http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:56:44 +0000 30 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7825
That is not to say we’ve been totally inert these last few months; far from it, in fact. Waraddict has been busy coding a new game mode as well as a new user interface, the Recon Bike has been finished and is now available for viewing here, and a few other items to announce.

First, on our little art competition, I have some good news all around. While we’ve received only one entry in the three-plus weeks since we announced the contest, it certainly met all the conditions we set, so we’re going to award Tyler "Tbguy1992" Bugg with his free copy of C&C4.

However, we’re still left with three C&C4 codes to give away, so we’re going to extend the contest for additional entries. The new deadline is June 21st, the summer solstice. That should give everyone time to come up with some great artwork. If you need to review the terms and conditions, look no further than here.

With summer coming up, you should be seeing plenty of regular progress as the team’s schedules shift from cages of responsibility into idyllic green plains of freedom. For now, simply join us in celebrating the mod’s three-year anniversary, and in welcoming the next year of the mod’s development. Expect lots of infantry, a few surprises, and as always, keep offering your support as we move ever closer to our release.]]> Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:56:44 +0000 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7825 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7823 --- Recon Bike ---

“There were… I don’t know, three, maybe four of them. I honestly couldn’t tell. They were just so damn fast, it’s all a blur to me.”—Anonymous GDI soldier, describing the first encounter with Nod’s Recon Bikes.

While most of the Brotherhood’s arsenal during the First Tiberium War was composed of expropriated arms, a few weapons were specifically designed by the organization to fill certain niches. One of the earliest examples of this trend was Nod’s Recon Bike. Engineered well before the war, and manufactured in staggering quantities, the bikes would become one of the most widely-recognized vehicles in the world by war’s end.

At first glance, the Recon Bike appears futuristic, but fairly unremarkable. At just under 7 feet long and roughly half as tall, it seems laughable that such a small vehicle could be used against modern armor. Beneath this deceptively simple surface, however, lies a vehicle far ahead of its time.

Designed by an upstart Japanese engineering firm known as Kaneda Industries, the Recon Bike is as innovative as it is practical. It is powered by a hybrid gas/electric rotary engine, whose actual specifications are still kept under wraps, but rumors indicate it is capable of putting out upwards of 200 horsepower. Each of the large, all-terrain tires is driven by two flat disk motors, composed of a strong ceramic. At full power and on even terrain, the Recon Bike is capable of reaching speeds up to 150 MPH, far outstripping the Humvee’s top speed of 90 MPH.

Adding to its considerable capability is the bike’s weapons suite. Carrying a battery of missiles in the two pods affixed behind the driver’s seat, the motorcycle possesses both anti-air and anti-ground capability. Some of Nod’s more reckless drivers have been known to keep pace with low-level GDI aircraft, intent on bringing them down. Some models come armed with machine guns, as well.

In battle, the Nod cyclists use the tried and tested methods of hit-and-fade attacks. During actions in Tunisia, for example, a team of Recon Bikes (the exact number is unknown) kept an entire squadron of GDI fighting vehicles pinned down by quite literally running them in circles. Attacking the front, flanks, and rear of the GDI formation in turn, the bikes created the illusion that the squadron had been completely surrounded. The panic which ensued stalled the GDI advance for several hours.

Often the first on the battlefield, and the first to disappear into the fog of war, Nod’s Recon Bikes have left an indelible impact on the face of modern warfare. Whereas conventional wisdom once held to the supremacy of tanks in open combat, the audacious bikers of the Brotherhood have proven that neither the caliber of one’s guns nor the thickness of one’s armor are the deciding factors in battle.

[The Recon Bike was modeled by Dexter and Ric, who also textured it.]

-General Aurum
Public Relations
Tiberian Dawn]]> Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:52:26 +0000 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7823 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7809
Here’s the lowdown. Using whatever tools you wish, create a picture keeping with one of the following themes:

• Your favorite moment from the original C&C—be it a GDI assault, a Nod infiltration, a battle, or another moment in the overall story—awesomeness is a must.
  
  
• Propaganda for GDI or Nod—such as posters, pictures, or even advertisements—with an emphasis on in-universe accuracy. Make it seem as though your creations come straight from the First Tiberium War.

The entries will be judged based on technical skill and overall appeal. The top two from each category will find their place in the final mod, and their creators will find their names emblazoned in shiny glory in the mod’s credits. In addition, the victors will each find themselves the proud owner of a free digital download copy of C&C4. Heck, if we like your work enough, we may even offer you a position on the team!

