Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars/GDI buildings

GDI's buildings are akin to that of of an ordinary military.

Construction Yard
The construction yard is essential to base construction. Players always start with a construction yard, which can be reverted into its MCV form. Often nicknamed "Conyard", the Construction yard is what produces buildings. From Barracks to War Factories, defences to superweapons - everything is built here.

Because all buildings are built here, losing a construction yard will often result in your losing the game. However, since cranes can also construct buildings, a crane can produce a War Factory, which can in turn produce another MCV. Both the crane and the construction yard must be eliminated to truly remove the enemy's ability to deploy buildings.

Power Plant
The Power Plant is the only building aside from the construction yard that produces power, so players will definitely want as many power plants as possible. Several bad things happen when the base is low on power: the minimap shuts down, units and buildings are produced slower, and the turrets do not fire.

Destroying or disabling (via EMP) power plants is a great precursor to an attack, as your forces will be able to penetrate enemy defences while they sit idle and useless.

Power plants can be upgraded with Advanced Turbines once a Tech Centre (or, in Kane's Wrath, a Command Post) is constructed, boosting their power output.

Outpost
The outpost is a deployed Surveyor. Unlike conyards, these buildings cannot revert into Surveyors, so they must be deployed wisely.

Outposts have no defence or armour on their own, and as such must be defended. The later patches remove the build radius around several buildings, including Barracks and Power Plants. This makes rebuilding said buildings difficult without an outpost nearby.

Barracks
The barracks trains all your infantry. Ranging from simple Riflemen squads to the considerably heavier Zone troopers, the Barracks is the primary method of obtaining infantry aside from support powers.

Barracks are cheap and quick to build, but the infantry they train are a little slow, so building Barracks near the front lines will allow you to get infantry into the fight much easier.

War Factory
War Factories are a necessity for GDI to build and maintain their powerful tanks. All vehicles, with the sole exception of the Surveyor, are produced here. War factories can also repair vehicles, so sending your damaged vehicles to a war factory will not only keep your fighting force at their best, but it also allows units to reach veterancy quicker.

Crane
A new feature to the Command and Conquer franchise are cranes. These cranes act like a construction yard, and allow you to produce two buildings at once. While in earlier patches they can produce defences as well, later patches removed this feature; they can build, at most, Tiberium Silos.

While building a crane is often the first thing a player builds, it is often better to build at least one refinery before building a crane, as cranes take more money than a refinery can provide (a 2:1 ratio). If one wants to build more defences, it is often better to build MCVs.

Refinery
Refineries extract the useful materials from raw Tiberium and provide you with money. An essential component to any base, multiple refineries are a must to avoid running out of money. Each field can sustain approximately two refineries. Refineries also store money, so the rapid construction of refineries will prevent money from being lost.

Refineries are quite heavily armoured and can take quite a beating, but the fact they store Tiberium can be used against them - the Catalyst Missile and the Tiberium Vibration Scan can destroy or reveal, respectively, open refineries.

Tiberium Silo
Tiberium silos store Tiberium. They have an indicator gauge on them that allows you to see how full each silo is. Unfortunately, silos are ultimately a waste of money and build time; as Battlecast Primetime battle commentators Greg Black and Jason Bender have noted, "Protip: If you build units, you won't need the silos". It is therefore best to avoid the construction of silos and simply build more units that can attack the enemy.

Armoury
Armouries unlock the ability to construct Snipers. Due to their power against infantry and ability to call Juggernaught artillery strikes, these units often prove useful. Armouries also allow the research of several useful upgrades.

Infantry can be fully healed when they enter an armoury, and any missing squad members are replaced.

In Kane's Wrath, the research for Scanner packs was moved the Command Post.

Command Post
A necessity for higher tech levels, the Command Post is a versatile and much-needed building. It unlocks the Radar Scan ability, which is very useful at this point in the game to see what the enemy is up to. It also unlocks the ability to produce Grenadiers, a necessity for clearing enemy garrisons.

Airfield
Airfields can sustain up to four Orcas and Firehawks. As such, they are a necessity for those attempting to get some air support. Airfields also allow most units to Call for Transport, allowing them to reach the front lines quicker or to get to an otherwise impassible area. Since only a handful of units can attack airbourne adversaries, Orcas and Firehawks can be used to good effect against vehicles, buildings, and air.

