Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour/GLA Toxin General vs. USA Air Force General

The Air Force General is extremely single-minded – air assault, air assault, air assault. Because of this, it is much easier to plan your early defensive efforts, focusing entirely on anti-air defenses. The Air Force General will not mount a ground campaign at any time during this mission.

It is fairly easy to survive the early rounds of bombing, but don’t become complacent in your defense! As the Air Force General levels up, he will have more attacks available from his General’s Powers, including the Spectre Gunship. Make sure you continue building your anti-air defenses even if you feel somewhat secure.

An additional strategy to help mitigate the enemy’s air power is to build four RPG Troopers and place them in the four small buildings near the river. The aerial assaults directed at these buildings take a lot of pressure off of your other forces.

Key strategies

 * Immediately research the Capture command at the Barracks and build two Rebels – one to capture the oil derrick right by your base and one to capture the one further to the west. The western oil derrick will be destroyed in the first strike, but you need the credits you are able to generate before then to prepare for the first aerial assault.
 * Use the four small civilian structures to garrison your RPG Troopers. Create six Stinger sites backed up by the same number of Quad Cannons during the mission. The Stinger Sites are necessary to detect stealth jets flying over your base.
 * Continue to repair the garrisoned civilian buildings with your workers. The air assault will continue for quite some time and you want to keep these structures healthy.
 * From the Black Market, upgrade the strength of your Rocket Buggies with Buggy Ammo and AP Rockets. Junk Repair will automatically repair all of your vehicles.  The AP Bullets upgrade will improve the strength of your Quad Cannons and Technicals.

Walkthrough
Create about seven additional workers. Build a Barracks and a Supply Stash. Research the Capture command and recruit two Rebels. Have the first Rebel capture the nearest oil derrick, while sending the second Rebel to capture the derrick further to the west. The oil derrick to the west will probably be destroyed on the first bombing run, but you can at least take advantage of whatever resources you receive until then.

Build an Arms Dealer and two Stinger Sites. Recruit four RPG Troopers and station them in the civilian structures by the river.

Continue to build another two Stinger Sites as you crank out as many Quad Cannons as possible. You can start building your fifth and sixth Stingers on the ends but they may not be finished until after the first bombing run.

If you want, recruit another four or more RPG Troopers and again station them in the civilian structures. No need to build too many because of the anti-air defenses the jets have.

The air attacks will begin and will continue for quite some time until the Air Force General runs low on funds.

Try to maintain a constant of at least six Stinger Sites and six to eight Quad Cannons as the Air Force General continues his attacks. Continue to repair and replace lost units. Keep the Quad Cannons in two distinct groups – one on the east and one on the west of your base. They are more effective in this manner and it is easier to tell if it is time to replace a lost Quad. Once they “rank up,” they can become quite powerful.

Although Quad Cannons are quite effective against air units, your Stinger Sites are needed to detect the Stealth Bomber.

Important: If possible, keep your civilian garrisoned buildings repaired.

Continue filling up your civilian structures with RPG Troopers, as desired. The one downside to this is if a structure is destroyed, all of the troops inside can be lost.

Go ahead and get the top-level Cash Bounty to improve cash flow once you reach Level 3.

Consider obtaining the Repair skill. This can save a Quad Cannon or two along the way. 800 credits here and 800 credits there adds up. Send your Quad Cannons back for repair at the Arms Dealer when necessary.

Purchase a Radar Van to activate the radar map on your control panel.

Offensive operations
Build a Palace only when things calm down a bit. By this time, you should have over 17,000 in credits.

Build two, three or four Stinger Sites to the east of the oil derrick directly along the river. Then place three Scud Storms behind them. If you squeeze things in, you can fit up to five Scud Storms east of the oil derrick.

It pays to wait to build your Palace, because it is a popular target and is very expensive to replace. Once you build your Scud Storms all at once, there is no pressing need to rebuild it again. Because the Scud Storm for the Toxin General is not that powerful against buildings, it will actually take four of them to destroy the Command Center, so you may want to launch a ground assault instead.

If you do build five Scud Storms, target four of them at each corner of the Command Center. Use the fifth one to destroy the final dozer.

For a ground-oriented assault, build a Black Market. From the Black Market, purchase the upgrades Buggy Ammo and AP Rockets. This will turn your Rocket Buggies into true fighting machines, especially when grouped in large numbers.

All of the upgrades at the Black Market are worth acquiring. Check them all out.

With your Rocket Buggies, you can destroy the garrisoned civilian buildings and Patriots while outside the firing range of the enemy. Be sure to put a leash on them, though, or they will stray too close to enemy fire. “Usually” using the Guard command will help keep them under control.

Starting with a group of about four Rocket Buggies and four Quad Cannons (for anti-air protection) start exploring toward the enemy base on the other side of the river. Destroy any garrisoned buildings and the large group of infantry gathered by the Supply Dock.

You can also capture the two oil derricks on the other side of the river (and the three oil derriks on the far north side of the map). Station Quad Cannons in the vicinity to protect from air attacks.

Once you approach the base, destroy the Patriots with your Rocket Buggies while protecting them from air attacks with your Quad Cannons. Losses will be sustained. Troops can be replenished more quickly by creating a Sneak Attack tunnel in the area.

Enemy jets will step up their attacks and they will slowly pick off your units. Try to make steady progress or the attrition rate will grow.

Mission accomplished!