Factions of Command & Conquer

This page lists the other factions of the real-time strategy and first person shooter games of the Command & Conquer universe.

Civilians
Civilian populace in Command & Conquer games makes up for a majority of the world's population. They are usually unarmed and keep to themselves, trying not to get in the way of the military conflicts surrounding them, however they more often than not end up becoming dragged into the escalating conflict in one way or another.

During the First Tiberium War in particular civilians were often taken into captivity by Nod forces for Tiberium-related experimentations, shown primarily in Command & Conquer: Renegade. Due to its mandate to uphold the United Nations Charter, the GDI instead was often charged with either protecting or evacuating civilians endangered by conflict.

In game civilians often are unarmed and have no armor. They are easily dispatched with even the lowest and cheapest available troops. If one plays as GDI, this is often a problem, as GDI missions often tasks the player with the duty to protect the Civilians (which the aforementioned weaknesses makes the task extremely hard). In Renegade, civilians often have access to caches of weapons, making them more survivable, but only marginally. As Nod, civilians are expendable. Because of this Nod units can willingly attack civilians (the cursor for Nod, when over a civilian, is the attack cursor, but the GDI cursor will be a "stop" cursor).

Some civilian factions take active roles against the player- in Tiberian Dawn, the first Nod mission is to eliminate an African warlord and his army. In an Allied expansion mission for Red Alert, Soviet-friendly civilians will rush to alert the Soviets if they spot the players troops, and the player will have to kill them. During a mission in Tiberian Sun: Firestorm the GDI Commander is tasked with putting an end to riots between civilians and mutants. This involves defending a GDI supply base which is regularly attacked by both civilians and mutants. This task is made difficult as the GDI can only use a limited number of "Riot Infantry" who do no actual damage to the enemies but rather cause them to flee after a few shots.

The Forgotten
First introduced to the series in Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, The Forgotten are a loose-knit faction of people whose exposure to Tiberium radiation has begun to result in severe genetic mutations, either by freak accident or through the Brotherhood of Nod's eugenics programs. The Forgotten are commonly known as "Mutants" or "Shiners", the latter being a reference to the Tiberium crystals that grow on and through their bodies. As the last remaining inhabitants of the world's most Tiberium-infested regions and due to their being shunned and despised by the majority of humanity, they have learned to stand together and to fight for their survival. All those of The Forgotten can heal themselves through exposure to Tiberium radiation as it appears to trigger a highly rapid cellular regeneration within their bodies (which is rather ironic as a normal person would experience the exact opposite). They also have been shown to be capable of domesticating a number of Tiberium-based life forms. Rejected by Nod as corrupted abominations trapped between humanity and its alleged Tiberium future, they were nonetheless forcefully studied upon by them to have Nod enhance and speed up its "Divination" project. As a result The Forgotten are often shown being cautiously non-belligerent to the Global Defense Initiative, and even became actively involved in the Second Tiberium War at the side of GDI as loose allies to the organization. In Firestorm they were revealed to have struck a genuine alliance with the GDI in order to aid them in their efforts to stop the global spread of Tiberium.

The Forgotten use equipment which consists almost entirely of scavenged, hijacked or otherwise stolen weaponry and vehicles, which has been known to include anything from modified civilian vehicles outfitted with armor plating and weapons to equipment hijacked from both GDI and Nod depots, to disposed and former Mammoth Tanks to stolen experimental high-tech weaponry such as a portable rail gun.

The bases they operate from tend to be composed of old and abandoned military buildings and/or converted civilian ones (for instance, observation towers converted into sentry turrets), and are typically set either in deserted Tiberium-infested wastelands or former ghost towns (and cities) which The Forgotten settled in.

By the time of the Third Tiberium War the mutant population appears to have degenerated into a feral race. Though evidence exists of attempts by GDI to provide shelter for the mutants they are seen willingly fighting against both GDI and Nod. However, this is untrue as the mutants in Tiberium Wars are in fact a different faction from the Forgotten who will return as a non-playable faction during the Fourth Tiberium War in Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight. They would return as a minor part of the story in Tiberian Twilight as well as a neutral class in-game whom you can either battle against or ally like the Mutants in Tiberium Wars.


 * Prominent members
 * Tratos
 * Umagon
 * Ghost Stalker


 * Known Forgotten Infantry Units
 * Mutant (the unit two one-handed weapons, which ones they are is unclear)
 * Mutant Soldier
 * Mutant Rocket Soldier
 * Mutant Sergeant (Similar to Mutants, only with a more powerful hand weapons, has blue flames coming out of the gun)
 * Mutant Hijacker (Also Available to Nod)
 * Mutant Sniper
 * Mutant Commando (Otherwise known as ghoststalker, which is available to GDI)
 * Mutant Marauders (In C&C 3, armed with chain guns and are recruited from the neutral Mutant Hovel, once captured)

Tiberian Lifeforms
Tiberium based life-forms have been around ever since Tiberian Dawn. The first type of life-form encountered is Tiberium itself, manifesting as crystal or ordinary plants that promote Tiberium growth in the area.