In Kane's Wrath, the Airfield can construct Hammerhead gunships as well.

Tech Centre
The Tech Centre is a vulnerable, expensive, and much-needed structure. It unlocks the most advanced GDI units in the game, including the iconic Mammoth Tank, Juggernaught artillery, Zone troopers, and (together with the Armoury) the Commando. It also provides some much needed upgrades. The Tungsten AA upgrade vastly improves the effectiveness of GDI anti-aircraft, bringing it up to pair with that of the other sides. The Pitbull's Mortar allows for rapid clearing of large squads of infantry, and the Stratofighter Boosters are a must-buy if you intend to use Firehawks.

In Kane's Wrath, the Stratofighter upgrade was moved to the airfield (see above).

Foxhole
The Foxhole is generally underused, but when riflemen are ordered to use their Dig in ability, they construct this building. Essentially a garrison for two, the Foxhole can take quite a bit of punishment and protects the Riflemen from anti-infantry fire. Foxholes themselves, however, are vulnerable to anti-structure and garrison-clearing attacks.

As of Patch 1.05, Riflemen produce a foxhole at their current location rather than at a specific targeted area.

Foxholes remain standing even when the Riflemen leave the area, so it is possible to build a foxhole, unload the riflemen, and put two missile squads inside for a powerful and effective anti-vehicle foxhole. However, foxholes act like any other garrisonable structure; they can be claimed by enemy infantry. Destroying your foxholes when you leave is rarely done but can be a good idea.

Battle Base
Battle bases are not often used but extremely powerful. Deployed instantly from a Rig, battle bases sport a pair of Guardian cannons to ward off vehicluar attacks, and twin launchers for helping in air defence. Their most useful ability, however, is their ability to repair allied vehicles with the three repair drones; this essentially gives you a portable war factory without the ability to produce vehicles.

Battle bases are very vulnerable on their own, even with their railguns. Battle bases benefit from railguns only in Kane's Wrath.

Space Command Uplink
The Space Command Uplink does nothing on its own, but the support powers it provides include the devastating Shockwave Artillery and Zone Trooper Drop pods. The construction of the Space Command Uplink isn't as necessary as a Tech Centre or Command Post, but its construction can definitely allow you to target GDI's most powerful abilities against your adversaries.

Ion Cannon Control Centre
Without a doubt GDI's most devastating power, the Ion Cannon fires a series of beams followed by a single massive strike which obliterates any targets caught in the blast. Epic units and buildings are the only things that can survive a direct hit from the Ion Cannon; everything else is blown to bits. Because it can't destroy bases outright, the Ion Cannon is best used as a precursor to a mop-up attack. It can be deployed once every seven minutes.

Watchtower
Standing 9 metres tall, the GDI Watchtower is armed with twin machine guns that can slice through enemy infantry. However, the Watchtower can only focus on one squad member at a time, potentially allowing more enemy units through. The AP ammo upgrade, in Kane's Wrath, helps considerably. While it reduces the Watchtower's rate of fire, the increased amount of damage is more than worth it.

The Watchtower is armed with stealth-detection, and not even the sneakiest Nod commando can eliminate a Watchtower alone.

Guardian Cannon
The Guardian cannon is the secondary GDI anti-armour defence. The Guardian cannon, in the earliest patches, was next to useless. Fortunately in newer patches, its effectiveness against vehicles has improved considerably. In Kane's Wrath, the Guardian cannon can make use of railguns, putting its effectiveness against vehicles on par with the Sonic Emitter.

Sonic Emitter
The Sonic Emitter is definitely one of the deadliest anti-vehicle defences in the game, but the new railgun Guardian cannon gives it a run for its money. Compared to the Obelisk of Light and the Storm Column, the Sonic Emitter is somewhere between the two in usefulness. The Sonic Emitter's deadliest ability is how its attack can slice through multiple enemies in a line. Its power can also allow it to one-shot weaker vehicles.

AA Battery
The AA battery, originally, was next to useless. While it spits out a steady stream of bullets, the damage it did is negligable and most units - namely Firehawks, Vertigos, and the Scrin aerial warships - could either attack from outside range, or be out of range before the weapon could destroy them. In Kane's Wrath, the Tungsten AA upgrade, coupled with the new Slingshots, have put GDI's anti-aircraft on par with the other sides.