Ta Hun Kwai



"Tanks are the key to any victory as you will know!"
 * Kwai

General Ta Hun Kwai was a Chinese general (Class AAA), serving in the People's Liberation Army around the time of China's conflict with the GLA. A well-established figure in the PLA hierarchy, General Ta was convinced that China's greatest victories would be won using its vast tank divisions, crushing the opposition beneath their treads - and indeed, he won a great many victories. A disciple of Cold War Soviet tank tactics, General Kwai published a number of papers detailing modifications to these, and also spearheaded techniques to reduce the costs of tank production. In addition Kwai sponsored the Emperor Programme, an initiative to further improve on the impressive Overlord Tank - the first tanks produced as part of this programme were constructed in 2019.

Stationed at Base Rat, Jinan, China, General Kwai's Combat Number was 9999-322436-5.

Army
General Kwai's tank-focused strategy was reflected in the superior tanks that emerged from his War Factories. Every one of General Kwai's tank crews received superior training, while the vehicles themselves were cheaper to produce. (Indeed, as a promotional option, General Kwai could train his Battlemaster crews yet further, making them elite units before they had even rolled out of his base - and he could then upgrade them with Autoloaders, greatly improving their rate of fire.) Since he championed the Emperor programme General Kwai had first selection of the tanks manufactured as part of it - the Emperor Overlords. The Emperor was similar in basic design to the original Overlord, but was cheaper, even more heavily armoured and was constructed with a Speaker Tower as standard. Gatling cannons could still be added as an upgrade. Another of Kwai's promotional abilities, the Tank Drop, allowed him to deliver Battlemasters by plane to any location on the battlefield. This ability had 3 ranks, with 4 Battlemasters delivered at the highest rank. His strategy: Meet offence with superior offence.

Kwai's focus on armour did come at a cost, however, as he eschewed the ability to construct artillery with which to attack enemy defences from a distance, while the Chinese authorities made it more expensive for him to acquire aircraft. While his mighty Emperors were often enough to punch a hole in an enemy's defence, the inability to purchase artillery units was perhaps Kwai's greatest weakness.

Flaws and Personality
"General! I need that Oil Derrick for my tanks! RELEASE IT TO ME OR PAY!"
 * Kwai

When he challenged other generals, Kwai usually was very arrogant, having complete faith in his superior tanks even in the most dire of situations. Much of the time this happened to work, but soon opposing generals found ways to exploit his faith in superior armor, such as heaping defence upon defence upon defence, turning the usually one-sided affair into a Kursk re-enactment. After his economy failed from over-production on tanks, many generals found simply sending escorted artillery teams at the flanks of his base was all that was need to topple his poorly defended stronghold, more developed for production than actual defence.

Trivia
In Chinese, his name literally means "He (is) very fast", which would be very awkward in that language. Furthermore, none the characters used in his name is actually used in actual Chinese names. His name is likely to be created jokingly.