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Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour
Side Comparison Guide by kylohk
Version: 4.2 | Updated: 03/31/05 | Search Guide | Bookmark Guide
--------------------------------------------------------------------- Command & Conquer: Generals Side Comparison Guide by Alasdair Lo System: PC, CD-ROM E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Date: 31 March, 2005 Version 4.2 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Contents [Search Key] 1. Introduction [GCP1] 2. Updates [GCP2] ---a. Patch V1.03 Information [GCP2A] 3. Disclaimer [GCP3] 4. More about the New Scoring System [GCP4] 5. The Sides [GCP5] 6. Infantry [GCP6] ---a. Rifle Infantry [GCP6A] ---b. Rocket Infantry [GCP6B] ---c. Advanced Infantry [GCP6C] ---d. Motorists [GCP6D] ---e. Demolitions [GCP6E] ---f. Electronics [GCP6F] ---g. Hero Units [GCP6G] 7. Armored Units [GCP7] ---a. Main Battle Tank [GCP7A] ---b. Troop Transports [GCP7B] ---c. Anti-air, Anti-infantry Vehicles [GCP7C] ---d. Spray Action Units [GCP7D] ---e. Intelligence Units [GCP7E] ---f. Electronic Units [GCP7F] ---g. Standard Long Range Units [GCP7G] ---h. Advanced Long Range Units [GCP7H] ---i. Suicidal Units [GCP7I] ---j. Advanced Battle Tank [GCP7J] 8. Air Units [GCP8] ---a. Main Fighter [GCP8A] ---b. Attack Helicopter [GCP8B] ---c. Additional Air Units [GCP8C] 9. Base Defenses [GCP9] ---a. Basic Base Defense [GCP9A] ---b. Garrisonable Base Defenses [GCP9B] ---c. Traps [GCP9C] ---d. Fake Structures [GCP9D] 10. Base Infrastructure [GCP10] ---a. Standard Resource Gatherer [GCP10A] ---b. Power Supply [GCP10B] ---c. Infinite Resource Gather [GCP10C] ---d. Radar and Intelligence [GCP10D] 11. Super Weapons and Generals Abilities [GCP11] 12. Final Overall Comparison [GCP12] 13. About the Talented Generals [GCP13] 14. Conclusion [GCP14] Appendix I. Feedback Information [A1] Appendix II. Letters from Readers. [A2] ----------------------- 1. Introduction [GCP1] ----------------------- Command & Conquer: Generals is the newest installment of the world famous real time strategy Command & Conquer series. As usual, there is more than one side. This time, there are 3! USA, GLA and China. As usual, each side has its own strong points and weak points, and now, I will just give some guidelines on which side is good at what, and hopefully, will give you an idea of which side suits your style of playing. The guide now includes comparison of units that appear in Zero Hour now. ------------------ 2. Updates [GCP2] ------------------ Version 4.2: Made a slight update to the General Ability section, cause I am just a bit bored. Version 4.1: Added the supplementary information for the A-10A Thunderbolt, with reference to the Jane's Combat Aircraft Guide. Version 4.0: Added supplementary information about the Troop Crawler, with reference to Sinodefence. Version 3.9: Added supplementary information about the Battlemaster Tank and the Inferno Cannon, with reference to Sinodefence. Version 3.8: Added some supplementary information about the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress and the Northrop Grumman B-2A Spirit with reference to Jane's Combat Aircraft Guide, and added supplementary information on the Red Guard with reference from Microsoft Encarta. Version 3.7: Added some supplementary information about the Comanche and Stealth Fighter, with reference to the Jane's Combat Aircraft Guide. Version 3.6: Added some supplementary information about the Raptor and MiG, with reference from the Jane's Combat Aircraft Guide. Version 3.5: Answered a newly submitted question from someone who would be known as Black Scorpion. Version 3.4: Added a new section called letters from readers at the end. Version 3.3: Added information on General Tsing Shi Tao. Version 3.2: Added Information on General Ta Hun Kwai. Version 3.1: Added Information on General "Anvil" Shin Fai. Version 3.0: Added information on Prince Kassad. Version 2.9: Added information on General Rodall "Demo" Juhziz. Version 2.8: Added information on Dr. Thrax. Version 2.7: Added information on General "Pinpoint" Townes. Version 2.6: Added information on Malcolm "Ace" Granger. Version 2.5: Started comparing the Talented Generals. Version 2.4: Added the price of each unit, if any. I also judged which units are a good value for money. After all, I got a B for Economics in last year's Hong Kong public examination. Version 2.3: Changed some of the comparison data in the guide, as some reasons are too simplistic. Version 2.2: Reinstated the scoring system. Added an extra chapter to explain the scoring system, so people would not be misled by my new scores. Version 2.1: Added some tips here and there on how to use this ability and so on. Version 2.0: Fixed some problems with the punctuation marks. Version 1.9: Decided to retain the original name. Fixed a few more mistakes in the individual unit comparisons. Decided to abandon the scoring system altogether. Instead, I will just say which side is good at what. Version 1.8: Changed the name of the guide to Offline Side Comparison Guide. Version 1.7: Fixed some typos in the Technical and Marauders. Version 1.6: Revised the scoring system, and instead of giving each unit a score, I just give a conclusion for each type of unit. Version 1.5: Again, readjusted the scoring systems, so that the point difference between GLA and China are narrowed. Added some additional pointers in the Final Overall Comparison Section. Fixed the typo that China has a population of 13 billion, as it only has 1.3 billion! Added a new type of scoring method, called Score by Category. Version 1.4: Fixed some formatting problems. Adjusted the score of GLA and China so they are closer to each other, as I did not have the technicals and battle buses enough points. Version 1.3: Added Zero Hour Expansion Units. Version 1.2: Fixed some problems with the punctuation marks. Version 1.1: Added a disclaimer section for the comparison. ----------------------------------- a. Patch V1.03 Information [GCP2A] ----------------------------------- Recently, EA released a new patch which upgrades the game to Version 1.03. Read this carefully, as it caused me to readjust the scores in several places. At the same time, it gave me even MORE justification to stick with several scores which have been debated by some readers. Hee hee. Oh, and my comments about some of the changes are enclosed in parentheses. Command & Conquer(tm) Generals Zero Hour IMPORTANT UPDATE FROM THE BATTLEFIELD 2003 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved. For latest news and updates visit GENERALS.EA.COM - - Incoming transmission - - General, Several of our loyal supporters have passed along intelligence that has allowed the Generals Intelligence Agency to uncover and repair several glitches in your Zero Hour tactical software. Your software has been updated accordingly. Good luck. Generals Intelligence Agency - - End transmission - - Version 1.03 February, 2005 1. COMMAND CENTER CRASH- fixed the crash that would occur when upgrading a fake GLA command center. 2. GARRISONED BUNKER CRASH- fixed the crash that would occur when a stealth bomber attacked a garrisoned bunker or palace. 3. FIXED THE UNFINISHED BUILDING EXPLOIT * Scud Storm (All GLA Generals) * Firebase (all USA Generals) * Gattling Tower (all China Generals) * Patriot Missile (all USA Generals) * Tunnel Network (Stealth and Demolition Generals) 4. WORKERS STOPPING- fixed the problem that would cause GLA workers to stop gathering resources when buying the Fortified Building Upgrade. 5. GLA CAPTURING OPPONENT COMMAND CENTER- fixed an issue that caused the user's general powers to become un-clickable after he captured an opponent command center. 6. COLONEL BURTON- fixed the bug where he could destroy aircraft by knife-attack. (Wow, I never knew he could do that in earlier versions.) 7. TANK HUNTER- his explosives no longer disappear when he dies. Instead, they explode. (Good, so Tank Hunters can also act as suicide soldiers.) 8. SENTRY DRONES- no longer automatically engage on enemy units when stealthy. (How sad, so you can't render these things in a place and forget stance. More justification to give Sentry Drones a 0!) 9. USA AIR FORCE GENERAL- the rangers are now specific to the faction, rather than being the default USA rangers. (What are they talking about? Better play and find out.) 10. COMANCHES- now get the red rocket trails when they achieve heroic rank. 11. TEXT CHANGES- the tooltip for the Laser Defense Turret now indicates the correct power usage. 12. TOXIN GENERAL- Anthrax bomb now has Gamma toxin by default. (So, Purple is in, Blue is out!) 13. BOMB TRUCK DISGUISED AS AVENGER- now uses the correct Avenger Model. 14. ADDED NEW MAPS! (Really?) 15. ALL USA GENERALS a. RAPTOR & STEALTH FIGHTER- fixed the laser missile upgrade. b. PILOT- displays upgrade cameos for chemical suits and advanced training. c. COMANCHE- i. Blades no longer collide with anything. ii. Rocket pod instant damage speed removed. d. CHINOOK- i. No longer takes damage from flashbangs. e. HUMVEE- transported units can now directly target air units. f. TOMAHAWK- now drop salvage crate when destroyed by GLA. g. SCOUT DRONE- Reduced effects of armor upgrade from 50% to 25%. h. HELLFIRE DRONE- Reduced effects of armor upgrade from 50% to 25%. i. SPY DRONE- now displays the upgrade cameo for drone armor. j. FIREBASE- Armor adjusted to be vulnerable to snipers and immune to melee and laser damage. k. SENTRY DRONE- i. Benefits from drone armor upgrade granting 25% bonus. l. AVENGER- i. Laser turret no longer has sight range. ii. Composite armor upgrade has been removed. (I'll say, Avengers ARE NOT TANKS at all!) iii. Now displays cameo for hellfire drone. iv. Damage received vs. jet missiles improved from 30% to 23%. v. Fixed the bug where the map would become slightly uncovered when building an avenger. vi. Locomotor has been corrected. m. BATTLE DRONE- Increased vehicle repair rate from 5 to 10 points per second. n. FLASHBANGS- increased primary damage from 25 to 35. (Cool! Now, Rangers can be real infantry killers.) o. SPECTRE GUNSHIP- level 1 hit points decreased from 1000 to 600. 16. USA (BASE FACTION) a. SPECTRE GUNSHIP- now grants less experience when killed. b. POWER PLANT- now displays upgrade cameo for control rods. c. SUPPLY DROP ZONE- now displays upgrade cameo for supply lines. d. PALADIN- now displays the upgrade cameo for hellfire drone. 17. USA AIR FORCE GENERAL a. COMANCHE- now displays upgrade for stealth upgrade. b. POWER PLANT- now displays upgrade cameo for control rods. c. SUPPLY CENTER- now displays upgrade cameo for supply lines. d. SUPPLY DROP ZONE- - now displays upgrade cameo for supply lines. e. CHINOOK- build time increased from 15 to 25 seconds. f. KING RAPTOR- laser guided missile only increased damage by 12% rather than 25% for the other factions. g. AURORA- (That's what Air Force Generals should have!) i. Bomb damage increased from 900 to 1000. ii. Bomb damage radius increased from 70 to 100. h. CARPET BOMBER- now has to be activated in the general experience menu (Level 1 experience point). Is deployed from the Strategy Center. 18. USA LASER GENERAL a. LASER DEFENSE TURRET- correct number of Rangers appear when destroyed. 19. USA SUPERWEAPON GENERAL a. AURORA ALPHA- i. New unique model. (Good grief, now there may be a glimmer of hope when your opponent has her base fully fortified.) ii. Secondary attack damage decreased from 1000 to 900. iii. Secondary attack range decreased from 100 to 70. b. BATTLE DRONE- reduced drone armor upgrade from 50% to 25%. c. PATRIOT BATTERY- now spawns rangers when destroyed. d. DAISY CUTTER FUEL BOMB- i. Damage reduced from 1000 to 900. ii. Damage radius reduced from 100 to 70. e. Avenger- i. Now available without the Strategy Center. ii. Decreased price from 2400 to 2000. 20. ALL CHINA GENERALS a. PROPAGANDA TOWER- now displays the upgrade cameo for subliminal messaging. b. INTERNET CENTER- now displays the upgrade cameo for satellite hack 1 and 2. c. GATTLING TANK- experience required to level up is more spread out (gets to level 2 sooner and to level 3 later). (Cool, now, Gattling Tanks can be real killers.) d. INFERNO CANNON- i. It only takes three shots to trigger a napalm firestorm (down from six). (This improvement really makes them more powerful, now, it's not that hard to bring 3 Infernos together, right?) e. NAPALM MISSILES- i. Now inflicts burning death instead of explosion death. (Oh, that sounds painful.) ii. Range reduced from 320 to 300. 21. CHINA (BASE FACTION) a. HELIX- now displays upgrade cameo for black napalm. b. INFERNO CANNON- Speed increased from 20 to 30. (Great!) 22. CHINA INFANTRY GENERAL a. MINI GUNNER- i. Now displays upgrade cameo for capture building. ii. Reduced price from 400 to 350. iii. Range reduced from 125 to 115. b. ASSAULT TROOP CRAWLER- i. Decreased heal rate to 2% (non-upgraded) and 4% (upgraded). ii. Now displays the upgrade cameo for subliminal messaging. c. ATTACK OUTPOST- i. Now displays the upgrade cameo for subliminal messaging ii. Decreased slots from 10 to 8. (Sad.) iii. Decreased included Tank Hunters from 4 to 3. iv. Decreased health from 350 to 300 v. Decreased heal rate to 1% (non-upgraded) and 2% (upgraded). d. ASSAULT HELIX- i. Decreased health from 300 to 265. ii. Can now build special bunker and drop napalm bombs. 23. CHINA NUKE GENERAL a. RADIATION FIELDS i. Changed ambient sound to toxic ambient sound. ii. Reduced health from 120 to 100 allowing medics to clean them up faster. iii. Increased lifetime from 2.5 seconds to 10 seconds. iv. Now uses toxic FX on death. v. Reduced geometry radius from 10 to 6. vi. Damage radius is now smaller. b. HELIX- now displays upgrade cameo for nuke bomb. c. MIG- removed upgrade cameo for black napalm, since it is not available. d. BATTLEMASTER- now displays upgrade cameo for isotope stability. e. CARPET BOMB- delay increased from 2:30 to 3:00. f. TROOPCRAWLER- Now contains the Tank General Red Guard rather than base China. 24. CHINA TANK GENERAL a. TROOPCRAWLER- i. Increased price from 1200 to 1400. ii. Now contains the Tank General Red Guard rather than base China. b. GATTLING TANK- evened out the experience points needed to level up. 25. ALL GLA GENERALS a. QUAD CANNONS- i. Now 50% more resistant to fire damage. ii. Damage with the AP upgrade is now sequentially higher after each weapon crate upgrade. Previously, damage was slightly reduced after the second upgrade. b. ALL BUILDINGS- now display upgrade cameo for fortified structure (when appropriate). c. SCUD LAUNCHER- now drops salvage crate when destroyed by GLA. d. RADAR VAN- stealth detection range increased from 200 to 250. (Much better.) e. BATTLE BUS- i. Transported units can directly target air units. ii. Decreased speed from 75 to 70. f. SCUD MISSILES- Can now do damage to structures (What do they mean? I thought SCUDs always can damage structure.) g. MARAUDER- weapon range increased from 150 to 170. (Nice, this gives more justification to rate it above the Paladin.) h. TECHNICAL- i. Cannon (salvage upgrade) damage now has different properties. ii. Machine gun damage reduced from 15 to 10. iii. Damage increases when purchasing AP Bullets after the second salvage upgrade. i. HIJACKER- can no longer capture the battle bus, when occupied. (How unrealistic. After all, real hijackers hijack planes full of people.) 26. GLA (BASE FACTION) a. SCUD STORM, SCORPION- now displays upgrade cameo for Anthrax Beta. b. REBEL- now displays upgrade cameo for Booby Traps. c. BOMB TRUCK- now displays upgrade cameo for Anthrax Beta. d. TECHNICAL- increased build time from 3 to 5. e. SABOTEUR- now available in barracks after the war factory is built. f. TUNNEL NETWORK- damage caused by gun increased from 10 to 15. g. MARAUDER TANK-(EVEN BETTER!) i. Armor increased from 430 to 500. ii. Weapon range increased from 150 to 170. 27. GLA DEMO GENERAL a. Most units that can commit suicide only explode when committing suicide and not when they are destroyed. (This makes things much fairer, so, you cannot just charge a couple of Technicals into an Overlord and make them kill you just to blow it up.) b. TECHNICAL- i. Increased build time from 3 to 5 seconds. ii. With the demolition upgrade, the technical can only explode by manual command. c. TERRORIST- the explosion power increased. (That's the spirit!) d. TUNNEL NETWORK- damage caused by gun increased from 10 to 15. e. MARAUDER TANK- i. Health increased from 430 to 500. ii. Weapon range increased from 150 to 170. f. JARMEN KELL- can no longer detect stealthed units. (This sucks.) 28. GLA TOXIN GENERAL a. ANTHRAX GAMMA UPGRADE- price increased from 1000 to 1500. (I guess the in things cost more in life. Because of higher demand!) b. RPGs- the effect of gamma upgrade has been reduced. c. TECHNICAL- increased build time from 3 to 5. d. MARAUDER TANK- i. Health increased from 430 to 500. ii. Weapon range increased from 150 to 170. 29. GLA STEALTH GENERAL a. TECHNICAL- increased build time from 3 to 5. b. TUNNEL NETWORK- damage caused by gun increased from 10 to 15. c. SABOTEUR- now available in barracks after the war factory is built. --------------------- 3. Disclaimer [GCP3] --------------------- I must say, for real time strategy games like C&C, people will always argue about which side is better. So, before we begin, I must stress that this guide is based on MY (I must stress this) own views. As OPINIONS ARE NOT EQUAL TO FACTS, do not send in e-mail saying that I am a liar or whatever, as my eyes do not fool me. The definition of offline games: Single Player Missions, Multiplayer Skirmishes and LAN games, all of these 3 games do not need any internet connection to be played. So, they are offline games. The comparisons are based on many factors, such as attack power, rate of fire, their speed, their armor, their ease of deployment and so on. Each factor is given a different weight, of course, different types of units have different weights on their factors, more instance, for rifle infantry, deployment speed and rate of fire are 2 important things, so I give them a better weighting than attack power. For each unit, I will now tell you which factors I compare them by which factors. Sometimes, I will determine which unit is better by performing a test run with each unit while I play an online game with my best friend. So, all those scores are BASED ON MY OWN OBSERVATIONS. So, as my Pure Mathematics Algebra Teacher likes to say when he spots a student cheating, "DON"T ARGUE WITH MY OBSERVATIONS!" So, in conclusion, it is just normal for readers to disagree with this guide, and if you have any opinions, feel free to e-mail me and express it. Please express yourself in a more polite manner, or I will regard that as flame, and delete. Of course, a unit of a side maybe weaker than another sides' but if you attack in quantity, you should always win! So, always play all 3 sides for maximum enjoyment! -------------------------------------------- 4. More about the New Scoring System [GCP4] -------------------------------------------- For each unit, I will now tell you which factors I compare them by. Sometimes, I will determine which unit is better by performing a test run with each unit while I play an online game with my best friend. So, all those scores are BASED ON MY OWN OBSERVATIONS. So, as my Pure Mathematics Algebra Teacher likes to say when he spots a student cheating, "DON'T ARGUE WITH MY OBSERVATIONS!" Some factors compared include: Attack Power Armor Efficiency Flexibility Special Abilities Note that price is not considered at all. After all, if you are so stripped of cash, could you buy anything? Another rule I make when comparing units is that. If some units in the same category have attack capabilities, while the other has not. I will automatically give the unit without any attack power a 0. Although there must be a winner in the final score. Having the highest score DOES NOT imply that side is the strongest. It just implies that side is all rounded. So, no more e-mails about how biased I am towards a side. OK? As you can see, I have included the price of each unit. I also have made comments on which units are a good value for your money, and which are not worth it. Note that the score of each unit is INDEPENDENT of its value for money. There are in total 5 different price ratings for the units. They are: Excellent Good Fair Bad Poor OF course, again, I judge their value for money from MY observations while playing the game, so DO NOT ARGUE WITH MY OBSERVATIONS. -------------------- 5. The Sides [GCP5] -------------------- USA: The United States of America is definitely the side with the most high tech units. Many units can make use of many technologies to boost their attack ability. The air power of the United States is something to be reckoned with, as they have 4 different air units, suited for various tasks! In fact, a lot of units in reality appeared in the US arsenal. GLA: (Green is my favorite color, tee hee hee.) The Global Liberation Army is a multi-national terrorist organization based in Kazakhstan. They are practically the most cunning and most resourceful side in the game. 3 of their units can upgrade their own weapons by picking up the scraps of the enemies they have defeated. Using the Palace and the Black Market, they can acquire many important upgrades and funds, which come from the darkest corners of the globe. Of course, these terrorists have a lot of nasty tricks up their sleeves, as you can see later. China: (That's where I live, heh heh heh.) The People's Republic of China is certainly becoming more and more powerful these days. With a population of about 1.3 billion, China certainly has a very large army. In fact, many of China's units become more powerful, when used in large groups! The good thing is, certain Chinese units can be produced en masse in a blink of an eye, and can literally like, squash an elephant with a horde of ants! I find it quite amusing that people used to criticize (or I should say, flame to hell) the earlier versions of this guide, saying that I am biased towards China because I live in China. You better not do it again, or I will just treat you as racist. ------------------- 6. Infantry [GCP6] ------------------- Infantry Units are the standard troops of the army. They are all trained in barracks of the 3 sides, and all of them are vulnerable to machine gun fire. Standard troops, like in wars in the real world die the most often, so expect sacrifices even when using a large group. ------------------------- a. Rifle Infantry [GCP6A] ------------------------- USA: Ranger The US Ranger is the most expensive of the lot, however, they are the only rifle infantry in this game who can use 2 weapons, the Assault Rifle and the Flashbang Grenades. The Flashbang Grenades are particularly effective in clearing large structures and dealing with angry mobs. GLA: Rebel The GLA Rebel is all the terrorist organization can offer, and fires a regular rifle. That's it. The camouflage and Armor Piercing Bullet upgrade gives them some help, though. Besides that, they can just "materialize" in on the enemy base with the Rebel Ambush Feature! (Up to 16 at a time.) To use a booby trap: To use a Booby Trap, click the button, and then click on the building that you intend to place the trap on. It's like a mine. Anyone who gets too close will be blown up. Of course, Construction Dozers and Workers can remove them without them exploding. China: Red Guard The Chinese Red Guard is certainly the most brute force rifle infantry of the 3 sides. Although they cost 300 in the barracks, every time, 2 Red Guards will emerge instead of one. Therefore, it is possible to queue 18 Red Guards at once in the Barracks. Red Guards can also be produced en masse by building a troop crawler, which comes with 8 of them! However, the most important feature is the horde effect. Red Guards tend to fire about 25% faster if there are 5 of them together. They fire another 25% faster with the nationalism upgrade. Supplementary Information: (Reference: Microsoft Encarta) Red Guards (China), self-proclaimed militant groups of high school and university students loyal to Chinese leader Mao Zedong, particularly prominent during the early stages of the Cultural Revolution. The Red Guards carried out Mao's directives to attack elitist elements of society. In the chaos that ensued, violence and destruction occurred throughout China, thousands died, and millions were imprisoned or exiled. In 1966 Mao launched the Cultural Revolution, intending to purge his opponents from office and revolutionize Chinese society. Mao's faction, principally the Gang of Four led by Mao's wife Jiang Qing, appealed directly to China's youth through posters, newspaper editorials, and speeches. They urged students to attack "reactionary" authority figures, including teachers and Communist Party administrators. In June 1966 high school students in Beijing began forming groups called the Red Guards. When Mao voiced his approval of these groups, high school and university students around the country quickly formed other bands of Red Guards. In August Mao addressed millions of Red Guards in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Urged to destroy any aspects of old, elitist, or foreign culture, students broke into homes, vandalized cultural relics, and physically attacked teachers, artists, and Communist Party leaders. Lack of direction and overzealous revolutionary fervour led to violence between various Red Guard groups. Factions formed, with each group proclaiming itself more loyal to Mao than the other, and often signifying their loyalty by waving the "little red book" of Mao's thoughts. In 1967 the Chinese army was called in to restore order, and violent clashes took place between Red Guards and soldiers, resulting in thousands of deaths. In 1969 the government ordered many people aged 16 to 19 to leave major cities and go to the countryside, effectively dampening the Red Guard movement. Many of these people remained in the countryside until the late 1970s. Comparison: Factor: Special Abilities Rangers are just so powerful with their flashbang grenades, and can destroy hoards of enemy infantry with ease. Rebels are second, as the camouflage ability can allow them to perform unexpected sneak attacks. Red Guards are the worst, as they really have no strategy except an increased rate of fire in large groups. Rangers > Rebels > Red Guards Score: USA: 2 GLA: 1 China: 0 Value for money: Ranger: Cost: $225 Flashbang Upgrade: $1000 For a Rifle Infantry that has 2 functions, it is definitely worth paying $225 for this as it costs $112.5 for each function. Another good thing is that a flash bang upgrade is definitely cheap and should be researched as soon as possible. Value for money: Excellent Rebel: Cost: $150 Camouflage Upgrade: $2000 Booby Trap Upgrade: $1000 Armor Piercing Bullet Upgrade: $2500 The Rebel is like the Ranger, it has 2 functions, a normal assault one and a special one. Besides, they can be camouflaged, and the Booby Trap upgrade is also cheap. However, the Booby Trap is not as effective, as you can only place them on buildings. So, it is a good value for money. Value for money: Good Red Guard: Cost: $300 for 2 Nationalism Upgrade: $2000 Although the average price of a red guard is $150, you