GDI Platoon Commander: A "GDI Edition" side-quest (non-canon)

Raw Plan/Resolution:

May 18, 2059

"Dad, I don't want to stay here! Mom's being mean to me!" a younger, more muted, yet somehow shriller version of you says.

"How so?" an equally muted, disembodied voice replies - for some reason you remember the particular detail that bandwidth usage got rationed during the Third Tiberium War, so you had to stick to voice only. You remain silent.

"I believe I asked you a question, Violet." the disembodied voice, definitely your dad's states.

"She keeps making me do the math homework." you stammer. "It's boring, I know all this stuff already!"

"And how are your grades? Top of the class, right?" comes the question.

"No. It's boring." you insist. "I know all this stuff already!"

"Does your teacher know that? Your school doesn't know that you went to math camp last summer."

"She should! I told her!" you continue insisting, secure in the knowledge that you're right, and you shouldn't have to do the math homework.

"The only way to prove to your teacher that you know the subject matter, Violet, is by doing the work you're given. That's just the way it is." your dad's voice replies.

"But I don't wanna! It's so boring!"

"Look, Violet, you know how you told me you wanted to do orbital drops one day? Well, you need to be really good at physics for that, which means you have to be good at maths. And if you're not, you land in the ocean or in a Tiberium field instead of where you're going."

"There aren't going to be any more orbital drops!" you counter. "They blew the station up!"

Your dad pauses before replying. "We'll rebuild it. And when we do, do you want to be the one doing the drops, or do you want one of your nincompoop classmates to be doing them?"

You sigh. "Can I come stay with you anyway?"

"Sorry, Violet." your dad's voice answers, sounding measured but disappointed. "It's not safe to travel now. And I'm on active duty, so I wouldn't be able to take care of you anyway. Maybe when the aliens leave and the Brotherhood settles down."

Then you wake up, still feeling indignant about having to do math homework, but gratefully realize that you have to do no such thing. "Sorry I was such a twerp, dad." you mutter to yourself, before getting up. It's still two hours before your shift starts, but you don't want to risk having one of the "bad" dreams, so you stay awake, scrolling aimlessly through your G-Pad's news feed, eventually reading all about the offshore Tiberium harvester stations being built. You wonder if your mom's work on preventing bottom-dwelling sea life from getting vacuumed up made it into the final design. You also read with great interest an "in the cockpit" article about operating the new Havoc scout mechs.

It later occurs to you that power distribution and logistics planning basically *is* math homework and your gratitude fades away.

---


"So, look, this is all cosmetic damage here, but the joints in the right claw are all cracked." the Warrant Officer in charge of the engineering squad tells you when you drive out to inspect the harvester.

You make a circular motion with your right hand, encouraging him to continue.

"Means that, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but in the next couple of weeks for sure, when that harvester goes out and starts scooping up Tiberium, the right claw will just stop scooping." he pats the damaged component. "So, I guess what I'm saying is, it's a good thing you decided to let me have a look at that thing. Good news..." he pauses, and you restrain yourself from impatiently motioning with your hand again, "... is that we've got the parts here to fix it."

You nod. "All right, Warrant, get it fixed as soon as possible, then finish up that APC."

The reduction in credit income hurts a little, but you've heard enough stories about things going wrong for junior officers who didn't listen to their non-commissioned officers that you're not going to argue about this.

---

Other than harvester and APC repairs, you decide to have your construction crews put together a silo in C3 so you don't have to waste your harvesting capacity. Your next priority, you decide, is getting yourself disconnected from that settlement, power-wise. This way, you can turn the lights on for them and have your people do some final run-throughs on the hydroponics and water filtration facilities, and maybe even get the agriculture guys to get some fast-growing crops planted and show the squatters how to do it on their own at the same time.

You opt against personally touring the facilities yourself this time, remembering how awfully boring it was the last time, but it's nice to see the glow of the settlement lights on the horizon at night. Although, once you spend about five minutes enjoying the view, you get on the comms and tell the morons to exercise better night-time air raid protection discipline. You're no expert on high-speed bombing runs, but you've been taught enough to know that if one of those Vertigo or Barghest bombers comes in, those lights are basically a giant "drop bomb here" sign.

EVA Report Follows
Objective deadline updated due to additional construction request (sandbags in B4)

Current Objective Status:
Construct alternate settlement (primary command directive)
-8x residence (7x completed, in progress)
-2x power plant (both constructed, will need to be disconnected from GDI grid; completed)
-begin Tiberium spike construction in D1
-rebuild anti-air and anti-ground turrets in D3
-rebuild anti-air and anti-ground turrets in D2, D1 (self-entered, optional)
-sandbags in D2 (self-entered, optional)
Re-establish base functionality (self-entered, in progress)
-housing capacity at 8; increase to at least 12 (in progress)
-Tiberium storage low; increase to at least 2000 (completed)
-Re-establish command post for comfort and to enable turret construction
-Ensure a 200-point power surplus (completed)
-Rebuild construction yard to enable outpost and turret construction
Re-establish fortifications in main base (self-entered)
-at least 1x AA turret in each of B1 and C1
-2x anti-ground turret in B1
-construct as many additional units as practical
Clear "debris" in B4 (primary command directive, 8/8 structures remaining, may only begin after new settlement is completed)
Begin airfield construction in B4 (primary command directive, must be completed by June 8; 19 days remaining)
-Outpost, Crane or Construction Yard
-Airfield
-2x Power Plant
-Barracks
-4x AA turret
-2x each MG/railgun turret
-Sandbags

