Command & Conquer: Generals/Scorched Earth

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U.S. bombers on loan to China for cluster bombing operations.

This is a night mission on a large map containing four GLA bases that must be destroyed. Not every GLA building on the map must be located and attacked. The narrator will tell you when a base is considered neutralized.

Keys to Success

• This map has a myriad of demo traps. They are all bundled in groups, so hitting one demo trap will destroy an Overlord tank each and every time. Upgrade your Overlord tanks with gattling cannons and you will be able to detect the mines!! The gattling cannon upgrade will also allow the Overlord tanks to be practically impervious to infantry attacks. (Troop carriers can also detect demo traps.)
• Have your Overlord tanks guard the front of your base with the security of a gattling cannon and Battlemaster tanks next to them. This will help promote your Overlord more quickly, although it is still a somewhat long process.
• Be careful when you are not babysitting your Overlord, as it can be destroyed by a rocket buggy without any form of audio warning of this event.
• Create a dozen or so hackers and hack the Internet for plentiful cash flow.
• Upgrade the Capture command at the barracks and capture the oil derricks on the southwest side of the map with your Red Guard troops. These oil derricks must be protected or they will be destroyed by the GLA. You can finish this mission easily with over 100,000 in extra credits.
• Have a fleet of five or more Battlemaster tanks guarding the front of your base to protect from rocket buggy attacks.
• The cluster bombing ability is controlled from the air field.

Getting Started

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Most attacks will come from the northwest. Gattling cannons at the back (northeast) of the base can destroy GLA tech vehicles that slip past your forward positions.

You start with a rather extensive base, with a comforting number of gattling cannons and bunkers for initial security.

First build an extra supply truck at the supply center, as cash is a bit tight at the beginning. Empty the troop carriers and put the soldiers inside bunkers. Build the Weapons Factory reasonably close to the front of your base for quicker repairs, then a barracks. Next build an extra Nuclear Reactor or you will go “offline” after further structures are built and the gattling cannons will quit operating.

Choose the General’s Powers of your choice. Artillery Barrage, Emergency Repair and Cluster Mines are highly recommended.

Start to build at least five Battlemaster tanks or Gattling tanks to protect your base from varied attacks. The most “irritating attacks” will come from Rocket Buggies, as they fire from so far away. Battlemaster tanks appear much more sturdy and your Gattling Cannons can handle incoming infantry. Continue to repair and replace as necessary while you research and build your Overlord tanks in the future.

Build a Propaganda Center for important upgrades. Build an extra Gattling Cannon in the upper northwest part of your base. If you place it too near the water edge, a Rocket Buggy on the other side of the water will destroy it.

Although it may seem unusual, it can be handy to build extra Gattling Cannons also on the back side, or northeast side of the base. The reason for this is the tech vehicles zoom by so fast, sometimes they reach the back of the base.

At every opportunity, lay down your cluster mines to slow down attacks. Use your Cluster Bombs from the Airfield and the Artillery Barrage to target nearby targets of concern.

Garrisoning your troops in nearby buildings can be somewhat futile, as the Rocket Buggies will just destroy the buildings from a distance when you are not babysitting these troops.

Research Nationalism and Chain Guns.

By now, hopefully you can start building your first Overlord tank. Upgrade all Overlord tanks with gattling cannons.

As funds permit, start building hackers. Twelve or more should take stress off the cash flow situation.

Repair damage to your base, as necessary, and build up your fleet of Overlords to at least three, parking them in the northwest corner of your base to receive experience and promotions.

Offensive Operations

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Overlord tanks upgraded with gattling cannons and troop carriers can detect demo traps.

A frontal assault of the complex of buildings immediately to the northwest of your base (toward the center of the map) can be disastrous, as the counterattack is fierce with RPG troopers and rocket buggies. Overlord tanks will be lost. It is suggested to tackle this area later in the game.

That being said, it is good, clean fun moving your Overlords slightly forward of your base, to the northwest, causing massive damage to the lightly armored vehicles zipping around in the area.

Aerial assaults are a great advantage in this mission, but partially damaged stinger sites will rebuild if they are not completely destroyed. Use a double strike of Artillery Barrage and Carpet Bombing to permanently remove these fixtures.

Although there is an additional supply depot north of your base, it is not necessary to set up a second base in this area. Your cash flow from hackers and eventually the oil derricks to the west will be more than sufficient.

Once you feel secure with your base and you have at least three Overlords ready to rock n roll, head west, moving along the far south edge of the map. Have a few backup troops for security. Use the Emergency Repair when necessary.

By now, you should be able to afford more Overlords, and Overlords receiving too much damage can be sent back for repair and replaced by another.

Thankfully, with the gattling gun upgrade, you can now spot and destroy demo traps along the street heading due west. Carefully take out all enemy troops along the way until you come to the oil derricks. Send a troop carrier to capture these two oil derricks. Research Capture Building at the Barracks if you have not done so already.

Leave sufficient troops at this location to protect the oil derricks.

There is also a third structure that can be captured, but it will be destroyed immediately by GLA troops if you have not cleared the area just west of these structures.

Although there are many ways to beat the mission from here, the upgraded Overlord tanks make the rest of this mission a fun, GLA-bashing epic. With three Overlord tanks (hopefully at least some of them upgraded to two bars for self-repair) you can now work your way from this southwest part of the map to the northeast, destroying the three smaller GLA posts in the process.

Note: It is not necessary to explore and destroy every GLA structure on the map. The game’s narrator will inform you when a GLA outpost has been destroyed.

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From the oil derricks in the southwest, sweep northeast to destroy three smaller bases before heading toward main GLA base in the northwest corner.

When this is done, have a few more Overlord tanks (or destructive vehicles of choice) join you to destroy the final base in the northwest.

Mission accomplished!