[Marcov]

I just thought I brought this up. This is one of my favorite games.

My skill level: I can beat any opponent in Zero Hour at hard, provided that I use any of 3 USA generals.

For instance, Superweapons General gives you the cheative EMP patriots, wherein ANY vehicle that comes within range gets disabled and utterly useless: aircraft get killed instantly.

Laser general has excellent defenses, those laser turrets are simply far better than patriots.

Air Force general's real power is seen in his Stealth Comanches. They're usually my primary line of defense and assault. They simply can't be seen, which means one can easily surprise even deadly Quad Cannons/Gatling Tanks and emplacing them around your base with patriots for fire support renders you unstoppable. For me this is the most fun USA general to play. At the end of the mission, you can simply field a huge number of Comanches (I sometimes make about 28 of them for fun) to RANSACK THE ENEMY TO DEATH.

Also, I noticed the Supply Pads are quite useful. They can bring in huge amounts of money to you when in numbers.


However, I can't beat any GLA general using any other aside from the 3 USA generals at Hard.
At Hard the game isn't as fun. You don't use crap like Burton or terrorists or terrorists on combat cycles or scud launchers or other trebuchet-esque weapons anymore. You should use the most practical weapons only, such as Granger's Invisible Badass Comanches.

[Klaustrophobia]

GLA are hard to get started with, but if you can survive long enough you can make a steamroller force that is unstoppable.  a combination of scorpion, mauraders, and quad cannons has no weaknesses.  i also usually use air force.  i start out with just a few commanches for early defense, and then harrass with raptors and stealths while i build up.  final push is either with an ungodly amount of humvees or commanches.  a few auroras thrown in in case of superweapons.

[NGTM-1R]

I tend to prefer the effective service of artillery to the tank blob, so Generals was something of a disappointment to me. That said, directing airstrikes at enemy attack forces with pathfinders never gets old.

[z64555]

How about that boss chick that has control of the three standard sides? Tough!

Remember that for the GLA, the radar trucks can un-stealth any enemy unit within its sight range. This can be a good tactic against Granger when you have a bunch of Quad's you'd like to keep.

And yeah, Granger's my fav, too. 

[Klaustrophobia]

How about that boss chick that has control of the three standard sides? Tough!

Remember that for the GLA, the radar trucks can un-stealth any enemy unit within its sight range. This can be a good tactic against Granger when you have a bunch of Quad's you'd like to keep.

And yeah, Granger's my fav, too. 

the chinese chick really isn't all that bad, depending on what general you choose.  a pure tank horde will have a tough time, but a few of the more strategic units can get you up to the bridge with relative ease while you build up a massive force to invade the base.  she hardly attacks you at all.  granger can just dominate her even on hard.  constant flights of auroras, stealths, and MOABS/A-10s keeps her occupied while you build up a huge force of your favorite unit for the killing blow.  a superweapon or nine won't go astray either.

 her voiced lines make me want to cut off my ears though.  GOD what a whiney sounding, annoying voice.

i might just go back and play a few rounds now.  most of my C&C time has been spent on 3 for the past year or so.

[NGTM-1R]

How about that boss chick that has control of the three standard sides? Tough!

I honestly recall very little of her, possibly because I stormed the base with a Humvee blob with two pathfinders and three missile guys each.

[z64555]

Am I the only one that had problems with her? Jeez, that's reassuring.

I guess I'm just not that persuasive with ladies, even if she's an AI.

[Klaustrophobia]

who are you using?  GLA is going to have a tough time, because air power is pretty useful. 

[z64555]

I've beaten her with two of the USA generals (thinking I didn't win w/ the superweapons general), wanting to try to use the GLA and China generals, but haven't succeeded yet.

[Klaustrophobia]

i don't think i've done it on hard with them either, but that's because granger and the superweapon lady are just goddamn ****ing impossible on hard.  i beat the superweapon lady ONCE using granger, and i can't do it again.  i got granger a few times but i don't remember with what.

[z64555]

i don't think i've done it on hard with them either, but that's because granger and the superweapon lady are just goddamn ****ing impossible on hard.  i beat the superweapon lady ONCE using granger, and i can't do it again.  i got granger a few times but i don't remember with what.

Hmm, I think I got General Alexander (superweapons Gen.) using Granger's Aurora's. Basically did won it by attrition - spammed as many supply depos as I could and then chucked a volly of Aurora's at an intended target.

Quite a long sitting... think it took maybe 4 hours. 

[Pred the Penguin]

Ahhh.... good memories with Air Force.

[headdie]

My normal plays are

Chinese nuke general, a wing of tactical migs can kill anything short of the beefed up Overlord in a single run, though with the patch you do unfortunately loose the fire-storm from them.

Laser general has the best all-round defence with the laser patriot being able to hit and kill anything.

Airforce general, the assault Chinook is a laugh loaded with path finders and rockets and the beefed up raptor is handy

US Super Weapon general, well setup EMP patriots backed up with path finders and an anti armour units is pretty difficult to get past without using swarm tactics and the Aurora is devastating against anything, especially groups not to mention cheep particle cannons.

like many i sux at GLA

[BloodEagle]

I never found a use for any aircraft other than the Aurora (someone has to destroy Shin Tao's nuclear missile silos, after all).  They're too easily shot-down, even with the Point Defense Laser upgrade from the Air Force General.