Base Status:
Power (available/total): 120/400
Housing (available/total): -2/8 (hot bunking, requisition disabled)
Aircraft capacity (available/total): 2/4
Building Slots B1: 2/8 (construction yard debris)
Building Slots C1: 1/8
Building Slots D1: 4/6 (-2 hills)
Building Slots D2: 0/6 (-2 hills)
Building Slots D3: 2/8
Building Slots C3: 4/7 (-1 tiberium)
Credits: 1159 (+3200 overspend)
Tiberium Storage Capacity: 841/1000
Tiberium Income: 1600/turn for 4 turns, 800 on turn 5
Construction Capacity: 2/turn
Buildings:
B1: Outpost, 2x Power Plant, Barracks (-15)
C1: Crane (-55), Airfield (-50), 2x Power Plant, Factory (-40), Barracks (-15); Sandbags
D1: Hydroponics Facility, Power Plant; Sandbags
D2: Water Treatment Plant, Power Plant, 2x Housing Block, Spike
D3: Crane (-55), 5x Housing Block; Sandbags
C3: Refinery (-40), Silo (-10)

Miscellaneous options:
[] Lay Minefields (one per APC per speed, 300 credits each)
Lay some mines to provide yourself early warning of Nod attempting to move additional units into the area. Although, between the bikes, Venoms and the dozer-blade-equipped tanks you've observed, they're unlikely to inflict too much damage.
-[] Designate sector

[] Relocate Surveyor (currently in C3; may move up to two spaces per turn; this is a double turn)
Have your Surveyor pack up and move somewhere you don't have a crane so that you can carry out construction projects there.
-[] Designate sector

Construction Options: (pick up to 4; this is a double turn; valid construction sites are C1 and D3, as well as anywhere the surveyor is; currently B1)
[] Clear debris: Construction yard B1
Your construction teams have cleared off most of the debris in B1, but the wreckage of the construction yard remains, taking up a significant amount of space which you feel could go better with something more useful there. Not the highest priority project at the moment, but you'll want to do it eventually if you want to keep your base from spreading out like a Tiberium outbreak in a cemetery.

[] Sandbags: -500 credits, +5 to defensive infantry rolls
You've got one more spot in the settlement (D2) that may benefit from sandbags; and you've been tasked with eventually puting some on the airfield. Other than that, you don't need any more.

[] Power Plant: -500 credits, +100 power, -1 building slot
You've got enough power generation capability that you've been able to disconnect from the settlement's running power plants, and turn the lights on for them. For now, you do not need additional power plants.

[] Barracks: -500 credits, -15 power, -1 building slot, +4 housing
While you are close to having enough logistical support for your personnel, you're not quite there - in order to requisition additional fighting units, you'll need at least one more of these. You also need to finish construction of the last one of these for the new settlement you're building, and, eventually for the airfield you're building in B4.

[] Refinery: -2000 credits, -40 power, -2 building slots; no "free" harvester
You might want a new source of Tiberium income; putting one down in the A3-A4-A5 field in conjunction with a couple of harvesters will allow you to double what you've got. The only problem is that you'll need to move your Surveyor out into the sticks somewhere.

[] Silo: -100 credits, -10 power, -1 building slot; +1000 Tiberium storage capacity
You have a little slack for Tiberium storage capacity now, so this is no longer a high priority project.

[] Armory: -1000 credits, -40 power, -1 building slot; allows some advanced infantry requisitions
This facility stores and fabricates limited amounts of advanced infantry equipment, such as sniper railguns and high-end medical kits. And theoretically zone trooper equipment, but you don't have any of those. Probably not your highest-priority project right this second.

[] Command Post: -1000 credits, -50 power, -1 building slot; allows satellite scan; +5 to all init and combat rolls
As much as you get a kick out of riding into battle on an APC, what you don't get a kick out of is running a base out of an APC. You refuse to do so out of the airfield control tower for some reason you're not quite able to grasp. And in any case, the advanced comm and computational equipment here will let you run satellite recon again and re-build your turret network. And also build airfields. So you'll kind of need to build one eventually one way or the other.

[] Surveyor: -1500 credits, 2 speed, unarmed, self-housing, -1 building slot when deployed
Turns out you can't build one of these without a functional construction yard; whoops!

[] Begin Tiberium Spike Construction - D1: -1000 credits, -1 building slot
With surface Tiberium cleared from the sector in question, you can call up the reclamation corps people to fly out and begin their work. The spike itself is a pretty standard structure, but the survey crews tend to need at least a month to collect proper seismic survey data to calibrate the spike for optimal operations. Thankfully, they can do that without having to tell you to be quiet and not roll vehicles over the area constantly - combat will disrupt the process however.

Infantry Requisition Options: (pick up to 6, assuming at least one barracks is built on the first turn)
Valid arrival locations are C1 and B1

[] Infantry Squad: -450 credits (10% discount), -1 housing.
Bread-and-butter, grenade launcher or rocket-launcher equipped foot infantry squad. Great on defense or in rough terrain, but watch out for flamethrower-equipped units and Visceroids; don't leave on Tiberium without an APC unless you want to shell out for extra filtration equipment or are looking to convert your personnel to Visceroids (not advisable for a variety of reasons). Without APCs to move them around, their mobility is limited.
Loadout options:
-[] Standard loadout
-[] 3x grenade launcher: +15 vs infantry, -15 vs armored units/aircraft
-[] 3x rocket launcher: +15 vs vehicles/aircraft, -15 vs infantry

[] Engineering Squad: -450 credits (10% discount), -1 housing
Having an engineering squad on hand to capture structures or repair your vehicles in the field is a good idea. However, you already have one of these squads and not much damage to repair, so this is not the highest priority for requisition at the moment.
Loadout options:
-[] Standard loadout: 1 vehicle repair/turn; can capture/reinforce buildings
-[] Additional repair gear: can repair 2 vehicles per turn; cannot interact with buildings


