of two high-damage support powers.

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*** He loves to use the Sneak Attack, the Rebel Uprising, Ambush, and the Anthrax Bomb attacks. The Sneak Attack is countered by a handful of tanks kept near your Command Center; the Rebel Uprising Ambush by widely distributing infantry-mowing Snipers or Gatling Tanks; and the Anthrax Bomb aircraft always follows the same path, so load it with AA weapons to kill the bomber before it can drop. The Scud Storm will fall to just about any combination of two high-damage support powers.
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** Also in the running is General Shi-Tao "The Nuke." He has up to ''five'' nuclear silos, all of which activate within minutes of the start (guaranteeing you don't have the capability to take them out, even with the generous twelve minute timers. The area around his base has spontaneous radiation fog, and he keeps a steady stream of nuclear powered tanks, nuclear artillery, and infantry to your base. Fortunately the infantry are near death anyway, but the artillery will blow up just about any structure in two hits. Oh and since the projectile is a shell, it ''can't be intercepted.'' The only real relief in this Gen Challenge is that the Nuclear Missiles are scripted to only target specific areas on the map, with the first nuke he fires is thankfully slightly north of your starting base, so as long as you don't building anything below the second supply dock above your base (it's fine if you build a second supply-gathering building above said second supply dock, but not below it AKA south of it) and keep only a small amount of structures away from the scripted nuking area, you'll be safe from the first nuke and hopefully the second, but normally the third or so nuke he fire is aimed DIRECTLY at your starting CC location, so utilizing Black Lotus, Demo Jarmen Kell or Colonel Burton to eliminate the two less-guarded silos located to the northeast of your starting base are a MUST.

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** Also in the running is General Shi-Tao "The Nuke." He has up to ''five'' nuclear silos, all of which activate within minutes of the start (guaranteeing you don't have the capability to take them out, even with the generous twelve minute timers. The area around his base has spontaneous radiation fog, and he keeps a steady stream of nuclear powered tanks, nuclear artillery, and infantry to your base. Fortunately the infantry are near death anyway, but the artillery will blow up just about any structure in two hits. Oh and since the projectile is a shell, it ''can't be intercepted.'' The only real relief in this Gen Challenge is that the Nuclear Missiles are scripted to only target specific areas on the map, with the first nuke he fires is thankfully slightly north of your starting base, so as long as you don't building anything below the second supply dock above your base (it's fine if you build a second supply-gathering building above said second supply dock, but not below it AKA south of it) and keep only a small amount of structures away from the scripted nuking area, you'll be safe from the first nuke and hopefully the second, but normally the third or so nuke he fire fires is aimed DIRECTLY at your starting CC location, so utilizing Black Lotus, Demo Jarmen Kell or Colonel Burton to eliminate the two less-guarded silos located to the northeast of your starting base are a MUST.
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** Also in the running is General Shi-Tao "The Nuke." He has up to ''five'' nuclear silos, all of which activate within minutes of the start (guaranteeing you don't have the capability to take them out, even with the generous twelve minute timers. The area around his base has spontaneous radiation fog, and he keeps a steady stream of nuclear powered tanks, nuclear artillery, and infantry to your base. Fortunately the infantry are near death anyway, but the artillery will blow up just about any structure in two hits. Oh and since the projectile is a shell, it ''can't be intercepted.''

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** Also in the running is General Shi-Tao "The Nuke." He has up to ''five'' nuclear silos, all of which activate within minutes of the start (guaranteeing you don't have the capability to take them out, even with the generous twelve minute timers. The area around his base has spontaneous radiation fog, and he keeps a steady stream of nuclear powered tanks, nuclear artillery, and infantry to your base. Fortunately the infantry are near death anyway, but the artillery will blow up just about any structure in two hits. Oh and since the projectile is a shell, it ''can't be intercepted.'''' The only real relief in this Gen Challenge is that the Nuclear Missiles are scripted to only target specific areas on the map, with the first nuke he fires is thankfully slightly north of your starting base, so as long as you don't building anything below the second supply dock above your base (it's fine if you build a second supply-gathering building above said second supply dock, but not below it AKA south of it) and keep only a small amount of structures away from the scripted nuking area, you'll be safe from the first nuke and hopefully the second, but normally the third or so nuke he fire is aimed DIRECTLY at your starting CC location, so utilizing Black Lotus, Demo Jarmen Kell or Colonel Burton to eliminate the two less-guarded silos located to the northeast of your starting base are a MUST.
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** Also in ''Winter Assault'' is the third Order mission. The first half is an Eldar raid to assassinate an Ork leader, followed by a frantic withdrawal that can be easily lost if the player doesn't know how to [[GuideDangIt teleport the Webway Assembly]], but can be won once the player learns to teleport the Webway Assembly twice and get as many Guardian units on the map as possible. The second part, however, is a NintendoHard HoldTheLine mission as the Imperial Guard, facing a Squiggoth, four looted tanks, and [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard more Orks than the player has Requisition]]. To even ''survive'' long enough to see the reinforcements that arrive in 10 minutes, the player must capture all four strategic points behind his walls, build listening posts on all four of them, and spend Requisition ''only'' on Guardsmen, Hellhounds, and Requisition-increasing upgrades for the aforementioned listening posts.
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** For GDI, you have Albania, in the middle of Act 3. You have to escort a team of engineers inside an enormous Nod base and capture reinforcement bays to build an airfield. This wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for the fact that engineers die if the enemy so much as looks at them funny, and the enemy AI prioritizes engineers as the first thing they shoot. And if you lose all four engineers, game over! Even worse, if you want to also accomplish the secondary objectives you need the ''all four'' engineers alive.