Sniper-Chinook is a fearsome anti-hero device, though.  I usually try to get three Combat Chinooks with the following setup: Two HUMVEEs (with the repair drone, which doesn't fix the chopper, sadly) filled with rocket infantry, one sniper, and the Colonel or one regular infantry unit that's set to flash-bang.

You might lose one of those now and again, but they're great for fending off non-EMP attacks.

[Klaustrophobia]

i don't think i've done it on hard with them either, but that's because granger and the superweapon lady are just goddamn ****ing impossible on hard.  i beat the superweapon lady ONCE using granger, and i can't do it again.  i got granger a few times but i don't remember with what.

Hmm, I think I got General Alexander (superweapons Gen.) using Granger's Aurora's. Basically did won it by attrition - spammed as many supply depos as I could and then chucked a volly of Aurora's at an intended target.

Quite a long sitting... think it took maybe 4 hours. 

i can't get far enough to use auroras.  she royally ****s you over with an a-10 strike and three commanches before you've had enough time to build anything more than a single patriot.  even if you survive that, you're now playing scramble defense and it's all you can do to rebuild between particle cannon shots, much less build anything you can use to knock any out.  once the alphas start flying, game over.

i think the time i beat it may have something to do with playing the standalone vs. the version bundled in TFD.  i think i read somewhere that one of the attacks doesn't happen in the standalone.

[z64555]

i don't think i've done it on hard with them either, but that's because granger and the superweapon lady are just goddamn ****ing impossible on hard.  i beat the superweapon lady ONCE using granger, and i can't do it again.  i got granger a few times but i don't remember with what.

Hmm, I think I got General Alexander (superweapons Gen.) using Granger's Aurora's. Basically did won it by attrition - spammed as many supply depos as I could and then chucked a volly of Aurora's at an intended target.

Quite a long sitting... think it took maybe 4 hours. 

i can't get far enough to use auroras.  she royally ****s you over with an a-10 strike and three commanches before you've had enough time to build anything more than a single patriot.  even if you survive that, you're now playing scramble defense and it's all you can do to rebuild between particle cannon shots, much less build anything you can use to knock any out.  once the alphas start flying, game over.

i think the time i beat it may have something to do with playing the standalone vs. the version bundled in TFD.  i think i read somewhere that one of the attacks doesn't happen in the standalone.

Spread your buildings out... WAY out. Make it so that a single A-10 won't destroy more than three buildings. Also, try to put some Patriots along the shore. The AI sometimes will go after them first instead of your buildings.

[Klaustrophobia]

i do all that.  the problem is, the one building they DO destroy is something important like my only power plant so far or supply depot.  frequently taking a dozer with it.  the AI is a cheating bastard.

oh and i'm pretty sure they don't need resources.  at least on hard.  i just played thrax.  took out ALL his income early, and he didn't have a problem continuing the unit flood and rebuilding everything i killed.

[z64555]

i do all that.  the problem is, the one building they DO destroy is something important like my only power plant so far or supply depot.  frequently taking a dozer with it.  the AI is a cheating bastard.

oh and i'm pretty sure they don't need resources.  at least on hard.  i just played thrax.  took out ALL his income early, and he didn't have a problem continuing the unit flood and rebuilding everything i killed.

Oh that's a lie, they do need resources. Lol. They've got a buttload of Depo's in their main base, remember?

And yes, the AI is a big cheat. 

[BloodEagle]

i do all that.  the problem is, the one building they DO destroy is something important like my only power plant so far or supply depot.  frequently taking a dozer with it.  the AI is a cheating bastard.

oh and i'm pretty sure they don't need resources.  at least on hard.  i just played thrax.  took out ALL his income early, and he didn't have a problem continuing the unit flood and rebuilding everything i killed.

Oh that's a lie, they do need resources. Lol. They've got a buttload of Depo's in their main base, remember?

And yes, the AI is a big cheat. 

The AI will, eventually, run out.  But the AI either receives a major percentage increase on what they take in, or they start with a large amount of bonus resources, so this usually takes upwards of half an hour of real time.

I zerg-rushed all but one of the resources on a map once, and the Chinese still managed to (quickly) build a half-a-dozen overlords and a Doomsday Weapon on top of their air and infantry units.

[Delta_V]

Wasn't Generals the one where the AI, at least on hard, got supply bonuses every so often?  They do need resources and killing their supply depots and secondary sources (drop pad, hackers, etc) will hurt them, but it will never completely stop them, since they will basically get a supply drop once in a while.

One of my favorite memories of ZH was using Air Force and killing a particularly difficultd enemy's command center with my general's powers and a massed airstrike, while simultaneously using Auroras to kill each and every one of his dozers.  No way to build dozers, and no way to build a command center to build more dozers.  From there on, I took great pleasure in picking apart his base, knowing that each reactor I killed, even if it cost 3 auroras, was gone for good.