Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun is a real-time strategy video game developed by Westwood Studios and released in 1999. The main storyline follows the second major war between the Global Defense Initiative of the United Nations, and the global terrorist organization known as the Brotherhood of Nod. The story takes place in 2030, 30 years after the GDI had won the first major war in Command & Conquer. As of February 12, 2010, Electronic Arts licensed Tiberian Sun and its expansion pack Firestorm as freeware
Tiberian Sun features three factions, each with its unique strengths and tactics; the Global Defense Initiative (GDI), the Brotherhood of Nod (Nod), and The Forgotten (non-playable, neutral faction of mutated humans who have been physically and mentally affected by the Tiberium toxins). The storyline follows the continuing struggle between the GDI and Nod, the latter of which is ready to launch a new set of surprise sneak attacks in a desperate attempt to wipe the Global Defense Initiative off the face of the Earth. The plot is a follow-up to the original game Command & Conquer, after the end of which the Nod leader Kane is presumed dead. In Tiberian Sun, Kane resurfaces from his hideout with improved military forces and new Tiberium-enhanced technologies, determined to rule the world at all cost. The GDI Commander Michael McNeil is tasked with objectives to prevent the world from falling into the hands of Nod, this time with the very means of the extraterrestrial Tiberium substance.
The Global Defense Initiative's internal structure and organization is quite similar to a supranational and large-scale integration of all of the world's major modern day conventional armies into a single globalized military force. GDI is capable of instantly deploying vast quantities of well-trained and well-equipped soldiers backed by powerful ground, air and naval assets to any point on the globe, and this in ways that are considerably more organized, advanced, as well as on a much greater scale than any conventional real-life military force of today possibly could. Global Defense Initiative troops utilize both superior armor and firepower, making them typically much more powerful than Nod forces in direct open confrontations, but also more cumbersome and less flexible. The Brotherhood is notoriously adept at exploiting these weaknesses through its combination of futuristic guerrilla warfare with uniquely advanced Tiberium-based technologies. By the year 2047 GDI's forces have been restructured to allow for decentralized operations in multiple theatres of war, through the establishment of forward-operating bases in all types of terrain, and the deployment of proven, specialized and cost-effective ground and air forces supported by the most advanced network of orbital artillery satellites in history. In-game, their units are unit-for-unit more powerful than those of Nod and the Scrin. Their superweapon is the ion cannon, an orbital weapon that has appeared in every Tiberium title to date; previously capable of destroying only a single building at a time, the ion cannon can now devastate a large area, through 8 small ion beams forming up into the center and ionising the air before the larger, more destructive main blast.
The Brotherhood of Nod is a mysterious and highly militant society of allegedly ancient origins. Throughout its struggle with GDI, Nod is shown possessing characteristics of a vast religious movement, a multinational corporation and a decentralized nation-state, while being none of the three in itself. The globalized brotherhood is led by a mysterious man known only as Kane, and its influence at the advent of the events in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars reached nothing short of the status of an unconventional superpower.The Brotherhood of Nod represents a flexible, elusive and worldwide cultic army which thrives on the sophisticated synergy between low-tech guerrilla warfare and advanced forces equipped with state-of-the-art weapon systems derived from the Brotherhood's understanding of Tiberium-based military technologies. Nod tactics are highly radical and appear more unethical than GDI's, often showing little regard for human life. In addition, their religious fascination with Tiberium has led them to use the substance as an offensive chemical. Nod forces typically are weaker than GDI's or the Scrin in a head-on engagement, yet they use stealth and advanced hit-and-run tactics to their advantage to take control of the battle and sabotage an opponent's momentum. Their in-game superweapon is a nuclear missile, although in Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun and its expansion pack, they use a chemical missile (Tiberium-based) and a conventional cluster missile.
