Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars Walkthrough/FAQ
By: Kasey (DiabloZZq)
Table of Contents:
1 Copyright Info
2 Contact Information
3 Version History
4 Controls
5 GDI Units, Structures, and Powers
6 Nod Units, Structures, and Powers
7 Scrin Units, Structures, and Powers
8 Neutral Units and Structures
9 Advanced Tactics *
10 GDI Only Tactics *
11 Nod Only Tactics *
12 Scrin Only Tactics *
*(under construction)
9. Advanced Tactics - 10. GDI Only Tactics - 11. Nod Only Tactics - 12. Scrin Only Tactics
(under construction)
Alright, I'm tired of seeing so many people obviously confused about how to start out their economy and just plain survive in CnC3. This thread is to help all those people who just can't seem to get their stuff together for the first 5 minutes and also to help those late game rushes and or turtles. First off I'm going to list a common way to get your economy up ASAP. Feel free to modify this or specify what you believe to be a better one. Crane --> Power Plant/Refinery --> Refinery/Refinery --> Refinery/(usually a Barracks, war factory, or another refinery) --> whatever you wish..... With the troops gained from selling the refineries use to scout around the map and counter his tactics. Selling refineries is an easy way to jump start your economy early. Also build a mini-construction vehicle to get to Tiberium fields that are out of reach of your build radius. You deploy your first refinery and second refineries at the nearest Tiberium field and sell the second refinery then proceed to deploy the third and fourth refineries near the second Tiberium field and sell the fourth. Also, you should almost never need to build the Tiberium silos because you should always being producing units. The perfect ratio of harvesters and refineries is 3 harvesters per 1 refinery. This is if and only if the refinery is right next to the Tiberium field. You will require more harvesters as the distance between the field and refinery increases to make sure you have a constant supply of cash to that refinery. This prevents an idle refinery but also prevents too many harvesters trying to use the same refinery. You should build one refinery next to each field that you control and at the very minimum have a spare harvester per field. I sell refineries since I mainly play Scrin I don't build war factories to build harvesters to save money. It also helps production speeds because if you aren't teching up or building other buildings as it frees up your war factories to pump out units. Also selling refineries has two more benefits which are increasing your economy fast early game and giving you scouting units to use even though you may not have a barracks built. The build order I always use online and works with great efficiency if I don't make a mistake is this: Crane (with Outpost if necessary) --> Power Plant --> Refinery --> Refinery --> Barracks --> Refinery --> Nerve Center --> Refinery --> Stasis Chamber --> Power Plant. Usually then I build another Barracks if I have scouted that he is tank spamming and I begin to spam Shock Troopers while making sure I build the Technology Assembler and get the Plasma Disc upgrade from the Technology Assembler ASAP. As soon as you get that upgrade even a few Shock Troopers decimate all tanks even Mammoths. Remember adjust if necessary and this is not a one size fits all strategies build order, it's only meant for anti tank spam. LIGHT TANK SPAM Nod: Scorpions > Fanatics > Anti tank infantry > Anti tank turrets. It seems that fighting tanks with tanks is the best defense coupled with the other counters. GDI: Predators >APC (loaded with a Missile Squad) > APC mines > Anti tank infantry > Anti tank turrets. It seems that fighting tanks with tanks is the best defense coupled with the other counters. Scrin: Shock Troopers > Tanks > Anti tank infantry > Anti tank turrets. Shock Troopers are an easy way to counter them, just tech up fast and use the Stasis Shield on their tanks. Shock Troopers absolutely decimate anything. In my opinion they are the best infantry in the game with their upgrade. Tank spam is the MOST complained about spam in the game. It's not hard to counter but you have to make sure that you build a great economy. I don't know how many people I have seen just sit there with one refinery and wonder how they heck they build that many tanks that fast. Also another key is to keep your anti tank infantry AWAY from his tanks at all costs, and if possible garrison them. Anti tank turrets get destroyed far too easily for their cost, consume power, and are sitting ducks if they decide to go around them and aim for your power. Rocket infantry do need some improvements in the next patch though and I have a feeling that's all that needs improving to change the balance of the game significantly. MAMMOTH SPAM Nod: Vertigo Bombers > Fanatics > Scorpion Tanks > Obelisk of Light > Avatars All I can say is use TACTICS when dealing with mammoths. Attack from behind; harass their early game economy, and most of all USE COMMON SENSE. Nod doesn't fight tank to tank, they fight in the shadows using hit and run tactics. Don't let the GDI just sit their and build tanks HARASS them, BOMB them, and most of all do NOT put yourself in a position where there is 20 mammoths headed your way, that's not EAs fault, it's yours. Also Avatars are NOT a good weapon to use against them, just support your other units with them. GDI: Mammoths > Zone Troopers > Firehawks > Emitter. GDI can fight Mammoths quite well just remember to use the Shockwave Artillery and bomb them with your Firehawks. Scrin: PAC > Shock Troopers > Devastators > Devours > Storm Columns. Scrin are VERY effective using a combination of Planetary Assault Carriers, Shock Troopers, and the Stasis Shield. SCRIN DEVASTATORS Nod: Venoms > well.... pretty much anything else isn't good if they micro manage them right, but Venoms SLAUGHTER the Devastators. Just build Venoms and you will be safe. Make sure you have at least four on hand though, the more the better. GDI: Fire Hawks > Mammoth Tanks > Pit Bulls. GDI Fire Hawks absolutely OWN these things. Use Mammoths and Pitbulls with heavy casualties. Scrin: Strom Riders > Planetary Assault Carrier. Along with the other 2 factions, the most effective anti air in the game is air. SCRIN PLANETARY