Outback (mission)

Outback is the first mission of Act IV of the Nod campaign in Tiberium Wars.
==Background==
After Kane's apparent death at Temple Prime, Kilian Qatar took control of the Brotherhood and ordered the plans for Ascension to be suspended. In order to level the playing field with GDI, she ordered the Nod Commander to steal their nuclear warheads, since most of Nod's nuclear arsenal was destroyed when GDI raided their Cairo launch facilityElectronic Arts Los Angeles, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. GDI InOps, "Nod's Nuclear Arsenal"..
==Plot==
Acting on information extracted from a captured GDI nuclear technicianElectronic Arts Los Angeles, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Nod Field Intelligence, "Black Hand Interrogation Report"., a strike team led by the Nod Commander moved to intercept a GDI convoy transporting nuclear warheads from a silo in Broken Hill to their base in Sydney.
The mission went smoothly at first: Nod forces destroyed the GDI units escorting the nuclear transports, forcing them to surrender. However, Ajay soon alerted the Commander to a completely unexpected development: every GDI ion cannon in the Southern Hemisphere was activated and began firing at something in space, causing alien objects to crash into Red zones all across the world - including the Australian Red zone.
Ajay notified the Commander that one of these unknown objects had landed very close to his forces before his command center came under attack and its personnel were forced to evacuate. Soon after, a tide of alien forces washed over the field, assaulting GDI and Nod alike. GDI launched a division of Firehawks in an attempt to combat the aliens' aerial units, but they only seemed to dent their formations and for every ship shot down, another was deployed to the field. The Commander was notified that the captured warheads were to be airlifted out via Carryall, but they were still some time away and his forces were forced to engage in a gritty defense maneuver against the aliens to protect their cargo. In the end, their forces prevailed, and after at least one nuclear warhead was transported out of the field the rest of the on-site Nod forces retreated to avoid being slaughtered.
==Walkthrough==
(Note: This walkthrough assumes Hard difficulty.)
At the start of the mission, immediately order the Stealth tanks to destroy the Tiberium tower in the east. This will prevent the convoy from escaping and give you ample time to intercept them. The Tiberium tower is guarded by two Foxholes and an AA Battery, but they cannot hope to destroy even one Stealth Tank before the fragile tower is toppled (provided the tanks are pulled out afterward). Move the rest of your forces to the southern edge of the screen and move them to the Tiberium field just east of the GDI base. 
After the Tiberium tower is down, move your stealth tanks to the Tiberium field as well (the Sonic emitters on the way are not a problem), and order them to destroy the Watchtower near the research lab, then capture it with a Saboteur to complete the bonus objective and unlock an Intelligence Database entry (Australia-New Zealand Theatre Assessment).
Quickly destroy the two convoys guarded by Predator tanks and APCs. Once again, your stealth tanks should be able to do so without suffering casualties. Leave the one with Mammoth tanks alone - they are not worth the risk of attacking.
After the cutscene plays, DO NOT order your forces to the Nod outpost, since the bulk of the alien forces will head there and quickly overwhelm it. Order all your forces to the mutant hovel and set the rally point for your war factory to it as well. Spend all of your remaining credits on building stealth tanks - some of the aliens will remain at the outpost's site, but many will actively attempt to hunt down your forces.
The Mammoth tank convoy will eventually be destroyed by Scrin forces. After which, a 2:30 countdown will start. Simply hold the position near the hovel and protect the transports. You do NOT need to move the transports back to the outpost when the Carryalls arrive, since the mission will end after the countdown reaches zero regardless of where on the map they are.
=== Training Infantry ===
While it is completely possible to survive the holdout phase with the aforementioned forces, if you wish to guarantee the nuke trucks' safety or just to be able to defend with a hands-off approach, it is possible to train large amounts of infantry.
After the convoys depart from the laboratory base and the Watchtower guarding it is destroyed (along with the destruction of the Tiberium tower), send in one Saboteur to capture the lab as usual, but order the other into the GDI Barracks. Train an Engineer from it, and once the two Watchtowers guarding the Refinery to the north of the outpost are cleared, have him capture the structure. Take caution to capture it while the Harvester is docked on it, though waiting solves this issue: eventually the Harvester will remained docked at the Refinery with only half its load refined, seemingly due to the GDI "player" running out of credit storage. At any rate, as they are unable to manufacture units in this mission, it will remain like this for the rest of the mission. After removing the Sonic Emitters guarding the Tiberium fields (especially the closest one), you can collect Tiberium and train as much infantry as you have the patience for. The Mutant Hovel can additionally be captured to be able to field more types of infantry, though note that the Mutant Marauders that are initially around it are hostile.
One of the convoys may stop next to the closest Tiberium field and subsequently harass your Harvester, but damaging one of its escort units will get them moving again. They will eventually stop next to the blocked road exit, away from the map's Tiberium fields.
Since most of the units thrown at your forces are relatively light tier 1 units (mostly Seekers, Disintegrators, and Stormriders), their durability is not exceptional. As a result, garrisoning infantry in Riflemen-made Foxholes allows them to cut them down while being dealt far less damage. Missile Squads can cover the anti-vehicle end of the spectrum, while either Riflemen or Mutant Marauders can eliminate the Disintegrators. Mutant Marauders, while double the cost of Riflemen, can also target Stormriders.
== Notes ==
* This is the first mission in TW when the Mutants were seen as an independent faction.
* If a nuke transport is destroyed, instead of exploding, a Nod nuclear missile is dropped on the transport instead. 
** Presumably, this is because the developers did not want to create a nuclear explosion animation to be used for this mission only.
* If the Tiberium tower is critically damaged, it will become unselectable and can only be damaged by force-firing it.
* The turrets in the Nod outpost are not connected to their hubs.
* The player is given 500,000 power despite their inability to build.
* The laboratory of the secondary objective can be sold, and will yield credits and troops like a normal sellable structure, though will also leave behind debris like civilian ones.
* Of the two Scorpions given, one is armed with Laser Capacitors while the other uses standard shells.
* If the player waits long enough, one of the convoys will come into contact with and obliterate the Mutant forces, though they will leave the Hovel itself alone.
* Upon suffering heavy damage, the convoy's APCs will unload their infantry.
== Videos ==
== References ==