Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen of SV to a quest that has been on my mind for a long time. Which is an AU of Mass Effect where instead of playing as the boring canon Alliance, we get the much more exciting GDI of Command and Conquer.
I have played a lot of CK2 quests on this forum but feel that I'll need a lot more experience before I could start a proper one that won't get abandoned in a month. So this is sort of a practice CK2 quest, where it will mostly be you guys playing as General Williams as he builds Shanxi to a thriving colony.
Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen of SV to a quest in an AU of Mass Effect where instead of playing as the boring canon Alliance, we get the much more exciting GDI of Command and Conquer.
I have played a lot of CK2 quests on this forum but feel that I'll need a lot more experience before I could start a proper one that won't get abandoned. So this is sort of a practice CK2 quest, where it will mostly be you guys playing as General Williams and defending Shanxi from the Turians.
Since Shanxi is a frontier outpost, the higher tier tech for GDI like Ion Cannon stations, Mammoth Tanks, Juggernauts, Dreadnoughts, and Carriers are locked out for you.
We'll get into the specifics on what you have access to later. For now lets establish what happened in between First Contact War and C&C4.
Yes I know the C&C community do not speak of it. But it is much easier to just borrow the major plot points of C&C4 and just roll with it. Which Kane Ascended through the Tower, the Brotherhood fractures again, TCN gave GDI huge amounts of power and resources for free, and GDI knows that the Scrin are going to come back at some point so military build up is up to US military spending in the scale of the whole world.
For those of you who aren't familiar with Command and Conquer lore I'll put in 2 great videos made by Jethild on youtube about the major factions of Command and Conquer, which is GDI and the Brotherhood of Nod in Spoiler tab and will try to do my best to make it so that you don't need to know the full history of Command and Conquer to enjoy the quest.
Now the Introductions out of the way, lets start with world building.
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The 21st century has been the bloodiest century in human history. An extraterrestrial mineral that poisoned the planet, 3 World Wars, and an Alien Invasion, has brought Humanity to the brink of extinction. Now on the eve of the 22nd century, Humanity is united under the banner of GDI and has started to spread its influence across the Solar System with colonies.
However GDI is only half of the story of Humanity, with Kane and many of his most loyal followers Ascending through the Threshold Tower and leaving planet Earth, many of the remaining Brotherhood of Nod that were left behind splintered into many different factions and each with a differing ideology. Some continue their extremist ways and constantly try to undermine GDI however they can, few have surrendered to GDI authority, and others have disappeared all together deep within Nod's underground tunnel network. In the years after what is known as the Ascention Conflict, multiple Nod splinter groups are hunted down by GDI. Without Kane to unite them or the advanced technological know how of the Brotherhood elites, these Nod warlords not only have to defend themselves from well supplied GDI Commanders who hunt them down but also from rival Nod warlords who will pounce at any sign of weakness.
A significant event of note is the Confession, where an unknown Nod warlord, released an enormous amount of confidential Nod records detailing the many crimes against humanity the Brotherhood has committed, from being the cause of creating the Australian Red Zone by destroying GDI's secret Liquid Tiberium Research Lab, to engineering the 3rd Tiberium War and brought about the Scrin Invasion. This event shatters Nod support and influence among the world's populace as most of Nod's crimes are put to light by members of their own. With the Brotherhood's most devout members following Kane into the Tower, most that remain on Earth are those less devoted to the Brotherhood's cause and many abandoned the Brotherhood or willingly defected into GDI custody.
[] In the decade after the release of the Confession, GDI is able to gather detailed information on a majority of the Nod factions through disillusioned followers, giving GDI commanders the locations of a majority of the major Brotherhood faction's underground base of operations. In a series of underground skirmishes, GDI have successfully eliminated the Brotherhood as a major power with the deaths of many of Nod's warlords, the destruction of most of the underground network, and the occupation and relocation of many of the underground towns Nod has set up inside the tunnel network.
(Minimal to non-existent Nod presence in GDI space, GDI population extremely distrusts the Brotherhood of Nod, Advanced Nod technology non-existent in GDI arsenal, GDI gained experience in underground warfare and access to Nod Tunnel technology, Brotherhood splinter groups are being hunted down by InOps, ???)