How do you enter? Simple. Just email your submissions in .jpeg format to "duuude007@live.com" by 12:00 AM EST on April 23. As soon as we notice them in the inbox, they'll be posted on the CNC Source forums for all to see. The winners will be announced on the 25th, alongside a new update on the mod's progress.

You have your mission, Commanders, now enjoy yourselves and get to it!]]> Sat, 03 Apr 2010 22:08:58 +0000 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7809 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7741 --- Guard Tower ---

In modern warfare, mobility equals success. Therefore, any military force on the move must be capable of setting up camp quickly and efficiently. GDI’s Guard Tower is certainly one of its least-advanced structures, but it is noteworthy for being a swiftly-constructed and effective weapons platform.

The tower has its origins with an industrious engineer by the name of Richard Mili. Working in a rear supply base in North Africa, Mili noticed a gap in the position’s lines, and drew up designs for a tall machine gun nest constructed to cover the area. The base’s Construction Yard was able to fabricate the tall legs, supporting struts, and plate metal roof within hours. After reinforcing the firing platform with sandbags and equipping it with a .50 caliber Browning, most of the base’s personnel retired for the night, leaving a pair of guards on watch from the tower.

A test of the tower’s design was immediate and dramatic. A Nod infantry company, intent on exploiting the weak spot in the line, was caught completely unaware by the sudden fire from the tower. The exchange quickly alerted the troops in their bunks, and a hectic firefight ensued as the space between the two forces was lit up with tracer fire. Quickly realizing they were outgunned, the Nod forces retreated. Casualty figures are inconclusive, but evidence suggests that at least half a dozen of the attackers did not leave under their own power. Aside from a grazing blow to one of the tower’s guards, GDI suffered no casualties.

This incident prompted GDI command to make the Guard Tower’s design standard, and GDI bases around the world immediately began constructing them. Cheap, quick to build, and effective even against Nod’s light vehicles, the tower would live on as one of the First Tiberium War’s most improbably successful designs; a lesson in how, remarkably, war breeds innovation.

[The Guard Tower was modeled By KatzSmile & Ric, and textured by Ric, as you may have guessed.]

-General Aurum
Public Relations
Tiberian Dawn]]> Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:34:21 +0000 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7741 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7738 --- Nod Buggy ---

“I’ve never seen anything like it. One minute they were here, and the next, they were 20 klicks away, burning through areas our Humvees couldn’t even begin to navigate.”—anonymous GDI soldier, describing Nod’s DPVs.

The Brotherhood’s doctrine during the First Tiberium War was an interesting amalgam of guerilla tactics, sophisticated special forces, and above all, high-mobility in every respect. Nowhere was this better demonstrated than with the Desert Patrol Vehicle, colloquially known as the Nod Buggy.

Designed by Chenowth Racing Products, the DPV was originally meant for service with Western special forces groups, such as the U.S. Navy SEALs and Black Ops 9. Limited usage ultimately spelled the doom of the vehicle, which was deemed “too specialized.” The remaining models were shelved, and the company which built them eventually sold the designs to an Australian firm.

That company, as it turned out, was merely a front for the Brotherhood’s arms manufacturing wing. After some modifications to the chassis, nearly 120 of the vehicles were rolled out of production within a month. Initially, UN peacekeepers had no idea what the things were, and their affiliation with Nod was revealed only when the war was well underway.

The Brotherhood’s modifications to the DPV are purely functional in design. Additional armor, made of a carbon-fiber/Kevlar composite, has been added to the engine block. A similar plate was added to the gunner’s position, offering better protection against shrapnel. There has been speculation that the engine itself has been upgraded, though this is most likely born of superstition surrounding their hit-and-run abilities.

Accurate intelligence shows that the vehicle is armed with a .50 caliber machine gun as its main armament, though some reports indicate additional weapons such as squad automatic weapons or AT4 missile launchers. The vehicle’s speed allows it to outrun any ground vehicle in GDI’s arsenal, and makes it an excellent platform for reconnaissance. There have been reports of DPVs penetrating upwards of 80 kilometers into secure territory, then vanishing without a trace. Even in the forests of Europe they perform exceedingly well.

Each DPV has a crew of three: a driver, gunner, and navigator. The crews have been known to decorate their vehicles with arcane symbols and various religious texts. There has been only one recorded interview with these men, who liken themselves to the cavalry of the great conquerors of long past. As one proclaimed, “We are the horsemen of the apocalypse. We are the heralds of a great change, one which will not be denied.”

