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Alright, I'm here. Let's have an update.
- Black Lotus reporting for duty

Black Lotus is China's hero unit in Command & Conquer: Generals and its expansion, Zero Hour.

Background[]

The Black Lotus was a master hacker. Though unarmed, she could capture enemy buildings, disable vehicles, and steal cash from supply centers using her laptop. She was always stealthed when not using her laptop, making her difficult to detect.[1] Very little else was known about the Black Lotus. It was likely that she was not a unique individual, but part of a unit all operating under the same name.[2]

Abilities[]

They won't even notice.
- Black Lotus hacking enemy supply buildings
Capture Building
Generals China Black Lotus Capture Building cameo
Captures an enemy building.
Disable Vehicle
Generals China Black Lotus Disable Vehicle cameo
Disables an enemy ground vehicle.
Cash Hack
Gen1 Cash Hack 1 Icons
Steal up to $1000 from an enemy Supply Center.

Game unit[]

Strategy[]

We have their building, what's next?
- Black Lotus after capturing an enemy building

In spite of the fact that she lacks the plain destructive power of Colonel Burton and Jarmen Kell's outstanding ability to subdue any infantry or manned vehicle instantly, Black Lotus is equally threatening with her combined attributes. She makes for an excellent forward scout that can alert advancing forces of oncoming threats and spot for artillery, since she has stealth and detects enemy stealth units. Her abilities also have a variety of uses - Cash Hack can provide a boost in income and slow the opponent's economy, Vehicle Hack can significantly impede enemy vehicles, and she can seize buildings from afar, including neutral tech buildings, while other friendly units keep her away from the line of fire.

Counters[]

Abort!
- Black Lotus under fire

Black Lotus, though devastating when given the chance, must be used tactically for maximum effect. Unlike Colonel Burton and Jarmen Kell, Black Lotus is unarmed and will be quickly destroyed if exposed to enemy fire, which can occur frequently as all her abilities force her to break stealth. As with most infantry units, vehicles could run her over regardless of visibility.

Usage[]

Despite her lack of weapons, Black Lotus is ideal as a saboteur because of her wide sight range and ability to hack buildings at distance. Her main role is as a scout, moving forward of the base perimeter to alert the Chinese player to incoming ground attacks; on the offense, she can spot lurking stealth units, camouflaged defenses, demo traps and land mines. The ability to disable vehicles is less useful against swarms, but isolated ones still prove to be easy targets if used well. Her ranged abilities means that careless base setup can allow Lotus to steal or disable a building from outside the base perimeter, in some cases bypassing obstacles like land mines or uncrossable terrain.

Campaign[]

Let's turn off their toys!
- Black Lotus about to disable a vehicle

While many of Lotus' covert operations remain a mystery, she is known to have assisted in a number of Chinese and one combined US-Chinese operation against the GLA. The very first appearance of her in China's missions was at the Three Gorges Dam where she joined the surviving garrison forces to rebuild their base and destroy the dam. In the Tanggula Mountains, she led her commando team consisting of Red Guards and Tank Hunters to destroy five Stinger Sites to clear the way for a MIG attack on a GLA toxin factory. In Scorched Earth, Black Lotus guided the Chinese forces through the booby-trapped city and captured an oil complex. She also planted a bomb on the railway bridge at Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan to prevent GLA reinforcements arriving by train and assisted during the attack on the GLA main stronghold in Dushanbe.

Later in the conflict, she appeared in a joint Chinese-American operation with US commando, Colonel Burton to destroy a GLA research facility located in Mount Elbrus, Russia. As Burton prepared his explosives, Black Lotus managed to infiltrate the facility and stole several files holding intelligence to the GLA invasion of Europe. As she escaped the facility, Burton detonated the bomb which caused an avalanche and destroyed the facility. She later appeared in the very final mission to end the GLA war in Europe by capturing or using her Nuclear Missile to blow up the American and GLA bases near Hamburg in Germany.

