game guide v0.2 alpha by [uw]ghost
General information for both multi and single player.
What is Command & Conquer Generals?
It is a real time strategy game set in a slightly futuristic environment. It
requires resource management, quick reflexes, and good tactics to win. There
are three sides, the GLA (terrorists, similar to Al Qaeda or the Taliban, and
with similarities to Iraq as well), China, and the USA. The premise for the
game involves terrorist attacks on both China and America by the GLA.
Disclaimer:
I do not take responsibility for your mistakes.
Not everything in here is correct in all situations, there may be minor
mistakes, if in doubt improv.
I cannot make you play better, I can only give you ideas and concepts and
information.
Nothing is complete. Feel free to add ideas to this, simply do it like this
"ghost - adding ideas is great"
"nickname - idea goes here"
and that way it's far easier to isolate when you send me back modded copies of
this document.
ghost
To do:
figure out what I've forgotten
more strategies
Include full list of buildings and units (figure out what I've missed swell)
Find typo's and errors and correct
add any interesting/relevant information
Get Zero Hour and write about it (expansion pack)
GLA & Chinese generals promotions
do hijacker
What's new since v0.1:
Added quotes, table of contents, categorized information, added numerous
strategies, changed format from notepad to wordpad, added formatting and font
usage.
Spell checked.
Previous Versions:
v0.1 beta, v0.1
Thanks to Westwood for making a great game.
Index:
0. Background information about the story and writing this game guide
1. Starting Build Orders
2. Defense
3. Offense
4. General Strategies and advice
4.1 Resource Management
5. Multi player Advice
6. Difficulty Levels & Campaign
7. American Strategies
7.1 American Generals Promotions
8. Chinese Strategies
8.1 Chinese Generals Promotions (tba)
9. GLA Strategies
9.1 GLA Generals Promotions (tba)
10. Upgrade Advice
11. Unit Overview And Advice
11.1 Infantry Tactics
11.11 Garrisoned Infantry
11.12 US Infantry
11.13 GLA Infantry (Hijacker tba)
11.14 China Infantry
11.2 Vehicles
11.21 US Vehicles
11.22 GLA Vehicles
11.23 China Vehicles
11.3 Aircraft
11.31 US Aircraft
11.32 China Aircraft
12. Building Tactics And Advice (tba)
12.1 Production Facilities
12.2 Defensive Structures
12.3 Supply structures
12.4 Super Weapons
13. Tweaking advice
14. Special Command Information (tba)
15. Conclusion
0. Background Information about the story and writing this faq
I play C&C Generals a lot networked, and have no Internet, so I wanted a game
guide. I got a friend to download me one, and it did not satisfy my needs.
I hope you appreciate this, it was the first game guide I ever wrote. I'm in
wgtn, nz, email me if you play and have interesting ideas.
The storyline information only is copied from this FAQ (hope you don't mind) at
http://dlh.net/cheats/pc/deutsch/command+and+conquer+-+generals/englfaq2.html .
That's the only other C&C Generals gamefaq I've read, however I did read an
excellent Dune 2000 faq a few years back, and have been playing RTS's for years.
it clearly says in his FAQ that he took the following information from another
faq (CDeutsch FAQ), that got it out of the official C&C: Generals manual, which
I do not have access to.
Story line information follows:
Security Council Sub-Committee (Resolution 1379) on Global Liberation Army
Report to Security Council: Situation Report (SIT REP) on GLA Activities.
Distribution CLASSIFIED
Hotan, China
For several months, observers have expressed concern over the activities of
the Global Liberation Army (GLA). A loose federation of freedom fighters and
terrorists, the GLA has established several strongholds in the republics of
Central Asia. By distributing forces and leadership across the borders of
these developing nations, the GLA has thwarted efforts to engage in meaningful
dialogue. Last year, this group without borders crossed into Western China and
began building popular support for an independant state in this remote region.
GLA funding continues to grow from unknown sources, and its leadership remains
a mystery.
For the Beijing government, this incursion along its western border could not
have come at a worse time. The reforms in China's "Modern Way" program have
produced new civil liberties and excellent growth in Chinese exports,
particularly in light manufacturing and agricultural products. Beijing has
repeatedly stated that these changes are here to stay, a position that
does not sit well with the GLA.
Last week, the GLA struck a military depot at Yechung, stole thousands of
rounds of munitions, and destroyed a nuclear power plant. Dangerous levels of
radiation have been detected over 100 kilometers downwind. The Chinese
government is furious and has refused to allow observers to mediate
discussions with the GLA. Several divisions of the Red Army have established
positions in the province along major roadways and rivers.
While the United States continues to provide orbital reconnaissance to the
Security Council, it has failed to contribute troops to the peacekeeping
efforts in the region. The Council's refusal to support United States counter-
terrorist initiatives in the Middle East in recent years has not been
forgotten. USA military forces have remained in port and on base, venturing
out only to secure its coastline.
Scattered intelligence reports arriving from Europe and Asia indicate that the
GLA has established and funded sleeper cells to further spread its sphere of
influence. If China succeeds in forcing out the GLA, it is difficult to
predict where the group will resurface. The United States would be the logical
choice to buttress Chinese efforts to contain the GLA, but the United States
continues to maintain its non-involvement in the conflict that eventually the
GLA
will cross paths with USA forces in Asia or elsewhere in the world.
The sub-committee recommends to the Security Council that it continue to
maintain an open channel with the GLA, to establish a clear set of boundaries
for Chinese activity, and to communicate the need for the USA participation in
peacekeeping initiatives before the Council loses its influence on the
situation."
This describes the situation at the start of the game. During the game, both
America and China fight against the GLA.
1. Starting Build Orders
Starting build order for US in multiplayer
Power plant, construction dozer, barracks, supply center, Chinook, war factory,
whatever from here
Starting build order for China in multiplayer
Nuke reactor, construction dozer, radar, barracks, supply center, supply, war
factory, whatever from here
Starting build order for GLA in multiplayer
Supply thingee, Barracks, Arms Dealer, whatever
GLA can throw a lot of people off to start with.
The really little men do all the building and resource gathering, and they are
interchangeable.
If your wondering where your radar is, you can find it at the arms dealer in a
radar van ($500).
Early starting stuff for all
If there are oil derricks, research capture building early on and take them.
Make sure you have a few harvesters and a few builders quite early in.
2. Defense
"At Thermopylae, 300 Spartans held off over 200,000 Persian invader's for over
10 days, killing over 10,000. All Spartans there perished."
At Thermopylae, there was an extremely tight pass that only 10 men could fit
through at a breast. The Persian King ordered his men through the pass, onto
the Creek spears, and the Greek line held long enough for reinforcements to
arrive. This tied in with successful naval battles ultimately destroyed the
Persian assault. This happened over 2,000 years ago.
Try to take advantage of natural features to create bottlenecks and killing
zones. Overlapping enfilades of fire are far stronger than defense that
doesn't support itself. The whole can become greater than the sum of the parts,
if you design and build your defense network well.
