Guess who's a C&C General again...umm, on second thought: D'oh!
Yep, that's right...yours truly. Well...for a short time, anyway.
After playing 1 skirmish game as the Chinese Tank General, (where I captured a US base and used Comanches as well as Tomahawks) I decided to try my hand at the USA campaign, since story-wise, that's the first arc in Zero Hour.
Note: Although I had help from some walkthroughs at gamefaqs.net, I won't be reflecting yet on what I could have done better, just what I did. Period.
It's on "easy", by the way, since I play for fun.
Mission 1: Baikonur, Kazakhstan
Played this mission a few times before (due to the lack of hours playing before, I didn't get past this mission - until today) so I won't talk about it much. I decided to grab those Chinese Tanks, though, needed the Overlord for extra healing power (Propaganda Tower). Won it.
Mission 2: Off the coast of Somalia
Mostly used Humvees with Missile Defenders and Rangers (plus the TOW missile upgrade) to slaughter enemy armor early in the game (when you have escorted the ten supply trucks already and have a base already, I mean), with some air support from the 4 Black Hawks...err, I mean Comanches. Made myself 4 Crusaders plus 2 Paladins as main offense/defense force while the shizzload of sentry drones scouted the area for tech buildings and stuff (and act as an en masse defense). Made minimal use of the Naval Force, though. Plus, I dunno if I could build an airfield in that mission...
Won it.
Mission 3: Mount Elbrus, Russia
My first 'restart'. Forgot about the Ranger's flashbang grenades ability on garrisoned buildings (not that I'm sure they are already upgraded with that in that mission), so I got a few critically injured Rangers (at least), and some injuries sustained by Col. Burton (good thing he self-heals when he's elite, which he was). Lost 2 sentry drones. Thank God I found those Paladin and Microwave Tanks (they're damn effective against garrisoned infantry units). Also used Burton's 'rapelling' ability and blew up those GLA-controlled Oil Derricks. And freed more POW's and got 3 more Paladin tanks and another Microwave tank. Got Burton to the top of the mountain, and gave that lab a good dose of snow. Tons of snow, that is.
Too bad you can't control Black Lotus, though. Then again, that won't be propa', it's a US mission after all. To make a long story short, mission accomplished.
MISSION 4: Amisbad Oil Fields: Iran
Ah, the game's representation of the war on Iraq. Another restart. Basically, you have to capture oil derricks to get cash, but beware of Booby Traps and Demo Traps. Also, I had to deal with suicide bombers - Terrorists (on foot and in cars) and Bomb Trucks. Was too busy with the main force, lost some units. Didn't even think of spending those Generals points on the A-10 airstrike as I was focusing on capturing tech buildings (especially the tech artillery platforms) and keeping my units going, hence the Ranger drop and vehicle repair (lvl 3). Captured most of the oil derricks (one was destroyed). Shored up defenses in the oil fields (after dealing with a Jarmen Kell), while paradropping a task force to shut down the Radio station (which it did). Another paradrop and a tank division later, assaulted the eastern side of the GLA base. Captured the GLA Command Center and an Arms Dealer.
One of the longest missions I ever played, IMHO, but accomplished just the same.
MISSION 5: Dr. Thrax's Chemical Plant
One last restart. The mission: to capture all 4 missile launch pads before a single missile is released.
That set my adrenaline flowing (those missiles might launch, ya know), and got some of my units Demo-trapped. Went to the 'rebel' GLA base to the east and got their support. Only used GLA's Rebel ambush for capturing Oil Derricks, but they captured the last 2 missile silos (first two missile silos captured by Rangers, plus the control building). Lost some Paladin Tanks and majority of my initial Humvee force (4 loaded with 2 RPG troopers and 3 Rangers each, with floating sentry/repair drone - lost; 2 loaded with just Rangers, with scout drone - survived). Replaced lost Paladins - now with Sentry drone escorts and Microwave tank support - and joined them with the surviving Paladins. Used a Spectre Gunship to clear some of the defenses, pushed my Paladin tank divisions up and cleared out the Toxin Rebels and Demo Traps hanging out near the missile silos, and captured them using the Rebel ambush (c/o the 'Rebel' GLA base).
Mission accomplished, 1 story arc down.
No superweapons, but lots of units bum rushing me - a few at a time - that's the way I like it. But, I'm hoping that I can play it better next time. (Hence the gamefaqs surfing.)
And all that took me 5 hours of playtime, costing me a good Php100 (roughly less than 2 dollars, but still of considerable worth), with 20 Pesos per hour.
How much more were I to play the GLA and Chinese campaigns?
And I realized later on the way to the train station that I should have played the previously mentioned two sides instead, due to a certain rape case going on over here that puts into question the 'supposed' benefits of the RP-US "Visiting Forces Agreement". Which right now, makes me more pissed off at the U.S.'s imperialistic and decadent attitude than I already am. Raping a woman, after all, "simply takes the cake".
"A war on terror", they say. They are at it for 4 years now. But the way I see it, the anti-American forces (not that I want to say "Bless them", or something in the same vein) are just utilizing their own tactics in order to overwhelm an already-powerful foe with what limited power they can muster.
Sigh. Anyway, I'll just reflect on how I could have played the campaign better next time. *Yawns* Need rest, logging out and reading the stategy guide/walkthoughs for Zero Hour.
