For CnC Generals Zero Hour 1.04
March 2008
This mod changes the Laser, Demolition and Nuke Generals, changing their units and giving them new unit types. It is mostly intended for single player games, in Generals Challenge, Skirmish, and Campaign modes. It might be playable in multiplayer games if both players have this mod installed.
In single player campaign games, the vanilla America, China and GLA objects can transform into Laser, Demo, or Nuke type objects. Note that in some campaign missions, you should refrain from converting everything since when you convert something, it becomes a new thing on the default team, and some of the maps have lose condition scripts that check if the human player has lost certain teams of units, so if you convert everything, you lose.
The single player campaigns start with the Generals missions, which are followed by the Zero Hour missions. The General's Challenge campaigns let each general play against himself, as well as the others.
Requirements: CnC Generals Zero Hour version 1.04. If may not work with other versions. If you use a no-CD patch, first install Zero Hour from CD, then upgrade to 1.04, then apply Iguana/IGN's Zero Hour 1.04 no-CD patch, which you can get from GameCopyWorld.com.
Installation: Simply copy the .BIG file to your Zero Hour program directory, usually C:\Program Files\EA Games\Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour . To uninstall, delete that file, or rename the extention from .BIG to .OFF or something else to disable it.
Make sure you delete any previous versions of this mod when installing this new version. Also, don't run other mods at the same time as they may conflict.
Laser General ModStructuresThe Firebase is the best base defence building in the game. It has a nuke EMP gun, an anti-air / anti-ballistic missile Flugabwehrkanone, and a long range fire support gun that it will use to assist other nearby (within distance 300) firebases fire at targets. You can also manually fire this long range fire support gun at vehicles using a command button (like the missile defender's laser missiles). Note that if you use this button to target a vehicle that moves out of range, you should then press S or press the Stop button to stop the firebase trying to shoot at it as i suspect this may cause the game to lag. The Firebase has it's own self-defense laser and is practically immune to projectile attacks, except a level 3 A-10 strike or Artillery Barrage, or Laser Stealth Fighter neutron bomb. When targeting enemy laser general firebases with your firebase, force fire it on the ground just out of range of the enemy firebase's self defence lasers to stun it with the EMP effect. You can then target it directly. Laser Turret buildings have increased range and rate of fire. They can also shoot down scud storm and nuke missiles. They can build a point defense drone to stop enemy missiles. Power Plants produce more power when upgraded with control rods. (8 normally, +16 with control rods = 24 total power when upgraded). Supply Center can be upgraded with camouflage to be stealthed. It will also cause chinooks to become stealthed, which is useful when facing enemy long range SAM sites. TARDISYour dozer can build a TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space), a space-time travel device disguised as a small blue portable toilet. You are allowed to build 3 of these devices when you have a strategy center. The inside space of the TARDIS is much larger than it's outside, and the space inside each TARDIS is linked to that of the others, so units can enter one TARDIS and exit from another. Each TARDIS can teleport itself anywhere on the map, but be warned that this requires a lot of power to do. The Tardis has an integral cold fusion reactor that adds power to your base, but when warping through space-time it has a net drain on you base power. Also, when it appears in the new place, it takes some time before it can function properly and it is vulnerable to enemy fire during this time. When powered up and working normally, it is stealthed. It has a tesla coil bolt to defend itself from enemies but it looses stealth when firing it. When you buy Upgrade_AmericaAdvancedTraining it gets 2 additional weapons: a silent mode radiation emitter like the sentry drone, and an EMP pulse