KyleBrogan

[EDIT]

In the final challenge, Superweapons are always the trump card. I've beaten just about all of the Challenges, now, (GLA is the easiest to beat the last General with), and it's always about the superweapons. I'd love to see any strategy to beat Liang that doesn't involve more than 3 superweapons, and just keeping her random weaponry at bay. The key, I think, is to simply spread your base out so far that it limits her manuverability. I always build all my supers in the bottom right corner, build a solid defense just slightly back from the bridge, (covered by long-range weapons, either Tomahawk, Buggy, Scud Launcher, Inferno, or Nuke Cannon), and finally make three layers of anti-aircraft weaponry at the river, spaced out far enough that even one superweapon can't elminiate all three lines. (Avengers, Quad-Cannons, or Gattling Tanks work best, but with Infantry General, a whole bunch of Mini-Gunners was cheaper, rebuilt faster, and did just as much damage.) Then it's all about keeping her attacks at bay, striking with the Superweapons, and causing general havoc. (With USA, I kept hitting her with Auroras to destroy things, slowly pushing my way into her base. China Nuke MiGs are also excellent weapons, and I recommend them right after the Aurora Alpha.) In any case, it's all about spreading yourself out so that even a single super won't kill you completely. Keep her contained, because she still fights like a computer, sending only a limited amount of units at a time. Then just build a lot of superweapons, keep them protected, and let them fly. The match is yours. - Sparticus

There is one other tip that I've found to be extremely useful on this map. At the very, very beginning, send Col. Burton with two snipers directly up the Northeast bridge, and head for the radio tower. Use the snipers in buildings to sneak your way into the area, and keep the infantry at bay as Burton just shoots it. He'll be able to take it down quick, elminating much of the units coming at you. I've found that Burton, along with a sniper, or even some of the CIA agents that you can find, are extremely useful as you make your way into the East end of the base. This made my time through the level much easier. Just a tip. - Sparticus

Is there anywhere here where you can put pictures? Otherwise I'll have to send you it via e-mail. - Spartie

I once had 120 King Raptors, and told them all to guard a single spot. It made this "Ring of Raptors" that looked extremely cool. I have some screenshots if you'd like to see them. It was my favorite game ever. (I'm an Air Force junkie...) - Sparticus

Against the Air Force General, The Laser General is seriously outclassed. Of all the US Generals, the Air Force gained all the upper hands. They got stronger Raptors, cheaper planes, two cloaked air units (Stealth Fighter and Commanche, as well as an excellent aerial defense platform (Combat Chinook). Besides that, they still get everything besides Tanks. (Which makes it hard to deal with China Gattling Tank and GLA Quad-Cannon, but Humvees with some Rockets thrown in are a decent substitute. In any case, Laser General will lose in an equal match-up to Air Force General almost every time. Granted, the Avenger is a helpful unit, but against air units, it's still weaker than both the Quad-Cannon and the Gattling Tank. And it will still die against two King Raptors, which produce faster and are about comparable to the price of the Avenger. (Maybe cheaper... The King Raptor is 1100, so two would be 2200, how much is the Laser General's Avenger?) Add onto that the fact that the Laser General has no long-range weapons other than aircraft (which are easily dropped by Granger anyway), and you can see that the Laser General has almost no hope. Even the Laser Turret won't help him much. I always just use a couple of Stealth Fighters in early game to cause havoc because they drop any of the Turrets (Gattling Cannon, Laser Turret, EMP Patriot, Regular Patriot), easily. If you just keep sending them in, ruining his defenses quickly before he has a chance to build them up, then the win is probably yours. Just use a mix of King Raptors and Stealth Fighters (You'd probably only need four of each.). Hotkey the four Raptors to numbers 7,8,9 and 0, and two Stealth's each to 1 and 2. Send the Stealth's alternately, killing one turret at a time, and use your Raptors to bomb him into submission. Some base defense consisting of a few rocket soldiers in Fire Bases will keep him at bay, and the Raptors can take out a single tank 1 to 1 without any trouble. Make sure to use your scanning a lot. (The Spy Drone is the best use of General Points in early game.) Try to take out all War Factories, forcing him to work with Infantry and Turrets as defense. With the new patch, the Laser General can get Avengers without the Strategy Center, so be sure to keep those things at bay. Against the Laser General, or pretty much any USA general, the Air Force rules. Keep your planes in the sky and the game is yours. That's all I have to say. Keep flyin' high. - Sparticus

