C&C 3: Kane's Wrath Epic Units Guide Version 1.00 Completed on 16th May, 2008 Written by Minty Fresh Death ************************************************* (1) TABLE OF CONTENTS ************************************************* (1) Table of Contents (2) Introduction (2A) Version Updates (2B) Preface and Legalities (3) The Epic Units (3A) General Information (3B) Redeemer (3C) Mammoth Armed Reclamation Vehicle (3D) Eradicator Hexapod (4) Strategy (4A) How to conquer with Epic Units (4B) How to kill Epic Units (4C) Epic Units in Global Conquest (5) Frequently Asked Questions (6) The Final Word (Thanks Section) ************************************************* (2) INTRODUCTION ************************************************* -------------------- (2A) VERSION UPDATES -------------------- 1.00 - The very first version. Updates to come. Maybe. :D --------------------------- (2B) PREFACE AND LEGALITIES --------------------------- Yo there. After feeling bored one Tuesday night, I decided to write the lowdown on three very special attractions to the expansion pack for Command & Conquer 3, aptly titled Kane's Wrath - the Epic Units. My intention with this guide is to try and give you some tips on how to effectively use these incredibly powerful units to guarentee you Epic Wins rather than Epic Fails (sorry, I couldn't resist). This version of the C&C 3: Kane's Wrath Epic Units Guide (Version 1.00) is exclusive to GameFAQs. You are NOT allowed to post any version of this guide on any other websites WITHOUT my given permission. My e-mail is under "The Final Word" section if you wish to contact me. You also may NOT copy any of the things you see in any version of this guide and stick it into your own. You are also not allowed to plaguerise any versions of this guide (don't steal the information and type it up in your own way) and you are NOT allowed to use it in any way to gain profit. This guide is not property of Electronic Arts and is not written or supported by them. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. Copyright 2008 by Dan Gallagher, AKA Minty Fresh Death. ************************************************* (3) THE EPIC UNITS ************************************************* ------------------------ (3A) GENERAL INFORMATION ------------------------ In pretty much every C&C game I've played, there have always been those single kick-ass units and structures that cost a bundle of cash but will completely decimate the opposing army without breaking a sweat. In the original C&C, it was the Mammoth Tanks and the Obelisk of Light. In Red Alert, it was the Mammoths again and the Cruisers. In Tiberian Sun, the Mammoth Mark II and Cyborg Commando took centerstage and were so dangerous that you could only build one at a time. And in Red Alert 2, the Kirovs were so powerful they couldn't help but announce their presence to every commander on the battlefield. Nonetheless, all of these units had weaknesses (most of them revolving around speed) that allowed them to be destroyed with the right combination of tactics and other units. C&C 3 already had plenty of powerful units featured across all it's 3 sides, so it was quite a shock to me when I heard that the expansion pack would feature these so called Epic Units, and thankfully they do not disappoint. Although incredibly strong and durable, these units are not invulnerable and can be defeated if you know their weaknesses, and likewise can decimate an entire base on their own if you can play to their strengths. The best place to start off when talking about the Epics is their similarites across all nine factions. No matter what army you chose, all Epic Units require a unique structure to be placed on the map before they can be built. For Nod, the Black Hand and the Marked of Kane this is the Redeemer Engineering Facility, for GDI, ZOCOM and the Steel Talons this is the Reclamator Hub and for the Scrin, Reaper 17 and Traveler 59 this is the Warp Chasm. This structure can only be built after you have a Tech Lab constructed, costs $3000 and cannot be built from a crane. The structure doubles as a War Factory, meaning you can build other vehicles available to your army from it and also repair damaged vehicles by keeping them within it's perimeter. The Epic Unit itself costs $5000, takes 50 seconds to build, announces it's presence to every player on the battlefield when completed and you can only build one at a time. Epic Units cannot be crushed by other vehicles, can crush any other unit or vehicle in it's path and cannot be blown up by C4 charges from Commandos or mind controlled by Masterminds, Cultists or Prodigies. Finally, all Epic Units come equipped with a single powerful weapon (which varies with each Epic Unit) which cannot be used on air units, and a variety of infantry can be permenantly garrisoned (as in, you can't remove them once they're in there) inside an Epic Unit to give it furthur upgrades in firepower or other bonuses. These final points are explained in more detail in the chapters that follow. ------------- (3B) REDEEMER ------------- If you're playing as Nod, the Black Hand or the Marked of Kane, your Epic Unit will be the gigantic quadruple walker known as the Redeemer. It is similarly designed to the Avatar although it's twice as big and supports itself on four legs rather than two (like the Cyborg Reaper from Firestorm). It's primary weapon is a tri-laser fired from it's right arm that does devastating damage to vehicles and decent damage to structures, but is poor against even basic infantry. The Redeemer also has a slight problem when targeting groups of infantry and fast moving vehicles - it tends to stutter for a moment when it raises it's arm to fire and it's target moves at the same time, which can cause issues. If you manage to get your Redeemer to Heroic status (veteran level 3, achieved when you destroy $15000 worth of stuff with your Redeemer), the tri-laser turns bright blue in color and fires twice as quickly, while the Redeemer becomes much more durable. Compared to the other Epic Units, the Redeemer is the fastest (but almost any non-Epic Unit in the game will outpace it) and also the weakest. In a straight up fight against a MARV or an Eradicator, the Redeemer will always lose. Not only that, but the Redeemer has only two points available to garrison infantry in compared to the MARV's four and Eradicator's three. However, it has one unique ability that the other Epics lack - the Rage Generator. The Rage Generator is activated by selecting the Redeemer and then clicking on the icon (helpfully titled "Rage Generator") that is displayed on it's stats in the lower right corner of the screen. Once activated, it takes a second to charge and then a huge red ripple of energy bursts out of the Redeemer and travels for approximately one screen length in all directions. Any infantry or vehicles (even other Epic Units) in the vicinity of this blast will act as if they've just been hit with a hallucenogenic grenade and will attack anyone else (or even each other if they're grouped infantry) in their range. As a bonus, your units or units under an ally's control are unaffected by the blast. Note that any target locked units (that is, units already shooting at a target) will not be affected until they stop firing at their current target. In other words, if the enemy is already firing on your Redeemer when you activate the Rage Generator, they'll continue to attack it. The effects of the Rage Generator wear off after a short time, and the ability takes 130 seconds (2 minutes, 10 seconds) to recharge. So more often than not, you only get one shot. Provided you can get the first shot in, the Rage Generator is brilliant at single-handedly annihilating an enemy army (as a certain Raj Joshi demonstrated on Episode 9 of Battlecast Primetime :D) or overpowering a base defense that relies on unit defense. Just remember that the Rage Generator is also ineffective against structures (although structures will target friendly units affected by the Rage Generator), so you'll have to take down those Sonic Emitters yourself. Now it's time to talk about those garrison points. As I wrote earlier, the Redeemer only has two of these (one on each shoulder) and you cannot eject the infantry once they've garrisoned themselves in the Redeemer, so you'll have to chose which unit you put in them wisely. GUN TURRET = By putting in either a Militia Squad (for Nod), Confessor Cabal (Black Hand) or Awakened unit (Marked of Kane) in a Redeemer, one of it's shoulders will upgrade to this strictly infantry shooter. I'll cut right to the chase; this weapon is poor. Although the range is better than other anti-infantry options available to the Nod factions, there's next to no stopping power on vehicles and structures, air units just fly by and when faced with en-masse infantry this turret even struggles against them. Don't waste a shoulder with this. ROCKET TURRET = All three Nod factions have access to Rocket Militia, and dropping one of them inside a Redeemer gives it a turret that is effective against both vehicles and air units. Even better, if you've researched the Tiberium Core Missiles upgrade at your Tech Lab, your Redeemer's rocket turret also benefits from the extra damage done by the tib-rockets. While this upgrade is your best (and only) defense against air units, Firehawks and Vertigos will fly by and bomb your Redeemer before you can get a shot off, and the Scrin's heavy hitting aircraft will often shrug off the rockets while pumelling you into dust. Keeping Stealth Tanks or Mantises around your Redeemer will do a better job of warding off air attacks (especially so as these units get the tib-rocket bonus too) and the Redeemer's main weapon can take care of any vehicles stupid enough to cross your path. Use only if you can't afford vehicles around your Redeemer. REPAIR TURRET = Can't get that Saboteur into the enemy base? No Tiberium Spikes to swipe? Then drop him in a Redeemer to ensure that _he_ can ensure your Epic Unit heals itself when it's not being shot at. In fact, make it a priority to fill up a shoulder shot on your Redeemer