Tempest Rising/GDF units

The Global Defense Forces (GDF) is an international military alliance formed by Earth's surviving governments in the aftermath of the Third World War.

By 1997, the GDF controls the majority of the world's Tempest deposits and sees the plant as a solution to the ongoing energy crisis.

Infantry are trained at the GDF Barracks, while vehicles are produced at the GDF Vehicle Bay.

Field Scout
Field Scouts are a standard infantry that generally is weak against anything anti-infantry, but has the benefits of cheap cost, rapid deployment time, and most importantly, a long line of sight.

Field scouts should be used to scout out the enemy and should generally not be fielded as a frontline infantry to attack other infantry. They will fall quickly to dedicated anti-infantry weapons, especially units like ignitors and flame tanks.

Lay Sensor Mine is the Field Scout's special ability. At a cost of $100, enemy units that set off the mine will become marked and the area around them is revealed. Enemies marked by the mine generate the powerful Intel resource when you kill them. Use these mines as a prelude to an ambush to quickly generate intel from enemy units, in order to field your own.

Drone Operator
Drone operators are an anti-armour unit. Their standard attack deals Cannon type damage, giving it an extra punch against vehicles and structures. Additionally, their drone - produced for free - attacks on its own with rockets.

The drone itself is vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire and is often targeted by SAMs. As drones are replaced for free, however, this gives you an opportunity to freely detect anti-air threats before sending your own air units in.

Remote Control Drone is the Drone Operator's special ability. When active, the drone operator becomes immobilized and control is instead handed off to the drone itself, which can freely fly in a radius around the operator. Combined with their aerial nature, this lets drone operators safely engage anti-infantry structures from outside their effective range. If the drone is destroyed, control automatically reverts to the operator.

Grenadier
Grenadiers will serve as the infantry meat shields of your army, protecting drone operators and field scouts in the back. Grenadiers are also effectively bulletproof with a bonus 25% resistance to rifle type attacks. This makes them experts at dispatching most other forms of infantry. As infantry, they are also resistant to anti-armour attacks such as cannons and rockets. Their primary weakness is their extremely close range.

Grenadiers are also effective at damaging enemies that are garrisoned in structures.

Grenadiers have no special ability.

Riot Trooper
Riot troopers are a heavily armoured infantry with exceptional resistance to enemy fire. Riot troopers lack raw offensive power, instead favouring a baton that can be used to stun enemy infantry, opening them to attacks from others. Against vehicles, riot troopers use EMP grenades to shut these threats down, leaving them open to subsequent attacks.

Drone Mauler
The Drone Mauler is a stealth infantry unit accompanied by two drones. Unlike the drone operator, the drone mauler cannot remotely pilot them.

Drone Maulers have a bonus that grant them bonus range and damage against marked targets.

Harvester
Harvesters are utility vehicles responsible for gathering Tempest and bringing it to the refinery. Harvesters form the backbone of your economy. As they are unarmed, they must be protected at all times.

Despite being classified as a heavy vehicle, harvesters cannot crush heavy infantry or other vehicles.

A single harvester is included with the construction of every refinery. Harvesters carry $800 worth of Tempest.

Hunter
The Hunter is the standard tank of the GDF. It is primarily used to eliminate enemy vehicles and structures.

The Hunter gains an attack and range bonus against targets that are marked, making them an excellent pair with Sentinels.

Sentinel
The Sentinel is a scout car with excellent visibility and extremely high speeds. It is relatively cheap and resists all forms of anti-infantry damage, including rifle rounds. Its primary weakness is to anti-armour attacks, which it cannot stand up to with its low hit points.

Most notably, however, is the Sentinel's special ability - using Marking Projectiles. This lowers the Sentinel's base damage, but instead afflicts the target with Marked. Marked targets generate Intel when killed, and units with the Networked bonus will deal extra damage and have extra range against them.

Sentinels thus pair extremely well with Hunters, which cover each other's weakness very well while generating intel for every unit they kill.

Mobile Construction Vehicle
The mobile construction vehicle, or MCV, is the mobile form of the Construction Yard. The Construction Yard is responsible for the construction of the rest of your base. In addition to their low speed and unarmed nature, MCVs are extremely expensive and thus must be protected. MCVs however are exceptionally durable, and can withstand a fair amount of damage, but they will never stand up to a concentrated attack from multiple opponents.

Comms Rig
The comms rig is an expensive support vehicle that can deploy anti-vehicle mines in an area, restricting enemy movement. The comms rig is also useful for detecting enemy stealthed units.

The comms rig can also deploy into Comms Mode, which immobilizes the rig and provides a damage and movement speed increase of nearby units.

However, its high cost and unarmed nature requires it to be protected. Comms Mode is thus primarily used in defensive positions where falling back is a possibility.