This is something that's bothered me since Generals came out, and is even more of a topic of arguement with friends of mine since Zero Hour came out. Why was the USA side made so stinking clean? No, I'm not suggesting that they throw mud on their units. When I mean clean, I'm talking about the fact that there's no extra-damage units when it comes to the army. With the GLA, you get the use of Toxins, of Anthrax, and SCUD Missles. You also get the aircraft-tearing Quad-Cannon, which is an aerial-manuvering nightmare. The SCUD Storm leaves a cloud of Anthrax around for a full minute after the actual storm, causing damage to units and buildings. Now for China. You get to use nuclear capabilities, killing infantry easily, and leaving radiation around to cause damage even after you kill the units themselves. The Flame tank can damage a number of units quickly. And you get the Gattling Tank, which is a pain in the butt itself, but you can also upgrade the Overlord and Emperor Tanks with Gattling Cannons, as well as the Helix. Say goodbye to infantry all around, and Air Force is essentially useless. Tanks? Good luck. Add that to the fact that the Nuclear Missle Superweapon leaves a beautiful radiation cloud after the drop, and you've got all the makings of uber-power. I'm just upset that it seems China and GLA got all the breaks. Sure, the USA got a couple neat units. The Avenger is the most powerful aircraft killer out there, but it can't attack ground. The Paladin is one tough tank, but even twenty of them can't hold up to ten Overlords. It just seems like the USA, while in the modern world the most technically-advanced military force in the world, got a bit shortchanged as it has to piggy-back it's units to make them a legitimate force. You have to support all your vehicles with other ones, instead of using a single unit to wipe everything out. I've personally beaten USA with China using nothing but Gattling Tanks and a couple Infantry. I just think that the USA should be given something to even out the "dirty" tactics. Just an opinion from a USA Player. - Sparticus

The last one is Bombardment. (I can tell you guys don't play USA much by that simple fact. It's a staple of the USA Strategy.) It just seems like the USA got stiffed. China can upgrade their Gattling weapons. They can upgrade their Flame weapons. They can upgrade their Nuke weapons. All more powerful, all stronger. GLA can upgrade their Tank weapons. They can upgrade their Bullets, their Rockets. They can even upgrade their Structural Integrity as well as making their Anthrax even more potent. But what about the USA? We can't upgrade any strength except for the Humvee, Raptor and Commanche. We get to make our Tank's armor a little stronger. That's the end. Considering Gattling and Quad Cannons tear Air Forces to pieces, and Nuclear and Antrax continue harming Units/Buildings even after we take them out, I don't see how it balances out. But that's just me. - Spartie

I find that hard to believe. GLA is an excellent army, in Generals as well as Zero Hour. USA gets more upgrades? Who are you kidding? Between the Palace, the Black Market, as well as the several upgrades in the Arms Dealer, GLA's got plenty of upgrades, specifically increasing already potent firepower. Same goes for China (Gattling, Napalm, and Nuclear upgrade capabilities). What kind of upgrades does the USA get? Oh yeah, the TOW missle. Um... and extra Armor for tanks.... and a few upgrades for Air units. That's about it. I'm sorry. I just think that the USA should have been given a few extra tidbits, but maybe you're right, and I'm just being nitpicky. I just think the odds should be leveled a bit. China is expensive, but strong, GLA is cheap, but overwhelming, USA is just kind of tossed in the middle. - Sparticus