Vehicle Requisition Options: (pick up to 2, assuming at least 1 barracks is built on the first turn)
Vehicles will arrive in C1
Any vehicle can be upgraded with:
-[] Ablative plating: 50 credits, negates first received laser damage; degrades upon receiving any damage
-[] Air delivery: 200 credits, delivers the vehicle to location of your choice instead of the factory

[] Guardian APC: -600 credits, -1 housing, 3 speed
You can never go wrong with a Guardian APC, with its flexible turret mount, good speed and reasonable armor protection. With shipments of ablative armor plating coming in, you can mount it on your vehicles if you choose. Additionally, new sensor systems are coming in, letting your APCs pull double duty as slower, unarmed Pitbulls. Ideally, you want an APC for each infantry unit you're planning to field.
Loadout options (1 weapon slot):
-[] Rotary cannon (default): +10 vs infantry, -5 vs armored units/aircraft
-[] Guided missiles: -5 vs infantry, +10 vs fast units/aircraft
-[] Grenade launcher: +15 vs infantry, -15 vs armored units, cannot engage aircraft
-[] Advanced sensor mount: No damage, visibility to all orthogonally adjacent sectors OR detection capability in current sector

[] Pitbull: -600 credits, -1 housing, 4 speed, detects stealthed units, +10 vs aircraft, -10 vs infantry
This fast little recon vehicle has two purposes - one, to fire guided missiles at vehicles and aircraft and two, to detect Nod stealth units with its advanced sensor system. It can also be shipped with a mounted mortar for an additional resource cost. The sensor system can now be tuned either for stealth unit detection or long-range scanning, although the process is somewhat time-intensive.
Add-on options:
-[] Mortar: Secondary weapon, +10 vs infantry/buildings, may engage two units simultaneously, costs additional 100 credits

[] Predator: -800 credits, -1 housing, 2 speed, support attacks vs this unit are more effective, +20 vs vehicles, cannot engage aircraft, hit points at 125%.
This heavily armored tank's railgun can punch through just about any armor the brotherhood can bring to bear and can target fast-moving vehicles effectively due to the projectile's incredible launch velocity, but it struggles against infantry and fixed defenses. Its armor is pretty thick, but designers opted to put most of it in the front of the tank, so it performs best when it has support. Recent models have been re-fitted with point defense systems which excel at shooting down low rate of fire Nod projectiles, but tend to be overwhelmed by concentrated fire from multiple angles and have no effect against lasers or rapid-fire weapons.
Upgrade option:
-[] Point Defense: 100 credits, negates first received rocket or shell damage per combat round

[] MCV: -3500 credits, 1 speed, unarmed, self-housing; -2 building slots when deployed; +4 housing when deployed
At some point, you may want to either build additional cranes, turrets or Surveyors. This is where the MCV comes in - once deployed, it contains all the tools and equipment that a GDI construction crew could need to erect any of the standard pre-fabricated GDI military structures. You could do most of your construction work without one, so it's not the highest priority, but if you want to up your construction rate, you'll need one of these.

[] Harvester: -1200 credits, -10 vs vehicles, cannot engage aircraft, speed 1, self-housing, harvests Tiberium
If you're planning on expanding your harvesting operations, you will need a couple of these large vehicles with their metal claws and characteristic hopper.
-[] Railgun: -100 credits, +15 vs vehicles; still cannot engage aircraft


Aircraft Requisition Options: (pick up to 2, assuming barracks is built on first turn)
Will land in C1

[] Orca: -1100 credits, -1 housing, speed 3;
Stealth detection; Sensor Pod drop; Aircraft (no movement range or terrain restriction - speed is used for initiative only)
The Orca is a dedicated but versatile ground-support VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) craft that has been in use in some form or other since the First Tiberium War. The standard loadout features rockets that are effective against structures and can track moving vehicles, but anti-infantry capability requires the installation of gun pods instead. It's also possible to equip them with air-to-air missiles for limited anti-aircraft capability - the Orca stands no chance against the various Barghest varieties, but can still put the hurt on Venoms and carryalls. Recent models have been upgraded with advanced pulse scanners to detect hidden Nod units and structures and can drop short-lived sensor pods to further improve their sensor capability.
-[] Standard Loadout: +15 vs vehicles, +15 vs structures, -15 vs infantry, cannot target aircraft
-[] Gun Pods: -5 vs armored units, +10 vs infantry
-[] Anti-air missiles: +10 vs aircraft, cannot engage ground targets

[] Ox: -1000 credits, -1 housing, speed 3, unarmed;
Can transport one unit per turn
The V-35 Ox has enough lift capability to carry everything but the heaviest units in the GDI arsenal. Having one "permanently" attached to your command is expensive but lets you move your units around without regard for such mundane restrictions as "rough terrain", "large bodies of water" and "sheer cliffs". Being completely unarmed, it is advisable to designate landing zones well clear of hostile anti-aircraft capability.

Map of Operational Area:

Current Force Status:

It looks like the Nod force at Lome isn't completely done yet - it takes them two days after the battle, but they begin to keep up a constant patrol schedule of having their Venoms (four of them, in fact) circle the outer perimeter of your base and the settlement; although they don't move in. Still, you're tempted to "stick your foot out" - re-configure your Orcas for air-to-air combat and try to pin them down near your perimeter Pitbulls; and while everyone's circling around having their "dog fights" or whatever the aero jock terminology is, have your APCs and infantry drive in and engage from ground level with anti-aircraft fire.

