It's getting toward mid-year exams and the work is getting intense. Revision is in high gear yet the lecturers are still handing out assessments like Drefsab hands out ratings of 5. Mathematics, Physics, Economics, Geography and Aeronautical studies are racing through my head. I'm in a daze, I've had 8 hours sleep in the last three days and I'm nearly unconscious in my first lecture for the day! I need an outlet, I need something to keep me sane, but nothing can be found. I stumble back to my room at the end of the day and turn on some relaxing music, Rage Against the Machine can always soothe my disturbed soul.

In an instant my woes are forgotten as MSN messenger deliveries my salvation from the university nightmare. Two simple words; "Generals, now!!" I am soon in the Generals LAN Lobby, five of us had turned up. I immediately yelled out "Me watchy! Me watchy! Me monkey boy! kakakakakaka", but it didn't have quite the same effect as I'm sure WilliamWC3 got. Actually the only thing it achieved was to induce the other four players to make obscene comments about my mother, but oh well. The trash talk died down after it was well established that they had all slept with my mum, the teams were decided and the game was set to begin!!

Each nation has very distinct advantages and disadvantages that must be considered, especially in a 2v2 where it is crucial that you play to complement your partner. The following is a quick rundown of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the nations capabilities. I believe a little background knowledge in this fine game will give you a greater appreciation for this report, so please bare with me. You can skip this introduction but I don't recommend it.

America has extremely good recon, straight up you can choose a general point that allows you to station a Spy Drone anywhere on the map. A Spy Drone is stealthed (cloaked) and reveals a portion of the map until it is shot down. It is also possible to employ a Spy Satellite from the Command Centre that temporarily reveals an area of the map, the same as comsat. Once a US player has teched enough they can build a Detention Camp. These camps reveal everything the opposition can see including stealthed units, extremely powerful. Each of the three advanced recon techniques has a down time in which they cannot be used. After this down time however they once again become functional. This means that by the end of a game a US player will usually have a large proportion of the map revealed due to a network of Spy Drones. The U.S.A is also the only side to start with functioning radar.

In the late game America has the capability to attack an opponents macro directly. Imagine being able to take the technology from under the enemies' feat then hit him with your advanced units while he can only produce base level units. Wouldn't life be grand if you got to face units that had yet to be upgraded? Wouldn't if be nice to force the opposition to commit to battle when he has only half his potential on the battlefield because he can't get his secondary money supply started? It is possible, but for a cost. The American Aurora bomber costs $2500 each and are designed for destroying buildings. No matter what defenses the enemy has the Aurora bomber will always hit it's target. These planes travel so fast that any hostile anti-aircraft weaponry it passes can't fire quick enough to hit it. Unforunately it's a give and take situation, the bomber is extremely light armored and easily destroyed and once it has dropped its precious ordnance it's speed is reduced to approximately 25% of it's normal speed. In other words, you will most likely lose every Aurora bomber you send but in return you will destroy every building you target.

Although the US has the Raptor fighter aircraft in their arsenal they have very weak anti-air capabilities. The Raptors are 40% more expensive than the Chinese MiG fighters and US airfields are substantially larger than their Chinese counterparts. This results in a Chinese player being able to out produce a US player on the aircraft front and therefore gain air supremacy. The only effective ground based anti-air the US has is the Humvee with TOW missiles installed. Once equipped with these missiles the Humvee is able to hit both air and ground targets at a fairly good range. To boost this deficiency it is advised that Missile Defenders are used in conjunction with the Hummers with TOW, this is not only for the actual damage they cause but the psychological factor too. When an opponent orders a sortie to be flown and a massive amount of firepower is discharged at his air fleet then he is less likely to be so aggressive in the future. The best way to nullify an opponents air force is to hit it at the source, the Air Field itself. The hard thing is figuring out how to do this cost effectively.

The Global Liberation Army I must say was the most fun to play when I initially bought the game. This is not because of the unique strategies that were required to win, nor was it because I enjoyed watching rag-heads being defeated due to my adept ability at losing; it is because of their insanely funny accents and comments when you click on them!! Quotes such as "Alright alright!! I will work!" and "Have we not better tools?" spring to mind, all they do is complain. It was fun but you soon get over it.

Anyway, back to the serious side of things. The secret to winning while using the G.L.A is to avoid conventional warfare. The hit and run capabilities of the G.L.A are exceptional and they also have a moderate recon capacity. When these two factors combine you get a force that knows where the enemy is and can engage them away from the main base. It would be futile to try and defend a G.L.A base when the enemy is knocking on the door. You might survive the first wave but you will lose map control, you will lose your mobility, which is your greatest asset, and eventually you will lose the game. As the G.L.A you need to start defending your base when your opponent leaves his. You have to change your thinking, you must change your mindset from defending your base to defending the land between your base and your opponents. You can hit while your base is being destroyed, but you can't run!

