Is there a term for the "no base building" levels in real-time strategy games?

Question

In a lot of real-time strategy games I've played (Age of Empires II, Warcraft III, and StarCraft II come to mind), some of the levels of the single-player campaign usually involve you controlling a handful of units and achieving your objective without managing a base. Typically these levels are laid-out linearly, with a set path or series of paths for you to follow until a pre-defined endpoint. The game will also usually give you more units along the way as a means to replenish your army. There is no base building or economy management involved the level, though occasionally you might get access to a few unit-production buildings to also replenish your army.

These levels seem like such a common occurrence in RTS's that I'm wondering if there's a term for them? "No base building" seems like a bit of a clunky name for it.

Answer 1

I would think the term RTT (real time tactics) would be a good fit. It is a sub/related genre to RTS, and is "focused on tactical and operational aspects of warfare such as unit formations or the exploitation of terrain for tactical advantage" as opposed to the "logistics and production".

I have also heard the terms non-base building used fairly frequently. Alternatively, I've heard the term "Call ins" used to refer to games where you simply call in the troops you need to fight with as opposed to building them.

Answer 2

I've seen a few people describe these as unit-only missions, certainly across Warcraft, C&C, and games of that era. Here are a few references using the term for Warcraft specifically.

The Past and Times of Yore: Warcraft, Orcs and Humans, where RTS all began. JD's Gaming Blog

I found myself looking forward to the unit-only missions where you didn't have to build and defend a base […]

Warcraft 3: Reforged Guide - Chapter 3 - Ravages of the Plague. IGN

This is another "unit only" mission, meaning you won't have to worry about building a town.

It's also used over the internet to describe the C&C 'Commando missions' (although "The commando missions" is much more common!), and "single-unit missions" is also used, (obviously for a sub-set of these!)

Answer 3

Years ago, these were called installation missions. Some Google searching suggests that this term probably isn't in common usage at this point. You can find it in some walkthroughs or reviews of the original Starcraft.

I believe this term is in reference to Starcraft's fourth mission, Jacobs Installation, which was the first one in that game without any base building.