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

Hard Difficulty
Once again, it is very important on this level to spread out your base. While on easier difficulties it may be possible to play without getting hit by a scud storm, I was unable to avoid it on hard difficulty. (Check below for strategy to avoid being hit by Scud Storm.) The first strike came too soon before I had the ability to take out the scud site. Watch his countdown timer, he will not delay his strike. It will take out your command center so be sure your dozers are a safe distance away so that you can rebuild.

Start this level building an additional dozer. Remember to put a little distance between all structures and build your barracks, Nuke Reactor, and Supply Depot. Now it is time to set up a few base defenses.

Build a Gattling Cannon right next to the Oil Derrick (just a dozer width away to the northeast.) There is a slight hill to the northwest of the Oil Derrick (a little more than halfway between your command center and the bridge); build a bunker on this hill and flank it to either side with two more Gattling cannons. When you fill the bunker with rocket troopers, it and the Gattling cannons should do a very good job of protecting your base from the initial assaults. The Gattling cannon next to the Oil Derrick will stop the first flanking attack which is a about 4-6 rebel soldiers, but it will need more help to stop the next wave. Build a Bunker to the southeast of the Oil Derrick lined up to be directly south of the Gattling cannon. When this is full with rocket soldiers, it and the Gattling cannon will effectively stop the bomb trucks that come from the east.

Build your war factory, propaganda center, and a nuke cannon unit. Use the Nuke cannon to take out all opponent structures on your area of the map (everything southwest of the river) Make sure all of your structures are a safe distance from your command center as that will be the most likely target of the initial scud storm. Also build an extra Nuclear Reactor (or two) to keep power supplied to your Gattling cannons it the scud storm manages takes out a reactor.

Build a internet center and fill it with hackers, this will keep the money coming in while the scud storm prevents you from collecting supplies. You should also build a few overlord tanks to help with the northern defense as well. Have a few extra red guard around to reclaim your tanks, because they will be targeted by Jarmen Kell. Keep them in a bunker or safe building because around this time a toxin bomber(GLA General Power) will drop toxins in your base. (For me this a short time before the first scud storm attack.) If your dozers are taken out buy this toxin bomb, quickly rebuild at least one or two and keep them away from the command center, because you will need one to rebuild the command center after the scud storm.

If you have not already done so, be sure to put up a little defense (A bunker and one or two Gattling cannons) on the western edge of the map near the other Oil Derrick. Very few attacks come via this route, but you do not want to be caught off guard if and when they do. Build your Nuke Silo and your airbase (if you want one) now. Once again an airbase is not necessary on this level, but air power can help destroy artillery platforms and provide some additional defense, but they nearly useless as a frontal base attack due to the amount of anti-air defenses.

Use a few Overlord Tanks to move your northern perimeter to the edge of the bridge. (3 should suffice, I usually use 1 with each upgrade for this purpose) Then strengthen your position here with a bunker, speaker tower and 4 to 6 Gattling cannons. While that many Gattling cannons is overkill to stop the frontal assaults, having enough anti-air in this spot is vital to stop the toxin bomber every few minutes and will make your base a lot safer.

Build a few more Overlord Tanks and use them to expand your perimeter to the east. Take out the arms dealer and head north to setup another defensive position at the bridge. (Once again set up the defense with a bunker, two Gattling cannons and 3 overlord tanks.) You will probably need to take destroy the artillery platform north of the river in order to have a safe defensive position.

When you nuclear missile is ready, use it to destroy the scud storm in combination with the artillery barrage (Generals power) to deliver a one-two punch. After it is destroye a few times, The Toxin general will stop rebuilding it. When he stops rebuilding, uses your nukes and generals powers to soften up his front lines and buildings. After a little softening, go and mop up the rest of his troops with a few overlord tanks/nuke cannons. So much for the end of another opponent.

One other thing is that on this level there are a few toxic bunkers. The need to be destroyed. When you destroy them, they leak toxins over a large area (similar in diameter to the toxin bomber power.) The bunkers near your base should be taken out early with a nuke cannon or a close Gattling cannon before you build a lot of units. Be sure no one is near when you destroy them. The bunkers to the east can be destroyed anytime, preferably before you expand your defensive perimeter to that side of the map. I have not tried this, but you may be able to avoid there destruction by capturing the building with black lotus. If that works you probably should repair the building with a dozer so that it is not a ticking time bomb and a target for enemy troops.