[] Before the release of the Confession to the world, a Nod warlord, who is suspected to be a descendant of a Nod field officer during the 3rd Tiberium War, secretly offered a deal with GDI InOps. In return for amnesty, renouncing the Brotherhood of Nod religion, and signing a defensive alliance, the Liberated will help GDI hunt down rival Brotherhood splinter groups that continue to be loyal to Kane along with giving GDI access to various Nod technologies that they can use however they see fit. With the deal struck the new Liberated faction renounced Kane as an uncaring and ruthless mastermind that created the Brotherhood to serve his own plans, not the betterment on humanity. This caused the Brotherhood to have a massive schism with only a small number of minor warlords are antagonistic towards GDI. The rest either join the Liberated or surrendered into GDI custody.
(GDI gains access to Nod technology, the Liberated is a tentative yet public ally in helping GDI keep the peace, Friction between Liberated and GDI are common as 5 decades of conflict doesn't just go away, ???)
While this is a devastating blow to the Brotherhood's reputation, there are still remnant factions that buried themselves too deep within Nod's tunnel network for GDI to reach or found that do not believe the incriminating evidence released to the world and continued their operations against GDI with renewed fervour but very limited success. With the Brotherhood a shadow of it's former self, GDI looked to the stars as they know that the Scrin, the ones responsible for bringing Tiberium to Earth, will comeback to finish what they have started in the near future.
In preparation for their inevitable return, GDI launched a colonization campaign to grow and colonize the solar system. However, by the start of the 22nd Century, surveyors discovered trace amounts of never before seen element that seem to defy the laws of physics. Tracing these elements lead them to an alien ruin and what can be assumed to be a research lab. GDI is very quick to point out that this is not of Scrin origin as there are no traces of Tiberium detected anywhere in the ruin and that carbon dating manage to trace the age of the ruin to roughly 50,000 years ago. What GDI did not mention to the general public is the intact data cache inside the ruin along with a stockpile of the new element, named Element Zero, inside of various pieces of spacecraft and equipment.
GDI quickly secured the ruins and built a research lab over it to decrypt its data. This treasure trove of information lead to the emergent Mass Effect technology, jump starting GDI's colonization plan by several decades with a working equation for Faster Than Light travel. However due to the scarcity of this never before seen element now dubbed Element Zero, many avenues of research were deemed too expensive to be invested into. Thus GDI prioritized FTL and Materials research that can be created with this new technology.
Before long GDI has a working FTL drive and found a possible alien outpost on Pluto's moon of Charon. A future expedition on Humanity's first Frigate, the GDNS Parnu, visited Charon and discovered that it isn't a moon at all and is in fact a Mass Relay. A gargantuan construct that can be used to slingshot ships across vast distances to a Relay on the other side.
With Interstellar travel being handled by the Mass Relay, GDI quickly organized convoys of colonists and material to start colonies along the network. The Navy re-organized its command structure to better handle operating an interstellar military with countering the Scrin's space superiority at the forefront of their dorctrine. The Kodiak Battlecruiser while a powerful vessel, its original role is as a land bombardment vessel and not equipped to combat other space faring vessels. Thus GDI redesigned its navy to fit into its new roles and GDI designers looked at history for inspiration. With new technology reverse engineered from the alien data cache and lessons learnt from history, the Navy settled on creating Wolf Pack Formations of 4 Frigates with a Destroyer leader as their main Patrol group while Cruisers and Carriers are deployed at crossroads of Mass Relays to be able to quickly reinforce GDI defenders in case of a hostile invasion.
With the designs finalized, GDI shipyards can begin production of Humanities' Navy. The Relay beyond the Sol Relay, dubbed Arcturus, is found to be a nexus of several Relays and becomes a hub for strategic importance. Thus the GDI Navy, with approval from the GDI Board of Directors, commissioned the construction of a Space Station that will become the command and control center of GDI's Navy. The new Arcturus Station was based on the old Philadelphia Space Station design but modernized with current technology to become the military capital for GDI. Now that the GDI Navy have been set up and shipyards are working around the clock making ships, the Colonization Initiative can be put into action.
This is where you come in, Commander Williams. You have been re-assigned to oversee the colonization of Shanxi in the latest wave of Colonization. Now Shanxi itself is
[] Mountainous, plenty of tall mountains and hills that makes this an ideal mining colony. You'll most likely have to be careful with this one, Tanks can't jump over sheer cliffs like the infantry yet so I advise investing in Mobile Infantry, VTOL Aircraft, and Hover vehicles to be able to maneuver around the area effectively.
