Air Supremacy

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**Mission Transcript**

**Air Supremacy** is the third mission in the GDI campaign of *Tiberian Dawn*.

## Background

As Estonia fell, the GDI proceeded to move in and take over the Baltics, they proceeded to move in to Latvia, and planned to take over the city of Jelgava. This Nod base challanged GDI's airforce via several Nod SAM sites.

## Events

The battle was rather unfair for GDI, as Nod had been stockpiling buggies and training a lot of men. They also had a base ready. But Nod's forces were no match for GDI's highly trained soldiers, GDI also began fielding Grenadiers which were incredibly useful against Nod's SAM sites and the occasional buggy. Once Nod's SAM sites were destroyed GDI began sending in air strikes on the Nod base, the battle that was supposed to be a easy victory for Nod became a losing battle.

GDI forces stormed the Nod base, and Nod was quickly defeated.

## Aftermath

GDI forces took over Latvia, however, it is not known how Lithuania was taken. It's possible that they surrendered to GDI or the GDI forces stormed Lithuania the same way they did with Latvia.

Meanwhile, Nod launched a massive offensive against neutral Eastern Europe in a bid to increase their strategic depth against the GDI offensive.

At the same time the supposedly neutral government of Denmark had been invaded by Nod or have surrendered to Nod forces concurrently with Nod forces from Poland launching their assault on Germany. Launching an offensive from Denmark and Poland simultaneously Nod would overrun GDI forces and conquer swiftly eastern Germany.

With the Nod flag flying over Berlin and the Ukrainian army fighting a desperate losing battle against invading Nod forces, there was a key decision to make as to whether to primarily invade Belarus and help Ukraine or to invade Poland and help Germany. Sheppard however had departed for the UN and temporarily left command over his forces to James Solomon, meaning the that decision was now his. Although the decision Solomon actually made is not actually known, its strategic implications must have been great.

## New units and structures

### GDI

*(Note: Italics denote a unit or structure present but not buildable in this mission.)*

* Grenadier
* Harvester (only obtainable by building a Refinery)
* Tiberium Refinery
* Communications Center
* *A-10 Warthog* (as part of the Airstrike support power)

### Nod

* Rocket Soldier
* Hand of Nod (unless built by the player in the previous mission)
* SAM Site

## Walkthrough

* Use the starting force to fend off the initial Nod assault, try to keep your Humvees alive, as they deal good damage against Nod's infantry.
* Despite what was stated in the briefing, the airstrikes received after all four SAM sites are destroyed are not useful against turrets, using them against Nod's infantry and buildings might be a better choice.
* There are two Tiberium fields nearby the starting position, one to the north and another to the east. Either one will work fine for resources, but remember that Tiberium is harmful to infantry. After the MCV is deployed, build a Power Plant and a Refinery to either the north or east, quickly followed up by barracks.
* The village to the southeast serves no strategic importance.
* Train minigunners at the Barracks to take out the Nod soldiers and grenadiers to eliminate the buggies and SAM sites. Grenadiers can attack positions over cliffs and can dispatch most of the stuff Nod throws at you, but be careful with how you use them, as a grenadier dying can cause a chain reaction killing other grenadiers.
* The SAM site to the northeast should be targeted first, followed by the two SAM sites over the cliffs.
* After the three SAM sites are down, amass more infantry and move the troops northwest to take out the last SAM site. Use Grenadiers to take out the two turrets to the entrance of the base. The third turret is located on the eastern wall of the base.
* Once all defenses are down, destroy the rest of the buildings in the base. Once everything has been destroyed, the mission will be completed.

## Trivia

* Rocket Soldiers become available to train once the Hand of Nod is captured while the player has a Barracks and will remain available even after selling the Hand of Nod. This is because Rocket Soldiers are common to both sides, but are available to Nod earlier, from the corresponding Nod mission onwards.

## References

1. ↑ Westwood Studios, *Command & Conquer*. GDI mission 3: "destroy sam sites".