Selected Quotes[]

Alright, I'm here. Let's have an update
- When emerging from the Barracks
Need a transfer?
- When selected
What is it?
- When selected
I'm listening.
- When selected
Give me a job.
- When selected
I have work to do here!
- When selected
Is it clear?
- When moving
That's right.
- When moving
Sure.
- When moving
Quickly.
- When moving
Got it.
- When moving
Let's move.
- When moving
Leave it to me
- When moving
I'll get rid of them.
- When ordered to attack
He's in my way!
- When ordered to attack
I'll make this quick.
- When ordered to attack
I got it covered.
- When ordered to attack
Be right back.
- When ordered to attack
I'm in too close!
- Under fire
They found me!
- Under fire
Pull me out!
- Under fire
Abort!
- Under fire
Their buildings can be our own.
- When ordered to capture building
I'll hack into their capture building.
- When ordered to capture building
Let's take their buildings from them.
- When ordered to capture building
Their vehicles can be disabled.
- When ordered to disable vehicle
I'll disable the enemy's vehicles.
- When ordered to disable vehicle
Let's turn off their toys!
- When ordered to disable vehicle
I can hack into their supply stores.
- When ordered to hack enemy supply building
Let's take their money!
- When ordered to hack enemy supply building
Where's their supply center?
- When ordered to hack enemy supply building
I'll be in and out.
- When capturing building
Ready for transfer.
- When capturing building
Up-link available.
- When capturing building
Watch my back.
- When capturing building
Let's do it!
- When capturing building
I'm going in.
- When capturing building
I'll cut their comm relays.
- When disabling enemy vehicle
I'll turn them off.
- When disabling enemy vehicle
Give me a second.
- When disabling enemy vehicle
Setting up.
- When disabling enemy vehicle
I'll unplug 'em.
- When disabling enemy vehicle
We'll clean them out.
- When hacking enemy supply building
They won't even notice.
- When hacking enemy supply building
Credit transfer ready.
- When hacking enemy supply building
Let's make a withdrawal.
- When hacking enemy supply building
Fast cash.
- When and after hacking enemy supply building
Their building is ours.
- After capturing building
I'm in, we control the building now.
- After capturing building
Building capture complete.
- After capturing building
We have their building, what's next?
- After capturing building
They're disabled.
- After disabling vehicle
Disabling complete.
- After disabling vehicle
That's it, their vehicle is down.
- After disabling vehicle
The vehicle is down, what's next?
- After disabling vehicle

See also[]

Trivia[]

He's in my way!
- Black Lotus' unused attack quote
  • Originally in Generals, Black Lotus was supposed to be able to attack enemy Units, but this ability was removed for unknown reasons. However, the voice quotes remain in the original Generals sound files.
  • Despite being patched (see below), a bug allows an AI-controlled Black Lotus is to move immediately after initiating a building capture command. The building will be acquired as long as Lotus survives to the end of the process, giving the AI player a significant advantage.
  • Black Lotus may be named after the Asian assassin of the same name who appears in Marvel Universe strip 'The Femizons'. In turn, the Chinese assassin 'Black Lotus' from the BBC's 'Sherlock' series may be named after her.
  • In the mission Broken Alliances, if Black Lotus is killed, another Black Lotus will be airdropped in, with Lin Zhong saying "General, another Black Lotus operative is being dispatched to your position. Protect her." Similarly, Boss General Leang will comment that the player has corrupted a Black Lotus unit if the player deploys Lotus on the battlefield. This implies that Black Lotus isn't a single person, but an entire organization within either the People's Liberation Army or the Ministry of State Security (the latter being the case in the canon for the Rise of the Reds mod). This is consistent with the other two factions' heroes who, despite being given proper names and even personalities, are merely representative of highly trained infantry deployed in small numbers on unconventional missions.

Changelog[]

Footnotes[]

References[]

  1. Command & Conquer: Generals manual. Los Angeles, California: Electronic Arts Pacific, 2002.
  2. Electronic Arts Pacific, Command & Conquer: Generals. China mission 4: "Broken Alliances".
Gen China People's Republic of China Generals Arsenal Gen China
Gen China General Leang Arsenal Gen China
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