The idea is to have as many spaces as possible where they can't shoot you but
you can shoot them.
A good American defense consists of at least 3 patriot missile batteries (if
not more), a small amount of infantry (rocket infantry and rangers) set to
guard just behind them, potentially air cover and tanks, depending.
This may well not be enough, but it should beat off most computer attacks
regardless of difficulty.
A good Chinese defense consists of two bunkers filled with rocket infantry, two
gattling towers, a propaganda tower, scattered armor, and potentially air
cover.
Defense with GLA is harder, I recommend massed groups of defensive structures
tied in with large amounts of differing units. Maybe two stinger batteries,
two tunnel networks and a large amount of scorpions, quad cannons, and rocket
infantry? If you are up against super weapon attacks using tunnel networks to
keep a reserve force inside can help greatly.
Artillery at the rear of defense can be very deadly, as can air cover, and
tanks are great at defending against vehicles.
If you know armor is incoming, build rocket men and tanks, if you know air is
incoming, build aircraft and rocket men and gattling tanks and air defense, if
you know infantry is coming think pathfinders and riflemen and gattling
tanks/quad cannons and humvees. If it's artillery think aircraft and artillery
first, then tanks or rocket guys if need be.
Force them to attack on your terms.
3. Offense
"Attack where they cannot attack you, sting like a bee, float like a butterfly"
- Mohammad Ali, and someone else mixed into the same quote
To create a combined offensive force, say example for china would be quite a
lot of battle master tanks, a few overlords with gattling turrets, a few
gattling tanks, and scattered infantry, both riflemen and anti tank guys, and
finally a few inferno cannons.
The battle master tanks will take out the majority of the enemy armor, the
overlords will soak up the damage, and if one has a propaganda tower, heal
your units, the gattling tanks will tear apart aircraft and light infantry,
the rocket guys will take down aircraft and armor, and the light infantry will
soak up some damage, and may prove useful in capturing buildings.
The equivalent force for America would be a lot of Crusaders, a few Paladins, a
couple of humvees, a fair few riflemen and a fair few rocket guys, along with
maybe if you are America, air support.
Try to bring along at least one or two units capable of long range attacks,
these will prove handy in numerous situations but generally tend to be weak
units.
The only limit is your imagination. I have had Mig storms (12+), backed up by
Inferno cannons, using that to wreak havoc in their base, I've seen massive
tank rushes, and I've seen just as many destroyed by a skilled defensive
opponent.
I've also captured key buildings and demoralized their will to play with para
drops and rebel ambushes.
Build for what you are attacking, if they have a whole heap of quad cannons
build main battle tanks, if they have heaps of main battle tanks, build rocket
guys and tanks, it all goes around like that.
Consider what you want to target. Generally unguarded assets are the easiest to
hit, followed by softish assets.
Base defenses can be very annoying, long ranged units, super weapon attacks and
power plant strikes will deal to these.
Strategic assets like oil rigs and hacker farms/supply drops/black markets,
supply centers and power plants are generally worth destroying when possible,
as is everything of theirs ultimately.
Generally, each side has it's own specialized anti infantry armor unit (Humvee,
Quad cannon, technical, Gattling tank, Flame Tank, Toxin Tractor), these units
tend to be extremely effective against infantry and ground units.
For anti aircraft, the options are gattling tank, quad cannon, rocket soldiers,
and humvee missile.
For anti armor assaults, the best anti armor is a large tank force, battle
masters, crusaders or scorpions, mixed in with a few paladins, or overlords,
or marauder tanks, and a bit of rocket infantry mixed in.
A small amount of ranged support (artillery backup) can do wonders when
assaulting a base, units that can fire without being inside the enemies field
of fire are priceless. These can be tomahawk cruise missiles, inferno cannons,
rocket buggies, scuds, and nuke cannons. A few of these can add life expectancy.
Think big if you want your ground vehicle attacks to be successful, and think
smart. If an attack doesn't work, come back with one twice as big. Try not to
send things right into enemy base defenses, instead attempt to destroy or
disable them first temporarily at least before attacking. Long range weapons
long range weapons long range weapons I can't stress that enough. And be
creative.
Ideally you want your attacks and defense to be able to resist, and damage,
infantry, armor, buildings, aircraft, and base defenses, unless you know you
are up against a very specific threat.
Air power is important in this game, the best air defense is an air offense,
F-22's or Mig's on guard mode, followed closely by a large network of either
patriot missiles, stinger sites, or gattling turrets and bunkers, and dotted
rocket infantry. You can't go wrong with rocket infantry, it's great against
almost all vehicles, and aircraft. 12+ Migs over an enemy base without any air
defense is an extremely dangerous force.
4. General Strategies and advice
Remember, the laws of combat;
Step one is survival
Step two is income
Step three is destruction
Survive, make an income, destroy their income, destroy them.
In all real time strategy games there are separate classes of buildings. Some
generate income, some let you build things, some are required to build cool
things and super weapons, some act defensively. I view these, in order of
importance, as first the ones that generate income, then the ones that let you
build the option of generating money, then production facilities, and then
everything else. Power plants are also very important to target in this game.
Play this game on your own terms. Don't let it dictate the terms to you.
Command and Conquer Generals is very much about who can gather the most money,
and who can build the most tanks/super weapons.
In order to ensure you have more money than your opponent, remember to harass
their supply centers and supply lines, destroy their hacker farms and supply
drop zones and black markets, and either capture or destroy their oil rigs.
Super weaponsare great for this.
If they have no income, they cannot buy tanks, and if they can't buy tanks
they can't destroy you.
Having a well protected income of your own is important as well, ideally you
want several gatherer units (Chinooks, supply trucks, workers), and later in
the game, after you've made it to the second row of buildings (think strategy
center, palace, propaganda center), you should seriously consider investing
some money into hackers or supply drops or black markets (several of each) if
you think it's going to be a long game.
After you have destroyed their income, take out strategic assets at will,
focusing on what you think is important.
I find that if they are an industrial (US, China) nation, attacks on power can
be extremely effective - even if they have particle cannons, if they can't use
them, what good are they? Also, an attack on their power, sending their radar
down, combined with a paratrooper or rebel ambush attack, followed by a mass
capture is an extremely effective strategy. If they have no tanks... War
factory and arms dealer attacks are also good, as are super weapon attacks on
base defenses before large attacks. This can also be done with ranged weapons
such as tomahawks or inferno's or scuds. I tend not to send aircraft against
base defenses unless the path is safe.
A mobile defense/offense is better than a static defense, it's great to be able
to take the battle to them, so attempt to focus on mobile forces apart from
where static defenses are required.
If you have mobility on your side, you can quickly strike where the enemy is
weak, reinforce where you are attacked, and cover your allies. Tanks are
possibly the best all round semi mobile ground force, aircraft are perfect for
this job, stationing an aircraft above your allies base can sometimes be the
difference between an attack winning and losing.
Disable what makes them money and the game will be a lot easier.
Most of the time the computer will rush you early on, make a reasonable defense
from the start.
