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For the Red Alert 1 vehicle of the same name, see Ranger (Red Alert). |
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| “ | What's the mission, sir? - Rangers reporting for duty |
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Rangers are America's basic infantry in Generals.
Background[]
| “ | Special Forces here! - Ranger |
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US Army Rangers are some of the most elite infantrymen in the American military and the frontline infantry deployed during the War against the GLA. They use M16A2 assault rifles and wear PASGT vests and helmets for protection. Rumor has it that Chinese Gen. Leang trains Rangers and that she uses them as her basic infantry in place of traditional Chinese Red Guard.
Abilities[]
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Capture Building | Allows Rangers to capture neutral and hostile structures. |
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Flash Bang mode | Switches to flash bangs for crowd control and building clearing |
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Machine Gun mode | Switches to regular rifles |
Upgrades[]
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Capture Building | Allows Rangers to capture some neutral and hostile structures. | Purchasable at any Barracks for $1000. |
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Flash-Bang Grenades | Destroys enemy infantry groups in the open or in buildings. No effect on vehicles. | Purchasable at any American Barracks for $800. |
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Chemical Suits | Ranger moving through toxin and radiation contaminated terrain via Anthrax or nuclear radiation will take damage much, much slower. | Purchasable at any Strategy Center in Zero Hour for $1000 |
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Advanced Training | Allows Ranger, along with all other USA units to gain veteran status twice as fast. | Purchasable at any Strategy Center for $1500 |
Game unit[]
| “ | Grabbin' a flash-bang! - Rangers ordered to use flash-bang grenades |
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Generally the same as the GLA Rebel and Chinese Red Guard in terms of power, it's the most expensive base infantry unit at $225 each. They have the same training time with the Rebel and similar damage capabilities. Rangers used in massive numbers can be a very real threat to any small armour column of any tank, and when upgraded with the Flashbang ability they're devastating against infantry, even in relatively small groups. Other abilities make it indispensable in various situations, but against a Toxin General or Nuclear General, like all infantry units, the Ranger is extremely vulnerable.
Garrisoned in buildings or bunkers, Rangers can be very dangerous against other infantry types or versus some tanks. They're completely useless against any aircraft and fall relatively quickly in small groups. Their short range means they're highly vulnerable against artillery or well positioned tanks. Also, their Flash bang ability can sometimes backfire due to graphics defects and minor bugs, and flash bangs fired from buildings can hit the parent structure, killing all units with friendly fire.
The Ranger may clear garrisoned structures with flash-bang grenades. The flash-bang may be used to clear out Stinger Sites, but it seems in some versions of the game, this ability was removed. In later versions however, Rangers in Zero Hour could garrison a building with flash-bangs equipped to use on Stinger sites. Rangers may also use Chinooks to enter and clear garrisoned structures. Rangers may also be created by using the paradrop General's power.
It is also worth noting that when using flash-bangs the unit has improved range compared to his assault rifle, however unlike the rifle attack which cannot miss its target, the flash bang grenade takes time to reach its target and enemy infantry may be able to move away from where it was aimed (due to it not being adjustable on the fly), however the flash-bang grenade has an area of effect impact damage, which may compensate for the delayed time.
Like the Rebel and Red Guard, they can be upgraded to capture enemy structures or neutral tech structures on the map. Doing this is however dangerous, as the Rangers take up to a minute to fully capture the structure. They can also be used as cheap(er) ways to recapture neutralised (driverless) vehicles attacked by Jarmen Kell or the Neutron Shell attack.
Rangers have the unique ability exclusive to USA generals, the Chinook Combat Drop. When in a flying Chinook the ability becomes available. The Chinook will fly directly over the targeted building or area and the Rangers within will rappel down and garrison the building, killing any enemy infantry within. Note: ONLY the Rangers will do the Combat drop. Any other infantry will remain behind in the Chinook.
Rangers are especially effective when used alongside Humvees or the Combat Chinook, increasing their overall lethality and mobility.
Finally, several Rangers will emerge from the wreckage after a US building is destroyed, a feature unique to the US faction.
