Minigunner (Zero Hour)

"Mini-Gunner reporting for duty!"

- Mini-Gunner leaving the Barracks

Mini-Gunners were elite Red Guard equipped with miniguns, deployed exclusively by Chinese General Shin Fai.

Background
Although more expensive and trained more slowly than regular Red Guard, minigunners were much better equipped to take on modern battlefield threats. A Mini-Gunner's aim was precise enough to attack even aircraft. Due to all of the additional training and cost of the weaponry being issued, minigunners were not trained in pairs like Red Guards.

If he reached a certain rank, General Fai had the option to deploy minigunners by air (known as a paradrop). There were 3 ranks of this support power, each with an increasing number of Mini-Gunners.

Also these troops are the reason Overlords and Battlemasters are not used by Shin Fai.

Strategy
"Bullets for everyone!"

- Mini-Gunner on the attack

Mini-Gunners were considerably less vulnerable than infantry equipped with more conventional weapons. Deployed in squads, their miniguns could shred through enemy infantry and lightly-armored vehicles that would normally pose more of a threat. Even enemy aircraft had to be careful, as Mini-Gunners were so well trained that they could successfully down them. While lone gunners wouldn't hope to stand a chance against aircraft such as Comanches, a horde of them can easily down entire waves at an alarming rate.

Counters
"We're losing ground!"

- Mini-Gunner under fire

However Mini-Gunners' weapons were next to useless against heavily-armored vehicles and buildings, and Mini-Gunners that were not garrisoned in structures or transported in vehicles were still soft targets, therefore Tank Hunters would be needed to support them. If taken by surprise they could still be quickly finished off by, for example, a Quad Cannon. Their miniguns also require ramp up time to achieve maximum rate of fire, similar to a Gatling tank.

Although Mini-Gunners could take down most infantry, Dr. Thrax's Toxin Rebels proved to be an even match to them as Toxin Rebels deal area damage and poison infantry, increasing the chance mass Toxin Rebels beat mass Mini-Gunners. Pathfinder snipers killed them easily from afar and could not be detected without the aid of an Attack Outpost. They are extremely vulnerable to dedicated anti-infantry vehicles such as Dragon Tanks, Toxin Tractors and even heavy artillery vehicles such as Nuke Cannons.

Changelog

 * Zero Hour patch 1.03:
 * now displays upgrade cameo for capture building
 * cost reduced from $400 to $350
 * range against ground targets reduced from 125 to 115

Trivia

 * The cameo depicts Mini-Gunners as being armed with armed with Type 56-II infantry automatic rifles (Chinese copy of the AKM). In-game however, they are actually shown to wield handheld miniguns instead.
 * The sound their miniguns make vary, depending if they are attacking ground units or air units.

Internal

 * Ranger, USA counterpart
 * Red Guard, Chinese basic counterpart
 * Rebel, GLA counterpart

External

 * Type 56