The computer tends not to plan long term well so long as you destroy their
revenue. This goes for human players as well, if you can survive, and destroy
their income to start with they will be far far far weaker.
The more money you have the more tanks/super weapons/stuff you can buy.
The less money they have the easier your tanks can roll over them.
Always attempt to capture oil rigs as quickly as possible, these give you $1000
to start with, and then a trickle of $200, which instantly pays for the money
gone into research, and gives a bonus. These are priceless, if you can't
capture them destroy them.
If you can capture, and then garrison in a building nearby, that can be a lot
better than no defense at all.
When attacking enemy buildings if I am given options, I tend to attack first
the income generating buildings and vehicles, followed by the production
facilities or power plants, the logic being if they have no money they can't
fight, and if they can't build unit's they can't fight, and if they have no
power they can't launch super weapons.
The other random tech buildings tend to be refineries, taking 10% off the cost
of vehicles, and hospitals, letting your infantry automatically heal.
Both are good to have if they aren't hard to have, if you can't have them
destroy them.
Be adaptable and ready to change strategies completely if what you are doing
isn't working.
Engineer rush's still work, but are harder. Destroy all anti infantry defenses
first, and then send in a horde of riflemen with capture building researched,
or drive them in with troop crawlers, fly them in with Chinooks, or magic them
in with rebel ambush/paratroopers, then capture.
Quite often super weapon escalation will occur, the easiest way to fight this
is through destroying your opponents power and money, if they have no power
they can't launch, if they have no money they can't build.
4.1 Resource Management
"If they have no food, they will starve and cannot fight."
- Something Stalin might have said regarding the Ukrainian famines. He would
probably have been more ruthless.
Don't sit on your cash, spend it as you get it, unless your saving up for a
super weapon. You should never have more than $6,000 in your bank, you'd be
better off with it spent on tanks and weapons and defense and structures and
stuff.
Get multiple harvesters. I tend to research capture buildings right away, and
take all available oil rigs, this can improve your income dramatically.
I also build one supply collection building per supply tray, with at least two
harvesters from it. Do this if you have access to multiple supply piles, and
remember to guard them closely.
Later in the game it is worth investing in free money generation, ie
hackers/black market/supply drop zones, go for these or a super weapon straight
after you've completed the first second tier building.
Don't forget to destroy their resource gathering apparatus, this is a very
important objective. Oil rigs are a fun thing to target if you have a spare
force and they aren't tightly guarded. Consider capturing at times like that.
5. Multi player advice
"The real threat has always been human"
- Ghost, 2005
Remember you are fighting a human, with it's own strengths and weaknesses.
If you have a team-mate, cooperate with attacks and super weapons, and you'll
dominate.
If you can both time strikes and attacks, they will be vastly more effective,
and you will have a better chance of destroying super weapons and other things.
Be wary of attacks in directions and ways you wouldn't normally suspect.
Be ready for almost anything, and play at the best of your abilities.
There is always a Darth Traya.
Try to find your opponents weaknesses and play on them, while bringing out your
strong points.
Intimidation and psychology can play a big part, the arrival of migs at the
right time to save the day, or watching someone else's super weapon clock down
can definitely send moral either way.
Ultimately, if you can destroy their will to fight, you can win.
Be creative and think outside the box, come up with your own ways to beat the
enemy.
If something is annoying them, or they target something, for example you do a
lot of air attacks and they blow up your airfield, keep attacking them in that
method, especially if it is getting results.
Remember that humans can learn and adapt, don't be surprised when they use your
own strategies on you.
Be very careful if negotiating terms, terms can and often are dropped at a
moments notice. The best way to play is to be ready for a change in terms at
the drop of a hat while still playing honorably.
In fact, consider just not negotiating with enemies. It can show weakness.
Everyone is beatable.
6. Difficulty levels & Campaign
Normal is easy, hard is normal, brutal isn't hard enough :).
So long as you are capable of building an adequate defense and hanging in
there, you should have no problem beating brutal opponents.
Campaign.
The hardest mission in the game is China level 7.
In order of difficulty, do the training first, then USA, then GLA, then China.
I'm stuck on China 7 on brutal.
Advice - build a propaganda tower on one of your overlords at the start, and a
gattling tower on the other. Hacker farms are great, and have backup defenses
for when they scud storm your defenses, the scud storm is far to the north.
Good luck.
7. American strategies
"Bring it on"
- George W Bush, 2004 (regarding the Iraqi insurgency)
Using A-10's, Particle Cannon's, or Paratroopers to take down or capture enemy
oil rigs can be a very effective way of decreasing the enemies strategic
assets. Also at later levels, paratroopers can be extremely effective snuck
into the back of an opponents base, and used to capture the majority of the
base. This is even deadlier with the GLA, due to the stealthed nature of
upgraded rebels (get stealth upgrade at Palace).
Repair drones are worth getting, they both repair, and shoot infantry up quite
well, and if the enemy is using a lot of stealth units (Jarman Kell, GLA
rebels later in game), the recon drone is worth getting every once in a while.
Pathfinders are totally lethal against all infantry, consider getting them if
your worried about having your buildings captured. They are also stealth
themselves and can detect invisible units.
Advanced training is one of the best American upgrades there is, get it when
you can.
If you can successfully take your fair share of the map and set up a strong
defense, generally you can out wait an AI player quite easily, remember think
setup, get money, destroy their income, destroy them.
Flash bangsare great for clearing out garrisoned buildings apart from Chinese
bunkers, disabling stinger missile sites, and killing infantry, this upgrade
is worth researching if you intend to use it.
Information is one of your strength's, at the command center there is a gps
sweep that is unstoppable, and also a very early generals upgrade is remote
drone. Both of these are worth using if you so decide, and later in the game,
the Detention Camp's full radar reading can give priceless information. Knowing
where to hit them is important.
America has the strongest infantry in the game, so take advantage of this.
It also has the strongest air force, F-22's are the best air superiority
fighters in the game, and Aurora's can be considered for missions which are
essential, however most of the time I use F-22's. Aurora's ALWAYS get through
(just like Tree Ninjas), they just don't live for very long at all afterwards,
even two missiles will destroy an Aurora, and at $2,500 each that gets boring
fast. Aurora's and F-117's are ok stationed on defensive duties, or against
weak ground targets, but I really do prefer F-22's.
A-10's combined with a particle cannon will almost always take out a super
weapon.
America gets Strategy Center, with it's choice of upgrades. I tend to use
bombardment (20% weapons damage bonus), however Search & Destroy (20%? range
increase) is good as well. I never use the armor one.
Upgrading power plants is cheaper than building new ones.
You can take advantage of Patriot Batteries relay ability, and build batteries
slightly back from the main defense that will still deal out heavy damage.
Tomahawks are very deadly when the Range upgrade option is done at the strategy
center.
7.1 American general's promotions.
I think paratroopers are great, combined with capture building can be lethal to
a whole base. 3 A-10's will destroy almost any building, and most units. I
pretty much never use the repair upgrades.
