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

This mission is extremely challenging. The Gattling Cannons and Bunkers are not as efficient as EMP Patriots or Laser Turrets for defense and surviving the tank rush can be a touch-and-go situation.

It is necessary to quickly turn your upgraded Overlords into your core defensive units, backed up by Speaker Towers to quickly heal them while they get lambasted by everything the Tank General can throw at them.

Just when you feel things are getting under control, enemy jets will attack your base. It is necessary to quickly add Gattling Cannons to beef up your defenses.

Emperor Overlords will be your greatest threat and can ruin an otherwise solid defense. Use your individual General’s Powers -- Cluster Mines, Carpet Bombing, Artillery Barrage and EMP Pulse -- to individually derail these threats.

Walkthrough
Basic Start: Build a Reactor, extra bulldozer, Barracks and Supply Center.

Important: Build two extra Supply Trucks. Super quick buildup is key.

Build a War Factory and Propaganda Center before building any base protection.

Immediately crank out two Overlord Tanks. Upgrade them both with Gattling Cannons before building any other structures.

Station the first Overlord very slightly east of your base. Station the second Overlord at the northwest corner of your base. Hopefully your base is somewhat compact and not too many vehicles will have to be chased in the middle, northeast part of your base.

(Note: Consider upgrading the northwest Overlord with a bunker, 3 tank hunters, and 2 minigunners instead -- early on this overlord will be attacked by a group of 3 Battlemasters and 4 Gattling Tanks -- the Gattling upgrade is not enough to hold them off).

Almost immediately you will have the funds to build a Speaker Towers behind both of your Overlords. These are true lifesavers. Make sure there is room within these Speaker Towers to place an Air Field.

Temporarily bring both tanks to the east to handle one onslaught of troops, then rush one of the tanks back to the northwest to again protect that area of the base.

Next build an Air Field and two MIG Fighters. They don’t pack that much punch but they “might” keep the Emperors from attacking as soon.

Build another Overlord upgraded with a Gattling Cannon and station it at the northeast corner of your base. Back it up with a Speaker Tower.

I don’t know if one time I got “lucky,” but on one mission the attack of the Emperors was delayed for quite some time. Other times, I was attacked right now by four Emperors. There is no easy way to fight them off. Go back to your previous save if you lose the battle. Use your General’s Powers to Carpet Bomb them, Cluster Mine them, Artillery Barrage them, attack them with your air units and, of course, your Overlords. Once you get the right combination, all three of your Overlords can survive this attack.

But there will be no rest. Immediately the air assault picks up. The Gattling Cannons on your Overlords can hold them off a few times, but it is necessary to build two land-based Gattling Cannons (as opposed to your Overlord upgrades) – one at the northeast corner of your base and one at the northwest corner.

Next it is time to build one more Reactor and then patiently wait for the funds to build your Nuclear Missile. You won’t have much leeway to get this done.

Build a third and fourth Gattling Cannon to help combat air units.

Your base is still not totally secure. Emperors will still approach your base, usually one at a time. Keep a lookout and use your MIGs to help damage the incoming Emperors.

Overall, put your MIG’s on Guard mode near the middle of your base to keep them away from Gattling Tanks. Have them in Guard mode for the air only when the air attacks begin.

Start building up your hackers before you totally run out of supplies. Once you have eight, build an Internet Center to house them.

Upgrade to Chain Guns at the War Factory as soon as possible. This will make both your Overlords much more powerful.

If you haven’t already, obtain Radar at the Command Center to help locate the enemy’s Nuclear Missile.

When your Nuclear Missile is ready to launch, be sure your Artillery Barrage is upgraded to level three and launch a dual strike to destroy it.

Actually, it is possible to destroy the Nuclear Missile with the Carpet Bomber and Artillery Barrage. If you destroy it in this manner, you can destroy the Propaganda Center with your Nuclear Missile to slow down the production of Emperor Tanks.

There is a side benefit to this. The bulldozer may be sidetracked to build the Propaganda Center instead of the Nuclear Missile and the Nuclear Missile may not be rebuilt again on this mission!!

It is highly recommended to upgrade your MIGs with Technical Nukes at the Nuclear Missile. After this, your MIG’s can literally flip an Emperor over. Very impressive.

Subliminal Messaging is also a nice upgrade once you have the funds. This will upgrade the protective powers of the Speaker Towers by 25 percent.

Offensive Operations:

From here on out, your base is fairly secure. Double up your defenses with Overlords, with your choice of upgrades.

Start building additional Overlords and Nuclear Missiles to assist in your offensive operations.

Once you send your Overlords out, you will want a large number of Gattling Tanks to escort them to help protect them from air assaults.

The defense will be spirited at the Tank General’s base.

If enough Nuclear Missiles are built, it is possible to destroy the Command Center, then the bulldozers as they return to rebuild it. If all bulldozers are destroyed, you can then systematically destroy their base without any structures being rebuilt.

It is not necessary to destroy Speaker Towers, Bunkers and Gattling Cannons for the Tank General to surrender.

Mission accomplished!