Howdy. I play ol' Granger almost exclusively, so when I saw your post, I thought that I might be able to help you out. (I been playing Generals since it first came out, and I've learned a thing or two.) Okay. First off, the Assault Transport isn't your biggest problem, no matter what people tell you. In all honesty, four Humvees can do the deed against one of them. I know that's bad numbers, but hear me out. Against the Infantry General, the Humvee is the single greatest weapon. Yes, the Pathfinder is great too, but I've found that it's best to use it for base defense and scattered across the map instead of as an attack force. Then again, if you can drop a chinook with Col. Burton and a bunch of Path's inside of his base, you can cause some major problems. When I go up against an Infantry General, I always use the Spy Drone first. I know that that's second nature for most USA Generals, but I thought that I'd put that out there. Set one up right over his base, and check where he is with your Sat. Trace first. It's best to set it up near the rear of the base, where he's not likely to place any Gattling Cannons. Now, build humvees. Fast. You can even bypass building a barracks in your build order to save funds. If he decides to rush you, it'll most likely be with either a couple of Assault Transports, or a Helix full of Mini-Gunners. Make sure you have at least one Patriot, and try to get the TOW Missle upgrade. After the initial "rush time", concentrate on building your Strategy Center, as well as at least one Airfield. The weapon of the day is not the King Raptor, and not the Aurora. It's the Stealth Fighter. Two of these babies will wipe out a Gattling Cannon no sweat, add the Bunker Buster, and the fact that they're cloaked, and this is the best way to clear out the "Super Bunkers" that are around the base. Now, with the Infantry General you never want him to come to you. Always attack him. Because his main attack force consists of Assault Transports and the "Radar Transport" (You know what I'm talking about, I just don't know the name), the Humvee with Rocket soldiers is your absolute ultimate weapon, with a couple of Pathfinders thrown in for good measure. As for base defenses, use the Fire Base plenty, place Spy Drones throughout the base, and keep Pathfinders in good measure. This will keep him from using the Lotus. Finally, do use a couple of Tomahawks to keep the Nuke Cannon at bay, but a single Raptor does a much better job, and does it faster. I try to keep one on hand for this kind of emergency. Well, that's about all I can say. I've gotta go, so if you have any questions, I'll try to help you out. - Sparticus

In all honesty, humvees alone will do the job at about a two-to-one ratio. If they're sorely outnumbered, the humvees will lose. In any case, I was just a bit angry at the fact that while the units survive after either China Transport is destroyed, the infantry always are destroyed if the humvee is. I usually just use plain humvees with a TOW instead. It saves money, and instead of spending 1000+ to fill up the vehicle, I just buy another one. - Spartie

By "annoying build time," do you mean how fast it is, or how slow it is? I personally think that it's a bit too fast, especially considering how slow China's Gattling Cannon is, and how slow USA's Fire Base and Patriot Missile are. However, I highly doubt that they will change that. Though players are cheap with this, I think that it's there to give a sense of realism to the way that terrorists can "spring up" out of nowhere. I'd be just as happy if they shortened the build time for the other defensive structures. Maybe they'll be kind and lengthen the build time for just the Toxin Tunnel, to shut down the tunnel rush tactic. But that's just wishful thinking. - Sparticus

I actually prefer Generals to the other games out there. The others seemed, at least to me, to have gotten really wild in some of their units, and it was nice to see a fresh start in this excellent strategy franchise. I might be the only one who thinks so, but that's just my opinion. I've always been a real true-to-life kind of guy, and I think that the directions and ideas that EA came up with for Generals were very realistic and offered excellent playability. But hey, that's just my opinion. - Spartie

I really like a number of units, and I can't really think of a single "favorite". I'll just list the ones I like and give some reasons why: Col. Burton - The coolest. He can attack anything, has got a gun that rips everything to shreds, can set anything to explode, can kill infantry with a flick of the knife, and he's cloaked! He's the one-man army. Essential to any USA battle plan. Pathfinder - Infantry drop like flies, baby. I remember using a bunch of Auroras against the USA, and cleaning up all the infantry with a Combat Chinook filled with Pathfinders. It was a lot of fun. Had 'em all third-level veterans within fifteen seconds. The Infantry General equalizer. Combat Chinook - The absolute best chopper in the game. The Helix's got nothing on a CC full of rockets. One sniper, seven rockets, bye-bye SAM sites. Throw a ranger with a flashbang inside, and fortified buildings are toast. The absolute most versatile aerial platform. Humvee - I've rediscovered the Humvee since Zero Hour came out. I never really used it much before, except to complement Paladins in the first Generals. Now that I use the Air Force General a lot, the Humvee has really become a staple of my attacks. Besides, the phrase "Keep the change" is just so cool. I could go on and on, about the King Raptor, the Stealth Bomber, the Aurora... I love the USA, and the Air Force General rules all! Go Granger! - Sparticus