can produce them en-masse, as one button yields 2 Red Guard. But compared to the other 2 rifle infantry, it is only a fair value for money. Value for money: Fair Conclusion about Rifle Infantry: As all 3 rifle infantries seem to be good at something, USA for quick demolition of garrisoned structures, GLA for sneak attacks, and China for brute force horde attacks. --------------------------- b. Rocket Infantry [GCP6B] --------------------------- USA: Missile Defender The US Missile Defender is just a person with armed with a high tech Rocket Launcher. They laser sights improve their rate of fire slightly faster than the Tank Hunters influenced by the Horde Effect, and that's about it. To use the Laser Missile: Click the Laser Missile Button, and then click on your target. The Missile Defender will focus on the target with a laser, and then, wow wow wow wow wow! They fire their rockets in an insane speed, similar to the speed of Tank Hunters with their hoard effects. I found out about this when I head some Tank Hunters fight some Missile Defenders head to head. (In case you wondered how I fight missile defenders with tank hunters who use the laser missiles, I was playing against the computer, and it obviously cheated.) GLA: RPG Trooper The RPG Trooper is just like the missile defender, but without the laser sight. However, they can be given free of charge whenever you build a tunnel network. So it is a little bit more worth it. They can use Armor Piercing Rockets later on. China: Tank Hunter The Tank Hunter has the horde effect, nationalism and a TNT attack! Apart from this, they now can be deployed in 2s by means of building listening outposts. This gives them all the protection they need. In my opinion, the TNT attack is effective against tanks like the Scorpion or Paladin, as they can kill your infantry very quickly if they stand still in one spot. (By means of Scorpion Rocket and Lasers.) I used to say that TNT Attack should be used as a last resort. But since the newest Version 1.03 update allowed any charges planted to explode immediately instead of disappearing after the death of the Tank Hunter, I find them to be much better bombers! So, feel free to use the TNT when things are tough. You may live, or may not, but the bomb WILL always explode. To use the TNT Attack: If you really want to use the TNT attack against, say a Paladin tank or Scorpion Tank, click on the TNT Attack button, and click on your desired target. The Tank Hunter will go to the vehicle and plant the explosive. Note that this is a contact attack. That is, it will work as soon as your Tank Hunter comes in contact with the tank, or vice versa. So even if the enemy tank manages to squish your Tank Hunter, it will be not before the charge is placed. Comparison: Factor: Rate of Fire After close observation of the Laser Missile ability of the Missile Defender, I have concluded that the Laser Missile causes the Missile Defender to fire about 25% faster. This is the same speed as the Tank Hunter with the Hoard Effect. However, it seems that the Laser Missile also provides an enhanced range of fire, and won't allow the target to escape so easily. My final word therefore is as follows. Missile Defenders > Tank Hunters > RPG Troopers Score: USA: 2 GLA: 0 China: 1 Value for money: Missile Defender: Cost: $300 That's right, the Missile Defender is just a $300 man with a missile, which requires you to manually target tanks and only tanks to increase they rate of fire towards them. Yawn... Value for money: Fair RPG Trooper: Cost: $300 Armor Piercing Rockets upgrade: $2000 Again, the RPG Trooper costs $300, and their attack power can be upgraded. This makes them a good value for money. Value for money: Good Tank Hunter: Cost: $300 Nationalism Upgrade: $2000 The Tank Hunter also costs $300, but comes with the ability to automatically fire faster at ANY type of enemy due to the Hoard Effect when in groups of 5 or more, compared to the Missile Defender, which can only manually fire faster at vehicles. The Nationalism upgrade makes them even faster, and is good for fighting tanks! Of course, if the enemy uses tanks like Paladins and Scorpions, there is always the TNT Attack to take them out before they kill you. Value for money: Excellent Conclusion: Rocket Infantry are well, rocket infantry, they are effective against vehicles, but need all the protection they can get. Consider hiding them in battle buses, humvees or listening outposts. Of course, the usual build them in quantity clause applies. Note that the Laser Missile can only be used against tanks and vehicles. So, don't even think about clicking that button when you are confronted by infantry. In fact, run away! ---------------------------- c. Advanced Infantry [GCP6C] ---------------------------- USA: Pathfinder The US Pathfinder is like a "stealth nun with a sniper rifle" (actually, it is some kind of camouflage suit for those jungle operations.). His ability to garrison buildings without detection really helps to kill large numbers of enemy infantry from a long range! GLA: Angry Mob GLA Angry Mobs may be one of the comic relieves in the game. A mob first attacks with simple rifles, and later can be armed with AK-47s. They are effective against any unit that do not have anti-infantry weapons. When a member of a mob is killed, a new one respawns by "mitotic cell division". However, beware of the following, as they can kill you in a second or 2, flashbangs, flame, toxic substances. That is one part which I hate, after all, even if something's super effective against another Pokemon, he won't faint in one hit if the two are at the same level. China: None China does not have any other infantry units that can use rifles better than the Red Guard. Comparison: Factor: Attack Power, Range, Vulnerability The Stealth Nun is good for vaporizing infantry from a range. While, the Angry Mob is good at destroying vehicles AND infantry from a close range. The main problem is, that the latter are much more vulnerable to their weaknesses than the former. So, Pathfinders get to be first! Pathfinders > Angry Mobs > None Score: USA: 2 GLA: 1 China: 0 Value for money: Pathfinder: Cost: $600 The Pathfinder costs $600, and that is all you need to take out a large hoard of infantry! In fact the kill ratio is about 1 to 20 or even higher when used properly. So, well, it is an excellent value for money! Value for money: Excellent Angry Mob: Cost: $800 Arm the Mob: $1000 An Angry Mob has 10 Mobsters that makes it $80 per mobster! This is basically an effective way to train units, as you only required to press a button once to send 10 people out. The Arm the Mob upgrade is very cheap. So, always upgrade them before sending your Mobs in! Value for money: Excellent Conclusion: The Stealth Nun is not always stealthy, they have a tendency to reveal themselves when moving, so be careful. As for the Angry Mobs, my cousin in the UK has a nasty trick, he likes to build about 20 of them, and rush to the opponent's base and make a riot! As they are moving, they are upgraded with AK 47s for everyone! Hooray! -------------------- d. Motorists [GCP6D] -------------------- USA: Pilot When an armored or air unit with veterancy is destroyed, a pilot will jump out. Now, you can send him into another friendly unit, to apply the veterancy. To apply veterancy: Select your pilot, and then on the unit you intend to apply his experience to. GLA: Hijacker The Hijacker steals vehicles from the enemies, that's all, however, they can easily be detected, and can be killed very quickly, so it's not worth it. China: None China has no unit that can steal vehicles or enter vehicles that are not armored carriers. Comparison: Factor: Ease of use It is obviously easier to get a Pilot inside one of your own vehicles than to get a Hijacker inside an enemy's vehicle. And, Pilots are free! So, the result is obvious. Pilots > Hijackers > Nothing Score: USA: 2 GLA: 1 China: 0 Value for money: Hijacker: Cost: $400 Although a hijacker is cheap, you probably need to build lots of them in order to be able to steal one vehicle. So, it's really not worth the money or that General Point. Value for money: Poor Conclusion: The Pilot is always useful for people who like to apply quick veterancy. As for the Hijacker, I suggest you train them in quantity to ensure success. Besides, only go after the really expensive ones! ----------------------- e. Demolitions [GCP6E] ----------------------- USA: Ranger Flash Bang Grenades The role of the Grenadier is given to the ordinary US Ranger, which can use the Flashbang Grenades to clear garrisoned structures. The Grenades can also be used against enemy infantry, just like the grenades in the old days. But still, EA got the name of the Grenade wrong, flashbangs stun, not kill, so they should be using Frag Grenades instead. It does no damage to vehicles. But still, EA has recently increased the grenades' damage, so it's much nicer. To use Flashbang Grenades: Click on the Flashbang Grenade button and here you go! Just remember to switch back to the Assault Rifle when tanks come. GLA: Terrorist The GLA can use suicide bombers to destroy incoming enemy tanks. The Terrorist can also make use of civilian cars to increase their speed. However, attentive players can easily stop them. So, I suggest you train them in quantity, which wastes money. To become a car bomber: Just select your Terrorist, and move your mouse cursor over a civilan vehicle until a Red "Enter" arrow appears. Then click. The Terrorist will then get into the car and you can use it to blow things up! China: Tank Hunter TNT Attack Tank Hunters now play the roles of Crazy Ivans as well. When your Tank Hunter is cornered by a tank (particularly scorpion or paladins), feel free to use his TNT attack on the tank. A TNT charge will be placed on the vehicle, and will detonate in 10 seconds, most likely destroying it. I have managed to pull it off several times. The TNT Attack can be used against enemy buildings as well. It is even better than the Terrorists, as you may be able to re-use this attack again and again. To use the TNT Attack: If you really want to use the TNT attack against, say a Paladin tank or Scorpion Tank, click on the TNT Attack button, and click on your desired target. The Tank Hunter will go to the vehicle and plant the explosive. Note that this is a contact attack. That is, it will work as soon as your Tank Hunter come in contact with the tank, or vice versa. So even if the enemy tank manages to squish your Tank Hunter, it will be not before the charge is placed. Comparison: Factor: Explosive bias, Ease of Use The former is effective in blowing away infantry, while the latter 2 are effective in blowing away tanks. So, again, I cannot give a score for any sides, as no direct comparison can be made. But still, Flashbangs are the easiest to use, so a bonus is awarded to them. At the same time, it has been made much easier to use the TNT Attack (thanks to Version 1.03 update.), and since it can be used again and again, the TNT Attack has another advantage compared to terrorists. So: Ranger Flashbang Grenades > Tank Hunter TNT Attack > Terrorists Score: USA: 2 GLA: 0 China: 1 Conclusion: The Ranger Flash Bang Grenades are excellent in killing large groups of infantry, particularly Angry Mobs. Terrorists are again to be built in quantity to ensure success. Although the Tank Hunter's TNT attacks might be useless at times, always use them if you do not want them to attack while standing still. That's all I have to say. It's hard to visualize the picture. Value for money: Terrorist: Cost: $200 There is no need to say anything about it. The Terrorist is annoying, and you only have to pay $200! Excellent value indeed! Value for money: Excellent ---------------------- f. Electronics [GCP6F] ---------------------- USA: None THE USA does not have any infantry units specializing in manipulating electronic devices. GLA: Saboteur This is again, like the spy of Red Alert 2. The Saboteur is stealthy, and disables buildings by entering them. They can climb over cliffs. China: Hacker The spies of Red Alert 2 have been replaced by Hackers. Hackers have an ability to disable enemy buildings with a powerful computer virus. This is true even for enemy buildings that do not require power to run! So, if you can transport a group of Hackers past enemy defenses, you can easily cause a lot of chaos in the enemy base! To Hack the Internet: Click the Hack Internet button and the Hacker will start stealing money at the rate of $5 per beep. It takes a few seconds to connect to the Internet, though. Comparison: Factor: Ease of use As long as the enemy has their defenses up, it would be a bit too difficult to either slip hackers or saboteurs in. But still, Saboteurs are easily trainable. (War Factory is needed only now.) Saboteur > Hacker Score: USA: 0 GLA: 2 China: 1 Value for money: Saboteur: Cost: $700 For a use once and discard unit like the Saboteur, charging $700 for it isn't going to work. Hmph! It's just not worth it. Value for money: Poor Hacker: Cost: $625 For an infinite supply gatherer as well as a person who can disable buildings from a range, paying $625 is definitely more worth it as you can train these guys in quantity for your use, and they are not completely useless. Value for money: Excellent Conclusion: The Saboteur is useful if your enemy seems to have forgotten to place base defenses near the mountains around his base. China can counter them by placing mines around their structures. As for the Hacker, they disable buildings from a range. But they have to stay there for some time. So, use them for your needs. --------------------- g. Hero Units [GCP6G] --------------------- USA: Colonel Burton The United States do not have to rely on that arrogant Tanya Adams anymore. Instead, we have Colonel Burton, the man with the most tricks up his sleeve. Colonel Burton's rifle can make a quick work of enemy armor and infantry units. His knife, can kill enemy infantry without being seen. His Demo Charges can be activated by a timer or by remote. Burton can climb over steep hills into the enemy base! To use the Knife Attack: Click the Knife Attack button and then click the enemy infantry unit you want to use it on. To use the Timed Demo Charge: Click on the Timed Demo Charge button and then click on the building you intend to use it on. Colonel Burton will then go over to the building, and tinker with his bomb for a while before the bomb is placed. The timer is set to 20 seconds, plenty of time for you to get away. To use the Remote Demo Charge: The same steps apply for Remote Demo Charge, only that you can detonate them at will. To detonate the charge, click the Detonate Charges button, and beep! BOOM! GLA: Jarmen Kell This mercenary is just a sniper with the capability to periodically kill the drivers inside the vehicles. That's it. Unfortunately, he cannot do it more frequently, otherwise, it's not worth coughing up $1500. But still, Jarmen Kell is excellent in, destroying fire bases. You will see what I mean. To kill drivers inside vehicles: Click the sniper attack button and then click on the vehicle you intend to get rid of. Then a single shot will be fired, and the vehicle will lose its side. China: Black Lotus China's secret agent has no self defenses, but she can capture buildings faster than other Red Guards, as she does not need to recharge. She also can steal money from enemy supply centers, $1000 at a time. She can disable enemy vehicles too, but make sure you are up against one at a time. The bottom line is, if you can sneak Black Lotus past enemy defenses, you can capture a lot of their buildings before they can even react. To Cash Hack: To steal money from enemy supply centers, click the Cash Hack button and then click the target you intend to steal money from. Black Lotus can steal money from a range, and can gain veterancy by doing so. Conclusion: Factor: Significance of Special Ability Colonel Burton is definitely the one with the highest flexibility, with his all rounded attack abilities. Jarmen Kell's signature ability, the Sniper Attack, is not frequent enough, and definitely is not worth being a Hero Unit. Black Lotus, although she has no weapons to defend herself, can make a difference if you want to sabotage their base in emergencies. After all, it only takes 7-9 beeps for her to capture a building, while it takes the average Rifle Infantry more than 20 to do so! So: Colonel Burton > Black Lotus > Jarmen Kell Score: USA: 2 GLA: 0 China: 1 Value for money: Colonel Burton: For a unit that practically has everything,(a Swiss army man in fact), paying $1500 is certainly worth it, as it is just like a destruction starter kit all hauled up in one person. Value for money: Excellent Jarmen Kell: For a person who can only snipe a vehicle once in a while, $1500 really is a ludicrously high amount. But that's all GLA have in their hero's department. Sigh... Life is cruel. Value for money: Bad Black Lotus: Although Black Lotus cannot defend herself well, those abilities really are perfect power tools to use against the enemy, particularly if you sneak in from an obscure corner. The cash hack lands you more and more money, as that is how you let her gain veterancy. Value for money: Good Conclusion: It's a pity that you cannot train heroes in quantity, Colonel Burton is particularly powerful. He has the most tricks up his sleeve. I just love to see him stabbing enemy units to death! As for Jarmen Kell, you should snipe a vehicle and retreat to a safe spot every time, as if you get to close, you can easily get detected and killed. As for Black Lotus, feel free to sneak her into the enemy's base via a Helix to a relatively undefended area. Then you can confuse the enemy as you capture their buildings. ------------------------ 7. Armored Units [GCP7] ------------------------ All armored units are trained in the War Factories, or for GLA, as they have a rather secretive organization, from their Arms Dealers. You can build tanks, transport vehicles and long range vehicles as well. Some intelligence and suicidal units are available too. These units tend to have a higher kill ratio, due to their tough armor, but all of them are vulnerable to rockets and enemy artillery. --------------------------- a. Main Battle Tank [GCP7A] --------------------------- USA: Crusader Tank The Crusader Tank of the US is the most high tech Tank in the game. Being a US unit, it can have drones installed above it. Unfortunately, the drones can be easily shot down by enemy defenses. However, their armor can be upgraded by composite armor. So, it is quite good actually. To upgrade your tank with drones: Simply click the drone you want to be installed on the tank and then you can wait. Note that you cannot have more than 1 drone installed at once. GLA: Scorpion Tank The Scorpion Tank is the light tank of the GLA. Being the light tank, it has rather light armor. As they are built to hit and run, the Scorpion Tank is not so suited to direct, full scale battles, that are the bane of the C&C series. The Scorpion Rocket Upgrade gives them a slight balance though. This is particularly true when I tested one of these tanks against a battlemaster or crusader. Even with the rocket, the scorpion will lose on one to one combat. So, build 50+ of these. China: Battlemaster Tank China's Battlemaster Tank is slightly cheaper than the Crusader Tank, therefore, with a slightly weaker armor than them. However, their benefits are better than the Crusader. For one, they can make use of the Horde Effect to fire faster and can go even faster with nationalism inspired; secondly, their speed and attack power can be increased by 25% with the Uranium Shells and Nuclear Tank upgrade from the Nuclear Missile Silo. So that makes them more powerful. Supplementary Information on the Type 98 Main Battle Tank (It looks the most like the Battlemaster): (Reference: Sinodefence) The Type 98 is the latest development of China's main battle tanks. (MBTs) This new prototype has an increase in firepower, mobility and protection compared with previous models. The tank was first revealed to the public in October 1999, and is reported to have entered service with the PLA in a small number for operational test and evaluation before the design is finalized. An improved variant of the tank makes use of a new explosive reaction armor and the Leopard 2 A6-style additional reinforcement to the turret frontal armour with externally mounted add-on armour modules. The Type 98 is the latest derivative of the Type 90 main battle tank (MBT) family. It is also the of officially certified version of China's third generation MBT programme, and had been undergoing continuous research and development for fifteen years since the eighties. The Chinese third generation MBT is known to have suffered certain technical difficulties in the early 1990s. The scheduled date of commissioning was postponed several times, until the initial approval certificate of the Type 98 was issued in 1998. The Type 98 was first revealed to the public in the national day parade on 1 Oct 1999. A small number of the initial production model is in service with the Army for initial evaluations and tests. It is expected that the final production model of the Type 98 will join the service before 2004, depending on progress of the final modification work. The original design target of the Chinese third generation MBT was as a counter to the Soviet T-72 main battle tank, but the changing requirements shifted the development to make the tank much more complex than before. The later design criteria of the Type 98 were aiming at matching the U.S. M1A1 Abrams, while certain aspects of the actual performance of the Type 98 are catching up with the standard of the M1A2. It is surprising that China has developed two MBTs, the Type 88C/96 and the Type 98, with similar performance at the same time. Although the Type 96 was regarded as the second generation MBT, while the Type 98 as the third generation MBT, they are comparable in term of general performance and technology. One possible explanation is that the Type 98 will be equipped by the most elite units in a relatively small number, while the Type 96, with less sophisticated technology and therefore cheaper unit price, will replace the bulk of Type 59/69 in current service. The layout of the Type 98 is conventional, was to a certain extent, influenced by the Soviet Tank designs. The driver's compartment is at the front, with fighting compartment/turret in the centre, and the power pack in the rear. The complete powerpack assembly can be removed in around 30~40 minutes and in field conditions. Suspension is of the conventional torsion bar type and there are six rubber-tyred roadwheels on each side, with the drive sprocket at the back of the tank. The Type 98 MBT's turret is slightly larger than that of the Type 90, which has resulted in a gap between turret and the hull in the front. The advantage is that more ammunition can be loaded at once. However, there is a major disadvantage in the battle as the whole turret might be blown off if the gap is hit. In addition, the Type 98 also lacks designs often found on Western MBTs to minimize the damage in case a HEAT shell hits the tank and penetrates it. Some designs include the armor bulkheads to separate the crew compartment from the fuel tanks and rounds, as well as the top panels designed to blow outwards in case of explosion. This could lead to low survivability in modern combat field according to what some tank divisions experienced in the 1991 Gulf War. The main weapon of the Type 98 MBT is a fully-stabilized 125 mm 50-calibre smoothbore gun with an autoloader (Hence no loaders are needed). Although early reports indicated the cannon was a licensed copy of the Russian 2A46, it is actually an indigenous design derived from the Chinese 120 mm smoothbore gun technology. The Type 98 Main Battle Tank has a wide variety of ammo, including armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot rounds (APFSDS), high explosive anti-tank rounds (HEAT), and high explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG) projectiles. China has also manufactured Russian A-11 laser guided anti-tank missile (ATGM) to be fired by the 125 mm gun. In addition, the Chinese have also experimentally developed depleted uranium rounds for their tanks and it may be available to the Type 98. (That's what they meant by the depleted Uranium Shells from the Nuclear Missile Silo in the game.) Fire accuracy is attained by the laser rangefinder, wind sensor, ballistic computer, and thermal barrel sleeve. Dual axis stabilization ensures effective firing on the move. The commander of the tank can make use of up to six periscopes and a stabilized panoramic sight. Both the commander and gunner have roof-mounted stabilized sights equipped with day/thermal vision, a laser rangefinder and an auto tracker facility. The commander has a display showing the gunner's thermal sight, enabling the commander to fire the main gun. The Type 98 is also equipped with a computerized onboard information processing system, which can collect information from vehicle navigation (Inertia/GPS), observation systems and sensors, process it in the computer and display it on the commander's display, giving it the ability of real-time command and beyond-vision-range target engaging. Secondary weapons include a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun and a 12.7 mm air defense machine gun mounted on the commander's cupola. 