Support vehicles
From Command and Conquer Wiki
Support Vehicles are those which are designed to augment an assault and provide assistence to a faction's forces, but are generally not meant to spearhead combat. This is due in large part to a combination of various factors such as slow speed, lack of weaponry, poor armor, or glaring weaknesses against certain targets. Unlike Tanks, which are meant for direct combat, or Light combat vehicles, whose duties are to assist tanks against infantry or aircraft, support vehicles generally cannot survive even light assaults, due to their weaknesses. All APCs are also known to support areas and Infantry.
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[edit] Great World War II
[edit] Allies
Allied M110 Artillery served largely in a supporting role during the conflict, using it's heavy 155mm cannon safely behind columns of Bradley M-2 and M1 Abrams tanks, decimating infantry and softening up hard targets while the tanks drew enemy fire. If caught without support, the artillery was easy prey, as it's thin armor and painfully slow turn rate meant that escaping determined pursuit was impossible. Also, Soviet Tesla coils could destroy an M110 from outside the artillery's effective range. In addition, the Allies used Minelayers, which boosted defense by laying down Anti-tank mines. Infantry were not heavy enough to set them off, but any vehicle running over them would suffer major damage. Mobile gap generators and Radar jammers were weak, unarmed units, designed to assist Allied forces in their covert warfare. The APC is used to support infantry.
[edit] Soviet
The Soviet response to Allied artillery, the FROG-7 V2 launcher had even greater range and power than the artillery, but several drawbacks as well. The primitive ballistic missile was relatively slow, giving sufficiently quick Allied forces a chance to dodge. Also, the rate of fire for the V2 was extremely slow. In response to the Allies fielding large amounts of infantry, the Soviet Union also developed land mines, however, these would kill or maim a person, while lacking the explosive force needed to severely damage even light vehicles. To attempt to see through Allied covert actions, the USSR developed the Spy Plane, a high speed MiG varient capable of fast reconaissance but little else.
[edit] First Tiberium War
[edit] GDI
Replacing artillery in GDI's arsennal was the M270 MLRS. It was a powerful weapons system, however, it was slow and poorly armored, and compounding this fact, enemy units that got in close were safe from the rockets, as the MLRS couldn't fire at anything up close. Also, while it's weapons were effective against all targets, they lacked range. Obelisks of Light, Nod's ultimate base defense, could strike unsupported MLRS units before the rockets could launch.
[edit] Nod
Nod forces, seeing GDI abandon many of it's surplus M110s, acquired these vehicles, using them to supplement their own force of G6 howitzers. Also, Nod created M270 SSMs. Using stolen MLRS frames, Nod replaced the rockets with a pair of Napalm missiles. These had longer range than GDI MLRS, but several drawbacks. First, the SSM was subject to all the speed and armor limitations of the MLRS, but the Honest John missiles had an extremely poor reload time. Also, the napalm warheads could wreak havoc on infantry and structures, but failed to severely damage tanks. They also used Flame Tanks.
[edit] Second Tiberium War and Firestorm Crisis
[edit] GDI
GDI forces in the Second Tiberium War and Firestorm Crisis faced several new challenges. In order to defend against increasingly advanced Nod stealth and subterranean systems, they developed the Mobile Sensor Array, a lightly armored unit that needed to be deployed to detect activity that would otherwise be invisible to the GDI. During the Firestorm Crisis, GDI developed the Mobile War Factory, which, due to it's heavy armor, made it exceedingly slow. Unarmed, this unit was capable of producing tanks as fast as a normal war factory, but much closer to the front lines. GDI also developed the Mobile EMP, which could stop enemy tank advances in their tracks. To combat the increasing threat of Nod artillery, GDI developed their own Mechanized walker solution to the problem, the Juggernaut. The Juggernaut's support role allowed it to survive GDI's cutbacks, as the failings of walker technology were inconsequential to a machine not designed for direct combat. While the MLRS was succeeded by the Hover MLRS, this new vehicle did not fill a similar niche, being a fast anti-aircraft vehicle with downgraded artillery performance.
[edit] Nod
Nod also advanced in the area of support. In addition to hijacked Mobile Sensors, Nod developed the Mobile repair vehicle to increase the survival rates of Nod units. Antiquated artillery units were replaced by Advanced artillery, which was more powerful and long ranged, but needed to deploy in order to fire. By the time of the Firestorm Crisis, Nod's research into Optic camouflage yielded the Mobile stealth generator, which as it's name implied, could conceal nearby Nod units from view. The Mobile War Factory concept was adopted by the Brotherhood, called the Fist of Nod.
[edit] Third Tiberium War
[edit] GDI
GDI cutbacks forced many Second Tiberium War technologies out of use, including support units. The Mobile War Factory and Sensor Arrays were phased out in favor of cheaper alternatives. Stealth detection fell to the sensors of CC-6 Pitbulls or other units with the sensors. To solve the problem of setting up a forward base under enemy fire, GDI developed both the Rig and the Surveyor. The surveyor was an unarmed unit that, when deployed, transformed into an Outpost, allowing buildings to be constructed around it. The Rig couldn't deploy to allow a build radius, however, it deployed into the Battle base, an armored structure with heavy anti-air and heavy anti-armor cannons, and vehicle repair drones. Used together, a rig and a surveyor could make a formidible foreward strike position. One unit that GDI used again, however, was the redesigned Juggernaut Artillery and APCs. Shatterers and Slingshots are very useful support units.
[edit] Nod
While lacking an effective answer to the rig, Nod was capable of duplicating a surveyor's effect with their own outpost vehicle, the Emissary. In addition, Nod Beam cannon and Specter artillery units provided fire support to front line troops, outside the range of enemy retaliation. Reckoners are new Nod APCs.
[edit] Scrin
Scrin ground forces seem to lack such things as artillery. However, they do appear to have an analog to Surveyors or Emmissaries, the Explorer. In addition, the Corrupter, a "vehicle" that largely appears to be a living, insect-like creature, spews corrosive Tiberium sludge. While this kills or horribly mutates human infantry, Scrin sprayed with the liquid appear to be healed by it.
