Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour/Laser

General "Pinpoint" Townes has capitalized on the USA's technological superiority with the use of lasers in his general strategy. It could be argued that of the three USA generals, Laser differs least in build from the base faction. However, his tempting tactical advantages can lead to misuse of his army, and open up his one true weakness: his power dependency.

Army Modification

 * Crusader and Paladin Tanks are replaced with Laser Tanks (requires 1 unit of power per tank)
 * Patriot Missiles Turrets are replaced with Laser Turrets (requires 5 units of power instead of 3 per turret)
 * Avengers cost less ($1500)
 * No Tomahawks are available
 * Cold Fusion Reactors produce 8 units of power instead of 5 (can be later upgraded to 16 with Control Rod upgrade)

Army Unit

 * Laser Tank - Fires an intense beam of laser at the enemy, which can make short work of them within seconds. The weakness of them, however, are their slow firing-rate, and their dependency on power. Each Laser Tank costs 1 unit of power and become inactive if the power level is not maintained, making the mass production of it difficult.

Army Structures

 * Laser Turret - Although it requires a significant amount of power, the Laser Turret can cut down ground and air units with efficiency by dealing heavy damage upon enemy forces. A few Laser Turrets guarding a choke point is an almost impenetrable defense, saving artillery units.

Build Orders
Build order:
 * Power Hungry
 * Dozer 1: Reactor>Reactor>Reactor...
 * Dozer 2: Barracks>Supply>Supply2
 * Dozer 3: Reactor>Reactor>Reactor...
 * Dozer 4: War Factory>Strat Ctr> Supply Drop...
 * Dozer 5: Defence Structures

This is not the most ideal strategy, but you won't have to worry too much about power. This particular faction (in vanilla) is the dullest faction, as it does not have as much "flamboyance" as other factions. The lack of artillery is a great setback as well, as it means that you will have to devote thousands of resources to head-on attacks. This can be compensated with airforce, but the inconvenience can be quite annoying at times.

Strategies
Offense:

The laser tank is more of an actual "tank" than any other faction's tanks, I'd argue, even "tankier" than the overlord. An army of several laser tanks & avengers to shoot missiles is nigh unstoppable, especially if you bring along rangers to soak up additional damage & take out enemy infantry (& replace their losses with paratroopers over time). Nuke cannons could effectively counter such an army though so make sure to have good intelligence (the ranger's sight range is helpful in this regard) & take them out with aircraft before they get a shot off.

Defense:

The Laser patriots are very effective against infantry, but in the long run, you're better off using an army of tanks & avengers w/ pathfinders stationed nearby to defend your base. Because your tanks require power, superweapons & generals powers can ruin everything for you. Spread out your power plants best you can. In the long run, you must attack to survive.

VS Superweapon General:

The alpha aurora bomber can devastate an entire army easily. Their payload is unstoppable, and even if the plane gets shot down, it only has to do $2000 in damage to be worth the investment. To counter, scatter your army, this will weaken it substantially, but SW Gen isn't capable of fielding a real army so you don't have to worry about that. If you can get enough avengers to render SW Gen's EMP patriots useless you can break through their outer defense & the game is yours. If SW Gen activates her first particle cannon with several more on the way, get on your knees and pray because the end is here.