with this ability, because it will save you a ton of cash in the long run. Because Nod units cannot repair themselves when isolated from the War Factories back at base, ensuring your Redeemer survives the trek across the map to the enemy base becomes a huge issue. With a repair turret on it's shoulder, that issue is greatly lessened. One thing to note though; it's unwise to fill _both_ shoulders with repair turrets. Your Redeemer may heal twice as fast outside of battle, but it doesn't help when you're facing a swarm of elite infantry such as Zone Raiders or Shock Troopers, who will tear the Redeemer's health down faster than it can regenerate. And in a situation like that, you're going to regret not having a weapon turret in that spot. So always make sure it's just one shoulder that has this great ability stuck on it. FLAME TURRET = Behold the power of the flame! Available only to Nod and the Black Hand, garrisoning a squad of those relatively useless Black Hand infantry into a Redeemer turns one of it's shoulder turrets into one mother of a flamethrower that's capable of burning even the most power armoured infantry into piles of ash within seconds. Yes, the range may be short but this is hands down your number one choice for not only ensuring enemy infantry swarms will die before your Redeemer, but those annoying enough to garrison themselves inside buildings will be burned out without issue. As another bonus, this weapon is also effective against structures, making it your choice of weapon when assaulting enemy bases. The only real con is the Purifying Flame upgrade available to the Black Hand does not carry over to your Redeemer's weapon. But that's nothing a good patch from EA can't fix, is it, hint hint? :D TIBERIUM TURRET = Like all those numerous sequels that are inferior to the original film, the Marked of Kane's unique Redeemer upgrade, available when a Tiberium Trooper is placed inside the Epic Unit, pales in comparison to the power of the flame. While still strong against infantry and garrisons, the liquid tiberium spray fails to do as much damage as it's incendiary counterpart when it faces off against structures. But even so, this is still the best choice you have as MoK when it comes to buffering your Redeemer with a weapon, as it still ensures swarms of the most elite infantry die at your feet. For more information on strategies to use with the Redeemer, please view Section 4. -------------------------------------- (3B) MAMMOTH ARMED RECLAMATION VEHICLE -------------------------------------- As is the case with GDI and it's subfactions ZOCOM and the Steel Talons, bigger is always better. To that extent, their Epic Unit has the single biggest name out there - the Mammoth Armed Reconnaissance Vehicle, or MARV for short. As it's full name might suggest, the MARV is of a similar design to the Mammoth Tank but is twice as large (see a running theme here?) and it's duel cannons are replaced with one, single tri-barrel. This shoots out it's primary weapon - a sonic blast that, upon impact, spreads out across the immediate area doing damage to anyone not directly caught in it's blast. The MARV fires in bursts of three, then takes slightly longer to fire again. It's weapon is most effective against vehicles and groups of weaker vehicles, slightly less so against structures, and much less so against infantry, while aircraft simply laugh from overhead. A Heroic MARV shoots a red tinted version of it's sonic blast with the firing rate sped up by double, while the MARV itself gains even more durability. The MARV is the strongest out of all the Epic Units, and will almost always prevail in a straight up shoot out against an Eradicator or a Redeemer. However, it's primary weakness is it is the slowest of the Epic Units as well, leaving it especially vulnerable to swarms of faster units or aircraft. You must be able to counter these threats effectively or face the prospect of forking out another $5000. The MARV's unique ability is the Tiberium processer on it's underside. What this does is allows any MARV that tramples over a Tiberium field to instantly scoop up a crystal patch and convert it into cash on the spot (maximum $350 per patch for green Tiberium and $700 for blue), wiping out the patch in the process. While you'll ultimately get more money from your Harvesters at the same field, running a MARV over an enemy patch on the way to their base is a great way to scoop up more money for your coffers quickly while denying precious resources for them. As well as being the strongest of all the Epic Units, the MARV also allows the most customization when it comes to infantry garrisons, thanks to a whopping four slots being available for usage. Note that the front two corners on your MARV are filled out first by your infantry squads (left one first, to be more precise), followed by the rears. I say this because you may wish to have certain turrets covering certain areas of your MARV. Here's all the turret options available to you: GUN TURRET = All GDI factions have access to machine gun infantry