Speaker tower

Speaker Towers (also occasionally referred to as 'Propaganda Towers' or 'Prop Towers') could be constructed by Chinese generals to spout propaganda and improve the morale of their legions. Vehicle crews within range of a Speaker Tower would be sufficiently inspired to begin repairing their vehicles if damaged, while infantry would even attempt to heal themselves. In addition Speaker Towers encouraged units to fire a little faster.

In order to construct Speaker Towers, the Chinese general concerned had to have already built a Propaganda Center.

While they could be constructed as stationary structures by Construction Dozer in Chinese bases, Speaker Towers were also available as upgrades for the Overlord tank and Helix, allowing the power of persuasion to be used on the move. The Speaker Tower also comes automatically on the Emperor Overlord tank.

The bonuses provided by a speaker tower would be lost if the tower was low on power (due to a Microwave tank or EMP effect for example), or simply being destroyed, being only lightly armoured. One good use of this structure used by some generals is to place it behind an airfield, as it will allow the MiG 's there to reload and repair faster, allowing the general to use his MiG's to strike more often. There is no minefield upgrade for this structure.

Notable usage
In their various campaigns the Chinese military would often install Speaker Towers in civilian areas in order to influence the population and counteract any attempts by the GLA to spread messages of their own. One such Speaker Tower, installed in a small village in Kazakhstan that was close to a known GLA hideout, had the rather unfortunate (and ironic) effect of inspiring nearby GLA forces to launch a ferocious attack on a Chinese base and a hydroelectric dam (that happened to be upstream of further Chinese outposts).

Changelog

 * Generals sneak peek patch 1.02: fixed stacking of speaker tower healing on Overlord tanks
 * Zero Hour patch 1.03: now displays the upgrade cameo for subliminal messaging