76-mm Type 84 five-barrel smoke grenade launchers are mounted on each side of the turret. The turret and hull are of all-welded steel amour construction. A layer of composite armor has been added to the front arc. The armor package is of modular design, enabling damaged sections to be replaced or upgrades installed throughout service life. Explosive reactive armor (ERA) can be fitted if required. The Type 98 features a JD-3 integrated laser rangefinder / warning / self-defense device. Unlike contemporary Russian active tank self-defense systems like Drozd, Drozd-2, and Arena, which launch projectiles to disable or "shoot-down" incoming anti-tank missiles and projectiles, the Chinese system apparently uses a high-powered laser to directly attack the enemy weapon's optics and gunner. (Similar to the Paladin Tank) The system includes what appears to be a laser warning receiver (LWR - the dome-shaped device on the turret roof behind the commander's position), that warns the crew that their tank is being illuminated by an enemy range-finding or weapon-guidance laser. The turret of the tank can then be traversed to face the direction of the enemy threat, and the laser self-defence weapon (LSDW - the box-shaped device on the turret roof behind the gunner's position), can be employed against the source of the enemy laser. The procedure of the laser weapon would first use a low-powered beam to locate the optics of the enemy weapon. Once the enemy weapon was located, the power level of the laser would be increased rapidly. Such an attack would disable the guidance optics of the enemy weapon and blind the enemy gunner. The available photos of the Type 98 have also confirmed that the laser weapon can be elevated to a higher angle than the tank's main gun, indicating that the type 98 Main Battle Tank has the ability to shoot down enemy helicopters. In addition, the laser device could also be used for communications between friend tanks. The Type 98 is powered by a liquid cooled, turbocharged 1,200 hp diesel derived from Germany WD396 diesel technology. At its current battle weight of 52 tons, this gives a power-to-weight ratio of about 23 hp/ton. ----------------------------------------------- Specifications of the Type 98 Main Battle Tank ----------------------------------------------- Crew: 3 Weight: 50 tons Engine: 1,200 hp liquid cooled diesel Transmission: Mechanical, planetary Track: Metallic with RMSh, with rubber-tyred road wheels Suspension: Torsion bar Radio: Receive/transmit, telephone, laser communications Dimension: Length: 11.00 m; Height: 2.00 m; Width: 3.40 m Ground Pressure: N/A Cruising Range: 450 km, or 600 km with external tanks Speed: Max road 65 km/h; max off-road 47 km/h; average cross-country 35 km/h; max swim N/A Fording Depths: 5 m with snorkel Main Gun: Indigenous 125 mm smoothbore Rate of Fire: 8 rounds/min Elevation/Depression: N/A Auxiliary Weapon: One coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun; one 12.7 mm air-defence machine gun Fire Control: Laser rangefinder input, onboard computer, wind sensor, and control panel Comparison: Factor: Group attack power (>=5) First I resorted to one to one combat. The Scorpion Tank, even if upgraded to Scorpion Rocket and the rest, cannot beat the Crusader or Battlemaster Tank. When it comes between the Crusader and the Battlemaster. The Crusader won marginally. However, when we take the Crusader and Battlemaster on a 8 to 8 combat, the Battlemasters won because they had the hoard effect to help them fire faster. As most people would build a large hoard of tanks. I come up with the following conclusion: Battlemaster Tank > Crusader Tank > Scorpion Tank Value for money: Crusader Tank: Cost: $900 Composite Armor Upgrade: $2000 Scout Drone Upgrade: $100 Battle Drone Upgrade: $300 Hellfire Drone Upgrade: $500 The Crusader has a slightly heavier armor than the Battlemaster Tank and costs $100 more. That's not so worth it. Besides, those drones are far too vulnerable and can be easily shot down. It's not a good value for money actually, if you charge that much for a main battle tank. Value for money: Bad Submitter's Opinion! Marcus Wong's Opinion The crusader tank should be considered a fair value of money since it's a tradition for EA to give at least one of the tanks in C&C a cost of $900. (Remember the Rhino tanks from RA2 and RA.) Either way, there is a negative review for Generals which is more special and ridiculous than the other negative reviews. you can find it at the reviews section at the original Generals. The review is titled 'Command & Throw Up' and the rating is only 4/10.Pls post your thinking about that review. My answer: I was judging the value of money of the Crusader Tank for a Medium Tank, this is because the Medium Tank does not classify as a Heavy Tank, the Paladin Tank does. For your information, the Medium Tank and all its equivalents (Titans, Tick Tanks) all cost $800, but this one costs $900! I know that the Heavy Tank costs $950, but as the Crusader Tank is not a Heavy Tank, I still consider it to be a bad value of money. As for that negative review, I think this guy is trying to focus on the bad sides of the game. He is right about certain aspects of the graphics, as EA did not put a lot of detail into the soldiers, as all soldiers, even when viewed close up don't look like human at all! I think he must be from Taiwan, as the $1250 he paid for the game must be in NT$, and the NT$ is much smaller in value compared with the HK$. (Maybe it is a quarter so so of the value.) Scorpion Tank: Cost: $600 Scorpion Rocket Upgrade: $1000 Toxin Shells Upgrade: $1000 Armor Piercing Rocket Upgrade: $1000 It is obvious really, that for such a cheap price, you can already purchase such a vehicle with decent stopping power. Be sure to upgrade them ASAP with those Rockets, as they can make a large difference. Value for money: Excellent Battlemaster Tank: Cost: $800 Nationalism Upgrade: $2000 Uranium Shells Upgrade: $2500 Nuclear Tank Upgrade: $2000 Battlemasters ARE to be built in quantity, as they fire much faster when doing so. This square $800 is very good when all of their potential benefits are concerned. Although many of China's units may look expensive, they will pay off eventually, as there are lot of features to be explored. Value for Money: Good Score: USA: 1 GLA: 0 China: 2 Conclusion: I never use Main Battle Tanks myself, so I cannot really comment on any of them. So, my only tip for these 3 units is to attack in a larger number than your enemy's. Build in quantity, about 50+, this is another reason I dislike multiplayer, in fact, if I were the game host, I would set up a rule that limits the number of tanks used at a time to a maximum of 30. --------------------------- b. Troop Transports [GCP7B] --------------------------- USA: Humvee The standard troop transport of the US is here. Equipped with Gun-Ports, infantry units inside can fire at the enemy. The Humvee can also be equipped with a TOW Missile to attack armored targets. There is a catch though, if the Humvee is destroyed, the infantry inside will all die! Just a pity it does not come packaged with missile defenders. GLA: Technical, Battle Bus, Combat Cycle GLA Technical Trucks again carry 5 infantry units. Only that it has no gun ports. Its armor is just so weak. Although it can perform salvage runs on defeated armored units, and can make use of Armor Piercing Bullets, it really cannot help them much. The slow and steady battle bus is a different story, the infantry inside can fire out of the gun ports inside the bus. And after it blows up, the battle bus becomes a bunker of sorts, and the infantry continue to fire inside until it blows up the second time. Note that the bus' passengers cannot fire at any specific target, and that is a problem. The combat cycle has one infantry inside, and that infantry can fire at the enemies. Unfortunately, this vehicle makes the infantry more vulnerable to tanks, as tanks are effective against vehicles. And when it explodes, the infantry unit is sent flying! You may need at least 20 of these to make a stand. You can use it as a suicide unit if the passenger is a terrorist, but, it can never be as economical as the troop crawler. China: Troop Crawler The Troop Crawler is the most expensive of the lot, at $1400, but there is a reason behind, it is because it comes with 8 Red Guard! So, it actually costs $200! The Troop Crawler is also equipped with Stealth Detection. So, which means, we have a decent stealth detector that can be produced en-masse! So, really, "They can't hide from me." Supplementary Information on the Type 92/90 Wheeled Armored Fighting Vehicle (The Troop Crawler is a 8x8 8 wheeled variant of this vehicle): (Reference: Sinodefence) The Type 92/90 is officially designated as Type 92 or Type 90 by the People's Liberation Army, and it is designated as WZ551 by the manufacturer. The Type 92/90 is contracted by NORINCO. The Type 92 (ZSL) Infantry Fighting Vehicle has entered service in 1996, and the Type 92A Armored Personnel Carrier has entered service in 1997. By early 2004, 2 mechanized infantry divisions, 4 mechanized infantry brigades and 3 battalions of the PLA have been equipped with the Type 92, with a total of around 1200 vehicles being used. The Type 90 belongs to a large family of armored fighting vehicles with a 6-wheel chassis. (Also known as the 6x6 configuration). There are variants with 4 wheels and some with 8 wheels. (The Troop Crawler must be one of its 8 wheeled variants.) Different variants are used for different purposes. The Type 90 was first revealed in 1986, and it is based on the chassis of the Tiema XC2200 6 wheeled heavy duty truck, which made use of German Mercedes Benz truck designs. The Type 90 has been used by the PLA ground force since the early 1990s, and it was further developed to over 10 variants including Armored Personnel Carriers, Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs), self-propelled artillery, anti-rioting vehicles, combat support vehicles, command posts and field ambulances. The main variant of the Type 90 has a weight of 15.3 tonnes. Each unit is served by 3 crew. Which are the driver, commander and the gunner. Each Type 90 can carry up to 9 infantry soldiers in its troop compartment and it is fitted with fire suppression and centralized nuclear biological chemical (NBC) protection systems. This vehicle can also be used in water. The PLA is transforming its conventional motorized infantry units into mechanized infantry troops with rapid reaction capabilities. The Type 90 series of transports are ideal for these newly trained troops. The 54th Group Army in the Jinan Military Region is the first infantry unit to be equipped with the Type 90. Units deployed in Xinjiang, Tibet and the Beijing Military Region have also been served. More vehicles in this large family are expected to be delivered to the PLA in the future. The variant currently in service is designated as the Type 92. Now, as I said earlier, the Type 90/92 has many variants. The first is the type 92 (ZSL92) IFV, with a 6x6 chassis. This project was in response to the PLA's requirements for a new 6 wheeled IFV in April 1987. It is the formal production variant of the Type 90/WZ551. A 30,000km's length of road tests have been carried out in the following years, and the vehicle received its design certificate in June 1994, and entered service in the following year. NORINCO also had plans to export some variants including the NGV-1 IFV. This is another 6 wheeled vehicle, and has a French designed one-man Giat DRAGAR 25mm cannon turret, with stabilized sight and night vision equipment. There is an extra weapon which is a 7.62mm machine gun. Another variant is the WZ901 Armored Rioting Vehicle. Other variants include: WZ554 self-propelled twin-23mm antiaircraft artillery guns, 6X6 WZ551D DK-9 (PL-9) air defence missile system, 6X6 WZ901F (Type 86) patrol vehicle, 6X6 WZ91 anti-tank guided missile launch vehicle, 4X4 Long-hull APC, 8X8 120mm Self-Propelled Mortar-Howitzer, 6X6 Armored recovery vehicle (ARV), 6X6 Armored ambulance, 6X6 The hull of the Type 90 is made up of three different parts: the driver compartment in the front, the powerpack compartment in the middle left, and the troop compartment in the rear. The fully amphibious Type 90 is equipped to carry 12 personnel: commander, driver, gunner and nine troops. There are six firing ports in the vehicle hull, three on each side of the vehicle. Communications equipments include a VRC-83 radio set and VIC-83 telephone. The Type 92 IFV is fitted with a one-man 25mm cannon turret and a coaxial 7.62mm Type 59 machine gun. The 25mm gun has a full 360 degree traverse with an elevation of between 8 and 55 degrees to the horizontal. Up to 400 rounds can be loaded into the 25mm gun, with an additional 120 HE (High-Explosive) rounds and 80 AP (Armor-Piercing) rounds carried in the turret. The 25 mm gun can fire single, 3-round bursts, or 5-round bursts. The max rate of fire is 100 rounds per minute to 200 rounds per minute. The 7.62mm machine gun has 1,000 rounds. There are eight smoke grenade launchers, four fitted either side of the main gun. The Type 90 is fitted with NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) protection system and automatic firefighting system. Armor protection against 7.62mm caliber weapon systems is provided all around the vehicle. The Type 90 is powered by a German-designed BF8L413F 4-stroke, 8-cylinder, turbo-charged, air-cooled diesel engine with a standard power of 235kW (320hp) at 2,500r/min. The vehicle has 9 forward and 1 reverse gears, with mechanical gear box, power assisted steering and independent suspensions. Its central inflating system can adjust the tire pressure according to road conditions. The tires can support the vehicle to travel 100km at a speed of 30km/h after being damaged. In addition, the vehicle is fitted with two propellers for swimming. The vehicle is capable of a maximum speed of 85km/h on paved road and 8km/h when afloat. The capacity of the fuel tank was increased by 90 liter to fulfill the PLA's requirement for a fuel endurance range of 600 to 800km. ------------------------------------------------------- Specifications of the Type 92 Armored Fighting Vehicle ------------------------------------------------------- Crew: 12 (3+9) Type: Wheeled, armored, amphibious Weight: 12.5 tonnes Engine: 320hp BF8L413F 4-stroke, 8-cylinder, turbo-charged, air-cooled diesel Transmission: Mechanical Suspension: Independent Radio: VRC-83 radio set; VIC-83 telephone Dimension: Length: 6.63m; Height: 2.8m; Width: 2.8m Cruising Range: 600~800km Speed: Max road 85km/h; max off-road N/A; max swim 8km/h Main Gun: 25mm (IFV variant), or 12.7mm (APC variant) Rate of Fire: (IFV) 100~200 rounds/min Elevation/Depression: (IFV) 8 degrees to 55 degrees Auxiliary Weapon: (IFV) One coaxial 7.62 mm machine gun Comparison: When it comes to Transports, we will have to consider flexibility. The Humvee is the most flexible, due to the gun ports, allowing for Missile Defenders and Pathfinders to fire out. The Technical is not flexible, as they can be easily be stopped and the passengers killed soon after. The Battle Bus again works like the Humvee, but you cannot specifically target anything. As for the Combat Cycle, any infantry except Angry Mobs can ride it. So, you can use it to offer some protection to individual infantry units. The Chinese Troop Crawler may be inflexible, but it comes packaged with Red Guard, and holds just as much as the Battle Bus, so it is a good way to train large numbers of infantry en masse. Humvees > Battle Buses = Combat Cycles = Troop Crawlers > Technicals Score: USA: 2 GLA: 2 (1 for Battle Bus and 1 for Combat Cycle) China: 1 Value for Money: Humvee: Cost: $700 TOW Missile Upgrade: $1000 Scout Drone Upgrade: $100 Battle Drone Upgrade: $300 Hellfire Drone Upgrade: $500 It is the tradition of the Command and Conquer Series to charge this amount for a Humvee. Enough said. Value for Money: Fair Techinical: Cost: $500 Armor Piercing Bullet Upgrade: $2000 Technicals are like Humvees in many aspects, but they can upgrade their guns by salvaging. But still, it is only a fair value for money. Value for money: Fair Battle Bus: Cost: $800 Battle Bus costs $800, and comes with no attack power on its own, but it is a bit more armored than the technical, and won't be destroyed immediately when its HP drops to zero, so it is quite worth it if you want to give your infantry protection. Value for money: Good Combat Cycle: Cost: $550 Cost of bundled Rebel: $150 Actual Price = Cost - Cost of bundled Rebel = $400 A combat cycle is ridden by a Rebel at the start, so we can consider the cycle to be cheaper than it actually is. In fact, I am using the "method of difference" to determine the actual price of units with other units bundled in. this method has been used by the Hong Kong Consumer Council to compare the prices of goods. So, to conclude, the Combat Cycle is an excellent value for money. Value for Money: Excellent Troop Crawler: Cost: $1400 Cost of bundled Red Guards: $1200 Actual Price = Cost - Cost of bundled Red Guards = $1200 Again, the method of difference applies. You will pleased that the Troop Crawler itself costs only $200! This is one of the ways you can train Red Guards en masse. An excellent value for money indeed! Value for money: Excellent Conclusion: Yes, it is best to load a Humvee with a pathfinder or 2, as it make them better at the task at hand. I can make no safety guarantees against air strikes if you hide Missile Defenders inside, as units like Raptors and MiGs fire so many missiles at them, and it can blow the entire thing up in no time. Most people prefer to load 1 pathfinder and 4 missile defenders in their humvees but I prefer the 2, 3 combination, as you cannot be too careful. -------------------------------------------- c. Anti-air, Anti-infantry Vehicles [GCP7C] -------------------------------------------- USA: Avenger The US has come up with a new laser unit. The avenger, its laser can be used to shoot down incoming missiles and aircraft, its designator also allows your units to hit them faster and with more success. The laser of the Avenger cannot be used to kill ground units by itself, while you can send it a large number of quad cannons or gattling tanks in and cause tremendous damage, you can't do so with Avengers. It's just not worth coughing up $2000 to buy one of these vehicles if they can only attack air targets. Unfortunately, that's all the US has to effectively down aircraft. Life is tough, isn't it? GLA: Quad Cannon The GLA Quad Cannon is like a technical in many aspects, but it carries 4 heavy machines guns, instead of one. It can use the scraps of defeated vehicles to upgrade its own guns, which is a good sign. It can acquire armor piercing bullets for an additional 25% damage, making it better for the task at hand. China: Gatling Tank The Chinese Gatling Tank fires very fast already, but will fire faster and faster, when you hear the driver say, "Spin them up!". They can fire 25% faster, causing 25% more damage at once. The Gattling Tanks have better armor, and can defeat a Quad Cannon in one to one combat. Comparison: Factor: Attack Power and Armor All the 3 can attack air units effectively, but the Avenger cannot damage ground units on its own while the other 2 can. The Gattling Tank is firing very fast already, and fires even faster in one more second. So, they can reach their full potential without picking up salvage like the Quad Cannons. Besides, the Gattling Cannon has more armor than the Quad Cannons, and can survive the enemies' attacks better. Gattling Tanks > Quad Cannons > Avengers Score: USA: 0 GLA: 1 China: 2 Value for Money: Avenger: Cost: $2000 Scout Drone Upgrade: $100 Battle Drone Upgrade: $300 Hellfire Drone Upgrade: $500 Sure, the Avenger is effective against air units and missiles, and unfortunately, that's the only good thing about it. When facing ground units, they can only designate the target to allow other units to fire faster and more effectively at it, and they actually give it such a ludicrous price! Life is tough... sigh... Value for money: Poor Quad Cannon: Cost: $700 Armor Piercing Bullet Upgrade: $2000 This is the price that an anti-air, anti infantry unit should be sold. Enough said. Good quality, good value. Value for money: Good Gattling Tank: Cost: $800 Chain Gun Upgrade: $1500 Again, ditto, this extra $100 is there because the Gattling Tank has better armor and attack power. Value for money: Good Conclusion: Wouldn't it hurt EA if they allow the Avengers to hit ground targets directly as well? If not, I suggest they should lower the price of these things. There are nothing wrong with Quad Cannons nor Gattling Tanks though, if you are playing against USA, feel free to build them in quantity around your base. It will discourage those A-10 Strikes and Fuel Air Bombs. ------------------------------ d. Spray Action Units [GCP7D] ------------------------------ USA: Ambulance All the Ambulance does is to spray detoxifying foam, that clears radiation and chemical toxins. That's it. It is not equipped to kill. GLA: Toxin Tractor That's right, GLA really likes to make use of Chemical Weapons. The toxin tractor sprays a continuous stream of toxins that can render large infantry divisions into green 'n' blue salamander men in no time. It can also contaminate large areas of land when standing. It is resistant to rockets, making it effective in its task of clearing garrisoned buildings. It can be 25% more disgusting with the Anthrax Beta upgrade installed. To Contaminate an area: Click the Contaminate button and then click on the area you intend to spread your chemicals. "Run through the sprinkler!" China: Dragon Tank The Dragon Tank is China's flame tank, its flame has a large sweeping effect, that can render both infantry and vehicles into charcoal in no time. It can make use of Black Napalm to spew a blue flame, which causes 25% more damage. Like the toxin tractor, it is effective in clearing occupied civilian buildings, as they are resistant to rockets. To Build a Fire Wall: Click on the Fire Wall Button, and click on the area you intend to sweep out your flames. "The Dragon awakes!" You can only gain veterancy with this attack if the enemy is in contact with your flame jet when they are destroyed. Comparison: Factor: Armor, Effective against Again, the Ambulance cannot attack anyone directly without the help of drones, so a 0 is what it gets. Both are effective against infantry garrisoned in structures and outside structures, but the Dragon Tank is effective against buildings as well. Its flame wall is obviously more lethal than the Contaminate ability, as it works better against tanks. Another thing is that, the Dragon Tank has heavier armor than the Toxin Tractor, and can withstand more punishment. Dragon Tanks > Toxin Tractors > Ambulances Score: USA: 0 GLA: 1 China: 2 Value for money: Ambulance: Cost: $600 Scout Drone Upgrade: $100 Battle Drone Upgrade: $300 Hellfire Drone Upgrade: $500 What's the point of having a unit that can ONLY heal infantry units? And you charge it more than a Humvee? Sure, it can clear toxic foam, but what's the point, after all, the radiation or chemicals will fade away after a while. Value for money: Bad Toxin Tractor: Cost: $600 Anthrax Beta Upgrade: $2500 These tractors are so effective against infantry that, if used properly, can achieve a 1 to 30 kill ratio or even higher. So, excellent quality, excellent value! Value for money: Excellent Dragon Tank: Cost: $800 Black Napalm Upgrade: $2000 Ditto, ditto, ditto. Again, they cost $200 more as they have better armor and attack power. Value for money: Excellent Conclusion: The former unit is a mess cleaner, while the latter 2 units are mess creators. Unfortunately, it is the tidy person in society who gets abused and tormented by those mess creators. There is one thing though, if your enemy likes to use terrorists, and has placed them too close to the other units, feel free to target him, he will explode, and will take other units around him with him! As for the Toxin Tractors, just squirt, and enjoy! If you are the person who likes to make extensive use of such things, play as Dr. Thrax! ------------------------------ e. Intelligence Units [GCP7E] ------------------------------ USA: Sentry Drone The new sentry drone is stealthy, and can detect stealth. It can be upgraded with machine guns to make it more powerful, but this unit is pathetic, as it cannot gain veterancy. When I used these in USA Mission 1 in Zero Hour, they were practically the first to die. GLA: Radar Van Not only that the Radar Van provides Radar, it can use the Radar Scan to spy on enemies. So, you can virtually abuse the radar scan by building these little vans in quantity! Unfortunately they have no weapons themselves and cannot be used in attacks. China: Listening Outpost This van is stealthy when stationary. So, you can leave it in one spot to keep it revealed without getting detected by non stealth detectors. It itself is a stealth detector. Unlike the Radar Van, this unit is not defenseless, as it comes with 2 Tank Hunters that fire from inside it. So, it actually costs $200, like the Troop Crawler. Comparison: Factor: Self Defense Abilities, Flexibility The Radar Van has no direct offensive power, so I give that a 0. Both the Sentry Drone and the Listening Outpost can attack the enemies. However, Listening Outposts can give their passengers veterancy when they destroy enough targets, while the Sentry Drone cannot. Another thing is that, if you load a Listening Outpost with 2 Red Guards, it can do considerable damage to infantry units, while the Sentry Drone is stuck with its machine gun. Listening Outpost > Sentry Drone > Radar Van Value for money: Sentry Drone: Cost: $800 You charge THAT much for a simple scouting unit? That's too much, really. Value for money: Bad Radar Van: Cost: $800 Radar Scan Upgrade: $1000 Take note that you can use your Radar Scan once for every Radar Van you have. As they are just soooo cheap, feel free to abuse the Radar Scan by building 30 Radar Vans. Then you can have 1 Radar Scan per second! Value for Money: Excellent Listening Outpost: Cost: $800 Cost of Bundled Tank Hunters: $600 Actual Cost: Cost - Cost of Bundled Tank Hunters: $200 Again, the method of difference applies. The reason why there are no Chinese vehicles selling cheaper than $800 is because the ones that are cheap come bundled in with other units. Consider it as a bonus. Value for money: Excellent Score: USA: 1 GLA: 0 China: 2 Conclusion: If there is one think I do not like in Command and Conquer: Generals are units that cannot gain veterancy. As they cannot build up experience, the player's incentive to keep them alive for as long as possible drops. As for the Radar Vans, always build them in quantity! You can always abuse the Scan by building 10 or so. I learnt it in GLA Mission 2. Just keep them separated far enough, in case the enemy decides to attack them with a superweapon or 2. The listening outpost is just like the troop crawler, if you like to produce tank Hunters en-masse, you can just continuously build these. Place them in places where the enemy like to send in their fighters from, then you can detect them before they can get close. Radar Vans make good stealth unit squishers, so if someone sends stealth infantry units in, send in your Van to detect and squish them! (I heard this from a message board, it may be true, or maybe not. Don't blame me if this is false.) ---------------------------- f. Electronic Units [GCP7F] ---------------------------- USA: Microwave Tank The US Microwave Tank, well, fires a microwave beam that can disable, not destroy enemy structures, its beam can also hurt enemy infantry. The Microwave Tank can cook infantry inside buildings. GLA: None Do you expect GLA to have such high tech units? China: ECM Tank The electromagnetic countermeasures tank fires a beam that can disable enemy vehicles, and disrupt rocket and missile attacks, making them miss their target. It can really be a lifesaver if your enemy uses so many rocket units, as the ECM Tank's magnetic field causes more than 80% of the rockets to miss. Comparison: Factor: Special Ability Both the Microwave Tank and the ECM Tank can disable different things. But as they are different things, no conclusion can be drawn. Microwave Tanks = ECM Tanks > None Value for money: Microwave Tank: Cost: $800 Composite Armor Upgrade: $2000 Scout Drone Upgrade: $100 Battle Drone Upgrade: $300 Hellfire Drone Upgrade: $500 For an "HBM Vehicle", charging $800 for such a unit ain't too shabby. In fact, I really could not care less how much such units cost. As long as it is at $800 or less, I won't mind at all. Value for money: Fair ECM Tank Cost: $800 Paying $800 to stop those annoying Rocket Buggy rockets, Raptor missiles, Tomahawk Missiles, Rocket Propelled Grenades, Stealth Fighter missiles, Comanche hellfire missiles or to disable tanks ain't to shabby either. Value for money: Fair Score: USA: 1 GLA: 0 China: 1 Conclusion: This is one type of unit that I do