and garrisoning a squad inside the MARV nets you this turret for use. I'm just gonna repeat what I said for the Redeemer's gun turret - this sucks. GDI and ZOCOM have a much better infantry killer I'm going to describe below and even the Steel Talons have more powerful anti-infantry options available to them. Even with the upgrade to machine gun firepower, the damage done is negligable to vehicles and structures. Don't even bother with this. ROCKET TURRET = Again, almost identical to the Redeemer's version in that rocket infantry are available to all GDI factions and slotting one in your MARV nets you this. And just like the Redeemer, all the GDI factions have vehicles that can defend better against aircraft than this can (namely, the Slingshot). If you insist on taking your MARV to crush the enemy base by itself, you may want to consider applying this in symmetrical corners to ward off aircraft. Otherwise, just back it up with anti-air vehicles. REPAIR TURRET = The MARV may be tough, but it's not indestructible. Keeping an Engineer or two garrisoned inside it make it considerably closer to that mark though. Again, if you want your MARV to survive out on the field, you've got a helluva lot more of a chance with it healing itself over time. Just remember not to become over-reliant on the healing factor - even with the MARV's four garrisonable slots, swarms of infantry and aircraft will get the better of it, and the MARV needs the extra slots to take care of those problems. One or two repair turrets is fine, and try and put them on last if you can - you'll probably want the front turrets free for other weapons. GRENADE TURRET = As one might expect, stocking a bunch of those rarely used Grenadier squads inside a MARV gives it a turret that launches grenades at it's foes. These are effective against infantry, clean out garrisoned buildings with ease but are less effective against structures and vehicles. GDI and ZOCOM Commanders might want to pass on this, but for the Steel Talons this is going to be your main infantry killer, so learn to work with it. Still, even if you are GDI or ZOCOM this is a good option for dealing with swarms of infantry. SNIPER TURRET = A turret option available to GDI and ZOCOM only, the sniper turret works by - you guessed it - sticking a sniper team inside your MARV. The result is a turret that kills an infantryman for every shot fired and has a killer range to boot. "Sounds great!" you say. Well, it certainly is for Commandos and elite infantry. Against groups of infantry, you're in for a bit of a challenge, thanks to the snipers being able to kill only one man at a time. This means you face the danger of being swarmed, so it might be an idea to either back this up with a grenade turret or a second sniper turret, or simply back up your MARV with Hammerheads and put a different squad in your Epic. Pick and choose. RAILGUN TURRET = Unique to GDI, plonking a squadron of Zone Troopers inside your MARV will net you this powerful and accurate turret. It deals heavy damage to vehicles and structures and can kill infantry almost as well as sniper rounds (albeit with less range). Any C&C3 player knows Zone Troopers are awesome, and their primary weakness (killed easily by infantry) is removed when they're hunkered up in a MARV. Just remember you can't blast aircraft out of the sky with these guys, so have some backup in that regard. SONIC GRENADE TURRET = Unique to ZOCOM, bunking up a Zone Raider squad inside the MARV nets you this powerful turret. Like the railgun turret, it specialises in dealing damage to vehicles and structures, except with a bigger area effect. As any ZOCOM Commander will tell you, Zone Raiders are awesome, and they're even more awesome when you're in a huge supertank that only a nuclear warhead can take down in one hit. Unfortunately, you don't get the anti-air rockets that Zone Raiders have on your shiny new turret, and their sonic grenades aren't as effective as normal grenades on swarms of infantry. But if you've got sufficient anti-infantry and anti-air vehicles flanking your MARV, then this turret helps you cut through other threats like a flaming knife through melting butter. For more information on strategies to use with the MARV, please view Section 4. ----------------------- (3C) ERADICATOR HEXAPOD ----------------------- What's scarier than aliens? Large aliens. And if your enemy has already seen these? Alien warships. But what if they've dealt with them? Then unleash the Eradicator Hexapod and watch them soil themselves. Unlike other Epic Units, the Eradicator doesn't appear to resemble any other Scrin units; instead, it looks like a giant friggin' six-legged insect. It's primary weapon shoots out plasma discs that look similar to those fired from Devestator Warships, only they're green and twice as large. While the rate of fire is more consistant than that of the weapons for the other Epic Units and is great against swarms of vehicles or congested structures, the weapon lacks accuracy on single units and the overall damage done by each disc