While your air-to-air equipped Orcas outclass Venoms one on one, they would be outnumbered briefly, so there's risk that you don't come out ahead. You'd feel a lot better about your odds if you could get your command post running for better coordination and/or requisition some additional aircraft. One thing is for certain - you are not a fan of constantly being buzzed by a flight group of hostile aircraft. You're confident that, barring some kind of battalion or regimental-level reinforcements, you can defeat any Nod ground attack; but if those Venoms figure out that you've taken apart all your AA turrets, they could cause some serious damage flying around the back of your base and the settlement.

Unfortunately, your real-time satellite feed to Lome has been "re-tasked", but given that the Lome factory has gone through all of its local Tiberium, they'll have to bring in construction materials from elsewhere, which will slow down their rate of construction to a glacial pace.

[] Attempt to intercept Venom flight routinely buzzing your base ASAP
[] Hold off until you can requisition additional aircraft

AN:

Raw Plan/Resolution:

May 21, 2059

As you look at the construction timeline, it occurs to you that you'll either have to devote all construction resources to settlement and airfield work from now on, or you will have to expand your construction capabilities. To do the latter, you will need an additional refinery, more harvesters and an MCV, which are all horribly expensive pieces of equipment. You will still be able to requisition units, but basically any delay from this point on in terms of construction work will break your timeline. You've never been the subject of a Treasury Department audit, but that is one life experience you're pretty sure you'll be ok missing out on.

The upshot of this is that you're looking at the construction timeline from the climate-controlled comfort of your command post comm center, with all the user interface goodies that make issuing orders so much easier than having to swipe and tap them out on a G-Pad. It's no substitute for directly commanding a battle from the field, but for this construction stuff, it serves just fine. You also get a chuckle out of Corporal Arias' obvious sigh of relief as you finally stop camping out in his Guardian APC, which will finally allow him to listen to his wistful spanish-language love ballads non-stop while playing "tib-sweeper" on his G-Pad.

You have your Orcas re-configured with air-to-air missiles and have them "shadow" the Venoms on their next lap around your base just to keep them honest. This effort pays off, as the Nod aircraft studiously keep their distance.

In fact, having all the automation provided by the command post's facilities saves you so much time that you get bored and install "Baldur's Aperture" on your G-Pad during your off-hours, mostly to keep your mind off other, less pleasant or more distracting things that would otherwise occupy it. The last time you tried to go through this 80-hour high fantasy role-playing game was before you went off to the academy; you got bored when the romantic sub-plot fizzled out after you had your main character refuse to be a doormat, and then you got too busy anyway. As is typical for you, you spend pretty much all your free time the first day looking up character build guides and figuring out which character class your main character will be, before settling down on the same thing you do every time.

[] Human - Warrior; multi-classed into a Priest later
Able to bash heads in with a flail while using healing magic
[] Human - Holy Knight
Like the above, but can use swords and has annoying moral behavior restrictions
[] Dwarf - Warrior/Priest
A thick, armored lady with a large hammer that can call fire from underneath the ground; you wish you had her biceps
[] Elf - Warrior/Magic-User/Priest
With four human lifetimes under your belt, it's not hard to master almost all the major adventuring disciplines
[] Halfling/Gnome/Other
Not your bag, plus the game developers didn't give these gals any valid romance options; and they kind of get the shaft for game balance; boo

EVA Report Follows

Current Objective Status:
Construct alternate settlement (primary command directive)
-8x residence (7x completed, in progress)
-begin Tiberium spike construction in D1
-rebuild anti-air and anti-ground turrets in D3
-rebuild anti-air and anti-ground turrets in D2, D1 (self-entered, optional)
-sandbags in D2 (self-entered, optional)
Re-establish base functionality (self-entered, in progress)
-housing capacity at 16 (completed)
-Re-establish command post for comfort and to enable turret construction (completed)
-Rebuild construction yard to enable outpost and turret construction
Re-establish fortifications in main base (self-entered)
-at least 1x AA turret in each of B1 and C1
-2x anti-ground turret in B1
-construct as many additional units as practical
Clear "debris" in B4 (primary command directive, 8/8 structures remaining, may only begin after new settlement is completed)
Begin airfield construction in B4 (primary command directive, must be completed by June 8; 17 days remaining)
-Outpost, Crane or Construction Yard
-Airfield
-2x Power Plant
-Barracks
-4x AA turret
-2x each MG/railgun turret
-Sandbags

Base Status:
Power (available/total): 40/400
Housing (available/total): 5/16
Aircraft capacity (available/total): 1/4
Building Slots B1: 2/8
Building Slots C1: 0/8
Building Slots D1: 4/6 (-2 hills)
Building Slots D2: 0/6 (-2 hills)
Building Slots D3: 2/8
Building Slots C3: 4/7 (-1 tiberium)
Credits: 1259 (+3200 overspend)
Tiberium Storage Capacity: 741/1000
Tiberium Income: 1600/turn for 2 turns, 800 on turn 3
Construction Capacity: 2/turn
Buildings:
B1: Outpost, 2x Power Plant, 2x Barracks (-30), Command Post (-50); Sandbags
C1: Crane (-55), Airfield (-50), 2x Power Plant, Factory (-40), 2x Barracks (-30); Sandbags
D1: Hydroponics Facility, Power Plant; Sandbags
D2: Water Treatment Plant, Power Plant, 2x Housing Block, Spike
D3: Crane (-55), 5x Housing Block; Sandbags
C3: Refinery (-40), Silo (-10)

Miscellaneous options:
[] Lay Minefields (one per APC per speed, 300 credits each)
Lay some mines to provide yourself early warning of Nod attempting to move additional units into the area. Although, between the bikes, Venoms and the dozer-blade-equipped tanks you've observed, they're unlikely to inflict too much damage.
-[] Designate sector

[] Relocate Surveyor (currently in C3; may move up to two spaces per turn; this is a double turn)
Have your Surveyor pack up and move somewhere you don't have a crane so that you can carry out construction projects there.
-[] Designate sector

[] Satellite Scan (limit 1 per turn, 300 credits, reveals everything in target sector)
Task a surveillance satellite and some computational power with taking a look at a particular sector so that you have a very good idea of what's going on there. You can even use this to take a look at the Lome factory to see what Nod is up to on the surface.
-[] Designate sector

Construction Options: (pick up to 4; this is a double turn; valid construction sites are C1 and D3, as well as anywhere the surveyor is; currently B1)

[] Sandbags: -500 credits, +5 to defensive infantry rolls
You've got one more spot in the settlement (D2) that may benefit from sandbags; and you've been tasked with eventually puting some on the airfield. Other than that, you don't need any more.