The Radar Van is the G.L.A's main recon unit as it can use radar scan (comsat if you will) every thirty seconds; it is also the method by which you acquire radar. With just a few Radar Van's and some patrolling technicals (pictured very top) knowing your enemies movements is a simple matter. Once you have map control it's time to keep the pressure on. My preferred unit to do this has to be the Rocket Buggy. It has a range that rivals artillery pieces and can be upgraded extensively. It's improvements include "Junk Repair" - this allows a unit to repair itself constantly, "Armour Piercing Rockets" - plus 25% to attack and "Buggy Ammo" - increases the Rocket Buggies ammo capacity by 25%. This extremely quick and powerful unit is especially effective against buildings.

The G.L.A has not got an air unit. Nil, zip, nudda, none and not even an iota of an air unit can be found no matter how much you tech. Believe me, I tried. Though this is not a huge problem as the Quad Cannon is a fairly cheap, mobile and upgradeable source of anti-air. The main problem I have had with the G.L.A is the amount of time it takes to build anything. Buildings and units seem to take forever to complete! Solid macro is required when playing as the G.L.A as a couple of Arms Dealers won't be enough to spit out the units required in time.

Because you can't go head to head with a skilled American or Chinese opponent you also have to think mobility, and this doesn't just mean units. Some of the better games I've played as the G.L.A have consisted in me having to trade my "main base" for time. This is possible due to my expansions consisting of basically the same buildings as my former main. Once the map is cleared of supply and players are forced to find alternative means of increasing income, I choose the high ground for new "expansions". Expansions don't always have to have a source of money in them, particularly when using the G.L.A.

The G.L.A will always be the last side to obtain radar coverage so essentially for the first few minutes of the game a G.L.A player will be 'blind'. Some early resources must be set aside for scouting as it could all be over too soon if you lose your economy as a result of ignorance. The G.L.A are also the only side that don't have any power requirements and therefore can't lose their radar capabilities due to lack of power, but they do lose radar if all Radar Van's are destroyed.

China, well what can I say? I could say "Who Flung Dung" but that would result in gross images of flying shit flashing across the fragile imaginations of BR.com readers. So, I won't say it, but what I will say is that China is the preferred side for the majority of the C&C: Generals community. Most people believe that China is imbalanced slightly and this is the reason that most people play as China. As lowlymarine put it in his recent Battle Report titled "Dueling Dragons: a C&C Generals BR":

I do not believe that this is the case, well, not to the extent that a lot of players do anyway. Yes China is easier to use, the learning curve is very small. Adapting to using China is quicker than any other side as China is the 'typical' side for a RTS game. To demonstrate my point I want to tell you a little story and it involves a nice young man named Sam. Now Sam one day wishes to become a computer programmer and meet a lovely young woman who enjoys gaming. Sam has recently invested in the new release title Command and Conquer: Generals and already has visions of grandeur that he will one day become the supreme C&C: Generals player! His name will be revered and debates will fail to resolve who was the ultimate gamer of all time, Sam or X'Ds~Grrrr...?? But every distinguished career has to start somewhere so Sam logs on for his first game. Sam quickly becomes discouraged because Chinese opposition is continually beating him. He does fairly well against players of his own skill level that play as the U.S.A or G.L.A, but he can't get past the hurdle that is China. This soon results in Sam conforming to what the majority deem to be true; that China is overpowered. So now Sam starts to use China and he starts to win!! Sam is very happy. New players find themselves losing to Sam's solid Chinese game and the newbies frequently ask, "How do you do that?". Sam always replies, "Use China, they are overpowered". Newbies nod their heads in agreement and start to use China, and so the vicious and degrading cycle continues

As you can see am I very cynical about the overuse of China. But you get my point I'm sure, and if you don't then do everyone a favor and go to the Google search engine and look for "How to commit suicide in one simple step". As I'm sure you want to get onto the report I'll very quickly cover the Chinese faction and then get the hell on with it.

China, as is already well established, has a very good all round game. It is easy to gain air superiority, they have two effective anti-infrantry machines and the overlord is the ultimate tank in every sense of the word, except speed. Speed is the Achilles heel of the Chinese. Every land based attack that a China player makes will usually be slower than either an American or G.L.A one. Flanks are hard to protect because of lack of mobility and also a lack of advanced recon tools, which is China's second downfall. China can quickly obtain radar at the start of the game by forking out 500 dollars but from here on in they must rely on old school reconnaissance, scouting units! As a Chinese player one must constantly be aware that map control is harder to achieve than with the other sides and this needs to be address every game. You must devote more energy and resources to scouting and working toward map control than your opponent no matter what nation the enemy is.

