Baikonur Cosmodrome (mission)

Baikonur Cosmodrome is the final mission in the GLA campaign of Command & Conquer: Generals. The main objective of the GLA was to capture the Rocket and Control Facilities from the defending US and Chinese forces, with a great success.

Background
Chinese attempts to splinter the increasingly-powerful GLA into warring factions had failed with GLA loyalists eradicating splinter cells that were major threats to the organization. With the army reunited, the GLA could now turn their attention to capturing their greatest prize - the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The facility was heavily defended by a joint Sino-American garrison, each boasting their respective superweapons to prevent the GLA from capturing the cosmodrome. Indeed it was the day that the GLA would meet their destiny.

"That is the vessel that will carry our message! They have prepared it for launch. We MUST STRIKE swiftly if we are to capture it! Today we will meet our destiny."

- Jarmen Kell, overlooking the Baikonur Cosmodrome that was controlled by an American Commander.

Key Units/Buildings

 * Jarmen Kell
 * Bomb truck
 * Scud storm

The Battle
"Stay off the tracks!"

- Rebel

Establishing a Base
While the GLA set up camp at the town, Jarmen Kell scouted ahead and found a massive coalition presence at the rocket launch site. He also witnessed a rocket carried by train and watched the personnel load the launch pad with the missile.

"Watch out for the train!"

- Rocket Buggy

At the GLA base, a famed GLA Commander began expanding his base and prepared base defenses along the railway line. But given a limited amount of funds, the Commander was aware to look out for more supplies and Oil derricks to fund this operation and construct some Black Markets as soon as possible. One such Oil Derrick was captured at the town, but other such structures required venturing across the drained river, where it was eventually reported that American Pathfinders were operating in the area.

Fast reconnaissance by Technicals discovered the Chinese base was located at the production factory to the north of the GLA base. US forces were stationed at the Cosmodrome's airport and also defending the control facility. The main objective was to capture both the rocket pad and the control facility, not defeating all enemy forces in the area. However, the GLA Commander knew that the US base had to be destroyed to capture the control bunker first.

A Coalition Assault
The Chinese and American forces soon detected GLA intruders in the region and immediately sent their divisions to destroy them. The GLA picked their defensive emplacements well by barring access to the GLA base along the drained river. Trouble is that the speeding locomotive became an unwitting ally as it actually rammed into US tanks and vehicles without suffering any damage itself. For Chinese assaults, RPG troopers were garrisoned in the town buildings to slow down their advance. Coalition aircraft did become a problem, however as they specifically targeted the GLA Workers repairing the defenses. Furthermore, enemy siege units were able to pummel the GLA defenses from across the drained river. Nonetheless, each attack was repelled.

Power Play
As the GLA continued defending their base from coalition raids, GLA intelligence officer Kanwar Khan detected two superweapons being detected - the Particle Cannon and the Nuclear Missile Silo. The GLA hastily constructed their Scud Storm, but knew that it wasn't enough to take out two superweapons simultaneously. The GLA resorted to Rebel Ambushes and Bomb trucks to take out the Particle Cannon first, before the missile silo since the former had a shorter countdown time.

While the rebels tried to take out as many Cold fusion reactors as they could, the Bomb trucks made their way to the US base (after taking care to allow the train to pass first and then, disguise themselves as US vehicles). The quickest way to the US base was defended by four Patriot Missile Batteries, but luckily the rebels managed to destroy enough reactors to take the base offline. The bomb trucks quickly infiltrated the American base and one by one drove the explosives into the superweapon structure. The Particle Cannon was destroyed (though not before it fired and destroyed part of the GLA base); any remaining Bomb trucks hurtled themselves to wreck havoc on a portion of the American base.

Capturing the Control Facility
Taking advantage of the Americans' confusion in the wake of the Bomb Truck attack, the GLA Commander sent a strike force of Scorpion Tanks, Quad Cannons, Marauder tanks, Scud launchers, and Rocket Buggies to the US base. Casualties were rising on both sides, but the US defenders fell to the assaulting GLA force. The GLA Commander decided to capture the remaining American structures along with the control facility, acquiring US technology to counter Chinese firepower. In the meantime a Rebel captured the control facility, completing one of the two main objectives.