[] Power Plant: -500 credits, +100 power, -1 building slot
Standard model GDI nuclear fission power generator perfected over the last sixty years. You've got some power surplus still, which will let you hook up a few defensive turrets at your base or some less-power-hungry structures, but if you want to carry out any significant expansion projects, you'll need to build more of these.

[] Barracks: -500 credits, -15 power, -1 building slot, +4 housing
Provides food, (very) basic amenities and a place for troops and support personnel to sleep, eat, shower, etc. Other than needing to build one more of these for the squatter settlement and one for the airfield, you don't need any more for now.

[] Refinery: -2000 credits, -40 power, -2 building slots; no "free" harvester
You might want a new source of Tiberium income; putting one down in the A3-A4-A5 field in conjunction with a couple of harvesters will allow you to double what you've got. The only problem is that you'll need to move your Surveyor out into the sticks somewhere. But you'll have to do it sooner or later, since your C3 Tiberium field will eventually run out.

[] Silo: -100 credits, -10 power, -1 building slot; +1000 Tiberium storage capacity
You have a little slack for Tiberium storage capacity now, so this is no longer a high priority project.

[] Armory: -1000 credits, -40 power, -1 building slot; allows some advanced infantry requisitions
This facility stores and fabricates limited amounts of advanced infantry equipment, such as sniper railguns and high-end medical kits. And theoretically zone trooper equipment, but you don't have any of those. Probably not your highest-priority project right this second.

[] Command Post: -1000 credits, -50 power, -1 building slot; allows satellite scan; +5 to all init and combat rolls
Houses high-powered communications equipment and computational clusters for data analysis tasks. Having just constructed one, you don't really need any more of these.

[] Airfield: -100 credits, -45 power, -1 building slot; supports 4x aircraft, +1 aircraft requisition/turn
All the landing pads, maintenance and flight control facilities a GDI base needs to requisition, manage and support additional aircraft. Not your highest priority at the moment, but you will have to build one in B4 eventually.

[] Combat Support Airfield: -500 credits, -25 power, -1 building slot; supports 4x aircraft
A down-scaled version of the standard airfield - it has all the landing pads and maintenance facilities for VTOL-capable aircraft, but not the control tower that allows your air force liaison to get aircraft in faster. A great option if you want more aircraft but are on a budget and aren't in a particular hurry.

[] Surveyor: -1500 credits, 2 speed, unarmed, self-housing, -1 building slot when deployed
Turns out you can't build one of these without a functional construction yard; whoops!

[] Begin Tiberium Spike Construction - D1: -1000 credits, -1 building slot
With surface Tiberium cleared from the sector in question, you can call up the reclamation corps people to fly out and begin their work. The spike itself is a pretty standard structure, but the survey crews tend to need at least a month to collect proper seismic survey data to calibrate the spike for optimal operations. Thankfully, they can do that without having to tell you to be quiet and not roll vehicles over the area constantly - combat will disrupt the process however.

Infantry Requisition Options: (pick up to 6, assuming at least one barracks is built on the first turn)
Valid arrival locations are C1 and B1

[] Infantry Squad: -450 credits (10% discount), -1 housing.
Bread-and-butter, grenade launcher or rocket-launcher equipped foot infantry squad. Great on defense or in rough terrain, but watch out for flamethrower-equipped units and Visceroids; don't leave on Tiberium without an APC unless you want to shell out for extra filtration equipment or are looking to convert your personnel to Visceroids (not advisable for a variety of reasons). Without APCs to move them around, their mobility is limited.
Loadout options:
-[] Standard loadout
-[] 3x grenade launcher: +15 vs infantry, -15 vs armored units/aircraft
-[] 3x rocket launcher: +15 vs vehicles/aircraft, -15 vs infantry

[] Engineering Squad: -450 credits (10% discount), -1 housing
Having an engineering squad on hand to capture structures or repair your vehicles in the field is a good idea. However, you already have one of these squads and not much damage to repair, so this is not the highest priority for requisition at the moment.
Loadout options:
-[] Standard loadout: 1 vehicle repair/turn; can capture/reinforce buildings
-[] Additional repair gear: can repair 2 vehicles per turn; cannot interact with buildings


Vehicle Requisition Options: (pick up to 2, assuming at least 1 barracks is built on the first turn)
Vehicles will arrive in C1
Any vehicle can be upgraded with:
-[] Ablative plating: 50 credits, negates first received laser damage; degrades upon receiving any damage
-[] Air delivery: 200 credits, delivers the vehicle to location of your choice instead of the factory