[Editor’s note: the Buggy is presented without its crew in this update. The final in-game version will include them. It was modeled and textured by Ric.]

-General Aurum
Public Relations
Tiberian Dawn]]> Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:32:28 +0000 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7738 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7744 --- Obelisk of Light ---

“Swift 6 is hit! Repeat: Swift 6 is hit! The entire ship is on fire! They’re going down fast!”

This was the final transmission from Swift 3, leading element of Colonel Carter’s gunboat convoy at the Battle of Budapest. Mere seconds later, the ship shared the same fate as its counterpart: bisected from prow to stern by the most terrifying and powerful ground-based weapon ever created. Needless to say, Nod’s Obelisk of Light left an indelible impact on GDI morale for the remainder of the war.

Investigations conducted immediately after the battle provided little information on the weapon’s workings: the Obelisk which destroyed the gunboats was virtually pulverized by vengeful GDI troops. Subsequent battles left more intact specimens, but it was only after the war had ended that GDI intelligence would truly understand the intricacies of the Brotherhood’s monolithic laser.

The Obelisk utilizes an innovative method of focusing light. A high-current capacitor at the structure’s tip is fed a large amount of power directly from a base’s power plants, which is then discharged in single burst. An artificial photonic crystal, rather than a chemical or gaseous medium, is used to concentrate that energy into a single, coherent beam. The crystal is composed of an exotic metamaterial, which is capable of altering its physical structure in order to refract the laser beam toward the target. The beam itself is invisible to the naked eye; the “red death” witnessed by troops in the field is a separate beam, apparently added by Nod engineers to make the weapon more intimidating.

This coalescence of so many advanced technologies made it extremely difficult to trace the precise origin of the Obelisk. Financial records uncovered after the war’s conclusion show that the Brotherhood had funded numerous experiments at many different locations across the globe. Surprisingly, only a relatively small number of scientists and engineers directly pledged their services to Nod. Most others were never aware of who they were really working for, instead being contracted by various companies fronted by the Brotherhood.

With the evidence laid bare, it becomes rapidly clear just how terrible a weapon the Obelisk truly is. It is a brutally effective weapon system, to be sure, but more frightening is the fact that it was made possible by so many minds unaware of what they were truly creating. It is a weapon birthed through deception and ignorance, conceived in the shadows—an ironic twist, considering the symbolism of obelisks and their connotations with sun rays. Or perhaps not, as those who have directly witnessed the searing red lance of Nod will attest.

[The Obelisk was both modeled and textured by Ric.]

-General Aurum
Public Relations
Tiberian Dawn]]> Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:31:13 +0000 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7744 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7743 --- Ezekiel's Wheel ---

During the war, Nod's tiberium wealth drastically changed the nature of its army. Originally, Nod's strikes were all about hit-and-run guerrilla tactics with old US weapons stock. As the war progressed, they added a deadly technological edge to this.

The "Ezekiel's Wheel" Stealth Tank, named after a possible UFO sighting in the Bible, is the cutting edge of Nod's guerrilla technology. It is able to fully blend into the surrounding terrain by using a "Lazarus" shield that bends light around it.

While this shield is undoubtedly a marvel of technology, it is, in all honesty, not very well-suited for combat. The generator's cooling mechanism makes it impossible to add any kind of armor on the tank, and when the unit takes damage in combat, the shield's functions start deteriorating immediately. The stealth effect is also not entirely flawless; while vehicle drivers will probably not notice it through the their windows or view ports, infantry squadrons quickly notice the odd air distortion, and the ever-vigilant crew of base defenses and the sensors on communications centers can also spot them if they're close enough. On top of that, the shield plays havoc on the vehicle's own weapon targeting systems, forcing the tank to fully uncloak before it can attack.

Still, despite these drawbacks, the Stealth Tank is definitely an awesome weapon. It was designed for silent infiltration rather than open combat, and it excels at what it's made for. Any unguarded spot in a base perimeter is a possible infiltration point, and by the time a GDI commander spots a crack in his outer defense wall, a squadron of Stealth Tanks might already be poised to take down his most vital structures. Their double rocket launcher is very efficient at taking down lightly armored targets, and they usually don't act alone.

[The Stealth Tank was modeled by both Ric, who also did the texture, and NakedFrijoles.]]]> Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:29:41 +0000 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7743 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7691 --- Advanced Communications Center ---

Throughout the First Tiberium War, research on both sides of the conflict would lead to the development of never-before-seen technologies. Vehicles such as the Orca, the Mammoth Tank, and the MCV would become iconic elements of GDI’s arsenal. Perhaps the most startling of technologies to make its debut during the war was the space-based Ion Cannon. Known only to a select few within GDI and even fewer in the UN itself, the development of this weaponized satellite was one of the most closely-guarded secrets of the war, taking even the Brotherhood by surprise with its first shot.