(+Mineral Wealth, +Cheaper Military Production, +Many Defendable Chokepoints, -Limited Build Space)
[] Heavily Forested, with lots of alien trees and wildlife that the scientist are itching to have a look at. I would recommend investing in Vehicles and Infantry for this planet due to the very tall tree canopy making Air Strikes nearly impossible with how thick these trees are.
(+Cheap Wood source, +Possible Xenobiology research, +Receive Research Lab, -Possible Hostile Wildlife)
[] A Plains world, relatively flat with a few forests and mountains here and there, this is a really close substitute for Earth and a lot of colonists volunteer to live there. Shanxi is going to be that sector's bread basket thus I would recommend investing in Vehicles and Aircraft for long range patrols.
(+Cheaper Food Production, +Receive Additional Population, +Receive Additional Military Units, -Very Little Natural Defensive positions)
Your job will be to make sure the Colony is thriving within 5 years. After that, a Wolfpack will escort a survey team through the 2nd Relay for the next Colonization wave in 10 years. Good luck, General Williams.
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AN: For now, this is just general world building with very minor immediate advantages but will probably bring tangible benefits further down the line. The choices here is more of a survey on what people would want the narrative to be like, what direction you want the quest to be like and what stuff do you guys want me to give you. Either with GDI being a strong independent faction who don't need no Nod, or someone willing to work together with Nod and risk the chance of getting backstabbed by Nod, again, for their advanced technology. Granted GDI would still research some of Nod's general technology like Lasers, Stealth, and Prosthetics but they will not have working examples to speed up the process or even touch any of Nod's Tiberium research.
Now to keep thing fair for the Citadel Races, GDI will get a nerf in Mass Effect technology in the form of Eezo scarcity. Eezo is really rare in their area of space and thus every little bit of Eezo will be stockpiled for military projects like FTL drives and naval grade weapons. Technology like Kinetic Barriers are going to be replaced with GDI's own Firestorm shields on their ships. It is tougher but it can't be miniaturized because it guzzles energy like nobodies business. To compensate, GDI employ all sorts of C&C tech, like Zone Armor, Sonic weapons, Heavy Tanks, and many more. There will be a 3 day moratorium as I set everything up for what you'll bring with you in establishing Shanxi.
The 2nd choice will be much more impactful, as it will be what type of planet Shanxi is. The wiki doesn't have a description on what the planet is like so I'll let you guys choose what do you want to play around with. You could trade your excess resources for more money in all of these as that is the reason they are being colonized anyway. That money could be used for a lot of things in the shop every year.
A Mountainous planet means that there will be a lot of cliffs and rocky terrain on a majority of the planet. It won't be everywhere but there are flat areas that tanks would be fine in but Infantry with Jump Packs and Aircraft will have a much easier time moving around than ground vehicles. Because you're getting your metal locally, a lot of your military equipment gets a discount. Because there are a lot of mountains an invading army will have to go through them unless they tunnel or airlift their army over the mountains. Because most of the continent is mountains you will have a similar situation to Japan, you could build underground cities which will be really well protected but will be expensive and take a lot of time to build so it will be up to you to balance that out.
A Heavily Forested planet will have really tall canopies that makes Attack Aircraft have a hard time operating there since there are trees in the way, again not in all areas but enough for it to be problem unless you terraform the area with massive deforestation, do note that this also means that any invading army will have to deal with the same problem. The Cheap Wood trait would mean that civilian projects are much cheaper, but the Research Lab would be your real source of early game income, until you can set up farms or mines, because Sirta Foundation, yes that Sirta Foundation, is paying you to protect their research teams when they go on expeditions into the forests to search for samples. It won't be a lot of money but it is a constant supply of money that can be used to get the colony up and running much faster.
The Plains would allow for all forms of unit types to work effectively but you'll have to build your defenses from scratch. Since it is a fertile world, GDI has a vested interest in keeping this colony running smoothly as they will supply food for this sector of space and any future colonization efforts to simplify logistics. And since it is almost Earth like, many colonist chose to come here so you'll have a much higher population to work with which means more actions. To help with that you'll get additional military assets to help defend the colony in case of a Scrin invasion. You'll have to build all of your defense from scratch but that's what you get when the continent is like the American Great Plains.
