Epic Unit
From Command and Conquer Wiki
An Epic unit is defined as incredibly powerful unit that is often difficult to produce and able to engage and defeat entire armies of ordinary units. Only another epic (or a unit the epic cannot attack, such as air units) can fight them one-on-one with any hope of surviving, let alone winning. They are also usually contain highly experimental and/or classified technology hard to obtain and immensely expensive when available. Even commanders wealthy enough to afford two or more can only ordinarily obtain only one at a given time.
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[edit] Tiberium
The Mammoth Mk. II, largest walker of Global Defense Initiative during Second Tiberium War, is also considered an epic. The Cyborg Commando from Brotherhood of Nod was designated as an epic on account of its powerful weapon and armor. But most of all, CABAL's Core Defender, the strongest weapon of the Firestorm Crisis, is easily labeled an epic.
By the time of the Third Tiberium War, mega-engineering techniques had improved allowing the construction of facilities that were specifically used for the assembly of Epic units. Each major faction has its own epic unit and required a specialised structure to produce it.
The Global Defense Initiative has the Mammoth Armed Reclamation Vehicle (MARV), a massive tank that also functions as a Harvester and a mobile Tiberium Refinery, that was built from the Reclamator hub. The Mastodon is another powerful walker that is considered an epic unit much due to its powerful weaponry.
In response, the Brotherhood of Nod manufactured the Redeemer, a massive walker, using the Rage Generator to manipulate hostile units' minds into a wild frenzy. They are built from the Redeemer Engineering Facility.
Never to be outdone, the Scrin developed the Eradicator Hexapod, one that has also been discovered. This massive alien war machine is known to "recycle" the remains of its enemies into credits for the Scrin war effort. It is too large to be warped in through normal portals, thus it can only be brought in through Warp Chasms.
Finally, Motherships may be summoned by a Signal Transmitter. The Mothership serves as the Foreman's Command Center and a superweapon.
[edit] Red Alert
[edit] WWII era
The first epic unit was Volkov, the first successful cyborg developed by the USSR. It wielded more power then their Mammoth tank of the time. It was able to raze an entire Allied base with only his cybernetic dog, Chitzkoi, at his aid. Super tanks were also used by the Soviet Union, but they unfortunately malfunctioned.
The closest to an Epic Unit in this war that's not a campaign-only unit is probably the Cruiser due to its devastating, long range fire power which can destroy entire armies and bases from afar. However it's close range vulnerabilities and its ready availability (if the Commander can afford it) mean it falls short of deserving the title.
[edit] WWIII era
While nowhere near the cost, destructiveness or exclusiveness of standardized epic units, Kirovs could be considered a close relative, as they were horrendously slow, extremely powerful, and heavily armored. They were also the only units who's presence on the battlefield is announced as they are produced.
[edit] "Real" WWIII-era
It is worth noting that, during WWIII of the alternate timeline, the Shogun Executioner of the Empire of the Rising Sun was the sole Epic unit of its class, able to devastate anything in its path - except aircraft, especially with amphibious capabilities, making it a death-dealing machine not only on land, but by sea too. However, even the Executioner isn't without flaws, too: its appalling speed and manoeuvrability, its vulnerability to aircraft and large groups of long-range units and even superweapons, if left unchecked, can make the Shogun Executioner dig its early grave. A few Terror Drones can also make short work of the unit, since the Executioner can't target multiple units.
The Giga Fortress can also be considered an epic unit because of it's heavy armour, high tech requirement, immense cost (more than superweapons) and destructive power.
[edit] Drawbacks
- Expect the Epic units to be slow and a big target.
- Per every time one is deployed, everyone will hear something like a noisy Eradicator, "I live" in the Redeemer's case, or "MARV Assembly COMPLETE!" for the MARV, warning you of their imminent presence.
- All Epic Units take 0:50 to deploy and cost $5000.
- Once units are garrisonned, thay cannot be come back out.
- They take a long time to promote, and rarely survive long enough to reach Heroic.
- Some epic units have to survive a mission for various reasons.