generator which recharges after 30 seconds. The EMP pulse will disable enemy vehicles and buildings in the area for 20 seconds and make them also more vulnerable to your attacks (like the avenger laser). The Upgrade_AdvancedLasers makes its weapons do 25% more damage. You control the weapon selection via a secondary command console (switch to it like switching to the GLA worker's fake building command set). Long Range SAM SiteBuild limit: 2, requires war factory. Lower rate of fire than patriot battery, but much longer range and much more powerful missile warhead. Detects stealthed aircraft, but not stealthed ground units. It has some effectiveness against attacking aurora bombers if engaging from a head-on aspect angle because attacking aurora bombers cause all weapons fired at them to target a spot behind them, as though targeting a decoy flare, but the SAM site missiles have a laser proximity fuse that detonates them as they pass by the aurora on their way to the targeted spot behind the aurora. Build your SAM sites directly under the ingress path of attacking auroras in the Superweapon General's Challenge map). Note that laser cannon buildings are also very effective at engaging attacking auroras. If you are using your auroras to attack an enemy SAM site, you can avoid the missiles by beaming the SAM site (putting it on the left or right of the plane so it attacks from the side rather than head on) until it has fired and missed, then attacking the site before it has a chance to reload and fire again. Do this by force-firing the plane on some ground far away to get it to move towards that spot at attack speed, but force fire a new spot before it gets close enough to launch it's cruise missile. When the SAM site has fired and missed, target the SAM site. The SAM site can be upgraded with an A-10 AWACS drone which has it's own anti-air weapons and helps direct the SAM site so it can attack targets at a greater range. The A-10 drone auto heals with the Drone Armour upgrade and comes with point defence lasers. The SAM site is vulnerable to ground units and can be captured, and it's low rate of fire means it can be saturated by multiple simultaneous incoming air attacks, but otherwise it is a good offensive defence. Build it in range of the enemy's supply piles / supply centres to shoot down the enemy chinooks. Or build it in range of ther enemy airfield to shoot down his planes when they take off. Together with other anti-air defences, the SAM site improves your anti-scud storm and anti-nuke missile defences Build it in the path of incoming bombers (anthrax, A-10, EMP, cluster mines, etc), scud or nuke missiles, or aircraft, to shoot them before they reach your base. Note: The generals powers bombers always come from the edge of the map closest to the enemy command center. Laser General's SAM site stats:AttackRange = 800.0 WeaponBonus = DRONE_SPOTTING RANGE 200% (with A-10 AWACS drone) VisionRange = 900.0 ShroudClearingRange = 500 DelayBetweenShots = 300 ;ms ClipSize = 4 ClipReloadTime = 5000 ;ms Warhead Damage Stats: PrimaryDamage = 250.0 ;kills king raptor and scud storm missile PrimaryDamageRadius = 35.0 ;aurora sneaky targeting is -20 SecondaryDamage = 160.0 ;kills aurora SecondaryDamageRadius = 80.0 ;this will damage wingmen in close formation DronesAll Drones will autoheal with the Drone Armor upgrade. Battle Drone gets a very effective anti-projectile point defense laser and its own laser gun. Scout Drone has a missile jammer and a target designator. When it is near an enemy, it's master is able to shoot at it from a greater distance away. Rangers inside Humvees equipped with scout drones also get the weapon bonus from drone spotting. Targets illuminated by a laser target designator can be more quickly destroyed by your units. Hellfire Drone get's the laser tank's laser gun. The above improved drones cost more to build but are well worth it. Sentry Drone gets a silent radiation emitter instead of the sentry drone gun, when upgraded with the Sentry Drone Gun upgrade. The Laser General sentry drone stays stealthed even when firing the radiation emitter. Park it along paths used by the enemy, or where GLA rebel ambushes happen. These improved sentry drones can shoot wihout having to stop and deploy. Spy Drone has a missile jammer. When you buy the