History VideoGame / CommandAndConquer3TiberiumWars

* GunsDontWorkThatWay: The Nod Militant Rocket Squad's double RPG is a capital offender. It doesn't actually feature a second barrel, just an overslung warhead which lacks the rest of the lengthy RPG projectile. Not that it matters since each soldier still only fires one rocket at time.

* ArtificialStupidity: The auto-battle "tactical" A.I. for global conquest isn't exactly the best at evaluating who wins battles. For instance, a single Firehawk strikeforce is enough to take down ANY other strikeforce as long as it can't target air, but if you did a real-time battle, that Firehawk would maybe pick off 2 or 3 units before being rushed at its landing pad. Tier-3 tanks can be defeated by tier-3 infantry, despite in real-time battle it would be trivial to just roll over the infantries. Buildings also seemingly don't produce anything during the tactical AI simulation, while in real-time battle they would spam units overwhelming attackers that aren't spawned next to them.

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Kane captures one of the Scrin threshold towers. ''Kane's Wrath'' further reveals that he engineered the third war to kill most of Nod's human members so he can reactivate the cyborg program (which were banned after the Firestorm Crisis). He also regains the Tacitus.]]

--> ''"Who dares challenge '''our''' supremacy? The Brotherhod is dead! Rotting with the heretic, Kane! '''We''' are the true heirs of Nod as it is written! Repent! Withdraw! Or join your fool prophet in oblivion."''

* ThirdIs3D: ''Tiberium Wars'' makes the VideoGame3DLeap for the RTS saga, evolving the UsefulNotes/GameEngine ([=Westwood3D aka SAGE=]) created for ''VideoGame/EmperorBattleForDune''.

* ArtificialStupidity: The auto-battle "tactical" A.I. for global conquest isn't exactly the best at evaluating who wins battles. For instance, a single firehawk strikeforce is enough to take down ANY other strikeforce as long as it can't target air, but if you did a real time battle, that firehawk would maybe pick off 2 or 3 units before being rushed at its landing pad.

* InstantWinCondition: In skirmish/multiplayer, destroy all your rival's buildings and [=MCVs=] means victory. Even if they still have a large army on the map.
** The ''Kane's Wrath'' exclusive Global Conquest mode has an alternate victory condition for the three factions. Going for these conditions may be easier than attempting to annihilate the other two factions.

* {{Irony}}: In ''Kane's Wrath'' expansion, a new sub-faction called the Steel Talons were introduced. One of the primary reasons they were created is in preparation for the possibility of the Brotherhood of Nod becoming a threat again. However they've proven themselves to be pretty lacking that they weren't even able to last before the Third Tiberium War happened. The very thing they were ''supposed'' to be preparing for.

* MeleeATrois: Kane plans to "call in" a third party after starting the third Tiberium War with GDI. During the chaos of the Scrin AlienInvasion, Kane intends to capture technology from the invaders for his long term goals. The final act of the game has each faction battling the other two with GDI cutting off the Scrin Invasion at the source and NOD capturing the aforementioned Scrin technology.

** Both the Nod Scorpion tank and Emissary will reuse some lines spoken by GLA units from ''Videogame/CommandAndConquerGenerals''.

** ZOCOM's decision in ''Kane's Wrath'' to shoot down the Nod transport a kidnapped Dr. Giraud in order to deny Kane access to valuable intel winds up leading to his outright defection to the Brotherhood [[spoiler:and indirectly results in the Liquid Tiberium deposits being stashed underneath Temple Prime, whare are later detonated inadvertedly by GDI]].

* InstantWinCondition: In skirmish/multiplayer, destroy all your rival's buildings and MCVs means victory. Even if they still have a large army on the map.

* WeaponizedTeleportation: The Scrin have access to the wormhole support power and the rift generator. The wormhole support power does no damage directly, but can be used to instantly transport a land based army form point A to point B instantly. The rift generator meanwhile creates a portal to outer space, sucking in anything nearby and causing intense damage via pressure change.

