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Tarsis Ultra was a Civilised World with some specifications typical to an Agri World and a long, harsh winter period during which it looked like a ice world. It was the turning point of the advance of Hive Fleet Leviathan. During the Great Crusade, Roboute Guilliman led the assault on this world from which he was attacked by an unknown assailant but was saved by a native soldier. Guilliman then made a warriors bond with the trooper vowing to return should the world ever need his aid. A temple within the capital Erebus honours this along with the planets residents changing the name to include the Ultramarine's name and the local Planetary Defence Force attempting to replicate the Ultramarine's Power armour.

In 999.M41, Tarsis Ultra was faced with the threat of the Tyranids after it was discovered that a tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan was bound for the planet. The Ultramarines were sworn to honour the ancient oath pledged by the Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, to defend the people of Tarsis Ultra; thus Captain Uriel Ventris through the orders of Marneus Calgar enlisted the aid of a Company from an Ultramarines Second Founding Chapter, the Mortifactors, led by Chaplain Astador. Supporting the Space Marines defending Tarsis Ultra were 10th Logres led by Colonel Octavius Rebalaq, the 933rd Death Korps of Krieg led by Colonel Trymon Stagler, and the PDF Regiments headed by Major Satria. Inquisitor Kryptman was also present to impart his extensive knowledge of the Tyranids to help the war effort. Fabricator Marshal Sebastian Montante proved to be a valuable asset as an efficient organiser of resources and general supply management.

When the Tyranids arrived in the system and consumed the planet Barbarus Prime, the Imperials launched an attack in space. Despite an initial victory in destroying a Hiveship, Inquisitor Kryptman wished to invoke Exterminatus upon the world Chordelis, as it was the next planet in the path of the Tyranids; this was to prevent it from being devoured and swelling the Tyranids' numbers, as planetary evacuation was deemed to be too slow. Ventris was vehemently against this decision and supported an alternative solution proposed by Admiral Tiberius, who proposed to slow down the Tyranids by exploding a hydrogen-plasma refinery in space thereby destroying another Hiveship. However, Kryptman had lied to Ventris and with the assistance of the Mortifactors invoked Exterminatus in spite of the Ultramarines' plan succeeding. The Imperials attempted the same trick again with a second space refinery to destroy yet another Hiveship. However, the Tyranids adapted to this ploy and the plan backfired on the Imperials, crippling their fleet and forcing the survivors to flee; Tarsis Ultra was left unprotected from space, which allowed the Tyranids to launch their final planetary invasion.

During the Tyranid attacks on Tarsis Ultra, a Lictor was captured by Ventris and a Deathwatch team; this proved pivotal during the war, as Kryptman was able to concoct a venom from the Lictor's genetic structure that would send an early generation Tyranid into hyper-evolution, killing the creature. They then decided upon killing the Norn-Queen in order to win the war. Ventris joined the Deathwatch team in infiltrating the final remaining Hiveship to kill the last Norn-Queen controlling the Tyranids. Ventris managed to finally kill the last Norn-Queen with Kryptman's gene-poison. The remaining Space Marine contingent of both the Ultramarines and Mortifactors were down to sixteen men when the Tyranids started to attack each other, as the link with the Hive Mind was lost when the last Norn-Queen died. The psychic shockwave of the overmind's death affected the Tyranids into slaughtering each other senselessly, leaving the Imperials alone. The majority froze to death under the harsh conditions of Tarsis Ultra with a minority surviving and taking refuge in warmer surroundings. At the conclusion of the war, Ventris reaffirmed his faith as an Ultramarine to protect the Imperium from the enemies of Mankind

very awesome keep it up man. i notice some gameplay issues mostly for the nids; since theyre vastly exposed on this map, try to give them more cover, or the game may end up in a killing field stalemate, otherwise great update.

When I first saw this thread I thought it was a bad idea to set a map on an ice world, purely because of the lack of snow textures.  Looks like you've overcome that hurdle though.  After the issue with the art in HiveCity I have to ask, did you make these textures yourself or are they from another mod?

I really liked the gothic fortifications and the icicles in the initial version, I hope they will find their way back somehow.

From a design perspective a large number of objectives sounded particularly challenging.  To have that many objectives, with a full set of spawn points would require a vast amount of space.   I'd be interested to hear what tricks you learned from studying the big EP2 maps.