History VideoGame / CommandAndConquerGenerals

* ZergRush: The Generals challenge battle against Gen. Kwai has you enduring a near-constant stream of his improved tanks. The PRC, in [[JustForPun general]], favor this tactic, too, where their grunt infantry and tanks gain a Horde Bonus if gathered in groups of five or more.

* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: The GLA needs to spend money on an upgrade from the Black Market to give their Workers shoes. Meanwhile, USA has to do the same with Composite Armor from the Strategy Center to improve the protection of their tanks, implying that they are using outdated [=WW2=]-era Rolled Homogeneous Armor for them, ironic considering how they are meant to be more advanced than GLA and Chinese tanks.

''Generals'' was met with instant controversy from both {{Media Watchdog}}s, who objected to the national stereotyping and the fact that you could play as [[{{Qurac}} totally-not-Al-Qaeda]], as well as longtime ''C&C'' fans, who objected to their franchise's name being associated with an RTS that more strongly resembled a Creator/{{Blizzard|Entertainment}} game than traditional Command & Conquer gameplay. Despite all that however, the game earned good reviews from fans and critics for delivering a solid, action-packed RTS, and was particularly praised for [[SupportPower the General system, which allowed players to rise in rank during battle and unlock unique and possibly game-winning units and special abilities]].

* JustPlaneWrong: The USA's usage of the F-22 Raptor as its main combat aircraft is rife with this. The Raptor was originally meant to be purely an air superiority fighter, but its main role in the game is to act as a ground attack aircraft hitting targets on land. The second USA mission in ''Zero Hour'' also features an aircraft carrier with a squadron of Raptors on board, when the real Raptor is not a carrier-capable plane. Ironically, the depiction of the plane in the game would be much more appropriate if it was an F-35 Lightning II instead, as that plane is designed to be a multi-role fighter and the C variant is a carrier version. It likely was not used because the Lightning was still in early development during the game's production and didn't even have its first flight until 3 years after release in 2006.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: The standard infantry of China are referred to as "Red Guards", and its icon invoke the stereotypical Chinese Communist soldier of the 1960s-70s. In reality, the Red Guards were a group of Mao-era radical students with little connections to the Chinese military. Curiously, the in game model of the Red Guards more resemble a modern PLA soldier, as did the [[https://cnc.fandom.com/wiki/File:Gen1_Conscript_Icons.png original icon]].

->''In the modern world... great leaders resolve their conflicts... [[BlatantLies with words]].[[note]]Words like: Scud Launcher. Carpet Bombing. Tomahawk Missile.[[/note]]''

* FromASingleCell: ... a reduced GLA building can be rebuilt. See MultipleLifeBars below for a detailed explanation on that.

%©* FromASingleCell: ... a reduced GLA building can be rebuilt. See MultipleLifeBars below for a detailed explanation on that.

** If an enemy is standing next to their airfield, the planes will take off, turn around, and attack the enemy causing splash damage to their own airfield. In the case of the Aurora Alpha bombers available to the American Superweapon General, their highly destructive fuel-air bomb is liable to ''destroy'' the airfield outright - and as a plane with no weapons remaining quickly takes damage and dies, it is possible to destroy an entire airfield and bombing wing simply by positioning a single soldier next to it.

''[=C&C=]: Generals'' is a RealTimeStrategy game set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture (2013), using more-or-less existent, in-development, or theorized technology. The [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters Global Liberation Army]], an Arab-ish terrorist organization RippedFromTheHeadlines after 9/11, has declared war on the People's Republic of China and the United States of America, forcing the two superpowers to cooperate against the militants. An {{expansion pack}} followed, ''Zero Hour'', which introduced more missions, more units, and three specialized generals to choose from within each main faction. The game is canonically unconnected to the other ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' series, and in fact bears more resemblance to Ensemble's ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' and Blizzard's ''Franchise/StarCraft'' and ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' series.

* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: The GLA needs to spend money on an upgrade from the Black Market to give their Workers shoes. Meanwhile, USA has to do the same with Composite Armor from the Strategy Center to improve the protection of their tanks, implying that they are using outdated WW2-era Rolled Homogeneous Armor for them, ironic considering how they are meant to be more advanced than GLA and Chinese tanks.

* YouHaveResearchedBreathing: The GLA needs to spend money on an upgrade to give their Workers shoes.