I should mention that since this is a frontier colony you will not get access to the really high end stuff in GDI's arsenal. So, Commandos, Ion Cannon Satellites, and Mastodons are locked out of your build tab until you get authorization to use them which likely wouldn't happen until Shanxi gets invaded or you found something that is worth the higher level of tech like a Protean ruin. But GDI is under the assumption that the Scrin could invade at anytime so getting colonies set up to gather raw materials and increase the number of possible soldiers is better than turtling up on Earth waiting for a Scrin invasion fleet to come out of the Threshold Tower. So you will have plenty of tier 1 and 2 units to choose from. Each turn is 6 months so you got 10 turns before GDI sent the team that will trigger contact with the Turians.
So yeah, 3-Day Moratorium while I write up the stuff you'll get to bring for Shanxi and 3 days to Vote. I'll probably start making Info posts about what GDI has in their arsenal after the next update but I am happy to answer any questions you might have in the meantime. Let me know if I missed anything or if you have an idea that would make the quest more fun.
[] Before the release of the Confession to the world, a Nod warlord, who is suspected to be a descendant of a Nod field officer during the 3rd Tiberium War, secretly offered a deal with GDI InOps. In return for amnesty, renouncing the Brotherhood of Nod religion, and signing a defensive alliance, the Liberated will help GDI hunt down rival Brotherhood splinter groups that continue to be loyal to Kane along with giving GDI access to various Nod technologies that they can use however they see fit. With the deal struck the new Liberated faction renounced Kane as an uncaring and ruthless mastermind that created the Brotherhood to serve his own plans, not the betterment on humanity. This caused the Brotherhood to have a massive schism with only a small number of minor warlords are antagonistic towards GDI. The rest either join the Liberated or surrendered into GDI custody.
Nod has a lot of powerful tech, like lasers and stealth tech.
[] Mountainous, plenty of tall mountains and hills that makes this an ideal mining colony. You'll most likely have to be careful with this one, Tanks can't jump over sheer cliffs like the infantry yet so I advise investing with Mobile Infantry, VTOL Aircraft, and Hover vehicles to be able to maneuver around the area effectively.
True, but basic prosthesis and flame weapons are pretty easy for GDI to develop, so you can probably build your own flame tank and prosthesis if you have the designs. But Tiberium research is where GDI and much of Humanity draws the line. As General Granger from C&C3 said "That's not who we are, that's not GDI." So no Tiberium research without facing jail time.
I'm partial to the liberated and the heavily forested option. Building up as a sort of stealth focus so we can go full Vietnam style guerrilla fighting against the invading turbans.
Cutting down visual advantages from the air means we can focus on the ground warfare and stealth aspects to pick off the enemy forces piecemeal. Our tech specifically can bypass their defenses this way. Our stealth will mean we can hide our weaknesses. Our scientific approach means we can focus on building up hidden bases throughout the jungle area as rest stops and gathering points scientific expeditions. Best of all we can loot the enemies fallen forces for more ezoo this way and gather up a stockpile for the after game. Not just of that material but also of the standard military tech the galaxy deals with. So we can provide working examples of all of the various items to our scientists and they can figure out how it works.
Overall a nice long term design where we are planning to bleed the turians for all they are worth to get as much of an advantage as we can grab.
I'm partial to the liberated and the heavily forested option. Building up as a sort of stealth focus so we can go full Vietnam style guerrilla fighting against the invading turbans.
Cutting down visual advantages from the air means we can focus on the ground warfare and stealth aspects to pick off the enemy forces piecemeal. Our tech specifically can bypass their defenses this way. Our stealth will mean we can hide our weaknesses. Our scientific approach means we can focus on building up hidden bases throughout the jungle area as rest stops and gathering points scientific expeditions. Best of all we can loot the enemies fallen forces for more ezoo this way and gather up a stockpile for the after game. Not just of that material but also of the standard military tech the galaxy deals with. So we can provide working examples of all of the various items to our scientists and they can figure out how it works.
Overall a nice long term design where we are planning to bleed the turians for all they are worth to get as much of an advantage as we can grab.
I think it is safe to say that GDI knows all they know about Guerilla fighting from the decades of having to deal with Nod but they aren't the masters of it like Nod was. It should be noted that the Turians would level a city block just to take out a squad so whenever there is a battle, it is very likely the Turians will bombard the area they are fighting in with extreme prejudice. Stealth won't matter if the enemy just nukes your army.