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** For GDI, you have Albania, in the middle of Act 3. You have to escort a team of engineers inside an enormous Nod base and capture reinforcement bays to build an airfield. This wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for the fact that engineers die if the enemy so much as looks at them funny, and the enemy AI prioritizes engineers as the first thing they shoot. And if you lose all four engineers, game over! Even worse, if you want to also accomplish the secondary objectives you need the ''all four'' engineers alive.
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* ''StarWars: Rebellion'' had a couple.

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* ''StarWars: ''Franchise/StarWars: Rebellion'' had a couple.
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* The aptly named [[HarderThanHard Brutal Mode]] can turn almost every mission into ThatOneLevel, as enemies are much stronger and much more competent, in particular utilizing area of effect-damage units (Banelings, Ravens with Hunter-Seeker missiles, Colossi and High Templar) to great effect. They also get access to much stronger units than they have on regular difficulty, such as Banshees and Ravens on "The Great Train Robbery", a mission where depending on the order you're tackling them, it's possible that your only source of anti-air power is the basic Marine. Said mission requires you to destroy a series of trains, which have several thousand HP and come with garrison units to protect them. On all other difficulties, the Dominion sends out a Marauder team to patrol and defend, but on Brutal they send out ''two'' teams. The Marauder is a beafy anti-armor infantry unit that slows down units it hits, too bad the ideal unit for this mission that you ''have'' to build in great numbers to win is an armored unit whose strength is the ability to attack while moving. Siege Tanks can help whittle down the train's health and take out its escorts including the Marauders, but even they can't defend against the Hunter-Seekers.

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* The aptly named [[HarderThanHard Brutal Mode]] can turn almost every mission into ThatOneLevel, as enemies are much stronger and much more competent, in particular utilizing area of effect-damage units (Banelings, Ravens with Hunter-Seeker missiles, Colossi and High Templar) to great effect. They also get access to much stronger units than they have on regular difficulty, such as Banshees and Ravens on "The Great Train Robbery", a mission where depending on the order you're tackling them, it's possible that your only source of anti-air power is the basic Marine. Said mission requires you to destroy a series of trains, which have several thousand HP and come with garrison units to protect them. On all other difficulties, the Dominion sends out a Marauder team to patrol and defend, but on Brutal they send out ''two'' teams. The Marauder is a beafy beefy anti-armor infantry unit that slows down units it hits, hits inside its explosive's radius, too bad the ideal unit for this mission that you ''have'' to build in great numbers to win is an armored unit whose strength is the ability to attack while moving. Siege Tanks can help whittle down the train's health and take out its escorts including the Marauders, but even they can't defend against the Hunter-Seekers.
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TRS wick cleanupClassic Video Game Screw Yous is being cut, couldn't salvage the paragraph


** The final Zerg level, "Omega", has you pitted against two Terran forces and one Protoss force. They each have massive amounts of units that work especially well against the Zerg and require different strategies to handle each, with well fortified bases and large, organized attacks on yours. Resources are finite, so expanding your resource gathering operations beyond the starting base is practically required, but the attack on your new hatchery will be so fierce that you'll spend most of your new resources just to keep the AI from destroying it. You could apply damn near half of the [[ClassicVideoGameScrewYous CVGSY library]] to "Omega" and it would still be an understatement.

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** The final Zerg level, "Omega", has you pitted against two Terran forces and one Protoss force. They each have massive amounts of units that work especially well against the Zerg and require different strategies to handle each, with well fortified bases and large, organized attacks on yours. Resources are finite, so expanding your resource gathering operations beyond the starting base is practically required, but the attack on your new hatchery will be so fierce that you'll spend most of your new resources just to keep the AI from destroying it. You could apply damn near half of the [[ClassicVideoGameScrewYous CVGSY library]] to "Omega" and it would still be an understatement.
it.
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** For GDI, you have Albania, in the middle of Act 3. You have to escort a team of engineers inside an enormous Nod base and capture reinforcement bays to build an airfield. This wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for the fact that engineers die if the enemy so much as looks at them funny, and the enemy AI prioritizes engineers as the first thing they shoot. And if you lose all four engineers, game over!