The stealth bomber upgrade is pointless, go with F-22's instead, and get either
the Paladin Tank upgrade, or the Recon drone upgrade.
The Paladin is a good weapon, it has a laser that can destroy enemy missiles
and damage infantry, and is the heaviest of the American tanks. Great in tank
battles, or to bulk up your ground forces.
The Recon drone generals upgrade is great for added intelligence and watching
mission critical areas (key bottlenecks, oil rigs, super weapons, etc).
The Pathfinder unit is the most effective anti infantry unit in the game, a
sniper unit that is stealthed, with an extremely long range, it can shred
infantry, but is useless against vehicles. Worth getting if your worried about
infantry attacks/surprise attacks.
The Fuel Air Bomb is a lot of fun, great to use on troop concentrations or
strategic targets, if your gonna use it on a super weapon/hq, combine it with
A-10's or a super weapon of your own.
American radar is at the command center.
8. Chinese strategies
"China Tank Division!"
Flame tanks wall of flame can be extremely effective when used properly, it
creates an impenetrable (by infantry) wall of flame to cross. Destroy with
ranged weapons or aircraft, or tanks if you are in a hurry, but never send
infantry up against a flame wall.
Red Guard are good random mega rush units, can be amazingly effective against
an unsuspecting opponent, troop crawlers are good for this too. You can make a
ton of these quite quickly and comparatively their quite cheap, and they can
capture. Combat with gattling tanks/quad cannons, rangers with flash bangs, or
pathfinders.
Bunker's filled with anti tank guys are ridiculously effective, especially in
pairs with overlooking fields of fire - great against vehicles and air, when
combined with gattling tanks/towers this is a devastating defense.
Speaker towers are great, they heal your units, and may give other bonuses.
Build them at key defensive positions, and use them offensively on top of
overlords when attacking.
Mig's are great, don't leave home without them, can create just that added bit
of energy to a good base defense, or create that tiny extra bit of power for a
good offense, just keep them away from air defense.
The overlord with a speaker tower on top is a great thing to have, it
automatically heals ALL of your nearby units, massively increasing lifespan.
Apart from one, gattling cannons on overlords are the best, they can tear
through infantry and aircraft.
Hackers are crucial, they make you money, and get promoted to make you more
money over time.
This is great, one hacker from the start of the game can be worth more than 20
tanks at the end, easily.
Also they are only $625, so China has an advantage in that it can start making
them straight away, and they are also mobile and lots cheaper than the GLA and
USA options.
Artillery combined with a nuke will almost always take out a super weapon.
China's real advantages are with it's tanks and infantry's raw overpowering
nature, use LOTS when you play as China and you will prove unstoppable. It's
what the horde bonus is there for ;).
Remember to scatter power plants, they explode quite largely when they go up,
and leave radioactive waste for a little while afterwards. Don't group hackers
around power plants.
Chinese radar is built at the command center.
8.1 China Generals Promotions
To be completed.
9. GLA strategies
"We - with God's help - call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to
be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill the American's and plunder their
money wherever and whenever they find it. We also call on the ---- soldiers to
launch the raid on Satan's US troops and the devil's supporters allying with
them"
- Declaration of War by Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, February 23rd 1998
Remember, GLA buildings rebuild, so if you can keep the second stage alive they
will come back. This can be very annoying to other players.
Successful suicide bombings can be extremely annoying to an American human
player. Ayeeeej!
As GLA you don't need power plants, so remember that and target their power
plants for destruction if they require them. This is great, it means your scud
storm is far harder to disable than any other countries super weapons. And if
you do get power, everything will build slightly faster.
Angry mobs are a great random support unit, you never know when that can be the
difference between an attack being stopped, and it destroying their whole
base. Of course, sometimes they die right away.
The Marauder generals upgrade is a great one to get, it is the only way to get
a semi decent tank onto the field if you are gla, the gla armor is lacking in
comparison.
The Scorpion tank is ok in large numbers when upgraded, especially when
combined with a few quad cannons to take out the infantry and the aircraft.
Scuds are awesome at dealing to enemy base defense.
The junk repair upgrade is great to do, it's priceless. So are the damage
upgrades.
You can research camouflage at your palace, this makes your rebels stealth. If
you research this, and follow the rebel ambush generals promotion line, you
can quite often pull off a devastating ambush inside the enemy base that when
combined with capture building leads to you owning the majority of the enemies
buildings. To fight this, use pathfinders, or troop crawlers or recon drones.
Scud's and rocket buggies are very very annoying units to use for harassment,
they have a very large range, a group of scuds guarded by a larger group of
tanks is a very annoying thing. Rocket buggies also move quickly so can be
effective harassing units.
Remember to build a few black markets, this will keep your money coming in.
Two scud storm's are required to destroy enemy super weapons.
On the surface GLA seem weaker, however if you are resourceful, they can be
rewarding.
Anthrax can be as harmful as it is helpful, it's great defensively, but when
you have to run your own troops through it then it sucks big time. Technicals
can carry units through anthrax, but generally anthrax and infantry don't mix.
It is deadly against enemy infantry.
GLA radar comes from a radar truck bought at an Arms Dealer.
9.1 GLA Generals Promotions
To be completed.
10. Upgrade Advice
"We will fight stronger with better weapons!"
With unit upgrades, I tend not to upgrade unless I have generally 4+ times as
many units as the upgrade costs, however there are exceptions. Best to get the
upgrades for what you need first, and later when you have lots of money get
everything. Use them if you buy them, don't buy them if you'll never use them.
This goes for Generals upgrades too, think about your upgrades
11. Unit overview and advice
11.1 Infantry Tactics
Infantry is generally small, and weak against toxins, flash bangs, and machine
guns.
For dealing with infantry, rangers equipped with flash bangs (US), gattling
tanks and quad cannons (China and GLA), can be extremely effective.
Remember, infantry work like rock paper scissors, with riflemen taking down all
infantry quite quickly, and being able to capture buildings (stealthed gla
riflemen can be very annoying), rocket guys specializing against tanks,
pathfinders are extremely effective against all infantry but useless against
armor, angry mobs are perfect against tanks and buildings, but useless against
serious anti infantry, and I find I almost never use the special infantry
units (Black Lotus, Jarman Kell, the GI Joe dude). Black Lotus can use her
capture building ability quite well (she is stealthed, and it works at range),
and Jarman Kell's snipe vehicle ability can be very annoying.
For China, the best infantry unit you can have is the hacker, it has no
offensive capabilities however it makes a steady trickle of money for you.
Infantry rushes can be surprisingly successful against an unarmed or damaged
opponent at times, but more so when part of a combined force with massed
armor.
Dropping riflemen infantry into the back of their base and capturing buildings
can be very very deadly, and can be quite easy to do as GLA or the US. This
tactic is harder with China, but still achievable with the troop crawler.
Try to use infantry in groups of at least 5+.
