

Protection Mission is this combined with defending a stationary object. Tower Defense has this trope as its central gameplay element. In this trope, the objective is to stall for time. In the second, the goal is to defeat as many of the enemy as possible before being killed. In the first, the objective is to save your friends. Strategy games of all kinds love this trope - there are very few that do not have an example of a Hold The Line mission.įictionally, it is often a form of You Shall Not Pass! or Last Stand, but the goals differ. In many cases, there are several lines, and the criteria for winning (if neither team manages to break through them all) are usually which team got further or which team got to the same line first.
In multiplayer, this mode of gameplay also exists, usually with the teams switching after the attackers win or the timer runs out. Sometimes it might be linked to an Escort Mission, where the player has to escort someone to a location, and then protect them while they, for example, hack into the enemy's computer system. It also crops up in First-Person Shooter games, most commonly as an objective-based multiplayer game mode, though stopping to defend against waves of enemies (most often by way of using mounted turrets with limitless ammo but poor heat management) is also a common occurrence. This is common in Real-Time Strategy, where success usually requires a balance between creating defensive structures and units to protect one's objective, and scouting out and eliminating enemy bases to reduce their number. Fortunately for you, victory will usually occur instantly and automatically as soon as the time runs out, even if you were moments away from defeat. Sometimes the enemy is an overwhelming force, so actually defeating them, or even surviving much beyond the time limit, would be impossible. Your Defense Need Not Protect You Forever. Usually their objective is "seize control of the area", so you are defending your base (or a certain character) until reinforcements arrive, the foe gives up, or vital repairs are carried out. A Hold the Line mission is a type of Timed Mission, where instead of completing an objective in a set time, you have to prevent the enemy from completing their objective until the time runs out.
