Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour/GLA Toxin General vs. GLA Stealth General

The Toxin General in this mission plays like a “weak” Demolitions General. It seems the toxin Marauders don’t quite carry the same punch as the regular Marauders.

This mission is extremely challenging – but manageable -- as there is no great defense against the Rocket Buggies. Even a pack of your own Rocket Buggies with maximum upgrades from the Black Market on Guard mode will take extensive damage from attacking Buggies without reacting. It can be a bit frustrating.

At the beginning, the Artillery Platform captured in front of your base is of great assistance and the assault is not too intense. After the enemy Scud Storm is destroyed, the Artillery Platform will probably be lost and you must be very hands on to deal with this nuisance.

The second main issue to deal with is the Sneak Attacks in the back of your base. Three or four Marauders and a Quad Cannon stationed in this area can handle this menace.

The third issue is dealing with the Anthrax attacks that hit your base. This walkthrough actually presents a plan to avoid these attacks altogether by building around six Quad Cannons early in the mission.

This walkthrough is a bit different than for the Demolitions General. Twelve workers are queued up at the beginning to be able to build two Scud Launchers in time to prevent a Scud attack on your base and also to avoid the Anthrax attack.

Good luck!

Key strategies

 * Build twelve extra workers so you can quickly build up enough credits for an adequate defense and the ability to build two Scud Storms before the Stealth General launches his own Scuds. The Scud Storm is located in the middle of the “cornfield.”  With this many workers, you should be able to build enough Quad Cannons to prevent Anthrax from hitting your base.
 * If you aren’t able to prevent the Anthrax from hitting your base, keep any ground units you build stationed on the outer edge of your base to protect them.
 * At the back of your base, put your buildings fairly close together so that the Sneak Attack tunnel is forced to come out on the “side” of these buildings. Have your Marauders waiting for them in this location so they can destroy the enemy vehicles as they leave the tunnel.  A Quad Cannon in the area will aid against Rebel Ambushes in the area.
 * Build both Scud Storms at the same time. This way you will not have to protect them from Sneak Attacks any longer than necessary.  Once you start building them you absolutely must send Marauders to the area in the back of your base to protect them.

Walkthrough
Queue up 12 extra workers. Build a Barracks and Supply Stash. Recruit two Research the Capture command, recruit two Rebels and capture the Artillery Platform and the oil derrick.

Build two Stinger Sites, above and below the Artillery Platform. Place them a bit closer to the base than the actual Artillery Platform, so that they will be safer from Rocket Buggies.

Build a third Stinger Site by the oil derrick to control any Ambushes that pop up.

Keep a worker near the front of the base to repair the Artillery Platform and Stinger Sites for as long as possible.

Build an Arms Dealer and Palace. Start cranking out two or three Marauders and one Quad Cannon to help defend each of the Stinger Sites.

As soon as the Palace is built, recruit Jarmen Kell and put him in Guard mode in the western valley leading toward your base to snipe infantry. If you have the time, snipe enemy vehicles. If you have time, have your armored units pick up “scraps” to strengthen the vehicles and receive extra credits.

You will experience about two Sneak Attack tunnels before you experience the Anthrax attack.

Don’t start your Scud Storm yet because this will cause a Sneak Attack to appear in the back of the base. Instead build Quad Cannons until you have about a total of six in the area at the front of your base. Hopefully this will stop the Anthrax attack.

As soon as you have 10,000 credits, simultaneously build two Scud Storms in the back of your base. Start a bit below the oil derrick and slowly building southward, leaving no room in between structures for Sneak Attack tunnels to appear. This will force the attacks to appear exactly where your defensive units are located.

Queue up and send before, during and/or after the building of the Scuds four or more Marauder tanks to the area. Back the area up with a Stinger Site too. Consider an extra Quad Cannon too, if you have the funds. Have your forces target the actual vehicles versus the actual tunnel for a more effective defense.

Until the Scud Storms start building, do not replace any lost Stinger Sites. The timetable is just too tight. You can replace some of your lost vehicles, but you can’t waste too many resources.

Hopefully the Anthrax will not hit your base. If it does, your forces in the back of your base should be out of the range of the Anthrax. Hopefully, most of your units in the front of the base will survive. Replace your workers and get them back to work.

If you have stayed on schedule, you should be able to complete both Scud Storms before the Stealth General’s WMD can launch. You might get lucky and only have to destroy the Scud Storm once.

When you have sufficient funds, build the Black Market and obtain all four upgrades that will strengthen your vehicles. They are all extremely beneficial.

Consider building a third or fourth Scud Storm to speed up offensive operations when funds permit. The above structures, though, are not your main priority.

Your focus now will be on dealing with the stepped-up Rocket Buggy attacks. I haven’t come up with any great solution to this problem, but here are some suggestions. Try to be proactive so that a large number of units are not destroyed while you are distracted elsewhere. If you reach a panic mode, you can even use an Anthrax attack from your General’s Powers to destroy these units.

Build massive Quad Cannons, Marauders and even Scud Launchers to deal with the threat by just sheer numbers. Jarmen Kell can snipe a few of these units, but they will come in packs of four and will carry quite a punch. You could also think about Demo Traps, which would probably be well worth their cost.

Another method I experimented with is having the Scud Launchers “force fire” on the ground with their Anthrax-laden missiles using the Control-Left Click command. When vehicles would “scoot” around this area, I would fire on them with Jarmen Kell and other units.

Rocket Buggies can also be utilized, but you must use them in a hands-on manner. In Guard mode, they will take damage without firing back.

The permanent solution is by destroying the two Arms Dealers as soon as humanly possible. As soon as the Sneak Attack tunnel is available from the Level 5 General’s Power, use this in combination with a Scud Storm or two in the area and place a combination of Quad Cannons and Marauders to hold the area.

Once the Arms Dealer is destroyed, there will be basically no resistance to holding the area. Do not go exploring after the area is secured. You don’t want to lose all of your units and have the Arms Dealer reestablished. Just have them baby-sit the area and focus on destroying the next Arms Dealer.

If you destroy the Arms Dealer to the northwest first, the northwest valley will no longer receive enemy attacks and you can focus on the single valley to the west of your base.

Repeat the same method to destroy the second Arms Dealer and hold the area with your troops.

At this point, it is just a matter of efficiently uncovering and destroying the rest of the GLA base. Take along a Radar Van to assure all of the buildings are revealed.

Here is a list of the eleven buildings that must be destroyed to finish the mission:
 * In the southwest base, going clockwise from the bottom:
 * Arms Dealer
 * Barracks
 * Black Market
 * Supply Stash
 * Command Center
 * Palace
 * In the northwest base, going counterclockwise from the top:
 * Barracks
 * Arms Dealer
 * Command Center
 * Black Market
 * Palace

By sheer perseverance, you will eventually be able to overwhelm the GLA. Send actual troops into destroyed areas to be sure structures are not rebuilt.

Mission accomplished!