11.11 Garrisoning units
The only thing you can garrison inside that is immune to toxin trucks and flame
tanks are Chinese bunkers. Also, when garrisoning, think about the field of
view your troops have, ensure they have maximum opportunities to shoot the
enemy while being out of shooting range of the enemy. I can't stress that
enough for everything, try to make sure when you shoot them that they can't
shoot back as well.
Garrisonedunits are vulnerable to flash bangs and toxin tractors and flame
tanks, but can be very deadly to lumpishly grouped armor and infantry
depending... I find rocket guys work best when garrisoned in groups of at
least 5 per building.
11.12 US Infantry
US Infantry is the best in the game.
Ranger ($225)
Can use flash bangs (when researched) to quickly clear buildings, disable
stinger sites, and damage infantry. Also comes equipped with assault rifles
for multi-purpose combat. Can also catch buildings when researched. Good in
large numbers.
Very effective all-round anti infantry.
Missile Troopers ($300)
Rocket men, same as from Red Alert, great at cutting down tanks and aircraft,
ok at buildings, terrible against machine guns, and flame and toxin weapons.
Deadly when the Laser sites option is used to attack vehicles, in groups of 4
or more.
Pathfinder ($600, requires Generals Upgrade Level 2)
Extremely effective quite long ranged anti infantry unit, this stealthed sniper
dude can detect stealthed units, and is great for guarding missile towers
against pretty much every infantry threat.
11.13 GLA Infantry
GLA units are cheap, and can be very effective when fully upgraded.
Rebel ($150)
Basic rifleman style unit, cheap to produce, it's value to start with is in
mass numbers, and in capturing oil derricks and tech buildings. Can research
capture building, and Armour Piercing ammo to increase damage by 25%, and
finally camouflage, this makes them into super deadly stealthed ambush guys who
can take over whole bases like that. There's nothing more annoying than having
your base stolen out from underneath you while you were launching an attack
somewhere else.
Rocket Guy ($300)
Rocket guy, great against tanks and aircraft and ok against buildings, terrible
against machine guns and toxins and flame. Can be upgraded to do another 25%
damage with ?AP Rockets? at ?Black market?
Angry Mob ($800)
This is a fun weapon, its like a whole heap of random people, who chuck Molotov
cocktails and riot, super deadly to tanks and buildings, quite weak against
rangers with flash bangs and gattling tanks. This one time, I was playing
someone in a 1v1, and one angry mob got through their defenses. Every once in a
while you get a super angry mob :).
Terrorist ($200)
Fun guy to use, comes strapped with explosives, very effective against
everything, if he can just get there. Weak against anti infantry defenses, very
annoying in large numbers at an American opponent. America have the weakest
infantry defense of all. Ayeej!
Hijacker ($?)
I never use this guy, but apparently he can take over enemy vehicles and is
stealthed. Requires a generals upgrade to get.
11.14 China Infantry
China's infantry is mid-range, coming out about average, better than GLA until
GLA have upgraded to Camouflage and AP, worse than America.
Red Guard ($300)
Basic rifleman unit, can be quite effective when combined with the all Red
Guard produced as Veteran's upgrade, can capture buildings, reasonably
effective against infantry, devastating in a massive horde. You get two at
once, every other country only gets one guy.
Tank Hunter ($300)
Basic rocket guy, can also place tnt charge, effective against tanks and
aircraft, weak against riflemen, flash bangs, flame, toxin, machine guns.
Hacker ($625)
Great unit, mobile money maker, and can disable enemy buildings. I always use
to make money, have never apart from one mission in the campaign used hackers
to disable buildings. The fact that they can generate money quite cheaply and
are mobile makes them great units. The Chinese equivalent to supply drop zones
and black markets. Build quite a lot of these, and spread them out widely. If
you do it right, hopefully they will be able to withstand most attacks with
minimal losses.
11.2 Vehicle Tactics
There are 4 main types of vehicles, anti armor, anti infantry, anti air, and
anti base.
In the anti armor category there is the US Paladin and Crusader, the GLA
Marauder and Scorpion, the Chinese Overlord and Battle master.
In the anti-infantry category there is the US Humvee, the GLA Quad cannon and
Technical and Toxin Tractor, the Chinese Gattling Tank and Flame Tank.
In the anti-air category, there is the US Humvee, when given the missile
upgrade, or filled with rocket men, the GLA Quad cannon, and the Chinese
Gattling Tank.
Anti base defenses include the US Tomahawk Cruise missile, the Chinese Inferno
and Nuke Cannon's, and the GLA Rocket Buggies and Scud's.
The rock paper scissors laws apply here as well, only with infantry, vehicles,
air, and buildings.
Big tank rushes are often effective, especially if combined with something else
destroying all rocket based defense for the most part.
Troop transports can prove effective when used in conjunction with engineer
style rushes.
Think big and you are more likely to succeed, also think about what you are
fighting and what would work best against that threat.
Be willing to change the structure and style of your attacks and defense if
they aren't working.
Think Big.
11.21 US Vehicles
All US vehicles can have drones purchased for them, these will repair, and add
infantry defense, while providing an extra target for long range anti air
attacks. US vehicles lack air defense, so mix in rocket guys, and give them
air cover when possible.
There are upgrades at the strategy center, for tank armor, drone armor, and
advanced training that are really worth getting, and the Humvee rocket upgrade
is at the weapons factory.
All up US vehicles come in midrange, stronger than the GLA, weaker than the
very strong Chinese vehicle spread.
Paladin ($1100)
This is the US heavy tank, requires a generals upgrade, but carries a laser
that is capable of shooting down enemy missiles, and damaging enemy infantry.
Good tanks to have as the core of your attack. Medium-long range, very
effective at all vehicles and most buildings.
Crusader ($900)
Good heavy main battle tanks, great at anti-vehicle and anti-building attacks,
weak against rocket men, aircraft, and rocket based base defense. Medium-long
range.
Humvee ($700)
Very fast units armed with a machine gun, and can have up to 5 units garrisoned
inside. Deadly against infantry when loaded with a path finder, reasonable
against isolated armor when loaded with rocket guys. All up too weak for my
liking, I'd rather have a tank. Can be upgraded to have basic air defense with
the addition of a missile. Medium range.
Ambulance ($600?)
Waste of money for the most part, automatically heals infantry, and can be used
to decontaminate anthrax and fallout. I've heard it can be useful, but I don't
use it.
Tomahawk ($1200?)
Great long range missile offense/defense, perfect for piercing base defenses,
weak when unguarded.
Extremely long range when combined with the range upgrade at the strategy
center.
11.22 GLA Vehicles
GLA does not come equipped with a good heavy tank, it is possible to get the
marauder if you decide, with the generals upgrade but it still lacks real meat
in it's vehicular capabilities. GLA's units tend to move quite quickly, but do
not pack as much punch as American or Chinese units. GLA also has no aircraft,
so be wary of air attack.
Marauder ($800)
This is the GLA heavy tank, essential if you plan on taking it to the enemy on
the ground mano a mano, unfortunately it requires a generals upgrade to
purchase. Strong against almost all vehicles, it can't stand up to a Paladin
or Overlord, weak against rocket infantry and air attacks. Can upgrade itself
by scavenging. Can be upgraded to fire a small amount of anthrax. Medium-long
range. Destroy with tanks and support units.
