Project Raptor B.O.S.S.: the Zero Hour Boss General's Army and Units

B.O.S.S. in Project Raptor is General Leang, the Zero Hour boss general you face in the last battle of Generals' Challenge. You can't play as her in the original game, but in Project Raptor: War Commanders 9.1.27 she is open as the fifth side. Her build menu holds 40 units: the heroes of the USA, China and GLA, Chinese tanks, American drones and Russian aircraft from the Mi-24 to the Su-57 fighter. Below are the general's dossier, the numbers from the mod files and the real prototypes of the hardware.

Who B.O.S.S. is

In Zero Hour, General Leang, nicknamed "the Tigress", appears only in Generals' Challenge: her base waits for you in the final battle. The Boss side does exist in the game files, but ChallengeMode.ini sets StartsEnabled = no for it, so it doesn't show up in the skirmish menu. Raptor switches this flag on, and TipaIvan, one of the mod's authors, left a note next to it in the file.

The mod rewrote her dossier as well:

In the detailed description of her tactics the mod lists five kinds of weapons: napalm, lasers, plasma, nuclear and electromagnetic. The side selection screen has a longer list of features: other generals' technologies, a tunnel, a bomb truck, all heroes, the Hover amphibious tank, the Mammoth, the MiG "White Tiger", the Mi-24 "Hind", the Tu-25, the Su-57, the Terminator super tank, the GAP Generator and the GPS Center.

How the B.O.S.S. army differs from the other sides

Leang builds her army from other sides' technology, so her lineup is a patchwork. The differences you can see in the files:

• Three heroes in one army: the Black Lotus, Jarmen Kell and the Commando (Colonel Burton in Zero Hour). Each costs 2000 and is limited to one. The USA, China and GLA pay 2500 each for their heroes in Raptor.
• The Tech Center for 2500 unlocks 26 of the 40 units and 10 of the 21 buildings. Without it the menu offers only basic infantry, the Hover tank, the BMPT, the Humvee, the MiG and the Rapier helicopter.
• Three superweapons at once: the Ion Missile Silo, the Particle Cannon and the SCUD Storm, 10000 each. The GPS Center for 16000 is the most expensive building in the mod; the same center costs the USA 15000.
• Three super tanks for 8000 each, one of each. The Devastator has 2600 health, the most of any ground vehicle in the mod, and General Tao gets the same tank for 5000.
• The economy runs on the Helix helicopter: 1000 per trip, against 400 for the regular truck and 800 for the heavy one.
• There is no Naval Yard and no navy. The Hover tank (after its upgrade) and the APC can cross water, and the Helix carries vehicles.

The Mammoth and T-98 tanks are close in role to China's heavy armor, so it's handy to compare them with the China army in Raptor.

B.O.S.S. units

The numbers come from the mod's 9.1.27 INI files. Units that exist in Zero Hour keep their official names, new ones are listed by their real designations or a translation of the mod name. Damage is per shot of the main weapon, range is in game units.

Buildings and superweapons

Superweapons recharge in 5 minutes, according to the mod's tooltips. The silo, per its tooltip, launches a nuclear missile, and Leang's SCUD Storm fires Tomahawks. They eat a lot of power: 10 each for the cannon and the silo, 15 for the SCUD Storm, while one reactor gives 16.

The GPS Center reveals the whole map and spots invisible units within radius 300 of the building. The GAP Generator does the opposite: it hides the base in black shroud, where the enemy can't use general powers for ambushes, paradrops or bombing runs. You can build up to three, each takes 8 power and shuts down without it.