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** For GDI, you have Albania, in the middle of Act 3. You have to escort a team of engineers inside an enormous Nod base and capture reinforcement bays to build an airfield. This wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for the fact that engineers die if the enemy so much as looks at them funny, and the enemy AI prioritizes engineers as the first thing they shoot. And if you lose all four engineers, game over!over! Even worse, if you want to also accomplish the secondary objectives you need the ''all four'' engineers alive.
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*** ''[[MeaningfulName A Bad Case of]] [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Deja Vu]]'', the final level, is easily the single most difficult scenario in the entirety of the game. To clarify, you have Modern Age technology, and command the near-worthless city of Voronezh you destroyed effortlessly in the first scenario, while Grigor II has both Russian cities allied with him, with time vortexes warping in Nano Age technology constantly, nevermind the fact that Volgograd has completely functioning production buildings upgraded to max. What's worse? Your gate is nuked in the opening cutscene, that's what. Oh, and the vortexes themselves are at the very back: Volgograd has one too, so Grigor II has doubled unit production, and the only way to reasonably destroy one is [[NukeEm to nuke it]], which, because AA tanks and AA guns are all over the place is quite flatly near impossible. The entire scenario can be summed up simply by saying that TheComputerIsACheatingBastard, and that you're on the receiving end of the CurbStompBattle that was the first scenario. Oh, and 2.0 added Hard Mode. Good luck. At least Grigor II himself you can cheese with flying units to avoid his usually formidable retaliation, but good luck ''getting'' there.

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*** ** ''[[MeaningfulName A Bad Case of]] [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Deja Vu]]'', the final level, level where you try to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, is easily the single most difficult scenario in the entirety of the game. To clarify, you have Modern Age technology, and command the near-worthless city of Voronezh you destroyed effortlessly in the first scenario, while Grigor II has both Russian cities allied with him, with time vortexes warping in Nano Age technology constantly, nevermind the fact that Volgograd has completely functioning production buildings upgraded to max. What's worse? Your gate is nuked in the opening cutscene, that's what. Oh, and the vortexes themselves are at the very back: Volgograd has one too, so Grigor II has doubled unit production, and the only way to reasonably destroy one is [[NukeEm to nuke it]], which, because AA tanks and AA guns are all over the place is quite flatly near impossible. The entire scenario can be summed up simply by saying that TheComputerIsACheatingBastard, and that you're on the receiving end of the CurbStompBattle that was the first scenario. Oh, and 2.0 added Hard Mode. Good luck. At least Grigor II himself you can cheese with flying units to avoid his usually formidable retaliation, but good luck ''getting'' there.

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* ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth'' has the second Novaya Russia mission, where you're surrounded by enemies at a higher tech level (read: they get [[HumongousMecha giant killer robots]] and have little in the way of ressources, so you mostly end up having to protect your workers from attack.

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* ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth'' ''VideoGame/EmpireEarth:'' The Novaya Russia campaign has the some doozies.
** The
second Novaya Russia mission, where you're surrounded by enemies at a higher tech level (read: they get [[HumongousMecha giant killer robots]] robots]]) and have little in the way of ressources, so you mostly end up having to protect your workers from attack.attack.
*** ''[[MeaningfulName A Bad Case of]] [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Deja Vu]]'', the final level, is easily the single most difficult scenario in the entirety of the game. To clarify, you have Modern Age technology, and command the near-worthless city of Voronezh you destroyed effortlessly in the first scenario, while Grigor II has both Russian cities allied with him, with time vortexes warping in Nano Age technology constantly, nevermind the fact that Volgograd has completely functioning production buildings upgraded to max. What's worse? Your gate is nuked in the opening cutscene, that's what. Oh, and the vortexes themselves are at the very back: Volgograd has one too, so Grigor II has doubled unit production, and the only way to reasonably destroy one is [[NukeEm to nuke it]], which, because AA tanks and AA guns are all over the place is quite flatly near impossible. The entire scenario can be summed up simply by saying that TheComputerIsACheatingBastard, and that you're on the receiving end of the CurbStompBattle that was the first scenario. Oh, and 2.0 added Hard Mode. Good luck. At least Grigor II himself you can cheese with flying units to avoid his usually formidable retaliation, but good luck ''getting'' there.

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** "Batezek" from the ''Deeper Dungeons'' expansion takes everything that made Hearth tough and [[UpToEleven sends it straight through the roof]] with groups of heroes coming in at all directions. If you don't wall yourself in, the stronger heroes that the tunnelers will release at one point will destroy you unless your minions are somehow maxed out in level.

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** "Batezek" from the ''Deeper Dungeons'' expansion takes everything that made Hearth tough and [[UpToEleven sends it straight through the roof]] roof with groups of heroes coming in at all directions. If you don't wall yourself in, the stronger heroes that the tunnelers will release at one point will destroy you unless your minions are somehow maxed out in level.
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* The Zerg campaign mission "Eye for an Eye" of has you trying to hunt down Dark Templars on Char. There are several exits on the level, and they'll make a break for it if you ever move a single Overlord out of position, or leave it unguarded by regular troops. And if a single one escapes, mission fails. Thank God for level-skipping cheats.

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* The Zerg campaign mission "Eye for an Eye" of has you trying to hunt down Dark Templars on Char. There are several exits on the level, and they'll make a break for it if you ever move a single Overlord out of position, or leave it unguarded by regular troops. And if a single one escapes, mission fails. Due to the how the particular exists are placed, it's impossible to build any defensive structures (Spore Colonies for detection or Sunken Colonies for anti-ground) directly around them either. Thank God for level-skipping cheats.
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** The expansion pack ''Forged Alliance'' is ''[[NintendoHard even worse]]''. Every single mission counts as ThatOneLevel (no matter what faction you play), as you're pretty much forced to make a base entirely from scratch and destroy gigantic enemy bases teeming with T3 and experimental units. However, Mission 4 takes the cake, especially the ending where you have to [[HoldTheLine defend yourself]] against numerous waves of Seraphim experimentals that mob you the moment you complete the previous objective ''and'' off your ally Dostya in a cutscene. Mission 5 flat-out eats the cake since you have [[LeeroyJenkins General Fletcher]] to deal with for two thirds of the level. Thankfully [[EscortMission protecting him]] is optional.