''Generals'' was met with instant controversy from both {{Media Watchdog}}s, who objected to the national stereotyping and the fact that you could play as [[{{Qurac}} totally-not-Al-Qaeda]], as well as longtime ''C&C'' fans, who objected to their franchise's name being associated with an RTS that more strongly resembled a [[Creator/BlizzardEntertainment Blizzard]] game than traditional Command & Conquer gameplay. Despire all that however, the game earned good reviews from fans and critics for delivering a solid, action-packed RTS, and was particularly praised for [[SupportPower the General system, which allowed players to rise in rank during battle and unlock unique and possibly game-winning units and special abilities]].

''[=C&C=]: Generals'' is a RealTimeStrategy game set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, using more-or-less existent, in-development, or theorized technology. The [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters Global Liberation Army]], an Arab-ish terrorist organization RippedFromTheHeadlines after 9/11, has declared war on the People's Republic of China and the United States of America, forcing the two superpowers to cooperate against the militants. An {{expansion pack}} followed, ''Zero Hour'', which introduced more missions, more units, and three specialized generals to choose from within each main faction. The game is canonically unconnected to the other ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' series, and in fact bears more resemblance to Ensemble's ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' and Blizzard's ''Franchise/StarCraft'' and ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' series.

''[=C&C=]: Generals'' is a RealTimeStrategy game set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, using more-or-less existent, in-development, or theorized technology. The [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters Global Liberation Army]], an Arab-ish terrorist organization RippedFromTheHeadlines after 9/11, has declared war on the People's Republic of China and the United States of America, forcing the two superpowers to cooperate against the militants. An {{expansion pack}} followed, ''Zero Hour'', which introduced more missions, more units, and three specialized generals to choose from within each main faction. The game is canonically unconnected to the other ''''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' series, and in fact bears more resemblance to Ensemble's ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' and Blizzard's ''Franchise/StarCraft'' and ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' series.

''[=C&C=]: Generals'' is a RealTimeStrategy game set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, using more-or-less existent, in-development, or theorized technology. The [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters Global Liberation Army]], an Arab-ish terrorist organization RippedFromTheHeadlines after 9/11, has declared war on the People's Republic of China and the United States of America, forcing the two superpowers to cooperate against the militants. An {{expansion pack}} followed, ''Zero Hour'', which introduced more missions, more units, and three specialized generals to choose from within each main faction. The game is canonically unconnected to the other ''[=C&C=]'' series, and in fact bears more resemblance to Ensemble's ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' and Blizzard's ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' series.

%%* StrategicAssetCaptureMechanic: Features oil derricks (constant income), refineries (discount to vehicles), hospitals and repair bays (repair for infantry and ground units), artillery platforms, and [[MookMaker a Deployment Zone that drops off one free tank (or two Terrorist Motorcycles if you're playing as the GLA Demolitions General) every minute.]]

* CriticalExistenceFailure: Averted. Vehicles and buildings will start looking worse for wear and catch fire when their health gets low, and any foot unit will limp instead of running. Pretty much all units except the Technical, Rocket Buggy and aircraft will also move at about half the usual speed when badly hurt.

* [[DamnYouMuscleMemory Damn You, Muscle Memory!]]: While the original ''Generals'' still uses ''C&C'' style left-clicking, the expansion added in the option to swap control to ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}[=/=]VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'' style right-clicking. As expected, this can prove a bit confusing.

* DefiantStoneThrow: The angry mob unit, except with {{MolotovCocktail}}s.

* [[DestructibleProjectiles Destructible Missiles]]: Missiles that are smaller than the PRC Nuclear Missile superweapon can be destroyed mid-air using an American [[EnergyWeapon point-defense laser]], or shot at by base defenses.

** Notably the only game in the entire ''C&C'' franchise that doesn't use an Engineer to seize a building. Instead, you train your basic infantry to place flags on a building for a set amount of time until it becomes yours. The Black Lotus special agents can also do what the grunts can, only better, faster, and from a distance.

* GatlingGood: The PLA has several units and base defenses equipped with Gatling weapons, which spit lead faster the longer they've been firing.
** The USA A-10 Thunderbolt II and AC-130H Spectre also have Gatling weapons, but their firing rates are consistent, unlike their Chinese counterparts.