Scorpion Tank ($600)
This tends to be the core of the GLA ground attack, a light, relatively quickly
moving tank that is effective in large numbers against most vehicles. Will
tear apart humvees, get slowly taken down by larger tanks, and destroy most
things in between. Very weak against rocket infantry and aircraft. Can be
upgraded to fire a small amount of anthrax, I'm undecided over whether that's
a good upgrade. Medium range. Best thing is it's very cheap, so you can buy
lots of them, ?same price? as a Humvee and far more effective
Quad Cannon ($700)
Great anti-infantry/air/light vehicle unit, quite weak against tanks and base
defenses. Medium-long range. Kinda like a better version of the technical. The
best mobile GLA air defense. Destroy with vehicles.
Toxin Tractor ($?)
Almost useless unit, I never use it, only thing it's good for is the rare
occasion when you want to ungarrison some pesky enemies. Short range. Computer
uses it a lot.
Technical ($500)
Cheap utes with machine guns on the back, great as scouting units, can carry
infantry, and can upgrade of scavenged kills. Good against infantry, weak
against most vehicles and base defenses. Medium range. Can transport units,
but they can't fire out.
Rocket Buggie ($900?)
Effective rapidly moving long range artillery style unit, great against weak
stationary infantry and base defenses, especially when combined with an
assault, or as the first stage of an attack. Can work quite well defensively
stationed on guard behind base defenses. Long range.
Scud ($1200)
Requires a generals promotion, can fire an anthrax missile or a high explosive
missile, anthrax will rip though enemy infantry, extremely long range
artillery unit, very very annoying when used against base defenses and guarded
well. Is quite weak, don't let it get targeted by enemy units. Long range. I
feel no guilt about using anthrax.
Radar Van ($500)
This is the GLA radar, can do a radar sweep later on if researched at ?black
market/palace? that is equivalent to GPS sweep. Mobile, but very weak, and can
see hidden units. When fighting GLA humans, it is definitely worth targeting
Radar Vans.
Hide them at the back of your base, and every once in a while use alt to set a
series of way points for it and use it to sweep your base clean of enemy drones
when fighting America.
11.23 China Vehicles
China has the heaviest tank in the game, the Overlord tank. All up China's
vehicles come out very well, with strong all around main battle tanks, and
something for every niche.
Battle masterTank ($800)
This is the Chinese main tank, stronger than the Scorpion, weaker than a
Crusader or Marauder. Strong against vehicles and buildings, weak against
rocket infantry, air, bunkered rocket guys and patriot missile batteries. Can
be upgraded with Nuclear Tank and Depleted Uranium upgrades at the Nuke Silo.
Medium range.
Gattling Tank ($800)
Great against aircraft, infantry, and light vehicles, weak against rocket based
defense, bunkered infantry, stinger sites, and tanks. Longish range.
Flame Tank ($800)
Can put down a wall of fire that is lethal to infantry. This tank is great
against buildings and infantry, but terrible against enemy tanks and aircraft.
Short range.
Inferno Cannon ($900)
Long range artillery cannon, kinda like a napalm strike. Can create a burning
patch for a while in large groups.
Very effective anti base, can destroy base defenses at long range. Weak, guard
closely.
Overlord Tank ($2000)
The best tank in the game. Can be outfitted with a bunker, ($400) a propaganda
tower ($500), or a gattling turret ($1200).
They tend to live longest with a gattling turret, and having one with a
propaganda tower is great, that'll make all your unit's automatically heal.
With bunkers, they are cool to have but don't live long. Can be upgraded with
Nuclear Tank and Depleted Uranium upgrades at the Nuke Silo. The gattling
cannon is a great upgrade because it strengthens them against rocket infantry
and aircraft, their two key weaknesses, and one Overlord with a propaganda
tower will make all your units live twice as long. Medium-long rangeish.
11.3 Aircraft
Keep all aircraft away from air defenses for the most part.
Aircraft work best as a large mob, build lots of them and air fields if you
plan on being a serious contender.
I recommend using guard to deploy aircraft to area's. The great thing about
aircraft is they move really really quickly.
At times enemy strategic targets are undefended from air attacks, this is a
great time to strike with aircraft, especially against oil rigs, and any thing
else that's a soft target. Aircraft are quite effective at clearing garrisoned
buildings.
Keep aircraft a long way away from rocket guys, gattling tanks and quad
cannons, sam sites, just about everything that can shoot air. A few migs or
F-22's on defensive guard orders over your base defenses can be very helpful,
and in large numbers are totally lethal.
Air cover for a ground based attack definitely makes them live longer.
If you are under attack from aircraft a lot, consider building a lot of
randomly dotted around air defense buildings, or using a patrol of fighters on
air guard.
11.31 USA Aircraft
US aircraft are the best in the game, with a wider selection and more options.
I pretty much never build Aurora's or Stealth Bomber's myself, they cost a lot,
can't shoot aircraft, and die very quickly. A few helicopters on base defense
or combined with a large tank force definitely adds value as well.
Chinook ($1200)
Carries supplies, can carry 5 infantry units or a tank and a couple? of
infantry guys.
Vital for the American resupply effort in the early part of the game, later on
when supplies get empty they can be useful for a sneak paratrooper insertion
into the back of a base.
F-22 Raptor ($1400)
Upgrades: Advanced Training, Laser Guided Missiles, Strategy Center option
The best air superiority fighter in the game, absolutely perfect if you are
having trouble from enemy airborne assaults.
Also very good at taking airspace, tacked onto the edge of base defense, and
for quick attacks at unguarded units ie chinooks, oil rigs, power plants, if
your lucky.
They can be upgraded to do 25% more damage at the airfield. These are great
stationed defensively, or offensively.
I normally buy Raptor's when American.
F-117 Stealth Bomber ($1600)
Upgrades: Advanced Training, Laser Guided Missiles, Strategy Center option
These are best used when fighting the GLA, Chinese Migs or American F-22's will
destroy them quickly.
They are great units to have circling above base defenses, and since they are
invisible the enemy can at times be lulled into a false sense of safety about
attacking your base defenses. It's nice to have a nasty invisible surprise like
this waiting. A little bit too weak for my liking, but it does have potential,
just keep it away from air defense and everything that'll detect it.
Stealth Bombers require a generals upgrade, and aren't very stealth, getting
shot down surprisingly easily. They can be quite effective under computer
control, to defend against stealth bombers use things that have an ability to
automatically detect stealthed units, ie gla radar trucks, pathfinders/recon
drones/scout drones, overlord tanks, troop crawlers, gattling towers. If you
can detect them before they come into firing range, you can quite often destroy
them on the first pass.
Aurora Bomber ($2500)
Upgrades: Advanced Trainng, Strategy Center option
A very very nice bomber, the heaviest in game, it is unstoppable before it
attacks, however it is quite weak after it's attack. Too expensive however, and
too weak. The bomb is nice though.