is weak compared to the MARV and Redeemer's weapons. And of course, it can't hit units flying overhead. At Heroic level, the discs explode in red, the rate of fire is pretty much constant and the Hexapod itself becomes even stronger. In comparison with the other Epic Units, the Eradicator sits squarely in the middle. It's faster than the MARV, but not as fast as the Redeemer, it can garrison 3 infantry units within itself and while stronger than a Reedemer, will come up short in a shootout with a MARV. The Eradicator's special ability comes in the form of it's Lifeform Recycling System. Essentially, any enemy unit or structure that you destroy with the Eradicator that's within it's range (denoted as a circled area around the Eradicator when you select it) will give you a fraction of it's original cost when it dies. The amount given and the ratio for the fraction vary with the unit or structure destroyed; rifle infantry typically give up to 4 credits per person (so 30 credits for one squad) while a Construction Yard usually gives out 525 credits. If you're Scrin, you should have little trouble collecting resources, which makes this bonus pretty much useless compared to the other Epics. Now onto the extra weapons available for your Hexapod when you upgrade it with infantry. Like the MARV, the front legs will be filled first, so make sure your hardest hitting weapons go in before the backup: LASER TURRET = Dropping a squad of Disintegrators into your Eradicator nets you their weapon, a 100% accurate laser that does the most damage against vehicles and structures, but less so against infantry. Now, you may think I'm gonna say this is as useless as GDI and Nod's gun turret, but it ain't. It's accuracy makes it great when dealing with fast, lightly armoured vehicles and for doing extra damage against powerful foes and structures as well. Plus, although the weapon isn't great on infantry, it at least manages to hit them and soften them up for your primary weapon. The range may not be great, but you could do far worse when facing swarms. REPAIR TURRET = You should know the drill by now. Drop an Assimilator in your Hexapod, BAM! Health Regeneration ability gained. And yes, it's as essential as it is with the other Epic Units if you want it to survive in those big, bad bases you'll be taking down. But as with the other Epics, adding more than one may leave a gaping hole in your Hexapod arsenal that may be better suited for an anti-infantry weapon. Never leave home without it, but make sure it's just the one. DISC TURRET = What's that? Doesn't the Eradicator already fire discs? Ah, but sticking in those fancy Shock Troopers in your Eradicator provides you with anti-air discs to take down those aircraft that previously laughed at you and bombed away, which also do damage to ground forces as a bonus. Unfortunately, while the range is better than the standard Eradicator discs, this upgrade sucks. Compared to other anti-air attacks, the discs do poor damage and don't fire quickly enough to compensate. Besides, all the Scrin factions have a much better choice for taking down aircraft I'm gonna talk about below. Don't bother with this at all. SHARD TURRET = It's all about the Ichor with the Scrin, and none demonstrate it better than the new Ravager unit. Garrisoning one of these units inside your Eradicator will upgrade it with a weapon that shoots out highly accurate Tiberium shards that are effective against enemy infantry, lightly armoured vehicles and aircraft, but far less so against heavy vehicles and structures. If you insist on taking your Hexapod to destroy the enemy base on it's own, you'll want a shard turret lodged in it to ward off aircraft and infantry. It's range, while not as far as the standard disc weapon, far outreaches the laser turret. A fine choice. TELEPORT TURRET = And finally, the single greatest reason to use the Eradicator is here. Available only to the Scrin and Traveler 59 factions, depositing a Mastermind or Prodigy inside your Eradicator gives it the ability to teleport itself across the map. You can do so by selecting your Eradicator and then clicking on the icon titled "Teleport Eradicator" that is greyed out until your psychic unit enters the Hexapod. Once highlighed, the mouse cursor turns into a blue targeting icon and by left-clicking your destination, the Eradicator will face the direction you click and after a few moments, teleport to that exact spot in the blink of an eye. The recharge time for the teleport is 30 seconds, which means you can teleport this baby around 4 times while the Redeemer is still waiting to recharge it's Rage Generator. Ok, that's the good stuff out of the way. Now it's time for the heartbreaker - teleportation is limited to the Eradicator's line of sight. That's right - no teleporting it direct from your base next to your enemies Construction Yard (that's what wormholes are for). You'll only be able to teleport approximately one screen length away from your Eradicators current position. But still, that's normally enough once in range of your enemy's