After playing 1 skirmish game as the Chinese Tank General, (where I captured a US base and used Comanches as well as Tomahawks) I decided to try my hand at the USA campaign, since story-wise, that's the first arc in Zero Hour.
Note: Although I had help from some walkthroughs at gamefaqs.net, I won't be reflecting yet on what I could have done better, just what I did. Period.
It's on "easy", by the way, since I play for fun.
Mission 1: Baikonur, Kazakhstan
Played this mission a few times before (due to the lack of hours playing before, I didn't get past this mission - until today) so I won't talk about it much. I decided to grab those Chinese Tanks, though, needed the Overlord for extra healing power (Propaganda Tower). Won it.
Mission 2: Off the coast of Somalia
Mostly used Humvees with Missile Defenders and Rangers (plus the TOW missile upgrade) to slaughter enemy armor early in the game (when you have escorted the ten supply trucks already and have a base already, I mean), with some air support from the 4 Black Hawks...err, I mean Comanches. Made myself 4 Crusaders plus 2 Paladins as main offense/defense force while the shizzload of sentry drones scouted the area for tech buildings and stuff (and act as an en masse defense). Made minimal use of the Naval Force, though. Plus, I dunno if I could build an airfield in that mission...
Won it.
Mission 3: Mount Elbrus, Russia
My first 'restart'. Forgot about the Ranger's flashbang grenades ability on garrisoned buildings (not that I'm sure they are already upgraded with that in that mission), so I got a few critically injured Rangers (at least), and some injuries sustained by Col. Burton (good thing he self-heals when he's elite, which he was). Lost 2 sentry drones. Thank God I found those Paladin and Microwave Tanks (they're damn effective against garrisoned infantry units). Also used Burton's 'rapelling' ability and blew up those GLA-controlled Oil Derricks. And freed more POW's and got 3 more Paladin tanks and another Microwave tank. Got Burton to the top of the mountain, and gave that lab a good dose of snow. Tons of snow, that is.
Too bad you can't control Black Lotus, though. Then again, that won't be propa', it's a US mission after all. To make a long story short, mission accomplished.
MISSION 4: Amisbad Oil Fields: Iran
Ah, the game's representation of the war on Iraq. Another restart. Basically, you have to capture oil derricks to get cash, but beware of Booby Traps and Demo Traps. Also, I had to deal with suicide bombers - Terrorists (on foot and in cars) and Bomb Trucks. Was too busy with the main force, lost some units. Didn't even think of spending those Generals points on the A-10 airstrike as I was focusing on capturing tech buildings (especially the tech artillery platforms) and keeping my units going, hence the Ranger drop and vehicle repair (lvl 3). Captured most of the oil derricks (one was destroyed). Shored up defenses in the oil fields (after dealing with a Jarmen Kell), while paradropping a task force to shut down the Radio station (which it did). Another paradrop and a tank division later, assaulted the eastern side of the GLA base. Captured the GLA Command Center and an Arms Dealer.
One of the longest missions I ever played, IMHO, but accomplished just the same.
MISSION 5: Dr. Thrax's Chemical Plant
One last restart. The mission: to capture all 4 missile launch pads before a single missile is released.
That set my adrenaline flowing (those missiles might launch, ya know), and got some of my units Demo-trapped. Went to the 'rebel' GLA base to the east and got their support. Only used GLA's Rebel ambush for capturing Oil Derricks, but they captured the last 2 missile silos (first two missile silos captured by Rangers, plus the control building). Lost some Paladin Tanks and majority of my initial Humvee force (4 loaded with 2 RPG troopers and 3 Rangers each, with floating sentry/repair drone - lost; 2 loaded with just Rangers, with scout drone - survived). Replaced lost Paladins - now with Sentry drone escorts and Microwave tank support - and joined them with the surviving Paladins. Used a Spectre Gunship to clear some of the defenses, pushed my Paladin tank divisions up and cleared out the Toxin Rebels and Demo Traps hanging out near the missile silos, and captured them using the Rebel ambush (c/o the 'Rebel' GLA base).
Mission accomplished, 1 story arc down.
No superweapons, but lots of units bum rushing me - a few at a time - that's the way I like it. But, I'm hoping that I can play it better next time. (Hence the gamefaqs surfing.)
And all that took me 5 hours of playtime, costing me a good Php100 (roughly less than 2 dollars, but still of considerable worth), with 20 Pesos per hour.
How much more were I to play the GLA and Chinese campaigns?
And I realized later on the way to the train station that I should have played the previously mentioned two sides instead, due to a certain rape case going on over here that puts into question the 'supposed' benefits of the RP-US "Visiting Forces Agreement". Which right now, makes me more pissed off at the U.S.'s imperialistic and decadent attitude than I already am. Raping a woman, after all, "simply takes the cake".
"A war on terror", they say. They are at it for 4 years now. But the way I see it, the anti-American forces (not that I want to say "Bless them", or something in the same vein) are just utilizing their own tactics in order to overwhelm an already-powerful foe with what limited power they can muster.
Sigh. Anyway, I'll just reflect on how I could have played the campaign better next time. *Yawns* Need rest, logging out and reading the stategy guide/walkthoughs for Zero Hour.