[] Guardian APC: -600 credits, -1 housing, 3 speed
You can never go wrong with a Guardian APC, with its flexible turret mount, good speed and reasonable armor protection. With shipments of ablative armor plating coming in, you can mount it on your vehicles if you choose. Additionally, new sensor systems are coming in, letting your APCs pull double duty as slower, unarmed Pitbulls. Ideally, you want an APC for each infantry unit you're planning to field.
Loadout options (1 weapon slot):
-[] Rotary cannon (default): +10 vs infantry, -5 vs armored units/aircraft
-[] Guided missiles: -5 vs infantry, +10 vs fast units/aircraft
-[] Grenade launcher: +15 vs infantry, -15 vs armored units, cannot engage aircraft
-[] Advanced sensor mount: No damage, visibility to all orthogonally adjacent sectors OR detection capability in current sector

[] Pitbull: -600 credits, -1 housing, 4 speed, detects stealthed units, +10 vs aircraft, -10 vs infantry
This fast little recon vehicle has two purposes - one, to fire guided missiles at vehicles and aircraft and two, to detect Nod stealth units with its advanced sensor system. It can also be shipped with a mounted mortar for an additional resource cost. The sensor system can now be tuned either for stealth unit detection or long-range scanning, although the process is somewhat time-intensive.
Add-on options:
-[] Mortar: Secondary weapon, +10 vs infantry/buildings, may engage two units simultaneously, costs additional 100 credits

[] Predator: -800 credits, -1 housing, 2 speed, support attacks vs this unit are more effective, +20 vs vehicles, cannot engage aircraft, hit points at 125%.
This heavily armored tank's railgun can punch through just about any armor the brotherhood can bring to bear and can target fast-moving vehicles effectively due to the projectile's incredible launch velocity, but it struggles against infantry and fixed defenses. Its armor is pretty thick, but designers opted to put most of it in the front of the tank, so it performs best when it has support. Recent models have been re-fitted with point defense systems which excel at shooting down low rate of fire Nod projectiles, but tend to be overwhelmed by concentrated fire from multiple angles and have no effect against lasers or rapid-fire weapons.
Upgrade option:
-[] Point Defense: 100 credits, negates first received rocket or shell damage per combat round

[] MCV: -3500 credits, 1 speed, unarmed, self-housing; -2 building slots when deployed; +4 housing when deployed
At some point, you may want to either build additional cranes, turrets or Surveyors. This is where the MCV comes in - once deployed, it contains all the tools and equipment that a GDI construction crew could need to erect any of the standard pre-fabricated GDI military structures. You could do most of your construction work without one, so it's not the highest priority, but if you want to up your construction rate, you'll need one of these.

[] Harvester: -1200 credits, -10 vs vehicles, cannot engage aircraft, speed 1, self-housing, harvests Tiberium
If you're planning on expanding your harvesting operations, you will need a couple of these large vehicles with their metal claws and characteristic hopper.
-[] Railgun: -100 credits, +15 vs vehicles; still cannot engage aircraft


Aircraft Requisition Options: (pick up to 1, assuming barracks is built on first turn)
Will land in C1

[] Orca: -1100 credits, -1 housing, speed 3;
Stealth detection; Sensor Pod drop; Aircraft (no movement range or terrain restriction - speed is used for initiative only)
The Orca is a dedicated but versatile ground-support VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) craft that has been in use in some form or other since the First Tiberium War. The standard loadout features rockets that are effective against structures and can track moving vehicles, but anti-infantry capability requires the installation of gun pods instead. It's also possible to equip them with air-to-air missiles for limited anti-aircraft capability - the Orca stands no chance against the various types of Barghest, but can still put the hurt on Venoms and carryalls. Recent models have been upgraded with advanced pulse scanners to detect hidden Nod units and structures and can drop short-lived sensor pods to further improve their sensor capability.
-[] Standard Loadout: +15 vs vehicles, +15 vs structures, -15 vs infantry, cannot target aircraft
-[] Gun Pods: -5 vs armored units, +10 vs infantry
-[] Anti-air missiles: +10 vs aircraft, cannot engage ground targets

[] Ox: -1000 credits, -1 housing, speed 3, unarmed;
Can transport one unit per turn
The V-35 Ox has enough lift capability to carry everything but the heaviest units in the GDI arsenal. Having one "permanently" attached to your command is expensive but lets you move your units around without regard for such mundane restrictions as "rough terrain", "large bodies of water" and "sheer cliffs". Being completely unarmed, it is advisable to designate landing zones well clear of hostile anti-aircraft capability.

Map of Operational Area:

Current Force Status:

Not strictly a military choice, but it will have a bearing on how the rest of this plays out. One option is to go "auto-pilot" on construction - you calculate you'll have ~3900 credits to spare, but everything else, including all construction work after these two coming days, goes towards building the new knockoff "fortress town" and setting up the airfield.

The other option is to aggressively expand your harvesting and construction capabilities; which will likely mean you will also need to expand your perimeter. This will render you vulnerable to Venom attacks while you secure your territory.

Sergeant Shaw expresses a preference for the former approach, not being a fan of having to defend large swaths of territory against fast-moving Nod aircraft (and any left over ground units that may decide to engage in raiding operations). Your main reservation is that if Nod is able to pull together any kind of meaningful ground force, you will have a tough fight on your hands. The nearest Tiberium fields to Lome that haven't been tapped out are more than a week away round-trip (as the harvester drives); incidentally, two of the candidate Tiberium fields are in C5-D5 and A5, so you consider the possibility that some optically-camouflaged harvesters may come to try and steal your Tiberium. Thus, the next time they get a load of credits will be in the beginning of June. Based on how many harvesters you think they have, you'll probably be seeing another three Scorpions or four-five lighter units in addition to the two surviving Scorpions and four Venoms. You *probably* have enough to handle that right now, but you'd feel more confident with a little more firepower. Of course, it's not like that sentiment is anything new.