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** The expansion pack ''Forged Alliance'' is ''[[NintendoHard even worse]]''. Every single mission counts as ThatOneLevel (no matter what faction you play), as you're pretty much forced to make a base entirely from scratch and destroy gigantic enemy bases teeming with T3 and experimental units. However, Mission 4 takes the cake, especially cake: you will be mobbed by strategic bombers while you're still building up, and they ''will'' overwhelm a sensibly built base - it takes ''unreasonable'' levels of shielding to withstand their first attack, and it's virtually impossible to kill them before they can release it unless you know they're coming and build stupid amounts of AA along their attack vectors. There's also the ending where you have to [[HoldTheLine defend yourself]] against numerous waves of Seraphim experimentals that mob you the moment you complete the previous objective ''and'' off your ally Dostya in a cutscene. Mission 5 flat-out eats the cake since you have [[LeeroyJenkins General Fletcher]] to deal with for two thirds of the level. Thankfully [[EscortMission protecting him]] is optional.
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** There is also the 3rd Chinese mission. Your base is on the outskirts of a huge, sprawling city absolutely infested with the GLA. Your objective is to destroy all of the statues in the city before your 'international opinion' drops too low. On hard difficulty, this mission is the biggest nightmare imaginable even to a veteran player. The GLA has stinger sites, tunnel networks, and demo traps absolutely littering the city. All of them are stealthed, so the stingers and tunnels will almost always get the first hit on you and the demo traps will destroy entire tank columns if you don't advance very carefully. Meanwhile, the GLA is sending nonstop waves of [[DemonicSpiders rocket buggies]] and SCUDs at you. These units are much, much, MUCH faster and longer-ranged than anything in your arsenal for this mission, and they're smart enough to retreat as you slowly charge at them. A typical scenario might be a SCUD firing on a tank column from an entire screen away and instantly killing or crippling half of it. As the tanks pursue, the SCUD falls back. Determined not to let the enemy go, the player orders them on... and they trigger a demo trap which kills everyone. If you instead let the SCUD go to avoid the risk of falling into an ambush, you can expect it to be back as soon as it has had time to reload.

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** There is also the 3rd Zero Hour Chinese mission. Your base is on the outskirts of a huge, sprawling city absolutely infested with the GLA. Your objective is to destroy all of the statues in the city before your 'international opinion' drops too low. On hard difficulty, this mission is the biggest nightmare imaginable even to a veteran player. The GLA has stinger sites, tunnel networks, and demo traps absolutely littering the city. All of them are stealthed, so the stingers and tunnels will almost always get the first hit on you and the demo traps will destroy entire tank columns if you don't advance very carefully. Meanwhile, the GLA is sending nonstop waves of [[DemonicSpiders rocket buggies]] and SCUDs at you. These units are much, much, MUCH faster and longer-ranged than anything in your arsenal for this mission, and they're smart enough to retreat as you slowly charge at them. A typical scenario might be a SCUD firing on a tank column from an entire screen away and instantly killing or crippling half of it. As the tanks pursue, the SCUD falls back. Determined not to let the enemy go, the player orders them on... and they trigger a demo trap which kills everyone. If you instead let the SCUD go to avoid the risk of falling into an ambush, you can expect it to be back as soon as it has had time to reload.
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* ''VideoGame/EldritchLandsTheWitchQueensEternalWar'' has Medium 18. It seems unassuming for the first minute or so, but eventually, you are flooded by massive numbers of annoyingly long ranged muskets, backed up by numerous tanky enemies in front. Even if you've been meticulously upgrading your troops, you may need to go onto the Hard levels for some time before coming back and finishing this one.

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* ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'' 2 has the Submerged Castle. It has every elemental hazard a dungeon can have, except only [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman Blue Pikmin]] can enter. Right off the bat, the first floor has a Fiery Bulblax, which needs to be lured into the water so the Blue Pikmin don't catch fire. The Bulblax is hardly the biggest threat here, however. What makes this dungeon truly ThatOneLevel is the [[EldritchAbomination Water]][[StalkedByTheBell wraith]].
** The third game gives us [[MeaningfulName Formidable Oak]], which is a maze of puzzles and enemies while you are hunted down by the Plasm Wraith.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: VideoGame/DawnOfWar: [[ExpansionPack Winter Assault]]'' has the fourth Disorder mission, which is a timed one. To top it off, one of the two losing conditions is sneaky: If you stop the imperial convoy from reaching the destination gate, but forget to stop the teleporting Eldar base, it will appear behind the gate before you know what hits you. There's also a [[GameBreakingBug particularly frustrating glitch]] that causes the game to keep tracking the convoy's movement ''even if you destroy it!'' Meaning that if you take to long, [[FridgeLogic an invisible, dead convoy will beat you to the end and you'll lose.]]