China also have trouble in the late game because their secondary source of money, the Chinese Hackers. These vital units are fragile and hard to defend. The other two nations have structures that deliver them their secondary source of money yet China is stuck with the humble Hacker. Many a time I have taken out a Chinese players entire economy in the late game because they hadn't had time to spread their Hackers out, instant GG.

At the start of a game each player has a command center, one worker/dozer, $10,000 in the bank and a General point to spend. General points are a reward for acquiring kills, for each kill you get you are given experience and at certain increments you gain a General point. These General points, if used properly, can turn the tide of battle, stall an opponents production line or harass an enemies economy. Not only do you have to aspire to gain as much experience as you can but you should also think about restricting the oppositions experience. There are three levels of abilities that can be reached. Initially you are a 1 star General, you can choose to use your points now or save them for more advanced options. When you reach 3 star General a lot of options open up to you such as A-10 strikes, Artillery Barrage and Rebel Ambush. At the top level, a 5 star General, you gain the ultimate power for your country but I will cover each of the Generals abilities as they are used in the games I report.

Gathering (mining) supplies consists of the gathering unit going to the Supply Dump, picking up the supplies and returning it to the Supply Center/Stash. When one unit is picking up a load no other unit can, the same applies for dropping the supplies off. The GLA worker collects 75 dollars each trip, he is quick to both pick up and drop of supplies. Five to eight workers will be needed to gather from a dump at 100% efficiency. The Chinese have a specific truck that's sole purpose is to collect supplies, strangly enough it's called a Supply Truck. The Supply Truck can carry 300 dollars and is fairly quick at loading and unloading it's cargo, though nothing close to the GLA worker. Two to three Supply Trucks will be needed to gather from a dump at 100% efficiency. Finally, the USA have the Chinook to carry their supplies. The Chinook can carry 600 dollars at a time and is slow to load and unload. Only two Chinooks are needed to gather at 100% effeciency even when gathering from long distances.

One last note before we get underway, it was decided pre-game that there would be no use of Superweapons. As a result I won't be explaining anything about the ultimate armament and the only Superweapon that will feature in this report was used for upgrading. It was promptly sold once the upgrading was complete.

I've always wanted to say that, as well as "And the winner is....Sydney!!" Go Aussie!

The map is Twilight Flame, it is an eight-player map and its main feature is that the middle ground is very open. There are two choke points that lead to the middle top and bottom bases and the side bases have one. There are also eight oil derricks, which can be captured, and early game action usually revolves around securing your own derricks while attempting to deny the enemy theirs. There is one main supply dock (Or mineral line) for each starting position and there are small caches on the high ground. Lastly, there is an Oil Refinery on the island in the very center of the map; this can be captured to reduce the cost of your units.

The red arrows are the entrances to the mains. Order of height: (low ground) orange, yellow, blue, green (high ground)

Calls of Chinese imbalance didn't resound through my monitor as (a) my mind automatically interprets "Chinese is too powerful" as "I'm a whining whore who is so crap at RTS games that if I played Mark4 he could micro a single observer to victory." and (b) each side had a Chinese player. The mighty team of Gimpfuhrer and Werewolf chose to play as cyan G.L.A and blue China respectively, and they opt for the bottom of the map as their domain. Boris who chose to play as red China and Fitz who chose (Note that he CHOSE pink! I'll never understand Fitz..) the pink Americans held the top of the map, more by default than choice.

Gimpfuhrer opens with a Supply Stash and then proceeds to build a Barracks, he invests his first General point in veteran technicals. He quickly decides on a fast expand and sends a lone worker on the long journey to the 4 o'clock main. The Supply Stash and Barracks finish at the same time and construction on an Arms Dealer begins immediately. Gimpfuhrer cues workers at the Command Center and Supply Stash in order to saturate his Supply Dock as soon as he can. He then protects his economy with a Stinger Site and Tunnel Network. Mr. Gimp is ingenious in his tunnel placement as any early scouting or attack vehicle would find it hard to dint his economy due to the fact that the workers can quickly retreat to the tunnel. This tunnel placement is havoc for microing too; the enemy can't simply waltz between your Supply Stash and your Supply Dock and kill all your gatherers he has to click every step of the way. Also, by the time an opponent rushed him he would be very close to finishing the Supply Stash at his expansion and the Tunnel Networks take next to no time to build. Gathering would hardly cease because a simple transfer would see the expansion fully functional. Gimpfuhrer plans to get the early game resource edge as he starts the capture upgrade in his Barracks and the Supply Stash at the 4 o'clock expansion finishes.

Gimpfuhrer's fast expand, tunnel placement and use of first General point.