[] "Auto-pilot" construction; hunker down and finish settlement/airfield construction;
One more turn with limited recruitment and very limited construction options
[] You've got big plans; BIG PLANS; with a capital B

AN:

Raw Plan/Resolution:

June 6, 2059
Shwetz Memorial Airfield

"I think she'd have been proud of it." you state, looking over the results of the last two weeks' worth of construction work from the air traffic control tower. With the dirty, ugly squatter village cleared off, to be replaced by a no less ugly but more functional and cleaner GDI airbase, you watch as the Firehawks land on their designated landing pads.

The anticipated Nod attack never materialized - your aggressive Orca patrols were enough to keep the Venoms away, although they kept buzzing your base all the way up until today. A few harvester loads of Tiberium went missing from the south of your operational area, but it wasn't enough to impede your construction work, and you finished construction just two days ahead of schedule. Not bad for someone who hates construction management.

A satellite scan of the factory at Lome showed a few additional buggies being cranked out, but by the time they finished and would have been in a position to mount any kind of attack on you, you'd put the finishing touches on the airfield. With a squadron of Firehawks stationed there, the amount of force the brotherhood would need to threaten the position became substantially higher - and with the Firehawks there, you could afford to have the Orcas patrol a wider perimeter, securing the remaining Tiberium against any more "quiet" harvesting.

Sgt. Bernard Shaw stands "at ease" next to you, admiring the same view. "Aye, I think so too. Nice and tidy, well laid out, good fields of fire... if not the most resource-efficient." he shakes his head, smirking. "Although I still don't get why you kept that old wreck in the corner." he gestures with his head towards the southwest corner of the airfield, where a decrepit old hangar stands, completely out of place.

"Ever read a history book, Sergeant?" you ask.

He chuckles. "Aye, just maybe not on the same subject matter."

You point to the hangar. "That's an A-10 Lightning II in there. They used to call it the Warthog. From what I understand, it was the toughest aircraft ever built, and it delivered a lot of ordnance to Nod positions on GDI's behalf during the first war."

The sergeant nods, impressed. "Does it still fly?"

You shake your head. "I doubt it. Although you never know."

Your attention is drawn by a V-35 Ox flying in, landing beside the main runway being paved. "Seems that our guests are here. Time to hand over command." you say. "I think we're all about ready for a blue zone rotation."

---

June 19, 2059
Conakry Arcology, BZ-13

It's your birthday. You didn't tell anybody, but somehow they found out. Personally, you suspect Captain Leila Amir as the source of the info leak - you never told her your birthday either, but she certainly had the opportunity to access that information. When the navy ensign and zone trooper couple (Guy and Lena, respectively) invited you over to check out their apartment in one of the new arcologies, you don't know what you were expecting, but it certainly wasn't this.

As you look around the apartment, it feels like everyone you've ever had even a brief conversation with during your time in service is here. The two "hosts", several people from your unit, a bunch of the construction crew personnel and harvester operators who you've worked with, and even your superior officer makes an appearance, bringing a few beers he claims came from some recently re-opened private brewery in northeastern blue zone 2. He doesn't stick around very long ("I'm old, boring and married, you kids have fun.")

There's a giant rice cake with an orange signal flare stuck in the middle, the number 23 drawn on it with a blue marker. While you're familiar with the tradition of "blowing out the candles", you're pretty sure that you can't just blow out a flare. And also are somewhat concerned with the place catching on fire, or at least the fire alarm going off.

Leila certainly is the life of the party - she's got a presence, to which you aren't entirely immune, that she uses quite effectively to either attract a crowd or disperse it. You catch the tail end of a story - "... but there were satchel charges in the parking lot!" - then draw back, leaning against the kitchen counter while sipping your "Oldling". You don't usually do well socially with large groups of people, preferring to have more focused conversations with smaller groups. You're not even mad though, you're actually pleasantly surprised that all these people, some of whom you've nearly gotten killed, considered it important enough to come to your birthday celebration. Although, you think to yourself with amusement, they're mostly hanging out with your more attractive and sociable self-proclaimed "older sister" from InOps.

The arcology itself is pretty impressive - very clean, unlike the surrounding city. It hasn't been on the front lines of any of the major conflicts of the Tiberium era, but it was never the most prosperous area of the world, and you honestly couldn't tell the difference between this place and a yellow zone on the way in. You catch yourself thinking that, in some ways, it's probably for the best that one can live and work there without leaving the megastructure. Still, you don't think it's for you - you like being able to go outside. Even if you have to wear a helmet to do so, sometimes.

"Enjoying your birthday party?" A voice calls out to your left - Guy, the giant navy Ensign, has snuck up on you while you were spacing out, with a smirk on his face. To be fair, it can't have been that difficult to sneak up on you.

"It's nice." you say, looking up at him. "Didn't realize so many people would show up."

"Give yourself a little credit, Vi." Guy responds as he cracks open another beer. "Just be glad you've been out on deployment, it's election season back here and all the crazies are out." he raises his hands, bobbing them back and forth.

"I haven't given it much thought, myself." you answer.

"Did you get a load of these Open Hand guys walking around and handing out their stupid-ass pamphlets? Peace and Brotherhood my ass." he scoffs.

"What's wrong with the Open Hand?" you ask, eyebrow raised. "Other than the naive belief that anybody will vote for them." you add, raising a finger to indicate a clarification.

Guy thinks for a second. "Would you trust someone who betrayed all they stood for?"

Your thoughts go back to the 'interrogation' you carried out in that APC. "I don't know." you say, honestly. "Depends on their reasons, I suppose. Sometimes I'd like to give people the benefit of the doubt, though."

He looks at you, frowning. "Don't tell me you're considering voting Open Hand?"

You shake your head. "No, I don't think so. Too much Tiberium adaptation in their platform and not enough getting rid of it. What about you?" You ask, tilting your head upward briefly.