Tiberium also induces mutations in plant life and animals, reshaping them drastically. As a result, any Tiberian life-form is capable of healing itself by Tiberium exposure, which seems to regenerate its physical condition.

Currently known Tiberium-based life-forms include:


 * The Visceroid
 * The Tiberium Fiend
 * The Tiberium Floater (Only in the expansion pack: Tiberian Sun: Firestorm)
 * The Vein Monster
 * The Blossom Tree
 * Tiberium Fissure

The Visceroid is the most common Tiberium Lifeform, a gelatinous blob of mutated biological matter. A Visceroid is created after an Infantry unit dies of prolonged exposure to Tiberium (In both Tiberian Sun and Renegade) or exposure to the deadly Tiberium Gas produced by Nod's chemical missile. In Tiberian Sun, the Visceroid attacks by protruding itself at high velocity and consuming its target. When a Visceroid is initially created, it is harmless and referred to as a "Baby Visceroid." A "Baby Visceroid" must come in contact with another baby to form the more formidable "Adult Visceroid." In Command and Conquer: Renegade, The Visceroid acts a little differently. Instead of attacking by physically eating its target as it did in Tiberian Sun, it instead sprays Tiberium chemicals from within itself. Also unlike its Tiberian Sun counterpart, it does not need to "mate" with another Visceroid to become able to attack. In Command & Conquer 3, Visceroids are created by a Scrin vehicle known as the Corrupter, which sprays liquid Tiberium on infantry. Also in Command & Conquer 3 Visceroids are no longer blobs of matter and are more "stable". What has caused this is unknown however a leading theory is that due to the modification in Tiberium used by the Corrupter (allowing it to repair Scrin vehicles) it has some sort of matter mending property allowing it to create a more solid strain of Visceroid.

The other Tiberium Lifeform commonly seen in Tiberian Sun is The Tiberium Fiend. The Fiend is very different from the Visceroid, which exists as a xenophobic, unorthodox blob. The Fiend seems to have evolved from some form of canine, and looks and acts very much like a dog. In fact, members of the Forgotten have tamed, and even trained Tiberium Fiends as attack dogs. In addition, the Fiend seems to have a higher intelligence than its Visceroid cousin. Tiberium Fiends tend to gather in family groups and attack in groups as well. They can usually be seen lying on their stomachs in small patches of Tiberium, only awakening when disturbed. They have the ability to burrow and attack by rapidly propelling shards of Tiberium from their backs towards their target. Fiends do not appear in Command & Conquer 3.

The Tiberium Floater is balloon-like creature with tentacles and proboscis-like protrusions on its underside, that moves by hovering off the ground and by propelling a toxic tiberium gas in the intended direction. This gas is incredibly deadly to infantry. By this virtue, the Floater is capable of traveling over water. It attacks by attaching to its target and shocking it with ion radiation. The Tiberium Floater only appeared in Tiberian Sun: Firestorm, unlike the Tiberium Fiend which also appeared in the prequel. The Floater did not return in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars.

Another creature is the Vein Monster. This life form has two parts. The first is the central "mouth" from which second part, the veins extend from. The Vein Monster is completely immobile as far as positioning goes, but it appears capable of exponential growth over any terrain. The veins that extend from the central hub break apart any surface obstacle in their path then slowly move the pieces back to the hub where they are eaten and used to further extend the veins. When the veins come in contact with a structure, the structure will slowly take damage. The same is true for a heavy vehicle that ventures across the surface of the veins, however infantry and light vehicles such as buggies and Wolverines are unaffected. When the central hub is attacked, it will release a toxic cloud of Tiberium gas as a defense mechanism. Acting upon this, the Brotherhood of Nod developed a way to harvest and process the veins, eventually developing a way to use them in the deadly chemical missile which releases a more potent version of the same toxin produced by the Vein Monster. When the central hub is destroyed, the veins that had spread from it will begin to retract and die. The Vein Monster did not return in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars.

The blossom tree appears in all of the Tiberian series except the 3rd. If a tree is surrounded by Tiberium crystals, it will mutate into what is termed a "blossom tree" or a "Tiberium Riparius" in Tiberian Sun by the mouse-over help. It is also seen in various scenes in Tiberian Dawn. It expels Tiberium spores which cause Tiberium crystals to grow around it. Though its purpose within the game has been replaced by the Tiberium Fissure (see below), mutated trees that resemble blossom trees can still be seen in red zones, although they do not produce tiberium.

The Tiberium fissure appears in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, and is the equivalent to the blossom tree. A fissure is a hole in the ground leading to an underground tiberium deposit that replenishes Tiberium field after the surface tiberium is harvested.