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For the Yuri's Revenge structure of the same name, see Gattling cannon (Yuri's Revenge). |
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The Gattling[sic] Cannon is a Chinese base defense in Generals and Zero Hour.
Background[]
Whereas the United States and the Global Liberation Army preferred to utilize missiles to protect their bases, China instead utilized Gatling Cannon emplacements to protect their interests. Armed with two magazines that fed into twin Gatling guns, this turret emplacement could rotate itself 360° and fire at anything, ground or air. Their high rate of fire made them excellent choices for tearing apart enemies en mass, as they could easily riddle enemy infantry or aircraft with bullets before swiftly turning to the next one and beginning the process anew with minimal delay. As became standard in the ensuing War Against the GLA, these emplacements were also equipped with sensors to detect and expose invisible units that attempted to get past them.
These static defenses proved themselves invaluable time and time again throughout China's campaign against the GLA. Their most notable deployment was in the defense of a nuclear power plant in Yencheng, China. Hordes of GLA Terrorists converged upon the reactors, intent upon revenge for the recent major setbacks China had dealt them, but with the aid of these turrets they were quickly eliminated with the reactors untouched.
China also developed miniaturized variants of these turrets that could be installed upon their heavier weapons platforms. These functioned identically to its stationary counterpart, firing with the same strength and capable of rooting out invisible units.
General Leang chose to employ the Gatling turret alongside the American-made Patriot Missile System to defend her stronghold.
Upgrades[]
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Improves the damage output of the Gatling Cannon by 25%.
Purchasable at the Chinese War Factory for $1500.
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Add-ons[]
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Create mines around the Gatling Cannons and harm enemy that pass through.
Available for all Chinese buildings except Speaker Towers for a cost of $600.
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Upgrades the mines to the neutron mines around the Gatling Cannons and harm infantry that pass through. Kill vehicles and tanks crew when pass through.
Available for all Chinese buildings except Speaker Towers for a cost of $500. Requires Land mine to be installed.
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Game unit[]
Usage[]
Gatling Cannons are functionally similar to the Tunnel network in that they fire hitscan projectiles, giving their targets no chance to evade. Their high rate of fire makes quick work of infantry and aircraft, both of which have smaller health pools that the Gatling Cannon can exploit. Light vehicles also tend to find themselves quickly out-gunned by the cannon, though they may need support if pitted against heavier armor. Note that, like other Gatling-based weaponry, they require a few seconds to spin up and fire at their maximum speed.
As a static base defense it can also detect stealth units, and it has a great matchup against them, as such units are often frail.
As for its mobile variants, both the Overlord- and Helix-mountable Gatling Cannons perform identically to the static version. The only two differences is their lack of a power requirement and that their hitpoints and resistances are dependent on that of the Overlord/Helix, instead of having the sturdier building armor. As the Helix' defined weapon entry prevents its its weapons from targeting aircraft, its Gattling Cannon also cannot engage them, despite the weapon itself retaining its usual anti-aircraft weapon entry.
Counters[]
While their weapons are less fallible than their foreign counterparts, they retain the standard vulnerabilities of static base defense structures. The most often exploited of these is the fact that they have a shorter range than artillery weapons, like the GLA SCUD Launcher. This allowed them to pummel them into oblivion with impunity. If pitted against the aforementioned SCUD Launcher, or the American Tomahawk Launcher, the Gatling cannon would attempt to target the ballistic missile. However, it required the gunfire of multiple turrets to take one down before it reached its intended target, and most generals didn't deploy artillery pieces in teams of one, which made these efforts futile.
The second-most exploited dependency of the turret was its reliance on power. All static Gatling cannons require power, and will cease to function if without it. With Chinese generals this is harder to exploit (careful management of the Nuclear Reactor's Overcharge ability to buy time can avert an outage), but it is still a plausible strategy.
Like everything else in the game, Gatling cannons were vulnerable to Auroras and their Superweapon General counterparts, the Aurora Alpha. Their supersonic speed allows them to evade all damage pointed their way, including the bullets of the turret, and their heavy munitions all but guarantee a kill. However, after delivering their weaponry they are rather vulnerable, and will quickly fall to any cannons that survive the blast, potentially allowing the opponent to rebuild it.
If all else fails, these turrets can be destroyed through the oldest trick in the book: sheer numbers. While Patriot Missile Systems and Stinger Sites were designed for use against vehicles and fire missiles that deal splash damage, Gatling cannons specialize in rapid, precise damage against infantry, and struggle against heavy armor. Mobbing a line of turrets with main battle tanks, especially one without any meaningful anti-armor support, would often be enough to break the line and allow other forces to move in (albeit not without casualties). However, given the resources and risk involved, this was often a last resort.
Changelog[]
- Generals sneak peek patch 1.02:
- can no longer kill the soldiers inside Stinger sites
- stealth detection radius cut from 360-400 down to 200
- Generals patch 1.06: now requires line of sight to fire
- Zero Hour patch 1.01: can no longer force-fire through buildings
- Zero Hour patch 1.03: fixed related unfinished building exploit
Gallery[]
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In a cutscene -
Firing
See also[]
- Patriot missile system, American counterpart
- Stinger site, GLA counterpart
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