base to nip from in front of his defenses to the back of his power plants in one teleport. This is also great for getting away from swarms, particularly because the Eradicator out-ranges nearly all infantry on the map. Because the charge up time for the teleport is relatively short, you can zip from one point to another before getting shot up too badly, all the while damaging units from flanking positions (remember that all vehicles have weaker armour on their rears). Use it wisely and your teleporting Eradicator can reek havoc and be gone before anyone realises what went on. For more information on strategies to use with the Eradicator, please view Section 4. ************************************************* (4) STRATEGY ************************************************* ----------------------------------- (4A) HOW TO CONQUER WITH EPIC UNITS ----------------------------------- Coming in the next update. --------------------------- (4B) HOW TO KILL EPIC UNITS --------------------------- First thing to note - whenever you can, take on an Epic Unit with an Epic Unit of your own. Even if it's a Redeemer versus a MARV, that Redeemer is one hell of a meat shield while you either get some backup or build some defenses. And yes, if you're facing a Heroic Epic that can heal itself and has some air defenses, you are SCREWED. :D NOD - Nod's Vertigo Bombers are one of the best anti-Epic Unit units in the game. They're fast, stealthed until they attack and their bombs are fast enough to do full damage to any of the slow moving Epics. Unfortunately, they're expensive, and you'll need about 20 to destroy an Epic in one go - not practical. Therefore, your strategy should be one of gradual bombardment. Make researching EMPs for your Raider Buggies a priority - this doubles as a last resort if the Epic gets too close to base and also helps for immobilising an Epic for a bombing run. When you spot an Epic, charge in with both buggies and Vertigos. Use the EMP attack to disable the Epic and any escorts it may have, then bomb away. Throw in some Venoms with the laser upgrade if you want some extra harrassment between bombing runs, but be wary of anti-air units around. Note this when facing Steel Talons though; their Adaptive Armour upgrade won't work with a MARV, but it will for their escorts. It may be wise to bomb the EMP-protected (and slower moving) escort tanks around a Steel Talon MARV before you take out the big bad itself. And another thing: Nod's Mine Drop Power isn't just for deterring minor threats to your base. If you can keep an Epic Unit stationary long enough to drop a shower of mines around it, the instant it moves, KA-BLOOEY! All the mines will detonate at once, dealing either devestating damage or outright killing it if you're lucky. BLACK HAND - Because of the idiotic Brother Marcon deciding to abandon not just Nod's single greatest asset (stealth) but also it's greatest anti-Epic counter (air units), the Black Hand have their work cut out for them when it comes to dealing with these bad boys. But don't fret! It is possible to beat them - you'll just need to be cunning and diversive with your units. Get a Tech Centre up as soon as you can and research EMPs for your Raider Buggies and Tiberium Core Missiles in that order. Next, pump out Raider Buggies, Attack Cycles, Rocket Militia and Purifiers if you have the cash. When you see the Epic, charge your Buggies in and let loose their EMP attack. Try to distance them out so they're not all affected by the blast, as you'll need at least one to follow up with another blast shortly. With the Epic disabled, send in the Attack Cycles, Rocket Troops and Purifiers. The cycles will get there first and do light damage, but not enough to kill the Epic. When the EMP wears off, retreat the cycles and have the Buggies you have still active use their EMP. Go back in with the cycles, and the other units if they're there yet. This strategy also works well against vehicle and air escorts provided you can out-swarm your opponent. But note this, you'll have an especially hard time against the Steel Talons, because their Adaptive Armored escorts are the perfect counter to your EMP buggies. Target vehicle escorts first with your anti-vehicle units, then finish off the MARV. And if the enemy tries to outsmart you with infantry escorts, throw in a Black Disciple upgrade to your Rocket Militia alongside Purifying Flame and watch them burn. MARKED OF KANE - It's a good thing Kane made sure his chosen children were equipped with EMP attacks as a secondary weapon, because you can use even basic infantry to take down Epic Units with the MoK. Essentially, you're using the same tactics as Vanilla Nod when it comes to dealing with Epics, except you have the option to use the Awakened, the Enlightened or EMPed up Raider Buggies for disabling Epics, then finishing them with the Vertigos. Don't forget to throw in some Venoms with the Particle Beam upgrade for additional damage between airstrikes as well. Oh, and yes, you will still have trouble with Steel Talon Adaptive Armoured