GENERALS
WALKTHROUGH

China - Mission 7 'Nuclear Winter'

Background
Our hour of victory is at hand. We have found the GLA's main base of operations. To ensure our foes are crushed, the Premier has authorized the use of nuclear weapons.

Mission Objectives

• Objective 1: Destroy the GLA base.

The pre-mission video shows a column of Chinese advancing through a ravine. Jarmen Kell, the GLA crack sniper, watches from the mountain ridge. A shot rings out, and the lead Chinese soldier falls. The Chinese have walked into an ambush (again). As SCUD missiles rain down on the column, Chinese Migs roar out of the sky, destroying the SCUD Launchers.

You start the mission thrown right into the middle of things. There are still plenty of GLA on the ridge, and your troops are suffering heavy casualties. Click on your Overlord tanks and have them build Propaganda Towers as soon as you can. This will allow them to heal themselves and nearby units, letting you preserve as many troops as you can. Have one of your Construction Dozers build a Command Center in the ravine, and another start to build a power plant. While you wait for those to build, you have a base to wreck. Move your forces east up the hill until you encounter 2 Tunnel Networks. Use your Overlords to destroy the base defenses, and the Gattling Cannons to eliminate the infantry. Destroy all the buildings, but NOT the Supply Stash. Build a Barracks and capture the Stash (but feel free to cash hack it before). You can now use the Workers to build GLA structures, which can be quite useful later.

Bring up your Dozers and begin building your base. The computer will notify you that there are few supplies at your base, so you need to find more. The SCUD Storm countdown should also begin. It is VERY important that your cash never exceed 5,000 credits. If it does, the GLA will launch SCUD Storms every 5 minutes. As long as you never have more than 5,000 credits, they won't use it. Although this means you can't build a Nuclear Missile silo, the tradeoff will be worth it.

Your army should move down the hill into the city and secure the Oil Derrick, while you build a Bunker and Gattling Cannon for defense. Also, building a line of Tunnel Networks with your Workers will help reinforce your positions when they are attacked (you can also use the free rocket troopers to go in the Bunkers). The GLA will attack in waves depending on where you are in the city. When you reach the city center, the GLA will send mostly tanks and infantry to get you. A little farther up, you will have to deal with Jarmen Kell. He is usually hanging out in the tower near the GLA base northwest of the town center. An artillery strike is the best way to put him out of commission (you usually don't have to worry about him again after you kill him).

The next wave a little farther up consists of Rocket Buggies and infantry. These usually show up as you get close to the Oil Derricks and crates in the northeast, or the GLA outpost in the northwest. The Rocket Buggies will cause you no end of trouble if you don't deal with them quickly. Unfortunately, "quickly" isn't in the Chinese vocabulary, and your vehicles will get chewed up rather quickly as they lumber towards the buggies to get close enough to fire. You have several options to deal with them, none of them perfect. You can send a wing of Migs to guard the area, but there is a good chance they will be shot down by the Stinger Sites in the mountains (unless you artillery Strike the Sites). You can build an Arms Dealer and crank out your own Rocket Buggies. Rocket Buggies aren't cheap, but they are fast and can deal with the threat effectively. Finally, you can try and hit them with your own artillery, though you will have to place them behind your own defenses, which limits their range. If you go the artillery route, I recommend the Nuclear Cannon. It has a superior range, and its large splash damage will take out nearby units plus leave nuclear fallout for the GLA to wade through.

Since you are working with the 5,000 credit cap, it's easy to run out of money. In town, there is an Oil Derrick and a Supply Dock in the west you can use. Make sure and set up some air cover first, since the GLA loves to send Quad Cannons down from the mountains to destroy your outpost when you move your Construction Dozer in the area. Plus, you can get several crates near the two oil derricks in the northeast. Two Tunnel Networks guard the crates, and the GLA doesn't take kindly to your units strolling through the area. Your best bet lies with either sending a Technical or Rocket Buggy in to get them, since they are the only two units you can use that have the speed to get them.

The last wave shows up when you reach the mountains. The GLA begins to send SCUD Launchers to bombard your position. Fortunately for you, they usually only send one SCUD Launcher at a time. Jarmen Kell will be your best friend for this part of the level, since he can snipe the drivers of SCUD Launchers. Better still, it creates a traffic jam of dead units at the base of the hill, and the GLA must maneuver around these Launchers to get to you. Also, a line of Stinger Sites and Gattling Cannons will (hopefully) destroy any SCUDs the Launchers manage to fire off and any units that get past the traffic jam. With the GLA mired at the base of the hill, you finally get the breathing space you need to prepare you attack on the hill.

You best bet for attacking the GLA base is to attack the northwest entrance. Build a group of 4-5 Angry Mobs backed by Overlords with the Tower upgrades. The mobs will tear up any base defenses you encounter and the Overlords will tackle any armor that shows up and heal the mobs. Start by destroying the GLA camp at the base of the hill and work your way up. If you destroy the Stinger Sites on the ridges, you can move your air cover up to support you. Nuke Cannons are ideal for taking out the isolated base defenses that cover the approaches to the base. The GLA has probably wasted most of their money on SCUD Launchers by now, so there should be little resistance. Remember to build a Tunnel Network on the hill to speed reinforcements. Your primary target once you breach the base is the SCUD Storm. Once it is destroyed, then you have little to fear from the GLA. Turn west and demolish the base. The GLA will probably try a last ditch stand with a few infantry. Sweep them out of the way and continue. When the last building is demolished, the mission is won.

The final scene is of your units parading down the streets of Dushanbe. The survivors of the city cheer as you get the military parade you so rightly deserve. While your tanks roll by, two of your nuke cannons fire into the air as a salute to your greatness. What are they thinking? Although the video doesn't show where the shells landed, from their general range you can guess that substantial portions of the city are now covered in nuclear fallout. Way to go, China!

*NOTE*
Fleaball offers his own take on this mission: "I've got a suggestion for the last Chinese mission, #7. If you're content to sit back and let things take a while, this is the method to go with. I did everything you suggested as to establishing a firm base, and then did things differently. I had several Overlords with Propoganda Towers and a bunch of howitzers (can't remember the game name) guarding the downhill approach to the base, backed up by two airfields of MIGS doing supporting cover fire. If you keep the GLA Stash and some of the workers, you can build any of their units, including [whatever building it is] that spontaneously generates cash.

So, just sit back and watch the GLA get pummeled while you fill out your tech trees and build extra units. For every Overlord and whatever guarding my approach, I made an extra. These surplus units I parked away from buildings, and then let myself make $5000. Sure, I got hit with Scuds, but I had enough units to stay secure and rebuild. And then I got to NUKE! :)

Once the $5k had rolled in, I made Black Lotus, and sent her out and up the left side of the map. I moved her in just enough to see the tunnels and Stinger outposts, and the called in artillery/EMP/Nuke so that she could sneak by. You can go all the way around and up to the top center of the map this way, and either take over or destroy the Scud Storm launcher. After that, it's mop up. A group of Overlords w/both Nuke powerups are practically invincible.

Also, I suggest using artillery on the gas plant on the west side of the map. That way the gas spreads around and does damage to the GLA. You can then followup with either units or nukeage."