China Update: The Steel Torrent news - Rise of the Reds mod for C&C: Generals Zero Hour

Good evening everyone, we are once again back with another ROTR 1.9 update.
This week we're focusing on some of our new China changes.

As mentioned last week, a large part of 1.9's development has been focused on slowly optimising many of the 'under-the-hood' elements of code, art assets and more. Through this optimisation, we have also been evaluating a lot of our existing units and exploring if there are any new opportunities we can create by expanding the utility of some of the lesser used unit roster, and make these units a more desired pick.
Today we're brining you some updates from these experiments. The updated Hopper with its new EMP rocket, and the new Chinese Supply Truck kits.

For the Hopper, we have been looking at ways to make our favourite tankette a more valuable and desired pick in the mid-late environment, and give it some relevance amongst the surrounding Overlords and Sentinels. Part of this has been its new connection to the Mass Mobilisation Generals Power, allowing players to build the Hoppers for extremely low prices, and this has lead to some very fun internal games with clouds of Hoppers flooding the map and swarming everything from ECA defence lines to huge Russian Ursa columns. However, because this was a Generals Power locked inclusion, we wanted something that could give the little tank some more power, even without the Generals Power. As such, we came up with the EMP rocket. A global ability, this EMP rocket allows Hoppers to fire a disruptive AOE shutdown ability, giving the swarm the opening it needs to close rank and be at its maximum effectiveness.

When the Chinese expeditionary force arrived in Germany to help quell the GLA insurrection in 2028, it worked closely with the German armed forces, which despite a spirited effort struggled to defeat the threat. The premier Bundeswehr units that accompanied the People's Liberation Army during this operation were light infantry brigades equipped with the Wiesel, a small tracked weapons carrier reminiscent of historic tankettes, which distinguished itself in rugged terrain and airborne landings.

Impressed by this concept, Chinese military planners called on state industries to develop a tank of similar conception after the war. The result was the ZTQ-30 Grasshopper - commonly called just "Hopper" by its operators. Lightweight, agile and extremely simple to produce, the Hopper became the fourth most mass-produced tank in history within only a few years. This is illustrated by rumours on the Chinese internet that supposedly any car factory in the country could produce the Hopper with no need for retooling. As of 2045, it is used by the PLA, the People's Armed Police and over two dozen international operators.

Although the workload on its crew of two, a driver and a commander-gunner, is taxing, those crews that survive their trial by fire quickly learn to exploit the Hopper's speed and agility for spectacular effect, overwhelming enemy forces with massed fire from their deceptively diminutive guns in fast-moving formations. The commander can also peek out of the hatch to survey the battlefield with binoculars.

Recently, all Hoppers have been upgraded with an external launcher, stocked with EMP rockets. These can disable enemy high-value vehicles or buildings from range to render them defenceless against an imminent pummelling by whole platoons of Hoppers. It must be noted that PLA doctrine calls for limited, discretionary use of these rockets by only one tank at a time, as to not dilute the intended "forward-thinking offensive mindset" instilled in Hopper crews.

Render description: MARS2588

Traditionally Supply Trucks have been a rather ignored supply collector once the supplies ran out. We had always hoped the extra utility of the trucks being able to carry infantry would have softened this, but beyond some cheese builds it never really became anything more than a neat bonus inclusion. So, we decided to scrap the transport mechanic and experiment to see if we could find a more relevant way to make the trucks more useful once supplies are gone. This lead to us adding kits to the truck, allowing it to fill some interesting roles within the Chinese roster, and almost act as a unified support vehicle useful at all stages of the game.

Built by the tens of thousands in various models by several Chinese automotive manufacturers, the Supply Truck is the logistical backbone of the People's Liberation Army. In contrast to its foreign counterparts equipped with weapons or defensive systems, the basic version of the Supply Truck is cheap and entirely one-dimensional in its use as a cargo transport. It does however distinguish itself significantly when it comes to a number of special role field modifications.

One common but consistently useful variant is equipped with loudspeakers, broadcasting inspirational songs and speeches to boost the morale of Chinese troops. The content of these broadcasts is tightly curated by political officers and generally draws from Chinese history and Communist Party ideology, although it is not unusual for younger, more modern-minded cadres to include popular music or messages provided by friends and family members of soldiers, to add a more personable element.

Another variant is equipped with mine launchers, capable of deploying a dense field of mixed anti-personnel and anti-tank mines on command, to close off a chokepoint or secure a perimeter. It is also outfitted with a plough to aid in the clearing of enemy mines. As of 2045, China has not signed the Ottawa Treaty against anti-personnel mines and the withdrawal of several European countries from the treaty during the previous decade has led to a renewed proliferation of these weapons.

The most exotic variant is equipped with an electromagnetic pulse generator, capable of shutting down vehicles and buildings - friend and foe alike, including the truck itself - in a radius on command. EMP weapons have become a more common feature of the Chinese military since the early 2040s, following a breakdown in relations with the United States and increasing hostilities with Russia. Analysts interpret this development as a precaution for a potential peer-level conflict in Asia.

Render description: MARS2588

Thats all for this week, we hope you all enjoyed, and we will see you in the next one.
Till next time Generals!