not care much about, as they have no real direct offensive power. However, the Microwave Tank can well, bake the infantry garrisoned inside buildings, just set it to high power to ensure the meat is well done! Ha ha ha! As for the ECM tank, build them as countermeasures to the enemies' missile attacks. ------------------------------------ g. Standard Long Range Units [GCP7G] ------------------------------------ USA: Tomahawk Missile USA's Long Range ballistic is here. The Tomahawk Missile has a very long range, and its missile has a tendency to lock onto the enemy, so it seldom misses. However, air defenses can easily stop the missile, so build at least 2 or 3 for a better effect. GLA: Rocket Buggy The Rocket Buggy is there to buzz around like flies and annoy you. They fire 6 or 12 rockets at a time, before having to reload. That's their problem. If they were to fire continuously, then they can be a real threat. When you use such units, make sure you keep your distance, as it has practically no armor. China: Inferno Cannon China does not make use of any rockets or missiles, instead, they make use of Artillery! The Inferno Cannon flies napalm shells over long range. As it is a shell, it cannot be stopped by anything. The impact damage is collateral, as the units will continue to take damage from the flames. It is most effective, when used in large groups, as a lovely little bonfire will be made, incinerating anything in its path. Supplementary information on the PLZ 155mm Howitzer (Inferno Cannon): (Reference: Sinodefence) The PLZ-45 (also known as Type 88) 155 mm, 45 caliber self-propelled howitzer (categorized as gun-howitzer by the PLA) was developed by NORINCO in the early 1990s for the international market. The system was jointly developed by the 123 Factory, 127 Factory, 674 Factory and Beijing University of Science and Technology based on the Type 89 (PLL-01) towed 155 mm/45 caliber gun-howitzer. In 1997, the PLZ-45 surprisingly defeated US and Europe competitors to win the contract to provide Kuwaiti Army with a battalion of 72 units of self-propelled artillery systems. This sale was a particularly convincing assessment of the howitzer's capabilities since the Kuwaiti Army has the budget to purchase nearly whatever it wants. A battalion of howitzers were then delivered to the Kuwait along with a full package of support, command and control, forward observer, and radar vehicles. In 2001, the Kuwaitis ordered an additional 74 howitzers from China as it performed surprisingly well with the Kuwaiti army. Despite being a successful design, the PLZ-45 did not enter service with the PLA. The limitations of using foreign military GPS signal and expensive unit costs were the main problems involved when using the PLZ-45. However, since the PLA is still debating whether to replace the Soviet 152 mm howitzer by the new 155 mm/45 caliber system, there is a chance that the PLZ-45 or a similar design may enter service with the PLA in the future. The PLZ-45 may well be one of the most potent weapons of Chinese designs. The PLZ-45 combines a new chassis with the powerful 45-calibre Type 89 (WA-021) 155 mm howitzer. The artillery can fire 4 to 5 rounds in each minute. The PLZ-45 Howitzer can carry up to 30 shells. They include NATO HE, RAP, illumination, smoke, chemical, guided, DPICM, FASCAM, and ERFB-BB, (I wonder whether they will fire napalm shells) and the maximum fire range is 24 km (HE) to 39 km (ERFB-BB). Secondary armament consists of a 12.7 mm W-85 anti-aircraft machine gun mounted on the roof, and two sets of four-barrel smoke grenade launchers are mounted on the turret's side. The PLZ-45's chassis was derived from the Type 80 main battle tank. The combat weight is 32 tons. The power pack is a 525 hp liquid cooled diesel engine, giving a maximum road speed of 65 km/h and a cruising range of 450 km. The artillery is operated by five crewmembers. The compartment is equipped with an anti-NBC protection, explosion detection, fire suppression, and GPS navigation system. In addition, howitzers sold to Kuwaitis Army are also fitted with air conditioners for operating in the desert environment. Each PLZ-45 battalion consists of 1~2 command and control vehicles, 3 observation and reconnaissance vehicles, 1 target correction radar, 1 weather radar, 1 repairing workshop vehicle, 1 potable cabin for repairing and testing, as well as three howitzer companies. Each company has one observation and reconnaissance vehicle, 6~8 howitzers, and 6~8 ammunition transport/reloading vehicles. Each howitzer is supported by an ammunition vehicle, which can carry 90 rounds and reload the howitzer at a speed of 6~8 rounds/min. ----------------------------------------- Specifications of the PLZ 155mm Howitzer ----------------------------------------- (Chassis) Crew: 5 Weight: 32 ton Power Pack: 520 hp turbocharged diesel Transmission: N/A Power to Weight Ratio: 16.25 hp/ton Speed: 56 km/h Road Range: 450 km Anti-NBC: Collective Fire-Supression System: Yes (Gun) Caliber: 155 mm Barrel Length: 45 caliber Barrel Life: 2,500 firings Maximum Firing Range: (High Explosive or HE): 24 km; (Extended Range Full Bore, or ERFB) 30 km; (Extended Range Full Bore, Hollow Base, Base Bleed, or ERFB-HB-BB) 39 km Rate of Fire: intense 4~5 rounds/min; sustained 2 rounds/min Loading system: semi-automatic Fire Control: Direct or indirect firing with electro-optical sighting system for day/night operations; onboard computer; GPS Second Weapon: 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun Smoke Grenade: Two sets of 4-barrel launchers Comparison: Factor: Firing speed and accuracy The USA Tomahawk Missile really is dashing. Their missiles never miss when vehicles are targeted, but can be shot down by base defenses. The Rocket Buggy is fast and annoying, but their rockets can easily be stopped by Paladin Tanks, Avengers or ECM Tanks. Although the Inferno Cannon is slightly slower, its shells cannot be stopped by anything. I used to give Inferno Cannon a 0, but since the newest update increased the speed of the Inferno Cannon and allowed a Firestorm to be generated with ONLY 3 Infernos! Which means, once the shells hit, it would be rather late to run, as the fire will burn anything within it, and it does occupy a large area! I feel that it is necessary to give the Inferno a better score. Tomahawk Missile > Inferno Cannon > Rocket Buggy Score: USA: 2 GLA: 0 China: 1 Value for money: Tomahawk Missile: Cost: $1200 Composite Armor Upgrade: $2000 Scout Drone Upgrade: $100 Battle Drone Upgrade: $300 Hellfire Drone Upgrade: $500 For an accurate long range ballistic unit, the Tomahawk Missile is just evenly priced. As it is the USA army's one and only one long range unit, you better rely on them. Still, it's a good value for money. Value for money: Good Rocket Buggy: Cost: $900 Armor Piercing Rocket Upgrade: $2000 Buggy Ammo Upgrade: $1000 The Rocket Buggy is built to hit and run. With so many rockets coming at once, advancing tank hoards can easily be weakened, provided that your Buggies retreat fast enough, or if the enemy decides not to use any Paladin Tanks, Avengers or ECM Tanks. Value for money: Good Inferno Cannon: Cost: $900 Black Napalm Upgrade: $2000 The Inferno cannon has the same price as the Rocket Buggy, but attacks in a slightly different manner. The shell has a considerable area effect, so if you fire at a large hoard of incoming infantry, it can be guaranteed that at least some of them will be hit, and will eventually burn to death. Again, build these in quantity to make use of the Firestorm! Again, a good value for money. Value for money: Good Conclusion: The reason why I put Tomahawk Missiles in this category is that the missile has very little area damage in fact. As they cannot see further than their actual range, always upgrade it with a scout drone or 2. If you like to use them, consider using Search and Destroy or Bombardment in the Strategy Center. As for Rocket Buggies, I think EA should program them to fire continuously, then they can really be worth the money, as I do not like to manually order units to run around, to avoid the advancing tanks. I think that EA has programmed the Inferno Cannon so as to encourage you to build them in quantity, due to the fire storm. The shells cannot be stopped by anything, and can be a real plus if your enemy likes to use Paladin Tanks and Avengers. ------------------------------------ h. Advanced Long Range Units [GCP7H] ------------------------------------ USA: None USA has to stick to Tomahawk Missiles for long range ballistic combat. GLA: Scud Launcher The V3 Launchers of Red Alert 2 are now replaced with Scud Launchers. They fire 2 types of rounds. A high-explosive warhead that does a lot of explosive damage, and an Anthrax warhead, which does less damage, and leaves behind a large cloud of Anthrax on the ground, turning people into Salamander Men. The Anthrax Warhead can be upgraded with Anthrax Beta for 25% more damage. The only weakness is that the missiles may be stopped by anti-air defenses, although it occurs not so often. To switch the type of Warhead used: Simply click the button corresponding to the type of Warhead (High Explosive, Anthrax) you would like to use. China: Nuke Cannon Yes, the ultimate Artillery is here. The Nuke Cannon fires nuclear shells over long distances, and causes a little nuclear explosion, that can destroy several tanks at once! The thing that gives it an extra point over the Scud Launcher is that the shells cannot be stopped in mid-air. Another thing, the Nuke Cannon can be upgraded to fire neutron shells. These shells vaporize infantry, and can kill the drivers inside vehicles, making them available for capture. So, if your opponent sends in a large number of tanks, use this. To switch the type of Shell used: Simply click the button corresponding to the type of Shell (Nuclear, Neutron) you would like to use. Comparison: Factor: Attack Power, whether the projectile can reach its target The SCUD Launcher can either deliver chemicals or cause a big explosion, but not at once, while the Nuke Cannon can. Its new Neutron Shells can effectively stop Tank Rushes to your base and clear garrisoned structures. Although both of these units need time to set up, the time difference is negligible. Anyway, the SCUD can be stopped while the shells cannot. Nuke Cannon > SCUD Launcher Submitter's Opinion! Marcus Wong's Opinion I think nuke cannons should be a tie with SCUDs because they are just SO SLOOOOOW its totally ridiculous. It's range is not long enough for something that's so huge and bulky. Their deploy time is also incredibly long. Worst of all, you can't even put it in a Helix/Chinook for quick transporting. As a result, it's near impossible to send nuke cannons to your enemy's base, unless his base is right next to you which rarely happens. The only thing good about the nuke cannons is it's firepower and neutron shells, but that is simply not worth $1600. It's considered a bad value of money. So therefore, China's artillery is the worst, despite firing unstoppable shells. (the inferno cannon is even more pathetic than the nuke cannon except more worth the money.) My answer: OK, I don't think their deployment time is much longer than the time it takes for the SCUD Missile to be raised for launch, so it is not that pathetic really. The NOD Artillery in Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun is very similar in this respect. Of course, it was TOO powerful back then, so by the time the Firestorm Expansion Pack was released, the Artillery's accuracy was really toned down! Anyway, under your view, China would receive a point deduction of 1 point, but that would have no leverage on the final score. The Neutron Shell really is not that useless. ALL garrisoned buildings will be cleared if one Neutron Shell hits. (Even Palaces, Internet Centers and Bunkers!) I do not find it that hard to bring my Nuke Cannons to my enemy's base! GLA also has this logistical problem with the their SCUD Launcher, as the best they can do is to use Sneak Attacks to build a Tunnel Network quickly. Besides, if you want to send Artillery to an enemy's base, you ought to control the land around his base beforehand. Like, say, keep the enemy base busy for a while before you slip your Nuke Cannons from behind unnoticed. Value for money: SCUD Launcher: Cost: $1200 Anthrax Beta Upgrade: $2500 For a unit that works with the same principle as the Tomahawk Missile, I can only say that this unit is worthwhile investment when it comes to heavy base assault. Value for money: Good Score: USA: 0 GLA: 1 China: 2 Nuke Cannon: Cost: $1600 Neutron Shell Upgrade: $2000 What can I say? This unit is just so powerful and explosive, and then it has 2 uses, to blow things up, or to neutralize vehicles. As it is just as powerful or even more powerful than the SCUD Launcher, and the shell can be stopped. Charging $1600 for one is just reasonable. Value for money: Fair Conclusion: Always build an even number of Scud Launchers in a base attack, one half will be armed with High Explosive Warheads, while the other half uses the Anthrax Warheads. Then, it can be guaranteed that both infantry and vehicles can take considerable damage. The same goes for garrisoned buildings, and USA base buildings, you can destroy their buildings, then laugh as their infantry turn into blue salamander men! The Nuke Cannon's new neutron shells can really help them against annoying tanks. Let's say you are in a showdown with one Nuke cannon and a Troop Crawler full of infantry versus an enemy army with Many Paladins and Tomahawks and Missile Defenders, although the Tomahawks have a head start in the firing, there is a delay before the missiles hit. That way, there is time for the Cannon to launch 1 neutron shell, this shell is enough. Once it hits, all their infantry will be vaporized, so will the drivers inside their vehicles. Then you can simply send your Red Guards in to steal their vehicles, when your enemy is preparing to counter your attack team, 1 shell can make all the difference. The neutron shell can also atomize the infantry hiding inside buildings! Including Bunkers and Palaces! So, use it as an alternative to the Dragon tank if you do not want to get real close. -------------------------- i. Suicidal Units [GCP7I] -------------------------- USA, China: None The US and China do not use bomb trucks. GLA: Bomb Truck The Demolition Trucks are now replaced with Bomb Trucks. A Bomb Truck can be customized to carry Bio-Bombs and High-Explosive Bombs to upgrade their effects. They can also be disguised as an enemy unit to fool them. However, enemy base defenses are not tricked by them though. Anyway, it is a force to be reckoned with, if you want to clear enemy base defenses in a flash. Another mean trick is to perform a Sneak Attack on your enemies' base, and then unload your Bomb Trucks on them! Value for money: 1000 for pure explosive action that is definitely 5 times more than that of a Terrorist really is good. Value for Money: Good Score: 1 To upgrade your Bomb Truck: Click on the button corresponding to the upgrade you would like to use. You will know when it is ready when you hear "BioBomb loaded" and so on. To disguise as a vehicle: Click the Disguise as Vehicle button, and click on the unit you would like to disguise it as. You can always disguise your Bomb Truck as something weak, like a technical, and the opponent WILL be shocked when he finds out how a Technical can explode like that. -------------------------------- j. Advanced Battle Tanks [GCP7J] -------------------------------- USA: Paladin Tank The Paladin is a tank with heavier armor. It can use a laser to stop incoming missiles, regardless of how big they are. They can upgrade their armor with composite armor, as usual. Their high price really is a draw back. But still, their ability to stop missiles is decent. GLA: Marauder Tank "What can I say? I'm a taker." The Marauder Tank is the third in the line of salvaging units as far as the GLA is concerned. The Marauder Tank is cheap, has decent armor, and can eventually upgrade to 2 cannons! That's is definitely cool. So, always use a General point to be able to build this unit. China: Overlord Tank The Overlord Tank is the ultimate example of China's brute force. Although very expensive at $2000, it has super heavy armor, and very powerful cannons. It is fully customizable to have a gattling cannon, speaker tower or a bunker mounted on its turret. That's not all, it can crush tanks, and it can be upgraded to Uranium Shells and Nuclear Tank at the Nuclear Missile Silo. To upgrade your Overlord with a peripheral: Simply click on the type of upgrade you want to give to the Overlord. Note that this peripheral is permanent, so always think twice before deciding. Comparison: Factor: Attack Power, Flexibility To compare these units, I used the "Kill Ratio" method. After some testing, I found that 1 fully upgraded Overlord can destroy 3-4 Paladins, and 3-5 Marauders (No Salvage). As for flexibility, I think Overlord Tanks are the best, as they can be customized with 1 of 3 peripherals to suit their needs. For instance, if you upgrade them with a Gattling Cannon, it becomes a anti-air and anti infantry platform. If you upgrade them with a Bunker, it becomes a Humvee like troop transport. If you upgrade it with a Speaker Tower, it becomes a mobile healer! The Marauder Tank is also customizable, as it can upgrade itself to up to 2 cannons eventually by picking up the scraps of defeated enemies. Now, it is just as armored as the Paladin due to the update. However, the Paladin Tank is not flexible at all, and its laser is not that effective against rockets, particularly if the enemy continuously sends rocket troops against you in quantity. Overlord Tanks > Marauder Tanks > Paladin Tanks Value for money: Paladin Tank: Cost: $1100 Composite Armor Upgrade: $2000 Scout Drone Upgrade: $100 Battle Drone Upgrade: $300 Hellfire Drone Upgrade: $500 These tanks are not much stronger than Crusader Tanks, and have the same attack power, only with the extra ability to use a laser to zap incoming missiles and infantry. That's it. Still, EA should not charge that much for a tank like this. At least give us 2 cannons! Value for Money: Bad Marauder Tank: Cost: $800 Toxin Shell Upgrade: $800 For a salvaging unit, charging a Marauder for $800 only really rocks! That's all I can say. Value for money: Excellent Overlord Tank: Cost: $2000 Uranium Shell Upgrade: $2500 Nuclear Tank Upgrade: $2000 Overlord Bunker: $400 Overlord Propaganda Tower: $500 Overlord Gattling Cannon: $1200 It is only natural that EA decided to charge this extremely powerful and all rounded unit $2000. Otherwise, many C&C fans will gripe to EA for this. But still, by simple experiment, I found that the Overlord has a very high kill ratio against all other weaker tanks. So, it is really worth it. Value for money: Good Score: USA: 0 GLA: 1 China: 2 Conclusion: After my experiences in USA Mission 4, or is it 3? I have concluded that for every rocket infantry your enemy has, you have to build 1 Paladin Tank to ensure that no rockets hit. While it's 2 for Scud Launchers or Tomahawks. I always enjoyed using Marauder Tanks, as they are one of those good against everything units in the game. Their Toxin Shells can easily turn infantry into Salamander men! The Overlord Tank is for the people who have "taste" as they have 3 different peripherals to be installed! ------------------- 8. Air Units [GCP8] ------------------- If you are playing as the USA or China, you get access to air units. To build air units, you have to construct an Airfield. Each Airfield houses 4 jet crafts, and they must be kept there so that the planes can land. Helicopters however, can stay in the air for an indefinite amount of time. If you play as GLA, then sorry, no air units for you! GLA: No Air Units GLA does not use Air Units, how sad. Score: 0 ----------------------- a. Main Fighter [GCP8A] ----------------------- USA: Raptor The US Raptor fires 4 missiles each to their targets, and can be used to guard the air. Their attack power can be increased by 25% by the Laser Missiles. They can develop countermeasures against anti-aircraft units, but what use does it have if there are just so many of them lying around? Supplementary Information: (Reference: Jane's) In the early 1980s the USAF began the Advance Tactical Fighter programme, incorporating stealth technology and supercruise (supersonic cruise without afterburning), as a replacement for the F-15C Eagle. A Lockheed/General Dynamics/ Boeing YF-22A prototype first flew on 26 September 1990, and won the development contract over the Northrop YF-23A in 1991. The first EMD F-22A flew on 7 September 1997, and EMD aircraft have since demonstrated supercruise at more than Mach 1.5 and thrust-vectoring at high AoA. Cold War requirements for 750 aircraft have been reduced to 339 F-22As, with the first planned to enter service in 2005. The Raptor design trades off stealth with agility, to produce a genuine fighter, as opposed to a low-observable bomb deliver like the F-117A. The thrust/weight ratio of 1.2 and triplex digital FBW controls gave good maneuverability, but 'first look, first shot, first kill' capability means opponents will rarely detect the F-22 before they have been targeted and hit by BVR AAMs. The Raptors has three internal weapons bays, with two Sidewinder AAMs stored outboard of the intake ducts, and up to six AIM-120 radar-guided AMRAAMs or two GBU-32 JDAM 1000 PGMs in a ventral bay. Other stealth features include antennas located in leading or trailing edges of wings and fins, and internal sensors, including the AN/APG-77 AESA radar. Highly integrated avionics with a Common Integrate Processor (CIP) will provide a next-generation operation environment. ----------------------------------- Specifications of the F-22A Raptor ----------------------------------- Powerplant: two 156kN (35000 lb st) Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 thrust vectoring afterburning turbofans Dimensions: length 18.92m (62ft 1 in); height 5.02m (16ft 5 in); wing span 13.56m (44ft 6 in) Weights (estimated): empty 14,385 kg (31,670 lb); MTOW 27,216 kg (60,000 lb) Performance: max level speed (in supercruise) Mach 1.58, at 9,150m (30,000ft) (with afterburning) Mach 1.7, at sea level 1,482 km/h (921 mph); service ceiling 15,240m (50,000 ft) Armament: one M61A2 20mm gun with 480 rds; two AIM-0 AAMs and up to six AIM-120 AMRAAMs or two JDAM 1000 PGMs in internal bays; four underwing stores stations, each cleared for a 2,268kg (5000lb) payload China: MiG The Chinese MiGs have 2 napalm missiles, but they are more powerful, as they have the tendency to generate firestorms, if all 8 missiles hit their target. The Chinese MiGs are cheaper than Raptors, and both their armor and attack power can be upgraded. Supplementary Information: (Reference: Jane's) The USSR's MFI (multifunctional front-line fighter) program began in 1983, to develop a fighter to replace both the MiG-29 and Su-27 in Frontal Aviation service and compete with the Eurofighter, Rafale and F-22. The end of the Cold War detailed much-needed funds, but development continued slowly, with the MiG 1.44 demonstrator/airworthy prototype completed in 1991 (after selection over a competing design from Yakolev). Flight-cleared engines were not available, however, and by the late 1990s the Western Press were suggesting the 1.44 was a mock up or a fake. But the 1.44 finally made its first (18 minute) flight on 29 February 2000. The 1.44 is a twin fin delta-canard design, with large movable foreplanes and widely-space twin tailfins. It has some stealth features, including sharply-raked straight-edged engine intakes, but a production aircraft could employ Kehdysh Research Centre's 'plasma cloud" stealth system, which reputedly reduces BCS by dissipating electromagnetic waves. Earlier plans included thrust-vectoring power plants, but the prototype 1.44 mounts two Staurn/Lyullka AL-41F engines with ceramic-coated interior nozzle petals. Other features include supercruise (sustained supersonic flights without afterburners), a wide use of composite materials, and a large internal fuel capacity. The original NO-14 weapon system has apparently been cancelled, and the future of the MiG 1.42 planned production version in uncertain. ----------------------------------------- Estimated Specifications of the MiG 1.44 ----------------------------------------- Powerplant: two 175mN (39,350 lb st) Saturn/Lyulka AL-41F afterburning turbofans Dimensions: length 22.83m (74ft 10in); height 5.72m (18ft 9in); wing span 17.36m (55ft 10in) Weights: normal take-off 30,000kg (68,138lb); MTOW 35,000kg (77,161lb) Performance: max level speed at high altitude (2,500 km/h (1,553 mph)); max level speed in suprecruise Mach 1.6-1.8 (1,700 km/h (1,058 mph)); service ceiling 20,000m (65,620 ft) Armament: one GSh-30-1.30mm cannon, internal weapon bay and possibly two or more underwing hardpoints for AAMs, ASMs and bombs Comparison: Factor: Armor Protection Both have an attack upgrade, but their defensive upgrade works differently, the Countermeasures decrease the chance for missiles to hit them, but not machine gun fire. So, if your enemy makes use of Avengers, Quad Cannons or Gattling Tanks, it would not make much of a difference. The MiG armor gives extra 25% protection to anything, so that is more worth it. Their firestorm is really lethal. MiG > Raptor Value for money: Raptor: Cost: $1400 Laser Missile Upgrade: $1500 Countermeasures Upgrade: $2000 For an aircraft like the Raptor, I really cannot comment on its price, as it is just the tradition for C&C programmers to charge between $1200 and $1500 for jet planes. Value for money: Fair MiG: Cost: $1200 Black Napalm Upgrade: $2000 MiG Armor Upgrade: $1000 Again, ditto. I really cannot comment on its price, as it is just the tradition for C&C programmers to charge between $1200 and $1500 for jet planes. Value for money: Fair Score: USA: 0 China: 1 Conclusion: The Raptor and MiG both have the same abilities, that is, guard air and air patrol. Regardless of whatever you use, it is always wise to leave a stock of about 4 of these fighters in your base to help weaken the enemies' advance. ---------------------------- b. Attack Helicopter [GCP8B] ---------------------------- USA: Comanche The Comanche helicopter attacks with their 4 missiles, and their 20mm cannon. When it runs out of ammo, it reloads very quickly, and can continue to annoy the enemy until they use their anti-aircraft units. Its rocket pods can flatten a large area of enemies. To use your Rocket Pods: Click the Rocket Pods button and then click on the area you would like to use it on. This ability requires a short recharge time. Supplementary Information: (Reference: Jane's) The futuristic RAH-66 Comanche won the US Army competition in the early 1980s for a reconnaissance/attack/air combat helicopter replacement for thousands of AH-1, OH-6, OH-58 and UH-1s. The prototype first flew on 4 January 1986, but funding cuts have slowed development, with current plans calling for testing of only the two existing prototypes through 2004. The first of 13 preproduction aircraft (the third Comanche) is not due to fly until April 2004. (This will not happen, as the US has cancelled the Comanche project.) Composites