Opium Trail is the 8th map and the 3rd special map in the game. A major city sits at the top of the map while two towns lie close and far away from the major city respectively. The area is stretched by roads and highways connecting all 3 urban civilizations.
Dam Map
Trail Map
Region Information
Region Code
Sector Code
Type
Transportation
Terrain
Population
Hostile%
Alpha
Papa
Rural
Highways
Grassland
7164
2.62%
Alpha
Romeo
Rural
Minor Roads
Grassland
9631
4.34%
Alpha
Tango
Rural
Minor Roads
Grassland
7536
5.67%
Alpha
Uniform
Rural
Highways
Grassland
9228
3.50%
Alpha
Whiskey
Urban
Main Roads
Grassland
46217
4.23%
Alpha
Yankee
Rural
Minor Roads
Grassland
8583
3.23%
Bravo
Juliett
Rural
Highways
Grassland
12156
3.82%
Bravo
Papa
Rural
Main Roads
Grassland
10790
3.99%
Bravo
Romeo
Rural
Main Roads
Grassland
9830
4.46%
Bravo
Sierra
Rural
Main Roads
Grassland
7881
2.96%
Bravo
Tango
Rural
Minor Roads
Grassland
11683
7.21%
Bravo
Whiskey
Urban
Main Roads
Desert
20036
5.05%
Charlie
Juliett
Remote
Minor Roads
Desert
2967
5.07%
Charlie
Lima
Remote
Main Roads
Desert
4574
7.54%
Charlie
Mike
Remote
Minor Roads
Mountain
4511
12.68%
Delta
Juliett
Remote
Minor Roads
Mountain
2614
7.21%
Delta
Kilo
Remote
Minor Roads
Mountain
3218
6.01%
Delta
Lima
Remote
Minor Roads
Mountain
4528
8.51%
Delta
Mike
Remote
Minor Roads
Mountain
3579
6.39%
Echo
Juliett
Rural
Highways
Scrubland
12425
6.78%
Echo
Kilo
Remote
Minor Roads
Mountain
4489
29.63%
Echo
Lima
Remote
Minor Roads
Mountain
3194
5.00%
Echo
Mike
Remote
Minor Roads
Mountain
3618
12.79%
Echo
Oscar
Remote
Minor Roads
Mountain
3587
31.07%
Foxtrot
Juliett
Rural
Highways
Scrubland
7995
7.10%
Foxtrot
Kilo
Urban
Main Roads
Scrubland
12165
7.99%
Foxtrot
Lima
Rural
Main Roads
Scrubland
12089
4.89%
Foxtrot
Mike
Remote
Minor Roads
Mountain
4381
6.28%
Foxtrot
Oscar
Remote
Minor Roads
Mountain
3820
12.14%
Strategy
The worst things on the map could be as well as Opium generation, terrible roads, and clusters of insurgent spawns that are difficult to contain. In the early to mid game Opium can essentially grow unopposed as unless you have Warlord's National Soldiers (and a way to deal with their salaries) you will struggle to deploy units that can remove these efficiently. The combined reputation loss and insurgent capability boost can be extremely devastating as they snowball untouched.
Rather, it's much more helpful to stabilize as quickly as possible when opium growth is slow in the beginning. This is because opium will never grow in a stabilized area. Development Director, who is particularly short on troops, should definitely take advantage of this. Opium Trail is a map that is slow to stabilize due to high supporter requirements despite low hostility, so jobs that give you a significant boost in support for a relatively small value, especially rural jobs, are a great bang for your buck. Add to that some services(recommend education, as there is a lot of concern about it. Healthcare also performs well, so that's fine.), and universal justice, and you'll see stabilization quickly. As for roads, it's not too late to start buying them once the region is stabilized. Buying employment support programme immediately is always recommended, as you only pay a bit to void support losses in the zone.
Conversely, if stabilization starts to slow down, your operations will be crushed as the opium starts to grow faster and faster, and in larger quantities. This is especially true for Warlord. Warlord is also directly affected by military constraints, so he need to be especially careful in play.