For looting the Turians gear for eezo, the guns are probably going to only have Eezo the size of a thumb and tanks will probably have chunks the size of 6-pack so it will add up but by the end it would probably be enough for an FTL drive for a frigate or 2. Pretty good, but it won't be as good as buying a few tons of the stuff of the market. Keeping a few of the weapons for study is a given in any war so I don't really need to talk about it. If you manage to take out their ships tho, the amount of eezo will skyrocket.
I should mention that GDI does have Firestorm shields. Which I feel can tank a lot of orbital shots, due to the fact that Firestorm shields are invulnerable and that shield in the Rocky Mountains mission in Kane's Wrath can stay up permanently. You will have the ability to shield your capital but it will guzzle up a few dams worth of power to do that. You may want a Geothermal or a Nuclear plant to power it which will jack up the price.
I should mention that GDI does have Firestorm shields. Which I feel can tank a lot of orbital shots, due to the fact that Firestorm shields are invulnerable and that shield in the Rocky Mountains mission in Kane's Wrath can stay up permanently. You will have the ability to shield your capital but it will guzzle up a few dams worth of power to do that. You may want a Geothermal or a Nuclear plant to power it which will jack up the price
Ehh, another GDI? Well, that's disappointing. There are whole other interesting factions around and totally not UN/US army kept being chosen for quest and fics. Better than nothing I suppose.
Ehh, another GDI? Well, that's disappointing. There are whole other interesting factions around and totally not UN/US army kept being chosen for quest and fics. Better than nothing I suppose.
[] In the decade after the release of the Confession, GDI is able to gather detailed information on a majority of the Nod factions through disillusioned followers, giving GDI commanders the locations of a majority of the major Brotherhood faction's underground base of operations. In a series of underground skirmishes, GDI have successfully eliminated the Brotherhood as a major power with the deaths of many of Nod's warlords, the destruction of many of the underground network, and the occupation and relocation of many of the underground towns Nod has set up inside the tunnel network.
[] Mountainous, plenty of tall mountains and hills that makes this an ideal mining colony. You'll most likely have to be careful with this one, Tanks can't jump over sheer cliffs like the infantry yet so I advise investing with Mobile Infantry, VTOL Aircraft, and Hover vehicles to be able to maneuver around the area effectively.
[] A Plains world, relatively flat with a few forests and mountains here and there, this is a really close substitute for Earth and a lot of colonists volunteer to live there. Shanxi is going to be that sector's bread basket thus I would recommend investing in Vehicles and Aircraft for long range patrols.
(+Cheaper Food Production, +Receive Additional Population, +Receive Additional Military Units, -Very Little Natural Defensive positions)
My choices would most likely around these considering the setting. Minimal Nod presence is nice as we don't really need to deal with that particular landmine. While getting the text nice and all, most of them are either inhumane or can be researched by GDI. Maybe the hardest would be AI related stuff but maybe that's a good thing considering AI track record for CnC.
Meanwhile for Shanxi, either go full resource and defense to turtle or go full pop and production. The forest are admittedly interesting but I don't really see the use with our current tech, most of GDI techs are not around transhumanism after all. Maybe if we pick the option to get Nod stuff it would help. Meanwhile, we can build a fortified outpost in Mountanous planet or go full economy in plain. The later would be totally harder to defend but maybe easier construction due to no restriction on space can help somehow? Besides, once you go past certain threshold, I don't think mountain really help with defense unless said attacker want our stuff to be intact.
() Plan let's see if we can hide a mountain with a stealth generator.
() Liberated ally with GDI
() Mountains
Okay for the mountains is like the most important part because the Turians use high attrition warfare with massive armies with tanks and combine arms plus with s
lot of infantry to defeat someone so the mountains going to deny them they're heavy tanks and most of their infantry. also the mountains will help defend our cities from orbital bombardment.
For the Liberated ally with GDI this just gave us a lot of overpower tech but to be warn they are independent from GDI so they don't have to help they could betray us like by attacking us or sharing technology with the aliens but I highly doubt that.