Personally I don't think it's worth $5000 for two of these when you can have a
super weapon instead.
Aurora's can get shot down by two missiles from one SAM site, however they
always get through. They just don't always get back.
Attack Helicopter ($1500)
Upgrades: Advanced Training, Rocket Pods
Helicopters are great against tanks and infantry, really weak against air
defenses, , enemy aircraft, gattling tanks and quad cannons and rocket guys.
Great when mixed in with a large force of tanks. Helicopters can also slip
past/around defenses at bottlenecks at times, fly over water, and wreak havoc
in the back of someones base.
Helicopters are very effective at anti tank and anti infantry work, however
keep them VERY far away from rocket guys and dedicated anti aircraft units.
A few of these with rocket pods can decimate an entire area's worth of armor.
11.32 China Air force
Mig ($1200)
Mig's are great, especially when black napalm is researched, and the armor
upgrade is done. 12 or more is very deadly.
In large groups they can own just about anything. Mig's can engage aircraft,
however aren't as effective as American jets. The Black Napalm and Mig Armour
Upgrades are definitely worth getting once you have about two squadrons. Get
the Black Napalm upgrade at the war factory, the Mig Armour upgrade at the
airfield.
12. Building Tactics and Advice
Spread your buildings around, this minimizes the risk of losses due to super
weapon attacks. Excess power is good if you are an industrial country. It is
the only way to withstand a multiple super weapon battle, combined with wise
usage of your weapons.
Build production facilities (barracks, war factory/arms dealer) towards the
front lines, but still behind defenses.
If you are America and plan on using the Bombardment strategy, build your
strategy center within about half a screen of your key defenses, this way the
artillery on that will be useful.
Build all super weapons at the back of your base, quite spread out, with lots
of power stations in between.
It's cheaper to upgrade an American power plant than build a new one. Chinese
power plants are more powerful than American, but leave radioactive waste when
killed. This can be worth remembering when attacking China.
It doesn't hurt to put a few power plants right behind the defenses, the theory
being that when the defenses are gone those won't be necessary and will serve
as a buffer to delay their attack while reinforcements arrive.
A supply collector building per supply tray is worth having, with generally at
least 2 collectors, think 5ish if GLA.
Some buildings can withstand super weapon attacks, ie your command center and
other super weapons. Everything else will probably die. The best way to resist
super weapon's attacks is to have excess power, excess weapons, and excess
money. Power is the key though if they are China or America, destroy their
power to disable their super weapons and then you don't have to worry about
that.
Build a lot of power plants in the later stages of the game, when your hacker
farms/supply drop zones/black markets are giving you more money than you know
what to do with. This will increase the chances of resisting super weapons.
GLA buildings have a very cool grow-back feature, this comes in real handy. It
means they are harder to destroy in assaults, and can grow back. Great if you
are GLA and just manage to hold your defensive line, while suffering heavy
losses. Better not to suffer the losses though.
Buildings can be captured quite easily, so be wary and make sure you always
have some infantry that is capable of re-taking your base, or destroying an
infiltrating force. This can be especially dangerous when fighting the GLA.
Generally I build airfields at the rear of my base, seeing as aircraft move so
rapidly I feel this is safer for them. I think with tanks, they have to be
closer to the front line due to their slower max speed. Same with infantry.
Tech buildings are worth having, if you can't get them, destroy them.
All buildings are weakest while they are at 0% of being built, and get slowly
stronger.
All sides buildings are organized in Tiers, with Tier 1 buildings on the Top
Row, and Tier 2 on the bottom.
There is definitely a build order, or a pattern I would recommend. Generically,
this is
Start with Command Center and Builder
Build another builder, 3 if GLA, and Radar if China
Build power if US/China with the first builder, if GLA supply pile
Build a barracks with the second.
Go back to first, build supply collector building, build additional supply
collector unit/s (1-2 if China/US, 3+ if GLA)
Research capture building at barracks and capture oil derricks/setup way point
for rifleman built after to capture derricks
Get free builder and build war factory or defensive structure.
Shortly after you should have a strong defense, good supply lines, and a small
mobile force.
At this point, build a strategy center/palace/propaganda center.
Keep going, that's just the first tier.
The second tier consists of buildings you can build after you have completed an
arms dealer/war factory.
The really important thing is to spread your buildings out, and make production
buildings towards the front line, non productive buildings towards the rear,
income generating buildings should be guarded somehow, by a strong defense at
least, power plants should be spread widely.
If you build right, it will take multiple super weapons hits to destroy you.
12.1 Production Buildings:
Barracks ($500)
This is where you create infantry units. I tend to put mine close to the front
line, to allow for rapid reinforcement from the production line to the war
zone. When I am being attacked with tanks or vehicles, I tend to build rocket
guys here. When it's infantry I tend to build riflemen here.
War Factory/Arms Dealer ($2000)
You build your tanks and vehicles here, along with some upgrades. Generally I
tend to build it slightly further away from the front than the barracks, but
still quite close to where a lot of fighting is going to be.
Airfield ($1000, China/USA only)
Build this to the rear of your base, hopefully out of reach of enemy attacks.
Aircraft move so rapidly that it doesn't really matter how far away the target
is. The upgrades tend to be worth getting, once you have an air force.
12.2 Defensive Structures
Most defensive structures are vulnerable to long range attacks, and for
industrial countries, defense can be temporarily disabled by destroying power
plants.
These buildings are what will keep your base safe for the most part, so build
them well.
Back them up with aircraft or artillery when possible, and don't think twice
about a few tanks either.
Patriot Missile Battery ($1000, US)
Great defensive building, wonderful when backed up and build in triplicate or
more on a key point, intersperse with infantry and rocket guys. Unfortunately
not very effective against infantry, but deadly against vehicles and aircraft.
Quite effective, especially when they can relay the target information to
multiple batteries. Build in groups slightly spread out. Suicide bombers work
well against them unless they are scattered with infantry. Scud's and Nuke
Cannons are great at destroying these. Easiest to destroy when power has been
disabled first.
Bunker ($400, China)
Very effective when fully loaded with rocket guys, vulnerable against infantry
with that load out. Two bunkers on a key point will pretty much deter all but
the most determined tank assault, especially if you reinforce in real time. If
power is disabled these will keep working.
Quite hard to dislodge from the map without expending some serious fire power
if they are placed and guarded properly.
Gattling Tower ($1200, China)
Infantry and aircrafts worst nightmare, build these next to bunkers with
infantry on a one for one basis. Easiest to disable through power strikes or
heavy vehicle attacks (tanks, ranged weapons). Don't use aircraft against these.
Propaganda Tower ($500, China)
I class this as defensive because it's immobile. Great if you have a medium
sized force of tanks and infantry as a part of your base defense, will extend
lifespan dramatically. Well worth $500 if you use it's abilities. Can't fire,
use anything to destroy.