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* ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'' 2 ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'':
** ''VideoGame/Pikmin2''
has the Submerged Castle. It has every elemental hazard a dungeon can have, except only [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman Blue Pikmin]] can enter. Right off the bat, the first floor has a Fiery Bulblax, which needs to be lured into the water so the Blue Pikmin don't catch fire. The Bulblax is hardly the biggest threat here, however. What makes this dungeon truly ThatOneLevel is the [[EldritchAbomination Water]][[StalkedByTheBell wraith]].
** The third game gives us ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'': [[MeaningfulName The Formidable Oak]], which Oak]] is a maze of puzzles and enemies while you are hunted down by the Plasm Wraith.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}: VideoGame/DawnOfWar: [[ExpansionPack ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'':
** ''[[ExpansionPack
Winter Assault]]'' has the fourth Disorder mission, which is a timed one. To top it off, one of the two losing conditions is sneaky: If you stop the imperial convoy from reaching the destination gate, but forget to stop the teleporting Eldar base, it will appear behind the gate before you know what hits you. There's also a [[GameBreakingBug particularly frustrating glitch]] that causes the game to keep tracking the convoy's movement ''even if you destroy it!'' Meaning that if you take to long, [[FridgeLogic an invisible, dead convoy will beat you to the end and you'll lose.]]
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!! '''Co-op Missions'''
* Scythe of Amon being based on the Host, the mission that features one of the strongest enemy presence in the entire trilogy, makes it hard enough already. But the real kicker here is that damn bonus objective: a grandiously oversized shuttle that charges straight into enemy strongholds, all over the map, that forces you into a ''very'' tight timer clearing out most of the heavily fortified map. It is not that bad even on regular Brutal once you and your ally both know the optimal order in which to clear out the map, but few question that it is without a doubt the single worst bonus objective in all of Co-op missions.
* Cradle of Death is considered the worst Co-op mission of all time: You and your ally are both forced to drag an unwieldy truck to disable otherwise invincible evil Xel'naga constructs that block parts of the map, and you have to clear out over two thirds of the entire map in this fashion, with a not-so-lenient timer and attack waves constantly dropping down right on top of your head to harass you. It really says something when the South Korean server ''deems it an acceptable behavior to RageQuit as soon as this map is matched.''
* ''Any'' mutation with the Void Rifts mutator is this: Void Rifts periodically spawn in random locations throughout the map, constantly spewing out units to harass your base and units. The longer you keep them alive the stronger units emerge in larger numbers. No combinations of commanders can hold out for an extended amount of time against the unrelenting onslaught of void entities, making the only viable option to seek out and destroy the void rifts as soon as possible. There is a good reason it is considered the single hardest mutator out of them all.
* '''Aggressive Recruitment: Permanently cloaked Propagators that are even faster than upgraded zerglings, constantly rushing your base and army down.''' It has thus become known as one of the hardest mutations in Starcraft history.
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Renamed per TRS


* "Templar's Return". Part 1 is simple enough. Part 2 is where the fun starts - it is an UnwinnableByDesign[=/=]UnwinnableByMistake level where proceeding is impossible if you do not have an army totalling 60 seats. Kill off too many mechanical enemy units? You're hosed, since there's hardly enough resource to build an army of 60 (and it's just too easy given Fenix's eagerness to rush into battle). And then there's Part 3, with it's AdvancingWallOfDoom and corrupted zerg pulling off a constant unending ZergRush on you.

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* "Templar's Return". Part 1 is simple enough. Part 2 is where the fun starts - it is an UnwinnableByDesign[=/=]UnwinnableByMistake level UnwinnableByDesign[=/=]UnintentionallyUnwinnablelevel where proceeding is impossible if you do not have an army totalling 60 seats. Kill off too many mechanical enemy units? You're hosed, since there's hardly enough resource to build an army of 60 (and it's just too easy given Fenix's eagerness to rush into battle). And then there's Part 3, with it's AdvancingWallOfDoom and corrupted zerg pulling off a constant unending ZergRush on you.

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* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'' has the last Allied mission. Your objective is to destroy seven strategically placed Iron Curtain machines, which make the Soviet Premier's palace invulnerable, and then take down the palace. Every one of the Iron Curtains is in the middle of a Soviet base except one, which is in the middle of an urban area whose all apartments are garrisoned full of Soviet infantry. This wouldn't be that much of a problem were it not a TimedMission: On easy you have an hour, on medium and hard it's thirty minutes. The island you and your co-commander are given as a base location is pretty easy to defend, but has only four ore mines and two oil derricks, a pretty small amount compared to most maps in the campaign (considering you probably are too busy taking down the Iron Curtains to clear yourself a way for a secondary base to increase your resource gathering speed). The enemy begins by sending huge tank rushes, which are easily countered. Then, when about fifteen minutes of your time has passed, they suddenly send an enormous infantry assault, just in case their lack of such attacks has made you forget to build anti-infantry defenses. About the same time, the Soviets start attacking with V4 launchers (which in this game can't be countered by shooting the missiles, so you are required to have units to take them down before they can reduce your base into shreds) and their superweapon activates. Five minutes later, the soviets start to bring Dreadnoughts against you via the river and attacking you with helicopters and zeppelins. At this point, even the hardiest Allied general is reduced to a crying pile on the floor.