I'd actually say that Alexander is the "weakest" of them all. They are all very good, and each have their strengths. Townes is an interesting player, especially when someone who knows how to use them is playing against you. Yes, it's harder to work with, but the main way to get around the ranged combat thing is to attack with a lot of Laser Tanks, coupled with Humvees and Avengers. Avengers drop air fast, and their laser defenses are awesome. Oh, and always use a lot of Laser Turrets. Sure, the base is subject to power loss, but as long as you keep the turrets around the base, and inside the base, you shouldn't have much problems. The key to winning with Townes is to hit hard, and often. Don't wait to build up forces. Build Ten tanks, five Humvees with a couple Pathfinders and rockets, five Avengers, and attack. The USA was built to bunker in, mostly just because of the way that their defenses are designed. So keep your base defended, and keep on attacking. That's all I can say. But never underestimate the Laser General. - Spartie

Yeah, that's it! Why didn't I think of that? When you can't beat something, why not just cheat? What a great idea? I know, let's eliminate all the challenge of games and just focus on cheating to win. No more hard work, no more hard-to-win matches, we can just mod the game, make it so that one unit is invincible, and then we can win without trying! What a great recommendation! (Note: If you don't notice the sarcasm in this post, then you're not worth the time to argue with, anyway.) - Sparticus

Deleting the profanity filter only allows you to see swear words. (It doesn't matter who types them.) Anyone with the filter enabled will be unaffected by your change. Which is a good safeguard, in my opinion. - Spartie

That's an... [ahem] ...interesting strategy. Odd, but if it works, I say go for it. Kind of neat. Strangely enough, I used a combination of Rockets and EMPs. I spaced a bunch of power plants in the main base, two directly on either side of the Command Center, and two more farther out on either side. I placed an EMP in front of each of those, and sprinkled the base with about ten or so Rockets. Maybe it was luck, or maybe it was ignorant skill, but his first wave didn't drop my power, and I had a few humvees around to help out when he dropped infantry in the base. I'd lost four times in a row before this worked for me, so I'm not sure exactly how I did it. I'm going to have to go back and replay it. After I finish on Hard with Townes, which is my current project. (Last USA General Challenge...) I wasn't sure what Platinum was talking about, but I think he was asking about the General's Challenge with Townes against Alexander? Instead of using rockets, get two Laser Turrets up. Build a power plant right next to your Command Center, then use the second Tractor to build a Turret on the left, while the other builds one on the right, and your power plant is upgrading to Control Rods. Townes gets a little better than normal power upgrade, so it can support the two. If you're quick, you should have the second up just a little while before the Commanche's show up. Then build a Supply Depot, and then go after the Oil Derricks. Be sure to build one turret next to each Oil Derrik, and one right at the bottom left corner of your base. She tends to send a single Chinook with a bunch of infantry there to cause trouble. The Lasers should either drop the chop, or kill off the infantry pretty quickly. Hope that helps a little. Always open for questions... ...Or at least the ones that I know the answers to, - Sparticus

Yes, and they work against Patriots, and against RPG Troopers, and against SAM Sites, but my rage against Gattling Tanks and Quad-Cannons lives on. Anyway, back to your questions... 1. The Mini-Gunner uses a Gattling Gun (Which also pisses me off) and can attack air and ground. It is stronger than Col. Burton's gun against infantry, but weaker against vehicles, (except for the USA Humvee), and buildings. It's the ultimate infantry soldier in the game, except for Pathfinders that whip their Gattling butts. Hee hee. 2. The Troop Crawler is like a ground version of the USA Chinook. It carries units around, but only infantry. It can also detect cloaked units around it. The Assault Transport is akin to the USA Combat Chinook, in that infantry inside can fire out of it without harm to themselves. The advantage, though, is that the infantry will survive if the Transport is destroyed, and are still just as deadly. Something I wish the USA Humvee could do as well, instead of killing everyone inside upon destruction. 'Sigh'. 3. The Tank General's Tank Drop has three (3) levels. The first, if I'm right, drops two tanks with one plane. The second drops four tanks with two planes, and the third drops six tanks with two planes. That's what I believe, anyway. I don't really play China much to know. My pal [nicknamed] Rooster would know. He's a China nut. Hope that helps. - Sparticus