make up a large proportion of the Comanche's airframe, with a five-blade main rotor and eight-blade fan-in-fin rotor. The Comanche is the first 'stealth' helicopter, designed to have a radar cross-section smaller than that of a Hellfire missile. Frontal RCS is reportedly 360 times smaller than the AH-64 Apache, with one-quarter the IR emissions and one-sixth the forward noise signature. Each cockpit, with pilot in front, has four large MFDs to display FLIR/TV data, a moving map, and tactical situations. Night operations are aided by navigation and targeting FLIRs and a laser designator, housed in a nose-mounted sensor turret. Missile launch in adverse weather will be enhanced by a version of the Apache Longbow radar. Comanche avionics have been designed for compatibility with the F-22A Raptor fighter. Behind the retractable main landing gear, a pair of side-opening weapons bays can each house three Hellfire ATGMs or six Stinger AAMs. Immediately above these bays, optional stub-wings can carry a further four Hellfires or eight Stingers. ------------------------------- Specifications of the Comanche ------------------------------- Powerplant: two 1,165 kW (1,563 shp) LHTEC T800-LHT-801 turboshafts Dimensions: length 13.20m (43ft 3in); height over tailplane 3.37m (11ft); width 2.04m (6ft 8in); main rotor diameter 12.19m (40ft) Weights: empty 4,06kg (8,951lb); MTOW 7,896 kg (17,408lb) Performance (at 1,220m (4,000ft)): max level (dash) speed 319km/h (198mph); endurance 2h 30min Armament: one GE/GIAT three-barrel 20mm undernose cannon with 320-500 rds; up to 2,296kg (5,062lb) of 10 hellfire ATGMs, 14 Stinger AAMs and two 1,741l (383gal) auxiliary fuel tanks China: Helix The Helix Helicopter uses the same weapon as the Comanche at the beginning, useless? No! The Helix is the Overlord of the sky! It again is fully customizable to carry a Bunker, Speaker Tower or a Gattling Cannon on it! If you install the bunker, and load it with Tank Hunters, the effects are the same as a Comanche that fires missiles continuously, without having to reload, such a combination can single handedly take out 2-3 Quad Cannons and still have considerable breathing space! The Gattling Cannon can detect stealthy units, and can down aircraft, just like the tank hunters inside the bunkers. The speaker tower of course, heals your units within its range continuously. To get the best of all 3 worlds, build 3 of these and upgrade them with 3 different peripherals. Finally, their napalm bomb is well, firestorm in a can, and they can drop it again and again continuously, just like those Kirov Airships. To upgrade your Helix with a peripheral: Simply click on the Peripheral you would like to install on your Helix. These upgrades are again, permanent. So make up your mind beforehand. To use the Napalm Bomb: First click on the orange Napalm Bomb button to arm your Helix with it. It costs $800. Then, when it is loaded. Wait for it to charge up. Then click on the Green Napalm Bomb button and then click the area you intend to use it on. The Helix will then go over to the target area and drop it down "like a ton of bricks"! Comparison: Factor: Armor, Flexibility The Helix is definitely more flexible than the Comanche, and they CAN engage air units with the proper upgrades. (eg. Bunker full of Tank Hunters, or Gattling Cannon Upgrade). Its armor is heavier than the comanches, and makes them better for their task in hand. Helix > Comanche Score: USA: 0 China: 1 Value for money: Comanche: Cost: $1500 Rocket Pod Upgrade: $1000 Countermeasures Upgrade: $2000 Again, as long as the cost of an aircraft falls between the $1000-$1500 range, it is a fair value for money. As this is just tradition. Value for money: Fair Helix: Cost: $1500 Napalm Bomb: $800 Helix Bunker: $400 Helix Propaganda Tower: $500 Helix Gattling Cannon: $1200 For such a heavy and powerful helicopter, charging $1500 and ONLY $1500 for it is very cheap in fact. A good bargain indeed! Value for money: Good Conclusion: Comanches are my favorite USA air unit, as they just like to buzz around and annoy the enemy. Their Rocket Pods can help if your base is being attacked by a large numbers of units that are grouped very closely together. Of course, their rocket pods are useful if your opponent sends a slab of tanks towards your base. Make sure you target the area you expect the tanks to roll to in the next second, as there is a short delay in the unloading. As for the Helix, they have both offensive and defensive capabilities, and tend to be effective against everything if you upgrade them with all peripherals. As a base defense, load a Helix full of Tank Hunters and upgrade it with a Bunker. ------------------------------- c. Additional Air Units [GCP8C] ------------------------------- USA: Stealth Fighter, Aurora Bomber The Stealth Fighter is like the Raptor, only that it can remain undetected until the moment before it fires, so it is good against enemy base defenses. Its bunker buster upgrade can help it damage infantry garrisoned in Bunkers. The Aurora Bomber is a super-sonic aircraft, and can easily evade anti-aircraft defenses until it delivers its bomb. Only then it slows down. Enough said. Supplementary Information on the Lockheed Martin F-117A Nighthawk (Reference: Jane's) Popularly known as the 'Stealth Fighter', the F-117A Nighthawk is a precision attack aircraft designed to be nearly invisible to radar. Development began in the 1970s with the 'Have Blue' design study, and the first FSD prototype flew on 18 June 1981. Five FSD F-117s were built, followed by 54 production standard F-117As. Constructed primarily of aluminium, the F-117A's fuselage comprises flat panel 'facets' mounted on the aircraft's subframe, their purpose being to reflect radar energy away from the transmitter, eliminating a viable 'return'. All surfaces are coated with various RAMs, and all doors and panels have serrated edges to further minimize radar reflection. Grid Covers on the intakes and the use of narrow-slot 'platypus' exhausts surrounded by heat-absorbing tiles reduce the IR signature. Ahead of the flat plane five piece cockpit glazing is a FLIR sensor, recessed in a mesh covered housing. In the forward starboard underfuselage is a retractable IR sensor and laser designator, used with the two LGBs carried in the internal weapons bay. This modest weapons load is testimony to the accuracy of the Stealth Fighter F-117As flew just 2% of combat sorties during the Gulf War, but accounted for 40% of the strategic targets attacked. Unfortunately, poor tactics contributed to the first Stealth Fighter loss, when an F-117A was shot down by a radar-guided missile over Kosovo in 1999. Current USAF plans include navigation and targeting system upgrades, with service to continue beyond 2015. -------------------------------------- Specifications of the Stealth Fighter -------------------------------------- Powerplant: two 48.0 kN (10,900lb st) Gneral Electric F404-GE-F1D2 non-afterburning turbofans Dimensions: length 20.08m (65ft 11in); height 3.78m (12ft 5in); wing span 13.20m (43ft 4in) Weights: empty (estimated) 13,381kg (29,500lb); MTOW 23,814kg (52,500lb) Performance: max level speed 1,040km/h (646 mph); mission radius (unrefuelled with 2,268kg (5,000 lb) weapon load) 1,056km (656 miles) Armament: up to 2,268kg (5,000lb) of GBU-10 Paveway II/GBU-27 PAveway III LGBs Value for money: Stealth Fighter: Cost: $1600 Laser Missile Upgrade: $1500 Bunker Buster Upgrade: $1000 Sigh... I was expecting the Stealth Fighter to be even more powerful than the Raptor, but in fact, it is only effective against base defenses, as it is stealthy. Although it can clear garrisoned structures with its Bunker Buster Upgrade, it is not worth coughing up $1600 for such a plane. Value for money: Bad Aurora Bomber: Cost: $2500 For a plane that is invincible during its bombing run, and as frail as a paper aeroplane during its return, $2500 is a reasonable price. After all, if EA were to charge it less, many people will complain that the USA is being far too unbalanced. As they are so difficult to replace, only use these planes when you have a superweapon to destroy. Value for money: Fair Score: 2 (1 for each air unit) ------------------------ 9. Base Defenses [GCP9] ------------------------ Base Defenses are what protects your base from attack while you are away attacking. The choice of defenses is richer in Command and Conquer: Generals Zero Hour, since in the earlier Command and Conquer games, each side only gets a cheap one and a powerful one. ------------------------------ a. Basic Base Defense [GCP9A] ------------------------------ USA: Patriot Missile The Patriot Missile now can fire a volley of 4 missiles at both air or ground units. Being the high tech defense it is, it can signal other missile emplacements to open fire on the target. Too bad that the missiles are rather inaccurate towards infantry, so watch out for terrorists and Tank Hunters who will drop TNT in. GLA: Stinger Site Stinger sites are just like Patriot Missiles, only that they have 3 people inside that fire stinger missiles at the enemy. This defence structure has more weaknesses, as the 3 men inside can easily be killed by snipers, flame units or simple rifle fire. They can also be camouflaged, but it really can't help them much. Particularly if a scout has seen them. China: Gattling Cannon The Gattling Cannon is definitely the most reliable structure, as the bullets that continuously fly out are so accurate, and they tend to spin faster and faster, causing more and more damage to the enemies. As they can be built in quantity, a base can easily be secured. Comparison: Factor: Accuracy, Efficiency, Ability for the Projectile to reach target The Patriot Missile has this relay system which informs other missile batteries to fire at the target. This makes them effective against aircraft, but not as much against land units. Their inaccuracy is a big problem. Particularly if the enemy uses some Avengers or ECM Tanks to deflect your missiles. The Stinger Sites have the same problems of the Patriot Missile - Inaccuracy. However, as they can be camouflaged, this is just great as the enemy will have a hard time guessing the position of your turrets. However, it's no use if a scout has already seen your sites. The Gattling Cannon NEVER misses, in spite of its lower damage towards vehicles, but can make a great difference if the enemy likes to use ECM Tanks or Avengers. All the 3 structures above require garrisonable base defenses to support them still. Gattling Cannon > Patriot Missile > Stinger Site Value for money: Patriot Missile: Cost: $1000 The Patriot Missile is sort of effective against tanks. But they are just so inaccurate against infantry units. There are many times when I got blown up by terrorists because those missiles cannot hit them in time. But still, it is a reasonable value for money, as it is the tradition of C&C programmers to charge $1000 for such defense buildings. Value for money: Fair Stinger Site: Cost: $900 Armor Piercing Rocket Upgrade: $2000 Camo Netting Upgrade: $900 The Stinger Site may be cheap, but that is because it takes much more space than the other 2 basic base defenses. But still, as long as it is cheap, it can be quantity and of course, consider building these sites in a circle, or any other regular polygons, then attacks from all sides can be covered. Value for money: Good Gattling Cannon: Cost: $1200 Chain Gun Upgrade: $1500 This defense may sound expensive, but it is because of its accurate and never miss property. While planes and Malcolm "Ace" Granger can easily avoid the missiles of those other defenses using their countermeasures and laser point defense systems, there is no escape from the Gattling Cannon. Besides, this weapon can render infantry into mince meat in no time. As you can leave the tanks to the Bunkers with Tank Hunters, this is also a good value for money indeed. Value for money: Good USA: 1 GLA: 0 China: 2 Conclusion: It's a pity that the programmers of this game do not create a base defense structure of comparable attacking power to the Obelisk of Light. All of these 3 structures are not to be used alone. Prepare to secure them with other support units. Note that if your opponent installs drones on your tanks, these defenses will target them first. So, always make your turrets fire at the tanks first by manually targeting the enemy. ------------------------------------- b. Garrisonable Base Defenses [GCP9B] ------------------------------------- USA: Fire Base USA has this new unpowered structure that has a 155mm Artillery platform to Damage Tanks. 4 infantry units can garrison inside at once to fire at the enemy. However, there are many weaknesses, first this structure is extremely vulnerable to Jarmen Kell and Artillery. Once, in US Mission 3, this Scud Launcher fired its explosive shell at the base, and all the infantry died! The same goes for Jarmen Kell, as he can destroy this structure in 3-4 shots! Same goes for Nuke Cannons, and Inferno Cannons. Finally, the artillery does not do enough damage to Scorpion Tanks! So, to conclude, you must group these with Patriot Missiles. GLA: Tunnel Network The GLA Tunnel Network can hide up to 10 units, armored or infantry inside at once, and can repair them to full health inside. It comes with 2 RPG Troopers, so it only costs $200. Although the gun port mounted on the tunnel causes minimal damage, you can always ambush attackers from inside the tunnel network. It can be camouflaged. Their tunnel sneak attacks can also surprise the enemy. China: Battle Bunker The Chinese Battle Bunker houses up to 5 infantry at once. Now you see the point, whenever you use Battle Bunkers filled with Tank Hunters in conjunction with Gattling Cannons, a practically unbreachable defense line can be formed. It can be mined. Comparison: Factor: Protection, Attack Capability The infantry units hiding inside Fire Bases are just far too vulnerable. While the units inside Tunnel Networks are more or less protected. Protection is the most important factor in this comparison. Now, it is time to compare the attack capabilities of the two. Tunnel Networks rely on the player to manually evacuate the troops inside to attack, and that the entire network can only hold 10 units. Bunkers on the other hand, are attack defense structures, and you can build as many and stuff them with as many troops as you like. So, I decide to revise the score here. Battle Bunkers > Tunnel Networks > Fire Bases Value for money: Fire Base: Cost: $1000 In my opinion, the power of the Fire Base itself is not high enough, and is still inaccurate towards infantry units. Besides, the Missile Defenders and pathfinders that you garrison inside are not protected enough. One single SCUD or artillery shell can kill them all. So, it is obviously overpriced. Value for money: Poor Tunnel Network: Cost: $500 Camo Netting Upgrade: $900 I can only use one word to describe the value for money of this structure: Excellent. After all, it builds so fast, and can be camouflaged! Value for money: Excellent Battle Bunker: Cost: $400 I will also use one word to describe the value for money of this structure: Ditto. In fact, it is very cheap for a garrisonable structure that cannot be cleared by normal means. Value for money: Excellent Score: USA: 0 GLA: 1 China: 2 Conclusion: Again, these structures are not to be used alone, always pair them up with the basic base defense structure to ensure good security. ----------------- c. Traps [GCP9C] ----------------- USA: None The US lacks mines or bombs or any sort. GLA: Demo Trap That's right, the GLA has the ability to place barrels filled with dynamite that explodes when someone gets near it. At $400, it is perfect for providing choke point security. This Demo Trap is effective against most Tanks, if your enemy likes to use tank rushes, you should place them in strategic areas to increase chances of success. To switch from proximity detection mode to manual detonation mode: Click the Manual Detonation button on the Demo Trap to switch to Manual Detonation Mode. Then to detonate it, click on the Detonate Now button. This is useful if you want to reserve your trap for stronger units like Overlord Tanks. China: Land Mines and Neutron Mines All Chinese Structures can be fitted with mines surrounding it to protect enemies from getting too close. Each building can be mined once, but those mines reappear after a while by mitotic cell division! The Neutron Mines vaporize or I should say, atomize annoying infantry and Saboteurs, and can again, kill the drivers inside vehicles. To mine your structures: Click on the Land Mines button and wait a while. Mines will be laid. It costs $600. Then to upgrade to Neutron Mines, click on the Neutron Mines button. It costs another $500. Comparison: Factor: Explosive bias For Traps, the attack damage is the most important. So, those Demo Traps come out as the winner. No need to visualize the picture to you. Although Neutron Mines can neutralize drivers inside vehicles, most vehicles will be destroyed by the time it gets to your mines. Demo Traps > Land Mines and Neutron Mines Value for money: Demo Trap: Cost: $400 Ladies and gentlemen, we now have the all out surprise solution to Tank Rushes coming at $400 each! An excellent value of money! Buy it! Value for money: Excellent Land Mines and Neutron Mines: Cost: $600 for Land Mines and $500 for Neutron Mines These are relatively expensive for traps, however, it is good that these things can respawn indefinitely, and hence can be a good value for money if you are playing as GLA and they like to use Saboteurs or Terrorists. Value for money: Good Score: USA: 0 GLA: 2 China: 1 Conclusion: The Demo Trap provides choke point security, only if your worker can reach the building site. This is an active defensive structure, as you have to make the worker unit build them manually one by one. But still, it is rather amusing to see those units move over the trap and beep beep beep! Boom! And they all fall down! AS for the Neutron Mines, vehicle stealers rejoice! Any vehicle that gets too close to your structure will lose control of the vehicle, as the driver is dead. You know the drill, steal them! -------------------------- d. Fake Structures [GCP9D] -------------------------- GLA: Fake/Real Structures Yes! The GLA can build fake structures to divert the enemy. These structures can be detonated as a trap, or can be upgraded to a real structure! Value for money: Cost: $625 Upgrade to Real Structure: Actual Cost of Structure - $625 No comment here, after all, if you upgrade it to a real structure, you will just wind up paying the entire price of the building. Value for money: Fair Score: 1 To upgrade to a Real Structure: To upgrade your Fake Structure to a real Structure, click on the Upgrade to Real Structure Button. The cost = Cost of Real Structure - Cost of Fake Structure. ----------------------- 10. Base Infrastructure ----------------------- Every organized base has units divided to perform different tasks. Some are responsible for collecting supplies to earn cash, and some are used to provide power, and some to gather intelligence abilities. A strong side is one which is efficient in all of the above. -------------------------------------- a. Standard Resource Gatherer [GCP10A] -------------------------------------- USA: Chinook The American Chinook Transport Helicopter allows for quick transport of supplies to your base. In fact, it can carry $600 at once. After you upgrade it to have supply lines, it can carry 10% more. It can also carry 8 infantry alone or 2 vehicles and 2 infantry units at once. Apart form this, it can combat drop into enemy garrisoned buildings to clear them out. So, the Chinook really is the best. To perform a Combat Drop: Load your Chinook full of Rangers, and then click on the combat drop button. Then click on the structure you intend to take over. "Have fun, boys." GLA: Worker The GLA is the slowest resource collector of the lot, and is overpriced at $200. The Worker also has to double as the builder, so be sure to build a lot of them. Their new worker shoe upgrade is not going to help them a lot. Their extremely low HP makes them the worst. China: Supply Truck Being half the price of a Chinook, the Supply Truck can collect half as much as the Chinook at once. But they are better than the workers though. Comparison: Factor: Efficiency Supplies collected per unit price: Chinook: 660/1200= 0.55 per $ Supply Truck: 300/600 = 0.50 per $ Worker: 75/200 = 0.375 per $ It is obvious, really, which unit is the most worth it. Chinook > Supply Truck > Worker Score: USA: 2 GLA: 0 China: 1 Conclusion: Although the Chinook does not get close to the anti-air defenses, the anti air units get to it! So! When your Chinook is going to fly to a hostile territory to collect resources, "adult supervision" is required! Heh heh! For Workers and Supply Trucks, always build your supply centers right next to the docks for quick collection. ------------------------ b. Power Supply [GCP9B] ------------------------ USA: Cold Fusion Reactor Very expensive, very uneconomical for a superpower like the US. Only 5 units of power for $800! Although it can make use of more control rods for $500 (After patch), it can never be as cost effective as the Chinese one. I think I know why the world is so mad at Bush for rejecting the Kyoto Protocol now! To upgrade to make use of Control Rods: Click on the Control Rods button to upgrade your Cold Fusion Reactor. It takes some time to do so. GLA: No Power Plant The GLA does not need electricity to run! Ha ha! China: Nuclear Reactor This time, we get 10 units of power for $1000. Much more cost effective than the US. Who cares if the plant explodes? To Overcharge your Nuclear Reactor: Sometimes, when your base receives a power cut unexpectedly, click on a Nuclear Reactor and then click on the Overcharge Button. That Nuclear Reactor will then generate 5 more units of power. Just remember to stop the overcharge when power is restored. Otherwise, guys, there is going to be a meltdown! Comparison: Factor: Efficiency Cost per unit power: USA: $130 GLA: $0 China: $100 Again, the result is obvious. No Power Plant > Nuclear Reactor > Cold Fusion Reactor Score: USA: 0 GLA: 2 China: 1 Conclusion: It's amazing that the USA, being the superpower it is, is not so resourceful when it comes to power. Their cost per unit power is $130, while it is $100 for China. In case of urgent power shortages, always Overcharge your Nuclear Reactors to keep your super weapons running etc. until enough power plants have been rebuilt. Although GLA does not require power to run, it is always wise to capture power plants, as power speeds up their production capabilities. ------------------------------------ c. Infinite Supply Gatherer [GCP9C] ------------------------------------ USA: Supply Drop Zone The USA Supply Drop Zone receives air drops of supplies every 2 minutes. That's too long! Besides, it takes too much power to run, and the supply plane can easily be shot down. GLA: Black Market The Black Market costs $2500, and gives out $20 every "beep". It is more useful than the US Drop Zone, as it gives the GLA access to many upgrades that improve their units' attack power by 25%, that is, the Armor Piercing Bullets and Armor Piercing Rockets. China: Hacking the Internet with Hacker inside the Internet Center Each Hacker costs $625, and gives out $5 with each beep. It may seem that its value is the same as the black market, but no! Hackers can gain veterancy, and eventually get $10 with every beep! Besides, Hackers can move around, but the Black market cannot! Heh heh. The new Internet Center can offer protection to the hackers from Rebel Ambushes! Their beeps seem to go faster inside. So, well, it's the best. Comparison: Factor: Frequency, Armor, Amount given, etc... Frequency: Supply Drop Zone: 2 minutes Black Market = Beep Hackers in Internet Center = Multiple Beeps. Increases with number of Hackers inside. Armor: Supply Drop Zone: Weak Black Market: Weak, but can rebuild from hole Internet Center: Can withstand a Particle Cannon Amount Given: Supply Drop Zone: $1500 Black Market: $20 Hacker: $5 --> $6 --> $8 --> $10 Other Noticeable Features: Supply Drop Zone: Crates dropped sometimes may miss the drop zone, requiring units to manually collect them. This is more likely if you build your drop zone on the edge of the map. Black Market: Can provide important upgrades like the Armor Piercing Bullets, Armor Piercing Rockets, Junk Repair, Buggy Ammo and Radar Scan. Internet Center: Provides China with intelligence capabilities, that was once their weakness. Satellite 1 reveals the areas around each of your opponents' command center permanently, Satellite Hack 2 intermittently reveals all areas that your opponents' can see, much like the Intelligence Option in the US Command Center. There are just far too many factors to compare them with. Such as frequency, amount per run, protection and so on. But when we take some of them into account, I arrive at this conclusion. Hackers in Internet Center > Black Market > Supply Drop Zone Score: USA: 0 GLA: 1 China: 2 Conclusion: Regardless of what type of gatherer you are using, always build in quantity. Enough said. Note that the Internet Center can only be built once, so, you can always have a group of Hackers hack the internet in another obscure area of your base. ----------------------------------- d. Radar and Intelligence [GCP10D] ----------------------------------- USA: The Americans have Radar right off the bat with their Command Center, and are presented with the Spy Satellite, which can reveal a large piece of land in the Fog of War, and can be used every minute. They also have the Intelligence ability deployable in the Strategy Center, and reveals the ENTIRE MAP every 5 minutes. If you can spare a General Point, you can also get a Spy Drone, allowing you to consistently spy on your enemy, particularly useful in the start of a match. GLA: GLA has to rely on its Radar Vans, built in the Arms Dealer for 500 credits. The Radar Scan is available as a counterpart to the Spy Satellite. The problem is that it is available a little too late at the Black Market, and it reveals rather little land at a time. (in spite of its 30 second prepping time.) The only redeeming feature is that you can abuse the Radar Scan by building multiple Radar Vans. China: China only has to upgrade their Command Center to make use of Radar. All Intelligence activities are then conducted in the Internet Center, which PERMANENTLY reveals all land around all the Command Centers once Satellite Hack 1 is in use. Once Satellite Hack 2 is in use, you can intermittently SEE ALL LAND the enemy see! All of these perks cost only 4000 credits in total. By comparison: USA > China > GLA Score: USA: 2 GLA: 0 China: 1 ------------------------------------------------ 11. Superweapons and Generals Abilities [GCP11] ------------------------------------------------ Infantry Dispensing Ability: USA: Paratroopers The US can send up to 20 Rangers into the enemy base via airdrop. Unfortunately, the transport planes tend to have very little armor, and the Rangers are always scattered too much when they land. GLA: Ambush The GLA can make up to 16 Rebels appear out of nowhere in the selected area. This is much