However, the Ion Cannon itself was only half of the system. The other half was firmly planted on the surface of the Earth. This terrestrial counterpart to the mighty satellite was perhaps the more important, as it was the only device capable of communicating with the Cannon as it circled the globe. Without it, the awe-inspiring firepower unleashed on Nod forces in the closing stages of the war would never have been possible.

The sheer power of the Ion Cannon necessitated an absolutely secure uplink; Nod’s hackers had proved extremely capable in the past, and no risk could be taken in denying them access to the satellite. Utilizing the same basic systems used in the Communications Center, GDI engineers designed a new structure, one which built on nearly all of the capabilities of its predecessor.

The Advanced Communications Center, though much the same in terms of exterior design, is a giant leap above the older model. The ACC still provides a dedicated surveillance satellite uplink, as well as a connection to the main GDI network, affording commanders both a battlefield-wide view as well as access to new blueprints for more advanced hardware. GDI command will only allow the sensitive designs of their MCV and MLRS to be transmitted to the battlefield through this structure’s secure channels.

This level of security is what sets the ACC apart. The computers contained within the building’s bulwarks run on next-generation processors, and all data transmissions are carried by fiber-optics. Layer upon layer of firewalls, periodic randomizations of passcodes, and regular checks by EVA render any external attempt at hijacking the systems nigh-impossible. A shining example of security on the modern battlefield, the ACC is a digital fortress, and with war becoming ever more advanced, the Global Defense Initiative will accept nothing less.

[The Advanced Comm Center was modeled by Ric and textured by both him and Soviet Deso]

-General Aurum
Public Relations
Tiberian Dawn]]> Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:28:40 +0000 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7691 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7742 --- Infantry Barracks ---

The advent of the MCV was a revolution in military thinking, and with it came a revolution in military engineering. A series of new military buildings was designed to take advantage of the Construction Yard’s powerful fabrication abilities. A joint effort between American and Russian engineers, the Rapid Deployment and Logistics project would design most of the structures fielded by GDI during the First Tiberium War.

One of the first structures conceived was the PRDS. An acronym for “Prefabricated Rapid Deployment Shelter,” it was designed to provide easily-assembled, protected living quarters for GDI troops in the field. The engineers adopted the “half-hemisphere” design of earlier American barracks, for its structural integrity and relative simplicity. With walls of hardened steel and Kevlar reinforcement, the PRDS proved highly resistant to small-arms fire. A climate control system ensured protection from nuclear, chemical, and biological attack, as well as comfort in the grueling heat of summer operations.

While some GDI officials were skeptical of the building’s benefits, citing increased costs, the critics were quickly silenced after a surprise attack on a GDI base in May, 1995. Besieged by no less than 20 Nod raiders, the barracks withstood three RPG impacts in the initial attack, and weathered hundreds of individual rounds in the ensuing firefight. Had the troops been sheltered by anything less, they would most likely have been killed in their bunks.

This incident, along with many others like it, helped cement the PRDS as one of GDI’s most important structures, providing the lone place of refuge for soldiers in the field. Despite this fact, the troops never came up with a nickname for the acronym. To them, and even to their officers, their safe, bullet-proof home in the field was known simply as a Barracks.

[The Barracks was modeled by Hendrix and Ric, who also gave it its texture.]

-General Aurum
Public Relations
Tiberian Dawn]]> Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:27:20 +0000 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7742 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7647 --- Communications Center ---

As Kane once put it, the deadliest weapon of all is information. Without information, a commander is deaf and blind.

The Communications Center is made exactly for the purpose of gathering intelligence. It functions as command headquarters, and keeps track of all activity on the battlefield. It gives the commander a live-updated overview of the area, making it easier to spot incoming armies and prepare the necessary countermeasures.

But this structure also performs another vitally important function. It allows the base to receive encrypted blueprints of more advanced units and structures without risking data leaks. GDI Central Command only allows access to the building plans of the Advanced Guard Tower and Advanced Communications Center through the Communications Center's secure lines. Similarly, Nod uses it to safeguard the plans of their Flame Tank and Stealth Tank, the deadly Obelisk of Light and the mysterious Temple of Nod.

This structure was modeled by Ric, and textured by Soviet Deso.]]> Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:26:26 +0000 http://www.cnc-source.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7647