ASSAULT CARRIERS The same as above applies for the PACs. The only difference is that your air units might incur some casualties because PACs can attack air units. Also ground anti air units and structures work much better against PACs then they would a Devastator. This is because PACs must get in range of anti air to attack them and can't do as much damage to ground units. ENGINEER RUSH This is basically the same for each side in that you scout early and if you see an engineer rush build an anti infantry turret or unit and you're 100% safe. If they catch you by surprise, that's your fault for not scouting early. Also, engineer rushes are quite fun =) and semi hard to scout against. But most of the time it is quite predictable where they might be coming. SHADOW TEAM RUSH Basically the same as above, be smart about placement of anti infantry objects though.... good micro managers can get past a lot of misplaced defenses. But as always, if you weren't scouting and weren't prepared.... that's not balance issues its YOU. Scout early, and if you lose watch the replay and see what you did wrong. Most of the time it's you, not an overpowered unit. There is always something you could have done to prevent the defeat.... ALWAYS (except for cheaters/exploiters but those are another story..... I forgot to mention, most shadow team build orders revolve around not building any refineries and getting a secret shrine ASAP. If you see the shrine with scouting, simply deploy some spread out stealth detecting anti infantry and they cannot win. Also counter rush this and they will be defenseless, and will often quit because of their terrible start. BASE RUSHES Like I have said before early scouting is key to victory. Chances are if their base is right next to yours, you should have the advantage. First, you know that their economy is much weaker by spamming defenses, and thus if you get some units and get past their defense they will retreat. Second, their base is obviously very vulnerable because it takes tons of extra build time to make their base next to yours. Tier 1 defenses in this game are very weak and can be countered easily by tanks or artillery units. Finally, unless they have anti infantry up, use engineers to capture their undefended Tiberium refineries which absolutely cripple his economy. MCV BASE RUSH This base rush is slightly different then using the normal mini MCV to build an expansion base. But this one is the hardest to counter if you get caught by surprise. As with all things make sure you scout early. If you see this coming build 1 engineer and an anti infantry turret. This way you should be able to capture his very command center delivered to your base. Just keep in mind, MCV rushes cripple his economy, sell your buildings before being destroyed or captured. A true MCV rush only builds a single power plant before coming into your base. He has NO extra money, NO way to build constantly, and NO way out. SCOUTING 101 Learning to scout properly and starting a good economy are two of the most important things you can possibly learn while playing this game. Scouting requires you to simply send a really cheap unit to his base ASAP. This is most easily done if you use my early economy method because you get two free units to scout with. One unit should be used to scout his base and the other should be at his Tiberium fields then use them to scout around places you might think his real base is if it's not actually in his base. If you see a base rush or a very odd build order, keep having them scout, but pull back one to scout the shroud nearest your base. One other thing you need to keep in mind, if using infantry to scout avoid GDI harvesters and try to hug the side of his base to get past any defenses he might have. If you have a good economy while scouting, it's much harder to be defeated early game. SCRIN ADVANCED STRATEGIES You can use the mastermind or engineers in combination with the Mothership to achieve a massive blast in a base. First tech up to the Mothership, then build another Signal Transmitter but don't deploy it yet, wait for your engineer/mastermind to capture an enemy building then sell your old Signal Transmitter and deploy your second in their base. You should also be able to just not make the first Signal Transmitter and be able to immediately deploy the one you have built in their base. I'm unsure if this works because I think you have to wait for the Mothership to be ready. Finally summon the Mothership and attack the nearest target to decimate their forces. Another Mothership tactic is to use the mother ship on your own Shock Troopers and then teleport them into their base. I haven't tested this out though so use it at your own risk. Devastators can out range enemy defenses to make them obsolete. If you build up enough of them, you can wipe out bases extremely fast with little attacks from anti air units or structures. Make sure you build some PACs to support them; it also doesn't hurt to build some Shock Troopers to help take out air defenses. Devourers can charge up their main cannon with Tiberium, always remember to do this to massively upgrade their power. Also Buzzers can be used to combine with your tanks and other vehicles to make them great against infantry, they will auto attack any infantry so don't worry about micromanaging them. Scrin's powers can devastate the enemy if used right. Use the stasis shield to stop tank rushes and the Mothership as a secondary super weapon. The buzzer swarm also is the best anti infantry power/unit/structure in the game because it can be deployed anywhere you need it and it will instantly PWN all infantry in the area including snipers, commandos, and Shadow Teams. Just make sure the units aren't stealthed otherwise this may not work. The Tiberium scanner is VERY effective at finding where the enemy's supplies are immediately. Use it to know where to plan strikes to harass their economy. Also the Phase Field can protect units your units long enough to get past enemy defenses unharmed to get to their vital structures. Finally don't forget to use the Reconstruction Drones to regenerate tanks that are taking heavy damage. Look at replays and find out what he did to beat you (by the way... tank spam at the 4 minute mark or so begins to increase significantly.