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* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'' has the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'':
** The
last Allied mission. Your objective is to destroy seven strategically placed Iron Curtain machines, which make the Soviet Premier's palace invulnerable, and then take down the palace. Every one of the Iron Curtains is in the middle of a Soviet base except one, which is in the middle of an urban area whose all apartments are garrisoned full of Soviet infantry. This wouldn't be that much of a problem were it not a TimedMission: On easy you have an hour, on medium and hard it's thirty minutes. The island you and your co-commander are given as a base location is pretty easy to defend, but has only four ore mines and two oil derricks, a pretty small amount compared to most maps in the campaign (considering you probably are too busy taking down the Iron Curtains to clear yourself a way for a secondary base to increase your resource gathering speed). The enemy begins by sending huge tank rushes, which are easily countered. Then, when about fifteen minutes of your time has passed, they suddenly send an enormous infantry assault, just in case their lack of such attacks has made you forget to build anti-infantry defenses. About the same time, the Soviets start attacking with V4 launchers (which in this game can't be countered by shooting the missiles, so you are required to have units to take them down before they can reduce your base into shreds) and their superweapon activates. Five minutes later, the soviets start to bring Dreadnoughts against you via the river and attacking you with helicopters and zeppelins. At this point, even the hardiest Allied general is reduced to a crying pile on the floor.


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** Pearl Harbor is a map made halfway of water, where the Allies will send relentless bombing runs at you. No problem, just use your waterborne AntiAir units! Except you don't get any. Have fun watching your Tengus get shot out of the sky, then your naval forces get frozen, then bombers soar merrily overhead to take out both your refineries. Yes, ''both'' of them- clearly half a dozen sacred monuments being threatened with destruction doesn't warrant you being granted enough money to actually defend them. You also have a co-commander whose main function seems to be spending your money to build units then get getting those units killed.
** Uprising has the second Imperial mission, where your forces and your base aren't in the same place, you're under constant attack from several directions, and what few places you have to place refineries are open to attacks from subs.

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* ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}} 2'' has some notoriously difficult levels, due to the fact that at the start of every mission, the AI gets a fleet several times your own which also happens to have the perfect counters to your ships. In fact, hacking the game files and giving yourself more ships than your quota would allow '''will''' backfire since this will increase the size of the enemy fleet EXPONENTIALLY. Never mind that the AI ignores unit limits anyway.

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* ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}} ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'':
** The first game has the 10th mission, the "Supernova Station". The basic premise of the mission is already hard: Your units have to follow a very specific path through some [[SpaceClouds dust clouds]] or be blasted by intense radiation that will wear down their HP, and you have to destroy certain groups of enemies within a very tight time limit to avoid alerting the whole fleet and getting bum-rushed. But what makes it a stand-out example of this trope is that the mission comes right on the heels of ''three missions in a row'' where you've probably been depending heavily on fighters and corvettes... which are now essentially useless because if they're out of position by a few pixels they'll lose a quarter of their HP every few seconds.
**
2'' has some notoriously difficult levels, due to the fact that at the start of every mission, the AI gets a fleet several times your own which also happens to have the perfect counters to your ships. In fact, hacking the game files and giving yourself more ships than your quota would allow '''will''' backfire since this will increase the size of the enemy fleet EXPONENTIALLY. Never mind that the AI ignores unit limits anyway.
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** However, the second part of this mission turns out to be a cakewalk [[GuideDangIt if you happen to know]] that there is a backdoor entrance to Vega's base, making all that dashing past defences unnecessary. Instead of following the train, just go south and walk along the cliff surrounding the base, until you find a weak spot (a little west of the broken bridge). Shoot at it and move up the resulting passage -- you will end up in the middle of Vega's base, with no passive defences bothering you, and the train standing right there, ready to be deprived of locomotive.
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Link to full title as there's another game called Hostile Waters without the subtitle that I'll probably make a page on.





* ''VideoGame/HostileWaters: Antaeus Rising'': In the level where you return to island zero, If your first wave fails to cause crippling damage to the bugs' main production facilities, it becomes almost impossible for you to collect enough energy to clean the island. But the bugs, of course, have no similar problems.

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* ''VideoGame/HostileWaters: Antaeus Rising'': ''VideoGame/HostileWatersAntaeusRising'': In the level where you return to island zero, If your first wave fails to cause crippling damage to the bugs' main production facilities, it becomes almost impossible for you to collect enough energy to clean the island. But the bugs, of course, have no similar problems.

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Natter.