Hooray! Now you can swear online! Wow, doesn't that automatically make you feel all mature? I can say the f-word! I call someone an "SOB" without retribution! Oh wow! Geez. Swearing is the most unnecessary acts in human nature, used by simple-minded idiots who don't posess the brainpower to come up with something of quality to say. They throw creativity in insults out the window, and resort to something that is as low as it sounds: crudity. So you want to swear, fine. But at least I can keep my profanity filter on, so that I don't have to read junk typing from weak-brained future grafitti artists. - Sparticus

I've also come to loathe the Rocket Buggy. It can be upgraded to hold more rockets, and also to have more powerful rockets. I've seen players build a ton of these and just swarm my base with them. Effective defense? Yeah right. Just one of these upgraded suckers can take down a Paladin Tank. The only way I took them down was with Combat Chinooks, but my defenses got trashed up. Then he sent in a bunch of Quad-Cannons, and my Raptors couldn't drop them fast enough. It kinda bit. While I do agree that USA has it's strengths, I just feel it got a bit shortchanged on certain factors. I can't help but compare it to Starcraft. GLA is Zerg, and they win by swarming the enemy. China is Protoss, and they win by the simple fact that their units are stronger and more powerful than their enemy, and the fact that they constantly heal. USA seems like Terran, with some good abilities, and some great tactics, but shortchanged when it comes to battling against the others. I'm still a USA loyal, but I just had to complain about it after I got dropped by an Infantry General, a Stealth General, and then a Demo General all in a row. (Online.) - Spartie

If I remember right, the Inferno Cannon is unaffected by the nuke general, but you do get the Nuke Cannon right off the bat, instead of waiting for it with generals powers. As for the Countermeasures, all US planes are unaffected by 50% of the missles thrown at them. Which kind of sucks when you go up against China, as the Countermeasures don't do crap against Gattling bullets. Any other questions?

Look, bro, I wasn't referring to realism in any way. I was just talking about the game. I just wish that they had made some kind of "extra damage" weaponry for the USA. I think that if the microwave tank could create a forward-launching field that kills infantry, that would be enough. Or something... I don't know. I just noticed that the GLA gets toxins, China gets nuclear weaponry, and USA gets... gets... um... ...oh wait. They don't get any kind of comparable collateral damage. And besides that, both China and GLA get gattling weapons... It just seems like USA got a bit shortchanged, while China and GLA got boosted to uber-power. I was just wondering if anyone else felt this way. Apparently, that makes be dumb. Oh well. - Spartie

I've only seen/used the POW Truck once, and that was in a map I downloaded which is actually a challenge against the fabled General Ironside, which gets a whole lot of stuff and it really just a cheap SOB. As a bit of "compensation" you are Regular USA with an added POW Truck, and the Engineering Humvee. The Humvee, or EH, can repair your units on the field, making it a pretty nice little bit of equipment, kind of like a more versatile Repair Drone. As for the POW Truck, I couldn't get the dang thing to work. In theory, it's supposed to convert enemy units and "persuade" them to give away locations of the enemy's buildings and units. But I never got it to work, so I didn't even worry about it. I just beat him by continually dropping tanks, rockets and snipers (via chinook) in the middle of his base before he got his base defenses up. I destroyed everything on the map that was his, and it still didn't give me a win, so oh well. Anyway, I think that the POW is a complete waste of time, but I think the EH, if it acted in the same way as the Medic does on infantry, would be a welcome addition to the US armament. It would help US tanks to stand up to the Tank and Nuke Generals head to head. - Sparticus

Ah yes. Alexander is one of the hardest challenges, especially for Granger. The first rush... As you found out the hard way, it's all about the rockets, baby. It took me three times before I figured I could use them against the stupid choppers. However, instead of using a whole lot around to protect, I used three Combat Chinooks full of 8 rockets each. (After her inital attack, of course.) Her Raptors couldn't take them down due to laser-point defense, and they made short work of all of the Chinooks. After that, I used Auroras to first take out the EMPs around the south-east base, as well as the Avengers. Be sure to steal the turrets and oil derricks. Anyway, good luck. Glad to see someone shares my affinity for aerial tactics. - Sparticus