Actually GDI has been using EVAs since the 1st Tib War as a Command an Control interface. CABAL is a Computer Assisted Biologically Augmented Lifeform, it is a form of Cyborg not an AI. So GDI has really advanced EVA units that are more like Halo's Smart AI than Cylons or Geth.
but I don't really see the use with our current tech, most of GDI techs are not around transhumanism after all. Maybe if we pick the option to get Nod stuff it would help
The Xeno research is actually something I come up with when I felt like there isn't anything interesting there that GDI would want, so I added Sirta Foundation as an extra incentive. They are there to pay you to protect them while they study the wildlife and be a boost to your income while your colony is setting up. After the FCW they'll develop medigel from the research they gathered there. So no Transhumanism, but Medical Research like new Anti-biotics and etc. are still profitable.
The mountains have a lot of choke points that you can pile on static defense on top of unless the invaders fly over or tunnel under the mountains. So it is much easier to defend but your Economy and population will suffer as you can't house as large population unless you invest in a lot of coastal towns or make underground cities which are expensive and time consuming to make.
The plains have a lot of wide open space that you can use however you like. The extra population and military means that you'll have more actions and money to play around with. But you'll have to do a lot of work to make it defensible. This is more of a sandbox planet.
Okay for the mountains is like the most important part because the Turians use high attrition warfare with massive armies with tanks and combine arms plus with s
lot of infantry to defeat someone so the mountains going to deny them they're heavy tanks and most of their infantry.
Not really, the wiki mentioned that the Turians will level a city block by orbital strike if they saw human defenders. The mountains aren't going to help since those strike are pretty dang precise. Underground cities are much better defended from orbital strikes but are expensive and take a long time and Firestorm Shields can defend against Orbital Bombardment but it is expensive and guzzles a whole lot of power. But that is pretty reasonable for Orbital Protection.
For the Liberated ally with GDI this just gave us a lot of overpower tech but to be warn they are independent from GDI so they don't have to help they could betray us like by attacking us or sharing technology with the aliens but I highly doubt that.
Advanced Lasers like the Basilisk's ability for its lasers to split, shoulder mounted Laser Cannons for Anti-Vehicle use, and an Obelisk that can shoot a laser at aircraft are the tech that you'll have access with on the Laser Tech tree if you have Liberated. Advanced Stealth generators for Aircraft, certain Tanks, Special Forces and the Disruption Towers, you'll also get from the Liberated. Other tech that you'll get is the Rockworm, Subteranian APC, Cyberwheels, Tick Tank, and Shade.
If you pick the Purge Nod option, you'll not have access to advanced Nod tech but GDI overall gets to advance their tech tree with Jump Pack equipped Tanks, Sonic Troopers, Werewolf Transformable Rifle, Better Railguns, Better Zone Armor, Better Ion Cannons, etc.
[X] Before the release of the Confession to the world, a Nod warlord, who is suspected to be a descendant of a Nod field officer during the 3rd Tiberium War, secretly offered a deal with GDI InOps. In return for amnesty, renouncing the Brotherhood of Nod religion, and signing a defensive alliance, the Liberated will help GDI hunt down rival Brotherhood splinter groups that continue to be loyal to Kane along with giving GDI access to various Nod technologies that they can use however they see fit. With the deal struck the new Liberated faction renounced Kane as an uncaring and ruthless mastermind that created the Brotherhood to serve his own plans, not the betterment on humanity. This caused the Brotherhood to have a massive schism with only a small number of minor warlords are antagonistic towards GDI. The rest either join the Liberated or surrendered into GDI custody.
(GDI gains access to Nod technology, the Liberated is a tentative yet public ally in helping GDI keep the peace, Friction between Liberated and GDI are common as 5 decades of conflict doesn't just go away, ???)
[X] Mountainous, plenty of tall mountains and hills that makes this an ideal mining colony. You'll most likely have to be careful with this one, Tanks can't jump over sheer cliffs like the infantry yet so I advise investing with Mobile Infantry, VTOL Aircraft, and Hover vehicles to be able to maneuver around the area effectively.
[] In the decade after the release of the Confession, GDI is able to gather detailed information on a majority of the Nod factions through disillusioned followers, giving GDI commanders the locations of a majority of the major Brotherhood faction's underground base of operations. In a series of underground skirmishes, GDI have successfully eliminated the Brotherhood as a major power with the deaths of many of Nod's warlords, the destruction of many of the underground network, and the occupation and relocation of many of the underground towns Nod has set up inside the tunnel network.
(Minimal to non-existent Nod presence in GDI space, GDI population extremely distrusts the Brotherhood of Nod, Advanced Nod technology non-existent in GDI arsenal, GDI gained experience in underground warfare and access to Nod Tunnel technology, Brotherhood splinter groups are being hunted down by InOps, ???)