Bravo Romeo stabilizes extremely quickly and has nearby areas with low hostile populations. Alpha Romeo provides easier access to the northeastern corner where opium fields tend be rampant and provides some of the stability benefits Bravo Romeo gets. Additionally, placing a headquarters in an Alpha Romeo will cause no opium to grow on the Alpha Romeo, which has the effect of permanently removing one opium source from the northeast dirt roads rural zones. Alpha Whiskey is relatively easy to follow up stabilization and has good access to the western front. Instead, first stabilization is very difficult and accessibility of eastern and northern zones is very poor.
On the northeastern side of the map there are rural zones with only dirt roads, forcing the operation to be careful with those, as Poppy Fields are harder to reach. Remote areas are on every single corner of the map, requiring good roads to be funded for outspeeding response for the insurgency threat. There are key vulnerable points that could easily be taken over by rebels, but in reality should not be taken over. The most representative ones are Alpha Yankee in the northeast, Echo Juliett in the west, and Chalie Lima in the east.
Opium Trail's rebel combat power is strong on average, and their aggressiveness is also very high, so if you don't end the fight quickly, they will end you. Therefore, if the battle seems to be dragging on a bit, you will need to provide support with other troops. This is true even if other areas are slightly attacked or opium grows a little.
Direct reputation reduction from opium only applies when opium is visible. Using this in reverse, minimizing intel can delay reputation decline due to opium for a very long time. In particular, it is worth considering a strategy of not purchasing the Regional Census, which collects intel across regions. Instead, areas where intel must be collected for various reasons must be scouted by the military.
Exclusive Initiatives
Government
Counter-Narcotics - Allied military forces are authorized to destroy poppy fields. New poppy fields will no longer spawn in stable zones.
Employment Support Programme - Poppy fields now deduct funds instead of generating hostiles when destroyed. Each destroyed field beforehand increases the cost by 1. Still takes away funds if Operation chooses to spray herbicides across the region to wreck the poppy fields (and many other agricultural plants as well) on the random event decision despite not stopping the support level penalty.
Opium Crackdown - Temporarily reduce opium production and gain 1 reputation. Poppy fields will have reduced output by 65%, has no effect on growth speed.
Enhanced Surveillance - Drones now scan the target zone and a random zone next to it each time they are dispatched.
Opium Crisis
Poppy fields can spawn in Rural regions (or any in Mega-Brutal) and will slowly build up to 100% (grows at 20% of the rate on Remote Zones). This gives plenty of opportunities for opium trade. Fully-grown fields will gradually reduce the player's reputation, increases corruption risk, as well as boosting insurgent capability. Unchecked opium industries will cause the international community to turn on you, potentially damaging your reputation or catastrophically decreasing support Level. It's best to take them out before they get the chance.
Achievements
Drug Control
Win a game on any difficulty on Opium Trail
Drug Enforcement
Win a game on brutal difficulty on Opium Trail
Roll Initiative
Use a governor's expertise to improve an outcome
Tragic Accident
Run over a drug kingpin with a tank
Burn the Dragon
Destroy 25 Poppy Fields
Modern Farming
Use tanks to destroy 5 Poppy Fields
It's Medicinal
Seize over 300 kg of Opium
Trivia
There are 254,489 total people in this region.
Common major concerns in this region are: Schools, Jobs, Telecoms.
The internal codename for this region is "opium".
If this region had a structure like that in Azure Dam, convoy trucks would enter from Alpha Papa, Echo Juliett, or Bravo Papa. There is no arrival destination set.
The soundtrack for "Opium Trail" both for PC and mobile is reused from "Distant Steppe" soundtrack.
Poppy fields near rivers or within insurgent controlled zones grow 10% faster. This bonus stacks multiply.
Poppy fields can spawn in zones with Garrisons if they are unstable, but grow 20% slower.
Tanks are at least ~2.5 times as effective in removing Poppy Fields.
When player not buy Employment Support Programme initiative, somehow Nation Soldier clear opium fields faster than Coalition Soldier.
The achievement "Modern Farming", along with the Tank Units' increased efficiency against Poppy Fields, may imply they merely run over such plantations to destroy them.