escorts. Target them on your first bombing run. And don't forget about your Magnetic Mine power. If you can keep an Epic Unit still long enough to drop mines directly on it, that sucker's gonna be in a REAL world of hurt once he moves an inch. GDI - GDI rule the ground when it comes to fighting with vehicles, but against an Epic Unit you're going to be hitting it with everything you have. First and foremost, research EMP Grenades for your Grenadiers and stick them in APCs. Send a pack of them in first to confront and disable the Epic and it's escorts. Follow through with a few Mammoths to act as meat shields, but have your main attack be Hammerheads loaded with Zone Troopers and Firehawks. The Firehawks are less effective than Vertigo Bombers but can still do good damage to an Epic if it's motionless. Nonetheless, your Hammerheads will be dealing the most damage and are your main anti-teleporting Eradicator defense. Try to avoid using too many vehicles as decoys - one Rage Generator will be all it takes for them to turn on each other. STEEL TALONS - The guys who refuse to move on from Tiberian Sun only make it harder on themselves by lacking Zone Troopers to stick in their Hammerheads and EMP Grenades for their Grenadiers. Fortunately, they have tougher vehicles to make up for it. Make sure you've researched Adaptive Armour and Railgun upgrades. Build up a squadron of Mammoths and Titans and back them up with Repair APCs. Put some Rocket Troops in your Hammerheads, and maybe a Behemoth or two if you have the cash spare (again, put Rocket Troops in them). Charge the Epic Unit with your ground vehicles (especially if it's a Redeemer, as you'll need to target lock it before it sets off it's Rage Generator) and slap on Adaptive Armour once you get in range. Follow up with the Railgun Accelerator power and move in with your air units to finish the job. This'll take out anything bar teleporting Eradicators - that's a job for your aircraft and base defenses. ZOCOM - What ZOCOM lacks in railguns, they make up for with sonic grenades. You're gonna be using a deriviation of the GDI tactic to take out Epics, simply substituting Zone Troopers in your Hammerheads for Zone Raiders. Because ZOCOM has the Ceramic Armour upgrade for their aircraft, it might be an idea to let the Firehawks swoop in around the same time as your Grenadiers throw their EMP Grenades, which may provide a timely distraction and some decent damage against the Epic right off the bat. Again, Mammoths will be the meat shields while your helicoptoring Zone Raiders dish out the damage. SCRIN - The Scrin rule the air, and an Epic Unit's bane is aircraft, so simple logic dictates your main attack strategy should revolve around Devestator Warships and Planetary Assault Carriers. Yes, they're slow, but Epics are slower and your fancy ground units often can't hold a candle to them. Unfortunately, the new anti-air units introduced in Kane's Wrath make the "Victory Fleet" as it were much less effective, so you'll have to get a bit creative. Keep some Devestators, Mechapedes and Tripods on the ground as escort destroyers. As soon as you sight an Epic, take out all the anti-air units you can around it with your ground troops while bombarding the crap out of the Epic itself with your Devestators. Keep them in the proximity of the PACs and use their Ion Storm ability to keep everyone healthy. If you've researched shields, charge in the PACs to kill them all the faster. One main problem is teleporting Eradicators, but remember they can only teleport one screen away and take 30 seconds to do it again. The answer - keep your aircraft spread out, and at least one of them will be in range of it when it teleports. Or even better, wait for it to teleport, then trap it in a Stasis Field and surround it with your aircraft. Then sit back and watch the fireworks. REAPER 17 - Oh Cult of the Reaper, your brutality on the ground is only matched by your foolishness in scrapping the Scrin's air units. But you do have some neat Tripod upgrades which are the main way you'll ever take down Epics. Research Conversion Reserves and get some Tripods built up. Suck up the nearest Tiberium field you can find and get some Shock Troopers and Devestators on the battlefield as well. Throw in some Mechapedes and upgrade them with lasers if you've got the cash. When an Epic comes in range, charge in with the Troopers and Tripods. While they absorb and dish out some damage, send in the Mechapedes and Devestators up close and personal to really dish out the dirt. Don't forget your Shard Walkers either - with the Blue Shard and Shield upgrades, these guys can do a surprising amount of damage. Just don't try using them as meat shields. TRAVELER 59 - The Scrin on steroids is only a good thing when it comes to taking down Epics, although your ground forces will suffer if you apply the basic Scrin strategy due to lacking health in general. Therefore, use a variation; in addition to the Scrin strategy above, research Traveler Engines and when you spot an Epic and it's escorts, trap them