Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour/USA Air Force General vs. China Tank General

Parroting the strategy used on this map with the Laser General (using massive Laser Turrets) or the Superweapon General (using massive EMP Patriots), you will encounter nothing but grief. A new strategy needs to be employed.

Using a massive front line of Patriots, even backed up with Raptors and Comanches, it will be a slow war of attrition that you will lose. “Regular” Patriots just don’t pack enough punch.

It is necessary to make a small but important change – deploy Fire Bases filled with Missile Defenders as opposed to the Patriots. Backed up with a Comanche and a few King Raptors, you can slowly make progress toward victory.

Walkthrough
Start with the basic Reactor, Barracks, Supply Center. Upgrade the Reactor.

Important: Build two extra Supply Helicopters.

Build two Fire Bases slightly east of your bases – running parallel north and south.

Fill up one of them with four Missile Defenders.

Build an Air Field directly west of your Command Center. Build a second Air Field northeast of your Command Center. You can now build the rest of your base around these giant structures.

Fill up your second Fire Base with Missile Defenders. The eastern flank is now pretty darn secure.

Build a Fire Base west of your base. Fill them with Missile Defenders.

Build a Comanche to help control infantry. They can be a real pest.

Build two King Raptors – and don’t lose them! Assign each Raptor a number for quick control. Your skills as a commander will come in play here, deciding when and where to attack.

Upgrade to Laser Missiles at the Air Field.

Gattling Tanks can prove deadly to your Raptors, so be careful. At times you can attack them if they have already honed in on another target.

Start building a War Factory and Strategy Center as soon as possible.

The action comes hot and heavy. You will be level 3 before you realize it. As soon as you hit level 3, start popping out the Pathfinders. It is essential to control infantry so that your Raptors can focus on the heavy armor. Station one to the east, one to the west, and when opportunity presents itself, station one in-between those two.

Because you haven’t built any Patriots, your power has gone a long way. It is time to build a second Reactor.

As soon as your Strategy Center is built, use your Carpet Bombing ability to bomb the Air Field on the northwest side of the enemy base. The air attacks that will be coming soon will inflict heavy damage, and it is best to minimize it as much as possible.

Select the A10 Missile Strike and upgrade to the third level. Attack the War Factory on the west side of the base. The eastern half is too well protected to attack at this time.

Important: Build a Supply Drop Zone before you forget. That supply pile is not going to last much longer. There is nothing worse than making great progress and suddenly realizing you are out of funds.

Build a second Supply Drop Zone in the back of your base. Creating a third Supply Drop Zone is also an option.

Start building a fourth Fire Base in-between the east and west flanks of your base and fill it with Missile Defenders.

Start building at least one Particle Cannon and three Auroras. Acquire the Countermeasures upgrade at the Air Field to help safeguard these bombers.

Continue using your General’s Powers to strike at the enemy’s War Factories and particularly the Air Fields to slightly slow down the enemy assault. The Spectre Gunship is able to destroy the eastern Air Field, although the other attacks are more successful on the western side of the base.

In the middle of the map, a number of Gattling Tanks will be congregating. Use your Fuel Air Blast to destroy these units. They can destroy your A10 Missile Strike aircraft and otherwise interfere with your offensive efforts.

Warning: Even after having four or five Fire Bases full of Missile Defenders and the Particle Cannon are ready to go, you can still lose this mission. The air attack from the Tank General can burn the troops out of your Fire Bases and cause a domino effect that can lead to the loss of this mission. A tip to stop the M15s burning out troops in the fire base is to use king raptors to guard the air around the fire base. The raptors will shoot down the M15 and their lasers will nullify any missiles it launches, however watch out for gattling tanks! This can also be done with combat Chinooks.

Because of this, the goal now is to destroy the Command Center and the three bulldozers located on the enemy base as soon as humanly possible. This can be accomplished with a Particle Cannon, Spectre Gunship and three Auroras. Afterwards, the Air Fields and War Factories will no longer rebuild and you can permanently rid yourself of the nuisance of these structures.

Be sure the Nuclear Missiles do not have time to discharge while performing the above tasks.

The bulldozers have a tendency to move around during the attack, so it can be a bit tricky. The following method should work.

Target the Command Center with the Spectre Gunship and the Particle Cannon. Use the Intelligence Command to reveal the map and destroy the three bulldozers with your Auroras. Hopefully all of these bombing runs are successful. It’s helpful to have an extra Aurora on hand in case one of your bombers gets destroyed. If you lose track of one of the dozers, it should be heading back to the area of the Command Center and you can destroy it as it starts to rebuild.

Be sure to target the Command Center first – otherwise, it will produce more bulldozers while you are destroying the others.

Afterwards, attack the Air Fields and War Factories as soon as possible.

A strong final attack will be experienced at this time. Be sure your defenses are up and running.

Once you have survived to this stage, continue dismantling the enemy base from air and/or land at your discretion. It is not necessary to destroy the Bunkers and Gattling Cannons.

Congratulations! Mission accomplished!