** GDI gets the M.A.R.V. superheavy tank/miner, which sports a tri-barrelled cannon and four hardpoints. It can run over Tiberium deposits to stripmine them - and those Tiberium fields [[BanditMook doesn't need to be yours]]

* TacticalSuperweaponUnit: The ''Kane's Wrath'' expansion introduced each side to a huge war machine fully capable of fighting the entire enemy army and their base by its lonesome They require a specialized War Factory to assemble. They are armed with a devastating weapon out-of-the-box and the option to garrison a number of infantry squads in their "hardpoints" for various effects, as well as a unique gimmick (usually some method of generating income).

* WashingtonDCInvasion: The first act of the GDI campaign is kicking the Nod invasion back out of the city, starting with the Siege of the Pentagon.
** Best part? The first act of the Nod campaign (unlocked by beating Act I of GDI's campaign) ''is'' the Nod invasion of DC!

** ZOCOM's decision to shoot down the Nod transport a kidnapped Dr. Giraud in order to deny Kane access to valuable intel winds up leading to his outright defection to the Brotherhood.

* PunyEarthlings: All humans have to use equipment or cybernetics to fight, the Scrin spit corrosive chemicals, control minds and fire energy out of their bodies. On the other hand, Scrin are critically dependent on [[GreenRocks Tiberium]] and Tiberium radiation for survival; without it they will [[DecapitatedArmy literally shrivel up and stop moving]], and they seeded Earth with the stuff specifically to harvest ever more of the precious material. Kane goes so far as to call them "a cult of addiction in the guise of a species", implicitly comparing their entire invasion to a druggie sticking up their neighbors for money.

* ResignedInDisgrace: Should you choose to deploy the liquid Tiberium bomb at the end of the GDI campaign, Lieutenant General Jack Granger chews you out but is unable to court martial you due to Redmond Boyle labelling you as a hero. Afterward, Boyle tells you that General Granger resigned and he plans to have you take the latter's place. On the flipside, if you don't use it, Boyle is the one who's forced to resign or face charges of war crimes.

* TomatoSurprise: The person Kane was talking to in ''Kane's Wrath'' [[spoiler: is a computer AI]].

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Other than Slavik, the fate of several of the characters in ''Tiberian Sun'' are not mentioned. It is presumed that [=McNeil=], Solomon, etc died during the Nod attack on ''Philadelphia''.

** In ''Kane's Wrath'', GDI's Rocky Mountains Complex [[spoiler:which contains the Tacitus]] is protected by a Firestorm Generator.

* DecapitationStrike: One of Nod's first acts is to destroy the GDI space station ''Philadelphia'', with almost the entire GDI leadership onboard, with the exception of Secretary of the Treasury, Redmond Boyle.

** Scrin Annihilator Tripods are basically [[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds Martian Walking Machines]] while their visual is also very reminiscent of [[Literature/TheDayOfTheTriffids Triffids]].

** Scrin Tripods are basically [[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds Martian Walking Machines]] while their visual is also very reminiscent of [[Literature/TheDayOfTrifids Trifids]].

* DualModeUnit: Firehawks can be armed with either bombs or anti-air missiles at the airbase.

** Scrin Tripods are basically [[Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds Martian Walking Machines.]]

** The Nod Venom patrol craft. They can detect stealth and have a chaingun that's quite effective against infantry; making them effective at sniffing out GDI's Sniper Teams. Venoms can also attack other air units. And, they are arguably the best counter to the Scrin's Disintegrators, which are commonly used in [[ZergRush swarm tactics]] but are helpless against aircraft. All this, and reasonably cheap and quick to train, too.

* AirstripOne: Downplayed. The various Zones that the Tiberium-wracked world is divided into are formally given bland designations, such as Yellow Zone Y-4 for the Australian Outback. On the other hand, the old names are still commonly used by both GDI and Nod, whether due to persistent national identities in Blue Zones like England, or out of pure convenience.