Selected Quotes[]
| “ | What's the mission, sir? - When emerging from the Barracks |
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| “ | Army's elite. - When selected |
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| “ | Need a point man? - When selected |
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| “ | Always prepared. - When selected |
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| “ | We'll lead the way. - When selected |
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| “ | Special forces here. - When selected |
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| “ | Ready for action. - When selected |
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| “ | On the go. - When moving |
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| “ | Rally point confirmed. - When moving |
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| “ | Taking new position. - When moving |
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| “ | Headin' out. - When moving |
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| “ | Search and destroy! - When moving |
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| “ | Raid in progress! - When ordered to attack with rifle |
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| “ | Fully engaged! - When ordered to attack with rifle |
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| “ | Enemy identified! - When ordered to attack with rifle |
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| “ | He's on the target list! - When ordered to attack with rifle |
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| “ | On task! - When ordered to attack with rifle |
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| “ | Exploiting target! - When ordered to attack with rifle |
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| “ | Providing fire support! - When ordered to attack with rifle |
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| “ | Pin them down! - When ordered to attack with flash-bang grenades |
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| “ | Put your arms in the air! - When ordered to attack with flash-bang grenades |
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| “ | Don't want any trouble here! - When ordered to attack with flash-bang grenades |
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| “ | Hold it right there! - When ordered to attack with flash-bang grenades |
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| “ | Exterminator has arrived! - When ordered to clear garrison building |
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| “ | Cleanin' house! - When ordered to clear garrison building |
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| “ | Anybody home? - When ordered to clear garrison building |
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| “ | Little house party! - When ordered to clear garrison building |
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| “ | Where's the extraction point!? - Under fire |
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| “ | Who's covering me!? - Under fire |
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| “ | Need some help here...! - Under fire |
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| “ | This is bad...! - Under fire |
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| “ | We're under fire! - Under fire |
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| “ | Man down! - Under fire |
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| “ | Pretty banged up here! - Under fire |
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| “ | Entering the structure. - When ordered to garrison building |
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| “ | Let's get in there. - When ordered to garrison building |
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| “ | Take the building. - When ordered to garrison building |
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| “ | Secure and occupy. - When ordered to garrison building |
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| “ | Arming flash-bangs. - When ordered to use flash-bang grenades |
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| “ | Grabbin' a flash-bang. - When ordered to use flash-bang grenades |
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| “ | Plenty of flash-bangs here. - When ordered to use flash-bang grenades |
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| “ | We'll take them prisoner. - When ordered to use flash-bang grenades |
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| “ | Arming assault rifle! - When ordered to use rifle |
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| “ | Assault rifle ready! - When ordered to use rifle |
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| “ | Armed and loaded! - When ordered to use rifle |
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| “ | Let's change the decor. - When ordered to captured building |
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| “ | Meet your new owner. - When ordered to captured building |
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| “ | Taking charge! - When ordered to captured building |
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| “ | Let's take the building! - When ordered to capture building |
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| “ | We'll take it from here. - When ordered to capture building |
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| “ | Building capture complete! - After captured building |
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| “ | The building is captured, sir! - After captured building |
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| “ | The building is ours! - After captured building |
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| “ | We have their building! - After captured building |
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| “ | Our base is under attack! - When the base is under attack |
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| “ | General, our base is under attack! - When the base is under attack |
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| “ | They're attacking our base! - When the base is under attack |
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| “ | Our base is being attacked! - When the base is under attack |
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| “ | General, they've stolen our building! - When enemy captured building |
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| “ | They've taken one of our buildings! - When enemy captured building |
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| “ | They captured our building! - When enemy captured building |
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| “ | We surrender! - When surrender |
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| “ | We're standing down! - When surrender |
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| “ | Hold your fire! - When surrender |
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| “ | Flash-bangs are ready! - When the Flash-Bang Grenades upgrade is completed |
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| “ | These chemical suits are going to help. - When the Chemical Suits upgrade is completed |
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| “ | The new chem-suits have just arrived. - When the Chemical Suits upgrade is completed |
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| “ | Upgrading to chemical suits. - When the Chemical Suits upgrade is completed |
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| “ | We can now take control of enemy structures. - When the Capture Building upgrade is completed |
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| “ | Let's go capture some buildings! - When the Capture Building upgrade is completed |
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| “ | We can capture the enemy's building now. - When the Capture Building upgrade is completed |
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| “ | Advanced training is complete, sir. - When the Advanced Training upgrade is completed |
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| “ | We've completed the advanced training. - When the Advanced Training upgrade is completed |
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Cut Laser Ranger quotes[]
| “ | Ranger here, equipped with laser rifle. - When selected |
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| “ | Laser Ranger ready for combat. - When selected |
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| “ | Laser scope's clean. - When selected |
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| “ | Got my laser with me! - When moving |
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| “ | We'll cut through! - When ordered to attack with laser rifle |
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| “ | Light 'em up! - When ordered to attack with laser rifle |
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Gallery[]
_Idle.png "Ranger (Generals) Idle.png (234 KB)")
_Fire.png "Ranger (Generals) Fire.png (11 KB)")
_Fire_Flashbang.png "Ranger (Generals) Fire Flashbang.png (69 KB)")
_Move.png "Ranger (Generals) Move.png (11 KB)")
_Dying.png "Ranger (Generals) Dying.png (8 KB)")
_Die.png "Ranger (Generals) Die.png (13 KB)")
Videos[]
Trivia[]
| “ | Flash Bangs are ready! - Flash bang grenades upgrade complete |
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- Rangers are the first units that the player uses in Generals, being available as the starting units in the Generals' training level.
- The Flash Bang grenades are actually non-lethal weapons in real life and are incapable of clearing buildings, being unlikely to seriously harm enemy soldiers. Flash bang grenades only overwhelm the senses of people in their range with bright flash and loud bang. The game mechanic is likely an abstraction, implying that the Ranger moved in to finish off or capture stunned infantry when using flash-bangs.
- The United States Army Rangers in real life are not basic infantry; they fall under the umbrella of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). The Rangers themselves are elite light infantry and are closer to commandos, much like Burton, than the front-line grunts shown in Generals. However it is possible that it wasn't supposed to be viewed as a front-line grunt and more of the special forces soldiers as evidenced by the fact that one of its quotes are "Special Forces here!".
- Apparently, the Ranger was supposed to mount a snowbike under snow conditions. This was more than likely planned for all infantry, rather than just this one. However, there would be all kinds of issues with it (like snowbikes entering transport vehicles), which was likely why the idea was abandoned.
- The weapon shown in the unit cameo is the M16A2 assault rifle, however, the weapon shown on the machinegun cameo is an M249 Para, a M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) modified for more compact handling primarily for airborne troops at the cost of worse ergonomics when actually employing the weapon.
- However, they probably use M16A2 as the Flashbangs are fired from their rifle rather than thrown, as the Flash bang picture shows the thrown version of the Flashbang.