better, as there is no defense against it, and when you have researched into camouflage upgrade, the Rebels won't be spotted if you do not use stealth detection. China: None In spite of its huge population, China does not have an ability to dispense Red Guards in an instant. To use these abilities: Click on the button on the side bar, and then click on the target area. Comparison: One can be stopped, the other cannot. Now, which is better? Ambush > Paradrop > None Conclusion: There is no defense against ambushes, the only way to deal with it is to randomly place base defenses deep inside your base. To prevent those paradrops, always build those anti air units in quantity! Score: USA: 1 GLA: 2 China: 0 Cash Obtaining Ability: USA: None The US lacks ability to steal cash or obtain cash in their generals' abilities. GLA: Cash Bounty The GLA can earn up to 20% of the enemy units' value when they kill. This is great, as not only you can get large sums of cash just by fighting, you can know who made the kill, as the money will appear on the vehicle who killed. China: Cash Hack The Chinese can steal up to $4000 from enemy supply centers. But who needs it? Especially Black Lotus can cash hack, and the Hackers can hack the internet for money. To use Cash Hack: Click on the button on the sidebar, and then click on the enemy supply center or supply stash you want to steal money from. Note that you must be able to see it (ie. Not in Fog of War) before you can use it. Comparison: Cash Bounty can raise the incentive of you to kill enemies, and the money just comes rolling in, there is no need to wait, or reveal the area around the enemy supply center, Cash Bounty > Cash Hack > None Conclusion: With the Cash Bounty ability, you can become a paid to kill General! This is useful in the late game, when resources are almost exhausted. But please note that your Command Center must be standing in order to take advantage of it. Score: USA: 0 GLA: 2 China: 1 Quick Bombardment Ability: USA: A-10 Strike The A-10 Thunderbolts from the first Command and Conquer are finally back. The US can send up to 3 of them at once to create massive damage. Unfortunately, the A-10 are vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire, and cannot hit targets too far in the base, particularly the enemy has many anti-aircraft measures in use. Supplementary Information on the A-10 Thunderbolt II (Reference: Jane's) Nicknamed the 'warthog', the A-10A evolved from USAF experience in the Vietnam War, which highlighted the need for a new close support aircraft with anti-tank capability. The first Fairchild YA-10A flew on 10 May 1972, with Fairchild's design sacrificing sleekness for survivability and operational effectiveness. The low-set larger-area wing gives extremely good low-speed maneuverability over the battlefield, while the two TF-34-GE-100 turbofans are housed in separate external pods toward the rear of the fuselage, using the wings and twin finned protection versus small arms and cannon at low altitudes, the pilot sits in a titanium 'bathtub' extending to the 1,174 round ammunition tank for the A-10's most fearsome weapon, its nose mounted 30mm seven barrel rotary cannon capable of firing armor piercing depleted uranium shells at 2,100 or 4,200 rpm. A Pave Penny seeker allows the pilot to spot target 'painted' by other lasers, and the Warthog can carry up to 7,258kg (16,000lb) of additional ordnance on eight underwing and three underfuselage hardpoints. A total of 721 A-10As entered service with the USAF, making a spectacular contribution to the Gulf War of 1991. A small number have been redesigned OA-10As for use in the FAC role. After almost being retired in the 190s, the USAF now plans to operate about 400 A-10s for anther 30 years, and is looking to replace the current engines, and develop structural and avionics upgrades. ------------------------------------------------------------- Specifications for the Northrop Grumman A-10A Thunderbolt II ------------------------------------------------------------- Powerplant: two 40.32kN (9,065 lb st) General Electric TF34-GE-100 non-afterburning turbofans Dimensions: length 16.26m (53ft 4in); height 4.47m (14ft 8in); wing span 17.53m (57ft 6in) Weights: empty, equipped 11,321kg (24,959lb); MTOW 22,680kg (50,000lb) Performance: max level speed at sea level 706 km/h (439mph); max rate of climb at sea level 1,828m (6,000ft)/min Armament: one GAU-8/A 30mm cannon with 1,174 rds; up to 7,258 kg (16,000lb) of ordnance including AGM-65 Maverick ASMs, LGBs, free-fall bombs, ECM pods, AIM-9 AAMs and auxiliary fuel tanks GLA: None The GLA does not have an ability to quickly bombard the enemies' base. China: Artillery Barrage, Carpet Bomb, Cluster Mines The Chinese has the ability to fire up to 36 Artillery Shells anywhere in the map. The good thing is, it has no defenses against it, and can hit very far into the enemy base. So, once you hear the sound, get ready to say your prayers! I don't think I have to state what the Carpet Bomb does, but its area of effect is greater in Zero Hour. The Cluster Mines can mine any area of the field. To use these abilities: Click the button on the sidebar, and then click on the target area. That area will be temporarily revealed, allowing you to see the fireworks! Comparison: Artillery Barrage is unstoppable, while A-10 strikes can be. Carpet Bombs and Cluster Mines also can be. But at least they are better than GLA, which lacks these abilities. Artillery Barrage > A-10 Strike = Carpet Bomb = Cluster Mines > None Score: USA: 1 GLA: 0 China: 4 (2 for Artillery Barrage, 1 for Carpet Bomb and Cluster Mines each) Conclusion: All these abilities are in a send in and forget basis. No need to explain. For your information, A-10 Strike (assuming that all 3 jets reach their target) with Particle Cannon or Artillery Barrage with Nuclear Missile can destroy any superweapon structure. Keep this in mind. Command Centers are built to withstand such attacks, so never target them with these abilities, as they are an absolute waste of time. 5 Star General Bombing Ability: USA: Fuel Air Bomb, Leaflet Drop, Scepter Gunship What can I say? A Boeing B-52 Stratofortress will be sent in out of no where, and drop a very explosive fuel air-bomb into the target. Destruction guaranteed. The MOAB upgrade helps them more and more! The Leaflet drop temporarily disables enemy units, while, the Scepter Gunship circles around the target, and cuts down the enemy with its guns. A great Arsenal indeed! Supplementary Information for the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress: (Reference: Jane's) Originally conceived as a turboprop replacement for Boeing's B-50, the B-52 Stratofortress emerged in 1952 powered by J57 turbojets. Adopting the shoulder-mounted wing, tandem mainwheel landing gear and dual podded engine configuration of the company's B-47 Stratojet, the XB-52 prototype first flew on 15 April 1952. Production models ran from the B-52A to the B-52H, with final production ending in the 1960s. Today, only 76 B-52Hs remain in service, but the USAF bomber master plan has them serving until 2034, when these aging 'BUFF's will be 70 years old! The B-52H has evolved into a long-range stand-off cruise missile carrier, with a typical load of six AGM 86B ALCMs on each wing pylon and eight on an internal rotary launcher. It could also carry 50,000lb of free-fall bombs. A strengthened airframe on the B-52H allows low-level operations and the four 12.7mm tail guns have been replaced with a six barrel 20mm radar-directed Vulcan cannon. The USAF plans continuing updates to keep the B-52 current. ECM improvements were funded in 2000, with a datalink and weapons databus upgrade planned for 2006-2010. An in-flight mission replanning capability is schedules for 2015. There has also been talk for several years of replacing the eight TF33 turbofans with four 192.16kN (43,200 lb st) Rolls Royce RD211-535E4s, to increase thrust, reduce fuel consumption and improve reliability. ---------------------------- Specifications of the B-52H ---------------------------- Powerplant: eight 75.62kN (17,000 lb st) Pratt and Whitney TF33-P-3 turbofans Dimensions: length 49.05m (160ft 11in); height 12.40m (40ft 8in); wing span 56.39m (185ft) Weights: MTOW 229,088kg (505,000lb) Performance: cruising speed at high altitude 819 km/h (509mph); penetration speed at low altitude 652-676 km/h (405-420mph); service ceiling 16,785m (55,000ft); range 16,093km (10,000 miles) Armament: one Vulcan 20mm six-barrel cannon in tail turret; up to 22,680 kg (50,000 lb) of AGM-86C ALCMs, B61/83 nuclear weapons and AGM-142 Have Nap PGMs, or 51 x 340kg (750lb)/454kg (1,000lb) conventional bombs. Supplementary Information on the Northrop Grumman B-2A Spirit: (Reference: Jane's) Revealed on 22 November 1988, the B-2A Spirit low-observable stealth strategic bomber was the result of a classified USAF programme begun in 1978 for a new Advanced Technology Bomber, intended to penetrate deep into Soviet airspace. The first of six prototypes (AV-1 to AV-6) made its maiden flight on 17 July 1989, and the 'Stealth Bomber' was declared operational in April 1997. The Air Force originally planned to buy 132 B-2s, but production ended in 1997 after 21 aircraft. Each cost more than $2 Billion. The B-2A is a blended flying wing with straight leading edges and a 'sawtooth' trailing edge. A centrebody smoothly contoured into the upper wing surfaces contains the two man crew compartment and two weapons bays, while the low-observable contouring extends to the engine bays, each hosing two F118-GE-110 non-afterburning turbofans. The engine exhausts are positioned well forward of the wind trailing edge, helping to reduce the heat-signature available to enemy IR sensors. Internal rotary launcher\s can carry a weapons load of up to 22,680 kb (50,000 lb) of nuclear and conventional weapons. Six B-2As saw their first combat service over Kosovo in 1999, dropping more than 454,000 kg of GPS-guided munitions, mainly JDAMs. All missions were flown from Whiteman AFB in the US, as the stealthy B02 requires special servicing and maintenance that makes overseas basing difficult. All 21 B-2s are to be upgraded to Block 30 standard by 2000. -------------------------------------------- Specifications of the Northrop Grumman B-2A -------------------------------------------- Powerplant: four 84.5 kN (19,000 lb st) General Electric F118-GE-110 non afterburning turbofans Dimensions: length 21.03m (69ft); height 5.18m (17ft); wing span 52.43m (172ft) Weights: empty 45,360kg (100,000 lb); MTOW 170,550kg (376,000lb) Performance: max level speed at high altitude 764 km/h (475mph); service ceiling 15,240m (50,000ft); range at MTOW with 16,919kg (37,300lb) warload 11,667km (7,260mi); range with one aerial refueling 18,520km (11,508 miles) Armamaent: up to 22,680 kg (50,000 lb) including up to 16 AGM-129-ACMs, 16 AGM-131 SRAM IIs, 16 B61/B83 free fall nuclear bombs, 50 Mk 82 454 kg (1,00lb) or 16 Mk 84 906kg (2,000lb) bobs, 36 M117 340.5kg (750lb) fire-bombs, 36 cluster bombs and 50 Mk 36 454kg (1,000lb) sea mines GLA: Anthrax Bomb A plane drops a bomb with a little explosiveness into the selected target. The Anthrax Produced is only effective if there are enemies in the area. Otherwise, it is useless. China: EMP Bomb The Chinese have the ability to drop a bomb which transmits an electromagnetic pulse in a very large area, disabling any vehicle and structure in its radius in a considerable amount of time. Always coordinate this attack with an air-strike or tank rush. You'll see what I mean. To use these abilities: Click the button on the sidebar, and then click on the target area. That area will be temporarily revealed, allowing you to see the fireworks! Comparison: The Fuel Air Bomb is the best of all these abilities, because of its high damage potential. Scepter Gunship is good, but the problem is that manual targeting is required to achieve the maximum effect. The Anthrax Bomb is also cool, because of its ability to dissolve even armored units in a jiffy. The sole redeeming feature preventing the EMP bomb is that it can disable buildings. Meanwhile, the Leaflet Drop and deserves a zero, as these disabling drops take too long to arrive, and the enemies most likely would be out of place when they come. Conclusion: Again, fire and forget, that's all I can say. I think the MOAB is the funniest, they call it the Mother of All Bombs! Why? Why not the Father of All Bombs, Brother of All Bombs or Sister of All Bombs? NOTE: The above is just a lame joke. I KNOW THAT MOAB stands for Massive Ordnance Air Burst. I am saying this because I received many e-mails, even one from someone claiming to be a US Army Detonations Expert of what it really is. Score: USA: 3 (2 for the Fuel Air Bomb, 1 for the Scepter Gunship) GLA: 1 China: 1 5-Star Sneak Attack Abilities: GLA: Sneak Attack, GPS Scrambler The GLA Sneak Attack enables you to place a tunnel network anywhere on the map! Great for sneak attacks. The GPS Scrambler makes an area of your units invisible for a short period of time. Again, a very effective attack ability. Prince Kossad has this ability right at the start. To use the Sneak Attack: Click on the button on your sidebar, and then click on the position where you want to place the tunnel. You can adjust the direction of which the Tunnel Network is facing. Again, the position of placement must not be in a fog of war. Score: GLA: 2 3-Star Morale Boosting Ability China: Frenzy China has this new ability that can cause a large number of their units frenzy, and attack with up to 30% more damage for 30 seconds! Now, you really can have brute force! Score: China: 1 Super Weapon: USA: Particle Cannon The Americans have the ability to beam highly charged particles to attack the enemy. That's not all, you can control the beam as it spreads havoc. It is the only super weapon that can destroy GLA structures with their holes. Unfortunately, it does not collateral damage in form of chemicals or radiation. So it is not so good, if you want to coordinate your attack with a second land attack. GLA: Scud Storm The GLA has the ability to fire a volley of 9 Scud Missiles into the enemies' base. The Scuds are filled with chemicals, and can cause a lot of damage to the survivors of the blast. However, it can destroy the GLA buildings but not with their holes. So that's a problem. However, it is better than the Particle Cannon, as the chemicals that come out can really "clean" an area of the enemy's base, allowing you to follow up with a large scale conventional attack. China: Nuclear Missile The Nuclear Missile is back from Red Alert. Like the Scud Storm, it can clear a large part of the enemy's base in one single blast, with its radiation and all. But wait, there's more! You can use the Nuclear Missile Silo to provide Uranium Shells for your Main Battle Tanks, and also upgrade your tanks with Nuclear Reactors inside to increase their speed by 25%. A new addition is the Neutron Shell upgrade to the Nuke Cannons. So it is more useful. Comparison: The Superweapons topic is extremely controversial. It has been debated around about which one is the best. But still, I will do it anyway, but will have the shotgun ready in case some radicals who disagree come flaming in. (Hee hee.) The Particle Cannon's recharge time is shortest at 4 minutes, but what I don't like is that you need to control it manually, so it is hard to coordinate multiple Particle Cannons at the same time. GLA's SCUD Storm DOES not require power and is the most durable of the three. It's a fire and forget type of thing, this is why I think this is the best, in spite of its 5 minute prepping time. China's nuke is the slowest of all, but equal damage is dished out to anything within its radius, and since one nuke drops, there is basically no time for the people inside the area to move out of the way. Having analyzed these factors, I think the SCUD Storm still has an edge over the other 2. Therefore: SCUD Storm > Particle Cannon = Nuclear Missile Score: USA: 0 GLA: 1 China: 0 Conclusion: Using super weapons is not a way to win a battle, they are there to assist you, so regardless of what weapon you use, always have a large tank horde or something like that on standby, then you can really do a lot of damage to the base. Because the 3 super weapons have different attack potentials, the count-down timer for the Particle Cannon is 4 minutes, that of the Scud Storm is 5 minutes, and that of the Nuclear Missile is 6 minutes. USA and China can take advantage of those super weapons if they can coordinate them with an A-10 Strike or an Artillery Barrage. However, if I were the game host, I will choose to limit the superweapons, as extensive use of superweapons take out all the sport out of this game. ------------------------------------ 12. Final Overall Comparison [GCP12] ------------------------------------ Infantry: Hot Units: USA: Rangers, Missile Defenders, Pathfinders and Colonel Burton GLA: Rebels, Angry Mobs, Jarmen Kell China: Hackers, Black Lotus Score: USA: 12 GLA: 5 China: 4 Winner: USA USA has the most number of utility units as far as infantry units are concerned. The Pilot really can reapply veterancy, they can really help those vehicles in battle. GLA has the largest number of units to choose from, that's good for those people who have "taste". China may have lagged behind, but attack in quantity, and it can make all the difference, as they have the horde effect. USA tends to be a big winner in the Infantry section. I wonder if they can be just as good in other features. Armored Units: Hot Units: USA: Paladin Tank, Humvees, Tomahawk Missiles and Microwave Tanks GLA: Attack Cycles, Scorpion Tanks, Marauder Tanks, Rocket Buggies, Scud Launchers and Bomb Trucks China: Battlemaster Tanks, Dragon Tanks, Troop Crawlers, Listening Outposts, ECM Tanks, Inferno Cannons, Nuke Cannons and Overlord Tanks Score: USA: 7 GLA: 7 China: 15 Winner: China USA is definitely the side which requires you to make use of almost every single unit in their armored unit arsenal to assault the enemy's base. Such arrangements are too inconvenient. However, their microwave tanks really are hot! If your enemy garrisons snipers inside buildings, rangers can be killed easily, while they cannot do anything but watch as your Microwave Tank goes in and dings them to death! It is different for GLA and China, as they both have all rounded Advanced Battle Tanks. The reason why I let the combat cycle to be a hot unit instead of the technicals, as terrorist-bikers are much faster then techinicals holding terrorists. Regardless of which side you use, the artillery units are ALWAYS hot! Just distract the opponents' units with your tanks while the artillery fires from behind! China's listening outposts and troop crawlers can really help if you want your transports bundled up with free infantry, just like Happy Meals! (The McDonald's in Hong Kong are still cheap, by the way.) Air Units: Hot Units: USA: Raptors, Stealth Fighters, Comanches and Aurora Bombers GLA: None China: MiGs and Helices Score: USA: 2 GLA: 0 China: 2 Tied at First Place: USA and China Regardless of which side you choose, their air force is hot! Of course, USA is the hottest! The new Helix Helicopter has really given China the ability to control the sky! This is particularly true if you upgrade with Gattling Cannons or Bunkers filled with Rocket Infantry, most aircraft will be downed in no time! USA wins, as they have 4 units, while China has only 2! USA is the side for people who like to rely on air units, build about 20 planes, and the enemy should have a hard time getting near your base. Of course, if you are GLA or China, you should always target your superweapons towards their airfields, and only attack while they are out on a raid. Base Defenses: Hot Stuff: USA: Fire Base GLA: Demo Traps, Tunnel Networks, Fake Structures China: Gattling Cannons, Bunkers, Neutron Mines Score: USA: 1 GLA: 4 China: 5 Winner: China The GLA and China are ahead in the base defense department. Concerning Demo Traps, do not build them too close to your own structures, otherwise, when the enemy gets to it, "beep beep beep" BOOM! One structure reduced to a hole! China retains the old Command and Conquer Tradition of "build 10 turrets and you will be safe" tradition. The Gattling Cannons and Bunkers, when used in conjunction can prove extremely difficult to breach. As for USA, well, "Beware Patriot Batteries, they are dangerous!" I think not. So be prepared to guard the area surrounding your base with Comanches and the like. Base Infrastructure: Hot Stuff: USA: Chinooks, Supply Drop Zones GLA: The ability to run without electricity, Black Markets China: Nuclear Reactors, Internet Center Score: USA: 4 GLA: 3 China: 5 Winner: China The Base Infrastructure department is balanced enough. Enough said. Having compared the intelligence abilities, I find USA to not be that bad here after all. Super Weapons and Generals Abilities: Score: USA: 5 GLA: 8 China: 7 Winner: GLA The style of each side can be seen from the General Abilities, that's for sure. USA is addicted to high-tech advanced strategy and the usage of planes. GLA loves sneaky underhanded tactics and various methods of sabotage. China relies on pure brute force, and bombs, bombs and bombs! As I said before, extensive use of superweapons take the sport out of the game, so I recommend limiting the number of superweapons to 1 and only 1. (Of course, if your enemy is being too slow, you can use superweapons as a psychological device.) My recommended Generals Abilities are as follows: USA: Paladin Tank (1 point) Pathfinder (1 point) A10 Strike Level 3 (3 points) Fuel Air Bomb (1 point) Specter Gunship (1 point) GLA: Scud Launcher (1 point) Marauder Tank (1 point) Rebel Ambush Level 3* (3 points) Cash Bounty Level 3* (3 points) Sneak Attack (1 point) GPS Scrambler (1 point) * = optional abilities China: Nuke Cannon (1 point) Artillery Barrage Level 3 (3 points) Artillery Training* (1 point) Carpet Bomb* (1 point) Cluster Mines* (1 point) Frenzy Level 2* (2 points) or 3* (3 points) * = optional abilities --------------------------------------- 13. About the Talented Generals [GCP13] --------------------------------------- As you can see, one of the new features of Command and Conquer: Zero Hour are the inclusion of 9 new Generals who are talented in different fields of battle. There are 3 Generals in each side, and this section will compare their different features and special abilities. Each General will be given the base score which is the total score of the standard side, points will be awarded or deducted based on how much of an advantage or a disadvantage to that side. *****TALENTED USA GENERALS***** *****USA SUPERWEAPON GENERAL: ALEXIS ALEXANDER***** Short Biography: A logistics staffer during the second Korean War, Alexander attracted the notice of her superiors with her ability to acquire just about everything. Alexander parlayed that ability into a scholarship and a long and distinguished career in the Marines. To protect supply lines during the First GLA Conflict, Alexander developed a tiered scheme of defenses that did not allow a single strike on any of her supply columns. While hardly efficient in her use of resources, General Alexander makes defense and resource acquisition priorities in the early phases of conflict. The General's army takes to the offensive only when she has superior offensive only when she has superior offensive firepower that cannot be touched by counter attack. Analysis: Apparently, General Alexander used to be an excellent intelligence officer during the Second Korean War. She makes use of heavy defenses and is inefficient in using resources. She attacks only when she is sufficiently defended, and that can be a problem. Special properties of her army: EMP Patriot System: Instead of using normal Patriot Missiles, Alexis Alexander will use missiles that deliver an Electromagnetic Pulse to the enemy. Any vehicles that get hit are disabled for a short period of time, while aircraft are downed instantly. This helps make up for her lack in attacking units, however, they are still hot targets for Enemy Artillery. Points awarded: +1 Advanced Control Rods: Now, by paying an extra $500, you get 15 units of power instead of the usual 5! That's what a super weapon general needs. Otherwise, how could she have powered up her particle cannons? Points awarded: +1 All vehicles and aircraft cost more to produce: Ugh! This is one thing that severely weakens Alexis Alexander! All vehicles cost significantly more than the standard USA, and the Avenger costs $2400 a piece! That's ludicrous I tell you! No wonder Alexis is hardly efficient in her use of resources! Points deducted: -4 Particle Cannons cost only $2500: What would a superweapon general do without superweapons? Now, as Particle Cannons are selling at only $2500, they can build as many as there are supply drop zones in her base! For some strange reason, the particle cannons fire a pink beam, instead of a blue one. I have no idea why. Points awarded: +2 Main Battle Tanks are not available: Another problem with the USA Talented Generals is that they are FAR TOO SPECIALIZED IN THEIR FIELDS while they are severely weak at other fields. What can she do without those tanks? This means that the basic attacking units on her side are humvees loaded with Missile Defenders, and I am sure that this is hardly worth it. Points deducted: -2 Aurora Alpha Bombers replace Aurora Bombers: As she is a Super Weapon General, Alexis Alexander's auroras really have to be highly explosive! Instead of using regular bombs, they use Fuel Air Bombs! The initial explosion is like that of a normal Aurora's bomb, but then, it will be followed by a "shock" blast that is even more damage and has 1.5 times the radius of a Nuke Cannon shell! Very, very lethal indeed. I guess the whole point of introducing this unit, is to encourage people to play as Alexis Alexander, as everything else is extremely weak for her! Points awarded: +3 Net Score Change: +1 Score: 20 + 1 = 21 *****USA AIRFORCE GENERAL: MALCOLM "ACE" GRANGER***** Short Biography: The son of an Iowa crop duster, General Malcolm Granger's flying career began when he borrowed his father's biplane to go to the state fair in Kansas City. As a lieutenant in the First Iraq War, Granger earned his first notices for knocking out four SAM sites in a single afternoon. As he moved up the Air Force ranks, Granger earned a reputation for advancing the role of fighting aircraft in the US military. Even-tempered yet uncompromising, Granger has developed novel techniques in fuel management and resource deployment during air superiority operations. Those techniques have been used with success in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other theaters. His squadrons are kwon for precision execution and a strong will to complete the mission. Analysis: Malcolm Granger is known as "Ace" because he is a natural flyer. In fact, what he did when he was kid was extremely similar to what the two main characters in the movie Pearl Harbor did when they were kids. (Borrowed one of the character's father's biplane for a spin.) He must have an obsession with air units, and he actually could destroy 4 SAM Sites in one day during the first Iraq War (Is that the Gulf War?) Of course, with