** That said, Shield World isn't as nasty as most other levels on this page. At the risk of going into WalkthroughMode, the level is made much easier by teching up first, blowing up the supply pads, and spamming gauss warthogs/marines preceded by cryo bombs.
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Age of Empires has its own page for That One Level,


* ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'':
** The second level of the Saladin campaign, ''Lion of Arabia''. You're tasked with destroying Reynald's Bandits, Reynald's Raiders, and Reynald's Pirates, while protecting the cities of Aqaba and Medina. Reynald's Bandits consists of several groups of Castle Age-strength units scattered across the map, Raiders has a well-defended fort along the upper edge of the map, and Pirates is holed up on an island across the sea. You start in the Feudal Age, with a miniscule base and next to no starting resources or military units. Aqaba and Medina are mostly useless; they occasionally tribute you resources, except when they're annoying the crap out of you with the same soundbites every time one of their caravans gets killed. You can't venture into the ocean without your ships getting sunk by the Pirates, and the Raiders will take the offensive very quickly. Even worse, while most teams in this scenario are restricted to the Castle Age, Reynald's Pirates ''aren't'', and they have no problem showing up with Galleons and transports full of Cavaliers.
*** Topped by ''Jihad!'', the fifth mission. You're tasked with destroying two of the three Crusader city-states: Ascalon, Tiberias, and Tyre. Tyre is located across the sea to the northeast, Tiberias to the west, and Ascalon to the south. Yup, you're right in the middle, on the coast, perfectly exposed to attack from all sides. Tiberias and Tyre will waste no time throwing camels, heavy cavalry and rams (Tiberias) or galleons, cataphracts, and bombard cannons (Tyre). Meanwhile, Ascalon goes for the Wonder, meaning that you can't just wage a war of attrition, you have to go on a major offensive to gut Ascalon before the timer runs out. On the bright side, a GoodBadBug sometimes means Ascalon starts with no AI, but even then it's still ThatOneLevel.
*** Then ''The Lion and the Demon'' tops ''Jihad!''. You are required to build and defend a wonder in Acre, while holding off ''five different Crusader armies'': Genoese (warships), the Franks (cavalry, gunpowder units, and rams), Knights Templar (rams, Teutonic Knights, and cavalry), Jerusalem (camels, onagers, and trebuchets), and Richard the Lionhearted (longbowmen, cavalry, and mixed siege weapons, including two unique trebuchets). You have some resources inside your walls, but they'll run out quickly (especially your very limited wood supply). There's no real way to bottleneck the attackers; they come from both north and west, almost constantly. This is widely considered the hardest scenario in the game, and for good reason. [[spoiler:However, you can build the Wonder on an island in the west of the map, where only Genoese can attack it.]]
** How about the Lombard League? You get four enemy factions to fight; Padua, who starts out aggressively attacking; Venice, who rules the sea; Verona, who will eventually start attacking; and Henry the Lion, who starts as your ally but promptly betrays you, because having an ally might make this level, you know, ''possible''. The objective is to build a Wonder inside one of the Italian city-states' walls, but good luck even getting ''a single unit'' inside the walls. You start off getting chased out of your base by (who else?) Padua, which will pretty much set the tone for the rest of the mission. You can relocate to one of two places, neither of which has much in the way of resources, and one of which is right on Padua's and Venice's doorstep.
** ''Age of Empires II'' packs more of there. The ''Pope and Antipope'' scenario in Barbarossa's campaign seems fairly bearable at first - the only real enemies are across a river and their periodic coastal raids can be fought off with towers. However, the player has to cross the river to defeat the Milanese forces, who are not only equipped with an AI that's both extremely territorial and quick to repair damaged walls, but who also have the resources to keep [[WeHaveReserves churning out more troops for hours]]. And if you fail to destroy that harmless little town to the south, [[NotSoHarmlessVillain they'll supply the River Guards and Milan with additional resources]], meaning you'll be dealing with transports full of Milanese soldiers steaming up the river.
** There's also "The Siege of Paris", the second-last mission in the Joan of Arc campaign, an EscortMission with NO HEALERS to support your forces. To make things worse, you will have to go through a heavily guarded city filled with longbowmen and halberdiers. You will also have to rescue the villagers in the city and AT LEAST SIX OUT OF TEN of them must reach the destination.
** ''Into China'', the third mission in the Genghis Khan campaign. You have to fight four Chinese tribes: Hsi Hsia, Tanguts, Jin, and Sung. Three of them are behind the Great Wall, and Jin is in an island stronghold in the western corner of the map. Since none of them are particularly aggressive, this would be an easy scenario, if Jin didn't try to go for a Wonder victory, and quickly. Since Jin gives you so little time before they start on the Wonder, you have to work like crazy to get to the Imperial Age and scramble a force that can punch through Jin's army of Chinese archers and heavy cavalry to reach the Wonder and raze it. On the bright side, once Jin's Wonder goes down, the rest of the level isn't particularly hard.
*** ''Pax Mongolia'', the final level of the Genghis Khan campaign, pits you up against Hungary. It starts with you defending against the Hungarian knights crossing the Sajo River bridge while waiting on Subotai's reinforcements. A little while after Subotai arrives, the Hungarians blow up the bridge and start working on a Wonder, forcing you to cross the river in a different spot and invade their base. This wouldn't be too hard, if the game didn't give you a stupid amount of Saboteurs (ten at first, and another ten when Subotai arrives). With a population limit of 75, having twenty one-use units takes up a lot of valuable space, but you won't want to delete them because they're such powerful units (four times as powerful as Petards).
** From ''VideoGame/{{Age of Empires|I}}'', there's [[MarathonLevel The Great Hunt]]. An infuriatingly ''long'' level, where you have no base and have to wander back and forth across a ''huge'' map to recover an artifact at the very far north. You start out with just a few axemen and have to dash madly past enemies you can't hope to defeat. Then you find some priests and have to convert practically every enemy you come to, just to build up some semblance of an offensive force. If you lose your priests, you're screwed (and converting catapults and elephant archers never gets any easier). Then, you get an annoyingly long water segment, loaded with ballistas and catapults shooting at your transports. If you lose your transports, guess what? Time to load a save. After you struggle through that nightmare, you have to ascend the final peak, with a timer, with hordes of catapults and late-game units trying to kill you. Only after you reach the top and find the artifact are you done with this horrible, ''horrible'' level.
*** Nineveh, Nineveh, ''Nineveh''. You start out with a sizeable base, loads of resources, a small standing army...and no villagers. You have to go out and convert an enemy villager without provoking unnecessary wrath, then come back to your village and build up enough to upgrade to the Iron Age. You need to be in the iron age to assault Nineveh, which is building a wonder. After advancing, you have to fan out to find more resources whilst avoiding conflict, since you don't have time to fight off an attack. Meanwhile, you have to chip away at Nineveh's nigh-impenetrable defenses so you can conceivably land a force without getting massacred. Then, you have to invade Nineveh and smash through walls, towers, and a tremendous defensive force to destroy the wonder before time runs out. On the easier difficulty settings, this is a pushover because the AI is too stupid to assign multiple villagers to the wonder, but it's brutally NintendoHard on Medium and above.
** The ''first'' mission in the Yamato campaign, 'The Assassins'. You have to kill the leader of a nearby enemy tribe, and are given three broad swordsmen, a cavalry, and an archer. This involves trekking all the way down a fairly large map along a road infested with lions and elephants, all of which are aggressive. The lions aren't too much of a threat, but if you stumble across an elephant, it can easily put a serious crimp in your assassination plans. Then, you work your way into the base, which is loaded with catapults, towers, long swordsmen, [[LightningBruiser cavalry]], and [[MightyGlacier heavy infantry]], all of which have been upgraded multiple times (and yes, your party is all at base stats). And the leader himself could easily fall into ThatOneBoss territory on his own, as he's ridiculously powerful and has staggeringly high HP.
*** Possibly outclassed by 'Island Hopping', the ''second'' mission. You have to make your way through a bunch of islands to capture six artifacts. For starters, unless you proceed to the island southwest of yours ''immediately'' after the mission starts, an enemy will capture an artifact and trigger a timer. Then, you have to cross the map to find an enemy dock, which, if left unchecked, will fill the map with enemy war galleys. Failing to do either of those makes the mission almost impossible to complete. Did I mention the units you're given for this: two war galleys, a light transport, a heavy transport, two phalanxes, three composite bowmen, a catapult, and a ballista. That's it. Lose the heavy transport or that catapult and you can kiss victory goodbye.
*** The Yamato campaign can really fall under That One Campaign. The fourth level, Mountain Temple, is absolute murder on higher difficulties. Your objective is to destroy the Izumo mountain fortress. Sounds simple, but you start in the ''Stone Age'', and there's two Kibi tribes you're competing against for resources. One of them is in the Stone Age like you, and the other is in the ''Bronze Age''. You essentially have to speedrun the first half of the mission to wipe out the Kibi tribes before they devour the (very limited) resources on the map. After that hell, defeating the Izumo and building the temple is cake. [[KaizoTrap You did remember to save the 200 or so wood it takes to build a temple, right]]?
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Format correction