Sentry Drone Gun upgrade, the spy drone gets a radiation emitter weapon. Put them above the enemy supply pile to kill his harvesters. VehiclesAll laser weapons are upgraded to do +25% damage with the Advanced Lasers upgrade (buy at war factory). You can buy and use the Paladin tank science. Both standard Laser Tanks and Laser Paladin tanks have improved weapons. Both tanks can shoot at air targets though the Paladin does this much better (Paladin can shoot ballistic missiles including scud storm and nuke missiles). Paladin has a cannon as well, which can shoot garrisoned infantry. It gains toxin effects with Upgrade_AmericaLaserMissiles, and when in addition you buy the comanche pods upgrade, the shells make Anthrax Beta. Paladin tank can also contain 5 infantry, who can shoot only out of it when the bunker upgrade is purchased. Standard Laser tank can be upgraded with a gattling cannon that detects stealth and improves it's anti-air ability (the gattling can shoot at ballistic missiles). Avenger can shoot down scud storm and nuke misisles and artillery shells. It gains experience too. It can contain 5 infantry and it can be stealthed. Humvee gets am anti-air laser (also useful against ground targets) instead of a Tow Missile, with the Humvee Laser Cannon upgrade (buy at War Factory). Ambulance can cure aircraft flying near it and can take 5 passengers. Microwave tank can clear garrisoned buildings and jam vehicles. It also has it's own point-defense laser. Dozer can climb cliffs and move through water and clean up enemy toxins. Mobile Gap Generator.Build limit: 3, requires strategy centre. This vehicle jams the enemy's radar map to a radius of 300, making it hard for him to use superweapons, generals powers, etc in that area. It works against human players but not so much against scripted AI because AI can shoot into the shroud. Human players have to use radar van scan, spy satellite, spy drones, or send units to spy the area in order to dispel the shroud so they can fire superweapons. The vehicle also has microwave and ECM beams to jam enemy vehicles and base defences, plus it can hack and jam enemy factories like a hacker, but from a longer range, and it can contain 8 infantry who can shoot from it, like assault troop crawler. It is also stealthed and detects stealth. The drawback is it consumes 5 power. AircraftAll aircraft have a self-defense laser to protect them from missiles. Laser general's planes are now fitted with pilot excape vehicles. When a veteran plane is shot down, the pilot escapes in the pilot escape vehicle, a powered glider, which he can fly back to base before ejecting from it and descending via his personal parachute. Do not eject the pilot over water or cliffs. The pilot escape vehicle can be upgraded with countermeasure flares, drone armour, and advanced training which makes it gain veterancy faster. It is armed with a machine gun and rocket launcher (like combat bike). Laser general's pilots can hijack enemy vehicles. Laser Stealth Fighters get powerful long range lasers to attack enemy base defences. With the laser guided missiles upgrade, each stealthfighter can destroy a GLA stinger site AND it's hole with it's powerful laser. When the bunker buster upgrade is purchased, stealth fighters get 4 laser-guided neutron-EMP bombs to clear buildings and kill vehicles. Use the neutron bomb button to target their neutron bombs on enemies so you can fire one at a time. Laser Raptors use laser guns instead of missiles. They also have a button to let you fire ony one burst of the laser so you can kill 6 infantry on each sortie. The raptor is good against most kids of targets but not as good against base defences as the Stealth. Auroras launch an air-launched cruise missile with a delayed action nuke warhead that tends to explode after 20 seconds, just as the GLA hole is starting to rebuild, giving you more time to remove it. If the missile lodges inside a building, enemy units nearby will shoot at it, and those that use projectile weapons will damage their own building. Only dozers and workers can defuse the missile before it explodes. Laser Comanche has a burning laser instead of a gun. This can target air units too. It keeps its normal 4 rockets.
The Laser pods upgrade gives it laser pods instead of rockets, that have a flame effect.