his research in different aircraft, he has made even more enhanced aircraft, and of course, with better resource management abilities, all aircraft can be bought cheap! Special properties of his squadron: King Raptor replaces normal Raptors: The King Raptor REALLY is an enhanced version of the Raptor! Instead of just having 4 missiles, they have 6! The missiles are golden in color and pack a bigger punch. Besides, these Raptors seem to be better armored, cool! Build these in quantity and get the Air Wing Honor! Points awarded: +3 Laser Point Defenses included in all Aircraft: With Laser Point defenses installed in all aircraft, all of these units will become Paladin Planes! However, there is no stopping bullet based anti-air units, so watch out. Points awarded: +1 Combat Chinooks: In addition to normal Chinooks, you can now build Combat Chinooks, which are Chinooks with a bunker installed. Hence, infantry units can fire from inside, and you can wreck as much havoc as the bunker helices do! Besides, they can also collect supplies if you wish, unfortunately, they can't if they are loaded. Points awarded: +2 No Main Battle Tanks are Available: With such a powerful air force, Malcolm Granger does not need any basic ground unit. That's his loss, so you cannot make multi-prong attacks. Point deducted: -1 Stealth Comanches: Now, you can upgrade your Comanche helicopters to become invisible. Much better for airborne sneak attacks! This is the reason why Comanches will replace the Crusader Tank as the basic attacking unit of Granger's side. But beware of stationery base defenses, as they can detect your helicopters very quickly. Points awarded: +2 Carpet Bombing is available at the Strategy Center: If you play as Malcolm "Ace" Granger, all you need to do is to have a Strategy Center built in order to make use of Carpet Bombs! The bombs are more intense than the China Carpet Bombs, and hence can deal more damage and destruction! Enjoy! Points awarded: +2 Stealth Fighter is available at the start: This really is not so significant, but it is worth awarding a point for them. Have fun messing with your opponents' bunkers and tunnel networks! Point awarded: +1 Net Score Change: +10 Score: 20 + 10 = 30 *****USA LASER GENERAL: GENERAL "PINPOINT" TOWNES***** Short Biography: An early champion of laser technology in the USA Arms Forces, "Pinpoint" Townes developed comprehensive offense and defensive strategies around laser-based weapons. Townes received an appointment to the U.S. Army War College in 2008 to teach his theories. However, Townes found academic life too slow and returned to a battlefield command in 2010. Relying on inexpensive, powerful laser technology throughout his forces and his unique knowledge of its strengths and weaknesses. General Townes has consistently received superior marks during war games and live-fire actions. This four star general continues to push the technology envelope in harnessing energy and improving power efficiency, and the Army is counting heavily on him. Analysis: General Townes has got to be the most high tech general of the 3 USA Talented Generals. He just so relies on lasers, and he originally was appointed to be a professor in the Army College to teach how powerful lasers can be. However, he is a person who loves action, and hence left the college 2 years later to command his armies again. Of course, lasers require a lot of power and hence he will try his best to make the most efficient use of power to improve his laser technology! This guy really is an addict on his lasers. In fact, when I played against him in Generals Challenge, he practically mentioned the word laser over 20 times! Vanity, thy name is Townes. Bright Properties of his army: Laser Defense Turrets replace normal Patriot Missiles: Wow! This really is hot! Instead of those lame missiles that are so inaccurate and are able to be stopped by a lot of things, General "Pinpoint" Townes has decided to make a more practical approach on things. These lasers fire just so quickly and they NEVER miss! Just a pity these things aren't as powerful as Obelisks of Light... Points Awarded: +3 Cold Fusion Reactors give 8 units of power to begin with: Well, he already has to make his lasers work, and hence, a better power output is required. This gives him a slight advantage compared with the standard USA army. Point awarded: +1 Tomahawk Missiles are unavailable: He's a Laser General, right? Tomahawk Missiles are non-laser weapons. Hence, none can be purchased by General Townes. This has got to be the only weakness of "Pinpoint" Townes. Point deducted: -1 Avengers cost less to produce: Another hot thing about Townes' army is that you get a 25% discount when purchasing Avengers. They only cost $1500! Which means you can get USA's only answer to air attacks for a much cheaper price. Enjoy. Points awarded: +2 Laser Tanks replaces all Main Battle Tanks: Another unique unit of General Townes' army. The laser tank is practically a Crusader Tank equipped with a powerful laser. However, power must be constantly supplied, or your tanks will all power down and become useless. But otherwise, a great tank. Points awarded: +3 Net Score Change: +8 Score: 20 + 8 = 28 Comparison of all 4 types of USA army: Malcolm "Ace" Granger > General "Pinpoint" Townes > General Alexis Alexander > Standard USA *****TALENTED GLA GENERALS***** *****GLA TOXIN GENERAL: DR. THRAX***** Short Biography: Little is known about the GLA associate codenamed, "Dr. Thrax". While background intelligence indicates that he received training as an immunologist in Jordan, he left academics in 1995 and disappeared into a GLA controlled ghetto in Cairo. For the past twenty years, he has produced chemical and biological weapons for terrorist organizations across the globe, including the GLA. Recent eavesdropping on cell phone traffic indicates that Dr. Thrax has become more involved in day-to-day operations of the GLA. He has scattered labs across Asia and the Middle East, where low-cost WMDs are produced and distributed to local terror cells. A cautious and scientific personality, Dr. Thrax never sleeps in the same bed two nights in a row and undergoes frequent cosmetic surgery to alter his appearance. Analysis: Being an excellent Chemistry student, I have got to admit that this GLA general is one of my favorites. I believed he originally intended to help people to be immune to diseases, but for some strange reason, he went into the dark side in 1995, and started to produce chemical and biological weapons instead of using his knowledge to do good things for mankind. Anyway, everything about this man is either chemical and biological. For more information about this guy, you can read about it in the guide for USA Mission 5 in my strategy guide of this game. If you beat Dr. Thrax in General's Challenge mode, you can see what Dr. Thrax really looks like under that veil. He looks rather handsome for a man who frequently undergoes plastic surgery. Well, at least he is more handsome than Michael Jackson. Chemical Properties of his army: Toxin Networks replace Tunnel Networks: Instead of using a simple mounted "click" gun, Dr. Thrax, like General "Pinpoint" Townes, has decided to put a more practical approach to things in life. This tunnel network has a toxin sprayer similar to that of Toxin Tractors. Of course, both infantry and light vehicles will be completely dissolved before they know it! In fact, I know many people, especially absolute beginners try to use many many workers to build many toxin networks in their opponents' base to overwhelm them and get quick wins. This tunnel rushing is very annoying to most people, fortunately, I can stop more than 80% of such attacks now. Meanwhile, EA has decided to deal with this unfair practice by significantly increasing the Tunnel Network build times in their first update for the game. Points Awarded: +3 Stinger Site missiles and Rocket Propelled Grenades become chemical: That's right, you chemical people out there, the good Doctor has prepared his medicine into lovely little rocket powered pills! It is guaranteed to cure any disease that threatens the health of your base, including the tank virus and infantry bacteria! Enjoy! Points awarded: +2 Toxin Rebels replace normal Rebels: That's right, you now have some trooper that acts somewhat like the flamethrowers of the original Red Alert, except they are Chem Warriors. They are practically effective against anything that they can attack, except buildings, but that's what their Capture Building abilities are used against, right? Points awarded: +2 Toxin Terrorist replaces normal Terrorists: The Toxin Terrorist is the same as the standard GLA Terrorist, but unlike the Terrorist he explodes in a cloud of toxin. However, the damage done is not weakened, which makes them slightly better. Point awarded: +1 Bomb Trucks can only be upgraded with the Bio Bomb: This is one weakness of the Doctor's army. Then, their Bomb Trucks cannot pack as much of a punch than other GLA armies. But powerful nonetheless. Point deducted: -1 Tanks start with Toxin Shells: Yay! That's $1000 saved so that you can get your Scorpion Tanks to poison the enemy right from the start. I am sure you will have a lot of fun with these things. Point awarded: +2 No camouflage abilities available except for Jarmen Kell: So what? The absence of camouflage isn't going to make it hard for you, right? As Jarmen Kell is the only effective stealth unit, it does not matter that you can't use any hijackers or whatever. No Points deducted or awarded All Chemical Weapons start as Anthrax Beta and can be upgraded to Anthrax Gamma: The good old Doctor has the 25% attack bonus for his chemical weapons, and now, he only has to pay $1000 more at the palace to make use of another 25% attack bonus! Yummy, tasty... Points awarded: +3 Net Score Change: +12 Score: 20 + 12 = 32 *****GLA DEMOLITIONS GENERAL: GENERAL RODALL "DEMO" JUHZIZ***** Short Biography: This bomb maker if Middle Eastern ancestry is responsible for some of the most devastating attacks of the twenty first century. General Juhziz and his organization have been tied to both the attack on the US embassy in Cairo and the sinking of the USS Nelsen in 2012. Such bold strikes have drawn more supporters to his side, including bombers from many nations willing to sacrifice their lives for the causes of the GLA. General Juhziz lost the use of a hand in a bomb making accident and rarely speaks to anyone outside of his own organization. Analysis: Bombs, bombs and even more bombs! This is what General Rodall Juhziz is all about. Of course, as bombs are such effective weapons for terrorists, Rodall Juhziz really has done a good job at blowing up a US Embassy and the USS Nelsen. It's amazing that these strikes will make so many people willing to enlist as terrorists to sacrifice their lives for "the effort". Of course, bomb making is a dangerous business, and this clumsy oaf blew up so many people and yet could not take care of himself! In fact, he got one hand blown off in an accident! Special Properties of his bombers: Demo Traps are enhanced to Advanced Demo Traps: Whoopee! Introducing the new Advanced Demo Trap: with more dynamite, more explosiveness and more damage! Wait, there's more! It comes cheaper than the normal Demo Trap! Coming from a worker near you. DISCLAIMER: WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE IF YOUR TRAP GETS TAKEN OUT BY ENEMY WORKERS. Point awarded: +1 Suicide: With this upgrade, ALL of your units and structures become suicide soldiers. When they are killed, they explode, dealing similar damage to that of a terrorist to anything that is too close to the unit. Besides, each unit can blow themselves up when commanded. So, really, every unit is a terrorist! Points awarded: +2 Booby Trap upgrade is available at the start: Now, your Rebels can plant their booby traps anywhere right at the start. As simple as that. Point awarded: +1 Terrorists do more damage, and they come with combat cycles at the start: What could be better? This is one of the best improvements in the game! Now, you can just click on the Combat Cycle button at the Arms Dealer a few times, and many turbo charged terrorists can spring out! As they deal more damage, these guys are really going to strike fear into the hearts of many C&C Players! Points awarded: +4 No Stealth abilities or units are available, except for Jarmen Kell: So what? The absence of camouflage isn't going to make it hard for you, right? As Jarmen Kell is the only effective stealth unit, it does not matter that you can't use any hijackers or whatever. No Points deducted or awarded Jarmen Kell is now a professional bomber: If you play as General Rodall "Demo:" Juhziz, Jarmen Kell basically will become Colonel Kell. This is because, he gets to plant timed demo charges and remote demo charges against buildings! Well, "I have something to give them!" Points awarded: +2 No Toxin Upgrades are available, however, the Scud Storm, Scud Launcher and Bomb Truck are packed with more explosives than ever: By the looks of things, I say that the good Doctor and the Demo Guy are 2 complimentary Generals, as one has something the other doesn't have! Although he has no toxic upgrades, all of those things mentioned above do much, much more damage now that you pack then with so many explosives. Points awarded: +2 Net Score change: +12 Score: 20 + 12 = 32 *****GLA STEALTH GENERAL: PRINCE KASSAD***** Short Biography: Prince Kassad has cut a dashing figure across Middle Eastern politics and a violent one in the underworld. This charismatic tribal leader has organized spies and assassins to do his bidding. Prince Kassad has been paid millions for assassinations, hijackings and beatings in the street. For a three-year stretch beginning in 2008, it is believed that no terrorists action was taken on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea without his involvement or blessing. A clever administrator of a serpentine organization, he has never been directly tied to any criminal activity, yet bad things continue to happen to individuals and forces that that stand in his way. Analysis: "Woman in bikini: Who are you? Prince Kassad: Kassad, James Kassad. To exercise control, 007 here. I will report in an hour. Woman: (Holds up her champagne filled glass) Won't you join me? Prince Kassad: Better make that two." That's right folks, the most handsome general Prince Kassad is in the house! Prince Kassad is the only GLA General that has been involved in politics. He is also a leader of a spy organization that offers to have the requested person killed for several million dollars at a time. Like many clever leaders, nothing links him directly to any trouble, and yet, he's as smooth as James Bond. Of course, all spies must be stealthy, otherwise, they won't be called spies, right? Special Properties of his Agency: All structures can be camouflaged using Camo Netting: He is a stealthy general, right? Now, not only his base defenses are camouflaged to begin with, all other structures can become invisible to the enemy! Then, when you build a second base somewhere else, people will have a hard time finding you! However, Camo Netting isn't cheap, so you had better have lots of money! Besides, camouflaging the Supply Stash will hide your workers while they are collecting supplies. Safety first! Points awarded: +3 All Rebels are camouflaged to begin with: Now, it can be guaranteed that your Rebels will not be disturbed while they are going towards oil derricks or whatever they are going to capture. The element of surprise is sometimes what separates clean destruction from all out battles of attrition. Point awarded: +1 Hijackers are available at the start: Now, you can have a lot of pleasure stealing the enemies' vehicles! Enjoy! This is important as Prince Kassad, being secretive can't afford to make use of tanks. Point awarded: +1 GPS Scrambler is available at Level 3, and recharges faster: With James Kassad, you can cloak your units much earlier and more frequently. However, your opponents will be informed when you use GPS Scramble, so you still have to be careful not to be noticed. Point awarded: +1 Prince Kassad does not have the use of Tanks or the Scud Launcher: This is Prince Kassad's one and only weakness. This means that if you play as Prince Kassad, you must make use of frequent sneaky attacks with Quad Cannons in the lead, Rocket Buggies in the rear. If the enemy sends a large battalion of tanks with Stealth Detectors against you, you are toast. But still, this disadvantage is slightly offset by the use of Hijackers. Points deducted: -2 Net Score Change: +4 Score: 20 + 4 = 24 Comparison of all 4 types of GLA armies: Dr. Thrax = General Rodall "Demo" Juhziz > Prince Kassad > Standard GLA army *****TALENTED CHINESE GENERALS***** *****CHINESE INFANTRY GENERAL: "ANVIL" SHIN FAI***** Short Biography: On the battlefield, China's greatest resource is the millions of individuals in uniform, and General Shin has staked a career in them. Known to his troopers as the Anvil, General Shin can mobilize four divisions in twenty-four hours thanks to a streamlined and sometimes brutal command structure. Discipline is very strong with General Shin, and officers and infantry who can maintain it are rewarded. The general has developed advanced field training programs for the Red Guard and the elite operatives. Military analysts credit the speed and professionalism of General Shin's peacekeeping units with preventing the Taiwan Conflict of 2009 from becoming a global war. This divisions feature several weapons and transport systems unique in the People's Liberation Army. Analysis: It is true that China has the world's largest army, and this General Shin Fai is really one of those "back-to-basics" Generals. After all, the infantry units are one of the many "basic" units of an army, and General Shin Fai has decided to focus on nothing else but this division of the army. With such a large army coming, he can easily squash even the mightiest of giants with a horde of ants! Don't underestimate his enhanced soldiers, or you really WILL regret it! As for the Taiwan Conflict of 2009, I don't think it will happen at all. Besides, even if happens, why will it turn into a global war? His transport systems are VERY powerful. That's true. Special Properties of his Regiment: All infantry units start at the Veteran Level: Running advanced field training programs for his soldiers really helps! The Anvil's soldiers all begin at Veteran Level, even Hackers and Black Lotus! Besides, Minigunners can be made to come out of the barracks as elite soldiers. What could be better? Points awarded: +2 Minigunners replace normal Red Guards: Instead of using a simple bolt action rifle, the Minigunner uses a minigun, simple as that. Of course, a minigun has a rotating barrel and will spin faster and faster with time, just like a gattling gun. Although you can only train one with one click of a button for $350, the really are worth getting. Particularly they CAN target air units as well. Points awarded: +2 Fortified Bunkers replace normal Battle Bunkers: The Fortified Bunker holds twice as many men as the normal Bunker. That is, 10! Besides, it is already mined to prevent people from sneaking over. However, they still have the weaknesses of normal Bunkers. That is, one Neutron Shell or Bunker Buster bomb will kill EVERYONE inside the bunker. Point awarded: +1 All Minigunners and Tank Hunters are trained to be nationalistic to begin with, and can be made to be patriotic: The Anvil's soldiers are trained to love their country. So, when 5 of them are grouped together, you see a red star with a golden ring surrounding the soldier, that means, they will fire 1.25*1.25 times faster! When the Patriotism upgrade is researched, an additional white star appears beneath the red star, and the soldiers will fire another 25% faster! Loving one's country does work wonders! Points awarded: +2 Hackers are now Super Hackers, and Black Lotus is now Super Lotus: Remember that "Anvil" Shin Fai has developed advanced training programs for his operatives? And hence, hackers are now... Super! They are now stealth, and can hack into the Internet much quicker than before, and can disable enemy vehicles. Being a superwoman, Super Lotus can capture buildings, steal money and disable vehicles faster too. Points awarded: +3 All transport units are improved significantly: To be more specific, the Troop Crawler is upgraded to the Assault Troop Transport. An Assault Troop Transport costs $2400, but comes with 8 Minigunners, who can fire out directly from the gun ports, much like a Humvee. Now let's do the math: Cost of training 8 Minigunners in the Barracks: $350 * 8 = $2800 Cost of Assault Troop Transport: $2400 You save: $2800 - $2400 = $400! Really, this shows you that if you have the money, you can save lots in the long run! Besides, the Listening Outposts are replaced by Attack Outposts, which holds 10 infantry units, and come with 4 Tank Hunters. Again, you know the math: Cost of training 4 Tank Hunters in the Barracks: $300 * 4 = $1200 Cost of Attack Outpost: $1000 You save: $1200 - $1000 = $200! Both of the Transports have speaker towers installed, and heal any unit within range. The Helix is upgraded to the Assault Helix, which comes with a Bunker and holds 8 infantry units. If you fill one of these with tank hunters and send them into the enemy base, they will know true fear! Finally, the Anvil can make use of the Infantry Paradrop Generals Abilities, which means he can paradrop up to 16 minigunners into the enemy's base. They are minigunners, not normal red guards remember, and hence can cause a lot of chaos if you don't have enough anti air defenses installed. Points awarded: +6 Battlemaster Tanks, Gattling Tanks and Overlord Tanks are all unavailable: This is probably the only weakness of the great Anvil. However, the lack of tanks is offset by the attack outposts and Assault Troop Transports, if you use them wisely, of course. Points deducted: -2 Net Score Change: +14 Score: 27 + 14 = 41 *****CHINESE TANK GENERAL: GENERAL TA HUN KWAI***** Short Biography: General Ta Hun Kwai is convinced that the People's Liberation Army will see its greatest success through the viewholes of its tank divisions. A disciple of Soviet tank tactics of the Cold War, General Ta has produced technical papers on various modifications on them. He has initiated techniques to reduce the costs of tank production and has sponsored the Emperor program, whose first tanks rolled off the assembly line in 2013. Considered part of the old guard in the PLA hierarchy, General Ta nevertheless continues to roll up victory after victory in battle. Analysis: Short Translation: Ta Hun Kwai = He is very fast Another "back-to-basics" General of China, General "He is very fast" loves to focus on the basic attacking unit of his army, which are the tanks. Of course, being a tank fan, he has taken a lot of time to make various improvements on his tanks. His War Factories are hence more efficient in tank production. Being the tank disciple that he is, he has created a new prototype tank, called the Emperor Tank, which has started to come in service in the year 2013. With so many cheap and reliable tanks, General Ta Hun Kwai can really be a powerful brute force general. By the way, this guy really has the looks of a big bully, and has this silly grin that drives me laughing. It's always about "Tanks, build more Tanks!" With such expressions, I am sure that he can star in a Shakespearean play. "A tank! A tank! My kingdom for a tank!" Special Properties of his Battalion: All infantry units and aircraft are ludicrously overpriced: Ta Shi Yi Ge Tan Ke Zhang Jun! He is a Tank General! General Ta excels in building tanks, and yet he cannot train infantry and aircraft well! Imagine, Red Guards and Tank Hunters cost $375, a Hacker costs $780 and Black Lotus costs $1875! This will be a big problem in later stages of the game, particularly if you need infinite supply gatherers. Hence, you must train Hackers as soon as possible when you have the money to make up for the loss. Points Deducted: -2 All Tanks start at Veteran Level, and Battlemaster Tanks can be made to come out of the War Factory as Elite units: General Ta has focused exclusively in training the crew of his tanks. Therefore, each tank will already have some hands on experience to begin with. His Battlemaster Tank crews can attend an "intensive summer course" so that they can become elite tank crew to start with. The tuition fee is, well, 1 General Point. Points awarded: +3 All Tanks cost $100 less, and Troop Crawlers cost $200 less: Being the Tank General that he is, General Ta Hun Kwai has improved the efficiencies of his war factories, and hence it takes fewer raw materials, steel and miscellaneous ingredients to cook his tanks up. Even the troop crawlers cost only $1200! This means, you can train Red Guards more efficiently by building a Troop Crawler instead of training them in the Barracks. Points awarded: +3 Battlemasters can be upgraded to have Autoloaders installed in their gun barrels: Normally, a tank would have 4 men: The Commander, the Gunner, the Driver and the Reloader. But with the autoloaders installed, only 3 men are required as the reloading process is made to be automatic. Before the upgrade, Battlemaster Tanks fire "BOOM" each time, but with the Autoloaders, 3 shells can be loaded into the Gun Barrel at once, and the rate of fire would be trebled, that is, the tank will go "BOOM BOOM BOOM"! Now, even the battlemaster tanks are worth building en masse! Points awarded: +3 No Artillery Units are available: The problem with General Ta Hun Kwai is that, his attacks are powerful, but lacks range! What can he do if both the Inferno Cannons and Nuke Cannons are unavailable? Then, he would have to force his tanks straight into the enemy guns! Points deducted: -4 Emperor Overlord Tanks replace normal Overlord Tanks: Oh Boy! It's a big one! It's a big one! These new prototype Emperor Tanks come with a speaker tower on its back, and can have an additional Gattling Cannon added for anti-infantry purposes. Just a pity that they cannot have a Bunker mounted on its back as well. I guess it's just the consequence of General Ta's neglect on infantry units. When you see a lot of these coming towards your base, you may have to consider pitting as much artillery you have against them. Points awarded: +4 Tank Drop is available as a General Ability: General Ta Hun Kwai can send in up to 4 Battlemaster Tanks via transport planes to anyway on the battlefield. It's impossible, I tell you, impossible! Those parachutes must have been made with extra strong duralumin or something. Just be careful not to drop them into rough terrain or slopes, or they will blow up upon landing! Points awarded: +3 Net Score Change: +10 Score: 27 + 10 = 37 *****CHINESE NUKE GENERAL: GENERAL TSING SHI TAO***** Short Biography: General Tsing gets what he wants, at any cost. Impatient to a fault, General Tsing relies heavily on nuclear technology on the battlefield. Unfortunately, there have been several terrible accidents. While General Tsing was the responsible officer during the Mudanjiang Disaster of 2007, his considerable talents saved his career. General Tsing believes such trials and errors are part of the development process. His divisions are beginning to see the results of his convictions, as a prototype of an Advanced Nuclear Reactor has produced better results. Programs to develop tactical nukes and to promote stability in radioactive isotopes are producing better safety records, which will be well-received by his troops. Analysis: Short Translation: Tsing Shi Tao = Clear Stone On the surface, General Tsing Shi Tao looks like a stubborn old git who only likes things to go his way. But actually, he is a person with a kind heart. In fact, he loves to share! He has a lot of gifts, nuclear gifts to give you, and his generosity is limitless! Of course, it is always dangerous to play with fire, not to mention radioactive substances. The Clear Stone has caused a horrible accident in 2007, but however, since he is so talented, the People's Liberation Army has decided not to give him the sack. As an excellent Physics student, I must say I really love General Tsing Shi Tao. To be a successful scientist, one must try endlessly until he gets a good result. In fact, after a lot of hard work, he has begun to reap the fruits of his labor, and a lot of things became more efficient because of... Nuclear Energy! Atomic Structure of his army: Advanced Nuclear Reactor replaces normal Nuclear Reactors: As usual, for power plants, we have to consider efficiency. Power Supplied: 18 Units Cost: $1200 Cost per unit Power: $66.6 recurring decimal This is like having a 33.3 recurring decimal % discount on buying power. Very efficient indeed! When you overcharge a Advanced Nuclear Reactor, you get, that's right... 