Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour/China Tank General vs. China Nuke General

Hard Difficulty
On this level it can be difficult to get a foothold. You need to quickly ramp up to get the propaganda center so that you can build Emperor tanks, a Nuke Silo, and an Internet Center filled with Hackers. General Tao will probably have all 5 Nuke Silos online before you have one. He also has plenty of power so destroying Power Plants is not effective at disabling the nukes. Plan your base layout with space between buildings because chances are at least one Nuke will make it through. Also place buildings along the side and bottom edge of the map to minimize the damage done to your base if/when a nuke hits.

Be sure to have 3 Dozers at all times and keep them spread out You will need them to rebuild your propaganda center and repair buildings damaged by nuclear fallout. It is important that you build a Nuke Silo of your own; he will target it, but you need it in order to research Uranium Shells and Nuclear Tank Upgrade for Power and Speed.

On this level and air force is essential for your defense. I built 2 airfields and filled them with planes. This is expensive for a Tank General but it is necessary to destroy Nuke Cannons. Have two planes patrol the hill North of your base (on the western edge of the map) Have another two patrol the outer boundaries to the Northeast of your base. The remaining 4 planes Should also patrol the northeast boundary to you base, but keep them on a separate grouping as well to let them carry out a few airstrikes and to follow your assault force to protect it from nuke cannons.

Do not bother building Gattling Cannons for base defense. Instead use a few Emperor Tanks around your base along with your Migs for base defense. For the most part, the enemy will send small attack forces against you; usually one or two Nuke cannons. On occasion he will send an Overlord tank and two battlemasters along with a Nuke Cannon, but your overlords are usually strong enough to take out any of his tank assaults. His main weapon against you is the 5 Nuke Silos (which can be pretty devastating.)

Now for your assault... In the center of the map is a dry lake bed with a few perpetual radiation fires. Scattered in here are also a few Nuke Cannons. Take them out from the air. Also on the southern edge of the Dry Lake bed is a garrisoned tower next to a Nuke cannon. Take 4 of your Migs and assault it at once. When you use 4 fully armed migs at once and attack the same target, it creates a fireball effect. The fireball will take out everyone inside the building and the Nuke Cannon (However their Tank Hunters will probably destroy one or two of your Migs in the process.)

Just north and a little east of the Dry lake is a Dump truck with a nuke inside its bed. If you hit it with an artillery barrage the Nuke will explode causing lots of collateral damage to any enemy units (and your own) that are near it. There is another one of this trucks just inside the enemy's Eastern expansion base. Taking it out with make your assault on that base a lot easier.

Take your tanks and attack the east base initially. You can destroy two nuke silos here and it is easiest place to start the attack. There are only two things that will give your tanks any cause for concern: Nuke Cannons and Garrisoned Buildings. You should always have some planes on patrol near your assault force to take out the Nuke Cannons. To take out garrisoned buildings use artillery barrages, dragon tanks, and the fireball effect of a 4 plane Mig strike.

After the assault to the east, head due north. The north east corner is where the enemy has his command center and propaganda center. When you take out the propaganda center, he can no longer build nuke cannons making the rest of the level a little easier. At this point he still has 2 or 3 Nuke Silos which are a definite threat, but just sweep due west with your assault force to methodically eradicate the enemy.

On this level, Black Lotus is an excellent scout. Keep her hidden and let her uncover many of the nuke cannons and other threats in front of your forces.

This level was challenging on hard difficulty, but it is about to get worse...

Alternate Strategy
This mission would be much more difficult if it weren’t for the fact that the Nuke General’s aim can be easily diverted.

The first nuke will hit your base if you don’t destroy it first. You can destroy it with a combination of multiple MIG attacks and the level three Artillery Barrage. You may lose some MIGs in the process. You will have to hunt down a few stationary Nuke Cannons with an Emperor tank or Helix to get to level three before the first nuke fires.

After this, the nukes can be distracted to hit in the wilderness north of your base. Simply park some Helixes in this area as a distraction.

The Tank General’s main strength is not utilized greatly in this mission, as Helixes do most of the work. This mission can be played in an extremely similar manner to the Infantry General’s strategy. The main difference is that the Infantry General has Assault Helixes that can be filled with Mini Gunners.

Walkthrough
Basic startup: Build a Reactor, extra dozer and a Barracks. Build a Supply Center to the west of the Command Center so the Supply Trucks will have access to both Supply Docks. Build an extra Supply Truck.

Research the Capture command and recruit three Mini Gunners. Capture all three oil derricks on the east side of the map. Don’t worry about defending the two furthest to the east. You will at least receive some startup capital to quickly get you rolling.

Alternate plan: Build five Helixes as opposed to three. Have a Helix guard each of the oil derrricks, loaded with troops as described below. You will not need to build any Hackers and you will still have plenty of cash flow. This method is recommended as you have plenty of time to build and position the Helixes.

Build one Gattling Cannon to the east and one to the north to help destroy enemy Helixes and infantry.

Build an Airfield and three Helixes. Add bunkers to all of these units and add three Tank Hunters and two Red Guard to each of them. This will take a while to get them all loaded, but this strategy doesn’t require great speed. With this mix of troops, both infantry and armor can be destroyed.

Put them in guard mode on the east, northeast and west part of your base. Be sure they are far out enough that they will protect your base from the long-range Nuke Cannons.

(Again, alternatively, have a fourth and fifth Helix to protect the two oil derricks to the east.)

Build a War Factory, a Propaganda Center and a Nuke Missile.

At the same time, build four MIGs. Have them attack the middle Nuclear Missile at least twice. You may lose some aircraft, but that’s okay. Just replace them.

It is really tight as to whether you will reach Level 3 (in order to receive the Level 3 Artillery Barrage) in time to destroy the first Nuclear Missile. You will have to hunt down Nuke Cannons parked in the middle of the map with an Emperor and perhaps one of your Helixes. Be careful or you may lose some Helixes in the process because of the garrisoned buildings in the area.

Although I didn’t test this, you can probably survive this first nuclear strike if the others don’t hit your base.

After the first Nuclear Missile (whether destroyed before or after it launches) keep a number of your Helixes north/northeast of your base so that all remaining nukes will explode off in the center of the map. Evidently, the Nuke General’s aim is not very good. Your base will not be hit the rest of the mission.

A mere three Helixes will provide an excellent defense of your base and you can continue at your own pace to build Power Plants and Nuclear Missiles.

Methodically take out the remaining nukes with your General’s Powers (Carpet Bombs and Artillery Strikes) and nukes. Your Carpet Bombs will only reach the southernmost nukes on both the east and west sides of the map.

One strategy that will speed up the destruction of the rest of the base is to attack the Nuclear Truck that is parked on the east side of the map by the three quonset huts. Carpet Bomb this truck to destroy all of the structures in the area. Your Carpet Bomber can then reach the Nuclear Missile furthest to the north or the Reactors in this area.

If you don’t want to launch a ground assault, keep building nukes as fast as the funds come in. You can attack some of the western structures by Helixes filled with Tank Hunters while waiting for your nukes to launch, although this will be a costly method. Carpet Bombs can also be used for structures on the far southwest edge of the base.

If you choose to attack the enemy base by land, avoid all “hot spots,” as the radiation will destroy your vehicles.

The Nuke General does not rebuild his structures, so there will be no back-and-forth rebuilding like in the Toxin General mission.

It is not necessary to destroy armor, infantry, Bunkers, Gattling Cannons and garrisoned buildings to achieve victory.

Mission accomplished!