*** Then ''The Lion and the Demon'' tops ''Jihad!''. You are required to build and defend a wonder in Acre, while holding off ''five different Crusader armies'': Genoese (warships), the Franks (cavalry, gunpowder units, and rams), Knights Templar (rams, Teutonic Knights, and cavalry), Jerusalem (camels, onagers, and trebuchets), and Richard the Lionhearted (longbowmen, cavalry, and mixed siege weapons, including two unique trebuchets). You have some resources inside your walls, but they'll run out quickly (especially your very limited wood supply). There's no real way to bottleneck the attackers; they come from both north and west, almost constantly. This is widely considered the hardest scenario in the game, and for good reason. [spoiler:However, you can build the Wonder on an island in the west of the map, where only Genoese can attack it.]

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*** Then ''The Lion and the Demon'' tops ''Jihad!''. You are required to build and defend a wonder in Acre, while holding off ''five different Crusader armies'': Genoese (warships), the Franks (cavalry, gunpowder units, and rams), Knights Templar (rams, Teutonic Knights, and cavalry), Jerusalem (camels, onagers, and trebuchets), and Richard the Lionhearted (longbowmen, cavalry, and mixed siege weapons, including two unique trebuchets). You have some resources inside your walls, but they'll run out quickly (especially your very limited wood supply). There's no real way to bottleneck the attackers; they come from both north and west, almost constantly. This is widely considered the hardest scenario in the game, and for good reason. [spoiler:However, [[spoiler:However, you can build the Wonder on an island in the west of the map, where only Genoese can attack it.]]]

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