Real-world prototypes of B.O.S.S. units

Part of the aircraft and armor comes from the Russian and Chinese armies. Going by the names and models in the files:

• Su-57 PAK FA. A Russian fifth-generation fighter. The prototype, designated T-50, first flew on January 29, 2010, got the name Su-57 in August 2017, and the Aerospace Forces received the first production aircraft on December 25, 2020.
• Mi-24. A Soviet attack helicopter, called Hind by NATO. First flight in 1969, in service since 1972. Its troop compartment holds eight people, hence the eight special forces soldiers the unit carries in the mod.
• Mi-28. An attack helicopter that first flew in 1982; the Mi-28N Night Hunter version was adopted in 2009. In the files the object is still called ChinaVehicleHokum: the Mi-28 took the Ka-50's place.
• MiG "White Tiger". The model is called NVMiG31, so this is the MiG-31. It's an interceptor based on the MiG-25, first flight in 1975, in service since 1981.
• MiG fighter. The model MVMIG29 is the MiG-29: first flight in 1977, in service since 1983.
• Chinese bomber. The model nvbeagle points to the Il-28, which NATO called Beagle. The Il-28 first flew in 1948, and China produced it without a license as the H-5.
• T-98 tank. The object is listed as a Chinese heavy tank, and by name it is the Type 98. It was first shown at the parade on October 1, 1999, and an improved version entered service in 2001 as the Type 99.
• Msta. The model RU-MSTA is the 152 mm 2S19 Msta-S self-propelled howitzer, adopted in 1989. In the mod it fires radioactive shells and replaces the Nuke Cannon.
• BMPT. The model NVTerminator is the Russian BMPT Terminator tank support fighting vehicle, in service since 2017. The real one has two 30 mm cannons and four Ataka-T anti-tank missiles. In the mod the cannons are the same, and after an upgrade the four missiles fire at aircraft.
• GPS Center. Inside the files the object is called HaarpStationControl. HAARP really exists: it's a research station in Alaska that studies the ionosphere. Construction began in 1993, and all 180 antennas were working by 2007.
• Tu-25 and Su-50 "Impulse". These aircraft never existed. There is no Tu-25 among Tupolev's designations, and the model in the files is called RVPakFA. The T-50 designation belonged to the Su-57 prototype, but there is no Su-50 "Impulse" fighter.
• Made-up hardware. The Hover and Mammoth tanks, the Devastator, Destroyer and Terminator super tanks, the Typhoon rocket artillery, the Rapier helicopter, the Thrower with its plasma cannon, the Loading Convoy and the GAP Generator have no prototypes.

How to play B.O.S.S.

Leang's army comes into its own by mid-game, once ranks and the Tech Center are unlocked. The build order that follows from the requirements in the files:

1. A reactor (800) gives 16 power, then comes the Supply Center (1700). Order a Helix from the center right away: it carries 1000 per trip, while a truck for 600 carries 400.
2. A War Factory or an Air Field, then the Tech Center. The heroes, the Mammoth, the Mi-24 and every superweapon need it, so don't delay it.
3. At rank 1 there is one promotion available, the GAP Generator. The generator itself costs 6000 and requires an Oil Derrick, so it doesn't go up in the first minutes.
4. Rank 2 unlocks the T-98, the Typhoon and the Tu-25, rank 3 the Mi-24, the APC with special forces and the three super tanks. The Su-57 comes with a separate "Su-57 PAK FA" promotion, which you can take from rank 4.
5. Air defense rests on the BMPT, the Heavy Gunner and the EMP Patriot System. The Typhoon, the Msta and the Napalm Cannon are nearly defenseless without cover from the air.

The Command Center has 12000 health, like on the other Raptor sides, so an early raid won't take the base down. B.O.S.S. usually loses to players who press hard before the Tech Center is up.

Playing on a phone

Project Raptor 9.1.27 works in ZeroFront. For phones the mod is packed into .big archives, and the build is in the bot, under "Game files & mods" → Project Raptor. A regular loose install (the Data\INI and Art folders) crashes on a phone or takes minutes to load, so use this build.

You connect Raptor like any other mod: the original Generals folder plus the Zero Hour folder with the mod. How the mod works and all five of its sides are covered in the Project Raptor wiki, and versions and the PC install are on the page about Project Raptor and its branches.

On a touch screen B.O.S.S. has a quirk of its own: many units are limited to one. Heroes, super tanks and the Su-57 are handy to keep in a separate group on the left-hand bar. A tap on an empty group saves the selection, and a double tap selects the group and moves the camera to it.

Rank requirements and limits are shown in the tooltips. To read a tooltip without ordering anything, hold the build button. An extra order is cancelled with a long press of about 0.6 seconds or a two-finger tap. The other gestures are on the phone controls page.

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