Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour/China Infantry General vs. USA Laser General

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This level is initially extremely intimidating. You start out with a Command Center and bulldozer – while the Laser General begins with three Particle Cannons ready to blast away.

The land assault starts slowly and this will give you a chance to form rudimentary defensive positions by garrisoning the buildings centered between your base and the Laser General’s base.

Build a solid defense, create Internet hackers and accumulate enough funds to build two Nuclear Missiles at once. This way, they are less susceptible to destruction while being built.

Build two Gattling Cannons to the northeast of your base to defend against persistent Comanche helicopter attacks. An enemy Colonel Burton will also be attacking your base. Detection units are a must.

[edit] Walkthrough

Basic start: Build a Reactor, an extra dozer, a Barracks, Supply Center. Build a second Supply Truck. Purchase Radar to activate the radar map.

Key Strategies
  • Use the five civilian buildings to garrison Tank Hunters and Mini Gunners, backed up by an Inferno Cannon to protect the buildings from Laser Tanks. Build a Propaganda Tower in the area and have a dozer present to constantly repair the buildings. Eventually put Assault Outposts on both sides of the garrisoned buildings to keep Colonel Burton from slipping onto your base.
  • Keep rebuilding your Barracks if it is targeted by the enemy Particle Cannons. It only takes 500 credits to replace and will keep the energy beams from destroying other sections of your base.
  • The Laser General will not attack you with jets, but will utilize numerous Comanches to attack your base. Build two Gattling Cannons to the northeast of your base. These will be destroyed by Particle blasts. But don't worry. Simply keep rebuilding them until you can destroy their PC's.
  • Build two Nuclear Missiles at once as soon as you have over 10,000 credits. Be sure you have plenty of energy to keep them powered up. Destroy the Laser General’s pride and joy – the three PC’s at the middle of his base in one big bang.
  • Beware of the enemy’s Colonel Burton.
  • It is not necessary to destroy the garrisoned civilian buildings, Laser Turrets, Fire Bases and enemy units to win the mission.

Don’t forget to choose one of your General’s Powers.

Be sure that all buildings are placed far enough apart so that the Particle Cannons cannot destroy two buildings at once.

Sometimes enemy infantry occupy one of the five civilian buildings right in front of your base – and sometimes they don’t. If they have, you will need to build a War Factory and a Dragon Tank to clear the building before you capture the region.

If there are no buildings previously occupied, immediately build five Tank Hunters and garrison one in each of the buildings. After this, add Mini Gunners to each of the buildings to help protect the area from infantry.

Build the War Factory (if you haven’t done so already), and then the Propaganda Center immediately so that you can create an Inferno Cannon to park in the center of the garrisoned buildings. This is necessary to destroy the Laser Tanks that will target the buildings.

Build a Speaker Tower in the middle of the buildings. Have a bulldozer in the area to keep the buildings repaired.

By now, the Particle Cannons will start attacking your base. If you are lucky enough “just” to have your Barracks destroyed, rebuild it, and keep rebuilding at as many times as necessary. It takes only 500 credits to rebuild and will keep the ion blasts away from your other structures.

If it targets your Command Center, repair immediately or it will be lost on a subsequent blast.

Beef up your garrisoned buildings with five more Tank Hunters and five more Mini Gunners. This mission is “blessed” with a great bottleneck to protect your base. Take advantage of it. Add more units to these buildings as opportunity arises.

Build two Gattling Cannons to the northeast of your base, separated by a safe distance. You must keep these here to protect your base from Comanche attacks. They will be destroyed by PC blasts now, instead of your Barracks, but that’s okay. Just continue to rebuild them. The west side of your base will not be bothered by these attacks.

Add a Nuke Cannon to the area of your garrisoned buildings to beef up defenses.

It is also necessary to be wary of Colonel Burton slipping onto your base and detonating your buildings. It is possible to mine your buildings, but you can totally alleviate this threat by blocking the three entrances to your base.

Put a Gattling Cannon on the ramp leading down from the bridge to the east of the garrisoned buildings. Position Assault Outposts on both sides of the garrisoned buildings for their detection abilities (slightly back in a safe position) and your base should be protected from the elusive Colonel.

A lot of this mission is two steps forward and one back with the constant repairing, but you will make slow but steady progress.

Keep building Hackers and position them in different areas at the back of your base until you are happy with your cash flow.

After you have over 10,000 credits saved, build two Nuclear Missiles simultaneously. This may prevent the PC’s from targeting your Nuclear Missile two times in a row before it can repair and destroying 5,000 worth of infrastructure.

Once the Nuclear Missiles are completely built, attacks from enemy Particle blasts will not entirely destroy them and they can be repaired after each attack.

After the countdown, you can destroy the three enemy PC’s with either a double nuclear blast or a single nuclear blast and a hit with a level three Artillery Barrage.

Wait for your Nuclear Missiles to charge back up and you can then destroy the Command Center. When a bulldozer comes back to rebuild it, destroy it with an Artillery Barrage. As soon as all dozers are destroyed, no new structures can be built and you can slowly start taking the base apart.

Destroy first all Airfields, War Factories and Barracks.

Use your General’s Powers and armored units of your choice to destroy defenses at the very front of their base in case you decide to launch a ground assault. Or you can just use multiple nuclear strikes to finish the job.

It is not necessary to destroy the Laser Turrets, Fire Bases, garrisoned civilian buildings, infantry or vehicles to win the mission.

Once the frontal defenses are destroyed, a small ground force can perform mop-up duties of any structures left standing.

Mission accomplished!