Global Liberation Army

Global Liberation Army
	;
Game(s) or modification(s)	Command & Conquer: Generals series
Combat style	Sneak attacks, underhand tactics, chemical warfare
Faction colour	Green

From FSDB

Jump to: navigation, search

The Global Liberation Army, known also by their acronym of GLA, is a playable faction in Command & Conquer: Generals and Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour. The fictional side in the game is based on a coalition of terrorist factions, and as an organised army holds no no real basis in reality, unlike the game's other two sides, China and the United States of America. The GLA are responsible for the majority of events in the Generals and Zero Hour timelines, serving as the main enemy in both the Chinese and USA campaigns.

Gameplay Style

As a terrorist faction with an army composed out of rag-tag freedom fighters, the military of the GLA relies on cunning, ambush tactics, hit-and-run units, suicide attacks and covert operations to defeat their enemies rather than engaging foes on even terms in open battle. The GLA operate older, cheaper and often stolen types of weaponry such as the converted Techincals and salvaged Scorpion Tanks that are often faster than enemies but also much weaker, offering little resistance in direct confrontation. The GLA lacks any form of air force save planes that deliver some of their Generals Powers, instead relying on Tunnel Networks to move forces rapidly. Able to be constructed anywhere on the map, Tunnel Networks are a key element of GLA strategy that represent the entrances and exits to a subterranean tunnel system extended every time a Network entrance is built, and allow a player to instantaneously transfer any type of unit between Network entrances no matter where they are on the map simply by garrisoning the unit in one entrance and ejecting it from another. The GLA also makes extensive use of artillery as both siege weaponry in attacking bases and in the field, with their fast and deadly Rocket Buggies proving a pestilence to even the most skilled players.

GLA uses stealth very heavily, especially in Zero Hour (where they even get a dedicated Stealth General, Prince Kassad). Not only are their Hijackers, infantry units who can steal enemy vehicles from right under their noses, stealthed when not moving, the Camouflage upgraded from the Palace hides their Rebels, the basic infantry unit, from view at all times except when firing. In Zero Hour, the added Saboteur unit is also naturally stealthed, and their defence structures (and all of Kassad's structures) can be upgraded with Camo Netting, making them invisible as well.

One of the GLA's key features is that their structures, while not necessarily as strong as those of other factions (though Zero Hour's Fortified Structure upgrade makes them into one of the toughest factions of all), leave behind a GLA Hole when destroyed. This is a small bunker-like basement area from which a worker will exit after a set period of time and re-build the destroyed structure at no cost to the GLA player. Though GLA Holes are extremely easily destroyed if discovered, they are naturally stealthed from after a couple of seconds after the building on top collapses, and provide virtual insurance against many enemy Generals Power and Superweapon attacks, particularly the typically devastating USA Fuel Air Bomb and Chinese Nuclear Missile. In fact so effective are these holes against a China player, neutralising as they do their side's expensive and volatile superweapon, that most modifications tweak the Nuclear Missile to do its damage in multiple waves, destroying the structure on top then the GLA Hole underneath in sequence.

The GLA make heavy use of biological and chemical weapons as part of their terrorist doctrine, filling Scud missiles full of lethal Anthrax viruses and spraying deadly mixtures over the battlefield with their Toxin Tractors. Units such as the Terrorist and Bomb Truck can also deliver the ooze, and provide a cheap and devastating explosive solution to even the most powerful enemy units - so long as they can get close enough.

Iconic Units

Quad Cannon

A half-track vehicle with four large and powerful .50 calibre machine guns mounted on a flatbed tray, the Quad Cannon is reputed to be an older Soviet design that has been reactivated and pressed into service by the forces of the GLA. Delivering a stream of fire almost equal to that of China's Gatling technology, but requiring no spin-up time, the Quad Cannon tears through enemy infantry and aircraft more effectively than almost any other unit in the game, and is significantly faster than its tracked contemporaries. However, it possesses little armour and will lose an encounter with almost all ground vehicles save perhaps the Humvee (in fact it is one of the few units which is capable of reliably posing a threat to the Humvee because of the long range of its main weapon combined with its higher-than-average speed), requiring a GLA player to shield them from harm until the time is right to strike.

Rocket Buggy

The Rocket Buggy is a small dune-buggy type vehicle with a large rocket rack mounted above the rear of the cabin. One of the game's fastest ground units, the Buggy can speed to the perimeter of an enemy base, deliver a salvo of rockets from long range, and quickly retreat before defenders can respond. This strike-and-fade capability is unique among the game's artillery units, as though it is if anything thinner-skinned than its already flimsy contemporaries it can avoid taking punishment with relative ease. Not only that but the fact that the rockets it fires track vehicles during movement and can be expanded with upgrades, enables it to effectively kite almost all adversaries. Available as a post-tech unit Rocket Buggies are a key GLA unit during the late game, and can often be countered only by aircraft (or, in the case of a GLA mirror match, other Rocket Buggies).

Bomb Truck

A civilian truck packed to the brim with a massive payload of explosives, the Bomb Truck is one of the game's most devastating units. Also capable of having its payload upgraded, for a price, to include either a more powerful explosive charge, a biologically-contaminated weapon, or both, it delivers more damage in a single attack than any other unit or weapon save selected Generals Powers or a Nuclear Missile. The catch, of course, is that it can obviously attack only once, being a suicide unit that drives into an enemy and explodes the bomb. One of the major advantages of the Bomb Truck is that it can also disguise itself as an opposition vehicle to allow surprise attacks on enemy formations; the camouflage can only be seen through by stealth detectors, meaning that if an enemy is not paying attention he could see his entire attack column wiped out from within. Bomb Trucks are also one of the GLA's most expensive units, meaning that they must be used with care (lest the GLA player destroy a cheap enemy unit and lose more money than his adversary), but can demolish a base or disrupt a charge better than almost anything else if used correctly.

Jarmen Kell

Jarmen Kell, often known in common parlance as simply Kell or by his initials JK, is the hero unit for the GLA. He is stealthed at all times except when firing his sniper rifle, which can kill any enemy infantry with a single shot and also detects enemy stealth units inside a long line of sight. Jarmen Kell is arguably much more important to his faction than his counterparts, Black Lotus for China and Colonel Burton for the USA, mostly thanks to his special ability to snipe the driver from a selected enemy vehicle. This makes it free for capture by any infantry, such as nearby Rebels or even Kell himself if the situation warrants it. Used carefully this can allow a GLA player to build up a small army of select units stolen from enemy armies to complement and enhance a GLA strike force; popular targets such as Overlords, Nuke Cannons and especially Dozers can provide a GLA player with otherwise unavailable tactical options that are sometimes extremely powerful when combined with their mobility and Tunnel Network advantages. Jarmen Kell is also unique in that he can garrison a building unseen by the enemy, picking off infantry without any indication as to his presence save corpses tumbling to the ground.

Weaknesses

The GLA's primary weakness is that its units are almost universally extremely weak individually. Able to take next to no punishment next to the thick armour of Chinese tanks and delivering it slower than the USA's shock-and-awe weaponry, and with no bonuses gained such as Horde or Propaganda, the GLA instead relies on keeping its units undetected until the time is right to strike, getting units quickly into the battle zone, doing as much damage as they can, and then retreating to a nearby Tunnel Network before the enemy can react.