The 34 year old[1] Prince Kassad has cut a dashing figure across Middle Eastern politics and a violent one in the underworld. This charismatic tribal leader has organized spies and assassins across North Africa to do his bidding. Prince Kassad has been paid millions for assassinations, hijackings, and beatings in the street. For a three-year stretch beginning in 2008, it is believed that no terrorist action was taken on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea without his involvement or blessing. A clever administrator of a serpentine organization, he has never been directly tied to any criminal activity, yet bad things continue to happen to individuals and forces that stand in his way.[2]
Hailing from Tripoli, Libya, Kassad was aligned with the Cobra Cell of the GLA. The majority of his combat abilities are focused on stealth.[2]
Following the defeat of Dr. Thrax, the charismatic Kassad was one of the first to exploit the new power vacuum. However, he reckoned without the forces of those loyal to 'Deathstrike'. An unknown, yet highly skilled general who assisted and followed Deathstrike successfully defeated Prince Kassad at his headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, taking from him his GPS Scrambler and Sneak Attack technologies. Kassad's fate after his defeat in Egypt is unknown.
In-game[]
Overview[]
Given that a typical GLA unit is weaker in head-on confrontations than its equivalents in other factions, Kassad finds advantage in remaining concealed and engaging in long, drawn-out guerilla warfare. A common tactic is to place a uncamouflaged building behind stealth units or defenses to act as a lure and fatal distraction. As his workers are stealthed once their supply stash has been camouflaged, he has the ability to expand his production lines covertly to distant supply piles. If desired, he can build these remote supply-gathering operations into full-fledged bases, linking them via tunnels without his opponents becoming aware of Kassad's growing presence.
Although scouts and spies may detect his units, his ability to widely disperse his forces ensures that many of them will remain undetected in distant areas of the battlefield. He liked to employ saboteurs and special agents to infiltrate the bases of opponents and undermine their operations. Kassad did not make use of heavy tanks and mobile ballistic missiles, preferring instead agile, quick-to-assemble strike forces, and camouflage technology over brute force.
As an AI General, Kassad is less than stellar (outside of his challenge map.) The player is usually well-aware of his starting location, and Kassad's forces are no stronger than normal when they are discovered. In the hands of a human player he is more effective, allowing the player to establish complex ambushes along movement routes and locate holes in an opponent's defenses for infiltration. Another common tactic is to create a hidden secondary base far from the main battlefield, where it can function without interference.
The SCUD Storm can be camouflaged and will not reveal itself to opponents. Opponents will still receive warning of its construction and see the countdown timer.
General's powers[]
GPS Scrambler available at three star rank and recharge faster (cooldown 2:30 mins).
That route is not as unguarded as it seems, General.
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I am Kassad! - Kassad at the loading screen
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This will not go well for you, General. - Kassad at the loading screen
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I found a backdoor to your base, General! - Kassad when attacking the backdoor of the player's base
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Can you defend against my flanking attack, general? Let's find out. - Kassad when flanking the player's base
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A frontal assault? That would prove a fatal mistake, General. - Kassad when the player attacks his base's front
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Your defenses are broken, General. How will you repel us now? - Kassad when he destroys the player's defenses
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You would strike at me from space with that cowardly Particle Cannon? I am disappointed, general. - Kassad when the player builds a Particle Uplink Cannon
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Nuclear Weapons have no place in this battle, General! Why do you insist on building them? - Kassad when the player builds a Nuclear Missile Silo
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So, you have built a SCUD Storm? We will have to deal with this new threat. - Kassad when the player builds a SCUD Storm
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Yes, look at the cowardly Particle beam. Enjoy this, general, my answer will be swift and brutal... - Kassad when the player activates a Particle Cannon
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Nuclear Missiles?! I thought you were bluffing, general! - Kassad when the player launches a Nuclear Missile
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You've launched? You'll regret using that SCUD Storm, General! - Kassad when the player launches a SCUD Storm
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Colonel Burton? General, perhaps you should make him the General. You only lead him to an early grave. - Kassad when the player deploys Colonel Burton
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General. perhaps you should introduce me to Black Lotus. I am a great admirer of her...of her work... - Kassad when the player trains Black Lotus
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Jarmen Kell? All snipers beware, Jarmen Kell has entered the field. - Kassad when the player trains Jarmen Kell
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Let me give you some advice, General. That large group of infantry...it is no match for my snipers. - Kassad when the player trains many infantry
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You're building tanks, are you? Well, a few more snipers should take care of that. - Kassad when the player builds many vehicles
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More planes, huh? Why so many, General? Afraid to come down and face me? - Kassad when the player builds many air units
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You have fallen to Kassad, like all did before you. - Kassad when he defeats the player
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So it ends. You've defeated me, but someday, I'll have my revenge...watch your back, General. - Kassad when defeated by the player
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Now that I've captured this Oil Derrick, my forces will grow even faster. - Prince Kassad when he captures an Oil Derrick
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You've lost your tech building, General. What shall you lose next? - Kassad when he destroys the player's tech building
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I can't wait for your next attack... General, can we expect it today?
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Trivia[]
While Prince Kassad is known for his love to deploy snipers around the battlefield, he, along with all other GLA Commanders, cannot train any except for Jarmen Kell. It is unclear if he was planned to have access to Pathfinders: in the GLA mission to steal his stealth technology he does have units almost identical to pathfinders (if the player holds their mouse over the unit, the unit will be identified as "Sniper"), but cannot train more. The Snipers' only difference to Pathfinders is that they appear to have no upgrades.
In addition, the Prince Kassad fought in the second GLA mission has some notable changes from the playable version. His units are all cloaked without GPS Scrambler, his Quad Cannons have the Sniper Rounds upgrade, which allows them to kill infantry in a single shot, he can recruit 5 Jarmen Kells who can snipe garrisoned infantry and has very low cooldown time on vehicle snipe ability. And while he has Combat Cycles in the map, he can't build any. This is most likely for campaign-mode purposes only as this version of Kassad's arsenal puts the other generals, other factions even, at unfair disadvantages, especially in multiplayer skirmish mode.
The name Kassad is a blend of two Arabic names: Assad (أسد) and Kassam (قسام); the result is not a real name, likely meant to avoid being too closely representative of any specific culture.
Prince Kassad in his portrait chooses to arm himself with a camouflaged MP5SD sub-machine gun
The red hue inside the barrel and the coloration, however, suggest he was holding a toy gun.
"Taylor" is displayed on his uniform, meaning his last name might actually be Taylor, or the uniform was a reused prop.
In the second GLA mission, Kassad's units are brown, while in the general's challenge, his units are red.