The Laser pods upgrade also puts a Pathfinder inside it who can snipe infantry and vehicles and detect stealth. The C-130 Cargo plane is armed. Build your supply dropzones in such a way that the planes fly over the enemy base after dropping the supplies. They start from the edge of the map closest to the dropzone. The plane's cannon shells are upgraded by Upgrade_AmericaLaserMissiles or Upgrade_GLAToxinShells to have toxin, and by Upgrade_LazrComancheRocketPods or Upgrade_GLAAnthraxBeta to have Anthrax Beta. Laser General's reinforcement pad plane is an armed B-52. Moab B3 bomber is armed with lasers and is stealthed when not firing. InfantryLaser general's paradrop power now drops a mix of infantry types, not just rangers. All Laser General's infantry can rappell from chinooks. All can climb cliffs and swim when the Worker Shoes upgrade is bought from the strategy center. Rangers get laser rifles which have a slightly longer range than normal rifles. Their flashbangs can now target vehicles, whose drivers can be temporarily stunned by them. The flashbang upgrade also enables the rangers to shoot at aircraft with their lasers, like Infantry general's men. Infantry laser guns will reveal stealthed buildings when they are shot, so have one ranger force fire on the ground under the stealthed building to reveal it, leave him to continue shooting the ground under it (damages the building less than shooting the building itself), whilst another ranger captures it. Missile Defenders have longer ranged laser-guided missile ability. It also works on aircraft by the way. With the Laser Guided missiles upgrade (buy from airfield, or from a sentry drone in the single player USA missions), their missiles get EMP effects and can kill garrisoned infantry (1 with each shot). The EMP missiles are useful against sneak attack tunnels, put some missile defenders on guard in your base. Pathfinders with the worker shoes upgraded can snipe vehicles like Jarmen Kell. You don't need a button to tell them to do it, they will do it themselves. They also become stealthed even when moving with worker shoes, but move more slowly. They can still detect stealth whilst inside vehicles and buildings. They have longer vision so can shoot at more distant targets than standard Pathfinders. In this mod, Pilots run faster, instead of slower (yes, EA Games made them run slower!), when they have Heroic veterancy (3 chevrons). They can also swim and climb cliffs when promoted to Heroic. This change affects all America pilots. In addition, laser general's pilots have the possibility of gaining these faster, climbing and swiming locomotors with the Worker Shoes upgrade if they have less than Heroic veterancy. Laser general's pilots can also hijack enemy vehicles like a hijacker. Col Burton with worker shoes can swim. He can also detect stealth, but only at a short range, good enough to keep him off mines and demo traps. He can capture buildings like a ranger. When he has elite (2 chevrons) rank he can heal himself and nearby infantry. The Advanced Lasers upgrade gives Burton a laser gun, and a laser designator so he can call in air strikes using his laser designator. When he calls an air strike, a B-52 callsign Buff will come and drop a GBU-28 bunker buster bomb on the designated area. This B-52 is also armed with a laser cannon and air launched cruise missiles. Use Burton's air strikes to get rid of base defences so he can infiltrate the enemy base. Colonel Burton can carry one infantry unit, so in the single player mission where he and Lotus race to the lab, he can swim across the river and capture the GLA base and carry a worker back across the river to build a tunnel network. Note: Do not destroy the tunnel network across the river, it is needed by a script in that map. It will ignore Burton anyway. Laser general things in single player campaignsTo add the laser general units to GLA and China single player campaign games, the GLA barracks and China supply center can now build laser general dozers. The GLA barracks will give you spy drone, pathfinder and stealth fighter sciences when you buy the Booby Traps upgrade. A laser general command center is needed to make spy drones. The China Supply Center will give you spy drone, pathfinder and stealth fighter sciences when you buy the Advanced lasers upgrade. A laser general command center is needed to make spy drones. Upgrading with advanced lasers makes America spy drones become the laser general type. In the Generals Challenge Laser General map, the tech artillery platforms have battleship guns. They will fire a salvo of 3 shells at the targeted spot every 25 seconds until you tell them to stop. |
Sometimes the game will just crash to desktop for no apparent reason. If you find out what causes this, let me know.
In the generals challenge laser general map, the game sometimes freezes. The only workaround is to restart the mission. I do not know what causes this.
In China Campaign Mission 7 from original generals, the one where you start off fighting a GLA ambush from high ground and face a scud storm that fires when you have $5000, the game often becomes very slow and jerky. I suspect this is because the GLA units have difficulty finding their way to your base because the map designer did not give them attack waypaths. I don't think it is cauased by this mod.
To comment on this mod or report bugs or make suggestions, see the Cncmaps Forums
If that site is down, you can use an email form to reach me.