Alternate Strategy
This mission is quite hectic at the beginning. It is necessary to survive long enough to build a Nuclear Missile before the countdown begins for the GLA’s Scud Storm.

Once you get the Nuclear Missile built (in time) and three Overlords built for protection, things flow along more smoothly. It is necessary to stay extremely alert to protect your tanks from Truck Bombs and Scud Launchers.

Good luck! Walkthrough:

Basic start: Build a Reactor, an extra dozer, a Barracks and Supply Center. Build a second Supply Truck. Research the Capture command and create a Red Guard unit. Capture the oil derrick.

Save your General’s Powers for the third level Artillery Barrage.

The time sequence is tight here. Build two Bunkers, one to the east slightly below the oil derrick and one to the north of the base. Build two Gattling Cannons, one slightly to the north of the oil derrick and one to the north of your base by the Bunker.

Your base is at higher risk from the north, so first recruit three Tank Hunters for your northern Bunker, then three for your eastern Bunker.

Build a War Factory, then put two more Tank Hunters in both the northern and eastern bunkers.

Your base is actually quite secure to the east now and you just need to worry about the north.

Immediately build a Gattling Tank and a Battlemaster. These two vehicles are necessary to attack the Scud Launcher that will appear shortly. Try not to lose them!

Next build a Propaganda Center. This is necessary to get your Overlords rolling off the assembly line and then your Nuclear Missile up and running.

Purchase Radar to activate the radar map.

Build your first Overlord and upgrade with Gattling Cannons. Keep the Overlord to the west of your Bunker and Gattling Cannon to help keep him safe from Jarmen Kell.

Move any extra Red Guard to slightly behind your northern defense to recapture vehicles disabled by Jarmen. Keep an eye out for him and attack with your Gattling Tank.

As soon as you have 4,500 credits, start building your Nuclear Missile. As soon as you have an additional 1,200 credits, start building an additional Nuclear Reactor. Your nuclear missile should be ready to fire about a minute before the Scud Storm is ready.

Keep an eye on your resources. As soon as you have the funds for a second Overlord, build it and upgrade it with the Propaganda Tower. This will help all of your Overlords survive the Anthrax attacks.

Build a third Overlord and upgrade it with a Bunker. Either move the Tank Hunters from the northern Bunker into this unit or create another five Tank Hunters to power up this Overlord.

Your Overlords can now hold the northern flank and survive Anthrax attacks. Congratulations!

Your Overlords are now actually strong enough to destroy the Stinger Site and Toxic Bunker to the north of your base. This will help prevent you from accidentally wandering into their path later on and will position you far enough to the north to protect your base from Scud Launchers.

You can now relax a bit and build yourself an Internet Center. Wait until after the Anthrax attack before building hackers as they might be fumigated on the way to the Internet Center. Go ahead and build eight hackers, placing them in the Internet Center. You won’t have to worry about funds the rest of the mission.

Be careful and baby-sit your Overlords or Truck Bombs can destroy them.

Important: Research Chain Guns to make your Overlords more powerful.

Select Artillery Barrage (Level 3). Use this General’s Power along with your Nuclear Missile to destroy the Scud Storm.

From here on out, build up additional Overlords and Nuclear Missiles to your heart’s content. Move east, destroying Artillery Platforms and garrisoned buildings with Nuclear Missiles and your General’s Powers. Destroy the Arms Dealer to the east and start moving north.

Muscle your way north of the river, making sure the garrisoned buildings in the area are destroyed from above.

Don’t be shy about using your nukes. The Barracks will crank out dozens of RPG Troopers to shred your Overlords, so blast it to oblivion.

Don’t get overly confident yet. The Palace to the north is fortified with RPG Troopers also and, again, the second Barracks to the far north is going to crank out massive RPG Troopers. Again, don’t shy away from weapons of mass destruction.

Destroy the rest of the GLA base and victory is yours.

Mission accomplished!