Stinger Site ($900, GLA)
Effective anti-tank and anti-air defense, can ultimately be rolled over easier
than any other countries defenses. Can regrow, build at least two at key
positions, backed up with armor and air defense to the eye fulls. Destroy with
ranged weapons, massed infantry, or super weapons, effective against tanks and
aircraft. Can be disabled by flash bangs, and toxin trucks/flame tanks.
Tunnel Network ($800, GLA)
Good anti-infantry machine gun on top, useless against vehicles, can rebuild
after it's been hit, you can hide units inside here and pop them out for a nice
surprise. Destroy with tanks, ranged weapons, super weapons, don't send
infantry against these.
Demo Trap ($600, GLA)
Quite entertaining and somewhat effective explosive device, if you know where
the enemy will have to go to attack you, and you can place a few, these can rip
through tank assaults. Stealthed. Use recon drone on tanks to detect this as
the US, troop crawlers or overlords as China.
12.3 Supply Structures
Oil rigs
These are the cheapest ($1000 of research, and a little bit of time) supply
buildings there are, making you wonderful returns. These are worth capturing
even at a high cost.
Keep an eye on them after you've caught them, they are worth defending.
If you cannot capture them, destroy them.
Supply Centers
These are all much the same, the GLA one costs $1500 and comes with one guy,
the Chinese one costs $???? and comes with a supply truck, and the US one costs
$2000 and comes with a Chinook.
These are worth tightly guarding in the first half of the game, before super
weapons and free money.
Chinook's are fun to use for random airborne infiltrations, you can go around
defenses quite easily if your lucky.
They are also worth destroying if possible. Build at least one per supply pile,
with multiple gatherers.
Power plants(US, China only)
These are good, build a vast excess once real super weapon wars have started,
if you hope to survive, and scatter widely.
Initially you will need a few to power base defense and buildings. Definitely
upgrade the American power plants, this is worth doing.
China's power plants are more powerful than American. If, as China, you
suddenly have extremely low power, the damage reactor option can help you while
you build more power plants.
If you have the option, build Chinese power plants over American.
I believe power is another resource that must be managed, so it fits into this
category.
Spread them out a lot, tightly grouped power plants are very inviting when
super weapons or Artillery/A-10's are used.
Black Market/Supply Drop Zone/Hacker Farms
These are definitely worth building as soon as you have enough free money,
either two of the buildings, a lot of hackers, or a super weapon as soon as you
can afford it will be good. These are essential if you are still in the game
after about 10 minutes or so.
12.4 Super Weapons
"You'd better be wearing 2 million spf sunblock on August 27th, 1998"
- Terminator 2
All the super weapons cost the same amount, $5000, and both the American and
Chinese ones take 10 power. In keeping with the GLA motif, the Scud Storm does
not need power. The American particle cannon seems to charge fastest, followed
by the nuke, then the scud storm. Remember, you can 'drag' this weapon, to do
some very nasty swathes to the enemy. Focus on what gives them money first.
You also need a war factory/arms dealer and palace/strategy center/propaganda
center to make super weapons.
All super weapons take two hits from other super weapons or a combo of super
weapon and artillery/A-10 strike to destroy.
All will completely destroy power plants and black markets and supply drop
zones and other 'soft' buildings, but will only damage command centers and
other super weapons.
Both the Nuke and the Scud Storm leave a field of infected soil that is deadly
to infantry, killing it instantly. The United States can decontaminate this
with ambulances, although this is generally pointless. I find I never use
ambulances, although I have heard they can be ok if you have a large horde of
infantry. The particle cannon can very quickly burn through infantry units,
and almost all buildings.
Building one of these after a few hackers, or a supply drop zone/black market
is pretty much essential in most games, and in some you'll want a super weapon
before anything else.
Sometimes it becomes necessary to use a super weapon to stop an enormous
assault, lead your shot slightly and don't hesitate if you have to sacrifice a
few of your own units in the process to stop the enemy - they would have died
anyways. Once, I had two tanks holding off a giant assault, and by dropping a
nuke at the right time I destroyed the assault about a second after both tanks
were destroyed.
The computer tends to target it's super weapons based on the amount of cash in
an area, say you have $6000 dollars worth of goods they are more likely to
target that even if there is a greater strategic value in $3000 worth of goods
at a key bottleneck for example.
The computer also doesn't think long term with it's super weapons so often will
not debilitate you with the first shot. Don't let it get in another.
If you spread your buildings widely you will be much less vulnerable to super
weapons, it also helps to have a contingency force that you can move in if key
defenses are destroyed by a super weapon. I tend to make this out of tanks and
anti aircraft/infantry units generally.
Try not to build them too close to other buildings/unit concentrations, when
they get destroyed they can quite easily destroy things nearby as well.
Often super weapon strikes are combined with attacks, so be very wary on all
fronts when a super weapon is about to strike, and if possible disable it
before the strike. If a super weapon strike occurs on defensive positions, a
follow up attack is quite likely.
To survive a super weapon strike on defensive positions, build a medium sized
combined force and hold it back from the front for a while, this works really
well for GLA, hide it in your tunnel networks, then you can pop it out if they
super weapon you and then attack you, you still have a fair chance of surviving
with moderate losses.
13. Tweaking Advice
It helps to have a streamlined computer. Other tweak guides go into more info
on how to do that. To start with, if you are having jerky play, lower your
graphics settings, right down to minimum, and even custom if necessary. This is
done from options in game.
Set your graphics card to lower and lower detail as well, this will help with
jerkiness.
If it's crashing randomly, or not working, reinstall.
Optimizeyour entire desktop if you want to get faster speeds.
Close all other open programs, disable visual effects in Windows, set your
virtual memory file to 1.5x your physical ram, defrag your hard drive. All of
that will help a little bit.
14. Special Command Information
Use Control+a number while you have a group of units selected, to designate a
numbered group, you can later recall that group instantly by pressing the
number you want.
Hold Control and left-click on a unit to force attack it with your currently
selected unit.
To set vehicle waypoionts, use the Alt-Key and left-click.
To move the camera's pov, hold the middle mouse button down, or use mouse wheel
up/down. To revert back to normal simply double click the middle mouse button.
If you want to add or remove one unit from a group at a time, hold shift while
you click on it.
If you hover the mouse over a function you use a lot, it will show you the hot
key required to use it, this may well be worth knowing.
The hot key for Guard is .
15. Conclusion
Play the game and you will improve.
Play multi player and win or lose and you will get better.
Remember, the key is money, make sure you have more, and you are diminishing
their ability to get it.
Figure out techniques and ways to use what you've got, the more pressure you
are under the more resourceful you must be.
Remember, it's kinda like painting your guy on the map and the other guy off
the map. Be nice to your allies, don't back stab them.
This is incomplete, maybe one day it will be slightly more finished.
Key assets are what makes them money and what produces them units. You can
fight units all day, but if you can't hit their money making apparatus or their
production facilities you won't win.
It is possible to beat anyone, all it takes is practice and dedication.
If you use information in this in another publication, please email me. It'll
probably be ok, but it may not be if you forget to tell me.
Thanks.
Respect