Chinese Counterattack
Having lost their American allies, the Chinese counterattacked with brutal tactics. Rather than recapture the control facility, the local Chinese Commander decided to destroy it, forcing the GLA to defend it. The Chinese also fired their Nuke at the GLA base, weakening their foothold in the town, before the GLA could fire their Scud Storm at the Chinese garrison in retaliation.

The GLA now had to eliminate the Chinese base to accomplish their goals. After capturing more Oil derricks, the GLA sent another army to the Chinese base and engaged in a battle of attrition with Chinese tanks. It was lucky that the GLA did not completely destroy the US base, as they were able to build US tanks and aircraft to turn the tide of the battle. Overall, the GLA were too numerous for the Chinese and swarmed the base from two fronts.

Capturing the Rocket Launch Pad
The GLA soon converged on the rocket facility, which had since been evacuated of all coalition personnel. Toxin Tractors were sent in to clear out the garrisoned bunkers, clearing the way for a Rebel to capture the launch pad.

Aftermath
Having captured the Cosmodrome, the GLA launched an Anthrax-filled missile at a nameless city, killing countless civilians. This shocked the Chinese and American governments, the latter particularly as the GLA could launch missiles at any US base in the world. Now realizing the true threat the GLA posed to American interests, the US government authorized its military to use any means necessary to eradicate the GLA in the Middle East.

Trivia

 * An option is to capture both of the enemy bases, but this is difficult. But if done, the player can have access to almost all US & Chinese technologies except the ones requiring a General's Promotion, such as the Paladin Tank or the Nuke Cannon.
 * A harder way to finish this mission is to defeat every enemy unit (non-combat and structure as well). Upon their demise, the cut scene showing the launch will appear and the player will finish this mission.
 * A quick way to win the mission is to use Anthrax Bomb on the Ground Control Building to kill all the Rangers (the player must wait until the Anthrax disappears), use Rebel Ambush near the facilities (the player needs to get the Camouflage (upgrade) first to prevent the enemies from spotting the rebels), and capture the facilities (the player still needs to be careful in capturing the Ground Control Building because an enemy might spot one of the rebels trying to capture it).
 * The Chinese and American have a strike team "welcoming" the player in their respective base (Battlemaster tank, Troop crawler and Dragon Tank in Chinese Base, or Paladin tank and Tomahawk launcher supported with Artillery from Strategy center in USA base), but when these forces are destroyed and GLA destroyed the base, the "backup" team outside their base (north of the American base, near the launch pad, with Paladin or east of the Nuclear Reactor in Chinese base, with Battlemaster, Overlord, Nuke cannon and few other tanks) will mobilize their forces to destroy the player. Should the player choose, the player may use Anthrax bomb to destroy or severely damage these forces before they disrupt your efforts.
 * The train line here presents a unique environmental cap. A bypassing train is strong enough to rip an Overlord apart. There are two train lines, the first line that exists near the GLA base and the second line that delivers the ICBM to the station located within the Chinese base. Although slow, moving trains can be extremely dangerous to any unit within its path. It IS, however, possible to destroy them. The fast train can be destroyed by a Demo trap placed on the track, and the slower moving train can be easily destroyed by units.
 * The train carrying the ICBM is a rather glitchy one. It can be loaded with infantry, but only when the train is not moving. After loading, the units inside can fire out of the train, and they are forced out of the train when its health becomes low (but not zero), just like how buildings are treated by infantry units. Putting vehicles in front of the train will cause the vehicles to take damage similar to rocket damage, but putting them behind the train while the train is moving backwards will cause them to move with the train. The train can destroy any building it hits. Jarmen Kell does more damage to the building than other units. Also, in some rare occasions, vehicles hit by the train will jump into the air and fall back to the ground, causing damage from falling.
 * The rocket delivered by the train clearly resembles the Soyuz rocket, although somewhat different in scale.
 * In the opening scene, UN forces consisting of UN Soldiers, UN Humvees and several officers in the facility, but absent during the assault. The unmanned Chinese Supply trucks are also seen and absent.