FIRESTORM
WALKTHROUGH

Nod - Mission 9 'Core of the Problem'

You begin on a small island in the southwestern corner of the map, with a single bridge as your only means of reaching the mainland. Immediately send your Limpet Mines out to explore the land to the north and east of your small island. Be careful with your Limpet Mines when traveling the waterways to the east--several Mobile Rocket Launchers are patrolling the area.

Move your units toward the only bridge off of your tiny island. Almost immediately, a squad of Cyborgs will surface beside the bridge in a Subterranean APC. Target each Cyborg in turn. Once they are disassembled, move quickly across the bridge, attacking any Cyborgs or Reapers that you encounter.

As you secure the area, an MCV will be provided for you. Order you MCV across the bridge as quickly as possible, turning north once you are clear of the small island. Deploy your MCV and build up your base as quickly as possible.

Your priority should be constructing a small army of Tick Tanks and Artillery, as well as building an EMP Cannon. Include a significant air defense to ward off Banshee and Orca Bomber attacks. Concentrate your SAM sites on the northeastern side of your base. As soon as funds allow, build a small group of Tick Tanks and send them southeast to take out a Mobile War Factory hidden there.

Assemble an attack force of ten Tick Tanks, five pieces of Artillery, and a pair of MSAs in addition to base defenders. Press to the northeast, using your MSAs to reveal a small and poorly defended enemy base. Have your Artillery target defensive structures and units, while your Tick Tanks screen for any enemy counter attack.

Once you have dismantled its defenses, use a squad of Engineers to capture any lucrative structures within the small base. Place SAM sites around anything you plan on keeping. Make sure to capture any Radar Installations that you may encounter. Doing so reveals the exact location of all three Command Stations.

Build a larger attack force and move against a series of well-defended Refineries. The base is located about halfway across the map, beyond a large waterway flanking the eastern side of your base. Your attacking army should once again consist of Tick Tanks, Artillery, Mobile Sensor Arrays, and a healthy dose of Engineers. Reveal hidden structures and units with the MSAs and target them with your Artillery.

Once you have dismantled the base defenses, send in your Engineers to capture any valuable buildings. Your primary goal for capture will be the enemy Construction Yard, Tiberium Refineries, and Tiberium Silos. Protect this base with a multiple SAM sites, as well as a sizable contingent of Tick Tanks and Artillery.

Four Missile Silos, along with one of the three Command Stations you need to capture, are all located on a heavily fortified island in the southeast corner of the map.

Send a small group of Artillery to the edge of the waterway separating the island from the mainland. Target the Reapers from a distance, taking them apart one by one. For those Reapers outside of your Artillery's range, send five Tick Tanks in through the bridge on the north side of the island to root them out.

Order a Subterranean APC filled with Engineers to surface near the Missile Silos. Use your Tick Tanks to punch holes in the Concrete Walls protecting the facility to allow your Engineers easy access. Then, take over every building on the island, selling all but one of the Missile Silos.

With the Missile Silos under your control, move to capture the second of the three Command Stations. This Station sits behind a Concrete Wall surrounded by a huge field of Tiberium Veins. Create a small squad of Rocket Infantry to run across the Veins and punch a hole in the Concrete Wall. Now send in a single Engineer to retrieve the second fragment of CABAL's command codes.

Create a large attack force consisting of the usual Tick Tanks, Artillery, and MSAs. You will also need a large air force of ten to twelve Banshees complete with Helipads, for use in a later offensive. While your air force is being assembled, send your sizable land army northeast, revealing enemy structures with the MSAs and targeting them with your Artillery.

The final Command Station is located in the extreme northwest corner of the map. Send your Banshee fleet against any unit protecting the final Command Station.

Prepare an Engineer in a Subterranean APC, but wait a few moments before you send him off. First replace any Banshees that you may have lost in the last attack, followed by the construction of a large group of ten Attack Cycles. Move the Cycles to the southeastern island, where you recently captured CABAL's numerous Missile Silos. Once all units are in position, move your SAPC to the third Command Station and retrieve the final fragment of the command codes.

The moment the Firestorm Generator protecting CABAL goes off-line, CABAL immediately activates his pet robot--the Defender. Don't even try to attack him. Instead, send your fleet of Banshees directly against CABAL's core. Order them to take out the pair of radically advanced super Obelisks of Light.