Werewolf, right from the start, teched like a whore. He expected his partner to come to his rescue if the shit hit the fan and he was lucky that rushing wasn't on Boris or Fitz's agenda. He forgoes an expansion in order to set up his secondary money supply, the Chinese hacker. His build order started with a Nuclear Reactor then a Barracks, Supply Center, War Factory and then the Propaganda Center. The Propaganda Center allows the building of advanced vehicles, infantry and structures and Werewolf is taking a huge risk in heading straight for it and with so little base defences. He has managed to get a few Gatling Cannons up as well as a Nuke Cannon but he is far from achieving all round defence. His goal is to deter the enemy with the threat of the nuke cannon and hope no scouting reveals his weak position. Hackers steadily pour out from the Barracks and are sent to work as Werewolf adds an Air Field to his list of structures and starts the production of MiG's. He has spent his first General point on the Nuke Cannon and things are looking positive for the southern duo as they look set to take the economic advantage in the game.

Werewolf's use of his first General point, his first hacker and his fast tech to the Propaganda Center.

Fitz starts with a standard depot, 2 fac, heavy metaslllllll....aff....aegy.......ydth AH! Wha? Crap, fell asleep! Ummm, anyways, Depot on....What? Ahhh, Generals report. Let me try again...

Fitz is quite conservative with his opening build order, but this doesn't mean he let's his opponents get any advantage over him. He does start with a standard build order; Cold Fusion Reactor, Supply Center, Barracks, War Factory, Patriot. If you look at the mini-map again you will notice the main Supply Stash above Fitz's base as well as two smaller ones to the northwest. The USA gather supplies via the Chinook, it is slow to gather but brings a lot of supplies back. This means that a USA player can place the Supply Center a long way from the Supply Dock and still gather at 100% efficiency and with only two Chinooks. Fitz places his first Supply Center between the two supply points mentioned above, this results in Fitz nearly starting the game with an expansion. It isn't quite as effective as an expansion and forking out $2400 dollars at the start of the game for two extra Chinooks results in money flow problems.

As soon as the Barracks is built three Missile Defenders are cued and as the last one is finished the War Factory completes and a Humvee is ordered. The combination of the three Missile Defenders and the Humvee gives Fitz mobility as well as effective anti-infantry (the Hummer) and anti-armour (the Missile Defenders). Knowledge is power and so Fitz invests his first General point on the all seeing, all knowing Spy Drone. The first Spy Drone is placed in Gimpfuhrer's domain; it is pictured below (highlighted for your viewing pleasure) above Gimpfuhrer's Command Center.

Fitz is gay.

Boris is a huge fan of acquiring every oil derrick on the map, and if he can't get it he will destroy it. Not surprisingly his opening build was aimed at getting the capture upgrade as soon as possible. He begins with a Nuclear Reactor, Supply Center, Barracks then Airfield. Immediately after the Barracks is completed four Red Guard infantrymen are produced and the capture upgrade is started. Note the veteran chevron above the Red Guard? Boris has spent his first General point on veteran soldiers to unsure any small 1v1 skirmish for oil comes out in his favor. Three of the four soldiers are sent to the three closest oil derricks. The Chinese conquest of the oil supplies has started! The fourth is sent to the middle to claim the oil refinery.

It's surprising that the Airfield, and not the War Factory, was the first vehicle production structure chosen. If an early attack was to come then Boris wouldn't have anything substantial to halt the momentum of the offensive. But then again his ally would have a spy drone in each of the opponents bases and an early attack would be seen from a long way out. So with the recon protection an American ally provides, an Airfield isn't a bad choice. Air power also negates China's mobility problem and with Fitz's quick hummers and quality reconnaissance the northern team have taken early map control and aren't far behind in economy.

Boris going for oil, air superiority and veteran infantry. Maybe Boris should play as the US? Except for the better infantry of course.

As we emerge out of the early game it seems that the two teams are evenly matched. Werewolf and Fitz are turtling while Boris and Gimpfuhrer are trying to gain map control. Gimpfuhrer has reinforced his expansion with a Tunnel for quick transfer of troops, and a few Stinger Sites. The Stinger Site is GLA's static defence structure. He then adds an extra Arms Dealer at his main and starts pumping Scorpion Tanks from one while upgrading Scorpion Rockets from the other. The Scorpion Rocket upgrade gives each Scorpion Tank a Rocket that greatly increases the effectivness of the tank. A Palace is added allowing the production of Rocket Buggies and once Boris reveals his air force the production of Quad Cannons commences for an anti-air capability. A Technical is filled with Terrorists and sent around the back of Boris's base, a mad rush at Boris's Supply Center is attempted. The Terrorists pile out of the Technical and dash toward their target. The first two make it but some MiGs saved the doomed center as well as the Propaganda Center. The two buildings were so close that if all the Terrorists had managed to blow themselves up then both his economy and teching would have been annihilated.