Speaker tower

Speaker Tower
Structure
Faction	China
Role	Unit support
Properties
Hit points	300
Armor type	Structure Armor
Production
Cost	$500
Build time	0:10
Produced by	Chinese construction dozer
Requires	Propaganda center
Hot key	T
Combat
Attack range	150 (broadcast range)
Sight range	200
Function
Upgrades	Subliminal Messaging
Power	-1
Notes
Heals nearby units Increases nearby units' rate of fire

Speaker Tower is a Chinese support building in Generals and Zero Hour.

Background

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 made 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).

Game Structure

The Speaker Tower is an unusual support building among the game's roster of defensive structures. Instead of contributing more firepower to a fight, it broadcasts a "propaganda field" of sorts that allows nearby forces to fire 25% faster and gradually heal themselves by 2% of their max health per second. With the Subliminal Messaging upgrade, this could be increased to a 50% boost in fire rate and a 4% health regeneration per second. This bonus also affects allies and aircraft. They are quick to build, and are effective at helping troops hold important locations or maintain a defensive line (its static nature inevitably limits its offensive effectiveness).

However, they are rather fragile buildings and, unlike other Chinese buildings, could not have mines installed around them. If left unattended they would prove to be little more than free experience, as they rely on the presence of units to support so as to actually be able to deal damage. Note that the bonuses from different speaker towers do not stack, and only persist as long as the broadcast is active; if the speaker tower is destroyed or disabled, its bonuses are lost until it is rebuilt or comes online again.

Overlords, Emperor Overlords (General Kwai), Helixes, Attack Outposts (General Fai), and Assault Troop Crawlers (General Fai) all either have mobile speaker towers pre-installed on them or, in the Overlord and Helix's case, can be upgraded with one. These perform identically to their static counterpart, with the added bonus of having no impact (and, by extension reliance) on the condition of the player's power.

Upgrades

Subliminal Messaging

Speaker Towers provide 4% healing per second and a 50% fire rate boost.

Available from the Propaganda Center for a cost of $500

Trivia

• When selected, the Speaker Tower plays a speech by Mao Zedong when he announced the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
  • The translation is: "Fellow comrades! The People's Central Government of the People's Republic of China is established today!"
• A non-functional Speaker Tower is included in the Propaganda Center.

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

General Leang Arsenal

Units Infantry Ranger Tank hunter Angry mob Hacker Pathfinder Burton Jarmen Kell Black Lotus Vehicles Construction dozer Supply truck Combat cycle Dragon tank Sentry drone Gatling tank Avenger Overlord tank Tomahawk launcher Rocket buggy Paladin tank Aircraft MiG Helix King Raptor Aurora Buildings Production Command center Cold fusion reactor Supply center Barracks War factory Air field Defenses Speaker tower Bunker Gatling cannon Nuclear missile silo Land mine Patriot missile system Tunnel network Particle cannon Scud storm Support powers & upgrades Support Powers Nuclear missile Particle cannon Scud storm Upgrades Radar upgrade Control rods Capture building Flash-bang grenades Chemical suits Chain guns Black napalm MiG armor Uranium shells Nuclear tanks Nationalism Subliminal messaging Neutron shells Sentry drone gun Advanced training Composite armour Arm the mob Armor-piercing rockets Buggy ammo General's Promotions Level 1 Paladin tank Pathfinder Cluster mines General's Promotions Level 3 Carpet bombing Artillery barrage level 1 Artillery barrage level 2 Artillery barrage level 3 Cash bounty level 1 Cash bounty level 2 Cash bounty level 3 General's Promotions Level 5 Electro-magnetic pulse Spectre gunship level 1 Sneak attack General Leang is not playable.