If you pause game during speech/deployment you have to alt+f4

[z WeApOn z]

This may have been posted, but if you pause the game(automatically happens if you open the Steam overlay) during a general's speech and I believe possibly sometimes while deploying units, the game will pause itself and there is no way to unpause it unless you alt+f4.

[hermpes]

i hit space bar and the general started speaking. then i could hit esc and cancel the speech and resume the game. also if there is a keybind for pause that would probably work