Paracel Storm

Paracel Storm (Chinese: 西沙風暴) is a multiplayer map featured in Battlefield 4. It is set in the Paracel Islands on the South China Sea. The map features combined arms gameplay, with a focus on both naval and aerial warfare with attack boats and jets being present in the map.

The layout features a large island to the north, and roughly seven smaller islands to the south. Three of the smaller islands are connected by bridges. The layout is generally symmetric, mirrored from west to east.

Sometime during the round, air raid sirens will alert players to an incoming tropical storm. The storm will start pouring rain down on the island and cause the once still ocean to develop rolling waves. A destroyer may eventually crash into one of the many islands. Once the ship crashes into the island, the anti-aircraft turrets mounted on the deck of the ship become available as Commander Assets.

Deployments
The US Deployment is on the USS Essex, on the west side of the map. The CN Deployment is on islands to the east.

A: Dockyard
Vehicle resource: An additional attack boat spawns here.

The northernmost flag, located on the north side of the largest island. It can be captured from the sea.

A radar tower stands to the south, in the middle of the island. The M82A3 may appear here as a Battle Pickup.

B: Barracks
Commander resource: Gunship

The barracks buildings stand on the south side of the same large island containing the Dockyard. The buildings and the yard they enclose are fairly set off from the rest of the map.

Four emplacements are mounted ashore, two facing south, and the others facing east and west. The USAS-12 may appear here as a Battle Pickup.

C: Firebase Island
Commander resource: Vehicle Scan

Trenches on this island help protect a building complex on this western island.

Levolution: To the southwest stand a series of windmills set in the open ocean. A wrecked American warship floats near the closest of these windmills. When the storm arrives, the windmill can be destroyed (even with infantry firearms), causing the storm to carry the warship ashore. As it runs aground, it will destroy much of the building complex. The warship deck becomes part of the capture area, the C-RAM on it will engage spotted aircraft of the team that doesn't control the flag. The M82A3 MID and HVM-II may appear here as battle pickups after the destroyer has ran aground.

D: Solar Island
Commander resource: Infantry Scan

This island contains a solar panel array and two emplacements.

An island to the south connects Solar Island to Firebase Island by bridges. There are three emplacements protecting this island.

E: Shipwreck
Vehicle resource: Depending on which team controls it an AH-6J Little Bird (US) or Z-11W (CN) may spawn here.

A destroyed aircraft carrier remains scuttled to the south. The capture area is on the front half, which leans slightly away. The listing deck and aircraft wreckage provide cover. (There does not appear to be enough slope for the wreckage to be used as environmental hazards as in "Angry Sea".) There are some narrow ways that are partially flooded under the flight-deck which can be accessed by small, hard to spot entrances/impact holes.

Obliteration
The bomb generally spawns on the larger island to the north (Dockyard and Barracks). The six Bomb drops are generally located on the smaller islands to the south.

Both teams can deploy via paradrop towards the southern part of the large island, where the Barracks are located.

Rush
This map has four stages in Rush mode.

Stage 1
The attackers (US) start aboard the USS Essex, while the defenders (CN) start at what remains of the USS Titan.

The attackers start with several RHIBs, an RCB-90 , and a UH-1Y Venom. The defenders only get 1 RHIB.

Deathmatch
Team Deathmatch and Squad Deathmatch take place around the barracks. Intense CQB occurs as a result yet the edges of the map as well as  the ability to look over the balconies of the barracks allows for some mid-long range combat.

Domination
Domination takes place around the Barracks, similar to Defuse and TDM/SDM. One flag is located at the basketball court, one by the trenches, and one at the isolated area in between the barracks and the building towards the MGs.

Defuse
Defuse on Paracel Storm is located similarly to it's TDM/SDM and Domination counterparts, being in the Barracks area.

Levolution
Close to the beginning of the match a storm will hit, causing heavy rain to fall and high winds and waves around the map. The storm will reduce visibility and make the map darker and wetter.

When the storm hits lightning will strike a wind turbine that is between the half-sunken aircraft carrier and the US deployment. Shooting explosives at the crack in the turbine's exterior will cause it to collapse, in turn releasing the destroyer that is trapped on it. The destroyer will crash into an island and change map flow.

There are several rope ladders leading to the deck of the destroyer after it crashes into the island. On top you will find several turrets, including an AA turret that changes map flow of air vehicles.

Trivia

 * The stele in the middle of the Barracks Area reads: 「不怕神一样的对手，就怕猪一样的队友」, which roughly translates to: "We do not fear godlike enemies, we fear pig-like teammates". This is a popular phrase used very commonly in Chinese online gaming communities.


 * The map was stated to have taken six months to develop.


 * The text on the warning sign of the Levolution ship's AA turret is written in Dutch.


 * When trying to land on the helipad of the trapped US Destroyer with a helicopter, one can notice that the ship's physical superstructure does not match the structure one sees tumbling in the water, making the chopper get "immersed" through the ship.


 * The debris of the wrecked USS Titan from the campaign can be found in this map as the flag "E" (Conquest).


 * This is the only map in the base game where the main Levolution event cannot be triggered in Rush mode (excluding the train in Golmud Railway, which does not move). The main Levolution events in all other basic maps are triggered by destroying certain M-COMs.


 * A course based on this map is set to be included in PGA Tour 2015; a golf game that uses the Frostbite 3 engine.
 * During the beta phase of Battlefield 4's development, the faction opposing the USMC was the RGF. This was changed to the PLA before the launch of the game.