Each of the three factions featured in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (the Global Defense Initiative, Brotherhood of Nod and Scrin) will receive two additional “sub-factions” in Kane’s Wrath. Each of these sub-factions features unique special units, upgrades and support powers, and are designed to cater to more specialized styles of real-time strategy gameplay.
Global Defense Initiative
Steel Talons
This elite, unconventional combat battalion quickly rose to prominence in the splinter faction skirmishes that followed Nod’s implosion, becoming known for both their ruthless efficiency on the battlefield and for the shroud of secrecy they maintained at all other times.
Willing to accept substantial technological uncertainty in exchange for even a temporary fire-power advantage, the Steel Talons endorse a flexible force doctrine in order to ensure that their soldiers can, with appropriate investment, out-gun any foe.
Zone Operations Command (ZOCOM)
Most soldiers cannot endure significant Tiberium exposure for more than a few weeks at a time without risking serious physical and psychological damage. There are exceptions, however: men and women who find the experience of living and fighting in a near alien environment to be an enervating, engaging experience. These individuals quickly find themselves assigned to ZOCOM, and few, if any, would be happy anywhere else. ZOCOM soldiers are hardy, battle-hardened veterans, capable of bunkering down and withstanding even the most powerful assault before pushing back with equally devastating force. Between their heavy, Tiberium-resistant battle armour and their experimental, high-impact sonic weaponry technologies, they are as dangerous a foe as one would ever wish to face in the Red Zones.
Brotherhood of Nod
Black Hand
Few who have faced Black Hand on the battlefield have lived to tell the tale; with their fast, aggressive style and religiously inspired focus on flame-based “purification” weapons, they are truly a force to be feared and respected. Perhaps the most unusual aspect of the Black Hand is that, due to their deeply religious nature, they reject both the role of stealth and “soulless machines” in combat. The Black Hand prefer instead to use live, visible humans whenever possible—the key exception being their devastating, flame-spewing Purifier combat mech, each of which must be blessed by a Black Hand abbot before entering combat.
Marked of Kane
The Marked of Kane balance finesse with massive, near overwhelming force, eschewing the hit and run tactics common to Nod in favour of substantial raids capable of devastating even the strongest encampment. With a preference for both heavy arms—their most basic infantry are comparable to the elite forces of their enemies—and carefully targeted EMP and Tiberium attacks, these cyborg warriors are as judicious in their tactics as they are terrifying in appearance.
Scrin
Traveler-59
Fast, nimble, and flexible in approach, Traveler-59 substitutes brute force for a more finessed combat methodology, leaning heavily on their teleportation and mind-control abilities. Traveler- 59 flank, infiltrate, and trap, often using their implanted slaves to lure stronger enemy forces within range of their Prodigies. While their flexibility doctrine precludes Traveler-59 from utilizing bulky Scrin forcefield generators, the massively increased movement speed provided by their advanced articulation technology more than compensates.
Reaper-17
With their religious beliefs leading them to forgo both mind control and aerial combat, Reaper- 17 eschew the traditional Scrin Stormrider offensive in favour of directed ground attacks, modifying their forces with Tiberium-based conversion beams and shard weapons. Always at the front of such a charge is the Reaper Tripod, a mammoth assault walker that dwarfs even the Scrin Annihilator, emblematic of Reaper’s approach in its favouring of power over subtlety or tactical superiority.