with the Temporal Wormhole power. With the anti-air escorts slowed, target them with your air units and let them assist the ground units in taking them out. Then follow up on the Epic. Finally, if worse comes to worse, you can always use a superweapon on the damn thing and try for a one hit kill. This strategy isn't recommended if the Epic Unit is already in proximity of your base, or capable of teleporting. ---------------------------------- (4C) EPIC UNITS IN GLOBAL CONQUEST ---------------------------------- So, you wanna take over the world, huh? Well, your Epic Units will help immensely in this regard. Some quick pointers to remember: When putting Epic Units in a squad, don't forget your anti-air units! Nothing is more humiliating than having a Heroic Epic single-handedly destroy an enemy base, but you having to surrender the match because a single Hammerhead / Venom / Stormrider continues to attack you and you have no way to kill it. Like all members of a squadron, Epic Units will retain any veterancy upgrades they gain in a battle. But in addition, Epic Units also retain all the abilities of the units that they have been garrisoned with, but (and here's the really awesome news) the slots they have are reopened with every new battle. What that means is, in Battle #1, you can stick four engineers in a MARV and make sure it survives, then in Battle #2 your MARV will retain it's super-healing capacity while allowing more infantry to enter. As far as I can tell, this strategy can be repeated an infinite number of times, although slotting in more infantry with the same weapons in the same slots won't make your Epic Unit any stronger. The strategy you should employ, therefore, is obvious: Create a custom squadron using whatever subfaction has the strongest choice of infantry (in other words, Nod, Black Hand, GDI, ZOCOM, Scrin or Traveler 59) and put in this squad an Epic Unit and all the various infantry you can stick in it (make sure you create multiple squads of each in case you get bombed before battle). Make sure your first battle is against a weaker squadron, and when it's battle time, go into Real Time and stick your selection of infantry into the Epic. Win the battle, then move onto another battle with another squadron, and stick the infantry you didn't put in the first time round into your Epic. Keep repeat this strategy and you'll soon have a Heroic Epic Unit with all the firepower it can't muster in a normal game, and you can then Auto Resolve any battle it gets into and be guarenteed victory each time.* * = I don't actually mean that. The Tactical AI can even screw up with Heroic Epics. Don't leave anything to chance. ************************************************* (5) FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ************************************************* Coming whenever people ask me some questions. :p ************************************************* (6) THE FINAL WORD ************************************************* Well, I know writing guides usually takes some time, but for such a specialised subject I didn't quite realise how much there was to write! And I haven't even finished this guide yet! :D Feedback is welcome provided you can write in good English. My e-mail address, as it has now stood for over 6 years now, is keepinitfresh@hotmail.com. Unfortunately, my Hotmail account can get quite filled with junk as well, so PLEASE ensure that any mail you wish to send me has the words "Kane's Wrath Epic Units guide" clearly printed in the subject title somewhere, otherwise I might mistake it for spam mail and delete it. And while I'm at it, unless I've talked to you in the past or know you in real life, please do NOT add me to your contacts on MSN Messenger. If you want to talk to me about this guide, shoot me an e-mail. I'm not online very often and when I am I'm usually doing something important and will not want to be bothered. If you add me anyway, I'll just block you when I find out who you are or aren't, which will waste your time and my time, so please just don't do it. Thanks go out to the following people: Me (no one reads this bit, so why not) for taking what spare time I have in this world to constantly update this guide / Walkthrough. :) Electronic Arts for producing this great game (but boo hiss for disbanding Westwood). The guys at Commandandconquer.com for their awesome website, and more specifically the guys behind the Tacitus Thursday section for some great information on the Epic Units. Raj Joshi for showing the world the awesomeness of a Rage Generator blast. :D GameFAQs for allowing me to put the initial version of this guide on their site. And finally I give thanks to YOU, the adoring C&C fan who decided to read all the way through this guide of mine. I hope that in reading this guide, you will learn how to use the Epics strengths and powers to completely annihilate your C&C opponents, rather than wasting $5000 credits on a slowly moving Epic Fail. So then, all that's left to say is "Ciao for now." Daniel James Gallagher AKA Minty Fresh Death