* MultipleLifeBars: All GLA structures, except the [[BoobyTrap Demo Trap]], has two layers of LifeMeter: the first is its original functional form (like most buildings) and the second is the remaining foundation (called a GLA Hole) that's still standing. If a GLA building's left unharmed long enough at its second LifeMeter, it'll slowly [[FromASingleCell restore itself into its functional form]] for free. Needless to say, this feature gives the GLA a lot of tactical leverage to survive attacks that only last long enough to level buildings without MultipleLifeBars.
** The GLA Battle Bus is the sole vehicle variant. See AwesomePersonnelCarrier above.

* OddballInTheSeries: While remaining in the RTS genre, this is one of the games in ''Command & Conquer'' that stand out.

** One faction has absolutely no access to aircraft (the GLA). In no other game would a faction be denied a whole category of units (even in ''Videogame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'', where the Empire of the Rising Sun had no aircraft production facilities, they got their air forces from transformed units from the Mecha Bay and Imperial Docks, or special units from the Instant Dojo).
** This is the only game where the army in red (China) aren't antagonists.

** Every faction has a way to instantly kill all units in a [[GarrisonableStructures Garrisonable Structure]]: The USA uses flashbangs (or FastRoping Rangers via Chinook), the GLA uses a toxin-spewing tractor, and China uses the napalm-squirting Dragon tank. The killing unit often goes up several experience levels in one shot.

* VideogameFlamethrowersSuck:
** [[AvertedTrope Far from it]]. [[ShortRangeLongRangeWeapon While incredibly short in range]], Dragon Tanks have staggering potential against infantry. In numbers, they can stop tanks, too, assuming they're using the Wall of Flame ability.
** Flamethrowers, toxins streams and flashbangs are a OneHitKill against any infantry inside buildings.

* [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAnIndex What Do You Mean,]]
** [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical It's Not Political?]]: Take just about any faction unit at all: lots of its quotes are subtle messages of, well... overblown fanaticism.

* [[YouHaveResearchedBreathing You Have Given Your GLA Workers Some Shoes]]: Because that's, quoting the description for it, what "they've been asking for".
** [[YouHaveResearchedBreathing You Have Given]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZQdaEFa_60 surplus AK-47s For Angry Mobs!]]

** The most obvious one being that in terms of unit selection and base construction, it follows more in line with the Creator/{{Blizzard}} games such as ''Warcraft'' and ''Starcraft'', with [[WorkerUnit Worker Units]] constructing buildings on site without having to concede to the proximity of existing buildings. The UI bar is on the bottom rather than on the right, showing off unit abilities and actions.

** Every faction has a way to instantly kill all units in a GarrisonableStructure: The USA uses flashbangs (or FastRoping Rangers via Chinook), the GLA uses a toxin-spewing tractor, and China uses the napalm-squirting Dragon tank. The killing unit often goes up several experience levels in one shot.

* SuperDrowningSkills: In Mission 2 of the China Campaign, the Chinese Army sends a large taskforce to counterattack the GLA which gets devastated when a bomb destroys the bridge it was crossing. Only the vanguard survives which is 10% of the original force.

%%* BottomlessMagazines: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by one of the Gatling Tank crewman's quotes.
--> I have ''many'' bullets to spare!

* VillainHasAPoint: The final missions of the ''Zero Hour'' GLA campaign point out the apparent hypocrisy of in-universe America maintaining a stockpile of biochemical weapons. They end up stealing ''twenty truckloads'' of bioweapon samples from a facility on US soil. In an IronicEcho of the (now proven false) real-life US pretext for the Iraq war, the cutscene before the final mission shows a pro-GLA news anchor describing this action as "raiding [America's] weapons of mass destruction".

''Generals'' was met with instant controversy from both {{Media Watchdog}}s, who objected to the national stereotyping and the fact that you could play as [[{{Qurac}} totally-not-Al-Qaeda]], as well as longtime ''C&C'' fans, who objected to their franchise's name being associated with an RTS that more strongly resembled a [[Creator/BlizzardEntertainment Blizzard]] game than traditional Command & Conquer gameplay. The game earned good reviews for delivering a solid, action-packed RTS, and was particularly praised for [[SupportPower the General system, which allowed players to rise in rank during battle and unlock unique and possibly game-winning units and special abilities]].