[] A Plains world
Actually GDI has been using EVAs since the 1st Tib War as a Command an Control interface. CABAL is a Computer Assisted Biologically Augmented Lifeform, it is a form of Cyborg not an AI. So GDI has really advanced EVA units that are more like Halo's Smart AI than Cylons or Geth.
Nah, EVA is more like overcharged smart assistant. I meant more in Legion, now that would be an AI I would trust and want. Besides, I meant more in the vein of Unmanned Unit which GDI rarely used unlike Nod with their Avatar. Or maybe fully automated industry complex that can handle emergency.
The Xeno research is actually something I come up with when I felt like there isn't anything interesting there that GDI would want, so I added Sirta Foundation as an extra incentive. They are there to pay you to protect them while they study the wildlife and be a boost to your income while your colony is setting up. After the FCW they'll develop medigel from the research they gathered there. So no Transhumanism, but Medical Research like new Anti-biotics and etc. are still profitable.
Sure but it's pay more to focus in what GDI already good at I think. It's interesting and if we go with getting Nod Tech then I would inclined to choose it though. Hopefully it won't end like Doom Mars.
The mountains have a lot of choke points that you can pile on static defense on top of unless the invaders fly over or tunnel under the mountains. So it is much easier to defend but your Economy and population will suffer as you can't house as large population unless you invest in a lot of coastal towns or make underground cities which are expensive and time consuming to make.
The plains have a lot of wide open space that you can use however you like. The extra population and military means that you'll have more actions and money to play around with. But you'll have to do a lot of work to make it defensible. This is more of a sandbox planet.
The Plain is exactly like I hoped for. A completely sandbox place where we can just build and expand. Quite vanilla and doesn't provide much opportunities but it's a stable choice. Meanwhile the mountain is where things get crazy, since in my opinion, it's the most guerilla option out of all of them depend on how we played it with. We most likely ended with several smaller interconnected complexes rather than one huge colony, at least until we can get to make our own underground one. But it still provide cover and giving us camouflage if needed to.
Underground cities would be interesting and cool but thats a very long term project. Not to mention costly and inefficient unless their built for a specific purpose.
Legion is a custom AI only available to Kane himself. That means that the Nod Remnants on Earth has no idea how to make AI and they'll mostly rely on stolen GDI EVAs for their Command and Control capabilities. So yeah, Nod tech doesn't include AI.
I also mention that this is at the start of the 22nd century so GDI had 50 years to improve their EVAs that I feel comfortable having them be EDI levels of AI with a bit more personality like Cortana. By the time ME proper rolls around EVAs will be Cortana levels.
I plan to include Unmmaned Units into GDI's roster in the form of War Dogs (which are just mini Mammoth Mk2s with a machine gun head) and Drone Swarm (which are just flying machine gun Drones) from C&C Rivals (which I do play on a daily basis). Not sure what else could become an Unmanned Unit other than maybe a Mastodon? I am open to suggestions for new GDI units.
[X] Mountainous, plenty of tall mountains and hills that makes this an ideal mining colony. You'll most likely have to be careful with this one, Tanks can't jump over sheer cliffs like the infantry yet so I advise investing with Mobile Infantry, VTOL Aircraft, and Hover vehicles to be able to maneuver around the area effectively.
(+Mineral Wealth, +Cheaper Military Production, +Many Defendable Chokepoints, -Limited Build Space)
[X] Before the release of the Confession to the world, a Nod warlord, who is suspected to be a descendant of a Nod field officer during the 3rd Tiberium War, secretly offered a deal with GDI InOps. In return for amnesty, renouncing the Brotherhood of Nod religion, and signing a defensive alliance, the Liberated will help GDI hunt down rival Brotherhood splinter groups that continue to be loyal to Kane along with giving GDI access to various Nod technologies that they can use however they see fit. With the deal struck the new Liberated faction renounced Kane as an uncaring and ruthless mastermind that created the Brotherhood to serve his own plans, not the betterment on humanity. This caused the Brotherhood to have a massive schism with only a small number of minor warlords are antagonistic towards GDI. The rest either join the Liberated or surrendered into GDI custody.
(GDI gains access to Nod technology, the Liberated is a tentative yet public ally in helping GDI keep the peace, Friction between Liberated and GDI are common as 5 decades of conflict doesn't just go away, ???