"Militarist, all the way." he says with a proud grin. "Anything that gets us more resources to do our jobs is all right in my book."

"No Initiative First?" you ask, just in case.

"Nah, too racist." Guy responds. "Sure, they'll fund the military, but you know and I know, that yellow zoners are just regular people."

You nod. "... sometimes with a little extra Tiberium sticking out of various places." you add with a smirk.

Guy bursts out laughing. "Like your forgotten hostage negotiator friend?"

You frown, your mouth scrunching up in confusion. "Who the hell... did Leila tell you about that?"

Guy grins.

"Wow, she really is the village gossip." you say, rolling your eyes.

"Meanwhile... " Guy continues. "The other parties aren't going to give us the resources we need to do our jobs. The commies, cappies and devvies are too focused on the economy, Starbound is more like 'run away like a militant squad after their confessor gets capped'... "

"Wow, politics? On the girl's birthday?" Lena pipes in, the smaller blonde zone trooper sliding into the kitchen and putting an arm around Guy's waist.

"Whaaat?" Guy responds in a placating tone, his arms spread. "We're all grown-ups here, we can't talk about grown-up subjects?"

"You brought Tibby the Tib bed sheets with you when you moved in." Lena responds, grinning.

"You like Tibby the Tib?!" you ask, gleefully.

"Hell yeah!" Guy responds, grinning. "Never could get my parents to get me the set with the Tiberium crystal, though, and now they don't make them any more." he adds, a mock pout on his face.

Lena rolls her eyes, pecking Guy on the cheek before disengaging herself. "All right, you dorks have fun talking about your kids cartoon and your horribly dangerous toys."

"... and short-lived live action video series." you add as she departs, causing her to look back at you and roll her eyes again.

---

"So hey, I hear you guys found an A-10 out there." you're asked - the woman doing the asking is an Ox pilot, a red-haired, green-eyed woman in her early thirties, who introduced herself as Roux; up to this point, you knew her only by her voice on comms and the callsign her aircraft used when delivering vehicles and infantry squads to your bases.

You nod. "We definitely did. What, did you want to take it out for a flight?"

"Oh, no, no, no." she gesticulates, shaking her head back and forth while moving her hands left and right in front of her, palms out. "I'm done flying bombing missions."

"How come?" you ask, genuinely curious. "You always get the goods to my bases on time."

She shakes her head, a far-off look on her face. "Sorry. We're not there yet."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry." you reply.

"Still." she looks up at the ceiling. "The A-10 really was the grandfather of air support. Between that giant minigun, all the missiles and the redundant systems..."

You nod, excited to find someone who shares your love of historical combat aircraft. "Right! I was reading some of the old combat reports the other day, apparently it took at least three Nod surface-to-air missile sites to take one out, and that's if it came in at a bad angle."

Roux chuckles. "Just reading some old combat reports, huh? You're right though, nothing beats it for sturdiness nowadays - Orcas fall apart when the wind hits them the wrong way, and the other planes rely on missile engagement at maximum sensor range. Wish the politicians would stop screwing around with combat walkers and get some proper aircraft built, I hear the new Nod aircraft kick our asses when they get into it."

You pout. "But mechs are so awesome! Did you see the weapons test footage on those Havocs?" you make 'pew pew' and 'ratatat' sounds, splashing some of your beer on the floor and your shirt to illustrate just how cool they are.

Roux rolls her eyes and sighs. "Still don't get why they gave them low-hanging dick railguns. Next model, I expect machine gun tits."

You burst out laughing.

---

"... so then he tells me, that's not a Tiberium harvester, that's my wife!" John Kufuor ("call me J.K.") finishes with a flourish, his gesticulating arms just barely missing colliding with the walls and kitchen cabinet, the latest in a continued trickle of people making their way into the kitchen to keep you company.

You frown, trying to 'get' the joke. "Because she's got twin claws that shovel toxic but valuable materials into a gaping maw for grinding?"

"Something like that, yes." he recovers, obviously disappointed his joke didn't land. At least, you think, this time he's not talking to me in the middle of a Tiberium field while I'm trying to work.

"Wow, that's kind of mean." you add, your expression quizzical.

He shrugs, grinning. "Sure, but you try convincing the harvester crew chief of that."

You smirk. "Wow, you harvester guys must get out even less than we do."

He bobs his head in agreement. "Yes. Long deployments, long hours, and Nod constantly trying to blow us up. So hey," J.K. switches subjects, rubbing his curly black hair with his hand, "I've got a friend who got a hold of some leftover samples of that new Kudzu plant, do you want to try some? I'm thinking of heading out to an island just off the coast before I ship back out to the yellow zone, it's a great place to walk around."

You fix him with a stare, a quick smirk, and a raised eyebrow. "So you're asking me to get on a boat with you, travel to an isolated island, and consume tea brewed from an experimental, genetically engineered plant that you got from a 'friend'?"

He looks slightly downcast, his brown eyes looking at the floor. "Well, when you put it like that, it does sound weird." He looks back up. "Are you saying you don't want to?"

[] "Yeah, I appreciate the thought, but no thanks."
Decline the invitation - you're not really gelling here, all the jokes are missing, it's gonna be an awkward train wreck
[] "No, I'm not saying that. But you really have to up your game, friend."
Accept the invitation - what the hell, he's cute and it's not like any of your actual preferences are available; plus you're curious about how this Wadmalaw Kudzu stuff tastes

Before you can finish the conversation, you hear "Hey, Violet, come out and blow out your birthday candles!" from the living room, followed by multiple whooshes, crackling and the fire alarm going off, along with the automatic fire suppression system.

AN: