Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour/China Mission 3

A bridge too far. This Carpet Bomber makes a suicide run to destroy the statue on the far east of the map. This tactic will avoid having to mount a costly land assault to the east and save precious time.

This mission attempted on the hard level is extremely frustrating. The time constraints placed on the player are rigid. There is practically no room for error. Many strategies that initially appear promising will lead to disappointing results because of lack of time for execution.

The GLA has demonstrated their domination of the region by erecting six statues. The longer the statues remain, the lower China’s international prestige will drop. If the “prestige meter” drops to zero, the mission will be lost.

Five of the statues are in the southern region, while one is located in the heavily-fortified northern base of the GLA.

Throughout the mission, you will be harassed by Rocket Buggies attacking your base defenses. Scud Launchers will wreak havoc on your tank battalions if they successfully launch against them.

Key Strategies

• Build two Supply Centers and build an extra Supply Truck at each location. Build two War Factories for rapid production. The time element of this mission is critical.
• Gatling Tanks should be placed on Guard mode on the west, south and southeast portions of your base to protect against sneak attacks.
• A few Gatling Cannons should be placed around the base for base defense. Have a bulldozer in the area to aid with repair.
• Important: The key to winning this mission is the successful use of Listening Posts to destroy Rocket Buggies -- and occasionally Scud Launchers. Have a ring of Listening Posts positioned outside of your base and lure the Rocket Buggies toward your tanks and Gatling Cannons positioned closer in toward your base. As the Rocket Buggies attack the tanks and Gatling Cannons, the Listening Posts will be able to destroy these pesky rodents. Losses will occur to the Listening Posts and will have to be replaced, but that is just the price of war.
• Use Cluster Mines strategically while using the Carpet Bombs to take out statues on the southeastern part of the map. This will save time and prevent the heavy losses that will be incurred fighting toward the heavily-defended eastern part of the map. Some Stinger Sites will have to be destroyed for the plane to reach the statue furthest to the east.
• Stockpile tanks to the south of your base and have them in reserve for the final push to the northern-most statue once all of the others are destroyed.
• Important: As if this mission wasn’t hard enough, Westwood altered the basic rules of the game and made it impossible to Carpet Bomb the northern-most statue – even if surrounding Stinger Sites are destroyed. The plane will veer off to the left and miss its target every single time. Dragon Tanks must be brought in to burn the garrisoned buildings surrounding this last statue. It is better to use the Carpet Bomber to soften up the defenses around the statue.
• CORRECTION: It is possible to Carpet Bomb the last statue despite this glitch. If you aim the Carpet Bomb at the occupied buildings to the southwest of the statue rather than at the statue itself then the rules change works in your favour. You need to aim such that the Carpet Bomb looks like it is roughly on the right line but will fall a bit short. When the plane actually drops bombs, they will inexplicably fly forwards towards the statue and destroy it. This has been repeatedly tested on hard difficulty mode.

Establishing Your Base - Destroying the First Statue

Red Guard are well-suited to take out these Stinger Sites. Have them continue north above the base to destroy two more Stinger Sites and the first statue. Almost no casualties will be sustained.

Start by building a Nuclear Reactor and Barracks. Move the hackers to the northeast of the Command Center, what will be a somewhat safe area in the middle of your base, and have them hack the Internet for cash.

Upgrade to Red Guard Training and create nine pairs of Red Guard. These will come in handy taking out local Stinger Sites.

Start building two Supply Centers simultaneously, to the west of the lower Supply Dock and to the south of the northern Supply Dock. While these are building, place one Gatling Tank on Guard mode on the far western part of your base, one on Guard mode to the southeast, and one directly south of your Command Center. You will be attacked immediately by Ambush forces, but these units should be able to take care of them.

Build an extra Supply Truck at each of the Supply Centers.

Have one of your units blow up the Demo Trap visible slightly to the east of your base. Move up your Listening Post slightly to the north to highlight the Demo Trap and destroy it. Don’t agitate the Stinger Site slightly to the north with your tanks.

Move up your Red Guard troops and destroy the Stinger Site. They are more effective than your tanks because they can quickly shoot the soldiers that are contained therein.

While sending your Red Guard further north, have your bulldozer build a Gatling Cannon north of the eastern Supply Dock. Have your Red Guard destroy the two Stinger Sites while this is building, then the statue. Immediately run back toward the safety of the base, as there will be an immediate counterattack.

Repel the counterattack with the assistance of your tanks, Gatling Cannon and the Tank Hunters located inside your Listening Outposts.

Repair your tanks. If you haven’t done so already, start cranking out vehicles. Start with two more Listening Outposts and five more tanks.

Move one of the Listening Outposts slightly below the cemetery (with the headstones) north of the base to await the Rocket Buggies that are about to attack. When the Rocket Buggies target your tanks and Gatling Cannon, the Tank Hunters can destroy these irritating, cowardly little vehicles.

It is challenging getting the Outposts in position without being seen, and they will often be destroyed. Keep rebuilding and replacing these Outposts as necessary. It is the best way to fight off these Rocket Buggy attacks.

Build a second Gatling Cannon closer to the north Supply Depot when you have the opportunity, being sure there is a Listening Outpost to the north of there. You may have to drop a cluster bomb on the rocket troops, so that troops exiting the tunnel network will be destroyed as you assault it with a small group of tanks.

Build a second War Factory and devote this one to building up surplus tanks. Have the Rally Point set to the south of the base and stockpile tanks as you get the opportunity.

The goal is to maintain your base intact, while suffering peripheral losses with a few tanks and Listening Outposts.

Destroying the Second Statue

Move Battlemasters to the east to take out the Stinger Site on the way to the second statue. Lay down Cluster Mines to slow down an impending counterattack and destroy the second statue by Carpet Bombing.

International Opinion will be lowering throughout your defending of the base. Before it gets too low, send a battalion of tanks due east to destroy the next hidden Stinger Site that pops up. In conjunction with this, lay down Cluster Mines on the path between this Stinger Site and the next statue slightly further to the east. Carpet Bomb the second statue. This will trigger a counterattack. Hopefully, the Cluster Mines will destroy some of the enemy forces. Pull back your remaining forces back to the base and repair your tanks. Hopefully, the Scud Launcher trailing your forces will be destroyed by Listening Outposts previously stationed in the area.

Strengthen your northern defense by moving five tanks over to the Gatling Cannon, being sure to maintain a Listening Outpost north of the area. Continue to have at least five tanks to the east also.

Build up another contingent of 18 or so Red Guard (or send five or six Battlemasters) to clear out the Stinger Site around the second statue previously destroyed. Continue north and destroy at least one more Stinger Site. If you shoot for destroying a third Stinger Site, there probably won’t be any survivors.

Destroying the Third and Fourth Statues

As the clock continues to tick away, there should be no problem Carpet Bombing the next statue a bit further to the east.

If the Red Guard or tanks were successful in destroying at least two Stinger sites, it is now possible to bomb the statue on the far east side of the map. It may not be successful every time, as there may be random Quad Cannons in the area. If the assault was not successful in destroying these two Stinger Sites, send other units to destroy at least those two sites. If opportunity presents itself, destroy at least one more Stinger in the area.

A successful pre-strike to the north with your Carpet Bomber will soften things up a bit for your final push to destroy the sixth statue.

Do not expend any more energy heading to the east.

Practically all of your time and attention will be devoted to fending off attacks from the north, the east and Rocket Buggies coming from the northeast. Continually replace units lost. If the Listening Outposts are not properly replaced, one Scud attack can take out an entire battalion of tanks. Don’t forget to constantly add to your reserve forces to the south for the final assault of the sixth statue, including five or six Dragon Tanks.

When opportunity presents itself, Cluster Mine the pass which is directly to the north of your base.

If you have a chance, Carpet Bomb the area below the western entrance to the northern base to destroy a string of GLA units.

Carpet Bombing the last statute can be tricky if you have the updated version of this game due to a glitch (see below). Therefore, you may have to destroy the next statues with ground forces. Diversion is one tactic you can use to destroy statues 3, 4, and the others. With a horde of tanks, gatling guns, a couple of troop crawlers and a few Listening posts targeting land mines and statues, use a about 10-15 (more is better) soldiers to attack the stinger sites and the motorized patrols. If (or when) you lose the soldiers, then split the horde of tanks, gatling guns, etc., into two or more groups. Leave one group to attack the remaining statues and other group(s) to respond to the GLA counterattack and stinger sites. Once the statues 3 and 4 are gone, immediately retreat everything back to base for repairs. Station remaining soldiers and tank busters inside buildings. The GLA counterattack will go after the buildings while you are retreating back to base. As stated above, while you are attacking, keep building new tanks, listening posts, gatling guns, and soldiers.

Destroying the Fifth and Sixth Statues

Carpet Bombing the fifth statue means "Go North, you massive horde of armor!!" Hopefully, you have stockpiled a large quantity of Battlemasters and Dragon Tanks for the final charge north.

The fifth statue can be easily Carpet Bombed. This will set the timer running for the final assault on the northernmost statue.

~~If you have the updated version of the game, (no carpet bombing), send a group of 15-20 tanks along the path to the east. Watch out for a demo trap between the entrance to the path and the first oil derrick, and drop a mine cluster just slightly north of the oil derrick to the east, to destroy enemies exiting the tunnel network as your tanks approach.~

By now, you should have a gigantic army of Dragon Tanks and Battlemasters. Move them en masse to the north, along with all other available units, destroying everything in their path. Have the Dragon Tanks slightly lag the Battlemasters, but not too far, as Rocket Buggies will sneak up to destroy them.

Suggestion: Garrison troops and tank busters inside building while heading north. This will divert attention away from the main assault and delay any counterattack from the rear of the main assault.

Dragon Tanks sneak north of these structures to burn out the troops in the garrisoned buildings.

It will be a true slugfest as you fight your way through the units and the Stinger Sites at the western entrance. Depending on the timing, there may be a scud launcher southeast of the stinger sites. Protect your Dragon Tanks as best as possible and move them to the far north behind the buildings as you approach the sixth statue. Burn out at least three of the garrisoned buildings. A GLA tank stationed next to the statue will harass your Dragon Tanks and may destroy them all. If this happens, move your Battlemasters in between the buildings -- shielding them from the fourth garrisoned building that is still occupied. From this shielded position, destroy this tank and the statue.

In this screenshot, three of the garrisoned buildings have been cleared by the Dragon Tanks. Slip Battlemasters in between these buildings to shield them from the remaining uncleared structures.

Mission accomplished!!

Side Note: For some reason, it is not possible to Carpet Bomb this last statue. The plane will veer to the west each time to drop its load. This is a bit disappointing that Westwood would alter the rules of combat without informing us.
CORRECTION: It is possible to Carpet Bomb the last statue. If you aim the Carpet Bomb at the occupied buildings to the southwest of the statue rather than at the statue itself then the rules change works in your favour. You need to aim such that the Carpet Bomb looks like it is roughly on the right line but will fall a bit short. When the plane actually drops bombs, they will inexplicably fly forwards towards the statue and destroy it. This has been repeatedly tested on hard difficulty mode.

Side Note2: Westwood made it even harder in the Command and Conquer First Decade release, Zero Hour 1.4 there you have NO carpet bomber at all.

Side Note3: Call it cheating, but you might consider saving your game under a new file before the final assault...it might take multiple tries to accomplish, and it's very irritating to start an entire mission over because a single scud launcher ruined your army.

Side Note4: CALL it cheating, but there is another way to destroy the last statue. Instead of wasting hordes of units by pummeling your way through to the north you can use a "glitch" to make the gla do your work. Use your dozer to build a bunker/speaker tower right behind the statue. Make sure your dozer doesn't run off and watch enemy tanks or RPG-soldiers wreck your building with one shot, causing splash damage. Repeating this process will destroy the statue on the long run. Speaker towers tend to work better on this since they are smaller. If you're low on funds, sell all the buildings you don't need to defend (command centre, supply stash or even weapon factories). Remember that destroying the statue that way will take some time, so best start with it immediately after having destroyed the fifth statue, or even before. If needed, this trick can be repeated with other statues too (even though it might be easier and faster to destroy them the traditional way).