27 units of power! Points awarded: +2 General Tsing Shi Tao gets to make use of new technology to make his tanks go much more stable when compared with other generals: Uranium-235 + 1n --> Strontium-90 + Xenon-143 + 3n Do you know what the above is? It's a nuclear equation that for a reaction that takes place in Nuclear Reactors. A Uranium-235 nuclide is bombarded by a neutron, and splits into Strontium-90, Xenon-143 and 3 more neutrons, giving out lots of Nuclear Energy. In a nuclear reactor inside a Nuclear Power Plant or a Battlemaster or Overlord Tank, such a reaction is carefully controlled. However, if the nuclear reactor is destroyed, the above process will go out of control, resulting in a chain reaction, leading to a very damaging nuclear explosion. That is to say, if one of General Tsing Shi Tao's tanks is destroyed in the middle of a large battalion of troops, the explosion can potentially damage or destroy those around them! With the Isotope Stability upgrade, the Clear Stone's tanks will have much more stable nuclear reactors, and will explode just like any normal tank does, and of course, will not blow up neighboring units! Safety First! Go for Stable Isotopes! Points awarded: +3 Nuke Cannon is available right at the start: This is one good modification to the standard Chinese army that sort of makes it a direct enhanced version of it. With the Nuke Cannon available at the start, a General Point is saved, then, you can use that for something more constructive, like the Frenzy! Points awarded: +2 Battlemaster Tanks and Overlord Tanks come with Uranium Shells and Nuclear Tank upgrades right at the beginning, and their shells leave behind radiation: He is a Nuke General! Then it is just natural for General Tsing Shi Tao's tanks to be armed with nuclear weapons. His battlemaster tanks look sort of funny, with 2 tubes inserted into the back of its gun turret. I guess that's the Nuclear Power Connection, I guess. Then, who needs the Nuclear Missile Silo? As the shells leave behind radiation, his tanks are much more effective against infantry units than ever before, 2 or 3 shells, and the infantry dies! Points awarded: +3 Helices drop Nuclear Bombs instead of Napalm Bombs: This is relatively a small improvement, but it will give General Tsing Shi Tao some help in destroying tanks using the Helix. Point awarded: +1 MiGs can be upgraded to fire tactical nuclear missiles: Whoopee! By constructing a Nuclear Missile Silo, you can purchase these handy-dandy tactical nukes into your MiG fighters! These missiles have the power of a Nuke Cannon shell, and can destroy even the mightiest of tanks in a couple of blasts! Destruction guaranteed. Points awarded: +3 Nuke Bombers replace normal Carpet Bombers: Well, I told you that Tsing Shi Tao's generosity is limitless! He even has the generosity to drop expensive tactical nuclear bombs onto his enemies' bases! In fact, provided that the buildings are lined correctly, even if they are widely spaced, a single Nuke Bomber can destroy up to 3 or more buildings within its blast radius! So, there really is a good reason to panic when your opponent is a 3-star Nuke General! Points awarded: +3 Nuclear Missile Silos cost $500 less: As General Tsing Shi Tao, he gets a 10% discount on building Nuclear Missiles! Hmm... Interesting... Point awarded: +1 Net Score Change: +18 Score: 27 + 18 = 45 Comparison of all 4 types of Chinese armies: General Tsing Shi Tao > General "Anvil" Shin Fai > General Ta Hun Kwai > Standard Chinese Army ---------------------- 14. Conclusion [GCP14] ---------------------- Final Score: USA: 31 GLA: 25 China: 38 All Rounded Side: China Final Scores of the Talented USA Generals: General Alexis Alexander: 26 General Malcolm "Ace" Granger: 36 General Pinpoint Townes: 34 Most Talented USA General: General Malcolm "Ace" Granger Final Scores of the Talented GLA Generals: Dr. Thrax: 39 General Rodall "Demo" Juhziz: 39 Prince Kassad: 31 Tie Breaker goes to: Dr. Thrax Most Talented GLA General: Dr. Thrax Final Scores of the Talented Chinese Generals: General "Anvil" Shin Fai: 48 General Ta Hun Kwai: 44 General Tsing Shi Tao: 52 Most Talented Chinese General: General Tsing Shi Tao What each side is good at: USA: Infantry Attacks, Air Power GLA: Sneaky Attacks, Suicidal Attacks, "Waste not, want not!" China: Brute Force through large scale deployment of armored units and infantry, robust defenses, decent air force USA is good at Infantry and Air Units. So that's where USA players should rely on. GLA is decent for sneak attacks, so use more sneak attacks. China is the best in armored units and base defense, so it is the side for people who like brute force. China has a little of everything, and it is decent for players who do not want to rely on just one type of unit, and is my personal favorite. Note that for the final score, if you take the maximum possible errors in account (+/- 5), the difference in score is negligible. So, really the game is quite balanced. Again, you can read this guide, print it out if you want it to read it in bed or whatever, just don't copy it! That's all! See Ya! This guide is intended to be published in GameFAQs at the moment. If someone else wants to publish it, they must contact me through e-mail. ------------------------------------- Appendix I: Feedback Information [A1] ------------------------------------- Since the publishing of the original version of this guide, I decided that I must make some new rules for those people who want to give me a feedback about my guides. All future strategy guides will have this section. If the following rules are not observed, I will just consider your e-mail to be spam mail or flame mail, and I will delete it without reading it, and will blacklist your e-mail address. For publishing permission: I usually will allow people to publish my guides on their websites as long as they ask for permission. That's it. Although I do not have a lawyer to sue anyone if they do it without my permission, I expect everyone to have self discipline about these things. Feedback Concerning Mistakes: (THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART, LISTEN UP) As I am a human, and we are all humans, we all make mistakes. Nobody is perfect. If I had made any mistakes in my guide, feel free to e-mail me. But however, you must follow these rules. I have typed out some bad examples with each rule, and they are from some of the e-mail I received by people who are dissatisfied by my original Command and Conquer: Generals side comparison guide. You must: Be polite, as I will take these feedback letters as seriously as formal letters, and you should specify the version number of my guide, then I can check my guide out. However, it need not be as formal as business letters, after all it is only a game. You should also present yourself clearly, I won't even think about anything that I cannot understand at the first glance, as I am a busy person. For example,"I enjoyed reading your guide, but disagreed with you on some points." From a person called Alex Shikh or "I agree with you that China is the strongest factions, but it is not much stronger than the other 2." From Ives Gobau And so on. You must not: Say any foul language and offend me. For example, "Your guide was ********, full of lies and biased opinions." From K Truin. You are not going to make me listen by saying rude words to me, you will only give me the impression that you are either uneducated or have low EQ. Conduct any surveys about how good my guide is and give it to me, as I could not care less about your so-called surveys. For example, "I have conducted a survey about your guide and over 90% said that it was a trashy tabloid." From Frozak. Start a petition to have my guide removed. Before, I was worried about this annoying "Petition: FAQ Removal" board made by a certain person called GamerEX. That is, "I would like to start the petition to have kylohk's Command and Conquer: Generals Side Comparison Guide as it is based on opinions and fluff." When I was asked by IGN to publish my Side Comparison Guide on their site, I told the sender about my worries, and he assured me that I can stick with my own ways and need not listen to angry letter up. So, that's what, if you make any rash moves like organizing petitions, I really won't bother to negotiate with you. Finally, you must not say anything I consider to be racist. For example, "You mentioned that you live in China that is obvious, considering your bias towards this side, etc..." "I am afraid that your living in China has blinded your judgment so much." From someone I could not remember his name. So, what are you trying to say, say that us Chinese are all idiots? Besides, the word bias is used to describe unfair comparisons due to neglecting some facts. As I have put all facts into account, I really cannot have made any bias towards any sides. From all the 50 or so letters complaint I received, I decided to listen to less than 5 of them. Why? As only 5 of them could follow the rules stated above. So, you MUST take those points into consideration, or else, don't expect me to listen to you. Game Help: If you have read my guide and did not understand something, feel free to ask, but please do not do this too often, as my e-mail account has other uses. You may have wondered why I put this section up. This is a new "Anti-disturbance" ordinance I set up for my own use, in order to minimize all those annoying and insulting things I receive. In fact, during September alone, I received at least a hundred of mail concerning my Side Comparison Guide, and I am now to make sure this will never ever happen again. Thank you for your cooperation. Yours, Lo Kai Yan Alasdair, kylohk. (Kai Yan Lo From Hong Kong) -------------------------------------- Appendix II. Letters from Readers [A2] -------------------------------------- This section basically shows some of the letters I received from Readers of this guide. They are free to express their opinions, AS LONG AS THEY FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS STATED IN THE FEEDBACK INFORMATION. A letter from someone called Marcus Wong, dated 15 March, 2004 I enjoy reading your guide,but i have to disagree with certain things in your guide: 1. Avengers are excellent AA. They easily own all aircraft,and also even if it doesn't destroy them it will at least stop the missiles from coming in. Their high price is a really big problem though. (1) 2. Supply Drop Zones are the best infinite supply gatherers in the game. 1500 every 2 minutes is pretty worth the waiting. Also, you said the supply plane can be shot down easily. Sure, it's true, but only after it drops the supplies. It will always make it to the drop zones unless you put it in the center of the map. The problem though, is that there is a 100% chance of losing that plane after dropping the supplies (unless the enemy base is destroyed). (2) 3. You made some mistakes in your FAQ. Humvees actually cost $700 and sentry drones cost $800. (3) 4. Fire bases are good at stopping tank rushes and should be considered good value of money. Always build them in groups to stop even the best tank rushes. Also, the infantry you garrison in the fire bases are quite safe, since they are immune to tank shells. (4) 5. Rebels should be considered excellent value of money since they're extremely cheap and you can upgrade their firepower (Armor piercing bullets)(5) 6. Red guard should be considered good value of money. (5) 7. Raptors and Migs are at a tie. (6) 8. Paladins and Marauders are at a tie too. (6) 9. Crusaders are better than standard China`s battlemasters but no better than Tao`s or Kwai`s battlemasters. Thats all. PS this is my first email ever sent so don't shoot me if I offended you in any way. :P My Comments: (1) As you can see, I compared the Avenger with the Quad Cannon and Gattling Cannon. What have those two had in common that the Avenger does not? The ability o attack ground units! I know that it is such a highly specialized unit in downing aircraft and missiles, but why charge it $2000, and not allow it to hit ground units? (2) It is also possible to build Supply Drop Zones in a way so that their times are out of phase with each other, and supplies are dropped much frequently, but it is very difficult to manually time their constructions so this happens. (3) OK, I will fix that typo right away. Of course, the Sentry Drone's value for money will ALSO be lowered to Bad! (4) You can build them in quantity all you want, but how much space is it going to take, besides, they are still vulnerable to fast moving aircraft even if you garrison troops inside. Of course, if your opponent's tanks use Toxin Shells, one or two hits will generate enough poison to kill the ones in the front off. One artillery shell or SCUD will kill everyone inside. (5) If they charge these units for $100 each like in the first Command and Conquer game, then I will consider this. (6) If I take your views into account at this point, then China will experience a point deduction of 2, while GLA experiences a point deduction of 1. Then China will still be the most all rounded, and GLA would appear to be the least all rounded. But still, the scoring really is dependent on how you look at things in this game. So, there really are an infinite number of opinions possible. A second letter from Marcus Wong, dated 19 March, 2004. Hello, Now, about the crusader tank. I think it's reasonable for EA to charge it $900 because it has a lot (not slightly) more armour than the battlemaster tank. I checked the INIZH.big file in the Zero Hour directory. The Crusader tank has 480 health points, while battlemasters only have 400 health points. Crusader tanks have 80 more health points, and each health point costs 0.8 dollars more. (1) Also, with composite armour, its armour becomes heavier. (2) What's more, its firepower can be increased for FREE using bombardment strategy plan from Strategy Center (I always choose bombardment plan). (3) Isn't that worth it? I think crusaders are better than battlemasters. I never ever find the horde bonus on battlemasters useful. (4) While on the move, the battlemasters will separate themselves from each other very easily, and thus losing the courage from destroying the enemy faster. Also, in a forum, I held a poll, and in the end more people voted the Crusader as the best MBT. (5) So therefore, Crusaders in fact should be a fair value of money. Finally, Crusader tanks are only better over standard China`s battlemaster. It cannot, however, compete with Kwai`s or Tao`s battlemasters since they are special versions. Anyway I must say I enjoy your humour, keep it up. My Comments: (1) A Crusader Tank takes 8 Crusader Tank Shells to destroy, while a Battlemaster Tank takes 7. So, even with an 80 HP difference, I really still consider that to be not very significant. (2) Sure, at the same time, with Uranium Shells, Chinese Battlemaster Tanks have 25% increased firepower. Such bonuses will sort of cancel each other out. (3) Some people like to use Search and Destroy Strategy, while others use Hold the Line. However, a USA Crusader Tank cannot make use of all 3 strategies to boost their powers, so I will not put the strategies in to consideration. (4) To make the best use of Battlemaster Tanks, arrange them so they can all fire at the target at once. Besides, to be exact, a Battlemaster Tank gets a 25% rate of fire boost due to the hoard effect. It gets another 25% boost due to Nationalism Upgrade. If you have a Speaker Tower nearby, another 25% rate of fire boost is granted to all units affected by it, even those that do not have hoard effect. And, if you play as General Anvil Shin Fai, then he gets another 25% rate of fire boost on his infantry (No Battlemaster Tanks) with the Patriotism Upgrade. But still, it's about everyone's observations in this matter, and I respect your opinion. (5) Democracy cannot solve everything here. There are some forums whose majority favour the Scorpion Tank, while others favour the Battlemasters. So, well, that's why I really could not care less about any surveys held. This is a letter written by a person who would be known as Raptor11790: It's me again and I found something out in the game that I think you missed. But don't feel bad as it took me since last January to find it out. You missed one GLA salvaging unit, the Scorpion. At first it is hard to notice but for the first upgrade its barrel gets a colored thing on the end. The final upgrade is only present if you get the Scorpion Rocket upgrade as the Scorpion gains another rocket. That's twice the destructive power!(1) I also noticed that for the Quad-Cannon salvage upgrades that the upgrades make it shoot a lot faster. And I noticed something to do when playing as Ace, if your aircraft's come upon a lone Patriot or EMP Patriot they should always be in groups of two or more so none of the missiles get through. Oh well I think that's all for now. And could you please give me your opinion on the best way to beat "The Anvil" and "Clear Stone" when you are playing against them and they are set on the easy computer setting? (2) Please contact me in maybe 2 to 5 days? Where and when I am now is California, USA and it is 4/21/04, the day right after the Columbine shooting 5th anniversary.(3) I am asking you to contact me later as my parents probably won't let me play my C&C Generals game as my father caught me playing my game late at night. (4) By the way, have you heard of a US collage called IPOLY? Even though I am just about to finish the 8th grade, I might be going to a high school program at the collage for kids who are smart but their grades don't necessarily reflect that. Please tell me what you think about the collage thing bye! (5) My Answers: (1) Tip! Salvage Preferences When ever you destroy enemy vehicles, always salvage them to units in this order: Marauder Tanks > Quad Cannons > Techicals > Other units Notice that I have put other units, including Scorpions in the lowest priority. This is because, Scorpions can easily be built enmasse and overrun the enemies completely even with only one rocket, and you are not likely to pit only 1 Scorpion Tank against the enemy. I know that Toxin Tractors, SCUD Launchers and even Battle Buses can Salvage! The Toxin Tractor gets to have some better looking chemical sprayers, the SCUD Launcher has a frame to hold up the missile, while the Battle Bus has a better looking bonnet! (2) There is no possibility for you to encounter General Anvil Shin Fai in Generals Challenge. However, when you face General Clear Stone, he would have a nuke all ready for you (12 minute timer) while you are building your base. So, if you are playing as the USA generals, fast tech (tech up quickly) to Aurora Bombers and use them to destroy the Missile Silo. If you are using a Chinese General, train Black Lotus, sneak in and capture the Missile Silo. If you are using a GLA General, take advantage of the fact that the Nuke cannot destroy GLA structures along with their holes. So you can sneak a worker or two somewhere and build a secondary base. Then Clear Stone would have two bases to target, and when one is down, the other can still be up. (3) Well, I never knew that the Columbine High School is in California. But still, this provides a 16 hour time difference between China and California! (4) My younger cousin (not older one) in the UK got banned from his Playstation 2 because he spent all day and night playing Final Fantasy X. At first my Aunt did not mind, but when he answered 7 + 5 = 2 in his Maths homework, my Aunt smashed his controllers and memory cards, saying "Now, if you want to play, you cannot!" So, despite how bright you think you are DO NOT be addicted to video games. IT WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE! (LIKE TAKING DRUGS) In fact, the first version of my Side Comparison Guide got some people so mad as it is not based on online games. One GameFaqs board user, GamerEX held a petition to have my guide removed "as it is based on opinions and fluff." I changed my guide, a bit to please them, and when I apologized, a lot of those people still continued to harass me in the message boards saying things like, "The goal of Generals is to play online, there is no way a guide can be near average if it is not based on online play. You will be surprised about the number of people who stay up late at night." Well, I must say that statement is a big preference insult to me. This is because a man can do whatever he likes, if you insult someone if he has different preferences, then you are most likely uncivilized as you have no mutual respect to other people. Of course, this scenario is what made me add a Feedback Information section on all the newest guides I write! (5) It is true that the Americans are despising the SAT examination system, but still, some system is required to assess the students. I am not sure the definition of a High School student in the US. But anyway, I think that the Hong Kong education system is more exam oriented. I have just survived the HKCE Examinations last year with 6As, 2Bs and 2Ds, and now I will have to take another one called the A-Level Examinations next year to get to the university! (I myself plan to go to the UK to study engineering anyway, for your information.) Here's a letter from someone known as Black Scorpion, here is the original version of his e-mail, so I will just write a corrected version of the letter, so to make it easier for anyone else to read. Original Version: i am not too godd at english but i want to ask you some question. i am confused about which team is the best. if i use USA, i only can attack the enemy with my air force because USA doesnt has good tank to attack. only use humvee???? you know, humvee is weak when it battle againsts tank. if i use the infantry, it looks like it will take a long time to defeat the enemy if i use CHINA, i afraid my money wont be enough 'cause the hacker is too weak. if my enemy use their super weapon and attack my hacker, they will be dead easily and it will cost a lot of money to build them again. and if my enemy use scud launcher or tomahawk to attack me from the distance what can i do? you know, helix is too slow if i use GLA, i afraid my defence is very weak because GLA's base defence eat a lot of areas(not like gatling gun or others). but i like GLA because it is easy to attack my enemy i can use my cycle+terrorist to crash my enemy defence. but if my enemy use nuke cannon or tomahawk to attack me from the distance, what can i do? just watch them attack my defence???? please give me the solution for that three questions..... by the way.. i like you guide and i have read it. thankssss Corrected version: I am not too good at English but I want to ask you some questions. I am confused about which team is the best. If I use USA, I only can attack the enemy with my air force because USA doesn't have good tanks to attack. (1) Should I only use Humvees???? (2) You know, Humvees are weak when they battle against tanks. Id I use the infantry, it looks like it will take a long time to defeat the enemy. (3) If I use CHINA, I am afraid that my money won't be enough 'cause the hackers are too weak. If my enemy uses their super weapon and attack my hackers, they will be dead easily and it will cost a lot of money to build them again. (4) And if my enemy use scud launcher or tomahawk to attack me from the distance what can I do? You know, helix is too slow. (5) If I use GLA, I afraid my defense is very weak because GLA's base defenses eat a lot of areas (not like gatling gun or others) (6) .But I like GLA because it is easy to attack my enemy as I can use my cycles with terrorists to crash my enemy defenses. But if my enemy use Nuke cannon or Tomahawk to attack me from the distance, what can I do? Just watch them attack my defenses???? (7) Please give me the solution for that three questions..... By the way.. I like you guide and I have read it. Thanks My Answers: (1) If you play as regular USA, you get to use Crusader Tanks and Paladin Tanks, if you play as General "Pinpoint" Townes, you get to use the Laser Tank, which is more powerful than the Crusader Tank. Use the Composite Armor to upgrade their armor, and use the Bombardment Battle Strategy to improve their attack power. (2) If you are playing as General Malcolm "Ace" Granger, or General Alexis Alexander, then I would say yes, as they cannot use tanks. (3) Consider loading your Humvees with missile defenders inside. Then the Missile Defenders can fire out from the gun ports of the Humvee, and hence are more protected. Just make sure you evacuate all troops before your Humvee explodes, or else, the people inside will be killed. (4) You can garrison up to 8 Hackers inside an Internet Center. This structure is very strong, and can survive a Particle Cannon hit, that can protect at least 8 of your Hackers. Besides, Hackers have a tendency to hack faster when they are inside the Internet Center, and they CAN GAIN VETERANCY, so they become stronger as time passes. (5) To make a good base defense structure with a Helix, upgrade it with a Bunker and load it full of Tank Hunters, then position it just behind your base defenses, then you can quickly send it to destroy the enemy long range units. (6) This is true, so build Demo Traps a bit outside your Stinger Sites and this can help weaken the enemy's attacks. Besides, garrison units inside your Tunnel Networks, and send them out after the enemy when they are coming close. (7) Have a couple of Scorpion Tanks on standby, and when the long range weapons come, send them out after them. As they are so slow, destroying them will not be a problem.
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